Republicans use their big scare word - "Socialism"

I posted this a few years ago, but it is worth doing again because Republicans have nothing to run on in this midterm election - everything that Trump and Republicans touch turns to shit, from the stupid war on Iran to tariffs to rising transportation and food costs to farm bankruptcies to brutal imprisonment of brown skinned Americans, to.... So they try to scare the Fox News bubble MAGA crowd with threats of "Socialism!"   

That is the big Republican scare word when they have nothing to sell.

But is socialism bad?  Really?  How about socialism in America?  Do we have some?  Is it bad?

Here are things that we have in America that are either socialist or were brought about by people others denounced as socialist.  

A good definition of socialism is using taxpayer funds to benefit all people of society - using taxpayer funds to create a prosperous Middle Class

• The Military/Defense - paid for entirely by taxpayer dollars to benefit everyone regardless of who they are

• Highways/Roads -paid for entirely by taxpayer dollars to benefit everyone.

• Public Libraries - almost entirely paid for by tax dollars to benefit all.

• Police - paid for by taxpayer dollars as a public service for all

• Fire Dept. - taxpayer dollars pays for it all for the benefit of all

• Bridges - taxpayer dollars gets you across the river

• War - the biggest socialist projects in history are taxpayer funded wars

• Farm Subsidies - taxpayers support farms to keep them going, which is good, but unfortunately corporate farming probably gets most of the benefits

• CIA - taxpayer funded to keep us all safe - at least until Trump perverted it

• FBI - totally taxpayer funded benefit for society - at least until Trump perverted it

• Polio Vaccine -Dr Salk gave the vaccine to the government which vaccinated America and ended the terrible polio scourge.  At least until RFK Jr perverted it

• EPA - necessary socialist intervention to keep air and water healthy - at least until Trump perverted it

• Social Security - we pay taxes to support the elderly - under relentless attacks by Republicans

• Museums, Public Parks, Public Beaches

• Public Schools - public schools largely funded by taxpayer dollars for the benefit of all (except the wealthy who get private schools and some Christians  and others who home school).

• Jail/Prison System - mostly publicly funded, but some are private prisons, which is probably a bad idea to have profit connected to arrests and imprisonment.

• Corporate/Business Subsidies - governments use taxpayer dollars to encourage and support selected enterprise - sometimes wisely and sometimes corruptly.
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• Veteran's (VA) Health Care - taxpayer dollars to take care of our military in need. 
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• All Elected Government Officials - all paid for by taxpayer dollars.

• Food Stamps -taxpayers help pay for food for those that can't properly feed themselves, and I don't believe the typical conservative rant about fat people of color getting steaks in front of them at the grocery while the poor white conservative is buying peanut butter. Under attack by Trump and Republicans for years

• Sewer System - taxpayer funded sanitation

• Medicare - taxpayer funded health care for those who are beyond their earning years - under relentless attack by Republicans

• Court System -taxpayer funded justice system which is the necessary heart of capitalism, as well as personal justice and protections.  Under attack by Trump

• G.I. Bill - taxpayer money that says thank you for your service

• Hoover Dam - one of the many very productive Great Depression public works projects.

• State/City Zoos - many are there because of taxpayer dollars

• IRS - taxpayer funded collection of taxpayer dollars necessary to run the government that is the necessary force that allows and provides a civilized world.  Being attacked by Trump and rich scofflaws

• Free Lunch Program - taxpayers pay for food for children who need it - attacked by Republicans

• The Pentagon - entirely funded by taxpayer dollars

• Medicaid - taxpayer dollars for those poor enough or are mostly incapacitated to be able to provide their own health care.

• FDA - taxpayer dollars gives us food and drugs that don't kill us - under attack by the Republicans and pharmaceutical industry

• Disability Insurance (SSDI) - taxpayer dollars for those injured and unable to take care of themselves.

• Town/State Run Beaches - access to public beaches because of the taxpayer dollars and our governments

• Corporate Bailouts/Welfare - billionaires and corporations are major beneficiaries of taxpayer dollars

• State Construction - potholes, piping, bridge and road repairs etc, all from taxpayer dollars.

