This Blog will Be Becoming Inactive After this one

Most of my reader hits are from Italy and I don't believe that many Italians love my writing even though I love Italian food, wine and visiting Italy.  Instead, I think those hits from Italy are Russian botts trying to accomplish heaven knows what.

But for those of you who are not Russian botts, I leave you with this thought.

I recently saw a historical review of Birth of a Nation.  This film made about 100 years ago revealed how widespread racism was in America.  Even President Wilson, who I always thought of as a liberal leader, believed in racist separation and Jim Crow laws.  I think he thought of Separate but Equal as being a good state of affairs even if there was no equality in such a state.

But reviewing the controversy surrounding the movie, the widespread support and viewership of the movie in the countryside, there can be no doubt that racism was widespread in white America.  The KKK had even been put to rest prior to the movie and the movie revived the KKK and made it more popular than ever for the next 30 to 40 years.

And I believe Donald Trump knows about his history because his campaign playbook is right out of it.  He panders to racists in the same manner the movie did.  And just as the movie revived the KKK, so shall Donald Trump's words revive racist action.  Donald Trump can protest that he is not a racist, but if you pander to racists, you are guilty of pandering to racists which will get you accused of being a racist.  I happen to think Donald Trump is an economic racist.  If you are not rich, you are not worthy.  If you are not working to support him personally, you are not worthy.  He can only care about those who care about and pander to him.  That is narcism and that is what Trump is.

So racism is alive and well in the U.S.  And it must be fought so it has no political standing.  Not every Trump supporter is a racist, but if they don't disown Trump's racist actions, like him they will be subject to accusation of being a racist.  I know the GOP wants to free people who they believe the welfare system is holding back by creating a culture of dependency.

But I ask you, how are so many Medicaid people who don't work able-bodied and not looking for work.  I have never met such a person, although I do not doubt that a small number might fit this profile, it is a large country.  But a small number should not determine how we fund a necessary support scheme for public health care.

And, as my final parting, I repeat what I have written before.  Fear drives much use of guns.  And the widespread availability of guns makes the police legitimately afraid, but there can still be no forgiveness for a police officer who lets fear generate the killing of an innocent human being.  That is why I do not understand why police across this nation are not speaking out for sensible gun control.

What the H*ll is Going on in the U.S.A.

I have a lot of foreign readers and I know that is what you are asking.  It is also what my mind is asking and I have taken a lot of time to think about this before putting fingers to the keyboard.

The only answer is really what did you think a prominent promoter of the birther movement would really believe.  Trump is a racist for some reason and he believes in his heart that racists deserve respect for their views.  And he believes the alt-right view that there is an alt-left violent extremist movement.  While I will acknowledge that criminal acts occurred during the Inauguration demonstration, the fact is that was a small minority of the many thousands who have demonstrated against Trump on multiple occasions without any criminal acts.  In contrast, what are we to make of people who march at night with torches (a favorite KKK activity), throw their hands in the air with Heil Hitler salutes, and believe in white supremacy.

All you have to do is look at the historical horrors of Slavery, Apartheid, Nazi Germany, and Russia in repeated ways to know white people are not a superior race to any other race.  Human beings are all the same.  We can be honorable loving people or we can be horrible.  Asian cultures have had multiple genocides.  Africa has corruption, rampant criminality, and smaller genocides.  The Islamic world is full of examples of innocents being slaughtered in the name of religious piety.

The alt-right wants to return to a culture where white people reign supreme over other people.  They have no other goal, and Donald Trump believes in that goal for some reason.  That is why Trump was a birther during the Obama Administration.  That is why he was unfit to be President and I for one cannot fathom how any respectable Republican could justify putting this man in the White House so they could have a conservative Supreme Court and pass tax cuts for the wealthy.

This is a nightmare.  It is exhausting for those of us who live with this b*llsh*t every single day of the week.  And I don't understand how any respectable human being could work for this man. Anyone who does has a questionable character.

So my foreign readers, I know each of you has your own challenges in this area.  The world is a pretty f*cking ugly place right now because government has failed in the Islamic world, migrants are causing stress in the Western world, and people are fed up with this and listening to Alt-right candidates all over the place.  We need a global decency movement that can still deal with authoritarian thugs.

GOP Political Pundits Discover Philosophy is More Important than Practicality and Disown Donald Trump and Those Who Support Him

David Brooks, Jennifer Rubin and Michael Gerson have had enough.  I doubt talk radio has but they are just in it for their own revenues, just like Donald Trump so they are all peas from the same pod.

Link to Gerson Column

Key Quote:

"Is Trump himself a racist? Who the bloody hell cares? There is no difference in public influence between a politician who is a racist and one who appeals to racist sentiments with racist arguments. The harm to the country — measured in division and fear — is the same, whatever the inner workings of Trump’s heart."

Link to Rubin Column

Key Quote:

"In short, a bad rap (Republicans’ opposition to the liberal agenda makes them racists) has been turned into an accurate, deadly analysis. (Too many Republicans harbor bigoted views of minorities and/or do not recognize racism when it’s in front of them.) Not all Republicans can be labeled as such, but far too many. The solution only comes with repudiation of Trump, success of diverse candidates and an empathetic agenda that demonstrates Republicans care about all Americans, not just rich, white males."

Link to Brooks Column

Key Quote:

"The classic conservative belief, by contrast, is that character is destiny. Temperament is foundational. Each candidate has to cross some basic threshold of dependability as a human being before it’s even relevant to judge his or her policy agenda. Trump doesn’t cross that threshold."


And just for good measure, a Charles Krauthammer quote.

"I sympathize with the dilemma of Republican leaders reluctant to affirm. Many are as appalled as I am by Trump, but they don’t have the freedom I do to say, as I have publicly, that I cannot imagine ever voting for him."

And to conclude, something from Paul Kruger.

"Indeed, the road to Trumpism began with ideological conservatives cynically exploiting America’s racial divisions. The modern Republican Party’s central policy agenda of cutting taxes on the rich while slashing benefits has never been very popular, even among its own voters. It won elections nonetheless by getting working-class whites to think of themselves as a group under siege, and to see government programs as giveaways to Those People."

"Or to put it another way, the G.O.P. was able to serve the interests of the 1 percent by posing as the defender of the 80 percent — for that was the white share of the electorate when Ronald Reagan was elected."

"But demographic change — rapid growth in the Hispanic and Asian population — has brought the non-Hispanic white share of the electoratedown to 62 percent and falling. Republicans need to broaden their base; but the base wants candidates who will defend the old racial order. Hence Trumpism."

Michael Gerson on the Dangerous Donald

This column is dense, but illustrates how unfit for the Presidency, the race baiting Donald Trump is and just how dangerous he is to the moral fabric of the U.S.A.

"If political leadership can increase dehumanization — as the evidence seems to indicate — Trump is guilty of it. He has falsely asserted that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims cheered after the World Trade Center came down and that Syrian refugees are entering the United States with “cellphones with ISIS flags on them.” He has called for a ban on Muslim immigration and the establishment of a database to track Muslims in the United States. “I want surveillance of these people,” Trump has said. And: “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before.” 

"Trump has turned legitimate concerns about terrorism into the indictment of a religion. In his rhetoric, the distinction between “these people” and the American “we” is clear enough. But there is a problem, other than the obvious ethical one. Bruneau and Kteily also surveyed Muslim Americans. And the more they feel dehumanized, the less likely they are to report activities that might be related to radicalization."

"This is a vicious and dangerous cycle: dehumanizing rhetoric, leading to distrust of government and law enforcement, contributing to tragedies that feed dehumanizing rhetoric. Both our ideals and our safety are compromised when politicians provide permission for bigotry."

Link to Gerson column