Posts Tagged ‘DONALD TRUMP’
2003 IRAQ WAR, 9/11 ATTACKS, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AL-QAEDA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW CUOMO, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BLOOMBERG, BOB WOODWARD, BRENDA FITZGERALD, BUZZFEED, CARL BERNSTEIN, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHICAGO, CHINA, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, COVID-19 TEST KITS, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DEBORAH BIRX, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS), DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, EBOLA, FACEBOOK, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FORBES, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, FOX NEWS, FOX NEWS NETWORK, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GEORGE W. BUSH, GRETCHEN WHITMER, GROVER NORQUIST, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, IMPEACHMENT, JARED KUSHNER, JAY INSLEE, JOE BIDEN, JOHN BOLTON, JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE, KRISTI NOEM, KRISTIN URQUIZA, LARRY HOGAN, LOS ANGELES, LOUIS X1V, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, MALARIA, MARK ANTHONY URQUIZA, MARK SHIELDS, MARYLAND, MASKS, MASSACHUSSETS, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHIGAN, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MODERNA VACCINE, MOLOCH, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, N95 RESPIRATORS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNSIL (NSC), NAVY SEALS, NBC NEWS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NURSES, OSAMA BIN LADEN, PAULA REID, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), PFIZER VACCINE, PHOENIX RALLY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD M. NIXON, ROBERT RAY REDFIELD, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, RUDOLPH GIULIANI, RUDY GIULIANI, SALON, SCHOOLS, SEAN HANNITY, SEAN HANNITY SHOW, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOUTH DAKOTA, STOCK MARKET, 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 LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE WHITE HOUSE PANDEMIC OFFICE, THINKPROGRESS, THIRD REICH, TIM ZIEMER, TIME, TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, TOM BOSSERT, TOM FRIEDMAN, TRISH REGAN, TRISH REGAN PRIMETIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA OKLAHOMA RALLY, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, VENDORS, VENTILATORS, VIETNAM WAR, WALTER SHAUB, WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON D.C., WASHINGTON MONTHLY, WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, WATERGATE, WHITE HOUSE PANDEMIC OFFICE, WONKETTE, WORLD TRADE CENTER
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on November 2, 2021 at 9:06 am
“I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!”
—Donald Trump, March 10, 2021
COVID-19 has so far infected 29.2 million Americans and killed 529,000 others.
With the pandemic appearing to reach its end—at least in the United States—Americans will soon revert to one of their favorite pastimes: Forgetting events that caused them unpleasantness.
But this should not be forgotten: The catastrophe that has overtaken the United States is the inevitable result of a confluence between natural disaster and an evil and incompetent administration.
In this case, COVID-19 served as the natural disaster. And President Donald Trump served as the head of an evil and incompetent administration.
The seeds of that catastrophe were planted early—by Trump himself.
First: Upon taking office in 2017, Trump gutted the permanent epidemic monitoring and command groups set up inside the White House: The National Security Council (NSC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In 2014, following the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, President Barack Obama had created the White House Pandemic Office, run by the White House’s National Security Council (NSC).
Heading it was Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer. Under President George W. Bush, he had successfully fought malaria overseas. His topflight team of infectious disease and public health experts was creating a national bio-defense strategy. Their goal: Coordinate agencies to make the United States more resilient to the threat of epidemics and biological warfare.
Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, who headed the unit, was reassigned.
Neither the NSC nor the DHS epidemic team has been replaced.
The global health section of the CDC was decimated, and had to reduce the number of countries it was monitoring from 49 to 10.
So why did Trump do this?
Pathologically jealous of President Barack Obama, Trump—a lifelong racist—tried to destroy every vestige of Obama’s legacy as the first black President of the United States.
Chief among these actions: Making repeated efforts to undermine—and ultimately destroy—the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare.” Under this expanded, Federally-subsidized insurance program, 28 million Americans who previously could not afford medical care are now receiving it.
Barack Obama
Second: In 2017—the year Trump assumed office—nearly 700 positions remained vacant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because Trump imposed a hiring freeze.
This affected programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control and chronic disease prevention.
Making the situation worse: The CDC’s director, Tom Friedman, stepped down in January, 2017, and it wasn’t until July that the agency got another one: Brenda Fitzgerald. But she served only until January, 2018. She was succeeded—two months later—by Robert Ray Redfield, Jr. He has been the director since then.
The post of director of the CDC is considered one of the most crucial public health positions in the government. The CDC is charged with tracking and preventing infectious disease outbreaks in the United States and worldwide.
CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia
Third: In the spring of 2018, Trump pushed Congress to cut $15 billion from national health spending—and cutting the global disease-fighting budgets of the Centers for Disease Control, National Security Council, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services.
In April, 2018, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton forced Tom Bossert, director of the infectious disease unit at DHS, to resign—along with his entire team.
It’s popular to assume that Trump did all of this out of mere ignorance—and there’s plenty of proof of his ignorance in many areas (such as attributing windmills to causing cancer). But far more was at work here.
Fourth The vast majority of those who voted for Trump believe that the Federal Government is evil and its agencies that regulate business should be eliminated.
An example of this constituency is Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, which opposes all tax increases and has forced most Republicans to publicly pledge they will as well, under any circumstances.
His most famous quote: “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
Coronavirus
According to the March 21, 2020 edition of Rolling Stone magazine: “The United States intelligence community has been warning the president since January and February about the dire consequences that would occur when coronavirus reached America, but the president seemed determined to play down the threat, leaving the country largely unaware and unprepared.”
An anonymous Intelligence official cited by the Washington Post said: “Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were—they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it. The system was blinking red.”
Trump first learned of the virus on January 3, 2020. This did not prevent him from playing golf on January 4, 5, 18 and 19.
On January 19, the first Coronavirus case appeared in the United States.
On February 29, the first American died of Coronavirus.
2003 IRAQ WAR, 9/11 ATTACKS, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AL-QAEDA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW CUOMO, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BLOOMBERG, BOB WOODWARD, BRENDA FITZGERALD, BUZZFEED, CARL BERNSTEIN, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHICAGO, CHINA, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, COVID-19 TEST KITS, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DEBORAH BIRX, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS), DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, EBOLA, FACEBOOK, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FORBES, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, FOX NEWS, FOX NEWS NETWORK, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GEORGE W. BUSH, GRETCHEN WHITMER, GROVER NORQUIST, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, IMPEACHMENT, JARED KUSHNER, JAY INSLEE, JOE BIDEN, JOHN BOLTON, JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE, KRISTI NOEM, KRISTIN URQUIZA, LARRY HOGAN, LOS ANGELES, LOUIS X1V, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, MALARIA, MARK ANTHONY URQUIZA, MARK SHIELDS, MARYLAND, MASKS, MASSACHUSSETS, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHIGAN, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MODERNA VACCINE, MOLOCH, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, N95 RESPIRATORS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNSIL (NSC), NAVY SEALS, NBC NEWS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NURSES, OSAMA BIN LADEN, PAULA REID, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), PFIZER VACCINE, PHOENIX RALLY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD M. NIXON, ROBERT RAY REDFIELD, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, RUDOLPH GIULIANI, RUDY GIULIANI, SALON, SCHOOLS, SEAN HANNITY, SEAN HANNITY SHOW, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOUTH DAKOTA, STOCK MARKET, 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 LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE WHITE HOUSE PANDEMIC OFFICE, THINKPROGRESS, THIRD REICH, TIM ZIEMER, TIME, TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, TOM BOSSERT, TOM FRIEDMAN, TRISH REGAN, TRISH REGAN PRIMETIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA OKLAHOMA RALLY, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, VENDORS, VENTILATORS, VIETNAM WAR, WALTER SHAUB, WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON D.C., WASHINGTON MONTHLY, WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, WATERGATE, WHITE HOUSE PANDEMIC OFFICE, WONKETTE, WORLD TRADE CENTER
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on November 1, 2021 at 10:47 am
The end of the COVID-19 plague may finally be in sight.
No fewer than three vaccines—by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson—are now available. A total of 90.4 million doses of these vaccines have been given. And 189,709,710 Americans have now been fully vaccinated against the virus.
States such as Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana have thrown caution—and masks—to the winds. Bars and restaurants are reopening. Social distancing is the new taboo.
In Boise, Idaho, anti-mask protesters organized a public mask-burning. Children cheered, “Destroy them!” as masks were burned in an oil barrel.
With the pandemic appearing to reach its end—at least in the United States—Americans will soon revert to one of their favorite pastimes: Forgetting events that caused them unpleasantness.
A typical example: The Vietnam war, which raged from 1965 to 1975, costing the lives of 58,000 Americans and $843.63 billion in money and resources. The conflict divided Americans more than any other since the Civil War (1861-1865).
The Vietnam war was brought on by the lies of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson—that North Vietnamese forces has fired on innocent U.S. Navy ships peacefully patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin.
The Vietnam War
Having forgotten—or ignored—the truth that they had been lied into a needless, bloody, budget-busting war in Southeast Asia, Americans allowed themselves to be lied into another such war in Iraq, lasting from 2003 to 2011.But no sooner was the war over than Americans acted as if it had never happened.
The Iraq war grew out of the lies of the Republican George W. Bush administration—that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had plotted 9/11 and was preparing to strike the United States with nuclear and/or biological weapons.
No doubt as soon as the “all-clear” sounds on COVID-19, Americans will forget that it ever happened—and thus learn nothing from it.
Yet history remains an unforgiving teacher. And while Americans usually ignore its lessons, history always exacts a punishment for doing so.
At the center of its lessons on COVID-19 is the catastrophe that inevitably occurs when there is a confluence between natural disaster and an evil and incompetent administration.
And in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure who stands most responsible for the deaths of more than a half-million Americans is Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States.
Under his tyrannical rule, the United States suffered not simply from a lethal virus but a combination of denial, lies, Republican subservience, chaos, extortion, propaganda as news, quackery as medicine, demands to “re-open the country,” Ignoring the danger and—finally—resignation (“Learn to live with the virus”).
DONALD TRUMP AS SUPREME EGOTIST
Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks attacked President Donald Trump in terms usually reserved for serial killers. On the March 13, 2020 edition of The PBS Newshour, he said:
“This is what happens when you elect a sociopath as president, who doesn’t care, who has treated this whole thing for the past month as if it’s about him. ‘How do people like me?’ Minimizing the risks. ‘Does the stock market reflect well on me?’ And he hasn’t done the things a normal human being would do, which was to, let’s take precautions….
“And he’s incapable of that. And he’s even created an information distortion field around him.”
David Brooks
INTRODUCING CORONAVIRUS
Coronavirus first appeared in Wuhan, China, in December, 2019. Its first reported victim became ill on December 1.
By December 31, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of Coronavirus.
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that affect birds and mammals. In humans, Coronaviruses can cause pneumonia and may cause bronchitis.
Trump first learned of the virus on January 3, 2020. Then he went golfing on January 4, 5, 18 and 19.
On January 19, the first Coronavirus case appeared in the United States.
On January 27, then-acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney tried to get Trump to act.
But, according to officials who spoke with the Washington Post, Trump was “dismissive” of early briefings “because he did not believe that the virus had spread widely throughout the United States.”
Trump fired Mulvaney one month later.
Then Trump returned to the golf course—on February 1, 2 and 15.
TRUMP CONFESSES TO BOB WOODWARD
On February 7, he decided to share some of his Coronavirus Intelligence with legendary Washington Post editor and reporter Bob Woodward.
Woodward and Carl Bernstein had achieved imperishable fame in 1972-74 as the Washington Post reporters whose Watergate-related stories led to the fall of President Richard M. Nixon.
Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward: And so, what was [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] saying yesterday?
Donald Trump: Oh, we were talking mostly about the virus, and I think he’s going to have it in good shape. But it’s a very tricky situation.
Woodward: Indeed, it is.
Trump: It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. The touch, you don’t have to touch things, right? But the air, you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed. And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flues. People don’t realize, we lose 25,000, 30,000 people a year here. Who would ever think that, right?
ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL BUILDING, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JAMES COBURN, JOE BIDEN, JULIUS CAESAR (PLAY), MARK ANTHONY, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, ROD SERLING, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIAL DISTANCING, 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 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, TWILIGHT ZONE, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, WONKETTE
In Business, Entertainment, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on October 26, 2021 at 12:20 am
On November 8, 1963—57 years before COVID-19 invaded the United States—Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” offered a prophecy of future disaster for the country.
“The Old Man in the Cave” is set in a post-apocalyptic rural town in 1974, 10 years after a nuclear war has devastated the United States.
A nuclear explosion
The townspeople have discovered a supply of canned food. However, they are waiting for Mr. Goldsmith [John Anderson], their leader, to return with a message from the mysterious and unseen “old man in the cave.” Then they will learn whether the food is contaminated with radiation.
When Goldsmith returns, he informs them that the old man has declared the food is contaminated and that it should be destroyed.
Shortly thereafter, three soldiers led by Major French [James Coburn] enter the town and clash with Goldsmith as they try to establish their authority.
French is clearly a precursor of Donald Trump: Demanding instant obedience and threatening death to anyone who disobeys him. He claims his job is to organize the region so that society can be rebuilt.
Donald Trump
However, Goldsmith believes that French and his men simply want to strip the town of its food.
French tries to dispel the townspeople’s beliefs in the seemingly infallible “old man in the cave” and take control of the area. He tells them they have survived these past 10 years—but they haven’t lived.
Fifty-seven years later, Donald Trump will furiously attack not COVID-19 but the medical advice of his own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—especially that provided by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top expert on infectious disease.
He will disdain the wearing of masks and social distancing, and attack those Democratic governors who impose stay-at-home orders to contain the virus. He will offer a series of rosy predictions—none of which come true—that the virus will soon end.
His “cures” include ingesting Clorox bleach and/or having UV light shined up one’s anus.
COVID-19 virus
And French holds himself out as the man who can deliver them a wonderful new future.
Fifty-seven years later, Donald Trump will similarly declare: “I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”
French tempts the townspeople to eat the food Goldsmith warned was contaminated. There is a wild orgy of gluttony as they greedily consume it.
Only Goldsmith refuses to partake in the food orgy.
The townspeople turn on Goldsmith and threaten him with death unless he reveals the identity of “the old man in the cave.” Goldsmith finally takes the assembly to the cave. There it’s revealed that his source has been a computer.
French incites the townspeople to destroy the machine, and they stone it to death with rocks and canned goods. Then French leads the people into celebrating their new-found freedom from this “tyranny”.
Fifty-seven years later, Trump will similarly incite his followers to attack the United States Capitol building to halt the legal transfer of Presidential power from himself to Joe Biden.
But as Goldsmith had insisted, the “old man” was correct: The canned goods were contaminated with radiation. All the townspeople—including French and the soldiers—die, their bodies left lying throughout the streets.
Trump will similarly tempt millions of Americans to ignore the deaths of tens of thousands of their fellow citizens from COVID-19 and the overwhelming of the nation’s hospitals. The result will be a vast increase in deaths and the shuttering of many of the businesses Trump hoped to keep open.
Only one man survives—Goldsmith, who has refused to eat the forbidden food and somberly walks out of the now-dead town.
As always in a “Twilight Zone” episode, it is Rod Serling who gets the final word: “Mr. Goldsmith, survivor. An eyewitness to man’s imperfection. An observer of the very human trait of greed. And a chronicler of the last chapter—the one reading ‘suicide’. Not a prediction of what is to be, just a projection of what could be. This has been The Twilight Zone.”
Rod Serling
Except that Serling was wrong: “The Old Man in the Cave” has proven an uncanny prediction of what did happen in America.
* * * * *
The chief lesson to be learned from the COVID-19 epidemic is that catastrophe inevitably results when natural disaster collides with an evil and incompetent administration.
And the man who stands most responsible for the deaths of 400,000 Americans is Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States.
Under his tyrannical rule, the United States suffered not simply from a lethal virus but a combination of denial, lies, Republican subservience, chaos, extortion, propaganda as news, quackery as medicine, premature demands to “re-open the country,” ignoring the danger and—finally—resignation (“Learn to live with the virus”).
Even now, when three vaccines have been produced, millions of Americans—almost all of them Right-wing Trump supporters—refuse to protect themselves and the families and friends they claim to love.
Mark Anthony—in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”—had it right: “The evil that men do lives after them.”
ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ASSASSINATION, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CONSPIRACIES, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAILY KOZ, DAY OF THE JACKAL, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FREDERICK FORSYTHE, GAIUS CASSIUS, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, JULIUS CAESAR, LINCOLN MEMORIAL, MAR-A-LAGO, MARCUS BRUTUS, MARK ANTHONY, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, PLOTS, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, RICHARD M. NIXON, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, Secret Service, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE DISCOURSES, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VIETNAM WAR, WHITE HOUSE STAFFER, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on October 21, 2021 at 12:05 am
More than 500 years ago, Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine statesman, authored The Discourses on Livy, a work of political history and philosophy. In it, he outlined how citizens of a republic can maintain their freedoms.
One of the longest chapters—Book Three, Chapter Six—covers “Of Conspiracies.” In it, those who wish to conspire against a ruler will find highly useful advice.
And so will those who wish to foil such a conspiracy.
For conspirators, there are three ways their efforts can be foiled.
- Discovery through denunciation;
- Discovery through incautiousness;
- Discovery through writings.
The first has already been covered. Now for the second and third.
Discovery through Writings: You may talk freely with anyone man about everything, for unless you have committed yourself in writing, the “Yes” of one man is worth as much as the “No” of another.
Thus, you should guard most carefully against writing, as against a dangerous rock, for nothing will convict you quicker than your own handwriting.
You may escape, then, from the accusation of a single individual, unless you are convicted by some writing or other pledge, which you should be careful never to give.
If you are denounced, there are means of escaping punishment:
- By denying the accusation and claiming that the person making it hates you; or
- Claiming that your accuser was tortured or coerced into giving false testimony against you.
But the most prudent course is to not tell your intentions to anyone, and to carry out the attempt yourself.
Even if you’re not discovered before you carry out your attack, there are still two dangers facing a conspirator:
Dangers in Execution: These result from:
- An unexpected change in the routine of the intended target;
- The lack of courage among the conspirators; or
- An error on their part, such as leaving some of those alive whom the conspirators intended to kill.
Adolf Hitler, who claimed to have a sixth-sense for danger, was famous for changing his routine at the last minute.
On November 9, 1939, this instinct saved his life. He had been scheduled to give a long speech at a Munich beer hall before the “Old Fighters” of his storm troopers.
But that evening he cut short his speech and left the beer hall. Forty-five minutes later, a bomb exploded inside a pillar—before which Hitler had been speaking.
Conspirators can also be doomed by their good intentions.
In 44 B.C., Gaius Cassius, Marcus Brutus and other Roman senators decided to assassinate Julius Caesar, whose dictatorial ambitions they feared.
Cassius also intended to murder Mark Anthony, Caesar’s strongest ally. But Brutus objected, fearing the plotters would look like butchers, not saviors. Even worse, he allowed Anthony to deliver a eulogy at Caesar’s funeral.
This proved so inflammatory that the mourners rioted, driving the conspirators out of Rome. Soon afterward, they were defeated in a battle with the legions of Anthony and Octavian Caesar—and forced to commit suicide to avoid capture and execution.
Machiavelli closes his chapter “Of Conspiracies” with advice to rulers on how they should act when they find a conspiracy has been formed against them.
If they discover that a conspiracy exists against them, they must, before punishing its authors, strive to learn its nature and extent. And they must measure the danger posed by the conspirators against their own strength.
And if they find it powerful and alarming, they must not expose it until they have amassed sufficient force to crush it. Otherwise, they will only speed their own destruction. They should try to pretend ignorance of it. If the conspirators find themselves discovered, they will be forced by necessity to act without consideration.
Niccolo Machiavelli
The foregoing was taken from Book Three, Chapter Six, of Machiavelli’s masterwork, The Discourses on Livy, which was published posthumously in 1531. But elsewhere in this volume, he notes how important it is for rulers to make themselves loved—or at least respected—by their fellow citizens:
Note how much more praise those Emperors merited who, after Rome became an empire, conformed to her laws like good princes, than those who took the opposite course.
Titus, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus and Marcus Auelius did not require the Praetorians nor the multitudinous legions to defend them, because they were protected by their own good conduct, the good will of the people, and by the love of the Senate.
