Author: whskyjack

By Whskyjack, a Trail Mix Contributor

It’s time for a break from all the nasty stuff that passes for politics this election

Let’s take time to look at the big picture.

Last weekend the Hispanic church that is our neighborhood partner did their annual Fiesta de Ninos.   A celebration of their children.   From what I understand it is a big deal in Mexico and It is something we don’t do. We have mother’s day and father’s day but no day set aside just for our children.

They all had a great time and at the end the church passed out the book bags filled with school supplies that you all helped to buy.

Today as I looked at all the pictures  I was  reminded of what this election is really about. It is not really about me or other people my age.  It is ultimately about the future of these children.

Their parents know this and work hard at low paying jobs. They sacrifice. Do without so they can get their children in to better schools. As an example, Veronica, a friend and neighbor,  lives in a house that has no flooring, just the bare subfloors but her children are in good private schools and are going on to college. Carpeting can wait.

So let’s take a few moments to celebrate life.

Cause I gotta admit, in spite of all the nastiness we hear on TV, from where I was standing this weekend the future is looking good.

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By WhskyJack, a Trail Mix Conributor

Barry Ritholtz in his Bloomberg column has a good discussion of the uses and impact of Agnotology. (Agnotology: Culturally constructed ignorance, purposefully created by special interest groups working hard to create confusion and suppress the truth)

He lists a number of examples from Global warming deniers to antivaxers. It also occurred to me that HRC was also a victim. It is why many of her supporters look at those who attack her as if they have a third eye in their forehead.

It is HRC’s biggest problem and how you combat it is beyond me. Facts and reason don’t seem to work.

As Barry’s summation points out facts and truth are important for a Democracy to make good choices. When they are thrown out the window maybe we are screwed.

I’m not sure how to approach this but I will start with these quotes:

“Maybe we can persuade people to change their minds by marshaling facts and making arguments to rebut negative attacks. But that doesn’t work for everyone. You can’t just talk someone into trusting you. You’ve got to earn it. So, yes, I could say that I sometimes sound careful with my words is not because I’m hiding something it’s just that I’m careful with my words. I believe what you say actually matters. I think that’s true life, and that’s especially true if you’re president.” — Hillary Clinton in a speech given June 27th 2016

“Thirdly and perhaps most significantly, we now live in a post-factual democracy. When the facts met the myths they were as useless as bullets bouncing off the bodies of aliens in a HG Wells novel.” — Nicholas Barrett, a young British millennial reacting to the insane Brexit vote.
“Fed up millennials speak out,” Financial Times, June 24, 2016

Definition: Post-factual democracy, a democracy in which ignorance and irrationality hold sway over facts and reason.

I want to thank Pat for the HRC quote. It helped me pull this together in my mind. Notice that HRC believes that the truth will eventually win, so did many people in the Republican party. But you can see where they are at now. So far Nicholas is right, the stop Trump movement looks like the army against the aliens all of their weapons have proved useless.

Ritholtz: “Democracy is based on the concept of a marketplace of ideas. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes described the “free trade in ideas” within “the competition of the market.” By the time voters head to the polls, the participants will have chewed over the finer points, the details will be well known to all and, for the most part, everyone more or less understands what’s at stake.

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Note from Craig: WhskyJack could use our help for a worthy cause — School supplies for kids in his neighborhood.

By WhskyJack, a Trail Mix Contributor

So Donald’s aide pulled a reporter out of his face after she aggressively pushed passed his security. LoL

I wonder how many bruises her elbows left on her fellow reporters as she worked her way into position?

I don’t think that is going to lose him any votes.

If he had punched her in the face, stomped on her a while? Maybe.

For Trump supporters this is just the establishment faking up a controversy to drag down their candidate.

In my opinion there is more than just a little faux outrage going on here. But then that is the modern campaign.

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Trump, Abortion Foe, Eyes ‘Punishment’ for Women, Then Recants (NYT)

By Craig — Trump walking back abortion punishment statement recalls Bush Sr. on punishing women who get abortions (1988): “Of course there’s got to be some penalties to enforce the law, whatever they may be.”

Unlike with Trump, GOP elites rushed to the microphones to revise, extend and clarify Bush’s remark.