Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Bad things arising



Even though a Republican governor has come out in favor of Doug Jones, as has the National Review, I predict that Moore will win by six-to-eight points.

Yes, I know that the polls are all over the place. Yes, I've read Nate Silver. Silver doesn't believe that election rigging is real; I know that it is. A tweet from Greg Palast:
BREAKING: We just got a call from attorneys John Brakey and Chris Sautter from #Alabama. The State Supreme Court, without a hearing, but on the pure "ex-parte" (i.e. private) complaint of the State, "stayed" — that is, OVERTURNED THIS MORNING’S RULING TO PRESERVE ALL BALLOTS!
That's it. That's the only story that matters. The rest is noise.

The Alt Rightists possess both the intention and the means to commit fraud, and anyone who needs further proof is a dolt. Even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the state ruling -- which probably won't happen -- ballot preservation matters only if there is a recount, and recounts happen only in close races. To avoid calls for a recount, the election-riggers must make the very idea of a recount seem absurd.

That's why I forecast a fairly wide victory margin. A double-digit spread might be suspicious; five points might be too low. Naturally, the liberal sites will overflow with day-after "think" pieces blaming anything and everything other than election fraud.

By tomorrow night, we'll know if this forecast is accurate. I don't want to be right. If I end up with egg on my face, it'll be the most delicious omelette in culinary history.

Elsewhere: Rachel Maddow's show last night gave us a grim picture of the Mueller probe's future. Mueller's firing is now almost certain; Republican media is engaged in an all-out effort to destroy the investigation, and liberals are doing very little to counter the propaganda blitz. Alan Dershowitz and Newt Gingrich are now giving cover for the assault on Mueller; the Fox News attacks are relentless.

If Republican propagandists could make Americans hate football, they can make make Americans hate Mueller. The polls will soon turn against him.

There is no infrastructure in place to defend the probe. Progressive web sites have repeated the fool's mantra "Trump wouldn't dare," even though everyone knows that a cornered rat's gonna do what a cornered rat's gonna do. Liberals continue to hallucinate that Republicans in Congress will soon turn against Trump, even though no evidence backs the delusion that the right will abandon the president the moment the tax bill passes.

"Me Too" is just another word for blackmail. We now live under Putin Rules: Anyone who criticizes Dear Leader will have his sexual indiscretions (real or invented) blasted all over the internet and teevee. If the Alt Right schemers can take down Al Franken, they can take down anyone.

When (not if) Mueller is fired, any Republican who favors reinstatement will suddenly find himself pummeled by sexual abuse allegations. Communications are tapped; indiscretions are logged.

Any Republican who incurs the wrath of Dear Leader will have to deal with former girlfriends and female colleagues who will suddenly offer hair-raising stories of rape, abuse and insensitive remarks. It won't matter if these stories reflect truth or fiction or a cunning admixture. Democrats will automatically believe any accusations against a Republican (most Dems fail to understand that we need a certain number of Republicans if we want to check Trump's power), while Republicans will think whatever Fox News tells them to think. There are plenty of women who will play their assigned roles, either because they are desperate for cash or because they are vulnerable to the fate that befell Susan McDougal. Even those politicians who have managed to avoid all actual honeytraps are vulnerable to false "He grabbed my butt" allegations.

Most Americans oppose Trump. When Mueller is fired, will that majority rise up in fury and outrage, as they did when Trump took the oath? I think not. "Trump fatigue" has left us too drained to take action.

We are also paralyzed because we fear becoming the enemy. We will lose the position of moral superiority if we allow ourselves to mirror the inchoate rage that fuels the Pals of Pepe. They may engage in primitive, tribal chants of "Lock her up!" -- but we may not answer in kind. The right may show emotion; we are not permitted. No matter the provocation, we must remain unnaturally calm, even though calm people never won a revolution.

Yes, I know that there are plans for peaceful protests of Mueller's (nearly certain) firing. I support such protests, and will take part. But even peaceful protests may devolve into violence, thanks to the agents provocateurs. One shudders to think of what Antifa and the ever-dimwitted young Bernie-lovers might do.

Any acts of violence, anywhere in the country, will be used to justify brutal tactics of repression.

Protests against the firing of Mueller could provide Trump with the "Reichstag" excuse he needs to take full dictatorial control. In recent speeches, Trump has clearly signaled that he wants to reform our system of justice to rid it of alleged 'deep state' corruption. You know what that means.

Democracy itself is imperiled, yet Democrats still behave as though they are guests at a brie-and-chablis party.

Ryan Lizza is the latest to fall victim to the right's "weaponized feminism" movement. Lizza is the person who outed Randy Credico (an allegedly liberal comedian) as Roger Stone's backchannel to Wikileaks. Lizza also wrote this incredible and essential series on Roger Stone.

Need I say more? If you can't see what's going on, you're a fool.

The Lizza outrage provoked one Twitter user to opine that our new standard -- accusation equals proof -- calls to mind the Salem witch hunt. Another comment noted that the supposed "witches" at Salem received a trial, a grace granted to neither Franken nor Lizza. My response? If you've ever read about the "visionary girls" who provided evidence at those trials, you'll know the absurdity of the proposition that all females tell the truth.

The Salem story is the classic American tale, and every generation seems doomed to repeat it. We're living in Groundhog Day, starring Goody Proctor.

15 comments:

Armin L. said...

fyi, Charlie Baker is Massachusetts governor and not Alabama's.

Alabama's governor is Kay Ivey, and she is voting for Moore....

Mr Mike said...

Bill Clinton found out the hard way how republicans operate. After going against legal experts urging a reopening of Iran-Contra Newt thanked him with Whitewater. Something lost on that fool Nancy Pelosi when she had the chance to look at how were lied into Iraq.
We are so boned.

Lenny said...

FYI- The article you linked was about the repub Governor of Massachusetts, not Alabama, backing Jones. Unless something has changed in the last day or so, the Alabama gov is still with Moore.

b said...

Meanwhile in Europe, an explosion has put a main gas pipeline hub out of action in Austria.

A few days ago, a major oil and gas pipeline in the North Sea was shut because of a crack.

Expect power cuts across the continent.

Once an accident, twice a coincidence, three times?

Mr Mike said...

b said ...
Third time?
Like the first two.
Lack of preventive maintenance to increase shareholder value.

Joseph Cannon said...

Guys, not only did I make a huge mistake (since corrected) when I first wrote this article, I am amazed that the text was even comprehensible. I wrote during an interruption of my sleep cycle. Hours later, when I awoke the second time (after the sleep cycle's completion), I had forgotten having written the thing entirely.

For about a minute, I wondered if someone else had hacked my password and contributed to this blog. The paranoia alarms were deafening, as you might imagine.

After a certain age, one reads one's writings with a genuine sense of discovery.

Anonymous said...

Hi Joseph,

Not only does accusation=proof now, it's all that matters. Notice that even in situations where somebody is cleared, it's still reported as so and so was accused? Apparently, the A in the scarlet letter now stands for accusation rather than adultery.

And when you consider that pretty much everything has been conflated into "inappropriate behavior" and we're dealing with the type of people who argue that the classic song "Baby It's Cold Outside" is "rapey" (no, I'm not kidding) things have gotten way out of hand.

So what do you think are the chances that the Dems and others get that Trump is baiting them into investigating the sexual assault/harassment claims against them? Maybe 10%? What do you think are the chances that they get that team Trump has probably either set up some of the accusations or, more probably, have vetted them and know they can pick off the low hanging fruit and discredit the bunch of them? Maybe 1%

Speaking of weaponizing sexual assault/harassment, let's not overlook the likes former Fox folks like Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly. The idea that we're now supposed to consider Carlson a "heroine" is rather amusing and Kelly has been playing a sort of "good cop/bad cop" game with Trump for how long now? C'mon now....

b said...

Now there has been a third case: a gas leak and power outage has caused Norway to shut a gas platform.

@Mike - lack of maintenance doesn't explain how these three events have all happened at the same time, and in any case the insurers of these installations don't just accept what the owners say. Lloyds of London even has its own intelligence service.

More is afoot. It could be a very hard winter for many people in Europe and elsewhere.

fred said...

Mueller has to go. See here and here.

Unknown said...

As the Mighty Wurlitzer fires up “inappropriate behavior” hysteria, Republicans who said just this summer it’s unthinkable that Trump would fire Mueller, are now silent or on board to fire Mueller. I suspect the guardians of kompromat on Democrats, have loads of kompromat on Republicans to control them as well. Kompromat is probably why Trump picked the most corrupt unqualified Federal judges he could find and probably why a lot of the nuttier politicians got elected in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Hey Joseph,

Looks like the race is close. I will be happily proved wrong about Moore winning. We shall see.

Anonymous said...

Attempt to smear Chuck Schumer with forged document alleging sexual harassment of former staffer;

https://www.axios.com/schumer-calls-cops-after-forged-sex-scandal-charge-2517019807.html

OTE admin said...

Jones pulled off a win, which I was pleasantly surprised.

Anonymous said...

It was a good day...
I don't know what to say to you Joseph, because there is just such a huge amount to say, but most importantly- there were others that were forced out on the right. You just didn't focus on them, because ????
You got me.
The resignation of Trent Franks was an amazing step in the right direction. I would be amazed if that was a seat the Dems could take over, but who knows...anything is possible. Look at what happened in Alabama. :-)

Ivory Bill Woodpecker said...

If Cheetolini can fire Mueller and get away with it, why has he not done so already?

Maybe Mueller has some sort of "deadman switch" ready to go if he is fired, or eats a polonium sandwich (hi, Vlad), which will release EVERYTHING?