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Intelligent Political Discourse - for the Thoughtful New Mexican

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The True Story of Thanksgiving

11/28/2019

By Editor Emeritus and some-time, infrequent contributor, former State Senator Rod Adair

THE TRUE STORY of THANKSGIVING, November 28, 1621

After a harrowing, challenging year in which the total number of passengers on the Mayflower had been reduced from 102 to 53 by the numerous deaths in the terrible winter of 1620-21, the congregation (which was made up of Separatists, not Puritans) decided that a Thanksgiving celebration should be held for them and for their fellow travelers (who, in their view, may or may not have been saved Christians because they were most likely members of the Church of England).

The true Pilgrims lovingly and affectionately referred their fellow Englishmen as "strangers." (The names of all are provided below.**)

Exactly 398 years ago today at exactly 2:00 PM (EST—though it was then known locally as Wampanoag Time*) our Calvinist forebears gathered for the very first Thanksgiving Dinner with their Indian neighbors whom they had invited out of Christian charity and some concern that they were not eating properly.

(*The Wampanoag's time measurement system had been selected by a vote of surrounding tribes at a standardized time gathering in 1602, with delegates from the Narragansett, Nauset, Pocomtuc, Pennacook, Nipmuc, Mahican, and Massachuset tribes recognizing that their own systems were more primitive, and much less accurate.)

Indians Not on Time

The Indians showed up quite late, perhaps 30 minutes to an hour behind schedule. But the Pilgrims being a tolerant and non-judgmental people, carried on as if nothing had happened. Far be it from Calvinists to point out failings in others.

The Indians brought five deers (a correct rendering, as the Pilgrims were still speaking a good deal of Middle English) which they still had to dress out and prepare—an unpleasant task as we all know, which considerably delayed the proceedings even further.

But a ball was produced for the youths to pass the time—which they did. And it is from this first Thanksgiving Day ball game which we get the current tradition of football on Thanksgiving Day (largely because the 1934 owner of the Detroit Lions was a descendant of the Mayflower expedition and had long wanted to revive the tradition, which he did 85 years ago).

Beginning of the Feast

At last, when all was in readiness, a prayer of blessings was offered up—for all in attendance, including the Pilgrims as well as the assembled Strangers and Indians. And their prayers included the Anglicans and Catholics (both of whom the Pilgrims loved with all their heart, though they believed them to be lost, most likely) back home across the sea. From that prayer, emanating from these most ecumenical and forward-thinking Calvinists, we get the American tradition of religious tolerance, to be enshrined in the First Amendment only some 170 years later.

The entire crowd of 143 included the 53 surviving Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag warriors (yes, they’d only brought 5 deers with them, but of course the Pilgrims didn’t even bat an eye, didn’t whine about it — all in the Christian spirit of Thanksgiving). It was fortunate the Pilgrims had shot more than 50 geese, turkey, and ducks.

Shellfish Tradition no Longer Survives. Thanks be to God.

The record shows they also served shellfish. (NOTE: This was a “tradition” that was most fortunately abandoned later as it can result in violent vomiting caused by such things as raw oysters — resulting in a scene that could easily ruin an idyllic, Norman Rockwell setting).

The Pilgrims provided a vast array of vegetables, including onions (largely abandoned today); carrots (ditto); beans (if the chroniclers mean “green,” well, okay, but if “kidney” or “pinto,” well, largely abandoned today); pumpkins—more on that below; spinach, lettuce, cabbage, peas (all pretty much gone the way of the buffalo on T-day).

There was also corn — and this was a big deal because until a year earlier the Pilgrims had never even seen it before. It was also very weird because the English called virtually every grain “corn,” especially wheat. But when they actually were introduced to corn by the extremely famous Squanto, oddly enough he called it “maize.” (This is something the University of Michigan later, inexplicably, adopted as a “color.”) But at last the English had an actual foodstuff that linked up with a word they had been using all this time. Who knew?

But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was that over the course of the year the Pilgrims had produced corn syrup — and that allowed them to take the pumpkin and turn it into a pie — a concept totally unknown to the Indians. They also added spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg — which was remarkably generous since they cost approximately £1 per ounce—which in today’s currency is about $100,000.

No Potatoes, But Native Cranberries in Abundance

There were no potatoes — even though they were native to America and the Indians had tons of them — as the Pilgrims were suspicious of them. The Irish and Germanics later became enamored of them. And of course the Russians and Finns used them exclusively to produce vodka, which, as a "spirit" the Pilgrims would have condemned (though they themselves did drink barrels and barrels of beer). It is noted that so much Vodka is consumed in Finland and Russian today that its usage as actual food is of course virtually unheard of.

As for fruit, the Pilgrims did use the locally-found, brand new (to them) cranberry, confecting a sauce for the turkey. This led to an outcry from both the Indians and English alike about the “tartness,” which was agreed by all to be a problem. This, in turn, caused a massive demand for the importation of sugar — thus the beginnings of British plantations in the West Indies and an industry and sweet tooth that afflicts millions of Americans to this day with its accompanying obesity and derivative illnesses.

Pilgrim Tolerance

In any case, it was a successful meal, lasting some five hours into the night, the Indians famously being overcome with the effects of tryptophan, and becoming increasingly listless and drowsy, finally falling asleep to a man. But the Pilgrims were careful to cover them with blankets (after all it was Massachusetts in late November) and to not touch their arms at all.

This same schedule and the same sequence occurred for three consecutive days.

This kind of openly demonstrated trust and humanity touched the hearts of both the Indians and Pilgrims alike and ushered in nearly 400 years of peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between settlers and the native peoples of the First Nations — only to finally be marred in very recent times by demonstrations and clashes in North Dakota over a proposed pipeline.

