Posts Tagged ‘CIA’
ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT, ALTERNET, ANN COULTER, AP, AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE, ARIZONA SHOOTINGS, ASSASSINATION, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BILL CLINTON, BILL O'REILLY, BIRTHERS, BOBBY JINDAL, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CESAR SAYOC, CIA, CNN, CONFEDERATE FLAG, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, DICK ARMEY, DONALD TRUMP, DYLANN ROOF, EMANUAL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ERIC HOLDER, FACEBOOK, FBI, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, GEORGE H.W. BUSH, GEORGE SOROS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GLENN BECK, GREG GIANFORTE, GUN CONTROL, HARRY S. TRUMAN, HATE CRIMES, HEALTHCARE, HILLARY CLINTON, JEB BUSH, JEFF LUND, JILL STEIN, JOE BIDEN, JOHN BRENNAN, JOHN ROLL, JOSEPH MCCARTHY, KELLEYANNE CONWAY, MAXIME WATERS, MEIN KAMPF, MELISSA HORTMAN, MICHAEL MOORE, MICHAEL SAVAGE, MICHELLE BACHMANN, MIKE LEE, MIKE PENCE, MONICA LEWINSKY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NEWT GINGRICH, NPR, OBAMACARE, POLITICO, RAUL GRIJALVA, RAW STORY, REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, RICK SANTORUM, ROBERT BOWERS, ROBERT DE NIRO, RODNEY KING RIOTS, ROLLING STONE, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SALON, Sarah Palin, SEAN HANNITY, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOVIET UNION, SPIRO AGNEW, TARA PALMERI, TEA PARTY, TERRORISM, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIM WALZ, TIME, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE JOHN ROLL, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VANCE LUTHER BOELTER, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on July 9, 2025 at 12:16 am
Increasingly, Republicans have repeatedly aimed violent—-and violence-arousing—-rhetoric at their Democratic opponents. This is not a case of careless language that is simply misinterpreted, with tragic results.
Republicans like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump fully understand the constituency they are trying to reach: Those masses of alienated, uneducated Americans who live only for their guns and hardline religious beliefs—and who can be easily manipulated by perceived threats to either.
If a “nutcases” assaults a Democratic politician and misses, then the Republican establishment claims to be shocked—-shocked!—that such a thing could have happened.
And if the attempt proves successful, then Republicans weep crocodile tears for public consumption.
Since the end of World War 11, Republicans have hurled the charge of “treason” against anyone who dared to run against them for office or think other than Republican-sponsored thoughts.
Republicans had been locked out of the White House from 1933 to 1952, during the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.
Determined to regain the Presidency by any means, they found that attacking the integrity of their fellow Americans a highly effective tactic.
During the 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy rode a wave of paranoia to national prominence—by attacking the patriotism of anyone who disagreed with him.
The fact that McCarthy never uncovered one actual case of treason was conveniently overlooked during his lifetime.
The electoral success of McCarthy’s Red-baiting treason slanders proved too alluring for other Republicans to resist.
Joseph McCarthy
Among those who have greatly profited from hurling similar charges are:
- President Richard Nixon
- His vice president, Spiro Agnew
- Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
- Former Congressman Dick Armey
- President George W. Bush
- Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin
- Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann
- Rush Limbaugh
- Fox News host Sean Hannity
- Fox News host Bill O’Reilly
- Donald Trump.
During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Republicans tried to paint Bill Clinton as a brainwashed “Manchurian candidate” because he had briefly visited the Soviet Union during his college years.
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Republicans lost their “soft on Communism” slander-line. So they tried to persuade voters that Democrats were “soft on crime.”
When riots flared in 1992 after the acquittal of LAPD officers who had savagely beaten Rodney King, President George H.W. Bush blamed the carnage on the “Great Society” programs of the 1960s.
George H.W. Bush
After losing the White House to Clinton at the polls in 1992 and 1996, Republicans tried to oust him another way: By impeaching him over a tryst with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach, but the effort was defeated in the Democratically-controlled Senate.
The 2008 election of Barack Obama as the first black President pushed the Republican “treason chorus” to new heights of infamy.
Barack Obama
Immediately after Obama took office, he was attacked by an industry of right-wing book authors such as Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.
Among the titles:
- Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama’s Radical Agenda by Sean Hannity
- The Manchurian President: Barack Obama’s Ties to Communists, Socialists and Other Anti-American Extremists by Aaron Klein
- The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency by Ken Blackwell
- Why Obama’s Government Takeover of Health Care Will Be a Disaster by David Gratzer
- To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine by Newt Gingrich
- How the Obama Administration Threatens to Undermine Our Elections by John Fund
- Power Grab: How Obama’s Green Policicies Will Steal Your Freedom and Bankrupt America by Christopher C. Horner
- America’s March to Socialism: Why We’re One Step Closer to Giant Missile Parades by Glenn Beck
- Obama’s Betrayal of Israel by Michael Ledeen
- Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them by Steven Milloy
- Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism by Ann Coulter
- Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America by Ann Coulter
Consider the vocabulary Right-wingers use to describe their political adversaries:
“Liberals,” “radicals, “bankrupting,” “treason,” subversion,” “slander,” “terrorism,” “betrayal,” “catastrophe,” “shattering the American dream,” “leftists,” “Communists,” “government takeover,” “socialism,” “power grab,” “secularism,” “environmentalism.”
And while the Right lusts to constantly compare Democrats and liberals (the two aren’t always the same) to Adolf Hitler, its propaganda campaign draws heavily on the Nazi leader’s own advice.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler laid out his formula for successful propaganda: “All effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials.
“Those must be expressed as far as possible in stereotypical formulas. These slogans should be persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea that has been put forward.
“[The masses] more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.”
Thus, Republicans spent the eight years of Barack Obama’s Presidency repeating the lie that he was born in Kenya—not Hawaii, as the long-form version of his birth certificate attests.
The reason: To “prove” that he was an illegitimate President—and should be removed from office.
To Republicans’ dismay, their slander campaign didn’t prevent Obama from being elected in 2008—and re-elected in 2012.
ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT, ALTERNET, ANN COULTER, AP, AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE, ARIZONA SHOOTINGS, ASSASSINATION, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BILL CLINTON, BILL O'REILLY, BIRTHERS, BOBBY JINDAL, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CESAR SAYOC, CIA, CNN, CONFEDERATE FLAG, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, DICK ARMEY, DONALD TRUMP, DYLANN ROOF, EMANUAL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ERIC HOLDER, FACEBOOK, FBI, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, GEORGE H.W. BUSH, GEORGE SOROS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GLENN BECK, GREG GIANFORTE, GUN CONTROL, HARRY S. TRUMAN, HATE CRIMES, HEALTHCARE, HILLARY CLINTON, JEB BUSH, JEFF LUND, JILL STEIN, JOE BIDEN, JOHN BRENNAN, JOHN ROLL, JOSEPH MCCARTHY, KELLEYANNE CONWAY, MAXIME WATERS, MEIN KAMPF, MELISSA HORTMAN, MICHAEL MOORE, MICHAEL SAVAGE, MICHELLE BACHMANN, MIKE LEE, MIKE PENCE, MONICA LEWINSKY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NEWT GINGRICH, NPR, OBAMACARE, POLITICO, RAUL GRIJALVA, RAW STORY, REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, RICK SANTORUM, ROBERT BOWERS, ROBERT DE NIRO, RODNEY KING RIOTS, ROLLING STONE, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SALON, Sarah Palin, SEAN HANNITY, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOVIET UNION, SPIRO AGNEW, TARA PALMERI, TEA PARTY, TERRORISM, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIM WALZ, TIME, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE JOHN ROLL, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VANCE LUTHER BOELTER, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on July 8, 2025 at 12:12 am
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a white high school dropout, gunned down three black men and six black women at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
The evidence made clear that Roof’s slaughter was racially motivated:
- He told a friend that he hoped “to start a civil war” between the black and white races.
- In the midst of his massacre of unarmed worshipers, he told one of his victims: “You’ve raped our women, and you are taking over the country.” Then Roof shot him.
