2015 got off to an early start here at the Global Headquarters of Wrong, when the smoke alarm system went off at 5:45 am. Naturally, our guest revelers were still tucked in their beds, trying to sleep off too much Vueve Clicot and caviar, and there was no smoke. It fell to Wrongo to disarm the system, change a smoke detector battery, and subsequently explain to the human who called from the central alarm call center that indeed, there was no fire.
So, despite Wrongoâs plan to avoid posts until his company leaves, here, for your amusement is a quote that describes a point in the past, and that might yet be prophetic for 2015:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
The opening paragraph of âA Tale of Two Citiesâ by Charles Dickens. The two cities referred to were London and Paris during the French Revolution that lasted 10 years, from 1789 to 1799. The book was written in 1859, seventy years after the start of the revolution.
Today, the two cities could be Washington DC and any one (or more) of the following: Teheran, Beijing, Moscow, Mumbai, or Riyadh.
But the domestic problems and burgeoning turmoil in the US today is loosely analogous to what France was going through in the 18th Century.
What are the chances that the outcome will be similar?
Today is the Wrongologistâs birthday. Thatâs right, nearly everyone in the civilized world tries to have a drink with Wrongo on New Yearâs Eve. It makes New Yearâs Eve among his favorite holidays.
Christmas, not so much. The double bind that Christmas has become is summed up by those annual Lexus commercials. They promise that if youâre nice enough to Santa, or if your spouse truly loves you, there could be a $50,000 luxury car outside, wrapped in a bow.
Really? Tell that to the average American (whose wages havenât gone up, even though much of their daily living costs have increased) that the reason they donât have a Lexus waiting for them is that their spouse or significant other just doesnât love them enough.
It is easy to hate what Christmas has become here at the end stage of the Empire.
But New Yearâs is different. Here is Johnny Swim, the Wrongologistâs favorite new musical group of 2014, singing a song written by Frank Loesser in 1947, âWhat Are You Doing New Yearâs Eve?â:
Happy New Year, and thanks to all of those who read this blog.
No need for a long list of resolutions that we would all just break in January. Letâs settle for a wish that 2015 brings each of us a better economy, better health, and fewer global crises to worry about.
“The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.“ – George Carlin
âI stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.â – Shirley Temple
âWhat I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.â â Phyllis Diller
The Wrongologist blog is now officially on a holiday schedule. There may or may not be posts between Christmas and New Yearâs Day. We hope that those of you who had to travel arrived safely and will return safely, and we wish you a good holiday break!
Hereâs to a better 2015, when we return hopefully refreshed, ready, willing and able to deal with all of the worldâs crap problems as they come at us. Wishing you the absolute best for 2015! Your parting gif includes a few more Christmas tunes.
Here is âSilent Night, a Montageâ by The Temptations, recorded in 1980 by Berry Gordy. Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin had left the group by the time this was recorded. Itâs still great:
Here is âAll I Want for Christmas is Youâ by Mariah Carey:
Letâs close with John Lennonâs âHappy Christmas (War is Over).â It was recorded in October 1971, with Phil Spector. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir:
And, so this is Christmas For weak and for strong For rich and the poor ones The world is so wrong And so happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red ones Let’s stop all the fight
When you open your gifts today and then when you eat your dinner, think of those who are struggling. Think of those displaced by war. Think about what we can do to change all that. Let those thoughts guide you through 2015 and beyond.
Now, Christmas Eve doesnât engender thoughts of Bob Dylan. Heâs the last guy you would think about. But today, we have Dylan two ways. First, Dylan singing âIt Must Be Santaâ. If you listen carefully, Dylan uses the names of several US presidents in with the list of Santa’s reindeer. And his hair is ironed or its a wig:
We close with our go-to Christmas Eve sing along carol here at the Mansion of Wrong. That would be Tom Lehrerâs âA Christmas Carolâ. Here is Lehrerâs lead in to the song:
Christmas, with its spirit of giving, offers us all a wonderful opportunity each year to reflect on what we all most sincerely and deeply believe in. I refer of course, to money.
Hereâs the song:
From all of us here at the Mansion of Wrong, Merry Christmas, and please work to bring peace to your family and your community.
A few more words about the killing of two NYPD officers. It was and is a tragedy. No one should think otherwise. The harsh reaction that blamed Mayor de Blasio and the Eric Garner and Ferguson demonstrators should be viewed through a lens of that tragedy, The statements made by the PBA, and Commissioner Bratton were over the top, but under the circumstances, we can let go of them.
