tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3281873889190341772024-02-20T19:02:23.265-08:00HoltesThoughtsThoughts on politics, economics, life and creative works from the author including poetryChris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.comBlogger968125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-47615346927360203842021-04-18T13:34:00.000-07:002021-04-18T13:34:13.094-07:00Legalized CriminalityMatt Gaetz is in the news right now. Allegedly, this started when one of his friends, a Florida Tax collector named Joel Greenberg libeled a fellow named Brian Beute who was Greenberg's rival for the Tax collector job. The investigation showed the two of them, allegedly, using public money to buy sex and companionship with young women. Allegedly, in 2018, taking a then 17 year old (under age) across state lines to a resort in the Bahamas.<div>Whether or not all that is legal or not, this represents the above the law attitude I call modern privateering. This behavior is not new. Wealthy, entitled, privileged, ruthless affluenzia men & their victims, have been doing this sort of thing for centuries. It is the kind of thing that is illegal for everyone else.</div><div>I guess getting elected while hearing jokes about being an incels + power, virtually guaranteed this kind of thing.</div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-39826466535592425282021-04-10T05:52:00.001-07:002021-04-11T05:30:15.820-07:00RIP ChiefOne of my favorite people died last week. His name was Milt Frech. I always called him "Chief" (I loved Maxwell Smart). But he was one of the reasons I loved The Town of Brunswick, and I know I'll miss his passing. He was our Towns Andy. <div><a href="https://thebrunswickherald.com/brunswick-police-chief-milt-frech-passes/">https://thebrunswickherald.com/brunswick-police-chief-milt-frech-passes/</a><br></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-31260979475985365172021-02-12T09:43:00.001-08:002021-02-12T09:43:27.654-08:00Trump aimed them at the Capitol on the 6th<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">In Trump’s speech to the people he’d asked to come to DC and
march on the Capital he gives a long speech in which he says <o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoQuote" style="text-align: left;"><span style="background: #FEF6DA; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“After this, we’re
going to walk down — and I’ll be there with you — we’re going to walk down,
we’re going to walk down — anyone you want, but I think right here — we’re
going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators
and congressmen and women. And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much
for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you
have to show strength, and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that
Congress do the right thing, and only count the electors who have been lawfully
slated — lawfully slated.</span><strong><span style="background: #FEF6DA; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> I know that
everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully
and patriotically make your voices heard today.”<o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Trump uses
the word “peacefully” and “patriotically” as code for, “you will break into the
capitol and demand the count stop!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being
“strong” and being “peaceful” have opposite meanings in his rhetoric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also his pattern of inciting violence
but leaving wiggle room in his speech so he can deny he said what he obviously
said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is no more credible here than a
Mob Boss telling an associate to “do him” about a person he is putting a hit
on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he goes on to make one false
allegation of corruption, cheating, fraudulent votes coupled with asks for the
mob in front of him to take action. Threatening congress. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He accuses Democrats of:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoQuote" style="text-align: left;"><strong><span style="background: #FEF6DA; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span></strong><span style="background: white; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">oppos [ing] every effort to
clean up their voter rolls. They don't want to clean them up. They're loaded.</span>”<strong><span style="background: #FEF6DA; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tells the
mob to not only to stop the certification of the count but force the congress to
pass sweeping legislation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoQuote" style="text-align: left;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So
today, in addition to challenging the certification of the election, I'm
calling on Congress and the state legislatures to quickly pass sweeping
election reforms, and you better do it before we have no country left.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He says:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; font-size: 1.7rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Today is not the end, it's just
the beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And after
accusing Democrats and turncoats of every manner of fraud,He says:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">We must stop the steal and then we must ensure that such
outrageous election fraud never happens again, can never be allowed to happen
again.</span>”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">He tells his
mob:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Don't let them talk. OK, well, we promised. I've had a lot of people.
Sir, you're at 96% for four years. I said I'm not interested right now. I'm
interested in right there.</span>”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He tells them, their mob will:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Together, we will drain the Washington swamp and we will clean up the
corruption in our nation's capital.”</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">He tells them that their insurrection is actually stopping a takeover of
the country:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 14.1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our
country because it's illegal when the votes are illegal when the way they got
there is illegal when the states that vote are given false and fraudulent information.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Then he tells them to fight like hell!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 14.1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“I think one of our great achievements will be election
security. Because nobody until I came along had any idea how corrupt our
elections were.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; font-size: 1.7rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; margin-bottom: 14.1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“And again, most people would stand there at 9 o'clock in the
evening and say I want to thank you very much, and they go off to some other
life. But I said something's wrong here, something is really wrong, can have
happened.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; font-size: 1.7rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; margin-bottom: 14.1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like
hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Then he sets them to march:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 14.1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“So we're going to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania
Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're going to the Capitol, and we're
going to try and give.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; box-sizing: border-box; float: none; font-size: 1.7rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; margin-bottom: 14.1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“The Democrats are hopeless — they never vote for anything. Not
even one vote. But we're going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones
because the strong ones don't need any of our help. We're going to try and give
them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 14.1pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">“</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 13.0pt;">So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.</span>”<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And he aimed them at Congress!<o:p></o:p></span></p>Sources:<br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial" target="_blank">https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial</a><br /><p></p>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-27617254326745559372021-02-06T05:58:00.001-08:002021-02-06T05:58:53.624-08:00QAnon is psyop, Daniel Morrison lays it outDaniel Morrison writes an authoritative artical on the origins & probable composition of "Q."<div><a href="https://blog.usejournal.com/qanon-is-propaganda-and-we-know-whos-responsible-faa133fb6acd">https://blog.usejournal.com/qanon-is-propaganda-and-we-know-whos-responsible-faa133fb6acd</a><br></div><div>My own pedestrian look at Q makes more sense if Daniel's article is read first. It is likely that "Q" is not one person, but a team operation. A project, funded, staffed & using sophisticated tools to bamboozle people. </div><div>"<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Giesea" class="cl hl" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">Jeff Giesea</a><span style="color: rgb(41, 41, 41); font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;"> was a digital businessman, Pro-Trump </span><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/this-man-helped-build-the-trump-meme-army-and-now-he-wants-t" class="cl hl" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">agitator</a><span style="color: rgb(41, 41, 41); font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">, and associate of </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-facebook-trump-biography-2018-2?r=AU&IR=T" class="cl hl" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">Peter Thiel</a><span style="color: rgb(41, 41, 41); font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;"> who, drawing on the ideas of </span><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/charles-chuck-johnson-gotnews-rolling-stone/" class="cl hl" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">Chuck Johnson</a><span style="color: rgb(41, 41, 41); font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">, published a paper called “</span><a href="https://www.stratcomcoe.org/jeff-giesea-its-time-embrace-memetic-warfare" class="cl hl" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">It’s time to embrace memetic warfare</a><span style="color: rgb(41, 41, 41); font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">”. In context, it was pitched as a way to fight ISIS. In practice, it would become a key part of the Trump."