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In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 7, 2020 at 11:22 am
During the 1917 Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky acted as a key lieutenant to Vladimir Lenin. Trotsky organized the Red Army and successfully resisted all attempts to overthrow the fledgling Communist government.
One of Trotsky’s bitterest enemies was Joseph Stalin, another intimate of Lenin’s. When Lenin died in 1924, Stalin outmaneuvered Trotsky for leadership of the Soviet Union.
Long before he ordered Trotsky’s assassination in 1940, Stalin turned his former rival into an official non-person. Trotsky was:
- Airbrushed from photos showing him sitting or standing close to Lenin.
- Written out of Soviet history textbooks.
- Depicted, in print and documentary films, as seeking to overturn the Revolution—and assassinate Stalin.
Stalin made certain his image in Soviet history was entirely different.
- In the 1930s, he was portrayed as the modest, all-wise, energetic builder of a new Communist world.
- After 1945, he was depicted as the architect of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany during World War II.
No “historian” dared mention that:
- For almost 30 years, through purges and starvation caused by enforced collections of farmers’ crops, he had slaughtered 20 to 60 million people.
- His wholesale purges of the Red Army in the 1930s had made the country vulnerable to the German attack in 1941.
- His 1939 “nonaggression” pact with Germany had almost destroyed Russia. In this he and Adolf Hitler secretly divided Poland between them. The subsequent German invasion of Poland, on September 1, 1939, directly triggered World War II.
Joseph Stalin
After Stalin died on March 5, 1953, his status in Soviet history suddenly changed.
- Thousands of his portraits—displayed on streets and in buildings throughout the Soviet Union—suddenly came down.
- In 1956, his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, secretly denounced him as a psychotic butcher and bungler who had almost wrecked the country.
So those Americans with a sense of history were undoubtedly stunned at President Donald J. Trump’s reaction to the defeat of Alabama Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore on December 12, 2017.
Donald Trump
Unfortunately for Trump, Moore carried heavy political baggage:
- He had twice been removed as a Justice from the Alabama Supreme Court.
- He had blamed 9/11 not on Islamic terrorists but on “America’s turning away from God.”
- He had said the United States should eliminate all but the first 10 Constitutional amendments. This would remove those amendments forbidding slavery and guaranteeing civil rights for blacks and women.
Worst of all, Moore was haunted by allegations that, as a prosecutor during his 30s, he had made sexual advances toward at least eight teenage girls.
Many Republicans openly urged Moore to withdraw. They saw him as a nightmarish embarrassment to their party should he win the election.
Roy Moore
Even the President’s favorite daughter, Ivanka Trump, said: “There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children.”
But that didn’t stop Trump supporting Moore full-tilt against his Democratic opponent, former United States Attorney Doug Jones. Jones had convicted Ku Klux Klan members for bombing a black church in 1963.
On December 4, 2017, Trump tweeted:
“Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!”
During a December 8 campaign rally in Pensacola, Florida, near the state line with Alabama, Trump said:
- “Get out and vote for Roy Moore. Do it. Do it. We cannot afford, the future of this country cannot afford to lose the seat.”
- “We need somebody in that Senate seat who will vote for our Make America Great Again agenda, which involves tough on crime, strong on borders, strong on immigration.”
On December 8, Trump tweeted:
“LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100% of the time. He’s bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!”
As the December 12 election drew close, Trump made a robocall on Moore’s behalf:
“Hi, this is President Donald Trump and I need Alabama to go vote for Roy Moore. It is so important. We’re already making America great again.”
Then—for Trump—the unthinkable happened: Moore lost. Jones received 49.9% of the vote; Moore got 48.4%.
Suddenly, Trump was rewriting history.
During the Republican Senatorial primary in August, Trump had backed Moore’s opponent, Luther Strange. Now he tweeted:
“The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!”
And, in another tweet, he stated: “Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!”
A joke Russians once shared now applies to Donald Trump: “The trouble with writing history in the Soviet Union is you never know what’s going to happen yesterday.”
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on September 4, 2020 at 12:10 am
For all his ruthlessness and duplicity, it’s almost a certainty that Donald Trump has never read the works of Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science.
Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) is widely thought of as the personification of Satan.
In fact, Machiavelli was a passionate republican, who spent most of his adult life in the service of his beloved city-state, Florence.
Florence, for all its wealth, lacked a strong army, and thus lay at the mercy of powerful enemies, such as Cesare Borgia. Machiavelli often had to use his wits to keep them at bay.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Contrary to popular belief, Machiavelli did not advocate evil for its own sake.
Rather, he recognized that sometimes there is no perfect solution to a problem. He realized that men—and nations—are not always masters of their fates. And he warned that there is no course of action that is guaranteed safe or successful.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is a man of simplistic “solutions” for simplistic audiences.
By early April, he opposed the issuing of a national “stay-at-home” order to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. But, one by one, states began issuing shutdown orders of their own. Since then, he railed against those orders and demanded that “we need to reopen the country.”
Donald Trump
What lay behind this demand were two hidden agendas:
First, Trump wanted to quickly revitalize—and take credit for—a once-booming economy—even though this was largely created by President Barack Obama.
Second, Trump wanted to return to his Nuremberg-style rallies, where he could slander anyone he wants while basking in the worship of thousands of his fanatical followers.
His White House “Coronavirus briefings” were his pale substitute for dispensing propaganda under the guise of sharing reliable medical information.
Which is why he clearly missed this warning, offered in Machiavelli’s masterwork, The Discourses:
“…I shall speak here only of those dangers to which those expose themselves who counsel a republic or a prince to undertake some grave and important enterprise in such a manner as to take upon themselves all the responsibility of the same.
“For as men only judge of matters by the result, all the blame of failure is charged upon him who first advised it, while in case of success he receives commendations. But the reward never equals the punishment….
“Certainly those who counsel princes and republics are placed between two dangers. If they do not advise what seems to them for the good of the republic or the prince, regardless of the consequences to themselves, then they fail of their duty….
“I see no other course than to take things moderately, and not to undertake to advocate any enterprise with too much zeal, but to give one’s advice calmly and modestly.
“If either then the republic or the prince decides to follow it, they may do so, as it were, of their own will, and not as though they were drawn into it by your importunity.
“In adopting this course it is not reasonable to suppose that either the prince or republic will manifest any ill will towards you on account of a resolution not taken contrary to the wishes of the many.”
But, by May, more Americans were wary about “reopening the country” than about rushing to do so.
On the May 15 edition of The PBS Newshour, New York Times columnist David Brooks noted:
“If you look at actual behavior, people locked themselves down before any politician took a move. And even in those states where the politicians are opening up, people are still locking down….
“You look at the movement based on cell phone tracking. Red and blue states have the same amount of movement. The same number of people basically in state after state are staying home….
“And so I think the key decisions right now are not being made in statehouses and certainly not the White House. They’re being made in living rooms, as people decide, is it safe? Can I go out?”
Coronavirus
By pushing his mantra—“America needs to reopen NOW!”—Trump was risking the lives of millions of Americans. But he was also risking the future of his Presidency.
If “reopening” the country proved disastrous, he had no back-up plan to offer.
Several states—such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania—that re-opened saw swarms of people flooding into bars and restaurants. They didn’t wear masks or practice “social distancing.” Packed together like sardines, they offered themselves like a Right-wing sacrifice to Coronavirus.
The results were inevitable.
A new wave of COVID-19 erupted after America “reopened.” Employees were laid off—or refused to come to work for fear of Coronavirus.
The economy continued to tank.
As a result, Trump was seen—as Machiavelli warned—as the primary instigator of that “reopening.” He is now seen as the primary cause of that re-infection.
Herbert Hoover did not create the Great Depression. But he presided over the first three years of it. And that was enough to elect Franklin D. Roosevelt for 12 years and give Harry S. Truman another eight.
Trump—unintentionally—is offering Democrats another chance to own the Presidency for a generation.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 3, 2020 at 12:05 am
Donald Trump Jr. fears that his father will lose the election in November—and this will lead to the prosecution of his family.
“He’s like, ‘We’re losing, dude, and we’re going to get really hurt when we lose,’” a prominent conservative activist quoted Trump Jr. to the New York Times on August 24.
Trump Jr. believes that if Biden wins, there will not be a “peaceful transition,” Instead, the administration will “shoot the prisoners.”
The U.S. Department of Justice has a longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting President. All bets are off, however, once that President leaves office.
And President Donald Trump has good reason to worry on that count.
He could easily face charges of obstruction of justice by attempting to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the man appointed to investigate the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 Presidential election.
Robert Mueller
On June 17, 2017, Trump directed White House counsel Don McGahn to get Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to remove Mueller, telling him “you gotta do this.”
McGahn didn’t comply. Trump called him the next day. McGahn considered resigning, then stayed—didn’t didn’t act on Trump’s order.
Former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi has stated that Trump could be indicted after leaving office.
During his nearly 30-year career with the Department of Justice, Rossi participated in more than 110 federal trials (including an unprecedented 90 jury trials) in U.S. district and bankruptcy courts. From 1989-2001, he worked in the Tax Division, trying complex civil and criminal matters and serving on an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).
“If it were Donald Smith instead of Donald Trump, Donald Trump would have been indicted a year ago for the campaign violations,” he told Hill.TV in July, 2019.
On December 10, 2019, Trump paid $2 million to eight charities as part of a settlement where he admitted to misusing funds raised by the Donald J. Trump Foundation. These had been used to promote his presidential bid and pay off business debts.
It’s illegal for charitable foundations to advance the self-interests of their executives.
He was forced to close the charity as a result.
Donald Trump
Legal action also forced Trump to shut down his unaccredited Trump University, which the conservative magazine National Review described as a “massive scam.”
Although he boasted that he never settled lawsuits, he settled this one in November, 2016, for a reported $25 million rather than go to trial.
Investigations are now probing allegations of tax dodges, illegal campaign contributions, and improper foreign contributions to his inaugural committee.
There has been a great deal of speculation by Trump’s political foes as to what would happen if (a) he loses the election and (b) refuses to vacate the White House.
But, so far, no one seems to have raised the question: What if a defeated Trump, fearing civil and criminal prosecution after he leaves the White House, decides to avoid this by literally destroying much of the world in a nuclear war?
This is not so outrageous an idea as it may sound.
“If Adolf Hitler had possessed a button that would destroy the entire world, he would have pushed it at the end,” Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect and Minister of Armaments, said in a 1971 Playboy interview. “Today there are such buttons in the war rooms of all the great powers.”
Adolf Hitler
Trump has already threatened such action against North Korea: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
He has even seriously advocated using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States,
An additional reason for Trump’s playing Samson in the temple: He resides at the center of his own universe, and sees virtually everything as an extension of himself.
On August 23, 2018, Trump gave his rationale for why he shouldn’t be impeached. He didn’t say: “I’m innocent. I didn’t collude with Russian Intelligence to subvert the 2016 Presidential election.”
Instead, he said: “I tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor.”
Trump’s egomania is literally stamped on his properties. Of the 515 entities he owns, 268 of them—52%—bear his last name. He often refers to his properties as “the swankiest,” “the most beautiful.”
Among the references he’s made to himself:
- “My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.”
- “I think the only difference between me and the other candidates is that I’m more honest and my women are more beautiful.”
- “My Twitter has become so powerful that I can actually make my enemies tell the truth.”
- “My IQ is one of the highest—and you all know it.”
The Roman emperor Nero reportedly played the lyre and sang of Troy’s destruction while Rome burned. Adolf Hitler, in the last weeks of the Third Reich, salivated at the thought of destroying what was left of Germany.
Trump has repeatedly shown his contempt for civil and criminal laws—including those enshrined in the United States Constitution.
Thus, revenging himself on those he felt wronged him would be fully in keeping with his character.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on September 2, 2020 at 2:52 pm
COVID-19 has so far stricken 6.9 million Americans and caused 185,000 deaths. The virus is raging across the country.
The “miracle economy” that President Donald Trump has often boasted of creating has all but vanished as Americans stay home and/or employers lay off employees.
Still, Right-wing Americans refuse to admit the virus is real, wear masks or socially distance from others.
Typical of these is Trish Regan, host of Trish Regan Primetime on the Fox Business Network. On March 9, she attacked not the virus but those who didn’t stand behind Trump:
“We’ve reached a tipping point. The hate is boiling. Many in the liberal media are using Coronavirus in an attempt to demonize and destroy the President, despite the virus originating halfway around the world.
“This is yet another attempt to impeach the President. And sadly, it seems the left cares little for any of the destruction they leave in their wake, including losses in the stock market. This, unfortunately, is all just part of the political casualties for them.
“This is impeachment all over again. And like with the Mueller investigation, like with Ukraine-gate, they don’t care who they hurt. Whether it be their need to create mass hysteria to encourage a market sell-off unlike anything we’ve seen recently, or whether it be to create mass hysteria to stop our economy dead in its tracks, don’t kid yourself. They told us how much they crave a recession as a way to get rid of Donald Trump.”
Trish Regan
To make certain no one in the television audience missed the point, an electronically generated caption read: “Coronavirus Impeachment Scam.”
On the same day that Regan accused Trump’s critics of being haters, Trump himself was directing hate through his weapon of choice: Twitter:
“The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, ‘The risk is low to the average American.’”
Actually, with the virus spreading quickly throughout at least 33 states, the risk is not low to the average American. It is not the news that’s fake, but the lies and ignorance Trump is spouting.
Coronavirus
And: “Now the Democrats are trying to smear Bernie with Russia, Russia, Russia. They are driving him Crazy!”
National security officials had warned that Russia—through its state-owned media—was trying to sow social media agitation and disinformation within the United States. The goal: To ensure that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won the Democratic nomination for President.
According to these officials, Russian President Vladimir Putin believed Sanders would be far easier for Trump—his preferred candidate—to beat in November.
During the 2016 Presidential race, Trump openly called on “Russia”—i.e., Vladimir Putin—to “find the 33,000 emails that are missing [from Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s computer]. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
Hours later, the Main Intelligence Directorate in Moscow targeted Clinton’s personal office and hit more than 70 other Clinton campaign accounts.
Vladimir Putin
Kremlin.ru / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
And still more from Trump: “The Obama/Biden Administration is the most corrupt Administration in the history of our Country!”
This was a lie. President Barack Obama was never the subject of a Congressional or Special Prosecutor investigation—unlike Trump, who was impeached last December by the House of Representatives but acquitted by a majority-Republican Senate in February.
Making matters worse for Trump: Since taking office, he had claimed responsibility for the success of the stock market.
On August 28, 2018, appearing on “Fox and Friends,” Trump had boasted: “I tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor.”
And now the market—owing to fears of Coronavirus and Trump’s failures to stem it—was tanking.
On Facebook, a NYMAG.COM story on Trish Regan’s rant ignited the following reactions:
“Are these Fox News people asses or what? The entire country of Italy is shut down because of this virus. The virus doesn’t give a fat rat’s ass about Trump or impeachment. Just about spreading and infecting.”
And: “OMG. Someone needs to sue Fox News. News is supposed to be factual reported events. I saw a news clip from Fox suggesting this is blown out of proportion by the democrats just to hurt Trump. Idiots, I used to work for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention). Better listen to what they say. The President lies…. Sue Fox News for libel.”
The truth is that people like Trish Regan are not asses. Assuming they are allows them to skirt responsibility for the lies and slanders they hurl—and the consequences these bring.
They know what they’re doing—and that is to keep in power a Russian-supported tyrant by any means at hand.
And since the truth won’t help them they resort to lies—even if untold numbers of trusting Americans follow their “advice” and become victims of a raging and deadly virus.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 1, 2020 at 12:02 am
On August 23, Jason S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The shooting occurred as officers attempted to arrest him. Blake was tasered as he scuffled with police. When he opened the driver’s door to his SUV and leaned in, Officer Rusten Sheskey fired seven shots, striking him four times in the back.
Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down, and may never walk again.
Protests followed. Kenosha County declared a state of emergency overnight on August 24 after police vehicles were damaged, a dump truck set on fire, and the local courthouse vandalized. Police urged 24-hour businesses to close owing to armed robberies and shots being fired. Up to 200 members of the Wisconsin National Guard were deployed to maintain public safety.
Missing from the story—in most news media—has been one crucial fact:
At the time of the shooting, Blake faced a criminal complaint charging him with third-degree sexual assault in connection with domestic abuse on July 6.
The officers had come to arrest Blake for violating a restraining order stemming from that complaint. A 911 call on August 23 alerted them that Blake was at the home of his alleged victim.
A sample restraining order
The restraining order stemmed from a criminal complaint, which accused Blake of breaking into the home of a woman he knew and sexually assaulting her in May. The victim told police she was asleep when Blake broke in at 6 a.m. and said, “I want my shit.”
She told police that Blake used his finger to sexually assault her. She said the incident “caused her pain and humiliation and was done without her consent.”
After Blake left, she realized her keys were missing and “immediately called 911,” the complaint said.
An arrest warrant was issued on July 7.
On August 9, 2014, a similar police/media incident had occurred.
Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by a white police officer named Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.
Brown’s 22-year-old friend, Dorian Johnson claimed that Wilson shot him in the back. Wilson claimed he shot Brown after the latter charged at him.
