OMG ! Eeeegads! Holy Sh*t!. WTF?

None of the above exclamations are even close to adequate to describe the current situation that America is facing.  We are on the precipice and about to fall into a genuine fascist dictatorship.  If you think this is a hyperbolic statement, perhaps you have been in a deep sleep-state, or maybe you have tossed your hat into the MAGA cesspool.  

Gradually, many, if not most, Americans are awakening to the fact that the Orange Idiot and his side-kick, and contemporary model of Rasputin, the Muskrat, mean to burn down the barn with the horses still inside.  They are taking a wrecking ball to the entire government under the bold-faced lie that they are 'fixing' it.  What they are really doing is converting it into a country where the 'little people' have virtually NO VOICE, and the elite (read the billionaire oligarchs) call all the shots as they loot the middleclass to swell their already obscene wealth.

I have known a number of multi-millionaires and, with one notable exception, they have all remained humgry for more and more afluence.This has been such a prominent and stark quality among them that is has caused me to ask, "Is enough ever enough?"  The answer seems to be a flat "No, never!"  One man I know is worth well north of 200 million, so, of course, he aspires to be a billionaire.  It's a sort of sick game in which your personal wealth is the primary, even the ONLY indicator of your worth as a human being.

Both Trump and Musk suffer from this odd form of mental illness.  Curiously, both of them are willing to inflict immense pain on the middle and working class in order to advance their own desires.  Not so curiously, they were both perniciously abused by their fathers as boys.  Fred Trump was, no exaggeration, a monster.  Elon Musk's father berated him for over an hour after he came home from being beaten unconscios by bullies. Hitler and Stalin...and likely every despot....were also bullied by their fathers. So, it comse as no surpise at all that they are driven to inflict pain on anybody and everybody that they can.

But, now the real question is:  how do we respond to these two bullies?  How do we prevent them from taking out their rage on us, as individuals and as a society?

I am going to offer an opiniou here that is based on my own experience in boyhood.  Three different bullies identified me as a potential target.  They were mistaken.  One of them followed me around a school 'fete' and taunted me, then finally poked me in the chest as he scolded and defamed me.  I broke my hand on the side of his face.  He fell down backwards and looked at me as if he'd just met the Devil himself.  He never spoke to me again and avoided me in the hallways of our little elite private day school.  Another such creep, cornered me under a fire-escape at the grade school I attended through the forth grade, and he started in with the same kind of dominant behavior.  I punched him in the nose and it immediately started spurting bright red blood.  Same result.

A third dirt-ball at a summer camp in New Hampshire decided that I was a likely target.  And, once again I responded with a surprise punch to his jaw.  He staggered back and looked at me with the strangest expression, a mixture of fear and awe.  Then he came toward me and extended his hand, surprisingly, to shake mine.  We didn't become friends, but he never tried to bully me again either.

The only way a bully like Trump or Musk can understand that he's not dominating his victims is if they fight back with every available means.  Based on the above instances, I have come to know this. And, we, as a people, have never been willing to be victims.  We lost the Vietnam war not because of cowardice on the part of our fighting forces, but because of politicians who lacked the moral courage to admit that we never should have been there in the first place.  There were many heros in the swamps and jungles, but their leadership in the political sphere were cowards. 

And, now our honor and our very safety is being challenged by two dirt-ball bullies...and we need to step-up and fight back with whatever mean is necessary.  If it comes to violence it will be a great tragedy, like the Civil War was.  But, the alternative is utterly and totally UNACCEPTABLE.

I still believe in the idea that is The United States of America.  We are a nation more good people than bad, by at least a margin of 60 percent to 40.  The people who form MAGA are asleep, poorly informed and some are just plain stupid.  We need to take back the country from the fools who still think The Orange Mussolini is working for them.  

Let's do it.

Do you really want to be his victim?

The Rasputin for Our Time

 To say that we're living in unprecedented times...and that they are off-the-scale weird, and getting weirder is to grossly understate what is now happening.  I won't recite the long and getting longer list of assaults that the Orange Idiot is inflicting on, not just America, but the entire planet.  You wouldn't be reading this if you were blissfully unaware that our democracy and our freedom are in deep, deep trouble.

But, in recent days, I have been thinking back to an historical figure that, while very different in some ways, is uncannily similar to a current personality who is in the news pretty much continuously:  Elon Musk.

Sure, Musk is the annointed 'Richest Person on the Planet', but he's a strange mix of qualities and one of the most dominant ones is his apparent desire and his already succeeding efforts to take over control of not just the Idiot, but America and even the planet.  His ego knows no limits and he's skilled at using his influence to manipulate and control not only the petulent orange-colored brat we currently have in the Oval, but he has cosied up to Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, and a list of others who apparently think he's a good friend to have.  They seem to have no recognition that Musk's plan to dominate the planet by controlling the digital sphere is well underway.  I'm not sure they even understand how that could work....but, it can.  

Yesterday a remarkable scene unfolded in the Oval Office; The Orange one was particularly resplendent in a brighter orange than even his usual shade, and he sat at the Resolute desk, looking as if he was receiving an enema with molten lead....as Elon Muskrat, in a long black coat and with his toddler son either on his shoulders or on the floor, earnestly picking boogers, held forth for about half an hour. A number of pundits noticed how glum Orange Boy appeared as the Muskrat held court.  Here was an unelected South African billionaire of all billionaires telling the assembled press corps that he was very busy demolishing numerous government agencies and essentially demolishing our government.  It was a moment for the history books without doubt.

But, here's the thing:  This will not last.  It's not going to be sustainable as the American people begin to rub the sleep out of their eyes and sit bolt-upright in bed.  "Holy Shit! What is going on here?'  will come as a rush of recognition that our rights, our very freedom, has been co-opted and then tossed in the bin.  Outrage is coming.  It will happen as the tsunami of 'Executive Orders' are recognized for what they are, i.e. illegal in many cases and designed to turn the country into a white ethno-state run by billionaires.  The people are still snoozing apparently, although there are signs aplenty that they are stirring in their sleep. The fools who believed all the bullshit and false promises are suddenly realizing that they have been had.  The various segments of our society, i.e. the farmers, the factory workers, the administrators, the bitter conservatives are all going to realize the scope of the take over...and boy oh boy, are they going to be pissed. 

What happens then is anybody's guess.  Yes, a second civil war is even possible, but short of that extreme, there will be blow-back and some of it will be full of rage.  

In Tsarist Russia, Rasputin came from the great Russian outback, and inserted himself into the Tsar's life, by winning over the attention and gaining a great deal of influence over the royal family.  The parallels to Muskrat are undeniable, despite the fact that the two personalities are quintessential opposites.  But, people in positions of power felt threatened by Rasputin, even to the extent of rumors going around that he had a humongous penis. 

The Influencers....might not work out

The upshot of Rasputin's rise to power was so threatening that in 1916, a group of aristocrats assassinated him.  And the story of how that went down even contributed to the mythos surrounding Rasputin.  Suffice it to say, he was hard to kill...but they persisted.

So, it's of course fanciful to say that we have our own Rasputin in the form of Elon Musk, but, at some point people are going to wake-up to what his agenda is and they will respond to the existential threat that he brings.  His ego dwarfs that of the Idiot, who is a simpleton by comparison. The fact that he has more money than God just adds to his veneer of superiority and his willingness to exercise power in ways that harms others is clear at this point. 

Trust me: his time in the spotlight will come to an end.  Perhaps not an abrupt one if he's luckier than Raaputin....but, it WILL end.

Now is NOT the Time to Close Your Eyes...

 I am back. I had to take a break after the November calamity.  I have struggled and battled with myself, until I am blue in the face, trying to understand how this happened.  I, of course, understood all along that the MAGA host of idiots would vote for him regardless of all his obvious shortcomings and rotten propensities.  If brains were dynamite, they couldn't blow their noses off.  There have been countless articles written trying to understand this mis-placed, yet fierce, loyalty. And, yet, it's not something new that we've never seen before. 

