My friend and blogvesary started his own version of Cult 45 over on FB. I posted on his feed a bit before the inevitable trolls, intent on driving any meaningful engagement into the dirt, surfaced. I wrote numerous articles on my own decision to bow out of the FB phenomenon (circa 2011). Arguing with friends and family is fool’s errand …and Pokey is that fool. The pattern, that my friend misses post-after-post and year-after-year, has always been clear to me. I recognized, long ago, the false narrative being created on the right would one day topple our constitution, our courts, our economy, and our environment. News Flash: that day came and went. My predictions were right, yet you have no idea the chaos and misery you have fomented, even now? Sometimes a 20-year heads-up just isn’t long enough, eh Poke? It’s rather insulting that months or years after making certain observations that republicans simply turn the chart upside down and start hurling the same accusations leftward. My recent article on fascism, here. I also warned how the left would follow suit as a reaction, yet last week in a post entitled You know who you are! my friend accused the liberals of being the fascists. Say wie geht’s to Herr Goebbles for me.

The Pokester is doing what republicans are known for, namely, hyper-focusing on anecdotal liberal shittiness (ALS). As I’ve said before, it’s a false equivalency to point out the fascist tactic of the ‘liberal on the street’ vs a despot in the WH. So, with that in mind, let’s roast this turd…

His first bit is on the origins of the BLM movement. The “hands up, don’t shoot” slogan from BLM that originated with the death of Michael Brown. Of course, I too warned the movement about lumping in instances of police brutality with hazier incidents of she said, he shot. There’s plenty of better examples to rally behind, thus my warning to BLM to choose wisely or risk derailing the cause.

Here’s my initial response to the death of Michael Brown in response to Pokey in 2014:

“Obama condemned the court’s decision in the Brown case, oh wait, he didn’t. Damn facts. Obama has said multiple times that if you break the law, you will be prosecuted. He’s called for calm. I guess that’s translated now by republicans as ‘Obama’s inciting violence.’ This movement is being handled poorly, by the media, and I have been against such stuff since the Tawana Brawley days. Remember her? I’ve heard Obama’s speeches on this. He is nuanced and pluralistic at times, but he’s always careful. You extrapolate my views in the same way you extrapolate Obama’s misdeeds.”

My Tawana Brawley example also covers his Jussie Smollet bit. Don’t use the wrong incident, period. It doesn’t change the fact police brutality is real. For those with access to information, their lack of education and training brings with it about the worst death stats in the industrialized world. And, like it or not, systemic racism is alive in well in the US. Backing the wrong scenario for Brown or Smollet doesn’t dismiss the countless chest cam video assassinations. Stop.Pretending.It.Does.

My friend avoids all the Eric Garner and George Floyds of the world to pick out the occasional instances wherein the police may have a point. We watched the videos, Poke. When you were watching men suffocate, where did your reason go? The oxygen supply to their brains got cut off prematurely, not yours. Just yesterday an officer in SLC ordered a police dog to bite a cuffed unarmed black man. Stop finding the one statutorial-error amidst the Nuremberg trials and let’s identify the actual problem.

Then Pokey evokes the Covington Kid debacle, but here’s what I said the day after the incident:

“The Covington coverage was a disgrace this week, on both sides. I predicted MSNBC would sink to near Fox-like levels and it’s happening.”

Then he goes right to everyone is condemning Kavanaugh a sex offender. Hmmm. I did make one joke to that effect, but comedy first! But here on the ‘Cord I chose to focus, not on the allegations themselves but on Kavanaugh’s reactions. I saw this more as a test of his character—a worthy pursuit for a man being assessed for a position on the highest court in the land. And, based on his performance/response, he failed … quite miserably. Or, my assessment at the time:

“…compare that to your 45-minute Kavanaugh tantrum/sob fest and you have a pretty good idea of Democratic intelligencia vs Republican brain rot. Character: you people should consider getting some.”

Or, as I said another time “I was not in the room, but I did get to hear his whiny, pathetic excuses.” May or may not be a sex offender, but clearly unworthy. In his defense, it’s very hard to find anyone with character on the right side of the aisle. In 2020 being a republican represents a deep character flaw and an obvious disqualifier.

Enter the next SCOTUS pick under McConnell. The final insult.

Then he has a list at the end. Hint: he should have quit while he was ahead (not ahead of me, of course):

Is there any merit in my friend’s diatribe? Yes. There is a very real liberal fascist component out there, but they represent the saboteurs of their own cause, which is why I mentioned this sidebar shit as it occurred. But who’s more dangerous to our future, the Outsiders or the White Housers? Pokey’s not wrong on this, but it’s kind of like blaming Brad Pitt’s ingloriousness for being a little too hard on the Nazis. Never mistake the reaction for the cause. You’re finding the one questionable argument, while ignoring the mountain of evidence. Even if every point in Pokeyland is accurate, you must know that you’re defending the indefensible. You are still choosing the wrong side, after everyone else figured this out. The US could have led the world, but instead you start a crime syndicate for Jesus thing? Really?

Granted, today members of the trans community burned Harry Potter books to protest JK Rowling’s perceived animosity toward the transgendered. Great move, Lola, now watch while I hit you with my purse. This would be a brilliant ploy if it were secretly carried out by Trump supporters. I can’t think of a better way to help push the incumbent over the top than such an unwitting and unfortunate display.

As disturbing as this is, to the best of my knowledge none of these people are currently running the Department of Justice.

See the difference? We condemn our Nazis, you elect them. They’re not representative of liberals; they’re not grounded in any meaningful principles, so I can separate them from progressivism as a whole, in a way republicans simply can’t. Whereas I can lump you in with the Deplorables, Poke, you don’t have that luxury on the other side. You need to know the score. Seventeen years and you never landed a punch, oh two-time featherweight national champion, which makes this post of yours today even funnier.

“If your true goal is to learn and teach the truth, then you will never lose an argument.”

You are a bright guy, Poke, which makes all of this more confounding, but as this article shows, yet again, when you do make a good point I agree with you, but that doesn’t change the fact these moments are exceedingly rare. Essentially, you’re cherry-picking the six times the liberal media botched it, but if I were live-streaming Fox & Friends there would be more instances of falshoods in the time it took me to write this article. Republicans have done a thousand things wrong since I’ve followed politics, the end result of their failures will destroy us. This has been my clarion call for 20 years. While I support pragmatists, you vote for fascists. It’s as simple as that. Justify it all you want, but your words are in the books and they will be used against you in a court of blog.

You don’t know who I am. By the very definition of republicanism, you can longer process information. Sure, you get to speak and we get to take a knee, each and every time, because republican thought—if one can call it that anymore—is damaging to the public discourse. In the end, even the most eloquent republican sympathizer is still a republican sympathizer.