Thursday, April 26, 2018                                        3:52 PM

Anti-President   (2018Apr26)

We’ve spent millennia fearing the coming of the ‘Anti-Christ’. Well, I say the hell with that—we’ve been overcome by the Anti-President. This pig is everything a president should not be. Trump does and says everything in the most anti-American way possible. He attacks our ideals and our heritage every time he opens his stupid yap. Some suspect him of shilling for Putin (and that may be where he hopes to score big bucks, or has already—who knows?) but he’s not that deep—he’s just trying to destroy the Federal Government and the dignity of all true Americans.

The United States budgets so many billions towards defense that it leaves us without the means to make America a place worth defending—high infant mortality rates, underfunded public schools, colleges with bills for lifelong debt attached to the degrees. Now, the greatest fit of elitism yet: Rich, fat fucks (whose only ‘life-challenges’ will stem directly from their personal lack of character) who want to pass a law forcing government-aid-recipients to get jobs.

They want the infirm, the disabled, the elderly—and especially caretakers of family members—to get, at least, a part-time job. Now, I don’t need to add to the many voices pointing out what a cold-hearted, sick bastard a person would have to be to even consider this agenda. No, I want to ask: ‘Where is the lobby for this agenda?’

Who the hell are the large numbers of the electorate who are pushing for this vital measure?—which will do more for our economy than if large corporations actually paid their fair share of taxes. Oh, wait—no it wouldn’t. Not at all. This attitude—that all government-aid-recipients are leaching away the life-blood of our economy—is a strange, revisionist way to describe what most of us would call simply ‘doing the right thing’.

I don’t want to get into a discussion on why, if corporations are loop-holing out of their income taxes—contributing nothing but the shittiest jobs—then how is it incumbent upon Congress to cut corporate tax rates by more than half? The Republicans can take a poll on that BS in November. But I’d point out that bleeding the most vulnerable, for some reason, suits the Republicans far better than any tiny fraction of corporate profits taxation that could easily produce triple the amount—or ten times the amount.

How are we so easily misled into believing those with the least money, influence, and power are at the root of our economic problems? Those poor folks are nothing more than the evidence of the irresponsibility and incompetence of those who have all the money, influence, and power.

I just want to point out—again—that institutions breed corruption. Take the oldest church, the oldest political party, the oldest athletic groups, the oldest rich people—they all, eventually, bend towards the nasty. Fucking Carson heard about the ‘labor camp’ legislation and wants to double down—with a 300% rent increase for residents of affordable housing. I tell you—these bastards don’t want just to have everything for themselves—they can’t really enjoy it unless they’re pretty sure everyone else is fuckin miserable. What a gang of crotch lice.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018                                              2:12 PM

Don’t You Miss America?   (2018Apr25)

The pretense of a presidency held by an anti-government, criminal celebrity may be a heyday for journalism and comics, but I wish the people in this country would try to be serious for once. Our federal government’s bench is empty—more than fifty percent of federal staff have been fired or have resigned in disgust. All of Trump’s staff-picks and nominations have shown no inclination to do anything other than fail vettings, fail security clearances, or resign in scandal.

To pretend that Trump is a patriot takes a density of vision verging on opacity—yet to know Trump for what he is, and conspire in this pretense, is far the worse failing. He appoints nemeses to head agencies they’ve fought against for years—or he nominates people at random, thus leaving important positions vacant while the media discusses his mischief as if it were statesmanship.

Isn’t lying an impeachable offense? I find it difficult to hear of Trump speaking or tweeting bald-faced lies on the daily—if this is not madness, if this is not criminal behavior—it is still an unfitness that we shame ourselves by broadcasting every day—as news! This is not the behavior of a reliable person, never mind what we look for in our head of state. A compulsive, misanthropic liar is the kind of worker whom the rest of the warehouse staff puts up with—such people ought never be given responsibilities, much less public trust.

Isn’t being a scoff-law an impeachable offense? Most of Trump’s Executive Orders have been overturned by the courts as unconstitutional. Executive Orders are supposed to be stop-gap measures, looking towards future legislation—not a means to issue martial-law-type edicts that flout our constitutional protections. He even wants to silence the press—so that his lies will have more power.

Doesn’t a lifetime of bullying others mark Trump as a dangerous president? He’s likely to bluster his way into geopolitical quicksand and then hide under his bed when the missiles start flying—everyone knows a bully is really a coward.

But the towering miasma of corruption and perversity that is Trump is a mere landmark in our American political landscape—he is the shit-stained Washington Monument all of the craven, amoral Republicans turn towards, five times a day. Media journalist don’t pin down these fifty Senators and hundreds of Congresspersons, constantly browbeating them to explain their idly standing by while Trump makes a junkyard out of our once smooth-running vehicle of state—I wonder why? Is the media more invested in the circus spectacle than in functional government? Of course they are.

But what about you? Are you tired of Republican lies and fear-mongering, science-denial and Capitalist elitism? Have you decided to watch only Netflix until that far-off day when journalism (and government, for that matter) returns to Public Service? Do you find it ironic that the falsest Baal ever worshipped is known as a ‘reality’ star?

#DailyMissAmericaPageant

Wednesday, April 04, 2018                                              5:04 PM

Ethical Border Threat   (2018Apr04)

Even after the Mexican-American War (April 1846–February 1848), neither the United States nor Mexico ever felt any need for an armed border. In fact, migrant workers have been a vital part of the USA’s agricultural infrastructure—and prohibiting their border crossings would have left American crops rotting in the fields and orchards. Even today, deporting and excluding Mexicans from our border would have a catastrophic effect on our food production.

Today Trump has called for the National Guard to man our southern border in force. No government masses troops on its border unless it plans to invade, or repel an invading force. Unless Trump plans to invade Mexico, it would seem that he is treating the migration of thousands of frightened, desperate men, women, and children, from what amounts to a warzone, as an invading force.