Thus occurred the very First Thanksgiving, November 28, 1621. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may God bless us, everyone!

** FAMILY GROUPS REMAINING ALIVE for the FIRST THANKSGIVING:

(On the voyage over, there had been 28 adults, 16 children, for a total of 44 True Pilgrims.)

THE CONGREGATION REMAINING: 21 True Pilgrims, plus 3 servants/wards (most likely not congregants)

ALLERTON: Isaac with children Bartholomew, Mary, Remember; and the Allerton servant William Latham • BRADFORD: William • BREWSTER: William & Mary with sons Love, and Wrestling; and their ward Richard More • CHILTON: Mary (13) • COOKE: Francis with son John • CRACKSTON: John (18) • FULLER: Samuel with nephew Samuel 2d • ROGERS: Joseph (17) • TILLEY: Elizabeth (15) • WINSLOW: Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White & Peregrine White; Winslow servant George Soule

STRANGERS REMAINING

Strangers: 23, plus 7 servants/wards

ALDEN: John • BILLINGTON: John & Eleanor with sons Francis and John Jr. • BROWNE Peter • CARVER: The Carver ward Desire Minter; the Carver servant John Howland; the Carver maidservant Dorothy. • EATON: Francis with son Samuel • ELY: Unknown adult man • GARDINER: Richard • GOODMAN: John • HOPKINS: Stephen & Elizabeth with Giles, Constance, Damaris, Oceanus; their servants Edward Doty and Edward Leister. • MULLINS: Priscilla • STANDISH: Myles • TILLEY: Tilley wards Humility Cooper and Henry Samson • TREVOR: William • WARREN: Richard • WINSLOW: Gilbert

EDWARD & SUSANNA WHITE:

An Object Lesson in Today's "Gay Marriage" Debate—Make it a Civil Ceremony

(Also, the following true story provides a history lesson which can be instructive to both libertarians and conservatives alike with regard to the considerable mess which has ensued in the wake of the so-called "Gay Marriage" uproar.)

Listed above among the true Pilgrims are the Winslow family, Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White and Peregrine White as having survived the first year. (Susanna, by the way, was one of only four adult women to have survived.)

Susanna's first husband, William White, had died almost exactly nine months earlier and Elizabeth Winslow, Edward's first wife, had died almost exactly eight months earlier, on February 21 and March 24, 1621, respectively. The surviving spouses Edward and Susanna then experienced something of a whirlwind romance (perhaps suitable for a fairly racy HBO Miniseries), somehow fell in love, and ended up marrying on May 12, 1621, 49 days and 81 days after the deaths of their spouses.

(The congregants, naturally, wanted to be able to help the newlyweds off on a two-week honeymoon — perhaps to the Caribbean, or a ski vacation in Vermont — but neither had been invented yet, plus no one had any money or transport. So, by all accounts they honeymooned right on site.)

HOW WAS THIS MARRIAGE POSSIBLE?

You may be thinking this was practically impossible because of the requirement of the reading of the Banns (for three consecutive Sundays) in front of the congregation as well as the publication of the same in the marketplace or local municipality. 

However, keep in mind that the Pilgrims at Plymouth were "Separatists" unlike those arriving in the follow-on landings within the next decade at present-day Boston, which was t be established about 40 miles to the north.

The newer arrivals were "Puritans," technically still affiliated with the Church of England, with hopes of finishing off its purification by eliminating the last of its more ghastly Romish habits.* (Pilgrims held out no such hope.)

The Pilgrims, therefore, viewed marriage as strictly a legal contract in the civil realm rather than a religious rite. This is because Puritans and other Protestants saw no biblical foundation for church control over marriage. Marriage was only established as a sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church in the 12th century, and Separatists viewed that phenomenon as a vain and un-biblical invention. So the marriage ceremony was performed by Governor William Bradford.
________________________________________
* It must be noted that when royal government control was firmly asserted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630), marriage came under the purview of the state church (Anglican). This may be seen by libertarians and conservatives alike as a classic example of how the entanglement of church and state leads to coercion in the area of religious belief.

For the Pilgrims, because marriage was a civil contract, questions of inheritance were handled by the state rather than the Church. Edward Winslow who became a prominent leader within the colony, later paid the price for his civil marriage when he was thrown into a Fleet Street prison in London for 17 weeks for not following the church/state law.


** Plenary NOTE: While much of this account was true, it must be said that there is some embellishment, strictly for the purposes of adding color to the story. But any and all additions are well within the standards adopted by Hollywood when a movie provides the opening statement: "Based on a True Story." For example, all the embellishments are just as true as virtually anything contained in any Oliver Stone production, but also as true as the work of many other directors/producers, including those who have labeled their finished products "documentaries."


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican

 

 


Troubles in CD 2 for the GOP? Complaints about the “Gang of 8,” the RPNM’s Controlling Clique. The Gang of 8 Brought Down the New Mexico Republican Party. And Now, the Gang’s Favorite—Yvette Herrell—Attacks Claire Chase over Trump. But do these kinds of attacks make sense? (Part 1 of 2 Articles on CD 2)

11/26/2019

In 2018, Yvette Herrell was unable to hold the congressional seat vacated by Steve Pearce. Okay, so sometimes campaigns don't go well. So back to the drawing board.

But our question is this: Is the recipe for 2020  to attack and vilify all Republicans who supported someone other than Trump in the 2016 presidential primaries? (Even if that group includes Herrell?) Does this make sense on any level?

How is this a strategy for success against Xochitl Torres Small? Who came up with this plan? Is it really smart? Or is it just yet another prescription for divisiveness, defeat, and disaster conjured up by the same gang of disgruntled haters who brought us 2016 and 2018?

