The Trump Cult

 Trump has the worship and undying loyalty and obedience of the Trump Cult.  I am currently reading "The Culting of America" by Daniela Mestyanek Young.  It is a very enlightening book about how cults and high control organizations trap their followers.  And I think it shows quite a bit about what is happening to those in the Trump Cult.  Here is a little excerpt describing how almost impossible it is to leave a cult - their whole world, support system, friends, family, identity is inside the cult.  And the "exit costs"- leaving - is too traumatic to do or even contemplate:

So, evidence that they have made a terrible mistake cannot be acknowledged or agreed to.  The exit cost is too high.  Even if they know there may be "some things" that they aren't all that happy with, they are surrounded by, engulfed by, an entire ecosystem of cult believers that can rationalize and explain away anything.  And to say no to the beliefs is to say no to the cult, is to say goodbye to the cult, is to say goodbye to their very life. So they don't.

But I think that one of the points that she makes is that cults start to fall apart when their "sacred assumption" proves false, and when their "transcendent mission" fails.  I think the Sacred Assumption of the Trump Cult is to purify America from the perceived corruption and heartlessness of liberal America.  And, wouldn't you know it? Trump and MAGA are astonishingly corrupt and heartless.  And the Transcendent Mission of MAGA is to expose and punish the Satan worshipping liberal elite pedophiles who would be exposed in the Epstein Files.  And wouldn't you know it? Trump and conservative billionaires and influencers are deeply in the Epstein files and Trump is doing EVERYTHING HE CAN (including going to war with Iran) to keep the Epstein Files hidden - as an obvious confession that he is in them up to his perverted eyeballs.

So, it will take time, but I am hopeful that the Trump Cult is and will continue to fall apart.  And Trump will just be a senile old fart saying ridiculous hate filled nonsense that fewer and fewer people pay any attention to.

Hegseth wants testosterone testing on the military

 The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has made a big publicity statement about wanting U.S. military to be more and more warrior-like (more cruel, aggressive, murderous). And the way the manly, manly, manly Hegseth wants to do this is to have ALL of the military take tests for testosterone and "encourage" those who score low to take testosterone shots.  This is idiotic.  It shows no understanding of testosterone nor of actual military effectiveness.  So, what are the serious health risks of some of the poor fools who artificially boost testosterone?  Here is a summary from a google inquiry:

Serious Health Risks

Long-term or unsupervised use of testosterone supplements can lead to more severe complications:

• Cardiovascular issues: Increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots, particularly in older men or those with pre-existing heart conditions Drugs.com+2.
• Hormonal disruption: The body may reduce or stop natural testosterone production, leading to dependence on supplements and withdrawal symptoms like fatigue, depression, and muscle loss hrtdoctorsgroup.com+1.
• Fertility problems: Reduced sperm production and testicular shrinkage can result in infertility hrtdoctorsgroup.com+1.
• Prostate effects: Potential enlargement of the prostate, which may increase the risk of prostate-related issues, including cancer hrtdoctorsgroup.com.
• Sleep apnea: Worsening or development of obstructive sleep apnea in some usersHegseth is unfit to lead the U.S. military.  Somehow the MAGA-sphere is obsessed with being manly, manly, tough, tough "men", and they confuse brutality with courage and manliness.  They are living in a tragic misunderstanding of manhood.  This is only the latest nitwittery of Hegseth and the MAGA Cult.  

By the way, he wants to also test WOMEN for low testosterone and give them supplements.  This is just another step in his long assault on women in the military.  

Buffoon.

ICE trained to terrorize

 I keep hearing critics of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) lamenting that they aren’t being given sufficient training, so they are screwing up and killing people and apprehending non-criminals and being too violent. Well, I don’t think that is true. 

I think they are following their training precisely. I think they are being trained to terrorize immigrants, documented and undocumented, and scare them out of the country. They are purposefully trained to terrorize immigrants, terrorize liberals, terrorize reporters, terrorize bystanders, terrorize witnesses, terrorize America. 

They are terrorists. They are KKK. They are “Republican” MAGA, Jim Crow, Confederacy, Bible Belt, white hypermasculine terrorists… who wear masks just like their KKK ancestors and role models did. 

Their ideological leader is the execrable Steven Miller, who literally looks like a Nazi SS fanatic, or like a young Vladimir Putin.  And, of course, this all flows down from the Bigot in Chief himself.  

They are doing what they are being trained to do. And that has nothing to do with the Rule of Law. 

MAGA deaths

MAGA deaths... The Trump and MAGA administration are so corrupt, so opaque, so deceitful that even the news of the hospitalization of Republican Senator, Mitch McConnel, and the death of Republican, Lindsey Graham, are cause for accusations of deceit.

Some liberals and Epstein Files MAGAs suspect that McConnel is essentially brain dead, or nearly so, and MAGA is keeping that hidden until after August 3 so that a special election to replace him is not held because they don't want Thomas Massie, or another Republican who wants to expose the Epstein files, to replace him.

Some on both sides suspect that Graham was hit with a heart attack inducing drug to keep him from supporting Ukraine against Russia.

Sow distrust, reap the whirlwind...

Trump's America - KKK

 Here is the defining image of the July 4 "celebration" in Washington DC on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence ... KKK (Patriot Front) masked men on the DC Metro on their way to their racist march, surrounding one black woman.  MAGA is just another word for KKK/bigotry/hate/white supremacy/Nazi.  In case there was any doubt the KKK (Patriot Front) showed up in force complete with white masks.  

So, in 250 years we went from "...all men are created equal..." to Trump's America.  MAGA's America.  Disgusting.

The U.S. is losing three wars… Unhappy 4th of July 2026

 Putin’s Russia has been waging WWIV ever since Putin rose to power. His view is that Russia lost WWIII to the U.S.  So he has been trying to recreate the Soviet empire, and more. First target on his revenge list is to topple the U.S.  He, and Russians, see Trump as the U.S. Gorbachev, that is, Gorbachev was the idiot who lost the Soviet Empire, so Putin needed an American idiot who would lose the U.S. Empire. So they groomed and supported the American idiot, Trump, the Pedo in Chief. 

And Putin and Russia’s attack and destruction of the U.S. has been astonishingly successful. The U.S. no longer has allies. The U.S. no longer protects NATO. The U.S. has destroyed its own democracy and Constitutional Rule of Law. The U.S. is destroying its great scientific research universities.  The U.S is destroying its health care system. Etc. etc. etc. The main destroyer of the U.S. is, of course, the Pedo in Chief. But it turns out the Russians found a major group inside the country to push the destructive force to destroy the U.S. - MAGA. 

    Who is MAGA? The old Confederacy. And that brings us to the second war that the U.S. is losing - the Civil War.  The U.S. Northern abolitionists defeated the slaver South in 1865. But not so fast.  The Confederacy overthrew the victory, created the myth of The Lost Cause which perpetuated the bigoted lie that white men were superior to blacks (and browns and reds and yellows and women). 

So, what does the Confederacy do to show its violent rule? Destroys science - destroys expertise - destroys free speech - destroys dissent - destroys ethics - destroys empathy and compassion and caring - destroys the Rule of Law - destroys the arts. In other words, they turn the Constitutionally based U.S. into the Jim Crow U.S. or perhaps more accurately they turn us into the corrupt and violent Russia. See, says Putin and Russia, the U.S is not special they are no better than Russia. 

And, oh yes, the U.S. is also losing its idiotic war against Iran. Before we attacked Iran the Strait of Hormuz was open.  The Pedo in Chief wants his gullible MAGAs to believe he won… by opening the Strait. Astonishing nitwittery. 

And, oh yes, Russia is also losing its idiotic war against Ukraine. Sorry Putin.  Your days could be coming to an end soon. 

Dumbassery all around. 

So, here we are at the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And as the oldest and wise man of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin said, we have a Republic - if we can keep it.  But we are losing it. This 4th is not much of a celebration to me. It certainly is not a celebration of the triumph and persistence of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is under severe assault, by the Pedo in Chief, by MAGA, by the Tech Bros, by the evangelical theocrats. 

But the story is not over. Trump and MAGA, and even the greedfuck Techbros, are starting to falter. And the greatest idea in human history is still in our souls, in our bones, in our country - All People are Created Equal.  And the white supremacist Confederacy will fall again, and the Russian style corruption, incompetence, and cronyism will fall as well.  

I choose to believe in The Better Angels of our Nature. 

… of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires …

 The government of the United States of America has always been strongly influenced by the super rich. Today’s Supreme Court escalates that corrupt tradition by making some kind of ruling about political party contributions. The details are interesting, I suppose, but it is worth understanding what the contribution limits to politicians are:

• $7000 limit - to a political candidate, $3500 during primaries and $3500 during the general election
•  $44,300 limit - to a political party 
• $290,000,000 limit - to a Super PAC (just kidding, there is NO LIMIT to Super PACs, Musk contributed over a QUARTER OF A BILLION $ in 2024)

And, oh yes, they elected an astonishing corrupt billionaire, who brags about Taking Care of His Bribers - the fossil fuel industry, the Crypto scams, the Tech Bros, etc. (as long as he gets his cut)

Democracy?  In the “Republican” (MAGA) Party? 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

How NOT to negotiate

One of the first things you are taught as a negotiator is do not, do not, do not let your negotiating opponent know your deadline to get a deal done.  This gives them all they need to know to hold you hostage to whatever they want to gain in the negotiation.  You don't show up in their city, get picked up at the airport by a canny subordinate, make small talk, and answer their chit chatty question about when your return flight is.  If they know when you need a signature, they will hold off until the last moment, add extra demands, and happily shake your hand as you get what you need - a signature - and they get what they want - a whole bunch of things they had no reasonable expectation of getting.

So, witness the worst negotiator in the world, Donald Trump.  Everyone knew, Iran knew, Russia knew, Israel knew, America knew that Trump needed a HEADLINE - a DEAL - to open the Strait of Hormuz - on his BIRTHDAY.  Trump's entire world is about headlines, propaganda, spin, branding - not reality, just hype, for the MAGA gullibles. I guess MAGA will believe anything that Trump and Fox and the cult media bubble tells them to believe.

So, Trump manufactured his HEADLINE - OPEN THE STRAIT.  Yippee!  (And release Iranian assets, and further negotiate "details" of nuclear "dust", etc. etc. etc).  

What a patsy.

So, he got what was there before the most gullible, easily manipulated by Israel president in U.S. history had before his stupid invasion - the Strait of Hormuz as open.  (And Iran demonstrated total, unstoppable control of the strait any time they feel the need).  They got money.  They got to push off any real concessions on nuclear development (he is bored, wounded, and will do all he can to ignore Iran going forward - he lost and he doesn't want any more of those Iranian HEADLINES in the future)

I'm just grateful he didn't nuke Iran.

What is a "real man"?

 So much of MAGA is confused about what a man is... They think a "real man" is someone who is violent, scary, intimidating, cruel. Wrong. James Talarico, Texas Senate candidate against the corrupt criminal Paxton, gives a wonderful explanation of what a real man actually is (like his father)...

"He just did it because that’s what a man does. A man takes responsibility. A man upholds his commitments to his family and his neighbors. A man does what’s right even when no one is watching,” Talarico added.

Talarico then turned his criticism directly toward Cruz and Paxton: “And here’s what real men don’t do. They don’t lie and cheat their way through life. They don’t sell their soul to the highest bidder. They don’t steal from other people in order to enrich themselves.”

He continued: “And so I’ve said before, and I will keep saying that real men serve others. Weak men serve themselves.”

A real man speaks, a real Christian speaks. Thank you

Greater Israel? Greater Palestine? Two states?

 Standing in the present and looking back in time, both Israelis and Palestinians have very real reasons to kill each other.  Standiing in the present and looking forward in time, delusionally, both sides have very real reasons to kill each other - Israelis want Greater Israel, and Palestinians want Old Palestine.

Please stop.  These are delusions.  Neither is going to happen.

Please stand in the present, and do not look back for murderous reasons to kill each other, do not look forward into murderous delusions to kill each other. Please look forward to the only future that can be peaceful - a two state solution, both sides independent of each other, both sides not murderous, both sides just let it be.  

You can do it.  For goodness sakes, Ireland did it. So can you.

The desecration of the White House - a symbol of the mad "king"

 Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words: here is how the filthiest person in America has soiled one of the greatest American symbols - the White House:

This is a symbol of Trump's trashing, destroying, crushing America.  As he has destroyed America's honor, alliances, decency, goodness, truth, default currency, economy, military readiness, trustworthiness, etc.  The destruction is too hard to summarize.  

Because, I guess, he's mad.  Resentful.  Hateful.  Wants to show us all that he is more powerful than America itself.  

Funny thing, though.  He will die.  And America will rise back up and wipe out every damned monument that this deranged, insane madman built to his glory. 

Ozymandius.

And, oh by the way, he is losing - losing the Iran war - losing the mid-term elections - losing his mental facilities - losing his ability to be continent - losing his ability to be entertaining and control a MAGA crowd.  He is sundowning.  Good.

Next up… Obama to be charged with treason?

Why has the Pedo in Chief chosen such a tiny nobody, Bill Pulte, to be “acting” head of the Department of National Intelligence?  Vengeance. 

How did Pulte gain favor? By using his fairly minor job heading Housing Finance to indict people the Pedo in Chief hates -  from Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California).  

He had a small job and did the one thing that is the most important thing to do for the orange faced pig in charge - indicted the pig’s enemies. Hahahahahahaha

Golly gee, if this twerp could find some ludicrous pittance thing to indict people Trump hates as Housing Finance, what oh what could he find to indict the pig’s enemies as Director of National Intelligence?  

