The Report

How can we ever be sure we know the truth?  There seems to be different versions of it.  Certainly 9/11 created a wave of activity, some of it productive, some not and some destructive... and some we still don't know about..

Elected officials, political appointees and bureaucrats (meaning government employees at federal, state or municipal levels) all were involved.  Almost all of them felt they were doing what they could to punish the perpetrators and to help prevent a re-occurence.   A number felt they needed to change the rules in order to be effective and some felt it was necessary not to be public.

The torture program was set up by contractors that had no experience.  There had to be a different mindset among those who had to approve the program.

"The Report" is about an attempt to find the truth.  It states that there were strenuous efforts to restrict their efforts.  They use real names.  It is hard to determine how much of the words spoken were actually used and how many were speculations.  Picasso once said "Art is the lie that tells the truth."

It is believable that there was conflict between the politicians and bureaucrats and amongst themselves.  It is believable that some people really felt it was necessary to push further than others wanted to know about.  There was paranoia at the time and there was a tricky balance between reassuring the public and doing the right thing.  Politics is all about power and perception is the key--someone dependent on voters can try to shape their views, but more importantly has to cater to them while also trying to take advantage of the rules.   Unfortunately there are (often successful) politicians who know how to manipulate or spin and understand the rules

We don't want to know what goes on in a slaughter house; we just want to eat our hamburgers with appropriate condiments--the truth would (and does) disturb many individuals which in turn has an impact on workers and corporate owners.

Leaks are frowned upon by politicians--Dianne Feinstein is quoted as saying Edward Snowden was a traitor.  Frustrations lead to leaks, often involving reporters who are supposed to be critical for democracy. Theodore Roosevelt felt he needed to use journalists to uncover corruption.  Read more:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/04/the-bully-pulpit-by-doris-kearns-goodwin.html

At the end the report is released.  Diane Feinstein acknowledges that American enemies (and others) will use it against us, but that it will show the world what Americans stand for (in the future).    During the credits they repeat a quote from George Washington against any abuse of captured prisoners during the American Revolution.

Scott Z Brown wrote, directed and produced "The Report"  and has a history of presenting films with political and social implications.  In his career he started with shorts and tv. episodes.  He played a role with "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006), "Side Effects" (2013), "An Inconvenient Sequel" (2017) and recently "The Laundromat" (2019).  He had written scripts for "The Bourne Ultimatum" 2007) and "Contagion"(2011).  Originally he conceived "The Report" as a satire, but as he researched the material he felt it needed to be as realistic as practical.  Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2017/11/an-inconvenient-sequel-truth-to-power.html

Steven Soderberg who often work with Scott was the co-producer.   His first experience in Hollywood was as a freelance editor.  Like many he filmed a lot of shorts.  His big break came when a rock band, "Yes" gave him a chance to film a full length concert.  He won awards at the Cannes Film Festival for " Sex, Lies and Videotapes" (1989).  He is famous for "Traffic" (2000) and "Erin Brockovich" (2000) which made him one of the few directors to have two Oscar nominations in the same year with "Traffic" winning.  He also done cinematography, often under a pseudonym, Peter Andrews admitting that he is not the most skilled with the camera, but that made him feel closer to the actors.

David Wingo provided the background score.  He has composed for "Take Shelter" (2011), "Mud" (2012) and "Our Brand is Crisis" (2015).

Eigil Bryld, the cinematographer began his career in Denmark, but has shot films in Germany, Britain and America.  Some of his films include, "Kinky Boots" (2005), "Becoming Jane" (2007),  "House of Cards" (2013, 11 episodes); and "Ocean's 8" (2018).  He is keeping active with political issues with "The Loudest Voice" (2019).  He won a  Prime Time Emmy for "House of Cards."

Greg O'Bryant, the editor has also been a producer and writer.  He edited one episode of "The Loudest Voice."

