Fwd: Current possible meanings of "the tower is everywhere", I offer boldly while trembling....

Joseph Tracy brook7 at sover.net
Mon Jul 15 21:18:35 UTC 2024 


> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net>
> Subject: Re: Current possible meanings of "the tower is everywhere", I offer boldly while trembling....
> Date: July 15, 2024 at 4:56:34 PM EDT
> To: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>
> 
> 
> 
>> On Jul 15, 2024, at 3:03 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> This is all so Hilarious on the Plist again. So Hilarious I want to reach for my machine gun and stutter-laugh
> Bit extreme, no?
>> 
>> I just want to say that although the Mueller Report did not find collusion because Mueller followed the 
>> President-protecting guidelines for indictment re Trump it did find this: 
> 
> NO EVIDENCE OF TRUMP COLLUSION WITH RUSSIA. It was a delusion. Get over it without the aid of machine-guns. I despise Donald Trump but the idea that Russia decided the election or had control of this narcissistic creep was a Hillary Clinton fantasy purchased from Mr Steele. Corruption is everywhere in both parties and Trump also has gotten caught in some tax fraud. He certainly earned that.  This stuff you are citing was not what everyone was looking for from Mueller, was not what produced the outraged screams from the media and true believers and has nothing to do with what I predicted.  

You want to look for foreign corruption of US politics? Try AIPAC. Try a genocidal war criminal coming to the congress for multiple bipartisan standing ovations as the IDF murders doctors, children, and noncombatants in numbers the lancet estimates to be 180,000,  all paid for by hard working US citizens' tax dollars.  And boy does he love Trump.

Still, I think you are right about as much as possible keeping US politics off the p-list.  I have done so up to now and did not introduce this topic. I have said what I think of Morris’s ideas and have nothing to add. 
>  
>  
>> 
>>  <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/breakdown-indictments-cases-muellers-probe/story?id=61219489#>
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>> Here's a breakdown of indictments and cases in Mueller's probe
>> 
>> Here's what you need to know about the cases in the special counsel's probe.
>> ByABC News
>> November 15, 2019, 2:24 PM
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 2:38
>> Ann Mueller and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, March 24, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Special counsel Robert Mueller has delivered his report on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to Attorney General William Barr.
>> Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
>> Over the course of his nearly two-year-long probe <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/russia-probe-timeline-moscow-mueller/story?id=57427441>, special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors have now indicted 34 individuals and three Russian businesses on charges ranging from computer hacking to conspiracy and financial crimes.
>> 
>> Those indictments have led to seven guilty pleas and five people sentenced to prison.
>> 
>> Here's what you need to know:
>> 
>> Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort <https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/russia> faced charges in two separate federal courts on a slew of financial crime charges related largely to his lobbying work in Ukraine.
>> 
>> A jury found Manafort guilty on eight of 18 counts <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jury-reaches-verdict-counts-manafort-trial/story?id=57243333> he was tried within the Eastern District of Virginia, with the judge declaring a mistrial on the other ten. The guilty charges included multiple counts of false income tax returns, failure to file reports of foreign bank accounts, and bank fraud.
>> 
>> Manafort was charged with an additional seven counts in the District of Columbia and pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and to witness tampering in the D.C. case. As part of the plea agreement, Manafort also admitted his guilt on the remaining counts in his Virginia trial. He was sentenced to 81 months in prison for both cases and is currently serving his term. Read more here. <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/indictments-paul-manafort/story?id=61147118>
>> Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign official and longtime business associate of Paul Manafort <https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/russia>, was charged in two separate federal courts in connection to financial crimes, unregistered foreign lobbying and on allegations that he made false statements to federal prosecutors. Gates pleaded guilty in Washington, D.C. in February 2018 on counts of conspiracy against the United States and lying to federal prosecutors. As part of his plea agreement and cooperation with the Mueller probe, he avoided a slew of financial charges in the Eastern District of Virginia that included assisting in the preparation of false income taxes, bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy and false income taxes.His charges are intimately tied to those of Manafort. In the Eastern District of Virginia, the two were indicted jointly. He is expected to be sentenced in December. Read more here. <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/indictments-rick-gates/story?id=61148967>
>> The special counsel issued three separate indictments against Manafort. In the third, prosecutors implicated Kilimnik for the first time, charging him with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice.These charges concern communications between Manafort and Kilimnik regarding messages they exchanged with two journalists who were potential witnesses in the case against them.Though Kilimnik has been indicted, he remains outside of the reach of U.S. law enforcement. Read more here. <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/indictments-konstantin-kilimnik/story?id=61148969>
>> In his dramatic and surprise guilty plea in U.S. District Court on Dec. 1, 2017, early in Mueller's investigation, Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn acknowledged that his false statements and omissions in FBI interviews a few days after Trump was sworn in "impeded and otherwise had a material impact on the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the existence of any links or coordination between individuals associated with the campaign and Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election," which the statement of offense he agreed to said.
