The Former Guy threatens Death and Destruction if indicted

  The Former Guy is upping his threats, upping his call for violence - specifically, he is calling for "death and destruction".  I don't think we need to be hesitant to say that this man is a violent fascist anymore.  There is no nuance here.  He called for the violent overthrow of the duly elected government, and now he is calling for "death and destruction" of law enforcement and the New York DA.  

"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country? “Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely (sic) hates the USA!” Trump wrote. 

And he included a photo of himself holding a bat ready to strike DA Alvin Bragg.

I hope this is just a cornered maniac trying to get others to risk their freedom and their lives to save his corrupt skin.  I hope his cult sees the prison terms of those who answered his call to violence January 6, 2021 and tried to violently assault Congress and overthrow the election.  

To paraphrase a Vietnam protest slogan - What if they threw a revolution and nobody came?

By the way, this tweet in and of itself is a felony.  Legal expert Norm Eisen tweets:

Norm Eisen

@NormEisen

Threatening a prosecutor is a crime in NY. In fact MULTIPLE crimes: Harassment in the first degree NYPL 240.25; menacing in the second degree NYPL 120.14; stalking in the fourth or third degree NYPL 120.45 & 120.50 And that’s just for starters….

Why disinformation and propaganda are so powerful

 “ Lies are often much more plausible, more appealing to reason, than reality, since the liar has the great advantage of knowing beforehand what the audience wishes or expects to hear.” — Hannah Arendt.

Hannah Arendt did a deep study on the authoritarian Nazi and Stalinist regimes. Her insights help us today. The current example of the application of this principle of lies is Fox News, which chose to tell its audience what Fox News knew what it’s audiences wanted to hear - that Trump won the election and it was stolen from him by the socialist/communist/anti-capitalist/anti-Christian/anti-white/ anti-man/woke deep state. And, as sworn testimony and discovered communications revealed, Fox News knew that Biden had won, and Trump had lost, and they disdained and hated Trump BUT they told the lie that their audience wanted to hear.  

And some of their audience tried to overthrow the government.  And about a thousand of those who did so have been arrested and charged with crimes, about half of them have pled guilty, and nearly two hundred of them are in prison.  And some police died, by the way.

But, what the heck, Fox News kept its audience. 

And the Trump Cult believes what the Trump Cult wants to believe. 

Propaganda.  A deadly weapon. Watch out.  

The Christian "Taliban" forces hospitals to stop delivering babies in Idaho

It is no surprise that the half century obsession to end Roe v Wade, and the further obsession to criminalize everything that these fundamentalist Christian obsessives detest, is dramatically harming the health and wellbeing of women in particular and Americans in general.  An Idaho hospital, Bonner General Health in rural Sandpoint, Idaho, will stop delivering babies.  Because of the extremist fundamentalist laws being passed in Idaho.  Result? They lose top doctors.  

“Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving,” it said. “Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult. In addition, the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care.”

How can they recruit new doctors?  How soon will small regional hospitals close for lack of ability to serve the community?

Gustafson said she fears that Idaho’s maternal death total — which more than doubled from 2019 to 2020, the most recent year for which data is available — will rise with one fewer unit of doctors trained in labor and delivery.

The fundamentalist extremists have taken over the Republican Party and are attacking the freedoms of women, gays, transexuals, and anyone whom they hate. And they seem to hate everyone except white fundamentalist Christian men (and their obedient women).  But not all Christians are in their extremist wing of the Party.  When will they turn their back on this unrecognizable Republican Party?

Believe the Former Guy’s threats

 The Former Guy is pretty much only one thing - a hate filled, terrified, vengeful, snarling cornered rat.  The law is closing in. His entire life is focused on revenge. Violent destruction of all those he hates and/or fears. His latest video:

“ In the face of this mounting legal pressure, Trump took to video to demand: “The State Department, the defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services, and all of the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted to fire the deep staters.” Then, he said, his people need to finish the process he began of “fundamentally revaluating [sic] NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission.” “[T]he greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia,” he said, but “some of the horrible USA-hating people that represent us.”

The first part of what he said is a call for his cult to “stand back and stand by” for his call to attack.  Believe the threats. He will do all he can to destroy all that he hates. And he really hates and hates and hates a lot. His threats and hate cover his terror. If he becomes president his vengeance will be real. Believe his threats. 

The second part is his undying support for the murderous Putin, whom he admires so much.  I don’t know if he actually hates NATO or is just doing what Putin demands of him, but if he becomes president he will do all he can to destroy NATO.  

This man is mentally ill. He is consumed by grievance and hatred. He cannot be allowed anywhere near political power. 

Believe him. 

Autocrats-to-be want other autocrats to win

 Potential Republican candidate for president, Ron DeSantis, has claimed that America has no national interest in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  I think this is terrible.  Fox News Tucker Carlson has apparently been promoting pro-Putin propaganda ever since the invasion.  MAGA politicians are calling to stop aid to Ukraine.  Trump's initial reaction to the invasion was gleeful admiration of how smart Putin was to so easily get what he wanted.  

So, do they have a point?  Why should we care?  Should we just shrug and say we don't want to spend MONEY to help Ukraine.  Isn't MONEY the most important thing in the world.  Isn't MONEY more important than democracy or freedom or human rights in the world? in America?

Well, no, actually.  Democracy in the world is much more important than the size of our budget to help Ukraine fight the invasion of Putin's Russia, it seems to me. Why?  Because democracy all around the world, and our own democracy, is at risk.

So, what happens if Russia wins?  What happens if Russian autocracy crushes Ukrainian democracy?  What happens is that autocracy advances around the world.  China is encouraged to invade Taiwan.  Hungary strengthens its corrupt autocracy.  Venezuela, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Belarus, and autocratic and autocratic leaning kleptocracies all around the world are empowered and emboldened.  Human rights, the rule of law, justice, and human dignity are assaulted and crushed more easily.  

And, oh yes, in America too.  Desantis and Trump are just the figureheads of the autocratic movement in America.  The white supremacist, white Christian nationalists in America are hell bent on becoming our own Christian Taliban imposing their harsh morality on us all. And the oligarchs are free of those pesky life saving, environment saving, human dignity saving regulations and constraints.  Plundering corruption becomes unhindered by the rule of law. Happy times for American autocrats. 

DeSantis is about 50 IQ points smarter than Trump, so in some ways he is more dangerous.  (Trump is mentally ill, so I am still more afraid of him)

The point I am trying to make is that autocrats-to-be want other autocrats to win, so they themselves can rule, so they can rule by rule of autocrat rather than rule of law, so they can rule with impunity, with no checks and balances.  The triumph of authoritarian, autocratic rule.

The stakes in Ukraine are democracy in Ukraine, and democracy in Europe, democracy in Taiwan, and democracy in America.  It is no accident that the anti-democratic forces in America (DeSantis, Trump, Carlson, White Christian Nationalists, MAGA Cult, oligarchs, etc.) support Putin's assault on democracy and the rule of law.

Bank collapse - deregulation outcome?

 Is it shocking that Silicon Valley Bank has collapsed?  Not really, I guess. Was it alarming that ideologically blinded Republicans and Trump deregulated the bank?  Yes, especially after banking deregulation was a major contributor to the financial collapse of 2008.  

“Critics have focused on a list of Republican senators who voted to reduce regulatory oversight on Silicon Valley Bank in 2018. Howard Forman, a professor at Yale, shared the list which includes names like Senators Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell, as well as a few Democrats, including Senators Joe Manchin and Tim Kaine.”

And, I guess this bank was entangled in crypto currency?  I have long distrusted crypto as a ponzi scam as well as a climate destroying energy suck. 

It seems to me that deregulation does not spur the economy or jobs or growth,   But rather endangers us all to greed and corruption of those who do not want what they are doing to be seen.  

I hope that this bank collapse is contained and the damage minimal. 

Abortion laws threaten women’s lives and health - of course…

 The Texas abortion plan damages and endangers the lives of women.  I wonder if that isn’t the desire of the cold hearted evangelical Man-is-The-Boss ministers and lawmakers - keep women down and weak.  

“Amanda was forced to wait until she was septic to receive abortion care, causing one of her fallopian tubes to become permanently closed.

Without further explanation, physicians do not know if, for example, ‘a patient with pulmonary hypertension, for whom we cite a 30-to-50% chance of dying with ongoing pregnancy,’ is sufficiently at risk of death or substantial impairment of a major bodily function to permit abortion.”

I want every woman voter in America to know how much suffering, damage, and death is the result of these fanatical, heartless moral scolds passing these dangerous personal freedom robbing laws. 

Unsustainablities

 What things are unsustainable in our country and world? We are in a phase of chaos and destruction, so what are things that might disappear?

• Massive inequality between the super wealthy and the middle class and poor?
• Fossil fuels and corporate agriculture creating environmental destruction?
• Nuclear weapons in the hands of unreliable, authoritarian regimes?
• Military slaughter weapons in possession of a violent American populace?
• Disinformation and lying propaganda media obliterating the news to create autocratic and corrupt forms of rule?
• Political parties dedicated to the overthrow of democracy? 

I don't know how any of these go away, and they never will entirely.  I don't believe in either/or thinking, but rather in both/and thinking - e.g. Fossil fuels will continue, AND green forms of energy will grow, and maybe dramatically.  And I believe agriculture can evolve to both feed billions AND nurture the environment. For example.

But how does America and the world move into a good future with these millstones around their necks?  We'll never have an utopian country or world, but these imbalances are becoming more extreme than ever, it seems to me.  Structures will fall.  

Ultimately, I believe in the future, and I believe that young people and today's kids have a clear view of the problems, and it is their human nature to take the problems on, and solve them, or at least make improvements, and not be trapped in the thinking of the old paradigms that are failing so tragically.

I believe in hope.

