Costs Are Understated

Projects coming down from the top are approved first, and the cost estimates are inflated to make sure that enough money is budgeted. And with projects coming up from the bottom, costs are understated to give the projects a better chance of being approved.  Later on, the costs go up -- the people involved say that they "forgot this, forgot that."

-- Arthur Y. Chen, Taiwanese politician, Minister of Public Construction Commission (PCC) 1995 - 1996, cited in "Constructive Criticism" on Taiwan Today, 1 May 1996

Time And Leverage

The way the process of collective bargaining is designed to work under the statute, it's really driven by two things: time and economic leverage.  No agreement comes together before those two things play out in a way that you find common ground.  I think we made an agreement when it was possible to make an agreement.

I do believe -- I hope -- that the players will see the effort we made to address their concerns in this agreement as an olive branch in terms of building a better relationship.

-- MLB commissioner Rob Manfred at a press conference announcing the end of a 99-day, owner-imposed lockout that threatened the 2022 baseball season, 10 March 2022

When Things Are Quiet

There is a certain indolence in us, a wish not to be disturbed, which tempts us to think that when things are quiet, all is well.  Subconsciously, we tend to give the preference to "social peace," though it be only apparent, because our lives and possessions seem then secure.  Actually, human beings acquiesce too easily in evil conditions; they rebel far too little and too seldom.  There is nothing noble about acquiescence in a cramped life or mere submission to superior force.

-- A. J. Muste (1885 - 1967), Dutch-born American clergyman who eventually became a Quaker, Christian pacifist, socialist, and social activist involved in the U.S. labor and civil rights movements, "Pacifism and Class War" in The Essays of A. J. Muste (1967) edited by Nat Hentoff p. 179-85

The Sheer Scale

The United States reported more deaths from COVID-19 last Friday than deaths from Hurricane Katrina, more on any two recent weekdays than deaths during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more last month than deaths from flu in a bad season, and more in two years than deaths from HIV during the four decades of the AIDS epidemic.  At least 953,000 Americans have died from COVID, and the true toll is likely even higher because many deaths went uncounted.  COVID is now the third leading cause of death in the U.S., after only heart disease and cancer, which are both catchall terms for many distinct diseases.  The sheer scale of the tragedy strains the moral imagination.  On May 24, 2020, as the United States passed 100,000 recorded deaths, The New York Times filled its front page with the names of the dead, describing their loss as "incalculable." Now the nation hurtles toward a milestone of 1 million.  What is 10 times incalculable?

-- Ed Yong, "How Did This Many Deaths Become Normal?", The Atlantic, 8 March 2022

Part Angel

You never know, he thought.  You just never know.  You drift along, year after year, presuming certain values to be fixed; like being able to drive on a public thoroughfare without somebody trying to murder you.  You came to depend on that sort of thing.  Then something occurs and all bets are off.  One shocking incident and all the years of logic and acceptance are displaced and, suddenly, the jungle is in front of you again.  Man, part animal, part angel. 

-- Richard Burton Matheson (1926 - 2013), American author and screenwriter, typically of fantasy, horror, or science fiction, "Duel" (1971), a short story, which he later adapted into a screenplay for Duel (1971), Steven Spielberg's first feature-length film

Faith And Commitment

The more one accepts what is materially false to be really true, and the more one spends material resources in displays of such acceptance, the more others consider one's faith deep and one's commitment sincere.

-- Scott Atran (1952 -), American-French cultural anthropologist who is Emeritus Director of Research in Anthropology at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique in Paris, and Research Professor at the University of Michigan, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion (2002), Introduction: an evolutionary riddle, p. 5

Serpent In The Ear

[T]he advice provided has, whether intended or not, functioned as a serpent in the ear of the President of the United States, the most powerful office in the entire world.  And here we are.

Respectfully, it was gravely, gravely irresponsible for you to entice the President with an academic theory that had no legal viability, and that you well know we would lose before any judge who heard and decided the case.  And if the courts declined to hear it, I suppose it could only be decided in the streets.  The knowing amplification of that theory through numerous surrogates, whipping large numbers of people into a frenzy over something with no chance of ever attaining legal force through actual process of law, has led us to where we are.

