Everyday Erinyes #374

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 3:12 pm Politics

Jun 112023

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Heaven knows what is happening with Donald Trump** these days is truly unprecedented in the history of the U.S., and maybe in any country’s history. There are plenty of nations which have been betrayed and/or abused by their leaders; some have faced accountbility, others not so much. Donald can be happy (if he even knows how to be happy) that he is not Charles I of England, nor Louis XVI of France, nor Nicholas II of Russia. But one thing there is a precedent for is running for President against a former colleague (I put it that was because this story includes a matchup between a former President against the prsimptive nominee his former VP rather than the other way around.)
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Mike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss

Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence appear together in November 2020.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Shannon Bow O’Brien, The University of Texas at Austin

Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to declare his candidacy for president on June 5, 2023 – placing him in unusual ranks.

While 18 of the 49 former vice presidents have gone on to run for president, it’s rare for vice presidents to run against their former bosses. Six of these former vice presidents, including President Joe Biden, were ultimately elected president.

Pence, alongside other candidates, officially announced his bid on June 7.

Pence and former President Donald Trump have had a complicated relationship. Pence’s devout conservative evangelical Christianity was a crucial ingredient in helping carry Trump to victory in 2016.

But Trump blames Pence for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and has said he is angry with him for certifying the 2020 election results. Pence remained trapped at the Capitol during the attack, which Trump did nothing to try to end.

There are only a few other times in American history that are vaguely similar to the unfolding battle over who will become the Republican presidential nominee. Both were extraordinarily bitter, and centuries later, their strife still makes historians and experts on the presidency – including myself – raise eyebrows.

A man with white hair looks to his side at a man with an open mouth and light white hair who is speaking. — Mike Pence, left, is the second vice president to run against his former boss for election.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Name-calling in 1800

There is one other time in history when a vice president ran against the president he served with in office.

In the election of 1800, Vice President Thomas Jefferson challenged incumbent President John Adams. Adams had won the presidency in 1796, and Jefferson was runner-up, making him vice president. Until 1804, the person who came in first in a presidential election became commander in chief, while the person who brought in the second-most votes became vice president.

Jefferson, though, wanted the top job.

And so when Adams ran for reelection, Jefferson ran against him in one of the most notorious races in American history.

Jefferson’s allies called Adams “a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

An Adams ally with the pseudonym of Burleigh, meanwhile, offered an omen if Jefferson won the presidency: “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed, the soil will be soaked with blood, and the nation black with crimes,” Burleigh wrote.

The two used proxies to level vicious personal attacks against one another in the press. But neither one gained the advantage. The election ended in an Electoral College tie. This set up what is sometimes known as the Revolution of 1800 – the very first time one group in political power peacefully ceded that power to another group, based on the results of an election.

Jefferson emerged victorious from the election.

A black and white photo shows a large room filled with people, in a stadium like setting. — A view of the Republican National Convention in June 1912, when William Howard Taft was nominated to serve on the ticket.
PhotoQuest/Getty Images

‘Dumber than a guinea pig’ in 1912

But there is another point in history that is similar to the Trump vs. Pence race that is about to get underway.

Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency after the death of President William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt was reelected in 1904 and decided to leave office in 1909, rather than seek another term.

Roosevelt endorsed William Howard Taft, his secretary of war, for president. And Taft won the race easily.

But Roosevelt grew unhappy with the Taft administration, as he felt it was not upholding his beliefs that the president should do what is necessary for the good of the country, as long as it is not explicitly forbidden by law.

In one instance, the Taft administration filed a lawsuit against U.S. Steel Corporation for violating antitrust laws that prevent unlawful mergers or other business practices.

Roosevelt went into a fury. Other factors were at play, but he had personally approved the steel company’s trust and viewed Taft’s actions as a personal attack against himself and his administration’s legacy.

Roosevelt challenged Taft for the Republican nomination and ran against him in 1912. The former president dusted off his bully pulpit and used his rhetorical knives to their maximum advantage against Taft.

In the spring of 1912, Roosevelt referred to Taft as a “fathead,” “puzzlewit” and “dumber than a guinea pig.”

Taft then used the term puzzlewit in a humorous, self-deprecating way to draw attention to what he felt were failures of Roosevelt. This included Roosevelt’s opposition to treaties with Great Britain and France.

Taft also said in a 1912 campaign speech in Ohio that, “I hold that the man is a demagogue and a flatterer who comes out and tells the people that they know it all. I hate a flatterer. I like a man to tell the truth straight out, and I hate to see a man try to honeyfuggle the people by telling them something he doesn’t believe.”

The 1912 Chicago Republican Convention, where the two faced off, was one of the most raucous in history. Taft and Roosevelt supporters even got into into fistfights.

The Republican Party leadership ultimately backed Taft. And Roosevelt, in dramatic fashion, removed his supporters from the convention after a speech, in which he declared, “… we stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord!”

Then, Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party and split Republicans, paving the way for Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s presidential win.

No other time exactly like it

Pence’s decision to run against Trump has no direct equivalent in American history.

This election cycle will break new ground and help establish future expected norms – in part because Trump is the only candidate to have run while facing a criminal indictment and multiple other ongoing investigations of potential criminal activity.

However, if the past is a prologue, the Republican primary season will likely have more in common with the Roosevelt and Taft match-up than others, at least in terms of direct insults and attacks upon leadership style – things Trump is known for doing.

Shannon Bow O’Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, We can all be grateful the winner-President-second-place-VP system did not last, and the Adams/Jefferson Presidency must have been a big reason why it didn’t. It would have been a lot like having Trump as President and Hillary as VP. Adams was not evil, but he was about as opposite Jefferson in his politics as two people can be (and to top it off, Jefferson had a crush on Abigail.)

I realize this is not exactly the hottest news today, and what is hot is the full indictment, which Jack Smith has suggested that literally everyone should read. It’s a speaking indictment, so it could be a lot harder to get through, and it is at the bottom of the page at this link.

The Furies and I will be back.

Open Thread June 11, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:05 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 112023

Yesterday, the radio opera was “Der Fliegende Holländer” (The Flying Dutchman”). This was the earliest of his operas to feature the theme of a man’s redemption through a woman’s love by means of her death. Yes, that’s totally nuts. But he wasn’t alone – literature, music and art all had influential practitioners in 19th century Europe who were obsessed with this idea. Most of his operas after this one riffed on the theme. Exceptios would be “Lohengrin” (he doesn’t need redeeming, and Elsa doesn’t die – maybe) and the Ring Cycle (unless Brynhilde’s immolation redeems Siegfried – but he’s already dead when that happens.) But I digress. In any case, the music of the Dutchman is impressive. It was written before he fine-tuned his “leitmotif” system but is already characterized by tone painting. A lot of music has been written by a lot of people purportedly depicting storms at sea, but Wagner’s in this opera is the one that convinces me. Senta is self-destructive and as dunb as a MAGAt, but at least she doesn’t take anyone else down with her, and her music convincingly depicts her obsession. And so on.

Also yesterday I received a petition from Move On titled “Convict Trump” I was shocked. I had to go to their website to send a message, but I thought it was necessary. Here’s what I said: “Have you lost your minds? No, I’m not going to sign a “convict Trump**” petition. Only a jury can convict Trump** (or anyone else), and they are not supposed to have any outside influence. Sending a jury a petition like this is jury tampering. Unless he makes a plea deal – that would result in a conviction – but do we really want that? Come back to me when you have a petition which is Constitutional. This one isn’t.”

Cartoon – 11 0611Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

Colorado Public Radio – Sen. Michael Bennet wants to strengthen the watersheds that help protect clean drinking water
Quote – The bill reauthorizes the USFS’s Water Source Protection Program (WSPP), which helps fund projects that prevent pollution at the source, usually by restoring forest health and watersheds. It would increase funding for the program to $30 million per year for the next five years for work done in partnership with local communities, water utilities or agricultural producers. WSPP also tries to prioritize projects that focus on drinking water or improve resilience to wildfire or climate change.
Click through for story. I’m certainly aware of watersheds. But it never occurred to me what, besides lack of precipitation, might threaten them, nor of what could be done to keep them strong. D’oh! So i’m very glad to know that I have been voting for a Senator who does know.

The Conversation – Forts Cavazos, Barfoot and Liberty — new names for army bases honor new heroes and lasting values, instead of Confederates
Quote – The renamings so far have come off without controversy – and with no one seriously defending why the bases should continue honoring Confederates. As Trevor Noah said on “The Daily Show,” “Imagine being a Black soldier training at a base that is named after somebody who didn’t even think of you as a human being.” Celebrities popular with conservatives have praised the base redesignations, too. For example, Mel Gibson applauded renaming Fort Benning for Col. Moore, whose memoir was the basis for “We Were Soldiers,” a 2002 film starring Gibson.
Click through for details. How many people know more than one or two names of Hitler’s henchment? Honoring Confederate generals is not history – it’s just disgusting. And if even Mel Gibson – not just a conservative favorite but a – not terribly nice person – doesn’t mind, then really no one should.

The 19th – Could access to child care be the key to helping parents clear arrest warrants?
Quote – Cierra was among dozens of people who came out in early June for the so-called warrant clinic, one in a series of nationwide events that aims to address active warrants, usually those tied to outstanding traffic violations and misdemeanors. The periodic one-day events can be life-changing. People with lifted warrants can get back a driver’s license. They can apply for jobs. They can seek services that help with housing and food insecurity. They can also vote. “We are adding capacity to the justice system,” said Anza Becnel, the creator of the warrant clinics and the founder and executive director of Growing Real Alternatives Everywhere (GRAE), a nonprofit that helps organize the clinics. “We are adding capacity to things that we’ve identified that the community needs.”
Click through for more. If you didn’t realize this was a problem … you’re not alone … and you’re probably white.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 6/6/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:13 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jun 062023

Glenn Kirschner – Tape made by Trump’s attorney, Evan Corcoran, now in hands of prosecutors. Is any of this normal?

MSNBC – Trump’s ‘panic’ on display when asked about docs case audio tape

Farron Balanced – Roger Stone Caught On Tape Explaining How He Manipulates Donald Trump

Robert Reich – What a Vietnam War Riot Says about Today’s Culture Wars

Watch This Sassy Cleft Palate Puppy Argue With His Mom

Beau – Let’s talk about the debt deal and what’s in it…. (Since filming, it has sailed through the Senate and been signed, but the points made are still valid)

Open Thread June 5, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:45 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 052023

Yesterday, My drive was pretty uneventful except for some pretty heavy rain on the way down. It didn’t last long, but it gave the wipers a challenge on their highest setting while it lasted, and affected visibility. We played four games of Scrabble, not competetively, but with the aim of using allt he letters legitimately – and succeeded on all but thelast one. We were left with 8 vowels between us and the poard so tight that there was really no place to put any of them. He returnes all greetings. Today, both short takes are from substack – I apologize for that, but both of them include Tulsa (the Greenwood massacre) in their contents, and that anniversary is already a few days old.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Good in Us – Black Wall Street
Quote – Since the end of the Civil War, the thing most likely to incite white violence against emancipated Black citizens was their success. Giving Black Americans full rights, beyond the freedom that had so grudgingly been granted to them after the Union prevailed, proved to be a bridge too far for many whites—even Northern Republicans…. In retrospect, it seems self-evident that the driver behind the essential re-enslavement of Black people after Reconstruction was Black prosperity.
Click through for full column. Even before I realized how horribly many massacres there have been in the US, I had begun to realize that, although the impulse for anyone in a marginalized group is to demonstrate their own worth, that is often unsuccessful at best and dangerous at worst. But she says it better than I can.