• Unemployment Insurance - taxpayer dollars for a time for those who lose a job in a very uncertain economy

• City/Metro Buses - taxpayer dollars for transportation for the less well off

• State Snow Removal - taxpayers pay to keep the roads and thus commerce and education open

• PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - taxpayers pay for some of actual news rather than propaganda from some of the more suspect sources - under assault by Republicans

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - taxpayer dollars protect our health - being assaulted by RFK Jr

• Welfare - taxpayer dollars help the poor who spend all of it to stay alive, which is a 100% payback into the stimulation of the economy

• Public Street Lighting - taxpayer funded safety

• FEMA - taxpayer dollars respond to the terrible disasters that seem to be multiplying every year - being weakened by Trump and being withheld from states that Trump wants to punish

• Public Defenders - taxpayer dollars help provide some semblance of justice for the poor.

• S-CHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) - taxpayer dollars for uncovered children - under assault by Republicans

• Amtrak - taxpayer dollars transport millions

• NPR - taxpayer dollars pay for some of the news to a nation that needs it. Defunded by Trump and MAGA

• The Department of Homeland Security - taxpayer dollars for protection from terrorism - turned into a Gestapo attack on immigrants by Trump, Steven Miller, and ICE

• OSHA - taxpayer dollars to protect workers - being weakened by Republicans

• State and National Monuments - taxpayer dollars to help provide love of this country

• The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - taxpayer dollars to regulate agriculture and provide safety

• Government Scholarships - taxpayer dollars to educate us

• Census Bureau  - taxpayer dollars to try to ensure proper head count to allocate voting apportionment as well as needed info for governmental programs (too bad Republicans are trying to fudge the count!)

• Department of Energy - taxpayer dollars to oversee nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, energy conservation, radioactive waste disposal, and energy production.

• Department of Education - taxpayer dollars overseeing and assisting education - being attacked by Republicans and Evangelical Christians in government

• Secret Service - taxpayer dollars protect the president

• Department of Justice - taxpayer dollars enforce the law - being attacked by Trump

• National Weather Service - taxpayer dollars provide safety - Republicans want to privatize it and make billions for themselves

•  Government - an essentially socialist enterprise which is created "...in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."

• Law - is a socialist enterprise that makes democracy possible, makes capitalism competitive and thus possible, makes life in the world livable. Under attack by Trump

• Civilization - without taxation that is used to provide the above "socialist" benefits, we have no civilization, we revert to savages.
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• The American Middle Class - these benefits using taxpayer dollars creates a prosperous Middle Class, which is being relentlessly attacked by the Billionaire Class

All paid for by funds from the taxpayer for the social good - socialism.

So, maybe everyone isn't going to like everything on this list, but one thing I can say, it is an American list, not a North Korean or Chinese or Cuban list or Soviet Union list.  So, maybe it is time to stop being scared into not thinking when someone throws the word socialist at us.  Maybe some socialism is actually pretty darned good.

The Republicans have nothing to run on but fear.  To paraphrase FDR, we have nothing to fear but the threats of something to be afraid of, which isn't fearful at all if you think about it.

Republicans, please stop....

 Republicans, please stop voting for:

Criminals

Rapists

Pedophiles

Stupid people

Ignorant people

Cruel people

Psychopaths

KKKs

Nazis

Bigots

Theocrats 

 

Like the Pedo in Chief and many, many, many others that you have relentlessly been voting for.  Please notice they only care about their own greedy, criminal selves and DO NOT CARE about you. 

For the love of God, stop... 

MAGA worship of violence

 A while back I listened to a podcast where a researcher said that the accepted reasons for the rise of the Nazis weren't sufficient, and that the fundamental attraction of the Nazis was violence.  The German people were drawn to and intoxicated by the violence. It gave permission to be violent.  

And so we see the same in the U.S. today.  Maybe the dark draw to MAGA is violence.  The execrable Musk has declared that empathy is a weakness, and it looks like this is a common and loudly proclaimed "value" of MAGA.  

How pervasive is violence in the U.S.?  How many revenge movies have become box office hits?  How many "heroes" prove their heroism by beating up or killing the "bad guys".  How many scenes in movies and TV have "peace loving good guys" been hectored by four or so bullying "bad guys" resulting in the "good guy" being more violent than the "bad guys" and beating the crap out of them.  Yay!  the "good guy" is more violent than the "bad guys".

There are more guns in the U.S. than there are people.  Got to be prepared for... violence ... doncha know?

