tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23093851585372547112024-02-07T05:40:48.825+02:00Boreal ExpatRandom thoughts of an American in FinlandKent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.comBlogger250125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-42571574721281351372022-05-21T12:49:00.001+03:002022-05-21T12:49:20.451+03:00Day 87<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Day
87 of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. It’s been a busy week for
Finland. On Monday the Finnish parliament debated NATO membership for 14 hours.
How much debate there was, is itself debatable, since when the vote was held
the next day there was overwhelming support for the move, with only 8
parliament members voting against it (out of 200), mostly from the Left Alliance
party.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Following
the vote, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, declared that Finland and
Sweden joining NATO doesn’t really matter to the Kremlin after all. Which begs
the question: if a neighboring country joining NATO is no big deal, then what
was all that rigamarole about Russia having no choice but to invade Ukraine
because a neighboring country even contemplating joining the western alliance could
not be tolerated by Russia.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The
following day Finland, along with Sweden, formally delivered its application to
Jens Stoltenberg, general secretary of NATO and fellow Nordic. The day after that,
Finnish president Sauli Niinistö traveled straight from Sweden, where he was making a
state visit (prompted by the NATO application), to Washington to meet with Joe Biden. Sauli’s been busy. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And he did manage
to talk by phone to Putin last week, expressing his view of Finland’s situation
in a clear and straightforward manner. Putin, in turn, told Niinistö that Finland
would be making a mistake by joining NATO. Which seems to fly in the face of
what Lavrov said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 128.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The
Russians are saying a lot of things. Someone on Russian state TV explained that
the USSR never invaded Finland in 1939, but rather merely “moved our borders
deeper into Finland”. Defense Minister Shoigu also said last week that Sweden and Finland’s
membership in NATO would force Russia to create 12 army “units and division” in
the military district bordering Finland.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As
of 7:00 this morning, Russia shut off the pipeline supplying natural
gas to Finland. Luckily, Finland is not very dependent on gas in general, and the
government has just signed a 10-year contract with an American company to lease
the ship Exemplar, a “floating storage and regasification vessel” to help Finland
import gas from other sources.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A small brewery in Savonlinna, not that far from the border that the USSR "moved" in 1939, is now marketing NATO-inspired beer, called "OTAN", which happens to be the French acronym for NATO <i>and</i> the Finnish word for "I take", commonly used when taking a good, hearty swig of beer. The Olof Brewing is planning to ship some samples to Joe Biden and Jens Stoltenberg. No word whether they will send some to Putin. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Recently,
I happened to notice that our cable TV package now includes, along with CNN,
BBC, etc., the Nickelodeon cartoon channel – in Ukrainian. Unexpected. The only
explanation I can come up with is that it’s for the benefit of Ukrainian children
who are now in Finland as refugees. Though it’s true that, even before the war, Ukrainians has made up a large part of seasonal labor force in Finland. Whether there will be fewer Ukrainian strawberry pickers this summer due to men remaining in Ukraine to fight, I have no idea. </span></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-46096385715332349772022-05-08T12:46:00.001+03:002022-05-08T12:46:56.507+03:00Day 74<p><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Day 74 of Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine. This past week the Finnish army was holding its annual mechanized war exercises (which I guess means using tanks, etc.), named Arrow 22. This year, units from the American, British, Latvian and Estonian armies were taking part. Such a joint exercise with four NATO militaries at this particular moment, of course, doesn't go unnoticed. It's even gotten the attention of the international media, with CNN at least doing a segment on it. The British defence minister was onhand to watch the exercises in person. He pledged that Britain would definitely come to Finland's aid in the case of a Russian attack.</span></span></p><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Meanwhile, also this past week, a Russian helicopter encroached 4 kilometers into Finnish airspace, though nowhere near where Arrow 22 was taking place. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Neste, Finland's partly state-owned oil company, will take delivery of its last shipment of Russian crude oil in July, replacing it with North Sea oil. The Helsingin Sanomat has reported that before the war started an average of six tankers a week delivered oil from Russia, supplying two-thirds of Finland's crude oil imports. Now that's been reduced to just one tanker a week. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Finland is proceeding fast with its plans to join NATO. You might say Russia is not happy about this. One concrete threat already made by Russia is that the Saimaa Canal might be closed if Finland follows through joining the western alliance. The canal, half of which runs through Russian territory, gives Finland's massive Lake Saimaa freshwater system access to the Baltic Sea at the former Finnish city of Viipuri. Last summer, we watched a Russian freighter pass through the Mälkiä lock, the first lock on the voyage down the canal from Saimaa. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The canal was built over 165 years ago when Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia, and has been operated by Finland since 1963. Finland holds a lease on the Russian part of the canal until 2063. A lot of industry in eastern Finland uses the canal for international trade. Towns deep inside Finland, like my wife's hometown of Varkaus, historically a big paper-making center, have benefited from the ship traffic the canal makes possible. It's clearly more important to Finland than to Russia. There was a danger that EU sanctions against Russia would put a stop to use of the canal when it reopened after the usual winter break. But then it was decided that ship traffic between Finland and Russia via the canal does not fall under the sanctions. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The war is having some effect anyway. While the canal officially opened for the 2022 traffic season on 28 March, actual ship traffic had to wait for the ice to melt enough by itself, without human help. Normally, sea-based ice breakers would have cleared the ice-bound sections of the canal with the opening of the season. But the operators of the ice breakers decided not to this year due to the risk of the canal being shut unepectedly, preventing their return back down the canal to the sea. Ironically, the ice breakers could have become stuck in Lake Saimaa in the summer. Now the Russia Duma is warning that Finland's 50-year lease on the canal could be "revised" if it joins NATO, a clear threat to close the canal. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505;">Tomorrow is May 9th, Victory Day in Russia. There were reports that Putin wanted to have the whole military adventure in Ukraine wrapped up by then in order to put on a huge Victory Day celebration. Now, it seems he might use the occasion to officially declare war on Ukraine (not just a special military operation). As if things could get worse. Or maybe they can. </span><span class="pq6dq46d tbxw36s4 knj5qynh kvgmc6g5 ditlmg2l oygrvhab nvdbi5me sf5mxxl7 gl3lb2sf hhz5lgdu" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; display: inline-flex; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"></span></span></div></div>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-56014259799107698602022-05-04T22:36:00.001+03:002022-05-07T10:32:21.355+03:00A Modest Proposal<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">With
the leak of the Supreme Court draft decision concerning abortion, it is now clear
that Roe v. Wade will soon be overturned and abortion will become illegal in
many states. Many people are upset by this. Many people, no doubt, are celebrating.
It is a divisive issue. I have some thoughts. And a possible compromise solution.
A modest proposal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The
goal of Pro-Choice folks is to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The goal of Pro-Lifers
is to prevent abortions. If you think about it, both goals can be achieved (for
the most part) by tightly regulating pregnancies.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Why
do pregnancies occur? Because of sperm. The woman’s egg also, of course, but
without the sperm there is no pregnancy. It takes two to tango.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The
easiest way to do this is through vasectomies. All males could be required to have
a vasectomy before reproductive age, say at the age of 13. No exceptions. It
could even be seen (maybe ironically) as a ritual of manhood. “Now you are old
enough to have sex, young man.” without the worry of getting the girl pregnant.
The demand for abortions then largely disappears (except in the cases where
there are risks to the mother in continuing a pregnancy).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The
vasectomy would be reversed only when the man is ready to become a father. Of
course, the man could still cause unwanted pregnancies at that point by having unauthorized
sex through rape, incest, or adultery.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But
this could also be easily controlled (the technology exists) by taking DNA
samples of every 13-year-old boy getting a vasectomy – which would be all boys
turning 13). It would be part of the ritual. The resulting DNA database of all
American men of reproductive age could be compared to the DNA of every baby
born to determine exactly who the father is. In the of case
rape or incest, they would be castrated. In the case of adultery, they pay child
support or be castrated.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There are still some details to brainstorm, of course, but I think this
could work! And it would put most abortion doctors out of business, just like
the conservatives on the Supreme Court want.</span></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-63471544731499959592022-04-25T16:14:00.000+03:002022-04-25T16:14:14.234+03:00Day 61<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Day
61 of Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine. The Finnish
parliament began debating NATO membership last week. Russia already warned over a month ago that Finland joining the Western alliance would “<span style="color: #333333;">require retaliatory measures” on its part, with Sergei
Belyayev, head of the Russian foreign ministry’s European department, promising
“serious military and political consequences”.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #404040;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">More recently, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now
deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said Russia would be forced to
increase its military presence in the Baltic. He went so far as to threaten ending
the “nuclear-free” status of the region, which surely means at least deploying
nuclear weapons to Kaliningrad. (Whether they have been there all along is
another question.)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A week or so ago a video was shared on social media supposedly showing Russia
military equipment moving along a highway toward the Finnish border. That
turned out to be from some years ago, so in no way evidence of a recent threat.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In fact, a Finnish expert estimates that Russian forces normally based near
Finland have been “severely degraded” since the war in Ukraine started. So,
maybe Russia is less of a threat now than before.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Military
equipment is going the other way, however. Finland has now shipped a third wave
of arms and military supplies to Ukraine. Unlike in the first wave, the
government has not revealed specially what was included in the more recent
shipments.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Meanwhile,
Finland is reducing its dependence on Russian energy. Starting yesterday, Finland has started cutting back on the electricity it imports from Russia, which is
reportedly about a third of its electricity imports and 10% of its total consumption. Luckily, much of the shortfall from the loss of Russian power can be compensated by Finland’s fifth nuclear reactor when it finally comes fully online soon.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Until a mere two years ago Russia was Finland’s only source of natural gas, via a
cross-border pipeline. That one has now been supplemented by an undersea pipeline from Estonia that can supply up to a third of Finland's LNG needs. We are otherwise not as dependant on Russia as are Germany
or other countries anyway, since natural gas accounts for only 6% of energy consumptions
here. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In any case, Finland will stop all gas imports from Russia and turn to other sources to replace it, which means importing via tanker
ships -- despite currently having no LNG terminals where to offload the ships. As
a temporary solution, it has agreed with Estonia to share a floating LNG
terminal to be used to supply both countries with non-Russian gas.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Reducing dependence on Russian crude oil (70% of Finnish oil imports) and coal (about half of imports) is also underway. While existing contracts are still being honored, no new ones being signed. The Finnish state railway company is also being pressured to stop transporting Russian coal through Finland for export to other countries well before the EU sanctions deadline of August. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It seems clear that Finland will likely never return as the good customer it was for Russia's energy business, even after the bloody war in Ukraine finally concludes.</span></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-91006828386292858622022-03-19T19:47:00.002+02:002022-03-20T20:11:32.029+02:00Wolf traps and steppe quagmires<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">We recently sold my mother-in-law’s apartment in Varkaus, my wife’s hometown in the heart of the Finnish lake district 200 miles from Helsinki. It’s been over a year since my mother-in-law moved to a nursing home, so it was high time we did something with the apartment that we use only occasionally on visits to Varkaus. Selling the apartment, of course, required emptying and cleaning the place, which means discovering the kinds of random personal items and keepsakes accumulated over the years by a long-married couple. One of these little items was a lapel pin, with a distinctive emblem and the obviously German word “Rüsselsheim”. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtXLVv480652kmRaeLYNb3eWn96h2cV3KZGNQpjzoA2GrMbv9G6WfSG0ojWheZ74bTwCXxBNVFbAFZGXKxqf8YgqoOl5IYXjD2ZQRasbibmW5Dn8N8x0n49KPZ75FmC0EcWecK6oy_nrd6_F5UPcWc8V6lnHwQm3CA2TcjrwZkQYdYAkjL9AHI6b1J=s2307" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2178" data-original-width="2307" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhtXLVv480652kmRaeLYNb3eWn96h2cV3KZGNQpjzoA2GrMbv9G6WfSG0ojWheZ74bTwCXxBNVFbAFZGXKxqf8YgqoOl5IYXjD2ZQRasbibmW5Dn8N8x0n49KPZ75FmC0EcWecK6oy_nrd6_F5UPcWc8V6lnHwQm3CA2TcjrwZkQYdYAkjL9AHI6b1J=w355-h335" width="355" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I was curious why my in-laws would have such a obscure little thing. The word “Rüsselsheim” said nothing to me, and I found the symbol on the pin a little unsettling. Then my wife informed me that Rüsselsheim, Germany, is a sister city to Varkaus. Obviously, this was a trinket handed out to promote friendly international relations at an excruciatingly local level. Varkaus, after all, is not a big place. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Rüsselsheim am Main is about three times larger, according to its Wikipedia page, from which I also learned about the symbols on the lapel pin, the Rüsslsheim coat of arms. The zig-zag, Z-shaped symbol is a “Doppelhaken” (double hook), sometimes called a “Wolfsangel” or “wolf’s hook”, due to the gruesome fact that it resembles a metal hook used in Germany in medieval times to trap wolves. It was literally used like a fishhook to snare a wolf unlucky enough to take the bait of raw meat surrounding the Z-shaped metal. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There must be something intrinsically appealing about the stylized rendering of this instrument of death, maybe something in its simple esthetics, because over time the Doppelhaken became associated with magical powers and strong symbolism -- which maybe not surprisingly led to it being widely adopted by the Nazi Party. For this reason, Doppelhaken symbols are now banned in Germany, except when used – as in the case of the lapel pin we found in Varkaus – as part of a traditional coat of arms. Outside Germany it is sadly still used by some far-right movements, such as the Azov Battalion in Ukraine. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">(Interestingly, the Finnish word for swastika is “hakaristi”, or “hook cross”. Also, Varkaus’ own coat of arms features an actual arm holding a different kind of hook, an anchor.) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8YsxFNxLCFbkbPNgHxevrewaUSAe9l28eCoCLMljC4Z8DTwVH0yGQkBTwGzH4JY5pCYqMt0eU-c_kTX4e3BCgkk8mGQqnDjRULBlfCT_wK8FvaUF5KCFyQW5x9rtDmCeorDllIMoGUSwLbmFiBV_gi3plXJ3sJhMZId30_2sauTmS0r9G2kU7eG7T=s855" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="750" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8YsxFNxLCFbkbPNgHxevrewaUSAe9l28eCoCLMljC4Z8DTwVH0yGQkBTwGzH4JY5pCYqMt0eU-c_kTX4e3BCgkk8mGQqnDjRULBlfCT_wK8FvaUF5KCFyQW5x9rtDmCeorDllIMoGUSwLbmFiBV_gi3plXJ3sJhMZId30_2sauTmS0r9G2kU7eG7T=w165-h188" width="165" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The coat of arms of Varkaus.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Anyway, I say there must be something appealing in the simple esthetics of Z-shapes, because it is remarkable how quickly the letter Z has been adopted in Russia as <i>the </i>symbol of patriotism in less than two weeks following Vladimir Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine. And this only because the Russian army painted the Z-symbol conspicuously on many of its tanks. Clearly, the image of Russian tanks marked with Zs inspired somebody to turn that simple symbol into a new patriotic fetish. And this despite many of those Z-marked tanks now seem ingloriously to be bogged down in the mud of the Ukraine steppes, or otherwise destroyed. But the Russian public doesn’t see those images. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It seems many folks in Russia are now rallying around this new symbol of Russian pride, a letter that does not exist in the Russian alphabet, by displaying it with the same zeal that Trump supporters in America banish their “Make America Great Again” hat or “Let’s Go Brandon” flags. To drive the point home even further, Russians are also combining the Z with the another widely used “virtue signal” of Russian ethnonationalism, the St. George ribbon. I had noticed those orange-and-black-striped ribbons tied on car rear-view mirrors everywhere in St. Petersburg the last time we were there – which, as things are going now, might well be THE very last time we visit St. Petersburg. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So, now all “right-thinking” Russians – like Germans under the Third Reich – are enthusiastically embracing a symbol that harkens back to medieval times based solely on the fact that the Russian army invading Ukraine painted Zs on their tanks, rocket launchers, and other modern instruments of death. What a strange world we live in.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvJ0HRUNUmxUq0-58agxew0S7C4lsiywY5U8MLy4j8AKzmIbS9KLInFSKhfuai1dskSCZPAQd04LjRAj_4f7GRYRQY9drbcdUg-tWMpL2ai6zQhqv4pe1ll-7I7-m-y3w859fKjjRotBH6Td3zMMEwVdEhBqtziUvV-x4EUj0mXFUrsEtTunEjqzTk=s1280" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="959" height="639" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvJ0HRUNUmxUq0-58agxew0S7C4lsiywY5U8MLy4j8AKzmIbS9KLInFSKhfuai1dskSCZPAQd04LjRAj_4f7GRYRQY9drbcdUg-tWMpL2ai6zQhqv4pe1ll-7I7-m-y3w859fKjjRotBH6Td3zMMEwVdEhBqtziUvV-x4EUj0mXFUrsEtTunEjqzTk=w479-h639" width="479" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Russian children presenting their country's newest patriotic fetish.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />
</span></div></div>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-22359273965376882582021-07-26T20:20:00.003+03:002021-07-27T08:08:33.877+03:00Unvaxxed Nation Wipe Out<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The number of new COVID cases in Finland, as in
many places, are rising as we enter the pandemic’s 4<sup>th</sup> wave. Despite
that, it <i>feels</i> like things are going well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Or maybe it just feels that way personally for me,
since I’m now fully vaccinated, and soon (two weeks after the second dose) can
travel again outside Finland, at least to certain counties. Estonia is one
place we might visit before summer is over.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Looking on the bright side, there have been only two COVID
deaths in Finland in the past two weeks, only five for the entire month of July.
Hospitalizations are still lower than at the beginning of the 2<sup>nd</sup>
wave. People are going to restaurants, theaters. In some sense, things seem to
be getting better.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Especially compared to the US, the land of my birth, where
it seems the whole country has gone bonkers, even if it has a decent full-vaccination
rate of almost 50%. That is admittedly higher than Finland’s 31%. (One
explanation for Finland’s lower rate is that, facing a shortage in the supply
of vaccine, Finland spaced out the two doses 3 months apart, compared to 3
weeks in the States. There is a lag here in the everyone getting the second
dose.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I think Finland will catch up with the US soon. While
doing a better job at vaccination at the outset, progress in US is now stalling.
It’s clear why – right-wing politics. Of the 30 states that have administered
vaccinations below the national rate (below 50%) all but four of voted for
Donald Trump. All of the remaining 20 that have done better, vaccinating over
half their populations, were Biden states. Nothing could be plainer. For many,
failure to get vaccinated is a political act.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And there are consequences. Three states now account
for 40% of all new COVID cases: Florida (48% vaccination rate), Texas (43%),
Missouri (41%). Those states make up only 17% of the US population, so they are
obviously are punching above their weight when it comes to helping the spread
of the delta variant.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The consequences are also deadly. Unvaccinated Americans now
account for some 97% of COVID deaths. That shows the vaccines are working. Vaccinated folks are much, much less likely to die from COVID. Given that
fact, it’s baffling why anyone without genuine medical reasons would refuse a free, safe way to lower their risk
of infection. Baffling, but these folks are, of course, powerless against the right-wing
media machine that has been fueling vaccine skepticism. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A host on Newsmax recently
floated the idea that vaccines in general go against nature by preventing “a certain amount of people” from being wiped out, like that was a bad thing. It’s true, of
course, that vaccines do that, but that’s the point of vaccines. We <i>want </i>them
to stop nature from wiping people out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Considering that the Americans being wiped out are predominately the
unvaccinated -- you could say, predominately Trump-supporting conservatives -- you
would think hosts on Newsmax and other right-wing outlets would want their prime target
audience protected. Apparently, you would be wrong.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4gzqCg_aHEQy08Q24zvES-VKqSnWYnurlIUspCHom3_XBCsuG0mtUQoNIqh8RluyxU4dAv15ie3nDdZrwD7hJuPI2aU2VfYR7HDOM2geNcqtHF25hA4XiRZiqWFY5eJkxt3hRj01lbQ/s1335/1930s+vaccination+cartoon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1335" data-original-width="1071" height="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv4gzqCg_aHEQy08Q24zvES-VKqSnWYnurlIUspCHom3_XBCsuG0mtUQoNIqh8RluyxU4dAv15ie3nDdZrwD7hJuPI2aU2VfYR7HDOM2geNcqtHF25hA4XiRZiqWFY5eJkxt3hRj01lbQ/w473-h588/1930s+vaccination+cartoon.png" width="473" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Self-destructive antivaccination fervor is nothing new. <br />Cartoon from the 1930s.</span> </span></td></tr></tbody></table> <br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-88053844371778821422021-07-25T13:37:00.002+03:002021-07-25T13:37:49.654+03:00Meanwhile, in the Real World<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Last week we saw the six-month anniversary of Joe Biden's inauguration as president. Leading up to that event in January, I saw some MAGA folks on Facebook predicting that Biden would not "last six months". They were very confident. They had no doubt about this. They didn’t specify, however, why they thought Biden would not make it this far in his presidency (I asked one – they chose not to explain). </span></span></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So, I was left to speculate. I think there were 3 possible scenarios those folks on FB were implying: </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">1) The Plausible. Biden was so old and feeble that the pressure of being president would kill him. In other words, these MAGA folks had bought into the “Geriatric Joe” narrative peddled by Trump and his supporters. Strangely, Biden has not dropped dead. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">2) The Sinister. By this point, Biden would have been killed by some righteous Trump-lover unable to abide the abomination of Biden illegitimately occupying the White House. Maybe some of those MAGA fortunetellers secretly (or not secretly) half-hoped this would happen. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">3) The Even More Sinister, Plus Insane. Biden would be “bumped” off by forces aligned with Kamala Harris as part of a Democratic ploy to install the extremely radical Harris in the White House by first winning the election with a more-acceptable candidate (Biden). You have to be deep in the Qanon rabbit hole to believe this, but many Trump supporters are really that deep in that hole. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Needlessly to say, none of these Trump-cult fever dreams have played out. Maybe MAGA folks have conveniently forgotten that they ever predicted Biden would NOT be president by this time. Or maybe they have just moved on to now pinning all their hopes of the expected “reinstatement” of Trump on August 13th. That’s only a couple of weeks from now. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Luckily, we won’t have to wait a whole six months to see those high MAGA hopes dashed on the rocks of reality, you know, here in the real world.</span></div></div>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-5278437272694526172021-06-16T11:39:00.000+03:002021-06-16T11:39:22.716+03:00Helsinki Tainted<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">When it was announced that Joe Biden would be meeting with Vladimir Putin during Biden's June trip to Europe, there was some speculation that the meeting would take place in Helsinki. Hearing this, my wife and I looked at each other and after a moment said, “No way. That won't happen.” </span></span></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Since 2018, Helsinki has been forever tainted as a meeting place between American and Russian leaders. No American president in their right mind would want any reminder of that disastrous meeting here three years ago to cloud their own. That’s Trump’s legacy. He ruined Helsinki for US-Russian summits. It’s like the disgrace associated with Munich after Neville Chamberlain’s trip there in 1938. At least, Trump didn’t promise Sudetenland to Putin. Or did he? </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A week ago Trump issued this ridiculous "statement", doubling down on his taking Putin’s side over the US government’s. He’s even proud of it. So refreshing to think that it's Biden meeting with Putin in Geneva today, and not that embarrassing game show host who shamelessly kow-towed to the Russian leader just a few miles from where I live. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiF2cwuRjBmifLBN1VIRUb_gD4DIDd5O_9PrwNgwFIwUEcBiUmFDytlRTIMIciF1kmyqxm7b5BL6b6g-0_2HZXoj6gxsKRIXSyXvBso7u_vqgH8mDAHfXyGkcqZYuibY0GmAnX2R0vb3s/s1163/screen+shot+-+Trump+Helsinki+statement.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="847" data-original-width="1163" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiF2cwuRjBmifLBN1VIRUb_gD4DIDd5O_9PrwNgwFIwUEcBiUmFDytlRTIMIciF1kmyqxm7b5BL6b6g-0_2HZXoj6gxsKRIXSyXvBso7u_vqgH8mDAHfXyGkcqZYuibY0GmAnX2R0vb3s/w505-h368/screen+shot+-+Trump+Helsinki+statement.JPG" width="505" /></a></div><br /> </span></div></div>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-42124985926058882392021-05-15T13:35:00.000+03:002021-05-15T13:35:20.154+03:00Coke, unruly tourists, and plastic bags of gas<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here in Finland, warm weather has finally arrived and
so has the summer home improvement season. There’s lots to do, a LOT to do, so
I’ve been trying not to pay as much attention to the crazy stuff happening back
in the States. Except...you can’t really ignore all the crazy stuff happening
in the State. Here’s what caught my attention recently. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Joel Greenberg, the wingman of frat boy Matt Gaetz,
has entered a plea deal, in which he will supposedly turn state’s evidence
against Gaetz. There is speculation that Greenberg will testify how Gaetz
snorted coke with a hooker who had a no-show government job. Couldn’t happen to
a nicer guy. Of course, this will not hurt Gaetz’s reputation with Republicans
one bit, since they love this sort of thing.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There’s a video circulating of Marjorie Taylor Greene,
who the good people of Georgia’s 14</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> District (the one next to my
own) saw fit to elect to Congress, bent over, screaming through the mail slot
of AOC’s door like a mean-girl cheerleader. Again, the GOP loves this kind of
behavior.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Meanwhile, Andrew Clyde, the congressman from my own
district (we sure know how to pick ‘em) has finally broken into the national
news for the first time ever to my knowledge by explaining in calm terms how
the mob of rioters who swarmed the US Capitol on January 6</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12pt;">,
breaking through windows, beating up policemen, and sending lawmakers scrambling
for secure tunnels (not to mention looking to lynch Mike Pence) were nothing
more than your average tourists visiting a famous landmark in our nation’s
capital. In the same spirit, I’ll remember to toss some rocks through the
windows of that gold museum in Dahlonega next time I’m there.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Kevin McCarthy, who once set up a sandwich stand in
the corner of his uncle’s yoghurt store before launching a life-long career in
politics, forces very conservative Liz Cheney out of her leadership position because of her habit of speaking the truth about the last election. Also, he mocks Joe Biden for requiring at least five hours of sleep a night,
unlike über-mensch Donald Trump, who can toil all night long tweeting out thought-provoking
wisdom like “covfefe”. No, wait, he can’t. He’s banned, unlike Joe Biden.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mitch McConnell, as always seeking ways to reach greater
levels of bipartitianship with Democrats, confirms to his buddies that 100% of
his focus is stopping the Biden Administration from doing anything. If he didn’t
have such a conciliatory nature in the name of bipartitianship, that focus
would be 200%.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The thought of a gas pipeline being shut down for a
few days struck so much fear into the hearts of some Americans that they panicked
and started hording gas, pumping it into anything they could get their hands on,
open containers, trash cans, even plastic shopping bags, which – as we all learned
in school -- are super, super safe for transporting and storing volatile fuel),
to the point where stations ran out of gas across the South. Hope no one got incinerated
on their way home, though it’s not for lack of trying.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Anyway, that’s what’s happening in American. Here in
Finland, on the other hand, the birch trees are leafing out on schedule (barely), we just took the kayaks
out from storage and are hoping to spot again the eagle we saw the other day. We are not hoarding plastic bags of gas.</span></span></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-80389797030578965882021-03-14T23:12:00.000+02:002021-03-14T23:12:09.929+02:00Pressing For A Presser<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It seems that MAGA folks are obsessing over the fact
that Joe Biden hasn’t stood at a podium and taken questions from the media some
50 days after taking office. I don’t think it’s because they are so eager to
hear from their new president. Nothing like that. They are annoyed that Biden (as
they see it) is escaping scrutiny from the same press that gave Donald
Trump such a hard time throughout his presidency. Of course, that doesn’t include Fox News, which was always a safe space for Trump.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Or, maybe more likely, they think Biden is being prevented
by his press shop from making a fool of himself by talking unscripted in front of
cameras, since Biden (as they are convinced) is borderline senile, a fact that
will instantly be obvious to even hard-core Democrats once he has to field real
questions from a real reporter. He’s hiding, they would say, in a way that a
"real" president like Trump would never to.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">They like to point out that Trump wasted no time in
getting before the cameras to spar with the media by holding his first solo press
conference on Feb. 16<sup>th</sup> after only 27 days in office. He didn’t
hesitate, they would say, to face the press and deliver any unscripted remarks
that happen to pop up in his head, not holding back, putting on full display his scattershot thinking on any number of topics. They see this as a feature, not a bug.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And Trump willingly took reporters’ questions, they
would point out. He happily defended and justified the actions of his
administration, they would say, and explained the intricacies of his policies
to a hostile media. As if. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Recollections may vary, as Queen Elisabeth might say. I remember that first press conference as a hot mess. To remind myself exactly what it was like, I took a look at the transcript (a whopping 13,000 words long). Some things stand out. First, Trump starts by announcing the nomination
of Alex Acosta as Labor Secretary (94 words) and the confirmation of his pick
for head of Office of Management and Budget, Mike Mulvaney (43 words), which
Trump whines was “weeks late”, “weeks, weeks late”. Biden’s choice for that
spot had to withdraw due to the hurt feelings of Republicans and Joe Manchin,
so that now even weeks later than for Trump, it remains unfilled. Haven't heard Biden whine about it yet.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Then Trump goes on to talk (91 words)
about how, Paul Singer, a GOP donor, had just visited the White House, and how Singer, who had been a Never Trumper, has now gotten onboard the Trump Train, a hopeful is a
sign as Trump saw it of the kind of unification (abject loyalty?) that he inspires in people. When I first read it, I thought Trump was referring to Singer as Mulvaney’s predecessor, so unclear was Trump's unscripted way of speaking.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Next, he says “I think I’ll say a few words and take
some questions.” Some 3150 words (!) later, he takes the first question, which is about
Mike Flynn, the National Security Advisor he had just fired for lying to Mike
Pence and the FBI, one of the first scandals of his administration. Flynn was
in the job a mere 24 days. Here’s how Trump responded to the reporter’s
question:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“Mike Flynn is a wonderful person, and I asked for resignation, he
respectfully gave it. He is a man who there was a certain amount of information
given to Vice President Pence, who’s with us today, and I was not happy with
the way that information was given. He didn’t have to do that because what he
did wasn’t wrong. What he did in terms of the information he saw. What was wrong
was the way that other people, including yourselves, in this room, were given
that information. Because that was classified information that was given
illegally. That’s the real problem.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“You know, you can talk all you want about Russia, which was all, you
know, ‘fake news’ fabricated deal to try to make up for the loss of the
Democrats and the press plays right into it. In fact, I saw a couple of the
people supposedly involved with all of this. They know nothing about it, never
in Russia, never made a phone call, never received a phone call. It’s all fake
news. It’s all fake news.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“The nice thing is I see it starting to turn where people are now
looking at the illegal — I think it’s very important — the illegal giving out
classified information, and let me just tell you, it was given out so much.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“For example, I called, as you know, Mexico. It was a very confidential
classified call, but I called Mexico, and in calling Mexico, I figured, oh,
well that’s nice, I spoke to the president of Mexico, had a good call, all the
sudden it’s out there for the world to see. It was supposed to be secret.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“Supposed to be either confidential or classified in that case, same
thing with Australia. All of the sudden, people are finding out exactly what
took place. The same thing happened with respect to General Flynn. Everybody
saw this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">“And I’m saying, the first thing I thought of when I heard about it, is
how does the press get this information that’s classified? How do they do it?
You know why? Because it’s an illegal process, and the press should be ashamed
of themselves, but more importantly, the people that gave out information to
the press should be ashamed of themselves. Really a shame.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Whew! That was a long-winded way (380 words) of saying it’s the
media’s fault that I fired Mike Flynn for lying. I especially like, the bit “</span><span lang="EN-US">He is a man who there
was a certain amount of information given to Vice President Pence</span><span lang="EN-US">”. Seems he has trouble expressing himself. Anyway, this is the performance
that MAGA folks hold up as a shining example of how presidents should talk to
Americans. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s worth noting that Trump was so stung by the negative response
to this presser, he didn’t hold another one for almost a year. That long dry spell must have been pure torture for those folks now losing their minds over Joe Biden's heart-breaking absence from the briefing room. </span></span></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-32343893671155143292021-01-29T12:44:00.002+02:002021-01-29T14:54:46.868+02:00Bonaparte Wannabe <p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Joe Biden has been president for
a week now, and it is certainly refreshing to have what seems so far to be a
normally competent administration in place. Even more refreshing is not having
Donald Trump in our faces every day non-stop. Suddenly, one day – like a miracle
– it disappeared.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It is somewhat comforting to
know Trump’s hidden away, almost in exile down in Mar-a-Lago for now, though I
hear Palm Beach may be take legal action against him for breaking the agreement
he made not to permanently reside there (and not stay more than seven days at a
stretch) when he turned the place into a resort in 1993. I’ve also heard that some
paying Mar-a-Lago residents are abandoning the resort because of the
“dispiriting” atmosphere that descended after Trump moved in. Maybe can’t
blame them.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It must be torture for Trump
not to be in the public eye, which is surely what drove him to form the
so-called Office of the Former President. As if he is THE former president,
neglecting the four other former presidents who didn’t feel the need to create a
fake “position” when <i>they </i>left office. At least he admitted he’s a *former* president.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I can almost imagine him
brooding down there in Florida like Napoleon in exile on the Isle of Elba. With
that in mind, it’s a little disconcerting also to remember that Bonaparte eventually escaped
from Elba, raised an army on the mainland and marched on Paris to rule for
another 100 days. (We once drove along part of Napoleon’s
march on our way from the Riviera back to Geneva. Scenic route, to be sure.) Trump may dream that he too has such an
army awaiting his return, but if so, it might be a bit reduced – some 150 of
the insurrectionists he sent off to storm the Capitol have now been arrested,
with we can hope more to come.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump might well be disillusioned
with them anyway. Or at least their appearance. After all, he reportedly called
them “low-class” after seeing them on TV rampaging through the halls of
Congress. (Has he NEVER met his most ardent grass-roots MAGA supporters? Maybe
not, since I doubt many would be allowed to set foot within the confines of Mar-a-Lago.)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So perhaps he can’t count anymore on that motley camo- and fleece-wearing “army” of rioters. But they’re
not his real army anyway, not the one that will do him any good. That would be the jacket-and-tie-clad clan in
Congress (well, in the case of “Gym” Jordan, made that "no jacket") who, by refusing to convict Trump in his impeachment trial, seem determined
to give him another shot at the White House in four years. They have no morals, no scruples, no backbones
– in other words, just Trump’s kind of guys.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGELETw9okD0yspGjBkxNpxAECqIWusg7GFkhAShSBDIjBwzLQC0de3hZQbm5D6a4n5YSSJQ1hnSXl4DO5vAK5vTtr_1nGYtqEXqUhz_FZbkp1cmoCsq4QQoui9vyv2mwlbqVoaBMlWb0/s758/Napoleon_sainthelene.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="758" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGELETw9okD0yspGjBkxNpxAECqIWusg7GFkhAShSBDIjBwzLQC0de3hZQbm5D6a4n5YSSJQ1hnSXl4DO5vAK5vTtr_1nGYtqEXqUhz_FZbkp1cmoCsq4QQoui9vyv2mwlbqVoaBMlWb0/w532-h395/Napoleon_sainthelene.jpg" width="532" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;">Napoleon's second exile on the island of St. Helena. </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps Trump's next one will be on the island of Rikers.</span><br />(painting by Franz Josef Sandmann)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-7142533146733689042020-09-29T13:08:00.000+03:002020-09-29T13:08:14.125+03:00Biden vs. Trump: The Soft Punditry of Debate Expectations<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is an article of faith
among Trump and his followers that Joe Biden is too old, feeble-minded, and
physically weak to be president. (File this under “pot calling the kettle
black”.) I see MAGA folks saying this all the time, and maybe they believe it,
but I’m not sure Trump himself believes it. In this case, he might just be more
cynical than delusional, using anything he can to cast doubts about Biden’s
fitness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Of course, Biden is all-too aware
of Trump’s attempts to paint him as an old geezer (a whopping three-and-a-half
years older than Trump!). At public events, Biden seems to make a point of <i>jogging</i>
out to the podium. Trump never jogs, Trump <i>lumbers</i> onstage.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I can’t ignore the fact that Joe
is an old guy and he apparently does sometimes say goofy things. But it’s hard to
be greatly disturbed by that when the alternative is a man who has made incoherency
a defining feature of his persona, virtually a trademark – Covfefe ®. Many people
note that Trump’s slandering of opponents is a form of projection, basically
accusing his rivals of the very thing Trump is guilty of. I think it certainly
applies here.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In any case, it seems like a weird
strategy for Trump to be downplaying Biden’s mental state, especially before a
debate. Normally, politicians play the “expectations game”, stressing how sharp
and capable their opponents are and how tough it’s going to be going up against
him (or her). You set the expectations low, so that when you outperform them,
if only by a little bit, it looks like a big win for you. Trump isn’t doing
that with Biden, and he may regret it if it turns out Biden appears NOT to have one foot
in the grave, as Trump has been promising.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You almost think Trump’s
followers truly expect Biden to totter around the debate stage, confused, disoriented,
drooling, literally drooling. This is what they have been led to believe in
their MAGA echo chambers. And if Biden comes off as alert, well-informed,
coherent, even presidential (as I hope he does), then Trump’s followers will have
some conflicting feelings to deal with.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Or not. They may, rather than
admitting they have been misled, simply refuse to believe their eyes. Or they may make
excuses for a good performance by Biden, excuses which Trump and his allies have
already helpfully provided beforehand with accusations such as Biden will be "fed" the questions before the debate or that Biden is taking drugs to sharpen his mind. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">You would think the first claim would be harder to make for the first debate, which is being hosted by Fox News. But I'm already seeing folks on social media hinting that Fox moderator Chris Wallace will be teaming up with Biden to rake Trump over the coals. It's as if they see the writing on the wall and are bracing themselves for a dismal performance by Trump, which will be (in their minds) entirely no fault of his own. Of course. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The anti-dementia
drug claim is also a little desperate and especially telling, since many people see signs of abuse of the cognitive enhancing drug Adderall in Trump’s own behavior, with some people even accusing him of “snorting” the drug. That
could explain the chunks of white stuff that came flying out of his nose on
camera recently. Pieces of Adderall, perhaps? Or maybe it was just snot. He is, after
all, almost as old as drooling Biden.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Anyway, I guess we’ll be able
to judge all this for ourselves in the debate tonight.</span></p>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-11964923644111320242020-09-28T15:09:00.000+03:002020-09-28T15:09:35.898+03:00Trump Care BS Overdrive<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So, after almost four years as president (and decades of hard work by Republicans before Trump), Trump finally announced the big GOP healthcare overhaul to replace Obamacare. It seems basically to consist of:</span></span></p><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">1) a promise to cover pre-existing conditions (after first ensuring the SCOTUS takes that coverage away). No details of how that promise would be fulfilled, what laws would be enacted to force insurance companies to take all comers. But no worries. As we all know, you can take a "promise" from Donald Trump to the bank!</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">2) a one-time redistribution of $200 to everyone on Medicare to help pay for prescription drugs (because Trump couldn't manage to force drug companies to reduce their bottom line and lower the price they charge for drugs). The fact that this payout will happen just before election day is only a coincidence, surely. I mean he could have done it Jan. 21, 2017, but I guess it wasn't a priority then.</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">3) a promise to stop doctors from charging for services not covered by a patient's insurance policy, in other words "surprise billing". It's about time the government stepped in and controlled what doctors bill for services or insurance will cover. Can we hope to have complete price controls on all medical services eventually? Anyway, it’s a good first step, though it does seem that all Trump is doing now is “investigating” how this might work. I guess we need to give him for time to figure it out.</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Maybe that's why he needs another four years. It took four years to come up with an outline of plan. With another four years he and the GOP can come up with the actual plan. Maybe just before election day 2024.</span></div></div>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-43274156592317733182020-06-23T15:25:00.000+03:002020-06-23T17:32:52.664+03:00Not a History to Bragg About<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Lately some folks in the US (especially in the South, you
could even say the Old Confederacy) have become outraged over the idea of renaming
military bases that have been named after Confederate military officers, such
as Fort Bragg or Foot Hood. Often these folks equate such removal of CSA-related
names as “erasing” or “ignoring” history. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This has even gotten the attention of Donald Trump, no
doubt an aficionado of the Civil War (in addition to his many other intellectual
pursuits) – no, I’m joking, he doesn’t even seem to know who won that war. Still,
Trump has weighed in on the issue, declaring he will NOT allow the honor of men
who fought against the United States to be desecrated in such a way. His press
secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, went so far as to evoke the horror that renaming Fort
Bragg would bring to soldiers who were based there and later died in combat, as
if being dead wasn’t torment enough. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 219.65pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">This is, of course, closely related to the dreaded "cancel culture" and the controversy over
removing statues of CSA generals from prominent public spaces, again an attempt
(as some people see it) to prevent modern-day Americans from learning history. They
have a point, of course, because the best way to learn about Civil War history
is to stand before a statue of Robert E. Lee and stare at his visage in bronze,
or lead, or stone, or whatever, just stare and stare at that image of a man on
horseback long enough until suddenly all the details of his life, his battles, his
