So, I'm moving on to freedom of speech, if you don't mind indulging my rant.
I began the day fuming over the fact that the Democrats are seriously considering shielding the whistleblowers' names from their Republican counterparts. What have we come to as a country when fear that the President's rhetoric will inspire violence causes one half of a Committee to distrust the other to that extent?
Are they over-reacting? Consider the fact that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford moved four times..... for her own safety.
A friend of Little Cuter's called out flagrant cheating in an SAT exam room. There are still those who harbor ill-will toward this righteous young woman for outing her peers. How much easier everything would have been had her name been kept out of it. Her identity didn't add anything to the case; her experience would certainly chill any further revelations.
I spent the morning stewing over this, then Big Cuter led me to Daryl Morey's tweet - Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong - which led to China severing all ties to the NBA, which led the NBA to issue this tweet -
which led my son, along with a variety of interwebs typists, to wonder why the NBA and the Rockets cannot support people who are resisting the imposition of Chinese will.
But that's not the point.
The Chinese are pulling away from the NBA because one of its employees exercised his right of free speech. I'm glad that "the values of the league support individuals' educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them," but I wish that sentence had ended with a reminder that these rights are enshrined in our Bill of Rights, that free speech is a hallmark of our side of the cultural divide, and that no amount of money can sway our dedication to defending it.
Yes, it's billions of dollars.
It's also a statement to the world.
Today, more than ever, that is needed. The NBA could be out in front on this..... or, not.
And that's where this post ended until Big Cuter alerted me to another situation, this one heating up the parts of the interwebs where those younger and hipper than I lurk.
After a Hong Kong based esports player voiced support for the protesters - Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age! - the sponsoring firm, Blizzard Enterprises, barred him from competing for a year and zeroed out his account, effectively taking back the $10,000 he had already won.
There's that pesky First Amendment again, butting in where it's not wanted.
A quick scan of the links show a generally peeved audience, suddenly questioning the woke-ness of their world. It seems that they are clothed in the same cloak of faux righteousness as the NBA.
Who'd a thunk it?
And that's where this post ended until Big Cuter alerted me to another situation, this one heating up the parts of the interwebs where those younger and hipper than I lurk.
After a Hong Kong based esports player voiced support for the protesters - Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age! - the sponsoring firm, Blizzard Enterprises, barred him from competing for a year and zeroed out his account, effectively taking back the $10,000 he had already won.
There's that pesky First Amendment again, butting in where it's not wanted.
A quick scan of the links show a generally peeved audience, suddenly questioning the woke-ness of their world. It seems that they are clothed in the same cloak of faux righteousness as the NBA.
Who'd a thunk it?
The whole thing about betraying the Kurds again makes me ill. Why would anyone be an ally to us?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why anyone would trust anything unless it was the result of a pre-Trump relationship.
Deletea/b
Outrage is on both sides. When I go to FB now, I find about equal levels of rage from the right and the left. Unlike many, I have friends on both sides o9f the big divide. As a moderate, I offend them both so usually keep my opinions to myself.
ReplyDeleteOne thought on the Kurds. We don't know what is going on right now but get the pictures and opinions. We though have more been their ally than them ours. It is their land and we have helped them-- not so much when Saddam gassed them in the late 1980s as an act of genocide. This region is not simple and the people are ones we don't know but the Kurds were fighting ISIS not for us but for themselves and their land. It doesn't mean we should not protect them but the fiery rhetoric, which was all over TV yesterday, isn't helping anybody.
With grandsons moving rapidly toward adulthood, I totally relate to Trump's concern that we don't lose lives over there for something that is age old and that we can only police but not solve like between the Sunnis and Shiites. The Western world screwed it up for them in breaking up the Ottoman Empire for the benefit of the West.
i am a big believer in controlling our emotional reactions by sometimes controlling what we read-- when we can do nothing about it. It's clear that GOP leaders want to stay in continual war in the Middle East where we regularly have our young people killed or maimed-- but not enough to make the press. Who profits from those continual wars. With no plan for how we get out, is it just okay when it's someone else's sons or grandsons and now granddaughters?
All your points are so much more well reasoned than anything this President considered. He is in business with Erdogan. He is the puppet of Putin. This action benefits both of them and damages our reputation, which also benefits them.
DeleteI, too, have friends on the other side. The ones who are paying attention are disturbed by "a favor, though...." The ones who believe it's all fake news (even though released by Trump himself) are beyod saving, I fear.
The worst result of all of this is the embedding of the notion of Fake News in the consciousness of so many Americans. Facts are facts, except in their world.
