George Santayana once said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This is basically a plug for knowing history. And as I watch the whole world unravel, due to some Bannonian edict to deconstruct the administrative state, watch the dismantling of the social safety net put in place by those progressive dreamers following the "Great Depression", I am reminded of Santayana's words. I is a history major as an undergraduate (minors in religious studies and English) and in my distant past done work towards a doctorate which I managed to destroy with a little too much graduate school libations. Not that I have any special insight to the debacle we are witnessing but maybe I do. Who know? But then I am the Authority Czarina and maybe I can be of assistance. I cite Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Yes, we are in the desert of Trumplandia. And when our history is writ large we shall see what we allowed to be created and how it tumbled and decayed.
If we have learned nothing from the last week is that the party in dominance is feckless. Eight years they had to repeal and replace (or just repeal) the ACA and the came up empty. Seems given time to acclimate to the concept of health care as a "entitlement" most people seem to have cozied up to the notion. Now try to take it away and the hue and cry has gone up. Sure the ACA could be better, like a single payer option, but most people, many of the Trumpets, have warmed to the idea. Now don't you dare take their Kodachrome away.
And that the Republicans who salivated like a junk yard dog over a contested bone tried to eviscerate the ACA the people fought back. Still the fact that they really had no plan at all and that it was rushed through the process without a hearing, well, I am sure that had something to do with it as well.
So Ryan looks like a loser, and Trump, ever the narcissist, tries to blame the Dems for the failure and refuses to take any personal responsibility The fact is this country cannot be run on a business model and the president's lack of political acumen and his thin skinned self demonstrates this all too well. He has not drained the swamp, only made it swampier. He is a puppet of the Republicans who thought he was malleable and could bend to their will.
And speaking of puppets, the Russian connection through this whole ugly ordeal...why are we all not shouting TREASON. The Republicans wanted power so much they compromised the democracy to attain it. TREASON. Call it what is it. . The whole rat pack of them GUILTY. They are traitors to this country and owe allegiance only to power and whomever can put them there.
This is the history we are living.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Have we have lost the ability to be outraged?
I am shocked, well, not too shocked, at the latest revelations about the president's administration and its ties to Russia. Why aren't more people not outraged that a foreign entity interrupted our democratic processes and handed the president a victory lap around the country. The fact that the AG is now splitting hairs as to what role he was in when he spoke to the Russian ambassador during the campaign speaks volumes about the lack of integrity of this White House. And the Trumpets are not in the least concerned that their hero is riding on Putin's back in the bromance of the century.
People: Russia interfered with our electoral process. That is real. Be outraged. People: the president has tremendous ties to the Russian oligarchs and that is the reason he won't release his tax returns. The enemy of the people is not the free press it is this rogue presidency. And no one seems truly upset. PEOPLE: WE WERE HACKED BY RUSSIA, OUR COLD WAR NEMESIS. Be outraged. If the shoe had been on the other foot and the hack had favored the Democrats, the Right would be all over it like flies in shit. But, no, with his MAGA campaign his supporters don't seem to care. Where is the moral outrage?
Yes, right now it looks like partisan politics. The intelligence community, which is historically to the right of center, says the hack is real. We should sit up and pay attention. Seventeen national intelligence agencies have said the hack is real. I no longer say the outcome doesn't matter. It does. While there may be no "do over" we do need to have an investigation into this Russian cyber-attack. We do need to investigate why the administration is playing bait and switch and bright shiny objects to distract from the noise this cyber-attack should be creating. The enemy of the people isn't the free press, which is pushing the investigation envelope and leading the charge, it is the current administration.
The Administration needs to realize that America isn't a business you can walk away from in a bankruptcy court. No, it follows you around like a puppy wanting to be loved and cared for. It is not something that can be bought and sold to the highest bidder. If it is we better cash in our chips right now and move to Canada, if they will have us. America is not something that should operate on a business model. Yes, let's be efficient, but let us be compassionate as well. The people who felt left behind by the Democrats, the people that still cling to MAGA, these people should be throwing in the towel right about now. Yes, the economy is robust, but how much of that had to do with the previous administration? Coal jobs aren't coming back. Coal is a lost industry. Move on. Automation has taken away more jobs that immigrants. Move on. The xenophobia is unreal, the anti-Semitic rhetoric and bomb threats to JCCs are unreal, the four mosques that have been torched in the last seven weeks, this is unreal. Look about you people...all hell is breaking loose and you are telling me this is making America great again (MAGA)? It is if you are talking about the reemergence of a robust free press, the robust attendance at town halls across this country, the hue and cry being raised about the ACA. Some people have said that this movement isn't as organic as the Tea Party. Looks pretty organic to me. Not paid protesters. I have yet to receive my check from attending the women's march in Lansing on the 21st of January. Dang, that was organic!
The enemy of the people are the people who have been elected that try to hold a bright, shiny object in our face and tell us the press is the problem. If the press would just let things settle, let the Trumpets be Trumpets, then all would be right and the head Trumpets would act more presidential. The bright, shiny object that is blaming the left for perpetuating attacks on JCCs and mosques, that the Democrats are doing this just to undermine the administration...this nonsense has to stop right now.
I am sure Mike Bishop (810-227-8600), my illustrious congressman, is sick of hearing from me at least once a week. I don't care.
My point is we need to be, if not outraged, then upset that a foreign entity hacked our democratic processes. We need a thorough investigation like the 9/11 commission. Jeff Sessions should stop splitting hairs and recuse himself from this investigation, if not resign. The swamp has not been drained but flooded as if spring showers have overwhelmed the levees. I am scared for this democracy. And don't get me started on Steve Bannon and his "deconstruction of the administrative state". This isn't about rolling back regulations, it is about ending the state as we know it. Be scared. Be very scared.
People: Russia interfered with our electoral process. That is real. Be outraged. People: the president has tremendous ties to the Russian oligarchs and that is the reason he won't release his tax returns. The enemy of the people is not the free press it is this rogue presidency. And no one seems truly upset. PEOPLE: WE WERE HACKED BY RUSSIA, OUR COLD WAR NEMESIS. Be outraged. If the shoe had been on the other foot and the hack had favored the Democrats, the Right would be all over it like flies in shit. But, no, with his MAGA campaign his supporters don't seem to care. Where is the moral outrage?
Yes, right now it looks like partisan politics. The intelligence community, which is historically to the right of center, says the hack is real. We should sit up and pay attention. Seventeen national intelligence agencies have said the hack is real. I no longer say the outcome doesn't matter. It does. While there may be no "do over" we do need to have an investigation into this Russian cyber-attack. We do need to investigate why the administration is playing bait and switch and bright shiny objects to distract from the noise this cyber-attack should be creating. The enemy of the people isn't the free press, which is pushing the investigation envelope and leading the charge, it is the current administration.
The Administration needs to realize that America isn't a business you can walk away from in a bankruptcy court. No, it follows you around like a puppy wanting to be loved and cared for. It is not something that can be bought and sold to the highest bidder. If it is we better cash in our chips right now and move to Canada, if they will have us. America is not something that should operate on a business model. Yes, let's be efficient, but let us be compassionate as well. The people who felt left behind by the Democrats, the people that still cling to MAGA, these people should be throwing in the towel right about now. Yes, the economy is robust, but how much of that had to do with the previous administration? Coal jobs aren't coming back. Coal is a lost industry. Move on. Automation has taken away more jobs that immigrants. Move on. The xenophobia is unreal, the anti-Semitic rhetoric and bomb threats to JCCs are unreal, the four mosques that have been torched in the last seven weeks, this is unreal. Look about you people...all hell is breaking loose and you are telling me this is making America great again (MAGA)? It is if you are talking about the reemergence of a robust free press, the robust attendance at town halls across this country, the hue and cry being raised about the ACA. Some people have said that this movement isn't as organic as the Tea Party. Looks pretty organic to me. Not paid protesters. I have yet to receive my check from attending the women's march in Lansing on the 21st of January. Dang, that was organic!
The enemy of the people are the people who have been elected that try to hold a bright, shiny object in our face and tell us the press is the problem. If the press would just let things settle, let the Trumpets be Trumpets, then all would be right and the head Trumpets would act more presidential. The bright, shiny object that is blaming the left for perpetuating attacks on JCCs and mosques, that the Democrats are doing this just to undermine the administration...this nonsense has to stop right now.
I am sure Mike Bishop (810-227-8600), my illustrious congressman, is sick of hearing from me at least once a week. I don't care.
My point is we need to be, if not outraged, then upset that a foreign entity hacked our democratic processes. We need a thorough investigation like the 9/11 commission. Jeff Sessions should stop splitting hairs and recuse himself from this investigation, if not resign. The swamp has not been drained but flooded as if spring showers have overwhelmed the levees. I am scared for this democracy. And don't get me started on Steve Bannon and his "deconstruction of the administrative state". This isn't about rolling back regulations, it is about ending the state as we know it. Be scared. Be very scared.
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