Will Extremism Haunt The Republican Party To Self-Destruction?

New York Times columnist, Charles M. Blow, says, "Extremism Is on the Rise … Again." And here I thought it had never abated. But Blow, being the excellent journalist he is, qualifies his headline, written before the Nov. 8 elections, citing one startling fact...

"There are 291 election deniers on the ballot."

You can see the 291 deniers in the "on the ballot" link, above, with names you will recognize like Kevin McCarthy, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron DeSantis, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker; you get the idea. But Blow reports...

In a major speech Wednesday night, President Biden described election denial as “the path to chaos in America.” “It’s unprecedented,” he said. “It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American.” But in truth, the extremism, racism and white nationalism are neither un-American nor unfamiliar.

There are comparisons with the William Howard Taft administration in 1908, later Woodrow Wilson, who campaigned on an “America First” platform, which soon became "associated not just with isolationism, but also with the Ku Klux Klan, xenophobia and fascism." Wilson was a racist from the South and is measured against Donald Trump who Blow says...

"is one of the worst presidents — if not the worst — that this country has ever had."

More matching between Wilson and Trump...

It was Wilson who screened “The Birth of a Nation” at the White House, a film that pushed the “Lost Cause” narrative and fueled the rebirth of the Klan.

 Assessing threats of political violence and rising extremism on the far-right...

Trump hosted a screening of “2,000 Mules” — a fact-checker-debunked documentary that purported to show widespread voter fraud carried out by “mules” who stuffed ballot boxes with harvested ballots during the last presidential election — at Mar-a-Lago, which Trump has called the Southern White House. That film has helped boost his followers’ belief in his lie about the 2020 election.

Civil war has been talked up by Republicans and now they are targeting their own with in-fighting over the upcoming Dec. 6, runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. This is a must win for the GOP and it all boiled over recently between Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott of Florida...

"A long-simmering, mostly private tension between the two men and their allies came to a head this week as their respective political consultants resorted to publicly insulting each other, particularly over how each was approaching the upcoming Georgia election."

Democrats would welcome Republicans keeping their extremism internally as long

as there is no spillover to the rest of the country. Annihilating each other could be the answer to saving our democracy. Neither Trump nor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered Walker help, and some say the GOP big guns are not so enthusiastic about Herschel Walker because his win will not give them control of the Senate. And finally, more talk of civil war, this time between Republicans...

"Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is ready [to] unleash a civil war in the Republican Party after its poor showing in the midterms.

"The Georgia congresswoman also indicated she would throw her support behind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in an interview with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast."

Have you heard the talk recently from a past GOP congressman who said Kevin McCarthy will be Speaker of the House in name only? He said Marjorie Taylor Greene will be the actual Speaker.

Did anyone see that coming? 

Glad I'm 89

 

Growing up in a religious and racist South did not prepare me for White Christianity Nationalism

John Blake of CNN calls White Christianity Nationalism an "imposter Christianity" and exclaims it "is threatening American democracy." I grew up in a racist Tennessee but in the late forties and fifties it was simply the way things were. After witnessing my first lynching of a black man, I determined this was not something I could live with and thereafter made it clear I was anti racism. didn't sit well with many of my friends and I would eventually move out of the South for good.

The words racist and racism weren't even a topic of conversation, at least in that part of the country, in those days; just accepted cause that's the way it had always been. And, it still is, after tons of legislation to prevent it, but as the saying goes, 'you can't legislate morality." And racism is by no means restricted to the South, as Blake points out...

"The insurrection marked the first time many Americans realized the US is facing a burgeoning White Christian nationalist movement. This movement uses Christian language to cloak sexism and hostility to Black people and non-White immigrants in its quest to create a White Christian America."

There's more...

"A report from a team of clergy, scholars and advocates — sponsored by two groups that advocate for the separation of church and state — concluded that this ideology was used to "bolster, justify and intensify" the attack on the US Capitol."

There is a picture of a group at the Jan. 6 insurrection gathered around a large

wooden cross with one man hugging it. A caption says, "Demonstrators pray outside the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021." But I say these moronic traitors are offering themselves up to their false idol, Donald Trump. You have to be Godless to do what this insurrectionist gang did at the U.S. Capitol. Now, define White Christianity Nationalism...

Paul Gorski says..."it is an ideology based on a story about America that’s developed over three centuries. It reveres the myth that the country was founded as a Christian nation by white Christians and that its laws and institutions are based on Protestant Christianity. White Christian nationalists believe that the country is divinely favored and has been given the mission to spread religion, freedom, and civilization. They see this mission and the values they cherish as under threat from the growing presence of non-whites, non-Christians, and immigrants in the United States."

He adds...

"This is one point at which white Christian nationalism overlaps with the Make America Great American narrative. It’s the view that somebody has corrupted the country or is trying to take it away. White Christian nationalists want to take it back."

 This is what it means to be a 'White Christian nationalist'

These days, it seems that anything bad has a connection to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement. But speaking of Paul Gorski, he and Samuel L. Perry have a new book, The Flag and the Cross, where they closely "scrutinize" white Christian nationalists. Gorski and Perry believe that these people "share a set of common anti-democratic beliefs and principles."With T-rump as their leader, this makes complete sense while at the same time is terrifying.

Perry says there is a wide distinction between whites and people of color. I have a vivid picture of that from an experience from the state of Mississippi. My aunt and uncle had two 500-acre plantations and the caretaker was a black man named Man. In addition, he managed and was the butcher at my uncle's grocery store in the tiny town of Como, Mississippi. Man called me Mr. Jack and on several occasions we had long conversations; at the time I was only seven or eight.

When Man would come to my Uncle's house, he would always go through the side yard and come through the back door. I asked him once why he didn't just come through the front door. He answered me, 'Mr. Jack, I know it seems strange to you but that's the way it is here. It just makes it easier on everybody if I use the back door.' I didn't fully understand then but as I got older it became clear, blacks did not have the same rights as the white folk. It became repulsive and has never changed.

You won't be disappointed if you read both of these articles, unless...you are a White Christian Nationalist.

At the age of 89, one has a very different perspective on the above. It's not hopeless, it's really a contentment.

 

 

The Agony of Unbelievable News

 

Here's a shocker...

Jon Stewart believes a certain subset of the right has long viewed Putin as “an ideological brother,” noting that “for years, it’s been pretty clear that they would much rather do a deal” with Vladimir Putin than Nancy Pelosi."

He's talking about Donald Trump and Fox News' Tucker Carlson, the name a couple. Stewart calls Carlson a “dishonest propagandist,” which really is an understatement considering the subject.   READ MORE...

Jimmy Kimmel called out two “congressdemons” for their boorish behavior during President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union speech earlier this week. 0They were, of course, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene who interrupted Biden's address. Kimmel added...

“As irritating as their behavior was, we do have freedom of speech in this country,” Kimmel conceded. “Which means I can remind you that Lauren Boebert is married to a guy who went to jail for showing his penis to a teenager in a bowling alley.”   READ MORE...

White Supremacist propaganda is not only growing, it is becoming

increasingly coordinated, NPR reports...

"The distribution of white supremacist propaganda around the country remained high last year, with nearly 5,000 incidents reported, or an average of 13 per day," the Anti-Defamation League says.

The ADL's Oren Segal, vice president says...

"It's disturbing that white supremacists and anti-Semites can mobilize supporters quickly to target neighborhoods in multiple states."

It is beyond "disturbing" how the United States has just decided to live with its racism dilemma since its supposed settlement with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and again in 1991. I did a post in my blog recently, "Recollections of U.S Racism" with both a national glimpse of the issue with added commentary from my years living in the South. Believe me, it ain't pretty.   READ MORE,,,

Climate Change is now working its disaster faster that scientists can act. It might already be too late a UN report speculates...

"The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly reduced, according to a major new scientific report released on Monday."

Here are the ten main greenhouse gases...

• Water vapor (H. 2O)
• Carbon dioxide (CO. ...
• Methane (CH. ...
• Nitrous oxide (N. 2O)
• Ozone (O. ...
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs and HCFCs)
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Perfluorocarbons (CF. 4, C. 2F. 6, etc.), SF. 6, and NF.

The New York Times says, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body

of experts convened by the United Nations, so we are assured of credibility. The report...

"concludes that nations aren’t doing nearly enough to protect cities, farms and coastlines from the hazards that climate change has unleashed so far, such as record droughts and rising seas, let alone from the even greater disasters in store as the planet continues to warm."

I am 89 but am still trying to save the planet for the young people. Maybe it is time for sanctions for those countries who refuse to address climate change. It's working for Biden against Ukraine. Unfortunately, the U.S. will be the first country sanctioned.   READ MORE...

I have done a series of articles on climate change you can see here.

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42% of Republicans Lie About Fake News

 

There is no doubt when you mention fake news, the first thing that comes to mind is the Fox Network. Blabbermouths like Tucker Carlson who even admitted recently that he lied and spewed misinformation. But Fox isn't the only culprit and Politico proclaims One Group of Americans Who Are Most Likely to Spread Fake News is low-conscientiousness conservatives. The research of two Duke U. professors says we oversimplify blame, generally placing it all on republicans.

In this case Politico is zeroing in on this profile saying...

"it’s not conservatives in general who tend to promote false information, but rather a smaller subset of them who also share two psychological traits: low levels of conscientiousness and an appetite for chaos. Importantly, we found that several other factors we tested for — including support for former President Donald Trump — did not reliably predict an inclination to share misinformation."

If not primarily Donald Trump supporters, who? The piece says "researchers, social media platforms, politicians and members of the media to focus their efforts on low-conscientiousness conservatives (LCCs for short) in particular." On the other hand, you can't beat these conservatives over the head with the fact they are using fake news. And here's why...

"To be clear, existing research has found that conservatives have a greater tendency toward misinformation than liberals do. For example, during the 2016 election, individuals who leaned conservative were more likely to engage with and share disinformation on Twitter and Facebook. Likewise, in the early months of the pandemic, conservatives were more likely to believe Covid-19 was a hoax, and to downplay the virus’" severity.

Nearly Half Of Republicans Admit To Lying About Fake News...

In other words, Republican conservatives are more gullible than liberals, which would indicate to me a higher level if intelligence in the latter. Here's the authors' definition of low-conscientiousness conservatives...

"the tendency to regulate one’s own behavior by being less impulsive and more orderly, diligent and prudent."

What this means to me is that this gang of anti-Americans are able to ignore their principles, that is, if they have any, and discipline themselves to complete a cause, no matter how bizarre or illegal it might be. Highly conscientious conservatives and their liberal counterparts are much less likely to succumb. So what does drive LCCs to spread misinformation? The researchers...

"asked participants to report their leanings on a range of potential influences: level of support for Trump, time spent on social media, distrust of the mainstream media, and endorsement of conservative social and economic values. To our surprise, none of these factors was a reliable predictor of LCCs’ elevated tendency to share false news stories."

Through a statistical analysis it was found that this bunch simply wanted chaos.

That sound familiar from Moscow Mitch McConnell and the fellow GOP not producing any agenda on the right, rather creating discord throughout the country to thwart anything the Democrats do? This is the tragedy of why the United States is in such great trouble with the Covid-19 pandemic, voting rights, racism, inequality and more.