In fact, it's as old as civilization itself, the most glaring and disasterous example is that of Hitler and the Third Reich.  I once interviewed an elderly man who had been a Luftwaffe fighter pilot and survived the war.  He told me that 70% of Germans were '...go alongs to get alongs', that another 15% resisted, even if on a very subdued level, and the remaining 15% were rabid Nazis....the MAGA of their time, who would end up following Der Fuhrer into the flames of the Gotterdamerung, i.e. the Twilight of the Gods.  After only 12 years, the 'Thousand Year Reich' was  nothing but a pile of rubble and Germans were starving, many of them even raped to death.

So....here we are, with a re-run of a leader who aspires to mimic dictators, especially Putin, Xi, Orban and any others wbo have managed to gain a strangle-hold on their people. The Idiot loves the idea that Putin's resisters, rivals--if you can even call them that--are flying out of eleventh story windows, having the wings come off their airplanes in mid-flight, dropping dead with a nerve agent in their bloodstream, etc. etc. Nobody who has been listening and reading about what he intends to do as soon as his hand is off that Bible....which should burst into flames when he touches it...should be surprised. Time and again, people have written that we should believe him when he says what his plans are.  And, despite his slimy denial that he knew 'nothing' about Plan 2025, we found out that not only was he in on the idea of it, but that he was intimately involved in shaping it. 

Oh, he's got plans for you.....

If you somehow missed it:  Plan 2025 is a 900 page plan to destroy our democracy and push the country toward becoming a white autocracy.....for many it should be a 'CHRISTIAN' white dominated society where people of color, LBGTQ+, Muslims, Jews, and anybodyy who isn't ready to prostrate themselves before the Throne of the Oligarchs......are on the outs.  I.e., they will remain subjugated to the white masters of society.

As you're reading this, you may be wondering if it is an exaggeration. I can tell you that it is--if anything--UNDERSTATED.   

And, now we have the richest man on the planet--who it turns out is as much of an asshole as his Orange bossom-buddy.  Musk is a man who figured out how to manipulate the money machine and scoop up billions and billions of bucks.  His current net-worth is estimated at around 450 billion.  It's truly mind-boggling, eh.  But, the bad news is that he doesn't have the conscience or conscienousness, to accomplish anything but further plundering of the world around him.  He's as nuts as the Idiot, he is just a whole lot smarter, read 'more wiley'.   The idiot only THINKS he's the smartest asshole on the planet..which is just another one of the lies he tells himself and us.  When he finds out that Musk is riding him like a rented mule....it's going to get wild.

So....what, if anything, are we to do in the face of this rapidly unfolding diaster?  Well, I can tell you that the ONE THING we should not and cannot do is to become passive.  "What can I do?  I'm just one person among so many millons.  But, here's something for you to consider:  if you just give up and become a passive non-member of this society.............you will be exactly like the 70% of Germans who just wanted it to all go away, who wanted to hunker down and pretend it wasn't happening.  And, only a few years later, there they were, sitting on a pile of bricks that used to be their home. True.

This is a time for getting busy doing everything and anything one can do to connect with fellow Americans who also see the danger in front of us.  Join the ACLU, or any local group that is determined to kick up a fuss over the seriously painful plans and actions that these anti-democratic bastards want to inflict on the rest of us.

Just DO IT!!!!

Why is it even close?

 We've had time for the presidential race to define itself and the final form that will be what we have for an election is now set.  It will be Kamala Harris and Tim Walz against the Idiot and his weird v.p. choice, Shady Vance.  There has been a great deal of yammering on both sides about where it will all end up.  Trump is acting weirder and weirder every day.  He's stuck in his mode of endlessly telling his audiences that the United States is a failed nation, that the rest of the world is laughing at us and, if he isn't re-elected that it will be the end of life as we know it. 

Sometimes Crazy is right there for all to see.

He gets that 'accordian' thing going with his hands--which Michael Cohen says is a sure sign that he's lying his ass off--and he takes flight over all the dark possibilities, all of it amounting to 'the end times' if we're so stupid as to refuse to let him become king...or emperor, or maybe just a good ol' dictator.  I am guessing that Hitler is the idiot's star despot, particularly because he had the special title of Fuhrer.  It just means 'Leader', but in ol' Adolf's case it meant a kind of God-king with unlimited power over his subjects.  