>> 
>> He specifically admitted to lying about asking the Russian ambassador to refrain from responding to Obama administration sanctions against Russia for its election interference and further requested Russia help block a United Nations vote on Israeli settlements which the incoming administration didn't agree with. Flynn also agreed that he lied about his lobbying activities in federal filings related to work on behalf of the Republic of Turkey throughout the 2016 campaign. Flynn is awaiting sentencing. <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-national-security-adviser-michael-flynn-set-sentenced/story?id=65514053> Read more here. <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/indictment-michael-flynn/story?id=61147177>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 2:52 PM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net <mailto:brook7 at sover.net>> wrote:
>>> It was staged because good photographers take good photos? And what, the secret service agents who are not exactly personal employees of the Trump campaign all practiced this ahead of time like a wedding rehearsal?  I predict that  won’t stand up in court or anyplace else, just as I predicted the Muller investigation would not find collusion, and that the recent trial of Trump would find him guilty. I hate to give you good advice Morris, but it might be smart to try waiting for a shred of persuasive evidence before embracing this paranoia that so closely imitates the Sandy Hook-was-staged  nonsense, pizza gate and similar theories  of those you hate.  
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> > On Jul 15, 2024, at 7:11 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com <mailto:fqmorris at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> > 
>>> > It was STAGED. No coincidence, its Iwo Jima composition.
>>> > 
>>> > But, practically speaking, I don’t think it moves the needle, even a
>>> > smidge. It only excites the base which Trump was needing badly at that
>>> > point. His polls were starting to sink. All kinds of questions are being
>>> > raised about why the Secret Service would allow him to be so exposed
>>> > immediately after having been shot once. No indication that they expected a
>>> > second or third shot from anywhere. Like they were confident it was over
>>> > already.
>>> > 
>>> > And a rooftop with a view directly to the stage where Trump will be
>>> > speaking would be the first place. The Secret Service would stage
>>> > protection for Trump. It would not be left exposed with a direct line to
>>> > Trump. These people are stupid and they’ve been protecting people since,
>>> > Bobby Kennedy. They check for everything.
>>> > 
>>> > Anyway, these are some tidbits that I’ve been leaning from the Internet. I
>>> > hate conspiracy theories, but I admit this one looks staged. And if so, two
>>> > people died for their dramatic production.
>>> > 
>>> > David Morris
>>> > 
>>> > On Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 7:06 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com <mailto:mark.kohut at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> > 
>>> >> That fuckin' Iwo Jima-like photo of Trump after he hurt his ear.
>>> >> 
>>> >> A Legendary American Photograph
>>> >> 
>>> >> The photo of Trump after the attempt on his life is a badly needed window
>>> >> into the MAGA mindset.
>>> >> By Tyler Austin Harper
>>> >> <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tyler-austin-harper/>
>>> >> [image: Donald Trump with blood on his face, raising his fist, after an
>>> >> assassination attempt at his rally]Evan Vucci / AP
>>> >> JULY 14, 2024, 2:17 PM ET
>>> >> SHARE & GIFT
>>> >> SAVE
>>> >> 
>>> >> Donald Trump raises a fist. Blood streaks his face. The sky is high, blue,
>>> >> and empty except for an American flag caught in a hard wind. A Secret
>>> >> Service agent has her arms around his waist. The former president’s mouth
>>> >> is open, in the middle of a snarled shout. We know from video footage that
>>> >> he is yelling “Fight!,” that the crowd is chanting “USA!”
>>> >> 
>>> >> The photograph
>>> >> <
>>> >> https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/13/politics/gallery/in-pictures-trump-injured-at-pennsylvania-rally/index.html
>>> >>> ,
>>> >> by the Associated Press’s Evan Vucci, became immediately legendary. However
>>> >> you feel about the man at its center, it is undeniably one of the great
>>> >> compositions in U.S. photographic history. Although I am deeply relieved
>>> >> that Trump survived this assassination attempt, I am no fan of his. But the
>>> >> first time I saw the photo, I felt an emotion that I later recognized, with
>>> >> considerable discomfort, as a fluttering of unbidden nationalist zeal. What
>>> >> encapsulates our American ideal more than bloody defiance
>>> >> <https://x.com/EsotericCD/status/1812289350865948960> and stubborn pride
>>> >> that teeters just on the edge of foolishness? No hunkering and no
>>> >> hiding—standing undaunted and undeterred, fist-pumping your way through an
>>> >> attempted murder. It was a moment when Trump supporters’ idea of
>>> >> him—strong, resilient, proud—collided with reality.
>>> >> 
>>> >> I can’t help but be moved by this remarkable image, taken by a Pulitzer
>>> >> Prize winner
>>> >> <
>>> >> https://www.thedailybeast.com/ap-photographer-evan-vucci-spills-on-historic-trump-rally-shooting-pic
>>> >>> 
>>> >> who ran toward the danger <
>>> >> https://x.com/RonenV/status/1812282594584916108>,
>>> >> camera in hand, rather than away from it. There is a perverse and
>>> >> paradoxical disjunction between Trump the man, who many argue is a threat
>>> >> to American democracy, and this image of Trump, which seems to capture that
>>> >> same democracy in all its pathology, mythos, and, yes, glory. The
>>> >> *Compact* editor
>>> >> Sohrab Ahmari tweeted
>>> >> <https://x.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1812275114580509145> that Trump’s
>>> >> instinct—to reflexively gesture in rebellion after being shot at—is
>>> >> “evidence of a truly extraordinary man.” He is more than a little right.
>>> >> Extraordinary, after all, is not so much a moral descriptor as an aesthetic
>>> >> one.
>>> >> 
>>> >> David Frum: The gunman and the would-be dictator
>>> >> <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/07/donald-trump-democracy-dictator/679006/
>>> >>> 
>>> >> 
>>> >> The image of Trump, bloody with a raised fist, is destined to adorn
>>> >> T-shirts, magazine covers <https://x.com/yashar/status/1812513859690999941
>>> >>> ,
>>> >> full-page spreads in history books, campaign ads. I do not think it is an
>>> >> exaggeration to say that the photo is nearly perfect, one that was captured
>>> >> under extreme duress and that distills the essence of a man in all his
>>> >> contradictions.
>>> >> 
>>> >> Many commentators have already surmised that this image alone will cost our
>>> >> current president his reelection bid. Some rushed
>>> >> <https://x.com/ritaresarian/status/1812267751471460831> to juxtapose
>>> >> pictures of Joe Biden, staring awkwardly and looking frail, with an angry,
>>> >> almost-assassinated Trump. One writer took to X to place the Vucci photo
>>> >> side
>>> >> by side <https://x.com/mannyfidel/status/1812278618019803593> with a still
>>> >> from the film *Oppenheimer*, implying that the photographer, like the
>>> >> inventor of the atomic bomb, may one day come to feel that his greatest
>>> >> achievement slipped out of his control and ushered in a darker world. The
>>> >> left-wing political commentator Cenk Uygur summarized
>>> >> <https://x.com/cenkuygur/status/1812386902236160373> things more simply
>>> >> still: “Trump sticking the hand up and saying, ‘Fight, fight, fight!’ while
>>> >> the crowd chanted ‘USA, USA, USA!’ was bad ass.”
>>> >> 
>>> >> All of these reactions, whether fear or resentment or grudging admiration,
>>> >> are understandable. But I wonder whether they miss the point. The real
>>> >> subject of this photograph is not Donald Trump but his supporters. Many of
>>> >> us have mocked Trump stans—their ridiculous fan art
>>> >> <
>>> >> https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/8/8/17376824/trump-fan-art-maga-dinesh-dsouza-jon-mcnaughton
>>> >>> 
>>> >> that
>>> >> reimagines him with bulging muscles or fighting in the Revolutionary War
>>> >> <https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-mocked-bizarre-july-4-133353095.html>;
>>> >> their unshakable and cultish belief in his vigor; their desperate desire to
>>> >> see him as he wants to be seen rather than as he is. Yesterday, for a few
>>> >> moments at least, the Trump of MAGA’s imagination and reality became
>>> >> indistinguishable. Not even the most slavish devotee of the former
>>> >> president could have dreamed up a more iconic portrait.