Letters from an American – June 1, 2023
Quote – In other economic news, the Biden administration today announced actions designed to address racial bias in the valuation of homes. This sounds sort of in the weeds for administration action, I know, but it is actually an important move for addressing the nation’s wealth inequality…. Homeownership is the most important factor in creating generational wealth—that is, wealth that passes from one generation to the next—both because homeownership essentially forces savings as people pay mortgages, and because homes tend to appreciate in value…. There is a reason that the administration has centered its housing policies on June 1. This is the anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre,
Click through for full article. I’m very glad the Biden administration is doing this. I hope they stay on it when it comes to actually making it happen. For more than 150 years we have trusted people to do the right thing and, frankly, that doesn’t work.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 1, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 012023

Yesterday, I ended up having to go in to my doctor’s office after all to get his signature, and that of one of his staff to certify that she had seen my driver’s license and that I am really me. Unfortunately, she forgot to sign it. I tried one more email with just that page, but I didn’t get home and see it until after the office closed, so I won’t know until today whether I’ll need to go back.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Letters from an American – May 29, 2023
Quote – Beginning in 1943, the War Department published a series of pamphlets for U.S. Army personnel in the European theater of World War II. Titled Army Talks, the series was designed “to help [the personnel] become better-informed men and women and therefore better soldiers.” On March 24, 1945, the topic for the week was “FASCISM!”…. “The basic principles of democracy stand in the way of their desires; hence—democracy must go! Anyone who is not a member of their inner gang has to do what he’s told. They permit no civil liberties, no equality before the law.” “Fascism treats women as mere breeders. ‘Children, kitchen, and the church,’ was the Nazi slogan for women,” the pamphlet said.
Click through for more quotes, many highly prescient, and not a lot of take from Heather because the material speaks for itself.

Slate – The Urgent Warning That Got Cut From a Supreme Court Opinion 20 Years Ago
Quote – More than 20 years ago, then–Supreme Court Justice David Souter tried to warn that big money in politics risked turning United States officials into tools of an emerging “plutocracy.” We now know from recently released case files that Souter had to strike the language in his draft Supreme Court opinion in a 2000 campaign finance case, Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC, as the price to secure Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s vote. It’s too bad, because Souter’s warning is one that American political leaders, including justices on the Supreme Court itself, needed to hear. That warning was never made and thus never heeded. Today, American plutocracy—from Congress to inside the walls of the court itself—is alive and well.
Click through for sad story. And here we are.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 31, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:54 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 312023

Yesterday, I spent a fair amount of time struggling with the internet and email – trying to get paperwork to my doctor’s office to get my car registration renewed. His email account is set to reject any email from someone he hasn’t approved. He did approve me,but my email was not going through. Thinking maybe it was the number of attachments, I sent seven separate ones today – one for each attachment. But it was late in the business day, so I’ll have to check again today. They were all jpgs – before retiring I converted them all into pdfs in case I have to resend again. If I can’t get it done in time, I’m going to go see Virgil Sunday anyway (I did get confirmation yesterday; I looked for it Monday but of course that was a holiday.) In less personal news (but still kind of personal, since we all love the Carters), Rosalynn has been diagnosed with dementtia. She is still at home with Jimmy and is able to see loved ones and enjoy the spring weather.

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Short Takes –

NMAI (National Museum of the American Indian) – Why We Serve
The National Museum of the American Indian is one of many institutions which come under the purview of the Smithsonian. There isn’t a lot of information about Native Americans that you won’t find somewhere under its umbrella. “Why We Serve” is a website dedicated to Native Americans in the military – active duty, veterans, and war dead. It’s an online exhibition that you can wader through, just as you would wander through a physocal exhibition on site. I was pleased to learn about NAWW – Native American Women Warrriors – group specifically for women veterans who are native Americans. The Museum’s “Object of the Month” for May is a blue jingle dress worn by Mitchelene BigMan (Apsáalooke [Crow]/Hidatsa) during the 2013 presidential Inaugural Parade. You’ll find it (along with three others) under the topic “War and Peace.”

The Warning (Steve Schmidt) – The distortion and delusion of the MAGA/GOP view
Quote – The greatest crime in human history began with the rise of a far-right political party of losers, crackpots, opportunists and alienation that sowed division, hate, intolerance and grievance against its enemies, status and condition. The Jews were the target of its scapegoating, hate, conspiracies and terror. Ultimately, an extremist political party became the State and then the nation. Hitler’s rise was abetted by countless small acts of moral appeasement and accommodation by people who were appalled by him. Ambition and cynicism fueled a merger of industry with extremism and hate with national identity. All of it was sustained by propaganda, lies, and conspiracy theories. Before it was over human civilization nearly fell.
Click through for column. You’ll probably have to click on “Let me read it first.” It isn’t the full column, since I’m not a paid subscriber, but it’s enough to sound an alarm.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 23, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:57 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 232023

Yesterday,I did manage to get out and cut a couple of the irises to bring indoors. They won’t last very long … but they’ll be fun while they do. I also put ogether a grocery order for today, so if there are excssive typos tomorrow, that will likely be the explanation.

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Short Takes –

Civil Discourse – The Week Ahead
Quote – Protective orders like this are used when a defendant’s conduct threatens the safety and well-being of witnesses, victims, or anyone else related to the case. Prosecutors argued Trump’s history of making “harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements” about other people in his various other legal disputes merited this action. Judge Merchan scheduled the hearing that requires Trump’s virtual attendance the day after Trump appeared on CNN’s town hall and lied, offered fake excuses, and insulted people. He called the prosecutors’ indictment in the Manhattan case a “fake charge.”
Click through for various potential happenings. I appreciate Joyce giving us some stuff to watch out for.

Colorado Public Radio – France gave Colorado a thank-you train car after WWII. Then Colorado lost it
Quote – In 1947, Europe was rebuilding from the destruction of World War II. Big-hearted Americans wanted to help. So a train crossed this country gathering aid. The Friendship Train collected tens of millions of dollars in food and supplies. The Europeans were grateful. In 1949, the French sent a thank you note. Well, much more than a thank you note. France bestowed upon the United States 49 Merci train cars — one for each state at the time. (“Merci” is French for thank you.) Hawaii and The District of Columbia shared the 49th because of their notable contributions. Alaska didn’t get one. And these train cars were full.
Click through for history. OK, this is not exactly breaking news. But it did happen within my lifetime, and t happened in every state except Alaska (which was then still a territory), and I was 4 years old in California, and I had no clue. None. This may not be one of the most inportant events in the history of the earth, or even i the history of the war, but dammit, it does have implications for foreign policy. I can understand people spuuressing, or trying to suppress it after 9/11, but this vanished from public knowledge long before that.

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 20, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 202023

Yesterday, I got an alert from Axios that Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) has filed to run for the Presidency. I don’t know whether that’s incredibly gutsy – or incedibly delusional – or maybe a little of both. He is black, and Trump** isnot going to like this, and since Trump** cannot keep his mouth shut, he’s going to say so in no uncertain terms. I expect Scott to receive a plethora of death threats, and actual violence is not impossible either. It’s always possible, of course, that I am the one being paranoid here, but if I were Scott, I’d rather play it safe and wait

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Short Takes –

Letters from an American – May 17, 2023
Quote – Republican congressmen wrote that section [of the Fourteenth Amendment] to prevent Democratic opponents, who hated the newly powerful government that had won the Civil War, from changing the terms of repayment of the debt. Democrats called for turning gold interest payments into payments in paper money. That change would have significantly degraded the value of the debt. It would also have destroyed confidence in the government, a result those who had just lost the Civil War quite liked.
Click through for the history – which we should all know but I’m confident were never taught in school. We do know that – though the names of the parties have changed – seditionists thrive on chaos.

Colorado Public Radio – Colorado is poised to set the nation’s first standards for green hydrogen. Will the federal government follow suit?
Quote – “The unique thing about hydrogen is it’s a molecule,” said Keith Wipke, who leads the laboratory’s fuel cell and hydrogen technology program. “You can move it around physically. You can store it. It just stays there.”… Due to [the concerns voiced by environmental groups], Colorado lawmakers recently amended a bill to include the nation’s first-ever clean hydrogen standards. Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign the legislation, offering a potential preview of similar restrictions under consideration at the national level.
Click through for some details – I deliberately chose to quote a sentence that I didn’t find very illuminating, but it isn’t all like that.

Food For Thought

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