</span></i><br></div><div><font color="#292929" face="charter, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span style="font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">Daniel goes on to layout a theory that ought to be a guide for the FBI.</span></font></div><div><font color="#292929" face="charter, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span style="font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;">For the previous post.....</span></font></div><div><font color="#292929" face="charter, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span style="font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.054px;"><a href="https://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2020/08/is-qanon-fsb-active-measure.html">https://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2020/08/is-qanon-fsb-active-measure.html</a><br></span></font></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-71181410809300601122021-02-02T07:22:00.001-08:002021-02-02T07:22:34.989-08:00Chocolate still tastes like Chocolate<div>The sun still rises in the morning.</div><div>Chocolate still tastes like chocolate.</div><div>I'm still here but others aren't.</div><div>Where did they go?</div><div>They are on the mantle</div><div>Or under the snow.</div><div><br></div><div>How do you close a gaping wound?</div><div>Which of those things</div><div>is the greater sin?...</div><div><br></div><div>Guns or butter</div><div>give way to inconsolable tears.</div><div>A different war comes home,</div><div>With different fears.</div><div>When a building is bombed</div><div>We expect shock and awe.</div><div>But how does one fight a plague?</div><div>You can't shoot it or drop a bomb.</div><div><br></div><div>The dead died choking,</div><div>Their voices suffocating.</div><div>But their voices cry to us.</div><div>So many pillars,</div><div>dropped to the ground.</div><div>From Angel voices to Screech.</div><div>Gone before their time.</div><div>A silent war of disappearances</div><div>And silence.</div><div>Yet we hear them in our heads.</div><div>We have to speak for them.</div><div><br></div><div>I, Chris</div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-81952897142362000212021-02-01T16:01:00.001-08:002021-02-01T16:01:06.912-08:00Has the Trumpist Republican Party become a Front?<div><span style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;"><b>The Troubles and Trump</b></span></div><div><span style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">From 1968 to 1998 Northern Ireland was involved in a bloody conflict between Mostly Catholic, Irish Nationalists who wanted to join Northern Ireland with the rest of the Island and mostly Protestant Ulster Irish who wished to remain separate from Ireland & in Union with Britain. Both sides used insurgency methods, though the Ulsterites had sometimes overt and sometimes covert support from Crown forces.</span></div><div><span style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;"><b style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Sinn Féin and INLA</b><br></span></div><div><span style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">Most of the terror operations of the Northern Ireland Republicans were carried out by</span><b style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;"> The Irish National Liberation Army</b><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;"> (</span><b style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">INLA</b><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">, Irish: </span><i lang="ga" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann</i><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">). This "army" was the terrorist "resistance" arm of the mostly Catholic</span><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;"> </span><b style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP.</b></div><div><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">(</span><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language" title="Irish language" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); text-decoration-line: none; letter-spacing: normal;">Irish</a><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">: </span><i lang="ga" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">Páirtí Poblachtach Sóisialach na hÉireann</i><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">).</span></div><div><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">They separated from the larger</span><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;"> </span><b style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">Sinn Féin </b><span style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">mostly to add a layer of legal separation from the earlier version of the Irish National Liberation Army, which had liberated Ireland from British Tyranny in prior years.</span></div><div><span style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;"><b>Violent Group Fronts</b></span></div><div><span style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(32, 33, 34); letter-spacing: normal;">The Ulsterites fielded several "militia" which also employed a front, terrorist group operation. </span><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">During that period politics in Northern Ireland became very ugly. It took intervention led by Irish Americans to settle "the troubles." </span></div><div><b>The Broader Point</b></div><div><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;">I'm referring to the troubles for a "broader point." You can look up insurgencies, they usually take that form. The front is an ostensibly peaceful group that poo-poos violence, but shares the otherwise violent aims of the terrorists. Front groups recruit, support, fund & excuse the terrorists & their deeds. Without them terrorists starve.</span></div><div><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;"><b>The Question</b></span></div><div><font color="#202122" face="-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="letter-spacing: normal;">Have the Trumpist Republicans become a front group of Trumpist terrorism? Have groups like <b>The Proud Boys </b>or <b>The Oathkeepers</b> become shock troops for white supremacy terrorism?</span></font></div><div><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;"><b><br></b></span></div><div><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 34); font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: normal;"><br></span></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-87523482223915217092021-01-31T06:15:00.001-08:002021-01-31T06:15:30.965-08:00Radical Change?<div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Radical change? </span><br></div><div>Pennies spilt on the ground.</div><div> That wheel of revolution, it had to go round.</div><div> and it kicked everybody to the ground.</div><div> </div><div>Radical change? Doesn't that sound strange?</div><div> Cut the roots and you kill the plant.</div><div> Look at those revolutions, look at where they went.</div><div> Lots of death and dying, leaving the world spent.</div><div> Did the workers want change? No they just wanted to eat.</div><div> When they couldn't eat, then they took to the street.</div><div> Out went the Tsars, in came new Tsars.</div><div> The names changed, but the oppression remained the same.</div><div> When that wheel comes round it crushes all to the ground.</div><div> </div><div>You want radical change, you might as well head for the stars.</div><div> Even if you get your way, you'd be better off on mars.</div><div> Because as long as human beings want to fight,</div><div> the ends never make the violence right.</div><div> Cut off their heads, new pigs take their place.</div><div> Want to get rid of the old leaders? new ones take up the race.</div><div> Level the pack, and a new monster emerges.</div><div> And in the end, all the mothers can do is to sing their dirges.</div><div> The names might change, but oppression is always strange.</div><div> Fear begets fear, violence begets violence, </div><div>fear has that smell of sulphur and hell.</div><div> and radicals cut the plants down, till new ones won't grow.</div><div> When that wheel comes round it crushes all to the ground.</div><div> </div><div>So don't talk to me of radical change,</div><div> It might sound romantic to you, </div><div>but to me it just sounds violent and strange.</div><div> I've heard it before, and those who talk it are whores.</div><div> They'll set others in motion, and then run the other way.</div><div> When the pack disappears, and your standing alone.</div><div> You'll run from the fray, and oppression will win out the day.</div><div> And you'll set in motion events, that will grow and grow,</div><div> Until the grass is all trampled, and young lives are all mowed.</div><div> When that wheel comes round, it crushes all to the ground.</div><div> And when it passes, all that is heard is a plaintive sound.</div><div><br></div><div><i>Christopher H. Holte</i></div><div><i>Posted to facebook January 21 2012</i></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-15574585365891820252021-01-27T18:43:00.004-08:002021-01-27T19:03:05.938-08:00Great Grandpa Truman C. Carpenter <h3>Truman C. Carpenter</h3>
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<table><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo4n6Jv3tknlYtib8wigiZGRBWp88LLbdWa1ZOsHALT1LKJ09om11ujNrW_NAMufMehkbCTu3b_2Q0BVMunUsaLl4dAAm-5IvRaXf6h-WsWfnCquSWBq-kr4BI6-kwy4ZXimsoffKuQbU/s1600/1591051724231825-0.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
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<tr><td>From my mom's compilation & Sarah Persons.</td></tr>
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<p>Truman C. Carpenter, My Great Grandpa, was a big guy and an adventurous fellow. My cousin tells me a tale that he once met Jessie James while getting a hair cut. Evidently Jessie James came into the same Barber Shop. The story is that Truman commented that he was a mean fellow. Which makes sense. He was. That would have been in Kansas or Missouri near the eastern end of the Southern Pacific. It ran from Southern California to the Mississipi River, started right after the Civil War and didn't disappear until the 60's. </p>
<p>My Great Grandfather lived in El Paso, Texas, which is about the halfway mark between the two ends of the Southern Pacific, so it makes sense. He lived there from about 1905 til about 1910 when he moved back east. Long enough for his wife to have my Grandfather born in El Paso. And I thought he was born in St Johnsbury for so many years!</p>
<p>My Great Grandpa, took people on expeditions into the Southwest and Mexico. He took hunting expeditions down into Mexico exploring. The photo above is represented as being Hop Valley in the Sierra Madre (Oriental?) mountains. The picture apparently is of Santa Maria Canyon near Strawberry Canyon. Where-ever it was, his life intersected with the Mexican revolution.</p>
<p>The Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910. Much of it was fought near the Border with the United States. The old President had made himself a President for Life and was ruling as a dictator, and in 1910 the democratic faction insisted on elections. That failed and so a civil war broke out. Pancho Villa was recruited to lead.</p>
<blockquote>...in Potosí, Madero [had] called for revolutionary action against the Díaz regime on 20 November 1910, and declared himself provisional president of Mexico. In Chihuahua, Abraham González, reached out to Villa to join the movement. Villa joined and subsequently captured a large hacienda, a train of Federal Army soldiers, and the town of San Andrés. He went on to beat the Federal Army in Naica, Camargo, and Pilar de Conchos, but lost at Tecolote. Villa met in person with Madero in March 1911.</blockquote>
<p>Shortly after they laid seige to Ciudad Juárez in April and May, and the city fell to the combined forces of Pancho Villa, Pascual Orosco and Madero. Subsequently Porofiro Diaz fell from Power and Madero became President. Villa and Orosco needed to pay their officers, and their plan was to give them seized properties. Madero rejected their demands, and so the revolution didn't stop. Juárez is just across the river from El Paso. It was no longer safe to travel into Mexico, so moving back to Vermont where Truman had family, made sense. And he did.</p>
<h3>Truman C. Carpenter And the Mexican Revolution</h3>
<p>Truman C. Carpenter left the railroad around 1910. He seems to have seen the risk associated with the Mexican revolution that was breaking out at the same time he left. I knew he was a railroadman. But he was more of a cowboy than I previously thought! I'll ad more as I find it.</p>
<p>For my post on <a href="https://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2021/01/great-grandpa-truman-c-carpenter.html">Grandpa Truman E Carpenter: https://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2021/01/great-grandpa-truman-c-carpenter.html</a></p>
Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-9800352774316685172021-01-27T14:57:00.001-08:002021-01-27T14:57:43.116-08:00Out in the Cold January 2021<div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Open the door,</span><br></div><div>And step into the light!</div><div>So dazzling bright,</div><div>It looks hot from inside.</div><div><br></div><div>But then the bitter cold blows.</div><div>Clear blue sky, crunchy snow.</div><div>Face going numb</div><div>Fingers too.</div><div>It feels so bracing.</div><div>Afterwards the stove's heat</div><div>Feels so good.</div><div><br></div><div>Picture from Ida Skibanes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-56991145928309235702021-01-25T08:22:00.002-08:002021-01-25T08:22:12.466-08:00The psychopaths Advantage<p>Too many laws, require proof that the person telling a lie or breaking a law, did so knowing it was a law, lie or illegal. The result is that this makes it hard to prosecute officials, news presenters, tv personalities, etc... or get compensated when they harm others. At one time they simply locked up the criminal insane, but nowadays it appears they just get valium. This is beyond absurd, bad law, it is deadly to our republic, its democratic features, comity, and to many of us survival. Some of this may be bad lawyering. But the results are dangerous. An example is that Tucker Carlson just won a legal case, in September,</p>
<dl>
<dt>From September 2020, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-karen-mcdougal-case-tucker-carlson-2020-9">Business Insider:</a></dt>
<dd><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fox-news-karen-mcdougal-case-tucker-carlson-2020-9">Fox News won a court case by 'persuasively' arguing that no 'reasonable viewer' takes Tucker Carlson seriously</a></dd>
<dd><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7216968/9-24-20-McDougal-v-Fox-Opinion.pdf">https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7216968/9-24-20-McDougal-v-Fox-Opinion.pdf</a></dd>
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<p>Except the issue is that many viewers are not reasonable viewers, because they watch and believe Tucker Carlson! This is not a legitimate legal defense! On the contrary, the fact that he is a deliberate liar and propagandist should be an aggravating factor in McDougal's lawsuit!</p>
<p>The judge ruled that:</p>
<blockquote>“ Mr. Carlson’s invocation of “extortion” against Ms. McDougal is nonactionable hyperbole,... This “general tenor” of the show should then inform a viewer that he is not “stating actual facts” about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in “exaggeration” and “non-literal commentary.” Milkovich, 497 U.S. at 20-21; Levinsky’s, Inc. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 127 F.3d 122, 128 (1st Cir. 1997)). Fox persuasively argues, see Def Br. at 13-15, that given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer “arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism” about the statements he makes.”</blockquote>
<p>Except Tucker's audience sops up his lies as if they were truth, and people are engaging in violence and threats based on them. The law needs to be stricter here.</p>
<p>First drafted back in October</p>
Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-4238875646771959422021-01-05T07:53:00.001-08:002021-01-05T07:53:24.339-08:00Memory and Outrage<div>I mark each outrage with memory</div><div>This stain on our republic</div><div>This assault on democracy.</div><div>We need to learn,</div><div>And strengthen our walls.</div><div><br></div><div>The subversives have been sneaking in</div><div>A long time.</div><div>There are enough of them now</div><div>They call democracy radical.</div><div>We will cull such hate.</div><div>Before it's too late.</div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-51969408157266441842021-01-05T07:50:00.001-08:002021-01-05T07:50:39.465-08:00Crossing the Rainbow Bridge<div><br></div><div>Crossing the Rainbow Bridge,</div><div>A journey I can't follow, yet.</div><div>She is going into a dark place,</div><div>where nightmares end</div><div>and sleep ends suffering.</div><div><br></div><div>You have been my best friend,</div><div>journeyed with me so many miles</div><div>Now rainbow skies, </div><div>and blue waters await you,</div><div>all your friends,</div><div>with happy smiles,</div><div>across the bridge</div><div>on the other end.</div><div><i>Christopher H. Holte</i></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-50477857490571963452021-01-05T07:48:00.001-08:002021-01-05T07:48:07.751-08:00Tracks on a Beach<div>I don't care if you never come home.</div><div>I only hope that where ever you roam,</div><div>Your journey is pleasant,</div><div>You meet good friends.</div><div>And the world is the better</div><div>That you were there.</div><div>That certainly is true,</div><div>For our time me and you.</div><div><br></div><div>The tracks that we leave</div><div>Wash away in the tide</div><div>We are temporary sojourners</div><div>That's something we can't hide.</div><div>We bear unbearable sorrow,</div><div>Til we can't do it no more.</div><div>Then we drop our burden</div><div>And walk out the door.</div><div>And the tide marches in</div><div>As if we'd never been there.</div><div><br></div><div>I think of an ancient Islander</div><div>I read about in a book.</div><div>The house where he lived</div><div>Is home to fish and crabs.</div><div>The island that was his home</div><div>Is now shallow sea floor.</div><div>Had he been long gone,</div><div>Or recently out the door?</div><div>Time is like a broom</div><div>Sweeping the floor.</div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-10292955894071415372020-12-28T08:34:00.000-08:002020-12-28T08:34:36.778-08:00Trumpism is Fascism by attributes<p>I never really seriously thought we could have a dictator here, until Trump showed up on the scene with the Tea Party and made his authoritarian attempt in 2016. I knew the country had authoritarian elements. But I didn't realize just how easy it was to go from wingnut cranks to a movement like Trumpism until I started reading Robert Altemeyer while Obama was still President. Trumpism is fascism. It is the latest incarnation of a system of government that underlay Monarchies and republics alike for most of history.</p>
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<p>Until I saw Trump at work, As I've explained before, Trumpism predates Trump. But the word "Trump" perfectly describes the nature of the movement. It derives from joker, fool or con artist, and Trumpism started as a money grubbing con. A Trump card is a card that is, by the rules of the game, supreme, not by merits. Trumpism meets all the attributes of fascism. One can argue about how fascist they are, but not that they are. At it's beginning Trumpism lacked a youth movement, but that quickly changed as he either adopted, consumed or subsumed existing ones and created a few of his own.</p>
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<ol type="1." start="1"></b>
<li start="1">Hypernationalism</li>
<li>Militarism</li>
<li>Violence fetish</li>
<li>Youth fetish</li>
<li>Masculine fetish</li>
<li>Leader cult fetish.</li>
<li>Lost Golden Age fetish</li>
<li>Self definition by opposition</li>
<li>Mob behavior/Mass Mobilization & policy</li>
<li>Hierarchy based on loyalty</li>
<li>Theatricality!</li>
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</ol>
<p>All the attributes of fascism can be measured. As attributes they are present in movements, and governments. To a degree they are common. But the quantity and intensity of these attributes should be the way we judge whether our political opponents are behaving like fascists. You can measure a countries nationalism by its propaganda and reporting about it's peoples. And by its actions. Patriotism is normal. When a government starts killing or oppressing ethnic minorities and justifies it on a tribe, clan or nation as tribe, that is hypernationalistic. When a country is at peace with its neighbors and patriotism includes all the people living there, that is not hypernationalism.</p>
<p>All the tensional attributes in this list can be found (Patriotism vs nationalism, militarism vs readiness, fetishing youth for example) are present in more normal societies to a degree. And to ebb and flow towards or away from fascism is normal.</p>
<h3>Fascism refers to the Punishing Power of the State</h3>
<p>It is the degree and combination. When society becomes malevolent towards dissidents and minority groups, power combined with violence, that is fascist. The word fascism referred to the punishment power of the State. A fascist movement can seem downright anarchistic out of power, but fetishing official violence is a feature that is fascist. Fascism can emerge in a previously mildly authoritarian state top down, or it can start as a movement. In the case of Trumpism it started as several movements within the Republican party.</p>
<h3>HyperNationalism</h3>
<p>Hypernationalism, xenophobia, “us versus them,” another term is Chauvinism. politics against neighbor ethnic groups, these are features of fascism. In a normal republic, patriotism defends the republic, it's principles and people. In a fascist system loyalty to the state means loyalty to the central figure. In the run up to WW2, WW1 veterans who happened to be Jews, started out thinking that their patriotism would protect them from German Chauvinism. It doesn't.</p>
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<h3><b>Militarism</b></h3>
<p>A feature of fascim is militarism. Sometimes that militarism is outwardly directed, but it usually is inwardly directed. That is, the militarism is a tool of control and power. A fascist movement usually employs cadres of agent provocateurs and thugs to beat up enemies and recruit adherents. These groups get called various names, black shirts, brown shirts, or proud boys. They run in paramilitary form. They infiltrate and eventually displace or become the police. And they wage war on internal enemies. Fascism as attributes can be left or right. But militarism is almost always a feature.</p>
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<h3>Violence Fetish</h3></b>
<p>Fascism believes in violence. It's notion of “law and order” is perverse. To a fascist movement “enemy” and “criminal” often become synonymous. And heaven help people when a fascist movement has full governing power. The symbol of the "fascii", sticks for beatings and an axe for cutting off heads, explains why fascist movements resemble one another left or right, christian or moslem. Freedom is for the movement, its powers, and its leaders, everyone else must "freely obey." The fearless leader can do anything, so long as he pretends to live up to that myth.</p>
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<h3>Youth Fetish</h3>
<p>Fascist movements depend on propaganda. Part of that propaganda is the notion that there is a utopia waiting for the children of the faithful. Fascist movements dream of 1000 year reigns and permanence. And they seek to get to that permanence by indoctrinating youth. Fascist youth movements provide shock troops for both representing dissidence within the country and for the wars that fascist movements usually pursue.</p>
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<h3>Masculine Fetish</h3>
<p>Fascist leaders use words like “strong” or “powerful” to describe themselves and words like “weak”, “corrupt”, “swamp” for enemies. They often project their own fears and plans onto their targets. This masculine fetish goes with the violence. The leader must be a hero, a superman. Mao Tse Dung swimming the Yangtze, Putin riding a horse, Hitler or Mussolini standing tall and strong at a review stand. The followers carry guns or weapons to compensate for their own feelings of inadequacy.</p>
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<h3><b>Leader Cult Fetish</b></h3>
<p>Fascist movements are basically cults, except usually larger scale. The leader, often full well knowing he is conning them, and the conned, top flying monkey knowing they are being conned but along for the ride – portray the leader as masculine, strong, a father figure, who can do no wrong. This happens in ordinary politics too, but, again, it is the degree to which a fascist movement or government does this that distinguishes it from democratic or more normal movements and governments.</p>
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<h3><b>Lost Golden Age</b></h3>
<p>For all the bravado and claims of positivity, at heart most fascist movements live on resentment, fear and grievance. The propaganda message is always “It's not our fault. You were robbed!”, even as the kakacrats who usually lead such movements are looting and despoiling, dispossessing and conning their followers, they point to a lost past Golden age and/or dreams of a future golden age, to motivate their flock of goats to keep going forward and to attack enemies. For Hitler it was the "stabbed in the back narrative". For Mussolini it was Romes ancient glory. For Spain it was God, King and Catholic Church. Fascist movements brand themselves according to the people they are conning.</p>
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<h3><b>Self definition by opposition</b></h3>
<p>An accomplished demagogue, like Trump, can turn anything into a motivation for this pigeons. Mask wearing, because it was promoted by his “enemies” (including doctors trying to save lives), became a rallying cry for Trump and his Trumpers, with tragic consequences. This part of propaganda puts a wedge between people who follow Trump and everyone else. It is part of his power strategy, part of the propaganda. The border wall is an example. It's not really about keeping out Mexicans, it was about defining his opposition to immigrants and minorities and giving it a symbol. Support the wall, you are with him. Think it's a bad idea? You are the enemy.</p>
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<h3><b>Mob Rule; Mass rule and mobilization</b></h3><div>
<p>And of course, fascists blur the line between all the people and the people. To Trump, "the people" were his mob. Anyone not with him, was not part of his people.</p>
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<h3><b>Hierarchy based on loyalty</b></h3>
<p>I'll be talking about this in more depth later. Balint Magyar describes the modern version of fascism as “the Mafia State”, the underlying archetypical image is of devoted followers kissing the Godfather's ring. In a fascist state, the ruling family is the state. Absolute monarchy was a form of fascism before the term was popular. In modern fascism, the Godfather is the State, violence and criminality are state tools. In classic fascism, devotion to the leader was mandatory and supposed to be unquestioning.</p>
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<h3>Propaganda</h3>
<p>At the heart of fascism, classic or modern, is propaganda. In power fascist governments believe that might makes right, that the will can triumph over everything. And if you can't make a promise happen, you can pretend to make that promise happen. Some of the diabolical ways that totalitarian authoritarians do this were described in "Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt. If you can't make unemployment go away, starve the unemployed!</p>
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<h3>Theatrical</h3>
<p>It is no accident that Trump rode his job at the "Celebrity Apprentice." Fascism at heart is always a deep fake. Insecure and narcissistic leaders. Tons of lies and and misrepresentations. Looting and kleptocracy. All running alongside theater designed to indoctrinate and entertain the masses. Trump's Presidency has been “Celebrity dictator Apprentice” and ran 6 seasons and is not yet over.</p>
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<h3>Hopefully it's cancelled</h3>
<p>This post memorializes a mix of memes I created myself and ones I borrowed from others. I wrote it first with my cell phone and was having trouble editing it or it would have been published a while ago.</p>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-49380202906986651822020-12-20T13:06:00.001-08:002020-12-20T13:06:35.305-08:00COVID before Christmas<dl>
<dd>Tis 10 nights before Christmas,</dd>
<dd>and all through the land,</dd>
<dd>Coronavirus is running rampant,</dd>
<dd>Because our nation refused to make an plan.</dd>
<dd>The stocking are hung by the chimney with care,</dd>
<dd>in hopes that food and a vaccine soon would be there.</dd>
<dd>The children are nested all snug in their beds,</dd>
<dd> with visions of nightmares stuck in their heads.</dd>
<dd>While mothers and fathers ponder how to survive.</dd>
<dd>Covid -19 is decimating what we need to thrive.</dd>
<dd>So hope that we may, on vaccine and Good Cheer.</dd>
<dd>How to protect yourself now is what we need here.</dd>
<dd>With hospitals closing all across the land,</dd>
<dd>we hope you will take 5 minutes to listen to our plan.</dd>
