Mark Maynard | 2017 | January

Building a real “truther” movement… We need an army

By Mark | January 24, 2017

I know I should be posting about the fact that the entire Environmental Protection Agency was essentially put on ice this morning, or that Trump just hinted about the possibility of martial law in Chicago, or that the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipeline projects have been brought back to life by executive action, but all I feel compelled to write about right now about are Trump’s increasingly brazen lies. I realize that it’s all likely a stunt, somethng to keep us off-balance and distracted while the agencies that exist to protect us are being gutted, and our public assets are being given away to the wealthy donor class, but, regardless of how hard I try, I find that I keep coming back to the lies, which seem to be growing more outrageous by the day, to the point where, yesterday, Trump told CIA employees that the skies over D.C. became “really sunny” as he was concluding his inauguration speech, despite the fact that, as we all saw with our own eyes, it remained cloudy and raining throughout.

It’s one thing to lie about things that are difficult to prove, like whether or not you exchanged messages with the Kremlin during the election, but who lies about things that are so easily disproven? Who says it was sunny outside when it wasn’t? Who says that up to “a million and a half” people were are the inauguration, when actual photos exist that tell a much different story? But yet he does it. Trump not only lies with reckless abandon, but he refuses to let go when proven wrong. He digs in his heels, he fights, and he somehow convinces a good number of our fellow Americans to disregard their senses and accept his version of truth. And, like a lot of people, I just can’t turn away from it. I just can’t accept that we, as a nation, are actually debating the existence of “alternate facts.” I guess, in retrospect, given how Republicans have dealt with issues like global climate change for the past several decades, telling us that 99% of scientists can’t be trusted, it shouldn’t be a surprise, but I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that this is actually the world we now live in. And it’s completely draining my outrage reservoir, leaving very little for the evil that’s actually being done right now by way of executive order. [Speaking of which, I just heard that Trump is expected to sign the executive order for the border wall tomorrow.]

What consumed me today was the news that, last night, Trump, meeting with congressional leaders at the White House, claimed yet again that he not only won the electoral vote but also the popular vote this past November, suggesting that 3 million to 5 million votes cast for Clinton were cast by “illegals.” [The official vote count has Trump losing the popular vote by over 2,864,000.] And he makes this claim in spite of the fact that it’s been debunked by very credible sources several times. This instance is so egregious, in fact, that the New York Times, in a headline published this morning, called him out for being a “liar”, which is an incredibly big deal for the paper of record. But there’s really no other way to say it. It’s a boldfaced lie, with absolutely no basis in reality.

[“President Trump used his first official meeting with congressional leaders on Monday to falsely claim that millions of unauthorized immigrants had robbed him of a popular vote majority,” the Times reported, “a return to his obsession with the election’s results even as he seeks support for his legislative agenda.”]

While Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called Trump to task for his comments, I can’t find much evidence of others in Congress doing the same, which concerns me greatly. Here, for those of you who haven’t read it, is what Graham told reporters.

“To continue to suggest that the 2016 election was conducted in a fashion that millions of people voted illegally undermines faith in our democracy. It’s not coming from a candidate for the office, it’s coming from the man who holds the office. So I am begging the president, share with us the information you have about this or please stop saying it. As a matter of fact I’d like you to do more than stop saying it. I’d like you to come forward and say having looked at it I am confident the election was fair and accurate and people who voted voted legally. Cause if he doesn’t do that, this is going to undermine his ability to govern this country.”

When asked about this most recent lie earlier today, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended the President, saying that Trump does feel as though millions of Americans voted illegally “based on studies and information he has.” When asked if Trump might make this evidence public, or call for a voter fraud investigation, Spicer responded by saying, “maybe we will.” And people, for the most part, don’t seem to be up in arms about this. [Apparently, it would seem, when a President lies about receiving a blowjob, it’s an impeachable offense, but when he lies about the sanctity of our entire electoral system, it’s something we’re supposed to just accept.]

And, with that, I’ve spent another evening of my life digging for information about a specific Trump lie instead of sharpening my pitchfork, lighting my torch, and taking to the street.

