Fixation

The unfortunate word of the day/year is — Fixation. I read an essay the other day in the plejn djilar. The writer mentioned Orange Caligula. He was right, it goes a long way to explain him, his voters, and his wretched party. His party has always banked on, and encouraged fixations. The journalistic patois speaks of wedge issues, and one issue voters. Corral them on that one thing, and they are yours on everything. That explains the gun nuts, and the abortion nuts. Of course the biggest one is race. Biology tells us race does not exist, but socially it does, and it therefore can be used politically.  

Fixations can be mental, and psychological problems. Racism is a form of insanity. Trumple-thin-skin is cruel, evil, demented, insane, and unshakably fixated on many, many things, and he is stupid. And on this America is governed.

[this was written before the attack and invasion on, and occupation of Venezuela]
[i planned this as a longer essay]

Frog Resistance in “War Zone”

Stephen Lam. Portland Oregon. San Francisco Chronicle

I have repeated this many times, “The Devil doesn't like to be mocked, therefore, he must be mocked”.  This is non-violent (peaceful) protest. It stings and offends tyrants, fascists, the powers that be, police, bullies, goons, and other “authoritarians”, and Repukes.

The world sees this and laughs at *rump. I do not know if this has been seen on teevee newscasts, it has been shown by comics. Television comedians (especially Colbert, Kimmel, and the troupe on the Daily Show) have presented the truth that straight newscasts will not show. The straight newscasts will broadcast the lies told by *rump and his minions complete, but the television jesters will broadcast reality. 

Orange Caligula surrounded by his toadies & media has said war ravaged Portland, a city without stores, or stores with wood instead of glass windows, a city without sewers, and inanities easily disproved by camera. The callow, feckless, cowards about him do not contradict him. Fox and other fascist teevee show film from other protests, some from other countries, and *rump says he has seen what is going on now in Portland, Chicago, and everywhere else that votes for Democrats.

Why this first frogman will become an icon is he resembles so many before him:  the man with plastic bags holding up a line of tanks in the Chinese capital, the young man who placed carnations inside M14 rifles held by soldiers, the young woman with a daisy in front of a line of national guard with bayoneted rifles. Those with power look ridiculous. The Portland Frogs carry no weapons, *rump's stormtroopers have gas masks, bulletproof armor, helmets, and other paraphernalia.

Local teevee has shown live fascism in Portland on film [CLICK].  A female clarinetist is pummeled, breaking her instrument while she plays with her group the Ghostbusters' theme.  Peaceful protestors will be randomly attacked and abducted and sent out of state, because a few years ago people in the city protested the murder of George Floyd.

This wee essay began with the title “conservative = fascist”.  That was before Portland.  Still it is true, and all the language (the propaganda) the Repukes (*rump in chief) substitute false words for reality.  In America the word conservative is the false substitute for fascist. 

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postscriptum:  Peaceful protestors always face some danger. Seth Todd, the original Portland Frog, has been doing this nightly. Cops/goons can always be petty, vindictive, and violent at any moment. On October 2nd, one such goon pepper sprayed his air vent hole. 

A part of this militarisation of the streets is to provoke people into action that trumpsters will use to justify more severe measures, and brutality [you may say my words are inflated invective, but compare that to what *rump and his minions say], and give excuse to call for martial law, and cancel elections. Stephen Miller has put these thoughts into *rump's head. *rump and Hegseth want these civil excursions to be training exercises for the Department of War, and they still demand a Nobel Peace Prize.  So yeah, there may be killing to come.  The invasion of the Capitol on 6 January 2025 was a prelude.

Fascism in the colleges

Frank Borzage, Oscar winning director twice, was almost the only American who was filming anti-nazi dramas before 1942; of course such activity was not appreciated by some. Only for a short time, roughly 1942 to 1946 was it safe to speak ill of fascism in America. Now we have a fascist party, which enjoys doing fascist things; but does not like to be called fascist. They like to call Democracy fascism, they follow the way of Goebbels as Orwell described.

film: The Mortal Storm 1940
Hol, leader Hitler Youth: Tell us the difference between Aryan and non-Aryan blood.
Prof. Roth: Science has found no difference.
Hol: Do you hear that? It's a direct contradiction to our leader's principle of racial purity! It's an impudent defense of racial degeneration, and it's a lie!
Prof. Roth: I've given you the facts. Scientific truth is scientific truth! Unchangeable and eternal! It cannot be altered to suit the policies of the hour, or the clamor of immature hoodlums!

Something to consider with the Ohio legislature's Senate Bill 1 which gives fascists control of public university classrooms. Most of the ire pro and con is over "DEI", diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is national. Equity was a Roman legal concept. Is fairness towards all people to be promoted, or denied? Or only those that traditionally been favored? But it goes far beyond that.

One matter is the Orwellian, and Republican speak term "intellectual diversity". Accepted scientific, and historical truth must be allowed to be vigorously challenged. Any crackpot, or propagandist is to be allowed to blather. Beyond that, any professor, or instructor can be reported by the politically motivated, or disgruntled. Certain topics and ideas will be coerced to silence, or the attack is on. Academic freedom is to be destroyed. Beyond that the university must invite outside speakers of these anti-academic ideas to campus.

Another matter is a crackdown on faculty. Exacting and detailed syllabuses will be on school's websites. Every instructor is suspect. It is McCarthyism. Strikes are forbidden. Any rights had can be taken away by newly empowered trustees. Labor is to be kept trampled. Job security is up to the whims of these newly empowered commandants.

Another odd thing is a mandatory course on American political documents, and capitalism. Those are two different things, not one thing. Will teachers and students be allowed to challenge capitalism? or will they be indoctrinated with it? Reading of Adam Smith will be required. Will it be 'taught' in the manner of true believers?

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postscriptum 28 March 2025: governor signed the bill, we await legal challenge, but Ohio Republicans are not interested in such legalities.

Diktats of an evil idiot

He is a genius in doing evil, and a complete idiot in all other thought. Trump is evil. He is both insane and stupid. He has always been a malignant narcissist, a psychopath. Now he has dementia, perhaps with secondary syphilis (as his hero Al Capone). He observes no law, he sees himself as the law. He and his nazi cult followers have a  perverse glee of destruction. They are also sycophants who not only obey his every caprice, but think of added measures. One idiot Congress critter wants her leader's birthday to be celebrated by law.

