Representative Devin Nunes fails again

Representative Devin Nunes fails again

Posted on by Jack

Devin Nunes fails early and often

Rep. Devin Nunes fails at what he should be doing. He has been busy not doing his job for the past year and a half or so. First he manges to turn the respected and bipartisan House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence into a national disgrace with his wild claims of wrongdoing by our intelligence community and sharing his “evidence” with the Trump administration rather than his committee (see articles in Wired and this blog).

As a result, he was recused from the investigation into Russian election interference but still did his best to stop the Russian election interference investigation including the “extraordinarily reckless” release of a previously classified and highly biased memo.
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Questioning your beliefs is a good thing

Questioning your beliefs is a good thing

Posted on by Jack

The full title of this book is How to See Religion Differently: What questioning your beliefs can reveal, and why it can lead to a healthy mind. The book is by Luke Pemberton who was raised Catholic and questioned his beliefs (or at least what he was told to believe) as he got a bit older.

I think that questioning your beliefs is a good thing. Different folks will decide different things. Religion makes sense to many people. Others will decide that religion or maybe a particular religion is not for them.
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Is history repeating itself?

Is history repeating itself?

Posted on by Jack

Is history repeating itself? The philosopher George Santayana said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Wikipedia has an interesting article on Historic recurrence which I ran across as I was thinking about history repeating itself.

I’m reading “The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic” by Benjamin Carter Hett and this quote got me thinking about this.
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Scott Wagner refuses to release his tax returns

Scott Wagner refuses to release his tax returns

Posted on by Jack

Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner refuses to release his tax returns. He also does not plan on cutting his business ties according to the same article. Does that mind you of a recent Republican presidential candidate?

Both violated a long tradition of candidates releasing tax returns and avoiding even the appearance of financial conflicts of interest. Are these isolated incidents? Or is this the new Republican norm? Do either have anything to hide in their finances?

Do either plan on enriching themselves in office? We may already know the answer in one case.

Bad Boy Greers of New York City

Bad Boy Greers of New York City

Posted on by Jack

I keep coming back to the Bad Boy Greers, such an interesting bunch. Of course that goes back to Matthew Greer and Ruth Allingham, I wonder how they would have felt about the Bad Boy Greers but, of course, they were dead before the Bad Boy grandchildren were even born.

I wrote about this Greer family several years back but I just want to focus on 3 brothers who I’ll call the Bad Boy Greers. They were what genealogist would call collateral relatives since they are not direct ancestors but were first cousins to one of my grandfathers.
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Lies by T. M. Logan

Lies by T. M. Logan

Posted on by Jack

Lies by T. M. Logan is not coming out in the US until September 2018. So I’d like to thank Netgalley for a chance to read and review this book well before the release in the US. It has been available in the UK for a while and presumably sold well enough that the a release in the US seemed like a good idea.
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Beware of alliances

Beware of alliances

Posted on by Jack

I’m reading “The Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic” by Benjamin Carter Hett and wanted to share this quote with you.

“These conservatives could have stopped Hitler in his tracks. Instead, they chose to use him, although the Nazi-conservative alliance was always an awkward one.”

Alliances can be useful. They can also be dangerous. Beware of alliances.

I first thought of President Trump and his Republican enablers, especially those in Congress. But it also applies to many other cases.

RRR – Remedial Reading for Republicans

RRR – Remedial Reading for Republicans

Posted on by Jack

Maybe they should start a chapter of Remedial Reading for Republicans (RRR) for the benefit of President Trump and his Congressional Republican defenders.

Although the FBI’s application for the FISA warrant on Carter Page clearly refers to the Steele dossier as likely being sponsored by a person “likely looking for information that could be used to discredit Candidate #1’s campaign.” The FBI believed Source #1 (Mr. Steele) to be reliable and had cited several other sources. Names are rarely used in these applications, so President Trump is Candidate #1 and Mr. Steele is Source #1.
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Surprise: The Federalist got it wrong

Surprise: The Federalist got it wrong

Posted on by Jack

A few months back mainstream media also known as fake news or perhaps the liberal media presented a story that the NRA may have conspired with Vladimir Putin to help elect Donald Trump. Of course this was treated as a liberal fantasy or conspiracy theory by The Federalist and other supporters to President Trump (see http://thefederalist.com/2018/04/12/the-lefts-newest-nra-conspiracy-theory-approaches-9-11-truther-territory/.)
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Trump – Putin Summit: Shocking but not surprising

Trump – Putin Summit: Shocking but not surprising

Posted on by Jack

If any US President behaved like President Trump in the recent Trump – Putin summit it would be shocking but given that it was President Trump it was not surprising.

President Trump has repeatedly denied that the Russians meddled in our elections despite the findings of our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. So it was not a surprise when he took President Putin’s word that Russia did not interfere in our elections.
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“It’s the Economy, Stupid” by Christos A. Djonis

“It’s the Economy, Stupid” by Christos A. Djonis

Posted on by Jack

I decided to read It’s the Economy, Stupid mainly because of the cover which told me that this book would explain why Donald Trump was elected President. I did not understand it before reading this book and still do not understand.
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The Price of Greatness by Jay Cost

The Price of Greatness by Jay Cost

Posted on by Jack

The full title is The Price of Greatness: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and the Creation of American Oligarchy by Jay Cost.

American freedom from Great Britain was won by many. There were many visions of what this country should be. James Madison and Alexander Hamilton were key figures in deciding how the ideals of the revolutionaries could be preserved in a lasting government.
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What is pro-life, anti-abortion, or pro-choice ?

What is pro-life, anti-abortion, or pro-choice ?

Posted on by Jack

I think I will stray from my usual political, genealogical, or book review posts tonight. Perhaps this is a bit more philosophical. I am wondering about various terms that are commonly used in political discourse. So maybe this is not so much of a departure.

Maybe the compassionate or non-compassionate view is important here.
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Angry Democrats and angry but not a Democrat

Angry Democrats and angry but not a Democrat

Posted on by Jack

President Trump believes the probe of Russian interference in the 2106 election is a “witch hunt” by angry democrats. I am angry but not a Democrat and believe the evidence is very much in conflict with the President’s claims.

But I am getting a bit ahead so let’s go back to President Trump’s claim.

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