The Authoritarian Way

 

I can respect some Republicans, even though we would rarely agree.

I disagreed with the Republicans' lust for war on Iraq based on lies. I vehemently disagreed with the Bush/Cheney torture program. 

There’s something in the conservative/Republican/authoritarian DNA (or amygdala), that has a high tolerance, and even enthusiasm, for punishment.

They love the “tough on crime” and “law and order” rhetoric of their leaders. And why not? It’s an effective political position. Republican Lite Democrats like Clinton and Biden were enthusiastic supporters of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Clinton’s “triangulation” worked well enough to win him a second term. To his credit he did pass an assault weapons ban, albeit a lame temporary one.

If we take it a radical step beyond law and order into the realm of torture, the split becomes clear.

In terms of public acceptance of torture, you can imagine which demographic has the highest approval rate on torture. If you guessed “white male Republicans”, you would be correct.

Conservatives in general tend to favor harsh punishment. Especially for “other people” they fear, hate or misunderstand. That includes Democrats and progressives. They find great sport in taunting, harassing, insulting, and otherwise waging their psych-ops campaign to punish liberals. “Owning the libs” is what they call it.

They have considerable more tolerance for their own, of course, but their tolerance disappears when some of them fail to conform to the demands of an authoritarian leader like Trump. His attitude towards harsh and extreme punishment was shown by the intentional separation of immigrant children from their parents. He enthusiastically ramped up federal executions of prisoners. He praised a Republican for assaulting a journalist. He wanted to go “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding”. The list is long, but you get the idea.

Now the radical Right is howling for punishment for a couple of their own, especially Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, for their refusing to toe the line on the Party of Trump’s seditious and authoritarian refusal to even have hearings to investigate January 6th.

Liz has already been stripped of her leadership position for daring to say, "My oath, my duty, all of our oaths, all of our duty are to the Constitution and that will always be my focus, not politics," after Pelosi first announced her appointment earlier this month.

Philip Bump wrote in the Washington Post:

At the White House on Monday, McCarthy was asked about comments from some Republicans who suggested that their party should participate more fully in the probe.

“Who is that? Adam and Liz?” McCarthy replied casually, looking over his shoulder. “Aren’t they kind of like Pelosi Republicans?”

And there you go. Liz Cheney, of the Cheney Cheneys, is a “Pelosi Republican,” not because she broadly sides with the Democratic leader on matters of policy but, instead, because she sides with Pelosi on the idea that the Capitol riot could use a bit more investigation. You know who voted with Pelosi more than Cheney in the 116th Congress? McCarthy. Data from ProPublica makes clear that McCarthy could be described as more of a “Pelosi Republican” than the representative from Wyoming based on votes in the last Congress.

Not satisfied with removing her from leadership, the extremists want to punish her further.

(CNN) A growing group of rank-and-file House Republicans wants House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and GOP leadership to punish Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for accepting a position from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.

Not only do they want to strip Cheney and Kinzinger from their other committee assignments, they want to punish Nancy Pelosi as well. No doubt some of the more malevolent House coup supporters would have welcomed the hanging of the Speaker of the House. As we recall, Lauren Boebert tweeted about the Speaker’s movement during the coup, not long after tweeting, “Today is 1776!”.

The Radical Right white nationalist Freedom Caucus is already pressing McCarthy to file a motion to vacate Pelosi from the speakership. Radical Right authoritarian and House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik wants to blame and punish the Speaker: “The American people deserve to know the truth. That Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility, as speaker of the House, for the tragedy that occurred on Jan. 6.”

It is the Authoritarian Way.

The nerve of that woman, wanting to investigate the same terrorists who screamed, “Hang Pelosi!” along with, "Hang Mike Pence!" How dare she exclude supporters of Trump’s Big Lie and resulting coup from the committee? She must be punished too.

But there are still some Republicans who understand Trumpism is not conservatism. Ten House Republicans stood for the Constitution and country by voting to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection.

 Two Republicans will be on the House committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection. They are now targets for punishment, of course.

They know Trump lied about the election and incited his insurrection. They know the truth.

That’s really the only standard for Republicans to be welcome in the House select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Why should participants and co-conspirators be allowed to investigate themselves? If they want a voice, let them spew their lies under oath as sworn witnesses.

CNN reports on why the pair are targeted for punishment:

 Liz Cheney was formerly the No. 3 member of House Republican leadership before a very public break with Trump following his role in inciting the January 6 riot. Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump earlier this year and has been an outspoken critic of both the former President and GOP lawmakers who support his “Big Lie” about the 2020 election. She was ousted from her leadership position in May.

Adam Kinzinger has been a vocal critic of Trump and was one of 10 House Republicans to vote for his second impeachment. Kinzinger served in the Air Force in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He continues to serve in the Air National Guard as a pilot. “I’m a Republican dedicated to conservative values, but I swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution—and while this is not the position I expected to be in or sought out, when duty calls, I will always answer,” Kinzinger said in a statement accepting a position on the committee. “This moment requires a serious, clear-eyed, non-partisan approach. We are duty-bound to conduct a full investigation on the worst attack on the Capitol since 1814 and to make sure it can never happen again.”

Will history eventually be kinder to both of them, or are they just disloyal RINO “socialist appeasers”, for betraying their oaths to Donald Trump?

Oh, wait. They swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not Trump.

For that treacherous transgression and disloyalty to their Dear Leader, they must be punished. It is the Authoritarian Way.

For some reason the Party of Trump has a lot more tolerance for their Dear Leader’s loyal gang of terrorist vandals, felons, thugs, racists, white nationalists, Q-Anon true believers, Proud Boys, Nazis, Oath Keepers, Klansmen, and assorted radical Right terrorists from the military and law enforcement.

They first wanted to blame BLM and antifa for Trump’s coup. Then they compared the terrorists to “tourists”.

For some reason the Party of Trump wants to look the other way and deflect from the crimes and terrorist instigators of January Sixth. Not very “law and order” of them, is it?

Despite the efforts by Trump's Radical Right to undermine and block it, the House committee begins their investigation today, Capitol Police officers are the first to testify.

One has already asked the committee if anyone in power abetted the criminals. Officer Dunn: "There was an attack carried out on January 6, and a hit man sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that."

Like major crime cartels and street mobs, the radical Right Party of Trump will defend their own, until the ones who got arrested take a plea, and inform on their leaders.

Likewise, those who offer aid to investigators will be targeted as well. As we’ve see from the radical Right, that is the greater offense, just begging for punishment.

I would like to hear from clear-eyed conservatives, who can rationally explain their anger and resentment for the two Republican supporters of our Constitutional rule of law and peaceful transition of power.

Is there any chance of that?

“Only One America News”

 

In an effort to present both sides of important issues that divide our country, I’d like to share some of my well-known liberal generosity of spirit.

I’ve decided to offer something for everyone.  After all, I’m a uniter, not a divider. I’m the Only One to fairly present the news you all can use.

Welcome to “Only One America News”, where you choose, or you snooze.

~~~~~

News Flash!

Philip Bump, Washington Post

The invisible crime wave that’s sweeping the nation!

Much of the political conversation at the moment centers on one particular false belief: that millions of ballots in the 2020 election were cast illegally.

This belief takes many forms, from the assumption that somehow thousands of fraudulent ballots were simply injected into state totals or that countless individual voters cast ballots multiple times or that thousands of people voted who weren’t legally allowed to. Whatever the manifestation of the fraud it’s always the case that the belief precedes the proof for the simple reason that proof of such claims doesn’t exist....

...Republicans have been convinced that fraud is rampant and a serious threat to American democracy. In YouGov polling conducted for the Economist, more than three-quarters of Republicans said they believed millions of illegal votes were cast in last year’s election. Millions! By contrast, about 265,000 houses were burgled in 2019. Yet, somehow, despite occurring several times more often, there’s no actual evidence of even hundreds of votes having been illegally cast. Despite the best efforts of America’s most brilliant bedding manufacturers, the proof remains elusive.

~~~

OK. That was mind numbingly boring, wasn’t it? Nothing but dull facts. Real American News is supposed to be entertaining, or at least emotionally stimulating. as in inducing anger towards someone to blame for everything.

That’s enough from the commie liberal fake news enemies of the people!

Time now for a fair and balanced, patriotic Real American Radical Right Trump/Q-Anon News Flash!

Socialist Democrat Communist Party Crime Wave Sweeping the Nation!

Q-Anon and Trump insist the election was stolen by millions of illegal votes!

Socialist Judges and Commie Democrats deviously denied the Pillow Guy, the Best Lawyers, drunken witnesses, and Rudy the lawyer with the revoked license to practice law just because he lies.

In other Radical Right Trump/Q-Anon News, the Trump Family Cartel had nothing to do with the peaceful January 6th “Special Conservatives Only Tourist Day”.

This peaceful protest was held following the extra-special, exclusive, preliminary, “large family” reconnaissance tours for Real Americans that were kindly hosted by True Patriot Lauren Boebert and other Republican Representatives.

Every true patriot was so excited! Real Americans will finally have their voices heard! A festive joy was in the air. The big day was finally here. Capitol tour guide Boebert tweeted, “Today is 1776”.

Yes, if you’re like me, you get a tingle up your spine at her lofty patriotic tweet. We all knew what she meant when she told us, "Ted Cruz is an American hero and patriot! On January 6, we're both going to be fighting for freedom!"

Let’s review this outstanding celebration of American democracy, one that will go down in history as Trump’s greatest achievement in making America great.

Our most wise, truthful and loving Dear Leader’s invitation went out on twitter: “Be there, will be wild! Stop The Steal!”

And so, America’s True Patriots flocked to Washington DC.

Don Jr. proclaimed, “This isn't their Republican Party anymore. This is Donald Trump's Republican Party!"

Rudy the lawyer with the revoked license to practice law urged, “Let's have trial by combat!”

On election day, long before the votes were counted, Rudy the lawyer with the revoked license to practice law was the first person to advise the President.

“Just say we won.”

That settled it. Never mind all the votes that shouldn’t be counted anyway. Trump and his loyal lieutenants immediately pressured states to stop the count while he was ahead.

Fair is fair.

Dear Leader demanded the disloyal Georgia RINO Republican Brad Raffensperger to follow his just and reasonable command. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”

He even gave him fair warning that he was guilty of a criminal offense by disobeying. “But the ballots are corrupt. And you are going to find that they are — which is totally illegal, it is more illegal for you than it is for them because, you know what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.”

Even after this compassionate warning, the treacherous RINO chose to betray our Leader.

It was clear that measures needed to be taken by Real Americans.

It was time to save America and stop the steal. A “Stop the Steal” rally and a “Save America March” was the way to do it.

Many of our Best People met at Trump’s hotel the night before the rally.

True Patriot Proud Boys were there. Real American Oath Keepers were there.

Other guests included Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Michael Flynn, Peter Navarro, Corey Lewandowski, 2016 Trump campaign manager David Bossie, 2016 Trump deputy campaign manager Adam Piper, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, Michael the Pillow Guy Lindell, and Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to the President of the United States and lawyer with the revoked license to practice law just because he lies.

It was to be a glorious rally and peaceful march to stop the steal and save America. (Until antifa and BLM showed up to overturn the election.)

Trump’s own words prove he had nothing to do with the assault on the Capitol. He merely told his mob of True Patriots:

"We're going to walk down Pennsylvania Ave ... and we're going to try and give our Republicans -- the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any of our help -- we're to try and give them kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country...so let’s walk down Pennsylvania Ave.”

“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical left Democrats, which is what they’re doing and stolen by the fake news media.... Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. We will not let them silence your voices. We’re not going to let it happen. Not going to let it happen.”

The crowd chanted, “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!”

“We want to go back, and we want to get this right because 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. For years, Democrats have gotten away with election fraud and weak Republicans, and that’s what they are.”

“Something’s wrong here. Something’s really wrong. Can’t have happened. And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavors have not yet begun. My fellow Americans for our movement, for our children and for our beloved country and I say this, despite all that’s happened, the best is yet to come. So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue...and we’re going to the Capitol and....we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”

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

Our Dear Leader’s patriotic, inspirational and unifying message will be honored by every future historian. All his best words will be carved in marble in the big beautiful Trump Memorial, towering over the Washington Monument.

January 6th will become the greatest holiday in America.

But we’ll have to wait for the honor of remembering America’s greatest president.

Everything was going great for a few hours that winter day at the Capitol.

The President was reported to have watched his own reality show on TV with delight. He had no reason to listen to those killjoys who urged him to do something to stop his mob of true patriots.

He had the National Guard given special instructions to lay low and go easy on the True Patriots.

But something went disastrously wrong. How could it be? The disloyal military didn’t join in. Many of the socialist Capitol cops didn’t cooperate.

Tragically, the mob of True Patriots failed to stop the steal. They failed to hang Mike Pence. They failed to hang Nancy Pelosi. They failed to take our country back.

It was the darkest day in the history of our democratic republic and Constitutional rule of law. The government betrayed our Dear Leader. Pence, the House and the Senate did their Constitutional duty At 2:24, after the Capitol was breached, the president tweeted his disappointment. "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution."

So after the longest day in the radical Right’s righteous war on democracy, the Greatest Law and Order President consoled his loyal gang of vandals, felons, thugs, racists, white nationalists, Q-Anon true believers, Proud Boys, Nazis, Oath Keepers, Klansmen, and assorted radical Right terrorists from the military and law enforcement.

The stable genius comforted his faithful and True Patriots with his soothing words. “We had an election that was stolen. It was a landslide. But you have to go home now...we love you, you're very special."

The Real American True Patriots were told to “Remember this day forever” and went home.

All was not lost. The Party of Trump obediently stood against the Constitution and treacherous socialist impeachment, and renewed their loyalty to their Dear Leader.

But sadly, it was not enough...

The radical left socialist Democrats stole the House, Senate and White House!!

And then the evil commies destroyed America. Just like they did when Obama the Kenyan Marxist was president. Yeah, that’s it. That’s what happened.

And besides, it was really BLM and antifa who stormed the Capitol, because they wanted to overturn the election their guy won. It just makes sense.

And why would Republicans want to investigate BLM and antifa to hold them accountable?

I mean, really.

But let us not despair.

Let’s urge every Real American and True Patriot to keep the faith. As Mike Flynn, Roger Stone and our Q-Anon Shaman say together, “Where We Go One We Go All!”

Celebration of Ignorance

 

In 1995 Carl Sagan had a foreboding vision of America’s future.

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

From “The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”.

If there could be any doubt about who that description may fit, let’s look at an important measure.

Those in the throes of their "celebration of ignorance" are revealed by their vaccination rates.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in June shows vaccination rates of selected groups in the US.

Democrats 86%

Independents 61%

Republicans 52 %

College Grads 79%

No four-year degree 59%

Women 70%

Men 61%

White 67%

Hispanic 63%

Black 60%

Clearly one of these groups should NOT be allowed the power to dictate any public policy, from voting rights to education to healthcare.

The fact they support Trump's Big Lie and deny his incitement of insurrection should be enough to tell us how ignorant (or outright evil) they really are.

Not only are they a public health menace, they are the greatest domestic threat to our Constitution and republic.

"Ignorance is strength". Orwell's Big Brother has given the former GOP, now the Party of Trump and Qanon, its new motto.

Dear Marjorie

 

This past Fourth of July weekend, the crazed, radical Right, white Q-anon lady tweeted a lecture for “real Americans”.

Which crazed, radical Right, white Q-anon lady, you ask?

Primarily Marjorie Taylor-Greene, the white nationalist from Georgia, but we have a bonus tweet from America’s favorite gun whore, Lauren Boebert, so she won’t feel left out.

The primitive amygdala of the brain of MTG conveyed the usual radical Right hate and lies. Her reptilian projection-laced screed was called, “Here is a message from America to the Swamp”.

I’ll give my interpretation and reply to each of her ignorant, anti-science, snowflake white resentments and racism.

Here we go:

Dear Marjorie,

If I may, on behalf of our nation's better half, I'd like to respond to your heart-felt, pseudo-patriotic, radical Right, white nationalist tweets. As another real American, I beg to differ from your arrogant, self-righteous, radical Right hate and bigotry. 

Most of the people that I talk to daily are regular Americans and I like it that way because I am one of them. This is everything people are saying that DC can't even come close to understanding because Washington can't relate. Here is a message from America to the Swamp:

 

(By “regular Americans” she means her white Q-anon cult of Trump worshipers. If “DC can't even come close to understanding”, it is because of radical Right, white nationalist, Q-anon Trump suckers have infected DC.)

 

People have stopped watching the news bc they are sick & tired of the fake news media, including Fox News. People feel like the mainstream media is the most destructive dividing force in our country. They know the media only reports what they want you to see. It's sad.

(Et tu FOX(R)? This demonization of the free press is derived from Hitler’s Nazis and their term “Lügenpresse”, or lying press, in their campaign to destroy journalism. Now American fascists cry “liberal media” and “fake news” when the truth threatens their agenda. Q-anon only reports what you want to see, right, Marjorie?)

The 2020 election is still #1 to Republican voters. Many want it fixed before '22 & even democrat voters admit there was fraud with absentee ballots. Rep voters are furious at elected Republicans that won't listen or do anything about it & they are most vulnerable in '22.

 

(Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election being stolen is the loyalty test for his cult. The Republican Party is the party of Trump. Anyone who dissents from the word of the Fuhrer will be stripped of power and attacked as the enemy.)

 

No one cares about the Delta Variant or any other variant.

 

(Imagine dismissing the victims and their families as “no one”. Her lies and cold-blooded disregard of human suffering tells us she is a sociopath. This tells us the same of her fans.)

 

No one likes Kamala. Not even the Democrats. She failed miserably as a Presidential candidate. Even people that work for her hate her.

 

(More radical Right hatred and lies. She is a racist. Change my mind.)

 

Dems embrace of the Progressive Squad aka Communists are going to be their downfall.

 

(The squad ladies are already out on the margin of the Democratic Party. Institutional Dems  would dump them in a heartbeat. Branding Jews and socialist opponents as “communists” was the standard smear tactic of Adolf Hitler. He rounded up Jews, socialists and Marxists and sent them to his concentration camps. Marjorie’s wet dream?)

 

Everyone hates Ilhan Omar, both sides of the aisle. She is an anti-semitic, hate-America, ungrateful refugee, who married her brother and broke the law to get him in the country.

 

(Not “everyone”. Every racist like Greene hates this dark-skinned Muslim immigrant. Her vicious lies echo David Duke and are KKK approved.)

 

The non-stop dog whistle labeling everything racist is broken. We've had a black POTUS, VP woman of color, black members of Congress, and so many successful & wealthy black Americans. We don't care about color, we care about character. MLK's dream came true, thank God!

 

(One of my favorite red herrings. “Obama was elected. This proves Americans are not racists!” No. Trump accused the Black president of not being American born and illegally elected to office. Every white racist in the country, including Marjorie, flocked to their New American Fuhrer. How many Black Americans say “MLK’s dream came true”? Let us know, Marjorie.)

 

Your identity is not your sexual preference or what you like to do in the bedroom.

 

(True. But sexual preferences are one of the first things bigots will use to discriminate and hate the LGBTQ community.)

 

The persistent hate the American flag vomit coming from the radical left makes the Democrat party look really really bad.

 

(Why is that Marjorie? You can’t show us ONE Democrat desecrating the flag as much as your mob of terrorists did when they stormed the Capitol, broke windows, and beat police officers with their American flags.)

 

If you don't like America or our flag, then get the hell out of our GREAT country & go live in some other shithole Socialist or Communist country that shares your hate for America, our flag, & our God given freedoms. You don't deserve to be an American if you hate our flag.

 

(Oh, Marge... We don’t hate America or the flag. We just hate white nationalists, Nazis, and other radical Right enemies of democracy and equality. “Shithole” Socialist countries and even some Communist countries won’t let their people get sick and die if they can’t afford health care. Only Shithead Radical Right Republicans want to let sick people die.)

 

Signed, The American People. *who pay ALL the taxes that fund the federal government.

 

(Sorry. I won’t sign. And I pay taxes that fund the federal government. How about Trump and the corporate elites who get away with paying NO federal income taxes? I guess they’re not “the American People, amirite?) 

And Tuesday afternoon she tweeted: “Biden pushing a vaccine that is NOT FDA approved shows covid is a political tool used to control people. People have a choice, they don’t need your medical brown shirts showing up at their door ordering vaccinations. You can’t force people to be part of the human experiment.”

(There she goes again. Her nasty anti-science lie about "NOT FDA approved" is bad enough. Remember her fake apology after her visit to the Holocaust Museum? She didn't seem to learn that Nazis were not socialists, but a radical Right, white nationalist, anti-Semitic cult. She disrespected and diminished the suffering of Holocaust victims by comparing vaccinations and masks to Nazi persecution. Her hate and ignorance are no different from the rest of her radical Right, white nationalist, anti-Semitic cult. She has shown her true colors and will never change her fascist ways.)

 

Now, as promised, I’ll have a go at America’s favorite gun whore, Lauren Boebert.

 

We are basically the first nation to actively teach our children to be ashamed of their nation. I am not willing to have my children as the test subjects for this insane indoctrination. – Lauren Boebert

 

(History is fact. If the facts make Americans ashamed, then there’s a better the chance these sins won’t be repeated. The radical Right has shown us they have no sense of shame, anyway. Denying history is an injustice against past, present and future Americans. We are not all snowflakes who need protection from the truth. This woman’s display of ignorance is astounding. Or it just reveals her racist desire to whitewash slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings, “driving while Black”, and the rest of the nation’s history of racial butchery, including the genocide and abuses of the native population. I’m sure both apply. Racism and ignorance are partners in crime.)