On the other hand, neither the Eastern nor the Western armies saved Caligula, Nero, Vitellius and so many other wicked Emperors from the enemies which their bad conduct and evil lives had raised up against them.
In his better-known work, The Prince, he warns rulers who—like Donald Trump–are inclined to rule by fear:
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
By Machiavelli’s standards, Trump has made himself the perfect target for a conspiracy.
“When a prince becomes universally hated, it is likely that he’s harmed some individuals—who thus seek revenge. This desire is increased by seeing that the prince is widely loathed.”
ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ASSASSINATION, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CONSPIRACIES, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DAILY KOZ, DAY OF THE JACKAL, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FREDERICK FORSYTHE, GAIUS CASSIUS, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, JULIUS CAESAR, LINCOLN MEMORIAL, MAR-A-LAGO, MARCUS BRUTUS, MARK ANTHONY, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, PLOTS, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, RICHARD M. NIXON, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, Secret Service, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE DISCOURSES, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VIETNAM WAR, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on October 20, 2021 at 12:06 am
More than 500 years ago, Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern political science, offered sound advice for would-be conspirators—and for rulers seeking to thwart conspiracies.
He did so in The Discourses on Livy, a work of political history and philosophy. In it, he outlined how citizens of a republic can maintain their freedoms.
One of the longest chapters—Book Three, Chapter Six—covers “Of Conspiracies.” In it, those who wish to conspire against a ruler will find highly useful advice. And so will those who might well become the targets of conspiracies—such as those who follow the example of President Donald J. Trump.
Niccolo Machiavellil
The most dangerous time for a ruler comes when he is universally hated.
Niccolo Machiavelli: When a prince becomes universally hated, it is likely that he’s harmed some individuals—who thus seek revenge. This desire is increased by seeing the prince is widely loathed.
A prince, then, should avoid incurring such universal hatred….
By doing this, he protects himself from such vengeance-seekers. There are two reasons for this:
(1) Men rarely risk danger to avenge a wrong; and
(2) Even if they want to avenge a wrong, they know they will face almost universal condemnation because the prince is held in such high esteem.
Machiavelli draws a distinction between plots and conspiracies.
A plot may be formed by a single individual or by many. The first isn’t a conspiracy, since that would involve at least two participants.
A single plotter avoids the danger faced by two or more conspirators:
Since no one knows his intention, he can’t be betrayed by an accomplice.
Anyone may form a plot, whether he is prominent or insignificant, because everyone is at some time allowed to speak to the prince. And he can use this opportunity to satisfy his desire for revenge.
On the other hand, says Machiavelli, the dangers of assassination by a trusted intimate are slight.
Few people dare to assault a prince. Of those who do, few or none escapes being killed in the attempt, or immediately afterward. As a result, only a small number of people are willing to incur such certain death.
Those who take part in a conspiracy against a ruler are “the great men of the state, or those on terms of familiar intercourse with the prince.”
These are men who have access to him. Julius Caesar, for example, was stabbed to death by members of the Roman Senate, who feared his assuming dictatorial powers.
And Adolf Hitler was conspired against by colonels and generals of the German Army. He was in fact holding a war conference when a briefcase bomb exploded, killing three officers and a stenographer, but leaving Hitler only slightly injured.
Adolf Hitler
There are three ways a conspiracy can be foiled:
- Discovery through denunciation;
- Discovery through incautiousness;
- Discovery through writings.
Discovery through Denunciation: This occurs through treachery or lack of prudence among one or more conspirators.
Treachery is so common that you can safely tell your plans to only your most trusted friends who are willing to risk their lives for your sake. You may find that you have only one or two of these.
But as you are bring more people into the conspiracy, the chances of discovery greatly increase. It’s impossible to find many who can be completely trusted: For their devotion to you must be greater than their sense of danger and fear of punishment.
Discovery through Carelessness: This happens when one of the conspirators speaks incautiously, so that a third person overhears it Or it may occur from thoughtlessness, when a conspirator tells the secret to his wife or child, or to some other indiscreet person.
When a conspiracy has more than three or four members, its discovery is almost certain, either through treason, imprudence or carelessness.
If more than one conspirator is arrested, the whole plot is discovered, for it will be impossible for any two to agree perfectly as to all their statements.
If only one is arrested, he may—through courage and stubbornness—be able to conceal the names of his accomplices. But then the others, to remain safe, must not panic and flee, since this is certain to be discovered.
If one of them becomes fearful—whether it’s the one who was arrested or is still at liberty—discovery of the conspiracy is certain.
The best way to avoid such detection is to confide your project to your intended fellow conspirators at the moment of execution—and not sooner.
A classic example of this occurred in ancient Persia. According to the Greek historian Herodotus: A group of nobles assembled to discuss overthrowing a usurper to the throne. The last one to arrive was Darius.
When one of the conspirators asked, “When should we strike?” Darius replied: “We must either go now at this very moment and carry it into execution, or I shall go and denounce you all. For I will not give any of you time to denounce me.”
At that, they went directly to the palace, assassinated the usurper and proclaimed Darius their new king.
ABC NEWS, ALABAMA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ASCENSION HEALTH, ASIANS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DELTA AIRLINES, DELTA VARIANT, DISNEY, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FRONTIER AIRLINES, GOOGLE, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JOHNSON & JOHNSON, JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE, JONATHAN CAPEHART, LEANA WEN, LISA LERER, LYFT, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MODERNA, MODERNA VACCINE, MORGAN STANLEY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NETFLIX, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, PFIZER, PHIZER VACCINE, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RACISM, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RON DESANTIS, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TEXAS, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, 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, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, TYSON FOODS, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UBER, UNITED AIRLINES, UPI, USA TODAY, VACCINATIONS, VACCINES, WALGREENS, WALMART, WASHINGTON WEEK, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on October 19, 2021 at 12:10 am
It’s time to punish the egotistical selfishness of those who refuse to get vaccinated or even mask up against COVID-19. And some major corporations have finally begun doing so. Among these:
- Disney is requiring all its salaried and non-union hourly employees in America to be vaccinated.
- Uber announced that its U.S.-based office staff needs to be vaccinated to return to the office. It isn’t requiring the same for drivers.
- Walgreens is requiring vaccinations for all of its corporate employees in the United States.
- Netflix will require COVID-19 vaccinations for the casts of all its American productions, including those who come in contact with them.
- Saks Fifth Avenue is requiring that all employees be vaccinated.
- Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced in a July 30 memo that all of its American-based corporate employees must be vaccinated by October 4.
- Tyson Foods will require that its 120,000 U.S. employees be fully vaccinated. According to the company, about 56,000 already are.
- Ascension Health will require COVID-9 vaccinations for all of its employees.
- On August 4, Twitter closed its offices in New York and San Francisco and paused further office reopenings. It was already requiring employees to show proof of vaccination.
- Lyft is requiring all employees working in its offices to be vaccinated.