<dd>Take you time!</dd><dd><br /></dd><dd>Part of a friends work</dd>
</dl>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-79522735503229283622020-12-08T16:08:00.000-08:002020-12-08T16:08:23.775-08:00Collated MadnessIt sounds so logical, rational, possible<div>all organized, sorted, separated by page;</div><div>Eacb copy is all stacked for binding,</div><div>Like a book intended for the ages;</div><div>Each page is in neat type,</div><div>A clear script making your mad case;</div><div>Repeating to your angry followers;</div><div><br></div><div>"Kill the black man!</div><div>Hang him high!</div><div>Throw his body into the sea!</div><div>Send him to Kenya!</div><div>He's not our guy!"</div><div><br></div><div>You have your own universe of media.</div><div>Crowds flying banners,</div><div>Patriots preaching treason.</div><div>Preaching fealty to the constitution</div><div>While practicing subversion.</div><div>Subversives calling lies,</div><div>"Fair and Ballanced," for all to see.</div><div><br></div><div>And you repeat to your angry followers,</div><div>"LOCK HER UP!</div><div>She is guilty!</div><div>Hang her high!</div><div>Throw her body in the sea!"</div><div><br></div><div>Waves of fat old men,</div><div>Riffles in hand, tin foil hats.</div><div>Led by blind old men,</div><div>Wearing tricornered hats,</div><div>Dangling tea bags.</div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">You preach to your lynch mob!</span><br></div><div>Old and well fed, </div><div>young and missing teeth.</div><div>"Save the children!"</div><div>"Stop the death panels!"</div><div>You shout;</div><div>"Stop the world, I want to get off."</div><div>"I'll give you the best health!, believe me!"</div><div>"We'll make America Great Again"</div><div>"We'll drain the swamp!"</div><div>And they believe you.</div><div><br></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Call & response </span><br></div><div>to your angry followers;</div><div>"Lock them up!</div><div>Lock them up!</div><div>Don't be too gentle!</div><div>Hang them high!</div><div>Throw their bodies into the sea!"</div><div><br></div><div>The slogans sound so logical, plausible.</div><div>A lifetime Con sure knows the swamp.</div><div>"Drain the swamp!" You say!</div><div>And proceed to drain everything,</div><div>Through a sieve.</div><div>And into your back pocket!</div><div>You talk so much of unborn children.</div><div>Your followers actually think you care!</div><div><br></div><div>And the call and response </div><div>On immigrant children;</div><div>"LOCK THEM UP!</div><div>They are rapists and murderors!</div><div>They don't send us their best!</div><div>We want machine guns on the border.</div><div>We will make of them an example!"</div><div><br></div><div>You take suckling babies</div><div>from their mothers,</div><div>And send them for adoption.</div><div>And when women are raped,</div><div>Forced birth.</div><div><br></div><div>Meanwhile you loot and destroy,</div><div>And fire anyone who won't bow to you.</div><div>You give family members lucrative contracts.</div><div>And steal everything not well nailed down.</div><div>Your party no longer sounds rational.</div><div>And you have done evil,</div><div>That makes no sense.</div><div><br></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Christopher H. Holte 12/8/2020</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">I started this a long time ago. Wrote most of it before 2016. There is more in my head, but I wanted to transcribe the paper while it was fresh.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-2202116982376810692020-11-24T14:19:00.002-08:002020-12-08T16:11:09.044-08:00Hope its Over<p>We aren't out of the woods yet. Written 12/4/2020. Updated 12/9/2020</p><p>The SCOTUS denied CERT for Trumps latest frivolous lawsuit today. It's over for Trumps Presidency.</p>
<p>Adolf Hitler, along with others, tried to seize power in Munich, Bavaria, on 8–9 November 1923. They failed. Hitler was convicted of Treason. He wrote Mein Kampf from prison. He was made a hero. The Judiciary had sided with him. He came back to power 10 years later and ended the German Republic, replacing it with the "Third Reich."</p>
<h3><b>Sturm and Drang, Dolchstoßlegende</b></h3>
<p>The Germans had been traumatized by the</p>
<ul>
<li>“Spanish Flu”</li>
<li>The horrors of trench war and utterly futile two front warfare.</li>
<li>The betrayals of the peace negotiation led by Woodrow Wilson,</li>
<ul>
<p>The "peace" with the Brits, French and Americans, involved betrayals and was labeled Dolchstoßlegende, "Stabbed in the back legend." it was sold as an explanation of Germany's loss. “We didn't lose the war, we were stabbed in the back” morphed into “<i>We lost due to the Jews</i>”, became a vicious antisemitic narrative that appealed to Germans suffering depression, inflation and a society that seemed to be deteriating. Hitler came to power, partly, on the strength of this Dolchstoßlegende lie.</p>
<dl><dd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stab-in-the-back_myth</a></dd></dl>
<h3>Trump's Sturm and Drang, Con</h3>
<p>Trump is trying to build such a Dolchstoßlegende about his election. To him, this narrative addresses 3 deep ego needs.</p>
<ol>
<li>As a Narcissist, he cannot handle losing. So he has responded to loss his whole life by calling the people he lost to corrupt.</li>
<dl><dd>1985, rejected in efforts to buy an NFL team, accused the NFL of rigging</dd>
<dd>1986, lost Antitrust suitt, called the courts rigged.</dd>
<dd>1987, lost investment in Alexanders, lied about it.</dd>
<dd>1989, Lost Bid on Seminole casino project, screamed “fraud” also has spent rest of his life on a vendetta against Indiginious since then.</dd>
<dd>1989, Father bailed out his Casino, but it eventually went bankrupt....</dd>
<dd>1990, called analyst warning of Trump Taj Mahal risks, a fraud and liar.</dd>
<dd>Much more... but these come from Kurt Eichenwald (and I could look up his sources because I've verified them many times) <a href="https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1335778561572016128">https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1335778561572016128</a></dd>
</dl>
<li>He thinks he can run again in 2024. Meanwhile, his narcissistic feed requires an angry lynch mob supporting him. It's no accident angry mobs assaulted the Secretary State of Michigan during the first week of December. Right Wing groups live on grievance and Dolchstoßlegende like narratives.</li>
<li>He hoped to overturn the election. And might have succeeded if the election had been closer, or if his COVID response hadn't been so numbskull.</li>
</ol></ul>
<h3>Trump's Sedition</h3>
<p>Trump's effort to overthrow the election is sedition. Unfortunately, with Trump we can expect years of sturm and drang from Trump – eventually he will fail, but the big worry is that whoever picks up the standard after he is tried and convicted of a long list of crimes or finally strokes out — will carry on from where he left off. What Hitler did was sedition. Trump is doing sedition too.</p>
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<h3><b>SAFE ACT</b></h3>
<p>Meantime we need to shore up our democracy against these fascists. All the complaints trump is making about the need for paper ballots and better process, are stolen (like most of his better rhetoric), from Progressives and Democrats.</p>
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</div></ul>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-75489293256693534042020-11-19T10:03:00.001-08:002020-11-19T10:03:28.772-08:00It doesn't have to be this wayIn California a progressive affirmative action bill recently failed. If I were a Republican I'd be studying that vote to figure out a way forward that doesn't involve fascism and genuinely dumps racism. <div><br><div>No ethnocity is homogenous. And there are attractive fundamental principles Republicans used to offer that provide alternatives that could be as progressive as those Democrats offer. </div><div><br></div><div>If for example Conservatives were genuine about promoting genuine meritocracy & a path to inclusion, they would be able to compromise with progressives & recruit.</div><div><br><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Trumpism & corrupt corporatism taints those alternatives. It is obvious too many believe in country club rules, and rigging our political economy. Markets have their lane, but so does common good. When you take a common good out of the public good and try to put it into a market box -- like putting a square peg in a round hole --it doesn't fit. You get market failure.</span><br></div></div></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Markets are, or should be, public squares where buyers & sellers come together. What is sold in markets is free enterprise.</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">It doesn't have to be this way.</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Christopher</span></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-30727467682099052622020-11-18T11:26:00.001-08:002020-11-18T11:26:38.542-08:00Soldiering on We soldier on,<div>For our mates,</div><div>Despite all the insanity</div><div>And all the hates.</div><div>Our generals may be crazy.</div><div>Our officers may be lazy.</div><div>But we soldier on,</div><div>Singing a solidarity song.</div><div>Loving one another,</div><div>A brotherhood of comradry.</div><div>Standing back to back.</div><div>We win for our children</div><div>That way.</div><div><br></div><div>The ghosts of Rudyard Kipling, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller and sundry relatives and friends contributed to this.</div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-9844152919915131312020-11-16T10:22:00.002-08:002020-11-16T10:22:28.202-08:00Rents & Taxes<!DOCTYPE html>
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<dl><dt>Rent, Verb.</dt>
<dd><i>"payment for use of property," mid-12c.</i>, a legal sense, originally "income, revenue" (late Old English), from Old French rente "payment due; profit, income," from Vulgar Latin *rendita, noun use of fem. past participle of *rendere "to render" (see render (v.)).</dd>
<dd>Also from past participle of middle english to "rend or tear", garment, property, possessions. Rent and taxes are related terms.</dd>
tax (v.)
