A Matter of Perception, or Continuance of Obfuscation?: the Inner Conflicts of American Democracy -Transparency vs. Efficiency

There was a recent article in Politico (Jan 15, 2020) about the pros and cons, and to what degree, of restricting access of the press to the Senate impeachment trial of President D Trump. The Republican head of Senate (actively pro-Trump), Senator Mitch McConnell, favors strict access restriction while the Democrat Senators and House ''plaintiffs' favor open, transparent hearings with more witness allowances and more press access.  All of this seems to resemble the beginning of a Constitutional conflict much resembling, to Pericles21, the pro-States Rights (and defense of slavery) arguments from John C Calhoun in the early (1820s) days of the American republic.

Pericles21 sees a commonality with both the current Senate arguments for strict constitutionality protection of audience limits on the impeachment press attendance and the 1830s States Rights debates led by John C. Calhoun (South Carolina).

The commonality is both the 1800s Calhoun-led debate over States' Rights (a century ago!) and the current 2020, McConnell-led debate over limiting the presence of the press in the Senate impeachment trial involve hidden agendas.

(And what's with South Carolina which seems to so reliably and regularly spawn wreckers of public calm and potentially the nation itself?)

In the case of States Rights, the debate was superficially about the rights of American States; the real debate was about slavery - whether to continue and protect slavery or move towards emancipation.

The hidden agenda in the current debate over limiting the press attendance in the Senate trial of President Trump,  and influencing nearly all post-2016 election Republican Party behavior, is 'Kompromat' (blackmail in American 'lingo') - whether Trump is guilty of treasonous acts and policy resulting from Russian 'Kompromat'.

Underneath it all, the article adds to a picture of how the Republican party's general political philosophy, intentions, and actions since the 2016 election especially have been antithetical to the Constitution's goals that stress open government operating in the public interest and guided by a healthy free press. In this respect, the question from the Senate Republicans was whether the presence of the press would disrupt the trial. The Democrat perspective hs been the press would help keep the Senate to an open (read 'transparent' and honest) track in the trial of Donald Trump.

As background to establish the aims of the Republicans in the impeachment trial, the Senate Republicans, under the 'leadership' of Mitch McConnell, publicly vowed to effect a predetermined outcome which is to throw out the House impeachment and exonerate of Trump. To achieve this result, the Senate made moves to prevent the House Democrats, whose body had voted to impeach Trump, from fully presenting their case for convicting Trump by heavily 'editing' what witnesses, and how many, the Dems could bring forth to testify against Trump. These Republican moves and similar obstructions starting soon after Trump's inauguration contributed to the primary impeachment points the House successfully brought against Trump.

The visible Senate Republican animosity towards the American press, and by default against transparency in government, has been palpable throughout the Trump campaign and the 3 years so far into the first term.  This is the Trumpists' banner so perfectly summarized in the invention of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts' so quickly played against any critical questioning of the Trump presidency.

Pericles21 interprets the Republican use of 'fake news' and 'alternative facts' as 'blocking' devices (sophomore debate tricks) thrown out with deliberate cynicism to obfuscate, divert and kill any and all investigations into Trump, his campaign and conduct in office.

Pericles21 further believes the Republicans' use of these and other obfuscation tricks cover up a dark picture of Russian influence, through Russian Kompromat, over the 2016 presidential election and continuing to influence the actions and policies of Trump himself, with the overt assistance of the Republican Senate and from the House (at least until the reversing 2018 Congressional elections made Democrats the controlling party in the House).

Russia's Kompromat influence over Trump (notably, but not exclusively, the Steele Dossier) is 'blackmail material' which was brought out before the 2016 election but has been left out of the impeachment picture. although directly 'thrown' up by Speaker Pelosi's statement that with Trump, "all roads lead to Putin" {Vladimir Putin, Russia's leader].

Trump's 'transgressions' during his compromised campaign and in his term in office so far present an unbroken trail of treason or near-treason, but certainly impeachable conduct.

Some day, Trump and Russian Kompromat will have to be uncovered. One hopes that American governance (bi-partisan) will learn from the lesson with the Trump debacle.

America On Sale: Branding and False Gods

Pericles21 regards the term 'branding', used by the Republican party, to be dangerously inappropriate when used to shape the American political picture.  The usual definition of  'Branding' is an advertising term used to 'sell' something by placing a label on inanimate or non-human objects. Branding also carries the taint of deception which further makes the term inappropriate for use to describe any part of the American democratic process; this is the perspective of Pericles21.

In 2009, Pericles21 commented on the 'tendency' of the GOP to brand itself without being real, or sincere:    

the GOP is lost in a kind of political "mannerism" where they remember the postures but have lost any idea of the meanings and contexts of their awkward and jerky mimicry of conservativeness. The result is the derangement of Limbaugh, the Insaneness of Hannity, the Dreck of Beck, and Michelle Bachmann's stupid utterances accompanied with her really strange, vapid and pat-on-back-expecting-look-at-me-daddy false smiles. The GOP sputterings are not down-to-earth, nurturing oatmeal but dry sawdust and dull nails. [Isn't this 'branding' made into a god?']

Returning to the theme of this post, the artificial and manipulative 'branding' employed so frequently from the GOP lexicon,  agreeing with Pericles21, there are those who see 'branding' as a reality of American politics...with all the pejorative implications of using the term inappropriately.

A recent New York Times opinion piece, 'Donald Trump, Meet Your Precursor' (NYT, December 6, 2019) posits that 'branding', more than ever yet with precedence, is a descriptor of current American democratic mechanisms, our politics,  and warns that American democracy has come to resemble a market with bins full of glitzy labels affixed to ersatz (false) goods rather than a genuine, natural process of public self-governance.

"...the electoral arena has more in common with consumer brand market competition than it does to an academic symposium on immigration policy or a non-profit funded public awareness campaign. Brands are forced to adjust to market realities in ways few advocacy groups ever encounter."

The piece uses a historical review of American political history leading up to the Civil War and then during the "reconstruction' period to give examples of disguising political intentions and actions through branding to first preserve slavery and then, post-war, to turn back to de-facto slavery.  Central to this historical review is the role of the demagogue, the false profit warned about by the Founders...  the demagogue who by false branding and deceitful psychological manipulations, 'natural' aspects belonging to the demagogue's personality, would lead America away from the democratic intentions of the American Constitution and its founders.

But, as Pericles21 noted in 2009, brands can be falsely used as 'persuaders' not in response to genuine market forces but can be deliberately designed with the intention to actively shape and even create market preferences and redirect market forces, through artificial and sometimes cynical psychological manipulations. 

Psychological manipulation, when rationalized apriori by the desired outcome, and especially justified 'post-facto' when successful, can then be defended as a 'good' even when the outcome was achieved using immoral or artificial actions and manipulations, i.e., "triggers" such as playing to, and magnifying, racist or gender prejudices. 

The above background thoughts seem to describe where American democracy has arrived, the ascendancy of a demagogue who has compromised normative behavior with seeming ease despite being uninterested, and unknowing, in the principles of American democracy except where they benefit the personal interests of the demagogue...and his monetary rewards.

Hail to Sunnier (And 'Funsier') Shores: Four Possible Phases of Resignation

Pericles21's comment in the November 17, 2019, 'Palmer Report' post ("Donald Trump just completely changed his story about why he was at Walter Reed hospital").  
Pericles21:

"On the Run' to sunnier shores. First, close up shop (condo) in the Big Apple (done) and relocate residence to Florida (done). Then fake a medical condition (done). Then, 'Sayonara' to the ugly 'Old Desk' in that stuffy, no-fun office, followed by 'au revoir' to Pelosi, Shiff and the whole DC crew including Giuliani, Flynn, Igor and Lev, Cohen,... Four Phases."

Facebook Is a Monopoly and Should be Broken Up: Mark Zuckerberg Is Not Guilty of Anything, Just Older, Maybe a Bit Out of Touch but Probably Obsolete to the Broader Facebook Utility

Facebook's success seems to have forced it to outgrow and evolve from its original, limited, business boundaries and model to where it is now not just a social-media 'gimmick' (even though a social-media market dominator) but it has also become a major piece on the global political chessboard...a chessboard where apparently no one in Facebook's executive ranks has the experience, training or skills to play.

