Trump Supporters In The News This Week - Who Are They Really? Arpaio, Black Guy For Trump, Roger Stone, and Sam Clovis

The names and images flash past us quickly on the radio, TV, Facebook, Twitter, newspapers or wherever you get what passes for news these days.  There are so many different characters that most of us never really know who they are.   Here are a couple of Trump cronies you might want to know more about.

Joe Arpaio - Trump just pardoned Sheriff Joe.  How bad is he?  You already know about his racial profiling of Hispanics, and his role in pushing the Obama-is-a Kenyan bullshit. (Sorry, it's the right word), but there were other tricks too.  Here's a story from the Phoenix New Times* about how he staged an assassination attempt on himself including framing the fake assassin.

"In 1999, Arpaio's staff rigged the entire fake assassination plot – just so he could get his mug on TV.
News cameras were already rolling when deputies arrested Saville. Gullible TV reporters gobbled up Arpaio’s story about a local Unabomber who was plotting to kill America’s “toughest” sheriff.
In 2004, a jury found Saville innocent of all charges. Not only that, but it ruled that Arpaio’s minions helped buy the bomb parts themselves and “entrapped” Saville in a TV-ready murder plot.
Arpaio was re-elected just months after the jury verdict. (Journalists John Dougherty and Janna Bommersbach unraveled the tale in separate articles).
“Jurors listened in disbelief as testimony showed it was the sheriff’s money that purchased the bomb parts, and an undercover officer who drove Saville around to buy the parts,” Bommersbach wrote.
Records show that the final payment to Saville went out on August 28, 2008. The total $1.1 million that taxpayers spent to settle with him doesn't include money that the county attorney spent prosecuting him, or funds paid to deputies who worked long hours to frame him."

Here is the Phoenix New Times list of key stories they've written in the last 20 years on Arpaio.

*Since I didn't know this newspaper, I did check on line.  Wikipedia says that the Phoenix New Times has been reporting on Arpaio for a long time and the editors were arrested over an Arpaio story and the paper eventually won $3.75 million for false arrest.

Screen Shot from Daily Kos

Black Guy For Trump -  Maybe you saw this guy prominently behind Trump when he gave his 75 minute speech in Phoenix this week.  Well, here's some background on him from The Daily Kos.



That story links the website on his T-shirt in the picture.  Here's the first thing I saw there:

​​​ "The Real K K K Slave Masters Revealed, 2Thess.2:1-11 & they
are CHEROKEE Indians (Hidden Babylonians). The reason GOD​
YAHWEH chose TRUMP to be President is to be the  White & Black
Man's DELIVERER from the Babylon, like the Gentile  King CYRUS,
Isa.45:1-6!"

Roger Stone -  The other day, Fox News, among others, reported that Roger Stone

"'The people who are calling for his impeachment are the people who didn’t vote for him. They need to get over it. They lost. Their candidate had every advantage,' he said, pointing out that the Hillary Clinton campaign spent $2 billion dollars compared to the Trump campaign's $275 million.
'Sorry, he whipped her a**. It’s over. You lost,' Stone said. 'Try to impeach him. Just try it. You will have a spasm of violence in this country, an insurrection, like you’ve never seen.'

So who is this Roger Stone whose words are important enough to quote on Fox and other places?
If you have Netflix, find Get Me Roger Stone to see his life story starring Rogers Stone.  But if not, you can read the sordid tale on Wikipedia.  Here's a short excerpt:

"When he was a junior and vice president of the student government at a high school in northern Westchester County, New York, he manipulated the ouster of the president and succeeded him. Stone recalled how he ran for election as president for his senior year:
'I built alliances and put all my serious challengers on my ticket. Then I recruited the most unpopular guy in the school to run against me. You think that's mean? No, it's smart.' . . .
As a student at George Washington University in 1972, Stone invited Jeb Magruder to speak at a Young Republicans Club, then successfully asked Magruder for a job with Richard Nixon's storied Committee to Re-elect the President.[29] Stone then dropped out of college to work for the committee.[30]
Stone's political career began in earnest with activities such as contributing money to a possible rival of Nixon in the name of the Young Socialist Alliance—then slipping the receipt to the Manchester Union-Leader. He also got a spy hired by the Hubert Humphrey campaign who became Humphrey's driver. According to Stone, during the day he was officially a scheduler in the Nixon campaign, but: 'By night, I'm trafficking in the black arts. Nixon's people were obsessed with intelligence.'[31] Stone maintains he never did anything illegal during Watergate.[30]"

