Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, & everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

–from The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats

Does this remind you of the Syria debate, as it does me?

After seeing what Trump tweeted in response to Meryl Streep one must seriously ask how the hell the US ruling elite can allow him to be president. Or at least, how they can allow him to keep that Twitter account.

The guy has no dignity, no restraint, & is driven by narcissism. We have four more years to put up with this rubbish & abuse?

The things you learn by working up your courage to read corporate media:

This is Putin giving Alexander “The Surgeon” Zaldostanov, the prestigious Order of Honour, a Russian state medal in 2013. The Surgeon has been the leader of the Night Wolves motorcycle club since the Soviet era. Putin, a close friend of The Surgeon, often rides with the group.

The Night Wolves are a business enterprise that organize rock concerts, run tattoo parlors, have a clothing line, & put on patriotic motorcycle exhibitions. They are also a fascist group aligned closely with the conservatism of the Russian Orthodox Church & actively involved in Russian right-wing politics, especially to promote Putin’s foreign military operations.

In return, the Kremlin bankrolls the group to the tune of “several hundred million rubles a year.” The Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalniy posted evidence that in just 18 months between 2013 & 2014 the Night Wolves received over US $1.1million in Kremlin grants.

The Surgeon is a real non-conformist rebel in Russia combining capitalist competitive smarts with an ardent admiration for the politics of Joseph Stalin who he calls a “supreme historical & mystical figure of whom Russia’s enemies are still afraid, despite the fact he is dead.” He’s an outspoken nationalist who calls Western leaders “Satanists” bent on Russia’s humiliation. He is also a proud homophobe who rants against “faggots” & a misogynist who famously told Russian NTV: “We have to burn out all the feminism & homosexuality from our Orthodox Christian country with hot steel.”

Does anybody really want to stand with this guy? Can we hear some more rah-rah for Putin?

You can read more about this vile fascist creature in: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/putins-angels-inside-russias-most-infamous-motorcycle-club-20151008

(Photo by Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP/Getty Images)

No I did not threaten violence for disagreeing with me on Syria. Why should I when there’s a block button on hand? Why would I when I’m only 5’2″ & unlikely to come out on the better end of a fisticuffs?