Just who did Trump Pardon last night?

Sheriff Joe Arpaio got a lot of national publicity for running a strict jail for Maricopa County in Arizona, one of the early big stories was a tent city in the desert rather than a “cozy” building.  From that he rode a wave of populism for how to be tough against criminals.  But was he really a tough guy or was he abusive?  Decide for yourself from the coverage of the local media.

We've been covering Joe Arpaio for more than 20 years. Here's a couple of things you should know about him… 1/many

— Phoenix New Times (@phoenixnewtimes) August 26, 2017

• In 1997 an inmate, locked up for petty theft, reacted severely to his Crohn’s disease since he did not have his prescribed medication.  The sheriff’s staff failed to respond promptly to his condition, which ended up with a hospital visit that cost taxpayers $30,000 (where his prescription would have cost $400).  The sheriff called it inmate fiction, but the hospital did not treat a fictitious case.
• In 1999, an inmate who placed in a cell where air circulation was cut off and eventually he died, his corpse registering a temperature of 109 degrees at time of examination.  The guard did not like what the inmate had been saying to him and cut off the air flow.
• In 1999 he staged a fake assassination story, including false arrest and imprisonment, only to get more publicity.  The resulting lawsuit cost taxpayers over $1 million to settle.
• In 2004 he arrested, on false charges, a New York Times reporter who was digging into his shady real estate deals.
• Also in 2004, an errant SWAT team raid led to setting a puppy on fire.  It was one of a series of botched raids over time as reported by the Phoenix New Times.

His office was responsible for countless fiascos like this botched SWAT raid, where deputies set a puppy on fire. https://t.co/Gb7MS5zare

— Phoenix New Times (@phoenixnewtimes) August 26, 2017

• Between 2005 and 2007, the Sheriff was contracted with to provide police services to the area and refused to investigate sex crimes against Latino victims.
• In 2008, a pregnant female inmate locked up for a pair of DUI’s was not transported to a hospital as she went in labor, which resulted in the otherwise healthy pregnancy ending in a stillborn. The Sheriff, who would not allow legal abortions in the jail and a professed pro-lifer, has similar put pregnant inmates in pre-natal jeopardy.
• In 2009 he marched Latino prisoners, in chains, into an open detention area with an electric fence, with tops that read “unsentenced” because they had committed no crimes but were awaiting deportation hearings.
• In 2010, the Sheriff bragged about his tent city being a “concentration camp”
• In 2012 he sent, at taxpayer expense, some sheriff office staff to Hawaii to investigate President Obama’s birth certificate.  The Sheriff is a “birther“.
• In 2013, the ACLU won a case against the sheriff for racially profiling, he subsequently ignored that request very publicly, which led to his federal contempt of court conviction in 2015 (and cost the county $44 million in lawsuits).  But not before the sheriff tried to destroy evidence.
• In November 2015, it was revealed 160 inmates had died in the Sheriff’s care, most from suicide (by hanging).  Compared to other jails across the country, Maricopa County had a 25% suicide rate, most other jails hover around 10%.  It cost taxpayers $140 million in lawsuits.

I am pleased to inform you that I have just granted a full Pardon to 85 year old American patriot Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He kept Arizona safe!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2017

This is who President Trump decided needed a full pardon.

A Wake-up Call for the Left

On Monday, President Trump’s pick for the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos, was confirmed in an historic Senate vote where the Vice President had to vote to break a 50-50 tie. Why historic? Because a Vice President had never in 200+ years ever had to break a tie for a Cabinet secretary.  How did it get to 50-50?  Educators and concerned parents bombarded Senate offices (Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania) with emails and phone calls in opposition to DeVos, who had a historically bad hearing and seems vastly unqualified for the position.  Two GOP Senators voted in opposition, causing the tie.

But what emerged in this fight over DeVos’s nomination underscores what the left faces over the next two years:  GOP lawmakers do not believe their re-election is in jeopardy despite massive public outcry. As Mike Gecan wrote in the Daily News, Democrats are getting played.

Today’s Media Outrage of the Day: Executive vs. Judiciary

This morning brought a flood of Twitter reaction to President Trump blasting  a judge, who late Friday put a nationwide block on his Executive Order.  Raise your hand if you expected the President to go on the offensive over night.  See?  That was expected.  Move along, nothing to see here.

Whether the President cares, the a federal judge is part of an equal and independent branch and cannot be fired like he did a week ago to acting Secretary of State Sally Yates. Those on the left were, wrongly, outraged at that firing:

Turns out, white guys *did* determine this election.

I boldly stated a month ago that white guys weren’t deciding this election.  Oops.

• Trump outperformed with whites.
• Trump brought in cross-over whites.
• Clinton couldn’t bring home the white women vote

While the election won’t be viewed as close as it was, Nate Silver pointing out that if 1 in 100 Trump voters flipped to Clinton she wins, it is accurate to point out how wrong I was.

An Open Letter to our Political Parties as the Election ends

It’s barely an hour past the deciding of our 45th President by an apoplexed media in the wee small hours of the morning. Part of America is wildly ecstatic, another hand-wringly gobsmacked.

To the Republicans, enjoy the moment: I’ll call for you here in a few. To the Democrats: let’s talk.

Could America face a potential coups d’etat?

The Election of 1800 was one of America’s most bitter and divisive elections, pitting the incumbent (and unpopular) John Adams against Thomas Jefferson.  But one of the greatest happenings of a young democracy was John Adams accepting the will of the people and peacefully stepping aside.

But with the Election of 2016, should we fear that should Donald Trump lose he will accept the will of the people?  The evidence is adding up that he may not.

On August 2nd, Trump made the claim that “I’m afraid the election’s going to be rigged. I have to be honest.” But his claim was more alarming when he said:

“I’m telling you, November 8, we’d better be careful, because that election is going to be rigged,” Trump added. “And I hope the Republicans are watching closely or it’s going to be taken away from us.” – CNN

Is this just bluster and bravado to provide cover for losing?  Or is this a signal?  This was also months ago, and honestly can be lost in the shuffle of Trumpisms that play out each week.

But yesterday he was sounding the call again:

In an interview with the New York Times on Friday, he backtracked: “We’re going to have to see. We’re going to see what happens. We’re going to have to see.” — The Guardian

This time the New York Times felt it was an attempt to “unnerve” Clinton going into the next debates.  But what of these loyal Trump followers?  In late winter, when protesters were interrupting rallies, Trump encouraged violence — and his supporters followed suit. At no time did Trump attempt to dissuade his followers not to be violent and early on invited it.

Some of his followers are a rabid bunch.

So the unanswered question is this: just how many Trump supporters are willing to violently protest should he lose the election?  He has already invoked “2nd Amendment” remedies against Hillary:

“Hillary wants to abolish — essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know,” Trump said. CNN

The big picture remains: if he loses the election and casts it as rigged, will his fervent followers begin to use “2nd Amendment” options to protest what they overwhelmingly feel is a rigged election?  Despite evidence that voter fraud is rare, half of Trump’s followers disagree. The very reason Trump rose from the Republican field is the groundswell of anger among the GOP base.  It’s dry kindling awaiting a match and some oxygen.

Surely we won’t reach this point, right? Consider that national and local Fraternal Order of Police associations are endorsing Trump. They had not endorsed any Presidential candidate since 2008. Recently in Cleveland, the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association endorsed a president for the first time ever — and it was Trump.  The first responders to stand and meet a citizen uprising… support the candidate whose followers who would be these protesters.  While not all police officers are lockstep with Trump, their union is and that’s cause for strife internally.

There is a simple way that any fear of an post-election uprising could be contained.  Key Republicans could come forward after each Trump statement about election fraud and rigged elections and say they believe in the voting process, and that just like in the Election of 1800, we can drag our candidates through the mud but we respect the outcome of the election. But their silence right now is tacit approval for their candidate and the possible mob in waiting.

And while a coups d’etat is unlikely when post-election the military will still be under the control of the sitting president, we should nonetheless be concerned.  Revolutions begin at the grassroots.

• J.

 

PRESERVING DIGITAL HISTORY

I found this article compelling as a History Teacher. How will we archive and then share digital media for future generations?

Space Invaders was the arcade video game of my youth. How exactly should the National Museum of American History preserve and display the game?  Obtaining code only serves true programming nerds.

Displaying the iconic table you sat down at, or the stand up arcade shell? Not the same thing.  A video of the game? It defeats the experience of putting your quarter on the console declaring next game.

And so it continues… How will Call of Duty be archived and shared?  A video of the game is just a high tech cartoon.  Will the kids of 2056 understand gamer chairs and mic’d headsets if left in a static display?

Pac-Man is a particularly good example. In 2012, when the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired Pac-Man and 13 other video games, design curators wrestled with the exact challenge Reside describes. “It’s very different from when you acquire a poster or a chair, when what you see is what you get, and what you acquire is what you put in the gallery,” the curatorial assistant Kate Carmody told me at the time. “What exactly are you collecting? Are you collecting the software? Because then you need the hardware to collect it. Are you collecting the interaction? Because maybe a film of someone playing is the best way. Do you display the code?”
– Kate Carmondy, in the Atlantic

When you walk through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame you see vinyl records and hear them… the connection isn’t a far reach.  The same us true with early instruments. But as the article points out, how to preserve and display the lighting of a Broadway show or a Prince Concert event.  Video shows us the result, but not the process. And that has been evolutionary and game changing.

It is a challenge for the next generation to bite into because Grandpa can chat you up Pacman but one day we will be ghosts fleeing around the screen.

– J.

WHY IS WHERE I DROP A DEUCE SO IMPORTANT TO NORTH CAROLINA?

Earlier this week North Carolina addressed the economic worries, educational needs, taxation structure, cultural panic of some of its citizens by legislating what bathroom you should use.  The party that champions individual liberties… who controls the legislature and executive branches wants to be sure you use the right potty?

In signing this bill, North Carolina’s Governor decided it was more important to side with culture warriors than big business and to further confuse Conservatives as to the real ideology of the GOP.

Snark aside, the law is more than bathroom monitoring, as it prevents local governments from passing their own non-discrimination laws.  But it underscores the growing schism within the GOP. True conservatism doesn’t like top down legislation that inhibits rights and interferes with business.  Which is what this does. This move is pure Cultural Conservatism, legislating a moral position at the expense of individual rights. Why not let  individual counties and communities chart their own course?

Already big businesses are lining up in opposition, including major players like Disney and Time Warner Cable. The list is impressive. It would be completely within their right to halt business practices inside the state. Even the NBA has stepped in, threatening to move next year’s all star game out of Charlotte.

I wonder if the North Carolina legislators considered combining this with the Voter ID law? Before you pee, you have to show ID…

I wonder what the Vegas odds are for how long this goes until repeal? Negative media is one thing, but big business Republicans are not going to be okay with the corporate backlash that’s only just begun.

-J.

FOR EVERY OUTRAGE! CIVILITY DIES A LITTLE MORE

Outrage! How dare he! Wait… who we talking about here?  The left and right spend so much wasted energy ramping up the followers in their echo chambers that civility is the loser.   So President Obama spoke in a location that was radical, so have other world leaders. It’s what you do when you are a world leader.

We could continue to wring our hands and lash put senselessly… or we could sit down and reach compromise within our principles.

One gets ratings, the other gets results. In which are you interested?

Photo credit: mediamatters.org

WAGING A MINIMUM WAR FOR MAXIMUM PROFITS

McDonald’s just learned a lesson that Costco learned long ago and Walmart has yet to learn.  Look at your business from a wholistic standpoint.  Costco pays its workers at wages that far exceed industry standards.  Their workers are generally happy, productive and loyal while the company makes a nice profit.  Costco looks at the entire picture of their business entreprise, not just pure profit.  Walmart, by contrast, tends to look at pure profit and their workers are among the lowest paid, such that many are on government assistance — which aids Walmart’s bottom line at taxpayer expense.  In a sense, we are subsidizing Walmart workers.

This brings about the concept of a minimum wage, one where some states are raising rates and others, like Alabama, are passing laws that do NOT allow local government from raising their pay at the community level.  Truthfully, no minimum wage law would be necessary if companies would do what McDonald’s just did.  They looked at their business wholistically and saw rapid employee turnover.  By raising their wages $1 an hour, soon to be $2, their retention rated increased and empolee satisfaction is higher — and that results in better customer interaction.  This does appear as if it will hurt their bottom line, and in reality, may increase their profits.

A minimum wage should exist at a point where a worker is not in need of government assistance for working a full work week. Walmarts of the world that strategically set wages and employee hours so they must utilize government assistance in order to live are abusing the taxpayers while lining their own pockets with tremendous profits.

• J.