Hatred and revenge

 The Former Guy made his declaration of intent in a speech to a diminished but loyal crowd at this year's CPAC event.  He promised only hatred and revenge.  Little vision of the future other than destroying everyone and everything that he hates. And he hates, and hates, and hates a lot.  He said:

“Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

He repeated the phrase for emphasis: “I am your retribution.”

Bolton said "“It would be, first and foremost, getting back at the people he thinks deserve some kind of punishment for not doing what he tells them to do,” Mr. Bolton said. “And it’s a big group of people.”

“I think that’s also a signal that he’s not going to accept a second defeat, the same way he didn’t accept the first defeat,” Mr. Bolton said of Mr. Trump’s election lies.

This is a very disturbed and mentally ill person.  And he still has a devoted, cult like following. I'm afraid that there are too many in his base that share his hatred and craving for revenge.  And they are being fed incendiary hate fuel by the Right Wing propaganda bubble.  Once inside the bubble it is hard to get out.

There is no doubt that he will refuse to concede an election loss, and there is no doubt that he will lead a group of armed and violent followers to the Capitol to stage a coup if he loses.  He tried it before and failed. He will have people much smarter than himself (not hard to find) that could do a better job of succeeding.

I expect America to do better than a second Trump campaign, coup, and autocratic reign of hatred and revenge.  But he has to be stopped, and the first line of defense against this dangerously ill man are Republican voters. I hope and pray that they vote against him and keep him from the nomination.

What happened to the Republican Party?

What has happened to the Republican Party since the rise of the Former Guy?  Interestingly, I am reading a nice murder mystery novel, "The Cruelest Month" by Louise Penny.  In it she describes what went wrong in the leadership of the Homicide Division of the police department of her story:

"He was a bully.  Demanded absolute conformity.  Eventually the really good agents dropped out of his division.  Leaving him with the dregs.  Bullies themselves or agents too scared to stand up to the bully", said Lacoste.  "Thought you said you didn't know the inside story?"  "I don't, but I know schoolyards.  Same everywhere".

That description of the Former Guy's White House, especially at the end, is pretty accurate, and that also pretty much describes what is left of the Republican Party today - when you end up with Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Green bullying and driving from the party Liz Cheney and Adam Kinziger, what you have is a demonstration of the good ones gone and the dregs left.

Sad, pathetic, but also dangerous.  I keep hoping actual Republicans realize their party has disappeared and is just keeping the name in place in hopes of keeping a few to hold their noses and vote.  It's too late now, as best as I can tell, the Former Guy may be beaten by other bullies for the nomination, but all that is left is MAGA extremism, competing to show who is the most vile bully.  

By the way, "The Cruelest Month” was written in 2008, long before the orange one soiled American democracy.

Why did Speaker of the House give national security video footage to the insurrectionists and Putin's Russia?

Astonishingly, the Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy has given security footage to pro-Putin, pro insurrectionist, Tucker Carlson of Fox News.  Are you kidding?  This footage includes revelations of top secret protocols and evacuation routes:

"S]ome lawmakers in the closed-door leadership meeting asked whether sensitive security protocols or certain evacuation routes would be exposed 

Theoretically, Carlson is being given restraints on how he can use it.  But, to me, Carlson has been promoting Putin every chance he gets.  And he certainly has been promoting the virtues of the insurrectionists.  He seems to me to be under the control of Putin and Russia. And he seems to me to be all in on a Right-Wing extremist coup. I do not trust that these secrets are safe.  

This is at minimum a propaganda ploy to somehow try to show the insurrectionist violence of the January 6 attempt to overthrow the government was actually a patriotic, peaceful protest.  At a maximum it is a backdoor way for pro-Russian Carlson to provide top secret info to Russia.

Maybe it's not to give this top-secret info to Russia, maybe it's to give it to the next Right-Wing Extremist planners to succeed next time, 2024, when Trump (or a fellow traveler autocrat) once again loses and tries to overthrow the government.  Many of these extremists are already in Congress today.

Fox News, and Tucker Carlson in particular, are completely untrustworthy around this issue, to me. 

The Political divide – which factors?

 New York Times editorialist, Thomas Edsel, is always a good read to try to understand political and demographic forces in America. 

I think there are two big theories of how the country divides. One is that racial resentment is the biggest indicator of Republican loyalty. And the other is that economic prosperity and higher educational level are the biggest factor of Democratic loyalty.  Both are significant, but the balance seems to tip toward race:

“This factor, racial resentment … does a much, much better job of explaining our current political divisions than education polarization.”

So, does the Party of George Wallace ride again?  Yes, to some degree (I do not believe that all Republicans are racists, but racial resentment is the biggest predictor of Republican Party loyalty)

What about education levels?

"The divide is not just educational levels, although the more educated are more likely to be Democrat and the less educated are more likely to be Republican.  However…in contradiction to the education divide thesis, non-college white people who are not racially resentful have become more Democratic, while college-educated white people who are racially resentful have become more Republican."

Maybe a lot of it has to do with the diversity of where you live, and thus the exposure one has to other races:

“Republican districts,” they write… “are some of the least ethnically diverse districts. But voters within these districts have diverse policy views, particularly on economic issues. Democratic districts are some of the most ethnically diverse districts.”

