Thursday, January 10, 2019                                              1:15 PM

Stray Thoughts   (2019Jan10)

We are not the top. We are not the end. We are children without experience or context. This universe was near-infinitely ancient, prior to the appearance of the first strand of DNA that allowed the first mite of scum to reproduce. Life was less-infinitely ancient, prior to the appearance of recorded civilization—which, itself, lasted tens of thousands of years before the appearance of our ‘planetarily-carcinogenic’ addiction to fossil-fuel technology.

Yet we go on preparing ourselves to be literally boiled in our own waste. Worse—not even ourselves, but our grandchildren. We will all die in air-conditioned comfort—our heirs will be slowly tortured to death on a poisoned planet.

If it is a tragedy to be without wisdom, how much greater the tragedy, when we have wisdom and refuse to acknowledge it?

People debate the existence of extra-terrestrial life—like much media, this is infantile fodder for debating the obvious—a convenient Rorschach-card of a conversation topic. Of course there is life out there. There are only three real questions.

One: Is astronomical distance an impenetrable barrier? If so, ‘life’ is a parochial affair, insulated from us and from each other by distances that defy comprehension.  Two: If ET’s could visit Earth, would they want to? And Three: If ET’s visited Earth, would they deign to communicate with humanity?

Outside of these three questions, debate is not just useless—it is an excuse to use UFOs as an analogy for xenophobia.

Humanity tends to conflate its present knowledge-base for the entirety of knowledge. We can laugh at ancient people who made this mistake—but we should remember not to make jokes of ourselves.

I miss the pre-Internet days—people like me (bookworms) were a thing. If anyone wanted to know how to spell a word, or how to calculate a percentage, or whether Bach came before Beethoven, or how to test the pool for pH levels—someone would say, “Ask Chris.” It was nice—being the know-it-all. It made up, a little, for being a nerd.

Back then, information wasn’t everywhere—you had to know where to look (which is still true, but not as literally). My name got passed around, just like a good car-mechanic’s, or a reliable pot-dealer’s. Of course, no one considered it my profession—because this was back when information was still ‘free’. People considered asking-me-a-question payment enough for the answer.

When I got carried away and started spouting more information than they wanted to hear, they’d say, “Stop. I don’t want to hear it.” And they’d walk away. I was the information-source—they’d turn me off, if they didn’t like the information. Nothing surprising there.

But they wouldn’t contradict me. They didn’t curate my information to suit their personal preferences—like trolls do now. Don’t take trolls personally, by the way—they are simply young people, glorying in the freedom to deny reality and social mores and common sense. It’s like a drug—taking away the constraints of gravity, for as long as one can stay at the keyboard.

But most of all, back when information still mattered, a madman like our current president—and the Senate goons supporting him—would have been justifiably laughed out-of-office. Hearings would have been unnecessary.

Somehow, the Right has taken ‘two sides to every story’ (which makes sense) and twisted it into ‘legitimacy for the self-serving side of a story’ (which is the opposite of sense). It sounds a lot like religion—something the secular do well to avoid in their business and government practices—hence the wise division between Church and State.

The Right has embraced the fact that propaganda works on a sizable percent of the governed—just as Fascists did in the Nineteen-Thirties—and chosen to abuse that knowledge, using today’s communications tools, rather than running “The More You Know” PSAs or some other, less malignant, more helpful, interaction with the people of the nation.

The most religion-like aspect of Trump-supporters is their eagerness to reject science, fact, evidence, and truth. This is where the tide of madness has risen highest. And the commercial media must share the indictment of their success—since the sensationalism-value of bat-shit-crazy gathers eyeballs better than a severed head rolling down the street, and executives are too greedy to factor in mental health concerns (or concerns for mass hysteria, come to that).

This eagerness to contradict school-book facts and sober science, though—we should probably take a look at where that comes from. We used to be one bad harvest from animals—we’ve evolved (like it or not) to live a simple life.

Yes we are clever apes, no doubt. But are we, as a species, adept enough to use the rules-of-the-road, our remote controls, our ATM cards, our on-line bill-paying, and our Twitter app? Police Blotters worldwide say no, not all of us, not every day. And that’s just the bare bones of modern life-skills.

If a Masters Degree becomes the default educational ‘job requirement’—where it used to be only for the unusually scholarly or dedicated—does that mean we are asking too much of ourselves, as a group? The trouble with Progress-as-defined-by-Capitalism is that we are hostages to it.

Progress doesn’t serve us—it conscripts us. And should we fall out of step, we get ripped to shreds by the cleverer apes, the greedier apes. Progress-as-defined–by-Liberals is less savage—we see a future where the robots take our jobs, yes, but we still get paid. Silly, I know—to a Capitalist. Those people can’t just take the Win and turn to a better way—and that’s going to bite us all in the ass.

The world is changing faster as technology explodes from yesterday’s successes to a thousand-times more successes tomorrow. But, as tech becomes more powerful, its failures become more dangerous. In fact, we should just pay everybody a nice salary, with benefits—and change our paradigm to shepherding our technology along safe pathways.

That is our new job, as a civilization. We have all earned a permanent retirement from hard labor—nobody does any large-scale farming or large-scale manufacturing by hand anymore. Our job now is to co-exist with each other, and maintain the global machinery of our economy, without a profit motive to screw things up.

If you still use the phrase ‘earning a living’, as if you were splitting fence-rails with Honest Abe, you’ve never seen a Dilbert cartoon. If you are more concerned with other peoples’ behavior than you are with examining yourself, you should be in politics (I’m not saying you’ll be good at—but your kind seem happy there).

And, yes, obviously, the underserved are far more eager to give up the current paradigm than the rich and powerful—and the rich and powerful are so damned selfish, they’d blow it all up in a war, rather than share any of it. So there’s that. I keep saying—it’s all about mental health.

Capitalism isolates people—discouraging cooperation—prioritizing individual ownership over use or fairness. As a nineteenth- and twentieth-century engine for change, Capitalism did its job. But its job is over. All done. But do we celebrate? No. It’s funny.

Sunday, January 06, 2019                                        2:36 PM

Mostly Democrats   (2019Jan06)

If those who choose a career in civil service are mostly Democrats, as Trump suggests, that would be a stunning indictment of Republicans. Is the GOP completely devoid of interest in serving the people, except for elected or appointed positions of power and privilege? Does their party exist solely to disrupt and obfuscate our federal government?

Better question: Do the Republicans promote ‘smaller government’ because it is the road to ‘no government’? When has our government ever made a positive difference in peoples’ lives, while the Republicans weren’t fighting tooth and nail to hold back the changes?

Do the Republicans stand for anything other than evangelical fanaticism, wealth, and pop-guns-for-the-home? Their devotion to ignorance makes them natural recruits for authoritarian extremism. They don’t even represent the Conservatives anymore (whom I despised—but at least they clung, however tenuously, to coherency).

I think the Republican Party has embraced Corruption. After all, business is business—and the wealthy puppeteers behind the party see the U. S. Government as just another player—to be targeted for takeover. Most Americans are so money-crazy they’d express little alarm over the idea—but that’s because they fail to recognize the vital differences between business and democratic government.

For decades, the Republicans have claimed that government is too inept to be trusted, while pretending they were worthy of trust. Republicans have claimed that we can’t afford social programs, or even infrastructure, but slip billions to their rich buddies under the table. They are so blatantly dishonest and hypocritical that I’m awed by the dysfunction of it all—people actual fall for their bullshit!

Faith is a wonderful thing. But humanity is eternally plagued by those who would abuse the faith of others, without conscience or scruple. Trump is such, as is McConnell, Ryan, Cruz, Graham, Justice Thomas and that new fratboy Justice—all of them men without honor—in many ways, men without reason.

I’m on the side of the Congresswoman who wants to impeach the motherfucking pussy-grabber. (Pardon the raw language—I wanted to quote equal obscenity from both sides.)

It will take the next Democratic president years to undo all the damage and de-staffing of Trump’s conflagration of everything American. She or he will be lucky if, by the end of their first term, they’ve gotten us back to where Obama left us.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is moving on. The decapitation-traffic-accident of Trump’s presidency has put them all on notice—America has closed up shop. Look elsewhere for strength, justice, or decency.

Friday, November 30, 2018                                              12:59 AM

Emotional Difficulty   (2018Nov30)

Do you use civilization, or do you participate in it? Civilization, like life itself, is not something we asked for, but something we have thrust upon us with the implied understanding that its pros outnumber its cons. And, as with life, that depends on who you talk to, after the fact—not that the dead are ‘questionnaired’, regularly, but if you could, I mean.

I’ve been thinking about how each year’s (or make it month’s) round of new science research, new real-world lab and tech developments, new enhanced coding in the cyberscape—all exciting, many awe-inspiring—are also, most of the time, a scythe wiping away employment, skill-sets, and their attendant sub-cultures.

When science makes convenient alternatives to human workers, it also erases their way of life. If you read an O. Henry story or Damon Runyon story today, you’d need a glossary for all the occupations and pastimes that have been swept away with the cyber era. And good riddance to some of those cultural norms and social iniquities—although I’d venture, at this point, that they are not gone, but hidden in new ways.

No, the evil abides—but the jobs and the salaries and benefits and, most importantly, the easy pace of life back then—those things are all gone. When I first began office work, in the early 70s, I began with a normal, manual typewriter, until later, when I used an IBM Selectric II. All the bookkeeping was done by hand in green-paper ledger books, using an adding machine.

Now, when we went to calculators, and soon after, PCs, we only stopped using the one adding machine. When the new mini-computer system came in, we only stopped using two Selectric typewriters. When faxes came out we only stopped seeing that one messenger-guy that stopped in once or twice a day on his round of clients. And when our computer-based work-style stopped us using traditional stationary supplies and equipment, the big, lovely-smelling, tradition-heavy stationary store in Mid-Town only lost one business account.

If you’ve ever seen “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” in its film incarnation, you might remember the scenes in that movie—surreally infinite ranks of typists and accountants, using the same typewriters and adding machines. But those scenes are puny compared to the actual hidden army of such people who made up a sizeable percentage of the people needed to run a big firm (up until that time).

The street-messenger army virtually disappeared in the same fiscal year that fax-machine sales exploded. Today’s messenger delivers only physical objects and legal documents—and nowadays, he or she hasn’t the leisure of strolling around Manhattan on foot.

You can’t imagine the unlimited amount of petty jobs that had been presented to a new Twentieth Century—the bigger businesses got, the bigger the crowd required to do all the millions of details. And amongst that milling mob, there was also exchange of ideas and emotions. We often call early Twentieth Century America a ‘melting pot’ (as if all the disparate ethnicities actually combined) when, really, it was a ‘mixing bowl’. The crowds of people going to and from factories and mines—the same people seeking out gathering spots for recreation—that’s where the cohesion came from, IMHO. That’s what made Central Park so fascinating and popular.

For awhile, the more machines appeared, the more jobs were created—factory jobs, repair jobs, retail jobs, office jobs, packing and shipping jobs—a rising tide, in commerce, used to lift all boats. Nowadays, in case you missed it, the job market has no connection to the economy—half of us could drop dead and the rich wouldn’t even notice. There is a dangerous disconnect.

Simultaneously, virtually every aspect of our parents’ way of life has disappeared. I don’t mean that in a political way. I mean that in the sociological, archeological sense. The milk-man, public school, trusted bank, security blanket America is gone—and without judging the ups and downs of that, I would merely observe that it is emotionally difficult to watch the world disappear, right or wrong, good or bad.

Excelsior !

Tuesday, November 13, 2018                                           7:23 PM

Clarity of Vision   (2018Nov13)

One of our best States burnt up this past week-end. Climate Change is the kind of thing that takes a cooperative effort to respond to—and humanity has become too comfortable in a global culture of Capitalist competition. Our society’s every axiom tells us not to cooperate—and so we are doomed.

Or so I have heard people say. I think people have an urge to cooperate so strong that it can shoulder past the establishment’s limits. But it is much more difficult to recruit soldiers to a love-in of international cooperation than to say, a desert shoot-em-up that promises to bring all your gamer fantasies to life.

It’s always harder to build something than it is to tear something down. We have a fantastic planet. If we recognize that our present careless rapaciousness must inevitably destroy the entire eco-sphere—then we have a new mission on Earth.

We no longer need defend against alien invaders. We no longer need to vie for wealth, possessions, or power. We can be satisfied with the simple goal of leaving a viable planet for our grandchildren to start families in. Sounds easy, right? But we’ve been fucking off for way too long, as people do.

And we’re still stuck here—at the point of acceptance. Yes, you simple poopy-heads—we’re all gonna die from greenhouse gasses and ocean acidification and habitat destruction. Did you think the world was too big for us to make an impact? Well, it was—but that was two centuries ago.

Our leaders, our most powerful and prominent businesspeople, even our most pious ministers—are all in agreement: Don’t pay any attention to California burning—or Texas or Florida flooding—or thousands of Puerto Rican hurricane victims lost—blame it on God and keep laughing off the scientists—all the scientists.

The rest of the world sees it better—you have a few countries (sadly including the USA right now) too dis-informed to join Europe and the rest, all of whom are eager to get to work on climate-change solutions. Just another thing in which America has lost its preeminence—our clarity of vision.

Can we talk about the President? We’ve had presidents I didn’t like, presidents I got furious at—but never a president who made me ashamed. Trump makes me ashamed for him, for the government, for the country, and for myself (for being naïve enough to think this couldn’t happen). I’m ashamed of the entire Senate, because they have the power and the responsibility to react to Trump’s unfitness—and do nothing, and even say nothing. The whole farce is shameful. The Republicans have ceased to be a political party—they have lost all legitimacy. ‘Nuf said.

Excelsior !

Sunday, October 28, 2018                                       8:02 AM

Trump’s Senate, However, Is Just Straight-Up Crooks & Pervs  (2018Oct28)

We now have proof (if any further were wanted) that Trump’s ‘base’ are people who fail to understand the spirit behind America’s Founding Documents. It makes me sad to see these indoctrinated, but not educated, people worry the scraps of propaganda that the Right has fed them—self-righteous for the hell-of-it people, veins in their foreheads and finger-pointing like mad—more sure of their sureness than of their reasons.

Trump has taught them that words are meaningless—only bombs and guns have any real effect. He is wrong, mores the pity, but that is what he has taught them. He has also taught them that if they are pompous enough, it’s okay to disrespect women, gays, African-Americans, Native Americans, Muslims, Mexicans, Educators—you name it. Hate’s the new Love in Trumpland.

Trump’s Congressional Republicans, however, are just straight-up crooks and pervs—I couldn’t tell you how much understanding of American principles they have to bury down deep inside every day to continue as they are doing. It hardly matters. If these people had ethics, Trump would have made their heads explode long before now.

The Republicans’ constituencies are a marvel: They voted for Trump in 2016, yes—but they’ve been voting for these withered trolls as Senators and Representatives for decades. They vote this way in spite of clear proof that they are voting against their best interests—and voting in favor of blatant untruths and greed.

But I must add a caveat: If a person is smart enough to vote against the Republicans, but too lazy or stupid to do so, that’s actually worse. Democracy only works if you’re not a lazy sack of shit.

Sunday, October 21, 2018                                       2:30 PM

Clown Prince of Murder   (2018Oct21)

I know—that title sounds like an old Angela Lansbury TV episode. But I feel it encapsulates both the horror and the farce of the present scandal. The murder of the journalist Khashoggi is his own fault—he should have known better than to set foot on the sovereign soil of the Saudi embassy.

But it serves to remind us of the Saudi culture—which strains mightily to contort its obsolescence into the 21^st century mainstream—and which we turn a blind eye to, in hopes of one-hundred-billion dollars in arms sales.

This Crowny Prince liar starts with “Nope—didn’t happen” and ends, today, with “Yeah—dead—killed him—not my fault”. In his country, he can get away with that BS—and because our media reports even his lies, he may believe that we swallow it over here, too.

Personally, I can’t help thinking of the ‘Tom Cruise Paradox’: “If the captain gave orders that Santiago wasn’t to be touched—and the captain’s orders were always followed—then, why was Santiago in danger?” You know? I mean, these are the top aides to a guy who has people slaughtered and dismembered if they talk out of turn. Are we really supposed to believe that they acted autonomously? Ridiculous.

And everybody knows—has known—the truth for about a week now—well, since the day after the murder—whenever that was. And we’ve all known this Prince guy was lying—and that Trump was pretending to believe his obvious lie. And Americans aren’t worried about bone-saws. No, we’re just too greedy to let go of that sweet arms-deal money.

And all of it overlooks the questions of: Why any country needs a hunert-billion in arms?—or why the world, as a whole, needs a hunert-billion in arms?—or why the hell the manufacture of a hunert-billion in arms is a staple of the U.S. economy? And I’m sure some geek can spout the party line, about how fear and distrust force mankind to live this way—but I don’t buy it.

The people with the money and power want everything to stay just the way it is. The fact that it is impossible does not faze them. Holding back the tide of time is their main function—it’s how they maintain balance atop the pyramid, by keeping it from shaking too hard.

They smear change as disruption. They praise head-in-the-sand ignorance as security. According to scientists, these entitled farts are going to kill us all in about twenty years—by keeping us from doing what’s necessary, just because it’s too ‘expensive’. As if that word will maintain its meaning, once we all start frying.

And what they really fear is losing their death-grip on the status quo. Imagine the globe on an emergency footing, with all kinds of barriers and costs tossed aside in aid of the present crisis, with massive R&D projects focused on completely ‘non-profit’ aims. Heavens, the economic instability—survival isn’t worth it.

As we consume the natural bounty of the globe, we suppose that our comfort is part of our survival. That was the old way—comfort was the pinnacle. Now we see that health is the true pinnacle—that comfort without challenge leads to boredom and obesity—and is fatal in large doses. That is true for the Earth and for our bodies and for our societies—and we are running out of time to learn that.

But so what? Right? He’s the friggin’ Clown Prince of Sadly Arabia. What is it? MBS? Is that Mucho Bull S**t? I think it may be. Fuck that asshole.

Mr. Khashoggi –soldier of truth–may you rest in peace.

Monday, October 08, 2018                                               7:43 PM

Why Fascism?   (2018Oct08)

Conservatives want to hold us back and freeze the future—they want everything to stay cozy and familiar. The faster and more disruptive the global rate of change becomes, the more dangerous Conservatism becomes to our country. Rather than embracing change (an American tradition, ironically) Conservatives want to go backwards, revisiting all the old issues they lost on, in the sixties and seventies.

But they know they lost—they know that they have to ‘hide’ their bigotry and sexism behind denials and rationales—so they double down. White supremacy is not suddenly rearing its ugly head because racism and misogyny have become popular again—no. These people are afraid of the future.

