The International Order of Saint Hubertus

Just when all of the outlandish conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia seemed to be fading away, revelations worthy of a conspiracy theory surfaced today. The fact that the 79-year old Scalia died suddenly in his bed really should not strike anyone as terribly suspicious, considering his age and health problems, but that certainly didn't stop the rumor mill. His doctor released a letter saying in part that "...Scalia had been suffering from coronary artery disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and high blood pressure - alongside being a smoker." He also suffered from sleep apnea and a breathing machine was at his bedside, but he wasn't hooked up to it when he was found dead. In short, he was a prime candidate to suffer a catastrophic cardiac/pulmonary event that would result in death. And that appears to be exactly what happened on the evening of February 13th. His family did not want an autopsy, and the cause of death was listed as being of natural causes. And I have to believe that the conspiracy theories floating around would have themselves died a natural death in fairly short order.

But now we have to contend with the fascinating fact that Scalia spent his final hours of life in the company of the members of a "secret" society of hunters. I used the quote marks because it seems to me that any organization with a website can't be all that concerned with secrecy, and this description is from that website: "The international, male-only order was founded in Bohemia in 1695 by Count Franz Anton von Sporck, an avid hunter and patron of the arts, and carries the motto "Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes," Latin for "Honoring God by honoring His creatures." Members wear dark green robes with that motto and a cross. The Order of St. Hubertus counts among its past members many members of the Hapsburg family and other Holy Roman Empire nobility, including Emperor Charles VI, and its current Grand Master is His Imperial and Royal Highness Istvan von Habsburg Lothringen, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary."

The U.S. branch of the Order was inaugurated in 1966 at San Francisco's Bohemian Club, and that fact alone will surely cause the hearts of the conspiracy minded to beat a bit faster. And that, of course, is because the Bohemian Club happens to be the owner of the Bohemian Grove. So far, I haven't seen any evidence that Justice Scalia was a member of the Order of Saint Hubertus, but we know for certain that John Poindexter is a member. And Poindexter, of course, is both the owner of the Texas ranch where Scalia died and the man who discovered his body. He is also identified as being one of the men in the photograph at the top of the page. The occasion was the induction of four Houstonians into the Order of Saint Hubertus, and John Poindexter is described as the leader of the Southwest Priory. 

They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind

A rather revealing admission by the winner of the Nevada GOP caucus. At first glance, Trump appears to be denigrating the very people who are propelling him to victory, and that is how a number of news outlets are spinning his words today. This would seem to reinforce an already existing narrative about Trump, one that is best illustrated by an internet meme that has been floating around for months:

As much as Trump's opponents would love to believe that he actually called Republican voters the "dumbest group of voters in the country", there is absolutely no evidence that he ever said it. The quote has been thoroughly debunked by now, but continues making the rounds on social media. But even if it were an accurate quote, I seriously doubt that it would make the slightest difference to the people who are supporting Donald Trump. They appear to be completely impervious to any of the arguments being made against their candidate. In fact, I suspect that they will embrace the status of having been "poorly educated" as a badge of honor. And why shouldn't they? After all, they have clearly backed a winner in Donald Trump.

The Republican Party has been courting a disaster like this for decades now, and it has finally come to fruition. I don't know if Trump actually holds his supporters in contempt, because of their ignorance, but I know for damn sure that the GOP establishment certainly does. They have courted those poorly educated voters by appealing to their emotions, rather than their intellect. GOP candidates play to their anger and fear by invoking things like abortion, gay rights, and immigration. They get them all fired up, and collect their votes on election day, but then proceed to do absolutely nothing about any of the issues they campaigned on. What they do instead is pass regressive legislation that disproportionately impacts the very people who voted them into office. The author Thomas Frank did an excellent job of explaining this dynamic in his book titled What's the Matter with Kansas. I read it 10 years ago, when it was first published, and suspect that it only become more relevant with the passing of a decade.

English Only

I came across an interesting bit of presidential trivia earlier this evening. If Donald J. Trump becomes our next president, his wife will have the distinction of being only the second First Lady that was born outside of the United States. Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams, was born in London on February 12, 1775. She was the daughter of an Englishwoman and an American merchant. John Quincy's father, John Adams, was the American consul general in London during the 1790s, and that is how his son made the acquaintance of Louisa Catherine. Interestingly enough, John Adams initially objected to his son marrying a woman born outside the United States but eventually relented and welcomed her into the family.

Melania Knauss Trump was born on April 26, 1970 in the town of Sevnica in what was then Yugoslavia. At the age of 16, Melania began working as a model and would move to the United States in 1997 to continue pursuing what was already a very successful career. She met Donald Trump in 1998, and the couple would marry on January 22, 2005. They have a 10-year old son named Barron William Trump. Melania Trump is fluent in no fewer than five languages: English, French, Slovenian, Serbian, and German. And Teresa Heinz Kerry, the wife of Secretary of State John Kerry, can also boast of fluency in five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian.

However, I highly doubt that Trump will be trumpeting his wife's remarkable linguistic abilities on the campaign trail. His presidential campaign contains very distinct strains of both nativism and xenophobia, and Trump has loudly championed an "English only" policy for this country. He actually scolded rival Jeb Bush for having the temerity to answer a reporter's question in Spanish. And I distinctly recall Teresa Heinz Kerry being viewed with suspicion, rather than admired, for her very exotic background. She was born in Mozambique, in 1938, when the country was still a Portuguese colony. During the 2004 presidential general election, President George W. Bush, and his wife Laura, were presented as the "true Americans" by virtue of the fact that they rarely traveled abroad and only spoke English. Bush's rival John Kerry spoke French, and was widely mocked because of it. A commonly heard joke among Bush supporters was that Kerry even "looked French". But, so far as I'm aware, Donald Trump is himself untainted by any contamination with other languages. And you can be damn sure that the only language we will hear coming out of Melania's lovely mouth will be her heavily accented English.

Biden Rules

“I sadly predict, Mr. President that this is going to be one of the bitterest, dirtiest presidential campaigns we will have seen in modern times,” he said. “I’m sure Mr. President, after having uttered these words some, some will criticize such a decisions and say it was nothing more than an attempt to save a seat on the court in hopes that a Democrat will be permitted to fill it.”

Say it ain't so, Joe. On June 25, 1992 then-Senator Joe Biden delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor during which he made almost exactly the same arguments we have hearing from Republicans on the question of replacing a Supreme Court justice in a presidential election year. In 1992, Biden was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he was addressing a hypothetical situation. There was no vacancy on the Supreme Court, at the time he made the speech, and Biden is now arguing that his views are being misinterpreted. Still, this will provide plenty of ammunition for Republicans, and the current Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa immediately pounced on the opportunity to turn the tables:

“These are the Biden rules. The Biden Rules recognize that under these circumstances, quote, ‘The president should consider following the practice of a majority of his predecessors and not name a nominee until after the November election is completed'."

If Joe Biden weren't the sitting vice president this wouldn't be quite as troublesome for President Obama. But Biden just sat down with Rachel Maddow this past week, and flatly dismissed the Republican argument for delaying the nomination until after the next president is inaugurated. And I can't help but wonder if Biden had been sweating bullets these past days wondering if this speech was going to surface. His prediction about the 1992 election was a bit hyperbolic, and it would fall short of his dire warnings, but what he said could certainly be applied to the 2016 presidential election.

The Debateful Eight

Blabbermouth

Back to the Future

This is the latest edition of Poland's wSieci (The Network) magazine, and it is provoking no small amount of controversy. The headline reads "Islamic Rape of Europe", but I question whether a translation is even necessary. The girl is obviously supposed to represent white Christian Europe, and those swarthy hands groping her are presumably attached to Muslim men. There is nothing even remotely subtle about this imagery, and the accompanying articles are titled "Does Europe Want to Commit Suicide" and "The Hell of Europe". In the opening article, Aleksandra Rybinska writes, “The people of old Europe after the events of New Year’s Eve in Cologne painfully realised the problems arising from the massive influx of immigrants. The first signs that things were going wrong, however, were there a lot earlier. They were still ignored or were minimised in significance in the name of tolerance and political correctness.”

The European far right, which this magazine represents, is sounding the alarm. They argue that Europe is being overrun by hordes of Muslim migrants who are responsible for a rape epidemic, as evidenced by the multiple sexual assaults that took place in Cologne, Germany on New Year's Eve. Obviously, a potentially severe backlash is shaping up in Europe. A number of commentators are putting this sort of imagery in historic context by comparing it to similar images created by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. And a quick google search quickly yielded a number of relevant examples, such as this one: