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For the purposes of this show, I operate on two mottoes:

• You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts;
  

  Houston Mayor Annise Parker [L] with Mike, just before the show. (Dec. 7, 2015)

• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.

SIGNOFF QUOTE[s]:

“… I know this world well. One of the things that is … a deep conviction of the conservative world is they speak for the people. When they get evidence … that they don`t, they don`t respond to that … by confessing it. They respond to it by redefining who the people are. And one of the big themes of the year ahead is going to be a redefinition of who does and who doesn`t belong to the American people.”  ~ DAVID FRUM, SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC, after Democrats swept most off-off-year contests and won Virginia (Transcript: Show: THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, November 8, 2017)

 

 

1. ACA (aka OBAMACARE): Healthcare.gov

   1. 2018 Open Enrollment runs from Nov 1 – Dec 15. Are you ready?

      1. NEXT WEEK (11/20) TENTATIVE: My good friend, writer, author, political and military commentator, etc – David W. Brown. This will be unusual in that even though I’ll have a guest, it will be open forum.
      2. TWO WEEKS 11/27 (TENTATIVE): We may be talking about what is involved in getting your loved one into assisted living, as distinct from either retirement living or a nursing home.
2. ACA (aka OBAMACARE): Healthcare.gov
   1. 1-800-318-2596 Available 24/7 days a week (except holidays)
   2. 2018 Open Enrollment runs from Nov 1 – Dec 15. Are you ready?
3. PUERTO RICO RECOVERY:
   1. 4. The Lineman Got $63 an Hour. The Utility Was Billed $319 an Hour, Posted By Monivette Cordeiro [ORLANDOWEEKLY.COM/BLOGS] Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 11:08
      5. Two-person Montana firm that was awarded a $300 million contract to rebuild Puerto Rico’s devastated electrical infrastructure is under scrutiny again after a New York Times report showed it was charging the island’s state-run utility $319 per lineman but paying Florida workers it hired much less.
      6. The Times reports Whitefish Energy Holding’s contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) allowed it to charge at a rate that was “almost 17 times the average salary of their counterparts in Puerto Rico” while paying electrical workers from Kissimmee $42 per hour plus overtime. Linemen from Lakeland were paid $63 an hour, while workers from Jacksonville earned up to $100 in double time.
      7. “Simply looking at the rate differential does not take into account Whitefish’s overhead costs,” a spokesperson for the company told the Times. “We have to pay a premium to entice the labor to come to Puerto Rico to work.”
4. US VIRGIN ISLANDS RECOVERY
   1. St. John Could Get Electricity Turned Back On, 6 Weeks After Hurricane Irma, by Bill Chappell [NPR] October 20, 2017 @ 2:36 PM ET
   2. Neither states nor nations, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands face rocky storm recovery, By Jacqueline Charles And Mimi Whitefield (mwhitefield@miamiherald.com) October 27, 2017 8:30 AM
      1. After Hurricane Irma and then Maria tore through the Caribbean islands, the United Nations swung into action with helicopters, food drops and multimillion-dollar recovery plans.
      2. But even though both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands were decimated by the hurricanes, they couldn’t call the U.N. — an expert in disaster relief — for help.
   1. 5. The islands are U.S. territories with their own governors but no voting representation in Congress, so they must turn to the United States in times of need, even if they aren’t on many Americans’ radar.
5. FUKUSHIMA RECOVERY:
   5. Fukushima operator can restart nuclear reactors at world’s biggest plant
      1. Tepco, still struggling to decommission Fukushima Daiichi, gets initial approval to start two reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa …
      2. The governor of Niigata, Ryuichi Yoneyama, has said he will not decide on whether to agree to the restarts until Tepco completes its review of the Fukushima accident – a process that is expected to take at least another three years.
      3. Fukushima evacuees voiced anger at the regulator’s decision.
      4. Earlier this year, the Japan Centre for Economic Research said the total cost of the Fukushima cleanup – which is expected to take up to 40 years – could soar to between 50-70tn yen (£330bn-£470bn). Earlier estimates put the cost at about 22tn yen.
      5. Nuclear power is expected to become a key issue in the election later this month.
6. Pedo-Groping-gate
   5. The list is growing
      1. Roy Moore (R-Sen Candidate, AL)
         1. New woman accuses Moore of sexual misconduct when she was a minor, By Jenna Johnson and Robert Costa By Jenna Johnson and Robert Costa [WASHINGTON POST] November 13, 2017 at 4:41 PM
         2. Beverly Young Nelson, now 55, said Monday that she got to know Moore, now 70, in the late 1970s when she was a waitress at the Old Hickory House restaurant in the northeastern Alabama town of Gadsden
         3. On a cold night about a week or two after that, Nelson alleges that Moore offered to give her a ride home from work after her shift ended at 10 p.m. Instead of taking her home, Nelson said that Moore pulled the two-door car into a dark and deserted area between a dumpster and the back of the restaurant.
         4. When she asked what he was doing, Nelson alleges that Moore put his hands on her breasts and began groping her. When she tried to open the car door and leave, Nelson said he reached over and locked the door. When she yelled at him to stop and tried to fight him off, she alleges that he tightly squeezed the back of her neck and tried to force her head toward his lap. He also tried to pull her shirt off, she said.
      2. George HW Bush Accused of Groping Teenager in Sixth Allegation Against Him, By Marie Solis [NEWSWEEK] On 11/13/17 at 9:26 AM
         1. After [Actress Heather] Lind’s accusation, Bush’s spokesperson apologized on the former president’s behalf and said Bush, who has been confined to a wheelchair for about five years due to vascular parkinsonism, intended the gesture—touching women’s behinds without their consent—in a “good-natured manner.” 
         2. “To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke—and on occasion, he has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner,” McGrath said in an October statement. “Some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate. To anyone he has offended, President Bush apologizes most sincerely.”
         3. Is there any such thing as an innocent touch in a social situation between a man and a woman? Or even within the same gender?
         4. What qualifies as an ‘innocent’ touch, and when does that touch become a grope?
7. Trump in Asia
   1. Trump Buddies up to Duterte, Doesn’t Highlight Human Rights; President Donald Trump is winding down his visit to Asia with a focus on promoting trade and fighting terrorism and not on publicly highlighting human rights abuses, by By Jonathan LEMIRE and Jill Colvin, Associated Press [USNEWS.COM] Nov. 13, 2017, at 2:53 p.m.
      1. President Donald Trump repeatedly praised Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, called him by his first name, shared a joke with him about the media and even complimented Manila’s weather. What he did not do Monday was what many of his predecessors made a point of doing while abroad: publicly highlight human rights abuses.
      2. Duterte has overseen a bloody drug war that has featured extrajudicial killings. But during brief remarks to reporters, Trump said he and Duterte have “had a great relationship,” and he avoided questions about whether he’d raise human rights concerns with the Filipino leader during a private meeting on the sidelines of a summit of Southeast Asian leaders.The White House later said the two leaders discussed the Islamic State group, illegal drugs and trade during the 40-minute meeting. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said human rights came up “briefly” in the context of the Philippines’ fight against illegal drugs, but she did not say if Trump was critical of Duterte’s program.T
      3. hat appeared to conflict with the Filipino version of the meeting. Harry Roque, a spokesman for Duterte, said: “There was no mention of human rights. There was no mention of extralegal killings. There was only a rather lengthy discussion of the Philippine war on drugs with President Duterte doing most of the explaining.”
8. MEANWHILE, in EUROPE:
   1. Europeans approve defense pact in bid to reduce dependence on U.S., By Michael Birnbaum [WASHINGTON POST] November 13, 2017 at 2:12 PM
      1. BRUSSELS — Nearly two dozen European nations agreed Monday to extend the European Union’s power into the military realm, approving a security pact that backers hope will boost defense cooperation.
      2. The deal among most E.U. countries is an effort to give the E.U. the same clout on military matters that it has long held on trade and economics. Britain’s decision to leave the E.U. has unsettled the 28-nation bloc, and President Trump has pushed Europe to spend more on its own defense.
      3. … The initiative, known as Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO, is an effort to forge a more assertive E.U. in defense matters. Britain’s planned exit from the bloc opened the door to the initiative, since London had blocked previous proposals, saying they duplicated the NATO military alliance.
      4. only five E.U. nations sitting out the effort for now: Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal and Malta. E.U. leaders still must give final approval to the initiative in December.
      5. Russia says it will retaliate after RT was ‘forced’ to register as a foreign agent, By David Filipov [WASHINGTON POST] November 10, 2017
      6. Russia plans new measures to restrict U.S. media organizations working here after … Russian English-language television channel [RT] said it was pressured into registering as a foreign agent in the United States, a senior legislator said Friday. …
      7. “All actions of American media outlets indicate that their policy and positions are totally unfriendly and that this interference is absolutely undisguised,” [State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav] Volodin said. “Since such decisions are being made on U.S. territory in relation to our TV channels, it will be right for us to respond to these actions.”
   2. Why Does Trump Talk About Putin Like Putin’s His Boss?, By Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) [NYMAG.com] November 13, 2017 11/13/2017
      1. … Speaking of Putin, and expressing his fear that continued investigation into Russian election interference would upset relations between the two countries, Trump said, “I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country.”
      2. … He [Trump] is famously obsessed with dominance. … Trump portrays every relationship as a negotiation in which he is the figure holding leverage. When Republicans said during the primary they might not support him, he warned that they better treat him right or he would refuse to help them. He has threatened American allies to contribute more or he would abandon NATO. When he confronts adversaries, Trump insists they ought to be careful not to make him angry.
      3. The prevailing theory used to explain Trump’s Russophilia is that he gravitates toward figures who praise him and lashes out at those who criticize him. That would account for Trump’s general friendliness toward Putin, which is in keeping with his cozy relations with all sorts of erstwhile allies. It does not explain his very unusual submissiveness.
      4. What would explain it is the analysis supplied by Christopher Steele, the British intelligence agent turned private investigator who last year wrote an explosive memo on Trump’s connections to Russia. …
9. How Japan’s youth see the kamikaze pilots of WW2, By Mariko Oi (BBC.COM) 3-November 2017

