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Posts Tagged ‘PLUTARCH’

THE NEWS MEDIA: TREATING ADULTS LIKE CHILDREN

In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on November 3, 2025 at 12:06 am

In the 1992 courtroom drama, “A Few God Men,” Jack Nicholson, as Marine Colonel Nathan Jessup, utters a line that has since become famous.           

When his prosecutor, Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) demands the truth about the murder of a fellow Marine, Jessup shouts: “You can’t handle the truth!”

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Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men”

Apparently, many of those who work in the television news business feel the same way about their audience.

[WARNING: This column contains some words that some readers may find offensive.  Read on at your own risk.]  

On February 9, 2016, businessman Donald Trump scored a new blow at his Rafael “Ted” Cruz, his closest rival for the Republican Presidential nomination.  

Speaking at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump attacked Cruz, the United States Senator from Texas, for being unwilling to support the widespread use of torture against America’s Islamic enemies.  

“He’s a pussy!” yelled a woman in the crowd.

Apparently a certain portion of the attendees didn’t hear—or misheard—the insult. So Trump—pretending to be shocked–repeated it for them: 

“She said–I never expect to hear that from you again! She said: ‘He’s a pussy.’ That’s terrible.”  

“What kind of people do I have here?” joked Trump, clearly playing to the boisterous crowd.

Donald Trump

The incident went viral on social media. But all the major TV news outlets—for ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC—bleeped the word and/or coyly referred to it as “the P-word.”

It was as if they assumed their viewers would of course know what had been said despite the networks’ censorship of it. And if viewers didn’t already know what the woman—and Trump—had said, the networks weren’t going to enlighten them.

Of course, “the P-word” could just as easily have been “prick” or “pervert.” So it’s understandable that many viewers might have thought a very different word had been used.  

No doubt the networks hoped to avoid offending large numbers of viewers.  

But when the use of certain words becomes central to a news story, editors and reporters should have the courage to reveal just what was said. It should then be up to the audience to decide if the language was offensive–and, if so, if its user deserves condemnation.  

The evening news is—supposedly—aimed at voting-age adults. And adults need–and deserve–the hard truth about the world they live in. Only then do they have a chance to reform it—if, in fact, they decide it needs reforming.

Those who wanted to learn—rather than guess—what Trump had repeated had to turn to the Internet or to a handful of news source such as Vox: Policy and Politics.

In their defense, the networks could argue that the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates radio and television, does not usually permit the word “pussy” to be aired between 6 am and 10 pm.  

On the other hand, immediately after the 9/11 terror attacks, all the major TV networks endlessly replayed the destruction of the World Trade Center, with the resulting deaths of hundreds of men and women.

Censorship, then, tends to center on two types of subject material:

  1. Sex, or “obscenity,” which is sex-related; and
  2. Race, meaning racial slurs that would offend some minority group. 

An example of race-related censorship occurred during the short-lived administration of President Gerald R. Ford.  

During a lull in the 1976 Republican convention, entertainer Pat Boone asked Earl Butz, then Secretary of Agriculture: Why was the party of Lincoln having so much trouble winning black votes for its candidates? 

“I’ll tell you what the coloreds want,” said Butz. “It’s three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit.” 

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Earl Butz

Unknown to Butz, a Rolling Stone reporter was standing nearby. When his comments became public, Butz was quickly forced to resign. 

Meanwhile, most TV and print media struggled to protect their audiences from the truth of Butz’ racism. Many newspapers simply reported that Butz had said something too obscene to print. Some invited their readers to contact the editors if they wanted more information. 

TV newsmen generally described Butz’ firing as stemming from “a racially-offensive remark,” which they refused to explain. 

In short: A high-ranking government official had been fired, but audiences were not allowed to judge whether his language justified that termination. 

Forty years later, TV news viewers were again prevented from reaching their own conclusions about Trump’s repetition of the slur aimed at his rival.  

Censoring the truth has always been a hallmark of dictatorships. It has no place in a democracy–despite the motives of those doing the censoring. 

The ancient historian, Plutarch, sounded a warning that remains timely: 

“And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever.”

In a democracy, citizens must be alert for those tell-tale expressions or jests. And this demands that the media, in turn, have the courage to bring those truths to their attention.

THE REICHSTAG FIRE COMES TO AMERICA

In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on September 17, 2025 at 12:10 am

On September 10, 2025, Donald Trump discovered hate speech.

It had been a long time coming. 

As both a Presidential candidate and President, Donald Trump repeatedly used Twitter (now X) to attack hundreds of real and imagined enemies in politics, journalism, TV and films.

From June 15, 2015, when he launched his first Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, Trump fired almost 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions that had somehow offended him. 

Donald Trump

The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.  Among his targets:

  • Hillary Clinton
  • President Barack Obama
  • Actress Meryl Streep
  • Singer Neil Young
  • Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
  • Comedian John Oliver
  • News organizations
  • The State of New Jersey
  • Beauty pageant contestants

Others he clearly delighted in insulting during the campaign included:

  • Women
  • Blacks
  • Hispanics
  • Asians
  • Muslims
  • The disabled
  • Prisoners-of-war

Perhaps his most slanderous insult came when he accused Rafael Cruz, the father of his campaign rival, Senator Rafael Eduardo “Ted” Cruz, of being a potential part of Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 

As a Presidential candidate and President, he has shown outright hatred for President Barack Obama. Starting in 2011, he slandered Obama as a Kenyan-born alien who had no right to hold the Presidency. 

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Barack Obama

Only on the eve of the first Presidential debate with Hillary Clinton—in September, 2016—did he finally admit that Obama had been born in the United States. He did so to desperately court support among black voters, who saw  his attacks on Obama as attacks on them.

Then, on March 4, 2017, in a series of unhinged tweets, Trump accused Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election:

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”

Both the FBI and Justice Department vigorously refuted this slander. 

According to The Washington Post Fact Checker database: Trump’s false or misleading claims totaled over 30,573 during his first presidency. Many of these claims were directed at political opponents, media figures, and other individuals. 

Trump reserved some of his most insulting speech for political opponents:

  • “Crooked Hillary” Clinton
  • “Crazy Bernie” Sanders
  • “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz 

To blunt the influence of the news media’s influence with the public, Trump labeled them “Fake News” and “The enemy of the American people.”

Then, on September 10, 2025, Right-wing propagandist Charlie Kirk was shot by a sniper while speaking at a Turning Point USA public debate event on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah.

That was when Trump discovered the evils of hate speech. And on September 16, he offered his own definition of it.

On September 15, his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, had vowed to go after those who engaged in “hate speech” following Kirk’s assassination: “There’s free speech and then there’s hate speech, and there is no place—especially now, especially after what happened to Charlie—in our society.

“We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech, anything, and that is across the aisle.”

Pam Bondi

On September 16, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl asked Trump about Bondi’s threat, noting: “A lot of your allies say that hate speech is free speech.”

Trump replied:

She’ll probably go after people like you, because you treat me so unfairly, You have a lot of hate in your heart. Maybe they will come after ABC. ABC paid me $16 million recently for a form of hate speech. Your company paid me $16 million for a form of hate speech, so maybe they will have to go after you.”

In short: Any speech that displeases Trump automatically becomes “hate speech”—and is subject to federal prosecution

Writing about Alexander the Great more than 2,000 years ago, the Greek historian and biographer Plutarch noted:

“And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men. Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever.”

Another ancient writer to cast light on the mentality behind Trump’s remark was Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. As private secretary to the Roman Emperor Hadrian, he gained  access to the imperial archives. It was from these that he obtained the material for The Twelve Caesars, his chronicle of debauchery from Julius Caesar to Domitian.

His chapter on Gaius Caligula is especially pornographic. It was Caligula who summed up the underlying goal of all the Caesars—and its effects on countless Romans and non-Romans. 

Speaking to a critic, Caligula said: “Bear in mind that I can treat anyone exactly as I please.”

On February 27, 1933, a lone arsonist set fire to the German parliament building, the Reichstag, gutting most of the structure.

The next day, at the request of newly-installed Chancellor Adolf Hitler, President Paul von Hindenburg signed the Reichstag Fire Decree into law. This suspended most civil liberties in Germany, including:

  • Freedom of speech, press, association and public assembly;
  • Habeas corpus; and
  • Secrecy of the mails and telephone.

Donald Trump is clearly seeking to turn Charlie Kirk’s murder into the equivalent of the Reichstag fire.

“PRESIDENT FOR LIFE?” TRUMP SAYS: “YOU BET!”

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 7, 2025 at 12:11 am

And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever.        

—Plutarch, “Life of Alexander”         

In a closed-door speech to Republican donors on March 3, 2018, President Donald Trump proved the accuracy of Plutarch’s observation. 

He praised China’s President, Xi Jinping, for recently assuming full dictatorial powers: “He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.” 

The statement was greeted with cheers and laughter by Republican donors.

And, in making that unguarded statement, Trump revealed his ultimate intention: To overthrow America’s constitutional government

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Donald Trump

Since then, Trump has continued to “joke” about serving more than the legal limit of eight years.  

In April, 2019, at a White House event, he said he might remain in the Oval Office “at least for 10 or 14 years.”

In May, 2019, Trump retweeted Evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.’s suggestion that he’s owed “2 yrs added to his 1st term” due to distractions caused by the Robert Mueller investigation.  

Anyone who thought he was simply joking got a rude awakening on July 30, 2020, when Trump tweeted: “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” 

Leaders of both Republican and Democratic parties quickly attacked Trump for suggesting that the election might be delayed.

With COVID-19 ravaging the nation and many economists predicting a coming Depression, Trump became desperate to reverse his falling poll numbers. But with the election less than 100 days away and, short of a miracle—or indefinitely postponing the vote—he looked increasingly like a one-term President.

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Coronavirus

Since taking office as the Nation’s 45th President, Donald Trump had attacked or undermined one public or private institution after another.

Among these:

  • American Intelligence: Even before taking office, Trump refused to accept the findings of the FBI, CIA and NSA that Russian Intelligence agents had intervened in the 2016 election to ensure his victory.
  • And when FBI Director James Comey dared to pursue a probe into “the Russia thing,” Trump fired him without warning. 
  • American law enforcement agencies: Trump repeatedly attacked—and later fired—his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for not “protecting” him from agents pursuing the Russia investigation.
  • He repeatedly attacked the integrity of Deputy FBI Director Andrew G. McCabe until the latter resigned.
  • He threatened to fire Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who oversaw Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian subversion of the 2016 election. 
  • The press: On February 17, 2017, Trump tweeted: “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes@NBCNews@ABC@CBS@CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
  • Seven days later, appearing before the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 24, Trump said: “I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake, phony, fake….I’m against the people that make up stories and make up sources. They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name. Let their name be put out there.”
  • The judiciary: Trump repeatedly attacked Seattle U.S. District Judge James Robart, who halted Trump’s first Muslim travel ban. 
  • At Trump’s bidding, White House aide Stephen Miller attacked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: “We have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become, in many cases, a supreme branch of government.”
  • President Barack Obama: For five years, Trump, more than anyone else, popularized the slander that Barack Obama was born in Kenya—and was therefore not an American citizen.
  • Even after Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate—on April 27, 2011—Trump tweeted, on August 6, 2012: “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama‘s birth certificate is a fraud.”

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Barack Obama 

  • On March 4, 2017, in a series of unhinged tweets, Trump accused Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”    

Trump was later forced to admit he had no evidence to back up his slanderous claims about Obama.

* * * * *

Donald Trump isn’t crazy, as many of his critics charge.  As President, ex-President and re-elected President, he knows what he’s doing—and why. 

He has tried to strip every potential challenger to his authority—and version of reality—of legitimacy. He intends there will be:  

  • No independent press to reveal his failures and crimes.
  • No independent law enforcement agencies to investigate his abuses of office.
  • No independent judiciary to hold him accountable.
  • No independent military to dissent as he recklessly hurtles toward a nuclear disaster. 
  • No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge him for re-election in 2028—and beyond.

In short: No one—ever—to challenge his remaining in office as “President-for-Life.”  

DONALD TRUMP: THE MIND OF A PSYCHOPATH COMES TO VIDEO: PART TWO (END)

In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on November 1, 2024 at 12:09 am

After taking office as President on January 20, 2017, Donald Trump continued to hurl threats of violence against those he hates.           

“Trump’s language of violence started with immigrants when he launched his presidential campaign in 2015,” wrote Washington Post Reporter Eugene Scott.There is a direct line from his language to real violence against immigrants and other innocent Americans caught in the maniacal mass shootings of the past year.

“And this cancer is spreading: to Congress, to the media, to the intelligence community, to foreign allies. There is no end in sight as Trump becomes increasingly unhinged and the GOP remains frozen in abject silence.”

On October 2, 2019, Journalist Nina Burleigh wrote: “Since 2015, TV-watching Americans have been subject to the deimatic spectacle of more than 400 rallies (at least 80 since his election) in which Trump sometimes openly and more often coyly urged supporters to violence. These spectacles have conditioned many Americans to fear him and his more enthusiastic supporters.” 

Image result for Images of people giving the "Sieg heil" salute to Trump

Supporters giving the “Seig Heil” salute to Donald Trump

“Over the last few days, the President’s rhetoric of violence and hate has spread,” stated an October 3, 2019 press release by America’s Voice, a liberal immigration group.

“As Jamelle Bouie noted yesterday, ‘Over the weekend, in a rage over impeachment, President Trump accused Representative Adam Schiff of ‘treason,’ promised ‘Big Consequences’ for the whistle-blower who sounded the alarm about his phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and shared a warning — from a Baptist pastor in Dallas — that impeachment ‘will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.’” 

Trump’s opponents have good reason to fear. And not simply the public demonstrations by the President’s fanatical base. They should fear the secret fantasies of the Right. 

Those secret fantasies have been revealed in a series of Right-wing videos featuring graphic acts of violence against those whom the Right—and Trump—hate.

From October 10 to 12, 2019, attendees of the American Priority Conference at the Trump National Doral Miami resort enjoyed many of those videos.

One of these, “The Trumpsman,” featured a digitized Trump shooting, stabbing and setting fire to such liberals—and even conservatives—as: 

  • Former President Bill Clinton
  • Former Vice President Joe Biden
  • Former Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
  • Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
  • Former President Barack Obama
  • Vermont United States Senator Bernie Sanders
  • Utah Senator Mitt Romney
  • The late Arizona Senator John McCain 

And legitimate news media—such as CBS, BBC, ABC, CNN, The New York Times and The  Washington Post—were also depicted as among Trump’s victims.

Image result for images of the trumpsman video

The video was produced by Rightists who believed it reflected what Donald Trump would do to his enemies if only he could get away with it. And given his near-constant calls for violence against his critics, they were absolutely correct.  

But the video’s critics were wrong to call for its suppression.

On the contrary—it should have bene widely seen for what it was: The Mein Kampf of Donald Trump and his fanatical followers, in and outside the Republican party.

Like Adolf Hitler’s autobiography, it depicted the future America can expect if the Right gains the power to live out its murderous fantasies. And the fantasy Right-wingers prize most: The brutal extermination of everyone who refuses to submit to their Fascistic tyranny.

“The Trumpsman” is part of a growing genre of pro-Trump memes that routinely earn thousands of views on sites like YouTube and Twitter. Many superimpose the faces of Trump and his chief supporters slaughtering Democrats, liberal celebrities and/or members of the media.

The event’s organizer, Alex Phillips, hurriedly claimed that the “unauthorized video” was shown “in a side room” at the American Priority Conference.

But there was an upside to this exercise in Right-wing porn. Democrats could have run TV ads showing limited clips from “The Trumpsman” video.

Unfortunately, the majority of Democrats lack the courage to attack their Right-wing enemies with the same ruthlessness used against them. That’s why they lost most Presidential elections of the 20th century.

Americans should be constantly warned: These videos were not made by liberals to parody the values and goals of the Republican party and its Right-wing supporters.

These videos were made by Right-wingers—and reflect the true values and intentions of the Republican party and its Right-wing supporters

The boiler-plate rhetoric that gushes out of Republican conventions—about love of family, God and flag—is the public mask of the Right.

The videos that depict Right-wingers ruthlessly slaughtering anyone who dares to disagree with them reflect the real face of the Right.

Of course, most Americans never imagined that a President would:

  • Refuse to accept the results of a legitimate Presidential election;
  • Spend four years lying that he had lost through massive voter fraud; 
  • Incite a mob to attack Congress while it counted Electoral College votes—which he knew proved he had lost in 2020.

Trump’s opponents should stop deluding themselves that: “Surely he’ll never do that.”

Whatever they fear he will do, he will do.

Like all predators, he will stop only when he meets a stronger opponent.

Germans—and the rest of the world—learned that about Adolf Hitler. But only when it was too late.

DONALD TRUMP: THE MIND OF A PSYCHOPATH COMES TO VIDEO: PART ONE (OF TWO)

In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on October 31, 2024 at 12:14 am

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. Of this he served only nine months before being released.

Hitler used his time in Landsberg Prison, in Bavaria, to write his infamous book, Mein Kampf“My Struggle.” Part autobiography, part political treatise, it laid out his future plans—for a revitalized Germany and the conquest of other nations.

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Adolf Hitler leaving Landsberg Prison, December, 20, 1924

Published in 1925, it was long ignored by all but the most fanatical Nazis. But as Hitler gained increasing numbers of votes in a series of elections, many people—inside and outside Germany—began paying attention to its contents.

By 1939 it had sold 5,200,000 copies and had been translated into 11 languages.

Most of those who bought the book never read it. Its style was bombastic, repetitious and illogical. The first edition contained grammatical errors, reflecting a self-educated man.

Few who read it took Hitler’s intentions seriously. Comedians portrayed him as a wildly gesturing  crank who screamed constantly.

Hitler made no effort to hide his program for Germany under his rule. His candor led many people to believe he was a lunatic who could be safely ignored. 

He was especially insistent on the need for eliminating world Jewry and conquering the Soviet Union. 

On the former topic he wrote: “The nationalization of our masses will succeed only when, aside from all the positive struggle for the soul of our people, their international poisoners are exterminated. 

“If at the beginning of the war and during the war twelve or fifteen thousand of these Hebrew corrupters of the nation had been subjected to poison gas, such as had to be endured in the field by hundreds of thousands of our very best German workers of all classes and professions, then the sacrifice of millions at the front would not have been in vain.”

A mere 17 years later, Hitler’s “Thousand-Year Reich” would translate those words into horrific action in a series of extermination camps equipped with gas chambers.

Mein Kampf(german Language Edition) (German Edition)

Hitler was equally insistent that Germany needed to find Lebensraum“Living space”-–in the east. And by “east” he meant “Russia.” 

Specifically: “And so we National Socialists consciously draw a line beneath the foreign policy tendency of our pre-War period. We take up where we broke off six hundred years ago.

“We stop the endless German movement to the south and west, and turn our gaze toward the land in the east. At long last we break off the colonial and commercial policy of the pre-War period and shift to the soil policy of the future.

“If we speak of soil in Europe today, we can primarily have in mind only Russia and her vassal border states.” 

Hitler finally attained power on January 30, 1933. He realized that Germany was not yet strong enough to impose its will on other nations. So he set out on a secret crash program to make Germany the strongest military power in Europe.

In 1936, he set out on his “mission of Providence”:

  • March, 1936: Ordering German troops to reoccupy the demilitarised zone between France and Germany (the Rhineland), in violation of the Versailles Treaty, which ended World War 1.
  • July, 1936: Sending troops to Spain to support the Fascist army of General Francisco Franco.
  • March 12, 1938: Occupying Austria and “unifying” it with Germany (the “Anschluss“).
  • September 29, 1938: Bullying British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain into surrendering Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland districts to Germany.
  • September 1, 1939: Ordering the invasion of Poland, which unintentionally launched World War II.
  • June 22, 1941: Ordering the invasion of the Soviet Union. 
  • 1941: Secretly ordering “the Final Solution of the Jewish Question,” resulting in the extermination of at least six million Jews.

Only after Hitler set out to conquer, first Europe, then the Soviet Union, did his victims and intended victims realize that Mein Kampf had given them a deadly warning. A warning too many of them had refused to heed.

By the time World War II ended:

  • Fifty million men, women and children were died—most of them dying in agony.
  • The Soviet Union, having crushed Nazi Germany, become a world power.
  • Poland and eastern Europe—once captives of Nazi Germany—now found themselves captives of the Soviet Union.
  • The United States, untouched by the war, emerged as the world’s superpower—and the only country strong enough to contain the Soviet Union.

But Adolf Hitler isn’t the only would-be dictator to give ample warning of his murderous intentions.

And, like most Germans in the Weimar Republic, which preceded Nazi Germany, most Americans refuse to take that warning seriously. 

“THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP. NOW GET LOST!”

In History, Politics, Social commentary on October 22, 2024 at 12:49 am

History seems to have repeated itself.   

On October 12, hundreds of Donald Trump followers were left stranded in the California desert after a rally in the Coachella Valley. 

Despite the intense heat that soared to over 100 degrees, thousands of passionate Trump supporters braved the elements to hear the former President speak. During the rally, some supporters reportedly collapsed because of the stifling heat.  

Prior to the event, buses were provided to transport supporters to the rally location. Trump loves to brag about the size of  his rallies, so no effort was spared to bus them into Calhoun Ranch, which was situated about five miles from where they had parked their vehicles.

He spoke for almost 90 minutes, then left the stage at about 7 p.m.

Donald Trump

That was when chaos erupted. 

Instead of being shuttled away from the venue, many Stormtrumpers were left stranded in 93 degree heat. No buses showed up to return them to their cars, which were miles away. This left many attendees scrambling to find their way home. 

“Apparently the buses are no longer coming,” one Stormtrumper posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, more than three hours after the rally.

“There used to be like 20 buses when we were being brought here, but now there’s only like three buses operating. It’s just chaos, absolute chaos. All of us are stranded here, everyone is stranded here.”   

Two hours after the rally, another Stormtrumper railed on X: “Parking lot is a two-hour walk. Countless elderly stranded here and can’t walk anymore. No restroom facilities accessible anymore. Something nefarious went down tonight to spark a riot.”

He claimed that a bus driver had told attendees that “ALL of the fuel stations for BUSES (not cars) were completely depleted,” which meant some of the bus drivers were stranded without gas.

“There were apparently 60 buses employed for this event,” he added, “and the fuel reserves were completely depleted or never refilled before the event. Smells like sabotage!” 

Candidate Surrogates On The Stump In NE Wisconsin | WTAQ News Talk | 97.5 FM · 1360 AM | Green Bay, WI

A Trump campaign bus

In fact, the only villain at work lay in Trump’s complete indifference to his supporters after they filled seats for TV cameras at the rally.

“Thousands of people were stranded after the Trump rally in Coachella on Saturday night. The Trump campaign provided buses to bring people to the rally but no busses showed up to take them back to their cars,” Republicans Against Trump posted. “Trump doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

A similar “Screw your followers” event had occurred almost 12 years earlier, on November 6, 2012.

President Barack Obama soundly defeated Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney and won a second term in the White House.

Then—according to NBC reporter Garrett Haake:

“From the moment Mitt Romney stepped off stage Tuesday night, having just delivered a brief concession speech he wrote only that evening, the massive infrastructure surrounding his campaign quickly began to disassemble itself.

“Aides taking cabs home late that night got rude awakenings when they found the credit cards linked to the campaign no longer worked.”

The Romney campaign—having no more use for its loyal staffers—had given them the heave-ho.

More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient historian, Plutarch, in his biography of Alexander the Great, made this timeless observation about human character: “And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.

“Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever.”

Clearly, sometime before Election Night, arrangements had been made to cancel those credit cards. And  why not?  Whether he entered the White House or returned home, those who had sacrificed so much of their time and energy would now be completely useless to Romney.

Romney was not only rich (with an estimated fortune of at least $250 million) he had made it clear that the rich were the only group he truly cared about. This was, after all, the candidate who made statements like: 

  • “I have friends who are owners of NASCAR Teams.”
  • “Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs.”
  • “Corporations are people, my friend.”
  • “Forty-seven percent are dependent upon government.”
  • “I like being able to fire people.” 

So when the curtain finally dropped on Romney’s six-year quest to become Plutocrat-in-Chief, there was no reason for him to do anything but exit quickly and let his loyal followers fend for themselves.

In giving his concession speech, Romney paid tribute to those who had sacrificed so much on his behalf:

“To the team across the country—the volunteers, the fundraisers, the donors, the surrogates—I don’t believe that there’s ever been an effort in our party that can compare with what you have done over these past years. Thank you so very much.”

For Mitt Romney it was Exit, Stage Right (there is no Stage Left for a Right-wing Republican) and time to let his followers fend for themselves. 

Twelve years later, Donald Trump would reach the same conclusion.

DONALD TRUMP’S GOAL: “PRESIDENT-FOR-LIFE”

In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on September 2, 2024 at 12:21 am

In a closed-door speech to Republican donors on March 3, 2018, President Donald Trump revealed his ultimate intention: To overthrow America’s constitutional government.   

He praised China’s President, Xi Jinping, for recently assuming full dictatorial powers: “He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.” 

The statement was greeted with cheers and laughter by Republican donors. 

Upon taking office as the Nation’s 45th President, Donald Trump attacked or undermined one public or private institution after another.

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Donald Trump

Among these:

  • American Intelligence: Even before taking office, Trump refused to accept the findings of the FBI, CIA and NSA that Russian Intelligence agents had intervened in the 2016 election to ensure his victory.
  • “I think it’s ridiculous,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it….No, I don’t believe it at all.”   
  • And when FBI Director James Comey dared to pursue a probe into “the Russia thing,” Trump fired him without warning. 
  • American law enforcement agencies: Trump repeatedly attacked his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for not “protecting” him from agents pursuing the Russia investigation.
  • On November 8, 2018, Trump abruptly fired him, following Democrats’ winning control of the House in the 2018 midterm elections.
  • He threatened to fire Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who oversaw Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian subversion of the 2016 election. 
  • He intended to fire Mueller during the summer of 2017, but was talked out of it by aides fearful that it would set off calls for his impeachment.
  • American military agencies: In 2020, Trump declined to visit an American cemetery near Paris in 2018, and referred to U.S. Marines buried there as “losers” and “suckers.”  
  • While President, Trump regularly abused military officials, calling Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley a “dumbass” and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis “the world’s most overrated general.”
  • The press: On February 17, 2017, Trump tweeted: “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes@NBCNews@ABC@CBS@CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
  • Appearing before the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 24, Trump said: “I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake, phony, fake….I’m against the people that make up stories and make up sources. They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name. Let their name be put out there.” 
  • The judiciary: Trump repeatedly attacked Seattle US District Judge James Robart, who halted Trump’s first travel ban. 
  • In one tweet, Trump claimed: “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!”  
  • At Trump’s bidding, White House aide Stephen Miller attacked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: “We have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become, in many cases, a supreme branch of government.”
  • President Barack Obama: For five years, Trump popularized the slander that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya—and was therefore not an American citizen or a legitimate President..
  • Even after Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate—on April 27, 2011—Trump tweeted, on August 6, 2012: “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama‘s birth certificate is a fraud.”
  • Trump was later forced to admit he had no evidence to back up his slanderous claims.

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Barack Obama

* * * * *

Nor, since leaving the White House, has Trump stopped trying to undermine one American institution after another.

  • Facing 91 criminal counts in four cases, he has discredited the judicial system, attacking judges, prosecutors, witnesses—and even their family members.
  • He has attacked Independent Counsel Jack Smith as “deranged” and accused him of trying to invalidate his candidacy for President in 2024.
  • He has attacked retired U.S. Army General Mark Milley for calling him “a wannabe dictator,” and said that Milley deserved execution as a traitor.
  • Milley had successfully averted war with China by calling his Chinese military counterparts in the final weeks of Trump’s administration to assure them that Trump was not planning to attack China.
  • He claims voter fraud where none exists, casting doubt on the integrity of the electoral system.
  • He claims himself to be the victim of “the deep state” inside the federal bureaucracy.
  • He attacks the integrity of the FBI—causing previously “law and order” Republicans to demand its defunding. 

Donald Trump isn’t crazy, as many of his critics charge. He knows exactly what he’s doing—and why.

He intends to strip every potential challenger to his authority—or his version of reality—of legitimacy with the public. If he succeeds, there will be:

  • No independent press to reveal his failures and crimes.
  • No independent law enforcement agencies to investigate his abuses of office.
  • No independent judiciary to hold him accountable.
  • No independent military to dissent as he recklessly hurtles toward a nuclear disaster.
  • No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge him for re-election in 2028—or any other year..
  • No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge his remaining in office as “President-for-Life.”

DEMOCRACY’S FALLING? BUT WHAT ABOUT MY CAREER?

In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on May 9, 2024 at 12:05 am

And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men. Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever.
—Plutarch, “Life of Alexander” 

Hope Hicks served in President Donald Trump’s administration as White House Director of Strategic Communication from January to September, 2017.    

Today she’s a prominent witness at his trial for concealing hush money payments in 2016 to porn “actress” Stormy Daniels.

On January 6, 2021, Hicks had a problem: She feared she might never work again.

From 2017 to 2018 she served as White House Communications Director. After leaving the White House, she returned to serve as Counselor to the President from 2020 to 2021.

Hope Hicks November 2017.jpg

Hope Hicks

And then came the Trump-inspired attack on Congress on January 6.

Among the infamies and crimes Trump committed—and Hicks witnessed—during his four years as President:

  • Repeatedly attacking the nation’s free press as “the enemy of the American people” for daring to report his growing list of crimes and disasters.
  • 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.
  • Giving highly classified CIA Intelligence to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. 
  • Using his position as President to further enrich himself, in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
  • Firing FBI Director James Comey for refusing to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump—and continuing to investigate Russian subversion of the 2016 election.

Keep Laughing!: Songs about Nuclear Annihilation from 1940's-80's

  • Shutting down the Federal Government on December 22, 2018, because Democrats refused to fund his useless “border wall” between the United States and Mexico. An estimated 380,000 government employees were furloughed and another 420,000 were ordered to work without pay for 35 days.
  • 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 to attack the Capitol Building where Senators and Representatives were meeting to count the Electoral Votes won by himself and Joe Biden. His objective: Stop the count, which he knew would prove him the loser.

So Hope had plenty to feel tormented about.  

Yet it wasn’t any of these offenses that upset her.

It was something far more personal: She feared that the public’s association of her with Trump’s attack on Congress would doom her, at age 32, to permanent unemployment.

On January 6, 2021, she exchanged a series of texts with Julie Radford, First Daughter Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff. 

HICKS: “In one day he [Trump] ended every future opportunity that doesn’t include speaking engagements at the local proud boys [sic] chapter

“And all of us that didn’t have jobs lined up will be perpetually unemployed

“I’m so mad and upset

“We all look like domestic terrorists now”

RADFORD: “Oh yes I’ve been crying for an hour”

HICKS: “This made us all unemployable

“Like untouchable

“God I’m so fucking mad”

RADFORD: “I know there isn’t a chance of finding a job 

“Visa also sent me a blow off email today

“Already”

HICKS: “Nope. Not being dramatic, but we are all fucked.

[Referring to Trump]: “Attacking the VP [Vice President Mike Pence]?

“Wtf is wrong with him” 

Albert Speer, former architect and Minister of Armaments for his late Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, would have fully empathized. 

Monochrome photograph of the upper body of Albert Speer, signed at the bottom

Albert Speer

Bundesarchiv, Bild 146II-277 / Binder / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

With the collapse of the Third Reich, he found himself hurled from power and facing trial as a war criminal at Nuremberg.

His prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, said: “Speer joined in planning and executing the program to dragoon prisoners of war and foreign workers into German war industries, which waxed in output while the workers waned in starvation.”

Yet Speer falsely claimed he had simply been an apolitical architect who had been drafted into serving as Minister of Armaments—and hadn’t known about the Holocaust. 

The prosecution couldn’t prove he had. So he escaped a death sentence—and was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.

Emerging from prison in 1966, Speer lamented that no architectural firm in postwar Germany would hire “Hitler’s architect.” 

So he spent the rest of his life writing—at great profit—about his 12 years as a high-ranking official in the Third Reich. As “The Good Nazi,” he portrayed himself as a political innocent deceived into hell by a Mephistopheles-like Hitler.

Like Speer, Hope Hicks has repudiated her own former Fuhrer—after serving him during his worst infamies.

And, like Speer, she isn’t facing the dangers of poverty. Her net worth is estimated at $1 million, owing to her past work as a model and public relations agent.

GOVERNOR KRISTI NOEM TELLS HER DOG STORY

In History, Politics, Social commentary on April 30, 2024 at 12:11 am

The ancient historian Plutarch warned:

And the most glorious episodes do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.

“Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles.”

Those needing a modern demonstration of this truth need only turn to the story now igniting the Internet—especially X: South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s proud confession of shooting her 14-month-old wirehair pointer named “Cricket.”

Why Did Kristi Noem Kill Her Dog?

Kristi Noem

The confession (“I hated that dog”) comes in her new book, No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward, which will be published in May.

The British newspaper, The Guardian, obtained an advance copy and published excerpts from it. And that’s when the firestorm erupted.

Cricket’s “crimes”: Being disobedient, being a poor hunter during a pheasant hunting trip and later attacking and killing a neighbor’s chickens.

According to Noem, she hoped to calm the young dog down. But Cricket had other ideas, ruining the hunt and “going out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life.” 

Donald Ward on X: "New Mitt Romney dog ...

Cricket

Noem called Cricket, which didn’t lead to the desired response. So she tried an electronic “shock” collar. That didn’t work, either.

Then, on the way home after the hunt, Noem stopped to talk to a local family. And that was when Cricket became the hunter Noem wanted her to be.

She leaped out of Noem’s truck and attacked the farmer’s chickens—“grabbing one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another.”

For Noem, Cricket—who didn’t want to kill pheasants—now behaved like “a trained assassin.”  Noem grabbed Cricket, but the dog “whipped around to bite me.”

As the chickens’ owner wept, Noem apologized and wrote the family a check “for the price they asked, and helped them disposes of the carcasses littering the scene of the crime.”

Through it all, writes Noem, Cricket was “the picture of pure joy.” 

For Noem, Cricket’s “crimes” were unforgivable—and utterly deserving of the death penalty: She was  

  • “untrainable”
  • “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with” and
  • “less than worthless…as a hunting dog.”

So Noem got her shotgun and led Cricket to a gravel pit. 

“It was not a pleasant job, but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.”

Her family also owned a male goat—unnamed in the book—that was “nasty and mean” because it hadn’t been castrated. Worse, it smelled “disgusting, musty, rancid” and “loved to chase” Noem’s children, knocking them down and ruining their clothing. 

She dragged the goat to the same gravel pit. But just as she pulled the trigger on her shotgun the animal jumped and was only wounded. Noem went back to her truck, got another shell, then “hurried back to the gravel pit and put him down.” 

At that point a school bus dropped off Noem’s children. “Hey, where’s Cricket?” her seven-year-old daughter, Kennedy, asked.

Most responses to the slaughters were furious and unforgiving:

  • Rick Wilson, a member of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, called Noem “deliberately cruel” and “trash.”
  • Ryan Busse, the Democratic candidate for Governor of Montana, said: “Anyone who has ever owned a birddog knows how disgusting, lazy and evil this is. Damn.” 
  • Meghan McCain, daughter of former U.S. Senator John McCain: “You can recover from a lot of things in politics, change the narrative etc – but not from killing a dog.”
  • Podcaster Tommy Vietor called Noem “Jeffrey Dahmer with veneers”, a reference to a famous serial killer and a recent scandal over Noem’s cosmetic dentistry treatment. 

In March, she posted a laudatory video about cosmetic dental surgery that she had received in Texas. She claimed that a team of cosmetic dentists had given her a smile she can be proud of.

She’s being sued for not stating she had a financial interest in the product she was hustling.

In a post to X (formerly Twitter) Noem wrote: “What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through Covid, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges.

“My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.” 

Among the “tough challenges” Noem wants to take on is becoming Vice President nominee to Donald Trump. Trump has already wrapped up the Republican nomination for President. And this has set off a scramble among Republican politicians to become his running mate.

It may be that Noem expected her admission of killing a defenseless dog and goat as the best way to prove to Trump that she can be as ruthless as himself. She might even be hinting that she would be willing to attack his opponents as brutally as she dealt with Cricket.

TRUMP: GIVING THANKS TO A DICTATOR, THE BOOT TO AN AMERICAN

In Bureaucracy, History, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on February 19, 2024 at 1:27 am

And the most glorious episodes do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.  

Sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles.”  

So warned the ancient historian, Plutarch, in the introduction to his biography of Alexander the Great.

It’s well to keep this warning in mind when recalling the story of 17-year-old Tyler Linfesty, now known as “Plaid Shirt Guy.”

On September 6, 2018, Linfesty, a high school senior, attended President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Billings, Montana. He had wanted to see the President of the United States speak in his home state.

And, much to his surprise, he was randomly chosen by the Trump campaign for “VIP status.”  He would be seated directly behind Trump.

But this came with a warning: “You have to be enthusiastic, you have to be clapping, you have to be cheering for Donald Trump.” 

Before he attended the rally, Trump staffers urged him to wear a “Make America Great Again” cap, but he refused.  

Owing to his varied facial expressions and his plaid shirt, he quickly became known on the Internet as “Plaid-Shirt Guy.”

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Tyler Linfesty

Then, while the rally was still going, Linfesty was approached by a Trump minion who said: “I’m gonna replace you.”

He hadn’t been heckling Trump. Nor had he held up an anti-Trump sign.

So why was he suddenly ejected? 

Without being given a reason, Linfesty was forced to come up with one himself. And his best guess: He didn’t cheer when Trump made statements he disagreed with.

He had applauded those parts of Trump’s speech he did agree with—such as opposition to NAFTA. He also agreed with Trump’s claim that the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination was stolen from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

But there were parts of Trump’s speech he disagreed with—such as Trump’s claim that his “tax reform law” benefits the middle class.

(It doesn’t—its foremost beneficiaries comprise the top 1%.)

Thus, Linfesty looked skeptical when Trump said it was harder to win the Electoral College than the popular vote.

(It isn’t. A candidate need only win those states with the most electoral votes. He needn’t win the popular vote—just as Trump failed to win it against Hillary Clinton by nearly three million votes.)  

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Donald Trump

And when Trump said he could have won the popular vote, Linfesty turned to several people near him and mouthed “What?”

As Linfesty explained to CNN’s Don Lemon: “I had to be real with myself. I’m not going to pretend to support something I don’t support.” 

Apparently this was too much for those staging the rally.

“I saw this woman walking toward me on the left,” Linfesty told the Billings Gazette. “She just said to me, ‘I’m going to replace you.’ I just walked off. I knew I was getting out for not being enthusiastic enough, but I decided not to fight it.”

But being removed from the Trump speech was not the end for Linfesty.

He was then detained by the United States Secret Service.

“Some Secret Service guys escorted me into this backroom area, and they just sat me down for 10 minutes,” said Linfesty.  The agents looked at his ID, then released him—and told him not to return.

The Secret Service is charged with protecting the President (and, in a lesser-known duty, protecting the national currency). It is not charged with regulating the free speech rights of Americans. 

It is, in short, not supposed to operate as the dreaded, black-uniformed SS of Nazi Germany.

Logo of the United States Secret Service.svg

Ironically, earlier that morning, Trump had tweeted a thank-you to North Korea’s brutal dictator Kim Jong-Un. 

The reason: Kim had said he had “unwavering faith in President Trump.”

Thus, a dictator who flatters Trump gets treated to praise, while an American exercising his right to free speech faces possible arrest.

Speaking to the Gazette, Linfesty said: “I didn’t really have a plan. I was just going to clap for things I agreed with and not clap for things I didn’t agree with.” 

And he insisted to CNN’s Don Lemon that his facial expressions had been honest: “I would have made those faces if anyone were to say that to me. I was not trying to protest, those were just my actual, honest reactions. 

“Each time I see one of these rallies I see somebody behind Donald Trump clapping and cheering and being super enthusiastic and I’ve always wondered myself, ‘Are those people being really genuine?’” 

Two months to the day after Linfesty’s ordeal, Democrats recaptured the House of Representatives, but failed to win a majority in the Senate.

The next day, Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Since May, 2017, Trump had brutally insulted Sessions for refusing to suppress Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russia’s subversion of the 2016 Presidential election.

It is no accident that Donald Trump praises brutal dictators like Kim Jong-Un, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. They embody the type of all-powerful strongman that he aspires to be.