February 28, 2021: Flotsam and Jetsam, Scum of the Earth, Predictable Mendacity

 

This weekend witnessed the gathering of the flotsam and jetsam, the veritable scum of the earth, as the conservatives cesspools and stink tanks empty their contents at the annual gathering known as the CPAC convention. However, for once, the swine have dropped all philosophical or intellectual pretense by presenting no policy formulations but instead engaging in an orgy of idolatry, in a full-blown worship of the “Golden Swine”.

Our deposed Caesar Disgustus held center stage in what was a disgusting spectacle of complete capitulation to ignorance, racism, mendacity, and greed.

Indeed, the tRUMPists demonstrated the hold of the “one-term blunder” when, at the opening of festivities, a golden statue of the swine emerged and the 'faithful' were duly photographed posing next to it as if, by doing so, a bit of the cheap gold paint would rub off on them.

Gone now is Limbaugh and his predictable mendacity; replaced by Raphael Cruz, fresh from his abortive vacation while his home state lay under the siege of a freak ice storm. As Texas lay frozen, with people without water, heat and food, Raphael was seen jetting off to Cancun, only to return the next day shit-faced but unapologetic, blaming his wife and then his children for his complete lack of judgment.

No matter, no sooner had he arrived back in the Lone Star State, when he was off to Florida where the annual convening of the idiotic, imbecilic, mendacious and greedy gathered in a contest to see who could sling the shit the farthest afield.

In this contest, there is none greater than our late Caesar Disgustus, for no one can be relied upon to be more disgusting.

Oh yes, Raphael made the effort. Josh Hawley, arriving in the wake of his demonstrations in support of the aborted coup reminded the gathering offal that it was he who first stood up in the senate to challenge the electoral vote making the attempt possible.

There were, of course, others. But the stench was so bad that even Moscow Mitch, Ann Coulter, and Mike Pence recoiled in disgust.

Then, of course, came tRUMP, in a reprise of his 2016 “Grievanceburg Address”, in which he once again claimed voter fraud, that the election was stolen, that he and—by extension—they were duly outraged. All grievance, all the time. There was no mention of the pandemic, no mention of the over half million dead, no mention of the unemployed; no mention of the millions facing eviction; no mention of the millions of small businesses that have gone or are now going under.  No, the country, like the election, had been stolen from them. Shades of the 'teabaggers' circa 2009, when the nation, for the first time, had a black president.

Disgustus, of course, is concerned about nothing but himself. He sees himself as the once and future king or, short of that the king-maker.

But what is interesting is that at this gathering of rarefied scum, the 'true believers' gathered at what amounts to a virtual celebration of tRUMPism in exile, Disgustus topped straw poll of presidential contenders with a paltry 55 per cent supporting a 2024 tRUMP candidacy. Half of the party's base, that is, fully half of the scum settled at the party's depths, would prefer a different and, perhaps, a more compelling and competent septic service.

For the moment, however, Disgustus, like the gorilla at the zoo, continues to fling shit in every direction sewing discord, attacking institutions, spreading lies, creating chaos.

So let's pause a moment and give Putin credit where credit is due. By helping to elevate our Disgustus into the pantheon of American Politics, Putin has surely got his money's worth; for the great CPAC convention, once a gathering of the merely wrong, has been transformed into a gathering of swine.

An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Convict and imprison.

February 26, 2021: Magical Thinking, To Despise Reason, To Reject Science

 

We now have passed half million dead in this country. A year ago, now, our late Caesar Disgustus assured us that it was no big deal, that it would go away by April when the weather warmed, that it disappear 'as if, by magic'. As if by magic.

This was no mere slip-of-the-tongue, it was a message calculated to fall upon receptive ears, words fashioned to perk the ears of those accustomed to magical thinking. Here was no off-hand rejection of the best scientific advice but designed to reach the deepest recesses of the conservative cesspool, those accustomed to despise reason; those acclimated to the rejection of science; those who put faith in magical thinking.

It was done, as Bob Woodward reports in his book “Rage” about tRUMP and the pandemic, because our Caesar Disgustus and his Boy Blunder decided that since they had done nothing to alleviate the long-suffering white middle class that he had championed; since they had done nothing but afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable, his only chance of re-election was to highlight the robust economy that he had inherited from Obama. Then came the pandemic and the shut-down.

8 million have fallen into poverty, millions lost their health insurance, millions more their homes, jobs, and businesses. Indeed, The New York Times reported that 2020 had the worst economic performance since 1946, when the economy was transitioning from war-time production to peace in the wake of World War Two.

So, as the economy unraveled, tRUMP panicked, fearing his incumbency endangered.

According to Olivia Troye, aide to Vice President Pence and one tasked with dealing with crisis, Disgustus began grasping for anything, listening to anyone who will tell him what he wanted to hear: that it wasn't going to be that bad; that it wouldn't return in the fall; that the economy would immediately rebound; that indeed it was a Democratic hoax.

Those around him responded accordingly, according to Troye. Graphs began to appear out of seemingly nowhere, demonstrating that small steps would suffice to flatten the curve. According to Troye, and confirmed by Maxwell Kennedy, grandson of R.F.K. Who somehow got hired by this administration to deal with this, Boy Blunder and associates were responsible for producing the fictitious estimates whispering in the ear of Disgustus that, horror of horrors, if a funny face weren't put on the crisis the stock market would crash. By the end of March, tRUMP was already pushing to open the economy and, indeed, did so even though none of the states had met any of the guidelines set by the CDC. Governors that resisted this slide into the abyss were ridiculed and threatened. Disgustus, ever the birdbrain, 'tweeted' that his followers should 'liberate Michigan' and several other states setting the stage for armed invasion of the state Capitol of Michigan and elsewhere as well as later plots to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, put Governor Whitmer on trial, and execute her. Dress rehearsals, it would later become apparent, for what was to come: holding on to power by any means necessary.

Now in excess of half million are dead. There are, almost certainly, hundreds of thousands yet accounted. As the nation reported 200,000 dead it was noted that the number of dead and buried had actually been over 300,000 more than recent national averages.

As Congressman Adam Schiff warned during the first impeachment proceeding, tRUMP can never be counted upon to care for the national interest. He thinks only of himself. And, even as Schiff was speaking, and ReSCUMlickan senators were about to acquit, the crisis was already hanging above the head of the republic. And, sure enough, Disgustus reacted all too predictably. It will take years to tally the pain caused by the tRUMP virus.

This is what happens when the country confuses celebrity with gravitas; when the country confuses 'reality' television with reality itself; when the country opts for 'magical thinking' in the place of rational judgment.

Convict and imprison.

February 25, 2021: Path To Mar-a-Lago, Clinging to Any Turd, Paralyze the Nation

 

It has been a bit over two weeks since the scum voted to acquit our Caesar Disgustus thus giving the imprimatur of the ReSCUMlickan Party to the coup d'etat. Within minutes of leading the insurrectionist caucus to acquit, Senate Minority 'Leader' Moscow Mitch McConnell took to the senate floor and roundly condemned Caesar Disgustus calling, among other things, his failure to respond to the riot a 'dereliction of duty'. Now, a fortnight later, we find Moscow beating a path to Mar-a-Lago, in order to kneel and kiss the ring of the one-term blunder.

Clearly, Moscow Mitch has made the political calculation that Caesar Disgustus must be placated and that, having lost his majority status in the senate, sucking up to Disgustus is the only path to power. Never mind that it was Disgustus who cost the ReSCUMlickans their senate majority, never mind that it was Disgustus who cost the ReSCUMlickans the House, never mind that it was Disgustus who lost the presidency. In this ReSCUMlickan cesspool, Disgustus is seen as the only turd that floats and Moscow Mitch will cling to any turd as long as it will keep his nose above the contents.

Normally a president, upon leaving office, rides off into the sunset. This is especially true of a one-term-er who, having faced massive peer group rejection, is rarely heard from again. Carter is the notable exception here due to his dedicated efforts on behalf of various humanitarian causes, but it took Harry Truman's call to service to bring Herbert Hoover out of well deserved retirement. No such call will come from the present or future Democratic administrations retrieving Disgustus from the scrapheap of history.

But tRUMP has never been one to observe political norms nor decency. Already he has appeared before the rarefied scum at the CPAC conference to declare the recent election stolen and the current administration illegitimate. No, Disgustus will spend the rest of his days railing against the fates, vandalizing everything in reach, the future and the country be damned. Putin's investments keep giving dividends.

The scum have found themselves, once again, flushed from power and left clinging to anything that floats and, the biggest floating turd is, of course, our stinking Caesar.

So within days of the aborted coup and the sacking of the People's House we witness a steady stream of ReSCUMlickan 'leaders' making the pilgrimage to the Golden Swine. There was Kevin McCarthy who after condemning tRUMP in the immediate aftermath to the riot, has likewise headed South to visit the golden oracle. It may well be recalled that it was the House Minority Leader who, in the 2015 run-up to the 2016 election, told the House ReSCUMlickan caucus that tRUMP was one of two that he knew to be on Putin's Payroll. He knows who tRUMP is and who he represents. Then there is Leningrad Linsey who, after getting the hoops in his skirts tangled up during the insurrection—telling the nation that “enough is enough”, and that he was done with tRUMP, likewise found himself crawling down Interstate 95 to South Florida in order to once again be with the object of his affections.

The scum have been swept, however narrowly, from power and are now falling back to their default position; de-legitimize the incoming administration, attack the instruments of governance, wage countless culture wars, paralyze the nation.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Convict and Imprison

February 18, 2021: All Along the Ramparts, Tidings of Great Joy, Corpulent One

 

All along the ramparts the word was quickly passed. Before the news had hit the airwaves, I received a call from my daughter who, with some delight informed me of the blessed news. I, in turn, quickly called my uncle who, while on the phone, turned and told his friend the tidings of great joy: Rush, the scumbag, Limbaugh is finally dead.

I recall back in the late 80's when he came upon the scene. In hushed tones my father asked me if I had heard of Limbaugh. Being in the business, I was then an account executive for a local A.M. Radio station, I was aware of the swine. “Yeah, I've heard of him”, I replied.

“What do you think?” my dad asked me.

“He's an idiot”, I replied, adding “and from the looks of him, you can tell the son-of-a-bitch has never missed a meal in his life. The lard ass has no idea what it is to go to bed hungry.”

Dad dropped the subject and never brought it up again. 

It is said that, in ancient Greece, the Oracle of Delphi would sit upon a fissure in the earth and, snorting the toxic fumes belching from the Vulcan furnace, would begin to speak. Her speech was unintelligible so a priest would attend her and translate to the supplicant the advice that she, for a price, dispensed. So it was with “Rush-To-Judgement” Limbaugh. Snorting the toxic fumes from every fascist stink tank, dredging for contents ever more outrageous and disgusting; 'ripping and reading' without validating his sources anything that might fit into his frenzied performance; Limbaugh would launch upon his daily three-hour jeremiads without benefit of either education or clergy. (1)

Limbaugh would, for instance, 'rip-and-read' the contents of the 'Drudge Report'--whose sole expedition into accurate reporting was Bill Clinton's blow-job—without checking into its veracity and, with his trademark vitriolic flair, launch upon his usual three hour rant without any sensible voice in the studio questioning the wisdom of our now high priest of political ignorance. This is what happens when the government does away with the Fairness Doctrine and its “Equal Time” provisions.

This was how the story of Obama taking half the U.S. Navy with him on a trip to India. Rush ripped an article from an obscure Indian publication, did not check the source, read the contents on the air and gave birth to a vicious account of Obama wasting huge sums of tax dollars on a 'junket' involving half the White House staff and half the U.S. Navy. Never mind that the President of the United States travels on Air Force One, primarily for security reasons and has not traveled by sea, or train, in over half century. Again, without benefit of clergy.

Limbaugh was the 'Gateway Drug'. He was the first, the pioneer as it were, to what became an industry. Many would ape his antics, Neil Bortz, Glenn Beck and Alex Jones among them. Jones and Beck even surpassing the original swine in tin-hat conspiracy as a mad scramble ensued over who could be more outrageous, who more pointedly partisan, who more demonstrably mad. Rush demonstrated to the world what happens when the marketplace dictates content, when industries fail and the ensuing consequences.

What made Limbaugh possible was the decline of A.M. Radio. When the auto companies began putting F.M. Radios into the cars the 'drive-time' market, the most treasured segment in the industry, changed. Overnight F.M became all the rage and A.M. Became obsolete. Previously, there were few F.M. Stations, nearly all carried classical music. Why? Because F.M is superior to A.M. For musical formats. There is nearly no static, the range is superior, especially at night, and so is the sound.

Previously, F.M. was an afterthought. An F.M. station was usually linked with A.M. and was seen as the poor cousin of A.M. It didn't make much money and would barely cover it's expenses. Public Radio, for instance, is an F.M. affair, primarily because when it was set up, an A.M. operation was much more expensive to set up. As the old joke went, one could buy and F.M. outlet with 50 cents and a box top. That all changed in the mid to late 70's. By the mid 80's F.M. had taken over 'drive-time' and A.M. became obsolete. The roles were reversed.

Then came, with the Reagan administration, the repeal of the “Fairness Doctrine” and its equal time provisions, regulations requiring equal time must be given to opposing points of view.

The best use, if there were any use at all, is for talk. And since any programming that had a chance to cover the basic cost of operation meant keeping the transmitter a headlong rush to talk radio ensued. Millions could be made flushing the toilet into America's living rooms and work places every afternoon. What matter if this shit don't float? There's money, real money to be made. Enter the marketplace; enter hate radio; enter Rush Limbaugh, the king-hell boar to a 'generation of swine.'

For over three decades now the corpulent one has held court, dragging his nets in the cesspools of conservatism raising the dregs of political thought to a nationwide platform from which he cast these false pearls before real swine. Rush and his 'Ditto-Heads' became all the rage. He has cheapened political discourse, he has vandalized public probity. With Limbaugh license was granted and without Limbaugh the great 'bomb-thrower' Newt Gingrich would not have been possible. Limbaugh and his imitators made Gingrich look respectable. Gingrich, in turn, made Moscow Mitch and Caesar Disgustus possible. It took a mere 30 years to take that small step from Rush to “Q”; from “Ditto-Heads” to “Qanon”. Indeed, in his last broadcasts Limbaugh could be heard lamenting that the violence at our nation's capitol had fallen short.

Some of my colleagues are lamenting the dancing in the streets. They say that it is unbecoming, indeed unseemly, to be celebrating the death of a man, to whom I respond with this observation: If, on balance, it can be said that the world is a better place now that this man is dead, then it is a cause for celebration.

The death of Rush Limbaugh is, indeed, a cause for reverie. Let the celebrations begin!

___________

1. Limbaugh, it has been duly noted in previous columns, failed every class he took in college, even ballroom dancing. Images of that fat ass waltzing across a ballroom floor notwithstanding, it has always amazed me how anyone demonstrating such intellectual shortcomings could be taken seriously. The answer, of course, is that by his very being on the 'air' imputes a certain validity, much as gaining the ReSCUMlickan presidential nomination imputes a certain legitimacy.

February 17, 2021: A Brief Review

 

The following was posted on Facebook this evening pretty much summing up the legacy of Donald J. tRUMP:

"I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency these last four years, and am still exhausted from the experience.

But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government, falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fucked up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

But other than that. . "

Of course I just copied and pasted this. Whoever wrote this deserves credit.

"Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?

February 15, 2021: On Human Prospect

 

I Can't Pretend Anymore

I can't pretend anymore

not to know what lies ahead

what's behind that door

for I have long been

and have lived long enough

to understand “The Damned Human Race”

and I know we all await

as the moon awaits

the morning sunrise

the ruthless judgment

of mother nature

When Nietzsche said that

 'some are born posthumously'

perhaps he committed the original sin

of confusing himself

with humanity

I am but an honest man

 awaiting the grim reaper.

 whose time has come 

to make complete

the confusion

I can't pretend anymore

February 13, 2021: Institutional failure, Justice undone, For All of History

Congressman Adam Schiff, impeachment manager at the first impeachment of our Caesar Disgustus posted the following reaction to the second failure of the senate to perform its constitutional responsibility:

"I wanted to share some thoughts with you at the end of former President Donald J. Trump's second impeachment trial, which ended the same way the first did, with the United States Senate failing to convict him.

When I served as lead manager of the first impeachment, we warned the Senators that if they failed to convict Donald Trump after he betrayed our national security, he would do so again, that he had compromised our elections and he would do so again. We warned that they would not change or constrain him. That truth mattered little to him, what’s right mattered even less, and decency not at all.

And we told Senators then, that it was in their hands to do something about it, if only they could muster the courage to do what was right. Only one Republican Senator did.

We saw the result on January 6th, as Donald Trump did what we had feared and worse, by attempting to overturn the results of an election he lost. And when that failed, he incited a violent insurrection at the Capitol.

The truth is that as expertly presented as the case was by Jamie Raskin and the House Managers, the facts were never in dispute. After all, the Senators themselves were witnesses to what happened. They were there when the mob did exactly what Donald Trump had asked them to do.

Today, we needed 17 Republicans to join Democrats in standing up for our democracy and our nation’s safety. Despite a powerful case laid out by Jamie Raskin and the House Impeachment Managers, only 7 had the courage to do so.

As long as I live, I will never understand how the Republican Senators who voted to acquit can reconcile themselves with the consequences of that vote, or where this will place them in history. Why run for the Senate at all, if you will be missing in action when the country really needs you? Is the job that important to leave your country defenseless to a demagogue who brought violence down on our heads? How can they fail to see that by doing so, they have enabled him to bring this same hell upon us again, and that next time it could be even worse?

The last four years tried the soul of our nation and our democracy in ways we could never have imagined. But the next four might be just as consequential.

Are we able to repair the damage Trump wrought, not just to our sacred Capitol but to the spirit of our great nation? Are we able to restore our democracy to what it once was? And how are we able to come together, to unite, when there is so much distrust and division?

While the Senate refused to do their duty and fulfill their oaths, it is incumbent on each one of us to do our part to restore our democracy, and make it better. And that means we need to hold those Republicans who refused to do their duty accountable — to the people.

So while Republicans have been throwing around the word “unity” without knowing its true meaning, you and I both know that we cannot have unity without accountability.

With the vast majority of Republican Senators and Republican Members of Congress refusing to hold Trump accountable for his violent insurrection, our message to them must be clear: we will hold you accountable at the ballot box.

They knew the facts — lived through them — and still voted to let him off. They have tied themselves to him again, with a cord of steel and for all of history.

— Adam" (1)

_______

1. Facebook post February 13, 2021

February 1, 2021: Didn't Start With tRUMP, Long Forgotten ACORN, Means and Ends

 

“Stop the Steal” didn't start with Trump, Jamelle Bouie reminds us. In a New York Times featured opinion piece, Bouie informs us, once again, that the cancer metastasizing upon the body politic in the form of the conservative/republican cum fascist movement predates tRUMP by decades.

We are all familiar with the history of Tammany Hall and the 19^th century shenanigans of the well oiled Democratic machine. But what is lost in our collective misunderstandings is that Republican machines in Philadelphia and elsewhere were just as outrageous. That aside, Bouie reminds us that “Conservative belief in pervasive voter fraud goes back decades—and rests on racist and nativist tropes that date back to Reconstruction in the South and Tammany Hall in the North—but the modern obsession with fraud dates back to the 2000 election. That year, Republicans blamed Democratic fraud for narrow defeats in New Mexico, which George W. Bush lost by just a few hundred votes, and Missouri, where the incumbent senator, John Ashcroft, lost his re-election to a dead man.

“Ashcroft's opponent, Mel Carnahan, was killed three weeks earlier in a plane crash, but his name was still on the ballot, with his wife running in his stead. Shocked Republicans blamed Ashcroft's defeat on fraud. At Ashcroft's election-night party, the state's senior Republican senator, Kit Bond, said 'Democrats in the city of St. Louis are trying to steal this election.

“In 2001, as the newly minted attorney general under President George W. Bush, Ashcroft announced a crackdown on voter fraud. 'America has failed too often to uphold the right of every citizen's vote, once cast, to be counted fairly and equally,' he said at a news conference that March:

“Votes have been bought, voters intimidated and ballot boxes stuffed. The polling process has been disrupted or not completed. Voters have been duped into signing absentee ballots believing they were applications for public relief. And the residents of cemeteries have infamously shown up on Election Day.

“The Republican National Committee supported this push, claiming to have evidence that thousands of voters cast more than one ballot in the same election” (1)

One may recall the long-forgotten war against ACORN, an organization formed in the sixties which by the mid to late 70's had become a formidable advocate for neighborhood associations. Urban oriented, it was a force in local politics in cities nationwide. Among its many functions was voter registration in order to give low income and the politically disconnected a voice. A prime target for a movement that represents the top 10 percent, if not the top 1 percent or the top one tenth of one percent. You can't win anything like a majority if people like these show up at the polls and cast ballots in order to defend their own economic interests.

Here's Bouie recalling the history: As the 2004 “got underway” “Swing-state Republicans accused the group of 'manufacturing voters,' and federal prosecutors looked, unsuccessfully, for evidence of wrongdoing. Later, Karl Rove would press President Bush's second attorney general Alberto Gonzales, to fire a number of U.S. attorneys for failure to investigate voter fraud allegations....

“ACORN and voter fraud would remain a bete noire for Republicans for the rest of the decade. Conservative advocacy groups and media organizations produced a steady stream of anti-ACORN material and, as the 2008 election campaign heated up, did everything they could to tie Democratic candidates, and Barack Obama in particular, to a group they portrayed as radical and dangerous. ACORN, Rush Limbaugh said in one characteristic segment, has 'been training young Black kids to hate, hate, hate this country.

“During the second debate with Obama, a few weeks before the election, the Republican nominee, John McCain, charged that ACORN 'is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy'”. (2)

Devoting much of the final weeks of his 2008 campaign to the false charge, McCain “accused Obama, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party of orchestrating a vast conspiracy of fraud. 'We've always known the Obama-Biden Democrats will do anything to win this November, but we didn't know how far their allies would go,' one mailer read. 'The Obama-supported, far left group, ACORN, has been accused of voter-registration fraud in a number of battleground states.” (3)

Sound familiar? Smear community-action groups, labeling them 'far left' for the sin of registering voters, organizing food banks, and generally helping poor people. Attack Democratic precincts, looking for fraud, areas that are heavily Black and Latino, but also poor white. De-legitimize the opposition and, by extension, the legitimacy of the Republic itself if it is in the service of unlimited political expedience.

It is worth noting that the first casualty of the 'tea-bagger' takeover of the House. “It closed its doors in 2010 after Congress stripped it of federal funding in the aftermath of a scandal stoked by right-wing provocateurs, whose accusations have since been discredited.” (4) The disciples of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove had done their work; and Obama, a former community organizer—one who surely recognized the importance of ACORN to the communities—did not, to his eternal discredit, raise a finger to save it.

Then came the conservative Supreme Court rulings gutting the voting rights act, destroying campaign finance laws with the ridiculous Citizen's United decision in which corporations, being deemed real persons, could not be restricted in their campaign activity. Before the ink was dry, states began passing, by 2011, restrictive voter laws, closing polling places, making voter registration drives much more difficult.

“The absence of any evidence for voter fraud was not, for Republicans, evidence of its absence. Feed by the Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which ended federal 'preclearance' of election laws in much of the South, Republican lawmakers passed still more voter restrictions, each justified as necessary measures in the war against fraud.” (5)

The suppression of the vote to keep conservatives in power had a long and sorry history in this county. It, along with terrorist groups like the KK K, were and are the tools employed to keep hold of power. The only difference is that the means and ends have changed party affiliation. Our Caesar Disgustus simply made use of them.

“An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Convict and Imprison.

___________

1. Bouie, Jamelle. “'Stop the Steal' Didn't Start With Trump” The New York Times. Saturday, January 16, 2021. Page A18

2. Ibid

3. Ibid

4. Ibid

5. Ibid