Fabriqué en Babylon: Mueller’s Brass Tacks Vol. 1

Quite a few million taxpayer dollars, countless hurt feelings and one slightly disgruntled POTUS later, I had my chance at last to consume the report of The Special Counsel, one Robert S. Mueller III. I nearly wrote something to the effect of “…along with many other Americans…” but come on, let’s get real. “Many” and “Americans” and “read” outside of the compulsory do not make for apropos conversation.

Furthermore, I know my generation better than I’ll admit in any public forum, and because it’s not crammed with pictures of people with bodies barely crammed into clothing, I decided to go about summarizing the 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election with three guiding principles: one, include plenty of pictures of the game-changing moments; two, keep it brief (especially since it doesn’t resemble the banquet from “Caligula” and won’t hold minute attention spans); and three, split it into two parts coinciding with the two halves of the report. To explain why it’s split in two, I give you the first of many visual points of interest.

Just click on the images and they’ll pop up to the near and dear, “in your face”-style we just don’t see enough of in America. That, pawn shops, parking lots (replacing historic downtown venues), jocks and divas. America needs more of all that. Regardless, click on the images and your eyes (the whores of the sense organs) will see graphic evidence from The Special Counsel.

As you can clearly see, Volume 1 is a bit like a spin-off that somehow involves Soylent Green and The Diary of Deanna Durbin while Volume 2 is much more familiar and on-message for the ne’er-do-wells rounding out (and I do mean *rounding* out) my generation. Will there be a glass of *port* with that whine? Ah, but I digress

Volume one spells out the results of the investigation into if and to what extent (mostly) Russian operatives impacted the 2016 Election, and volume two is truly more familiar territory given that it focuses primarily on Donald J. Trump after the election when, as President, he fired then-director of the FBI, James Comey.

I would’ve been ever more succinct and said the two volumes are, essentially, “The Election: A Before And After” but that would imply that the majority of my generation were paying attention before their favorite Celebutante started pitching bitch-fits about losing.

What happened instead? The lot of them (Millennials, primarily) opted to wait until well over halfway into the story to “get involved” (that’s a riot) and then, to take the cake as Clubhouse Leader for “Joke of the Decade”, attempted to be assertive and speak authoritatively on America and Her Republic.

And don’t lecture me about the “staggering” turnout for the 2018 mid-terms. First of all, don’t expect a pat on the back for exercising the most critical yet basic civic duty we have and second (here’s the tough part) you’ve got to keep showing up.

No, no, dear Millennial Americans, it doesn’t work that way. Oh, sure it does in whatever Godforsaken fantasy world of filthy hedonism you’re streaming from some app or the other this week, but politics is a world to be followed diligently. For years.

But hey, I’m having a good time!

Shall we continue?

Make no mistake: The President does not emerge unscathed smelling like a rose here. Particularly in the second half of the report, there are numerous points at which the Special Counsel felt that President Trump attempted to, at the very least, circumvent the investigation and, worst case, have Mueller removed from his post as Special Counsel. Mr. Mueller also, more or less, makes it clear to Congress that the issue of resolving this issue is up to them. Given the facts, Mr. Mueller observed there being simply too much ambiguity on whether a sitting President can be indicted, and he further felt that to issue a damning resolution to conclude the investigation would poison the well, so to speak, since Mr. Trump could not give rebuttal and defend himself like he would in a court of law. Mr. Mueller wrote that given those factual nuances (i.e., the President isn’t able to be treated like every other citizen by nature of the post), Congress must be the one to decide. Along with potential avenues for consideration by The House of Representatives for possible criminal conduct cited, he heavily implied that The Senate also has the tools to follow up on any referral(s) from The House to mitigate any damage done both to the Executive Branch and the rule of law. Given the statements of fact, as the report itself states, while there wasn’t enough to condemn the President and prosecute him outright for criminal activity, there also is more than enough to lack a conclusion of exoneration. In other words, Mr. Mueller felt that while he couldn’t outright issue a cry of outrage, he didn’t walk away feeling confident the President was entirely without fault, either.

On the other hand, it clearly swats down the “breaking news” stories from the likes of *BuzzFeed*, which claimed to have proof that the POTUS implicitly instructed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to perjure himself during his Congressional testimony. With the formal repudiation of that “story,” *BuzzFeed* comes out looking little better than *InfoWars* or any number of purveyors of conspiracy theories.