Image from Science 

Sam Clovis - Trump's nominee for for science advisor at the United States Department of Agriculture  (USDA) who will be in charge of $3 billion of research and education money.  No satirist could have made up a more ludicrous nominee.  Here's the Pro-Publica piece on Clovis.  A snippet:

"Clovis has never taken a graduate course in science and is openly skeptical of climate change. While he has a doctorate in public administration and was a tenured professor of business and public policy at Morningside College for 10 years, he has published almost no academic work.
Clovis is better known for hosting a conservative talk radio show in his native Iowa and, after mounting an unsuccessful run for Senate in 2014, becoming a fiery pro-Trump advocate on television."

You'll note it says he has a doctorate in public administration.  Since that's my field, I wanted to know where it was from.  Clovis' Linked in page says it's from Morningside College in Sioux City Iowa.  I checked Morningside College's website.  It says they have two graduate programs:  A masters in education and one in nursing.  It's Saturday, so I can't call Morningside College.  So there may be some explanation.  Maybe they had a program in the past.  But I couldn't find it on the website.

[UPDATED August 27, 2017:  Responding to Mike from Iowa - I should have given the link to the Clovis Linkedin page.  Here's a screen shot showing what is listed on education there.]

Calling Bullshit For Credit At UW - Or Bookstore Talks At UAA

Carl Bergstrom ( Biology), and Jevin West (Information School) are offering "Calling Bullshit."  Their website is worth looking at - they are posting all their materials. [I've fixed the link, sorry, not sure what I did the first time.]


Locally, the UAA bookstore is offering an interesting selection of speakers in September.  From an email from Rachel Epstein who organizes these things.  You can see the whole list through December.  (Click on Calendar when you get there.  Details if you click the individual talk.)

Thursday, September 7 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Author Heather Lende discusses The Local and Community in Small Town Alaska Politics 

Monday, September 11 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Dr. Sharon Emmerichs presents The Kingdom of our own Language: Language as Space and Nation in Shakespeare


Tuesday, September 12 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Conflicts and Climate Change with Dr. Frank Witmer and Dr. Jennifer Schmidt
At this event, Dr. Frank Witmer presents his research analyzing causes of violence in Sub-Saharan Africa and Dr. Jennifer Schmidt discusses climate adaptation in the Arctic and TUNDRA


Wednesday, September 13 from 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Darren Prokop presents his Book, Global Supply Chain Security and Management:  Appraising Programs, Preventing Crimes


Thursday, September 14 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Darrel Hess presents "Leave It To Beaver, Cocaine & God: My Journey to Community Engagement"

Friday, September 15 from 3:00 pm-5:00 pm
Dr. Shinian Wu presents Linguistic Challenges in Learning Chinese

Saturday, September 16 from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm
Dr. Sebastian Neumayer presents Fiber Infrastructure and Natural Disasters

Tuesday, September 19, from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Xuanyi Qu and Yang Liu present WeChat Culture and Functions in China
Saturday, September 23 from 1:00 pm-3:00 pm
Doug Vandegraft presents More Notorious Bars of Alaska
Tuesday, September 26 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Xiao Wang and Yuan Tian present Financial Management with Cellphones in China

Wednesday, September 27 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm
Artist Thomas Chung presents Art and Everything Else

Fathers And Sons: A Way Of Respectfully Resolving Disagreement

"Siddhartha said:  "With your permission, Father, I have come to tell you that I wish to leave your house tomorrow and join the ascetics.  I wish to become a Samana.  I trust my father will not object."
The Brahmin was silent so long that the stars passed across the small window and changed their design before the silence in the room was finally broken.  His son stood silent and motionless with his arms folded.  The father, silent and motionless, sat on the mat, and the stars passed across the sky.  Then his father said:  'It is not seemly for Brahmins to utter forceful and angry words, but there is displeasure in my heart.  I should not like to hear you make this request a second time.'
The Brahmin rose slowly.  Siddhartha remained silent with folded arms.
'Why are you waiting?' asked his father.
'You know why,' answered Siddhartha.
His father left the room displeased and lay down on his bed."

