Dying Too Soon

FREIDRICH NIETZSCHE SAID that some people live too long, and some people don't live long enough. He himself lived to sixty, which for him might have been just about right. The recent jet liner disaster in Ethiopia was reportedly loaded with the best, brightest, and most talented of young people. Included were a delegation of United nations workers, determined to change the world, to make the world a better place. Also, an award winning writer. then too, the pilots themselves. One hundred and fifty seven souls who had so more to live and give, but now never will. The good and the talented often die too young. what about Mozart? what about Gershwin? both died before reaching the age of forty, seemingly with so much more great music to create. what masterpieces were within them, never to be composed nor performed? Or, maybe they were finished. often times creativity is a phenomenon of the young, whose production slows with age. someone once said of Einstein, cruelly, that he could have spent the last half of his life fishing, and science would not have suffered. several of my dearest friends died decades ago, at very young ages, in the prime of life. they left behind young children, a much diminished world, and an unknown abundance of unfulfilled promise. Robert was a bit weird, but brilliant. A high school recluse, he preferred reading, classical music, and playing war games with toy soldiers on dirt covered tables in his grandparents basement. He married, and had two children, both of whom must be at least forty by now, and I hope and trust that they are happy, healthy, and successful. Robert died suddenly at twenty nine in 1982,and I have always wondered what he might have accomplished with computers. Steve, a small business owner, died in 1987 at thirty one, my age then. He never had children, but his dynamic good looks, quick wit, and engaging personality would have made the world his oyster, and would have given him beautiful children. Now that I am sixty four, and never married, people used to ask my mother why I never married. She used to answer "because he's smart". Maybe, but I quite naturally often wonder what my children would have been like. IN theory the possibilities are endless, much depending on the mother who never was, or who married someone else. I wish her, whoever she is, well. perhaps, in some strange way, her children are part mine. In any case, as a retired teacher, I like to think of myself as having had many, many children, part time. A high percentage of all the people who have ever lived are alive now. And behind every one of us stands the ghost of not only our nesters, but also of the people who never lived, the people who might have lived had our lives turned out differently. If there are, as some speculate, a trillion versions of the universe parallel to ours in other dimensions, there is surely at least on in which my children are born and thrive, another in which they die young, and yet another in which they live long, prosper, and reproduce, sending my chromosomes down the corridors of time into eternity. there must be still other universes in which I die young, or in which my parents are never born, and I never exist. and somewhere else, in some fine, much improved universe, the jet liner never crashes, Steve and Robert don't die young, and of their accomplishments, and all fo their children's children live long productive lives, and give the world all the blessings we here will never know. And that, I think, is the universe in which I would most like to live.

Throwing Money At the military, Starving the Elderly

DONALD TRUMP'S BUDGET, ghostwritten by conservative economists who believe that a neo-liberal, unfettered free market always produces the best results, even when those results include an economy in which forty million people live in poverty and one percent of the population possesses one fourth of the national wealth, is nearly five trillion dollars. The budget will be accepted by the republican majority Senate, and rejected by the Democratic majority House, and once again, as in many years previous, the United States will have no budget. You will recall that Donald Trump ran for president by campaigning for the elimination not only of annual budget deficits, but for the elimination of the national debt entirely, which now excess twwnty one trillion dollars. No budget at all is better, far better, than a Donald Trump right wing pro corporate anti-poor people extremist budget. Here's why. Under Trump's proposed budget, the government spending deficit would be the highest ever, far higher than under any previous president. This sad state of affairs is exacerbated by the massive tax cuts for the corporate wealthy Trump and the Republican congress enacted two years ago. This budget proposes massive spending increases on the military, perhaps to partially compensate for the fact that Trump's declaration of emergency would take money from the paychecks of military members to use in building his wall. The Medicare program is slated to take a nearly one trillion dollar hit; the nation's elderly can count on severe reductions in Medicare benefits if the budget becomes law, which, to our good fortunate, it never will. Domestic spending in general, social spending in particular, is due to take a three trillion dollar hit, meaning that job training programs, food assistance programs, student loan programs, money for public education, housing assistance programs - essentially, all programs which do real good for real people, would be sharply reduced, even as the number of the nation's poor and elderly continues to increase rapidly. The salient fact is that this insane budget will never see the light of day. The incredible aspect of it is that any president would ever even bother to propose such a monstrosity, and even more insane is that such a monstrosity would ever gain any support in congress, let alone by a sizable percentage of its members. Craziest of all is that there are millions, tens of millions of lower middle class, working class,and poor people who will continue their support of Trump, including some of whom will actually take a look at this budget, without the slightest hint of complaint. This budget, everything in it, and everything that Trump proposes and does, is directly harmful to America's non wealthy, and directly, conspicuously beneficial to the billionaire corporate community. Massive increases in military spending benefit only the military contractors, people like the Koch brothers, the sort of people who are the biggest financial supporters of conservative Republican politicians. This is no coincidence. Millions of people on food stamps and Medicaid avidly support Donald Trump. What are they thinking? Do they like his tough, bullying talk? Do they find red ball caps which say "Make America Great Again' so appealing that they have no concern that Trump is trying to dismantle the very programs which keep them alive, housed, clothed, and with food on the table? Overwhelmingly the sixty one million people who voted for Trump are not wealthy, and continue to support him, even as he opposes pay rises for working class people, opposes an increase in the minimum wage. It is as if these people have decided that to engage in sensible thought, and that to look out for their own interests isn't worth the trouble, or as if these people have a self destructive economic death wish. Every one of Trump's closest advisers and cabinet members is a multimillionaire or billionaire, and every one of their proposals benefits the billionaire class, and harms everyone else. This is obvious, provable, demonstrable, easily. And yet, Trump's support among angry white men with low incomes remains intact. These people watch reality TV, play video games for endless hours, do nothing else other than go to work at their low wage jobs, without making any effort to study the facts and issues and express hatred for Democrats even as the democrats fight for wage increases for workers, healthcare for all, and more money for education and job training programs for the working poor who want to gain better employment. P.T. Barnum, the master of con artistry who best exemplifies the American spirit in so very many relevant ways - the American lust for mindless entertainment, the American capacity for denial of reality, the American fiction of upward mobility by hard work alone and by letting everyone, including billionaires, avoid any responsibility for contributing to the welfare of others, and calling such irresponsibility fair - P.T. Barnum said it best: nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the american people.

Voting, Even Though

MARK TWAIN, the first and greatest stand up comedian, said that if voting meant anything, they wouldn't let us do it. Gore Vidal, less the comedian more the acerbic astute aristocratic historian and political analyst who was shunned by the mainstream because he dared tell the truth, said that the fifty percent of the American electorate which didn't bother to vote had the good sense to understand that their vote means nothing. Nevertheless, we keep trying, or some of us do. we keep trying to make voting meaningful, and trying to form a semblance of democracy from the ashes of our founder's aristocratic intent. HR 1, the first important legislation to emerge from the refreshingly progressive newly empowered House of Representatives, is noble in intent, if doomed to the dust bin. The most sensible, most effective change it mandates is the requirement that all ballots be made of paper, or backed up by paper. If that doesn't keep the Russians and their Republican de fact accomplices at aby, nothing will. The gist of the bill is to remove barriers to voting, by, among other measures, eliminating any requirement that the voter present a picture I.D. at the poll, without even offering a picture I.D. to all citizens for that purpose. Same day registration, online registration, expanded opportunities to voted online and by snail mail, extended early voting in person time periods. Also, automatic registration from birth, and pre registration for sixteen and seventeen year olds are written into the bill as suggestions. Turning college and university campuses into voting registration centers and voting booths is in the legislation. When one thinks about it, it is amazing the number of ways voting could very easily made much more accessible to all. The most important part of HR1 is that is makes Gerrymandering, the practice by which them winning party in any given states seizes control of redrawing congressional districts, then redraws them into salamander shaped territories for the purpose of giving their party every opportunity to win every election, a federal crime. No more bundling all Democrats into a single corner, out of the way, or spreading them out into impotent blocks of unempowered minorities. Every state would be required to establish a non partisan committee for redrawing congressional districts every ten years, as new census date reveals demographic changes. the piece de resistance is public financing of congressional elections, at least partly. HR! actually does not go far enough in eliminating corporate dark money from the process, but it si an important first step. To legislate public campaign financing completely would be to kill the bill in the face of Republican corporate power, which this bill will accomplish quite will in its current form. And therein lies the problem with this magnificent, common sense, democratizing legislation; republicans, never known to favor fostering democracy, strongly oppose it, not only in the House, but, more importantly, in the Senate, where, to the detriment of the republic, they still hold sway, with their effective veto power to all that is good for the country, and their voter purging voter suppressing reduce the electorate and kill the Democrats, insidious instincts. Voting in America may indeed be meaningless; there are many arguments to support this rather obvious fact. But the dream still lives, try as they might (the republicans) to bury it once and for all. the better alternative, for the sake of preserving the pipe dream of democracy would be to bury the Republicans.

Big Banks Being Big

ALEXANDER HAMILTON lost the gunfight to Aaron Burr, a stupid way to end a brilliant career as the primary designer of the American economic system. He won the more important fight; the fight over the nature and structure of the American economic system, against a far worthier adversary, Thomas Jefferson. The new nation would have a system featuring big cities full of heavy industry and exploited workers, big banks, and a centralized government-sponsored monetary system and currency, all presided over by a few powerful men, benefitting the few at the expense of the many. Hamilton, bear in mind, was intelligent enough to realize that a country with big institutions overseeing a big economy would of necessity be owned, operated, and managed by an elite few big men, men of the "better sort", as they were called in his day. There is, after all, only so much room at the top, and when dealing with huge assets, mob rule democracy simply will not suffice. Jefferson's vision, of a localized American economy of yeoman farmers, small banking institutions, limited industry, and currency and financial regulations left in the hands of the various states, seems almost too quaint to even imagine today. It could never have produced a wealthy powerful America, strutting its economic and military stuff on the world stage, and that's just the way dreamy Tom wanted it. So much for Jefferson's naive idealism. The first Bank of the United States, Hamilton's baby, lasted from 1791 to 1811, functioned as the repository of government money, and served as a currency stabilizer, until criticism that its conservative fiscal policies were stifling economic growth resulted in its non rechartering. In 1816 it successor emerged, and lasted until Andrew Jackson killed it in the eighteen thirties, for exactly the opposite reason; it was too big, too intrusive on state sponsored banks. Plainly, however, the expanding nation needed and wanted big, far reaching financial service institutions to fuel an economy of vast potential for growth. The American industrial revolution began in earnest after the Civil War, as did the era, ongoing today, of big, privately owned banks. With Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie running rampant in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, big banks, both public and private, were inevitable. During one of capitalism's regular big crashes in 1908, banker J.P. Morgan personally arranged for the United States government to retain solvency, through his beg bank. At this point, the need for an actual Bank of the United States, one which would not only endure but would be free from all allegations of political and financial corruption, was urgently understood by most economists. Thus our much maligned Federal Reserve Bank system was established in 1912, with its limited scope of regulatory activity, its independence, and its decentralized approach to branch affiliates. Big private banks can as a last resort borrow money from the Fed, and the Fed regulates the interest paid by the borrowers, and that's about it. But, that seems to be enough. The Federal Reserve system has functioned smoothly and effectively for over a hundred years, neither too stiflingly oppressive with regulating power, nor too impotent to have a real stabilizing effect on the economy. The undergirding philosophy is that by regulating the big boys, the rest will fall into place, a balance of power, if you will. The great depression of 1929 demonstrated the need for more government involvement in and regulation of the economy and its big private banks, and the regulatory regimen installed in the nineteen thirties served the nation well, until 1980, when the forces of deregulation, aka billionaire's banking club, once again reared its ugly head. Since 1980, when the government withdraw from big banking oversight, the concentration of wealth in America and the level of corruption has reached levels never seen before, and the wealth concentration and financial corruption, still with us toady, is pervasive. Hence, the crash of 2008, the Bush-Obama too big to fail bailout, and all the rest, including trillions of dollars of vanished taxpayer money, criminal financial executives serving no jail time, and being vastly overpaid, while managing our money like a game of monopoly on drugs. The Unites States banking and financial system is either under regulated or over regulated, take your pick. Indisputably, however, one fact remains: the bigger the money, the more the monitoring required to prevent corruption, for, verily, we all know what the love of money is.

Using Lies To Promote Lies

THERE IS SOMETHING about conservatism and crackpot conspiracy theories which go hand in hand, like two peas in a pod, or two jokers in a stacked deck. Not only is this true of modern intellectual discourse, but has been a tendency throughout history; the status quo, resisting change and progress by any means necessary, and the only means necessary being the promulgation of wildly fantastic and inventive but utterly false narratives in the absences of facts, logic, or reason. Generally, the status quo, the prevailing state of affairs, economically, politically, and otherwise, within any country, culture, or organizations, is determined primarily by the people who hold the most power and influence. Human beings are notorious for their unwillingness to surrender power or influence, and are inclined to resist it as strongly as they deem necessary to retain it. Change, especially fundamental change, always represents a threat to the status quo and to those who enforce it, and benefit by retaining it. Thus it is that conservatism is the strongest force in all cultures, countries, and organization, since most people, as Jefferson indicated in the Declaration of Independence, are more inclined to accept and even suffer under the existing establishment than to take the action and make the sacrifices necessary to overthrow it by overthrowing the power of those who enforce it. and yet, in many if not most cases, change and progress ar so greatly and obviously needed that there are virtually no arguments available to use against change, so that arguments to retain the status quo, conservative arguments, must be contrived and constructed out of thin, air. Hence, crackpot conspiracy theories by nature tend to derive from within the conservative, status quo defending community. Opponents to the American revolution for independence argued that no matter how corrupt the king's government in London, it would always be preferable to American self government..for some vague reason. Slavery was defended in the United States on the basis that regardless of the deprivation of freedom of slaves, they were being given the blessing of the Christian faith, which, in any event, approves of slavery, Biblically. Women's suffrage was opposed n the basis that women have more important things to do than vote, and that, in any case, they lack the good judgment to cast votes intelligently. Conservatism, defending the establishment, without good reason. In recent years we have seen Donald Trump and his ilk, the "birther" movement, accusing Barack Obama of having been born in Africa, despite his Hawaii birth certificate and living witnesses to his birth in Hawaii. that's quite a flight of fancy, just to get rid of a progressive president. That was just plain crazy. When some extreme right wing crazy person walks into a school and kills dozens of children, out come the conservative crazies, claiming that the whole mass murder was fabricated by gun control freaks, and that the dead children were in fact "crisis actors". Opponents to legalizing alcohol and marijuana concocted schemes whereby those two chemical substances would cause blindness, insanity, or worse. Our most popular conspiracy theory today has to do with an alleged "deep states', consisting of thousands of secretive government employees deeply embedded, working to overthrow Donald Trump. Again, the same conservative nonsense. In conservative fantasy land, climate change becomes a conspiracy of the media, the Chinese, and Democrats to excuse government intervention in the economy, and social welfare programs become devious means of chaining the poor to the government dole, thus making them permanently dependent, and permanently loyal to the Democratic party. Currently, we see that any and lal investigations of Donald Trump, no matter how compelling the evidence that Trump has engaged in wrongdoing which requires looking into, become, among conservative hallucinators, a 'witch hunt", a carefully laid scheme to overthrow the government of Trump and replace it with a socialist ep state, or something even more insidious. Over the next few weeks, as the witch hunters snare more witches, and the various investigations get closer to the sordid unsavory truth about Trump and hs gang like organization, we can rest assured that the conservative community, fueled by primitive Christian passions, will continue to concoct ever more fantastic conspiracy theories to explain not only Trump's behavior, but the revelation of it. Our best bet is to stock up on popcorn, sit back, and have a good laugh, or cry.

Believing In God, Like Einstein

EINSTEIN BELIEVED IN GOD. That may seem surprising to those only generally familiar with the famous scientist, to those who associate science, and scientists with a lack of traditional belief. And in fact Einstein was no traditional believer. His family was Jewish, as is well known, but his parents were not observant, and young albert was raised in an atmosphere of learning, not religious indoctrination. Interestingly when he was about twelve, Albert went through a phase in which he became extremely religious, and followed all Jewish religious rituals and behavior to the letter. Maybe this was his way of maturing intellectually, by becoming zealously attached, for a short time, to a cultural intellectual tradition. He later expressed some degree of amusement at his childhood rite of passage. Einstein the adult made two famous comments about his religious beliefs. "My religiosity consists in humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit which reveals itself in what little we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. I cannot conceive of a personal god who would sit in judgment over creatures of his own creation. Morality is of the highest importance, for mankind, but not for God." Obviously, Einstein was neither Christian nor Jew. If anything, he was a pantheist, or less accurately, a deist. He also said: "everyone who seriously pursues science becomes convinced that a spirit, infinitely superior to mankind, is manifest in the laws of the universe." Such is Einstein's God. Einstein said that the more deeply into the universe his investigations took him, the more he became convinced that the universe the product of a grand design, a master plan, that somebody "built this place". He referred to God as "the old eternal genius who built the world". And, "The ancient one". Einstein was wrong about one thing he said. In fact, a high percentage of scientists are atheists, then, and now. His point is still well taken, though, in that scientists do indeed behold design and intelligent intent in nature's arrangements, both biologically, chemically, and physically, and in the interrelationships between matter, energy, time, and space. Scientists, however, do indeed tend to reject traditional belief and dogma as so much superstition, as did Einstein. For Einstein, and for many philosophers who love science, God is inherent in nature, God is nature, the terms "god", "cosmos", and "universe" are interchangeable. So the difference between scientific atheism and Einsteinian religiosity may ultimately be a matter of definition. When the emerging science of quantum mechanics swept through the scientific world early in the twentieth century, Einstein was, and probably would still be today, appalled. Quantum mechanics, which evolved over several decades of modern research and theory about the sub atomic world and what governs it, simply says that at the subatomic level, the laws of nature which operate in our daily lives no longer exist, and that the tiniest increments of matter and energy everywhere n the universe operate, rather than according to the precise, identifiable laws which govern the macro universe, by the laws of chance: randomly, unpredictably. Another of his famous quotes "God does not play dice with the universe", inspired quantum mechanic chemist Neils Bohr to reply: "quit telling god what to do". Einstein and Bohr were actually friends, though intellectual adversaries. to the end of his life, Einstein remained convinced that the universe, at all levels, operates according to knowable, definite laws, not random, unknowable chance. He would probably feel the same way today. Today, it appears that Bohr and quantum mechanics is correct, but the fight is not yet over. As Einstein said: "we don't know one millionth of one percent of anything". Einstein never replied to Bohr's advice to quit telling god what to do. But if he had, he might have said: 'I'm not telling God what to do, i'm telling you what God does not do. He does not leave his magnificent creation, or any part of it, to mere chance" And although it doesn't seem so now, it may very well be that in the end, Einstein was right. After all, he usually was.

Being, Or Not Being, Anti-Semitic, As If It Matters

ANTI-SEMITISM, the age old issue thereof, once again raises its ugly head in the wake of the congress lady's remark that strong supporters of Israel possess loyalties to two countries, a remark which seems a bit strange, but, ultimately , harmless enough. (Hell, I love Denmark). When one shows compassion for the people in Gaza, for instance, one is not necessarily expressing an anti-Semitic, pro terrorist, or anti-Israeli point of view. It appears that the supporters of Israel are a bit sensitive these days. This is in itself an amazing concept; that of conservative Christian Americans being sensitive, to anything, other than to the defense of their own prominent but declining status in American society. The term "Semitic" means, literally, the descendants of people who originated in the Arabian peninsula, which reminds us that not only are Jews and Arabs quite closely related, but that all people, and all other animals are as well. Among humans, ethnicity and religiosity are but minor distinctions, in the long run. We are all, after all, primates, closely related to chimpanzees. Anti-Semitic, aka anti-Judism has swept across Europe in waves ever since the Christian faith gained more widespread popularity, political and economic power than it progenitor, and the Christians turned against their own mother, whom they mistakenly accused of murdering Christ who, after all, wanted to be murdered, and resurrected. Convenient scapegoats, those non christian rejectors of Christ, who have the audacity to make money through making interest bearing loans, usury, a noted Catholic sin in a monstrous organized entity noted for sin. Those who accept Christ as their lord and savior are notoriously, conspicuously, historically, and presently quite decided that everyone else should follow suit, at the pain of great negative consequences. Dare we say "intolerant"? We do. I am neither anti-Semitic nor anti Islamic lady congress person who asks why any American would want to be loyal to any other non American country. More generally, I am anti-conservative, anti religion-in general - and somewhat misanthropic, which, in case conservatives require edification, anti human. I tend to prefer animals who do not systematically destroy the ecosystem of the planet they inhabit, all the while doing little or nothing to correct their behavior, and systematically destroy themselves in organized gang violence called "war", and glorify it. Call me crazy, as if you don't already. I am not anti Old Testament, to the extent that it is accepted as a primitive collection of ancient manuscripts written by primitive people which reveals a great deal about their primitive nature and culture. When all this primitivism is repackaged and rebranded as "the word of God" I become anti. I have never read a more violent book, and have never beheld a description of a more petty, angry, vindictive, violent, genocidal deity, revealing itself proudly. Give me the Tao, any day of the week. Give me science, with verifiable, tangible truth and beauty, and none of the crap about killing fifty thousand and seventy philistines, gratuitously. Semitic, anti Semitic, its pretty much all the same to me; petty human beings arguing and fighting about anything they can think of. I recall listening to a young conservative rabbi, with his all black clothing and derby, and long sideburns, rendering his opinion about the nation state of Israel. He pointed out that Judaism is a religion, has always been intended to be a religion, not a country, nor a theocracy, nor a modern militarily armed to the teeth sovereign nation state. "Zionism", in its modern, effectively manifested incarnation, was and is the brainchild of the British and American empires, acting for their own nefarious purposes; namely, to get and keep a foothold of influence in the oil rich middle east. A most ingenious and pragmatic way of exploiting an ancient ideal based on ancient history, one must say. The young scholarly, intellectually honest and courageous rabbi further pointed out that Palestine was fare more peaceful and harmonious, Jews included, before 1947. Before then, folks of differing ethnicities and religiosities in the region...simply ..lived. The young devout Jewish priest made a lot of sense, and I tend to agree with him, so, perhaps I am anti-Israel in the sense that I question the desirability and benefit of theocratic well armed nation states in the twenty first century. In my more perfect world, all countries would be devoted to the one God, the God of science, truth, and beauty, rather than some violent and vindictive deity ranting and murdering between the covers of an ancient collection of manuscripts.

Trump, Keeping Us Guessing

NO SOONER HAD PRESIDENT TRUMP evacuated Nam in a fit of of pique, the North Korean dictator, jilted again,shrugged off the disappointment,went back to his place, and back to work. Back to work rebuilding the nuclear bomb facilities he had only just began to disassemble last spring, during more hopeful times, when the titillating prospects of the imminent first summit with Trump harbingered hope. we'll soon hear more of what Trump has to say about his summit's premature death; so far he has expressed disappointment but doubt at the information provided by surveillance satellites, and confidence that whatever the problem, he and he along can fix it. Vintage Trump. He can hardly be expected to tweet that he's been had, and is being played by Kim like a cheap drum, and has been all along, which in fact he has. Donald Trump has never been renowned for talking straight fact; perception is truth in Trumpland. The art of the summit; never show up without something substantive already on the table, signed and delivered. let the lower level boys work out compromises and concessions in advance, to ensure some semblance of summitry success in advance, in hand. The little rocket man has now met with the emperor of orange twice mano to mano, and can now feign equality of status unto all the world. To show for it, he has all his nukes intact, all the time in the world to build new ones as bargaining chips, and time to wait for the artful dealer to decide how many sanctions to lift, to save international face. Wasn't it in the aftermath of summit number one that don the con announced the denuclearization of North Korea as a fait accompli, and took full credit for it? (Hint: it was) The Trump technique is to claim victory even when one happens to be a loser. That's been his method his entire life, always claim victory. Maybe somebody will believe you. He's always been careful to never show his grades, his results. He threatens anyone who dares mention the possibility. In his seminal, ghostwritten "The Art of The Deal", a compelling compendium of banal blather about basic business practices which every ten year old lemonade stander independently invents then summarily rejects, Trump advises all successful deal makers to foster and nourish misconceptions. Allow one's adversaries to languish in false beliefs. never lie or deceive, but foster falsehood. Trump is himself much more the high stakes roller gambler than the business man gentleman. Gentlemen do not assign monikers like "little rocket man", "crooked Hillary", or "Lying Ted" to adversaries and expect cooperation or respect on return. Trump does not care whether he is respected, gentlemen do. Trump allowed the North Korean dictator to labor under the misapprehension that he despises him, then to labor under the misapprehension that he adores him by lavishing him with praise. How very clever. Then, Trump walks out halfway through a dinner date, leaving Mr. Kin very confused, and not knowing what to do, other than to resume building and rebuilding. The artful deal maker is thus left in the lurch, having put himself there, taking to twitter to proclaim that all is well, that he has Mr. Kim exactly where he wants him, as always. The bottom line is that North Korea has all its nukes intact, and has received a great deal of the global attention it has for so long craved, thanks to Donald J. Trump, the artful deal maker.

Seeing Past What Trump Shows Us

IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE a practicing rocket scientist, nor to even be pursuing a degree in rocket science from an accredited institution of higher learning, to discern that President Trump does not like being investigated. More than eleven hundred times he has called the Mueller investigation a "witch hunt", even as Mueller hunts down one witch after another, all close associates of Trump, as the investigators get ever closer to the truth. Trump's method of operation is to constantly denigrate the people investigating him, hoping that his political base will continue to support him,and join him in attacking the many investigations as criminal conspiracies out to get Trump. He does not like for people to find out things about him other than the things he can control, the things he wants people to know about. He wants people to know about him, most definitely, he wants fame, badly, but only the information he chooses to release; his great wealth, his gorgeous wife of the decade, his fame. He wants to be seen and known for glamorous, powerful, conspicuous success. But when it comes to actual transparency, to having people uncover and reveal facts about him without his permission, he is adverse to the point of terror, like a rat trapped in the corner by a hungry cat. At times Trump even wants certain individuals to know that because of his fame and fortune, he can do whatever he wants with any woman of his choice. But he does not want even his license to prey on women at will to be known beyond a select few guys in the locker room. He doesn't want anyone to see his tax returns, his affairs with purchased women, or the details of his business dealings, personal finances, or legal entanglements. He wants us all to see the glittering, gleaming buildings, but not the exhausted, underpaid workers who built them. The pattern is clear, unmistakable. And this is precisely what his supporters want as well. They want somebody to admire, somebody to look up to who has Hollywood glam, beautiful wives, great self made wealth, big strong talk about a great America and how great his followers are to follow him. A symbiotic relationship of adoring Trump wannabees, vicariously being Trump. Trump's supporters don't want Trump being investigated by people who don't admire him, by people who are looking only for facts and not fantasy glamour, any more than Trump does. They don't want their little Trump bubble to burst. Its a fascinating psychology. America is the land of fantasy and dreams, where reality is whatever we choose it to be. The United States of Amnesia. Trump's followers are the most angry Americans, having been failed by reality, seeking a different, alternative reality. Their anger is palpable. They choose their enemies almost as if by lottery, and seek to destroy them with an alternative reality. Their enemies are Trump's enemies, and they can be destroyed by locking them into an alternative reality. Hillary Clinton must be locked up for deleting emails. The media is all fake, everything it says negative about Trump is a lie, and a conspiracy between liberals, a deep state of some sort lurking in the shadows all works together to destroy Trump, who is innocent of any wrongdoing, the victim, as he says, of presidential harassment. Among Trump supporters are the folks who believe that the Lord is going to return soon, any time now, to rapture the righteous, who happen to be the supporters of Trump, into heaven. Trump, who is God's chosen president, leads them into heaven, making climate change, which is a liberal lie, irrelevant. Among Trump supporters are folks who believe, or want badly to believe, that extraterrestrials are conspiring with European trillionaires to use the Federal Reserve system to achieve a global dictatorship which will enslave us all. Trump supporters, like Trump, prefer their invented world of fantasy to demonstrable, verifiable reality, reality such as Michael Cohen and his extensive knowledge of who and what Trump actually is. Trump followers are small con men following the big con man. Why don't Trump and his supporters simply say: "Investigate all you want!" FBI, Democrats, media, Congress, investigate Trump to your heart's content, every last nook and cranny, we don't care!" the answer is simple. Trump and his followers have not yet taken sufficient leave of their wits to fail to realize that beneath their facade of fantasy there hides the truth, and the truth is not pretty, is in fact very, very sordid, the truth about themselves and about Trump. The truth would land Trump out of office and in prison. And the truth would require Trump's supporters to finally accept that they are following, sycophant-like, a mirage, a scam, a fabricated alternative reality. And that would be much too much for them to bear. The fact that the truth is going to be revealed and fully exposed is their worst fear, and that is why they cling to their pretension that it will never happen, and should never happen. But the dirty little secret is that it will happen, the truth will be brought forth, and when it does, Trump and his supporters are going to burst like a cheap hot air balloon, full of nothing but hot air. And their reaction will be the same as always,:denial. Denial of reality, and the rock solid certainty that they were attacked and unfairly destroyed by a mob of hateful, conspiring enemies of Donald Trump. It will be a sad spectacle to behold, like it already is.

Reading God's Mind, Witnessing His Improving Judgment

CONSIDERING THE FACT that the evangelical community is solidly supportive of President Trump, considering that there are evangelical ministers who claim that Donald Trump was chosen by God to be president, it is little wonder that some within the evangelical community are now beginning to say that the recent election of a new group of progressives to Congress is the result of god's judgment.In particular, Alexandria Ostacio Cortez (AOC), the rising star within the democratic party who, as a twenty nine year old, was elected to the House of Representatives from Brooklyn, New York, and has been a prominent subject of media attention lately, is supposedly a consequence of God's judgment, meaning that God, dissatisfied with the direction of America, is punishing the United States by sending to government service a liberal, a person who is not an evangelical, a person who by virtue of not being an evangelical will bring destruction to America, merely by virtue of supporting the enactment of progressive policies, such a tolerance for homosexuality, socialism, and science, the combined result of which will be devastatingly to America, and thus justice for America's acceptance for these evils across wide sections of society. Indeed, Americans in recent years have become much more tolerant of homosexuality, transgender people, and they have become much more diverse in religious matters, much more accepting of people who embrace religious views fare from mainstream Christianity. And all this, from the viewpoint of conservative evangelical Christianity, is a sure sign that America is going to hell, perhaps even in a hand basket, and the election of people like AOC are seen as punishment, the punishment consisting presumably of supporters of sin seeking and gaining power, and eventually, bring God's judgment and wrath upon the land. there is, however, another way of looking at God's judgment. Throughout history, throughout humanity's time on Earth, people have suffered mightily, with war, disease, and various other forms of misfortune, all of which apparently with God's approval. Thus, by sanctioning human misery, God, fro the human point of view, has exercised persistent bad judgment. god's bad judgment began almost immediately after creation, when he created a man named Cain, who murdered his own brother, and a woman named Eve, who defied God's instructions a sought knowledge, instead of ignorance. god exercised bad judgment by giving free will to people who abused the gift from the very moment they received it. Throughout the Old and New Testaments God's bad judgment is seen repeatedly, as the creatures of his creation disobey him over and over again, resulting in divine retribution, and human suffering. with better judgment God surely would have instilled within humankind, even within people endowed with free will, a greater tendency towards obedient to God, a greater respect for God's will, instead of allowing beings to populate the earth who repeatedly behave violently and disobediently throughout history. the same God who brought Donald Trump to power also brought Hitler to power, and all the other brutal tyrants with which human history is replete, obviously using bad judgment in elevating demagogues and tyrants to positions of leadership. but, there it, it seems hope. God's judgment, across the centuries, as history moves towards our twenty first century, seems to be improving. god is now giving humanity cures for diseases which formerly decimated the population and inflicted untold suffering. human knowledge to increase, medical knowledge, scientific knowledge, all manner of knowledge which is raising mankind's standard of living, and making life easier and far more pleasant than in previous epochs. God has allowed people to invent democracy, giving more people more opportunity to contribute to the leadership of society, giving society the opportunity to put good ideas into action and to eliminate bad ideas, by allowing more talented people to have an input into the political process.. yes, God still allows brutal dictators and dishonest, corrupt demagogues to come to power and to do societal damage, even in great countries like the United States. but no longer do these evil cruel men have free reign over the lives of millions of people, doing immeasurable harm, without resistance. Now, God is allowing bad leaders, leaders who come to power dishonestly, leaders who constantly lie to their citizens, leaders who engage in all kinds of financial and political and legal corruption - God is allowing the people to rise up against such cruel and evil men, to resist them and their harmful agendas, and allowing people to come to power tho have the power to discover the truth about such nefarious leaders through investigation, and legal due process, and to take action against them, according to a wise and effective system. of laws. God's improving good judgment is evident everywhere, and, as humanity plunges into the future, it may well be that God's good judgment will get ever better, as he brings to power such remarkable, progressive people at Alexandria Ostacio-Cortez, people who thorough their resistance to bad leaders and their presentation of superior ideas, clearly serves as beacons of light and living proof of the ever improving judgment of almighty God.

Declaring Emergencies

THERE IS NEARLY universal agreement among reasonable Americans, including some Republicans, that President Trump's declared emergency, much like Trump's honesty, integrity, and good judgment, is nonexistent. The House of Representatives has already repealed it, the Senate soon will, with sufficient republican assistance, and Trump will veto the repeal, thus fully exposing himself as a petty tyrant by formally declaring thousands of homeless, hungry Latin American mothers and children to be a national emergency, which they are most assuredly not. Desperate refugees constitute an emergency threat to the United States only in the twisted minds of the deranged. These homeless, hungry desperate people are actually a potentially golden opportunity for America; to gain hard working energetic young citizens with skills who will pay taxes and create prosperity, but it is quite beyond the capacity and willingness of those who hate immigrants with dark skin to comprehend this simple fact. By declaring a national emergency, the president assumes far reaching dictatorial powers, including the power to deploy the military inside the United States, the power to seize control of the media, including the internet, and the power to suspend basic civil liberties, including freedom of speech, habeas corpus, and legal due process, among others. A demagogues, possessed of poor judgment and hunger for power, can, simply by fabricating an emergency, become a virtual dictator, and that is precisely what President Trump has become, and now is. In the twenty first century, it can be argued, no head of state in any sovereign nation should ever, under any circumstances, be accorded such sweeping powers, certainly not in a democracy, or democratic republic. The sheer power of military weaponry and the reliance of modern culture on media sources precludes any reason, no matter how dire circumstances may become, for such extreme concentration of power in the hands of any one person, much less a power hungry, paranoid demagogue. What sort of person, if any, could ever be considered even remotely qualified to vest such powers in, even for a short period of time? The framers of the U.S. Constitution obviously had no intention of allowing for such a situation; otherwise, they would have written it into the document. Instead, they gave congress, and only congress, the power to suspend civil liberties and to assemble the military in times of emergency. In 1977, congress transferred this power, and much more power, to the president, during the cold war, thinking that modern technology and communication required the government to possess the capability to respond rapidly, and decisively, more rapidly and decisively can could ever be expected of a deliberative legislative body. Now, we are stuck with Donald J. Trump, and his politically motivated, false declaration of national emergency, and the likelihood that he will preserve it with a veto, assuming the Senate does indeed override it. Then, it will require a congressional veto override to finally put the irresponsible demagogue in his place, and the votes, among the republicans are not sufficient. Sadly, a sufficient number of Republican Senators will refuse to abandon their support of Trump, and refuse to preserve even the semblance of democracy. that is a tragic, sad price to pay for a petty tyrant's petty resentment of homeless, hungry refugees. And yet, we have no one to blame but ourselves, for having elected a cruel and heartless demagogue with poor judgment and even worse moral character.

Trump, Conflicting Interests, Somewhat Crazily

WHEN TRUMP BECAME PRESIDENT, he assured us that he would surround himself with the best and the brightest people, would appoint to his cabinet, to agency directorships, and to advisory positions people of the highest quality, integrity, and so forth. Half way through what might mercifully be his first and only term in office, the results, which are what matter, seem to strikingly belie his promise. Belying promises, belying anything, seems to have emerged as the standard method of operation for this president. In almost every instance, the people Trump has placed in positions of responsibility harbor views, attitudes, and histories of behavior directly inimical to their assigned responsibilities. In many instances, he has appointed people who have little or no experience in the area for which their department is responsible. His first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, came from a corporate executive background, with no experience in international relations, diplomacy, or foreign policy. Under his guidance, the State Department remained bereft of human assets; nearly half of all positions with the department went unfilled, and remain so today. Well over a year into his term, Trump had no ambassador to South Korea, none to Saudi Arabia, and the halls of the State Department building were empty, manned with too few people, with low morale, and a consensus of being neglected and understaffed. Trump appointed a person to head the Environmental Protection Agency who was not only shockingly corrupt, but seemingly unaware that the earth's environment requires protection through reasonable regulation of industrial activity. Trump's Secretary of Education, Betsy Devos, is conspicuous by her preference for private to public education, even though her job requires her to supervise and support public education. Trump prefers that his Attorney General be a person whose philosophy of law is that the government stay out of the business of protecting people's civil and legal rights; except when dealing with the president's. When the Attorney General, Mr. Sessions, recused himself from participating actively in the ongoing investigation of Trump, Trump suddenly seemed to favor an activist Attorney General. The list of highly dubiousTrump appointments is much longer, and cannot be fully enumerated here. Trump was advised to organized and stock an advisory committee on climate change, advice which Trump resisted, since he doesn't believe that climate change exists. Yet, he acceded to pressure, and appointed to chair his advisory panel a person who also does not believe that climate change exists, Princeton professor of atomic physics William Happer. Happer vindicates the oft heard conservative assertion that not all credible scientists believe in climate change. Happer is indisputably credible. He is, however, a conservative politically, a fact which seems mysteriously to blind all its adherents to the reality of the problematic aspects of free market corporate capitalism, such as the injection of billions of tons of carbon in to the atmosphere, which, any high school chemistry student can tell you, traps and absorbs heat far more readily than Earth's natural atmospheric components, nitrogen and oxygen, thus warming the atmosphere, and the planet, full time. Happer, believe it or not, cofounded an organization called the "carbon dioxide support society", or something like that, dedicated to the proposition that since carbon dioxide is natural, not man made, is is therefore helpful and harmless, and as such is being unfairly mocked, denigrated, and demonized by liberal climate change believers, much like the Jews were and in some quarters still are mistreated. Yes, he actually said all that. You could, like Casey Stengal used to say, look it up, but you can't make it up. Happer thus becomes, seemingly, the latest in a long historical list of intellectuals who are just a tad too smart for their own good, or for anybody else's good, by virtue of being totally off his rocker, stark, raving, crazy nuts. That said, perhaps the Trump administration is exactly where he belongs.

The Koch Brothers, Purchasing The Process

EVERY TRUE POLITICAL ANIMAL in America knows the names of Charles and David Koch, whether or not you can tell which one is which. (They are interchangeable). To members of the moderate, liberal, and extreme left wing socialist communities these two men are the essence of evil, polluting American politics with billions of dollars of political power purchases. To the mainstream Republican establishment, they are somewhat of a thorn is the side, because the Koch brothers do not automatically endorse mainstream Republican ideas. The most accurate description of the Kochs is "right wing extremist libertarian". They have a consistent record of opposing all government intervention in every aspect of private life, including business, and are as likely to resist government assistance for the wealthy as for the poor. Advocates of keeping the government entirely out of the economy are called "neo-liberals", a reference to the "liberalization" of the free market; the unfettering of free enterprise from all government restraint, whether on behalf of ownership or labor. Even Adam Smith, the intellectual godfather of modern capitalism, was not a neo liberal, he favored government action on behalf of the poor. The Koch brothers are most definitely neo-liberal. They are also multi billionaires from Wichita, Kansas, who for decades have underwritten all manner of conservative causes and have helped elect scores of quite conservative Republicans to various high public offices. Every current Republican member of the United States Senate at least partially owes his or her office to Charles and David Koch; this has been the situation for many years. They make their money in the oil and oil refinery businesses, as well as many others, including asphalt and chemicals. Personally, they maintain a low profile, never having run for political office. They fund conservative institutions and think tanks, most notably the Heritage Foundation. An excellent expose of Charles and David Koch was published several years ago: "Dark Money", by investigative journalist Jane Mayer. The book is a scathing, damning description of both Koch brothers, their upbringing, their business practices, and their involvement in politics, from a safe distance, with billions of dollars of hidden money infused into the political system. Mayer talks about oil refineries located close to trailer parks, on which toxic are chemicals dumped nearby, illegally, causing cancer and killing people, whose surviving family members are then bribed by Koch Industries into dropping legal action. this pattern has repeated itself many times, alleges Mayer. She documents her assertions. The latest Koch initiative is an attack on mass transit. Their political action organization, "Americans For Prosperity", is undertaking a massive nation wide phone ringing door knocking pamphlet pushing emailing propaganda campaign, largely focusing its attention in any major American city currently considering investing in a mass transit system, such as Nashville, Tennessee. Their argument is that mass transit raises taxes on everyone, but hits the poor and the working classes disproportionately hard, and that mass transit strikes a blow against freedom, because people want the freedom to go where they want then they want, the freedom to be independent of the restrictions inherently imposed by any mass transit system. Koch brothers propaganda is always adept at trying to appear to be advocating for the working class poor, and trying to appear to be fighting for individual liberty, against the overbearing forces of government and regulation. That mass transit limits individual freedom by taking everyone to the same place at the same time is perhaps among the most dubious arguments ever promulgated by Americans For Prosperity, whose very title invites the question: prosperity for whom, other than the Koch brothers? Bear in mind that opposing mass transit is a perfectly reasonable approach for anyone a large portion of whose income is derived from automotive transportation. For as long as the American economic system allows the formation of huge concentrations of wealth, and for as long as the American political system allows for the purchasing of political office with huge sums of hidden money, people like the Koch brothers will have a free hand to own and control America, while the rest of us stand idly by, deleting emails and letting our phones ring, if we are smart.

