Another danger is lurking besides the current viral pandemic case load increases, and it is directly related to it.
The danger is that millions of people may not be able to vote because they will be homeless and/or out of work.
They may become so stressed that voting will be the last thing on their mind:
20 Million Renters Are at Risk of Eviction; Policymakers Must Act Now to Mitigate Widespread Hardship
"Across the country, renters and tenants advocates are sounding the alarm about the coming eviction crisis, referring to it as an avalanche or tsunami. Over the past five months, more than 44 million Americans have filed for unemployment amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As the recession continues, economic stimulus payments are spent, and expanded Unemployment Insurance expires, many of these displaced workers will be unable to make housing payments.
Mass evictions would be a disaster. For both individuals and families, evictions result in severe harm; when they become widespread, there are also significant consequences for entire communities and even the speed of economic recovery. Policymakers are actively seeking solutions, but it is difficult to prepare without knowing the size of the problem.
The COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project (CEDP) was formed to solve that problem. It is a coalition of economic researchers and legal experts who developed a model to estimate eviction risk nationally and at the state level. The disturbing result: 19 to 23 million, or one in five of the 110 million Americans who live in renter households, are at risk of eviction by September 30, 2020."
(The Aspen Institute). It may be bad for homeowners too in the sense of foreclosures, depending on the governments' (federal and state) response.
They are cruel enough to lock up children and rip them from the arms of their parents, cruel enough to weakly respond to the Covid-19 crisis, and cruel enough to encourage stress syndrome conditions then suppress the vote.
In this series (which I suspect has been seen as hyperbole by those who are infected with the "it can't happen here cognitive virus") the issue of the effects of disobeying or ignoring the wisdom and understanding of our founders has been considered.
One post in the series went so far as to list vast amounts of military war equipment that was being sent to every state and county around the country (Will The Military Become The Police? - 10, September 9, 2014).
All that was missing, in terms of using that equipment against protestors, was the good judgment of officials in states, counties, the military, and the White House.
That may no longer be the case:
"He specifically called on governors across the country to deploy the National Guard and vowed to deploy the U.S. military if states refused to comply. 'Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence ['domination'] until the violence has been quelled,' Trump said."
The military's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff marched along behind the president, together with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense.
The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
Read up on The Reichstag Fire metaphor and some words from the inside:
"We spend more on national security than the rest of the world combined ..."
"The Military is the lead federal agency on climate change ... and that is ... extremely dangerous ... we may lose the republic ..." - Professor Wilkerson (video)
Impeachment fearmongers use the talking point falsehood that impeachment is not "governing."
Anyone who passed fifth grade civics knows better than that:
"Impeachment is a constitutional remedy addressed to serious offenses against the system of government. It is the first step in a remedial process - that of removal from public office and possible disqualification from holding further office. The purpose of impeachment is not personal punishment; rather, its function is primarily to maintain constitutional government."
(Deschler Ch 14 App. pp 726–728, emphasis added). Those who say that the House of Representatives should not conduct an impeachment inquiry are adverse to maintaining a constitutional government:
"The president is considering ... [portraying] House Democrats as liberal insiders who are focused on impeachment instead of governing."
(Washington Post, emphasis added). According to our fake president, maintaining the form of government envisioned in the United States Constitution and laws is not an act of governing the United States.
He and his sycophantic enablers are just plain anti-American and filled to the brim with dishonesty wrapped in ignorance.
II. Inquiry Writ Large
The activity that precedes an impeachment is an inquiry:
"inquiry: the act of asking for information: An inquiry is also an official attempt to discover the facts about something."
(Dictionary, emphasis added). Those who are adverse to the facts are adverse to an inquiry into constitutional governing.
III. Closing Comments
“The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.”—George Orwell
“Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson
"Thus, the degree to which a Whistleblower in the U.S. government is mistreated is directly related to the degree of corruption that been established within that government." - Dredd
"The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
(Article I § 2 U.S. Constitution, emphasis added)
Let the facts fall where they may and establish the inquiry (we do not want leaderskip we want leadership).
Favorite songs of republican senators ...
It is uncanny that billions of people can live on a planet yet not know where they are (You Are Here) and that millions of people can live in a nation and likewise not know were they are.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
(Gandhi). But there is no winning when a country is in the final throes of the things all great civilizations go through suicidally.
II. Popular Finality
The final throes can only take place when suicidal practices become heroic by virtue of mass popularity:
And that is the final essence of the despotic minority that forms and destroys the civilization through primitive and pervasive fear:
But always TCS is primarily the population segment diagnosed as a despotic minority which the once most-often-quoted historian, Toynbee, fingered as one of the members of the trinity of extinction that he found in all civilizations that were about to become very successful at becoming extinct:
That something is the dementia that produces and ends up in suicide:
"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown."
(A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee). There is no cure for the final symptom of that group dementia, there is only prevention by way of avoiding it altogether in the first place.
The components of that group dementia were pointed out in an encyclopedia piece concerning that historian quoted above:
"In the Study Toynbee examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders. Civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to the sins of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority. Unlike Spengler in his The Decline of the West, Toynbee did not regard the death of a civilization as inevitable, for it may or may not continue to respond to successive challenges. Unlike Karl Marx, he saw history as shaped by spiritual, not economic forces" ...
(Encyclopedia Britannica, emphasis added). The show stopper, in terms of remedy, in this type of group dementia is that it is a contagious dementia.
On TV, in the Social Media, and in your face, we just learned that the President of the nation that claims to be the least racist, least fascist, least warmongering, and the most free ... was condemned for racism:
"The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, joined by four Republicans and an independent, voted Tuesday to condemn President Trump for comments about Democratic congresswomen which the resolution described as 'racist.' The resolution passed 240-187, with no Democrat voting “nay.” The four Republicans to vote in favor were Reps. Susan Brooks (Ind.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Will Hurd (Texas), and Fred Upton (Mich.), who were joined by Republican-turned-independent Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.). Six Republicans did not vote. The resolution 'strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color ...'”
(CNS News, emphasis added). The nation that wrote Slavery into its Constitution, the Nation where an uncanny percent of presidents owned slaves (The Germ Theory - of Government - 7), now has to condemn its president for racism.
Have you "come a long way baby?"
IV. But Racism Is Illegal Isn't It?
The courts make decisions that would certainly lead us to think that racism is illegal in the United States:
"For 150 years, the Supreme Court has applied the 14th Amendment in rulings that have shaped civil rights and liberties in America. Introduced to address the racial discrimination endured by Black people who were recently emancipated from slavery, the amendment confirmed the rights and privileges of citizenship and, for the first time, guaranteed all Americans equal protection under the laws. The 14th Amendment continues to be central to the fight for racial equality and many other social justice movements. Still, much work remains to ensure that its protections are inclusive."
Independence from official conspiracies with foreign governments designed to take away the rights of the citizens (Dept. of Justice Conspiracy - 3) ?
II. Senate Report Answers
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is currently composed of Senators: Richard Burr, (R-NC) Chairman; Mark Warner (D-VA) Vice Chairman; James Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Susan Collins (R-ME), Roy Blunt (R-MO), James Lankford (R-OK), Tom Cotton (R-AR), John Cornyn (R-TX), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Angus King (D-ME), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Kamala Harris (D-CA).
The day before "Independence Day" they released a report that was in factual opposition to the House Committee whose chairman forgot how to recuse himself:
"WASHINGTON – Today, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) released the Committee’s unclassified summary of its initial findings on the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russian activities in the 2016 U.S. elections. The Committee finds that the overall judgments issued in the ICA were well-supported and the tradecraft was strong. The course of the Committee’s investigation has shown that the Russian cyber operations were more extensive than the hack of the Democratic National Committee and continued well through the 2016 election.
Vice Chair Warner
'The Committee has spent the last 16 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft and analytic work underpinning the Intelligence Community Assessment and sees no reason to dispute the conclusions,” said Chairman Burr. “The Committee continues its investigation and I am hopeful that this installment of the Committee’s work will soon be followed by additional summaries providing the American people with clarity around Russia’s activities regarding U.S. elections.'
'Our investigation thoroughly reviewed all aspects of the January 2017 ICA, which assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign to target our presidential election and to destabilize our democratic institutions,” said Vice Chairman Warner. “As numerous intelligence and national security officials in the Trump administration have since unanimously re-affirmed, the ICA findings were accurate and on point. The Russian effort was extensive and sophisticated, and its goals were to undermine public faith in the democratic process, to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Donald Trump. While our investigation remains ongoing, we have to learn from 2016 and do more to protect ourselves from attacks in 2018 and beyond.'
The summary is the second unclassified installment in the Committee’s report on Russian election activities."
(Press Release, emphasis added). That comes down to independence from traitorous activity designed to thwart the will of the people expressed by their votes (July 3 2018 Senate Report, PDF).
That can be analyzed from several perspectives within several academic disciplines.
Today, I want to revisit this phenomenon from the perspective of how it hovers always just below the covers in the United States (and nations like the United States).
It is the psychological or social perspective of groups that I am getting at.
According to expert observers, it is a surprisingly common understanding that liberals and conservatives alike are aware of and generally have agreement about:
The photo to the left is a photo of a family in the NAZI governed Germany of long ago.
Have you ever noticed how many "family" words are associated with the concept of "nation" in literature, politics, and government?
A quick check of a few relevant metaphors (forefathers, father of the constitution, Uncle Sam, motherland, fatherland, homeland, father of the nation, founding fathers, mother of the nation, family of nations, etc.) makes me want to look at perhaps the key source-metaphor for this notion:
... a common metaphor, shared by conservatives and liberals alike -- the Nation-as-Family metaphor, in which the nation is seen as a family, the government as a parent and the citizens as children ...
It’s no accident that our political beliefs are structured by our idealizations of the family. Our earliest experience with being governed is in our families. Our parents “govern” us: They protect us, tell us what we can and cannot do, make sure we have enough money and supplies, educate us, and have us do our part in running the house.
So it is not at all surprising that many nations are metaphorically seen in terms of families: Mother Russia, Mother India, the Fatherland. In America, we have founding fathers, Daughters of the American Revolution, Uncle Sam, and we send our collective sons and daughters to war. In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the voice of the totalitarian state was called Big Brother.
As George Lakoff discussed at length in his 1996 book, Moral Politics, this metaphorical understanding of the nation-as-family directly informs our political worldview. Directly, but not consciously. As with other aspects of framing, the use of this metaphor lies below the level of consciousness.
(The Nation As Family, PDF). It is important to remember the part of the concept indicating that "the use of this metaphor lies below the level of consciousness", because in this post today we are going to try to take a look at part of that iceberg we can see, which is not only conscious, but is also attached to the bulk that is not conscious.
"The answer came from a realization that we tend to understand the nation metaphorically in family terms: We have founding fathers. We send our sons and daughters to war. We have homeland security. The conservative and progressive worldviews dividing our country can most readily be understood in terms of moral worldviews that are encapsulated in two very different common forms of family life: The Nurturant Parent family (progressive) and the Strict Father family (conservative). What do social issues and the politics have to do with the family? We are first governed in our families, and so we grow up understanding governing institutions in terms of the governing systems of families. In the strict father family, father knows best. He knows right from wrong and has the ultimate authority to make sure his children and his spouse do what he says, which is taken to be what is right. Many conservative spouses accept this worldview, uphold the father’s authority, and are strict in those realms of family life that they are in charge of. When his children disobey, it is his moral duty to punish them painfully enough so that, to avoid punishment, they will obey him (do what is right) and not just do what feels good. Through physical discipline they are supposed to become disciplined, internally strong, and able to prosper in the external world. What if they don’t prosper? That means they are not disciplined, and therefore cannot be moral, and so deserve their poverty. This reasoning shows up in conservative politics in which the poor are seen as lazy and undeserving, and the rich as deserving their wealth. Responsibility is thus taken to be personal responsibility not social responsibility. What you become is only up to you; society has nothing to do with it. You are responsible for yourself, not for others — who are responsible for themselves."
(Understanding Trump, by Dr. Lakoff, Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, emphasis added).
When events are seen in ways that indicate "things are going bad," the reactionary members of the populace who hold this strict father world view become sycophants and/or authoritarian followers (Beware of the Sycophant Epidemic, 2).
