[Vision2020] Much larger problem than just Trump

Mon Mar 11 13:41:08 PDT 2019

On Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 9:38 PM rhayes at frontier.com <rhayes at frontier.com>
wrote:

"I wish I had an answer, but ridding Trump will not solve the problem.""...

*Indeed.  Trump is really just a symptom of massive systemic failures on
multiple levels of society... Too much to explore here now.*

"..look at the Republican party. It has become the enemy of our nation, our
freedom, our personal wellbeing."

*Noam Chomsky's assessment is relevant, in these excerpts from a Democracy
Now interview:*

*https://www.ecowatch.com/chomsky-goodman-climate-change-2426716028.html
<https://www.ecowatch.com/chomsky-goodman-climate-change-2426716028.html>*

*Noam Chomsky Explains Why 'The Republican Party Is the Most Dangerous
Organization in World History' *

*Amy Goodman: I wanted to ask you about this comment that you made that the
Republican Party, you said, is the most dangerous organization in world
history. Can you explain?*

*Noam Chomsky: I also said that it's an extremely outrageous statement. But
the question is whether it's true. I mean, has there ever been an
organization in human history that is dedicated, with such commitment, to
the destruction of organized human life on Earth? Not that I'm aware of. Is
the Republican organization—I hesitate to call it a party—committed to
that? Overwhelmingly. There isn't even any question about it.*

*Take a look at the last primary campaign—plenty of publicity, very little
comment on the most significant fact. Every single candidate either denied
that what is happening is happening—namely, serious move towards
environmental catastrophe—or there were a couple of moderates,
so-called—Jeb Bush, who said, "Maybe it's happening. We really don't know.
But it doesn't matter, because fracking is working fine, so we can get more
fossil fuels." Then there was the guy who was called the adult in the room,
John Kasich, the one person who said, "Yes, it's true. Global warming's
going on. But it doesn't matter." He's the governor of Ohio. "In Ohio,
we're going to go on using coal for energy, and we're not going to
apologize for it." So that's 100 percent commitment to racing towards
disaster.*

*Then take a look at what's happened since. The—November 8th was the
election. There was, as most of you know, I'm sure, a very important
conference underway in Morocco, Marrakech, Morocco. Almost roughly 200
countries at the United Nations-sponsored conference, which was—the goal of
which was to put some specific commitments into the verbal agreements that
were reached at Paris in December 2015, the preceding international
conference on global warming. The Paris conference did intend to reach a
verifiable treaty, but they couldn't, because of the most dangerous
organization in human history. The Republican Congress would not accept any
commitments, so therefore the world was left with verbal promises, but no
commitments. Well, last November 8th, they were going to try to carry that
forward. On November 8th, in fact, there was a report by the World
Meteorological Organization, a very dire analysis of the state of the
environment and the likely prospects, also pointed out that we're coming
perilously close to the tipping point, where—which was the goal of the—the
goal of the Paris negotiations was to keep things below that—coming very
close to it, and other ominous predictions. At that point, the conference
pretty much stopped, because the news came in about the election.*

*And it turns out that the most powerful country in human history, the
richest, most powerful, most influential, the leader of the free world, has
just decided not only not to support the efforts, but actively to undermine
them. So there's the whole world on one side, literally, at least trying to
do something or other, not enough maybe, although some places are going
pretty far, like Denmark, couple of others; and on the other side, in
splendid isolation, is the country led by the most dangerous organization
in human history, which is saying, "We're not part of this. In fact, we're
going to try to undermine it." We're going to maximize the use of fossil
fuels—could carry us past the tipping point. We're not going to provide
funding for—as committed in Paris, to developing countries that are trying
to do something about the climate problems. We're going to dismantle
regulations that retard the impact, the devastating impact, of production
of carbon dioxide and, in fact, other dangerous gases—methane, others.*

*---------------------------------------*

Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

On Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 9:38 PM rhayes at frontier.com <rhayes at frontier.com>
wrote:

I agree, Trump is most likely a criminal, a con-man, and deserving of
> public retribution. But what about Mitch Mcconnell whose lies endlessly
> support Trump? What about Idaho's own Risch, and Crapo who say nothing
> about this because it would require courage and integrity that they
> obviously lack. Risch, it is good to note is one of the wealthiest
> senators.
> It will be difficult to restore democracy to such a corrupted system.  We
> assume our elected officials will have our nation at their best interest,
> but the fact of the matter it is just class and personal wealth that
> motivates them. I wish I had an answer, but ridding Trump will not solve
> the problem. There is however, a theme in all of this: look at the
> Republican party. It has become the enemy of our nation, our freedom, our
> personal wellbeing. If this party doesn't clean it's self up, maybe the
> citizens should help it do so.
>
> On ‎Sunday‎, ‎March‎ ‎10‎, ‎2019‎ ‎05‎:‎46‎:‎52‎ ‎PM‎ ‎PDT,
> vision2020-request at moscow.com <vision2020-request at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2019 16:58:40 -0700
> From: Nicholas Gier <ngier006 at gmail.com>
> To: vision2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Subject: [Vision2020] Hangin' is too good for him; just let him bleed
>     slowly
> Message-ID:
>     <CAH=vCc5vEK_ME_7MUzKNqbWvq6ZJ04He6s+aE-MDuRFEghcvrQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> >From the New Yorker, by Leo Vidal
>
> The *New Yorker *suggests that when dealing with Trump, Democrats take
> their cue from the way the good guys often dealt with villains in old movie
> westerns. They would often say ?Hanging?s too good for him? when dealing
> with an especially heinous bad guy, and that could apply to our current
> president:
>
> *?In this case, impeachment is seen as too rarefied, too technical a
> proceeding to end Trumpism. Trump should be defeated at the polls; ejecting
> him in any other way provides too many opportunities for after-the-fact
> stab-in-the-back recriminations, and will only further convince his base
> that the ?deep state? conspired against him.?*
>
> The *New Yorker* goes on to point out that Trump ? and his family ? are
> facing multiple investigations that will continue to hurt him at the polls.
> And, while going through the motions of impeachment might make some
> Democrats feel good, it also might help the president by allowing him to
> play the victim (which he is very good at).
>
> Despite Support for Impeaching Trump, Democrats Will Be Better Off Waiting
>
> Lately we have seen increasing support for impeachment in public opinion
> polls,
> <
> https://www.politicususa.com/2019/03/06/michael-cohen-trump-impeachment.html
> >
> especially
> those taken after Michael Cohen?s testimony before Congress.
>
> Many Democrats in Congress don?t want to wait for the Mueller report
> <
> https://www.politicususa.com/2019/03/09/waters-democrats-mueller-report-impeachment.html
> >
> to
> begin impeachment proceedings, saying that there is more than enough
> evidence right now
> <https://www.politicususa.com/2019/03/04/trump-impeachment-threshold.html>
> to
> start the process.
>
> Last week we reported:
> <
> https://www.politicususa.com/2019/03/04/report-house-democrats-plan-to-bleed-trump-slowly-with-investigations.html
> >
>
> *?Democrats in the House of Representatives are planning to roll out a
> lengthy series of investigations into President Donald Trump?s finances and
> his administration over the next few months as part of a long-term strategy
> to remove Trump from office.?*
>
> And there is no question that the many probes that Trump
> <
> https://www.politicususa.com/2019/03/03/ap-house-dems-begin-new-probes-that-could-end-trumps-presidency.html
> >,
> his family, his associates, and his administration will face in coming
> months will hurt the president politically.
>
> As a matter of fact, Donald Trump may very well be indicted
> <
> https://www.politicususa.com/2019/02/18/report-trump-may-be-indicted-by-the-sdny-as-they-probe-his-crimes.html
> >and
> charged with various crimes while he is still in office, and this could
> actually lead him to resign.
> <
> https://www.politicususa.com/2019/02/22/analysis-imminent-indictment-may-soon-cause-trump-to-resign.html
> >
>
> It?s Better to Bleed Trump Slowly
>
> So the *New Yorker* is probably correct. It is better politically for
> Democrats to ?bleed Trump slowly? through upcoming indictments and public
> hearings. Ultimately it may be more emotionally satisfying as well.
>
> Donald Trump is the kind of villain for whom a long, slow, painful death is
> much deserved. In his case it is indeed true that ?hanging?s too good for
> him.?
> Leo Vidal <https://www.politicususa.com/author/leo-vidal>
>
> I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive
> issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of
> Iowa.
>
>
> A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
> shall never sit in.
>
> -Greek proverb
>
> ?Enlightenment is man?s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
> Immaturity is the inability to use one?s understanding without guidance
> from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
> lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
> guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ?Have courage to use your own
> understand-ing!?that is the motto of enlightenment.
>
> --Immanuel Kant
>
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