Like I said at the beginning of the post, I’m torn as to how much time I should devote to Trump’s lying. Or at least I was. I think, over the course of writing this, I’ve come to the conclusion that the truth is something worth fighting for. How this will manifest itself here on the site, I’m not sure, but I’m slowly forming a kind of platform for myself that includes things like widening voter access, non-partisan redistricting, campaign finance reform, strengthening public education, and funding alternative energy research, and defending the truth is definitely going to be part of it. Yes, I do think these brazen lies of Trump’s, which are now also being echoed by administration officials like Spicer and Conway, are in large part made just to keep us off balance, and divide us, and force those on the far right even further to the “there is no truth” fringes, but, if we don’t fight back, the entire foundation upon which this nation is built is likely to rot and crumble beneath our feet.

Where there’s no truth, there’s no future.

Without facts, there’s no science.

And, without science, we might as well all be dead.

As for how we fight on behalf of truth, I’m not sure. I guess we could wear something distinctive, like safety pins, or knitted pussy hats. Or maybe we could start a new organization, like the Tea Party, only built on fact and respectful debate instead of conspiracy theory and fear. Or maybe we could all be signs in the windows of our homes saying something like, “This Family Believes in Facts.” Or maybe we just demand that our leaders sign an oath, assuring us that they’re defend the truth. That would be a pretty good start, wouldn’t it? I mean, it worked for Grover Norquist, who, for decades, successfully forced Republicans to sign his tax-cutting pledge. Why wouldn’t it work to put a pledge in front of our elected representatives demanding that they stay tethered to the real, fact-based world? Of course, if Republicans signed, they’d have to cede the fight over global climate change, but maybe some, seeing where these lies have gotten us, are ready.

Here, on the subject of holding our elected representatives accountable when it comes to defending the truth, is something that Dan Rather shared yesterday on social media.

These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

When you have a spokesperson for the president of the United States wrap up a lie in the Orwellian phrase “alternative facts”…

When you have a press secretary in his first appearance before the White House reporters threaten, bully, lie, and then walk out of the briefing room without the cajones to answer a single question…

When you have a President stand before the stars of the fallen CIA agents and boast about the size of his crowds (lies) and how great his authoritarian inaugural speech was…

These are not normal times.

The press has never seen anything like this before. The public has never seen anything like this before. And the political leaders of both parties have never seen anything like this before.

What can we do? We can all step up and say simply and without equivocation. “A lie, is a lie, is a lie!” And if someone won’t say it, those of us who know that there is such a thing as the truth must do whatever is in our power to diminish the liar’s malignant reach into our society.

There is one group of people who can do a lot – very quickly. And that is Republicans in Congress. Without their support, Donald Trump’s presidency will falter. So here is what I think everyone in the press must do. If you are interviewing a Paul Ryan, a Mitch McConnell, or any other GOP elected official, the first question must be “what will you do to combat the lying from the White House?” If they dodge and weave, keep with the follow ups. And if they refuse to give a satisfactory answer, end the interview.

Facts and the truth are not partisan. They are the bedrock of our democracy. And you are either with them, with us, with our Constitution, our history, and the future of our nation, or you are against it. Everyone must answer that question.

So how do we fight back on behalf of the truth? Do we start a Rosie the Riveter like campaign? Do we take some message to the streets, tagging all of America over a single weekend with a simple message? Do we confront our elected officials, demanding that they either stand up to the lies or step aside? Let me know your thoughts and ideas. I feel like a fight, and I think this is the fight I want to have.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Environment, History, Ideas, Mark's Life, Marketing, Politics, Special Projects, Uncategorized | Tagged alternate facts, alternative facts, big oil, border wall, call to action, Chicago, CIA, conspiracy theories, Dakota Access, Dan Rather, Donald Trump, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, executive orders, global climate change, Global Warming, illegal alien, inauguration, Kellyanne Conway, Keystone XL, lies, Lindsey Graham, martial law, Mexico, oil, pipelines, popular vote, post-truth, Republican lies, rigged elections, Sean Spicer, the future of journalism, threats to Democracy, truth, voter suppression | 27 Comments

Totally Quotable Arlo: circumcision edition

By Mark | January 24, 2017

So, yeah, today’s the day Arlo found out that his grandparents were responsible for cutting off the “safety part” of his father’s penis, something I’m sure they’ll hear about come Sunday, during our weekly call… If you’re reading this, mom and dad, you’ve got five days to come up with a good explanation. For what it’s worth, I’d like to hear it too.

[If you’ve got a few extra minutes, check out our Totally Quotable Arlo archive.]

Posted in Mark's Life, Special Projects | Tagged Arlo, circumcision, Mark's penis, penis, penises, Totally Quotable Arlo | 12 Comments

Trump goes to the CIA to mend fences and fucks things up even worse by pulling them into his propaganda campaign

By Mark | January 23, 2017

On Saturday, standing in front of the CIA memorial commemorating the 117 agents who lost their lives in service to our country, Donald Trump, instead of just focusing on the importance of the work being done by the men and women of the intelligence agency, went on a rant about the “dishonest media,” which had sought, in his opinion, to underreport the number of people who had attended his inauguration. “As you know, I have a running war with the media,” Trump said to the over 400 CIA employees who were in attendance. He then went on to say, “They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth,” before launching into a description of his inauguration which was, as you might expect, full of inaccuracies. According to CNN, “Trump even described the inauguration weather inaccurately, saying that the skies became ‘really sunny’ after his speech, when in fact it remained cloudy.” [One is reminded by this passage from George Orwell’s 1984: “The Party told you to reject all evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”] Trump concluded the bizarre, rambling speech by saying, “I love honesty.” And, judging from the reaction in the room, one certainly got the impression that what he was saying really resonated with those agents who showed up to hear him speak. As Trump said on social media, afterward, it was a “big win.”

As we discovered today, though, what we thought were CIA agents laughing and clapping for the President as he, according to Politico, “hinted at loosening rules on torture put in place under President Barack Obama” and “promised to wipe ‘radical Islamic terrorism… off the face of the earth’,” may have actually been plants brought in by the Trump team to give the impression of enthusiastic approval. [Also, for what it’s worth, they weren’t giving him a “standing ovation.” They’re required to stand in the presence of the President until he gives them the word to sit, which he did not do.] The following comes by way of CBS News.

U.S. government sources tell CBS News that there is a sense of unease in the intelligence community after President Trump’s visit to CIA headquarters on Saturday.

An official said the visit “made relations with the intelligence community worse” and described the visit as “uncomfortable.”

Authorities are also pushing back against the perception that the CIA workforce was cheering for the president. They say the first three rows in front of the president were largely made up of supporters of Mr. Trump’s campaign.

An official with knowledge of the make-up of the crowd says that there were about 40 people who’d been invited by the Trump, Mike Pence and Rep. Mike Pompeo teams. The Trump team originally expected Rep. Pompeo, R-Kansas, to be sworn in during the event as the next CIA director, but the vote to confirm him was delayed on Friday by Senate Democrats. Also sitting in the first several rows in front of the president was the CIA’s senior leadership, which was not cheering the remarks…

Intelligence sources say many in the workforce were stunned and at times offended by the president’s tone which seemed to evolve into a version of speeches he’d used on the campaign trail…

And it’s apparently not just anonymous sources within the intelligence agency that are commenting unfavorably on Trump’s speech. Former CIA Director John Brennan’s former deputy chief of staff, Nick Shapiro, took to Twitter after the speech to say the following.

For what it’s worth, I don’t doubt that some of the 400 CIA employees who chose to attend the event actually laughed and clapped. I also, however, don’t doubt for a minute that our equally insecure and brilliantly manipulative President travels with his own living laugh track. The thing I find much more troubling, though, is that Trump would jeopardize his opportunity to repair the relationship between himself and the CIA by pulling the agency into this drama and making them a part of his traveling sideshow. This is an agency that prides itself on working behind the scenes and being non-partisan, and Trump not only went in and gave a televised political speech, the response to which gave the impression that agents were enthusiastically supporting him, but pulled them into a domestic “war” between the President and the press, all in front of their hallowed memorial wall. It was a colossal mess, and you have to know, regardless of whether some CIA employees actually clapped, the upper administration has to be royally pissed. He essentially used the CIA, and their wall, as a fucking prop. And what did Trump get out of it? A few minutes of footage of what appeared to be CIA agents laughing and clapping as he talked about the “dishonest” press and his love of honesty. I know we don’t need more evidence of his shortsightedness and ineptitude, but, really, I found this absolutely astonishing. He could have gone in, told them that, despite what they may have heard in the press, he appreciated their work, and looked forward to making the world safer with their help. Instead, though, he rolled in with a circus and proceeded to make them complicit in his domestic propaganda campaign. While that might work outside a closed down coal mine in West Virginia, my sense is that it doesn’t play so well at Langley, where they actually understand what’s happening.

Here, in case you missed it, is the video.

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged A Face in the Crowd, CIA, Donald Trump, future of journalism, gaslight, inauguration, intelligence, John Brennan, laugh track, lies, Mike Pompeo, Nick Shapiro, post-truth, propaganda, Republican lies, threats to journalists, truth | 19 Comments

OK, so now what? How do we keep up the momentum from Saturday’s marches?

By Mark | January 22, 2017

Last night, on the radio, I talked with a number of local women who had headed off to D.C. to participate in the Women’s March on Washington. At the most basic level, I just wanted to record their thoughts and experiences, having just participated in the biggest post-inauguration protest in American history. I wanted to create a kind of audio time capsule, recording these women, in their own voices, talking about what they had experienced earlier that day, and why they felt it was important, at this point in our nation’s history, to stand together and collectively announce their intention to fight to protect their rights, safety, health, and families. At the same time, though, I was interested to know how they intended to keep this momentum going once they returned home to Michigan, and explore ways in which this huge public action might actually lead to tangible, positive change, and not just fade away like the Occupy movement. And, with this in mind, I posted the following to Facebook upon returning home from the radio station.

There were a ton of responses, but here are a few of my favorites. [I’m just using first names, as I didn’t reach out to all of these folks and let them know that I’d intended to move their comments over here.] If you have thoughts of your own, please leave a comment.

Gina Time to takeover the Democratic Party!

Kate Good question. I think the marches are important because they send the message to those who have been marginalized that there are people on their side and serve as a reminder to our politicians that their constituents didn’t all vote for this. But then what? We need people to vote, so work around absentee ballots, organizing rides to polls when the time comes, etc. But we also have work to do around preaching to people who aren’t in the choir. Screaming at them with signs about the morality of their votes, while not unjustified, isn’t going to flip any votes. So, how do we organize to do the really hard work?

Quinn They will re-join the ones that are still here.

Patti Me, personally? I am going to keep it local just because that’s my thing. I want to keep the conversation going and turn it into action–Salons, our own Algonquin Table (because why the fuck not?), spoken word performances, speaking speaking speaking and writing my subversively feminist books. And standing strong in sisterhood, something I’m not always so good at.

Nicky I hope they fuck shit up and fuck American patriarchy in its ass… but that’s just me.

Jerri We keep making our voices be heard in every way we can until we get justice and equality.

Rick Hopefully run for office.

Yen Make Ypsi the social activist art hub Marfa of the Midwest.

Barry Voting in every election would be a good start! Donating to liberal causes, too!

Martha What are you, fired up men, going to do to help us?

Kathleen Biggest crowd I have ever been in today in Ann Arbor – we are already here.

Amanda I hope that people will spend energy supporting people from underrepresented groups (gender, ethnicity, age, orientation, religion, et al) to run for office at every level. Because it’s not easy, and there are not enough people actively supporting building a pipeline towards greater representation. And, that support is still actively needed for people once they are on office as well. So I will, among other things, keep working to engage and encourage people in this way.

Larry That is good question. My hope is that local, county, state posts are filled with activist-minded folks. Attend government meetings and ask why we do it this way. Is this best practice, or routine? Challenge the status quo. Ask for proactive policies, and not just reactive ones. Work as a volunteer, or identify needs with solutions. Don’t just complain. I started a recall of the Mayor of Belleville when I lived there years back and prevailed. You can make a difference, but it’s your job to do, not someone else’s.

