Monday, July 29, 2019

Fascism rising: This IS exactly what it looks like



It's been a minute.  Maybe it's time to start writing again.  Shit ain't gettin' any better.

Here is something written by a friend of mine:


Let's do some quick math, friends:

- Antifa is not an organization; nobody belongs to it, there are no membership rolls. So you cannot prove you do not belong to it.

- If you have shown up to a protest, if you have been in a picture showing you were near a protest, if you have, like me, offered first aid at a political demonstration or shown up as clergy support or carried a sign or made a Facebook post or LIKED a post saying you're against fascism, you could be accused of being a "member of Antifa," and you can't prove it's not true.

- If this measure to declare "Antifa" "domestic terrorists" passes, that means you and I can be arrested and prosecuted as "domestic terrorists." No, really, you too. Which is funny, cause the fascists are the ones killing people and driving cars into crowds. Or lynching people or shooting up churches and I could go on for days.

Let me be clear here I love the idea of ANTIFA because ALL of the NAZI scum need to just go away forever. Freedom of speech is not a shield you can use when you are calling for the deaths of whole segments of society. The problem I have is the assholes who claim to be Antifa who go after people they don't like and muddy the waters, like when they wholesale attack the police. Yes, there are some seriously disturbed officers out there that need to be held accountable, but I have never been one to say fuck the police. I know some amazing police officers and I am related to a number of them and they are some of the best people I know. Another interesting fact is that there are and have been people posing as Antifa who perpetrate actions that besmirch the movement's activities and goals.

- We passed a bunch of laws and rulings back in 2002 or so declaring that accused terrorists don't get due process, and can be held indefinitely without trial, tortured, and so on.
(Patriot Act I and II)

- The Trump administration also just declared that they're opening up the death penalty for federal crimes, like terrorism, for the first time in years. (https://www.latimes.com/…/justice-department-executions-inm…/justice-department-executions-inm…)

- We have a whole bunch of new for-profit detention camps for holding people in indefinitely without trial, where people are dying right now from nightmarish conditions.(https://www.nbcnews.com/…/24-immigrants-have-died-ice-custo…/24-immigrants-have-died-ice-custo…)

- ICE is running around right now, without badges or uniforms or warrants, disappearing people--including US citizens--and locking them up, and fully half their agents belong to a Facebook group where they shared racist jokes, bragged about the violence they'd done to the subhuman animals they're locking up, and talked about how they wanted to assault and rape political figures they don't like.

- This is a license to lock up and execute political dissenters and community organizers without due process and the pieces have all been put in place to use it.

- We are running out of time to stop this train.

This is one of the better articles I've read on the real risks ANTIFA hold for our democracy: 
Newsweek: BAN ANTIFA? I'VE MET GOLDEN RETRIEVERS WHO SCARED ME MORE
https://www.newsweek.com/ban-antifa-cruz-cassidy-golden-retrievers-1451271

Sunday, January 06, 2019

Adderall, Trump, and the 25th Amendment



Recently there have been at least a couple allegations, from the pageant days and from The Apprentice days, claiming that the president abused Adderall.

Initially, I resisted sharing any links to these stories because I feel extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and I don't want to fall into the garbage rumor sewer with President Trump that many on the right fell into with the Clintons and the Obamas.

However, I am seeing references to these claims starting to pop up here and there, and decided to discuss this situation in a purely hypothetical sense.

The accusation is not that the president, either in the past or even currently, is taking Adderall, but that he abuses it.  Allegedly, he grinds it up and snorts it (which is actually ridiculous because unlike meth or cocaine, for various scientific reasons beyond my understanding, it doesn't work like that).  For those who do not know, Adderall is essentially speed, with effects fairly similar to crystal meth.  It is prescribed for ADHD.

Personally, I find, even when properly prescribed and taken according to the prescription, this to be a very troublesome drug.  I've personally seen it spin people out pretty bad even when, to my knowledge, they were taking it according to their prescription.

Now, my reservations about the drug aside, if the president is taking this medication as prescribed, and if it is not affecting his ability to function in his duties, then there is small cause for concern.

However, if a President of the Untied States is abusing drugs, whether or not it is impacting his or her ability to function, Amendment 25, Section 4 of the Constitution should be implemented immediately.

If the president gets help for the problem, let him or her return to office once he or she is clean, stabilized, and in recovery.  If not, then not.

Seems pretty simple to me.

Of course, with the information we have now, this is all purely hypothetical.

But if anyone in the cabinet has seen this, or any of the staff has witnessed this and not reported it to members of the cabinet, then, well...  I have no words for that but a lot of angry, sputtering cursing!  While not actually treason, if the cabinet knew a president was abusing drugs and did not act on it, it feels pretty treasonous to me.

Video (By Others...)




Links

Adderall Addiction and Abuse

https://www.addictioncenter.com/stimulants/adderall


Adderall - GENERIC NAME(S): Dextroamphetamine-Amphetamine

https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-63163/adderall-oral/details


Newsweek: TOM ARNOLD CLAIMS DONALD TRUMP SNORTED ADDERALL ON 'THE APPRENTICE' SET

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-snorted-adderall-apprentice-tom-arnold-noel-casler-1257787


The Daily Wire: Anti-Trump GOP Strategist Claims Trump ‘Hoovering Up Adderall’

https://www.dailywire.com/news/39907/anti-trump-gop-strategist-claims-trump-hoovering-joseph-curl