Along those lines, chief among the losers here are the White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, whom the Special Counsel states lied on several occasions and, drumroll please? The Mainstream Media, which itself stumbles out of the fray as perhaps the most wounded. While some of their continuous drumbeat about Russia rang true (particularly in the second volume when actors within the Trump White House enter stage right) the single most overwhelming reason why they rank chief among sinners is because, at the end of the day, outside of areas where the Special Counsel says it could be so argued “here, here and here” that the POTUS attempted to interfere with the investigation, there exists no smoking gun. None.

Seemingly insignificant details like Michael Cohen having never been to Prague and the thorough damning of the Christopher Steele dossier serves (or should serve) as a stern, humiliating rebuke to the Mainstream Media. Instead, they’ll likely be caught up in debating amidst their fellow “neutral” observers whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Co. should pursue articles of impeachment by following the possible obstruction points cited by Mr. Mueller. That and they’ll miss the part where not once, not one time, does any shred of evidence show actual vote counts were manipulated by hackers, and rending their garments their hearts will be wracked with grief all over again for the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Again, though, they’ll skim entirely over the 448-page report showing no evidence that hackers and trolls and bots did anything other than fan the flames of public discord on social media. I’m not going to say “that’s all they did” because hundreds of thousands of posts by a handful of faux accounts is a lot, and the “shares” and “re-Tweets” by scores of legitimate (and likely well-meaning) Americans certainly affected the national mood.

I said “all hyperbole aside” and I meant it. Click on this picture and then tell me which is more likely: Donald J. Trump getting an impartial Grand Jury or the next “Star Wars” movie redeeming the sequel trilogy? Take your time. I’ll wait.

The reality to be gleaned from this point, though, again, is that no vote counts were altered because of this activity. More importantly, those sentiments of hatred and spitefulness and the desire to smear and denigrate the other side came above all else.

Of note, I deliberately use the phrase “the other side” here because the President isn’t the only person in the examples cited by the report who benefited from the “work” of the Russian internet cabal (among others), as Senator Sanders (I-VT) was an intended beneficiary during the 2016 primary season.

The long and short of all this, the report of the aforementioned Special Counsel? It’s readily summarized by the images I’ve painstakingly extracted via screenshots after going through the whole damned thing. No evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Per The Special Counsel.

There are numerous disturbing aspects to this entire charade. Chief of which being that, in this country, you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, and yet where could an impartial jury be found after the Mainstream Media poisoned literally every potential jury pool in the land? Were a grand jury convened in the DC Metro area (where it would likely occur), we’re talking about a city where, all hyperbole aside, nine out of ten people voted for the Democratic Party ticket. Where do you suppose you’d find twelve people, a jury of Mr. Trump’s peers, to be impartial? Tie goes to the accused, as, again, you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. And yes, that includes even a President you don’t like. Oh, and while we’re there? It doesn’t matter if you voted for him, if you voted for Hillary Clinton or some Godless mutant freaks running on a third-party ticket or stayed home (by not voting), he is your President. Like it or not, that’s who the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court swore in.

Get over it. The good news? You’re going to see your guy/lady/it win at some point in your heretofore apolitical existence and then it’ll be you and your fellow digital tripe consumers flocking to the Capitol. You’ll get together, screaming at people who voted for the other guy/gal/what-have-you about how “tolerant” you are and how those [expletive deleted] need to get “woke” like you.

And you? Hopefully claiming the intellectual high ground will include a working command of the English language by then.

On this, I’m probably far closer to the sentiments of many of the under-40 crowd reading this than I care to be outside of a nightclub in thinking that “refreshing” isn’t the exact nomenclature I would opt for in describing the, uh, caustic campaign of the man currently occupying the Oval Office.

While there are disturbing points here, we’ve all been exposed to quite a few of them just by having [insert cable news network] on-screen while muted. Now just you think about that. And while you do, know that at least a handful of people in the former communist bastion of Russia looked at (then-candidate) Donald Trump on the campaign trail and, taking it all in, they chose the word “refreshing” to describe him.

I’m not saying he didn’t say some things that needed to be said, or at least bring to the fore some things that were long overdue for discussion, but there was a lot of venom spewed by Mr. Trump long before we learned about how his fame came with a recipe for cream pies on the ignominious “Access Hollywood” recording.

Refreshing? Not as refreshing as the humor I found in learning he made those remarks while standing next to a guy with the last name “Bush.” I mean, come on, you can’t make this stuff up.

Why? Because while the vast majority of the sometimes-clothed horde comprising my generation has been oft-distracted by the zesty allure of “reality” television programming, they’ve missed out on current events. Look at the picture: the lack of belief he’d win was so prevalent he considered his own campaign an “Infomercial.” Put that in your glass pipe and smoke it.

In all seriousness, it’s a damned shame so many of my generation have only just recently threatened to join the portion of America that’s paying attention to the slow-motion train wreck in Washington we’ve been observing for years now.

Nobody would believe the last three years if you’d put it in a movie that came out a decade ago. No one. And, God, the phrase “my generation” hits my ears and pings around my dome as sweetly as a MAGA hat in Mexico City.

Some of us know how much more bizarre and riveting the everyday world has been to follow for quite some time, especially since, oh, some guy named Donald Trump announced he was running for the Presidency in the vicinity of four years ago.

And the truth? Well, for those of you who’ve read every bit of this article on the report from the Department of Justice, you know I wasn’t talking to you. Even if you are a Millennial. I’m referring to those, regardless of age (even though we know the vast majority of those guilty of my charges are, most assuredly, Millennials), who couldn’t find a convenient way to take current events with them on all of their devices like all of their favorite shows.

Because God [expletive deleted] forbid you not be entertained throughout every moment you (allegedly) spend awake every day.

And as for you, you “woke” pseudo-intellectual miscreants who’ve only been awake for the last two elections and want a cookie (or twelve), or at least a pat on the back, but only after giving express, written permission for that pat? You wanna know what happens, like, um, OMG WTF are we all supposed to do in-between now and the next election?

I dunno. Maybe you’ll’ve learned to read between the pictures by then.

DeViney, Jack

Gonzo State: [Untitled]

“Bentley! Bentley. I suggest…I suggest that you do something different with your life right now.” This instruction was delivered by my boss (at the time) to his unruly Huskie, but it might as well have been given to my entire generation.

As always, the day had given way to night and my mind had wrestled with itself long enough. I needed sanctuary, strong drink and a blank expression with which to watch the news on screens behind the heads of the locals. With the mind of a fried pie I careened my car down a thoroughfare of an unincorporated town in West Virginia, roughly sixty miles from Washington D.C.

“Babylon,” I came to call D.C. as a Sailor stationed in Bethesda, which was appropriate enough that no one cares to question the nickname. It was by a sense of awe, despair, disgust and reverence that I came by it the hard way some years ago.

The Christmas lights around Arlington had shone brightly on my most sentimental evening, awash with history and the sort of romance that saw my Army counterpart’s cheek against mine, her words in my ear accompanied by my kiss on her neck.

Then, the other shoe dropped and zang! I’m departing the parking garage of Target near P.F. Chang’s, a sudden desperate attempt to keep a fellow servicemember alive and out of trouble, and barely having arrived in Rockville, Maryland, found myself in the company of a remarkable amount of police officers. While all was eventually sorted out (one way or another), I did discover that being handcuffed, face down on the pavement amidst a soft rain gave me an amazing opportunity to learn and reevaluate the nonsense I’d allowed a foothold in my life. “Teachable moments,” I’ve come to call such events with a wince oft confused for a smile, and rightfully so.

Let no good deed go unpunished.

“It was all downhill from there,” I uttered to my glass and coaster on the bar, awaiting another potent haul of ethanol. “Or is it, ‘down on the bed’ from there? Not nearly as catchy.” The general uproar that passed for ambience as karaoke loomed large made my private social commentaries a non-factor.

“Hell,” I continued, mulling over the equal parts glory and horror of yesteryear, “if I was a woman they’d’ve labeled me a slut.” This was most certainly true, as I had responded to the eventual collapse of the genuine, heartmelting romance that blossomed in Arlington by carousing. I went on to live up to the archetype of heathen in the Navy, only I hadn’t needed a new port. D.C. had an endless supply of trysts for me to temporarily bind the wound of heartbreak with. I had largely imploded things with she myself, but damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead, aye?