<dd>c. 1300, "impose a tax on," from Old French taxer "impose a tax" (13c.) and directly from Latin taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a frequentative form of tangere "to touch," from PIE root *tag- "to touch, handle." Sense of "to burden, put a strain on" first recorded early 14c.; that of "censure, reprove" is from 1560s. Its use in Luke ii for Greek apographein "to enter on a list, enroll" is due to Tyndale. Related: Taxed; taxing.</dd>
</dl>
<h3>Economic Rent</h3>
<p>Rents are taxes on property. Taxes are rents assessed by tax collectors, public or private. In ancient times there was no difference. The lord and master of a property, whether a Squire, Baron, Count, King or Empire, collected rents as taxes owed him as owner. During the medieval times, ownership was usually a contract between the person who lived on a property and the government, embodied in a person. During the enlightenment, property owners conned governments into separating simple ownership from government. They did this by creating central banks and privatizing ownership of land. This allowed Lairds and lords alike to evict millions of peasants from their property to raise sheep or otherwise find more economically productive industry. A landlord could go broke not putting his property to such use, and both broke former lords and evicted peasants emigrated. It wasn't just the nobility. When you read books like Jane Austen you find the "gentry" figured their social status based on how much rent they could collect from property they owned. (See Piketty).</p>
<h3>Walling Economics from Politics</h3>
<p>In the United States, the landlords had to be more clever. They learned early on that they couldn't just march into a frontier town and take their taxes. That sparked locals to form "Regulator Militia", so they mainly endeavered to wall off economics from politics and use their rental income to influence local and general government. It is no accident that it took a civil war to end slavery. It only didn't end sooner because it became economically valuable. Both the slave and the people empoverished by the best land being in the hands of landlords were paying a premium to landlords for the fact that they owned the more valuable property. Owning valuable property was the source of wealth for the few. Property taxes mainly made it easier for the already powerful to keep their property and force work out of small holders. This system, by its design concentrates wealth due to premiums in the form of unearned economic rent from the mere privilege of owning the more valuable property.</p>
<h3>Natures Tax Collector</h3>
<p>Henry George assessed the value of rent from property ownership as making the property owner "nature's tax collector." He knew that simply owning valuable property was a source of unearned premiums. Basically property owners are collecting a private tax when they rent property or successfully speculate on property. They have a right to keep "wages of intendency" & a duty to collect and invest the income necessary to maintain or improve their property. They do not have an inalienable or absolute right to aggrandize valuable property, because land ultimately belongs as “natures bounty” in commons between a sovereign and those who work or live on it. An owners right to rent property is tied to "the sweat of the brow" used to keep that property healthy.</p>
<h3>Premium from simple ownership versus earned premiums</h3>
<p>Economic rent is a premium a person gets for owning something valuable, having a degree, land, buildings, owning stock, owning a business, company, etc... and employing people to use that property. Henry George made a valid distinction between property taken, borrowed, or owned from natures finite bounty and property that is lived on, productive and tended. The reason he did this is that the premium from simply owning part of natures bounty is unearned. Additionally, if one has valuable property, the premium from working that property is not entirely earned. Henry George called properties belonging to "natures bounty" "land", by land he also included Oil, Gas, Coal, though because his supporters came from oil, gas & coal interest that would be obfuscated after his death. He used the word "economic rent" to describe such premiums from working land, employing labor, owning property & renting properties. He described them as premiums and avoided calling them income because he knew property owners would try to confuse the two. After he died they did.</p>
<h3>Earned and Unearned Income</h3>
<p>If one performed any kind of labor, one has earned one's income. If one earns a premium from simple ownership of property or privilege, that income, some or all of it is unearned. Earned income also comes from when one improves property by one's effort. Such productive property, tools, plant, factories, raw materials, are capital. In the Georgist formulation the three factors are labor, natures bounty (Land) and capital. Capital should not be confused with land when calculating unearned premiums from property ownership. High Rents in Manhattan reflect the valuable monopoly that is land there. The buildings themselves are capital. The way you tell is that the buildings need constant maintenance, sustainment and refresh, to retain their value. That maintenance, sustainment and refresh is earned. Any value over those costs is economic rent.</p>
<h3>Progressive Taxation</h3>
<p>No one should be taxed on gross income no matter the source. No one should be harmed by taxes, nor should taxes lead to depreciation of properties real value. Taxes should always be figured on net income and net premiums. If a landlord or building manager tends the buildings he manages. All those costs are justly part of the rent he/she charges tenants. Taxes on land value should fall on the premiums gained from owning the property. Thus the rentier should pay progressive taxes on the economic rent he/she receives. One can link the zero tax rate to a calculated poverty level and allow cost of transport, food consumption, maybe donations, and personal shelter costs to go untaxed completely. One then sets up a system where no one pays taxes on that portion of income. But anyone making more than that pays maybe 10% of the net above that amount.</p>
<dl><dd>zero tax on net income less than 40K$.</dd>
<dt>Say:</dt>
<dd>10% on net income more than 40,000 (40K$) and less than say 100k$,</dd>
<dd>20% on net income over 100K$ and less than 200k$</dd>
<dd>30% on net income over 200k$ and less than 1M$</dd>
<dd>40% on net income over 1 Million (1M$) and less than 10M$</dd>
<dd>50% on net income over 10M$ and less than 100M$</dd>
<dd>60% on net income over 100M$ and less than 1 billion$</dd>
<dd>70% on net income over 1 Billion dollars</dd>
<dd>... And index these rates to inflation. These are just examples for discussion.</dd>
</dl>
<p>If one performs some kind of labor or work, one has earned at least part of that premium. If one's premiums are privileged, not all of it. The underlying principle goes back to the middle ages; “Do your duty or pay a duty”</p>
<h3>Modern Money and Progressive Taxation</h3>
<p>We privatized ownership markets (stock markets) and money, long ago. But the constitution gives government sovereignty over our money supply. The Federal Reserve only makes sense as an arm of the Treasury. As a private bank, it has too much power to engage in mischief. Wealthy people live on rents from owning banknotes and debt. When the economy does well they do well. When it collapses they take property from both workers and capital, but they and the rest of the rentier class wind up wealthier than before the crisis started. At this point the business cycle is an intentional feature not a bug in our system and is an instrument for taking wealth from working people, in other words, exctracting economic wealth using debt.</p>
<p>Money as debt is not innocuous. Federal notes are useful backed by token money. Backed by government debt, they are a means to extract rents from tax payers. Backed by personal or corporate debt, they are time bombs. Avoiding risk is avoiding responsibility.</p>
<h3>Public Capital</h3>
<p>The Fed should be supporting public capital (highways, railroads, transport in general, communications and energy) thru supporting local and federal government solvency. Not enforcing "balanced budgets" that treat capital and natures bounty as if they were merely costs. The current system treats cities and states as less important than banks, GM, Ford, etc.... This is a worldwide phenomenom as the system of States are continuously held accountable for doing the right thing. The current system is based on extorting companies by stripping sovereinty from them over their own finances.</p>
