Showing posts with label Mother Jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mother Jones. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Will the Inauguration Become Trump's "Beer Hall Putsch?"

"Anything Goes Because I'm a Billionaire"
The flamboyance turns dark -- very dark.

After watching Trump's "politics" for several months, one rather strange observation is grown from being a mere "curiosity" to become an unsettling reality. That observation?

Absolutely nothing Donald Trump has said, promised or done seems to have upset any significant section of his political supporters. 

[There may be a welcome exception to this general observation. The imposition of Republican "pillage and plunder" mayhem with respect to obliterating the health insurance of millions of these same supporters might be "the breaking point," marking where the "spell" is to be lifted, shocking the sufferers back into reality.]

Perhaps the most striking example of this "devil may care" flippancy is seen in the reaction -- or non-reaction -- of the Christian evangelical dead enders in the Party's maniacal right. The video with Billie Bush [Ironically, in the sense of the inevitability of karma, the blood cousin of W. himself...] was not the product of devious, Democratic Partisan "opposition research." It flew out, entirely voluntarily, straight from the self-elevating, narcissistic mouth of the candidate.

However, to these mindless Trumpkins none of these revelations about the candidate perturbed his meteoric ascension. MeanMesa wants to explicitly point out this phenomenon before we get to the deliciously tasty "conspiracy" part of this post.

The Christian Evangelical Trumpkins
 Dump Their Religion
 in Inebriated "Revenge Voting"
Nothing matters except "getting even" ... with something.

"Grabbing them by the Pussy" had no impact whatsoever on the biblical lunatics supporting the man from the usually semi-crazy, evangelical right. The current "whispers" that Trump indulged himself in a "golden shower" with a troop of flashy Moscow hookers is now eliciting the same, banal response.

Although this post concerns primarily Trumps extremely suspicious "preparations" for the "Inauguration" festivities in Washington, DC, the shockingly passive evangelical "anything goes" response to his growing "parade of peccadilloes" demonstrates an important feature of the over all, political process at play.

This is important for this post because it suggests that Donald Trump expects the same, passive response to any "trouble" he might encounter in DC on his big day. If his supporters hold him to such a low bar with respect to his dalliances with Russian hookers, perhaps he hopes that they will, similarly, have little to say about what he might be planning to pull in the nation's capitol. 

The following quoted material comes from an article in The Atlantic.

The Evangelical Reckoning Over Donald Trump


White, conservative Christians voted for the Republican candidate by a huge margin, but this election revealed deep fractures among leaders and churches—especially along racial lines.



Emma Green, November 10, 2016


[Only three excerpts of the original article are presented here. Read the entire -- excellent -- article here The Atlantic]

The moral high ground of a unified “evangelical voice” have shifted, too. This election was not a race to the top on matters of personal integrity; as Al Mohler, the vocally anti-Trump president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said during the campaign, if he were to support Trump, he would have to apologize to Bill Clinton, who he called out for sexual immorality in the ’90s.

“You’ve now hitched your wagon to the GOP and Mr. Trump in ways that just ruin moral credibility in the country,” said Thabiti Anyabwile, a theologically conservative Baptist pastor in D.C. “I don’t know how you recover from that.”
...

Some evangelical leaders who supported Trump dismissed the allegations of misogyny as a distraction. “To suggest that people who are voting for Trump are ratifying the worst of his behavior is simply not logical,” said Eric Metaxas, a radio-show host who has been a vocal supporter of Trump. “If people want to bludgeon you with, ‘Beth Moore said this and this,’ there’s no reaction except to say that anyone who has suffered [sexual abuse]—that’s one of the most serious things there is.”

On this and other issues, nearly everyone I spoke with emphasized a need for healing. As Newbell put it: “My heart is to care for the women have have been abused.” Metaxas said he got an email from a friend disavowing their relationship because he had supported Trump’s rise. “Fundamentally, as a Christian, we have to know that there is pain on the other side, and if I claim to be a Christian, I have to care about the pain on the other side,” Metaxas said.
...