We have a Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who makes a very overt appeal to violence, wanting "his" military to be scary, brutal, violent "warriors'.  And just to prove what a "man" he is he orders war crimes as proof.  And now he wants to broadcast the death by firing squad of a convicted military criminal.

Our country is in a crisis of manhood.  Males are confused about how to be a man.  They don't know, so they take the quick shortcut - be scary, be muscular and big, be violent.  This is not what a man is, this is what a young teenage boy thinks a man is.  So we end up with Pete Hegseth and Robert F Kennedy Jr posing doing body building muscle videos.  Indeed, Jr has changed the government recommended food pyramid from a healthy diet to a body builder's high protein diet - not a healthy longevity diet. Jr brags that his breakfast is two cheeseburgers and three eggs.  Idiocy.  

Manhood is more than scaring people and being violent.  It is taking action and exerting willpower, indeed.  And it is also learning and thinking and understanding.  It is also embracing the feminine energies of imagination and feeling, perceiving and conceiving.  It is protecting and providing.  It is giving and caring.  It is being a whole person, not a caricature cartoon version of a man based on movies about law breaking revenge criminals and mobsters.  Actual men are balanced men, not out of balance violent overgrown adolescents.

Mars is a dumb idea

 Apparently two of the richest men in the world, Bezos and Musk, think that humans can move to Mars.  This is an amazingly dumb idea.  There are three things about Mars that cannot be changed and make it impossible for earth humans to live there - very weak gravity, no magnetic field, and it's very cold.

First, the gravity on Mars is 36% of the gravity on Earth.  Humans, and animals, insects, plants, all living things have evolved over four billion years to live in the earth gravity of 32.2 ft/sec2.  If humans and animals live in a very much weaker gravity it seems obvious to me that the bones will become weaker and weaker until they break and the skeletons of humans, and animals, simply break down and end up in long and painful deaths.  How long would it take for the breakdowns of the skeletons?  Five, ten, twenty years?  I don't know and probably nobody does, but I would expect it to be a painful death sentence to try to live a life at 36% earth gravity.

Second, Mars does not have a molten iron core that rotates internally to the planet like Earth does.  That means that it does not have a magnetic field surrounding the planet of Mars like Earth has a magnetic field that surrounds Earth.  So what?  Well, Earth's magnetic field protects Earth from the solar radiation and solar winds.  On Earth the Ozone layer protects us from solar radiation which would eventually kill all humans and most life on the planet.  Mars has no such protection.  That is why Mars has no real atmosphere, there is a very slight CO2 atmosphere about 1% of the density of air on Earth's, so life cannot exist on the surface of Mars.  Build domes that block the UV rays?  Spend every living second in space suits? Are you kidding?  To protect millions of replanted humans?  Ludicrous.

Third, at the equator the temperature is about 70 deg F - at your feet - but because the atmosphere is so thin the temperature at your head is about 24 deg F.  And elsewhere on the planet it is about -220 def F on the surface. So that requires a lot of heating to keep people alive.  Ludicrous.

I am a big fan of NASA, as a scientific exploration of space.  To expand what we know of the universe.  But, NASA needs funding so it always promotes the idea of looking for life on other planets, and of course exploring Mars has always been exciting.  Just don't think that somehow Mars can end up being the new Earth and be colonized by humans (and plants and animals and birds and insects and ...)

I understand that Bezos has always been a big fan of Star Trek.  Me too.  I saw all of Star Trek and Star Trek Next Generation.  But it was never some kind of realistic idea of space travel, sorry.  The Starship Enterprise had gravity - ?? - no, only if it travelled in space as a big rotating donut throwing Captain Kirk and Captain Pickard out to the rotating floor.  And space travel - they could push a button and go very very fast, Warp 7!  Wow.  Well, that is supposed to be 7 times the speed of light.  So, if you are trying to get to a planet 700,000 light years away, and go Warp 7, it takes only --- 100,000 years.  Star Trek was a show that used the stage setting of space travel to tell wonderful stories of adventure, exploration, interpersonal dynamics, tolerance, dignity, courage, all the things that fiction is about. And it was wonderful.  

Who knows what is in the head of Ketamine addled Musk?

But don't get on a spaceship to go live on Mars, please.

MAGA revolutionaries

 Writer and historian Ann Applebaum was interviewed on Firing Line TV show and made essential observations about how today's MAGA "politicians" and MAGA Cult are completely unlike any political party.  

