The Media and Fascism

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

The Media and Fascism

Jim and/or Minna

More and more Fascism and more and more denial.

The Supreme Court of the United States upheld Der Fürer’s travel ban, along party lines. A Fascist Court (five Republicans) wins and that’s the end of it because they toe the line, got with the program. So, Der Fürer bans all the Muslims from all the countries in the Middle East that are wracked by wars the U.S. generated, all refugees and translators, while allowing into the U.S. all the Muslims from terrorist supporting countries, countries with tyrants, countries that Der Fürer is friendly with. The U.S. thus becomes a terrorist supporting country, a terrorist haven. The only thing new here is that it’s now legal for Muslim terrorists to enter the country and gain asylum. They can plan and execute mass murders from the U.S. with access to great modern technology. All except ISIS.

Muslim terrorists, my ass. These kinds of Muslims are just common mass murderers. But, then, so is the U.S., though under the gaseous mask of Spreading Democracy and in direct mimicking of earlier German Fascist behavior. And, too, under the guise of the right to bear arms. You know how it is, the more children are killed, the fewer future problems for the government.

As Der Fürer likes it, so it is. Don’t you think it’s horrible? Don’t you think it stinks? Well. . .

The little blonde girlie reporting for CNN about the Supreme Court ruling smiled the entire time. Is there something wrong with her? Or is she, like Ivanka, a feckless cunt who supports, like, fucking what-ev-errr? Does Bimbo Blondie even understand? Ah, well, of course not. That’s why she’s feckless. She must have been a riot in HS. There is no excuse for reporting such a horrible legal decision with a smile, a decision that will affect thousands and end up killing hundreds unless she’s a sadist or a Muslim terrorist in disguise.

On CNN’s idea of morning news, the male lead spent much of the time rationalizing why the Muslim ban was not so bad after all. He used statistics and percentages to show that, really, the Middle Easterners didn’t have so much to complain about, South Americans were worse off. This is the cliché many of us were raised on: if you think you’re bad off, take a look at them. Don’t you feel better? This is denial of a high order. It shows a total lack of understanding of what’s going on. Worse, the women on set nodded their bobble heads and smiled as if this was right on target.

And people think Trump is clueless!

Sarah Huckleberry Hound Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant and now wants a security detail. Whiney coward bitch can’t take the heat. The SS is not meant for such as her and cannot stop restaurateurs from asking her to leave anyway. Next, she’ll want a taster, yeah? Maybe she should stick to McDonald’s or Arby’s. Arby’s has the beef. Oh. I’m sorry. That’s “meat.” Arby’s has the meat. Could be beef. Could be critter. We know McDonald’s isn’t horse any more. But neither serves a cheese plate. Eating as much cheese explains why Sarah Huckleberry Hound Sanders is so full of shit.

When it comes to immigration and border security, how long do you think it will be before Emma Gonzàlez and family will be picked up? Separately, of course. Not only does she have a spic name, she’s smarter than anyone on The Hill. Two sins. Two sins is better than one.

So much Fascism, so much denial.

Do any of these newscasters who criticize Trump and his own realize they’re goners sooner than later? If not jobless and running, in jail or dead. ‘Twould be more meaningful to report the truth than the denial. Denial: the ought and should page. The wrong page. Politics isn’t about ethics and pseudo-philosophical speculations on the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s about power. Might is right.

And me? I’ll be imprisoned or dead if I don’t manage to get out of this country beforehand. Poor, old and disabled, a sure ticket to the cleansing chamber for the insane. But, then, anyone who opposes Der Fürer is insane, right?

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A Media in Denial

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

by Secor & vander Pfaltz

I look at the News–not just the TV Media, the printed sort as well–and I see. . .are these people taking Denial Pills? Are they historically ignorant? Which leads to, do these people read? They are like children scrabbling after every jigsaw puzzle piece thrown on their table without the slightest attempt toward making a picture even though the colors and designs are different. The world they are reporting on, the world they cry out against without saying anything but “foul!” is different from the one they’re bitching about and showing up as corrupt and ridiculous when their game is different from Trump’s. The rules are not the same. Oddly, the news media sees this and calls the Trump people out but never realizes this is the new order of business. The news media are in denial, in denial about things while the new world order is about motion.

This includes Fox. But they are in a different denial canyon, the canyon of the Fellow Traveler, a deep and self-perpetuating canyon from which Fox will not rise out, for they are the greatest of propaganda pundits and every one sided government needs its cheerleaders. Do they, then, know something the rest of us don’t? Not in the least. They know less than we do, so blinded are they by the rhetoric and alternative explanations that are their ammunition–that and either the melodramatic or the Grand Guignol masks they wear on demand. As if to say, “See how serious we are? We feel!” “As if” indeed. Crisis actors.

The rest of the news media? They get the picture but prefer focusing on this and that little bit. Like paying attention to this little red spot over your nose rather than looking right at the disease all over your face. No more does the news tell us anything other than the day’s reportage. No more does the news give us information. We are left completely out of history. Some of the news media are enablers.

The most voluble and, perhaps, knowledgeable of these remaining reporters occasionally puts a bright shining key up on her set. It is a listing of all of the people who have quit or been fired from Trump’s world. All of those who quit might as well wear signs on their backs: traitor. 1) Though being fired from Trump’s world might be a good quality in the future; 2) they gave up and, instead of getting in Trump’s way, even a little, even for a little time, they only helped Trump world to take shape.

And here we have the answer. . .and here we have the limited thinking that keeps us blind. “Look at all of those vacant jobs! And nobody’s filled them.” Yes. True. But what does it do? What does it mean? Well, it means that Trump is the boss. Right? Just like he’s the boss within the DOJ. . .and is planning on becoming the boss of the DOJ. What does that mean? Everyone can see it coming but nobody wants to confront it. To confront it and report on the consequences. And keep reporting. There are incidences galore but they are reported as unconnected individual incidences instead of the run away senseless behavior of Fascists.

Trump’s already breaking the law, circumventing the law and abusing his powers, most notably pardoning powers. One commentator has noted the pardons are politically motivated but never tells us how and why. It isn’t the pardon, it’s the pardoned and the timing. Everyone says Trump is a fool. But is he? He has a lot of knowledgeable sycophants behind him.

It doesn’t matter what Trump says or what he does, no matter how senseless or absurd, it will be reinvented as meaningful by his mad horde, the mob that rallies when he rallies. The mob that is necessary and will forever and always be the Friendly Traveler and really not quite getting just what it is they are enabling but having a grand old time of it anyway. It’s difficult to let go of the notice and fame that accrues with Trump. Their leader.

Another moment of the coming debacle is Trump’s alienation of people, countries. Why is he doing this? Because for his Fascist world it must be The world against Trump world. Then we have enemies fucking everywhere! Oh, my God! We must mobilize to fight them off! George II and Obama gave us a never-ending war in the Middle East but this Trumpian war will be a war that knows no cease, not even a moment. It will be a forever war. But the news media look at this alienating behavior and ask, “What is he doing?” And I ask, “Do you read?” And then realize how stupid of me: America doesn’t believe in history.

Ai-ee! What’s next?

There is no reason or meaning to trying to guess Trump’s next move. The news media can’t because they’ve got the wrong play book and they can’t understand someone who’s playing with a different playbook; that is, not playing the same old game. Or maybe it’s just that they don’t believe “it” is happening. No. Wait. Not possible. Yes, possible. Admit it and then they’d know what to do, what to think, what to speak. And they’d stop reporting these bits of bullshit being handed out like celebrity fragrances. Because they only see his behavior as bits and bits, they miss the picture. Such bullshit. How successful is the bullshit? The media bought it. The media is buying it.