“Aye, got it!” I said, louder than intended as my libation arrived. Few noticed, none cared. But I digress.

Every single horror of the corruption of public life crept its way into Walter Reed the two years I’d been there as the primary Army and Navy hospitals merged there in Maryland. It was a handful of miles from the epicenter of our Federal Republic, our Representative Democracy. Whatever label you prefer, the genuine, tender romance and the unnecessary legal crucible were equal parts of the same story.

So it was yesterday and is today and will be tomorrow. Wars and rumors of wars will abound along with the usual ugliness, while the bountiful opportunities, resplendence, and monuments sacred to America and Her Republic will ring hollow for any looking for that chapter. However, for those with a soul not set for self-destruct, there was the beauty and elegance and love that I discovered in Babylon. For my part, I vacillated between the cauldron of brutality and the essence of hallowed humanity.

Lucifer and a third of his fellow angels rebelled (at least in part) over the perception that God valued something fashioned from dirt over them; we hamstrung ourselves with our humanity during that time (2011-2013) in Bethesda, both our frailties and our strengths.

Did we make the case against humanity with our failures? I’m not so sure. The defeatism and Apocalypticism of the admittedly conflicted era that was the “new” Walter Reed circa 2011-2013 stands apart from now in several ways. Without the deflating drudgery of rattling them all off, at the very least one could look their friends and enemies in the eye. Betrayal and intrigue might be lurking around the next corner (per the modus operandi of Babylon and the government circuit as a whole) but those seeming eons ago politics was still the art of compromise. Then-POTUS Obama (D-IL) and then-House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) can hardly be soberly accused of engaging in the politics of blood sport we’ve now.

Now? Depending on their background, looking one’s enemies and/or friends in the eye might get you flagged on any number of social media platforms and could very well get you labeled with some sort of “-ism”, as one type of “-ist” or another. A whole decade ago Section 230 was applied within the spirit of its creation, lending the happenings online a sort of Wild West vibe when juxtaposed to the great cosmic gag-reel taking place now.

“What is Section 230?” one might ask. This, too, is a well-placed and unscripted question, but it makes little difference when Louis Farrakhan can spit his vile verbal excrement at hapless passerby on social media, but not Donald Trump. No, indeed. Hardly an avid defender of the former POTUS, I nonetheless present our Federal support and protections for our Silicon Valley overlords as Exhibit A for the how/why (either/and/or) the Federal Communications Commission has adequate pretext to cry foul. This is tantamount to “collateral censorship”, or censorship by proxy. That’s the biggest item George Orwell didn’t foresee in my favorite novel, “1984”: private enterprise conducting the censorship, and not the state itself.

Since I’ve likely lost anyone who hates The Donald for my defending his First Amendment rights, I might as well toss a grenade in this burgeoning dumpster fire. Wouldn’t Joe Manchin lead off that way?

“The wind only blows sometimes.” “He’s exactly right!”

While hardly the binary option both the Communists of the Far Left and the Fascists of the Far Right want all the Sheeple to give an “Amen!” and believe, the conflict between being a John Locke liberal in favor of largely laissez-faire capitalism (not the crony kind) with a strong, (but) limited Federal government and in wanting a respectable return on our investment in Section 230 protections granted Silicon Valley (and company), it is amusing on a perverse level.

“Afterall,” I told myself, “everyone hates a centrist, so you might as well enjoy it, Jack. The good news is, only White elitists are storming off after closing your column a few paragraphs back. They can kick rocks. There’s surely a Mother Jones article or athletic mutant defecating on the very flag that enables their miserable existence out there, somewhere, that they can flee to. Still miserable, but they showed me! No First Amendment for the people who make us think and shit.”

It was only at the end of this paragraph that I realized I wasn’t just thinking this as I tapped it into a note on my phone for later insertion into this very diatribe. I was muttering much of it out loud.

“Ignore the madness of a world that has made this swashbuckler appear normal. Ignore the celebutante-rejects aghast at those not absorbed in Chinese spyware ‘social’ apps available on any mainstream App Store.”

