Tag Archive | Politics

Trump appears ready to select Robert F. Kennedy Jr to head HHS. Nothing in your grocery stores can ever be trusted to be safe ever again.

I’ve been thinking so bear with me here. I said years ago (2015, when Trump first ran) that he was Putin’s man and that Putin was trying to engineer the same strategy against the US that the US had engineered against the USSR – support dissatisfied factions within the US, fund them, arm them if need be (easy in the US), and try to shatter the country into independent states (Balkanize it).

The goal, in my opinion, is to remove the United States as a nuclear threat on the world stage without an open war. The weapons lesson from the USSR is that the rest of the world will pressure small independent states to give up any nukes on their soil. That’s what happened to former states of the USSR.

Why does that come into play right now? Trump is nominating absolute morons to head government departments, plus Musk is leading a group whose goal is to cut 2/3rds of the government’s work force.

What does that mean? It means that the federal government will ultimately be viewed as incompetent and untrustworthy at anything. And what does that accomplish? Blue states, like California or New York will likely respond with their own agencies for environmental, food safety, labor, and other issues. But if the blue states do that, where will they get the money? They’ll threaten to stop sending federal taxes to Washington. And if they do that, then the “United” part of the United States is effectively over.

From there, it’s a short step to declaring outright independence because those states won’t need Washington anymore. In fact, if I were Putin and California declared its independence, I’d be among the first to recognize it. And then I’d whisper in Donny Numbnuts ear to “let them go” and “rule over the part that loves you”. California might even play the China card, forming a defense pact with China against Washington.

And from there, you slowly but surely end up with a denuclearized, Balkanized North America. Nobody would want a nuclear armed Wyoming. Nobody in their right mind would want a nuclear armed Missouri or Arkansas. And even as right wing as it is, Texas might see this as their shot at getting out from under Washington once and for all. The northeast would likely secede and form immediate ties to Europe and Canada.

We already know Michael Flynn plans to get rid of all but one of the 17 US Intelligence agencies. The United States will be effectively blind in terms of intelligence even if Trump does leave office in four years. And remember, Trump has already, since being elected, questioned whether the 22nd amendment even applies to himself.

In 2016, I said you were watching the death of America. Now we’re watching the corpse being eaten by maggots. Stop thinking this can be saved. It can’t. The future is going to lie in the blue independent states of North America, and most of the red states are going to be third world hellholes.

So, Trans Leftists, Does that Green Party Ticket Look So Cozy Now?

Nov3

I’m sitting here amused, terribly amused. I’ve had multiple laughs at all the transgender ideological purists who insisted that voting for Stein and Ware was the only moral choice. However, not only did Green Party candidate Butch Ware throw trans people under the bus, but Stein isn’t contradicting him, which makes her complicit. And then, he talks about limiting access to abortion at 16 weeks. What a winner. Such a champion of women and trans people. Note that while Stein says she supports reproductive freedom, she’s said nothing about Ware’s comments. That silence is deafening this close to election day.

Plus. you have to be daft if you add in the realities of American politics – no 3rd party candidate matters. If you vote third party, you’ve wasted your vote. I don’t like this but it will take constitutional amendments to remove the winner-take-all system that sits in place now, and constitutional amendments to take much of the procedure for voting out of the hands of the states before we can move beyond two parties.

Anyway, you do have that right to waste your vote, and most of my friends are white and cishet, so they have all that privilege too. But let’s examine the reality.

1. A vote for any third party candidate ensures that the killing in Gaza continues. That’s a fact. Don’t tell me you “care” about Palestinians if you voted third party. The only thing that third party voting does is to salve your own conscience, so don’t come at me with how much you care about ANY marginalized group. If you cared, you’d take a path that could create a change.

2. A vote for Trump is already predetermined because Trump has publicly said he wants Netanyahu to “finish the job” and he thinks that land would make great condos not far from the beach. Again, don’t tell me you care about Palestinians if you voted for Trump.

3. That leaves a vote for Harris, which has a possible range of impacts. Most likely in the short term, the killing in Gaza continues. In the longer term, however, Kamala Harris might be convinced to force Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire. This is the only path that has that possibility. Yes, it’s not even the most likely outcome but it IS a possibility.

Ergo, the only vote that really cares for the Palestinian people is a vote for Harris-Waltz. Of course then we have to work on Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and Democratic Senators and Congresspersons, but at least it’s possible. Any other vote is a guarantee for the genocide to continue without end or get even worse.

So you never convinced me that voting for Stein was really about caring for the Palestinian people. You just screamed “genocide” irrationally as if that would change my mind. But if we do look at this rationally, we discover that the only vote that possibly could help the Palestinian people is the vote for Harris.

And now… now we have Butch Ware throwing trans people under the bus and Jill Stein refusing to discuss it, which makes her complicit. And Ware then throws women under the bus saying he supports restrictions on abortion. He’s either a wanna be Republican or incredibly incompetent and I’m not sure which is funnier, sadder, and more frightening.

As it turns out, your “purity politics” vote turned out to be rotten clear to its core. And I could have told you that before you wasted your vote. In point of fact, I did tell you that. I told you repeatedly Stein was a “professional candidate” and she runs for president periodically to raise campaign funds to live off during non-campaign years. I’ve pointed out that she’s close to Putin, who is killing Ukrainians, about whom you don’t seem to give a damn.

Consequently, I am greatly amused at your choice and the fallout from your choice to support the Green Party because they’re not “genocidal”. Well, guess what? They side with the GOP in hating trans people. Good move, huh? And Stein hasn’t directly contradicted Ware on women’s reproductive rights either, has she? So the Green Party is no friend to women either.

I’d ask if some of you felt the least bit of shame for supporting Stein, but your egos are too big for that. Too “ideologically pure” despite what Ware and Stein just did to trans people and to women. Too full of hate for any result except instant perfect justice which never happens in the real world. Real justice gets messy, takes time, and is uncomfortable.

Was Harris a perfect candidate? Hardly, and I freely admit that. But she’s miles better than Trump will ever be, and, she’s open to change. Further, as Black women have repeatedly taught me, it’s important to minimize harm even if we can’t stop all harm. And a vote for Harris is the vote that minimizes harm for the most number of other marginalized groups, both here and abroad.

But I think we’ve now established that voting for Stein is a shitty vote. And now it’s your shitty vote that you have to live with. You can ignore me. I wonder if you can silence your own conscience over what your precious “Green” Party thinks of trans people and of women. Oh, by the way, this same criticism and analysis applies to those of you that didn’t vote “because of Gaza”. You may never be able to vote again.

At his point, I’m confident in concluding that voting for the Green Party or not voting at all was pretty fucking stupid.

https://www.advocate.com/election/jill-stein-running-mate-transphobia

Remember Why Matthew Shepard Was Attacked

Oct6

October 6th is the 26th anniversary of the date on which Matthew Shepard was brutally attacked and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming. Once found, he was rushed to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he would die from his wounds six days later on October 12th (and yes, I will mention this again at that time).

I NEVER want to hear another so-called Christian whine about the “potential lives lost” to abortion when this is still the sort of treatment that LGBTQ people receive within this sick society. Worse, I still encounter so-called Christians who are glad that Matthew Shepard died.

For those of you who hold such views, YOU are why the church continues to die off in the United States. You are the witness to what Christianity creates and people are disgusted with what they see.

It’s not just Trump. It’s everything that Trump and his ilk stand for, and that’s the gigantic label of hate and intolerance that you’ve painted all over the Christian Church, in every denomination.

P.S. Even the six verses that people claim relate to LGBTQ people in the bible do not, when reviewed in closer detail in the original languages. But the bible is absolutely clear about adultery and divorce, yet again, you Christians ignore that like it has no meaning whatsoever.

As we remember Matthew Shepard, remember why he died – because of homophobic intolerant Christianized American society.

Conservatism Is A Tool Of White Male Patriarchy

Oct1

I’ve not written here in this blog for years, but I suppose I should start again. So here are thoughts from today.

Everything about American conservatism (and by extension, Libertarianism, which is a distinctly American creation) is aimed at conserving white male supremacy.

It always has been. Those of us raised with those “values” foremost in our lives have had to undergo deprogramming processes, because yes, inflicting that on people is a kind of programming.

It’s a programming that teaches that poverty is a moral failing and not the inevitable result of capitalism, in order to defend capitalism from charges of cruelty. It’s programming that has to constantly chant that women must be submissive, because if women being submissive were the natural order of things, it wouldn’t have to be indoctrinated into women their entire lives. It’s programming that requires scapegoats, to distract young white men from realizing that wealthy elites are picking their pockets too, just not quite as hard as they’re picking everyone else’s pockets. People of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people – anyone different enough that the wealthy can rapidly build a program (note that word) of easily disseminated but believable lies against is useful to the wealthy elites as a scapegoat to divide working class people.

