August 30, 2023

The Far-Right and the Riflemen (and Women)

 

By Hal Brown 


This morning Raw Story published this article: 

Far-right lawmaker wants to defund Fani Willis: 'I don't want to have to draw my rifle' Click to read.


This is the part of the story that led to the title and some mockery in the comments (my emphasis):

Moore said during a recent conversation with a fellow state senator they discussed “taking action right now because if we don't, our constituencies are gonna be fighting it in the streets.”

“Do you want a civil war? I don't want a civil war. I don't want to have to draw my rifle. I want to make this problem go away with my legislative means of doing so, and the first step to getting that done is defunding Fani Willis of any Georgia tax dollars."

This brought to mind the ABC TV western The Rifleman which aired between 1958 and 1963. Chuck Conners played the hero Lucas McCain. Some trivia: Sammy Davis Junior played Tip Corey,  a super fast, black gunman who killed the 5 men the law allowed to murder his father years ago, demands that deputy McCain symbolically throw his badge in the dirt in the episode Two Ounces of Tin (Reference).

The Rifleman was one of the first popular TV shows to feature a single parent raising a child.

Like any Western TV show or film, The Rifleman had plenty of villains and gunplay. But that isn’t what really made the show work. The driving force behind the show was the relationship between Lucas and his son.  

Lucas was a widower raising his son all by himself. Each week, he attempted to deliver justice and do what he considered to be right but also set a great example for his son.  

He may have been handy with a gun, but he only used it when it was absolutely necessary. He was kind, fair, and most importantly, not quick to action. Lucas provided the program’s moral center. 

In the current TV landscape, a character like Lucas may seem ordinary or, to some, boring. But that undersells just how influential Connors’ work in the role was at the time. It was about more than the character or dialogue — it was about the simple fact that it was a father raising his son without a mother. Read more here

The Rifleman was the only TV western hero who eschewed a six-shooter and wasn't the fastest handgun draw in town. Instead Lucas McCain shot from the hip  firing his rifle 12 times in five seconds in the introduction to every show (watch video here) It was in fact akin to what can be done with modern AR-15 style assualt rifles only without the skill required as shown in this demonstration by an expert.


The rifle was a Winchester Model 1892 44.40 caliber

The AR style assault rifle which is favored by gun nuts, mass shooters, and far right zealots doesn't require the skill of a fictional TV hero to shoot with deadly consequences. Bozos Boebert and Greene pose and post pics of themselves with thse big black badboy blasters and AR-15 pins are worn by members of Congress to express their far-right bonafides. 

Male or female, whether they are in pictures or wearing pins the AR-15 says to liberals "I'm more macho* than you." The message is that you should fear me because I'm a mighty monster and you're a minuscule mouse and I can mash you into mush.

It more than rhetoric coming form Trump and Trump wannabes portending violence if he ends up going to prison. These words are already leading some people to "draw" their AR-15 rifles. Chaucey DeVega writes in Salon today:

Over the weekend, for example, a white supremacist murdered three Black people in Florida. National security and other experts continue to warn that there are millions of Trump's followers and other members of the right wing who support and are potentially willing to engage in acts of terrorism and other violence – including a second coup attempt, civil war, or insurgency, to put Trump back in office. From: Don't look away: It's a mistake to ignore Donald Trump's interview with Tucker Carlson "The discussion normalized violence as a response to political disappointment"
Would it be that the heros of the MAGA GOP were truly as rightious as  they were in the early TV Western shows like The Rifleman. Instead they play at being righteous, but they are really saying they are holier then thou with the thou being everyone they think is twarting their agenda.

You can watch the first episode of The Rifleman, The Sharpshooter, here. In it Lucas (Chuck Connors) and Mark McCain (Johnny Crawford) finally find the ranch they have been looking for, but the ranch comes with a price, and Lucas may have to decide between the ranch and his son's life.


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* The term macho has had a masculine connotation, however consider this book from 2003 which may have portended the likes of Boebtert and Greene
A remake of the cult classic tongue-in-cheek RPG. A new and exciting development in d20 Modern that is set to raise more interest than a certain well-known lingerie advert. Macho Women with Guns puts its scantily-clad and inordinately-proportioned heroines through situations tighter than a Baywatch swim suit, with machineguns in hand and grenades between their teeth. A light-hearted journey through a post-apocalyptic world where women call the shots and men cower to their will. Lavishly illustrated throughout, Macho Women with Guns features everything required in a great night of humorous guns, women, bombs, women, attitude, and more women. So slip on your thigh-high boots, pad your bra out with shotgun shells, and head into the new and terrifying world of Macho Women with Guns.



