Slouching Towards Oblivion

Showing posts with label creeping authoritarianism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creeping authoritarianism. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

It Pays To Be Watchful


2. Defend an institution.
Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.

The Judiciary is holding - for now. Do we need to reiterate how it's important to pay some little bit of attention, and to show up and vote, so we can get fewer of these fuckin' goon-friendly wingnuts appointed to the courts?

Remember: Every shitty thing authoritarians do is legal, because once they come to power, the first thing they do is to set about altering the legal system so they can claim to have the law on their side - usually as a matter of dire necessity due to whatever "emergency" they've ginned up to scare people into supporting them.

“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he wrote. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
            --Donald Trump, Dec 2022 



Goon-friendly judge
Cormack Carney


Sunday, February 25, 2024

Questions

Until Republicans admit they've been hornswoggled, Putin will continue pulling the shit he's always pulled.

So I have to ask - why?

Why are Republicans always lining up with Putin?

And actually, are they really being hornswoggled, or are they willingly participating?

We're pretty deep in some pretty bad shit here, guys.


Thursday, January 25, 2024

Today's Daddy State

It's dressed up in normal-sounding language (most of it), but he's telling us exactly how he intends to go about dismantling democratic self-government - ie: checks and balances.

Friday, January 19, 2024

Something Is Afoot

  
Jennifer Rubin
  • VP Elise Stefanik? Kristi Noem? Marge The Impaler Greene?
  • Press Poodles are missing the point (surprise surprise)
  • Another special election (FL State House) flipped red-to-blue
  • MAGA clowns keep shooting themselves in the foot
  • The depth of a parent's agony
  • Bibi's got bad problems

Thursday, January 18, 2024

He's Telling Us

He put a lid on it for a few days, but Trump is back to telling us straight out. He intends to pursue his dreams of dominance. He wants the world to revert to a form of "governance" that is totally dependent on the moods of powerful men.



Tuesday, January 09, 2024

Maddow Comes Around

And it's about fuckin' time. Driftglass and Blue Gal have been on this for years.

Trump did not remake the GOP in his own image. He's the perfect reflection of what that party has been morphing into for decades.

And finally, the Press Poodles (some anyway) are starting to catch up.


Today's (Alleged) Fuckery


I use the word "alleged" because even a small-potatoes blogger should at least try to follow the rules.

That said, no one paying any attention at all can dismiss the real potential for disaster here.

These assholes ain't playin'.


Exclusive: Roger Stone Spoke With Cop Pal About Assassinating Eric Swalwell and Jerry Nadler

Weeks before the 2020 presidential election, infamous political operative Roger Stone sat across from his associate Sal Greco at a restaurant in Florida.

At the time, Greco was an NYPD cop working security for Stone on the side. Their conversation, at Caffe Europa in Fort Lauderdale, focused on two House Democrats for whom Stone harbors particular animosity, Jerry Nadler and Eric Swalwell.

In audio of the conversation obtained exclusively by Mediaite, Stone made threatening comments about the two lawmakers.

“It’s time to do it,” Stone told Greco. “Let’s go find Swalwell. It’s time to do it. Then we’ll see how brave the rest of them are. It’s time to do it. It’s either Nadler or Swalwell has to die before the election. They need to get the message. Let’s go find Swalwell and get this over with. I’m just not putting up with this shit anymore.”

A source familiar with the discussion told Mediate they believed Stone’s remarks were serious. “It was definitely concerning that he was constantly planning violence with an NYPD officer and other militia groups,” the source said.

Both Nadler and Swalwell serve on the House Judiciary Committee. At the time of the Caffe Europa conversation, Nadler had announced the committee would be investigating then-President Donald Trump’s decision to commute Stone’s sentence after he was convicted of federal crimes in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.

“A jury found Roger Stone guilty,” Nadler wrote on Twitter in July 2020. “By commuting his sentence, President Trump has infected our judicial system with partisanship and cronyism and attacked the rule of law. @House Judiciary will conduct an aggressive investigation into this brazen corruption.”

The source told Mediaite of Stone: “Stone had been at war with Nadler and Swalwell for years. He just hates them.”

“He just wanted to get Trump back into office so these things would stop,” the source added.

Stone was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress in the Mueller investigation. Prosecutors sought a nine-year prison sentence for the longtime Republican operative, but Trump’s Justice Department reportedly intervened to impose a less severe sentence. Stone’s sentence was eventually commuted by Trump days before reporting to prison.

The intervention from the Justice Department prompted Aaron Zelinsky, the prosecutor and Mueller deputy who led the case against Stone, to recuse himself from the case in protest. Mediaite reported last week that Stone was caught on tape in December 2020 urging Greco to “punish” Zelinsky.

“He needs to be punished,” Stone told Greco in the audio. “You have to abduct him and punish him. That has to be done. It will be easy to abduct him because he is a weakling.”

Stone denied making those comments, claiming they were generated by AI. He has previously claimed videos of his comments are actually “deep fakes.” In response to a request for comment on the remarks aimed at Swalwell and Nadler, Stone said, “Total nonsense. I’ve never said anything of the kind more AI manipulation. You asked me to respond to audios that you don’t let me hear and you don’t identify a source for. Absurd.”

Greco did not deny the comments, but said in a text to Mediaite: “I don’t think your reader is interested in ancient political fodder.”

Greco, who acted as security for Stone and was with the operative during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol soon after the 2020 election, was fired by the NYPD over his association with Stone. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to Mediaite that Greco was terminated in August 2022.

Nadler and Swalwell did not respond to requests for comment.

Sunday, January 07, 2024

Not A Parody


This is no parody. It's fan-produced content, but Trump posted it on his social media platform.

It's what he knows some of the hardcore rubes will swallow whole, and then ask for more.


The next time somebody asks why I'm atheist - it's pretty simple: "God made Trump"

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Today's Holy Fuck

Trump posted this on his social media thingie.


Pakman's stand-in (Brittany Page) explains:


Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Bureaucratizing The Coup

Ari Melber breaks it down.


Ted Cruz is a dirt bag extraordinaire.


And speaking of both coups and dirt bags:

(via MSN)

Trump's campaign is growing nervous about his behavior

U.S. presidents have been accused by their political rivals of wanting to be kings or dictators ever since the very beginning of the Republic. It's even a charge that's had some merit from time to time.

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson charged John Adams with acting like a king when he expanded federal power and passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which effectively made it a crime to criticize the government. But Adams lost his re-election and gracefully conceded, establishing the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power that until very recently was observed by every president. Then there was Andrew Jackson, who critics assailed as a would-be king for wielding his veto pen for political purposes and challenging the primacy of the Supreme Court to decide constitutional matters, among other things. But he too left peacefully after eight years. Abraham Lincoln was repeatedly accused of being a dictator during the Civil War for implementing numerous extreme measures including the suspension of habeas corpus and the jailing of journalists. And in the 20th century, both wartime presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were called dictators for expanding the powers of the presidency. Roosevelt even ran for four terms, precipitating the 22nd Amendment which limits future presidents to only two.

A few years back, President George W. Bush jokingly said, “If this were a dictatorship it would be a heck of a lot easier... as long as I'm the dictator." But except for that quip, I don't think there's any example of a president or someone running for president actually saying that he planned to be a dictator ... until Donald Trump. Not that anyone should be surprised by that. He is, after all, the president who plotted a coup to stay in office and fomented an insurrection to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power.

Last week, Fox News' Sean Hannity asked Trump a simple question: "Do you in any way have any plans whatsoever have any plans if you are re-elected president to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people" and Trump said, "like they are doing now" and went on to talk about how he's been indicted more than one of the greatest criminals of all time, "if you happen to like criminals" —- Al Capone.

Hannity pressed the question again:

I want to go back to this one issue, though, because the media has been focused on this and attacking you. Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody.

Trump's answer was, "except for day one." Hannity was taken aback. Trump explained, "He says you’re not going to be a dictator, are you? I said, no, no, no. Other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator. Okay?"

Actually, it's not ok.

If Hannity were anything but a Trump flunky he would have at least followed up and asked him exactly what plans he had to accomplish those two things on "day one." But he didn't because he knew that Trump was trying to be clever and have it both ways. He admires dictators and it's clear from his stated agenda that he plans to implement it through the use of dictatorial powers. But he smugly said he just wants to use them for rather mainstream Republican policy goals rather than revenge which Hannity quickly acknowledged and then moved on. After all, the crowd loved it.

It was clear from Hannity's question that he was worried about the fact that the media has finally focused on the threat of a second Trump term. He did everything he could to give Trump the opportunity to say, "Of course I'm not going to abuse my power or become a dictator, that's ridiculous" but Trump couldn't do it.

It's starting to concern other people around him as well.

Many of the stories last week featured background quotes from people dropping names of potential Cabinet picks and other personnel choices for a second Trump term which clearly spooked the campaign. Axios had reported that people like Tucker Carlson were on a short list for VP while cronies Steve Bannon and Kash Patel were named for other important posts in the administration. Patel immediately appeared on Bannon's podcast to declare that they certainly did have big plans, one of which was to go after the media, "whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out." He told Bannon that they had a "bench" of "all-American patriots" who would get the ball rolling immediately.

This is likely what led senior campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita to issue a statement on Friday, saying that "no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official" unless it came from them. This was on the heels of a similar statement from a couple of weeks ago after the first flurry of reports about the planned dictatorship started appearing in the mainstream media, in which they proclaimed that "any personnel lists, policy agendas, or government plans published anywhere are merely suggestions."

But that's not true at all. Agenda 47, right there on his campaign web site, is hair raising. Here's just one of the more recent videos in which he promises "take the billions and billions of dollars that we will collect by taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments, and we will then use that money to endow a new institution called the American Academy" where there will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed.

Wiles and LaCivita can try all they want to distance the campaign from the likes of Bannon and Patel but they aren't the problem. The candidate is.

You might have thought that Trump would press pause on all the dictator talk considering that his campaign is obviously getting very nervous about it. But no. He appeared before the New York Young Republicans over the weekend and repeated his "dictator on day one" line, making even less sense than before:

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Wiles and LaCivita wrote in their statement that "he is not interested in, nor does he condone, selfish efforts by ‘desk hunters" — but that doesn't seem to be the case:

The few professionals in the Trump campaign understand that it's lethal for Trump's chances in the general election if the public is actually informed of what he plans to do. Now that the press is no longer under the illusion that ignoring what he says is the best way to cover him, those pros are starting to realize that they can't control Trump or the people around him. They aren't the first to have that rude awakening. It would be a big relief if they were the last.



Monday, December 11, 2023

Let's Get Serious


  1. Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You've already done this, haven't you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.
  2. Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don't protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.
  3. Recall professional ethics. When the leaders of state set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become much more important. It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without lawyers, and it is hard to have show trials without judges.
  4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.
  5. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that all authoritarians at all times either await or plan such events in order to consolidate power. Think of the Reichstag fire. The sudden disaster that requires the end of the balance of power, the end of opposition parties, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Don't fall for it.
  6. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. (Don't use the Internet before bed. Charge your gadgets away from your bedroom, and read.) What to read? Perhaps The Power of the Powerless by Václav Havel, 1984 by George Orwell, The Captive Mind by Czesław Milosz, The Rebel by Albert Camus, The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt, or Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.
  7. Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy, in words and deeds, to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. And the moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.
  8. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.
  9. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate foreign propaganda pushes.
  10. Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.
  11. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down unnecessary social barriers, and come to understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.
  12. Take responsibility for the face of the world. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.
  13. Hinder the one-party state. The parties that took over states were once something else. They exploited a historical moment to make political life impossible for their rivals. Vote in local and state elections while you can.
  14. Give regularly to good causes, if you can. Pick a charity and set up autopay. Then you will know that you have made a free choice that is supporting civil society helping others doing something good.
  15. Establish a private life. Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the Internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Authoritarianism works as a blackmail state, looking for the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have too many hooks.
  16. Learn from others in other countries. Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends abroad. The present difficulties here are an element of a general trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports.
  17. Watch out for the paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-Leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the game is over.
  18. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. (If you do not know what this means, contact the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask about training in professional ethics.)
  19. Be as courageous as you can. If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die in unfreedom.
  20. Be a patriot. President Trump is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.

Wednesday, December 06, 2023

Ya Doesn't Hasta Call Me Johnson

  • If Mike Johnson wants "transparency", then he wouldn't be hiding people's faces
  • Because if we can't see their faces, and they've been busted, how do we know "the deep state" is doin' 'em dirty when we don't even know who the fuck they are?
  • DOJ already has the un-blurred version of all 44,000 hours of video
Oh wait - if we don't know who the rioters are, then Johnson & Co can go on making up even more shit, thinking nobody's going to be the wiser. I think I get it now.

MAGA leaders understand how gullible the unwashed MAGA masses are, because MAGA leaders are The Daddy State, and they've spent decades and billions making more and more Americans dumber and dumber every day.

Daddy State Awareness


THE BASICS:

  • The Daddy State lies as a means of demonstrating power.
  • The lies have practically nothing to do with the subject of the lies.
  • Lying about everything is a way to condition us - to make us accept the premise that they can do anything they want.

The goal is to dictate reality to us.



Tuesday, December 05, 2023

Dirtbag Donald

From October:


Jake Tapper outlines the problem, and identifies the threat.

Sunday, November 26, 2023

The History We're Living


It's very hard to look away, but it's possible that we're about to reach a more pleasant kind of critical mass where enough of us think Trump is just boring and we can turn away from him.

Of course, the Plutocracy Project continues apace, and there's always some jagoff willing to step up and audition for the lead in a Fascist Theater Company production.


Don't sleep on this.

Get together
Get busy
Get shit done


 

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Today's Trump Fuckery


Trump has told US military veterans what he thinks of them - at least a coupla times.
  • (John McCain) is not a hero - he's a hero because he was captured - I like people who weren't captured.
  • Nobody wants to see that (re: a wounded veteran in a wheel chair at a White House function)
  • They're suckers and losers (re: D-Day KIAs)
He's told them straight out that he thinks they're suckers, but somehow, it lands with them like he's the guy who'll keep them from being suckered - even as he's playing them for suckers.

Right about here, somebody always chimes in with, "Make it make sense". But thinking he's being dumb for spouting contradictions is dismissive, and that's a real problem. He's doing everything according to the authoritarian playbook.

Lying all the time, and contradicting himself from one day to the next, is a feature of the Daddy State way of doing things.

Daddy State Awareness


THE BASICS:

  • The Daddy State lies as a means of demonstrating power.
  • The lies have practically nothing to do with the subject of the lies.
  • Lying about everything is a way to condition us - to make us accept the premise that they can do anything they want.

The goal is to dictate reality to us.


What he's doing with veterans is consistent with the basic Divide-n-Conquer approach. He calls people suckers and losers with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge kinda thing, intimating that "they're the suckers, but you and I know the real score - we've been red-pilled".




They know they're not strong enough to conquer a unified country, so they split us into small groups, pitting one against the other.

We're not born with our prejudices. We learn them - they're made for us - and then they're exploited by someone who wants something. Remember that when you hear this kind of talk - somebody's going to get something out of it, and it's not going to be you.

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

It's Real

... and it's happening.


It's been fairly well disguised, but it's becoming very clear now.



Saturday, October 14, 2023

The Chaos Caucus


And the Press Poodles at WaPo are at it again - diligently ignoring the obvious.



Republicans nominate Jordan for House speaker after Scalise withdrawal

But the Ohio congressman faces a steep hill in getting the 217 votes needed in the full House

By Amy B Wang, Marianna Sotomayor, Jacqueline Alemany and Leigh Ann Caldwell

House Republicans on Friday elected Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio) as their new speaker-designate, yet he faces the same daunting mathematical conundrum that bedeviled the brief attempt of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (La.) to claim the gavel.

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In an hours-long closed-door session Friday, GOP lawmakers — many of them visibly frustrated after a week of infighting — heard pitches from Jordan and Rep. Austin Scott (Ga.), who launched a last-minute bid for the speakership Friday morning.

Jordan — who narrowly lost to Scalise in a GOP vote earlier this week before the Louisiana Republican withdrew from the race a day later — emerged this time as the conference’s nominee with 124 votes, while Scott received 81 votes. Jordan’s vote tally was marginally higher than Scalise’s 113 count, suggesting he has much work ahead of him in getting to the 217 votes required to get elected by the full chamber.

Jordan’s elevation would cement the Republican Party’s shift to the far right — especially in the House — and would install as speaker someone who was a key ally in former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and a leading defender against Trump’s impeachment for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

⬆︎⚠️ It's obvious that the GOP is sprinting (ie: not "shifting") to the far right. How does that little nugget get buried in the 4th paragraph - like it's an afterthought.

Going hard right is kinda the whole fucking point here.🚨

Jordan’s nomination was less a celebratory breakthrough and more of an unsteady mile marker for a Republican conference that has been plunged into chaos this week amid deep divisions. GOP lawmakers’ inability to unite around a single candidate has left the House without a permanent speaker for more than a week after Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) was removed from the job — paralyzing the chamber even with another government funding deadline looming and a war breaking out in the Middle East.

After Jordan was nominated Friday, Republicans immediately held another vote within the conference, also a secret ballot, on whether they would support him as the nominee on the floor. The aim was to see if Jordan would be able to win with at least 217 Republicans to avoid the debacle that befell Scalise. In that second vote, Jordan received 152 yes votes and 55 no votes, while one lawmaker voted present.

Afterward, lawmakers were told they would reconvene Monday. Rep. Garland “Andy” Barr (R-Ky.) said Jordan asked for the weekend to win over more support ahead of a Monday floor vote.

“Who the speaker ultimately ends up being is less important to me than a functioning majority. That’s what I want members to keep in mind,” Barr said. “Steve wasn’t able to get there, so I’m hoping Jim can.”

Minutes after the House convened Friday morning, Republicans went into a closed-door session to consider proposed conference rule changes aimed at ensuring future nominees would have the support necessary to win the speakership in a floor vote. However, all the proposals were eventually withdrawn, according to three lawmakers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private session.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) arrives for a House Republican gathering at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
Complicating Jordan’s path, Scott announced Friday that he, too, would run for House speaker. The dean of the Georgia Republican delegation told reporters that he had “no intention” of launching a last-minute bid for speaker but said Republicans were not doing things “the right way.”

“We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people,” Scott wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Friday morning.

McCarthy — who supported Jordan for the speakership after he was ousted — said he was encouraging others to do the same, though he couched it with the fact that members needed to make their own decisions. In Friday’s conference meeting, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) again raised his proposal to vote to condemn last week’s motion to vacate McCarthy and renominate him for the speakership.

Many Republicans were cheering, according to people in the room, but McCarthy then approached the microphones and told the conference to support Jordan.

Someone tried to “make a motion to bring me back, and I just [said], ‘No, let’s not do that,’” McCarthy said after the meeting.

Jordan will spend the weekend calling allies to help him shore up support from 56 Republicans who did not vote for him in the conference.

Several Scalise supporters remain hesitant about voting for Jordan, particularly after Jordan did not give an immediate and full-throated endorsement of Scalise. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Friday that he still had concerns about Jordan following his treatment of Scalise and didn’t want to “reward bad behavior.”

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), a staunch Scalise ally, said no pressure would change his mind to support Jordan on the floor next week. If Jordan couldn’t persuade people to follow him on something as basic as a speaker vote, Diaz-Balart argued, then it did not bode well for more complicated matters down the line like negotiating appropriations bills, the debt limit or national security issues.

“This is, frankly, I hate to say this, the simplest thing we do, right? And if you can’t get your own people to follow you on a very simple thing like this, then I think you have an issue,” he said.

Some vulnerable Republicans who represent districts President Biden won in 2020 were also nervous about what a Jordan speakership could mean for them electorally. Jordan is known nationally as one of Trump’s strongest allies, and Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) admitted Thursday night that recognition could hurt him in his district. But he also echoed a position some governing moderates have taken, which is that he would support Jordan because Republicans need a speaker to get back to legislative business.

“I have absolutely no objection” to Jordan becoming speaker, Rep. Marcus J. Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said. “No one cares about how we get there. They just want us to get back to governing.”

What isn’t helping Jordan in terms of garnering support is how his allies have behaved: They have threatened some of those vulnerable Republicans, telling them that if they didn’t vote for Jordan behind closed doors, they would get primary challenges in their elections, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal private conversations.

Another House Republican said those lawmakers who vote against Jordan on the second ballot may soon feel the wrath of “the Trump effect” unleashed on them to get them to bend toward Jordan. A Trump aide said the former president and his team are unlikely to be involved in whipping the vote — though they are tracking the status of the speaker’s race.

Asked about allegations that Jordan’s allies were threatening lawmakers who did not vote for Jordan, Russell Dye, a Jordan spokesman, said: “That is totally untrue.”

Concerns about Jordan’s past controversies also started to surface this week. The lawmaker has been accused by several Ohio State University wrestlers of knowing about sexual abuse allegations against the team’s doctor when he was a coach but doing nothing about it. An Ohio State independent investigation into the abuse did not make “conclusive determinations” about whether particular employees knew about the abuse by Richard Strauss, but a report issued later in 2019 said coaches did know.

Dye said in a statement this week that “Jordan never saw or heard of any abuse, and if he had, he would have dealt with it.”

The earliest the House could vote for speaker is Monday evening. Several Republicans were not in attendance at their conference Friday — because they were either physically no longer in Washington or because they were so angered by their own colleagues that they are now viewing these gathering as pointless — and it is unlikely the GOP will hold a vote with several absences. All week, Republicans publicly described their unproductive gatherings as “therapy sessions” or Festivus, a fictional holiday from the show “Seinfeld” that requires an airing of grievances.

Minutes after Jordan was chosen as speaker-designate, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said the House Freedom Caucus co-founder had now become the “chairman of the chaos caucus” and “an extremist extraordinaire.” Jeffries also pointed at Republicans who have back-channeling with Democrats about a bipartisan solution to electing a consensus speaker to step up and vote against Jordan on the floor.

“Republicans can continue to triple down on the chaos, the dysfunction and the extremism,” Jeffries said on the Capitol steps. “On the other hand, traditional Republicans can break away from the extremism, partner with Democrats on an enlightened, bipartisan path forward so we can end the recklessness.”

Friday, October 13, 2023

Missing The Point


There may in fact be some Republicans who still want to govern - who want to make the thing work. And there's more than a fair probability that some of these clowns are indeed just interested in the clicks and the fund-raising opportunities, and the chance to keep a very lucrative gig.

But there are plenty - the MAGA gang, and the "quietly complicit moderate institutionalists" - who want dysfunction as a means to an end.

They've been telling us for 50 years:
  • "to err is human, but if you really wanna screw things up, call the government"
  • "government is the problem"
  • "less government is better government and the best government is no government"
They're telling us they want to shit-can our little experiment in democratic self-government and start over with a shiny new coin-operated corporate-style plutocracy.

More dysfunction = more cynicism and dissatisfaction = higher likelihood that people will support a major shift to authoritarian rule.

I could be wrong, but could we at least acknowledge the possibility, and then have the balls to ask a few fucking questions about it?


Sunday, October 08, 2023

Creeping Authoritarianism



Israel-Gaza Conflict
Israel Battles Militants as Netanyahu Warns of Long War

More than 30 hours after militants from Gaza surged across the border, Israel’s military said its forces were still battling gunmen on Israeli territory. Around 600 Israelis are believed to have been killed and more than 370 Palestinians are dead.

So ya wanna be a dictator while not admitting you're a dictator, and you wanna stay in power forever while not admitting you're shit-canning the principles of democracy that might limit your tenure?

Find a really great crisis you can pimp to the masses so they won't notice how you're actually fucking them with their pants on, and you'll have a lot of them standing in line to volunteer to get fucked with their pants on - several extra times.

The best crisis? Invasion - terrorists - enemies from without and from within.

And if you can get one that puts a nice rosy glow of racist assholery on it - jackpot.

Friday, October 06, 2023

Spark It Up


He won't stop on his own. He won't be stopped by the people around him - or the ones who may only be tangential to his "positions", but who see an opportunity to benefit from the shit he's doing.

Since forever, this shit ends in one of only two ways
  1. The normal people get their heads outa their asses and push the Overton Window back to where it belongs before it's too late
  2. Smoke and ash and blood and misery