Figuring Folks Out

EVIDENTLY, IN THESE UNITED STATES, it is not illegal in many of them for children as young as fourteen to get married, with state blessing. Arguably, of course, marriage ought to be an entirely religious rather than a civic matter, which may partially explain why the conservative Christian community offers no objections to civic marital laxity. There is currently in Idaho a bill pending to make folks wait a bit longer, and grow up a bit more, but our conservative Christians are showing little to no support of it. One suggestion is that evangelicals perceive that secular civilization is steadfastly attacking the kingdom of Christ, incrementally encroaching upon God's people by refusing to convert the United States into a theology, refusing to unite church and state, and raising a fuss about godless concerns such as climate change rather than piously awaiting the Lord's return, and leaving it at that. And that because of all this encroaching secularism, it is of paramount importance that God's people be allowed to marry early without state objection, in order to railroad evangelical babies into the world by the bushel basket full. More than a few evangelical ministers have openly proclaimed their belief that god has ordained Trump to be president, and this president certainly seems to be not only a self proclaimed Christian, but a person who vigorously engages in the very activity which railroads infants into the world. This invites speculation about what other behavior god has ordained Trump to engage in. Said speculation is precisely the reason for the multitude if investigations currently seeking insight into the president's behavior, investigations which are demonstrably of no interest to either Trump's political base or his evangelical admirers. Trump's evangelical admirers need no earthly examination of Trump's behavior or motives behind it; the president was ordained by God, all answers are in the Bible, and any other source of information, about anything, especially Trump, is not only irrelevant but verily ungodly. Does the lord desire that Trump ignore climate change, and appoint to positions within the environmental advisory community people who consider climate change a hoax, a fabrication by godless, incompetent mainstream science? Does the good lord want Trump to pursue his dream of bringing back coal, and adding more carbon to the atmosphere, presumably for the purpose of increasing agricultural yield? Does God want Trump to vindicate the Biblical doctrine of the subservience of women by using them in whatever manner he pleases? Whether 'tis the more imposing task figuring out Trump or his supporters is a question with no apparent answer. Superficially, one might think that the conservative Christian evangelical community would find Trump repulsive, and reject him post haste. On the contrary, they embrace and support him as if he were a modern day John the Baptist, an orange haired harbinger of the Lord's return and the rapture of the righteous, including presumably Trump, into heaven, leaving those damned secular humanist liberals and their god free doctrine of man made climate change alone on earth, to suffer in rising temperatures and sea levels which have nothing to do with carbon, and everything to do with Aitch E double hockey sticks. Sociologists and psychologists are having, as we like to say, a "field day", mulling all of this over. Not long after Trump took office, a group of forty thousands mental health professionals signed a document asserting their belief that the new president was mentally unstable, beset with a wide variety of emotional and mental maladies, and thus wholly unfit for office. Trump's supporters quickly pointed out that none of the signatories had ever been in the same room with Trump, nor had ever conducted a thorough analysis of him in a professional manner, a valid objection. The mental health community, in fact, got into some serious trouble when they pulled the same stunt with Barry Goldwater in 1964, after Lyndon Johnson. accused Goldwater of being an atom bomb slinging mad man. Ostensibly, what Trump believes, and what his evangelical supporters believe, is utter nonsense, worthy of intense medical attention and treatment. To people possessed of solid modern educations, notions such as the six thousand year old Earth, the literal truth of the Bible, including the flat earth, and the ability of humanity to inject eight hundred and fifty billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere, to leave it there, and to cause no consequences is beyond belief. To conservative evangelical Trump-ettes of doom, a modern college education means nothing. colleges are bastions of liberals who reject the Bible in favor of godless science. On a more secular note, right wing Christian extremists are a dying breed, mostly old folks, being replace rapidly with millennials and post millennials, folks who embrace secular science, reject religion, and, god willing or not, are poised to vote Trump right out of the Oval Office, and, lord willing, into the office of a good, competent shrink, with his evangelical supporters close behind.

Running Out Of Luck

THERE'S THE FAMOUS STORY of the Russian colonel who saved the world by guessing, correctly, that what his computer told him was an incoming nuclear armed American intercontinental ballistic missile was actually a mere computer glitch, somehow using his intuition, and getting lucky. This was in the nineteen eighties, when computer guided missile systems were far less reliable, and somehow, the Russian colonel sensed that, base on what he understood to be the state of affairs between Ronald Reagan and Michael Gorbachev, the United States would not be attacking. frighteningly, computer guided missile launch systems, though much improved, are still not perfect, not beyond the capacity for tragic miscalculation and fatal error. His failure to report the incident to his superiors as an actual attack spared the world untold nightmarish consequences, probably cities in ruins and tens of millions of innocent dead. His superiors were grateful, and as the years went by and the story got out, many ore people became grateful. The heroic colonel died just a couple of years ago, and he retained a humble attitude about his service to humanity to the very end of his life. He remains largely ignored, a mere footnote in world history, yet, much appreciated by those who know. Since the nineteen eighties, nuclear missile treaties between the United States and Russia have created a sufficient level of transparency and a sufficiently limited bomb and missile capability on both sides as to greatly enhance our chances of continuing to avoid nuclear holocaust, by accident or design. We have maintained agreements on the number of bombs each nation may maintain, the number of missiles each nation may keep operative, and how large and how far their respective missiles can travel, and where they can be positioned. The regimen has worked well, but now there is the distinct possibility that it will all unravel, and the at the U.s.an Russia will return to the bad old days of unrestricted bomb and missile building and deployment, and the arms race will resume, unmitigated by any formal treaty. Those of a certain age will not so fondly recall when both nations were testing atomic bombs below ground, above ground, in the air, and at various and sundry locations worldwide, while building bombs and missiles at a prodigious rate, each nation stockpiling tens of thousand so ready to use atomic bombs, all the while railing at each other and trading accusations on an almost daily basis. the situation has been so much better for so long that the younger generation can scarcely imagine a world in which American school children were routinely ducking beneath their school desks at school, practicing the fine art of bomb and missile dodging. Now, the bad old days might will return. Both Obama and Trump accused Putin of cheating on the medium range missile treaty, and now Trump has withdrawn the United States from the treaty altogether. Putin, a dangerous dictator remindful of Soviet cold war tyrants, denies the accusations, even as he uses aggression to expand Russian hegemony in what is an apparent intent of reconstituting the old soviet Union. By withdrawing from the treaty Trump is forfeiting all opportunity for the United states to influence Russian behavior. It would be better to work from within than from the outside, as Obama realized. now, Putin has a blank check to use in whatever devious manner he chooses. We can only hope that he thinks carefully before cashing it.