Adam Driver played the investigator Daniel J. Jones.  To me it was great casting and perhaps his best role.  He gained attention in some of the Star Wars series.  Some of his other movies are:  "Silence" (2016), "BlacKkKlansman" (2018) and "Marriage Story" (2019), the last two of which resulted in Oscar nominations

Annette Bening played Dianne Feinstein capturing her mannerisms.  She once won a Tony nomination.  Some of her films include, "The Grifters" (1990), "Bugsy" (1991), "American Beauty" (1999), "Danny Collins" (2015) and "Life Itself" (2018),

Just finished watching "Mad Men" (2007-2015) where Jon Hamm is so prominent and it noteworthy for how unflappable he is and in "The Report" he plays a similar unflappable character, Denis McDonough, White House Chief of Staff under Barrack Obama.

The film used a lot of actors to play other prominent politicians and bureaucrats, but let John McCain speak in an archived video which I felt more meaningful.

Personally felt that its respectable IMDB rating could have been significantly higher and suspect that conservative trolls may have dragged it down a bit as happened with Soderbergh's films with Al Gore.  But admittedly progressive viewers might have tried to compensate.

My thoughts shortly after the release of the actual report:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/12/torture.html

The movie "Truth" dealt with how truth can be obstructed. http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/10/truth-movie-version.html

The American IQ Test

Awhile back someone suggested that while the Americans are getting ready for an election, the rest of the world looks at it as an IQ test.  In past elections our attitude has been let them fight amongst themselves.  Donald Trump has exploded on the scene and is attracting an insane amount of attention and the possibility of him becoming the president of the U.S. is frightening.

There is nothing new in this rant, but it is maddening to just sit by while a nearby neighbor is acting crazy.  We all know that the craziness potentially affects everyone.   I feel lucky to be a Canadian and although I am an older white male, Donald Trump does not speak for me.

There is a lot of unhappiness in the U. S.   It is very natural to want to blame unhappy conditions on somebody.  Too many think it must be the "other".  In some cases it is immigrants and in other cases it is dishonest politicians.  A few realize that the 1% has disproportionate power and are using it to maintain their spot in the pecking order with little regard to those less fortunate.

There probably will always be cycles of prosperity and decline.  Sometimes the really bad times can lead to a really violent revolution.  We humans take a lot for granted.  We feel if things are going up they will always go up and we tend to coast.  We would all benefit from a wider perspective.  There have been a lot of disappointments over the last decade, but there is a global participation in this sad story.  Many other nations endure higher unemployment, wage declines and even greater uncertainty.  Physically many parts of the world are suffering from climate change and some overlapping sections are in violent conflict.  Comparatively the United States is doing well, but Trump says their economy is a "disaster."

Although Obama is not perfect he has helped put the United States in a better direction.  He has done this despite an unconscionable obstruction that should be apparent to anyone taking more than a cursory look.  It has been the Republicans, largely financed by the 1% who have resisted a stimulus, who deny the merits of the Affordable Care Act, who waste time on social concerns against the interests of the majority.

Donald Trump might be a nice reasonable person in private, but he chooses to present himself as a champion of the downtrodden with outrageous solutions to their problems.  His tv ratings must have been encouraging and it seems his ego projects those as understanding what needs to be done.

The next part of this blog is just recounting some of the many stupidities.  They will likely be outdated with other stupidities.

Going back to at least 2008 his insinuation that Obama was not legally entitled to be president is very insulting.  Nobody else has been asked to prove their citizenship, but Obama has actually delivered proof.  Many anti-Obama critics stoutly claim they are not racist, but to us outsiders the whole birther movement seems like proof.  Trump may be smart enough to know that many voters really resent a black man in charge.

Trump's presentation for the primary season was to call Mexican immigrants murderers and rapists without offering any proof.  His solution was to build a gigantic wall and make Mexico pay for it.  He knows many unemployed as well as natural bigots feel that these brown skinned people are unfair competition.  It is a lot more complicated than that.  But underneath it all they are humans, not much different than Americans and they have gotten the short end of the stick.

He went on to ban all Muslims from entering the country, admittedly on a temporary basis.  Later he said it was just a suggestion.  Fear is a great motivator that makes us all overlook justice.  America prides itself on its religious freedom, one part of which is that no one has to declare their religion in order to enter the country.  Yes, there is something (relatively tiny) to be scared about, but again it is a complicated topic.

His attitude towards climate change is ignorance, really selective ignorance.  He has a golf course in Scotland petitioning for some construction against climate change.  He has recently said that the climate change notion is a strategy of the Chinese to undermine Americans.  Campaigning in California he claimed their drought can be fixed in no time when he is in charge.

When someone criticizes him he is quick to hit back, usually with an insult.  Megyn Kelly, Hilary Clinton, Ted Cruz, David Cameron, Marco Rubio.  Typical bully with no substance.  To solve difficult problems he would need to work with a lot of people with a different perspective.  He is especially hard on women including their looks.

To give himself some macho credibility he boasts about how he would use torture to get information quicker.  He would also inflict harm to family members of terrorists.  He is not concerned about legal restrictions and declares this is a more effective way to deal with terrorists.  Many people disagree.  see http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/12/torture.html

It was uncovered not too long ago that he looked forward to the anticipated recession as an opportunity to buy property cheap with no regard for those who suffered from their mortgages being more expensive than their house value.  As a president we would want him to lessen or least spread out any unnecessary suffering.  As a businessman it is natural to look for opportunities to increase profits, but as president his obligation is to everyone.

In the news recently (but been there for over a year) is the legal actions against Trump University. The facts that others have presented indicate that it was fraudulent and took advantage of desperate people.  It is very hard to comprehend how he can publicly mock one of the presiding judges as "Mexican" when in fact a natural born American and describe him as a hater.  Trump had requested the trial in California be put off until after the election and this judge complied. While Hilary is constantly being challenged by Republicans on phony scandals it would be valuable for the American voters to learn the truth about Trump University.

A recent twist was that a PGA tournament was pulled from one of his Florida golf courses to of all places Mexico.  We have been assured that this was not political.  Perhaps not directly, but organizers have admitted it was because they couldn't line up a sponsor.  Lots of businesses now realize a connection to Trump might prove toxic.  Trump managed to insult the move.

It seems no matter how long or devastating the list becomes there are still a lot of people who would vote for Mr. Trump.  My hope is that enough American voters are roused to stop this potential disaster before we all suffer.  It is not unacceptable that one person can present himself as Trump has, but it is frightening that large numbers of people would support him.  I have faith that there are many intelligent, responsible Americans, but I will feel more comfortable if they can pass this IQ test.  How about you?

A Big Disappointment with one of my heroes

Bobby Knight is not exactly my biggest hero, but I have a quotation of his prominently on my wall that I find inspirational.  For those of you who are not basketball fans, Bobby has a remarkable record that stands well in the entire field of sports.

He has coached 902 winning games in the NCAA Division 1 Basketball.  When he retired that was the record, but it has since been passed by Mike Krzyzewski, one of his former players and assistant coaches.  Knight won 3 national NCAA championships at Indiana University and also coached the U.S. men's basketball team to an Olympic gold medal in 1984.  Along the way he infuriated a number of people by his rough tactics including throwing a chair on the court during a game and being verbally abusive to players and reporters.

I don't condone all of his methods, but I greatly admire him for a particular quote which I try to keep in mind, especially when things aren't going so well.  "The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win."  We all admire talented people who can turn it on when it really counts, but the rest of us might not be as talented.  Of course some talented people actually worked hard to be considered talented.  Coach Bobby Knight was noted for thorough preparation.

What I got out of the quote was that although you might not be able to summon up the strength to do something that can make a difference right now, you can always do something to improve your situation for the next opportunity.  It is so easy to despair when things are rough, but better to analyze the situation and your resources and then carefully plan to do better.  Preparation for the opportunity is always a good idea and there is always something that can be done.  When you are not successful at some goal you can usually look back and appreciate you didn't do enough preparation.

