Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

How blind is Lady Justice? How far will some go to strip Lady Liberty of her crown? Have we completely forgotten the sacrifices of those that came before to create a nation of law and justice to have everything turned upside down for the sake of total ignorance and the elevation of the Republican party?

While we watch the drama unfold of a State AG going after someone that has violated a state law and have federal officials that have no jurisdiction attempt to push this states AG into a corner and have him tried for crimes against a former President.

One thing I am very sure of and that he puts his pants on the same way I do, one leg at a time. Another thing I am pretty sure of is that even though a former President is now the person of interest in this grand jury investigation in New York it is no different than if someone else was the person of interest. No one is above the law in this nation and your status or former status does not get you a “Get out of jail” card.

The drama goes on and we hear more and more that this legal proceeding which is being called a felony offense is actually making this person more popular with the Republican Party. How is this possible? As the republicans are billing themselves as domestic terrorists it is not surprising that someone of less than honorable character is popular.

The call for the loyal base to show up and be prepared to battle the New York City police force is very much an idea formed in the mind of a very misinformed or sick individual. It did not result in the outcome hoped for on Jan 6, 2022 and it will not accomplish the desired result in this case either. Will we see more of the same tactic used as the indictments keep being posted in Georgia, Washington DC, and any other place that a district attorney decides that enough is enough and goes for it.

The effect it is having is keeping him in the news, and that needs to stop. Everything that has to do with this person needs to be sanitized down to a he said, she said kind of article with names taken out to protect the innocent and the insane. Just like words that you do not want to hear on the air, and the release of information is going to a class of 3rd graders, bleep out the name. Publicity is this guy’s reason to get up in the morning if we remove that hopefully he will go away.

His actions, constant whining and continuous use of the legal systems to attempt to circumvent responsibility for his actions is a waste of the assets of this nation and needs to stop. He supposedly has friends in other parts of the world so I encourage him to go stay with them and see how long it takes to wear out his welcome.

In the last few years we have seen the tone and temperament of our national leadership become more and more prone to point fingers and blame others for whatever deficiency may be current and to pat ourselves on the back for every plus that may have occurred. The purpose of the leadership in either house should not be the effort to ruin everything the opposition may be trying to do. It should be to look at the agenda and rather than stop it altogether see if it would be a viable thing to do and if it needs to be altered to help get it done.

Our Supreme Court is not supposed to be in power to make laws that are partisan but rather are justified by the Constitution. Some things just do not fall in their basket, and they should immediately withdraw from the process when those sorts of issues are presented. That is not what is happening, we are getting more decisions made over more issues and it seems that every decision of late has been to overturn a decision that was made 50 or more years ago. Does the Supreme Court have the duty to rewrite national law because it does not meet their personal agenda?

In coming Presidents don’t come into power and start changing department heads, leadership in the Armed Forces, unless some agreement is reached about the changes between those in place and new people that may be selected to replace those currently holding a particular position. The bulk of the work done within our government is done by people that hold pretty mundane positions that keep the train on the tracks and everything moving forward. The names you see in the headlines are the ones that get put in a position they know nothing about and then they try to scheme their way into sometimes fame and sometimes fortune and usually end up notoriously not illustrious.

So now we are at the point of once again calling our loyal base to carry acts of violence to the streets in defense of an ego that seems to have no bounds. Vows acts of death and destruction if he is served with an indictment. We as a nation cannot roll over and play dead to please this person or his very ill followers. His backers in Congress think that this will cause a landslide victory for him in the 2024 election. Someone somewhere will probably take it upon themselves to end this the only easy it seems possible at this point and that is death. Hopefully that will be the only one although I can imagine that some of his more loyal and less intelligent followers will go on a tangent.

It is unfortunate that the legal system does not work for everyone equally, it seems that if you have money it is much easier to hide in the folds of Lady Justices gown than it is if you are poor.It also seems that lawyers are willing to try and make frosting from fertilizer if the money is available. It is time to cut the cake regardless of the coating and see if anyone wants a serving. 

Lyle Northey (Silent/Boomer)

The email I am writing about is the one to ban FOX or at least some of their “News”” people. To start with let me say that I do not watch that channel and I know that the crap they put out is very definitely not proAmerican.

So now we are addressing the issue of censorship and the conservatives in the service have done a pretty good job of eliminating anything that looks like what was called “Adult Literature”.

Right or wrong this is clearly censorship and we are seeing more and more of it becoming the norm not the exception and it should not happen. Even if the message is not the greatest or true to the facts, good logical decisions cannot be made in a vacuum or without the opportunity to at least hear the other side of an argument. We know that censorship is possible if the right people push the issue, trouble is that you are fighting the ones that already won round one, the conservatives. 

One method might be to put TV’s everywhere and make sure that they are tuned to your message,or fact check everything that is put out as quickly as possible.  Report that FOX said this and have a counter argument to that line of propaganda. The military has a program and personnel that are training in this very type of warfare, and that is what this is, warfare. Use your assets wisely and monitor what is being said by command. You know that there are members of the military that will believe anything they are told, especially if it is radical or far fetched. 

Discipline is one of the things that seems to have gotten lax in the military of today. I say this as a person that started my military journey in 1964 and then restarted my active journey in 1980 and ended my service in 1995. I have since worked at a military base and the upkeep of the base, the attitude of the troops and the personal interactions are all very casual from what they used to be. Maybe that is a good thing but commanders were interested in their people and soldiers had respect for their leaders, that does not hold true in the military today as commanders allow dining facilities to be closed on weekend, troops are put in barracks that are on the far side of the installation from where they work and no transportation is provided and they don’t all own cars.

The new dorms are equipped with security locks that require codes or cards to open and yet somehow members of the opposite sex end up in the same room and if the female decides to make a charge against the male he is guilty until proven otherwise, another issue of one sided views. If problems occur in those situations then both parties need to be investigated equally for the sake of justice and let the evidence prove or disprove the allegations.

The sale of guns and alcohol in the regular PX is somewhat of an issue. One of the reasons is that the basis for getting rid of certain reading materials was because the PX is for families, so said those pushing for censorship, they were really built for the troops. Now we have guns, family friendly, booze, family friendly, I think not. Makes as much sense as the ad for “Don’t Drink and then Drive” and yet we sell beer in almost every gas station in the country.

The society of today seems to feel that if we make a rule based on our fuzzy logic that it will make sense to one and all, problem solved. Tell people they cannot smoke before age 18, tell them they cannot drink before 21, tell them that they should not have sex until married. All have the same potential as waving a flag at a bull, it will make them mad and they will do precicely the opposite of your order. All are methods of censure and none have the desired effect because that is human nature. 

Educate people on the Constitution and the rights given under it. Once they know what is or is not true you still have the ones that will warp it to suit the moment or their own agenda. The ones that learn the truth and are willing to use logic to see through the smoke screen of broken dreams and predicted night mares.

To re-enforce the military issue, make classes on UCMJ part of your monthly training. What are the rules and what are the punishments for breaking the rules? How are courts marshalls conducted and what are the punishments for being found guilty especially of treason or insurrection. As the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces is it logical to think that the statutes in the UCMJ should apply equally on levels.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/22/big-oil-companies-homicide-harvard-environmental-law-review

The big question that has been posed to Big Oil corporations for years was whether they knew that the continued of fossil fuels would have a negative consequence to the environment. To the extent that these projections represented contemporary knowledge of the likely effects of fossil fuel burning on global temperature, we can conclude that Exxon knew as much in the 1970–1990s as academic and government scientists knew. Yet they denied that they had any foreknowledge of the impending calamity of their actions.

Now an environmental group is looking into charging these multinational conglomerates for their reckless actions with homicide related to their denial and continued inaction. This was reported earlier this week by ‘The Guardian’.

I think that is awesome and amazing it about time they are held accountable for the global problem they continue to exacerbate and charges of negligent homicide, man slaughter, and even 1^st degree murder might just wake them up.

