Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

By Ranting Panda, 21 June 2021. 

Australia has a long sordid history of brutalising, torturing, imprisoning, victimising, and demonising innocent people. It started with European settlement, when indigenous peoples were murdered, incarcerated, raped, forcibly removed from the own lands, stolen from their families, and forced into slave labour for little if any recompense. It continues to this day, with an over-representation of indigenous people in prison, and a significantly high number of indigenous deaths in custody. This is a horrendous blight on the Australian character. So it is no surprise, that for more than 20 years, Australia has brutalised, tortured, imprisoned and demonised asylum seekers and refugees. 

Ironically, the leaders of Australia who have implemented and boasted of these brutal, racist policies, claim to be Christian and enjoy the support of many churches. Which is interesting, because the Bible has numerous verses about welcoming migrants into the land and treating them well. 

These leaders also claim to be defending Australia's national interests, even though the National Anthem declares, 'For those who've come across the seas we've boundless plains to share'. These are rather empty words for a government that has shored up its power through demonising migrants. 

Religion and nationalism ... what could go wrong?

There have been numerous high-profile incidents over the last two decades regarding asylum seekers and refugees. What each of these incidents revealed was that the Australian government lied and pandered to racism and xenophobia for political point-scoring by demonising and brutalising traumatised people who had simply requested protection from war and persecution. 

There was the Children Overboard scandal, in which a Senate inquiry found that the Howard government lied about refugees throwing their children into the sea. It wasn't the refugees who lacked morals, it was the Howard government. 

Remember Baby Asha? The Australian Medical Association accused then Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, of state-sanctioned child abuse over his detention of a baby girl and his threats to send her to the desolate detention centre on Nauru. Dutton made false allegations about the girl's mother physically abusing her. 

Most recently, there has been the case of the Murugappan family. Nades Murugappan arrived by boat in Australia in 2012. Priya Nadesalingam arrived by boat in 2013. They were both Tamils from Sri Lanka. Both were seeking protection in Australia. The Tamil couple met in immigration detention and married in 2014. That year they were both released into the community on four-year protection visas. While in the community, they had two children; one born in May 2015 and one in June 2017. The family had settled in the rural Queensland town of Biloela. Nades worked in the local abattoir. The family was doing their best to settle into Australia and be productive members of society. No doubt, they hoped they were worthy of permanent visas. 

Murugappan family (Photo: Semmler, 2021)

In 2018, their temporary visas expired and the entire family was detained by Australian Border Force, even though their two children were Australian-born. The family were transferred to an immigration detention centre in Melbourne. The Biloela township campaigned for their release. The family was popular in the town and welcomed by the community. This is significant, given that rural Queensland tends to be politically conservative. 

On 29 August 2019, after several unsuccessful appeals by the Murugappans, the government placed the entire family on a plane bound for Sri Lanka. However, an injunction was granted before the plane left Australian air-space, prohibiting the family from being removed from Australia because the younger child had not been assessed for a protection visa. The plane landed at Darwin. The family was then transported to the Christmas Island detention centre. In May 2021, the youngest daughter, Tharnicaa, became severely ill with septicaemia. Tharnicaa and her mother were flown from Christmas Island to a hospital in Perth for treatment.

It is not illegal to arrive in Australia without a visa and then request protection because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group (Home Affairs, 2020).

Following Sri Lanka's independence in 1948, Tamils have faced discrimination and marginalisation. Tamil's are predominantly comprised of Muslims and Christians. In 1978, the Sri Lankan constitution established Buddhism as the foremost religion, vesting the Sinhalese majority with more rights than others in the country. In 1983, following years of ethnic oppression, Sri Lanka descended into civil war between the Sinhalese government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Around 100,000 people were killed and 800,000 displaced. 

Since the war ended, the Sri Lankan government has increased its military presence in northern Sri Lanka, where the majority of Tamils live. This has increased the fear of persecution for those living there, and for those who wish to return. Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of enforced disappearances in the world. 

Unfortunately for the Murugappan's, Australian courts have found that they do not have a well-founded fear of persecution. However, this defies the concerns held by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and human rights groups, for the safety and welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The United Nations Human Rights Council is investigating allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. There is increasing evidence of Tamils who have returned to Sri Lanka being subject to 'abductions, sexual and physical violence, and state-sanctioned torture'. (Walden 2021)

It appears that the Australian courts' determination is based on flawed country advice regarding the safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka. A British court has challenged the veracity of these country reports used by both Australia and Britain (Walden 2021). Although politically convenient for the anti-refugee policies of the Australian government, these decisions can cost lives. The government inaccurately demonises the Murugappan's as 'illegal', but it should be kept in mind that refoulement is illegal under international law. Article 33 of the UN Refugee Convention states: 'No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion' (United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010).

There have been dozens of documented cases of asylum seekers forcibly returned by Australia who have been killed, tortured, detained or disappeared on their arrival in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020). The Asian Human Rights Commission has identified more than 400 cases of Tamil and Sinhalese asylum seekers being tortured on their return to Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020).

The government tries to argue that showing compassion to the Murugappans would signal to people smugglers that Australia was 'open for business', and the boats would start up again. This argument is not rooted in fact, but in emotion and fear for political purposes ... again, pandering to xenophobia in the Australian community. 

Australia can show compassion without brutalising and torturing innocent people. The United Nations has determined that Australia's harsh detention of asylum seekers breaches the international Convention Against Torture (Human Rights Law Centre, 2015). Further, Australia's immigration detention policies breach the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations Human Rights, 2019). 

The Murugappans have committed no crimes, but were detained for years without charge. While they were on protection visas, they did everything that could be expected, including maintaining employment and integrating into the community. The Murugappans are an asset to Australia, they are not a liability, they are not criminals, they are not a burden on society. 

This week, after significant campaigning by human rights groups and the community, the government released the Murugappans into community detention in Perth. However, they are not allowed to return to Biloela despite the contribution they made to the town. 

The government has created an expensive problem through its brutal treatment of asylum seekers. Its refusal to allow genuine refugees to be granted permanent protection visas has resulted in a legacy case-load of more than 18,000 asylum seekers accumulated over the last 15 years or so, to whom the government refuses to issue permanent visas, even though each one of them renews their visas every few years by proving they still face a well-founded fear of persecution (Speers, 2021). The Australian government has spent more than $6 million on the three year detention of the Murugappan family (Mao, 2021). 

Hannah Arendt believed that everyone had the 'right to have rights' and to belong somewhere safe, where their rights will be respected (Hirsch & Bell, 2017). Australia is a country that is generally safe and is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, so it should be a safe haven for refugees. Australia should not be eroding people's rights or forcing innocent people into dangerous, and possibly deadly, situations. 

