March 2

 Every now and then the political circus is actually amusing. At one of the congressional committee meetings that were featured on the news yesterday, Congressman Gaetz got a lesson, promptly forgotten, about checking your sources. He asked the witness, an undersecretary of (I think) defense if the Azov group, a nationalist group famous for the defense of Mariupol in Ukraine and now part of the Ukrainian military, was receiving any of the weapons shipped to Ukraine. The witness told him he had no information and asked if Gaetz had any to share. Gates cited a "Global Times" article and was asked it that was the Global Times of China. It was and the witness told him that they don't take Chinese propaganda as fact without question. Gaetz conceded though he edited the footage to present his voters with a more favorable image of his "toughness." 

In another snippet, the Republican chairman of the committee "investigating" the response to the COVID pandemic cited a response of a witness in a different committee's investigation which noted the "misinformation" spread by the government as a significant contribution to our (abysmal ?) response. One of the Democratic members asked which "misinformation" the respondent referred to: the notion that we could inject light into the body, or the idea of using horse tranquilizers, or drink bleach, or a fish tank disinfectant. All of which The Former Guy espoused from the podium. I guess "misinformation" is in the eye of the viewer, or the ear of the hearer.

Chris Hedges' podcast here is about the frontline workers hailed as essential and "heroes" at the height of the pandemic and then thrown under any available bus at the first opportunity. I remember when grocery chains introduced a pay raise for the cashiers, drivers, and others with great fanfare and then quietly reversed them a couple of months later. If you want to listen you have to get a paid subscription. I can't afford it so all I could do was read the intro.

Robert Reich posted an article that dovetails with Chris Hedges' above. Capitalism has lost any moral grounding it once had when Adam Smith described it few centuries ago. It has only one principle left: profit however obtained. No moral values. No responsibility to the community. And the mere notion that they are "job creators" isn't enough. What jobs, for whom, and under what conditions?

Continuing the job theme take a look at this post. I always look at the government issued stats with a bit of skepticism because I know they are massaged to provide the picture they want people to see. My first stop after seeing the economic data is to look at Shadowstats. They calculate the data from the raw numbers the government uses but they show the results if calculated using the measures the government followed in the past.

Most of what we get here is, of course, favorable to the administration and its actions. That is why getting other points of view is a good thing--it gives other information that you can judge by your own knowledge and experience. Yves Smith has taken a contrary point of view through out the Ukraine-Russia debacle. She continues in this post today. My own position is somewhat in the middle. I don't speak or read Russian. I don't have more than a generalized acquaintance with Russian, or Eastern European history gained from a single class and a seminar. I do know a couple of things. One, Putin is a bully. All strong men are. Two, Putin is trying to recreate a past that has been dead and gone for forty years. Three, he should not be allowed to change the borders or absorb other countries or parts of other countries. If he gets away with it what country from what used to be East Germany to Greece is safe? What stability would the world have? How soon might others we aren't even thinking about emulate him? Might Mexico like to have Texas back? Just a few thoughts. Oh, I also don't think our government is on the side of any angels in this world.