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Posts Tagged ‘Donald Trump’

A Favor to Ask

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on October 23, 2022| 2 Comments »

Folks,

I am asking for a favor. It’s a big favor.

The favor is this: this election season, which may have already started due to early or mail-in voting in your area, please do not vote Republican.

At all.

I’m asking you to not vote for any Republican, on any ballot, for any office – state, county or local – anywhere.

There are only two issues on the table this year. These two issues should form the core values of all Americans. In fact, all people who support, and are fortunate to live in, a free society should embrace these two values, unconditionally. So unconditionally, in fact, that going against these two values should be an automatic disqualification from office.

These two values are:

— We must not normalize political violence, and

— We must protect the right to vote, the means to vote, the counting of votes, and the results of a vote

These two values are paramount in a free society. Without these, you do not have a free society. At best, you have the social veneer of one, with a widening undercurrent of disenfranchisement and, eventually — yeah, I’ll use the word — tyranny.

Some would argue there are more important issues. I’m sure many people are concerned about inflation, that’s a big one. I’m sure some are concerned about the threat of war or crime or a variety of nebulous cultural issues. I’m sure a lot of people are sick of hearing about January 6th or Donald Trump or The Big Lie or what-have-you. Well, that’s too bad, because I am right. Only these two issues matter in this election: rejection of political violence, and free & fair elections.

These issues matter now because an entire political party, arguably representing a third of the voting public, believes these two values *do not matter*. One party, the Republican Party, has condoned and supported political violence; and is intentionally working throughout the entire government to undermine free & fair elections. They have actively recruited and supported Big Lie believers in races for election officials, state’s attorneys, governors, state legislators, and members of Congress throughout the country. This is a concerted and intentional attempt to usurp free and fair elections, all around the country, for the sole purpose of rigging the system to gain power in the future. It’s even being attempted in blue states. 

I’m sure there are some out there who will reject my broad strokes. “Not all Republicans supported the attack on the Capitol.” Yes, that’s true … and those Republicans who have spoken out against it have been drummed out of the party. They’ve been driven into retirement, or been primaried off the ballot. Some have received death threats against themselves and their families. Only those who’ve bent the knee and kissed the ring at Mar-a-Lago remain. The party is tainted, wholly and firmly, and must be ended as an institution.

The bottom line is this: a functioning democracy cannot survive either retributional political violence, or the destruction of free elections. This is how nations die. All throughout history lies the wreckage of states who pulled these stunts: rigged elections; stacked judiciaries; intimidated, imprisoned or even assassinated political opponents, all geared towards the attainment and retention of political power. The result is always a failed state and a miserable populace. Unmarked cemeteries all around the world hold the remains of millions, attesting to the brutal reality, and a potential future, of it all.

I can hear the groans from the audience, and the accusations that I’m grandstanding and exaggerating and it’s “not that bad”. And perhaps yes, it’s not that bad … now. It’s like noticing a single leak in the roof. Do you do the heavy work now to find that one leak and fix it before it becomes a crisis and ruins the whole house, or do you slap on some duct tape and turn up the TV when it rains? 

We cannot, under any circumstances, reward a party, *any* party, who embraces either political violence or the destruction of elections. Do not vote Republican this cycle. Send a clear and concise message that *this is not to be tolerated*. Draw the line here. Force them to change. Then, if and when they do, maybe, just maybe, give them a second chance. If they don’t, then send them to the dust bin of history.

I’ll open the comments. Debate me. But don’t take this lightly. This cycle, vote with seriousness and determination, and send a message.

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Contrition Comes First

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The country needs to unite. We need to set aside the conflicts of the past and work as one to move the nation forward.

Um, no. Absolutely not. Not at all. At least, not yet.

We’ve just been through a significant traumatic experience. We’ve had an armed insurrection, a violent incursion into the U.S. Capitol, and the attempted kidnapping and murder of our senior-most elected officials, including the Vice President of the United States. The 45th President just led a campaign of not only lies, but of broadcasted hatred, lasting four full years of his term. We still have threats against the government and the people, from inside the country and, quite likely, amongst the ranks of the military, law enforcement, the federal government, and elsewhere. Unity is not possible right now.

