Another Day, Another Nail

POST 1152

We’re Fast Running Out of Time

My dearest friend told me last Sunday that after reading columns in the Times and getting so bummed out by the torrent of awful that he’s going to check out. I don’t think he’ll do that, but his is a clear statement of where so many are – feeling betrayed, frustrated and most of all, hopeless. That leads to immobilization. We need something other than the daily doom docket and we need it now.

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That thought brought me back to my recent question, Who Will Lead. We have pundits punditing, some activists activating but I don’t see a national leader inspiring us, steering us back to our constitutional republic, which makes me wonder.

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Where are Obama, Bush, Hollywood A-listers, Clinton – both of them, top athletes (wouldn’t you love to see Colin Kappernick dump truth on King Asshole I?), Cheney – both of them, Romney and the rest of the big names who know right from wrong? Their silence is enabling the destruction we see everywhere.

On Wednesday I passed along a link to the Open Letter to Career Prosecutors, signed by over 900 retired prosecutors. It’s a letter of admiration and support for our brave prosecutors, now under siege by Trump’s dishonorable Department of Justice. Now, where is the open letter signed by retired good guy Republican senators and representatives? – like Corker, Flake, Hagel, Hutchinson, even Pence? I’m defining “good guy” to mean wouldn’t cave in to fascism, people who stand by and for their oath of office. Where are their voices? They are nowhere.

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Hitler dismantled Germany’s democracy in just 53 days of Reichstag caving in and of anger of some of the public. Specifically, it took only one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes. We have only a few weeks to stop this annihilation of everything we hold dear before all is lost to fascism. Where the hell are the guys who know better? We need strong leadership and we have precious little time.

There have been lots of demonstrations, but they need to be 10 times the size they are to have an impact. So, to be fair, where are we?

“Here’s the deal: we can complain and talk all day about the problems we face. Or, we can do something about them.”

– Adam Kinzinger, Country First

Taking a Ride On The WayBack Machine, Susan Collins Version

Perhaps you remember the 2018 Senate confirmation hearings for now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He was credibly accused of sexual assault, perhaps rape. That was when Democrats on the committee were prohibited by the committee Republican majority from bringing in additional women with similar credible accusations to testify against the beer-drinking-to-excess nominee. That was when the FBI did that high altitude fly-by of a vetting process that ignored eye witnesses and which provided no useful information to the committee, as ordered by Trump. Is it coming back to you?

We counted on Sen. Susan Collins of Maine to put the hammer down on Mr. “I like beer” and she failed us. So did 49 other Republican Senators.

A handful of those 2018 Republicans are extremist thugs, but the rest knew the difference between right and wrong, just as some of today’s senators do. But last Wednesday they voted to put Russian useful idiot, comrade Tulsi Gabbard, into our highest intelligence position. This is the woman who sucked up to Bashar al-Assad, repeatedly blabbered Russian disinformation and said Edward Snowden wasn’t a traitor. It doesn’t look like she thinks we’re the good guys. And Susan Collins let us down yet again.

I’m picking on her, but I could have picked on most any of 51 other Republicans. Now Kennedy is confirmed to lead HHS and destroy our public health system. Kash Patel has vowed to kill the FBI and Linda McMahon, she of phony-baloney professional wrestling fakery, will be in charge of the Department of Education with a order from her boss and her vow to destroy it.

These legislators are emboldening both the phony Rambos and the thugs with offices in the Capitol Building. They are effectively saying that they and their careers are more valuable, more important than you or your family. They are promoting thugocracy by caving in to it.

“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” – Pres. Harry Truman

And Trump is working to eliminate all structures of government so that he has total dictatorial control. And it’s happening, one chainsaw massacre a time.

Schooling Us From Ukraine

Authorship unknown

Didn’t The Orange Menace promise he would end the war in Ukraine in one day? Or was it that he’d end it on day one? It’s been 33 days with no progress in sight – just ways to rip off and end Ukraine as a sovereign nation. Trump has offered Zelenskyy and Ukraine a deal, wherein Ukraine will give away half of its mineral rights in exchange for nothing. At the same time, Trump’s Cabinet drones are negotiating with Putin’s on ending the war. Their notion of a fair settlement is to dissolve Ukraine and make it an extension of Russia. Ukrainians will own nothing and be vassals of Putin. Poland and the Baltic states already know they will be next because Putin announced that’s what he’ll do.

That cruelty is Trump exacting retribution, this time against Zelenskyy for refusing to be extorted by Trump and Trump getting impeached over his high crime as a result. That cruel, bratty Trump pique is how the United States of America is now being governed and how we’re being seen by the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, the missiles and drones continue to bombard Ukraine and kill its civilians, even as Trump’s Secretary of Defense and his Vice President lectur e Europeans on the beauty and glory of cruel autocracy that has always led to brutal wars, ethnic cleansing and the impoverishment of the people. And Trump is inviting Putin to the U.S. and himself to Russia for official state meetings. His suck up to tyrants is a threat to all freedom loving people. Good luck, Taiwan.

“Hostile Government Takeover”

Prof. Timothy Snyder’s Feb 12 post from Ukraine, Crossing a line – Borders between one kind of life and another, is a stunning statement of Ukrainians’ nightmare reality, as well as a stark warning to all of us. Link through and read it. Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt:

As in Russia, our daily lives [in America] are flooded by such a rushing river of contradictory lies that we have trouble knowing where we are, let alone what we should do. As in Russia, a president supported by oligarchs and their media power is trying to humiliate the other branches of government. The executive is seeking to marginalize the legislature — forever — by ruling without passing laws. The executive is seeking to marginalize the judiciary — forever — by ignoring court rulings.

Democracy – RIP

More nails in the coffin of democracy, as elected officials cave in.

Readings

Be sure to get a copy of former Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s Country First guide, No Retreat!
The Union is an action arm of the Lincoln Project propelled by ordinary patriotic Americans. Read the post from Feb 19, The Declaration of Independence from Donald J. Trump. See if the phraseology triggers your pride in America – like from back in your civics class days.

Where is the Republican outrage over Trump trashing America and naming himself king? Where is the indignation, the repudiation, the “That’s it. Count me out!”?

We don’t have time for this Republican cowardice. The clock is ticking.

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JaxPolitix

Disambiguation from the political and social musings of Jack Altschuler