The 10th Justice

Donald Trump is a communist. Here’s why. First, we know that Putin worked to subvert our 2016 election and get Donald Trump elected. Why would he do that? What is in those transcripts of the private, Trump to Putin conversations, locked away in the super-secure computer server in the White House? Where is the quid pro quo for all the time, money, and help Putin has funneled to Trump?  Trump is creating an American communist state under the guidance and assistance of Tsar Putin. Classical Communism, in the form created by Marx and Engels and implemented by Lenin, establishes a state run by and for the proletariat. The class struggle between the bourgeoisie - the propertied, educated class - and the proletariat - the wage earner class - has been going on for centuries. From the beginning of his campaign Trump has held himself up to be the supporter of the poor, out of work wage earners of America's middle and lower class - the proletariat that the Democrats forgot. Trump...

The Chinese Cultural Revolution has come to America in the form of Donald Trump. Rather than forcing the scientists to dig potatoes or encouraging middle schoolers to eat their teachers, the educated and knowledgeable citizens are being forced to be led by an ignorant bozo. In some ways it is kinder than the Chinese version, but in other ways it is more embarrassing and certainly more dangerous internationally. Our allies will no longer negotiate with us because our chief negotiator is unreliable and uninformed. And the Demagogue in Chief is the Commander in Chief of the military with his finger on "the button". What could be more dangerous. Our Demagogue in Chief was elected because of the same problems that spawned the Chinese Cultural revolution - nobody listened or took seriously the culturally disenfranchised in America. The Democratic Party showed interest in immigrants, women, transgender folk, and people of color but they forgot about the small farmers, low income w...

The 2020 presidential election is an election between democracy and authoritarianism, not between Republican and Democrat. We have moved beyond just policy here into a political arena where the heart of America is the prize. Will it be a heart filled with hate, ignorance and greed or will it be a heart filled with tolerance, fairness and information. This is the year to ACT to elect a democratic president - democratic with a small 'd'. If you have 8 hours and want to spend it well, watch David Domke's five part lecture series "How to beat an American Demagogue: Donald Trump and the future of democracy." The links are: Lecture 1 - https://youtu.be/AG0FNyVI-cE Lecture 2 - https://youtu.be/qr0rIHb2FAE   Lecture 3 - https://youtu.be/7WiTcyX8FP0   Lecture 4 - https://youtu.be/PUOv8DNxKgY   Lecture 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD2kKSXFPTg But if you don't have time for the whole lecture series read this blog. David Domke is a professor of Communic...

The drama is just beginning. Soon The Whistle-blower will be outed and testify if he or she hasn't been gunned down by angry Trump supporters. The files sequestered away on the ultra-secret-private server in the White House will be subpoened open and many more violations of our nation's laws will be revealed. The Republicans will be forced to vote against Trump and he will be kicked out office into the waiting hands of the District Attorney of New York, like all the other practitioners of organized crime. We will get to see Trump's tax returns finally, and they will only reveal that he isn't as wealthy as he claims. Pence will be President briefly while Mitt Romney prepares his campaign if he hasn't already. The fight between Elizabeth Warren and Mitt Romney will internecine warfare for Massachusetts. The outcome is a toss-up. And what about America? What about all those nice, hardworking, under-educated, white, Christians who once again gave their love and money ...

Today three judges on the North Carolina Supreme court ruled that politically partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional under the North Carolina constitution. What a beautiful sunrise! Perhaps the rays of this bright, clear ruling will light up the dark partisan courtroom of our nation's supreme court. These judges, two Democrats and one Republican, voted unanimously to redo the voting districts of North Carolina. In their ruling they said that the partisan districts that allowed the Republican candidates to win a majority of seats in spite of getting fewer votes. The New York Times said, "The existing maps were so effective that they helped entrench Republican majorities even when Democrats won more votes statewide. In 2018, Republican candidates for North Carolina’s House of Representatives won less than 50 percent of the two-party statewide vote, but walked away with 65 seats to the Democrats’ 55. Republican candidates for the State Senate also won a minority of...

During the last election I voted for Hillary Clinton because I thought she was the most qualified candidate. I liked Bernie Sanders ideas for making America a fairer and more humane country. My heart was with Bernie but my brain said vote Hillary and I did. Look what happened! So what do we do this time? My problem was clarified in the David Brooks column in which he said that Marianne Williamson best understood how to beat Trump because in the debate she said: “This is part of the dark underbelly of American society: the racism, the bigotry and the entire conversation that we’re having here tonight. If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days.” In the past we voted for the candidate with the ideas and character we admired. Trump has no ideas and his character is revolting. He was elected b...

Shadow , the latest film by Zhang Yimou, won't appeal to American audiences for the same reasons that the Peking (Beijing) Opera has never found an appreciative American audience, except, of course for the comedy and acrobatics. Jackie Chan who started off in the Peking Opera, took those two aspects of Peking Opera and added American themes and did quite well. The high pitched voices and twangy musical instruments are too alien. I suspect, Mr. Yimou, who is getting older, was very pleased with this film. With it he has created a truly classic Chinese film. I suspect the film will be very successful in China and not just to an audience of thrill seeking, martial arts aficionados, but people who appreciate the ancient opera tradition of China much in the way that a lot of American still appreciate Shakespeare. The long Chinese classic novel The Dream of the Red Chamber tells the story of the Chinese social system much as Shakespeare told us about western society. Shadow is a cinemat...