Stephen Altschuler

thoughts on environment, politics, health, life issues

QAnon

Flim Flam Don and His Big Lies

by Leave a Comment

What strikes me most about Trump is what he doesn’t say. For example, and perhaps mostly glaringly, he hasn’t said a word encouraging people to take the Covid vaccine. If he cared about the welfare of the people of this country and the world, he would be out on the hustings, shouting from the rooftops, to take the jab. But no, not a word from him on this vital subject. Why? All I can figure is that he doesn’t want President Biden to benefit from the end of the pandemic, a pandemic that he, Trump, perpetuated and accelerated through his ineptitude and narcissism. Another reason is that he doesn’t want to antagonize his followers who are against vaccines–like QAnon wackos, Christian evangelicals, white supremacists, and slavery and Jim Crow apologists.

The sad truth is that Trump doesn’t care. About Americans, about democracy, about the economy (except his own business), about immigrant families, about crime on the streets and hyper-availability of guns, about equal justice for all, about Blacks or Browns or Yellows or Reds, about Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Atheists, about scientists, scholars, educators. Nor does he care about valid, democratically-run elections, like the one he lost so decisively in November 2020.

By hanging on to the Big Lie, like a monkey hangs on to the grub of food in the trap hunters have set for them, Trump reveals an addiction that is bringing him further down a rabbit hole of destruction, and dragging along with him all his Republican minions who are duped by his lies.

The answer for those of us who see through his lies, is not to keep harping on Trump. He, himself, is a lost cause, and unresponsive to any criticism, sanctions, censures, even lawsuits at this point. His cult followers will merely brush aside any of those attempts at vilification and label him a martyr. No, the answer lies in the election of 2022, perhaps one of the most critical elections in the history of our democratic republic.

2022. It’s just around the corner. And the outcome will test the influence, if any, that Trump has on our electorate. Will Trump-loyal Republicans regain control of the House and/or the Senate? Or will the Democrats further solidify their hold on these Houses of Congress and make Joe Manchin irrelevant? And what of voting? Will Republican efforts to suppress the vote prove successful? Or will voters find a way around these scurrilous laws to vote enmass? Or will Republican laws actually reverse the results of elections they deem not in their interests, namely those that put Democrats in power?

It will all be laid out before us quite graphically, in the results of the 2022 election. And it’s all up to you and I, the voters. For despite the new Republican voter suppression laws, where there’s a will to vote, there’s a way to vote. So no matter what the obstacles, I deeply hope you will vote. And if the GOP tries to reverse the outcome of the election, I hope the courts will respond as they did when Trump tried to reverse the vote of the 2020 election, and prevent Republican-controlled states from doing so.

Otherwise, if either fails, you can kiss our democracy and the country we love goodbye!

BEWARE!

by 4 Comments

Based on a Breakable News galloping poll of wild horses in Arizona

BEWARE!

of couples where one or both call the other their best friend. Don’t be shocked if divorce soon follows. Those wild ponies:  always with the jokes!

of homes where cats hang out in the front window all day sleeping. There’s trouble inside. And the kitty is likely depressed and/or angry.

of neighbor dogs who run up to you jumping all over. They are not getting enough love in their home.

of neighbors, and their guests, who look like Proud Boys or Girls. They probably are.

of cars that come right up to your bumper at red lights. They probably have guns on board and are thinking of shooting you, especially if you also have bumper stickers such  say We support Organic Farmers or Bee Kind.

of cute little kids, often boys, whose father allows them to ride fast electric toy trucks in driveways or on pavements. The father is probably a Proud Boy.

of publishers who write offering to publish your book. They won’t say it right off, but it’ll cost you thousands and they are basically vanity presses. 

of people who, six months after the election, are still waving Trump flags. They are mostly likely clinically psychotic.

of big conventional chain food markets. Trumpsters often shop there, as do serial mass killers, and child kidnappers.

of clowns who walk about town in their costumes. Need I say more?

of used car salesmen. More than likely they are woefully behind in their rent, and, so, are likely to be mass serial killers.

of anyone who calls him or herself a Republican or a QAnon supporter, or, as is often the case, both. They likely have kidnapped children in their basement.

of about half the population of America (which half we don’t know). They think the pandemic is a hoax, refuse vaccination, think Trump won the election, and will not hesitate to cough on you as you pass them by, saying they were just joking. I would avoid such so-called people. They are likely serial mass murderers…and have kidnapped children in their basement.

