December 2, 2024

Trump won't turn the FBI into the KGB or the Gestapo. He'll turn it into the TBI, by Hal M. Brown



Perhaps because there have been reports that say that going back 20 or 30 years Donald Trump was, most likely unbeknownst to him, being groomed by Russia's KGB to be an asset, the news these days says that he is planning to turn the FBI into his personal KGB.


Yesterday I wrote that Trump was certainly going to turn the FBI into his personal Gestapo (here).

I just as easily and perhaps more accurately could have said the was going to turn it into his personal KGB. I wondered what the differences were between these ruthless agencies of oppression and punishment which were used to stiffle dissent in dictatorships. Here's what I discovered:

The Gestapo and KGB were both notorious secret police organizations known for their brutal tactics and widespread surveillance. The Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany, operated during the 1930s and 1940s and was responsible for enforcing Nazi ideology and suppressing dissent. The KGB, the secret police of the Soviet Union, operated during the Cold War era and was known for its extensive network of informants and its ruthless tactics in maintaining control over the population. Both organizations were feared for their ability to infiltrate and control every aspect of society, leading to widespread fear and paranoia among the citizens they targeted.

Methods of Operation

The Gestapo was known for its brutal tactics and widespread use of torture to extract information from suspects. Gestapo agents often relied on informants and surveillance to identify individuals deemed as enemies of the state. Once targeted, individuals could be arrested, interrogated, and sent to concentration camps or executed. The Gestapo also engaged in propaganda and censorship to control public opinion. Similarly, the KGB employed a range of tactics to maintain control and suppress dissent. This included surveillance, wiretapping, and infiltration of dissident groups. The KGB was also known for its use of psychological warfare and disinformation campaigns to manipulate public perception.

From This vs. That.

My sense is that Trump will draw the line at sanctioning assassination and torture, but that he will use the FBI to make the lives of his enemies miserable. Even if he can't see them convicted, let alone tried, for crimes which if found guilty would end them up in prison he will enjoy watching them sit in court like he had to do in the E. Jean Carroll trial.

Trump will not turn the FBI into the KGB or the Gestapo. He will turn it into something far more personal and unique to him. While Putin and Hitler used their national police departments to thwart and when possible eliminate any opposition to their governing they did this to instill in fear and deter people who might be considering acting against their government they did it not out of an abiding, a deep seated, need to get revenge against them. 

In most instances it wasn't personal. An exception might be opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza who was been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Russia for charges linked to his criticism of the war in Ukraine and the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenk.

With Trump I expect that in many, if the majority, of the cases it will be personal. Trump is like a bloodthirsty predator that has been kept confined for four years. Even though he's been free to roam around he's like a vicious beast who has been kept in a small zoo cage for people to gawk at. He's about to be freed. He sees potential victims who having been taunting him. There's no cage to stop him from devouring them, from ripping them limb from limb.

Doesn't literally have to hunt them down himself. He will have thousands of armed agents with the power to arrest people 24 hours a day whether they are at home in bed, watching their kids playing sports, or at work. 

You might as well coin a new name for this cadre of hunters. While they might now be called FBI agents it may simply be called the TBI. 

Of course they will not just investigate. Just like the KGB, which stands for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, which translates to “Committee for State Security," they were more than a mere committee. (The KGB has been replaced by the FBS, which is translated to the Russian Security Service). Like our FBI, the Russian federal police do more than investigate. Once they find a criminal to arrest they may break down doors and drag people who resist into custody.

It may not be long before politicians and others including journalists, and even bloggers, have knocks on their doors with agents flashing badges like these:



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December 1, 2024

Of course Trump will make the FBI into his Gestapo, they raided Mar-a-Lago. Between this, Stormy Daniels, and E. Jean Carroll he's had his pants pulled down in public. By Hal M. Brown, MSW


The highest American military rank is a Five Star General. I wouldn't be surprised if as Commander in Chief he starts wearing a uniform with six stars.

The following blog has adult language.

With Trump his self-worth is all about his self-image as Mister Macho the Lord High Pussy Grabber Emperor of the Manosphre and star of the MAGA Mega hit Phantom of the Phallocentric Opera.

He now has his Himmler in Kash Patel who he's decided will be able to turn the FBI into his personal Gestapo.