But why only look to Trump? The first step toward Fascism is a one party rulership. For at least 15 years, there has been one party rule in this country: the Republican. They call themselves Red America. There are only two other countries that call themselves Red: Communist Russia and Communist China.

Communist America? Well, not so unlikely if Putin has his way. His kind of Communism is of the world domination kind. Generally speaking, Communism is for the East, Fascism is for the West. In any case, there is authoritarianism via the Republican Party. The One Party. They don’t need anywhere near 100% of the world. What’s left validates them by denying them. What has the Republican One Party accomplished? Nothing. Any laws passed were voted for by the left out party of Democrats. The People’s Party? They screwed the people to keep their government seats. Truly, as Machiavelli and Arendt hold, politics is about power, getting it and holding it.

The oligarchy in this country–this country, America–pays for it all. What? Did you think that oligarchs only exist in Russia and the Ukraine?

If nothing else, the leading woman of the RNC making a public announcement that people had better toe the line and get with the program or else should have sent the message. As obvious as this is, the news media just can’t seem to get their head around it. What does such a horrific demand mean? Well, my pretties, it means we got Fascism. Raise your hands. . .who wants to be an enemy of the State?

Oh, yes. Let’s not forget what’s happening around our southern border. Nothing new to Europe. Nothing new to Fascism. Notice how the social sweeps have extended their boundary from illegal immigrants to parts of families to legal residents. Soon, more than likely, anyone with a Spanish name. Thank goodness I’m safe! My name’s bastardized French and I’m older than y’all. All o’ y’all. No immigration laws in the 17th century. A time when everyone belonged and no one belonged.

How many police departments do we have? Five, maybe more.

How long have sweeps of communities been going on? Since the middle of Obama’s reign. He was not the Wunderkind most all Americans think he was. The horrors he fathered beneath his benevolent ventriloquist face make him the best sort of leader, according to Machiavelli. Was he part of the Fascist world? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But he did the oligarchs’ bidding. They paid for his victory.

Community pick-ups. In New York, Obama had a three day raid that netted 10,000 petty criminals and parole violators. Why? Because he could. Because he had to see if he could get away with it. Subsequent ICE raids were held. Not one person questioned the raids. A little outrage here, a little outrage there and nothing is accomplished. When’s the next round up?

Denial’s a great game.

But what of people?

Well, they’ve become more intolerant than they were. So much so that if just one of them doesn’t like something, no one should have it. No one shall have it. Damnit! Too bad for everyone else. Like or dislike is the rule. As is disgust. If they find something disgusting, it should not be allowed period. Ban the thing. Ban the person. That is, there should be a law against it. And there will be, you may be sure.

If I say something you don’t like, I should be banned–along with what I said. What do you not understand about this process?

Lord! How I wish I could whine! What a wonderful world I could finally live in where there’s only what I like–and the rest of you be damned. That’s what freedom’s about, ain’t it? Free to have it my way and fuck the rest of you. Right?

If authority says so, it’s so. It’s right and mete and you can get out of the country if you don’t like it. You’re free, yeh?

Yep. That’s how to believe and act. People can’t see past their immediate wants, like a child: immediate gratification, please. They may be fashioning their world, the world they believe everyone should have, but what of the authoritarian rulers who have the tolerance of Gila Monsters?

That’s right. No one can see past the wart on the ends of their noses. No one has any sense of consequence or responsibility. Why should they? They want an unchanging life. No surprises. The kind of life you get with an authoritarian regime. Fascism. Communism, too, to be truthful. Not that all Communisms are the same. Other than being authoritarian.

Authoritarianism. Someone to tell you what you can do. Someone to make your life decisions for you. That way, it’s not your responsibility. God help you if you don’t like it, though. Because, y’know, you wanted it so the anti-social sort would be shut up.

Whining is habit forming. Whiners always buckle under to authority.

Children. Children. Learn how to play together. . .or I’ll have to do it for you.

How fast can you change your habits when your Leader changes his mind about what is acceptable? Try this: Lu Xun, The True Story of Ah Q. Go ahead. Give it a try. It’s only 159 pp–that includes the original Chinese and some pictures, so less than 100 pages of simple English. Published in 1921.

PC Pirates, AKA Cultural Revolutionists

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

PC Pirates, AKA Cultural Revolutionists

James L. Secor

Samantha Bee. . .the worst thing you did was apologize. There was no need. You are allowed your opinion and if someone doesn’t like it, fuck ’em, they don’t have to watch you any more. They have the opportunity to write you and say you yourself are a horrible little cunt. But they don’t have the right to shame you and shut you up.

“Cunt” disgusting? Not at all. It is the root word of cunnilingus. Everybody likes eating cunt or having their cunt eaten.

Joy Reid. . .what the hell did you apologize for? To satisfy a vicious nelly faggot queen dressed up like a man and wielding a tongue like one of Medusa’s snaky hairs? You’re not allowed to dislike but his cute little ass is? Like a good Communist, he had to go 10 years deep to hurt you, destroy you, ruin your life and career. I notice, though, he’s no longer on the air: the appropriate response. . .until the PC lovers rise up with a vengeance to take you and your producers down. The pages of literature are filled with the gruesome results, as per the Cultural Revolution. This behavior still alive today. The only way the second rate can amount to anything is by slashing away at their intellectual betters. Still alive today. . .hahahahaha, right here in The Great State of America.

Shit on Oprah for standing by and watching people publicly humiliate themselves. Arrogant shit. Who the hell are you? Who elected you judge and jury? Someone’s going to take offense at you one day and put you on your knees, willingly or not. In Communist PC purges there are no winners. Ask Ah Q. Read Mo Yan’s Big Breasts, Wide Hips. Read Wild Swans.

I could be polite-r with you PC Pirates but what the hell. Communists like your PC-righteous selves don’t deserve more than you are: an obscenity. And lest you get on your high American horse and take a swipe at me with “How could you know?”. . .I read, you don’t. I read history, you don’t acknowledge history. I read novels. I read memoirs and biographies. I lived in China for a long time. I know a poet who suffered–along with her family–during the Cultural Revolution and has had her hand slapped and been sent for re-education multiple times since 2005. I have been censured and ruined by the Cultural Revolution mentality: the second rater’s road to success (even though a foreigner has no power and is no threat). So, to paraphrase, screw you, sugar lips.

You don’t know what Communism is yet you practice it. You don’t know what Fascism is as it sweeps the country. You don’t know what Socialism is. You’re ugly. Ugly. U-G-L-Y. Ignorant. Sadly, it is the ignorant mob that motorizes totalitarian regimes. Like Fascism. It is the PC Pirate who heralds Totalitarianism. It’s right here in your neighborhood.

Since when did law and order become replaced by dislike/disgust and like? As in, I don’t like abortion so no one should be able to have one. But. . .you don’t have to have one. No one’s even asking you to have one. The fact that you don’t believe anyone should be allowed to have the choice of an abortion is Communist, it is mob propaganda: there is a law for everything and how to do it. . .and secret police on your block to make sure you do it right. No matter how hard you try or how loud you scream and shout the slogans, you will never know if you’ve done it right. . .until the police pay you a visit. . .or your compatriots drag your ass out of your house and onto the shaming stage and humiliate and batter you into submission and confession and then. . .then, if you’re labelled a collaborator, you one dead mother fucker.

Mo Yan, Big Breasts, Wide Hips. Got him in trouble with the government. He’s not the Communist hack, you are.

