Another Sobering Reason To Vote For Clinton

As ever, I loved This American Life and the great reporting of Zoe Chace -- yes, you know their politics, but I can't think of anything on conservative media that is nearly as inquisitive and informative.

I've been thinking this for a year, but I couldn't say in any better than Rob Long, guest on the Ricochet podcast feature on this TAL episode when he tried to explain his reluctance to back Trump:

To me, it's more like, at any point, Trump could have chosen to be a big person. He could have chosen. He could have just sat there in Trump Tower and said, you know, I'm going to have a speech about how great Martin Luther King was, and how great America is, and how we all need to come together. I'm going to give a big-- someone write me a big speech. I don't know the words. You give me the words, but I want a big, big, big speech.

He could have done that. It would have cost him zero. He just chose each time the small route. And I just find that offensive. I just am offended by that. I think it's a great, great, great gift to run for president. It's a great gift to be an American. And for him to do that and to treat it that way, callously, that's wrong.

Chace's entire story on Minnesota in the TAL episode if really fascinating, but most noteworthy is her highlighting of the source of Trump's information from that insidious speech where he declared that he wanted a ban on a group because of their religion. Go check out the Center for Security Policy and ACT for America. You hear a name like Center for Security Policy we all assume it's just another think tank. Here is another opinion on Trump's source for making the American public think that 25% of the Muslim population agrees that violence against Americans is justified and 51% should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah laws.

Top 10 Reasons Not To Vote For Him

1. The inability, on a consistent basis, to talk in any detail about issues that will affect the entire world. No link needed for this first and most important reason.
2. The suggestion that he would kill the families of terrorists.
3. Threatening to assign a special prosecutor on Clinton if elected, as if that is the President's job.
4. Targeting Islam and Muslims, specifically all talk related to the impossible task of assessing people based on religion.
5. Mocking the disabled, which even Fox had difficulty trying to defend.
6. Insinuating that Ghazala Khan was not allowed to speak.
7. Linking a judge's ability to be impartial with his ethnicity.
8. The birther saga and eventual washing of his hands, stating that he "did a great job and a great service not only for the country, but even for the president, in getting him to produce his birth certificate".
9. "I wanted to hit some DNC speakers." Symbolic for me of all the middle-school level taunts and childish logic that has come out his mouth. This one hit home as I spend large parts of my life these days trying to explain why "we don't hit" to my 2 and 4-year-old. I must tell them that everyday, so my ears really perked up when this was his response to the political criticism in the Democratic convention.
10. And, or course, the suggestion that Mexico is sending rapists.

Sorry, I need to one more...

11. The tape on grabbing women without consent was bad, but to me it wasn't as bad as this response, in the midst of the controversy to let it slip that one of his accusers "wouldn't be his first choice". Unhinged!

The Satire Paradox

I've enjoyed all of Malcolm Gladwell's podcast, Revisionist History, but this one on The Satire Paradox seems particularly relevant now as we limp toward election day in the U.S., laughing at the comedy shows and waking up at night with anxiety as we seriously consider the reality of our political debates.

I am absolutely guilty of laughing my way through recent elections, but there is a need for serious reconsideration of how "entertaining" we've allowed politics to become. There is a great contrast between the U.S. humour and the Israeli show highlighted in the podcast called "Eretz Nehederet". Try Hope Kindergarden.

While I laughed at Stephen Colbert for years, I feel somewhat justified in that I always most valued hearing those people as themselves, explaining how they got in that position and where there motivation comes from. Here's Colbert being interviewed on Fresh Air in 2012 and then in 2005.

I learned a lot about Super PACs from Colbert. I wasn't the only one.

All this is relevant to me as we have a deadly serious divide and an urgent need for the non-satirical voices to fill some of the air space before and, most importantly, after the election.

How Is This Possible? -- The Redux

Looks like I am not the only one asking this question. Roger Cohen also asking the question today. I think the first response is most critical to me.

How is this possible? It is possible because spectacle and politics have merged and people no longer know fact from fiction or care about the distinction. It is possible because fear has entered people’s lives and that fear is easily manipulated. It is possible because technology has created anxiety-multipliers such as have never been known before. It is possible because America is a country living with the dim dissatisfaction of two wars without victory and the untold trillions spent on them. It is possible because a very large number of people want to give the finger to the elites who brought the crash of 2008 and rigged the global system and granted themselves impunity. It is possible because of growing inequality and existential dread, especially among the white losers from globalization who know minorities will be the majority in the United States by midcentury. It is possible because both major parties have abandoned the working class. It is possible because a lot of Americans feel the incumbent in the White House has undersold the United States, diminished its distinctive and exceptional nature, talked down its power, and so diluted its greatness and abdicated its responsibility for the well-being of the free world. It is possible because the identity politics embraced by urban, cosmopolitan liberals have provoked an inevitable backlash among those who think white lives matter, too. It is possible because Trump speaks to the basest but also some of the most ineradicable traits of human beings — their capacity for mob anger, their racist resentments, their cruelty, their lust, their search for scapegoats, their insecurities — and promises a miraculous makeover. It is possible because the Clinton family has been in the White House and cozy with the rich and close to the summit of a discredited political establishment for a quarter-century now and, to people who want change or bridle at dynastic privilege, that makes Hillary Clinton an unattractive candidate. It is possible because history demonstrates there is no limit to human folly or the dimensions of the disasters humanity can bring on itself.

How Is This Possible?

Lots is happening. And by lots, even more than just having two kids. It's been hard to put down any thoughts and I don't like doing it on other social media. But it's time to re-engage.

Two big things happening are Brexit here in the UK (where I live) and elections in the US (where I am from). There are a lot of conversations for me these days that include the phase "How is this possible?", whether discussing the UK's pending departure from the EU or the 22.5% (today anyway) possibility of victory for Trump. For me, it's not that we have a 22.5% of Trump winning, it's that he's even there at all. Something big has happened and we haven't noticed.

I'd heard this podcast, Trends with Benefits, several years ago, but it stuck in my mind and reading some recent political commentary made me want to go and re-listen.

The number of Americans receiving federal disability payments has nearly doubled over the last 15 years. There are towns and counties around the nation where almost 1/4 of adults are on disability. Planet Money's Chana Joffe-Walt spent 6 months exploring the disability program, and emerges with a story of the U.S. economy quite different than the one we've been hearing.

I did re-listen and it is pretty amazing. I think it goes a long way to explaining a group of people who feel left out, angry and might vote without having too much too lose.

I'm not suggesting that an deliberate policy to push people off welfare and onto disability benefits that started with the Clinton administration during it's 1990s can explain the rise of Trump (and I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with why the UK voted for Brexit). But there are very interesting aspects about a changed economy and whole armies of people who are not prepared to work any more. Incentives have changed for a lot of people and, what I hear in a lot of the interviews, are people who don't see anyone doing anything about their problems. They rationally come to accept what they get.

And it's not a great income, about $13,000 a year. But if your alternative is a minimum wage job that will pay you $15,000 a year-- a job you may or may not be able to get, may or may not be able to keep, that probably won't be full time, and very likely will not include health insurance-- disability may be a better option.

Indesit Customer Disservice

What can a consumer do except let other consumers know?!

Do not by an Indesit product!

Over the New Year holiday, our refrigerator stopped cooling (just over two years old), ruining all foods in the appliance. We arranged an engineer visit for 22 Jan 2016. The engineer came and the paid invoice states: "Work done: adjusted thermostat and tested ok.... Faul Code: R3". No parts or major repair was made, i.e., he turned it on and off.

The unit stopped again prior to 6 April (we were not at the property until then and are unsure when it stopped and all food ruined again). A second visit was arranged 19 April 2016. An engineer came and did not have a part he said he needed, meaning an additional visit was needed.

That visit was scheduled for 04 May 2016. Each time this happens, I have to arrange for the engineer to enter the property through friends and neighbours. The engineer has my wife's number (on the booking reminder‏). Instead of calling that number, we got a note through the front door informing us that he had been unable to access the property. Had the engineer called the number (or looked on that back door used to enter the house as he did on 19 April), he'd have seen our neighbours number or we'd have called her, as she was standing by next door to let him in.

A chat with Kieran from Indesit confirmed that the following:

That's right, it was in the van. We just needed to arrange a new date. So simple, right?

That was supposed to be today. Despite a formal complaint, the best they could do was re-schedule another visit 19 May 2016. They did, ironically, kindly offer me "3 months of warranty free of charge and a Refrigerator Care Pack". In actuality, they sent a Washing Machine Care Pack. They also said:

Please rest assured that we do value your custom and will always aim to resolve any of your future issues as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This morning, my wife got up at 05:15 so as to catch a train and make the 09:28 – 12:28 visit slotted on the e-mail we got last night. Literally an hour before the visit, she got a call that there was no part in the engineers van, meaning that they’d have to order the part and the soonest they’d be able to return is 6 June.

I called Indesit this morning and told this story to someone who said they’d have a manager call me “in four hours”. Six hours later, I called back, told yet another operator this story – waited on hold for another 15 minutes. When he came back on, he flatly said that the only solution was to wait until 6 June since this required ordering a part.

I asked him if he considered this normal customer service, to which the poor guy said it was the best he could do.

Indeed. Buy another brand.

Russian Reflection

I've always been supportive and appreciative of the open society notion. Even if one is critical of the means used by Mr. Soros -- and I know many people can be -- the notion that people have access to information, travel and experience new places is a means to a better end, I have to believe. This is so different than other media outlets that use the pretty slogans, but then just try to drown out the opposition.

This video, Out Commitment to an Open Society in Russia, is a nice chance to hear from people who have been working on the principles of open society long before it was cool. I can't imagine these organisations not working in the CIS or Russia.

Re-writing History -- Kenya and Beyond

This Radio Lab story on the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya and British response is gripping. It seems like Radio Lab was a bit late getting the story since the importance of Hanslope Park, where the documents were stored, was discussed years ago.  But it appears from this article in Feb. 2014 that it will be a while before anyone learns much more...

Since its existence was quietly made public in 2012, the FCO has twice had to seek a special 12-month dispensation from the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, while it decides how much of the archive to declassify. The department announced in December that it will spend six years assessing 60,000 files from the archive, kept at Hanslope Park, near Milton Keynes and classified as "high priority".

The Radio Lab programme has an interesting section on why these documents were saved. Apparently, one idea is that Edward Snowden-esque people opposed the wrongs they witnesses and wanted to save the evidence in hope that the world would eventually find out.

No Proof

Further to my post about having a numb mind, here is the response to a report that claims there are chemicals typically found in fracking fluid that have been found in drinking wells.

The industry criticized the new study, saying that it provided no proof that the chemical came from a nearby well.

The full title of the article, Fracking Chemicals Detected in Pennsylvania Drinking Water, as well as the contents make me realise that you can't form an opinion on these matters by reading the newspaper.

But to the point, why is the only industry response to say "no proof". Why not something on well integrity or what they do to ensure well integrity?

Numb Mind

I often think blogging and thinking out loud is something I want to do more. Then I log on to twitter and feel this thumping noise of shouting. It's people just trying to tell me what's right, who's stupid, who's a hypocrite. Does Exxon Hate My Children? Should I get my divestment placard? Or is the evil Bill McKibben trying to get me to sit in a dark cave, breaking up with a female avatar of oil?

What the fuck is the Environmental Policy Alliance?

Doubt is Their Product. Been on my shelf for months after I read A Valuable Reputation in the New Yorker. Might postpone that urge to engage with twitter for some actual reading and thinking.

Irresponsible Fox News

Look, opinions vary.

But when I watch this, I shudder at a) the plain idiocy of Fox News and b) that their follow on, an interview with Nigel Farage, is even worse. These clips, painful to watch, and take real political issues, tell small and selective parts of very big and complex stories with the seeming intention of pouring fuel on the fire of fear and hatred.

We sleep in our own bed and that bed is a polarised and and hate-filled place.

Is this apology real on the original comment from Steve Emerson? I only find mention of the story on the Fox New Latino site.

But Mr. Farage pushes on...

#FoxNewsFacts

Update: Here is another version of the apology on a website linked to Emerson.

Power of Reconciliation

Such an amazing story and project about perpetrators and victims from the Rwandan genocide.

See all the photos and stories here.

In Support of Gap Yahs

Of course, of course, the author is correct, Gap Yah volunteering can be bad, but it can be great too. As with most things in life and social change, it depends on how you do it.

Credit to my cousin-in-law and his colleagues for what I think is one of coolest ideas through Global Citizen Year. It is what I think Peace Corps should emphasise more.

Each year, we recruit and train a diverse corps of high-potential graduating seniors and support them through a bridge year of service learning and leadership training in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through a world-class training and individual apprenticeships, our Fellows develop the skills and perspectives they need to succeed in college, careers, and a global economy.

The emphasis on service learning and training is exactly what the BBC viewpoint is asking for. I keep believing we need to send them all abroad. Wish Global Citizen Year was around when I was 18!

And if you missed it...one of my favs -- Gap Yah!

Humble Pie

Almost without fail, every time I listen to This American Life, I promise myself I need to listen to them all.

This one, on self-improvement made me feel so good about the annual struggle to blog more, drink less and be patient with myself. The Peace Pilgrim was a book that once inspired me with its simplicity and power. I never struck out on the journey myself, but thoroughly enjoyed the story from Daryl Watson.

NPR had run a story on her on January 1, so it was great to be reminded of her vision twice in the same month.

Coming Together (in the Right Direction)

Going back over five years, I recall my cynicism in thinking that companies making bad stuff were getting away from the impacts of their products. It's still a world of corporate green washing, but today on NPR I was pleased to seem one advocate tried to change PepsiCo. from the inside, which I support, and...look at this infomercial by Coca-Cola! They are talking about obesity and being more transparent in the contents of their product.

More than ever, I appreciate that challenge of seeing PepsiCo. as more than a one-headed monster trying to make you have as many Fritos as possible, but rather a place with many heads, some unwilling to change, but others trying to understand how you can innovate, diversify and keep business going.

New Fish Fighter

I have really enjoyed Hugh's Fish Fight. I meant to watch the videos last year as one of my New Year's resolutions, so better late than never. Eager to explore The River Cottage Fish Book. I learned to skin fish tonight and must learn to cook more mackerel and sardines.

Vote Obama!

I can't listen anymore. It's seems like a numbing cacophony of stats from both sides that imply the other side is lying or telling half truths.

But I still woke up this morning and sent of my vote, which I trust might sway the results in the swing state of Vermont.

I didn't need convincing -- I have found the Romney/Fox News/Republican/Ayn Rand view of the world narrow, self-centered, short-term and historically unfounded. I got my problems with Obama and politicians and the way the world is moving, but I see the clear differences.

It makes my stomach twist up with nervousness that garbage like Obama's America: 2016 was advertising on the NYT Five Thirty Eight blog last week, just as the polls are to close. Some really helpful comparisons on a "Who's Who" on Obama's founding fathers!? This film panders to the very worst stereotypes and distortions. While there are many moral equivalency arguments to have about left and right wing "art", this is out of bounds for dishonesty and divisiveness. (Obama's thoughts on the film.) That the film is advertising on Five Thirty Eight and soliciting more tax-deductible donations!!! to spew shit before the election points right at the heart of what's wrong with money in politics. Thank goodness we have had Stephen Colbert mocking and educating us on the role of Super PACs.

Cutting through the loads of lies and counter lies and lies about lies, The New Yorker is comprehensive in its analysis to justify why Obama should get another four years. Read all the reasons, since they all matter, but don't miss the conclusion:

The reëlection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency. Not only are we in broad agreement with his policy directions; we also see in him what is absent in Mitt Romney—a first-rate political temperament and a deep sense of fairness and integrity. A two-term Obama Administration will leave an enduringly positive imprint on political life. It will bolster the ideal of good governance and a social vision that tempers individualism with a concern for community. Every Presidential election involves a contest over the idea of America. Obama’s America—one that progresses, however falteringly, toward social justice, tolerance, and equality—represents the future that this country deserves.

Or the New York Times or the Salt Lake Tribune... Yes, you knew how these publications would "vote", but the rationale and reasons -- dare we risk saying we value such talents in writing? -- hold together and make sense and are consistent with what we see happening in the world. And they show the contrast in this election, as well as why voting is a matter of great urgency.

More Informed Debate On 2012 Election, Please!

Listening to the Romney/Ryan opening speech was a warning to me about what is ahead. Values, principles and character... blah, blah, blah. My main question is whether the rest of the world has anything to do with the US or is it just some island that will rise or fall as a result of the moral convictions of the president?

In contrast to what I expect from both campaigns' upcoming talking points, I dream of really having an long discussion about the economy. I think any debate over the economy should take place only after the electorate listens to the Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air in her interview with David Wessel, the economics editor of The Wall Street Journal. Why can't all interviews be this informative? Best to listen to the whole interview. The "interview highlights" are not sufficient.

That was a rally and not a policy speech, for sure, but aside from blaming Obama for the economy and praise for Romney's faith and character (in contrast to a lack of both in Obama?), I don't see any other strategy developing.

A House Divided

Some people described the Supreme Court upholding the mandate as one of those decisions that change the future of a country. That's true no matter what one's opinion on the issue. But look at how different media outlets displayed the news as it was announced. Wonder how many historians will remember the importance of "Fast and Furious"... (Even the UK's Telegraph knew Balotelli was a better picture than Obama or Holder.)

Saving Tigers

Potlatch is very observant and I wish I could condense this whole post into a statement that can be said in the time it takes to dodge the people trying to get my signature on the street. Perhaps "That's Not How Tigers Die!" will become the code word for all his points.

And I haven't heard from Kony 2012 recently, but they are still dancing. I am pleased to see they are keeping their work going, and it's good news that a leader has been captured, but does it have to be so strobe lighty and rave-crazed? "That's Not How Tigers Die!"