Yet no 2016 Republican Presidential candidate dared acknowledge it.
- Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida: “I don’t know what was on the mind or the heart of the man who committed these atrocious crimes.”
- Bobby Jindal, former governor of Louisiana: “I don’t think we’ll ever know what was going on in his mind.”
But Rolling Stone magazine writer Jeb Lund left no doubt as to what—and who—was ultimately responsible for this crime: Racism and Republicans.
In a June 19, 2015 editorial—published two days after the massacre—Lund noted: “This [crime] is political because American movement conservatism has already made these kinds of killings political.
“The Republican Party has weaponized its supporters, made violence a virtue and, with almost every pronouncement for 50 years, given them an enemy politicized, radicalized and indivisible….
“Those leading said insurrection are swaddled by the blanket exculpation of patriotism. At the same time, they have synonymized the Democratic Party with illegitimacy and abuse of the American order.
“This is no longer an argument about whether one party’s beliefs are beneficial or harmful, but an attitude that labels leftism so antithetical to the American idea that empowering it on any level is an act of usurpation.”
On December 15, 2016, Roof was convicted of 33 Federal hate crime charges. On January 11, 2017, he was sentenced to death. He remains on Death Row to this day.
The evidence that Republicans have weaponized hatred—with deadly results—was on display long before Dylann Roof opened fire on “uppity blacks” praying in their own church.
Consider:
On January 8, 2011, Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head while meeting with constituents outside a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona. After a miraculous recovery, she continues to struggle with language and has lost 50% of her vision in both eyes.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
She vowed to return to her former Congressional duties, but was forced to resign for health reasons in 2012.
The shooting wounded 13 people and killed six others. One was Arizona’s chief U.S. District judge, John Roll, who had just stopped by to see his friend Giffords after celebrating Mass.
Although the actual shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, was immediately arrested, those who fanned the flames of political violence that consumed 19 people that day have remained unpunished.
Consider the circumstances behind the shootings:
Gabrille Giffords, 40, is a moderate Democrat who narrowly wins re-election in November, 2010, against a Republican Tea Party candidate.
Her support of President Barack Obama’s health care reform law has made her a target for violent rhetoric–-especially from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
In March, 2010, Palin releases a map featuring 20 House Democrats that uses cross-hairs images to show their districts. In case her supporters don’t get the message, she later writes on Twitter: “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!”
Sarah Palin’s “Crosshairs” Map
As the campaign continues, Giffords finds her Tucson office vandalized after the House passes the healthcare overhaul in March.
She specifically cites Palin’s decision to list her seat as one of the top “targets” in the midterm elections.
“For example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the cross-hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action,” Giffords tells MSNBC.
Giffords may have seen the spectre of violence closing in on her. In April, 2010, she supported Rep. Raúl Grijalva after he had to close two offices when he and his staff received threats.
He had called for a boycott of Arizona businesses in opposition to the state’s controversial immigration law.
“This is not how we, as Americans, express our political differences. Intimidation has no place in our representative democracy,” says Giffords. Such acts only make it more difficult for us to resolve our differences.”
John Roll is Arizona’s chief federal judge. Appointed in 2006, he wins acclaim as a respected jurist and leader who pushes to beef up the court’s strained bench to handle a growing number of border crime-related cases.
In 2009, he becomes a target for threats after allowing a $32 million civil-rights lawsuit by illegal aliens to proceed against a local rancher. The case arouses the fury of local talk radio hosts, who encourage their audiences to threaten Roll’s life.
In one afternoon, Roll logs more than 200 threatening phone calls. Callers threaten the judge and his family. They post personal information about Roll online.
Roll and his wife are placed under fulltime protection by deputy U.S. marshals. But Roll finds living under security “unnerving and invasive.”
Authorities identify four men believed responsible for the threats. But Roll declines to press charges on the advice of the Marshals Service.
ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT, ALTERNET, ANN COULTER, AP, AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE, ARIZONA SHOOTINGS, ASSASSINATION, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BILL CLINTON, BILL O'REILLY, BIRTHERS, BOBBY JINDAL, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CESAR SAYOC, CIA, CNN, CONFEDERATE FLAG, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, DICK ARMEY, DONALD TRUMP, DYLANN ROOF, EMANUAL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ERIC HOLDER, FACEBOOK, FBI, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, GEORGE H.W. BUSH, GEORGE SOROS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GLENN BECK, GREG GIANFORTE, GUN CONTROL, HARRY S. TRUMAN, HATE CRIMES, HEALTHCARE, HILLARY CLINTON, JEB BUSH, JEFF LUND, JILL STEIN, JOE BIDEN, JOHN BRENNAN, JOHN ROLL, JOSEPH MCCARTHY, KELLEYANNE CONWAY, MAXIME WATERS, MEIN KAMPF, MELISSA HORTMAN, MICHAEL MOORE, MICHAEL SAVAGE, MICHELLE BACHMANN, MIKE LEE, MIKE PENCE, MONICA LEWINSKY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NEWT GINGRICH, NPR, OBAMACARE, POLITICO, RAUL GRIJALVA, RAW STORY, REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, RICK SANTORUM, ROBERT BOWERS, ROBERT DE NIRO, RODNEY KING RIOTS, ROLLING STONE, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SALON, Sarah Palin, SEAN HANNITY, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOVIET UNION, SPIRO AGNEW, TARA PALMERI, TEA PARTY, TERRORISM, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIM WALZ, TIME, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE JOHN ROLL, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VANCE LUTHER BOELTER, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on July 7, 2025 at 1:04 am
On June 14, 2025, Minnesota State Representative and Speaker of the House of Representatives Melissa Hortman was shot to death in her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. She was the leader of the state House Democratic caucus.
Also shot—and killed—was her husband, Mark.
Melissa Hortman, 55, had been a prominent and highly respected figure in Minnesota since first winning office in 2005. During her tenure, she advocated for transportation, environmental rights, abortion rights, police reform and gun control policies. She was also the chief author of the state’s solar energy standard.
Melissa Hortman
Office of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, PDM-owner, via Wikimedia Commons
Earlier that morning, Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, had been shot in their home in nearby Champlin. Both were hospitalized and survived.
Police responding to the attack on the Hoffmans checked on the Hortmans’ home, where a man fired at them. The shooter escaped, sparking the most extensive manhunt in Minnesota history.
The authorities quickly identified 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter as a suspect and captured him on the evening of June 15 in Green Isle, Minnesota. He was federally charged with murder, stalking, and firearms offenses. The state charged Boelter with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
Vance Luther Boelter
And how did Republican United States Senator Mike Lee react to the shootings?
Writing on X, the Utah Senator posted: “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way.”
On the contrary: Boelter was virulently anti-abortion and anti-Democrat-–and voted in the Republican Presidential primary.
And in a second post, Lee posted a picture of Boelter under the caption “Nightmare on Walz Street,” parodying the title of the slasher film, “Nightmare on Elm Street.”
By “Walz Street,” Lee was referring to Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who had been Vice President Kamala Harris’ pick for Vice President in the 2024 Presidential election.
Mike Lee
On October 24, 2018, a would-be killer mailed pipe bombs to:
- Former President Barack Obama
- Former President Bill Clinton
- Former First Lady and United States Senator Hillary Clinton
- Former Attorney General Eric Holder
- Congresswoman Maxine Waters
- Billionaire George Soros
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- Actor Robert De Niro
- Former CIA Director John Brennan
- Former Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz
All of these intended victims had one thing in common: All of them had been brutally and repeatedly attacked by President Donald Trump.
On October 26, Federal law enforcement agents arrested 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, a bodybuilder and former male dancer.
The FBI also impounded his white van—which was plastered with pro-Donald Trump/Mike Pence images and American flags.
More ominously, it was covered with stickers of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, liberal film maker Michael Moore and Green Party activist Jill Stein—all in crosshairs. There was also a “CNN Sucks” sticker and American flags.
From Aventura, Florida, Sayoc enthusiastically attended Trump rallies, at one of them holding up a sign reading “CNN sucks.”
And who did President Donald Trump blame for the bombings? Not the man arrested for sending pipe-bombs to Trump’s opponents.