1. 4. 1. During World War Two, thousands of Japanese pilots volunteered to be kamikaze, suicidally crashing their planes in the name of their emperor. More than 70 years on, the BBC’s Mariko Oi asks what these once revered men mean to Japan’s youth.
      2. Irrational, heroic and stupid: this was what three young people in Tokyo said when I asked them about their views on the kamikaze….
      3. It is difficult to verify the figures, but it is believed that 3-4,000 Japanese pilots crashed their planes into an enemy target on purpose.
      4. Only 10% of missions were believed to be successful but they sank some 50 Allied vessels.
      5. Would you fight for your country? A survey of several countries in 2015 by Win/Gallup found that 11% of Japanese people would be prepared to fight for their country.
   • Pakistan: 89%
   • India: 75%
   • Turkey: 73%
   • China: 71%
   • Russia: 59%
   • US: 44%
   • UK: 27%
   • Japan: 11%
   5. The Republican Party Is Gearing Up for War on the Rule of Law, By Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) http://nymag.com October 30, 2017 9:25 am
      1. The Republican Party has sent mixed signals for months about how it plans to respond to Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Russia scandal …But in the days leading up to the first arrests, beginning today with former campaign manager Paul Manafort, the signals have changed, and the dashboard is now flashing red. The party apparatus is gearing up for a frontal attack on Mueller in particular, and the idea that a president can be held legally accountable in general.
      2. The Republican Congress is using its investigative apparatus not to discover the extent of Russian interference in the election, but instead to lash out at Trump’s political opponents. The Republicans have developed a bizarre theory of alt-collusion, which holds that the real interference was Russia feeding false allegations against Donald Trump to private investigator Christopher Steele. Since the FBI investigated Steele’s charges, the FBI is the agency that colluded. And since Robert Mueller is close with the FBI, Mueller, too, is tainted.
      3. The Wall Street Journal editorial page has been serving as a barely filtered outlet for this line of attack from Republicans in Congress. The page has called for Mueller to resign, and other Republican media outlets spent the weekend amplifying this message.
      4. In today’s Journal op-ed page, two Republican former Department of Justice staffers, David Rivkin and Lee Casey, who frequently pop up in the media to defend party-line arguments, take the argument to its next step. They urge Trump to issue sweeping pardons to everybody involved in the scandal, himself included, so as to hopefully neuter Mueller’s investigation.
      5. And would it be an overreach of sorts for Trump to quash an investigation into himself and his cronies? No, they argue. Indeed, they insist he can halt any investigation he likes:
      7. Consider the breathtaking scope of this claim. They argue that the president can order any prosecutor or law-enforcement official to halt any investigation or criminal proceeding. What if the president hired some goons to break into and bug the opposing party’s headquarters? He could order the Department of Justice and FBI not to investigate and fire them if they did. What if he hired some goons to beat up or kill reporters or the opposing party? Same answer. The president, they argue, has unlimited right to protect himself and his allies from law enforcement as he sees fit.
   6. Puerto Rico power restoration: Why it is taking so long, By Alan Gomez and Rick Jervis, USA TODAY Published 3:09 p.m. ET Oct. 30, 2017 | Updated 3:46 p.m. ET Oct. 31, 2017
      1. …Hurricane Maria decimated Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, simply clearing that first step to provide assistance became a complicated process that significantly delayed deploying power crews. The result: 70% of the island remains without power nearly six weeks later.
      2. Lakeland Electric, a utility in Central Florida, has both sent and received assistance after multiple storms in recent years, a now-standardized process that allows fleets of trucks to roll out quickly across the country after a disaster. But Lakeland’s general manager, Joel Ivy, said he’s never gone through a process like the one after Maria.
      3. Ivy spent the first few days after the storm just figuring out exactly who was in charge. His team spent another week negotiating a contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings, the small Montana company hired by Puerto Rico’s electric authority to oversee the restoration of the island’s power grid.
      4. Lakeland’s first linemen finally arrived in San Juan on Saturday — 36 days after Maria made landfall.
      5. “It’s been difficult,” Ivy said.
         1. Puerto Rico: After Dark Chapter, Future Hope Using Technology Government Technology (blog)
         2. Puerto Rico Governor Seeks To Cancel $300 Million Whitefish Contract CBS New York
   • Local business owners aid Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria PA home page
   1. Wall Street Journal–NBCNews.com
   2. all 212 news articles »