The Gang of 8

We have reported extensively on the ongoing disaster brought on by the Gang of 8* that seized control of the Republican Party of New Mexico following the 2014 election. That Gang was jealous of the near-miraculous accomplishments of then-Governor Martinez. Martinez had just finished raising some $3 million which she and her team used to finance a brilliant strategic effort that resulted in the Republicans capturing the State House of Representatives for the first time in 60 years.

The Gang couldn’t stand it, with their hatred for her overriding the best interests of the state—and of New Mexico.

So they took control, and decided to pursue a collection of personal agendas which has resulted in systematically and relentlessly driving the party into near-complete ineffectual irrelevance.

Their “efforts” and “management” resulted in immediately losing back the House to the Democrats. Then just two years after that, their ineptitude reached world-record levels of incompetence, culminating last November in the greatest electoral disaster the New Mexico GOP has ever seen.

YET, THE GANG GOES ON: ONCE AGAIN PUSHING YVETTE HERRELL

That Gang, however, along with their allies, specifically in Alamogordo, are akin to the energizer Bunny of destructiveness. They appear to be continuously and fanatically devoted to destroying as many other Republicans as they possibly can influence or reach. The “reverse Midas Touch” has perhaps never been more starkly identified.

In 2018, the Gang pulled out all the stops for State Representative Yvette Herrell, a Pearce acolyte, to succeed Pearce in CD2. This open interference badly split Lea County Republicans by turning off and permanently alienating several thousand GOP voters who favored former Hobbs Mayor Monty Newman. 

The Gangs’ meddling in Lea County were doubly inept in that 1) Lea County is the state’s strongest GOP county, and 2) the whole effort backfired as Herrell steadfastly refused to debate Democrat nominee Xochitl Torres Small, something Newman would not have been afraid to do. The Herrell team ran a bizarrely disorganized campaign and Herrell lost by a sizeable margin.

Now, the Gang has Herrell back in the Republican primary race for a second go. This time she’s apologizing for her campaign blunders in 2018, and pledging to debate and to do “all the things she failed to do in the last campaign.”

ATTACKS on CLAIRE CHASE

Rather than run a positive campaign to inspire and motivate the GOP base (complete with the appropriate mea culpas about the blowing the 2018 general election), the 2020 Herrell team has decided to try to destroy the nascent campaign of her only serious primary opponent, Roswell Republican Claire Chase.

They have hit upon the tactic of trying to use Chase’s opposition to Trump in 2015 and 2016. Herrell, for her part, is now claiming (in Orwellian-styled lingo) to have “always been for Trump,” without a single bit of support for that claim. The evidence suggests she was actually for Ted Cruz—and others—before she found it useful to claim she had “always” been for Trump.

Clearly, neither Herrell nor Chase was truly a Trump enthusiast. So what?

Are the 2015/2016 “Trump Questions” Really Fair? Or Relevant?

Or is it more relevant to be for Trump Now?

Okay, so Chase opposed Trump in the primaries four years ago, and didn’t vote for him in the primaries. So what?

That actually lines her up with the vast majority of all Republicans. When all the votes in all 50 states’ Republican primaries were counted, Trump had 14,105,993 votes. But 17,167,848 Republicans had voted AGAINST him. (Likely including both Herrell and Chase.)

That’s right: Even after all the other candidates had dropped out, and Trump was handed the final dozen or so primaries without opposition, when all the votes were counted Trump was still opposed by a landslide majority of Republicans!

And that was after all the other Republicans had dropped out. He had started out with only 24% and 35% in New Hampshire, and only 34% on Super Tuesday. Just before his last opponent dropped out, he was being opposed by some 60% of GOP voters!

So what if you are a Republican who didn’t make Trump your First Choice?

The point we are making is that it is not an unpardonable sin for Republicans not to have not supported Trump three years ago—so long as they didn’t vote for Clinton. (Otherwise, Trump would have left 17 million votes on the table, and would have lost in a landslide.)

So does Herrell’s Gang bringing all this up, and rehashing it, matter?

Does that make the 55.2% of Republicans who opposed Trump’s nomination “bad people”? Is that relevant 3½ years later? Or is the fact that 88% of Republicans now support Trump a more relevant data point?

Why is this Gang, this one group of people—who by the way were also among the 2016 Republican majority who wanted someone other than Trump—trying to get a little bit of hate going?

Do they foment divisiveness just for the sake of it? Did they not learn anything from their loss of the House in 2016? Or their historically catastrophic loss of almost everything else in 2018? Apparently not.

Herrell, presumably with the encouragement and the approval of The Gang, has now even started a separate stand-alone website whose sole purpose is to hate on Claire Chase.  Southern New Mexico Republicans can be forgiven if they ask: “That’s your campaign? That’s your rationale for being the choice to take on Xochitl?”


* The eight include the names, Harvey Yates, Ryan Cangiolosi, Andrea Goff, John Billingsley, Mark Murphy, Anissa Galassini Ford Tinnin, Rocky Galassini, and Stevan Pearce.


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican


TWO POINTS on TODAY’S IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS: 1. FIONA HILL TRIES TO PULL OFF A DISGUSTING LINK. 2. JIM JORDAN’S “LANDSLIDE” TALK

11/21/2019

1) FIONA HILL

Fiona Hill, because she has a British accent, clearly greatly impressed the mainstream media, who are easily wowed by such superficial factors.

But Hill did something truly reprehensible. She spoke of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which is a well-known anti-Semitic book. She spoke of it in faux professorial terms, as if she were talking to a high school freshman class, and acted as if she were discussing something that is little-known or obscure and that she’s some sort of monumental intellectual just because she knows about it.

Wrong. We all know about it.

The “Protocols” is a disgusting attack on Jews and Judaism. It has been discredited since its publication over a century ago. The only people who actually believe anything contained in the book are the leaders of the Islamic world—and Islamists throughout America. (Islam, oddly, is the only religion the modern Democrat Party defends, but we digress.)

Ridiculously, Hill tried to establish this outrageous claim:

 Anyone who criticizes the billionaire Democrat activist George Soros is equal to those anti-Semites who actually believe the      "Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”  In other words, because Soros is of Jewish heritage (even though he has long-since denied any belief in Judaism) if you attack him for his nefarious and fraudulent political activities, you are saying that you believe in anti-Semitic propaganda.

Anti-Soros = Anti-Semitic

What? This is nothing short of outrageously stupid. And it discredits her as any kind of scholar.

Imagine one of the Republican congressmen saying:

“Listen, you Democrats, if you attack Ronald Reagan, or Eisenhower, or Abraham Lincoln, (or Trump, for that matter) then that means you hate freedom and America and it actually means you are endorsing Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf.”

That would be stupid and groundless. Just like what Fiona Hill said. Her statements on this subject were probably the intellectual low point of the entire proceedings—and that is saying something, as there is stiff competition for that award. (How George Soros has achieved iconic status in the Democrat Party is unknown, but it's the subject for a later discussion.)

2) JIM JORDAN’S “LANDSLIDE’ LANGUAGE

Jim Jordan keeps repeating the dumbass statements by Trump that he won “one of the greatest Electoral College landslides in history."

This is not only untrue, it’s ridiculous, and it’s stupid to keep saying it. It also serves no purpose other than to establish yourself as someone who will tell tall tales.

In 2016, Trump got 304 Electoral votes, 34 more than the bare minimum necessary to win. Out of 59 presidential elections in US history, it was the 13th closest. It is absurd to call it a landslide—in fact, it’s kind of stupid in that it plays the audience as an ignorant lot. (They may be, so it may work, but it is still playing them. And it is morally wrong to insult your audience's intelligence just because you know you can, and get away with it.)

If Trump had lost Texas, he would have lost the election. Or, to use examples of states that were very close, if he had lost Florida plus one more state he would have lost the election.

The point is, Trump won the election in the Constitutionally-prescribed manner provided for in the Electoral College.

Period. He earned it. He won fair and square. That is a fact. There is nothing beyond that that can be gained by going ahead and lying about it. Or by inventing tales that make it sound more grandiose.

We don’t understand why people, including Trump, do this kind of thing. It only harms credibility, and does so needlessly.


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican


FLATULENCE CONTROVERSY: Swalwell Receives Subpoena from the Environmental Protection Agency

11/19/2019

[We don't approve of offensive language, and would not use this term ourselves, but others have used the term "Fart-gate" to describe this story.]

SWALWELL PASSES (considerable) GAS on LIVE TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XK797-vj4k

Washington, DC (AP) Congressman Eric Swalwell has been alerted by the EPA that he must appear at a hearing later this week for violating new pollution guidelines. "It isn't just the Holsteins in dairies or the random Angus crossbreed in a pasture somewhere that has us concerned," said an EPA spokesman, "but human beings are increasingly becoming more and more of a concern, especially if people like Mr. Swalwell openly encourage this kind of behavior."

The EPA later issued a fact sheet noting that while there are 95 million head of cattle in the US, it must also be recognized that there are also some 325 million people. "It all adds up," said the white paper, "and this kind of thoughtless human behavior can have a debilitating effect."

An EPA employee who asked to remain anonymous went further, adding with a smirk: "And Mr. Swalwell's gas attack actually lasted longer than his presidential campaign."

For his part, Swalwell (not known for honesty) has denied the gas attack. However, according to national commentators [we refuse to watch it] the video shows considerable movement on his part to accompany what they say is an unmistakable noise.

Stay tuned to this channel for updates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XK797-vj4k


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican

 


THIS JUST IN: SECRET STUDY LEAKED — It Prompted the Entry of Deval Patrick and Michael Bloomberg

11/17/2019

A secret study has been leaked by insiders at the DNC, showing that the Chairman, Thomas Perez, authorized surveillance of Democrat front runner Joe Biden this past April.

The DNC study showed that Biden has been hiding, and did in fact again this spring, hide his own Easter Eggs. Successfully. Locating only 2 of 24.

When selectively leaked to Patrick and Bloomberg, they jumped in.


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican


IMPEACHMENT TAKEAWAYS: After 2 Days

11/16/2019

We see Campaign Ads Coming...

The Democrats may crank it up somewhat over next few days, who knows? But for now, we presume the Republicans have already captured several key moments within the hearings and they’ve already created about five devastating ads...

Question to Ambassador Taylor and Secretary Kent:

“Are either of you here to today to assert there was an impeachable offense in that call? Shout it out. Anyone?"

...two deer caught in headlights...dead silence, slight mumbling...lifeline anyone?

Question to Ambassador Yovanovitch:

“Do you have any information regarding the president of the United States accepting any bribes?”

“No.”

“Do you have any information regarding any criminal activity that he has been involved with at all?”

“No.”

Then there’s Chris Stewart’s question...

After both of Wednesday’s diplomats went really long and deep about how Ukraine and the rest of the world are incredibly corrupt and rife with bribery and extortion, Stewart plays to their vast knowledge of all the corruption in the world:

“Can you give me an example, anytime, where the Vice President shows up and demands that a specific prosecutor be fired and gives them a 6 hour time limit to do so? Are you aware of that ever happening in any other place?”

More deer in the headlights...

And an immediate realization that each was “hoist with his own petard.”


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican


TRUMP SENDS ANOTHER DOOFUS TWEET

11/15/2019

TRUMP SENDS A DUMB TWEET DURING FRIDAY'S TESTIMONY

Every ambassador serves at the pleasure of the president. In fact, an ambassador is the personal in-country representative of the President of the United States. If he wants to fire one or replace one it’s his call.

In fact, presidents have fired ambassadors many many times throughout American history. So Yovanovitch has no basis for whining—and firing her is not grounds for impeachment.

Trump Hurts his Own Cause—Not because the Tweet is "Intimidating," but Just Because it's a Dumb Tweet

[NOTE: Let's dispense with the stupid media folly that the tweet "intimidated the witness". It could not have because she didn't know about it. She was busy testifying, not looking at Twitter! The only reason she even found out about it was because Adam Schiff read it to her.]

Trump hurt his cause for other reasons: Sending out an illogical and fairly stupid tweet served only to make her a sympathetic character. And also served to make yet another bad impression among that part of the electorate—the 8-10%—who will decide his fate.

While we are not Trumpistas, NMPJ believes the Trump Administration has been highly successful and that Trump merits re-election. That makes us a mere supporter of his re-election—in the same camp with many other Trump voters who are not Trumpistas.

The “Trumpista” segment is a different group, however. That group firmly believes—as we have heard in emails and texts hundreds of times—that he is “brilliant,” that he “thinks in 3-D,” and that he “plays chess while everyone else is playing checkers.”

In contrast to that, one of the many things that distinguish our viewpoint (and that of the simple Trump voter) from the viewpoint of Trumpistas is that we have long held that he is terribly awkward, ill-educated in history, and is remarkably inarticulate when not following the TelePrompTer.

Today he offered another example of behavior and communication that illustrates one of the differences between NMPJ/Trump supporters and the personally-devoted Trumpistas.


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican

 

WHISTLEBLOWER POLL: If the Republicans were trying to impeach Obama...

11/14/2019

WHISTLEBLOWER POLL:

If the Republicans were trying to impeach Obama, or anyone else, and had some sort of "whistleblower" stashed away...

WOULD THE DEMOCRATS/MEDIA BE ALL CALM ABOUT IT AND SAY NOTHING?

OR WOULD THEY BE "ON IT" NOT RESTING TILL HE/SHE WAS REVEALED?

 
10%Dems/Media would be quiet
 
90%They would DEMAND to know
 
READER REACTIONS
  • Frank Drinkwinre they would demand to know and for them to testify.
     
     
  • Cathie Hephner
    Cathie Hephner Where’s the ”This is BS” button? I need that one in order to vote.
    STUPID SURVEY!
     
    • New Mexico Political Journal
      New Mexico Political Journal Cathie Hephner What’s stupid about it?
      Stamped on your forehead, apparently.
    •  
  • PHY
    •  
  • Kyle Armstrong
    Kyle Armstrong Who cares who the whistleblower is anymore. It's all be corroborated.
    Tommy EstesTommy Estes Until proven otherwise, I dont believe there is a whistleblower, period. It's just a little too convenient for the democrats to base their entire case on 'the whistleblower said', yet never have to produce a warm body.
    •  
    • Tommy Estes
      Tommy Estes Nancy Capels I'm familiar. Here again, no evidence at this point.
    •  
  • Charles Morris
    Charles Morris The whistleblower is an American hero. He was true to his oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Based on the President's transcript of the call, the whistleblower's complaint, witnesses depositions and testimonies, it appears the president attempted to get Ukraine to investigate a political rival, and used a threat to withhold foreign aid as a leverage. While withholding foreign aid is almost certainly commonplace, using the office of the presidency in this manner is abhorrent. 
    Tommy Estes Tommy Estes Soo, biden gets a free pass, because he's running for POTUS? Doesn't work that way, despite what freak show the dems are putting on.
    • Charles Morris
    • Charles Morris Tommy Estes we aren't talking about former Vice President Biden, we are talking about current President Trump. When Biden was vice president the Republicans could have pursued him.
    •  
     
  • Jam Jones
    Jam Jones
    Image may contain: text
     
    Esther Rivera
  • Esther Rivera Jim Jones -- same BS another day. The first day of this kangaroo court was hearsay of hearsay and would never be allowed in a legitimate court of law. Katy Tur is CIA controlled mouthpiece.
     
  • Joseph Gonzales
    Joseph Gonzales They have nothing. This will be DOA before it even gets to the Senate. This is nothing more than an effort to weaken the President ahead of the election because the field of contenders is so weak and in some instances, crazy. A nothingburger as st. hillary likes to say.
     
  • Louise Riley
    Louise Riley 86 to 14 so far,, the smart ones are ahead, the rest,, well...
     
  • Fel Cohen
     
    Fel Cohen Anyone who has read George Orwell's 1984 would immediately recognize this as an alternate reality.

    "A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function, but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud." ~ George Orwell
     
  • Teresa Coburn
    Teresa Coburn Dem's be quiet?? They would be protesting, marching, parading and rallying in the streets! hahahahahah??????
    • New Mexico Political Journal
      New Mexico Political Journal Teresa Coburn You are beyond correct! 1,000,000% correct. The media would also be completely out of their minds. It would be nothing short of pandemonium. 
  • Mike Dossey
     
    Mike Dossey Yesterday I had got back in my truck and on KVIA they had a comment by one of the republicans who I swear had tears in his eyes crying like a little bitch. Great job Rino's
    Delete, hide or report this
     
  • Bill Roark
    Bill Roark What is the fascination with the Whistleblower? Everything he revealed has already been validated by other witnesses with 1st hand information. Or is the real reason to try to intimidate other witnesses from coming forward? Is the GOP also still trying to find out the identity of Deep Throat too?
    • Juli Adcock
      Juli Adcock Are you familiar with what the 6th amendment provides for with regards to confronting one's accuser?
      Bill Roark
    • Bill Roark Juli Adcock Since the whistle-blowers statement has been validated by statements from people who first hand knowledge of Trumps crimes and Trump has already admitted the whistle-blower had only second or third hand knowledge of the events the whistle-blower is no longer the accuser. The whistle-blower is a hero who was doing his job. The whistle-blower statute contain (anti-retaliation) provisions that generally provide that employers may not discharge or retaliate against an employee because the employee has filed a complaint or otherwise exercised other rights provided to employees under the statute. Since Trump has already made threats against the whistle-blowers life the whistle-blower has every right to keep his identity secret. Any other claims are attempts at witness intimidation.
       