"Der Fuhrer befiehlt und Wir folgen."....is a German slogan that was visible as painted graffiti on the bombed out ruins of Berlin.  It means "The Leader orders and We follow."  And, even as the Russians were bearing down on Berlin and the Twilight of the Gods was drawing near..... bleagured Beliners were still willing to follow the man that brought all of the death and destruction down on their heads. The idiot has wet-dreams (okay, that's an image I don't want to entertain) from just the thought of being in that position.

A steady stream of elite professionals--the people who are not just educated as psychiatrists and psychologists, but who TEACH them at places like Harvard and Johns Hopkins--have come forward.  Initially it was only thirty-seven such individuals, and they took a raft of crap from the American Psychiatric Association for violating the 'Goldwater rule' which stipulates that it is unethical to diagnose any patient you are not seeing in your practice.  But, now over 200 such individuals are all saying that the 'duty to warn'  overrides that limitation....because there is an obvious and serious danger posed by this individual, to people and to society at large. They see so clearly that the Idiot does pose a dire threat that they cannot remain silent.

Okay, so my question is this: why is the presidential race even close? How is it possible for any person with a functioning brain to think it would be acceptable to have this moron back in the Oval Office?  By now, most people are at least aware of "Project 2025" and have some idea of the plans that the Idiot has in mind if he weasels his way back into power.  It is a nightmare, a plan to actually destroy the American democracy as we have known it for the last 248 years.  Don't take my word for it; look into it but please DO NOT make the mistake of trusting Fox or any of the propaganda bureaus of the right.  They lie all the time, perhaps inspired by the Idiot's ability to spew his steady stream of bullshit.

Is it really possible, I ask myself, that some Americans want...as in WANT...to live in a dictatorship?  Do they think that is how the country needs to be in order to save them from....the 'Brown Wave, the Queers, the Trans, the "...millions of rapists, drug dealers, criminals and mental patients" that the Idiot says are coming into the country all the time? Do some Americans really think that the Orange Idiot is leading us toward a peaceful and harmonious society?  Eeeeeegads!!!

So, for the majority of Americans, those of us who realize how dangerous the Idiot really is, the answer is very straight-forward:  Do absolutely whatever you can to convince, persuade and cajole anybody who will lend an ear...that this is America's big step-up moment, Either we make sure Kamala is elected or we face the looming darkness that Donald John Trump is determined to inflict on the world.  

He's fucking insane, folks.  Hear me now and believe me later.  

America is on the Doorstep of History.....

The Democratic National Convention is starting today in Chicago.  Barring unforeseen events, it will be a week in which America makes history by nominating not just a woman, but a black one, to be president of the country.  For these two reasons alone, history will be made. 

 But, that is not really what is so critically important about this turn of events.  Kamala Harris is the person whom many--and more all the time--Democrats have identified as the person who can stop the Big Orange Idiot from ending democracy in America.  There is almost no way to over-state how significant that is.

She is not just another politician. She's a leader for this time in history

If things follow the trend that they have been for the last almost a month--since Joe Biden stepped aside and nominated Kamala as his best possible successor--Kamala will win. She might even win in an historic landslide. She is campaigning on the premise that joy is more important than all the negativity that the Idiot brings with him.  His campaign speeches are devolving from one to the next.  He slurs, and he meanders to non-sensical stories and idiotic ancedotes that leave his audience wondering what the hell he is talking about.

Meanwhile Donny-boy thinks he is wowing them with his great sense of cynical humor and his littany of deprecations and insults.  Most MAGAs, of course, are far from being 'intellectuals', quite the opposite.  If you believe the great stinking mounds of bullshit that the Idiot spews, you are probably not working for NASA.  That much seems certain, eh.

So, here we are, at a crossroad in our nation's history.  If we take the path to the right, we will find ourselves living in an autocratic, mean-spirited society, one that honors lying, hatred of 'other' and is willing to inflict pain on the less fortunate if it will insure we stay a white Christian society, one which is going to get downright horrible as more doors open for the dominance of the "Me society". 