An FBI investigation found that there was no evidence that Brown had his hands up in surrender or said “don’t shoot” before he was shot. It also found that Brown was struck six times, all in the front of his body.
The shooting ignited nationwide protests.
Yet many of the media “covering” the story refused to note that, shortly before his shooting, a video camera taped Brown robbing a grocery store and manhandling its owner.
Michael Brown (left) roughing up a store owner
Had this been more widely noted, “Saint Michael” would have been seen as a mere thug who learned that assaulting a cop wasn’t the same as attacking a store owner.
On May 25, George Floyd, a former black security guard, was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street during an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
Death of George Floyd
Across the nation, cities were convulsed by protests—including those in the San Francisco Bay Area. Among these: Oakland, San Jose, Emeryville, Walnut Creek and San Francisco itself.
On May 30, an initially peaceful protest march exploded into looting shortly before 9 p.m. as looters broke off and began smashing shop windows and ransacking stores in Union Square and on Market Street.
Among stores looted: A Sak’s Off-Fifth Avenue, an Old Navy clothing store, a Cartier Boutique and a Coach store. Looters especially targeted CVS and Walgreens drugstores. Liquor stores and a BevMo were also hit.
“Thirty businesses were looted or destroyed,” said David Perry, from Union Square Business Improvement District.
Undoubtedly many of victims of those looters and arsonists had been horrified by the Floyd killing. But many of them undoubtedly lost sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement as they surveyed the wreckage of their stores.
Store owners were infuriated at having to replace stock that had been stolen or destroyed. And employees resented having to clean up the wreckage. Some stores no doubt were forced to close, leaving their former employees suddenly jobless.
And President Donald Trump has quickly moved to capitalize on that resentment. His brand of “divide and rule” politics brought him to the White House in 2016. And he’s determined to play on white fears of further black crime to win a second term.
White fears of black crime are reflected in the crime rate statistics for New York City.
While Blacks make up 24.3% of New York City’s population, they comprise:
- 58.0% of its murder and non-negligent manslaughter arrests;
- 40.7% of its rape arrests;
- 34.6% of its known other felony sex crime arrests;
- 59.4% of its robbery arrests;
- 51.8% of its felonious assault arrests;
- 51.7% of its grand larceny arrests;
- 71.6% of its shooting arrests;
- 45.0% of its drug felony arrests;
- 48.5% of its drug misdemeanor arrests;
- 54.7% of its felony stolen property arrests;
- 45.9% of its misdemeanor stolen property arrests;
- 51.8% of its violent crime suspects;
- 60.0% of its juvenile crime complaint arrests.
This is admittedly unfair to those blacks who are law-abiding citizens. But the fear factor will continue until crime rates among blacks start falling dramatically.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on August 31, 2020 at 12:22 am
Blacks make up 13% of the American population, according to the 2010 census of the United States.
But they committed 52% of homicides between 1980 and 2008, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Only 45% of whites were offenders in such cases.
Blacks were disproportionately likely to commit homicide and to be the victims.
In 2008 blacks were seven times more likely than whites to commit homicide. And they were six times more likely than whites to be homicide victims.
According to the FBI, blacks were responsible for 38% of murders, compared to 31.1% for whites, in 2013.
From 2011 to 2013, 38.5% of people arrested for murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault were black.
In 1971, Robert Daley, a reporter for the New York Times, became a deputy police commissioner for the New York Police Department (NYPD).
In that capacity, he saw the NYPD from the highest levels to the lowest—from the ornate, awe-inspiring office of Police Commissioner Patrick Murphy to the gritty, sometimes blood-soaked streets of New York.
He spent one year on the job before resigning—later admitting that when he agreed to take the job, he got more than he bargained for.
It proved to be a tumultuous year in the NYPD’s history: Among those challenges Daley and his fellow NYPD members faced were the murders of several police officers, committed by members of the militant Black Liberation Army.
Two of those murdered officers were Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini. Jones was black, Piagentini white; both were partners. Both were shot in the back without a chance to defend themselves.
Writing about these murders in a bestselling 1973 book—Target Blue: An Insider’s View of the N.Y.P.D.—Daley noted:
- Jones and Piagentini were the sixth and seventh policemen—of ten—murdered in 1971.
- About 18 men were involved in these murders. All were black.
- The city’s politicians knew this—and so did Commissioner Murphy. None dared say so publicly.
“But the fact remained,” wrote Daley, “that approximately 65% of the city’s arrested murderers, muggers, armed robbers, proved to be black men; about 15% were of Hispanic origin; and about 20% were white [my Italics].”
The overall racial breakdown of the city was approximately:
- Whites, 63%;
- Blacks, 20%;
- Hispanics 17%.
Stated another way: Blacks, who made up 20% of the city’s population, were responsible for 65% of the city’s major crimes.
Or, as Daley himself put it: “So the dangerous precincts, any cop would tell you, were the black precincts.”
That was 49 years ago.
Now, consider the following statistics released by the NYPD for “Crime and Enforcement Activity in New York City” in 2019. Its introduction states:
“The reports below present statistics on race and ethnicity compiled from the New York City Police Department’s records management system.”
