What is a man?

We live in a terrible time when men don’t know what it is to be a man.  Is it about scaring people? That is what Putin and Trump seem to think. To be a man is to be intimidating, scary, threatening, punishing, dangerous, cruel - Gunslinger cowboys like in John Wayne or Clint Eastwood movies.  Be tough.  Shoot people.  Scare people.  Squint and look dangerous.

But that’s crap.  Being scary and dominating is actually being a frightened, confused adolescent who hasn’t grown up yet – a frightened boy who can only think that he has to be scarier than those who scare him.  And we see the terrible wounds that these twisted, frightened domineering destructive overgrown adolescents do to our world – from Caesar and Stalin and Hitler and Mao to Putin today.  They are not men.  They turn themselves into monsters trying to be men.

A wonderful illumination of the actual qualities of true manhood is found in the virtues of chivalry laid out in the Court of King Arthur and his mentor, Merlin, in “Merlin-Arthur Legacy, Legend, Myth, and Magic”. 

Merlin the magician raised Arthur and infused in him these virtues of Chivalry: and Arthur collected the Knights of the Round Table, each of whom embodied one of the energies of chivalry, the True Masculine:

 

1. Honor/honesty – honor yourself, what is honest in me, what is real
2. Loyalty - vulnerability to yourself, know your weaknesses and strengths
3. Nobility - higher purpose, something beyond, lofty dreams and visions
4. Virtue - virility of character, call upon the virile strengths
5. Grace, gracious Giving - that which comes naturally to your noble and virtuous nature
6. Truth
7. Courage - willingness to face the truth, to live the life of your choosing
8. Courtesy - honoring the other, kindness, patience
9. Gallantry - bravery in the face of adversity, acting despite fear
10. Authority/empowered - be the author of your experience
11. Service - give of who I am, get involved
12. Humble - let it be new
    

 

These are alive, rich, fertile growing qualities of manhood.  They are open ended and always evolving.  They are ideals of manhood that can be pursued.  They are the very opposite of the twisted, toxic masculinity of masculine chauvinism – the twisted idea of manhood including intimidating and dominating, being cut off from feelings and compassion, being threatening and punishing, being cruel.  We see this too often in our history and in autocratic rulers like Putin and Xi, and in that pathetic failure, the Former Guy, wanting so desperately to be a man rather than the frightened little adolescent that he has always been.

Men are confused, and toxic, and destructive because they don’t know what it is to be a man.  Real men are beautiful, not scary or cruel.

 

And I pray to the Goddess to help awaken the true masculine in all of us.

Did Shakespeare predict Putin's downfall?

I had the pleasure recently to watch the excellent black and white Joel Coen production of Macbeth starring Denzel Washington.  I was reminded of a key dialog in Act 5 Scene 2 while reading some of the news coming out of Ukraine.  

 

Macbeth's rivals are marching against him:

 

MENTEITH
The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward and the good Macduff:
Revenges burn in them; for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.

...

CAITHNESS
Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies:
Some say he's mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury: but, for certain,
He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause
Within the belt of rule.

ANGUS
Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands;
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach;
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love: now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.

The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff.
Revenges burn in them, for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.
ANGUS Near Birnam Wood
Shall we well meet them. That way are they coming.
CAITHNESS 
Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
LENNOX 
For certain, sir, he is not. I have a file
Of all the gentry. There is Siward’s son
And many unrough youths that even now
Protest their first of manhood.
MENTEITH What does the tyrant?
CAITHNESS 
Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies.
Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury. But for certain
He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule.
ANGUS Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands.
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love. Now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
MENTEITH Who, then, shall blame
His pestered senses to recoil and start
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there?
CAITHNESS Well, march we on
To give obedience where ’tis truly owed.
Meet we the med’cine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we in our country’s purge
Each drop of us.
LENNOX Or so much as it needs

 
The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff.
Revenges burn in them, for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.
ANGUS Near Birnam Wood
Shall we well meet them. That way are they coming.
CAITHNESS 
Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
LENNOX 
For certain, sir, he is not. I have a file
Of all the gentry. There is Siward’s son
And many unrough youths that even now
Protest their first of manhood.
MENTEITH What does the tyrant?
CAITHNESS 
Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies.
Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury. But for certain
He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule.
ANGUS Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands.
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love. Now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
MENTEITH Who, then, shall blame
His pestered senses to recoil and start
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there?
CAITHNESS Well, march we on
To give obedience where ’tis truly owed.
Meet we the med’cine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we in our country’s purge
Each drop of us.
LENNOX Or so much as it needs

 
The English power is near, led on by Malcolm,
His uncle Siward, and the good Macduff.
Revenges burn in them, for their dear causes
Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm
Excite the mortified man.
ANGUS Near Birnam Wood
Shall we well meet them. That way are they coming.
CAITHNESS 
Who knows if Donalbain be with his brother?
LENNOX 
For certain, sir, he is not. I have a file
Of all the gentry. There is Siward’s son
And many unrough youths that even now
Protest their first of manhood.
MENTEITH What does the tyrant?
CAITHNESS 
Great Dunsinane he strongly fortifies.
Some say he’s mad; others that lesser hate him
Do call it valiant fury. But for certain
He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule.
ANGUS Now does he feel
His secret murders sticking on his hands.
Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.
Those he commands move only in command,
Nothing in love. Now does he feel his title
Hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe
Upon a dwarfish thief.
MENTEITH Who, then, shall blame
His pestered senses to recoil and start
When all that is within him does condemn
Itself for being there?
CAITHNESS Well, march we on
To give obedience where ’tis truly owed.
Meet we the med’cine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we in our country’s purge
Each drop of us.
LENNOX Or so much as it needs

 

It may well be that Putin, like Macbeth, has an army that is only following commands only, and do "nothing in love" for the madman.  But the Ukrainians 'burn with revenge", and indeed burn with love of country being invaded for no legitiamte reason.

Or so I hope.  I think there is no doubt that Ukraine will not be able to be controlled by Putin, regardless of whether he crushes it in the short term.  I just hope that that the Russian people, thousands of whom are braving prison to protest this unprovoked invasion, can have an effect and drive him from power.  More likely would be his oligarchs, upon losing much of their fortunes and perks of an elite, take him out. And most probable of all would be that his inner circle, who may or may not be oligarch wealth, see the the disastrous folly and remove him.

One thing that America must not do is engage militarily, or even call for his assassination as the remarkably idiotic South Carolina Republican Senator, Lindsey Graham, did recently. That lets Putin shape his baseless slaughter as a legitimate defense against deadly America.  Goodness save us from the stupidity of Republicans trying to look "tough".  

By the way, it did not end well for Macbeth.  I am hoping for a removal and criminal war crimes trial for Putin.

Will vs Fear

Putin's attempts to crush Ukraine is not going well.  Thank God.  The entire western world is turning against this sick autocrat.  

 

It was looking for the last decade or so that autocratic, authoritarian cruel and fearsome dictators were taking over the world.  Putin was one of the leaders of that group.  Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Hungary, Turkey, Venezuella, Philippines, etc. etc.  "Strong men" ruling by fear.  And the United States with a wannabe "strong man", the overgrown schoolyard bully, the Former Guy, enthralled by the strutting spectacles of manly, manly men around the globe.  

 

Never forget that the Former Guy was thrilled by the Putin declaration of sending in "peace keeping forces".  Oh boy! Tanks!  How exciting. What a genius!

 

This seems to some to be their distorted essence of manliness - to scare people, threaten people, bully people, kill people.  Manly, manly men.  Guns, explosions, big bangy things.

 

But, a couple of real, adult men have responded to show us the contrast.  Zalensky is defending himself and is inspiring the entire free world to cripple Putin's Russia.  Biden is quietly leading NATO and the Free World in very intelligent and targeted sanctions and boycotts to cripple the tyrant's country.

 

There should be no confusion about what makes a man.  Threats do not make a man.  Causing fear do not make a man.  Puffing yourself up and strutting around like latter day John Waynes and Clint Eastwoods do not make a man.

 

Will is one of the things that make a man. Zalensky and Biden are demonstrating will.  Not will to dominate and crush another; not Hitlerian Putinesque brutality of will, but a noble will to protect freedom, truth, and goodness.  The will of a soldier to respond to a demand to surrender or die by saying "Go fuck yourself".

 

By the way, if you think that Biden isn't leading this resistance, please remember the last president that crushed Moscow - Ronald Reagan, who once said it is amazing what you an accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit.  The free world is freely crushing Russia financially and culturally.  They all get the credit.

 

But it starts with Zalensky - who refused and refuses to be bullied.  And it is also Biden, who is not operating as America Alone, or "America First".  He is doing what the free world did in WWII, what America and NATO and the Free World did in the Cold War.  He is reaching out to create cooperative, coordinated, intelligent responses to stop the slaughter of a weaker nation by a tyrant.

 

My biggest prayer at this point is that a humiliated and sick Putin does not start sending nukes all over the place to prove that he is really a manly, manly man after all. 

"I need ammunition, not a ride" - Zelensky

 Looks like Ukraine is going to give Putin as much trouble as they possibly can.  

 

"President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned down an American offer early Saturday to be evacuated from the capital city, Kyiv, which is under attack by Russia."

 

“I am here. We are not putting down arms. We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this,” he said, according to a translation by CNN.

“That is it. That’s all I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine,” he added."

 

Earlier he had said "This may be the last time you see me alive"

 

Russia has overwhelming force, of course.  But do the young Russian soldiers share the 70 year old Putin's obsession to forcibly re-establish the Soviet empire's borders?  Why would they care?  Why would they want to kill Ukrainians?  

 

Let this be Putin's fatal mistake.  I hope and pray that Ukrainian Spirit thwarts the autocrat's greed.  I hope and pray that Russian youth depose the tyrant.  I hope and pray that the opposition leader, Navalny, is freed and purges the massive corruption and tyranny of Putin and the Russian olilgarchy.

 

Probably just a wild fantasy, but ...

 

 

The Psychopath threatens nuclear war

 Putin has invaded Ukraine.  It is a massive invasion.  And he threatens nuclear war if NATO or the United States interfere with his hideous intentions.

 

Please remember that this is the man that Trump admires and obeys.  And this is the man that FOX News Tucker Carlson defends.  

 

It seems clear to me that Putin intends to recapture the Balkan countries same as he wants to recapture Ukraine now.  He clearly wants to re-establish the borders of the defunct Soviet Union.  He has stated this many times.

Now is a good time to remember the terrible lesson of WWII - do not appease a psychopathic autocrat, it only encourages him to attack.

 

My hope is that Putin has made a self destroying mistake by strengthening the NATO-U.S. bond.  And wars never go the way the initiator expects, and Russia may find more difficulties in Ukraine than the psychopath expects, and the Russian people may turn on Putin and end his reign.

 

Or so I hope. 

Things are not good right now.

The rats are deserting the ship?

 Trump's accounting firm has said that Trump's finances are fraudulent and they are not about to go to prison to help keep this lifelong criminal from prison.  

 

"...based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate."... " Mazars said it would no longer act as Trump's accountant, citing a "non-waivable conflict of interest."

 

The noose is tightening, and the Former Guy is sliding into cancelled show territory.  It happened on his TV show and now it is happening on his Presidential Reality multi-media show.  Yawn.... 

 

Tune in to the extravaganza prosecutions of the flailing has been famous former guy!

Putin is stunned

 I was listening to a podcast interview of Russian expert analyst, Ian Bremmer, who said that Putin is stunned at the resolve and leadership of President Biden as he pushes back on Putin's threat to invade Ukraine.  Putin had thought there was a real opportunity to split a weak and indecisive NATO, an opportunity to bully an old, senile Biden, and continue his project of re-establishing the old Soviet sphere of influence, especially pushing the U.S. out of NATO and reducing NATO military defenses.  He suffers from delusions of Russian empire along the lines of the Soviet empire.

 

But he found a firmly resolved U.S. led by Biden who has coordinated with the NATO countries to push back and inflict real pain on Putin if he misjudges and tries to take over control of Ukraine.

 

It is always possible, of course, that Putin will do damage, and it could be terrible, and I deeply hope that the U.S., NATO, and Russia can negotiate a resolution to Putin's mistaken power play.  But there is a real danger here.  Especially since Putin and China's Xi are buddying up to weaken the U.S for each of their own reasons. There has long been a terrible possibility that America could have military conflicts with both China and Russia.  I am hoping and praying that wise, and firm, and collaborative leadership by Biden and America can calm these tensions and lead to a more peaceful world, especially amongst these three powers.

 

(Don't even mention North Korea, who is probably feeling neglected and wanting flex its nuclear threats)

"Legitimate political discourse"?

In case there was any doubt, the Republican Party is no more.  The Republican National Committee formally announced its demise a couple of days ago by the way it censured the two Republicans on the House Select Committee investigating the violent coup attempt on January 6 last year. 

 

"RNC said that the investigation is “...a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” ...  Repeat ... "...ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse".  !!!  Oh boy.

 

This was a violent smashing into Congress that killed people, calling for then Vice President, Mike Pence, and duly elected Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to come out of hiding.  They had handcuffing zip ties on them and a noose with a scaffolding outside the Capitol.  They had reserve forces hiding in hotels nearby with 15,000 rounds of ammunition.  This was not a "legitimate political discourse".  This was a violent attempt to overthrow an election.  Which failed. Thank goodness.

Add to this horror is a speech that the Loser just gave at a rally in Georgia where he called for violence under the wink, wink calls for "protests" - "...I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protests we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere" - for what reason? if he is indicted.  Indicted. He knows the grip of the law is closing in and he wants his Cult to commit violence to keep him out of bankruptcy and prison.  

And, oh yes, he made a very public and overt witness tampering statement when he promised pardons for those who would refuse to testify against him.  He did that during his presidency, of course by praising Roger Stone  for refusing to cooperate on investigations to his earlier crimes, and then pardoning him after he was sentenced.

I continue to hold hope and trust in the goodness of America.  I continue to hope that actual Republicans will turn against and turn away from the demented autocrat trying desperately to escape from the consequences of his life of crime and bullying and cruelty.  I praise Mike Pence for making a very public speech denouncing the Loser's false claim that the Vice President had the power to overturn the presidential election.  I praise the courage and integrity of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for joining with the House Select Committee investigation into the violence of January 6, including the planning and buildup to that horrible day, and I hope that they can also investigate the concerted actions of the still active coup plotters as they have been and are plotting the next coup.

The question is, do the MAGA Cult need the Loser at all?  For the RNC to decide on their own to declare January 6 to be "legitimate political discourse" could well mean they are way beyond any need of the former leader of the MAGA Cult.  There has always been a white supremacist and a racist Christian Nationalist movement in this country since its founding.  But until they saw themselves being openly courted by the Former Guy, they were fringe dangers.  Now they run what used to be the Republican Party.

 

Not good for the Republican Party, or the United States of America, nor the world.  

I can only hope that actual Republicans say no, and turn away from these dangerous people.

 

Trump admits he lost the election

The guy who lost the 2020 presidential election just admitted that he lost.  He was denouncing Congress's bi-partisan efforts to clarify the Electoral Count Act of 1887 so that it is indisputable that a Vice President cannot overturn the election results.  And he made the following incriminating statement:

 

"Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!"

 

Repeat - "...he could have overturned the election!".  !!!!!!  Meaning, the Former Guy knew he lost the election and wanted his Vice President to "overturn the election!". 

 

To clarify further, the Former Guy knows that The Big Lie is a lie, just an amazingly stupid and preposterous thing that he made up - that the election was stolen. 

 

To clarify a bit more - he is planning to claim the election in 2024, that he loses, will be "stolen", and he will demand that the Republican States throw out the actual vote count of the 2024 election and send Trump electors to D.C. to actually steal the election.  And, lo and behold, many Republican Legislatures have already set up systems and laws to do just that.  Disgusting.

 

Because, that is how autocrats, fascists, tyrants do things. And make no mistake, the Former Guy is not a Republican; the Former Guy is an autocrat-fascist who has long admired and copied autocrats such as Putin, Erdogan, MBS, Orbon, etc. etc. etc.   Indeed, I have long believed he has been following advice and orders from Putin throughout his presidency and perhaps to this date.

Autocracy Inc. is on a mission to destroy our democracy

 Anne Applebaum has a 30 minute article, "The Bad Guys are Winning", that is worth the time to read.  The short version is that autocrats are destroying democracy around the world, and in America as well - expertly.  Some key quotes:

 

In Belarus, the vicious authoritarian, Lukashenko, was struggling to deal with an uprising of the people.... "At first, Lukashenko seemed to have no plan either. But his neighbors did. On August 18, a plane belonging to the FSB, the Russian security services, flew from Moscow to Minsk. Soon after that, Lukashenko’s tactics underwent a dramatic change... to “more sophisticated, more controlled ways to repress the population.” Belarus became a textbook example of what the journalist William J. Dobson has called “the dictator’s learning curve”: Techniques that had been used successfully in the past to repress crowds in Russia were seamlessly transferred to Belarus, along with personnel who understood how to deploy them. Russian television journalists arrived to replace the Belarusian journalists who had gone on strike, and immediately stepped up the campaign to portray the demonstrations as the work of Americans and other foreign “enemies.” Russian police appear to have supplemented their Belarusian colleagues, or at least given them advice, and a policy of selective arrests began. 

