GOP Convention Day 2: Politics By Blunt Instruments

Before I get into last night's coverage of the GOP Hillary bashing, let's talk about the world we live in and the strange response to violence or even criticism of a country's leaders. Why must we respond with a move towards fascism and censorship? Even France seems to want permanent martial law... Of course, I still can't figure out why France has been attacked by jihadists so much, it has been the friendliest to Muslim refugees and been more inclusive than most other European countries...

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded to the recent failed coup, by vowing punishment and revenge to the extreme end of the spectrum. Over the past 16 years he has moved to a more autocratic style of rule, which is fueled by his guilt and paranoia. It has finally exploded in his revenge on an old friend turned enemy, a Sufi cleric who lives in Pennsylvania since 1999... Mr Erdogan has purged his military by 35,000 members, 15,000 education ministry employees are gone, 21,000 teachers and 1,500 university deans have been dismissed. Sounds like he has been making his lists for a long time... And now he is insisting that the US deport the Sufi cleric back to Turkey so he can put him in jail and torture him.

Besides the personal animosity between these guys, there has been a long history of both Sunnis and Shiites persecuting the Sufis as heretics. Sufism is essentially mystical teachings, and usually ignores the more crazy pronouncements by the Sunni and Shiite clerics, which makes them burn down Sufi shrines, like they have done in Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria in recent years. ISIS hates Sufis and have been responsible for many of the shrine attacks...

Israel just passed a law allowing them one step closer to autocratic right-wing rule, by allowing their congress to vote out members they find offensive, mostly Arab members that they previously had to allow because they were voted in. If this keeps up, who will support an Israel that ends up more resembling fascism than any other country in the Middle East or Europe?




All I really can say about the 2nd day of the GOP convention, is that I am emotionally drained and

depressed after witnessing another evening of mean spirited, brutal Hillary bashing. I have never seen politics played out at this level of negativity, and if I were someone just tuning in by curiosity, I would be shocked and repelled... And to think there's more of this tonight, well I might watch the Jason Bourne trilogy again for some relief...

Ironically, the best speech of the night, and best speech of the convention so far, was given by Donald Trump Jr. He read the teleprompter way too fast, and has yet to learn when to make pause for emphasis, but as a newcomer to political speechmaking, he blew the socks off of the older, more experienced white guys. ( No people of ethnicity tonight, guess they shot their wad on that... )

For a guy with three wives and children by each of them, The Donald has turned out some nice kids, who speak highly of him even though they were never raised by him. I think that it's because he accepts them into his businesses and set them up in their own that they are grateful and positive towards him, enough to overlook his rough and nasty public persona and cruel putdowns. Hey, even Chris Christy came back like a lapdog and gave a mean speech last night...

George W Bush has given the fear that this may be the last Republican Convention, especially if Trump gets trounced. Lord knows it needs to purge the right-wing crazies who have no sense of humor. I must insist on getting a sixpack of beer for tonight, I am such a lightweight that I'll be drunk after the first five minutes of continued Hillary bashing. Who knows, maybe it is time to move to New Zealand...