You can blame it on Joe Biden all you want to but this research proves exactly where the buck has stopped.

I urge you to read this article because I have only touched on the surface of low-conscientiousness conservatives.

Recollections of U.S Racism

 

Today is Martin Luther King Day, the same date in 1968 King was asasinated standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. I lived in Memphis for several years in the 50s and 60s, know where the Lorraine motel is, and know how racism must have been festering in the South on that date. It still is, and isn't just in that part of the country. But now, because Covid-19 origiginated in China, the bigots are afrer Asians. 

It would be nice if we could celebrate some progress today, but, unfortunately, it has gotten much worse, thanks in part to Donald Trump.s four years in the White House. My post of August in 1999 dociments the antics of some of the worst offenders: "Racism at its worst in the U.S.today documented." I called these incidents, "Horrifying examples of racism in the United States." I am appalled at the face of one woman and the finger of the other.

Here's one I posted in 2012, commenting on racism in the state of Mississippi, "At best, Mississippi is an apologetic racist state." I spent time in the state, once lived there, but mostly in the late 50s and 60s in a sales position and remember blatant use of the "N" word. Here's an excerpt from that post...

To say that racism is no longer prevalent in the South is pure bunk. But this problem isn’t confined to the Southeast region. I now live in Arizona and can attest to the fact that this state is one the most racist I have ever been in. The modern take on racism has moved into the 21st Century to include Hispanics, and racial fanatics like former Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce who authored anti-immigration bill SB-1070, signed by his partner in prejudice, Gov. Jan Brewer.

I live in Arizona and can verify regular bigotry still exists here. Just recently the

pro-basketable team Phoenix Suns were accused of racism targering the owner Bob Sarver and his wife. Another 2019 post is a "Welcome to rampant racism for the ages," which covers the global aspects of this discrimination. Here's a passage from that post...

The U.S. doesn't have an exclusive on racism; it is worldwide, says the site Global Issues. It also suggests an interesting concept that racism is a "misunderstanding of Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution." It goes on...

Since the above is pretty lengthy, please read it in the blog. And another on 2017, "Donald Trump-Jeff Sessions share history of racism." I recall here a quote used repeatedly by Trump while still in office, "[I'm] the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered?" You know what happened between Trump and Sessions. And here is another post where I ask, "Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?" The answer is an unequivocal YES! Hre's how I start the post...

My take is that it is definitely a dirty word, even many racists would agree with that, but it is like one of those rogue genes that are the basis for a particular kind of behavior which allows those who have it to justify what they do. I grew up in the South, fighting with racists all my life, even within my own family, and when I finally left in the 1960s, there were still lynchings of black people, their houses being burned to the ground, all orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

As a very young man, I once watched a Klan lynching, hidden behind bushes since I knew I cold be next if they saw me. I was with two other kids my age, friends until I witnessed them chortling to themselves in support of what was going on. It is my feeling that this illegal racist execution is what solidified my hatred of racism. It has never changed. These are a few of my blog posts on racism, but you can see all of them here.

 

 

Are You Ready for America's Civil War II

 

Once again Charles M Blow is on top of the latest in the war on democracy. We could have a civil war, he says, which looks like it already started on January 6, at the U.S. Capitol insurrection. He references Texas' violation of the Constitution and federal laws by passing legislation forbidding abortions. 

Then, SCOTUS let the law stand, but with a slight compromise, allowing abortion providers to sue. Here's the scenario...

Anyone who assists in providing an illegal abortion — from the provider down to the person who gives a woman a ride to the clinic — can still be sued. Roe v. Wade has essentially been overturned in the state, and soon that astonishing reality may not only become permanent there but may also spread to other states.

Ridiculous, but that is what we have come to expect from Texas' moron governor, Greg Abbott. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was furious in her dissent...

“This is a brazen challenge to our federal structure. It echoes the philosophy of John C. Calhoun, a virulent defender of the slaveholding South who insisted that States had the right to ‘veto’ or ‘nullif[y]’ any federal law with which they disagreed.”

And who is John C. Calhoun? The answer from Blow...

"I found the invocation of South Carolina’s Calhoun striking. Yes, he was a strong believer in nullification, the idea that states could nullify federal laws, but he was also a raging racist who went further than the slave owners who saw slavery as a 'necessary evil,' seeing it instead as a positive good."

THIS IS SCARY: Kim Iversen: Is CIVIL WAR Looming? Americans SUPPORT Red States, Blue States Seceding From US...

Having grown up in the South, and in the 40s and 50s when the Ku Klux Klan was running rampant, as a very young boy I once witnessed the lynching of a Black man. The experience was ghastly and tortuous as I knew the man had done nothing to deserve this. And I had no prejudice against Blacks since it just didn't make sense to me that I should hate somebody just because of their color. There were many incidents over the years where I disagreed with friends, even family.

That was then, but racism has once again reared its ugly head, somewhat due to Donald Trump's openness for white supremacy, strongly supported by advisers like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. This has not gone unnoticed by Charles Blow...

"I see too many uneasy parallels between what was happening nearly 200 years ago and what is happening now. I see this country on the verge of another civil war, as the Calhounian impulse is reborn."

As Blow surmises we won't see the number of deaths experienced in the Civil War starting in 1861, lasting to 1865, even though there has already been violence and some lives lost in the current turmoil. Contrary...

"this new war will be fought in courts, statehouses and ballot boxes, rather than in the fields."

And with this less people will die, but more of democracy will be lost...perhaps all of it forever. 

 

 

 

JOE BIDEN Will Not Let REPUBLICANS Destroy Our Democracy

 

Since Donald Trump's 2016 election, the left has been wading through a cesspool of GOP anti-democracy, designed to tear this country apart and inaugurate an autocratic government. When you mix that with the radical right's willingness to use racism to fight it battles, like in the recent Virginia gubernatorial election where Salon said voters were "drunk on racist hysterics..."

Democrats are in the fight for their life and the life of this country to protect the democracy of America. They are doing it sophmorically and need a dose of the book, It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics by David Faris and Mike Chamberlain, et al. Here's some of its description...

"The American electoral system is clearly falling apart - as evidenced by the 2016 presidential election. In It's Time to Fight Dirty, David Faris offers accessible, actionable strategies for American institutional reform which don't require a constitutional amendment, and would have a lasting impact on our future."

Well, okay, maybe we don't actually have to get down and dirty, but we can no longer allow the radical right to run rampant over all the left stands for. Jennifer Rubin, in the first paragraph of a Washington Post opinion piece says...

"President Biden is on the verge of accomplishing more in his first year than any president in recent memory despite unremitting obstruction from an unhinged opposition."

Yet his poll numbers are plunging and now the Dems suffered a big loss in the

recent Virginia gubernatorial election, both added to the fact that Biden has to fight with his own people, fellow Democrats West Va. Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema. Both have fought him, repeatedly challenging his agenda. In most cases, neither makes sense with their objections, considering they are both supposed to be Democrats.

President Joe Biden's accomplishments in less than a year, as documented by Rubin:

• Biden’s watch has created nearly 5 million new jobs, reducing unemployment to 4.8 percent.
• Despite the right wing’s effort to spread deadly disinformation about vaccinations, 80 percent of American adults — including 98 percent of those older than 65 — have had a least one coronavirus vaccination. Among those age 12 and older, 78 percent have had at least one shot.
• Biden passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (including a major increase in the child tax credit that reduced child poverty in half).
• Set to pass both a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan and a $1.75 trillion package including investments in green energy, universal prekindergarten, a generous child-care subsidy, improved senior care, expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies, an extension of refundable child tax credits, a significant housing investment, hearing benefits for Medicare and possibly even a prescription drug cost reduction for patients on Medicare.
  
  

So why are Biden’s poll numbers down? The cesspool of Republican anti-democracy I cited earlier continues at a frightening pace that would tend to overshadow almost any opposing efforts. Especially when most of the big mouths leading the radical right are in the lunatic fringe. People like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, to name only a few. But this lunatic fringe must have its followers and there are many.

Dan Rather, in the Huff Post, "blasted the anti-Joe Biden chant “Let’s go Brandon” as a sign of the Republican Party’s contempt for democracy." In case you haven't heard...

The phrase has become popular in right-wing circles since a sportscaster, interviewing NASCAR Xfinity driver Brandon Brown at a race, mistook a chant of “Fuck Joe Biden” for “Let’s go Brandon.”

It is this kind of mentality that is driving the GOP in its quest to replace democracy with their imperious style of government that allows their primal instincts to have everything their way. We mustn't let this happen and Joe Biden is the man who can stop these would be despots. 

Young Pharaoh out but Donald Trump still in at CPAC convention

Most will agree that Young Pharaoh's language is pretty vile when it comes to Jews, considering his comments...

that Judaism is a “complete lie” and “made up for political gain,” said that Jewish people are “thieving fake Jews,” tweeted that “all the censorship & pedophilia on social media is being done by Israeli Jews,” and claimed that “all of these big tech [companies], media, & social media platforms are controlled by CCP & Israel through Jewish CEO & corrupt Democrats.”

The radical has been yanked from the upcoming CPAC convention for his invective language illustrated above. However, Donald Trump continues as a featured speaker at CPAC's show with his history of anti-Semitism, racism and abuse of

women. Go figure. The Washington Post reported back in December of 2019, Trump signed an executive order to fight anti-Semitism on college campuses while flanked by two evangelical Christian pastors, Robert Jeffress and John Hagee.

Both are anti-Judaism with this from WA Po...

Jeffress has literally damned Jews to hell, while Hagee has warned of an international plot led by the Rothschilds to undermine American sovereignty, described Hitler as a “hunter” sent by God to kill Jews who refused to move to Israel and described the Antichrist as a “half-Jew homosexual.”

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't support Young Pharaoh under any circumstances. And equally adamant, I have never supported Donald Trump. So, checkmate.

 

Are police cozy with far right?

Mark of the White Supremacist

A former FBI agent speaks, "Too many local police don’t take the far right seriously – or actively sympathize." The Brennan Center for Justice says there is, "Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement." A couple of observations from Brennan...

"many have concluded that a structural or institutional bias against people of color, shaped by long-standing racial, economic, and social inequities, infects the criminal justice system."

"These systemic inequities can also instill implicit biases — unconscious prejudices that favor in-groups and stigmatize out-groups — among individual law enforcement officials, influencing their day-to-day actions while interacting with the public."

Mike German, the former FBI agent has been warning of this enigma for years, but the problems have escalated in the last couple of years as Donald Trump spews racism and white supremacy from the Oval office. In an undercover assignment in California against neo-Nazi groups in Los Angeles, California, in 1992, there were routine warnings...

"A redacted version of a 2006 FBI intelligence assessment, White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement, alerted agents to 'both strategic infiltration by organized groups and self-initiated infiltration by law enforcement personnel sympathetic to white supremacist causes,'"

There's more from German...

"A leaked 2015 counter-terrorism policy guide made the case more directly, warning agents that FBI 'domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia extremists, white supremacist extremists, and sovereign citizen extremists often have identified active links to law enforcement officers.'"

The former agent says that "white supremacists have engaged in deadly rampages in Charleston, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and El Paso, Texas." It gets worse...

"More ominously, neo-Nazis obtained radiological materials to manufacture 'dirty' bombs in separate cases in Maine in 2009 and Florida in 2017, which were only avoided through chance."

The point is we have been lucky when it comes to the discovery of nuclear threats before they occur. What we don't need is law enforcement standing in the way or even aiding and abetting in these events. Police are basically honest and dedicated to their jobs to protect the public. The problem is identifying those who aren't. Mike German's article here.

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Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?

Racism is worse than that old weather saying. People have been talking about it for years, but no one has seriously done anything about it...

My take is that it is definitely a dirty word, even many racists would agree with that, but it is like one of those rogue genes that are the basis for a particular kind of behavior which allows those who have it to justify what they do. I grew up in the South, fighting with racists all my life, even within my own family, and when I finally left in the 1960s, there were still lynchings of black people, their houses being burned to the ground, all orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

Like the Mafia, the Klan slowly faded away, but as is the case for both, there is still evidence of their activity around. Here's a scenario from NPR...

"For the fourth year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups, reports that hate and domestic extremism are rising in an unabated trend. The center found a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone."

NPR adds, "The watchdog group blames President Trump, his administration, right-wing media outlets and the ease of spreading hate on social media platforms for the alarming increase." Trump has promoted and encouraged white nationalism since being inaugurated, hiring people like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, of which the latter is still on his staff. Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project said...

"The numbers tell a striking story — that this president is not simply a polarizing figure but a radicalizing one."

Excellent video on the Trump-Miller relationship...

This added...

"Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement. "Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it — with both his rhetoric and his policies. In doing so, he's given people across America the go-ahead to act on their worst instincts."

"Worst instincts," resulting from that rogue gene that wallows in racism. And here's more on Stephen Miller from the Daily Beast...

"Stephen Miller, the highly influential advisor to President Donald Trump, is the end result of a shadowy network made up of racist organizations and PAC’s designed to push a white nationalist worldview from the fringes into deep inside the White House."

The Confederate battle flag

Now there are even rumbles that Steve Bannon is attempting to work his way back into the White House. The combination of Miller and Bannon, especially should there be a Trump second term, God forbid, and with the White House maniac at his highest level of mental instability since entering office, could turn this country into a national Confederate States of America. What would a new flag look like? Would future elections even be allowed?

Miller was a close ally of John Tanton, an Ophthalmologist from Michigan, founder of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and considered by SPLC the "puppeteer" of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. Stephen Miller, practicing Tanton's ideology, is considered the architect of Donald Trump's immigration policies. The Beast's Mark Potok reports...

"Miller is both a promoter and, to some extent, a product of a much wider racist network aimed at preventing non-white immigration into the United States.”

He also thinks there is little chance of Miller leaving the administration, able to now influence, as I stated earlier, a much more mentally unstable Donald Trump, who is already making the worst of bad decisions. I would surmise when the black community sees this rampant racism originate from the highest office in the land, they feel there is just no hope. And they may very well be right as long as Trump occupies the White House and Mitch McConnell controls the Senate.

Donald Trump starts war with Barack Obama

There is no doubt who started this war, but there is also no doubt who will finish it considering the two levels of mentality in the skirmish. The mentally confused, inarticulate Trump on one side, the educated, sophisticated and eloquent Obama on the other.

It's Joe Biden who is your competitor in the November election, you idiot, not Barack Obama. Obama is the guy who handily won two terms in spite of the dirty politics of Moscow Mitch McConnell. Obama is the guy who ran a class-act presidency in comparison with the lowlife, classless administration you have given us for almost four years. Obama is the guy who will help Joe Biden win back the White House for the left in November.

According to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson this is Trump's reasoning...

"Noting that Trump has been presented with internal polls showing him losing to Biden, Robinson stated that Trump appears to have fallen back on the strategy that helped him win in 2016 — appealing to his follower’s racism. And that means going after Obama instead of Biden who is white."

Robinson, who is black, is not playing the race card since Donald Trump has been well steeped in racist activism during his entire administration. With Biden pretty much guaranteed the black vote in November, and with Trump's latest tirades of racism, he is hoping to get somewhere near Barack Obama's 2008 results where the "black turnout actually exceeded white turnout, 66.6 percent to 64.1 percent."

The Daily Show comedic remarks Trump's racism...

Robinson adds, and it is the most pathetic part, there is nothing tactical about these attacks, they are purely personal. Moving on to more personal immaturity on the part of the Oval Office lunatic, he has now refused to host the unveiling of Barack Obama's portrait in the White House. But the former president has publicly said, he would not appear there anyway as long as Donald Trump is still in the building. AlterNet says...

"The message they (the Obamas) want to send is the opposite. No one should try to play nice with this administration or behave as if things are okay. That will give others the courage to do the same."

Before Donald Trump entered the political scene, this kind of thinking would be unheard of. And as you know from me, the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin always knows the right things to say about Donald Trump, although her less than complimentary comments are from a conservative columnist. How's this for starters?...

"It makes zero sense, you would think, for President Trump to attack his predecessor, since President Barack Obama is the most popular politician around (next to his wife) — someone who instills in Democrats a feeling of solidarity, of nostalgia for decent leadership and of hope. Even those critical of Obama’s presidency regard that era as akin to a Golden Age compared with the Trump calamity that brought us the Great Depression 2.0."

Obama criticizes Trump's handling of COVID-19...

Rubin doesn't think this is just to draw attention from "Trump’s meltdown or from the almost 90,000 deaths resulting from the pandemic." She has two other reasons...

ONE: "Trump has been in a juvenile competition with his predecessor since the day he took office. Trump insisted the economy was stronger under him than under Obama. (That was false then and is now, well, self-evidently ludicrous.) Trump tore up the Iran deal and backed out of the Paris accords in part because Obama was associated with them. " (There's more, read the article.)

TWO: "Trump seeks to make Obama out to be a criminal or unfit. It goes back to the original sin of Trump’s political career — birtherism — and to his campaign, which channeled cultural and racial animosity among whites against elites, nonwhites and immigrants."

And if you think the racism has been bad up until now, Rubin projects...

"Should Biden select an African American vice president (as I think he should), the grotesque racism that will ooze from the right will make birtherism seem innocuous. "

This country is doomed beyond comprehension if we don't get rid of Donald Trump, and soon. 

Donald Trump is completely obsessed with Barack Obama

David Smith of the Guardian says Donald Trump is being eaten alive inside by his manic compulsions with Barack Obama.

Barack Obama looked like a great president as he entered the White House in 2009, with the kind of enthusiasm, energy and capacity to get things done as John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was struck down by a bullet, Obama with a bullet of a different name, Moscow Mitch McConnell. President Obama had the overwhelming support of the American people as the racist McConnell began to spread his game plan of a one-term presidency.

That didn't work as Obama won with another landslide against Mitt Romney. But, as was the case in his first term, he was dogged by Moscow Mitch, who convinced his Republican colleagues to support him in keeping anything Obama from happening, actually anything Democrats. With the Dems, that hasn't changed. The Oval Office has changed and it is the startling difference between two men, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, that is the subject of this post.

Donald Trump's obsession with Barack Obama...

David Smith quotes journalist, Jon Karl, as he observed the then president and the one coming into office. He thought of Trump as actually "humbled," out of sorts, awed by the situation, and definitely not in control of the room. Obama was turning over the torch in the classy way he had conducted his presidency, to his predecessor, who “seemed a little dazed” and “a little freaked out.” These would be two of the earliest signs of Donald Trump's incompetency.

Then Smith comments...

"But what became clear in the next three and a half years is that Obama remains something of an obsession for Trump; the subject of a political and personal inferiority complex."

Here, the why...

"Observers point to a mix of anti-intellectualism, racism, vengeance and primitive envy over everything from Obama’s Nobel peace prize to the scale of his inauguration crowd and social media following."

Barack Obama criticizes Donald Trump's handling of coronavirus pandemic...

Obama criticizes Trump's handling of coronavirus...

CNN Politics says Trump has been backed into the corner on his incompetence with the COVID-19 pandemic, so he simply reverts to his favorite subject, Barack Obama...

"With the death count from the coronavirus rising and its economic fallout deepening, President Donald Trump is trying to fire up his base and divert the national conversation by promoting a baseless conspiracy that casts his predecessor, Barack Obama, as the architect of a plot to subvert his presidency."

And you can always depend on Jennifer Rubin, conservative columnist for the Washington Post, to zero in on Donald Trump's real intentions...

"It makes zero sense, you would think, for President Trump to attack his predecessor, since President Barack Obama is the most popular politician around (next to his wife) — someone who instills in Democrats a feeling of solidarity, of nostalgia for decent leadership and of hope. Even those critical of Obama’s presidency regard that era as akin to a Golden Age compared with the Trump calamity that brought us the Great Depression 2.0."

Donald Trump's absurd Obamagate conspiracy theory...

There's always a 'yeah, but'...

"And yet over the past week or so, Trump has rekindled “Obamagate,” a made-up scandal that has become a bumper sticker for Obama-haters. Trump’s claims are so thoroughly baseless and hopelessly convoluted that Trump cannot even explain it."

She also agrees with Jake Tapper's assessment...

"President Trump and his team are launching an unprecedented smear campaign against rivals, leveling wild and false allegations against critics in the media and politics, ranging from bizarre conspiracy theories to spreading lies about pedophilia and even murder."

Have we arrived at the pinnacle of Donald Trump's desperation, and are we dangerously close to the edge, or will this latest debacle simply fade away like all the others have because Republicans, plus an uncaring media, give him another free pass? Right now, I have to go with the latter.

Trump coronavirus racism and lack of virus testing unconscionable

That, and there is something else to consider...testing...

The increase on Donald Trump's approval for coronavirus handling would be good, except it doesn't consider all the facts. The U.S. lags miserably behind other countries in testing, thus, the number of cases is no doubt drastically more than those recorded so far. As an example, Forbes is reporting...

"As of March 11, South Korea had conducted 4,099 tests per million of its inhabitants while the U.S. only managed 26. The most recent government data was compiled by website Our World in Data and it shows that by March 17, South Korea's number of tests per million people climbed to 5,567 while the U.S. figure increased to 125 tests per million of the population. Even though that should climb steadily over the next couple of days, it is still cause for serious concern."

In other words, T-rump is being given credit for doing a job that is much less than even half done. But, it gets worse. The favorability increased, incidentally, right after he adopted the racist approach of calling COVID-19, the "Chinese virus." His double-digit followers loved it, as did those others who make up the 55% approval rating. RawStory's explanation...

"This is the kind of crisis that opportunistic racists barely dared dream of before. Indeed, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been all but pleading for weeks for Trump and his fellow right-wing talking heads to move away from denialism and towards racist exploitation."

The obtuse oaf explaining his racism...

[Trump] "like all racist trolls, is playing dumb when called out for it. He’s said it’s 'not racist at all, no, not at all' and that he wants 'to be accurate' and that the virus 'comes from China.'” And listen to this...

"Trump’s racist trolling is sending Carlson into bouts of near-orgasmic ecstasy. On Tuesday, he swooned that the president’s 'Chinese virus' rhetoric was an example of 'Trump at his very best.'”

Which points out the fact of just how racist Fox News is, as well as being the country's largest purveyor of misinformation. Carlson plods on with absurd conspiracy theories that aren't worth mentioning, and then Sean Hannity agrees with lowlife Rush Limbaugh "that the coronavirus crisis was a hoax." Between Fox News and Donald Trump, COVID-19 could be the "death" of the United States.

You're on Progressive Street...Where Liberals Walk...

Donald Trump evokes racism, again, to cloak coronavirus incompetence...

It cannot be said better than this...

"Trump's ignorance and hostility to science makes situation worse — so he turns to an old standby: race-baiting"

Donald Trump could care less about the American public; all he cares about is containing the coronavirus epidemic in order to prevent any damage it might cause to his reelection in November. The man is ruthless and completely without morals so the CV deaths so far in the U.S. don't even phase him. Here's the scenario...

"His utter lack of concern for the health and safety of Americans, including his own supporters, is unsurprising — after daily exposure to the man for years, we should know by now that he lacks normal human feelings such as empathy or concern for others. Indeed, the administration's response to the threat of this virus spreading in the U.S. has been focused mainly, if not solely, on propaganda — seeking to create the illusion that things are under control, instead of doing the hard work of actually trying to get things under control."

So where does he turn? To the immigration issue, where it all started before the 2016 election, when he called immigrants rapists and murderers. Meanwhile, the people of this country are dying.   READ MORE... 

The Clinton-era expert speaks out

Sporting a new bow tie but brandishing the same political philosophy as earlier, this liberal icon of American political commentary is fired up and telling the Democrat Party off. “We’re losing our damn minds,” he exclaims, with the urgency of someone about to be pushed over the edge. Carville is the epitome of strategists, making Republicans look like crooks in a mediocre way by keeping his tactics, and those around him, principled and honorable.

He says the Dems must be "Majoritarian," a word I have missed, if a part of the current liberal jargon. Here's the definition...

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Majoritarian democracy, as opposed to constitutional democracy, refers to democracy based upon majority rule of a society's citizens. Majoritarian democracy is the conventional form of democracy used as a political system in many countries."

What worries me most is his opinion of the current tribe of 2020 Democratic candidates; he's not impressed with any of them, including Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg. All this amid a chaotic Iowa Caucus that it isn't clear is settled yet. In the middle of this article, there is another piece, "Bernie Sanders leads Donald Trump in polls, even when you remind people he’s a socialist," and Carville has this comment...

"But back to Sanders — what I’m saying is the Democratic Party isn’t Bernie Sanders, whatever you think about Sanders."

And he's right, Bernie Sanders is where the liberals, call them Progressives or Democrats, are going for the future. Hillary Clinton screwed up 2016, ably assisted by the conniving of then DNC head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, leading to an Electoral loss but a huge margin in the popular vote winning by over 3-million. Carville thinks Bernie could win the electoral--and I believe the popular vote in larger numbers than Clinton--but we won't regain the Senate.

And, of course, there is no way a Democrat/Progressive would get anything done in the White House with Moscow Mitch McConnell heading up the Senate, even though the Bern would probably hold on to the House. David Faris outlines his plan to fix all this in his book, "It's Time to Fight Dirty." This is how James Carville would fix it...

"The Democratic Party is the party of African Americans. It’s becoming a party of educated suburbanites, particularly women. It’s the party of Latinos. We’re a party of immigrants. Most of the people aren’t into all this distracting shit about open borders and letting prisoners vote. They don’t care. They have lives to lead. They have kids. They have parents that are sick. That’s what we have to talk about. That’s all we should talk about."

But when you look at the other Democratic candidates, it is clear that their focus is on those people above with programs like Sanders' fight against inequality, Bloomberg's gun control, Biden's appeal to the blacks, to name a few. James is right on racism; the only one in the campaign who really emphasized this issue was Corey Booker, and he is no longer running. And surprisingly, the ragin Cajun doesn't support free education for fear of pisssing off those who had to work their way through school.

Another thing I don't understand is his inability to grasp the fact that liberals are, in fact, slowly moving farther to the left and there is a quiet revolution of those of us who are fed up with the overall inequities between the elite wealthy and us normal folks. James Carville is looking for a "winning message," as he describes it, and I am not sure his reasoning here when Bernie Sanders has a hold on millennials numbering 71 million; that's a hell of a base to start with.

Carville closes with...

"I think the other side wants us to think there are no swing voters, that we’re doomed and it doesn’t even matter if you have a message because you can’t reach anyone. I think that’s bullshit. I think that’s a wholly incorrect view of American politics. But look, if no one’s persuadable, then let’s just have the revolution.

"Falling into despair won’t help anyone, though. I mean, you can curse the darkness or you can light a candle. I’m getting a fucking welding torch. Okay?"

You have to give the ragin Cajun his due, successfully steering Bill Clinton to wins in two presidential campaigns. I think the point here is to temper what he has said with the solid push to the left, which long time Democrats can't seem to get their minds around and come up with the winning combination. Not only to just win big in 2020, but to carry the left ahead in the future with solid issues there affect not only the left, but the right as well.   A MUST READ HERE!

Saturday news catch-up...

Racism dominated the end of the New Hampshire debates last evening, initiated by a statement from presidential candidate, Tom Steyer, to the effect that no one had talked about racism. Then everyone did. Here's something to think about, from UK's Guardian, "How to fight racism using science," claiming, "prejudice that has a longstanding relationship with science."   READ MORE...

And then the Guardian reports again of the "Montana Republican rebuked for saying socialists should be 'jailed or shot.'" Being a Democratic Socialist, and having personally experienced this exact kind of behavior here in Arizona from another Republican, it is easy to see how the GOP is going down the tube with its supporters with it.   READ MORE...

RawStory exclaims, "Why Fox News viewers are so ignorant," because they listen to and believe the garbage spewed out by hosts like Sean Hannity. This idiot was still defending Trump after the impeachment by "accusing Democrats of supporting 'abortion after birth.'” There is no such thing as any non-conservative and sane individual knows.   READ MORE...

Still feeling sorry for Rush Limbaugh and his medical problems? Here are 9 things this maniac said about women in the article, "." Rush Limbaugh’s 9 most appalling comments about women." Here's an example...

"Rush imagining that women secretly want to be sexually harassed. 'The sexual harassment crowd. They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them.'”

This gives you an idea of the mentality of the listeners this fanatical bigot appeals to.   READ MORE... 

I've heard numerous comments in the media, and actually following last night's debate, of how Donald Trump hopes he is up against Bernie Sanders in the November election, since he will be so easy to beat. The Bern raised $25 million in the month of January alone. With an average $18.80 contribution, that is 1.4 million loyal voters as a solid base. Once he wins the Primary, he is certain to garner most of Elizabeth Warren's voters.

And I did a blog post recently, "Looks like millennials could put Bernie Sanders over the top," pointing out the 71 million millennial voters out there, of which 26 million voted in 2018, and my expectancy that this figure will increase significantly in November.   READ MORE...

Here's a grabber, "Trump’s acquittal is invalid because he was not mentally competent to stand trial," a RawStory headline prompted by a letter sent by the World Mental Health Coalition, urging Congress to "invalidate President Donald Trump’s acquittal in the Senate until his mental competency to stand trial is evaluated." I have done several posts on the Oval Office lunatic's mentality you can see here.   READ MORE...

80% of Black America labels Trump a racist

It is disconcerting enough when the bubbas out there use the N word, but when it is the President of the United States, well, it hurts a little more. And that is the understatement of the year. But were we ever at the point where racism was actually subsiding, or have these niceties over the year just been a facade for a deep seated nationwide racism? I think the latter, and although not an expert on the issue, I grew up in the deep South and can recognize signals.

The RawStory reports the optimism among blacks when Barack Obama was elected President in 2008 , rejoicing again when he was reelected in 2012. I felt the same about Obama's election as I did when John F. Kennedy went to the White House. Kennedy was stopped by an assassin's bullet, Obama by a political assassin by the name of Moscow Mitch McConnell. Moscow Mitch is as much of a racist as is Donald Trump and both need to go.  READ MORE...

Dump Trump along with GOP in 2020

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 NEWS BYTES

Are we on the cusp of dumping the GOP along with Donald Trump?  

Veteran pollster Stanley B. Greenberg has predicted that 2020 will be a disaster for Republicans and in his new book, “R.I.P. GOP: How the New America Is Dooming the Republicans,” lays out the reasons why...

Dump the GOP along with Trump

"that the Republican Party — rather than building a broad coalition — has been defining itself in increasingly narrow terms. “McCain Republicans” and “moderates,” Greenberg stressed, have been “driven out” of the GOP — whose base, he stressed, now consists primarily of Trumpistas, Tea Party members and Christian fundamentalist white evangelicals."

In my opinion, Republicans can thank the fact that lowlife Moscow Mitch decided to latch on to the coattails of Donald Trump in the early stages of his administration and has ridden out the comet through the most egregious behavior of any president in history. Just so the Senate head could maintain his power and line his pockets and those of his Sec. of Transportation wife, Elaine Chao. Here's an example: "Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao's empire of corruption."

Rachel Maddow illustrates Moscow Mitch/Elaine Chao corruption...

AlterNet's Alex Henderson says, the GOP is shrinking itself while Democrats are appealing to a much more diverse base. Another turnaround for Trump is that he "isn’t reaching female voters in sufficient numbers," unlike 2016. This I have never understood with the kind of rhetoric T-rump uses in describing women. Here's a scenario with the wife of one of the general's he had met with during his campaign...

We were on a river boat cruise and my wife and I happened to be at the dinner table with the pair when Donald Trump's candidacy came up. I quickly stated my position that I thought he was a lunatic, even this early in the campaign. The general's wife defended him and I asked how she could after the things he had said about women. I mentioned the Billy Bush "Access Hollywood" tape where Trump talks about grabbing women. Her reply was to skirt the issue by blaming it on "locker room talk." The general didn't sound much smarter so I gave up.

And here's a surprise from the Daily Beast on the current feelings of a particular group, working class white women. "It turns out the racism may actually be more distasteful than the numerous sexual assault allegations." WOW! That is a huge tribute to the women of this country, in a time when the person sitting in the White House is an avowed white nationalist racist bigot. This, at a time when the nation is experiencing a resurgence of racial bigotry, all because of Donald Trump.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni said Trump voters turned to him in 2016 because they were tired of Washington politics. That's then. “I think people are tired of it [Trump's Twitter rants] and I think they realize that, however you align or don’t align with him ideologically, this is a degree of constant turmoil, that can’t be good for the country and is not good for themselves.” That's now. His campaign claim of "draining the swamp' has now become laughable.

One of the reasons women have turned on Trump bigotry...

The Hill reports, "The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has reportedly built a trove of opposition research against President Trump in advance of the 2020 election." This includes 7,000 lawsuits from all 50 states, plus "a comprehensive document of every time Trump told supporters when campaigning in 2016 that Mexico would pay for a wall along the southern border." It will be distributed according to Trump campaigning, as follows...

"Let’s say [Trump] goes to Youngstown, Ohio. We have everything he said, what he promised in 2016 to that community — maybe it’s 'that bridge will be fixed' — then we’ll show what’s actually happened since," a source told the news outlet.

That sounds like a plan, but you can bet the staunch double-digit supporters of the Oval Office lunatic will continue to grovel around their idol until he is finally run out of office.