The father has trouble sleeping and gets up hourly and sees his son still standing arms folded.

"And in the last hour of the night, before daybreak, he returned again, entered the room and saw the youth standing there.  He seemed tall and a stranger to him.
'Siddhartha,' he said, 'why are you waiting?'
'You know why.'
'Will you go on standing and waiting until it is day, noon, evening?'
'I will stand and wait.'
'You will grow tired, Siddhartha.'
'I will grow tired.'
'You will fall asleep, Siddhartha.'
'I will not fall asleep.'
'You will die, Siddhartha.'
'I will die.'
'And would you rather die than obey your father?'
'Siddhartha has always obeyed his father.'
'So you will give up your project?'
'Siddhartha will do what his father tells him.'
The first light of day entered the room.  The Brahmin saw that Siddhartha's knees trembled slightly, but there was no trembling in Siddhartha's face;  his eyes looked far away.  Then the father realized that Siddhartha could no longer remain with him at home - that he had already left him.
The father touched Siddhartha's shoulder.
'You will go into the forest,' he said, 'and become a Samana.  If you find bliss in the forest, come back and teach it to me.  If you find disillusionment, come back, and we shall again offer sacrifices to the gods together.  Now go, kiss your mother and tell her where you are going."

These are not, of course, ordinary men.  Siddhartha went on to find enlightenment in the forest to become the Buddha.   But then everyone has the capacity to do extraordinary things.

The way they speak to each shows what true respect sounds like.  I particularly like the father's expression of displeasure:

 'It is not seemly for Brahmins to utter forceful and angry words, but there is displeasure in my heart.  I should not like to hear you make this request a second time.'

Just imagine our president saying these words to a New York Times reporter at a press conference.

This comes from the first chapter of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha.  Translated by Hilda Rosner.  You can read the whole book at Gutenberg.org , though it may be a different translator.

What Will It Take To Get Trump To Resign?

Why would he quit?  For the same sort of reasons Sarah Palin quit - it was too much work, too much hassle, and not enough compensation.  And trouble was ahead if she didn't.   Let's look at the pros and the cons.


Pros

• Gets lots of attention
• Foreign governments hoping to get deals from the US, patronize his businesses and approve his businesses' applications for permits and trademarks, etc.  
• Gets to be President of the US.  

Cons

• Can't get people do do what he wants them to do. (Health care, immigration, the wall, etc.)  At his company he didn't need approval for everything and if people didn't meekly do his bidding, he could fire them. If other organizations got in the way he could bribe them or sue them.  
• Everything he's doing is under scrutiny - from the media, from Congress, from Mueller's investigation, and various states and others.  
• He's stuck in DC and when he leaves he gets criticized for spending money for secret service. 
• Everyone is telling him what to do and how to do it.  He must hate that as we can see when he quickly goes off script.  For example somebody got him to read the Afghanistan speech which was so out of character  - "Can't we all just get along?" And the next night he's not getting along with anybody - ripping the press, Congress, protestors, etc.  
• His family is being investigated
• His businesses aren't being attended to properly 

I'm sure everyone can find things to add to each category.

But my point is, it didn't seem like he really wanted to be president from the beginning.  He just wanted to get lots of attention.  And now that he IS president, 'Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.'  And now, instead of getting out of Afghanistan, he's sending more troops.  And Mexico's not paying for the wall, and they won't even pretend they are for publicity sake.  And the Israelis and Palestinians haven't signed a peace deal yet.

He's not even talking to Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, who should be a staunch ally.


I suspect that all he needs now is a face-saving way to resign.  Here are some possibilities.

• A serious health issue - something that can go away after a respectable amount of 'treatment', but gives him a way to step down so as 'not to hold up the nation's business.'
• Some family crisis - someone else seriously ill,  or some major situation that he needs to attend to.  Maybe Trump properties around the world being attacked by terrorists, but then he might feel he can't give in to terrorists by stepping down, so that probably won't work
• A hugely lucrative job offer, or maybe he can be offered the ceremonial title of King that wouldn't require him to do more than preside at a few events per year

As you can see, I'm running out of ideas here.  There aren't many good reasons for someone to quit being president.  You can't be offered a more prestigious job (at least not before Trump became president), and people don't become president for the money.  