No, Roseanne. Don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong. Who cares if you’re rough to work with; mealy mouthed namby-pambie’s are terrible actors. What did you do that even approaches the toilet Michelle Wolf crawled out of for the White House dinner? She never apologized. She never even admitted to going a tad too far. I think she should be punished, like a slap across the face–look what happened to Kathy Griffin! (God have mercy on your self-righteous cunts when she begins her tour!) Many do think Wolf should be punished. She could have told us what drugs she was taking, y’know? But, in the end, she’s got more guts than anyone else, so far: she didn’t bend the knee and beg forgiveness. But she does need to watch her mouth–or the drugs she takes. As it is, she may have ruined her career and, though she may not be a person of any account in the future, when the PC Pirates need an example, she’ll be dredged up as just what the barber ordered. And since she did not apologize to begin with, she will be beaten–unless she ran at just the right time.

 

 

 

Books I’ve Been Reading…or not

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

Books I’ve Been Reading. . .or not

by Jimsecor

Machiavelli’s Discourses. Lo-ooong and very informative introduction. But a little dry for my taste at the moment. He again notes that the person not to lead is one who reacts the same way to every problem, every crisis–as he noted in The Prince. Maybe notable in Trump but most certainly with the new director of Midland PACE Lawrence: she has one behavior–get rid of ’em! In three months, she canned seven people, three were “participants.” In any case, the end product with these people in charge is total destruction. More of PACE Lawrence’s behavior is in. . .

Hannah Arendt’s On the Origins of Totalitarianism. Amazing! I’m not finished yet; just getting into the last section of the last section/chapter, on totalitarianism. Communism/totalitarianism is for the East; Fascism is for the West. Germany, part of France, Italy, Spain. Fascism was noteworthy in the US in the 1920s; but especially now as one party rule is the opening gambit. This is, however, falling apart, despite the Republicans’ bent for doing nothing, because the Democrats now see the opening to regain power. However, it ought to be noted that the Democrats voted right along with the Republicans since George II. However, Arendt notes that the name of the game of politics is power. Trump fits the Fascist leader to a T; Putin seems to be supplying the propaganda.

I’m rereading–to help with a story of my own–Penelope Doob’s Nebuchadnezzar’s Children, Conventions of madness in Middle English literature. Once again, fascinating; though very slow going reading Middle English. What I did not expect to find was the reiteration today of the ideas of madness/insanity/mental illness from the Middle Ages. The run on mass shootings in schools is nothing new, as it were. In both ages, people do not ask just what it is that pushes people over the edge, either temporarily or permanently, personally or socially destructive. In the Middle Ages, the Church held sway, so the deduction was you were mad. Today, there is so much confusion in diagnosis of “mental illness” due to the greed of Big PHRMA and psychiatrists that damn near every slightly off behavior, including just plain normal “being a child,” is an insanity. There is a pitch for what is normal, here; in the Middle Ages, it was more akin to “not that way.”

Steven Levingston’s Little Demon in the City of Light.  I do not know why this was shelved in Fiction–it is not. It is a long and highly detailed reporting of the murder of Toussaint-Augustin Gouffé by Gabrielle Bompard and Michel Eyraud. Hypnotism played a role in this murder trial, there is a great deal of information context here, especially including Charcot. I’m not finished yet. Not quite up to the trial. It’s a good read, well-written. I’m surprised I’m getting on with it as I was not in this kind of mood.

Cornelia Steketee Hulst’s Perseus and the Gorgon. A hard read. Very academic (1946). Concerning the why and history of the myth of Perseus and the Gorgon. Egyptian history. Greek history. The Goddess Isis, though not much in the way of following upon my reading of the history of Hatshepsut. I made it all the way through, only to find the Greek’s were derivative and that I needed a rest from over-exertion.

Melville’s Typee. Must be in 3-pt font. I had forgotten how intensely, even obsessively he paid attention to detail. Even when something exciting happened, it was slowed down so every wrinkle in the shirts of the protagonists was discussed. But what came out of this was through the forced psychiatric evaluation at the behest of the above-mentioned PACE director-dictator. (Took the wind out of her sails.) For one Rorschach blot I noted it looked like a couple of witches brewing something up or cannibals stewing their dinner. Although we spent more time talking about the witches, I knew he’d pick up on the cannibals. He did. The cannibals came from Typee. (The witches came from a mystery type story I’m writing.) Even so, his analysis was correct. (I have the eval.)

Abe Kobo’s The Ruined Map. This book wraps itself around itself until it is what it’s about. Abe’s writing is about identity, identity within society. The Ruined Map is a detective story. I kept seeing the neighborhood I lived in in Kanazawa-ken. How do you keep your/keep up your identity? Especially when there are several intersecting points. It reaches a point where you just have to go with it and, in this case, escape. You already have the map.

Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere. I got bored half way through. I’m having a garage sale in early May–the entire neighborhood, in fact.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Angel’s Game. I think I ought to finish this one but can’t bring myself to pick it up again. . .yet. A gothic mystery, I’m led to believe.

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho. An occasional read, so not finished yet.

William Eamon, The Professor of Secrets. Not finished. Interrupted by my move.

Michael Ennis, The Malice of Fortune. Interrupted by my move. Novel treatment (pun intended) of Machiavelli, da Vinci, the Borgias and Damiata the whore. Most interesting because of the sociopolitical context.

Vincent Wing Chung Chan, The Divine Victim. MA thesis, Asian Studies. He never read my dissertation. He knows nothing of kabuki, especially in the late 18th century, and nothing of the playwright, Tsuruya Namboku IV. His focus on religion in the play is his own. The Kwannon imagery at the end, when The Scarlet Princess rehabilitates herself is solely there to satisfy the censors and not at all religious or a parody thereof. However, there were notes on relationships between characters that were interesting. The Asian Studies division at BC should be ashamed of themselves for letting this pass. This play, The Scarlet Princess of Edo, is a good example of the rot and corruption and lack of any ethics of our own 21st century government, the Princess as symbol and example of said Tokugawa government. Being of royal blood, she sinks into whoredom, including with a Buddhist Priest, murder, including of her own child, thievery. . .yadda yadda yadda. All around her are two-faced retainers. She begins by just wanting to run away from her responsibilities. Other than the general rot of religion, there is no religious parody in the play because the religion was tied tightly to the rule of government. All of Vincent’s own making. It is, nevertheless, a well-written thesis.

Poe’s The Lighthouse. I don’t know why this is said to be unfinished. It’s written in the first person; the character can’t tell of his death. And he quite clearly says he’s stopped writing in his journal. Knowing that Poe wrote on more than one level and did not much care for the aristocracy, there is an element of just what he thinks of them, especially when taken out of their milieu. The doctor who sent “I” here, for money, wasn’t of the most wonderful personality. But, then, he was curing an aristocrat of a problem, using him as a guinea pig, for money. May be. . .Poe did not like doctors either.

 

 

Things Americans Believe

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

Things Americans Believe

by Minna vander Pfaltz

TopTenz:- Mr. White must be believed because he speaks at 200 wpm or he won’t be able to get all the information in. There are too many “specialists” on the Internet who offer up their opinion in the name of knowledge.

America and Americans are better than anyone else on the face of the planet. The Brits once believed this. “Britain first” didn’t exactly get them any friends, either.

Guns. Real guns. Big guns. Bang bang rat-a-tat-tat guns. The solution to every problem–not only at home but internationally.

Americans do not believe in the Second Amendment because they’ve never read it.

America’s problems are all due to mental illness, a belief that smacks of mental illness itself.

Curling is a game.

Pop culture does not influence society.

Bigger is better–including that something is too big to fail. All of the giants died out.

