Thankful? For Now

 

I suppose we should be thankful today for a semblance of justice, delayed and obstructed as it was, for the racist murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

Arbery’s killers, along with the likes of fellow predators Zimmerman and Rittenhouse, are showing us how American vigilante racists want the right to hunt, provoke, and kill human targets.

And talk about white privilege and entitlement.

"Self defense! That Black guy tried to grab mah shotgun from me... after I shot him with mah rifle! I'M the VICTIM, here!"

Now the racists are saying the verdict proves the US is "not a racist country", ignoring the systemic racism that would have never brought them to trial.

All it proves is racism is real, and finally thanks to videos, more guilty verdicts are reached.

If local authorities in Georgia had their way, no one would have been charged for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

The original prosecutor called the murder "justifiable homicide". She’s been indicted for interfering in the arrest of the defendants.

The public saw the video. There were weeks of protests before charges were even brought in the case.  74 days passed after Arbery was shot and killed in February 2020.

What decent person wasn’t shocked by the nasty racist defense attorney when she demonized the victim with her "long, dirty toenails" crack? It's not hard to imagine she'd have said "filthy animal" if she thought she could get away with it.

Racism isn’t racism to racists.

At least there will be three less Trump/Republican voters in Georgia for the next few elections.

Radical right Republicans, white nationalists, and other racists and bigots still want to deny such systemic racism exists. So they’re banning the study and teaching of the history and effects of slavery and racism, calling it "Marxist CRT".

And they have no frickin' idea what Critical Race Theory even is. It’s their perfect warped and ill-defined tool to elevate white fright. If it scares, it fares. Just ban it.

Ignorance is strength. - Big Brother 1984

MAGAts would prefer to take us back to the good old days when nobody was charged for lynching or for the Tulsa Massacre.

Trump is calling Democrats communists, as his House fascists share their fantasies of killing them.

Man. That's a LOT of hate. In fact, it's stochastic terrorism. It's way more than just a war on voter rights and democracy. Armed violence is being brazenly pushed, and condoned, by the Republican Party.

How many more Americans will be slaughtered by radical Right domestic terrorists?

Trumpism's continuing "gift" to America is escalating dishonesty, division, rampant racist hatred and fascistic demonization of any opposition.

What we need is more justice, more voter protections, more democracy, and more accountability for Trump’s Big Lie and coup.

If we don’t get that soon, the US will be turning a corner into a deep darkness of political violence and tyranny.

For the moment, we need to be thankful for our right to vote and steer the country back towards sanity and decency.

Unlearned Lessons

Another Veterans Day has come and gone, each time seeing fewer remaining veterans from World War II.

We are appropriately accustomed to thanking them for their service, but we rarely discuss why they fought.

My father-in-law earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star when he served in Patton's Third Army during the Battle of the Bulge and liberation of Buchenwald. He saw the end results of unchecked fascism.

Those inmates were all "enemies of the state", enemies of the “Deutshce Volk”, (German people). They were communists, socialists, educators, non-heterosexual people, and members of the wrong religion/heritage.

Even if someone wasn’t in any of those groups, he could still be labeled an enemy of the people and sent to the camps. The “law” allowed this.

Every atrocity the Nazis committed was "legal". The Enabling Act of March 23, 1933 allowed the Reich government to issue laws without the consent of Germany's parliament, laying the foundation for the complete Nazification of German society.

Echoes of Hitler's racist fascism are now ringing across America. As with the Third Reich, the resentments and anger of white nationalist bigots have fueled the rise of the radical Right and Trumpism.

We're on the precipice of a one-party dictatorship if voter rights are not protected and gerrymandering is allowed to continue.

This is the party that still supports a leader who calls democrats communists. He calls the press the enemy of the people. He makes scapegoats of immigrants and minorities. He rose to power by fueling racism and hate.

The leader is a criminal sociopath who incited a violent coup and praised the mob of thugs for their efforts.

His party of radical Right American fascists constantly employs propaganda tactics to portray liberals, Democrats, Socialists, educators, atheists, immigrants and minorities as repugnant and evil as possible. They deliberately cultivate resentment and hate for them in their white nationalist supporters and duped base.

They organize and stage a coup, attempt to bully the Justice Department and state officials to overturn an election, plot to kidnap a governor, threaten congress and political opponents, threaten election officials, engage in vigilantism, and openly intimidate others by brandishing weapons.

They seize power to suppress voters, nullify elections, ban books, and ban teaching the history of racism and slavery.

His party is getting away with it all. See any parallels here?

This is fascism.

Never forget these crimes against freedom and democracy.

Let’s also not forget our Constitution didn't prevent Bush from starting a war based on lies, locking people up without charges, and implementing torture.

And always remember the US Holocaust Museum list of the early warning signs of fascism:

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
4. Rampant sexism
5. Controlled mass media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government intertwined
8. Corporate power protected
9. Labor power suppressed
10. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
11. Obsession with crime and punishment
12. Rampant cronyism and corruption

This is radical Right Republican Trumpism, folks. And it is fascism.

Too many Americans fail to see this ongoing domestic threat to our republic, and fail to learn the lessons of history. Either American fascists are held accountable by the rule of law, or there will be no rule of law to constrain the authoritarian party of Trump.

If the rule of law doesn’t apply to the rulers, there can be no rule of law, and no democratic republic, and the future will certainly be further darkened by American Radical Right fascism.

I guarantee it.

Sorry, Kids

 

Is it just a passing mood, or clear insight into a grim forecast?

Future American fascists will do what they are doing now. Appeals to greed and inflaming resentment, anger, and hatred have always nurtured the radical Right. They know the “Big Lie” will deceive and radicalize enough Americans into supporting a tyrant and his coup. Despite, or because of, his praise for his violent mob of insurrectionists, Trump will be their revered hero and they will build statues of him. This is the irrefutable identifying mark of a fascist leader and his movement.

1/6 will never have happened. The history of slavery and racism will be expunged. The corrupt and radicalized white Right minority will rule, as they portray themselves as victims, in order to suppress democratic opposition.

Hate crimes will continue to rise in number and intensity. Mobs will swarm and intimidate every level of government function, from local school boards, county offices, state capitols, up to the nation’s Capitol 

They will continue their minority rule, and seize increasing power through their disproportionate representation, suppression of minority and democratic voters, and control of elections. Minority rule is exactly what corporate interests have been buying all along. Their partnership with the radical Right will assure fascism’s future in the United States.

Equal justice under law will be a forgotten concept.

They will continue their lies, smears and demonization of dissent and opposition, and eventually criminalize it. They already falsely and viciously accuse Democrats of being communists and progressives as “commie/fascists”. The press is the “enemy of the people”. It doesn’t take any special psychic ability to envision where fascistic scapegoating and false accusations will take us.

The lessons of history will be banned and erased as if they were Critical Race Theory. Orwell’s Big Brother will be their role model. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

And above all, “Ignorance is strength”.

This is America's present and future. The Right's dominance is already assured by their disproportionate representation and power in the Senate, their gerrymandered House, their stolen Supreme Court, and the antiquated Electoral College.

Our future was written in the past. Ironically, our Constitution was drafted with flaws that would become toxic to democratic representation.

This is NOT, nor has it EVER been, a democratic representative republic.

Sorry kids, it was rigged for rich white people from the beginning. It was only a matter of time when corporate elites and their crooked and corrupt white authoritarian enablers would lock their grip on the throat of democracy and establish the power of American fascism.

Please feel free to change my mind. Or if that’s impossible, I’ll settle for a slight elevation of my mood.

Prime Doctrines

I've recently been banned from a certain Trumpist's site, despite our having a long history of commenting at each other's blogs. (He and his loyal pals may still comment here.)

"Prager U" is one of his go-to sources of information and opinion. It is his gospel, of course. It is all believed 100% beyond question.

Ever since he drank the Big Lie koolade, he's been self-radicalizing to the extreme.  He finally had enough of my repeated requests for evidence showing the election was stolen. (Oh, me of little faith.)

After years of  lecturing me on how much I was being "Marxist, Leftist, Socialist”, etc, he's now all aboard the "Leftists Are Fascists" train. 

Well, that train derailed. Do they know fascists have always hated communists?

Do they know, or care, what those words even mean? Or is it just about the hate? 

Exhibit A: "Anyone that simply wishes to throw "Nazi" and "fascist" firebombs as a means of debate is not a useful source at all, other than as an example of how low the militant left has descended."

Of course, it was also acceptable discourse to be called "Commie racist Dave".

Their Leader recently declared, “Slobs and Radical Left maniacs at the View” are the “Communists” Meghan McCain should fight.

And at the radical Turning Point rally:

 “Like it or not, we are becoming a communist country. That’s what’s happening...The radical left democrat communist party".

That’s also when his standard Trumpian projection echoed Goebbels:

“That’s what they’re doing. You know what it’s called? Disinformation. They make up a lot of crap and they say it over and over and over…”

Like someone being a commie AND a fascist. 

Of course our Trumpist friend has been conditioned to reflexively ignore, dismiss, or deny all information from the “Liberal Media, Fake News, Enemies of the people”. He can believe only pro-Trump media. 

It was only a few years ago he agreed Trump wasn't morally fit to be president.

He grew weary of ignoring facts and dismissing appeals to reason, of course. It may even have made him uncomfortable. That made me a "hater". Well, that and being such a dirty, lying Socialist/Leftist/Commie/Fascist.

I think what really snapped his girdle was when I challenged him for still supporting Trump, knowing he praised the violent 1/6 terrorists AFTER their failed coup.

It did not compute.

He was utterly incapable of disagreeing, or even recognizing the statement.

So he had to ban me for my "hate".

I’m not so sad to leave as so happy to have been there.

Really. I’ve learned a bit. Those on the radical Right have strong FEELINGS, and beliefs beyond introspection. Beyond facts, logic and reason.

And I have gained a belief of my own, albeit open to as much question as my fascist tolerance allows.

I believe there are two important things to understand about cults like the American far Right.

The radical Right and Trump Cult have two Orwellian operating "principles".  

The Two Prime Doctrines of the American Radical Right:

1. The Doctrine of Flexible Morality and Ethics. “It's OK if you’re a Republican.”

“Anything and everything. Identical words and actions are evil if by a Democrat, but never if by a Republican.”

 (Right. My body. My choice. If not for double standards, they’d have none.)

2. The Doctrine of Flexible Reality.*

“Everything is as we say, contradictions included, and everyone else is lying.”

* (Corollaries) “There is no such thing as a Doctrine of Flexible Morality and Ethics. There is no such thing as a Doctrine of Flexible Reality. Unless we say there is.” 

(This doctrine was established and expanded upon by their propagandists over the decades, and employed every day across their cult. They were now ready for Trump, their Dear Leader of infallible words and deeds.)

I can’t think of anything these “principles” can’t cover in their deranged and delusional cult bubble.

Ignorance is strength. 

2+2=5, comrades.

Random Tweets

 

Well, maybe these tweets of mine are not quite so random samples, but they are important points on how our republic is failing, and falling into authoritarianism.

“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell 

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people, especially in large groups." - George Carlin

"Just find me 11,780 votes." "Just say the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me." They are criminals and enemies of democracy. Period.

They are seizing the power to invalidate every election they lose. Fair elections and fair representation are the antithesis of the radical Right and Trumpism. A system already rigged for minority rule isn't good enough for them.

The country was founded on anti-democratic roadblocks like the Electoral College , the Senate, and now the gerrymandered House 

The majority voted for the Democrat in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections. The Senate, gerrymandered House, and Electoral College are biased for the minority. Thus the majority of Americans, not conservatives, are marginalized.

Systemic denial of systemic racism is actually systemic racism. The radical Right sees the study of racism and its effects as a Marxist assault on our freedom, and is why they want to ban the 1619 Project and anything that looks like CRT.

The radical Right have more tolerance for Trump's gang of racist vandals, felons, thugs, white nationalists, Q-Anon believers, Proud Boys, Nazis, Oath Keepers, etc. than they do for those investigating them. It is the "Authoritarian Way".

Sociopaths can thrive in system that rewards their manipulative machinations. They will have the support of the 30% of humanity with authoritarian personalities. Apathy is the ally of authoritarians.

Magat brains are poisoned with not only the lies, but animosity for everyone who isn't in their cult. They are being indoctrinated to hate and fear us as America-hating Leftists, on the cusp of a communist takeover. They are that nuts. And evil.

It is a cult, with a leader revered beyond question, and all outside information is rejected. Journalism went from "liberal media", to "fake news" and finally to "enemy of the people". The Right has always depended on falsehoods, and a gullible base, so this was inevitable.

Facts still matter to honest and rational people. Unfortunately "alternative facts" matter more to dishonest and irrational people.

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. "The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived."

“The truth is too complex and frightening; the taste for the truth is an acquired taste that few acquire…. ….The world winks at dishonesty.” ― Walter Kaufmann.

Voltaire: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."  Absurdities like witch trials, inquisitions, the "final solution", war based on lies, torture as "enhanced interrogation" and a "Stop the steal" coup.

Their fear of democracy and equality drives the radical Right into fits of lies, false accusations, demonization, and denials of election results. To hold power, they STILL need to cheat, suppress voter rights and seize control of elections.

They can't seem to imagine how much they’d screech and howl, “Impeach”, “Traitor”, “Liar”, and “Commie!”, if President Obama or President Biden had done or said exactly what Trump did and said.

If his 1/6 coup didn't make it clear enough, what will it take for the corporate media to admit Trumpism IS fascism? He PRAISED the TERRORISTS! Why isn't this fact included in every report about that man?

Imagine If...

Where hate, lies and ignorance converge:

“All house Democrats are evil and will kill unborn babies all the way up to birth and then celebrate.” – MTG shouting to Debbie Dingell on the Capitol steps.

Margie Greene forgot the part where Dems celebrate by dancing naked around the fire they roast the dead babies on.

Seriously, this along with the “Left hates America” style convergence of hate, lies and ignorance will get the semi-literate, irrational, dupes and true believers thinking we literate and rational objectors are the enemies of the United States.  We’ve seen this fascistic level of hate and lies before.

This madness is exactly how they will justify killing or imprisoning those who disagree with the man who said this:

“Like it or not, we are becoming a communist country. That’s what’s happening. The radical left democrat communist party"

This convergence of hate, lies and ignorance is fascism. And it is deadly to democracy and humanity.

The Radical Right has shown they have an outlandish imagination in their fantasies about their opposition. No accusation is too far-fetched or detached from reality. They readily embrace crazed conspiracy theories and disinformation from the likes of Alex Jones and Q-anon. They regurgitate Trump’s everyday lies as well as his Big Lie.

They imagine BLM as evil racist commie Marxist hordes. They imagine Critical Race Theory, and every other study of the history and effects of slavery and racism, as “Marxism”, and should be banned in educational settings. (Say didn’t Nazis and Commies ban education on subjects they didn’t want taught?)

They even see public education as “commie indoctrination”. They imagine Democrats are all socialists and Marxists, coming for their guns, desecrating their churches, running pedophile rings, and seeking to emulate Venezuela. They imagine the free press is the "enemy of the people”. They even imagine Trump was sent by Jesus, or he’s His choice for president.

Yes. Putin and Jesus agree on that.

But amazing as their imaginations are, there are many things they seem unable to imagine.

They can’t seem to imagine...

...If President Obama or President Biden had threatened an opponent with imprisonment.

...If President Obama or President Biden had bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without their consent.

...If President Obama or President Biden had illegally paid off a porn star for her silence before an election.

...If President Obama or President Biden had invited Russia to hack opponents emails.

...If President Obama’s or President Biden’s campaign met with Russians for dirt on his opponent.

...If President Obama or President Biden had betrayed the US and sided with Putin on the world stage in Helsinki.

...If President Obama or President Biden obstructed FBI investigations of election interference.

...If President Obama or President Biden had declared, “You have people who are very fine people on both sides”, when one side had white supremacists, marching Nazis, and a murderer.

...If President Obama or President Biden had called the free press the “enemy of the people”.

...If President Obama or President Biden had withheld aid approved by Congress on condition of a foreign leader’s political attack on his opponent.

...If President Obama or President Biden had whined about the “fascist Republican Party”, as Trump whined about the “socialist Democrat Party”

...If President Obama or President Biden had said, “Hitler did a lot of good things”.

...If President Obama or President Biden had complained he would only lose if the election was rigged.

...If President Obama or President Biden had lied about a “stolen election” if he had lost.

...If President Obama or President Biden had complained about a “rigged election” even if he won.

...If President Obama or President Biden had accused a secretary of state of being a criminal if he didn’t "Just find me 11,780 votes."

...If President Obama or President Biden had pressured the acting  attorney general to "Just say the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me."

...If President Obama or President Biden had incited a mob to overturn an election, to march to the Capitol, and to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal”.

...If President Obama or President Biden had watched his supporters storm the Capitol on TV and refuse to order them to stop.

...If President Obama or President Biden had praised that mob of terrorists as “very special” and told them he loved them.

...If President Obama or President Biden had chosen the day Congress was to follow its constitutional mandate to certify an election, and had said this to an agitated violent mob:

“Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about.

We’re going to have somebody in there that should not be in there and our country will be destroyed, and we’re not going to stand for that.

You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.

I like Bill Barr, but he changed, because he didn’t want to be considered my personal attorney.

Make no mistake, this election, stolen from you, from me and from the country.

If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country.

We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.

We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”

They can’t seem to imagine how anyone saying these words could incite a mob to violently storm the Capitol.

They can't seem to imagine how much they’d screech and howl, “Impeach”, “Traitor”, “Liar”, and “Commie!”, if President Obama or President Biden had done or said exactly what Trump did and said.

We’ll just have to imagine that for them.

 

The Marginalized Majority

 

Maybe you’ve noticed a few things about our nation's current political landscape.

Nobody complains more about being marginalized than conservatives.

Nobody complains more about their voices being unheard than conservatives.

Nobody demands to “take our country back” more than conservatives. 

Nobody claims to be “real Americans”, and vilifies opponents for “hating America” more than conservatives.

Nobody howls about “rigged elections” more than conservatives.

Nobody believes Trump’s Big Lie about a stolen election more than conservatives. This will encourage the radical Right to deny the results of every election they lose.

But what are the facts, besides the obvious one that Biden won the election?

The facts tell us who really are the truly marginalized Americans in our so-called representative democratic republic.

They are not conservatives. And they are not the minority.

The majority of Americans voted for the Democrat in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections.

Through wild and convoluted gerrymandering, Republicans have been in the majority in the House of Representatives for four of the past six congresses, despite the fact Democrats have won more total votes in four of the six past midterm elections.

50 Democratic Senators represent 40 million more Americans than the 50 Republican Senators.

The Electoral College has a built in bias for mostly white conservative rural states.

These facts tell us who actually are the marginalized victims of disproportionate, unfair and reduced representation in our government.

Blacks, other minorities, women, and Democrats.

It’s no coincidence, or quirk of demographics, that the Republican Party and its elected officials are overwhelmingly conservative white men.

No wonder their fear of democracy and equality drives the radical Right into fits of lies, false accusations, demonization, and denials of election results.

To hold power they STILL need to cheat, suppress voter rights and seize partisan control of elections.

Elections are rigged all right. In favor of Republicans.