(And Facebook's leadership shouldn't be expected to play this new game where instead of leading a colt around in a fenced paddock, the original Facebook world, they are now expected to ride a full-grown warhorse into a wilderness among the big cats, hostiles, and outlaw gangs...without much of a clue. Facebook appears in shock. Mark Zuckerberg's appearance before the American Congress after the revelation of Russian co-option of simplistic Facebook advertising policies to influence the 2016, American presidential election was the door-opener to kick Facebook out into the global political jungle...and Facebook was not prepared for that to happen - neither to encounter the Russians nor to be dragged into a strange and unfriendly world.

Facebook's problem is not its humongous corporate profits (nor even Mark Zuckerberg's legally and ethically acquired personal wealth).

Facebook's problem is it's newly recognized, unexpected, and newly utilized, super-power potential as a major force multiplier in unorthodox warfare. Facebook is now a pawn in a global game where it's market success and global reach hugely magnify even the most subtle mind-suggestions in Facebook ads...ads taken out, at bargain prices, by nefarious subscribers to effect nation-change and influence voters.

In today's global politics, Facebook has morphed into a powerful, but still subtle, geo-political weapon to wage unorthodox war.

Who could have predicted or even dreamed that Facebook could eventually be a determining factor influencing global social-political events and even nation-change? From all information, no one expected Facebook's role in influencing American voters in 2016.

Pericles21 thinks any competent political scientist or 'futurist' (who undoubtedly must have read the works of the 5th century Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu and more recently the unorthodox 'war' thinking of Chairman Mao), could have foreseen Facebook's evolution into something bigger-than-Zuckerberg (not such a rare growth pattern with concepts that start out simple but mushroom into 'hugeness', e.g., 'Cornflakes' breakfast cereal)...with correlating potential effectiveness in shaping user preferences; but it would have required the social-political scientist world to look at Facebook seriously as more than just a techy-wrinkle to make money off of kids and young adults (thus not worthy of scholarly attention).

IMHO, Facebook's execs still think of their 'charge' as a toy (although as a grown-up toy because of its very, very adult profits).

For the reasons above, IMHO, Facebook's community let Facebook down because the community did not mature as people with real lives and real care for life outside Facebook. They basically continued to live in the past and hold onto a passed-by, prior Facebook life and out-of-date market model.that came

Facebook's apparent lack of savvy about the shaded reality of big world politics made Facebook vulnerable to misuse, by Russia and China and Iran and others, in America's 2016 election, and continuing. That is what apparently happened with Russian interference in the American 2016 election - subtle manipulation of Facebook's simplistic, still-in-Kansas advertisement model to spread misinformation and subtle preference-shaping.

The first problem with Facebook's success was that its leaders did not recognize that Facebook's ad business could be effective at doing more than just generating product-ad revenue. Nothing wrong with that but it was a limited and unsophisticated perspective showing that Facebook's leaders did not understand what animal it was they thought they had in the cage.

But other folks, including Russia, China and most other major cyber players globally, took a look at Facebook and saw what Zuckerberg and colleagues apparently did not see - the opportunity to leverage Facebook to achieve other ends, adult ends, criminal ends in a world where ends justified means and where there are real victors.

Those other folks (the Russians et al) did not broadcast or publish their insight about Facebook's other uses, sad for us.

Those 'others' (Russians et al) broke open the old Facebook mold and dragged out the new Facebook...with its new powers and strengths... which they were able to keep hidden for a few years....and which now require new regulators and limiting boundaries.



FACEBOOK NOW AND IT'S FUTURE:
FACEBOOK has grown up and dominates the social media market it helped to create.

FACEBOOK IS A NEAR-MONOPOLY!

FACEBOOK is no longer just a kids' toy or even merely a social 'hook-up' gimmick.
FACEBOOK is a WAR TOOL, and Bad Actors want to use FACEBOOK for bad purposes (and apparently already have)
FACEBOOK dominates by a huge degree a strategically critical war-tool weapons sector.
FACEBOOK under Zuckerberg, it's originator, undoubtedly did not envision this end-use for Facebook.
But Mark Zuckerberg still acts and sounds like an unlicensed kid holding a 9mm.
FACEBOOK as a monopoly and with its importance as a weapon should be broken up.

Mark Zuckerberg, though of integrity, should not have a role in a future Facebook weapons-spinoff. (Except as a
need-to-know systems advisor)

America's Greatest Moments: The 'Quid-iest', The 'Pro-iest' and the Con (Of Course The Con)

[This post is intended to be a satirical and humorous 'fictitious' phone call between two American politician-businessmen men-pals - 'Norton' and an unnamed principal. Their implied relationship and roles in the larger world might 'ring a bell' in our minds.  'Norton' and man-friend are from the hugely popular, 1950's American television show, 'The Honeymooners' which centrally featured the get-rich-quick schemes of two urban, blue-collar  men - 'Ralphie' (Ralph Kramden, a bus driver and the more outspoken of the two men) and 'Norton' ('Ed Norton', a sewer worker, the loyal pal, and the 'lesser' of the two).  The 'Norton'  character is an important supporting character found in many significant tales of men searching for fame, fortune or just good times (the 'Sancho Panza', the Stan Laurel, the 'Pantagruel') and who agrees to every request...though sometimes needing sly arm-twisting and persuasion).  These two men share a central life-goal, which is to acquire great wealth, overnight, but their fantasies and schemes invariably end up with comical unsuccess.   

But like Ralph and Norton, Donald Trump's actions mirror their never-successful, often over-the-top ambitious schemes that failed through comedic bumbling, 'poor choices' and resultant absurd dilemmas...that sometimes revolved around women's rights and social attitudes (!)...When is America going to settle down and address these issues, its racial history and finally move onward to the future?]


Ralph's and Norton's 1950s end game, to quickly 'strike it rich', seems to have been a central American fantasy then and continues to be so in the current political world surrounding Donald Trump.  Like Donald Trump, and his companions and henchmen, the two men of this post are not interested in historical fame as wise leaders unless this attribute leads to wealth; and it seems they believe they are already wise and leaders by some automatic endowment. 

Wealth is the endpoint of all comical 'doings' of these kinds of characters, fictional and real.  Currently, these 'doings' have almost exclusively sprung from Donald Trump's attempts to carry off being President; but Trump's political moves and personal behavior often seem to be undecipherable,  sometimes wacky, and too often conducted under the surface...and or for nefarious reasons not always in the best interest of America.

Eerily, the relationship and life-doings' of these two television sitcom men-pals seem, 65 years later, to closely resemble the Trump administration's sometimes clueless efforts to steer the American ship of state through global and domestic waters.  Furthermore, the Trump administration appears not to have a ship's compass except when there is wealth to be gained.
------------------------------------------
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CURTAIN RISES.  ED NORTON GETS A CALL FROM HIS MAN-PAL AND INSTIGATOR.

(Ring, ring...’Hey, Norton...how’s things down there in Oklahoma? ....wha’, Texas?...Geez, Norton, how'dja get to Texas?...Anyway, f...k, we're wasting time here Pal...Look, nice piece a gas action in some hellhole country next to France or somewhere, maybe lots of oil, too...country?...Karin or somethin...yeah, probably named after somebody's girlfriend or somethin, deep history over there...Yeah, Norton, they're ready to play ball...and...Wha? you and your crew are on it already?...Now look here Norton, you don’t pull that on me anymore, nobody makes a play without gettin' my OK...OK?...Changes, Norton, changes, buddy...Oh, yeah? ...Wellll, 'F U', too, Pal...Yeah?...I got the US of A army to put right on your butt unless I get my piece...No Norton, I'm not callin' from Florida, I’m sittin here in the Big Chair and I don't get backtalk from nobody...Wha?...OK I know you don’t mean no disrespect...So...Yeah, we're still pals...So shut up and let me finish, will ya?...I got a golf tee-off in 15...So Norton, here's how it's gonna go... Coordination...Yeah, that's the key...Yeah, now you got it...So, you with me now?... So here's how it goes...Bet you didn't know I’ve got some major strings tied to this chair...I'm like a god to these people,... you wouldn't believe it, Norton...but first we got to get a man in play to deal with the homeboy players there...let me finish here...Geez, Pal....so...yeah, now you're readin' me...Yeah, you gotta pack your bags, you're traveling for sure...No! No stopover in Vegas...Hold on, Norton, first we got to make you legit, you can't just walk in there wearing your bathrobe and smokin a cigar...we gotta make you respectable, so to speak ...so Norton, you're not gonna believe this, Pal...This is me, the genius talkin' here, Pal...I'm so genius, they call me the king 'o the free world..can you believe that!...Hold on a sec, Norton, let me finish...I’m gonna make you official...Wha? Nah, UN Ambassador's for boy scouts and women...look, you're gonna be my Secretary of Energy...no, Norton, you don't have to know anything about energy...(mumbling...you'd be dangerous if you did)...Look at me, I don't know nothin about this gig except somebody back when chopped down a prune tree or somethin' and they still think I'm a genius, the best ever in 80 years since when this country started!...Anyway, back to your new job, Norton, those people in that energy office do all their own work...like, they just go around making sure the gas meters work...yeah, in the whole country... takes lot's 'o them, ya know...yeah, Ha! I know....like Santa's elves...Anyway, so all you have to do is sit in a big office, walk around a little to show who's boss, go to lunches...yeah, you know, dog and pony act...and get your ass over there to Karin or where ever when I tell you...Wha? Sure, sure the Russian guy is cool, already got his ok and what his take is gonna be...yeah, now you're talkin, Norton...Yup, piece a cake. Look, Pal, good you’re on board and tell your crew not to worry, plenty to go around. Wha? Another question? Come on, Norton, I gotta go... got tee off yesterday...wha?...g..dam, yes you can wear your boots to work.