And why not? Afterall, the Communists now want the populace to swallow the latest swill their Thought Police have puked out, and nod slowly, basking in the wisdom of the notion that Black children being taught mathematics is racist. Conversely, the Fascists want the citizenry at-large to embrace their latest, unintelligible Reductio Ad Absurdum that beating cops to a pulp while shouting racist terms at the non-White officers is okay as long as they’re patriots. Thin Blue Line and all. “Thin Blue Line”, you ingrates? Put the straw down.

“Dear God Almighty,” I mumbled into my Long Island Iced Tea, nearly gone due to the urgent need to anesthetize myself. No reply, and not because He wants us to forget He exists, but because it’s the pizza we ordered, and it has arrived with all the trappings. Whose fault is that?

The lunacy in the former example is in those on the Far Left who by proxy think the Black intellect is so dormant, psyche so timid, that there need be no Black doctors, economists, engineers, et cetera, in the future. Mathematics is a rather integral part of the process of those career paths. Who’s holding who back with racist ideology again, exactly?

The madness in the latter example is at least as vivid and particularly poignant from people on the Far Right who think cops can do no wrong. You say The Filth went too far in Example X? “I say they didn’t go too far enough!” some neo-Successionist will bleat with the fervor of a patriot, by God. Just a patriot to another country, and not this one. But why quibble about it? Sure, seems reasonable enough to pass muster on “Squidbillies.”

Imitation being the highest form of flattery, the method to the unorthodoxy of this publication has never been less necessary. Both extremes in the sadly binary world of Castro and Mussolini neophytes demand the long-term vision, the sort of engaging in politics (again, “The Art of Compromise”) as a year-round endeavor that there is no app or “hack” for. The marathon, not the sprint, is what is at hand. I’d rather flatter the Edward Brooke III, the Alexander Hamilton, the Barbra Streisand, the Hunter S. Thompson and even the Master Shake with imitation than embrace the intellectual suicide of either Irredeemable America or Exceptional American Unilateralism.

Whichever clown car takes the stage from either extremist wing of discourse, they both will assure us that we’d feel so much better if only we’d embrace their brand of groupthink. Tsk, tsk, I know, but such is the rot of the putrescence we’ve inexplicably opted to wallow in.

What both teams of malcontents mean is we’ll feel much better carrying all of our favorite shows with us on all of our devices as they continue embezzling and funneling money to the duopoly in Babylon. The royalty on Capitol Hill will then reward our wholehearted faith with continued malignant governance and further insolvency on every level (social, fiscal, geopolitical, et al).

“Who knows?” I mumbled with a shrug. “With any luck, the dead will walk again and we’ll have an existential reason to disallow the Neanderthals in Congress from fucking the same coconut over and over while saying they’re carrying out the people’s business. All, naturally, with a straight face. And pursed lips. Can’t forget the ‘duck face.’ Gotta meet my fellow Millennials halfway.”

“You say something, Hun?”

The bartender had taken notice of my glass being devoid of strong drink, and grew concerned. Animals entering sexual congress with fruit, however, passed muster.

‘Of course it did,’ I thought, but could only reply with a low rasp as I exited my barstool.

“Yes, Ma’am. Check please.”

And on the 8th day, God made bears. Lots and lots of bears.

Does this era need introduction? Or, rather, may a suitable introduction be written? I report, you deride.

1: In any rational era, the sudden appearance of lurid photographs of well-known public figures tends to happen without the consent of those captured in the images. Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Anthony Weiner, et al. Notable exceptions to this are of the celebutante variety who sport last names such as Hilton and Kardashian, but then, their deliberate release of self-incriminating material isn’t indicative of a rational era.

That there’s a Stairway to Heaven but a Highway to Hell is indicative of expected traffic volume.

The great Jerry Falwell, Jr., well his undeniable greatness as an Evangelical Christian minister and university president is so ineffable, so vast, that he was no longer able to be confined by any notion of modern decency. If that’s still a thing, that is. Either way, the photograph posted containing the erstwhile head of Liberty University (and descendent of the late and decent Jerry Falwell) is disturbing on several counts. Let’s take a look:

Now, I’m not sure if it’s the ghastly attempt at humor (yeah, “black water”, haw haw haw!), the self-caricature of the gut and the unzipped pants combined with the awful rug on his counterpart (who is not his wife, for those keeping score at home), the fact that students of said Evangelical university get expelled for drinking and/or extra-marital sexual encounters, or that this wasn’t a leak at all that makes this such a disgrace. He could’ve just said it was a faux Black Dog in his glass and been done with it.

The man (so-called) “leaked” it via his own social media aperture, and then delivered a truly abysmal mockery of an apology on-air, and I quote: “I’ve promised my kids I’m going to try to be…I’m gonna try to be a good boy from here on out.” Rock and Roll, Jerry!

Oh and Mrs. Falwell, when your marriage does end, remember: you [expletive deleted] your rebound, and that’s it. You don’t permanently abscond from reality and keep [expletive deleted] them long-term and/or marry them. Especially, I might add, if you plucked them from the extras of “The Walking Dead.”

Silly me. But seriously, though: booze and Evangelicals and social media shouldn’t mix.

2: At times, the headlines write themselves. In their own attempt to swing loose with reality, as it were, Iran has a fabricated aircraft carrier resembling one of those wielded by the United States Navy. “Why”, you ask? An entirely unscripted and well-placed question. For their own propaganda purposes that is, until the entire experiment blew up in their faces. Living out their own version of “delirium tremens”, Iran was so successful in this charade that their accidental destruction of a prop US Navy aircraft carrier poses a threat to a major thoroughfare in the oil trade. Posing an existential threat to traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, and things apparently unbeknownst to Iran such as tides can shift the wreckage, endangering oil tankers.

Give the Ayatollah our best. Speaking of “the best”, if you’re going to challenge the world’s preeminent naval power, you’d better come correct. The Battle of Evermore this is not.

3: Biden must face Trump in debate(s). Yes, it’s answering a “double dog dare” from the POTUS and no, you don’t want to give in to the whims of a bully. But if you don’t follow through then it looks like you’re hiding in a basement and afraid to face Donald J. Trump on the stage. What’s the worst that could happen? They then “triple dog dare” one another to a lindy hop dance-off to the “Misty Mountain Hop” or hand out four sticks (one to both members of each ticket) to swing with? Why would you be afraid of that if you’re in the Biden camp unless, per the Trump camp’s assertions, the former Vice President will be unable to remember whether he’s going to California, or another, “y’know, the thing” that the Founding Fathers said? The great equalizer is the human ego. They’ll debate.

This is an event waiting to go wrong. Don’t hang out with bears. [image credit to Daily Caller & Barstool Sports]

4: Meanwhile, the National Park Service has posted a warning urging American adventurers not to confront bears but, if they do, to not take advantage of their slower companions. And no, this is not made up. Nor is the response of a pack of humans, recently, to a bear arriving in their midst. They didn’t flee or otherwise attempt to discourage the bear; instead they took pictures of their merry band whilst feeding the bear. Good call, ‘Murica.

5: Bill Barr’s appearance was a disgrace for everyone except the Attorney General. For committee chairman Nadler, to open the hearing with that statement was an outrage; and Jordan, thanks for the monologue on things that happened before Barr was back on the job and for God’s sake put your damn coat on!

6: Stat of the Week: the POTUS’ campaign is knocking on 1 million doors a week; the former VPOTUS’ camp is knocking on 0. As in ZERO. Z-E-R-O. This sort of nonsense only seems like nonsenseuntil the time when the levee breaks. Underestimate the mad media genius of The Donald at your peril.

Y’know what? Let’s just cancel everything. If everything’s priority one, then nothing is priority one.

7 June 2020

Black Lives Matter: Let’s cut through the fat together, shall we? Yes or yes? Good. With that, we have a problem in America. Several, actually. We live in a police state, for one thing, and for another, paramount now, is said police state taking a particular interest in African Americans.

Let’s also consider the unbelievable, highly-classified powers of FISA courts to spy unopposed on our own people without their knowledge indefinitely, the ability of the Federal government to suspend the Constitutional rights of American citizens suspected of terrorism via the Patriot Act and the inexplicable repeal of the Smith-Mundt Act (which forbade the Federal Government from using propaganda on American soil). Are you drinking what I’m pouring?

With no malice in my heart toward the many fine police officers across the land (a few I’ve known personally), I say again: we live in a police state.

Over the past decade alone, we have seen increasing examples of the use of excessive force on a disproportionate number of black Americans. Data clearly shows that Whites compose 76.5% of America’s citizenry while Blacks make up 13.4% of it, the former were shot to death by police 370 times versus 235 for the latter.

For those who want to bring out FBI data displaying prevalence of crime amongst inner city black neighborhoods, recall the negligible difference in drug use between whites and blacks and the parity in gun culture between the two.

America glorifies violence, and that crosses ethnic lines. Don’t believe me? Look at what I call “Dollar Voting”, in essence, what we value and spend our money on. What does our art and culture reflect? If we’re being real, it ain’t peace. Does hip hop culture lend itself to violence? Listen to the top ten hits of the genre and get back to me; but before you get back to me, let me know what Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Reed and “The Dukes of Hazzard” were all about while you’re at it.

As for the movement itself, “Black Lives Matter” is driving home a simple point: yes, every house in the neighborhood matters but only one of them is on fire.

We hardly need a hashtag for Blue (Police) Lives Matter; they roam about largely unopposed, vested with a badge and lethal weaponry, and we provide a safety net (union, pension, et cetera) and, in general, blanket support to include the high probability that bad actors aren’t held accountable in court.

All Lives Matter? Do they? Maybe I’d be more decisive in answering these questions if every new episode of “Death By Cop” didn’t always star a black man.

– Jack DeViney

*************

New Orleans Police Department preps for ongoing confrontation and protest throughout downtown.

All Lives Matter(?): Two things can be true at once. In fact, very few things in our world are mutually exclusive of themselves. One can, for example, be in favor of the events in the George Floyd case never happening again and find the phrase “Black Lives Matters” offensive. They are not mutually exclusive. Both can be true. This depends on your definitions of words. Words matter. Words have meaning. Facts matter. Facts have meaning.

If by any definition, one is not a racist, but they will not stand shoulder to shoulder with Black Lives Matter signs, or they won’t kneel down in front of a mob of protestors, they become….what? Insensitive? Divisive?

To be true to this point, I believe “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter” are equally asinine. We don’t protest on things we agree upon. We don’t stand outside and shout “the sky is blue”!

Are things worse now than the mid-1960’s? Or do we see public discord in 3D now? We report, you deride.

The assertion that a black man can not step from his home without fear of imminent death from a racist ‘Mericuh is as equally preposterous as the media’s “1619” narrative that America is as systemically racist as at any time in our history. Really? Where’s the poll of young, black men asking them if they’d rather live in 1865, 1965 or 2020? I must’ve missed that astute revelation.

Instead of regurgitated statistics that the left/media refuse to acknowledge anyway, how about we come at this from a novel approach. [So] what is your suggestion? I mean, with all of the statistics stating the exact opposite of your point, what are we doing wrong? Are our hiring standards too low? Is training being swept aside to fast-track officers onto beats? Do we provide immunity to officers that is unnecessary and counter-productive? Let’s get to the “nut cutting” as they say.

If we want to turn this into another narrative where the right just refuses to admit there is a substantial issue and is instead hiding behind years of conservative practices…show me! Where are the statistics that support any of this nonsense? That show America is systemically racist and prejudiced against black Americans? Where are the politicians that you are particularly citing as responsible for these aggressions? Or is it just “orange man bad”, with his “basket of deplorables”?

Once again, the left/media have overplayed their hands. We were told millions of Americans would die if we didn’t shut the world down indefinitely. Now if you have a small business and want to re-open smartly so that you don’t lose everything, you’re killing grandma! We were told that if we would just allow LGBT marriages, all examples of bigotry would be history. Now if you’re a Millennial male that won’t go out with a trans-woman (a man by all scientific facts and definitions), you’re a homophobe! And now, if you won’t march to the beat of this drum, well, you’re just a racist. Or worse, an “Uncle Tom.”

It’s tiring. It’s divisive. It’s unnecessary. This issue is one we must agree on, or we don’t have a country. You cannot have law and order if one group is being systematically hunted down and killed by those sworn to protect us.

Facts matter. Statistics matter. Two things can be true at once.

– Michael R. DeViney, Jr.

Fabriqué en Babylon: Mueller’s Brass Tacks Vol. 1

DeViney, Jack

Gonzo State: [Untitled]

Six Degrees of Knowin’ Nothin’: [Untitled]

Contrast: Black Lives Matter v. All Lives Matter (et al)