Something Very Different

By the late summer of 2018, it was already clear that the US and the world order it had helped establish during my lifetime were facing deep-seated political, economic, and cultural challenges.
Nonetheless, I drew reassurance from my mother’s reminder that the US had endured a brutal civil war, two world wars, a great depression, and still emerged as the leader of the “free world”, a model for democracy, open markets, free trade, and economic growth.  That was, for me, a source of both pride and hope.
Today, threats facing that model have grown more ominous, and our ability to withstand them feels less certain.  Increasingly, by design or not, there appears to be a movement to undermine Americans’ faith in our government and its policies and institutions.  We’ve moved well beyond former president Ronald Reagan’s credo that “government is the problem”, with its aim of reversing decades of federal expansion.
Today we see something very different and far more sinister.  Nihilistic forces are dismantling policies to protect our air, water, and climate.  And they seek to discredit the pillars of our democracy: voting rights and fair elections, the rule of law, the free press, the separation of powers, the belief in science, and the concept of truth itself.
Without them, the American example that my mother so cherished will revert to the kind of tyranny that once seemed to be on its way to extinction  —  though, sadly, it remains ensconced in some less fortunate parts of the world.
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Seventy-five years ago, Americans rose to the challenge of vanquishing tyranny overseas.  We joined with our allies, keenly recognizing the need to defend and sustain our hard-won democratic freedoms.  Today’s generation faces a different, but equally existential, test.  How we respond will determine the future of our own democracy and, ultimately, of the planet itself.
There is a need to “keep at it”.  It cannot be set aside.
—  Paul Volcker
Chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System from 1979 to 1987
This quote was taken from an “opinion” piece published in the Financial Times (ft.com).  It is taken from an afterward in Mr. Volcker’s upcoming publication of the paperback edition of his autobiography.
The full version can be found in the FT hard-copy edition (at your local library) and online at:   https://www.ft.com/content/2389d7ec-1b3c-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4
Note: The “bold and italic” emphasis in the quote above is mine and did not appear in the additional piece.  These two lines appear in multiple articles online describing Mr. Volcker’s comments and are what prompted me to seek out and read the full original opinion.  There is more in the piece worth reading and I encourage all readers of this post to visit the FT site and read the original.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	For Most Of Us
2017	Stories We Need On Life’s Edge
2016	Heart Trouble
2015	From The Inside Out
2014	Alone And Free
2013	Superstition Is Your Way
2012	Escape Hatches
2011	Sing Like No One Is Listening

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Don’t Mess With The Lady

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday (5 Dec 2019), that the House is moving forward to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. “Our democracy is what is at stake.  The president leaves us no choice but to act.“
As she was leaving the press briefing platform she was asked if she hated President Donald Trump.   Pelosi turned and pointed at the reporter asking the question and said:  “I don’t hate anybody.  We don’t hate anybody.  Not anybody in the world.  Don’t accuse me.“
She returned to the podium to continue:  “I think the president is a coward when it comes to helping our kids who are afraid of gun violence.  I think he is cruel when he doesn’t deal with helping our dreamers.  I think he’s in denial about the climate crisis.“
Impeachment, she emphasized, was about protecting the “Constitution of the United States,” rather than about policy disagreements or dislike of the president which could wait for the election.
“As a Catholic, I resent your using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me.  I don’t hate anyone.“
Speaker Pelosi continued, saying she prayed for the president, and, in fact did so every day.
As she turned to leave the stage she concluded: “So don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.“
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On This Day In:
2018	Seek A Clear View
2017	Living With Myself
2016	Still Looking In Mirrors?
2015	Fear No Evil
2014	And Nothing Can Be As Tragic As…
2013	Your Tax Dollars At Work
2012	Historically Unacceptable
2011	Niners Are NFC West Division Champions!!
	The Essence Of Leadership

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More Proof #45 Is Incompetent?

Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.
—  Thomas J. Watson
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On This Day In:
2018	Every Time I Think I’m Falling
2017	Still Testing The Hypothesis
2016	Excessive Weakness In January
2015	That Burns
2014	Hey, I Resemble That Remark… (4!)
2013	Sit, Put, Until…
2012	Lessons For My Son
2011	Reaching The Right Audience
2010	Christmas Trees and Profession of Faith

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Expecting A December Correction

We believe that according the name ‘investors’ to institutions that trade actively is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a ‘romantic.’
—  Warren Buffett
[With the Dow at very near an all-time high, a “normal” market “correction” (a 10% drop) will still leave the market above 25,000 which would still be a historic end of year high.  The only questions are when will the correction eventually happen and how far past “normal” it will go?  Okay, three: how long will it last?  Remember, this is the first Presidency to have an 800 point drop in a single day…  Of the top five daily losses in Dow history (roughly 120 years), ALL five have happened during the current Administration.  So far, we’ve recovered from each quickly…  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	Dominoes II (Update From Last Year’s Post)
2017	Dominoes
2016	Itchin’
2015	In The Not So Distant Future
2014	Sources
2013	Three Essentials
2012	Just Looking
2011	Religious Lessons
2010	View From Under The Bus… (A mid-term report card on the Obama Administration. Long, but still worth reading for historical perspective.)

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#Impeach45: Once A Buffoon, Now A Bad Joke

Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.
—  Warren Buffett
[And soon, hopefully, just an embarrassingly bad memory…  A genius for marketing one’s self is only useful if – ultimately – there is something in you of value.  Otherwise, with bad luck, you pitiably end up at center stage with no talent to perform.  #GrifterDon was able to make it to center stage.  Under the bright lights, he has wilted and shown us he can’t dance, sing or even perform a soliloquy.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	Good Sense
2017	E Pluribus Unum
2016	Lacking
2015	Chip, Chip, Chip
2014	nom de plume
2013	The Real Reason
	From The Book
2012	When Young
2011	14 Ways To A Better Judgement

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His Promises, OUR Hopes

Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes…  but no plans.
—  Peter Drucker
[This sounds remarkably like #DonTheCon’s platform for the 2016 presidential campaign…  Promises…  Hopes…  But only his secret plans to “make America great again”; which he alone could make happen…  Yet, after three years in office, he still has not revealed a single plan.  Could it be he never had ANY secret plans???  To fix health care?  To get us out of wars in the Middle East?  To solve the Israel / Palestinian problem?  To lower crime or decrease gun violence?  To fix immigration?  Has Mexico paid one peso to build the wall?  To get better trade deals?  To disarm a nuclear capable North Korea?  Just asking…???  In #DumbDonald’s case, “commitment” hasn’t been the problem.  The problems have been his lack of ability, intelligence and integrity.  On second thought, no…  Even discounting those three obvious failings, he’s still a below average to absolute failure as a President.  Unfortunately for the country (and the world), he is just one of those pitiable individuals who history has tragically promoted FAR beyond his level of competency.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	Where I Write
2017	At Last, An Honest Philosopher…
2016	Fake It ‘Til You Make It
2015	Hell Toupée
2014	Corrected And Amended
2013	Too Few
2012	Three Characters
2011	Universal Payment
2010	Privatizing the TSA? (An old – and long – post, but still relevant!!)

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Defining Trumpism In Today’s Republican Party

Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world’s ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.
—  John W. Gardner
[And let’s not forget that ONLY one man (#IncompetentDonald) can solve all of Washington’s and the nation’s problems…   Almost three years in office, how’s he doing so far?  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2018	#45: It’s Tougher Being President
2017	Consequences
2016	Shouting At The Void
2015	Crab Feed
	Happy Thanksgiving (2015)
2014	Beyond Proof
2013	Poor Students Of History
2012	Between Two Worlds
2011	Common Humanity
2010	The Last Two Olympians

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