Instead of torturing innocent people, instead of detaining children and their hard-working parents, instead of forcibly removing loyal parents and their Australian-born children, Australia would benefit from the government granting permanent protection visas to Nandes and Priya; a couple who have demonstrated their desire and ability to integrate into the community. 

References

Department of Home Affairs, 2020, Refugee and Humanitarian program - Australia's protection obligations, viewed 20 June 2021, https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/about-the-program/seek-protection-in-australia/australia-protection-obligations. 

Doherty, B, & Geraets, N, 2020, Deported to danger and death: Australia returns people to violence and persecution, The Guardian, 14 December, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/14/deported-to-danger-and-death-australia-returns-people-to-violence-and-persecution.

Hirsch, A, & Bell, N, 2017, What can Hannah Arendt teach us about today's refugee crisis?, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, 10 October, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/10/what-can-hannah.

Human Rights Law Centre, 2015, UN finds Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers violates the Convention Against Torture, 9 March, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/un-finds-australias-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-violates-the-convention-against-torture. 

Mao, F, Biloela family: Locked up by Australia for three years, BBC News, 10 May, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56768529. 

Semmler, E and staff, 2021, Biloela family asylum-seeker girl evacuated from Christmas Island with suspected septicaemia, ABC News, 7 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-07/biloela-girl-in-medical-evacuation-from-christmas-island/100196456.

Speers, D, 2021, The government has 18,000 reasons not to grant the Murugappan family permanent visas, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/government-18000-reasons-not-grant-murugappan-biloela-visas/100220476. 

United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010, Convention and Protocol relating to the status of Refugees, viewed 20 June 2021, http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/3b66c2aa10. 

United Nations Human Rights, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2019,  Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Australia, 1 November, viewed 20 June 2021, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/AUS/CO/5-6&Lang=En.

Walden, M, 2021, Australia deems Sri Lanka safe for Tamils like the Murugappan family from Biloela. But is it?, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/sri-lanka-tamil-asylum-explainer-australia-deportations/100213684.

Related Ranting Panda articles 

Peter Dutton versus Baby Asha, AMA & the UN, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2016/02/peter-dutton-versus-baby-asha-ama-un.html

Howard's Legacy & the Haughty Hypocrisy, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2012/03/howards-legacy-haughty-hypocrisy.html

Refugees represent the vanguard of their peoples, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/06/refugees-represent-vanguard-of-their.html. 

Australia - aiding and abetting global brutality, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/12/australia-aiding-and-abetting-global.html.

Koup Klutz Klan

 Koup Klutz Klan

By Ranting Panda, 13 June 2021

6 January 2021. The date that traitors stormed the US Capitol in an effort to usurp democracy and keep Donald Trump as President. Trump was resoundingly defeated in a valid election, but neither he nor his supporters could accept the truth. Even today, Trump still believes that he won the election. 

Trump's followers, gullible and gutless, refused to take responsibility for the insurrection, and instead blamed Antifa for it. The FBI, however, confirmed that it was Trump loyalists who staged this coup attempt (Anderson 2021, Sadeghi, 2021). Antifa isn't a threat to democracy. The real threat is the MAGA cult, with its inability to grasp truth, its willingness to rewrite 'facts' to suit its ignorance, its hatred of anyone who is different, its twisted religious fervour, and violent nationalism. They wanted to kill the Vice President during the coup attempt. They'd bought wrist ties & built a noose. These people are not right in the head.

There's no point arguing with MAGA cultists. It doesn't matter what facts are presented, they are so brainwashed that they can't accept truth, fact or reality. Just like cult-members, the MAGAs need de-programming, otherwise they stick with their self-pitying, paranoid, victimhood talking points that Trump cultivated and nourished. 

Trump deliberately attacks truth in order to create doubt about facts. He once admitted to a journalist that he attacks the media to, 'discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you' (Applebaum, 2020). This is one thing that Trump has been very successful at. His supporters lack the critical thinking skills to challenge Trump's blatant lies; they believe everything he says. The real danger of this is that despots are renowned for their propaganda, manipulation of media and use of falsehoods and fear to manipulate the populace. 

When Twitter purged its platform of Trump and many of his adherents because of their flagrant lies, conspiracy theories and hate speech, the MAGAs claimed it was an attack on their freedom of speech. However, freedom of speech doesn't mean that others have to listen to it. Twitter was cleaning house ... as anyone can if some racist fool comes into their house and starts spewing vitriol. MAGAs can get their own soapbox and head down to the local corner to spew their vile hate-speech, ridiculous conspiracy theories, and victim-mentality rubbish.  

Freedom of speech only goes one way for the MAGAs; the moment anyone has a contrary viewpoint, the MAGAs screech socialism and 'Reds under the bed' conspiracy theories. They believe that if someone challenges them, they are victims of 'cancel culture' ... yet, the MAGAS tried to cancel an election because they didn't get their own way. They only believe in freedom of speech for themselves, not for anyone else.

Stripe Inc ceased processing payments for the Trump election campaign because of the 6 January insurrection (Andriotis, Rudegeair, & Glazer, 2021). Ever portraying themselves as victims, the Pity Party MAGAs claimed it was yet another attack on their freedoms. However, the action by Stripe was similar to the action that financial institutions took in dealing with terrorism. And the Trump cult is a terrorist organisation, evidenced by their violent attack on the very heart of US government.

Trump was impeached for inciting the insurrection. It needs to be kept in mind, that he did nothing during this riot to quell it. He was hoping that the coup would succeed and install him for another term ... perhaps a perpetual term in which he never loses (Applebaum, 2020). Trump is anti-democratic and only interested in his own power. Despite significant evidence of Trump directly inciting the coup attempt, the Republican Party voted against convicting him at his second impeachment trial (Holpuch, 2021). This says a lot about how anti-democratic the Republican party is. They try to claim they are patriotic defenders of democracy, but they value power over free and fair elections. Republicans value authoritarianism over liberty.

During riots following Black Lives Matter protests, Trump big-noted himself by dog-whistling to his racist followers that 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts' (Burns, 2020). Trump incited violence with this tweet. A couple of months later, a gutless piece of shit named Kyle Rittenhouse, shot dead BLM protesters. Trump and his followers supported these killings (Wilson, 2021). Yet, when it came to the Capitol riots, Trump didn't threaten to shoot the protesters, instead, he supported them and even told them how much he loved them (Caldwell, 2021). Although he eventually told the rioters to go home, he did it under duress. Trump had an expletive-laced argument with House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, after McCarthy told Trump to call the rioters off because they were Trump supporters. Trump abused McCarthy, telling him that the rioters cared more about the election than McCarthy did (Gangel et al, 2021). Republican senator, Ben Passe, claimed that Trump was delighted that the Capitol was being stormed (Papenfuss, 2021). 

