Upon hearing that the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy had passed, the novelist Gorky said on behalf of other Russian writers whom Tolstoy had inspired:”Now… we are all orphans.” That is how many of us feel who recognize, and often relied upon, Brother Zach’s leadership; he was indefatigable in his efforts to uplift and advance the interests of the Black community. He seemed to be anywhere and everywhere, anytime and all the time, lending his considerable talents to a wide array of causes 24/7. More often than not he did it pro-bono, which is the truest measure of commitment.
Brother Zach was what they called “Race Men” in the 20th century, the century that shaped him and defined his values. And he has planted positive seeds in many places that will bear fruit to nourish the minds and spirits of generations yet unborn. With his ever present smile and heroic optimism in the face of persistent adversity, he was one of a kind.
Over the course of what has turned out to be a fairly long and eventful life, I have traveled over the ocean seas, and resided for nearly half a century in this grand metropolis at the center of the world. It sometimes seems that I have met every variety of human being and spoke to everybody twice, thus I am certain that I have met a representative sample of what humanity has to offer.
Yet I have never met a better man than Brother Zach, and I am certain that I never will. As our Ibo ancestors – whose prolific and profound proverbs appear to have encapsulated all the world’s wisdom regarding the human condition and the vicissitudes of life – would say on this question: “A better man than Zachary Husser has not been born….and his mother is dead.”
When I heard Brother Zach had danced and joined the ancestors, I was devastated. I had just hung out with him a few weeks ago and he seemed healthy as a race horse, moving in triple speed running hither and yon as was his habit. He was a man on a permanent mission, a man who lived a purpose driven life. One need only look at his Face Book page in order to see a catalogue of the myriad activities that he was involved with. It caused the thoughtful observer to wonder when he slept…or just chilled.
Yet despite the fact that he was always in the trenches did not make him bitter or depressed. Like the blues, Zach understood that life could be a low down dirty shame…but we had to keep on swinging anyway. It was this irrepressible spirit embodied in the blues that enabled the Afro-American people to keep our souls in tact in the face of the horrors of American racism.
Hence Zach always had a ready smile; whose incandescence was made the brighter when contrasted with his regal ebony hue. He was – as the brilliant 18th century Afro-American scientist Benjamin Banneker described himself in a letter to Thomas Jefferson introducing a mathematical treatise authored by himself – “a negro of the deepest dye.”
There was a grandeur about him that reminded me of the ancient Ethiopian King Menelek the II, and a benevolence worthy of a saint. I cannot remember a time when Brother Zach was not in good spirits and convinced that if we just kept the faith and continued the struggle…victory is assured!
Hence the question before us now is how do we remember such a grand spirit? How should we honor and celebrate him? Well, first we must approach the task with humility given the gravitas of the subject. I have searched for words sufficiently poetic and profound to describe the debt we owe for his service to us. And more importantly how do we pay it.
Although words are my game, they sometimes desert me when the gravitas of a subject is such it challenges the power of words to describe – even if one relies on the poetic treasure trove manifest in language of Shakespeare, Gwendolyn Brooks, The King James Bible, Zora Neale Hurston, Chaucer and James Weldon Johnson. Now is such a time.
However, knowing Zach as I do – and I knew him very well – I think we will honor him best by continuing the fight for the things he fought for since he was one of the leaders of the historic student strike at Columbia University as a teenager.* He would no doubt have smiled at the many good things that will be said of him, but joining the struggle is the best way to keep his spirit alive. His works will live on because great works, whether in literature or life….will long endure.
This Struggle Attracted National Leaders
Chillin On the Beach
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*To read about the Columbia University Strike see:
Trump Shows Symptoms of Malignant Narcissism and Paranoia
The best proof that the major media is not the vicious antagonist that Trump claims they are is the mealy-mouth pussy footing way they are responding to his tweet in the aftermath of the bombing plot. For instance, any serious attempt to explain the irrationality of Trump’s tweet should logically begin by referencing the diagnosis of Trump’s mental maladies provided by alarmed psychiatrists who signed the “Duty to Warn” statement; which has now reached 70, 000!
The mental health professionals tell us that Donald J. Trump, the Moscow Candidate who became president of the US in an election rigged by the Russians – which many knowledgeable observers believe is the reason why Trump is so uncharacteristically deferential to Putin – is suffering from Malignant Narcissism and Paranoia. All one need do is check out their descriptions of the symptons of these psycho-pathologies and compare them to Trump’s public behavior to see that their diagnosis is right on the money. It is so obvious and in yo face one does not need any professional training to see it.
Ordinarily Narcissistic people are just annoying and boorish, but those suffering from “Malignant Narcissism” are dangerous. And if it is manifested in the leader of a great nation with enormous power it can be deadly! If the person is also “paranoid” – which causes him to believe that everyone is “out to get him” – then the danger that they will inflict great harm is dramaticly increased. The last leader of a great nation who declared himself a “Nationalist” started World War II, in which 50 million people were slaughtered! Hence having a US President in command of a nuclear arsenal, who is suffering from the same sicknesses as that leader, is no picayune matter.
In legal parlance there is something called Prima Faice evidence, which in layman’s terms means that on the face of it, without further investigation, we can draw certain conclusions from a cursory examination of the evidence that an offense has occurred. In face of the indisputable evidence that the bombers hit list corresponds exactly to Trump’s enemies list – people whom the US President routinely targets for scurrilous verbal assaults – Trump tweeted the following:
“A very big part of the Anger we see in our society today is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the mainstream media that I call fake news. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream media must clean up its act FAST!”
After calling for unity among the American people on Wednesday Devious Donnie was up to his old dirty tricks again on Thursday, when he blamed the press and the Democrats for the bombs sent to their leaders. And on Friday he said that he bore no responsibility for the bombings; that his language on the stump is fine because the people love it. He mentioned the nut that shot the Republican Congressman last year and pointed out that he was a Democrat. All in all Trump pretends the attempted bombings are an unfathomable mystery, and the fact that the bombs went to all the people that have criticized him, and he has repeatedly attacked in the most vicious ways, is merely coincidental.
The fact that the bombers hit list corresponds precisely with his enemies list does not appear to persuade Trump that his rhetoric had any role in motivating attacks by the “MAGA bomber” – as he is being called after the FBI arrested Ceasar Sayok, connecting him to the bombs by fingerprints and DNA. The FBI has produced pictures of Caesar at Trump rallies, and he rode around in a van covered with pro-trump signs and photographs; yet Dirty Donnie denies any responsibility for provoking this guy with his rancid incendiary rhetoric.
The MAGA Bomber
A Fanatical Devotee of the Trump Personality Cult
Ceasar’s Trumpmobile
The Signs Celebrate Trump and Fingers his Critics
Shockingly, even after these stunning revelations, Trump went right out and denounced the press and the Democrats before a howling untutored redneck mob in North Carolina. All the while coldly announcing that he had not called any of the intended victims of the “bomber” to express his support; winking to those who say the entire bombing affair is a hoax, giving silent consent to keep it up. “I’ll pass” he said doubling down on his decision not to call the intended victims. Alas, Michael Bechloss, a leading historian of the American presidency, says: “I spend my life studying history and looking for parallels, but I can find no parallel to the behavior of Donald Trump in this situation.”
Trump has also warned against comparing him to “villains of the past.” These statements reveal a personality that is incapable of being self-critical. It also exposes Trump’s belief that he is so much smarter than his acolytes – a motley crew of sycophants and assorted failures fanatically committed to Trump’s personality cult – that he can piss on their heads and convince them it is warm summer rains. How else could he have the chutzpah to come before them and tell outrageous lies that are so transparent even Stevie Wonder and the Five Blind Boys can see through them? Yet he was greeted by cheers, which speaks to the pathological symbiosis Trump has with his boosters that serves to nourish and reinforce his madness.
The exact nature of that madness is described by Dr. James McIntosh, a practicing Psychiatrist and college lecturer, in his essay: “On the psychology of Hitler and Trump,” at https://commentariesonthetimes.me/2018/09/07/on-the-psychology-of-hitler-and-trump/. Quoting from studies commissioned by the OSS – Office of Strategic Services, the US intelligence agency that preceded the CIA – on Adolph Hitler during World War II, Dr. Mcintosh tells us:
“An Excerpt from The Introduction to Murray’s Report reads as follows. “Murray pegged Hitler’s personality as ‘counteractive narcissism,’ a type that is stimulated by real or imagined insult or injury. According to Dr. Murray, the characteristics of this personality type include: holding grudges, low tolerance for criticism, excessive demands for attention, inability to express gratitude, a tendency to belittle, bully, and blame others, desire for revenge, persistence in the face of defeat, extreme self-will, self-trust, inability to take a joke, and compulsive criminality.”
