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Ned Resnikoff, at ThinkProgress, Nov 27: Trump’s lies have a purpose. They are an assault on democracy.

Key Quote:

When political actors can’t agree on basic facts and procedures, compromise and rule-bound argumentation are basically impossible; politics reverts back to its natural state as a raw power struggle in which the weak are dominated by the strong.

That’s where Donald Trump’s lies are taking us. By attacking the very notion of shared reality, the president-elect is making normal democratic politics impossible.

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On Boards and Bullshit

From Parents urge SDUHSD Board to hire a superintendent to revamp special education:

Board member John Salazar recommended that a permanent hiring not take place until after the November election so that if a new board member is elected, that person could have input in the selection process because the incoming board member person would have to work with the new superintendent. (Two board positions will be up for election this November — that of Board member Joyce Dalessandro and Board president Beth Hergesheimer).

This is exactly the same “reasoning” used by Senate Republicans who are refusing to even consider filling the open seat on the Supreme Court until President Obama’s term in office is over. They hope that a Republican will be elected, and then they can appoint some right-wing activist judge to the court. It’s pure, naked politics without a hint of a rational justification. It’s bullshit when Senate Republicans do it, and it’s bullshit when John Salazar does it.

Notice that Salazar’s seat is not up for election in November. He is hoping that either one or both of the seats available will go to (a) someone ideologically motivated like him or (b) someone easily influenced like Muir. If that’s the case, then the San Dieguito school board, which has been a model of effective advocacy for students and education for over twenty years, will devolve into a partisan political shitshow that is more interested in destroying public education and public employee unions than in providing a first-class education for students. And at the center of it will be John Salazar and his hand-picked superintendent.

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John Salazar’s Very Bad Idea

Karen Billing, Del Mar Times, April 28:

San Dieguito Union High School District board discusses term limits

 

There are bad ideas: deciding to paint your house purple, vacationing in Nebraska, taking stock advice from your brother-in-law. There are pretty bad ideas: drivin703944551g without wearing your seat belt, insulting a Hell’s Angel to his face, eating the spoiled food from the back of the fridge. And then there are Very Bad Ideas. The Very Bad Idea we will be considering today comes from a San Dieguito Union High School District trustee, John Salazar, and its name is Term Limits.

Term Limits has been a popular topic in the United States since the 1980s, usually proposed by self-described “populists” who want to return government to “the people”. Whether or not it has been initiated in good faith, the result everywhere it has been tried has been disastrous for “the people”. Term Limits removes expertise and institutional memory from governmental bodies just when it can be of use, leaving instead neophyte or dilettante office-holders with no knowledge or experience of the job they have been asked to do.

The most charitable interpretation of a Term Limits proposal is that it is a genuine attempt to include more people in leadership. A more cynical interpretation is that Term Limits is an attempt to force turnover in an elected body that cannot be achieved by honest campaigning. An even more suspicious interpretation is that Term Limits is a deliberate attempt to hamstring an elected body and prevent it from doing its work effectively, thus demonstrating the correctness of a core belief that government does not and cannot work.

I leave it up to you to reach your own interpretation. My conclusion is that Term Limits is a Very Bad Idea.

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Show Your Work!

Key Quote:

This, this right here, this is it, the foundation stone. The basic assumption. Our enemies must fear us, fear our military might, fear that we will use it at any time, any place, for any reason, in response to any transgression no matter how slight.

The way you fear a bully’s fists.

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I Approve This Message…

I AM THE WARRIOR

Key Quote: 

Believe me, there is not a single social, economic, or political problem you can present to 19 year olds as a hypothetical that they are not 100% confident that they will solve on their own initiative, most likely incorporating the use of Bootstraps. It’s understandable at that age. Unfortunately a lot of people never seem to grow out of it.

Also, too…

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This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

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You may have heard the back-and-forth this weekend about Trump, Bush the Dumb, Bush the Dumber, and 9/11. Here’s a quick summary from Tom Sullivan at Digby’s blog; here’s an investigative report from ThinkProgress (“Was George W. Bush President on 9/11? An Investigation into the Controversy Tearing the GOP Apart.”)

But I want to highlight the single stupidest thing I have ever heard come out of a reporter’s mouth, and remember, I live in California. From Sullivan’s post:

But perhaps the most stunning “response” to Trump was the question that led to Trump’s remark in the first place. Bloomberg’s Stephanie Rhule (sic) said, “Help us understand who Donald Trump is as a man. I need to know that you will make us feel safe and you will make us feel proud.”

Are you a five-year-old? Are you voting for Daddy? A quick Google search indicates that Ruhle is a 39-year old woman with a professional career. I presume she has a home and family and some amount of financial security. So why in the hell is she demanding that a candidate for President of the United States “make us feel safe” and “make us feel proud”?

This is why we end up with the shitshow we currently have: people voting for stupid reasons. If you need someone to make you feel safe and proud, go see a goddamn therapist, and let the rest of us elect non-insane people who might actually work towards solving the problems in this country rather than just making us feel good.