My disappointment was seeing on television Bobby Knight, who is very well respected in Indiana endorse Donald Trump.  I heard a brief piece on NPR this morning commenting on how many sports leaders had also done so.  They all had a few traits in common--an anger at reporters and a strong authoritative behaviour.  Bobby Knight fits that pattern and so does Donald Trump.

I admit that society needs those people to get some things done, but they are not always the best source of advice.  Donald Trump is a noted admirer of Vladimir Putin and one can see similarities, but one hopes neither has control over our government.

Donald Trump cannot be blamed for wanting to be president, but in my opinion he would be a disaster.  He is smarter than he portrays himself, but he is deliberately appealing to baser instincts.  It was once said that to every complex problem there is a simple solution that is wrong.  Trump is preying on people's unhappiness by offering simple solutions that would make the situation worse.

Building a wall will create negative results on both sides of the border.  Banning Muslims will be used  to inflame extreme actions for both Muslims and non Muslims.  His attitude towards torture  is machoistic and counter productive.  Insulting women will aggravate inequality to hurt us all.  Platitudes can be misleading whereas explanations can be evaluated.  He once expressed gratitude to all the poorly educated people who voted for him.  That should be taken as a challenge to improve the education system.  My views on torture:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/12/torture.html

I can still admire Bobby Knight for some of his insights, but my image of him is tarnished.  Donald Trump is a very scary phenomenon who I wish I didn't feel compelled to write about.  He thrives on attacks.

TORTURE: ITS REPERCUSSIONS FOR THE REST OF US

The infamous torture report came out recently with a harsh reality check for the CIA. Not only did they torture, but they lied about it.  They certainly have their defenders who maintain that valuable information was obtained that protected American lives.  The report itself denies that claim.

In my nightmares it is hard to deny that torture would force many people, including me to give up their secrets.  Real spies and soldiers undoubtedly have more courage than I possess, but there is a limit to how much even the best of them could endure.  Nonetheless there are doubts as to its effectiveness.

We all have heard of confessions under duress.  Sometimes we assume that the person really was guilty and would otherwise have lied with a straight face if questioned.  All too often we learn later that they were in fact innocent.  This suggests the idea that people will say anything to stop the torture and too often their confession may not be true.  It may not be true because of a deliberate strategy of the victim to mislead.  It may not be true because of a deliberate strategy of the victim's overseers.  It may not be true because the victim really doesn't know.  It may not be true because the victim feels it is safer to agree with the accusing tormentors than fight.

When we are desperate, we resort to desperate measures.  After 9/11 there was fear everywhere that terrorists could strike at any time in any place.  We lowered our standards and I don't just mean our leaders, but also ourselves.  Many of us thought quietly to ourselves and some spoke out loud that nothing should be held back in our quest to find out what the terrorists were planning.  If someone died or suffered it served them right for being involved with terrorists.

Whether information gained from torture is useful or not there are other concerns, really costs involved.  We know that many of our enemies don't hesitate to torture and brutalize anyone they capture and assume that they would no matter what we do.  Is that really always true for every one of our "enemies"?  We are creatures of habit and respond to peer pressure, but we all know stories of people who resisted doing bad things and tried to rectify injustice.  World War II with the Holocaust produced significant people who were repulsed by the Nazi brutality and did what they could to shield its victims.  We know there were Americans who protested their own brutality in recent times. Is it not possible that by setting a good example other humans similar to ourselves would feel more resistant to abuses of power by their own side?  What about our front line combatants (in or out of uniform); do we not care about them?

We know that Al Qaeda and other extremists felt that American and allied abuses were very helpful for recruiting fighters.  It is very possible that the latest release of information will be used as a tool by our enemies.  In fact it seems very likely that the new recruits have killed many innocent people.  On the other hand our confession may give credibility to our claims of avoiding future torture.

