A Special Place in Hell

A Special Place in Hell 

WASHINGTON — Peter Navarro, one of President Trump’s top trade advisers, said on Tuesday that it was a mistake to suggest that “there is a special place in hell” for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, offering a rare apology from a White House that almost never walks back heated rhetoric. 

 

-       Navarro Apologizes for ‘Special Place in Hell’ Comments About Trudeau, New York Times

By J.M. Hamilton (6-23-2018)

Amidst the bedlam, cacophony, & chaos surrounding Trump's decision to separate immigrant children from their families, and POTUS' subsequent retreat from that decision (in the face of expressions of public outrage and rebellion from even the most faithful of Trump supporters)...  several, seemingly, random news stories flashed through my mind.

Starting with Dr. Evil himself, former VP Dick Cheney, blasting a fellow Republican, and a lawyer, in the face with a shotgun during a hunting trip; and as reported by The Hill - some ten years later - Cheney failing to apologize to the victim for that event;

The spectacle of AG Jeff Sessions grinning like a jackal - as he cited Romans 13 (a chapter in the Bible used by fanatics to legitimize everything from National Socialism to slavery) to justify his policy of incarcerating & separating immigrant children at the border;

Then popped up Peter Navarro, Trump's trade advisor, claiming "there's a special place in hell" for the likes of Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau. The Canadian PM was merely guilty of standing up for his country (as any citizen would ask their leader to do, including Trump - on the matter of trade);

And last but not least among the stories that flashed randomly by, was the recent news item where conservative icon --- and one of the last of a moral breed of Republican, who is simultaneously erudite, intelligent and principled (words one generally does not say in the same sentence, when referring to today's Republican Party, as they are oxymoronic) --- George Will told Republican voters to vote Democratic in the upcoming midterms, because the GOP has become invertebrate. 

(Note: While JMH couldn't agree with the rationale for Mr. Will's recommendation more, that GOP members of Congress are a timid band of useless lackeys... I also couldn't help but notice Mr. Will's recommendation seems to validate, my oft repeated assertion, that today's Democratic Party leadership has moved so far right that they are only more moderate servants of the ruling Oligarchy.  That is to say, the Democratic establishment are distinguishable from Republican leadership in that they are only slightly less slavishly devoted to the Billionaire class’ bag men.  It's a matter of degrees.)

What do these random news stories seem to have in common?  Well, they point to nothing less than the GOP's downward spiral, right down into Dante's ninth circle (rumor has it, Republicans may drill down into a 10th circle, in the hopes of striking oil).  The moral collapse is so complete that Republican congresspersons have been reduced to being slobbering stooges for the financial aristocracy.  So morally bankrupt and vacuous has today's Republican leadership – and many in the base - become that no few in number are willing to use children as pawns to advance their pet political projects (like building a wall on our Southern border). 

Ironically, even the most hardened felons have a moral code.  And the lowest in the pecking order w/in America's prison industrial complex are said to be the abusers of children.  A special place in hell some might say is voting into power a government that has dubious and questionable values, condones the mistreatment of children for political gain, and that said government is entirely unaccountable to the American people.

(John Moore/Getty Images)

Aside from the moral collapse of the Republic, there is a very real immigration issue.  

And as usual, many in the mainstream media have identified the issue, and even the catalyst for record setting immigration - such as gangs, Latin America violence, and climate change - but often fail to take it a step further and affix blame.

What is causing the global dysphoria?

As the UN recently reported: a record 68 million displaced and growing.

Coming out of Afghanistan, and the Middle East, and flooding into Europe are war refugees and immigrants seeking better economic opportunities.  The Middle East youth demographic, and youth unemployment are exceptionally high on both counts.  These refugees are fleeing America's, and American sponsored & supplied, wars that are waged throughout the region (many of these Middle East wars are interconnected with our alliance to the Saudis - who sponsor the very terror we send our brave armed forces to die and fight against, in an ultra-deadly Catch -22).

Globally, America's & the West's energy policies - and its support for Middle East oil monarchies & Big Oil multinationals - are leading to hellish temperatures along the equator (read: Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East).  Climate change too, is a substantial contributor to the exodus into Canada, Europe, and the United States.

And we wonder why people are fleeing at record levels?

Closer to home in Latin America, the US - and what the Monroe Doctrine as practiced - appears to mean is backing right-wing strongmen and junta generals (who are, or were, highly oppressive to their citizens). The US, in many instances, chooses dictatorships over democratically elected officeholders, globally.  Why is that?  Is it because the commercial interests, that run our country, prefer doing business w/ dictators?

These same US sponsored dictatorships, in many instances, crush their people, and exhibit little or no respect for the niceties of due process, human rights, or the rule of law. 

Here in the Americas, the US - too - wages endless war, w/ Mr. Nixon's war on drugs.  Americans have an insatiable appetite for escape and illegal intoxicants (possibly because 40% of us are paid a non-living wage, if we have a job at all), which are made readily available by our Latin American neighbors (provided via black markets, gangs, and governments - including the US - that are often co-opted & de facto dealers).

For America to gripe about immigration (when we are a Nation of Immigrants) ... sounds almost nauseating.  Especially when it is the United States' official energy & foreign policy - and our policy of endless warfare - that are direct contributors to global mass migration.  Not only are US policies (drug, energy, foreign, & martial) harmful in and of themselves, both morally & environmentally - and cause fiscal and monetary damage to the nation - but they are directly responsible for mass dysphoria & migration. 

To say we have vastly better alternatives to our perennial support for Big Oil, Latin American & Middle East dictatorships (then & now), and the Military/Intelligence Industrial Complex is an understatement.  America should adopt alternative energy, push for democracy & human rights - globally, decriminalize & legalize drugs (a la Canada, Portugal, and Uruguay), and engage in diplomacy & peace as an alternative to credit card wars. 

Humanity, the planet, the Goddess above - and yes, possibly even the oligarchy  - might appreciate the policy change.  It might even allow desperate families to stay in their home countries, instead of making dangerous trans-state treks, or oceanic journeys, w/ families and children in tow.

But whether they make the journey or not, all Americans ought to agree that children should not be separated from their families.

That the US has not already moved in a more advanced direction, because too many wealthy special interests (the MIC, private prison contractors, Big Oil, and Wall Street) are insistent upon maintaining the status quo, may attest to the possibility that the United State has already landed in a special place in hell. 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018