John Wilkes Booth
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While checking into a state park lodge for a family reunion, I got into a discussion with the guy behind the counter. The net of it was that he directed me to a couple of websites: Bay Area Transparency and 1st Amendment Auditor. I started watching a video on each of them and lost patience at lightning speed. They appear to be pseudo documentaries focused on taking down law enforcement by means of entrapment, temper tantrum badgering and vomiting accusations.
These videos have the smell of a guy with anti-authority mania, victimhood adoration and severe daddy issues, all of which he uses to bludgeon others.
In one scene the host is operating his camera with his mouth in full-auto blabbing mode while finger jabbing at a police officer in the middle of the street. He’s complaining that there are signs indicating parking only for state vehicles and that the police shouldn’t be allowed to make up their own rules and limit others. That’s his gotcha.
The point is that he goes to great lengths to find ways that injustice prevails and disadvantages him. He accuses and badgers police officers who are polite in return. He sounds like he has an adult body and an adult voice, but he has the maturity and self-control of a kid having a tantrum on the floor of the cereal aisle.
Why should you care about that?
Because this guy is a poster child for our infestation of MAGA plague. He appears to believe that he’s doing a red, white and blue, true American patriotic unmasking of authoritarian over-reach and cruelty, all this over a parking space.
Extrapolate that to millions of people whose weapons aren’t cameras, but instead are semi-automatic pistols and assault rifles. That’s why you should care.
We have an overload of citizens who think they’ve been wronged, who believe that there is a deep state populated by oppressors who happily crush true Americans. These are people who have devolved into anarchist king killers.
Last Tuesday I saw a clip of reporter Vaughn Hillyard interviewing a woman at a Trump rally in New Hampshire (view from 2:10). He asked what will happen if Trump is found guilty. She responded, “civil war.” Take your own guess as to why saying that would appear to please her.
As disastrous as such violence would be, not prosecuting Trump would eventually be far worse, so I’m not advocating backing off prosecutions. Indeed, I’m for full speed ahead to nail that law breaker and his sycophantic co-conspirators. Accountability is all that forestalls worse. See my post this Wednesday for more about that.
There is a very high level of anger, belligerence, and vitriol in the bellies of millions of Americans. They’re people with “issues” and they act as though only violence will assuage their “issues.” These are people who don’t just want the parking signs taken down. They want everything taken down.
The Republican Party is no longer the party of Lincoln. It is the party of John Wilkes Booth.
Maybe Some Sanity and Relief is Coming From
H.J.Res.54 – Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States providing that the rights protected and extended by the Constitution are the rights of natural persons only. (118th Congress)
Sponsor: Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7] (Introduced 04/10/2023)
We’ve tried this before. Maybe we can bring it to the right conclusion this time.
January 21, 2010 was a dark and dangerous day for the United States. It was the day that the Supreme Court announced its findings in the Citizens United case and produced a thunder clap decision that was scarcely related to the case actually brought before the Supreme Court.
The Court, in its warped, John Roberts anti-wisdom, decided that corporations have all the same rights as people. It reaffirmed that money isn’t a tangible property; it’s speech. It said that it’s okay for wealthy individuals and corporations to make enormous financial donations to politicians and SuperPACs. And it said that it’s okay for much of that bribery to remain secret. Fundamentally, that decision validated politics as a pay-to-play scheme, giving lots more power to rich people and corporations and way less to you. And none of that had anything to do with Citizens United wanting to post a smash-mouth video trashing Hillary.
In his dissent in this case, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that in addressing an issue that was not raised by the litigants,
“ . . . the majority changed the case to give themselves an opportunity to change the law.”
“A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”
And that’s why this proposed amendment is critically important.
I’ve done many presentations about the craziness of this case and others. Click here and scroll down to the embedded 15-minute video for a taste test. It’s from 2014 and, sadly, it’s still timely today.
Many of us have been searching for an answer to the question of what we can do to reverse this theft of our government (see MoveToAmend). From the lead-in to this section of a proposed Constitutional amendment, it looks (again) like relief might be on the way.
What you can do now is to encourage your Representative to co-sponsor H.J. Res. 54. Because this is a proposed amendment to the Constitution it’s going to take years to get this done. That’s why today is a good day to start.
Quote of the Week
Steve Schmidt writes a post entitled The Warning and I heartily recommend it. Last Wednesday he centered his comments around those of President James Garfield and his address to his Union Army “Boys in Blue” in his essay America Is Not Our Politics. It is a splendid reminder of the real America, so I heartily recommend it to you.
To make the point about America being something else and not being our politics, Schmidt wrote,
These are troubled days where idiocy, malice, cowardice and appeasement have become the rocket fuel for political advancement.
And, of course, that isn’t who you or I or any of us is. Read Schmidt’s post.
Not Just For Fun
I saw this pic that led a story in the Washington Post about a murder cold case. Intending no disrespect for that story or the people involved, I just had to use it for a spoof.
In my interpretation, peeking from behind that door are Ron DeSantis and some dope of a placeholder for all the self-righteous Republican politicians who think they belong in your bedroom.
Here’s what that will look like in video if the self-righteous ones (including Clarence Thomas) get their way.
From David Corn’s Our Town Newsletter of August 12:
” . . . the fundamental reality [is] that for many on the right, the war against reproductive rights is a war against sex. These folks just don’t like the idea of us having a good time on our own terms.”
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Today is a good day to be the light
______________________________
- Our governance and electoral corruption and dysfunction and our ongoing mass murders are all of a piece, all the same problem with the same solution:
- Fire the bastards!
- The days are dwindling for us to take action. Get up! Do something to make things better.
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Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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