It was different with the professional politicians. On Sunday, Ray Kelly, who was the police commissioner during the Bloomberg administration, said that in his view (and in the view of many officers), that Mr. de Blasio ran on an âanti-policeâ platform.
He wasnât alone. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani attributed the killings to the protests that broke out across the city following a grand juryâs failure to indict a police officer for killing Eric Garner. But Rudy being Rudy, went over the top on Fox News on Sunday:
Weâve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police.
OK, that makes the killings Obamaâs fault. Then, it was Ex NY Governor George Pataki (R) who weighed in, blaming de Blasio and Attorney General Eric Holder for inciting the kind of anti-police fervor that led to the murders:
Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder & #mayordeblasio. #NYPD
(For those who receive this blog in email via FeedBurner, the tweet will not display properly. Pataki said):
Sickened by these barbaric acts, which sadly are a predictable outcome of divisive anti-cop rhetoric of #ericholder & #mayordeblasio. #NYPD
This, just days after Pataki said that he was thinking of running for President in 2016. Pataki seizes an issue and runs (literally) with it.
Yet, de Blasio said on the night of the killings, while standing next to Commissioner Bratton:
It is an attack on all of us; itâs an attack on everything we hold dear.
Isnât it interesting how the shooting of two NYC cops became politicized, not just in NYC but throughout the country. Bratton blamed, in a roundabout way, the protests and so it goes. All of these guys looking for political advantage on Sunday. Then, on Monday, the headline in NYT said:
Officersâ Killer, Adrift and Ill, Had a Plan
Ismaaiyl Brinsley was a gang member who spent time in jail, who hated cops, who shot his girlfriend before he took the bus to NYC. He necessitates shutting down demonstrations, suggesting we recall the mayor, and blaming the White House.
Yet, in Pennsylvania, in September, Eric Frein, a white guy kills one cop and wounds another. But that story isnât about how we should end marches and protests, or play the political blame game. He was just a loner with authority issues. This is typical of the coverage of the PA killing: (emphasis by the Wrongologist)
Police have not spoken about a possible motive for the crime, other than that Eric Frein has talked and written about hating law enforcement. Authorities have said a review of a computer hard drive used by Frein shows that he had planned the attack for years.
NO motive?? The same story says that Frein claimed to have fought with Serbians in Africa. That he was on the FBIâs Ten Most Wanted fugitives list. And that when they found him, he had two fully functional pipe bombs.
Clearly, Ismaaiyl Brinsley was the real threat to democracy, not Eric Frein. Two guys, two different plans, two different attacks on police, and two different reactions by the police and Republican pundits.
No surprise here.
Letâs move on to more music for the season with something to make us forget that the America we knew is disintegrating in front of us.
Here is an old Irish song that dates from the 12th century, âThe Wexford Carolâ. Take a listen to the melody and beautiful words. This version has Allison Krauss performing along with Yo Yo Ma. That’s the amazing Natalie MacMaster backing them on the fiddle:
First verse:
Good people all, this Christmas time,
Consider well and bear in mind
What our good God for us has done,
In sending His belovĂšd Son.
RE: Sony. The twist in this case is the trope that North Korea is suppressing our Freedom of Speech. And, the suppressed âFreedom of Speechâ is a shitty Hollywood movie. So the public is getting spun about an invisible, but somehow tangible, âattackâ on our freedoms. The Wrongologist has no skills to determine who hacked Sony, but when the mainstream media jumps on something with both feet, you know it supports SOME government theme.
Is the plan to convince the American people that there are âthreatsâ everywhere and that only the State Security Apparatus can protect them from Evil? The usual pun-holes on the Sunday tube talked about how big the threat is, and how vulnerable we are.
America has become a Factory of Fear. Fear the Muslims, fear Putin, fear China, fear immigrants, fear criminals, fear the national debt, fear detente with Cuba. Trouble is, once again, the only thing weâre being urged to do is muster up the courage to go shopping. Authoritarians need their subjects to be afraid. Their bet is that people will submit to bullying if they believe that the bullies are the only thing standing between them and their terrors.
Things have to change. Killing brown people for peace is not working. Our empire is bankrupting us, and has not made us any safer. Unfortunately in the US, our domestic politics, plus our failures in military adventurism, have created ever greater violence and lunacy, further feeding the rolling disaster.