Otherwise, no problem. Enjoy the day. Be happy. And on occasion, get in your car and SCREAM.

Oh, one more…

of authors who always seem to be promoting their last book. Like Into the Woods…and Beyond with a foreword by Thomas Moore.

I am sad, sorry, and alarmed to say…

by Leave a Comment

I’m sad, sorry, and alarmed to say that we currently have a government based on mafiosa tactics and processes. Republicans in both Houses no longer vote their consciences, or even their common sense, but vote instead by intimidation and threats of violence against them. Any Republican legislator who even remotely appears to oppose Donald Trump, even after his presidency has ended, may well receive death threats via phone, email, social media, or even directly at their or their family’s home or place of business. “Godfather” Trump has never, nor does he presently, do anything to discourage such criminal threats.

The impeachment trial for Trump’s inciting the insurrection against the U.S. government is over before it starts. It seems most Senators have already decided on their vote, with the Republican count falling far short of the 17 needed to join all the Democrats to convict Trump.

Why is this so, given that we even have Trump’s offenses on video, making all who watched eyewitnesses to a crime? Certainly not because the Constitution forbids the impeachment of a Federal official after leaving office. There is a precedent for such an impeachment. No, it’s a political decision. Vote to impeach and a Republican risks the threat of a primary challenge; or worse, risks the [Read more…] about I am sad, sorry, and alarmed to say…

I am Deeply Concerned…about QAnon

by Leave a Comment

I am deeply concerned with the violent direction our country is taking, led by a once fringe digital Frankenstein called QAnon. This toxic monster is currently proliferating like oxalis, and as hard to pull out. How they got this powerful, I don’t completely understand. But like Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, QAnon feeds on suppressed anger, fears, personal frustration, and an unacknowledged touch of insanity. QAnon envisions a world of devil worshiping pedophiles, mostly Democrats and left wing media elites, all part of a deep state that only Donald Trump can root out, prosecute, and destroy. 

Yes, it is bizarre, irrational, paranoid, and psychotic but thousands, if not millions are drawn to its iconoclastic and cryptic messages and dogwhistles. Someone with the moniker of ‘Q is fueling the fire with supposed codes from Trump that the time has come for action—violent action against the corrupt status quo which has stolen the election away from Trump, despite the confirmed fact that that has all been investigated and debunked by the courts, reporters, legislators, and every sane source in America. Still QAnon supporters insist on their interpretation of facts, twisting and distorting the truth into manifestoes for actions as violent and seditious as 1/6/21—the insurrection at our Capitol building, causing legislators to hide and cower in fear for their lives.

QAnon must be stopped cold in its tracks or it will [Read more…] about I am Deeply Concerned…about QAnon

The Last Gasp of Trump and his Republican Enablers

by Leave a Comment

I think of how it must have been for the dinosaurs dying and breathing their last gasps on the land masses of our planet 60 million years ago. I think of this as I read the news of a Capitol police officer murdered while defending our representative congresspeople from a pro-Trump and Trump incited mob who invaded our Capitol building, a building steeped in the history of our democracy. That murder should be as catastrophic as the asteroid which struck Earth leading the death of all those predatory dinosaurs.

The murder came as the result of the rioters breeching the halls of our Congress, which came as the result of incendiary Trump rhetoric over the past five years and most recently at a rally just before the attack and breech, which came as the result of Republican congresspeople naysayers questioning the legitimacy of an election proven fully legitimate by the courts and election officials from every state in the union, which came as the result of right wing sources such as Fox News, Newsmax, AON, which came as a result of false and scurrilous conspiracy theories such as QAnon, which came as a result of extreme right wing white supremacist groups such as Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer which rose to prominence as a result of Trump giving tacit, and often open, approval of these grotesque and dangerous people. Trump’s base of voters who acted with cult mentality believing, lockstep, in all of Trump’s lies and misinformation and [Read more…] about The Last Gasp of Trump and his Republican Enablers

New Hot Flashes from Breakable News (that could be taken the wrong way, I suppose…)

by Leave a Comment

Latest News Flashes from Breakable News, the media group Trump considered retreating to after Fox betrayed him, but didn’t when he scratched the surface of Breakable’s true intent.

  • In a new EO, Trump erased the provision in the Constitution that authorizes a Federal Court System. “I appoint ’em, I figure I can fire ’em,” he told his wife, one of the last people on the planet who still support the president.
  • A new monolith was discovered in the middle of the Sahara Desert that strangely resembled Donald Trump. It was a man in a golf cart all made of stainless steel, except for an actual smart phone in the man’s hand set on Twitter. Alien visitors are suspected of planting the monument.
  • Attorney General William Barr, after announcing that his department was unable to find any fraud anywhere in the 2020 election, was spotted in a D.C. unemployment line waiting to apply for compensation that his former buddy Donald was loathe to sign off on. When asked for a comment, Barr muttered, “I don’t know how I’ll make it. All I got is 20 million in savings.”
  • And still a second monolith was found right in Senate chambers. The emotionless steel structure was that  of Sen. “Moscow” Mitch McConnell who, it turned out, was curiously playing himself, standing perfectly still with only his lips moving. The monolith is and will remain a mystery.
  • But these mysteries may well now be solved. Disavowed Trump advocate and lawyer Sidney Powell, fast fading from the daily news cycle, has been unmasked as an alien visitor from another planet outside our solar system. Her abandoned space ship was discovered in a landfill near Addis Ababa, and after DNA analysis by the Justice Department, it was determined that Powell is indeed the perpetrator of the various monoliths popping up around the globe. Her confiscated diary also points to alien Powell as the originator of QAnon. She was last seen dematerializing, without, we might add, proper humanoid makeup.
  • Even curiouser-er is the case of Sen. David Perdue of Georgia who is running for reelection in a runoff against Jon Ossoff in early January. Perdue bought the entire state of Georgia recently after what he called “a routine” stock trade. As the owner of the state, he has ordered Ossoff to cease and desist from any further campaigning.
  • To demonstrate his ability to run the country, Joe Biden got his pet German Shepard in a playful headlock, and in the ensuing ruckus, broke his foot. Consequently, Joe named the dog the next Secretary of Defense.
  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez–better known as O Say Can’t U C–took advantage of insider trading and bought up every Green New Deal on the market. As a result, she expects lots of leverage when the next Congress opens for business. She also looks maaavalous.
  • And finally, a new megastore is in the offing: Vaccine Depot. This is THE boutique one shop stop for all your vaccine needs, as President Trump put it. “It was my idea right from the start, even before the China virus attacked us with nuclear neglect. And no one thanked me for it, even though I alone, President Warped Speed, as a lot of people call me–including my wife–thought of it all by my swelf.”
  • Trump still claims he won the election and “is looking forward to the next four years” of his sanctified reign, all of which Breakable heard via a planted microphone in the Psych Ward at Walter Reed.

Well, I think that’s all the Hot Flashes we have for you today, and certainly all that you need to hear, dear readers (assuming there are any of you left).

And here’s your Surviving the Pandemic tip o the day: With all the shutdowns, quarantines, and shelterings in place, we know it can get lonely out there. We recommend volunteering where CDC guidelines allow. There are, for example, cats and dogs in shelters who need your love and attention. L’Chiam.

Trump Offer to Breakable News

by 4 Comments

Breakable has been approached by Trump’s people with an offer to purchase the rag for 3 billion (“an offer you can’t refuse” as Trump added). They’re needing a forum after their expected coming defeat to continue feeding verifiably fake news to their adoring public, and they’ve looked at our numbers and financials and are duly impressed. Our Board of Mis-Directors is currently considering the offer and we will keep you informed as is our usual policy. 

There are however some catches. They are requiring: 

  1. the Trump brand appear in our logo, in that they require our name change to  Trump News
  2. that Trump tweets be the main daily feature
  3. that Trump have final say before publication
  4. that reporters and correspondents be required, when on assignment, to stay at Trump hotels and resorts at their own expense
  5. That armed militia members be hired to stand sentry at office entrances
  6. that only whites (not including Jews or minorities who look white or LBGTQ, actually ‘Qs are fine as long as they are QAnon people since they like America and want it to be great again) be hired (women are OK providing they meet Mr. Trump’s minimum basic standards and measurements).
  7. That no pets be permitted on premises. Too many germs.
  8. that no pandemic related masks or any social distancing be permitted either on the premises or outside or wherever.
  9. That there be no testing for coronavirus since, given his recovery, the pandemic is now officially over, and must be referred to in that manner from henceforth and hitherto throughout his God-given realm.

That’s it for now. We apologize to those readers who have become enamored of The News and can hardly sleep without reading every word and paragraph. On the other hand, most of our readers had already stopped reading as our comments, numbering just about zero, have shown. 

So we’ll be breakabling (get it?) until our BOMD makes its decision. As editor, I can’t say I’m disappointed: I’ve got other fish to fry.

Just one last award-losing recipe of the day: Fried Fish

Ingredients: a piece of fish to fry (or pieces depending on how many mouths to feed)

butter, lots

salt and pepper (for those who’ve lost their taste buds due to Covid or with heart failure, fegetaboutit)

Instructions: Heat fry pan on high and add butter. When sizzling, add fish.  Salt and pepper. Fry until all harmful bacteria are presumably dead. Serve. Eat.

B’ bye.

Why Jews, and really everyone, should not vote for Donald Trump or any of his Republican enablers

by 2 Comments

As an older secular Jewish man, I believe I’m in a good position to judge a politician’s attitude towards Jews. And one’s attitude and behavior towards Jews does not necessarily coincide with one’s opinion towards Israel and their governmental policies. That’s a very complicated snake pit that involves religious, territorial, nationalistic, historical, and cultural considerations. But one’s attitude and opinion of Jews is more visceral. Put the word Jew before any Western person and ask for their first impression and you will discover their basic attitudes and inclinations, especially if the responses are confidential and discreet.  Because of historic racism and prejudice towards Jews in the Middle East and Western worlds, I suspect those responses will be mostly negative and derogatory, depending on geographical, educational, economic, and religious factors.

I’m not a professional historian, but it is commonly accepted that the first Crusaders, around the year 1096, on their way to liberate the Holy Land from Islamic rule, invaded Jewish villages along the way, and massacred most of their inhabitants. The Crusades, after all, were church-sanctioned genocidal escapades to combat paganism and heresy. Jews were lumped in with Moslems in that regard. And to solidify the hatred, a conspiracy theory started in the Middle Ages, called blood libel, was spread by word of mouth, accusing Jews of murdering Christian children in order to use their blood as part of religious rituals. These claims—alongside those of well-poisoning and host desecration—have been major themes of the persecution of Jews in Europe. And Europeans brought such vicious falsehoods to America when they colonized this territory.

Believe it or not, this conspiracy theory still survives [Read more…] about Why Jews, and really everyone, should not vote for Donald Trump or any of his Republican enablers