TV Handmaids vs Trumpist & Taliban reality

There are real parallels between the Evangelicals depicted in the Handmaids tale, Trumpism and the Taliban.  Both the evangelical RW & Taliban are religious groups who reject the separation of Church and State, women's rights, & much of liberal democracy. But, while the Handmaids tale is fiction, the "Sons of Jacob" are plausible. The Taliban resemble them.  The story was written in the 60s. Updated for TV & the present it is even more terrifying.

Parallels to the Taliban

Parallels:

1. Commanders

The Talliban decentralized their movement in the face of arrests & imprisonments after losing electorally.  The treasonous revolutionaries who overthrew the USA &  created Gilead called themselves Commanders & their movement "Sons of Jacob" and used this structure to operate as both a movement and a terrorist army.  The Taliban have done the same.

The structure is ideal for a tneocratic autocracy, because a paramilitary organization with commanders can be both decentralized and under oligarchic control. They could employ almost unlimited resources of men and material and seemlessly take over government & business orgs & resources.

2. Oppression of women

Both Taliban and Gilead are all about Oppression of women. Gilead justified enslaving women on cherry picked biblical passages. The Taliban cherry pick Hadith & Koran.  The Taliban behave in a manner similar to the fictional rulers of Gilead. Destroy schools, Forbid literacy in children, force conservative dress, kill or enslave the rebellious. The world of Afghanistan resembles the fictional Gilead.

People forget that Iran and Afghanistan once had women doctors & were not that different from our country before revolutionaries took it over. People also forget that similar ideas are taught as dogma by dogmatic RW Christians & Catholics. In Gilead & Afghanistan reading is criminalized or punished.

Gilead and EMAD Trumpism

Thank God it didn't happen here! Yet.  But Trump draws his base [in Arabic alqaeda] from Fundamentalists with similar ideas to the Sons or Jacob.  It could happen here. And as the experts warn you, and as illustrated by both the "Handmaid's tale" and the Taliban, The rank and file may be true believers, but the leaders are Exploitive, Manipulative, Amoral & Dishonest [EMAD], or to use the clinical terms, at best Narcissistic, but with folks like Trump Psychotic, Sociopathic, ruthless & criminal people.  The taliban finances itself smuggling drugs & running extortion schemes.

What this means is that when people like Lawrence Tribe, tell you he will do anything he can to stay in power. And his wannabe Commanders talk up "There is no good Democrat but a Dead Democrat" there is good reason to be alarmed enough to make sure you get involved!!!

Our water supply is not yet polluted enough for handmaids. But the story is more plausible than it seems.

It could happen here!

Community Policing is a requirement

When Police Function as Occupying Armies

This recent extralegal murder of George Floyd illustrates the viciousness of police as standing armies. Again.

The police function was originally part of the schema of the Militia. The Declaration of independence is, among other things, a complaint against "standing armies", "pretend courts" and the tyranny of uniformed personnel enforcing law in an arbitrary manner. They argued for local government, democracy, which requires policing of, by and for, the local citizens.

Thus the framers of the constitution argued for community policing. The virtue of this argument was undermined by the viciousness of class, race & religious bigotry. The universal principles in the constitution argue for this. 

Broken Glass Theory

The original Atlantic Article on "Broken Glass Theory" was deliberately misinterpreted, because it too argued for resourcing community policing.

For more see "why broken glass theory was corrupted" and The Garner decision

The Constitution And Community Policing

The founders had some fundamental splits, but all of them saw the militia as the a key resource in the security and safety of United States. They saw militia as the Palladium of Liberty, both a bullwark against invasion and a tool for avoiding standing armies and tyranny. For more see:

• The Palladium of Liberty

The United States Congress uses the militia passages in Article one of the Constitution to justify our Military Academies, Army, 2 year horizons for appropriations, and appointments to the Officer corps. But the core of the militia clauses, the militia, has been lost, or associated with the National Guard. This is rather like how the post office clause of the Constitution has spun off UPS, Railroads, Airlines, Toll Roads, Telephony and the internet, yet somehow remains relegated to mail and small parcels. Both of these constitutional organizations had one vision originally, and a distorted image currently. Our authorities want privateering government that serves separate advantage. This attacks basic principles of commonwealth & Republicanism, as fundamental principle.

Commonwealth according to Locke

Commonwealth as Antidote to Tyranny

I started this post a while ago. But while the basic idea is premised on an understanding of the relationship between militia and police and professional police and occupying Armies, getting this across to people has been difficult. But you can't have a democratic republic at a federal level without local democracy. Volunteer fire, rescue, HS & Police are vital componant of a functional republic. They should be compensated Federally when they serve the country locally.

Definitions related to Democratic Republicanism

Misha Walks

We both are old,

Old breaks stiff and sore,

Yet like soldiers we go out the door,

You lean to the side,

Your leg is hurting,

And then you fall to the floor.

But you get back up once more.

You will not miss your walk!

 

You fall again.

You drag your leg.

I took you to the doc,

They gave me meds,

For the pain.

I help you up.

That's all you want.

To sniff the yard,

To make your rounds.

 

We make our walk,

Though not our mile.

You are stiff and sore,

I carry you in,

Like a child.

I give you food.

I give you meds.

You put your head

Upon my foot.

 

Love you Misha

Why they execute Traitors

Been meditating on treason a lot.  The reason is historical example. Was reading about the English Civil War & then was watching the Tv version of the "Handmaid's tale", where they get into the story of how the USA was overthrown & Gilead born. And it struck me,

They execute traitors for a reason

Traitors are executed for two reasons.

1. Because those committing treason lead others and unless they are removed from the political equation, they tend to try again to overthrow the legitimate government.

2. Because if they succeed the legitimate government becomes a target of violent authority. The traitors have no compunction about branding the targets of their subversion as traitors & taking them out!

In "The Handmaid's tale", overnight it was once again illegal for gays to be married. They executed the prior government, changed the laws & made themselves the government. What they did was treason but because the USA didn't stop them. The old government either 

"T[oo]k a bow to the new constitution." [Rolling Stones]

Or they were executed.

Something similar happened in 17th century Britain. A number of people lost their heads. Charles I, then Olivar Cromwell ruled, died & he was decapitated posthumously by the returning Charles II.   On the other hand the "try again" principle got Henry VII the crown & Richard the 3rd a reputation as a cruel hunchback 200 years earlier.

Successful traitors write the Histories

If we let them live unsuccessful traitors try to rewrite history. Reading about efforts to revive the confederacy, repeal emancipation & rewrite the history of the confederacy remind me we should have executed the traitors who led the civil war. Their descendents are trying to rewrite the record.  Nikki Haley is still trying to defend the Confederate Battle flag & the racism and hate it stands for. 

Makes me wonder if I have to worry about successful treason.

Chris Holte

Trumpism before Trump

The word Trump is uniquely suited to describe an ideology that has existed in the corrupt underbelly of our Nation. The expression "Trumped up" is in the dictionary.  trumped-up:

"Something that's trumped-up is faked or fabricated to use as an excuse. You might be tempted to tell your parents a trumped-up story about a mean math teacher to explain a bad grade. When you hear about someone being arrested on "trumped-up charges," that means that they've been falsely accused."

That expression is old.  But now it has a face. 

Call it Trumpism

Donald John Trump has given a face to the expression "trumped up." Now we have new words derived from his ideology. But the ideology itself is old.  Narcissistic con artists have been using trumped up claims, fear, hate & jealousy, villification, nationalism, lies, propaganda, to get power, fame, wealth, for millennia.

Trump isn't that different from previous dictators, kakacrats, charlatans, con artists, who have come before him!

Trumpism is as American as Apple Pie.

Thus Trumpism is as American as apple pie. Hucksters are nothing new. Trump may be the most shameless & unfeeling example, but we've been hustled before.

Africa can teach us how to fight Pandemics

In an Article in the New Yorker by Jina Moore, she talks about how African countries are dealing with Pandemics. There are  rules

A. Think of disease spread as a web.

B. Protect self & others: 

1.  Practice hygeine, wash wear PPE.

2. Get people to take self isolation seriously.

C. Use Science: Contact trace, test, verify, isolate.

Follow the process;

1. Screen/ test people entering the country or a place of business.

2. Self Isolate/quarantine suspects, 

3. separate unconfirmed from confirmed infected and each other.

4. Trace & clear contacts, test them.

5. Isolate til cleared. Self isolate/quarantine contacts while testing.

6. Use the antibody testing & random testing to find & focus on emerging hot spots.

7. Verify results test & improve efforts.

This article in the WAPO, also. 

"How to stop the pandemic by July"

They think it could be stopped by July. I think that won't happen becuse of Don the incompetent con!

The Samson Strategy

The Republicans are pursuing the Samson policy.

You should know the story.  Samson was a Nazirine. He wasn't supposed to cut his hair, which gave him supernatural strength. But he also was a lothario who loved the ladies. His enemies, the Philistines, were neighbors of his clan of Dan, & he was seduced by Delilah, who cut his hair to take his power. They imprisoned him in their Temple. At last, after much tearful prayer, and time for his hair to regrow. He got his power back, and still chained to two key pillars, pulled the temple down!

The Trumper party, formerly known as Repubicans, are pulling the temple down!

In response from cries, from economists & citizens, that our economy & lives are in danger from COVID19. The democrats put a package together to help States, workers & small business.

Grimm Reaper McConnell, announced it is "Dead on arrival!"

Dead on Arrival

The threat [not risk, it is happening], is of the cascading effects of 3 preexisting economic conditions combined with the effects of the virus, [& Trump's destructive & stupid response] in forcing self quarantines & shutdowns.

1. Major businesses are saddled with too much debt [leverage].

2. Much of retail was already having trouble dealing with the growth of online retail.

3. Our infrastructure is vulnerable.

These things plus stupid governors & POTUS = cascading failures.

They think they can reopen the country & it will rebound economically.  But, what they are doing will cause cascading failures.

If Truckers can't drive, for being sick, they can't drive. If factories have no healthy workers, they will close again. If workers aren't paid, they can't buy. If States have no money they will no longer be able to operate safely & people will die for lack of Emergency workers & Healthcare.

Trump is pulling down the temple.