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Call them what they are

Monday, June 24, 2024

I am in the process of reading Radical Connecticut by Andy Piascik and Steve Thornton. I was struck by this paragraph in the chapter titled “It Can’t Happen Here”, which discusses the performance of Sinclair Lewis’s play of that name in Connecticut:

Americans in the 1930s were being groomed to accept fascism as a macho solution to the troubles faced by the United States. Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here was a roadblock to that disturbing movement. A quote attributed to Lewis describes the danger he wanted to capture: “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” …As Lewis wrote in his novel: “In America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst Fascists were they who disowned the word “Fascism” and preached… Constitutional and Traditional American Liberty.”

If anything, the quote attributed to Lewis (it may actually be a misattribution) describes the present moment more than it did the thirties, for the simple reason that the prospect of a fascist takeover is far more possible today than it was at that time. Neither of the major parties was taken over by fascists in the thirties. Today, the Republican Party is full on fascist, as are several members of the Supreme Court. As was the case then, and as Lewis pointed out, our present day Fascists also eschew the term Fascism, preferring to call themselves Christian Nationalists.

Sadly, as is their wont, the Democrats and the left generally have not chosen to call a fascist a fascist. Just as we let the anti-abortionists call themselves “pro-life”, and even used that term to refer to them, we are referring to these Fascists by the terminology they have chosen.

Let’s break it down. I’m not a believer anymore, but I still hold an advanced degree in religion that I earned at Our Lady of Sorrows Grammar School. There is nothing Christian about a group that trades in hate as does the Republican Party and its affiliated Fascist splinter groups. The term “Nationalist” may be a different story, but the fact is that to those not highly engaged in history or politics, it puts a positive spin on things. Yet even on the blogs I read, most written by fairly astute lefty types, the term “Christian Nationalist” is used to describe these people. Most people, even those who don’t take much interest in politics, know that fascism is bad. It is therefore incumbent upon us to call these people what they are.

Also, I recommend Radical Connecticut. It’s been a fun read. It mainly consists of chapters that may be three or four pages long, so I’m reading one or two a day while I have other books in process.

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Even in Vermont

Thursday, June 20, 2024

A bit out of the ordinary for this blog, but since I spend a lot of time there, I can’t help passing on this story from Vermont.

It had been my impression that the Vermont Republican Party had not yet gone full crazy, at least not as crazy as most of the rest of the country’s Republicans, but this sort of made me think twice.

A Republican lawmaker publicly apologized to a Democratic colleague before the Vermont House of Representatives after she was caught on video pouring water into his bag multiple times over the course of five months.

“I am truly ashamed of my actions,” Representative Mary Morrissey, who serves Bennington, Vt., said at a House veto session Monday.

“It is something very out of character for me and I am ashamed,” said Representative Mary Morrissey.

Videos of Morrissey pouring cups of water into a personal bag belonging to Representative Jim Carroll, who also represents Bennington, were first acquired by Seven Days. The news outlet obtained the videos via a public records request after Carroll mounted a camera above where he hung his bag to find a culprit for the frequent soakings his belongings were getting.

“For five months, I went through this,” Carroll said at the meeting after Morrissey’s apology. “It was torment, there’s no doubt about it.”

When House Speaker Jill Krowinski first saw the videos and confronted Morrissey about it, she initially denied it, Seven Days reported. But she later apologized to Carroll, an encounter the latter told the outlet was “uncomfortable.”

On Monday, Morrissey admitted her behavior was “disrespectful” and said she had apologized to Carroll privately. She added that she will be “working toward resolution and restoration through our legislative process.”

“It was conduct most unbecoming of my position as a representative and as a human being, and is not reflective of my 28 years of service and civility,” Morrissey said. She also asked for forgiveness from her colleagues and the citizens of Vermont.

Well, at least she apologized instead of continuing to lie by denying it like most Republicans would do, but then again, she lied throughout the apology. You can’t claim that stuff you repeatedly did for five months is “out of character”.

In any sane world, she would resign or the Bennington Republicans would refuse to renominate her, but don’t hold your breath.