    • New Mexico Political Journal
      New Mexico Political Journal Bill Roark It is truly bizarre the degree to which people who hate Trump fall into repeating and parroting the Democrats' talking points that they just now invented. In an effort to try to limit the proceedings against Trump to a one-sided proceeding, the Democrats started telling their followers that the American tradition is simply to take one person's testimony, then get other people to "corroborate" and that is the end of the story. No cross-examination, no calling of other witnesses, no raising questions about the accuracy of the original witness's statements or that of anyone else. It's as if they believed they can fool Americans into believing that 243 years of American jurisprudence---and another 600-700 years of English common law traditions---are unknown in the country. And you know what? People like Mr. Roark prove that that is true, Americans are totally tribal now and combining tribal instincts with ignorance of our own history makes for a very dangerous situation.
       
    • Bill Roark
      Bill Roark New Mexico Political Journal I don't understand how you can blindly follow Trumps propaganda. He clearly has severe mental health issues. America is far more important than Trump.
       
    • Juli Adcock
      Juli Adcock America IS more important than Trump and any other political figure, which is EXACTLY why it is vital that the rights of confronting, cross examining and innocence until proven guilty are preserved for even those that are hated. That is part of the foundation of America that without it, America would no longer exist. As far as New Mexico Political Journal blindly following Trump, that is truly laughable. The idea that someone who disagrees with you blindly follows Trump is a leap of logic that defies imagination.
    • Juli Adcock
      Juli Adcock Bill Roark If you were accused of a crime, would you want YOUR trial conducted in the same manner?
    • New Mexico Political Journal
      New Mexico Political Journal Bill Roark We receive hate mail because we DON'T blindly follow Trump. But in any case, following the law is more important---though it is a principle that the Trump haters are willing to sacrifice. Very short-sighted.
      Bill Roark
    • Bill Roark Juli Adcock First of all if I were President I wouldn't commit a crime by putting my personal interests above my duties to the American people. I also wouldn't try to intimidate witnesses by threatening there safety. When are you going to realize you are aiding and abetting a criminal that threatens America. 
      Bill Roark
    • Bill Roark New Mexico Political Journal Trump's court filings claim he is above the law. Do you really want to live in a country where every newly elected President become Dictator In Chief for the next 4 years? https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../b8811be8-eaaa-11e9...
      Trump’s broad claims of executive immunity lead to criticism he is acting above the law
      WASHINGTONPOST.COM
      Trump’s broad claims of executive immunity lead to criticism he is…
    • ock Bill Roark Assertions are easy to make, but a whole lot harder to prove in a court of law no matter how many times people say it. Have you checked on what previous administrations have claimed for executive privilege and immunity? I think you'd be surprised at what has been done previous to this administration is not as "out of norms" as this opinion piece would have you believe.

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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican

 
 
 
 
 

IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS and THE ILLOGICAL BIDEN PARADOX NO ONE WILL QUESTION or DISPUTE:

11/13/2019

(No one except NMPJ, that is.)

NOTE TO READERS: Please provide answers, if you can

DEMOCRATS ARE NOW SAYING THIS:

If you are a Democratic presidential candidate, you cannot be scrutinized. Neither you or anyone related to you.

Here is how this works for the Democrats:

1) Joe Biden is a presidential candidate; therefore
2) He is termed a "rival" or an "opponent" of Trump; so
3) Any questioning of Biden about corruption is invalid;
4) Such questions arise ONLY because he is a "rival"
5) There can be no questions based solely on corruption;
6) It is impossible for corruption to be an actual concern

So, those conditions being in place, then (again, according to the Democrats)

Even though the following things may seem strange to the American people,

they CANNOT be discussed:

1) Hunter Biden not knowing anyone in Ukraine
2) Hunter Biden knowing nothing about petroleum
3) Hunter Biden not speaking a word of Ukrainian
4) Hunter Biden having no experience in anything at all
5) Hunter having NOTHING other than a father who is VP

BUT 6) Getting $50,000 per month for doing nothing

These concerns are ALL completely out-of-bounds to raise.

In fact, it angers the Democrats for ANY of these things to be raised. Why?

Democrats' Circular Answer: Because Joe Biden is a candidate for president. [Remember: He is a "rival." So all of these concerns must be raised only because of that status. They cannot be being raised because anyone with common sense can see the obvious corruption involved.

TRUMP's ONLY POSSIBLE MOTIVE

By virtue of Biden having filed for president, any inquiries about Biden's "weird" relationship with Ukraine are IMMEDIATELY dismissed because President Trump is--we are told--not asking about that "wrongdoing," or a potential "crime." NO. He can only be asking about a "rival."

IF BIDEN WERE NOT A CANDIDATE

This begs the question: If Biden had skipped the 2020 race, just like he did in 2016, would any questions about his (fairly obvious) corruption be legitimate? Of course they would be.

But Biden, because he is running for president, holds the ultimate "get-out-of-jail-free" card. The Democrats have ruled that ANY question about Hunter Biden or Joe Biden (shown below with Ukrainian oil execs) is automatically completely illegitimate and cannot be valid.

"Baseless," they say. And so do the media. They say the exact SAME WORDS as the Democrats. "Wholly without foundation." "Outrageous." "Totally Exonerated." "No Evidence."

Does all this really make sense?

Is it us or is it them? It's them, isn't it?


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican


SANFORD QUITS PRESIDENTIAL RACE

11/12/2019

Republicans worried sick about where all of his massive support will end up now.

Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford—aka App-Trail Mark—just now ended his presidential campaign, less than two months after announcing his bid to knock off Trump.

Sanford implied he would’ve swept to an easy nomination but for the impeachment crisis, saying:

“You gotta be a realist, and what I did not anticipate is an impeachment.”

This leaves three other Republicans in the race, Trump, plus Illinois congressman Joe Walsh, and former Massachusetts governor William Weld, who has run or threatened to run for office so many times he is now officially classified a “perennial candidate.”

Sanford’s alternate nickname is Argentine Mark. While serving as South Carolina governor in 2009, Sanford suddenly disappeared. His staff’s cover story was that Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trail. But after exhaustive searches in Appalachia, Sanford turned up in Argentina with his mistress.

It’s unclear how his thousands (or possibly millions) of votes will be reallocated among Trump, Walsh, and Weld.


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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican


National Issues

National Issues

Democrats

2016 Presidential Campaign - Democrats

Republicans

2016 Presidential Campaign - Republicans

Jeb Bush gets religion.

"They said he got religion at the end, and I'm glad that he did."  — Tom T. Hall. The Year Clayton Delaney died.

Well, it's official.  Jeb Bush has changed quite of few of his positions on illegal immigration.  The single most significant is that he no longer endorses the "path to citizenship" for those who came here illegally. 

This is, after all, the key portion of any proposal aimed at "reforming" our existing illegal immigration situation.

No sensible citizen can see any point in trying to deport between 12 and 16 million people currently living in America illegally.  And no candidate for any office that we know of supports that.  What the average American wants is for the country to "get a handle on it."  They want it stopped, our borders secured and future illegal immigration prevented.  It is a national security issue.

The Path to Legal Status

The only way to accomplish the above goals, is to identify current illegal immigrants, get them accounted for, have them documented, and placed on a path to legal status.  Neither they nor their children or spouses should live in a state of fear or anxiety.

But a path to "citizenship" is not the right course.  It is not morally or legally correct.  A merciful and compassionate nation can provide the safeguards of legal status without sending the message to the rest of the world that all you have to do is cross our border and you will eventually get to become a citizen, thus circumventing the legal framework scores of millions of Americans have followed, honored and respected.

If someone who is granted legal status eventually wants to become a citizen, that person should have to return to his or her country of origin and wait in line like 20 million people around the world are doing at any given time.  Failing that, America will forever send the signal that anyone in the world can "jump the line," and that there is no reason at all to obey our immigration and naturalization laws.

We Like Jeb Bush

We are glad Jeb Bush has learned this lesson.  He is a fine speaker, and can eloquently explain his positions on complex issue.  If he were not named "Bush" he would be an actual top tier candidate—in all that that title would entail, including likelihood of acceptance and support of and from the American people in the primaries, and in any theoretical general election.  

We also recognize that he already is a de facto top-tier candidate because of his fame and his fundraising.

If he were to be the nominee of the Republican Party we would heartily support him and endorse him.  We hope, however, that he is not, as he does not give the center-right coalition the best chance of winning.

Media Watch

Media Watch

County Government News

County Government News

Cities, Towns and Villages

Cities, Towns and Villages

Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch

Movies, Television, Pop Culture

Movies, Television, Pop Culture

  • Movies, Television, Pop Culture
    Selma   ????? We have now seen the Oscar-nominated movie Selma.   Our earlier allusion to criticism that sounded as though it was in an Oliver Stone category for historical fabrication is some...

Sports

Sports

The Major League Baseball Playoffs are not realistic, and destroy the actual meaning of the sport. 

Major League Baseball is unique in this respect—its postseason is markedly different from the way the game is played normally.  No other major league sport suffers from this flaw.

Not that much is wrong with baseball. In some respects it's the most well thought-out sport there is.  The "perfect game" many aficionados say.

But the Major League Baseball postseason experience is unique in the world of professional sports, and not in a good way. 

In fact the playoffs are flawed in such a way as to detract from the sport itself and diminish the game and what it means to be the world champion of the sport. 

Among the Big Four team sports of North America: football, hockey, basketball and baseball—and all the 122 professional major league teams competing in the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB respectively—it is in baseball alone that the postseason turns the sport itself on its head and makes it reflect something that it is not.  This article will explain why that happens and why it is wrong-headed.

 

Background on the The Frequency of Play

The 30 teams in both the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association teams play a very similar schedule.  On average, each team has a day off between games, sometimes two days off.  Though there are back-to-back games, they are relatively infrequent.  NBA teams play between 14 and 22 back-to-back games a season, and for the NHL it usually ranges between 9 and 19. The NFL has a full week between games, the exception being the new Thursday games that each team plays once, leaving them only four days' rest once a year.

But baseball players play every single day.  Ten days straight, then a day off, then seven more games, then a day off, then ten more games.  Typically a baseball team plays 27 games every 30 days.  For the NHL and NBA it would be 14 per month, and for the NFL the number would be 4.

 

Getting to the Playoffs:  It's a grind

In all four sports, getting to the postseason requires a total team effort—in fact an all-out total organizational effort.  Teams must be deep, have bench strength and the capability of moving players in and out of the lineup, and on and off the roster, who can take the place of key players who go down for an injury, or who have to miss games for whatever reason.  While this is true of the other three major sports as well, it is most certainly even more of a concern for baseball teams because of the sheer volume of games in which a team must field a competitive lineup.

Each league's regular season* is a marathon, not a sprint.  NFL teams play for 17 weeks, 16 games.  The NHL has an 82-game season over six months, paralleled by an NBA season of 84 games over the same timeframe. Baseball is the biggest marathon of all—a true test of resilience and endurance—162 games usually starting around the beginning of April and finishing about the end of September.

NHL teams carry 23-man rosters, of which 20 can be active for any particular game.  The NBA is similar, with 15-man rosters of which 13 can be on the bench for a given game. In the NFL, the teams have 53 players on a roster, but only 46 can suit up on game day.  In Major League Baseball, teams have a 25-man active roster, and all 25 are at the park every day.

 

The Postseason Playoffs:  Sport by Sport

The National Football League:

Of the 32 teams, 12 qualify for the playoffs.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season.  Each team plays once a week, the exception being that the four top teams get the first week off.  For a typical qualifier to reach the Super Bowl, the team must play three consecutive weeks.  At that point both remaining teams have two weeks off before the Super Bowl.

In short, the playoffs, with a game each week, reflects the same means of advancement as is present in regular season grind.

The National Hockey League: 

16 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season: a game, a day off, a game, a day off, a game, a day off, and so on.  Just as in the regular season, there are occasionally two days off.  But the playoffs require the same stamina, the same approach as that required to make the playoffs.

 

The National Basketball Association

16 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  The playoffs are conducted in the exact same manner as the regular season: a game, a day off, a game, a day off, a game, a day off, and so on.  Just as in the regular season, there are occasionally two days off.  But the playoffs require the same stamina, the same approach as that required to make the playoffs.

Major League Baseball

10 of the 30 teams qualify for the postseason.  (Although four of those teams qualify only for a one-game do-or-die play-in game.)

Here is where all similarity to baseball ends. 

Unlike the other three sports whose playoffs mirror the test of the regular season, and whose conditions are the same as the regular season, Major League Baseball playoffs in no way resemble the sport itself.  In hockey, basketball and football, the teams win playoff games and reach the pinacle of the sport in exactly the same way that they qualify to try to do so. 

Not so in baseball.  They are two entirely different concepts.  Teams make the playoffs only because they have depth, five-man pitching rotations and can play day-in and day-out at a high level.  But the baseball playoffs suddenly become a kind of "all-star" game within each team's roster.  MLB playoffs are conducted in a way that more closely follows the NBA and the NHL.  Teams have enormous numbers of days off. 

Here's the key point:  No Major League Baseball team could even qualify for the postseason if they played the same way during the regular season that they do in the playoffs.  None.

In the regular season Major League Baseball teams have to use a 5-man starting rotation, with pitchers pitching every 5th day.  There are not enough days off to have even a four-man rotation, let alone a team with three pitchers.  Even the best team in baseball using only a 4-man rotation, would wear them out, and most likely end up with a record of something like 66-96, or 70-92—and that would be if they were otherwise teh best team in the sport.

 

The 2014 Baseball Postseason is Typical

As examples, last year's World Series teams the Kansas City Royals played only 15 games in 30 days, and the San Francisco Giants played only 17 games in 30 days.  The 12 to 15 days off in the non-baseball fantasy world of the MLB postseason, means that teams can turn to three pitchers and give all of them plenty of rest.  But it isn't the way baseball really works.

At one point, the Royals had 5 consecutive days off, and the Giants had 4.  This never happens in the regular season.  Even the All-Star break is only three days.  Very rarely is there anything beyond a one-day break, and even that happens only a couple of times a month. 

What this means is that neither team used the team that got them to the playoffs.  (The NFL, NBA and NHL teams ALL used the very same teams that got them to the playoffs.) 

Baseball teams use a three-man pitching rotation in the playoffs.  Sometimes, they essentially opt for two pitchers only—conceding the likelihood that some of their games are going to be lost—when their third-, or rarely fourth-best pitcher has to face one of their opponents' two-man or three-man rotation members. 

Imagine an NFL team using only one running back and three wide receivers, instead of rotating through their roster in the course of a playoff game—or using only 4 defensive backs and 4 linebackers, instead of rotating 8 or 9 DBs and 6 or 7 linebackers?  In hockey, would a team use only two or three of their forward lines?  Would an NBA team use only the starting five?  They would never make the post season if they tried to present that product to their fans during the regular season.

Those are the equivalents of what Major League Baseball sets up every fall.  No other sport drags its playoffs out in such a way as to completely change the playing field—completely change the dynamics of its game.

Why Does Baseball Do This?

MLB does this because the TV networks want to drag out the games so that they can try to have one game each day  This requires an unnecessary staggering of games, and creates the phenomenon of 15 off-days in a month.

What about travel days?

What about them?  Baseball has travel days constantly.  A team may play in Chicago one day and in Miami the next, or in New York one day and Phoenix the very next day.  Travel days as a routine part of the game are again, a phenomenon of television, and stretching out the playoffs.

In years past, travel days were employed only when necessary. The famous "subway series" games were played on seven consecutive days.  Why?  Because there was no "travel day" required to go from Brooklyn to the Bronx.  Today, they would put in artificial travel days.

Even fairly long train trips didn't necessarily matter.  The 1948 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Braves was played in six consecutive days, October 6 & 7 in Boston, October 8, 9 & 10 in Cleveland, and October 11 back in Boston.

This reflects actual baseball, the way the teams play day-in and day-out, and the kind of unique test that baseball presents to its athletes, its managers and management, and to its fans.

In the modern world of charter planes, teams fly from coast to coast to play games on consecutive days.  The artificial "travel day" should be eliminated so that teams can play in the playoffs in the same way that got them there in the first place.


*All these leagues also have pre-seasons and training camps, which add an additional 6-8 weeks to each player's year.


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Religious Issues

Religious Issues

  • Religious Issues
    Coming Soon

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