Summer of Decision

Why would a racist party retain an elephant as its mascot? Elephants are found on the African continent and India–lands of Black and Brown peoples. Why disparage an elephant when the current Republican Party does not display any attributes of the elephant, especially its strength, intelligence, and dignity.

On July 2, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts assured Trump ally Steve Bannon’s followers that they are winning in what he called “the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” In March, Roberts told former Trump administration official and now right-wing media figure Sebastian Gorka about Project 2025: “There are parts of the plan that we will not share with the Left: the executive orders, the rules and regulations. Just like a good football team we don’t want to tip off our playbook to the Left.”  Excerpt from Heather Cox Richardson’s July 5, 2024 Post https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/july-5-2024-friday?r=1na8nz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Is this a threat? Isn’t the overthrow of the government considered treason? Treason–the crime of betraying one’s country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government. Is this person on anyone’s radar as a person who will incite violence if we, the people, do not agree to his revolution? A revolution that will be for the benefit of white male hegemony? A continuation of a virulent white supremacy? A revolution to ensure second class or no citizenship to anyone who doesn’t look like him? Why would anyone go quietly down that rabbit hole? History will not be repeated. Toxic white male supremacy is even less attractive as the standard, the normal than it was in the past.

Exodus 22:21–You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt. The Jerusalem Bible See, this is what happens when a religion is usurped by strangers. These white people from Europe who have usurped and appropriated a religion created by the residents of Northern Africa (who today would be seen as Black) can honestly say that this verse does not apply to them as their ancestors never lived as strangers in Egypt. Therefore, they can commit genocide on the residents of the land they stole with impunity.

People should thank Republican economics courtesy of the Chicago School of Economics for their current plight. Everyone should read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein The chickens have come home to roost. And it’s not the Democrats to blame for this one. Ronald Reagan and his ilk who bought into the Chicago School of Economics theories of capitalism based in extractive greed are the reason for the current plight of the ones who have lost their jobs and there is no safety net to assist them through the transition to selling one’s body or body parts to survive. If that result is good enough for the third world countries, then it must be good enough for the hoi polloi residing in the United States. (Note: extractive greed is not limited to tangible resources from the Earth, but also to human resources.)

Just saw a Doctor Who episode–Pertwee was the Doctor so it was between 1970 and 1973. He had a line to the effect that of all the atrocities committed by humans, none would be the ultimate downfall of humans. What would? Greed. So fifty years ago, greed was identified as the ultimate downfall of humans. And that is what we are seeing today.

Sovereign Citizens have been active in Tennessee for decades. I say this to get to the point that Tennessee is attracting white supremacists groups. (As you know, recently, some neo-Nazis marched through downtown Nashville. I suppose it was a peaceful hate march as I saw no police presence in the video that I watched. Since I wrote this, the white supremacists have marched again in Nashville. No pushback as of this writing from the MAGA Republicans who run this State.) If one knows anything about Tennessee…the rural parts of Tennessee have never left the Jim Crow era. Did you know that not so long ago a sheriff said that he could not safely jail a Black person? Law Enforcement had to transport the Black male to a jail in, I believe, Davidson County. In these rural counties, there are outlier groups of white separatists who have engaged in barbaric practices that boggle the mind and one’s imagination. In the past, Black residents have been expelled from more than one county in Tennessee and their property appropriated by the whites who ran them out. (I could only find documented the expulsion of Blacks in Celina, TN, however, white residents of at least two other East Tennessee counties have shared that the Blacks were expelled from their counties.)

So, white supremacist groups would be, if not welcomed, tolerated and probably celebrated. Just don’t do anything too egregious to attract the FBI or maybe the TBI. But local law enforcement will, in all probability, do nothing, if these organizations break the law. Tennessee’s population, especially in the rural areas, is uneducated and xenophobic. The health care in many of the rural areas is atrocious, as is the housing and education. So, as you can see, Tennessee is fertile ground for white supremacists’ groups who falsely provide these people with the sense they matter. These Tennesseans have succumbed to opiods, crystal meth, crack, alcohol, any other substance that promises forgetfulness, and religion for their misery. And the males are very violent toward women. I’m not looking for statistics to support the above, as this is what I have observed from traveling throughout Tennessee for a number of years.

And, of course, the MAGA Republicans have a super-majority in Tennessee’s government and that attracts the barbarians.

One reason I like You Tube is that you never know what nugget of history has been unearthed. Ever heard of the “Devil’s Punch Bowl”? It’s in Mississippi. Former Slaves were herded into this “refugee camp” by Union soldiers and many died of starvation, disease, and white barbarism. They just wanted to be free to live their lives and the government treated them as less than human. They just wanted to be free. Google it. And we are supposed to just forget and move forward with this age’s racism as a given. I hope we never forget how we have been and still are treated in this land of the barbarians.

I canceled my NYT subscription. I know my cancellation is meaningless on the macro scale, but I don’t want to support, even microscopically, any organization that promotes a convicted felon, a known liar, a person of no character, anti-democracy, fascism, dictatorship, corporate oligarchy, christian nationalism, anti for, by, and of the people. That’s what the corporate media supports–CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and other corporate news media–all the CEOs have donated to the would be fascist dictator. All are slanting their news coverage to favor the convicted felon. (As the convicted felon said–it’s all about clicks, money…what sells. And, as we all know, in the end…greed.) (Afternote: The NYT came out with an op-ed–Former President is Unfit for a Second Term. Finally, some straightforward reporting and not the fawning catering seen previously. I suppose too many of us canceled our subscriptions. Subscription is still canceled!)

However, there is some good news. The voters in Iran, Britain and France have rejected authoritarianism, fascism and dictatorship and have voted that the people, the hoi polloi, matter.

Do you remember, probably not, the Huntley-Brinkley News Report on NBC? That’s the news my father watched. He never watched Walter Cronkite on CBS and I have no idea who was on ABC. Huntley-Brinkley went off the air in 1970. The point in remembering Huntley, Brinkley, and Cronkite is that they were respected and, when they broadcast something that was found to be inaccurate, they would correct the error. Today, the NBC, CBS, CNN, etc. loudly broadcast that a sitting president who actually has done a lot for this country, step aside. Even though, if he steps aside, a liar, convicted felon, rapist, and tax evader, would probably win, but they don’t care…as one of the persons who is a CEO of a media outlet said…doesn’t matter who is president as long as there is no regulation to prevent him from accumulating wealth. Guess who is promising that? The convicted felon. They care nothing for this country. They care only for the freedom to feed their greed at the expense of the “people” whose pockets will be picked and freedoms abolished.

But, but I had more money in my pocket when he was president is the reason some male gave to vote for #45. Really, are you that simple minded? That’s the only reason you would vote for a criminal, amoral, failed businessman, racist, misogynist, sexual predator? That is the ignorance of the person who has always been given a fish and never taught to fish and, when asked, has no idea where the fish came from. Further, they do not want to know where the fish came from or how to catch a fish. They live in the present, with no thought to the future and no thought for anyone else. They are the ones, as they starve, whose dying thought is of yesterday’s fish. They’re the ones who don’t know that they got a penny for a day while the corporations and the rich got dollars for, not only a day, but for many years in the future. When dealing with that level of disengaged stupidity, that is one who is a candidate for the Darwin award.

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves. Confucius

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell. Confucius

Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved