Restructuring Persistent Futility

The truth is that a vast restructuring of our society is needed if remedies are to become available to the average person.  Without that restructuring the good will that holds society together will be slowly dissipated…  It is that sense of futility which permeates the present series of protests and dissents.  Where there is a persistent sense of futility, there is violence;  and that is where we are today.
—     William O. Douglas
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On This Day In:
2022	By Any Other Name (Or Description)
2021	Democracy, Pandemic, Economy And Climate Change
	Heaven Is…
2020	Hoping For #46 In January 2021
2019	Interesting, But Not Fascinating
	But Try To Eat The Low-Hanging First
2018	Me, Too
2017	Apt Enough?
2016	Now Or Ever
	21, Pause, Restart
2015	I Am Shocked, Sir, Shocked…
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2014	Less Difficult
2013	The Spirit Of Liberty
2012	The Essential Freedom Of Aloneness
2011	A Problem Of Scale
	Fred Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
2010	Another Book, Another Jog…

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No Implication Of Reasonableness

Very few scientists actually plunge into the murky waters of testing or challenging borderline or pseudo-scientific beliefs.  The chance of finding out something really interesting — except about human nature — seems small, and the amount of time required seems large.  I believe that scientists should spend more time in discussing these issues, but the fact that a given contention lacks vigorous scientific opposition in no way implies that scientists think it is reasonable.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021	Let Yourself Soar In 2022
	Where You’re Concerned
2020	The Most Dynamic Link
	Looking Forward To 2021
2019	A Proud Assertion
2018	Ask #45 About Anything
2017	Playing Makes Sense
2016	And Fathers, Sons
2015	My Suspect Confidence
2014	Disguised Blessings
2013	Be
2012	The Only Way to Win
2011	Honest Writing

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Of Course It Helps To Own The Business

Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs.
—     Peter Drucker
[Here’s looking at you #45-TheLoser…  How else do you explain bankrupting multiple casinos, an airline, a steak company, a vodka company, a bottled water company and a national political party (Republican MAGA’s)?    —    kmab ]
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On This Day In:
2021	Bring In Peace
	Glad I Found You
2020	And The Past Is Much Better Than It Used To Be Too
	A Winter’s Day
2019	I Just Remember It As Fun
	#45: IMPEACHED!!!
2018	Prediction: Morning Is Coming After A Long Night Of #LyingDonald
2017	While Congress Slept
2016	And A Fellow Who Insists On Telling Us He’s Smart?
2015	Curves Ahead
2014	Sitting?
2013	Misperceptions
2012	Essential Experience
2011	Lest We Forget Those Still In Harm’s Way
	Sound Familiar?

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Civic Duty Completed – Awaiting Results

I cast my vote via early drop-off earlier this week…  (Here is my confirmation on the CA web site.)
CA vote confirmation
Please complete your own civic responsibility and VOTE!  (The democracy you save may be ours…)
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On This Day In:
2021	Two Eff’n Right
	Is There A Notion For That Motion?
2020	The Premium Few
	No Sympathy Here
2019	Is That Why Love Hurts?
2018	And Honest Politicians
2017	Maya, Maya
2016	Give Value
2015	Believe In Substitution
2014	Pragmatic Religion
2013	How’s Your View?
2012	Giants Win Game 3 Of The 2012 World Series 2 To 0!!!
	Still Haven’t…
	Accidental Me
2011	What Is Your Ratio?
2010	Giants Win Game 1 With 11 Runs Scored – Repeat 11 Runs!!

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Ask Your Friends To Vote In November

The future depends on what we do in the present.
—     Mahatma Gandhi
[Ask them TODAY!!  We are less than 30 days from the mid-term elections.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	What Matters To Me
	With The Slamming Of The Door
2020	Make Voting A Habit
	You Ought To Hear Him Tell His Stories
2019	2019 49ers Season Starts 5-0!!
	Will Any Republican Senator Vote For Impeachment?
2018	VOTE – We Need A Wave
2017	Soothe, Inspire And Recharge
2016	Aren’t We?
2015	Cold Embrace
2014	Delightful
2013	Apprenticeship
2012	Curtain Rods
2011	A Living Force
2010	BART Rides – A Tipping Point

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How To Begin

To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing.
—     Pablo Picasso
[To get the kind of society you want, you have to begin by voting for the kind of government which will support and promote it.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Looking Up
	Shiny
2020	#45: Or All-Consuming Greed
	You Could Have Told Me Yourself
2019	Not Personal
2018	Preference For Irrationality
2017	All At Once
2016	One Of My Vices
2015	The War Lord
2014	Orange October (II) – Giants Win NLDS Game 2 In 18 Innings (2 to 1)!!
	Acknowledging Doubt
2013	Fulfilled Acceptance
2012	Error Is Tolerated Here (So Far)
2011	In Defense Of Pain

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More Like 60 To 70 Years

The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you.  But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.
—     Warren Buffett
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On This Day In:
2021	Hold That Thought
	Got Love?
2020	Everyone I’ve Ever Met
	A Secret Chord
2019	A Big “IF”
2018	Silence Presence
2017	Feeling Small Standing In Front Of My Shelves
2016	Show Willing
2015	If He Only Knew…
2014	Dared To Love
2013	Strong Kung-Fu
2012	Two Tribes
2011	Made Any Assumptions Lately?

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Why Today’s “NO” Republicans Can’t Govern

It’s an old split.  Like the one between art and art history.  One does it and the other talks about how it’s done and the talk about how it’s done never seems to match how one does it.
—    Robert M. Pirsig
From:  “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“
[If you aren’t willing to make “some” compromises, you are not able to govern in a democracy.  We’ve known this since (at least) the Greek city states.  This is why Republicans are better in opposition than they are when trying to run things.  The same would be true for a “radical” left party, if the United States ever developed one.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	Back To Paying Dues
	Keep Rollin’
2020	Diets And Lifestyle Changes
	Pay Attention
	Just Not Sure, And That’s Okay
2019	The Right Questions
	Day 3: Still Difficult
2018	A Thought For Those Continuing To Support President Trump
	Day 36: Pushing On
2017	Imagining Humor
2016	So Go On And Deal With It
2015	From A Letter To A Friend
2014	Your Part (Here)
2013	Complements
2012	Sound And Light
2011	Two Politicians Visit A Farm…
2010	Labor Day And Honorable Men

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The Penalty For Sedition / Insurrection / Civil War

Over the last weekend, Senator Lyndsey Graham (R – South Carolina) was interviewed on TV and virtually assured that if former President Trump is indicted for taking classified government documents to Mar-a-Lago, there will be “riots in the streets”.
My response to Sen. Graham is:  “Fine!  Rioters will be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law…”
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2384, “seditious conspiracy” occurs when two or more persons:
conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof.
NO ONE is above the law – particularly when it comes to the defense of National Security.  This especially includes former Presidents!
If there is sufficient evidence to indict / convict Donald Trump, then he should be indicted, arrested and brought to trial.  If found guilty, Trump should serve time.  If found not guilty, Trump should be released.  He IS presumed to be NOT guilty until he has been found guilty by a jury of his peers.
If individuals (or groups) wish to meet PEACEFULLY to object to / protest the indictment, trial, or results, they have their First Amendment right to do so.  They DO NOT have the right to riot or interfere with the process of the lawful administration of justice.
Anyone found guilty of rioting and / or conspiracy to riot should be placed on a domestic terrorist watch list for the remainder of their natural lives.  They should be reminded that – in the “good, old days” – terrorism, sedition and insurrection were punished by death.
If we – as a nation – accept the threat of violence (“riots in the streets”) as a reason to not prosecute ANYONE who would otherwise be subject to prosecution / trial, then we are no longer a country ruled by law.
The general public needs to be reminded former President Trump was not the only person in his Administration who was aware of the unlawful removal and possession of government documents (not just the “classified” documents), and they should ALL be indicted and prosecuted.  This is the only way to ensure this does not happen again  – by an Administration from either political party.
“Equal Justice Under Law…“
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On This Day In:
2021	How Learning Infections Begin
	Stay Young At Heart
2020	Policies Not People
	Just Thinking To Myself
2019	Should I Start With My Religion?
2018	Fear And Hope
	Day 33: Good News & Prep
2017	Directions
2016	Handle With Care
2015	Nothing But Pride
2014	Go
2013	Well, Does It?
2012	Near Misses Aren’t Successes
2011	Uncomfortable Feelings
2010	San Francisco (favorites)…
	Bullets or Butter?

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For An Extended Period

Your Army can accomplish for an extended period only those missions that are accepted by our citizenry for whom the Army exists to support.
—    General William Westmoreland
[And the same is true for our representative form of government, too.  It (WE) cannot do anything over an extended period of time without continuous support by the public.    —    KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2021	Surrender With Hope
	A Little Grace
2020	Two Midway
	Invisible Hands
2019	Speaking Of #45
2018	A Higher Loyalty
	RIP – Our Silver Lady
2017	Slowly Cutting Their Own Throats
2016	Man’s Advantage Over God
2015	Deeply
2014	Hi-Yo Silver, Away!
2013	Warning:
2012	Thinking About Beauty
2011	A Founding Father’s Argument Against Public Funding Of Religious Education
	Weekend Update
	So Far, So Good

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Almost Never (These Days) In Politics

The decision to reject one paradigm is always simultaneously the decision to accept another, and the judgment leading to that decision involves the comparison of both paradigms with nature and with each other.
—     Thomas S. Kuhn, PhD.
From his book:  “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions“
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On This Day In:
2022	Almost Never (These Days) In Politics
2021	Senate: Defend The Constitution – Convict Trump
	Can The Senate Find Truth?
2020	All Foam And All Dreams
2019	Why #IncompetentDonald May Be The Most Successful President Ever
	Latina Fish Story
2018	Blocking The Light And Air
2017	It’s Even Dimmer When You Don’t Have It
2016	Inconvenienced By Degree
2015	Sincerity
2014	Prayers For Junior
	Senseless
2013	Interesting Drink
	Super Bowl XLVII Declared A No Bird Zone
2012	Smile
2011	Come Forward

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A Clear View Of #45

Sometimes it is easier to see clearly into the liar than into the man who tells the truth.  Truth, like light, blinds.  Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.
—     Albert Camus
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On This Day In:
2022	A Clear View Of #45
2021	Not Here, Not Again
	Will The Senate Convict An Insurrectionist?
2020	Senate Perfidy
2019	Contributing To Congress
	Yellow Signs Of Spring
2018	But Take Heart
	Poetic Marker
2017	The Few, The Many, The Most
2016	To My Brother
2015	For Junior
	A Roman Rome
2014	Hmmm
2013	What’s A Motto With You?
2012	Worthy Companions
2011	Bourne Again
	Which Ten Are You In?

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Defeated: So Far (Anyway)

“The untold story of the election is the thousands of people of both parties who accomplished the triumph of American democracy at its very foundation,” says Norm Eisen, a prominent lawyer and former Obama Administration official who recruited Republicans and Democrats to the board of the Voter Protection Project.
…
“Every attempt to interfere with the proper outcome of the election was defeated,” says Ian Bassin, co-founder of Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan rule-of-law advocacy group.  “But it’s massively important for the country to understand that it didn’t happen accidentally.  The system didn’t work magically.  Democracy is not self-executing.”
From an article written by:  Molly Ball
The article is titled:  “How Close We Came:  The secret history of the shadow campaign that saved the election“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine
Dtd:  15 February 2021
[This story is not even close to being over.  Unless there is a massive turnout of Democrats this November, the Republicans will likely take both the House and the Senate.  If that happens, the treasonous insurrection of 6 January 2021 will be swept under the rug and the Republicans will use their dominance at the state level to guarantee the election of a Republican nominee, irrespective of the actual vote totals.  They will “find” the votes necessary to win.  Voter suppression and fake ballots?  You ain’t seen nothing yet…  After all, to Republicans it seems it is less important who wins the election at the ballot box than who actually gets to take office and rule.  (And, yes, I said “rule”.  Not “govern”;  rule.)    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Defeated: So Far (Anyway)
2021	Elections Have Consequences
	It’s Cold Way Down There
2020	Fearless Security
2019	I Prefer A Neat Single Malt
2018	Seeking Finer Fruits
2017	Something That Is Absolute
2016	Animate And Encourage
	Out Of Time
2015	In Time
2014	Robust Interconnectivity
2013	What Have We Here?
2012	Tributaries And Eddies
	An Honest Politician
2011	Penultimate

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Someone Should Tell Senator Joe Manchin

Progress is what happens when impossibility yields to necessity.
—    Arnold H. Glasow
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On This Day In:
2021	Someone Should Tell Senator Joe Manchin
	One Of The Things We Need
2020	Boxing Day 2020
	Fractal Branches
	Advice For Sons, Too
2019	Almost Soulful Pleasure
2018	Cursive In The News
2017	Coffee Crunch
2016	Preparation
2015	Scarcely Asked
2014	They Resemble Us
2013	Both
2012	That’s Success!
2011	Losing At Dominoes
2010	1,001

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It Still Isn’t

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
—    Warren Buffett
[We are a republic because the “Founders” did NOT believe in the shared ignorance of the common man to run a government.  They believed representatives could gain expertise, but would fundamentally vote their conscious for a common good.  It is not at all clear the latter assumption remains true.  It is increasingly difficult to vote out of office ANYONE who no longer represents the electorate, because of the massive amounts of monies required to conduct modern campaigns.  Without the check of a suitable AND viable alternative replacing you at every election cycle, today’s politicians tend to vote in their interest and not in the interest of the electorate.  This is both the power of and threat from office holder incumbency.
In fairness to the “Founders”, it is also highly unlikely they imagined modern medicine would extend the lives (and working careers) of an average politician into their 70’s and 80’s.  The working assumption was political office would be a part-time thing or a crowning lifetime achievement, and not a life-long career.  The expectation was that most would HAVE to go back to look after their families, their farms / land, or their businesses.  This is obviously no longer the case – as long as you can retain the power of your elected office.    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2021	It Still Isn’t
	Swinging And Shaking
2020	One Is Not Plural
	On And On…
2019	I Think I’ve Just Been Argoted
2018	Good-Bye AG Jeff Sessions
2017	On Our Wall (Part 2)
2016	I Beg The Question
2015	By Their Fruit
2014	Proven Worth
2013	From Missouri
2012	Recipe To Write: Start With One Aching Urge
2011	Ip And Rib
	Real Things
2010	Final Competition

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