strategy come flowing, like a beam of invisible light from the past, straight into
your brain and, boom!, you’ve <i>learned</i> something about history. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Maybe that’s the way some people do it. Normally, I
read books. Or Wikipedia. So, naturally, all this fuss about renaming Fort
Bragg made me turn to my main source of book-learning on the Civil War, James
McPherson’s “Battle Cry of Freedom”, to find out more about the man Fort Bragg
is named after. Because, honestly, before all this controversy erupted, I can’t remember ever hearing anything about
Braxton Bragg unlike, for example, Stonewall Jackson. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Turns out Bragg was not a stellar general. He was
hot-tempered, constantly fighting with his subordinates, not an inspiring
leader. He’s best known for leading the Army of Tennessee in a failed invasion of Kentucky, followed by inglorious retreats from the Battles
of Perryville and Stones River, an evacuation from Chattanooga, a
less than decisive victory in the Battle of Chicamauga, and then a decisive (even
humiliating) defeat in the Battles of Chattanooga. It was the last one which opened
the door for US general William T. Sherman to begin his March to the Sea
through Georgia and for Bragg to be relieved of command of his army. McPherson
labeled him a “bumbler”. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And for this legacy, this heritage of not only treason
against the United States, but also incompetence in military execution, Bragg
gets a major military installation named after him, an installation that’s
supposed to inspire pride in the fighting men and women associated with it? Honoring
Bragg this way in 1918, forty years after his death, was surely a form of consolation to politicians in the Jim Crow South butt-hurt over losing the war, which amazingly many modern-day politicians still seem to
be 155 years later. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Bragg was a losing general for the losing side
in a war against the United States, and this is the guy whose heritage Donald
Trump -- not known for admiring losers -- is happy to preserve, as long as that’s what
his supporters in the Old Confederacy want. Maybe if he actually knew some of the history, he'd change his mind. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sorry, joking again -- no chance that would happen. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj938hhGYb2Rwkya1sl_C7B7WsoX6WTyRBArZTO5wAWQtGWRpTGecjKruWa9OI0YZ4VW-vhFIRi0lKa7g5MiyBglOqhvWik1EBxAE1dXi3ZHzGkLW4GtOTR_zKTeqlAwlOardGZdQg4BNQ/s1600/Braxton_Bragg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1081" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj938hhGYb2Rwkya1sl_C7B7WsoX6WTyRBArZTO5wAWQtGWRpTGecjKruWa9OI0YZ4VW-vhFIRi0lKa7g5MiyBglOqhvWik1EBxAE1dXi3ZHzGkLW4GtOTR_zKTeqlAwlOardGZdQg4BNQ/s640/Braxton_Bragg.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gen. Braxton Bragg, loser extraordinaire.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Unknown author, restoration by Adam Cuerden. <br />Copyright US Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division.</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-21250962718445250872020-04-16T17:11:00.000+03:002020-04-16T17:11:28.843+03:00April Foolishness<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A couple of things I picked up from the news from yesterday.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">-- Trump is threatening to "adjourn" Congress because it's not confirming his nominees for various offices. First of all, I didn't know a president could do that (if it's even true). Secondly, why didn't Obama think of that? It would have simplified things for him. Thirdly, that will come in handy for President Biden. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> -- A key part of the Trump brain trust, Kellyanne Conway, thinks that COVID-19 is named that way because it's the 19th strain of the virus. Doesn't her husband, George, explain to her things like how the "19" comes from the year it was discovered? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> -- Trump said that the US is <i>past</i> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">the peak in number of new cases of COVID-19. Mark that date, because yesterday there were 40,000 new confirmed cases. If that number doesn't go down today or tomorrow, then the US is not <i>past</i> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">the peak, and it's all just part of Trump's world of wishful thinking.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Meanwhile, it snowed in Helsinki today. April 16th.</span></div>
Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-42671885095509897692020-04-13T17:58:00.000+03:002020-04-13T17:58:10.594+03:00Happy Good Friday?<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Today is Easter Monday, the end of our four-day Easter holiday. Normally, a four-day holiday on the cusp of vaguely spring-like weather is a Godsend for most Finnish families, often a good opportunity to get out of town for a while or even an end-of-season ski trip to Lapland. Of course, this year in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, it's different, with all restaurants, bars, theaters, swimming halls, sports events, churches, you name it, closed and deserted, and even the possibility of non-essential travel outside the Uusimaa province where Helsinki is located forbidden by law. There was no trick-or-treating this year. It hardly felt like Easter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">After I moved to Finland many years ago and was adjusting to the social norms here, one thing I learned was the proper way to give Easter greetings. With a lot of holidays here, you use the word “hauska” (which means “fun”). You say “Hauskaa joulua!” (Merry Christmas), “Hauskaa vappua!” (Happy May Day), and “Hauskaa juhannusta!” (Happy Midsummer). So, it seemed natural to me that you would say “Hauskaa pääsiäistä!”, (Happy Easter). After all, in the States we say “Happy Easter”. Seems normal.However, I was quickly corrected that the proper usage is “Hyvää pääsiäistä!” (literally, Good Easter). </span>
<br />
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The reason was, of course, that Easter is supposed to be a solemn holiday, not a fun one (remember “hauska” means “fun”). In English, "Happy Easter" does seems to work, since the Easter story ends with Jesus rising from the tomb, a happy ending. To think of it as a “fun” happy-go-lucky ending is perhaps to diminish the gravity of the event. </span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Good Friday is another matter, however. Most Christians probably don’t think of the execution of Jesus as a “happy” event -- well, maybe no one except Donald Trump. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say, “Happy Good Friday”. Even though the execution was necessary for the rising, I think most Christians think of it as a sorrowful event. (I haven’t gone to church in decades, so maybe I’m wrong about that.)</span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="auto">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Of course, now that Trump has set the example by tweeting that exact greeting, I’m sure it will be quickly adopted by all his followers. Next year, no doubt, MAGA folks will be sending out “Happy Good Friday” cards. </span></div>
Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-13068145278126964502020-03-03T13:59:00.000+02:002020-03-03T17:23:50.385+02:00Tainted Landmarks<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I was recently reminded of a part of Helsinki with a very colorful name. It's one very small part of South Harbor, where the big ferries from Sweden dock, a mostly enclosed "basin" not much bigger than an Olympic swimming pool, with only a narrow passage out. N</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">ext to the busy Kauppatori open-air market square, and </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">the site of the yearly Baltic Herring Market, it is </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">at the epicenter of Helsinki tourism, despite a very un-touristy name -- the Cholera Basin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For these 30-odd years I have vaguely known the place's name without really knowing the genesis of that name. Wikipedia to the rescue! As the story goes, a ship master from Nauvo in the Turku archipelago died from cholera while in Helsinki for the Baltic Herring Market of 1893. Rather unadvisedly, his bodily fluids (use your imagination) were dumped overboard into the basin. Obviously, this was quickly recognized as not a good thing to do. As a precaution, all the herring boats were towed out of the harbor and guards were posted on the quayside to prevent anyone from helping themselves to the basin's disease-ridden water. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">As far as I'm aware, it worked and no one contracted cholera from the cholera basin. At least, I hope so. Yet the basin was forever tainted with the name, which might say something about the dark humor of the Finnish people and their willingness to embrace an unpleasant episode from the past. Or, at least not gloss over it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It's impossible to think about the Cholera Basin incident now without being reminded of current events, the spread of the new coronavirus (seven confirmed case in Finland at the moment) and the actions different nations are taking to control it. From police on the quayside to self-quarantines and entire cities locked down in China, people's lives will always be disrupted now and then by tiny life forms (or in the case of viruses, <i>barely </i>life forms), even if only mercifully few people suffer from the horrible illness those pathogens cause. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Let's hope the final impact of the COVID-19 disease on life in Finland -- and the world -- is minimal and not long-lasting. Somehow I don't see anyone commemorating it by naming some place in Helsinki "COVID-19 Square" or "Coronavirus Corner". But there is this bar...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhk3L_AQHS5fBMVwE6bZzKAbFMn_njr-jfBRS63WVj_i-GFOibpF9b0-J4cfW9B1gSKHDw0gVtxxxeTxqWHEzAaS-OeoVMzadRcplbUK-bKEsTUCVgIFkb4t9JvrdZr1c4UPAzukD9SA/s1600/Cholera+basin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhk3L_AQHS5fBMVwE6bZzKAbFMn_njr-jfBRS63WVj_i-GFOibpF9b0-J4cfW9B1gSKHDw0gVtxxxeTxqWHEzAaS-OeoVMzadRcplbUK-bKEsTUCVgIFkb4t9JvrdZr1c4UPAzukD9SA/s400/Cholera+basin.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Cholera Basin in a serene mood.</span><br />
Photo by Matti Paavonen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-71007511379409692292019-12-30T14:27:00.000+02:002019-12-30T14:27:46.506+02:00The Art of Retail Gaslighting<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Trump boasts that this year’s 3.4% increase in holiday
retail sales is the highest in US history, somehow ignoring the fact that only last
year those sales increased 5.1%. You would think a very stable genius would
understand that 5.1 is a bigger number than 3.4. You would think a president
would have advisors who could explain this to him. Apparently not.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The 3.4% number comes from a report on
holiday shopping published by Mastercard, which also revealed that <i>online</i> sales make up a record high share
(almost 15%) of overall sales. Trump likely
latched onto the word “record” in media reports, like the one from Reuters whose
headline read “Record online sales give U.S. holiday shopping season a boost.” Maybe
Trump fixated on the word “record” and completely missed “online”. You can’t
expect him to read <i>every</i> word, after
all. (A very plausible alternative theory is that Trump knows exactly what he's doing and willfully ignored the finer points of the report to suit his purposes.) </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">So, perhaps without knowing it, Trump touts a record holiday season for </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">e-commerce --
which, let's face it, ain’t nothing, and is obviously the undisputed and unstoppable trend in the retail business. Good
for the likes of Amazon (which pays no sales tax, and incidentally is run by
Jeff Bezos, whom Trump hates). Good for those communities where </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">e-commerce firms
operate (for example, just seven locations in Georgia, in the case of Amazon). </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Meanwhile,
sales in brick-and-mortar stores, located in every community in America, didn’t
look nearly as rosy, rising only 1.2%. But Trump doesn’t brag about that.