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Yet another modest proposal

Thursday, June 20, 2024

The latest lie (there may be a new one before I post this) the right is spreading is the claim that Joe Biden wanted to be able to sit through the upcoming debate, yet another example of projection since it’s unlikely Trump will be able to stay awake through the whole thing, assuming he doesn’t back out. Josh Hawley has embraced this particular lie, and he surely knows it’s a lie. CNN, which is running the debate, has denied it. It is yet another indication that the Republicans are setting the stage for Trump to back out and blame Biden somehow.

It has become commonplace for Trump’s ass kissers (you know, the guys who want to be vice president) to embrace these lies.

Now, surely each of these liars is aware of the fact that Trump is rapidly declining into senility. (I must point out here that my IPad suggested the word “senility” after I typed the five words that precedes it. Good programming) It is highly unlikely that, if elected, he could function even up to the abysmally low standard he set in his first term. Josh knows that. So do Tim, Marco, Kristi, and all the other ass kissers who are putting their own interests over those of their country. It is not stretching things much to suggest that each sees the probability that it will be necessary to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him and elevate the chosen one. Keep in mind that it’s also the case that none of the lickspittles auditioning for VP could ever be elected president on his or her own. Succeeding an incapacitated, dead or, in Trump’s case, imprisoned president, is pretty much the only way any of them would be in a position to complete the destruction of the Republic.

Now for the modest proposal. I suggest the Democrats accuse these craven individuals of planning such a coup if they manage to win the election. It’s exactly the kind of thing that would get under Trump’s skin, because he would believe it, since it’s exactly what he would do if he were in their shoes. The fallout would be fun to watch and would do the Republicans no good.

As an aside, should this scenario play out, the Democrats would face a difficult decision, since it requires two thirds of each House to complete the ouster of the sitting president. As a Democrat, do you acknowledge the truth of the fact that Trump is senile and vote to install someone like Josh, or do you figure the senile one can do less harm than the dictator in waiting.

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A not so surprising development

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Trump’s minions are now laying the groundwork for pulling out of the upcoming debates. Hannity is even making the risible claim that Biden will be so “jacked up” that the competition will be unfair.

I suggested last month, when the debates were first announced:

The Democrats, who rarely act in concert to push a point, should act in concert to push a point. They should begin now to taunt Trump by claiming that he is going to chicken out of the debates and try to blame Biden. They should keep up the drumbeat.

There would then be two possible outcomes.

Trump would debate and get creamed, with the entire country witnessing his diminished capacity.

Trump would pull out of the debate and, (see above) try to blame Biden, but it would simply be risible, given the fact that he would be doing exactly what the Democrats had predicted.

As the reader may realize, the Democrats have not been taunting Trump, which was the obvious thing to do. They probably won’t start now, even though it’s clear that he’s on the verge of chickening out. I’d like to be proven wrong about this, but, alas, that seems unlikely.

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Yet another modest proposal

Monday, June 10, 2024

I’ve complained a number of times about the failure of Democrats to get their message out in an effective way. There are some indications that the Biden campaign is trying its best, so that’s a good thing. Nonetheless, I have a modest proposal, inspired by reading this report of the latest idiotic Trump statement to his brain dead followers, which reads as follows:

I don’t care about you. I just want your vote.

There are multiple statements like this, none of which the mainstream will report, because after all, it’s just Trump being Trump. We would, of course, never hear the end of it if Biden were to say something half as stupid. My understanding is that they’re trying to say he was joking, but besides being a lie, that doesn’t make it alright. It’s not the kind of “joke” any politician with half a brain would tell.

Anyway, to my modest proposal.

I would suggest a commercial that would enlighten the masses about these sort of statements, since the media won’t do it.

Start it off something like this:

We all know that almost everything Donald Trump says is a lie, but every once in a while he tells the truth. In the interest of fairness we think everyone should know about these rare occurrences. Here are only a few.

Followed by the clip you can view at the link, and many many more like it. It would not only illustrate where he’s really coming from, but would highlight his growing dementia.

To show what a good Democrat I am, I won’t charge the Biden people for this idea.

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Something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Well, maybe it is clear.

