FairAndUNbalanced's podcast: Recent Episodes
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Why my conservative brothers and sisters in Christ, like Donald Trump, do not need forgiveness from God, forgiveness for which the rest of us must urgently pray.
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The outermost fringes of American right-wing militancy has something in common with early Christianity. They rely on codes.
Neo-Nazis are in a position to understand the below-ground messaging of my president and his supporters.
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Sometimes the way war criminals are regarded depends on the era in which we live.
In a span of 75 years, Americans had hoped to come closer to the founding ideals.
Our standards should not have gone downward.
How about this?
The election just six months away. The presumptive Democratic nominee 9 points ahead. Even conservatives attacking Republicans.
And Democrats still lost in November. Here’s how it happened.
If he had paid more attention to a couple of memos, he would have been in politics a whole lot longer.
The Haldeman maneuver didn't really work for Nixon.
Trump has a more fanatic following.
Maybe they'll fall into line.
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The world sometimes seems to have too few heroes. America has one. He is a minor official in Ukraine.
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Each time President Trump tells us what he saw and did on the day of the attacks, his actions in the aftermath become even more courageous.
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As so many of our brothers and sisters in Christ endorse, with great enthusiasm, new attacks by our government on desperately ill children, we may as well be overt about it.
What would Satan do?
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In the White House, it's been called the Swing Around the Circle, a planned rally tour to persuade middle-of-the-road voters of his moderation, and of the extremism of the opposition.
But not all plans ...well... go off as planned.
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My dad thought teenagers were just putting a finger in the eye of grownups.
I thought it was all about the music.
Half a century later the debate about the same kids has a ring to it.
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One tragic aspect within a tragic era within the history of a great country is now being tragically repeated.
And it is deliberate.
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There is a common thread that runs through Donald Trump's history, one that gives us the likely reason for his very specific hostility toward one segment of immigrants.
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We treat some with fear and loathing. Others are a source of amusement.
The homeless in our midst and refugees from without, at least those who with brown skin, share one fatal attribute.
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Impeachment may be possible, but only if this President is convicted in the right court.
It is not the House. It will not be the Senate.
And it will not be with any written report.
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How I maneuvered a crooked corporate executive into getting fired, and how Nancy Pelosi seems to be doing the same to a crooked President.
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With that wonderful sense of humor that is only his, my President leads his supporters in laughter.
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It isn't just national security, although that is a concern.
It isn't only the interference in our election, the making of Donald Trump, although that is a stain on history.
What makes me glad to see Julian Assange carried away is much more primal.
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We now have the Mr. Barr's 4 page book report. We can give it a passing grade, as long as we agree on something else - either about the law, or about Mr. Barr.
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He is not a lunatic. And he is not a master of strategy.
The explanation for his behavior is surprisingly simple.
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The most devoted Trump support comes from those impatient with the traditional code words and dog whistles offered by Republicans for the last half century.
A fictional advertising executive explains what they want instead.
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In the last quarter century, the Republican approach to America's adversaries has gone from "Trust But Verify" to "Trust With No Limit."
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If you're going to defend this terrible holdover, defend it for the single reason, the monstrous reason, some delegates demanded it and others acquiesced.
It is available, documented in the the original words of the founders, as recorded by those who were there.
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A famous actor files a false report of a brutal attack right wing by rignt wing fanatics.
Nobody can quite understand why.
Why would Morton Downey Jr., vicious enemy of liberals, do such a thing?
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We hope for our best judgment when it is necessary to judge the ignorant, the flawed, and those who have done wrong.
Not all ignorance is willful.
Not all evil is done by evil people.
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When we compare the prosecutions in Wisconsin and Alabama under the last Republican administration with that of our current President, the contrast is cruel and unusual.
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It seemed as if the shutdown would never end, until it did.
Ordinary people were not being hurt. And then they were.
It was not about officials suddenly opening their eyes. It was about who they saw, all along, as ordinary people.
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The words communicated what fair minded representatives wanted to say, what fair minded voters needed to hear.
But Pelosi and Schumer looked like they had been pushed together into an invisible locker. It was awful.
Then I saw the polls.
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Another day, another scandal. This time the anti-immigrant President turns out to be hiring undocumented immigrants and having their paperwork forged.
He had no idea. Again.
It was all done behind his back. Again.
When he wasn't looking. Again.
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The message seems so clear.
Why are so many fervent believers in the Christmas message unable to apply it to today's world and the leadership of our own nation?
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A courtroom scolding of a decorated United States General, and President Trump's promise about the extradition of a Muslim cleric to Turkey, echo a murder in Washington four decades ago.
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In 1948, a plane carrying migrant workers crashed in Los Gatos Canyon. Those deaths were nearly ignored by the press and public of the day. An echo comes to us as a small child traveling in hope from Guatemala to America is lost to dehydration and neglect.
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We went to gallows humor when my employer made that minor change. We knew it meant the company was going down.
Now the NRA makes the same minor change and it gives us hope.
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Parallels in history are not hard to find with my President. The third emperor of ancient Rome used at least one remarkably similar military tactic.
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Well meaning people who object to, and often work against voter suppression, see the importance of dirty tricks, of cheating, of elections stolen.
It is sometimes too easy to miss the most important theft of all.
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Republican candidates around the country now insist they support protection for those with pre-existing conditions.
And Republican lawmakers from every part of the nation are working to get their healthcare promises declared illegal.
Here's how.
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Cute little blue and pink baby bonnets can teach us something important about the reasons Republicans are giving for plans to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
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The Trump administration tax cuts for the wealthy, and Republican plans to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, can all be traced back to a line drawn on a napkin in 1974.
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Last year, Elizabeth Warren challenged the documented history of a nominee and was silenced under an arcane rule.
This year, Mitch McConnell directly challenged the integrity of opposing Senators and the rules were ignored.
It helps to control the rules.
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Judicial philosophy is a key. So is whether a drunken teenage sexual assault occurred, with later false denials. But one other key disqualification has been proven to a moral certainty on national television. Brett Kavanaugh does not belong in a courtroom.
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An old joke and an ancient legend might give a Senator or two guidance in doing the right thing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and the Republic itself.
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It is a fictional lament from four decades ago. When our national leadership sees only winning and losing sides, we all lose.
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This is not the first time a President decided to use the Justice Department to prosecute political opponents.
This is just the first time a President is proud enough to boast about it in public.
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My President and his lawyer thought they could buy all the dirt their friend had on Mr. Trump. But J. Edgar Hoover had taught later generations how to play the game for fun, profit, and power.
They never had a chance.
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If Donald Trump decapitated every horse that ever won a race, he still could not intimidate intelligence officials.
He is no Dick Cheney.
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Political experts have trouble understanding our President's actions, not because of the complexity of his behavior, but because of its simplicity.
There is not an ounce of nuance within him. His path is always the shortest distance between one point.
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Photo IDs are said to prevent the type of individual voter fraud that is so close to non-existent that the requirement is sometimes referred to as a solution looking for a problem.
But photo IDs actually solve a problem no sponsor wants to admit.
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When I vote for President, Governor, or local dog catcher, It should matter that I am not a citizen of another country. So I was shocked when my conservative friend told me that San Francisco is letting non-citizens vote. Then I did some checking.
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My long time friend writes that lefties like me were always communist sympathizers, and so our antagonism to Mr. Putin's Russia is hypocritical.
Well, sometimes when your patriotism is challenged, even by an old friend, you just have to respond.
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A state supreme court expands academic freedom to include the right of a professor to publish an attack on a student-instructor he has never met, and to guide readers to her contact information.
One of the web's best conservative writers celebrates.
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Treason is lawfully defined. It can't be changed.
We do have a President who defines treason as any personal affront, who declares other countries as enemies because of petty slights.
There are checks on his power. So our freedoms aren't at risk.
Right?
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The myths that surrounded the Titanic in 1912 and later can provide vital lessons on today's immigration, and how we ought to deal with families that arrive in violation of US law.
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Those of us who grew to adulthood in a atmosphere of derision toward others know a terrible truth we hope will never be known by our great-grandchildren.
We know what it is to accept without question the prejudices of a deeply bigoted society.
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President Trump wants to testify. But his lawyers hesitate. He might forget details and be accused of perjury.
But I can help.
Here is a powerful little memory trick I was taught as a kid. I guarantee it will keep you out of perjury trouble.
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As Christians, many of us seem willing to turn their backs on what we see as the least of these, which is to say Jesus Himself.
It is becoming clear that we are now willing to replace Jesus with another ancient figure who stood in brutal opposition.
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I recognize the latest defense offered for Trump in conspiring with Russia. It was used over 40 years ago in Maryland.
But here's the problem. It sent my political hero to a prison cell.
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Coincidence happens. A private financial deal can occur with a change in policy. By now, it should be impossible for anyone not captured by wishful thinking to believe that these abrupt changes in direction just happen to flow along the Trump money trail.
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One clue to Trump cruelty - his willingness to attack combat heroes, grieving widows, gold star families, and others - can be found in his curiously mystified befuddlement at simple humor.
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The root cause of the political death spiral that afflicts the Republican Party has been blamed on Trump, Nixon, and a host of minor players. We have overlooked a hidden player that has only been with us for 30 years.
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There is a deep seated human need to discover justice, to see good rewarded, to see evil punished.
This administration has turned that on its head. We see the worst acts rewarded. Virtue is a hanging offense.
Scott Pruitt is a case in point.
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They appear as polar opposites.
Mr. Comey is truthful, Mr. Trump dwells in alternate facts. Mr. Comey is low key, Mr. Trump bluster itself, Mr. Comey avoids personally denigrating others.
Yet, in one respect, they are frighteningly similar.
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True conservatives, the heartless ideological sort, are mistakenly attacking the Special Counsel.
They can make their wildest dreams come true, if they ignore the dyspeptic Mr. Trump and force Mueller to go much farther than he wants to go.
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We have entered a world we did not envision.
Gangsters endanger those who enforce laws, mobsters take over governments, and criminals take away the pensions of those who investigate them.
Pac-Man tactics have become a way of life.
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As with other tragedies, victims speak out, some with specific safety proposals. As with other tragedies, anonymous internet trolls ignore proposals and attack victims themselves, joined by a few public figures.
But this time, something is different.
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Each clumsy firing was a joke, an example of ghastly humor, an exercise in executive cowardice.
The chaos, the anxiety, the tension have become too familiar.
The pattern is no longer funny.
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Political advocates have always twisted facts, tossed in irrelevant prejudices to muddy rhetorical waters.
But now some on the right go way past that, inventing alternate facts out of thin air.
One nationally known personality becomes a case study.
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As we watched a campaign witness go to pieces on national television, I was reminded of the most pitiful member of French aristocracy ever to face the guillotine.
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Few individuals are offered an unexpected opportunity to overcome danger while saving lives. Fewer still discover enough courage hidden within to perform well in the face of danger. President Trump surprised us with his own demonstration of character.
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There was a reason the FBI did nothing about organized crime before 1957, or about civil rights murders in 1955.
It is the same reason they would have ignored warnings about the coming high school tragedy in Parkland, Florida.
They had no choice.
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It is especially tragic when someone who accepts danger in order to protect the rest of us, a law enforcement officer, is killed.
How must we react when that death is used to attack an ethnic group?
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It will be an epic economic irony if our Democratic Republic, and our freedoms, are saved by the policies that have driven Kansas into the ground.
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Voting rights are often debated as the conflicting rights of political parties to fair competition.
Let's consider the radical idea that voting rights do not belong to political groups, but to people. And that the price paid has often been blood.
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Trusted intelligence officers who give away security secrets may have many reasons. A recently arrested CIA officer was greedy. 40 years ago, Philip Agee hated capitalism. In 2016, General Flynn simply hated. Today, President Trump wants to impress.
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It has not happened. We must hope it never happens.
But we are uncomfortably close to discovering that "Banana Republic" can refer to something other than an upscale clothing retailer with a safari theme.
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Experts watch for subtle signals that could mean great danger or great opportunity for the safety of our nation.
And we have a President determined to get rid of those experts.
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A numble President and Cabinet join in public prayer, thanking God for providing to a grateful nation a President and Cabinet as courageous and bold as themselves.
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Steve Bannon said he wanted to do for the GOP in Alabama what propagandist Leni Riefenstahl did for German Nazis in the 1930s.
In his own way, he succeeded.
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The lawyerly statement was just another example of obfuscation, denying the significance of the flipping of Flynn.
The entire corrupt enterprise is now endangered by one of its highest, most corrupt members.
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The cruel administration policy sank into a lowdown dirty trick against children, until Trump people got scared off by the one judge who didn't want to deal with any of it.
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On November 19, a special time marking national redefinition, a day signifying dedication to an ideal, we are reminded instead how far we have fallen.
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We face a comedic death of liberty, not to some authoritarian plot, but because a bumbler knows not what he does.
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The tragedy of George W. Bush is not that he was stupid, but that he was not. He was just too bored for the job.
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A movie, an actor, and a Hollywood scandal from decades ago, remind me of a Presidential attack on a grieving widow.
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Traditional logic does not explain the elements of childhood insularity, willful ignorance, and ethnocentric hatred.
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A series of supposed ancient stories of judicial wisdom tells us something of modern political criminals
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In Puerto Rico, as in all of life, one standard motivates our President. There is one principle to which he swears fidelity.
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My President now publicly warns us of 100 pound bags of drugs falling from the sky, sent upward by Mexican catapults.
Ha Ha.
The problem is, some fantasies are leaving scars on vulnerable people, and doing lasting damage to our democracy.
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When Conservatives attacked President Obama as "arrogant," that word held a very special, very specific meaning.
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Are we really surprised that our President will be putting tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield?
How many times did he have to tell us?
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Our President attacked a judge for his Mexican parents.
Of course he would see children of immigrants as expendable.
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President Trump has pardoned Joe Arpaio. Good folks are angry.
They have a good case. Why aren't they making it?
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We have a new US military doctrine.
Fire, Fury, and Power now serve to warn friend and foe alike not to hurt our President's feelings.
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He had been forced to betray his most loyal followers and his own deepest beliefs.
Then the fury erupted and rage spoke in his place.
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Conservatives blame Democrats for their failures in health care repeal.
Democrats would do well to remember Bobby Kennedy and his handling of a confrontation over half a century ago.
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In 1970, Mayor Carl Stokes gently rebuked an accuser.
Not quite half a century later, that rebuke stands in contrast with clumsy denials by Trump's Interior Secretary.
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The announcement is disheartening. John McCain has been stricken with brain cancer.
The nation sees tragedy involving a war hero.
Kelli Ward sees a wonderful opportunity for personal advancement.
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Spiro Agnew purged a Senator in 1970. Trump hates a Senator in 2017.
One was about policy.
The other is simply petty.
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They accuse fake news of dragging America to a dangerous place.
But it turns out the news was not fake and those reports are showing us who has been doing the dragging.
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