He may not finish his term, and Vance is a bought man. Vance is like Agnew he insults those that would be critical of his partei's action. He has attacked the press, Catholicism, Western Europe, and Canada; while he praises fascists. He has negative charisma. Ohio is such a southern state that any repuke can win office, and Ohio is filthy with them.  Musk is similar but with power.

The party of Lincoln has been extinct. The Republican Party used to have Lincoln Day Dinners. Lincoln has not been popular in the Republican Party of the south. Orange Caligula has unconstitutionally forbade the penny, i wonder if the five dollar bill will be changed. The Republican party is a fascist party, it is also a criminal cult. Reagan made the commandment, you shall not criticise a fellow Republican. They act in unison, now more than ever. They have continuously found horrible and criminal people. Trump has found the worst. They are combination psychopaths and idiots as himself. F.D. Roosevelt spoke of economic royalists, today they are called oligarchs, these are the real support of the regime.

Elon Musk (an illegal immigrant) is the richest man in the world. He is also a psychopath with awkward social interactions. With his money he spent on Trump, he has made himself a co-president. He is a nazi, and a greedy one. He has taken power to achieve more riches (government contracts, and to spike competitors). The partei's apparatus has accepted this. They have threatened anyone who criticises Musk. Part of the battle is the definition of terms. What we see is Republican speak. It is not to cut waste, if it was accountants would be sent in, and not computer programmers with police powers, and armed thugs. They demand everyone use their mendacities as de jure. Republican speak is the current use of Orwellian terms introduced in 1984, e.g. Democracy is Fascism & Fascism is Democracy; fraud & corruption are all government actions i/the partei does not like.

The American people have been made fools. They are gullible. This brainwashing has also been continuous. The key element has been hatred, racial primarily. This has been the formula for electoral success. There are people, who believe they are moral and good religious people, that will not admit Caligula has done anything wrong, and some will lie about how great he is.  They are lying to themselves and others.  He is evil.  In addition, the American people are whiny and selfish.  The powers that be instructed people to blame Democrats for everything. Now, they will be reminded for the umpteenth time how worthless the Repukes are. Trumpsters could not stop bitching about the price of eggs under Biden.  Now they are higher. True the most rabid trumpsters exhibit cognitive dissonance so that their reality they alter to stay in line with their idiocy. Now the others will finally notice when they are screwed (with prices and other things), they will turn temporarily against the repukes. 

 Evangelical Christianity, as everyone knows, is founded upon hate, as the Christianity of Christ was founded upon love. — H. L. Mencken

Republican voters, by and large, have no empathy, no sympathy, no respect for justice, no class consciousness. But when they get a splinter in their ass, they wail. There are good people, and they really stand out in the crowd. But the American people are more ripe for fascism than the Italians and Germans ever were. Right now, it looks like the United States has given up democracy for Lent.

And about the idiocies: about the first spectacular idiocy  was  one in geography, fun with maps:

Lesson 1. The name "Gulf of Mexico" (Spanish: golfo de México; French: golphe du Mexique, later golfe du Mexique) first appeared on a world map in 1550.

Now, what then happened. Most of the American internet (services?) almost immediately obeyed Caligula, and used his appellation of  'Gulf of America' [sic]. The Associated Press did not, and he denied journalistic access to the White House, in a childish pique. Trumple-thin-skin gorges itself with petty displays of retribution.

Other fixations are on paper straws. It is against them. Donnie Dipshit is a racist. I am not sure whether behind every NFL endzone, this season, there is painted on the turf  "STOP RACISM". Idiot-in-chief invited himself to the game, and forbade those painful words to appear.

In the District of Columbia there is a performing arts center, the Kennedy Center. It decided to make itself its dictator. Most artists, notably those with talent, do not like Tangerine Mussolini.

A lot of the world recoils at his aggressive insanity. Canada is having a national election in less than 30 days. The chief issue will be who should deal with Orange Caligula. Caligula has repeatedly, and grievously insulted and threatened Canada. The Canadians will not be moved, and they can be witty. Mike Myers has appeared with Premier Carney wearing this hockey jersey: 

Trump is also demanding Greenland, and has sent idiots, and now will be sending more to demand acceptance of Anschluss. The Greenlanders are defiant and mocking him.

at the right side is Greenland's flag

I have not seen how Panama is reacting in such a manner. For he demands the Canal Zone.

It also demands the Gaza Strip, and cheer leads the genocide happening there. He sees it as away to sell property, and to get money from construction.

The betrayal of Ukraine is beyond disgusting. He is doing  whatever Putin demands, and Putin enjoys humiliating him. Donnie the buffoon expects to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Does he not realise, the voters are not American Republicans? Does he not know most of the world hates him?

WEIRD

Weird, what is weird? Generally it is either creepy, kooky, spooky. In Shakespeare's MacBeth, the Weird Sisters are the ones cooking horrible things in a cauldron, performing maga, ahh magic.

When someone sees something odd, they may say quizzically “that's weird”.  When someone does something silly, or odd, one might say dismissively, “you are weird”. In popular culture we have Weird Al Yankovic, and Weird Barbie from a movie. Yankovic is a musician who creates parody and novelty songs, his weirdness is benign, and entertaining. Weird Barbie was the toy Barbie that was roughly played with, and in the movie became an eccentric, but perceptive outcast in Barbie World.

Republican weird is the strange, outlandish, eerie, horrific, unnatural creepy kind. The kind that makes you feel icky, uncomfortable, it is unpleasant, and is offensive.

Kamala Harris is so much better as a candidate now than four years ago. In a a campaign statement she has “Trump is old and quite weird”.  Trump mocked her as laughing too much. Trump never laughs, he has no humour. What he has is spite, malice, and viciousness in its place. If he smiles, it is a false one, or a gloat taking evil enjoyment. Why the absence, or antipathy to laughter and genuine smiling?  Laughing can be happy, or mocking, or recognising some truth. Look at trump on film and fotos: he looks angry, goofy, or false.

Harris has picked up on the weirdness. I read that Tim Walz (Gov. Minn.) was the first one to repeatedly mention it. Since the Orange Weirdo kept mentioning a fictive serial killer in speeches, it was not understood whether he thought Hannibal Lector was real. Oh, and the shark fixation, killer windmills, and a slew of other weird things that are part of his act. Do not forget, the hair, and orange paint.