Exxon Mobile, BP, and many other large corporations have been lobbying governments for decades to let them continue to pollute and in the U.S. to subsides their profits. During his term in office, President Jimmy Carter fought for clean energy using renewable sources. As a symbol of his faith in “the power of the sun,” Carter had 32 solar panels installed on the White House West Wing roof in the summer of 1979. These panels were used to heat water in the household for seven years until President Ronald Reagan had them removed in 1986. George Charles Szego, the engineer who persuaded Carter to install the solar panels, reportedly claimed that Reagan’s Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan “felt that the equipment was just a joke, and he had it taken down.” The panels were removed in 1986 when work was being done on the White House roof below the panels. 

Can you imagine where we would be today if the example was set to have renewable energy running the White House? We could have even had solar panels on all the government buildings in the District.  Maybe the original panels weren’t as efficient as hoped but the confidence in renewable technology that the continued use and improvement of solar would have us in a far different position than we are in today.

Vice President Gore prioritized the climate crisis and its solutions throughout his career as a Congressman, Senator, and as Vice President. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Gore organized the first hearing on man-made global warming in 1981. In the Senate, Gore held numerous hearings on the climate crisis and hosted an international conference to discuss his proposal for a Global Marshall Plan to focus on “a unified global response to the worldwide environmental crisis.” As Vice President, Gore continued his focus on solving the Climate Crisis, encouraged the development of low-carbon technologies through the Climate Change Technology Initiative and the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles to replace the internal combustion engine.

Where would we be if G.W. Bush hadn’t stolen the Presidency in 2000? Al Gore, although not the most charismatic politician, would have put us on the path to renewable energy, not to mention that we most likely wouldn’t have been in a 20 year war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a species we have continued to be led down the path of profit at the cost of finite resources instead of resources that are and always have been abundant and unlimited. Collectively we have let those with the advantage of harvesting those finite resources convince us that the renewable methods are unreliable and inefficient and we have fallen for it allowing them to become insanely wealthy.

Cutting the cord to oil would not only greatly reduce the amount of CO2 and other climate changing gases released into the atmosphere and slowing climate change it would improve our national security. Energy independence and national security are linked and anyone who has been witness to the global battles over petroleum over the last 50-75 years cannot deny that truth. So, I am for getting off oil and if charging Big Oil, in a global court, with mass homicide will hasten for their recklessness then lets do it. I will bring the popcorn and watch the show as they go down.    

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

Privilege comes from the Latin privilegium, meaning a law for just one person, a benefit enjoyed by an individual or group beyond what is available to others. *Any right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person or group beyond the advantages of most.

Do we exercise or impose privilege in this country? If you say no, you my friend are a liar. We absolutely witness privilege every day, whether it is White, Male, Rich, Size, you can come up with a thousand categories of having a distinct advantage based on some physical or other perceived attribute.

Our society has been built on privilege all the way back as far as humanity has imposed its will on whatever opposed it. Privilege was exerted in ancient times by the strongest and that morphed into those with physical prowess to proclaiming themselves and their offspring as Ordained by God to lead. They made the decree and far be it for any other is challenge that declaration. The Royal Families of Europe have maintained this lofty claim for centuries and based on their wealth a privilege, far be it for a mere commoner to question their position.

This country was built on privilege, the original founders built in the patriarchy because only while male land owners where permitted a voice in the means and methods that governed, all others were just subject to the privileged self-named authority. It took more nearly 100 years after our independence for slaves to be recognized as human and that was vociferously opposed by nearly half the people (white men). It is 2023 and there still isn’t an ERA because not enough states have recognized equal rights for women.

The 15th amendment gave all (men) not matter race the right to vote in 1870 but the white men that held the reigns of power made it exceedingly difficult for anyone other than themselves and those who looked like them to exercise that right. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Wow 95 years after the amendment was passed someone made an effort to let the more inclusive change to the constitution actually work. It was a nice thought be we haven’t completely kept our promise.    

The 19th Amendment makes it illegal to deny the right to vote to any citizen based on their sex, which effectively granted women the right to vote. It was first introduced to Congress in 1878 and was finally certified 42 years later in 1920. So, the white men said that women could vote 8 years after they said ‘all’ men could vote but it took 42 years and the suffrage movement for it to actually happen. Three years after the ratification of the 19th amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was initially proposed in Congress in 1923 in an effort to secure full equality for women. It seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.

In 2017, Nevada became the first state in 45 years to pass the ERA, followed by Illinois in 2018 and Virginia in 2020!

Now that the necessary 38 states have ratified, Congress must eliminate the original deadline. A joint resolution was introduced in Congress currently to do just that. On 21 January 2021, U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), and Congressman Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) announced the bipartisan legislation, which reads simply: 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That notwithstanding any time limit contained in House Joint Resolution 208, 92nd Congress, as agreed to in the Senate on March 22, 1972, the article of amendment proposed to the States in that joint resolution shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution whenever ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States.

This legislation, when passed, will eliminate one of the procedural barriers standing in the way of enshrining gender equality in the U.S. Constitution.

It is insane that as a nation that proclaims itself to a beacon of freedom and equality that we are still having this fight. And, When this finally passes will there be pay equity or will the privileged appose it based on their presumed position once again.

Pay equity will definitely be a rant for another day.  

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The Gish gallop is a rhetorical technique that involves overwhelming your opponent with as many arguments as possible, with no regard for the accuracy, validity, or relevance of those arguments. For example, a person using the Gish gallop might attempt to support their stance by bringing up, in rapid succession, a large number of vague claims, anecdotal statements, misinterpreted facts, and irrelevant comments.

I know this is completely random but once again it fits into the title of this Blog ‘Esoteric Meanderings’. I want to discuss this technique because many have never heard of it and  have no idea what it is.

In recent history the republican party enthusiastically uses this practice to spew so many random claims at an opponent that their opponent, either a democrat or the press, that a cogent response is impossible. If their adversary can only respond to one or two of the unfounded claims the underinformed public will assume that everything not responded to must be factual.

Here is an example for Trump using this from ‘The Atlantic’.

 Let’s take as an example the first televised presidential debate of the 2020 election campaign. The Fox News host Chris Wallace invited Trump to deliver a two-minute statement. And he was off:

“So, when I listen to Joe [Biden] talking about a transition, there has been no transition from when I won. I won that election. And if you look at crooked Hillary Clinton, if you look at all of the different people, there was no transition, because they came after me trying to do a coup. They came after me spying on my campaign … We’ve got it all on tape. We’ve caught ’em all. And by the way, you gave the idea for the Logan Act against General Flynn. You better take a look at that, because we caught you in a sense, and President Obama was sitting in the office. He knew about it, too. So don’t tell me about a free transition. As far as the ballots are concerned, it’s a disaster. A solicited ballot, okay, solicited, is okay. You’re soliciting. You’re asking. They send it back. You send it back. I did that. If you have an unsolicited—they’re sending millions of ballots all over the country. There’s fraud. They found ’em in creeks …”

You can see that there are so many anti-factual claims made in that rant it nearly impossible to rebuff everything and even when the moderator tries the multitude of invalid statements continue to be hurled.

If you study debate techniques, they advise that you point out that a great number of constructs had been thrown out and then try to efficiently rebuff  or disprove that one particular item. While this is great in theory in an actual debate it is rather inefficient when trying to counter lies being hurled in rapid succession with little or no time to respond much less wrap your head around every twisted ‘fact’ that has been vomited.

I would probably use a John Stewart styled response and throw their crap right back at them and wait for their inevitable implosion from the mistruths that they just uttered. It always fun to watch someone crumble under their own argument.

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/21/trump-warns-arrest-calls-protest-but-online-support-muted/11511264002/

Donald is finally looking down the barrel of indictments for his history of unlawful actions and I hope that they keep coming.

I understand historically that previous office holders, i.e., the Presidency, haven’t been held account for their actions that any average citizen would be. It started with Nixon being pardoned by Ford and now for nearly 50 years only one President has been accused of illegal conduct, actually Clinton wasn’t impeached for illegal conduct but for bending the facts about an affair with Ms. Lewinsky. To be honest I really don’t care where Donny dumbass put is private parts but the fact that in order the keep his indiscretion quite he paid off Ms. Daniels through his then attorney and repaid that via accounting malfeasance basically hiding what is considered a campaign contribution. Small potatoes I know but what got Capone was tax evasion not the countless mob hits everyone knew he ordered.

The campaign financing and PAC money is an entirely different rant but the campaign financing laws as it stands requires that the candidate disclose all money that is related to his or her campaign.

Donald had been walking through the rain drops his entire adult life and the fact that he willingly ran for office and was elected put his actions under a microscope. He could have lived out his day in relative anonymity but his narcissism would not allow that and now the piper is calling. His charisma, such as it is, has carried him and pulled the wool over a great number of people’s eyes, I am hoping that the fog is starting to lift.

Sadly there are diehard sycophants of Donald that insist and carrying his banner and now he is calling on them again to rise up and protect him from his own shit. Donald decries that “we have to take our country back”. He has never gave a lick about this country, this is just another grift to keep his inflated ego in the lime light and to pour money into his gaudy lifestyle. A man that was born with a gold plated spoon in his mouth has somehow convinced people that he is one of them. The unfortunate truth is that the individuals that idolize him he wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire.

He is announcing his imminent arrest in hopes that it will result in another Jan. 6 event. I believe that he really wants to come across as a martyr so that the Trump banners will fly high, and the unwashed masses will rise up and smite his accusers and lift him back up to the position that he believes he is entitled. Yes, I said entitled, this megalomaniac truly believes that he is, as in the King Arthur tales,  the once and true King. I honestly believe that Donald would love to be known as the last American President and its first King, that is how far I believe is psychosis goes. I am hoping that enough of the people that voted for him, that previously were fence sitters, have come out from under the ether and will not go back to sleep returning to the mongol hordes that tried to dismantle our democracy. The past two plus years have enlightened some and hardened other it is just my wish that the enlightened outnumber the rest.      

Dwain Northey (Gen X)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2023/02/21/how-do-rich-people-avoid-taxes/11308215002/

This is a time of year most of us do not look forward to because in a few short weeks everyone’s taxes are due. Even if you don’t owe anything the copious amount of paperwork needs to be submitted so that the tax man doesn’t come a callin’.

I learned something new this morning and it how CEOs, CFOs, the ultra-wealthy manage to pay little of no tax by exploiting the current tax law. They are honestly not breaking any laws they have just found a giant hole that only people of extraordinary wealth are able to step through.

I never understood how CEO’s of large companies, with a straight face, that their salary is equal to or less than a median income employee of the same company. Well because they are paid in stock options. The question remains if they aren’t paid “more” how is it that they can live such extravagant lifestyles. Here is the loop hole, they acquire low interest loan to subsidize their lifestyle using their stock options as collateral… wait, what? I had the same response.

I am not an accountant but this is how I understood how the process works. A COE gets, let’s say, $90k annual salary but on top of that he gets $5million annually in stock options. Now for the big pull the wool over that world’s eyes moment. They have a lifestyle that requires $1.5 to $2 million, well they take out a loan at very low interest rate to support that lifestyle and when tax time comes the stock options are not taxable because the options are assets not income. Ok but the $90k salary is still taxable right? Yes it is but the interest on the million dollar loan is deductible and literally offsets the meager salary. Wala the IRS gets a big fat zero and Mr. Fat Cat gets to play the same game next year. He gets to fly on a private jet while all the employees get to pay taxes so that his executive airport can function and the roads his driver takes him there in are paved. Thank you to the working person so that your COEs and CFOs can continue to live their lavish lifestyles.

System is broken there needs to be an asset tax, anyone who owns a house pays property taxes. Guess what folks that is an asset tax, registering your car, asset tax, even if you don’t fully own it.

Now that I have completely saddened or enraged you… have a good time doing your taxes.