Oh, sure - TREASON.  Some made up violation of secrecy. Who will he target?  Well, who does he hate?  Isn’t Obama on the top of that list? 

How did we get here?  Well, here is where totalitarian fascist dictators always end up.  David Fromm recently quoted Frederick Hayek, noted conservative luminary, in an Atlantic article about why the worst people rise to the top under totalitarian monsters:

“…the words of Friedrich Hayek, who said it best in his 1944 book about totalitarian systems, The Road to Serfdom, in the chapter “Why the Worst Get on Top”:

The totalitarian leader must collect around him a group which is prepared voluntarily to submit to that discipline they are to impose by force upon the rest of the people.

Advancement within a totalitarian group or party depends largely on a willingness to do immoral things.

To be a useful assistant in the running of a totalitarian state, therefore, a man must be prepared to break every moral rule he has ever known if this seems necessary to achieve the end set for him.

Pulte is to only the”acting” DNI. I don’t think the Pedo in Chief will nominate him, or anyone for Senate confirmation. He will just put in “acting” heads to do exactly what he tells them to do and skip the whole Constitutional mandated Advise and Consent thing. 

After all, who’s going to stop him?  MAGA?  Hahahahahahahahahahaha

So, here we are, dear Republican friends. You wanted something from this deranged monster - low taxes? gun rights? end abortion? Christian led schools? Law and order? (big guffaw), border control?  Are you happy?  Did you do a good job electing someone you admired so?

What are you actually getting?  Galloping inflation soon, gas shortages, food shortages, water shortages, many wars, subservience to Russia, subservience to Israel, petty vengeance of a mentally ill nutcase, farm closures, small business bankruptcies, closing of restaurants… we have no idea how low this can go.

Unless he’s stopped.  But only Republicans can stop him.  Dems will be right along your side, but Reps are the ones who have to impeach him.  Pick any one of dozens of High Crimes and Misdemeanors - massive corruption, violation of the emoluments clause, war crimes, how about pedophilia (release the stinking, filthy Epstein files you stinking colluding cowards)

For God’s sake let’s pray we don’t get nuclear war. 

Necessary globalization

 Artificial Intelligence and Global Warming/Climate Change are worldwide existential threats that cannot be solved by individual countries nor individual corporations. These are global problems and must have a world wide cooperative and collaborative effort to deal with.  Pope Leo XIV just addressed this in his “Magnifica Humanita” Encyclical.  He makes the key point that humans and the human spirit is magnificent, are expression of our divine Souls and Spirits, and that regardless of how exalted the “intelligence” of AI, Artificial Intelligence, becomes it will never become human with soul, spirit, conscience, or real human depth and sensitivities. From the Encyclical he warns that the world must collaborate to take responsibility for the unfathomable powers that AI will become:

“ In the past, it was largely up to the State to guide and direct innovation. Today, however, the main drivers of development are private, often transnational, parties that are endowed with resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many Governments. Technological power thus takes on an unprecedented, predominantly “private” aspect, which makes it even more challenging to discern, govern and direct such power toward the common good.”

He then recounts the story of Nehemiah who coordinated a collaborative repair:

“ The narrative shows how the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people all play a part. It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones. Thus, ancient Jerusalem rediscovers a common language — not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role”

The other threat to human welfare and even survival is worldwide environmental assault.  The seas keep getting warmer and catastrophic fires and floods and heat domes and blizzards and hurricanes and sea level rises and toxic air and toxic water. We are abusing the environment. And it is good that some counties are taking leads in environmental care,  but this is something the world needs to work together to deal with. 

Tragically, Trump and MAGA are in the grips of a terrible idea - America First. And nowhere is this toxic idea more harmful than America’s domination by the fossil fuel industry which doesn’t just protect fire burning and polluting oil and gas but uses its captured Republican Party to destroy as much green energy projects and research as they can. So, the world’s leading polluter pollutes, and stops technologies working on reducing the filth. 

Both of these world wide problems need world wide solutions, collaborative solutions.  Not countries against each other, but countries working together. We did it once on a very, very big problem: the ozone hole. The world worked together to eliminate chemicals, chlorofluorocarbons, causing the ozone hole. And it is working. Bravo. 

We can do it. We did it. We need to do it again.  

Wouldn’t it be nice if America once again took the lead on healing the world, rather than destroying the world? 

America’s lost innocence, part 2

 After Trump was clearly on his way to winning the Republican Party nomination the first time, I wrote on March 2, 2016:

“ America has been very, very lucky so far.  We have not been guilty of electing monsters to be our leaders. There have been many presidents that have engendered a lot of opposition, but none have been actual monsters.

