Monday, July 20, 2020

Proof Positive


It's been said there are hundreds of ways to prove the Pythagorean Theory. For those of you who were not math geeks in high school, allow me to refresh your memory on this, the most basic tenet of Geometry. It's a topic that still fascinates, and it states, with regards to a right triangle:

a(squared) + b(squared) = c(squared)

The picture above is one of the more elegant and graphic ways to show that the hypotenuse (the line from Point A to point B), indeed is equal to the sum of the squares of the two other sides. But for an entire year, Ms. Ludwig, our gruff math teachers (gruff is a job qualification for teaching math) had us find new and creative ways to prove the theorum.

In retrospect it was an amazing example of how mathematics and logic and creativity can all manifest themselves in one mind bending exercise. I was pretty damn good at it.

It also goes a long way towards explaining my particular love of proving Trumpsters wrong. Dead wrong. Not with platitudes or name calling (though I do allow myself that indulgence) but with facts. 

For instance, if you've ever found yourself in a serious discussion about Precedent Shitgibbon's deficiencies, and there are many, you know the first and favored tactic of the Red Hat is to deflect. And one of their preferred deflections is, "Yeah, well Obummer added 10 trillion dollars to the US debt." 

Ok, slow down there Grand Wizard. The truth is President Obama added 8.58 trillion dollars to the debt. 

Do I like that? No, I do not. I'm not big on debt and make it a point to pay off all my credit cards before my wife and daughters send it ballooning towards the skies next month.

But it should be noted President Obama pulled us out of the country's worst recession. We were literally hanging by a thin fiscal thread. And by spending that $9 trillion (it always helps to concede a little to a Trumpster, it's actually a rhetorical trap) he lowered the unemployment level from 9.8% to 4.7% and produced 8 years worth of steady, but modest growth. 

Those numbers are indisputable.

By contrast, the US debt is now close to $27 trillion dollars. And Captain Ouchie Foot is responsible for $7 trillion worth of additional Red Ink. In just 3 and 1/2 years !!!!

Also, indisputable. And it tends to result in a lot of hemming and hawing by the Kool Aide drinking faithful.

Another favorite trope is that President Obama was weak. And started his presidency with a so-called "Apology Tour." I've heard this crap more often that Pythagoreas found himself staring at a right triangle. 

Not surprisingly, this too is another falsity, manufactured in the sweaty, integrity-free back office of Fox News. President Obama did not go on an "Apology Tour." What he did was take a sobering, thoughtful and introspective look at America's past. A past that does always merit the pitchfork and torch crowd yelling USA USA USA.

He did so to curry diplomatic favor and push negotiations in a more fruitful, less combative direction.

I would posit that the acknowledgement of our past mistakes is a sign of strength and confidence. Ignoring slavery, colonial adventurism, resource theft, lopsided foreign policy and profiteering from global militarism, does nobody any good and it impedes progress.

Furthermore, President Obama never apologized, he put those past misdeeds into context. It's how mature, nuanced and intelligent people act.  

Compare that to President Glibby McGlibbington:


The irony here, and the icing on my "proof", is that if Red Hats are so concerned about an American President appearing weak or deferential or in any way submissive, I would suggest they take another look at the disastrous Helsinki news conference video where the President of the United States of America took the world of Russia's President over the intel provided by our own CIA and FBI.

As if that weren't enough and the most cowardly cowering ever displayed by an American leader, let's talk about the unwillingness and inability to confront Vladimir Putin for putting cash bounties on the heads of US soldiers.

That's Fucking Weak!








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