Reality TV is real.

Rap is music.

Aliens will visit here first. . .and then destroy the rest of the world. Notice: this belief implies the US is the most deserving of first destruction; that is, the most dangerous place.

Kansas is flat. This is true if you discount the eastern half of the state where there are hills and valleys and marshland and some trees that have miraculously survived the rampant real estate boom. And second. . .that you discount the land rising steadily from about mid-state from a few hundred feet above sea level to about 4,000 feet above sea level at the Colorado border.

The Quakers were ever tea totalers. I guess this is why there’s an alcoholic drink known as the Dead Quaker. 18th century. Out in the woods. A follower of The Penn walked into the tavern and made a bet. He won. He stood up to receive his prize. He died. No. He was not the one who turned ’em.

Columbus discovered America.

The flat Earth theory.

We liberated Texas from the Mexicans.

Astrology.

There’s a dark side to the Moon.

Freedom of religion means I get to impose my religion on you, God damn it. Actually, the document reads, in paraphrase, “the freedom to worship” the religion of your choice. Of course, there has been down through history religious worship that imposed itself on others that included sacrifice, usually of slaves or captured others. And practiced exclusionary behavior. . .like witch hunting. Who is it will gainsay history, God damn it?

A foetus smaller than the very point of an extremely sharp pencil is a viable human. What, in fact, is life?

Americans believe the world, especially diseases, accidents and air, is against them. Sometimes those enemy aliens are so small you can’t see them. That is to say, America is paranoid. . .you might say too careful.

Teaching STEM is the answer to all of America’s needs. And the humanities?

There’s something inherently wrong with the poor. They are a drag on society. But it is the über-rich, the people who hide their money elsewhere or become involved in external money making who are a drain on the economy because they are putting nothing back into the country’s economy that allowed them to get so rich. They are using resources that others are paying for.

Economics and economic efficiency are The Way, the answer for making everything work better. But, in fact, economics is like casino gambling. Remember Hurricane Sandy that flooded NYC? And Wall Street did not function at all for two weeks? Guess what happened to the US and the World economy during that time? Answer: nothing. Nothing at all. A bunch of slavering greedy company proxies gambling. Economics cuts the human right out of the equation.

The Dive Into Tyranny

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The Dive into Tyranny

by James L. Secor &

Minna vander Pfaltz with

柳不是 (Liu Bushi)

While everybody, especially the newscasters, are busy fact checking Trump and going on about his language, his verbiage and his mental faculties, no one is bothering to look at just what is happening to the US. All are to blame for what’s coming, for they did not hinder the inevitable–because even with Trump gone, his replacement is of the same mind. No. It will not be Pence; he’s far too involved, if only because of his lying. Better that he be a ventriloquist’s dummy, for then the lies would be someone else’s. But they are his and he’s raising money for his legal defense.

So. . .who’s next in line? Seriously, folks? You don’t know?

Well. . .it’s Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, an ideologue who sees no responsibility for his actions other than the money he begets on his handlers, the already-rich and über-saving. What is over-saving? This is superfluous wealth belonging to the permanently idle that sits still and produces nothing at all. “The owners of superfluous capital. . .want profits without fulfilling some real social function. . . .” (Hannah Arendt, On The Origins of Totalitarianism, p. 150; also p. 149, for more discussion–the entire chapter, though, is about imperialism, which is applicable to the present situation as much as it was 2-300 years ago: money making money overseas.) Arendt considers these people menaces to society. Why? They take their money and send it overseas thus denying their own country the benefits of their wealth. In today’s world, they take their money and put it in off-shore tax havens and then spend it elsewhere: money making money and nothing else for nobody but “me.” At the same time, they use the country’s resources and don’t pay for them. The general run of the people and especially the middle class pay their way. With fewer and fewer jobs and less and less taxable income, there is nothing else to happen but collapse, destruction. Ergo, the superfluous money holders, the über-savings people, are menaces.

Falling in line with this ultimate destruction is the tunnel-visioned ideologue Paul Ryan who is no better than Mao who, despite his rhetoric, was government for government’s sake. Everyone works for the government–everyone has to work for the government. AKA slavery. Mao’s idealism killed about 45 million people to begin with (another 30 million or so later on). He destroyed his country. For present-day America, that would be around 7.5% of the population. Children are not excluded in the death toll. He will begin this march to despair later this year by slicing and dicing Medicare (want to bet he’s not going to want to support his parents and grandparents?) and Medicaid (he has a Malthusian belief that the bodies of the poor pave the way to success for the upper crust) and Social Security.

Obama made it possible for Social Security to be hacked at. Oh, no, no! Not such a good man! When you people whined about the mandated 14% FICA tax that fed Social Security and kept it in its own bag, if you will, he cut your payment by 2%. Y’all cheered. Ya-aaay? But. . .the 14% is mandated. That means the government has to make up the 2% you didn’t pay and that money is a government expenditure and that puts part of Social Security in the budget and, therefore, it can be manipulated, snip-snip, to help balance the horror the Republicans passed under the rubric of “tax cut.”

Tell me, were you looking forward to retirement? Don’t. And don’t gamble with the market, as Wall Street wants you to. Wall Street and “financial services” benefit from your gambling your savings, your Social Security, away. Las Vegas ain’t got nothin’ on the Wall Street fixers!

Y’all are responsible, whining aside. Y’all are responsible because you didn’t bother to pay attention to your government, your life, your well-being and just let some elected officials do. . .whatever. That is, fuck you for their benefit.

Surely you understand simple math: put less in, get less back.

Wasn’t it some time in the 1960s that high school social studies became passé? Of course, any such course was taught by uninterested, uninteresting teachers so you got 50 minutes of boredom and, in some cases, incorrect information. (Jimsecor didn’t take such a course but his social activism and disability work carried him over; Minna has dual citizenship and was in Holland during high school; Bushi is Chinese–she it was who saw the incorrect information, e.g. all good and all change comes from the government, which she says is Communist doctrine.)

Communist doctrine? Here in the US? Look. . .the Republicans call “their” America–they say this is “your” America–Red State America. The only other Red States in the world are the USSR/Russia and China. (There are other Communist countries but only these two call themselves Red State.) Uncanny, no? But there’s more!

When it comes to Paul Ryan, it is known that in 2012 when he was involved in aiding Republicans in winning elections in Florida, he became involved with the early Russian invasion. It is an open question as to whether he is the mole, the insider feeding information on our electoral system to the Russians, for it is impossible that they could have such an intimate and nuanced understanding by remaining on the outside. That is to say, is Paul Ryan the engineer? Here is where you can wonder about Trump’s intellectual abilities: he has no idea he’s being played.

Once the population is won over or subjugated, the people are of little interest to the government. Which raises a question Marx was never able to answer. He didn’t have the highest regard for people but people had to rule the land. How do you get better people than people? (Cf. Norman Geras, Marx and Human Nature.)

But the world, the country Ryan and Trump are trying to establish, is of a different sort. It is a dictatorship, perhaps a tyranny. It is the end product of Marx’s utopia. To get there, as H.G. Wells and George Orwell wrote, it doesn’t matter what is said. It’s not important that it’s not the truth. What’s important is that it’s out there in public and people are paying attention to it. What’s important is that no one is countering his verbiage, his lies and truth-bending because they are too involved in proving him wrong and making fun of him. People are too invested with proving him demented–and Wolf, a sleazy slimy man if ever there were one, only muddies the water with gamey rumor mongering that not even Hedda Hopper would engage in, in order to deflect the public and the media from the issue itself.