The Repukes are full of weirdness. And they don't like being called on it. They always were putting out that Democrats were some horrible other, not like normal Americans. The lie was/is that Republicans are normal. They are creepy weird.  For many years, my phrasing to describe them was that they are crazier than outhouse rats. But weird is the winner. The kind of weird people warn others, when they say ominously, “stay away from him, he's weird”.

Trump, well you know.  Vance is weird toooo. He has lived through disguise. He is weird. He is a falsity. He is queer. The eyeliner, and wanting to police menstrual cycles is very creepy weird. As a whole, Republicans are abnormally fixated on everyone else's crotch.

Vance has only been Vance for some eleven years. He was born James Donald Bowman, he was then James David Hamel, and is now JD Vance.  He came to fame by writing a fictive memoir. He was born and lived in a town between Cincinnati and Dayton. In the book, he made constant reference to the bad stereotype of eastern Kentucky culture. He went to the Marines, Ohio State, Yale Law, married a Hindu, became a vulture capitalist in San Francisco, and presents himself as a hillbilly. That's alright, Trump presented himself as a Swede for years.

Calling repukes weird hurts their feelings. Traitorous psychos is more accurate.

Republican speak: unity = one party dictatorship

neighbour across the street within 2 hours of incident, an obscene anti-Biden flag

Only Joe from Scranton will save us from an incoming fascist dictatorship,  which is already underway. The putsch that began on January 6th 2021 has not ended. 

A corrupt midnight judge in Florida has thrown out the stolen documents case against Trump, apparently special prosecutors are not meant to be used to investigate Repukes. Earlier, the corrupt members (Repukes) on the Supreme Court have granted Trump at least partial immunity for criminal, and treasonous acts. They have avenged Nixon, "When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal." But here is the thing, trump has done acts when he was no longer president.

There has been an extreme push to shield him. Yet, a New York court found him guilty of 34 felonies. His sentencing has been repeatedly delayed. And we know, justice delayed is justice denied. 

And there has been an unrelenting press attack on Joe Biden. There was this CNN event in Atlanta, that is wrongly referred to as a "debate". Joe Biden sputtered. trump unleashed a continuous fire of ridiculous lies, and insults, and then started talking about golf. The press concentrated on Joe's inadequate performance. There is no debating the evil clown show of trump. The two moderators never corrected him on his lies. Orange Caligula would not answer the questions directed at him, and then sometimes chose to attack Biden's previous answers. Only at the end, did Dana Bash try to have him answer whether he would accept the result of the election. He would not. 

And after this, Democrats picked up the press' lead on Biden's sharpness on that stage. Only two defeated Republicans are willing to say Trump is a danger to democracy. The rest hail their leader (in the original German, Heil ihren Führer).

Saturday, a young trumpster gun nut shot into a trump hate rally, in Butler County Pennsylvania. The presumed target was this ear pillow guy. [infra: head with a small female hygiene pad.] Earlier Monday, and during Sunday's golfing, both his ears were uncovered. This was part of his costume in Milwaukee, for his coronation ceremonies.

Here is another thing: the shooter used a semi-automatic rifle in the AR-15 family, the gun of choice of mass killers. He shot from roughly 450 feet away. From 1994 to 2004, such weapons were illegal under the Federal Assault Weapons Ban. Republicans have done their damnedest to make sure such a thing never happens again. Their inglorious leader was almost hoisted by their own petard.

Well, some one else was killed, and two other trumpsters wounded severely. That was on a Saturday. Trump went golfing on Sunday. The President of the United States called the widow, she refused his call. New York Post reported, "I didn't talk to Biden. I didn't want to talk to him. My husband was a devout Republican and he would not have wanted me to talk to him." The cult is extreme.

So, television reporters interviewed rally attendees, and other Republicans, and they all complained about the divisiveness in America, and the need for "unity". 

What is unity? In Cleveland, there was a terrible Catholic bishop, who had no respect for parishioners, and their views. He quoted Jesus on all being one. Unity was needed. What was his unity? It was no opposition towards his will. That was unity.  

In republican speak, unity is subservience to trump. It is one party dictatorship, you know fascism. 

coded language of the baptistverse

I read some comments by Baptist church attendees. They have a coded language. I have noticed this before*. I was trying to find something on internet search engines, and the results were few that got to the point. First in this regard, i find Baptist, fundamentalist, evangelical, non-denominational as all equivalent terms. Using the words: lingo, jargon, vocabulary, language was fruitless.

The general community understands religious terms when they are used as the dictionary describes. Catholicism is quite fecund, and defined. It uses standard language with particular terminology that may be unfamiliar to some. But in very conservative American Protestantism, the dictionary is not helpful. It is inside group speak, somewhat like corporate business jargon. Now, Mormonism does this too, but a lot of theirs is the invented mythology of the group.

Also, this baptistverse has been successful in taking Christian as their synonym. It is not. Finally i found a person who started a thread on reddit that spoke on this. Here is an example he used:  I have been praying for you (unprompted) – You are doing something bad that I don’t approve of, or not doing something you should be doing, like attending church, and I am going to be extremely passive aggressive about it. 

• And another he used: Being Intentional Don’t waste your time making small talk with the grocery store clerk or the gas station attendant; Be Intentional by making everything you say to everyone somehow circle back to your Jesus thing.
  
• Someone else wrote: "They're a believer" A believer in what? Just another way to say "they're one of us."
• Another winner:  Witness: "We're going to go witness to folks at the county fair"   Translation: we're going to go annoy the general public telling random people how sinful and damned to hell they are.
• Another someone:  "Evangelicals bait and switch." A social interaction becomes an ambush.
  
• This insight:  this stuff doesn't appear anywhere in the New Testament.

The phrases in bold type are the ones i want to discuss. Baptists proselytise, that word they do not use. Their goal is to gain converts, or evangelise as they put it. They will use any hook, any gimmick, any trick, any verbal subterfuge to get you. They are intentional about this, everything else is fluff to them. They proclaim they are the bible believing, the true and only christians. In this they act like cultists.

Now, to a Christian that is not of this type, this is extremely off putting. To someone else this must be more confusing, and maybe worse. Now in retrospect, i understand some of the language, and am not pleased. Now, where i first encountered a heavy dose of this was in college. I was extremely unnerved, when "Navigators" surrounded me while i was sitting in a dorm; an immediate hard sell, the intentional thing. Complete strangers demanding to know my private beliefs, and wanting me to join them. (They were worse than the porch hopping Jehovah Witnesses, which are similar.)  I got up and left.

 

Another encounter with the baptistverse in college was with a 'confrontational evangelist', the infamous Jed Smock. Mentioned him in a post in 2013, went to check the almighty wiki, he died in 2022. The New Yorker had an obituary column about him. Apparently, he began using props after my time in college. He was verbally vicious. He haunted college campuses. He would find a crossroad spot where paths intersect en route to many classroom buildings, and assault passerbys with vulgar insults. He was a mean spirited bully.

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* [click]  People of certain religious persuasions have their own parallel language. It is not terminology of specifics that do not exist elsewhere. No, it is the same words with different meanings. ... they are using internal code

disgorgement

disgorgement (noun)

•     The act of disgorging; a vomiting; that which is disgorged.
•     Legal action to pay back money made illegally. 

degorging (noun)

•     Procedural preparation done generally to eggplants by adding salt creating sweat to remove bitterness and toxins.

Friday a court in New York City found Don the Con Dipshit, et alia., guilty of financial frauds. The remedy was many millions of dollars in disgorgement. I knew what to gorge meant, but disgorgement was new. We have all seen how Trumple-thin-skin gorges himself in a never ending feat of gluttonous desires. Here he was made to regurgitate some.

We saw the usual modus operandi used by Orange Caligula. He had three earthly mentors. One was Roy Cohn, who taught him to admit nothing, smear all opponents, attack, attack, and attack. Cadet Donnie Bonespurs did this to the legal system, and very defiantly to Justice Arthur F. Engoron. This time Donnie Diaper lost.

from page 87 of 92:

Refusal to Admit Error
The English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) first declared, “To err is human, to forgive is
divine.” Defendants apparently are of a different mind. After some four years of investigation
and litigation, the only error (“inadvertent,” of course) that they acknowledge is the tripling of
the size of the Trump Tower Penthouse, which cannot be gainsaid. Their complete lack of
contrition and remorse borders on pathological. They are accused only of inflating asset values
to make more money. The documents prove this over and over again. This is a venial sin, not a
mortal sin. Defendants did not commit murder or arson. They did not rob a bank at gunpoint.
Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. Yet, defendants are incapable of admitting the error of
their ways. Instead, they adopt a “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” posture that the
evidence belies.

This Court is not constituted to judge morality; it is constituted to find facts and apply the law.
In this particular case, in applying the law to the facts, the Court intends to protect the integrity
of the financial marketplace and, thus, the public as a whole. Defendants’ refusal to admit
error—indeed, to continue it, according to the Independent Monitor—constrains this Court to
conclude that they will engage in it going forward unless judicially restrained.

Indeed, Donald Trump testified that, even today, he does not believe the Trump Organization
needed to make any changes based on the facts that came out during this trial.

Who may have begun this defeat of the failed yam casserole?  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked the apt questions at her first congressional hearing. She asked Michael Cohen what many in New York knew for decades.

"Here’s the moment from 2019 — her very first committee hearing after being sworn in — where@AOCasked Michael Cohen the question that led to NY AG Tish James’s investigation into the Trump Org., culminating in Trump being fined over $350 million today."  [click here]

see:  businessinsider   also see:  independent.co.uk  

===========================

Saturday, i was preparing a meal with an eggplant, which i degorged. A serendipitous conjuncture of rarely used words in 24 hours.

Also on Saturday, Cheeto Mussolini unloaded his latest grift in Philadelphia. There was a "sneaker" convention going on. He was pitching ugly Chinese tennis shoes for a shekel under four hundred dollars. He is incorrigible. Since this was not an organised fascist trumpster rally, he was booed off the stage.

Wonder if the customer will choose a left, or right shoe as the third.

 

ruminations during snow watch

Mid to late January is often enough times the coldest time of the year. No big news bulletin. It is not pleasant to be outside, and for those who can stay inside, it is a good choice. I haven't posted in a few days, and my mind wanders through subjects, some minor, some major.

I see in language differences, some people are surprised that 'bakery' can be synonymous with pastry, or any non bread item that comes from a bakery. We have heard on the media, for years, 'barbecue' used this way. "Hey, Melinda Sue, let's go get some barbecue". There was some other language thing that someone had a snit about, and i have forgotten what it was...well, maybe one day it will pop up in my mind while in the shower.

Something is rotten with the American people. Donald Trump is undeniably evil, yet he is worshipped by millions. Psychiatrists diagnose him as a malignant narcissist with dementia. Someone so incompetent, stupid, and sadistic to be successful as he was in receiving such great political power must be allied with demonic forces. Of course, many psychiatrists have no belief in the supernatural; but logical cause and effect can not explain Orange Caligula. Those in his thrall love the cruelty, even if it destroys themselves. In Iowa he told his worshippers, "You can't sit home. If you're sick as a dog, you say: 'God, I gotta make it.' Even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it". He also told the trumpster stupids, "And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning...". Well, the original Caligula said, "Would that the Roman people had but one neck!"...so he could strangle, break it, or cut it off. Now, Trumple-thin-skin is repeatedly mentioning Al Capone being murderous if one looked at him wrongly.

Vanishing America, 

Julian Hoke Harris. Keeping Away Death. 1959. Atlanta.

Another tale of vanishing America, never been to Atlanta. This was once on the County Dept of Health. The building is gone, Emory U and Grady Hospital wanted the space.* Harris was an architectural sculptor, and a graduate, and later a professor at Georgia Tech. He had several commissions for public buildings in Georgia. Harris had been an army officer, and the US Army has Hermes' caduceus as the symbol for the medical corps. This was an error, but it can now be looked at as satire/sarcasm. Hermes was a god of commerce. Asclepius was the god of healing, and he carried a staff with one snake, the aesculapion. Some physicians and health workers found this image apropos in the struggle against covid-19.

in the American Sign Museum Cincinnati [not my foto]

Neon signs were common and popular for a generation in America, from the mid to late 1920s to the end of the 1950s. Interests change, and things become passé. Nostalgia rolls in, and curios become dear to compilers. There are neon sign museums in Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Warsaw, Canada, and elsewhere. God’s Own Junkyard sells and rents them in London. 

 

The signs began with the work of a scientist inventor, Georges Claude in 1902. He later became a very willing nazi collaborator.