There'd be conditions if he resigned.  He'd want to have all investigations shut down and immunity from prosecution on anything.  I think the immunity could only cover things that happened before he left the presidency.   Immunity for his family too I'm sure.    I don't know that he'd want a Presidential library since it doesn't appear he reads anything longer than a tweet.  Maybe a Presidential Video Arcade.  

On the other hand, I'm not sure we wouldn't be better off waiting for the investigations to run their course and to see if impeachment hearings are warranted.  We'd learn much more about what he's hiding and I don't think the concessions are worth his leaving.  We'd just get Pence instead who would look much more presidential, but would do the same terrible things without tweeting what he was thinking and doing.  We're better off with a terrible president who acts terribly.  We've had plenty of terrible presidents who covered it up well.  

Moose Musings And Shiny New Bike Trail.

I figured it wasn't raining and the ground, while damp, wasn't splashy wet, so it was time to get on the bike before it started raining again.  Almost to the tunnel under Elmore, there was a moose in the path.

This is not an uncommon situation on the Anchorage bike paths.  This one saw me and kept moving into the brush.  But I wasn't sure if there was another one nearby.  It got about 15 feet off the trail and I decided that it was more interested in eating than chasing cyclists, so I went on by.

Further on I got to Campbell Airstrip Road and discovered the new bike path was completed.  There had been short stretches of bike path - a little on the east side for maybe half a mile up from Tudor and then a ways up more on the left side.  But like the road itself, it was in bad condition.  Earlier in the summer when I biked up here I saw them working on the road and what looked like a new bike path.  But since mid-July I had stuff to do downtown, so that took care of most of my biking and I realized I hadn't been up this way for about six weeks.

Well, now there's a spanking new bike trail, separated from the road.  As I enjoyed the crack and bump free trail, I also thought about why I sort of liked riding on the road.  This road dead ends and doesn't have a lot of traffic.  There are some trail heads, and after a few miles through the woods, there is a scattering of houses.  This is also bear country in the summer.  They like the salmon that come up Campbell Creek.  I have never seen a bear here, but this is their territory.  And this has been the summer of bears in Anchorage.  I've never seen so many people carrying bear spray on hikes and even on the bike trails in the middle of town.  So being on the road means that if I encounter a bear, there should be a car coming by within a couple of minutes.  But now much of the trail can't be seen from the road easily.

As I was thinking about all this I did encounter this cat, still clearing debris on the side of the trail

The new trail is done, pretty much.  They're still working on the road.  They both go just about to the bridge before the Campbell Airstrip Trailhead.  Here's a picture as I came back.  I was on the little bit of the old bike trail that's left.

The new trail ends where the saw horses are on the other side of the bridge.

So, as I was biking back home, I thought about whether the moose would still be in the area.  I also thought about the guy I heard on KSKA's New Arrivals program this morning.  He'd been in Anchorage about a month and he has a degree in assisting the blind.  Too bad my friend Lynne moved out of town last fall.  He sounds like he'd be a good resource.  But he mentioned seeing his first moose and swallowing a scream.

My experience is that most urban moose are used to humans as long as we act predictably.  We can pass by them pretty close - 5-10 feet even - if we stay on the trail, or the road, and just keep going in the direction we're headed.  The only time I've seen a moose charge someone was when a small crowd of people stopped on the bike trail and started getting closer to the moose to take pictures.  She did a fake charge and scared the hell out of them - one was a friend of mine who wouldn't listen to my pleas to get back.   (You reading this Doug?)

I'd recommend a much greater distance than five feet, but there have been plenty of times when I was running or biking and didn't see the moose as much as felt its presence as I was going by and then saw it as I turned my head.  It would just keep on eating.  Last winter I shoveled the driveway in the early morning darkness and when I got to the bottom and turned around, there were two moose eating the Mountain Ash tree just a few feet from the driveway.  I pulled back and let them wander off, before I went back up the driveway.

