It ceased to matter long ago whether Trump’s claims bore any resemblance to the truth. At least a third of Americans can reliably be counted on to believe some version of Trump’s whoppers and Trump well knows this. Pointing out that the President is either lying or has no idea what he’s talking about has, in consequence, come to mean exactly nothing. That alone spells the end of democracy. If facts don’t matter, if reason doesn’t count, if truth telling and accountability are out the window, no deliberation, no debate, no evaluation of candidates and policies is possible. That was exactly Trump’s goal. The first and only important victim in tyranny, as the ancient Greeks pointed out, is truth. And so we have escalating tariffs against Canada (with whom the US has a sizeable trade surplus) and ramped up policing and incarceration (when crime rates have never been so low) and all the rest of the assaults on common sense and decency (making cosy with thugs, dictators, gangsters and pimps).
(photo courtesy of pixabay.com and alefolsom)
(photo of the beach at Cassandra, Greece courtesy of pixabay.com and vasiliskritos)
(quoted in an article in the Guardian about James Hansen, the climate scientist who predicted 30 years ago in an appearance before Congress that we would continue to heat up, like a frog in a pot of water over a fire. In 1988, humans produced 20 bn tons of carbon as carbon dioxide; in 2017, it was 32 bn tons. )
More lies from a lying liar.
There is no excuse for listening to a man who uses the tools of propaganda instinctively, repeatedly, easily: repetition; a catchy slogan; color; a specific objective; a kernel of truth; concealment; and timing. (quoted from who knows where.)
There is usually a kernel of truth in every propaganda statement (that is, everything that escapes Donald’s lips), and his latest statement includes that as well as first, a catchy, colorful slogan: “they could be murderers and thieves” (which also happens to be, objectively, true: there is a finite probability of some of the immigrants being previously convicted of homicide or just plain theft.)
The specific objective is to frighten people who are willing to listen to him, even if they don’t believe him. Even a die-hard liberal could be sobered by hearing that: “they could be murderers and thieves” and thinking, you know, objectively, he’s right: a tiny percentage of the immigrants are murderers or just plain theft committers. It takes time to think of the objective contrary: most of the immigrants are fleeing from murderers (or spouse abusers) and have had things stolen from them on the way.
The factor of concealment is to hide the fact that the immigration authorities at the lowest level have bought into a frankly brutal treatment, dictated from the top with no precedent (despite his claim of Democratic laws requiring his actions), of immigrants without documents who have been apprehended: they charge every adult with a federal misdemeanor (or a felony if they can identify repeat crossers) and detain each one, then they separate the adults from the minors and send the minors to non-profit protective agencies who house them, currently about 11,000 of them, unable to communicate with their parents, and not likely to be released back on the other side of the border at the same time and in the same place as them.
The factor of timing is that he has made this announcement, or propaganda statement, at a critical time in the argument over his policy: many Republicans, even Laura Bush, have denounced him in the past few days. Sessions has already weighed in with the Biblical testament that justifies slavery. Even Evangelicals are upset.
And, well, repetition: just by announcing that I’m going to analyze the statement, I’ve already repeated it once.
(image courtesy of pixabay.com)
(photo taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968 while in lunar orbit reproduced in NYTimes: “Earth Will Survive. We May Not.” Dr. Adam Frank June 12, 2018)
(photo courtesy of pixabay.com and WikiImages)
(photo courtesy of pixabay.com and Free-Photos)
quoted from “Elements of Surprise” article in New Scientist by David Ings.
(blushing panda courtesy of pixabay.com and OpenClipart-Vectors)
An article in New Scientist reports that the Antarctic is now losing ice at a rate that tracks close to the worst-case scenario described by the 2013 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change– a rate that will cause sea levels to rise by 150 mm from Antarctic ice loss alone by 2100. The scientific study that reported these numbers also showed a slight increase in the ice content of the Eastern peninsula, nowhere near enough to compensate for the huge loss from the Western Antarctic.
As recently as 2012, scientists thought that the Antarctic would not suffer any ice loss in the twenty-first century. Then new research revealed huge and growing losses, and in the last year, the losses have been quantified at three trillion tons net in the last twenty-five years. What is worse, the rate of ice loss is increasing– it has apparently tripled in the last five years.
In a paradoxical situation, Mr. Trump is probably convinced that North Korea wants trade deals with the US, when in fact they want nothing of the sort. What they really want is to trade with China, a natural ally because of their similar governmental systems. When you look at current North Korean trade, virtually all of it is with China– and it had been severely restricted last year… but suddenly, just before the summit with Kim and Trump together, trade increased dramatically, back to relatively normal levels. If in addition, financing can be had from Chinese banks, the North Koreans will be able to build their economy and strengthen the current ruling regime rather than suffering the otherwise inevitable collapse of their government if the recent trade restrictions were to continue.
Thus Mr. Trump ensures the survival of the national government with the worst human rights record in the world, according to the United Nations.