Currently the agency's mission is to "protect the American people and uphold the Constitution and it's top priotiries are as follows:

  • Protect the United States from terrorist attacks
  • Protect the United States against foreign intelligence operations, espionage, and cyber operations
  • Combat significant cybercriminal activity
  • Combat public corruption at all levels
  • Protect civil rights
  • Combat transnational criminal enterprises
  • Combat major white-color-crime
  • Combat significant violent crime

In case you haven't noticed there's nothing above about punishing a president's political enemies.

The appointment of Kash Patel is yet another decoration on the icing already on the Trump kakistocracy cake he has been belligerently baking to usher in his version of an American Nazi country.

Trump is on a malevolently manic quest to prove what has obssessed him since he came of age.  He has based his self-image on being a tough guy who could dominate women and have them fawn over his masculine magnificence. This is where Stormy Daniels and E. Jean Carroll come in to understanding why he is intent on turning the government into a retribution army with himself as the Commander in Chief with the newly minted rank of Six Star General. He wants to be actively engaged in the war against his enemies so he might as well has an outfit to fit the part.

Some psychology

First it was Stormy Daniels mocking his manhood by likening it to a toad character in the game Super Mario Kart.

As a Google News search (here) shows this was a widely reported story. If Trump, the business mogul, reads Business Insider he may have seen this article.
As if this wasn't enough, Trump ended up having to sit through the E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse and liable trial where he had to make sure he conveyed a combination of boredom, disgust, and anger all the while knowing full well he was guilty and would have negative press coverage including unflattering drawings of him published.

He managed one small victory out of this with his mug shot photo being on t-shrts and posters,  but he still had to spend time he'd rather be using to hold rallies and playing golf sitting in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable courtroom in a city that had long since turned against him.

You can look up Trump emperor has no clothes on Google News (here) but you already know how this comparison of the delusional narcissistic emperor and Trump became a meme. It even let to an artist making these statues Below: From the Wikipedia page with this name:

Is it any wonder that Trump is out to prove that he has to rise above both Washington, the country, and the world as the biggest, meanest, most manly manly man ever to emerge from between his mother's loins causing the obstrectics nurses who are now Trump voters to swoon.



Addendum: I would add that Patel has said that he will use the FBI to go after the members of the media who enabled Biden to win illegally. He said this would be both criminally and civilly. As far as I can tell, the FBI doesn't investigate civil crimes unless they involve civil rights violations. Is he going to say Trump's civil rights were violated? That would be a precious piece of prevarication.

Personal: When I was a reserve police officer in Mason Michigan I was on the area muti-agency hostage team because I was also a psychotherapist and the director of the Mason Mental Health Center. We met once month with ranking police officers from the larger departments, the State Police psychologist, and FBI agents. Once we met at the Lansing Airport where FBI agents passed around types of equipment they would use in hostage situations on airplanes including firearms. On another occasion an FBI agent made an unannounced social visit to my house in an unmarked red mustang which had been confiscated in a drug raid. He showed me what he had in the trunk. Not only was there an assortment of firearms but all kinds of electronic gizmos for surveillance. I can't image any of the agents I met ever doing what Kash Patel and Trump want them to do.

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November 30, 2024

Could Elon Musk become vice president, and eventually president? By Hal M. Brown


CORRECTION: Amend everything I wrote below. A friend on Facebook just pointed out that Musk can't be president because he isn't a natural born citizen.


Last night I posted a second blog for the day: "The quickest exit for Elon Musk will be if he steals Trump's thunder. If he goes is this is a good or bad thing? "  It featured 11 AI images of Musk like the one below. The image above is also AI.

This morning I got to thinking about how Musk could end up as vice president and be positioned to become the next president. If the United States had a President Musk the richest man in the world would become the most powerful man in the world. 

Musk, the star man, has boldly gone where no man has gone before.


He has actually moved into Mar-a-Lago. 

I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to not only have a White House office but a bedroom there. Perhaps Melania can move into her parent's house. Then Musk could have her bedroom. 

Historically there have been 10 very influential First Ladies (see list).  Eleanor Roosevelt is probably the best known. Musk could end up being the first person Trump sees in the morning and the last person he sees at night with pop-in rights to the Oval Office thoughout the day.

If the sun could shine in the White House he'd literally be Trump's shadow. He'd be the shadow president. He'd have to be careful not to throw shade on Trump and he'd have to play his ambition cards very close to his chest. One thing I think he has in common with Trump is that he doesn't have a true best friend. Perhaps they could, for the first time in their lives, have a true best friend. 

One thing he has in common with Trump is that he seems to spend as much time posting and re-posting on his X page (here) as Trump does on Truth Social. You can follow Trump's posts there without subscribing on the Trump's Truth website (here). The two posts below show that they are perverse peas in a pod.
Below is his Thanksgiving card to the nation.


When I see how uninhibited Musk is in the scene below I can see how this lack of restraint is attractive to Trump. Trump tries to losen up physically as evidenced by his attempts to dance.


Musk often is pictured wearing his "Occupy Mars" t-shirt. I have to note that I am not totally against trying to settle people on Mars, but I think it is telling that instead of Musk having a shirt that says "Colonize Mars" his says "occupy" as if it is a country we are going to war against.
I assume he was the only man at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Thanksgiving party wearing a t-shirt. This time it was an "X" t-shirt. Again, below, we see Trump expressing affaction toward his pal.

When I see photos like the one below I see more affection coming from Trump than I see him expressing for anyone except Barron. This includes Melania. 

When I look at the photo below I wonder what is going on in J.D. Vance's mind.
I think it is fair to say that Vance wasn't happy when he saw the photo below:
Below: This was on TikTok (here). I don't know if is real or AI but it went viral (read article) so it hardly matters. Vance, if he saw it, can't be happy about it.

While there has been considerable speculation about who would be more dangerous to democracy a president between Trump and, should he die or become seriously ill, J. D. Vance. 

I haven't seen anyone address the possibility that Musk could become vice president and thus be positioned to become president either during the next fours years or in the next election.

Trump can fire anybody in the Executive Branch except Vance. Presidents can't fire vice presidents. They either have to die or resign for the president to nominate a new vice president:

25th Amendment: Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

If Trump wanted to replace Vance with Musk he'd have to persuade Vance to resign, or get rid of him in other ways - Considering the Supreme Court decisions on presdiential immunity I'll leave it to you to ponder on what methods he might employ if Vance didn't agree to leave gracefully.

I haven't give any thought to how differently Musk would govern than Trump, or J.D. Vance who seems to be 100% behind implementing the 2025 Project. Neither Trump nor Vance have what I'd call a social conscience. Musk's biographer says "Elon Musk doesn't have a natural feel for empathy or emotions, says his biographer who's followed him for three years" (read article in Business Insider).

My friends and I have concluded that J. D. Vance would be at least as dangrous to democracy if he was president as Trump. We haven't dicussed who would be a president who is more dangerous to democracy between Trump, Vance, and Musk. I have only begun to think about it today.

I think all three would want to govern in a dictatorial manner. I think Trump would be the most ruthless and bloodthirsty dictator intent on revenge against his enemies. Trump is sadistic. Vance and Musk don't really seem to enjoy watching people who cross them suffer. They may have enemies but I haven't seen examples of their wanting to inflict pain on them and want to enjoy seeing their lives ruined.

Addendum:




On graph of how boring a president could be, Trump will not be boring, anything but. He's a perfomance artist. Between the weave, the nicknames, the hyperbole, those he picked to be at his Madison Square Garden rally, and his willingness to do the outrageous (like some of his Cabinet picks) he's a Pandora's box of provocation. Vance would be a boring snoozer. Musk is also a performance artist. He might be even less boring than Trump. 

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November 29, 2024

The quickest exit for Elon Musk will be if he steals Trump's thunder. If he goes if this is a good or bad thing? By Hal M. Brown

 

If there are more articles like this on RawStory ( here and below) Elon's days sitting next to Trump at Thanksgiving and other celebrations and munching Big Macs at his table on an airplane may be numbered:


It took me a few minutes to make the images below using Perhcnace Photo AI.


Elon doesn't have to make and sell these as $99 NTF trading cards like Trump did. 

It would be easy enough for someone else to do. While I am not about to try to make money off of this I'm sorely tempted to start a website offering them for donations of any amount to something I'd call the Make Elon Greater Than Trump PAC. 

Of course it would be utterly stupid for anyone to send me money for images I'd just email to them. Who would be stupid enough to send money for the Elon astronaut series?



The whole point would be for Trump to think Elon is behind this and getting publicity for being the brains behind Trump. Thus we'd have the pièce de résistance.
Here's the brain behind Trump featuring the Elon as Einstein collection. Elon is far richer than Trump could ever. It would be ridiculous to compare his intellect to the buffoon who says he has the Biggest Brain.




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Will teenaged anti-trans bigot be the first kid to get the Medal of Freedom? By Hal M. Brown

 


There is a good case to be made that Donald Trump wouldn't have won the election had he not made the lie about schools changing the gender of children a major issue.

I lived in the town of Middleboro (sometimes spelled Middleborough) for 20 years having moved there to grow cranberries on my late wife's family farm. Having moved to Oregon I keep up with a close friend there and have a Google News search for news about the town. This is how I came across this article.


I saw the article shown above (link here) this morning. It was just above a story about someone who had cranberry bogs down the street from where we lived.

I don't think there many still living famous people who are from Middleboro. I know of professional wrestler Rick Fullerpictured on top of the page, who is a well liked townie. My close friend in Middleboro knows him very well. As far as I can tell he still operates Anything Goes Removal there. There are a few more listed here.

Tom Thumb and his wife lived there when they retired. The house they lived in has been made into a little museum.  

I am quite sure nobody from the town has made it onto the Law and Crime website (read article).

The case also made Education Week (read here)


In this election Massachusetts went clearly for Harris. Middleborough went for Trump 7,807 (57.2%) to Harris' 5,642 (41.3%).  In 2020 the town voted 53.1% for Trump and 45.7% for Biden so the Republicans did even better in this election. If this is any indication there must be many people who applaud the fight this kid and his family are engaged in for his right to wear a t-shirt in school that has been adjucated to be a type of bullying.

Here's an excerpt from the article published in Boston.com:

Eighteen state attorneys general from mostly Republican-led states are voicing their support for the Massachusetts middle schooler who claims his First Amendment rights were violated when he was banned from wearing a “There are only two genders” shirt to school last year. 

Liam Morrison, a then-seventh grader at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, was sent home from school in March 2023 after he refused to change his t-shirt. A District Court judge found that his rights were not violated, and a United States Court of Appeals agreed in June.

The case was filed on behalf of Morrison and his family last year by two conservative Christian groups, Alliance Defending Freedom and the Massachusetts Family Institute. The groups have said they will appeal to the Supreme Court. 

Middleboro is obviously a politically divided town. When I lived there I was on a diversity committee along with school administrators, church, and community leaders. But there has always been a very conservative, I would say bigoted, side of the town. When the Wampanoag Mashpee tribe wanted to open a Native American casino there the town made the national news. Many residents were so adamently opposed to this not only because of the gambling but because of the number of non-White people who would move to the town to work in the casino that they said if it opened they would move. They said there would be a migration from cities like Fall River and New Bedford to the south which would be like the Ho Chi Minh Trail since many Asians lived in thos cities. People were complaining that 30 different languages would be spoken in the schools.

Up until now Simone Biles has been the youngest person to receive the Medal of Freedom (see Axios).


She is not only the greatest gymnast of all time but one of the greatest athletes ever. 

It wouldn't surprise me if the teenaged brainwashed bigot who is no doubt the hero of the anti-trans crowd for his daring act of wearing a t-shirt that will make lots of other students very uncomfortable can claim that he's an anti-woke hero. It wouldn't surprise me if Trump, who always knows how to own "woke" liberals, has already had someone suggest that this kid should be award the Medal of Freedom. I wouldn't be surprised if see videos and photos of this kids standing next to the man who is, I have no doubt, his hero when this medal is clasped around his neck.

I see this kid as a victim. He has been brainwashed into bigotry. I only hope, Medal of Freedom or not, as he grows up and gains critical thinking skills and perhaps becomes aquainted with trans and other members of the LGBTQ+ community he sees the errors of his ways.

The more famous he becomes now the more impact an eventual mea culpa will have.

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If you can't taste the Democracy killing poison in Trump's Kool-Aid there's something wrong with you.

  Sabrina Haake wrote  Governance by deception  and this prompted me to respond with the comment below. Drinking the Kool-Aid, indeed, but t...