Heirs

Another Muslim is murdered in Republikanistan... and of course the crime is ignored by the Right.

And in the Georgia special election, repugnant Republicans are demonizing and blaming liberals for the baseball shooting.

The Washington Post reports one particularly hateful ad on FOX.

-- One conservative outside group, Principled PAC, is even trying to link Ossoff with the shooting in a particularly foul commercial that is airing today on Fox News. A narrator claims, without citing any evidence, that “the unhinged left is endorsing and applauding shooting Republicans.” Over grainy footage of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) being wheeled in a stretcher to an ambulance, a narrator says: “When will it stop? It won’t if Jon Ossoff wins on Tuesday, because the same unhinged leftists cheering last week’s shooting are all backing Jon Ossoff. And if he wins, they win.” The ad, backed up by a five-figure buy, concludes by urging people to vote for Handel: “Stop them. Stop them now.”

This is who they are, people. This is con-servatism.

Goebbels would be proud of his neo-fascist heirs. Just replace "leftists" with "Jews" to see their source of inspiration.

The con-servative Right is fueling hate and tearing our country apart... and blaming liberals... of course. It is what they do and who they are.

Global Village Idiots Or "How To Think Like A Con-servative"

For years con-servatives have made quite a wild, scattered and crazy case for denying and muddying the climate change issue.

For the longest time they declared climate change was “not happening” and “not settled science”, and my favorite, “just a theory”.

I suppose the theory of gravity is also debatable. Unlike the sun, I have never seen gravity. I will therefore debate its existence. It cannot be settled science if I can't see it. That just makes common sense to me.

When cornered by facts supporting actual climate change, they then insisted “climate change is always happening”. Or not, because we have winter storms and it snows in Antarctica.

They like to suggest global warming is caused by sunspots, moonbeams, "liberal thermometers", all sorts of wacked out debris of detached discourse. 

Although the same silly science tells me CO2 is heavier than air. And it doesn't come from the sun, it turns out.

Here is what else I know. Thanks to peer reviewed science.

Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades is nearly double that of the last century.  CO2 levels have gone up drastically. Average temperatures have risen. 

Coral reefs are bleaching. Permafrost is thawing (releasing methane and more greenhouse gasses).  Plant species are migrating north. Glaciers have disappeared and shrunk. Arctic Sea ice is vanishing, state-sized ice flows are separating from Antarctica,...you know, observable reality.

There is a certain political party, and certain corporate interests, that don't want us to know these facts. In fact, their political mission is to deny, demean, distract, deflect and deceive on the issue of climate change. 

Could this all be in the name of political power, and profit over people, profit over planet and profit Uber Alles?

Could it have something to do with their not wanting to slow the upward distribution of wealth to the already wealthiest persons and entities on the planet? Can't be having that. Not in America, anyway.

The fossil-fueled, corporate-funded denial industry has duped so many Americans that we are the leading nation in the world in climate change denial. USA! USA! We're number One!

We are the global village idiots who pulled out of the Paris Accords. It's almost like we are puppets of Putin's puppet.

Putin or not, we are under the corrupt rule of the Cult of the Right-wing Authoritarian Personalities. (C.R.A.P.) Bad things happen when they run the show. Last time they were in charge they collapsed the economy and started a war that spawned ISIS.

But, hey. “Priorities”. “Values”. 

These are the lessons I have learned in studying “How To Think Like A Con-servative”.

First we demean “loonie liberals”, accuse them of hating America and having no values. Then we blame them for anything we don’t like, and accuse them of causing everything bad.

Then we undermine climate science by framing researchers as a Global Conspiracy of Evil Climate Scientists. (Unlike oil corporations, they will LIE just to get more money! Grrr. That makes me very angry.)

Then we crank up the hate and demonize journalism as the enemy of the people, just to level the playing field. A Republican grabbing a reporter named Jacobs by the neck and throwing him to the ground was something to be cheered and joked about.

Just a few samples of far Right civility and basic human decency:

Rush called Jacobs “a pajama boy journalist” who was “insolent … disrespectful … whiny and moany.”

CNN correspondent Kyung Lah went to a polling place to interview voters and reported that nearly everyone she talked with said they weren’t changing their vote:

She tweeted: MT GOP voter, upon learning we're from @CNN: "You're lucky someone doesn't pop one of you."

And:

"That audio made me cheer." A woman told CNN as she smiled and walked in to vote for Gianforte.

Fox contributor: Rachel Campos-Duffy: This guy was not a reporter looking for a fair story. He was obviously doing a take down on him. And this guy got his back up -- he got a little bit of Montana Justice.

Rob O'Neill: I am from Montana. The guy he is running against is all about the environment and all of this stuff all of a sudden. What happened there in Montana, apparently the snowflake reporter invaded Gianforte's safe space. We have a saying up there, "you mess around, you mess around, you might not be around...granted I'm not condoning the body slam. I think it's kind of funny based on my history. “

Dana Loesch: First off, you can believe two things simultaneously. That Gianforte behaved wrongly. You can believe that, But you can also, Tucker, believe that the media in some respects is culpable. The violent progressive left is in some respects, culpable... . I had so many people who called in to my radio program today, Tucker, who said you know what? Maybe the media deserves it.

The Con-servative Sinclair Broadcasting Montana NBC Affiliate reportedly refused to cover the Gianforte story.

A Texas Tribune reporter snapped a photo of Republican Governor Abbott showing off his target sheet on Friday, after which the governor “jokingly” pointed to the bullet holes and said, “I’m gonna carry this around in case I see any reporters,” according to reporter Patrick Svitek.

Are we clear where we stand here, my fellow Real Americans? 

We’re on to a great formula for success here! All we have to do is believe we are right. 

The secret to how to think like a con-servative is this: 

Believe the C.R.A.P. 

Believe Republicans and Breitbart, and believe FOX and Limbaugh. Believe anything and anyone that tells us to hate and blame liberals, to distrust and resent minorities, to demonize journalism, public education, and politically incorrect science. It's so simple. Just believe; no need to think.

Now let's deregulate polluters, and let Wall Street do as it pleases. Let’s gut public education. Corporate schools and FOX will make sure is our children learning.

Let’s cut taxes for the rich and let their brats inherit billions tax free. (Here’s looking at you Ivanka, Eric and Don Jr. We know you deserve every dime.) 

It’s high time to slash corporate tax rates, eliminate minimum wages, destroy unions, privatize infrastructure, privatize prisons, privatize national parks, privatize Social Security, cut Medicare and food stamps for the poor, let them drink lead... 

And before you know it, America will be great again. 

Yee haw!

Who's Laughing Now?

The Great American Tragedy proclaimed:

"At what point does America get demeaned? At what point do they start laughing at us as a country? We want fair treatment for its citizens and we want fair treatment for our taxpayers. We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore, and they won't be. They won't be. I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." 

Hmm...Seems Pittsburgh feels differently.

Mayor Peduto said, "The city of Pittsburgh voted for Hillary Clinton with nearly 80% of the vote". 

80%. Musta been all those illegals voting for Hillary, no doubt.

This is from Australia's The Age.

Something tells me they’re not laughing at “us” at all.

This Is Your Brain On Con-servatism

Montana Republican House candidate Greg Gianforte is a thug.

The authoritarian Republican thug was annoyed by the questions from a journalist, and apparently grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the ground.

The extreme Right’s war on journalism is getting violent. Let's be clear. Journalism-hating thugs with a political agenda are fascists.

An editorial in the Helena Independent Record described the paper as “sick and tired of Gianforte’s incessant attacks on the free press.”

“In the past, he has encouraged his supporters to boycott certain newspapers, singled out a reporter in a room to point out that he was outnumbered, and even made a joke out of the notion of choking a news writer, and these are not things we can continue to brush off,” the paper’s editorial staff wrote Thursday.

Last month, a voter at a Gianforte town hall pointed out a journalist in the room, called the media “the enemy” and mimed the act of wringing a neck.

Gianforte smiled and pointed at the reporter.

“We have someone right here,” he said, according to the Ravalli Republic. “It seems like there are more of us than there is of him.” 

Fascists are bullies. Fascists body slam journalists. Liberals do not.

The difference is as clear as it is between Trump and Obama. And Obama wasn’t even that liberal.

One is a decent human being. The other is not. One is well-informed and educated. The other is not. One was demonized as a foreign Muslim. The other is our gift from the Republican Party and conservatives.

The ugly monster of “Lügenpresse” has returned. “Lügenpresse” was a Nazi slur shouted at a Trump rally.

Critics of Hitler’s regime were frequently referred to as members of the “Lügenpresse apparatus.”… “Lügenpresse” (lying press) was an important component under propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

And yes, it is reasonable to invoke similarities to Nazis when noting fascist behavior. Look at the open hate at Trump rallies. “Lock her up!” was chanted by the liar and Russian tool Flynn. Kremlin Don has cozied up to Russia and  called American journalism the “enemy of the people”.

The Nazis were defeated. Fascism survives, and Republican fascists are coming out of the woodwork.

Other Republican thugs rallied to Gianforte’s defense.

Trent Franks: “The left has precipitated this tense, confrontational approach…”

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) : “It’s not appropriate behavior. Unless the reporter deserved it.” 

Brent Bozell: “Jacobs is an obnoxious, dishonest first class jerk. I'm not surprised he got smacked.”

This is your brain on American con-servatism folks. This is fascism.

Resist and persist. 

Kremlin Don

We have a tyrant, an ignorant, corrupt, whiny, childish, victim-playing tyrant. 

Our electoral system failed us, but we are lucky to have a legal system that deters him from greater destruction. But will it?

After FIRING James Comey, the man running the investigation of his gang’s Russian contacts, Kremlin Don openly GAVE Russia highly top secret code word information. In the OVAL Office. With RUSSIAN media there. And he insultingly EXCLUDED American journalists. 

Adding further insult to injury, our Asshole in Chief bragged about shaking the investigation by purging "nut case" Comey.

America has fallen, and this is what it looks like.

This story used to be the stuff of Pravda fantasies and Putin’s dreams.

“No puppet! No puppet!”, Kremlin Don assured us.  

Now Putin laughs at the television as he pours drinks for his henchmen. “To our new asset,  Secret Agent Dim Bulb!”

Of course Hillary is still the real villain for having low level classified content on a private server, which wasn’t passed on to foreign governments. 

If Kremlin Don cannot be held legally accountable, then his party must hold him politically, if not morally, accountable. That won't happen soon will it? Not unless something drastic occurs.

It's unlikely by now that the Republicans can make a credible stand for decency, so nothing will happen on their initiative. Maybe when the country is rallying to defeat them at the polls they may finally remove Trump by means of the 25th Amendment.

Anyone who still thinks Secret Agent Dim Bulb is competent and qualified for office is a cultist and utter fool. None of them deserve to run our country or even be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.

We shall see how far they follow their Dear Leader into infamy. Remember, as nasty, infantile, and sociopathic as he is, Republicans and conservatives largely agree with his agenda. (That should tell them something, but it doesn't.)

Pence, a loyal Trumpist with theocratic leanings, cannot be trusted since he parrots many of Dear Leader's lies, and abets the behavior that desecrates our White House. It's not hard to imagine Pence would pardon Kremlin Don and his thugs if given the opportunity. He would be our second worst president at best.

But that's what we may as well expect. Democrats won’t save us. Republicans certainly won’t save, or even serve us. Consequences, rather than accountability, will ensue.

It's going to be a long, long future, kids. Reverberations from this Great American Tragedy may well outlast us all. 

The Purge Continues

Every Dictator loves it. Every authoritarian craves it. They want power, especially power to purge adversaries. Hitler and Stalin industrialized the purging of opposition and undesirables. 

Over here, and now, it has been more refined. 

Republican demonization of educators, liberals, union workers, and journalism, in effect, purges opposition. Their voter suppression is another example of this principle in action. Authoritarians chanting "Lock her up!" is what this desire to purge sounds like.

And here we are, living with Trump and the Republican Party running our government. 

There's nothing quite like the power to not only eliminate people who oppose you, but to remove anyone who may have an undesired inclination to tell or expose the truth.

In Nixon's dark image, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. THAT should put an end to this pesky fake news about Russia, right? (Besides, it served him right for not imprisoning Hillary. This was always the burr in the butt of Trumpists and con-servatives.)

Trump's banana Republican act prompts us to remember and paraphrase the classic Doonesbury take on Nixon:

“It would be a disservice to Mr. Trump and his character to prejudge the man, but everything known to date could lead one to conclude he’s guilty.

That’s GUILTY! Guilty, guilty, guilty!"

Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was purged for doing her job, asking questions about Trump's Muslim ban being constitutional. She also had the gall to warn Trump about his crony Flynn being compromised by his dealings with Russia. 

The woman was doing her job. Obviously Yates was the one who had to go.

Now James Comey has been purged. This was to be expected, especially in light of Comey testifying before Congress. You know, doing his job. And worse yet, sworn to tell the truth.

Comey was fired because he wasn't working only for Dear Leader anymore. 

Never mind the fact that Comey gave Trump the best possible October Surprise. That last bit of nothing from an unrelated case tilted enough undecided voters, that even Putin was impressed. Ironically it was Comey's letter that would eventually get Comey purged.

Comey's final treason against Kim Jong Don was working for the American people. He had the nerve to request funding and staffing for the ongoing FBI investigation of Russia's influence on our election and the Trump campaign's collusion with Russians. (Hint: Start with, "Russia, if you're listening..".)

Merely doing one's duty is enough an offense to get one purged in Trumpistan. One pays a price for enraging an authoritarian leader, even for the man who handed him the keys to the White House. 

And what happens next? Trump welcomes Russians with their media into the Oval Office while excluding American journalists. 

Smelling the borscht yet, komrads?

I have to wonder, how soon before law enforcement and government employees are required to swear loyalty oaths?

The Beast

Modern humankind has been put in the difficult position of managing the institutionalized beasts it has created. These beasts have their benefits and their problems. Government is one such beast, one conservatives wish to "drown in the bathtub". Other beasts are the "necessary evils" wielding power over citizens, like a military, or law enforcement. Democracy, with it's justice system, is the only check on their power.

Then there is the beast that is not of the government, and not accountable to the democratic representative process. That beast is capitalism. Or more specifically, the de-regulated, free speech and person-hood endowed, banking and global corporatist "Free Market" capitalism the economic Darwinists employ to gain limitless wealth and power over government.  

It is the essence of that capitalism to take the most while giving the least. That is its ethos. This is why it needs regulation. Capitalism needs regulation just like government, police and the military need the rule of law and a constitution.

Capitalism becomes an all-consuming god if allowed to go unregulated. And far too many Americans revere capitalism over democracy and even freedom itself.

Trump, the vile and vulgar spawn of corporate media and capitalism, is president for several reasons politically. Comey, Russia, Hillary's baggage, etc. 

Missing from every analysis is the American people's reverence for wealth and the wealthy. Mammon is our god, and the rich are our prophets. This is our subliminal and overt programming from corporate media and political indoctrination. Make no mistake. Look at all the millionaire TV preachers who prove this statement.  Look at the cult of celebrity behind famous people. Trump even told us "when you're a celebrity, they let you do that".  

And too many of we the people let him do it.

Capitalism, like the machinery of big business, is amoral. It may offer jobs, but it also has its price and political demands. It inherently serves the elites over all others. It is not democratic. It is not representative. 

The founders understood we need to tax and regulate commerce or it would regulate us. And that is what has happened. 

The founders wanted to discourage an aristocracy. The Party of Trump is eliminating the inheritance tax. They want to gut health care in order to cut taxes for the rich. They want aristocratic rule, and they have it. The vulgarian in the White House and his billionaire cabinet exemplify aristocratic rule.

The actions of Republicans have nothing to do with Christian values. Yes, they cleverly pander to Christians and their churches for votes, but everything else they do elevates the rich and steps on the poor. This is in direct opposition of not only Christian values, but our Constitutional regulation of commerce and provision for the general welfare. It is in opposition to basic human dignity and decency.

The Party of Mammon is devious enough to fuel and exploit resentment of others, to divide and dupe voters on wedge issues. If the serpent of Eden wore a hat it would have read, "Make Eden Great Again" to enhance the appeal of its fruit.

The Reptilian Party of Billionaires with the ethos of "You're on your own" is in power. And they make it clear they don’t want to be their brothers’ keeper. In fact, human beings will suffer the consequences of their kleptocracy and destruction of our constitutional general welfare.

Reptilian Republicans and their Corpo-Dem appeasers serve the Beast of unregulated capitalism. Their Beast has no conscience. Their Beast has no use for democratic institutions. Their Beast has no concern for justice. Their Beast has no objection to fascism and a police state. Their soulless Beast is concerned only for profit.

If the Reptilian Republicans and Corpo-Dems have their way, we shall all serve their unregulated Free Market Beast, instead of having the Constitutionally regulated market serving the people.