freedom for whom and to do what?

"The parliamentary battle of the NSDAP had the single purpose of destroying the parliamentary system from within through its own methods. It was necessary above all to make formal use of the possibilities of the party-state system but to refuse real cooperation and thereby to render the parliamentary system, which is by nature dependent upon the responsible cooperation of the opposition, incapable of concerted action..."-ernst huber

yes, no one is ever safe when congress is in session, however the doctrinaire conspiriacy theorists in the house of representative bear an eerie resemblance to activites elsewhere in the early 1930s...disruptive at best and both profoundly vindictive and convinced of their almost papal infalibility they clearly think they have the answers we all need to align ourselves with and seem willing to utilize violence as a method of political debate...add in their unstinting support for a criminal presidential wannabe ( again ) and their authoritarian sub-text becomes unmistakeably highlighted...politics here has always been a vile business based mostly on lies and evasion coupled with periodic outbursts of violence...usually aimed at members of the working class attempting to organize to provide themselves with some protection against unrestrained capital...fascism is what capital turns to when it feels threatened from below and the worderfully orwellian euphemism this cacus's name presents should be a clue as to where their sympathies lie...nothing much new in this...the question is how to address it...they and their cadres in local government are doing their best to undermine the electoalr process by disenfranchizing sectors of the voting public that could elect representative inimical to their ends...gerrymandering ( a process named after elbridge gerry...one of those "founding fathers" conservatives are so in awe of )....one cogent step would be to refuse to remain quiet in the face of crypto-fascist machinations.

what sort of epoch are we aiming for?

some media outlets make a pretense of objectivity as they create “news” that both reinforces and steers worldview…some are so blatantly propagandistic that a pretense to objectivity would be laughable…and that is just as well since I have to think anyone who would subscribe to this howler isn’t interested in objectivity ( is anyone actually interested in “objectivity”? have to wonder )…rather they would want their dogmatism validated in print…this rag landed in my mailbox a day or so ago and I have been perusing it…virulently anti-people’s republic of china, it is a mouthpiece of falun gong which, as far as I can see, has jumped into bed with the trumpists, finding in them an ally in their war with the chinese communist party…this may eventually prove to be brilliant or profoundly short-sighted depending on which way donny leans...and that may be an issue for astrologers and augurers of chicken entrails rather than objective analysis…

a simple glance at the story lede is enough to highlight the bias here…donny is the victim…which is what he and his base have been whining since 2020...and one is inclined to suppose that the “lawyer” might be one of trumpy’s “legal team” who are working a strategy of delay and denial in hopes that 2024 sees the entire morass vacated by some quasi-legal self-pardon…

a clear case of transference here as one would think an elite school would have little interest in “scrapping” a document that created and sustained a government by and for the elite for well over two centuries…the one likely to tear it up is donny as he pursues the dream of “president for life” so as to confound the legal systems relentless “persecution” and “witch hunting”...

another trumpist sycophant in congress? seemingly not as much of an attention whore as that greene woman and some more notable senators ( the fawning graham comes rushing to mind )...

one for the anti-vaxer sub-culture in donny’s base…it was all a hoax after all…no one actually died…the media lie ( except, of course, the epoch times…they have the “real news” that I “deserve”…well, if I were to actually believe any of this I suppose I would “deserve” it…as it stands it is such a blatant exercise in propaganda that even the ministry of truth [or the new york times for that matter ] would choke on it )…

and if you want your rigid ideological stance reinforced you can have this in your mailbox weekly at the bargain price of $139/year…$2.673/and issue…a “deal”…i am paying more than double that for access to the new york times in an effort to ferret out exactly what it is that the east coast elite want me to think…they are a slippery bunch and it takes some thought to piece together their manipulations…the epoch times spits on subtlety…like gratuitous nudity in film, you can’t miss the point they are making…the times is a bit more restrained…and they have some word games you can play and a crossword you can work while you are being indoctrinated…the epoch times doesn’t have time for that sort of frivolity…they have to save donny and his cohorts ( co-conspirators? wagering you won’t see that assemblage of word in the epoch times…they have editors just like the times and they have strict guidelines coming down from the top )…there are times when i marvel at just how stupid editors from the times ( epoch or new york ) think i am…like politicians everywhere and at every level editors ( and “news producers” in the electronic media ) are slime

worrying for whom?

so...consumer spending is undergoing "shifts" and executives are worried about where "shopping habits" are headed...one shouldn't wonder at their worry...a lot is at stake here...for more than afew...

"rising credit card delinquencies" are surely worrying for the likes of jeff gennette ( who pulled in $1000000 a month in 2021...last figures i can find )...his card has an apr of 31.74% last i looked...no wonder there are delinquencies...the national political agenda is as much widespread debt for consumers as is possible...however that is a fairly risky business model to follow ( they all seem to have forgotten about 2008...i haven't...you shouldn't either...their untrammeled greed will render them delusional, if not stupid )...yes jeff they have "aggresivvely pulled back" discretionary spending and reallocated ( or, possibly, misallocated in your world view ) the cash to things like food and shelter as opposed to polo underwear...capitalism has a problem with recognizing limits and their economist allies [ theologians of greed ] are prone to dismiss them as "externalities"...nothing to worry about because it fucks up the symmetry of their bogus calculations ( "artifice worthy of the casuistry of a jesuit" )...so with conumers "aggressively pulling back", delinquencies that could become defaults, and a looming overstock of grossly overpriced "vital consumer goods" coupled with a holiday season where shopers may fail to "go big" ( i, for one, will tell peole, yet again, that i do not desire anything in the way of material goods for christmas...and, again, will be ignored..."and mercilessly we go on giving"...i am quoting germans left and right here ) they have ample reason to worry and, near as i can discern, deservedly so...a minimalist christmas...ho ho ho...santa isn't going to like that idea.

"a monkey just put into breeches"

“section 1. be enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america, in congress assembled, that if any persons shall unlawfully combine or conspire together, with intent to oppose any measure or measures of the government of the united states, which are or shall be directed by proper authority, or to intimidate or prevent any person holding a place or office in or under the government of the united states, from undertaking, performing, or executing his trust or duty, and if any person or persons, with intent as aforesaid, shall counsel, advise, or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot, unlawful assembly, or combination, whether such conspiracy, threatening, counsel, advice, or attempts shall have the proposed effect or not, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor…” from “an act in addition to the alien and sedition acts of 1798 entitled, and act for the punishment of certain crimes against the united states “SEC. 2. And be it farther enacted, That if any person shall write, print, utter or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered or published, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering or publishing any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the United States, or the President of the United States, with intent to defame the said government, or either house of the said Congress, or the said President, or to bring them, or either of them, into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them, or either or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States, or to excite any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the President of the United States, done in pursuance of any such law, or of the powers in him vested by the constitution of the United States, or to resist, oppose, or defeat any such law or act… being thereof convicted before any court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.”___________________ That section 2 of this piece of legislation was purposefully intended to stack the deck of variables in the 1800 presidential election can be shown by the fact that the only newspaper editors prosecuted under this act were those of democratic-republican papers supporting the candidacy of thomas Jefferson and the only journalists so treated ( james Thompson callender in virginia and david brown in massachucetts leap to mind ) were those writing for those same democratic-republican newspapers…so much for the purity of “public service” wrought by the “founding fathers”…they were all politicians and they behaved as such…little mud may have been slung washington’s way however the honeymoon for leadership came to an end with his leaving office as contempt for the leadership of political parties and for their members in congress, as well as the office of the presidency came to be the status quo of campaigns…from William maclay writing of john adams “i cannot help thinking of a monkey just put into breeches when i saw him betray such evident marks of self-conceit”(the journal of william maclay 1798-1792. May tenth 1789 entry )to adams himself writing in a letter to benjamin rush that alexander hamilton’s ambitions stemmed from “… a superabundance of secretions which he could not find whores enough to draw off” it was clear that there was never much of anything like respect for rivals in swamptown from the beginning…”to bring them…into contempt or disrepute” didn’t seem to require much effort on the part of publishers when the founders held one another in such over contempt ( ultimately expressed when aaron burr, at the time a sitting vice-president of the united states, killed said hamilton in new jersey in 1804 )...a close reading of both sections leaves me thinking national ( or local for that matter ) politics have not evolved much in two hundred and twenty-three years or so…fake news…alternate facts…cover-ups…procuring insurrection (aspirational or not the phrase “shall have the proposed effect or not he or they will be deemed guilty should apply )probably suborning perjury…all clearly defined facets of the politics of the late empire…the next seventeen months ( at the very least ) should prove interesting times.

the congregation for the evangelization of peoples

propaganda. n.-the systematic dissemination of doctrine, rumor, or selected information to propagate or promote a particular doctrine, view, practice, etc.; ideas, information, etc., disseminated thus. oxford english dictionary____________ two things come to mind here…first, that any segment of the christian religion should feel the need to proselytize isn’t much of a surprise…what I find ironic is that the “congregation” above began a its life as the sacred congregation of the propaganda…founded in 1622 by gregory xv which lent its name to the definition, “an organization or concerted movement for the propagation of a particular doctrine, practice, etc.” (oed)..so the term and concept behind propaganda comes from the church…well...always the dogmatists disseminating church dogma ( see loyola on the “church hierarchy” and whether it is black or white you are seeing )…not a stunner is it…secondly, what information available from “the news media” isn’t filtered? that’s what editors and news producers are for…it is a product…designed to align and reinforce the “particular doctrine” of those who consume it…as far as I can see both the “news media” and what passes for government/politics falls well within the limits of the above definition…”fake news” “alternate facts” and a house of representative bursting at the seams with conspiracy theorists and crypto fascists calling themselves by the thoroughly orwellian name “the freedom caucus”…one is warranted in thinking “freedom” for whom and to what purpose? clearly not my concerns or interests or those of the polity at large…if anything these bozos are not only inimical to my interests, they are overtly hostile to them whatever political party they affiliate themselves with…the stench emanating from swamptown is pure ideological putrescence festering in the summer sun and the election is still over a year away…my thoughts would be that you should be preparing yourself for more “evangelization” presenting the doctrine of elite interests as “national interests” which need to be pursued at all costs ( and we are well aware of who will be earing the brunt of those costs ) because we can’t have madison’s “interested and overbearing majority” subverting the goals of the elite with any programs of social or economic equity…the fat’s in the fire and the outlook is decidedly biased…”for subsequent laws, other than those directed at specific offences, were forcible creations of class-warfare, designed to grant unconstitutional powers, or banish leading citizens, or fulfill some other deplorable purpose…thenceforward measures were concerned with personal instead of national issues, corruption reached its climax and legislation abounded.” tacitus. The annals of imperial rome....and my perception is that the corruption wil simply increase exponentially after november 2024 until the whole ponzi scheme collapses from unforeseen cascade failure.

if a jury ever deliberates...II

given what i have read about her, calling her "untested" might be a stretch...and i have to admit to being somewhat ( let's not forget the radical agnositicsm ) mollified about her approach since by setting a trial date she has pretty much taken the middle ground between defense and prosecution desires on that...that said ( and her comes the agnosticism ) that simply defeats the defense's first delaying tactic...they will wriggle and squirm and launch specious arguments for all they ( or donny ) are worth...this trial will doubtlessly be as big, if not bigger, a media circus as the fabled o.j.simpson trial of'95...that howler went on for 252 days...from 24 january 1995 to 3 october 1995 and by the time it was over most of us were weary beyond description of the whole business...will this trial be of that duration...how not? and if it runs as long ( if it does not eclipse that trial's longevity ) where does that leave us...well..and bear in mind the defense wanted to delay this trial until after the election...a 24 may 2024 start date would leave a trial of equal duration ending on 28 february 2025...which is well past the november 2024 election...and 39 days past the 20 january 2025 presidential inauguration date...so a verdict could easily come well past the start of a second term for donny ( if that is how this turns out...nothing is set in stone just yet...and no outcome is inevitable...human agency works in weird ways...do does the natural course of events )...the end result is that simply because the official defense request for a delay past the 2024 election has been rejected there is no guarantee they won't get what they want through legal manouvering...this is all a long way from over...and we are still something like 306 days from the start of a trial...let's ponder what sort events could spew from the sump that is american political life in that amount of time.

if a jury ever deliberates...

i have spent some time over the past day or so perusing that filing by donny's lawyers and it has some interesting points...twelve pages...twenty items in defense of an indefinte postponement...rather standard legal wrangling in any number of ways...except,of course, one of the defendants is "the likely republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election"...and donny's status as one of the elite does have bearing on this..."this extraordianary case presents a serious challenge both to the fact and perception of our american democracy...therefore a measured consideration and timeline that allows for a careful an complete review of the procedures that led to the indictment and the unprecidented legal issues presented herein best serves the interests of the defendants and the public."...so...donny is threatened so american deomcracy is threatened and a thorough review of events is in his best interests and so also in the best interests of the polity...donny's interests become the interests of the nation...the interests of the elite are presented as national interests...nothing new in that...however i anm inclined to think that my best interests would be served by a thorough review of facts...this seems unlikely in courtroom where the only intent is to sell the jury one or the other of the opposing versions of events...facts are externals at best and impediments at worst in a courtroom...the lawyers ( and defendants ) are trying to avoid anything like facts..."the intersection between the presidential records act and the various criminal statutes at issue has never been addressed by any court and, in the defendants' view, will result in the dismissal of the indictment."...nixon argued in court that the president was above the law for four years at a time...that failed and i cannot help but notice that the statute acting in donny's favor is named while those he may have transgressed are simply "various"...the filing states that the evidence in this case conssits of "428,300 records in excess of 833,450 pages, consisting of 122,650 emails ( with attachments ) and 305,670 documents...also some 57 terabytes of compressed cctv footage ( so far there is approximatel nine months of cctv footage, but the final number is not yet certain. )...that is a lot of ground to cover however the filing also says ,"the defendants expect that various key legal issues will be fully dispositive, thus negating the need for a jury trial."...yes, a lot of evidence but we could cover this all in a zoom meeting and not have any meesy public hearing of viewpoints, evidence, bickering, and tedious testimony that might impung the reputation ( such as it is ) of such a venerable member of the elite...i did find one point of agreement in all this convoluted legalese and that is the filing's contention that there might be a "potential inability to select and impartial jury"...donny is not someone who inspires ambivalence and finding jurors that are impartial could be exactly the delay that would push a trial past the 2024 election...

which is what this is all about...and in a courtroom in the hands of a trump nominee and activist judge they may get their way...perhaps even that "dismissal of the indictment"...the "fact of american democracy" is inherent in this...winning the 2024 election would only defer donny's legal issues for four years after which he could not, constitutionally, have another term...one suspects that donny has little respect for the constitution and its limits on power...he comes from an authoritarian corporate culture...of course the constitution can be changed...a time consuming and uncertain process...or torn up by president for life trump.( the photos are quotes from yesterday's new york times...just to give something of a citation )