[johnu]

https://www.msn.com/...QgCY?li=BBnbcA1

US lost track of 1,500 undocumented children, but says it's not 'legally responsible'

More business as (Un)usual.

[Winstonm]

This, from the NYT, is a troubling description of the American Right Christian nationalist.

Quote

If you examine the roster of people and organizations behind Project Blitz, it becomes clear that demeaning whole groups of people in society is really just a means to an end. The aim is political power. In their language, it’s sometimes called “dominion” — meaning, specifically, the domination by those with the correct “biblical” worldview over all aspects of politics, culture and society.

David Barton is the founder of WallBuilders, an organization that promotes the view that America is a nation of, by and for Christians of a very specific variety. Buddy Pilgrim, another member of the Project Blitz steering team, is a businessman who founded Integrity Leadership, a ministry focused on “equipping Christians with biblical principles for the workplace.” According to Mr. Pilgrim’s website, “Dominion in earthly realms of authority (business & politics) is a biblical mandate.”

Verily I say unto thee: Love thy neighbor - but only if he looks, sounds, and believes as you do.

[Winstonm]

Here is a commencement address that all Americans should read and take to heart:

Quote

It’s been said many times, but it is worth repeating now: our country, the United States of America is above all an idea. We are not defined by a common ethnic or racial identity. We are not a country only for those who can trace their ancestry back for centuries or even decades. My great grandfather was a shepherd who came to this country from a rural village in Italy with no education and no money – exactly the kind of immigrant who some now say would have trouble assimilating. He started a business, put his children through college (including the girls), became a proud patriot despite the ethnic prejudice he faced, and launched a family that has tried over the generations to contribute to this country

[barmar]

johnu, on 2018-May-26, 22:30, said:

US lost track of 1,500 undocumented children, but says it's not 'legally responsible'

If we had records for them, they wouldn't be "undocumented".

[Winstonm]

I read today that over one million American soldiers had died in war.

Yet, now, we have a president who attacks the memory of every soldier who died, who attacks the very ideas upon which our country is founded, in service to himself and to protect himself, while a small plurality hold him up as some kind of American anti-hero. Doubt? Simply look at the constitutional protections this president attacks and tries to destroy: freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free speech, and the rights of the accused.

Allowing this man to continue on his destructive path while ignoring his daily attempts to undermine what it means to be American demeans those 1 million soldiers who died trying to protect an idea - that men could govern themselves.

It does not matter your political affiliation; if you are American, it is your duty to the ideas that are America and to those 1 million men who gave their lives protecting that idea to resist this force of destruction, while demanding change. The elections are 6 months away - do not allow this attack on America to continue unchecked.

[y66]

From the blurb for an upcoming Brookings Event titled The consequences of misinformation: A symposium on media and democracy:

Quote

The spread of false information is hardly new or unique to the current political moment. It has historical roots in sensationalist journalism, foreign espionage, propaganda, and partisan debates—a collection of approaches far richer than suggested by the phrase “fake news.” This historical context does not make disinformation any less dangerous, however. Understanding how disinformation is exploited by political actors both internal and external to the state, how existing divisions and polarization create the conditions for disinformation to be more effective, and the ways in which technologies incentivize or disrupt disinformation, is critical.

On May 31, Governance Studies at Brookings and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) will host a half-day forum on the history, circulation, and management of misinformation (untruths circulated without the intention to deceive) and disinformation (untruths intended to deceive). Several panels of experts will convene to explore the most effective means of identifying and countering false information, as well as the challenges in doing so. Social scientists and journalists will speak to three aspects of the current moment in misinformation: the status of facts/persistence of misinformation; the speed, virality, and spread of misinformation; and what we—or anyone—can do to correct or manage the misinformation that already exists.

One of the not so striking takeways in this paper by Rob Faris at al at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center is that "The institutional commitment to impartiality of media sources at the core of attention on the left meant that hyperpartisan, unreliable sources on the left did not receive the same amplification that equivalent sites on the right did."

Faris is one of a dozen or so presenters. I did not see any mention of the commitment to impartiality or the asymmetry of posts here in the water cooler. Perhaps he is not tracking this thread.

[Winstonm]

y66, on 2018-May-29, 08:19, said:

From the blurb for an upcoming Brookings Event titled The consequences of misinformation: A symposium on media and democracy:


One of the not so striking takeways in this paper by Rob Faris at al at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center is that "The institutional commitment to impartiality of media sources at the core of attention on the left meant that hyperpartisan, unreliable sources on the left did not receive the same amplification that equivalent sites on the right did."

Faris is one of a dozen or so presenters. I did not see any mention of the commitment to impartiality or the asymmetry of posts here in the water cooler. Perhaps he is not tracking this thread.

Faris's findings can be simplified:

Quote

We find....On the conservative side....highly partisan media outlets.

On the liberal side....objective journalism

Question is not what is happening but how to introduce facts to those who accept that partisanship as proper and normal and how to penetrate their shell of denial concerning facts.

