Want What You Have

The Dalai Lama advises “We need to learn how to want what we have, not to have what we want in order to get steady and stable happiness.”

We have a democracy, at least for now. Do we really want it bad enough to ensure its preservation? As ol’ Ben said when asked “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” he replied “A republic, if you can keep it.”

As hard as it is, do we value it and want to keep it (like at least some of us do) or do we (like some of us) only want to have power and a dictatorship of demagogues?

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Author: patd

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked. "Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad." "How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice. "You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

47 thoughts on “Want What You Have”

  2. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/16/texas-voter-assistance-primaries/

    “Texans with disabilities — and attendants who get compensation for assisting a voter — could face criminal penalties under new voting legislation.”

    “Republicans enacted restrictions last year on the state’s voting process, including rules on how Texans can assist voters when casting ballots.”

    Republicans sure seem to be against democracy.

    Early turnout for the TX primary has been low. The new, Republican laws prohibiting voting may be why it’s low. It could also be fear of covid. It could also be apathy.

  4. Social media users are playing a key role in geopolitical contests the world over, from publicizing Russian troop movements on the Ukraine border to picking winners at the Oscars next month in Los Angeles.

  5. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/16/texas-elections-voters/

    “New polling from the University of Texas at Austin finds the state’s voters in familiar frames of mind, with Republicans fretting about border security and immigration, Democrats about COVID-19 and political leadership/corruption…”

    “Democratic candidates pushing last year’s failure of the electric grid in Texas have some work to do: Only 5% of Democratic voters listed that as the most important problem facing the state. Overall, 3% of all voters put that at the top of their lists. Political corruption/leadership (18%) and COVID-19 (16%) were Democratic voters’ first two choices.”

    Beto has been running on Greg’s failure/power grid last winter, which sounds like he’s beating a dead horse.
    He also wants to legalize weed. Texas is full of conservatives. He certainly doesn’t know how to read the room.

  6. So Sarah from Wasilla can’t seem to fool any of the people any of the time. Good. 
    Well WV seems poised to become a 15 week state. I hate what this country is becoming. 

  7. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/15/texas-border-wall-federal-surplus-abbott/

    “After the Biden administration halted the construction of former President Donald Trump’s border wall, hundreds of unused wall panels were left at construction sites.”

    “Now 1,700 unused panels — declared surplus property by the federal government — have been shipped from California to help build Gov. Greg Abbott’s state-funded wall…”

    “…the 32-foot-tall steel bollard panels were at a storage site in San Diego.”

    “The Texas Facilities Commission, the state office in charge of Texas border wall construction, applied in November to receive the surplus panels through the federal government’s General Service Administration…”

    “In December, the Facilities Commission hired New York-based Posillico Civil Inc. to haul the panels from San Diego to Eagle Pass at a cost of $2 million…”

    Posillico/tRumpsky/JarJar

    https://mobile.twitter.com/ksieff/status/1178779265795608583

    Meanwhile, Greg keeps working on that wall, which helps with his base.

  8. Sarah’s jury loss. WaPo. 

    For more than four years, Sarah Palin waited for her chance to go head-to-head with the New York Times in court.

    But after two weeks of testimony and nearly three days of deliberation, a jury decided Tuesday that the Times did not libel her in a faulty 2017 editorial — echoing a decision by the judge, who a day earlier said that he would dismiss her caseregardless of its decision.

    ***

    An attorney for Palin, Kenneth Turkel, said they will probably appeal on “some issues relating to this process.”
    * * *

    Sort of an inverse Barnum. “…none of the people any of the time.” Good. Appeal. See if you can fool anyone any of the time.

