Fresh Off The Boat.

First thing again this morning I listen to Rebecca Negron telling us she's going to "punish" Washington for keeping the police from arresting "criminal aliens," something she is essentially making up.  You'll remember  my saying she's the one appearing in pictures of her holding a shotgun and pledging to murder anyone getting off a boat - except for Cubans, of course. I have to wonder at the way she pronounces her Spanish name: NEG-ron. Was it once Negrón?  Did her family came from Cuba, getting green cards and asylum seeker benefits?  She's not talking.

But hey, this is America, land of second chances for me and no first chance for you.

It's also the America of fake issues and rabble-rousing and explaining away our sins while inventing them for others. Most of our campaigns center on fake issues and outright lies because sticking to the truth can be an insurmountable challenge.  It's the America of thinly veiled assassination threats, threats of insurrection and threats of  lynch mobs stringing up immigrants. It's the America that needs to be made great again through barbarism and greed and special privileges and secret deals and maybe even an armed uprising and assassination.

And there's no one to blame but you.

TRUMP: An Apologist and Stooge for Putin

Since Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia, an estimated 200 dissidents and journalists have been murdered:

Oleg Polukeyev (homicide), Igor Domnikov (hammer attack), Sergei Novikov (contract killing), Iskander Khatloni (axe attack), Sergei Ivanov (contract killing), Pavel Asaulchenko (contract killing), Yury Shchekochikhin (“acute allergic reaction”), Magomed Varisov (homicide), Oksana Teslo (arson attack), Anna Politkovskaya (shot in elevator), Anastasia Baburova and Stanislav Markelov (both by gunshots), Natalia Estemirova (abducted and shot), Paul Khlebnikov (killed by machine gun), Alexander Litvinenko (poisoned by polonium-210), and Boris Nemtsov (ambush killing), as examples.

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Donald Trump says: “I’ve read those allegations over the years. But nobody’s proven that he’s killed anybody as far as I’m concerned.” 

On MSNBC, Trump reveals how vanity trumps judgement: “When people call you ‘brilliant,’ it's always good, especially when the person heads up Russia.” 

Joe Scarborough: “Well, I mean, [Putin] is a person who kills journalists, political opponents and …” 

Willie Geist: “Invades countries.” 

Trump: “He's running his country, and at least he's a leader …”

Former acting CIA chief Michael Morell confirms this impression: Donald Trump has been unwittingly "played" by Vladimir Putin, a skilled former KGB intelligence officer. “[Trump] is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security” adds Morell.

Over the years, Donald Trump has CHEATED thousands of small businesses, contractors, and wage earners without conscience, remorse or forethought. The man is dangerous with no moral backbone whatsoever.

Meet Trump's Mega Amygdala Megalomaniacs

From Raw Story, a neuroscientist explains:

"There’s no doubt that Donald Trump has said many things that would have been political suicide for any other Republican candidate. And almost every time he made one of these shocking statements, political analysts on both the left and the right predicted that he’d lose supporters because of it. But as we have clearly seen over the past year, they were dead wrong every time. Trump appears to be almost totally bulletproof.

The only thing that might be more perplexing than the psychology of Donald Trump is the psychology of his supporters. In their eyes, The Donald can do no wrong. Even Trump himself seems to be astonished by this phenomenon. “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.”

Senator John McCain, who has been a regular target for Trump during his campaign, has a simple explanation for his unwavering support. “What he did was he fired up the crazies.”

While the former Republican presidential nominee may be on to something, he doesn’t exactly provide a very satisfying scientific explanation. So how exactly are Trump loyalists psychologically or neurologically different from everyone else? What is going on in their brains that makes them so blindly devoted?

1.  The Dunning-Kruger Effect:
Some believe that many of those who support Donald Trump do so because of ignorance — basically they are under-informed or misinformed about the issues at hand. When Trump tells them that crime is skyrocketing in the United States, or that the economy is the worst it’s ever been, they simply take his word for it.

The seemingly obvious solution would be to try to reach those people through political ads, expert opinions, and logical arguments that educate with facts. Except none of those things seem to be swaying any Trump supporters from his side, despite great efforts to deliver this information to them directly.

The Dunning-Kruger effect explains that the problem isn’t just that they are misinformed; it’s that they are completely unaware that they are misinformed. This creates a double burden.