 

As Vladimir Putin figured out a long time ago, mass arrests are unnecessary if you can jail, torture, or possibly murder just a few key people. The rest will be frightened into staying home. Eventually they will become apathetic, because they believe nothing can change...

 

Lukashenko began to act, in other words, as if he were untouchable, both at home and abroad. He began breaking not only the laws and customs of his own country, but also the laws and customs of other countries, and of the international community... 

 

All of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like. There is a bad man at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.

 

But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services (military, police, paramilitary groups, surveillance), and professional propagandists.  The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the police in another. The propagandists share resources—the troll farms that promote one dictator’s propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of another—and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America...Nor does the new autocratic alliance have a unifying ideology. Among modern autocrats are people who call themselves communists, nationalists, and theocrats. 

 

No one country leads this group...the members of this group don’t operate like a bloc, but rather like an agglomeration of companies—call it Autocracy Inc. Their links are cemented not by ideals but by deals... 

 

"And how different are we? We Americans? We Europeans? Are we so sure that our institutions, our political parties, our media could never be manipulated in the same way?...in 2016..."Russian trolls operating from St. Petersburg sought to shift the outcome of an American election in much the same way they had done in Central Europe, using fake Facebook pages (sometimes impersonating anti-immigration groups, sometimes impersonating Black activists), fake Twitter accounts, and attempts to infiltrate groups like the National Rifle Association, as well as weaponizing hacked material from the Democratic National Committee. 

 

Some Americans actively welcomed this intervention, and even sought to take advantage of what they imagined might be broader Russian technical capabilities. “If it’s what you say I love it,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote to an intermediary for a Russian lawyer who he believed had access to damaging information about Hillary Clinton. In 2008, Trump Jr. had told a business conference that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets,” and in 2016, Russia’s long-term investment in the Trump business empire paid off. In the Trump family, the Kremlin had something better than spies: cynical, nihilistic, indebted, long-term allies."...

 

We need, in other words, to make changes to our own system, and that may require overcoming fierce domestic resistance from the business groups that benefit from it. We need to shut down tax havens, enforce money-laundering laws, stop selling security and surveillance technology to autocracies, and divest from the most vicious regimes altogether. “We” here will need to include Europe, especially the U.K., as well as partners elsewhere—and that will require a lot of vigorous diplomacy. (Please note that Trump likely has a long history of laundering money for the Russians, Saudi Arabians too?)...

 

Autocracy, Inc. includes the countries such as Russia, Belarus, China, Venezuela, Myanmar, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan, and the American MAGA Cult is ready and willing in the wings, plus of course multiple sources of greed, avarice, and violence.

It's not any political ideology. Thoughts that this is limited to Communist Autocracies or Fascist Autocracies are obsolete.  It's just MONEY AND POWER, MONEY AND POWER, MONEY AND POWER.  And democracy gets killed off, and people are deeply harmed as governments are stripped of any power to stop the autocrats.  

 

Remember the most famous line from Reagan? "Government isn't the solution - government is the problem."  I used to believe that, but not any longer.  Democracy needs to win over autocracy.  Fortunately we have a president who knows that.  Unfortunately, we have a former president and his Cult that did and will fight to establish Autocratic rule in America.  Why?  Not for political purposes or political programs, but just MONEY AND POWER.

 

But we in America can win this essential battle.  We can stop it here, and that victory can travel. We are not alone.  We can't stop this domination and autocracy by pretending it doesn't exist. We need to shine a light, and see what is trying to happen, and stop it. 

 

Goodness and Truth are alive in America and in the world, and those who can see the darkness can insist on the Light, and push the darkness back under fetid little rocks where it belongs - prisons, for example.

The MAGA Cult had stored weapons for an escalation of violence on January 6

There is evidence that the Former Guy's MAGA Cult had a phase two planned for the violent coup attempt on January 6, 2021.  They had stored weapons and ammunition close to the Capitol waiting to deploy them in their military style assault on the Capitol.

 

"According to court documents, at least seven Oath Keepers involved in the events of January 6 stockpiled firearms in a northern Virginia hotel for potential use by a “quick reaction force” on behalf of Trump inside DC. Three others discussed participating in that effort, court filings show." 

