Responding To Carl

But first:  This is so cool.  See what the partnership of the New York Times and Google Cloud can do to illuminate photos and history.

Have fun.

And second:  see “The New One” on Broadway — as raved here (and in whose limited-run success I have a minuscule stake).

Even more fun!

Less fun:

Carl writes me almost every day.  No matter what I post, if it concerns politics, he sends something negative in return.  It’s his gag reflex.

For example, I wrote:

Two years from now, once we register many of the million-plus Floridians whose voting rights Tuesday’s election restored, we will win Florida.

Carl responded:

Democrat felons … sounds right.  I heard murderers make better voters.

I stopped replying quite a while ago, once I found he was not interested in constructive dialog.  Nothing I said ever changed his mind.  But I figured it was time to break my silence, so I wrote back:

Carl, virtually every one of your daily emails is hostile and ill-informed.  You NEVER provide a thoughtful researched argument. It’s not impressive, it’s corrosive — and entirely Trumpian.

In this particular example, you fail to know that the Amendment specifically excludes murderers (and sexual offenders).  You’d have had to read the 50-word summary to see that.

Your larger point may be that – disagreeing with the 65% majority by which it passed – ex-felons who have paid their debts to society and fulfilled all terms of probation and parole should STILL be excluded from full citizenship.  Okay, good for you.  But why?

Forty-six states disagree with you, including some very red ones.  North Dakota, Montana, Utah, and Indiana are among those that allow voting IMMEDIATELY upon release – even BEFORE completing parole, and with no exception for murderers.  Do you think those states are under the thumb of Democrats?

“[Your oratory] feeds self-vindication, and whether on paper it bears inspection for consistency, logic or soundness is immaterial.”

Sound familiar?  Look it up.

I might have added, on the issue of “Democrat felons,” that the Obama Administration was squeaky clean.  Trump, by contrast, has seen his campaign chairman convicted of multiple felonies; his national security adviser pleading guilty; his personal lawyer/fixer pleading guilty; his son fearing indictment; and his family and cabinet officers up to their necks in a list of corrupt activities so long it will take you a good chunk of your morning to read it all.  All of this ignored by the Republican Congress, two members of which — the first two to endorse Trump, as it happens — were just reelected while under indictment.

Carl!  You’ve been had!  We need energy and passion like yours.  You are always welcome, if you ever come to see things differently!  Obama really was born in America.  Climate change really is an avertable catastrophic threat to mankind.  Putin really did direct thousands of trained agents to misinform Americans and set us against one another.  Republicans, starting with Reagan, really have shifted a trillion dollars to the top tenth of one-percent at the expense of the  middle class and our crumbling infrastructure.

So — thank you for your readership.  Please allow for the possibility that Trump is not honest, competent, or fit (he is, in fact, a sociopath*); and that Republicans in Congress who enable him are putting personal advantage above the national interest.

*One definition: “The lack of conscience and an inability to feel remorse are the underlying factors. They do not have the ability to make and keep friends. The sociopathic personality is initially viewed as charming until the casual deception shines  through their skillful masterful manipulation. They have the skillful aptitude  for lying and cheating. They have no capacity to feel  guilt.”