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Friday, July 20, 2018

Putin Plays Chess While Trump Plays Patsie, And Even The Republicans Are Starting To Notice. THE PEOPLES E-MAIL NETWORK.

If the Republicans want to do the campaign version of I'm With Stupid 
that's their party. 

Russian-born chess grandmaster Nimzowitsch was famous for saying, 
"The threat is stronger than the execution." This applies not just to 
a classic intellectual board game. It is the whole entire principle 
of blackmail. 

Blackmail only works if you are threatening to publicly disclose 
something that was not known. If it was all out there already there 
is no longer anything to blackmail with. Not only are we certain the 
Ritz Carlton frolic tape exists, it is most likely in full color. 

So when Trump offered the lame defense at the Helsinki press 
conference that if the Russians had anything incriminating on him it 
would already be out there, like pretty much everything else he says 
it is the exact opposite of reality. 

When Putin himself was asked about it, he literally laughed out loud. 
He then tried to absurdify the question, arguing, "What, do you think 
we surveil and record every foreign visitor we get?" 

Uh, duh . . . uh, yeah . . . that's exactly what everybody knows they 
do. 

Trump told the world he would take Putin's "strong and powerful 
denial" over the unanimous evidence of all our intelligence agencies. 
What did Putin do in their private conclave, take his shirt off? It's 
a wonder Trump did not go on and on about Putin's manly firmness. 
None of this has been cleaned up belatedly and after the fact. 

Among other things Trump is not, Putin is smart. Smart enough to know 
that the FBI does not have to physically seize a server to analyze 
it. They imaged the DNC server. So much for that big fat dud of a 
conspiracy theory that was yet another "Hey, but what about" Trump 
distracting insinuation in Finland. 

Finally, a bunch of Republicans have had enough of the national 
embarrassment in the oval office, or so they seem to be saying. 

But what will they do tomorrow? Go right back to kissing his butt, 
the way Trump himself plays the patsie for grandmaster Putin? Go 
right back to tearing down the people with the highest integrity in 
our whole government? 

We had enough of this before the last election even took place. 


If the Republicans want to do the campaign version of I'm With Stupid 
that's their party. 

Russian-born chess grandmaster Nimzowitsch was famous for saying, 
"The threat is stronger than the execution." This applies not just to 
a classic intellectual board game. It is the whole entire principle 
of blackmail. 

Blackmail only works if you are threatening to publicly disclose 
something that was not known. If it was all out there already there 
is no longer anything to blackmail with. Not only are we certain the 
Ritz Carlton frolic tape exists, it is most likely in full color. 

So when Trump offered the lame defense at the Helsinki press 
conference that if the Russians had anything incriminating on him it 
would already be out there, like pretty much everything else he says 
it is the exact opposite of reality. 

When Putin himself was asked about it, he literally laughed out loud. 
He then tried to absurdify the question, arguing, "What, do you think 
we surveil and record every foreign visitor we get?" 

Uh, duh . . . uh, yeah . . . that's exactly what everybody knows they 
do. 

Trump told the world he would take Putin's "strong and powerful 
denial" over the unanimous evidence of all our intelligence agencies. 
What did Putin do in their private conclave, take his shirt off? It's 
a wonder Trump did not go on and on about Putin's manly firmness. 
None of this has been cleaned up belatedly and after the fact. 

Among other things Trump is not, Putin is smart. Smart enough to know 
that the FBI does not have to physically seize a server to analyze 
it. They imaged the DNC server. So much for that big fat dud of a 
conspiracy theory that was yet another "Hey, but what about" Trump 
distracting insinuation in Finland. 

Finally, a bunch of Republicans have had enough of the national 
embarrassment in the oval office, or so they seem to be saying. 

But what will they do tomorrow? Go right back to kissing his butt, 
the way Trump himself plays the patsie for grandmaster Putin? Go 
right back to tearing down the people with the highest integrity in 
our whole government? 

We had enough of this before the last election even took place. 
Demonstrate you have had enough too. 



The Pen 

The People's Email Network, PO Box 35022, L.A., 
CA 90035 



Wednesday, July 18, 2018

eSKEPTIC. FALLING INTO INFINITY. MICHAEL SHERMER/ MonsterTalk Episode 162: Krampus in July—an interview with Al Ridenour.


Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (book cover detail)
Does a scientific understanding of the world erase its emotional impact or spiritual power? Michael Shermer reviews Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine by Alan Lightman. This review was originally published online in the New York Times on June 25, 2018 under the title “Must Science Conflict With Spirituality?”

Falling Into Infinity

In 1801 the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge calculated the impact ratio of scientists to poets thusly: “the souls of 500 Sir Isaac Newtons would go to the making up of a Shakespeare or a Milton.” Defending his 1820 poem “Lamia,” Coleridge’s contemporary poet John Keats growled that Isaac Newton had “destroyed the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to a prism,” lamenting that natural philosophy (science) will “unweave a rainbow.”
Does a scientific understanding of the world erase its emotional impact or spiritual power? Of course not. Science and spirituality are complementary, not conflicting. As the physicist Richard Feynman reflected in a 1981 BBC interview The Pleasure of Finding Things Out in recalling a conversation with an artist friend about appreciating a flower: ”the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me too, I believe. At the same time, I see much more about the flower than he sees. I could imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside, which also have a beauty. The fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting; it means that insects can see the color. It adds a question: does this aesthetic sense also exist in the lower forms? Why is it aesthetic? All kinds of interesting questions which the science knowledge only adds to the excitement, the mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds.”
Spirituality is a way of being in the world, a sense of one’s place in the cosmos, a relationship to that which extends beyond ourselves. I call this sciencuality, a neologism that echoes the sensuality of discovery. “Our contemplations of the cosmos stir us,” the astronomer Carl Saganwaxed poetic in the opening scene of his documentary series Cosmos, one of the most spiritual expressions of science ever produced. “There’s a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation as if a distant memory of falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the grandest of mysteries.” […]

MonsterTalk (logo)
The Krampus and the Old Dark Christmas (book cover)

MONSTERTALK EPISODE 162

Krampus in July

On a hot Summer day it’s nice to cool off and contemplate the hairy, horned winter monster of the Alps known as The Krampus. In MonsterTalk # 162, Blake interviews Al Ridenour, author of The Krampus and the Old Dark Christmas. Al is also the host of the folklore and pop-culture podcast Bone & Sickle.
Get the MonsterTalk Podcast App and enjoy the science show about monsters on your handheld devices! Available for iOSAndroid, and WindowsSubscribe to MonsterTalk for free on iTunes.
SKEPTIC (logo)
Skeptics Society  |  P.O. Box 338, Altadena CA 91001, United States  |  1-626-794-3119

Watch Highlights of Secretary Clinton and Student Activists from Our 25th Anniversary Dinner. Robyn Thomas, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

David—
Last month, we honored the courage of outstanding student activists and the unwavering leadership of Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton at our 25th Anniversary Dinner in San Francisco. I’m excited to share this video highlighting the evening. I hope you’ll be inspired as I was by the messages of these prominent leaders and engaged citizens.
Giffords Law Center
 
Our community stepped up and pitched in more than ever before at this year’s Anniversary Dinner, and that support will fortify our lifesaving programs in the critical year ahead. I send my deepest gratitude to everyone who made the evening so special and successful. It was invigorating to celebrate the incredible progress we’ve made since our founding following the 101 California Street shooting, remember those we've lost, and reflect on why our mission to save lives from gun violence is so critical.
Now the work of creating a safer America for our children continues, with renewed momentum.
Sincerely,
Robyn
--
Robyn Thomas
Executive Director
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence
PS: In 1993, the 101 California Street shooting devastated the San Francisco legal community and led to our organization's founding. This piece in the San Francisco Chronicle explores how 101 California has shaped gun politics and policies over the last 25 years.
Giffords Law Center

Breaking: Mass. House repeals archaic abortion law. Tricia Wajda, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund.

Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts
Dear Searchingforreason.N,
Exciting news – just moments ago, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to wipe archaic, unconstitutional laws off the books and make clear the right to safe, legal abortion is protected in our state. These outdated laws represent a Massachusetts that no longer exists – one in which women did not have autonomy over their bodies, futures, or lives – and one that should never again exist.
Known as the NASTY Women bill, this legislation repeals outdated statutes like bans on abortion and the “prohibition of contraception for unmarried people.” These laws were written at times in history when women were second class citizens and they have no place in the year 2018.
Nationally, reproductive rights are under attack. The nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court has put the right to access abortion safely and legally in this country on the line. As anti-abortion politicians in other states prepare for their chance to make abortion access illegal, Massachusetts is saying loud and clear that it values reproductive rights and the ability of all people to make their own decisions about their bodies.
By passing the NASTY Women bill, the Massachusetts House of Representatives sends a clear message that restricting abortion and birth control access should be a thing of the past, and won’t be our future.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Tricia Wajda
Vice President of External Affairs
Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts
Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts
1055 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
United States