Category Archives: Anger

The USA in South America, Once More. Nothing New, Except The President

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The USA physically intervenes in a South American state. At the risk of upsetting some at what may seem a cynically laid back view:
Nothing New There.

Quite the heritage in fact. To name a few with varied resources and results
ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Panama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Grenada
There were of course others not in the USA backyard. 

Again all this is nothing new. It’s what imperial powers, or those who like to call ‘the actions’ something else, do. In the Age of Empires: Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Ottoman Empires, and China were all busy invading or replacing one smaller nation’s rulers with one they liked. You could say it all boils down to International Relations (Even going back to the Classic Greek era- it’s there).

So on the face of it how does the latest USA in this case into Venezuela differ? Threats, intrusions, the abduction or assassination of the leader, well that’s all part of the playbook. Some might say that regime had it coming. The Maduro regime has been tracked by Amnesty International  for a number of years:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/americas/south-america/venezuela/report-venezuela/ 
 Taking into account all those aforementioned events we might even say ‘Business As Usual’.
However…..
For there is always an ‘However‘

Regime Change (Or Dice Rolling Politics)
Unless you are a brutal authoritarian outfit with a fixation that you need to physically extend your borders going about Regime Change is a process that is always going to have problems that will bedevil your initial decision. To begin with not everyone is going to wave  flags at you as liberators, secondly unpleasant opportunists who have motives venal or political will rise to the surface, and no one native is going to thank you for telling them how to run their nation, and those are just the simple ones which would tax a mature experienced mind. What an emotional, egotistical, unfocused fellow such as Trump would do…you have experience of the treatment of his fellow citizens. You would have thought after Iraq at the start of this decade a lesson might have been learnt….. think again.
So to date officially No American Was Harmed in  the making of this venture and a large number locals are glad to see the back of their own president. You will note though that only the ex-pats felt safe and confident enough to go out on the streets to celebrate. Well so far, so good….right?….. But there’s that Iraq question again….no local liked Sadam Hussain, did they? 
Sorry folk but unlike in the movies we don’t have a final frame and then roll the credits. History doesn’t work like that…..anyway in that movie scenario don’t forget that extra piece at the end in which it shows the ‘villainy’ still hasn’t really gone away…… Should I mention Iraq again, or Afghanistan even? 
Read on…

In The Aftermath (And what comes out in the Aftermath)
Whenever there are major events, the details do not rush out in one blaze of clarity, official statements, journalistic questioning and the occasional verifiable independent witness, they all play their part. Along with the International Reactions.
Now this was not just a case of a US president saying ‘I’ve had enough! Go get that S.O.B’ and everyone dutifully scrambles to one of those Hollywood pre-action planning montages. The latest information indicates this had been a long planned for operation, which maybe with some important internal help went smoothly for America, that is. Please read.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp37yr2xq7no  
This indicates the plan was long in the making, which in turn suggests it was also long in the policy formulation, and likely long in the discussion. If this has its conception back in the previous presidency or even in the Obama tenure I would not be shocked. (don’t forget under whose watch Osama bin Laden was taken out). There is an old saying attributed to several sources, which goes along the lines of ‘There are two things you do not want to see being made. Sausages and International Policy’ (or the other way around). So, did the current president just pick up a loose ball and run with it? I guess historians will clarify.  

Meanwhile we have this piece of good news concerning the release of political prisoners
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mkwl2g499o
So are my words in the previous Regime Change paragraph unduly pessimistic? Am I just serving up sour grapes because all this is happening with the ‘Wrong’ president, the one of whom the very act giving credit for anything is an anathema?  
Read on

Hubris Plays The Very Long Game
A brief look back to the International Tenure of Tony Blair as UK PM. A seemingly sunny sort of fellow; obviously, annoyingly, very self-confident. His early ventures into the international scene. Kosovo (1999)- Blair was a major advocate for a ground offensive against Slobodan Milošević’s forces. Sierra Leone (2000): A limited but highly successful military intervention that swung the tide against a most vile rebel force in the Sierra Leone Civil War….So far so good. So much so that some sources suggest President George Bush jnr would not have gone into Iraq without Tony Blair’s approval. And then, yes Iraq. And a hero of the vulnerable and fighter against brutality was then labelled as a war criminal.
And now we have Donald Trump as president on whose authority the operation in Venezuela took place….

(Forewarning I have been sort of balanced and restrained thus far, but a guy can only give so much restraint …. Justifiable Rant Warning – Level 12 and rising)
The same fellow who now wants to grab Greenland by any means. Bear in mind this is not some guy shouting out on a phone call-in or rattling out (as we do) on our laptops prior to pressing an ill-advised  ‘Send’.
This is the president of the U-S-A. Who is claiming he wants to have Greenland for the ‘Security’ of because of….
Russia?… Wait a smidge – Doesn’t he understand Russia’s point of view (well some of the time). Or is he changing political socks?
China?…. Now let’s look at the map there. You might recall that China is more focused on the Pacific region, a South-East bit of the world. Beijing at not indicated it is building any artificial islands up in the arctic, a North-West bit of the world. Currently, in China’s play book it is as usual all trade which can be fragile, and the only way China would get boots on the ground would be if Greenland and Denmark backed by a seriously pissed-off Europe did so just to spite the Arch-Brat in Washington
AND Aside from that…
Back to those For Security Purposes. A landgrab off of a NATO partner. How in the name of Sweet Reason is that supposed to aid unified western security?? What happened to the old school? Soft nagging of the government in Copenhagen and waving dollars under their noses, all in the name of security from big, bad Russia. Jeeeeez Loooeezzz back before 2016 you could have given that to a Whitehouse intern to do the initial spade work, before the big names grabbed the credit.
In this case the current Whitehouse gest a big F on their paper (that’s F as in ‘failed’ by the way – I know, I know another word occurred to you too…but let’s keep this family friendly, people?)
Thus….‘Security’ ….Oh yeah…..Big laugh…A bitter one.

And thus I sign off with this final thought.
It is not the SUV that is USA foreign policy that worries me, it is the driver careering around, one foot on the gas and the other one nowhere near the brake, while he is constantly looking over his shoulder at the passengers and yelling ‘Hey lookit me! Some stones…huh??’

Take care of yourselves and everyone close to you. Keep steady.

Try Not To Do Selective Outrage. (An Appeal)

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Sudan a nation riven by internal conflicts from more than since the 1950s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_Civil_War

And on the 15th April 2023 things became even worse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_civil_war_(2023%E2%80%93present)

A land where mass killings, rape and roving brutal gangs masking as militias do as they please, preying on hapless civilians. These are daily events  heart-breaking horrors which basically the Western populations have not bothered about much. You can even be told off for mentioning it, as distracting from other calamities.

