H2O Man
H2O Man's JournalDr. Bandy Lee (#3)
https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump-authoritarian/1- In April, 2017, you organized the “Duty to Warn” Conference. Later, you were the editor and contributor to the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.” Has Donald Trump’s behaviors since losing the 2020 election reinforced your opinion on the dangers Trump poses to a civilized society?
We no longer opine but have certainty. And we are seeing the last bout of just how much he is willing and able to destroy norms and to push the limits. It is clear he does not intend to leave without placing us in further danger, and we are not yet in the clear. My regret is that, because of the “gag order” on all mental health experts, which the American Psychiatric Association forced through public campaigns since this administration, the people are still left vulnerable without having learned much. As we see from the 72 million who voted for him again, we are very likely to repeat our errors.
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Important Film
These people are representative of the majority of the Trump Cult Membership. There are a lot of them across the country. While watching this, I thought it illustrated why we need to stay united . It's not because I agree with every Democrat on every issue. Shit, I don't agree with myself sometimes. It's not because I want our party to be stagnant, for I want the revolutionary changes that Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated in the final year of his life.
It is because, while there are more of us than them -- as the presidential election showed -- it is because when we are divided, the silly people in the film can elect terrible human beings.
We are in a strange phase right now. Big win in the presidential contest. Not as good so far in the House and Senate. But we have two Senate races in January that are very important. So it's not the time to argue about what type of campaign we need. These are "Everbody Help" contests. It's a contest against people exactly like the fools in the film above.
Thank you for watching and reading this. Things will continue to get better.
H2O Man
Strangers in the Night
"Leave me the hell alone!! You’re a fool. My husband is an L A sheriff who is far smarter then you found ever hope to be. He too said you’re an idiot. So leave me the eff alone. Quick writing your insane shit. I’d be so ashamed to be a party Of lies. If antifa. Of KILLING BABIES!!!’n. Truly despicable. Shame on you and your kind. Gross !!!" --
I have a casual friend who has worked in the media for many years. I've known him about thirty-five years, and we keep in touch these days by way of facebook. One of his facebook pages has "followers" across the country. Most of the discussions on this page have to do with history -- including railroads from the 1860 - 1900 era -- and while the majority of the group are conservative christians, I accepted his invitation to join, and enjoy answering his questions.
A couple of days ago, he posted a question on the page: "Will Americans ever trust elections again?" Having a sick sense of humor, I enjoyed a giggle reading through the responses. A variety of brain-washed and brain-dead republicans had left a splattering of hilarious responses. They ranged from the fully confident (the Supreme Court would rule that Trump won), to hateful (Harris is Fidel Castro), to delusional (Biden = antifa).
Doing a quick mental calculation, I determined that this very discussion might provide me with some entertainment. Thus, I became the first to respond that yes, I trust the results of the 2020 election. I noted that republicans did better in the House, Senate, and state elections than they possibly could have if there was coordinated, wide-spread cheating by the Democratic Party. Within fifteen minutes, a large number of people agreed with me.
For every action, I suppose there is an equal reaction, or something of lesser quality in this case. A human being responded that I "must be joking," noting that the Democratic Party cheated by having millions of dead people vote. Millions! It just wasn't being reported in the main stream media! Now, to be fair, I had voted by way of a mail-in ballot, avoiding standing in line at the polls. Yet, I doubted that any dead people had voted.
So I pointed out that I had only heard of two actual names of dead voters nationally, and both of these republican claims had been proven false. One was an elderly lady I saw interviewed on the news, still very much alive, and the other was the late Smokin' Joe Frazier. I noted that i am friends with two of Joe's children, and that his family was furious that Rudy Giuliani had lied about this in his silly press conference.
"You're an idiot," she told me. "It's a FACT! Everyone knows it's a FACT!" So I quoted the late Senator Moynihan regarding one's right to an opinion, but not to "facts." And I questioned if her parents had not taught her to look both ways before attempting to take a shortcut to logical thinking? As a result, a growing number of people were supporting my position, while to her discomfort, no one had her back.
Thus, she insisted that I stop posting on the discussion, and called me several other crude names. Not wanting to injure anyone's delicate feelings -- "oh, oh, oh, feelings" played in my head -- I asked if agreed that millions of ghosts and goblins had risen from their graves and voted, she would admit that Big Foot had voted twice in every American city, as reported on Pizza Hut News? I was disappointed when there was no response to my generous offer.
That is, until a full 48 hours later, when she sent the e-mail quoted at the top of this humble essay. The strangest thing is that she included contact information that I have not included here, an odd touch for someone who does not want further communication. My thoughts and prayers go out to her husband.
H2O Man
Blast from the Past
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked," Trump said.
Trump became "angry and lambasted" Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, according to Hunt's notes.
"How could you let this happen, Jeff?" Trump asked his attorney general.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/18/politics/donald-trump-mueller-report-end-of-my-presidency/index.html
Maybe it's just me ...... but I take pleasure in remembering how Trump viewed the potential end of his presidency when he was informed that Robert Mueller had been appointed. That should have resulted in his removal from office.
I'm glad he is on his way out now, and I hope that he again is aware that he is fucked.
Being Our Fist
"He's the estranged father who returns on Christmas Eve to murder his wife and children." I didn't need to ask my brother who he was talking about when I read his e-mail. A few moments later -- before I had time to respond, his second message came through: Trump had just fired Mark Esper.
A few hours later, he sent a picture from this summer, of Trump giving Esper a hate stare. "These are the eyes of a man who is not well," he wrote. I responded by saying that on DU about a year ago, in a discussion about Trump's being a sociopath, I had noted that one could see the evil within him from his eyes. I noted that a number of forum members agreed.
An hour later, he wrote that he thinks Trump will try to start a war with Iran in January, declare a national emergency, and refuse to participate in a peaceful transfer of power. I had to disagree, at least in part, with this. It is far more likely, I suggested, that he escalates his war on America, and declare that it is a national emergency requiring him to remain in office. The firing of Esper can be viewed in that context, among others.
I am confident about the eventual outcome. I think that the judicial branch will -- exactly as community members that know have assured us for over a year -- hold strong. That doesn't mean ever decision will go our way, of course, but Joe Biden will take the office on January 20. Thus, the important questions involve how much damage Trump and his cult will do between now and then, and how do we respond to hold them in check.
While it seems obvious to me, it may be worth saying that there is no single correct correct response, but there are incorrect reactions. Individuals and groups that are progressive, liberal, moderate, or conservative Democrats can -- and should -- view different things in very different ways. Yet we cannot afford to allow these differences to divide us in our struggle to repair the damages the republicans have inflicted on our society. No single person or sub-group within our party has a monopoly on being right.
I'm reminded of something that Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman taught years ago. Individuals and even groups are like a single finger that our enemy can easily twist and break. But together, those fingers form a powerful fist, capable of protecting all of us.
Be part of this fist.
H2O Man
Flagging Upstate New York
"If I am what I have and I lose what I have , who then am I?" -- Erich Fromm
He stood, bent over the railing of his deck, in between his Trump flag and his X-mas light American flag. I could not see his face, of course, because of the distance between my property and the place he rents downhill from me. More, his head hung as if he had been disgraced in an athletic competition that he had entered overconfident of victory.
Despite the pleasant weather we know as "Caucasian Summer" in the northeast, last night marked the first time in weeks that his extended klan had not had a loud, drunken party on that deck, complete with contests of who could be the loudest in predicting Trump's re-election. Hang-overs, as I recall, are less pleasant when you have lost. And, as long as he remained motionless, I feel safe in assuming he was hung-over.
Being more likely to be reading Q-anon than Fromm, he may not be ready to take his Trump flag down. And that is okay, at least from my perspective. It serves as a reminder of exactly why I enjoy keeping to myself. I head back up to my house.
Witness
"For No One" is surely one of Sir Paul McCartney's finest songs. John once noted that it was a great example of Paul's ability to write outstanding lyrics when he wasn't self-conscious, and the man could definitely create the music to back his best songs. I picked this one for a reason: most male adults have, at some point in life, been able to relate to the sad mood of the song.
Other male adults can't relate to it, because they don't do "sad." They do anger and rage instead. These are the "look what you made me do!" males. And Donald Trump is one of them -- far from the only one -- and thus the topic that I'd like to discuss here. He is angry that America has moved on.
Obviously, he believes that he has been betrayed. He is angry at every person who did not vote for him. More, he feels that he was betrayed by his supporters. They did not do enough for him, those darned losers. And so we can be sure that he will try to punish America, and cause harm to her, before she has Joe Biden move in.
Keep in mind that this will become worse, in his mind, when his campaign's attempts to use the federal courts to steal the election. He thinks that because he has appointed federal judges and Supreme Court justices, they owe him loyalty. He is convinced that loyalty includes going against the will of the people, against the laws of the land, to support his naked effort to complete his goal of turning the US into a banana republic. It will not happen.
Now let's consider some of the sociological issues related to angry uneducated white men who support Trump. First, it is important to understand that riots generally do not take place when a group is treated so badly that they feel hopeless and helpless. They tend to take place when a group that has been -- or believes they have been -- oppressed, but then something gives them hope, and then that hope is crushed. This is not the only recipe for riots, but it is the most common one.
Trump had convinced the uneducated white male cult members that the Democratic Party was planning to steal the election. He called upon them to "monitor" voters at polls, which would happen. This is known as a "dry run," intendiing to intimidate those seeking to exercise their constitutional rights. Similar tactics, by no coincidence, had been taken during the summer's protest. People died as a result. Then the FBI and Michigan state police arrested a group of angry, frustrated, uneducated white males, who had engaged in preparations to kidnap the governor.
Since Tuesday, being incapable of coming up with something original, the Trump campaign sponsored a group re-acting the 2000 Brooks Brothers riot in Florida, which attempted to stop votes from being counted. Yet, this was worse, as it was a clear call to action on the part of the proud boys that the president had recently ordered to "stand by." It worked. Armed angry uneducated white men began attempting to intimidate those counting votes in Arizona. And last night in Philadelphia, police arrested two men who traveled from out of state, to attack a center for counting votes.
At the same time, the votes are being tallied slowly. The official outcome is being delayed longer than the judges' decision when I kicked a hometown favorite's behind in front of a rowdy crowd -- especially if beer was sold at the fights. While neither you nor I can say for sure why this is taking so long, when the outcome has been obvious for days, I have a few theories. I'll limit this to one that I suspect may be at play.
Everyone here with solid experience with interrogations is familiar with this. More, I've seen numerous good lawyers follow the same outline in questioning a witness. (Regardless of how one thought about the OJ Simpson trial, both Barry Scheck and Johnnie Cochran were masters of this.) This method is most commonly used by detectives as a step up from the old "good cop/bad cop" method with more sophisticated suspects, and relies upon biology.
You start by taking a serious tone, noting that this interview is important. Use the formality for a period of time, then shift to being friiendly. Pretend to believe that what the person is saying is important. Let this go on for a bit, then shift quickly to a key that creates a high level of tension. The person's adrenaline will rise. Keep this going until it spikes, then quickly shift to a more friendly tone. The adrenaline will flatline.
Then you move physically closer to the suspect/ witness. In a tone without emotion, you take the fullest advantage of their being mentally exhausted. They are no longer able to keep what they have previously said straight. (I remember the first time I demonstrated this method to my supervisor. After the interview, she laughed and said, "Jesus, am I glad you weren't my father!"
The Trump cult's hopes were raised on Tuesday night. The majority of them actually believed that Trump would win. Their adrenaline increased. When the Biden-Harris team began to take the lead, the adrenaline spiked, and they were at the highest risk for widespread, semi-coordinated violence. Starting Late Thursday into early Friday, it dropped. Today it has flat-lined. This doesn't mean they aren't angry, or do not pose a substantial danger in the weeks to come. But it does mean that, during the delayed results, a very serious flashpoint was avoided.
Stay safe. Do not engage with Q-anoon types.
H2O Man
Can You Help?
Help wanted! We are now hiring people from in and around the states of Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Arizona to assist in filling out one million fraudulent mail-in ballots per state. George Soros is paying workers $75 per hour, tax-free, Chairman Mao is providing meals, Fidel Castro is providing luxury hotel rooms, and Tucker Carlson is providing entertainment.
With the help of Iranian computer experts, we have been able to make significant progress in post-marking each ballot as being received on November 2. More, we have brought in rapists and murderers from Central America to count the votes. We assume that there are very good people on both sides of the open border.
Good Grief
“When someone is telling you their story over and over, they are trying to figure something out.”
― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
The alarm clock kept ringing, which was odd since I do not have an alarm clock. Nor do I have need for one. Raising slightly from the couch and attempting to clear my mind, I recognized that it was the telephone. It can be difficult to get in a much needed nap on election day.
By the time I stood up, the ringing had stopped. Very few people understand or appreciate the difficulties that old, retired people who keep nothing that could be said to resemble a sleep schedule face. Hanging up after the phone rings a mere seventeen times could be considered rude, especially considering we are in the early afternoon hours.
Suddenly, after maintaining my balance for an extended moment, I become aware of a very sad voice coming from the television. It sounds familiar, yet distant. I know that I know who it is, but there is something different, like a person trying to process some tragic news. I look at the television, and see that it is a somewhat subdued Donald Trump, repeating the lines of his campaign, the fictional accomplishments of his presidency.
"Low Energy" Donald is trying to figure something out. He knows that he is losing the election. His on-going attempt to construct a wall of denial has faltered. The rage has carried him though the past week, when he appeared to be a coyoted in the final stages of suffering from hydrophobia, snarling at memories of past opponents, foaming at the mouth. Hillary haunts him. President Obama taunts him. The American people, in his mind, are disloyal, despite his demanding the loyalty required to view covid as a democratic hoax. Will the federalist judges he has appointed hold strong? Or join the vast conspiracy against him?
"Winning is easy," he says. "Losing is hard." As if the public no longer remembers that he was a "sore winner" after the 2016 election. Like a drunk who started a fist fight, realized his terrible mistake, and hopes that his saying, "I quit!" will save him from the ass-kicking about to be delivered his way.
Though he lacks the emotional range necessary to experience true depression, as a sociopath he is able to recognize it on the faces of those around him. He is convinced that they have failed him. Why did Rudy follow that tail into the hotel bedroom on the Borat movie? Why did Don Jr. make an ass of himself on Fox? Why did Laura Ingraham wear a mask? Why is Eric Trump alive? Why did he let that worthless putz Jarad marry his only daughter?
He sees Ivanka, with her plastic smile, her hopes of becoming the first female president diminishing with every passing minute. His legal team has been telling him for months that his sons are not the only ones at risk of being indicted in New York State in 2021. He blames Michael Cohen.
Donald Trump cannot accept what is happening.
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