On October 25, he tweeted: “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”
Then, on October 27, 11 people were killed and six injured in a shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The killer used an AR-15 assault rifle—the go-to firearm for heavy-duty massacres. It can fire 150 rounds in 15 seconds and about 600 rounds per minute.
Robert Bowers, 46, a Right-wing extremist of suburban Baldwin, faced 29 charges in connection to the rampage. He was charged with 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder. And he faced multiple counts of two hate crimes. He was sentenced to death in 2023. He remains on Death Row.
And who did White House Counselor Kelleyanne Conway blame for the massacre?
“The anti-religiosity in this country that is somehow in vogue and funny to make fun of anybody of faith, to constantly be making fun of people that express religion—the late-night comedians, the unfunny people on TV shows—it’s always anti-religious.
“These people were gunned down in their place of worship, as were the people in South Carolina several years ago. And they were there because they’re people of faith, and it’s that faith that needs to bring us together.
“This is no time to be driving God out of the public square.”
In 2015, Republicans had faced a similar dilemma.
On June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a white high school dropout, gunned down three black men and six black women at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
At 21, Roof was unemployed, dividing his time between playing video games and taking drugs.
The signs of Roof’s malignant racism were evident long before he turned mass murderer:
- He had posed for a photo sitting on the hood of his parents’ car—whose license plate bore a Confederate flag.
- He had posed for pictures wearing a jacket sporting the white supremacist flags of Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABUSE OF POWER, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BORDER WALL, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CIA, CNN, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, E. JEAN CARROLL, EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, FBI, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINRICH HIMMLER, J.D. VANCE, JAMES COMEY, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JEWS, KEVIN MCCARTHY, KIM JONG-UN, MEDIA MATTERS, MITCH MCCONNELL, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, SALON, SCHUTZSTAFFEL, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SS, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HOLOCAUST, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WHERMACHT, WONKETTE, X, XI JINPING
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on June 26, 2025 at 12:22 am
On October 4, 1943, SS-Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler addressed SS officers stationed in Posen, Poland, about the ongoing campaign to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
He gave a similar speech two days later to an audience of Reichsleiters (national leaders) and Gauleiters (governors), as well as other government representatives.
Himmler intended to alert Reich officials of the extermination campaign the Schutzstaffel (“Protective Squads”)—otherwise known as the SS—and Wehrmacht (German army) had been waging since June, 1941.
The purpose: To make his listeners accessories to his monumental crimes—and to warn them there was no turning back.
Heinrich Himmler
Either Nazi Germany won the war that its Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, had unintentionally unleashed on September 1, 1939—or its topmost officials would themselves face extinction as war criminals.
Said Himmler:
“I want to also mention a very difficult subject before you, with complete candor. It should be discussed amongst us, yet nevertheless, we will never speak about it in public. I am talking about the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people.
“It is one of those things that is easily said: ‘The Jewish people is being exterminated.’…Most of you will know what it means when 100 bodies lie together, when 500 are there or when there are 1,000. And to have seen this through and—with the exception of human weakness—to have remained decent, has made us hard and is a page of glory never mentioned and never to be mentioned….”
Fast forward 81 years—to July, 2024.
On July 15, 2024, the Republican National Convention met in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to nominate former President Donald Trump for President of the United States and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance for Vice President.
Most of the attendees of Himmler’s speech at Posen hadn’t known the full details of the systematic extermination of the Jews. But everyone at the Republican convention knew Trump’s history:
- Publicly siding with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin against American Intelligence agencies—such as the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency—which unanimously agreed that Russia had interfered with the 2016 Presidential election.
- Using his position as President to further enrich himself, in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
- Praising brutal Communist dictators Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-Un.
- Firing FBI Director James Comey for refusing to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump—and continuing to investigate Russian subversion of the 2016 election.
- Openly lusting for his daughter, Ivanka.
- Shutting down the Federal Government on December 22, 2018, because Democrats refused to fund his useless “border wall” between the United States and Mexico. About 380,000 government employees were furloughed and another 420,000 were forced to work without pay for 35 days.
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance
- Allowing the deadly COVID-19 virus to ravage the country, killing 400,000 Americans by the time he left office.
- Attacking medical experts and governors who urged Americans to wear masks and socially distance to protect themselves against the deadly COVID-19 virus.
- Repeatedly lying—while still in office and afterward—that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him by massive voter fraud.
- Illegally trying to pressure state legislatures and governors to stop the certification of the vote that had made Joe Biden the President-elect.
- Inciting his followers on January 6, 2021, to attack the Capitol Building where Senators and Representatives were counting the Electoral College votes won by himself and Joe Biden. His objective: Stop the count, which he knew would prove him the loser.
At the time of the January 6, 2021 coup attempt, even Republicans admitted Trump’s responsibility for it.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy frantically phoned Trump, insisting that the rioters—who were breaking into his office through the windows—were the President’s supporters. He begged Trump to call them off.
“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump said.
But on January 28, “My Kevin” groveled before Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, while they discussed how to win a House majority in the 2022 midterm elections
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on January 12: “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
But when the Senate met to try Trump for inciting an insurrection, McConnell voted to acquit him—and successfully urged his fellow Republicans to do the same.
At the 2024 Republican convention, House Speaker Mike Johnson declared: “We in the Republican Party are the law and order team.”
But he ignored Trump’s past conviction for raping advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and his 34 felony convictions for scheming to illegally influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to a porn “star” after the two had sex.
Heinrich Himmler diabolically entangled his fellow Nazis in his own crimes.
Attendees at the Republican convention could not plead ignorance of Trump’s crimes. They were knowingly, enthusiastically championing a proven criminal for the highest office in the nation.
History has brutally condemned those Germans who, knowing the full extent of Adolf Hitler’s crimes, nevertheless signed on to perpetuate them.
History will render the same damning verdict against those Republicans who provided similar support for Donald Trump.
ABC NEWS, ADMIRAL IVAN ISAKOV, ADOLF HITLER, ALBERT SPEER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW MCCABE, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHEKA, CIA, CNN, COUNTER-SURVEILLANCE, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAILY KOZ, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DONALD TRUMP, FBI, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FSB, GENRIKH YAGODA, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINRICH HIMMLER, HERMANN GOERING, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, HUFFINGTON POST, JAMES COMEY, JEFF SESSIONS, JOSEPH STALIN, KGB, KRISJEN NIELSEN, LAVRENTY BERIA, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NIKOLAI YEZHOV, NKVD, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RACHEL BRAND, RANDOLPF “TEX” ALLES, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REUTERS, SALLY YATES, SALON, SEAN SPICER, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOVIET UNION, SS, STORMY DANIELS, SURVEILLANCE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE APPRENTICE, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PRINCE, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 13, 2025 at 12:13 am
In January, 2018, the White House banned the use of personal cell phones in the West Wing. The official reason: National security.
The real reason: To prevent staffers from leaking to reporters.
More ominously, well-suited men roamed the halls of the West Wing, carrying devices that pick up signals from phones that aren’t government-issued.
“Did someone forget to put their phone away?” one of the men would ask if such a device was detected. If no one said they had a phone, the detection team started searching the room.
Phone detector
The devices can tell which type of phone is in the room.
This is the sort of behavior Americans have traditionally—and correctly—associated with dictatorships
In his memo outlining the policy, then-Chief of Staff John Kelly warned that anyone who violated the phone ban could be punished, including “being indefinitely prohibited from entering the White House complex.”
Yet even these draconian methods did not end White House leaks.
White House officials still spoke with reporters throughout the day and often aired their grievances, whether about annoying colleagues or competing policy priorities.
Aides with private offices sometimes called reporters on their desk phones. Others got their cell phones and called or texted reporters during lunch breaks.
According to an anonymous White House source: “The cellphone ban is for when people are inside the West Wing, so it really doesn’t do all that much to prevent leaks. If they banned all personal cellphones from the entire [White House] grounds, all that would do is make reporters stay up later because they couldn’t talk to their sources until after 6:30 pm.”