   What do belts around Proxima Centauri mean for exoplanet research?, By John Wenz  |  Published: Friday, November 03, 2017 [http://www.astronomy.com]

2. TV Talk:
   1. “The Good Place”
   2. “The Orville”
   3. “Adam Ruins Everything”

TOPICS FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS:

 

LINKS:

• Emoluments Clause of the Constitution (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
  1. The Ineligibility Clause, one of the two clauses often called the Emoluments Clause,^[1][2] and sometimes also referred to as the Incompatibility Clause^[3] or the Sinecure Clause,^[4] is found in Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution. It places limitations upon the employment of members of Congress and prohibits employees of the Executive Branch from serving in Congress during their terms in office. The name “Ineligibility Clause” is only used by a minority of writers, as compared to the name “Emoluments Clause”.^[1][2][5]
  2. The clause states: “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.”
• Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which does not expressly state whether the Vice President becomes the President or Acting President if the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers of the presidency.^[1] The Twenty-fifth Amendment was adopted on February 10, 1967.^[2]

• 1. Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
  2. Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
  3. Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
  4. Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
  5. Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.^[3]
• Group will sue Trump over business’ foreign profits, By Cyra Master 2 hrs ago (The Hill) 1/22/2017 via MSN
  1. The Title of Nobility Clause [Also known as the Emoluments Clause] is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility, and restricts members of the government from receiving gifts, emoluments, offices or titles from foreign states without the consent of the United States Congress. Also known as the Emoluments Clause, it was designed to shield the republican character of the United States against so–called “corrupting foreign influences”. This shield is reinforced by the corresponding prohibition on state titles of nobility in Article I, Section 10, and more generally by the Republican Guarantee Clause in Article IV, Section^[2] ~ Title of Nobility Clause – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_of_Nobility_Clause

 SOURCES WHICH MAY BE RELEVANT TO OTHER DISCUSSION:

======================================================

1. Trial Balloon for a Coup? Analyzing the news of the past 24 hours, by Yonatan Zunger
2. Four Freedoms, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 6, 1941. In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freedoms that people “everywhere in the world” ought to enjoy:
   1. Freedom of speech
   2. Freedom of worship
   3. Freedom from want
   4. Freedom from fear
   5. Roosevelt delivered his speech 11 months before the United States declared war on Japan, December 8, 1941. The State of the Union speech before Congress was largely about the national security of the United States and the threat to other democracies from world war that was being waged across the continents in the eastern hemisphere. In the speech, he made a break with the tradition of United States non-interventionism that had long been held in the United States. He outlined the U.S. role in helping allies already engaged in warfare.

• Differences between Liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians and neo-Conservatives
  • Left–right politics, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    • History of the terms: The terms “left” and “right” appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left. One deputy, the Baron de Gauville, explained, “We began to recognize each other: those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free rein in the opposing camp.” However the Right opposed the seating arrangement because they believed that deputies should support private or general interests but should not form factions or political parties. The contemporary press occasionally used the terms “left” and “right” to refer to the opposing sides.^[9]
  • Greens and Libertarians: The yin and yang of our political future, by Dan Sullivan (originally appearing in Green Revolution, Volume 49, No. 2, summer, 1992)
    • … Libertarians tend to be logical and analytical. They are confident that their principles will create an ideal society, even though they have no consensus of what that society would be like. Greens, on the other hand, tend to be more intuitive and imaginative. They have clear images of what kind of society they want, but are fuzzy about the principles on which that society would be based.
    • Ironically, Libertarians tend to be more utopian and uncompromising about their political positions, and are often unable to focus on politically winnable proposals to make the system more consistent with their overall goals. Greens on the other hand, embrace immediate proposals with ease, but are often unable to show how those proposals fit in to their ultimate goals.
    • The most difficult differences to reconcile, however, stem from baggage that members of each party have brought with them from their former political affiliations. Most Libertarians are overly hostile to government and cling to the fiction that virtually all private fortunes are legitimately earned. Most Greens are overly hostile to free enterprise and cling to the fiction that harmony and balance can be achieved through increased government intervention.
    • Amongst published researchers, there is agreement that the Left includes anarchists, communists, socialists, progressives, anti-capitalists, anti-imperialists, anti-racists, democratic socialists, greens, left-libertarians, social democrats, and social liberals.^[5][6][7]
    • Researchers have also said that the Right includes capitalists, conservatives, monarchists, nationalists, neoconservatives, neoliberals, reactionaries, imperialists, right-libertarians, social authoritarians, religious fundamentalists, and traditionalists.^[8]

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