Dr. McIntosh then poses these questions:
“Does Inability to take a joke describe Donald Trump, the man who goes on a tweet tirade because he is made fun of on Saturday Night Live? Do the words belittle and bully describe the man who said of Rosie O’Donnell, “If I were running my business, I’d fire Rosie, I mean, I’d look her right in that fat ugly face of hers and say, “Rosie, you’re fired?” Doesn’t every word in Dr. Murray’s description describe Donald Trump? Histrionic is the modern word that approximates what wasmeant when Hitler was described by Dr. Murray as “Hysteric.”
Dr. McIntosh – who is one of the psychiatrists that signed the Duty to Warn statement- goes on to offer this diagnosis of of the comparative psychology of Hitler and Trump:
“people often have characteristics from several personality disorders in the same Cluster or family of personality disorders. The particular cluster that so many have thought describe both Hitler and Donald Trump is called Cluster B. The 4 personality disorders in Cluster B are Narcissistic, Histrionic, Borderline and Sociopathic. What the Cluster B disorders have in common are Dramatism and impulsivity. Hitler had many Cluster B traits with perhaps narcissism and Sociopathypredominating and so does Donald Trump.”
Der Fuerer and The Donald: Two Deluded German Chauvinists!
Mighty Whitey Uber Allies!
Even in the absence of any credentials as a mental health professional the intelligent reader can see the accuracy of this diagnosis by just observing Trump’s antics on a daily basis. Hence what explains the reluctance of commentators in major corporate media to reference the psychiatric analysis of these highly qualified medical doctors – which include professors from Harvard and Yale?
I think a major part of it is that they are big corporations whose commitment to it’s bottom line trumps their devotion to telling certain controversial truths. And some blame must lay with the excessive deference paid to the so-called “Goldwater Rule.” Whereas the corporate concerns can be dismissed as opportunism inspired by commercial imperatives, there is some virtue in the motives of journalists who believe in maintaining the integrity of their reportage – their product. And aside from any consideration of lucre, they believe this commitment to avoiding certain controversies will retain the public trust.
However, while I have labored as a journalist for the past 30 years, before that I was a history professor. Hence I am schooled in the function and methods of both professions. And while journalism is the first draft of history and it is enough for journalists to report proven facts – which is essential to the work of dispassionate historians trying to accurately reconstruct the past – it is quite appropriate for those who write commentary to speculate, theorize and employ the methods of other disciplines to help interpret what the facts dug up by reporters actually mean. And it is the duty of the public intellectual to debate these issues in public forums. This is the role that I have presently chosen to play: an independent public intellectual.
Hence when Trump warns against “careless comparisons with villains of the past,” I heartily agree: That’s why my comparisons of him and Adolph Hitler have been very carefully done! At Present I have written 51 critical essays on Donald Trump, the present essay included. (See: https://commentariesonthetimes.me/category/on-donald-trump/) Just enter the tag “Trump and Hitler” to access the essays that specifically address this issue, there are seven in all; one by Dr. Macintosh and six by the present writer.
While Dr. McIntosh employs the tools of his trade, I have employed the method of the comparative historian. Although historians privildge close examination of specific facts about discrete situations, and thus is suspect of the historical analogy, it is quite possible to draw accurate historical analogies provided it is done with the care and procession of a surgeon, rather than the reckless abandon of a butcher. Hence I have chosen the approach of the surgeon when I examine the similarities in the character and political style of Donald Trump and Adolph Hitler.
The first essay that I ever wrote on Donald Trump was inspired by my recognition of some fundamental similarities between the political style of Hitler, Mousilini and him. It was published online at “Commentaries On The Times” as “Is Donald Trump a Uniquely American Fascist?” In an essay of several thousand words I argued:
“At first glance the rise of multi-billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump as a hero of the white working class seems paradoxical; since his interests and that of his class and cronies are diametrically opposed to the concerns and interests of workers. Alas Trump’s appeal to that class of voters reflects the age old tendency for desperate people to turn to the “strong man” with simple solutions for comple problems for salvation; they invest this savior figure with nearly omnipotent powers and come to believe that their fate depends upon him.”
These are ideal conditions for the rise of demagogues and dictators. More often than not such men are megalomaniacs who come to believe that they alone can lead the nation. That’s Donald Trump’s view of his role in American politics…the man who will “Make America Great Again,” just as Benito Mousolini pledged to “Make Italy Great Again.” and he reminds me of that other charismatic megalomaniacal demagogue: Adolph Hitler, who pledged to restore Germany to her former glory and create a regime that would rule the world for a thousand years. Furthermore, even as I write many people who attend Trump’s rallies conjure images of German Brown Shirts at Hitler’s Rallies; snatching signs from protestors, verbally abusing them and even physically assaulting them, and shouting the Nazi slogan ‘Lugenpresse!’ at reporters.”
This essay is a multi-media presentation with texts, photographs and video. At the top of the essay there is an epigraph that establishes the commonalty of vision between the two major fascist leaders of the 20th century – Adolph Hitler and Benito Mousilini – and Donald Trump, a wannabe autocrat of the 21st century. To demonstrate this connection I employed the following quotes from the three men.
“It all depends on me” Adolph Hitler, Nazi Rally “We are going to do things that nobody else can do…who can fix things better than me” Donald Trump, Vermont rally “Make Italy Great Again! Benito Moussilini “Make America Great Again!:” Donald Trump
Trump’s response when told that his MAGA slogan was coined by Mousilini, the founder of the Fascist party in Italy, he shrugged and said “It’s still a good slogan.”
Six more carefully written fact driven essays on the things Hitler and Trump have in common would follow. As I researched this connection between Trump and 20th century Fascist autocrats, I discovered one thing that was frighteningly similar about Trump’s tactics and those of the Nazi Party in 20th century Germany: The employment of the “Big Lie” as crafted by Dr. Josef Goebbles, the Minister of Propaganda for the Third Reich.
Whereas Hitler had one Propaganda machine spewing lies and disinformation, Trump has three: Sean Hannity, Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh. They all thrive on the principle of the Big Lie. It is the means by which these verbal arsonists keep their listeners in a constant state of rage, and truth is the first casualty of their assault upon reality. The steady stream of disinformation from these right-wing verbal arsonists has succeeded in reducing political discourse among “low information” Americans – which includes a lion’s share of Trump’s devotees – to a tower of babble!
It is an unspoken iron rule of American journalism that any comparison of an American political leader with Adolph Hitler, is a disqualifying act for a journalist. But I have no hesitation of venturing into this thorny forbidden terrain, and I welcome all challengers to my views…in fact, I double dare them to step to me. For I believe that any such intellectual kerfuffle can only enhance my reputation at the expense of the hapless fool who accepts this challenge.
The facts are on my side and I am skilled at the art and science of systematic argument, hence victory is assured. The objections of my adversaries are well known and can be easily demolished. The most ubiquitous objection is that Hitler was guilty of murdering six million European Jews plus 27 million Russians on the Eastern Front, and what, they earnestly ask, has Donald Trump done to rival these monstrous crimes?
Well…the thoughful answer would be “Give him time.” After all Hitler didn’t kill all those people in the length of time Trump has been in office. But when we consider the possible consequences of Trump’s policies on Climate change – he has pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord and dismissed the warning issued by scientists commissioned to study the problem by the United Nations who told us that humanity has about 12 years to accomplish a dramatic change in the way we assault our environment or it will be too late to salvage our planet…which will bring about the death of hundreds of millions of innocent souls and most animal species.
Added to this is Trump’s threat to initiate a new nuclear arms race on the planet by scrapping the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, a historic agreement negotiated by Ronald Reagan and Mikail Gorbachov in 1987. Trump answered critics of this move with the simple minded comment: “We have the most money” so we will win any arms race!”