Other sources believed that leaks wouldn’t end unless Trump started firing staffers. But there was always the risk of firing the wrong people. Thus, to protect themselves, those who leaked might well accuse tight-lipped co-workers.
Within the Soviet Union (especially during the reign of Joseph Stalin) fear of secret police surveillance was widespread—and absolutely justified.
Among the methods used to keep conversations secret:
- Turning on the TV or radio to full volume.
- Turning on a water faucet at full blast.
- Turning the dial of a rotary phone to the end—and sticking a pencil in one of the small holes for numbers.
- Standing six to nine feet away from the hung-up receiver.
- Going for “a walk in the woods.”
- Saying nothing sensitive on the phone.
The secret police (known as the Cheka, the NKVD, the MGB, the KGB, and now the FSB) operated on seven working principles:
- Your enemy is hiding.
- Start from the usual suspects.
- Study the young.
- Stop the laughing.
- Rebellion spreads like wildfire.
- Stamp out every spark.
- Order is created by appearance.
Trump has always ruled through bribery and fear. He’s bought off (or tried to) those who might cause him trouble—like porn actress Stormy Daniels. And he’s threatened or filed lawsuits against those he couldn’t or didn’t want to bribe—such as contractors who have worked on various Trump properties.
But Trump couldn’t buy the loyalty of employees working in an atmosphere of hostility—which breeds resentment and fear. And some of them took revenge by sharing with reporters the latest crimes and follies of the Trump administration.
The more Trump waged war on the “cowards and traitors” who worked most closely with him, the more some of them found opportunities to strike back. This inflamed Trump even more—and led him to seek even more repressive methods against his own staffers.
This proved a no-win situation for Trump.
The results were twofold:
- Constant turnovers of staffers—with their replacements having to undergo lengthy background checks before coming on; and
- Continued leaking of embarrassing secrets by resentful employees who stayed.
**********
As host of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” Trump became infamous for booting off contestants with the phrase: “You’re fired.” In fact, he so delighted in using this that, in 2004, he tried to gain trademark ownership of it.
But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected his application. American copyright law explicitly prohibits copyright protections for short phrases or sayings.
Upon taking office as President, Trump bullied and insulted even White House officials and his own handpicked Cabinet officers. This resulted in an avalanche of firings and resignations.
The first two years of Trump’s White House saw more firings, resignations, and reassignments of top staffers than any other first-term administration in modern history. His Cabinet turnover exceeded that of any other administration in the last 100 years.
In 1934, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, seeing imaginary enemies everywhere, ordered a series of purges that lasted right up to the German invasion in 1941.
No one was safe from execution—not even the men who slaughtered as many as 20 to 60 million.
Fittingly, for all the fear he inspired, Stalin was plagued by paranoia. He lived in constant fear of assassination. Although surrounded by bodyguards, he distrusted even them.
Thus Stalin, who had turned the Soviet Union into a vast prison, became its leading prisoner.
Similarly, Donald Trump daily proved the accuracy of the age-old warning: “You can build a throne of bayonets, but you can’t sit on it.”
ABC NEWS, ADMIRAL IVAN ISAKOV, ADOLF HITLER, ALBERT SPEER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW MCCABE, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BC NEWS, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHEKA, CIA, CNN, COUNTER-SURVEILLANCE, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAILY KOZ, DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DONALD TRUMP, FBI, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FSB, GENRIKH YAGODA, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HEINRICH HIMMLER, HERMANN GOERING, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, HUFFINGTON POST, JAMES COMEY, JEFF SESSIONS, JOSEPH STALIN, KGB, KRISJEN NIELSEN, LAVRENTY BERIA, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NIKOLAI YEZHOV, NKVD, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RACHEL BRAND, RANDOLPF “TEX” ALLES, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REUTERS, SALLY YATES, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOVIET UNION, SS, STORMY DANIELS, SURVEILLANCE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE APPRENTICE, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE PRINCE, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 12, 2025 at 12:20 am
Donald Trump has often been compared to Adolf Hitler. But his reign bears far more resemblance to that of Joseph Stalin.
Germany’s Fuhrer, for all his brutality, maintained a relatively stable government by keeping the same men in office—from the day he took power on January 30, 1933, to the day he blew out his brains on April 30, 1945.
Adolf Hitler
Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1990-048-29A / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)%5D
Heinrich Himmler, a former chicken farmer, remained head of the dreaded, black-uniformed Schutzstaffel, or Protection Squads, known as the SS, from 1929 until his suicide in 1945.
In April, 1934, Himmler was appointed assistant chief of the Gestapo (Secret State Police) in Prussia, and from that position he extended his control over the police forces of the whole Reich.
Hermann Goering, an ace fighter pilot in World War 1, served as Reich commissioner for aviation and head of the newly developed Luftwaffe, the German air force, from 1935 to 1945.
And Albert Speer, Hitler’s favorite architect, held that position from 1933 until 1942, when Hitler appointed him Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. He held that position until the Third Reich collapsed in April, 1945.
Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, by contrast, purged his ministers constantly. For example: From 1934 to 1953, Stalin had no fewer than three chiefs of his secret police, then named the NKVD:
- Genrikh Yagoda – (July 10, 1934 – September 26, 1936)
- Nikolai Yezhov (September 26, 1936 – November 25, 1938) and
- Lavrenty Beria (November, 1938 – March, 1953).
Stalin purged Yagoda and Yezhov, with both men executed after their arrest.
Joseph Stalin
He reportedly wanted to purge Beria, too, but the latter may have acted first. There has been speculation that Beria slipped warfarin, a blood-thinner often used to kill rats, into Stalin’s drink, causing him to die of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Stalin’s record for slaughter far eclipses that of Hitler.
For almost 30 years, through purges and starvation caused by enforced collections of farmers’ crops, Stalin slaughtered 20 to 60 million people.
The 1930s were a frightening and dangerous time to be alive in the Soviet Union. In 1934, Stalin, seeing imaginary enemies everywhere, ordered a series of purges that lasted right up to the German invasion in 1941.
An example of Stalin’s paranoia occurred one day while the dictator walked through the Kremlin corridors with Admiral Ivan Isakov. Officers of the NKVD (the predecessor to the KGB) stood guard at every corner.
“Every time I walk down the corridors,” said Stalin, “I think: Which one of them is it? If it’s this one, he will shoot me in the back. But if I turn the corner, the next one can shoot me in the face.”
Another Russian-installed tyrant who has sought to rule by fear: President Donald J. Trump.
In fact, he admitted as much to journalist Bob Woodward during the 2016 Presidential race: “Real power is—I don’t even want to use the word—fear.”
Donald Trump
As a Presidential candidate, Trump repeatedly used Twitter to attack hundreds of real and imagined enemies in politics, journalism, TV and films.
As President, he continued to insult virtually everyone, verbally and on Twitter. His targets included Democrats, Republicans, the media, foreign leaders and even members of his Cabinet.
In Russian, the word for “purge” is “chistka,” for “cleansing.” Among the victims of Trump’s recurring chistkas:
- Sally Yates – Assistant United States Attorney General
- James Comey – FBI Director
- Andrew McCabe – FBI Deputy Director
- Jeff Sessions – United States Attorney General
- Rachel Brand – Associate United States Attorney General
- Randolph “Tex” Alles – Director of the United States Secret Service
- Krisjen Nielsen – Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
In his infamous political treatise, The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine statesman, asked: “Is it is better to be loved or feared?”
And he answered it thus:
“The reply is, that one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved.
“For it may be said of men in general that they are ungrateful, voluble, dissemblers, anxious to avoid danger and covetous of gain; as long as you benefit them, they are entirely yours….
“And the prince who has relied solely on their words, without making other preparations, is ruined….
“And men have less scruple in offending one who makes himself loved than one who makes himself feared; for love is held by a chain of obligations which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.”
But Machiavelli warned about relying primarily on fear: “Still, a prince should make himself feared in such a way that if he does not gain love, he at any rate avoids hatred, for fear and the absence of hatred may well go together.”
**********
Donald Trump has violated that counsel throughout his life. He not only makes enemies, he revels in doing so—and in the fury he has aroused.
Filled with a poisonous hatred that encompasses almost everyone, Trump, as Presidential candidate and President, repeatedly played to the hatreds of his Right-wing base.
As first-mate Starbuck said of Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby Dick: “He is a champion of darkness.”
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BILL MAULDIN, BLOOMBERG, BLUESKY, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHINA, CIA, CNN, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DONALD TRUMP, FBI, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JOE BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIIN, KIM JONG-UN, LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT JR., MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PARADE, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, RUSSIA, SALON, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (MOVIE), SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, STEVEN SPIELBERG, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UKRAINE, UNITED STATES ARMY, UPI, USA TODAY, VETERANS’ DAY, VIETNAM WAR, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WORLD WAR 11, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 11, 2025 at 12:10 am
There are literally no limits to which Donald Trump’s fanatical supporters will go to convince others he’s a heroic champion worthy of their reverence.
On Facebook and Twitter, his disciples post images of him that are not only false but laughably so.
One such meme depicted Trump as a military hero, clad in full Army gear, leading his men into combat. 
The problem: Trump—a notorious draft-dodger—received five deferments to escape the Vietnam war, including one for bone spurs.
Now, as re-elected President of the United States, he’s determined to give himself a victory parade—the sort traditionally reserved for egocentric, service-dodging dictators such as Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong-Un.
The date Trump has chosen for the parade: June 14, his 79th birthday. Naturally, he’s claiming it’s strictly a coincidence, and the purpose is to salute the 250th anniversary of the United States Army.
Plans for the parade call for about 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50 helicopters to follow a route from Arlington, Virginia, to the National Mall.
Participating vehicles will include: A Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles.
The cost to repair Washington, D.C., streets after the parade could reach $16 million, according to U.S. military officials.
Defense officials estimate that the parade’s expense could reach $45 million, with individual Army units ultimately bearing the cost.
But Trump claims the cost would be “peanuts compared to the value of doing it. We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we’re going to celebrate it.”
The pricey parade comes as Trump and his illegitimate Department of Government Efficiency have decimated federal agencies and programs, costing thousands of workers their jobs—including civilians in the Defense Department.
Donald Trump
There is no better way to trace the decline of the United States than to compare the upcoming salute to Trump’s ego with the 1946 Memorial Day ceremony at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, near the town of Nettuno.
The cemetery held about 20,000 American graves, mostly of soldiers who had died in Sicily or at Anzio, fighting Nazi Germany.
Presiding over that event was Lt. General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr., the U.S. Fifth Army Commander.
Unlike many other generals, Truscott had shared in the dangers of combat, pouring over maps on the hood of his jeep with company commanders as bullets or shells whizzed about him.
When it came his turn to speak, Truscott moved to the podium. Then he turned his back on the assembled visitors—which included several Congressmen.
The audience he now faced were the graves of his fellow soldiers.
Lt. General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr.
Among those who heard Truscott’s speech was Bill Mauldin, the famous cartoonist for the Army newspaper, Stars and Stripes. Mauldin had created Willie and Joe, the unshaved, slovenly-looking “dogfaces” who came to symbolize the GI.
It’s from Mauldin that we have the fullest account of Truscott’s speech that day.
“He apologized to the dead men for their presence there. He said that everybody tells leaders that it is not their fault that men get killed in war, but that every leader knows in his heart that this is not altogether true.
“He said he hoped anybody here through any mistake of his would forgive him, but he realized that he was asking a hell of a lot under the circumstances….
“Truscott said he would not speak of the ‘glorious’ dead because he didn’t see much glory in getting killed in your teens or early twenties.
“He promised that if in the future he ran into anybody, especially old men, who thought death in battle was glorious, he would straighten them out. He said he thought it was the least he could do.”
Then Truscott walked away, without acknowledging his audience of celebrities.
Bill Mauldin and “Willie and Joe,” the characters he made famous
Contrast the character of Lucian Truscott with that of the man who holds the office of President of the United States.
Donald Trump has:
- Equated his reckless sex life during the 1970s with the risks American soldiers faced in Vietnam.
- Relentlessly defended Russian dictator Vladimir Putin against all criticism, even as he’s slandered literally hundreds of his fellow citizens on his website, Truth Social.
- Attacked the FBI and CIA for concluding that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help him win the White House.
- Allowed the deadly COVID-19 virus to ravage the country, killing 400,000 Americans by the time he left office.
- Incited his followers to attack the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, to stop the Electoral Vote count, which he knew would prove Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 Presidential election.
Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg’s 1998 World War II epic, opens with a scene of an American flag snapping in the wind.
Except that the brilliant colors of Old Glory have been washed out, leaving only black-and-white stripes and black stars.
Small wonder that, for many Americans, Old Glory has taken on a darker, washed-out appearance—in real-life as in film.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 60 MINUTES NEWS MAGAINE, ABC NEWS, ADAM SCHIFF, ADOLF HITLER, ALBERT “THE EXECUTIONER” ANASTASIA, ALTERNET, ALVIN BRAGG, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI), BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BORDER WALL, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CENSORSHIP, CENSUS BUREAU, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CHARLES “LUCKY” LUCIANO, CHARLES DE GAULLE, CHINA, CHRIS CHRISTIE, CHRISTI GRIMM, CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, CIA, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CNN, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU, CONVERSATION WITH AN AMERICAN WRITER (POEM), CORONAVIRUS RELIEF MONIES, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, DAILY KOS, DAN BOWMAN, DAN SULLIVAN, DANIELLE SASSOON, DAVID BROOKS, DEMOCRATS, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (DOGE), DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, DIVERSITY EQUITY INCLUSION (DEI), DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JUNIOR, DRUDGE RETORT, E. JEAN CARROLL, ELON MUSK, EMIL BOVE, EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, ERIC ADAMS, EXTORTION, FBI, FIRST AMENDMENT, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS, GEORGE FLOYD, GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GLENN FINE, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, GULF OF AMERICA, GULF OF MEXICO, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE, HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND REFORM COMMITTEE, HUNTER BIDEN, IMMIGRANTS, IMPEACHMENT, IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL ACT, INSPECTORS GENERAL, INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY, INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS, JACK SMITH, JAKE SULLIVAN, JAKE TAPPER, JAMAL KHASHOGGI, JAMES COMEY, JAMES MCHENRY, JAMES ROBART, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JARED KUSHNER, JEFF SESSIONS, JOHN CORNYN, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOHN ROBERTS, JOING CHIEFS OF STAFF, JON S. TIGAR, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, Kamala Harris, KELLY LOEFFER, KEVIN CRAMER, LAFAYETTE SQUARE, LAMAR ALEXANDER, LEON PANETTA, LINDSEY GRAHAM, LUXUY JET, MARCO RUBIO, MARK MILLEY, MARTIN GUGINO, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF, MERRICK GARLAND, MEXICO, MICHAEL FLYNN, MICHAEL HAYDEN, MICHAEL K. ATKINSON, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MITCH MCCONNELL, MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NANCY PELOSI, NATALIA VESELNITSKAYA, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NIKKI HALEY, NPR, PAUL MANAFORT, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, QATAR, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RINAT AKHMETSHIN, ROBERT MUELLER, ROBERT PAYNE, ROD ROSENSTEIN, ROGER STONE, RON DESANTIS, RON JOHNSON, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SERGEY KISLYAK, SERGEY LAVROV, SLATE, ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, STEVE DAINES, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TARIFFS, TED CRUZ, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE JUDICIARY, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (BOOI), THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (BOOK), THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PENTAGON, THE PRESS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TREASON, TRUMP TOWER MEETING, TRUTH SOCIAL, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWENTY-SECOND AMENDMENT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UKRAINE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, WHISTLEBLOWER, WHITE HOUSE BUDGET OFFICE, WONKETTE, X, YEVGENEY YEVTUSHENKO
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 10, 2025 at 12:37 am
Republicans have a long and disgraceful history of excusing Donald Trump’s litany of crimes—as a 2016 Presidential candidate, as President (2017-2021), as a former President (2021-2025) and once again as President.
Forgiven Crime 44: Trump’s Justice Department ordered Danielle Sassoon, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to dismiss pending criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams for bribery, solicitation, conspiracy and wire fraud,
This occurred after Adams—who had previously refused to cooperate with Trump’s roundup of illegal aliens—agreed to do so. Sassoon resigned from the Justice Department rather than comply with the order.
Forgiven Crime 45: When Danielle Sassoon resigned instead of carrying out what she believed was an illegal order, Emil Bove, the Acting Attorney General, sent her a letter stating that her conduct would be investigated and evaluated by the Attorney General, after which “the Attorney General will determine whether termination or some other action is appropriate.”
Danielle Sassoon
Forgiven Crime 46: Trump held what amounted to an ambush meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. Siding with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Trump blamed Zelensky for Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Trump demanded that Zelensky sign over mineral rights to the United States without America’s providing a security guarantee for Ukraine. Zelensky left without signing such an agreement.
Forgiven Crime 47: Trump announced that he was considering violating the 22nd Amendment and seeking an illegal third Presidential term in 2028.
Forgiven Crime 48: The Trump-authorized and illegitimate Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk, dismantled multiple agencies, invaded the privacy of untold millions by accessing sensitive data systems and fired tens of thousands of federal workers.
Forgiven Crime 49: Trump filed frivolous and extortionate lawsuits against major news networks CBS and ABC.
Against CBS: Trump claimed that its news magazine, “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with Kamala Harris to damage his presidential campaign and influence the election. He initially sought $10 billion in damages, then increased it to $20 billion.
Against ABC: He claimed that its commentator, George Stephanopoulos, falsely stated he was found liable for “rape” in the case brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll. The jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not rape. The judge later clarified that what the jury found Trump did was in fact rape, as commonly understood.
ABC settled the lawsuit by agreeing to donate $15 million to Trump’s Presidential library.
Forgiven Crime 50: Trump solicited and received a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One, in direct violation of the Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts from foreign countries.
The jet will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to bring it up to presidential standards, including a security sweep of the entire aircraft and costly upgrades to ensure classified communications.
After Trump leaves office, it will be transferred to his Presidential library.
* * * * *
Why have Republicans almost unanimously stood by Donald Trump despite the wreckage he made of American foreign and domestic policy?
Fear—that they will lose their privileged positions in Congress if they don’t.
This could happen by:
- Their being voted out of Congress by Trump’s fanatical base; or
- Their being voted out of Congress by anti-Trump voters fed up with Trump’s appalling behavior.
House and Senate Republicans’ support for Trump hinges on one question: “Can I hold onto my power and all the privileges that accompany it by sticking—or breaking—with him?”
In his bestselling 1973 biography, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, British historian Robert Payne harshly condemned the German people for the rise of the Nazi dictator:
“[They] allowed themselves to be seduced by him and came to enjoy the experience….[They] followed him with joy and enthusiasm because he gave them license to pillage and murder to their hearts’ content. They were his servile accomplices, his willing victims.”
Like Hitler, Trump offered his Republican voters and Congressional allies intoxicating dreams: “I will enrich all of you. And I will humiliate and destroy those Americans you most hate.”
For his white, Fascistic, largely elderly audience, those enemies included blacks, atheists, Hispanics, non-Christians, Muslims, liberals, “uppity” women, Asians.
For most of the first three years of his first term, he faced little opposition. What cost Trump the White House wasn’t Democratic or Republican courage but a deadly disease—COVID-19—which Trump refused to take seriously.
Democrats cowered before Trump’s slanders—thereby ensuring more assaults.
Most of the press quailed before Trump. Only a few media outlets—notably the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post-–dared investigate his crimes and blunders.
In 1960, the Russian poet, Yevgeney Yevtushenko, published “Conversation With an American Writer”—a stinging indictment of the cowardly opportunists who had supported the brutal tyranny of Joseph Stalin:
“You have courage,” they tell me.
It’s not true. I was never courageous.
I simply felt it unbecoming
to stoop to the cowardice of my colleagues.
Too many Republicans know all-too-well how it feels to stoop to the cowardice of their colleagues for a transitory hold on power and privilege.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 60 MINUTES NEWS MAGAINE, ABC NEWS, ADAM SCHIFF, ADOLF HITLER, ALBERT “THE EXECUTIONER” ANASTASIA, ALTERNET, ALVIN BRAGG, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI), BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BORDER WALL, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CENSORSHIP, CENSUS BUREAU, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CHARLES “LUCKY” LUCIANO, CHARLES DE GAULLE, CHINA, CHRIS CHRISTIE, CHRISTI GRIMM, CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, CIA, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CNN, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU, CONVERSATION WITH AN AMERICAN WRITER (POEM), CORONAVIRUS RELIEF MONIES, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, DAILY KOS, DAN BOWMAN, DAN SULLIVAN, DANIELLE SASSOON, DAVID BROOKS, DEMOCRATS, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (DOGE), DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, DIVERSITY EQUITY INCLUSION (DEI), DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JUNIOR, DRUDGE RETORT, E. JEAN CARROLL, ELON MUSK, EMIL BOVE, EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, ERIC ADAMS, EXTORTION, FBI, FIRST AMENDMENT, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS, GEORGE FLOYD, GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GLENN FINE, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, GULF OF AMERICA, GULF OF MEXICO, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE, HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND REFORM COMMITTEE, HUNTER BIDEN, IMMIGRANTS, IMPEACHMENT, IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL ACT, INSPECTORS GENERAL, INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY, INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS, JACK SMITH, JAKE SULLIVAN, JAKE TAPPER, JAMAL KHASHOGGI, JAMES COMEY, JAMES MCHENRY, JAMES ROBART, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JARED KUSHNER, JEFF SESSIONS, JOHN CORNYN, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOHN ROBERTS, JOING CHIEFS OF STAFF, JON S. TIGAR, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, Kamala Harris, KELLY LOEFFER, KEVIN CRAMER, LAFAYETTE SQUARE, LAMAR ALEXANDER, LEON PANETTA, LINDSEY GRAHAM, LUXUY JET, MARCO RUBIO, MARK MILLEY, MARTIN GUGINO, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF, MERRICK GARLAND, MEXICO, MICHAEL FLYNN, MICHAEL HAYDEN, MICHAEL K. ATKINSON, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MITCH MCCONNELL, MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NANCY PELOSI, NATALIA VESELNITSKAYA, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NIKKI HALEY, NPR, PAUL MANAFORT, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, QATAR, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RINAT AKHMETSHIN, ROBERT MUELLER, ROBERT PAYNE, ROD ROSENSTEIN, ROGER STONE, RON DESANTIS, RON JOHNSON, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SERGEY KISLYAK, SERGEY LAVROV, SLATE, ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, STEVE DAINES, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TARIFFS, TED CRUZ, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE JUDICIARY, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (BOOI), THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (BOOK), THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PENTAGON, THE PRESS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TREASON, TRUMP TOWER MEETING, TRUTH SOCIAL, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWENTY-SECOND AMENDMENT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UKRAINE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, WHISTLEBLOWER, WHITE HOUSE BUDGET OFFICE, WONKETTE, X, YEVGENEY YEVTUSHENKO
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 9, 2025 at 12:10 am
Throughout the first term of his Presidency, Republicans continued to support Donald Trump despite a series of actions that would have normally resulted in impeachment, if not imprisonment.
And they continued to support him after he left office—and after his re-election as President on November 5, 2024.
Forgiven Crime 29: Trump has echoed Adolf Hitler in attacking immigrants: “They’re poisoning the blood of our country. They’ve poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world.”
Republicans have refused to condemn those remarks—or the original source—Mein Kampf-–of those remarks.
Forgiven Crime 30: On January 20, 2025—his first day as re-elected President—Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 people convicted of offenses related to the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack. This sends a clear message that his supporters can commit virtually any crime against his opponents with impunity.
Forgiven Crime 31: Trump signed 26 executive orders. Among the results: Reversing climate change initiatives, eliminating DEI programs, changing the federal designation for the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” and initiating a federal hiring freeze.
Executive Order signed by President Harry S. Truman
Forgiven Crime 32: Trump revoked the security clearances of 51 former Intelligence officials. Their “crime”: Signing a letter in 2020 stating that reports about a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden, son of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, had “classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Forgiven Crime 33: Trump revoked an executive order on Artificial Intelligence safety signed by former President Biden. Biden’s order, introduced in 2023, aimed to establish safeguards for the rapidly advancing AI technology.
Forgiven Crime 34: During a press conference in North Carolina, President Trump reaffirmed his stance that Canada should become the 51st state. Rejecting the longtime friendship between the two countries, Trump took an increasingly aggressive stance toward Canada, imposing steep tariffs and even threatening military intervention.
Forgiven Crime 35: Trump fired the inspectors general—who are charged with protecting the government from waste and corruption—from more than a dozen federal agencies.
Forgiven Crime 36: Several career lawyers who worked on the criminal investigations into Donald Trump were fired by Acting Attorney General James McHenry because he “do[es] not believe that the leadership of the Department can trust you to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully.”
Seal of the U.S. Department of Justice
Forgiven Crime 37: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth informed former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley “that he is revoking the authorization for his security detail and suspending his security clearance.”
In addition, Hegseth ordered the Pentagon’s inspector general to open “an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding General Milley’s conduct so that the Secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination.”
Milley’s “crimes”: After the Trump-incited January 6 attempted coup, Milley assured his Chinese counterpart that the U.S. was not about to start a military conflict. And in his farewell speech upon his retirement, said that service members “don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. … We don’t take an oath to an individual.”
Forgiven Crime 38: Trump ordered a purge of about a half-dozen executive assistant directors at the FBI. These were some of the bureau’s top managers overseeing criminal, national security and cyber investigations.
Their “crime”: Trump blamed them for investigating his inciting the January 6, 2021 coup attempt and his illegal holding of highly sensitive national security documents after leaving office.
Seal of the FBI
Forgiven Crime 39: On February 1, Trump arbitrarily placed tariffs of 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on imports from China with no stated exemptions.
Forgiven Crime 40: Without explanation, Trump fired Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects consumers from unfair, deceptive and fraudulent business practices.
Forgiven Crime 41: Following Trump’s executive orders, federal agencies deleted multiple federal web pages and data. Among the agencies: The Pentagon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Census Bureau. The changes affected content related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), gender identity, public health research, environmental policy and social programs.
Forgiven Crime 42: Following Trump’s anti-DEI executive order, the United States Department of Defense (DOD) deleted content that included the achievements of nonwhite groups, such as Navajo code code talkers, black Tuskegee Airmen, Medal of Honor winners and women veterans. As in Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union, those that Trump hates are made to disappear from history.
Forgiven Crime 43: Trump fired the board members at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and appointed himself as chairman—just as Joseph Stalin made himself arbiter of what was permissible for artists in the Soviet Union.
Forgiven Crime 44: When the Associated Press refused to designate the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” as Trump has decreed it now is, Trump banned its reporters from the White House press pool and official White House events.
A federal judge ordered him to reinstate the Associated Press’s access to presidential events on grounds that his ban violated the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, 60 MINUTES NEWS MAGAINE, ABC NEWS, ADAM SCHIFF, ADOLF HITLER, ALBERT “THE EXECUTIONER” ANASTASIA, ALTERNET, ALVIN BRAGG, AMERICABLOG, AP, ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI), BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BORDER WALL, BUZZFEED, CANADA, CBS NEWS, CENSORSHIP, CENSUS BUREAU, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CHARLES “LUCKY” LUCIANO, CHARLES DE GAULLE, CHINA, CHRIS CHRISTIE, CHRISTI GRIMM, CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, CIA, CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, CNN, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE, CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION BUREAU, CONVERSATION WITH AN AMERICAN WRITER (POEM), CORONAVIRUS RELIEF MONIES, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, DAILY KOS, DAN BOWMAN, DAN SULLIVAN, DANIELLE SASSOON, DAVID BROOKS, DEMOCRATS, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (DOGE), DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, DIVERSITY EQUITY INCLUSION (DEI), DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JUNIOR, DRUDGE RETORT, E. JEAN CARROLL, ELON MUSK, EMIL BOVE, EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, ERIC ADAMS, EXTORTION, FBI, FIRST AMENDMENT, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS, GEORGE FLOYD, GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GLENN FINE, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, GULF OF AMERICA, GULF OF MEXICO, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE, HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND REFORM COMMITTEE, HUNTER BIDEN, IMMIGRANTS, IMPEACHMENT, IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL ACT, INSPECTORS GENERAL, INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY, INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS, JACK SMITH, JAKE SULLIVAN, JAKE TAPPER, JAMAL KHASHOGGI, JAMES COMEY, JAMES MCHENRY, JAMES ROBART, JANUARY 6 COUP ATTEMPT, JARED KUSHNER, JEFF SESSIONS, JOHN CORNYN, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, JOHN ROBERTS, JOING CHIEFS OF STAFF, JON S. TIGAR, JOSEPH BIDEN, JOSEPH STALIN, Kamala Harris, KELLY LOEFFER, KEVIN CRAMER, LAFAYETTE SQUARE, LAMAR ALEXANDER, LEON PANETTA, LINDSEY GRAHAM, LUXUY JET, MARCO RUBIO, MARK MILLEY, MARTIN GUGINO, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF, MERRICK GARLAND, MEXICO, MICHAEL FLYNN, MICHAEL HAYDEN, MICHAEL K. ATKINSON, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MITCH MCCONNELL, MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NANCY PELOSI, NATALIA VESELNITSKAYA, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NIKKI HALEY, NPR, PAUL MANAFORT, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETE HEGSETH, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, QATAR, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RINAT AKHMETSHIN, ROBERT MUELLER, ROBERT PAYNE, ROD ROSENSTEIN, ROGER STONE, RON DESANTIS, RON JOHNSON, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SERGEY KISLYAK, SERGEY LAVROV, SLATE, ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, STEVE DAINES, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TARIFFS, TED CRUZ, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE JUDICIARY, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (BOOI), THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (BOOK), THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PENTAGON, THE PRESS, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TREASON, TRUMP TOWER MEETING, TRUTH SOCIAL, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWENTY-SECOND AMENDMENT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UKRAINE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, WHISTLEBLOWER, WHITE HOUSE BUDGET OFFICE, WONKETTE, X, YEVGENEY YEVTUSHENKO
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on June 6, 2025 at 12:10 am
Throughout the first term of his Presidency, Republicans continued to support Donald Trump despite a series of actions that would have normally resulted in impeachment.
Forgiven Crime #19: After being acquitted of impeachable offenses by the Senate, Trump fired the Inspectors General (IG) of five cabinet departments in six weeks. Among these:
- Michael K. Atkinson – The IG of the Intelligence Community. The reason: Atkinson had forwarded the whistleblower complaint which led to Trump’s impeachment.
- Glenn Fine – Appointed to oversee funds voted by Congress to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the United States. His dismissal ensured that Trump—who had admitted to defrauding students at his notorious “Trump University”—could spend the $2 trillion in relief monies any way he wished.
Glenn Fine
- Christi Grimm – As IG at the Department of Health and Human Services, she outraged Trump by contradicting him by agreeing—accurately—that the nation’s hospitals were suffering from severe shortages of personal protective equipment and testing supplies for COVID-19.
Forgiven Crime #20: After losing the Presidential election on November 3, 2020, Trump became the first American President in history to refuse to accept the verdict.
Forgiven Crime #21: From November 3 to December 14, 2020, Trump and his allies challenged the election results, filing—and losing—59 cases in court, either withdrawing cases or having them dismissed by Federal and state judges.
Forgiven Crime #22: On December 5, 2021, Trump called Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and asked him to call a special legislative session and convince state legislators to select their own electors that would support him, thus overturning Biden’s win.
Kemp refused.
Brian Kemp
Forgiven Crime 23: On January 6, 2021, Trump ordered his assembled followers to attack the Capitol Building where House and Senate members were counting Electoral Votes—that were certain to certify Joseph R. Biden as the legitimate winner of the 2020 Presidential election.
Their goal: To stop the counting of those votes—and enable Trump to serve as “President-for-Life.”
Many of the lawmakers’ offices were occupied and vandalized. One Capitol police officer was killed and 114 others were injured.
This was, in effect, a treasonous coup attempt.
On February 13, 2021, the Republican-dominated Senate once again acquitted Trump—of “incitement of insurrection” against the United States government.
Forgiven Crime 24: In 2022, Trump became the first ex-President to be indicted for crimes committed during his four-year administration: 2017-2021. He faced 91 criminal charges across four jurisdictions: Georgia, Florida, New York and the District of Columbia.
Yet even as he viciously attacked his rivals for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination, all but one—former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie—refused to condemn him as an indicted criminal.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley promised to pardon Trump if he was convicted and either one of them was elected President.
Forgiven Crime 25: On August 8, 2022, for the first time in American history, Donald Trump became the first former President to be the subject of an FBI raid.
The raid came without warning on Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. FBI agents, armed with a search warrant, scoured the premises—for documents Trump illegally took before he left the White House on January 20, 2021.
Trump had repeatedly refused to return the documents.
Forgiven Crime 26: In March, 2023, Trump threatened “death and destruction” if he were criminally charged in New York for making “hush money” payments to porn “actress” Stormy Daniels. Trump shared an image of himself threatening Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with a baseball bat on his Truth Social platform.
Not even Mafia bosses like Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Albert “The Executioner” Anastasia dared issue such a threat.
Forgiven Crime 27: On November 18, 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith Special Counsel to prosecute Trump for his attempted January 6 coup.
Trump used his social media platform, Truth Social, to attack Smith as “a deranged lunatic” and “psycho” for indicting him for his theft of national security documents. He also attacked Smith’s wife, Katy Gale Chevigny, thus exposing her to possible violence from his fanatical supporters.
Trump’s attacks on Smith led to an increase in security for the Special Counsel.
Jack Smith
Forgiven Crime 28: As Iowa prepared to cast votes in the Republican caucuses on January 15, 2024,, meteorologists warned of “life-threatening” conditions. Trump, the Republican front-runner lusting for a second term as President, took that advice.
Scheduled for four in-person Iowa events on January 14, he canceled three of them the day before voting, due to the freezing cold and snow.
But that didn’t mean he shared the same concern for those he urged to vote for him.
“If you want to save America from crooked Joe Biden, you must go caucus tomorrow. First step, very first step. We’re gonna do it. We’re gonna do it big. You got to get out. “
“You can’t sit home. If you’re sick as a dog, you say, ‘Darling, I gotta make it,’” Trump said at an Indianola rally on January 14. “Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it, remember.”
Republicans saw nothing immoral in Trump’s disregard for the lives of his voting supporters—just as they saw nothing immoral in his disregard for the lives of schoolchildren during the worst year of COVID-19.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT, ALTERNET, ANN COULTER, AP, AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE, ARIZONA SHOOTINGS, ASSASSINATION, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BILL CLINTON, BILL O'REILLY, BIRTHERS, BOBBY JINDAL, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CESAR SAYOC, CIA, CNN, CONFEDERATE FLAG, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ, DICK ARMEY, DONALD TRUMP, DYLANN ROOF, EMANUAL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ERIC HOLDER, FACEBOOK, FBI, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, GEORGE H.W. BUSH, GEORGE SOROS, GEORGE W. BUSH, GLENN BECK, GREG GIANFORTE, GUN CONTROL, HARRY S. TRUMAN, HATE CRIMES, HEALTHCARE, HILLARY CLINTON, JEB BUSH, JEFF LUND, JILL STEIN, JOE BIDEN, JOHN BRENNAN, JOHN ROLL, JOSEPH MCCARTHY, KELLEYANNE CONWAY, MAXIME WATERS, MEIN KAMPF, MELISSA HORTMAN, MICHAEL MOORE, MICHAEL SAVAGE, MICHELLE BACHMANN, MIKE LEE, MIKE PENCE, MONICA LEWINSKY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NEWT GINGRICH, NPR, OBAMACARE, POLITICO, RAUL GRIJALVA, RAW STORY, REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD NIXON, RICK SANTORUM, ROBERT BOWERS, ROBERT DE NIRO, RODNEY KING RIOTS, ROLLING STONE, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SALON, Sarah Palin, SEAN HANNITY, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOVIET UNION, SPIRO AGNEW, TARA PALMERI, TEA PARTY, TERRORISM, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIM WALZ, TIME, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE, U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE JOHN ROLL, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VANCE LUTHER BOELTER, X
REPUBLICANS: WEAPONIZING MURDER, EVADING RESPONSIBILITY: PART THREE (OF FIVE)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on July 9, 2025 at 12:16 amIncreasingly, Republicans have repeatedly aimed violent—-and violence-arousing—-rhetoric at their Democratic opponents. This is not a case of careless language that is simply misinterpreted, with tragic results.
Republicans like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump fully understand the constituency they are trying to reach: Those masses of alienated, uneducated Americans who live only for their guns and hardline religious beliefs—and who can be easily manipulated by perceived threats to either.
If a “nutcases” assaults a Democratic politician and misses, then the Republican establishment claims to be shocked—-shocked!—that such a thing could have happened.
And if the attempt proves successful, then Republicans weep crocodile tears for public consumption.
Since the end of World War 11, Republicans have hurled the charge of “treason” against anyone who dared to run against them for office or think other than Republican-sponsored thoughts.
Republicans had been locked out of the White House from 1933 to 1952, during the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.
Determined to regain the Presidency by any means, they found that attacking the integrity of their fellow Americans a highly effective tactic.
During the 1950s, Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. McCarthy rode a wave of paranoia to national prominence—by attacking the patriotism of anyone who disagreed with him.
The fact that McCarthy never uncovered one actual case of treason was conveniently overlooked during his lifetime.
The electoral success of McCarthy’s Red-baiting treason slanders proved too alluring for other Republicans to resist.
Joseph McCarthy
Among those who have greatly profited from hurling similar charges are:
During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Republicans tried to paint Bill Clinton as a brainwashed “Manchurian candidate” because he had briefly visited the Soviet Union during his college years.
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Republicans lost their “soft on Communism” slander-line. So they tried to persuade voters that Democrats were “soft on crime.”
When riots flared in 1992 after the acquittal of LAPD officers who had savagely beaten Rodney King, President George H.W. Bush blamed the carnage on the “Great Society” programs of the 1960s.
George H.W. Bush
After losing the White House to Clinton at the polls in 1992 and 1996, Republicans tried to oust him another way: By impeaching him over a tryst with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach, but the effort was defeated in the Democratically-controlled Senate.
The 2008 election of Barack Obama as the first black President pushed the Republican “treason chorus” to new heights of infamy.
Barack Obama
Immediately after Obama took office, he was attacked by an industry of right-wing book authors such as Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.
Among the titles:
Consider the vocabulary Right-wingers use to describe their political adversaries:
“Liberals,” “radicals, “bankrupting,” “treason,” subversion,” “slander,” “terrorism,” “betrayal,” “catastrophe,” “shattering the American dream,” “leftists,” “Communists,” “government takeover,” “socialism,” “power grab,” “secularism,” “environmentalism.”
And while the Right lusts to constantly compare Democrats and liberals (the two aren’t always the same) to Adolf Hitler, its propaganda campaign draws heavily on the Nazi leader’s own advice.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler laid out his formula for successful propaganda: “All effective propaganda must be confined to a few bare essentials.
“Those must be expressed as far as possible in stereotypical formulas. These slogans should be persistently repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea that has been put forward.
“[The masses] more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.”
Thus, Republicans spent the eight years of Barack Obama’s Presidency repeating the lie that he was born in Kenya—not Hawaii, as the long-form version of his birth certificate attests.
The reason: To “prove” that he was an illegitimate President—and should be removed from office.
To Republicans’ dismay, their slander campaign didn’t prevent Obama from being elected in 2008—and re-elected in 2012.
Share this: