What Icebergs?

Remember Captain Edward John Smith? He went down with the ship. His last command to his crew was reported to be, "Be British".

RMS Titanic was supposed to be the greatest ship ever built. It was on it's maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg and sunk. Edward was in command.

Edward had been warned about drifting ice in the area, but he continued to travel at full speed. When the ship went down, some 1,500 people died.

The Titanic left port with a coal fire burning in it's hold. Efforts to put it out were still going on when the ship hit the iceberg. The Titanic sailed with 20 lifeboats - an amount that could only accommodate about half of the passengers on board. Those investigating the disaster did not find any negligence. They said it was an "act of God".

It makes you wonder, was some distant relative of Devin Nunes in charge of the investigation?

The iceberg did not puncture the Titanic's hull. The plates came apart. Could this have something to do with the coal fire that had been burning out of control in the hull for days before the Titanic began its voyage? Was sailing at full speed at night in the fog after being warned about icebergs a divine decision? What was God thinking when he/she decided half the amount of required lifeboats was sufficient?

Truth be told, God had nothing to do with the sinking of the Titanic. People like to blame all kinds of shit on God. Lots of people ignoring lots of things are to blame for the Titanic disaster.

Man made disasters are often predictable and totally avoidable. We have to go out of our way to insure that disasters do happen. Greed and denial are the precursors to many such disasters.

I watched Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committee on March 27th. It was an historic moment in our country's history.

Elijah Cummings did an excellent job presiding over the hearing. He was beset from the outset by the Republican members who did everything they could to stop the hearing before it started. Elijah was a model of grace under fire.

Jim Jordan was a model of despicability and duplicity. His behavior brought shame to himself, his party and the nation. He did nothing helpful or constructive. His agenda was driven by desperation and fear.

Michael Cohen did an admirable job of testifying. He remained calm. He did not argue. He did not allow the Republican members to get under his skin. He repeatedly admitted his wrongdoings and owned responsibility for his actions. He apologized to his family, Congress and the American people.

Michael did not duck a single question. He did not allow falsehoods to go unchecked. He took everything the Republicans threw at him and responded factually while remaining dignified. He also brought hard evidence with him. Evidence that speaks for itself. Evidence that implicated Trump, Trump's family and Trump's staff in felonies.

The Republicans disgraced themselves. They brought childish graffiti to the hearing. They also brought a living, breathing, black human being (Lynne Patton) to stand there as a prop to prove Donald Trump was not a racist.

The Democrats used their time to question Cohen on details and track down leads. They were clearly into fact gathering. I am old enough to have watched and still remember the Watergate hearings. Those hearings were both historic and riveting. They were also a model of how a hearing such as this should proceed.

The members of the Select Committee On Presidential Campaign Activities (the Watergate Committee) worked together and used their time to get at the facts of what had happened. They were respectful to witnesses and each other. When John Dean took the stand, he was questioned. He was not attacked.

Like Cohen, Dean was an attorney. Like Cohen he testified to wrongdoings on the part of the President. Like Cohen, he pleaded guilty to a felony for which he, Dean, was sentenced and went to prison. Cohen is also headed to prison for at least 3 years.

John Dean wrote a book which should be required reading in every law school in the country. "Blind Ambition" is Dean's account of how he was compromised by his own ambitions.

At one point during his testimony, Cohen waxed eloquently on how he too was a victim of his own ambition and how he betrayed everybody, including himself, to further that ambition. In response to a hostile attack from James Comer (R-KY), Cohen referred to himself as a "fool". It was a particularly apt description.

Cohen also took the opportunity in closing his testimony to look directly into the camera and say directly to Donald Trump:

"You don't attack the media and those who question what you don't like or what you don't want them to say and you take responsibility for your own dirty deeds. You don't use your power of your bully pulpit to destroy the credibility of those who speak out against you. You don't separate families from one another or demonize those looking to America for a better life. You don't vilify people based on the god they pray to and you don't cuddle up to our adversaries at the expense of our allies. Finally, you don't shut down the government before Christmas and New Year's just to simply appease your base. This behavior is churlish, it denigrates the office of the president and it's simply un-American."

He added:

"So to those who support the president and his rhetoric as I once did, I pray the country doesn't make the same mistakes that I have made or pay the heavy price that my family and I are paying."

 

In the end, Elijah Cummings said, "We have got to get back to normal." Given the extent of the damage that's been done, that is not going to be easy.

If we are honest, we have to admit that the situation we are now in did not begin with Donald Trump. We have allowed ourselves to slip into this state over decades. Having a criminal, traitorous POTUS is just the latest stage of our evolution into a kleptocracy made possible by unchecked corruption, treason and hyper partisanship.

There are 2 books I would recommend to anyone who wants to understand how our government truly works. "Friendly Fascism" by Bertram Gross sets the stage for understanding what our government was before it morphed into what we have today.

"Plutocrats" by Chrystia Freeland introduces us to the real power elite and explains exactly what they control. We cannot fix our government if we do not know who has corrupted it.

"Democracy In Chains" by Nancy MacLean and "Dark Money" by Jane Mayer provide detailed roadmaps on what has happened to the Republican Party since the late 1950s.

The degree to which our national security has been damaged can be found in "The Threat" by Andrew G. McCabe and "Facts And Fears" by James R. Clapper.

If you are a baby boomer like me, who was in college when the 1960s tsunami struck, you might find yourself rethinking just what our law enforcement and intelligence communities really do after reading McCabe and Clapper.

You might also find yourself with a deeper understanding of terrorism and foreign interference/cyber warfare.

I would add "Collusion" by Luke Harding, "House Of Trump - House Of Putin" by Craig Unger, "Russian Roulette" by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, and "Red Notice" by Bill Browder for specific details about how Putin and Russia factor into our political deterioration. 

Nothing here is rocket science. You don't need a degree to understand anything in these books, all you need is an open mind and a willingness to prioritize facts over fictions and patriotism over partisanship. The sirens of today are much like the sirens in Homer's "The Odyssey".

If you listen to their songs you will find yourself shipwrecked and crewless and without a clear way home.

I think that is an apt description of where we are now. We have lost sight of reality. We are stranded in chaos and beset by demons. We are becoming more hostile, more hateful, more dangerous and more alienated from each other. We don't know how to coexist. Compromise is a lost art.

The 2018 midterm elections breathed life back into any hopes we might have for "normal". The House is returning to its oversight functions after 10 years of unchecked corruption on an unprecedented level. Paul Ryan is gone. Mitch McConnell still controls the Senate, but his control is loosening.

Trump is being exposed. It is happening faster and faster. Mueller's investigation is moving ahead and the Southern District of New York is casting a wide anti-corruption and racketeering net. We've got a chance. I'm not sure what the odds are, but we ain't outa this by a long shot. We can't allow ourselves to despair or lose patience.

We must remain diligent. We need to keep the pressure on. We need to stay focused and not turn on each other or abandon our country to those who don't know the difference between an act of God and a criminal cover-up/conspiracy.

Blind ambition has gotten us into this mess. Blind luck is not going to get us out of it. We have the necessary resources and skills. We just need to apply them and back those who are working on our behalf.

Capitalism is not crookery. Democracy is not voter suppression. We are a nation of immigrants. Immigrants built this country. They are not our enemies. Regulation and monitoring are necessary practices to insure the success of any enterprise.

Our environment is our responsibility. We cannot surrender clean air, pure water, and the entire ecosystem to corporate profits and greed.

This is our home. We are not lost in space. We are part of something much, much larger and much more wondrous. We just need to protect our home. We need to work together.

Holy Moly!