These people, recently dubbed a ‘caravan’ by media, are facing violence and death in their homes—they are taking a long journey to a strange land, fleeing for their lives. If Trump were a real American, he’d be sending those National Guard troops to the border—with food, water, and medical supplies. He’d be instructing them to welcome these refugees from Central America to the land of the free.

But Trump is not an American. He is a coward—he is the opposite of a real American. He may even be a traitor—we don’t know yet. But one thing we all surely know: the only thing approaching our Southern Border is an opportunity for American greatness—and the only threat is the one in the Oval Office.

Friday, March 30, 2018                                            7:15 PM

Votes Not Cast   (2018Mar30)

There are many reasons for the ebb in my recent output. Most of all, it’s that I’ve said what I had to say—and I am too old to accept the current corruption and ignorance as a ‘new norm’. The media hypes it because it’s very much akin to a slow-motion building demolition—the USA, a mighty structure built over centuries, and our ‘leaders’ gnawing on it like an old carcass.

But sensible people (many of whom have gotten out of the habit of watching TV) are simply waiting for Mueller, or someone—anyone of character, to put our present administration out of the Oval Office and behind bars where they belong. If only sensible people numbered in the majority.

If only six or seven Republican Senators had the character to stand by whatever sense they have, this administration would already be under impeachment hearings. I want my next sentence to be: ‘Trump is a criminal, a traitor, a hater, an idiot, a chauvinist, a bigot, and a psycho—totally unfit for that, or any other, office.’ Imagine my frustration—realizing that our president has been described this way by so many people, even before his election, that I’m afraid I’ll lose my reader (hi you! …whoever you are) by being so trite and repetitive!

Trump is a paper tiger, set up to draw all attention to himself, while the Republicans grab for all the loose cash they can get—and pretend that they don’t have the power to remove this puppet of Putin’s from his illegally-gained electoral majority.

America is not about hate—so how did we end up with this rabid, racist dog being elected President? We can blame the lying Republicans, and the fucking Russians, and that asshole Assange—but we have to also accept responsibility for the actual votes. I don’t mean just the zombies who fell for Trump—the votes not cast against him trouble me far more deeply. All evil needs to succeed is that good people do nothing.

I’m buoyed by the appearance of these wonderful teen activists, taking on the NRA. I’m saddened as well—you know the adults are screwing up on a grand scale when their own kids can point to clear neglect—and call ‘bullshit’.

Sunday, March 11, 2018                                          12:53 PM

Offended By Trump   (2018Mar11)

I am offended by Trump, not because he is a criminal, a Russian mole, a nuclear threat, a racist, misogynist, or an Islamophobe, but because he does not respect our country. His patriotism is to himself and his money—period.

There is an order to civilization. In the end, it’s all about compromise—since compromise is the only alternative to strife. Trump, unfortunately, represents the forces of disorder and of strife—of ignorance and bluster.

Worse than Trump is his Congressional train of commodified Republicans—craven legislators with ‘the good of the people’ dead last on their priorities list—these are the weasels who blow with the fattest wind. They serve only themselves and, far from representing the people, serve instead those who place profit above community.

And they will pooh-pooh all of this as liberal whining—but they are either ignorant, or simply liars. Making accommodations for the underserved is simply good business. It costs less money to keep people in decent conditions than it costs to deal with all the aftereffects of extreme poverty. It is better economics to spend money on our children’s health and education than to have a generation of unhealthy, ignorant Americans. That’s not whining—that’s just common sense.

The American government, for a long time, served as a balance against the predatory aims of Capitalism—allowing the break-neck, cut-throat action of big business, without allowing it to enslave our society and rescind our human rights. We stand at a crossroads now—where either we can go on with the Hyper-Capitalistic fever-dream of those who shut their eyes to all but dollar signs, or we can start voting for candidates whose aim is to wrest our government back onto the side of the people.

The stock market is an excellent example of this blindness: when it goes up, it only makes rich people richer—but when it goes down, the poorest feel it the worst. Rich people ought to take into account the fact that they, as a group, keep shrinking down and down—and outside their mansions, the world becomes a less and less pleasant place to take a walk. I would think they’d want to have more friends—and nicer places to take walks. Maybe they live in such abject fear of change that they don’t even consider such things. Go figure.

Thursday, March 01, 2018                                                8:44 PM

Build and Break   (2018Mar01)

I was just re-watching “Patton”, the scene of the Nazi counter-offensive that began the Battle of the Bulge—Panzers rolling over (and also through) the farmers’ stone walls, crossing their fields. I thought of how many years spent plowing up rocks, pickings those rocks up, carrying them over to be set in the surrounding wall. I pondered the contrast between those years of honest sweat and the brief, casual destruction of that work as an infinitesimal moment in that mad, murderous conflict.

Then I related that to Trump. How easy it is for the battering-ram of his blunt ignorance to smash through what it took centuries of thought and feeling to build. Our federal government is one of the great wonders of the world—our strength as a nation, as a people, has a potential that we, as modern Americans, stubbornly refuse to commit to—but it abides.

Unfortunately, cooperation and capitalism don’t go together very well. That’s a bad thing because democracy is cooperation—and capitalism is compulsory competition, wherein cooperation becomes a ploy used against the ‘weak’.

This is also why, though we’ve often flirted with a tycoon candidate (like Ross Perot) we’ve never actually done it before. Dare I say: Now we know why? Business is important, yes—but ‘governing’ and ‘doing business’ are so different as to be, in many ways, opposing activities—and a businessman like Trump has all the wrong instincts. He’s trying to win—he’s not trying to do good.

He’s not even doing a very good job of masking his struggles against the emergence of the truth. I’ve seen people so full of guilt that they start shouting rebuttals before anyone accuses them—but their age is usually still in the single digits when they behave this way. The White House’s group effort to back up the President’s ravings sometimes goes so far as to claim that a certain comment was a ‘joke’—that’s quite a show, though we’re in no position to enjoy it, as entertainment.

But I am most bemused by the duality of, on one hand, Mueller’s very official and technical case being made concerning the administration and the president—and, on the other hand, the ongoing mountain of public knowledge that accrues to us normal folk, just reading the papers every day. Whatever Mueller finally wraps up with, the investigation’s longevity is itself an opening for this firehose of bad laws, bad relations, bad oversight, and quasi-criminal ‘presidenting’. Trump is an historically bad apple—he cannot be removed quickly enough.

Last but not least—those of you who don’t like the strategic outlook following a Trump impeachment, when Pence would take over and do God knows what—you must accept that. Trump must not be allowed to finish his term as if he were just another president—our nation’s disgrace would be that much deeper and more lingering. And I wouldn’t worry too much about a President Pence after he’s appointed via impeachment—that doesn’t sound like political capital to me.

Let’s get rid of the Putin-puppet first—we’ll worry about the weirdness of Pence later. Every day Trump stays in office adds another layer of slime to our national pride.

Friday, March 09, 2018                                                     9:09 PM

We just got resettled back into our house, after a week without power, staying at the Danbury Hilton Garden Inn. The hotel was great, especially considering the alternative—Claire, Jessy, Baby Sen, and I (Spence stayed with Nana, who’d had a great fall earlier in the week).

Thursday, February 22, 2018                                           11:38 PM

A Short History of Guns in America   (2018Mar01)

If you want to get historical about it—in colonial America, firearms were a survival tool—used for hunting, and even protection from large predators, sure, but just as often required to settle differences between the colonials and the native Americans. Without discussing the ethics of the situation, the bloodshed and friction between the natives and the European colonists went on for centuries. The idea that Americans were at threat only from each other didn’t arrive until the late 1800s.

Also, the colonies weren’t all British at the time, and clashes between colonies (often sea-battles, mostly, between the Nations’ navies, over their harbors and resources) also gave reason for having a weapon close at hand. The French and Indian War (or ‘La guerre de la Conquête’) (1754-1763) was so recently over that George Washington had served in it, prior to the Revolution.

Once the United States had run off their British tyrant, there was concern that the British might return. There was concern that the French, too, might decide to abrogate our self-rule. Worst of all, new-born Americans were most concerned with their own new government becoming a monarchy, or even a tyranny, of its own. After all of their struggles, they were determined to avoid any return of the mistreatments they had suffered under British rule.

Thus the Second Amendment was an insurance policy against losing all that the war had been fought for—the colonial (now state) militias had beaten the British—and they would stay, ‘well-regulated’, as proof against anything that would again threaten Americans’ rights.

There was no question of an early American being ‘allowed’ a firearm—survival required one. It was only in the extremity of growing rebellion that the colonists were forbidden by law to stockpile powder or shot—or manufacture their own. Remember that this was a time in which it was still normal for one guy to ‘run through’ another guy over an argument—just jab a giant pin in his chest—nobody worried about flintlocks or pistols, except as military concerns.

The Second Amendment is about the militia, not the firearms. The arms were simply the equipment required by militiamen. There are other ways of looking at it—and the NRA will be happy to send you a brochure, I’m sure—but that’s the long and short of it, really.

After the Civil War, southern states enacted laws, “Black Codes”, prohibiting African-Americans from owning firearms. In the Roaring Twenties, Thompson Machine guns were outlawed. Gun rights waver in the face of fear—and little wonder—guns create a false sense of security and safety, while in reality making things more dangerous. The only person who is safe, in an armed society, is the person most willing and eager to use it.

We must treasure our traditions—nothing should impede a rural citizen’s right to go out and shoot his family’s meal—and I don’t see anything wrong with shooting ranges either. Statistics show that guns do not protect a home—on the contrary, they cause more trouble than intruders—and more often. But if we really have to, I suppose home security can stay, too—that can become a Darwin Award category, in the fullness of time. Get a Taser, some pepper-spray, and a honking big walking-stick and you can defend yourself against most people—without being convicted of manslaughter.

But beyond those special circumstances, and the normal police and official uses, the average person walks down the street with little cause to expect to be shot at. There are neighborhoods, of course—that’s society—there will always be insular communities—but going to such places is dangerous, armed or otherwise. My point is, I really don’t see the need for a gun. I’m sixty-two—it’s never occurred to me to run out and get a gun. What would I use it for?

Arming teachers is an idiotic notion—for proof, I point to the Florida State Legislature which recently enacted a law to do just that. Don’t be like Florida. Come on.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018                                            11:55 AM

Rock in the River   (2018Feb21)

Well, I don’t know. I mean, sure, it’s a serious concern—we Americans must take more care in discerning truth from agit-prop. But, overall, I’d still rather live in a democracy, which can be disrupted by lies, than an autocracy like Putin’s, which could be destroyed overnight by the truth. It’s funny—both Putin and Trump consider lying to be an important tool in their ‘work’.

I’ve always been an honest man—not due to any excess of virtue, but simply because lying well is not easy and I am terrible at it. Also, I don’t see much sense in it—lies are so temporary—they are self-inflicted land-mines that we give to the future. Every lie sets a clock ticking, a mystery-clock that decides when the truth will come back to bite us.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018                                                7:52 PM

Some complain that the Parkland student survivors aren’t gun experts. O yes they are—the only ones who know more are their fallen classmates. I’m glad I’ve never been in a crowded classroom, hearing gunfire and screaming, seeing the blood and the panic—and the bodies of my friends on the floor. And if those complainers were referring to experts on what happens, on the other side of the barrel—I mean, really—who gives a fat fuck? Are you serious?

I’m fed up with the contrived sanctity of the Second Amendment. The Constitution has been amended before. (Did you know that the original version prohibited any kind of income tax? Why is it okay to throw that one out, just for bookkeeping purposes—but we have to keep the 2^nd, weekly massacres notwithstanding?)