History tells us that it solves nothing and in fact brings the house down on our heads:
For example, the Encyclopedia Britannica pointed out the ingredients of the DNA of that history, which incidentally, also applies to our current culture's genetic code:
"In the Study Toynbee examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders. Civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to the sins of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority. Unlike Spengler in his The Decline of the West, Toynbee did not regard the death of a civilization as inevitable, for it may or may not continue to respond to successive challenges. Unlike Karl Marx, he saw history as shaped by spiritual, not economic forces."
(Previous Post). What remains to be seen is whether the strong man disease will infect enough despots to become "the new normal" (Follow The Immunity - 4).
And a U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame member publicly stated:
"Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to US national security. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr Putin."
"When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America...America will triumph over you."
I heard one former U.S. Attorney say that these events are a diversion to take the media attention off the Stormy Daniels Scandal.
That scandal has now been admitted to from The Don's side in the sense that they counter sued Stormy and want to now make a federal case out of it:
"President Donald Trump has jumped into the lawsuit filed against him by an adult film actress seeking to void a “hush agreement” about their relationship,
while his longtime attorney is claiming that they have the right to sue her for at least $20 million.
The latest twist comes after the White House initially claimed Trump had nothing to do with Trump Organization lawyer Michael Cohen’s payment of $130,000 to Stephanie Clifford ― better known by her stage name, Stormy Daniels ― just days before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen filed papers Friday to move Clifford’s lawsuit from state court in California to a federal court there. Trump, through Beverly Hills lawyer Charles Harder, filed papers indicating that he agrees with Cohen that the matter belongs in federal court."
What makes the diversion observation valid IMO is that new factors entered the picture yesterday when Stormy's lawyer pointed out that she had been threatened with physical harm if she talked (Stormy Daniels was threatened with physical harm, lawyer claims).
III. Conclusion
The Kremlin must have something quite substantial that causes The Don to gamble so much with obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy charges hanging around.
What is for certain is that we are watching to see if what Director Brennan said to The Don ("America will triumph over you") will come true.
The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
Gambling storms ...
The simple argument supporting that declaration is that he is only one person.
He is an individual who is a member of a group of about 62,984,825 people who, in varying degrees (0-100), have the same group dementia.
One thing that has happened to most civilizations is something that has been fatal to each and every one of them.
That something is the dementia that produces and ends up in 'suicide':
"In other words, a society does not ever die 'from natural causes', but always dies from suicide or murder --- and nearly always from the former, as this chapter has shown."
(A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee). There is no cure for the final symptom of that group dementia (there is only prevention by way of avoiding it altogether in the first place).
The components of that group dementia were pointed out in an encyclopedia article concerning the historian quoted above:
"In the Study Toynbee examined the rise and fall of 26 civilizations in the course of human history, and he concluded that they rose by responding successfully to challenges under the leadership of creative minorities composed of elite leaders. Civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and the civilizations then sank owing to the sins of nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority. Unlike Spengler in his The Decline of the West, Toynbee did not regard the death of a civilization as inevitable, for it may or may not continue to respond to successive challenges. Unlike Karl Marx, he saw history as shaped by spiritual, not economic forces" ...
(Encyclopedia Britannica, emphasis added). The show stopper (in terms of remedy, in this type of group dementia) is that it is a contagious dementia.
Group dynamics, in this context, are contagions to those who become ideological members of a demented group within a society.
Applying that to current society, we can easily recognize the rampant nationalism and militarism in our culture.
Focusing on the third factor ("tyranny of a despotic minority") tends to be much more difficult.
So here are the numbers concerning the minority we are talking about:
Clinton
65,853,516
48.18%
Trump
62,984,825
46.09%
(Federal Election Commission). A minority consisting of some 62,984,825 people voted for President Trump (but it was a smaller subgroup within that group who cast the 304 electoral votes that actually won the election for him).
The 62,984,825 voters are a minority, and the 65,853,516 are a majority by definition (a slim 2.09% majority).
Moving on to 'despotic,' we find that in that violent insurrection oriented group sense, it is associated with despotism:
... societies which limit respect and power to specific groups have also been called despotic.
(Wikipedia). There need not be a dictator or other autocratic individual in order to meet Toynbee's description set forth in his study, especially in the sense of the description "the tyranny of a despotic minority."
In this sense, a minority means a group composed of a population less than the majority of a society (but wielding substantial directional influence).
Note that this would not be possible in the United States if it was a democracy rather than a constitutional republic with an Electoral College that can elect presidents without a majority popular vote (as in the 2016 election of Donald Trump).
To fit into the Toynbee description, all that is needed is that the group be despotic in nature, which is to be 'authoritarian' (a synonym).
This type of authoritarian despotism requires two fundamental characteristics:
Authoritarianism is something authoritarian followers and authoritarian leaders cook up between themselves. It happens when the followers submit too much to the leaders, trust them too much, and give them too much leeway to do whatever they want -- which often is something undemocratic, tyrannical and brutal. In my day, authoritarian fascist and authoritarian communist dictatorships posed the biggest threats to democracies, and eventually lost to them in wars both hot and cold. But authoritarianism itself has not disappeared, and I'm going to present the case in this book that the greatest threat to American democracy today arises from a militant authoritarianism that has become a cancer upon the nation.
(The Authoritarians, book by Bob Altemeyer, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, PDF). Put those two together (leaders and followers) in a group with despotic ideology and we have a structure matching and composing a despotic group of the type that historian Toynbee wrote about.
But, in this case the despotism is "soft despotism" to wit:
"Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people. Soft despotism gives people the illusion that they are in control, when in fact they have very little influence over their government. Soft despotism breeds fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the general populace. Alexis de Tocqueville observed that this trend was avoided in America only by the "habits of the heart" of its 19th-century populace."
(Soft Despotism, Wikipedia). The way the despotism is maintained by a minority has been explained by "the father of spin" (The Ways of Bernays).
III. The Current Soft Despotism
Is Hardening Into Tribalism
The concept of tribalism is probably easier for us to understand, because it has been engineered to fruition in our time:
"But then we don’t really have to wonder what it’s like to live in a tribal society anymore, do we? Because we already do. Over the past couple of decades in America, the enduring, complicated divides of ideology, geography, party, class, religion, and race have mutated into something deeper, simpler to map, and therefore much more ominous. I don’t just mean the rise of political polarization (although that’s how it often expresses itself), nor the rise of political violence (the domestic terrorism of the late 1960s and ’70s was far worse), nor even this country’s ancient black-white racial conflict (though its potency endures). I mean a new and compounding combination of all these differences into two coherent tribes, eerily balanced in political power, fighting not just to advance their own side but to provoke, condemn, and defeat the other."
(America Wasn’t Built for Humans). The group psychology at work forming our minds and thoughts when tribalism prevails is enmity towards "the other."
Recent scientific papers have pointed out that our culture, and in some cases our subculture, is "remodeling" our brains all the time:
"Beyond such internal mechanisms of variation, environment-driven plasticity lends yet another layer of complexity to the brain. The brain is capable of remarkable remodeling in response to experience. Signals originating from the environment can cause both widespread and localized adaptations. At the level of individual cells, structure and function are continually changing with the environment in a dance of lifelong brain plasticity, and some experiences, such as stress or physical exercise, affect the growth, survival, and fate of newborn neurons in neurogenic regions of the brain. ... Traditionally, cells are defined by the tissue to which they belong as well as their particular functional role or morphology. This classification represents a developmental trajectory that begins early in embryogenesis and is hardwired into each cell. But other differences among cells are more subtle. Multi-dimensional analyses of gene expression and other metrics have revealed remarkable heterogeneity among cells of the same traditional “type.” Cells exist in different degrees of maturation, activation,plasticity, and morphology. Once we begin to consider all of the subtle cell-to-cell variations, it becomes clear that the number of cell types is much greater than ever imagined. In fact, it may be more appropriate to place some cells along a continuum rather than into categories at all. ... Brain cells in particular may be as unique as the people to which they belong. This genetic, molecular, and morphological diversity of the brain leads to functional variation that is likely necessary for the higher-order cognitive processes that are unique to humans. Such mosaicism may have a dark side, however. Although neuronal diversification is normal, it is possible that there is an optimal extent of diversity for brain function and that anything outside those bounds—too low or too high—may be pathological. For example, if neurons fail to function optimally in their particular role or environment, deficits could arise. Similarly, if neurons diversify and become too specialized to a given role, they may lose the plasticity required to change and function normally within a larger circuit. As researchers continue to probe the enormous complexity of the brain at the single-cell level, they will likely begin to uncover the answers to these questions—as well as those we haven’t even thought to ask yet."
