Tag Archives: POLITICS

BELIEVE TO KEEP BELIEVING or HE’S OBVIOUSLY LYING

AG Barr just refuted our President’s claim that there is widespread voting fraud enough to change the outcome of the election.

The man appointed by the President to rubber stamp all of the President’s policies and who has spent his two years doing things like: misrepresenting the Russia investigation (whether you believe the investigation was worth it or not — I do not — he still misrepresented the final report), to giving orders to disperse peaceful demonstrations (most people don’t argue against unlawful or dangerous demonstrations by the way), to stating his own DoJ is being run by inexperienced people.

Well, this man, just said that to date, there isn’t widespread voter fraud enough to change the outcome of the election.

And you know what that means.

Which Trump loyalists will disown Barr, call his credibility into question, and continue believing our President now?.

Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud
https://apnews.com/article/barr-no-widespread-election-fraud-b1f1488796c9a98c4b1a9061a6c7f49d

You can hate Biden. You can detest his policies. (You can’t call him a pedophile, you can, but it’s ridiculous.) But when we lose the ability to anchor on objective truths we lose the ability to do…anything.

It’s amazing what we’ll believe, in order to keep believing what we believe.

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for those with the ability to think objectively and critically. No matter how long it takes for them to get there.

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MONDAY MORNING POV

An excellent primer on the hottest topic of the day (outside of that ball game from…this morning): the Mueller indictments.

Katyal covers the dynamics at play between:> Mueller – admirably independent but easily curtailed if not stopped in his tracks> Rosenstein – with generous power to terminate Mueller based on legal latitude> President Trump – with the constitutional power to terminate Mueller or force Rosenstein to do so> The Congress – who, whether in the majority or minority party, must be informed of said termination

He also covers the difference between constitutional authority and practical, sensical reality (though he uses a universally egregious and idiotic extreme example, PT’s constitutional authority to bomb London now, that everyone disagrees with, to make his point which I think, weakens his narrative.)I thank the just amazing Emily Bazelon for catching and sharing this. I recommend following her as

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful for her feed and how much smarter it makes me.

As for Katyal, remember he is the Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University. Before that he wrote the laws that define the above, and from his bio: “He has served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States, where he argued several major Supreme Court cases involving a variety of issues, such as his successful defense of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, his victorious defense of former Attorney General John Ashcroft for alleged abuses in the war on terror, his unanimous victory against 8 states who sued the nation’s leading power plants for contributing to global warming, and a variety of other matters.” What saddens me is some of you will see who wrote it and discount this altogether as opposed to learn from and engage with the POV of a person who was instrumental to drafting the framework that set the stage for all those dynamics above.

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EXERCISE

Sharing a post from a former co-worker who I think the world of. Whether you agree with the politics or not, I think we can universally appreciate the approach. If you are with Jemele Hill, here’s a way you can support her. If you aren’t with Jemele Hill, I know for certain, Kash will welcome the feedback and the debate — in a healthy way.

#iamgrateful and #iamthankful that regardless of the spark, there’s more and more informed social commentary and discussion on my FB wall than ever before. We can’t have progress without educated, informed debate. My peers and I didn’t motivate like this (yeah, this is also me shouting out millennials once again.)

https://changemgmt.org/blog/2017/10/10/list-of-dallas-cowboys-advertisers-to-boycott?fbclid=IwAR18bRFStR7qUP5qqvyBt2sJ0Mc4MRvX2-8GyUZNZf4uOrV3CBouyDsn6jI

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TRUTH (3 of 3)

Politics is not a zero sum game. In the private sector, it often is. One company’s gains come at another’s losses. There are market sizes and there are market shares. If we treat our politics and the role of the public sector like we do that of the private sector, we will fail. At all of our responsibilities. That’s why in the private sector it really is Android vs iOS. Ford vs Chrysler. Taco Bell vs the World. Because the private sector can make choices about who it serves. The public. The public sector. Our country. Can’t. We have to find ways to serve everyone. To make sure everyone is served. We also have to stop treating our politics like our sports. Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter isn’t Packers vs Falcons. For one to win the other doesn’t have to lose. I can believe, at the same time, that white middle class workers in the rust belt have suffered recently and that inner city Americans have suffered at the hands of failed education investments. I am capable of complex thinking and can hold more than one polarizing, absolutist thought in my head at one time. #Iamgrateful and #Iamthankful that there are three sectors driving America forward. If the public sector is going to step back from prioritizing civil rights, environmentalism, and health care–I know I am alive at a time when the private sector is being judged at tighter 3BL standards than ever before, and one where some of the best innovations are being driven by the nonprofit sector. Government has its checks and balances. That’s one third of what drives us forward. Thanks to everyone who matched yesterday. I cleaned a garage. But I start marching for my friends and family today. Trump is my President. I say it. Even when many of the people asking me to say it never had the decency to say it from 2008-2016. I say it. I acknowledge it. I wish him well and I do believe that in some of the area he is prioritizing, we will see great things happen that other Presidents never had the guts to take on (infrastructure is for EVERY American.) And I will also bring it. Game on folks. You energized? Because the best thing that came out of this election for the people who share my values is a much needed dose of humility followed by inspiration. As opposed to arrogance and condescension followed by apathy. Won’t happen again. Amirite?

