On Psycopathocracy & Geejy Birds

From Juan Cole:

We are now on the brink of a new form of government, undreamed of by Aristotle, who spoke of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. We are headed to a psychopathocracy, which has something in common with the degraded form of classical regime types that Aristotle warned against (he thought monarchy can deteriorate into despotism, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into demagoguery). Psychopathocracy is the rule of persons who lack a basic ability to empathize with others, to feel their pain or to feel guilty about harming them.

Psychopathocracy is different from mere bad policy. We can all disagree about the direction of government or particular initiatives. Often people backing a policy that harms others do not understand the harm, or think it is averting a greater harm. It isn’t true that all high politicians are psychopaths who don’t care about injury being done to people. And high politicians have put in programs like social security that have lifted millions of elders out of poverty over decades. They did it because they cared about people.

--and--

CEOs of corporations and successful politicians are also disproportionately likely to be psychopaths. Robert Hare developed a 20-point checklist for the condition, which, however, does not exactly overlap with the definition in DSM-V, the description of mental conditions put out by the American Psychiatric Association. Hare did some of his research in prisons and so his checklist is skewed a bit for criminal activity.

You don’t need to be a psychologist to recognize that Donald J. Trump and several nominees to his incoming administration exhibit obvious signs of psychopathy. Having psychopaths in the White House is not unprecedented. It seems pretty obvious that Dick Nixon, a pathological liar who actually derailed the 1968 peace negotiations with Vietnam to keep his rival Hubert Humphrey from looking good to the voters, had this condition. Untold American soldiers and Vietnamese peasants died so Nixon could be president.

So it's not really a new thing at all.  I guess it just seems new because we don't see it so blatantly exhibited very often.

The two big questions remain tho - how do we explain our apparent willingness to accept this shit?  

And knowing that forms of government take on an aspect of self-perpetuation, what has to happen to get us back to where we think we need to be?

Cuz this looks a lot like the end of one Geejy Bird, and (maybe) the beginning of the next.

Every government is a geejy bird.

The geejy bird is a strange creature; it flies only once in its lifetime, but that flight is a spectacle to behold. The geejy bird appears suddenly, standing on a limb, young, elegant, proud and respectable.  Surveying the horizon, it spreads its majestic wings and swoops upward in a wide graceful curve, with magnificent wing flappings and loud glory whoops.  When it reaches maximum altitude, it begins its elegant descent, an ever narrowing spiral.  It makes smaller and smaller circles in the sky until, suddenly and mysteriously, it vanishes through its own asshole.

No one knows where geejy birds go - probably back where they came from.  Unfortunately, when they go, they take us along.  We are all subjects of one geejy bird or another; we are born and live and die during one of these mad flights.  To be born early is, at least, exciting; the air sparkles with hopes and dreams, and there are worthwhile things to be done.  To board the flight in the soaring stage is next best; there is a fresh wind and a feel of strong wings and a dizzying view of the world.

But what about those of us who are born near the end of the flight?  We can't jump off; the fall would be fatal.  In vain we scream, "Turn around, great geejy bird! Turn back in thy flight!"  Too late.  There is nothing to do but make the best of it.  We snap to attention, salute, and begin to sing our stirring anthem.  "God Bless Our Geejy Bird!"  Together we enter the turd tunnel to oblivion.

The Rape of the A*P*E* (page 174) --Allan Sherman

This is Now

Obama's first presser in 2008:

See if you can pick out any small details that're different when President Water Sports tried it for the first time:

He starts - starts - with the lie that he's always done the press conference thing. Then jumps straight in with the self-agrandizing crapola of taking credit for things he's had nothing to do with. And ends by telling us the file folders on the tables contained info about his vast empire of companies - when they were actually empty. They're props. That whole bit was nothing but Show Biz.

WaPo breaks it down.

A coupla big points that stand out for me: First is that there's going to be a major purge of the Executive Branch. That's already started. At the very least, the gathering of names in certain departments with regards to certain activities is a great way to exert a little intimidation, and to tamp down on the trouble-makers who don't quite understand that  speaking truth to power is a subversive attitude that'll get your ass fired.

And second, this guy expects everything to happen in secrecy.

Because The Daddy State works best under the cover of darkness.

But the really big one is the merging of Trump and The People's Business. The plan for separating Trump from the Trump Organization sounds about right until you get to the Magic Loophole, which is that he'll be "donating" his hotel profits to the US Treasury, which begins the process of conflation, which twists the whole thing into a grotesque perversion - "What's good for Trump is good for America", because Trump is America.

Maybe it's gonna be OK, and maybe he's not the slimy fuckwad he's been trying so hard to tell us he is (while we've been trying just as hard not to believe it), but he has always been Mr Loophole - he delivers on his promises when he can't stop you from forcing him to deliver on his promises.

TrumpUSAmerica, Inc.

Today's Typical Trump

From NPR:

In late October, just weeks ahead of the election, President-elect Donald Trump made a quick detour to Washington for the official opening of his new five-star hotel, just a few blocks from the White House.

During a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Trump told the crowd that the two-year, roughly $200 million renovation project at the historic Old Post Office Building was done ahead of schedule and under budget, thanks to what he called an incredible team of people — "including hundreds of construction workers, electricians, maintenance workers and so many others who helped make this project a reality. They're really the important ones."

Now some of those companies would like final payment for their work. Documents obtained by NPR show three Washington-area companies have filed liens against Trump International Hotel totaling more than $5 million.

--and--

Sterling, Va-based A&D Construction filed a lien in November saying it was owed $79,700. The firm's lawyer, Richard Sissman, says A&D is a small, Hispanic-owned company that was subcontracting on the Trump hotel project.

"The nature of the work was ... trim and casework and architectural millwork, wall base, crown molding; this is all fine carpentry," he says.

Sissman says A&D's lien is relatively small compared to the other two, but it's a lot of money to his client.

"On these big jobs these should be paid. It's ridiculous that a small-time operator has to beg for its money," he says. "It's put him in a very bad situation right now."

This has been Trump's whole history - Over-Promise and Under-Deliver.

Trump is the embodiment of the same old Autocratic Hyper-Predatory Capitalism that the founders risked everything fighting to get rid of (it's just been updated to fit our "modern" version of a very old paradigm), ie: "I don't owe you according to our contract - I only owe you what my lawyers can't prevent your lawyers from forcing me to pay you."

Guess what happens as of January 20th, when Trump thinks he owns it all, and that he can do whatever he wants to do because he's convinced there's nobody left who can force him to do what's right, and nobody to force him not to do what's wrong.

In the end, the only thing that really stands against the impulse to do shitty things to people is a man's sense of honor - and there is no honor in that man.

Say What?

"Conservatives" are adamant about telling celebrities to stay outa politics after trying to name everything in sight for a B-Movie Actor over the last 30 years because they think he was the greatest POTUS ever.

And now they've spent 2 days going out of their way obsessively trying to convince us they don't care what Hollywood thinks about the Game Show Host who'll be inaugurated a week from this Friday.

It's almost like, fuck that death-of-democracy thing - we might stand a chance to get some of that back if we start caring about the death of irony.
...or shame
...or honor

Today's Tweet

Ever notice how #maga trolls who call others 'cuck' are the ones who voted to let Putin come screw America while they watch from the corner?

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 10, 2017

Keith

Watch this video on The Scene.

Today's It Begins

Politico:

On Friday morning, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted a request for House and Senate intelligence committees to investigate the leak of a classified intelligence report to NBC News reporters.

“I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it,” he tweeted. "Before I, or anyone, saw the classified and/or highly confidential hacking intelligence report, it was leaked out to @NBCNews. So serious!" he added on Sunday.

But how likely is such an investigation to happen, and what would happen if it did? Attorneys that have represented journalists and government employees say that such an investigation would be extremely unusual, with only one comparable hearing, held in 1976.

So, for now, a move against NBC is unlikely - the Congress Critters know they can't spank reporters without getting their own tits caught in the wringer - the usual political reality of Safety By Mutual Culpability - but Trump doesn't really care about that. It may look like a Drain The Swamp opportunity, but he just uses that as cover to further his own ends.  It's another chance for him to stand in the middle and play the factions against each other.

He doesn't care about the leak, and he doesn't care about the info. He cares about whether or not he can use the situation to (eg) punish "The Lugenpresse" for being mean to him, while keeping the option to hit back against "enemies" on Capitol Hill by threatening to torch a few of their staffers etc etc etc.

Because it's not about right or wrong - legal vs illegal - to a guy like Trump, these things are of no value in themselves; they're fungible. Their value is determined only by their usefulness as trade goods in The Marketplace of Power.