So, it seems that in Republican districts voters have a variety of policy views but unite around racial resentments.  Ouch.

How to solve?  Race mixing looks like the best way forward.  Meet each other.  See each other as fellow humans.  We fear what we don’t know.  Or so it seems to me.

 

Divide and Profit

 Judy Woodruff of the PBS Newshour has stepped down from the anchor post and has started an exploration of how Americans became so divided. The two parties have separated into tribes and are ever more unable to see each other as fellow humans trying just to figure things out on their way to their graves. 

I think a big part of the distrust, anger, and fear of each other is good old fashioned money. Roger Ailes, former boss of Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh, former talk show luminary, saw that the way to enormous wealth and success was to find a niche audience, tell them that the only way to know the Truth was to Tune In to their shows (and buy air mattresses and My Pillows).  They told their audience that other news sources were lying to them so they had to listen to them exclusively.  All this was was simply promotional advertising. But their audience started to believe their nonsensical hype. They may even have believed it (a little) themselves. It was just building a media audience. The more people who tuned in the more money they made. 

So, what’s wrong with that?  What’s wrong with profit?  

Well, making a profit by making a better mousetrap is capitalism.  But making money by attacking and eventually destroying the voting public’s ability to know the news ends up destroying democracy, because we end up with two visions of the news, two visions of the truth.  We live in a world where one political tribe believes in a world of “alternative facts”, as the Trump spokesperson, Kellyanne Conway, so in-artfully exposed herself and the Trump hype machine. 

Caesar knew the way to rule was to Divide and Conquer. Tragically, in today’s world, the new approach is to Divide and Profit. (And Russia jumps in to increase and inflame the Divide, as they are out to Divide and Conquer)

Eventually the actual truth will out, but so much human damage and tragedy happens along the way. 

Just a reminder, Fox News was just exposed as promoting Trump’s ridiculous Big Lie that the election was stolen from him for one reason only - so that they would not lose audience to Right Wing propaganda competition. None of the Fox News Big Lie hypesters believed the big lie. It was Just Business. 

January 6th violence and death was the result, a host of “Election Deniers” are taking over the Republican Party, and the next violent coup attempt is being planned.

Divide and Profit - and everybody else? WATCH OUT!

Fox news - Have you no decency, at long last????

 The legal case of Dominion Voting Systems against the Fox News Corporation has revealed some obvious and terrifying facts.  Fox News knew that the Trump and Trump team's claims that the election was stolen from Trump was nonsense. But they knowingly and dangerously spread that lie. People died because of that lie.  I hope that Fox loses enough money to Dominion that they go out of business.  I hope that any who can show a death of loved ones due to that lie also sue Fox for all they have - not just Fox, but sue the owners, the Murdochs, for all they have, and sue the lying Fox News primetime propagandists for all they have.  There has to be real consequences for lying and trying to violently overthrow American democracy.

On November 16, Carlson wrote to his producer, Alex Pfeiffer, “Sidney Powell is lying.” 

On November 19, FNC chair Rupert Murdoch wrote: “Really crazy stuff.” 

Hannity later testified: “[T]hat whole narrative that Sidney was pushing. I did not believe it for one second.” 

Fox Politics Editor Chris Stirewalt later testified, “[N]o reasonable person would have thought that,” when asked if it was true that Dominion rigged the election.

...its ratings were plummeting as Trump loyalists jumped to Newsmax.

 After a Fox News reporter tweeted something true that the election had not been stolen "...Carlson told Hannity: “Please get her fired. Seriously…. What the f*ck? I’m actually shocked…. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.” 

The stock price is down - losing viewers - so goodness gracious what is a company to do?  So puzzling? what to do?  what to do? Welllllll.... you just lie, you keep your audience, you foment violent overthrow of the government and end democracy - because, because, because, you know, well, this is a BIDNESS, you've got to make a PROFIT.  Doncha know....

Walter Cronkite rolling over in his grave - and Vladimir Putin smiling happily.  

The only human response is that given by Joseph Welch to Joseph McCarthy that ended the McCarthy hearings and destroyed that man's lying career:  

"Welch was stunned. As he struggled to maintain his composure, he looked at McCarthy and declared, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” It was then McCarthy’s turn to be stunned into silence, as Welch asked, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” 

And of course, it was blindingly obvious that McCarthy indeed had no human decency.  Same for Fox News, Newsmax, Breitbart News, AON, and the entire autocratic Right Wing extremist propaganda "industry".

Liberal analyst James Carville has called this correctly - Republican voters insist on being lied to.  And there will always be a predator out there to do so.  Special thanks to Putin, by the way.

We see what happens to the human race when the only thing that counts is money, profit, ratings, winning at all costs. You get Trump - you get Fox News - you get spitballs in baseball and deflated footballs in Super Bowls, you get degraded, indecent people in America and the world.

America, and the world, is in a deep spiritual crisis - and not because women and couples want the freedom to use contraceptives and use abortion to choose their own family sizes, and not because people want to read Faulkner, and not because people are fleeing organized religion in the millions.  We are in a spiritual crises because "at long last", so many of us "have no decency".

The Fossil Fuel dinosaur

I have been a flea on the back of the Fossil Fuel Beast for about half a century.  It has given me a career, a home, a living.  And I am grateful for all off that.  But it has been clear to me for some time now that the true name of this beast is Fossil Fuel Dinosaur.  Sorry, but the comet has already hit the earth (metaphorically) and the metaphorical ash is already spreading along the atmosphere.  And some of the dinosaurs are already falling over, and others to follow.

Today, I see an article saying that the European Union has approved a ban on new fossil fuel vehicle sales beginning in 2035, and very significant carbon reductions by 2030. This is needed to respond to the life threatening, city and agriculture destroying climate change that is upon us now, only to get worse before we can make it become better.  

To my fossil fuel industry friends, please note that the dinosaurs never went away.  There are billions of them all around the world today - we call them birds.  Yes, birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs.  See the attached graph.  Avialae descended from two legged Tyrannosaurs about 150 million years ago. They adapted and survived whereas the bigger breeds perished.  

The same with fossil fuels.  Interestingly, the former Shah of Iran, deposed by the Iranian Revolution in 1979, once said that oil was too precious to be wasted by burning it for fuel - makes clothing for example.   The point I make is that those parts of the fossil fuel dinosaurs that can adapt to the changing world will survive, but the monsters will not.  

Econ 101 states the most obvious of all economic truths - with the rise of the horseless carriage, the demand for buggy whips declined dramatically.  Much of the fossil fuel industry will find themselves in a metaphorical buggy whip industry eventually.  It is up to them to learn how to move into the future rather than just try to stop the future from happening.

The enormous political power of fossil fuels can hold off the inevitable for only so long.  I am confident that the smartest kids in MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech, England, India, China, and around the world are not dreaming of making their fortunes and legacies by designing more powerful engines or more efficient gas turbines. They are dreaming of revolutionary green energy solutions that save the human race on this precious planet. 

What starts out as impossible becomes dreams which become creative, world changing science and technology. Today’s kids understand this and are eager to push us old fogies aside and get on with creating a livable world rather than just watching it be destroyed by old, dying paradigms. 

The future belongs to them, and I trust them to rise to this enormous challenge.

A heartfelt man

 President Joe Biden gave his State of the Union speech. He was an energetic, forceful, caring man. He stammered a few times, as he has all of his life, but he was not a stumbling old fool that Fox News likes to pretend. 

He took his message to the nation and to the Congress.  He wasn’t reciting a speech.  He was talking to us.  He spoke with passion and force.  He was captivating. Heartfelt.  He was engaged with the lawmakers.  I was impressed.  I was moved.  

He’s up to it.  

The need for regulations

 It is a conservative dogma that all regulation does is stop good men from Getting Things Done. They see regulations as Inhibiting the Free Market. They see regulation as Burdensome Socialism that interferes with and Restricts the Economy.

Well, I see regulations as necessary protections and safeguards against shoddy, or unprincipled, corrupt work.

The terrible earthquakes in Turkey show us what happens when buildings are not built to good earthquake codes and regulations.  There was a huge apartment building in Florida that collapsed for no reason other than corrupt building practices.  I have a friend who had a large, heavy tree branch fall on his roof - and the roof held because it was built to code - annoying, expensive code - that saved their home and perhaps their lives. 

I like regulations that have buildings built to code, that have drugs made that are actual drugs, that protect against air and water pollution and filth, etc.  I am all for good regulations and codes.

The tragedy in Turkey is beyond imagination and belief.  Unfathomable pain.

Xenophobic self destruction

 What can one expect from xenophobic extremism?  In Britain, you got Brexit.  In America, you got Trump and the MAGA Cult. In short, you get self destructive catastrophe.

How did that Brexit thing work out? It cratered the British economy. The obvious outcome. As Farid Zakaria wrote:

“ This year, the British economy will do worse than all of the world’s major economies — including Russia.”

And how is MAGA working out in America?  It has imprisoned a host of extremist fools and traitors, with the long arm of the law reaching out for more.  And, oh yes, it is losing elections and is on the way to destroying the Republican Party.  Let us hope it doesn’t destroy America and the world as well. 

It’s not just xenophobia, of course, it is also bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, fundamentalist fanaticism, and targeted violence and cruelty.  It seems sad to me that what used to be a functioning political party has been taken over by such backward and spiritually ugly fanatics and con-artists. 

It’s all being driven by huckster propagandists cashing in on people’s real pain, fear, and confusion to build their own fame and fortunes - whose ethos seems to be “What’s good for me is - good for me - too bad for anyone else”

I see MAGA as lost souls who need to find their way back to decency and reality. Or so it seems to me. 

DeSantis political stunts

 Ron DeSantis, Republican presidential hopeful, just came up with another political stunt - proposing tax breaks for gas stoves - a stunt supposed to show the extremist gullibles that he is Fighting The Deep State in their endless culture wars.  James Carville, liberal political strategist, astutely pointed out recently that DeSantis’s Achilles tendon is his reliance on stunts, and the problem with stunts rather than plans is that you have to keep coming up with stunts.  And that will eventually Peter out. 

Ho hum….

Why is there cruelty?

 Maybe Seneca figured it out:

 "All cruelty springs from weakness." — Seneca

So much violence

 There is so much violence in America. There is so much violence in the world. I try to understand. I try to be understanding. I’m not doing it very well. 

Tyre Nichols, 29 year old black man, was beaten to death after a “traffic stop” by five black cops. He was defenseless. He was not a threat. The officers are charged with second degree murder. How to understand this?  

Maybe it is about the thrill of being dominant. The bully, who is afraid of being weak, feels strong when they crush the spirit of another. 

Maybe it’s a group dynamic where the madness of violence escalates as each feels compelled to escalate the violence. 

Maybe it’s just sadistic sexual pleasure in inflicting pain. 

Maybe it’s men in pain wanting others to feel pain just like they do. 

Maybe it’s hypermasculine “tough guy” compulsion needing to prove something - to others - to themselves. 

The video was terrible. Human atrocities are hard to bear. 

There is a cult of violence in the country, in the world, and certainly in police departments. This one can’t be blamed on racism. This is endemic to police culture.  

If I were a police officer I would be enraged that my good name is being destroyed by sadists in the profession  I would want a meaningful purge of the deranged next to me.

It just goes on and on  

The Right Wing Extremist Coup continues

 The right wing extremist January 6, 2021 coup only partially failed. Those members of the House of Representatives that were part and parcel of the coup, helping to plan and execute the coup, have been reelected in November, and are now on key committee positions in the new House of Representatives.

It is very good news that the bulk of the “Election Deniers” were rejected by the voters, but key insurrectionists are in the House now. 

What happens when those who planned the insurrection, and we’re being investigated by the January 6 committee, are now in charge of the same committees? The answer is obvious, the criminals will conduct false investigations of those who were investigating them.

Democracy is still under threat by authoritarian, autocratic fascists. They call themselves Republicans, but the Republican party that I was once a member of has been killed by these extremists long ago.

My hope and expectation is that these people are so blatantly unpleasant, nasty, unattractive, and unfair that they destroy themselves and open the possibility for the Republican Party to once again become the Republican Party rather than the anti-democracy, autocratic, theocratic, oligarchical, Qanon party that it is today. 

Nasty, unprincipled, dogmatic, authoritarian, uncooperative - House Republicans

 They don’t play well together. Let’s hope they destroy each other before they succeed in their goal of destroying democracy, America, and the world. -- 

Gun sanity in Illinois

 In this time of right-wing extremist nuttiness, it is nice to see a sign of sanity in Illinois - a ban on assault weapons.

"Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed a statewide assault weapons ban on Wednesday, making it the ninth state to adopt the measure, reports Axios.

The gun extremists, aided by the extremist right-wing Supreme Court majority, have destroyed the original meaning of the Second Amendment to ignore the intent - which was to empower individual States to have a readily armed state sanctioned militia it could call up to defend the state against foreign invasion.  That obvious intent has long been ignored and discarded to become everybody gets to have whatever weapons they want, including weapons of war - assault weapons.  And hundreds of slaughters every year is the result.  

But Illinois is the 9th state to say no to this idiocy.

Thank you.

Hakeem Jeffries alphabet of Democratic values

 Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives gave a memorable speech in his first official speech a minority leader. He laid out the alphabet of Democratic  Party Values as contrasted to those of the dysfunctional Republican Party.  I honor it here:

“House Democrats,” he said, “will always put 

American values over autocracy, 

benevolence over bigotry, the 

Constitution over the cult, 

democracy over demagogues, 

economic opportunity over extremism, 

freedom over fascism, 

governing over gaslighting, 

hopefulness over hatred, 

inclusion over isolation, 

justice over judicial overreach, 

knowledge over kangaroo courts, 

liberty over limitation, 

maturity over Mar-a-Lago, 

normalcy over negativity, 

opportunity over obstruction, 

people over politics, 

quality of life issues over QAnon, 

reason over racism, 

substance over slander, 

triumph over tyranny, 

understanding over ugliness, 

voting rights over voter suppression, 

working families over the well-connected, 

xenial over xenophobia, 

‘yes, we can’ over ‘you can do it,’ and 

zealous representation over zero-sum confrontation.” 

Well done. 

January 6 Republican insurrections - 2021 and 2023

 1/6/21 - Trump sent the violent right wing autocratic insurrectionists to attack the Capital and take over America.  They failed. Prison for many. Destroyed lives resulted.  

1/6/23 - the self proclaimed Republican “Taliban 20” forced the hapless and helpless Kevin McCarthy to concede to all their demands (and getting nothing in return other than the title of Sneaker of the House - but we all know he will not be in charge).

What do they expect to be able to do? Destroy the Federal Government, of course.  Republicans, especially the Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, the MAGA Cult, and The QAnon conspiratorialists have long despised government agencies because they get in the way of their profits, in the way of their exploiting the environment, in the way of their freedom to express their multiple bigotries, etc.  

But I think they will fail again.  I think they will destroy themselves instead. I think they will display their profoundly unpleasant and ugly characters and their dysfunctional pathologies. 

I think they will fail again, because I think American goodness, truth, and beauty is stronger than American greed, bigotry, and ignorance. 

But, to paraphrase Bette Davis in one of her old movies, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride”

Deal with the devil

 Kevin McCarthy made a deal with the "devil" (Trump, the Tea Party crazies, MAGA crazies, Freedom Caucus crazies) and now he is in hell. A well-deserved hell, indeed.  He has failed to get the votes to become Speaker of the House 11 times, so far.  The Republican extremists will never vote for him.  I'm not sure they will ever vote for anyone other than one of their own extremist fanatics. 

McCarthy groveled to the Former Guy, to the MAGA cult, to the Freedom Caucus, to the QAnon nutjobs.  And all he can find as he prostrates himself in the mud, is mouthfulls of mud.

Make a deal with the devil and you don't get the deal, but you do get the devil.

They don't play well together

The Republicans narrowly won the House of Representatives in November and are trying to select someone to lead them and become the Speaker of the House.  They can't do it.  They have the same problem now that drove John Boehner out of the Speakership years ago - the Freedom Caucus is nuts.  Boehner quote:

“They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mind-set is.”

The Freedom Caucus/Tea Party folks were the first ones to drive me out of the Republican Party.  They seem to literally want to end all government and let the bigots, oligarchs, and hucksters pillage and despoil America at will. 

So, now the country and the world get to watch while people who seem to hate everything that is decent or worthwhile turn on their own Republican Party and strut their ugliness on the big stage of American government.

I write this while the votes for Speaker have failed twice.  It is kind of entertaining watching obnoxious people being obnoxious.

Name That Party!

The Former Guy is threatening to run for President as a third party candidate if the Republican Party doesn’t wholeheartedly support him. He said ”…you lose forever without me. I don’t care. This is what Republicans deserve for not sticking up for me.” 

I would like to give him some suggested party names - 

1. I’mNotaLoser Trump Party. 

2. I’mStillImportant Trump Party

3. PleasePayAttentionToMe Trump Party

4. PleaseDon’tForgetMe Trump Party

5. MyPeckerIsReallyBig Trump Party

6. You’llBeSorry Trump Party

7. PsychopathsOnly Trump Party

Just a few helpful suggestions….

I have a dream for 2023

 I have a dream - that the Russian people will say NO to their pathological crazies. Just like the American people said no to our right wing crazies. Only the Russians can stop Putin and his cruel inner circle of crazies. It can be done. America said no to most of the election denier extremists running this November, severely crimping their planned fascist overthrow of American democracy. 

Some got elected in America, sadly, and will assault our democracy as best they can. The crazies will still be there and be repugnantly in the news - Jim Jordan and Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Margery Taylor Green and Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham to who knows who all.  

 But I sincerely hope they just become a disgusting and embarrassing clown show that forces the Republican Party to override them and push them out of their obsessive need to control the Party and the country.

America has the tool of elections and the Russians don’t, but maybe pathological insane tyrants cannot hang on if they get crazy enough.  Maybe the people can find a way…

Hotter climate coming

 Apparently, the cooling effects of La Niña are fading and the warming effects of El Niño are coming. Not happy news.  Already the mighty Colorado river is dangerously low, with a reduction in hydropower and water for humans and agriculture at serious risk. And the Mightiest of all, the Mississippi is so low that its waterway transport of commerce is threatened. Here from the article:

“ In 2023, the relentless increase in global heating will continue, bringing ever more disruptive weather that is the signature calling card of accelerating climate breakdown.   According to NASA, 2022 was one of the hottest years ever recorded on Earth. This is extraordinary, because the recurrent climate pattern across the tropical Pacific—known as ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation)—was in its cool phase. During this phase, called La Niña, the waters of the equatorial Pacific are noticeably cooler than normal, which influences weather patterns around the world.  One consequence of La Niña is that it helps keep a lid on global temperatures. This means that—despite the recent widespread heat waves, wildfires and droughts—we have actually been spared the worst. The scary thing is that this La Niña will end and eventually transition into the better-known El Niño, which sees the waters of the equatorial Pacific becoming much warmer. When it does, the extreme weather that has rampaged across our planet in 2021 and 2022 will pale into insignificance. … ”  Read more from WIRED here: El Niño is coming—and the world isn’t prepared”

Tear down these statues

 West point is removing statues that honor confederate traitors and insurrectionists. Finally. 

The capital is finally removing a statue of Roger Taney, infamous Supreme Court Justice who wrote the dreaded Dred Scott decision declaring whites to be superior to blacks who were nothing more than property of whites  

There is hope for America.  Thank you  

Criminal referrals to the DOJ

 Finally, a criminal referral from the January 6 Committee Tuesday.  A summary from PBS:

Criminal referrals for Trump
 
The committee concluded there is enough evidence to convict former President Trump and recommended that the Department of Justice make the following criminal charges:

• Obstruction of an official proceeding. The “proceeding” being the Jan. 6 meeting of Congress itself.
• Conspiracy to defraud the United States. The committee argued that this happened in multiple ways, including Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and then-Vice President Pence’s role in certification among other issues.
• Conspiracy to knowingly make a false statement. The committee said Trump broke this statute by participating in a plot to submit fake slates of electors.
• Assisting, aiding or comforting an insurrection. The committee believes Trump incited the U.S. Capitol attack, but notes he was impeached on that charge already. The report summary specifically concludes there is enough evidence to convict and, therefore, to charge Trump with “assisting, aiding or comforting” the insurrection. The focus here is on his actions as the attack unfolded — and his lack of action in not moving to stop it.

Prison please…

And, oh yes, “others”….

Prison please…

Crypto scams

 It seems to me that Americans are especially susceptible to scams these days. Two that come to mind are cryptocurrency and NFTs. 

I have a written against crypto currencies many times in the past. My first big problem with them is that in a time of global warming and climate change, cryptocurrencies require huge, warehouses of computers, using enormous amounts of energy in order to make the system work. Most electrical power comes from fossil fuels which are major contributors to our climate crises. There is no need for any of this. Dollars and banks work just fine.

My second big problem with crypto currencies is that it is the preferred currency for drug cartels, money launderers, and criminals all around the world. Why? Because there is no government regulation looking at what is going on, and criminals love that, of course.

And now we see a third major reason to distrust cryptocurrencies, and it is that without regulation, without a government oversight, cryptocurrencies become natural vehicles for Ponzi Schemes. The FTX scam stole nearly $4 billion from investors – better thought of as victims. This Ponzi Scheme apparently dwarfs the previous record holder, Bernie Madoff, for evil. I personally have been the victim of a real estate Ponzi Scheme and I’m more sensitive than most to the terrible assault that these kinds of crimes are.

And then there are NFTs – non-fungible tokens. Apparently these also use Blockchain, so my problem with them starts with environmental damage caused by extraordinary needs for electrical power. And we recently had the former president offer a series of NFT “cards” available for $99 each. Having this lifelong criminal use NFTs as a way to scam his gullible cult is reason enough to be suspicious of their nature. Apparently his sale was quite successful, and does that mean that thousands of cult members paid out this money, or does it mean this was simply a way for him to get a hostile foreign power like China, Russia, or Saudi Arabia to give him vast sums of money?

We live in a time of great economic turmoil. So I suppose it is natural that scams and thieves come with the territory.

I believe in normal investments, using normal money, The United States dollar with government rules, regulations, audits, and oversight.

Too powerful to take down?

Is the Former Guy too powerful to face Justice?  Is he immune? Will he always get away with it?

Well, that is what everyone thought about Harvey Weinstein - in prison, and more convictions to come 

That’s what they thought about Jeffrey Epstein. And was arrested then killed himself in prison.  Same with his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell - in prison awaiting trial. 

That’s what they thought about Madoff - in prison.

That’s what Stewart Rhodes, head of the extremist Oath Keepers thought - convicted of Seditious Conspiracy.

That’s what they thought about Bill Cosby - prison and a ruined life. 

That’s what they thought about Qaddafi and Mussolini - beaten to death by their former subjects. 

That’s what they thought about Saddam Hussein - hanged. 

That’s what they thought about Goebbels and Hitler - killed themselves. 

They are too powerful - until they aren’t. 

The Former Guy is not immune. And the law is closing in. And he’s terrified. And he will destroy anything and anyone he can to save himself. I would not want to be his children, his lawyers, his employees, his Republican Party now. Watch out, for them, and for America, and American democracy.  

The forecast is incoming Ugly with storms of Crazy.

But I think he may be just a spent force, a one foot wave who thinks he is a fifty foot tsunami. 

Prison please. 

Desperate call to overturn the Constitution

The Former Guy is feeling the law closing in on him from all sides, and in keeping with his poisonous pathological narcissistic nature he is now calling for his cult to overthrow the Constitution and make him king.

“A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”  And he repeats for the gazillionth time his preposterous lie that the 2020 election was stolen from his majestic self.

Actually, he is in severe danger of indictment for Seditious Conspiracy, for espionage for stealing top secret documents and hiding them, and for tax evasion and bank fraud. 

So, what is left for a psychopath to do except call for a violent coup - again?

And, by the way, Republicans are meeting this call to overthrow the government with - silence.  Silence?  

Are they declaring that the Republican Party is actually an autocratic fascistic party whose whole being is dedicated to forceful rule of a dictator and ignore the Rule of Law and the Constitution?

I expect this desperate raving will have little effect and the Gears of Justice will grind on, and this pathetic little man will shrink into the sunset, whining and whimpering. 

By the way, I wonder who wrote that for him?  It used kind of big words and the spelling and grammar were correct.