Actually, it’s nothing to brag about. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-25892954244635617902019-12-08T18:54:00.000+02:002019-12-08T18:54:49.695+02:00 Vindication Denied?<div class="clearfix fbPhotoSnowliftAuthorInfo _xlu" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-top: 0px; padding: 16px; position: relative; zoom: 1;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I suspect that many Trump followers are not well served by their preferred media, which have led them to believe wholeheartedly in various scandals that haven't panned out, even after much investigation, like Benghazi, while not believing in other scandals that are real and unfolding before our eyes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A steady diet of Fox News leaves these MAGA folks ill-prepared when the "scandal" of the moment turns out to be a nothingburger. Of course, they will never admit to this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">One of the scandals that may not pan out in the way the Trump cult hopes is the origins (or "oranges", as POTUS might say) of the FBI investigation into Russian election interference in 2016. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">For months, Sean Hannity has been touting that the FBI Inspector General's internal investigation into the matter will deliver earthshaking revelations into the Bureau's corrupt role in the Russian "hoax", breathlessly promising proof that the investigation was illegitimate from the beginning. Sweet, sweet vindication of a sweet, benevolent prince. As if anyone not on the Fox payroll could imagine Trump that way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The IG's report comes out tomorrow, and already there are signs that Hannity's flock will be disappointed in the report's main findings. I'm crossing my fingers that their expectations will be dashed. Sean has even been hinting at such in his recent radio broadcasts. Guess we'll see. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Anyway, the lucky thing about having a conspiracy-minded mentality is you always have a ready excuse when things don't turn out like you expected -- namely that the oh-so-deep-state is at it again. If your main source of news is the likes of Sean Hannity, you can hardly think any other way. </span></div>
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Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-25979197484199060342019-12-01T10:35:00.000+02:002019-12-01T10:35:55.776+02:00This is a Cult<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Okay, the level of crazy during the Trump presidency has always been high, but boy in the last week or so, it’s been upped a couple of notches. Some of the highlights:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Lindsey Graham claimed that the witches of Salem were treated better than Donald Trump has been during the impeachment investigation. He’s talking about women accused, imprisoned and sometimes hung because some of their neighbors acted hysterically. Until I see Donald Trump on a scaffold with a noose around his<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"> neck (which for the record I do NOT for a moment wish to see happen), I’m going to say it’s Lindsay Graham who’s acting hysterically. And ahistorical. Graham belongs to a cult.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Tucker Carlson admitted that Trump did indeed lie about how many people attended his inauguration. The president lied to the American people on Day One. But, Carlson basically says, this is okay because Trump is a “salesman” and, as we all know, salesmen lie all the time. My take-away from this is that we should never trust anything Trump says. Of course, this has been my conclusion for years already, but now Carlson has given his Fox News audience permission not to believe anything Trump says. In fact, they would be foolish to do so. Carlson belongs to a cult. Or else Carlson is just cynically playing to his most devoted fans, who do belong to a cult.</div>
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A recent poll shows that 53% of Republicans think that Trump is a better president than Abraham Lincoln, the man who led America through a civil war. This is mind blowing. This is mass delusion. Next, they’ll want to put Trump on Mount Rushmore. These people belong to a cult.</div>
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Donald Trump retweeted a picture of his head photoshopped onto the muscular body of a boxer (Sylvester Stallone from the movie “Rocky”). Juvenile and not exactly presidential, if you ask me. What’s worse, when the Washington Post -- stating the obvious -- mentions that the photo was “doctored”, the Trump reelection campaign hits back, accusing the Post of having no “evidence” the photo was doctored. As if, without some proof to the contrary, we are expected to believe the body of a 73-year-old obese man looks just like that of a 30-year-old champion boxer. This is a cult.</div>
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Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-27104591695489002422019-11-22T20:50:00.000+02:002019-11-22T20:50:48.875+02:00Tony Channels Donald Trump<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Listening to Donald Trump's "on the nose" denials of a quid pro quo in his phone call with Gordon Sondland the other day, I couldn't help imagining a similar kind of exchange...</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">A phone rings. Tony Soprano picks up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Hey Tony, it’s Paulie. Listen, you were talking about
Lefty Caputo the other day.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“You mean my long-time friend Johnny Caputo, who, out
of a no doubt sincere, but badly misguided sense of civic duty decided to tell
the FBI some very exaggerated stories about our past dealings, completely out
of context I might add. And thereby misled the dedicated public servants at
the Bureau into wasting tax payer money on unfounded, not to mention unfair,
investigations of my business and personal life.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Yeah, that guy. What do you want to do with him?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Tony sighs heavily. “Nothing. I don’t want to have
nothing to do with him. In light of his unexpected recent actions, causing me
considerable unnecessary legal expense and harm to my reputation, I feel our
friendship has ended. I have decided to put him completely out of my mind.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“So he’s dead to you?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“I didn’t say that. I did not say that. No. Look, what I’m
saying is...though I wish we could have parted on, ah, better terms and I am saddened by this, ah, turn of events, I wish
nothing but the best for Lefty and hope he will have a long and prosperous life.”
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Okay, I understand. Like you always say, a peaceful
life is the least anyone deserves.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“That’s right, Paulie. And, as you know, it is a sick
indictment of the society we live in that not everyone enjoys that luxury. Even
the most innocent citizens are sometimes the victims of senseless, horrific
violence. For no reason. A real shame. Needless to say, despite our differences,
I would never wish anything of the kind for Lefty. Or his family. Not even his dog.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Got it. Yes, and I agree. I too hope the best for Lefty in his
future endeavors, and I wish him a prosperous and long life. A long life.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Yes. And peaceful. Very peaceful. Okay, Paulie, I gotta go. See you on Sunday...in church.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Church? Oh, yeah, yeah, church. Got it. Bye, Tony.”</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-14478496352572360382019-11-15T10:23:00.000+02:002019-11-15T10:23:08.824+02:00Law and Disorder: Criminal Distraction<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Public hearings in the Trump impeachment have now started, something sure to keep me the edge of my seat for the next couple of weeks. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the
lead up to all this, one thing I’ve found especially exasperating is how Donald Trump and his followers obsess so much on the whistleblower, as if the whole case against
impeachment hinges on whether an investigation sparked by complaint from an anonymous source is legitimate. Unsurprisingly, this argument makes no sense. Here’s an analogy of the way I look at it.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Let’s say Jim lives down the street from a 7-Eleven. His son Billy runs
in to say the neighborhood bully Jack just cold-cocked Mrs. Bailey, a local
retiree, from behind in the 7-Eleven parking lot. Jim didn’t see it, but he
trusts his son. He's sure it happened. Jim, here, is the whistleblower. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Jim assumes the police have leads and will
immediately arrest Jack, but when that doesn’t happen Jim decides to inform the
authorities himself. It's true he biased against Jack, but he's also biased in favor of Mrs. Bailey, a nice old lady. He's also biased against assaulting old ladies. He calls an anonymous tip line because he doesn’t want to give his
name. He’s had trouble with Jack’s family before and wants to avoid retribution. Who could blame him?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The police start checking up on
Jack, find some people who hang around with him. Some of them saw the whole
thing, and one or two are willing to confirm the attacker was indeed Jack. They also like Mrs. Bailey and agree Jack crossed a line in hitting her. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">The
witnesses, in this case, are Alexander Vindman, Gordon Sondland, Jennifer
Williams, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Jack is arrested and
prosecuted. At this point, the DA doesn’t care who left the anonymous tip. He has
eye-witnesses now and other evidence uncovered by detectives. The DA is the
House of Representatives. The detectives are the three committees investigating
Trump’s dealings with the president of Ukraine. The whole House is the Grand Jury
that will hear the evidence and decide if there’s enough to indict Jack, I mean
Trump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">To stretch the analogy out
further, half of the jury (the Senate) hearing the case against Jack (Trump)
happens to be opioid addicts and loyal customers of Jack's backstreet painkiller retail business. Despite the undisputed evidence, they refuse to find him guilty. Judge G. O. Patterson declares a mistrial, and Jack goes free.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">He is
still tainted with an arrest record, but no conviction. In the end, he’s an
unrepentant scoundrel, but one who’s admired by enough of the townspeople of
Dipshitville that they even elect him mayor. To celebrate, Trump (I mean, Jack)
goes out on Fifth Avenue and shoots someone. And no one cares. Jack is special. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">P.S. Someone in the DA's office illegally reveals Jim's name to the local paper as being the anonymous tipster, and naturally Jack gives him a horrible beat down. So much for anonymity. So much for justice. </span></div>
Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-46427668261724148202019-11-11T11:41:00.000+02:002019-11-11T11:41:42.203+02:00Bottom-Line Valor?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">
I don’t normally note Veteran’s Day, since I’m a
liberal, and liberals tend not to valorize the military the way conservatives
do. And by “valorize”, I mean the kind of conspicuous virtue signaling of
patriotism that American conservatives love to plaster across their social
media. Flags, eagles, that sort of stuff.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, to make a blatant political point, I thought it might be
interesting to talk about the veterans who are currently running for president.
