Three Attacks, No Waiting.

I'm not exactly sure what happened at Trump rallies this weekend, and what's more I don't think I really care all that much, but, something the Donald said at the Kansas City rally made my blood run cold:

Taken from a video shot at the Kansas City rally on March 12th:

I hope they arrest these people because they're really violating all of us, OK? And I hope they're arrested. I hope they're arrested, because honestly they should be...I hope you arrest these people, because I'll tell you, they deserve to be arrested. And some of them are very violent. But I'm going to ask that you arrest them. I'll file whatever charges you want. Who the hell knows… We're going to go strongly for your arrest. And I'm going to do this from now on. Let's ruin the rest of — they're going to ruin the rest of their lives. If they want to do this, let them have a big arrest mark… So I hope you arrest them and do whatever you have to do. And you know what, once that starts happening, we're not going to have any more protesters, folks. We're not going to have any more protesters."

Later, when heckled again, he said,

I hope these guys get thrown into a jail. They'll never do it again. It will destroy their record. They'll have to explain to mom and dad why they have a police record and why they can't get a job. And, you know what, I'm going to start pressing chargers against all these people, OK?

And then we won't have a problem and I don't want to do that. I don't want to ruin somebody's life. They are probably good kids. You know, they're probably good kids. I don't want to ruin people's lives. But the only way were going to stop this craziness is that we press charges. 

And you know what? I'm going to start pressing charges against all these people, OK? ... The only way that we're going to stop this craziness is if we press charges. Because then their lives are going to be ruined.

The line that really got my attention was:

Once that starts happening, we're not going to have any more protesters, folks.

What exactly is he implying here? The man is not stupid; he understands English. And he understands, quite masterfully at that, how to manipulate a crowd. 

That kind of talk makes me remember these two quotes:

1. ''The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence. 
2. The art of leadership… consists in consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention. 

[You get a prize if you can name the author and the source]

So, here are two tweets for your consideration.

• Illustrating tweet #1:

Was there any indication, inclination, proof, or even a hint that this guy had ties to ISIS? No. There were none. This is a quintessential example of fear mongering coupled with an implication of violence, both on the side of the "maniac" as well as the Secret Service detail. 

• Illustrating tweet #2:

Trump has accused Senator Sanders of masterminding the hecklers at his rallies. Really? There is a threat being made, and it is hardly veiled. No one can mistake the implicit warning when coupled with "Be careful Bernie." By throwing this schmutz at another candidate, he is instigating a particular response from his crowd. And he gets it. 

These tactics worked rather well in the 1930s for the guy who penned the two quotes. The real question is whether or not we are going to allow them...and history...to repeat itself. Aren't you waiting for the uniforms to show up at the Trump rallies. I am. Blue shirts? Red shirts? Bown shirts? The color doesn't matter. The action and the demeanor does. And we've seen both in play. From the "voter promise" salute to the sucker punches, there is a clear direction for these actions. 

Being a US citizen means allowing someone to say something you abhor, you detest, you think unConstitutional or worse, unAmerican. Being a US citizen means you understand the  free speech. Donald J. Trump claims hecklers are inhibiting his right of free speech. He understands exactly how he's spinning his nonsense, and uses it to lie, manipulate, and provoke violence. He has taken more than a page from Hitler's play book. This has nothing to do with making America great, or bolstering the economy; Trump is about power. That's all. It's the "You're Fired" mentality on a grand scale. This, people, is a form of political terrorism. 

Speaking about the T-word, while the Donald was whipping up people into a frenzy about "the other," there was an "incident" in Milwaukee that got so little attention that it went almost unnoticed by most of the country. A man accosted a father and son while walking, and then executed the father. He then went into an apartment building where he knocked on a door, and killed a couple while their kids were hiding in the bathroom. The only thing these people had in common was that they were not American-born. The assassin was stopped by the cops, called by a relative of one of his victims. 

