Here Comes Rudy!

You used to have to try to portray our current political civil war as the comic opera it is.  You used to need some comedic talent, but like one of those Tesla or Google cars, it's all on autopilot now. All those political cynicism shows on late night TV can go on hiatus.

I don't need to talk about Donald, wind him up and he spews twisted comedy without any help from writers and in fact he winds himself up, But listen to Rudy Giuliani, who seems to have completely lost touch with reality, screeching like he's had a Meth overdose:

 "Under those eight years, before Obama came along, we didn't have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attack in the United States. They all started when Clinton and Obama got into office,"

 Of course not and if you like I'll forget the career you've made out of having been in town when the World Trade Center was blown up.  If we can't blame your memory loss on some neurodegenerative disease perhaps we can ask you to tattoo LIAR on your forehead like the mark of Caine or to hang a sign around your neck so we can see you coming and cover our ears.

What Goes Around

Breaking News!  Trump to give news conference stating that there is no flood in Louisiana.

OK, just joking, but it's hardly a haha joke in light of today's headlines about D.J.s campaign manager being on Putin's payroll - just as many of us, Republican and Democrat have suspected in light of his refusal to show his tax returns.

I'm guessing that like other big time criminals, Trump isolates himself from his deeds by using intermediaries and perhaps he'll avoid taking the fall for taking money from hostile foreign governments, but I'm damned sure that accepting money and perhaps accepting help from Russian hackers could make up a good case for treason.  Interesting isn't it, that Trump favors military tribunals in Guantanamo for US citizens accused of treason, isn't it?

Hillary Clinton and the press

The press has an interesting complaint about Hillary Clinton: not that she doesn't talk to them - she does. She gives hundreds of interviews, she has about one press gaggle every two weeks, she literally talks to everyone who comes near. But just like Trump, she hasn't set up a press pool. And more importantly to them, she hasn't held a formal press conference since last year, and this makes them pissy.

Now, let's be clear on this. They want to spin those last two points into "she doesn't talk to the press!" But that's obviously a lie. Their problem isn't that she's not talking to the press, but that she isn't doing it like they want her to do it. She doesn't duct-tape reporters to her ass and drag them behind her in a mewling mass. She doesn't charter a plane for them, serve them meals and charge their phones when their batteries are getting low.

Really, this is more of a reflection on the state of our media than Hillary Clinton. They're lazy; they just want to be handed entire stories that they can file without doing any actual work. And Hillary Clinton doesn't do their jobs for them, and this makes them unhappy.

At last estimate, in May, she had given 300 interviews, so it's clear that she's obviously not avoiding the press. So what's their problem?

Really, there are three factors at play here. First, the press is in an abusive relationship with Donald Trump: he holds "press conferences" where he openly lies to them, and they report it without question. Admittedly, there's a good reason for that: anytime they point out the actual facts, he insults them, calls them dishonest, or actually bans them from events. (Admittedly, by banning the Washington Post, they've started to do actual reporting, and point out what a lying bag of ass the cheddar-colored fuckweasel actually is.)

Second, there's a little bit of a history between the Clintons and the press. There is a well-documented right-wing movement to try to paint the Clintons in the worst light possible, and the media has been complicit in this conspiracy in their refusal to actually do their jobs: they'll unquestioningly reprint press releases, and always accept the sordid insinuation over actual consideration of facts, if the insinuation will get noticed.

News, after all, is a business: it's long been a maxim that "if it bleeds, it leads." The stories that sell papers (or that more people will click on) have to have priority if they want to make any money. They don't have time for nuanced reflection on complex topics: they have to appeal to the base instincts of an audience with an eighth-grade education at best. The business isn't journalism any more; it's more accurate to call it scandalism. And the anti-Clinton forces have cheerfully used that preference for the sordid and the shocking over actual facts for the last 35 years. There are conspiracy theories about the Clintons murdering hundreds of people, or that no woman is safe near Bill Clinton.

(Quick side note: Bill Clinton did, in fact, have sex with Monica Lewinsky. A consensual affair with an adult woman. He also faced impeachment over that affair, which was pressed by several Congressmen who were worse sexual predators than Bill Clinton ever was. And, although the Right hates to admit it, Bill Clinton was also acquitted, but only after months of intense scrutiny, and press coverage that focused on Bill Clinton's penis. Or as it came to be called, the Clenis.)

Oddly, despite years of allegations of rape, murder and thievery, not a single one of these despicable acts has ever been been proven to have actually happened (which, of course, the right wing spins to mean that they're obviously all true).

So perhaps it's understandable that Hillary Clinton isn't a huge fan of the media.

But finally, there's a third aspect to Hillary Clinton's actions that really need to be considered: the best advocate for a Clinton presidency these days is Donald Trump himself. His rolling dumpster-fire of a campaign is proving that the only possible worse choice for president than Donald Trump would be Charles Manson on crack, or possibly a rabid badger with a flamethrower.

Her résumé and accomplishments are already a matter of public record. In the bigger picture, why should she do anything but stand back and let us all watch him implode?

We're ba-a-ack...

It's been about 8 months since I posted anything here, and with the election coming, it's damned well time I got back into it. I discovered Twitter a while back, and I'm fairly active there, but some thoughts deserve more consideration than 140 characters. So let's do this.

I can't promise anything on a regular basis, but let's see what happens.

Which of These Things is Not Like the Other?

A large problem with activist groups is the resistance to information that's not part of the group's canon, coming from outside the group or that which casts doubt on its inerrancy. Maintenance of the group and its authority requires it and the integrity of the group often replaces the mission around which it formed. In the wider universe of people who would like to reform gun control laws in the interest of public safety there are sub-groups who push one reform over others, or one perceived kind of firearm over others and who often will brook no questions or challenges and will dismiss information or statistics or definitions by responding with hyperbolic accusations, maledictions and excommunications.

Suggest that a semi-automatic pistol can have the same firepower as a civilian version of a military assault rifle and you will be perceived and dismissed as a heretic, and no discussion of concealability will be permitted.  I say this from personal experience. Indeed one can carry two pistols with 30 round magazines and exceed the firepower of one bulky rifle.  Of course if you intend to shoot up a room, either weapon will do the same job, but you're either a handgun opponent of an "assault rifle" hater and so you can't cooperate and you won't learn and you can't discuss it. How many causes fail for lack of cooperation between similar or even identical interests?

I've worn myself out offering irrefutable evidence that that military looking thing you can buy at Walmart is not military and doesn't work like the military version, but if your group says it's a machine gun, they will go on arguing -- insisting that it is one no matter what. The important metric is not veracity, but the propagation of rage and fear, the success of the group and its leaders.

Gas or recoil operated machine guns for all practical intents are illegal for the general public.  Gatling guns are not.  Coming from the Civil War era, the Gatling gun, with its rotating barrels is a design still very much used by the military in airborne applications.  Unlike an autoloader or a double action revolver which goes bang for every trigger pull and unlike a true machine gun that keeps firing as long as you keep the trigger pulled, the rotary barrel Gatling gun fires thousands of rounds per minute.  It literally screams.  They are legal and yet the noise of people lying about "assault rifles" and their extra deadly "bullets" drowns out the muttering about motorized rotary barrel Megadeath machines.

There already is a two barreled, crank operated weapon available although I've yet to see one, but the XM556 motorized, handheld Gatling gun is a nightmare. It can be chain fed, giving it almost limitless firepower and versions can put out something like 2000, to 4000 rounds per minute.  30 or more rounds IN ONE SECOND!  You're not going to be hearing about it and why? because the more fervent the anti-gun activist the less informed and the more resistant to learning anything. "We already know it all so go away"


Yes, the XM556 needs an outside source of power, but hate finds a way. How soon before it finds a way to a venue near you?

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.