Hitler Was Defeated, Nazis Remain

75 years ago the war in Europe was ended. On May 8, 1945 Hitler’s Nazi      regime was finally annihilated. Hitler was dead, but not before inflicting immeasurable destruction, loss of lives, and human suffering. 

His racism, fascism, police state, war of aggression and murderous holocaust should have taught humanity a lesson. And it did for many people through the following few decades.

That was then.

Now the hated swastika flag and emblem of racist white supremacy has found a  new home. It flies along with Confederate flags and Trump banners all over the United States of America. One Trump supporter even displayed the flag at a Bernie rally in Phoenix before having it torn from his hands. 

We have a president who built his base on claims the Black president was not born an American, suggesting he was illegitimate. This president accuses law enforcement officers of treason for investigating his crimes and those of his cronies. His political adversaries are similarly accused of treason and hating America. He calls journalists enemies of the people for reporting facts that reveal his dishonesty and never-ending diatribes that fuel far Right resentment, anger and hate.

The president said there were “very fine people” marching in the Confederate and Nazi flagged “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.

The praise was welcomed by Klan leader David Duke: “Thank you President Trump for honesty and courage to tell the truth about Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa.”

Duke echoed every racist white nationalist and neo-Nazi when he made these statements:

“Voting against Donald Trump at this point, is really treason to your heritage.”

“We are determined to take our country back, we're going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump, and that's what we believed in, that's why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he's going to take our country back and that's what we gotta do." 

Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband read a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, My New Order, which he kept in a cabinet by his bed. 

This is the man who lavishes praise on every dictator. 

"Don't yet rejoice in his defeat, you men!
Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard,
The bitch that bore him is in heat again.”

From Bertolt Brecht’s 1941 parable play on the rise of Hitler, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

Hitler died. Nazis survived. The war against Nazis and fascism has never ended. 

There were Nazi rallies in the US before WWII. Fascists are still here in the United States. Along with every bigot, racist, and white nationalist they have their president in power. They have their vast propaganda network in talk radio, FOX, OANN, Sinclair Broadcasting, and far Right internet hate sites.

The far Right believes only their leaders and propaganda network. Like a cult they are told to distrust anyone outside their influence. They share heavily indoctrinated resentment, anger and hate for those not in their cult. 

American fascists hate the same people Hitler did. Minorities, liberals, educators, journalists, labor unions, and scientists that didn't support him were demonized, scapegoated and terrorized. 

It's no secret. American fascists and Hitler's Nazis hate the same people. 

Trump's "Fake news" was Hitler's “Lügenpresse”, or lying press, Both targeted the press as enemies of the people for questioning their lies and claims of "total authority". 

Revealing his true Nazi inclinations, Trump incited his armed Brownshirts to “liberate” Michigan.

American fascism is here.

When authoritarians, tyrants and dictators hold power they will do anything to keep it. Anything. 

The Fourth Reich has risen on the Potomac, and a fair election to remove it this November is in doubt.

America's greatest anti-fascist was FDR. We'd better start listening to him again.

Spring Tweets

The Winter of our discontent has bloomed into a Spring of our discontent. A Corona Spring that has wrought suffering and death to the afflicted, and harsh austerity to the millions of unemployed and laid off Americans. 

That wasn't a tweet, but an introduction to my Spring Tweets as of April 20.

3-16

It has finally arrived. We are in a crisis at a time when the country is not in capable hands. We have a president who has openly refused to accept any responsibility and a Republican Party that loathes government intervention and public healthcare.

3-19

Remember the Democrats’ stimulus spending?

The Right howled. Now they want stimulus spending.

Remember when Socialists said, “We’re all in this together”?

The Right howled. Now they say, “We’re all in this together”.

3-22

Republican Party lies & corruption have not only assured more Americans will die sooner and in greater numbers, but have assured that our representative democracy dies as well.

The US is NOT a republic. That requires fair elections and representation with ultimate power in the people. We have an oligarchy, by "Divine Right of Wealth". Name ONE civil and prosperous nation under libertarian ideology.... Give up? Now go away.

The general public still benefits from taxing corporations. Taxes, regulation of commerce, and the general welfare are in the Constitution for good reasons. Hate the Constitution? Go find your "libertarian paradise".

3-23

Every damn Republican Senator,

Get off your knees and remove your heads from Trump's ass. Most Americans are represented by Senate Democrats. They speak for MOST Americans. Take your corporate coddling, mammon serving, minority rule and shove it.

3-24

Yes, it's time for all Wall Street elites, The Republican Party, and Trump's supporters to offer their lives to save the economy. Their Free Market God Mammon demands their sacrifice. Jesus will welcome them, and shower them all with heavenly cash, stocks, bonds, gold and jewels.

3-25

Siding with Putin:

“President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be”

Siding with COVID-19

“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.”

THE most anti-American president EVER!

I've been reminded by our con-servative friends that Trump's approval rating has gone up, (now that socialist remedies are required to combat COVID-19). Hmm. The Trump Change cash will soon be gone and his approval will return to cult levels or lower, as the cult sickens.

Republican style socialism has priorities. Some of us may be getting a bit of "Trump Change", but much more will go chosen winners, "corporate persons", and to those who need it less. The more money you have, the more you get. How could they be more fair than that?

3-28

We've had cold-blooded Reptilian presidents. This one is the worst sociopath of all. Like a gangster thug, he wants to punish "disrespectful" governors. His inaction, neglect, narcissism, and pure evil have condemned thousands of Americans to an agonizing death.  

The corporate media give his "press room rallies" hours of airtime. Enough inattentive people see that, without really paying attention, and assume he's doing a good job. Image is everything, and corpo-media is guilty of spreading the Orange Plague's misinformation and lies.

Human survival requires a revolution, of consciousness and conscience. The benefits and progress will follow.

3-30

MAGA hatred is a virus more widespread than the corona. Progressives don't want human sacrifice to Wall Street. We want public healthcare, even for those fanatics who hate US for wanting it for THEM. What does that say? It says compassion and conscience are not their values.

Many of the tragedies that will become all too obvious later will be directly attributed to the idiots who didn't, and still don’t, practice social distancing. They will kill a lot of people. And I blame You-know-who. 

4-5

There can no longer be any doubt that the Party of the Orange Virus will boost the death toll of the coronavirus. They have enabled this Orange Plague, and Americans are dying.

4-8

I was with Bernie in 2016 and 2020, and I will still be with Bernie when he votes to defeat Trump. If we're not with him, those systematic problems will metastasize into a Trumpist/Orwellian state that would be impervious to revolution. An ugly split will only help assure it.

4-10

2016: When fascism comes to America, it will be welcomed to make American great again.

2020: Americans choose fascism again and embrace it to keep America great.

The End.

While a protest vote feels quite self-righteous, it's Trump's second favorite vote. It is essentially a vote that prioritizes resentment for Democrats' neoliberalism over defeating Trump's fascism. He will win because of voters who refuse to stand against him. Elections matter.

4-13

Yes, this old house needs repairs, but there's smoke pouring out of it. What is your priority?

Voting Green with Trump in power is like calling a carpenter when your house is on fire.

For fun, picture their reaction to Obama if he had said this. “When somebody's president of the United States, the authority is total."

How authoritarian can an aspiring dictator be? A total authoritarian. The Tangerine Tyrant fits the definition of totalitarian.

Let Trump win and see how voter rights, the GND, M4A, and Supreme Court disappear forever. The Right keeps winning because too many won't vote against the greater evil. Evil prevails when not opposed.I stand against Trump with Bernie and Biden. You're with us or against us.

4-14

Reaganism was the name of the lethal virus that infected us. It mutated into Bush/Cheneyism and Trumpism. Neoliberalism fused with neoconservatism into neofascsim. Any power designed to serve the elites at the expense of citizens is inherently immoral and designed to fail.

4-15

The Green Pledge:

"I hereby swear to do nothing, absolutely nothing, to end Trump's war on justice, truth, decency, voter rights, elections, our air, our water, our healthcare, and our planet. My resentment for the DNC is the real priority. Four more years! THAT'll teach 'em."

4-16

"The protest — dubbed "Operation Gridlock" — was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund, a DeVos family-linked conservative group." This is a Trump rally without Trump. In other words an armed mob of angry white nationalist illiterates, as opposed to an unarmed mob of angry white nationalist illiterates.

4-19

If you can protest about "losing your rights" while brandishing a weapon, as you defy medical opinion, ignore Trump's own guidelines, and do his dirty work against Democratic governors, you are an ignorant puppet and stooge. And nobody but inmates are under lockdown.

 4-20

He called social distancing “bullshit” on March 15. He died from covid-19 on April 15. He will not be the only person to die for Trump. Let's honor this duped fool with an award to remind other dupes of the radical, science-denying, far Right. The "John W. McDaniel Darwin Award" will have countless thousands of co-winners soon enough.

A 2020 Parable

Three Choices

The ship is sinking.

There are only two lifeboats.

One has a person with a cold.

The other has a person with covid-19

Which lifeboat do you get in?