A 39-year-old Milwaukee man methodically shot and killed three of his neighbors at point-blank range last weekend at an apartment complex on the city's south side, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

Dan J. Popp faces three counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of Jesus R. Manso-Perez, 40; Phia Vue, 36; and Mai K. Vue, 32. The victims were pronounced dead in their four-unit apartment building in the 3300 block of S. 92nd St. after the shooting was reported about 5:45 p.m. Sunday.                                              The Milwaukee Journel-Sentinel Online

Nowhere will you find the word "terrorist" mentioned. Had the shooter been Muslim killing Americans, TERRORIST would've been brandished across the headlines. But he was white. He gets a pass for hating/murdering foreigners. Gee, and he didn't even ask if they were citizens before he shot them. No, he executed them for their skin color, their accent, their ethnicity. And no one is calling him a terrorist. Can you say, "BROKEN," boys and girls?

Jeff King's Nash

And speaking of attacks, here's another one you may or may not have heard about. A drunk guy attacked two of the leading mushers at the Iditarod with a snowmachine (aka sled or snow mobile.) He repeatedly came at Aliy Zirkle and her dogs, injuring one, but she managed to get away.  Jeff King, however, was not so lucky. His sled was not hit, but one of his dogs, four-year old Nash, was killed, and several others were severely injured. Take a moment to listen to Jeff talk about the attacks. 

Aliy Zirkle

The driver of the snowmachine, Arnold Demoski, said he was blackout drunk, but that didn't stop him from turning around and doing it again, then going after a second racer. Yes, he turned himself in, but everyone already knew who it was since Mr. King had carried in a side panel from the snowmachine. According to the local constabulary, it was not difficult to figure out who owned the panel. It's a sparse county.

The relationship between mushers and the towns through which they pass is a sacred thing. This has rocked the town of Nulato to its core. In so small a place, there will be conversations and debates about what happened on the trail for years to come. Will there be any kind of resolution? Probably not; the story will become part of the folklore. Demoski may be a crazy person and an alcoholic, but he's not a terrorist. 

Both King and Zirkle have continued the race, which is a testament to the mushers and the sport itself. At this writing, Aliy Zirkle is running the 4th place, and Jeff King is in 13th. These are tough people to begin with. This just makes them that much tougher. From strength to strength. Really.

Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you want to understand Hitler or Trump, go read Machiavelli:

 “Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared 

or feared than loved.”

Hitler and Trump have settled on the latter. Remember that. 

Absurdism, Nihilism, And the Race to the Bottom

Nobody likes maudlin whiny blogs, least of all me. I hate 'em. I cannot abide mommy blogs, and braggy blogs, and this-is-what-I-made-for-dinner blogs. I want food for thought, not my mouth, meat on the philosophical bone. I want to argue politics and economics, ethics and morality. I don't want gossip, hearsay, and innuendo. And most of all, I want adult discourse. I crave adult discourse. 

I think I am alone in there. After last week's penis-measuring contest, I figured the GOP had sunk about as low as it was gonna get. Boy, was I ever wrong. Now, the shouting matches have moved over to the Democrats, too. 

Politics is supposed to be the art of the possible. These days, it's the folly of the improbable. Name calling has replaced issues as news of the day. Everyone is talking about the genital discussion, the yelling, the name calling....and now the Trump salute. Really? He cannot possibly be that stupid....no. I think he thinks we are. 

Aren't you all tired of the joke our presidential race has become? 

I am selling my house and buying a town house. I wonder, however, how long I'll get to live there. No kidding. Really. How long until this nation crumbles beneath its own hubris? We all shake our heads and say, "it can never happen here," but if the truth be spoken out loud, "it" can and just may happen here sooner than you think.

What can you possibly say about Donald Trump when both Louis Farrakhan and David Duke support him?

"[Trump] is the only member who has stood in front of the Jewish community and said, 'I don't want your money. Any time a man can say to those who control the politics of America, 'I don't want your money,' that means you can't control me. And they cannot afford to give up control of the presidents of the United States.                                                                          Louis Farrakhan, 2/258/2016

“Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage. I’m not saying I endorse everything about Trump, in fact I haven’t formally endorsed him. But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do…..And I am telling you that it is your job now to get active. Get off your duff. Get off your rear end that’s getting fatter and fatter for many of you everyday on your chairs. When this show’s over, go out, call the Republican Party, but call Donald Trump’s headquarters, volunteer. They’re screaming for volunteers. Go in there, you’re gonna meet people who are going to have the same kind of mindset that you have.”                                                                                                                           David Duke, 2/25/20016

There is no better illustration of what Donald Trump truly represents than this:

Let's do a pledge. Who likes me in this room? Raise your right hand. I do solemnly swear that I -- no matter how I feel, no matter what the conditions, if there's hurricanes or whatever -- will vote, on or before the 12th for Donald J. Trump for president. '                                                   Donald Trump, 3/5/2016

You would have to be seriously impaired not to understand what that was. And just as he has done every day since the beginning of this exercise in blowviation, Comb-Over guy has taken yet another step closer to the edge of the absurd. 

There.  I said it. Absurd. This is living theatre of the absurd in its rawest, most visceral form, the kind that, after a while, makes you wanna bend over and retch into the nearest street. 

But Trump doesn't really get the whole concept. He continues to push this absurdist envelope without fully understanding the actual kernel inside.  He believes outlandish and ridiculous statements feed into some sort of nationalist uprising, without so much as an inkling as to what comes next.  

The absurd does not liberate; it binds. It does not authorize all actions. "Everything is permitted" does not mean that nothing is forbidden.

                                                         Albert Camus, "The Absurd Man", The Myth of Sisyphus

This is not uncharted territory; we have a pretty good idea of what comes next. The ideas are taking hold. Those who hate become bolder. They already are. BDS is spreading like fire in a hot, dry season, fanned by the winds of baseless hatred. Those who despise what they see in this have two choices: to either get out there and fight for America, or to sit home and not vote because they don't like the choices, thereby electing the government we have come to deserve as a gift from apathy.

The absurdist is not guided by morality, but rather, by their own integrity. The absurdist is, in fact, amoral (though not necessarily immoral). The Absurdist's view of morality implies an unwavering sense of definite right and wrong at all times, while integrity implies honesty with one's self and consistency in the motivations of one's actions and decisions.
                                               Arthur Morius Francis, Nihilism: Philosophy of Nothingness

What's missing from this race is the absence of honesty with self. Everything falls over after that. Which makes me seriously wonder how it got this far. Have we dumbed our society down to a point where a fascist can become not just a candidate, but the front-running candidate for a major political party? Mob mentality takes over when an entire crowd of supporters eagerly raises right arms to take the Trump pledge without noticing the message they physically telegraph. Is that which we once abhorred as a nation, a symbol of terrible dictatorship against which we fought and lost so many lives, to become our new expression of rage and acceptance? This is not a frivolous question; it's a very serious one. 

I'm not the canary in the coal mine; there are lots of people saying the same thing. But how many are beginning to think of this not as a political movement, as much as a form of street theatre? There is an element of experimentation here, something that began as a dinner party joke and has taken on a life of its own. I think the more ridiculous the Donald becomes is tied to his own desire to see how far he can take this thing, only to see it rise higher than he ever believed possible.

But a whole lot of others can see where this can go. This isn't a theatrical performance no matter what Trump thinks. It's not a beauty contest despite Rubio and Cruz behaving like all they have to do is answer a question and look good in a swimsuit. And it is not an exercise in erudition regardless of how good the debaters Sanders and Clinton would like it to be. This race is about the cult of personality; it has nothing to do with qualifications or ability to do the job. 

Meanwhile, Chez WP really is up for sale. Know anyone who wants a big, honkin' house in Mendota Heights?

The Wifely Person Tip o'the Week

Staging a house has two goals:

1) to make it easy for shoppers to envision their stuff in your space

2) make it look less like yours, so leaving it is easy.

Both work.