5 XII 2022: Our own little soldiers of fortune

I read online about an event in Florida (of course) of the self-styled Patriot Freedom Front, that was a fundraiser for people jailed for attacking the Capitol. Trump made a video for the event in which he lamented the plight of these criminals as “a very unfair situation.” I’m not sure what he means by unfair, but I think it has to mean, in the context of Jan 6, that these poor dupes were sent to jail and Trump is still running his mouth in complete freedom. That’s unfair.

This report also described the speech of one of the seditionists, Robert Morss, delivered via telephone link from the D.C. jail. Morss described himself as an “American political prisoner.” If he planned to be a political prisoner, why did he show up at Jan 6 dressed in a military-style costume? The report mentions that “Morss wore camouflage and tactical gear as he joined the mob on Jan 6.” Shouldn’t he claim to be a prisoner of war?

Morss was only one of many at the Jan 6 riot dressed in “tactical,” that is quasi military clothing. “Tactical” is the preferred fashion of domestic enemies of the United States, and it has been taken up by gun-nuts and wannabe outdoorsmen generally. I recently looked through the catalogue of a military surplus firm that sells a host of items of clothing and equipment that are not of military origin, but have a certain style and are always called “tactical.” 

“Tactical” does not mean the attire and equipment of real soldiers, but is describes the kinds of costumes one sees modeled in magazines, TV, and movies by soldiers of fortune, bounty hunters, et al. People like Mr. Morss who parade in camouflage and tacticals show that they are trying to live out their boyhood fantasies.

23 XI 2022: How is Marjorie Taylor Greene a “true blood”?

MTG, as she is known by her intimates, invited another perennial liar, Juanita, to her house, saying: “We will call our gathering ‘Pure Bloods and Politics.” There has been some disturbance on the internet about her use of the expression “pure bloods” because it recalls preoccupations with the racial purity that is required for white supremacy. Her use of these words troubles me for other reasons also:

I assume MTG knows that she is a “pure blood” because other white supremacists have told her so or as a result of her test with Ancestry. But how can we be sure of this, and how does she know that Juanita is “pure blood”? Some fact-checking is in order here. We need to see the results of MTG’s Ancestry test or her KKK certificate, and Juanita must take that test or provide some equivalent proof of her “pure blood” bona fides.

Or did MTG mean “pure Bloods,” claiming that she and her pal Juanita are full-fledged members of the celebrated gang? That would be a truly historic achievement for Republican women.

22 XI 2022: Pause the vendetta

Alabama’s Governor, Kate Ivey, is seeking a pause in Alabama’s series of signature executions because they tried three times to execute their latest offender and the bastard just wouldn’t die. Gov. Ivey is quite upset and is demanding a pause in planned executions so that there can be a top-to-bottom investigation to learn what Alabama is doing wrong, saying “For the sake of the victims and their families, we’ve got to get this right.”

Her indifference towards the candidates for execution is, I suppose, only to be expected in Alabama. And her concern for “the victims and their families” is quite revealing. Does it matter to the victims and their families that a criminal survives repeated efforts to kill him? We encounter this sort of thinking often enough in death-penalty cultures. Of course, the “victim” is usually dead, and unlikely to be affected by the execution one way or another, but “the family,” the unidentified kinfolk of the victim, must be satisfied, as must the state of Alabama, with “justice,” that is to say, with their revenge.

In this light, capital punishment may be seen as state-sponsored vendetta.

6 XI 2022: Where is the courage we need?

The people who are supposed to be protecting our government are afraid to defend us. I have reached this conclusion as I see the fomenters and leaders of the sedition getting off scot-free. Unprecedented to put an ex-president on trial, harumph, harumph. Can’t prosecute people in office. Can’t prosecute people running for office. Can neither punish nor remove from public life any seditionist who will be patient enough, for they know America so easily forgets.

Rudyard Kipling asked:

Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour?

   When the storm has ended shall we find

How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back to power

   By the favor and contrivance of their kind?

We must act now. Trump and all of the Big Liars are neither heroes nor buffoons. They are dangerous criminals who are well on their way to going unpunished.

4 XI 2022: M.T.G. + D.J.T.

My suspicion of a close liaison between Marjorie Taylor Green and Donald J. Trump is re-awakened by M.T.G.’s latest declaration that when the Republicans seize power, they will cancel all aid to Ukraine and shift those resources to our Southern border, perhaps to complete the building of the Great Wall of Trump. Marjorie’s and Donald’s thinking coalesce in an America-First, Pro-Putin MAGA party line. Of course, I may be reading too much into this, and the affinity of these two is no more that the attraction of one bimbo for another.

2 XI 2022: Laced with truth serum

When I was a boy we heard from time to time scary Halloween atrocity stories passed on by word of mouth, e.g., that hate-filled people were inserting razor blades into trick-or-treat apples or were dropping burning-hot pennies into trick-or-treaters hands. So I found something nostalgic in reports that various far right figures have been claiming online that immigrants were putting fentanyl into Halloween candy.

Hence came my fantasy of putting truth serum in the Big Macs, fries, Diet Coke, and other junk foods favored by the MAGAs. Talk about chaos! The Christian Right movement would fall completely apart if people started telling the truth, and the Republican Party would never be able to recover if its people would begin telling the truth even for a week.

31 X 2022: Misinformation, abroad and at home

I read that the Russian government, in its attempts to conceal the very poor performance of its air, land, and naval forces, has resorted to massive campaigns of misinformation. Of course, this is nothing new. Spreading disinformation has been a constant in Russian propaganda, Tsarist, Communist, and neo-monarchist.

Of course, Trump and MAGA have also made disinformation the centerpiece of their propaganda. Did they borrow this from the Russians, or did they think it up all on their own?

31 X 2022: Pigs in the parlor

Well, the MAGAs got what they’ve been calling for, a violent attack on Nancy Pelosi. It is obvious to anyone that a significant portion of the MAGA base is to some degree insane. So did the MAGA stars think they could constantly call for violence against Nancy Pelosi without someone of the crazies taking them up on it?? To their disappointment, Nancy wasn’t at home, so her husband, Paul, had to take the hit. But that does not at all slow down the MAGA wits. Hence, headlines on CNN today: 

“Devin Nunes Posts Appalling Quip About Hammer Attack on Paul Pelosi” 

“Donald Trump Jr. Mocks Paul Pelosi With ‘Despicable’ Halloween Post”

Nunes and Donny Jr. are only the most recent MAGA grotesques to try to gratify the base-of-the-base with tasteless jokes. All I can do is quote from Pogo:  “That’s what you gets when you invites a pig into the parlor.”

17 X 2022: Victimology

Marjorie Taylor Green is claiming that she was a victim of the Jan 6th Insurrection. If MTG is a victim at all, she is victim of her own ambition and stupidity.

No doubt she learned to play the victim card from Donald Trump whose current complaint is that he is a victim of Jewish ingratitude. MTG is going through a divorce and will be free to marry Trump when Melania can’t stand him any longer, unless Ron Johnson gets to her first.

Ron Johnson is another GOP victim. He asserts that he was laughed at during a debate at Marquette University by some students who were “let in” to the audience. The students, he claims, are “being taught leftist propaganda,” and this explains their laughter at his claim to have been a victim of an FBI plot. No, Johnson is, as always, the victim of his own unfailing stupidity.