-- Greg Jacob, lawyer for then-Vice President Mike Pence, to Trump lawyer John Eastman, in an email sent from a secure location at the US Capitol complex at 1:05PM on 6 January 2021, during the Capitol Insurrection

Bad Novelist

Life is a very bad novelist.  It is chaotic and ludicrous.

-- Javier Marías (1951 -), Spanish novelist, translator, and columnist,  "Javier Marías, The Art of Fiction No. 190", interview with Sarah Fay, The Paris Review 179 (Winter 2006)

My Fellow Americans

Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President, our First Lady and Second Gentleman.  Members of Congress and the Cabinet.  Justices of the Supreme Court.  My fellow Americans.  

Last year COVID-19 kept us apart.  This year we are finally together again. 

Tonight, we meet as Democrats Republicans and Independents.  But most importantly as Americans. 

With a duty to one another, to the American people, to the Constitution. 

And with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny. 

-- Opening remarks of President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address, 1 March 2022

Pandemic Endemic

Just a note to mark the apparent administrative transition of covid from pandemic to endemic.  To date, CDC criteria have been based around case numbers, and our goal has been to prevent cases (and deaths).

Now, CDC criteria are based around available hospital capacity, and our goal is to prevent hospitals from becoming overcrowded.  

In some places, covid is a challenge to hospital capacity right now.  In the future it will be again, at different times and places around the world.  Sounds endemic.

(Here's hoping the variant faeries don't produce anything particularly miserable.)

Not Too Late

We are seeing Russian military operations inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine on a scale that Europe has not seen in decades.

Day after day, I have been clear that such unilateral measures conflict directly with the United Nations Charter.

The Charter is clear: "All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations."

The use of force by one country against another is the repudiation of the principles that every country has committed to uphold.

This applies to the present military offensive.

It is wrong.

It is against the Charter.

It is unacceptable.

But it is not irreversible. ,,,

The decisions of the coming days will shape our world and directly affect the lives of millions upon millions of people.

In line with the Charter, it's not too late to save this generation from the scourge of war.

-- U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Statement by the Secretary-General - on Ukraine, 23 February 2022

One By One

War happens to people, one by one.  That is really all I have to say and it seems to me I have been saying it forever.  Unless they are immediate victims, the majority of mankind behaves as if war was an act of God which could not be prevented; or they behave as if war elsewhere was none of their business.  It would be a bitter cosmic joke if we destroy ourselves due to atrophy of the imagination.

-- Martha Ellis Gellhorn (1908 - 1998), American war correspondent and novelist.  She covered nearly every war during the twentieth century.  Letter as quoted in "Gellhorn: A Twentieth Century Life" (2003) written by Caroline Moorehead

Our Faces

The people of Ukraine and the government of Ukraine want peace.  But if we come under attack, if we face an attempt to take away our country, our freedom, our lives and lives of our children, we will defend ourselves.  When you attack us, you will see our faces, not our backs.

-- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an overnight address, speaking in Russian in a direct appeal to Russian citizens, on the brink of Russian military aggression, 24 February 2022

Putin v Ukraine

But in Ukraine, one third are ethnic Russians.  Out of forty five million people, in line with the official census, seventeen millions are Russians [actually 8.3M].  There are regions, where only the Russian population lives, for instance, in the Crimea.  90% are Russians [actually 59%].  Generally speaking, Ukraine is a very complicated state.  Ukraine, in the form it currently exists, was created in the Soviet times, it received its territories from Poland --  after the Second World war, from Czechoslovakia, from Romania -- and at present not all the problems have been solved as yet in the border region with Romania in the Black Sea.  Then, it received huge territories from Russia in the east and south of the country.  It is a complicated state formation.  If we introduce into it NATO problems, other problems, it may put the state on the verge of its existence.  Complicated internal political problems are taking place there.  We should act also very-very carefully.  We do not have any right to veto, and, probably, we do not pretend to have.  But I want that all of us, when deciding such issues, realize that we have there our interests as well.  Well, seventeen million Russians currently live in Ukraine.  Who may state that we do not have any interests there?  South, the south of Ukraine, completely, there are only Russians.

-- Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (7 October 1952 -), Russian politician and former KGB intelligence officer who is serving as the current President of Russia since 2012, previously being in the office from 1999 until 2008, in a speech at the NATO Bucharest summit, 2 April 2008

Caused By Greed

War has been the excuse people have made throughout history to take something away from others that didn't belong to them.  And it's a never ending cycle.  First one group takes away something from the other, then the other wants to take it back, only if they succeed, they take much more.  And then it starts all over again.  War is caused by greed.

-- László Széchenyi (1879 - 1938), Austro Hungarian military officer, Imperial Chamberlain, diplomat, and venture capitalist, Visions of Utopia, p. 67

Firm Resolve

I would not care whether truth is pleasant or unpleasant, and in consonance with or opposed to current views.  I would not mind in the least whether truth is, or is not, a blow to the glory of my country.  If necessary, I shall bear in patience the ridicule and slander of friends and society for the sake of preaching truth.  But still I shall seek truth, understand truth, and accept truth.  This should be the firm resolve of a historian.

-- Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870 - 1958), prominent Indian Bengali aristocrat and historian, quoted in Meenakshi Jain, "Flawed Narratives – History in the old NCERT Textbooks"

An Eager Air

Hamlet: The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold.
Horatio: It is a nipping and an eager air.

-- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), English poet, playwright, and actor, Hamlet, act i, scene 4

Power

When we speak of power, we mean man's control over the minds and actions of other men. 

-- Hans Morgenthau (1904 - 1980), one of the leading twentieth-century figures in the study of international politics, Politics Among Nations (1948), p. 33 (1993 edition)

What Is Lost Remains Lost

Our loss is irreversible, and in that sense this outcome is neither redemptive nor restorative.  One moment we had this dazzling, energetic 6-year-old little boy, and the next all we had left were echoes of the past, photographs of a lost boy who will never grow older, calendars marking a horrifying new anniversary, a lonely grave, and pieces of Noah's life stored in a backpack and boxes.

Every day is a realization that he should be there, and he is not.  What is lost remains lost.  However, the resolution does provide a measure of accountability in an industry that has thus far operated with impunity.  For this, we are grateful.

-- Lenny Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son, Noah, was killed at Sandy Hook, in a statement issued after Remington Arms agreed Tuesday to settle liability claims from the families of five adults and four children killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, marking the first time a gun manufacturer has been held accountable for a mass shooting in the U.S., 15 February 2022

Efficiency

The criterion of efficiency dictates that choice of alternatives which produces the largest result for the given application of resources.

-- Herbert Alexander Simon (1916 - 2001), American political scientist whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, computer science, public administration, economics, management, philosophy of science and sociology and was a professor, most notably, at Carnegie Mellon University, as cited in: Harry M. Johnson (1966) Sociology: A Systematic Introduction. p. 287

Better Than I

The most important step in getting a job done is the recognition of the problem.  Once I recognize a problem I usually can think of someone who can work it out better than I could.

-- Leó Szilárd (11 February 1898 - 30 May 1964), Hungarian-American physicist; he drafted the famous letter sent by Albert Einstein to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that was largely responsible for initiating the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons during World War II, as quoted in "Close-up : I'm looking for a market for wisdom. : Leo Szilard, scientist" in LIFE‎ magazine, Vol. 51, no. 9 (1 September 1961), p. 75

Wanting To Be Better

Music is all about wanting to be better at it.

-- Geddy Lee (born Gary Lee Weinrib, 28 July 1953), Canadian musician best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush, Global Bass, The Consummate Geddy Lee Interview (2000)

Ones That Turn Out

If you make a great number of predictions, the ones that were wrong will soon be forgotten, and the ones that turn out to be true will make you famous.

-- Malcolm Timothy Gladwell (1963 -), English-born Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker.  Dangerous Minds: Criminal profiling made easy, The New Yorker (12 November 2007)

Most Important

The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else's life.

-- Frank Zappa (21 December 1940 - 4 December 1993), American musician, singer, composer, and songwriter, in response to Joe Walsh when asked the meaning of life, The Howard Stern Show, 23 September 1987

Legitimate Political Discourse

Last week the Republican National Committee (RNC) made clear that it would rather be the "Big Lie" party than the "Big Tent" party by condemning two principled elected leaders while condoning conspiracies, lies, and violent insurrection. By censuring Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Congressman Adam Kinzinger for their role in investigating the January 6th attacks, they have betrayed the GOP's founding principles and ceded control of a once-great movement to grifters and extremists. The RNC has also signaled that it no longer welcomes people of conscience.

