education and deconstruction.com – Page 38

The Unicorn’s Secret

The Book of the Week is “The Unicorn’s Secret, Murder in the Age of Aquarius” by Steven Levy, published in 1988.

Born in 1940 in the Philadelphia area, Ira Einhorn was, according to his mother, God’s gift to the world. A control freak, he was used to having his own way. He was later described by a friend of his as “… a hippie Jew wearing a dashiki with sandals, with body odor… fat… a weirdo…” He taught at the University of Pennsylvania’s “Free University” in 1966. The educational entity offered classes that encouraged exchange of ideas without the pressures of graduation requirements or grades. The most unconventional aspect of Einhorn’s courses, however, was that he taught students about LSD and pot. Like Timothy Leary, he believed that acid and pot generated good brain chemicals, while speed caused bad drug trips, and paranoia.

In addition to teaching– Einhorn dealt drugs on the side, wrote articles for counterculture publications and did event-planning to support himself. He used “The Unicorn” as his pen name. In January 1967, the predecessor to Woodstock took place in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It was called the Human Be-In, and was attended by about 25,000 people. In April 1967, Einhorn co-arranged a similar event in Philadelphia. Only about a thousand people showed up.

Critics charged that Einhorn was a talker, not a doer. He wasted the time of real activists with his “… sloth, bad poetry, quasi-academic babble, and chemical fantasies.” He would help plan a protest and not show up. But he got all the press attention. The reason he was tolerated was that he had a magnetic personality, knowledge and fundraising contacts. In 1970, during the very first “Earth Week” on “Earth Day” on April 22, he hogged the stage when Ed Muskie was scheduled to deliver a speech. When forced to cede the spotlight, Einhorn gave the impression it was his show and Muskie was merely a bit player. He rewrote history to say he was the sole creator of Earth Day.

Einhorn ingratiated himself with top executives of major corporations like General Electric and Pennsylvania Bell, a subsidiary of AT&T. He was a long-haired freak while the latter were clean-cut suits. But he got fancy, free lunches with them. In the early 1970’s, he sent articles on paranormal phenomena to an expanding network of people who would eventually number in the hundreds. His contact at Pennsylvania Bell had the company pay for the copying and postage of the twice-weekly mailings, and did the envelope-stuffing. Einhorn’s goal was to save the world via the Peace Movement and the Earth Movement.

Beginning in the early 1970’s, Holly Maddux– who was born in 1947– had an off-and-on relationship with Einhorn. When he was too physically abusive, she moved out of their Philadelphia apartment into a commune. But he treated her like a doormat all the time. In March 1979, her corpse was found in his apartment. The aforementioned friend of Einhorn’s said that a jury of Einhorn’s peers would convict him for killing “… a little, blond, shiksa cheerleader from Texas!”

Unsurprisingly, Einhorn had hubris syndrome. The current president of the United States shares a few other personality traits with Einhorn. Two stark differences, however, are that Einhorn loved reading, and oozed charisma.

For more insight into the personality of the accused, see the following posts:

how to rig an election

Indecent Exposure

The Rabbi and the Hitman

The Strange Case of the Mad Professor

Blood Will Out

Safe Harbor, A Murder in Nantucket

To be fair, thousands of elected officials in this country have lost their way as public servants. Excuse the cliche, but the fish rots from the head down. Trumpolitics is a new thing: “trickle down politics” (ironically– the opposite of Reagan’s trickle down economics, because most lower-level authorities– governors and mayors, are enjoying additional power; some more than others.). The president, Congress, governors and mayors have shown depraved indifference to millions of innocent people by ruining their livelihoods, saying, “If we can’t get what we want, then no one can.” And to top it off, failing to admit wrongdoing and apologize.

The Democrats are afraid that in 2020, Trump’s propaganda machine will be superior to their own, again. That’s why they’re taking the low road to oust him via the COVID conspiracy instead. The Republicans have thrown in with the Democrats because they never liked Trump either, and they feel obligated to maintain party unity, while taking the opportunity to bankrupt as many Democrat donors as they can. It also kills some of them to admit that they really do want national healthcare.

Anyway, read the book to learn more about Einhorn, including everything you ever wanted to know about his sex life, and of his fate.

full circle (sic)

The Book of the Week is “full circle (sic), Escape from Baghdad and the Return” by Saul Silas Fathi, published in 2005. The author interspersed his personal experiences with a brief history of everywhere he had traveled, and brief stories of numerous members of his extensive family tree. Some chapters repeated the same information again, in case the reader had a short memory. Clearly, he wanted his descendants to know all about him and their ancestors.

In 1938 in Basra in Iraq, born into an upper middle-class Jewish family that would eventually have eight children, the author had lots of aunts and uncles. When Israel declared its independence in 1948, Iraq began to oppress its Jews (Zionists), and Communists. The author’s father, a government official, lost his job.

In August 1948, the father paid people-smugglers to help the family’s oldest sons, the author and his younger brother– a year and a half younger– to take them to Israel. Their two uncles in their late teens, were also in the same group of refugees. They had relatives already living in Israel.

Starting in summer 1950 and for about ten months, the Iraqi government allowed its Jews to leave with only the clothes on their backs, forced them to give up their Iraqi citizenship, plus they had to promise never to return, among other conditions. Many who fled to Israel ended up living with Holocaust survivors (more traumatized than the author) in refugee camps.

Fathi was bored of Israel by his late teens, and thought he would go live in Brazil for a few months, beginning in 1958. In Sao Paulo, he and a friend went to a Baptist church that offered free food to the destitute. Lots of Jews worshipped there after escaping the Nazis, and some converted. Fathi was so down on his luck, he worked for food, too.

Fast-forward to spring 1960. Because the author was open to new experiences and met many people who assisted him in his life, he was finally able to obtain a visa to study in the United States.

However, by October 1960, he was running out of money because as a student, he wasn’t allowed to hold a job to support himself. That’s when a chance meeting with a guard at the New York Public Library’s research branch (the one with the lions in front) suggested that he join the U.S. Army to earn money to continue his college education. He did so.

In early 1962, U.S. Immigration sent Fathi a letter telling him that since he wasn’t a U.S. citizen and wasn’t in the process of becoming one, his “… recruitment was an unfortunate mistake, and that any law which permitted such action was abolished at the end of the Korean War, in 1953.” Absurdly, litigation in connection therewith dragged on for years.

But that is the American way. If one feels one has been wronged, the way to settle it is through the courts. However, this is always costly– financially, emotionally and temporally. The costs are what leaders who abuse their power count on, to allow them to continue their tyranny.

Such is the mentality of the current leadership in the United States. NOT ONE previous president lifted a finger to unduly oppress Americans to allegedly contain a contagious, fatal disease. Only this current one. Why is that?

The oppression has certain similarities to a psychological process called divestiture socialization– a ritual imposed on newcomers to social groups in which there is tight bonding of members. Such groups include those in the military, medical school, boarding schools, fraternities and sororities. The newcomers are beaten down and if they survive their hazing, are forced to adapt to the culture of the abusive hierarchy. The new recruits who go along to get along get Stockholm syndrome, because they know that someday, they will become the oppressors.

Along these lines, it’s time to name names of the COVID CONSPIRATORS– those elected officials who are most responsible for punishing the American people for electing a president they themselves don’t like, punishing even those who voted against the current president.

By the way, some American employers make employees clean up the mess they made. Then they fire them. One should remember the mess the following conspirators made, and– come their reelection time, vote them out of office. Besides litigation, that’s the American way, too.

[Please excuse any omissions or errors in the following lists, as WordPress is buggy and had trouble handling the large volume of text, and would not delete specific items. Hackers may also have modified specific items.]

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

GOVERNORS

Alabama Kay Ivey
Alaska Mike Dunleavy
Arizona Doug Ducey
Arkansas Asa Hutchinson
California Gavin Newsom
Colorado Jared Polis
Connecticut Ned Lamont
Delaware John C. Carney Jr.
Florida Ron DeSantis
Georgia Brian Kemp
Hawaii David Ige
Idaho Brad Little
Illinois J.B. Pritzker
Indiana Eric Holcomb
Iowa Kim Reynolds
Kansas Laura Kelly
Kentucky Andy Beshear
Louisiana John Bel Edwards
Maine Janet T. Mills
Maryland Larry Hogan
Massachusetts Charles D. Baker
Michigan Gretchen Whitmer
Minnesota Tim Walz

etc.

U.S. SENATORS

Alexander, Lamar TN
Baldwin, Tammy WI
Barrasso, John WY
Bennet, Michael F. CO
Blackburn, Marsha TN
Blumenthal, Richard CT
Blunt, Roy MO
Booker, Cory A. NJ
Boozman, John AR
.

etc.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVES
Abraham, Ralph
Louisiana’s 5th congressional district, 2015-2020
Adams, Alma
North Carolina’s 12th congressional district, 2014-2020
Aderholt, Robert
Alabama’s 4th congressional district, 1997-2020
Aguilar, Pete
California’s 31st congressional district, 2015-2020
Allen, Rick
Georgia’s 12th congressional district, 2015-2020
Allred, Colin
Texas’s 32nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Amash, Justin
Michigan’s 3rd congressional district, 2011-2020

etc.

Banks, Jim
Indiana’s 3rd congressional district, 2017-2020
Barr, Garland “Andy”
Kentucky’s 6th congressional district, 2013-2020
Bass, Karen
California’s 37th congressional district, 2013-2020
Beatty, Joyce
Ohio’s 3rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Bera, Ami
California’s 7th congressional district, 2013-2020
Bergman, Jack
Michigan’s 1st congressional district, 2017-2020
Beyer, Donald
Virginia’s 8th congressional district, 2015-2020
Biggs, Andy
Arizona’s 5th congressional district, 2017-2020
Bilirakis, Gus
Florida’s 12th congressional district, 2013-2020
Bishop, Dan
North Carolina’s 9th congressional district, 2019-2020
Bishop, Rob
Utah’s 1st congressional district, 2003-2020
Bishop, Sanford
Georgia’s 2nd congressional district, 1993-2020
Blackburn, Marsha
Junior Senator for Tennessee, 2019-2024
Blumenauer, Earl
Oregon’s 3rd congressional district, 1996-2020
Blunt Rochester, Lisa
Delaware At Large, 2017-2020
Bonamici, Suzanne
Oregon’s 1st congressional district, 2012-2020
Bost, Mike
Illinois’s 12th congressional district, 2015-2020

Schumer, Charles
New York’s 22nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Brooks, Mo
Alabama’s 5th congressional district, 2011-2020
Brooks, Susan
Indiana’s 5th congressional district, 2013-2020
Brown, Anthony
Maryland’s 4th congressional district, 2017-2020
Brownley, Julia
California’s 26th congressional district, 2013-2020
Buchanan, Vern
Florida’s 16th congressional district, 2013-2020
Buck, Ken
Colorado’s 4th congressional district, 2015-2020
Bucshon, Larry
Indiana’s 8th congressional district, 2011-2020
Budd, Ted
North Carolina’s 13th congressional district, 2017-2020
Burchett, Tim
Tennessee’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Burgess, Michael
Texas’s 26th congressional district, 2003-2020
Bustos, Cheri
Illinois’s 17th congressional district, 2013-2020
Butterfield, George “G.K.”
North Carolina’s 1st congressional district, 2004-2020
Byrne, Bradley
Alabama’s 1st congressional district, 2014-2020
Calvert, Ken
California’s 42nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Capito, Shelley
Junior Senator for West Virginia, 2015-2020
Carbajal, Salud
California’s 24th congressional district, 2017-2020
Carper, Thomas
Senior Senator for Delaware, 2001-2024
Carson, André
Indiana’s 7th congressional district, 2008-2020
Carter, Buddy
Georgia’s 1st congressional district, 2015-2020
Carter, John
Texas’s 31st congressional district, 2003-2020
Cartwright, Matthew
Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district, 2019-2020
Case, Ed
Hawaii’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Casten, Sean
Illinois’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Castor, Kathy
Florida’s 14th congressional district, 2013-2020
Castro, Joaquin
Texas’s 20th congressional district, 2013-2020
Chabot, Steve
Ohio’s 1st congressional district, 2011-2020
Cheney, Liz
Wyoming At Large, 2017-2020
Chu, Judy
California’s 27th congressional district, 2013-2020
Cicilline, David
Rhode Island’s 1st congressional district, 2011-2020
Cisneros, Gilbert
California’s 39th congressional district, 2019-2020
Clark, Katherine
Massachusetts’s 5th congressional district, 2013-2020
Clarke, Yvette
New York’s 9th congressional district, 2013-2020
Clay, Lacy
Missouri’s 1st congressional district, 2001-2020
Cleaver, Emanuel
Missouri’s 5th congressional district, 2005-2020
Cline, Ben
Virginia’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Cloud, Michael
Texas’s 27th congressional district, 2018-2020
Clyburn, James “Jim”
South Carolina’s 6th congressional district, 1993-2020
Cohen, Steve
Tennessee’s 9th congressional district, 2007-2020
Cole, Tom
Oklahoma’s 4th congressional district, 2003-2020
Collins, Doug
Georgia’s 9th congressional district, 2013-2020
Comer, James
Kentucky’s 1st congressional district, 2016-2020
Conaway, Michael
Texas’s 11th congressional district, 2005-2020
Connolly, Gerald
Virginia’s 11th congressional district, 2009-2020
Cook, Paul
California’s 8th congressional district, 2013-2020
Cooper, Jim
Tennessee’s 5th congressional district, 2003-2020
Correa, Luis
California’s 46th congressional district, 2017-2020
Costa, Jim
California’s 16th congressional district, 2013-2020
Courtney, Joe
Connecticut’s 2nd congressional district, 2007-2020
Cox, TJ
California’s 21st congressional district, 2019-2020
Craig, Angie
Minnesota’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Crawford, Eric “Rick”
Arkansas’s 1st congressional district, 2011-2020
Crenshaw, Dan
Texas’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Crist, Charlie
Florida’s 13th congressional district, 2017-2020
Crow, Jason
Colorado’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Cruz, Ted
Junior Senator for Texas, 2013-2024
Cuellar, Henry
Texas’s 28th congressional district, 2005-2020
Cunningham, Joe
South Carolina’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Curtis, John
Utah’s 3rd congressional district, 2017-2020
Cárdenas, Tony
California’s 29th congressional district, 2013-2020
Davids, Sharice
Kansas’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Davidson, Warren
Ohio’s 8th congressional district, 2016-2020
Davis, Danny
Illinois’s 7th congressional district, 1997-2020
Davis, Rodney
Illinois’s 13th congressional district, 2013-2020
Davis, Susan
California’s 53rd congressional district, 2003-2020
DeFazio, Peter
Oregon’s 4th congressional district, 1987-2020
DeGette, Diana
Colorado’s 1st congressional district, 1997-2020
DeLauro, Rosa
Connecticut’s 3rd congressional district, 1991-2020
DeSaulnier, Mark
California’s 11th congressional district, 2015-2020
Dean, Madeleine
Pennsylvania’s 4th congressional district, 2019-2020
DelBene, Suzan
Washington’s 1st congressional district, 2012-2020
Delgado, Antonio
New York’s 19th congressional district, 2019-2020
Demings, Val
Florida’s 10th congressional district, 2017-2020
DesJarlais, Scott
Tennessee’s 4th congressional district, 2011-2020
Deutch, Theodore
Florida’s 22nd congressional district, 2017-2020
Diaz-Balart, Mario
Florida’s 25th congressional district, 2013-2020
Dingell, Debbie
Michigan’s 12th congressional district, 2015-2020
Doggett, Lloyd
Texas’s 35th congressional district, 2013-2020
Doyle, Michael “Mike”
Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district, 2019-2020
Duncan, Jeff
South Carolina’s 3rd congressional district, 2011-2020
Dunn, Neal
Florida’s 2nd congressional district, 2017-2020
Emmer, Tom
Minnesota’s 6th congressional district, 2015-2020
Engel, Eliot
New York’s 16th congressional district, 2013-2020
Escobar, Veronica
Texas’s 16th congressional district, 2019-2020
Eshoo, Anna
California’s 18th congressional district, 2013-2020
Espaillat, Adriano
New York’s 13th congressional district, 2017-2020
Estes, Ron
Kansas’s 4th congressional district, 2017-2020
Evans, Dwight
Pennsylvania’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Ferguson, Drew
Representative for Georgia’s 3rd congressional district, 2017-2020
Finkenauer, Abby
Representative for Iowa’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Fitzpatrick, Brian
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Fleischmann, Charles “Chuck”
Representative for Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district, 2011-2020
Fletcher, Lizzie
Representative for Texas’s 7th congressional district, 2019-2020
Flores, Bill
Representative for Texas’s 17th congressional district, 2011-2020
Fortenberry, Jeff
Representative for Nebraska’s 1st congressional district, 2005-2020
Foster, Bill
Representative for Illinois’s 11th congressional district, 2013-2020
Foxx, Virginia
Representative for North Carolina’s 5th congressional district, 2005-2020
Frankel, Lois
Representative for Florida’s 21st congressional district, 2017-2020
Fudge, Marcia
Representative for Ohio’s 11th congressional district, 2008-2020
Fulcher, Russ
Representative for Idaho’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Gabbard, Tulsi
Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Gaetz, Matt
Representative for Florida’s 1st congressional district, 2017-2020
Gallagher, Mike
Representative for Wisconsin’s 8th congressional district, 2017-2020
Gallego, Ruben
Representative for Arizona’s 7th congressional district, 2015-2020
Garamendi, John
Representative for California’s 3rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Garcia, Mike
Representative for California’s 25th congressional district, 2020-2020
Garcia, Sylvia
Representative for Texas’s 29th congressional district, 2019-2020
García, Jesús
Representative for Illinois’s 4th congressional district, 2019-2020
Gianforte, Greg
Representative for Montana At Large, 2017-2020
Gibbs, Bob
Representative for Ohio’s 7th congressional district, 2013-2020
Gohmert, Louie
Representative for Texas’s 1st congressional district, 2005-2020
Golden, Jared
Representative for Maine’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Gomez, Jimmy
Representative for California’s 34th congressional district, 2017-2020
Gonzalez, Anthony
Representative for Ohio’s 16th congressional district, 2019-2020
Gonzalez, Vicente
Representative for Texas’s 15th congressional district, 2017-2020
González-Colón, Jenniffer
Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico, 2017-2020
Gooden, Lance
Representative for Texas’s 5th congressional district, 2019-2020
Gosar, Paul
Representative for Arizona’s 4th congressional district, 2013-2020
Gottheimer, Josh
Representative for New Jersey’s 5th congressional district, 2017-2020
Granger, Kay
Representative for Texas’s 12th congressional district, 1997-2020
Graves, Garret
Representative for Louisiana’s 6th congressional district, 2015-2020
Graves, Sam
Representative for Missouri’s 6th congressional district, 2001-2020
Graves, Tom
Representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district, 2013-2020
Green, Al
Representative for Texas’s 9th congressional district, 2005-2020
Green, Mark
Representative for Tennessee’s 7th congressional district, 2019-2020
Griffith, Morgan
Representative for Virginia’s 9th congressional district, 2011-2020
Grijalva, Raúl
Representative for Arizona’s 3rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Grothman, Glenn
Representative for Wisconsin’s 6th congressional district, 2015-2020
Guest, Michael
Representative for Mississippi’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Guthrie, Brett
Representative for Kentucky’s 2nd congressional district, 2009-2020
Haaland, Debra
Representative for New Mexico’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Hagedorn, Jim
Representative for Minnesota’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Harder, Josh
Representative for California’s 10th congressional district, 2019-2020
Harris, Andy
Representative for Maryland’s 1st congressional district, 2011-2020
Hartzler, Vicky
Representative for Missouri’s 4th congressional district, 2011-2020
Hastings, Alcee
Representative for Florida’s 20th congressional district, 2013-2020
Hayes, Jahana
Representative for Connecticut’s 5th congressional district, 2019-2020
Heck, Denny
Representative for Washington’s 10th congressional district, 2013-2020
Hern, Kevin
Representative for Oklahoma’s 1st congressional district, 2018-2020
Herrera Beutler, Jaime
Representative for Washington’s 3rd congressional district, 2011-2020
Hice, Jody
Representative for Georgia’s 10th congressional district, 2015-2020
Higgins, Brian
Representative for New York’s 26th congressional district, 2013-2020
Higgins, Clay
Representative for Louisiana’s 3rd congressional district, 2017-2020
Hill, French
Representative for Arkansas’s 2nd congressional district, 2015-2020
Himes, James
Representative for Connecticut’s 4th congressional district, 2009-2020
Holding, George
Representative for North Carolina’s 2nd congressional district, 2017-2020
Hollingsworth, Trey
Representative for Indiana’s 9th congressional district, 2017-2020
Horn, Kendra
Representative for Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district, 2019-2020
Horsford, Steven
Representative for Nevada’s 4th congressional district, 2019-2020
Houlahan, Chrissy
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Hoyer, Steny
Representative for Maryland’s 5th congressional district, 1981-2020
Hudson, Richard
Representative for North Carolina’s 8th congressional district, 2013-2020
Huffman, Jared
Representative for California’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Huizenga, Bill
Representative for Michigan’s 2nd congressional district, 2011-2020
Hurd, Will
Representative for Texas’s 23rd congressional district, 2015-2020
Jackson Lee, Sheila
Representative for Texas’s 18th congressional district, 1995-2020
Jayapal, Pramila
Representative for Washington’s 7th congressional district, 2017-2020
Jeffries, Hakeem
Representative for New York’s 8th congressional district, 2013-2020
Johnson, Bill
Representative for Ohio’s 6th congressional district, 2011-2020
Johnson, Dusty
Representative for South Dakota At Large, 2019-2020
Johnson, Eddie
Representative for Texas’s 30th congressional district, 1993-2020
Johnson, Henry “Hank”
Representative for Georgia’s 4th congressional district, 2007-2020
Johnson, Mike
Representative for Louisiana’s 4th congressional district, 2017-2020
Jordan, Jim
Representative for Ohio’s 4th congressional district, 2007-2020
Joyce, David
Representative for Ohio’s 14th congressional district, 2013-2020
Joyce, John
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 13th congressional district, 2019-2020
Kaptur, Marcy
Representative for Ohio’s 9th congressional district, 1983-2020
Katko, John
Representative for New York’s 24th congressional district, 2015-2020
Keating, William
Representative for Massachusetts’s 9th congressional district, 2013-2020
Keller, Fred
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, 2019-2020
Kelly, Mike
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 16th congressional district, 2019-2020
Kelly, Robin
Representative for Illinois’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Kelly, Trent
Representative for Mississippi’s 1st congressional district, 2015-2020
Kennedy, Joseph
Representative for Massachusetts’s 4th congressional district, 2013-2020
Khanna, Ro
Representative for California’s 17th congressional district, 2017-2020
Kildee, Daniel
Representative for Michigan’s 5th congressional district, 2013-2020
Kilmer, Derek
Representative for Washington’s 6th congressional district, 2013-2020
Kim, Andy
Representative for New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Kind, Ron
Representative for Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district, 1997-2020
King, Peter “Pete”
Representative for New York’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
King, Steve
Representative for Iowa’s 4th congressional district, 2013-2020
Kinzinger, Adam
Representative for Illinois’s 16th congressional district, 2013-2020
Kirkpatrick, Ann
Representative for Arizona’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Krishnamoorthi, Raja
Representative for Illinois’s 8th congressional district, 2017-2020
Kuster, Ann
Representative for New Hampshire’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Kustoff, David
Representative for Tennessee’s 8th congressional district, 2017-2020
LaHood, Darin
Representative for Illinois’s 18th congressional district, 2015-2020
LaMalfa, Doug
Representative for California’s 1st congressional district, 2013-2020
Lamb, Conor
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district, 2019-2020
Lamborn, Doug
Representative for Colorado’s 5th congressional district, 2007-2020
Langevin, James “Jim”
Representative for Rhode Island’s 2nd congressional district, 2001-2020
Larsen, Rick
Representative for Washington’s 2nd congressional district, 2001-2020
Larson, John
Representative for Connecticut’s 1st congressional district, 1999-2020
Latta, Robert
Representative for Ohio’s 5th congressional district, 2007-2020
Lawrence, Brenda
Representative for Michigan’s 14th congressional district, 2015-2020
Lawson, Al
Representative for Florida’s 5th congressional district, 2017-2020
Lee, Barbara
Representative for California’s 13th congressional district, 2013-2020
Lee, Susie
Representative for Nevada’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Lesko, Debbie
Representative for Arizona’s 8th congressional district, 2018-2020
Levin, Andy
Representative for Michigan’s 9th congressional district, 2019-2020
Levin, Mike
Representative for California’s 49th congressional district, 2019-2020
Lewis, John
Representative for Georgia’s 5th congressional district, 1987-2020
Lieu, Ted
Representative for California’s 33rd congressional district, 2015-2020
Lipinski, Daniel
Representative for Illinois’s 3rd congressional district, 2005-2020
Loebsack, David
Representative for Iowa’s 2nd congressional district, 2007-2020
Lofgren, Zoe
Representative for California’s 19th congressional district, 2013-2020
Long, Billy
Representative for Missouri’s 7th congressional district, 2011-2020
Loudermilk, Barry
Representative for Georgia’s 11th congressional district, 2015-2020
Lowenthal, Alan
Representative for California’s 47th congressional district, 2013-2020
Lowey, Nita
Representative for New York’s 17th congressional district, 2013-2020
Lucas, Frank
Representative for Oklahoma’s 3rd congressional district, 2003-2020
Luetkemeyer, Blaine
Representative for Missouri’s 3rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Luján, Ben
Representative for New Mexico’s 3rd congressional district, 2009-2020
Luria, Elaine
Representative for Virginia’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Lynch, Stephen
Representative for Massachusetts’s 8th congressional district, 2013-2020
Malinowski, Tom
Representative for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district, 2019-2020
Maloney, Carolyn
Representative for New York’s 12th congressional district, 2013-2020
Maloney, Sean
Representative for New York’s 18th congressional district, 2013-2020
Marchant, Kenny
Representative for Texas’s 24th congressional district, 2005-2020
Marshall, Roger
Representative for Kansas’s 1st congressional district, 2017-2020
Massie, Thomas
Representative for Kentucky’s 4th congressional district, 2012-2020
Mast, Brian
Representative for Florida’s 18th congressional district, 2017-2020
Matsui, Doris
Representative for California’s 6th congressional district, 2013-2020
McAdams, Ben
Representative for Utah’s 4th congressional district, 2019-2020
McBath, Lucy
Representative for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
McCarthy, Kevin
Representative for California’s 23rd congressional district, 2013-2020
McCaul, Michael
Representative for Texas’s 10th congressional district, 2005-2020
McClintock, Tom
Representative for California’s 4th congressional district, 2009-2020
McCollum, Betty
Representative for Minnesota’s 4th congressional district, 2001-2020
McEachin, Donald
Representative for Virginia’s 4th congressional district, 2017-2020
McGovern, James “Jim”
Representative for Massachusetts’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
McHenry, Patrick
Representative for North Carolina’s 10th congressional district, 2005-2020
McKinley, David
Representative for West Virginia’s 1st congressional district, 2011-2020
McMorris Rodgers, Cathy
Representative for Washington’s 5th congressional district, 2005-2020
McNerney, Jerry
Representative for California’s 9th congressional district, 2013-2020
Meeks, Gregory
Representative for New York’s 5th congressional district, 2013-2020
Meng, Grace
Representative for New York’s 6th congressional district, 2013-2020
Meuser, Daniel
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 9th congressional district, 2019-2020
Mfume, Kweisi
Representative for Maryland’s 7th congressional district, 2020-2020
Miller, Carol
Representative for West Virginia’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Mitchell, Paul
Representative for Michigan’s 10th congressional district, 2017-2020
Moolenaar, John
Representative for Michigan’s 4th congressional district, 2015-2020
Mooney, Alex
Representative for West Virginia’s 2nd congressional district, 2015-2020
Moore, Gwen
Representative for Wisconsin’s 4th congressional district, 2005-2020
Morelle, Joseph
Representative for New York’s 25th congressional district, 2018-2020
Moulton, Seth
Representative for Massachusetts’s 6th congressional district, 2015-2020
Mucarsel-Powell, Debbie
Representative for Florida’s 26th congressional district, 2019-2020
Mullin, Markwayne
Representative for Oklahoma’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Murphy, Gregory
Representative for North Carolina’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Murphy, Stephanie
Representative for Florida’s 7th congressional district, 2017-2020
Nadler, Jerrold
Representative for New York’s 10th congressional district, 2013-2020
Napolitano, Grace
Representative for California’s 32nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Neal, Richard
Representative for Massachusetts’s 1st congressional district, 2013-2020
Neguse, Joe
Representative for Colorado’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Newhouse, Dan
Representative for Washington’s 4th congressional district, 2015-2020
Norcross, Donald
Representative for New Jersey’s 1st congressional district, 2014-2020
Norman, Ralph
Representative for South Carolina’s 5th congressional district, 2017-2020
Norton, Eleanor
Representative for the District of Columbia, 1991-2020
Nunes, Devin
Representative for California’s 22nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria
Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, 2019-2020
Olson, Pete
Representative for Texas’s 22nd congressional district, 2009-2020
Omar, Ilhan
Representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, 2019-2020
O’Halleran, Tom
Representative for Arizona’s 1st congressional district, 2017-2020
Palazzo, Steven
Representative for Mississippi’s 4th congressional district, 2011-2020
Pallone, Frank
Representative for New Jersey’s 6th congressional district, 1993-2020
Palmer, Gary
Representative for Alabama’s 6th congressional district, 2015-2020
Panetta, Jimmy
Representative for California’s 20th congressional district, 2017-2020
Pappas, Chris
Representative for New Hampshire’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Pascrell, Bill
Representative for New Jersey’s 9th congressional district, 2013-2020
Payne, Donald
Representative for New Jersey’s 10th congressional district, 2012-2020
Pelosi, Nancy
Representative for California’s 12th congressional district, 2013-2020
Pence, Greg
Representative for Indiana’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Perlmutter, Ed
Representative for Colorado’s 7th congressional district, 2007-2020
Perry, Scott
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, 2019-2020
Peters, Scott
Representative for California’s 52nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Peterson, Collin
Representative for Minnesota’s 7th congressional district, 1991-2020
Phillips, Dean
Representative for Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Pingree, Chellie
Representative for Maine’s 1st congressional district, 2009-2020