Then follows these statistics:
Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter Victims
- Black (56.6%)
- Hispanic (31.2%)
- White (4.9%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (6.9%)
Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter Suspects
- Black (62.4%)
- Hispanic (30.8%)
- White (3.0%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8%)
Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter Arrestees
- Black 58.0%
- Hispanic 35.2%
- White 3.3%
- Asian/Pacific Islander 3.0%
Rape Victims
Rape Suspects
- Black 46.5%)
- Hispanic (34.8%)
- White (10.8%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (7.3%)
Rape Arrestees
- Black (40.7%)
- Hispanic (45.4%
- )White (6.7%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%)
NYPD Headquarters at One Police Plaza
Other Felony Sex Crimes Victims
- Black (33.8%)
- Hispanic (37.3%)
- White (21.3%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (7.0%)
Other Felony Sex Crime Suspects
- Black (41.6%)
- Hispanic (37.5%)
- White (12.9%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (7.3%)
Other Felony Sex Crime Arrestees
- Black (34.6%)
- Hispanic (47.4%)
- White (11.3%)
- Asian /Pacific Islander (6.4%)
Robbery Victims
Robbery Suspects
- Black (66.2%
- Hispanic (27.1%)
- White (4.3%)
- Asian/Pacific islander (2.3%)
Robbery Arrestees
- Black (59.4%)
- Hispanic (32.2%)
- White (5.2%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (3.2%)
Misdemeanor Assault Victims
Misdemeanor Assault Suspects
Misdemeanor Assault Arrestees
Felonious Assault Victims
Felonious Assault Suspects
- Black (53.4%)
- Hispanic (32.6%)
- White (7.9%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (5.8%)
Felonious Assault Arrestees
- Black (51. 8%)
- Hispanic (33.1%)
- White (8.3%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (6.4%)
Grand Larceny Victims
- Black (24.4%)
- Hispanic (23.0%)
- White (35.9%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (15.7%)
Grand Larceny Suspects
- Black (50.5%)
- Hispanic (23.5%)
- White (11.7%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (3.9%)
Grand Larceny Arrestees
- Black (51.7%)
- Hispanic (28.5%)
- White (13.7%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (6.0%)
Firearm Arrest Population
Shooting Victims
Shooting Suspects
- Black (74.4%)
- Hispanic (22.0%)
- White (2.4%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (1.1%)
Shooting Arrestees
- Black (71.6%)
- Hispanic (24.1%)
- White (2.7%)
- Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%)
Drug Felony Arrest Population
- Black (45.0%)
- Hispanic (40.2%)
- White (9.7%)
- Asian Pacific Islanders (4.9%)
Drug Misdemeanor Arrestees
- Black (48.5%)
- Hispanic (35.3%)
- White (12.5%)
- Asian Pacific Islanders (3.6%)
Misdemeanor Sex Crime Victims
- Black (35.5%)
- Hispanic (36.7%)
- White (18.6%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (8.6%)
Misdemeanor Sex Crime Suspects
- Black (42.4%)
- Hispanic (34.2%)
- White (14.0%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (8.7%)
Misdemeanor Sex Crime Arrestees
- Black (52.5%)
- Hispanic (28.9%)
- White (14.5%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (4.0%)
Misdemeanor Stolen Property Arrest Population
- Black (45.9%)
- Hispanic (31.9%)
- White (16.8%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (5.1%)
Felony Stolen Property Arrest Population
- Black (54.7%)
- Hispanic (28.6%)
- White (11.5%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (5.0%)
Petit Larceny Victims
- Black (31.6%)
- Hispanic (29.9%)
- White (28.8%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (12.7%)
Petit Larceny Suspects
- Black (53.8%)
- Hispanic (26.8%)
- White (15.7%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (3.3%)
Petit Larceny Arrestees
- Black (44.7%)
- Hispanic (32.5%)
- White (17.9%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (3.3%)
Misdemeanor Criminal Mischief Victims
- Black (38.5%)
- Hispanic (29.8%)
- White (19.5%)
- Asian/Pacific Islanders (11.2%)
Misdemeanor Criminal Mischief Suspects
Misdemeanor Criminal Mischief Arrestees
Reported Crime Complaint Juvenile Victims
Juvenile Crime Complaint Suspects
Juvenile Arrest Population
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on August 28, 2020 at 1:47 am
Throughout 2016, Facebook posters were certain: Hillary Clinton would be the next American President! Democrats would retake the House—maybe even the Senate!
Then reality intruded.
Why do Republicans win so many elections—especially at the Presidential level?
Republicans learned long ago that most voters aren’t moved by appeals to their rationality. Instead, what counts with them is emotions.
And long ago they became experts at appealing to these—especially the baser ones.
For Republicans, the Big Three are:
Hatred
Greed
Fear
Hatred: There can be no better example of a politician who has played successfully on the hatred of American voters than Donald Trump. If Barack Obama was the 2008 candidate of “Hope and Change,” then Trump was the 2016 candidate of “Hate and Fear.”
From June 15, 2015, when he launched his Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, Trump fired almost 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions that had somehow offended him.
Donald Trump
The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.
The message of Donald Trump’s campaign was one of hatred toward everyone who was not an avid Trump supporter.
Whites comprised the overwhelming majority of the audiences at Trump rallies. Not all were racists, but many of those who were advertised it on T-shirts: “MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN.”
They resented that a black man had twice been elected President of the United States. And they were determined to put a white man back in the White House. And Hillary Clinton’s being an “uppity women’s libber” brought their hatred to a boiling point.
Greed: On August 23, 2018, Trump gave an unprecedented reason why he shouldn’t be impeached: “I tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders doubtless spoke for millions of Trump supporters when she said, on June 4, 2018:
“Since taking office, the President has strengthened American leadership, security, prosperity, and accountability. And as we saw from Friday’s jobs report, our economy is stronger, Americans are optimistic, and business is booming.”
Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief for USA TODAY, summed up the popularity of the “Greed Appeal” to voters on the March 13 edition of “Washington Week in Review”:
“USA Today has conducted a poll about the economic concerns that are out there….And Congress—you’re seeing fear in this country about the economy.
“In fact, when we did this poll this week about how Americans’ lives have been affected by the Coronavirus, people expressed more concern about the economic and financial effect than they did about the health effect. And you know, that goes to why this matters so much to President Trump.
“How many voters have you talked to who said, you know, I don’t really like President Trump’s tweets, but I like what I see happening in my 401(k)? And when they look at their 401(k) this week, it may not look quite as bright as it did before.”
Fear: From the end of World War II in 1945 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Enemy of Choice for Republicans was the Communists.
Millions of Americans were so pathologically frightened by “The Red Menace” that any Democratic politician libeled as a “Communist,” “Comsymp,” “fellow traveler” was considered at least a potential traitor, if not an actual one.
Among the Republican politicians who rode to victory on a wave of Red hysteria: Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy
Even as late as 1992, President George H.W. Bush and the Republican establishment charged that Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton might be a KGB plant. Their evidence: During his tenure at Oxford University in 1969-70, Clinton had briefly visited Moscow—and thus might have been turned into a “Manchurian Candidate.”
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Right-wingers had to settle for attacking their opponents as “liberals” and “soft on crime.” But these charges didn’t carry the same weight as “Communists” and “traitors.”
Then, on September 11, 2001, Republicans—and their Right-wing supporters—at last found a suitable replacement for the Red Menace: The Maniacal Muslim.
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
Led by President George W. Bush, Republicans used fear of Muslims to con and bully the nation into a needless, bloody, budget-busting war on Iraq. Seventeen years later, that war continues.
So how can Democrats counter such appeals? By making equally ruthless use of them.
For example—Fear: Republicans rely heavily on support from rural America—where fundamentalist religious beliefs hold sway. Instead of ridiculing those beliefs, Democrats—even those who are atheists—should make use of them.
How?
- By recognizing that fundamentalists believe that widespread plague is a sign of God’s displeasure; and
- Repeatedly proclaiming that the Coronavirus is God’s judgment on a sinful nation for electing Donald Trump President.
Democrats must closely study the beliefs of their sworn enemies and make skillful use of them—as the Israelis have done.
Suicide bombers’ attacks in Israel sharply decreased after Israelis started patrolling with bomb-sniffing dogs.
Why?
Islamics believe that dogs are defiling creatures—and that if the blood of suicide bombers mingles with that of a dog, they won’t go to Heaven to claim those 72 willing virgins.
To defeat your enemy, you must learn his weaknesses—and ruthlessly attack them.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on August 27, 2020 at 12:05 am
On August 24, Kimberly Guilfoyle delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) that met the psychological meaning of “projection”: Unconsciously taking unwanted emotions or traits you don’t like about yourself and attributing them to someone else.
Guilfoyle, 51, is a former attorney, prosecutor and television news personality who currently works as an advisor for President Donald Trump.
In 2001, Guilfoyle married San Francisco supervisor Gavin Newsom. Two years later, Newsom was elected mayor of San Francisco. In January 2004, Guilfoyle moved to New York to host the program Both Sides on Court TV and work as a legal analyst on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
In 2006, citing the strain of a bi-coastal marriage, Guilfoyle and Newsom divorced.
She joined Fox News in February 2006, as host of the weekend show The Lineup. When this was canceled, she remained a regular contributor to the network.
But in 2018, she abruptly left Fox News. According to the Huffington Post:
“Six sources said Guilfoyle’s behavior included showing personal photographs of male genitalia to colleagues (and identifying whose genitals they were), regularly discussing sexual matters at work and engaging in emotionally abusive behavior toward hair and makeup artists and support staff.”
Kimberly Guilfoyle
Photographer: Jill Lotenberg, Jill PhotographyPublisher: Chase Backer, 25A Magazine / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
In May 2018, Guilfoyle and Donald Trump, Jr.—the son of the President—attended an event together. News subsequently leaked that the two were dating—while he was separated from but still married to his wife, Vanessa. Guilfoyle had been friends with the Trump family for years
The Trumps divorced at the end of 2018.
Since 2018, Trump Jr. has been openly dating Guilfoyle. According to The New York Times Magazine, they “have become fund-raising powerhouses,” helping the President amass a huge war chest.
Donald Trump Junior
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
Among the statements Guilfoyle made at the RNC:
“President Trump is the law and order President.”
[Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey, attacked Federal judges who found his policies unconstitutional, and fired Inspectors General for investigating his corrupt officials. He is only the third President—after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton—to be impeached.]
“Biden, Harris, and the rest of the Socialists will fundamentally change this nation.”
[Russian Communist dictator Vladimir Putin is the only major world leader whom Trump has never attacked nor even criticized. He has rejected the findings of the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency that Putin intervened in the 2016 Presidential campaign to ensure Trump’s election.]
“[Democrats] will selfishly send your jobs back to China while they get rich.”
[The President has more than 100 trademarks in China, including 35 granted pre-approval since he took office.]
Donald Trump
“They will defund, dismantle, and destroy America’s law enforcement.”
[Trump has urged his followers to disobey state laws requiring them to wear masks and maintain social distancing. Many of them have marched on state capitols brandishing automatic weapons.]
“My mother, Mercedes, was a special education teacher from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. My father, also an immigrant, came to this nation in pursuit of the American Dream.”
[Trump has tried to stop both legal and illegal immigration. And since July, 2017, U.S. immigration authorities have separated more than 5,400 children from their parents at the Mexico border.]
“Human sex drug traffickers should not be allowed to cross our border.”
[Trump partied heartily with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. When Epstein’s widow, Ghislaine Maxwell, was charged with the enticing of minors and sex trafficking of underage girls, Trump wished her well.]
“In President Trump’s America, we light things up. We don’t dim them down.”
[Trump “lit up” Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Park with tear gas against peaceful protesters so he could pose for a photo op at St. John’s Church following the death of George Floyd.]
“This election is a battle for the soul of America. Your choice is clear. Do you support the cancel culture?”
[When protesters object to honoring treasonous Confederate generals with monuments, Trump calls that “cancel culture.” But when a tire-making company bans MAGA caps from its workplace, Trump calls for a boycott of Goodyear Tires.]
“[Democrats] want to control what you see and think and believe so that they can control how you live.”