And earlier this summer I passed a mom and two calves.  The mother was right on the edge of the path, but by the time I saw her, it was too late to stop and there wasn't any other way to go, so I just rolled on by.

So I was thinking all this as I came out of the tunnel near where I'd seen the moose earlier and there it was again on the trail.

This time, there was an easy detour that would get me back onto the trail just beyond where the moose was and I took it.  [Well, it was available the first time too, but I would have had to backtrack and the moose was calmly eating far enough off the trail anyway.]

And as I kept riding, I kept thinking about moose and bikes, and I suddenly realized that there was another moose about five feet to my left as I rode past.  The moose didn't even wiggle its ears as I went by.  I didn't stop to take a picture of that one.

Press Release: Alaska's 'Independent' Gov Walker and Lt. Gov Mallott File To Run Again

 I get a fair number of press releases, but I'd don't normally put them up here, but this one is a good example of what the media get from people who want some media attention.   And it's interesting news - particularly for people outside of Alaska.  

Last time round, Walker was running as an independent and Mallott was running as a Democrat.  They both saw from the poll numbers, that if they continued that way, the incumbent governor, Sean Parnell, who came into office when Sarah Palin resigned, would win.  So they paired up and ran as a team and won.  A lesson for others trying to figure out how to win in a red state if you aren't red.  And

a lesson in bi-partisan ship at its finest.  And in 2016, the Democrats got control of the state house, which meant that the Republicans couldn't do whatever they wanted.  But there are still big struggles over budgeting with declining oil revenue and the Senate steadfastly opposes an income tax to make up for the lost oil money.

The picture is from my first post of their 2014 media conference to announce their partnership.

Here's a link to my second post of the media conference they held in 2014 to announce their joint campaign when I'd had time to edit and upload the video of each of them.

So here's today's press release:

"Bill Walker and Byron Mallott File for Reelection

On Monday, August 21, 2017, Bill Walker and Byron Mallott filed for reelection at the Division of Elections in Juneau, Alaska for the offices of governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. The incumbents once again filed as non-partisan candidates, commonly referred to as "independent". A lifelong Republican, Walker changed his affiliation to non-partisan in 2014. Mallott will maintain his affiliation as a Democrat. Their administration is currently the only independent administration in the United States.
Bill Walker and Byron Mallott are lifelong Alaskans born into the Territory of Alaska. Each served as mayors of their communities as young leaders in their twenties. Walker worked as a carpenter, teamster and laborer during the construction of the TransAlaska Pipeline. He was a businessman and oil and gas and municipal attorney prior to becoming governor.

Walker said of seeking reelection: "Serving as governor for the people and state I love has been the honor of a lifetime. This is a job that requires the kind of hard work and tough decision making I have always faced. Byron Mallott and I have refused to put off the difficult decisions because doing so would jeopardize future generations. We believe that independent leadership that relentlessly puts Alaska's priorities first is critical to finishing the work we have started to stabilize and build Alaska."

Byron Mallott has worked for or with almost every governor since Statehood. He has served as the Executive Director of the Alaska Permanent Fund and as the President of the Alaska Federation of Natives.
"The prosperity of our people and our state depends on putting the needs of Alaska above personal aspirations, and politically comfortable decisions," Mallott noted. "This is how Governor Walker and I have led the state.  Alaska's path to a strong future hangs on the decisions made in the next four years."

In order to appear on the November 2018 general election ballot, each candidate will gather 3,213 signatures.  The candidates will run separate campaigns until the collected signatures are submitted on August 21, 2018 - the date of the primary election. As separate candidates, they can participate in shared campaign activities so long as each candidate shares an equal cost of the activity and files a shared campaign activity form with the Alaska Public Offices Commission."

I'd note that if I do put up a press release, or parts of one, I always let you know what I'm doing.  You might check what other news sources say about this and see if they tell you where the news comes from and how much they repeat verbatim.

Comparative History Lessons

Enough has been said about whether statues are erected as history lessons or to honor people who protected collective values.  I don't think it's hard to see through the rhetoric of those discussions.

But I'd like to share this tidbit about comparative history teaching, from South AfricanTrevor Noah's Born A Crime.

"In Germany, no child finishes high school without learning about the Holocaust.  Not just the facts of it but the how and the why and the gravity of it - what it means.  As a result, Germans grow up appropriately aware and apologetic.  British schools treat colonialism the same way, to an extent.  Their children are taught the history of the empire with a kind of disclaimer hanging over the whole thing.  “Well, that  was shameful, now wasn’t it?” 

In South Africa, the atrocities of apartheid have never been taught that way.  We weren’t taught judgment or shame.  We were taught history the way it’s taught in America.  In America, the history of racism is taught like this:  “There was slavery and then there was Jim Crow and then there was Martin Luther King Jr. and now it’s done.”  It was the same for us.  “Apartheid was bad.  Nelson Mandela was freed.  Let’s move on.”  Facts, but not many, and never the emotional or moral dimension."

For those who need more clarification on how the US has treated slavery and its aftermath, I refer you to some posts I made on the book White Rage.
Part I   Looks at how the Supreme Court essentially nullified the rights blacks had won with the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th and 14th Amendments.
Part II  follows up with a list of court decisions and their practical implications,  and
Part III, which looks at more modern times - the great migration of blacks from the South, Brown v. Board of Education and its aftermath, and up to today with our Attorney General who was born in Selma, Alabama in time to be embroiled on the white side of the civil rights movement.

Nice To Be Back Online - ACS, The Good And The Not So Good

There was no internet yesterday morning when I got up.  The wifi worked, but there was not internet.

I called ACS (Alaska Communications) and B had me unplug and plug and reset and nothing worked.  

• That's all I can do, I'll set up a problem ticket (or whatever he called it) and they'll check it from here. If they can't fix it, someone will come to your house?
• Today?
• Probably not, we're really busy now.  

Not today (it was Friday) didn't sound good, but I'm supposed to be a resilient person.  I can go to the library to use the internet.  And less time online is good.  

After a couple of hours I called in.  The voicemail actually identified that I had a problem ticket and sent me to S.  She explained that I was on the list, but that they were busy.  

Had they done the internal check or not?  Yes, and someone had to come to the house.  Today?  Probably not.  Do they come over the weekend?  I don't think so.  

Much better if you click to enlarge and focus

After I explained that I'd been waiting around and no one had called to tell me the status, she apologized.  

So I went to the library, sat in the parking lot and checked my email and put up yesterday's post.   Visited a friend, walked to the bridge from the Prospect Heights trailhead,  went to dinner at Thai Kitchen, and went to a Reflection service at Temple Beth Sholom where we heard from a number of speakers - someone from the FBI, from the governor's office, a Presbyterian pastor, a local assembly member (Forrest Dunbar), and a Muslim doctor, all reflecting on Charlottesville and Anchorage.  There was some food and discussion.  A positive and encouraging way to move forward.  

So this morning, when I was doing some yoga stretching - I should be doing these several times a week, but even once every ten days or so is better than nothing - there was a knock on the door.  The ACS man wanted to check the connection.  He was there maybe 20 minutes before he knocked again.  He checked the modem and decided we needed a new one.  He got it all set up, called in to reset the modem name and password, and I was back, connected to the new modem.

But no connection to the internet.  D was good.  I had told him I was told no one worked on the weekend and he smiled and said, us old guys still do.  But it wouldn't work.  He said he would have to go back to the office and fix it from there.  A bunch of calls later, tweaking this and that, and I'm now back on line.  

Since I wasn't expecting any help until at least Monday, I'm happy to be reconnected.  Everyone was polite enough, they just didn't know much.  But D wasn't going to let go of my case until things were working again,  

So now I've got a bunch of things to do that I have been pushed to the side while the internet connection got fixed.  But it did get fixed.  

Here's a picture of a monk's hood from yesterday's hike - one of my favorite Alaskan flowers  Such a beautiful shape and color.  

  

She Stands By Her Man - Both of Them

So Axios had a couple of posts up yesterday, one after the other.

The first was about Sen. McConnell and Trump feuding.  They show McConnell's tweet supporting Sen. Flake's reelection a few hours after Trump tweeted his support for Flake's opponent in the Republican primary.  Then they go on to explain why it matters.

McConnell, who was reportedly livid with the way the president handled the violence in Charlottesville, has been engaged in an ongoing feud with Trump following the president's series of tweets criticizing the Majority Leader's performance. McConnell's latest statement in support of Flake only adds fuel to the fire.

Their earlier post which was the immediately before the McConnell piece was titled :

"White House calls it quits on Infrastructure Council"

Screenshot from Axios

And had this picture:


The woman on the right is Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation, who probably could use the political support of an Infrastructure Committee.  But more than that, she's also Mitch McConnell's wife.

What I didn't know until I googled Elaine Chao to double check her position in the Trump administration, was that after this press conference, she was asked about Trump's tweets that criticize her husband.  Her answer:

"I stand by my man - both of them."

NPR Adopts Simplistic "Good People"/"Bad People" Dichotomy

The use of terms like 'good guys' and 'bad guys' in political discourse has increased over the years.  That oversimplification of terms is reminiscent of Hollywood's white and black cowboy hats and the religious dichotomy of good and evil.  

Life isn't that simple.  First of all, people are either good or bad.  Most are a mix of morally positive and negative behaviors.  In Born A Crime, Trevor Noah writes about his step-father Abel who gets nasty when he's drunk.  

"The Abel who was likable and charming never went away.  He had a drinking problem, but he was a nice guy.  We had a family.  Growing up in a home of abuse, you struggle with the notion that you can love a person you hate, or hate a person you love.  It's a strange feeling.  You want to live in a world where someone is good or bad, where you either hate them or love them, but that's not how people are."

Lots of intercommunications experts (for example) tell people to talk about behaviors rather than to talk about their character.

So it's depressing to hear hear this sort of language on NPR, where they like to think of themselves as having a somewhat higher standard of reporting.  Their code of ethics talks about their guiding principles:

"Our journalism is as accurate, fair and complete as possible. Our journalists conduct their work with honesty and respect, and they strive to be both independent and impartial in their efforts. Our methods are transparent and we will be accountable for all we do."

Those principles include Impartiality:

"We have opinions, like all people. But the public deserves factual reporting and informed analysis without our opinions influencing what they hear or see. So we strive to report and produce stories that transcend our biases and treat all views fairly. We aggressively challenge our own perspectives and pursue a diverse range of others, aiming always to present the truth as completely as we can tell it."

Yes NPR too slips into the simplistic and dichotomous thinking of 'good people' and 'bad people' too.
[An abbreviated excerpt from the audio interview.]

Rachel Martin:  The president said there were good people on both sides, did you see them?
UVA Professor  and 'presidential historian' Michele Hemmer:  The people who came on behalf of the white nationalists were not good people. . .  Among the counter protesters there were plenty of good people, but not among the white nationalists.  

I realize they were working off of things Trump said.  (Though I could find 'very fine people' in his recent discussion rather than 'good people.')  But rather than fall into the trap of adopting this good/bad dichotomy themselves, it would be better to step back and point out how simplistic and misleading it is.  Thinking about Trevor's step-father, I'm wondering about the 'plenty of good people' among the counter protesters.  Are they good because they are against racism?  Are they being labeled 'good people' because of what they are doing on that day?  Do any of them get drunk and beat their spouses and children?  Would that disqualify them form being 'good people'?

Not only are they simplifying human complexity, they are also dropping their impartiality to make a judgment call about the morality of the marchers and counter-marchers.  Not about the morality of their actions, but whether they are 'good' or 'bad' people.

What I want to know is why these men have adopted white supremacy as their guiding principle.  Do they believe it?  Do they do this simply because it makes others angry?  Do they feel so isolated and unloved in their lives that espousing white supremacy is a way to justify why people don't like them?   Not only is that a much more nuanced way of thinking about the neo-nazi marchers, but it's the only way we, as a society, can start to figure out how to locate people who are vulnerable to this path and how to rescue them before they swallow this poison.

OK, I know these terms are a short hand.  Radio news formats allow a limited amount of time to tell the story.  But the more we use this short hand, the more we also think it.  And as soon as we put someone in the 'bad person' category, we're less concerned about what happens to them.  That's why we allow terrible things to happen in prisons.  It also inoculates 'good people' from harm when they do terrible things.