Dark Days in Idiot Nation
Something occurred this week that hasn't happened in over a century and a half - Friday April 14, 1865 to be precise: a mass assassination attempt. That was the night when Johnny Booth and his band of misfit conspirators attempted to murder President Abraham Lincoln, Vice-President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Henry Seward. Lincoln, as we all know, didn't survive the night. Seward was seriously wounded while Johnson's assailant got cold feet at the last moment. When America woke up to the news of the attacks on the following morning, Saturday April 15, it began one of the darkest periods of morning in the history of the United States up to that point. Those were some pretty strange days in America. These are some pretty strange days in America, too. Strange days indeed.I wasn't surprised to learn that the Feds had apprehended so quickly the nitwit who mailed thirteen pipe bombs that targeted sixteen prominent critics of Donald Trump. The fact that not one of them had detonated made this caper an utter cinch to crack. I'm not going to mention his name here; in fact I've already forgotten it. Why give the tarnished little freak any more publicity? It always bugs me to see the name of John Lennon's murderer in the indexes of biographies of the man. We want to know their names no more.
Its impossible not to understand that something very ominous and dark has been unleashed in our national psyche. Groups that had always been marginalized to the fringes of American society are starting to take center stage in the arena of our political discussion. Is it right to charge that the president of the Unites States has, at the very least, some responsibility for what is now unfurling before our eyes? My opinion is that he does.
The election is only ten days away. Vote as if your nation's life depends upon it - because it does, you know. It really does.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
SUGGESTED READING:
Fear
by Bob Woodward
I just read this book - AGAIN. This administration has turned out even worse than I would have dared predicted.
posted by Tom Degan @ 10:36 AM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Here is the Breitbart headline that fed into the Synagogue killer's Trump-inspired hate:
"Anti-Trump ‘Jewish Rally for Refugees’ Organizer Funded by Obama Government to Resettle Refugees"
Innocent Jews were massacred because of their lies and hate.
This is fascism. This is evil. This is now American con-servativism.
This is the hate now employed by the alt-Right American Axis of Evil.
Damn all of those whom use such senseless violence out of hate and malevolence towards others.(and that is regardless of whom the party is that uses violence.)
The hateful rhetoric from all quarters where we diminish the personhood of others is only leading us deeper into battle lines from which we may not escape. The typical screed by our friend Dave Dubya is a good example of this.
One wonders what will follow if the "blue wave" next Tuesday turns out to be a neap tide.
Dang it. "Unknown" was me; T. Paine
"The hateful rhetoric from all quarters where we diminish the personhood of others is only leading us deeper into battle lines from which we may not escape." ~~ Unknown (aka T. Paine
It's your side, Mr. Paine, and strictly your side. Anything outside of the hate-filled Trumpist world is calling it out. And that, "sir", is what annoys you.
Prior to the 2016 presidential election I submitted that should Clinton win we'd suffer nuclear war; should Trump win we'd face civil war. I see you're agreeable to at least my latter supposition.
Now, the likely probability of nuclear war under a Trump presidency cannot be discounted. Like drinking and driving, sociopathic behavior doesn't mix well with nuclear triggers.
"The typical screed by our friend Dave Dubya is a good example of this." ~~ Unknown (aka T. Paine)
Need I explain to you, again, that calling out the hateful rhetoric of the alt-right does not equate to hateful rhetoric?...no more than exercising the right to free speech and assembly equates to mob behavior.
But, I realize in your cultist Trump world that seems to be so.
From T. Paine.
J.G., there is a distinct difference between disagreeing with or calling out someone whom you think is wrong and dehumanizing them as "other", "evil", "deplorable", or what-have-you. It is by characterizing one's political opponents as Nazi's and part of the "new" axis of evil that you then get the unhinged to start thinking it is okay to eliminate that person with whom they disagree.
The result from there is someone shooting up a synagogue, firing at members of congress at baseball games, or dare I say... removing the lug nuts from the wheel of a political blogger.
You can disagree and make your points without the abject hate. (like writing that you hope for the death of a political adversary.) That is just plain sick.
MR. Paine wishes to deflect from the alt-Right Breitbart hate and lies. Better accuse a lib, instead. He will likely accuse me of more "hateful rhetoric" for noting this latest evil, hate, and fear employed by The American Axis of Evil.
The Washington Post reports:
Trump’s new immigration ad was panned as racist. Turns out it was also based on a falsehood.
Luis Bracamontes was deported and returned under President George W. Bush. He was also released by Joe Arpaio's office years before killing two deputies.
Oh, my. Time to blame liberals.
All who support and appease the Party of Trump are wittingly or unwittingly siding with evil. Period.
Tsk tsk tsk, Mr. Paine. Once again you overly exaggerate and provide, yet another, totally over-the-top projection.
To even attempt to specifically equate labels deservingly made toward - and characteristic of - Timmy Trueblood, with the direct consequences being the slaughter of worshipers in Pittsburgh, as an example, is even more than I would expect from you.
I noticed, which wasn't difficult, that you've continued to omit your president's insulting and hateful nationalist, racist, xenophobic and sexist overtures made prior to and during his time in office.
It seems as though you blame those for calling out and fighting back against his callous and vile attacks, instead of the source and his enablers.
Now that's just plain sick.
Mr. Dubya, I don't even read Breitbart material. Nice try with the whataboutism though. On the national stage we can both point to hatred, violence, and terrorism from both sides, if you were to be honest about it. That said, we don't know any of those people personally. We do, however, both know J.G. and his abject hatefulness. Dare I say you are walking that line over the edge way too often too, sir. Anyone that supports Trump is siding with evil? Yeah, that is the way to tone down the bombastic rhetoric.
Don't worry; eventually the pendulum will swing back even further to the left and they will regain political power to enact their agenda. Perhaps by then we can imprison the impeached Trump and round up all of those that supported him in his evil for re-indoctrination camps, right?
OK. Mr. Paine doesn't get his hate from Breitbart, but he shares it, and deflects their alt-right hate on behalf of it.
It is unfortunate Mr. Paine needs to join the chorus of false equivalence of "bothsiderism" in the wake of the brutal acts of racist white nationalist terrorism. These terrorists believe Trump speaks for them and follow through on the hate flowing from the White House.
There aint NOTHING comparable on the Left. One wacko shot a congressman. Same thing? NO. Bernie didn't direct hate towards that man's target, did he? Trump sure as hell directed hate at the MAGA Bomber's targets. Why? Because Trump is EVIL.
Anyone that supports Trump is siding with evil? Yeah, that is the way to tone down the bombastic rhetoric.
I dare call out evil when I see it. If that is bombastic, so be it.
Evil: profoundly immoral and malevolent...harmful; injurious
Trump IS evil. By almost any definition. He admitted to sex crimes. He is greedy. He is dishonest. He is narcissistic. He is a racist and rose to power on racist birtherism. He lies, he cheats, he hates, he instills and aggravates fear, anger, and resentments. And he employs all of that in service to his self-aggrandizement and power.
One would think his tax cuts for the rich and gutting health care and aid to the poor would make some of that clear. But no. All of a sudden the debt isn't a worry, until they want to cut out more public safety nets. Hypocrisy is evil too. It reeks of lies.
Trump is evil. If one supports him, one supports evil. Deal with it, deny it, deflect from it all day. But evil is evil, no matter what excuses his Party, white nationalists, or the rest of his cult want to make.
Voter suppression, gerrymandering, a far Right propaganda network, corrupt billionaires, and lies from the Party of Trump work ceaselessly to assure that pendulum never swings back to the center, let along the left.
They will succeed as long as ignorant, clueless, fearful, angry Americans see no evil in Trump and his Party, as they coddle the rich and screw the poor, as they pollute our air and water, and dismantle democracy and the destroy truth.
"On the national stage we can both point to hatred, violence, and terrorism from both sides..." ~~ Unknown (aka T. Paine)
We can?! You're continuing to be disingenuous again, Mr. Paine. On a national front, any "hatred, violence and terrorism" is owned by the alt-right and the complicit G.O.P.
I see you're obviously still living in your Fox bubble of alternative facts.
"We do, however, both know J.G. and his abject hatefulness. Dare I say [Dave Dubya is] walking that line over the edge way too often too..." ~~ Unknown (aka T.Paine)
Yes, unbelievably, dare you say...
Once again you side with, and embrace, the abject hatefulness of your president. Instead, amazingly, you attack those who criticize him and his most ardent supporters and sympathizers.
This is exactly how it was when another authoritarian demoguage, a generation ago, wasn't critiqued by the citizenry when he openly attacked the labor unionists, the homosexuals, the socialists, the gypsies and the Jews. We both know what happened to those folks, don't we Mr. Paine?
If you think, for even a second, that I'm going to back down to his or his supporters' hateful evilness, violence, scapegoating and domestic terrorism, you better think again.
Shame on you, Mr. Paine. You've proven to me you've crossed over to a very, very, dark place. Good luck with that.
MR. Paine is unusually silent on my claim that Trump is evil. I suppose calling out evil makes one evil, just like calling out racism makes one a racist in the Right's indoctrination.
So far no conservative has the guts, let alone facts, to argue against my points.
Here is my case, for all to see.
http://www.davedubya.com/2018/11/trump-and-evil.html
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