Yet people who know most about this issue have a very different view. Consider the response of Dr. George Shultz and Mikail Gorbachov, two men that played a critical role in crafting and signing this nuclear treaty; which both sides hoped would be a big step toward total nuclear disarmament. Both men published OP-ED pieces in the New York Times on Friday October 26. Dr. Shulzt was the US Secretary of State at the time and had enormous input into the treaty. He wrote:
“Nuclear weapons are a threat to the world. Any large scale nuclear exchange would have globally catastrophic consequences. Conscious of this reality, President Ronald Reagan and Mikail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, worked in the 1980’s to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, with the ultimate goal of getting rid of them…Now is not the time to build larger arsenals of nuclear weapons. Now is the time to rid the world of this threat. Leaving the treaty would be a huge step backward. We should fix it not kill it.”
George Shultz and Ronald Reagan
In his Op-Ed, Mikhail Gorbachev wrote the following reflections about the impending demise of the INF Treaty.
“I am being asked whether I feel bitter watching the demise of what I worked so hard to achieve. But this is not a personal matter. Much more is at stake. A new arms race has been announced. The INF Treaty is not the first victim of the militarization of world affairs. In 2002, the United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; this year, from the Iran nuclear deal. Military expenditures have soared to astronomical levels and keep rising…Yet I am convinced that thosewho hope to benefit from a global free for all are deeply mistaken. There will be no winner in a ‘war of all against all’ – particularly if it ends in a nuclear war. And that’s a possibility that can’t be ruled out. An unrelenting arms race, international tensions, hostility and universal mistrust will only increase the risk.”
Gorbachev and Reagan
Signing Historic Treaty on Intermediate Nuclear Missiles
Militant American nationalism accompanied by a flagrant disregard bordering on contempt for international treaties that the US has signed, is sure to inspire similar behavior in other nations; which is a clear path to global conflict.
When these realities are viewed from the perspective of the policies Trump is implementing, the death tolls resulting from the conflicts engendered by these policies could well make Hitler’s crimes look picayune by comparison. One need only consult the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, an organization that has had 37 Nobel Laureates in Physics,” in order to see how Trump’s policies are bringing humanity closer to extinction! Hence, when we consider that he is a pathological compulsive liar; an extreme megalomaniac of limited knowledge about the world and a short attention span; who is also paranoid, belligerent, and manifestly unqualified for his job, it is no exaggeration to say that Donald Trump is the most dangerous man in history….in this he reigns without a rival!
Dirty Devious Donald Wants to Scrap the Treaty
A Dangerous Dastardly Demagogue!
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ATTENTION!!!!!!
In the two video presentations below we get an arresting portrait of a charismatic narcissist in action. His audience responds to his hackned cliches and blatant lies on cue, like Pavlo’s dogs salivated at the sound of his whistles. Witness what the MAGA Bomber Heard Trump say about The PRESS and the DEMOCRATS, and you will better understand MAGA bomber’s actions and President Trump.s culpability in his actions!!!!!
For those in search of a unique Jazz venue reminicent of oldtime Harlem Jazz clubs, Bill’s Place is the joint. Located in a former Speakeasy from the 1920’s, that fabulous era when Harlem was the most famous neigborhood in New York – a period vividly dscribed in “When Harlem Was in Vogue,” written by Puliter Prize winning historian David Levering Lewis – Bill’s Place features world class virtuoso’s who have performed all over the US and Abroad, sharing the bandstand with up and coming youngsters trying to learn the art of Jazz performance.
For unlike European classical music, whose techniques can be taught in the academy, the secrets of playing extended improviastional solos over chord changes, creating coherent musical statements at the speed of thought, telling a nuanced story while swinging with a Blues feeling, can only be learned jamming on the bandstand with masters of the trade.
Bill’s Place – founded by Virtuosso saxophonists, composer, arranger and band leader Bill Saxon, and his lovely brilliant wife Theda, is the ideal spot for the young seeker after the blues and abstract truth that is the essence of Jazz. Harlem born and bred, Bill Saxon – whose name suggest that he was born to play the saxophone and thus presages his destiny – is a graduate of the prestiegous New England Conservatory of Music.
Bill was annoyed by the fact that most of the Jazz clubs were located down town. Yet uptown Harlem was a major incubator of this quintessential American art, invented and bequeathed to the world by black musicians in the United States; the most imitated performing artists in the world! Hence, along with his lovely wife Dr. Saxon, they opened Bill’s Place with the objective of providing a place for Jazz afficianados – performers and fans – to enjoy an authenic evening of real Jazz in an intimate friendly environment devoted to unabridged performance of this modern complex instrumental art music.
The photographs below capture some magic musical moments from a typical Saturday night at Bill’s Place. The images show a mixed group of performers and fans comprising men and women representing the “gorgeous human mosaic of New York,” as former Mayor par excellence David Dinkins put it. It is a visual representation of the inclusive democratic character of the art form; which promotes individual liberty and improvisation that by nature assaults conventional wisdom. At the bottom of my Photographs is a video link showing Bill and friends jammin at Bill’s Place.
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The Sax Sorceror and his Apprentices
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Trading Twelves
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Groovin High
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Talkin Back
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The Rhythm Section was Swinging Hard
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The Songbirds Swooped By
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They Were Singing Bebops!
I Mean Rebopped Bebops
They Were Rightously Wailing
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Mesmerized by the Muslc…
The Audience Came from Everwhere
They Came All the Way from Sweden
And Amsterdam
In Search of an Authentic Harlem Jazz Experience
Lydia and Samaad….
A Sunday Kinda Love…that Lasts Past Saturday Night
Internationally Renowned Artist Artist Ademola Was There
Cultural Entreprenuer and Co-Owner of Harlem’s Dwyer Cultural Center
She Came Up From Baltimore
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The Joint Was Jumpin
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Old School Cool
Chillin On Hot Jazz Vibes
Baptized in Blues and Swing!
By the Jazz King of Harlem
Bewitched by a Conjour Man
We Were AnointedWith Soul!
The Wind Beneath his Wings
Dr. Theda Saxon: Manager of Bill’s Place
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Listen to Bill and other Muscians discuss the history of Harlem Jazz
Listen to Bill and Friends Perform Monk’s Music at Bill’s Place
Today, Friday October 31, Detroit held a going home ceremony for their illustrious daughter Arethea Franklin, the legendary “Queen of Soul,” and what a celebration it was! As was to be expected, many luminaries from the music world were there, and through the alchemy of television and the internet the whole world bore witness as her memory was praised in soaring song and magnificent oratory…..as few have ever been praised.
Testimonies came from preachers and politicians, community leaders, fellow artists, engaged scholars, iconic Civil rights leaders, family and friends. There has seldom been as many heavenly voices and marvelous musicians gathered in a single performance, and the music was heavily based in the gospel tradition of the black church; the sacred smithy from whence Aretha’s artistry was born, forged and continued to be inspired.
There were so many magnificent performances it could inspire admiration and even provoke envy from a choir of angels, and thus is beyond the scope of this remembrance to adequately cover no matter how erudite and able the writer.Hence I recognize that to chose any one performance for special attention would be arbitrary, and thus appear to do injustice to all the others that were equally as worthy.
That said, as I write my spirit is dancing to the powerful singing of Ms. Adurey DuBois Harris, and the amazing Chaka Khan. Thus I feel compelled bear witness. Beyond this I will urge all who loved Aretha to witness the celebration themselves on You Tube.Unless you got a hole in your soul you will experience a baptism by sonic fire, sweet tones that touch the soul. Music with a message crafted in grand poetic phrases, delivered by God’s Trombones in the intoxicating cadences of the black protestant church; gushing forth like waterfalls that bathe you in the word. Mind that you don’t find…..your spirit dancing too.
As my Grandfather Deacon George Benjamin would declare: They had church at the Greater Grace Temple in Motown today. The grandeur of the Afro-American church was on full display. It was an Amazing Grace of such power it could even touch the soul of an un-churched heathen like me. I was moved to tears by Ron Isley’s rendition of “His Eyes Were On the Sparrow,” a song I heard my Grandmother Claudia – as righteous a Christian woman as ever lived – sing many times when I was a boy, while accompanying herself on the piano.