 

St. Malachi Cleveland c. 2018

Looking at fotos from the Cincinnati museum, i noticed two signs from churches: a Baptist, and a Pentecostalist; and i thought, well yeah. When looking at American religious denominations, there they are: déclassé, and gauche. This American Protestantism gloms on to whatever is current in the larger society. They purposely appeal to the lowest common denominator, any hook will be fished. Most neon signs were used for commercial purposes: restaurants, saloons, and such.

Then i remembered. We often are vexed at things we have done ourselves. Around 1995, another fellow and myself were caught in a foto published by Cleveland Plain Dealer. We were on a steeple removing neon lights about the cross, it needed regassing. Years before, during WWII, the original church burned down. Malachi's could be seen from the lake, and i heard that its steeple was used as a landmark. When the new church was built after the war, the cross was meant to be seen from the lake. I do not know when the original installation of the light was. Back to the picture, i was suspicious about the photographer. The sky was beginning to look ominous, and dumdum had an aluminum ladder. This was the time when OSHA was made to be a bogeyman. I made sure my back was to the camera.

I remember once in the twentieth century an OSHA man came to construction at the new baseball park, and once to a hospital building going up. Foremen were only worried about extension outlets. There was a job in Beachwood, where i was working for a replacement contractor. Every other trade was scab, some from out of state. They were hiring off the streets. It was a very unsafe job site. One day we were working, and we noticed all the other trades were gone from the building. We saw them standing in the parking lot. OSHA was on site. They can't cite you, when you are not working. Me and another journeyman showed the guy around, and pointing out hazards. All he did was put caution tape around the porta potty. Some miscreant shat in the pisser portion, and gravel was strewn about. That didn't effect me, i went to a nearby fast food joint anyway. I quit that job, the shop was full of creeps. I never saw OSHA in this century.

Well, many churches had sign boards, before and after some started using neon. Now with led and plasma screens that can be programmed, many churches of all denominations have lighted electrified signs.

_______________________________________

*The sculpture is now inside of Grady Hospital.

2023 Miscellany #17 — tree lawns and ...

 

Marlin in Copley Ohio. Passed this on I-77 so many times, so now i went to their parking lot. They do not have marlin on the menu.

Just past peak (18 November) red maples in Euclid Ohio. These are tree lawns, very few locales use this term; but look they are exactly that. In Akron you will hear the term 'devil strip', much more confusing.

In Euclid, on the shore of Lake Erie, someone had fun in decoration.

These two yard and porch decorations i snapped to-day, both in Parma. What season to decorate for? It is rare to see Turkey Day decorations.

Parma High is beginning demolition on campus. Katie had her parking space.

After George Floyd was murdered, nicknames for some schools and teams were reconsidered. Parma had been Redmen for years. There were community meetings on whether to change the name. The decision was to change the name. The school had its last students graduate in June, 235 Redmen.

when someone prods you

 I was reading a chat board on line. The post was: "Evangelical" appears to be a synonym for "hypocrite." I replied, "no shit! i could elaborate on this, but people will be upset...".  Someone replied to me, "Please elaborate".  It took a while to organise some thoughts:

"John Calvin was the virtual founder of America." -- Leopold von Ranke

There are five main doctrines of Calvinism. Three of them (Unconditional Election, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints) allow for total depravity (which is the first of the five). The three together say God alone chooses you, and gives you grace which cannot be undone. You are special, and can do anything without consequences. You have absolute license, shame and hypocrisy do not apply, ethics and morality are moot. As applied to the United States this becomes Manifest Destiny, and American exceptionalism. Being Protestants, they base this on 'sola scriptura', it is bible based fully and alone. The big problem with this is selective interpretation. An isolated quote is paired with other isolated quotes, and by illogic of unrelated premises any squirrelly conclusion is made. Someone not in the sect/cult looks at this and is astonished by the nonsense.

Calvinists are not alone in this sort of magical thinking. There is no one Calvinistic church, many of these call themselves 'Reformed', and they are individual by nation. The Scottish Reformed churches are the various Presbyterians, additionally many of the Baptist sects are calvinistic.

Now, the Pentecostal churches, some calling themselves 'Charismatic', are prone to private revelation to create new doctrines. One movement within them is having recent political influence, New Apostolic Reformation. Their beliefs are restorationist, dominionist, and Christofascist. Some of the latter overlaps with Seven Mountains Dominionism, which takes a sentence from Revelation, and another from the Prophets, and creates a political fantasy. Some within the Evangelicals (Baptists), and Pentecostalists follow this. What names are associated with this?, Rafael Cruz, and his son Rafael (Ted) Junior, Lauren Bobert, Paula White (Trump's spiritual advisor [guffaw, cough, guffaw] Paula White, and other wacko Trumpster preachers (including: Lance Wallnau, Julie Green). The new House Speaker [currently Mike Johnson] is rumoured to be in this group. They all talk of prophecy, anointing, and being ordained, and spiritual warfare.

That last paragraph was full of insanity. Restorationists (e.g. Joseph Smith who invented Mormonism and was running for US President, John Nelson Darby who invented 'the Rapture') believe all other churches are false from the beginning, they create their religion and say this was the original religion under Jesus and his first apostles. Dominionists believe their ideology ought to rule the country/world; that is a short hop to Christofascism. Many of these have self proclaimed prophets, and these prophets expect to be obeyed. Trumpsterism, Qanon fantasies, blend or duplicate these inanities and insanities. Of course, some of these are just charlatans, scoundrels, conmen, and grifters.

God awful English on local teevee "news"

Orwell taught us about newspeak, Holmes taught us about verbicide, but local news uses their own stable of knackered clichés, dishonest euphemisms, irritating and trite nonsense. What the bloody hell do they teach in journalism schools? Ted Baxter would be an improvement. Here is a list of stupid and maddening words and phrases:

☐ tight knit (this is the most trite)

☐ the unthinkable (this is the most stupid)

☐ "even" used as a conjunctive before a third item

☐ officer involved shooting

☐ check it out

☐ (variations of) both sides

☐ (verb) to perfection

☐ (i/we/the station) reached out

A special subsection is for sports talk:

• dinger
• goes yard
  
• good guys
• edge rusher
• walk off
  

republican speak: free speech = lies, and hate speech

The convenient fallacy of journalists getting along is “both siderism”.  For the newsman it is job security. For the simple minded, and the partisan who does not want to admit the depth of his partisanship, it is an excuse to dismiss uncomfortable truths, by insisting all politicians lie.  Often there are just two sides: truth versus lies. This is advantageous for the lying side. It achieves equal ground, it does not deserve. Lie should be disqualified.

There are certain people if lies were extricated from their speech, their speech would be less than a strict Trappist. donald trump is a liar, but occasionally when it benefits him, or when it works as a brag, there comes a true statement. Orange Caligula referred to Calgary Alberta's Rafael Cruz as “Lyin' Ted Cruz”. There he was exactly correct, for Cruz twists every sentence. I wonder if Cruz was bathed in oil sands, the greasy smarminess would be as thick as La Brea tar.

Spanky Bonespurs is famous for saying, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?”.  His con man mendacity is accepted as gospel by trumpsters. His hubris of braggadocio transgression was said in certainty.  But the spew of lies are egregious, continuous, and virtually infinite. His successful campaign in 2015 began with, “[Mexico] are sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and their rapists.”.  Hate and lies.

The press aids and abets. There are certain Republicans that always lie, and rarely get called on it: Reince Priebus, Schlapp, Scalise, Kellyanne Conway, and nearly anyone who is given the microphone to speak the Repuke side. And they are aggressive in falsity, hypocrisy and ridiculousness are not avoided.  One reason is that if they were to speak the truth, it would turn away supporters. Another reason is that to advance in the party, ethics would hinder, perhaps forbid. The mainstream media's management and ownership are compromised, they have financial interests they cater to, and many agree with those interests. They also know the repukes cry often, and attack the press, and withhold access. This is effective pressure [blackmail] to have the media bend to them. In addition, the repukes, fascists, economic royalists, ultraconservatives have their shadow media, and they are willing to take a hit to get their propaganda out there. It is always power and money over conscience and truth. What is truth to be valued? What is a conscience?

It is good, and still too infrequent, that some of the press calls the trumpster election lies—“the big lie”. Those lies have seen success, and are part of the repuke brand and campaigns.

One current battle in this war is Twitter. A psychopath, repuke, billionaire wants to control a social media outlet. A number of lying, and hateful deplorables were banned for the damage they did to the public, and the country in their hate, lies, and sedition. Musk has welcomed them back. What gets one banned is to criticise him.

Republican speak—candidate quality

It is rare when a Republican makes a truthful admission. Marble-mouthed Moscow Mitch, the sleazy, slimy, serpentine Senate leader made one on the 18th of August. The press and political prognosticators have called for a Republican ascendancy, almost since Biden's inauguration. The forecasts are changing slowly, more slowly than reality. As Mencken noted, Americans are a pretty dumb lot. The one adage the faux savants of political commentary do correctly employ is that voters have a short memory (with exceptions). The last federal elections were Democracy versus Fascism, and so are the upcoming ones. Hair Furor lost, lied (well constantly), and did not want to leave. His putsch failed. Orange Caligula has not stopped plotting.

'Candidate quality' is business jargon for hiring. Spanky Covefe has involved himself in Repukican primaries. The quality he demands from candidates is the repetition of his lies. This gives the more despicable, and deranged individuals currency.

“The problem the Republican Party has is that they got really stupid people that vote in their primaries, and… really stupid people demand to have really stupid leaders. That’s where the Republican Party is now.” — James Carville

Now, whether a Repuke is vilely reprehensible, or not, it does not much matter politically. They will act as a unified, unflinching bloc on most matters. Those who act on conscience will be ostracized. So which particular miscreant is chosen is of little difference, outside of histrionics. Now in some districts, and states any Monster (R) will win; in others not so much.

The commentariat is now reeling in their cast. McConnell has given them the signal. “I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate.  Senate races are just different. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.” What he admits to is obvious [it is not possible to gerrymander a senate race], and he does not mention Biden's successes, the Supreme Court, or Trump's continuous treason.

These less than stellar candidates are legion. Very few read my essays, a lengthy essay is not practical for me to type. I will mention only a few of the horses' asses.

Florida and Texas have two incumbent performing fascists, who aspire to the presidency, as governors; both are running for re-election. In Texas, Beto Rourke (a gifted speaker, and maybe a good and sincere man) is again running against a major malefactor. Rourke lost his Senate bid against the largest cesspool in the Senate, the one senator who is hated by all senators, Rafael Canadian Cancun Cruz.

The premier charlatan the Repukes are running for senator is in the Pennsylvanian race. He lives in New Jersey. He is a Turkish agent, but primarily he is a celebrity quack. He was unleashed on America by Oprah Winfrey, and given a national teevee show, which he has used to enrich himself, partly by promoting fraudulent cures and nonsense. No surprise that the Donald approved. In Baum's story, the Wizard of Oz admitted he was a fraud.

The billionaire class puts up candidates to do their financial wants, and whims. Much of literate America realises that Koch Industries has selected many Republicans, but there are other billionaires that reach with their tentacles to arrange a politic garden. One such is Peter Thiel, a queer Nazi, who has put his millionaire employees as the senatorial candidates in Arizona, and Ohio. The one in Arizona (who may be an ex-paramour, but current political etiquette frowns on outing; but Miss Lindsey gets elected easily, time after time) is running against an incumbent who was an astronaut, and whose wife survived a political assassination.

The goofiest race is in Georgia. The current governor and his allies have done everything they could within the law, and much outside the law, to limit the voting rolls. It is easier to win elections, when you choose who votes. Kemp is running for election in a rematch against Abrams, who increased the voting rolls. In Georgia, for some time, nearly all the white congressman have been especially repugnant. But the goofiest race is for US Senate. Even before Trumple-thin-skin, white supremacy has been supreme in the South. Two generations ago it switched parties. This senate contest is between two black men. The incumbent is a Democrat, Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church Atlanta. The same church as the Kings. The other candidate is a former employee of Cadet Bone Spurs. Herschel Walker played Georgia football, and has not lived in the state for years. He has a history of severe mental problems, he probably also has football brain injuries. His comprehension, and speech patterns suggest dementia. The lack of sanity is emblematic of the Republican Partei, and electorate. Yet, the polls showed to the public are astonishingly close. Bloody well how?

all Republican speak is duplicity, mendacity, evil intent

legitimate political discourse 

Some of the most consistently lying, delusional, and ultimately evil things spill out of the mouth of the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Reince Priebus was very aggressive, and quick to distort, and twist everything. When Trump chose to make Priebus his chief of staff, Trump chose Ronna Romney McDaniel to replace him on December 14, 2016. Shortly thereafter, he told her to stop using the Romney name. At the beginning of 2019 she attacked, demeaned, and insulted her uncle for criticising her master, Trump. “For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack [trump] as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive.” She is an enemy and traitor to country, and family.

As the world knows, Trump and his party of insurrectionists had a failed putsch in January 2021. That party [the Republicans] wants that to go down the memory hole, as they further connive, conspire, and cabal to be more successful in their next attempts. Early this year, the RNC had their winter meeting. They made and passed a resolution using ultra-Orwellian language, calling the putsch “legitimate political discourse.” [see: click]

settled law as binding precedent 

Bork repeatedly promised to respect “settled law”. He was lying, and every Republican nominated to be on the Supreme Court since has similarly lied. His legal opinions would have made him a Tory in the 1770s. He did not make the jump to the Supremes, and the Republicans want revenge for every loss. It was abortion that the questioners, and proponents were publicly interested in [there were many other issues that Bork, and his party were interested in]. 

In 2005 at Roberts' confirmation hearing his initial statement included, “...Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. ... that it's my job to call balls and strikes...”.

Well, Alito's draft opinion has been leaked, in it he and his cohorts overturn Roe v. Wade 1973.

In a footnote he wrote:

“whereas the domestic supply of infants relinquished at birth or within the first month of life and available to be adopted has become virtually nonexistent.” 

This reminds me of what Jonathan Swift wrote in 1729 in “A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick”. It is a satire concerning the poverty of the Irish, and the wealth and disinterest of the English. Swift in cruel, straight faced, fancy but blunt language suggests Irish children to be sold as food to the rich English:

“A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout”.

Alito seriously, while Swift satirically, sees infants as items on the commodity market.

Evangelical Witness

People of certain religious persuasions have their own parallel language. It is not terminology of specifics that do not exist elsewhere. No, it is the same words with different meanings. I read an article about Trump's effect on the evangelicals. He created a disruptive wave among them. This writer says it is lingering, but over all they are as they were. The one area where it has caused a problem is in "witnessing".

When certain Protestants use the word "witness", or "witnessing" they are using internal code. Witness in standard speech refers to attesting to fact as in testimony, evidence, proof, knowledge from being present, and the like. They mean proselytising. They want to recruit converts. To many this is not wanted, it is uncomfortable, irritating, sometimes insulting, especially when it is intrusive, or aggressive.

Outside of religious services, this is the most religious activity they engage in. This activity is verbal, almost exclusively. One does not have to behave as a Christian (they find good works meaningless, faith is expressed in words), one hectors. Many see this as an aspect of conspicuous hypocrisy.

So why is witnessing in the age of Trump more difficult? This is the elephant in the room that is not mentioned, but fully acknowledged silently—credibility. White evangelicals were [and are] so allied with Trump. It was noticed with disgust by the world, because Trump has no positive attributes in common with good Christian living, morality, or ethics. The only thing that is shared is hypocrisy, and unnecessary verbiage. Trump is first, and most of all—a liar. He is a psychopath. This bears a  permanent stain of shame.

ugly brown

Pantone 448 C

Some years ago Australia wanted to discourage cigarette smoking some more. A company was hired to find the ugliest color to mandate use in packaging. Really?, they spent money to enrich a company. I remember hearing someone answering the question of favorite color. The person said,"brown". I immediately said, "No one's favorite color is brown". The result was supra. The government called it dark drab olive (or some variation). The olive growers were upset. Well, they had a point, olives are good; and to them they were gold. So the government decided to call it using the universal color code system. Pantone complained that there is no ugly color. Again really?, they advertise the color of the year. If one suggests a color is the favorite, or the best, or the "in" color; it follows there can be a worst, or "out" color.

The color is described as a mixture of dark brown, and green. I do not see the green. I would call the crappy color "diarrhea brown". That would also intensify the negative association. The color reminds me of the generic packaging of the early 1980s. There were cans, and packages without illustrations, and were white with only one color lettering. That generic color was often a similar brown, although i can't find a foto that is clearly brown.

Australia also put really ugly, gross, gruesome, and disgusting pictures on the packets. Australia's sale of cigarettes decreased. Other countries did the same thing.

grievance culture

A grievance is a complaint, often at a perceived unfairness or injustice. Sometimes they are justified. But crying for justice is not always appreciated. Some grievances are false. Some people are not interested at hearing any grievance (outside of their own). In slightly coarser language, complaining is called bitching, which is so applied to downgrade the process of any complaint. Truly there are people have suffered great harm and distress, and truly there are people who claim such for every instance of their displeasure over even the slightest matter. 

In a non-genteel occupation i labored in, which is rife with gossip, one fellow complained so often he was nicknamed “Bitch” ; later his son joined the same labor force, and was christened “Son of Bitch” . Years later, when they were no longer working, and not seen, they were still recalled; and their tale was spread to new workers. 

This year was a very angry year in this country. The chief subject was race. Lyndon Johnson did say,“If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”  He was right then, and is still right. Bernie Sanders, who is class conscious, ran in 2016 and this year always gives economic arguments. It is true, that the wealthy, obscenely wealthy bank on race to camouflage their mercenary greed. To divide and thus conquer the population over racial antagonisms has been a sure winner. Trump was the champion of white grievance.

The chief beneficiary of race hatred to gain political office in this country has been Donald Trump. He began his public 2016 campaign with hatred of Mexican migrants, and he never relented. He began the private campaign in response to Barack Obama, a man of color. Now and always, Donald is a wretched soul. Opposition to Obama was immediate. Soon tea-baggers formed, financed by rich Republican interests, and Fox News [sic]. This ersatz 'populism' appealed sotte voce to racists, and also screaming racial hatred directed at Obama, his wife, and others. With Trump the white racists found their standard bearer, and the grifter Trump would sell standards for them to bear.

Trump was born a rich man, and failed at everything, but being the son of a rich man failure became a success. If we were to put Donnie on the couch, he might remember his first grievance was he was not breast fed enough, if at all. That baby crankiness enveloped him to a mental sickness [krankheit]. Look at him in film, and fotos. He looks the opposite of happy. His smiles are always posed frozenly, and never come to him naturally. His humour exists only in mean-spiritness. He has a near permanent, fish pout.

Trump projects continuously. In April, in Concord N. Hamp., he again told the Scalise (the congressman, not the mobster) story. Scalise was shot, and his wife cried; Trump says a lot of wives wouldn't (his three). Also, for years he has told the snake story, “Foolish woman, you knew i was a snake when you took me in.”. Trump always talks about himself.

White people, and black people have grievances. Some of both think there are only two people: me, and the other person of the other race. Because you have a grievance, it was not caused by society favoring the other guy against you in every situation. America has angry white people, and angry black people who resent each other. Sometimes it is a turf war (and it should be acknowledged, when a formerly white neighbourhood becomes a black neighbourhood, the white people left behind are often targets of hooliganism, and crime; and this is never described as racially motivated). Other times it are the economic interests manipulating, and playing with people's lives. First look at the numbers. There are many more whites than blacks. Every white man is not set back by advantage to a black man, there are not that many black men. Also, because there are so many white men in spots, not all of them are there because a black man was cheated; there are not that many black men to be cheated.

“...Who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children, and to the grandchildren unto the third and fourth generation.” — Exodus 34. vii.

“...who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” — Numbers 14. xviii.

“The past is never dead. It's not even past.” ― William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun

Systemic racism exists. Some white people object to the term, and the idea. The effects of history last far longer than those who propelled them. A hundred years is not much time in history, history lingers. The chief event in American history is the war fought between 1861 and 1865. All those alive then, are dead now. Many in America to-day are not descendants from those in America at the time. That war was fought over black chattel slavery, and yet some people lie about it. The losing side, as Faulkner pointed out, was defeated but unvanquished. The social antagonisms, and classism did not stop. It still exists. Why are people publicly lamenting the confederate war banner? and confederate statues? The Germans do not fly nazi flags, and there are no nazi statues in Germany. Now, some white people resent this, and some black people are permanently angry. There is no collective guilt for future generations. There are lingering effects.

Black Lives Matter is a response to police brutality. Police in America are often given extreme latitude, often to the point of carte blanche. The black population, especially, feels like a captive population. Police have freely killed black people often enough, and without penalty. It is perfectly expected for black people to be upset. The examples of their lives being treated as something without any value is too frequent. One of the cliches, that are so often recited, is that nothing is worth more than a human life. It is not true in America. To this openly, obvious reality the police and their supporters go ballistic. Of course the use of ballistics is part of the problem. Police accept no reproach, and fiercely bristle with anger over criticism. Blue Lives Matter is a nonsense slogan. Black people did not say other lives do not matter, but many people do not value black life. Further, police have created a fiction, in which they are warriors preserving society. And when anger spills into rioting, many people damn the rioters while ignoring the reasons for anger. Police aggression is then positively viewed. Also the slogan “defund the police” was self defeating. Police are a political power in cities, and politicians (especially Republicans) love to use their support, and this year they were part of their campaign language. In Cleveland the police union president, Steve Loomis, in 2016, and later when he was out of office was himself an organiser of Trump events. Loomis is one of 2020's Trump electors.

White privilege is a stupid, and self defeating term. It is not a privilege to be white. Being white is not an extra gift: it even suggests that not being white is existentially inferior, and that truly black lives do not matter. It is often an advantage in America to be white. All white people are not privileged, many suffer the problems other people have. There is a privileged and favored class, and that status is primarily based on wealth. Using the term, white privilege, is meant to be provocative, and is counter productive. When making a plea for justice, to attack people with accusation, and condemnation when they are not those who are your enemies is asinine. 

And there are people who use the complaint of political correctness, as a term for censorship. They are upset of being socially not accepted for saying often rude things. There is also times when the powers in charge do not want to hear views, and they have the situational power to keep people silent. Some of those views silenced are considered politically liberal. Other terms in this realm are call out culture, and cancel culture. And then it also goes for noting lewd behaviour, e.g. slut shaming. Not all grievances carry the same weight, or importance.

Language has its purpose

Some days ago i read the last six chapters of Michiko Kakutani's "The Death of Truth: notes on falsehood in the age of Trump". A big part of the book is about anti-intellectualism, and post-modernist deconstruction and how these two, along with nihilism have prepared America for Trump and his political cohort. Two important writers who identified the evil banality of Soviet socialism (communism), and fascism are Hannah Arendt and George Orwell. Those two systems made no distinction between truth and lies, so power could be executed for the sake of power. To-day we have a regime that creates 'alternate facts'. Kakutani mentions a writer i am not familiar with, David Foster Wallace, who wrote about post-modern irony in the 1990s. She sees his mention of the advertising fictional Joe Isuzu ["You have my word on it"], and Rush Limbaugh [and his dittoheads] as precursors to Trump.

I suppose when i was in college was about the time the post-modernist deconstruction writers and disciples were about to switch on the political spectrum. Those in books at the time were far leftists, and those for more than a generation have been far rightists. Then i thought them pretentious bullshit artists that only existed in their circle of effluvium and flotsam; now they are a fascist peril. 

If i were to write that book, yes i would have used some of her sources and historical episodes. But i also would have used "2 + 2 = 4", this is Aristotelian logic; it is also mentioned by Dostojevskij and Orwell. A rational, and a free man can say this. You have freedom if you can say this without penalty. Dostojevskij also had Fr. Zosima say in "The Brothers Karamazov": 

"...The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself. The man who lies to himself can be more easily offended than anyone. You know it is sometimes very pleasant to take offence, isn't it? A man may know that nobody has insulted him, but that he has invented the insult for himself, has lied and exaggerated to make it picturesque, has caught at a word and made a mountain out of a molehill -- he knows that himself, yet he will be the first to take offence, and will revel in his resentment till he feels great pleasure in it, and so pass to genuine vindictiveness. ...". 

I also would have quoted from Solzhenitsyn's Nobel speech: "...Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose falsehood as his PRINCIPLE. ...".

“I have the best words”

On some journal posts [click], i wrote about words (language, semantics) and their relation to truth and reality. Accuracy, and honesty are important. What passes on local television as speech is dumbed down into advertising language to tease (the use of some words are nearly always wrong: “even”, “unthinkable”). Now we have another problem in quotation and translation. Donald, contrary to his stated “I have the best words”, certainly does not. His speech is middling elementary school. It is also publicly crude. His latest bon mot would not have been printable. Other men holding his current office, would use this language in private. When the Nixon tapes came out, the transcript was full of “expletive[s] deleted”. At the time, i had to go to the dictionary for “expletive”.  American journalism is almost forced to quote Trump verbatim. Non-English speaking countries are having to use equivalent terms: “agujeros de mierda”, “pays de merde”, “drecksloch”, “Bongoland”.  BUT, everyone knew this before the election.