Putin is destroying America via Trump and Johnson

 The United States of America is being destroyed by Validimir Putin.  Just like he wants to.  

That is, the United Sates of America is being destroyed by Donald J Trump.  Just like Putin is telling him to.

That is, the United Staes of America is being destroyed by the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, White Christian Nationalist Mike Johnson, just like trump is telling him to.

How?  By destroying the confidence of America’s allies in the ability and willingness of America to honor our commitments and protect them against invasion. All of NATO is watching Putin/Trump/Johnson refuse to send $60 billion of military aid to Ukraine. China is watching too. Taiwan is watching, I am sure.  Not to mention history is watching. 

Is this the end of Pax Americana?  Do Republican politicians watch Russians kill those on the front lines defending democracy and resisting autocracy and root for Putin?  So far, that is what it looks like to me. (None of this has anything to do with the border, “the border” is just the cover story- this is about helping Putin and turning America’s back on its honorable commitments)

Everyone in Ukraine knows Mike Johnson’s name and how the pro-Putin Trump is telling him what to do.  Ukrainian morale is being harmed, and as we know Ukraine has always been overmatched but successful because of their fierce fighting spirit. So Putin is clear that breaking the spirit of Ukraine is his key. Trump knows it too. As does Johnson. But they are on Putin’s side. Johnson because he sees Putin as an ally in hating gays and controlling women. Trump because…Putin says nice things about him. 

By the way, most the money for Ukraine goes to Americans who manufacture the weapons for Ukraine.

It is up to the Republicans in the House to force Johnson to allow a vote which will pass with both Democrat and Republican votes. Are there any Republicans left in the “Republican Party”.  Or are they all just MAGA zombies and cowering hypocrites unable to just say no to Putin/Trump?

CPAC extremists vow to destroy American democracy

 For those who don’t know, here is the heart of what used to be the Republican Party - at the CPAC meeting:

“ Alt-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec vowed to finish what rioters began on Jan. 6 by working to “overthrow” democracy “completely.”

Posobiec made the comments during the opening day of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, in Washington, D.C., Wednesday.

“Welcome to the end of democracy!” Posobiec declared. “We’re here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6th, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here,” he said, holding his fist in the air. “That’s right, because all glory is not to government, all glory to God.”

The White Christian Nationalists have given up on democracy because they are repulsive theocratic authoritarians and cannot win outside of deep red enclaves. They have been preparing for their violent overthrow of America for decades. And here they are. Trump is just the current battering ram. 

But actual America will defeat these fanatics who collect in extremist huddles and pump themselves up with bravado. 

Alabama to prosecute make-believe abortion BEFORE impregnation

 It’s not just Trump who crushes individual freedoms in America.  Christo-fascists are showing us who they are. In their extreme anti-abortion fanaticism they are actually impeding pregnancy in deep red Alabama - preventing women and couples who desperately want a baby from in vitro fertilization:

“ Alabama’s largest hospital paused in vitro fertilization treatments Wednesday …”. 

What?  

“ It has become standard medical protocol during in vitro fertilization to extract as many eggs as possible from a woman, then to fertilize them to create embryos before freezing them. Generally, only one embryo is transferred at a time into the uterus in order to maximize the chances of successful implantation and a full-term pregnancy.”

So now the fanatics are charging murder BEFORE impregation?

Extremism ends up having no limits. It just keeps relentlessly inflicting more and more domination and cruelty. Of course, cruelty by a tyrant is the point, is it not?  You must submit totally to the will of the “superior”.  Or else!

Good grief. 

Short summary of the Republican Party

 

1860 to 2024.

The end…

Russia takes key Ukrainian town Avdiivka because House Republicans refuse to arm Ukraine

 Putin orders Trump to stop arming Ukraine, so Trump orders House Republicans to stop arming Ukraine, so House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to bring the Senate funding bill for a vote, and Speaker Johnson sends the House home. They go home. Go home. 

Ukrainians die defending their country, defending Europe, defending democracy, defending America. 

Republicans went home. Ukrainians are dying. As Trump said, to MAGA cheers “Russia can do what the hell it wants”. 

The Republican House did not do this because of the American border. That’s just the cover story. The Republican House did this to help Putin conquer Ukraine. Because the Putin/Trump wing of the Republican Party has figured out how to win total authoritarian control over the House, and thus control the foreign policy of America, and they are on Putin’s side. 

So, Russia has conquered a key Ukrainian town. 

This extremist, authoritarian, pro-Putin MAGA Cult is killing Ukrainians. Why?  In order to end Pax Americana.  To push the world into The control of Authoritarian rule by those that the MAGA Cult admires and wants to be like - Putin, Xi, all the new Caesars. They want to be just like them, just like Putin. 

 I believe some of them are compromised (blackmail bribery etc.) and under the control of Putin’s GRU - starting with the Former Guy. Some are just fools, have been fooled. Some are active agents of Russia.  Oh well. 

These folks are going to lose in 2024. By a lot. Blowout coming. 

Putin's America - coming fast

 Two related stories today.  The first is the terrible news that Putin opponent Navalny died in prison - he was killed by Vladimir Putin.

"Aleksei A. Navalny died in prison, the Russian authorities said. The anticorruption campaigner rose to become the most prominent critic of President Vladimir V. Putin."

To state the obvious, Putin's Russia is a deeply corrupt police state with no real Rule of Law, only Rule of Fascist Tyrant.

The second story hits closer to home - threats of violence against judges and prosecutors in America.  

"US Marshals Service Director Ronald Davis sounded the alarm on a dramatic increase in the number of threats aimed at federal judges and prosecutors, telling lawmakers that the development "constitutes a substantial risk to our democracy."

Our Putin wannabe Former Guy, Donald Trump, is already damaging the Rule of Law in America.  How?  Authoritarian/autocratic/fascist threats and violence against the legal system that has the temerity to hold this lifelong criminal to account.  And this is while he is out of office! 

What happens if he is re-elected?  Welcome to Putin's America.  Can anyone doubt that if the Former Guy lucks into the presidency that he will imprison the judges and prosecutors who charged him with his crimes?  How about the witnesses that testified against him, from Michael Cohen and Mark Meadows to Cassidy Hutchinson?

Not only will the Rule of Law disappear in America, but it is already under serious, sustained, threat of violence.  The "Republican Party" has disappeared.  It has been replaced by the MAGA Cult, by extremist White Supremacist Christian Nationalism, by Oligarchic deregulation of polluting and corrupt BigBidness.

My deepest hope is that the very few real Republicans left in the "Republican Party" realize their political party long ago disappeared and had been taken over by Steve Bannon revolutionaries, Evangelical Paul Pressler evangelical "prophets", and polluting Oligarchs and addictive pill pushers.

Summary - Trump and his extremists are destroying the Rule of Law in America.  Please understand that.

Please step aside Joe

President Biden has two jobs - President and Candidate for president. 

He does his job as president quite well, from vaccinating America and stopping the Pandemic, to passing the infrastructure bill, to taming the pandemic caused inflation, to creating record breaking jobs, to coordinating the free world to fight the Russian invasion, to promoting American computer chips industry, to reestablishing American alliances and world leadership, and perhaps more accomplishments that are not on the top of my head. 

His popularity tanked when he carried out The Trump initiated, and Biden desired, withdrawal from Afghanistan as we saw the Taliban extremists drive us out humiliated. His popularity never recovered. 

His second job, his more important job now, is to be candidate for president. And he is terrible at it. Although he runs his administration with authority and competence he looks like a bumbling, confused, fragile elderly man who has lost more than one step.  

I want him to step aside, very very soon, and announce he will not seek and will not accept the presidency in 2024. 

The biggest myth in politics is that the Democrats don’t have anyone behind Biden who can beat Trump.  Are you kidding?  There are many very talented and energetic Democrats who would wipe the floor with the mentally ill, stupid, insecure, terrified, mentally declining old man Trump.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. 

Illinois Governor, JB Pritzger.  

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. 

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.  

California Governor Gavin Newsom.

There are probably others that are not on the top of my head. 

The stakes in this election are the highest since Lincoln ran in 1860 - the very survival of American Democracy and the American Constitution. The Former Guy has already announced he will destroy the Constitution, destroy the Constitutional balance of power, and he has promised to never leave the presidency. 