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TRUTH (2 of 3):

If America is my country. Donald Trump is my President. And that makes this the inaugural address by my new President. #Iamgrateful and #Iamthankful for NPR and how they walk through the speech, step-by-step. It’s honest and objective. Look at the first piece of analysis on Trump’s opening lines: “Trump ran on a nostalgic slogan of “Make America Great Again.” But it was never clear what, precisely, that meant. By many basic measures and statistics, the country is better off than eight years ago. The country was on the precipice of a potential Great Depression and more than 100,000 troops were overseas, entangled in two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, the economy has improved; the unemployment rate is below 5 percent. And the number of troops in conflict is drastically reduced. There has, however, been some permanent damage to some after the recession — some have had to take jobs for less money and struggled to retrain for new careers. Many retirement plans were decimated. And the red tape and cost to some for Obamacare caused a backlash against President Obama and his party.” If you accept the first half of this analysis, you have to accept the second. If you accept the second half of this analysis, you have to accept the first. It’s how we’ll heal together.

https://www.npr.org/2017/01/20/510629447/watch-live-president-trumps-inauguration-ceremony?fbclid=IwAR0bYdbemixfWNdiOJdwnvsv3nYutyRwhtVZo6ul8OgYnvsOgzIEV0HLNAE

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TRUTH (1 of 3)

This. https://fivethirtyeight.com/…/barack-obama-won-the…/

How do you win and lose at the same time? When the rules you govern and evaluate by are not the rules decisions are made by. Obama is a great man. He was a President I love (was, because it’s 1214am and times they have a changed.) But he will only be a great President (impactful) of we learn from what he did as well as from where he didn’t (wouldn’t, couldn’t.)

#Iamgrateful and #Iamthankful for #44. He crystallized some very clear perspectives I have on the world. He advanced us in so many ways that matter to me (if not you.) And he also left us clearly with so many steps still to take. Time will tell when (not if) we have healed enough as a country to absorb that next round of steps. Permanently.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/barack-obama-won-the-white-house-but-democrats-lost-the-country/?fbclid=IwAR3mg2P5x7KvOONaYG7CQITmBB0oJ1XiYNzsL3BqyjoLJOreN206hB5lXh8

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POVs

I fully missed Trump’s press conference. I started reading headlines from NYT, CNN, FOX, Breitbart, Young Conservatives … and I’m lost. Did any of you folks watch it? Would love to hear all sides. Also, side note … does anyone else feel that people and their political parties are starting to act like NFL fans? I compare reading headlines about this news conference (and last night’s speech) to watching a football game between rival teams, with rival fans — and arguing every penalty. It’s amazing how the exact same thing, that everyone sees, can have two such wildly different interpretations.

#Iamgrateful and #Iamthankful the Broncos aren’t in the playoffs this year. I can watch football objectively, or, do what I’ve been doing, and ignore it altogether. 🙂

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PLAYED

We. Are all being played. If we comment on Streep and not on Sessions, we are being played. If we take a side on Putin and the 2016 election, without acknowledging he aimed to influence and change public opinion (objectively true) but he didn’t hack votes and thus the electoral process (objectively true), we are being played. If we call what someone writes “fake news” because we disagree with it, we are being played. If we revere Obama, without honestly talking about his calming presence (he was the embodiment of Presidential), his wins (a more inclusive America as it pertains to health, gender, religion, orientation), his losses (a massive and increasing wealth gap gone uncurbed), his obstacles (obstructionism for ideology), we are being played. If we criticize Republicans for going nuclear, without criticizing Democrats for giving them that power and weakening our Democracy, we are being played. My newsfeed makes me sad today. I feel like I am being yelled at in both ears, other ear be d*mned. #Iamgrateful and #Iamthankful I can always hug my kids and hope they will grow up capable of starting with empathy. But most importantly, starting with what is objectively and undeniably true.

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MORE

’nuff said. #Iamhopeful#Iamgrateful and #Iamthankful … More please.

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