Megyn

 

Ludwig Wittgenstein almost said that the meaning of  "pedophile"is the same as how we use the word. People use it differently in different contexts. 

Meaning is use.

Megyn Kelly won attention recently when, in a podcast, she claimed that Jeffrey Epstein had not been a pedophile. "There's a difference between a 15-year-old and a 5-year-old, you know?"

The key issue, of course, isn't diction. 

It is a fact that psychiatrists and the DSM use "pedophile" as a name for someone who experiences a primary and persistent sexual attraction to prepubescent children.  

Some research scientists use a different term for adults attracted to teenage children. 

"Ephebophiliacs" unofficially refers to adults with a primary sexual attraction to children ages 15–19. It is not a diagnostic term.

Megyn Kelly could have said that Jeffrey Epstein and his close friends were ephebophiliacs. But most English speakers use "pedophile" when discussing sex between adults and boys (or girls) of any age. 

Prevagen

 

If you've watched much TV, you've seen ads for Prevagen, which is, like clay, something some yokels swallow. Prevagen is supposed to improve your memory and brain health. 

The FTC has sued the company for making false claims.

Sixty capsules cost about $75.

Schumer Wins

Why did eight Democrats cross the road?

My guess is that Schumer had a three-step plan. But I am guessing.  

1. The eight senators are not up for re-election. They could safely side with Trump. Schumer likely privately okayed them siding with Trump and ending the crisis. (If he had needed 12 votes, he could have gotten 12 votes.) 

2. Schumer and the remaining Democrats then cast heroic but futile votes against Trump. Play acting. Schumer faces a primary in 2028--he has to vote no kings in public. New York voters want the Trump scalp (hairy on the sides, bald on top). 

3. Next year the Democrats will have a winning   campaign issue. Vote Democratic in 2026 and save your Obamacare! To run on the issue next year, Democrats had to lose on it this year. 

Schumer is certain to be retained as the senate leader. He has no rival.

But he may have rivals in the 2028 primary. There's talk of AOC, who has been shut out of advancement in the House by Democratic leadership. In current polling she leads Schumer in New York by 20 points. 

2028 is a long way off. Anything could happen.

Live and Let Die

Did senators John Fetterman and Angus King do the right thing in stooping to kiss Trump's cuts to Obamacare? Or was Rand Paul right when he voted no?

The Republican cuts mean around 4,000 Americans will die unnecessarily each month. Trump will not react to such a small number--his cuts in foreign aid alone have starved to death around 200,000  foreign children. He and John Thune don't care.

The children died one at a time. The 4,000 Americans will die one at a time. At 90 I've become aware that we all die one at a time and that government leaders balance factors and make tough calls. But in hastening American deaths did Fetterman and King and six other "centrists" do the right thing?

We need fighters for life. Here's the best course. The eight moderate centrists resign and go home. Then we forget them as quickly as we did the last president.    

 

q

The Katie Johnson Story

In the Stormy Daniels incident, we learned how Donald Trump paid off women to get their silence. He used a cut-off. With Stormy Daniels, Trump used Michael Cohen, Cohen paid off Daniels and then Trump paid Cohen, keeping the Trump name clean. 

Cohen ended up in prison.

In 2016 Katie Johnson (not her name) filed a case in a federal court in California alleging that when she was 13 Jeffrey Epstein had held her as a slave and forced her to have sex with himself and with Trump. That case was dismissed but later filed again in New York, where it was voluntarily withdrawn. 

I couldn't find any evidence that Trump paid off Johnson or that she signed a non-disclosure agreement.  No trial took place. No court ruled on the truth of her claims.

Universal Gerrymandering

When our mentally ill president called for additional gerrymandering in Texas and Gov. Newsom called for gerrymandering California, the obvious prediction was that soon nearly every state in the union would be gerrymandered. That shift has begun. 

Some argue that cheating is the surest way to win an important election.  That might be true. 

A year ago the USA had eight states with independent redistricting commissions. They seemed like the coming thing. 

Tomorrow California will switch to gerrymandering, and several other states may be planning something similar.   

For the moment, Colorado is holding out. We can hope that three or four states will refuse to redistrict. But next year the pressure on holdout states to support unfairly their dominant party will increase.  

Gerrymandering warps the electoral process. Our somewhat unrepresentative democracy will now be even less representative, less trustworthy.   

This did not have to happen. Our leaders made a choice. Voters made a choice.

Goat Walks

 Goat Walks Across Asia

She left the farm 

The night the farmers humped 

Until the cows came home

She ate dry grass in Mongolia

Like oats long downgraded

She slept under stars in 

Stretched out black mud 

Threaded with lights that died 

In the eyes of a nanny

Who made for goats a giant sky?

She asked. It seemed excessive 

Antifa

Why has the FBI has been unable to infiltrate or indict Antifa, founded in December, 1941? 

Last week Antifa was denounced by the President of the United States and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, but no arrests have been made. 

There are no arrests because Antifa is mostly imaginary.

In some sense Antifa does exist. On the Internet you can buy an Antifa tee shirt.  I witnessed about 10,000 anti-Fascists (Antifa) gathered at Doyle Park in Santa Rosa on No-Kings Day. 

For MAGA Antifa exists as a political fiction, much as unicorns exist in children's books. 

Unanimous

Maybe I missed something, but didn't every host on MSNBC and every elected national Democrat come out in support of gerrymandering California? All on the same day? In one voice?

Was there nothing to be said against suppressing the Republican vote? 

I keep looking for a Democrat bold enough to insist that Republican voters be treated fairly. In an age where political parties play by Trump rules, that hasn't happened. 

So Trump wins. He has changed us.

There are a few independent people who refuse to endorse gerrymandering. Bernie Sanders sees gerrymandering as a threat to representative democracy. He's been silent, not conforming. He has not endorsed Prop 50. But he isn't a Democrat (he must have his reasons).

If there were a major party defending fair treatment for everyone, Susan and I might join it. 

 

s