Russia sent 150,000 troops, thousands of tanks, hundreds of rocket and missile launchers, hundreds of warplanes in an unprovoked attack – BUT – we should feel sorry for the Russians!

Russian soldiers have attacked thousands of houses, apartment buildings, hospitals, churches, museums, shopping malls, businesses – BUT – we must feel sorry for Russian feelings!!!

Russians have murdered children, raped women, short civilians, tortured civilians – BUT – we must have empathy for the poor Russians doing these brutalities!!!!!

Russians have looted businesses and homes, stolen relief aid, stolen everything not nailed down – BUT – we should have compassion for the poor Russians!

WHY? Because poor, innocent Russia was attacked!!! Somebody attacked an installation INSIDE. Russia – NOT fair! Russia is whining, crying in its vodka: “peace talks” are impossible in an “unprovoked” situation like this! Pity the poor Russians!!!!!!!

This “provocation” must be solved. Who on earth would do something this dastardly to an innocent country like peace loving Russia?

The lis of suspects has to include somebody from:
-Poland, for the April-May, 1940 Katyn massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and intelligentsia
– South Korea, for the Russians shooting down Flight KAL007 on 9/1/83; 269 innocents were killed when a Soviet SU-15
interceptor blew them up
– an unknown world citizen, for when Russia claimed ownership of the North Pole, in 2007
– Hungary, for The Russian 1956 invasion
– Germany, for the 1957 thallium poisoning of a Russian in Frankfurt, by Russian agents
– a world citizen, for Russian cyber warfare against the world
– Finland, for the Russian 1939 invasion and subsequent occupation; theft of Karelia [12% of population, 10% of land] –
– Ukraine and southeast Europe, for the January, 2009, cut off of gas [13 days]
– Czechoslovakia, for the 1968 Russian invasion
– Britain, for the 1978 Ricin poisoning of a Bulgarian dissident in London; further poisonings
– Chechnya, for the 1994-2000 wars, flattening Grozny, causing tens of thousands of civilian deaths
– Estonia, for the illegal 1940 occupation; sending 10% of its people to Siberia as punishment for political beliefs
– Malaysia, for the July, 2014 shooting down of Flight MH17 and murder of 298 innocents
– Georgia, for the 2008 “peace enforcement” by Russian troops
– Syrians, for Russian bombings of civilian targets, September, 2015 forward
– Latvia, for the illegal June, 1940 occupation; for subsequent Russian murders and deportations
– Afghanistan, for the 1979 invasion and brutalities which followed
– Lithuania, for the illegal June, 1940 occupation; Russia sending 350,00 to Siberian labor camps
– humans, for Russian poisonings of 2004 [dioxin], 20006 [polonium], 2018 [novichok]
– Mexico, for the 1940 Trotsky assassination in Mexico city by a Russian agent
– Olympic athletes, cheated out of medals by Russian doping, 1956 forward
– Eastern Europeans – Albanians, Bulgarians, Czechs, East Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians, Yugoslavs
– long suffering Russian people, millions in Gulags, millions murdered
– taxpayers everywhere, for wasted billions to prevent Russian attacks

Russia, having declared war – in numerous ways – against humanity and civilization – just WHO could have conceivably launched that dastardly secret sneak attack on innocent, peaceful Russia – in the midst of its war on Ukraine??? Unfair, whine the Russians!!! Undeserved, cry the innocent Russians!!! Why is the world against us, sob the Russians in their vodka. Pity the poor, misunderstood, victimized, Russians!!!!!!!!!!!!!o

Some have blond hair, some brown. Some have blue eyes, some brown. Some are tall, some short. Some are “smart”, some are not. Some are right-handed, some left-handed. Some are “fat”, some are “slim.” Some are athletic, many are not. Some have white skin; others brow, black, red, yellow. Some are healthy, some are not. Some are “straight,” some are “gay.” Most are kind, some are cruel. Some are greedy, most are not.

The same biological processes created all these humans. If one is “religious,” the same God created all of them.

Mark Twain: “The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creatures that cannot.”

Due to “advanced” technology, it is now possible for a person to live entirely inside their own home. If they do, are they still “human”?

Mary Evelyn Tucker: “To be human means to take off the headphones and unplug virtual reality. We need to listen again and to relearn the multiple voices of the universe. From these voices will come the songs of healing and renewal which we will sing with our children and with their children. If we are to survive as humans, it is crucial that we learn once again to sing.”

Children don”t hate. They’re taught to.

R.W. Emerson: “That which I fear and hate is really myself.”

By what measures is a human “successful”?

Oscar Wilde: “The true perfection in man lies, not in what man has, but in what man is.”

WHO are YOU? WHY are YOU here? Do YOU hear the music?

Roberto Clemente: “Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on this earth.”

Hitler, Mao, and Stalin, by biology were “human.” But5 – were they? If they were “human,” what does that say about us?

C.S. Lewis: “The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loved to paint…but is conceived and ordered [moved, seconded, carried, and minuted] in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.”

Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. were very special humans. What does that say about us?

T.Carlyle: “Great men are the Fire-pillars in this dark pilgrimage of mankind; they stand as heavenly Signs, ever-living witnesses of what has been, prophetic tokens of what may still be, the revealed, embodied Possibilities of human nature.”

In Ecuador, an old Amazonian Shuar man: “The world is as you dream it. Your people dreamed of huge factories, tall buildings, as many cars as there are raindrops in this river. Now you begin to see that your dream is a nightmare.” [“The Secret History of the American Empire”; John Perkins]

WHO are you? WHY are you here? Do YOU hear the music?

Corporations are. NOT. human people. The word “corporation” is. NOT. in the Constitution. The first overt act of the American Revolution was against a corporation – the Boston Tea Party.
ALL “rights” corporations have were. GIVEN. to them by the Supreme Court, beginning with 1880s corruption of the l4th Amendment.
Thomas Jefferson: “I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare to challenge our government to a trial by strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” Jefferson was, VERY definitely, not alone in these feelings. Corporate charters were limited.
That corporate aristocracy now runs America, greatly aided by “business-friendly” Supreme Courts. The [current] climax of the corporate control of America is “Citizens United.” “Our” elections now totally corrupted by American, and foreign, “Dark Money.”
Biological human tyrants die. Paper tyrants live forever.

George Orwell: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Control…..Repubs/Right-Wingers[RWs]…need, MUST be in control…..because their “role” as canaries in the mine, of sentries on the wall requires it. They must be free to “sniff out danger, protect American virginity. RWs must control women and “colored persons.” There are others, “enemies of the people,” for whom RWs must always be on guard so “we” don’t become “victims” like Repubs.
“Enemies of the people” include “communists,” Darwin, EPA, taxes, Planned Parenthood, labor unions, Mexican rapists, “socialism,” mainstream news, regulations, separation of church & state, immigrants, gays, “activist judges,” bureaucrats, people not like you.

Follow the breadcrumbs down the RW rabbit hole…into Repub fantasyland…searching for “transparency”…necessary because the 2022 “enemies of the people,” teachers, replace 2021’s “enemies of the people”: volunteer elections workers and those who couldn’t find “missing’ votes; and 2020’s “enemies of the people”: public health workers and nurses.
There is another “enemy of the people’: the wrong kind of voter – an ongoing RW fear.

Michael Ende: “When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies..human live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.”

The famous 8/23/1971 “Powell Memorandum” spoke of threats to capitalism, warned of “disquieting voices..from college campus, the pulpit, the media.” Powell advocated “constant surveillance” of textbook and tV content, a purge of left-wing elements. Corporations needed to get their message out, fund neoliberal scholars, publish books, influence popular opinions. This has been done, with a vengeance.

The teacher plot against YOUR kids has been sniffed out by ever vigilant Repub/RW canaries, deep in the educational mineshaft. First it was “CRT.,” now a dastardly “lack of transparency,” sneaking in “unAmerican,” “divisive concepts,” brainwashing YOUR vulnerable kids! Using YOUR tax dollars! Shades of Benedict Arnold. Where is Senator Joe McCarthy when “we” need him?

Repub/RW sentries on America’s walls solution: “parent power,” as co-equal educational partners regulating “commie” teachers, safeguarding America’s sacred curriculum.
As Repubs/RWs have taught you, helped by media morons and internet idiots, so-called “experts’ know nothing – but YOU do.It’s called “common sense.” The national press secretary for the Republican State Leadership Committee said Repub/RW proposals are “common sense.”

*****WARNING!!! *****FLASHING LIGHTS! Innocent civilians advised: seek cover whenever ANY Repub/RW operative says “common sense” to describe ANYTHING – because it won’t be. “Common sense” is a major RW “code word” – like “religious liberty,” “free market solution,” “originalism,” “election integrity,” “personal responsibility,” “good man with a gun.”

Perspective: RW operative Chris Rufo [January]: this would be 2022’s wedge issue to “bait the left” into appearing to oppose transparency, implying Dems are hiding something. “The strategy here is to use a non-threatening, liberal value – ‘transparency’ – to force ideological actors to undergo public scrutiny.” Repub/RW proposals will “give parents a powerful check on bureaucratic power.” [unsaid here: give Repubs 2022 votes as rewards for having sniffed out this diabolical “threat” to American democracy]
TIME OUT!!! – read the Repub/RW thinking above again – note HOW they are thinking, note the kind of thing they try to do in a political campaign. Why not something positive? Something improving USA education?

So – we have “constant surveillance” of “commie” teachers, “commie” books, “commie” school boards. “Poll watchers” unleashed in Florida ensuring “election integrity”; vigilantes unleashed in Texas ensuring no rebel females refuse carrying out their God-given roles as baby carriers; “parent power” unleashed across America saving OUR kids from dastardly “unAmerican” ideas and discomfort.
At least one “parent power” sentry wants teachers wearing body cameras. Indiana “parent power” legislation allowing parents filing complaints and lawsuits if they “believe'[!!!] teachers have violated a ban on certain “divisive concepts.” No word yet whether future laws will require “commie” teachers burned at the stake.

Thomas Paine: “He who dares not to offend cannot be honest.”

QUESTION is: “..all Men are created equal..” a “divisive concept”. – and thus banned?
– evolution [modern science & medicine basis], illustrated by COVID variations, a “divisive concept”?
– discussion of women not voting until 1920, “glass ceiling” since, a “divisive concept’?
– “separation of church & state” [1776 No. Carolina Constitution, Articles XXXIV: “..no persons..on any pretense whatso-
ever be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith..”}, a “divisive concept”?
– discussing the three worst [until 2000] Supreme Court decisions in American history, “Dred Scott,’ “Plessy”, “
“Korematsu” [all racist], a “divisive concept”?
– telling students “Second Amendment Rights” don’t exist – as per Articles of Confederation, Madison”s first draft,
1792 Militia Acts explicit wording, a “divisive concept”?
– discussing the 1930s Great Depression as a failure of capitalism, a “divisive concept”?
– any mention Europeans conducting genocide against Native Americans in South and North America, a “divisive
concept”?
– a “divisive concept’ to mention African Americans did NOT “enjoy” slavery?

QUESTION: exactly what parts of “American” history are not a “divisive concept,” permissible to discuss? Are advocates of “Parent power” suggesting teaching America as “The Good Ship Lollypop” – when kids can look this up and know it wrong?

QUESTION: will regimented, “safe” classrooms help solve global warming, supply chain mess, economic inequality, national debt, affordable housing, hunger, outsourcing quality ‘American’ jobs, alternative energy? Would ‘safe” classrooms have put Americans on the moon?

QUESTION: when does the “fire department” become the “Fahrenheit 451 department”; “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “1984,” “The Rights of Man,” “The Grapes of Wraith” banned; are “we’ going to demand “loyalty test and oaths” for teachers?

QUESTION: does the demand for increased “transparency” apply to Republican legislators? Are ‘we” going to have “parent power” legislation demanding names of legislators giving donors tax breaks; for contracts given ‘politically connected” businessmen; for “reforms’ that don’t; for RW ideology become law?

Mark Twain: “Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government when it deserves it.”

A circa 2/12/22 Michael Ramirez “Las Vegas Review-Journal” cartoon has an updated definition of “CRT”: “Critical Riot Theory” – as the Repub Nat’l Committee votes to “rewrite the history of the Jan. 6th riots and condemn those who speak the truth.”

Only logical because for decades RWs attempt rewriting truth on many things: reverse Robin Hood tax cuts for rich really “benefit’ America; Founders didn’t explicitly intend “separation of church & state; “2nd Amendment rights’ means carrying any weapon anywhere anytime; “real victims” in American history are white men; “the market’ pre-determined 1975-202X American economic inequality; Founders intended Constitution forever in stone [“originalism”]; revisiting America’s greatest sins and blunders is a “divisive concept’ without merit.

QUESTION: in all this denial, do those pushing “parent power” have so little faith in their own children; these internet kids will be “crushed” and “demoralized” if school tells them what the internet can, maybe already has?

The real “transparency”: Republicans MUST rewrite history – because if they don’t, it will reveal what a huge fraud the post-1980 Republican party is. Long ago, it stopped being the party of Lincoln, Tewddy R, Ike. They can’t win elections on what they stand for – they MUST create “wedge” issues, MUST smear opponents, MUST get people’s emotions aroused against “unAmerican’ villains, “commies'” aliens “out to get them.”

RWs have politicized a disease and vilified doctors and nurses. Now, politicize education and vilify teachers. Before, vilify elections workers; attacked police 1/6/21; deny global warming and vilify scientists. They need, must have “enemies of the people.”

As usual in Repubs/RW melodramas, there’s delicious irony, hypocrisy, and double standards. The Obama and Biden Administrations made White House visitor logs public. The Trump Administration has/is fighting ANY “transparency” on ANY records-documents-emails-memos-visitor logs-etc. You can’t make this stuff up!!!!!

So, you, gentle reader, are left again – to ponder why the Republicans/RWs continue to come up with these “crises,” continue to be upset about something new every day, continue to find enemies. In this case, you have to wonder why “transparency”. – when the post-1945 Republican public record is full of one scandal after another, one case of trying to hide what they’ve done from YOU. They must think you’ve forgotten the last 75 years. i

Then – the “greatest generation” endured 16 years of Great Depression and World War II.
Now – the “wimpiest generation” rebels at enduring 16 months of masks and vaccines.

Then – Americans stormed Normandy and Iwo Jima beaches fighting fascism.
Now – the wimpiest generation storms stores and school board meetings fighting democracy.

Then – White and Black Americans demonstrated in streets in favor of civil rights for all.
Now – racists punch out “Chinese” and demonstrate against civil rights for all.

Then – Mount Rushmore built to honor America’s greatest presidents.
Now – one of America’s worst presidents is “honored” by continuing “The Great Lie.”

Then – Teddy Roosevelt’s Rushmore plaque” “We, here in America, hold in our hands the hopes of men..and shame and disgrace will be ours..if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.”
Now – American democracy is sinking in world rankings; friends world-wide fear what has become of the once great light…..as we…”..trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.”

Then – August 28, 1963, over 200,000 Americans gather peacefully in Washington to hear the “I Have A Dream” speech.
Now – January 6, 2021, several thousand “patriotic tourists” gather at their leader’s call to overturn a presidential election, trash the Capitol building, injure 150 law enforcement officers.

The – Social Security, labor rights laws, feeding the hungry, G.I. Bill, Eisenhower’s freeway system, Medicare passed, honoring the Constitution’s “promote the general Welfare.”
Now – reverse Robin Hood l980s, 2000s, 2017 tax cuts for wealthy and corporations; voter suppression bills sabotage the promotion of the general Welfare.

Then – ordinary people, working in a grocery store, earned enough money for private college tuition.
Now – ordinary people can’t earn enough money for state college tuition, graduate with big debts.

Then – after “the Peace of Detroit,” labor and management agreed to share America’s wealth, leading to the world’s first mass middle class prosperity – the envy of the world.
Now – the top 1% rebelled against the very idea of sharing America’s wealth, leading to one of the world’s greatest economic inequalities.

Then – we once walked and biked everywhere without fear; fights were fistfights.
Now – nowhere in America is safe, guns outnumber people – the result of libertarian laws and court decisions.

Then – American society and economy were built on “stakeholder rights” – citizens, workers, consumers, management had EQUAL rights
Now – American economy [thus society] built on primacy of “shareholder rights” – stock holders, hedge funds, Wall Street – come first. Main street gets the leftovers.

Then – “health care’ was your family doctor; hospitals run by communities and churches as a service; first “health insurance” designed to NOT make money.
Now – “medicine” has been “financialized”; your “benefits” determined by “your” health insurance company; health care is on Wall Street; bankruptcy by health care bills is #1.

Then – sports stadiums of all kinds named after WW I vets [Memorial Stadium], local leaders, team owners [real people!]
Now – sports stadiums of all kinds named after corporations [part of their ubiquitous P.R. campaigns]

Then – because of mass prosperity, America was home to the world’s happiest people, envied world-wide.
Now – the “Happiest People on Earth’ live in Scandinavian social democracies; Americans are some of the world’s most unhappy and stressed-out people

Then – America and Allies won World War II in part because America was home to “the Arsenal of Democracy”; fascist powers were buried under a flood of American products
Now – after “outsourcing” millions of ‘American’ jobs and relocating ‘American” industries [in search of ever greater “shareholder value”], America is at the mercy of the new Nazi Germany at the end of a long “supply chain”

Then – the top 1% used to sit among us, in “box seats,’ waited in food lines with us.
Now – the top 1% has luxury boxes built in to multi-billion dollar “entertainment venues,’ with their own food, lavs, parking areas. They can separate themselves from us both psychologically and physically.

Then – the “Progressive Era” and “New Deal” era [1933-65] deliberately created an America that honored “..all Men are created equal..with certain unalienable Rights..Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Now – since 1970, deliberate efforts to sabotage this, to restrict freedom and prosperity to only a select few [top 1%] have successfully destroyed the American arc [1789-1970] toward equal rights and prosperity for ALL.

Then – a deliberate effort to create a society based on “the rule of law [for all]”; an ever increasing effort to create a society of fairness and equal opportunity – by rules,
Now – a deliberate effort, 1970-202X to. CHANGE. THE. RULES. Rules have been changed by legislatures and courts. Money rules America, made possible by Supreme Court decisions, capped by infamous “Citizens United” [enabling money laundering] – through “free speech,” billionaires BUY more “free speech” than YOU.
The end result – two “countries” – the rich who’ve bought theirs, the lower 90-95% who live in the “country” the rich think You “deserve>”. Two systems of “justice;” of jobs-income-wealth-status; of living standards; two educational systems [elite private education for them]; two medical systems [world’s finest for them; two “nations” of dignity and hope.

THINK!!! Follow the money. WHY is it, with ordinary workers getting raises – they’re still falling behind in “inflation”??? WHO. is getting the money? WHO. is fighting the existence of worker unions? WHY. did ordinary people do best in the 1950s – at the height of labor unions??? WHY. is it, that as labor union membership has dropped – SO HAS THE ORDINARY WORKER”S “buying power”???
See for yourself – find unpsun IRS income data from 1945-1979, then find unspun IRS data from l980-2022. IT will show you [Mother Jones, March/April, 2011] the top 1% is ROBBING YOU of about $10-11,000 every year.
We can have democracy, or we can have rule by billionaires. But – we can’t have both at the same time. Wake up. “Follow the money” – Watergate’s “Deep Throat.” True then. True now.

With between 1/4 and 1/2 American “adults” saying January 6, 2021, events – that millions watched live, the Pentagon said was “insurrection,” that injured 150 police, that trashed the Capitol – did NOT really happen as portrayed by world wide mainstream media – we’re at the point whether “the United States” will remain “united.”

Kurt Andersen’s “Fantasyland”: “We have passed through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole. America has mutated into Fantasyland>” Kakutani’s “The Death of Truth”: “We live in a time when the very idea of objective truth is mocked and discounted..” People are reading and rereading Orwell and Arendt; “What Orwell Didn’t Know,” “Twilight of Democracy,” “Surviving Autocracy,” “Authoritarian Nightmare,” books on fascism and tyranny.

The Founders believed freedom of speech and press enabled Americans to discuss. They didn’t consider there’d be more than one definition of “truth,” or the “alternative facts” rabbit hole. Without belief in unspun truth – as in “smoking gun” [unedited] videos – it might be over forAmerica.
In 1974, an American president resigned when confronted by members of his party with “smoking gun” evidence. In 2021-202X American Fantasyland, “smoking gun”evidence – in many forms – is no longer enough. If some “believe” their “trusted sources” say a “witch hunt” by demonic “enemies of freedom” – then what the rest of the world sees/believes is not valid. They “know” the “real truth.”

In 1787 Philadelphia, at the Constitutional Convention’s end, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic, or a monarchy?” Franklin’s response: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
THE 2022 question: do enough Americans WANT. to keep it?????

In “A Republic, If You Can Keep IT,” former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren: “It seems clear to me..democratic rights, privileges, freedoms..-can survive only as long as those who exercise them do so in an informed and conscientious manner. History offers many examples of experiments in democracy that perished when the people. because of the kind of ignorance that encourages indifference, neglected the obligations of citizenship.”
The number one “obligation” is finding real, unspun, truth. President Gerald Ford: “Truth is the glue that holds government together.” Lenin: “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” Hitler: Belief is harder to shake than knowledge.”
Propaganda master, Joseph Goebbels, if he is able, must be excited by the 2021 “Reichstag Fire” in Washington. Goebbels” masterpieces didn’t have to fight video evidence>. The 1/6/21 BIG LIE surpasses anything he tried.

IF the members and supporters of one political party continue insisting 1/6/21 was “just a tourist’s misadventure” – it might be over. No democracy [America?] can survive 1/4 to 1/2 its “adults” accepting and promoting such Orwellian tale, despite overwhelming evidence.
This same party passed undemocratic voter restriction laws “ensuring election integrity” [Orwell!], enabling its politicians to negate votes [Stalin: counting votes!], is becoming MORE fascist [14 characteristics!]; insists loss by 7 million votes constitutes a “stolen election” [without proof!]. Are. YOU. concerned? If not, it IS over.

In his 2007, “Broken Government,” John Dean ended with a quote from “a lifelong Republican” who twice voted for Bush & Cheney, because he knew them personally: “Just tell your readers..you have a source who knows a lot about the Republican Party from long experience..knows all the key movers and shakers..has a bit of advice: People should not vote for ANY Republican, because they’re dangerous, dishonest, and self-serving.. I have come to realize the Democrats really do care about people who most need help from government; Republicans care most about those who will only get richer because of government help. The government truly is broken..another four years, and heaven forbid not eight years, under Republicans and our grandchildren will have to build a new government, because the one we have will be unrecognizable and unworkable.” Those words were confirmed, 2017-2021.

Several other former Republican operatives have written things like this: “The current Republican Party should be burned to the ground>”. A 25-year key elections operative wrote his expose on the Republican Party thus: “It Was All A Lie.”

In the last 20 years, we’ve had Lifton’s “Losing Reality”; MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains [The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan For America]”: Stanley’s “How Fascism Works [The Politics of US and Them]”: Levitsky & Ziblatt’s “How Democracies Die”: Yang’s “The War on Normal People”: Frances’ “twilight of american sanity”; Stewart’s “The Power Worshippers’: Mayer’s “Dark Money [The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right]”; double Pulitzer winners Bartlett & Steele’s “The Betrayal of the American Dream”: Pulitzer winner Smith’s “Who Stole the American Dream?”: Frank’s “The Wrecking Crew [How Conservatives Rule]”; Anderson’s “One Person, No Vote [How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy]”; Lafer’s “The One Percent Solution [How Corporations Are Remaking America One State At A Time]”; Andersen’s “Evil Geniuses [The Unmaking of America]”.

These books are “the tip of the iceberg.” There are monthly magazines like “Mother Jones” and “The Atlantic” that discuss the last 40 years’ BIG LIES. A MUST read”Barton Gellman’s “January 6 Was Practice” article in Jan/Feb, 2022 The Atlantic. It contains SPECIFIC documentation on what the Trump team is planning for 2021-2024: the hollowing out of the ENTIRE American electoral system – using the outdated Electoral College weaknesses, replacing ANY honest elections officials, allowing state legislatures to throw out valid votes, etc. This is a. MUST Read, if you care.

For perspective: check unspun IRS income data, 1947-79 – versus – l980-2022 [consensus: the top 1% has STOLEN about $10,000 EVERY year from the bottom 90%]. The U.S. national debt, 1789-1980, was less than $1 trillion on January 1 1981. Reagan, Bush II, Trump reverse Robin Hood tax cuts blew up the debt – every one of them a BIG LIE. Check buying power for the “average” worker: DOWN since 1973. Check WHO moved “American” jobs “south,” first to “right to work’ [for less!] states, then to Mexico, then to anywhere on earth to escape taxes, regulations, fair wages.