  9. She got attention.  For her, that’s a win. 
    She gets to look like a victim. For her, that’s a win.

  10. BBC news:

    A small but politically vocal portion of the American electorate that admires Vladimir Putin’s muscular policies is seeking to undermine US President Joe Biden’s efforts to stand up to the Russian president.
    Mr Biden has threatened to impose crushing economic sanctions on Moscow amid a build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Many, in loud whispers, say that Mr Putin plans an invasion.
    But activists on the hard-right – and a few on the hard-left – of the US political spectrum say that it is Mr Biden who is “warmongering”.
    Arch-conservative voters who take this view are pressuring members of Congress to take a conciliatory tone towards Russia, tamp down rhetoric and refuse authorisation to send troops to the region. They are also working to elect Republican candidates who have publicly stated that they will not intervene in Ukraine.
    […]
    Most Americans agree with Mr Biden that the build-up of troops on Ukraine’s border is a threat to US interests, regardless of their political affiliation, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center – though only a relatively small percentage, 23%, of those surveyed had heard much about the subject.
    But US voters who admire Mr Putin and spoke to the BBC praised his boldness, while others were isolationists who believe the US should not deploy military forces abroad. Ultraconservatives in the Republican party are threatening political consequences for those who are perceived as overly aggressive and prone to using military force for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
    […]
    Warning of the possibility of Russian invasion, Mr Biden on Tuesday called the deterrence of such aggression “a cause that unites Republicans and Democrats”.
    But Republicans in general have warmed towards Russia in recent years – an irony considering the party’s place in US politics at the height of the Cold War.
    The percentage of Republicans who described Russia as an ally or a friend rose from 22% to 40% between 2014-18, according to Gallup.
    […]
    Influential Republicans, such as the Fox News host Tucker Carlson and JD Vance, a well-known candidate for Congress, have accused Mr Biden of readying Americans to fight a war in Ukraine.
    Mr Ahmari of the American Conservative thinks that messaging is connecting with voters. Some three million viewers watch Mr Carlson’s show nightly, and his comments about Ukraine have had “a profound effect on how Republican candidates talk about the Russia-Ukraine issue”, according to Axios, a political news site.
    An analysis by the outlet found public statements from close to a dozen Republicans in Congress criticising the idea of intervention in Ukraine. Republican candidates “who vow not to assist in any potential conflict in Ukraine are reflecting – and fanning – anti-interventionist sentiments” in the party, it concluded.
    [continues]

  11. Either 6 or twelve jurors of her peers (not sure what size the NY jury was) told her she looks like an idiot – go back to Alaska.  I hope she actually had to pay her attorneys.  Hopefully they weren’t stupid enough to take that case on a contingency basis.  I’m sure she got money from RWers who were willing to contribute to her legal defense fund, and I’m sure she’ll be begging for more from them.

  12. Tightening the vice –
    The accountants bailing out on the gangster president .

    Their company has more than $590 million of debt coming due within the next four years, and Trump himself has personally guaranteed more than half of it. Banks are likely to find it untenable to keep doing business with a company or individuals already rejected by their own accountants.

    This really is a turning of the screws, on the banks . Bank regulators looking over their shoulders, etc.
    And that stony CFO of his , that old man  is in a real shit storm now. He’s holding the bag now.  He coughed up those phony statements , his name is on that paperwork. 
    Which leads us to “dirty money”  as source of funds . And we all know he’ll try to go there if he get’s backed into a corner. 
    What can he sell to these types of lenders ?
    American secrets.
    These things have a way running out of control , like a leaky screen door on a submarine , Enron, a snowball on a hill, or an Ace of Spades at the base of a house of cards. 
    This isn’t a drop of blood in the water , this is a sucking chest wound. 
    Nothing like a cement mixer of mixed metaphors.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-02-15/trump-s-accountants-call-it-quits-what-took-so-long
     
    PS
    Of that $590 Million nearly half is due in less that two years.
     
     
     
     
     
     

  15. I read that sea level article in the Post and thought, I went to the Everglades many moons ago and recall that the highest spot in the ‘glades is 20’ above mean sea level.  I’m pretty sure that if mean sea level rises by a foot that will significantly move the brackish margin east and north into the interior of the ‘glades screwing up all sorts of spawning breeding grounds for the critters that inherit the place.  Big Cypress Swamp, Ten Thousand Islands and the Southern Atlantic Coastal Strip will be heavily impacted by a 1’ rise in sea level. They collectively are about 1/4 of the Florida landmass to the west and south of the southernmost tip of Lake Okeechobee.

  16. The themes of this primary here are –
    There are no Democratic themes.  It’s all wingnut all the time. 
    The Border 
    Teaching CRT 
    The Green New Deal
    Guns
    Defunding the Police
     
    Blue’s comment about Beto is spot on , nothing about our grid , or mandates or dead Covid Texans. 
     
     

  17. Pogo –
    It’s all sitting on a giant limestone sponge , the entire thing was a balance of fresh water being just a little taller than the sea level in that sponge. 
    What fresh water we had there is now being over run by the sea, and poisoned by us.
    The manatee crash in the Indian River Lagoon has not slowed down.  It is a mess , soon it will be a stinking soup of rotting algae every season . Fed by dog shit , septic tanks, grass fertilizer, and a whole host of other human ills. 
    We have Loved Florida to Death. 
    Your comment about the Glades is well underway, google “salt water intrusion” .
    And that condo collapse , salt water eats rebar in concrete if it can find a way in. 
    Then there’s their fresh water supply.  You can’t flush a turd “up hill”. 
     
     

  19. That is insanity  of our times,  the .governor of Texas sees the world he has known , a tiny little girl from Sweden sees her world that is coming.  

  22. A lot of this is on Obama , Putin took Georgia , Crimea ,  then Trump let him bomb at will in Syria .
    Let us hope the power in the gas fields of the Yamal is going dark. 
     