Just wondering how much attention this will get in the mainstream:

Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company.

The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from \(26,000 to \)53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee.

More in the full article. There is no absolute proof that these payments were made in order to discourage the folks involved from testifying truthfully or in a cooperative fashion, but it sure does make you wonder, doesn’t it.

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Thursday, May 30, 2024

Just got through listening to them announce the verdict in the Trump trial. It brought this old Doonesbury cartoon to mind.

Of course, back in those days there was no chance the Supreme Court would find a way to overturn what are obviously correct verdicts.

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Gerrymandering 2.0

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Apparently the Texas Republican Party sees trouble coming down the road, so it has decided to make it impossible for the majority of Texans to elect a statewide officer:

Republican Party of Texas delegates voted Saturday on a platform that called for new laws to require the Bible to be taught in public schools and a constitutional amendment that would require statewide elected leaders to win the popular vote in a majority of Texas counties.

Other proposed planks of the 50-page platform included proclamations that “abortion is not healthcare it is homicide”; that gender-transition treatment for children is “child abuse”; calls to reverse recent name changes to military bases and “publicly honor the southern heroes”; support for declaring gold and silver as legal tender; and demands that the U.S. government disclose “all pertinent information and knowledge” of UFOs.

Original article here.

I included the second paragraph just to further enlighten any reader about just how fascistic the Republican Party has become.

In the olden days the Supreme Court announced the principle of “one person one vote”, a principle which, if applied to the Texas Republican’s proposal, would render it unconstitutional. But there is now, I’m sure, an extension of that principle. Perhaps Sam Alito will quote George Orwell this time, and announce that while all people are equal, some are more equal than others, those some being those inclined to vote for Republicans. We can be sure that a similar law in a mostly blue state would be unconstitutional since it would infringe the rights of those that are more equal than others.

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Denying reality

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

I read today that Dick Durbin is open to bringing back the blue slip. That’s the rule that allows a Senator to veto the nomination of any judge that will serve in his or her state. So, for instance, if Trump were president, and he wanted to appoint a fascist to be a judge here in Connecticut, Blumenthal or Murphy could veto it.

Except they couldn’t, because in order for them to have to veto it in the first place, they would have to be in the minority, and if they were in the minority and there were a Republican president the Republicans would immediately either repeal the rule or effectively ignore it and confirm the judge in question. After all, who would stop them. The Supreme Court? Okay, if that state of affairs were to come about it won’t much matter that the Democrats won’t be able to stop fascist judges, because the country will have become a fascist state, but still, the least they can do is recognize the problem and not enable the fascists.

On the other hand, if the Democrats retain the majority in the Senate and re-elect Biden, the Republicans will obstruct Biden’s appointment at every turn, and the Democrats will do nothing about it.

Someone really has to explain to people like Durbin that it’s not the 1970s anymore, when there were still some rational Republicans out there. You can’t trust them to keep their word. That should be obvious since whenever they’re on television or open their mouth in some other public place all they do is lie.

So, what Durbin is thinking of doing may not be such a big deal on its own, but it speaks volumes about the fact that Democrats in high places don’t appreciate the nature of the historical forces at work in this nation.

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A look into the future

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

The Biden and Trump campaigns have allegedly agreed to a couple of debates.. The odds of Trump actually debating, after having agreed to do so, are pretty much the same as the odds were that he would testify at his trial, after having said he would do so.

A man who can’t stay awake while on criminal trial, who constantly makes up words, and shows increasing signs of senility is not up to debates, and he will eventually pull out by coming up with some ridiculous way of blaming his refusal to debate on Biden.

The Democrats, who rarely act in concert to push a point, should act in concert to push a point. They should begin now to taunt Trump by claiming that he is going to chicken out of the debates and try to blame Biden. They should keep up the drumbeat.

There would then be two possible outcomes.

Trump would debate and get creamed, with the entire country witnessing his diminished capacity.

Trump would pull out of the debate and, (see above) try to blame Biden, but it would simply be risible, given the fact that he would be doing exactly what the Democrats had predicted.

The only downside to all of the above is that it’s unlikely that the Democrats will do the obvious thing.

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