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Getting facts has been hard for a while. I saw it with NYTimes where they'd have a headline that suggested one thing but read the story and it wasn't what happened. Many never read more than the headlines. I tend to be more concerned lately about the democratic candidates and their issues. One will win. What will they do if they win the election also? I can't really get a clue about say Biden as he runs on jokes, insults toward trump and that he's Obama's guy. So what does that mean he'll do on so many important issues? I am not big on getting upset about things I can't change. A lot of what trump has done i agree with but his personality has been the issue all along.
ReplyDeleteYeah, don't get me started on the NYTimes which couldn't even get my age right, let alone other details.
DeleteI find that my friends/acquaintances are either absorbed in it or ignoring it. Few if any fall in the middle.
Every time I hear Mayor Pete he gets to the nub of the issue in a way that I can follow. I wish he had 10 more years; there are things that experience provides.
And now it has moved from His personality being the issue to asking a foreign government to interfere in our election- exactly what the Founding Fathers worried about when they wrote the impeachment clause.
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Mayor Pete lost me when he said he wanted the draft again. No thanks, I lived through that before and no way do I want our government able to wage unpopular wars and demand a generation pay for it with their lives. My guy was Governor Bullock but the DNC has worked to keep out those they don't like as well based on polls they conduct.
ReplyDeleteI do not think trump was using the request the way it's being painted about the campaign. Frankly, i think he probably wanted Biden as easier to knock down in debates given how he performs in them. I think it was the other glitch in his personality-- he wants revenge whens someone has insulted or ridiculed him. Biden bragged in June on tape about holding back money to get a prosecutor fired and in 6 hours it happened. That irked trump in my opinion and was on his mind when he talked to the new president. He also resented how the left politicians seem to get away with no investigations (now I've heard that more money was going to Biden kin due to his influence). Trump's inability to let such things go is a major weakness and he again and again shoots himself in the foot for it.
Bullock, as a level headed and temperament-ed leader, would have been good against trump in a debate as a governor who could get elected in a red state and could work with those not of his party. DNC won't give him a chance. And that is why I am no longer a member of a party-- either of them.
WYes, he wants revenge and he’s afraid of Biden. But he made receiving US aid and a White House visit contingent on “a favor, though” . And that is a crime, a crime he repeated on the conversation he released - so no accusing the Deep State (which keeps this country running, btw) - and then didn’t did the thing on the lawn, asking China for the same thing. The rules are the rules and he broke them . that cannot stand.
ReplyDeleteAnd he has no standing to bitch about officials’ kids reaping financial benefits - which I agree is a bad thing - when Ivanka is collecting Chinese licenses the way she collects shoes.
I’m an Independent , btw.
a/b
They call it unaffiliated up here. Trump has personality flaws-- no doubt. They are why despite my dislike for Hillary, I voted for her. I do not see in the letter any quid pro quo and have seen that the money was withheld earlier. He asked for the favor in connection with corruption, which I guess is rife in Ukraine and mentioned Biden later. but it was really about investigating and if Biden did nothing wrong, investigations find nothing. And the issue with Hunter was that he had no qualifications. I do not think Biden will be the dems best shot but they'll do what they want as I don't get to vote in primaries once I no longer was one. This year, I am not sorry but that was as lifetime of being a dem. I dislike what they do but sure don't want to be a GOPer either. I'd like a third option lol
ReplyDeleteThere doesn’t have to be a quid pro quo. Merely asking another country for help is the crime. Bill Taylor’s text message, after being told to Call Me rather than continue the conversation with a written record, linking the aid to political dirt dug up by a foreign power (if there were to be any dirt, whichever has never been found btw) gives you your quid pro quo, tho, if you need one.
ReplyDeletePeter Engel did a compressive review of the whole thing, including the roles of the prosecutors. There is So much corruption it’s hard to keep track, isn’t it? But this show did a great job of laying it all out.
And then there’s the shadow diplomacy of Rudy, the canning of my hero, Ambassador Voyanovich, and the fact that the only winner here is Putin.
Well, we'll see but I think it depends on whether the asking for help is about his campaign or our country. That's where this will be battled-- and likely decided on partisanship.
ReplyDeleteEven now, I come across the trolls all the time at FB where both sides put up these hate-filled memes, only meant to divide our country. The outside influence is still with us. Looking into from where it came is valid and should be done-- since it's not all inside this country.
A lot think FB influenced the election in '16, I disagree. I think most there get what they already like and ignore or hide what they don't. Social media does us more personal damage, with encouraging rate or fear, than leading to votes since most vote based on their own bubbles. Places like this where someone can post another viewpoint, without being attacked, are rare.
rage or fear lol
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU!!!
ReplyDeleteI want The Burrow to be a safe den. I'm glad you find it so.
<3
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