It's always and only about the simple binary: Pro-Trump vs Anti-Trump.

That's his strength and that's what makes him very very dangerous. Not because he plays the same ol' game (and he is playing the same old game), but because he plays that game while pretending he's not playing it - or he can not play it while pretending he is playing it - or any combination that he thinks suits his purpose at any given moment.

And since the rubes have been sold on the idea that there is no objective reality anyway, they just get in line and away we go.

The gaslighting is so fucking strong.

Push Back

There's no better way to torpedo the Game-Show-Host-in-Chief than to flummox his ratings.  

The analytics can be gathered automatically, and the more homes with TVs turned on but not set to the TrumpCast, the lower those ratings are likely to be.

So if you're on satellite or cable, on Friday morning, January 20th, turn your TV on, but tune it to any channel that doesn't carry anything to do with the inauguration, and leave it on all day.

Resistance is vital, not futile

Resist

via Quartz, Timothy Snyder - Housum Professor of History at Yale University and author of Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning:

Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. Here are twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today:

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.
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.
The incoming president is not. Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it.

Of Our Fathers

Jeff Sessions is not his father. But like the man said - the bag never falls very far from the douche.

hat tip = @juliaioffe

Sunday's Question

Of all the sins requiring Death By Stoning, why did god leave Rape off the list?

A "Joke"

🚹 Ban Muslims!

🚺 Ban men! 

🚹 Uh - there's like 3.5 billion men?

🚺 And 1.6 billion Muslims - same diff

🚹 But terrorists are mostly Muslims

🚺 And mostly men

🚹 That's dumb

🚺 I'll say

hat tip = FB bud Linda M-M

Trae Crowder

Thanks, Obama

If His Lips Are Moving

AlterNet:

Donald Trump is a prolific liar. That’s neither an opinion nor a criticism, but a statement of scientific fact. In the midst of the presidential campaign, Politico analyzed a few hours of Trump’s speeches and found he lied once every five minutes on average.

PolitiFact gave Trump its Lie of the Year Award for 2015, and has since determined that only 15 percent of Trump’s words are true or even mostly true. Toronto Star journalist Daniel Dale, who fact-checked Trump for 33 days and found he told as many as 25 lies in a 24-hour period (excluding debates, when he crammed up to 34 lies into 90 minutes), wrote that Trump “lies strategically. He lies pointlessly. He lies about important things and meaningless things. Above all, he lies frequently.” Trump lies so effortlessly and consistently that the Washington Post created a plug-in that, lacking the human tendency to grow fatigued, fact-checks Trump’s lie-filled tweets in real time.

Strategic lying. Trump's lies are in fact habitual at this point, but that's only because he's had lotsa practice at lying by design. Because it works.

Coupla things:

I can say one thing to you and another thing to the next guy and then I can play those two positions against each other from the middle.  I stand to get something from you and/or something from him, and I can "come clean" or double down or go a completely different way - none of which matters because I'm hedging my positions to the point where I've off-loaded almost all of my risk onto somebody else so I'll "win" something regardless of how anything turns out - I am far less concerned with how it turns out than I am with positioning myself to benefit no matter the outcome.

And politically, by the time (eg) The Libtards fact-check it, the bullshit is already "out there" and we're all on to something else, and that's all yesterday's news and on and on and on.

Once you've surrendered your silly girly-man concerns over doing what's right, you'll never have to be wrong again.

...a Moral Flexibility that goes beyond most people.

It Begins

...or more accurately, it continues - and accelerates.

Union For Concerned Scientists:

The increasingly reckless House of Representatives, caught up in a public mutiny, may have walked back its abandonment of congressional ethics. But it simultaneously took several other steps that will enable corruption and greatly expand political influence over the work of experts at NASA, NOAA, EPA, and other science agencies, compromising their ability to serve the public interest.

This week, the House made significant changes to the rules under which it operates. First and foremost is the Holman rule, resurrected from the 1870s, just at the end of Reconstruction. This rule allows Congress, through spending bills, to target specific initiatives and reduce the salaries of individual federal employees whose work they find irksome to $1.

Does your research suggest a chemical company that happens to be located in the district of a powerful member of Congress is responsible for environmental contamination? You could be on that list.

So, Repubs are saying they'll keep science from becoming politicized by subjecting scientists to political pressures and ideological tests.

OK and away we go.