[When Twitter dared to fact-check Trump’s false tweets about mail-in ballots, he signed an executive order targeting liability protection for social media companies.]
“…President Trump cut middle class taxes, putting tens of thousands of dollars back in the pockets of working class Americans….”.
[Forbes magazine, which calls itself “the capitalist tool,” stated that “Trump tax cuts helped billionaires pay less taxes than the working class in 2018.” Reported Forbes: “For the first time in American history, the 400 wealthiest people paid a lower tax rate than any other group.”]
“Don’t let the Democrats take you for granted. Don’t let them step on you. Don’t let them destroy your families, your lives, and your future.”
[Furious that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) mocked him during a session of the House Intelligence Committee, Trump tweeted: “I want Schiff questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason…..”]
* * * * *
Ernest Hemingway warned: “Fascism is a lie told by bullies.”
On the first night of the Republican National Convention, Kimberly Guilfoyle proved that Hemingway’s warning still holds true.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on August 26, 2020 at 12:15 am
On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz slaughtered two faculty members and 15 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
His weapon of choice: An AR-15 assault rifle, often favored by gun massacre killers.
Eight days later, on February 22, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, attacked those he held responsible for the series of massacres plaguing American schools.
And it wasn’t crazed gunmen armed with automatic weapons designed for military use.
Wayne LaPierre
With funerals still being planned for some of the victims, LaPierre blamed “the elites,” “saboteurs” and “new European-style socialists” for this and other gun massacres.
He did so at the Conservative Political Action Conference (C-PAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
“They hate the NRA, they hate the Second Amendment. They hate individual freedom. In the rush of calls for more government, they have also revealed…their true selves.
“The elites do not care about America’s schoolchildren. If they truly cared, they would protect them. For them, it is not a safety issue. It is a political issue.
“Their goal is to eliminate the Second Amendment and our firearms freedoms, so they can eradicate all individual freedoms.”
His C-PAC congregation gave him a wild ovation.
And he accused the Democratic party of being “infested with saboteurs who do not believe in capitalism, do not believe in the Constitution, do not believe in our freedom, and do not believe in America as we know it.”
These “saboteurs” were “new European-style socialists.”
Which was ironic: In 2016, the NRA spent $30 million to elect Donald Trump—who fiercely defends Russian Communist dictator Vladimir Putin against the FBI, NSA and CIA.
He then outlined his solution for protecting America’s schoolchildren: Turning schools into virtual concentration camps patrolled by heavily-armed security guards.
The highlight of LaPierre’s speech came at its close: “And there is no greater personal, individual freedom than the right to keep and bear arms, the right to protect yourself, and the right to survive.
“It is not bestowed by man, but granted by God to all Americans as our American birthright.”
Anyone who’s seen the 1970 sci-fi movie, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, remembers the final scene: Where seemingly normal underground dwellers strip off their human face masks and reveal themselves to be radiation-scarred mutants.
They wear white robes, and stand silently during a sermon or shout “Amen!” in what is clearly a dark parody of a religious service. It’s immediately clear what they are worshiping: An atomic bomb standing upright.
And they pay tribute to the engine of obliteration that has destroyed human civilization and brought about a world ruled by apes.
Their leader, Mendez, chants:
“Glory be to the Bomb, and to the Holy Fallout. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.
“His sound has gone out to all lands, and his light unto the end of the world.
“Almighty and everlasting Bomb, who came down among us to make Heaven under Earth. Lighten our darkness. O instrument of God—grant us thy peace!”
Reading Wayne LaPierre’s eulogy to the Gun and his passionate invoking of God, it’s easy to re-imagine his giving a slightly altered version of the sermon offered in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. It’s also easy to imagine this taking place during an NRA convention.
WAYNE LAPIERRE: The heavens declare the Glory of the Gun. And the body-count showeth His handiwork.
NRA CONGREGATION: His sound is gone out to all lands; and his Light unto the end of the world.
LAPIEREE: He descendeth from the outermost part of Heaven; and there is nothing hid from the lead thereof. There is neither speech nor language after His voice is heard among them.
CONGREGATION: Praise Him! Praise Him! My Strength and my Redeemer!
LAPIERRE: Glory be to the Gun, and to the Holy Bodycount! As it was in the Beginning, is now and ever shall be, massacres without end. Amen!
CHORUS: Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
LAPIERRE: Almighty and Everlasting Gun, who came down among us to make Heaven unto Earth. Lighten our darkness with your muzzle flashes. O instrument of God, grant us They peace.
CHOIR: Almighty Gun, who destroyed all men—to create corpses! Behold His glory!
LAPIERRE: Behold that Truth that abides in us. To reveal that Truth unto that Maker.
LAPIERRE AND NRA CONGREGATION: I reveal my inmost self unto my God.
CHORUS (singing): Unto my God!
CONGREGATION (singing):
All guns bright and beautiful. All creatures dead with lead.
The good Gun makes us what we are!
He takes out eyes to see with, and lips that might yet speak. How great the Gun Almighty, who has made all things dead. Amen!
WAYNE LAPIERRE: May the Blessing of the Gun Almighty and the fellowship of the Holy Bodycount descend on us all, this night and forevermore!
* * * * * *
Gun Violence Breakdown:
- Every year, 36,000 Americans are killed by guns—about 100 per day.
- Each year, 100,000 Americans are shot and injured .
- One-third of gun deaths are homicides.
- Guns are used in more than 70% of all homicide
- About a fifth are unintentional shootings.
- Gun homicides are concentrated in cities—roughly half of all gun homicides occur in urban areas that contain just a quarter of the total US population.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on August 25, 2020 at 12:01 am
And the most glorious episodes do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men. Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles.”
—Plutarch, Alexander the Great
It’s all about him.
By March 27, more than 100,000 Americans had died of COVID-19.
According to sociology professor Kathleen Cagney, who directs the University of Chicago’s Population Research Center: “What is different about this is, it is affecting all of us in a variety of ways, even if some of us are able to social distance in more effective ways than others. But we all feel at risk.”
But Donald Trump, President of the United States, had a far bigger worry than a virus that had no vaccine or cure. While others worried about the lives of their fellow Americans, Trump was worried about his chances for re-election the coming November.
Donald Trump
On March 27, Trump spoke by phone with evangelical leaders and thanked them for their past political support. Then, instead of focusing on the pandemic that threatened their flocks as well as everyone else, he urged them to focus on his own re-election.
“It’s a big date, November 3,” Trump said. “That’s going to be one of the biggest dates in the history of religion, as far as I’m concerned. So, I want you to be, we have to keep aware of that, ‘cause as we fight this, people are forgetting about anything else.
“You turn on the news, and all you see is the Coronavirus or whatever. Some people call it the Chinese virus, they call it a lot of different things—but the virus, that’s all you see. You don’t see anything else.
“So people are forgetting we have the most important election that we’ve had, and I guess when I say the 2016 election, perhaps that’ll always be very special for all of us, but without this one, without a victory here, so much of that can disappear.”
The conference call was organized by the Family Research Council, which is identified as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate groups in America.
Tony Perkins, the group’s leader, tried—but failed—to direct Trump’s attention to COVID-19. He asked Trump how he wanted the assembled pastors to pray for him.
Trump replied: “Well, I think the health of our country, the strength of our country. We were doing something amazing and then one day, it just ended. So that would be it, and the fact that we make the right choice on November 3 is very important. Tony, you understand that better than most.”
Eight days earlier, on March 19, Trump had had a very different conversation with governors desperately seeking medical equipment to fight COVID-19.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker told Trump during a video conference:
“I’m not quite sure what to do with this, so I’m just going to throw it out there for you. We took very seriously the push [from Trump]….that we should not just rely on the [Federal Government] stockpile, that we should go out there and buy stuff and put in orders and try to create pressure on manufacturers and distributors, and I gotta tell you that on three big orders, we lost to the feds.”
Charlie Baker
Baker, a moderate Republican, added, “I’ve got a feeling that if someone has the chance to sell to you and to sell to me, I am going to lose on every one of those.”
Trump chuckled at the remark, clearly finding mirth in the misfortune of not only the governor but his constituents.
Trump replied he still wanted governors to obtain their own medical equipment—such as respirators and protective gear for doctors and nurses.
“Prices are always a component of that also. And maybe that’s why you lost to the feds, OK, that’s probably why,” Trump said, admitting that the federal government has greater buying power than any state.
The conference was a made-for-TV event at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington.
Trump repeated his belief that the onus should be on the states—and not the federal government—to obtain needed equipment to combat the pandemic.
“The federal government’s not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping,” Trump had earlier said at a White House briefing. “You know, we’re not a shipping clerk.”
By contrast, Presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson had seen it as the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure that help was directed where most needed.
Roosevelt is still revered as the President who saw Americans through the Great Depression. And Johnson receives praise for his championing of civil rights for blacks and efforts to eliminate poverty.
On the same day as Trump’s conference call with American governors, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city—then the center of the worst Coronavirus outbreak in the country—was two to three weeks away from running out of crucial medical supplies.
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HISTORY ACCORDING TO STALIN AND TRUMP: “IT NEVER HAPPENED”
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 7, 2020 at 11:22 amDuring the 1917 Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky acted as a key lieutenant to Vladimir Lenin. Trotsky organized the Red Army and successfully resisted all attempts to overthrow the fledgling Communist government.
One of Trotsky’s bitterest enemies was Joseph Stalin, another intimate of Lenin’s. When Lenin died in 1924, Stalin outmaneuvered Trotsky for leadership of the Soviet Union.
Long before he ordered Trotsky’s assassination in 1940, Stalin turned his former rival into an official non-person. Trotsky was:
Stalin made certain his image in Soviet history was entirely different.
No “historian” dared mention that:
Joseph Stalin
After Stalin died on March 5, 1953, his status in Soviet history suddenly changed.
So those Americans with a sense of history were undoubtedly stunned at President Donald J. Trump’s reaction to the defeat of Alabama Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore on December 12, 2017.
Donald Trump
Unfortunately for Trump, Moore carried heavy political baggage:
Worst of all, Moore was haunted by allegations that, as a prosecutor during his 30s, he had made sexual advances toward at least eight teenage girls.
Many Republicans openly urged Moore to withdraw. They saw him as a nightmarish embarrassment to their party should he win the election.
Roy Moore
Even the President’s favorite daughter, Ivanka Trump, said: “There is a special place in hell for people who prey on children.”
But that didn’t stop Trump supporting Moore full-tilt against his Democratic opponent, former United States Attorney Doug Jones. Jones had convicted Ku Klux Klan members for bombing a black church in 1963.
On December 4, 2017, Trump tweeted:
“Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!”
During a December 8 campaign rally in Pensacola, Florida, near the state line with Alabama, Trump said:
On December 8, Trump tweeted:
“LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100% of the time. He’s bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!”
As the December 12 election drew close, Trump made a robocall on Moore’s behalf:
“Hi, this is President Donald Trump and I need Alabama to go vote for Roy Moore. It is so important. We’re already making America great again.”
Then—for Trump—the unthinkable happened: Moore lost. Jones received 49.9% of the vote; Moore got 48.4%.
Suddenly, Trump was rewriting history.
During the Republican Senatorial primary in August, Trump had backed Moore’s opponent, Luther Strange. Now he tweeted:
“The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!”
And, in another tweet, he stated: “Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!”
A joke Russians once shared now applies to Donald Trump: “The trouble with writing history in the Soviet Union is you never know what’s going to happen yesterday.”
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