Linh I really hope folks will come out to government Board meetings. The AADL Library Board meetings are almost entirely attended by a handful of staff. My former running mates and I are reaching out to high school groups to see if they would like to cover our meetings. And we are looking at how to make meetings more accessible… It doesn’t make for the most thrilling experience to watch 7 people mull over costs around updated bathrooms, but I think it’s interesting to see how decisions are made and by whom. We take our public institutions for granted until they are threatened. So let’s shore them up as best as we can, together.

Natalie I hope people would be willing to reach out to folks living in prisons in Michigan. In order to stop relying on the state we have to build different local systems of support and mutual aid. Short termers and long termers return to our communities everyday from behind the walls. Networks of support to help people reestablish their lives are instrumental to creating resilient and safe communities committed to resistance and non-reliance on corrupt bureaucracies– I.e. police systems, prison systems, detention systems, and the entire criminal legal system. Support starts by writing, visiting, building a connection with a person behind the walls.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Michigan, Uncategorized | Tagged Occupy, protest, resistance, women, Women's March on Washington | 28 Comments

The “alternate facts” of the Trump White House and the nature of truth in post-Trump America

By Mark | January 22, 2017

On Friday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. According to scientists that have studied the crowd photos, approximately 160,000 people were in attendance, or less than one-tenth of the 1.8 million people who showed up to witness Obama’s inauguration in 2009. President Trump, however, has suggested that the crowd at his inauguration was actually quite a bit larger than is being reported in the press. Speaking at CIA headquarters yesterday, our new President said, “I looked out, the field was — it looked like a million, million and a half people,” adding that the area “all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.” And White House press secretary Sean Spicer, in remarks to reporters yesterday, doubled down, saying that what we saw on Friday “was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.”

Regardless of what Trump might say about the role of the “dishonest media” in distorting the size and enthusiasm of the crowd, the photos don’t lie. The following images were taken 45 minutes before Obama and Trump took their oaths of office in 2009 and 2017 respectively.

Spicer, for what its worth, didn’t just lie once to the press. He apparently told four significant lies over the course of his five speech. For instance, he said, “We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama’s last inaugural.” This, as Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler points out, was simply not true. “The actual numbers are 783,000 trips for Obama in 2013 — double Spicer’s figure — and 571,000 for Trump in 2017,” Kessler said in a report published today. “The number for Trump,” he went on to say, “is actually lower than the average weekday ridership of 639,000 trips.” And, it’s important to note, Spicer was reading from a prepared statement. So this wasn’t an instance of someone just talking off-the-cuff. This was someone knowingly lying. This was Trump’s White House Press Secretary knowingly disseminating incorrect data as fact, apparently unconcerned that what he was saying would be quickly fact-checked and proven wrong.

When asked about Spicer’s repeated lies on Meet the Press this morning, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, said the Press Secretary didn’t lie, but merely offered “alternative facts.” [A flabbergasted Chuck Todd responded by saying, “Look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”] Here, if you haven’t seen it, is the video.

Is it a big deal that very few people, at least comparatively speaking, turned out to see Trump sworn in as President? No. While it’s interesting that three times as many people showed up in D.C. the day after the inauguration to protest than showed up the day of the inauguration to show their support, I don’t see how inauguration crowd size matters all that much. What matters a great deal, tough, is the fact that this administration would send their Press Secretary out in front of reporters to brazenly lie… to tell people that, despite what they may have seen with their own eyes, our new President actually had the biggest inauguration crowd in the entire history of the United States. That’s incredibly significant. We all suspected that Trump would continue to play fast and loose with the truth at President, but apparently it goes deeper than that. This administration, for whatever reason, has apparently made the decision that they can manufacture the truth, that they can tell us, without fear of reprisal, that black is white and up is down.

As for why the administration might be proceeding like this, the Washington Post today shared an interesting memo that has been circulating on social media which is said to have been written by a former White House staffer… Here’s what it says.