Recently, it struck me that Cult 45 was created – and is maintained – using the exact same tricks and techniques that have been used by extremist conservative “Christian” cults throughout time: a narrow focus on their preferred leader, a narrow focus on their preferred “realities,” self-imposed isolation combined with dogged determination to avoid and disregard any and all information that conflicts with said preferred leader, and absolute, blind obedience to same.

The followers will die – and kill – for their beloved leader. They readily give up all of their possessions. They readily offer up their young daughters for the sexual pleasures of the Chosen One. There are no bridges too far or lines they won’t cross. Hell, they can be conditioned to attack their own country, threaten to kill their own leaders, defend a nation’s adversaries.

They’re the same techniques used by David Koresh and his ‘Branch Davidians.’ They’re the same techniques used by Jim Jones and his ‘People’s Temple.’ They’re the same techniques used by Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite in their ‘Heaven’s Gate’ cult. They’re the same techniques used by Charles Manson and his ‘Family.’ Pop quiz: which of those ended well?

The conservative media and the ‘Trumpsters’ are operating on a much larger scale using the same tips and tricks as Adolph Hitler and his Nazi’s to “scale up” their ethical collapse. I fear the end will be just as bloody as those forerunner groups and, for the life of me, I can’t figure a way to stop it before the bloodshed…

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I’m old enough to remember when conservatives thought the very worst thing any human being could do to any OTHER human being was to participate in a protest that somehow blocked traffic. OMG, how they screamed at the inconvenience! They even started trying to pass laws allowing motorists to simply kill or maim the protestors, using their cars as weapons. After all, those people (wink, wink) were “only” protesting centuries of abuse and maltreatment – supported by volumes of evidence SO undeniable, the only way it can be contained is if no one ever even gets to know about it. (It’s a curious form of the ‘personal responsibility’ claptrap they’re always on about.)

But the whiny truckers blocking traffic on the border between Canada and the US? Heroes, all…just ask the cons. Each and every one of those protestors? Why, simply standing up for freedumb. Of course. How DARE they be asked to engage in a bit of social responsibility? The nerve! There was an AstroTurf followup protest staged in the US. A bunch of the whiny little bitches drove around Washington DC to what was reported as a FLOCK of “birdies” – the finger kind, not the winged kind – aimed at the babies. Apparently, some of the snowflakes got their “feels” bruised. Me? I’m laughing. Forrest Gump’s mom was right: stupid is as stupid does. Nobody does stupid better than a con…

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Every time I see Joe Biden’s mug stuck to some gas pump with the “I did this” slogan next to him, I know one thing: the person who stuck the sticker has no clue. About anything, really, but, in this case, the reference is to how the world oil market works – or doesn’t, as the case may be.

It’s just so easy to work a con into a frothing frenzy of outraged stupidity…

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Apparently, the world won’t confront Putin directly because he has nukes. I get it, but I also think it’s kind of dumb. He’s always going to have nukes. Does that mean he always gets his way? He just gets to pick a country, any country, and invade because he STILL has nukes?

“Oh, no,” they say, “but direct confrontation might lead to World War III.” It might not, too. Putin has kind of demonstrated that, aside from his nukes, his army doesn’t seem to be all that together. Do you think old ‘Murdering Vlad’ realizes that if he nukes one of his neighbors, he’s nuking Russians, too? Like it or not, nuclear fallout doesn’t respect boundaries or borders. It kind of reminds me of the scene in ‘Blazing Saddles’ when Cleavon Little holds a gun to his own head and threatens to pull the trigger if anyone moves – and everyone else drops their weapons!

I have to acknowledge, there is always the possibility that he’s been holding back but that seems stupid, too. If he wanted to take the major cities using a Blitzkrieg kind of strategy, it would have made sense to send in overwhelming force. Putin didn’t do that. So, he seems to be counting heavily on the fact that he HAS nukes, even though he can’t actually USE his nukes. (BTW, the world’s timidity in attacking countries with nukes explains perfectly why Iran is so focused on getting them. But that’s another essay.)

To be clear, I’m not pro-war. I think, like most Americans, we’re all effing tired of fighting after George’s Stupid Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it wouldn’t be a US response, it would be NATO, not some pretend “coalition.” Besides, the response wouldn’t be about invading a country for no reason other than greed. (In fact, that seems to be what Putin did.) This is about a madman who has come to believe that he can’t be stopped. This feels more like Germany in 1938. The Nazis claimed Austria and Czechoslovakia. Hitler got away with that because the world let him, agreeing that, well, yes, they HAD been Germany, once, so, it was probably okay. (Sound familiar?) Those were fiat takeovers backed by the threat of military force. Then they invaded Poland.

Putin got away with his fiat takeover of Crimea in much the same way. Then he tried the “used to be ours” crap on Ukraine. That’s still his justification. The world seems to be accepting that clearly fraudulent argument in fear of the nukes. (I’m sure the people of the First Nations are wondering if “used to be ours” might work on the North American continent – if, perhaps, world governments would turn up their bellies and just…give it back.)

I don’t know if I’m right. But it feels like we’re not avoiding war by allowing the Russian Strongman to run roughshod over his neighbors. It feels like we’re just making worse the inevitable war of the future…