TWO, FOUR, SIX EIGHT, WHO DO WE DEFENISTRATE?

Defenestration has a rich history, far richer than the simple act of throwing a dude out 4th-floor window might imply. The word comes from a Latin word, fenestre, meaning window. It seems to be in fashion in Moscow in recent years. At first it was merely people who had different ideas of government than those held by Vladimir Putin. In very recent times, the victims seem to be closely connected to the leadership of Russia. Why not? Using the oppressive tactics of your oppressor is quite satisfying. Maybe someday soon, we shall see a flying Vladimir Putin splat onto the cobblestones.   

This eastern European tradition goes back to the late 15th Century and remained popular through the 17th Century. It was started in Prague, Czechoslavakia. It had a lot to do with the emerging Protestant Reformation that became the Hundred Years war. Though Protestanism surely must have been revolutionary, the good Lutherans prefered to call it reforming. Ya gotta like that. Never-the-less, for those 2 centuries of the performative splat in Czechaslovakia, Protestants, Catholics, bankers, politicians, all had examples of people who lost consciousness with the wind rushing by their ears, never to wake again. In Prague, that would likely have been a cold wind. 

In a way, it might be suspected that defenestration has a useful purpose. It's relatively quiet, there's less likelihood of collateral damage (assuming you keep people outside of the target area), and it must leave a grim fear to those who might someday experience this unique final mission. Maybe we should think about trying it on maga. We could have a special building and clean the mess like we clean bugs off of our windshields. We could even award a no-bid contract to Green Water, the ironically-named company owned by a trump supporter. Paint it the color of algae and leave the water out of it. For those who think there's something wrong about even suggesting this, I would remind you how casually those maga people think about lynching, and who their victims usually are. Italy, after it surrendered to the Allies, saw partisans shoot Musilini and his mistress in the face, then hang them upside down for display. Young German men, post WWII, were often treated harshly by the people in places they occupied. Some German war criminals were chased their whole lives running from the justice that eventually caught up with them. Others, with skills we needed, were hustled away by intelligence agencies, to continue their work under US protection. Warner Von Braun became the face of the fledgling NASA program. 

So yes, there will be an extended period of payback due our maga neighbors. Frankly, I don't see any way where they should be given a second chance at citizenship. Especially since they have no shame in killing other citizens in our streets, especially if those citizens and guests they victimize might have darker pigmentation than Republicans are comfortable sitting next to. Maybe they might start to feel some semblance to humanity if some of their klan members parts are scattered all over the sidewalk. We may also discover a noticeable difference between maga and our Czech friends. Maga does not appear to have any shame when they are proven wrong. Sooner or later they believe that they will eventually be considered right. Eventually they only prove they are right wing. Our Czech friends on the other side have already seen the threat of rightwing politics. They saw the other end of the political spectrum too. The way communism was forced on them during the years of the Soviet Union. They have learned the difference between communism, Democratic socialism and fascism, and chose the second. Czechs don't bounce, we may see in the not too distant future if maga shows the same resilience. 

I'm not seriously suggesting that we start officially throwing people off of high buildings. I'm not in favor of capital punishment, however it is done. But people who have been pushed too hard by cruel people doing the dictators bidding tend to get a little pissed off. You can't blame them. The Italian partisans got something out of their oppression.  Romania got the satisfaction of executing Cieucesciu and his vile wife. Germany was cheated out of watching Hitler and his mistress die, but they had the satisfaction of knowing they were dead. It would be a tragedy if the Trumps, one or all, were able to escape to a protected country to live off of the money they stole. It would be better if they served as a permanent memory of what happens when you treat our Constitution in the same way as we allowed Israel to treat Palestinians. Can you think of any maga, any Republican for that matter, who shows contrition for what they allowed to happen? Serial killers show more shame. 

In the decades following WWII young German men were subjected to public distrust for the actions of their slightly-older countrymen. That may have been the reason Germany had such progressive governments in the post-war era. It is likely that their history of cruelty during the nazification is addressed fully in their history books because of the burden of guilt they all shared. It may be why Republicans, and Donald Trump, are so eager to rewrite our own history. They forget that some of us still have memories. It is a lesson we are re-learning. We need to learn it better.