Israel

You have to be a member of the boomer generation to remember when email, instead of Twitter or whatever has now taken the place of Twitter, was the preferred method of social communication. Every extended family group had an older, Republican, always a Republican, relative who served as the self-appointed information administrator and would distribute emails containing right-wing generated lies and talking points that always purported to reveal the nefarious goings-on of Democrats. And no matter how ludicrous were the claims, they were accepted as fact by Republicans.

For many years the collector and distributor of internet knowledge for my own large extended family was an older cousin who was a dentist and, evidently, believed that acquisition of such an impressive level of achievement gave him unequaled insight into the workings of the universe. I would, mostly,  open his emails since they occasionally contained news about family members I seldom got to see, but this was rare, and I never bothered to respond to them, or to the emails he forwarded that were authored by right-wing operatives and conspiracy theorists. It was easy to discredit the wild claims about Democrats simply by going to any of the various websites that tracked and disproved them, but, evidently, not one Republican in existence has ever done this.

There was one time, though, that one of the forwarded emails struck a nerve. It claimed Democrats did not support American troops fighting in Iraq because they did not support the Iraq war. This time I responded to my cousin, saying that like millions of Americans I did not support Bush and Cheney's war, but I certainly did support our troops. And, the fact that I was a veteran and he was not, made my opinion worth at least as much as his. He replied with an typically weak Republican attempt at sarcasm, apologizing for confusing my thinking. I replied that he hadn't in the least.

Since the days of the Iraq war, Republicans have increasingly used this tactic of equating criticism of them, their allies, and their policies with criticism of better people and higher principles: criticizing Trump is criticizing America; criticizing police officers who kill black Americans is criticizing law enforcement; criticizing the abundance of guns is criticizing the constitution; criticizing economic policies that further enrich the already rich is criticizing capitalism.

A more recent manifestation of this tactic is to claim that criticism of Israeli policy relating to Palestinians is the same as being anti-Semitic. Israel is certainly special in that it serves as the sanctuary for a people who have endured extreme and enduring persecution, but it is also a sovereign, independent country subject to the same international laws, rules, and relationships that all other nations must deal with.  Israel's biggest problem is its right wing leader, Netanyahu, who like all other right-wing leaders is corrupt and incompetent. Like all the others, he is incapable of formulating and implementing a coherent public policy of any kind except for those that enrich him, and keep him in power.

Instead of deciding what Israel is, what it should be, and creating a rational strategy to get there, Netanyahu and his party want everything. They want all the land now occupied by Palestinians for themselves, and then for all the Palestinians to magically disappear.  In order to make their dream come true, their only strategy is to cozy up to American conservatives and hope they can generate enough political pressure so America will be forced to help them muscle their way to their fantasy future. In so doing, both Israel and America will continue to be portrayed as enemies of Muslims and will continue to be targets of extremist attacks. Which will be just fine with the Israeli right, because it ensures that Israel and America will be joined in a partnership against the rest of the world.

As far as long term strategy, though, there can't be anything dumber than Israel getting in bed with the American right: home to neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and evangelical Christians. While the American liberal left may criticize Israeli's self serving, self-destructive foreign policy, there is no doubt it will come to Israel's defense if it is attacked. The American right on the other hand, may or may not, depending on the same calculation it makes about everything: will it enrich them and help keep them in power.

I have to shake my head in wonderment at the strangeness of the world when I see Netanyahu cozying up to the most conservative of American evangelical Christian leaders.  As of now, they are supporters of Israel, but only because the existence of an independent Jewish state with Jerusalem as its capital is part of a narrative they interpret as leading to them being world rulers imposing a Christian theocracy on humanity.  Definitely, no Jews will be allowed in that future, and in the present, all it will take for the evangelical world to turn against Israel is for one influential leader to express his belief that Jews have done their part and now it's time to go back to viewing them as killers of Christ and the right would abandon Israel in an instant.

The ability of conservatives of all nationalities and religions to view the world as they want it to be, instead of the way it is, is an unending wonder.