They fear the future because they are predominately uneducated, and conditioned to react negatively to adult-education and job-training. They fear the future because it’s harder to lie in a world with Google, it’s harder to exclude in a world with Facebook, and it’s harder to price-gouge rural folks who have Amazon (especially Prime).

Modern media and the Internet make it easier for them to spread rumors and conspiracy—but the same online-connection can give you the truth on multiple other websites. They can lead you to water, but they can’t make you stop drinking. The Fascists are shouting and angry—because they are peeing themselves with fear. Cowards and bullies always bluster to hide their terror—so, if someone invites you to join their hate club—tell them to grow a pair and embrace the future.

Tuesday, September 04, 2018                                          12:45 AM

Increasing Intensity   (2018Sep04)

I’m always tempted to use the phrase ‘tsunami of bullsxxt’ when I think of the Republican party now. Mueller (and some helpful States’ Attorneys-General) are having success in uncovering a lot of corruption—and a lot of interaction—illegal interaction—with Russia (meaning Putin & Co.)—perpetrated by most of Trump’s entire ‘campaign cabinet’.

And now the Trump business and the Trump charitable foundation, and Eric, Ivanka, and Don Jr., are all looking down the barrel of tax-fraud and campaign-finance violations, especially surrounding the Inaugural Committee. Over $100 Million dollars in contributions (some contributed illegally by foreign entities—some stolen since). Cohen, for one, confessed to stealing some—but it appears unlikely his was the only wet beak.

Then there are the first two Congressmen to endorse Trump as a candidate—both facing indictments alleging corruption. This sect of the Republican Party is no Cub Scout Den—these folks have a very elastic understanding of ‘all men being created equal’, not to mention ‘public service’.

Now, when a floral horseshoe of charges, either convicted or confessed by a number of his circle, hangs around Trump’s neck—we are witnessing the unraveling of this manufactured ‘counter-culture’ of alternate-truth and non-facts and conspiracy theories like grains of sand. His so-called ‘base’ is about to be pushed back under the rocks it crawled out from—by the unison outrage of people who don’t yearn for an imagined past nearly as much as they do for a better tomorrow.

I use the word ‘tomorrow’ advisedly. I’m not talking about some ‘future’. We saw how quickly the Putin gang and the Alt-Right gang networked themselves into a de facto traitor-in-the-White-House—and with a host of avid cultists ready to excuse his every evil. If we are lucky enough to get a Blue Wave, we must use it to match their effectiveness—even if the truth is rarely as exciting as the dramatic lie, we must sell the truth with the same fervor as they hawk their ‘story’.

There was a time when we had sent astronauts to the Moon, long ago—and new Personal Computers were becoming something little children were playing with. Say the Eighties or thereabouts—when we started to think of ourselves as living in the future—‘George Jetson had nothing on us’.

And, of course, as in all transitional phases, we threw out a lot of babies with our old bathwater. The Sixties assassinations (highlighting public service and civil disobedience) were scarred over some—and the recent resignation of Nixon had soured many of us on the whole Authority thing. Not that we were surprised, really—no—but it was discomfiting to have it all spelled out and proved on tape.

Then Carter proved, in a way, that being a selfless, honest leader made easy prey for the jackals. And to twist the knife, the Republicans gave us a movie star—then overlooked Iran-Contra and his failing mental health, to christen him the ultra-Republican. And that is certainly true—flash over substance has been their business model, ever since Eisenhower left—and Reagan certainly personifies that credo.

The decades of hypocrisy—both in stealing oil from developing countries, and in defying the science behind the environmentalist movement, had made us ashamed of our American lifestyle—even though we (had we been asked) would have wanted things otherwise. The Ultra-Wealthy had a stake in the status quo—but the obstinance with which they shoved ethics aside to pursue profit has made the world what it is.

The hurricane season is something recent Republican presidents have not done well with—and that season is now upon us. When FEMA left Puerto Rico last year, they claimed great success and a very low mortality figure—double digits, I believe. But last week, Puerto Rico revised their mortality figures for Maria and concluded that nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the loss of electricity and clear roads and medical treatment—and drinking water!

I can’t understand why no one much cares about this in Washington DC. Tomorrow may be an unusually strong hurricane near the mouth of the Mississippi—and it seems that ‘unusually strong’ will ironically be ‘the usual’ for several years to come. So we have a president (oh how I hate that goon having that title) who did a lousy job on last year’s storms—and—he won’t even admit why the storms have increased energy every year.

I will never understand a person being so loosely tied to reality that they would deny it for purely political purposes. Trump knows as well as I do that Climate Change is real—there are pictures. And if he doesn’t believe the photos, he’s the president—he can fly a rocket up to the ISS and look at the polar ice caps himself—or, better yet, send Eric (that poor kid is better off where he can’t be subpoenaed).

With so much electronic interconnectivity, with so many environmental challenges, with so much new science and technology, and with so much income inequality—this is a bad time to decide we should follow luddites and anti-intellectuals. It is an even more dire time to be allow Inclusion and Peaceful Coexistence to be threatened by retrograde Nazis. What Trump did to children at our southern border was a Crime Against Humanity—whatever party you support, you should realize that the whole rest of the world sees it that way—because it was.

We really do live in the future now—but, instead of dazzling us with bottomless charity and industrial miracles of recovery and renovation, I suspect this year’s hurricane season will be, sadly, just as bad as last year’s, or possibly worse. And I mourn in advance the dead which Trump’s incompetence and bigotry will cause.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Sunday, September 02, 2018                                            6:22 AM

Unwelcome, Even On Twitter   (2018Sep02)

Trump was not invited to McCain’s funeral. He would not have been welcome.

Trump’s disrespect and rudeness to McCain bothered McCain much less than Trump’s incomprehension of what made this country great—something McCain had fought for and risked his life for and had paid for in torn flesh and broken bone.

McCain’s daughter was well within her rights to point out Trump’s idiocy in calling for America to be made ‘great again’—since Trump had never done a thing to serve his country (and still hasn’t—quite the contrary, in the minds of most).

Trump’s tweeting out “MAGA” soon after daughter McCain’s elegiac comment—is a perfect example of the childish self-absorption that our president suffers from. God forbid that overgrown brat should sit there and take it like a man!

This MAGA business has been a symbol all along—a rallying flag for anti-intellectualism. Anyone who respected and loved America would never say such a thing. Only someone with a self-serving agenda (and a tin ear for surreptitious treason) would ever say we should “Make America great Again”.

Only a businessman who saw the crash of 2008 as a great defeat to America could say ‘MAGA’—thus revealing total ignorance of what makes America truly great. Hey, Trump—here’s a hint: you recently swore to protect, preserve, and defend it—but you forgot to read it.

Friday, August 31, 2018                                           11:57 PM

We Must Judge For Ourselves   (2018Aug31)

There are so many convictions, indictments, confessions, and plea-deal-cooperating witnesses that I feel secure in pointing out (to anyone who doesn’t get their cues exclusively from ‘alt-news’ sources) that I was right about Trump—insofar as it was a mistake to elect him. As far as whether Trump is the mastermind of this corrupt insurgency of betrayal—or simple its witless front-man—that is still an open question.

I think it progressed, from simple high-stakes, white-collar, international money-laundering (And, really, who doesn’t engage in that?), to collusion with Russian operatives and their American stooges. At no point was Trump prepared to become our president—there is doubt as to whether he ever wanted to be president, as opposed to the fun of running for president. So far, his incompetence has led to thousands of deaths in Puerto Rico, thousands of children being traumatized at our border, and an increase in hate groups, and in their activity.

Our national reputation is in shreds—our president is, in a word, laughable. His ignorance, whether calculated, real, or a combination of the two, may play well with his willfully-blind base, but that crap don’t fly, overseas. And I really think the worst of it is the hyper-partisan unwillingness of our Republican Congress to observe the finer points of politics (ethics, say, or occasional honesty). That deranged septuagenarian in the Oval is not acting alone—nor is he invulnerable to Congressional oversight.

In fact, the Republicans’ obvious discomfort at accommodating their pet gorilla makes the presidency that much more a laughingstock—while showing us that Republicans are, in truth, without a platform, except to beat the Democrats (and the majority of voters) and make their super-rich donors happy. They inspire their followers with a burning resentment that blinds them to facts, and they point out a target—whether it’s immigrants, African Americans, liberals, women, gays, or overly-honest public figures.

The extent of this new media-network supporting the alternate reality of these truly-disturbed people is immense. The only defense against it is truth and logic—but they are so much less entertaining than conspiracy-theories and personality-assassinations. Plus, the assholes such as InfoWars host watsisname are always so full of outrage and indignation—it must be sincere, right? We really are so basic—people, I mean—just shout real loud and everyone turns to listen. If only there were a process, between hearing and believing, where people judged for themselves….

O, and, apropos of nothing, here are some brief thoughts from earlier in the month:

Friday, August 10, 2018                                           4:09 PM

Trump attacks the NFL protests because the humility of the act horrifies him. He won’t bend the knee—even to the rule of law—his ego won’t let him.

Friday, August 24, 2018                                           2:34 PM

Abortion is a practical issue so intimate that we feel emboldened to make of it an issue of morality. Morality is just a debate tactic, however, as history shows.

The Eighteenth Amendment banned alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933, when it was repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment. That thirteen-year period forced virtually every American to participate in the sub rosa criminality of the underworld. It did not change human nature, it merely complicated it.

But we did not learn from this episode. Drugs remain criminalized. The harm to society has been so obvious that any reasonable person would have long since changed drug abuse from a Crime to a Health Issue. As with so many societal ills, our impulse to punish wrong blinds us to the potential of helping those who have been led there.

