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Monthly Archives: September 2017

In the gallery – comments

30 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in meta, Resist

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

#resist, gallery, missouri, photography, Poetry of Protest

“The Poetry of Protest” our show in the Gallery of Art and Design at the University of Central Missouri of large prints of photographs from rallies, protests, marches, and demonstrations opened on September 26th. We left an open notebook with blank pages and pencils on a podium next to the exhibit title wall. We got comments

We get comments.

The comments:

So Powerful! it takes the flap of a butterfly’s wings to start a hurricane.

Given past experience, human entropy is a more powerful force in the universe.

[….] 1836.

Looks somewhat like 1970’s that turned ugly eventually – hope it doesn’t happen again – PROTEST all you want, but no violence! [….] former FBI Agent

In our experience, up to a few weeks ago, the only people we encountered at demonstrations who were armed with firearms, in addition to any public law enforcement presence, were right wingnuts. A few weeks ago in Kansas City, according to local media reports, the protesters and counter-protesters at an anti-Muslim demonstration in the same location and similar to the one we covered in June of 2017 were both armed. News reports indicated that the Kansas City Police had those individual who were open carrying without a conceal carry permit unload their firearms – in accordance with a Kansas City ordinance.

I entered this art gallery to see people’s creations, I was shocked by how one-sided all of these photographs were. Why no protests of Obama, or abortion, or anything that would remotely resemble criticism of the leftist mindset? I didn’t vote for Trump, but come on. This is the pinnacle of liberal propaganda.
– A young, straight, atheist, pro-life, milk-toast piece of human garbage

This appears to be an opinion that an exhibit of photographs in an art gallery is not a display of the photographer’s creative work. Aside from the fact that photography as art has been long and well established, the argument here is not an aesthetic one – the commenter just doesn’t like the distribution of the subject matter.

“…I was shocked by how one-sided all of these photographs were…”

A gallery exhibit is not a vehicle for the “all opposing views are equal” mantra in some circles of old media.

“…Why no protests of Obama, or abortion, or anything that would remotely resemble criticism of the leftist mindset?…”

You’re showing your biases. Right wingnuts in America now have everything they’ve ever wanted – they control the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court. For the most part they’re not in the streets protesting in any significant numbers. Still, they’re preternaturally unsatisfied and unhappy.

Here’s the thing. You want a gallery show about those particular subjects? Go get a decent full frame camera, drive all over the state and the Midwest to cover these types of events, photograph them in some competent manner, make aesthetic choices about which images will work, start a discussion with a gallery over a period of two years, make numerous test prints on various papers, make the exhibit prints, and put the show up. Knock yourself out. But you won’t, will you? You’ll just complain about the unfairness of it all.

“…I didn’t vote for Trump, but come on…”

Methinks you doth protest too much. Still, there he is and here we are.

“…This is the pinnacle of liberal propaganda…”

The Faux News Channel. I rest my case.

“…A young, straight, atheist, pro-life, milk-toast piece of human garbage”

That’s a lot to unpack.

[on the next page] THIS ROOM IS AN ECHO CHAMBER.

We see what you did there.

Large prints in the gallery from the anti-Muslim protest and counter-protest in Washington Square Park, Kansas City on June 10, 2017.

Previously:

The Poetry of Protest (September 9, 2017)

In the gallery (September 21, 2017)

In the gallery – part 2 (September 23, 2017)

In the gallery – part 3 (September 26, 2017)

Vicky Hartzler: True believer or dumber than a stone?

29 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bruce Bartlett, corruption, Donald Trump, tax cuts, tax reform, Trickle-down economics, Vicky Hartzler, Voodoo eoncomics

The Trump administration has put forward a nine page  tax cutting “proposal” that analysts agree is specific only about the great big tax cut it’ll give folks like Donald Trump. You want to know what we know about it at this point: it’ll cut taxes mightily for the wealthy, it’ll raise taxes for many in the middle class, it’ll explode the deficit. And, as is now the norm under Trump, it’s being sold to us by means of bare-faced lies.

All of which makes the response of Missouri GOPer, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-4) so intriguing. She sums up her “hopes” for the proposed tax cuts thusly:

I hope we can quickly pass this legislation and get it on the President’s desk so that we can create more jobs, simplify the burdensome tax process, and put more money in the wallets of Americans.

Which, in the light of what we are learning about the Trump skeleton proposal and what it will or will not do, leads one to ask whether or not she really believes this twaddle.

Surely Harzler, and the stampede of GOPers who will almost certainly follow her example and endorse the Trump desiderata list, realize that there are some serious questions that have to be answered before any legislation reaches the president’s desk:

  1. How will GOPers like Hartzler propose to pay for the mammoth cuts they are giving to the wealthy and to corporations? The plan is very sketchy about retaining or eliminating deductions that benefit the middle classes – although it is far more detailed when it comes to the benefits that will be awarded to the 1%. Do Hartzler and her pals really think that they’ll be able to “quickly” hash out the extensive details that are currently TBD to everybody’s satisfaction?
  2. Does the Hartzler contingent really buy the “voodoo,” trickle-down economic theories that are being used to justify the burden these tax cuts will put on the deficit? In spite of the consistent failure of this theory over past decades? Or in spite of the warnings of conservative economists like Bruce Bartlett, one of the first proponents of the claim that tax cuts spur growth, who declared in response to the Trump proposal that it is ” wishful thinking,” adding that “there’s no evidence that a tax cut now would spur growth”?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes,” then the answer to the question posed in the title of this post is “both.” These folks are the truest of misguided true believers and they’re likely dumber than a whole heap of stones.

Of course, there’s another alternative. These days most GOP lawmakers finance their political careers by the grace of the generous and wealthy 1%, the folks who have for years been positioning themselves to be able to buy a tax code just like the one Richie Rich-pants Trump is flogging. Perhaps our Republicans aren’t star-struck, naive or dumb. It could be nothing more than that old-time D.C. swamp water that everybody promises to drain while it creeps ever higher and which, under Trump, may have finally reached a level high enough to drown decent politicians.

The Earth says hello

29 Friday Sep 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

missouri, sunrise

This morning in west central Missouri:

Sunrise.

Ed Martin seeks safe harbor on cable news

28 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

CNN, Donald Trump, Eagle Forum, Ed Martin, Jeffrey Lord

If you needed any proof that patriotism is definitely not the last refuge of scoundrels, Ed Martin’s new berth at CNN should do it. Nowadays that honor seems to belong to cable news – Fox News usually, but other news channels, such as CNN, usually keep a pet rightwing gremlin on hand. And who better to play hobgoblin than Missouri’s own Mister Ed?

According to the Missouri Eagle Forum, which Martin now – sort of – heads, he has signed on as a CNN political commentator “effectively immediately.” He’ll be taking the place of the “Seig Heil” guy, Jeffrey Lord, whose choice of salutation got him fired a few weeks ago. As you may have guessed, given Lord’s affection for Nazi greetings, his role on various programs was to act as Trump-apologist-in-chief. Martin ought to fill the bill on a number of fronts.

Steve Bannon likes to tout Trump’s potential to create “chaos” and “disruption” – which Bannon, adhering to the fascist playbook, thinks is a good thing. Whether or not that’s true (hint: it’s not – unless you’re an aspirational Hitler), Ed Martin also seems tailor-made for creating chaos and for disrupting things. He’s made a mess of just about everything he’s done here in Missouri. Mess-making isn’t the only way, though, in which he and The Clown-in-Chief are super-simpatico. Consider the following points of comparison:

— Obstruction of Justice: Trump fired Sally Yates for warning him that if he weren’t careful, he might be implicated by the potentially illegal activities of Michael Flynn, his National Security advisor, who seems to have been cultivating various Russians, including Vladimir Putin. Martin fired Scott Eckersley, former Governor Matt Blunt’s deputy attorney, who had warned Blunt and Martin that the destruction of potentially explosive emails that were, nevertheless, subject to the state’s sunshine law, was likely illegal. Martin quite properly took the fall, and was fired in short order. The entire episode has been labeled “memogate.”

— Both make the political personal – and ugy: Martin didn’t just fire Eckersley, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he attempted to “slime” him, “disclosing his private e-mail correspondence with lawyers and reporters and ginning up allegations that the young attorney visited ‘group sex’ websites.”Of course, we’re all familiar with the copious ad hominem smears that Trump spews at his critics, ranging from the golden oldies like his concern about the blood coming out Megyn Kelley’s eyes – or from “her wherever” – to his recent effort to besmirch Mika Brzezinski.

— Bigotry: Consider Martin’s pungent sentiments on Mexican immigrants in the context of Trump’s “rapist” spiel:

Spearheading Mr. Blunt’s drive against illegal immigrants, Mr. Martin told a meeting of the Missouri Housing Commission that merely by driving by construction sites, “every friggin’ developer can figure out who is illegal.” And how could they do that? “There’s a bunch of Mexican there, I guess some of them are probably not legal,” he said.

Martin followed up on those sentiments last year, asserting at a Tea Party for Trump rally that it’s okay to hate Mexicans “because “Mexicans, that’s not a race.”

— Incompetence: As Chairman of the Missouri GOP, Martin was so inept that – in a red state yet – he managed to decimate the party’s fundraising apparatus during the two years of his tenure, which the Post-Dispatch politely described as “controversial.” Do I really have to labor the comparison to Trump here? As The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman wrote earlier this summer, while many folks voted for Trump because they thought he would disrupt business as usual, they “may not have known what they were getting above all else: an incompetent,” adding that “his most formidable opponent couldn’t do half as much to foil Trump as Trump himself has done.”

–– Both are deadbeats: Trump has made a career out of stiffing the little guy – his record of defaulting on bills, leaving investors and others holding the bag while he makes out like a bandit (literally) has been described in detail by Quin Hillyer in, tellingly enough, an article in the conservative American Spectator. Martin, for his part, is currently in the news for his failure to pay a PR firm he hired to build up his renegade Eagle Forum. He’s in the hole for $130,000 dollars, but, get this, calls the PR firm that’s calling in his debt “DC swamp consultants,” equating their demands for payment to a protection racket.

— Both are con men: It has been argued that Martin, after failing as Missouri GOP chairman and in his efforts to attain elected office, owes his present gig as Director of the Eagle Forum to his ability to gull its founder, the elderly Phyllis Schlafly. At least that’s the story what her daughter are telling has implied. Trump, an arguably inept business man, mediocre reality TV star, and super huckster managed to get himself elected to the presidency of one of the most powerful countries in the world by playing on the fears and biases of a particular – and not incidentally, older – segment of the population. Now that’s some con – even if he did have the help of Russian backers.

The list could go and on, I haven’t, for instance, brought up dishonesty and corruption – there’s just too much material to cover. But, you ask, what are we to learn from this comparison? Am I maybe hinting that this is what today’s Republican Party has come to? All I can say in response is that the folks at CNN chose sleazy Ed Martin, arguably a Trump-in-miniature, to represent the conservative, Republican point of view. Draw your own conclusions.

More right wingnut anti-worker propaganda

27 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Americans for Prosperity, Astroturf, mail, missouri, Propaganda, right to get paid less, Right to work, right wingnuts

Astroturf. You know, fake grassroots.

They sent this to a union household:

“Union bosses” are elected by their members. Are billionaires? Just asking. Yeah, right, billionaires and multi-millionaires are going to choose to pay working people higher wages.

Previously:

Astroturf propaganda (August 3, 2017)

Since when is an astroturf right wingnut organization truly concerned about the economic welfare of working people? (August 30, 2017)

Campaign Finance: unintentional irony

27 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in campaign finance

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

campaign finance, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, PAC

Not that they probably care.

Today at the Missouri Ethics Commission for a newish PAC:

C171222 09/27/2017 Missouri First PAC Inc Republic Services, Inc. 18500 N. Allied Way Phoenix AZ 85054 9/27/2017 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

By the time you get to Phoenix.

Take a minute. We’ll wait.

The PAC:

C171222: Missouri First Pac Inc
Committee Type: Political Action
205 E Capitol Ave #100
Jefferson City Mo 65101
Established Date: 08/10/2017
[….]
Treasurer
Lindsay Roepe
714 Hobbs Rd
Jefferson City Mo 65101
[….] 

[emphasis added]

In the gallery – part 3

26 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in meta, Resist

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

#resist, meta, missouri, photography

“The Poetry of Protest” our show in the Gallery of Art and Design at the University of Central Missouri of large prints of photographs which were taken at rallies, protests, marches, and demonstrations is now open.

“The Poetry of Protest”

The show runs through October 28th. The gallery is open to the public, admission is free.

Previously:

The Poetry of Protest (September 9, 2017)

In the gallery (September 21, 2017)

In the gallery – part 2 (September 23, 2017)

It’s all about the emails – or, if you’re Jared Kushner, not so much

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ann Wagner, Billy Long, Emails, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence, missouri, Reince Priebus, Roy Blunt, Steve Bannon

I’m willing to bet that you remember all about Hillary Clinton and her email. And most of you remember that despite several “investigations” by Congress and the FBI nobody could substantiate claims that she did anything untoward – although James Comey, then the Director of the FBI, did give her a schoolmarmish lecture about seemly behavior or something along that line, and later made a feint in the direction of “reopening” the investigation upon the “discovery” of some additional emails that were also very quickly found to be inoffensive, but which many believe created a false impression of wrong-doing that cost Clinton the election.

I’m also willing to bet that you also remember all the Republicans who couldn’t constrain their concern about what they pretended to think was an earth-shaking matter, or, at least, what they wanted us to believe was a big bad no-no that deserved a serious hand-slapping. And, of course, Missouri’s GOP delegation were more than happy to join the feeding frenzy. A few examples:

Rep. Billly Long (R-7) got mightily exercised when the FBI investigation failed to find evidence of criminal wrongdoing:

The American people deserve better than a justice system that looks the other way rather than demanding honesty at federal agencies,” said Rep. Long.“Director Comey said point-blank that former Secretary Clinton recklessly stored and transmitted classified information, and it’s unthinkable that such brazen carelessness with our secret national security data could avoid justice.

GOP Senator Roy Bunt made some gleefully stern comments about Comey’s email Hail Mary :

From day one, it has been clear that Secretary Clinton did not take her national security clearance seriously,” […]. “The law establishes a standard that national security material cannot be handled carelessly. I have serious questions about the way the FBI has handled this case up to now. The immunity given, the potential evidence that was allowed to be destroyed, and political support for the spouse of a senior FBI official are all very concerning. The FBI needs to set a better standard as they reopen this case.”

Blunt’s over-the-top  I-told-you-so was echoed by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2), who was fairly salivating at the prospect of seeing a hard-working public servant punished for … something:

Secretary Clinton’s reckless mishandling of classified information proves that she cannot be trusted with the support of Missouri families. I am hopeful that this most recent probe by the FBI will be conducted fairly, swiftly and more thoroughly than the previous investigation.

Well guess what? We now have an opportunity to see just  how seriously these self-righteous hacks really take a similar case where private email accounts have been used by the President’s capos to avoid public scrutiny. We’ll find out just who, if anyone in Missouri’s GOP delegation, has enough integrity to hold the apple(s) of Trump’s eye to the same standard with which they beat Hillary Clinton over the  head.

