Bandy Lee: "Racism" is not the primary problem

[link:https://twitter.com/BandyXLee1/status/1383789254149513220?s=20|

[link:https://twitter.com/BandyXLee1/status/1383789799190925326?s=20|

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[link:https://twitter.com/BandyXLee1/status/1383790750949797908?s=20|

“Racism” is not the primary problem, since there are no races but the human race. It is what we associate with “race”, and this is a problem of psychology.

More precisely, it is a narcissistic pathology of the dominant class, of anxieties and insecurities that naturally arise from ill-gotten privilege.

An “invasion of rapists and terrorists,” as you can see, is the projection of a deep-seated consciousness of history. The solution to this is not denial, or to repeat the same aggressions abroad (also a form of denial), but to face and solve the inner problem.

McConnell tried to pass the Bill without the restrictions against Trump profiting

Democrats delayed stimulus bill to insert tighter ban on Trump family profiting

The strengthened language was accidentally omitted due to a clerical oversight, according to people familiar with the situation.

[link:https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/26/democrats-delayed-stimulus-bill-ban-on-trump-family-profiting-150282|

The Senate was about to approve the largest recovery bill in U.S. history on Wednesday night when when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hit pause, realizing something was missing — tighter language limiting the money President Donald Trump and his family would get from the stimulus.

Democrats and Republicans had already agreed to revise a clause that would bar money from going to Trump family-owned businesses during the novel-coronavirus outbreak, but that update was not in the final printed legislation, according to two people familiar with the situation.

For two hours, Schumer held up passage of the bill as the stricter language was inserted, the people said. The Senate passed the bill just before midnight.

“We told Republicans it was unacceptable to omit strict prohibitions on Trump businesses having access to the Treasury lending, as well as critical transparency measures, and that we would hold up the bill until they included them in the final text,” Schumer told POLITICO. “They relented and these important accountability provisions were successfully added to the final bill.”

The Hoarse Whisperer tells us what to expect next from trump the narcissist

[link:https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1242119385801789444.html|

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The Hoarse Whisperer
@HoarseWisperer
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2 hours ago, 25 tweets, 5 min read

I haven’t written much about Trump’s narcissism of late, so now is as good a time as any to lay down a thread on where his compulsions are taking us.

As always, let’s start with the golden rule of narcissism:

Narcs care only about avoiding shame and soliciting adoration.

1/

Those are the two impulses which control their every thought, action and deed.

There is nothing more inside them.

There is no deeper capacity for thought or decision-making.

They are primal, caveman-like self-dealers wired to serve only those two needs.

At all times.

2/
Of those two impulses, the drive to avoid shame is the more powerful.

Being forced to face unavoidable public shame is like being boiled alive to someone with Trump’s wiring. It is worse than death. Excruciating.

There is nothing a narcissist wouldn’t do to avoid that.

3/
The go-to strategy of your run-of-the-mill average narcissist in private life would be to:

1) Insulate the people they wish to control from everyone else
2) Control the flow of information
3) Evict and villainize any critic or source of contradictory information

4/
4) Scapegoat and blame others for their own choices
5) Insist they are actually heroically solving the problems they, in fact, caused all on their own
6) Demand they be adored for the heroic way they have led in crisis (which, again, they caused)

5/
Trump can’t run that script effectively as president - and it is truly the only script he has. He is incapable of adaptation, learning or insight.

He is literally and truly incapable of running a different play at the line of scrimmage.

6/
Add to all of this, Trump is not only genuinely ignorant, he is angrily resistant to being taught.

He has an adversarial relationship with information and expertise.

After all, his ignorance leads to him being embarrassed and per all the above, he is wired to fight that.

7/
We are in a situation where a healthy, functional leader would realize:

1) The situation is fluid
2) Experts must be in charge
3) The president must reduce themselves to being the chief advocate for direction set by experts
4) Their best role is as a Comforter in Chief

8/
As the above laid out, nothing could possibly be further from Trump’s capacities.

He is quite literally a simple machine constructed of only a few simple wires soldered together in a way that enables only one canned approach to every situation no matter how they differ.

9/
Trump cannot treat a situation as fluid because that makes it appear like he is not in control.

He cannot defer to experts because that would be an acknowledgment that he isn’t one.

10/
And he can not reduce himself to being a Comforter in Chief because:

1) That would mean acknowledging a problem came to exist under his watch which he cannot heroically fix

11/
And worse:

2) He exists solely to serve two primal impulses (shame-avoidance & seeking adoration) and frankly cannot even understand, let alone care about, the feelings or needs of others.

In fact, others’ anxiety makes him angry because it, in and of itself, shames him.

12/
After all, if people are still worried and upset, that must mean they don’t really believe he is the all-conquering hero saving the day after all.

Remember when Trump lashed out at the reporter last week who merely asked what he’d say to the worried?

13/
Remember how his first impulse was to lash out and explode?

Narcissists show themselves in full technicolor for brief moments.

People are always shocked by how very “off” the reaction was but can’t really process that it isn’t ‘behavior’. It’s wiring. It’s who they are.

14/
So, taking back to the present, Trump is now caught in the middle of his very worst kind of nightmare:

1) A situation of his making
2) Which he cannot solve
3) Intense public scrutiny
4) Rival sources of information who he cannot silence
5) The reality it will get worse

15/
For a narcissist, that’s like being tied to the train tracks.

It is so excruciating, they double-down on their worst impulses - even as they’re told it will actually make things far worse.

16/
In their primitive eggshell minds, doing even a disastrous next thing which temporarily postpones their continued shaming but actually makes things worse is actually better.

They live in only this very moment. This very second.

17/
Trump is in the worst possible place for his particular wiring.

And he is absolutely commanded to do the worst possible things.

And that will absolutely make it worse.

18/
So, in my opinion, I’d expect Trump will do some or all of the following next:

1) Insist he has already “succeeded” in stemming the spread

2) Insist severe restrictions can be eased or lifted by next week

3) Silence people who contradict him inside the admin. e.g. Fauci

19/
4) Angrily lash out at rival sources of information outside the admin. eg the media and outside experts

5) Insist on doing a victory lap of some kind to collect worship and adoration. A rally or trip or prime time appearance on Fox News. Something.

20/
Since all of that will be utterly asinine, governors and local leaders will fill the void by taking even more charge... and that will make Trump even angrier.

Within a week, he will be consumed with his grievances more than with even the growing problem of COVID-19 itself.

21/
Trump will simmer, rage, lash out and meltdown in an increasingly unhinged series of rants toward people like Governor Cuomo even as it becomes inarguable that Trump’s guidance is making things worse.

22/
And then, when he finally has no choice but to face that he is failing at serving his only two masters - shame avoidance and adoration-seeking - he will buckle, reverse course, and then go quiet and hide away from the public.

23/
Trump will be made to walk the plank.

He will be forced by the escalating crisis to eventually succumb to the wisdom of experts.

But first, he will make all of this much worse.

24/
Next week, a dysfunctional man will lead the nation further into a health crisis.

It will be an attempt to avoid being seen as responsible for it to begin with.

It will make it worse. People will have told him that. He will do it anyway.

He is incapable of otherwise.

25/25

Edited to add one more post on the same topic:
[link:https://twitter.com/HoarseWisperer/status/1242126938254249984?s=20|

Do we have a list of GOP who stormed the SCIF?

If my rep was with them he’s getting a hot email.

Box after box of Sudafed, piled on top of one another in photo of Pres. tRump

[link:https://twitter.com/JRehling/status/1180505950613958658|

interactive map shows where members of Congress stand on impeachment

[link:https://www.needtoimpeach.com/congress-map/|

Once you find your rep, if they don't support impeachment, click on the blue "Contact Your Representative" button and a script will come up - you can call and read the script or email using the script. I added text about the whistleblower complaint because that language wasn't in there.

Here's the script:

Hi, my name is ____. I live in ____, and I’m a constituent of Rep. [Representative’s name]’s. I’m calling to demand Representative [Representative’s name] act on impeaching Donald Trump.

The Mueller report provides damning evidence that Trump obstructed justice and tried to influence trials.

Even before the report, though, Trump had committed 10 impeachable offenses, was implicated in multiple felonies, broke the law every time he accepted money from foreign governments, and cruelly and unconstitutionally imprisoned immigrant children and their families.

We cannot afford to normalize Trump’s lawless behavior in office. He is compromised and has failed in his duty as Commander in Chief to protect our country.

It’s time to listen to the American people and defend our democracy. Will Representative [Representative’s name] support an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump?

Could Don McGahn lead a Trump exodus?

We may be heading into a real live constitutional crisis, folks. A special counsel has carefully documented a series of events showing that the president committed high crimes, using sworn testimony of people directly involved. Since the Justice Department has decided it cannot indict a sitting president, the only path to remove a criminal president resides with the Congress. Now that same president is refusing to acknowledge its constitutional power by failing to provide documents or to allow witnesses to testify, even under subpoena. This showdown is obviously heading to the courts, although the president seems to be somewhat confused about how that works.

It's tempting to make fun of Trump's twisted logic and addled understanding of the basic process of government, but this is a serious matter. He's not just venting before the world on his puerile Twitter feed. The administration is refusing to cooperate with the Congress at all, and that is highly unusual even for presidents under siege.

Normally there is some form of accommodation in these cases, even if the White House wants to claim executive privilege. This administration has decided to totally stonewall everything, from tax returns to testimony about security clearances. Trump and his minions are claiming this privilege after they've already waived it even as the president is blabbing about the matters under subpoena on TV and Twitter.

Trump may not know much about how the government works, but he does understand TV ratings. So I would guess that the main reason for this stonewall is to keep the Democrats from staging dramatic public hearings to illustrate for the American people what Robert Mueller found in his investigation. He apparently understands that he can't keep Mueller from testifying, but Mueller doesn't seem to be the one Trump is worried about. He almost certainly doesn't want to see former staffers like Hope Hicks or Rob Porter on screen testifying about his rampant corruption. But the one who scares him the most is former White House counsel Don McGahn.

Steve Scalise is an absolute POS

Watching him on C-SPAN trying to claim that a 5 billion wall is necessary, using a few cited cases of hispanics with "no remorse" who murdered US Citizens as justification for 5 billion dollars. Hell I'm sure it will be more like 100 billion, especially after they finish paying Oleg Deripaska for his steel. And after Individual 1 skims his share right off the top.

So what about the tens of thousands killed by non-hispanics in this country? Do we build a wall around every white gun owner in the U.S?

Yesterday I watched this same POS talk over the intelligent questions by a CNN commentator, not giving a chance for reasonable questions to be asked or answered, crying on national television about the few who have been killed by Spanish people who crossed the border. But I suppose when white guys kill dozens at a time here, as long as they are white he's just fine with that. Even when he is a victim of another white guy.

I'm just as pissed off at CNN for 1) Allowing him to lie, cry and carry on, on national TV and 2) Having him on in the first place knowing all he will do is lie. It's just for sensationalism.

Whites killing fellow citizens by the thousands is good. People of color killing a few white people is bad. That's the message.

New Clues Emerge About The Mystery Mueller Grand Jury Case

[link:https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/new-clues-emerge-about-the-mystery-mueller-grand-jury-case|
<<<<snip>>>
Since an appeals court decision on Tuesday offered a few hints about the grand jury case believed to be linked to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, independent reports on Tuesday night and Wednesday offered additional clues about the unnamed international company fighting a subpoena.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the company is a “foreign financial institution.” CNN followed with a story Wednesday reporting that law firm Alston & Bird, which has represented Russian oligarchs and entities in the past, is involved in the case.

These reports came after the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to overturn an appellate ruling in the matter that ordered the firm — which is owned by an unknown foreign government — to comply with the subpoena and pay a fine at the rate of $50,000 per day of noncompliance.

Following the Supreme Court’s move, the appeals court made its opinion upholding the subpoena public. The document revealed that the subpoena was served to the U.S. office of a foreign company and that prosecutors alleged the company did “considerable business” in the U.S.

The law firm linked to the case by CNN, Alston & Bird, has lobbied on behalf of Russian oligarch and alleged Manafort paymaster Oleg Deripaska, and took hundreds of thousands of dollars from him for visa work. The firm also represented global PR company Ketchum Inc., which hired Alston & Bird to “provide advisory services to Ketchum, Inc. for the Russian Federation,” CNN reported. Ketchum released the Russian government as a client in 2015, amid controversy over its work for Moscow.
<<<<snip>>>>

Oleg Deripaska, who owns a steel and aluminum company that just had their sanctions lifted by Steve Mnuchin. Deripaska, the Russian billionaire who is a key ally of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin and a longtime business associate of Paul Manafort. Deripaska, who is Kellyanne Conway's next door neighbor.

Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh's College Y

As Senate Republicans press for a swift vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The claim dates to the 1983-84 academic school year, when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University. The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation. “This is another serious, credible, and disturbing allegation against Brett Kavanaugh. It should be fully investigated,” Senator Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, said. An aide in one of the other Senate offices added, “These allegations seem credible, and we’re taking them very seriously. If established, they’re clearly disqualifying.”

The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ramirez, who is fifty-three, attended Yale with Kavanaugh, where she studied sociology and psychology. Later, she spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence. The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. The allegation was conveyed to Democratic senators by a civil-rights lawyer. For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices. She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident. In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident. “I would think an F.B.I. investigation would be warranted,” she said.

In a statement, Kavanaugh wrote, “This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name--and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building--against these last-minute allegations.”

The White House spokesperson Kerri Kupec said the Administration stood by Kavanaugh. “This 35-year-old, uncorroborated claim is the latest in a coordinated smear campaign by the Democrats designed to tear down a good man. This claim is denied by all who were said to be present and is wholly inconsistent with what many women and men who knew Judge Kavanaugh at the time in college say. The White House stands firmly behind Judge Kavanaugh.”

Ramirez said that, when both she and Kavanaugh were freshmen at Yale, she was invited by a friend on the women’s soccer team to a dorm-room party. She recalled that the party took place in a suite at Lawrance Hall, in the part of Yale known as Old Campus, and that a small group of students decided to play a drinking game together. “We were sitting in a circle,” she said. “People would pick who drank.” Ramirez was chosen repeatedly, she said, and quickly became inebriated. At one point, she said, a male student pointed a gag plastic penis in her direction. Later, she said, she was on the floor, foggy and slurring her words, as that male student and another stood nearby. (Ramirez identified the two male onlookers, but, at her request, The New Yorker is not naming them.)

A third male student then exposed himself to her. “I remember a penis being in front of my face,” she said. “I knew that’s not what I wanted, even in that state of mind.” She recalled remarking, “That’s not a real penis,” and the other students laughing at her confusion and taunting her, one encouraging her to “kiss it.” She said that she pushed the person away, touching it in the process. Ramirez, who was raised a devout Catholic in Connecticut, said that she was shaken. “I wasn’t going to touch a penis until I was married,” she said. “I was embarrassed and ashamed and humiliated.” She remembers Kavanaugh standing to her right and laughing, pulling up his pants.

[link:https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez|