Wrongoâs not gonna say much thatâs bad about the late George HW Bush today. Wouldn’t be prudent.
What the Hell…hereâs a few observations. Bush was an average president who looks better than he should because we compare him to the terrible Republican presidents weâve experienced since he left office. He was a genuine war hero, and a self-made successful businessman (to the extent that his wealthy family didnât just hand him a Texas oil business). He was a reasonable head of the CIA.
But to become president, he engaged in race baiting, using the Willie Horton ad against Dukakis. It was openly racist, harking back to old American fears of black men raping white women. Bush can never be forgiven for this.
He brought us Clarence Thomas. Bush could have held the Reagan administration accountable for Iran-Contra. Instead, he chose to pardon everyone. Just before he left office, he pardoned Caspar Weinberger, who was just about to go on trial for his crimes, describing him as a âtrue American patriot.â He also pardoned Elliott Abrams and Robert McFarlane, basically ending the chance that anyone would be held responsible for Iran-Contra.
His pardons of the Iran-Contra crew allowed them to re-enter public life where they became the backbone for Operation Iraqi Freedom under GW Bush. This is his barely-remembered and negative contribution to todayâs political landscape. His Thousand Points of Light idea was a non-offensive push toward nonprofits and individual acts of kindness and charity. Neil Young said it best:
We have 1,000 points of light
For the homeless man
We have a kinder, gentler
Machine gun hand
On to cartoons. The national Christmas tree looks different this year:
Trump tosses pardons for Mueller relief:
Rudy means thereâs no collusion between Manafort and Cohen:
G20 meetings saw Putin working with his hands:
GMâs plant closings could create more immigrants:
The Texas Board of Education is taking Hillary Clinton and Helen Keller out of their school curriculum because they arenât âessentialâ to learn about. The Dallas Morning News spoke with two teachers from the board that made the recommendations. Both said the state required students to learn about so many historical figures that it resulted in rote memorization of dates and names instead of real learning:
The 15-member work group came up with a rubric for grading every historical figure to rank who is “essential” to learn and who isn’t. The formula asked questions like, “Did the person trigger a watershed change”; “Was the person from an underrepresented group”; and “Will their impact stand the test of time?”
Out of 20 points, Keller scored a 7 and Clinton scored a 5. It’s difficult to understand how Helen Keller got 40% more points than Clinton. Eliminating Clinton from the requirements will save teachers 30 minutes of instructional time, the work group estimated, and eliminating Keller will save 40 minutes.
Totally worth it. Theyâre adding Rev. Billy Graham, but the first woman to win the popular vote for President? She didnât make the cut.
The problem with Texas eliminating women like Hillary Clinton & Helen Keller from textbooks is that what happens in Texas doesnât stay in Texas. For decades, publishers have allowed Texas to exert control over what gets printed in textbooks nationally because Texas has 5.3 million students, more than other states.
Texas originally acquired its power over the nationâs textbook supply because it paid 100% of the cost of all public school textbooks, as long as the books in question came from a very short list of board-approved options. As Gail Collins said in a 2012 NYRB article:
Texas certainly didnât single-handedly mess up American textbooks, but its size, its purchasing heft, and the pickiness of the school boardâs endless demandsânot to mention the boardâs overall crazinessâcertainly made it the trend leader.
History is so hard. Too many facts. Was any history made last week? Time will tell.
The Mueller investigation flipped Manafort. A few people think it means nothing:
Whether you like it when the bird sings, depends upon your perspective:
Actual news about Puerto Ricoâs hurricane deaths hurt Trumpyâs feelings:
US EPA loosens rules on methane pollution to stop the crying by energy companies:
Putin and Xi making blinis at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, RU last week. As usual, Putin looks like he knows what heâs doing. Xi, not so much.
Wow, what a week! We seem to say this all the time, and Wrongo thinks we have become inured to all the drama. On Friday, Hurricane Florence made landfall in NC. And what lies in her path? The New York Times reports that Florenceâs path is strewn with toxic hazards, including:
…ponds of coal ash, toxic sites, and thousands of industrial hog farms with lagoons of pig waste.
THAT should be one stinky clean-up. Speaking of dirt, the Kavanaugh confirmation was delayed a week, and up popped a confidential memo about a possible sexual assault that occurred while he was in high school. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) sent it to the FBI, who say they do not plan to investigate. The details are salacious. Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker tweeted:
A woman alleged to two democrats that, during high school, Brett Kavanaugh held her down and attempted to force himself on her, placing a hand over her mouth and turning up music to conceal her protests.
Sadly, this accusation is too old, and since the accuser wishes to remain anonymous, it will have no effect on Kavanaughâs confirmation.