Those who wish to ‘re-criminalize’ abortion must admit that their motive, far from saving hypothetical infants, is merely to punish. We know that abortions were performed, back while it was still a crime. We know that, for some young women, an unplanned child is a foregone tragedy for both. We know that many of such women will attempt to terminate. Forcing them to do so as an outlaw serves no purpose.

Morality cuts both ways—it is not exclusive to evangelists.

Tuesday, August 07, 2018                                       2:11 AM

Symptoms of Hate   (2018Aug07)

It’s so weird that hatred is having a ‘comeback’ around the world—and in the United States, which has historically moved forward on this front—slowly enough, surely—but never before backward. I hope this ‘blue wave’ thing materializes—not because I’m a Democrat, but because it will show that most of us are not on board with this new ‘fad’.

I think the gleeful braggadocio of their chanting and rallying for Trump shows that they are as shocked as we were—when ignorance and attitude won out over substance. These neighbors of ours knew that their day had past—that no one in America was going to play the racism game in public anymore, because the fight was over. Obama’s two terms proved that.

They couldn’t believe their luck—no one ever expected the White Nationalists, the Republicans, and Russia to pull a popular criminal out of their collective ass and make him POTUS. He announced his candidacy with hate speech—if you remember (I think the news showed it a few times). And then he won the Electoral College—suddenly, someone as supposedly disgraceful in his ideas as they were—had gotten the biggest validation a person can get. And ‘Leader of the Free World’, no less.

So of course the hate clubs are not only revived—they see a lot of press attention—and there’s no such thing as bad press, when you have a bad president. (If it’s bad, it’s fake.) Now young people are reportedly being indoctrinated into hate online—hate in many flavors, fear in countless conspiracy theories—it’s an explosion of self-loathing.

Everyone knows that bullies are acting out because they are themselves being mistreated at home or elsewhere—that’s what makes all bullies cowards. It has also been pointed out that many of the most hysterically anti-gay Republicans, Conservatives, and Evangelists are often found, in time, to be confused gay people—taught to hate what they are—and driven slightly loony thereby.

Well, Hate is no different. It’s as obvious as if they had it written on their faces. People who insist on division and prejudice (of any kind) can only be so extremely exercised over this viewpoint—because they are full of self-loathing and need to insure that at-least-someone is beneath them. They have so many people in their lives that make them feel inadequate (or at least it seems so to them) they suspect that they may be just the least-worthwhile person, ever.

And, while it is nice and convenient to hate the Haters—just as it is to hate criminals—there is more to it than the end-result: a racist, an anti-Semite, a misogynist, an elitist, a criminal—or some horrific combo of all the above. If someone taught these people to hate from a very young age, then they also taught them that people can be hated without being met—they taught them that everybody is supposed to judge everybody else. You can’t teach children to ‘hate a group’ or ‘disrespect women’—and expect their minds to stop there. And those other, unintended lessons will mess with a kid’s head, I’d be willing to bet.

In closing, I would point out: People who are taught to love their neighbor without condition or exclusion—virtually never switch to a life of hate and bigotry. Conversely, many people who are raised in a culture of prejudice have grown to reject that tradition and embrace love. Trump or no Trump, racism has had its heyday—and will continue to fade away, occasional road-bumps notwithstanding.

Not for nothing: ‘Zero Tolerance’ is just a ‘spin’-onym for Intolerance.

Improv – Story Told (2018Jul25)

Improv – Virgin Press (2018Jul31)

Improv – Story Story Night (2018Aug03)

ttfn.

Friday, August 03, 2018                                           5:20 PM

The President Is A Loser   (2018Aug03)

For those of us who weren’t fault-finding with intense scrutiny (though god knows there were plenty of those) President Obama’s eight years were rather legendary. His financial recovery efforts worked phenomenally—his Affordable Care Act passage was heroic. Oddly, those who would benefit the most were its most ardent opponents—and many Republican voters are now on record as supporting the ACA, but dead-set against ‘Obamacare’.

People will say that Obama didn’t stand tough enough—as if Bush-43 hadn’t already ‘toughed’ us into bankruptcy. All I can say is—he was tough enough to kill Bin Laden—and it’s a lot easier to defend a legacy as first black president who-didn’t-start-a-war, than as first black president who did.

My point, if I have one, is that Obama did a great job—and Hillary was the front runner in the last election because she promised more of the same. It wasn’t until the dog-whistling, lying Republicans teamed up with the lethal Russian GRU that people started chanting ‘Lock her up’ (as if they knew how their own damned emails worked).

Trump must concede the truth of Russian election meddling, because it is laid out in several indictments, literally step-by-step. But Trump and his Republican cadre can never admit that Trump’s election to office was the Russian’s victory—and a blow against the United States. Can you blame them?

Trump’s frighteningly-large number of followers—are people who cherish the United States’ traditional failings, and are uncomfortable with our historic, constitutional ideals. They wish to roll us all back to a less perfect union. Any change for the better is something they’ll embrace for themselves, but denounce for anyone else—their idea of a community is focused on the fence around it, not the heart at its center.

The founding fathers feared party and partisanship would quickly subvert the American Experiment into corruption and elitism. Scholars have questioned the dangers of our current two-party system—but, in the end, it seemed so perfect, like Yin and Yang. Conservatives and Progressives—one to hold on to the wisdom of the past and one to reach for the promise of the future—how, indeed, could we fail to have two parties?

But there’s trouble in this Eden—what if the Conservatives are not really conservative? What if they have had their paradigms swept away by a society and a culture changing at ‘ludicrous speed’? Have they been warped, even crushed, by the illogic of Conservatism in an age of vanishing industries, vanishing storefronts, even vanishing wires?

And what about Social Media and Conservatives? Has Conservatism been a false front for Elitism, all along? Does the transparency of a YouTube-world make it impossible for elitists to maintain their fictions of benign objectivity?

Hey, wouldn’t it be better to release a doctored video of Planned Parenthood doctors, trying to make women’s health care seem like a criminal enterprise? That’s conservative, right? When did they first jail Margaret Sanger? 1916, I think. The Conservatives of that time could arrest the woman. Those of our day are reduced to lying about her—so, that’s progress, I guess?

Anyway, Trump is a liar—to himself more than anyone else. Can you imagine the lack of self-awareness that allows him to think of himself as our president—without feeling any shame at all? Can you imagine being one of his supporting Republicans—pretending Trump is fit, Trump is innocent, Trump is sincere? When they know in their hearts that good people don’t have to lie that much. Yes, we are the victims—but we should thank heaven we aren’t the perpetrators.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018                                             6:48 PM

I’m Back Again   (2018Jul31)

Family and friends advised me to take a step away from the cable news-shows and give myself a break—after I wrote my last, deliriously-frustrated rant-post. I don’t post to blog every day—I try to post as seldom as possible (excepting the exceedingly rare inspiration for an up-beat subject). My political-backseat-driving is an obsession that even I have grown tired of.

As an example, I decided in May that I would try to post the word ‘Impeach’ on my Facebook Wall, every day. I knew I wouldn’t reach anyone besides my own friends and relatives, but I felt that Facebook, being at least nominally a Public Forum, made me responsible to treat it as such, inasmuch as a private nobody like myself was able.

Here are my almost-daily posts from that day to today—you’ll see that my style of posting evolved over time. In virtually all of these FB posts, I was constrained to just a line or two of characters—because I kept all of them short enough to allow the new-ish Facebook meme-background-style (it turns off, if you keep typing/editing your FB-update past a certain number of characters).

These are not meant to be wise or hilarious or great writing of any kind—they are simply the way I broke up the monotony of the task I had set myself. I hope (and I’m fairly sure of that hope, lately) that someday soon, that word ‘Impeach’ will be on everyone’s mind, every day:

Chris Dunn updated his status.

20 May 2018 14:13 :

Impeach   –  (pass it on)

Impeach !

Impeach !  (Yes, there ARE two sides:  good vs. evil.)

23 May 2018 13:27 :

Impeach !

Impeach !  (GOP = Band of Traitors)

Impeach !  (We don’t look good in swastikas)

Impeach !

Impeach !  (President? More like Putin’s puppet)

Impeach !  (It’s enough already)

Impeach the PO(TU)S !

Impeach !  (grant a Pardon to the voters for being so gullible)

Impeach !  (His lawyers are sure he’ll commit perjury)

Impeach !  (Claims ALL the power, NONE of the responsibility)

Impeach !  (mental illness is not a political platform)

Impeach !  (I’m not wrong…)

Impeach !  (how long does ‘unfortunate’ remain acceptable in a president?)

Impeach !

Impeach !  (Or at least ask Putin to send someone else)

10 June 2018 01:05 :

[People keep talking about ‘what Trump said’, as if someday it’s going to be right, or true, or wise–but I believe that life is too short to waste that kind of time. So, instead, I have my own one-word statement which, as far as I can tell, is the only thing left to say: “Impeach!”]

10 June 2018 14:14 :

Impeach !  (he’s unfit, dishonest, and he’s got a screw loose)

Impeach !  (He’s not a president–he’s a wanna-be strongman)

Impeach !  (Nice try–woulda been nice–shoulda studied?)

15 June 2018 17:28 :

Impeach !  (Could be YOUR kids, next–how would that be?)

Impeach !  (The president is a criminal)

Impeach !  (You STILL think he’s a Good Guy?)

Impeach !  (Unfit is one thing, Monstrous quite another)

Impeach !  (I miss being proud I’m American)

Impeach !  (because, Yes–we do fuckin Care)

Impeach !  (Who needs a compulsive liar?)

Impeach ! (Or maybe a crooked, perv bully DOES represent US?)

Impeach !  (make the world a better place)

Impeach !  (Muslim Ban is Un-American)

30 June 2018 15:27 :

Impeach !  (I’m so tired of all this winning)

Impeach !  (or just keep on lyin’ to me, baby)

Impeach !  (he said ‘elite’, I think he meant ‘illiterate’)

Impeach !  (then, news-media can stop being his baby-monitor)

4 July 2018 11:24 :

Impeach !  (or shove an M-80 up his ass–I don’t care anymore)

Impeach !  (or explain why you side with a criminal)

Impeach !  (before the kidnapped, crying children are Yours)

Impeach !  (Congress, UR famous 4 doin 0, but now, 4 doin Wrong!)

Impeach !  (Lock him up—and free Reality Leigh Winner!)

Impeach !  (irresponsible + president = disaster)

11 July 2018 13:57 :

Impeach !  (he breaks his oath of office every damn day)

Impeach !  (Let Putin have him)

Impeach !  (go ahead, wait til after today’s secret meeting with Putin)

Impeach !  (at this point, claiming ‘innocence’ is confessing to blindness)

Impeach ! Impeach ! Impeach !

Impeach the Traitor !

Impeach !  (next time, let’s go with a public servant instead of a monster)

Impeach the Traitor!  (he’s created a ‘safe space’ for stupidity and racism)

Impeach !  We need a Real president

Impeach !  (We don’t need no ‘useful idiot’)

Impeach ! (Yes, I’m repeating–but at least I’m not repeating lies)

Impeach !  (He can tweet us into war, but he can’t tweet us back out)

Impeach !  (The Liar edited his Summit transcript–and the video!)

Impeach !  (He won’t correct the WH transcript or video of the Summit–unwelcome reality bites)

Impeach !  (The Racist decided to keep over 900 of the kidnapped children–that’s over 2 in 10)

Impeach !  (In today’s speech, the Idiot ridiculed the press for paying too close attention to everything he says)

Impeach the Traitor !  –  (or be one yourselves)

Impeach !  (while we wait for decency to return, indecency is redecorating the house)

Impeach !  (Let’s not be led around by our Dick)

Now, that last one—I actually posted today. After I posted it, I thought to myself, ‘It would have been better to say “(Let’s stop being led around by our Dick)” .’ but that just goes to show. I spend too much time thinking of public statements to make against Trump—and too little time remembering that my media platform (that is, my personal FB page) is only nominally a public forum—it isn’t really seen by the public, it is only available to be seen.

So I have added a Quixotic element to my online activity—I’ve been tilting at the windmills of my Facebook friends-circle, while the real monster is far away elsewhere, untouched by my efforts, no matter how I phrase them.

This past weekend has been a restful step back from all the political/media chaos—that stuff deserves far less room inside my head. It’s all so childish and not-smart—these politicians really expect a lot of ‘cover’ from a dark suit and a red tie.

Sure, it looks professional—but at some point, those expensive suits morph from lamb’s-clothing into exclamation-points of corruption. Part of the ‘suit’ image is the expectation of knowledgeability—and when the words coming out of their mouths are so bereft of intelligence, they expose themselves as being ‘empty suits’.

That is just one item from the long list of things that beggars my belief—how can people go on taking this stuff seriously? Our president is mentally unstable, compulsively dishonest, and has the mind-set of a career criminal (though not necessarily a successful one). Trump approaches governing as a megalomaniacal CEO would—he approaches the Justice Dept. the same way a criminal does. He blames the cops, he claims he was framed, he claims the other guy did it, he claims he wasn’t there—and even if he was, it’s not a crime to be part of a crime.

I knew that son-of-a-bitch was a criminal when he wouldn’t let go of the birther BS—before he even declared. I have watched in traumatized puzzlement as the stupidest people in this country ran to the voting booths—and the supposedly more-intelligent people sat at home, or voted for Berny, or even joined the cattle—voting for Trump despite their glimmers of consciousness. And don’t tell me ‘She won the popular’—yes, she did—but that psychotic moron should have been outvoted by a landslide.

It’s been a long series of disappointments—finally realizing that the Congress is so partisan, it wouldn’t impeach Trump no matter the madness and danger. I’m still waiting for sanity to be restored. And I am doing my best to hang on to what’s left of my own.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018                                             3:23 AM

Should We Meet Again   (2018Jul24)

Our president is lacking in some key areas. He’s without experience, without education, without fitness, without aptitude, and generally without understanding of the meaning of the presidency. He’s without honor, without honesty, without ethics, without morality, without impulse-control, without responsibility, and deeply neurotic.

Furthermore, he can’t spell, can’t admit to a mistake, can’t apologize, can’t empathize, can’t be faithful, can’t be trusted, and, for the most part, can’t be understood—in tweets or while speaking. All he’s got is that big fat mouth of his and the big mobs of embittered scum who enjoy his live hate-fests. (Let’s not call them Klan rallies—Yet.)

Now we have proof that the Republican whores in Congress will ignore all of the above, and continue to chow down on their sh*t-sandwich and call it filet mignon, as long as they get tax-breaks for the rich, and deregulation for the environment-rapers and the greedy, soulless bankers.

Those insubstantial excuses for men (and some confused women) will never admit that a public servant should serve one term, and let the results do the campaigning for anything more than one term. Hell, they even go to court to get unmonitored campaign funding, a rollback of the Voter Rights act, and race-based gerrymandering. They don’t even pretend to believe in democracy.

So, the president’s a traitorous con-man, the Republican party is a bunch of corrupt weasels, the Democratic party is just embarrassing (and just different corruption waiting its turn, really). Damn, I used to be proud of this country—even though I knew there was some corruption and some hatred—I still thought my principles were shared by a significant part of the country.

But no more Mr. Proud Patriot. This place is a shithole now.

Babies get locked in cages.

Industries are encouraged to go back to dumping shit wherever.

Medals of Honor, and the bereaved families of the recipients, aren’t worth a damn anymore.

Every effort to avoid WWIII, since WWII, has been discarded as ‘unprofitable business’ by the big ‘deal-maker’ who never wore a uniform.

There’s no mystery to why Putin wanted to help Trump become president. There’s no mystery to why the Republicans keep pretending he’s not dangerous, refusing to impeach in spite of unhinged episodes on the daily. And that jumpy, can’t-stay-long-enough-to-look-you-in-the-eye Press Secretary—how do you figure she rationalizes her little daily tap-dances, huh? There’s not even a mystery as to why people voted for him—people are fucking stupid as hell.

Media, you can stop now. You’ve made your pile off of helping flush us all down the shitter—and the mystery is gone, the spark has dimmed. There are no more surprises. Yes, Trump will do and say this or that—but we already know. He’ll be lying. He’ll be doing something un-American, cruel, and unproductive. He’s a liar and a traitor. What else can we expect? The sideshow has become a repulsive banality that won’t even get clicks anymore—so fuck along off.

The Republicans aren’t threatening the American way anymore—they’ve strangled it. They’ve killed our country, what most of us believed was our country. If I ever meet a person who votes Republican, ever again, I’m just gonna haul off and belt’em—fuckin’ deplorables. Do they deserve a random punch in the face, out of the blue? Maybe not, but I didn’t deserve theirs, either.

Monday, July 23, 2018                                             1:29 PM

Bulls**t Walking   (2018Jul23)

The Earth’s surface is lush with a profusion of life—not as lush, not as profuse as a century ago, but still. If some wildlife is endangered, it’s not in my backyard’s biome, so why should I care? The Earth attempts to provide oxygenated, non-toxic atmosphere and drinkable fresh water—and so what if we sprinkle in a few toxins or carcinogens or hormones? It’s still good—you’re still breathing, aren’t you? Don’t be a wuss—it’s all good until we literally start to choke—and die of thirst—then will be plenty of time to deal with all this.

Money talks, BS walks. The Money says ‘full steam ahead’—and if that turns our atmosphere literally to steam, so be it. Money does a lot of stuff these days. It entertains you. Twenty-four hour news, websites tailored to your paranoia—are you not entertained? Ain’t it dramatic?

Money has a close, personal friendship with Carbon Dioxide. Maybe you’ve heard?—CO2, the by-product of Power and Energy. Well, that’s the ‘story’—actually, it’s the by-product of burning fuel. There are other ways to acquire Power and Energy—but Money made its first million with CO2, so we’re gonna call everything else ‘alternative energy’, just so no one forgets how inferior it is to petroleum. Hey, shut up—Money does the talking here.

Money is kind enough to govern us, as well. You didn’t think all those Republicans in both Houses of Congress just naturally turned out to be faithless whores, did you? No, no—Money pays them to be this way—the same Money that broadcasts all the rationales, that voters must swallow, to vote for those whores.

The truth is that Money is killing us, but it still speaks loud enough to keep us from hating it. It’s funny—originally, money was a great invention—portable assets, liquid assets—it was the first ‘internet’, in its way. But no invention of humanity has ever evaded our worst impulses, or our worst representatives—hell, we’re lucky we’re not all radioactive already. Money has become a weapon—and it’s pointed straight at our whole planet. So tote that barge and lift that bale—‘cause you don’t want to be poor when the grass starts burning.

Sunday, July 22, 2018                                              2:46 PM

Republicans: How Embarrassing!   (2018Jul22)

I see similarities between the McCarthy Red-Scare era and the Amoral Republican era. You’d expect it to be called the ‘Trump era’, I know—but it’s more accurately described as the Amoral Republican era. It began with Reagan’s shameless pandering to the rich and his marginalizing of the low-income population.

The bankruptcy of the Soviets, which we all hail as our victory in the Cold War, led to a revolt won by the Russian people—and the independence of the satellite states was a simple fact forced by that bankruptcy.

The US failed to secure their nuclear arsenal—which outlived the state that built it—and those nukes sit, still today, littered about the globe and under the sea. The US failed to provide a ‘Marshall plan’, after we finished slapping each other on the back for defeating the Soviets without the use of American lives lost. We turned our backs on the people who did the dying for us—and that led to Al-Qeada, Boko Haram, and ISIS.

Then came 9/11—which had many heroes and martyrs amongst the common men and women, of uncommon bravery— ever since which the Republicans have used the tragedy. They used it to lionize an inept President and his mistaken wars. They used it to lionize an elitist, bigoted mayor who just happened to hold office while real New Yorkers did all the hero-ing.

The Republicans have used 9/11 to promote cowardice and Islamophobia, panic and inhumanity. They’ve revived racism, in a country that seemed only years ago, to be headed in the proper direction. And they have done all this out of obedience to their paymasters—they laugh at the phrase ‘public service’.

Everyone knows one can’t do the people any good if you don’t get elected—and thus it follows that nothing you do to get elected can be wrong. This part of their amorality is the part that is opposite from the McCarthy era—McCarthy’s amoral egotism was exposed by the televising of the HUAC hearings—and by Edward R. Murrow’s reporting.

Today’s Republicans have hacked mass-media—and hijacked all of it as a megaphone for their misinformation campaign. They did the impossible—convincing Americans to worry about a great female candidate with no real scandals (but endless imagined ones) and not to worry about a blatantly, embarrassingly unfit male candidate. Even more embarrassing—the Russians were helping them the whole time. How’s that for an endorsement?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a do-over election? Too late—y’all had yer chance—and now Putin’s in charge. Ha- ha! The Republicans are doing a great job—a perfect impersonation of the band on the deck of the Titanic.

MILWAUKEE, WI – NOVEMBER 10: Presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures after Carly Fiorina says she met with Russian President Putin at a one on one meeting, during the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The fourth Republican debate is held in two parts, one main debate for the top eight candidates, and another for four other candidates lower in the current polls. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Thursday, July 19, 2018                                           1:32 PM

Olio   (2018Jul20)

My darling, my sweetest one!

Water-cool joy flows through

My body, turned to aether,

Quintessence of love

And like a drug, it soothes me.

My ever-loved, my only star!

Fire consumes my chest,

Which bellows with yearning,

Throat parched with a longing

Only your kiss can slake.

====

Don’t tell me both sides hate.

What I feel is outrage—righteous wrath against enemies of the United States of America (even if they live next door).

I bridle at the hate, the destruction, the loss of hard-won yardage towards a more perfect union—I can’t deal with ignorance so sweeping as to equal treason, against a nation dedicated to enlightened humanity.

What you’re feeling is hate—what I’m feeling is outrage.

There’s a difference.

====

Friday, July 20, 2018                                                3:58 PM

I can’t imagine what Trump supporters must be going through—now that there is clear proof and common knowledge of the con they’ve fallen for. Lied to by dishonest Republican leaders, stirred up by an army of Russian spies, tricked into voting for a sorry excuse of a man—a man who made them laugh when he said, “You’re fired!” on TV—these people will eventually be furious. I just hope they’ve learned enough to redirect their anger in the proper direction.

People didn’t see the harm in reality TV. It was cheaper than hiring writers and actors—it was silly and raw—what could be the harm, right? The harm is that their ‘reality’ was and is heavily edited, to tell whatever story the producers decided to show. Producers knew that bad behavior attracts more attention—thus, bad behavior was promoted as ‘reality’ and still is.

Young people who watch TV are taught that idiocy and selfishness are the standard of behavior—so of course they see nothing wrong with a selfish idiot running for president. Especially one of their favorite stars. If they’d grown up watching The West Wing instead of Big Brother, this never could’ve happened.

But imagine the naked shame—of all that full-throated support of a crook who conned them—of all the lies they swallowed like scripture—of thinking they knew better than the pencil-necked geeks. I’d hate to be a Trump-supporter right now. Or that lone woman who sat behind Trump at rallies with the ‘Women for Trump” sign—or that lone man with the “Blacks for Trump” sign (so sad that neither could find enough people to justify the plurals).

Be gentle with them all, bless their hearts.

This nightmare will end.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018                                                7:21 PM

The Russia-publicans   (2018Jul18)

I’m disappointed that no one publicly asks why the agendas of Russia and the Republicans were so conveniently aligned during the 2016 election. Personally, I believe it has to do with Russia becoming a gangster-state with a mob boss for a leader, concerned with nothing but money and power. The Republicans are of the same mind, but feel hindered by having to pose as public servants.

The Republicans can’t overtly threaten their voters—they have to settle for disinformation campaigns that only do violence to the national consciousness. The Russian people have been at this longer—they know their leaders lie to them. They know this because it is against the law to question what they are told.

It’s not that Republicans are inherently bad (though that’s true enough for most of the elected Republicans) it is only that Republicans are the party of the rich. Cutting taxes and blocking regulations has always been their battle cry. (Ah, remember the days—Republicans used to tie themselves in knots to deny their link to wealth.)

Recent studies suggest a link between personality-type and political party. Thus, when I call Republicans the party of the rich, that would include those who are rich, those who are approaching rich, and those who dream of becoming rich—but use magical thinking to get there. The Republican party also attracts those who dislike change and those who avoid making waves.

As near as I can see, that makes about half the country. Elections, until recently, were not forgone conclusions in any race. However, if you have a charismatic candidate with a spoiled, pervy, quasi-criminal life-style, the Republican’s 50% drops down to 30-40%—which, sadly due to the Electoral College, is enough to win by.

I digress, but with a purpose—there is a syntactical quandary here. Whenever I lambast the Republicans, I can expect some Republican voter to take offense at my aspersions—as if I specifically meant him or her. Likewise, when I reach out to Republican voters, I cede undeserved humanity, even humanitarianism, to Republican politicians who have left their consciences far, far behind.

In the past, Democrats and Republicans went head-to-head—arguing the issues, not the candidate that represented their point of view. What could be said of the candidate (barring scandal—which used to matter) could be said of his or her voters.

But today we have Republican politicians and Republican voters—two entirely separate groups. If we try to damn the politicians, the voters take offense. If we try to tell the voters that they’re being duped (and, admittedly, it is bizarre) by both the Republican Party and the Russians—they get on their high horse and tell us that they are just as smart as we are. And contradicting them, at that point, is a waste of breath.

The fact is the Republican party, by being the party of the rich, has become the instrument of the rich—huge corporations and fabulously wealthy donors govern Republicans far more than Republicans govern the country. Money is all that matters to that power base—just as it is with Putin’s empire. So, the lack of connection to The People, and the obsessive greed, make Republicans and Russian Oligarchs a natural alliance.

And this is where the panic sets in—our very way of life is threatened, yet the threat stems from the dull wits of the next-door neighbor who hated Obama. We can’t make ourselves intelligent—and we have not made any provisions for the hurt feelings of slow people in a world under constant acceleration. Our Free Speech becomes a weapon on the Internet—and Trump has knee-capped America’s digital counter-intelligence forces (while waving the Space Cadet Force at us with his other hand).

This disgusting turncoat should have been impeached already. Continuing to give him the respect due to a serious president has gone past the point of farcical hypocrisy, into the area of ‘clear and present danger’. Thus, Trump and his family and goons are no longer the problem—he has given them ammunition for a hundred impeachments. The Republicans are the problem, here at the end, just as their unprincipled tactics created the opening for this era of mindless, hate-filled disgrace to our history.

The only thing more dangerous to our children’s futures than Climate Change—is being too stupid to worry about Climate Change, or the people it will kill. In a world where that is beside the point, you know something is terribly wrong.

Impeach !

Monday, July 16, 2018                                             11:02 AM

Half-Assing the Presidency   (2018Jul16)

When Trump’s cheerleaders say he does things differently, I cannot argue—however, that seems to put an unwarranted shine upon doing things poorly, incompletely, and without any sense of responsibility. Today’s New York Times Arts-Section reports that Trump’s administration has failed to award Presidential Medals for the Arts (or Sciences) thus far, creating yet another gap in the traditions of the White House. This is the same First Family that would have spaced out on the Easter Egg Roll last year, if the Easter Egg manufacturer hadn’t chivied them about their missing pre-order for the special wooden eggs.

The same article points out that Trump has an ‘awkward relationship with the arts’. He can hardly be called a patron (though, if you’re talking over-sized portraits of himself, his fraudulent charity might be interested). Collectible art has become its own investment-sector among the wealthy, but even so, Trump’s base precludes any public support of culture on his part, even if he had the wit to appreciate it. Culture, like science, is way off-brand for this administration.

Trump has no use for diplomacy or, for that matter, any function of the State Department. Even after replacing the top brass, Trump still has no use for the FBI. He gets uncomfortable with all the intelligence services, because they have this theory about the election. Also, they expect him to read this special morning briefing, every morning—and Trump doesn’t like to read—so he doesn’t read it.

Let me preface my next comment with some personal history—when I was little, my dad was fresh from serving as a Marine in Korea. He and my mom had five children, little money, and few prospects. But they sure knew how to work—my parents worked so hard, they worked nearly as hard as their parents had to, during the Great Depression. My parents were good parents—some of my friends’ parents’ behavior made that quite clear (other people’s families are like other planets—and some of them are cold and deadly).

Having said that: when we were very young, my father had the draconian and megalomaniac tendencies of the man who would become a self-made millionaire. He mellowed with time, but back then he could be strict, unreasonable, quick to take offense, and even quicker to lose his temper—a violent prima donna.

Having come this far, I still hesitate to say that Trump reminds me of my dad—it’s not fair to my dad, who was capable of both feeling shame, and seeing reason (eventually). All I’m really saying is: I’m familiar with the psychosis that inhabits the Oval today—I’m familiar with those shell-shocked, bug-eyed kids of his, too. I know when a man is substituting bluster for confidence—and when a man is more comfortable lying than allowing for imperfection.

But I hate to suggest an equivalence—my dad was no coward, no spoiled brat, and several-times-less of a bigot—and he worked his ass off, not just bossing people, but real working. His early parenting style, poverty-stricken and straight from boot camp, traumatized me more than my siblings—and he got better as time went on, slowly but surely. Still, this left me with a horror of people who insist on Authority taking precedence, even over Reason.

Which brings us back to Trump. At first, I felt fortunate—if he was without the slightest experience or in-depth knowledge of government, Trump would definitely do less damage than a real politician could, to forward his fascist deformation of America. Sadly, it turns out, the real politicians won’t behave so outrageously—but they’ll be outrageously silent in the face of Trump doing it. It’s tragic to learn just how shallow their lip-service to public service really is.

Trump’s agenda is two-fold: spoil anything Obama, and pander to the rich, especially himself. He doesn’t know from President—he just wanted to win a contest and purge his racist temper-tantrum. The greatest danger we face now is his growing awareness of and addiction to the immense destructive power of his office. Most people would be embarrassed to be torturing thousands of children and babies—and admitting that they started those internments without any plans to undo their violence. That would give most people pause. Not this clown.

Finally, to anyone who might suggest that Trump’s recent meetings with Kim and Putin are his ‘diplomacy’, let’s make a list of all the things those ill-advised coffee-klatches accomplished:

Abraham Lincoln, is shown November 8, 1863. Lincoln sat for 33 photographers and 127 portraits, 37 of them by Gardner – “Mr. Lincoln’s Cameraman”. (AP Photo/Alexander Gardner)

Friday, July 13, 2018                                                12:30 PM

Ask Me Why   (2018Jul13)

We never dwell on the root of the issue. Why did Putin want Trump to win and Hillary to lose? For the same reason I wanted the opposite: because Hillary would have been a strong, competent leader—and Trump would threaten our values and, ultimately, our way of life. Hillary would have been a strong adversary of Putin’s, whereas Trump makes a ‘useful idiot’.

But it goes deeper than that—it’s not just Trump. We saw yesterday, at Strzok’s Congressional Circus and Sideshow, the Republicans—unwilling to give up their presidential election ‘win’, unable to admit that everyone who voted for Trump was duped, and pretending they don’t own the immortal shame of having supported a foreign agent as America’s chief executive.

In pursuit of this misguided delirium, the Republicans remain silent as Trump pulls one boner after another—flouting the law to ban Muslims and to  cancel DACA, flubbing Puerto Rican disaster relief—killing thousands, instituting ‘zero-tolerance’ (which sounds better than ‘full nazi’) as an excuse to torture thousands of children—and break their parents’ hearts (as if those poor folks don’t have enough troubles).

Being against immigration—which made our nation great. Being against science—which made our nation great. Being against free trade—which made our nation great. The Republicans are entirely in the thrall of big business and the super-wealthy—they wait upon the pleasure of the enemies of the People.

The cognitive dissonance yesterday, at that joke of a hearing, was deafening: the Republicans, censuring the FBI hero for his personal comments about what a horror-show a Trump presidency would be—as if it were a crime to see the approaching fiasco for what it was—a criminal encroachment upon the American political system. And, jeez, that mess was corrupt enough before these neo-traitors made their move.

Impeach !

Wednesday, July 11, 2018                                                5:07 PM

Ethics have No Promotional Budget   (2018Jul11)

Lies are funded—partisanship spends most of its time fund-raising—lobbyists get paid the big bucks—and sensationalism sells. If anything is coming at you from a screen right now, the odds are high that it’s trying to sell you something. The games and movies, too—but those things are their own product—they try to sell you more by showing you pieces of the whole entertainment experience, and reminding you where to go to pay the money.

The other shows include advertising– trying to sell you something—as ‘brief’ interruptions—and they try to appeal to us strongly enough that we’ll endure the interruptions. Here’s where it gets convoluted—a televised (or streamed) news-show with sponsors should be bending over backwards to convince the sponsors of the professional and journalistic ethics of their shows.

One might blithely assume that the sponsors would be afraid to be associated with a new organization that couldn’t be trusted. This, sadly, is not the case. More often, the sponsors are only concerned with the numbers of eyeballs—and, to that end, the shows tend to hunt for sensationalism, violence, and conflict.

Which reminds me: Initially, public broadcasts were required to be, at least in part, providing a community service. That’s why the first TV news broadcasts were scrupulously journalistic.

Edward R. Murrow once famously said, “The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.” In his era, TV-news reporters seemed to be taking on the mantel of the printed press—becoming champions of the people’s right to know the facts. (I identify with Murrow—he died of chain-smoking—up there in Pawling, in 1965.)

Then the nature of ‘show business’ soon brought that sort of idealism to a close. It’s lucky that journalism wasn’t named ‘the news business’, or papers would be just as worthless as the video-whores.

And, truth to tell, the papers are not the ethical ivory-towers they once purported to be, if they ever where—the printed word, having ceded the field to the digital, can no longer referee in squabbles of note. The papers, too, have shifted towards partisanship—or appeared to, where reason and common sense makes one side feel obligated to oppose the other side as an evil, rather than a difference of opinion.

My point is: greed, fear, and ignorance have limitless backing—everybody wants a piece of that pie. Fairness and justice go begging.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018                                             12:40 AM

War On Our Enemies   (2018Jul10)

There are armies of highly-paid lobbyists swarming all over Washington, D.C.—their only object: to subvert the will of the people in any way that will profit the industry that sent them there, be they Monsanto, Mobil, NRA, Pfizer, et. al. That makes them, QED, enemies of Democracy. We must fight these people—for they threaten our livelihoods and our Constitutional freedoms.

There are a plethora of media outlets, radio, TV, in print, and online, which propagate misinformation in the guise of journalism or political opinion—these greedy rumor-mongers aren’t really ‘Big Evil’, they’re miserable grubs who see an easy buck—bilking the gullible. The Big Evil that results from their greasy scam is collateral damage, the toxic scum that this industry dumps into our clear water of discourse—the parasites that engage in it are only amoral pigs, not masterminds. In most cases, their ‘sponsors’ aren’t buying airtime for ads—they’re simply using these traitors as useful idiots. We must fight these enemies of Democracy: Limbaugh, Hannity, the entire Fox media, that asshat on InfoWars —for they threaten our livelihoods and our Constitutional freedoms.

There are entitled, self-obsessed billionaires who bypass the lobbies (or more likely supplement them) by dumping money on some craven pol who thinks he or she is ‘swimming with the sharks’ on the road to power and position. The pols must overlook the quasi-criminal nature of such as Charles and David Koch, Sheldon Adelson, and Foster Friess, before they can accept the backing of people who think money equals wisdom (what is it about being rich that makes people so stupid?). We must fight these people—for they threaten our livelihoods and our Constitutional freedoms.

There are check-cashing businesses and loan cos. and banks and investment firms—all of whom long ago grew dissatisfied with merely using our money to invest in stable businesses, and splitting the interest earned—oh, no, no, don’t be ridiculous. No, a banker is a god—don’t you know? Some even see themselves as ‘masters of the universe’. The vertiginous mania of greed, as you can see, clearly makes them numb to the fact that such a label allows no plural. These people have computers now—their incessant drive, to separate us from our money, makes them dangerous in many new ways. The recent scandals at Wells Fargo, LIBOR, and Morgan-Chase show that customer-service has morphed into predatory behavior—joining advertising as a fellow ‘industry the world could easily live without’.

Our obsession with Capitalism has made it impossible for anyone to work in the banking industry and not suffer a psychotic delusion: that handling large amounts of money makes their skin glow and their shit stop stinking. We must fight these people—for they threaten our livelihoods and our Constitutional freedoms.

We all know who are enemies are. Even controlling the media doesn’t allow them to hide the simple truth—though it allows them to pile on so much bullshit that the truth is fairly obscured—still, if you look close, there it is. One Netflix comic has a line now: “They said, ‘the immigrants and single women are taking all the jobs’—yeah, right—the people with no money and no power are taking all the money.”

There is a group in America today that agrees with statements that are manifestly false—because they are couched in hate-mongering and finger-pointing. Those people, unfortunately, comprise a good 30%-35% of voters. The con-men will always get their votes, because they don’t listen to the words—they watch for the entitlement and the wink towards propriety. “Political correctness—bah!” There‘s their policy statement.

Somehow, the conservatives have conflated being tough with being dishonest (and that sounds like the reasoning of a criminal—not for nothing). I guess they got pushed into a corner—when we told them that petroleum-burning was going to kill us all. I mean, if I was filthy rich from gasoline, I’d have an argument or two, too. But I’d have to be a special kind of dick-head to keep doing it, even after the global flooding started, decades later.