>>> >> RECOMMENDED READING
>>> >> 
>>> >>   - [image: A human caregiver uses a laptop to operate a robot caregiver
>>> >>   in the hallway of a nursing residence.]
>>> >>   <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/ai-keeps-mastering-games-but-can-it-win-in-the-real-world/554312/
>>> >>> 
>>> >>   AI Keeps Mastering Games, But Can It Win in the Real World?
>>> >>   <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/ai-keeps-mastering-games-but-can-it-win-in-the-real-world/554312/
>>> >>> JOSHUA
>>> >>   SOKOL <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/joshua-sokol/>
>>> >>   - [image: A woven bag containing carrots, apples, two oranges, and some
>>> >>   greens, against a lavender background]
>>> >>   <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/04/rules-eating-fight-climate-change/618515/
>>> >>> 
>>> >>   Your Diet Is Cooking the Planet
>>> >>   <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/04/rules-eating-fight-climate-change/618515/
>>> >>> ANNIE
>>> >>   LOWREY <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/annie-lowrey/>
>>> >>   - [image: a chimpanzee covering its eyes]
>>> >>   <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/01/cringe-culture-everywhere/621272/
>>> >>> 
>>> >>   How Did We Get So ‘Cringe’?
>>> >>   <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/01/cringe-culture-everywhere/621272/
>>> >>> KAITLYN
>>> >>   TIFFANY <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/kaitlyn-tiffany/>
>>> >> 
>>> >> Today, Americans are not unified. We are not “All MAGA,” as a viral
>>> >> headline this morning suggests
>>> >> <
>>> >> https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/today-were-all-maga-trump-shooting-assassination/
>>> >>> .
>>> >> We are angry, bitter, and divided; paranoid and afraid; governed by two
>>> >> parties that seem constitutionally incapable of putting America above their
>>> >> own interests. What happened yesterday does nothing to change that. Nor do
>>> >> a few seconds of real bravery absolve Trump of his sins, or make his
>>> >> political platform more palatable. But I would suggest that Democrats and
>>> >> anti-Trumpers take a break from contextualizing and problematizing and
>>> >> hypothesizing and worrying, and instead spend some time contemplating, if
>>> >> only for a minute or two, this photograph. The man, the flag, the blood,
>>> >> the fist.
>>> >> 
>>> >> Pete Wehner: The power of restraint
>>> >> <
>>> >> https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/trump-pennsylvania/679004/
>>> >>> 
>>> >> 
>>> >> It is often difficult for Trump critics to inhabit the mind of one of his
>>> >> supporters, to understand Trump’s appeal without immediately defaulting to
>>> >> simplifications like racism and misogyny, explanations that have become
>>> >> less of a skeleton key and more of a shibboleth, particularly as the former
>>> >> president continues to see his support among minorities swell. Vucci has
>>> >> provided us not with an alternative theory of the case but with a badly
>>> >> needed window into the MAGA mindset, allowing all of America, and indeed
>>> >> the world, to see Trump through the eyes of his devotees, people we share
>>> >> this country with.
>>> >> 
>>> >> If Democrats hope to beat Trump and Trumpism, they need to understand the
>>> >> appeal. Which means they need to be able to look at this image and see a
>>> >> promise—one I do not believe Trump can deliver, but a promise
>>> >> nonetheless—of toughness, vitality, and unbowing resolve at a moment when
>>> >> we are wavering, weak, and irresolute before a graying future. The
>>> >> photograph is not a portrait of a man but a through-the-looking-glass
>>> >> vision of America as she would have herself and as many in this country
>>> >> would have her. Our oldest myths briefly became real one bright evening in
>>> >> Butler, Pennsylvania.
>>> >> Tyler Austin Harper
>>> >> <https://www.theatlantic.com/author/tyler-austin-harper/> is an assistant
>>> >> professor of environmental studies at Bates College and a contributing
>>> >> writer at *The Atlantic*.
>>> >> ReplyReply allForward
>>> >> Add reaction
>>> >> --
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>>> >> 
>>> > --
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