Has the biggest rat turned on Trump? Paul Manafort has agreed to a plea and cooperation agreement in his continuing legal troubles with the Special Counsel. He has agreed to sit for interviews with Mueller’s special counsel team, testify in any future cases, and submit related documents. Whether he truly cooperates, and whether he has information of any value, remains to be seen.
Finally letâs turn to Donald Trumpâs inexplicable claims about hurricane deaths in Puerto Rico. He denied that a mass casualty event, equivalent to 9/11 in its loss of life, ever happened. Political Wire reported:
President Trump tweeted that he didnât believe that roughly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria.
Said Trump: â3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000.â
He added that it was âdone by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico!â
So, 3,000 people didn’t die in Hurricane Maria, but 3 million people voted illegally for Hillary in 2016.
Weâre talking here about the President of the United States denying a carefully and professionally researched study of the hurricane death toll, while blaming his opponents, and without a scintilla of evidence to back up his claim.
He asserts that his administration didn’t screw up first, by neglecting the disaster, and second, by not staying the course to rebuild Puerto Ricoâs electric grid. Plus, do you believe he actually raised “billions” to rebuild PR? He might as well say Wrongo personally donated a million dollars to PR relief.
The bottom line from this week is that the next two years will be about Trump defending himself from impeachment charges, while Kavanaugh gleefully repeals Roe v. Wade.
Itâs way too much! Time to unplug from all the cacophony, and seek some Saturday soothing. Start by brewing up a pot of Finca El Socorro Maracaturra ($22.50/12 oz.) from PTâs Coffee Roasting Co in Topeka, KS. Â The roaster says that it is richly sweet, balanced, and intricately layered. They say it tastes of frankincense (!), almond nougat, honeysuckle, and dried black cherry.
Now, find a comfortable place to sit where you can view the world outside, and listen to 2CELLOS play âGabriel’s Oboeâ from film âThe Missionâ by Ennio Morricone. Here, Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, who are the 2CHELLOS, perform with the Zagreb Soloists at their “Back to the Roots” concert at the Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, June 2015:
The American cellist Matt Haimovitz, has said that the celloâs range is closest to the human voice. Maybe thatâs why the cello is Wrongoâs favorite instrument.
Those who read the Wrongologist in email can view the video here.
Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, UT – 2018 photo by FeloniousMuskellunge. Itâs the longest sandstone arch in the world.
Manafort and Cohen: Guilty. Immunity for David Pecker, the owner of the National Enquirer, who paid Stormy Daniels. Immunity for the CFO of the Trump organization, who really knows were all the bones are buried in Trumpland. The walls seem to be closing in. In response, Trump said:
I tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor.
Someone who Wrongo thinks is a very astute guy, said: âThatâs the start of Trump negotiating with us.â
Maybe, but Trump is actually negotiating with the Senate about Jeff Sessions. The answer? Theyâre fine with replacing Sessions after the mid-terms. The pivotal signal came on Thursday, when two key Republican senators âtoldâ Trump that he could replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions after the midterm elections. That would open the way either for firing Robert Mueller, or constraining his probe.
Hereâs what Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had to say:
The presidentâs entitled to an attorney general he has faith in, somebody thatâs qualified for the job, and I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice….Clearly, Attorney General Sessions doesnât have the confidence of the president.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IW), Chair of the Judiciary Committee, now says that heâd be able to make time for hearings for a new attorney general, after saying in the past that the panel was too busy to take up another confirmation.
The Republicanâs plan is clear. Once Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in, they’ll have what theyâve wanted: Huge corporate tax cuts for the rich, two SCOTUS picks who will have a lifetime to work their pro-corporate agenda, all while finishing off FDRâs reforms and the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, for good.
And it would be just fine for the Republicans if the Orange Overlord gets the blame.
It’s all upside for the GOP now. Maybe getting rid of Sessions and subsequently firing Mueller is the excuse theyâll need to push Trump out, and bring in Pence. Maybe they’re fine with him sticking around. Maybe the Dems will help out if they take control of the House in January. Once Kavanaugh is on the Court, maybe the GOP will give Trump free rein. Sessions may try to hang on, but Trump has asked Sessions to investigate Trump’s political opponents:
Which is exactly what Sessions says he wonât do. This is the Republicanâs game between now and the mid-terms: Kavanaugh installed, Trump unleashed, and the people who enabled him simply walking away.
Enough! Time to unplug from the news for at least an hour or two. Start by brewing up a cup of Difference Coffeeâs unique offering of Esmeralda Geisha, in their Nespresso-compatible capsules (ÂŁ50/10 capsules!). Notice its flavors of lemon tart and bakerâs chocolate that resolve into a delicately plump mouthfeel and long, resonant, peach and lemon-saturated finish.
