Month: January 2017
Do you know why I think talking politics creates anger and strife?
Because it pulls out the deepest of our beliefs and values. The places inside of us that get hidden in the daily this and that of life. The places that most deeply define the ‘me’ of each of us.
We mostly talk about the weather, the kids, TV, funny memes, the traffic, the ball game, the sickness of a friend. The things we know we all can agree to in social way. But when we talk politics we are really talking about who we are. It’s the real us.
And then we see that this person we usually chat with quite easily is not who we are. Is not part of the core beliefs that define ourselves. It’s disturbing and upsetting and even if the conversation is never shouted, it is separator. It creates a sense of other. Not like me.
It is far more comfortable to keep conversations to the safety zones of daily conversations. The places where the illusions of being together and not separate can be maintained. It is these illusions that bind our society together. The agreement to find ways to hold together rather than split apart based on the sense of other that becomes so apparent with politics.
That sense of other is also why people can change their politics. We think we are one perfectly defined ME. But we aren’t. We are an ever changing flow of Me. We are constantly adapting and changing ourselves and our beliefs to our current status. It is the necessity of survival. People change. Politics change. Civilizations change. And the arc of history is toward improvement.
A political conversation marks a person. It makes them think. It puts a small place in their head for a different way to thinking. All of those conversations and experiences add up. Sometimes they add up to have a different view on politics and self. It’s rarely a eureka. It’s rarely a violent change of understanding. It’s usually a small consistent wave onto a shore of new ideas pulling up the sand and redepositing it on a new shore. A new view. A new Me.
It’s a fool who thinks they know everything. It is a fool who cannot change their views when better understanding is obtained. And only fools remain the same.
Every President in My Lifetime has been butt of Late Night Comedians.
It’s part of the American Tradition for them to poked and satirized on these shows. They have, for the most part, been good natured and mature about it in public. I am sure it smarts in private. But if you are the President you are, or should be, mature enough and strong enough emotionally and intellectually to take the high road and ignore it at worst, smile at best.
But Donald Trump is not mature. He is the emotional equivalent of a 13 year old. And so he is openly showing how much he smarts from pokes.
Everyday we seem him lash out in someway because someone did something that hurt his feelings. Every weekend we see him complain about SNL. It’s embarrassing that he’s so pathetically thin skinned. He exudes that terrible awkwardness that comes when someone is utterly unaware that they are showing their weakness to everyone and becoming weaker in the process.
There is a twitter feed called @MatureTrumpTwts They re-write his tweets as though a proper president had written them. It is so utterly depressing to see the stark difference between what we have always expected from out leaders and what we are being served by Trump. We have essentially elected a man with a tween mentality.
It’s terrifying. His skin is so thin that the absolutely reliable tradition of being made fun of by comedians is bothering him. How is he going to manage it when the stakes are big, the pokes are unexpected and loss is public. He will be controlling largest military force the world as ever seen. He will decide whether or not to use nuclear weapons. And he is as thin skinned as a pimple covered 7th grader.
Our only hope is that he is removed from office sooner rather than later. I don’t doubt that Pence will still enact legislation that will enrage me because I’m a liberal and he’s a conservative. That is the nature of politics. But I doubt I will ever be afraid that Pence would go to war because of some drama llama moment. Pence may have a different vision for the country than I do but he would always act for the country not for himself. And it turns out that is a HUGE factor that we have always had as our default setting to date. But not anymore.
Why it’s important that Trump be investigated for links to Russian Election Interference.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is going to investigate Trump’s involvement. This is necessary and good. Something that could lead to eventual charges of treason for Trump.
Because if a connection is verified of Trumps knowledge and colluding actions with Russian interference – THAT IS TREASON.
But since this is politics, it seems fairly unlikely.
What I don’t understand is how under reported this decision is.
In effect, the President Elect is being investigated for treason. And it’s not nearly as big a deal as it should be.
Let me express this in ways you can get:
Russia is led by Putin.
Who is Putin?
Putin is an ex KGB agent. A spy. An elite spy when Russia was the Soviet Union. Rose from a poor boy in Leningrad up the ranks of the KGB. And when the USSR imploded he stepped easily into politics.
He currently is estimated to have $40 billion in assets. He’s Europe’s richest man. Those government jobs in Russia. Wow. They pay well.
Russia is ranked 119 of the 168 for government corruption. (2015 ranking) Putin built a $1 billion dollar house out of corruption.
He got there by driving his opponents out of the country or jailing them.
Or killing them. Weirdly they are often poisoned.
There is a theory that Putin had a series of bombings done, blamed Chechen rebels, so that he could eradicate the threat and be the hero. Alexander Litvinenko, who did a thorough investigation into this, was murdered in London from radiation poisoning. That’s not just killing someone. That’s doing it the cruelest way. The suspects fled to Russia and Russia refuses to turn them over the UK authorities.
Putin likes to say he was a “bully, not a pioneer”. In fact, he is a wife beater and a philanderer. He had his wife was committed to a mental hospital, allegedly to pursue his philandering.
In the US we think of Putin as something of a farce. We associate him with his various ridiculous publicity stunts. But he is NOT a farce.
He hates the internet – because anyone can say anything. And now he is importing China’s Internet to Russia so that the government controls the social media.
On the other hand, Putin isn’t an idiot. He gets that the internet is where the opinions are developed. So he has a troll brigade. They search for terms and try to influence social media to his benefit. They were also deployed during our election.
Putin does not tolerate a free press. His government orders dissenting news stories to be removed from magazines before they can be sold.
34 Journalists have been killed in Russia since 2000. (compared to 2 in China and 3 in the US)
Russia currently ranks 180 out of 199 countries for press freedom, behind Iraq, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the international watchdog Freedom House.
It is illegal to use cuss words in Films, Music and Books. Freedom of Speech does not exist under Putin.
Unsanctioned protests are now punishable by lengthy prison terms. You cannot voice your dissent to his rule.
Putin doesn’t deal with a lot of elected governors of the various states of Russia. He appoints them all. He has a bunch of sock puppets. It’s easier that way for Putin.
Is Trump his new sock puppet?. Is this the direction we want this country to go?
This country deserves this mess. The utter apathy which has surrounded this very important and very serious charge is a signal of how out of touch with the big picture reality most of the public is.
I wish the golden showers thing never came out. It distracted the masses into a giggling fit of jokes, making them ignore the tidal wave of heavy awful that was surrounding that piece of information.
But the Lies Don’t Count Against Him
Quote from Trump Jr. in 2008:
“In terms of high-end product influx into the U.S., Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets… We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
Mind you – Trump the Yam has been denying his financial connections to Russia since last summer.
Of course the Yam also said:
2013 Interview question Does he have a relationship with Putin:
“I do have a relationship, and I can tell you that he’s very interested in what we’re doing here today. He’s probably very interested in what you and I am saying today, and I’m sure he’s going to be seeing it in some form.”
2014 Yam quote:
“You know, I was in Moscow a couple of months ago. I own the Miss Universe Pageant and they treated me so great. Putin even sent me a present, a beautiful present.”
2014 Yam Boast:
“I was in Moscow recently and I spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin, who could not have been nicer…”
But when someone explained to Trump that this close relationship he was so proud of was a liability, he changed his tune.
Here’s the thing. I SERIOUSLY doubt if Trump has a personal relationship with Putin. He WANTED one because, in the small craven mind of the Yam Pants, Putin is the coolest guy in school.
But Putin is smart and controlled and Trump – not so so much. So if Putin ever did more than a perfunctory phone call I would be surprised. He would know that a friendship would not fly.
It’s entirely possible, if speculative, that Trump’s Russian handler explained how he needed to change that tune. And to be clear – I don’t think Trump knows this person is a handler or that anyone else has identified this person as a handler. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this handler exists in the closest circles of Yam Camp. If I were Putin, I would want that handler in close to the Yam.
In any case, the reality is that much more deeply controlling influences have been deployed than a personal friendship with Putin. Indeed, that is where the evidence is. Trump, who has never been a particularly good business man, merely a good showman, is in constant need of funds. He can’t get a loan in the US because he’s such a fucked up business man.
But Russia saw something bigger to be gained than financial interest. And so money was provided, sex was provided, kink was discovered and leverage was gained.
But it doesn’t matter. The GOP is invested in this miserable rotting Yam of a Man. They own the congress and they need someone to sign the horrific legislation. And so I predict that by this time next week we won’t be talking about this…. again.
It’s not a new story. It’s just gotten a new kink twist. And as surprising as it is, we have relegated foreign involvement in our election process to a mere eyebrow raising experience for months now.
And when you consider that the involvement comes from a country that was our deepest enemy 30 years ago it’s rather eye opening. A KGB operative from the cold war is now sock puppetting our President – but Congress will shrug it off because that is in their personal best interest. The country be damned.
Humans are terrifyingly easy to manipulate. And more nightmarish, those being manipulated will fight you tooth and nail when you suggest that they are being manipulated. So, the staunchest GOP supporters will shrug off this manipulation as well. Because they have been given all the necessary rationalizations they need to do it.
And again I must ask myself. Where am I being manipulated? Will I recognize it when I see it?
Is the hysteria of the left causing me to think more is there than there is? Is Putin REALLY sock puppetting? Is there really a handler?
The last time I talked myself out of the hysteria on the left was when Bush was talking about WMDs. Despite disliking Bush rather intensely I thought “Well obviously he has a wider and deeper set of information than I have.” I was wrong. What I perceived as biased hysteria was correct.
So. I am left with the strong conviction that Putin is currently and actively manipulating the politics in our country.
It's a Thought 