As an example, take New York City. Two police were killed in their patrol car. NYâs Patrolmenâs Benevolent Association, the police union, reacts by declaring that the NYPD has âbecome a âwartimeâ police department, and we will act accordingly.â
Wartime, really? Are these the unionâs marching orders to the 35,000 armed members of the biggest police department in the US? The NYPD seems to be asserting their superiority to the NYC executive branch. This has the earmarks of an attempted coup.
As a former military, the Wrongologist respects the absolute need for a chain of command with an elected civilian at the top. As a former military, he knows that many in the military only respect the authority of civilian leadership if the civilian happens to be a conservative.
The NYPD seems to be ready to strike out at their civilian leadership because they have deemed it to be unworthy of leading their âhonorableâ police force. Their attitude of superiority should scare the living daylights out of all of us. This attitude is not amenable to any evidence to the contrary, or to self-reflection and examination. It will brook no doubts about the moral purity of the NYC police.
This seems to be coming to a head, and seems that it will only get uglier.
Mondayâs Wake Up Music: On a much lighter note, some seasonal music. Here are the Capitol Steps with a seasonal song about Guantanamo:
Next, a semi-seasonal tune by The Firemen. Sounds obscure? It is. The Firemen are a duo of Paul McCartney and Martin Glover, who performs as Youth. There are some doubts about whether or not âDance âtil Weâre Highâ is a real Christmas song, even though it has lyrics about âwinter comingâ, âsnow fallingâ, âbells ringing outâ and a catchy tune. But, itâs way better than McCartneyâs âWonderful Christmastimeâ:
Your Monday Linkage: Tanks that wonât go away. The CRomnibus funding bill includes $554 billion for defense spending. This lines up almost exactly with President Obamaâs original request, but Congress made considerable changes to where this money is being spent. According to analysis by Defense News, 10% of the FY15 defense appropriations budgetâand 30% of all line itemsâwere changed in the logrolling process. The biggest ticket items include $120 million more for M-1 Abrams tanks, despite Army protestations (for the third straight year) that no additional tanks are needed.
Oops. On July 3, Homeland Security, which plays a key role in responding to cyber-attacks, replied to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request about a malware attack on Google called âOperation Aurora.â Unfortunately, DHS officials made a grave error in their response. DHS released more than 800 pages of documents related not to Operation Aurora but rather to the Aurora Project, a 2007 research effort demonstrating how easy it was to hack into US power and water systems.
Ars Technica calls the Sony hack a âsoftware pipe bomb.â Analysis by Cisco of a malware sample matching the signature of the malware that was used in the attack on Sony Pictures, reveals that the code was full of bugs and was anything but sophisticated.
Our frequent commenter, Terry McKenna, has a great post about Cuba and our Constitution. Go read it.
It’s easier to believe in a benevolent God — the baby Jesus — than it is in some kind of theory about global warming. It’s just easier, is it not?
O’Reilly was making the point that literal belief in the story of the virgin birth as it appears in the gospels is easy, while believing that burning fossil fuels causes climate change is hard. Another way of putting this is that O’Reilly thinks it is easier to believe that a woman can be impregnated without sperm than it is to believe the consensus of the scientific community on an issue he apparently doesn’t understand.
A week where Colbert moved on, and all but the anti-Castro diehards moved on.
And Sony? Think of it this way: A Japanese company with offices in California was hacked. Several terabytes of data were copied from its internal networks and some was put on file sharing sites. One of the items copied was The Interview, a film produced in Canada that is a comedy about killing a current (although illegitimate) head of state. Tons of other data were stolen, like social security numbers, payroll data, and internal emails, all of which might have been the real targets of the hackers.
Sony is a wonderful object lesson. A few rogue hackers, possibly affiliated with North Korea if you believe the FBI, have forced the company to cancel the movie. The larger issue is that America is no longer free to watch bad movies. The problem for the US is that cyber warfare is cheap and effective. Unlike our military, it isnât capital intensive, and it canât be defeated with aircraft carriers and nukes. Yet, the new Congress will probably vote for more jets and tanks.
The tools used to hack Sony are well known and in the public domain. Sony has lousy internal network security and has been hacked before. Itâs time that dysfunctional corporations like Sony, invest in protecting themselves. It isnât the governmentâs responsibility.
Hollywood, that bastion of free speech, heads for the exits:
It hurts to give up when you are so close to, what, exactly?
