Invasion Of The Baby Snatchers!

The natural world in which we live is neither cruel nor merciful. But our man-made world can be both. It is a reflection of our peaceful, loving, destructive and hateful values in practice. For the most part, we in The First World have enjoyed a state of stability for over seventy years.  But during the last few years there has been a disturbance in The Force. The Yin/Yang model of good/evil has swung wildly over to the nasty side. Most modern democracies are currently experiencing variations of this phenomenon.

Here in the land of E Pluribus Unum, we've undergone a massive shift over to coarse and unconscionable public discourse, cold and uncaring governance, demonstrable lies as standard operating procedure, and a Me-First political philosophy. I got mine, pal. You gotta problem? Go cry to a Lib.

While typing this, "breaking news" indicates that Trump will reverse his No-Tolerance Policy regarding the separation of children from refugee parents seeking asylum, and those termed "undocumented immigrants". If so, Thank God and all those who applied public pressure. If not for the immense scale of public outrage and the threat of HUGE rallies and marches, this abominable practice would be maintained.

And for what purpose? The Wall. Trump has not been able to get his #1 Campaign Promise to become realized.  It's what animated his early base of supporters during the Republican Presidential Primaries; it gave him enough nomination votes to get past the other 16 ne'er-do-well candidates. Everything he does is done with keeping this "base of deplorables" on his side. He knows if he loses them, all is lost.

So what to do? Create a policy that criminalizes undocumented immigrants. Such policy demands the removal of children from parents upon arrest. Moreover, this has included the criminalization of refugees who are seeking asylum in our country. Even at Port of Entries, they are coaxed to cross the border where they are arrested, with their children being removed as a policy consequence.

Now you have kidnapped hostages. And the ransom is The Wall. The ransom note has been the Administration's insistence that it is following the law, biblically. Not convinced about this argument? Check out these facts on the matter from our friends at The Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/19/the-facts-about-trumps-policy-of-separating-families-at-the-border/?utm_term=.19fb56dce2a5

Yeah, Fake News all right. If you have any Fox News/Hate Radio friends or family who spout off about how Obama did it, too, or that there isn't a policy, or that it's the law, or these parents are to blame, or the kids are crisis actors, or it's like a summer camp/boarding school, or Shut Up He Explained, please direct them to the WaPo link. It does require the ability to read, and to think about what the words mean. Tell 'em there are even videos they can watch if they get bored.

Meanwhile, the President, who is supposed to be a leader and a uniter for the common good, fans the racist rhetoric, because, you know, his base. Yesterday, he said: 

"Democrats are the problem. They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!" 

Huh. "Infest our Country". The last time there was a First World government referring to people as vermin, it looked like this:

"Let's go with 'Things Hitler said about the Jews' for $100." I understand there is a sensitivity about calling this Trump stuff out as Nazi-like. And it's blessedly true that we haven't gone Full Nazi. But consider Germany in early 1933. Most people then couldn't imagine what Full Nazi would be like in a few years, either. We need to call it by a recognizable new name that will connote its full fascist meaning. Hmmm. How about simply MAGA? 

Sheesh, this is all giving me a complex! But one has to wonder, what happens next? If Trump succeeds in the criminalization/stereotyping of a whole group of people seeking American protection and betterment, where does it lead? Well, lemme tell ya. The next step will be excluding all Muslim immigrants. Then we'll keep out all immigrants of color ("shithole countries"). Finally, in a Steve Bannon-inspired triumph of the will, we'll exclude ALL immigrants.

But wait, the fun continues! Once the borders are "secure", the long and painful Eye of Sauron will scan the domestic scene. If you're not MAGA pure, you may end up with a real problem. Yes, it sounds ridiculous now, but goddammit this is how fascist states begin! 

As this whole controversy developed over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about the audacious and brilliant 2006 movie, "Children of Men". While it follows a different kind of story line (in the near future, mankind has lost the ability to reproduce) there is a very chilling feature that resonates. As the world goes to hell, nations erect border walls with massive military presence to keep refugees out. And inside... there are heavily guarded internment camps filled with arrested refugees and "others". 

Do yourself a favor and watch "Children of Men" for the first time, or see it again. It's amazing virtuoso film-making that seems much more relevant today than it did when it was first released.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161215-why-children-of-men-has-never-been-as-shocking-as-it-is-now

And to end things on a high note, let's all contemplate the words of the great Jane Addams while listening to the wise words of Hal David (and Burt Bacharach) via Dionne Warwick. Corny, but true:

It's A Mad House!

