Much More Data Needed Before Pot Legalization: New York Doctor

I have written here before of a looming public health problem.  Forces favoring the legalization of marijuana have succeeded in convincing citizens and legislative leaders in several states to legalize the formerly verboten drug. 

The main advantage to this serious over-turning of a century of legal precedent is that we are beginning to develop a body of knowledge about the dangers of marijuana from the states where it is legal.  The news is far from good. 

Perhaps the biggest concern is the effect on young people.  Beginning with concerns about second-hand smoke in the home and the effect on driving, we now have concerns about the effects on the human brain, especially before the age of twenty-five.  It is a pity states have rushed to legalize pot before sufficient data about its effects are available.  At least the shroud of mystery is beginning to lift. 

Reference:
Marijuana: The Word from a Qualified Doctor

The Rise of Far-Right Economic Orthodoxy

Robert Bork did more than any individual in the twentieth century to embed the libertarian free-market principles of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman into the heart of the American economic and judicial system....Bork came to the University of Chicago in the late 1940s as a true believer in Roosevelt's New Deal politics....But as he began to get attracted to the intersection of economics and law, the conservative professors who dominated the Chicago faculty discouraged any belief that government could or should play a role in regulating business.    

                                                 -- From Move Fast and Break Things by Jonathan Taplin, pp. 109, 111

The story of how far-right economic theory became mainstream in America is rather involved, though its beginning and course are quite traceable.  The main thing is that this orthodoxy -- which says the government has no place regulating big business -- is prevalent today, and to a large extent has simply taken over public policy as it is enunciated by politicians, academics, and pundits.

There are exceptions, of course.  After all, it is pretty cleat that the Sherman Anti-Trust act was and is not in favor of trusts (combines of corporations, including financial outfits).  Yet, as author Taplin points out, we have in good measure returned to domination of only a few firms, particularly in the Internet field.

What Taplin attempts to do -- and this is ever so useful -- is show how the Internet monopolies grew out of the capitalist economic system.  And he further shows how this has been so very hurtful to true variety, diversity, and freedom. 
                              

Robert Bork

Former Republican Prosecutors Release Video

Several former Republican prosecutors who served in the highest ranks of government have recently released an important video about the Mueller report.  This video details their view that the Mueller report is absolutely damning when it comes to the President's attempts to obstruct justice.  It appears that in some cases the attempts at obstruction of justice were successful.

How sad it is that not only is the President credibly accused of obstruction of justice, but his Attorney General and Republican leaders in Congress all profess myopia and an inability to see a problem.  This means justice is delayed.   And, has been said, justice delayed is justice denied.


(See the note at top right about the video which can be viewed at Patriot in Exigency.)

The Immigration Crisis at the Border Explained

From Democracy Now, an expert speaks

via Democracy Now -- June 5, 2019

To Impeach, Or Not to Impeach; That Is the Question

TMP Has an Answer


Blog post coming soon

President Acts to Investigate Former Administration Members

What we are seeing here is flat-out fascism.  It is Hitlerism, autocracy-in-action, and totally un-American.   In fact, it is essentially unheard of in the history of the Presidency.

Now is the time for all patriots to come to the aid of their country!*  

I'll have more to say on all this soon.

NBC Details Chilling Use of Presidential Power Against Critics

*As always, my call is strictly for non-violent actions.

Freedom of the Press Under Attack; Democracy in Danger

The Trump Administration's Decision to charge an online journalist with violation of an Espionage Act crime is creepy and chilling.

I'll have more to say on this soon.


Read the story here:

What I Am Working on Now

Coming Soon

To Impeach or Not to Impeach
Is it possible to agree -- in part -- with both proponents and opponents of impeachment?

The Julian Assange Case
The Administration's unequivocal assault on Freedom of the Press


Please join me soon for more on these and other important matters of our time.  

Judge Rules for Congress in Presidential Finances Investigation

Quick Link --

A federal judge has ruled in favor of a Congressional investigation into the personal finances of Our Military Leader.  The article headlined below states this is bound to encourage other judges to make similar rulings in other cases of like nature. 

(Web site contains legitimate video and content of unknown nature.  I make no recommendation for the site itself.  Article content is excellent, however.) 


Judge Rules for Congress in Trump Finances Investigation

Up-dated: Mitch McConnel Has Been Behaving Like a Russian Asset

But is he one?

I s Mitch McConnel what is called a Russian asset?  Perhaps not officially, but the effect is very nearly the same.  

Is one of the many outcomes of being an enabler of Trump, also the enabling of heightened Russian influence in U. S. politics?   That is a question for others to answer after proper investigation.   But it would seem to follow that the Republicans in Congress,  including Mr. McConnel, have done nothing to hinder this or other difficult and nefarious developments.

Your Musical Patriot, like other Americans, is virtually bombarded and overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of unprecedented news stories surrounding this Administration.  Not the least of this is the cessation of the daily press briefing at the White House.  (We shouldn't worry, as the President will one day wish the press could still fend for his legitimacy to power.)

So, we are at a critical time, and have been.  But I should like to let our foreign friends know that the America you have always known and loved is still here, suffering and bewildered by what is going on in Washington.   And yet we are still working hard, hoping for better, knowing something is wrong, even though we do not always know just what.

This confusion is the responsibility of the media largely.  The American media at this time has to be among the worst in the industrialized world, even if it is large, and even if there are a few (very few) honest reporters.   The media knows things it is not telling.   It does not know things it should know (about vote suppression, e.g.*).   And the things it does know it so often tells in either incomplete or distorted form.  These facts are known.  

No, Mitch McConnel is not a Russian agent.  And this week, Sen. McConnel has seemed to perhaps get a little clearer about what is true.  But we still have a Republican Party which is dominated by a fascist-type agenda of serious government-business collusion.  It is the kind of collusion many dictators around the world can only envy.  


*And exception is an article in yesterday's Washington Post.  I will reference this later.  

Mitch McConnel Is Behaving Like a Russian Asset

But Is He One?


Coming Soon Here

Trumpism Explained

The Erudite Noam Chomsky Dissects the Move Toward Trump

In this great analysis, Chomsky gives the historical foundation for Trumpism -- how it came to be and how it is being maintained.

Implicit in his analysis is the chiefly domestic cause of his rise, not Russian interference.  Included in domestic interference are the various voter suppression efforts which were so tragically effective in the 2016 race.  These various efforts have been described on this blog many times.

A most valuable video.





Many thanks to Democracy Now and its many supporters for making this video available. 

Do Dutch Media Value the Truth More Than the American Media?

From The David Pakman Show

Host of his own Internet and television show, David Pakman, here makes a useful point about what American media have become in the main.  The Dutch, he shows, do it much better.

World and National Events Continue Apace

Fascists Invade Local Book Store


All my life, the older generation has declared how much faster things move in the present compared to when they were young.  Certainly today events move at no slower pace, and indeed they seem to move faster than ever due to the instant nature of communications.

So it is not surprising that the far-right seems to metastasize at a rate not seen in recent times.  This intensification is in some ways understandable due to the unsettling nature of our times, especially economically, but also in terms of mores and manners (not that the far-right has normal manners).

Recently, a far-right gang, whose members were brought in from other states, interrupted a talk at a book store in Washington, D.C.*  According to The Washington Post, such incursions into book stores, libraries, and book fairs have been seen with increasing frequency in recent years.  Up until today, I had never really thought of book talks as being targets for white supremacy and Nazist groups.   Yet, this is so.

Sadly, in this case, the reaction to the protestors seems to have been too mild, even though the hoodlums left voluntarily after only a few minutes, and apparently without doing any physical damage.  Yet, damage was done.  Freedom does die in darkness.   And the forces of darkness are always with us. 

I will be following this particular story and reporting back here with more details and analysis. 

A band of "white nationalists" just interrupted a talk by @JonathanMetzl about his new book called "Dying of Whitness" at @PoliticsProse.  @PoPville pic.twitter.com/nlXRXdAkcX

— Katy Cain (@KatyCain526) April 27, 2019

*Washington Post, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, p. B1.


Video of Incident May Be Found Here

Appealing to the World Court of Public Opinion

URGENT

Dear Readers Everywhere,


The United States government has entered into what shows every sign of being A protracted state of crisis.  With the House of Representatives subpoenaing documents as part of their legitimate power, and the Military Leader (President) stonewalling every attempt by Congress to interview the important actors in the Russian influence-peddling investigation, these two facets of the government are at loggerheads. 

Making matters next-to-impossible, the media is heavily involved -- not in helping to solve the crisis -- but in giving each side "equal weight and treatment."  This approach puts the media as both victim and propagator of the crisis of paralysis. 

The only thing left to do is appeal to world opinion.  The United States government will not be able to solve the crisis by itself under the current circumstances.  And the media has so much power, the American people will not be able to solve it either. 

Of course, given enough time any intractable problem can be solved.  The problem here is the impasse is threatening to carry over into election year.  Even though Our Military Leader is corrupt, incompetent, and thoroughly contemptuous of the Constitutional system, this Gordian knot will defy untangling for a long time to come.  At the very least the creates a miasma of confusion.  At worst, it prevents clear action. 

Our only hope is that the International community of nations will begin to apply appropriate pressure.   Naturally, anything which threatens the security of the United States can and must be opposed.  But world opinion can be powerful.  That is what eventually undid Hitler. 

Please do not overly rely on the Internet to bring pressure to bear.   This technology is much too fragmented and diffuse for such a purpose.  If you want to send a polite, respectful, constructive e-mail to your democratically elected leaders, you are encouraged to do so.  Letters, and phone calls can also be constructive.  I will try to come up with some sort of suggested template (although creating a different one for each country will be a challenge).   Just don't expect that reading online and posting online will alone do the trick.

Also, I would like to make contacts who can help translate into other languages.

So this is an outline for action.  Please help America.   We the people did not elect this president, he is very unpopular, but is being propped up at this time by corporations, including very much the corporatized media. 

 Be thoughtful, be strategic.  Any legitimate, responsible support is welcome.