The 2016-202X BIG LIES are only the latest in a 40-year string. BUT – the 1/6/21 BIG LIE is special. This is THE TEST. Believe this fairy tale – it is over. This one is different, it struck at the very heart of any democracy: an election. It was/is special because: the overt part happened live; special because confessions of WHY they were there, guilty pleas; because 150 police were injured trying to protect American democracy; because, for the first time in America, the loser [by 7 million votes!] instigated a COUP attempt – a coup attempt still being fleshed out with more evidence.

For additional perspective, read two articles. Lynn Schmidt’s “Yes, Jan. 6 really was a big deal” [1/6/2022; St. Louis Post-Dispatch]. Pay attention to what Republicans are trying to do at local and state levels. “It’s the counting stupid.” Soviet dictator Stalin: “It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.”!!!!!
Read Trudy Rubin’s “Foreign friends and adversaries believe U.S. power is in decline” [1/6/22; Philadelphia Inquirer]: “..has shaken our allies’ faith in America’s future…’Trump has handed authoritarians such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping a huge gift: a United States divided, internally preoccupied, and contradicting its own democratic ideals’..”

In the last 40 years a huge alternative network and universe has been created on the political-economic-social-religious right. Their stated goal: create a plutocratic theocracy. They have unlimited financial resources. Former employees of a reactionary billionaire said his goal was to crush the one thing that could control him: the federal government. One leading fundamentalist “Christian” wanted a strict Calvinist system in which the death penalty applied to adultery, blasphemy, astrology, homosexuality, striking a parent, women not virgins at marriage.

January 6, 2021, was “a big deal” for actions, but more so, for what the end goal was: to acquire the power to radically change America – to a plutocratic theocracy. The plans for this have been confessed, often in print. People behind this have been working “the long game” for 50 years. A major goal: rewriting the rules – legal, economic, political>. As YOU. read this – it is going on RIGHT NOW, maybe in the state where YOU. live.

Yes – all this sounds like fiction. Remember, the German Jews in the early 1930s said, no, it can’t happen here, Germany is too civilized. Then remember this: the first top 1%/corporate coup against a Democratic president happened in 1933 [Feb. 15, 1935 McCormack-Dickstein Committee report]. Remember “American” corporations supported the Nazis before and DURING WW II [Higham]. Remember an “American” corporation’s technology was used by the Nazis to run their empire – that company received payoffs DURING WW II [Black]. Remember “American” companies did NOT pull out of Hong Kong after China violated a treaty.

How this infamous episode ends is up to. YOU, dear friends. If. YOU don’t care enough to keep the American democratic republic experiment going – IT. WON’T. Accept these BIG LIES. means YOU. don’t care.
The perps behind the plan to steal. YOUR. country. are betting you’ll be too confused [the Fox propaganda network]; too apathetic to stop them. Are they right?

“..the consummate..most characteristic feature of..the Nazi art of language..the real achievement – and here Goebels is the undisputed master – …lies in the most abruptly antithetical leaps from a learned tone to a proletarian one, from sobriety to the tone of the preacher, from icy rationalism to the sentimentality of a manfully repressed tear, from Fontane’s simplicity, and Berlin gruffness, to the pathos of the evangelist and prophet…- like an alternating cold and hot showers…Goebels’ listeners [Goebels’ audience always comprises listeners] never comes to rest..there is no time for critical reasoning..” [Klemperer – “The Language of the Third Reich”]

“..one of the enduring paradoxes of Trump’s presidency has been the upsetting and contradictory nature of his language..language in the era of Donald Trump seems less about describing reality than about thick-fingered manipulation..Language has been repeatedly enlisted tp produce and fortify Trump’s reality…Donald trump is somehow using language – from word choice to less obvious interactional oscillations – to enlist members of the public in his distortions..” [ McIntosh & Mendoza-Denton: “Language in the Trump Era” ]

“Power is tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in shapes of your own choosing.” [George Orwell – “1984” ]

“In post-truth politics, the factual accuracy of words..weigh less than the ability of words to animate voters…The acceptability of political arguments comes down to who makes the argument [which group do they belong to?] rather than..strength of facts, evidence, and reasoning that support the argument [the merits of their policies]. The demagogue presents “our” situation as dire and the truth as simple to grasp, while emphasizing the threats that “we” [the ordinary people] face at the hands of the out-groups…’I alone can fix it.'” [Hodges: “When Words Trump Politics” ]

“Be alert to the use of the words of extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.” [Timothy Snyder: “On Tyranny,” chapter 17}

Jonathan Glover, in his “Humanity a moral history of the 20th century,” discusses some of that era’s authoritarian regimes and concepts. Among them: “Tribalism, The Tribal Trap”; “Belief and Terror: Stalin and His Heirs,” “Belief: Ends and Means,: “The Working of the Belief System”; “The Will to Create Mankind Anew: The Nazi Experiment,” “Obedience and Conformity,” “The Willingness to Believe.” We see some of the terror, of the “thought reform” these “utopias” forced on their populations. The use of language. The “weaponizing of words.”

“..Nazism permeated the flesh and blood of the people through single words, idioms and sentence structures..imposed on them in a million repetitions…Words can be like tiny doses of arsenic..swallowed unnoticed..and then..the toxic reaction sets in..” [Klemperer} Words – like tiny doses of arsenic….the “weaponizing of words.”

“..the sheer repetition of Trump’s lies might give him a certain cognitive sway over those who listen faithfully..Trump’s repetition of lies, or even mocking aliases..circulated continuously on social media and some press outlets, can literally change how his followers view the social world..George Orwell predicted that authoritarian lies can stick for a different reason: They simply wear you down.” [McIntosh & Mendoza-Denton]. Weaponizing words.

Andrew Sullivan’s “The Conservative Soul” quotes Bruce Bawer on fundamentalism: “There’s no more gray. You’re separated from this world and at the same time inhabiting an unseen world, in which you’re fighting an unseen battle against an unseen Enemy. That’s what fundamentalism is all about: the Enemy.” NO. MORE. GRAY.

the ENEMY. Authoritarian movements MUST have an Enemy. The Enemy may be described in different terms, but it is made very clear WHO he is. There were at least six badges in Nazi concentration camps: “criminals,” “politicals.” homosexuals, “anti-socials,” Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews. Stalinism and Maoism murdered at least 20 million “disloyal” people each

The Nazis “wanted not only to segregate the Jews, but also to “defame’ [diffamieren]” them. One method..was use of jargon..a distortion of the German language and to sound coarse and ugly…it is rare to come across the word ‘Jew’ from either Hitler or Goebels without its being accompanied by such adjectives as gerissen [cunning], listig [wily], betrugerisch [deceitful], feige [cowardly]..krumnasig [hook-nosed]…parasitar [parasitic]..” [Klemperer]

“Trump’s hateful speech parallels the propaganda of some of the most reviled 20th and 21st century fascists…With the backing of his base, Trump feels emboldened to describe certain non-White social groups as if they are less than human. Mexicans are ‘rapists’..Muslims are ‘terrorists’..African immigrants come from ‘shitholes’…”
We also suggest it is instructive to compare DT’s anti-immigrant discourse to Hitler’s discourse demonizing his Jewish compatriots. In the 1930s, the Nazis fabricated a myth that played to the fears of the majority. They scapegoated Jews, blaming them for all the nation’s problems and calling them “a dangerous bacillus” [germs] or “rats” whose very nature is “shrewd’ and ‘criminal”…” [McIntosh & Mendoza-Denton]

“In a 1922 speech..Benito Mussolini declared: “We have created our myth..it is not necessary for it to be a reality..our myth is the greatness of the nation!.” “With the creation of a mythic past, fascist politics creates a link between nostalgia and the realization of fascist ideals…The leading Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg..writes in 1924, “the understanding of and the respect for our own mythological past and our own history will form the first condition for more firmly anchoring the coming generation in the soil of Europe’s original homeland.” The fascist mythic past exists to aid in changing the present.” [Stanley: “How Fascism Works”]

The Trump mythic past: “Make. America. Great. Again”

“The patriarchal family is one ideal..fascist politicians intend to create in society..the leader of the nation is analogous to the father in the traditional patriarchal family…Gregor Strasser..Reich propaganda chief in the 1920s..”for a man, military service is the most profound and valuable form of participation – for woman it is motherhood..” [Stanley]
A major theme of Republican ideology is women as mothers, which means outlawing contraceptives and abortions; saying sex is primarily for creating children. This also produces persecution of homosexuals and transgender people.

“Fascist movements have been “draining swamps” for generations. Publicizing false charges of corruption while engaging in corrupt practices is typical ..Fascist politicians characteristically decry corruption in the state they seek to take over…The undemocratic intent behind fascist propaganda is key. Fascist states focus on dismantling the rule of law, with the goal of replacing it with the dictates of individual rulers or party bosses. It is standard in fascist politics for harsh criticisms of an independent judiciary to occur in the form of accusations of bias..critiques..then used to replace independent judges with ones who will cynically employ the law as a means to protect the interests of the ruling party.” [Stanley]

WOW!!! Where to start here. The above is what the Republican Party has DONE, 1980-202X. This above paragraph is seen in newspaper headlines, 1980-202X!!!!! Mobs threaten local officials and elections judges. Laws passed to put partisan [Republican] “poll watchers” in action. State governments rigged to make permanent Republican corruptions. The rigging of state and federal judiciaries is HAPPENING IN YOUR FACE!!!! Two Supreme Court seats are STOLEN – and reported in media!!!!! Appointing unqualified “partisan hacks.” Gerrymandering to lock in Republican “majorities” with a minority of votes. All this [and much more] is termed “law and order,” “strict constitutionalism,” “electoral integrity,” “preventing [non-existent] fraud,” etc. The. BIG LIES. – through. weaponized words.

In Germany, we had “alien,” “untermensch,” ‘racial defilement,” and later “taken into safe keeping” “force into line,” ‘Nordified.” “gone away,” “collected,” then “liquidated,” “arbeit macht frei,” and “the final solution.”
In America: “fake news,” “witch hunt,” “crooked Hilary,” “get ’em out,” “shithole,” disgusting animals,” “whataboutism,” “drain the swamp.,” “alternative facts,” “fine people on many sides,” “trust me,” “The Big Beautiful Wall,” “I alone,” “some people are saying,” and many more.

“Proximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing..It starts with your sitting silent while he lies..making you complicit…In meetings with him, is assertions about what “everyone thinks” and what is “obviously true” wash over you, unchallenged…Mr Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts..I have felt it – this president building with his words a web of alternative reality…Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.” [James Comey; 5/1/19; New York Times – McIntosh & Mendoza-Denton]

“building with his words a web of alternative reality.” Weaponizing words. “Words..like tiny doses of arsenic..”

“Mr. Trump eats YOUR SOUL in small bites.”

Adolf Hitler: “In the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.”

Kevin McCarthy, Republican House leader [11/18/21]: Joe Biden is responsible for America’s failure to conquer COVIDA-19!!!! There’ve been many GOP whoppers, but if America accepts THIS, McCarthy proved Hitler correct. The overwhelming, public, evidence of 2020-202X: Republican politicians and voters are GUILTY. Numerous Republicans obstructed medical science in every way possible. In mid-September, 2021, 90% of adult Democrats were vaccinated, 58% of Republicans. American hospitals are RATIONING HEALTH CARE – unvaccinated Republicans are filling ALL hospital beds. People have DIED because unvaccinated Republicans filled beds. Doctors and nurses – who’ve PLEADED with Republicans to get vaccinated – are burned out, have quit, committed suicide. A generation of K-college is traumatized, their lives and educations badly disrupted. For this, America will pay dearly.

Exxon-Mobil [and others] have known since at least 1977, burning fossil fuels created global warming. Fossil fuel producers are big “campaign contributors” for Republicans [& a few “conservative” Dems]. THE. BIGGEST. CRIME. in world history is climate change denial. All evidence says without major corrections, humans will. DESTROY. the earth. World-wide, fossil fuel producers sabotage efforts to stop ecological suicide. Republicans claim “we’re not scientists” when asked questions about damaging the earth. Pre-1980 radicalization, Republicans led on some conservation measures [Nixon’s Clean Air Act, Environmental Protection Agency]. The Reagan, Bush II, Trump administrations are. GUILTY of sabotaging American efforts to stop destroying the earth.

The January 6, 2021 “insurrection was a Republican created and led effort to overthrow 2020 presidential election results. Mountains of evidence [growing], including films and e-mails, leads to people around the losing candidate, Trump. The first BIG LIE was it wasn’t right-wing people, but left-wing thugs who did it!!! That proved false by films and confessions. People friendly to Trump financed and created mobs. The Trump organization has done everything possible to obstruct investigation of the attempted COUP. Congressional Republicans, with very few exceptions, aided the coverup. Republican voters, ignoring ALL evidence, accept the BIG LIE.

The BIG LIE Trump was cheated by “election fraud” in an election he lost by 7 million votes is accepted by Republican voters. this, in spite of denials by all 50 state elections officials, adamantly stating NO, NONE, ZERO, fraud occurred. Republican politicians conducted special “inquiries”/”audits” [some illegally] to find evidence – they haven’t. Numerous courts [even GOP-controlled!!!] turned “fraud” claims down
What this BIG LIE proves: the “Electoral College” is obsolete, should be ended. This is the basis of the Trump BIG LIE. Several states were “close.” Trump tried to get elections officials to “find” votes for him – they refused.
America’s major enemies – Russia and China – are having a field day. Their propaganda says: look, America is so corrupt, they can’t run a fair election. One more Trump gift to autocrats; one more undermining of democracy.

No honest governmental or elections analyst will state “gerrymandering” is a “democratic” method of creating electoral districts. Criticism of this practice goes back to 1812. Both parties have done it. Minority party voters are grouped or spread out in ways favoring the party in power. The U.S. Supreme Court had a chance recently to make a judgment about gerrymandering CORRUPTION – they refused it. Currently, this favors the Republican Party because they control more states. Increasing evidence showsRepublican determination to RIG future elections.
For both parties, gerrymandering radically increases partisanship and refusal to compromise – which creates gridlock.

For Second Amendment enthusiasts, the BIG LIE is the Founders intended civilians freely carrying guns, especially military-style weapons, on American streets.
For what Founders REALLY said, look it up: Articles of Confederation, Article VI [“..every state shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia..”]; Madison’s original draft {‘..but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to RENDER MILITARY SERVICE.”]; U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 8 {‘..calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections..”]; Article III, Section 2 [“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia..”]; 1792 Militia Act [requiring every free able-bodied white male, 18-45, to enroll in the militia; military ranks & colors; provide for wounded and disabled at public expense].
“Wild West” towns required cowboys to check guns at town limits with the sheriff; multiple Supreme Court decisions, 1791-1939, ending in “Miller,” which found the Second Amendment did NOT protect guns not used for “military purposes.”
A March, 2021, Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: restrictions on carrying guns in public except for hunting did NOT violate the Second Amendment. Judge Jay Bybee [Bush II appointee] wrote “A review of more than 700 years of American and English law showed government has long had the power to regulate arms in public spaces. WE have NEVER assumed..individuals have..unfettered right to carry weapons in public spaces.”

For “pro-life” zealots, the BIG LIE is freedom to use contraceptives and make one’s own reproductive choices – is somehow “wrong” and must be outlawed. They claim “Roe v Wade” was a radical departure of American law. WRONG!
The Founding Generation were VERY clear, in 1776-1800 state constitutions [look them up!!!]. Four banned a “religious test for office” [Article VI!]. 8 banned ministers serving in government. 8 prohibited “establishment of any one religious sect in preference to another’ [ First Amendment!!!!!]. 8 had specific language prohibiting making people support a church they aDIDN’T attend [Amendment One!!!]. 7 said “religious rights” were personal and could NOT be used to hurt others [Amendment One!!!!!].
Supreme Court Justice Harlan, “Katz”: the key issue was whether the government had violated a person’s “reasonable expectations of privacy.” In 1923’s “Meyer”” “liberty..denotes..the right of an individual..to marry, establish a home and bring up children..and generally enjoy those privileges long recognized..as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” In 1961’s “Poe”, Justice Harlan” a law making it criminal for married couples to use contraceptives is “an intolerable and unjustifiable invasion of privacy in the conduct of the most intimate concerns of an individual’s personal life. The Constitution protects not only rights expressly specified..but all rights which are fundamental..” In 1972’s “Baird”, Justice Brennan: “if the right to privacy means anything, it is the right of an individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted government intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision to bear or begat a child.” 1965’s “Griswold”: Connecticut had illegally invaded “the zone of privacy created by several fundamental constitutional guarantees.”
Restrictions on contraceptives and banning abortion are RELIGIOUS DOGMA, of a few fundamentalist churches seeking to impose THEIR beliefs on ALL Americans – clearly un-Constitutional. “Roe” stands at the END of a chain of American rights stretching back to the Founders [see 1776 North Carolina state constitution, and others!!!!!]

The Big Business, top 1% BIG LIE, pushed since 1980: deregulation, tax cuts for the rich & corporations, privatization, outsourcing anti-union laws, etc. bring “morning in America.” In REALITY – they’ve brought MOURNING!!!!! – and are a statistical JOKE. At least the lower 50% have seen purchasing power reduced, jobs ‘outsourced,’ wages lowered. Any society and economy that makes it difficult for people with “only” a high school degree is IMMORAL.
State and federal governments, with aid from the most “business-friendly” Supreme Court since World War ii, have neglected and weakened restraints on top 1%/corporate greed and power. Much of America’s economy is dominated by 2-3-4 corporations in every industry. The 2008 Crash symbolizes all that has gone wrong, more undemocratic, more cruel. Another symbol is American “health care” – double every other “advanced” nation’s” cost
The 2021-2022 “supply chain crisis” is another symbol – caused by outsourcing American jobs to China [top 1%/corp. greed]. If Joe Sixpack worked 18-68, made $50,000 every year, his total LIFETIME earnings: $2.5 million. If Suzie Sorority worked 22-68, made $100,000 every year, her total LIFETIME earnings: $4.6 million. Numerous people in the OBSCENELY overpaid top 1% make this in ONE year, others routinely $10-20-30 million EVERY year>

Perhaps the BIGGEST LIE is Republicans appoint only judges who are “strict constructionists,” “originalists.” “textualist,” and “don’t legislate from the bench.” By major decisions alone, this is a MAJOR. BIG. LIE.
We have clear evidence what the Founders intended, in broad principles, in specific words. Their top four fears: corruption, slavery, religion, mobs. In 1980-202X, their worst fears have been realized – in some cases, exacerbated by Supreme Court decisions. Major evidence against “originalism;” the “Dred Scott” decision [read Taney’s justification!!!].
Post-1980 Republican Justices HAVE been “legislating from the bench.” Numerous Rehnquist-Roberts Court major decisions show disrespect, even hostility, toward Congress, and – in some cases – disrespect for judicial precedent going back 100-200 years. Decisions like “Heller,” “Citizens United,” “Shelby County,” “Espinoza” will not stand the tests of time or American history.
In 3 current cases, the Roberts Court is considering: a New York state law from 1913 – which a previous Court refused to consider [new Justices!!!]; a Maine case from an atypical American school district – that could be used to force ALL American taxpayers to subsidize religious schools [see Amendment One, etc.]; a religious dogma anti-abortion case – that violates basic American principles and freedoms from 1789 forward.
It is things like this that have “some people saying” that the current Supreme Court consists of “partisan political hacks.” Judge for yourself, by answering a simple question: does the 2005-202X PATTERN. of Roberts Court decisions uphold the Preamble’s requirement: “to promote the general Welfare.” Do these 16 years of decisions make America a better, more just nation – for all 331 million people?
For perspective, consider: the universal “worst” Supreme Court decisions, pre-2000, were all racial injustice. The most destructive Supreme Court decisions since are ALL political. In one, the Court’s major decision was a “one time only,” in another a state Chief Justice said the Court violated corporate law, in another displayed willful ignorance of what existed in real life – maintaining that “things had changed,” in another, analysts said they legalized money laundering; in another – ignored 200 years of legal and historical precedence; in another a Justice maintained the word “any” was discriminatory.
So – as a “reasonable, informed [factually!] American – what does this PATTERN suggest?

Keep voting Republican – you’ll get more of this destruction – justified by BIG LIES. After 40 years of tearing the American dream apart – how much more evidence do YOU need????? Keep listening to the Fox “news” propaganda echo chamber and you’ll continue to be deliberately misinformed [ by people getting paid up to $30 million to lie to you].
25-year Republican operative, Stuart Stevens, confessed much of this – and summarized it all in: “It Was All A Lie.”

Many are claiming “rights.” The. BIG. Question: what protects the rest of us from them? One of the most demoralizing things of 2016-202X America has been the huge amount of disrespect and outright cruelty inflicted upon innocents and people merely doing their jobs. The massive greed of the top 1% and corporations is, of course, a given.
BUT – it has been the cruelties inflicted by “normal” people that has so pierced hearts. Much/most of this has been done in the name of “rights.” What religious/moral code permits cruelties to innocent people???
If we all have “rights” and no RESPONSIBILITIES – what kind of society does/has this created? If we all get to “do our thing,” are “we” degenerating into the jungle? Is “love thy neighbor as thyself” no longer applicable?
AS America slides into libertarian anarchy, consider the following “rights” claims:
– COVID anti-vaxxers claim a “right” to their bodily integrity, to do as they please; to infect YOU and occupy most hospital beds – putting more stress on fatigued/burned out hospital workers, creating more chances for COVID to mutate [note: this “bodily integrity” does NOT apply to females – they have “sacred” duties to the state!!!]
– the “right” of the AMA, hospitals, investors, insurance companies to charge as much as possible is described in ‘Washington Monthly,’ Nov-Dec, 2021 issue’s “The Doctor Will Not See You Now,” Bartlett & Steele”s “Critical Condition,” T.R. Reid’s “The Healing of America” – and many other studies [America is #37!!!!!}
– the “right” to be misinformed. Americans so gullible, paranoid, ignorant, believing an overweight demagogue [documented liar of epic dimensions!!!], multiple media MORONS, incompetent INTERNET IDIOTS. Waiting to see those poor souls arguing 2 plus 2 equals 5 – because “trusted sources” told them it did.
– armed vigilantes claim the “right” to walk around imposing ‘justice’ and ‘protection’ of THEIR choosing by displaying military-style weapons on American streets
– corrupt politicians claim the “right” to appoint “pro-life” judges in violation of Article VI of the Constitution [no religious test for office] and Amendment One [no state church]
– criminals, many with long records, claim the “right” to resist arrest [itself a crime], if they get shot while trying to flee [itself a crime], they have a “right’ to blame this on the police
– corporations claim the “right” to ship YOUR job to China; if this builds up the new Nazi Germany [it did], it is irrelevant to their “right” to “maximize shareholder value” [make the top 1% richer]
– religious zealots claim the “right” to impose their “sincerely held religious beliefs” on YOU; denying YOU contraceptives and abortion, demanding YOUR tax dollars fund their religious schools – all. this in clear violation of virtually ALL 1775-1800 Founding documents at state and federal levels [see 1776 North Carolina, Delaware, etc!!!]
– partisan “think tanks” claim the “right’ to create “alternative facts” for American history, politics, Constitutional law, and science; their “free speech rights’ supposedly free them to deny factual events and science
– protestors, some violent, claim “the Constitutional right” to be mean to local school boards, city officials, elections officials, etc. – a Constitutional right” to disrupt, yell and scream – at people doing their job
– the rich and corporations claim the “right” to subvert democracy with millions in “campaign contributions” [to launder money through lobbyists] – a “right” given them by an ethically-challenged “business-friendly” Supreme Court]; the cost of “free speech’ has escalated to where billionaires have more “freedom” than YOU do!!!!!
-“patriotic Americans” claim the “right’ to harass and assault people “who look like they’re not real Americans” or are speaking anything but English [why are “Americans’ speaking English???]
– social media claim the “free speech right” to permit a long list of harmful, anti-democratic, and false “alternative facts” that has undermined America, inflicted serious damage [including suicides] on children, DELIBERATELY misinformed
– the “Constitutional right” to possess ANY kind of gun has now created an atmosphere of fear; NOWHERE in America is safe [except INSIDE the Supreme Court] from gun violence; NO other “advanced” nation has anywhere near America’s 100 gun violence victims EVERY DAY – all this based on fraudulent interpretation of “2nd Amendment rights”
– corrupt politicians claim the “right’ to subvert democracy by “gerrymandering’ legislative districts; this has dramatically increased polarization by electing extremists refusing to compromise
– anti-social crazies claim the “right” to assault airlines and retail personnel if they do their job and make you wear a mask – so that the people around you aren’t infected if you happen to be infected
– the top 1% claims the “right” to evade and/or not pay ANY taxes – since they [through their superior brilliance] have “earned” all their obscene wealth “by themselves, shouldn’t have to share it with “undeserving”lesser beings like YOU
– amoral corporations claim the “right” to sell dangerous, murderous products; even if found guilty, they claim the “right’ to reduce legal penalties by prolonged legal evasions
– vaccine refusniks claim the “right’ to disrespect and harass doctors and nurses because they feel their “rights” to “freedom” have been violated; thus contributing to medical personnel [people keeping us alive] burnout and suicide
– amoral individuals and companies in the financial industry claim the “right” to get rich through virtually ANY scheme, even if it causes crashes and depressions; mass pain and unemployment should be considered “normal”
– the “right” of “patriotic” Americans so paranoid and suspicious [because they’re misinformed] they’re willing to support another 1/6/21 rebellion – this one an armed revolt to overthrow American democracy because “the wrong people” won through “election fraud” and are going to impose “socialism” [ but keep my Social Security check coming]
– corrupt politicians claim the “right’ to suppress voting [by the ‘wrong voters’] in the name of “electoral integrity” and eliminating [non-existent] “fraud”; this has the same validity as “shot while attempting to escape,” “taken into protective custody,” “untermensch,” etc.

One troubling thing for all these “rights” claimants – and also ironic: if we were able to honor all these “rights” claims, it would appear that we no longer support “law and order.” It would also appear that we no longer believe in the Constitution’s requirement that ‘our” government works to “promote the general Welfare. [greatest good for the greatest number]. It would also appear that some consider themselves to be above the law.
It would also appear, that a nation of “adults” making these claims is, in fact, a nation of immature, selfish children.

Ben Franklin, 1787: response to a woman’s question about what the Constitutional Convention has just created: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, 2021, discussing the Russian threat to invade Ukraine: “Democracy is not a given. It must be fought for.”

Since 1775, over 1 million American men and women have died defending American democracy. Millions more wounded, some severely disabled.
YOU are not being asked to storm the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima. YOU are not being asked to endure 12 years of the Great Depression

Are. YOU. willing to defend American democracy?

Since 1980, there is a phenomenon which is steadily growing and frightening many: the rise of authoritarianism, largely in one political party, that violates basic Constitutional principles, in the name of “freedom.”

“When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled ‘made in Germany’; it will
not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called of
course, ‘Americanism.'” [Halford E. Luccock]

The most sensational 1980-202X event has been the January 6, 2021, insurrection. A mob mobilized by a demagogue stormed and trashed the U.S. Capitol, proclaiming they were looking for ‘traitors’ to execute.

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and
refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”
[Dwight D. Eisenhower, l944]

The 1/6/21 insurrection is a symbol, a public event, in a much longer chain of events, much hidden. There are “militias” proclaiming willingness to protect their definition of America; often motivated by a certain demagogue
“At a conservative rally in western Idaho last month, a young man [asked] when he could start killing Democrats. “When do we get to use the guns” he said as the audience applauded. “How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?” The local state representative, a Republican, lated called it a “fair” question. [Lerer & Herndon; 11/14/21; N.Y. Times]
“In Ohio, the leading candidate in the GOP primary for Senate blasted out a video urging Republicans to resist the “tyranny” of a federal government that pushed them to wear masks and take vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.” [Lerer & Herndon; 11/14/21, N.Y. Times]

“Freedom exists only where the people take care of the government.” [Woodrow Wilson, 1912]

“Burned-out elections officials retreat from hot seats..Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin..After facing threats and intimidation..county officials who ran elections are quitting or retiring early..thanks to the baseless claims of widespread fraud that continue to be pushed by many in the Republican Party. [A.Izaguirre; 6/14/21; Assoc. Press]
“Trump allies aim for election posts..Those who rejected the 2020 results are now looking to fill prominent roles in states..to place Trump loyalists in key positions across the administration of U.S. elections..If they succeed, Trump and his allies could pull down some of the guardrails that prevented him from overturning Biden’s win..Jeff Timmer, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party: “The officials who fulfilled their legal duty after the last election are now being replaced by people who are pledging to throw a wrench in the gears of the next election.” [Gardner, Hamburger, Dawsey; 12/5/12; Wash. Post Weekly]. ***re-read, this is what happens in ‘banana republics’ [CORRUPTION]

“The freedom that counts is simply what is in the minds and hearts of millions of free
people.” [Adlai E. Stevenson, 1955]

“report finds U.S. democracy sliding..added to a list of “backsliding democracies.”..by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Association” in a first..”The UnitedStates..fell victim to authoritarian tendencies itself..The report’s U.S. assessment centered on developments during former President Donald Trump’s administration. It called Trump’s factually baseless questioning of the legitimacy of the 2020 election results a “historic turning point” that “undermined fundamental trust in the election process” and culminated in the January 6 insurrection..” [Berger; 11/23/21; Wash. Post]

A small sampling of headlines:
-“Sowing Voter Confusion..GOP seeks to reshape the nation’s electoral system, leaving Democrats sidelined” [Corasaniti; 12/5/21; Assoc. Press]
-“Arizona enacts bills making it harder to vote.” [F.Fonseca; 5/12/21]
-“GOP maps lock in legislatures in 4 key states until next census.” [Corasaniti; 11/26/21; Assoc. Press]
-“Wisconsin GOP pushers to take over the vote” [R.Epstein; 11/20/21; N.Y. Times]
-“Gerrymanders Spread, Get Hard To Beat” [M.Wines; 11/21/21; N.Y. Times]
-“GOP again shelves voting rights bill” [C.Hulse; 10/21/21; N.Y. Times]
-“Texas Republicans enact voting restrictions” [N.Corasaniti; 9/8/221; N.Y. Times]

John Dean [Nixon’s Watergate lawyer] and Bob Altemeyer’s “Authoritarian Nightmare” is extremely sobering and frightening. They estimate 36.4 million American adults are “Double Highs” – the most extreme authoritarians – people who want a “strong man” ruler [ i.e, dictator]
The road to 2016-21 was enabled by many prior to Trump: reactionary billionaires wanting reduced government authority [over them] financed it; the “religious right” provides ‘boots on the ground.” Senator Barry Goldwater [1964 Republican presidential candidate] warned: :..Republicans are selling their souls to win elections..If and when these preachers get control of the party..it’s going to be a terrible damn problem.” He was correct.

“The Ship of Democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those
on board.” [ President Grover Cleveland, 1894]

One of the Founders’ top 4 fears was mobs. Now we have mobs with guns.

“Will guns become a tool of political intimidation? It would change the face of political protest in America…conservatives may decide..carrying. guns – especially military-style rifles – can be used to intimidate both their political opponents and office-holders.” [P.Waldman; 11/18/21; Was. Post Weekly]
“Study, headlines reflect the rise of political violence..”From death threats against previously anonymous bureaucrats and public-health officials to a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor and the 6 January, 2021, attack..acts of political violence have skyrocketed in the last five years’ wrote Rachel Kleinfeld.. “Ideas that were once confined to fringe groups now appear in..mainstream media..” [J.Rash; 11/20/21; Mpls. Trib.]
“Menace As Political Tool..Right-Wing GOP openly threatens violence…among a significant segment of the Republican Party…belief the country is at a crossroads that could require armed confrontation is no longer limited to the fringe…”When you start dehumanizing political opponents, or really anybody, it becomes a lot easier to inflict violence on them…30% of Republicans and 40% of people who “most trust far-right news sources believe that ‘true patriots’ may have to resort to violence to ‘save’ the country.” [Lerer & Herndon; 11/14/21; N.Y. Times]

“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction
from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.” [R.M. Hutchins, 1954]

How much European or American history needs to be mentioned here??? What happened in Germany, 1920-45, is well documented. And – “ItDid Happen Here” as well. Freehling’s “The Road to Disunion” discusses the reign of terror in the 1830-60 American South: whites subjected to being tarred & feathered – and run out of town; “some 300′ whites” were lynched. The post-Civil War KKK aimed to ‘save’ the country [of the pre-war South]. That pre-war South also had “the shudder,” as did Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia – self-censorship [and -fear].

“The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man.
The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural
gait is the goosestep.” [H.L. Mencken. 1920]

One major anti-democratic effort is rewriting 1/6/21 events. The official right-wing story: this was only a mass “free speech” event of “concerned patriots.” All the talk of insurrection [what does the Pentagon know?] , etc. are “fake news.”
As usual, Trump is stonewalling everything, in every manner possible, stringing legal actions out, trying to “run the clock out.” He’s getting major help from enablers all over America in state legislatures. Over 400 bills reducing people’s ability to vote have been introduced. In virtually every state they control, Republicans pushing through radical “gerrymandering” plans [enabled by a Repub. dominated Supreme Court], turning themselves from minority to majority party by selecting their voters.
Violent protests across America have worked. Normal, neutral elections officials replaced by Trump loyalists. The very manner in which elections will be decided is bering changed – giving Republicans in positions of power the ability to declare vote results against them null and void. [banana republic style; Putin style]
Read Barton Gellman’s January/February, 2022, The Atlantics’s :”Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun” U.C. Irvine Professor R.I. Hasen: “Wr face a serious risk that American democracy as we know it will come to an end in 2024.” Sadly, he isn’t the first to state this
Trump’s 2017-2l tenure was unlike any in American history. The record-setting [“firehose’] of lying; the anti-democratic deeds; the anti-democratic and divisive language; the destruction; the damage to America’s world-wide reputation; the damage in lost faith of our people; the sheer unconcern for trying to help ordinary people [see COVID response] – all UNPRECEDENTED. The enormity of Trump’s quasi-dictatorship almost too much to comprehend.

Look up “the 14 characteristics of fascism.” We have “achieved,” in part for each of 13 of them, fascism. The ONLY one we have NOT achieved – fraudulent elections – is the one Trump and Republicans are working to obtain for 2022 and most definitely, for 2024. What is listed above is only “the tip of the iceberg” of the effortRepublicans are working on.
Over the top? Too much “conspiracy talk’? Ponder this: throughout the 1929-1839 period, many Jews in Nazi Germany refused to believe what they were seeing and hearing was happening. Germany was “too cultured.” Many of them had fought, some with distinction, in World War I.

Multiple reports are building; warnings have been issued. Read Jamelle’s “The Trump Conspiracy is hiding in plain sight” [12/8/21; N.T. Times]; Levitsky & Ziblatt’s “How Democracies Die ” [“Democracy’s erosion is, for many, almost imperceptible”]; Stanley’s HowFascism Works”; MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains; Snyder’s “On Tyranny”; Giroux’s “American Nightmare”; Homans” “Penetrating The System” [12/12/21; N.Y. Times].

A number of Republicans have written warnings: Dean’s “Broken Government” [ GOP insider; don’t vote for ANY Republican]; Boot’s “The Corrosion of Conservatism” [GOP needs to be “burned to the ground”}; Sykes’ “How TheRight Lost Its Mind”; Stevens’ “It Was All A Lie”

Trump and Trumpism is THE. man our Founders FEARED. Corruption was their #1 fear. Democracy requires tolerance, forbearance, compromise, limits, respect, love. We survived, barely, 2016-2021. We will NOT survive a second era like that. That, friends, is up to. YOU. Do. YOU. care?????

note: quotes supplied by the Harper Book of American Quotations, and “On 1984”}

Blame it on Mom and Dad, two of “The Greatest Generation.” They had no vices, hated nobody. We went to a mainstream church that practiced what it preached: LOVE. Mom and Dad were intelligent, educated. They talked about, did “the right thing.” You were EXPECTED to do “the right thing,” because it was the right thing. Being humans, we didn’t always do the right thing.

Mom and Dad, like others of “the greatest generation,” were young people in the 1930s “Great Depression” – which was followed by World War II – 16 straight years of being “tested” by forces of nature, by human greed and evil. 16 straight years of thinking about forces greater than themselves. 16 straight years of learning that to survive as individuals, as a nation – people needed to work together, for each other

Mom and Dad, like others of their generation, valued virtually everything they had. There were balls of string, coils of wire, extra glass jars, boxes of spare electrical parts, extra wood boards, metal rods, extra windows, etc. – because “we might need them.” You didn’t throw things away, you tried to fix them. If you couldn’t fix it, there were “fix-it” shops and hardwares that could.

We didn’t appreciate much of this at the time – we were kids. We assume3d what happened was “normal.” Unfortunately it wasn’t – we learned this later too.

We were surrounded by members of the “greatest generation.” They were other kids’ parents, our neighbors, teachers, our parents’ friends, many adults, later – our bosses. We didn’t appreciate how privileged we were to grow up surrounded by this group of adults – we were just kids.

Most of the men had beed World War II veterans. Most of them didn’t talk about what they saw. But – many of them were unable to forget it. Some, like famed writer J.D. Salinger, were extremely affected, even hospitalized. Mom said Dad tossed and turned for months in his sleep after he got back. Dad never said much about what he’d seen. His proudest memory: his gun crew didn’t shoot down any “friendlies” – he had a great “spotter.”

There were three of us, always trying to get “the biggest piece.” Mom was a great cook. Her masterpieces were mouthwatering hand-crafted chocolate cakes. The contest for the “biggest piece” was solved by “Betty’s Rule.”

Betty’s Rule: the kid who cuts the cake gets the last piece.

My brother thought he had THE answer for this problem: he put a ruler on top of one of Mom’s great chocolate cakes. Mom laughed. Points for creativity.

Many of the 1980-202X American problems exist because America doesn’t operate by “Betty’s Rule.” “The kid” who cuts the cake DOESN’T get the last piece. Increasingly, that “kid” gets not only the FIRST piece, but often the second and third as well.

Since 1980, we have increasing “economic inequality” – the top 1% acquires more and more of EVERYTHING. [except taxes]. Increasingly, we have a “Winner Take All” America [Hacker & Pierson]. Perhaps best symbolized by the greedy Wall Street “people” who, without shame, took 2009 bail-out money form the lower 90% [which existed because of the crisis THEIR greed had created] – and gave themselves “bonuses.”
Betty”s Rule is unknown on Wall Street. If it were, they”d laugh at the mere idea.

Numerous analysts have written about the cost and consequences of post-1980 America not living by “Betty”s Rule,” or ANY rule mentioning restraint and moderation, ANY hint of “we’re all in this together,” ANY moral rule indicating there might be some reasonable limit, beyond which, even GREED no longer made sense – except to keep score.

For perspective and knowledge, you can refer to any of the following:_
– Wilkinson & PIckett’s international bestseller, “The Spirit Level” [Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger}
– Joseph Stiglitz’ “The Price of Inequality [How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future]
– Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s “Who Stole the American Dream?”
– Double Pulitzer Prize winners Donald Bartlett & James Steele’s “The Betrayal of the American Dream”
– Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston’s “Divided” [The Perils of Our Growing Inequality], or other Johnston books: “Free Lunch” [How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves…] & “Perfectly Legal” [The Covert Campaign to Rig…]
– CharlesFergusons’s Academy Award winning film “Inside Job” or subsequent book “Predator Nation” [Corporate
Criminals and the Hijacking of America]
– study work done by Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez
– find unspun IRS, GAO, CBO statistics [example: Mother Jones, March/April, 2011, page 25]
– the Mother Jones, March/April, 2011, issue contains “Your Loss, Their Gain” chart: “How much income have YOU given
up for the top 1%?” If you are in the lower 90%, it averages between $3733-l0,100 [2011 dollars!!!] less EVERY. year, IF.
your income had seen the same growth rates in 1979-2005 “as they did in previous decades” [Hacker & Pierson]
– Mother Jones, March/April, 2011, issues has “Plutonomics” explained by Citigroup’s lead “strategist” for wealthy clients
and this: “Kapur noted that the wealthiest one percent of Americans – whom he called ‘the plutomists” had benefitted
DISPROPORTIONATELY from recent increases in worker productivity, and he happily forecast that ‘global capitalists’
are going to be getting an EVER GREATER share of the wealth pie over the next few years.”

You people in the lower 90% – THEY’RE. LAUGHING. AT. YOU11111. all the way to the banks. They’re rubbing your noses in it. They’re buying off [mostly Republican] politicians to GUARANTEE this happens.
Some of you were conned by the [maybe] billionaire in 2016. He promised you the moon [another BIG LIE]. His signature domestic “achievement”: the reverse Robin Hood tax cuts that. ONLY permanently last for the top 1% and corporations [check this out: the IRS & CBO numbers are in!!!].

From 1789 – 1980, one signature American economy and society characteristic was: every generation almost always did better than their parents. Since 1980, this is no longer guaranteed. YOUR task: find out Why.
Why are we talking about “economic inequality” now? We didn’t worry about this in the great middle class prosperity of 1947-73. Your task: What. DELIBERATELY. changed?
The top 1% decided they didn’t want to share. So – we have “job outsourcing.” We have “globalism” – the “race to the bottom”; lowest taxes, least regulations, cheapest wages. We have massive [documented] rigging of the tax code. We have obscene wealth of 3 million Americans.

We DON’T. have “Betty’s Rule, or anything like it. “The kid” [top 1%] that cuts the cake doesn’t get the last piece – they get most of the entire cake. And – they’re laughing at you.