I am skeptical, Dan. As a retired colonel, I am fond of the words of a corps commander at Gettysburg, that sometimes the life of a corps commander isn't worth a damn. The January 6th deal was not an insurrection by my definition, no weapons fired except by the authorities. If I had been a senator, the right thing to do would have been to walk right into the crowd and encourage them to follow me outside the building for a discussion in an area that would not have been defined as trespassing. Hey, I might have been killed but that's what personal courage is all about. As far as misinformation goes, let's consider:
1. I published an article on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. If one uses a linear model of the rate of fall of the provinces to the Taliban, you would have predicted the fall into the next spring, but if you used a nonlinear model, then the fall might have been predicted as early as two weeks after it did occur (this was two months out from the fall). This means that either the powers to be were incompetent at forecasting or the administration ignored their predictions, either way, not a good thing. Yet my research has gotten no traction.
2. We have this great mess in the middle east. My latest book shows how, scientifically, one can show that the early history of Islam is factually incorrect, meaning that a total rewrite is needed. One might think that would be of interest in this current situation, but again, no traction.
3. I recently have published six articles detailing how a professor in Florida appears to have simply fabricated half or more of his research, not just an assertion, it's backed up by careful analysis of several anomalies in his published results. He used millions of taxpayer dollars but seems to have wasted those funds. But again, no one seems to care.
4. I have an article in press that details 16 ways that research results can be manipulated to produce results that are the exact opposite of what the data actually show. But is anyone going to care? This sort of manipulation is being done right under our noses but who cares? When science is corrupted, who should be surprised that other aspects of civilization are also?
I get why folks hate Trump but our choices are limited by those running for office. Why are there no Adlai Stevenson's or Eisenhowers or Kennedy's running as Democrats or Republicans? Someone about whom there would be no question of mental competence, integrity, wisdom, statesmanship, etc.? Where you could feel confident in the future of American no matter who was elected? Someone with enough military background to call out generals who want to go to war? Someone who would know the tough questions to ask and how to see through the smoke and mirrors?
Excellent commentary. We live in an era where technology and free enterprise have evolved to the extent they have become ripe for exploitation; through media saturation, with misleading/false information and, unchecked political money &, influence peddling. Political constituencies, over many decades, have been brainwashed into believing government is an entity worthy of little more than contempt, even as public corruption (by the promoters of the contempt) has become rampant. Many of us have been led to believe that if government doesn't operate in a manner our wealthy handlers proscribe for us, we are entitled to express our frustration through violence. Added to that, are the stated desires & efforts on the part of autocratic nations to destroy the world's democratic forms of government that threaten their dictatorships, making them look anemic or tyrannical in comparison, (at least to nations & people that have a desire to promote human rights). The common cause created between our wealthy domestic fascists and hostile foreign powers has placed our nation in extreme peril, mostly through support from within, as it masquerades, deceptively, as a force for freedom & patriotism. Our fellow citizens, that have bought into the deception favoring a US conversion to autocracy have been spoon fed with an imaginary construct of what dictatorships are really all about, while buying into an equally imaginary concept of how a healthy democracy functions. They mask the reality of the autocratic intense need for total control, through fear, coercion and rigid loyalty to the autocratic state & it's leader. Dictators occur on the extreme ends of both the right and the left, often as a result of weakly checked and consolidations of power. Brutality insures their relative permanence. Education & enlightenment are toxic to the autocratic state & are therefore among the dictator's 1st casualties.
Pro-fascist forces have spent more than 4 decades and 10s of billions of dollars in the US, beginning with the marching orders of the Powell memo, manipulating us into an acceptance of this fascist takeover, one piece at a time, one institution at a time.
It will take a long sustained effort, through the ballot box, over many, many election cycles, to undo this damage, deceptively inflicted over many decades, by this predatory conspiracy. A conspiracy that has already redistributed 50T of wealth from the bottom to the top and consolidated political power through partisan gerrymandering of Congress & Senate filibusters, installation of politically sympathetic & biased jurists, normalization of voter suppression, hyperinflation of non-critical issues into prominence through media control, enlistment of foreign hostiles for illegal election aid and coercion/financing of dogmatic indoctrination in the nation's law schools through a network of think tanks & trust endowments that serve primarily as dark money & propaganda distribution centers. We cannot continue to allow a misguided minority of fellow citizens, bolstered by the influence of democracy hostile autocrats, the dictatorial control of our government, that is in reality mandated to be governed by the people.
To write about the future of Democracy and not draw any attention to the fact the Israel is attempting to ensure its security by a small reenactment of the Holocaust with bipartisan support seems somewhat disingenuous.
Oh I get it, the Israelis are putting Palestinians in ovens. WRONG. It was Hamas who put babies in ovens on 10/7. Believe me, I'm as horrified & haunted as anyone by the pics coming out of Gaza, but you are way off comparing the two.
How Americans view the state of political affairs depends on whom you ask and where they live. Middle income earners still languish in economy uncertainty after the Biden Administration ended pandemic era moratoriums. Rampant inflation and depreciated currency have diminished purchasing power of working class earners. The working poor barely survive as economic refugees huddled up in their cars, tent cities, and temporary shelters. Meanwhile Democrats and Republicans engage in performative extremism rather than work in solidarity as a functioning governing body to address grave economic challenges the United States hasn't experienced in 90 years.
Elected leaders in state legislatures and in Congress reflect the value systems of their constituency. If the candidates of the recent GOP debate, many of whom have current or former government leadership positions, reflect the ideas of American values, then the United States as whole as devolved into a cloaca that rivals developing countries.
When I lived in PA, I liked to visit Valley Forge National Park on national holidays such as Independence Day and Memorial Day. While walking, I gave thanks to those who risked everything to protect our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The people who conceived this nation placed their lives, those of their families, and their properties at stake. They were not passive nor cowardly. I also visited Gettysburg. There, I walked the battlefields and gravesites and also gave thanks for the supreme efforts made by people to preserve our nation and the freedom of all peoples living in these lands. I am grateful to those who led, fought, and wrote to protect our nation. I hope that in my 76 years, I have contributed to this nation through my profession, my political work, and my volunteer work.
I wish for all of us personal safety and the endurance of our Constitution and Nation in 2024.
Thank you. I think of Bryan Stevenson's words: "Hopelessness is the enemy of justice." Thank you for calling us to be accountable using our best energies and awareness.
Another great article. Thank you. I fear 2024, I fear that with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, that more deep fajke, misinformation will be out there. Scaring to think that anyone can create a video, a recording, a picture of a person an have this image, recording, say or do anything, that could lead voters to the wrong conclusions in our upcoming election. I pray daily that democracy is safe, and people with common sense, and who know what is at risk fight to save this country, from a individual and political party that is determined to rewrite history, ban books, strip fundamental rights from people, and spend their time wasting tax payers money on a committee of impeachment, that has proven nothing. I pray that social media platforms, stop hate speech and misinformation, that we come together to save our democracy and this country. I also pray, that whatever the outcome of the election 2024, that logic, compassion, and respect for each other wins out and democracy will be safe. Prayer is the one thing that is getting me through these dark times in our country.
Nice. Thanks for writing the full text of Franklin's quote.
We’ve never been perfect. Not a single one of us And not our country formed by other humans.
BUT We Just NEED to want to be better people (not worse) and work to form a Better Union For All Of Us and the U.S.
I am skeptical, Dan. As a retired colonel, I am fond of the words of a corps commander at Gettysburg, that sometimes the life of a corps commander isn't worth a damn. The January 6th deal was not an insurrection by my definition, no weapons fired except by the authorities. If I had been a senator, the right thing to do would have been to walk right into the crowd and encourage them to follow me outside the building for a discussion in an area that would not have been defined as trespassing. Hey, I might have been killed but that's what personal courage is all about. As far as misinformation goes, let's consider:
1. I published an article on the withdrawal from Afghanistan. If one uses a linear model of the rate of fall of the provinces to the Taliban, you would have predicted the fall into the next spring, but if you used a nonlinear model, then the fall might have been predicted as early as two weeks after it did occur (this was two months out from the fall). This means that either the powers to be were incompetent at forecasting or the administration ignored their predictions, either way, not a good thing. Yet my research has gotten no traction.
2. We have this great mess in the middle east. My latest book shows how, scientifically, one can show that the early history of Islam is factually incorrect, meaning that a total rewrite is needed. One might think that would be of interest in this current situation, but again, no traction.
3. I recently have published six articles detailing how a professor in Florida appears to have simply fabricated half or more of his research, not just an assertion, it's backed up by careful analysis of several anomalies in his published results. He used millions of taxpayer dollars but seems to have wasted those funds. But again, no one seems to care.
4. I have an article in press that details 16 ways that research results can be manipulated to produce results that are the exact opposite of what the data actually show. But is anyone going to care? This sort of manipulation is being done right under our noses but who cares? When science is corrupted, who should be surprised that other aspects of civilization are also?
I get why folks hate Trump but our choices are limited by those running for office. Why are there no Adlai Stevenson's or Eisenhowers or Kennedy's running as Democrats or Republicans? Someone about whom there would be no question of mental competence, integrity, wisdom, statesmanship, etc.? Where you could feel confident in the future of American no matter who was elected? Someone with enough military background to call out generals who want to go to war? Someone who would know the tough questions to ask and how to see through the smoke and mirrors?
Excellent commentary. We live in an era where technology and free enterprise have evolved to the extent they have become ripe for exploitation; through media saturation, with misleading/false information and, unchecked political money &, influence peddling. Political constituencies, over many decades, have been brainwashed into believing government is an entity worthy of little more than contempt, even as public corruption (by the promoters of the contempt) has become rampant. Many of us have been led to believe that if government doesn't operate in a manner our wealthy handlers proscribe for us, we are entitled to express our frustration through violence. Added to that, are the stated desires & efforts on the part of autocratic nations to destroy the world's democratic forms of government that threaten their dictatorships, making them look anemic or tyrannical in comparison, (at least to nations & people that have a desire to promote human rights). The common cause created between our wealthy domestic fascists and hostile foreign powers has placed our nation in extreme peril, mostly through support from within, as it masquerades, deceptively, as a force for freedom & patriotism. Our fellow citizens, that have bought into the deception favoring a US conversion to autocracy have been spoon fed with an imaginary construct of what dictatorships are really all about, while buying into an equally imaginary concept of how a healthy democracy functions. They mask the reality of the autocratic intense need for total control, through fear, coercion and rigid loyalty to the autocratic state & it's leader. Dictators occur on the extreme ends of both the right and the left, often as a result of weakly checked and consolidations of power. Brutality insures their relative permanence. Education & enlightenment are toxic to the autocratic state & are therefore among the dictator's 1st casualties.
Pro-fascist forces have spent more than 4 decades and 10s of billions of dollars in the US, beginning with the marching orders of the Powell memo, manipulating us into an acceptance of this fascist takeover, one piece at a time, one institution at a time.
It will take a long sustained effort, through the ballot box, over many, many election cycles, to undo this damage, deceptively inflicted over many decades, by this predatory conspiracy. A conspiracy that has already redistributed 50T of wealth from the bottom to the top and consolidated political power through partisan gerrymandering of Congress & Senate filibusters, installation of politically sympathetic & biased jurists, normalization of voter suppression, hyperinflation of non-critical issues into prominence through media control, enlistment of foreign hostiles for illegal election aid and coercion/financing of dogmatic indoctrination in the nation's law schools through a network of think tanks & trust endowments that serve primarily as dark money & propaganda distribution centers. We cannot continue to allow a misguided minority of fellow citizens, bolstered by the influence of democracy hostile autocrats, the dictatorial control of our government, that is in reality mandated to be governed by the people.
To write about the future of Democracy and not draw any attention to the fact the Israel is attempting to ensure its security by a small reenactment of the Holocaust with bipartisan support seems somewhat disingenuous.
Oh I get it, the Israelis are putting Palestinians in ovens. WRONG. It was Hamas who put babies in ovens on 10/7. Believe me, I'm as horrified & haunted as anyone by the pics coming out of Gaza, but you are way off comparing the two.
How Americans view the state of political affairs depends on whom you ask and where they live. Middle income earners still languish in economy uncertainty after the Biden Administration ended pandemic era moratoriums. Rampant inflation and depreciated currency have diminished purchasing power of working class earners. The working poor barely survive as economic refugees huddled up in their cars, tent cities, and temporary shelters. Meanwhile Democrats and Republicans engage in performative extremism rather than work in solidarity as a functioning governing body to address grave economic challenges the United States hasn't experienced in 90 years.
Elected leaders in state legislatures and in Congress reflect the value systems of their constituency. If the candidates of the recent GOP debate, many of whom have current or former government leadership positions, reflect the ideas of American values, then the United States as whole as devolved into a cloaca that rivals developing countries.
Another timely article. I still have faith we have leaders among us who can carry on the tradition of our democracy.
When I lived in PA, I liked to visit Valley Forge National Park on national holidays such as Independence Day and Memorial Day. While walking, I gave thanks to those who risked everything to protect our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The people who conceived this nation placed their lives, those of their families, and their properties at stake. They were not passive nor cowardly. I also visited Gettysburg. There, I walked the battlefields and gravesites and also gave thanks for the supreme efforts made by people to preserve our nation and the freedom of all peoples living in these lands. I am grateful to those who led, fought, and wrote to protect our nation. I hope that in my 76 years, I have contributed to this nation through my profession, my political work, and my volunteer work.
I wish for all of us personal safety and the endurance of our Constitution and Nation in 2024.
Thank you. I think of Bryan Stevenson's words: "Hopelessness is the enemy of justice." Thank you for calling us to be accountable using our best energies and awareness.
Another great article. Thank you. I fear 2024, I fear that with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, that more deep fajke, misinformation will be out there. Scaring to think that anyone can create a video, a recording, a picture of a person an have this image, recording, say or do anything, that could lead voters to the wrong conclusions in our upcoming election. I pray daily that democracy is safe, and people with common sense, and who know what is at risk fight to save this country, from a individual and political party that is determined to rewrite history, ban books, strip fundamental rights from people, and spend their time wasting tax payers money on a committee of impeachment, that has proven nothing. I pray that social media platforms, stop hate speech and misinformation, that we come together to save our democracy and this country. I also pray, that whatever the outcome of the election 2024, that logic, compassion, and respect for each other wins out and democracy will be safe. Prayer is the one thing that is getting me through these dark times in our country.
Why, thank you.
Yes indeed. Politicians, slave owners, and clergy led the fight.
I hope reasonable heads prevail and that our democracy will remain safe for the foreseeable future. I know I’m quoting someone - beats me who. !
"Cooler heads prevail" is an idiomatic phrase that traces back to Shakespeare.
I would add to Benjamin Franklin’s statement “ Nothing is for certain except for death, taxes, end of vacation.
Thank you for sharing another great piece and like you I’m scared
I really hope something changes for 2024
We must not be complacent, freedom requires effort, involvement participation as does a healthy democracy.
Amen to that!