Buzzing Flies and Cow Patties

Threat Against Democracy (TAD).  I like to tell a story about the risks one takes when walking through a cow pasture.  There are at least two – buzzing flies are everywhere and there are cow patties on the ground.  If you don’t keep your priorities straight, you can get so engrossed batting the flies away that you don’t watch where you’re stepping and you find yourself standing in cow dung.

That’s kind of what it’s been like watching the Trump administration since the inauguration.  

Take, for example, Kellyanne Conway’s response when she was called out about the so-called Bowling Green Massacre.  “Honest mistakes abound” she said.  She didn’t say “I made a mistake” though.  

Or the disconnect between administration officials comments about our relationship with Mexico and the Trump’s own statements.  

The scary information that Reince Priebus attempted to influence the FBI, while still being debated, is a troubling part of the pattern.  

Watching Propaganda Secretary Spicer try to explain away Trump’s description of immigration actions as military wasn’t pretty either.  But his actions to keep mainstream media out of a press gaggle were worse.  

Steve Bannon’s statement about the deconstruction of the administrative state was additional evidence of the intentions of the administration. 

And there are so many more.  

Are these individual incidents cow dung or flies?  Whether you swat at them individually or take them all together, it’s clear what we’re standing in.

Are our form of government and our basic liberties at risk?  Yes, and more than just a TAD.

Please share if you are concerned, too.

Add It Up: It's not a Pretty Picture.

Threat Against Democracy (TAD). On January 25th I wrote about alternate facts and the threat they pose if the people don't believe the administration if there comes a time when they are actually telling the truth.  And this week the administration made claims that Iran is violating UN rules.  Most people don't believe it.  Those people are probably right.  After all, the UN hasn't confirmed it.  So, this probably isn't one of those times. But it does make the point.  Mark one against Mike Flynn.  At least a little TAD from him.

A few other recent events that I consider TADs:
Steve Bannon tells the press to shut up and calls the press outrage over propaganda secretary Sean Spicer's lying "a badge of honor."

Kellyanne Conway uses the Bowling Green massacre as an example to underscore her point - a massacre that never occurred.

Public access to climate change data is removed from government web sites.  If you don't like the data, deny it and hide it.

Betsy DeVos knows little about education, but it appears she knows that data about charter school performance don't support their effectiveness.  Why else would she want to exempt them from the accountability standards public schools are measured against?  Next week, Pence will cast his first tie-breaking vote in the Senate to confirm her despite the clear evidence that she doesn't understand the issues, appears to have serious conflicts of interest, and plagiarized part of her confirmation testimony.

It really is sad that we got to a place in this country where we actually needed a rule to tell financial advisors they had to put their clients interests above their own.  It's even sadder when the administration decides not to implement the rule.  It may not be a direct TAD, but it's certainly an attack on the core values upon which our country was founded.  So, yeah, it's a TAD.

The big one, of course, is the not so thinly veiled discrimination against Muslims embodied in the immigration ban.  Whether this is a headshake designed to allow retreat to a still unacceptable, but less extreme position remains to be seen.  What is clear to me is that it's a huge TAD and an attack on the Bill of Rights.  It's a hopeful sign though to see the continuing protests against the ban.

On a side note, did you hear that the administration will include checking social media as part of its extreme vetting program?  Of course, that's been part of the current vetting process for a long time.  Checking social media posts isn't a TAD.  But saying it's a new procedure is.

The examples vary in their impact and I don't mean to treat them all as equal.  But, when you add them all up, it's not a pretty picture.  A lot more than just a TAD.

What are your thoughts about these events?  Do you agree that they are TADs?

Alternative Facts

Threat Against Democracy (TAD).  The events of this past weekend were so amazing that they deserve comment.  The high point, of course, was the women’s march.  What an amazing display of peaceful demonstration and the power of coordinated action.  It was a global event and I found it inspiring.  And, did you happen to watch SNL?  The opening monologue was thoughtful, responsible, and captivating.  Then there was the inauguration and the subsequent reaction by the administration. It started with Trump’s unbelievable statements to the CIA.  Then, on his very first appearance in the White House Propaganda Room the Chief Disinformation Officer, Sean Spicer, flat out lied over a trivial matter – how many people attended the inauguration.  Next, on Sunday, Kellyanne Conway suggested that she would need to rethink her “relationship” with Chuck Todd if he kept asking hard questions. Then the quote of the weekend about “alternative facts.”  Social media loved it with posts such as “I’m not gay - I’m alternative straight.” and “It didn’t rain on the inauguration - That was alternative sunshine.”  Fun, but there is something very serious here.  There will undoubtedly come a time when some situation occurs and the administration will need the full support of the American people.  They won’t get it though because they will have so thoroughly ruined their own credibility that they won’t be believed.  And that’s a huge TAD.

State Sponsored Intimidation of the Press?

Threat Against Democracy (TAD). Fake news is an insidious and dangerous thing.  When a man takes a weapon to a pizza shop and fires because he believes a fake news story claiming there was a child sex ring operating there we should all be concerned.  But, when the president-elect attacks the main stream media with assertions of fake news over stories that depict him poorly, it is much more serious.  That begins to look like state-sponsored propaganda aimed at intimidating and undermining the press and even the right to free speech.  This should cause all of us to take notice.  More than just a TAD.

One Person One Vote?  Seems like a simple enough concept doesn’t it?  Yet, in North Carolina elected officials who are displeased with the outcome of the governor’s race are taking action to diminish the voice of the people by taking away authorities previously granted to the governor.  One of their egregious actions is to remove the governor’s influence from the redistricting process.  Seems that a fairer redistricting might threaten to produce districts in which there would be real competition for legislative positions.  Apparently one person one vote is okay as long as the district boundaries ensure that the votes of people who disagree with these elected officials have little chance of counting.  CNN reports that there is a temporary restraining order against implementation (http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/30/us/north-carolina-elections-board-law-blocked/index.html), but whether the law is thrown out or not, the legislators’ actions ultimately threaten citizens’ rights.  This concerns me a lot.  Certainly more than just a TAD.  

Freedom of the Press

Threat Against Democracy (TAD). One of the cornerstones of our democracy is a free and independent press.  Limiting the press would be, in my opinion, a Threat Against Democracy (TAD).  I find recent comments about possible actions against journalists who are critical of the new administration troubling.  How concerned should I be?  Maybe just a TAD.