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.” ― Lyndon B. Johnson

Even “economic conservatism” is part of this preservation of the white patriarchy by ensuring that wealth already ill gotten is not to be attacked for being either an expression of too much greed or outright cruelty to those it was taken from. Note that I make a distinction between traditional economic conservatism and what I call “fiscal efficiency”. Government often is not the most efficient at its use of available funds to accomplish a task. The expanded Child Tax Credit that was enacted during the pandemic is a good example. It got money into the hands of families that needed it, lifted many children out of poverty, and avoided creating a large government agency to attend to that task by using information that the IRS already had to directly send checks to those families. Finding efficient ways to help government function isn’t limited to economic conservatism so it’s not part of that ideology.

We have a long road to travel as a nation but we have workable blueprints in front of us from other nations. We know that there are multiple different kinds of healthcare systems that are both more financially efficient than the “free market” and that ensure that everyone has coverage. Even Adam Smith noted that healthcare is not a normal consumer good.

And while I despise capitalism, I’ve not yet seen a working example of pure socialism or communism that works in a manner that makes any sense to me. So for now, I support the the concept of social democracies with tight regulation of economies, harsh limits on upper income levels, and the creation of national wealth funds. I completely support the 100% taxation of any assets that any individual has over $1 billion dollars. All such assets don’t have to be sold off but instead could be transferred to a national wealth fund to subsequently feed government budgets from dividends, stock sales, etc. If the size of such funds is problematic, they could be divided into multiple funds that have to compete with one another. There’s a lot of details to work out but other nations have national wealth funds that contribute to the overall good of the nation so why can’t the US?

In short, I’ve never seen one aspect of modern American conservatism that isn’t laser focused on preserving white male supremacy. Every aspect of conservatism has at least one side effect, if not more, that is beneficial to white male supremacy. Modern American conservatism, since at least the 1960’s, has been nothing but a tool of a primarily white fascist elite and with every passing year, that becomes more and more obvious.

The Southern Strategy Is Real

Apr11

The Southern Strategy is real and I have the proof – a PDF of a May 17, 1970 NY Times article where they interviewed Kevin Phillips, the man who created the Southern Strategy for Richard Nixon.

Kevin-Philips-0908__067_bw_guestcrop-640x360

Kevin Phillips, the man who created the Southern Strategy

Here are some sample transcribed quotes from the article.

Kevin Phillips said, “All the talk about Republicans making inroads into the Negro vote is persiflage. Even Jake the Snake [Senator Jacob Javits] only gets 20 percent. From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don’t need any more than that … but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.”

Another quote from the article and this quote is FROM 1970!!!

“He doesn’t dismiss liberal fears that there is a potential for fascism in the new conservative majority. ‘The popular conservative majority now taking shape, like past popular movements, is vulnerable to aberration. With its important component of military, apprehensive bourgeois, and law and order seeking individuals, there is a proclivity and over-reaction to the liberal engendered permissiveness and anarchy of the sixties. This is a danger the administration should watch carefully.'”

The above comment is acknowledgement that they (Nixon and Phillips) were deliberately choosing to appeal to fascist tendencies in order to win political battles in the US. The GOP became a party of WILLING fascism in the 1960s when Phillips created the Southern Strategy and Nixon accepted it as his tool to power.

Read the entire article. It’s shocking, especially in light of the current presidency and where the Southern Strategy has brought us after 50 years. These ideas and more were also expressed in his book, The Emerging Republican Majority, written in 1969.

However, by 2006, Phillips seems to have realized just how dark a turn the path he laid for the GOP had become. In American Theocracy, the NY Times described his writings as:

“He identifies three broad and related trends — none of them new to the Bush years but all of them, he believes, exacerbated by this administration’s policies — that together threaten the future of the United States and the world. One is the role of oil in defining and, as Phillips sees it, distorting American foreign and domestic policy. The second is the ominous intrusion of radical Christianity into politics and government. And the third is the astonishing levels of debt — current and prospective — that both the government and the American people have been heedlessly accumulating. If there is a single, if implicit, theme running through the three linked essays that form this book, it is the failure of leaders to look beyond their own and the country’s immediate ambitions and desires so as to plan prudently for a darkening future.”

The Southern Strategy is real. The historical documents prove it. The man who created it now seems to recognize he created a monster. And the monster of the GOP, Donald Trump, is now destroying our nation while Republicans sit by unwilling to lift a single finger to stop him.

Liz – Day By Day

A long journey to find myself