- The Washington Post will require all current employees and new hires to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Morgan Stanley is barring all unvaccinated staff and clients from entering its New York headquarters office.
On the October 15 edition of the PBS Newshour, political commentators David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart reached similar conclusions about the COVID pandemic.
CAPEHART: This is not supposed to be political. This is supposed to be about public health. And the sooner we get a handle on the coronavirus pandemic, the sooner all these things we have been talking about—unemployment, inflationary pressures, the need to have a reconciliation bill and an infrastructure building to get people back to work—won’t be necessary.
BROOKS: Some things are matters of communal health and safety. And a stop sign is a matter of communal health and safety. And this vaccination is a matter of communal health and safety. So, to say it’s a matter of individual liberty is just not true. And it’s—they’re just making it so political….
And if you mandate it, it turns out they get the shot. And so The Times reported today United Airlines has 67,000 employees. They mandated. Only 232 said no. So, if you mandate it, it turns out it works. People get the shot, and that increases public health.
And some cities and states have finally begun to do stand up to unvaccinated Stormtrumpers and anti-vaxxers. Among these:
- Starting August 16, New Orleans requires people to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test to enter some indoor places, including bars, restaurants, gyms and stadiums.
- As of August 17, New York City is requiring people to provide proof of vaccination before entering indoor venues.
- San Francisco is requiring some indoor businesses—including restaurants, bars, gyms, clubs and entertainment venues—to obtain proof of vaccination from their patrons and employees before they can enter.
- The Colorado Board of Health voted August 30 to mandate vaccinations for healthcare workers.
- As of August 26, Illinois requires vaccinations for healthcare workers, including nursing home employees.
- In an August 9 emergency proclamation, Washington Governor Jay Inslee required most state employees and all healthcare workers be fully vaccinated by October 18.
* * * * *
But by far the best way to serve notice on the unvaccinated would be to turn them away from hospitals when they show up.
They should be forcibly told: “You say it’s your right to refuse to get vaccinated. Fine. We say it’s our right to reserve beds for patients who deserve to be treated. And you don’t.”
So long as hospitals continue to cater to their self-indulgent Right-wingers—most of them Trump supporters—they will feel empowered to consume vital medical resources needed for victims of strokes, heart attacks, accidents and crime.
Anti-vaxxers or their loved ones have filed at least two dozen lawsuits across the country to force hospitals to give them ivermectin, a drug for de-worming cows and horses. But it remains an unproven cure for the virus.
These people need to be forcibly taught there are consequences for irresponsible behavior. So long as they are catered to, they will never learn this vital lesson.
And there is an even more important reason for taking what many will see as a radical step.
Those unvaccinated men and women who survive to 2024 will eagerly cast their votes for Donald Trump. Trump makes no secret of his desire to be “President-for-Life”—and incited a treasonous attack on the United States Capitol to overturn the free and fair election of 2020.
Even now, he continues to lie that the election was “stolen” from him—and is laying the groundwork for subverting the results of the 2024 Presidential election.
So the more of these unvaccinated Right-wingers who aren’t around to cast their votes in 2024, the safer democracy will be.
ABC NEWS, ALABAMA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ASCENSION HEALTH, ASIANS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DELTA AIRLINES, DELTA VARIANT, DISNEY, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FRONTIER AIRLINES, GOOGLE, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JOHNSON & JOHNSON, JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE, JONATHAN CAPEHART, LEANA WEN, LISA LERER, LYFT, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MODERNA, MODERNA VACCINE, MORGAN STANLEY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NETFLIX, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, PFIZER, PHIZER VACCINE, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RACISM, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RON DESANTIS, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TEXAS, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, 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, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, TYSON FOODS, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UBER, UNITED AIRLINES, UPI, USA TODAY, VACCINATIONS, VACCINES, WALGREENS, WALMART, WASHINGTON WEEK, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on October 18, 2021 at 12:05 am
All those who have written upon civil institutions demonstrate…that whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.
Thus warned Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine statesman, in his classic work, The Discourses.
It is a lesson that American cities, states and the United States Department of Justice have refused to learn in protecting Americans from millions of egotistical Right-wingers in the age of COVID-19.
This is how United States authorities dealt with “Typhoid Mary” Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938).
Mary Mallon
An Irish-born cook, she was an asymptomatic carrier of typhoid fever and is believed to have infected 53 people, three of whom died. Because she persisted in working as a cook, she exposed others to the disease.
As a result, she was twice forcibly quarantined by authorities, and died after a total of nearly 30 years in isolation at Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island, in New York City.
It’s past time to apply the same standard to Right-wingers who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19—or even mask up against it.
The COVID-19 catastrophe slammed into the United States in January, 2020. It was the inevitable result of a natural disaster colliding with an evil and incompetent administration.
Early on, President Donald Trump made the virus a referendum on himself. If you supported him, you didn’t wear a mask when you ventured out in public. This despite the fact that, throughout 2020, there was no vaccine available and hospitals were rapidly overwhelmed by debilitated and dying casualties of the virus.
“I think, once Donald Trump and other Republicans made it a manhood issue, or a freedom issue, or whatever kind of issue they made it, it’s hard to walk back that culture war signal,” said conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks on the PBS Newshour on July 23, 2021.
Washington Post Columnist Jonathan Capehart echoed him: “I think, if we had had a president of the United States who took this seriously when this first came on the scene, if we had a Republican party that took this seriously enough to warn everyone, their constituents saying, wash your hands, then put on a mask, then go get the vaccine, we wouldn’t be where we are right now.”
Jonathan Capehart
But neither Trump nor the Republican party urged Americans to “wash your hands, put on a mask, then go get the vaccine.”
By March, 2021, three vaccines—by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson—became available. A total of 90.4 million doses of these vaccines had been given. And 30.7 million Americans had been fully vaccinated against the virus.
But after a triumphant beginning, the pace of vaccinations slowed, then halted. By late July, 2021, only 49.6% of Americans had been fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 vaccination map – July 21, 2021
George Karabassis, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Many of those who had gotten one shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines refused to get the necessary second one. These must be given almost a month apart.
(The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot.)
What had happened?
“The people I know personally who are not getting the vaccine, for them, it was like, ‘They rushed this thing,'” theorized David Brooks. “‘Who knows what’s going to happen to all these people who get the shots in 10 years or 20 years?’ So, why should I take the risk?'”
David Brooks
And leading the way to this catastrophe of self-destruction were the states of the South and Midwest: Mississippi (47.1%,), Alabama (50.5%), Arkansas (53.2%), and Tennessee (52.9%) with the lowest rates of residents who have gotten at least one shot.
By late July, three states—Florida, Texas and Missouri—with lower vaccination rates accounted for 40% of all cases nationwide.
For this, their governors—Ron DeSantis (Florida), Gregg Abbott (Texas) and Mike Parson (Missouri) must take pride-of-place.
And colliding head-on with the refusals of millions to get vaccinated is the newer—and deadlier—Delta variant of COVID-19.
The result has been a massive overcrowding of hospitals—where those who refused to get vaccinated are now taking up beds needed for legitimate victims of strokes, heart attacks, accidents and crime.
Many of these same patients beg—or demand—to be vaccinated. But to their surprise, they’re told it’s now too late.
It’s time to punish the egotistical selfishness of those who refuse to protect themselves and others. And some major corporations have finally begun telling their employees: “Get vaccinated—or find another place to work.”
Among these:
- In May, Delta Airlines began requiring newly-hired employees to show proof of vaccination.
- On August 6, United Airlines announced that it would require its 67,000 U.S. employees to get vaccinated by October 25—or risk termination.
- Hours later, Frontier Airlines announced that its employees must be vaccinated by October 1—or be frequently tested for COVID-19.
- On August 4, Facebook announced that all of its employees would have to prove that they had been vaccinated to return to the office.
- That same day, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a similar email to his staffers.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL RACE, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BIRTH CONTROL, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BUZZFEED, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CBS NEWS, CHARLES SCHULTZ, CNN, CONSERVATIVE VICTORY (BOOK), CONTRACEPTION, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, GREG ABBOTT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NUCLEAR WAR, PBS NEWSHOUR, PEANUTS CARTOON SERIES, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, ROE V. WADE, Ronald Reagan, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SALON, SANDRA FLUKE, SCOTT DESJARLIS, SEAN HANNITY, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALIBAN, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TEXAS, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, 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, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WAR, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on September 30, 2021 at 12:12 am
The Right’s war on freedom of choice continues.
On May 19, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a measure that bans abortions in Texas as early as six weeks—before some women know they are pregnant.
It also turns Texans, who pride themselves on their love of freedom, into paid informers on those who get abortions—even in cases of rape and/or incest.
“Our Creator endowed us with the right to life and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion,” Abbott said in a bill signing ceremony.
Utterly ignored—by him and millions of other anti-abortion Texans—is this: As of September 1, anyone who legally owns a gun is allowed to carry it in public without a license—or training—in Texas.
Shades of “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral”—Texas style!
So what’s responsible for all this fetus fanaticism?
First, there is an energized constituency for politicians willing to wave this red flag. Every major Republican Presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan has tapped into this voting bloc. And each has found plenty of votes to be gotten from it.
Second, many fetus fanatics simply dislike women. They fear and resent the women’s movement, which has given women the right to enter the workforce and compete directly with men.
And what they hate most is the legal right of a woman to avoid becoming pregnant via birth control—or to abort the result of a male’s sperm if they do. They see this as a personal rejection.
The Right is made up overwhelmingly of white males. And many of these men would feel entirely at home with a Christianized version of the Taliban. They long for a world where women meekly cater to their every demand and believe only what their male masters approve for them to believe.
Third, many fetus fanatics are “pro-life” when it comes to fetuses, but hypocritically refuse to support the needs of children from low-income families.
Fourth, many fetus fanatics are “family values” hypocrites. For example: Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), an anti-abortion, “family values” doctor, had an affair with a patient and later pressured her to get an abortion. He also agreed that his wife should have two abortions.
Scott DesJarlais
People like this subscribe to a philosophy of: “Do as I say, not as I do. And if I do it, it’s in the service of a Higher Cause and therefore entirely justified.”
Fifth, many fetus fanatics feel guilty about their own past sexual transgressions—especially if these resulted in pregnancy. And they want to prevent others from living the same life they did.
Some of these people are well-intentioned. Even so, they usurp unto themselves a God-like right to intrude on the most intimate decisions for others—regardless of what those people may need or want.
Sixth, many fetus fanatics embrace contradictory goals. On one hand, most of them claim they want to “get government off the backs of the people.” That usually means allowing corporations to pollute, sell dangerous products and treat their employees as slaves.
On the other hand, they want to insert the government into the vagina of every woman. That means empowering State and Federal authorities to prevent women from getting birth control or an abortion—even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.
Seventh, many leaders of the fetus fanatics movement are independently wealthy. This means that even if abortion could be outlawed for the vast majority, they could always bribe a willing doctor—here or abroad—to perform such an operation on their wife, daughter and/or mistress. For them, there is always an escape clause.
Eighth, many fetus fanatics are not truly “pro-life.” They totally oppose abortion under most—-if not all—circumstances. But they also fully support:
- making military-style assault weapons available to nutcases;
- capital punishment;
- going to war for almost any reason;
- wholesale massacres of wildlife;
- despoiling of the environment; and/or
- even nuclear war.
Lucy, the famous cartoon character in Charles Schultz’ “Peanuts” series, once said: “I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand.” With fetus fanatics, the line runs: “I love fetuses. Everything else is expendable.”
Ninth, many fetus fanatics believe that since their religion teaches that abortion is wrong, they have a moral duty to enforce that belief on others.
This is especially true for evangelical Christians. These are the same people who condemn Muslims—such as those in Saudi Arabia—for segregating women, forbidding them to drive and forcing them to wear head scarfs or chadors—loose, usually black robes.
Taliban: Islam’s version of the “Right-to-Life” movement
But while they condemn Islamics for their general intolerance of others’ religious beliefs, they lust to impose their own upon those who belong to other churches. Or who belong to no church at all.
Tenth, many fetus fanatics are just as opposed to birth control as they are to abortion. Thus, when Georgia University law student Sandra Fluke asked Congress to require insurance companies to cover birth control, Rush Limbaugh branded her a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BAVARIA, BBC, BEER HALL PUTSCH, BENJAMIN CIVILETTI, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CAPITOL ATTACK, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, ELECTORAL COLLEGE, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HITLER: ASCENT: 1889 – 1933 (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, JOHN EASTMAN, JOSEPH BIDEN, LINDSEY GRAHAM, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF, MERRICK GARLAND, MIKE LEE, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH, NANCY PELOSI, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERIL (BOOK), POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, ROBERT COSTA, RUDY GIULIANI, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, 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 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, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STAITES SENATE, UNITED STATES CAPITOL, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VOLKER ULRICH, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 29, 2021 at 12:07 am
TO: Merrick Brian Garland – United States Attorney General
I hold the highest regard for your personal integrity. Yet, with due regard for your years of dedicated service to the rule of law, I am forced to say: You are now presiding over the closing days of the American Republic.
On January 6, President Donald Trump incited a treasonous attack on the United States Capitol Building. There, the United States Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding, would certify states’ Electoral College results of that election.
Since former Vice President Joseph Biden had gotten 306 votes compared to 232 for Trump, the outcome was already known. And Trump, who had often “joked” about becoming “President-for-Life,” wanted that verdict overturned.
The Stormtrumpers marched to the United States Capitol—and quickly brushed aside Capitol Police, who made little effort to arrest or shoot them.
Among their outrages:
Stormtrumpers scaling Capitol Building walls
- Several rioters carried plastic handcuffs, possibly intending to take hostages.