Every time the Idiot stands at a podium and goes into his routine, he spews a steady stream of invective.  He denigrates the U.S. as a failed country that the rest of the world is laughing at.  He demands his audience climb on the 'hate train' and get ready to fix it all by being selfish and nasty....to anybody who resists the MAGA vision.  

To be fair, this is a pseudo-philosophy that is gaining traction in various parts of the planet. The far-right is growing in some scary ways in order to resist and ultimately block and destroy the growing flow of immigrants who are streaming toward the countries that are seen by them as at least offering a chance to survive....if not thrive.  They are leaving regions where life is rapidly becoming unsustainable.  Without rain and conditions conducive to subsistence farming people can stay where they are, but they will eventually come to a situation that they must either flee or die.  

And, the rest of the planet is terrified that this diaspora will overwhelm their own ability to survive.  So, they are turning towards autocratic leaders who offer solutions that may cause terrible suffering and dying.....but, of others, not themselves.

What we do in response to this seeming 'damed if you do or don't' situation will determine if we are worthy of the term 'Human'.  If we commit to sadistic bastards like Trump and divorce ourselves from the huge problems that portend a dark future for billions of people, then that is who we will become: selfish people who are willing to kill and/or let life kill anybody who needs help and compassion.  

In Trump's world, 'survival of the fittest' means that a people need to harden themselves and bend to the task of killing--actively or by neglect--the millions who are in deep trouble.  The denial of climate disaster by the Idiot is just one cog on the gear that will power this path to dominance.  

The light at the end of the tunnel will not be an arc-angel coming to rescue us from our own stupidity; it will be a great big ol' fast freight....and you know what's going to happen when it gets here.

Right?

Why is the Big Orange Cheeto losing it?

 Unless you only watch conservative news outlets, i.e, Fox, Newsmax etc, you have likely seen a proliferation of pieces by liberal pundits, and even a few not so liberal ones, who  point to the Idiot's rapid descent into 'crazy town'.  Every presser that he does now has degenerated into a non-sensical rant.  The latest one, at Mar-a-Lago, was enough to cause my wife and I to look at each other and raise our eyebrows with the unspoken question: "Is he around the bend?"

Well, allow me to offer you some conjecture on what is happening inside his small and shrinking world.  Because of my long background as a competitive shooter in various marksmanship disciplines, I have been in a position to hear high-powered rifle bullets as they go by.  Thank God they weren't fired by someone with hostile intent, like a Vietcong soldier, but I sat on a bench as bullets went by, passing through paper targets above my head. I was there as a young recruit to pull targets for regional matches at Fort Dix NJ.  

The sound barrier is approximately 1100 ft./sec at sea level. When a jet fighter pushes through into Mach 1 plus territory, there is an attendent 'BOOM', capable of shattering windows and pinning observers' ears back.  Likewise, when a rifle bullet travels beyond the sound-barrier it makes a sound not unlike a bullwhip being cracked.  It's not subtle, in fact, it's intimidating and conveys the lethality of it's source very effectively.

So, when a 5.56 mm bullet from an assassin's AR style rifle passed within just a few milimeters of the Idiot's head, he would have heard the sound of his own death...almost. It's a sound one doesn't easily forget.  And, when you  hear it, it means that the bullet is not hitting you--this time--because you are hearing it 'go by'. 

The absence of rallys, press conferences and other activities one would expect of a candidate in a contest for the highest office has been notable. His appearance in front of the Black Journalists Association was an unmitigated disaster.  Now, it appears he's really  hunkered down in his 'safe' place.  And, I have a theory, just an opinion based on my own life experience.  

Donald Trump is terrified.  He now knows what it is like to be standing at a podium with a large-ish crowd of people...some of whom may not harbor kindly sentiments toward you.  This shooter was one more lone-wolf wild card.  Luckily for the Idiot, he couldn't shoot straight.  But, the damage he did was much more than just a 'nick' of the top of Trump's right ear.  