Prior to the riot, Trump gave a speech in which he told his supporters to 'fight like hell' or they would lose their country because, according to him (and in keeping with his admitted attacks on truth mentioned earlier), the election was corrupt. He then told his supporters to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol to 'try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country' (Blake, 2021). Trump directed conspiracy-theorist, Alex Jones, to lead the march that stormed the White House (Linge, 2021). It took six hours for the situation to be brought under control. This period revealed Trump's leadership to be paralysed, to be no more than a passive viewer who stood back as five people, including a police officer, were killed by his supporters (Parker, Dawsey & Rucker, 2021). 

Only weeks before the riot, Trump the Grand Traitor, directed the neo-Nazi Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' (Pilkington, 2021). Now we know what he was asking them to stand by for. 

This isn't the first time he has supported violence. In 2017, he condoned white supremacist violence that culminated in the killing of an innocent woman. He even went so far as to describe the white supremacists as 'very fine people' (Coaston, 2019). Throughout his presidency, he directly incited violence by white supremacist groups (Pilkington 2021). 

The traitors who stormed the Capitol included Nazis wearing shirts such as 'Camp Aushwitz - Work brings freedom' and '6MWE', which stands for Six Million Were Not Enough ... in reference to the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust. These are the extremist groups that Trump claims are 'very fine people' (Kessler, 2020).

Trump and his followers are white supremacists. They believe in fascism, not democracy. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a mass casualty event every single day of the final year of Trump's presidency, culminating in more than 420,000 deaths by the time he was finally removed from the White House. The deaths were directly caused by Trump's lies, inaction and incompetence. This puerile moron was more interested in shoring up his own power, while spreading lies, hatred and division, than in saving his fellow Americans. His incompetence was on a genocidal scale.

Republicans claim they are the 'law and order' party, yet they've let Trump get away with murder ... literally: around 420,000 deaths from his ineptitude in addressing Covid-19, five deaths during the insurrection he orchestrated, and several executions that he directed in the final days of his presidency (Honderich, 2021). They have let him get away with his threats and cheating over the election, such as when he rang the Secretary of State for Georgia and demanded more votes be found to overturn the election results (Morris, 2021). Does this seem like the leader of the free world, or the tyrannical dictatorship of a far-right murderous despot in a banana republic?

The Republican Party  condoned Trump's treason, by voting against holding an inquiry into the Capitol insurrection (Fandos, 2021). The Republicans are not defending democracy, they are defending the traitors within their own party. They are defending Nazism, white supremacy, and fascism. 

Nothing was done about the deadly 2017 white supremacist protests in Charlottesville ... and this culminated in the storming of the Capitol by Nazis. The Trump presidency wasn't the first time that white supremacists were incited to violence by a megalomaniac. Another leader also incited mobs to violence by using racist dog-whistling and bigoted fear-mongering ... and nothing was done to stop it! That leader was Hitler and we saw how that went. Many of the Capitol insurrectionists were Christians who believed they were doing God's will to keep Trump in power (Green, 2021). They claimed that God was telling them to 'let the church roar' (Posner, 2021). This has an eerie resemblance to Nazi Germany. Throughout his rambling manifesto, Mein Kampf, Hitler stated numerous times that he was doing the 'work of the Lord'. Not surprisingly, this galvanised Christians to support Hitler and incited them to violence and, ultimately, genocide. 

Today's United States faces the same threat of Nazism that Nazi Germany did (Brenner, 2021). The Republican Party has links to many far-right extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and QAnon (Broadwater & Rosenberg, 2021).

No leader has damaged the US as much as Trump has. All the efforts by the Soviet Union during the Cold War to bring down the US never undermined democracy as much as Trump. It's not surprising then, that Trump is alleged to have been cultivated by Russia to undermine US democracy. An ex-KGB spy claims that Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset for 40 years (Smith, 2021). A book by journalist, Craig Unger, entitled American Kompromat, states that the spy alleged there were celebrations in Moscow as Trump parroted anti-Western propaganda (Smith, 2021). 

Trump did significant damage to US democracy, however, what may have saved it was Trump's mental instability and his complete ineptitude as a leader. This ineptitude however, killed more Americans than World War 2. 

Meanwhile, Republicans continue supporting Trump. There's even talk that he will run for president in the 2024 elections. This is a clear indication of just how morally bankrupt the Republican Party is, and by extension, the Christians who continue supporting and defending Trump in the face of significant evidence of his genocide, treason and white supremacy. 

In 1993, musician Frank Zappa, made the prescient observation, 'There's been an incredible rise in racist and fascist attitude here, most of them being helped along by the Republican Party' (Ouellette, 1993). 

Nothing has yet been done to hold Trump to account for the Covid genocide in the US, that is directly attributable to him. Nothing has been done to stop Trump inciting Nazis and conservative Christians to violence, so we have not seen the end of extreme right-wing blood-shed, insurrection, and treason. Allowing Trump to continue empowering these extremists could signal the end of democracy and the rise of fascism in the United States. 

References

Anderson, M 2021, Antifa Didn't Storm The Capitol. Just Ask The Rioters, NPR, 2 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972564176/antifa-didnt-storm-the-capitol-just-ask-the-rioters.

Andriotis, A, Rudegeair, P, & Glazer, E, 2021, Stripe stops processing payments for Trump campaign website, The Wall Street Journal, 10 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-stops-processing-payments-for-trump-campaign-website-11610319116. 

Applebaum, A, 2020, Trump won't accept defeat. Ever., The Atlantic, 7 November, viewed 13 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/trumps-forever-campaign-is-just-getting-started/617021/.

Blake, A 2021, What Trump said before his supporters stormed the Capitol, annotated, The Washington Post, 11 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/annotated-trump-speech-jan-6-capitol/.

Brenner, M 2021, Pre-Nazi Germany tells us the fight to save American democracy is just beginning, The Washington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/01/09/pre-nazi-germany-tells-us-fight-save-american-democracy-is-just-beginning/. 

Broadwater, L, & Rosenburg, M 2021, Republican ties to extremist groups under scrutiny, Hartford Courant, 29 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.courant.com/nation-world/ct-nw-nyt-gop-extremist-groups-20210129-fstili3spvea7fss3mdsobu5eu-story.html.

Burns, K 2020, The racist history of Trump’s “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” tweet, Vox, 29 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/29/21274754/racist-history-trump-when-the-looting-starts-the-shooting-starts. 

Caldwell, T 2021, Trump's 'We love you' to Capitol rioters is more of the same, CNN, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics/trump-history-comments-trnd/index.html.

Coaston, J 2019, Trump’s new defense of his Charlottesville comments is incredibly false, Vox, 26 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/2019/4/26/18517980/trump-unite-the-right-racism-defense-charlottesville.

Fandos, N 2021, Democrats failed to get enough votes for an independent inquiry into the Jan. 6 riot, The New York Times, 28 May, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/us/politics/capitol-riot-commission.html.

Gangel, J, Liptak, K, Warren, M, & Cohen, M 2021, New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters, CNN, 13 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/12/politics/trump-mccarthy-shouting-match-details/index.html. 

Green, E 2021, A Christian Insurrection, The Atlantic, 8 January, viewed 7 June 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/evangelicals-catholics-jericho-march-capitol/617591/. 

Holpuch, A 2021, 'White supremacy won today': critics condemn Trump acquittal as racist vote, The Guardian, 14 February, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/14/trump-acquittal-white-supremacy-racist-vote. 

Honderich, H 2021, In Trump’s final days, a rush of federal executions, BBC News, 16 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55236260.

Kessler, G 2020, The ‘very fine people’ at Charlottesville: Who were they?, The Washington Post, 8 May, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/08/very-fine-people-charlottesville-who-were-they-2/.

Linge, M 2021, Alex Jones claims he funded rally that led to Capitol chaos, The New York Post, 9 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://nypost.com/2021/01/09/alex-jones-claims-he-funded-rally-that-led-to-capitol-chaos/.

Morris, J 2021, Georgia secretary of state's office launches investigation into Trump's phone call, CNN, 16 March, viewed 6 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/08/politics/georgia-secretary-of-state-trump-investigation/index.html.

Ouellette, D 1993, Frank Zappa, Pulse!, August 1993, sourced from https://www.afka.net/Articles/1993-08_Pulse.htm.

Papenfuss, M 2021, Trump Was 'Delighted' His Supporters Stormed The Capitol, Says GOP Sen. Ben Sasse, Huffington Post, 9 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/ben-sasse-delighted-trump-capitol-attack_n_5ff93b1bc5b6c77d85e6df60.

Parker, A, Dawsey, J, & Rucker, P 2021, Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol, The Washington Post, 12 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mob-failure/2021/01/11/36a46e2e-542e-11eb-a817-e5e7f8a406d6_story.html.

Pilkington, E 2021, 'Stand back and stand by': how Trumpism led to the Capitol siege, The Guardian, 7 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/06/donald-trump-armed-protest-capitol.

Posner, S 2021, How the Christian right helped foment insurrection, Reveal News, 30 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://revealnews.org/article/how-the-christian-right-helped-foment-insurrection/.

Sadeghi, M 2021, Fact check: What's true about the Capitol riot, from antifa to BLM to Chuck Norris, USA Today, 14 January, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/14/fact-check-truth-capitol-riot-antifa-chuck-norris/6653343002/.

Smith, D 2021, 'The perfect target': Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years - ex-KGB spy, The Guardian, 29 January, viewed 12 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book.

Wilson, J 2021, US police and public officials donated to Kyle Rittenhouse, data breach reveals, The Guardian, 16 April, viewed 6 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/16/us-police-officers-public-officials-crowdfunding-website-data-breach.

The day a make-believe potato destroyed the world

The day a make-believe potato destroyed the world 

Conservative cancel culture & the perpetually offended right-wing

By Ranting Panda, 1 June 2021

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to rile a conservative? There are so many ways. I mean, just mention how easily offended people are today. Said conservative will launch into a tirade about everyone being offended so easily these days. A great response is to agree and then pick a topic, like 'Black Lives Matter, 'Australia Day should be moved', or 'Trump is a traitor'. Bust out the pop-corn, sit back and watch the fireworks. It's kinda ironic how easily offended conservatives are as they wail about how easily offended everyone else is. 

Another way to rile a conservative is to talk about political correctness and being 'woke'. Apparently being woke or politically correct is bad. Just ask a conservative. 'Woke' is just another word for critical thinking, however conservatives idea of critical thinking is to go 'conclusion shopping', that is they will seek out confirmation bias to support their ignorant beliefs. Being woke means to appreciate people (regardless of differences), the environment, and science ... without bigotry or ignorance. Critical thinking means that a person would change their views if presented with compelling evidence to the contrary. It's not surprising that conservatives reject being 'woke'; they aren't renowned for their critical thinking or self-reflection abilities. They believe anything they are told if it confirms their own bigoted biases, while criticising science and academic study. 

For conservatives, being 'woke', being considerate of others, the environment, and appreciating science, are all part of a Marxist plot.

But my personal favourite way to peeve a conservative is to discuss 'cancel culture'. Holy. Mother. Of. God. They will go off like a fruit bat in a mango tree at sunset! They'll get their knickers in a twist every tim; which doesn't solve anything, but it makes them walk funny. Conservatives often melt down over left-wing 'cancel culture'. Which is ironic because conservatives cancel everything!

Dare to question a conservative's uninformed opinion and they'll screech that their freedom speech is being curtailed, that everyone is easily offended, and that they're SICK AND TIRED of political correctness, woke snowflakes, lefty scientists, and GOD DAMN neo-Marxist cancel culture! Funny shit, really. 

Conservatives continue living in the dark ages, condemning anything and anyone who questions their ignorance.

Actual image of conservative cancel culture

A couple of recent decisions offended the sensibilities of conservatives so much that they took to social media to wail about 'do-gooder snowflakes' and 'political correctness gone mad'.

One decision was by Dr Seuss Enterprises, who decided to cease production of six of their own books that they felt were overtly racist. This was a business decision of the company and not the result of campaigning by any group (Helmore, 2021). Conservatives claim the books were banned by lefty snowflakes, however, they were not banned nor have they become illegal; they are just not being published because of a decision by the publisher. 

The second decision was by Hasbro who manufacturers the Mr Potato Head series. Hasbro rebranded it to 'Potato Head'. 

Yeah. That's it. Offended yet? Well ... our resident conservative snowflakes melted down like a ... er ... snowflake in the heat. 

Apparently, the 'de-genderisation' of a pretend potato was some sort of left-wing woke agenda to remove gender from society ... according to conservatives. In fact, according arch-conservative commentator, Piers Morgan, this was a harbinger of the apocalypse: '... woke imbeciles are destroying the world' (Mellor 2021).  It was nothing of the sort. Try to follow me here. There is the brand and then there are the products within that brand. The products include Mr Potato Head, Mrs Potato Head, and soon there will be little Potato Head children. Hasbro felt it looked a bit weird packaging Mrs Potato Head with a Mr Potato Head brand sitting on it, so they made the brand 'Potato Head' in order to more openly accommodate the various products sitting under that brand. So conservatives need not panic or rush out and stock up on Potato Heads, because Mr Potato Head, Mrs Potato Head and all the little child Potato Heads will still be available. 