First, they do not see themselves as people who are temporarily in power and who might lose an election.

Next, they see their destiny as smashing and destroying what they derisively label "The Administrative State", which the rest of us call the U.S. Government.

Also, they don't see the U.S. as a leader of world democracies, or as a promoter of democracy around the world.

Their vision of the U.S. is as an ethnic nation, white supremacist Christian nationalists who are dedicated to promoting white supremacist Christianity around the world, especially in Europe.  They see the U.S as an imperial, colonial power.

I would add my own observation, that MAGA is the rise of the Confederacy - white supremacist Christian nationalist bigotry and joined and empowered by the Tech Bros' bottomless avarice and greed.

They see the foundation of democratic governance -the Rule of Law - as an obstruction to their higher value of Rule of White Supremacist Rule of King.  So, they want the U.S. to be like Russia, or Mussolini's fascist Italy, etc. - all power to come from corrupt ties to the "king", all justice to be what the "king" decrees, all benefits come only to those who obey and prostrate themselves to the "king".

But they will lose because the real soul of the U.S. is the vision of the Founders that All People are Created Equal.  And that vision is much more powerful than the Confederate notion that white men are superior to all other people.  

The U.S. Civil War has never ended, and I believe that the vision of the Founders of America is much more powerful than the vision of the Founders of the Confederacy, and that vision will prevail.

Trump touches the world - and shits on it

 We have seen for years that the Pedo in Chief shits on and destroys everything he touches.  And he is touching the world.  And the world is getting pretty stinky. 

Time for Republican voters to accept that they were conned, lied to, bamboozled and betrayed.  He and all the MAGA politicians that he brought with him need to be removed.  Time to vote, for the cleansing of the U.S. and the cleansing of the world.  The stench is overwhelming.

The Environmental Pollution Agency

 Trump's EPA - formerly the Environmental Protection Agency but now the Environmental Pollution Agency - is going to eliminate regulations controlling Greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution excretions from fossil fuel power plants. Per the Washington Post:

"The Trump administration plans to repeal Biden-era rules to limit the carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that drive climate change..."

The Polluter in Chief is bought and sold by the Fossil Fuel Industry.  He obeys them by attacking and doing his best to destroy the green energy industries like wind and solar.  And obeys them by ending regulation that limits their pollution of air, water, and land.  It's all about Shareholder Value, doncha know?  Shareholder Value means the top executive enrichment because back in the Greed-Is-Good Reagan '80s the CEOs and other top executives in U.S. industry tied their compensation to their stock prices.  Great! I thought.  What a smart idea!  Good for investors, even small investors like me.  Yippee!

Oops.

So, business in the U.S. dropped all concern for their workers, for their customers, for their environmental impact, for anything other than "shareholder value", meaning their own ever accelerating wealth.  Yippie! for them, and their stockholders.  Aren't we all so grateful?

Maybe not.

So now we have the fossil fuel industry owning the U.S. government and giving themselves full permission, no, full encouragement, no, full partnership in accelerating global warming and climate change, and full partnership in pumping filth into our water, air, and land.  

Thanks Republicans.  Good job!  Keep those shareholders, and the billionaires, very very happy happy happy.  And, oh yes, keep those campaign contributions coming and coming and coming in.

Yippee!

The Trump Cult pledge

 Trump had his crowd at the Dallas “midterm convention” raise their right hand and repeat a pledge after him:

“ I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States, that loves us so much we can't even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends. I'll do it any way, I don't care if I'm registered or not, I'm going to try and cheat like hell like they do, SO HELP ME GOD”

This is what a cult leader does, not a political leader. And just to make sure that we all get the point he told them that if they didn’t vote they would GO TO HELL. 

He expects his cult to obey. And lots will. It’s not about voting, it’s about “winning” regardless of the vote count.  

He knows he will lose, but he will tell the Speaker of the House not to swear in the new Congress.

This is not a call to vote, it is a call for cult violence. 

German Nazis thank the Nazi Musk for his help

 The German Nazis won a big regional election in Germany.  Germany - Nazis! Musk - Nazi!  Per Paul Krugman:

"Neo-Nazis — no point in euphemisms — just won big in the rough equivalent of a state-level election in Germany. America’s leading neo-Nazi — again, no point in euphemisms — congratulated the AfD (in German) on the result, and in return received “thanks for your support” from the AfD’s lead candidate

Musk announced his Nazi nature a while back, so this is just a confirmation of the terrible danger that one of the richest bastards in the world is.