Right after the shadow of death passed over...

Now, every time he stands up there to spew his hatred and lies, he also knows that it's entirely possible that there is someone in the audience, or at least the environs of the gathering, who wishes him dead...and is quite possibly capable of acting on that impulse. This is not something that will leave him alone...ever. It's now an indelible part of his life experience and I am guessing that this kind of background knowledge is corrosive and eats away at your consciousness with inexorable persistence.  If a person is already exhibiting signs of paranoia, this is like pouring gas on the fire.

He has just been accused, by several conservative pundits, of doing something they're referring to as: 'quiet quitting' his campaign.  By declining to appear out on the campaign trail, he is lowering the odds that another assassin is out there, just waiting for him.  When you are up there on the stage, not only are you dominating the entire gathering, but you are also a fine target.  And, in the dim recesses of his tiny brain, the Idiot knows this. 

So, he's staying home.

Over the next few weeks, we will see if Kamala and Walz can maintain the amazing energy that currently has engulfed their campaign.  My bet is that they WILL.  We will also see how the Big Cheeto manages his fears and concern for his own safety.  We've known forever that 'Captain Bone-spurs' is a cowardly bugger.  His version of being at war was fighting to find women who wouldn't give him the clap...or worse. 

Well, now, he's in a situation where a vast amount of anger, hatred and malevolence has become his trademark, And, apparently, more than a few Americans are sick of him. His constant barrage of insults, deprecation, and lies has worn thin...even for some of the Kool-Aids who have been among his most sychophantic MAGA followers.  Yes, there are still plenty of them who would follow him like lemmings off a cliff.  But, the stark contrast provided by the ebullience and sheer JOY of the Kamala-Tim campaign is not lost on a growing percentage of us.

So, we'll see if he can put himself back in the line of fire...literally.  Frankly, I don't think he's got the guts.  

He can still hear that bullet...and, that won't change.

What a Difference a week makes, eh......

In the aftermath of the now notorious debate, I admit I was feeling hopeless.  Joe was saying that only a visit from God would change his mind about leaving the race for the Oval Office.  The overwhelming feeling across the land was that Trump was now in the driver seat and his re-election was almost inevitable.  Having seen Joe's blank stare and gaping mouth, this did not seem far-fetched at all.

But, then something happened.  Whether Joe had a late night visitation from on high, or whatever, we may never know.  But, he changed his mind and, as he stepped back, he simultaneously named Kamala Harris as his choice to succeed him. I doubt seriously if any pundit or political analyst could have predicted how immediate and wildly enthusiastic the reaction across the country was.

In so many divers ways it suddenly made sense that A) it's high time for a woman president, and B) her being a woman of color was a perfect response to the racist and misogynist crap that oozes throughout MAGA-land.  So, a vast number of women were ready to throw themselves into getting Kamala elected and so were most of the other Americans who have long felt disenfranchised, including the LGBTQ+ community, the Latino population, and too many more segments of our society to list here.  Anybody who was fearful of what would happen if the Great Cheeto managed to steal his way back to the Oval, suddenly saw someone who had their interests at heart, and who has the goods, i.e. intelligence, experience, integrity and the multiple qualities that are so glaringly missing from the Big Orange Idiot.  

Kamala is not only qualified in terms of career experience, but more to the point, she's a decent and dedicated human being who has striven to serve the broad spectrum of people that make  up America.  When I see her on the screen, big or small, my instant reaction is that she can be trusted to be the Warrior Queen who can destroy the Idiot.  She is feisty and smart, and will suffer no B.S. from him or his pathetic minions.

I think it's just amazing and wonderful that the fact that Kamala readily laughs...drives the MAGA idiots absolutely nuts.  Eeeeeeha.

She is the absolute antithesis of the Idiot...thank God.

So, here we are, at an inestimably critical 'Y' in the road of American history.  We will either manage to defeat the anti-democracy movement led by the Idiot, or we will  be plunged into perhaps the darkest period of American history since slavery, and our very own Native American holocaust.

Not only can we do it.............we MUST.

The alternative is too horrible to even contemplate.