Hatchet Man. Elie Honig, author (2021, 2022). While one could argue that this is more a book for addicts of legal thrillers, it’s unfortunately non-fiction. It paints a disturbing picture of the man who never tried a case in his life yet became US Attorney General twice, William Barr. The focus here is on the second time, his two years as Jeff Sessions’s replacement in the Trump administration. In those two years, he preached the gospel of Trump’s “absolute immunity”; selectively released only aspects of the Mueller report to confuse people, and waved it off as a waste of time and money; damaged DoJ’s reputation (it’s still recovering); and promoted Trump’s “big lie.” And then he became the rat leaving the sinking ship by resigning!

I’d like to highlight four new things I learned in this expose of Barr’s incompetence and malfeasance in office. (Biopic? Chronicle? Call it what you want, but it’s an unflattering picture of an old fool who went out of his way to end his career by damaging so completely his reputation!)

First, by comparing Barr’s actions with the author’s time spent in the SDNY as a prosecutor  where he even prosecuted John Gotti a fourth time (the jury was incurably deadlocked, as in the previous three times), we not only see how unprepared Barr was to be AG but how much Trump and his family resemble a mafia family. More of an embellishment on what I already knew but with some surprises, and entertaining nonetheless.

Second, the book shows how complicit Barr was in destroying the DoJ’s reputation by turning his and his department’s focus on acting as the ex-president’s personal lawyers who would defend him at all cost. Added to the distrust we now have of SCOTUS and the court system as a whole caused by loading the courts with far-right judges, America’s justice system has been left in sad shape. It will take a long time for it to recover, if it ever does. Judges serve life terms, and Barr set the bar very low (pun intended) for any future AG who could very well think he can get away with the same crap.

Third, Barr’s actions were more driven by self-interest and furthering his own agenda. He viewed Trump only as a tool, a battle axe he could use to attack secularism in American society and promote the agenda of far-right Catholicism. I had no idea he was such an ultra-conservative Catholic. No one, absolutely no one, filled with such religious fanaticism should ever be AG! This unqualified and unscrupulous AG wrote papers about how secularism is corrupting America. Of course, evangelicals also saw Trump as their tool as well. This is also true of several current members of SCOTUS. The US barely escaped becoming an evil theocracy like Iran…and that still could happen!

Fourth, considering the damage Barr did to the DoJ, the reader of this review might ask what we can do to fix it. To Honig’s credit, he makes some sound proposals for reform in the chapter titled “The Road Back” that Garland and his minions should try to make DoJ policy. (Unfortunately, none of this chapter offers a solution for the problems with SCOTUS, which could do more lasting damage for a long time!)

This isn’t a long book, but it’s a pithy one. It will add a great deal to anyone’s understanding of how Trump and his MAGA maniacs almost succeeded in destroying democracy in America. It also provides a road map for what to avoid and what to fix in the future. Highly recommended!

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Menace from Moscow. Coming soon! In this third novel of this post-apocalyptic sci-fi trilogy, the critical and difficult management of geopolitics in a post-apocalyptic world caused by a worldwide bioengineered virus continues: Survivor Penny Castro and her friends’ new task is to recover nuclear-armed missiles aboard a US submarine that sunk off Cuba’s coast at the beginning of the pandemic. As if the train trip from Colorado to Florida across a dangerous, desolate, and devasted US isn’t enough, what awaits them in the Caribbean and beyond will put any fan of sci-fi thrillers on the edge of their seats. From SoCal to Cheyenne Mountain and on to Florida, Cuba, and what remains of the Russian Federation, Penny’s adventures are full of mystery, thrills, and suspense. This novel will be available at most online retailers (but not Amazon!) and at most library and lending services. For your consideration and enjoyment: The end of Penny’s post-apocalyptic adventures.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

[Note: This series will focus entirely on combatting fascism in America and around the world with my only weapon, words. (I’m not an NRA member!) It’s not antifa per se; it’s pro democracy. If you recognize words blasting your political preferences here, you’re part of the problem! To the rest of you, don’t worry about me. The fascist plutocracy of the 0.1% doesn’t do their own dirty work; and their toadies who do, don’t read very much, like their lord and savior, Donald J. Trump. So I doubt these essays will even hurt my book sales, mostly because that same plutocracy has already determined they will be low!]

