Doug's Darkworld

Two points I thought might be of interest. Trump hasn’t repeated his initial claim earlier this week that the explosion in Beirut was an attack of some sort. He certainly didn’t back down, but it’s not like he got any pushback. He was basically ignored, something he might have to get used to. I digress. I want to point out though that this trivial incident is almost identical to how the whole Benghazi comic opera got started. Basically after the attack that killed 4 Americans took place, some in Washington mistakenly claimed they were killed in a protest that had gotten out of hand. There were anti-American protests in a number of places at the time as I recall. This was in error, it was very much a deliberate attack by a Libyan militia. The sort of mistake that often gets made as a crisis is unfolding. Errors were made, story was corrected, no harm done.

Nope, for some reason the GOP decided this was going to be how they took down Obama. Or something. And they proceeded to spend many years and millions of dollars investigating … and turning up absolutely nothing. Screaming “Benghazi!” the whole time. Political theater. Both sides engage in it. And they’ve been playing these games  for decades, most Americans have forgotten what it was like to have a government that was reasonably responsive to the will of the people. In some senses Roosevelt was “The last good emperor.”

Wannabe Emperor Trump’s continuing failure to launch, let alone lead, a national effort to fight Covid-19 continues to baffle and frighten 2/3rds of Americans. And is looked on with horror and amazement by the rest of the  world. But Trump’s supporters only watch Fox news etc., and in  there Trump’s doing a great job, and all the problems are exaggerated, hoaxes, or even deliberate plots by the Democrats to foment unrest for some nefarious purpose. Trump was just  claiming Biden is against God and the Bible. It’ll inspire his base, the rest of us wonder what he is even talking about. Christianity is under no threat in the US, the nation is overwhelmingly Christian.

In any event, while yes, the Dems are just as complicit in the sell out to corporate America and the Pentagon as the GOP, something the GOP has been doing for a few generations is really causing a lot of problems now. Since 1980 at least the GOP framed all issues as  “They’re coming to take away your rights!” The Dems want your guns, they want to cancel Christmas, curtail conservative’s free speech. Basically generations of Americans were taught that Dems were “the enemy” and anything coming from them was a socialist plot to destroy America from within.

Great for winning elections, turns out it’s a fail when the country needs to pull together. Fighting a pandemic requires unified national action. Not in America. Wearing a piece of cloth over my mouth and nose infringes on my rights! No, it doesn’t, but thanks Republicans for programming Americans to see the best defense against Covid-19 as an attack on their rights. And thanks Trump for failing to lead your people to safety. Trump’s kinda the Anti-Moses.

People are dying of Covid-19 in America  at a higher rate than when they died fighting World War Two. At this point if things continue for a few years, only the Civil War will be the greater killer. So I still think things are going to get a lot worse in the USA before they get better. Would love to hear logical arguments to the contrary. If reality was a Star Trek episode, Kirk would rush in now, take charge, and get us out of this mess.

Yeah, not gonna happen. Biden is no Captain Kirk. Honestly  I don’t see any Captain Kirks on the horizon. Have a safe and sane weekend everyone. Remember, any day one wakes up in the morning is a good day. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask

PS: This is so stupid it makes my head hurt: US election 2020: China, Russia and Iran ‘trying to influence’ vote.  Even if they were, so fucking what? Everybody does it, the US is at the top of the list. But the idea that somehow whatever influence they have makes any difference in the multi-billion dollar maelstrom that is the US elections is silly. IE countless other entities in and out of the US have influence that dwarfs what these nations are capable of. Convince me otherwise. Hint: “Intelligence agencies say so!” won’t convince me of anything but the gullibility of the person claiming such. Peace out.

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image from Snappygoat, IE a Public Domain image under US copyright law. I think it is a striking image.)