Trump’s mind is unimportant. It’s what he’s doing when he says what he says, often enough doing without any relation to what he says. He lets his minions, his lesser helpers, the people we already hate, do things. They take responsibility, not him, and then he fires them if their actions don’t turn out right. Damn incompetent people!

While the news reporters and the pundits and political historians cash in on just how many Secretarial posts are not filled, no one at all is looking at what this means. If there is no appointee, then Trump is the decider. He is the boss. He is, in effect, the dictator. Who’s to stand in his way? That’s right. Trump owns the running–or not–of the country. No Justice Department? No problem. Trump makes the law whatever he wants it to be.

Trump keeps firing people who get in his way. He replaces them with ass lickers. . .if he replaces them. In either case, he owns the country. Nobody can stand up to him, especially with the media telling him what to do; e.g., if he wants to fire Mueller, says the news media, he must get rid of Rod Rosenstein because Rod Rosenstein is Mueller’s boss. Guess what? Next thing you know, Rod Rosenstein is under pressure.

Obstruction of justice? Yes, you bet. How many more times can he engage in obstruction? Will it out? Nah. Like Lady Macbeth’s bloody hands, it’s a permanent spreading stain. The House of Representatives is ideologically Republican, come hell or high water. Any call for Impeachment goes before the House of Representatives. What are the chances, eh?

These secret phone calls to Putin. . .are they instructions to Trump? How long do you think Trump will last when he comes out on top of the same heap God gave Job? For Putin, Trump is an incompetent, a fall guy. Will Putin come here? Not a chance in hell. He doesn’t need to. His agents know better than to fuck up. Cold as it is in Siberia, it’s colder still in the grave.

But we’ll be living in a dictatorship nonetheless, Trump or not. And we are responsible, for we saw it happening, beginning with massive round-ups before even ICE became involved. We saw it with the new racism (victimization–you have to have someone to play scapegoat). We saw this in the violence and brutality of policing protests. We saw this in the caging of the First Amendment. We saw this with the targeted assassination program put into law by Obama, including of US citizens (none in the US yet); and allowing the CIA to spy on its citizens in violation of its mandate, again given us by Obama.

The many non-Trumpians who are leaving office are only hastening the process as, being gone, they cannot stand in the way of Trump’s destruction of the country. Every little bump in the Trumpian road is a success. But these deserters are more interested in themselves than the country, as Karl Jaspers noted in his The Question of German Guilt. He includes himself and all others who ran for their lives as guilty. Not everyone can be a hero, it is true, but even fewer reach the status of martyr, as did Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Fewer still are any people who have a belief they’d be willing to stand up for. For Christians, it’s God’s will for whatever the hell happens. For Muslims, Allah be praised. For Jews, I told you the world was a shit place. For Buddhists, it’s your karma (read “your fault”). Actually, it’s just not paying attention. It’s not reading and knowing your history. It’s not acting. It’s delegating your responsibility to narcissists. But we should be able to trust these people; we’re paying them increasingly exorbitant salaries, yeah? Machiavelli, the ultimate cynical, practical politician, would say “should” has no place in the discussion.

So, what are we going to do about it? Might I suggest Chalmers Johnson’s Revolution and the Social System (first edition) followed by action?

In the meantime, Minna has a second home, she’ll probably go there for awhile; Jimsecor is over 70, he’ll probably go elsewhere to finish out his days; Liu Bushi is in a bind, being an immigrant and not wanting to return to Xi’s China. She has, though, pushed for all of us going to some isolated island to live and die in peace. We, none of us, are heroes.

But, then, with all the recent volcanic activity and Yellowstone’s blowing steam when it oughtn’t maybe there will be a major world catastrophe that will change the course of history. Nah! Can’t count on that.

Limited Mentality

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

Limited Mentality by Minna vander Pfaltz

Minna vander Pfaltz again. Jimsecor is sidelined with hip problems that portend re-replacement. His inability to get around makes him irritable, so I’m doing this all by myself–not for the first time.

There is an unredeemable characteristic of the American mind: limited thinking. Not only not thinking past the present moment (or incident) but of the love of the ignorance thereby engendered, as might best be described as either looking out a window and only seeing yourself or being so enchanted with the frame that you don’t even bother looking out the window.

This is, at present, most notable with Donald Trump and the Presidency. Until mid-October 2017 no one was looking past Trump to the next president. No one is still. Typical reactionary American behavior: let’s only approach one problem at a time, this problem. Let’s not think that there might be consequences down the road. Even the news media jumps aboard this wagon. People are now seeing Pence as the replacement president. This runs in the face of Pence’s intimate involvement in the Russia corruption via his constant lying, at least. He is simply unfit to be president (Twenty-fifth Amendment). Yet no one seems to be bothered about this. As if to say, let’s bother with that later, when the problem arises, even though it is already right before our faces. Reactionary thinking.

Who is next in line? The Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. He hates everyone but the rich, his friends and his benefactors. He will kill us all and ruin the country economically. Why? Because he is an ideologue and ideologues can never ever see past their obsessive-compulsive attachment to an idea. Repercussions are not important. He is very Communist in his attitude that if you can’t pay for your health care, you deserve to die that Rand Paul first put forward. Communist doctrine is that if you don’t work, you don’t deserve to eat. A tad more humane and based on human actions, i.e. working for the State. Indeed, all for the State, an idea Ayn Rand deplored. A very Communist doctrine. . .or that of slavery. And Paul Ryan is involved in the Communist hacking from near its inception in 2012.

There are other parallels/indications of Communism with him and the Republicans, but that frightening picture is not immediately in question, though it should be. Indeed, it should have been way back when the Republicans began calling their area of influence Red State America. The only other Red States in the world are Communist states. Everything for the government, everything for the State is the ethic.

So, why is no one thinking past Pence for replacement president? They ought to be, dammit. Does anyone know the chain of replacement? Who comes after Ryan if he is found unfit (because when the presidency is offered to him, he will jump at the chance)? Answer: President Pro Tem of the Senate Orrin Hatch. After him, if he decides not to accept? It becomes a free for all with the Cabinet: first one who says yes is it. Want to guess who would jump at the chance? Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III anyone? But, then, he’s out of the picture already. His cookie-making tree was built on shifting sand. Tillerson, a man after enriching himself and his friends? A man who’s used to being in control? A man who’s got business ties with Russia?

But, hell, why think ahead, eh?

America is in love with the adage “don’t sweat the small stuff.” In fact, if you take care of the details (the small stuff), then you do not have a large problem to take care of later on. But, hey, it’s better and more exciting to be reactionary. Limited thinking.

 

Some people are in love with their ignorance, like Cory Britton who, when confronted with a correction to his limited thinking, replied to Jimsecor, “James Secor shut the fuck up troll.” And then blocked Jimsecor’s e-mail. Despite many people saying the Internet is a hateful place, Jimsecor and I had never met up with it. He was nonplussed. It’s possible Cory Britton does not read; yet much of the information is available online at reputable sites, not just in books. Cory Britton is one of those people who is so in love with the window frame that he doesn’t bother to look out the window. He also obsesses over the myriad euphemisms for whore, listing them for an entire minute. He is, of course, not the only person who is in love with his ignorance. Sadly.

Trump, Ryan, Sessions–in fact all of the Republicans.

 

Agents, literary agents, are, judged from the Confucian division of society, at the bottom of the heap. Bottom dwellers? Not exactly. They make their money from the hard work of others. From a group that represented authors so the writers got the best deal, lit agents have taken to themselves the role of arbiter of all (publishable) literature. The single major criteria? Profit. Not only do lit agents charge the writer and then add on all office expenses (which they take off their taxes as business expenses–known as double dipping), they charge the publishers. What a scheme!