(Hypothesis: The Cultural Amygdala - 5). We know more about some of those dynamics than those previous civilizations did, civilizations that went down by "suicide" (self-destruction).
Will that superior scientific knowledge we have be sufficient to make us aware of ways to avoid the suicidal fate that engulfed previous groups (which we call "civilizations") recorded in our written history?
Today's post shares some information about an Oiligarch of Oil-Qaeda.
An Oiligarch who is being courted by a member of The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan known as "the Leader of the Laundromat."
It begins with the written statement, and expert testimony (see video below, long but worth it) that was quite recently given under oath to the Senate Judicial Committee (for some reason it is not reported on sufficiently in the media yet).
It is testimony (hopefully the good witness lives long!) that finally trumps some of the mystery contained in current media reporting.
That mystery is "why would The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan lie so much to everybody when there is no 'there' there ?"
Well, as it turns out, there is more there there than previously "imagined":
"Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, and members of the committee, thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify today on the Russian government’s attempts to repeal the Magnitsky Act in Washington in 2016, and the enablers who conducted this campaign in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, by not disclosing their roles as agents for foreign interests. Before I get into the actions of the agents who conducted the anti-Magnitsky campaign in Washington for the benefit of the Russian state, let me share a bit of background about Sergei Magnitsky and myself."
Well then, let's shock jock ourselves with these tidbits:
"Russia has a well-known reputation for corruption; unfortunately, I discovered that it was far worse than many had thought. While working in Moscow I learned that Russian oligarchs stole from shareholders, which included the fund I advised. Consequently, I had an interest in fighting this endemic corruption, so my firm started doing detailed research on exactly how the oligarchs stole the vast amounts of money that they did. When we were finished with our research we would share it with the domestic and international media. For a time, this naming and shaming campaign worked remarkably well and led to less corruption and increased share prices in the companies we invested in. Why? Because President Vladimir Putin and I shared the same set of enemies. When Putin was first elected in 2000, he found that the oligarchs had misappropriated much of the president’s power as well. They stole power from him while stealing money from my investors. In Russia, your enemy’s enemy is your friend, and even though I’ve never met Putin, he would often step into my battles with the oligarchs and crack down on them. That all changed in July 2003, when Putin arrested Russia’s biggest oligarch and richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Putin grabbed Khodorkovsky off his private jet, took him back to Moscow, put him on trial, and allowed television cameras to film Khodorkovsky sitting in a cage right in the middle of the courtroom. That image was extremely powerful, because none of the other oligarchs wanted to be in the same position. After Khodorkovsky’s conviction, the other oligarchs went to Putin and asked him what they needed to do to avoid sitting in the same cage as Khodorkovsky. From what followed, it appeared that Putin’s answer was, “Fifty percent.” He wasn’t saying 50 percent for the Russian government or the presidential administration of Russia, but 50 percent for Vladimir Putin personally. From that moment on, Putin became the biggest oligarch in Russia and the richest man in the world, and my anti-corruption activities would no longer be tolerated."
(ibid, The Atlantic, emphasis added). So, the act was about seizing billions of dollars hidden in banks in "the West," rather than Putin's concern for children.
The richest man in the world would likely reward anyone who could lift the sanctions that now have his money on ice:
"For two reasons. First, since 2012 it’s emerged that Vladimir Putin was a beneficiary of the stolen $230 million that Sergei Magnitsky exposed. Recent revelations from the Panama Papers have shown that Putin’s closest childhood friend, Sergei Roldugin, a famous cellist, received $2 billion of funds from Russian oligarchs and the Russian state. It’s commonly understood that Mr. Roldugin received this money as an agent of Vladimir Putin. Information from the Panama Papers also links some money from the crime that Sergei Magnitsky discovered and exposed to Sergei Roldugin. Based on the language of the Magnitsky Act, this would make Putin personally subject to Magnitsky sanctions. This is particularly worrying for Putin, because he is one of the richest men in the world. I estimate that he has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains from these types of operations over his 17 years in power. He keeps his money in the West and all of his money in the West is potentially exposed to asset freezes and confiscation. Therefore, he has a significant and very personal interest in finding a way to get rid of the Magnitsky sanctions."
