Wide Wide River
Here's a few things I posted elsewhere that likely won't be seen anywhere other than here:
The Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court decided to uphold voter suppression yesterday. There are some things to keep in mind when looking at what this court does. Clarence Thomas, appointed by George H.W. Bush, lied about sexual harassment under oath before the U.S. Senate, which promptly approved his appointment anyway. Bush was part of the "October Surprise" that brought Ronald Reagan to the presidency. He was a key player in the Iran-Contra scandal, a fact of which he escaped public scrutiny. He also used a smear against his opponent Michael Dukakis in the Willie Horton ad to turn voters to his "side."
Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito were appointed by George W. Bush, who won the presidency due to voter suppression and fraud in Florida in 2000, and again in 2004 in Florida and Ohio. Roberts was a paid participant in the 2000 election theft. Donald Trump colluded with the government of Russia and its president Vladimir Putin in 2016 to create fake propaganda, enabling him to "win" the electoral college. Trump was able to appoint three justices to the Supreme Court.
"Republican" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell managed to prevent the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court from being considered, despite ten months remaining in the Obama presidency. Trump's second nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, lied under oath about an attempted violent rape he committed, in spite of backup evidence that was suppressed in his nomination hearings.
Because of all these factors, this Supreme Court is as illegitimate as the presidents who provided it with six of its justices. As such, its decisions are also illegitimate, and have no ethical or moral bearing on what goes on in this country. Sadly, they have legal bearing.
Bill Cosby
Phylicia Rashad, costar of The Cosby Show, tweeted praise for Bill Cosby's release from prison Wednesday, saying "FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted – a miscarriage of justice is corrected!" She is also a spokesperson/presenter and board member for cult leader Swami Chidvilasananda, self-nicknamed "Gurumayi." Gurumayi is the unnamed guru mentioned in "Eat, Pray, Love." Her cult, Siddha Yoga, has a long history of sexual and other abuses, bribery of government officials, and cultivating relationships with the rich and famous. Maybe Phylicia Rashad can get Bill Cosby to join.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump gave a speech June 5 in North Carolina, of course promoting himself, but there isn’t much left to promote. He is out of office, out of power, and soon will be out of money. If justice prevails, he will be looking out from a prison cell. Making his downfall complete, though, is that video clips of his speech reveal that he has difficulty forming a sentence. He is in mental decline, likely suffering from rapidly advancing dementia. He is through – as a politician, grifter, rapist, bully, traitor, entertainer, celebrity, and threat to democracy.
You wouldn’t suspect this to be the case from our mass communications media. Trump is known as "good copy," meaning that he is an attention magnet, and no matter what nonsense he spews he dominates "the news cycle." Only comedians are making note of his decline.
This won’t last. If you can’t complete a sentence you can’t even speak clear nonsense. "Republicans" still see him as their leader, but that has more to do with them than him. They fear his disapproval, which can mean being "primaried," the cliché of the year. The attrition of his mind will force the attrition of their loyalty.
It will be interesting to see how the "Republican" party adapts to the end of Trump. They have proved themselves to be as criminal as he is, but without the evil charisma. Even more interesting will be how Trump’s cultish followers adapt. He is a drug for them, a cheap high of bad behavior, avarice, irresponsibility and crudity. He made it cool to be hateful.
Now there’s a vacuum. Overthrowing the government is no longer an option. The demagogue leader can’t form a sentence. A sane human being is serving as president. In Wisconsin we have a sane, decent governor. Voter suppression isn’t working out so well. Momentum is shifting. This is a time of opportunity. Let’s not waste it.
Derek Chauvin
Now that the Derek Chauvin trial is over we might be able to look at the police function with a wider perspective. Just about anyone would agree that Chauvin was a bad cop. Most would agree that he was also a racist. Some, such as me, would say that he is a sociopath. Many cops are sociopaths. Just how many is something we should know more about.
A perfect example in Madison’s recent past is the Paul Heenan killing by former MPD officer Stephen Heimsness. Though Heimsness was found blameless in the "investigation" of the shooting, he was subsequently fired for other reasons. It was all pretty suspicious, because Heimsness could have and should have been fired for a number of reasons well before the Heenan incident. He was a known bad actor.
Chauvin is a sociopath. He may not have been a racist, but it is my belief that any police officer who is a racist is a sociopath first. Especially police who kill minority citizens without good reason. Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of George Floyd until he died without good reason. Though Floyd was African-American, he first was a human being. It is easier to get away with it when the victim is of African descent, but as we saw with Paul Heenan, it is still pretty easy no matter the skin color.
Derek Chauvin never should have been a cop, and Stephen Heimsness never should have been a cop. They both were protected for years by their unions, by the police bureaucracy, and most egregiously by their chiefs of police.
If we have any intention at all of addressing the problem of police violence we can start by weeding out the sociopaths. Police unions, bureaucracy and chiefs of police won’t do it, so some outside scrutiny is needed. It would be armed, no pun intended, with a capacity to test for sociopathic mental state. If there is such a thing as a sociopath, then a functioning civilization should be able to find out who is one and who isn’t. Or, we can pretend all is well, which is what we are doing now.
______________________________________
The U.S. Supreme Court decided to uphold voter suppression yesterday. There are some things to keep in mind when looking at what this court does. Clarence Thomas, appointed by George H.W. Bush, lied about sexual harassment under oath before the U.S. Senate, which promptly approved his appointment anyway. Bush was part of the "October Surprise" that brought Ronald Reagan to the presidency. He was a key player in the Iran-Contra scandal, a fact of which he escaped public scrutiny. He also used a smear against his opponent Michael Dukakis in the Willie Horton ad to turn voters to his "side."
Chief Justice John Roberts and Samuel Alito were appointed by George W. Bush, who won the presidency due to voter suppression and fraud in Florida in 2000, and again in 2004 in Florida and Ohio. Roberts was a paid participant in the 2000 election theft. Donald Trump colluded with the government of Russia and its president Vladimir Putin in 2016 to create fake propaganda, enabling him to "win" the electoral college. Trump was able to appoint three justices to the Supreme Court.
"Republican" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell managed to prevent the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court from being considered, despite ten months remaining in the Obama presidency. Trump's second nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, lied under oath about an attempted violent rape he committed, in spite of backup evidence that was suppressed in his nomination hearings.
Because of all these factors, this Supreme Court is as illegitimate as the presidents who provided it with six of its justices. As such, its decisions are also illegitimate, and have no ethical or moral bearing on what goes on in this country. Sadly, they have legal bearing.
Bill Cosby
Phylicia Rashad, costar of The Cosby Show, tweeted praise for Bill Cosby's release from prison Wednesday, saying "FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted – a miscarriage of justice is corrected!" She is also a spokesperson/presenter and board member for cult leader Swami Chidvilasananda, self-nicknamed "Gurumayi." Gurumayi is the unnamed guru mentioned in "Eat, Pray, Love." Her cult, Siddha Yoga, has a long history of sexual and other abuses, bribery of government officials, and cultivating relationships with the rich and famous. Maybe Phylicia Rashad can get Bill Cosby to join.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump gave a speech June 5 in North Carolina, of course promoting himself, but there isn’t much left to promote. He is out of office, out of power, and soon will be out of money. If justice prevails, he will be looking out from a prison cell. Making his downfall complete, though, is that video clips of his speech reveal that he has difficulty forming a sentence. He is in mental decline, likely suffering from rapidly advancing dementia. He is through – as a politician, grifter, rapist, bully, traitor, entertainer, celebrity, and threat to democracy.
You wouldn’t suspect this to be the case from our mass communications media. Trump is known as "good copy," meaning that he is an attention magnet, and no matter what nonsense he spews he dominates "the news cycle." Only comedians are making note of his decline.
This won’t last. If you can’t complete a sentence you can’t even speak clear nonsense. "Republicans" still see him as their leader, but that has more to do with them than him. They fear his disapproval, which can mean being "primaried," the cliché of the year. The attrition of his mind will force the attrition of their loyalty.
It will be interesting to see how the "Republican" party adapts to the end of Trump. They have proved themselves to be as criminal as he is, but without the evil charisma. Even more interesting will be how Trump’s cultish followers adapt. He is a drug for them, a cheap high of bad behavior, avarice, irresponsibility and crudity. He made it cool to be hateful.
Now there’s a vacuum. Overthrowing the government is no longer an option. The demagogue leader can’t form a sentence. A sane human being is serving as president. In Wisconsin we have a sane, decent governor. Voter suppression isn’t working out so well. Momentum is shifting. This is a time of opportunity. Let’s not waste it.
Derek Chauvin
Now that the Derek Chauvin trial is over we might be able to look at the police function with a wider perspective. Just about anyone would agree that Chauvin was a bad cop. Most would agree that he was also a racist. Some, such as me, would say that he is a sociopath. Many cops are sociopaths. Just how many is something we should know more about.A perfect example in Madison’s recent past is the Paul Heenan killing by former MPD officer Stephen Heimsness. Though Heimsness was found blameless in the "investigation" of the shooting, he was subsequently fired for other reasons. It was all pretty suspicious, because Heimsness could have and should have been fired for a number of reasons well before the Heenan incident. He was a known bad actor.
Chauvin is a sociopath. He may not have been a racist, but it is my belief that any police officer who is a racist is a sociopath first. Especially police who kill minority citizens without good reason. Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of George Floyd until he died without good reason. Though Floyd was African-American, he first was a human being. It is easier to get away with it when the victim is of African descent, but as we saw with Paul Heenan, it is still pretty easy no matter the skin color.
Derek Chauvin never should have been a cop, and Stephen Heimsness never should have been a cop. They both were protected for years by their unions, by the police bureaucracy, and most egregiously by their chiefs of police.
If we have any intention at all of addressing the problem of police violence we can start by weeding out the sociopaths. Police unions, bureaucracy and chiefs of police won’t do it, so some outside scrutiny is needed. It would be armed, no pun intended, with a capacity to test for sociopathic mental state. If there is such a thing as a sociopath, then a functioning civilization should be able to find out who is one and who isn’t. Or, we can pretend all is well, which is what we are doing now.
______________________________________
Here's a song. A song for Trump. Another for Trump. A song to celebrate the departure of Trump. Pink Floyd. The Count Five. A song for "white" people.
National Public Radio interviewed Lilliana Mason, co-author of a new book about what motivates Trump supporters. Spoiler alert: racial animus. The MAGA crowd really is a bunch of racists. Who'da guessed?
posted by John Hamilton | 3:11 PM
|
0 comments