There are no morals more relative than conservative morals, and no hypocrisy quite like conservative hypocrisy.











 

The Truth of It

I just have to laugh, albeit ruefully, at the liberal press when they exhibit such incredulity that Trump's supporters continue to support him when they are the group hurt most by his policies. "Surely, this time they will turn against him," they say, while donning their safari gear and preparing to head into the wilds of middle America.

The latest targets in their quest to find Trump supporters who have turned on him are farmers hurt badly by his trade wars with America's largest agricultural trading partners.

I don't pretend to have heard all the interviews with farmers. I'm sure there are a few individuals whose opinion of him has changed. All of the ones I've heard, though, have expressed unenthusiastic, but steadfast support, with the justification that other countries have been pushing us around for years now, and, finally, someone is standing up to them. So, if they must suffer in order to stand with Trump against the international bullies, then so be it. They are his loyal foot soldiers, prepared to sacrifice themselves if called upon to do so.

Exactly how the world has been pushing us around is never explained, but it is incontrovertible conservative doctrine that during the Obama presidency he went around the world apologizing for America's greatness to everyone he could find, while allowing America to be disrespected and bullied. That this has no basis in reality matters not at all. It's true in conservative world, just as it's true that white men are persecuted and discriminated against more than any other group.  These things are true in conservative world, and to conservatives, that's true enough.

I wish I could meet just one of these liberal media members conducting these interviews, grab them by the shoulders and just shake the shit out of them. Then once I've got their attention, I would yell: "Get it through your head. Forty percent of Americans are Trumpsters! Forty fucking percent! And in rural America, eighty fucking percent! Eighty fucking percent! And they will never be anything else! They will never stop being Trumpsters! No matter what! If they lose their businesses and their homes! If they can't afford an education for their children! If they can't afford healthcare for their families! If their livestock die from the heat and rivers flow through their living rooms! They will still be Trumpsters! And no, I can't explain it to you! And no, it doesn't matter if you understand it! Just accept it! Just Fucking Accept It!"

At least then I would feel better, although our world would still be doomed.

There are no morals more relative than conservative morals, and no hypocrisy quite like conservative hypocrisy.

Apologies

Note to Neil deGrasse Tyson and anyone else who has, or is thinking about, apologizing for anything on any social media forum.

If your apology ends with the phrase, "If you are one of those people, I apologize," then you haven't apologized.

If you are apologizing online and find yourself typing the words, "If you are one of those people," be honest enough to end with, "fuck you."

There are no morals more relative than conservative morals, and no hypocrisy quite like conservative hypocrisy.

The Reason Why

Republicans love to pretend that they have no idea why this country has so much more gun violence than the rest of the world. Of course they know, they just don't want to admit it. To simplify it so there is no misunderstanding, I've put it in the form of a simple formula:


GOP LETS ANYONE BUY AN ASSAULT WEAPON WHO WANTS ONE + ALL THE LETHAL AMMUNITION THEY CAN CARRY + GOP ENCOURAGES THESE PEOPLE TO HATE OTHER AMERICANS = CARNAGE 

There are no morals more relative than conservative morals, and no hypocrisy quite like conservative hypocrisy.

The Trump Type

I always get a kick out of articles that speculate on Trump's mental state. Is he a madman? Insane? Unhinged? An evil genius? In the final stage of terminal syphilis? Okay, I made that last one up. I'm amused at these articles, because evidently, his type of human being is completely outside the daily experience of the authors, so, they assume he must be a person of unique, beyond-the-pale attributes.

As for me, someone who lives and works in the middle of Trump country, the only way I can imagine not having met someone like him is if you spend every waking hour engaged in some combination of working from home; working for a liberal newspaper; working for a liberal magazine; or drinking expensive coffee drinks in a cafe in an upscale urban neighborhood. Because if you've ever worked in a normal public or private sector job, or played on a recreational-league softball team, or been to any sporting event, or if you have family, or if you have friends, then you have to have met some Trump types at some point.

They typically are men, white, Republican, have some college, and work at jobs that require talent in being both a salesman and a con man: fields such as insurance, real estate, financial investments.  Now these are legal professions to be sure, but the most successful practitioners often seem to be those who blur the boundaries between lawful practice and scams. And, sometimes, the most successful are individuals who cross the line completely into illegality but are clever enough not to get caught, or if they do get caught, are able to escape punishment.

These individuals, like Trump, tend to provide well for their families, even though the ability to do so primarily comes at the expense of victims of their cons. And, also, like Trump, their success and ability to sell themselves can result in a large contingent of friends and acquaintances hanging around them, usually including some who have been conned by them, but value being part of the group too much to leave.

Based upon my observations from the heart of Trumpland, if any one of these numerous Trump-type individuals were to be elected president, we would have much the same administration as we have now. There would be the same ignorance of anything outside the president's area of expertise - namely selling and conning; the same lack of principles, ethics, and anything resembling a coherent world view or personal philosophy; the same lack of empathy for anyone other than family members; the same disdain for anyone who doesn't contribute to the president's personal wealth; the same willingness to lie, cheat, and steal from anyone and everyone; and the same lack of self awareness that there is anything wrong with any of this behavior.

That one of these Trump-types was elected President of the United States says less about Trump than it does about those who voted for him. Just as they voted for Bush Junior because he seemed to be  like them, the kind of guy you could have a beer with, they voted for, and continue to support, Trump because he, too, is like them. Smart people vote for smart candidates. Honest people vote for honest candidates. Compassionate people vote for compassionate candidates. On the other hand, dumb people vote for dumb candidates. Racist people vote for racist candidates. Deplorable people vote for deplorable candidates who take advantage of them more than any other group. Unfortunately, the rest of us must pay for their stupidity right along with them.

There are no morals more relative than conservative morals, and no hypocrisy quite like conservative hypocrisy.



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Shutdown

I'm always amazed when Democrats are perceived to have won government shutdown battles of the past. And they've won all of them if my memory is correct, at least in the sense that Republicans have never gotten their way by shutting down the government by refusing to fund its operation.

Of course, no one really wins when the government shuts down. Everyone loses, but primarily federal employees who lose their source of income, which means they lose the ability to feed, clothe and house their families. Other big losers are the millions that directly depend on services provided by the federal government in order to survive, and all the rest of us who depend on the safety of the food we eat, the medicine we take, and the air we breathe.

The problem for Democrats in the shutdown battles is that they care about the suffering of all these people and Republicans don't. A simplistic statement, I know, but true nevertheless. Oh, an individual Republican will care if they know a person who suffers because a federal program ceases to operate, but in addition to not caring about anyone they don't know personally, Republicans possess the ability to rationalize away facts they find unpleasant. So, for them, any suffering endured by them, their friends or family, is the fault of Democrats, even if clearly the fault of Republicans.

Democrats lack this ability to twist reality into the form they wish it to be, and are at an even  greater disadvantage by caring about the millions of fellow Americans who suffer during a shutdown. The primal impulse for Democrats is to alleviate suffering if they can, while Republicans, recognizing and scorning this Democratic characteristic, are only too happy to use it against them.

In a hostage situation, which is how Republicans view shutdowns, the negotiating party at the greatest disadvantage is the one that cares about the hostages the most. Democrats suffer along with the victims; Republicans gloat at their suffering.

Given this Democratic disadvantage, it's a wonder that Republicans don't get their way every time there is a shutdown. The only reason they don't is that their objectives are always odious to a majority of Americans, such as taking away affordable health care, or building a thirty foot wall along the southern border.

It is a measure of just how corrupt and venal the Republican party is that they cannot get their way during shutdowns given the huge negotiating advantage they have. So, while things look bleak, I guess there's that.

There are no morals more relative than conservative morals, and no hypocrisy quite like conservative hypocrisy.