Plaskett, Stacey
Representative for the Virgin Islands, 2015-2020
Pocan, Mark
Representative for Wisconsin’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Porter, Katie
Representative for California’s 45th congressional district, 2019-2020
Posey, Bill
Representative for Florida’s 8th congressional district, 2013-2020
Pressley, Ayanna
Representative for Massachusetts’s 7th congressional district, 2019-2020
Price, David
Representative for North Carolina’s 4th congressional district, 1997-2020
Quigley, Mike
Representative for Illinois’s 5th congressional district, 2009-2020
Raskin, Jamie
Representative for Maryland’s 8th congressional district, 2017-2020
Ratcliffe, John
Representative for Texas’s 4th congressional district, 2015-2020
Reed, Tom
Representative for New York’s 23rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Reschenthaler, Guy
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 14th congressional district, 2019-2020
Rice, Kathleen
Representative for New York’s 4th congressional district, 2015-2020
Rice, Tom
Representative for South Carolina’s 7th congressional district, 2013-2020
Richmond, Cedric
Representative for Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district, 2011-2020
Riggleman, Denver
Representative for Virginia’s 5th congressional district, 2019-2020
Roby, Martha
Representative for Alabama’s 2nd congressional district, 2011-2020
Roe, David “Phil”
Representative for Tennessee’s 1st congressional district, 2009-2020
Rogers, Harold “Hal”
Representative for Kentucky’s 5th congressional district, 1981-2020
Rogers, Mike
Representative for Alabama’s 3rd congressional district, 2003-2020
Rooney, Francis
Representative for Florida’s 19th congressional district, 2017-2020
Rose, John
Representative for Tennessee’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Rose, Max
Representative for New York’s 11th congressional district, 2019-2020
Rouda, Harley
Representative for California’s 48th congressional district, 2019-2020
Rouzer, David
Representative for North Carolina’s 7th congressional district, 2015-2020
Roy, Chip
Representative for Texas’s 21st congressional district, 2019-2020
Roybal-Allard, Lucille
Representative for California’s 40th congressional district, 2013-2020
Ruiz, Raul
Representative for California’s 36th congressional district, 2013-2020
Ruppersberger, A. Dutch
Representative for Maryland’s 2nd congressional district, 2003-2020
Rush, Bobby
Representative for Illinois’s 1st congressional district, 1993-2020
Rutherford, John
Representative for Florida’s 4th congressional district, 2017-2020
Ryan, Tim
Representative for Ohio’s 13th congressional district, 2013-2020
Sablan, Gregorio
Representative for the Northern Mariana Islands, 2009-2020
San Nicolas, Michael
Representative for Guam, 2019-2020
Sarbanes, John
Representative for Maryland’s 3rd congressional district, 2007-2020
Scalise, Steve
Representative for Louisiana’s 1st congressional district, 2008-2020
Scanlon, Mary
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 5th congressional district, 2019-2020
Schakowsky, Janice “Jan”
Representative for Illinois’s 9th congressional district, 1999-2020
Schiff, Adam
Representative for California’s 28th congressional district, 2013-2020
Schneider, Bradley
Representative for Illinois’s 10th congressional district, 2017-2020
Schrader, Kurt
Representative for Oregon’s 5th congressional district, 2009-2020
Schrier, Kim
Representative for Washington’s 8th congressional district, 2019-2020
Schweikert, David
Representative for Arizona’s 6th congressional district, 2013-2020
Scott, Austin
Representative for Georgia’s 8th congressional district, 2011-2020
Scott, David
Representative for Georgia’s 13th congressional district, 2003-2020
Scott, Robert “Bobby”
Representative for Virginia’s 3rd congressional district, 1993-2020
Sensenbrenner, James
Representative for Wisconsin’s 5th congressional district, 2003-2020
Serrano, José
Representative for New York’s 15th congressional district, 2013-2020
Sewell, Terri
Representative for Alabama’s 7th congressional district, 2011-2020
Shalala, Donna
Representative for Florida’s 27th congressional district, 2019-2020
Sherman, Brad
Representative for California’s 30th congressional district, 2013-2020
Sherrill, Mikie
Representative for New Jersey’s 11th congressional district, 2019-2020
Shimkus, John
Representative for Illinois’s 15th congressional district, 2013-2020
Simpson, Michael “Mike”
Representative for Idaho’s 2nd congressional district, 1999-2020
Sires, Albio
Representative for New Jersey’s 8th congressional district, 2013-2020
Slotkin, Elissa
Representative for Michigan’s 8th congressional district, 2019-2020
Smith, Adam
Representative for Washington’s 9th congressional district, 1997-2020
Smith, Adrian
Representative for Nebraska’s 3rd congressional district, 2007-2020
Smith, Christopher “Chris”
Representative for New Jersey’s 4th congressional district, 1981-2020
Smith, Jason
Representative for Missouri’s 8th congressional district, 2013-2020
Smucker, Lloyd
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 11th congressional district, 2019-2020
Soto, Darren
Representative for Florida’s 9th congressional district, 2017-2020
Spanberger, Abigail
Representative for Virginia’s 7th congressional district, 2019-2020
Spano, Ross
Representative for Florida’s 15th congressional district, 2019-2020
Speier, Jackie
Representative for California’s 14th congressional district, 2013-2020
Stanton, Greg
Representative for Arizona’s 9th congressional district, 2019-2020
Stauber, Pete
Representative for Minnesota’s 8th congressional district, 2019-2020
Stefanik, Elise
Representative for New York’s 21st congressional district, 2015-2020
Steil, Bryan
Representative for Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district, 2019-2020
Steube, Gregory
Representative for Florida’s 17th congressional district, 2019-2020
Stevens, Haley
Representative for Michigan’s 11th congressional district, 2019-2020
Stewart, Chris
Representative for Utah’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Stivers, Steve
Representative for Ohio’s 15th congressional district, 2011-2020
Suozzi, Thomas
Representative for New York’s 3rd congressional district, 2017-2020
Swalwell, Eric
Representative for California’s 15th congressional district, 2013-2020
Sánchez, Linda
Representative for California’s 38th congressional district, 2013-2020
Takano, Mark
Representative for California’s 41st congressional district, 2013-2020
Taylor, Van
Representative for Texas’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Thompson, Bennie
Representative for Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district, 1993-2020
Thompson, Glenn
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 15th congressional district, 2019-2020
Thompson, Mike
Representative for California’s 5th congressional district, 2013-2020
Thornberry, Mac
Representative for Texas’s 13th congressional district, 1995-2020
Tiffany, Thomas
Representative for Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district, 2020-2020
Timmons, William
Representative for South Carolina’s 4th congressional district, 2019-2020
Tipton, Scott
Representative for Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, 2011-2020
Titus, Dina
Representative for Nevada’s 1st congressional district, 2013-2020
Tlaib, Rashida
Representative for Michigan’s 13th congressional district, 2019-2020
Tonko, Paul
Representative for New York’s 20th congressional district, 2013-2020
Torres Small, Xochitl
Representative for New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Norma Torres CA35
Torres, Norma
Representative for California’s 35th congressional district, 2015-2020
Trahan, Lori
Representative for Massachusetts’s 3rd congressional district, 2019-2020
Trone, David
Representative for Maryland’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Turner, Michael
Representative for Ohio’s 10th congressional district, 2013-2020
Underwood, Lauren
Representative for Illinois’s 14th congressional district, 2019-2020
Upton, Fred
Representative for Michigan’s 6th congressional district, 1993-2020
Van Drew, Jefferson
Representative for New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Vargas, Juan
Representative for California’s 51st congressional district, 2013-2020
Veasey, Marc
Representative for Texas’s 33rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Vela, Filemon
Representative for Texas’s 34th congressional district, 2013-2020
Velázquez, Nydia
Representative for New York’s 7th congressional district, 2013-2020
Visclosky, Peter
Representative for Indiana’s 1st congressional district, 1985-2020
Wagner, Ann
Representative for Missouri’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Walberg, Tim
Representative for Michigan’s 7th congressional district, 2011-2020
Walden, Greg
Representative for Oregon’s 2nd congressional district, 1999-2020
Walker, Mark
Representative for North Carolina’s 6th congressional district, 2015-2020
Walorski, Jackie
Representative for Indiana’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Waltz, Michael
Representative for Florida’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Wasserman Schultz, Debbie
Representative for Florida’s 23rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Waters, Maxine
Representative for California’s 43rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Watkins, Steven
Representative for Kansas’s 2nd congressional district, 2019-2020
Watson Coleman, Bonnie
Representative for New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, 2015-2020
Weber, Randy
Representative for Texas’s 14th congressional district, 2013-2020
Webster, Daniel
Representative for Florida’s 11th congressional district, 2017-2020
Welch, Peter
Representative for Vermont At Large, 2007-2020
Wenstrup, Brad
Representative for Ohio’s 2nd congressional district, 2013-2020
Westerman, Bruce
Representative for Arkansas’s 4th congressional district, 2015-2020
Wexton, Jennifer
Representative for Virginia’s 10th congressional district, 2019-2020
Wild, Susan
Representative for Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district, 2019-2020
Williams, Roger
Representative for Texas’s 25th congressional district, 2013-2020
Wilson, Frederica
Representative for Florida’s 24th congressional district, 2013-2020
Wilson, Joe
Representative for South Carolina’s 2nd congressional district, 2001-2020
Wittman, Robert
Representative for Virginia’s 1st congressional district, 2007-2020
Womack, Steve
Representative for Arkansas’s 3rd congressional district, 2011-2020
Woodall, Rob
Representative for Georgia’s 7th congressional district, 2011-2020
Wright, Ron
Representative for Texas’s 6th congressional district, 2019-2020
Yarmuth, John
Representative for Kentucky’s 3rd congressional district, 2007-2020
Yoho, Ted
Representative for Florida’s 3rd congressional district, 2013-2020
Young, Don
Representative for Alaska At Large, 1973-2020
Zeldin, Lee
Representative for New York’s 1st congressional district, 2015-2020

