The industrial era has introduced acid rain to these 3,500 year old #runes and they’ve suffered a lot as a result. Coincidentally, psychedelic mushrooms (still) grow on these hills in November and may have inspired these enigmatic symbols found at many Neolithic sites.
The Duke of Wellington’s brother-in-law; defeated by Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans and packed in a barrel of rum for transport back to Ireland. Subsequently the barrel was misplaced, partially drunk and the body rediscovered and finally shipped home.
“Donald Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good about this country.”
Considering the content of this book, the investigation into Trump and his obstruction of justice, and the rumored pardoning of Scooter Libby who was himself convicted for obstruction, perjury and lying to investigators, any supporter or member of the GOP has got to ask themselves just exactly what level of criminality they are comfortable with. You don’t get a pass for merely liking GOP policies, because civic duty now requires collective action to support our system of government and the rule of law. The RNC has made its decision already. They are going to the mats against the Department of Justice.
The Justice Department will win this and you will forever be tainted as siding with autocracy, just as an FYI. You will be outed as not such a fan of democratic processes or even really a fan of civil discourse and civic pride in institutions.
Fidesz makes bogeymen out of people fleeing war, famine, poverty and hopelessness making it’s citizens fear for their Christianity, itself a dying religion. As a result they cede their own liberty, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and rights to petition the courts for a redress of grievances. This strategy, to wage a campaign based on self-generated fantasies, pushed into the minds of citizens in an environment of limited news resources is the surest way to degrade a democracy. Hungary as a Democracy is at its lowest point since the fall of Communism. But don’t worry! The “Viktator” has a lovely view of it all from his home overlooking his football stadium. Life is grand at the top, that it sits atop a wobbley mountain of corruption is of no importance.
We can see this will end badly, as all authoritarian regimes do. The question is how to the Hungarians organize a diverse opposition to this coalescing of power? Jobbik is a rude and inappropriate joke of a political party. Anti-Semitic fear-mongering is so last millennium but even they oppose Orbán in coalition with the left wing parties. However the election results show this will not have much effect on the FIdesz party’s ability to maul the constitution in the foreseeable future.
How the citizens of Hungary reassert Democratic principles is an open question. The Atlantic recently interview one of the lone independent investigative journalists about the state of affairs there and I recommend it. 
Just was informed by my dad about this:
“In a little-noticed 6-3 vote today, the House Administration Committee voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged with making sure voting machines can’t be hacked. The EAC was created after the disastrous 2000 election in Florida as part of the Help America Vote Act to rectify problems like butterfly ballots and hanging chads. (Republicans have tried to kill the agency for years.) The Committee also voted to eliminate the public-financing system for presidential elections dating back to the 1970s. This cannot be tolerated, especially at a time when our voting systems are still under attack. Its criminal.
This puts the function of the EAC under the Office of Management and Budget, aka, Mike Mulvaney’s plaything.
Great quote from How Democracies Die. By Levitsky & Ziblatt
— “Collective abdication – the transfer of power to a leader who threatens Democracy — usually flows from one of two sources. The first is the misguided belief that an authoritarian can be controlled or tamed. The second is what sociologist Ivan Ermakoff calls “ideological collusion,” in which the authoritarian’s agenda overlaps sufficiently with that of mainstream politicians that abdication is desirable or at least preferable to the alternatives.”
Right now there are over 800 demonstrations happening across America and Fox News is running some bullshit “Extra” piece about how Social Security “entitlements” are going to overtake Defense spending.
Then when they do cover the protests they refer to them as “anti-gun rallies”. These are marches against gun violence and for gun legislation reform!
News outlets report, and you decide which are news outlets. It’s never been more obvious what a monstrous scam on America’s elderly population is being run right now.
You must be logged in to post a comment.