April 2017

 Badlands readers have corrected our previous post on Rep. Devin Nunes, Raver-Visalia in different ways. Some considered our post nothing but evidence that we've been duped by the "Russian Conspiracy" Democrats. But the more interesting criticism raises doubts that Nunes's political gyrations for the benefit of the Trump Regime will be rewarded with a new dam on the San Joaquin River at Temperance Flats (a few miles upriver the Friant Dam). They argue, persuasively that the probably soon-to- be-former-Rep.

 
Below are some questions the asker does not know the answer to -- questions that are not simply inverted assertions, questions that are not mere rhetorical openings for opinions, questions that are not part of dogmatic "answers."
Do the answers constantly produced by mass media, targeted, tailormade to placate political consumers, satisfy what is political in us?
What is the political in us?
Is citizenship a privilege without obligations?

 
4-7-17
Sacramento Bee
California AG wants records on EPA’s Scott Pruitt and ties to oil and gas industry
Angela Hart
 

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, rather than some House Republicans he once characterized as "lemmings wearing suicide vests," himself rushed like a lemming to the side of President Trump with special documents and Trump's reward was to hand Nunes his political suicide vest. He might avoid the fate if he bothered to listen very hard  to constituents but so far he seems content to go down as an arrogant elitist instead. -- blj
 
4-12-17
Fresno Bee

 One morning, St. Peter was strolling in the garden when suddenly his Heavenly Meditation was disturbed by a great Godly Guffaw. Curious about this unusual levity from The One and Only, he hastened to the Divine Side.
"Lord, what so amuses You so much this morning?" he asked.
More Holy Guffaws were heard. All the Lord on High could do was point toward a valley below into which 14 rivers flowed.
"I have created this great fertile valley destined to be the most productive valley on the face of My Earth," He said, chortling.

 It almost seems as if in the wake of 9/11 and the creation of the Homeland Security Administration, the fear of dam sabotage has been an excuse for not doing maintenance and repair of dams and the complete failure to plan for the effects of global warming on the Sierra Nevada snowpack.

In reality, Cohn, Powell, and other Wall Streeters in the Trump White House are pushing Trump closer to the views of Wall Street and big business – views that are reflected in the views of “mainstream” Republicans and Democrats only to the extent the “mainstream” is dependent on the Street and big corporations for campaign money. -- Robert Reich, Truthdig, April 26, 2017