(ibid). Wow, that is a few billion reasons for helping Putin get his money back, eh?
"A little" shape shifting, "a little" bullshitting, and ... viola ... back in the black for The Shapeshifters of Bullshitistan.
Is the deadly game going to go all bullshit on steroids and perhaps bigly violent, now that The Don has blown his cover and the U.S. Congress is adding even more sanctions?
The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.
This series is about a metamorphosis most likely caused by proton tunneling, and about other aspects of the Bob Dylan lyric "the circus is in town" (Desolation Row).
It has long been believed that behavior is genetic, however, that belief is becoming watered down as we learn more about genes:
"In this paper we have pointed out that, since the protons are not classical particles but "wave packets" obeying the laws of modern quantum theory, the genetic code
Alternate Economics
cannot --in spite of all precautions-- be 100% stable. Due to the quantum-mechanical "tunnel effect," there is always a small but finite probability that the protons will change place, alter the genetic code, and give rise to mutations. This implies also that this transfer of protons over a distance of about 10-8 cm may be one of the driving forces in the evolution of living organisms on the earth."
(The Uncertain Gene). Even the "selfish gene" hypothesis is being supplanted by the "alternate gene" hypotheses (On The Origin of Genieology) since the discovery of the "only I can do it gene" that was revealed at the Republican alternate science convention in July of 2016 (Only I Can Do It).
Which led to the suspicion that the genieology of the current shapeshifters of Bullshistan may be at work in the current incarnation of "the circus is in town."
A genieology that has led to the revelation of alternate facts, alternate highway 61, alternate politics, alternate misunderestimations, alternate enemies, alternate testimony, and alternate explanations.
II. A Rising Scar
This post is about the advent of Moochifer ("Mooch" for short) and the advent of alternate economics:
"In 2005, [Moochifer] founded SkyBridge Capital, a global alternative investment firm."
(Wikipedia, emphasis added). That link explains how Moochifer sold a company that ended up @ Leyman Brothers before Leyman went Das Kapital bankrupt (while they were still "too big to fail").
III. Love Communications
Moochifer said over and over in his first Whut House press conference that he loves The Don very bigly (Heavy).
There is every indication that Moochifer will also get along well with Ryan Rand ("The First Pence"), because they both have the same patron saint (Ayn Rand: Patron Saint of The Plutocracy - 3).
I thought I would continue the phrase I coined during the Bush II Administration ("Bulshitistan"), however, I though it should be placed in a series rather than in random places in comments and the like.
The language spoken in Bullshitistan is designated as BS-01.5572, but in scientific circles it is called "double-speak," a language which has been studied incessantly (Propaganda Is A "Toxic Asset", quoting Professor Lutz).
II. Swamped
It is in honor of the quickest draw in the swamp:
It took former President George W. Bush 1,205 days to reach a majority disapproval rating. Former President Barack Obama crossed that threshold in 936 days.
Gallup poll of 1,500 Americans finds. As of Saturday, 51 percent of Americans disapproved of Trump.
Trump’s majority disapproval rating comes after a tumultuous first week in office that was capped off with his widely protested executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. After the president’s first day in office, millions of women and men protested his agenda in the Women’s March on Washington and sister marches around the world.
"nonperforming assets" or "nonperforming credits" which are "rolled over" or "rescheduled."
Corporations never lose money; they just experience "negative cash flow," "deficit enhancement," "net profit revenue deficiencies," or "negative contributions to profits."
Currently, The ConWay is casting aspersion spells on those who are making fun of her for running off the rails to temporarily make things up in violation of the fundamental rule (BS-01.5572.Rule.001): "only things that the base will believe can be made up out of whole cloth" (Bowling Green massacre? Kellyanne Conway has taken alt facts up a notch).
One thing to note is that the Federal Court of Appeals is not paranoid about lies (It Takes A Culture To Raise A Compulsive Liar), so SOB will take that into consideration (according to the SOB rule-book, generally, the next step is to threaten SCR with an invasion).
