A Step Forward... but really? in Book Five: Working Through the Maze 2018

So… the Trump Whitehouse has finally put in place sanctions against Russia. Finally. What were the two likely biggest factors influencing this long past due action?
I propose the following:
(1) Russia’s malfeasance has gotten too big. Several EU Allies and the UK have called out Russia and now… Russia has even, allegedly, committed an act of murder on foreign soil. Even someone as fucked in the head as Trump can’t fight his own people and all of Europe on something like that.
(2) The Pennsylvania Special Election did not go the way Trump wanted. Perhaps someone got into his ear and said, “Mr. President, the concept of Russia’s interference was to sow chaos and discord. They are targeting the 2018 midterms. Russian influence may be responsible for Conor Lamb’s win. You don’t want Russia to give the house and senate to the Democrats, do you?”
(3) MOST LIKELY? Trump is nothing if not so focused on ego as to be a legitimate weakness of his. IN CONTRAST with all Intelligence Reports, on Monday House Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee said that Russian Interference DID NOT play a significant role in Donald Trump’s victory. This is the most likely reason why Trump finally put sanctions against Russia.

Yes, that doesn’t make sense. Why put sanctions against Russia AFTER your people have said “no big deal?” You have to think like Trump… which is awful, never do that. But if Trump placed sanctions against Russia while the belief was “he only won because of Russia”… to Trump, sanctioning Russia was admitting that such a claim was true. Never mind the fact that by NOT sanctioning Russia, he looked way more guilty of criminal collusion and treason. Now that (granted, biased people specifically stating the opposite of the experts) the House Committee has said “Donald Trump would have won no matter what” Trump feels free to sanction. Because such sanctions are now free of the implication that Donald only won due to Russian interference. Or to Donald: Who cares what actually happened and who cares if it is a threat to our National Security… I refuse to do anything that makes me seem like anything short of my own deluded grandiose image of myself.

http://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-and-narcissism-whats-behind-his-big-ego/a-42046066

In other wacky and crazy US News…
Oklahoma Mother to go to Jail for Marrying Own Daughter. Many conservative pundits were quick to point out this story as evidence that “Gay Marriage shouldn’t be legal.” However, disturbing and disgusting as it is, this woman had previously married her 18 year old biological son as well.

There are some that say, “This mother lost contact with her child, found her two years ago, they hit it off… what’s the problem?” Instead of shunning you or belittling you, I would like to discuss with you. See if we can’t come to an understanding. You see… the biggest problem in this situation, that I see, is the potential power and abuse cycle. A mother is supposed to be a figure of power, compassion, a parent. A parent can certainly be a lover to another human being… but not to someone that they either have parented or were supposed to parent. In the incest conversation, I won’t jump all over someone who marries their long lost cousin or has a mutually consented to sexual relationship with their adult sibling. But the power dynamics that exist or are supposed to exist between parent and child lead me to declare that true, honest, purposeful consent to marriage and/or a sexual relationship simply could not functionally exist.

In other news…
Lawsuit Over Broadway Play to Kill A Mockingbird. This fascinates me for a number of reasons. The players are Harper Lee’s Estate as plaintiff and the Broadway Play’s Producers as defendants. The argument is that the producers changed the book too much. The article points out two particular contentions. (1) That Atticus Finch, protagonist of the book, is portrayed as someone who is initially naive to racism. (2) The play does not fairly depict small town Alabama in the 1930s. The counter-argument from the Producers is that the play can be whatever it wants as an adaptation and, as a direct quote from Rudin, “I can’t and won’t present a play that feels like it was written in the year the book was written in terms of its racial politics: it wouldn’t be of interest.”

My two cents? I can quickly pick apart Rudin’s argument. When Arthur Miller wanted to discuss McCarthyism, he didn’t write a play “accurately depicting the present day.” He wrote The Crucible. He wanted to make a NOW and TODAY statement but did so using THE PAST. Something good playwrights do all the time. If you don’t think you can tell a story set in Alabama 1930s that will impact audiences today? Either you underestimate audiences or you’re a really shitty producer. Another point of interest about this lawsuit, though, is the very idea of it. Can the holder of a source material property interest successfully sue the legal holder of an adaptation property interest in an effort to either (1) remove association or (2) stop production. To describe as a hypothetical: If the Mark Twain Estate got so pissed off about people censoring “Huck Finn” and “Tom Sawyer”, could they successfully sue to halt production of the censored material? I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m fascinated by the question.