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</html>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-13685690444493530062020-10-31T02:14:00.001-07:002020-10-31T02:14:48.582-07:00Creative Normalization vs DehumanizationMy inner professor, just now, was giving me instructions in a dream. A group. I call them ABBA 2.0, because the music was all ABBA, but the group were mixed race, some LGBTQ. Maybe some were the grandkids of the original ABBA singers. It doesn't matter. It was the oversoul [God?] lecturing me in a dream. It was a dream, or vision.<div><br><div><b>Humanizing vs Dehumanizing</b></div><div><b><br></b><div>The songs and events were humanizing the singers. They, go about their lives, singing songs while loving, living, driving around the Universal City in a tardis like van [bigger on the inside than the outside]. Abba 2.0 was singing these realities. And my professor oversoul was judging;</div><div><br></div><div><b><i>This is good.</i></b></div><div><b><i><br></i></b></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Music, theater, Tv, are all propaganda. They can share uplifting matters of faith; love, goodwill, beauty, goodness, general good gain, personal gain.</span><b><i><br></i></b></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><b><i>Versus Evil</i></b></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><b><i><br></i></b></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Lurking in the background is awareness, that forces of darkness are always trying to reverse the script. People who prejudge and dehumanize other humans, usually do so seeking a pretext to deny, take, refuse, destroy. They will push a narrative of conflict, limited resources, the other as perverse, inhuman, out to get you. We need Abba 2.0 to push back. The Zombie apocalypse is not a real thing. But seeing fellow humans as zombies, gives killing an excuse.</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">Anyway, Abba music is playing in the back of my head. I can go back to sleep.</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><br></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><i>Christopher Holte</i></span></div><div> </div></div></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-23023010210606600432020-10-29T08:42:00.000-07:002020-10-29T08:42:32.107-07:00Getting Progressive Taxation Right<div><b>Suggestions:</b></div><b>Gross versus Net Taxation</b><div><b>Taxes should not fall on a person's basic expenses [gross not net]</b></div><div><b>Allow people to deduct food, shelter & work expenses</b></div><div><b>1. First Home mortgage or rent.</b></div><div><b>2. State taxes.</b></div><div><b>3. Transport to & from work & commerce.</b></div><div><b>4. Capital goods should be deferred or deducted for everyone.</b></div><div><b>A. Deferred over a million dollars value.</b></div><div><b>B. Deducted if LT Million$.</b></div><div><b>5. Genuine capital investment has a cost or depreciation. Investments that don't depreciate are actually economic rent.</b></div><div><b>6. Define strictly & focus taxes on economic rent.</b></div><div><b>7. Economic Rent should be taxed progressively. </b></div><div><b>Rates</b></div><div><b>1. Social Security & Medicare taxes should be calculated on everyone & subsidized for people with a net income less than 30k$. [2020 equivalent]</b></div><div><b>2. Payroll differentials should be subsidized for employees making less than 30k$ net or 15$ per hour net.</b></div><div><b>3. 2 can take the form of Food, Transport & Shelter credits.</b></div><div><b>4. Social Security accounts available to everyone thru retail or postal banks.</b></div><div><b>5. 0$ rate on net income less than 50k$</b></div><div><b>6. 10% rate on portion of income LT 100K$</b></div><div><b>7. 20% rate on net income over 100k$ and less than 200k$</b></div><div><b>8. 30% rate net 200k$ - 400k$</b></div><div><b>9. 40% 400k$ - 800k$</b></div><div><b>10. 50% 800k$ - 1,200k$</b></div><div><b>11. 60% 1,200k$ - 10M$</b></div><div><b>12. 70% 10M$ - 100M$</b></div><div><b>13. 80% 100M$ - 1B$</b></div><div><b>14. 90% GT 1B$ </b></div><div><b>All taxes should be indexed for inflation</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-20473725333675064052020-10-28T10:30:00.005-07:002020-10-29T19:25:15.511-07:00Expanding and reforming the Judiciary<p>Four sets of inter-connected principles govern our country,</p>
<dl>
<dt>Federalist principles</dt>
<dd>The notion that people are stronger when they pool resources and work together across geographical boundaries and subboundaries.</dd><dd>
</dd><dt>Commonwealth Principles</dt>
<dd>The notion that some things are common to everyone and should not be individually monopolized:</dd>
<ul>The Commons</ul>
<ul>Common Law</ul>
<ul>Common Good</ul>
<ul>etc...</ul>
<dt>Republican Principles</dt>
<dd>Separation of Powers</dd>
<dd>Representation by subdivision and population</dd>
<dd>Res Publica -- our thing. John Locke translated the term to mean commonwealth.</dd>
<dt>Democratic Principles</dt>
<dd>The notion that “we the people” should participate in and have a say in Government.</dd>
</dl>
<h3>“Judges...shall hold their Offices during good Behavior.”</h3>
<p>The existence of an independent Judiciary is derived from Republican Principles. It is based on hard won observation that judges should be independent of executive power and hold their offices "during good behavior." It is up to both the legislature and the Judiciary, but first in the court of the legislature, to define what "during good behavior" means. The principle of separation of powers implies that Judges can only judge what good behavior is, if that is well defined by the legislature based on long standing principles.</p>
<h3>Defining “During Good Behavior”</h3>
<p>Congress has a duty to legislate the definition and parameters of what “during good behavior” means. They have done this somewhat. There is a code of Judicial ethics that applies to all the Federal Courts except the Supreme Court. That is odd. For the most part Judges hold their offices until resigning due to some scandal or being arrested. Congress can exercise judicial review over them. But often that goes awry as it tends to be policiticized in the process and to have nothing to do with their fitness as judges. This results in impeachments being rare and usually only following outrageous conduct. But the "on good behavior" implies that it would be constitutional for mechanisms to be created for the Judiciary to police itself. But first we must consider what the judiciary is, or should be.</p>
<h3>The Judiciary is the Justice System</h3>
<p>The founders argued about the formation of the Justice department. This is because, technically almost everyone working their is part of the court system. Judge, Jury and Executioners, all are part of the Judiciary, and thus are, or should be, officers of the courts, subject to strict standards of behavior higher than those of civilians. So technically should legislators be when passing laws that will impact the courts. The founders wanted the National Attorney General to be an officer of the court and to be independent of partisan politics or self interested actions. They left him as a "subordinate" officer of the president in the hopes that the President would have the judgement and virtues necessary to keep his job scoped (focused) on enforcing the laws of the country. The courts have considerable civil and criminal powers as a result. When those are bent to self interested purposes they become subversive of good government. So the issue of how to police the police remains fraught with peril and unresolved, as Executive, legislature and judiciary, are all too self interested to police themselves. I propose an administrative mechanism to correct this problem.</p>
<h3>Administrative Law and Enforcement</h3>
<p>Thanks to Trump we've seen the potential for abuse embodied in runaway executive power. The flaws there, were there all along, but it took a wannabe dictator to see how easy it was to subvert them.</p>
<h3>Officers of the court have a duty to be filial to letter and spirit of law</h3>
