The Stairway Just Leads Down

      The Second Amendment contains the term "a well-regulated militia."  In Kenosha, Wisconsin, August 25, a so-called militia of White dudes carrying semi-automatic rifles entered the city to "protect property" with the tacit as well as overt support of that community's police department.

     Multiple iPhone videos shot by citizens from different angles at different times reveal cooperation and coordination between cops and "militia" members.  Protests occurred in direct response to the outrageous shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black citizen who had just broken up a fight between family members.  As he tried to enter his car where his children waited he was tased, and then a cop shot him in the back seven times, paralyzing him below the waist in a country where Medicare For All is opposed by the current President and Joe Biden. 

     Someone, the would-be killer cop, perhaps, yelled, "He's got a knife!" before the shots came.  With his back to the cop, Jacob Blake was in no position, even if he had a knife, to represent an equal threat to a well-armed trigger happy policeman.

     If the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis wasn't bad enough for comfortable onlooking Americans, is Jacob Blake's devastating wounding by an irresponsible shithead cop lacking self-control an indication there's a serious race relations problem in America?

     Is it enough that Kenosha cops allowed and encouraged a "militia," hardly a "well-regulated one," to take on policing in a city where they don't even live?  The seventeen year old dumbass with a gun who did the murdering and maiming on August 25, Kyle Rittenhouse, drove from his home in Antioch, Illinois, to Kenosha, a trip of just over twenty miles.  He carried an "AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle" he's not allowed to possess, being a minor, so right there the Kenosha Police Department could've arrested him on that alone.

     Rittenhouse, though, was part of a group of armed men given free rein by a criminally irresponsible police department, criminal from the top down given the magnitude of its folding to vigilante justice.  Recall Charlottesville, Virginia, 2017, when protester Heather Heyer was run down in a vehicular homicide by a White supremacist.  Trump received appropriate criticism for saying, "There were good people on both sides," implying that the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville were among the "good people."  A less examined part of the Charlottesville incidents that summer was the behavior of that city's police department.  They stood back behind barricades and allowed much of the violence to happen.  In Kenosha, according to a "militia" member disenchanted with Tuesday night's fiasco, cops enabled the pseudo-militia by telling them they would push protestors back towards the unofficial armed group, the very same group the cops are seen giving water to and thanking for their presence before the shit hit the fan.

     Rittenhouse, showing up several times in videos before and after his "heroic" act of "protecting property," did his killing and maiming in the street, shooting one man in the head, blowing another man's arm off, and shooting another in the chest (this man died later on).

     Amazingly, this isn't the worst part.

     After he finished his killing, Rittenhouse can be seen on a video talking on his phone.  He says, "I just killed somebody."

     Other videos then show him walking to a line of policemen, arms raised, gun barrel pointing downward, seemingly surrendering, but the cops yell at him not to approach.  It's as if they don't want to be associated with him now.  He vanishes behind a police line and it was found that he returned that night to his home in Antioch, Illinois.  As he approached the cops, bystanders yelled, "He just killed someone!"  This elicited no positive, as in lawful, police action.  Had a Black man armed with a semi-automatic rifle approached a line of cops would he have been met with a fusillade of bullets?

     We're supposed to believe the Kenosha cops on the scene were unaware that shots had been fired and that the man with the rifle walking towards them wasn't someone to at least question, but they didn't even do that.  They allowed a minor with a deadly weapon used to murder and maim three people to go free into the Wisconsin and Illinois nights.  I don't know what pressure may have been applied to this wretched police force to investigate these homicides, to locate the perpetrator, but I suspect, given the chumminess of the cops with the so-called militia, they knew Rittenhouse's name and whereabouts, for the coordination between Kenosha Police and the "militia" men seems to have been a move towards handling protestors in a punishing manner, much as the Charlottesville cops did in 2017 by allowing Neo-Nazis to bash in the heads of official enemies, i.e. Americans who want justice for all.

     This horrible shit happened during the Republican National Convention, an event I haven't watched due to my desire to not throw objects at my television set.  Like with the Democratic National Convention I did see some clips, including a one-eyed Congressman standing on the deck of a warship.  In my mind's eye I simultaneously saw a recently viewed photo of a Somali mother with her young son as they're forced to live in a refugee camp near Mogadishu, their lives uprooted by U.S. drone strikes.  

     Vice President Pence spoke, demonstrating how a devout Christian can be a dark sack of nothing while pretending to care about the unborn, even as he supports Israel's self-alleged right to defend itself against rock-throwing Palestinians by using U.S.-made fighter jets and their formidable weapons platforms.

     Our Republican and Democratic leaders have nothing for us.  They are like garbage stinking up your homes.  Don't vote.

Vic Neptune  

     

When Life Gets Overwhelming Even the "Great," Obsess Over Nonsense

      There were hints in the news media, from President Trump himself, too, that a significant presidential pardon of someone was coming soon.  In a news conference, Trump suggested the name Edward Snowden, NSA whistleblower, forced into exile by an Obama administration enraged at the government employee for revealing the secret that American citizens are constitutionally violated by a government that's oath-bound to protect the Constitution.

     Trump, in his vague way, said Snowden has his defenders and detractors.  There's something significant to what the whistleblower did but also there are those who think he's a bad guy.  Trump appeared uncertain as to the truth but seemed willing to consider the veracity of either possibility.  If he were to read three or four good articles about this case he would perhaps have a better understanding, but, like George W. Bush, he doesn't know shit.

     Whatever the matter, he, like Obama, Bush, and Clinton before him in the era of telecommunications espionage by the NSA against the American people, is also guilty of violating his Constitutional oath and should resign on that basis alone.  Bill, George, and Barack, though, didn't resign either, so the ugly precedent is set.

     For a few days, speculation in news media revolved around the seemingly impossible idea that Donald Trump would actually pardon the mischievous Edward Snowden, living in exile in Moscow, in a country continuously vilified especially by Democrats and so-called Left news media.  The Russiagate cash cow continues to provide fuel for those power elites (including those in the news racket, like Rachel Maddow) on even this low information subject of "Who will Trump pardon?"

     Susan Rice, until very recently a top contender to be Biden's vice presidential running mate, tweeted her dismay about Trump maybe pardoning Snowden:

     "I.  Just.  Can't.  Congratulations GOP.  This is who you are now."

     To Susan Rice, Obama's National Security Advisor and later U.N. Ambassador, one of the architects of Libya's and Syria's destruction, supporter of terror groups in those nations, an all around terrific gal, the idea of Edward Snowden receiving a pardon makes her as sick as she makes me.  For Rice, the Republicans have become a party willing to consider forgiveness of a man, Snowden, who revealed the complete and utter shittiness of the federal government as it spies on its own citizens without probable cause, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.  I don't suggest the Republicans as a whole believe this, but Rice has no problem grouping them all together into one turd pile.  Because they so faithfully support Trump, the GOP must therefore be in favor of allowing Snowden the right to return home, unmolested.  Most of Trump's policies, though, are also supported by the majority of Democratic politicians in Washington, so they too, using Rice's logic, are Snowden-lovers, but of course they aren't, and neither is Trump, as he proved when he revealed the real subject of his pardon:

     Susan B. Anthony.  Yes, the lady on the hardly ever used dollar coin.  

     From ABC News: "Anthony was charged with voting illegally--as a woman--in the 1872 presidential election in her hometown of Rochester, New York.  She was ultimately tried by an all male jury--which the judge directed to find her guilty--and fined her $100, which she refused to pay...Anthony did not believe she had committed a crime by simply voting...

     "'This was brought up a week ago, and I was so surprised it was never done before,' Trump said of a pardon for Anthony Tuesday at a White House event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.  'What took so long?'"

     Could Neil Simon at the height of his comedic powers (let's say with The Odd Couple) have come up with a funnier moment?

     America spirals into a black hole, a pandemic kills citizens in the tens of thousands, changing habits, destroying businesses, a government unwilling to put its constituents above the craven interests of its financial masters, billionaires making tens of billions, Wall Street galloping proudly as the country dies, an election cycle narrowing to the most repulsive candidates imaginable--a repeat of 2016--lies and lies and lies abounding, a compromised news media, a war that never ends fueled by weapons manufacturers who literally make money from killing children, and amidst all of this we're supposed to give a shit about a "crime" committed by Susan B. Anthony in 1872?  

     Historians have said pardoning Anthony sends the wrong message because she rightly believed she had done nothing wrong by voting.  Arguably, she committed some form of voter fraud, an issue Republicans, including Trump, believe is worse, somehow, (bearing in mind its infrequency) than the real American practice of regularly disenfranchising Black and Latino voters, something done by both major parties for their own ends.

     "What took so long?"

     How come nobody noticed this injustice?  It took Donald Trump to right a wrong that's been gnawing away at our democracy since the Ulysses S. Grant administration!  

     Meanwhile, Democrats, and some Republicans, have been entertaining America with the worst TV show since 2011, the first year Jerry Lewis no longer hosted the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon.  I haven't watched the Democratic Convention, although I've seen excerpts of the virtual program.  Without audiences, the pre-taped addresses come across as stiff and pointless.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was given sixty seconds to make her case for Bernie Sanders, an utterly insignificant move given that Sanders is all in for Biden, the "friend" he betrayed his Progressive movement for.  John Kasich, an anti-abortion Republican whose virtue, I guess, is that he opposes Trump, was given more time than Ocasio-Cortez, a real indication that the Democratic National Committee would rather a right winger have a bigger platform than a Progressive, albeit one who's given in to Nancy Pelosi for the sake of her career.

     The second night was launched by Chuck Schumer standing at night with a background view of the Statue of Liberty.  Did he mention that famous monument?  Oh yes he did.  Had he stood in front of the New York Stock Exchange while he mouthed his platitudes I could at least respect his honesty as to where his power and influence comes from.  

     Michelle Obama, bestselling author, millionaire, wife of a man who murdered Yemeni children, scolded viewers when she said, "Now is not the time to play games with this election, to vote for a candidate who has no chance of winning."

     This is voter shaming before the fact and, well, fuck you Michelle Obama.

     By saying these words she didn't rule out the choice of voting for Trump and Pence, for they have an increasing chance of beating Biden and Harris.  In some polls, Trump has gained ten points on Biden in just one month.  This can only be due, not to Trump's criminally irresponsible handling of the pandemic, but to his brain dead opponent and his vile running mate, Kamala Harris.  The Biden team offer nothing to the American people: no Medicare for All, no forgiveness of student debt, no forgiveness of medical debt, no UBI, no legalization of marijuana, inadequate commitment to fighting climate change, no end to the endless war.  Biden's virtue of not being Trump seems like a childish reason to vote for him and for that matter, Trump isn't Biden.

     In the past few years I've sometimes thought, "Trump is President but at least Hillary Clinton isn't."  If Biden wins, I expect I'll think, "Biden is President but Trump at least isn't."  That will be no comfort, though, for Biden and Harris represent corruption, dirty dealing, dishonesty, a commitment to furthering injustice, war-making, and incompetence as real leaders during a time when a real leader could perhaps steer this country away from a possibly unstoppable doom.

     I may be wrong but Tulsi Gabbard might be that real leader.  Someday.

     Meanwhile, rejoice in the pardoning of a dead woman.  I'm sure your life will change because of it.

     Next, President Trump will pardon Jesus Christ.

Vic Neptune  

     

     

     

Do Black Lives Matter To Democrats? With the Harris Pick, Evidently Not

I'm dealing with Blogger's new format for the first time.  Already I've cursed a bunch of times.  I won't go into how I've been thwarted in trying to do simple things I used to be able to do in the previous version.  Suffice it to say the assholes who chose to mess up a good thing, albeit turning it into something usable once learned properly, have no problem wasting users' time by creating a new format to replace something that worked fine before.  This practice can only be the work of busybodies and their obnoxious masters, dedicated to making the simple more difficult, like when a cop says, "Vehicle," instead of "Car," or "Truck."  The second two words have one syllable each and furthermore describe accurately the "vehicles" involved.  A vehicle could be a tank, a semi, an MG sports car.  

     What all this has to do with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden is unknown to me.  I first became aware of then-Attorney General of California Harris when MSNBC's primetime host Lawrence O'Donnell touted her as a great pick for the U.S. Senate.  By that time, Harris had already locked up poor African American parents of truant children.  I guess Harris would've found it absurd to lock up the kids' grandparents too, so that means her judgment shouldn't be entirely suspect.  

     I saw a clip of Harris relating how she went after poor parents of truant children, terrorizing them with the prospect of jail time.  She laughs and smiles beautifully, MSNBC's and California's liberals idea of an enlightened well-educated person of color destined for great things.  On a radio show in February 2019 she boasted, while laughing, of having smoked pot in college.  As San Francisco's District Attorney she convicted over 1,900 people for marijuana possession.  Only after she left that job were their cases dropped by her more humane successor.

     Barack Obama smoked pot, Al Gore smoked pot, Bill Clinton smoked pot, George W. Bush smoked pot.  

     Biden-Harris 2020 thrills those who have it made, money-wise.  Hillary Clinton, close to Harris, sounded like Bernie Sanders in her congratulatory tweet.  Sanders offered the fiction that Kamala Harris has been good on the health care front.  The Vermont Senator's capitulation to Biden in the Democratic Primary proved him to be a creature of the Democratic Establishment, something independent journalist Chris Hedges wrote about in 2016, saying that Sanders' giving-in to Hillary Clinton that year and campaigning for someone mostly opposed to his views was a harbinger of what he would do in 2020.  His desire to avoid being ostracized like Ralph Nader, who supposedly cost Gore the 2000 election (he didn't) has stymied Bernie Sanders' presidential ambitions.  His crumpling under the pressure of a Democratic machine that's already proven it doesn't give a fuck about him or Progressives (and the Harris pick is a big fuck you to that movement) shows me, anyway, that Bernie Sanders would've made a terrible President, giving in on a regular basis to Republicans and Democrats.

     I saw an ad for Biden showing him outside his house, I guess, on a safe tree-lined lane with a green early 1960's Corvette, a beautiful "vehicle" for sure.  He claims at the end that Corvette is planning on an electric version by 2030 that will "go two-hundred miles an hour."  Corvette right away denied this.  Simple mistake, or maybe a fantasy on Biden's part as he believes the products of his fading mind more than he believes in the reality of his fading country.

     He zooms on the well-protected little road.  Secret Service standing near their cars watch him pass.  He sits in the convertible's driver's seat, saying, "I love how this is set-up," apparently letting us know it's convenient the makers of this car supplied it with a steering wheel, a shifter, a speedometer, and other devices one associates with a dashboard.  Biden doesn't smoke, but there's even a cigarette lighter.  

     The purpose of this ad, I guess, is to show a still vigorous leader, "in the driver's seat."  The common saying, "It's time to take Grandpa's car keys away," is not meant to apply here.  Ironically, if elected President, Biden will never drive again.  He doesn't drive now, in the sense of how most people drive--on streets, on freeways, on back roads where at least some traffic passes.  I recall reading a few years ago that Hillary Clinton last drove a car in 1991.  In other words, by now she's a terrible driver.  And old.

     Maybe it's time to have people who drive their own cars and trucks serving as politicians.

     The Democratic Convention is nigh, to be held in Milwaukee.  Face masks, social distancing, protests outside we can hope.  That ordinary Americans are okay with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden as alternatives to Trump-Pence is debatable.  Four repulsive human beings, all of whom have done their shares turning America into a "shithole country," to quote Trump's assessment of nations like El Salvador, do a repeat of 2016, when four repulsive human beings, Trump, Pence, Clinton, and Tim Kaine (a right wing Democrat who wasn't even pro-choice on abortion) offered their nation, as now, nothing to hope for.  

     The thing about a bottomless pit?  There's no end to it.  Not until people stop voting for politicians, Democratic and Republican alike, who are actively destroying our country.

                                                                                   Vic Neptune