Author: Caveguy

I started this blog in an attempt to be a reasonably objective observer of our modern times. I stopped for a while. Something about it rang hollow in my head.

I finally figured it out. I am not an objective observer. History is, and always has been, subjective. I am a subjective person.

We are currently debating whether or not Nazis should be tolerated in American society. I need to repeat that for my own self. We are currently debating whether or not Nazis should be tolerated in American society. I am having trouble wrapping my head around the entire concept.

Don’t get me wrong. I know this country has a racism problem. It is practically built into our foundations. It needs to be addressed and redressed.

But, that being said, the idea that we should, in any way, tolerate Nazis in America is beyond absurd. Over and over, people have talked about how certain protests dishonor veterans. I will address that in another post.

Let me talk about dishonoring veterans, our nation’s WWII war dead, and any other single person in this nation, or in the world, who sacrificed so much to end this scourge. At least they thought they were ending it.

Nazi-ism not only did not end, but, it seems to be flourishing in the new climate that is Trump’s America. I am left with a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

So much so, that I must remind all of you what Nazi-ism really stands for.

WARNING: WHAT FOLLOWS IS VERY DISTURBING.

This is Nazi-ism:

This is Nazi-ism:

Does this hurt yet?:

I know (at least I hope I know) that these images are hard to view.  That is the point.  This is what Nazis do.  This is who Nazis are.  They are not good people.  They are not misguided.  They are an evil that has no place in the world.

They cannot be tolerated.  The Tolerance Paradox states that a tolerant society cannot tolerate intolerance.  It is insidious.  It infects.  It must be ended.

Godwin’s Law:

“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler, that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or his deeds.”

Like the fabled Murphy, from Murphy’s Law (Edward Murphy arguably paraphrased a mathematical theorem), Mike Godwin actually exists.  He is still quite alive and kicking (the phrase was not uttered until 1990, as the internet was proving to be the land of modern trolls and not the philosophical paradise we all first imagined).

Mike Godwin, after the Charlottesville riot, proclaimed that, by all means, we should call these people Nazis.

As far as I am concerned, the leading legal mind on the subject (Mike Godwin is an attorney) has handed down a ruling.  Nazi-ism has no place in the USA.  This movement must be destroyed.

I am amazed at how hard this post has been to write.  As a Jewish person in the USA, I have seen and experienced profound racism and anti-semitism.  I have even been forced to leave a small town in a southern state due to my religious beliefs.

Minorities in this country will tell you that the racism has always been overt; I am one of them.  However, white privilege is being able to plausibly deny systemic racism, even in the face of so many news reports documenting it.

To most of white society, racism is something that has nothing to do with them.  They are not affected by it, so it is just too easy to look away.  It is easy to see it as an aberration and not the norm.

Even the news helps.  When a white terrorist is shown in the news, they are depicted as lone wolves.  An aberration.

But, they aren’t.  Hate groups exist on almost every level of our society from fringe militias to, now, mainstream political organizations.

Just as our current President.  More than one overt racist works in a high level position in his administration.  We all know who Bannon is to Trump, but can anyone tell me what Sebastian Gorka does for the administration?

This, alone, emboldens the hate groups.  Immediately after his election, this country saw a rise in hate crime.  This is not entirely true.  The hate crime has always been here, but now, the news has found a reason to report on it more.

This also emboldens the supremacists and Nazis.  As the old saying goes, “It is better to be infamous than to have no fame at all.”  But still, the haters used to hide their faces in the shadows.

The fact that our hater-in-chief (he started his real estate career discriminating against minority renters) can be so prolific in his rants and tweeting for, seemingly, every subject under the sun, but remains silent about a race riot is probably the most emboldening thing to the haters.

It is silent assent.  But, it is assent.  It is proof to the scum that they don’t have to hide behind masks anymore.  In their eyes, this is their country and getting rid of minorities (both cultural and religious) is equivalent to “making America great again.”

Charlottesville was a perfect example of this.  Even the klansmen were exposed.  This is their America.  To them, and to a lot of us, the President is one of them.  So why hide?

In the aftermath, however, they are finding out why they should continue hiding.  After being exposed, some of them are having their lives destroyed.  I hope so.

But again, this is nothing new.  In Denver, in 1992, the haters came out in force on Martin Luther King day.  At least one of them learned his lesson the hard way.  Cockroaches stay in the shadows for a reason.  The organizer of that rally lost his job.  I was surprised to learn we worked for the same company.  I was gratified by that company’s response.

Hate is ingrained in our society.  The one good side to Trump is that white society in general is now forced to see it.

We are at a nexus.  Either we sink into the hate, or we recognize it and eliminate it.  Silent assent must end.

Which side are you on?

So, Lord Cheeto von Trump has just gutted a nationwide program to combat teen pregnancy.  This will shock you (/sarcasm), but this is an Obama era program.

The only “successes” Trump has had at all during his presidency, aside from Neil Gorsuch, is the systematic dismantling of the legacy that Barack Obama has created.

The Trump administration has ended a retirement savings program, a program to arm Syrian rebels, protections for undocumented immigrant parents, and has scaled back the nutritional requirements for a school lunch program.  Why?  Because they came from the Obama administration.

Of course, we cannot forget his obsession, along with Congressional Republicans, to end the ACA.  The Donald is the father of the birther movement, loudly claiming that his “investigators” have found things you would not believe.  Of course, this supposed information was never revealed.

Why is Trump so obsessed with Obama?  There are several reasons that could answer this.

First, Obama makes a good foil for Trump to keep his base fired up amid the scandals that are plaguing his administration.  The people who support Don the Con are, to a large degree, the same people who were so adamantly opposed to Obama to a very racist degree.

Second, destroying Obama’s legacy, to some extent, makes Trump’s presidency look better than his predecessor’s.  Given that Donald has so few victories to brag about, he most certainly needs everything he can find to try and add legitimacy to his administration and his goals.

But, let us put all that aside and look at Trump the man.  He has a narcissistic personality that brooks no embarrassment.  We cannot forget the roasting that Trump took at the hands of both Obama and host Seth Meyers.  Trump was fuming afterwards.  He lashed out at Seth Meyers in the aftermath.

But, why did Obama take his shots at Trump?  The correspondents dinner was in April of 2011.  Donald began his birther claims in late March of 2011.  While he was a true statesman, I cannot blame Obama for firing a few shots “across the bow” at Trump for his racist rantings.

Donald had been flirting with a presidential run, and in previous elections had declared his candidacy.  However, in olden times, people realized that he was a joke candidate.  Oh, how many of us long for those times today.

The bottom line is that Trump was embarrassed.  He began his run, in earnest, to regain what he saw as a loss of stature in the political world.  Donald cannot let go of old hurts, and believes in revenge against his “enemies.”

The damage that the Federal Government is doing right now to real American families and individual citizens boils down to Lord Cheeto wanting to hit back against a perceived slight from Obama.  Nevermind that Trump is the one who picked that fight.

In Trumpland, Trump must always win.  It does not matter who gets caught in the crossfire.

We live in a country where only the rich seem to have any political clout.  Our President is unhinged, and Congress is more interested in party than they are in country.

This blog is here to be a pimple on their ass.