Why is no one asking, "What did he know and when did he know it?"
“There’s a reason no one has said, 'What did the President know and when did he know it?’ From the evidence you have presented .... we know one thing, and one thing is clear: As it related to this scheme, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, knew everything.” — Rep. Eric Swalwell, December 9, 2019
Jim Henderson and I are awfully excited about this milestone in our rollout of the 3Practices.
3Practices for Crossing the Difference Divide is for people who are sad, angry, and apprehensive about important relationships being sucked into the vortex of the difference divide. It’s a book for people who aren’t ready to accept this as our new normal — where we have no choice but to write off relationships that mean a great deal to us.
The 3Practices are a map across the difference divide.
— Practice One: I’ll be Unusually Interested in others
— Practice Two: I’ll stay in the room with difference
— Practice Three: I’ll stop comparing my best with your worst.
This book shows how you can:
1. Create a safe space for learning the 3Practices.
2. Teach a simple skill people can take home and apply immediately.
There’s lots more coming in 2020, including events, 3Practice Referee Training Days, and a webcast series featuring the whole of our conversation with Brian McLaren, alongside our interactions on crossing the difference divide with Peter Block, Aneelah Afzali, Todd Hunter + Karla Stephenson, and Wm. Paul Young.
Brian McLaren met up online with Jim Henderson and me to talk about crossing the difference divide. Here’s a three-and-a-half-minute clip of our conversation, including Brian’s very kind words about our 3Practices project. Here’s a link to our new book, 3Practices for Crossing the Difference Divide.
Among the very best lines of the week, I thought, was Congressman Schiff saying that President Trump repeating "No quid pro quo" over and over again is his "I am not a crook" defense.
Ambassador Sondland put that to bed explicitly in his opening testimony on Wednesday November 20, 2019.
“I know that members of this Committee have frequently framed these complicated issues in the form of a simple question: Was there a ‘quid pro quo?’,” Sondland said. “As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and White House meeting, the answer is yes.” It got better — meaning worse, from there.
In the present inquiry, this is not testimony drawn out of a witness by a prosector; this is Ambassador Taylor’s voluntary opening statement, before a single question has been asked — what he affirms under oath to the three congressional committees charged with sifting testimony to see if there is evidence of wrongdoing.
Were I seated on a grand jury empaneled to consider this matter, I think I would find this testimony compelling.
As I write, the impeachment inquiry committees are hearing testimony from Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman….
[1] I downloaded the PDF image file of Ambassador Taylor’s 15-page statement to Congress from the Washington Post, then translated the document to a searchable PDF using the PDFity app.
I was careful, but I did not do a word-for-word comparison between the image file and the translated PDF, so it’s possible that errors may have been introduced during the translation. If you find anything I missed, I’ll be happy to make corrections.
It is a sad day when the president of the United States cannot attend a World Series game without getting booed. It is also a sad day when the president mocks the Constitution, bulldozes all political norms and commits a host of impeachable offenses. This may not be how we would like things to be, but it’s how they are.
“So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights,” Trump tweeted. “All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here — a lynching. But we will WIN!” — @realDonaldTrump, quoted in the Washington Post, 10.22.19 https://buff.ly/32DA4iV
“So yeah, this is a lynching in every sense,” Graham said at the Capitol. “This is un-American. I’ve never seen a situation in my lifetime as a lawyer where somebody’s accused of major misconduct who cannot confront the accuser, call witnesses on their behalf and have the discussion in the light of day so the public can judge.” — Senator Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) quoted in the Washington Post, 10.22.19 https://buff.ly/32DA4iV
Sorry Mr. President, Senator Graham, et.al This the sort of thing only a white guy can say in 2019 America. So, one white guy to another... This constitutionally prescribed impeachment inquiry is in no sense a lynching ... and shame on you for saying it is. And, just to get ahead of you on the road you've apparently chosen: The impeachment inquiry is also not rape. It is not molestation. It is not assault of any sort. It is not un-American in any sense. (And we all know, it was never a witch hunt.) Senator Graham, you know — though you demean your service in the Senate and as an officer of the court, and insult your constituents and the Constitution, by pretending to not know — that this inquiry is work that must be done in the House of Representatives to determine whether or not there will be a formal trial. You know very well how inquiries and investigations differ from trials. If an ordinary citizen needs to remind you of any of this, then you have a lot of explaining to do. If you are merely being disingenuous, to mislead the American people for partisan ends, then you have a lot of explaining to do.
Sometimes, youth workers just need to know what to do first — what to look for, what to ask about, what to steer clear of in the early hours of a crisis.
Right now, this one is free.
Crisis HelpSheets | Square One in a Crisis https://buff.ly/2p1201i
...and this ... what? — "reporter?" ... "analyst?" ... "subject matter expert? ... I don't know folks ... This person we never heard of claims that it "rained" ... but she was a thousand miles away at the time of the alleged "precipitation." A thousand miles away … maybe more.
All she has to go on, really, is secondhand sources who — she says — say it rained. So you'll ask her, "Did you get wet when it rained?" and she will have to say, "No, I did not get wet when it rained," which — doesn't that ... honestly — she doesn't know, folks ... she doesn't KNOW! It's all second-hand... She doesn't know.
So, we have to ask, "What is her interest in pushing this rain story?" What does she have to gain — what's in it for her? Her defenders say, "But she has people and measuring devices on the ground where the rainfall occurred." To which we have to ask, "Why?" Why would she have people in a place she doesn't live? Why does she need so-called "measuring devices" more than a thousand miles away? What is she up to? Something, that I can tell you. I don't know….
And she says -- get this -- she says "It rained there overnight" ... "overnight?" I don't know, I was asleep, but I'm told it was completely dry outside. We have a thing called "Street lights," OK? And I have "people" of my own, and they tell me it not rain overnight. If you looked out your window when she says it was raining, know what you would have seen? Nothing. Street lights illuminating beautiful dry pavement ... dry sidewalks, dry everything.
"Oh, but she's a 'Meteorologist' they say. A "Meteorologist" ... I don't know if she has any firsthand knowledge about meteors, but she sure as hell doesn't know anything about rain, that I can tell you.
So, you tell me. Do you suppose it could be raining and not raining at the same time? I don't think so.
Another — and no one wants to talk about this — there's a story that she's trying to make it rain … maybe even actually making it rain in something called "local showers" ... I've — have you heard of local showers? I don't know, folks. What we have is a nasty woman getting rich while other people get wet — if we can believe her story ... which, by the way is all based on secondhand sources... It's all secondhand. We're going to be looking into that, that I can tell you. We're looking at a lot things, so we'll see what happens. But this whole -- I call it a "fake weather" thing — is just sad. I'll be releasing a detailed report on it in about four weeks ... three, maybe four, weeks.
OK, thanks everyone. You can all shout questions at my back while I walk away.
Here is a searchable PDF of the August 12, 2019 letter from the "Whistleblower" — at this writing not identified — to the chairs of the US Senate and House Intelligence Committees.
The original file, publicly available from a variety of sources, came from The Washington Post, here.
The optical character recognition function in PDF Editor 6 Pro converted the scanned image to a searchable PDF. No translation errors have been identified.
Today of all days, if you're happy with what's going on ... or if you're not ... register to vote. Check and update your status. When the time comes, you don't have to vote, but you can't vote if you’re not registered.
I stand with the students striking for Climate Protection.
April 22, 1970, I skipped high school to take part in the first Earth Day teach-in at the university in my home town. There were thousands of us on the lawn in front of the library, eager to learn and eager to act.
We weren’t the only ones.
In July that year, President Nixon filed the executive order that created the Environmental Protection Agency and laid the groundwork of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency.
The Clean Air Act of 1963 was extended and expanded to set national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants. The Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Act, the Environment Quality Improvement Act, the Clean Water Act were all signed that year.
Much more followed, to the benefit of the real economy and the health of the nation. Over the next few years, we saw dramatic turnarounds in air and water quality in disaster zones like Southern California and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania … meaning we could literally see the positive changes in the environment and see the positive impact on public health costs.
It was an important start.
Today, the evidence-based macro- and micro-ecological sciences are clearer than ever about what we need to do for ourselves, our children, our children’s children….
The striking students, unlike many of their parents and grandparents, are open to learning and action … they are, after all, students. They take seriously the ancient wisdom: "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example…"
I stand with the young, and with many in my own generation, determined not to let anyone look down on us because we’re old … but to be an example of openness to learning and action for the common good.
You may say I’m a dreamer; but I’m not the only one.
A nice thing about NoiseTrade is that you can pay what you can afford — from “I need this book and I’m going to download it even though I don’t have an extra cent right now” ... to “This book is prices way too low and I’m going to pay what it would cost to put my name on a new computer science building at my alma mater.”
Most of us buying books on NoiseTrade fall somewhere between those extremes.
Because I Said So :: 10 Things I Never Say to Kids :: Why I Stopped + What I Say Instead Thing 03Available Now at NoiseTrade
This 10 Things Single is about how we run to risk of setting children up for abusers if we teach them that the demands of parents and other adults with authority doesn’t need to be reasonable, fair, consistent — or ever subject to review or negotiation.
I get it: sometimes swift obedience is necessary for protecting life and limb. Do you get that that’s best accomplished when children come to believe we will never make unreasonable demands simply because we can?
I have an American Muslim friend — an imam — who is constantly challenged by White Americans to disavow ISIS — which he has done, over and over, without any prompting from people outside his religion, from the moment ISIS raised its ugly head.
Perhaps turnabout is fair play. Perhaps every White American preacher should disavow White nationalism from the pulpit this weekend and every weekend until everyone gets the message: There is no place for White nationalism in a church that follows Jesus. #nojokeproject#NoWhiteNationalism
Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at Members of
Congress.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. MALINOWSKI submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on_____________
RESOLUTION
Condemning President Trump’s racist comments directed at
Members of Congress.
Whereas the Founders conceived America as a haven of ref- uge for people fleeing from religious and political perse- cution, and Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison all emphasized that the Nation gained as it attracted new people in search of freedom and liveli- hood for their families; Whereas the Declaration of Independence defined America as a covenant based on equality, the unalienable Rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and government by the consent of the people;
Whereas Benjamin Franklin said at the Constitutional con- vention, ‘‘When foreigners after looking about for some other Country in which they can obtain more happiness, give a preference to ours, it is a proof of attachment which ought to excite our confidence and affection’’; Whereas President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, ‘‘Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists’’; Whereas immigration of people from all over the Earth has defined every stage of American history and propelled our social, economic, political, scientific, cultural, artistic and technological progress as a people, and all Americans, ex- cept for the descendants of Native people and enslaved African-Americans, are immigrants or descendants of im- migrants; Whereas the commitment to immigration and asylum has been not a partisan cause but a powerful national value that has infused the work of many Presidents; Whereas American patriotism is defined not by race or eth- nicity but by devotion to the Constitutional ideals of equality, liberty, inclusion, and democracy and by service to our communities and struggle for the common good; Whereas President John F. Kennedy, whose family came to the United States from Ireland, stated in his 1958 book ‘‘A Nation of Immigrants’’ that ‘‘The contribution of im- migrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life. We see it in religion, in politics, in business, in the arts, in education, even in athletics and entertainment. There is no part of our nation that has not been touched by our immigrant background. Everywhere immigrants have en- riched and strengthened the fabric of American life.’’;
Whereas President Ronald Reagan in his last speech as President conveyed ‘‘An observation about a country which I love’’; Whereas as President Reagan observed, the torch of Lady Liberty symbolizes our freedom and represents our herit- age, the compact with our parents, our grandparents, and our ancestors, and it is the Statue of Liberty and its val- ues that give us our great and special place in the world; Whereas other countries may seek to compete with us, but in one vital area, as ‘‘a beacon of freedom and opportunity that draws the people of the world, no country on Earth comes close’’; Whereas it is the great life force of ‘‘each generation of new Americans that guarantees that America’s triumph shall continue unsurpassed’’ through the 21st century and be- yond and is part of the ‘‘magical, intoxicating power of America’’; Whereas this is ‘‘one of the most important sources of Amer- ica’s greatness: we lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people -- our strength -- from every country and every corner of the world, and by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation’’; Whereas ‘‘thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge’’, always leading the world to the next fron- tier; Whereas this openness is vital to our future as a Nation, and ‘‘if we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leader- ship in the world would soon be lost’’; and
Whereas President Donald Trump’s racist comments have le- gitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color: Now, therefore, be it
1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
2 (1) believes that immigrants and their descend-
3 ants have made America stronger, and that those
4 who take the oath of citizenship are every bit as
5 American as those whose families have lived in the
6 United States for many generations;
7 (2) is committed to keeping America open to
8 those lawfully seeking refuge and asylum from vio-
9 lence and oppression, and those who are willing to
10 work hard to live the American Dream, no matter
11 their race, ethnicity, faith, or country of origin; and
12 (3) strongly condemns President Donald
13 Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and
14 increased fear and hatred of new Americans and
15 people of color by saying that our fellow Americans
16 who are immigrants, and those who may look to the
17 President like immigrants, should ‘‘go back’’ to
18 other countries, by referring to immigrants and asy-
19 lum seekers as ‘‘invaders,’’ and by saying that Mem-
20 bers of Congress who are immigrants (or those of
21 our colleagues who are wrongly assumed to be immi-
22 grants) do not belong in Congress or in the United
Plausible deniability for the underlying thoughts, ideas and motives driving the behaviors and policies of Donald John Trump crumbled with his affirmative declarations on July 14, 2019. The sitting president has unmasked himself as a convinced and determined racist. Every subject and friend of the United States is on notice and every citizen is on the hook for damages the chief of the executive branch is permitted to inflict going forward.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights | Signed in Paris | December 10, 1948
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