The great Potato Head Crisis of 2021 was summed up nicely by Jon Stewart on Twitter.

Some years are defined by a significant event. For instance, 2020 has been defined by the emergence of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Surely, it couldn't get any worse right? Well, 2021 was particularly troubling for Conservatives, because the year was bookended by the Great Potato Head Crisis in February and the Big Bird Controversy in November. Focusing on the big things, Conservatives lost their collective minds over ... checks notes ... Big Bird. In case you're not familiar with this particular character, Big Bird is a muppet from Sesame Street ... a make-believe character of a giant, feathery bird. Said character innocuously tweeted in support of Covid vaccinations. The Conservative establishment melted down like ice-cubes on a hot bitumen road in the middle of summer in North-West Queensland. Big Bird (a pretend character remember) was accused of being a Communist and promoting government propaganda (Gillespie 2021). After all, sending a community health message is Communism according to the ultra-right-wing extremists who seem to dominate the Conservative establishment. 

Speaking of make-believe characters, there is the global phenomenon, Harry Potter, the fictional boy-wizard created by best-selling author, J.K. Rowling. Across the globe, conservative Christians burned or destroyed the Harry Potter books because they depicted witch-craft (Tucker, 2017). Those who didn't burn the books, often protested at cinemas showing the Harry Potter movies, or campaigned to have the books banned or removed from libraries. In 2017, conservative voters torched the books for political reasons, not religious ones. J.K. Rowling was openly criticising the inept, bumbling and racist Donald Trump. Of course, Trump supporters are not well known for having thick skins, so they react poorly to critical thinking and criticism. Trump's cult-like, brainwashed fan-base melted down like snowflakes dropped in a witch's hot cauldron ... 'double, double, toil and trouble'. They burned Rowling's books because of her opposition to Trump (Brockell, 2021). 

It is kind of funny how conservatives melt down over these things while accusing the left-wing of being snowflakes. 

Trivial things trigger intolerant minds.

Some commentators have even blamed President Biden and the Democratic Party for the Dr Seuss and Hasbro decisions, even though they had nothing to do with it (Cillizza, 2021). However, the reality is that conservatives confected their outrage by misrepresenting the facts ... yet again. 

Conservatives talk of 'cancel culture' and 'political correctness gone mad', yet they have their own forms of political correctness and cancel culture. For instance, it is politically incorrect in conservative mindsets to behave in an 'unpatriotic' manner, such as criticising the military action of conservative governments. When the ABC reported on complaints that the Australian military had physically abused asylum seekers, many conservatives claimed it was left-wing bias and that the ABC were traitors ... even though there was video evidence. Similar conservative outrage was unleashed when the ABC reported on alleged war-crimes by the Australian military in Afghanistan. Apparently, it was terribly unpatriotic to expect that Australia's defenders of democracy would not commit war crimes. 

When a journalist named Yasmin Abdel-Mageid tweeted about Anzac Day in a manner that was politically incorrect for conservatives, they were so offended that they unleashed a torrent of vile abuse, including threatening her with rape and murder. Yasmin left Australia in the wake of this abuse. This is a shocking example of conservative cancel culture, and is far worse than degenderising a make-believe potato.

Remember when conservative Christians tried to cancel rock music? It was reminiscent of the Central Scrutinizer in Frank Zappa's album, Joe's Garage, in which music was banned. In fact, some Christian conservatives even went so far as to try to cancel anything with a 4/4 beat ... which was a bit awkward when they realised that quite a few Christian songs are based on 4/4. Some pastors quite seriously explained that 4/4 was the devil's music because it emulated the beats of our heart. Yes, the heart has 4 chambers, so 4 beats, so 4/4 is of the devil. I wish this was one of those light-hearted non sequiturs, but no ... they were serious as a ... er ... a heart attack.

Here's a reminder of conservative cancel culture in action:

• cancelled Dixie Chicks and burned their merchandise when they criticised the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• boycotted the NFL because Colin Kapernaeck knelt during the national anthem in solidarity with Black Lives Matter
• boycotted Cadbury Chocolate because of Easter Eggs that dared not mention 'Easter' ... even though they were chocolate eggs ... and sold at Easter ...
• boycotted shops and hounded celebrities who said 'happy holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'.
• boycotted Nascar because it banned confederate flags
• tried to ban Dungeons and Dragons because they believed it to be 'demonic'.

Diversity and inclusion are not high on the conservative agenda. As long as minorities and under-represented people tow the conservative line, then they might be tolerated by conservatives. If minorities want to be heard, to have equality, then conservatives will carry on about political correctness going mad and that the world is being taken over by a some sort of neo-Marxist agenda. In other words, minorities and under-represented people can be seen but not heard.

In May 2021, Australian Defence Force chiefs made the decision to ban diversity and inclusion activities, such as morning teas and lanyards (Greene & Mannheim, 2021). Apparently, this would make Australia a safer place. What it really showed was that as far as the ADF is concerned, Australia is for white, straight males. It meant that conservative cancel culture had cancelled morning teas or wearing rainbow lanyards or ally pins that supported events such as Harmony Day, Women's Day, National Reconciliation Week, or International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). In other words, if you support these issues, conservative snowflakes have one message: don't be seen or heard.

Conservative cancel culture has been with us a long-time. You may recall many centuries ago, the burning of witches, and the Spanish Inquisition. In the 1950s, we saw something similar with the 'Reds under the bed' fear-mongering, in which hundreds of people were arrested, imprisoned, and their careers destroyed, for allegedly have left-wing sympathies. 

In the 1980s, Queensland was very much a hick state with an exceptionally conservative, authoritarian, and corrupt government led by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, supposedly a Christian. Jackboot Joh, as he was known, used the cops as his own personal attack dogs to violently quell protests and concerts. After all, how dare people protest against South African apartheid or the export of uranium, or march in solidarity with indigenous issues. How dare they attend concerts and have fun. Joh's fun police even raided record stores to remove albums that may offend the sensitive ears of conservatives ... even though conservatives would never listen to those albums any way. Joh hated communism so much that he established a fascist police state. He hated anyone who aligned themselves with left-wing politics, including the community radio station, 4ZZZ. Apart from supporting human rights causes and local music, Triple Zed was also holding the government to account over allegations of corruption and police brutality. Thankfully, Triple Zed outlasted Joh and his fascist dictatorship. 

By 1979, Triple Zed was operating out of the iconic and heritage-listed ballroom, Cloudland, which it also used for hosting large international and local bands that drew the ire of Joh and his police bully-boys. Many of ZZZ's journalists were subject to police surveillance and intimidation, and in some cases their homes raided (Stafford, 2004); so paranoid was the government of anyone who questioned them. On the morning of 7 November 1982, Brisbane residents woke to find that Cloudland had been demolished overnight. Joh had directed its illegal demolition without a permit. The demolition was an act of political bastardry against journalism, music and the young people who frequented Cloudland.

Conservatives can't claim the high moral ground against cancel culture, particularly when they are perpetually fearful and looking for things to offend their myopic sensibilities. Recently, they cancelled Coca-Cola, because the world's largest beverage company dared to criticise the Republicans for their anti-democratic voter suppression laws in Georgia (Carter, 2021). 

Conservatives have a very liberal approach to truth. The truth is whatever they say it is, regardless of the facts. Dare to contradict this narrative and you'll find yourself cancelled ... or worse. Conservatives seem to believe that Truth is a tool that Antifa uses to destroy democracy. Give them alternative facts so they don't have to deal with substantiated facts that contradict the comfortable lies they like to believe.

The Godfather of Conservative Hogwash is Donald Trump, former president who told thousands of lies while in power, who embraced and promoted racism, hate-speech, white-supremacy, and normalised lying as 'alternative facts'. In the face of overwhelming evidence that Trump lost the 2020 election, he tried to gaslight the United States into believing the election had been stolen from him. It was truly the most remarkable piece of blatant bullshit by a president in the history of the United States. His gullible followers believed him and refused to accept the legitimacy of the election. On 6 January 2021, whipped into a brainless furore by the Trumpenfuhrer, they stormed Congress in an attempt to cancel the election results. The attack on Congress went further than mere conservative cancel culture; it was an act of treason, of sedition. Republicans have since voted against holding an inquiry into the storming of the Capitol (SBS News, 2021), because they know they are culpable. Conservatives claim to be patriots, but that very act showed they are nothing but gutless traitors who act like spoilt kids if they don't get their own way. They hate democracy, because they don't want anyone else to have a say in running the country. Put it this way, these deluded snowflakes were so offended by losing an election that they tried to cancel democracy. Forget Marxist cancel culture, conservatives showed us fascist cancel culture ... these nutters are extremists, they are terrorists, they are cowards, they are traitors. 

What conservatives call cancel culture, is merely people asking that they be treated with respect. Ironically, conservatives will bemoan the lack of respect in today's society, while defending why they should be able to disrespect, abuse and denigrate others. Respected Australian entertainer, Kamahl, was subject to years of racist taunting while performing on the TV show, Hey Hey It's Saturday. He recently made the observation, 'I know they call it cancel culture, but they’re not stopping culture. They’re only trying to limit unnecessarily vulgar or crude terminology or gags or whatever ... If something has merit, if it is witty, if it’s clever, so be it. If it’s crap, maybe we can do without it' (Stafford, 2021).

The problem is that conservatives can't handle criticism. They accuse others of being sensitive snowflakes who are easily offended. Yet, the perpetually offended conservatives have a victim-mentality in which they believe they are being persecuted and their freedom of speech stifled whenever someone argues with them. Challenging falsehoods is not persecution. Asking someone to stop abusing someone else does not make the abuser a victim. All it demonstrates is the persecution-complex that conservatives wallow in.

Cancel culture is an innate part of the conservative psyche. They've been doing it for centuries. 

References

Brockell, G, 2021, Burning books: 6 outrageous, tragic and weird examples in history, The Washington Post, 13 November, viewed 15 November 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/11/13/book-burning-history.

Carter, A, 2021, Republicans are cancelling Coca-Cola after company denounced Georgia voting law, Now This, 7 April, viewed 7 April 2021, https://nowthisnews.com/news/republicans-are-cancelling-coca-cola-after-company-denounced-georgia-voting-law.

Cillizza, C, 2021, Why Republicans think Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head can save them, CNN, 3 March, viewed 1 June 2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/02/politics/cancel-culture-potato-head-muppets-dr-seuss/index.html. 

Gillespie, E, 2021, The tweet from Big Bird that caused waves of backlash from US Republicans and anti-vaxxers, SBS News, 9 November, viewed 14 November 2021, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-tweet-from-big-bird-that-caused-waves-of-backlash-from-us-republicans-and-anti-vaxxers/c72d7924-a22c-43c8-9801-f5569206a25f. 

Greene, A and Mannheim, M, 2021, Defence declares war on political correctness, bans morning teas aimed at promoting inclusion and diversity, ABC News, 21 May, viewed 21 May 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-21/defence-chief-angus-campbell-political-correctness-morning-teas/100156436.

Helmore, E, 2021, 'It's a moral decision': Dr Seuss books are being 'recalled' not cancelled, expert says, The Guardian, 7 March, viewed 1 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/07/dr-seuss-books-product-recall-cancel-culture. 

Mellor, J, 2021, Best reactions as usual mouthpieces are foaming over a genderless Potato Head, The London Economic, 26 February, viewed 1 June 2021, https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/best-reactions-as-usual-mouthpieces-are-foaming-over-a-genderless-potato-head-222403/. 

SBS News, 2021, US Senate Republicans block bipartisan inquiry into the deadly 6 January Capitol riot, 29 May, viewed 29 May 2021, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/us-senate-republicans-block-bipartisan-inquiry-into-the-deadly-6-january-capitol-riot.

Stafford, A, 2004, Pig City - from The Saints to Savage Garden, Chapter 8 - Everybody Moves, Kindle 2014 edition.

Stafford, A, 2021, 'I felt humiliated': Kamahl on racism, Hey Hey It’s Saturday and cancel culture, The Guardian, 27 March, viewed 27 March 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/mar/27/i-felt-humiliated-kamahl-on-racism-hey-hey-its-saturday-and-cancel-culture.

Tucker, T, 2017, What do protests about Harry Potter books teach us?, The Conversation, 26 June, viewed 15 November 2021, https://theconversation.com/what-do-protests-about-harry-potter-books-teach-us-79327. 

Updated 15 November 2021

Conservative logic: Nazis are better than abortion

Conservative logic: Nazis are better than abortion ... to wit 6 January 2021

By Ranting Panda, 31 January 2021

Evidenced by their blind support for Trump & defending his incitement of an insurrection by neo-Nazis & white supremacists.

Donald J. Trump, the most divisive, corrupt and treacherous president the US has seen, was embraced by many conservatives as if he was the Messiah. Why? Because he promised to protect them from the 'socialist' agenda of the woke left ... and he banned abortion. He also supported, empowered, praised and incited white supremacy, domestic terrorism, Nazis, and used fear-mongering to stir up hate against Muslims, Mexicans and migrants ... but conservatives said that he represented their values. This says a lot about conservative values. 

Christian nationalists were chanting 'Christ is King' and flying Christian flags as they joined Nazis and white supremacists to storm the Capitol building on 6 January 2021. Even up until Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States, many conservative Christians believed that Jesus would somehow intervene and reinstate Trump. As an aside, these terrorists were no different to Islamist extremists who chant 'Allah Akbar' (God is great) before murdering innocent people; they are cut from the same cloth: traitors to their religions and countries. 

Trump supporters still believe his lies that the election was stolen, even though dozens of court challenges failed to produce evidence or prove these claims. 

One of the first things that Trump did when he became president, was to ban the funding of women's health centres if they dared to mention abortion. It was a gag rule that cost countless lives as women sought abortion from less ethical means. The removal of the funding didn't just affect abortion procedures, but also meant that contraceptives and pregnancy advice were not carried out. Not providing contraceptives tends to increase the rate of unwanted pregnancies. Trump's policies had the opposite affect that many conservatives wanted: it increased the numbers of abortions, plus risked the lives of more women through backyard abortions. 

This policy isn't new. It was originally introduced by President Reagan in 1985 as the Mexico City Policy, or the 'Gag Rule' and has been the policy of every Republican president since then. This has presented researchers with decades of data to conduct longitudinal studies. Refer to my article of 4 February 2017, which covered this in detail: Trump's Gag Order banning abortion will increase abortion & kill more women. 

A 2011 study by Stanford researchers found that abortion rates in 20 sub-Saharan African nations increased by 40% when Republicans implemented the Mexico City policy.

Impact of Mexico City Policy (Bendavid 2011)

The United Nations has stated that the Gag Rule is 'flawed on evidentiary and public health grounds' (United Nations General Assembly 2018). The report went on to state, 'There is conclusive evidence that efforts to cut back on or deter the provision of quality contraceptive and antenatal services, HIV/AIDS treatment and safe abortion care contribute to increased rates of otherwise preventable death, including maternal and infant mortality and death and injury from unsafe abortion'. It identifies that sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest hit by the Gag Rule.

The evidence demonstrates that the outcome of anti-abortion policy that Trump implemented, is 'significantly increased rates of induced abortion' (United Nations General Assembly 2018).

One would think that this evidence would be enough to convince pro-lifers to consider alternative ways to reduce abortions. The Guttmacher Institute found that ' ... poor women have the least access to family planning services and the fewest resources to pay for safe abortion procedures; they are also the most likely to experience complications related to unsafe abortion' (Guttmacher Institute 2012). One of the primary drivers of abortion is poverty, yet conservatives tend to oppose measures that would more equitably share wealth or raise minimum wages. 

Conservatives take a very black and white view of abortion. That is, ban it and it will go away! However, the opposite is true: it increases! And the conservative response? They don't care. Clearly their reasoning for banning abortion is not to save the life of the foetus, but to control women, even if it means more women die. 

Conservatives, particularly conservative Christians, are driven by two main things: abortion and homosexuality. 

Interestingly, the United Nations also reported that laws banning the provision of life-saving services to LGBTIQ+ people has resulted in increased morbidity and mortality (United Nations General Assembly 2018).

Is it any wonder then, that conservatives ignored everything else that Trump did, simply because he banned abortion and attacked LGBTIQ+ issues? They ignored his blatant lies ... more than 30,000 lies! They ignored his incompetence, which was on a genocidal scale, in dealing with Covid-19 that killed more than 420,000 while he was president. They cheered on the Nazis, white supremacists, and Christian nationalists who stormed Congress on 6 January 2021.

Conservatives were more upset with Biden for reversing Trump's Mexico Policy, than they were with Trump genocidal incompetence killing more than 420,000 people, or him inciting Nazis to attempt a coup that would unlawfully keep him in power, and ended up killing five people, including two police officers. The rest of the world was like, 'what the actual fuck, America???'. Meanwhile, conservatives were like, 'What? It's just a coup for a stolen election. In the name of unity, let's not charge anyone with a crime'. The rest of the world is like, 'It's fucking treason! Charge Trump & the insurrectionists'. 

Imagine if the world did not hold the Nuremberg trials 'in the name of unity'. Trump has the deaths of more than 420,000 people on his hands, plus the untold damage to democracy. He must be jailed for treason and crimes against humanity.

The problem with Trump's lies is that they pandered to the victimhood mentality of conservatives. Their pearl-clutching fear fed by Trump's lies, culminated in Trump inciting them to stage an insurrection and storm Congress, with the intention of assassinating certain senators. This is serious. This is treason. Yet conservatives are so blind, so myopic, that they refuse to see they have been duped by traitor Trump occupying the highest office in the land. 

But yeah, hey abortion, socialism and gays are all bad, but Nazis are good ... according to conservative logic. 

References

Bendavid, E, Avila, P, & Miller, G 2011, 'United States aid policy and induced abortion in sub-Saharan Africa', Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, 27 September, https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/12/11-091660/en/, viewed 31 January 2021

Guttmacher Institute 2012, 'Facts on induced abortions worldwide', January 2012, https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/unsafe_abortion/induced_abortion_2012.pdf, published by World Health Organization and Guttmacher Institute, viewed 31 January 2021

SBS News 2021, 'Joe Biden reverses Donald Trump's anti-abortion ‘global gag rule’, citing 'damage' from his predecessor'. SBS News, 29 January, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/joe-biden-reverses-donald-trump-s-anti-abortion-global-gag-rule-citing-damage-from-his-predecessor, viewed 31 January 2021

United Nations General Assembly 2018, 'Promotion and protection of human rights: human rights questions, including alternative approaches for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms', 73rd Session, Item 74 (b) of the provisional agenda, 7 August, https://undocs.org/A/73/314, viewed 31 January 2021

The 9 circles of hell in Trump's 'Murica

The 9 circles of hell in Trump's 'Murica

by Ranting Panda, 3 January 2021

Medieval writer and philosopher, Dante Alighieri wrote of the nine circles of hell. 700 years later, feckless fraud of a President, Donald Trump, has taken the United States to hell in a handbasket. The once great American empire has now descended into all nine levels of Dante's Hell under the incompetent and genocidal leadership of Trump. 

1st circle: Limbo

Traditionally this level was the home of the unbaptised and the pagans. In today's USA, Limbo is the domain of the witless Trump supporters who eschew science and intellect, while feeding their feeble minds on a diet of faux news that panders to their twisted ideas of a dystopian world created by Trump's lies and fear-mongering. 

2nd circle: Lust

This level is reserved for the carnal and the adulterers. Trump would certainly feel at home here so that he can grab women by their pussies as much as his lecherous heart would want. 

3rd circle: Gluttony

This level is reserved for those who don't know when to stop filling their inflated bellies. Trump's America gorges on the fat of the land, while the less fortunate are left to starve. They couldn't possibly share their larders with the impoverished because that would be 'socialism'! And we all know that socialism is the bugaboo of the Trumper snowflake.

4th circle: Greed

Trump promised to 'Make America Great Again', with untold wealth trickling down to his gullible supporters as he lavishes tax cuts on the already-rich. Instead of his followers seeing through this scam, Trump manipulated them through lies and fear-mongering about Democrats stealing their wealth through socialism ... when it was corporate greed that stole their wealth. Trump turned his supporters into greedy, self-absorbed individuals who have no concern for the welfare of anyone else.

5th circle: Anger

Well, well, well ... Trump has been an angry man for many years, but since losing the 2020 presidential election, Trump has been chucking a massive temper tantrum. His behaviour is anything but presidential. In fact, his petulant hysterics are comparable to a cry-baby toddler who's pacifier has been taken away. No parent would want their child behaving like the spoilt-brat that Trump is, yet the worse this buffoon behaves, the more his feeble-minded fans idolise him.

6th circle: Heresy

Many of Trump's supporters claim to be Christian, even though Trump epitomises all that the Bible warns against. For instance, Trump embodies all seven of the deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Trump claims to love God, yet inspires hatred of our neighbours and empowers white-supremacists, neo-Nazis, racists, and bigots. Trump's son, Eric, remarkably claimed that Trump 'literally saved Christianity' from the atheist leftists waging a war on the faith (Castronuovo 2020). Trump's behaviour is anything but Christian. For that matter, the behaviour of Trump-loving christians is anything but Christian, as they support his racist, sexist, violent, dishonest, and corrupt leadership and administration.

Trump supporters who claim to be Christian  are heretics who have recreated Christ in the image of Trump: a greedy, violent, sexist, racist buffoon. They have shown just how shallow their depraved version of Christianity is. 

7th circle: Violence

Trump's followers are exceptionally angry violent people. They have called for violence and war should Trump be kicked out of the White House. Much of this violence has been stoked by Trump himself (BBC 2020).

They violently attack activists who oppose the values that Trump and his followers hold dear, such as fascism, racism, capitalism and greed.

When a 17 year old murdered two protesters at a Black Lives Matter rally, Trump defended him, claiming he was 'just trying to get away' (Solender 2020), even though it was clear the killer had deliberately travelled to the rally armed and with intention to kill. Trump encourages murderous violence.

8th circle: Fraud

Could this be any clearer. Trump has whinged incessantly about fraud in the 2020 presidential election, yet after dozens of failed court challenges and vote recounts, it has become clear that there was no wide-spread fraud. Instead, it's Trump who is making fraudulent, debunked claims to subvert legitimate election results. Disturbingly, his followers lack the critical thinking skills necessary to challenge the lies and fraudulent claims that Trump continues to propagate.

9th circle: Treachery

Wow! This is the big one. Trump threatened to declare martial law because he lost the election. Republican leaders threatened to call in the military. Trump's son, Don Jr, called for all out war because of the election result. That Trump and his brainless zealots would not see this as a military coup or the implications of it is concerning. So concerning, that all 10 former Secretaries of Defence have warned against involving the military in Trump's fraudulent claims about the election, stating it would plunge the USA into 'dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory', and that 'Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic'. (Burns 2021). They went on to state that, 'Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party' (Carter, Cheney, Cohen, Esper, Gates, Hagel, Mattis, Panetta, Perry & Rumsfeld 2021). They went on to warn that Trump's refusal to provide a smooth transition of power, including not sharing intelligence, with President-elect Biden, is putting the USA at risk during this vulnerable time as adversaries could 'seek to take advantage of the situation'. 

Former Trump adviser, Steve Bannon called for the beheading of Dr Fauci over his attempts to address Covid-19. Trump vacillated between calling Covid-19 a hoax and downplaying its severity. In the meantime, more than 350,000 Americans have died because of Trump's lies and incompetence, which was on a genocidal scale. Trump is usurping the democratic process by trying to cast doubt over the election result and refusing to concede. His moronic followers are preparing for a coup to keep him in power. Trump failed to challenge Russia over bounties it took out on US troops in Afghanistan. He failed to challenge Russia over its interference in US elections. 

In an extraordinary recorded phone call on 3 January 2021, Trump is heard pleading, cajolling, threatening the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to find him 11,780 votes, in other words to change the vote tally (Rubin 2021). He threatened Raffesnperger with criminal liability. This is extortion. It is likely this behaviour is impeachable. Trump is attempting a coup. 

There have been at least three occasions in which Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct; (1) the obstruction of justice by firing special prosecutor Robert S. Mueller III during the investigation into the 2016 election, (2) tried to extort Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to find dirt against now President-elect Joe Biden, and (3), threatening the Georgia Secretary of State to 'find' 11,780 votes to change the election result (Rubin 2021). 

These are the actions of an authoritarian who has no respect for the law, for democracy or for the constitution.

Trump is a criminal. 

Trump is a traitor hell-bent on destroying the USA.

Trump and his followers think they are patriots, but they are traitors to the US constitution, democracy and their fellow citizens.

Welcome to the hell that is Trump's America.

References

BBC 2020, 'Trump inciting violence, warns Georgia election official', 2 December, https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55153918, viewed 3 January 2021

Burns, R 2021, 'Extraordinary warning to Trump against use of military over election by former Pentagon chiefs', Brisbane Times, 4 January, https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/north-america/extraordinary-warning-to-trump-against-use-of-military-over-election-by-former-pentagon-chiefs-20210104-p56rnj.html, viewed 4 January 2021

Carter, A, Cheney, D, Cohen, W, Esper, M, Gates, R, Hagel, C, Mattis, J, Panetta, L, Perry, W & Rumsfeld, D 2021, 'All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory', The Washington Post, 4 January, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/10-former-defense-secretaries-military-peaceful-transfer-of-power/2021/01/03/2a23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html, viewed 4 January 2021

Castronuovo, C 2020, 'Eric Trump claims his father 'literally saved Christianity', The Hill, 10 July, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/520090-eric-trump-claims-his-father-literally-saved-christianity, viewed 3 January 2021

Rubin, J 2021, 'It’s impeachable. It’s likely illegal. It’s a coup', The Washington Post, 4 January 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/03/its-impeachable-its-likely-illegal-its-coup/, viewed 4 January 2021

Solender, A 2020, 'Trump Defends Rittenhouse, Caravan After Biden Condemns Protest Violence', Forbes, 31 August, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/08/31/trump-defends-rittenhouse-caravan-after-biden-condemns-protest-violence, viewed 3 January 2021 

Updated 4 January 2021