McCamy Taylor
McCamy Taylor's JournalPathetic Excuse for a Ruling Tea Party
I sat down with a cup of coffee this morning and opened the local paper. There, in the editorial section, I found another Republican blaming Hillary Clinton for Donald Trump's Russian Treason. The argument went something like this---Republicans were so focused on conducting a witch hunt against--excuse me, an investigation of---Clinton that they did not have time to vet their own candidate. Plus, they were all convinced that the Great Witch Hillary would steal the election, so they did not take their own party's primary seriously. The result was a nominee who would never have slipped through had Hillary not blinded GOP leaders with her Patented Laser Beam Eyes and deafened them with Her Legendary Cackle and seduced them with her Awesome Cleavage.
Now, men claiming "She had it coming!" and "She made me do it!" is nothing new. Rapists through the centuries have insisted that they would have kept it in their pants, if only her skirt was not so short.
But this goes a step beyond the usual Blame the Victim. The Republican Party is now claiming that Hillary's skirt was so short and her neckline so plunging that they could not help but aid and abet Donald Trump as he committed treason with Russia. All the blood rushed from their brains to their groins, and the result was we now have a Special Prosecutor and an administration in shambles and a party that has to dodge its own constituents when its members go home.
The GOP is the Ruling Party--so why are its members acting like a bunch of whiny babies? Could it be that when a political party selects its candidates based upon who takes the most Citizens United approved bribe money, they end up with a bunch of self-absorbed lazy grifter cry-babies for political leaders?
Don’t blame Clinton. Blame Scalia. He is the one who sold the Republican Party to the highest bidder and left a loophole that allowed that bidder to be a foreign country.
New Netflix anime "Blame!" Contains Anti-Trump/Anti-Fascist Message Everyone Should Hear
Don't get me wrong. "Blame!" the classic, cult manga by Tsutomu Nihei is much more than a political treatise. It is the best dystopian science fiction manga ever and possibly the best manga ever.
The premise is simple--though it takes a bit to get the whole story if you plunge head first into the manga. Tens of thousands of years in the future, the Builders--machines programmed by humans to add to the City----have gone rogue, creating a nightmare world in which the architecture is absolutely bat-shit crazy. These machines that were supposed to create a human paradise are out of control. Seems that some type of plague--or maybe just random mutation--altered the human genome and now no one has the "Net Terminal gene" needed to access the computer system that controls the Builders.
And it gets worse. The original humans, obviously as frightened of immigrants as Trump and his Fascist Base are frightened of immigrants, created the Protectors, cyborgs programed to rid the city of anyone who did not have the "right" DNA, i.e. "aliens."
Meaning that the world of "Blame!"'s future is a massive City that has engulfed the world--and the world has no place for the descendants of the original human, all of whom register as "aliens."
While the manga is huge and sprawling (like the City), the two hour anime movie is a short story with the basic plot of "Shane." I won't give away any more than that.
When we target "immigrants" i.e "the other" for exile and death, we kill ourselves. Literally, in "Blame!" and just as literally (though not in quite as dramatic a fashion) in the real world. Every mother who is "sent back" for the crime of having a Hispanic surname and no Visa, every Indian who is shot after being mistaken for Muslim, every Muslim who is hauled off a plane for being correctly identified as a Muslim--every act of violence against those who have come to this country for the same reason our ancestors came to this country---to succeed, to create a better life for their children, to practice their religion as they choose, to speak as they choose---is another coffin nail in the death of our country.
Trump is not making America "great" again. Trump has lead our country to a cliff edge and is demanding that we commit mass suicide. Each wave of immigrant has brought new strengths, new ideas, new vigor to this country. But, in the Fascist world view, anything "new" is dangerous. It threatens the status quo. It must be stopped. It must be excised. It must be killed--even if that violence kills us along with it--
Of course, to Trump's Russian handlers, the death of the American Dream probably seems like a good idea. Because, if there is no world model for what open borders, cultural diversity and tolerance can achieve economically, Fascists like Putin will have a much easier time convincing their own huddle, frightened masses that they had better not rock the boat. And the 1% will not have to look over their shoulders wondering when the next French Revolution will come their way.
Keep in mind that no one accumulates vast wealth for the fun of it. The people who desperately try to steal and then protect more gold than they can ever spend in a lifetime do it because they are afraid. Afraid of Daddy who did not love them enough. Afraid that they never measured up the the ridiculous standards of what they were taught a man (or a woman) should be. Afraid of being alone and convinced that only money can buy them companionship. The Hollow Men attempt to fill their inner void with wealth--and when the money does not ease the pain, they tell themselves "I must be unhappy because someone is trying to steal my wealth. I must protect my wealth at all costs." And what a cost! When they kill another person for being a threat or "other" they kill a part of themselves, because it is human nature to see ourselves in the faces of others and the only way we can kill is by telling ourselves "That is not me. That is a threat to me." Meaning that being ourselves is suddenly a threat to our own identity. And if someone of the wrong color or religion or surname happens to achieve a little economic success, watch out! When we who define ourselves by our "privilege" realize that our color, our religion, our surnames mean nothing, we feel our own sense of self crumbling--and that is when we turn into a lynch mob. Or program a bunch of cyborgs to eliminate everything that frightens us.
Who's to blame for Trump? We are. Who can undo the harm that Trump has done? We can. We will do it by recognizing the part of Trump's twisted message that appealed to too many Americans (not a majority but still too many)---"I am frightened. That must mean that someone is threatening me. That must mean that I must kill"---that fear is a basic part of the human psyche which can and must be controlled if we are ever to have a snowball's chance in Hell of getting along in an increasingly crowded world.
Namaste. Now go watch "Blame!" It's lots of fun and not nearly as didactic as I am making it our to be.
Why Does the GOP Want the Middle Class to be Poor?
I don't need to write one of my usual epic posts to answer this one. They want us poor, because then we will vote (or better yet, not vote) based upon immediate fear--Will my kids go to bed hungry? Will I be homeless tomorrow? Will someone else do my job for less money?--- rather than long term good sense. And they fear our vote more than they fear anything else. So, it you want to screw with the 1%, never vote out of fear, always vote using reason.
The corollary is that many ordinarily sensible people voted for Trump out of fear. He told them he would fix all their problems. He lied. They were desperate and so they wanted to believe him.
There is only one move the GOP can make at this point---and it ought to have Democrats worried.
The only way the GOP can survive the 2018 elections--and Trump can avoid impeachment in 2019---is for Sessions and his new hand picked GOP FBI head to investigate and prosecute Democratic politicians.
I am talking Don Siegelman on steroids. Look for the Trump DOJ to launch a massive political inquisition. They will count upon the natural tendency of the American public to judge as guilty until proven innocent any target of an investigation. They will make sure that the charges are salacious enough that the mainstream media will not be able to resist giving the phony stories maximum coverage. We are talking sex, drugs and more sex.
Dems had better lawyer up now. And members of Democratic Underground--resist the urge to disavow anyone who is "tainted" by accusations of corruption. It is becoming increasingly likely that Hillary Clinton herself will be the target of an official witch hunt--it is what Trump's base wants. When the accusations start flying, do not say "We should have nominated someone less controversial." Sessions would accuse Mother Theresa of being a pimp if she was a Democrat.
You wouldn't throw Aung San Suu Kyi under the bus for being the target of a political vendetta in her own country, would you?
Pentagon Threaten's Trump's Wall of Legal Immunity by Investigating Flynn's (Military) Crimes
Huge story. Surprised it isn't getting more discussion here.
Trump thinks he can not be touched. His appointed Attorney General, perjurer Jeff Sessions controls the DOJ, which means Trump can quash any attempt to prosecute him or members of his political team who might be persuaded to testify against him in exchange for immunity. And Congress is firmly under the control of Republicans who would not investigate one of their own even if they were not afraid of Russian blackmail. The press can publish damning information and the public can protest until they are blue in the face, but with the Department of Justice and Congress in his pocket, Trump is untouchable, like a Mafia mob boss---
Or so he thought. But now, the Pentagon has stepped in. Turns out the Flynn violated military law when he accepted money from a foreign country.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/04/27/top-pentagon-watchdog-launches-investigation-into-money-that-mike-flynn-received-from-foreign-groups/?utm_term=.64ebd927a527
The Pentagon has in the past advised retiring officers that because they can be recalled to military service, they are subject to the Constitution’s rarely enforced emoluments clause, which prohibits top officials from receiving payments or favors from foreign governments.
