Locally:
Lisa Greif is stuck. She wrote self-destructive texts.
Nationally:
Trump is stuck. He is on videotape, saying the virus was no big deal.
Insha'allah.
Readers of this blog from around the country likely just skim over blog posts on local matters. What would possibly be of interest in a down-ballot nonpartisan judge race?
But there is a theme connecting Lisa Greif and Donald Trump.
Both were awesomely incautious. Each appear to have thought they understood the drift of events around them, when they didn't. That is why I insert the word "Insha'allah" above, which is the Arabic version of a Christian phrase "God willing" or the secular version, "God willing and the creek don't rise."
A person who predicts the future is doing an act of hubris, presuming to understand what is happening around him, and what the future will bring. People of a religious point of view understand that the course of events is done with the plan, permission, and grace of a higher power. We cannot presume to know it. People with long careers advising investment clients know the hazard of predicting markets turns.
Donald Trump had a political pattern in mind:
Democrats and the media make a fuss;
Trump swats it away;
Democrats look silly and weak;
Trump looks invincible.
That is how it worked on the "pussy grab" tape; the Kavanaugh nomination; on "Russian collusion"; on Ukraine impeachment. He thought the virus and fears of recession fit the pattern: Democrats and media hype, Trump swats.
Trump thought he had a winning hand.
Trump thought he had a winning hand.
Judge Lisa Greif, too.
Lawyers tell me she is not stupid, nor is she ignorant about trials. She is a judge! She simply had to realize her litigant-friend's phone was subject to subpoena and discovery, yet she created documents that would be disastrous for her. She wrote imagining killing a colleague; she carried out participation in a litigation settlement strategy for someone suing a vendor to her own court; she said she considered her work in the juvenile court "bullshit," with her having an election coming up. She had to know that risked serious trouble with the Judicial Fitness Commission and the electorate. She did it anyway.
What in the world was she thinking?
She thought she was winning. Her litigant friend had on the ropes the OnTrack organization, its long-time Executive Director Rita Sullivan, and a disliked colleague. "Don't worry, those bitches are going down!," Greif wrote. Her texts are giddy with the thrill of victory.
Winning leads to over-confidence. The myth of Icarus--flying too close to the sun--is the cautionary tale lent us by the Greeks. The phrase "God willing" and "Insha'allah" are reminders from Abrahamic religions. The future is not in our hands. Be humble.
Trump tied himself to the stock market, which is currently almost exactly back to the level where he inherited it from Obama three years ago. His treasury secretary predicts 20% unemployment. He and his media allies dismissed the virus as a Democratic hoax to stop Trump. They are on tape.
It is a warning for me, too.
My posts on Lisa Greif have pissed off some powerful people. I am seventy years old, in the high risk group for the virus. My livelihood is my investments, and they have fallen in value. Lots could go wrong for me, too, in health, finances, reputation. Under the best of circumstances I will soon be elderly and weak, and then I will die. It is my turn.
But I will be OK for a while longer, God willing, Insha'allah, the creek don't rise.
4 comments:
Lisa Greif is a Democrat, just like Peter Sage.
Greif is a liar, and so is Sage.
Trump has nothing in-common with Lisa Greif, other they are both human beings.
Trump never said that the virus was no big deal. That's a spin and a fabrication of the media, and it's being kept alive by liars like Peter Sage.
Trump and his team are doing an outstanding job fighting the virus, in contrast to Kate Brown and Obama.
Hopefully, Peter Sage contracts a strong enough case of the virus that we never hear from him again.
The "Anonymous" post above is one of three or four a day this blog gets like this. They are written in the style of Curt Ankerberg, who has a characteristic writing style, of which this is an example.
Ankerberg is a Republican candidate for Jackson County Commissioner this year.
Ankerberg-style comments have common themes: an interest in my genitalia, the invincibility of Trump, the dishonesty of the local business community, the Mail Tribune, and weakness of Democratic candidates, how nice my home is, and how much he relishes my death. I do not know for sure that these are from Ankerberg, which is why I call them Ankerberg-style. I had previously gotten signed emails from him, written in that style, but the last one told me go "Fuck yourself, prick" and thereafter I have receive no more signed content from Ankerberg. The comment above may be from an imposter, attempting to mimic him.
Ankerberg will be on the Republican ballot in May.
Peter Sage
L
Keep up the good work, Peter. I am 73 (in 10 days), and just coming off a self imposed 14 day quarantine after being exposed to a highly possible Corona victim, and have been referred to as being an alarmist for wanting to Shut down our local version of the Pear Blossom. Some of these people won't get the word or admit the problem until it takes them, or someone close to them out of the picture entirely. I'm not symptomatic, but even if I were, I can rest a little easier knowing I probably didn't give it to some one else.
Re: Anonymous above, if that's Ankerberg, I didn't know he was a Trumpie, I've always thought he just a mildly disturbed A**hole.
Eat more cantaloupe, maybe it's antiviral, and can't hurt, unlike Trumps lies.
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