[Winstonm]

The New York Times is reporting another failed attempt by DD to derail the Russia investigation:

Quote

By Michael S. Schmidt and Julie Hirschfeld Davis
May 29, 2018

WASHINGTON — By the time Attorney General Jeff Sessions arrived at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for dinner one Saturday evening in March 2017, he had been receiving the presidential silent treatment for two days. Mr. Sessions had flown to Florida because Mr. Trump was refusing to take his calls about a pressing decision on his travel ban.

When they met, Mr. Trump was ready to talk — but not about the travel ban. His grievance was with Mr. Sessions: The president objected to his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Mr. Trump, who had told aides that he needed a loyalist overseeing the inquiry, berated Mr. Sessions and told him he should reverse his decision, an unusual and potentially inappropriate request.

Mr. Sessions refused.

The confrontation, which has not been previously reported, is being investigated by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, as are the president’s public and private attacks on Mr. Sessions and efforts to get him to resign. Mr. Trump dwelled on the recusal for months, according to confidants and current and former administration officials who described his behavior toward the attorney general.

[y66]

From If only Brexit had been run like Ireland’s referendum by Fintan O'Toole at The Guardian:

Quote

In all the excitement of what happened in Ireland’s referendum on abortion, we should not lose sight of what did not happen. A vote on an emotive subject was not subverted. The tactics that have been so successful for the right and the far right in the UK, the US, Hungary and elsewhere did not work. A democracy navigated its way through some very rough terrain and came home not just alive but more alive than it was before. In the world we inhabit, these things are worth celebrating but also worth learning from. Political circumstances are never quite the same twice, but some of what happened and did not happen in Ireland surely contains more general lessons.

If the right failed spectacularly in Ireland, it was not for want of trying. Save the 8th, one of the two main groups campaigning against the removal of the anti-abortion clause from the Irish constitution, hired Vote Leave’s technical director, the Cambridge Analytica alumnus Thomas Borwick.

Save the 8th and the other anti-repeal campaign, Love Both, used apps developed by a US-based company, Political Social Media (PSM), which worked on both the Brexit and Trump campaigns. The small print told those using the apps that their data could be shared with other PSM clients, including the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and Vote Leave.

Irish voters were subjected to the same polarising tactics that have worked so well elsewhere: shamelessly fake “facts” (the claim, for example, that abortion was to be legalised up to six months into pregnancy); the contemptuous dismissal of expertise (the leading obstetrician Peter Boylan was told in a TV debate to “go back to school”); deliberately shocking visual imagery (posters of aborted foetuses outside maternity hospitals); and a discourse of liberal elites versus the real people. But Irish democracy had an immune system that proved highly effective in resisting this virus. Its success suggests a democratic playbook with at least four good rules.

First, trust the people. A crucial part of what happened in Ireland was an experiment in deliberative democracy. The question of how to deal with the constitutional prohibition on abortion – a question that has bedevilled the political and judicial systems for 35 years – was put to a Citizens’ Assembly, made up of 99 randomly chosen (but demographically representative) voters. These so-called ordinary people – truck drivers, homemakers, students, farmers – gave up their weekends to listen to 40 experts in medicine, law and ethics, to women affected by Ireland’s extremely restrictive laws and to 17 different lobby groups. They came up with recommendations that confounded most political and media insiders, by being much more open than expected – and much more open than the political system would have produced on its own.

It was these citizens who suggested entirely unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks. Conservatives dismissed this process, in Trump style, as rigged (it wasn’t). They would have been much better off if they had actually listened to what these citizens were saying, and tried to understand what had persuaded them to take such a liberal position. The Irish parliament did listen – an all-party parliamentary committee essentially adopted the proposals of the Citizens’ Assembly. So did the government. And it turned out that a sample of “the people” actually knew pretty well what “the people” were thinking. If the Brexit referendum had been preceded by such a respectful, dignified and humble exercise in listening and thinking, it would surely have been a radically different experience.

Second, be honest. The yes side in the Irish debate handed its opponents a major tactical advantage but gained a huge strategic victory. It ceded an advantage in playing with all its cards turned up on the table. Technically, the vote was merely to repeal a clause in the constitution. There was no need to say what legislation the government hoped to enact afterwards. But the government chose to be completely clear about its intentions. It published a draft bill. This allowed opponents of reform to pick at, and often distort, points of detail. But it also completely undercut the reactionary politics of paranoia, the spectre of secret conspiracies. Honesty proved to be very good policy.

Third, talk to everybody and make assumptions about nobody. The reactionary movements have been thriving on tribalism. They divide voters into us and them – and all the better if they call us “deplorables”. The yes campaigners in Ireland – many of them young people, who are so often caricatured as the inhabitants of virtual echo chambers – refused to be tribal. They stayed calm and dignified. And when they were jeered at, they did not jeer back. They got out and talked (and listened) without prejudice. They did not assume that an elderly lady going to mass in a rural village was a lost cause. They risked (and sometimes got) abuse by recognising no comfort zones and engaging everyone they could reach. It turned out that a lot of people were sick of being typecast as conservatives. It turned out that a lot of people like to be treated as complex, intelligent and compassionate individuals. A majority of farmers and more than 40% of the over-65s voted yes.

Finally, the old feminist slogan that the personal is political holds true, but it also works the other way around. The political has to be personalised. The greatest human immune system against the viruses of hysteria, hatred and lies is storytelling. Even when we don’t trust politicians or experts, we trust people telling their own tales. We trust ourselves to judge whether they are lying or being truthful. Irish women had to go out and tell their own stories, to make the painful and intimate into public property.

This is very hard to do, and it should not be necessary. But is unstoppably powerful. The process mattered, political leadership mattered, campaigning mattered. But it was stories that won. Exit polls showed that by far the biggest factors in determining how people voted were “people’s personal stories that were told to the media”, followed by “the experience of someone who they know”.

Women, in the intimate circles of family and friends or in the harsh light of TV studios, said: “This is who I am. I am one of you.” And voters responded: “Yes, you are.” If democracy can create the context for that humane exchange to happen over and over again, it can withstand everything its enemies throw at it.

[kenberg]

y66, on 2018-May-30, 07:00, said:

From If only Brexit had been run like Ireland's referendum by Fintan O'Toole at The Guardian:

I find many items on this thread that I would not see otherwise, and I appreciate it. I like all four of O'Toole's points but I want to particularly stress the last one. Part of it: "The political has to be personalised. The greatest human immune system against the viruses of hysteria, hatred and lies is storytelling. Even when we don’t trust politicians or experts, we trust people telling their own tales." This is often forgotten or dismissed or both. Most people have only a limited attention span for vitriolic political discourse. We tire of the name calling. But if someone tells us of their own life experience, many of us listen. Long ago, after Roe v Wade but not long after, a Catholic woman was talking with me about her sister's earlier illegal abortion. I can still largely recall the conversation. The short version would be that abortion may well be a sin, but when your young unmarried sister is pregnant you assess priorities. Whether one agrees with their decision or not is one thing, but the honesty and seriousness of what was being said was beyond question. Many many many of our views are a result of direct experience or the experiences of others that we know and trust. It cannot be otherwise and I would not want it to be otherwise.

It sounds as if listening to what others had to say was a really effective approach. Yeah, I can imagine that it might be.

[barmar]

There have been lots of reports recently about the Trump administration's hard-line policy on illegal immigrants, breaking up families when they deport the parents and send the children to foster families. The administration has been saying that this is actually a program that has been going on for years, it began during the Obama years.

If they're "blaming" Obama for this, that concedes that it's wrong, and Trump has made it very clear since his candidacy is that he wants to undo all of Obama's mistakes. Why is this one being continued?

[ggwhiz]

Ahhh War. The U.S. just can't stay mad at you but this time it's trade. And instigated by a jerk that knows nothing about economics or it's consequences.

I guess we could avoid it by agreeing to settle NAFTA trade disputes in American courts and a dozen or so other things that are as likely as the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup but it's a shame that the full impacts won't be felt until after the mid-terms with so many voters still hooked on the Kool-Aid.

[ldrews]

ggwhiz, on 2018-June-01, 08:46, said:

Ahhh War. The U.S. just can't stay mad at you but this time it's trade. And instigated by a jerk that knows nothing about economics or it's consequences.

I guess we could avoid it by agreeing to settle NAFTA trade disputes in American courts and a dozen or so other things that are as likely as the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup but it's a shame that the full impacts won't be felt until after the mid-terms with so many voters still hooked on the Kool-Aid.

And yet unemployment is at record lows, wages are rising, GDP is projected to be above 4%, North Korea is negotiating. Somebody must be doing something right.

[jjbrr]

My friends, I've done the unthinkable and resigned my position at a company some of you may be familiar with; I've moved in with my girlfriend and her 2-year-old son. This is my formal goodbye.

[ggwhiz]

jjbrr, on 2018-June-01, 11:12, said:

My friends, I've done the unthinkable and resigned my position at a company some of you may be familiar with; I've moved in with my girlfriend and her 2-year-old son. This is my formal goodbye.

I did the brand new life thing 16 years ago and have never been happier. Y'all come back when you are settled in and may you say the same.

[Winstonm]

jjbrr, on 2018-June-01, 11:12, said:

My friends, I've done the unthinkable and resigned my position at a company some of you may be familiar with; I've moved in with my girlfriend and her 2-year-old son. This is my formal goodbye.

Best of fortunes. This, too, shall pass. Hopefully, soon.

[Winstonm]

These attorneys seem to think DD may already be under sealed indictment.

[kenberg]

jjbrr, on 2018-June-01, 11:12, said:

My friends, I've done the unthinkable and resigned my position at a company some of you may be familiar with; I've moved in with my girlfriend and her 2-year-old son. This is my formal goodbye.

Best wishes to the three of you.
Life can be complex, it can also be good.
Ken

[y66]

jjbrr, on 2018-June-01, 11:12, said:

My friends, I've done the unthinkable and resigned my position at a company some of you may be familiar with; I've moved in with my girlfriend and her 2-year-old son. This is my formal goodbye.

Very best wishes to you and your new fam.

[y66]