When I heard that Aretha Franklin had finally danced and joined the ancestors it didn’t come as a shock. Having witnessed several of my friends go through this ordeal, once I heard she was in hospice care I knew this was the final step before death. Yet, despite the fact that I was expecting it, I am having a hard time finding words adequate to express what I am feeling just now. And I never have problems finding the right words for any occasion; writers block is a alien phenomenon to me. Whenever I wish to write something about anything I just sit down and do it.
I have been told by my fellow scribes that this is a gift, perhaps so, but it is a gift that for the moment has stopped giving. As I sit staring at the blank page through the tracks of my tears, I wonder if there are any words that can capture the magnificence of the Grand Diva whose soulful voice provided the background sound for so many magic moments in my life…in and out of bed. For years I would tell people that Aretha had permission to sing in my head, my heart, or my house whenever she felt like it!
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Despite the fact that I knew many of the Afro-American icons in my life and time, I met Aretha only once, and only briefly. It was at the beginning of her career, before she became a big star. She was playing the Showboat, a small Jazz club on Lombard Street in Philadelphia. The Showboat was legendary as a venue for straight ahead Jazz virtuosilike John Coltrane and Art Blakey, who were known for their artistry rather than commercial success.
The Showboat attracted an audience of “purist” for whom “going commercial”- which is to say becoming too popular and making money – was the kiss of death for a “serious” musician. This, of course, was a distinction that was born with the Be-bop revolution ushered in by musicians of genius such as Charlie Yardbird” Parker, John Berks “Dizzy” Gillespie, Kenny “Klook” Clarke, Theolonius Monk, Oscar Pettiford, et al. These master musicians were obsessed with being considered “serious artists” rather than mere “Negro entertainers.”
The masters of big band Jazz such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, and Andy Kirk were not burdened by this artistic angst for they were unconcerne with such matters. Like William Shakespeare, a theater owner, they understood that performers could be great artists and be popular i.e. commercially successful too! Aretha was cut from that cloth.
At the Showboat gig she played piano with her trio and sang magnificently. I attended the last set of a Saturday night show. And as the witching hour approached she played Theolonious Monk’s Jazz standard Round bout Midnight, and as Sunday morning came in Aretha turned to the audience and began to speak while playing softly on the piano.
Aretha told us that she was a child of the church and learned to sing in the church choir. She explained that her daddy was a great preacher, the Reverend C.L. Franklin of Detroit – who was one of the first preachers to make his sermons available on commercial recordings – and that if she were home her daddy would expect her to sing at the morning service. Then she said: “So I’m gonna take yhall to church this morning. Open the doors and let everybody seeking fellowship in.”
Accompanying herself on piano, she gave a marvelous solo performance of “Precious Lord Take My Hand.” This song, which introduced the modern Gospel sound into black church music, was composed by Thomas Dorsey and first recorded by the incomparable Gospel Diva Mahalia Jackson; it is a healing hymn, a balm for the wounded spirit. The character of this song was shaped by it’s raison d’etre.
“Professor” Dorsey, as he was popularly known, was a bluesman; the pianist and arranger with blues Diva Ma Raney’s band. He was travelling with her on tour when he got word that his wife was in the hospital and was having difficulty giving birth. He left the road immediately and hastened to her bedside…. but she and the baby died before he reached her.
It was in the depth of this pain and dispair that Dorsey composed “Precuous” Lord.” Hence the poignant poetry of pain and pathos bordering on dispair, rescued by appealing to the grace of God. It is a perfect marriage of words and music that produced an artistic edifice powerful enoughto shelter the battered soul. Aretha’s rendition of this healing hymn was so deeply moving she invoked the spirit of God in “the house of the Devil.” She would evoke this same soul power when she sang it for Dr. Martin Luther King’s funeral. Aretha’s soul stirring rendition of this song concluded her set to rousing applause.
I made my way over to her and expressed my admiration for her musical gifts, and predicted that she was going to be big! History has proved me prescient in this instance; for she became very big indeed! Not only is there no singer in 20th century American music more important than Aretha Franklin, but the amazing line of Afro-American Divas in the Rhythm&Blues / Pop music genres are her artistic progeny. Natalie Cole, Whitney, Mariah, Mary J. Blidge, Byonce, etc On her first hit record “This Will Be,” Natalie Cole come perilously close to outright imitating Aretha’s style. Whitney was taught the art of singing by her mother, Cissy Houston, a fabulous singer who sang back up for Aretha.
When I was hired to write the official CBS biography for Mariah Cary by Marylin Laverty, Director of Publicity for Columbia Records Group, before the release of her first album, Mariah told me that although her mother was an opera singer and she had been around classical singers growing up, Aretha Franklin was the major inspiration for her.And if one has discerning ears, you can hear Aretha’s influence on Mary J, whether she says so or not.
White singers and musicians were also influenced by Aretha. Ten time Grammy Award winner Bonnie Rait says he got both her concept of how to be a singer and a woman from listening to Aretha’s records. Elton John says she is his favorite piano player, and Paul Mccartney has been effusive in his praise of her artistry and generously confesses her effect on the Beatles. The tragic British Pop Diva Amy Winehouse was so influenced by Aretha that some misguided British toblid wags had begin to call her “The Queen of Soul!” I wrote a brutal critique of that bogus claim in my essay, “Fallen Angel.”
It is enough to declare that as a vocal artist, in the realm Gospel/Rhythm and Blues, Aretha reigned without a rival! Her 18 Grammy’s, numerous gold and platnum albums, myriad other honors and acolades, plus the love of millions of faithful fans around the world for over half a century, provide unimpeachable evidence for this claim. The power of her artistry so moved the great Leontyne Price, Prima Donna Absoluta of the Grand Opera, she testified that when she wanted to listen to a singer for pure pleasure in private moments…she always chose Aretha. Now let every head bow and every tongue confess the Queen’s majesty.
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But beyond the extended praise for Aretha’s mastery of song – the apotheosis of which was 91 year old actress Cicily Tyson’s rendition of Paul Laurance Dunbar “When M’Lindy Sings,” there were many remembrances of Aretha’s contributions to the liberation struggles of her people. Since that struggle has always been based in the black church from the movement to abolish slavery in the 19th century, to the great Civil Rights struggle that abolished the legal racial caste system that arose to arrest the progress of Afro-Americans after Civil War and Reconstruction destroyed the system of chattel slavery, many of the Civil rights leaders that paid tribute to Aretha’s activism were ministers. Since I can command no superlatives to adequately convey the full granduer of their testimonies, a mere description of their panegyrics will have to suffice.
They arose, Gods Trombones, and offered their fanfares one after the other: the Reverends Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Bishop William Barber and Aretha’s homeboy the Reverend Doctor Michael Eric Dyson – erudite philosopher and preacher – among others. In the rolling cadences of the Afro-American sermon, an art which the literary masters Zora Neal Hurston and James Weldon Johnson called “epic poetry,” they called upon great thinkers from Dr. WEB Dubois to William Shakespeare, to modern prophets like Dr. Martin Luther King, to the prophets of the Old and New Testiments.
They told how Aretha went on a nationwide tour with the great actor/singer/activist Harry Belafonte to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference when Dr. King didn’t know how he was going to pay the organizations bills, thus keeping the most important organization in the Civil Rights Movement alive. And we learned that she defied her conservative Christian father when she bailed Angela Davis, a Communist radical activists, out of jail. This is a side of Aretha that many of her fans do not know.
Alas, when the Reverend Jasper Williams Jr., pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Georgia, took the podium we were reminded that the black American church has it’s progressive and backwards tradition. Rev. Williams belongs to the conservative fundamentalist wing. I had never heard of him before, but based on his sermon he would be right at home with the reactionary white southern Evangelicals.
In a discourse on the meaning of “soul,” which began with some interesting insights on the subject inspired by a a passage in one of Rev. C.L. Fanklin’s sermons, Jasper’s presentation quickly degenerated into a gaggle of fundamentalists fiddle faddle that posited false dichotomies between the need to have “good housing” vs. having “good homes,” when the plain truth is we desperately need both!
Then he rattled off some figures on black lives lost as a result of racist attacks vs. black lives snuffed out by the predatory black criminals that plague our neighborhoods. While this is a touchy subject that should be honestly confronted, Jasper’s speech lacked the proper context and nuance; hence it sounded like the victims and perpetrators are in it together. To the naive or malicious this provides a rationale for the argument that victims share the blame for their victimization.
This is a well worn tactic of the racist reactionary right, and this speech might well give them new ammunition to attack us with racist propaganda. It’s much like a sheriff who rids into t town ravaged by bandits…and shoot the wounded! Before Jasper spoke, Dr. Dyson had pointed him out as an exemplar of a style of black preaching called “Whooping,” a style common to old style down home black preachers. celebrated by James Weldon He proved to be a master of the style, but the gravitas of his sermon did not rise to the artistry of his oratory: He was preaching pious prattle!
Yet a few moments folly could not seriously injure the magnificent veneration ritual that served as the last rites for the Queen of Soul. This celebration of a life well lived will be much noted and long remembered, which is fitting and proper for a great performer, whose profound artistry touched millions of souls around the world repeatedly.
The universality of Aretha’s appeal was dramatically on display when she appeared at a Kennedy Center Honors ceremony where the prolific songwriter Carol King was being honored, apparently unbeknownst to Ms. King. Decked out in a fabulous gown accented by a full length fur coat, her ever present pocket purse marking her an elegant black church lady til the end,Aretha strolled onstage and sat down at the piano. To the astonished delight of Carol King, and everyone else in attendance, Aretha began to sing “Natural Woman” in a way that only she could do it.
The power of her performance mesmerized the multi-racial cross-generational audience and moved President Obama to tears.As her performance brought back poignant memories of ladies I have loved before, the great loves of my life, I found myself silently weeping too.That’s when I realizedhow my adult life has been continually enriched by the power of Aretha’s songs; she inspired many bright moments in my life. Hence in profound gratitude for the Queen’s prolific benefactions, I feltcompelled to pen this remembrance to Aretha with love….
So far, 70, 000 mental health professionals, have signed a petition initiated by psychologist Dr. John Gartner calling for “the removal of President Donald Trump from office due to “serious mental illness” that they agree, “renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States.” Narcissistic, sociopathic, histrionic and borderline psychotic are just some of the words that have been used by prominent mental health professionals in their description of Trump.
Ironically these words are very similar to words used to describe the German Dictator Adolph Hitler by various mental health professionals over the last 75 years. These include Psychologists Dr. Henry A. Murray, in his report on Hitler to the (0.S.S.) Office of Strategic Services, Dr. Walter Langer author of the Book, The Mind of Adolph Hitler, and later by psychiatrist Dr. Harvey Cleckley in his book The Mask of Sanity.
COUNTERACTIVE NARCISSISM
Langer is quoted by Harvey Cleckley M.D. as having said about Hitler, “he was not insane but was emotionally sick and lacked normal inhibitions against anti-social behavior.” The OSS also came to the conclusion that Hitler was “an hysteric bordering on schizophrenia.“ An Excerpt from The Introduction to Murray’s Report reads as follows. “Murray pegged Hitler’s personality as ‘counteractive narcissim,’ a type that is stimulated by real or imagined insult or injury. According to Dr. Murray, the characteristics of this personality type include: holding grudges, low tolerance for criticism, excessive demands for attention, inability to express gratitude, a tendency to belittle, bully, and blame others, desire for revenge, persistence in the face of defeat, extreme self-will, self-trust, inability to take a joke, and compulsive criminality.”
Adolph Hitler
In a Characteristic Rage
THESE WORDS FIT HITLER TO A (Donald) T
Does Inability to take a joke describe Donald Trump, the man who goes on a tweet tirade because he is made fun of on Saturday Night Live? Do the words belittle and bully describe the man who said of Rosie O’Donnell, “If I were running my business, I’d fire Rosie, I mean, I’d look her right in that fat ugly face of hers and say, “Rosie, you’re fired?” Doesn’t every word in Dr. Murray’s description describe Donald Trump? Histrionic is the modern word that approximates what was meant when Hitler was described by Dr. Murray as “Hysteric.” Attorney Elizabeth Beck in an interview with CNN, said that Donald Trump had an “absolute meltdown” when she requested a break from a 2011 deposition to pump breast milk.
Beck said, “He got up, his face got red, he shook his finger at me and he screamed, ‘You’re disgusting, you’re disgusting,’ and he ran out of there” Recognize that this Hissy fit over Breast Milk comes from Donald who had no problem when his girlfriend now wife Melania in the words of British GQ Magazine,” was featured in (a) naked profile shoot on his customized Boeing 727 wearing handcuffs, wielding diamonds and holding a chrome pistol.” He also contained his hysteria when she appeared naked and in the embrace of another naked woman on the cover of the New York Post. He did, however ,demonstrate lots of histrionics when he appeared in a video apparently attempting to breast feed from fake breasts worn by Rudolph Giuliani dressed in drag. Go to this link to see a video of this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M
CAN A PERSON HAVE 4 PERSONALITY DISORDERS?
Sociopath is the modern word used for Psychopath, and Antisocial and Borderline personality is a word modern psychiatrists sometimes use to describe what Langer most likely meant when he spoke of Hitler’s “ bordering on schizophrenia.” Narcissistic personality is the word used now for the Narcism described by Murray. But how could a person have 4 different personality Disorders?
The answer is that in general they cannot but people often have characteristics from several personality disorders in the same Cluster or family of personality disorders. The particular cluster that so many have thought describe both Hitler and Donald Trump is called Cluster B. The 4 personality disorders in Cluster B are Narcissistic, Histrionic, Borderline and Sociopathic. What the Cluster B disorders have in common are Dramatism and impulsivity. Hitler had many Cluster B traits with perhaps narcissism and Sociopathy predominating and so does Donald Trump.
IT’S NOT FUNNY
Although some of the things about Trump make people laugh, similarly to how people laughed at Charlie Chaplin’s movie “The Dictator,” in the words of Larry Hamm, Activist and Chairman of Newark’s People’s Organization for Progress this weekend at a community meeting at CEMOTAP, Center in Queens, “It’s really not funny.” What Larry meant of course is that a dramatic impulsive person is now commander and chief of the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Airforce and has access to America’s nuclear weapons and nuclear codes. Hitler only had access to traditional explosives and nearly destroyed Europe.
IF YOU ONLY HIRE BARBERS, SOMEBODY IS GOING TO GET A HAIR CUT
He has also threatened at least one other head of state with “Fire and Fury” and has been appointing more Generals to the Cabinet than any other president since World War II. Comedian Dick Gregory quipped before his recent transition, “This man has appointed 5 generals to the cabinet and y’all don’t know where he’s going?”
Trump has so far appointed General John Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as Secretary of Defense, General Michael Flynn- retired general replaced in the wake of lying about the Russian scandal with Mike Pompeo former Army Captain and West Point Graduate, as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, General John Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security, Former Army Reserve Captain Sen. Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Steve Bannon, former Naval Lieutenant (Equivalent of a Captain in the Army) Trump’s chief strategist, and Commander Ryan Zinke a former Navy Seal , and former “Dean” of the graduate school at the Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command as Secretary of the Interior.
Why would you need a Navy Seal to oversee, the management and conservation of federal land and natural resources, which is the purpose of the Department of the Interior? If you hire only barbers, somebody is going to get a haircut.
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Note: This essay was originally published by Dr. James C. McIntosh – a practicing Psychiatrist in New York – as part of a series on the psychology of Donald Trump in the New York Amsterdam News.
The untutored Mob Incited Against Reporters by Donald Trump
Devious Donald’s Anti-Media Campaign is a Menace to America!
It’s getting increasingly dangerous to be an honest reporter in the US nowadays. Of course, reporters in other countries have long been under fire from the forces of government and organized crime. Jouranalist in Latin America have been routinely menaced and murdered by the drug cartels and corrupt governments that they report on. Russian journalist are also imperiled by the super-Rich Oligarchs – who often run corporations with organic links to organized crime – that control the private sector.
And since the Russian government appears to be an autocratic kleptocracy run by Vladimir Putin, whom rumor has it is the richest man in the world, these criminal cowboy capitalists do their dirt with Putin’s blessings. Distinguished journalists have been persecuted and killed for reporting honestly on Putin’s perfidies. And if Dirty Devious Donnie continues to rant and rave against the free press, repeatedly calling us “enemies of the people,” we will see increasing acts of violence against reporters.
We have already witnessed it when Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte body slammed Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs and told him to “get the hell outta here!” Jacobs was simply questioning Gianforte about the speech he just presented; which is what reporters are supposed to do. Hence this reporter with a major international press organization was attacked and injured by an American politician for doing his job. A job which is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, yet he was still elected to Congress by Republicans!
Many observers, including this writer, are convinced that the open hostility directed at the press by politicians when addressing their constituents, echoing the rancorous invective of the media basher in chief who presently befouls the White House and daily disgraces his high office, has so poisoned the atmosphere the it encourages violence against journalists and the assault on Ben Jacobs is a poignant example. “It was the strangest experience of my life as a reporter,” says Jacobs.
When he daily declares that the American Press are the purveyors of “Fake News” he is inciting the untutored mob to support outrageous acts against reporters, whom the President has assured them is their “enemy!” As I write there are 21 journalist imprisoned in other countries on the charge that they were publishing “Fake News.”
Trump’s attacks on the American media, in the country where freedom of the press was born, only encourages tyrants around the world who kill and imprison Journalists for reporting incompetence, crime and corruption in their governments. Alas, Dangerous Devious Donald says he is “proud” that other leaders are following his example of calling out “fake news.”
Trump leaves no doubt that he covets the power of foreign autocrats to silence criticism their press. Yet due to the diligent work of reporters, the public has been presented with a treasure trove of evidence to support charges of “Obstruction of Justice” and “Treason”against Devious Donald. The evidence is so abundant a case can be convincingly made even without seeing the results of Special Prosecutor Bob Mueller’s investigation; which a host of former prosecuter’s, legal ethics lawyers, leading law professors, professional historians, et al believe will provide the final nails in Trump’s political coffin.
And Donnie Dimwit’s escalating attacks on the press provides compelling evidence for yet another charge of abusing his office, since he took an oath to “Defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” This oath, which spells out his most sacred duty, is violated by Donald Trump every time he attacks the legitimacy of the press; which, like his job, is spelled out and protected in the Constitution!
When we listen to some of the things that Trump says about the nation’s best reporters there can be no question that he despises freedom of the press. The scurrilous rhetoric he employs when describing the function of reporters leaves no doubt about his seething hatred for these tribunes of the people who are leading the fight against tyranny by exposing his anti-democratic practices.
The hostile name calling and rabble rousing began during the presidential campaign, when he nearly incited crowds of supporters to violence on several occasions. And it is something akin to a miracle that no has been assaulted, especially since Trump offered to pay the legal bills for the defense of anyone who attacked one of his critics!
Before he won Trump repeatedly claimed the election was “rigged,” and even announced that he would not accept the results if “I don’t win.” Yet, despite the unanimous conclusion of the US intelligence agencies that Russian military intelligence conducted a widespread effort to sway the US presidential election to him, Trump continuously decries the investigation into Russian meddling as “a hoax.”
Since it is the press that has informed the American public of every development in the Russian cyber-invasion in a unceasing stream of revealing stories and insightful commentary, Dirty Donald continues to attack them like a guilty man fleeing the gallows. His comments at recent rallies reveals the extent to which he is coming unhinged. One of the psychiatrist from the “Duty to Warn” group, a coalition of mental health professionals who are alarmed by the President’s increasingly unstable mental condition, points to the following statements as evidence of the president’s rapidly deteriorating mental condition.
In an article by titled “Don’t Shrug Away Trump’s Media Attacks,” published in the Columbia Journalism Review, Pete Vernon points out that Trump reacted to US press coverage of his over hyped meeting with Korean autocrat Kim Jong Un – one of several “strong men” he has openly expressed admiration for – with a vicious attack on American journalists.
Turning to his favorite venue for presidential proclamations the twittering twit tweeted “So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. Our country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!” When we consider the fact that this criticism comes from a guy who once wondered aloud why the “National Inquirer” has never won a Pulitzer Prize, it would be hilarious if it were not coming from the US President.
Alas, NBC NEWS anchor Lester Holt, recently expressed concern that these kind of attacks will provoke violent assaults on journalists from unthinking fanatics who take this “Insane Clown President” – as Matt Taibbi has aptly identified him- seriously. Devious Donald repeated this kind of rancorous rhetoric at a series of recent rallies in the south and mid-west where he is immensely popular with the shit kicker crowd in the boonies who are bedazzled by the city slicker bunko artists selling bogus dreams. He has pointed out reporters at these rallys and called them “Disgusting dishonest people,” or worse and repeated the charge that they are “enemies” of America.”
In response to a story about growing tensions between him and White House Chief of Staff General Kelly Donnie Dumbass tweeted: “The Washington Post is far more fiction than fact. Story after story is made up garbage – more like a poorly written novel than good reporting. Always quoting sources (not names), many of which don’t exist. Story on John Kelly isn’t true, just another hit job!”
One wonders if Trump’s assault on the integrity of the Washington is partially due to his abysmal ignorance of the high quality product produced by this pillar of American journalism, or perhaps he is haunted by the memory that it was the post that exposed the Watergate scandal that brought an end to the presidency of Richard Nixon, a man far more qualified and immensely more popular than Dirty Donnie. Since his alleged conspiracy with Russian military intelligence agents to steal the presidential election from Hillary Clinton, whom three million Americans preferred to him, is a far graver crime than Watergate, I believe Trump is terrified of the fate that awaits him. This fear does much to explain his constant hostility toward the press, but I believe the causes lie even deeper.
Donald Trump is a supreme egotist who has lived an adult life running a family owned business and has never had to account to anyone for his decisions and actions. Unlike corporate presidents in publicly traded companies, who must report to a board of directors and shareholders, Trump has always been able to dictate commands and expect them to be followed without question upon fear of termination. In such an environment permanent lips to posterior is the preferred posture for employees. This is the attitude that Donnie Dimwit has brought to government; a position for which he is totally unsuited by training and temprement. Hence he finds a critical press constantly calling out his lies and bullshit intolerable, which is the hallmark of all autocrats.
Given his attitude it is a reasonable assumption that without the protection of the First Amendment Trump would destroy the free press much like Hitler, who also despised the independent press, did in Germany. In an article published in the Holocaust Encyclopedia titled “The Press in the Third Reich: Establishing Control of the Press,” we are told:
“When Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, the Nazis controlled less than three percent of Germany’s 4,700 papers. The elimination of the German multi-party political system not only brought about the demise of hundreds of newspapers produced by outlawed political parties; it also allowed the state to seize the printing plants and equipment of the Communist and Social Democratic Parties, which were often turned over directly to the Nazi Party. In the following months, the Nazis established control or exerted influence over independent press organs.
During the first weeks of 1933, the Nazi regime deployed the radio, press, and newsreels to stoke fears of a pending “Communist uprising,” then channeled popular anxieties into political measures that eradicated civil liberties and democracy. SA (storm troopers) and members of the Nazi elite paramilitary formation, the SS, took to the streets to brutalize or arrest political opponents and incarcerate them in hastily established detention centers and concentration camps. Nazi thugs broke into opposing political party offices, destroying printing presses and newspapers.
Sometimes using holding companies to disguise new ownership, executives of the Nazi Party-owned publishing house, Franz Eher, established a huge empire that drove out competition and purchased newspapers at below-market prices. Some independent newspapers, particularly conservative newspapers and non-political illustrated weeklies, accommodated to the regime through self-censorship or initiative in dealing with approved topics.”
Given his hatred for independent critical journalism such as is practiced by the major news organizations, who can seriously doubt that Trump would resort to any means necessary to destroy them if he were not restrained by the Constitution. I haven’t the slightest doubts about it! This seems especially plausible when we consider the similarities in the mindsets of the two authoritarians.
The head doctors have repeatedly drawn attention to the similarities between their diagnosis of “The Donald’s” dangerous mental maladies and the German Psychoanalyst Eric Fromm’s diagnosis of “Der Fuerer.” Both suffer from “Malignant Narcissism and Paranoia,” a condition that gives them feelings of omnipotence and infallibility, conflates their fate with the fate of the State and view all criticism as an attack by enemies.
Although the press avoids referencing the diagnoses of the doctors in Duty to Warn, which has been published in a book under this title, in deference to the outmoded “Goldwater Rule” – which was always based on political considerations rather than a scientific evidence – all one need do is look at the symptoms outlined by these mental health professionals and compare them to Trump’s actual behavior to see that they are right on the money. There is a reason why Neo-Nazis are attracted to Trump, as the old adage goes “It takes one to know one.” On more than one occasion Trump’s acolytes have used outright Nazi slogans in their demonstrations and protests. A poignant example is the torch bearing Nazi’s shouting “Blood and Soil” on their night march.
This slogan was employed by Nazi’s to define who was a “true German” and set the stage for the holocaust by calling for ethnic cleansing, or “racial hygiene” to purify the population of Germany of “undesirable aliens.” These ideas about race presently inform Trump’s attitude toward immigration policy. However they ideas whose roots are so deep in America’s racist history that they inspired the National Origins Act, which greatly restricted immigration to the US based on the country of origin, heavily favoring Northern and Western Europeans of “Teutonic” blood. (See: “Is Trump a Racial Hygienist?” on this blog.) However, even more pertinent to the point of this essay is the use of the Nazi term for the independent press by Trump’s acolytes at his rallies.
Young white thugs, reminiscent of Hitler’s Brown Shirts, harassed and menaced reporters shouting the Nazi epithet “Lugenpresse!” Which means “Lying Press.” When video from the rally found it’s way onto the internet, those who understand the historical context in which the slur was created took notice. In an October 24, 2016 article in the Washington Post filed from Berlin by Nick Noack – “The ugly history of ‘Lügenpresse,’” we learn:
“When a video of two Donald Trump supporters shouting ‘Lügenpresse’ (lying press) started to circulate Sunday, viewers from Germany soon noted its explosive nature. The defamatory word was most frequently used in Nazi Germany….Its use across the Atlantic Ocean at a Trump rally has worried Germans who know about its origins all too well. Both the Nazi regime and the East German government made use of it, turning it into an anti-democracy slogan…“Lügenpresse” was branded a taboo word in Germany in 2015 by an academic panel after anti-Islam movements, such as Pegida, started using it more frequently in the presence of journalists. As in the United States, trust in mainstream media is on the decline in Germany.”
Alas, the proclamation of the German academics does not carry the weight of law, and contemporary Neo-fascists in Germany are continuing to revive it. And it has already begun to incite violence against working reporters trying to cover their rallys. Noaack reports: “The verbal attacks against journalists soon turned into physical violence in Germany. At times, media members were unable to cover the Pegida-organized protest marches without private security personnel. Some reporters who risked going in without bodyguards were beaten up. It is without doubt that the word ‘Lügenpresse’ has an extremely ugly meaning in modern-day Germany.”
The Washington Post article goes on to explore the horrid history of “Lugenpresse” and it is instructive about Trump’s attitude toward the American press. The term first appeared in a book released by the German Defense Ministry titled “The Lugenpresse of our Enemies,” during the First World War in 1918. It was coined by the writer Reinhold Anton to describe the propaganda of foreign enemies.
Hitler adopted it years later to attack the German press that criticized him and his NAZI Party. And now Trump’s has declared the American press to be: “Enemies of the people!” Hence Trump’s Neo-Nazi acolytes are just following his lead when they threateningly shout “Lugenpresse!” at reporters. And what makes this bad situation immeasurably worse is that Devious Donald is closely following the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Dr. Joseph Goebbels’ axiom that a “Big Lie” repeated often enough will find believers.
Since Trump’s core supporters are mostly composed of the ignorant and the venal – whom Hillary Clinton accurately summed up as “Deplorables” – we can expect no corrective from them. In fact, according to a report in the Daily Beast an opinion poll conducted by Ipsos found that 43% of Republicans thinks Trump should have the power to shut down news organizations that he deems to be purveyors of fake news! This is how dictatorships began in democratic societies, fortunately for Americans our constitution guarantees freedom of the press. However the position of these Republicans, who would grant a lying charlatan and buffoon like Donald Trump the power to silence the press is irrefutable proof that Thomas Jefferson was prescient when he warned: “A democracy cannot work with an ignorant electorate.”
Alas, that’s the best we are going to get from the Trumpanzees. But as for the rest of us, the salvation of our democracy – now seriously threatened with the specter of plutocracy – demands that we do everything in our power to get Devious Donnie’s crazy evil treasonous ass out of the White House and away from the nuclear button as soon as possible! And that process begins with the coming elections for control of Congress, because Impeachment is the fastest road to ridding ourselves of this looming menace to America and the world!
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Witness Trump’s Vicious Attacks on the Press
Watch Trump Argue for a Pulitzer Prize for National Inquirer
Trump’s Meeting with Putin was a National Disgrace!
Donald Trump’s recent meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki was a sad spectacle! Trump was completely OUTCLASSED!!! It was like watching a heavy-weight boxer in the ring with a fly-weight! Of course, I am not talking about physical size as Fat Donnie is much taller and his blubbery body looks swollen beside Putin’s fit physique. It is in the intellectual realm that Putin towers over Trump!
We got a hint of what was likely to happen when we saw that Putin was equipped with a pad and pencil and Trump’s hands was as empty as his head! When they appeared to issue statements on the meeting the extent to which Trump was outclassed became glaringly obvious. Putin’s statement was authoritative, broadly knowledgeable and delivered with ease; like a person who was really on top of his material.
Trump on the other hand was vague, hyperbolic in his praise of Putin and Russia, dismissive of US intelligence agencies and the press, and haltingly read from a text that sounded like it was written by Putin’s intelligence officer…which the translator probably was! Trump came across as a colossal dunce, a Russian dupe, or an American President committing treason before the world….I think it was all three. In fact. I believe what went on in that meeting was that Putin gave “The Moscow Candidate” his marching orders!
As bizarre as this may sound it is also the view of Malcolm Nance, former military counter-intelligence operative and author of two best selling books . The first analyzes the role of Russian military intelligence in subverting the US presidential election with the objective of insuring a Trump victory, “The Hacking of America,” and “The Plot to Destroy Democracy.” his second book dealing with efforts by the Russians to dismantle western democracies through cyber-warfare.
In an interview on WNBC, where he is a regular commentator on national security issues, Nance offered this uncanny prediction about Trump’s behavior in his forthcoming Summit with Putin:
“He’s just gonna lay down…we already know that based on his past statements. And he’s correct; he has been preparing for this his entire life for this…he went to the Soviet in 1987 trying to get Trump hotels. We know that he was taking Russian money and selling real estate to them For years. We also know that in 2013 he met with the top 12 Russian Oligarchs and received their version of events for over two hours and have been spouting it ever since.”
The prescience of Nance’s prediction is borne out by the response of Republican officials to Trump’s public genuflection before Vlad the Deceiver. Senator John McCain, a senior statesman of the party, described Trumps actions as:”“one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” Senator Marco Rubio said Trump’s assessment of Russia was “not based in reality,” and his comments were “counterproductive, dangerous, and will fail.” And House Speaker Paul Ryan – who has displayed the spine of a jelly fish when commenting on Trump’s myriad failings and transgressions – remarked
But the most devastating criticism came from Texas Congressman Will Hurd, who asserts in a July 19, Op-Ed in the New York Times:
“Over the course of my career as an undercover officer in the C.I.A., I saw Russian intelligence manipulate many people. I never thought I would see the day when an American president would be one of them. The president’s failure to defend the United States intelligence community’s unanimous conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and condemn Russian covert counterinfluence campaigns and his standing idle on the world stage while a Russian dictator spouted lies confused many but should concern all Americans. By playing into Vladimir Putin’s hands, the leader of the free world actively participated in a Russian disinformation campaign that legitimized Russian denial and weakened the credibility of the United States toour foes abroad.”
The question thoughtful Americans who are paying attention are asking is: “What’s really going on with Donald Trump?” Not only has he insulted his American critics with a variety of insults including giving them demeaning nicknames, and trashed some of America’s oldest allies, but he has consistently refused to insult Vlad The Deceiver nor admit the full extend of Russian interference in our presidential election. For instance, even after the Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller issued a detailed 29 page indictment against 13 Russian military intelligence operatives, Trump continued to dismiss the investigation as “a witch hunt.”
Trump’s charge was so outrageous it prompted a spirited defense of the integrity of US intelligence products from Dan Coates, the Director of National Intelligence and Richard Burr, the Republican Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing,” says Coates. “pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”
Senator Burr was equally clear in his disagreement with the President’s actions. “Vladimir Putin is not our friend and never has been. Nor does he want to be our friend. His regime’s actions prove it. We must make clear that the United Stateswill not tolerate hostile Russian activities against us or our allies.”
Even more damming is the contention by Congressman Hurd in his Op-Ed: “Moreover, the threat of Russian meddling in United States elections is not behind us. Just last week, Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, cautioned that “the warning lights are blinking red” that Russia and other adversaries will undertake further cyberattacks on our digital infrastructure. This includes many of the energy companies in my home district in South and West Texas. Make no mistake, Russian disinformation campaigns are working.”
This Op-Ed is well worth the reading by all concerned US citizens, because this Congressman, a Republic who sits on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, offers both a candid assessment of the President’s failings in dealing with Russian intrusions into the US electoral process, and also recommends a number of measures to prevent it.
The most important of these recommendations are spelled out in this statement: “Additionally, Congress must act to give the men and women of our intelligence agencies the tools they need to confront Moscow and prevent this from happening in the future. We can start by sending the Intelligence Authorization Act to the president’s desk, which authorizes funding to support critical national security programsacross the intelligence community. It also requires regular public reports on foreign threats to federal election campaigns before those elections take place, mandatory notification to Congress within 14 days after a determination has been made with moderate or high confidence that a foreign cyberintrusion or active measures campaign to influence a federal election has taken place, and reports to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on past and continuing Russian influence campaigns.”
The ongoing Russian interference in US politics is well established by our intelligence agencies, yet despite some good suggestions as to strategies for effectively combating this covert Cyber-war, the Republicans have thus far been mostly blow and no go. They appear to be paralyzed with terror at the possibility that the tweeting twit in the Oval Office will publicly crucify them on Twitter.
After all, the most recent polls show that “The Donald” has over 80% support in their party. Trump’s behavior prompted Malcolm Nance to conclude that his foreign policy is dictated from Moscow and ridicules the idea that a clueless ignoramus like Trump could have been doing anything but receiving instructions from a seasoned KGB officer and master political strategist like Putin during their two and a half hour secret meeting:”I think he has been co-opted by Russia…I think he works in the interests of Russia!”
Yet, despite mounting evidence of treason, no Republican member of the House or Senate seems willing to put the interests of the country over their personal political prospects and take steps to remove this traitorous charlatan from office. Hence Trump’s disgrace is also their own!
On the Psychology of Hitler and Trump
Posted in Guest Commentators, On Donald Trump with tags Dr. Dr. James Macintosh on Trump, Psychology of Trump and Hitler on September 7, 2018 by playthellComparative Psychoanalysis of Hitler and Trump
So far, 70, 000 mental health professionals, have signed a petition initiated by psychologist Dr. John Gartner calling for “the removal of President Donald Trump from office due to “serious mental illness” that they agree, “renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States.” Narcissistic, sociopathic, histrionic and borderline psychotic are just some of the words that have been used by prominent mental health professionals in their description of Trump.
Ironically these words are very similar to words used to describe the German Dictator Adolph Hitler by various mental health professionals over the last 75 years. These include Psychologists Dr. Henry A. Murray, in his report on Hitler to the (0.S.S.) Office of Strategic Services, Dr. Walter Langer author of the Book, The Mind of Adolph Hitler, and later by psychiatrist Dr. Harvey Cleckley in his book The Mask of Sanity.
COUNTERACTIVE NARCISSISM
Langer is quoted by Harvey Cleckley M.D. as having said about Hitler, “he was not insane but was emotionally sick and lacked normal inhibitions against anti-social behavior.” The OSS also came to the conclusion that Hitler was “an hysteric bordering on schizophrenia.“ An Excerpt from The Introduction to Murray’s Report reads as follows. “Murray pegged Hitler’s personality as ‘counteractive narcissim,’ a type that is stimulated by real or imagined insult or injury. According to Dr. Murray, the characteristics of this personality type include: holding grudges, low tolerance for criticism, excessive demands for attention, inability to express gratitude, a tendency to belittle, bully, and blame others, desire for revenge, persistence in the face of defeat, extreme self-will, self-trust, inability to take a joke, and compulsive criminality.”
Adolph Hitler
THESE WORDS FIT HITLER TO A (Donald) T
Does Inability to take a joke describe Donald Trump, the man who goes on a tweet tirade because he is made fun of on Saturday Night Live? Do the words belittle and bully describe the man who said of Rosie O’Donnell, “If I were running my business, I’d fire Rosie, I mean, I’d look her right in that fat ugly face of hers and say, “Rosie, you’re fired?” Doesn’t every word in Dr. Murray’s description describe Donald Trump? Histrionic is the modern word that approximates what was meant when Hitler was described by Dr. Murray as “Hysteric.” Attorney Elizabeth Beck in an interview with CNN, said that Donald Trump had an “absolute meltdown” when she requested a break from a 2011 deposition to pump breast milk.
Beck said, “He got up, his face got red, he shook his finger at me and he screamed, ‘You’re disgusting, you’re disgusting,’ and he ran out of there” Recognize that this Hissy fit over Breast Milk comes from Donald who had no problem when his girlfriend now wife Melania in the words of British GQ Magazine,” was featured in (a) naked profile shoot on his customized Boeing 727 wearing handcuffs, wielding diamonds and holding a chrome pistol.” He also contained his hysteria when she appeared naked and in the embrace of another naked woman on the cover of the New York Post. He did, however ,demonstrate lots of histrionics when he appeared in a video apparently attempting to breast feed from fake breasts worn by Rudolph Giuliani dressed in drag. Go to this link to see a video of this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M
CAN A PERSON HAVE 4 PERSONALITY DISORDERS?
Sociopath is the modern word used for Psychopath, and Antisocial and Borderline personality is a word modern psychiatrists sometimes use to describe what Langer most likely meant when he spoke of Hitler’s “ bordering on schizophrenia.” Narcissistic personality is the word used now for the Narcism described by Murray. But how could a person have 4 different personality Disorders?
The answer is that in general they cannot but people often have characteristics from several personality disorders in the same Cluster or family of personality disorders. The particular cluster that so many have thought describe both Hitler and Donald Trump is called Cluster B. The 4 personality disorders in Cluster B are Narcissistic, Histrionic, Borderline and Sociopathic. What the Cluster B disorders have in common are Dramatism and impulsivity. Hitler had many Cluster B traits with perhaps narcissism and Sociopathy predominating and so does Donald Trump.
IT’S NOT FUNNY
Although some of the things about Trump make people laugh, similarly to how people laughed at Charlie Chaplin’s movie “The Dictator,” in the words of Larry Hamm, Activist and Chairman of Newark’s People’s Organization for Progress this weekend at a community meeting at CEMOTAP, Center in Queens, “It’s really not funny.” What Larry meant of course is that a dramatic impulsive person is now commander and chief of the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Airforce and has access to America’s nuclear weapons and nuclear codes. Hitler only had access to traditional explosives and nearly destroyed Europe.
IF YOU ONLY HIRE BARBERS, SOMEBODY IS GOING TO GET A HAIR CUT
He has also threatened at least one other head of state with “Fire and Fury” and has been appointing more Generals to the Cabinet than any other president since World War II. Comedian Dick Gregory quipped before his recent transition, “This man has appointed 5 generals to the cabinet and y’all don’t know where he’s going?”
Trump has so far appointed General John Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security, General James “Mad Dog” Mattis as Secretary of Defense, General Michael Flynn- retired general replaced in the wake of lying about the Russian scandal with Mike Pompeo former Army Captain and West Point Graduate, as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, General John Kelly as Secretary of Homeland Security, Former Army Reserve Captain Sen. Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Steve Bannon, former Naval Lieutenant (Equivalent of a Captain in the Army) Trump’s chief strategist, and Commander Ryan Zinke a former Navy Seal , and former “Dean” of the graduate school at the Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command as Secretary of the Interior.
Why would you need a Navy Seal to oversee, the management and conservation of federal land and natural resources, which is the purpose of the Department of the Interior? If you hire only barbers, somebody is going to get a haircut.
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Note: This essay was originally published by Dr. James C. McIntosh – a practicing Psychiatrist in New York – as part of a series on the psychology of Donald Trump in the New York Amsterdam News.
Posted at Commentaries On the Times 9/7/2018