Let’s get one thing straight: America’s potentially fatal sickness doesn’t depend on semantics; the words used to describe it are irrelevant. How the fascist plutocracy treats the sick patient is what’s terribly wrong and un-American. Differences between “fascism” and other names for the sickness are akin to the difference between “flatulence” and “fart”: both words describe a stench. America is no longer a democracy or republic—it’s a country where a fearful plutocracy does its best to ensure that it survives so they can become richer at the expense of the rest of us. Wealth distribution in America is the worst it has been during its previous history. You might call it “us vs. them,” but it’s really more “plutocracy vs. the common people.” It is in that sense that we now have the Fascist States of America.

I’ve discovered a little book (ooh, maybe a second book review this week?) that makes many of the points I’ve made in this series, probably doing it better than I have…except for semantics. Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson in Let Them Eat Tweets use the term “plutocratic populism” for “fascism.” I don’t understand why so many like them are afraid of the word fascism. I started this series with part of Wikipedia’s definition: “Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy….” That’s plutocratic populism as defined by those authors. Let’s not sugarcoat it by avoiding the word fascism.

Otherwise, I have to give credit where credit is due: Those authors have analyzed the hell out of our current conundrum, the turn to fascism in America driven by s plutocracy that uses the tools of outmoded institutions of American government and exploits fanatics who believe they’ve been stepped on (they have been, but by the plutocracy and their serfs, the Good Ole Piranhas). These fanatics are generally white males, who are uneducated, blue collar or rural, and religious to the extreme. They have been left behind and are unprepared for existence in the modern world, and they’re stupid enough to drink the plutocracy’s Kool-Aid.

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[Note: This series will focus entirely on combatting fascism in America and around the world with my only weapon, words. (I’m not an NRA member!) It’s not antifa per se; it’s pro democracy. If you recognize words blasting your political preferences here, you’re part of the problem! To the rest of you, don’t worry about me. The fascist plutocracy of the 0.1% doesn’t do their own dirty work; and their toadies who do, don’t read very much, like their lord and savior, Donald J. Trump. So I doubt these essays will even hurt my book sales, mostly because that same plutocracy has already determined they will be low!]

By unfairly blocking Merrick Garland, Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS), Mitch McConnell aka Moscow Mitch aka Merkle the Turtle aka The Grim Reaper began turning US courts into fascist servants of the plutocracy. Wannabe fuehrer Trump eventually named three hard-right fascists, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, to SCOTUS, tilting the court far to the right and endangering American democracy for many years to come.

Those three fascist judges were just frosting on the cake, though. McConnell also succeeded in stacking lower federal courts with these orcs. The whole federal judiciary now has a fascist tilt that makes courts the places where progressive policies go to die. This has always been a wet dream of the American plutocrats. Elected officials are transitory; federal judges are there for life, or until they retire or are so ill they can’t put on those spiffy black robes. The plutocracy knew this flaw existed in US government, and. like the Senate and the Electoral College, they knew how to exploit it. They just needed willing lackeys like Moscow Mitch and Il Duce (Trump) to do their dirty work for them, the first to approve them in the fascist Senate and the second to nominate them.

Along with the Senate and the Electoral college, SCOTUS and that autocratic tilt now provides three solid legs to support fascism in America. No matter what Biden, Schumer, or Pelosi do, the fascist plutocracy can continue to demolish American democracy. But they’ll do so at their own peril! Their devious machinations can’t go on forever. Some are beginning to realize that.

Why not? Remember the crowds dancing in the street in glee when Trump lost big time and Biden won? I was in the hospital at the time. Cheers filled the rooms, wards, and corridors too. Outside there were cheers and car parades with horns blaring You see, the fascist plutocracy is a minority—that 0.1% out to dominate American democracy represents very few fascists. And their toadies who implement their cruel and insidious plans find that a fascist plutocracy in America appeals to fewer and fewer Americans. Plutocrats and fascists are an endangered species, and history is against their ilk. Demographics will vanquish them in the end, one way or the other.

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[Note: This series will focus entirely on combatting fascism in America and around the world with my only weapon, words. (I’m not an NRA member!) It’s not antifa per se; it’s pro democracy. If you recognize words blasting your political preferences here, you’re part of the problem! To the rest of you, don’t worry about me. The fascist plutocracy of the 0.1% doesn’t do their own dirty work; and their toadies who do, don’t read very much, like their lord and savior, Donald J. Trump. So I doubt these essays will even hurt my book sales, mostly because that same plutocracy has already determined they will be low!]

Trump didn’t quite get to take over America…at least not yet. He was a wannabe plutocrat (his wealth represents chump change for most of the plutocratic 0.1% in America) who pretended to be against plutocracy in order to appeal to people he himself considered losers, and he now has a stranglehold on the Good Ole Piranhas, whether the plutocrats and his fanatical followers comprising the marching morons want it or not. Most Piranhas now think they must kiss the wannabe fuehrer’s butt if they are going to win reelection. (It’s refreshing to see, though, that true conservatives like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have reelection war chests that are larger than their fascist 2022 opponents.)

Trump came very close to being the new Hitler of the 21^st century, though. That January 6^th event at the US Capitol was an insurrection where that right-wing fascist mob was more than willing to stage a coup. Let’s call it Crystal Day in lieu of Kristallnacht, though, because Trump, the loser that he is, couldn’t quite rise to Hitler’s level—”the Nazis did some good things,” he said in 2018—but he didn’t pull off what Hitler did. Perhaps if he and his family celebrating that violence had marched ahead with their long guns (big-game guns in the case of Donald Jr.) and led that mob, the putsch would have succeeded. Perhaps if Pence hadn’t insisted on turning over the presidency to Biden, it would have succeeded. And perhaps if the Pentagon had been more inclined to participate in a coup, it would have succeeded.

The generals in the Pentagon were worried, though. Some Trump toadies (maybe even Trump himself put out the word?) delayed sending the National Guard in to quell the violence and back up the overwhelmed Capitol Police. But the generals were afraid the wannabe fuehrer would ask them to ensure the coup. You see, most coups fail if the military doesn’t support them. (In many countries, the military creates the coup.) Hitler had most of the German military behind him, for example, at least his military hierarchy dominated by ultra-right-wing types (Prussia was only one letter away from Russia, and the fascists took over in Russia even before, the only difference with the Nazis being that Lenin, Stalin, et al cloaked their fascism in a now debunked ideology—at first and for much of World War II, the European battles were  clashes between two fascists, Hitler and Stalin). With a bellicose and aristocratic tradition and sour grapes from losing WWI and suffering through the Great Depression, Germany’s military was bent on payback and conquest. European leaders up to that time often took on military trappings too—kings and emperors wore uniforms decorated with military medals and ribbons (that still occurs today, like in England).

(more…)

[Note: This series will focus entirely on combatting fascism in America and around the world with my only weapon, words. (I’m not an NRA member!) It’s not antifa per se; it’s pro democracy. If you recognize words blasting your political preferences here, you’re part of the problem! To the rest of you, don’t worry about me. The fascist plutocracy of the 0.1% doesn’t do their own dirty work; and their toadies who do, don’t read very much, like their lord and savior, Donald J. Trump. So I doubt these essays will even hurt my book sales, mostly because that same plutocracy has already determined they will be low!]

We’re all familiar with the Senate’s support of the fascist 0.1%. Merkle the Turtle aka Moscow Mitch aka The Grim Reaper aka #LeaderMcConnell set out to halt most everything President Obama wanted to do for average Americans, and mostly succeeded. Remember the ACA barely squeaked through because Dems controlled Congress during the first two years, and Moscow Mitch has been attacking it ever since. Next, the Turtle had to live with the bad taste and heartburn from the rotten fish Il Duce aka Trump the Chump gave everyone except for the marching morons, those 40% of fanatical Trump voters from white right-wing bigots and racists to the white Christian crusaders (those two groups aren’t all that distinct, of course). In spite of the irrational and idiotic Il Duce, McConnell managed to further the agenda of America’s fascist plutocrats (probably because he thought of himself as one?). Now he’s returned to the do-nothing practice used during the Obama administration to make sure the majority of Americans have their hopes for relief dashed yet again.

In all this, the Turtle is more motivated to do the bidding of that fascist 0.1% than to attack any particular president. It’s the fascist plutocracy’s agenda, and he, along with many others in the Senate, are its willing accomplices. The fascists at the top pat their attack dogs on the head for being good Rottweilers; “Good boys! Here are some bones for being so faithful…and stupid.” With all this, the fascist plutocracy has made good use of the Senate, that congressional institution created by the Founding Fathers from day one to protect those aristocratic plutocrats of the day, many of them fascists before the term even existed, slavers who knew “all men are created equal” is empty hyperbole (like the pigs in Animal Farm, the rich and powerful have always considered themselves “more equal” than others). (James Madison, “the father of the Constitution,” worried a lot about this in later life.)

But the US House has been an anti-democratic institution too, belying that colonial intention of providing a balance against the US Senate being the plutocracy’s lap dog. Led by scurrilous speakers and other nefarious members throughout its history, with many coming from districts gerrymandered into fascist strongholds, Congress’s double whammy is a powerful tool of the fascist plutocracy to use on the majority of Americans.

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[Note: This series will focus entirely on combatting fascism in America and around the world with my only weapon, words. (I’m not an NRA member.) It’s not anti-fa in the sense of that extreme left group; it’s pro democracy. If you consider that my words don’t agree with your political preferences here, you’re part of the problem! To the rest of you, don’t worry about me. The fascist plutocracy of the 0.1% doesn’t do their own dirty work; and their toadies who do, don’t read very much, like their lord and savior, Donald J. Trump. So I doubt these essays will even hurt my book sales, mostly because that same plutocracy has already determined they will be low!]

First, what is this word? Most definitions are too restrictive. Here’s part of Wikipedia’s: “Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy….” Why is this too restrictive? Because fascism in America isn’t yet completely authoritarian or completely ultra-nationalistic; the American plutocracy practices all the rest, just like the German one did before Hitler came to power. Hitler was the German plutocrats’ tool; Trump was the American plutocrats’; and there will be more, if not Il Duce himself.

Restriction of voting rights—that’s fascism. Doing everything to perpetuate white privilege—that’s fascism. Ignoring 90% of Americans, their complaints and wishes, to give the 0.1% in the fascist plutocracy the lion’s share of the wealth—that’s fascism. Trampling on people’s rights to adequate health care, control of their own bodies, worshipping as they wish, and freedom from gun violence, or any violence—that’s fascism.

As a writer, I spent a lot of time in every story I’ve written looking for the precise words. I know something about that, just by experience, so I know “fascism” is the precise word to describe what’s happening in America right now. It doesn’t matter that the emperor thinks he wears the clothes of democracy—this goes for Biden as well as Trump—because he (and invariably the toady is male, which might be part of the problem) is either doing the fascist plutocracy’s bidding (Trump), or he’s stymied by their control of other institutions (Biden), thus moving along that agenda of that fascist 0.1%: Not allowing anything to be done to help the 90% and ensuring the wealth gap between them and that 90% keeps increasing. Remember Hitler and Putin were both initially elected. Trump just completed that infamous trio of toadies working in behalf of America’s 0.1% fascists.

The US is now controlled by an evil mafia-like organization just like Russia; that fascist plutocracy, and these fascists, like the Nazis before them, use autocratic toadies like today’s Good Ole Piranhas as their battering ram to break down the walls of democracy. Like that forty-year-old condo in Florida, those walls suffered from shoddy construction practices from the very beginning: Those “Founding Fathers,” steeped in aristocratic privilege, kept slavery alive and created fascist institutions like the Senate and Electoral College to protect their privileged existence. Today those venerable chains of authoritarian thought mean that no matter who’s president, the fascist 0.1% always wins.

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