<p>No system is sailor proof. That is why administrative actions need to operate as if they were trial courts. Further, they need to operate as Jury Trial courts, if necessary, in order to be fully fair to both the people as a whole and those being scrutinized. We need every officer to be subject to periodic scrutiny. The courts and their officers are “officers of the people” and therefore should be accountable.</p>
<h3>Entry Points</h3>
<p>The law has to specify entry points and affirm that people have a right to substantial due process. Otherwise substandard due process becomes a checkoff point for the efficient tyranny of runaway legal process.</p>
<h3>Informal Adjudication</h3>
<p>There are informal judicial proceedings that may involve people otherwise not in the court system. Anyone who can, can and usually does moderate simple disputes. If substantive agreement between the parties can be achieved, a simple contractural agreement should be able to memorialize the informal adjudication. When judges are engaged in informal adjudication, the same rules should apply as when an Umpire calls strikes in a baseball game. Except, if agreement fails, then that becomes the entry point for formal judicial process. Judges should be encouraged to seek agreements in private disputes. Those agreements should be binding unless deception, force, threats or bribes were used to achieve them. They can be private unless there is a public interest in the outcome.</p>
<h3>Formal Adjudication Entry Points</h3>
<p>When agreement is not achieved or affirmed in writing, deception, force, threats or bribes occured, or there is significant public interest in an adversarial procedure occuring, then that is the entry point to formal adjudication. The first stage can be an informal Judged trial. If the parties agree to be bound by the judges decision, then that should be respected. If not a person should have a right to a jury trial. This goes for all judicial type proceedings. Informal or formal, all such proceedings should have at least two counsels available. One for each defendent, one for each person pursuing the matter. This should be true for administrative judging as well as traditional courts. Anyone with judicial powers, must be a judge and member of the judiciary, in order to hear any kind of formal case. And anytime a defendent or subject requests a jury the trial should use that jury.</p>
<h3>Administrative Hearings</h3>
<p>Administrative hearings are sometimes necessary to establish regulations, review petitions for citizenship, etc.... I believe they further should be used to scrutinize candidates for office and periodically review office holders. Such bodies should have the power to inquire, subpoena, do accounting reviews and scrutinize past performance to determine candidate or office holder fitness as prospective officers to receive a job or continue in office.</p>
<h3>Informal and Formal Scrutiny</h3>
<p>This is a judicial function and an administrative function. It therefore should be performed within the judiciary, as a regular function with an informal process followed by formal process if contested. It is not about criminal behavior or even civil torts, but about whether someone is behaving with integrity and is fit for their job. Therefore while it should use juries to weigh fitness for office, matters of crime and damages should be referred to different bodies and different judges. In the case of elected officers, the information should be published to the voters because the voters are the ultimate judges, through recall petitions or elections.</p>
<h3>Oversight</h3>
<p>In the case of unelected officers, hiring or firing decisions should be in the hands of the chain of command and the information also published. In any case such courts should have no power beyond subpoena and order enforcement (contempt of court or seizure of evidence). It would have the power to forward evidence of wrongdoing to an ordinary court. No judge should be involved in his or her own case or of someone related to them or in their own chain of command. Admin courts would receive IGs and be established in regulatory and oversight agencies. The body of rules in the law and not subject to over-ride.</p>
<h3>Voir Dire</h3>
<p>The judges would be subject to the same scrutiny. Juries would come from the jury pool and be selected by voir dire. The investigators would be selected from local journalists, and Government investigators, in a similar manner.</p>
<h3>Codify regulations</h3>
<p>Congress must establish a strict definition of what "during good behavior" means and let administrative courts enforce it. If they want to be really effective, they'd include themselves in the scrutiny laws.</p>
<p>I'm not a lawyer, so the details behind this probably need some work.</p><p><b>Expand the court</b></p><p>The Supreme court does not have to be 9 members. It could be 12, 13, or 15. But more importantly all judges, including the ones on SCOTUS should be subject to the same rules that define "<i style="font-weight: bold;">during good behavior" for the entire judiciary </i>and judicial impeachment [firing] should be the remedy for violating those rules. That should not take an amendment to COTUS. Moreover, one of those rules should be no judge may be a prosecutor or judge in his own case.</p><p>The beauty here, is that were the courts to rule they don't have the power to police themselves, they still would [and should] have the power to report an impeachment recommendation to congress. The house could pass the bill to the Senate & the case record would already be available.</p><p>Given the amount of corruption revealed since Citizens United, the Congress might not even need to expand the numbers of judges, just remove badly behaving ones.</p><p><br></p>
Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-80422010928195952162020-10-28T05:59:00.003-07:002020-10-28T10:35:31.713-07:00Fernando<p>I woke up in a dream where I was walking back to my house in the snow and a neighbor started singing Fernando. I woke up singing along. The song is about the Mexican Revolution, which started near El Paso with young people wanting a less corrupt government. The version I had was a medley of Abba voices & a baritone male.</p>
<p>My Great Grandpa was there in El Paso. My grandpa was a baby. My Great Granddad was a railroadman who had friends who were probably involved in the Mexican Revolution. But he was warned about the dangers and moved back to Vermont. </p>
<p>The Mexican revolution exposed both the ideals and hypocrisy of our countries. Some of the major fighting started just across the border. And Wilson sent Gen. Pershing to intervene in the war after Pancho Villa raided our side of the border. Our involvement in WW1 was largely inspired by German efforts to get Mexico to attack us - or British efforts to make us think Germans were doing that. Influence operations are not a new phenomena.</p>
<p><a href="https://t.co/IzPtQl7PAZ">div>https://t.co/IzPtQl7PAZ</a></p>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328187388919034177.post-79302168823847538712020-10-20T16:23:00.001-07:002020-10-20T16:23:12.965-07:00Out the Door<div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">I walked out the door</span><br></div><div>and wandered into the night</div><div>I looked up at a star far away</div><div>and felt alone</div><div><br></div><div>Above me twinkled the lights</div><div>Images tell me they are suns</div><div>children of other nights</div><div>so far away, also alone.</div><div><br></div><div>Don’t fill the world with fear</div><div>We don’t have enough years</div><div>to live all our dreams,</div><div>life is fearful enough</div><div>why live the nightmares?</div><div><br></div><div>I don’t know today</div><div>How can I know tomorrow?</div><div>When we have each other</div><div>why hold onto sorrow?</div><div><br></div><div>The nights are dark, the nights are cold</div><div>inside it is warm,</div><div>let us stretch our muscles, warm our hearts</div><div>don’t let them burn like aching coals.</div><div><br></div><div>Old wounds remind us of too much foolishness.</div><div>But old pleasures comfort.</div><div>Old aches tell us we are still here.</div><div>I ache therefore I am.</div><div>You are my love,</div><div>I am a Descartes of Pain</div><div>We get used to it.</div><div>We hurt therefore we are alive.</div><div><br></div><div>We get used to it.</div><div>The illusions never hold,</div><div>unless they are skillful.</div><div>I’m getting old.</div><div><br></div><div>Chris, written in early summer, 2011.</div>Chris Holtehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01776805168003457665noreply@blogger.com0