The RNC's description of the January 6th insurrection as "legitimate political discourse" is an affront to the rule of law, peaceful self-government, and the constitutional order. There can be no justifying the horrific attack that day, and we condemn the Committee for excusing the actions of men and women who battered police officers, ransacked our nation's Capitol, called for hanging the Vice President of the United States, and sought to overturn a free and fair election. 

History will mark this censure as a turning point for the RNC – a time of choosing between civility and patriotism, on the one hand, and conspiracy and political violence on the other. We stand firmly for the first set of values. We stand proudly next to principled leaders such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. And we stand united against efforts to defile our democracy.

-- Statement of (100+) Republican leaders and former officials on the RNC's censure of Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger, 7 February 2022

I Heard This Week

There are those in our party who believe that, as presiding officer over the joint session of Congress, that I possess unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes.  And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election.  But President Trump is wrong.  I had no right to overturn the election.  The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone.  And frankly there is no idea more unamerican than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.  Under the Constitution I had no right to change the outcome of our election.

-- Michael Richard Pence (7 June 1959 -), American politician, broadcaster, and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, address to the Federalist Society (4 February 2022)

A Complete Explanation

I do not envy people who think they have a complete explanation of the world, for the simple reason that they are obviously wrong.

-- Sir Salman Rushdie (1947 -), Indian-born British essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent, in an interview with David Frost (1993)

Snow Day

It is snow to be shoveled, to make driving even worse than usual, snow to be joked about and cursed at, but unless the child in you is entirely dead, it is snow, too, that can make the heart beat faster when it catches you by surprise that way, before your defenses are up.  It is snow that can awaken memories of things more wonderful than anything you ever knew or dreamed.

-- Carl Frederick Buechner (1926 -), American writer, novelist, poet, and essayist, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale (1977) 

Two Things

Life is mostly froth and bubble;
   Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
   Courage in your own.

   -- Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833 - 1870), Australian poet, jockey, and politician, "Finis Exoptatus (A metaphysical Song)" (24 November 1866)

Only True Belongings

My actions are my only true belongings.  I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.  My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

-- Thich Nhat Hahn (11 October 1926 - 22 January 2022), expatriate Vietnamese Buddhist monk, peace activist, and author, "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching" page 124

Not Responsible

The sense of responsibility for doing a job right seems to be declining.  In fact, the phrase "I am not responsible" has become a standard response in our society to complaints on a job poorly done.  This response is a semantic error.  Generally what a person means is: "I cannot be held legally liable."  Yet, from a moral or ethical point of view, the person who disclaims responsibility is correct: by taking this way out he is truly not responsible; he is irresponsible.

-- Hyman George Rickover (1900 - 1986), United States Navy admiral who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors, Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life (1974)

Great Honor

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing to tell you that I have decided to retire from regular active judicial service as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and to serve under provisions of 28 USC 371(b).  I intend this decision to take effect when the Court rises for the summer recess this year.

I enormously appreciate the privilege of serving as part of the federal judicial system -- nearly 14 years as a Court of Appeals Judge and nearly 28 years as a Member of the Supreme Court.  I have found the work challenging and meaningful.  My relations with each of my colleagues have been warm and friendly.  Throughout, I have been aware of the great honor of participating as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the rule of law.

-- Stephen Breyer, in his resignation letter, 27 January 2022

Lagrange Point 2

This week, nearly 30 days after its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reached its final destination -- a small, gravitational well in space about a million miles from Earth, where it will live for decades or perhaps even all eternity.

"Webb, welcome home!" NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement Monday. "We're one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe.  And I can't wait to see Webb's first new views of the universe this summer!"

-- Nicole Karlis, James Webb Space Telescope: When to expect the first images from the state-of-the-art observatory, salon.com, 26 January 2022

Not Whence Nor Whither

I am born into an environment -- I know not whence I came nor whither I go nor who I am.  This is my situation as yours, every single one of you.  The fact that everyone always was in this same situation, and always will be, tells me nothing.  Our burning question as to the whence and whither -- all we can ourselves observe about it is the present environment.  That is why we are eager to find out about it as much as we can.  That is science, learning, knowledge; it is the true source of every spiritual endeavour of man.

-- Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger (1887 - 1961), Austrian physicist, one of the founders of quantum theory, and winner of the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics, Science and Humanism (1951)

Nothing Romantic

From what I know about alcoholism, I'd say there's nothing romantic, nothing grand, nothing heroic, nothing brave -- nothing like that about drinking.  It's a real coward's death.

-- Warren William Zevon (24 January 1947 - 7 September 2003), American rock singer-songwriter and musician, as quoted in "Warren Zevon's Resurrection: How he saved himself from a coward's death" by Paul Nelson, Rolling Stone (19 March 1981)

RIP Meat Loaf

You can decide what you want to eat for dinner, you can decide to go away for the weekend, and you can decide what clothes you're going to wear in the morning, but when it comes to artistic things, there's never a rhyme or reason.  It's, like, they just happen.  And they happen when they happen.

-- Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; 27 September 1947 - 20 January 2022), known primarily by his stage name Meat Loaf, American rock singer and actor, famous for the hit album Bat out of Hell (1977), Interview with Will Harris at Bullz-Eye.com, "A chat with Meat Loaf" (27 October 2006)

Most Dangerous

One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.

-- Paul Henry Nitze (1907 - 2004), American politician who served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Defense, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department, War Whether We Need It Or Not? (1991)

Travel And Tell No One

Travel and tell no one, 
Live a true love story 
  and tell no one, 
Live happily 
  and tell no one, 
People ruin 
  beautiful things. 

-- Gibran Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist, "Travel and tell no one" (attributed)

Baby Shark

"Baby Shark," the inescapable earworm beloved by some children and often feared by their parents, has hit a new milestone -- 10 billion views on YouTube.

Not only is it the most-viewed video on the platform, a record it set in November 2020, but it's now the only video on the site to reach 10 billion views, YouTube confirmed to CNN.

The kids' song, masterminded by South Korean educational company Pinkfong and performed by Korean-American singer Hope Segoine, debuted in 2016 and was a viral hit in Asia but didn't jam itself into Americans' collective consciousness until 2019. Since then, it's been turned into a Nickelodeon TV show, a cereal, a live show and the rallying cry of the Washington Nationals throughout their World Series-winning season. 

-- Scottie Andrew, "'Baby Shark' becomes the first YouTube video to hit 10 billion views", CNN, 13 January 2022

Well Timed

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.  Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct-action movement that was "well timed" according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.  For years now I have heard the word "wait."  It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity.  This "wait" has almost always meant "never."  It has been a tranquilizing thalidomide, relieving the emotional stress for a moment, only to give birth to an ill-formed infant of frustration.  We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."  We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our God-given and constitutional rights.  The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward the goal of political independence, and we still creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward the gaining of a cup of coffee at a lunch counter.  I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say "wait." 

-- Martin Luther King Jr. (15 January 1929 - 4 April 1968), American Baptist minister and activist, "Letter from Birmingham City Jail", an open letter written on 16 April 1963

Limited In Importance

I don't have a problem with someone using their talents to become successful, I just don't think the highest calling is success.  Things like freedom and the expansion of knowledge are beyond success, beyond the personal.  Personal success is not wrong, but it is limited in importance, and once you have enough of it it is a shame to keep striving for that, instead of for truth, beauty, or justice.

-- Richard Matthew Stallman (1953 -), founder of the Free Software movement, the GNU project, the Free Software Foundation, and the League for Programming Freedom, "Free Software as a Social Movement" on Znet (18 December 2005)

RIP Sidney Poitier

Hope is the eternal tool in the survival kit for mankind.  We hope for a little luck, we hope for a better tomorrow, we hope -- although it is an impossible hope -- to somehow get out of this world alive.  And if we can't and don't, then it is enough to rejoice in our short time here and to remember how much we loved the view.

-- Sidney Poitier KBE (1927 - 2022), Bahamian-American actor, film director, and diplomat; in 1964, he was the first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.  Life Beyond Measure : Letters to My Great-Granddaughter (2008), twenty-third letter -- The World I Leave You, p. 273

Not A Character Flaw

When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character.  This is how ideologues justify punishing the sick and the poor.  But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw.  Stigmatise those who let people die, not those who struggle to live.

-- Sarah J. Kendzior (1978 -), American journalist, author, and anthropologist, Poverty is not a character flaw, sarahkendzior.com, 5 October 2013

That Is The Point

One day, the mountain that is in front of you will be so far behind you, it will barely be visible in the distance.  But the person you become in learning to get over it?  That will stay with you forever.  And that is the point of the mountain.

-- Brianna Wiest (1992 -), American essayist, author, and poet, The Mountain Is You (2020)

This Transplant

It was either die or do this transplant.  I want to live.  I know it's a shot in the dark, but it's my last choice.

-- David Bennett, Sr., a 57-year-old Maryland handyman, the day before surgery to transplant the heart of a genetically-modified pig into a human for the first time, 6 January 2022

Thought Experiment

So, on this anniversary, here's a simple thought experiment: What if the other side had done it?  What if in early January 2017, Democrats similarly attired and armed had stormed the Capitol and attempted to keep Congress from receiving the Electoral College results for the 2016 presidential election?

What if Democrats claimed that Donald Trump's razor-thin victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin resulted from extensive voter fraud and should be rejected, despite having failed to establish in a single court that extensive fraud had actually occurred?

What if some of these Democrats breached the Capitol defenses and threatened violence against the Republican speaker, Paul Ryan, and Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell ?

What if they insisted that in his role as Senate president then-Vice President Joe Biden had sole authority to seat Hillary Clinton's electors from any contested states and thereby hand her the presidency?

If this happened, would some of my fellow Republicans have accepted it as merely a protest?  Would they have called patriots those charged with violent acts against our country, its laws and Constitution?  Would they have accepted such extralegal means to change the outcome of a presidential election?

No they would not.  I'm certain of that.

-- Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush, Republicans' Jan. 6 Responsibility - The GOP has a duty to condemn the riot and those who refuse to acknowledge it, Wall Street Journal, 5 January 2022

Their Will Prevails

My fellow Americans, in life, there's truth and, tragically, there are lies -- lies conceived and spread for profit and power.

We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie.

And here is the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election.  He's done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interests as more important than his country's interests and America's interests, and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.

He can't accept he lost, even though that's what 93 United States senators, his own Attorney General, his own Vice President, governors and state officials in every battleground state have all said: He lost.

That's what 81 million of you did as you voted for a new way forward.

He has done what no president in American history -- the history of this country -- has ever, ever done: He refused to accept the results of an election and the will of the American people.

You can't love your country only when you win.

You can't obey the law only when it's convenient.

You can't be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.

Those who stormed this Capitol and those who instigated and incited and those who called on them to do so held a dagger at the throat of America -- at American democracy.

This is not a land of kings or dictators or autocrats.  We're a nation of laws; of order, not chaos; of peace, not violence.

Here in America, the people rule through the ballot, and their will prevails.

-- President Joe Biden, Remarks To Mark One Year Since The January 6th Deadly Assault On The U.S. Capitol, 6 January 2022

We Will Follow The Facts

[W]e at the Department of Justice will do everything in our power to defend the American people and American democracy.

We will defend our democratic institutions from attack.

We will protect those who serve the public from violence and threats of violence.

We will protect the cornerstone of our democracy: the right to every eligible citizen to cast a vote that counts.

And we will do all of this in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country.

Tomorrow will mark the first anniversary of January 6th, 2021 -- the day the United States Capitol was attacked while lawmakers met to affirm the results of a presidential election. ...

In the aftermath of the attack, the Justice Department began its work on what has become one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history.

Only a small number of perpetrators were arrested in the tumult of January 6th itself.  Every day since, we have worked to identify, investigate, and apprehend defendants from across the country.  And we have done so at record speed and scale -- in the midst of a pandemic during which some grand juries and courtrooms were not able to operate. ...

The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last.

The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law -- whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.  We will follow the facts wherever they lead.

-- U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Remarks on the First Anniversary of the Attack on the Capitol, 5 January 2022

Political Controversy

The thing that strikes me more and more -- and it strikes a lot of other people, too -- is the extraordinary viciousness and dishonesty of political controversy in our time.  I don't mean merely that controversies are acrimonious.  They ought to be that when they are on serious subjects.  I mean that almost nobody seems to feel that an opponent deserves a fair hearing or that the objective truth matters as long as you can score a neat debating point.

-- George Orwell (1903 - 1950), pen name of British novelist, essayist, and journalist Eric Arthur Blair, whose work is characterized by lucid prose, and awareness of social injustice, "As I Please," Tribune (8 December 1944)

RIP Betty White

You don't just luck into integrity.  You work at it.

-- Betty Marion White Ludden (17 January 1922 - 31 December 2021), American actress and comedian, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) (2011)