On Thursday, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, released an Oct. 8, 2014, letter in which a Defense Department lawyer warned Flynn upon his retirement from military service that he was forbidden from receiving payments from foreign sources without receiving permission from the U.S. government first.
Flynn received $45,000 to appear in 2015 with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a gala dinner for RT, a Kremlin-controlled media organization. He also worked as a foreign agent representing Turkish interests for a Netherlands-based company, Inovo BV, which paid his company $530,000 in the fall.
This begs the question, if Flynn is prosecuted by the military, can Trump pardon him in advance the way Ford pardoned Nixon? Maybe not. Here is a link about presidential pardons for those convicted of military crimes. If I read this correctly, such a pardon can be considered only after conviction---the president can not step in to pardon in order to stop a military investigation.
http://militarylawdefense.com/practice-areas/presidential-pardon-for-federalmilitary-conviction/
Recall recent revelations that "Deep Throat", Woodward and Bernstein's secret source was more than a single individual, and their group of sources included members of the U.S. military who had a bone to pick with Richard Nixon. And now try to imagine how unhappy career military officers who vow to defend the Constitution must be at having to support a POTUS who treats the Constitution like TP--and who is a traitor to boot.
Today, Sean "Melissa" Spicer responded to news of this investigation by claiming it was all Obama's fault. That will keep the (not too bright) Trump base happy for a while. But if the military decides that this is a court martial and strip of rank offense, even the base will have to sit up and take notice. And Trump may find his wall of immunity crumbling around him, before he can get around to building his Border Wall.
Will Trump respond the way he usually does, by declaring the Pentagon an "enemy of the state"? Maybe his friends in the defense industry can offer high ranking military officers high paying post-retirement jobs in exchange for quashing the investigation. Given how many leaks have come out of this White House, such efforts will inevitably be uncovered by the press, proving the truism "It isn't the crime, it's the cover-up." But when Trump is cornered, expect him to act like a cornered rat.
Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to compare Trump to a rat. Rat's are very intelligent, civilized creatures.
Abortion Rights: Why the GOP Wants Democrats To Stop Talking About It.
Not long ago, a major newspaper had an editorial about how the Democrats should stay away from the topic of abortion. The A- word is too dangerous, we were told by the Concern Trolls of the Mainstream Media. We should stop talking about abortion rights and concentrate on other, safer topics.
Well, I am here to say that Abortion has never been a safer topic for the Democratic Party. Thanks to the Zika Virus, preserving one's own reproductive rights is as timely now as it was in the 1960s, when an outbreak of rubella led many to rethink old prejudices against legal, safe pregnancy termination.
When women (and men) realize that members of the rabid religious right will take away their right to terminate a pregnancy in the case of a Zika infection--with the accompanying increased risk of birth defects like microcephaly---the GOP's platform of No Abortion, Never will suddenly seem like one of the worst ideas ever.
Whenever someone tells you "Cool it with the A--word!" ask yourself why that someone is so concerned. The Democratic Party has been the Pro-Choice for Decades. Why, suddenly, is Pro-Choice something to be concerned about? True friends of the Democratic Party will never tell us to give up the fight. True friends of the GOP, on the other hand, would like to talk about something else during the next couple of election cycles.
How Trump Lost His Base
They loved him when he closed our borders to refugees.
They cheered when he defunded Head Start.
They excused him for conspiring with the Russians---Hey. Putin's white. And Christian.
They did not seem to mind his narcissism or the nepotism.
They did not notice the misspellings.
But now, as the rockiest first 100 days of a U.S. presidency draw to a close, Trump's Base of Self Styled Rebel Outlaw Wannabees is finally turning on him. Why? Because he broke the Outlaw Code.
He defended the enemy.
Normal people saw Trump retaliate against an illegal nerve gas attack. But Trump's base saw him betray his pal Putin. They saw him defend a bunch of Muslim terrorists. They watched in horror as he gave up on his (implied) promise to take Obamacare from minorities and give Trumpcare to whites. Trump did what every other typical politician since the beginning of time has done when faced with plummeting poll numbers----he gave up on the economy and focused all his attention on making war----against the wrong people. Only a panty-waist liberal like Bill Clinton goes to war to defend Muslims! And then, to choose First Twink Jarad over right wing strong man Bannon----
The wrath of an outlaw base scorned is not pretty. I guess Trump did not read "Bandits". If he had, he would have known that betrayal of loyal supporters is the number one sin for a Bandit King.
Assad Was Played by Putin/Tillerson the Way Saddam Was Played by Bush Senior
Remember how the first Gulf War started? Bush Senior’s state department gave our “ally” in Iraq, Saddam the greenlight to invade Kuwait. Saddam took the bait—and we all know what happened to Saddam. And the price of oil.
Remember how the second Gulf war started? Bush Junior looked the other way while the Taliban blew up the World Trade Center. He then used this act of aggression by Sunni radicals as an excuse to take down Saddam’s secular regime---and raise oil prices again.
Remember what happened this week? Our Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson former head of Exxon and friend of Russia and Putin assured Assad that the U.S. had his back. Someone (more on who later) then set off nerve gas attacks against Syrian civilians. And now, suddenly Tillerson is pushing for an international coalition to force Assad from power. Shades of 1990. What are they gonna call this War for Oil? Desert Shit? Make no mistake, if the U.S. allows itself to be suckered into another ground war in the Middle East, it will be no cakewalk. Syria has a serious ally in Iran. If we go in, so does Iran. That shuts down oil production all across the Middle East---
And Putin saves the Russian economy by pumping a ton of oil that is suddenly worth more than its weight in gold. And a bunch of American soldiers will die. And even more innocent civilians. And our economy will go into the toilet once again when sky high oil prices take their toll on manufacturing, transportation and travel.
Now, more about the nerve gas itself. Check out this CNN report.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/07/world/syria-military-strikes-donald-trump-russia/index.html
The US is investigating whether Russia was involved in the chemical attack in Syria that prompted President Donald Trump to launch the first direct military assault against the Assad regime.
The Pentagon is looking for any evidence that the Russian government knew about or was complicit in the attack in Idlib province that killed at least 80 people and injured dozens more, a senior US defense official said.
Someone at the Pentagon does not buy the official Trump Party line which is that Assad went rogue all by himself. Someone at the Pentagon—which may soon be called upon to deploy soldiers in yet another shitty desert war---thinks the whole thing smells like a great big Russian rat.
And so do I.
Hey, here’s a great way to take out Assad. Let’s impose crippling economic sanctions against the country that props up Assad’s regime, the country that hacked out presidential election and blackmailed our elected officials. Assad will quickly fall to his own countrymen. And maybe we'll get Putin out of U.S. politics.
"Blame the Witch!" Is No Way to Run a Country
Trump got caught committing treason with Russia? Don't fix the problem---blame the witch!
At the moment, "the witch" is Susan Rice. Last fall, it was Hillary Clinton. When confronted with Syrian nerve gas attacks against civilians, Trump blamed "the witch" Obama.
Burning witches did not work out so well for Europe in the Middle Ages, and it is no way to run a modern country. If all our leaders can do in a crisis is point fingers, then they are gonna lose those fingers and we are gonna lose a lot more.
Spicer Calls Nerve Gas new "Political Reality" in Syria, Acknowledging that Trump is Putin's Puppet
But Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, said the slaughter was unlikely to change the United States’ posture toward Mr. Assad because of the “political realities” in Syria.
“There is not a fundamental option of regime change as there has been in the past,” Mr. Spicer told reporters. “Somebody would be rather silly not acknowledging the political realities that exist in Syria. What we need to do is to fundamentally do what we can to empower the people of Syria to find a different way.
He added that “these heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the last administration’s weakness and irresolution.””
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/middleeast/syria-gas-attack.html
Why is there no longer an "option of regime change" ????
Answer, because Spicer's boss Trump answers to Putin and Assad is Putin's puppet.
Basically what Spicer said is "Obama should have knocked Assad out of power while he had a chance, because now Russia is in charge and Putin won't let the U.S. retaliate."
Spicer just admitted what we all know--Trump is Putin's Bitch. Sorry all you people in other countries yearning for democracy. Trump is gonna feed you to Russia with a silver caviar spoon.
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