27 thoughts on “The Ways We Were”

  1. let us count the ways — weren’t we (the trail) then 

    more diverse

    more voluable

    more able to converse with opposing views

    ???

  2. what a difference a decade makes.  look where we are now and what’s on the talking heads agenda 24/7

    With a national conversation underway about the possibility of impeachment, John Oliver discusses whether the benefits outweigh the potential risks.

  3. what happened to us?

    sh*t happened

    a big pile of it

    donned with an orange wig and a long red necktie

  4. Pat
    Donald Trump didn’t happen to us, we happened to us. The problems this nation has inflicted upon itself happened way before Trump. Trump just waltz in and took advantage of it. ” We have met the enemy and he is us.”
    Jack

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    The quote “We have met the enemy and he is us” is a parody of a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after his victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, stating, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” It first appeared in a lengthier form in A Word to the Fore, the foreword of the book The Pogo Papers, first published in 1953. Since the strips reprinted in Papers included the first appearances of Mole and Simple J. Malarkey, beginning Kelly’s attacks on McCarthyism, Kelly used the foreword to defend his actions:

    Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly. It is just unfortunate that in the clumsy hands of a cartoonist all traits become ridiculous, leading to a certain amount of self-conscious expostulation and the desire to join battle. There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us. Forward! (Walt Kelly, June 1953)

    The finalized version of the quotation appeared in a 1970 anti-pollution poster for Earth Day (see above) and was repeated a year later in the daily strip.
    —from the Wikipedia entry on Pogo (comic strip)
    copied from website
  6. “There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blasts on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy….”

    us

    so let’s begin to unfurl those small flags, toot those tiny horns!

  7. patd…  I have to agree with Jack.  I’ve always thought that we need both sides for good governing.  I do have disagreements with true conservatives… but I’ve had much respect for some of them.  It’s much harder now that trump has taken over the Republican party.  I have no respect for trump or his minions.  We now sit in our respective corners and refuse to listen to each other.  I know I’m as guilty of this as anyone else.  This divide did start much longer ago than trump.  I’m trying to do my part by continuing to value my conservative friendships. 

  8. Wait wait
    This is the culmination of where the Republican party has been headed for a long time.
    Let’s not have false equivalencies here.   The  Goopers are the ones to make government a captured interest of  their goals.   
    Democracy is messy and the Democrats, Greens, Libertarians aren’t perfect but the Republicans are in a class by themselves.  Their numbers are dropping and the only way they can win is with the help of the Russians, lying, cheating and stealing.
     

  9. KGC…  I agree with much in your post.  I just keep thinking about how much Putin must smile when he sees us tearing each other apart.

    Craig…  as a Red Sox fan I am following the story about the shooting of David Ortiz…  if even half of what they know so far is true…  the Dominican Republic ain’t a place I want to go have a picnic.  Think lots of money and drug lords.

  10. Since impeachment is on the lips of almost every pundit who can get 30 seconds of airtime, it is worth reviewing what impeachment is and what its effects have been in the past.  Impeachment is the congressional equivalent of an indictment.  It involves (1) an investigation into the facts that might constitute a crime (in the criminal arena) or high crimes and misdemeanors (in the congressional arena).  Following the investigation there is a decision to be made whether (2) to indict (Criminal) or Impeach (congressional).  If the decision is made to go forward based on the facts of the investigation, the case is assigned to a prosecutor and formal charges are brought.  In either case the matter proceeds to a trial – in the criminal arena either in magistrate, district or circuit court (depending upon the level of the alleged crime and the court system the charges are brought in)  and in the congressional arena, in the Senate.  The person accused is either convicted or not.  If convicted, the guilty party (1) is sentenced consistent with the laws governing criminal penalties in the jurisdiction the in which the crime was prosecuted (criminal) or (2) is removed from office (congressional).  

    There have been 19 impeachment proceedings brought in the nation’s history, with two involving sitting presidents.  Articles of impeachment were drawn up against Nixon but impeachment proceedings were not commenced because he resigned from office.  The first – Andrew Johnson.  He was impeached by the House, was not convicted in the Senate (the 2/3 vote needed to convict falling short by a by a one vote margin) – he lost the Democratic nomination in 1868 just following the successful trial in the Senate.  His support was primarily from Southern whites and that support ended up with him receiving 4 nominating votes in the final ballot at the convention – all from Tennessee.  He obviously didn’t get enough of a bump from the impeachment to claim it benefited him politically.  He was elected to the Senate from Tennessee in 1875 – ironically enough by a one vote margin.  The second was Bill Clinton.  As we all know, he was impeached in 1998 during his second term on two counts, perjury and obstruction of justice, as a result of his prevarication over questions in his deposition in the Paula Jones case and encouraging Lewinsky to lie and file a false affidavit.  He was impeached in the House by relatively narrow margins, (with one Dem voting for impeachment on the perjury count and 5 voting for impeachment on the obstruction count).  He was not convicted in the Senate.  He enjoyed pretty broad popularity after the impeachment, but it did not extend sufficiently to Al Gore in the 2000 election, where SCOTUS elected Bush.  

    The current argument against impeachment is that the president impeached but not convicted is strengthened by the process – based primarily on Clinton’s buoyed poll numbers in his last 2 years in office.  Polls suggested that while his support increased during the Lewinsky scandal, his “moral character” numbers declined, which led to Bush getting support for his moral character in the 2000 election.  I think it’s an overstatement to suggest that impeachment leads to political benefit if the president isn’t removed from office, but you all can draw your own conclusions.

    Thanks to Wikipedia’s articles on impeachment, the Clinton impeachment, the Johnson impeachment and their respective presidencies for the factual bases of the above.

  11. the daily beast:

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reaffirmed a 170-year-old exception to the Constitution’s double-jeopardy clause, and left the door open for state prosecutors to prosecute Trump campaign officials regardless of whether federal officials have already done so. The case, Gamble v. United States, has drawn attention for its potential effect on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s federal prosecutions on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Had the “dual sovereignty doctrine” been repealed, states would not be able to pursue investigations parallel to the federal government, the National Law Journal reports. State prosecutors in New York have brought charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort Jr., who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, in the event that President Trump pardons him.

    In the 7-2 majority decision, Justice Samuel Alito Jr. wrote that the separate sovereigns exception “honors the substantive differences between the interests that two sovereigns can have in punishing the same act.”

     

  12. Fire update: Although the fire continues to burn to the northeast of my location and has consumed nearly 35k acres, it currently presents no threat to structures or personal property. The fire will keep burning within wilderness areas. Firefighting efforts continue with tankers and helicopters. Ground forces are focused primarily on holding the southwest lines plus structure protection.
    So, humans and property are ok at this time. Investigation into the humans responsible for the fire is ongoing. 

  13. The SCOTUS ruling re-affirming the double jeopardy exception won by a 7 – 2 vote.
    Ginsburg and gorsuch dissented. 

  14. Virginia House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill gotta have a bunch of states (North Carolina springs to mind) doing a quick ruh-roh.  You’d almost think that the Court is turning the Voting Rights Act protections to the discretion of US District Courts.  

  15. Hey Jamie – Spielberg is remaking West Side Story. There’s a cast photo posted online. Justin Peck from New York City Ballet is doing the choreography. Rita Moreno is producing and has also been cast as Doc in an expanded role (and of course Doc was originally a male character). Looks like quite a few of the kids already cast are from Broadway.
    It’s happening. Release date is set for December 2020.

  16. Does either Broadway or Hollywood do anything original these days, or is it all just rehashes ?
    Anywhat, I’m happy to see that the marvelous Rita Moreno has been recognized for her skill, rather than just for her look (& looks). 

  17. Well, revivals are a major money-maker for Broadway and bring great works to a new generation of live audiences. So I guess we could look at Hollywood as doing something similar. I never seem to look at it that way with movies, but it’s a perspective.
    Agreed re Rita Moreno. One wonders at the pressure on Ms Ariana DeBose as she recreates Anita on a set with the brilliant Ms Moreno watching. 

  18. Also for Haiti was CBob’s shelter boxes….with a big boost from Imus…..
     

  19. Sometimes commercials are worth the time.  Infiniti has led to the discovery of The Tallest Man on Earth

     

     

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