Fresh from pulling the rug out from our main allies at the G7 summit, President Trump triumphantly returned from Singapore this week after craftily agreeing to give everything North Korean leader Kim Jong-un requested.

"There's no longer a nuclear threat," he explained. After the ridilicous ramp-up of bellicose threats earlier this year, a statement like this is welcome though untrue. And though it's true that any immediate military threat in Korea has lessened, thanks to this meeting that NK promoted, there are some galaxy-wide gaps found in the official half-page "agreement." Like.... details? Anything? I suppose when two dictators get together, they can look each other in the eye and reach an intuitive understanding. But what about folks like the military, arms control experts, and nuclear waste cleanup companies? What about the elites?

Speaking of the military, Trump's unexpected directive to cease U.S. and South Korean military exercises came as a Big Surprise to nearly everyone: The US military, the South Korean prime minister and the SK military, the White House cabinet and staff, the State Department, etc. etc. One person not surprised was Vladimir Putin, who previously spoke with Trump about stopping the exercises. Trump's best rationale to astonished allies? No exercises means we will save money!

But it is all good. There will be other meetings at other times where details will be addressed, and then everyone will say Ha-Ha, there goes North Korea again, breaking their promise just like they did with similar (but much more explicit) proposals from 1985, 1992, 1994, 2005, 2007 and 2012. It's in their nature, just as it is for Trump to seek a glitzy "win" with no strings attached. He'll be on to some other crisis of his own making when this one falls apart in a few months.

In other fun news, there is the ongoing controversy regarding the separation of children from their parents at the US/Mexico border. It's been an ugly series of revelations, including one where a breast-feeding mother had her infant pulled away. She was handcuffed and arrested. Hard to believe any of these actions can remotely be called "American".  There's even uncertainty about the number of detained children, where they are, and how long they've been gone. It's like a bad Grimm's Fairy Tale nightmare. Adding to the atrocity of it all is the President falsely claiming it's the fault of Democrats - "It's their law... we're just following it." Of course, there is no such law. It is a Trump Administration policy crafted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and enacted by the President.

But then the Administration's defense of this abominable policy kicks in and it's SO bad. Jeff Sessions, speaking to a group of Evangelists, suggests that he's just following the law, and that's the way God planned it:

https://www.theroot.com/jeff-sessions-quotes-the-bible-to-justify-abusing-immig-1826857973

The specific bible quote had been used in the American Revolution by Loyalists against George Washington and Company. It was used extensively by pro-Slavery proponents against Abolitionists. The idea that God has ordained "the law" to be followed is so fallacious it's beyond laughable. Using Sessions and others' tortured logic, the Nazis were simply following God and German law when they arrested Jews, confiscated their property, and sent them "away." Jim Crow laws were meant by God to be followed by uppity black folk.  The list goes on. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders lamely weighed in, too, arguing that "it is very biblical to follow the law".

The best reaction to this High Ridiculousness? Our favorite satirist, Alexandra Petri's sublime take:

"What part of 'It Is An Evil Bad Policy That Is The Fault Of Democrats But Also It Is A Good Policy That God Explicitly Wants Us To Obey' seems inconsistent to you?"

Oh, and the interviews that were had! A veritable blizzard of blarney! In one Fox News interview alone:

-- He kept yammering about being approached by parents of killed Korean War vets, asking him to bring back their remains. Do the math (the war ended in 1953). These are some ancient parents.
-- Responding to Kim Jong-un being a bad guy who had done bad things, he explained "Yeah, but so have a lot of other people have done some really bad things. I mean, I could go through a lot of nations where a lot of bad things were done."
-- Continuing his "Blame Obama" tactic, he suggested that Obama forced Putin to invade Crimea, which is OK because everyone there speaks Russian.  The Russian takeover of eastern Ukraine was "something that happened" that Obama used to get Putin out of G8. And it's OK because everyone there speaks Russian. (Watch out United Kingdom, Canada and Australia - we're coming for you because you speak English.)
-- And if Putin were back in the fold at G8 meetings, Trump could simply turn to him at dinner and ask, as a favor, to get out of Syria and Crimea and Ukraine? Vlad, as a solid, can you get your armed forces outta there? Thanks a whole bunch.

In the impromptu presser to Fox News and then others held yesterday morning on the WH lawn, he seemed to be trying to break his own world record for number of lies told in a single setting. It was a sight to behold. He suggested that he wanted the kind of attention that Kim Jong-un gets. He claimed that the recent FBI Inspector General report exonerated him from collusion and obstruction (it did no such thing because it was focusing on an entirely different issue). Oh, just click on this link for an amazing rundown on the sheer scale of profound fabrications that flowed from his lying mouth:

https://www.wonkette.com/trump-lies

Also, please be sure to scroll down on that article to read the wonderful comments. Snark reigns supreme there.

Yes, Trump wants to be Supreme and Dear Leader, one whose Cabinet slobbers all over him, his staff slavishly follow his every word salad ingredient, and the American people do not question his authority.

Never be the first one to stop clapping...

Finally, here is what the future holds for America if Trump and the GOP continue to hold power. It's an interview conducted in April by Anderson Cooper with powerful House "Freedom Caucus" GOP leader Rep. Jim Jordan. The entire session is pretty great, revealing how a shill works an argument. But where it gets to be fantastic begins at the 3:57 mark, when Cooper asks Jordan about Trump's lies. It is astonishing and kinda hilarious to witness. This is why Trump will never get impeached with a GOP Congress:

The Trump Doctrine: "We're America, Bitch!"

Well, this actually happened, in a way. The real photo was taken when these world leaders were pressing our President on Protectionism and Tariffs (and why they are dumb to enact). Can you imagine what Caravaggio would have done with this picture? Yes, there's the hilarious temper-tantrum toddler aspect photo-shopped... but throw in some shadows and shafts of light, and there's a Baroque masterpiece in the making!

Speaking of masterpieces, the aftermath of the recent G-7 circus summit was truly one for the ages. As you may know by now, an agreement was forged by the seven world leaders, one that had been crafted to accommodate most of the United States' wishes. The other six leaders were anxious to keep Trump from screwing the pooch; much of what he demanded was included in their negotiations. Although re-admitting BFF Russia into the fold, as Le Grande Orange wanted, was not considered.

No matter. Tweeting from Air Force One on his way to meet Kim Jong-un, the President accused Canadian PM Trudeau of being a duplicitous lil' shizzle-weasel. Trudeau had held a post-event press conference when he answered a question about a retaliatory tariff against the US (against our BGH-addled dairy products vs. their steel and aluminum products), something that the two had discussed in public and private for weeks. Betrayal like this cannot stand! So Trump pulled out of the G7 agreement entirely, causing worldwide dismay among non-fascist/communist leaders and economists.

(Meanwhile a nascent shadow alliance called CRANK is emerging... China Russia America North Korea (thanks, Rick Wilson). Trump has succeeded in alienating all of our allies in pursuit of appeasing our enemies. James Bond has a whole new set of villains to fight!)

So, after Trump's anti-Trudeau/G7 hate-tweet, his Special Trade Advisor Peter Navarro chimed in with this sentiment: "There's a special place in Hell for any foreign leader who engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump."

Justin Trudeau enjoying a "special place in Hell".

This "yeah, he sucks" sycophancy elicited much amazement. "I can't stop thinking about this interview," said conservative foreign policy expert Max Boot. Such rhetoric from the US government is usually reserved for the leaders of enemy states that we are about to invade, like Saddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler. But Canada? Eternal damnation for cute lil' Justin "Puppy-Dog-Eyes" Trudeau? For something that both sides knew about? On the other hand, there may be a special place reserved for an entirely different group of people...

Which leads us to ponder, why? Was this just an excuse to wiggle out of an agreement he didn't want to be a part of, even though it was US-friendly? Was it a Trumpian signal to Kim Jong-un that no one messes with The King of America First, so better watch it, mister? Was it because his daughter has a crush on JT?

Was it yet another action taken on behalf of Vlad Putin to destabilize the international post-War economic order? Disrupting, dismantling and leaving international alliances among traditional allies has been a hallmark of Trump. What's his plan? A recently departed White House official says there isn't any:

"The former official said he doesn't think Trump is playing 'the sort of three-dimensional chess people ascribe to decisions like this. More often than not he's just eating the pieces.'"

Well, this follows the comments from former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Trump is "a fucking moron." His former National Security Advisor, H.L. McMaster, called him an "idiot, a dope, with the intelligence of a kindergartner." Others call him "the 2-minute man, with the patience for a half-page." He doesn't like to read and prefers his reports with lots of graphics. This is a President who eschews his Daily Security Briefings for "Fox and Friends" to get his information.

What has emerged from this mindset is something called The Trump Doctrine. It's short and not sweet. Most staffers in the White House know all about it. And here it is:

"We're America, Bitch!"

Please read that article, if only for the low-calibre commentary by White House staff. Although really a slogan and not a doctrine, it does capture the utterly sleazy, coarse and sophomoric qualities that animate the White House. It fully supports the idea that the US has become a dim-witted bully, like the Troll in Harry Potter.

Forgotten are the core values of what has made this country great. Forgotten, too, is the network of like-minded democracies that have persevered with us through a multi-generational-long Cold War against the very nations that the US is now pursuing as new allies. It's the Trump Topsy-Turvy World, where allies are enemies and enemies are allies.

"He's like Heath Ledger's Joker, but without the operational excellence," opined a G-7 senior official after Trump's departure. This is a fun movie comparison, but I think the better one would be Charles Foster Kane. Wildly ambitious, vain, corrupt and empty.

We'll leave you with a couple of pleasant, life-affirming short video clips. One features the classic movement of a brown-nose, in this case Vice President Mike Pence. It's funny, and kinda weird:

And after despairing over the ebbing values of our nation, I came upon this wonderful piece. It's the last pitch in a baseball game that will determine which school goes to the state high school championship. As it happened, the pitcher and the opposing batter were close childhood friends. What happens is a stirring display of sportsmanship and class; the country may be circling the drain, but moments like this suggest we're not going down quite yet:

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1006264953345576960

That is really good. We could be so lucky to see such values work their way up the ladder...

"If Thought Corrupts Language, Language Can Also Corrupt Thought."

Making sense of our topsy-turvy world is a daily challenge. You can't follow the game without a scorecard. And a scorecard is useless without knowing its terms and signifiers. Anytime one wades into the swirling currents of the Internet in search of political enlightenment, one is bound to encounter phrases or ideas that may flummox and confound. This is common, and sometimes designed to be that way!

To assist us all, The Daily Kibitz has compiled a list of current words and phrases that often appear in articles about Trump, Trumpism, Russian influence on our elections, and America's future. Let's learn!!

Active Measures:  The actions of political warfare conducted by Russian security services (KGB/FSB) to influence the course of world events, in addition to collection of intelligence and producing "politically correct" assessments of them.  Example: FSB hacked Democratic National Committee's emails and had a front, Wikileaks, release them to the press.  

Autocracy: A government in which one person has uncontrolled authority over others.  Example: North Korea, any number of Persian Gulf states, Russia. Creeping autocracy is seen here in America.

Behavioral Contagion: Behavior by one person that is copied by others who have been exposed to media coverage describing the behavior of the original person.  Example: People ingesting laundry detergent. Also, chants of "Lock her up!" See: Herd Mentality.   

Chekist: An individual who is an agent or is controlled by Russian KGB/FSB. Example: Vladimir Putin... once a KGB agent, always a KGB agent. Also, maybe, our President.

Confirmation Bias: The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs. Also called Myside Bias. Example: The 2007-9 recession was caused by the federal government's housing policies, a partisan conservative might say.  
  

Covfefe: Coverage, as misspelled on Twitter by a certain numbskull President.


Cui Bono: The principle that one who stands to gain from a crime may have been responsible for it.  

Cunningham's Law: From the father of Wiki comes the idea that "the best way to get the right answer on the Internet is not to ask a question, it's to post the wrong answer." People are quicker to correct a wrong answer than to answer the question. Example: Oh, sample any Comments sections, anywhere, ever.

Curse of Knowledge: A cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, communicating with others, unknowingly assumes that the others have the background to understand.  Example: an ACLU lawyer speaking before a Trump rally.

Cut-Out:  A mutually trusted intermediary, method or channel of communication that facilitates the exchange of information between secret agents. Cut-outs usually know only the source and destination of the information to be transmitted, not the identities of any other persons involved in the process. Example: Roger Stone.    

Deep State: Influential members of government agencies believed to be involved in the secret manipulation/control of government policy.  Example: Anyone in the Federal government not appointed by Trump.

Demagogue: A politician who appeals directly to the popular desires and prejudices of the poor and uninformed, telling lies to stir up hysteria, exploiting crises to intensify popular support for their calls to immediate action and increased authority, and accusing moderate opponents of weakness or disloyalty to the nation. Example: The 45th President of the USA, or any ol' autocratic leader.

Dezinformatsiya (Deza):  Disinformation, or Fake News, as spread by Russian trolls and GOP operatives. Example: Stories about David Hogg and other Parkland massacre survivors being "crisis actors" and not even students there.

Doxxing:  The Internet-based practice of researching and broadcasting private information (especially personally identifiable information) about an individual usually for malicious intent. Example: Identifying the individual Nazis who participated at the Charlottesville rally (good). Posting personal info about abortion providers (bad).