To be fair, the conspirators are punishing themselves, as well. They think the only way to oust the president is to crash the economy and have Americans vote him out of office. Ordinary Americans might never learn what the president did or didn’t do because he can hide behind executive privilege whenever his embattled administration is investigated for anything. Also, he and his attorney general are besties on the important issues.

The following quote from Bertrand Russell can never be repeated too often: “There is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought! Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not rational, he becomes furious when they are disputed.”

This COVID campaign has had a cloak of phoniness on it from the start. True, over time, myths and misinformation have suffused all major historical events. However, electronic files are slowly replacing paper, so the recording of the institutional memory of the world can be modified with a few keystrokes all the time. Propagandists from each side are engaging in a constant battle (like “Spy vs. Spy” in Mad Magazine) to be the most recent editors of as many online information sources as possible.

Another aspect of the opinion war is that it is difficult to trust anyone who is being paid to say what they are saying. Of course, they want to keep their jobs so they sometimes (or always) say things they don’t actually themselves believe.

But– no need to get all stressed out like Barry McGuire in the song, “Eve of Destruction”– because this COVID crisis is not entirely unprecedented.

WARNING: SPOILER (OR RATHER, HISTORY) ALERT

During president Dwight Eisenhower’s two terms– most of the 1950’s– Americans were living the American Dream. They were enjoying peace and prosperity. Really? Peace and prosperity?

It might be recalled that it was the McCarthy Era! Anyone who worked in communications-related jobs or in Hollywood, sooner or later, became the victim of ideological persecution. Everyone was forced to take the Loyalty Oath.

Never mind the fact that minorities and foreigners were subjected to physical persecution, the likes of which this whole nation is currently suffering. Feel better now?

Read Fathi’s book to learn of the author’s fate, every detail of his life up until then, and his family’s diaspora.

The Power of Govs

THE POWER OF GOVS

Sung to the tune of “The Power of Love” with apologies to Huey Lewis and the News.

The power of govs is an infuriating thing.

Makes little people weep and all governors king.

Changed the nation into panicked, masked fools.

More than that, imposed stupid rules.

Bankrupting some people wherever they be,

abusing power for solidarity.

Makes one go online to try to see the light,

The power of govs will keep you up at night.

No more money; for attention whores– fame.

Can’t open the store, can’t ride a train.

Experts were wrong, and this was sudden and cruel sometimes.

But it’s supposed to save your life.

That’s the power of govs.

First time you feel it it will make you mad.

In time you feel it’s not just a fad.

You won’t be glad baby when you learn

that political vendetta has caused this turn.

No more money; for attention whores– fame.

Can’t open the store, can’t ride a train.

Experts were wrong, and this was sudden and cruel sometimes.

But it’s supposed to save your life.

They say it’s political WAR so it’s fair,

yeah, but you don’t care.

You don’t know what to do. But it’s gotten hold of you

and there are control freaks from above.

You feel the power of govs.

No more money; for attention whores– fame.

Can’t open the store, can’t ride a train.

No social interaction, no assembly allowed.

Of your country, you’re no longer proud.

Feel the power, just feel the power of govs.

That’s the power, that’s the power of govs.

You feel the power of govs, you feel the power of govs…

Landsberg’s Law

The Book of the Week is “Landsberg’s Law, a Journey of Discovery” by Mark Landsberg, published in 2006.

Born in Los Angeles at the tail end of December in 1937 or 1938 (the author provided references to various of his birthdays throughout the book as though to remind himself of his age, and was vague about other dates), Landsberg chose the hedonistic life of playing poker on the beach as often as possible, when he wasn’t living abroad.

While attending college in California, Landsberg worked for the U.S. Postal Service. His employer ignored him when he tried to tell them of an idea that would save them millions of dollars. “One of the drawbacks of Civil Service is that it stifles initiative.” Other places the author encountered a similar frustration were: in the Navy, and at University of California at Berkeley. “Thinking must be painful since so many people go to such lengths to avoid it.”

Along these lines, it might be recalled that for a time, the CBS network had the 1980’s promotional slogans for its TV and radio “news” divisions respectively:

“Americans. We like straight talk. We want hard facts. We demand the truth. We know who we are, and we know who we trust. Dan Rather. CBS Evening News.” and “Don’t let anyone tell you what they said. Hear them say it. CBS News.” True story.

In the late 1990’s, when the World Wide Web was in its infancy, certain content-creators had good intentions. They knew that the world reaps untold benefits when people freely (at no charge and with no censorship) exchange information and ideas. They sincerely believed in educating people in an unbiased manner. Unfortunately, roughly twenty years later, most website administrators cannot afford to exist unless they allow their sites’ content to be dictated by political hacks, including, it appears, Wikipedia.

Throughout history, humans have engaged in endeavors whose original purpose was fun. Money has corrupted those endeavors: all kinds of amateur activities in art, music and sports, science fairs, and many others. Over the past half century, even areas in which people used to make a modest living while enjoying themselves, have become pressure-cookers of greed: the medical industry, professional sports, publishing, Hollywood, the music industry, etc. With the evolution of all systems, the profit motive takes over.

Greed will also fuel the country’s economic recovery in an ironic (!) way. Most of the distressed assets resulting from this pandemic will be bought by the “one-percenters” who will create new, enterprising entities that will move the country forward. Also, Americans who are in a position to do so, will move to the places that offer them the most freedoms and/or economic opportunities. The nation’s most oppressive regions will suffer capital flight and brain drain.

Anyway, back to Mr. Landsberg. Around 1970, some Scrabble players formed a club in Beverly Hills, California. They were forced to call it a “Word Club” because Selchow and Righter (S&R), the then-owners of Scrabble’s intellectual property rights were possessive of the game’s name. Anyway, Landsberg and his friends were a few of the first players to formulate counter-intuitive strategies for winning at Scrabble.

The author even produced a manuscript called “Championship Scrabble Strategy” but of course was forced to request permission from S&R to publish it. Through 1972, the two parties had months of serious discussions but the latter put it on the back burner. By the following year, S&R had hired a college dropout to publish a book on-the-cheap using Landsberg’s material without telling him.

Landsberg’s federal lawsuit demanded $25 million from S&R. Read the book to learn of how the author fared in his court case, which included the causes of action of: breach of contract, and plagiarism.

ENDNOTE: In general, some might say that the U.S. government has breached its contract with the American people, and that the president committed plagiarism by taking a page out of Nixon’s playbook (not that other politicians have not also done so). Sadly, on both sides, bashing is all the rage these days: Trump-bashing, Obama-bashing, China-bashing, Cuomo-bashing, FBI-bashing, Biden-bashing, Republican-bashing, Democrat-bashing…

But wait. We’re all in this together! And Americans can trust CBS, and everyone else. True story.

Political Woman

The Book of the Week is “Political Woman, The Big Little Life of Jeane Kirkpatrick” by Peter Collier, published in 2012.

Born in 1926 in Oklahoma, Kirkpatrick and her family moved to Illinois when she was twelve. Although her father had higher hopes for her younger brother and gave him more opportunities in life because he was a boy, she became a career academic– teaching, publishing and lecturing in the area of political science. Although she was a Democrat, she was not amused by president Jimmy Carter’s actions; in fact, she was glad she had not been hired to work in his administration. By 1980, she was leaning Republican.

President Ronald Reagan appointed Kirkpatrick to a high government position– ambassador to the United Nations, beginning in February 1981. She got more attention than otherwise for being female. But for her gender, her name would have faded from the public’s memory by now.

Nevertheless, Kirkpatrick turned around the United States’ standing as a doormat, in the United Nations (UN). Voting blocs of UN members enjoyed ganging up on the United States (U.S.) via resolutions the way high school cliques bully each other. However, there were serious human rights abuses in many Third World countries run by brutal dictators, and oppression as usual in the former Soviet Union.

Of course there was hypocrisy galore. The Arabs launched a campaign to oust Israel as a member, but Kirkpatrick foiled their plot by threatening to withhold U.S. funding from the UN if they did so.

Kirkpatrick clashed with secretary of state Al Haig, who sabotaged her via “… infighting and backbiting and damaging leaks” because he needed complete control of American foreign policy.

Seems there’s nothing new under the sun.

And now, breaking news, this just in, and shocking revelations!

But first, a Presidential Candidate Application Form

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

Please answer the questions below without waffling, and include inconvenient facts. Or else.

NAME:

AGE:

REAL EDUCATION:

CITIZENSHIP:

How would you best describe yourself?

( ) A long-winded, exaggerating speechmaker

( ) A sexy alpha male with boyish good looks

( ) An egotistical attention whore

( ) A Twitter junkie

( ) Two or more of the above

Do you have any detectable vestige of presidential qualifications, besides your assets, contacts, attorneys and public relations team inherited from your daddy; or besides your assets and contacts resulting from your abuse of elective office?

( ) YES ( ) NO

Would it bother you to be the target of unrelenting hatred?

( ) YES ( ) NO

“I can’t wait to be a patronage pig, nepotist and profiteer as president.”

( ) YES ( ) NO

How many times have you declared business bankruptcy, and how many times have you been disciplined by law enforcement for illegal activities you committed in any public office you’ve held?

____________

Do you hate or love illegal immigrants?

( ) HATE ( ) LOVE

List three ways you would deal with them.

_________________________
_________________________
_________________________

Choose an appropriate nickname for yourself:

( ) Slick

( ) Tricky

( ) Crooked

( ) Sleepy

( ) Racist

( ) Dictator

Choose an appropriate image for yourself:

( ) Religious right-wing libertarian crazy

( ) Obese

( ) Law-and-order, xenophobic, corrupt hypocrite

( ) Little discernible brain activity; hate reading

( ) Socialist, bleeding-heart-liberal, global-warming political hack

( ) Two or more of the above

GOOD LUCK with your propaganda war. Remember, plausible denial and willful ignorance are your friends!

One more hint for winning, especially for the incumbent:

Charisma wins the day, regardless of what you did. It might be recalled that when president Ronald Reagan’s naughty behavior was exposed, his charisma mitigated his culpability. Besides, he got away with the senility defense because he was telling the truth when he testified that he remembered nothing, at the Iran-Contra hearings. Previous presidents who got into trouble remained lucid and sane, to their detriment. Pesky facts got in their way, but their charisma too, mitigated their culpability!

And now, the real SPOILER ALERT.

IN GENERAL, the United States’ current political situation resembles that of the waning months of the Nixon administration. The president has become toxic like Nixon, or else the Republicans wouldn’t be throwing in with the Democrats. The Republicans HATE the Democrats. They should be fighting the Democrats’ alleged tyranny tooth and nail, as usual. Instead, they are keeping all past president-related actions under wraps.

The Republicans know the incumbent can’t be reelected because he can’t win without mudslinging, and there’s way, way too much mud on him.

ALL of the government’s leaders might say they don’t want the current president to engage in any more dirty tricks that could lead to a total dictatorship before a new president comes to power. However, it is becoming apparent that a nationwide lockdown was actually completely unnecessary. The Republicans went along with it only to save face because it kills them to admit that they never liked the president, but they know it’s time for him to go.

The two ways the president has squelched practically all bad publicity in connection with his wrongdoing include: paying people to shut up and go away via nondisclosure agreements; and labeling government documents “classified” because they relate to national security matters and allegedly might reveal state secrets if publicized. The president might not resign, but his reign will end sooner than he would like.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled Book of the Week.

In later years, fans of Kirkpatrick tried to draft her to run for office, as she favored the Equal Rights Amendment, was pro-choice and was strongly pro-Israel. She became wealthy from speaking and writing, although her 1990’s writings contradicted her previous UN attitude.

Kirkpatrick, pursuant to her neoconservative ideology, was worried that America would be “… drawn into ever more ‘expansive, expensive’ global projects, along with fear left over from the 1970’s, [– as] rushing to impose utopian values on the world usually wound up adversely affecting America’s interests.”

She harshly criticized president Bill Clinton for his attempts to help achieve peace in the world’s hotspots through working with the UN rather than sending in American troops and aid the way Reagan did– and she approved of everything Reagan did.

Read the book to learn of Kirkpatrick’s views and actions in connection with her loyally following Reagan’s policies in Central America, the USSR and Grenada; and her flip-flopping on her hawkishness in the Clinton era, the period just after 9/11, and long after.

OPTIMISTIC POST

There must be a significant number of Republicans who are done with this president. Sure, they’re half-heartedly defending him, but they must think that it’s worth it to go along with the Democrats in punishing the whole country in order to replace him. It’s a real nightmare for everyone, but the government would NOT go through so much trouble for nothing. There are millions of secrets they are keeping from the American people in order to stay in control, but in the long run, they believe that it’s for the best.

One show on YouTube that provides context for why people do not like the president, is “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver. Here are links to various relevant episodes. Warning: some language.

In one episode, the host mentioned that the American way of life would be threatened if the president started attacking our institutions. That might be why they think it’s time to get rid of him. Just a thought.

Patriot Number One

Americans believe in the two-party system. One on Friday, one on Saturday.

Insanely enough, Americans are not allowed to have parties anymore. Because, ironically, America is becoming like China!

The following is an excerpt from a China-bashing opinion piece penned by Newt Gingrich for the Fox News website, dated April 30, 2020. However, every occasion of “Chinese” has been replaced with “American” and “Communist” with “Two-Party” and vice versa.

“Chinese and their allies seem to forget that the heart of the rise of the American Two-Party [system] was a deep dedication to effective education and propaganda. They have had nearly a century of experience at waging intellectual and psychological warfare as the necessary foundation of winning and keeping power.”

The following is a quote from Bertrand Russell: “There is something feeble and a little contemptible about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths. Almost inevitably some part of him is aware that they are myths and that he believes them only because they are comforting. But he dare not face this thought! Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly, that his opinions are not rational, he becomes furious when they are disputed.”

During the Cold War, America always stoked the fear that all countries had the potential to fall to Communism like dominoes. Currently, the local leaders of this country, America (!)– have fallen into line like dominoes. At any time, either major American political party has possessed the power to reject this oppression, but instead, both parties have collaborated to encourage it. Because they are comprised of people who will say or do anything to get elected or reelected in the event there continue to be free and fair elections.

AS IS WELL KNOWN, A SIGN OF DEMOCRACY IS FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS. IF THE INCUMBENTS ALMOST AUTOMATICALLY WIN THIS FALL, IS THAT FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS?

From the early 1960’s into the 1970’s, only men of military age had reason to fear the power of the government. Currently, every man, woman and child has reason to fear. It is not just the president who has the potential to wield outrageous power, but all government leaders across the entire country, not unlike in China.

The United States is now at a turning point in its history. Either it will become even more like China in its totalitarian ways, or its leaders will get back to restoring its citizens’ freedoms.

It might be recalled that Chinese Communist dictator Mao Tse Tung took the following steps, among many other steps, in acquiring more and more power:

Land reform– seizing private property from wealthy capitalists and landlords to redistribute it among everyone else (but this actually resulted in famine in which tens of millions of people died; famine is probably one thing Americans won’t suffer from)

nationalizing businesses

having a state-approved, heavily armed military force roam the streets, arbitrarily violating peoples’ civil rights

Inviting citizens to air their grievances, and then arresting, jailing and torturing them for speaking out against the government

Eliminating free speech, freedom of the press, and the right to assemble, and

Reducing the number of China’s political parties to one: The Communist Party, and forcing people to join it or be even more oppressed

For more information, see the following posts:

The Most Wanted Man in China

The Man on Mao’s Right

Colors of the Mountain

Is the above what America wants to be??

One more thing– ironically, China is in the stage of its economic development that the United States was in, about a hundred years ago: industrialization and operating factories galore (of course, China also has modern electronic technology). But the poorest of China’s citizens have yet to form labor unions to protest unjust working conditions. Some people in the United States government are pushing for a return to American manufacturing, strangely enough.

Anyway, the Book of the Week is “Patriot Number One, American Dreams in Chinatown” by Lauren Hilgers, published in 2018. This book described the Chinese immigrant experience in very recent years for a rural-village couple who are now in their thirties, and a student, who settled in the Flushing section of New York City, in Queens county.

Born in 1983 in the rural village of Wukan near Shenzhen, Zhuang Liehong grew up in a poverty-stricken family. His father was a sometime crab fisherman. He was handed off from one extended relative to another in Hong Kong beginning when he was about six years old.

Zhuang ended his formal education with middle school, not wanting to impose the financial burden of high school tuition on his family. In the 1990’s, his hometown became the victim of eminent-domain abuse of sorts, when investors invaded with infrastructure and modernization projects as a result of Deng Xiaoping’s 1980’s economic initiatives.

Zhuang was elected to a seat on Wukan’s village council, and became a political activist. Autumn 2011 saw common farmers and former landowners protest in the streets against the local government’s stealing their properties in the name of money. However, they themselves weren’t entirely innocent of law-breaking, as they had engaged in illegal building on their former land, or had been “smugglers, gamblers, ticket scalpers.”

As is very common with such unrest, the local authorities bashed some heads, rounded up the worst offenders and sentenced a few of them to a few years in jail, and trampled on what would be considered “due process” in the United States.

A few years later, after Zhuang (and his wife) had executed his carefully planned scheme to flee to the United States, the local government also set up a bribery scandal that involved the village council, prompting more oppression of the community.

A possible legal way, then, for Zhuang to move permanently to the United States, was for him to apply for political asylum. More people from China than from any other nation apply for political asylum, followed by Guatemala, El Salvador and Egypt.

Read the book to learn of Zhuang’s family’s adventures in the United States, and of the adventures of a young female student who became friendly with Zhuang’s wife.

Where Have All Our Leaders Gone?

WHERE HAVE ALL OUR LEADERS GONE?

Sung to the tune of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” with apologies to the estate of Pete Seeger, and Joe Hickerson.

Where have all our leaders gone?

Secretly scheming.

Where have all our leaders gone?

Plotting revenge.

Where have all our leaders gone?

Planting stories, every one.

Can we trust anything?

Where has all the money gone?

Profits and patronage.

Where has all the money gone?

Honor among thieves.

Where has all the money gone?

Stimulus was two seconds of fun.

Aren’t we the guinea pigs?

Where have all the candidates gone?

They’ve stopped campaigning.

Where have all the candidates gone?

They’re attorney-huddling.

Where have all the candidates gone?

No more substance from anyone.

Do we know anything?

Where have all our freedoms gone?

Fallen by the wayside.

Where have all our freedoms gone?

We don’t know.

Where have all our freedoms gone?

MORE SURPRISES IN STORE, SO HOLD ON.

ISN’T HISTORY CYCLICAL?

Breaking News

The Book of the Week is “Breaking News, A Stunning and Memorable Account of Reporting from Some of the Most Dangerous Places in the World” by Martin Fletcher, published in 2008.

Fletcher began his career in his mid-twenties in the early 1970’s, when he found he was super-focused with a news camera. He recorded wars, famines and revolutions in the world’s hotspots. He himself was at peace only when he was telling the world about traumatic events involving mass deaths and ruined lives. He asked, “How could the world have stood by as so many were slaughtered, in so many places?”

Fletcher and his family’s permanent residence was in Israel. Fletcher interviewed dozens of bad guys (terrorists, dictators’ aides, etc.) and wrote, “These gunmen were not my friends; they were just professional sources. However much I might understand their plight, I kept reminding myself, these men wanted to kill my children and their friends.”

On a few different occasions, Fletcher had been following a developing story, but his news-organization employer sent him to get a scoop (which he got) only when the number of white people involved reached a significant number, or when their assets were threatened. In Zaire, he spoke into his tape recorder for a later NBC radio broadcast, to report on eighty Americans taken hostage and Zaire’s endangered vast mineral deposits, even though thousands of native Africans had already become casualties.

From 2001 to 2005, there was a rash of suicide bombings in Israel. The nation took precautions by stationing an armed guard at the door of its every cafe and restaurant; funding this through charging an additional fifty cents to every customer.

Fletcher spoke with the mother of a teenage girl who was killed in one of the attacks. The mother didn’t seek revenge but merely wanted peace. She personally knew Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. She felt that he thought like a terrorist– provocative, petty, vengeful and mean of spirit. With his words and actions, he invited the enemy to blow themselves to glory, and kill his own side.

Read the book to learn the details of the author’s extreme career, of his near-death experiences, and the mentalities of the reporter and his subjects.

ENDNOTE: Fletcher was an old-school adrenaline-junkie-TV-journalist. His goal was to cover and convey a story about other people. In the next week or two, the leader of the free world doesn’t want the post-virus-scare re-opening of society to steal HIS headlines. Is it any wonder that attention whoredom among ALL Americans, “news” reporters included, is at an all-time high?

Pertinent Post

“P” post.

Present pandemic’s politics produced:

propaganda

president-promotion

provisions-portioning predicaments

panic

profiteering

paranoia

patronage pigs

pissed, persecuted people

poseurs

puerile politicians (petty power plays)

pained physicians

problematic prescriptions

pressured paramedics

pestered practices

poor populations

plus, predictably:

POPPYCOCK.