 MAGA is a collection of Nazis, KKK, Evangelical endtimer fanatics, and unbelievably rich billionaires - and none of them are here to help the common people in America or the world.

Oligarchs crying “Socialism!”

 The House Republicans just passed a “resolution” condemning socialism.  This is a 150 year old bullshit trick from the Jim Crow South that fools still buy into. These MAGA Cultists have nothing to run on, certainly no achievements these last two years - pointless war, rising inflation, food price escalation, farm foreclosures, endless sickening corruption, hiding the Epstein Files, attacking Canada, destroying decades of alliances worldwide, sticking water sucking pollution belching data centers all over hell and back…no winners there…

Historian Heather Cox Richardson makes it very clear that after the civil war the slaves were freed and as voters they pushed for government programs to aid the common good – schools, libraries, public roads, etc. The wealthy oligarchs who had lost their slaves were not about to let the slaves rise up in any way. So what they did was scream “socialism”! And, of course, they overturned the confederacy loss into a confederacy continuation by driving federal forces out of the south and ending reconstruction. And by establishing the new confederacy’s slave-like structure of Jim Crow, complete with cross burnings, beatings, rapes, imprisonment, and of course accusations of “socialism!”

They sure as hell were not about to let the slaves become educated and empowered in anyway. Keep them down. They stay on top. Racists. Oligarchs. Rich, greedy, entitled, cruel.

And here we are again, as usual in America the oligarch billionaires are screaming “socialism”. It’s the same story.  It’s the currently empowered confederacy oligarchs, spread now across the entire land. As always doing everything they can to disempower normal people with planned destruction of food Security, Social Security, Health Security, legal security, as much of government assistance and protection as they can get away with.  They are out to crush all of us, not just former slaves. By crying “Socialism”! “Communism”! It’s bullshit.

And Republican voting sheep keep falling for it and vote to give more and more power to the billionaires - and give up more and more power for themselves.

Don’t fall for it.  

Football brain damage … dementia

 At least one out of four football players suffer from CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy dementia.  Make no mistake this is a terrible disease. I loved Gayle Sayers, the second greatest running back I ever saw.  He had a terrible debilitating CTE disease. It was a bad death, as is the case with CTE.  Teammate Mike Ditka supported Gayle in his disease and said he would discourage any son or grandson of his not to play football

“Mike Ditka, the head coach of the Super Bowl–winning 1985 Chicago Bears team, says that if he had a young son or grandson he would discourage him from playing football”

So, for me, I get no enjoyment watching people inflict life crushing brain damage on each other. What parent would do otherwise? Are macho manly manly manly fathers going to let their children risk torturous deaths? Mothers?

Here is the data from this extensive study:

“ Researchers considered every former N.F.L. player who died from 2016 to 2021. There were 878. Some died in their 20s, some in their 80s, most in between.

The study’s main finding was simple math: At least 215 of those 878 former players — 24.5 percent — had C.T.E.

The actual prevalence could be far higher. The roughly 25 percent rate does not consider the 643 brains that were not examined. Some of those, maybe many of them, likely had C.T.E. too.”

Baseball used to be the “National Pastime” when I was young.  Then America fell in love with violence and turned to football. Maybe it’s time to let go. 

Why do Republicans always create massive deficits?

Republicans pretend to be “fiscal hawks” wanting to cut the deficit. And now the debt is in the spotlight as it reaches 40 trillion dollars. Funny thing though, Republicans create the biggest deficits and raise the debt more than Democrats.  Golly, I wonder why?

First, of course, Republicans are owned by the super rich so they must CUT TAXES for the super rich.  Oh, they say, by cutting taxes on the billionaires it will put more money into the “creation of jobs”… you know, create new businesses and grow existing businesses. Mostly nonsense. Just a bunch of greed grabbing predators. And, hey, the billionaires make many millions from the tax cuts, but you middle class folks will save money too, why a few hundred dollars, maybe even a few thousand dollars. Aren’t you all so very grateful to the billionaires for these BIG BEAUTIFUL TAX CUTS?

