Following the authoritarian handbook

 I really think there is a handbook.  I don’t know the order of the actions, but they would include:

form a national police force

capture the legal system

control the media

sow fear among the citizenry

intimidate business leaders

discredit your opponents

seize the law enforcement apparatus

     There are more, but Trump and his lackeys are doing all of those things.  Today the FBI was sent into Atlanta to seize 2020 ballot materials.  These are the people who lied about Minneapolis; of course they will lie about “voter fraud.”  Trump will say, “See, I really did win.”  His followers will believe him.  The Republicans in Congress will back the lie, as will Kash Patel and Pam Bondi. 

We know the truth.  Speak it.

Prime Minister Carney's speech at Davos

I watched it yesterday on YouTube.  What a great speech.  Not stupid, not silly like the rambling screed from the U.S. President.

The speech has been compared to Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri.  Carney talked about a new order in the world.  He said it was too late to fix the one we had; he noted that Canada was in talks with China, and he discussed the power of what he called the “middle countries.” 

He noted that trying to appease Trump would not work, and referenced a speech by the former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who told about the merchant who put a sign in the window praising a dictatorial government because he was afraid.  Soon all the other merchants began to put similar signs in their windows, fearing the consequences if they didn’t.  Carney then said Canada was taking down the sign.

You can watch it yourself.  It’s not that long.  I had two reactions.  The first was what an intelligent and moral man Carney is.  The second was profound embarrassment at Trump’s speech with its self-congratulations and its stupidity.

Better Training for ICE

I’ve hard quite a few discussions explaining that the men and women of ICE need better training.  They need to be better at crowd control, need to get warrants, should learn about the proper use of firearms and tear gas, etc.  

This may help around the edges and might have prevented some of the murders.  That would be a good thing.  Nonetheless, in the scheme of things, a lack of “training” isn’t the problem.  The mission is the problem.

Once ICE abandoned the idea of going after “the worst of the worst” (i.e., actual criminals) and decided to focus on college students, construction workers, aides in elderly care, waitresses, meat packing plant workers, and older people who had been living productive lives for decades, training doesn’t matter.  The mission is at fault.

The terminology is at fault.  (illegals, scum, people from “shithole countries”).  The prejudice is at fault.  (“Somalians,” Haitians, drug “kingpins”).  The assumptions are at fault.  (brown people, people with accents, Muslims).

Think of it this way.  Would better training have improved the Gestapo?  

Stalin would have done this

In Russia in the Thirties and Forties, history books were rewritten to insure that the latest government line was followed.  This system had some drawbacks; sometimes citizens had copies of the old texts and the changes would be apparent. 

The Trump administration is more adept at rewriting history or even denying present reality.  In Philadelphia the Independence National Historical Park removed an outdoor exhibit called “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation.”  The exhibit mentioned the nine slaves owned by George Washington.  The exhibit did not “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people,” to quote the Administration’s orders.  Let’s never talk about the fact that the Father of Our Country and the first President owned slaves.  

The White House also posted a digitally altered photo of a demonstrator who spoke out at a church service where the pastor was working for ICE.  A photo was digitally altered to show a crying woman taken into custody.  In reality she was not crying; she was quite calm.  The altered photo made her look very bad.  When confronted with this fake image, the deputy communications director wrote, “Enforcement of the law will continue.  The memes will continue.”

This is our government.  It manipulates history.  It lies.  It says that the Jan. 6 rioters who beat cops and tried to kill them were tourists.  It tells us to believe the lies and not our own eyes.  

Try to hold on to truth.  It is increasingly difficult in a world of AI and digital manipulation, but do not believe these government lies.  This week ICE murdered two people.  And then our government lied about it and continues to lie about it.

Rosebud

I have a Flexible Flyer sled hanging on the wall in the shed.  Every December I bring it down and put it on the porch so I can sled down the hill.  Tonight would have been a good night for a ride; the snow has melted on top and the freeze today left a nice crust for the runners to glide over.

Unfortunately, while I can pull the sled and ride down the hill, when I get to the bottom I have a really hard time getting back up.  My sledding days may be over. 

Right on cue

This morning when I heard the Weather Channel announcers discussing the big winter storm headed our way, I said to Linda, “Now some idiot will say this proves there is no global warming.”

This evening I heard that our President said this winter storm proves that global warming is a hoax.  

Advice for potential U.S. allies

Don’t do it.  After one Afghan refugee attacked two members of the U.S. national guard in Washington, the Administration then criticized all Afghan refugees, ending support for various aid programs for Afghans who had helped American troops in that country.

Today I read that the U.S. is no longer supporting the Kurds who have been allied with the U.S. in Syria.

We are not loyal to our friends.  I was in CA working for a State Senator when the Vietnamese “boat people” were arriving in CA.  You should have read some of the nasty letters that came in, full of vitriol against the refugees.  These were people who had supported the U.S.  Now many Americans were angry that they being allowed into the U.S. 

If I were a Venezuelan today, I’d think twice about giving support to the U.S.  If we behave as usual, we will abandon you at the first sign of trouble.