Studies have shown that people who lack expertise in some area of knowledge often have a cognitive bias that prevents them from realizing that they lack expertise. As psychologist David Dunning puts it in an op-ed for Politico, “The knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task — and if one lacks such knowledge and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at the task. This includes political judgment.” Essentially, they’re not smart enough to realize they’re dumb.

And if one is under the illusion that they have sufficient or even superior knowledge, then they have no reason to defer to anyone else’s judgment. This helps explain why even nonpartisan experts — like military generals and Independent former Mayor of New York/billionaire CEO Michael Bloomberg — as well as some respected Republican politicians, don’t seem to be able to say anything that can change the minds of loyal Trump followers.

Out of immense frustration, some of us may feel the urge to shake a Trump supporter and say, “Hey! Don’t you realize that he’s an idiot?!” No. They don’t. That may be hard to fathom, but that’s the nature of the Dunning-Kruger effect — one’s ignorance is completely invisible to them.

2.  Hypersensitivity to Threat
Science has unequivocally shown that the conservative brain has an exaggerated fear response when faced with stimuli that may be perceived as threatening. A classic study in the journal Psychophysiology found that conservatives have a stronger physiological reaction to startling noises and graphic images compared to liberals. A brain-imaging study published in Current Biology revealed that those who lean right politically tend to have a larger amygdala — a structure that is electrically active during states of fear and anxiety. And a 2014 fMRI study found that it is possible to predict whether someone is a liberal or conservative simply by looking at their brain activity while they view threatening or disgusting images, such as mutilated bodies. Specifically, the brains of self-identified conservatives generated more activity overall in response to the disturbing images.

So how does this help explain the unbridled loyalty of Trump supporters? These brain responses are automatic, and not influenced by logic or reason. As long as Trump continues his fear mongering by constantly portraying Muslims and Mexican immigrants as imminent dangers, many conservative brains will involuntarily light up like light bulbs being controlled by a switch. Fear keeps his followers energized and focused on safety. And when you think you’ve found your protector, you become less concerned with remarks that would normally be seen as highly offensive.

3.  Terror Management Theory
A well-supported theory from social psychology, called Terror Management Theory, explains why Trump’s fear mongering is doubly effective.

The theory is based on the fact that humans have a unique awareness of their own mortality. The inevitably of one’s death creates existential terror and anxiety that is always residing below the surface. In order to manage this terror, humans adopt cultural worldviews — like religions, political ideologies, and national identities — that act as a buffer by instilling life with meaning and value.

Terror Management Theory predicts that when people are reminded of their own mortality, which happens with fear mongering, they will more strongly defend those who share their worldviews and national or ethnic identity, and act out more aggressively towards those who do not. Hundreds of studies have confirmed this hypothesis, and some have specifically shown that triggering thoughts of death tends to shift people towards the right.

Not only do death reminders increase nationalism, they influence actual voting habits in favor of more conservative presidential candidates. And more disturbingly, in a study with American students, scientists found that making mortality salient increased support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians overseas. Interestingly, the effect was present only in conservatives, which can likely be attributed to their heightened fear response.

By constantly emphasizing existential threat, Trump creates a psychological condition that makes the brain respond positively rather than negatively to bigoted statements and divisive rhetoric. Liberals and Independents who have been puzzled over why Trump hasn’t lost supporters after such highly offensive comments need look no further than Terror Management Theory.

4.  High Attentional Engagement
According to a recent study that monitored brain activity while participants watched 40 minutes of political ads and debate clips from the presidential candidates, Donald Trump is unique in his ability to keep the brain engaged. While Hillary Clinton could only hold attention for so long, Trump kept both attention and emotional arousal high throughout the viewing session. This pattern of activity was seen even when Trump made remarks that individuals didn’t necessarily agree with. His showmanship and simple messages clearly resonate at a visceral level.

Essentially, the loyalty of Trump supporters may in part be explained by America’s addiction with entertainment and reality TV. To some, it doesn’t matter what Trump actually says because he’s so amusing to watch. With Donald, you are always left wondering what outrageous thing he is going to say or do next. He keeps us on the edge of our seat, and for that reason, some Trump supporters will forgive anything he says. They are happy as long as they are kept entertained.

Of course these explanations do not apply to all Trump supporters. In fact, some are likely intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system. They may have such distaste for the establishment and Hillary Clinton that their vote for Trump is a symbolic middle finger directed at Washington.

So what can we do to potentially change the minds of Trump loyalists before voting day in November? As a cognitive neuroscientist, it grieves me to say that there may be nothing we can do. The overwhelming majority of these people may be beyond reach, at least in the short term. The best we can do is to motivate everyone else to get out to the booths and check the box that doesn’t belong to a narcissistic nationalist who has the potential to damage the nation beyond repair."

Bobby Azarian is a neuroscientist affiliated with George Mason University and a science writer.

Pissing on our graves

I wish I were a cartoonist.  I have this cartoon in my head and can't get rid of it:  look here at a huge Donald Trump in Arlington National Cemetery, pissing on a soldier's grave.  Maybe one of those graves with a star of David on it or a crescent and star or the

American Atheist Atom or the Buddhist flower. There are some there I don't even recognize, nearly 50 marks of various beliefs.  Lots of people have fought and died for this country, a country whose people are now flirting with sneering, cynical hatred and calling it "greatness." A country that flirts with electing a president who mocks grieving mothers and insults grieving fathers who accuse him of being heartless for wanting to ban his dead son's religion from our nation.

Over the line, his defenders say. Suggesting Trump believes what he says is over the line and besides there's crooked Hillary who after

surviving decades of relentless and fruitless investigation still gets accused of everything up to and including murder. Is there anything to be proud of, anything to value about America that Trump hasn't wiped his ass with?

A man who keeps Hitler's speeches next to his bed, whose ideas about crime and immigration are 30 years behind the facts and who gloats that we're too damned stupid to know?  Collapsible corporations that scam people out of their fortunes, bankruptcies that leave creditors begging, Trump products all made offshore. Suppliers who go unpaid simply because he can get away with it?  No, it doesn't matter than no fact checking organization substantiates Trump's statements, or that the FBI can glibly be dismissed as a Hillary Stooge, or that investigation after investigation fails -- foil-hat Americans don't care about such things and they'll crucify anyone who tries to tell the truth.

International "humiliation after humiliation" Trump claims without being able to cite one. Border crossings are increasing he says, but they're not. Crime is up but it's not and Obama invaded and annexed the Crimea. International treaties have the force of law, but Trump says he'll ignore them.   A man dies for his country? so fuck him.  he's just a damned Muslim and damn his mother too.

So you're going to vote for him, you think he'll make America great again? Donald Trump is our shame, Let's not make him our crime.  Can't vote for Hillary because you can't see through the lies?  Fine, vote for Gary Johnson, Vote for Bozo the clown, but don't vote for the end of  our greatness. Don't piss on the flag, while you're making kids pledge allegiance to it.

BREAKING: After first day of intelligence briefings, Trump leaks classified secret.

“Trump accidentally revealed sensitive and classified information about the locations of secret military bases. Trump arrogantly spoke to an audience at a Colorado Springs rally today, when he said that the U.S. should not have to pay rent for its military base in Saudi Arabia. There’s just one problem with this. There isn’t supposed to be an American military base in Saudi Arabia … the location of that base was classified for a reason, and now that protection has been compromised” (BipartisanReport.com).

For years, the Russians have used cyber espionage and disinformation to shape public opinion in the West. To undermine the EU. To destabilize Europe. To alter the outcome of an American election.  

Last weekend, I asked a long-time friend who has been a former CIA agent assigned to Russia, recently retired. Here is his reply (shared with permission):

"absoFuckingLootly, it's same hybrid warfare from Kremlin playbook with yet another twist.  What really disturbs me is my former friends of the right cozying up to Putin via Putin funded Trump.  Exactly what you alluded to is terrifying to me... cause it appears to be working.  The Russians have disinformation honed to a science at all levels, troll-farms to work on joe six-pack as he reads FB and the very very sophisticated FSB/GRU types working things like leaking timely emails.  Russia is not a country... it's a slavic-mafia disguised as a country.   If Trump wins we're fucked..."

Postscript:  For the next few weeks, I will be investigating this story (leveraging my contacts) and will probably be scarce awhile.  

It's OK With Bill

Sometimes I just don't know what to say.  Lyin' Bill O'Reilly manages to lie even while telling the truth when he attempts to counter Michelle Obama's poignant statement that the White House was built with slave labor. Isn't it a sign of hope that the black family of a black president now lives there?

Perhaps Lyin' Bill acts the way he does as a reflex rather than as any attempt at reasoned commentary, but can anyone think the fact that slave labor was used on a Federal project is mitigated by the allegedly adequate food and lodgings provided?  Hey Lyin' Bill, what if Fox withheld your pay and says it's OK because they give you a comfortable chair to sit in ( and obviously lots to eat) while you tell lies about just about everything.  What about we throw you into prison for sedition, Lyin' Bill -- I hear the food's not too bad.

TrumPutin

Forget Trumpence. Trumpenance. Or Trumpenitence. What we have is TrumPutin, according to Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and chairman of the Human Rights Foundation based in New York. Kasparov is also author of “Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped.” Donald Trump reminds Kasparov of Vladimir Putin and “that is terrifying” he says in this op-ed that appears in today’s Washington Post:

"Donald Trump’s dark and frightening speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday had pundits and historians making comparisons ranging from George Wallace in the 1960s to Benito Mussolini in the 1930s. As suitable as those comparisons may be, the chill that ran down my spine was not because of Trump’s echoes of old newsreel footage. Instead, I saw an Americanized version of the brutally effective propaganda of fear and hatred that Vladimir Putin blankets Russia with today.

This isn’t to say Trump plagiarized Putin verbatim. The language and tone were comparable the way that the Russian and American flags make different designs with the same red, white and blue. Nor was it merely the character of the text; Trump’s mannerisms and body language — toned down from his usual histrionics — were startlingly similar to the sneering and boastful delivery Russians know all too well after Putin’s 16 years in power …

The demagogic candidate must paint a bleak picture of the status quo, citing every catastrophe and failure before presenting the even darker future ahead if he isn’t granted the power to act, and act now. You might believe a campaigning politician would prefer to evoke positive emotions in prospective voters, but this does not fit the profile of the strongman. Instead of telling people what he will do if they elect him, he threatens them with what will happen if they don’t. The democratic leader needs the people. The tyrant, and the would-be tyrant, insists that the people need him."

Look for Kasparov’s entire commentary here.

Ground Hog Day.

Remember Anders Breivic, the Norwegian mass killer of 77?  Ali Sonboly, the Munich born teenager who shot up a shopping mall did, and he acted out his tribute on the same day, 5 years later.  He used a 9mm Glock pistol despite Germany's strict gun laws and fell far short of Breivic's "score" which was aided by the use of a bomb.

The Norwegian mass killer was, like many Republican candidates a right winger, obsessed with stopping immigration.  The victims of Sonboly were Eastern European  immigrants, many from Kosovo.

Is "score" a bad way to look at it?  Yes, and deliberately so, because there's a whole lot of evidence that some disturbed people feel attracted to a mass killing culture and dream of making a new high score like video game enthusiasts do.

Are we paying any attention to the psychology of such people, mostly young and impressionable and pathological?  They can be hard to pick out of a crowd and perhaps hard even when you know them to predict they'll act out a dream of going out in what they see as a blaze of glory.

These aren't the same people who rob banks and shoot people, or who traffic in drugs and shoot people and sometimes they're not all that politically or religiously motivated,  They seem to find a way to do it within the limitations of law and circumstance. But at this point, these acts of terrorism were motivated by the same hatred that motivated the Nazis, and that motivate the Republican party, currently pandering to the fear and hysteria and xenophobia of the American Lumpenproletariat; that disaffected, alienated and fearful segment of our gun and bible clinging peonage.

Funny it is, to hear them trying to disassociate themselves from what essentially is their own philosophy and somehow associate it with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Not so funny to see it work so well.

Germany has adopted many of the "sensible" gun control policies advocated for the US and far more, yet Sonboly, who may have been receiving psychiatric treatment, managed to obtain a semi-automatic pistol and several boxes of ammunition. More stringent controls were enacted in 2003 after a school shooting massacre of 16 by a student.

Has Germany (or Norway)  with far fewer guns in private hands and far more comprehensive and well thought out gun control, rid itself of  rampage killers? No and it's my opinion that no "cure' based on guns alone will do that in the USA with it's centuries old affinity for firearms, it's huge number of guns and the equation of guns with security against government excess that passes for patriotism.  That's not an argument against gun control, but it's a caution against simple solutions that will disappoint and frustrate and radicalize us all.

It's complicated  and yet the most passionate promote the most simple solutions, some informed and objective, others wilfully and obstinately uninformed and cling to them through failure after failure.  Unless we study the various subcultures of violent revenge unless and we study the alienation and radicalization that's going on around the world as modernity spreads and prosperity abandons some and benefits others and religion fails to change anything for the better. -- unless we learn and accept what we're dealing with, we're not going to make these things go away any more than Nancy Reagan and the DEA made Marijuana or opiates or amphetamines go away.

But we're too damn stubborn, aren't we? We're too satisfied with our opinions and too willing to reject anything from "outside" without listening. And so it goes on and on.

Shots Fired!

Another shooting incident at a Munich shopping center. 5 people stabbed on a train in Bavaria a few days ago. Terrorist attacks are almost a daily thing in Europe and far, far worse in the Middle East.

But it's because they have stronger leaders, right? Russia has had some big ones but that's because Putin is lawnorder tough and Army Strong, right?   It's because Obama is weak and probably a sympathizer and Hillary would be even weaker as the "facts" about Benghazi show. That's right the Republicans are lawnorder tough and always protect us -- right?

Oops, I mentioned facts - mea culpa. I should have known better. But I can't help myself. I can't control it -- 6% of US terrorist attacks are carried out by Muslims according to the FBI. 7% were from Jewish extremists.  No really I'm trying to stop. . .

There, I've got it under control, but someone just sent me something from some green beret or red underwear or lace panty he-men who say there were in Benghazi and they know - just Know - Hillary was to blame. Funny none of the investigators gave them much credit, but we "just know" they're right because they hate Crooked Hillary. Oh really I'm trying not to remember how the GOP refused to allow increased security funding and to this date have stonewalled it just so they could sing "crooked Hillary" like the little yellow birds they are.

Crooked indeed, not like whatsisname with the child molestation and rape and orgies with underage girls and real estate swindles and fake schools with plagiarized textbooks  and the serial infidelity -- but he's one of us!  He even tells dirty jokes. Sometimes about his own daughter.

Really Hillary is in with wall street, but I'm not sure what that means except somebody paid her a lot of money to talk once. But not Like the Donald the man of the people with his 3 billion.  I've given more to charity then he has but that just proves he cares about the working people he stiffs on their paychecks and the small business he bankrupts by not paying his bills. He's gonna make us great and by great I mean great big losers.

Oh god, it's hopeless  Oh, I feel it coming . . . Obama the Weak has deported more illegals than any Republican -- aaagh our murder rate is lower than during Lawnorder Reagan's reign of glory.  Somebody stop me!

Meanwhile, Back in the Real World

One of the problems with American discourse having moved to the Internet and the cable news networks is that we rush to the circus ring making the most noise,  and somehow there aren't enough rings to cover all the acts, even the most important.  Donald Trump  sits on the news like some fat, clucking chicken. The rest of the world has become a sideshow.

It's struck many people that of late the the guy in boots and top hat is getting all the attention, filling his ring with clown acts and crude insult comedy. A quashed rebellion in Turkey in which tens of thousands have been arrested in government and in the military was soon drowned out, and although many publications of late are quietly inquiring as to the security of US forces at Incirlik Air Base , we're arguing over a poorly written and partially plagiarized speech by someone who isn't running for president,

That airbase, with it's stockpile of hydrogen bombs is only protected by the shaky, unstable Turkish military which has now cut off power.  Incirlik is now running on backup generators. Top Turkish officers at the base have been arrested.

Why are such things designed for Armageddon still there? Why are we not asking? How do we trust Turkey to protect a world-destroying arsenal, NATO's largest nuclear weapons cache? How do we deal with Syria and ISIL without that base? Why aren't we talking about it? Why don't we get more than bravado and braggadocio and "tough guy"  posturing about Mexican walls and guns and what kind of life matters most?

It's because all our attention is directed elsewhere by the ringmasters and the clowns. For half a year it's been all about Trump, all about Benghazi, all about Bernie, all about bozos hurling insults and accusations at each other.

"When the whistle blows, everybody goes" Jonathan Winters used to say. Would we even hear it with all the background noise?