DDD ~ IDES OF MARCH EDITION

I KNEW THE SERBIAN WARLORD LOOK WOULD MAKE A COMEBACK ONE DAY!

Today, spare a thought for the Dutch, who are embarking on the first national elections in the Western world since 2016's nationalist one-two punch of the UK's Brexit vote, and the "victory" of Donald Trump in the United States Presidential contest. Looking to score a right-wing hat trick is the Netherlands' Freedom Party leader, Geert Wilders, who in photographs always looks like he's saying his own name: "GEERT!"

With a "populist" (anti-Muslim) message and a head of hair that rivals Trump's for sheer ridiculousness, this perennial opposition figure's party has a shooting chance of winning the most seats in parliament... but zero chance of becoming anything but, in the best (or worst) case scenario, an opposition on steroids. This is due to the vagaries of the Dutch parliamentary system, combined with the high number of popular parties, which all but mandates multi-party, coalition governments. So... Hooray, bureaucracy! 

Unless you're a fucking Nazi piece of shit, like Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa), one of Wilders' many Far Right/reactionary/Islamophobic American cheerleaders, who yesterday took to the Twitter machine to declare: "Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies." King later went on CNN to defend his views, babbling some bullshit about birth rates and bloodlines and how he only wants to see immigrants integrate better into society, fooling no one. 

Other members of the Geert Wilders Fan Club include Steve Bannon (natch!), a bunch of anonymous wealthy right-wing assholes, and former Stalinist, current fascist David Horowitz, one of the vilest creatures ever to crawl from the muck of ideological confusion. This Jewish man's hate for Muslims runs so deep, he's willing to break multiple laws just for the opportunity to stuff cash into a foreign Neo-Nazi politico's pockets. 

But guess what? It turns out Horowitz's contributions might be kosher, after all! Not legally speaking, of course, but if we're going by the matrilineal rule, it hardly matters, does it? After all, if it's good enough for the Fuhrer...

IN OTHER NEWS

Everybody’s talking about the potentially catastrophic consequences of implementing Trumpcare, which could see up to 24 million Americans losing their healthcare coverage, according to an in-depth investigation conducted by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Not that Trump, his Redcap True Believers, or the average Republican give a crap what the CBO has to say about such things anymore. Their attitude towards such “reality based” organizations can be boiled down to its essential conceit: “Experts don’t know shit.”

But now, the Washington Post has seen a preliminary version of Trump’s proposed budget, and according to their analysis, along with a “historic contraction” of the federal workforce and slashing cuts to any department that doesn’t involve killing or caging people, it’s looking like up to 12 million Americans might lose their housing.

Makes you wonder how much more "American Carnage" people are going to take before they've finally had their fill, and enough of them wake up to the fact that there isn't anybody out there in the wilderness who's going to wander back around and save them from the Bad Guys who've taken over their government. They're going to have to do it for themselves.

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SUGGESTED READINGS

1. In an effort to break out of my self-imposed ideological bubble, I've decided to try and read at least a couple "controversial" articles or essays every day that go against my usual political sympathies. So from now on, just because you see an article recommended in the DDD's Suggested Readings section, that doesn't necessarily mean that it gets yer old pal Jerky's seal of approval. So now, with that caveat out of the way, here's gay conservative Andrew Sullivan's essay asking the rhetorical question: "Is Intersectionality a Religion?"

Published in the most recent issue of New York Magazine, it tells the woe-filled tale of how a bunch of pink-haired, slogan-shouting undergrads wouldn't allow a scheduled talk by Charles Murray--he of Bell Curve, "you're not racist because Blacks are genetically inferior" infamy--to proceed as scheduled. In the ensuing melee, hair got pulled, neck muscles got wrenched, and a concussion was allegedly incurred (although the nonchalant post-attack behavior of the victims, as described by Sullivan himself, make some of his more spectacular claims seem suspect).

As I read the story, and watched the embedded video, I felt a curious mix of emotions. As one of the few people who actually bothered to read Murray and Herrnstein's Bell Curve, as well as literally hundreds of articles, op-eds, and book-length rebuttals of their work, I am fully aware of both his shoddy scholarship and his moral decrepitude. So watching him be given the business didn't exactly break my heart. On the other hand, there is certainly something disturbingly cult-like about the students' behavior on display.

And so, even though I realize it's going to ignite an anti-SJW fire in some of my readers' hearts, I'm trusting most of you will be sufficiently self-aware to understand that such knee-jerk emotional reactions (which I, myself, share) are neither a worthy foundation for a political position, nor are they admirable in and of themselves.

With that said, I'd love to hear your comments. Email me at jerkyleboeuf@gmail.com and I'll publish them in a future posting.

2. Our second "controversial" suggestion for this edition comes from what used to be one of my favorite cultural literary digests, The Baffler. It's Yasha Levine's story, From Russia, With Panic, and it contains an extended narrative about Russia's 2008 conflict with Georgia over South Ossetia, which the author believes serves as a historical reminder about the dangers of overstating the perils posed by so-called "cyberwarfare". Although this story does have a faint whiff of paradoxical Putin-apologism-cum-purity-leftism about it, the stench isn't quite so cloying or pervasive as it is with so many other examples of that ideologically misbegotten cohort. Anyway, at the very least, it's an interesting lesson about a recent chapter in Russian history that most of us had already forgotten. Just try to ignore the fact that Levine is one of those who has taken it upon himself to help validate the Kremlin's smear of Canadian Foreign Minister Christya Freeland as a "scumbag Nazi Collabo" over something her grandfather wrote in a Ukrainian newsletter 3/4 of a fucking century ago. So... you know... caveat lector.

3. Speaking of Putin, the Kremlin, and their destabilization targets in the West, here's a quick read from McLean's Magazine, Canada's version of Time or Newsweek, discussing Russia's Coming Attack on Canada, in which they posit that the smear campaign against Freeland is probably only the start. It begins:

Moscow has been waging an increasingly daring clandestine war against western democracies. Under the direction of President Vladmir Putin, Russia is targeting most of the major members of the western alliance. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned of Russian attempts at cyber attacks. In France, Moscow has funded right-wing populist Marine Le Pen and is alleged to be spreading false propaganda about her opponents. There are now reports from British parliamentarians that Russia may have meddled with the Brexit campaign. And, of course, Putin’s interference in the U.S. Presidential election has lit a tire fire in Washington that may bring down the Trump administration, and at the very least has left America’s political institutions reeling, and its alliances weakened. 

Moscow is being forced to play these aggressive and risky games out of desperation. The country is in bad shape and it is getting worse. The once great superpower now has an economy smaller than Canada’s and it continues to shrink. Even though they spend 5 per cent of their GDP on defence, Russia’s military forces have grown so rusted out they can barely get their last aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean and back without breaking down. Even the ragtag Ukrainians have fought them to a standstill. Diplomatically, Moscow has never been so isolated and powerless. You can count its friends on one hand, and it’s not an impressive list: Syria, Iran, Belarus. 

In a rules-based international system where your influence is measured by the size of your economy, your cultural soft-power, and your stature in multilateralism, Moscow has become an afterthought. And, if Russia didn’t still have a cold war nuclear arsenal, it would garner even less attention. So, losing the international game of chess, Putin is seeking to knock over the board itself—to discredit the multilateral world order, and destabilize the comparably strong western alliance. 

Canada is a logical target.

Keep reading. Especially if you're a Canuck, like yer old pal Jerky. 

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“He’s won status and respect of the president... and talks all the time to Jared!”

- In an effort to set minds at ease over the apparent sidelining and public invisibility of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Phillip "Bob" Corker Jr. (R-TN) would like to remind everyone that the man gets along swimmingly with the President's Son-in-Law. So, you know... it's all good!

DDD EXTRAS

• I've created a new blog! The Mediavore! From Cult to Canon, from Classic to Trash, this is the place to find out what yer old pal Jerky thinks about all the latest media! Cinema! Books! Music! Comics! Television! Bullet Reviews! In-depth Analysis! If you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to send them along! New stuff coming shortly!
• If you want to learn about some cool and/or weird things that happened on whatever day of history that it happens to be when you're reading this, why not check out our sister-site, Useless Eater Blog? You're sure to find something of interest, guaranteed!

THE TAKEAWAY

I drew something last night I'd like to share with y'all. Here it is! A blue and yellow man with red eyes, for no reason whatsoever. Hope you enjoy it!