But agents are out of touch with reality. The “new” reading public, the people between late teens and 40s, have a short attention span. They don’t have the energy to focus on reading books of 50, 60, 100,000 words. But they can manage 30-40,000 words. 30-40,000 words is the rule and regulation lit agents use to class 30-40,000 words, a novella. Well, that’s fine. They can classify all they want; but the “new” reading public can only deal with this shorter length of book. So, why don’t they look for and sell fast moving novellas? If they had any historical sense, they’d recognize that the immensely popular pocket books and pulp fiction of days gone by were 30-40,000 in length.

This would help Jimsecor alot since he’s been pumping out books of this length lately. Thinking on the part of lit agents would aid us in living a better life. But ignorance via rules rules the day: I like my frame, it’s really cool.

 

Vegans. What can I say? Nowadays, they have the choice to eat what they want. Way back when, they’d not have had the choice–and they’d not have had the supplements (chemicals) to maintain a healthy life as they must today. Peasants and merchants died young. Vegans aren’t protesting cruelty to animals, other than rhetorically; they are avoiding the issue altogether. They vociferate energetically against killing animals in general–animals being living things–without realizing they are killing living things by ripping them out of the ground by their roots; eating them raw (still alive), boiling or frying them alive.

Once we have people who can’t see past the moment, past themselves, past their ideology, like. . .if you stop killing the animals in order to stay alive–in favor of killing plants to stay alive–what are you going to do with all of those animals running around all over the place? Let the people of Alaska and Wyoming shoot ’em down by helicopter? Vegans don’t like this now.

And what about those people who cannot eat a vegetarian diet? Like Jimsecor. He has no ileum, no cecum and no right (ascending) colon. When he eats vegetables, he needs to carry a port-a-potty around with him. Alas, Vegans are as single-minded as Evangelical Christians and consider it their right to impose their worldview on non-Vegans. As if cannibalizing vegetables is the saving grace. “I trust in Veggies” as I drive?

My advice? Go back to Vega where you came from.

 

Brown rice. Only in America.

 

People who make rules. Rules for everything, even being normal. Americans like such rules, as if to say, “I can’t live without them.” You know, no ability to frame a life or make decisions without being given explicit, delimiting guidelines. Rules of right or wrong that go beyond legal jurisprudence. There are rules for fucking everything! Look at the proliferation of how-to books. Jimsecor used to ghost write these books but he told the editor to stuff it. A bunch of ignorant charlatans selling shit from the back of a wagon. One man sold his how-to-get-rich as the end product of a quasi-religious Way! Although it was good money, I watched Jimsecor become increasingly irritable until he said, “Fuck it” and told the editor no more, lest it be to his specialty.

People don’t understand. . .if “this” was the way to riches, why are these people spending so much time writing (playing like they are writing) books about getting rich?  If they were doing it, they’d have no time to write about it–or want to limit their gaining power.

At the same time, I can’t fault people, for the economy of this country is not one that allows of success to working people. Of late, life takes them down, down, down and down at the bottom they find the social nets have really big holes and nobody likes them the more.

 

Economics. Economic efficiency. Efficiency experts par excellence. You older folk: remember Spencer and Hepburn in Desk Set? You younger folk: watch it. Economic efficiency has nothing to do with human efficiency. Humanity is a different animal. heh-heh The business model of efficiency–the business model of anything–cuts humanity right out of  the deal. This is most apparent in medicine; and, there, in hospitals, especially ERs where the presence of doctors, who treat people who expect to be treated by doctors, are not in evidence. They’re expensive. Replace them with Physician Assistants who, like ancient Chinese Eunuchs, pass along their idea of what’s going on to the doctor hiding somewhere so as to get the answer she wants. PAs are cheaper. Female PAs are the cheapest. Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs) know more. If humans are seen to by doctors, even after the PA fact, they feel better about whatever is ailing them. Why? They are being paid attention to. Human “economics.” Does it cost more? Yes, in greenbacks. Is it better for the general populace–and the financial economic world? Indubitably. But when you have a business running the medical profession, you have no medicine, no person. Eventually, the business model is going to be sued into oblivion if it just doesn’t die a prolonged, nasty death.

Some doctors get around this by taking up the viciously Darwinish Concièrge Model of Medicine: if you’ve got the money, I’ll treat you. (Poorer people ain’t got it.) And if the illness or injury or anxiety or whathaveyou is serious, the doctor puts the sufferer in the hospital so the hospital foots the bill. Cool beans.

Lawrence Memorial Hospital: a monopoly. One hospital, lots of little pieces of hospital everywhere. They even own, via umbrella, all but one of the medical group practices in town. That one is adamantly independent–good–but just as adamantly practices the business model of medicine. So does the hospital, albeit some doctors have a higher ethic.

 

Limited thinking: Now, now, now. And Bill Maher. Bill Maher believes we should not be concerned about exploration of space because we’ve not got the technology. He would have held up sea travel and exploration centuries ago. The only thing wrong with space exploration is that it is seen as space exploitation. Jimsecor would go. Jimsecor would go to Titan. And as Jimsecor is considered too old and a useless appendage to society it would be good to get rid of him.

Voyager I and II are not examples of limited thinking. Taking funding away is. Unfortunately, soon they will run out of energy. Why doesn’t NASA tell us what they’ve found so far?

 

Universities. The first thing universities want to do when they get a hunk of money is to build buildings. Which means hiring administrative and support staff. Fuck the students and professors, which are what a university is all about. Fuck investing the money to make sure it continues to flow in. Buildings don’t draw students or professors.

 

University of Phoenix.

 

Law enforcement. Which is more akin to oppressive control and intolerance.

 

Zero tolerance. Very limited thinking. Zero tolerance is INtolerance.

Do You Plan Ahead for Your Vacation?

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

Do You Plan Ahead for Your Vacation?

by James L. Secor, Ph.D. & Minna vander Pfaltz

What we have here is a failure to think.

What we have here is a failure to think past the moment.

In the event of failing to plan, to think ahead you end up without enough toothpaste or your soap–hotel soap is so wanting!–and you end up with nothing to munch on or drink on the night you arrive and need “that” drink. Because you don’t know anything about the town and hotel food and drink is outrageously expensive. Or you forgot your flipflops or your dinner suit, whether that be lounge lizard leisure or formal or just easy cotton wear. Or, or, or.

What it amounts to is that by not planning you end up paying. Like my landlord who will not replace the screen in my window who must then, down the road, pay for de-bugging, debugging that didn’t need to be done before the screen was ripped from its cradle by a vicious storm and not replaced any time soon.

This is the situation we are in at the moment in the US. We are not thinking past the getting rid of Trump moment. If he falls, it will be civilly as the House Republicans are so wound up in their Republicanism and Ideological obsession that they will not move for impeachment, even as the evidence mounts for traitorousness, for treason.

What happens after the fall of Trump? Will all the king’s men be able to put the state back together again? Or would that be “cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before”? Or “Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty to rights”? A nice knock-down argument? For Trumptdumpty is, via his being president, the symbol of the State.

First is VP Pence. But he will fall as well due to his involvement via lying and lying and lying again. Lying with the enemy.

That leaves Paul Ryan, a little man who hates everyone and is proud of it. A man who would stoop to mass murder in the name of Ideology (the fact of having an idea). For a devout Catholic, that means he’s on a fast track to hell with no hope of a Purgatory stop-over or an eventual out. With his social policies, he is no better than these terrorists who are, in fact, no more than murderers, mass murderers, blowing up whatever and whomever wherever for the fun of it, praise be to Allah. Too, he does it in the name of the State–Red State America. Paul Ryan, who is a Communist.

He believes in Red State America. The only other Red States in the world are Communist. His idea of stripping government down so it is government for the government, for the governors and their corporate handlers, with the people getting nothing is very Communist. Go live in a Communist country where the government is for government’s sake. I have. There is some glitz to cover up the want but you don’t have to go far to see the want: it’s just around the corner. We in the US hide our want. We ban our want. We criminalize our want. Our want: the failure of our society.

Americans need to pay attention to their government and its shenanigans. One of the greatest machinations is the manipulation of unemployment. The retired are not counted as, well, they were not working to begin with. And those who have exhausted their unemployment relief and yet have no job are not counted as unemployed. Off the record equals out of sight equals out of mind. Another way to hide want. Putting someone to work for minimum wage though they have dependents is considered employment–forgetting that they are still relying on social services to survive. The end product of this unemployment vacation preparation is skewing of the statistics to pretend that the facts are not so bad as they are. That is, this is Rose Colored Glasses syndrome. Indoor sunglasses.

But Paul Ryan’s government will not care, for if you are not working, you are not working for the State–the Red State america–and, therefore, you don’t deserve to eat. As it were. A very Communist sentiment. However, neither he nor any other politician has read The Communist Manifesto or any socialist/sociological thought, a very different thing. That is, Communism and Socialism are not the same thing. Because these politicians can read but don’t they are ignorant. And they are dangerous. Thus saith Twain.

Communism is a 19th century utopia and, like all utopias, is a failed venture. Utopias fail because they require no change (Cf. Marc Hodac, The Seeds of Their Own Destruction, Rod McNair, Why Has Utopia Failed and Jean-Marie Huriot & Lise Bourdeau-Lepage, Utopia, Equality and Liberty: The impossible ideal; perhaps, The Plague of American Authoritarianism by Henry Giroux might help).

That is what we have to look forward to with Paul Ryan, the Republican Ideologist and Demagogue who stands smiling his thin lipped lizard smile behind Trump, waiting, waiting, waiting for the time to stick out his tongue and capture his meal, which he will eat alive. Once this man becomes President there is no constituency voting him out, though there may be some voraciously selfish Senator who will invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment, that Ryan is unfit to be President, only to see it flounder. Because most everyone else is a Republican Ideologue.

But, then, perhaps that isn’t in the cards, for there is that little moment of interference involving Nunez that he has already lied about. Although there is nothing new about politicians lying, what is different about this crop of weeds is that they lie to our faces while handing us the proof of their lie. I am not a weed, clogging the life out of my surroundings, sayeth the Kudzu.

So, okay. We’ve thought ahead enough to know that we don’t want Paul Ryan as vacation from Trump. We must think of a way to get rid of him or his consideration–not very likely as America is a nation of reactionaries: let’s wait until “it” happens.

Who’s next in line for President?

Orrin Hatch, Senatorial sneak sniper. Another ideologue. But he’s done nothing, nothing in particular. So, we’re stuck with another Red Stater–unless he says, “No.” After all, he has more power and less stress as a Senator than as President.

Next? A free-for-all with the Cabinet appointees. Here, we’re on solid ground, for most of them will go with the fall of Trumptydumpty as they are, one way or another, involved–and many of them are in the sinking boat of self-importance and ignorance, barely keeping afloat with the tar of influence, i.e. money. A veritable Ship of Fools.

You have to figure you’re not just fucking yourself, your fucking everyone else when you think not about what it is you’re doing; when you think not about what’s coming round the bend. She will be coming round the bend, mind you, but the horses will not be well-reined in. Your vacation gonna be ruined, fo’ shore.

So, how can we keep our vacation cruise afloat? We are not a Disney Line; we cannot let it turn into a typhoid ship; we cannot let it languish at sea or in port. Trump has taught us something, though (For more insights see What Herman Melville Can Teach Us About the Trump Era by Ariel Dorfman).

What Trump has taught us is how corrupt and dysfunctional the government is. Of course, we already knew they were corrupt. But now we get to see that dysfunction and the usurpation of the mandate of the Republic. Like all the king’s men, they are incapable of putting Trumptydumpty back together again, even while working hard to keep him from falling in the first place.

The second lesson is that democracy is the people making choices and voting out those who lied and said they were representing us and, in fact, could care less about us, the people, their constituents. That is, we’ve learned that democracy is the people, not the mechanics of the government.

This rediscovery of who we are–democracy–will go down the drain if we don’t, now, think ahead. Life without Trump will not be a vacation unless we prepare for it in advance. We already know all the king’s men are dysfunctional, perhaps even incompetent for the job. Perfect examples of the Peter Principle?

Unless we think about just what it is we want, what it is we need, and what we will do with the pieces, we will never crawl out of the potage pot. Right now it is health care. Are we to wait for Paul Ryan who will kill us all because we are not worthy? Paul Ryan does not understand that without people there is no government, no land to rule. Or that unhealthy people sicken and die, thus reducing the people needed to govern. Ill people got to the hospital; if they can’t pay, the hospital must treat them. Where does that money come from? The government. Ergo, this costs the government more than if the ill had insurance to begin with. What’s Monsignor Paul Ryan going to do? Slice that government entity and mandate death? Paul Ryan’s government is not the savior he propounds himself–oh, I’m sorry, “it”–to be (Cf. Ernst Cassirer, The Myth of the State).

May be. . .maybe what we need to do is control Trump. We can make sure he doesn’t get any dysfunctional laws to sign by practicing democracy and making sure our representatives actually represent us. As we are doing at the moment.

How do we do this? Let’s look to ancient Japan. Way long before the 17th century and the dictatorial Tokugawa Shogunate that controlled the Emperor, indeed cut him out of actual rule altogether, the Japanese Emperor had not been an active participant in the government of the country. He was corralled by required rites and government meetings and requirements that had to be performed on schedule–as scheduled–and he was kept so busy during the day, every day that he could not cause trouble for anyone. Visits will be official and scheduled for him, the agenda written ahead of time. Length of all interviews will be strictly adhered to. That is, he will be treated like the Japanese do scheduled TV baseball: if three hours of scheduled baseball time is not enough, baseball TV coverage does not usurp pre-programed programs. If the game’s in the middle of the 10th inning and it’s time for Life With Father, it’s Life With Father. (Newscasters do this with their guests: Oops, we’ve not got time for more of you, thanks.) He can be assigned a phone that has no data application, no internet; a phone that is no more than a phone –and is monitored. For we know he’s a treasonous son of a bitch and can’t be trusted. . . and he’s petty and abusive. We can even control when he makes public appearances, much as with the Queen of England’s forays. She must inform the Parliament of her intentions and the members of Parliament have the ability to say, “No.” So, too, the Japanese Emperors for millennia. Easy to manage Trump if he’s found guilty of one thing or another: place him under house arrest.

If you don’t give a blatherer time to blather, he can’t get himself and you into any trouble. All of this protectionism will fall by the wayside with the election of a more responsible President. But, then, that relies on the people continuing to practice democracy and making sure–thinking ahead–that they are appropriately represented. The important elections are local, then federal; the President makes no laws, he is only the Face of the Nation.

Trump is considered a clown by the Chinese. Trump has made clowns of us all. People are wondering what is wrong with Americans that they could elect someone like Trump. All of our vaulted pride and prejudice has been flushed down the drain.