There are no policy issues that are worth ending American democracy and the American Constitution. 

I am afraid that Biden is not up to the most important job since Lincoln ran in 1860 - the job of Democratic Candidate to defeat the most dangerous threat to America since South Carolina seceded upon Lincoln’s election. 

Please step aside Joe. You were a great transitional president. You did the most necessary thing in my lifetime, you beat the Former Guy in 2020. You got 9.4% more votes than that sad little overgrown child. 

Thank you. 

Reduce oil based plastic with cork?

 Fossil fuel based plastic lasts forever, destroys oceans, creates mountains of ugly waste, gets into our food and into our bodies.  It was wonderful when it was invented, and has, like so many good things, become a problem because it is now everywhere and is damaging to the environment and to our bodies. But...

There are alternatives.  It seems that people have figured out how to use cork - cork! - to replace plastic.  

"Now cork is experiencing a revival as more industries look for sustainable alternatives to plastic and other materials derived from fossil fuels. The bark is now used for flooring and furniture, to make shoes and clothes and as insulation in homes and electric cars. Portugal’s exports reached an all-time high of 670 million euro ($728 million) in the first half of 2023."

And the cork trees are not cut down, just the bark is stripped off and regrows in about 9 years.  So, the trees still pull carbon out of the atmosphere.

I believe in the resilience and innovation of our human species and I celebrate advances in sustainable technology.  California just experienced Climate Change driven massive floods and wind.  Earlier the wandering winter jet stream brought an arctic winter into the Northern states and down into parts of the South.  

But many people are dedicated to reducing our carbon pollutions into the atmosphere. And I am glad to see examples of them. 

On the verge of total collapse?

I think the Former Guy may be about to have a total public meltdown.  He has no center - there is no "there there".  He has no internally based self.  One much wiser than I has said that if we want to build our self-esteem, we must build upon internal qualities - like honesty, integrity, responsibility, self-trust, don't consciously hurt people, and be real. These internal qualities are built by ourselves and cannot be taken away.

The Former Guy has none of these internal qualities.  Indeed he is deeply dishonest, has zero integrity, only blames and never takes responsibility, manipulates and threatens rather than trusts, deliberately and consciously hurts people, and is only a show, a pretense, an image, a "brand" - not real at all.

So, what does he do?  His entire life is built around insatiably needing outside validation.  He proves that he is valuable by having money.  He has no self-esteem, so he demands the worship of others - he is a slave to his rallies with adoring fans of his celebrity.  He demands that people submit to him and kiss his ring.  He cannot admit a mistake.  He cannot apologize.  He cannot be seen as "weak".  He cannot be seen as human.  He has created a super-image of a semi-god. To be rich, to be worshipped, is what it means to him to be valuable - an insatiable need of outside approval, outside worship, outside validation.

And he is about to lose lots and lots of money.  And thus, he is about to lose his Brand of Being Rich, his brand of being what he thinks as being a "winner'.  I think that there may be a point that he crosses where he has a total melt-down. He seems to me to be disintegrating daily.  His speeches are becoming more disconnected and bizarre and demented.  There may be a "Caine Mutiny Trial" moment that is so mentally ill that the "conservative" voters finally just turn away. (See the excellent Humphrey Bogart movie) Those turning away can pretend that they never really liked him much anyhow.  And his political career, and his  pretend business success all comes crashing down.

And he will be, like Captain Queeg of the Caine Mutiny, looked at with pity rather than fear. And he will be, like Senator Joe McCarthy, shouting into an emptying room "Point of order...point of order!"

Just turn away, my dear "conservative" friends.  You just made a mistake in voting for him and admiring him.  Just let this sick person go.  Like his father before him who ended his life with Alzheimer's, he is disintegrating before your eyes.  Let him go, Please.

Summary of British disgust of Trump

The Former Guy is many disgusting things.  This writeup from a British wit says it so concisely.  I just show it in directly, no comment needed, other than a hearty you-betcha!:

 Someone on Quora asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:

"A few things spring to mind.

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump's limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

I don't say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it's a fact. He doesn't even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn't just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It's all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don't. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He's not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He's more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy' is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

• You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it's impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

'My God... what... have... I... created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."