Or do you refuse both, and choose to go down with the ship?

Only to be pushed into the covid-19 boat.

OK, Maybe my clumsy parable isn't clear enough. It's about the election, not the pandemic.

While a third party protest vote feels quite self-righteous, it's Trump's second favorite vote. 

It is essentially a vote that prioritizes resentment for Democrats' neoliberalism, over defeating Trump's fascism. 

If he wins again, it will be because these voters refused to stand against him. 

Again.

Elections matter.

Fellow Bernie supporters may suggest I am betraying my progressive ideals by voting for Biden.

No. I am defending them from Trumpism. Many Bernie people will not, or might even defect to Trump.

I always stand opposed to the greater evil.

Voting for Biden is no more a betrayal of democracy than being allied with Stalin in WWII. It was the best way to defeat Hitler. That didn’t mean we supported him afterwards.

Trump will further poison our planet, government, courts, truth and democracy.

He has to go.

Now.

I stand with Bernie in this cause.

The Orange Plague

“Attacking governors and mayors and journalists for asking questions that might please your fans, it doesn’t save one life,” - Jake Tapper

Other nations are winning their wars against coronavirus—we aren't. It's time to accept that the difference between us and them is that our "leader" has consistently lied about and downplayed the virus, leading his fans to do the same—and endanger America.- Seth Abramson

Imagine these views being not only politically incorrect, but the speakers being attacked by an authoritarian leader as "enemies of the people". That would be a dictatorship. And it is not imaginary.

Now imagine a deadly pandemic raging across the land. Of course every rational person knows the pandemic is very real. But there are still countless Americans who see no deadly pandemic. This is absolutely a cult-level of delusion, and it is also frighteningly real.

There is zero threat or danger from these journalists’ remarks about the actions or inactions by our government, or more accurately, Republicans. The actual dangerous threat to the people is from the dishonest and corrupt authoritarian leader and his party that denies science and ignores advice from medical professionals.

We've heard the Orange Virus crow about "saving thousands of lives" by his so-called "travel ban" from China. It wasn't a travel ban. It only banned Chinese from coming to the US. Americans and others have been coming here from China all along. 

There were 1,300 direct flights to 17 cities before President Trump’s travel restrictions. Since then, nearly 40,000 Americans and other authorized travelers have made the trip, some this past week and many with spotty screening.

How about that? Whodathunk you didn't have to be Chinese to carry the virus?

Not every Republican is as criminally negligent and corrupt as the Trump Cartel, but they certainly enabled and empowered them. Mitt Romney is the only one who took a stand for conscience.

If a handful of Senate Republicans had found a conscience, maybe we wouldn’t have useless greedheads like Kushner gumming up the works to profit from the pandemic.

But here we are.

Americans are suffering this present terror to an increasingly horrible degree, exacerbated by real enemies of the people.

They are the opponents of public health care. These are the “covidiots” who refuse to promote social distancing, and even encourage people to flock to churches, increasing the danger of covid-19 to tens, or hundreds, of thousands of Americans.

And thousands will die because of these Republican enemies of the people.

Now imagine an emergency room doctor being fired for speaking the truth about the ongoing crisis he witnesses.

That happened to Doctor Ling Min in Bellingham Washington.

This doc wasn’t fired by the hospital, but by an outsourced Wall Street investment firm. Trump allies, needless to say.

Wall Street’s predatory capitalism has a powerful grip on our nation’s emergency rooms.  

About a third of hospital emergency rooms are staffed by doctors on the payrolls of two physician staffing companies—TeamHealth and Envision Health—owned by Wall Street investment firms. Envision Healthcare employs 69,000 healthcare workers nationwide while TeamHealth employs 20,000. Private equity firm Blackstone Group owns TeamHealth, Kravis Kohlberg Roberts (KKR) owns Envision.

Care of the sick is not the mission of these companies; their mission is to make outsized profits for the private equity firms and its investors.

Trumpism, anti-government conservatism, Republicans, “Trump Christians”, and predatory capitalism have been in alliance with the coronavirus. These partners of the coronavirus have been like a virus itself, infecting and spreading across the nation. This is ‘Republican America” folks. And there’s nothing “great” about these leaders betraying the American people in service to their greed and lust for power.

And there can no longer be any doubt that the Party of the Orange Virus will boost the death toll of the coronavirus.

They have enabled this Orange Plague, and Americans are dying.

On March 14th Karen Kolb Sehlke, a Trump-loving woman from Texas claimed the virus was “media driven”, like the “impeachment hoax”, by Democrats. It’s all a socialist conspiracy to “overthrow Trump”.

“Wake up!!! This is what the beginning of socialism looks like!”

On April 2nd she died from covid-19.

Yes, there are real enemies of the people, and they are not journalists. How many thousands more will die from this Orange Plague? 

Soon, more than just Bernie and progressives will be demanding better public healthcare.

If we can’t learn the hard way, we’ll never learn.

17.8 Tons Of Medical Supplies...To China!

I'm not blaming Trump or anybody for the coronavirus. In fact, Trump and his administration weren't the only ones to fail to grasp the severity of the coming pandemic. Many in the corporate media downplayed the danger. Denial is a universal human defense mechanism.

An important difference is Trump was warned by intelligence officials in January. Afterwards he downplayed the threat.   

Whatever his reasons for denial, it was still perhaps just a fallibility of human nature. But that doesn't mean he isn't guilty of unconscionable lies and negligence.

How can any sane and compassionate American not be horrified at how this corrupt, impeached Republican president is botching the federal response to the coronavirus? 

We've heard his long string of dismissive lies, minimizing the danger of COVID-19, AFTER he was informed the pandemic would be here soon. In fact, it was already here at the time he was pushing his disinformation.

By January 29th cases were reported in 17 countries. In China, the outbreak surpassed that of SARS. Five cases were confirmed in the U.S. 

By February 2nd the death toll topped 300, including the first fatality outside China. The World Health Organization and U.S declared a public health emergency.

By this time everybody should have known the threat is real. 

Yet...

On February 23rd he declared, “We have it very much under control in this country.” 

On February 26th he said, “And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” 

And his behavior only got worse, even as he signs the stimulus.

Now he and his party are not just picking corporate "winners and losers", as the Right has projected so thoroughly on Democrats. His demented ego is playing personal grievances and favorites into matters of life and death in a national crisis with deadly consequences. 

We've witnessed his childish, vicious, and personal attacks on the governors of Washington and Michigan, and his reluctance to facilitate aid even to his native state.

He wasn't so reluctant at sending offers of help to Iran, North Korea and China, though. He never met a dictator he didn't like.

It's as if he is at war with Americans who dare question his imperious and vengeful rule. His vendetta towards governors who won't praise him is blackmail, bordering on genocide.

Apart from his vindictive self-centered nature, here's one other explanation why our "War President" has been punishing states with governors who fail to praise him. 

Note the date. It is weeks after he had been told we were going to be hit by the lethal coronavirus, and his cronies did this anyway.

~~~~

The United States Announces Assistance To Combat the Novel Coronavirus

PRESSSTATEMENT

MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE

FEBRUARY 7, 2020

This week the State Department has facilitated the transportation of nearly 17.8 tons of donated medical supplies to the Chinese people, including masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials.  These donations are a testament to the generosity of the American people.

Today, the United States government is announcing it is prepared to spend up to $100 million in existing funds to assist China and other impacted countries, both directly and through multilateral organizations, to contain and combat the novel coronavirus.  This commitment – along with the hundreds of millions generously donated by the American private sector – demonstrates strong U.S. leadership in response to the outbreak.

This assistance only adds to what the United States has done to strengthen health security programs around the world.  For the last 20 years, the United States through USAID has invested over one billion dollars to strengthen the capacity of more than 25 countries to prevent, detect, and respond to existing and emerging infectious disease threats.  Since 2015, under our commitment to the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), this support has helped improve surveillance and laboratory systems, risk communication, outbreak response, and address the rising threat of anti-microbial resistance.

The United States is and will remain the world’s most generous donor. We encourage the rest of the world to match our commitment.  Working together, we can have a profound impact to contain this growing threat.
~~~~~~
Even if this aid had been planned before the pandemic directly threatened us, maybe our leaders could have cared for the health and welfare of Americans enough to reconsider sending to China the supplies that we would so desperately need.

Tragically the president has decided "Let them die" is his policy towards millions of "disloyal" Americans.

Remember?

Remember the Democrats’ stimulus spending?

The Right howled. 

Now they want stimulus spending.

Remember when Socialists said, “We’re all in this together”?

The Right howled. 

Now they say, “We’re all in this together”.

In This Together

Everybody’s going to feel the effects of this one. No border wall could protect us from the Covid-19 corona virus pandemic.

It has finally arrived. We are in a crisis at a time the country is not in capable hands. We have a president who has openly refused to accept any responsibility and a Republican Party that loathes government intervention and public healthcare.

So far, Republicans are essentially obstructing legislation that provides for free coronavirus testing, paid emergency medical leave, extended unemployment insurance, food assistance, and help for health care workers.