Consider these figures taken from the Wikipedia link:

  • Likely significantly more than 150,000 total killed
  • More than 700,000 children with acute malnutrition (with 522,000 likely being dead)[
  • 8,856,313 internally displaced
  • 3,506,383 refugees

And now between 250,000 to 300,000 are trapped in El-Fasher while militia forces close in, forces that see these people as foes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8wzzjze8xo

Now the thorny part.
We know full well about the horrors which are taking place in Gaza. We see that a right-wing nationalistic fundamentalist government backed by an ultra violent section of the population are running free of most restraints and are taking war to the ultimate most extreme sort – elimination of the foe from its land. And people have taken to the streets and social media in protest. Because Israel and the Middle East always attracts news headlines and attention.   
People are naturally horrified by what is taking place.
So I will ask of you. Why doesn’t Sudan warrant the same reaction?
Why are there no marches or protests?
The BBC News (much maligned by some activist groups) has kept up a steady stream of items. So has Al -Jazeera. PBS, CNN, ABC in the USA have reported on it. Newspaper columnists have drawn attention to it. There is a steady output of appeals from Aid Agencies and Charities on Social Media. The campaigning group Avaaz is currently running an appeal for signatures.
And yet…and yet..
Where is the Western Public Display of Outrage and Horror? 

And there are more out there, maybe not as large but as equally horrifying for the people living through them.
Need to know more? Here’s one window.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/armed-conflict/ 

Of course you my dear reader cannot be everywhere physically marching, you can’t contribute to every appeal, you can’t be emotionally invested in every one of the conflicts across this world, you’d be frazzled out in a month.
Spare a thought once in a while for those suffering, everywhere across the globe, day in day, lament for them from time to time and if you have a spare few ‘coins’ choose one charity to donate to. Make it your business to have at least an idea of the series of conflicts taking place. You don’t have a working knowledge of each one, that’s not possible unless you are a professional.

But at least care. And stay Woke.

Unbelievable? Sadly No

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I was going through FaceBook this morning and encountered this item from ABC7 a news outlet in Los Angeles and Southern California. You will see an all too familiar type of headline.

It was not the headline which took hold of my attention. It was the reaction emjois. Now Facebook being Facebook you can expect a few twisted and ignorant souls to put up laughing ones when there is a human tragedy and also thumbs up when Trump’s administration does something. After all it’s FaceBook where the ignorant, ill-informed and prejudiced of any political stripe be it Right or Left congregate.

The aspect which disturbed me was that there were approximately 200 thumbs up (maybe more now and worse 150+ whose reaction was to put the laughing face. A quick glance at the comments revealing one GIF ICE – themed support.
These twinned actions say much about a corrosion of the common sense of Humanity. That folk can support or mock the misery of children, vulnerable and frightened small individuals does speak harshly about those folk.

Now down Humanity’s long jagged, ragged road there is nothing new in this. One of the most frightening creations we have to offer is mentality of The Mob, be it a howling scream missile throwing horde or a host of folk with access to social media. Of any political or social stripe by the way. Against these waves of irrational hate and screaming War can at times look positively sanitised ‘It’s nothing personal. It’s just business,’. It is also fearfully easy to be swept up in the emotions of a crowd whose passions have been ignited.

The most dangerous aspect of this mindless action comes from the Opportunist. The Opportunist comes in many forms. We think of them as simply charlatans looking out for no more than personal gain from ‘the rubes’. But there are those who harbour extreme beliefs who will sense the discomfort and anger, to harness it and thus have a fertile ground to promote those ideas. There are those who are possessed of a narcissism and thus will use any means to promote themselves. There are the professionals who are there at the behest of an organisation or nation to stir up the Mob, who will be quite unaware they are fodder. And there are those who just want their moment of Glory, not really sure where it leads. All of these types will work upon the crowd, turning it into a mob, mindless.
Now aside from the expert professionals and the more astute of the charlatans both of whom know when to fade into the background or ‘jump ship’ at the right time there can grow  amongst the rest an unholy alliance between Opportunist and Mob. This being that the Opportunist delivers what The Mob want to hear, but The Mob will want more, howling for it, so the Opportunist begins to do at the behest of The Mob and thus the cycle picks up a giddy pace both parties locked into a whirlwind of emotion where all perspective is lost. The end leads to some type of destruction, either materially or of the Soul, sometimes both. For within this there will always be the danger of the element of retribution, and that comes in many forms.

To return to those foolish folk who applauded at that news item. They would do well to consider an incident where some of their own; close friends or relatives are attending a gathering, a rally. There is an accident, a fire in the building maybe, loss of life much injury. How will they feel in the aftermath of that horror and tragedy to see thumbs up and laughing emjois along with cruel comments?

The door swings both ways. 

And since there appear to be those who say they espouse Christianity, then they should meditate on the words of Christ as recorded in Matthew 25 verses 31-46  

History Taps Us On The Shoulder. In Our Embarrassment We Hurry For Justifications

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In advance and nothing to do with the subject matter. Sorry about the ragged look on this post and odd gaps…You guessed it WP is up to its quirks again. I lost the post once trying to fix it- thank goodness I had created my own back-up.

The chances are you are not going to like this post. You may be affronted. You may be angered. And I will be repeating a few themes from earlier posts. In my defence I am merely citing History and Consequences. There are always consequences. They sometimes arise from well-meaning intentions but usually from Ignorance, a quality Humanity is rich in.

Historical Overview
So where do we start? Take a place in history for your starting point on a subject matter and there will always be a ‘before’ which gave rise to it. In this case a starting point could be the oft misquoted Matthew 27:25 “So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” .And thence forth an entire people take the blame for a mob hyped up for political reasons by local power players. Blame all the Jews. Blame all the Americans for slavery? Blame all the British, every single one for The Empire- including the most devoted socialist radical? Blood curse. Every nation can sign up for that one.

Anyway fast forward through European history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Massacres_of_Jews
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Anti-Jewish_pogroms
This doesn’t include the day to day discriminations, slights, jibes, harassments, expulsions and so forth or the appropriations of wealth, nor the cynical ploy by kings / nobles to get out of the loans they owed Jewish financiers.

Roughly speaking Europe can rack up a thousand years of persecution of Jews. Mind you Europeans over the same period racked up other persecutions at an alarming rate, and there were responses which were allowed through applications of historical PR  to morph into ‘Fights / Struggles for Freedom’ and gain a certain romantic aura. What those folk did when they got their freedom and their patch of land was of course their own business, that would be skirted over, unless you happened to be in a minority there.

In some part; moving outside Europe two empires began to decline Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman and the double edged scythe of Nationalism began to take selective root. Our attention should focus on what we now term the Middle East and its various populations, alone they would have been turbulent enough but The Jewish Identity now sensed the time honoured words at the end of Passover “L’Shanah Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim” “Next year in Jerusalem,” might in this turbulent time of opportunity come to fruition. Within European Empires, Britain in particular sensing an advantage there grew a certain level of support, some political, some sentimental and some complicated contradictory religious. ‘Jews were almost acceptable, quite civilised and hardworking’. ‘They could have land, after all there were only a few Arabs there and what did they count for’. European Empire did a lot of that in those days, making sweeping generalisations ‘adopt’ one folk to suit their purposes and the rest would have to put up with it. At the onset there were Jews who were quite aware of there were not just Arabs but Palestinians and hoped as optimists do that the land could be fairly shared and both communities could live in harmony. It would have been a First in Human History. In the meantime the Jewish ‘re-settlement’ of ‘their’ land began, as if the previous two thousand years of later occupations didn’t count. Well this was their land, and as far as they could tell after all those centuries  Europe and also the growing USA had made it obvious they would rather Jews be somewhere else. In the meantime The Palestinians had found their identity

There came to turbulences of two World Wars. Britain and France having already made a paper parcel up of the Middle East  under Sykes Picot agreement were granted ‘mandates’ and proceeded for approximately thirty years use heavy-handed insensitive methods. Britain in particular unable to make up its mend whether to allow Jews in or not. World War One and the aftermath was deadly enough, then came the greater upheavals and atrocities of World War Two. In the event of that one it was obvious to many a surviving Jew there was only one place to go and if the locals didn’t like it, well the Jewish folk had been taught by their European overlords just how to settle that sort of problem.
Quite out of their depth and exhausted by the recent wars Britain managed to anger both Palestinians and now Israelis. Recently independent Arab nations found temporary on and off common cause with Palestinians, The Cold War found another place to have its conflicts without the danger of nuclear weaponry and the USA and USSR chose sides. What had been inter-communal violence had now grown into conventional and insurgent warfare. Roughly speaking there has been at least one hundred years of conflict.

An Assessment
Firstly it has to be accepted that there are very few, if any Human races, nations, regions and communities who have clean histories, Deep History, Recent Past or Current Day. A brief survey of Historical, Human Rights, UN and yes even CIA yearbook internet sites will give you enough enlightenment, reasons for cynicisms or cause for depression on that score. No one people. No one nation. No one history gets away with it. Accept it. When it comes to Races and Nations there are no Romantic and Noble Histories.
There are only degrees, qualities, quantities and consistencies of bad behaviour. Action. Reaction. Payback. Victory. Suppression. Subjugation, all the ugly, polluted stuff massaged later on, into justifications or if that doesn’t work just written out.

Warning: You may find some part hereon in particularly offensive. In my own defence I am passing commentary of the whole of The Human Race by citing examples. Those who read my posts regularly will be used to this.   

To repeat by the 20th Century sections of the Jewish people had learnt the lessons from their European rulers, hard and well. True, like the rest of us, they had not come into this world innocent and unconditionally tolerant, The Old Testament has a certain historical foundation to indicate that. What had been revealed to them that even existence was conditional. At any random time, be it by policy, just plain bigotry or random, rabid ignorance there could be assault, destruction of community or worse wholescale death. For a section of the Jewish communities  the lesson was simple. you battle to survive, and that is best done on what was and is again your ancestorial home ground. The whole world was against you -1939 to 1945 was the final grand example in centuries worth of selective violence. For the hardliners and for those who, well just wanted the persecution to stop, the answer was ‘Here We Are. Here We Stay. Back Where We Started. Never mind these protestations of justice, the ethics, the historical changes, the rights of others. No. no they don’t count. Europeans taught us that’. 

Did the Palestinians becoming a punching bag for centuries of pent up anger? Or was it just the old story of  a case of hard luck on the natives when the colonists arrive ? Maybe a mix of the two adding a few local undercurrents that Americans and Europeans just don’t get.

One thing is noticeable. Normally folk or nations get weary of prolonged wars. Populations run out along with resources. Political Castes get fed up with the whole business because they are unpopular and something approach a peace or very, very long truce evolves. This one if different. One hundred plus years and no end in sight. Worse, even harder liners have taken centre stage. By all the conventions and examples this one should have run down. Of course it is only one of a whole mix of wars running the length and breadth

from Turkish regions down the Middle East, North Africa, into the Sahel, along through Sudan and Yemen, then across into Iran. And meanwhile Ukraine. Maybe there is just no appetite for Peace Talks anymore, you and your sponsors try and batter down the other side, and the World Community which has its own problems will just have to accept it. Another old story, only these days it gets played out on the Media. ‘Why should one war matter more than ours?’ ask the innocents trying to survive wherever they are.

A Judgement ( ‘A’ – not ‘The’. Chose ) 
One overview is the current Israeli government has to concern itself with only two major support groups. The diaspora of the world-wide Jewish Community and the American  coalition of Fundamentalist Christians, Islamaphobes and ‘Israel is the Only True Friend We Have’ lobbies. Israel’s security service Mossad may well chuckle at that simplistic view. In our innocence we remain ignorant of who else while lamenting publicly would not secretly worry too much if the Palestinians were broken as a state (that will put an end to Hamas…right?). ‘No one people. No one nation.’ ‘We are Flawed’     

Honest to Badness it is so easy to write copy to support the Israeli Government to assuage to hardliners and the traumatised Israeli populations

It works like this:
‘Where was World Opinion and the unofficial Human Rights activists, when
The Rohingya were being massacred in Myanmar?
The Turkic Uyghur being culturally wiped out in China?
The innocents of Sudan and South Sudan being slaughtered or mass raped?
Iranian Women were being beaten, imprisoned and dying for wanting to wear clothes other than for proscribed by the state. Like wise in Afghanistan?
Does anyone care about the Muslims or Christians in India?
Why were there not demonstrations en mass on the streets of major cities in the world every week. Were there cases of natives or communities of expats of those nations being harassed by demonstrators masking as protests?
No that sort of thing only happens when the Jewish State of Israel is involved. It’s always the Jews which are the target. ‘

That only took the time to play three songs of average length on my cd player to write that. So easy. Why was it so easy? Because the Western campaigners make it damn easy to do so. That’s why. Best friends the current Israeli government ever had. And of course makes Antisemitism respectable too. ‘No I am not Antisemitic I am just Anti-Israel’ (Quit saying that, it’s getting old and only helps Netanyahu and his cabinet). There was a petition on Facebook asking for condemnation of Israel attacking Iran. Well I am sorry and weep for the innocents on both sides of the missile exchange but pardon my frankness. I do not fret over the fate of a regime or its active members also complicit in the spreading wars through the Middle East nor with a history of bloody suppression of its own Arab and other ethnic minorities or the treatment of its women. As I write this the news is out and about that The USA has come in and bombed Iranian nuclear sites. My initial reaction was ‘Gee. I wonder where this will go now?’ and ‘Hmm. Who was last in Trump’s Office before he took that decision?’ . Horror and condemnation of Israel….No. They’re all locked into together in a labyrinthian dance. It happens. Again History is littered with this. Spare me the outrage against Israel taking a swipe at Iran. And while I’m in this snarky mood. Those who didn’t vote for Biden /Harris because of their stance over Israel, how is that working out for you these days?

An aside: Actually my ire is not wholly directed at Americans who have been horrified at the IDF action meted out on the Palestinians. You in general are relatively new to this ‘world’. Of course you have been aware of the issues. But traditionally in the European Left’s lexicon you were all to blame for the Middle East by all of you being pro-Israel. I say this as you may not have been aware it, But since the same Left was only too swift to have excuses for Russia for invading Ukraine because it had no choice; the whole fault was due to the USA ‘s Imperialism, honestly I wouldn’t pay attention to that judgement, not since MAGA was doing the same thing. Selective, biased thinking just doesn’t cover it.

Let me just dial back over the history of these ‘Campaigns Against Israel’ or ‘For A Free Palestine’ . If folk had cared so very much why had they not made common cause with those groups of Israelis who had been working to this end. Why had they not affiliated or supported, them. There were enough examples

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meretz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da%27am_Workers_Party

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Olam

And lest any campaigner out there has forgotten 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Silver

Once I was on a Facebook site where everyone was piling in with Who Can Be The Most Outraged Against Israel game and I mentioned support for Meretz and there was a silence, like I veered off onto Quantum Physics. Nothing. I gave up on them.
It’s very hard not to feel a substantial number of folks particularly in Europe are more concerned about Israel being a Jewish state with links to the USA than actual Palestinians. Yes, there we are The Old Game…..(Those Jews y’know).  

History points at us in The West and holds us in large guilty for Israel being Israel as it is today. A thousand years of hard lessons, decades of turning a blind eye to the excesses of those who are against Israel, little or no co-operations with those Israelis who had worked tirelessly to formulate some sort of accord. Sanctimonious commentaries about banning this and boycotting that. Wearing their I am NOT antisemitic badges on their sleeves but only, only protesting about Israel and no other regime. You will have to pardon my bluntness here. USELESS. ABSOLUTELY USELESS. All they did was cause the wagons to be circled.

Final Words     

‘Fine words Roger.’ You say. ‘You’ve torn apart the West and shredded the Protest movements. Anyone can pull down things. What solutions have you to offer?’

Well I don’t have quick fixes. It will be a very long, hard road because so much damage has been done. It starts will small steps. For a beginner have nothing to do with anyone targeting Synagogues like they had a direct line to the Israeli government. If anyone supports them on Social Media, you get back at them. Condemn them. You reach out to both Muslim and Jewish folk in equal measure. If you can find any groups within Israel still working for reconciliation, support them.

https://www.allmep.org/

If you come across anyone setting up another protest against Israel asking them what action they took against other abusive bloody-handed regimes?  If they are of the sort who make excuses simply reply ‘Sorry I do not do Selective’ . By all means donate to causes intending to give aid to the ordinary Palestinian, just makes sure Hamas and Iran do not have their hook in there. And for Pity Sake- Hamas is not a group of noble freedom fighters. Amnesty International has had them on the radar for years.    

Compassion. Respect. Tolerance for People, By People. That is how you measure things.

Final sign off. You know the really sick irony? The big dirty joke by and on Western Humanity?

Who are the groups most likely to be subject to random judgements, abuse and violence.
Jews and Muslims- that who. Some joke huh? Laugh?……I never even started, just used a great deal of bad words.

OK, I’m done here.  

A Few Words On Folly Of The Monumental Proportions.

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I resolved sometime back I would not pollute any of my posts with a picture in any shape or form of that fellow who currently occupies the Whitehouse. It is a sad fact of history that all too often individuals who have no true qualifications or worth to be in positions of authority do by numerous acts not of their own making arrive there. That this talentless, spoilt child of privilege, possessed of mean vindictiveness and irresponsibly simplistic views, concerned only with his own image, malleable to the adulation of a movement who dreamed of such a figure and found it so he thus willing to embrace anything to keep them happy should be elected into that position will be something for historians to debate. Suffice it to say he has not earned the right to have his image on my posts.

It would appear that just when you think the fellow has made the most petty or inane statement he manages to find even deeper depths of ignorance or misjudgement.
He has dug even deeper.
He has called Zelensky a dictator. And yet sits down with Putin and how is Putin viewed? Is Putin a bastion of Free Speech and Tolerance? Double Standards, the act of complete folly. The US president by the way is also going down the path of the 1938 Munich talks by not including the nation in question in the talks. Please tell me I do not have to explain to you dear reader where the 1938 Munich talks led? Of course if I had to explain it to the current US President I would use 3-5 year age group book, and then speak very slowly, maybe using crayons as well; moving up the age groups I would rather explain to a teenager why they should tidy their room.  And while we are on the topic, who was the person who howled ‘Unfair’ as the results of the 2020 presidential election came in? Democracy only when it suits him, a word with no value when he uses it.

There is no more to be said on this subject. Those two acts are all we need to know to illustrate than once again this fellow has no mature sense of proportion or capacity of knowledge to be allowed on the International Stage.

Just other one piece of commentary. Netflix have this new thriller series out called ‘Zero Day’. One of the techno-thriller-disaster themed sort. Someone hacks the USA computer systems and disasters take place. Robert Niro plays a retired President who is asked to find out who is behind it.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81598435

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/zero-day-netflix-comment/

Aside from the fact that it’s nothing new as a basic plot, my first thought was. Why bother with this distraction? This little fright-thriller? That’s not the current real-life America. Because the first thing the current president would do is blame the previous president. Then his court would pile in blaming everything they call ‘woke’. Evangelicals would start quoting the Book of Revelation. Quite frankly there is no point is watching any political fiction about the USA, what is actually taking place is far worse and frightening. (An aside: critics didn’t seem to care for the series either…..imagine me agreeing with critics…well, well)

I will take no more of your time, nor mine. You have enough evidence of your own. And you the poor 70,000,000 who knew what would happen I am so sorry for you.

Woe To Those Innocents and The Damage They Bring

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That ‘fellow’ who was voted in as president of the USA said this did he not?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cvg4zwwez9et

Did anyone who did not vote because of this issue think for one moment that he would not play court to the ultra nationalist crew in Israel? Play at the behest of his fundamentalist allegedly Christian supporters?  Did they for one moment truly understand just what they were culpable in by being a part of allowing him back into the Whitehouse?

Yes, some are soothing themselves with a balm upon their consciences, they are trying to equate Harris /Biden with Trump’s stance.  

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/uncommitted-leaders-stand-2024-strategy-trump-floats-gaza-takeover-rcna190782 

In the harsh bloodied world of Reality, they have gone into Denial and will hide there. For no doubt their will tell themselves they were correct and this was the ‘moral stance’.

Pray what help is that to the surviving ordinary Palestinians trying to repair or scrabble through the wrecks that were once their homes? How do these pious words act as comfort to those folk who now have to face not just the IDF, but a possibility of being a place where the USA could once again militarily confront any number of fundamentalist groups – who by the way will also conduct their own turf wars in a dystopian landscape? Will these sanctimonious stances and maybe another set of marches stem the tears of one Palestinian child?   

Understand this, and understand it well. Out there is a harsh, violent, cruel world, one which millions upon millions upon of USA citizens have been gifted not to day by day, physically live in. Out there, whether they like it or not there are other millions upon millions of folk, these living in misery and fear where violent Death is a fact. Where the least, worst choice is hoped for, because they have no option. The protest wing’s duty was to try and minimise the misery inflicted upon them. Because they chose to protest, it was indeed a duty, a moral one. They knew full well what a Trump Administration was capable of, They knew he has no concept of the necessary interplays of international politics on the ground. They knew full well who he would favour. And they did nothing to stop his march to the Whitehouse?

No, they do not get to insist upon a morally clean and principled stance. If they wanted to help they had to take a less than perfect option. Maybe not be totally comfy with the choice. Going in there hoping their choice did not screw things up. But it is a great deal better than leaving the door open to the Worst Alternative. And that is the bitter, harsh, uncomfortable Reality to be faced with in this world. Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, Kashmir, Northern Nigeria, DRC, Hatti, Horn of Africa, Drug Lord regions of South American states, the Sahel region (look it up), those are samples of what is going on out there. And they who did not vote Democrat because of Palestine I accuse were culpable in letting Trump and his court take a second shot at.