All that said, politics can be a dirty business and we will see plenty of evidence in the near future. John McCain for all his faults has put things in perspective.  He understands the inhumanity of torture.  However I suspect other Republicans will use the release of this report to prove how soft and foolish the Democrats are and that Obama is a secret Muslim.  We all know that governments do what they feel needs to be done to protect their citizens and often publicly stated rules are bent and kept under cover.  Innocent people die and suffer in "national interests."  In chess, victory is given when one side is able to disable the king--everyone else is killed or captured, but not the king.

I recently read an article by Juan Cole where he recounted several instances of the American Founding Fathers that demonstrated they were against torture.  George Washington was aware that the American rebel prisoners had been killed by the British, but refused to allow revenge.  His thinking and that of other founders was that they were superior ("exceptional" if you will) to the old European way of doing things.  This has been twisted to the idea Americans are superior and can do whatever they want to protect their interests.

Like many I feel somebody should pay for the lies and distortions.  Many actually profited out of these false and brutal things.  Inevitably most will get away with it.  I hope the Americans learn a few lessons and can appreciate that they are all complicit.  I don't exempt us Canadians and other allies as in various ways we are scarcely better.  Sometimes it is very easy to be self-righteous, especially when one is on the outside that we are better people, but the truth is human nature is universal although our particular circumstances are randomly different.

I applaud the courage required to present the report and hope it is a small step for civilization.

Photo:  taken by the Huka Falls in New Zealand.

OSAMA BIN LADEN AND THE QUESTION OF TORTURE

I had intended to write about something else, but with the death of Osama Bin Laden stirring all sorts of reaction I wanted to get my two cents worth in before it becomes yesterday's news.

Like most, I was caught off guard and surprised by some of the details. Three moral questions, at least have arisen that I would like to comment on.

First, does this justify torture? I think some of the people claiming that it does are trying to justify their own behaviour and/or take some of the credit. Their political concerns are mostly shameful.

We all can acknowledge that we have secrets that we don't want everyone or particular people to know. If we are sufficiently threatened we tend to acknowledge the simple ones. I recognize at some point I would tell you whatever you want to know if I thought it might end my suffering. Some people are tougher than others, some secrets are more critical than others and some would simply lie. In many cases they just don't know. The effectiveness of torturing is not the main reason why torturing was originally banned.

Two reasons to ban torture are still relevant. One is to discourage our enemies from torturing "our" side. It is argued our enemies are uncivilized and will torture anyway That may be so, but our example does have some impact, however small. The other reason is our image--are we the sort of people who torture.

Getting information can be very vital to our survival, but is torture the only or best way? There are some intelligent people that think that other methods can be more effective. I hope I am never in a position where it matters, but I will respect an honest judgment. What I don't respect is a ritual of torturing as the only solution.

The President, Barrack Obama has been criticized for not wanting to publish the photo of the dead Osama bin Laden. A photo would help assure me that he is no longer a threat, but I am reasonably certain that is the case. Bearing in mind the reaction to some Danish cartoons I can foresee the danger of inflaming some people. What is more important? I would say let things calm down before bringing up the subject again.

The third moral question is how do we treat Pakistan who many assert had to be actively hiding him. I don't doubt there are more people in Pakistan who sympathized with Osama Bin Laden than you find in most other parts of the world. It does seem almost impossible that some authorities would be unaware of his presence. We will never know all the intricate details, but I suspect the Pakistanis did help.

They are in a very tricky position. There is definitely strong anti-American feelings and they cannot be seen to co-operate too closely with their American allies. In very significant ways they are more victimized by terrorists than we are in North America. It is not in our interest to make the Pakistan government look bad to their people. It is not in our interests to further inflame their feelings. As Obama said this is not a time to "spike" it in their face. Most people can understand the American desire to revenge the death of so many Americans who also fear Osama would be plotting as he apparently was to kill more of us.

UPDATE:  Apparently the Americans used a vaccination program as a cover for pinpointing information on the location of Osama Bin Laden.  This has resulted in vaccination program employees being killed and others intimidated setting back their program.

I offer these opinions, but do not want to dwell on them.

An update on torture:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2014/12/torture.html