It seems that son-in-law-in-chief and presidential advisor, Jared Kushner, set up a private email account during the transition upon which he has since conducted official business in preference to his official White House account. We are assured that while he used the account to exchange “emails with senior White House officials, outside advisers and others about media coverage, event planning and other subjects,” he did nothing wrong. Of course, we’ll just have to take the White House’s word about that since the folks there aren’t inclined to hand the emails over. And we’re also supposed to trust their assurances that these emails will be preserved as required by law.

Gee, if Clinton had only known that all she had to do was to say that she’d done nothing wrong she could have saved herself a world of hurt. Or maybe not. Clinton is a Democrat. And a woman. And smarter and kinder than the sleaze bag Republicans put into the White House. All hanging offenses to  the members of the old, white, male cadre the GOP mostly represents.

Actually, use of private emails seems to be ubiquitous in Trump’s White House. Next time he tries to revive the “lock her up” business, remember that in addition to Kushner, White House officials Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon also used private email accounts to conduct their business.

Of course, we’ve known for some time that VP Mike Pence not only used private email to conduct state business in Indiana, but was actually hacked. Pence, interestingly enough,  said nary a word about his transgressions during the campaign when he and Cheeto-in-Chief went off on Clinton’s emails.

But no matter. Because nowadays, given the way the cookie crumbles, the ball bounces, the mop flops, and the tail wags, we’ll wait a long time before we hear a peep from our otherwise truculent Republicans about private emails being used to evade the attention of a public that said GOPers and the Ritchie Rich-pants in the white House are determined to well and truly fleece.

We need to remind them that Karma’s a bitch, the wheel of fortune turns, and the handwriting is on the wall.

Puerto Rico is under water, without power, and without communications

25 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Donald Trump, Puerto Rico, social media, Twitter

But, priorities.

This morning:

Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump
Many people booed the players who kneeled yesterday (which was a small percentage of total). These are fans who demand respect for our Flag!
6:31 AM – 25 Sep 2017

What an asshole.

Previously:

“…Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard…” (September 24, 2017)

“…Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard…”

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Michael Bersin in Resist, social media

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

#resist, Donald Trump, First Amendment, free speech, Jason Kander, missouri, social media, Twitter

Today, via Twitter, from Jason Kander (D):

Jason Kander‏ @JasonKander
Patriotism isn’t about making everyone stand and salute the flag.

Patriotism is about making this a country where everyone wants to.
10:51 AM – 24 Sep 2017

This was all settled in 1943:

WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ET AL. v. BARNETTE ET AL., 319 U.S. 624

If you don’t like something that someone else says or does as a First Amendment expression of dissent, fine. Use the First Amendment to the best of your ability to disagree.

However, no official, high or petty (in Donald Trump’s case – petty), nor the government has a say in approving or disapproving the content of your First Amendment expression, including your choice to participate in or not participate in “patriotic” doctrine.

The Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy, a socialist minister, in the late 19th century for a children’s magazine with the intent that it was to be used by children in ceremonies celebrating the Columbian Exposition. The original text: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Subsequent additions were made by others in the 1920s during the red scare (so immigrant children would know which flag they were saluting?) and during the Eisenhower Administration (because of fears of godless communism).

The U.S. Flag Code people keep citing as a point of law? It has the same force as Congressional resolutions commemorating motherhood, apple pie, and National Groundhog Day. By the way, that same flag code states that the image of the flag not be used as clothing or on disposable paper products (like napkins and plates) or on advertising. Good luck with that one, huh.

The Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court have long ago decided the primacy of the First Amendment.

So, why have the national anthem sung or performed at sporting events? As if there’s originalist intent expressed in the Constitution? Join in or not, it’s up to you. No one else.

So, today, if you so choose, exercise the First Amendment and take a knee to stick it to that ignorant petty tyrant occupying the White House.

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