So it is, there are only two choices: we either control this spoiled rotten, blathering, temper tantrum-throwing little boy or we prepare for the worst (Paul Ryan). We prepare for the worst so we aren’t caught out and must make do with frenzied reaction, which is always momentary. Reactionary behavior (politics) is just putting a Band-Aid over the wound. We get wounded by lack of preparation, lack of consideration, lack of thought.

© 2017, James L. Secor, Ph.D.

Utter Stupidities

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

Utter Stupidities

by Minna vander Pfaltz

Republican Red State America.  Look at the map. Listen to such people haters as Paul Ryan. Why does no one see? Red State = Communist state. Red State America = Communist America. However, it’s not just Ryan, it’s all Republicans who want nothing for the people and all for themselves and their big corporation handlers. Having lived in Russia–outside of the big cities–I can tell you that the people have nothing while the government thrives for itself. Which is just what the Republicans want: Government for itself. Small government. What can you expect when they don’t pay their taxes, engage in money laundering and fraud? Is there something fucking wrong with people’s minds? Can they not think? Why is it they cannot see what is tossed up right in front of their faces? Utterly stupid.

China is responsible for North Korea. A totally ignorant idea. But, then, it comes from Trumptydumpty who fucking knows nothing. This idea comes from the belief that all Communism is the same and all Communist countries are collusive. Utter bullshit. Chinese Communism is nationalistic. Vietnamese Communism is nationalistic. Russian Communism is international, believing it is their right to impose their ideas upon everybody and everybody is wrong. Which means, of course, that the wrongers can be done away with, a policy of the Catholic Church for millennia. The Russians withdrew from Grandpa Kim, as did the Chinese, because of the policies and practices of Grandpa Kim. And Grandson has continued the perverted policies. North Korea stands on its own. For Trumptydumpty’s USA to place the responsibility for action onto the Chinese is typical of him: he accepts no responsibility. However, it seems everyone else in the administration follows him in this.

Did anyone but me notice that while NYC, including Wall Street, was flooded after Hurricane Sandy that the country’s economy, much less that of the world, continued working well? So. . .how important is Wall Street?

While Trumptydumpty continues to investigate the crookedness of Hillary Billary’s campaign, the rest of the Kings Men are out proving that the Russian cyberattack was the cause of Hillary Billary’s loss. Unfortunately, Hillary Billary won the popular vote. So. . .was the Russian hack brilliant via its knowledge of how to affect the Electoral College? Thus, while Trumptydumpty is investigating how it is he won, the rest of the King’s Men are investigating how Trumptydumpty won.

Doesn’t Jarhead Schlepner’s voice sound magnificently macho?

I find it quite amazing that Jarhead Schlepner owns the Devil’s Office Bldg.: 666. However did that happen, the Devil is owned? Not even God has been able to accomplish that!

If Flynn was compromised and could be blackmailed by The Putinsky, can you imagine The Putinsky threatening to call in Trumptydumpty’s debts?

The terrorists are no longer terrorists and should be called out for what they are in the media: murderers. Mass murderers. I doubt any truth speaking will happen based on Rachel Maddow’s book Drift (a very good read) that maintains the war machine just kind of drifts its way into non-military areas, some of them quite silly. Why? If the media calls terrorists what they are, murderers, they will lose DOD credibility, ratings and money. Ratings and Money = News as Entertainment.

The epidemic of Zika Virus in the US is now one. Nevertheless, we must all be afraid. Thank goodness my friend Jimsecor is already pregnant! His little puchy belly is so cute! I’m toying with the idea of buying him a Baby T-shirt, arrow pointing downward. He doesn’t worry about mosquitos: they do not like vitamin B-12. Neither does a hangover.

The cat goes out nightly, sometimes to hunt. He brings back rabbit mostly, cute little bunnies. They are not so cute the following morning. And yet, the cat hides whenever anyone unknown comes to the house. He also steers clear of squirrel.

It used to be that literary agents represented writers so they got the best deal. Now they own the market: nothing gets published but by their recommendation. With this change in the dynamics of art, the material available to the public, which the agents see as intellectually wanting, has deteriorated in quality. Profit is most important. And a simple, Face storyline, nothing of depth. As if to say that not only has Literary Vehicle disappeared but Metaphor has been slimmed down to no more than a piece of grammar. These people, the agents, suffer from a textbook case of Dunning-Kruger Syndrome (editors of literary journals do as well). In the Confucian social system, the agent is at the bottom as they are people who earn their living off of the hard work of others. Not only does the agent charge the author–including standard office activities that are tax write-offs as “business expense”–the agent charges the publisher.

Marianne Humainette.

Hellecchino, trickster hero.

Jimsecor just had 4 ½” taken off his long, long hair–and it is still below his shoulders! Good deal–still long enough to grab hold of.

From a woman’s point of view, teeth are our way of letting men know who is in control.

When Trumptydumpty goes, Pence the Pillsbury Doughboy is up for the Face of the Nation; however, he’s mired in the La Breia Treason Pit, so it’s on to Paul Ryan, the ultimate vaudevillian villain. This people hating Communist Tyrant in Shep’s clothing is dangerous. Why is no one thinking past the fall of Trumptydumpty? How about if we keep Trumptydumpty as President but limit him to days in the White House signing documents he’s told to sign and playing golf on his own golf courses while responsible people with some kind of intellectual veracity actually run the country? (Or, as Americans like to believe, run the world.) Trumptydumpty is, after all, easily controllable: 1) praise him; and 2) don’t criticize him. Otherwise, you can talk about anything you want. This is the recipe of the abuser.

Communism was a late 19th century utopia.

Other than for war, there has been no new technology in America for many years. What we have are variations on a theme.

Justin Bieber = utter stupidity. As is the idea that plastic fantastic Beyoncé can dance.

Taylor Swift.

Can you imagine how ISIS could remain a thing if the Mafia were sent to the Middle East? After all, the US Military and its vaunted technology is unproductive. But. . .what can you expect when all of  their support is privatized? Privateers are only interested in profit, not productivity.

Academics–academic academics–who believe they know it all, write outside their area of expertise and then get pissy when criticized. There are, in America, a slew of such PhDs. More’s the pity, for any advancement in critical interpretation and understanding is not possible. Academic academics live in a closed society where the conventional and the traditional reign supreme.

A Note on Terrorists

Posted on by minnavanderpfaltz

A Note on Terrorists

by James L. Secor & Minna vander Pfaltz

We need to begin speaking truth to the terrorists of today. We need to call them what they are. They are murderers. Mass murderers. To call them anything else is to give them legitimacy. They and their actions prove there is nothing legitimate about them. They are simply conscienceless murderers. People with a great blood lust. They are no more than Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, Kansas’ own cold-hearted killers, made famous in Truman Copote’s In Cold Blood. They are the Papin sisters, a perverted, not too bright pair who battered their patroness to death for no good reason. These so-called terrorists are the Manson Family murderers writ large on the pages of the popular press. To call them terrorists, to call them anything but what they are–murderers–is criminal. It gives their murdering ways legitimacy.

It drives up fear to call them terrorists and their actions terrorist attacks, which our politicians and media adore because they like war and control. To give these murderers legitimacy by calling them terrorists is to give full proof to Rachel Maddow’s thesis in her book Drift. No self-serving, self-incriminating media outlet would dare change the rhetoric from the myth of terrorism to the truth of murder.

But a change is needed. To speak truth puts these people and their perverted religion on the defensive. For, in fact, these murderers, these mass murderers by their own religious doctrine (Quran) are on a fast to track to Hell and sitting at the right hand of Satan (Shaitan).

This is this story we should be telling. The story of murder, of mass murder and the sick clans that purvey it in the name of their Lord. A true using of the Lord’s name in vain.