More and more evidence is coming out about how very close we came to losing our democracy on January 6.  The coup attempt continues today as the Former Guy continues to falsely claim that the election was stolen, and his Cult move to institute election fraud using the false excuse of voter fraud.  Voter fraud is individuals voting illegally - very few instances, proven over a over again by investigation after investigation.  Election fraud is reducing the number of polling places in Democratic districts, placing "Stop the Steal" fanatics in charge of elections, and establishing powers in Republican dominated states to simply throw out the actual vote count and declare victory for the Republican.

 

Fortunately, he was stopped in 2020 and many of the criminals involved in the attempted coup are arrested and convictions are coming.  As time passes and the foundations are being laid with earlier investigations, those higher up in the planning and execution are likely to be deposed and I hope charged and imprisoned.  

 

Coups are not allowed in America.

Republicans kill the Voting Rights bills

 Republicans killed the Voting Rights bills, of course. They did it by pretending to protect the honor and integrity of the Senate by preserving the unconstitutional filibuster. They know they can’t win elections so they came across a brilliant plan and just keep brown and black and yellow and red people from voting, and viola! they get to keep having White Supremacists “win” elections.  And cut taxes for the rich, and....er, ah, cut taxes for the very rich, and...um, cut taxes for Bezos and Musk, and... oh yes, I forgot cut benefits for the poor, and... cut benefits for the middle class, and... let me see, what else are they for?  

Oh yes, how could I forget? Make America Great AGAIN!  Again like it was in the ‘50s, and ‘30s, and you know, back when blacks knew their place, and browns knew their place, and yellows knew their place, and reds knew their place, and women knew their place, and gays knew their place —— their proper places beneath their superiors, White Men, those most noble and revered of Men, the rightful masters of all those inferior races and sexes.  You know, Real Men who have lots of guns, and camouflage clothes, and body armor, and can scare people and threaten people and, er, um, you know, be really SCARY. top of the heap, kings of the hill, ready to kill.  

Yup.

Really disgusts me.

Democrats should now break up the voting rights into separate, individual bills and force every Senator to vote on each.  Because each has majority support amongst us, the voters. Let’s get this done. 

If Russia invades Ukraine, will China use the distraction to invade Taiwan?

There has long been a danger that the United States could have an armed conflict with either Russia or China.  And the potential for catastrophic escalation would be very real with all sides being nuclear powers.  

 

Russia is making all kinds of false pretenses for invading Ukraine pretending that it is defending itself against a dangerous and aggressive military force of NATO.  Of course NATO was always about defending against Soviet and now Russian invasion, not about invading Russia.  But Putin and his oligarchs are trying to re-establish the Balkan states as part of Russian dominance, just as they were part of the defunct Soviet Union.

 

I have every hope that Russia will see that an invasion would be too costly and turn away, but counting on Putin to soften or act wisely is not a safe bet.

 

But, if Russia invades, will China see that as a sufficient distraction to finally invade and crush Taiwan and officially make it part of China?  Russia has always seen Ukraine as part of Russia and China has always seen Taiwan as part of China.  As I recall, way back in 1960 Kennedy and Nixon debated what to do about defending Formosa (now Taiwan) against Communist Chinese attack.  

 

We have enough on our hands with an uncooperative public about protecting us against COVID and the MAGA cult of violent extremists.  And both Russia and China may be seeing this as an opportune time to take over a neighboring country by force.

 

I hope and pray that they do not try that.

The battle for the Soul of the Nation

Thank you, Mr. President, for your clear and determined speech on this terrible anniversary of the attempted violent overthrow of the 2020 presidential election.  The president made it very clear that the lie that the election was stolen started long before election day (because the Former Guy already knew he would likely lose and the only thing he ever does is make excuses and blame others) and that the lie that the election was stolen continues today. The astonishing thing is that his Cult believes the lie, or at least pretends that they believe the lie.

 

The Biden statement that stands out to me is that he said this is a battle for the Soul of the Nation - whether we are to continue to be a democracy that is run by the rule of law, or an autocracy that is run by the whim of an autocrat.  He campaigned on restoring America's Soul, and that battle continues today as the Former Guy's Cult continues their assault on democracy, assault on decency, and assault on truth.

 

The wonderful historian Jon Meacham wrote an excellent history about the long battle for the Soul of America - "The Soul of America: the Battle for Our Better Angels".  A pivotal event was the creation of the myth of the Lost Cause after the Confederate States lost the Civil War.  Edward Pollard wrote a toxic book in 1866 - "The Lost Cause: A New History of the War of the Confederates".  In it he expressed the fundamental cause of the attempted secession - white supremacy.  

 

"The war, he wrote. "did not decide negro equality; it did not decide negro suffrage; it did not decide State Rights...And these things which the war did not decide, 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."...An article of faith of the Lost Cause creed was that the North had not outfought or out-generalled the South...rather, because  of the North's overwhelming advantages in manpower and industrial strength...They had resisted Northern forces in battle; now they would defy Northern authority in peace"

 

In other words, like the former president, the ruling whites during the Jim Crow South, and too much of the Republican Party of the South and across the country to this day are entrenched in white supremacy lies - the lie that whites are superior to people of color.  The Lost Cause was and is the Big Lie believed by those who lost the Civil War, and the Stolen Election is the Big Lie believed by those who lost the 2020 presidential election.  

 

The Big Lie Republicans are doing everything they can to suppress the votes of people of color, and setting up election officials that can overturn the votes of their states and send electors chosen by them to install a Republican candidate as president.  Completely undemocratic.  Disgusting.

 

Dangerous times, but I believe in the Soul of America.  I believe that truth will prevail in the face of this latest Big Lie by a loser who never takes responsibility but only blames and makes excuses.  I believe that America is better than the authoritarian depravity of the former president and his violent cult.

Biden's outstanding first year economy

 I know that our Republican friends are trying to convince folks that the Biden economy is bad, but it is actually outstanding.

 

Stock market? - The Dow Jones was $31,188.38 on January 20, 2021 when Biden was inaugurated. As of this writing this morning, it is at $36,463.15.  That is a rise of 16.9%.  Spectacular.  Thank you Mr. President.

GDP?  Growth 5.6% adjusted for inflation.  Spectacular.  Thank you Mr. President.

Unemployment?  Down to 4.2%.  Spectacular.  Thank you Mr. President.

Inflation is worrying, but likely mostly due to too much demand for too little goods that have been affected by massive bottlenecks in supply due to the unprecedented world wide pandemic.  Economists are divided, but many think the inflation will subside as the bottlenecks get worked out.  Unfortunately, with the introduction of the latest variant, Omicron, the bottlenecks may persist for some time.  By the way, it seems that oil production seems to be ramping up so oil prices may start to fall, and excessive oil prices are a big part of inflation.

 Bloomberg summed it up, 

 

"America's economy improved more in Joe Biden's first 12 months than any president during the past 50 years."

All of which makes Biden's first year in the White House the standout among the seven previous presidents, based on 10 market and economic indicators given equal weight. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, no one comes close to matching Biden's combination of No. 1 and No. 2 rankings for each of the measures: 

• Gross domestic product (1)
• Profit growth (1) 
• S&P 500 performance (2) 
• Consumer credit (1) 
• Non-farm payrolls (2) 
• Manufacturing jobs (2) 
• Business productivity (2) 
• Dollar appreciation (2) 
• S&P 500 relative performance (2) " 

 Thank you, Mr. President.

 

And, by the way, he also got vaccines into the arms of 60% of Americans.  Tragically, we have a Republican Party who want Biden to fail to defeat COVID so they propagandize against getting vaccinated.  Nauseating.  

 

At any rate, Thank you Mr. President for your stewardship in creating an outstanding economy in your first year of your presidency. 

Cryptocurrency is like a Ponzi Scheme, beware...

I am the victim of a Ponzi Scheme - what looked like a modest conservative investment was a lie, a Ponzi scheme where payout came from money put into the fraudulent company by new investors rather than payout coming from investment returns.  One of the two thieves died and the other is headed to prison.  A long and tedious legal process will return some of my money back, for which I am grateful.

Now I am reading that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency are being compared to Ponzi schemes.  They seem to be based on the greater fool principle, get in early and others jump in expecting huge profits because they see earlier folks making huge profits, but the profits are not based on anything other than expectations of more investors (fools).  Like a Ponzi scheme all the money comes from new investors, and  is based on no actual assets. The early ”investors” profit mightily, the rest...well good luck... And if I understand correctly, unlike a Ponzi criminal the cryptocurrency profiteers can’t be tracked down to recover any money. 

I have written earlier that I thought Bitcoin and cryptocurrency had three fatal flaws - they devastate the environment because they use astonishing levels of power for their massive computer arrays, and they are favored by criminals who can hide and launder fortunes because of no financial oversight, and financial folks warned that they were like the exotic Credit Default Swaps that collapsed and almost completely destroyed the world wide financial system. Now I add the warning from some that they are like a Ponzi scheme looking for Greater Fools to enrich the early swindlers. 

The United States is no longer a democracy - it is an anocracy

 I have written many times about how the Republican Party has become an authoritarian fascist party.  22 million Republicans have two beliefs - first that Biden stole the election (he didn't) and second that violence is justified to restore Trump to the White House.  

 

Dana Milbank cites the Center for Systemic Peace's ratings of democracies around the world and they show that the U.S. is now an "anocracy", somewhere between a democracy and an autocratic state:

"U.S. democracy had received the Polity index’s top score of 10, or close to it, for much of its history. But in the five years of the Trump era, it tumbled precipitously into the anocracy zone; by the end of his presidency, the U.S. score had fallen to a 5, making the country a partial democracy for the first time since 1800. “We are no longer the world’s oldest continuous democracy,” Walter writes. “That honor is now held by Switzerland, followed by New Zealand, and then Canada. We are no longer a peer to nations like Canada, Costa Rica, and Japan, which are all rated a +10 on the Polity index.”.

 

I believe we need to be aware of and shine a light on what is happening in our beloved country.  Trump has activated and empowered the worst elements of America, but even if and when he leaves the stage, these authoritarian, fascist people will be here.  The first thing I ever wrote about Trump is that he would go away, but the people who support him will be with us anyhow.

 

I have to trust that the institutions of democracy in America can and will prevail to beat back the revolutionary fascist right wing despots bound and determined to take over the country by force.  But, the institutions of democracy are just paper tigers if we the people do not pay attention and empower them by shining a light on the threats of authoritarianism, and demanding that the Rule of Law and the implementation of informed and non-propagandized democratic values prevail.

We are in a real danger, and an informed, aware, and active nation needs to stand up and demand that the United States return to a full +10 democracy and say no to the ever growing attempts to turn us into an autocracy.

Hope of the world

America used to be the hope of the world - a leader in establishing democracy, being a force for human rights, leading the world in science and technology, and clumsily but persistently trying to improve life for all people. 

 

Then Donald Trump activated the darkest, most bigoted, and most violent parts of the country - white supremacists and white christian nationalists. We have had six years of consistent erosion of dignity, honor, and goodness of our nation.  We are being tested; our goodness is being tested; our decency is being tested; our humanity is being tested.

 

So now, in the time of Christmas coming, I am struck by the deepest meaning of Christmas, to me, the birth of Christ is a symbol of bringing the Light of the Divine into the world. I long ago decided that Jesus is not God made man for the purpose of taking on the suffering of the world to forgive our Original Sin, and the sins that we commit every day.  But I do see Jesus as an inspiration of the Christ Spirit in humankind - the spirit of goodness, and truth, and beauty, and decency, and honor, and transcendence.  A symbol of opening to the Divine to be inspired to be better people.

 

Sadly, so much of Christianity, or more specifically so much of white evangelical nationalist Christianity, has turned away from the gentle goodness of Christ himself, and turned toward the brutal "manhoods" of threatening men with guns.  Christ replaced by images of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.  Cowboys who take the law into their own hands and kill people.  Onward Christian Soldiers, with guns and threats and violence, seems to have become the twisted idea of Christianity.  But...

 

But, the birth of Christ is a symbol of the power of the Divine Inspiration available to us all, and I can take that hope and apply it to my hope that America once again becomes a true hope to the world.

He feared for his family’s safety

Another example of Trump Cult fascism is this scene during the violent attempt to overthrow the government by Republicans:

“On the House floor [on Jan. 6], moments before the vote, Meijer approached a member who appeared on the verge of a breakdown. He asked his new colleague if he was okay. The member responded that he was not; that no matter his belief in the legitimacy of the election, he could no longer vote to certify the results, because he feared for his family’s safety. “Remember, this wasn’t a hypothetical. You were casting that vote after seeing with your own two eyes what some of these people are capable of,” Meijer says. “If they’re willing to come after you inside the U.S. Capitol, what will they do when you’re at home with your kids?” 

Violence is the language of fascism. It is being exposed. Where is the Attorney General? Why aren’t these people in prison?  Fascism is here. 

Our country is better than this. The Justice Department was created in1870 to stop the KKK. It needs to stop today’s versions of the KKK NOW.