But I think there is a much darker reason than lower taxes, which massively increase the deficit and GROW THE DEBT.  It lets the cruel, heartless, greedy, “empathy and compassion are human weaknesses” billionaires do what they have been dreaming of for nearly a century - overturn all the safety net programs of Obama, LBJ and even most importantly FDR.  Bye bye Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start, college scholarships, SOCIAL SECURITY … anything that empowers normal people. 

But why?  Because they want a workforce that has no power, that will beg for jobs with paltry wages, that can easily be crushed if they try to rise up against the billionaire powers. 

Because today’s Oligarchs are the same as the Oligarchs of the dominant industry in the U.S. prior to the Civil War… plantation slavers.  Their ideal workforce are slaves who can make money money money for them and provide such wonderful and ego pumping entertainments as raping, whipping, hanging… you know keeping everybody IN THEIR PLACE, so that the billionaires, and their lickspittle subservients can feel that their place is ON TOP.  

And, after all, isn’t being ON TOP the most important thing in life?  Why else are the billionaires desperate to be richer than all the other billionaires?  And the faithful Republican voters? Oh, they get to feel like they are on top too because they HAVE MORE than those who have less. Just like those that they admire and hope to become - the greedy, heartless, racist, misogynist BILLIONAIRES.

It's actually not that hard to figure out.

Extinction burst

 Extinction Burst is a psychological state of mind that describes the behavior of someone who has been getting their way with a certain behavior forever and are no longer getting their way with that behavior.  The effects of the behavior are going Extinct.  So what they do is have a Burst of more and more of that behavior in order to get their way, just like they always did before.  But it doesn't work.  And eventually the behavior goes Extinct.

Case in point - a child throws tantrums and gets their way.  Then the tantrums aren't working anymore. So they have a Burst of excess tantrums demanding to get their way.  And when the behavior keeps not getting what they insist on, the behavior Bursts, it stops and has to be replaced by other behavior.

This is a pretty good explanation of MAGA.  Hard core, hypermasculine bullying and intimidation has been the hallmark of men for centuries.  And the world is changing and the old hypermasculine intimidating bullying is starting to not work.  Women are calling out and prosecuting sexual abusers for example.  Bombing the hell out of Iran is not working. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is failing. Etc.  

The burst?  Trump wants to do more bombing, and Putin wants to send more men into slaughter. Hypermasculine men "influencers" like the Tate brothers and Secretary of Defense, Hegseth, and Secretary of Health, RFK Jr, pose in the gym flexing their muscles.  See, see, see?  See how manly, manly, manly we are?  Aren't you intimidated?  Aren't you afraid? Aren't I just the most manly man you ever saw?

No.

The world, she is a changin'.  And power is not that simple.  Real power is not intimidation and force and cruelty.  And those, MAGA Trump KKK Nazis Putin Netanyahu Hamas, who are exhibiting a Burst of this Extinct form of power are failing dramatically.  Iran is not submitting to Trump's bombing and threats. Russia is failing. Hamas is being crushed. Women are not cowering and shutting up and submitting to sexual abuse.  Simple force and bullying are having less and less results.

We are discovering, and creating, what is actual, real power.  And real power is not the simplistic power of fear, bullying, intimidation, cruelty.  Maybe that worked for Hitler and Stalin.  Exhibit A is for us to see in how it is failing for Putin and Trump.  And their minions.

Hypermasculine bullying is not only in MAGA and the extreme Right Wing, of course. It is in the extremes of the Left Wing as well.  And it is a behavior of men and out of balance women in all walks of life.  But my point is that it is in the process of not working and is in the process of being replaced by a balanced understanding of real power. And real power includes Soft Powers of empathy, compassion, caring, concern, imagination, creativity, understanding, etc.  Things that the hypermasculine "men" like Elon Musk decry as "weakness".  

This is a process.  And it is taking time.  But there will come a time in the future when people will look at our bullying world with as much bafflement as we look at the America of slavery and be amazed that such nonsense was accepted as normal.

Has the U.S.A. become one of the world's most toxic countries?

I am an old man who has always been proud to be an American for decades.  After ten years of Trump that is no longer true.  America, more accurately the U.S.A., has become a pariah in the world.  Why? Because its president is a mentally ill avaricious predator.  But there is more.

