El Blog Que Es Un Poquito Màs Macho Que Fernando Lamas. A Companion to the Assassin Bug: On Baseball, Jews, Baseball and Jews, Politics,Politics and Baseball, the Musical Genius of Susanna Hoffs, Books, Plutocracy, and Piano Music, scribbled by an unapologetic liberal. Lately, including posts on parenting, divorce, moving, and my bad attitude. Contact at themetabug@gmail.com
I find it sad (among other emotions) that anyone who professes to be Jewish would actually vote for someone who embodies authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism, lack of empathy, etc, but I suppose you have your reasons.
yechhhh
After the president’s careful avoidance of mentioning Jews as victims of the Holocaust (don’t wanna offend those Holocaust deniers who voted for me, after all, loving me is the minimum and sufficient requirement of being a tremendous person), and
After Reince Priebus’s disgusting excuse when confronted on the matter, I’m wondering if any of my coreligionists (those of the measly-but-way-too-large 24% that actually voted for him) have flipped from pro-Drumpf to anti-Drumpf.
Maybe that was worded a bit harshly.
OK. Why did you vote for Drumpf, and have you changed your mind?
(the cartoon bubble/comment sign is, for some strange reason, at the top of this post)
An cyber attacker wanted by both the FBI and the Kremlin: Is it the Cold War all over again? Will Drumpf do his good friend Vlad a solid and let Yevgeny Nikulin escape the American justice system?
A casual reader of La Repubblica, one of Italy’s biggest newspapers, might have come across this article,
imagining that the possible DNC Election Hacker would be of great interest in the US. However, I wasn’t able to find much at all, just a scattering of articles around the globe. The only news items an American would have been likely to find were from the Washington Times (NOT the Washington Post, but the much smaller and definitely right-leaning newspaper that was founded in the 80s by Reverend Sun Myung Moon) and from the Guardian. The story broke in October, that is, before the election, and has remained more or less out of the news until yesterday’s article in La Repubblica.
But while Nikulin is suspected in major cyber attacks in the US, Russia says that he is also wanted there for cyber theft of about 1500 Euros. There is clearly a great difference in the severity of the crimes. The article in La Repubblica hints that the crime in Russia is so insignificant in comparison with the one in the US, that one can’t help but wonder if the Russian claim is real, or merely a bogus claim from his employers or enablers, charged to keep him from falling into American hands. The Czechs are puzzling over a charge would give Nikulin a slap on the wrist versus a possible 30-year jail sentence in the US: are Putin’s efforts to draw Hungary away from Europe and towards Moscow are being duplicated in Prague? (Both the Czech Republic and Hungary are former Warsaw Pact nations that have since joined NATO.)
We probably won’t know how forcefully Drumpf will try and prevail in this case, or if he’ll even try at all. Pray for some reliable leaks to major US newspapers. Without them we won’t know how much the FBI and CIA were willing to go along with the new president, should he decide to let the Russians have Mr Nikulin. I imagine, James Comey’s perfidious actions notwithstanding, that there are many in our own intelligence community that would like to see him brought to court in the US.
I really hate to take things out on the employees of companies and residents of states. Who gets hurt? Do the boycotts make any difference?
I don’t have the answers to these questions, and I’d like my behavior to be based on facts rather than feelings. I also believe that engagement is better than stand-off, but I also have decreasing faith in the ability of certain fellow Americans to substantively engage in political discourse. The unshakable belief that Obama is a Muslim traitor, that FEMA has concentration camps, that Cheetolini is a good businessman don’t augur well for enlightenment.
So what to do? Unfortunately, we’re in that position, where in addition to the rational stuff–peaceful protest followed by actions that impede the growth of the plutocrcay–has to be supplemented by those actions, which is successful, can bring about consequences to those who would rather smite us than compromise us. By “us” I mean the left, the liberals, the progressives, the patriots who repudiate nationalism, those of us who see that we have often failed to live up to our ideals and that to be great we must continually strive to be great.
Who should we target? The list of states I don’t want to spend my money in grows ever longer. North Carolina seems particularly deserving of being shunned, in light of the recent legislative coup attempt by losers who refuse to accept the outcome of an election. Mississippi? A perennial target, and as long as it continues to glorify the Confederacy, it’s certainly worth avoiding on my list of potential convention sites. (On the other hand, I’ve never been to Mississippi, and I hardly know anyone who has ever visited there, so it’s not like they’ll notice my absence.)
Enter a caption
North Dakota, for the governor’s fascist response to peaceful, unarmed protest? Wyoming, for choosing Lucifer’s spawn for their one congressperson?
Naaah, I’m going for the Big Cheese. Yup, Wisconsin. America’s Former Dairyland.
I am picking Wisconsin as the state to avoid, boycott, shun, shame and otherwise put to the bottom of the list.
In a later post, I’ll explain why. But you can guess at one of the reasons…
The week before I arrived, Guy Philippe, a leader in the 2004 coup to overthrow the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was arrested on drug trafficking charges and extradited to the United States. Seen by some as an affront to the nation’s sovereignty, there were protests in Haiti, and several groups felt it necessary to evacuate their missionaries or aid workers, or else had them seek shelter among United Nations forces. The arrest was also seen as a last-chance effort to apprehend Philippe, as he was days away from being sworn in as a Senator, which would have rendered him immune to prosecution (senators in Haiti have passed a law which places them above the law.)
I was blissfully unaware of all of this before I left. My family was even more unaware. If they had read this account from the NY Times they would have been driving me crazy with phone calls and warning me not to go. My cousin Nettie would have said, “Are you CRAZY?” and my older sister would have been yelling at me on the phone. The article wasn’t published until the day after I left ( a week after the event), highlighting its relative lack of importance in the American mind, especially in the run-up to the Disastrous Inauguration. The arrest was reported a week earlier by the BBC and the Miami Herald.
Haiti is a small country, only slightly larger than Vermont. However, distances are much greater than they would be in the US due to the conditions of the roads. The problems that occurred were far from where I spent my time. My presence in Haiti was relatively cloistered, and if I hadn’t been told about these events I would not have learned of them otherwise in the course of my visit.
Haiti disbanded its military in 1995, partially in response to military coups, partially out of financial necessity. There is a national police force, and the United Nations peacekeeping forces have been in the country for over a decade for police and stability operations. The UN forces are viewed by some as occupiers, and they are responsible as well for the current cholera epidemic. UN soldiers reintroduced cholera to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, and though on the decline, the disease continues to cause morbidity and mortality.
The term “basket case” arose during WWI as a rather cruel way to refer to a quadruple amputee. It now refers to something or someone that is such a mess that it is unable to help itself, most often a person who is suffering from a mental or emotional problem that renders him or her less than functional.
We are driving on the ceiling There are aliens on motorcycles Riding in the radio while we destroy the world I said – oh oh, oh no no The news it read, the future’s dead When Elvis went to Hollywood That’s when everything went wrong.
From Dick Hotopp via Facebook Page “Donald Trump for President”:
The bozo in chief has all our carriers in port. Pre planned war before Trump takes over? You Americans who support that black bastard you call president need to have your heads examined.
From someone that calls himself Braveheart 8850 on Breitbart.
T he NAACP was founded by leftist white people. It is mainly white liberals who are behind the destruction of the US. You are one of their dupes. They have manipulated you and other racists into fighting the wrong people. Your statement should embarrass you.
Yes, someone actually believes this is true.
WEB Dubois, famous leftist white person and one of the founders of the NAACP
Courtesy of Doug Burttram on Facebook (regarding Guantanamo): “Obama wants his Muslim brothers out so they can kill more Americans, what other possible reason would this Muslim loving fool do this?? Think America Obama has done everything in his power to pull America to its knees. Thank God for Trump!!#”
Beware America. Someone with a vote equal to yours (or perhaps more equal if he lives in a less populous state) actually believes this.
Supporters give us blasphemy and bad syntax in a single post! Very sad!
The Meta-Bug 