Other countries have to live with a past that includes monsters.  Italy had Mussolini (whom Trump consciously or unconsciously mimics in his face and body language); Italy also had Caesar; Russia had Stalin, (and Lenin, and Peter the Great, and now Putin), China had Mao Tse Tung (and a few thousand years of brutal rulers); Japan had crazed generals; and of course Germany had Hitler.  These countries all lost their innocence long ago.  They were seduced by authoritarian leaders who became monstrous despots and war mongers.”

Well, here we are. Part 2.  Monster.  Trump is a monster. He is on the verge of starting WWIII. Why?  To avoid dying in prison once his horrendous perverted sexual crimes are revealed in the Epstein Files. So he creates endless headlines distractions - attack Venezuela, release the JFK assassination files, release UFO files, attack Iran, threaten Greenland (again), threaten Cuba… and the distractions just keep on coming…

Trump has no empathy, no compassion, no normal human sensitivities.  He is mentally ill, a psychotic narcissist who is incapable of having even the slightest concern for anyone or anything other than himself. He is terrified of being seen as a loser, and he has lost the war against Iran. The theocratic zealots running Iran are as nuts as Trump, but in a theological way rather than a mental illness way (though psychopaths are probably in charge there too)

So, here we are. Our country was ripe for the seduction of a cruel monster, and gave him the keys to… our laws, our health, our safety, our prosperity, our very survival… and that was a very terrible mistake. 

What comes first? His collapsing, demented body gives out?… or the end of America and millions of innocent lives?

So, America’s luck ran out.  The darkest and most destructive and hate filled parts of America were  courted, seduced, and dominated by its chosen monster. But since we are America, it is not just America paying this terrible price, but rather the entire world is paying while we wring our hands and flailingly try to stop the madness. 

The survival of us all is in the hands of the Republican House and Senate. Without them the monster rages unchecked. We rise up. We resist. We expose. We try to persuade.  But we might not make it to January 2027 with a new Congress and Senate. That might be too late. 

We need Republicans to take heroic steps and turn on the monster that they chose. We need them to do the hardest of all things, admit they made a mistake, and correct it. 

Republicans need to impeach him before it is too late. 

Government Non-Disclosure Agreemments?

 The lifelong criminal, Dondald J Trump, has used NDAs, non-disclosure agreements, in his businesses and marriages all of his life to hide his long list of crimes.  So, what does he want to do as President of the United States of America?  Oh, what an original idea - force government employees to sign NDAs.  

"The Trump administration is planning a government-wide nondisclosure agreement that would bar federal workers from sharing a wide array of “confidential government information"

The fact that this is an illegal demand is no impediment on a person whose whole life has been a life of crimes.  So, what is one more criminal act?  

Time for Congress to rise up. Time for the Republicans in Congress to rise up.  Republicans in Congress are being destroyed by this demented and deranged Pedo in Chief.  Not all of them are MAGA cultists.

When will they turn on him? Slush fund to protect Trump complicit criminals?  War of choice in Iran with no goal other than headlines to distract from the Epstein files?  Destroying the American and world economies with his idiotic frontal attack on Iran?  The Epstein files which will obviously reveal horrendous Trump crimes? Destroying the East Wing?  Destroying the columns of the White House?  Erecting a monumental atrocity arch to block Arlington Cemetery? Stealing top secret documents and selling them to Russia? Unconstitutionally using the office of the Presidency to grow his wealth by $4 BILLION?  Destroying the health apparatus of America and ending the development of vaccines as new pandemics are assured of coming our way?  

What idiocy, what atrocity, what stupidity, what boundless avarice and corruption will finally be the tipping point? When does America get a Congress?  When does Congress say no?  When does the Republican Party say enough, enough, enough!!!

Mob boss corruption

 So, the mob boss Pedo in Chief makes up a phony lawsuit for $10 BBBBBBBillion against the IRS which is part of the government that HE runs.  Then he “settles” for “only”  $1.8 BBBBBBBBBillion.  But what is this massive amount for?  Why, to pay for the “defense” of the criminals who have already been convicted of crimes connected to the benefit of… him.  And, not just getting them off for crimes already committed.  No, of course it is much more.  Golly gee, Ralphie, we MIGHT wipe out those old crimes and keep you out of prison and save you a fortune, but I wonder if you could just do us another little favor… another crime for the OrangeOne?  The OrangeOne would be oh so very grateful if you would.  And maybe you would be made whole for all of it. What do you say, Ralphie boy?  

Capice?  

And, oh yes, by the way, Trump and his family and all of his businesses will NEVER be able to be audited nor prosecuted for tax evasion.  You know - tax evasion - like the thing that the government put Al Capone in prison for?  Tax evasion - can't be prosecuted.  

Government?  Executive Branch?  What’s that got to do with anything?  You work for one person, and one person only. You belong to him. Everything belongs to him.

Clear?  

Attacking your enemy on Existential Ground

 I recently watched a Great Courses class on the lessons of Lao Tsu's "The Art of War".  One of the lessons was laying out what kind of ground battles were to be fought on - high ground, difficult ground, etc.  The one that comes to mind now is Existential Ground.  It is good not to force an opponent to fight on what they see as Existential Ground - that is, they must either fight, and win, or die.  They have no choice but to fight to the death.  

How does this lesson apply today?

One lesson is in Iran.  The Iranian Theocratic sociopaths are fighting for their lives, literally.  Trump and Netanyahu  have literally killed the top leadership in Iran.  Those left are fighting to the death.  They have no choice.  Trump is fighting for headlines. What the hell does he care what the long-term results are?  Just give him a headline and let him get the hell out.  Screw the rest of the world, the Pedo in Chief doesn't give a Tinker's Dam about the world.

Another lesson is the mid-term elections.  Here, the Pedo in Chief is doing battle on Existential Ground.  Either he wins, or he gets Impeached, and perhaps spends the rest of his life in prison.  No rules apply.  No laws apply. For him, and for his MAGA Cult, this is fight or die.  This is an existential battle.  They are doing all they can to win, and the only way they can win is through cheating and violence. Cheating, violence, and threats of violence will continue to escalate.

But this battle is on Existential Ground for Democrats, for the Rule of Law, for Democracy Itself as well.  If Trump's fascist takeover of the election succeeds, democracy in the U.S. may never recover.  Military intimidation at voting places, disenfranchising of multiple non-fascist voting peoples, false counting of votes, fascist takeover of the courts, all the corruption of fascist rule become the new America.  This is not an election.  It is a battle on existential ground.

An interesting example of an Existential Ground battle is Caesar's defeat of Pompey, which ended the Roman Civil War and let Caesar become dictator.  I am watching "Rome" on HBO, and Caesar's forces were severely outnumbered.  The fictional Caesar welcomed the battle because his outnumbered forces would have to fight for their very lives, while Pompey's forces were fighting for much lower stakes, and indeed they apparently fled at a crucial time.  

Military experts may know more about this than I, but it demonstrates the principle that those "fighting for their lives" cannot afford to lose, so watch out.

John Roberts = Roger B Taney

 Did Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert B Taney issue some good rulings during his tenure?  Who knows?  Who cares? He issued the ruling on the Dred Scott case saying the black man, Dred Scott, wasn’t a man but rather he was just a piece of property like a cow and had no legal rights.

Will Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts be remembered for anything other than relentlessly overturning the Voting Rights Act of 1965 giving voting freedom to blacks?  I hope not. His infamy needs to be placed right alongside Taney. 

The Pedo in Chief threatens the life of Margery Taylor Green’s child

 There is no bottom to the endless depravity of the Pedo in Chief. When Republican Congresswoman Margery Taylor Green demanded the release of the Epstein Files, split with Trump, and resigned her CHILD’S LIFE was threatened.  When she asked Trump to call off the death threats?  Pure Mafioso dead eyed threat from the Pedo in Chief:

“ They kept coming on my son, my youngest, my baby boy," she said. "We're going to snuff out his life. We're going to put a bullet in his head."

Greene said she texted the president and other members of the administration about the threats. In response, she claimed Mr. Trump told her "that it was my fault and I deserve it. If my son gets killed, I deserve it because I was a traitor to him."

Every move that this depraved pervert makes is a screaming confession that the Epstein Files have info that will imprison him for the rest of his deteriorating life. And millions and millions voted for him, after seeing him and knowing him for a decade as a politician. He’s a Caligula. 

Barf.

Fundamental flaw in U.S. democracy?

I know little of Parliamentary democracies, but Parliamentary democracies can declare a crisis of confidence in a government and create a new election.  We can’t do that in America  

The Founding Fathers did their best to prevent an American Caesar ending the American Republic just as Caesar had ended Rome’s 450 year Republic. The U.S. Constitution’s checks and balances were designed so that the other two branches of government, the Legislative and the Judicial, would jealously guard their separate and equal powers. 

Oh dear, it turns out they were more naive than they knew. The American Caesar needs only to capture control over the Legislative and Judicial branches and bend them to his tyranny through either persuasion or fear.  So here we are. 

I don’t know how to amend the Constitution to create the power of snap elections due to crises of confidence in the Executive branch. I think some of the avenues for this in parliament systems are: the Congress votes to dissolve itself requiring new elections - the government loses a vote of No Confidence - the President calls a snap election in the hopes that a victory squelches discontent. 

Trump is clearly in way over his head in his ego driven war against Iran.  As well as his astonishing corruption and destruction of so much government expertise and competence. Even more immediate is that his cognitive and emotional capabilities are visibly collapsing. 

The two remedies in the Constitution are inadequate. His Cabinet cannot remove him via the 25th Amendment because without him they have no power, so to do so would abandon their own power. And his tyrannical intimidation of the House and Senate is stopping his impeachment and conviction. 

Maybe the same constraints would prevent snap elections too, but we are in an extreme crisis when we are unable to remove a president who is an obvious vengeful, ignorant, destructive madman.

And it is not just the U.S. that suffers, but the entire world suffers, hoping we find some way to come to our senses. They don’t understand how we can be so helpless in the face of such destructive greed and incompetence. They would never allow it. But of course they did allow it: Mussolini and Hitler.

Meanwhile, my hopes ride on a massive wave change election this November, and a new government in January.  Constitutional amendments are hard to come by. But so are wave elections. 

Thu, Apr 30, 7:15 PM (16 hours ago)

The Putin stooge in the White House wants to pull U.S. military out of Germany

 It is no secret that Putin's primary objective is to have the U.S. abandon NATO and leave Europe to the mercies of a warring Russia.  

In the Pedo in Chief Putin has his obedient subservient running the U.S.  Trump has announced he wants to gut the military in Germany, which I believe is the top U.S. presence in Europe.  Trump made this announcement after a ninety minute "conversation" with Putin.  This is best understood as orders from the man who can have Trump end his life in prison, whatever blackmail issues he has on the Pedo in Chief.

And today he says he wants to pull troops from Italy and Spain as well.  This is presented as a hypersensitive egomaniac responding to criticism from overseas, and maybe that is all it is, but it certainly does play into Putin's desires, does it not?

Congress needs to push back, and I think even Republicans will try to stop this blatant obedience to Russian expansion.  It amazes me that there is any support for this tool of Putin in America.

The Roberts KKK Supreme Court finishes the job

 Chief Justice Roberts rose to Republican fame by fighting the 1965 Voting Rights Law which was passed after the bloody and deadly fights of blacks and Civil Rights demonstrators and lawyers put it into law and which finally, finally gave blacks the right to vote. And vote they did. And the KKK swore to overturn that law. And Roberts along with his fellow KKK subservient justices have torn that law down piece by piece, and have now ended it - 6-3 by saying that districts protecting black voters can be overturned, and the overturning these districts aren’t racist, no no, it’s partisan, and this stinking Supreme Court says partisan gerrymandering is just fine. What?

This is shameful. And this project to overthrow the law is an American disgrace. 

Christians say that the biggest lie that the devil tells is “There is no devil”. 

Well, the biggest lie that the KKK and Republican racists tell is “There is no racism, it’s all in the past.”  Bullshit. 

Alexander Stephens, VP of the Confederacy cheers.  He wrote “ Our new government is founded upon…the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man”

Edward Pollard wrote in “The Lost Cause” ..” the Southern people will still cling to, and assert them in their rights and views...The question was no longer slavery, but white supremacy, which Pollard described as the "true cause of the war" and the "true hope of the South”

Well, Stephens and Pollard can celebrate today, their crusading successors have triumphed. The Voting Rights Law has been neutered. 

The Soul and Spirit of America weeps. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the founding dream of America, that all men (people) are created equal, weeps. 

But how about this becomes a pyrrhic victory? How about this creates a highly motivated voter turnout of blacks?  To take away a freedom?  Of an entire American race?  Same as they are taking away the literal freedom of browns, via ICE detentions. Same as they are firing and demoting women and non-whites in the military?

MAGA Republicans are screaming at the top of their lungs with triumphant pride exactly who they are. 

Big mistake. Who they are is ugly, ugly, and an offense to America’s founding goodness. 

Trump fails “The Art of War”

 I just finished watching The Great Courses broadcast of a course by Dr. Andrew R Wilson, who teaches at the Naval War College, on Sun Tsu’s “The Art of War”. So how does Trump measure up to the teachings of this classic text?  No surprise, he fails. Here are a couple of key quotes that Trump violates. 

“If it does not bring profit do not use troops. A ruler should not raise an army because of anger, nor should a general fight because they have been insulted. Anger and insult are temporary, death is permanent.”

What does this mean?  The Sun Tsu authors wrote a revolutionary book that said only wage war if it benefits the country, not for personal reasons of the ruler. The practice had been rulers would lead the battles in chariots for glory or to prove their manhood, or to get revenge, or for small personal reasons. Sun Tsu said don’t be stupid.  Only fight for the benefit of the country. 

But, didn’t Trump say the war was about…?? … Capturing nuclear material? … wiping out their missiles?  … killing their leaders? … opening the Strait of Hormuz? … er, ah, something?

No.  Pretty clearly the Pedo in Chief just wanted to “ride his chariot into battle” by attacking and killing the leader so he could grab big headlines, thump his chest, and ride off in glory.  No such luck. He’s stuck.

So what is Iran doing?  Looks like they saw The Sopranos…. Tony Soprano in the HBO Series said, after killing a problem Capo, “If your enemy is choleric, irritate him”.  So Tony goaded his enemy into anger and stupidity - and killed him. Iran is mocking and irritating our confused and sleepy Don. 

And the world suffers as a result of this grandiose ego stupidity. 

The Iranian theocratic zealots are cruel tyrants who have killed many thousands of civilians. It’s terrible news that the surviving rulers are in place, and people are saying they are even harsher than those already killed. And I don’t see them losing power. I am sorry for the Iranians who are hoping for liberation. The U.S. has no plans nor systems for assisting liberation. This was just an ego impulse for Trumpian glory. Egged on by Netanyahu who understandably tried to get all previous U.S. presidents to attack Iran, all of whom declined because of the Strait of Hormuz, and lucked out enticing the glory hungry Trump into doing Netanyahu’s heavy lifting. 

It is not going well for either of them. 

I would say a lesson for Netanyahu, and other leaders in the future, don’t expect someone dumb enough to be used by you not to be dumb enough to totally screw it up.  

And I would say the lesson for America is to stop voting for dumbass glory hungry mentally ill psychopaths plunging into senility. 

Is it worth it?

 I think the only time a president, or a Congress, can ethically go to war is if they know that they can walk up to a mother of a fallen soldier and truthfully say "I know you are experiencing a pain beyond anything you have ever imagined, but at least we both know that this terrible loss was worth the price".  

And if you can't say that and know that both you and the mother can accept that sad truth and that terrible pain of loss - DON'T GO TO WAR!!!!

Trump's ego drive for glory and legacy in Iran does not qualify.  

I guess the last war that you could say that about was WWII - defeat the Nazis and respond to a direct attack.  Vietnam certainly did not meet that criteria.  Did Iraq? Afghanistan?  Sadly, no.

War is disgusting and it takes a very high bar to be able to have that conversation with the mothers of lost children.

...Again?...

 Trump created the Make America Great AGAIN Party, which replaced the Republican Party.  Sad.  But let's take a look at that word AGAIN.

The two main AGAINs that first come to mind are White Christian Theocratic racist domination, and Fossil Fuel domination of power and transportation.

The Fossil Fuel Industry owns Donald Trump and MAGA and whatever is left of the Republican Party.  Make America drive fossil fuel cars AGAIN.  Say no to Electric Vehicles.  Make America power plants burn fossil fuels AGAIN.  Say no to wind turbines.  Say no to solar power.  Say no to geothermal.  Say no to all research into green energies.

I believe it was Thomas Friedman who wrote a few months back that it used to be when people from overseas wanted to see the future for their countries to emulate they came the U.S.  But no more.  Now they go to China.  Because China is the future and the U.S. is stuck in AGAIN - fossil fuels for example.  China leads in Electric Vehicles; leads in energy storage batteries, leads in wind - leads in the future.  

Is there a need for fossil fuels still? Of course.  As fossil fuels are obsoleted they remain the backbone of power and transportation.  But they are becoming a transition technology, no longer the future.  The U.S., which is dedicated to AGAIN, does all it can to destroy all sorts of scientific research in the leading universities, and does all it can to cancel wind and solar projects and research, the U.S. is doing all it can to stop the clock - not stop the clock to 2024, it's turning the clock back to 1954.  

The second AGAIN of MAGA is the theocracy of the Old Bible Belt - Make America Jim Crow AGAIN.  I grew up on the Mason Dixon line in the '50s and '60s.  Believe me, we are much happier living in a non Jim Crow world of its multiple bigotries - against blacks, against browns, against reds, against yellows, against women, against science, against caring compassion empathy, against the FUTURE. 

MAGA are frightened people scared of the FUTURE, clinging to AGAIN.  Because, I guess, AGAIN feels safe to them. AGAIN is not safe. AGAIN is a trap. AGAIN is a failure.  AGAIN is .... the PAST.