Trump wants to cut funding for the CDC, and in his revenge-fueled obsession, did his best to destroy every measure undertaken by President Obama.

“When Bolton became Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, he quickly moved to disband the White House National Security Council’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which President Barack Obama set up after the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak to lead federal coordination and preparation for disease outbreaks.

In April 2018, Bolton fired Tom Bossert, then the homeland security adviser, who, the Washington Post reported, “had called for a comprehensive biodefense strategy against pandemics and biological attacks.” Then, that May, Bolton let go the head of pandemic response, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, and his global health security team. The team, the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, was never replaced.”

How did our "not-racist", “Disaster President” respond when questioned about this by a woman of color?

PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump if he took any responsibility for dismantling a key pandemics response team in 2018.

Trump: "I just think it's a nasty question ... I didn't do it. We have a group of people ... You say we did that, I don't know anything about it."

Sadly, this pattern of lies, irresponsibility and incompetence has been the norm.

Trump Feb. 26: Vaccine "sooner than expected"

Dr. Fauci Feb. 26: Vaccine a year out

Trump Feb 27: "The 15, within a couple of days, is going to be down to close to zero"

Public health authorities ten days later: 550 US cases in 34 states and DC

Trump March 4: According to his “hunch”, the World Health Organization mortality rate is a “false number”.

Dr. Fauci March 4: Mortality rate higher than the flu

Pence March 5: Not enough tests

Trump March 6: "Anybody that needs a test gets a test"

Trump: “I don’t take responsibility at all,” for the administration’s lag in rolling out coronavirus tests.

The World Health Organization developed a coronavirus test protocol that the Trump Administration declined, offering no explanation. This resulted in delays.

(Meanwhile, South Korea, which discovered its first case around the same time as the United States, has reported having the capacity to test roughly 10,000 people a day since late February.)

The Disaster President didn’t want infected cruise ship passengers to come ashore because he didn’t want the “numbers” of confirmed cases to go up.

Politico reporter Dan Diamond told NPR host Terry Gross that, based on his own reporting, Trump “did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that’s partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had made clear — the lower the numbers on coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential re-election this fall.”

His March 11th Oval Office address to the nation was a sedated muddled mess, needing retractions and changes. The next day the Dow Jones took a 10% deep dive and nobody was reassured all was in good hands.

And still we are told. "It's a very contagious virus, it's incredible, but it's something we have tremendous control of." 

No, we don't. Mar-A-Lago has become a viral relay center.

This is not the time to let the Fool decide.

Being of the age that puts me in the most threatened demographic, I tend to be somewhat philosophical about this COVID-19 pandemic. While I'm not living in fear, I want to live. And I know what we can do about it. We can mitigate the rapid spread of the virus so it doesn't become a "Coronapocalypse".

We need to put forth our best efforts to wash our hands, avoid crowds and shaking hands, and keep a safe personal distance when possible. Social distancing is not social isolation. Call friends and family. 

Keep up with physical activities including exercise and routine household chores. Find pleasant distractions for entertainment. We found a jigsaw puzzle can be a nicer alternative than focusing on TV news. Catch up on books, movies, and music. Keeping positive and embracing humor are important psychological and physical defenses.

I'm lucky to have had a job that practiced sensible precautions with transmittable diseases. I volunteered to tend to AIDS patients when others got spooked.

But this virus is far more contagious. As we are increasingly aware, the effects will be felt by all of us, whether we contract it or not.

This viral pandemic needs to be seen as a wake-up call. Modern societies and many of their leaders have largely grown comfortable, arrogant and complacent. 

We will lose people. Many more will die. Our social lives will be disrupted. Our economy will take a severe blow and a lot of people will lose jobs and livelihoods. It is that serious. We need government, and we need honesty, competence, and accountability.

Maybe this mess will prompt us to learn the lessons of a crises that few of us in our part of the world have experienced.

One change immediately visible is the progressive motto, “We’re all in this together” is being uttered, even in the Trump White House. Welcome to socialism, boys. 

One thing is certain. Capitalism is not going to save us. The sacred every-man-for-himself delusion of the almighty “free market” will fail, or make things worse. Already we have jerks price gouging hand sanitizer and disinfectant materials.

I'm hoping the silver lining to this crisis will be a more open attitude, respecting science, and understanding the need for socialized public health. Mother Nature is showing us she can cull the herd anytime. That is reality. Global warming is also a reality, and will likely be our next catastrophic event.

The warning bell is ringing, we all need to take responsibility, and we ARE in this together.