“Nature makes only dumb animals. We owe the fools to society.”
(Honore de Balzac)
******
The bifurcation of the United States is now complete. The AFM (American Fascist Movement, aka the GOP, the Far Right) has, finally, taken over the ‘defining’ substance of the country via its majority control of the House, Senate, White House, and presumably quite soon, the Supreme Court, all alongside the political control of some 32 states. When, on January 20th, the new Precedent (sorry, couldn’t help it) named Donald J. Trump is inaugurated and officially becomes POTUS, the final demise of America will begin in earnest. The goals of the AFM-GOP are fairly straight forward; they intend to address a number of cash and power redistribution projects. Here’s their shortlist:
- Repeal Obamacare;
- Cut Social Security;
- Privatize Medicare;
- Drastically reduce Medicaid;
- Repeal Roe v. Wade;
- Defund Planned Parenthood;
- Disallow female Reproductive Rights;
- Deport undocumented immigrants;
- Overturn Obama’s immigration Executive Orders, including DACA;
- Build a border wall;
- Dismantle the EPA;
- Halt all Carbon-reducing efforts;
- Increase coal, oil, and natural gas production;
- Pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement;
- Open all Public Lands to fossil fuel/mining exploration and production;
- Potentially work to hand over all Federal Lands to the respective States;
- Tax reform: reduce rates for corporate and top individual brackets, screw all the common folk;
- Abolish Net Neutrality (so cable companies can finally make a buck or two);
- Increase “defense” spending;
- Restart the nuclear arms race;
- Stop worrying about budget deficits;
- Blame the entire of the National Debt on Democrats, Obama mostly;
- Find places to start new wars;
- Universalize voter suppression and “ihre papiere, bitte” laws;
- Dismantle Public Education, pay for privatization with tax dollars;
- Rid colleges and universities of all those commie professors;
- Diminish NATO and the EU;
- Explore national merger with Russia.*
*(Not sure if number 28 is on any docket outside the Trump admin., but felt it worth a mention).
In short, (thanks to voter suppression, along with our clearly obsolete Electoral College) it’s a minority of voters that has enabled “All Of The Above.” Stated another way, the death of what once was a nation “of the people” is on the verge of total revision, with the fresh goal of a Feudal-style Fascist Oligarchy lying in wait just over the next horizon. The process should not take all that long to complete, now that the Extreme Right has essentially garnered full control of the government.
The presumed overall consequence — the bottom line — is a simple one: IF the AFM-GOP succeeds in the imposition of its Fascist agenda, the odds are very good that any return to Rooseveltian-style government where the PEOPLE come first, not the money-power enclave, will be gone for at least a generation or two, possibly forever. Remember: when government devolves into Fascism, the sole purpose of the blended money-power government is to disable and destroy each and every program designed to support and enable The People’s pursuit of a comfortable and productive life, and hand it off, instead, to the bums in their imaginary gleaming castles on the hill (sotospeak).
The process will begin on the afternoon of January 20, 2017, immediately following the swearing in of this nation’s 45th POTUS, Donald J. Trump.
Resistance must begin immediately. I, for one, will not attend, watch, or even acknowledge this particular inauguration. I will, instead, spend my time exploring and supporting alternatives, aka virtually any potentially viable project that has even the slightest chance of ridding the nation of its Fascist element, aka the Republican Party . . . and all its works and all its ways. Apparently I’m not alone in this ‘dream,’ at least according to the following link’s stated goal:
Hoping intelligent people across the land will consider and act appropriately upon all viable options, and in the process never forget the ancient but still accurate admonition of Plato:
The punishment for those who are too intelligent to engage in
politics is that they shall be governed by idiots.
Touche.
******
OPEN THREAD
It has been suggested that folks refuse to even turn their TVs on on the 20th. I will be going to DC on the 21st to protest, along with husband and my very anti-Trump teenager.
Bowing in your general direction!
I refuse to watch, listen to, or even imagine any details of that tragic event either on the 20th or any day, month, year or decade beyond. I won’t have time — will be too busy watching and fighting our ensuing national destruction, a full time job I’m sure.