Are we not in the twenty-first century? Is it just me, who blithely walks down the street, from country lane to midtown sidewalk, unarmed and unafraid? Who the hell in this country so desperately needs to be armed? And why aren’t we doing anything to protect these people from whatever it is they are afraid of?

Canadians own nearly as many guns as we do— Americans are simply violent. Americans are violent because there is a paucity of love in America. The frenetic grasping at dollars has made it impossible for Americans to be good people. Lobbyists have slowly but surely created a legal landscape that fines one person for feeding the homeless, and rewards another for using public-education funding to segregate rich kids into private schools.

Even American charities have a hard time letting any of the donations slip through their own hands to the actual charitable works. I think it is a slow rot that has been going on since the Cold War—America’s rich assholes have always outdone the sincere idealists in messaging.

Look at the stupid things Americans have ‘debated’ for decades—whether women and minorities deserve equal rights and opportunities—whether a decent man keeps his hands to himself, or not—whether one sect of a two-thousand-year-old religion takes precedence over scientific observation. It’s hard to imagine that people will still argue these self-evident choices, even today, and that the rest of us don’t break out laughing.

This is no coincidence. Rich people perpetuate this garbage ‘uncertainty’ over clear ethical choices—and not because they really care—no—they do it because they glory in the feel of authority, the sense that they influence the world. Of course, they have to overlook the way they fuck with everyone else—never accomplishing anything positive. It’s a problem—being compulsively drawn to exerting authority—it happens a lot, but it is not a healthy situation.

At rare, random times, a person with authority may have the patience and goodwill to use power to build something good, or to help ease people’s lives. Far more often, sadly, authority boils down to making someone else miserable to prove that one can. Even sadder, such people are often without close friends whom may point this out.

You guys—you gotta start voting.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018                                             5:14 PM

Count The Ways   (2018Feb13)

Given the virtual tsunami of problems with our Fake President, I’d like to try to at least develop categorizations that will streamline our perception of his failings as Chief Executive. I hope to relieve some of the confusion his prolific wrong-doings create by their sheer number and daily occurrence.

Fraud

Begin with his refusal to show his taxes, middle with unexplained firing of many Federal DA’s, at least two of which were actively investigating Trump’s affairs prior to inauguration, and end with his refusal to obey the emoluments clause. Include the millions in rent Trump’s interests receive from the Chinese government’s bank—which is only one of many countries doing the same, with many other millions paid to Trump.

National Security

Where to start? Papadopoulos, Flynn, Sessions, Alt-Prop collusion, Comey, Nunes and his magic memo? Or Trump’s attempt, his first week, to unilaterally demilitarize Russia’s western border—one could start there, and follow with his media-blacked-out meetings with Putin and Kysliak, segueing to Trump’s full-on-illegal refusal to implement Congress’s sanctions against Russia, and Trump’s stubborn ignoring of current Russian efforts to pollute the 2018 elections. Top it off with a cherry—most of the White House staff has no security clearance—nor any chance of ever getting one. Let’s face it—if he weren’t President, Trump would never get one, either.

Misogyny

Adultery (photographed), serial assault (confessed), accusers (20), sex offenders, abusers, and assaulters defended and befriended (several). His despicable lies about Hillary Clinton, or any other female Democrat, go far below the allowances made for politicking. He’s a pig—ask any woman who knows him. It’s revolting—I’m done with this part.

Bigotry

Long, long list here: the Central Park Five lynch-mongering, the questioning of a sitting president’s legitimacy, the enthusiastic urging of policemen to rough up their arrestees, the gleeful neglect of Puerto Rico after the hurricane (on-going)—I could go on, here, but let’s just summarize with the ‘shithole’ comment that so aptly defines our Fake President. As with the previous category—ask any minority—it’s a long list and they know it best.

Falsehood

He lies 90% of the time. That’s not an insult, that’s a measured statistic. ‘Nuf said. Although I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that his lies are damaging in direct proportion to the import of the issue being lied about—and, as Fake President, Trump has a wide range of issues of great import—all of which he lies about with the same flippancy with which he lied about Obama’s birth certificate for eight years. (Of course, you get some crossover with these things—Trump’s Obama’s-birth-lie is as evil a bit of bigotry as it is evil in its falsehood.)

Dereliction

While Trump busies himself somewhat with wrongdoings, he neglects any of the duties of his office. Hundreds are fired from important posts. Agencies are defunded, or helmed by their arch-enemies, or both. Appointed posts are left vacant—not just a few, but more than half. Irresponsible spending bills and tax-breaks-for-the-wealthy are paired with billions taken from social services. The Fake President sleeps in, rises late, refuses to read (or can’t read) his daily briefings, so he has someone tap-dance the information for him. Alas, some details are overlooked in the process. Golf, anyone? I’m hungry… and bored. (Again, there is seeming crossover here with National Security, since this is exactly what Putin would want us to do.)

Ignorance

Our Fake President clearly has no knowledge of, or understanding of, the basic principles of our national government. He hasn’t the patience or the insight to even recognize the importance of such things—his only interest would be in how to pervert it to his own ends. He refuses to listen to his own intelligence infrastructure—the most powerful intelligence-gathering effort in history—because they still think Trump’s the patsy that Putin got elected. Trump can never accept that truth—and the Intel folks can’t magically un-know it, just to please the president, so—stand-off. Or should I say—bottleneck? His unfitness came with a vast built-in ignorance, but is now compounded by a self-imposed information black-out (which leaves much more time for golf).

Now, I don’t know for sure if this framework is complete. As with all things Trump, the insane filth of it eventuality saps the spirit. Let’s just call this a first draft, shall we? Indeed, even our subcategories have become a too-long, too-enmeshed list of accusations against an office-holder, of an office whose prior holders have all been the opposite of this Trump scumbag.

Trump is a Fraud, a National Security Threat, a Misogynist, a Bigot, a compulsive Liar, a Derelict-in-his-duty Commander-in-Chief, and an Ignoramus. He is not only all of these things—he is all of these things in depth, with little paisley flourishes of bullying and spoiled-infant behavior making a roiling, nauseating frame around this masterpiece of corruption and unfitness.

His defenders will take issue with all of these facts—they will show debate-skills and tap-dancing worthy of Washington’s most exclusive liar’s club, the official spokespersons. They will fast-talk you sufficiently that, if you want to stay on Trump’s side, you’ll feel reassured. But if none of it is true, then why do they need a propaganda machine to broadcast their alternative truths? Oh—that reminds me—I left out his attacks on free speech and free press—O, and the hate-speech against non-white immigrants—ach, there’s no end to this crap.

My question, Republicans, is this: How much longer are you going to offer us this shit sandwich and call it roast beef? Are you-all just relieved that Trump is such a trainwreck that nobody noticed those two (count’em, two) states’ gerrymandering cases that your own courts overturned, due to racism on a scientifically-planned, cartographic level? Most of you are as bad as Trump, simply handicapped by vestigial threads of the sense of shame.

I will never understand why you people are still considered a political party—and not the subversive, extremist cult you truly are. Shame on all of you un-American, treasonous, privileged, prejudiced fucks. If I’m not being too subtle.

Saturday, February 10, 2018                                             8:17 PM

Only the Truth   (2018Feb10)

“Only the truth can set you free.” St. Peter, I think. And so true. I love a good axiom. I’m used to the adult world having more regard for the truth—the truth doesn’t seem like the kind of thing we should lose track of—it’s as if some political party were trying to make ‘being an asshole’ a normal, okay thing. And there’s nothing more annoying than some asshole who lies right to your face—as if lies last forever.

Prominent men are dropping like flies, falling to long-overdue comeuppances (and public shaming) that the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements have brought to their ‘regular business practices’ of being pigs. I hear some of the more tone-deaf men trying to raise concern over the poor men who don’t get a trial before they’re condemned—but the irony of that is hard to miss.

Then there’s Trump. And I’ll remind everyone, before I go on, that Trump isn’t just a liar—he’s a bad liar, because he’s used to getting away with stuff and excuses are just part of that process. The fact that the media feel obligated to repeat his every lie—and the official lies of all his media avatars (I’m looking at you, Huckabee)—makes us start to suppose it’s normal for a president to lie like a rug, daily.

Trump brings this great ‘retro’ thing to his sexual-equality platform—sounds just like the fifties. “Remember, he said he was innocent…” was Trump’s comment about his wife-beating (2Xs!) StoCOS. That’s one way to say he denied the charges against him—I guess. But does it really stack up to two-wives’ testimony, a court-ordered restraint, and an evidence-photo of wife-one’s black eye? Then, just for laughs, a second aide resigns over the same kind of inhuman crap—and Trump doubles-down—what a pig! But we knew that, so no surprise, I guess?

The news has commented repeatedly that Trump avoided even mentioning the victims of the alleged abuses—and his Administration is too thick-skinned to even bother plugging that chink in their image. Plus, they probably know they couldn’t get him to do it. Trump’s response to his own twenty accusers makes it pretty plain that he has more in common with Sandusky and Nassar than with any decent person.

But my message today is once again aimed at the Republicans. Trump is psychotic—he has no shame. But you folks, presumably, have a sense of shared reality with the rest of the humans here on Earth. And you know that it is going to be a lot harder for you to show your faces, when this house of cards finally collapses.

People have been throwing around the word ‘treason’ quite a bit, recently—I, myself, see many of Trump’s words and deeds in that light. Here’s what I think Republicans should be concerned about—Trump, currently, is serving Putin’s interests more than the Republican Party’s. So, if you folks get away with keeping him in office a full four years—how do you suppose Putin is going to use those years? And what will a Congress-person be worth when he’s done? Can you say ‘Pyrrhic Victory’?

Besides, the truth always comes out in the end. The real question is: Will the rest of us have any kindness left to offer, when your wrongdoings come to light?

“Doi, yeah! Odderwize Idda done the fair and honest thing, like I ALWAYS does.”

Wednesday, January 31, 2018                                          2:06 PM

Money Talks   (2018Jan31)

A train full of Republican lawmakers was headed for a retreat in WV today when it struck a garbage truck—one of the garbagemen is dead, the other two are in hospital—garbage is everywhere—all the politicians are fine. Talk about symbolism.

Trump made a speech last night, trying to re-brand his ongoing destruction of American values as a new type of modernized ‘American Dream’, that includes greed and fascism as accepted values—hip, hip, hooray, anyone?

Will someone please explain the difference between official, technical Obstruction-of-Justice—and the daily attempts to obstruct justice that we see from Trump—and, more recently, from his party faithful? The present charade around the so-called ‘Nunes Memo’, attempting to impugn Trump’s investigators before they can close their case, is just the latest in the blatantly public attempts to obstruct justice on-the-fly that we have seen all this past first year of President Enemy Agent’s term.

Trump’s actions—and those of his goon-squad—have all been clearly aimed at obstruction, not just of justice, but of government. Remember, most of Trump’s supporters are hoping he destroys the Federal Government—they’re not concerned, like you or me—they’re jumping for joy. Bunch of jack-booted, militia-manic traitors—pretending to be GI Joes, ignoring their responsibilities, to play Army with their friends.

Meanwhile, important positions are left empty, budgets are zeroed out, regulations erased. Only an enemy of the United States would do this to us. I don’t care if he colluded anymore—he’s doing something much worse—dismantling the federal government—making it easier for corruption to hide—and harder for justice to prevail. Trump is an enemy of the United States of America—but a friend to all lobbyists and campaign contributors. They should all be tried for Treason.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018                                                10:07 PM

Some Sucky Spots   (2018Jan30)

Conservatives give me a pain. They distort the Bible in the same way they distort the Founding Documents—politicizing the extremist viewpoints to sway public opinion, and equating it with Christian decency—just as they wave the Second Amendment around as if they believe that guns create a safe environment.

Decent Christians believe that we should love one another as we love ourselves, that we should treat each other as we would be treated. But Americans don’t do that—they put a price tag on everything—especially treats. And while I am no Christian, I have still managed to reach my sixties without ever using a gun—mostly because me and everyone around me had better things to do than play with guns—unless they were in the army or on the police force.

People would describe my area as a ‘nice neighborhood’. I suppose it’s a combination of people being busy and people not having much to tempt a thief. From outside my neighborhood, I imagine it looks privileged—though if you told that to folks here, they’d laugh—to them, ‘privileged’ means a much higher tax bracket.

My neighborhood’s virginity is important to me—if crime ever became commonplace here, I’d have to move away and live in the woods—or something. I fear that every nice neighborhood is vulnerable to hatred-born-of-fear and cruelty-born-of-commerce—any bad actor can pick our little pond to spread ripples in. Without pushback from a cohesive community, such things are not a matter of if, but of when. Such is my paranoia—or community spirit—you decide.

Back to Conservative pains in the butt- Question: If a handful of people own 80% of the wealth, with income-inequality and concentration-of-wealth steadily rising higher, how are we to view Capitalism as a long-term system for anything but the end of civilization? Or try this: If we cut taxes on big business, but raise them on families, so that we can keep pace with the monolithic economies of the undemocratic East, are not our citizens destined for the same autocracy and neglect afforded the people of Ukraine or North Korea?

Capitalism has not aged well—it used to have unlimited potential—endless room to grow—just like America, in its youth. By now, a lot of sediment has slowed the streams of commercial enterprise—once certain needs are filled by certain businesses, it becomes harder to find a new niche. Plus, the scale and interconnectedness of today’s business world makes paradigm changes problematical—so many moving pieces, pole-to-pole, around the globe—even in near-orbit, just above the atmosphere.

Capitalism has forgotten that Christianity is good for business. Once we had solved world hunger and begun educating the world’s children, no one is going to be willing to let that dissolve back into chaos—that’s a steady business for the foreseeable future—a new business with global value. It could pay as much as drug smuggling, once it got started—who can say? But do we fight for a piece of that pie—or do we shout “America First”, like a bunch of clansmen, and let the rest of the world take the lead in emergent economies?

I don’t know about you, voters. A third of you voted for that blowhard whose SOTU address I’m currently not watching—there is no need. Trump may change the details, but his story is pretty consistent: “I don’t take this country seriously and neither should you!—Cash is king!—Fuck you all very much!” Yes, that pretty much covers it—except for the over-the-top racism. (You know he does that so people will mention Hitler—and he can accuse them of hysterics, right?) You folks voted for a douche-bag—come on, admit it. You know you did.

Look, we didn’t know you were that mad, okay? You’re not Democrats, you don’t know how to protest for your own interests—you let some yahoo tell you what you’re mad about—and who to blame it on. But I have been in some sucky spots in my life. I can’t remember a single one I didn’t have to think hard about to get out of—I’ve never gotten out of a bad spot just by being mad.

Friday, January 26, 2018                                          7:24 PM

Kingdom of the Blind   (2018Jan26)

There’s no end to this farce. The Republicans and Trump’s administration have attempted to co-opt the balance-of-powers our government rests upon—and now that hasn’t worked, they’ve started with the ‘hardball’. They’re on the attack—but their targets are problematic: the FBI, the NSA, the CIA, the DOJ, Journalists, and Emigrants. Why would someone attack all these things—rather like an enemy of the United States would?

Trump ‘knows more than the generals’ but slipped up on knowing which general had lied to the FBI. Trump ordered the canceling of every government regulation ever enacted—but did he read them first? Did he even bother to have his son read them, or his son-in-law? How does he know that someone won’t get hurt due to his happy-go-lucky, no-safety-regulations approach? Or is it just that he figures the business boom would be worth a few lives, here and there?

I don’t think you Trump-supporters get it—that clown isn’t just in charge of the Administration of the Federal Government—he’s also responsible for your children’s safety, for your job security, for upholding the US Dollar as the world’s most secure investment. He’s so unfit, he doesn’t even know all the things he’s responsible for, things that no one has bothered to tell him yet.

Did you know they almost spaced out on the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House last spring? They’ve been holding that children’s delight since Roosevelt (Teddy, not FDR) but the Trumps weren’t aware until the egg-supplier called weeks before, complaining that the White House needed to place an order, as the hand-carved, hand-painted wooden eggs took some time to prepare.

Upset norms—sure fine. But don’t wipe your feet on’em, Trump. The presidency is not some bauble you won in a popularity contest—much as it must seem so to you. It is a responsibility so great that, if you had the sense to comprehend it fully, you would relinquish it to Pence immediately and disappear from public life. You think you’re just dicking around on reality TV—but, no, you’re committing treason, you’re pissing on the graves at Arlington—you’re an unnamable disgrace.

But the Republicans (quick studies) are leaving you behind—once they make progress, attacking judicial and policing and intelligence-gathering agencies, they’ll be free to determine published ‘reality’—and they won’t stop with dismissing Mueller’s findings. But that’s corruption for a few weeks from now, nothing set in stone yet.

Congress is after these agencies—they are attacking the FBI, pressuring the DOJ, and dismissing the CIA. Aside from just how mindlessly foolish that is, it is even more hypocritical. The people that live off the public’s favor are investigating whether the FBI was showing favoritism.

But wait—it’s not all of Congress, is it? No. It’s just the Republicans! I would think they be scurrying to arrange bi-partisan hearings on these very serious allegations—the Democrats must be alerted at once. Right? Oh. ‘No’, you say? Hmm….

So wait. So, the Republicans suspect that the Democrats are the Deep State—is that it? Is ‘Deep State’ just code for Democrat, like ‘New York’ for Jewish? They have to play their cards close to the vest, in case those traitorous Democrats find out about their counter-ploy? Okay, let me see if I get this: Republican = Good — not Republican = from Satan. Is that where we are now?

There are some irresponsibly imaginative Republicans in the House of Representatives today—headed by the head-spinning head spinner, P. Ryan. Ryan sees no way to upset the delicate balance of the state, just because he has an ‘unfortunate’ president leading his party. And, in truth, as big a douchebag as Ryan is, he’s still the one-eyed king in that bunch.

But for those of us with both eyes open, it’s a very stressful time. Will the voters beat back the United Fringe-bags of Trumpery? And can we do it in time?

Wednesday, January 24, 2018                                          2:30 PM

I Prefer the Corner Facing the Door   (2018Jan24)

Do we have laws? Or do we just have rules that apply when and if it’s convenient? Do we forgive the Trump-campaign’s fervor in ignoring ethical guidelines—on the excuse that they were young, foolish, and inexperienced in the ways of Washington? Do we say, “Oh, Trump’s just learning as he goes—teaming with Russian hackers to campaign, leaking classified info to Putin, raking in emoluments hand-over-fist, signing pro-racist XO’s that destroy separation of Church and State—these are just the clumsy stumblings of a puppy.”?

Well maybe, if the ‘puppy’ weren’t in his dotage—maybe if the Caligulan House-members with the dead eyes weren’t smoke-screening for this corrupt con-man, enemy agent in chief, racist sex-deviant Trump—maybe if… Never mind. That’s not even the point.

Did previous presidents have some ‘fatal flaw’ that, without affecting their fitness in any way, would have been politically damaging? Yes. And did party faithful rise to their defense, thinking that masking this one thing was a lesser sin than losing a good leader? Yes—I’m sure they must have. Was this criminal? Well, in all prior instances of the question, the answer is murky—and depends a great deal on one’s own politics.

The thing is—this is virtually unavoidable, since no angels have been elected to the presidency thus far—and, while we can expect many things from a president, we can’t expect perfection. Previous presidents have had to make their way in the world, catch the public’s eye, display character, and wield influence—at a minimum—to reach a place where they could be considered a presidential candidate, much less to win the election.

The average president, until now, has been a public servant as much as a public figure—usually an attorney-at-law. I assume they start to see politics as a way to ‘win a case’ for everybody, instead of one-at-a-time. Or maybe they just prefer social activism to the courtroom. In many cases, their charisma highlighted their character, rather than disguising their flaws. But life if not simple or easy—for them or for you—and no one reaches middle-age without having seen some shit—and, yes, even been in some shit.

Truth to tell, you wouldn’t want a president who hadn’t been tested by life and come through the other side with some character. Trump may be the first president to ever attain office without ever having been tested by life’s trials in any significant way.

And excusing a single flaw of Trump’s would be a piece of cake. I wouldn’t blame a single Republican for excusing Trump’s single flaw. But you know as well as I do that Trump has got an effing telenovela going on here—it’s not one thing—it’s not even one hundred things—it’s a non-stop firehose of flaw and unfitness. And defending that is where the Republicans have gone wrong.

Hey, GOPs—cut a corner here, cut a corner there—hell—it’s politics, after all—but you can’t just throw out the whole rulebook and expect the rest of us to trust Republicans. And I’m not talking about trusting Republicans over Democrats—I’m talking about trusting Republicans enough to turn my back on them.

Monday, January 22, 2018                                                3:15 PM

The Pied Trumper   (2018Jan22)

I remember, ‘bout this time, last year, someone replied to me, “Shut-up and sit down—the grown-ups are in charge now.” I found it a swell-headed thing to say, at the time—but now that the new book “Fire and Fury” has hit the stores, in which virtually everyone describes Trump as ‘childish’, I don’t see a lot of comments like that anymore.

Now Trump has already decided to eject nearly a million hard-working, patriotic citizens (in all but name) simply because their parents broke the law. He decided to cast these souls into the outer darkness without ever looking a single one of them in the face. That may be ‘grown-up’, but it is not anything any decent parent would ever do—and if parents aren’t part of the ‘grown-ups’ then the ‘grown-ups’ are kinda fucked in the head. You should pardon the French.

There is a population of plague-bearing rats in the United States—that significant minority of us who are more likely to join in on a ‘ganging up on’ then to be concerned about the innate injustice of a gang of people against a single person. These people make a virtue of cruelty against strangers—yet cry the loudest at any imposition upon themselves. Their bitter resentfulness would prefer the total demolition of others’ security over any effort to face their own insecurities.

Trump has called these rats out of their holes, politically speaking—all the anti-social folks who resented the progress of social justice over the recent decades—and given them hope. They’re all running around now, full of hope that Jim Crow, and women chained to stoves, and gays beaten to death in alleys—‘the good old days’—are about to return.

And instead of leading them away from America, he marched them straight into voting booths, just like the NRA does. He’s well on his way to ‘normalizing’ the fact that the President of the United States is a pig. He’s fired half of the staff any real president would need to do the job properly—which makes for less insiders, to comment to reporters on how little is done in the White House.

My favorite Trump quote is: “America kills people, too.” It was an inane response to a question he had been asked, it was a childish thing to say—but it remains one of those rare Trump statements that are factually true. The media missed a trick there—asking Trump to affirm the sanctity of human life, sincerely, may be more than his acting skills can handle. His previous comments (or should I say delirium) on Roe v. Wade make it clear he’d rather obfuscate than pontificate on this issue. Trump’s major role, right now, as I see it—is to stand tall, as the one remaining sexual predator who is immune to the #meToo movement—hence yesterday’s crowds at all those protests.

Just yesterday, some Trumpster replied to my previous comment:

PBurt: Chris Dunn What treasonus act did he commit?

Now, this ain’t my first rodeo—and I know that once we get into the thicket of 20 Russian contacts, over 30 fired or resigned Admin Officials in the first year in office, Nepotism, Comey, Flynn, and Papadopoulos—well, it’s just a diversionary tactic—‘pretend ignorance’. So I says:

CDunn: Let me count the ways… (Did you want technical, official acts—or should I include all his assaults on the ideals of our country?)

But I know he may come back—the zeal of the unreasoning overcomes my placid sense of reality every time. And it’s funny how the people with the most mania are always more worked up than the people who have it right. Still, there’s a danger there—and it is, perhaps, an unlooked-for blessing that Trump has come along and alerted everyone—communities, and countries, require engagement from their people—not just the nut jobs—all the people. It’s called democracy.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018                                          2:05 PM

So Now What?   (2018Jan17)

Earlier today, the president’s chief of staff described Trump’s campaign promises about the Wall as “uninformed”. I don’t see why he felt the need to be specific—most would describe all of Trump’s promises as “uninformed”, excepting all those that remain “empty”.

I just saw Sen. Jeff Flake give a Senate-floor speech that was forthright in castigating the Republican Party—and even MSNBC went straight from that to discussing whether or not Flake’s words would matter (!?) One would hope they’d spare a second—or any of the ‘excitement mills’ would—to discuss what he said.

Trump tweeted that Flake was just ‘trying to get attention’—and he was right. Flake was trying to tell his fellow Republicans that they had strayed into a mirky wood full of dangers; to tell them they had to hack their way back into the light. It seems petty—to deflect such a grave message by suggesting that a man retiring from the Senate is no one to be taken seriously—and the president’s sentiments should give other Senators pause, I’d hope.

But mass media is so label-prone and outcry-hungry that they can become a mask for truth as well as a platform for truth—the job at CNN, MSNBC, etc. is to create dramatic tension out of thin air. This is often done by stating facts—but the mass media have become too commodified to wait around for facts. And by now they’ve become so used to ‘keeping the ball in the air’ that they have difficulty finding the time to insert facts, whenever they reappear. Straight truth screws with their bottom line.

Well, aside from the deferred job of undoing all the damage Trump will have done to the government (and the nation) by the time we see the ass-end of his shenanigans (or more optimistically (though less likely) a groundswell of outrage that sweeps away not only Trump, but his whole party) there’s little point in watching the ‘Trump show’.

The spokesman for unreasoning fear and anger led a large constituency to the 2016 Election polls—and the rest of us failed to see the danger of not voting. Electoral Colleagues scorned their duty, after the popular vote presented them with an unfit choice. The Republican Party has abandoned any claim on legitimacy by riding this horse through corruption, dishonesty, racism, sexism, plutocracy, xenophobia, fascism, and jihad-like attacks on our religious freedoms. Not to mention treason.

That Congress—they are something. A veritable army of people, hundreds of people—each elected by their local folks, each responsible to work together with hundreds of others. What a challenge they could face! What great things they could achieve! But such a great opportunity can also go greatly awry—it can devolve into a bunch of schoolchildren on a playground, but without a teacher. Modern politics obviously requires one very important skill in one’s toolbox: the inability to be embarrassed.

One very obviously lacking skill in modern politics: leadership—and that goes for both parties. If the Democrats didn’t have the sense to unite behind Obama, and the Republicans embraced the nonsense of uniting behind Trump—which party is the most pathetic? Has the politics overcome the democracy so completely that, like a seedy roadside bar, no one with any sense walks into it anymore?

Gosh—I’ve gotten this far and I haven’t even started on my theme: What do we do when (and if) this ship of state rights itself? We’d have to start (fittingly) by throwing all of Trump’s XOs back in his face (as he always does with accusations and failures). We’ll have double-duty, because we’ll have to clean-slate all of Trump’s garbage and, more importantly, reinstate most of Obama’s—but as legislation, not just an XO.

Then we have to ‘do the right thing’ by all Dreamers, TPS-es, and divided families—just to start. Then we have to take in 500,000 refugees from Syria and other hot-spots—in the inaugural year, not over ten or fifty years—right now. And be ready to do it again the next year.

Then we have to re-do the Tax Reform thing, and charge the corporations and the wealthy the ‘total maintenance fee’ on getting to be rich and powerful in the greatest country in the world—that stuff don’t come cheap, boss. We’ll need that money to pay for free healthcare and higher education—it’s about time we caught up with the developed world, in terms of maintaining the flock. (You can’t have nice, fat chickens if you don’t give them that quality feed.)

Infrastructure would be nice, too—mostly because it is stupid to let the work-backlog keep growing, decade by decade—what is this, dreamland, FFS? Do you expect to get credit for your ancestor’s efforts—without even the courtesy of a coat of paint? Not likely.

But, if we’re going to dream big, Federalist dreams… —Why not a guaranteed-minimum-income for all? That way, employers would have to offer a living wage to get anyone to work for them. There’s justice for ya, huh? I know, I know—you don’t like it—it sounds all wrong. Sure. And what we got going on right now is totally just and fair. Wouldn’t want to make the business-owners angry, calling it modern-day slavery, with TV. (Or is it cellphones now?)

Anyway, moving on: We shouldn’t be satisfied until our low-income population has the same quality-of-life as their Canadian counterparts—that’s simple humanitarian governance, plus it really lowers all the costs of maintaining an underserved community and its associated crime stats. Making peoples’ lives more fulfilling than doing drugs might even help with the whole opioid problem.

That’s just a rough outline off the top of my head—and I’m not an expert on this stuff in the first place. But, obviously, it will require a reversal of our present politics—we need a majority in both houses and a president with chops. And it wouldn’t hurt to have a constituency that has felt the cold chill of what democracy might become, if good people stay home. Nor would it hurt if those same voters had the courage of their convictions, remembering that freedom means not being afraid–or lazy.