8 VI 2024: Cognitive tests? No, drug tests!

I saw today a headline “Lindsey Graham: Anybody who could be president should undergo cognitive tests.” I suppose this might be a good idea. Why not? But I think it more important, for the time being, that candidates undergo drug testing. Trump is said to be have Aderall coming out of his ears, and who knows what other psychotropic drugs his physicians and handlers are mixing into his narcotic cocktail. Donald Trump is insane, and is made to appear functional by makeup, lies, and meds.

4 VI 2024: The final Fourth?

Again we celebrate the anniversary of our Country’s freeing itself from monarchical tyranny. I wonder if we will celebrate this feast of freedom again. Trump is in the process of claiming dictatorial power, and the forces arrayed behind him are awesome. White supremacists, Christian supremacists, male supremacists, money supremacists are all there, as are all the shifty, shady, and cowardly figures in American politics. The Heritage Foundation, the premier fascist think-tank, is anticipating Trump’s electoral victory by drawing up their Project 2025, a book of instructions for how to get rid of democracy. The hordes of WASPs, evangelicals, right-wing Catholics, anti-intellectuals, et al., who, left behind by the passage of time, feel that they have been somehow disrespected, are flexing their hatreds as they look ahead to Trump’s new monarchy.

The end of the American Republic will lead to the end of the United States, for victory will lead the forces of reaction to turn and rend one another, leading to secessions all around. We celebrate that the founders set aside their regional and political differences, but though set aside, these differences and animosities have not gone away, and a new Trump regime will show how much they are still with us.

18 V 2024: Trumpie and “Diddy” 

Mr. “Diddy” Combs is much in the news, as is his criminal record. Diddy’s record shows five separate lawsuits wherein he has been charged with “a range of sexual misconduct and other illegal activity.” These are itemized in the CNN article by Eric Levenson and Nicki Brown: ” A closer look at the sexual misconduct lawsuits against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.” I cannot avoid feeling that Diddy Combs’ and Donald Trump’s situations are parallel. Combs has led a life of crime during which, due to his or his lawyers’ naivete, he has been unable to avoid litigation and prosecution. Mr. Trump is a more refined criminal and has invested in slicker lawyers who have helped him to cover up his wrongdoings by non-disclosure contracts, “catch and destroy” maneuvers, and who knows what else. Were it not for Trump’s criminal savoir faire and deep pockets, his record would be as outrageous as Diddy’s.

28 IV 2024: Is there a “Trump oath”

I’ve learned from Wikipedia that from 1919 onwards German soldiers swore the army’s standard oath of loyalty to the German state (Reichswehreid):  

I swear loyalty to the Reich’s constitution and pledge, that I as a courageous soldier always want to protect the German Reich and its legal institutions, (and) be obedient to the Reich President and to my superiors.

Then, in 1933, when Hitler was appointed Reichskanzler, the soldier’s oath was revised to get rid of the “constitution” and “the German Reich and its legal institutions.”

I swear by God this holy oath, that I want to ever loyally and sincerely serve my people and fatherland, and be prepared as a brave and obedient soldier to risk my life for this oath at any time.

Next, in 1935, when Hitler and his Nazis had gained absolute power, the preceding rather vague oath was replaced by one that was narrowly specific, an oath that, for obvious reasons, came to be known as the “Führer oath”: 

I swear by God this holy oath that I shall render unconditional obedience to the Leader of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath.

This Führer oath was used by very many who had sworn it as pretext and camouflage for limitless criminal and savage behavior in the war to come.

These oaths changed from demanding loyalty to country and its institutions, to loyalty to the purposely vague “people” and “fatherland,” to absolute subservience to a dictator. The behavior of Donald Trump’s cultists and of most of the Republican Party seems virtually the same as if they have sworn a Führer oath to Donald Trump. And we have to ask: Can these people truthfully swear to protect and defend the Constitution, when their loyalty to Trump seems to outweigh the demands of truth and morality and true patriotism?

14 IV 2024: Frauds

In the Age of Trump, the U.S.A. has grown accustomed to, indeed, has come to expect frauds. The latest AARP Bulletin is devoted to frauds wrought on the elderly, though the giant letters on the cover “FRAUD 2024” made me think, at first, that the entire issue was devoted to Donald Trump.

Another kind of fraud is being perpetrated by people who busy themselves about libraries, about forcing removal of books that they find offensive. They remind me of Prof. Harold Hill’s great sales pitch in The Music Man. With a slight alteration it could be adopted by these bookburners: “You’ve got trouble. It begins with T, and that rhymes with B, and that stands for BOOK.”

3 IV 2024: Stop funding Israel’s aggressions

Israel has become a rogue nation. We must stop funding Israel and stop backing Israel up in the U.N., for we are, and have been for years, the main enabler of Israel’s disgraceful conduct.

From its founding, Israel has been conducting a constant program of ethnic cleansing, driving out Palestinians and denying the rights and impairing the lives of those who have remained. Israeli zealots will not rest until only Jews live in an enlarged Israel.

The world is expressing outrage at the latest murder of aid workers. Israel promises to investigate. That’s like Russia promising to investigate. No, Israel will not stop murdering and starving and dislocating civilians until it has annexed Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli forces may engage in fewer criminal acts, like rape and torture, than the Nazis, the Russians, and other amoral regimes, but their overall behavior is just the same.

The war on Gaza is ripping off Israel’s mask of righteous victimhood. No longer will Israel and its supporters be able to dismiss criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Israel is being subjected to the same international disgust and disdain as other rogue nations. And it’s time for the U.S. to stop pretending and enabling.

14 III 2024: Parents’ role in preventing child abuse via Internet

I saw a good article on CNN about New Mexico’s Attorney General, Mr. Raul Torrez. In addition to prosecuting child abusers, he is paying attention to entities in social media that may facilitate dangerous persons’ access to children. He has sued Meta (Facebook, Instagram) for, the article reports, “creating a ‘breeding ground’ for child predators and exposing young users to sexually explicit material.” I hope he succeeds.

Though denunciations like this of social media have become routine, one rarely sees much concern about parents’ supervision of children who are allowed to go online and have access to social media. I think the cellphone, the internet, and social media have become babysitters by default in the way that television used to be. 

Of course, it is true that there are various apps that are claimed to inhibit young peoples’ access to dangerous stuff on the internet. But kids are far more resourceful than their elders at finding their way to what they want on the internet. Parents who worry over harmless books in school libraries might better spend their time worrying about harmful images and interactions in their own homes.

13 III 2024: Demand a refund from the House of Representatives

I read an article on Politico about how Republicans in the House have not wholly given up on their dream of impeaching President Biden. But just in case, they have worked up backup plans for investigating the President. 

These are shameless little people who find real service as congressmen so boring that they have to dream up an alternative life that is fictional and more theatrical. But their imaginations are rather limited. They are unable to think of anything new, so they do reruns of what Democratic house members have done in the past.

One fellow says they have to impeach Biden because “the base” expect it. Oh the contempt and corruption in this remark!

3 III 2024:  Forget about a ceasefire

I think the current government  of Israel does not really want a ceasefire in Gaza at this time. Israel will not permit a ceasefire in Gaza until they have either taken it over or have made it like Hiroshima or both.

I also think that Israel was to a degree complicit in the vicious Hamas attack. They knew it was coming, took no steps to prevent it, and have used it as a respectable casus belli. So Israel is enlarging its borders, and expelling the unwelcome, in two ways: in the Westbank by infiltration and colonization, in Gaza by invasion.

So I anticipate that Israel will continue to raise objections to a ceasefire until it is satisfied that it owns Gaza.