Time for some brutal honesty. Our very society is broken: horribly, horribly broken. These travesties are not symptoms of some mild disagreements, differences in policies or dogma. Divides like these don’t come from tax codes or health care plans, they come from anger and hatred and manipulation and dishonesty. These are serious behavioral problems, and have less in common with public policy debate, and more in common with alcoholism, cultic thought, and spousal abuse. I’ve had personal experience with the first two, and know far too many who’ve had experience with the third. The parallels are glaringly obvious.

Addicts

One thing about alcoholics is true from case to case: they cannot meet any commitment. They cannot be trusted. Always with broken promises. Couldn’t get to work on time; couldn’t go to the Little League game; couldn’t remember your birthday or your anniversary or what day of the week it is. Everything they do or touch is compromised. They are dragged down by their addiction, every action they take is in service of their addiction, and through their inability to do jack squat, they drag down the entire family or entire company or whatever they touch. We’ve just had four years of a president who is addicted to himself, with all the corresponding behaviors of an addict: promises broken, a broken government, a fractured society, and 400,000 dead from a plague that would have been better handled by practically anyone with any level of competence whatsoever. The level of failure by the outgoing administration is outrageous and disgusting.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-kind-of-like-an-addiction-on-the-road-with-trumps-rally-diehards-11567762200

Cults

Belonging to cults warps one’s thought process. Cults feed their members lies, lies intended to manipulate their actions to the benefit of their mad philosophies or charismatic leaders. They also develop their own lingo, working to isolate their members from their family, friends, and general society. They convince their adherents that all others are “lesser people”, that they are not “worthy” of “understanding” the “truth”. They are taught not to trust what other people tell them, to disregard experts, and to especially mistrust the press. Cults do this to convince their members that only they are special, that only they matter, as long as “they” serve the Greater Purpose. This is horribly disruptive to families, friendships, societies, and, ultimately, to the adherents themselves. We’ve just seen the result of cultic thought amongst a wide swath of society, leading to violence, assault, and attempted murder. Five people are dead. That’s where cultic thought leads.

Cult Experts Warn That Trumpism Is Starting to Look Awfully Familiar

Abusers

Abusive spouses are the worst of the lot. Beyond the physical violence endemic in such relationships, they are also well versed in manipulative tactics. They continually gaslight, and trivialize, and deny. They divert and dissuade and obfuscate. Everything is “your fault”. “You’re” too stupid to understand, and only “they” know what’s best. You must obey them, even to your own detriment, because they are worthier than you. Everything they do or say is so they stay in power, so they come out on top, so they get what they want, while you sacrifice your own hopes and dreams and even your humanity. They do it out of disgusting selfishness. We’ve seen four years of this very behavior from the very top, and we’re seeing the results now.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/25/trump-trauma-experts-abusive-relationship

Contrition Comes First

In all three cases, there is one thing that’s not possible, and that’s forgiveness, or unity. Sure, you may get some apologies, but these are shallow platitudes. You may get some promises to change, but these will be forgotten. You may receive pleas of forgiveness, but forgiveness is undeserved, because the pleas have no substance. They are diversions and distractions, meant to calm the situation, but the perpetrators will return to their old ways within a matter of days. I’ve seen it, this is what happens, over and over and over again.

What must come first is true contrition. Contrition is, first and foremost, an admission of guilt, an acknowledgement of what one has done, of the wrongs one has committed, of the lies one has told. In this case, there has to be an admission that there was no steal. The election was as free and fair as any we have had. There was no significant fraud. Donald J. Trump lost. He lost because he was a terrible president and hated by the majority of the voting public. That is a fact. There is no conspiracy, no deep state, no secret source known as Q. It’s all crap, a fabrication, a game. A game meant to anger and antagonize and divide, just to give miscreants and criminals an opportunity to seize power or line their own pockets. If you want unity, then first admit what was done was wrong, disavow this misanthropic nonsense, and stop supporting this narcissistic madman and his band of skeezy enablers.

The next step of contrition is to begin to act like decent human beings. Then ask for forgiveness.

Then, perhaps, we can have unity.

[I was going to post some photos of the riots to accentuate the point, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so.]

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A Request to President-Elect Joseph Biden: Cancel The Inauguration

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on January 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »

President-Elect Joseph P. Biden, I am begging you. You must cancel the inauguration ceremonies set for January 20th. It is not safe. The District of Columbia has been compromised, and is at risk for further insurrection. 

This doesn’t come from a position of paranoia or conspiracy. It comes from rudimentary risk assessment methodology. There are so many red flags surrounding the inauguration itself, and the fundamental security of the District of Columbia, they cannot be ignored.

Risk #1: Extant Insurrectionist Threats

The attack on the capitol on Jan. 6th was the result of well-coordinated efforts involving thousands of radicals. In the weeks after the election, these individuals have been planning meet-ups, advising on equipment, coordinating timeframes, and discussing tactics. There is clear-and-present information in publicly-accessible social networking sites, forums, and message board channels. This activity has escalated since the 6th, and the focus has now shifted to Inauguration Day. These are extant threats, by individuals still on the loose, or perhaps not involved in the incident on the 6th, but standing by for the next one. As of this writing, there have been less than 60 arrests, yet there were undoubtably more than 60 individuals who broke into the Capitol. The threat is still out there.

Risk #2: Extant Threats of Serious Violence

These are not just threats of mayhem or vandalism. These are threats against the lives of public officials, not just yourself and Vice President Elect Harris, but threats against specific members of Congress, Democrats in general, even against the current Vice President, Mr. Pence. These attackers were equipped with firearms, improvised explosive devices, even police-style temporary restraints. These individuals want to kidnap or kill elected officials, or anyone who supports the Democratic Party, voted for your ticket, or generally opposes their radical agenda.

Risk #3: Failures of Official Security Assessments

It is plainly obvious that the security of the Capitol Building failed. At best, the Capitol Police did not understand the risks associated with the protests occurring in the District on Jan. 6, and were unprepared to meet those challenges. In and of itself, this lack of incorrect security assessment is deeply troubling. Similar to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the nation was grossly unprepared. There is no possibility that any of the responsible parties can correct this issue by Jan. 20.

Risk #4: Likely Compromise of the Capitol Police

There is enough anecdotal evidence today to suggest that some officers within the Capitol Police collaborated with the insurrection. There are videos showing police officers opening barricades, standing down from their posts, giving directions to infiltrators, and even taking selfies with trespassers. There have even been reports that off-duty officers of police departments were involved in the trespass. There is not enough time to thoroughly investigate these anecdotes, gather up evidence, have hearings, and take proper disciplinary and criminal action. Perhaps these officers acted appropriately, perhaps we are misinterpreting images and videos. However, in terms of a security assessment, it must be assumed the Capitol Police is compromised until it can be proven otherwise.

Risk #5: Likely Compromise of the U.S. Army Chain of Command

D.C. and Capitol officials, and officials in Maryland and Virginia, have all made statements that the response of the National Guard was slow, even initially refused, when the insurrection began. This suggests serious problems within the Pentagon and the Army. At a minimum, the lack of any staging of National Guard troops in the event that something did occur represents gross negligence of security assessors and of the chain of command. As before, investigations should reveal the truth. In the interim, however, there is reason to mistrust the U.S. military brass to perform their roles to protect the District of Columbia from further violence.

Risk #6: Members of Congress Might Be Collaborators

It is clear some members of Congress actively promoted, inspired, or supported these attacks by repeating claims of election fraud regardless of evidence. Some Senators and House members spoke at the rallies just prior to the violence at the Capitol. These same Members of Congress, and their staffs, receive a number of briefings on security processes in place at the Capitol, within the District, and within the military itself. Each member of Congress who directly advocated for violence; supported conspiracy theories regarding the election, the federal government, or members of Congress; or otherwise provided sympathy or comfort to the insurrectionist enemy, must be considered a risk for leaking security measures and procedures. Again, from a security risk assessment perspective, the entire Congress must be suspect until proven otherwise.

Risk #7: The Command-in-Chief is an Insurrectionist and a Conspirator

President Donald J. Trump has directly influenced these insurrectionists. That much is abundantly clear. This means that the very person who is ultimately responsible for security within the District, and for any U.S. Military support, has encouraged, enabled, and sanctified the violence that occurred in the Capitol on the 6th. Mr. Trump is also currently responsible for your personal safety, and the safety of all who attend the Inauguration in person on the 20th. The people in charge today are his direct appointments, and ultimately take their orders from him. This is the largest risk of all, and puts the entire operation under deep suspicion.

Responsibility Over Messaging

Mr. Biden, in light of all the uncertainty surrounding the security measures extant in the District of Columbia, you must cancel any inauguration proceedings. The U.S. Constitution only requires you to take the Oath of Office. This can be done anywhere. Stay in Delaware, have a small group of trusted witnesses, and broadcast the event on a wide variety of media platforms for public consumption. You must do this.

Some may think this would be an act of cowardice, and would show to the insurrectionists that they have won. I strongly disagree. This is an act of prudence. It is foolishness to walk blindly into an insecure area and declare “bravery”. In the aftermath of 9/11, there was an urge to return life to normal. We responded by locking down airports, calling up troops, and patrolling the skies. Then we declared that “the terrorists have not won.” This is an entirely different situation. The enemy is amongst us, indistinguishable. There are no TSA checkpoints in the way; there are no passports to check. The enemy is within the very citizenry, something I had hoped to never see in my lifetime. There is no level of action that can be taken in the next 11 days to correct the risks I have listed. Canceling the inaugural events would not be cowardice, it would be sensible, and smart, and responsible. It is the only wise choice to make.

This can be messaged properly to the American people. You can be very clear: you cannot guarantee the safety of the attendees because the current occupant of the office is an insurrectionist, and anything he was involved in cannot be trusted at this time. A full investigation across the breadth and depth of the federal government, including the Armed Forces chains of command, must be and will be undertaken during your administration, in order to provide for the security of the country for the next inauguration.

Please, I’m begging you. Cancel any inaugural festivities. Take the oath in a different location, maybe the 1st Delaware Volunteer Infantry Regiment monument in Gettysburg would be appropriate. We’ll understand. 

I’d also advise you to not move into the White House for a while, until people you trust can search it thoroughly. But that is a topic for another post.

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One Question for Trump Supporters

Posted in Trumpocalypse, tagged , , , , , on January 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Recap

Let’s review some events from the last few days:

  • TV and cable news channels over-covered the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration. In typical fashion, they dwelt far too long on an unimportant piece of trivia, instead of reporting on the important elements of the ceremony.  This is symptomatic of the standard laziness of most media outlets, and not surprising.

Yet at President Trump’s behest, the official White House press secretary stood in front of the press room … and blatantly lied. He not only lied about something that shouldn’t be important to anybody, but he did so with a level of rage that should be reserved for accusations of treason. Press secretaries don’t do things like that, they are trained to keep their cool under the most trying of situations. Sean Spicer isn’t some newbie, he’s a seasoned veteran of press rooms of all types. But there he is, blatantly lying in the White House briefing room.

So let me get this straight: the federal government is funded by taxpayer dollars. The federal government works for us. The federal government is now being prevented from talking to … us. That’s really what it is. This isn’t “stop talking to the press cuz the press is mean to Trump”, this is the government must stop talking to us. Lots of folks, both Trump supporters and not, hate political correctness and oppression of speech. So we combat that by hiring a guy … who then institutes gag orders on those agencies to stop talking to us? Here you have to ask … why? They won, these agencies aren’t going to make a difference in the coming agenda, they will become the coming agenda whether they like it or not, so why bother silencing them?

  • The White House has reaffirmed their position that millions of people voted illegally in the recent election. No evidence has been presented by any state election officials in any state, Red or Blue, to provide evidence to support this claim; no independent watchdog authority of any persuasion has come forward with any evidence;  and even fellow Republicans have stated there is no evidence of significant voter fraud. 

Again, why is President Trump even going down this path? His victory was verified, there were no legal challenges, he is President according to the U.S. Constitution and all applicable laws. Yet he continues to manufacture a voter fraud narrative out of whole cloth? For what possible purpose, especially when it would be so much easier to just stop wasting time talking about it and get on with the business of implementing his agenda?

The Question

So now I have to ask that one question I teased in the headline:

Trump supporters: is this really what you signed up for?

I get that you have a lot of complaints with the way things are. The Obama administration actually wasn’t that great. Sure, they had good economic numbers, but those statistics are broad and kinda suck, they don’t really reflect the realities on the ground. There are a lot of regulations that do waste money and hamper job growth (being in IT, I have to deal with Sarbanes-Oxley rules, a large number of which are ineffectual). Urban riots that hit the country in the past few years are certainly bad. The opiate epidemic that has hit many rural counties is horrific. I know I was less than thrilled with our choices this past election. I can definitely see the appeal of massive political change in this country.

But is this really what you wanted? A man so protective of his own image he’ll intentionally lie to the American people; will intentionally muzzle the most unimportant of administrative departments; and will manufacture “facts” out of whole cloth just to give him legitimacy?

I really want to know. I just don’t get it.

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