Seems like an appropriate place to add this parody, which I wrote a long time ago.
https://pickwaynesbrain.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/republicans-lie/
Love it!
Thank you. I think my personal favorite part was turning
“Helter skelter in a summer swelter, the Byrds flew off the fallout shelter” into “Hocus pocus in another focus their virtues formed their moral locus.”
It just worked out so nicely with the rhymes I used.
That is good, but my favorite is:
“And the three men I despised the most,
The Cheney, Bush, and the Fox News Host,
They bought a last drink for a toast –
The way they used their lies.”
I could hear Don McLean singin’ the words as I read them!
I wish I could contact him about singing it. He lives in the same county as I, but I’m not sure where and it’s a big county. But then, I’m sure he gets lots of requests like that. He did let Weird Al use this for one of his parodies (about Star Wars), but I’m not Weird Al, and never will be. Weird Al has actual musical talent. 🙂
Trump Plans To Gut The CIA
Trump electors are illegitimate — and should not have voted
Imagine it. The possibility of GOP fraud. How rude!
How did China make this up exactly? Inquiring minds need to know
Global warming data that riled doubters is confirmed
Salient quotes
A new independent study shows no pause in global warming, confirming a set of temperature readings adjusted by U.S. government scientists that some who reject mainstream climate science have questioned…
The new international study looked at satellite data, readings from buoys and other marine floats for ocean temperatures. Each measurement system independently showed the same 20 years of increase in temperatures that NOAA found: about two-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit per decade since 2000, said the study’s lead author, Zeke Hausfather of the University of California, Berkeley.
…
“Our research confirms that NOAA scientists were right,” Hausfather said. “They were not in any way cooking the books.”
Hair Drumpf, in what manner do the Chinese have anything to do with this>????
Tweet your response to the world please. Now. ******crickets*******
Could it be that Trump was consciously lying when he said that?
Nah, no way. He would NEVER lie. It would violate his enduring sense of goodness and morality. Yep, that’s gotta be it. Whoever it was that did that “independent study” is the obvious culprit.
Note: in item number 16 up top, remove the word “potentially.”
The House just made it a lot easier to sell off national parks
Rob Bishop is the most anti-Public Lands buttcake in DC; he wants to get rid of virtually all of Federally-owned land, National Parks, Forests, Monuments, Preserves, Wildernesses — all of them.
The Republican Party seems prepared to not stop until they have dismantled and destroyed literally everything ‘good’ about the USA, convert it into a desolate kingdom for the only people who count — i.e. Republicans and rich fuckers.
Also note, that they don’t intend to ‘hand it over to the states’ necessarily. More like give it away to corporations to exploit.
Bishop’s House Rule fix points out the the land has zero value anyway, so they can do whatever they want, and taxpayers can’t be harmed at all since the land is valueless. Hard for me to believe the Grand Canyon has zero value, but what the hell do I know — compared to what any given teabagger KNOWS.
I can’t wait to see how Trump makes Mexico pay for the wall.
https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/817329823374831617
Donald Trump, Republicans now plan to charge taxpayers for the Mexico wall but plan to reclaim the money later
He’ll make Mexico repay later. Uh huh. Right.
Yes, every American family will get a Mexican immigrant to clean their house and wash their clothes for free in return for their tax dollars being used to build the effing wall.
Something like that, I’m sure. What could possibly go wronger.
Alec Baldwin has Trump’s re-election hat already!
An important message to my fellow Earthlings. Beware! Careful what you wish for. As bad as Trump will be it would be even worse under President Mike Pence.
I have a hunch that we will get our way and Trump will be impeached. Some yuge scandal or financial alliance will be leaked and the Republicans will eagerly move to impeach Trump in order to hand the presidency over to Pence, giving the Republican Party complete control over congress and the presidency.
Historians will look back at this moment of American history as ‘The Dumb Period’…or ‘The Return Of The Dark Ages’.