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GOP is missing a chance to call Biden "Beelzebub" and Kamala "Hades Harris"
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August 29, 2023

GOP is missing a chance to call Biden "Beelzebub" and Kamala "Hades Harris"

 

Upper right: Anonymous from a page in an 18th-century demonology book. 
Lower left: "Beelzebub and them that are with him shoot arrows" from John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678)

By Hal Brown

Trump wants his supporters to believe he has been sent by God to rule, or is the Second Coming of Jesus (and many Trumpers have these beliefs). According to Democrats Trump might as well be Satan. 

If you take religion out of Satan and just consider him and his metaphorical demons to be pure evil, to be akin to psychopaths who enjoy making people suffer, you can make a reasonable case that it is Trump and mini-Trumps like DeSantis (who critics often call DeSatan) are incarnations of the Devil as a figure of speech meaning evil.

Illustration of the Devil on folio 290 recto
 of the Codex Gigas, dating to the
 early thirteenth century.

Republicans making the news want to demonize Biden but they throw around other words to refer to him like communist, Marxist, socialist, corrupt, and criminal. Others are more restrained. Chris Christi, for example, said in a town hall:

"Joe Biden has let this country down in just about every way you can think of."

"He ran for president in 2020 saying he's gonna bring the country together, that he was going to be a moderate leader for the country and try to bring the two extremes of both parties into a place where they could work together, and a lot of people − I mean − that a lot of people voted for him based on that idea. And he came into office and he ran as far left as he could." Reference

The Republicans may be missing a golden opportunity to turn Biden into a demon straight out of the Hellmouth.

A few so-proclaimed religious leaders have tried to make Biden into a demon from Hell. For example the article 'Prophet' Claims Biden Has Demonic 'Serpent Eyes,' Defends Trump's Election Win, in Newsweek, by Robin Bullock, a self-proclaimed "prophet," who doesn't recognize President Joe Biden as being duly elected and accused him of being aligned with Satan.

Here's another: 

Pastor Greg Locke Says Biden Is 'Demon-Possessed,' Insists Trump Is 'Legitimate President'

Greg Locke, a right-wing pastor, told his raucous sermon attendees Sunday that President Joe Biden and "jezebel demon" Vice President Kamala Harris are overseeing "child-trafficking" tunnels beneath Washington D.C.

Snopes did a fact check (here) on social media claims that a demon appeared in the back of the room when Biden gave his 2021 State of the Union Address.

Even President Biden addressed the way some people compare him to Satan:

President Biden on Wednesday (July 21, 2012) said he doesn’t care if someone thinks he is “Satan reincarnated” but there is no looking away from the 6 January Capitol riots.

“I don’t care if you think I’m Satan reincarnated, the fact is you can’t look at that television and say nothing happened on the 6th (January)”, said Joe Biden at a town hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, organised by CNN News. Reference

According to a Pew Research poll 58% of all American adults  believe in Hell. These are the breakdowns by politcal party and whether one is conservative or liberal:

Click to enlarge images


We are currently going back and forth between watching the British series Unforgotten about solving decades old murder cases with forensics and good old fashioned police work and Warrior Nun (see reviews) where magic and superpowers are used to fight evil.

The most dangerous demon on the show who is trying to kill the hero is called a Tarask. If he succeeds he will literally open the door to Hell. If Trump watches the show I expect he identifies with the Tarask.


The demons who represent the next most dangerous are called wraith demons. They can only be seen by the Warrior Nun as they move through the air as wisps of red smoke and find and possess vulnerable people and cause them to act out their worst impulses.

Season Two of the series had the highest NetFlix rating ever which demonstrates that lots of people really like shows about nuns fighting demons. If the Pew poll is accurate it may mean that a there's a significant percent of the population open to believing that Joe Biden is actually Beezlebub. 

If the Republicans catch onto this we may see more rhetoric literally demonizing Joe Biden. Let's face it (see addendum below) Beezlebub Biden and Hades Harris has a ring to it.

Addendum:

It is almost impossible for me to come up with anything totally original to blog about.

For example this is an opinion piece from the website The Published Reporter Op-Ed: Beelzebub Biden And Hades Harris Vow To Veto GOP’s HR 734 That Keeps Bio Males Out Of Bio Female Sports

:

It begins:

PORTSMOUTH, OH –  Deception and deviancy continues to govern in D.C. as the Deep State cabal bashes and trashes sports competition for biological female athletes. The militant Democrats receive their marching orders from the New World Order megalomaniacs (aka The World Economic Forum, the United Nations, The World Health Organization). And the dominant male minions delight in denigrating and destroying the rights of bio women.

Alas, the creepy Joe Biden and kooky Kamala Harris administration continue to push their poisonous propaganda that discriminates against biological females playing sports and promotes unscientific gender ideology. VILE R US. 

The author's bio: Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is a former professional child therapist, early literacy advocate, book author, and syndicated opinion-editorial columnist. Her work appears in various national and international newspapers. She lives in Southern Ohio.  

This is the only book I can find by her on Amazon.

A glance at her OpEd show she is preoccupied with issues related to gender, like this one about Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine

Predatory Richard ‘Rachel’ Levine Claims Child Mutilation Transitioning Is “Medically Necessary”


August 28, 2023

Of course inchwormy House Republicans inching towards Biden impeachments will impeach him.

 

Click above to read article
By Hal Brown

Today's blog includes musical interludes and entomology.

Of course the House Republicans will impeach President Biden. 

Matt Gaetz  is candid about the reasons.

Matt Gaetz Says Biden Impeachment A ‘Platform’ To Tarnish President Before 2024

“The purpose of that impeachment, from my standpoint, is not to force a vote that loses ― it’s to put on a trial in the Senate, and by the way, not for the sake of conviction,” the Florida Republican said.


It matters not that there's no there there while there were many theres there in Trump's two impeachments the Republicans can call Biden the once impeached president. This is weak sauce compared to how Trump is often referred to as the four times indicted and twice impeached former president being charged with 91 felonies, but weak or not at least for them is is sauce.

The cases against Trump are Sriracha compared to the watered down tomato sauce of any case against Joe Biden.

The chair of the committee that would conduct the impeachment inquiry or hearing or whatever they decide to call it is the decidely uncharismatic James Comer:

Click above to read New Republic article

Moving gradually towards opening the impeachment show, "inching" towards the premier,  McCarthy has a chance to both guage public opinion and hype the main event. By teasing the prospect of impeachment he can try to provide counterprogramming to compete with coverage of the MAGA trials.



Inch worms (or inchworms) are the larvae or caterpillars of the geometer moth and there are thiousands of species (article). They are called inchworms obiovusly because they are about an inch in length and move in small increments. They eventually turn into moths like these:

The Republicans know that there's no way that their inchworms will actually turn into moths which can fly their their way into a Senate conviction of President Biden.


This blog comes with a song inspired by the title of the HUFFPOST story from the top of this page. Perhaps it will be played prior to every meeting of the House impeachment committee by wishful thinking Republicans.

Read more about the song here, and then listen to the famous Danny Kaye version from the 1952 musical Hans Christain Andersen. It is a lovely song which is quite the contrast to what I the hearings will be.


Lyrics:

Refrain]
Two and two are four
Four and four are eight
Eight and eight are sixteen
Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two

[Chorus]
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
You and your arithmetic
You'll probably go far
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
Seems to me you'd stop and see
How beautiful they are

David Bowie said the song was the inspiration behind his 1980 song "Ashes to Ashes" which you can hear him sing here:

Ashes To Ashes wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t have been for Inchworm. There’s a nursery rhyme element in it, and there’s something so sad and mournful and poignant about it. It kept bringing me back to the feelings of those pure thoughts of sadness that you have as a child, and how they’re so identifiable even when you’re an adult.

I think the best theme song for the House Republicans is Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy":




The New York Post included it on their list of the 20 worst songs ever written:

From The NY Post: Righteously blasted in the lyrics of
“Fight the Power” by Public Enemy, McFerrin’s whimsical a cappella hit also attracted withering criticism by reader Dave Richard, who regarded it as a “real steaming pile of crap.”

Indeed, this Republican show will also be a real steaming pile of crap. 

August 27, 2023

Is America Really The Greatest Show On Earth?


From the American world map (below) one might assume they are the ONLY show on Earth.

Click here to see the poster I made the above illustration from. One could argue that this was the greatest show on earth.

Map makers from other countries would beg to differ.

Above are maps of the world from several countries.

By Hal Brown

We hear a lot about American exceptionalism, mostly from Republicans. Wikipedia defines this as:

American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is either distinctive, unique, or exemplary compared to other nations.  
Proponents argue that the valuespolitical system, and historical development of the U.S. are unique in human history, often with the implication that it is both destined and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the world stage.

Critics of the concept claim that the idea of American exceptionalism suggests that the US is better than other countries, has a superior culture, or has a unique mission to transform the planet and its inhabitants. 

I've written about Trump being a malignant narcissist. 


For example this web search turns up these among other blogs I wrote explaining why I considered Donald Trump to meet the criteria for being a malignant narcissist:

Two decades before John Gartner, writing about Trump, made us aware of what a malignant narcissist was the term was used on the TV show Luther

Nobody knows for certain how Trump feels except Trump





I think there's also a phenomena which could be accurately called American malignant narcissism. The crucial word here is "malignant" meaning malevolent. This goes far beyond patriotism and taking pride in what's good about the United States both historically and in the present. 

My impression (from watching international movies and TV) is that people in many countries to varying degrees think their countries are better than other countries.  By and large I see this as healthy narcissism, i.e.,  a positive sense of country similar to having a self-image that is in alignment with the greater good.

It's hard to imagine what those who live in democracies around the world think of the United States, especially those who live in coutries with a strong social safety net where it is a given that tax money should be spent to assure that the less fortunate are adequately taken care of.

We have the front runner in the GOP primary poised to either go to prison or the presidency running against a state governor who doesn't believe in having his state teach the truth in its schools, wants books banned, and thinks slavery taught slaves useful skills, and a rich guy hogging much of the news coverage of the Republican primary who never held a government position who has his own 10 Commandments:

  • 1. God is real.
  • 2. There are two genders.
  • 3. Human flourishing requires fossil fuels.
  • 4. Reverse racism is racism.
  • 5. An open border is no border.
  • 6. Parents determine the education of their children.
  • 7. The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.
  • 8. Capitalism lifts people up from poverty.
  • 9. There are three branches of the U.S. government, not four.
  • 10. The U.S. Constitution is the strongest guarantor of freedoms in history.


Then we have today's American news as covered by Aljazeera and the BBC (click images to go to articles):







Trump's mantra, Make America Great Again, and his raging against so-called globalists (currently attacking everyone as globalists at Fox News), I thinks are being read by our allies as giving them a metaphorical finger.

...


No doubt Putin's pleased with this. Consider what the defintion of a globalism is:

Globalism refers to various patterns of meaning beyond the merely international. It is used by political scientists, such as Joseph Nye, to describe "attempts to understand all the interconnections of the modern world—and to highlight patterns that underlie (and explain) them."  

While primarily associated with world-systems, it can be used to describe other global trends. The concept of globalism is also classically used to distinguish the ideologies of globalization (the subjective meanings) from the processes of globalization (the objective practices).In this sense, globalism is to globalization what nationalism is to nationality.

The term is now frequently used as a pejorative by far right movements and conspiracy theorists. False usage in this way has also been associated with antisemitism, as antisemites frequently appropriate the term globalist to refer to JewsMore from Wikpedia.

Make America great again? 

How about doing something about the fact that after car accidents guns are the next leading cause of death among children? How about addressing the rising suicide rate among children even as young as five? Mass shootings, often using assault rifles, have become weekly, if not daily events, but any efforts to enact gun control laws are dead on arrival in Congress.

Why don't anti-abortion zealots consider our infant mortality rates and look at why more infants die in southern states than in northern states, and that the infant death rates are higher among minorities? (Reference)


Just now being reported on MSNBC: We have a half million people in jail waiting trial, mostly Blacks and brown men, because they can't afford bail, often as low as $500.



Quote: While it is considered the leader of the world stage, the United States still has one of the biggest problems with homelessness, even when compared to more impoverished countries. With a homeless population per night of over half a million souls, the numbers are concerning. The volume of homeless increases every year - with many more living in makeshift tents and other dwellings that do little more than offer some brief respite from the harsh outdoor conditions, such as at nighttime or during the winter.
If anybody thought that United States could never outdo the KKK as an influential and dangerous social movement they didn't consider QAnon.

Various congressional districts have actually elected people who believe in the paranoid delusions espoused by QAnon.




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