Germany 1936 vs USA 2020

I know many of my views are unpopular. It’s been that way for over 2 millennia–I just come across that way. Why? Because I choose to say what I BELIEVE is factual.

Am I always right? Of course not–no human, whether living or dead–is always right, no matter what some may tell you. Nevertheless, I give it an honest effort. Many of your leaders do not.

For some reason, many of you and your contemporaries, accept what are obvious fallacies, as factual–you know “Promises made, Promises kept.” Try these:

Is “The Wall” completed from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico? NO
Has Mexico paid for the wall as promised? NO
Is employment up? NO
Do people feel secure in their homes? NO
Are they confident that they can afford their rent or house payments? NO
IS healthcare available and affordable for all Americans? NO
Did COVID-19 miraculously disappear, as promised? NO
Are Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran (AMONG OTHERS)
pumping false information into the media to affect our
election outcomes? YES
Are your elected officials ensuring an honest election? NO
Are some officials benefiting from foreign interference? NO

Do you even care?

If you want the shit scared out of you, get a pen. a tablet, and a clipboard. Watch Netflix’s Hitler – A Career and keep track of how many techniques and practices from NAZI Germany are occurring today in America.

I hope that you suffer neither a stroke nor a heart attack, If you do, after watching and thinking about things, you just might care.

It’s up to you.

The Real Politicians of DC

The most blatantly false television broadcasts (besides Fox News) are reality shows. The Real Housewives of [fill in the blank] dress like June Cleaver, act like they’re in Behind the Green Door, and lie like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. However, they cannot hold a black, sulfurous candle to the politicians on the air this week.

Here are some guidelines:

If something exists that is inconvenient–something like, say, 183,000 dead Americans due to coronavirus–just speak of it in the past tense as if it no longer exists.
If a foreign government has kompromat on you that could be used for blackmail, just say that the really important thing is that the leader of that government says nice things about you.
Don’t worry if dozens of your inner circle are in jail, under indictment, or convicted of crimes–after all you can (and probably will) commute their sentences.*
When in doubt, build the whole nominating convention around your wife, children, in-laws, sycophants, a few toadies, and if possible, some interesting puppets. (Too bad the Muppets weren’t available–at least they are entertaining.)
If you are dead set against immigration, feature your wife, a one time nude (aka porn) model who was allowed into the US under a so-called “genius” visa (Huh?? Say what??). PLEASE remember to keep her parents and other relatives who came in via chain migration out of sight.

And, most importantly, even if you’ve run the national debt to monumental levels, driven unemployment through the roof, stripped people of healthcare, and have the Foreclosure King as your Secretary of the Treasury as millions are at risk for losing their homes, tell everybody:

Only I can fix it!

*DO NOT pardon colleagues, toadies, and sycophants. If you do, they could tell the truth without the legal concern of self incrimination.

Pandemic Cure

In medieval times, people who were ill turned to barbers. Barbers were the doctors of the time, mainly because the had a sharp blade, useful for shaving AND bloodletting. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn’t it?

Today, all of you are much more knowledgeable and educated, so you would never resort to letting a barber open your vein to let out the “bad humors,” whatever that means. No! You’re too smart for that!

In the 21st century, you know better places to go for medical advice. You’d proudly walk past the barber shop without even acknowledging it. You’d walk past all of the other distractions and go right to the expert for healthcare – – – –

A pillow salesman! Not just any pillow salesman, but the “My Pillow” salesman and he would advise you to add extract of oleander, a potentially deadly drug, to your diet.

Say what?

If someone wrote this as a comedy script, Rowan and Martin would not have been interested. Monty Python would have politely demurred. Lorne Michaels from Saturday Night Live would laugh at you until security ushered you out of the studio. Even Jackass would ignore you.

What is wrong with you people?!

Donald Trump, Joe McCarthy, and Don Cohn

***American soldiers murdered by the Waffen SS at Malmedy***

In the waning days of your Second World War, Hitler tried to break through the Allied lines in the Ardennes forest near a town called Malmedy. This is known to Americans as The Battle of the Bulge.

Some American soldiers, out of ammunition and surrounded, surrendered to the Germans. The Waffen SS (a Nazi paramilitary organization), under the command of Joachim Peiper, massacred 84 of the American prisoners of war by machine gun fire, finishing them by crushing their skulls or shooting them in the head. Miraculously, some Americans survived and, once reunited with Allied forces, reported the event.

After the war, there was a thorough investigation. Every American casualty’s location was marked, autopsies were performed, and Waffen SS members involved identified. A trial was conducted at the former Dachau concentration camp in July 1946. The Waffen SS Nazis were found guilty. Forty-three were sentenced to death and 22 to life in prison.

To make a long story short, after the trials and convictions, there was a move to shift the blame from the Nazis to those who had investigated the crime. One of, if not the most significant players in this was US Senator Joseph McCarthy–yes that Joe McCarthy. When all was said and done, every single Waffen SS Nazi previously convicted of the crime walked free by December 1956.

McCarthy held strong antisemitic sentiments, although he did have a few staff members who were Jewish. The most interesting of these was attorney Roy Cohn–yes the Roy Cohn who was mentor to Donald J. Trump.

It’s an interesting coincidence, isn’t it.

Bring Out Your Dead!

Ah, plagues! You may call them pandemics, but a disease that kills many people and leaves many others debilitated is a plague. Period.

The depiction of plague deaths in your Monty Python and the Holy Grail is not too terribly far off. Your refrigerated semi trailers are the twenty-first equivalent of the medieval cadaver carts. Plagues are nasty, no matter what the nobles, politicians, or even dictators try to tell you.

However, there is an interesting wrinkle about plagues that effects society at large.

Throughout history, when plagues kill off many workers, the powerful promulgate edicts and other pronouncements from on high to insist that the workers return to their former work at the same dismal wages that they received before the plague. These demands are largely ignored. Why?

When everybody loses workers to the plague,. other business owners, also desperate for workers, offer higher wages. (“You were given a loaf of bread every week? I’ll give you access to an oven and a bag of flour every month! Come to work today and I’ll spot you two beers a week at the local pub!”)

Regardless of the edicts and proclamations; regardless of the threats, the workers go to where the opportunity is better. (For academics, this is Adam Smith’s so-called invisible hand.)

So, today, you are in a similar situation. Do you learn from the past or do you merely repeat the same old, same old, behavior, yet again. You face a significant risk–or maybe a significant opportunity.

I’ll check back in later to see how you’re doing.

Trump’s Priorities

Your president is not one to be distracted.

You are experiencing a pandemic with over 170,000 dead and projections of 200,000 total deaths by early September.

The pandemic has resulted in 16.3 million people out of work. Many are at risk of losing their homes.

Your national economy is in the–well–the equivalent of my sewer.

Your country has gone from the being most powerful nation on the earth to an international joke.

Appearances (at least) are that your president is a lackey of Russian President (for life?) Vladimir Putin.

Other US presidents would focus on correcting these things, but not your president.

Instead, he has kept himself focused. He will not be distracted. He is on a mission. Hence, his efforts are intent on changing the flow rate for shower heads to make sure that his hair is perfect.

Aren’t you proud?

Dog’s Life

Your president claims that a dog was sent a mail-in ballot. I’d like to know how he did that.

I’ve been trying to get my dog recognized as a citizen for 2400 years. Over that time we (and I say “We” because after being dead together for that long, we share a special bond) we have tried to get him status as a citizen, a noble, a member of the gentry, or even a serf. No luck.

In the 20th century, I tried to get him a drivers license, but to no avail.

I guess dogs need to have a presidential sponsor to be recognized, much less get a ballot.

Dead? Naah!

Those 165,947 Americans who died from COVID-19? Don’t worry about it. It’s all a Democratic hoax and fake news. If someone near and dear to you claims to be among those dead people, tell them to cut it out. It’s all fake.

Who are you going to believe–a doctor at the hospital or a president on the golf course?

Lie Detector

If you want to determine whether a particular statement is true or false, here are some helpful litmus tests.

If your Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says it’s true, be careful.

If your president, donald trump says it’s true, be very, very, very careful .

As your president advised, “It is what it is.”

So is it what it is, or is it what it isn’t?

You decide.

And while we’re at it. Does it concern you that, according to numerous polls, educated people tend not to support trump, while uneducated people do? I have to ask, do these trump supporters prefer to be treated by uneducated doctors and taught by uneducated teachers?

Death – No Big Deal

Donald Trump wearing a suit and tie: Donald Trump: ‘I did more for the black community than anybody with a possible exception of Abraham Lincoln.’

Death is a fascinating subject, especially to someone who died over 2400 years ago. Been there, done that, still hang around my sewer.

Your COVID-19 Pandemic doesn’t compare to the Black Plague. During the historic plagues, it was advisable to avoid doctors, who were actually barbers. The best they had to offer was to cut open the veins of people who were already sick or injured to “let out the bad humours.”

Medical resources in your time are actually helpful, which makes every unnecessary death all the more egregious.

When I see so many unnecessary deaths; when I see unused resources; and when I see your president shrug it off as “They are dying. That’s true. And you — it is what it is.”

I truly don’t know what to say–and I’m rarely at a loss for words.

Those who were subjected to the Black Death had no options.

You have science and technology. You actually know what to do.

What the hell is going on with you, with your knowledge, and your resources?

You’re willing to settle for “They are dying. That’s true. And you — it is what it is,”

Maybe you deserve what’s happening.