  23. Biden ramps up: “If Russia targets Americans in Ukraine, we will respond forcefully.” Also he said US “prepared to respond” to cyber and infrastructure attacks

  29. We all know about oil and gas , but wheat and corn are in this mix.  And the biggest wheat importers are the folks along the Nile.
     
    Our airport here is a nine to five affair .  Busy in the mornings and at sunset .  The big jets out of Altus , and Clovis fly here during the slack times to do touch and go landings.  I have heard them all day.  

  30. They are flying the entire state legislature  of Utah from the state capital grounds  over the Great Salt Lake in National Guard helos. 
    Just to see what they are dealing with. 
    I watched the TV news , there was the same ole winter  smog , but the Wasatch was dark in the back ground. 
    The Mormons  are coming to Jesus .  And the Powder Snow they once had is dead as Lincoln. 
    I saw that snow  when it was normal.  The flakes were bigger than  pop corn , and weighed nothing. 

    Exclusive: Experts say the term ‘drought’ may be insufficient to capture what is happening in the West

     
    https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/16/politics/west-drought-water-shortage-reclamation-touton-climate/index.html

     

     
     

  32. A word about the deposits in the Great Salt Lake. 
    This place is unlike the rest of the West.  There is wall behind their cities.  In winter the air just sits there.  And has for decades. 
    That lake bed is full of the copper mines , coal mines , car lead , and  weapons burning , and on and on.  
    These people are not  breathing just “dust” off that exposed lake bed .
    They are breathing the past of our failures . And they are running out of water. 
    Like I said , Time to come to Jesus. 

  38. I say Fuck it , let’s thin the herd , I’m an old man. you can’t gore my ox. 
    Do it, skin it , skin that smoke wagon. 

     https://youtu.be/Z8T6twc5MHU

  39. The Soviets/Russians have been active since before WWII probing and sniffing American stuff. As electronics have improved so has Soviet/Russian attempts to find a way to destroy America and the world.  Remember, and look back, almost all Soviet/Russian and Chinese spy work has been to copy American electronics.  We gave the Chinese our technology so that is over as a discussion point. 
     
    Any member of Congress trying to cover for Putin should be investigated, deeply, for their anti-American treachery.  Y’all know I detest Putin and the KGB/GSR/FSB/whatever.  I have a long and deep “relationship” with the bastards and goat f(&#$’s. All the embassy and military electronic attacks have been going on long before any of it became public.  VERY LONG BEFORE (emphasis just in case someone who is looking at this needs a kick in the head to contact me).
     
    The moral of the story is that Putin is KGB and still trying to make the former Soviet Union again.  Ukraine is toast unless President Biden and NATO makes good when Putin invades.

  42. https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-02-16-22-intl/index.html

    “Satellite images taken over the past two days show new road construction and a tactical bridge being built across a key river in Belarus less than four miles from the Ukrainian border, amid what sources say is an ongoing buildup of Russian military forces encircling three sides of Ukraine.”

    “Russia is building “bridges, field hospitals, all kinds of support infrastructure,” said one source familiar with the matter. “Which is why we aren’t really taking seriously their claims of de-escalation.”

    Fill up your gas tanks, make sure you have water, canned/dry goods and cash.

  43. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/16/politics/texas-lawsuit-biden-mask-mandate-travel/index.html

    “The state of Texas filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s mask mandate for public transport…”

    “Paxton, along with the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of US Rep. Beth Van Duyne, a Republican whose district includes the suburbs near Fort Worth and Dallas.”

    Van Duyne is tRUMPer.

    Once, again, Republicans are proving that they are not pro-life; they are the death party.

  44. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/16/politics/celeste-ann-wallander-russia-expert-confirmed-pentagon/index.html

    “The US Senate on Wednesday confirmed a key Russia expert to a top Pentagon post, as tensions remain high over Russia’s buildup of troops along Ukraine’s borders.”

    “The congressional approval comes after Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri had stalled her confirmation process last week despite the Russia-Ukraine crisis.”

    “Along with Wallander, Hawley had also blocked Department of Defense nominee David Honey. The Senate confirmed Honey in a 94-1 vote Wednesday as deputy under secretary of defense for research and engineering, almost a week after the Missouri Republican had placed his holds on their nominations.”

    “…Hawley is blocking confirmation of appointments that are “critical” to America’s national security at a time when several national security issues, including the tensions between Russia and Ukraine, are front and center.”

    “He’s blocking an awful lot of nominations that are pretty critical to America’s national security right now, while he’s also trying to criticize the administration’s national security posture, so I find that disturbing,” Kaine said.”

    Joshy sure seems like he’s on team Rusher.

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