Make no mistake—our own worst enemies are our apathy and inertia. I get it—the world may be in danger, but not today. Right? Sadly, our only ammunition is political involvement—running for office is like volunteering to be a political aircraft-carrier, volunteering is like the infantry—and votes, of course, are our bullets. Without the votes, we get slaughtered—and not just politically. Shit’s getting serious, dude.

Sunday, July 08, 2018                                              3:36 PM

The United States of Problems   (2018Jul08)

T’would seem the poisons we use to kill the bad bugs and plants are sometimes killing the good bugs and plants—the necessary bugs and plants—just as the antibiotics we use to save ourselves from bad bacteria are sometimes killing the good bacteria—the bacteria necessary for digestion. Our desperate need to fight evil—to save ourselves and our livelihoods—becomes a driving force. And that Force whispers to us, “The collateral damage is an unavoidable cost. Eat it!”

Everyone recognizes this situation—the paradoxical prison of high-tech civilization. Everyone knows that Climate Disruption is driven by humanity’s energy consumption—and everyone knows that we would suffer and die without the energy consumption.

But mere facts are only the beginning. We each choose our personal perspectives on those facts. The lowest perspective is a popular one: denial, dishonesty, ‘bargaining’ with logic—only the slack-jawed fail to see the self-destructive nature of that approach. The middling perspective is more mature, but still rather conservative: let’s compromise, let’s be bi-partisan, let’s move forward together. Problem: both perspectives dominate the social discourse—and both perspectives lead to inexorable extinction.

The most intelligent perspective on humanity’s tech/survival crisis is to examine our culture and commerce with fresh eyes—to make lots of changes that would all be non-starters in present popular opinion. It is sad that intelligence has gone so out of favor with Americans today—because intelligence is all that’s needed to transform a social-media full of trash-talk and dick-pics into a social-media that coordinates efforts to help each other.

Other nations have found out how strong the web is, when people feel oppressed. Well, America isn’t anywhere near that level of savagery—but we don’t need to riot in the streets. Uber was a bloodless revolution, as was Amazon, AirBnB, Google, EBay, and Etsy—but all these early paradigm-shifts had one limiting factor. They made money—in fact, they mostly made one guy rich. And many of us would consider their cultural disruption to take a back-seat to that one important result: rich! Americans think the Internet is only good for making people rich—but that’s only a small part of it.

Intelligent organization via the web can give super-powers to any endeavor popular enough to support crowd-involvement. Money only limits the choices, in that paradigm. And since our ‘Democracy’ seems to be slightly hacked, right now, maybe this would be a good time for community-minded folks to start uniting into more powerful forces. It’s in our country’s name, y’all.

People talk about how united we were during the Second World War—everyone pulling together to win the war. Well, Congress (such as it is) is not going to declare war—but if you think we’re not presently in a war for survival, well, you haven’t been paying attention to the nuclear arms and the hurricanes and floods and habitat-loss and mass violence and floods of refugees. And you certainly haven’t noticed the soulless, greedy bastards who make money from delaying public awareness of the dangers we face, right now.

Friday, July 06, 2018                                                2:14 AM

A Republican Will Look You In the Eye   (2018Jul6)

Capitalism, commodification, monetization—all lovely stuff, and anyone that thinks up a new way to ‘package’ a need, gets to be a Baller—cool, how exciting.

Except for lobbyists, who corrupt our legislators and bedevil our laws, all in the name of profit; for extremists and hypocrites, who conflate our politics with their oh-so-profitable zealotry, and hold the line against legislation that might really enforce equality and fairness; for arms-makers, who are the richest pigs on earth (mostly because they’ve sold death for so long, they can pretend it’s a basic necessity); for investors who refuse to connect their personal profit with the ubiquitous inhumanity of banks, industries, and the overly entitled.

It’s true that changing this nation-turned-crackhouse back into a halfway-decent home is a seemingly impossible task. The only thing that stopped them before was politicians—politicians who got votes by promising to protect you from these greedy, soulless bastards. Somehow, in the eighties, people starting talking about the economy—about how everyone’s lifestyle hinged on a healthy economy, so it was bad to yell at the rich people.

I saw that for the bullshit it was, back when everyone else was talking about how cool Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas were in “Wall Street”. But I was, and am, in a tiny minority of people. For over thirty years, wages have frozen, benefits and profit-sharing are history, work hours are longer, and work environments have become ever more dehumanizing.

When big industries lie to us now, we don’t laugh in their faces anymore—we actually listen to them, as if they had no profit-motive for every word, deed, or decision. We don’t even laugh at a clown like Trump—he has a whole TV news channel dedicated to spreading his ignorance and lies. And at least 30% of us are bitter and ignorant enough to hear what we want to hear, even when it’s so false, it contradicts logic. Thank you, Fox News—and Fuck you—very much.

A Republican will look you in the eye and tell you the $15/hour is just too much money to pay some people—that making the minimum wage $15/hour would only hurt business. Poor business—it might get an owie.

Let’s ignore the fact that that’s total bullshit—let’s just consider the fact that a politician (who presumably needs votes to keep the job) is publicly stating that paying a living wage, across the country, is no concern of the government—and that if it is, the businesses are more important anyway, so go fish.

A Republican will describe their big new bill as a ‘tax cut’, instead of the embezzlement it truly represents. A Republican will tell you they oppose abortion for ethical reasons—which would be easier to believe if they didn’t scoff at the ethical considerations of any other plank on their platform. A Republican will tell you that Trump has done nothing wrong—and is doing a great job. A Republican has nothing to say, however, when thousands of children are kidnapped, and are stilled being held in ‘detention centers’, denied reunification with the parent they were torn from, weeks, sometimes months ago.

A Republican will tell you that only 46 Puerto Ricans died from last year’s disaster—and that relief was provided, and all is well. A Republican will tell you that it was right to hold up Obama’s SCOTUS nomination, but it would be wrong to hold up Trump’s.

(Oh, and they’ll also tell you Trump is Not a racist). Though, if that is the case, then I have been using that word wrong all these years.

Friday, June 29, 2018                                                         6:30 PM

We’re Being Betrayed   (2018Jun29)

Thousands of Puerto Ricans died after last year’s hurricane—due to racially-motivated neglect—and then, Trump lied about it.

Thousands of children were kidnapped and emotionally tortured (and are still being held) by Trump—and then, he lied about it.

I get that people knew Trump was a sexual predator, a fraud, and a liar—and voted for him anyway—fine. But those thousands are still dead forever. And those thousands of children are still traumatized for life.

So why is Congress still waiting on Mueller to begin impeachment proceedings? Even if Putin had never come up—there are more than enough reasons to impeach Trump, right now.

He has disgraced himself—and in so doing, disgraced this whole nation. By standing with him, the Republicans in Congress have equally disgracefully chosen partisanship that smacks of treason—and certainly of betrayal of those whom they purport to represent.

The benighted boobs who see a hero in our National Disgrace are a far larger, multi-generational disgrace—of zealotry, hypocrisy, and self-delusion—people who desperately grasp for pride and respect, without any matching drive to earn such—or deserve such. They shout out their ignorance, entitlement, and bigotry for months—then pounce on a raised voice from the ‘libertards’ (i.e., anyone who disagrees) as monstrous incivility. It is to laugh at. It is a disgrace.

But, no—it’s just business as usual. Trump isn’t even taking heat for the five dead journalists—again, pretending he never called the press an ‘enemy of the people’ nor incited people against the press. No, Trump is busy picking just the right ‘new’ Supreme—one who will keep misogyny and corporate greed alive—and all the rich white men go ‘doo do-doo doo doo do-doo-do-do-do…’

Thursday, June 28, 2018                                          4:50 PM

Trump’s Hate Is Our Shame   (2018Jun28)

I don’t know where the stupidity comes from. People rail against immigration, now, after it has been a pride and a blessing (even a necessity) for the two-centuries-plus of our history. Yes, there are bad actors amongst the immigrants—but not nearly as many, proportionately, as we already have among us (i.e. you and me)—there’s even evidence that large immigrant influxes have lowered the crime rate of the neighborhoods they enter.

There’s really only one excuse—9/11 happened, we became professional cowards, and suddenly ‘securing the southern border’ became an issue of national security—where it never before had been, not since the War with Mexico (1848), anyway. Nobody sees the beauty and the horror of what’s happening—the United States, Mexico, and Canada have no military at our borders—we’ve never had, and we’ve never needed them—and now, conservative fear-mongering is trying to destroy that.

We are all neighbors. But the United States of America seems dead-set on becoming that asshole neighbor that nobody else can stand.

Friday, June 22, 2018                                               3:51 PM

Ball-less Wonders   (2018Jun22)

Evidence indicates the Federal Government’s policy is to refuse to re-unite the parents and children they’ve separated so far—when parents call to ask for information about their children, they are told, “That’s what you get for trying to sneak into our country.” This is the bully that you all should have been afraid of—here he is in all his glory.

The pit in my stomach today—is the other-shoe-dropping of the pit in my stomach I felt the night they elected this overgrown brat. Back then, I didn’t have anything specific to point to. But I do now.

Trump has ensured that, even if these kids ever see their parents again, they will have been fully traumatized for life by his little ‘political ploy’—thousands of children—thousands. Our president doesn’t really care—do U? Yeah, I kinda fuckin do. I am watching my country—my greatest pride—being transformed into my deepest shame.

When will the Republicans reclaim their manhoods? (Yes, I’m ignoring any Republic female senators or congresswomen—just as they ignore their own gender. And, go ahead, tell me all about how much respect they get from their peers—I’m listening….)