Mr. Obama’s unilateral action on Cuba shows his callous disregard for his lame-duckitude. It also shows his disrespect for the Constitution, Christianity, and everything Americans hold dear.
Today, a little more about Cuba. In January, while on a US government-sanctioned trip to Cuba, Wrongo met and became friendly with an award-winning author who also teaches at a local college in Havana. He is not a member of the Cuban Communist Party. Yesterday, I sent him a congratulatory email. Here is his reply:
What a great day for the future of this country, thanks to everyoneÂŽs support. We are starting a new path and I hope the future is prominent for all who genuinely dreamt of this great opportunity. Personally I will keep up the fight to bring both countries even closer. We all deserve it.
He is representative of many of the people I met during the week in Cuba. Many struggle to put food on the table, many are entrepreneurial, holding down 2 and sometimes 3 private sector jobs. And all were optimistic about the future, despite most being cash-poor.
A diplomatic thaw is a hopeful opening for both countries. Time will tell if the governments can match the willingness of their people to create an atmosphere of peace and cooperation.
Wrongo was a freshman in college when JFK gave what some call the âscariest speech everâ. We were playing cards in a dorm room, using a bed for a table as Kennedy spoke. Everyone in that room was frightened, and subsequently, all were drafted, or volunteered for military service after graduation.
Here is a short reminiscence about the times and the reactions in Washington and the Kremlin in 1962:
To help celebrate the end of belligerence between our two countries, here is Phil Ochs with âI Ainât Marching Anymoreâ from 1965. It was about Vietnam, but it works for our 55-year disagreement with Cuba as well:
Sample lyric: Now the labor leader’s screamin’ when they close the missile plants, United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore, Call it “Peace” or call it “Treason,” Call it “Love” or call it “Reason,” But I ain’t marchin’ any more,
Phil, we could really use your voice now. The fight isn’t over.
Yesterday, Mr. Obama announced that the US and Cuba will resume diplomatic relations after 55 years of dysfunction and belligerence. Predictably, a few Congressional leaders and Republican presidential hopefuls lashed out at the president and the decision. Jeb Bush said:
The benefactors of President Obamaâs ill-advised move will be the Castro brothers.
This was followed by these predictable words from Sen. McCain (R-AZ) and his paramour, Sen. Huckleberry Butch Me Up (R-SC), who said that the policy shift reflected that: (brackets by the Wrongologist)
America and the values it stands for [are] in retreat and decline…It is about the appeasement of autocratic dictators, thugs and adversaries, diminishing Americaâs influence in the world.
The Obama party line is: âthe current policy has failed for 55 years. The Castro brothers have outlasted 8 US presidents. Letâs try something different.â
âą According to the Pew Research Center, there are about 1.9 million Cuban-Americans in the US. 70% of Cuban-Americans live in Florida, making them the most geographically concentrated of the 12 largest Hispanic origin groups.
âą We know that the younger Cuban-Americans shifted toward the left during the 2012 election. In 2012, Obama won a majority of the Cuban-American vote in Miami. He won Cubans nationally by two points.
A final reason why this works for both sides right now is the Saudi decision to force lower oil prices. Cuba cannot sustain its economy on its own. As an example, Cuba now imports an estimated 80% percent of the food its people consume, at a cost of more than $1.5 billion per year. Venezuela has been Cubaâs prime financial benefactor, but the Venezuelan economy is in terrible shape, even before the current sharp decline in the price of oil, which is its primary source of state revenue.
They will soon be forced to cut Cubaâs rations. That will be a huge opening for the US, particularly since Cubaâs former benefactor, Russia, has its own economic difficulties as well.
Despite the Republican bleating about Cuba as a communist dictatorship with a horrible human rights record, being a communist government with horrible human rights record hasnât stopped America from dealing with China, which these same Republicans think is just fine.
So why not trade with Cuba? How can trade with Cuba be a sign of political weakness, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to global economic progress and a spirit of international harmony?
Itâs been wrong for the US to continue to hold a cold war grudge against Cuba. The US could most readily help the people of Cuba by opening up trade between the two countries.
Letâs close with a song about going to Cuba by Jackson Browne:
Sample lyric: I’m going to drink the Ron Anejo and walk out on the Malecon in one hand a Monte Cristo and in the other an ice cream cone.
And they truly love their ice cream.
Good luck to the Cubans, a lovely people, and a lovely country.
