Bullied Former Student Shoots Lifelong Bully

It has to be one of the greatest ironies in modern times. Thomas Matthew Crooks, the "neutralized" person who shot Donald Trump in the right ear, was relentlessly bullied in school, according to classmates. Television news, needful of viewers, pumped the story for every possible nuance, teaching the word breathless to those who might not be aware of its meaning. So far none have noticed the irony of a bullied former student shooting the most notorious bully in human history. 

As well as ironic, it seems kind of inevitable in the U.S.A., awash in guns, a violent, narcissistic culture and a political candidate who foments violence, incited the attempted overthrow of a presidential election, and is a tiresome presence on the national scene. He is doing all he can to overthrow the next election, which takes place this November 5. I watched the nonstop coverage Saturday, found it much ado about something we should have expected.

Crooks somehow escaped scrutiny from Secret Service agents and local police, climbed atop a nearby building wearing "camouflage" clothing, though to be truly camouflaged he would have needed to look like a metal building. He used an AR-15, a weapon not meant for distance accuracy, but accurate enough, apparently, to zing Trump in the ear and hit three people in the audience, killing one of them.

"Republicans" seem ubiquitous on TV, repeating the newly created mantra "Trump is unbeatable now!" If they say it enough it becomes true, so they think. The reasoning is that Trump, blood on his face, yelled "Fight, fight, fight!" as he was being whisked off the stage by his Secret Service detail. By comparison, it is assumed, bumbling, weak, doddering Joe Biden will lose in a landslide.

Maybe, maybe not. Biden does look weak. Even better, maybe he will drop out. The Intercept has a great article about what the all-knowing knowers in various establishment capacities call political violence. Israel's genocidal siege of Gaza doesn't count as political violence in establishment calculus. Police attacking demonstrators of various kinds - climate activists, antiwar marchers, pro-Palestinian tent encampments, civil rights advocates, Occupy Wall Street advocates, etc. - doesn't count in official narratives.

I have an even attitude about the shooting. Climate change is far more serious that Donald Trump, Joe Biden (Genocide Joe), the "Republican" convention, the November 5 election, and especially the all-knowing punditocracy. Donald Trump, a deranged criminal sociopath, seems unscathed by what would be a very traumatic experience to a normal person. I'm no expert on sociopathy, but I believe a façade of fearlessness and unperturbedness masks a deeply buried disturbance. 

It will manifest in other ways. I wasn't planning on watching the convention, but Trump's nomination acceptance speech might be worth seeing. A lifelong bully, he will be hard-pressed to speak in a manner that is critical of violence, especially political violence. A sociopath is free of cognitive dissonance, but Trump, a free-floating pathological liar, will find it daunting to thread the needle of advocating both violence and nonviolence in the same speech.

It should be noted that Trump, survivor of an assassination attempt, is himself an assassin. In 2020 he ordered the assassination of a foreign leader, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general. He feared assassination by Iran as revenge, according to authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.

The whole situation is very dirty. In the presidential election we have Genocide Joe versus deranged criminal sociopath Trump, the assassin who survived an assassination attempt. It has always been dirty, though not this dirty. I am still optimistic, though struggling. Everything implies its opposite, and total crap implies at least a significant countervail, maybe even a complete transformation.

I have had the belief for a long time that neither Trump nor Biden would be their party's candidate by election day, and though that seems less likely now, I still believe it. The more likely is that Biden will drop out, and it seems more likely every day. The only reason he remains in the "race" is ego, vanity, pride and hubris all rolled into one. In every day that passes it becomes clearer that he will lose if he continues with his pathetic campaign.

With Trump, he likely is suffering from dementia, and between now and November 5 it can only get worse. If the "Democrats" offer a non-genocidal choice (Is that asking too much?), Trump's ethical, moral and mental defects will become clearer each succeeding day. He will be sentenced September 18 for his 34 state felonies in New York. His trials on other felony charges are still pending, and the one in Georgia may commence by election day. He will have momentum from the convention, but momentum has a funny way of changing. If he suffers a health crisis between now and election day his electoral chances are toast. 

So cheer up. Things aren't as dire as they seem. The lifelong bully isn't as powerful and relentless as he seems. His day of reckoning may finally be upon us. As he soweth, so also must he reapeth. ____________________________________

Here's a song. Here's another John Prine. Warren Zevon. Another from Warren Zevon. The Beatles. John Lennon. The Waterboys. Bob Marley. The Beatles. The rain is coming. A hard rain. Hard indeed. The Grateful Dead. For good measure, this.

Something is in the Air

"The Left," which doesn’t exist, is nonetheless in a quandary, experiencing panic and even terror over Joe Biden's performance in last week's debate with Donald Trump. The term "Left" is an abstraction, undefined, meaning different things to different people, and thus having no consistent meaning. A rough definition can be used for this discussion, though. Biden voters.

The quandary is that Biden showed himself to be clearly in significant mental decline, raising serious questions about his ability to competently carry out the duties of President of the United States.
I voted for Joe Biden in 2020. I decided not to vote for him again when he chose to eagerly participate in the genocide in Gaza last fall. He continues to lie about what is going on in Gaza, and it would be generous to call him incompetent. I am generous sometimes, but not when it comes to genocide. A participant in genocide is a criminal, and when such a participant plays a leading role it is beyond criminal, pure evil.

And, unfit to hold office. Not just unfit for reelection, but unfit now. As of now, Biden is insisting he is staying in the race. Thus, the freakout among "Democratic" voters. If Donald Trump wins, it could be the end of democracy. Trump has already promised to be a dictator on day one if he wins. The fascists are coming, the fascists are coming!

I have no such fear. A historical perspective provides context. This country was settled as a land grab, displacing the people who already lived here. 

This displacement was accompanied by a massive genocide. The phenomenal economic expansion and wealth was enabled by the work of millions of slaves. What democracy we have began as a democracy for the few, "white" men, effectively rich "white" men.

So the genesis of our democracy is deeply flawed. It can best be called a catch-up operation, which is now in great jeopardy of reverting to the barbarism of the past. I beg to differ. A democracy that funds, arms and provides diplomatic support for genocide is not a democracy at all, and thus there is nothing to lose with the return of Donald Trump to the presidency.

As well as looking back at our nation’s history, I can look forward at our likely future. Our endless economic growth is killing us. There is no intention of slowing down. Indeed, our president, Joe Biden, boasts about the economic growth that took place in the past four years is reason enough to vote for him again. In other words, a suicidal expansion of output infinitely into the future is both desirable and politically necessary. It is easy to choose suicide when you are comfortable with genocide.

Again, context. The U.S. is experiencing the hottest summer on record. Hurricane season is starting early this year, and is likely to be one of the worst, if not the worst ever. Since carbon dioxide emissions are growing with the economy, weather related disasters will increase as well. Which is the more serious threat – Donald Trump or climate change? Donald Trump lies about climate change, horror of horrors! He is worse than climate change!

Au contraire. Donald Trump is a deranged criminal sociopath. One of the characteristics of sociopathy is narcissism, and it is accompanied by pathological lying. He is a dangerous criminal, a threat not just to democracy, but to all life on this planet. He is dumb enough to start a nuclear war. But he is just a man. Fallible, feet of clay, dependent on the psychological control he has over his followers, politicians and the news media. It is very fragile. Once he shows the first sign of weakness it will be all over.

How about Joe Biden? Isn’t he toying with the possibility of nuclear war with his scheming and posturing against China and Russia? If he is dumb enough to be complicit with genocide in Gaza, then he is dumb enough to get us into global thermonuclear war. And, as we saw in his recent debate, he is mentally impaired, not the same as Trump, but this shouldn’t be our choice.

Something is in the air, something unclear. Recent Supreme Court decisions have caused "Liberals," "Leftists," "Progressives" and even "Centrists" to go into panic mode. The dominant six "Conservative" justices are upending precedent after precedent, overturning long-established legal principles and practices. They are called ideologues by those on the other "side" of the imaginary political spectrum.

What if there is another explanation? At least two of the justices have shown corrupt tendencies, two have a history of sexual deviance, and all six in the majority are liars and servants of the wealthy and large corporations.

But there is something else. They are crackpots. The "Conservative" movement in this country is a crackpot movement. It is plagued by a pathological mental condition, a disease state. Look at the "Republican" party. It is a crackpot party – religious, cultural, ethnic, ancestral, sexual and whatever else comes in handy.

This crackpot cult is characterized by magical thinking, a proclivity towards violence, easily incited to mob action, hysteria about imagined threats from "others," and an obsession with conspiracies. It is collective madness, and its loudest voices are some of the creepiest and obnoxious people imaginable.Marjorie Taylor Greene. Lauren Boebert. Laura Ingraham. Really, everyone on Fox, past and present. Can there be a worse crackpot, or really human being than Alex Jones?

The bubble will break. Falsehood may prevail for a while, but is not a formula for the survival and advancement of human civilization. The crackpot movement will fail, largely from its own weight over time. It has an infrastructure, and just like our failing real physical infrastructure, the infrastructure of crackpotism will fail, having nothing but falsehood to hold it up. It has no staying power.

Take heart, "Leftists," whether you exist or not. The crackpot movement is reaching it denouement. Its adherents have already had their moment in the Sun with the usurping of the presidency by Donald Trump in 2016. As the brothers would say, it’s done been did. Donald Trump is far more unfit for the presidency than Joe Biden, and if we are getting rid of Biden, Donald Trump can't be far behind. November 5 is still a long way off.

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Here's a song. Another version. Bryan Ferry. Talking Heads. Another from Talking Heads. The Rolling Stones. Alternate version. Bob Dylan.