And consider Canada, Panama, Greenland, as well, now that, that fellow is lose, with his Court.

I stress. There are, in this world, in this time, No Perfect Solutions. There are.

Least.

Worst.

Options.

Bleak isn’t? Yes, that’s The Real World. And the only way out is NOT to let folk like Trump into government. 

Bottom Line.

My only comfort is that they are and were truly tragic Innocents if they thought their stance was going to be of any help to anyone. Oh most regrettable people.

And there is worse than that.

Now those most regrettable folk also have to answer to:
Immigrants within the USA worried about their futures.
Women who will be fearful of getting pregnant.
Folk in the LGBT+ community.
Minorities, never mind how deep their roots within the USA .
US public service workers

Yes, they, along with a few million other US non-voters have to answer to their own fellow citizens. 

As a senior manager I served under and looked up to, used to say, with a large sigh:

‘Oh protect us from the inexperienced person in authority with Well Meaning Intentions’ 

On The Subject of Treading on Hazardous Ground With Confidence

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Foreword and forewarning: Trigger subjects. Religion. Belief. Abortion. If you would rather not read any further please leave now lest you be offended or upset. Also those of you who feel sardonic levity should be be included, well that’s me I fear.

On with the post:

So I’m Christian, Catholic by choice, but that’s another long narrative, and I will spare you the convolutions of the journey. Now to be honest I have not attended Mass for a long while which is yet another long narrative involves personal details I do not wish to go into, but do not involve much to do with the policies and attitudes of The Church itself. Anyway in trying to come to terms with not attending Mass it is my practice to go through the ‘Order of the Mass’ most days of the week, read passages from the bible known as ‘The Mass Readings’, offer up prayers while trying to keep my thoughts level on this most solemn of subjects- no easy task; be honest we all know how minds can wander.
December being of course a month filled with religious themes and symbolism there will be for the believer / follower a number of publications dealing with various aspects of the season, and in trying to balance non-attendance I purchased a couple to read either before, during or after the Order of Mass, as I felt necessary.
(By the way. Are you with me so far? I’ll be getting to the point of the post shortly, just felt some background was necessary) .

Yesterday, the fourth day of Christmas tide is known as The Feast of The Holy Innocents, based on Matthew’s Gospel (2:16-18) which states that Herod The Great on finding out the The Three Wise Men had not complied with his wishes to tell him where the Holy Child was had all male children under two years of age killed, apparently to make sure no one would usurp him. Naturally like all biblical events this is been a subject of debate as to whether it actually happened, historically. For further details here’s the Wiki link to give you a rough idea of the debate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents#:~:text=Modern%20scholarship%20finds%20no%20evidence,is%20congruous%20with%20Herod’s%20character.&text=The%20Feast%20of%20the%20Holy,the%20fourth%20day%20of%20Christmastide.  
Well as I was reading one of the aforementioned publications, on this occasion before The Order of The Mass I found the writer was likening this event (Yes I believe it was likely, history is full of mass-killing horrors) this event to the practice of Abortion.
At once I slammed on my reading brakes and sounded off an allegorical horn. ‘What!‘ and ‘Oh no. Oh no. Oh no-no-no’ were my comments. Relieved my auto-restraint actually work for once and no bad words were used, I ditched the publication into the bin. It was no use the writer adding a little PS at the end to the effect…‘Oh yes and the victims of child abuse too- mentioning no names or institutions’  I was far from happy with that cheap shot. And not reckoning I should approach the Order of Mass in my then current frame of mind opted for an abbreviated version and a likewise prayer.  

Being Catholic I believe in the Nicene Creed
https://www.usccb.org/prayers/nicene-creed 

And also Transubstantiation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation 

What I do not hold to is a dogma which as far I can tell is not mentioned in the Gospels is that Abortion is a murder. Do any of these accusers think for one moment that a woman goes into that process with a casual air and comes out of it with no more than thought than she’d just had a new hair-style? Have they any idea of the trauma prior, during and after that a woman is likely to experience? Do they think for another moment that they are helping any cause they have to pro-life be falsely heaping the charge of murder onto a person already suffering. And these are folk who are supposed to adhere to Forgiveness? What part of Forgiveness does the accusation of Murderer involve? And while we are about it, since there is only one record of Immaculate Conception in the Christian system, why are we not bringing the other person…. The Man…. into the equation. Why does not he get hauled up before this quasi-ecumenical court? I mean he played a part didn’t he?
Just like the Woman found Committing Adultery (John 8:1-11). You don’t commit adultery by yourself. Where was the guy involved, was he going to be stoned? Actually that was an attempt to trap Jesus on theological grounds- the mob failed. And there’s Adam blaming ‘The Woman’ for him eating that Apple….What a whimp! Couldn’t take his responsibility, had to try and shift it.   (Sorry strayed off topic a bit there…hope you got the general theme of the asides)

Personally, I am conflicted about Abortion. In my own ideal world the woman would be supported to go full term, give birth to the baby and the child would be passed to a well vetted and genuine couple, and the natural mother would still be supported afterwards. The only exceptions would be those tragic twists of nature where the woman’s health is at risk, the child has no chance of survival or in the cases of rape or incest (after the man involved has been ‘neutered’ – well that’s the All-Age friendly term I use….Hey! I never said I was a model of Tolerance – That’s my burden). But that is a perfect world. We all have them don’t we?
For the world is not like that, is it? It is a place filled with tragedies, bitter choices, imperfect solutions and unhappy outcomes. Trying the vilify a victim, is not going to help anyway, anyhow, anywhere.  

Am I giving up my Faith?

No, actually, no. Imperfect as I am in my attendance at Mass, I will place my Faith in God (there I said it!). I will still stick to the core beliefs, and if anyone wants to take a different theistic path it is not my place to object, just adhere to Compassion, Respect and Tolerance and I am fine with you.

Do I hold to all of the ‘teachings’ of the Catholic Church….No, I don’t. There’s one higher authority, the one I defer to, and I believe we are letting that Authority down in so many ways.

OK, I’m done for today.  

Just Some Reflections On The Week Passed

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As usual over the past week there has been a great deal of news and depending where you live in this world, some events will appear more important than others, and the three I will write about might not understandably matter a jot to you, those closer, literally to your home being of far more importance. Just look upon this then as one person reflecting upon examples of Human reactions, motivations and of course follies. It’s another of those long ruminations though, and a bit convoluted. Bear with me here.

Brian Thompson CEO of United Healthcare
To be honest, chillingly honest maybe, I did not pay much attention to the initial headline, I was skipping quickly to another site, and this just registered as another killing in the USA, a commentary all of it own; the post could have stopped there couldn’t it? A reader could have drawn their own conclusions. Anyway on returning a couple days later the narrative became clearer. The CEO of a controversial but very large USA Healthcare Insurance and ‘provider’. It appears the company has a reputation for finding a way of rejecting or stalling claims.
What was not surprising but worrying nonetheless were the types of reactions. Very little obvious sympathy, much visceral grim humour in messages and one or two cartoons. A great deal of resentment had been building up and in one swift violent act a dam broke. The public reaction garnering its own media attention.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/what-the-murder-of-the-unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-means-to-america 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2eeeep0npo

The president to be Trump once boasting about his popularity said he could shoot a person on 5th Avenue and not loose votes. It seems the shooter of Brian Thompson proved that could actually be a case. Yes, and the shooter.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly2zwqqr1ro

An Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland family. Those are the facts to date. And why we are not surprised by this link?

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/why-thousands-are-supporting-luigi-mangione-the-suspect-in-unitedhealthcare-ceos-murder-and-fundraising-for-him/articleshow/116155704.cms?from=mdr
Those on the Right and outraged by the killing of a CEO should not be horrified, after all Daniel Perry was crowdfunded.
And here is the stark lesson. Just looking at those two examples in point, the USA. Hate and Prejudice those dire siblings are walking hand in hand. Kill someone who represents a subject of Hate and there will be support, approval, and in some corners encouragement for more of the same. What those supporters seem to miss is that they are encouraging the normalisation of such actions. You don’t like someone prominent or supporters of a movement you detest? Fine just take a gun, or household DIY implement or put together your own IED, you might get caught by The Law, but you’ll have a support base out there. You will not be alone. Even become a hero, no matter how unsettled and skewed your perceptions are. You might die and get martyr status. It’s all cool. Apparently. 

This is something that some of the extreme politicians and those thrice removed from the reality of ordinary life entrepreneurs have missed too. For years now, maybe since Obama’s election, the Anger has been building, and blindness to Rationality growing. The first warning eruption was of course in 2016, then 2021 and now in 2024. Anger fed on frustration, anger fed on triumphalism, anger fed on fear, anger feeding itself. On and on. Trump was nearly a casualty, thankfully not, he does not deserve to be mourned like some hero to the cause. Of course he did not learn the lesson, he continues to make inflammatory statements, adding fuel to the fire and there was Vivek Ramaswamy demonstrating a complete lack of understand how a nation works. Thus in the light of Thompson’s death it has to be asked ‘Who’s Next? Right, Liberal or Activist or Someone briefly in the media highlight?’. A shocking comment I know. Yet in a polarised nation with ‘that many’ guns, is it not valid one to worry about, fear. I do not believe the death of Brian Thompson was any good to anyone. Just spare a thought for his family. This time of year will never be the same for them again. Consequences? There are always consequences.

Anger, pent up, building up. So much rage, it would stifle any Christmas Truce.
You’d have to witnessed it close up, or been reading the runes to truly grasp the potential. 

Syria
(How it links to the above)
Only those who have been following the immensely complicated situation could have given a suggestion that the fall of the Assad regime was close at hand. For most of us the fall of Aleppo was the biggest news and one that would have raised an eyebrow. Thus when I read the newsfeeds on Sunday morning 7.30am UK time it was a shock.  
Now here is the qualified guilty secret. My first reaction was delight at how ridiculous some sections of the UK Left would be held up to account in the light of their previous history of a stance to be against any Western criticism of Assad and that included the courageous White Helmets
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Helmets_(Syrian_civil_war)

If you have been following my blogs you will know of my extreme dislike (putting in mildly) of those sections of the UK Left who come out immediately ‘The West’ (and Israel) does anything, but are or have been at best very muted about other outrages around the world. Even explaining how folk like Putin are justified. I will spare you any further of my outrage at this selective protesting, except to say it devalues any protests they do indulge it.

My problem on Sunday and Monday was containing that emotion. I knew somewhere it was wrong, because there were debates within the UK Left over that ‘selective’ approach in 2011-2015. It was necessary to keep on going over and over the number of militias, para-militaries and even small conventional armies which have growing up, and how just because one was claiming it had the bidding rights for government that was not the end of it. Damascus was not actually seized by the main runner, the Islamist HTS, taken advantage of their advances, the SNA (Syrian National Army) backed by Turkey, these days came up from its stronghold in the south and did a land-grab. Although both sides are now in a tentative slender alliance for the moment. It was necessary to remind myself that Libya and Iraq caste off brutal dictators, the former is still in a civil war and the latter still unsettled. No real cause to cheer.
And yet, and yet, for two days I was mentally mocking the most vocal of the history of the UK Left wing protests movements because I had deemed them to be at best simplistic and naïve and at worse prejudiced and willing saps for the more professionals. Talk about ‘Hate’ and losing perspective I had my own version of the debate on the killing of CEO Brian Thompson going on here. 
Thankfully there was the BBC World Service on hand to supply information from those who had worked on the various front lines, had been faced to face with the horrors and had risked their own lives…..Mind you that strategy had its own problems, because another bunch I have no time for are those who blindly criticise the BBC news outlets because it generally supplies the world news as it is and not how they would like it (It has it’s failings on UK national news, can be a bit tabloid at times), so I was muttering about them.

Summary- Thus Far
It is so easy isn’t it to fall into the reactive approach, to see the other side as blinkered, narrow minded, downright prejudiced and with no perception of Reality, particularly when in their own passions they act just as you expect (or is that…want?) them to. Well of course you are right to feel that way, just look at the way they carry on. 
There’s something wrong there, but there’s no satisfaction in admitting it, if they are opposition, then they deserve all you are saying about them, every single one of them.
I think? 
But I can say that because I am very broad minded in my condemnation, be they Right or Left. Or Cancel Culture, or Objecting to Cancel Culture. Or whatever.

Hate. Intolerance. Sneaky little blighters are they not?

There’s most certainly something wrong these days. Less tolerance. More polarisation. So easy to just hit the old keyboard, rattle away and press ‘send’ Just where is the dividing line between Honest Opposition or Justifiable Outrage and the simply urge to give way to the delicious thrill of ‘venting’ blind anger (Who me? Prejudiced? Most certainly not. It’s just that Some people….)

Oh yes there are those feeding off it all the time, growing rich and famous. Trouble is, they had better watch their back… Those who live by the sword, as it were

A Footnote, and a Warning To Some
We’ve all heard of trolls of course. Onerous, pathetic folk mostly. And yet in this frenetic social media world, high-profile world, some have figured out a way to make use of  Troll-anger by deliberately prodding them through triggering their intense dislike of anyone with a high and arguably self-congratulatory profile. Or if not Trolls, selecting the triggers which upset people. Check this, it’s called Rage-Baiting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gp555xy5ro

Yes, I know, worrying isn’t it? There is one thing these trigger-merchants might have overlooked. They have high profiles, they are well-known to internet users and they are upsetting a lot of folk. They might want to pause as we come around in a very wide circle and they might wish to consider the fate of Brian Thompson. And the social reaction.

Conclusion

By now we should be in the season of Cheer, Goodwill and smiling a lot at strangers….At leastways that was how we felt it should have been. And yet now we are facing the consistently ugly side of Humanity (as advertised on TV and The Internet) how do we put the blood red genie back in the bottle?

A Spectre to be Exorcised (Communal Violence)- A Repeated from 2022

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Uncle Sam

I Am Looking To You To Do Your Patriotic Duty

Precursor: I originally wrote this post on the 8th May 2022. It featured in another blog of mine where I deal with grim subjects – The World As It Is. Not As It Should Be. Now it seems that WP’s response to my posting a recent link to this post has result in WP saying it cannot find it….. Ah well, let us not get diverted in the various whimsies that are WP’s speciality.

Thus here is a Copy & Paste of that post is here for your consideration. It may be too late to do anything about what might happen in the USA on and after the 5th of November 2024, and the subsequent ramifications across the world- for you are one of three largest and most globally influential nation states. Instead think of this as either a warning to keep to the legal and civil side of resistance against the tide of Ignorance, Hate and Falsehoods, or worst case a preparation for Discord.

Foreword

This post has to be long. Histories have to be considered. Social tides and trends examined. That most troublesome of all factors Human Nature faced. It is hoped you find this grim reading, but not sensationalist. This is a precursor for you to discuss in your homes, your blogs, your meeting places. These words are based on histories of communal violence throughout the world. Including the USA. I have tried to be apolitical, most of the time. It is not always possible. Blame has to be laid in places.

Introduction

The present view that so politically polarised the USA has become, a civil war could take place has moved from blog site discussion onto the mainstream where more sober assessments are. For example:

Brookings in the following assessment of September 2021 concluded there was a sizeable proportion of the USA population who were of this mindset:

Is the US headed for another Civil War? (brookings.edu)

In January of 2022 an article in the UK Guardian raised this possibility along the lines of the UK’s own experience in Ulster

Is the US really heading for a second civil war? | US politics | The Guardian

Overview

It should be borne in mind that Racism, Intolerance, Profiling and Subjugation  are regrettably part of the Human Construct. No race, people, community, grouping, belief system have been free of it. So it is within the USA.

Although legislation and more constructive outlooks made moves to minimise the effects of these corrosions it requires a mammoth task of social engineering to purge them. Something which would challenge even the most efficient and established of authoritarian states.

Thus not the passing phase of the 1960s counter-culture whose short tenure could reduce it to arguably a fashion. Instead it was in the deep-rooted places of a Human Insecurity in sections of The White Community fed by the fear of loss of position in society where the nascent rebellions would grow.

The US involvement in Vietnam with a cost of wasted blood and treasure, left on one side a sense of worthless loss, on the other an anger at some sort of betrayal at home; possibly the first cultural fracture line in The White Community; the dominant group within the USA. These would be played out in the Culture Wars. Not enough attention being given to the mindset which gave rise to the Oklahoma City Bombing of 19th April 1995; this was the warning.

Then in the opening years of the 21st Century came two tipping points:

9/11 and the election of an African American into the Whitehouse, twice with majorities. The former had shaken America and set loose more of those toxic fantasies Conspiracy Theories, for the long term trust in government of the USA as dangerous as any handgun. In the case of the latter, the fact he was a Democrat made the backlash easier for one element of the White Community. Had Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice accepted a Eisenhower type draft and won, the Republican Party and Fundamentalist Right would have suffered a truly existential crisis. But they had a black democrat. This made everything much easier.

Civil Discord (The Path to Communal Violence)

It is now necessary to move from the historical to consider the dynamics of civil discord  which lead to a break down in the common currency of discourse, bargaining, and the tacit, sometimes humorous acceptance of tribal lines.

Firstly the notion that ‘There is no Democracy’ has to be put aside, for people are able within the USA take to  the streets, the airwaves, the internet to give voice to their feelings. Thus there is freedom of speech and action, however in an atmosphere of heightened feeling this freedom comes with  tensions and reactions. The first tension arises when people feel their views are not being listened to, or being stifled. The second tension arises when those frustrations are inflamed by the feeling ‘The Other Side’ are not just ignoring, but are seen to be imposing. At this point there occurs a fault line when a shared perception results in ‘The Other Side’ being seen as a threat and there can be no discourse, the only facet shared by both sides being this mindset. At this stage both sides will feel the need to demonstrate, one will feel it is defending, the other will perceive this as aggression, engendered through the fault line affect. Initially it will be seen one side is more aggressive and assertive thus encourage within them a certain sense of triumphalism. This adds to the danger as in playing to its own support it fails to take into account that the very forces which placed it in this position will also work within the opposition. There is made a fundamental error that the triumphant side  can use Democracy and the Other Side will adhere to that rule. In addition some of its more strident supporters will feel the leaders are not strong enough and perceive the need to be ready to defend or if necessary attack with unconstitutional force. The stance sets within The Other Side the feeling they had better prepare. You need only scroll the internet to see that the ridiculously named ‘Snowflakes’ have been starting to own guns.

2016 to Today

To support my views in the previous section it is necessary to consider the last two presidential elections. In 2016 the victory went not to the candidate with the most votes but the electoral college votes. Thus from Day One the losing side felt robbed. A more astute winner in 2016 would have sensed the issue and navigated. By 2016 this was not wanted by the winning side and the other side were willing to take up the fight. By 2020 the lack of discourse had reached such a pitch that the losers of that election believed they had the right to seize back power because of a fraudulent election. This theme continues even now as a backdrop in the 2024 election.

The Republican Reaction as seen from The Other Side

Although cast out of the Whitehouse and seeming to fail in the courts of law, aside from the Supreme Court, the political machines now holding control of the Republican Party have been working at a pace to unravel the social, legal and communal trends of the past 50 years as they seek to defend their own ground. Instead of the usual slow, methodical  approach in this heightened tension they have sought to dismantle the processes of The History of Race Relations, Sexual Orientation and Abortion with no effort in trying to convince the opposition of their causes, they pass a simple edict. As they see it, this was done to them, it is now time to undo it. This is against the wishes of the Executive branch, the Whitehouse. Another layer of  confrontation therefore plays into the dynamic of continuing Civil Discord. In both cases ‘The Other Side’ are a threat.

Update: As it will have been noted in the schools, against the Abortion Clinics, the LGBT+ community and the refugees, the Right has seen fit not to use the politics of reasoned argument but of extreme language. Which is turn has resulted in similar response. Thus rather than try to calm down the situation, the temperature has increased so by this year 2024 the polarisation is wider.

The Acceleration of Civil Discord

In this frenetic atmosphere attention must be given to the structure of the USA at federal level. In use of the three office system: Executive (The Whitehouse). The Legislature (Congress/Senate) and Judiciary (Supreme Court) mirrored at State Level it was believed enough checks and balances had been built in. However with Conspiracy as deadly to the body politic as Covid to the population; dismay raised to horror by one group or another at the result of the last four presidential elections, the legislature abrogating its traditional and beneficial wheeler-dealing to consensus and the Supreme Court no longer perceived as a body above The Common Brawl another layer of toxicity has arisen. Belief that the system is no longer working. Either dread for the future, anger at The Other Side,  grim preparation to defend the home becomes a norm, or violent intention to impose The Will of Our Side(s).

The Tipping Point into Communal Violence

One action leading to a sudden call to or inexorable slide to fully conventionally armed groups is not how this will start. In a nation nearly inured to gun crime you might even miss the start; another shooting, unless of course it is between two groups. The next tranche of violent confrontations, would be by the bombs,  IEDs, the murder of prominent activists or journalists, politicians and any combination. These will be the signals the Tipping Point has been reached. This will lead to the ‘No Go Areas’, the latter being underscored by some very unwise incursion by one group into another and the subsequent ambush. It would appear police are already experiencing these; the next step in this will be the targeting of individual officers. From here will come the targeting of official buildings of government, of one party or another, and then for some twisted thought process a hospital, parents might well start to keep children away from school, seeing the history of school killings this would hardly be surprising.

In this atmosphere although groups will be surveyed, there will be the under the radar individuals for each person has their own tipping point. In recent years I have read the remarks of avid anti-war believers and pro-gun control supporters intimating or outright suggest a violent response is a feasible solution. You will never know when the normally placid person will take a gun with the specific purpose of solving a problem, or the group who decided to investigate how to make bombs, because they’ve been pushed too far. Of course each of these actions will bring the reaction.

The Institutionalisation of Violence

One fatalistic view is, considering the level of gun crime, this state is already in place. However the level can become more intense, once armed groups with names and agenda become seen by one community or another as legitimate alternative police or local guard. There is another level though, this being when the group imposes upon the community a code of behaviour and underground tax to support them, the tax does not have a right of appeal either. With this comes disputes within the group and rivalries with other groups. Hardened now by violence and fuelled by suspicion the violent solution is seen as the norm. And of course wherever there is chaos and violence goes crime, gangs would quite naturally seek to impose their own will either to take over a group or keep a group out of their activities. Those who felt it was only necessary to parade in paramilitary style in a threatening way will find themselves quite out of their depths as a fearful natural selection takes place.

The Official Response.

This is where matters are not so predictable. The National Guard would of course be called in to areas where the police are losing control. Being in a local part-time force with local affiliation it has to be assumed that members or groups within the guard will have sympathies, or feel a certain intimidation. Direct and open large scale mutinies would be very unlikely but expecting all The Guard to be a faceless, emotionless unified body acting only for the defence of Stability and safety of all is naïve, there will be fractures.

The Security Services be they Police, FBI, NSA etc would face the same pressures from within. Also they being closer to the body politic and the civil viewpoint would be in the position of doing deals or reaching accords with whichever group or groups they feel they can work with. In all civil discord this is an ugly fact. Whether in a federal system such as the USA this would be a uniform approach is again highly unlikely.

Whether or not the Armed Forces become involved would depend on whether the nation is still governable as a working state comparable with the pre-violent situation:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”  Is open to interpretations, if some decide ‘The President’ is not legally ‘The President’. One thing would be certain, the element of internal security and supervision of members of the armed forces would be increased. Forget Conspiracies. Think of Factionalism.

The Resulting Political Overview

In this area prediction is near impossible, as a great deal would depend on the strength of character of individuals around which groups marshal. There are many possibilities. One of the least worst outcomes would be the fragmentation of the current USA into states which have autonomy. Washington, The Whitehouse and Capitol Hill being reduced to places of symbolism and the possible headquarters of Americanised versions of The EU and NATO, in an attempt to shore up America from outside influences while making workable the large armed forces and corporation based trading systems onto the world stage. How workable this would be is beyond the scope of this post.

Conclusion

Whereas The Ulster Conflict was conducted under a higher level of government the situation in the USA has the potential to reach up to the highest levels as already demonstrated and this is a most distressing situation. Thus what can a US citizen fearful for this scenario do? My suggestion is to voice your concerns, not in a partisan way from your own standpoint but as an appeal to stop this slide. Raise this spectre which everyday seems to draw an inch nearer. Demand of your representatives a return to consensus. Warn them, that they in the final analysis in any failure to bring discourse and consensus to the issues; that they in pandering to, or failing to confront the extremist levels will be complicit in the deaths of their fellow citizens. Raise this in conversation. Not as a warning to prepare, but as a concern as to what might come. The concern must become a talking point in the run up to the next elections. The violent minorities must be marginalised and the conspiracies put back in the toy box.

An Update in Late October 2024

A Formulaic View of The Acceleration of Civic Discord

Regrettably what passes as rhetoric by the republican candidate and his running mate suggests that neither have much concern about what effect they are having on any opposition, in that they are playing only to their own and on the fears of the undecided. They are therefore playing with matches in a forest in a high summer’s drought. And the groups feeling the subject of hate and discrimination I will repeat this formulae for you based on a possibility of the result of the presidential election, itself based on current polls:

160 million votes cast
Trump wins by 82 millions to 78 million. That’s 78,000,000 folk upset about the result.
10% are very, very angry . That’s 7,800,000 angry folk.
10% of that 7,800,000 are so angry they feel their way of Life and Democracy is seriously threatened, the feeling parallel to if the nation was invaded. That’s 780,000.
1% of the 780,000 feel the new administration and its supporters in the states are now viable targets. That’s 7,800. A very small number, but how many of the others tucked away the previous number have a sympathy that ‘does not yet speak it’s name,’ .
The 7,800 start to go public and as stated above with it make those inflammatory statements and acts. A similar reaction arises within the ranks of the supporters of Trump.

And so it begins. Not ranks as in the Civil War, but the covert groups as we in the UK saw in Northern Ireland, no central control, agendas within agendas and legal access to so many guns.

Violence be it is war or communal discord contains its own grim logic and thus inevitability.

Take heed. But look not to the gun. Look to Democracy while it still gasps for breath. Look to the Law. Look to the Passive Civil Disobedience. Cling to and nurture Hope. Never give up. Support the Persecuted. Speak with those who are only broadly conservative. Defy The Hate-Mongers. Convince or Warn the Uncertain. Keep on.

Prove my unhappy words to be just written out of Fear and not out of Histories.

Another In My Series of Mature In-depth Responses

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19

Victorian writer

USA- Candidate Trump and his flock of devotees howling outrage at over stretched FEMA while folk in Florida suffer another hurricane.

UK– A government, rapidly and actually excessively proving my personal dictum ‘In Democracy prepared to be disappointed by your choice,’. With a Conservative Opposition Party in a hurry to vote as their leader either one person who adheres to the Foot in Mouth approach and another who insults the record of armed forces personnel (Familiar  to readers in the USA?)

France – A Nation which manages to be simultaneously Far Left and Far Right and determined not to have a workable government.

Europe– A place in which many have collectively forgotten the lessons of 1940-1945 and think ‘Let’s Give It One More Try’

Putin– A fellow popular with:
Russians: Because they have no choice.
Swathes of Central Africa: Because they never had a Russian empire over there – yet.
European Left: Because he is not American.
American Right: Because he isn’t liked by the Democrats.

Where Are or were: Mass protests movements over the horrors of Sudan; genocide of the Rohingya; Cultural Genocide of the Uyghur and other Turkic groups in China; In Iran the brutal sometimes fatal suppression of Women’s protests.

Conspiracy Theories: Adherence to a system where the simple explanation of error, human folly or events outside human control are replaced by complex, unlikely, impractical plans conducted by impossibly effective agencies. This has done more to the undermining of belief in government than any revolutionary organisation could dream of.

Well, that’s just a few – And it’s time again to modify Thomas Paine’ ageless statement ‘These Are Times Which Test Folks’ Souls’

Encountering all those above and also weary after a very busy few days, which involved telling woefully ill-formed folk why they should get the (redacted) of ‘this’ charity page and take their spiteful prejudiced remarks and…. (redacted) – well that was the basic sub-text.  I can only sum up my feelings on all of the above and their unconditional followers succinctly as:

Big Raspberry

Sometimes…it just gets you like that. Doesn’t it???