What makes this especially relevant is the recent publication of a book by
Donald Trump’s son Junior, titled “Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and
Wants to Silence Us”. (The very long subtitle kinda gives away the plot,
doesn’t it?) </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In this book, out just in time for Veteran’s Day, Don Jr.
recalls visiting Arlington Cemetery just before his father’s inauguration and
how the rows and rows of graves of fallen soldiers movingly reminded him of all
the business opportunities his family was sacrificing by coming to Washington,
all the revenue they have foregone for the country. Call it “bottom-line
valor”. Crass and tone deaf doesn’t even begin to describe it. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You would
think a political family with no history of military service whatsoever would
shy away from making those kinds of comparisons. Donald Trump famously avoided
the Vietnam War thanks to student deferments and a bogus “bone spur”. What’s
more, neither of his sons have served in the military. That’s not surprising,
of course. The only prep-school scions of the American elite who join the
military are those who really <i>want</i> to
(I’m thinking here of John Kerry, Robert Mueller, etc.), as opposed to
lower-class folks who have fewer economic options. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, I wondered how do
the other candidates stack up? </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Let’s start with the Republicans. And, yes,
there are some besides Trump, namely <b>Mark
Sanford</b>, <b>Joe Walsh</b>, and <b>Bill Weld</b>. The first two were born in
the early 60s, and thus too old for any major war event that you might expect
would inspire people to join up, like Pat Tillman did. Tillman was the NFL
player who retired at the height of his pro ball career to join the Army in
response to 9-11. He died in Afghanistan in 2004. He was basically the same age
as Don Jr. Hmmm. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Back to the candidates. Bill Weld was born in 1945, a year
before Trump, so he, like Trump, was of a prime age to fight for his country.
He did not. Just like Trump. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the Democratic side, there are currently 16
candidates. No, 17. I know, it’s hard to keep track. Five are women. I hope
it’s not sexist to say women aren’t normally expected to serve in the military,
so no one would look askance at Elizabeth Warren not having military
credentials to flout. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The punitive frontrunner <b>Joe Biden</b>, born in 1942 which makes him a bit older than Trump, was
in his mid 20s at the height of the Vietnam War. He stayed out of the war with
the help of deferments and a history of asthma. His son Beau joined the
National Guard as a JAG officer in 2002 at the age of 33. Obviously, that’s
serving part-time in the military, though he did serve one year in Iraq. He
remained in the Guard until his untimely death in 2014. Younger brother Hunter
also joined the service, the US Navy Reserve in the case, somewhat late at the
age of 43 (it’s not too late for the Trump boys!), but was discharged after
only a year after testing positive for cocaine. Hunter, it seems, is turning
out to be a problematic child. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That leaves 11 other male candidates. <b>Bernie Sanders</b>, even older than Biden,
could have served in Vietnam if he’d really wanted, though no one would expect
a young leftist political activist who took part in anti-war protests at the
time to volunteer to go kill Viet Cong. In fact, Sanders applied for
conscientious objector status, which was ultimately rejected, though by that
time he was too old to be drafted anyway. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Tom Steyer</b> is about my own age, too young for Vietnam, too old for
the next war. Not that you have to <i>wait</i>
for a war. <b>Joe Sestak</b>, who I admit
was not on my radar at all, went straight from High School to the Naval
Academy, following the example of his father. He graduated as an ensign in
1974, just after the Paris Peace Accords ended the US involvement in Vietnam.
Sestak spent 31 years in the Navy, rising to the rank of Vice Admiral and
commanded an aircraft carrier battle group operating in Persian Gulf during the
Iraq War. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>John Delaney</b>, <b>Michael Bennet</b>, <b>Steve Bullock</b>, and <b>Cory
Booker</b> were all children of the 60s. That put them well into their 30s
during the Iraq War and borderline “too old” even for the Gulf War a decade
earlier. On the other hand, Booker was only 22 when Norman Schwarzkopf led the
liberation of Kuwait in 1991, though the whole thing was over so quickly,
Booker would not likely have seen combat even if he had rushed to join up. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Julian Castro</b>, <b>Wayne Messam</b>, and <b>Andrew
Yang</b> were almost 30 when George W. Bush launched his unnecessary and cursed
invasion of Iraq in 2003. Again, a bit too old to take part in any case. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Pete Buttigieg</b>, the youngest candidate,
joined the US Navy Reserve at the age of 27, retiring as a lieutenant after
eight years. I guess Reservists, like National Guardsmen, are mostly “weekend
warriors”, and for his monthly stints of duty Buttigieg was assigned to a post
on Lake Michigan, within driving distance of South Bend, Indiana, where part of
that time he was mayor. He did take a break from running South Bend to ship
overseas to Afghanistan for a six-month tour as a naval intelligence office and
armed driver for his CO. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Another Democratic candidate, <b>Tulsi Gabbard</b>, is the only female vet running for the White House,
maybe the only one who ever has. She joined the National Guard just weeks after
the opening “shock and awe” of the American hostilities against Iraq. She
continues to serve, currently with the rank of major. She served a year-long
tour in Iraq in a medical support unit and a second tour in Kuwait in an MP
(Military Police) unit. I’ll leave the question as to whether she’s a Russian asset
to another time. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, for folks keeping score... </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The current president
and his three GOP challengers: <b>Zero
military service</b>, though when two of them where of draft age there was a
rather hot war going on. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The 17 Democratic candidates: Of the 12 men
running, seven came of age between the Vietnam and Iraq wars, during a time of </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">relative peace. Of the remaining five men, two did serve, one as a career Navy
man. Of the five women candidates, one is currently still serving in the
military. That’s a total of </span><b style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif; font-size: large;">three vets</b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It’s a good thing Republicans don’t look for military experience in their
leaders. Otherwise, they’d have to switch parties. Or maybe that would be a
good thing.</span></div>
<br />Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-58631702614558029442019-10-24T23:54:00.000+03:002019-12-06T20:52:20.229+02:00Law and Disorder: Special Stupidity Unit<br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Defense attorney: "Your Honor, while it is true that my client was present in the 7-11 on the night of the 24th and that he did point a loaded revolver at the cashier while requesting him to empty the cash register, I'd like to point out that -- as the surveillance video from the store has clearly shown -- my client did not ONCE say to the cashier that this was an armed robbery. He did not once use the words 'armed robbery', and therefore, Your Honor, he cannot be charged or convicted of the CRIME of armed robbery."</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Judge: "Very well. Case dismissed!" </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This seems to be the way Trump followers think about the words "quid pro quo" or "abuse of power".
</span></span>Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2309385158537254711.post-35736578095171898052019-09-22T22:55:00.000+03:002019-09-22T22:55:35.319+03:00What Would Trump Do?<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">On the local Finnish radio this morning they had a long segment (for some reason) about the time John Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I remember there was a backlash over that, especially in the South, with folks burning Beatles records with the same kind of enthusiasm that some people used to burn Tyndale Bibles (sorry, couldn't help that -- been reading "Wolf Hall" and thinking about all the Christian-on-Christian hatred that was going on back in those days wh<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">en Henry VIII decided he wanted a new and better queen).</span></span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Anyway, I got to wondering how Trump's supporters would react if Trump said <i>he</i> was more popular than Jesus. (And judging by the actions of Trump's base, he probably IS more popular than Jesus with those folks.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I wish some reporter would ask that question. Are you now more popular than Jesus? I would love to see him stumble over his answer. He <i>might</i> understand that the "correct" answer is no. But he might also be so happy with the comparison that he might flip into Trump-mode and say something idiotic. "Look, they say Jesus walked on water, but I'm building the wall. Jesus never would have done that, what I'm doing. He wouldn't keep those immigrants out."</div>
</span></div>
Kent Tankersleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01848650819768345044noreply@blogger.com0