Stalin would have done this

In Russia in the Thirties and Forties, history books were rewritten to insure that the latest government line was followed.  This system had some drawbacks; sometimes citizens had copies of the old texts and the changes would be apparent. 

The Trump administration is more adept at rewriting history or even denying present reality.  In Philadelphia the Independence National Historical Park removed an outdoor exhibit called “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation.”  The exhibit mentioned the nine slaves owned by George Washington.  The exhibit did not “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people,” to quote the Administration’s orders.  Let’s never talk about the fact that the Father of Our Country and the first President owned slaves.  

The White House also posted a digitally altered photo of a demonstrator who spoke out at a church service where the pastor was working for ICE.  A photo was digitally altered to show a crying woman taken into custody.  In reality she was not crying; she was quite calm.  The altered photo made her look very bad.  When confronted with this fake image, the deputy communications director wrote, “Enforcement of the law will continue.  The memes will continue.”

This is our government.  It manipulates history.  It lies.  It says that the Jan. 6 rioters who beat cops and tried to kill them were tourists.  It tells us to believe the lies and not our own eyes.  

Try to hold on to truth.  It is increasingly difficult in a world of AI and digital manipulation, but do not believe these government lies.  This week ICE murdered two people.  And then our government lied about it and continues to lie about it.

Rosebud

I have a Flexible Flyer sled hanging on the wall in the shed.  Every December I bring it down and put it on the porch so I can sled down the hill.  Tonight would have been a good night for a ride; the snow has melted on top and the freeze today left a nice crust for the runners to glide over.

Unfortunately, while I can pull the sled and ride down the hill, when I get to the bottom I have a really hard time getting back up.  My sledding days may be over. 

Right on cue

This morning when I heard the Weather Channel announcers discussing the big winter storm headed our way, I said to Linda, “Now some idiot will say this proves there is no global warming.”

This evening I heard that our President said this winter storm proves that global warming is a hoax.  

Advice for potential U.S. allies

Don’t do it.  After one Afghan refugee attacked two members of the U.S. national guard in Washington, the Administration then criticized all Afghan refugees, ending support for various aid programs for Afghans who had helped American troops in that country.

Today I read that the U.S. is no longer supporting the Kurds who have been allied with the U.S. in Syria.

We are not loyal to our friends.  I was in CA working for a State Senator when the Vietnamese “boat people” were arriving in CA.  You should have read some of the nasty letters that came in, full of vitriol against the refugees.  These were people who had supported the U.S.  Now many Americans were angry that they being allowed into the U.S. 

If I were a Venezuelan today, I’d think twice about giving support to the U.S.  If we behave as usual, we will abandon you at the first sign of trouble.

Trump's Davos speech

I watched a portion of it this morning.  What an embarrassment.  I wish there was some way to apologize to the rest of the world.  He cannot believe the stuff he says.  Can he?  Is he that delusional?  It makes one long for Buchanan.  Or Harding.  Not great presidents, but normal people.  Sane people.  

The damage that man has done to this country and the rest of the world may be patched up a bit, but in many respects it is too late.  Our former allies can never trust us again.  They realize that this guy was elected once, and then a majority of the voters, knowing what he was, elected him again.  

We did this to ourselves, and we will never be great again.  I will not be celebrating our 250th anniversary.  I don’t have anything to celebrate.

Christian nationalist is an oxymoron

As an atheist, I’m always hesitant to criticize Christians.  Who am I to set them straight when they don’t follow the teachings of Jesus?  Nonetheless, I have read the Gospels.  I know about the Sermon on the Mount.  I get that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, he was making fun of the powerful rulers on their powerful steeds.  

And I also know that his skin was brown.  If he were in Minneapolis today, ICE would pick him up in a flash.

Pope Leo, originally from Chicago, has it right when he defends immigrants and Ukraine and foreign aid.  And I respect the three Roman Catholic leaders–Cardinal Tobin of Newark, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, and Cardinal Blasé Cupich of Chicago who noted yesterday that this country’s “moral role in confronting evil around the world” is now slipping away.

I’d probably say that in the past we often gave “moral role” more lip service than having an actual moral policy, but at least we did that.  Now we no longer bother.  We have become the evil we once opposed.

College football

I didn’t watch the so-called college championship game tonight.  Two nights ago I wrote about American universities losing ground to Chinese universities, with only one American university in the top ten for scientific research and scholarly papers.  That one American university was Harvard.  

I wonder where Indiana and Miami are ranked.