Hillary. POTUS.

AMERICA NEEDS MORE THAN EVER A WOMAN PRESIDENT.

Pericles21 is open to Hillary POTUS.
------------

In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote for President of the United States...by a significant margin (3 million more votes than Trump).

Since then, America's eyes have been opened wide by a hard, hard lesson embodied in Trump's 'dis-fit' to be POTUS. Trump's mal-fitness will be the subject of many years of books, plays, operas and club comedy.

America has learned what was lost in 2016 - a guiding, experienced and intelligent leader (Hillary, not DT).

Comared to Trump, or just standing alone, Hillary is refreshingly (vastly) more experienced, more competent, more communicative, a better manager and, finally, more deserving to be POTUS (as she was voted to be in 2016).

For various reasons, and not just because of the Trump POTUS debacle, Hillary appears now as cleansed from doubt and more POTUS-like than before.

AMERICA NEEDS MORE THAN EVER A WOMAN PRESIDENT...ESPECIALLY NOW TO CLEAN UP TRUMP'S MESS, PUT AMERICA BACK ON TRACK AND OPEN THE DOOR TO AMERICA'S FUTURE!

In 2016, Trump promised his Party and supporters a rescuer but instead a travelling snake-oil con man showed up...and who apparently, like the disguised villain in a Hollywood '40s spy movie, might also be a traitor... as seems to be unfolding in the current, formal, House of Representativers impeachment investigations of the Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election.

Not the least lesson with Trump in the Oval Office, is America's discovery that a 'businessman' is not a guaranteed solution to America's problems...at least not with the kind of business 'skills' Trump represents - an unprincipled, rip-the-throat, cry-when-down, always-sniffing-for-money grifter. Even when in the Oval Office, Trump behaves, talks and writes like a warehouse thief, a street corner shakedown thug.

AN EXAMPLE OF TRUMP'S THUG 'SKILLS': his October 16, 2019, "puerile" self-embarrassing letter to Turkey's President Recep Erdogan warning him not to take advantage of Trump's abrupt withdrawal of American troop protection of our Kurd allies in northern Syria).

One of Trump's main 'policy' agendas from the start of his POTUS tenure has been to deregulate America. We soon learned why: Trump's business 'style' thrives in a so-called 'free market'that Trump actually envisions as a 'free style' combat ring uncomplicated by customer protections and legal contracts. The 'winner' is the best knee breaker, eye gouger, ear biter.

This kind of 'free market' enables the businessman predator - a predator who uses, and makes, every opportunity to cheat his customers by running away from legal debts, injuries from bad product and hotel bedbug bites. (In this respect, Trump's business 'success' appears to be a cloaked history of drift-and-graft, e.g., running up service debt then daring his debtors to sue him to pay them...which they usually decide they can't afford to do. This is accomapnied by money laundering, and ultimately, apparently treason.) Trump's talk and policy actions indicate he wants to legalize all of this.

AMERICA NEEDS A WOMAN PRESIDENT...ESPECIALLY NOW.

Much has happened since the election to reaffirm those who voted for Hillary Clinton to be President but even more, the ongoing circus since Trump's January 2017, inauguration clarifies in stark, strobe-flash terms what was lost. To be brief, what appeared to be Hillary's fadeaway, and what appeared to some Hillary-not-quite-supporter-doubters' to be 'something not quite' about her, are thoughts and doubts that have evaporated and left us with regret.

WE REGRET, DESPITE ANY PREVIOUS DOUBTS, THERE IS NO HILLARY POTUS ...SINCE/BUT/AND... AFTERALL, HILLARY WON!

For various reasons, and not just because of the Trump POTUS debacle, Hillary appears now .cleansed and more POTUS-like than before. By comparison with Trump, or just standing alone, Hillary is refreshingly (vastly) more experienced, more competent, more communicative, a better manager and, finally, more deserving to be POTUS (as she was voted on in 2016).

Shortly before election day, Pericles21 outlined here recommendations for advisory boards for President Hillary to consider implementing. The next day, or soon after, Pericles21 posted nearly the same advisory boards outline for Trump POTUS.

By 4-6 months after his inauguration, Trump's advisory boards and panels (not my agenda, but 'boiler platish' similar) were in disorder, disbanded or about to be disbanded or rendered non-functional because of TRUMP'S whimsy and/or board member resignations.

'Whimsical and capricious', "incompetent" (Rex Tillerson, his Secretary of State). These descriptors have too often been heard from political professionals and experts, of both parties, to describe Trump's policy-making, management and personal behavior nearly every day of Trump's tenure so far. And, as many felt would happen before the first term was up, the House of Representatives have begun impeachment investigations.

All of the above thoughts and more bring Hillary into positive clear focus. Pericles21 thinks it is reassuring to think of Hillary standing for election, again. It's up to her. Just let us be clear, also, in this comparison, Golda M...remember? Reaching too far? Think not. AMERICA NEEDS A WOMAN POTUS!

What Does This All Mean? Experiencing and Thinking About America's Trump Experience

This blog post will be 'dynamic' ...thoughts and analysis will be added as they come and dated when they are written down.


(Oct 22, 2019)
TO BEGIN:
- America, IMHO, has seemed unsatisfied with its political governing for several(or more) past POTUS cycles.
- America has for some time felt a 'business' approach to governing America would be potentially 'better'.

POTUS AS BUSINESSMAN FOR GOVERNMENT
- America's dreamers' view of the Successful Businessman (note, 'Man') would describe his core skills as efficient, effective, adaptive and broadly competent to deal with all challenges that might face American POTUS. (Certainly better than the normal politics-reared POTUS).
- American culture is one of 'Image', not necessarily reality, as we have increasingly come to realize.
- Businessmen don't have to be honest or produce safe products or abide by laws and regulations - it's more a game of 'de facto success'.
- 'De Facto Success' can mean not getting caught through bribery or political leverage.

- TRUMP AS POTUS.
- With Trump, America has had its POTUS-businessman dream actualized ...and has discovered some underlying sobering truths about dreams, businessmen, politics, motivations, men in particular, corruption and money.
- Through Trump, America has discovered that a successful (appearing) businessman does not mean being good at business. It can also mean he is the 'sharkiest' shark, the shadiest thief, the most brutal of brutes, the least ethical....etc., in whatever fishbowl where he is found.

- SURVIVAL BY ANY MEANS - is this the 'Truth' of America?
- Through Trump, America has discovered that what can motivate the businessman is solely money. In fact it appears that business success can mean a different kind of 'Zen' where profit focus and maximization is the end-all and valuation of all effort.

- MONEY!'
- America has discovered a 'Truer' nature of MONEY!. Money 'appears' to be the 'end-all' of everything, today.
- Money is not all that good (helpful to society broadly) when all the money is concentrated at the top.
- Money tends to corrupt principle, especially it seems the principles assumed to be the core of democratic systems.

Oct...TB Continued. Here.