Now, put on your wireless headphones and listen to the Largo aria from the Opera Xerxes by G.F. Handel. He wrote it in 1738, but it was a failure, closing after just five performances. One hundred years later, the aria was resurrected, and became very popular. Here, it is not sung, but played by three cellos and piano. The artists are on Cello: Peter Sebestyen, Zoe Stedje, and Adam Scheck. And on Piano: David Szabo. It is performed in 2013 at Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, Ireland:
Those who read the Wrongologist in email can view the video here.
The Moses Bridge, Netherlands – photo via @archpics. The bridge, which crosses a moat, is made from waterproof wood.
Weâre all busy trying to figure out what the twin âguiltyâ findings about Manafort and Cohen really mean, but Steve Breen nailed it:
Michael Cohen clearly put Trump in trouble by saying that Cohen had worked in coordination with Trump to silence the two women that Trump had affairs with, in order to influence the 2016 election.
Republicans say that finding two of Trumpâs inner circle guilty has nothing to do with Russia, or with Trump, and Wrongo remains skeptical about what Mueller will actually prove.
OTOH, Cohen worked on a Trump Tower project that was supposed to be built in Moscow. He worked on that project during the 2016 presidential campaign. You may remember that in 2017, Trump said that no such relationship with Russia ever existed.
Manafort was convicted of tax evasion. The taxes Manafort didnât pay were on income from Russian proxies, one of whom, the president, was running Ukraine for the Kremlin. Manafortâs conviction on bank fraud was related to bank loans he tried to get at least in part, to pay back $20 million he owed to a buddy of Vladimir Putin. His business also employed a Russian intelligence officer for years, and once Manafort was the Trump Campaign Manager, he offered that intelligence officer private briefings on the Trump campaign.
So, there are links to Russia for both men. But, the big ugly shoe to drop is whether Michael Cohen can corroborate what McClatchy journalists Peter Stone and Greg Gordon said a few months ago:
The Justice Department special counsel has evidence that Donald Trumpâs personal lawyer and confidant, Michael Cohen, secretly made a late-summer trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign…
No real proof has emerged that ties Cohen to a visit to Prague, or to meeting Russians. Cohen could tell Mueller whether the trip took place, and if Cohen strategized while there with Russians about the Kremlinâs playing a role in the US election.
Wrongo is again, skeptical. He doubts that the Trump organization would have Cohen undertake such a mission. But, if true, It would prove that the Trump campaign and the Kremlin worked together to help Trump win the White House.
Letâs turn briefly to a related idea: Facebookâs role as a platform for the spread of both disinformation, and as a rallying site for angry groups. In under the radar item at the NYT, a landmark study about violence against refugees in Germany shows that the most significant variable among towns with instances of violence was use of Facebook.
The work by Karsten MĂźller and Carlo Schwarz, researchers at the University of Warwick, shows:
Their reams of data converged on a breathtaking statistic: Wherever per-person Facebook use rose to one standard deviation above the national average, attacks on refugees increased by about 50 percent.
The researchers scrutinized every anti-refugee attack in Germany, 3,335 in all, over a two-year span. In each case, they analyzed the local community by all relevant variables. One thing stuck out. Towns where Facebook use was higher than average reliably experienced more attacks on refugees.
That held true in virtually any sort of community â big city or small town; affluent or struggling; liberal haven or far-right stronghold â suggesting that the link applies universally. From the NYT:
The uptick in violence did not correlate with general web use or other related factors; this was not about the internet as an open platform for mobilization or communication. It was particular to Facebook.
This has huge implications: Does social media scramble usersâ perceptions of outsiders, of reality, even of right and wrong?
We all believe that Facebook has had an impact on amplifying division in our society. We all are dimly aware that Facebook uses algorithms to determine what appears in each userâs newsfeed. That algorithmâs mission is to present content that maximizes user engagement.
Posts that tap into primal emotions, like anger or fear, perform best, studies have found, and so proliferate. Wrongo said this a few days ago:
There are two powerful forces within Facebookâs algorithms: A combination of fear of social change, and the âus-versus-themâ rallying cries. Everybody knows that they are common on Facebook.
Alex Jones was banned for posting âfake newsâ. Clay Jones, (no relation) the cartoonist who drew the above, asks how conservatives can say that private businesses like Facebook or Apple shouldnât be able to deny Alex Jones from stating his opinions. But, conservatives also argue that the NFL must stop football players from kneeling during the National Anthem. Is holding both positions acceptable?
Just a few parallels:
As bad as Nixon was, he doesn’t hold a candle to Trump’s self-serving deceit!
First the gates, then the fort. What else protects Trump?
How will the Trumpets square these ideas with the âfinal frontierâ?
Trump tries explaining how the fires in CA were caused:
Trumpâs secret sanctions plan will bring Iran to its knees:
Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, UT – 2018 photo by 