- Others carried treasonous Confederate flags.
- Shouts of “Hang Pence!” often rang out.
- Improvised explosive devices were found in several locations in Washington, D.C.
- Many of the lawmakers’ office buildings were occupied and vandalized—including that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a favorite Right-wing target.
More than three hours passed before police—using riot gear, shields and batons—retook control of the Capitol.
And Trump? After giving his inflammatory speech, he returned to the White House—to watch his handiwork on television. He initially rebuffed requests to mobilize the National Guard.
So what has happened during the eight months since that treasonous attack?
By September 24, 654 Stormtrumpers have been arrested and charged.
- At least 74 defendants have pleaded guilty.
- At least 22 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.
- Six have pleaded guilty to felonies.
- Three defendants have been sentenced: One drew a sentence of eight months for a felony. Two were sentenced for misdemeanor charges.
- Another was sentenced to three years probation and no jail time.
- Another was sentenced to six months imprisonment, but was credited for the time he had already spent in jail awaiting trial.
Yet no major Trump supporter has been arrested, let alone indicted.
- NOT Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who cried to the demonstrators, “Let’s have trial by combat!”
- NOT Donald Trump, Jr., who, just hours before the Trump mob stormed Congress, threatened Republican lawmakers at a large rally outside the White House: “These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they’re not, guess what? I’m going to be in your backyard in a couple of months!”
- NOT Rep, Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) who incited the Trump crowd with: “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!”
- And, above all, NOT Donald Trump. He not only incited his followers to attack the Capitol, he has spent the last six months spreading poisonous lies that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him through “massive” voter fraud. As a result, he continues to undermine the democratic process as he terrorizes the Republican party to stand behind him.
There is a historical precedent for this, and it does not bode well for our Republic.
On November 9, 1923, Nazi Party Fuhrer Adolf Hitler tried to overthrow the government in Munich, Bavaria.
About 2,000 Nazis marched to the center of Munich, where they confronted heavily-armed police. A shootout erupted, killing 16 Nazis and four policemen.
Hitler was injured during the clash, but managed to escape. Two days later, he was arrested and charged with treason.
Put on trial, he found himself treated as a celebrity by a judge sympathetic to Right-wing groups. He was allowed to brutally cross-examine witnesses and even make inflammatory speeches.
At the end of the trial, he was convicted of treason and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
Serving time in Landsberg Prison, in Bavaria. he wrote his infamous book, Mein Kampf-–“My Struggle.” Part autobiography, part political treatise, it laid out his future plans—including the extermination of the Jews and the conquest of the Soviet Union.
Adolf Hitler leaving Landsberg Prison, December, 20, 1924
Nine months later, he was released on parole—by authorities loyal to the authoritarian Right instead of the newly-created Weimar Republic.
Hitler immediately began rebuilding the shattered Nazi party—and deciding on a new strategy to gain power. Never again would he resort to armed force. He would win office by election—or intrigue.
On January 30, 1933, those intrigues made him Chancellor of Germany.
Writes historian Volker Ullrich, in his monumental 2016 biography, Hitler: Ascent 1889 – 1939: “Historians have perennially tried to answer the question of whether Hitler’s rise to power could have been halted….
“There were repeated opportunities to end Hitler’s run of triumphs. The most obvious one was after the failed Putsch of November 1923. Had the Munich rabble-rouser been forced to serve his full five-year term of imprisonment in Landsberg, it is extremely unlikely that he would have been able to restart his political career.”
Thus, it isn’t just what happens that can influence the course of history. Often, it’s what doesn’t happen that has at least as great a result.
The United States Justice Department now faces the same choice faced by the judges of the Weimar Republic: Enforce the law against a ruthless tyrant—or stand by while he mounts a comeback.
2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BAVARIA, BBC, BEER HALL PUTSCH, BENJAMIN CIVILETTI, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BOB WOODWARD, BUZZFEED, CAPITOL ATTACK, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JUNIOR, ELECTORAL COLLEGE, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HITLER: ASCENT: 1889 – 1933 (BOOK), HUFFINGTON POST, JOHN EASTMAN, JOSEPH BIDEN, LINDSEY GRAHAM, MEDIA MATTERS, MEIN KAMPF, MERRICK GARLAND, MIKE LEE, MIKE PENCE, MITCH MCCONNELL, MO BROOKS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUNICH, NANCY PELOSI, NAZI GERMANY, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERIL (BOOK), POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, ROBERT COSTA, RUDY GIULIANI, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, 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 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, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STAITES SENATE, UNITED STATES CAPITOL, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, VOLKER ULRICH, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 28, 2021 at 12:10 am
TO: Merrick Brian Garland – United States Attorney General
I hold the highest regard for your personal integrity. After graduating from Harvard Law School, you served as a special assistant to Attorney General Benjamin Civviletti from 1979 to 1981.
As a federal prosecutor, you played a leading role in the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombers.
You served as judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (1997 – 2021) and then as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2013 – 2020).
In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated you to serve as an associate Justice of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia. But Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold a hearing or vote on your nomination.
Merrick Garland
Yet, with due regard for your years of dedicated service to the rule of law, I am forced to say: You are now presiding over the closing days of the American Republic.
As the bestselling book, Peril, makes clear, there was a detailed plan by Republicans to illegally retain President Donald Trump in office. The votes of 81 million Americans who had voted for former Vice President Joseph Biden would have been scrapped in what was intended to be a Right-wing coup.
According to authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, attorney John Eastman first proposed the plan to Vice President Mike Pence on January 4 in the Oval Office with Trump in attendance. The memo called for throwing out the election results in seven states under the false claim that those states had used alternate electors.
Eastman’s memo was sent to Senator Mile Lee (R-Utah) and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as one of Trump’s attorneys at the time. They tried to convince Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that there was rampant fraud in the 2020 election.
Both Graham and Lee reportedly argued that the fraud claims had no merit.
On January 6, the United States Senate, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding, would certify states’ Electoral College results of that election.
Since Biden had gotten 306 votes compared to 232 for Trump, the outcome was already known.
On that morning, Trump tried to convince Pence to reject the electoral votes that had been cast for Biden. This would mean flipping the results of the 2020 Presidential election to give him a win.
Pence replied that he lacked the power to overturn those results.
But as Pence went off to the Capitol Building housing the Senate and House of Representatives, Trump had one last card to play.
Mike Pence
For weeks Trump had ordered his legions of Right-wing Stormtrumpers to descend on Washington, D.C. by January 6.
On December 20, he had tweeted: “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
In tweets, he promoted the rally again on December 27 and 30, and January 1.
On January 6, Trump appeared at the Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House fence and north of Constitution Avenue and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
A stage had been set up for him to address tens of thousands of his supporters, who eagerly awaited him.
Trump ordered them to march on the Capitol building to express their anger at the voting process and to intimidate their elected officials to reject the results.
“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by a bold and radical left Democrats which is what they are doing and stolen by the fake news media.
“Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal….
“Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back….And we’re going to have to fight much harder….
“And after this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we’re going to cheer on our brave Senators and Congressmen and women and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated.”
The Stormtrumpers marched to the United States Capitol—and quickly brushed aside Capitol Police.
Stormtrumpers attacking the Capitol Building
Among their outrages:
- Members of the mob attacked police with chemical agents and lead pipes.
- A Capitol Hill police officer was knocked off his feet, dragged into the mob surging toward the building, and beaten with the pole of an American flag.
- One attacker was shot as protesters forced their way toward the House Chamber where members of Congress were sheltering in place.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
2003 IRAQ WAR, 9/11 ATTACKS, ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, AL-QAEDA, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, ANDREW CUOMO, ANTHONY FAUCI, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BLOOMBERG, BOB WOODWARD, BRENDA FITZGERALD, BUZZFEED, CARL BERNSTEIN, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC), CHICAGO, CHINA, CLOROX BLEACH, CNN, CORONAVIRUS, COVID-19, COVID-19 TEST KITS, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID BROOKS, DEBORAH BIRX, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS), DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, EBOLA, FACEBOOK, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA, FORBES, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, FOX NEWS, FOX NEWS NETWORK, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, GEORGE W. BUSH, GRETCHEN WHITMER, GROVER NORQUIST, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, IMPEACHMENT, JARED KUSHNER, JAY INSLEE, JOE BIDEN, JOHN BOLTON, JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE, KRISTI NOEM, KRISTIN URQUIZA, LARRY HOGAN, LOS ANGELES, LOUIS X1V, LYNDON B. JOHNSON, MALARIA, MARK ANTHONY URQUIZA, MARK SHIELDS, MARYLAND, MASKS, MASSACHUSSETS, MEDIA MATTERS, MICHIGAN, MICK MULVANEY, MIKE PENCE, MODERNA VACCINE, MOLOCH, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, N95 RESPIRATORS, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNSIL (NSC), NAVY SEALS, NBC NEWS, NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, NURSES, OSAMA BIN LADEN, PAULA REID, PBS NEWSHOUR, PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE), PFIZER VACCINE, PHOENIX RALLY, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RICHARD M. NIXON, ROBERT RAY REDFIELD, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, RUDOLPH GIULIANI, RUDY GIULIANI, SALON, SCHOOLS, SEAN HANNITY, SEAN HANNITY SHOW, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOUTH DAKOTA, STOCK MARKET, 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 LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE WHITE HOUSE PANDEMIC OFFICE, THINKPROGRESS, THIRD REICH, TIM ZIEMER, TIME, TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, TOM BOSSERT, TOM FRIEDMAN, TRISH REGAN, TRISH REGAN PRIMETIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA OKLAHOMA RALLY, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES, UPI, USA TODAY, UV LIGHT, VENDORS, VENTILATORS, VIETNAM WAR, WALTER SHAUB, WASHINGTON, WASHINGTON D.C., WASHINGTON MONTHLY, WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, WATERGATE, WHITE HOUSE PANDEMIC OFFICE, WONKETTE, WORLD TRADE CENTER
TRUMP AND COVID: COUNTDOWN TO CATASTROPHE: PART TWO (OF EIGHT)
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on November 2, 2021 at 9:06 am“I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!”
—Donald Trump, March 10, 2021
COVID-19 has so far infected 29.2 million Americans and killed 529,000 others.
With the pandemic appearing to reach its end—at least in the United States—Americans will soon revert to one of their favorite pastimes: Forgetting events that caused them unpleasantness.
But this should not be forgotten: The catastrophe that has overtaken the United States is the inevitable result of a confluence between natural disaster and an evil and incompetent administration.
In this case, COVID-19 served as the natural disaster. And President Donald Trump served as the head of an evil and incompetent administration.
The seeds of that catastrophe were planted early—by Trump himself.
First: Upon taking office in 2017, Trump gutted the permanent epidemic monitoring and command groups set up inside the White House: The National Security Council (NSC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In 2014, following the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, President Barack Obama had created the White House Pandemic Office, run by the White House’s National Security Council (NSC).
Heading it was Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer. Under President George W. Bush, he had successfully fought malaria overseas. His topflight team of infectious disease and public health experts was creating a national bio-defense strategy. Their goal: Coordinate agencies to make the United States more resilient to the threat of epidemics and biological warfare.
Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, who headed the unit, was reassigned.
Neither the NSC nor the DHS epidemic team has been replaced.
The global health section of the CDC was decimated, and had to reduce the number of countries it was monitoring from 49 to 10.
So why did Trump do this?
Pathologically jealous of President Barack Obama, Trump—a lifelong racist—tried to destroy every vestige of Obama’s legacy as the first black President of the United States.
Chief among these actions: Making repeated efforts to undermine—and ultimately destroy—the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare.” Under this expanded, Federally-subsidized insurance program, 28 million Americans who previously could not afford medical care are now receiving it.
Barack Obama
Second: In 2017—the year Trump assumed office—nearly 700 positions remained vacant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because Trump imposed a hiring freeze.
This affected programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control and chronic disease prevention.
Making the situation worse: The CDC’s director, Tom Friedman, stepped down in January, 2017, and it wasn’t until July that the agency got another one: Brenda Fitzgerald. But she served only until January, 2018. She was succeeded—two months later—by Robert Ray Redfield, Jr. He has been the director since then.
The post of director of the CDC is considered one of the most crucial public health positions in the government. The CDC is charged with tracking and preventing infectious disease outbreaks in the United States and worldwide.
CDC headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia
Third: In the spring of 2018, Trump pushed Congress to cut $15 billion from national health spending—and cutting the global disease-fighting budgets of the Centers for Disease Control, National Security Council, Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services.
In April, 2018, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton forced Tom Bossert, director of the infectious disease unit at DHS, to resign—along with his entire team.
It’s popular to assume that Trump did all of this out of mere ignorance—and there’s plenty of proof of his ignorance in many areas (such as attributing windmills to causing cancer). But far more was at work here.
Fourth The vast majority of those who voted for Trump believe that the Federal Government is evil and its agencies that regulate business should be eliminated.
An example of this constituency is Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, which opposes all tax increases and has forced most Republicans to publicly pledge they will as well, under any circumstances.
His most famous quote: “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
Coronavirus
According to the March 21, 2020 edition of Rolling Stone magazine: “The United States intelligence community has been warning the president since January and February about the dire consequences that would occur when coronavirus reached America, but the president seemed determined to play down the threat, leaving the country largely unaware and unprepared.”
An anonymous Intelligence official cited by the Washington Post said: “Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were—they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it. The system was blinking red.”
Trump first learned of the virus on January 3, 2020. This did not prevent him from playing golf on January 4, 5, 18 and 19.
On January 19, the first Coronavirus case appeared in the United States.
On February 29, the first American died of Coronavirus.
Share this: