Speaking Politically

Politicians who actually say what they mean frequently regret it. You simply cannot be blunt without offending someone, and the media will jump on anything that might give offense. When it comes to Trump and the MAGA's, however, statements that would have buried politicians in the past (and more rational times) are now applauded. One such statement is what Trump said about John McCain:

“He's not a war hero, he's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured, okay? I hate to tell you.[1][9]”

Trump may not have paid a price for that statement but I do not mind telling him that we rational beings, who still believe in democracy and service to our country, do not like politicians who are twice impeached, 4 times indicted, found liable for sexual assault and defamation, and found liable for committing fraud when building a realestate business.

Furthermore, the people who still call themselves conservative and still support Trump, regardless of the fact that he is a proven grifter, a liar, and a seditionist, are also supporting a grave security risk who has been indicted for the mishandling of classified documents -- the very thing he said Hillary Clinton should be locked up for doing. And that is not all. As Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said:

"When former President Donald Trump spoke at a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Wednesday [10/11/23], he ostensibly was laying out a vision for American foreign policy in the wake of Hamas’s brutal attack on Israeli citizens last weekend. Instead, Trump kicked an ally while they’re hurting, heaped praise on our mutual enemy Hezbollah and tied the attack to his own delusions of the “stolen” 2020 election. In case anyone had forgotten, Trump’s incoherent remarks reminded us all that he is a fickle friend, a terrible ally and a walking national security risk.”

Just as I was asking myself for umpteenth time where all the cold warriors, the super paranoid, super nationalistic Republicans went I saw:

“Extremism is no defense, moderation, no vice. The GOP is whistling past its own graveyard... “ By vjr7121

Vjr7121's story reminds us of how consistent the nihilism and irrational hatred of government is. With the threat of communism apparently eliminated, the right wing has simply doubled down on its hatred of government and rules. While I agree that “the GOP is whistling past its own graveyard,” we Democrats must be mindful of how our statements and characterizations will be interpreted by independents who are still silly enough to think Republicans will work with anyone for the greater good. Setting the right tone is a difficult thing to do because we also have to make people aware of the threat fascism now poses.

Having said that, I have to admit that if someone asked me what I think will happen if Trump becomes president again, I would tell that person what light-heavy weight champion Billy Conn told a reporter who asked what happened when Billy tried to go toe to toe with heavy weight champion Joe Lewis. “I must have lost my mind,” Billy said. “And when you lose your mind, your ass goes with it!”

I have faith but I'm going to work like hell to make people realize they have to vote to protect democracy and their asses from the right wing lunatics. Yes, I know, someone is bound to tell me that I can't change minds by calling people lunatics, and that is true. But I do not believe the MAGAs read my blog, and I am not high on the ladder of anyone's campaign staff. Which means I can tell the unvarnished truth as I see it.

The Malodorous GOP-A-Palooza

Thank you to the reporters who held their noses and attended the GOP's also ran farting contest so that I did not have to. Real undie stainers were blown into the air by Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis, both of whom said Biden should be blamed for the likely government shut down. That is like saying that people held hostage by Russia should be blamed for the actions of Putin! As the Washington Post  points out:

"The Senate is working on a bill to continue funding the government at current levels into mid-November, which would also provision some of the billions of dollars Biden seeks for U.S. aid to Ukraine and for natural disaster relief. The Senate-led bill has the support of the White House and passed a key procedural hurdle Tuesday night in a 77-19 bipartisan vote.

But House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Wednesday told his conference in a closed-door meeting that he would not put the Senate bill on the floor in its current form. McCarthy has been trying to appease hard-right holdouts in his conference to pass a bundle of long-term appropriations bill."

I should like to point out that Government shutdowns and impeachments have not worked out very well for the Republicans in the past -- just ask Newt Gingrich and Paul Ryan. But lets face it, the MAGA morons are not bright enough to realize that you can learn form history. So trying to educate them is a fool's errand.

Some of the pundits and reporters seemed to be amused by comments the candidates made about sleeping with union members. I have to admit that the excerpts shown of those comments did not amuse me. What did amuse me was Chris Christie saying that if Trump keeps ducking out of debates he'll deserve the nickname “Donald Duck.” But it was not Christie's punny intent that made me laugh. What made me laugh was what I imagined to be Ron DeSantis' reaction to the mention of a Disney character. I could almost hear DeSantis grumbling: “Ok Jersey bridge ogre, what are you going to do now... sing the Micky Mouse Club song and wave a gay pride flag under my nose. Now that is something I would be willing to offend my olfactory sensors to witness.

I cannot tell you who won that debate, but anyone who was subjected to the stupidity displayed there was the loser. Indeed, Ramaswamy displayed such a dearth cognitive development and intellectual prowess that I think he should change the pronunciation of his name. He should start calling himself Ramus whammy. How is that for truth in advertising?

Lauri's Spirit Lives On

 We must not succumb to fear and hate. As Marie Curie said: “Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

Lauri Carlton understood because she took the time to learn from and about people who are too often seen as different and therefore undesirable. Although Lauri's journey has come to an abrupt end, her spirit still embraces us and reminds us to treat each other as brothers and sisters regardless of sexual orientation or other superficial differences. It is now for us to honor her life and her cause with open minds and welcoming hearts, letting her kindness and acceptance be our guiding light.

Lauri was murdered for displaying a Gay Pride flag in front of her store.

“If You Don't Want People To Think You're Stupid...”

Alabama has done it again. For those of you who do not know or may have forgotten about the Judge Roy Moore debacle, let me remind you:

Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed from office for judicial misconduct by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. He was the Republican Party nominee in the 2017 U.S. Senate special election in Alabama to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, but was accused by several women of sexually assaulting them while they were underage and lost to Democratic candidate Doug Jones.[1]

Moore's campaign for senate was almost a terrible stereotype of southern politics. He seized every opportunely to be photographed on horseback and/or with a gun, and he engaged in an incessant babble about defending freedom from threats that were mostly imaginary.

When the allegations about his (Moore's) pedophilia came out and he did not instantly tank in the election polls, it seemed to Alabamans as if the rest of the nation was giving Alabama a great big horse laugh. Some pundits were asking how the hell Alabamans could even consider putting this miscreant in the U.S. Senate? This caused many Alabamans complain about the rest of the nation seeing them as provincial, red neck, simpletons. Basketball hall of famer, Charles Barkley, who was born in Alabama, offered this piece of advice to people who were thinking about voting for Roy Moore: “If you don't want people to think you're stupid, don't do stupid things!”

Alabama was bright enough to reject Roy Moore and elect Doug Jones, but as the sane people of this nation will attest, Alabama's election of Senator Tommy Tuberville was a huge mistake made because of the extreme right wing ideology that is so prevalent in the deep south. This time the nation is not laughing – not even in derision. The sanctimonious dullard, Senator Tuberville, is holding up the promotions and appointments of military commanders because he wants to violate the first amendment separation of church and state by depriving female members of the military the reproductive health care that was protected by Roe v. Wade. In doing so he is damaging our military and threatening the security of the United States. The long term solution is to kill the fascist elephant! I do not know of a short term solution; the ones listed by Politico are not very appealing.

The really sad thing is that there are enough delusional fascists in this country so that Tuberville can actually fund raise off of his threats to our national security and our constitution. This means we are facing an existential threat to our democracy. I am sure there are some rational people in Alabama who still believe in democracy and the rights stated in our constitution. I can only imagine their pain and frustration. Kevin, Charley, McCarthy and the MAGA's not withstanding, we are in this together.  We must remind people of that and of what is at stake if the fascist Republican Party remains a political force and threat to our democracy!

Herding Wild Kazoos

 At the May meeting of the Democratic Club to which I belong we decided to make our participation in the fourth of July parade a light, fun event. Instead of submitting our usual statement to be read by parade officials stationed at intervals along the route, we wrote a statement thanking all of the good people who helped their neighbors during what many are calling the snowmageddon of 2023. We also decided to play patriotic music on kazoos. I could not hit the high notes of the Star Spangled Banner when I was young. I am now eighty one and attempts to hit those notes today more closely resemble the sound of someone trying to dislodge a fish bone from his throat than someone trying to hit a musical note. I therefore objected to the inclusion of the Star Spangled Banner on our play list, but I was over-ruled. One of the members of our club is a gentlemen who was a drum major during his days in college. As I am sure many of you know members of college bands, including drum majors, take their music seriously. Kazoos, really? How tacky! But the humor of that was a large part of what we were trying to project, and our former drum major fully embraced the concept by offering to lead the kazoo band.

A half dozen of us even showed up at a practice session. A half dozen! As it turned out, many of our members brought friends and family to march in the parade with us, and a Democratic Club in the same region also joined us, as did a congressional candidate we support. The bottom line is that we had thirty people in the parade, and the vast majority of them were playing kazoos. Fortunately, one of our members recorded the songs we were performing and placed a sound system in a truck we decorated. We were forty fifth in the line of participants so we had some time to practice as we approached the parade route. The sound was a bit ragged and some of us may have been out of tune, but we were having a good time. I was out front carrying one end of our banner and could not see what must have been a pained or embarrassed look on the face of our drum major. Fortunately, it sounded to me as if things smoothed out by the time we actually started down the parade route. At that point I chuckled over the fact that a mental health group was right behind us, forming a buffer between us and a Republican club in the line of march. “Seek help before joining the dark side!” You have to love the symbolism, don't you?

It soon became apparent that, at least on this day, people along the parade route preferred songs with lively beats, such as “Grand Old Flag” and “This Land Is Your Land,” to songs like the “Star Spangled Banner” or “America The Beautiful.” The lively beats also helped the fellow from our sister club who was dressed in an inflatable donkey costume and was dancing around our banner. Regardless of a few snide comments shouted at us about asses, most of the spectators were amused by the Kazoos and the dancing donkey. We were treated to a lot of laughter, hand waving, thumbs up signs, and words of encouragement. Five or six MAGA's tried chanting “lets go Brandon!” But our sound system and kazoos pretty much nullified them; they also received some sour looks from people near them. We were on a lark, and people watching us seemed to be having as much fun as we were. Nothing the Republicans tried broke that spell. One idiot even sprayed me with a super soaker, but it was hot by then and it felt good to be sprayed. I smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up.

The only down side to this is that I am wondering how I can get the tune of “This land is your land” to stop playing in my mind. I also wonder if our drum major will add “herding wild kazoos” to his resume. Probably not. You had to have been there.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

No Accountability From Party Of NO.

Kevin (Charlie) McCarthy might want to get the MAGA hand out of his butt because it is making him say some really stupid suff, such as:

"This is going to disrupt this nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all, which is not being seen today. And we're not going to stand for it," McCarthy told Fox News Digital.

As you may recall Kevin (Charie) was also highly critical of the search warrant served at Mar-A-Lago.  Saying: 

“When you learn of some of the things that he had said of how this investigation was carried out, you’ll see then that this judgment is wrong by this DOJ, that they treated President Trump differently than they treat others, and it didn’t have to be this way.”

The he Kevin (Charlie) was apparently referring to is Steven D’Antuono, a former assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office who opposed the surprise search of Mar-a-Lago the FBI conducted in August, testified before the Judiciary Committee and revealed the investigation was conducted improperly. To say that D'Antuono's testimony may not be reliable is an understatement. Read Empty Wheel, “DID STEVEN D’ANTUONO MAKE IT EASIER FOR TRUMP TO STEAL 47 CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS?”

And, even better, read the indictment! Look at the explanation of the charges, and at the evidence presented. Nobody with any respect for the law and a triple digit IQ would ever dispute that Trump should be indicted for the crimes described in the indictment, regardless of what the motive for bringing those charges may be. What did Donald Trump say about Hillary Clinton and why we should “lock her up?” Jack Smith was so thorough that you will find the answer to that question in the indictment. I might add here that Donald Trump's own statements are used to prove the allegations against him even though there is also a lot of witness testimony and documentation contained in the indictment.

I do not think it will come as a news flash to anyone that most Republicans are following Kevin (Charlie's) lead on this. Even the misnamed "moderate" Republicans are dancing away from any legal attempt to hold Trump accountable. The Republican Party is indeed the party of No – No courage, No brains, No conscience.

One final note: it is very doubtful that Judge Aileen Cannon has the integrity to follow the rules of judicial ethics, which say that judges must recuse themselves from hearing any matter where there is even the appearance of a conflict of interest, such as the one Cannon demonstrated when she made two rulings in favor of Trump that were so rediculous that they were overturned and criticized by an ultra conservative appellate court.

Climbing Above Fear

We celebrate “The Hill We Climb” as a nation forged in revolution and inspired by the hope and dream of freedom and justice for all, as a nation forever unfinished and evolving because we dare to dream big.

We, the people, do not ban books. We read and discuss books.  We treasure and protect freedom of speech from attacks by uncultured warriors who are prisoners of their fear of other people and facts that challenge beliefs the uncultured warriors stubbornly cling to as if in a death grip.  Questioning is often uncomfortable but it is essential.  As J. William Fulbright said, “In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.”

We are a people of great optimism and faith, and as such we heed the words of Marie Curie:

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.  Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

Consider this an homage to Amanda Gorman.

Oh, Lordy! They Have Bupkus.

Shade clouds of Darrell Issa! The Republicans still cannot legislate but they can use investigations to throw shade at anyone who tries. They can and apparently are doing that even as they blow up the economy by making America default on its debts. It is a bit like walking and spewing bile at the same time.  But now is the date that all good MAGAs have been waiting for. The long awaited report from John (Bull S.) Durham has finally been released.

“Mr. Durham’s investigation traces back to early 2019, when Mr. Mueller delivered a final report that detailed “numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.” It established how Moscow had worked to help Mr. Trump win and how his campaign had expected to benefit from the foreign interference, but Mr. Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to charge any Trump campaign associate with a criminal conspiracy with Russia.

 Mr. Trump portrayed that report as vindication that the Russia investigation was based on a hoax, as he had insisted. The next month, Attorney General William P. Barr assigned Mr. Durham, then the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, to scour the Russia investigation for any wrongdoing. Mr. Barr later bestowed special counsel status on Mr. Durham, allowing him to stay in place after Mr. Trump left office.”

After 4 years and two criminal cases resulting in acquittals, Mr. Durham's report reveals that he found “no evidence of politically motivated misconduct.” But, like James Comey, John (Bull) Durham could not let the matter end there. He had to open his hand, and he was going to reveal something even if what he had to reveal is crap. So he accused the FBI of a “lack of analytical rigor,” among other things.  Ah, but you know the Republican are never constrained by a lack of evidence, and Floriduh's wanna be dictator Ron De Santis sill claims that the Fed "manufactured a false conspiracy theory about Trump-Russia collusion.”

Meanwhile Congressional Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) seems a bit flummoxed by a lack of evidence in his Hunter Biden probe. Poor Jimmy even had to put out a missing person report on his star whistle blower. Could it be that the whistle Mr. Comer was hearing was only a tea kettle. Who occupies the office next to his?

Do you suppose this bunch of R-slugs will turn up is much dirt on the Democrats as Darrell Issa did during the hundreds of investigations he promised? The poor GOP really needs a new playbook! They also need something better than the diet of hate that seems to be killing their cerebral synapses and taking the lives of so many innocent people,

Republican Government?

             Executive Branch

Donald Trump - Twice impeached, indicted, and liable for sexual abuse.

Legislative Branch

                                   

Senator Mitch McConnell -- packed the      Congressman Geroge Santos --  indicted liar.                       Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Judiciary

Justice Clarance Thomas shows why supreme court justices cannot be above the law!

It is hard to believe that this is the government any sane, rational person would choose.

The Uncultured War On Civilization

There is no culture war; that is a misnomer. What we really have is an uncultured war. I am tempted to say a war on democracy, but it really goes beyond that. The GOP's uncultured war is a violent rejection of reality, the will of the majority, and civilization. It is a movement characterized by tribalism, unwarranted fears, guns, and delusions, and it seeks to replace the concept of community with an every man for himself anarchy blessed and protected by an autocrat. Needless to say that the base Republicans cannot grasp the fact that anarchy and autocracy are mutually exclusive -- or are they?

The community the uncultured warriors wish to replace is not without its flaws. Indeed, historians such as Howard Zinn are quick to point out that our country is controlled by an oligopoly that acts like an oligarchy, and if the plutocrats have to choose between an authoritarian leader and a democratic leader, they will choose the despot. The Plutocrats justify that preference by pointing out our founding fathers' concern about their property and the threat to it posed by the passions of the masses. “The masses are far too likely to decide that there should be a more equitable distribution of the wealth, and that is evil socialism,” the plutocrats say. But what about capitalism? The purist form of capitalism is economic anarchy which eventually results in monopolies and/or oligopolies that exploit and starve all but the powerful few. The Fox disinformation factory is almost a perfect example of the danger of capitalism. As Salon reported, Rupert Murdoch agreed with a Dominion attorney's suggestion that Fox's motive in lying to and inciting its viewers "... is not red or blue, it is green." One would think that Fox viewers would be insulted and angry over Fox's deliberate lies and the disdain Fox' “hosts” have for the channel's viewers. But it is very unlikely that the base MAGA's will punish Fox in any way for the deceit or the disdain. The problem is that what the MAGA's crave is a validation of their delusions, and they will rationalize, deny, and/or ignore Fox's contempt for them if Fox tells them what they want to hear! Fox is more than happy to sell fear and loathing and validate the delusions to keep their audience. Why wouldn't they?

According to the FCC Consumer Guide:

“The FCC is prohibited by law from engaging in censorship or infringing on First Amendment rights of the press. It is, however, illegal for broadcasters to intentionally distort the news, and the FCC may act on complaints if there is documented evidence of such behavior from persons with direct personal knowledge."

But when was the last time you heard of the FCC penalizing any broadcaster for presenting false information or intentionally distorting the news? How many people kill and how many are killed because of Fox's exploitation of right wing paranoia does not matter to Rupert Murdoch because he has a strong profit motive for giving the right wing what it wants. I might add that the gun manufacturers also treasure the deadly paranoia that boosts the sale of their products. The bottom line is that capitalists are too greedy and ruthless to be considered benign.

My use of the word "anarchy" in the first paragraph is somewhat problematic. Anarchy is a difficult term because it is defined differently by sundry groups of proponents and detractors. If we define anarchy as, “a state of disorder due to the absence or nonrecognition of authority or other controlling systems,” than anarchy is antithetical to community and civilization, both of which depend on a coordination of many people and tasks, a certain conformity in regard to acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and the protection of individuals. Since an authoritarian is someone who enforces strict obedience to authority, especially that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom, it would appear that anarchy is also antithetical to authoritarianism. But chaos is a condition authoritarians frequently use to gain power. People who arm themselves in fear of their neighbors, strangers, and facts they do not want to believe can be turned against the government, and the chaos those people create can be used by would be Autocrats who promise to retore peace and order. Odd how that works – the despot promises “law and order” to the paranoid anarchists who think the law should protect only the right people, and “peace and order” to the people who think the government should protect everyone. The autocrats are aware of the difference, but they also know they can distort the meanings to suit their purposes. Peace is thus defined as no demonstrations or dissent of any kind, and order means keeping the marginalized in their place and available to be used as scapegoats as needed.

So it is that I offer this Caveat: Autocrats have to sell the population an alternate reality that is whatever the despot says it is. Disinformation factories, such as Fox, prepare the ground for the despot by destroying the ability to determine or trust what is real! The Republican Party is rejecting democracy because it has lost a majority of the people. The threat is real! Do I need to say more?

All right, the pundits got me. I decided to let this sit for a while before editing and I heard people on MSNBC saying the Republicans will put pressure on Biden to negotiate raising the debt ceiling if they pass a bill to raise the ceiling! They made it clear that they think Biden will have to negotiate. My reaction is, “bullshit!” You do not negotiate the full faith and credit of the United States. If you want to negotiate the budget, the time do it is when you are considering the budget. Educate the public, and tell the Republicans they have to raise the debt ceiling clean! Believe me, the Republican donors will not be happy with Kevin (Charlie) if he crashes the economy.

Mash It!

The R-MAGA Fascists seem to be singing the MASH song, “Suicide Is Painless!” For decades the Republicans ignored all of the polls indicating that a vast majority of the voters favored the Roe v. Wade decision. The reason why the Republicans did not pay a price for chipping away at the right Roe v. Wade protected is because voters did not make that right the priority when they voted. For some reason the voters simply refused to see that the Republicans are really intent on destroying a woman's right to choose. Moscow Mitch's rape of judiciary has given us an illegitimate, theocratic, and, I would argue, a fascist judiciary that is determined to destroy the first amendment separation of church and state. The people (particularly women) are now fighting back. In deep red Kansas the voters used the initiative process to tell the R-MAGA theocrats to stuff it! In the mid-term elections the abortion issue caused the Republicans to lose many elections they might have otherwise won. And now in Wisconsin the Democrats gained control of the State Supreme Court because of the abortion issue. Yet here we have a despicable judge in the high church of sanctimonious stupid trying to defy the first amendment and science by ruling that the FDA has to decertify the abortion pill Mifepristone regardless of the fact that that pill has been on the market for over twenty years and is proven to be safe and effective.  Furthermore, Republicans in red states such as Idaho, Floriduh, and Texas are passing draconian anti-abortion laws in defiance of the will of the voters.

Not being content with infuriating the voters over a woman's right to choose, the Republicans are also putting the profits of the gun manufacturers ahead of the inalienable right to life. The death of so many innocent children demonstrates the lie behind the “Pro-life” stance of the far right wing, and it is traumatizing children and their parents. Then there is the Gerrymandering, the attempts to negate or overturn election results, the banning of books, attacks on the LGTBQ community, and other attacks on free speech, education, and democracy. As anyone who has been paying attention already knows, the anti-democratic, racist display of Tennessee's NRA owned legislature is only an aberration in the sense that most red states are not as blatantly open about their bigotry. Then again, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott showed how little black lives matter to him by promising to pardon Sgt. Daniel Perry, who was convicted shooting and killing 28-year-old Garrett Foster as Foster marched in the July 25, 2020 Austin black lives matter demonstration.

My point is that rather than correcting course the Republicans are doubling down on the uncultured war issues that are so unpopular:

“About two in five (41%) agree that the Dobbs decision was correct, while three in five (60%) say they believe the original 1973 Roe v. Wade was correct to protect abortion rights."  Even more troubling for Republicans is the fact that "... in key contests for control of the Senate and the White House, there is widespread support for abortion rights. Republicans looking over these stats should be nervous about their 2024 prospects in these conditions. After all, look what happened in 2022.”  This caused Ann Coulter to urge her fellow Republicans to: “Please stop pushing strict limits on abortion, or there will be no Republicans left.”

Like abortion the gun control issue is one the Republicans have been able to dominate because voters did not prioritize it as an issue.  That is changing as the death toll continues to escalate. “Nearly two-thirds of Americans support moderate or strong regulations of gun ownership, including 53% of Republicans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 940 people conducted online on Wednesday, one day after the Uvalde shooting.  In regard to the R-MAGA's attack on democracy it should be noted that “Election deniers lost key races for federal and state offices,”and that Every Library poll backs up a national poll commissioned by the American Library Association earlier this year, which found that some 71% of voters oppose efforts to remove books from public libraries, including majorities of voters across party lines.

“Woke!” The Republicans, always the victims, are screaming about the evil woke. Women are woke! Black people and brown people are woke! LGTBQ people are woke! And young people (our children) are woke! They have all been brainwashed. How else can the Republicans explain why all those groups oppose everything the R MAGA Fascists stoop (presumably in prayer) for. It cannot be because the fascists are wrong. Oh God, NO! We all know that democracy has failed the white nationalists!

Can Gerrymandering and other attacks on democracy save the GOP? Many tea bagging MAGAs seem to have deluded themselves into believing that it can. And yet there is this stubborn reality setting in just below the surface, telling all but the most insane of the insane that the times are changing. “Not fast enough impact you,” the demagogues say, and besides “suicide is painless!” There is an old saying that you should get out of the way if your adversary is hurting himself. The problem is that the Republicans seem intent on killing themselves with weapons of mass destruction that make their suicides painful and deadly for innocent people. We have to stop the theocratic fascists now! We have to take proactive steps to end their attempted reign of terror! We have to take to the streets and work our butts off to win every election, local as well as national.

Unfortunately, defeating the fascists before the damage they cause is too great will also require us to act like Republicans by forcing us to change the rules and ignore the traditions that prevent or stop much needed reforms. By that I mean the filibuster and blue slipping in the senate, the size of the supreme court, the term and ethical code* of supreme court justices, etc. One long term goal we need to adopt is the end of the archaic electoral system. Democracy (rule of the majority) is far more important than the narrow, regional interests that seemed so vital to slave owners! And since each state gets two senators, regional interests have more than enough protection. I know there are people out there who will say we cannot make those changes because those traditions and rules protect Democrats as well as Republicans. But the Republicans are abusing those rules to prevent the government from functioning, and they (the Republicans) will do away with anything and everything that gets in the way of their fascist agenda anyhow. If we do not move forward we will be hurled backward. There is no such thing as a democracy merely surviving fascism; in order to survive fascism democracies must crush fascism!

*There is presently no ethical code governing Supreme Court Justices!

Thought Banned in Flori-duh

There is nothing new about censorship. You did not say “Yahweh” in ancient Israel even if you were good at dodging rocks, and saying bad things about the king was often deadly in any kingdom. Censorship and religion fit together like hand and glove, as does despotism and censorship. Banning the expression of thoughts is an attempt to ban thinking; blind obedience and complete control are the goal. In this country we have a long history or censorship and a more recent history of first Amendment objections to that censorship. When I say recent bear in mind that the individual states were not legally constrained by the bill of rights until the passage of the fourteenth Amendment. So, inspired by the banning of what the Simpson's described as David's doodle, I am starting my discussion with the censorship of material considered obscene or pornographic.

"'Banned In Boston' is a phrase that was employed from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, to describe a literary work, song, motion picture, or play which had been prohibited from distribution or exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts. During this period, Boston officials had wide authority to ban works featuring "objectionable" content, and often banned works with sexual content or foul language."

Thus the phrase "banned in Boston" became associated, in the popular mind, with what we now describe as something having adult or sexually explicit content, and commercial distributors of such material were often pleased when their works were banned in Boston because it gave those works more appeal elsewhere.[1]

Playboy magazine (started in 1953) was one of the leading voices of what came to be known as the sexual revolution of the nineteen sixties. Oddly enough given the feminist objections to the “titillating” centerfolds and male humor, it was the female editors of Playboy that made it a respectable publication which had, in the legal jargon of the time, the requisite “socially redeeming value” to separate it from the pornographic category. In many ways Playboy was a life style magazine that discussed fashions and relationships as well providing much in the way of sex education. As such it was a strong defender of the first amendment. But as important as Payboy, Penthouse and other “mens'” magazines were in the fight against censorship the greatest blow to the blue noses was probably delivered by women in 1960 when the first birth control pill  came on the market.

To say the pill was liberating for women would be an understatement. It is not all that difficult to remain celibate until you are married if you are only sixteen when you get married. Remaining celibate until you graduate from college is another matter, and women were soon expressing the fact that they had needs and desires too. Much to our benefit we now have women rising to become successful educators, scientists, entrepreneurs, executives, and politicians. Women have escaped the confines of the family dwelling, and there is almost no way one can exaggerate how important birth control and the ability to plan families are to a woman's freedom and professional success. In this regard the attacks on women's reproductive choices and rights are merely a prelude to oppression. Like the fascists in Europe the American oppressors are making what they perceive to be any vulnerable sector of the population the scapegoats for all of society's ills. Here is a hint for the R-fascists: Women are not a minority, and if you tell them father knows best the finger they are likely to display will not be the one sporting a wedding band. Furthermore those other people, those dark people, those LBGTQ people, and those non-Christians have good reason to know our actual history, and they will push back against the oppressive alternate reality you are trying to inflict on this country. It does not matter how hard the R- fascists try to hide the truth or control our thoughts we, the people, will not let De Santis and the Republicans turn this country into Flori-duh!

Republicans, Racism, and Epithets

The reason why Republican demagogues always claim to be victims is because fear and loathing is their stock in trade, and feelings of aggrievement and victimhood are the kindling accelerating the fear, the loathing, and the anger that justifies the unjustifiable. Of course you cannot have fear and loathing without having villains and enemies. Since the Republican Party's southern strategy already set the GOP in opposition to the civil rights movement it was all too easy for the Republican demagogues to create categories of villains based on racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and anti-socialism. As a consequence the Republican Party has become the party of insane conspiracy theories, delusional alternate realities, and epithets that could reasonably be described as self serving projections.

Critical race theory (CRT) – is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of  how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity.

CRT is a threat to an absurd Republican white-washing of our history -- such as claiming that the Civil War was not about slavery, or not mentioning Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan in our history books. The sin of teaching critical race theory, according Republican (fascist) leaders such as Ron DeSantis, is that it reveals an ugly past that might hurt the feelings of white people who still believe the dehumanizing characterizations that were and still are used to justify oppressing those “other” people. Furthermore, CRT reveals how much we need to change in order to eliminate the systemic racism that has plagued this country for centuries. In other words, this attack on racism is perceived to be an attack on Republicans who see themselves as defenders of the white race!

Woke – the past tense of wake. Also means “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)” To Republicans who want to bring back voter suppression and Jim Crow “woke” means replacing white culture, white privilege, and white superiority! The paranoid white nationalists think anyone who actually believes in liberty and justice for all should be labeled as “woke” or a socialist who embraces the evil woke culture! How dare those woke people ignore the great Replacement Theory!

Antifa – is a left-wing anti-fascist and anti-racist political movement in the United States.  As Wikipedia points out, most Antifa political activism is non violent, but members of Antifa will physically fight with Neo-Nazis and white supremacists at times. I guess if you are a fascist Republican this opposition to fascism makes Antifa an arch villain. How dare Antifa react to the violence of the Nazis, and white supremacists with violence. I do not condone the use of violence, but I have to say that the violence perpetrated by the oppressor seems particularly egregious to me.

Defund the police -- is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources.“  Unfortunately it is a slogan that is easily used by the MAGA R's to increase the fear of their paranoid base. “If you defund the police there won't be anyone to keep those dark skinned people in their place and protect you from crime,” the demagogues warn. Remarkably the people screeching this dire warning are the same people who are threatening our national security by calling for the defunding of the FBI and justice department. The tea bagging MAGA's think it was perfectly fine for William Barr to investigate the Bidens and for James Comey to investigate Hillary Clinton but investigating corrupt, anti-democratic Republicans is going too far!

Liberal/Socialism – According to Republicans, liberals are those pointy headed smart alecks who say right wing fears are not based on real threats or are based on threats that are greatly exaggerated. Republicans frequently use liberal and socialist interchangeably because they believe that socialism is the government doing anything for anyone who is not already a billionaire. Thanks to Ronald Reagan liberalism and socialism also have a racial connotation that adds to the denigrating stereotypes used to justify bigotry. “How dare those liberal socialists give our hard earned tax dollars to 'welfare queens' and other undeserving people,” the Republicans scream. I know it is useless to present facts that contradict what Republicans believe, but an article in Business Insider entitled “Welfare Policy Created White Wealth Largely Leaving Black Americans Behind” by Marguerite Ward is instructive. For instance, Ms Ward points out that:

“Today, white people still make up a plurality of those on welfare programs such as TANF or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A Department of Agriculture report from November estimated that 35.7% of SNAP recipients in the 2018 fiscal year were white, 25.1% were Black, 16.7% were Hispanic, 3% were Asian, and 1.5% were Native American (0.8% were listed as multiple races, while 17.4% were listed as "race unknown").”

Contrary to what Republican Saint Ronnie said the most frightening words are not, “I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.” The most frightening words are, “We are Republicans and we believe in state's rights (meaning to hell with the Fourteenth Amendment. The bill of rights only protects the people we want them to protect ).”