. . .
undocumented aliens?
gun owners?
. . .
[See the previous e-commentary delivered on MLK Day.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
MLK Day
Lobby Day in Virginia
It seems crazy but it is true that the first two Black Presidents were Republicans – Clinton and O’Bama
. . .
J “After a spirited discussion, we could not agree on whether Johnnie Bolton is a pansy or a pussy.”
K “Or a bully or a coward.”
J “Is there a difference?”
K “A chickenhawk’s chickenhawk.”
J “And a wanker to boot.”
K “And a wanker who needs the boot.”
. . .
K “Johnnie is the poster boy for the many thugs and war criminals in the American foreign policy mafia who are cowards to the core and cover their cravenness by killing honest patriotic lower middle class kids and innocent civilians in unnecessary wars that enrich the MICAC (Military Industrial Congressional Academic Complex).”
J “You wonder if he was called ‘Johnnie Dolt-on’ by the other kids on the playground and morphed into an older angry little boy who is getting his revenge against the other kids.”
K “If there was a psychological background check before purchasing a gun, Johnnie would not be able legally to acquire a .22 caliber pistol. However, he is in a position to take the country to war and cause the discharge of many big caliber bullets.”
. . .
K “The American people need to convene the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunals to indict, try and convict the war criminals on the lam on American soil.”
. . .
J “Folks are convening outside the White House on April 14 to rally for the reduction of military bases overseas.”
K “Time to save money. The effort may be merciful because the collapsing American Empire is no longer able to afford to stay at war with the world all the time.”
. . .
K “On Memorial Day, May 28, the people should travel to Rome, D.C. for a spontaneous ‘March For Amercia’ to save America. No organizers, no agenda, no leaders, no lectures, no lectern, no website, no permit, yes people. They could arrive on Friday and tour the museums, galleries, Lincoln Memorial and National Building Museum, lobby their Congresspeople and then assemble on Monday for a vigil.”
J “Five million citizens strong will make a powerful and resonating statement.”
K “Do that many people even care?”
J “Okay, five hundred citizens strong delivering a stout shout.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary titled “Reinstate The Draft; Reduce The Demand For War (Somewhat). Oh, And Happy Veterans Day! (November 6, 2017)” discussing the exemplary military record of Johnnie B. among other matters; “Giuliani – Draft Dodger And Chickenhawk (March 2, 2015)”, “Trumpi Goes Neocon; Capitulates In Syria; Supports ISIS; Attacks Without Provocation (April 17, 2017)” and “The Drums of War (February 20, 2012)”.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
“In a breaking story, informed sources tell us that indictments will be filed tomorrow morning against Hillary Rodham Clinton and against Donaldo Johnnie “Bone Spurs” Trumpi charging each with fraud, perjury, extortion, corruption, obstruction, racketeering, money laundering, disturbing the peace, agitating for war, failing to pay parking tickets and walking the jay.”
“April Fools.”
Agent Orange is not good for your health
Orange lies matter
“evil” is an anagram for “vile.”
. . .
K “America has engaged in rampant election interference throughout the world for a very long time. That is where Americans get the expression that something is ‘as American as apple pie and election interference’. It is who we are.”
J “America does not just interfere in elections, if the democratic process in a country lawfully produces an inconvenient outcome, America overthrows the government or assassinates the winner.”
K “America is the beacon for the world and the city on the hill.”
J “On some level, Americans should be proud that the Russians are emulating us. They know a good thing when they see it. And they are again stealing good things from us without a word of thanks.”
. . .
K “Russia appears to have given ammo cans of money to the National Rifle Association (NRA) to flood American voters with vile and evil propaganda.”
J “Seems that the NRA subjected every NRA member to a steady flow of pro-Trumpi and anti-Clintoni propaganda each and every week and most days in the months before the election.”
K “That Russian influence must be what has gotten the Republicans in such a tither. They don’t like being in bed with the Commies.”
. . .
J “I still don’t trust the Russians. They are up to no good.”
K “Who is up to yes good?”
. . .
K “Keep in mind that the First Amendment limits government interference with speech and other forms of expression. America and Americans have trouble with that truth when they don’t like someone’s speech. Were the Russians engaging in anything nastier than the antics of the DNC and the RNC, the two divisions of the War and Wall Street Party? No. Did they have any greater impact than all the Dark Money that flooded the election courtesy of Citizens Disunited? Not by a long shot.”
J “I still don’t trust the Russians. They are up to no good.”
. . .
J “Collusion is a different animal. When Americans work in concert with Russian operatives, we should all be concerned and ask questions.”
K “Republicans may not adore Trumpi, but he is now the meal ticket and the money machine for them. They have circled the wagons. And something about the Clinton Global Initiative does not ring true.”
J “Republicans are anxious that Trumpi’s decades of money laundering for the Russians in real estate deals may not play well among good hearted Americans. Trumpi’s deals violate enough federal laws to put him away in government-sponsored housing for two lifetimes.”
K “Except that we do not live in a country that believes in or adheres to the rule of law.”
J “There is that problem.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary on the efficacy of the sanctions against Russia titled “World’s Reserve Currency War I = Cold War 2.0 = WW III (?) (September 8, 2014)”.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
We live in a country with many, many, many rules and many, many, many laws, but we do not live in a country that believes in or adheres to the rule of law.
You cannot get out of bed in the morning without violating some section of title 18 of the United States Code, the federal criminal code. In fact, and as a matter of law, you cannot stay in bed in the morning without violating some section of title 18 of the United States Code, the federal criminal code. In practice, the United States is a system of men not laws because men and women opt from the panoply of laws that punish all behavior and decide who is and who is not imprisoned.
There is no law. There is only ideology.
Boycott the NRA
Boycott the National Rifle Association
DNC = RNC = WWP
. . .
K “These Masters of Public Policy and Masters of Public Administration types all suffer from a collective groupthink.”
J “That they are the Masters of the Universe. They are actually the errand boys and errand girls for the real Masters of the Universe.”
K “Apparatchik manufacturing. The law schools historically have manufactured them.”
J “These programs are a ‘law school substitute’ or a ‘law school light’ program.”
K “The most important part of the curriculum is ‘Excuses 101’ that salvages any ill-conceived whim.”
. . .
K “Maintaining groupthink is the overriding concern and the unifying doctrine.”
J “And building the old boy network to divide the spoils.”
. . .
K “Look at the responses on the mid-term.”
J “They are the ‘D’ students.”
K “Are we all the ‘D’ students?”
. . .
K “Better to get an MFA?”
J “Better to skip the classroom, boycott the S.I.C. and teach yourself.”
K “Have you ever seen the syllabus for a Master of Coarse Arts degree?”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “Schooling The Apparatchiks For The Kleptocrats (December 7, 2015)” and “Clinton, Inc., Trump, Inc., Bush, Inc., Kennedy, Inc., O’Bama, Inc. (October 24, 2016).”]
Bumper stickers of the week:
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.” Frederick Douglass
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” Mark Twain
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” George Bernard Shaw
There but for the grace of God go I
Appropriately Proud Single Mom: “My three ‘D’ students took their mom out to dinner for her birthday. My M.D. student, my J.D. student and my Ph.D. student.”
“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” Eric Hoffer
. . .
J “It is a real head-scratcher. Democrats such as J. Kennedy, G. McGovern, A. Gore, J. Kerry, M. Cleland, J. Webb and J. Kerry are decorated war veterans who question America’s pursuit of unending war all over the globe all the time. Republicans such as G. Bush, R. Cheney, R. Giuliani, J. Ashcroft, J. Bolton, M. Romney and D. Trumpi are craven draft dodgers who fledged into chickenhawks and favor and savor sending other people’s kids off to die in useless wars that advance their economic interests.”
K “Life in America. And death in America. Have you noticed that the warring class who use other people’s money to take money from other people also take other people’s kids to take other people’s lives in their wars?”
J “That makes lots of money for them from other people’s money and from other people’s lives and liberty.”
. . .
J “G. Bush the Senior did serve with courage and distinction in World War II, although he surely oversaw and directed some dastardly things when he headed the C.I.A.”
K “B. Clinton did not serve with courage and distinction.”
. . .
K “R.O.T.C. programs were banned from some hip and profitable colleges. The programs should be welcomed because they provide opportunity and possibility. Let the individual decide.”
. . .
J “In the early 1970’s, the Draft became an inconvenient nuisance for the well-connected such as George B., Richard “Dick” C., Rudolph G., John A., John B., Mittens R., Donaldo T and . . . B. Clinton. Dodging the Draft required pulling strings with the local draft board to get a deferment or hiding in the state national guard or fleeing to Europe or faking a hang nail. In response, many corporate think tanks, some owned by their parents, started thinking of a scheme to keep their kids out of tanks and in the corporations. The answer was to end the formal Draft now, release their kids from the duties of citizenship and . . . impose economic indentured servitude on the underclass. That changed the incentive structure for war.”
K “Without the pressure from those who are in an economic position to put pressure on the system, the ‘demand’ for war is greater than optimal or efficient in a society.”
J “The powerful and well-connected will find a way to shelter their offspring in comfortable billets and avoid uncomfortable bullets. However, the social benefit from increasing the cost of dodging the drafting is desirable.”
. . .
[See “The Deep Unfairness of America’s All-Volunteer Force” in “The American Conservative” by Dennis Laich and Lawrence Wilkerson dated October 16, 2017, “The Moral Case for Draft Resistance” in “The New York Times” by Michael Stewart Foley dated October 17, 2017 and “How the Draft Reshaped America” in “The New York Times” by Amy J. Rutenberg dated October 6, 2017.]
[See the e-commentary at “Smedley And Ernest On Our Friend ‘War’; The ‘Racket’ Continues (September 7, 2015)”.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
November 8 – One year ago
November 11 – Veterans Day
Draft beer not boys and members of the ruling class
. . .
K “The national political stage is now showcasing a burlesque reality show with America’s Silvio Berlusconi at center stage. Donaldo Trumpi.”
J “If you want to be the laughingstock of the world, you need a fool to make ‘em laugh.”
K “And to fool them. Washington has devolved into Rome, so the populace might as well coronate Nero to oversee the cesspool.”
J “Circuses and bread . . . and Trump. P.T. Barnum would be amused. He only took the peoples’ money and yet gave them a spectacle in return. The people soon will see that Trump will take their dreams and give them nothing.”
. . .
K “Post Trumpatic Stress Disorder (PTpSD) is haunting three cohorts this week. The reflective Bernie supporters who voted for Trump or others in protest are stupefied. The disconnected voters who did not want Trump in the White House but could not vote for Clinton and were confident she would win are horrified. And those who simply cannot accept Trump in the White House are terrified.”
J “We need to adopt a provision from consumer protection statutes to allow voters to reconsider their decisions within seventy-two hours.”
. . .
K “I thought the ‘e-pocalypse’ would be an economic apocalypse not an election apocalypse.”
J “Don’t panic. That is coming.”
. . .
K “Trump is the only candidate who Clinton could beat. Clinton is the only candidate who Trump could beat. The rules were written so that the voters could not vote for both of them to lose at the same time. Someone was forced to win.”
J “In a nation with millions and millions and millions of potential candidates, the number ‘n’ candidate and the number ‘n – 1’ candidate were engaged. Long before the election, however, the Democrats elected to lose with Clinton rather than to win with Sanders.”
. . .
K “For the last few months, I could see something bubbling in the background and hovering on the horizon. The media were trapped in a bubble. The Clinton campaign was trapped in a bubble. Neither had an air vent to the real world. The double bubble was leading to trouble for Clinton.”
J “An old boy once told me that you should never breathe your own fumes.”
. . .
J “The decision by the FBI director James Comey to revive the inquiry into Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server was a factor that caused her to lose. He should be indicted.”
K “The system is so corrupt that the FBI director can do anything and is above the law. Only the poor and downtrodden get indicted in America.”
J “The successful efforts by Republicans in some of the battleground states to purge their voting roles had an impact that needs to be analyzed with care.”
. . .
K “Madeline Albright’s threat that women who do not vote for Clinton will find a place in Hell did not play well. Too many citizens are already living a hellish existence. Telling someone that you have no choice except to capitulate to a candidate rubbed many the wrong way. Voting the opposite way is the only way to proclaim one’s freedom and independence.”
J “And worth. The simple truth is that many uneducated white males were threatened by and unwilling to vote for an educated white female. I told others to disregard her smug, privileged, arrogant and sanctimonious attitude and vote for someone who is at least somewhat stable.”
K “Romney’s disdain and dismissal of the ‘47 percent’ in 2012 before a private gathering of old White boys played a decisive role in his defeat. Why Clinton decided gratuitously to take a page from his play book, disparage the ‘deplorables’ in public and leave voters wondering whether they were worthy of voting for her is stupefying.”
J “And stupid. There is no other word for it. She spent time in Arizona and Georgia seeking to win by a landslide but was unaware of how the tectonic plates had shifted under her. She never even went to Wisconsin to touch base with the folks. All she had to do was listen to one legitimate grievance and show some empathy. Every newspaper in the Badger State would have covered the trip. Some attention to Michigan and Pennsylvania and perhaps Ohio suggesting a positive message rather than carping about Trump would have served her well.”
K “If she had truly labored on a salmon slime line in Alaska and learned some life lessons rather than just logging a novel resume entry, she would be POTUS-elect.”
. . .
J “Some projected that if Clinton were elected, Whites would flock to and flood gun stores. With Trump’s election, the flood gates are now open to inflict violence on Blacks and Browns who now need to flock to gun stores. The threat to them is much more real today.”
K “The National Rifle Association did more than any other institution to put Trump in the House for Whites.”
J “And the grand irony in this year of absurd consequences is that the NRA followed the practice of so many voters by voting against its interest. If Clinton had been elected, gun sales would have exploded. Gun sales and gun stocks now may go down.”
. . .
J “His antics earned him a billion dollars’ worth of free media coverage particularly when he was outrageous and offensive and himself. There is a take home message there for future candidates.”
K “The candidate who spent more money has won every modern Presidential election. Except this election. That fluke likely will never happen again.”
J “The new ‘antisocial media’ allowed streams of vile and unfounded invective to pass for political insight and surpassed the effectiveness of Anger Mongering (AM) radio. Elections may soon be fact-free and issue-barren.”
. . .
J “Compare the list of endorsements for President published by the top hundred newspapers since the 2000 Presidential election. They were divided about equally between the two candidates. Never has a major party Presidential candidate received one and only one endorsement and that from a regional paper.”
K “The media bubble again. He also received the nod from the Klan rag. Not receiving one endorsement from a major newspaper was the most compelling and convincing endorsement for many.”
J “The hate and fear newspapers present a daily gauntlet of hate and fear to everyone going through the checkout lines at grocery stores. Repetitive subconscious subliminal messages conveyed on the small bill boards that box in the consumer, even if the rag is not read or even picked up, increased the population’s susceptibility to the messages of hate and fear. Toss in the trip hammer of hate and fear spewing from the Faux Network at home. Trump only had to whistle.”
. . .
K “Trump should read the discussion in “‘Mericanize: Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)” over at e-commentary.org. The landscape has not changed since then. Factories are all automated. Factories, wherever located, do not employ and will never employ many workers.”
J “He does not care about ideas.”
. . .
K “By November 5, the Republican Party was pronounced dead on a few websites and then resurrected three days later. During the early morning hours of November 9, the Democratic Party was put on life support and left in a coma.”
. . .
K “The undigested anger is still festering. None of the underlying problems will be addressed. The anger will find another outlet.”
. . .
J “Now what?”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “Boycott Red America (January 3, 2005)” and “‘Mericanize: Monetize, Mechanize And Militarize (December 30, 2013)”.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
The election apocalypse (hereinafter “E-pocalypse”): Coming to a Republic near you
Did America just repudiate its sanity, decency, humanity and integrity?
Fake quotes will still ruin the Internet. Benjamin Franklin
The future is certain and the end is already here.
You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you get what you do not need.
. . .
J “The Kennedy Corporation is in remission.”
K “Earnings are down, but the brand is still in play. They are keeping a spot at the round table with their ‘Profile In Courage Award’ that is bestowed on other members of the Ruling Class.”
J “That’s it. I need to give an award to get a reward.”
. . .
J “After the proclamation by the Republican wing of the Supreme Court in Corporations United that two step corruption is legal and encouraged, the ‘Clinton Global Initiative’ provided the template. The rich and powerful now can formally invest in and own those in public office.”
K “The Owners now can formally own the owned. ‘Bush, Inc.’ should get more credit because it was one of the first corporations to offer ‘preferred shares’ dubbed ‘Rangers’ and ‘Pioneers’ and the like. The investment opportunity was first profiled in the e-commentary titled ‘The “Ownership State” and “Bush, Inc.” (April 11, 2005)’ years before Citizens United was foisted on us.”
J “Trading interests in Senators is also discussed in the e-commentary titled ‘Commodities Futures / Future Commodities (March 8, 2010).’ Add a few shares of a United States Senator to your 401(k) portfolio.”
. . .
K “Yet the ordinary citizen cannot be a large shareholder.”
J “The ordinary citizen still can toil as a sharecropper for the shareholders. The citizen cannot own anyone or anything of substance. And only the Owners can own the apparatchiks. It is very subtle.”
K “There is no ‘Nader, Inc.’ I looked it up.”
. . .
K “‘Kennedy, Inc.’ has executed a Memorandum of Understanding with ‘Harvard, Inc.’, ‘Bush, Inc.’ with ‘Yale, Inc.’, ‘Trump, Inc.’ with ‘Penn, Inc.’, ‘Clinton, Inc.’ with ‘Stanford, Inc.’ and now ‘O’Bama, Inc.’ with ‘Harvard, Inc.’ and ‘Chicago, Inc.’.”
J “They sure have inked a lot of inside deals. Yet ‘Clinton, Inc.’ plays the field and also owns and is owned by ‘Yale, Inc.’.”
K “Clinton clearly plays the field, yet so do some of the others. If there is a formal MoU, the kids just show up in the Fall; if there is not a formal MoU, the kids are encouraged to call ahead and let the administrators know they are matriculating. Unless something more sexy comes up in the interim.”
J “That’s what I heard. Seems to work. Well.”
. . .
K “The kids who should not make it, do. The kids who should make it, don’t.”
. . .
K “There is so much inbreeding and cross breeding.”
J “With predictable consequences.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “The ‘Ownership State’ and ‘Bush, Inc.’ (April 11, 2005)”, “Corporations United (February 15, 2010)”, “Commodities Futures / Future Commodities (March 8, 2010)”, “Schooling The Apparatchiks For the Kleptocrats (December 7, 2015)” and “On Merit and the Meritocracy (January 11, 2010).”]
[See the incisive commentary of America’s greatest political, economic and social commentator of the last century, George Carlin. Professor G. William Domhoff’s classic examination of power in America, Who Rules America?, could serve as the written text and footnotes to accompany Professor Carlin’s public presentations. Both develop observations developed earlier by Professor C. Wright Mills in The Power Elite.]
Bumper stickers (or window stickers) of the week:
Harvard, Inc. College Yale, Inc. Law School
The Elite ain’t.
If Hamilton returned today to survey the outcome of his financial innovations, he would be appalled, outraged and disgusted by the degeneration of the American economy into a Kleptocracy.
. . .
K “Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
. . .
K “Better the crazy crook we know than the crooked crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
K “Better the war-savoring, crazy crook we know than the xenophobic, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
K “Better the war-savoring and Wall Street-favoring, crazy crook we know than the xenophobic, bigoted, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
K “Better the lying, war-savoring and Wall Street-favoring, crazy crook we know than the lying, xenophobic, bigoted, crooked, crazy man we don’t?”
J “You sure?”
. . .
J “We are now stuck with two presumptuous Presidential nominees and zero hope.”
K “Clinton is part of the problem; the Donald does not even understand the problem. Full stop.”
J “I’m sure that we have a problem.”
. . .
K “The conservatives resolve these conundrums by resorting to the aphorism: ‘Better the devil we know than the devil we don’t.’”
J “I sure don’t know who is the devil we know and who is the devil we don’t?”
K “In the final analysis, it all comes down to the Supreme Court.”
. . .
K “The solstice is the sunniest day of the year up here. Defaulting to the lesser of the two diabolical devils isn’t the most promising ray of sunshine.”
J “It starts getting darker every day after 22:34 UTC this afternoon.”
K “There are still some long days in our future.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “The First Look At The ‘Second Political Party’ (January 3, 2011).”]
Bumper stickers of the week:
“And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get . . . a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?” Hunter S. Thompson
Better the crook we know than the crazy man we don’t?
The other election this week in Britain on the “Brexit” will be revealing.
Cleveland was hot yesterday and may be hot this July.
. . .
5 “The United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea (UNCLOS) cedes minimal U.S. authority to international institutions; the Republicans vehemently oppose the treaty. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) concedes substantial U.S. sovereignty to international corporations; the Republicans ecstatically support the treaty.”
6 “Go figure. If O’Bama supports something, the Republicans hate it. If O’Bama opposes something, the Republicans love it. O’Bama supports the TPP, the Republicans love it. What is up?”
5 “What is up? O’Bama is not allowing anyone other than a few Senators to review the language of the legislation. That is surreal.”
6 “And perverse and undemocratic. If the Republicans had pulled that stunt, they would have gotten hammered.”
5 “At the end of his administration, Clinton capitulated to the Republicans and signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA), the legislation that repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and has led to reckless financial speculation. The damage done by DOMA has been undone, but the damage done by GLBA will undo America.”
6 “O’Bama may be the first President in American history to switch political parties while in office.”
5 “Other than Clinton. They will still hate O’Bama because he remains Black.”
6 “Historians so inclined will be able to uncover the critique of a few prophets with honor who chronicled the dismantling of America in real time.”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.” Will Durant
George Carlin was right
. . .
C1 “The election is already over. One party nominates a candidate who is pro war and pro-Wall Street and the other party nominates a candidate who is pro war and pro-Wall Street.”
C2 “And if you demur in a public forum, the popular press will dismiss you as an isolationist for questioning war and as a populist for supporting an equitable and sustainable economy.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at The First Look At The “Second Political Party” (January 3, 2011).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Bush III
Clinton II
Jeb Clinton
Hillary Bush
e-commentary 