Dunning-Kruger Effect:  A cognitive bias in which people of low ability have illusory superiority and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.  Example: Climate Change deniers ("If the Earth is getting warmer, why was last winter so cold?") Also, a certain President who claims to be a stable genius.

Festina Lente: Latin for "Make Haste Slowly." Example: The Mueller Investigation.

Gaslighting: A form of mental manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception and sanity.  See: Brainwashing.  Example: Donald Trump virulently insisting, against entire mountain ranges of evidence, that the US was in the worst shape imaginable leading up to the 2016 election.

Godwin's Law:  "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler increases; that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Adolf Hitler or his deeds."

Hanlon's Razor:  "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Example: Your dopey relative who believes in crazy stuff like chemtrails, the Deep State, Hillary selling the US supply of uranium to Russia, etc etc. He's not bad, he's just dopey, probably Gaslighted, too. See: Occam's Razor.

Hubris:  The display of excessive pride and self-estimation, extreme arrogance. In Greek Tragedy, such continued display would result in the Gods pulling out the rug from beneath, resulting in a rapid disassembly of self-worth and social status. Example: Donald Trump, with the Gods doing their thing within 2 years.

Kakistocracy:  Government that is run by the least qualified and/or most unprincipled citizens. No example needed. 

Kleptocracy:  "A government with corrupt leaders that use their power to exploit the people and natural resources of their own territory in order to extend their personal wealth and political powers." Example: Ivanka Trump's trademarks in China and the Trump Organization's loans from Chinese banks.

Kompromat:  In Russian politics, this is short for "compromising materials" (true or not) which is damaging information about a politician or public figure, used to create negative publicity/blackmail and to ensure loyalty. Example:  Former PM Boris Yeltsin releasing a sex tape of a political rival to the Russian press. Also, "The Pee Tapes" and sundry other misdeeds that Putin has on Trump and the GOP.

Law of Exclamation!!!  "The more exclamation points used in an email or other Internet posting, the more likely it is a complete lie. This is also true for excessive capital letters."    

Law of Holes: "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." Used as a metaphor that when in an untenable position, it is best to stop carrying on and exacerbating the situation. Example: Trump talking about why he fired James Comey. Rudy Giuliani talking about anything.  

Narcissistic Personality Disorder: A long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. Example: Really?

Optimism Bias: A cognitive bias that causes a person to believe that they are at a lesser risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others. Example: Smokers who think they won't get lung cancer. Republicans who think that trade wars are easy to win.

Overton Window: AKA the "window of discourse" is the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse. These include policies considered politically acceptable in the current climate of public opinion, which a politician can recommend without being considered too extreme to gain or keep public office. Example: Trump exclaiming that Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers (and some, presumably, are good people). The window has been opened further than anyone dreamed!

Peter Principle: A management concept which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their level of incompetence. Example: Department of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, speaking to Congress, saying she didn't know that Norway was predominantly white.

Poe's Law: An adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, it is impossible to create a parody of extreme views so obviously exaggerated that it cannot be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of the parodied views. Example: The Onion, almost anytime, like when they awarded "World's Sexiest Man" to Kim Jong-un, and the North Korean government swooned.

Prolefeed:  From "1984", a Newspeak term used to describe deliberately superficial entertainment, including literature, movies and music, to keep the "proles" (proletariats) content and to prevent them from becoming too knowledgeable.  Example: most television programming. "I love the poorly educated!"

Provokatsiya: "A political event staged by an intelligence service on behalf of its government in order to accomplish some political goal."   Example: The Reichstag Fire. Or, as a political event staged by a political party, GOP House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes claiming any number of untruths about the FBI, Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller.

Sea Lioning: A type of trolling or harassment which consists of pursuing people with persistent requests for evidence or repeated questions. The harasser who uses this tactic also uses fake civility so as to discredit the target. Example: found on most any Comments page. Also, the boiled down version: When did you stop beating your wife?

Streisand Effect:  "A phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually via the Internet." Example: Barbara Streisand attempting to block photos of her residence inadvertently  drew more attention to it. More recently, Donald Trump and Sean Hannity's attempts to cloak their relationship with Michael Cohen heightened media interest.

Whataboutism:  "A variant of the logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent's position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument, which is particularly associated with Russian propaganda."  Example: "What about her emails?"

Oh, all right. That's enough sound and fury for now. Hope this lil' primer helps going forward with interpreting the firehose-blast of nonsense that continues to flood our consciousness. Have a HAPPY weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!