The evangelical leaders who supported Trump during the election do not see the future in such dire terms. “I suspect that in time they will see he is not the person they feared,” said Metaxas. “Because if he were that person, I myself would be the first to say, ‘I made a mistake. I made a terrible mistake.’ I have been hopeful that he would be fundamentally decent, and that most Americans would see that.”

Others say that Trump is a new man, that everything he’s said on the campaign trail—about women, Mexicans, Muslims, the “inner city,” and more—does not reflect who he truly is. “I’ve seen a lot of change in him in the last year or two. He’s a different man,” said Falwell Jr. “I believe everybody is redeemable, and I think Donald Trump has been positively influenced by the American public that he’s interacted with over the past year.”

After months and months of pushing back against Trump, Moore said he hopes he’s proven wrong about the president-elect. “My prayer is that Jerry Falwell Jr.’s view of Donald Trump turns out to be the right view,” he said. “My prayer is that four years from now, my attitude is to say that Jerry Falwell Jr. knew depths of this leader’s spirituality and character that I didn’t know.”

He’ll also be praying for Trump, he said, just like the Bible commands.


The Trump "Inauguration:"
A Washington DC "Beer Hall Putsch?"
MeanMesa issues a travel warning.
This could be dangerous -- and deadly.


What, exactly, was the infamous "beer hall putsch?" 
[Excerpted. Read the entire article  here Beer Hall Putsch/WIKI]

The Beer Hall Putsch [image_WIKI]
The attempted putsch was inspired by Benito Mussolini's successful March on Rome, from 22 to 29 October 1922. Hitler and his associates planned to use Munich as a base for a march against Germany's Weimar Republic government. But the circumstances were different from those in Italy. Hitler came to the realization that Kahr sought to control him and was not ready to act against the government in Berlin. Hitler wanted to seize a critical moment for successful popular agitation and support. He decided to take matters into his own hands. Hitler, along with a large detachment of SA, marched on the Bürgerbräukeller, where Kahr was making a speech in front of 3,000 people.

In the cold, dark evening, 603 SA surrounded the beer hall and a machine gun was set up in the auditorium. Hitler, surrounded by his associates Hermann Göring, Alfred Rosenberg, Rudolf Hess, Ernst Hanfstaengl, Ulrich Graf, Johann Aigner, Adolf Lenk, Max Amann, Max Erwin von Scheubner-Richter, Wilhelm Adam, and others (some 20 in all), advanced through the crowded auditorium. Unable to be heard above the crowd, Hitler fired a shot into the ceiling and jumped on a chair yelling: "The national revolution has broken out! The hall is filled with six hundred men. Nobody is allowed to leave." He went on to state the Bavarian government was deposed and declared the formation of a new government with Ludendorff.

Hitler, accompanied by Hess, Lenk and Graf, ordered the triumvirate of Kahr, Seisser, and Lossow into an adjoining room at gunpoint and demanded they support the putsch. Hitler had promised Lossow a few days earlier that he would not attempt a coup, but now thought that he would get an immediate response of affirmation from them, imploring Kahr to accept the position of Regent of Bavaria. Kahr replied that he could not be expected to collaborate, especially as he had been taken out of the auditorium under heavy guard.

MeanMesa's Strange Fear
[Yes, this is OFFICIALLY a conspiracy theory. Watch out.]

There are, presently, a collection of "coincidences" which have managed to set these old bones on fire. Let's have a look -- in each case MeanMesa will provide a link for additional reading and information.

1. The Trump Transition Team has replaced the previous General officer in command of the Washington DC National Guard with a Trump "appointment." This is to occur at the moment Donald Trump has been Inaugurated.


2. The electrical power to the Senate Hearing on the Trump CIA Director Pick is mysteriously cut when a Democratic Senator asks a question about Russia.



"10:41 a.m.

Electricity is out in two Senate office buildings, interrupting a hearing for President elect-Donald Trump's nominee to be CIA director.

A spokesman for the Architect of the Capitol says power is out in most of the Hart Senate Office Building and in some of the adjacent Dirksen building. Crews are working to restore power.

The confirmation hearing for congressman Mike Pompeo of Kansas is being moved to a new room."


3. When House Member, Diane Waters [D-CA], asked about gutting the Securities and Exchange Commission, the CSPAN feed from the House Chamber switched to advertisements being broadcast on RT. [RT is the propaganda channel of the Russian Federation government. RT stands for "Russia Today."]


4. A Firestorm of Protests Will Take Place at Donald Trump's Inauguration


5.  Inauguration security focusing on truck terror attack threat, Homeland Security says

/2017/01/13/security-trump-inauguration-focuses-truck-attack-threat-homeland-security/USAToday


6. The FBI has thoroughly demonstrated that it is no longer trustworthy. The 2016  Trump campaign relentlessly incited Republican supporters that nothing was trustworthy -- the media, the agreement made with Iran, NATO, the sitting President and so on.

Normally, confronting this present conundrum, Americans would be looking to the FBI to investigate the domestic side of affairs and inform them of its findings. None of this is going on currently.


7. Absolutely no one in the US government can stop Trump from doing whatever he wants. This proposition can easily expand to include a "Beer hall putsch" on Inauguration day.


The Trump Inauguration
Washington, DC, Under "Emergency" Martial Law
Across the nation the Trumpkins are "lovin' it."

Let's have a quiet moment to reflect on the bizarre confluence of factors approaching us on Inauguration day. We already know that Washington will be filled with protesters -- probably more protesters than citizens gathered to celebrate Trump's dubious ascent to power. Naturally, with all this emotion on hand, we can expect things to get "juicy."

[Tickets to the Inauguration are slowly evaporating in the pockets of ambitious scalpers. Nobody wants them. Everyone who wants one, has it. 2017/1/16/1621063/A-desperate-Donald-Trump-records-a-message-on-Facebook-offering-free-Inauguration-tickets/DailyKOS]

We have also seen how quickly protesters get under The Donald's remarkably thin skin. His tantrums and tirades during his campaign rallies -- to the effervescent, brutal excitement of his supporters present -- fully revealed Trump's out-of-control, vile response to any "voice" not obediently consistent with his latest meme.

But those instances involved only a handful of people showing up to express their dissent. Inauguration day protests are estimated to be massive. Further, the "stakes" have patiently grown very much higher. Most of the reckless types who attended his campaign rallies had at least a fleeting impulse to remain somewhat civil. MeanMesa predicts that the crowds at the Inauguration may well be somewhat more...uh...restive.

Donald Trump's "problem" will be entirely centered on "how this looks." 

His Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, has already expressed how "troubling" the President-elect finds what he considers to be "mocking" in the comments of the press and his political opponents. In fact, Trump publicly refers to these "political opponents" as "enemies."

The "coincidences" listed above have offered hard evidence that the Trump Administration -- with the assistance of its deeply involved friends in the Kremlin -- can cut the power to prevent the normal broadcast of Senate hearings and, even more egregiously, insert RT feed to CSPAN's normal broadcast of House of Representatives hearings. It is also noteworthy that these "coincidental interruptions" occurred at the precise moment the hearings were moving to focus on the SEC and Russian intervention in the election.

These incidents were a sign. Trump wanted to make certain that everyone in the Congress understood that "the rules have changed." There are certain topics which can no longer be broadcast to the American people.

With respect to the imposition of martial law, Trump has plenty of supporters who will scream with orgiastic delight if he "locks down" the nation's capital. If there exists any particular reason who these voters cast ballots for him, this may be as close as we get to understanding what that might be. Although the more stable elements of the Republican Party will be frantically gasping for air as they watch the GOP's already heavily soiled brand hit to land fill, the elected members of the House and Senate -- from both parties -- will be receiving a very clear, intimidating message.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Chaos Raging Just Beneath the Surface of US Economy

MeanMesa, rolling along comfortably on the memories of decades of the US economy's "ups and downs," is experiencing an eerie, other worldly inability to calm down amid our domestic economic situation.  Further, this unsettled sensation doesn't derive from a solitary study we've accidentally encountered somewhere.

Instead, it's a feeling based more on the sensation one might experience while watching the surf withdraw moments before a gigantic tsunami.  If there are any discernible intuitions which might validate this mental phenomenon, they are far more like the cock roaches rushing from under an over turned box or the weeds which seemed to sprout everywhere after the first spring rain.

Creepy?  It's better if it is, actually, creepy.  For what it's worth, that "creepy" comes from having experienced too much history here.

Plenty of Americans -- especially the ones who actually care enough about the country to keep track of what's happening -- are well aware of the calamitous wealth redistribution which has been under way since the days of Reagan.  Yet, as if these citizens had been hypnotized, the normally anticipated revolutionary fervor remains mysteriously dormant.

Now, MeanMesa could ramble on about all of this for a few thousand words, trying to incorporate into the fray a tid bit from here and a tid bit from there, finally making some meat handed attempt to consolidate all the loose facts into some kind of comprehensible argument.  However, rather than subject our wonderful visitors to such a "dental visit," MeanMesa will happily present the following, high class, well organized information block.

What follow comes from two great sources, both hosted on the Mother Jones site's Plutocracy Now page.

Take a look at the whole Mother Jones  article: 

Plutocracy Now: What Wisconsin Is Really About

Link here.

And, to see the charts and graphs,

It's the Inequality, Stupid

Link here.


The Vampire Economy



A Harvard business prof and a behavioral economist recently asked more than 5,000 Americans how they thought wealth is distributed in the United States. Most thought that it’s more balanced than it actually is. Asked to choose their ideal distribution of wealth, 92% picked one that was even more equitable.






The super rich have grabbed the bulk of the past three decades' gains.



Why Washington is closer to Wall Street than Main Street.




Who's Winning? 

For a healthy (wealthy) few, it's getting better all the time.  Americans clearly have a profound misconception about the seriousness of this.  As the wealthiest among us rage forward to accumulate more and more of the nation's economic "blood flow" into their "McDuck Money Bins," much of which comes directly or indirectly from Congressional corruption -- our tax money -- under the cover of their carefully purchased neo-con Senators and House members, we see our own dreams swirling down the drain to the plutocrats' cess pool with them.

Further, even though the possibility is an appealing one, all of this cannot be solved in a single, glorious bout of conspiracy revelations or a tidy, "start to finish" court case of some kind.  The initial steps for this crime amounted to changing the law to make it not criminal at all.  Following this first, now ancient outrage, additional work was patiently plied onto the sandwich to create consequences even more grave.

A decades long "dumbing down" process was immediately begun to remove any possible remaining "teeth" normally found in an electorate.  Civics classes were prohibited.  Text books became wrestling arenas for throw back Texas ideology.  Graduation rates plummeted.  Worse, the old incentives for being smart and clever disappeared with the jobs which used to accompany such effort.

The acquisition of the domestic media further aggravated the decline.  Hate and fear became the corporate profit centers for a few anti-democratic oligarchs  who were able to purchase the alphabet networks, psychopathic crooks such as the heavily soiled Australian fascist Rupert Murdoch and his equally detestable Saudi Wahhabist Prince and corporate bedmate.  The "up is down" business model exploded among a cynical, uninformed, uneducated and uninterested population from there.

What can be done?

Unhappily, almost nothing can be done immediately.  The "gang rape truth crowd" is well funded, well fortified and well protected at this point.  In fact, these tortured souls have set a new, sickening example of just how wretched mentally deranged greed and recklessness can become.  Incomprehensible avarice and down right meanness has saturated the government with the predictable outcome of national wealth flowing unchecked into the pockets of those with the ambition of becoming our new masters.

Historically, such a cheap scheme would have been thrown out by its victims, but this time, the victims have been craftily groomed into a state of eerie, almost enthusiastic willingness for more of the deception and destruction.

What can be done?  

The question of "What can be done" has become the question of "what is it still possible to do" in the 2012 election.  Many of the non-participatory indulgences of "sending a message" or simply "staying home" are no longer comfortable -- or available -- alternatives.

It's going to take a great deal more effort in our political responsibilities if we intend to keep living here.  We've been served our national foreclosure notice, and we recognize the names of those who have signed the letter.  Our eviction is scheduled for December, 2012.

Be informed.

Be involved.