Walls and Constitutions

There is a story that in late antiquity the people of Rome wanted to build new walls in order to protect themselves from the hordes ravaging Italy.  Supposedly their top general tried to dissuade them saying "There is no point building walls if you dont have people who are willing to man them".

In the same vein, it seems to me that there are some similarities here to our current situation in America.  There is no point in having laws if you are not willing to enforce the law.  There is no reason to have a constitution if you can ignore it all you want and there are no consequences.

Prepare to Go to the Mattresses

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Surely it is just prudence to build a fortress. Secret passages to the subway and the park. Back ways out. Overlapping fields of fire. Antitank and surface to air missiles. Internal passages. Traps for the unwary. Better to be safe than sorry. Offsite weapon caches. Maybe a backup in the country. Dormitories with kitchens, food to last 6 months or a year. Communications facilities. Backups of everything. Water, power, etc. It doesnt have to be that expensive if you dont wait to the last minute. Secrecy is important, only you should know where everything is.

History tells us that this is a good idea.

I have read a lot and it is always useful to have a place like this.

Voter Disengagement or Brain Disengagement

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Some friend of a friend on Facebook tells me that I am a part of "Voter Disengagement" and that I am part of the problem.  This is in response to me saying that I might vote, but what I really wanted was a plan that was going to work.  We voted, I pointed out, we won and it didnt work.

So he calls me part of the problem.

My point is, we cant win with stupid assholes like this.  We have just encountered a right wing coup d'etat and he says I am part of the problem for pointing out that voting did not help.

I mean like, what the fuck?

The Little Baby Jesus Gonna Rip Their Heads Off Now

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The little baby Jesus gonna rip their heads off now!
The little baby Jesus gonna rip their heads off now!
The little baby Jesus gonna rip their heads off now!
The little baby Jesus gonna rip their heads off now!

Gonna Rip McConnell's Head Off Now!
Gonna Rip Grassley's Head Off Now!
Gonna Rip Kaveneauh's Head Off Now!
Gonna Rip the Orange Zit's Head Off Now!

The little baby Jesus gonna rip their heads off now!
etc.

Burn It Down and Dont Ever Tell Me to Vote

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We did vote.  We won.  But thats not the way it works in a right wing dictatorship.

"Burn it Down" in Harpers Bazaar

Letter to Sheila who Lives in London

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Dear Sheila.

1. America has always been a hypocritical and weird state, and completely unaware of it. Sadly, this has accellerated until now it is undeniably going to rip itself apart. The best scenarios are not good, and the worst are on deck right now. 2. As for a failed state, I think so, although few Americans might agree with us. The self denial is astonishing and worthy of many PhD thesis. 3. The failure however comes from many things, that is what would make it so interesting if I had even the slightest patience of desire to look at it objectively, I now want to discuss the concept of train wreck. 4. Train wrecks can be really great, all that momentum, the concept of going off the rails, the tragedy of all those dead people both on the train and merely nearby, the cars flying off in all directions to whack people hundreds of yards away. 5. Will we take others down with us. Already have, and more to come. Yes, the post WW2 order was going to end anyway, but the Russians and Trump have accelerated it by an order of magnitude, 6. As for global wahrman, let me say that controlling it was a long shot anyway, what I was hoping for was may yet be achieved: which is global disaster in my lifetime. Fuck all those people to come, I want to see Miami under water, I want to see the Potomac wash over its banks. Sure a few extra hundred million people will die but that is a small price to pay to shut those fucking global wahrman deniers up. 7. As for blaming me personally. Let me tell you, I have been crying like a prophet of old and no one has listened. I went to protest in Nov 2000 where were my friends. 8. But best of all is worst of all. They think they have won. They have no idea what the fuck they are doing. If I may give an example from American history, you might look up a famous date (famous to some of us): Dec 20, 1860. Those who voted on that day had no fucking clue how bad it was going to be and how many people would die because of their stupidity. 8. And that is the word I want to leave you with. Stupid, but they dont know they are stupid.

How are the kids?  When will you visit me?

MW

To My Friend Who Has Ghosted Me

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On the occassion of the right wing coup d'etat that is completed as of tomorrow, and since I dont feel I can in good conscience hold onto money you lent me, I plan to donate it to the political opponents of our new Republican masters.

Not sure who that will be, but probably whoever it is that is running against that fucking fascist Nunes and the nightmare from Maine, Collins.

I dont think you will mind if I do that although I might get a little extra pleasure if you did.

(Three donations: the opponent to Ted Cruz, Nunes and Collins).

Now that McConnell has Destroyed The Justice System

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Republicans do not seem to understand that what is about to happen tomorrow is as significant as when secession from the Union happened. 

McConnell is using a bug in the constitution that says that he can say that he can put someone on the Supreme Court with a majority, but only 2/3rds can impeach a justice.  And they know that is nearly impossible.

Well, thats just not going to do for me.

So now what?

Well, we dont have a working justice system, so we need to look at ways that may technically be against the law, but in fact, are ethically well within our rights as citizens.

Too bad, huh.  I guess they fucked it up.

Getting Our Spineless Representatives To Grow a Backbone

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Its fun to read about our spineless Democratic representatives terrified of speaking up for what they believe in, unless of course they dont believe in anything.

What we need is elected representatives who are willing to stand up to the right and demand freedom and sanity for us, their constituents.

Should we all be learning to use assault weapons and to make IEDs?  I go back and forth on this one. Since the supreme court has said that black people's votes do not count, what difference does it make if we vote?

Read What They Say

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A few years ago, the various blogs and forums were filled with Russian trolls.  They were usually identifiable once you realized what was going on which is one of the reasons I knew about Russian state sponsored interference long before the news media or Congress figured it out.  (Footnote: I have no idea when the intelligence community (IC) figured it out.  I hope it was before people like me did, but who knows).

Today, however, although the Russians are making heavy use of social media, they are either using a lighter touch, or not quite as obvious as they were, except in a few extreme cases.

My first point is, the Russians dont have to do much.  We already have a lot of right wing nuts without their help, nuts that are made even nuttier by deliberately false news outlets like Fox.

My second point is, before you tell me I am overreacting or being paranoid, may I request that you read for yourself what these people say.  I have spent a very modest amount of time doing so and I can tell you that whatever planet they are on, it isnt the planet that anyone who reads this blog is likely to be on.

You really have to read this for yourself.

Our Future Civil War with the Right

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Apparently it is commonly believed in right wing circles, or some of them, that a civil war is likely in this country as the "Left" attempts to destroy the Trump presidency.  I know this only because I keep seeing references to this meme when I check out various forums, blogs, news aggregators and because of opinions expressed on Facebook.

What they believe seems to be remarkably uniform given the random-ass nature of my exposure to them.  They all seem to believe that (a) the left is going to become irrational and violent, (b) the poor well meaning right wing is going to have to defend themselves and American values and (c) without doubt the right will crush the violent and irrational left in that war (in other words, the Left will all be shot or beaten to death).

Whether or not you or I believe them is probably not germane, we should certainly take them seriously. We all should know by now that the right wing has been corrupted by false news and bizarre beliefs and they could well act on their beliefs.

So it seems logical to me that we should all learn to use the standard weapons in order to defend ourselves. You know, handguns, rifles, rocket propelled grenades, mortars, radios, armored vehicles, basic small unit tactics in urban settings, stockpile weapons, that sort of thing.

But my friends tell me that this is old fashioned thinking and that none of this will be important in a future civil war, because, well, they are so old fashioned. My friends do agree that the Right is likely to become violent, and that civil war is possible, but that there is nothing to worry about.

I think my friends are too smart for their own good and are somewhat delusional.

In a future post I will describe some things I think we should be doing to prepare for this eventuality, which I think has a non-trivial probability of happening.

Trump Supporters and Civil War

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The problem with Trump supporters is that they think that their lies are truth, and no amount of persuasion works because any fact or counterexample is dismissed as fake news. One of the many things I have problems with today is that no one I know or have read has a plan for convincing these people otherwise. IMHO all we can do is put them out of power and then repress them when they resort to violence (they would say the exact same thing about me, I think).

This is the reason I believe we are headed towards a civil war of sorts, or at least a great deal of violence if "civil war" is too grand a term for you.

Knowing When to Retreat

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In the battle for public opinion, controlling the message is everything.

The issue of memorializing the Confederacy, an issue which is fraught with problems, was lost the moment the alt-right, the neo-Nazis and the KKK attached themselves to the process.

Whether or not these memorials are and must be to celebrate racism is no longer relevant. They are seen that way by too many people.

The fact is that racism persists in this country, just about everywhere. Its pernicious, its real, it penetrates our country in subtle and overt ways. Until that issue is dealt with, and I doubt it will be anytime soon, then the Confderacy becomes the great symbol of the struggle against racism unfinished.

The cause of commemorating those who fought and died to defend their home against invasion is not tenable at this time. Lets put these monuments and source materials in archive, underground, or in a warehouse somewhere, with museum-quality care. One day we will pull them out and have an exhibit.

But not for a long time.