In other news…
. This is a story I’ve been following closely for personal and professional reasons. This is the story of a man who wanted to shoot a viral video. He had seen how some of his thickest books were able to stop the bullets on some of his smallest guns. He thought he’d figured out the largest caliber and the smallest size book he could use to still make the trick work. He then asked this woman, mother of 2, to shoot him as he held up the book and filmed it for YouTube. Realizing what could go wrong, the woman made it clear that the whole thing was HIS idea… but was still dumb enough to go through with it. Since they didn’t bother to test this version before risking someone’s life… the bullet pierced the book and fatally wounded the man. The woman, by the law, had shot and killed another person. Murder being one of the crimes where “consent” is not a suitable defense.

On one hand, this woman and the deceased are both “such fucking idiots” that I can barely stand the idea of them being considered “responsible adults.” On the other hand, everything about this stupid plan was concocted by the victim. If there had been even a hint that this woman simply “found an interesting way to kill someone”… I’d be screaming for severe justice. But everything about this case looks like an incredibly stupid fucking person shot an incredibly stupider fucking person on his request.

So what are the takeaways of this story?
(1) If someone asks you to shoot them because a book can stop the bullet; as them to prove that theory to you before placing their life in jeopardy.
(2) If you are a parent with children who are going to need you, never agree to anything that could get your child removed or you sent to jail without at least first consulting an attorney.
(3) This is a perfect case where “Mandatory Minimum Sentences” would have proven to be an egregious sin. In Iowa, the maximum number of years you can be sentenced to what this woman was convicted of is 50 years. IF there was a Mandatory Minimum on that sentence, she would be required to serve 70% of the maximum. In other words, a Mandatory Minimum (if one existed) for this woman (had she killed in Iowa) is 35 years in prison. As opposed to the sentence below
Serve a 180-day jail term. This will be an alternating 10 days in jail and 10 days out for the first six months, amounting to 90 days behind bars. The remaining 90 days can be served in home confinement. The jail time can be served in South Dakota, where she now lives
Serve 10 years of supervised probation
Be banned for life from owning firearms
Make no financial gain from the case

I have to agree with the prosecutor on this. While the sentence handed down is considerably below state guidelines… it makes sense given the information of the case.

In other news…
Florida University Bridge Collapses Leaving Several Fatalities.
I won’t really provide commentary on this. I still vividly remember the Rush Hour Collapse of 35 in Minnesota in… 2007? Wow. That feels a lot more recent than that. But I mention that here to pull it back to the very obvious, consistently mention, oft overlooked element of infrastructure. The United States has consistently been shitty on The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)’s Infrastructure Report Card. This is a report filed by a non-partisan non-profit organization intending to alert the government (or praise the government) on Infrastructure Related items.
Our most recent: America’s Infrastructure scores a D+ Does that make you feel good? That a professional organization rated our combined grade between Aviation, Bridges, Dams, Drinking Water, Energy, Hazardous Waste, Inland Waterways, Levees, Ports, Public Parks, Rail, Roads, Schools, Solid Waste, Transit, and Waste Water a D+! Cuz those are all fairly important things! And the highest INDIVIDUAL grade anything got? A B (not bad) in RAIL (not used). So… go US?
This isn’t a new problem! In 2013, we also got a D+ The report card before that? In 2009, we got a D. A straight D. So, congratulations to the United States for going from a D to a D+ in 4 years. And then just… staying there. For another four years. I’m looking at the list of things this report card covers and frankly? I do admit trying to figure out a priority on that is difficult. But are you telling me that the United States is so poor that we can’t fix at least most of that at the same time? Because that isn’t the case. We have the money to fix that stuff. AND fixing that stuff would create jobs for the people of the United States. So… actually fixing that damned stuff would be in the Country’s best interest. But then we realize that nagging, nightmare problem of the United States. If it is in the Country’s best interest… it isn’t in the best interest of The Wealthy Donors or The Corrupt Politicians. So nothing changes.

The following is worth watching if you have 25 minutes:

In personal news… Chinese Boss is gone for the day. And surprise surprise imagine how quiet and peaceful the office is!
I haven’t done a LOT of work today, per se. I drove to Ames (1 hour) met with a client (1 hour) drove back from Ames (1 hour) filed stuff for new client (1 hour) worked on Chinese Language Research Project (1 hour) covered an attorney at court (1 hour) and then worked on withdrawing from current cases in prep for my departure. So I have worked today. But per my billable, I’ve only done 3 hours of work today. Another glorious reason to GTFO.