Definitely Not OK

Badges?! We don't need no stinking badges!

I had a cute piece queued up for today about things no one ever told you about becoming an elder but I am going to set it aside temporarily because America is in paralysis politically. And it is serious.

Our president is a dictator.

And, having hijacked the rule of law, flaunted all of our laws and argued excessively that he is above the law, with the acquiescence and obeisance of the Grand Old Party, as well as the corporatist wing of the opposition party, I think it is safe to say, there is nothing to be done.

Except vote.

Or take up arms and be labeled yourself as a traitor. So, you better have a good plan before you choose option B. And, also, a multitude of well-armed pissed off compatriots. (See the Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.)

Protesters being picked up off the streets of Portland and whisked away by men who appear to be some sort of paramilitary unit is not a harmless stunt. Political or otherwise. And it does not matter if those being picked up have vandalized a store window or thrown a water bottle at the paramilitary unit’s vehicle. Or screamed that the president should go do something anatomically impossible.

Extrajudicial kidnappings in America is not okay.

This is us bringing our overseas behavior back home.

This is the ugliness at the core of our country being turned on its own citizens.

This is some segment of our population caving in to their basest instincts, because I guarantee you there will be cheerleading for this kind of tactic in the hours and days ahead.

I repeat. Extrajudicial kidnappings in America is not okay.

Remember this name: Erik Prince. He’s related to Betsy Devos. She is an extraordinarily wealthy Republican donor who knew nothing about public education but was named Secretary of Education anyway.

Prince is related to Blackwater. I think he may have founded it. I remember Blackwater from the Iraq fiasco when a couple of Americans got caught in some sort of ambush and wound up suffering a horrible death. It’s a firm that hires out mercenaries.

The men on the streets of Portland are - effectively - mercenaries.

If you want a historical perspective, think of the nascent Nazi Storm Troopers.

From Wikipedia:

The Sturmabteilung, literally Storm Detachment, was the Nazi Party's original paramilitary wing. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies, disrupting the meetings of opposing parties, fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties, especially the Red Front Fighters League (Rotfrontkämpferbund) of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and intimidating Romani, trade unionists, and, especially, Jews – for instance, during the 1933 Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses.

If you want a more recent historical example from a democracy that crumbled from within, see Allende’s Chile become Pinochet’s Chile. Of course, America assisted with that because we couldn’t allow a socialist democracy to exist in South America and we’d rather put a psychopath in power.

It is not hyperbole to pinpoint this as being where we are in America today. I don’t think America’s founders were stupid or duplicitous. I think they were hopeful their checks and balances would be sufficient to prevent a tyrant from seizing control of the country. I think they allowed for amendments so future generations could mold the Constitution to fit the modern age.

Unfortunately, complacency and a stubbornness to allow the Constitution to “breathe’ made us impotent at forestalling someone as brazen as this reality television star.

Frankly, voting seems too weak to me.

I’d prefer this scenario.

Deep Staters, partial to a time when the rule of law meant something to people in power, sneak into GOP Senator’s offices and threaten to shoot the male senators in the dick unless they go to the Capitol and demand the full administration’s resignation, ala Nixon during the time of Watergate, and allow everyone - except Stephen Miller - to flee to whatever country that will take them (I understand Croatia is still open to Americans).

Stephen Miller will be put on prison work release for the remainder of his life picking up trash along the most desolate interstate in America.

It’s called karma.

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Prolific reader and supplier of the most appropriate and eclectic topics/subject matter, Nancy Enz Lill, turned me on to this podcast about merging the sound of endangered birds with electronic music.

However, this time she was aided and abetted by Dan Ciske. Who directed me toward this uplifting website, called NewSounds. If you are a music aficionado, you can get lost sampling. I liked the homage to Ennio Morricone.