First, Trump.  Trump has abandoned NATO, and is destroying decades old alliances. Trump is attacking green energy.  Trump is destroying the State Department, and American compassionate help in the world, and the health care system, and the military, and the judiciary, and the rule of law, and the Congress, and green energy, and the environment... the list is endless.  

But, there is more.  MAGA is doing all the same things.  MAGA is just the KKK in modern red hats.  MAGA is dedicated to turning the U.S.A. into Jim Crow U.S.A.  And they are succeeding way more than I want to admit.  MAGA wears masks dressed up as ICE and slams law abiding brown people to the ground, locks them in torture gulags, and deports them to countries that they know nothing about.  Just racist cruelty sanctioned by Trump and his racist minions.

And more yet.  The Fossil Fuel Oligarchy completely owns Trump and MAGA.  I understand that those who work in the fossil fuel industry want to protect it.  But the oligarchy is doing more than protecting their industry, they are sabotaging green energy.  I worked in the fossil fuel industry for decades and am grateful for my career.  But when it comes to energy in the country, and in the world, it is not a question of either-or, it is rather a question of both-and.  Fossil fuels will always have a future in the country and the world, and because Global Warming and Climate Change are so obviously tearing us up here and all over the world we need to actively develop energy that does not belch CO2 and Methane filth into the atmosphere.  And the U.S.A. dumps about 12% of the CO2 into the atmosphere and has only about 4% of the world's population.  We should be leaders in the invention and deployment of green energy.  But the fossil fuel oligarchy is actively seeking to destroy green energy in our country.  Too bad for the world, and too bad for the U.S.A. because the future will be more and more green and we will be late to the green technological party.

And even more.  Democracy. The U.S.A. has become a leader in destroying democracy in our country and thus has stopped being the model and leader of democracy around the world.  Trump's and MAGA's world is the world of authoritarian avaricious corruption and tyranny.  And they aren't trying to hide what they are.  Say it out loud, they are racist avaricious authoritarians, and they are proud.  They totally abandon the idea of being good and fully and proudly embrace the idea of being "smart", meaning being greedy and cruel. 

But the story is not over.  Trump and MAGA are disgusting to me, and to more and more American voters.  The midterms are coming, as well as the next presidential election.  And even though the KKK MAGAs will do all they can to overturn the elections, they are going to lose.  And over time I expect them to fade away, although it won't be a graceful exit.

The Soul and Spirit of America is not going to be crushed by the attempt of the worst parts of America, the KKK and NAZIs and polluters and cruel greedshits.  It will take time, but the greatest political idea ever written - "all men are created equal" - meaning all people are created equal - will long endure.  

Trump will die, MAGA will die away, the KKK will crawl back under their rocks of shame, and America will be part of and hopefully leader of a newly invented world of freedom and responsibility.  The damage is and will be terrible, but the story is not over.

Who's going to stop me?

Trump seems to have only two functioning questions that he ever asks himself - A. how does this benefit me? and B. Who's going to stop me?  Meaning, nobody will stop him and he knows it.

Who could stop him? Republican House and Senate members.  But they don't.  Are they just afraid of losing their jobs that they have spent their entire lives wanting? or are they thinking that at least they are better for the country than whoever would replace them because they think that someday, somehow, they are going to keep the insane president from doing something or another? or are they under a threat of murder from the Criminal in Chief or MAGA Cult fanatics?  

I guess it doesn't matter what the various reasons of the various Republican politicians who won't stop him are, he just keeps doing whatever the hell he wants, and nobody stops him, and he makes billions of dollars from his open, blatant, don't you wish you were me corruption.  And he keeps crapping on everything he touches, from the Washington DC to Canada to Europe to Ukraine to U.S. elite universities, to every government department that helps U.S. citizens in any way, to... to... to... It's endless.

So who is going to stop him?  Only us.  Voters.  The midterms need to be an overwhelming humiliating defeat of the Pedo in Chief, and he needs to be prosecuted and convicted of at least his corruption.  You would think that this 250 year old democratically elected Republic would be able to remove a corrupt madman from the helm of the Ship of State, but it turns out that we have been unable to overthrow both the Trump Cult leader and the Trump Cult.

But his time, and their time, is coming.  

It is such a depressingly sad thing to know that so many fellow Americans are so deeply corrupt or cruel or cowardly.  But, here we are.  

For now.

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.