"Work, Family, Fatherland." (Be Brave, One.)

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! ~Ronald Reagan

I hear Republicans are all soggy and hard to light today because Joe Biden called Peter Doocy a "Stupid Son Of A Bitch."

I'll save you the trouble, and point out that Joe is not wrong, and John McCain said the same thing, so there's bipartisan agreement there.

I find it funny that so many Republicans thought Donald Trump's bigoted, crass jackass behavior for five years was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Joe Biden puts some idiot reporter who is widely known for being an idiot reporter and asking bad faith, dumb questions in his place and suddenly "That's wrong."

You know, I'm really, really sick of these fucking hypocrites.

But here's the thing.

There's a bigger problem going on here, than mere partisan hypocrisy, and it's something we need to deal with real damn fast.

You're either brave, or you're not. You're either honest, or you're not...the list goes on.

By the same token, you're either an asshole, or you're not.

The thing about people like Donald Trump is they fail on all counts because really, for them even being an asshole is often an act. Donald Trump spent his Presidency with Vladimir Putin's balls in his mouth, and the whole world could see this. Our president spent his term consistently getting tea-bagged by the fucking Russians, by the Chinese, the North Koreans, the Turks...pretty much anybody Trump saw as what he aspired to be...he actually rolled over for, while seeking their approval.

And his supporters called this "Toughness."

Mostly because he talked bad about people they didn't like, though I'll note, never to those people's faces. Trump was even too much of a coward to Asshole properly.

See. there isn't really a middle ground. Excuses are lies. Remember that.

And here's the thing.

We are very likely within days of a major war erupting in Eastern Europe. America and its allies are already supporting the Ukrainians, and a number of other Eastern European countries have said they will act to defend Ukraine because they have living memory of Soviet Communist...and therefore Russian...repression because Russia and its culture were absolutely dominant in the Soviet system.

There's no way that we don't get sucked into this thing, if shit goes down. There just isn't. At least at this point we're preparing, if not trying to get ahead of it and deter war. I have a feeling it won't be enough, but I've been saying this is going to eventually require Cold War style defense lines from Northern Norway to Turkey, including whatever's left of Georgia and Ukraine at that time.

This isn't a time for half-ass ideas, half-measures, or being brave only when it's convenient. That's not even what courage is, period. I don't know why the fuck I even have to say this to people. Courage is not "Wanting to shoot people because you're overwhelmed with fear." 

A person like that will see genuine opposition, especially armed opposition...or for that matter the refusal of legit armed forces to back them...and either meekly surrender or shit themselves and run away.

Like why the fuck do you think we hardly heard jack shit from Trump for the last couple weeks of his term? The military made plain that they weren't going to go along with his schemes and Trump was exposed as nothing but a shit-talking bitch, that's why.

And likewise, the people who rallied to his cause on January 6th have overwhelmingly been exposed as a legion of cowards and freaks and people who rethought a few things when they were in front of a judge facing real consequences for their actions.

Trumpism is nothing if not an Empire Of Cowardice.

Like all the French far-rightists and Nazi collaborators who thought they'd permanently gained the upper hand over domestic political rivals by allying themselves with or submitting to foreign invaders...Republicans think "So much the better for us" when our current Democratic-run government or other people that they don't like face adversity, never mind that it's going to affect them, too. The title of this piece in the Vichy attempted replacement of the French national motto of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."

How'd that work out, anyway?

See, here's the thing. When the British and US invaded North Africa in early November of 1942, the whole damn thing instantly fell apart. Individual Vichy units fought well and showed courage, but more fired off a few volleys and then surrendered or fought poorly either on purpose or because they were shitty soldiers. German forces moved swiftly to conquer Vichy France, the French Navy units that hadn't already defected to the allies (Vichy's only means to project power or defend its empire) scuttled themselves in Toulon harbor and Petain and his crew became nothing more than "Yes Men" for the fucking Nazis.

And the vast majority of Vichy French troops either switched sides to Free France or ended up in Allied or Axis prison camps anyway. In the end, the collaborationist leadership was either executed or imprisoned and hardly a tear was shed for them by anyone at all. Marshal Petain, the hero of Verdun, the guy credited with saving France during World War I died a broken, demented, senile old man who to this day remains stripped of the military honors he damn well earned on the battlefield because his collaboration, dishonor and treason damned well outweighed that shit in the minds of most French people...and rightly so.

Because Petain thought courage could be applied selectively, that he could pick and choose when to be brave, and that he could somehow be clever enough to benefit himself from the whole damned mess. He thought he could spin his cowardice in the face of defeat, his inherently political worldview, and sticking it to the other guy into some kind of heroic legend.

Marshal Henri Petain thought he was going to be the Great White Hope, as did Pierre Laval, Francois Darlan and a whole bunch of other Far-rightists with messianic delusions of "Saving" France from Communism, French Republicanism and Socialism.

But in the end, nobody really believed in it.

Goddamn if that doesn't sound a lot like modern American Republicans...and especially like Donald Trump...although our Republicans are mostly just making up the Communism and Socialism, which doesn't actually exist.

When the MAGA's said "Trump 2020: No more bullshit" the "bullshit" they were referring to was things like that "Women and people of Color have rights" or "We should take care of the less fortunate." How you think that's going to look in the history books people have already written about your time, fuckers?

Of course I guess that's why Republicans are so against books and education all the sudden...not to mention the proper teaching of history.

But see, here's the thing;

All these Vichy fuckers who actually stayed that way? They ended up dead or incarcerated, most of them before the war ended, hated by everybody but a few far-right bitter-enders and there's still streets in France named after Joseph Stalin.

Granted, Communism didn't take either, and the French were serious enough about the idea of Democracy that they even left NATO for a few decades because of American meddling in their politics, and they weren't going to take that shit.

And De Gaulle? The Free French leader, a center-right conservative who actually respected French Republicanism even though he was a staunch Catholic conservative with pretty strict beliefs? He ended up being the President of France, twice, immediately after the war for a couple years, and then for about a decade in the 1950's and 1960's. He ended up being considered the savior of France, and rightly so...while history regards the Vichyites as a bad joke at best and as lapdogs to Nazi mass murderers at worst.

I think there's a lesson to be had, there. Maybe just a small one, but I'd heed it.

And look at how our own history regards Joe McCarthy, the John Birch Society and all those rabid American proto-fascists of the 1950's and early 1960's. Barry Goldwater...who before he ran for President wasn't that way...let these fuckers change his political stances and define him and run his campaign and damn it, there's an LBJ campaign ad with a little girl pulling the petals off a daisy and a voice-over of a nuclear launch countdown that aired once and is probably better-known than Goldwater's entire political campaign. 

After he lost...he tacked back to being center-right and enjoyed a long, if boring career in the Senate as a result, because fundamentally, he actually believed in conservatism and people could see that. In fact in the era of Newt Gingrich it was Barry Goldwater and Bob Dole who kind of ended up the liberal Republicans and they both said as much.

But you have to believe in something, you have to stand up for it, and in the end it has to be worthy of you doing that.

Trumpism, fundamentally, is not worth the faith people have put in it.

Because all that faith is in, is the idea of hurting other people.

In the end, if you stand up to be counted with the enemy of everything your country ever stood for, you're the one who's going to lose and nobody's going to give a damn what you think.

And you'll be damned lucky to not lose everything, or to even have a shot at getting back what you had before. That's the position a lot of anti-Trump Republicans have found themselves in, but personally I think a lot of them have a shot at it.

There's a power in the Universe, assume it's smarter than you and sees what ya done, and that it will make sure and settle things up one way or another. If you want to call that God, or the gods, or whatever, fine. Just know, it's there even if you can't see it.

And it will settle up with you.

Best to face what's coming and act now, so you can at least do so on decent terms.

There's also devils in the Universe. You can see those. And they all say the same thing. show up with big money, cloaked in bright lights, spouting Scripture and goofy slogans like "Work, Family, Fatherland" and promising you some kind of permanent political advantage or mythical Permanent Republican Majority...

And they hoover every bit of money out of your pockets while they have you entranced.

Because that's what it's really about, even for them. Nobody really believes it.

To my mind, the Devil looks an awful lot like Newt Gingrich, with Roger Stone as Screwtape plotting and whispering in his ear.

We have a choice. Once more into the breach, dear friends? 

To be, or not to be?

Either you believe in freedom or you don't. 

Being against public health or vaccines or the good of society or talking up a bunch of stupid woo woo bullshit about 5G cell phones? That's not freedom.

That's stupidity.

Ronald Reagan spoke of peace through strength. Tucker Carlson simpers like a coward in submission to a fucking KGB agent.

Conservatives, this is where you get to pick who you wanna be.

Either you believe in freedom or you don't.

It's that simple.

Make your choice, know you will face the consequences.

You get freedom by letting your enemy know that you'll do anything to get your freedom; then you'll get it. It's the only way you'll get it. ~Malcolm X.