Among Independents, Support for Trump Impeachment is Surging

by Nomad

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week, there's growing support among political independents for the impeachment for Donald Trump.  

To make matters worse for the president, overall support for impeachment has risen by three percentage points since just last week. Overall, 46% of Americans said they supported impeachment and 40% said they opposed it.

Support for impeachment was relatively steady among Republicans and Democrats over the past week but it surged among independents, a group that includes people who neither identify as Democrats nor Republicans and do not favor either party when they vote. Among independents, 45% said in the latest poll they supported impeachment and 32% said they opposed it, the strongest level of support recorded in more than a year.

For Republicans who have been shielding the president from oversight, the news could hardly be worse. The persuadable independent voter has been called the "difference maker" in the presidential election.
Even Trump campaign spokesman and Deputy Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, Rick Gorka has observed:

“It always comes down to who can convince the independent voter..That is how you win the election.”

Democracy's Darker Side and How It Has Been Exploited By Putin and the Far Right

by Nomad

"The Tyranny of the Minorities"

The other night, I was talking to a conservative friend about democracy. He has traveled the world and would be considered to be well-educated and successful. The subject turned to politics, something I loathe to discuss with locals given my delicate situation.
I usually prefer to listen in silence.

Former US Diplomat Weighs In on Trump's Controversial Syrian Decision

by Nomad

The Depreciating Value of American Handshakes

Brett McGurk, Payne distinguished lecturer at Stanford, a foreign affairs analyst as well as former Presidential envoy, had a few things to say about Trump's decision to pull US troops out of Northern Syrian. In short, he was livid.

Before leaving the Trump administration in December, McGurk had served under Bush (as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq and Afghanistan) and Obama ( as Special Advisor to the U.S. National Security Council and Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq).

Sanity Sunday Musical Break - Dire Straits

by Nomad

Formed in London in 1977 by brothers Mark and David Knopfler, Dire Straits' debut album, Sultans of Swing, reached the top ten in the UK and US charts. By the mid-80s, songs like "Money for Nothing" and "Walk of Life" made Dire Straits an MTV favorite. 

Despite this welcome exposure, it was apparent that music video directors found it difficult to visually interpret Dire Straits songs. For example, even by 80s standards, Romeo and Juliet is nearly unwatchable. That's a pity because it is, in my opinion, a masterpiece.

Agent of Chaos: Our Sinister Joker in the White House

by Nomad

What with all the outrageous things going on day after day, you might not have heard of the controversy regarding the upcoming film called "Joker."

Starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips, the film is many steps removed from the superhero genre that provides its source material.
Forget the capes and the spandex tights. Forget the glitzy special effects and the Marvel Comic cliches. This film is closer to "Taxi Driver” and “The King of Comedy” and "American Psycho." Grim and gritty and full of angst.

The Joker, one of the most iconic and perverse villains of the Batman comics, has been completely "reimagined" as a person who, as Variety critic puts it, "spends every moment trying to twist himself into a normal shape, but he knows the effort is doomed, so he turns it all into a “joke” that only he gets."

The Joseph Maguire Testimony: A Trump Official Under the Spotlight

by Nomad

This morning, Joseph Maguire will be testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, regarding his decision not to release the whistleblower's complaint about questionable- and possibly impeachable- activities by the president and close advisors.

Maguire is the current Director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He retired from the United States Navy as a Vice Admiral in 2010 after 36 years of military service.

The committee is expected to ask Macquire why he refused to release to congressional intelligence committees the report of the independent inspector general, Michael Atkinson, who deemed it "credible and urgent."

Under mounting pressure from both parties, the Trump administration backed down on Wednesday and handed copies of the complaint to House and Senate intelligence committees.

Notes on Intolerance and Conformity from a Shining City on the Hill

by Nomad

A Turkish/Canadian friend of mine- we can call him Metin- told me that he was sitting on the grass in a seaside park recently. He was speaking English to a friend. It was another fine day in Izmir.
However, much to Metin's dismay, a woman he had never met before interrupted his chat and told him "You are in Turkey. Speak Turkish!"

It literally took his breath away, he later said. It was especially shocking that such a thing would happen in a comparatively liberal, laid-back city like Izmir.

Dr. Oliver Sacks on Gratitude

by Nomad

When physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology Oliver Sacks understood that his battle with cancer could not be won, he expressed a desire to live out his remaining months "in the richest, deepest, most productive way" that he could.

His checklist was a simple but noble one. He explained that he wanted to "deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understanding and insight." 

In his posthumously-published book, "Gratitude" Sacks reflected on his final days. In summing up, this extraordinary and compassionate man observed:

The Republican Position in 2020

by Nomad

Sanity Sunday - The Music of Al Stewart

 by Nomad

Scottish singer-songwriter and folk-rock musician Al Stewart will always hold a special place for me. He is best known for one song which topped the charts in the late 1970s, "Year of the Cat." 
Released in 1976 in the album of the same name, the song tells the story of a Western tourist who loses his soul in the bazaar.

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolor in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the Year of the Cat.

Except for that one song, his music never quite reached the wider audience in the US. That's a pity on two counts. Firstly, Stewart had an earlier career in the 1960s as a folk singer that deserved more attention.