Republicans, Stuck, and Struggling

THE FIRST TIME I saw New York City I was nineteen. As we approached the Holland Tunnel, my father, who was driving, told me how dirty the place was, and that almost everybody who lived there was stuck there, and would give or do almost anything to get out of the son of a bitch. I thought maybe the sixteen lane traffic was getting to him. Now, I'm not so sure. That was fifty years ago. Since then, they have cleaned the S.O.B. up. I sense the same sitution with Trump. His supporters are stuck with him. Its too late to get out. And, they are showing their desperation, despite what the polls indicate, that Trump and Kamala Harris are in a dead heat tie. We'll see how long that holds up. Trump is no longer fighting a weak and unpopular incumbant old man Joe biden, the congnitively comprised version. Now it is Trump who is the congnitively compromised old man, opposed by a much younger, attractive, vigorous, smart, strong woman with a solid strong background and a potent multi racial ethnicity. Kamala Harris will prove to be as formidable an opponent as Hillary Clinton, without the negatives and baggage. Like Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris will draw all the low life attacks from right wing rednecks, from people to whom she is far superior in every way. She can and will take the fire, and return it, in spades. The first cheap shot shot in desperation has come from ReTrumplican congressional thug puppets, insisting that Biden should resign. He simply chose to refrain from unning again. He has six months of service remaining to which he is obligated. That is not the same as being unfit to serve. On his worst day, Joe Biden is superior mentally to any Republican detractor of his currently serving in high office, most particularlty Trump, who isn't serving anyone, and is clearly unfit to do so. When we the American people flooded the Harris campaign with an ungoldy amount of campaign money,Republicans, their desperation now palpable, indicated their intention to file a lawsuit claiming that it would be illegal for Harris to use any funds collected for Biden's now defunct campaign. Unmitigated desperate frivolity, according to all legal experts. The Biden campaign fund had Harris's name on it,from the beginning. Case dismissed. Next same something even more spurious and desperate. The procees by which Harris is replacing Biden on the ballot is "undemocratic"! ranted MAGA-land. Can you imagaine, people who support Donald Trump suddenly concerned about democratic principles? Aren't they the folks who deny and refuse to accept unfavorable election results, and who stage a violent insurrection to prove exactly how they feel about democracy? Republicans, the party of authoritarian government with a srrongman president, the party of electon fraud and insurrection, suddenly concerned about how the Democratic party chooses its presidential candidate. That, as they say, is rich. The last tiem I looked, the delegates to the Democratic National Convention are being given the opportunity to vote for their preferred candidate, and,upon closer examination,they have, almost unamimously, chosen Kamala Harris. That is the very definition of "democracy", a definition of which Republicans are utterly unaware, for lack of experience with it. Next thing you know, they will accuse Harris of being "weak on the border",even though she and Biden were in full support of a comprehensive, strong bipartisan border legislative package,and would have signed it into law - until Trump ordered his puppets in Congress to back away from it, in order to save it for him to sign, which of course, they dutifully did, being Trump puppets. Flash bulletin; they have already begun using this weak, desperate tactic. What desperate measures will they try next? Who knows? Maybe they will accuse Biden of ordering the hit on Trump, and will make their case by wearing, en masse, a square of white gauze over their right ears. But wait! They've already tried that too.

Autocracy, Incorporating

WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT "autocracy", you think of a country ruled by an "autocrat";,a strong man dictator who is the top dog of a political party, the politcal party being little more than a gang of thugs wearing a gaudy, ominous uniform with an imposing ingignia taped on it, a lightning bolt,or roaring dragon,or something equally silly. You think of an inner circle of fellow gangsters, like a mafia mob, obeying and supporting the strongman. And of course there is the state police, an extension of the party, which roams and parades in the streets, keeping the masses of intimidated peons in line with constant threats of violence. Then, there is the military itself, an extension of the state police, which, whether capable of actually defending the country against foreign attack, is certainly more than capable of keeping the tyrant autocaat in power merely by a constant show of power, dragging rockets, misssiles, and tanks down the street in melodratic shows of national unity and force. This image of an autocracy is, according to journalist and scholar Anne Applebaum, much out of date. In her recently published book: "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Run the World", she presents a much more sophisticated picture of a twenty first century autocracy, replete with surveillance cameras, and a complex, comprehenisve state propaganda media machine which churns out a never ending avalanche of information which supports the notion that the autocrat is the best friend and greatest benefactor of the common man in the history of the world, that the economic conditions within the kindgom are second to none, that big brother is devoted only to the protection and propserity of all people, to the sacrifce and exclusion of himself. Perhpas the most urgent message incessantly drilled into the heads of the hapless recpients of all the vast array of blatant falshoods is that democray, and all things demoratc, is a corrupt, chaotic system of government, in which the worst istincts of humanity are given free range, chaos runs rampant, and democratic nations like the united States are govenred by a rabid mob, spearheared by imperialistic capitalistic corporations whose only aim is to gain domination of the world politically, economically,and militarily, and will stop at nothing to do presicely that. The esteemed and great leader keeps constant tabs on the entire population with an intricate computerized network of surveillance technology, whereby anyone and everyone, whether in public or in private, can be monitored twenty four seven by a well staffed organization, an organ of the government designed for that purpose. Applebaum's most striking and startling thesis of all is that in our modern world, the autocracies of the world, led by Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and Hungary, and which include other nations in Asia and Latin Ameria, are united in a mutual process of sharing information, techniques, and military and economic assistance in pursuit of their highest aim; the utter destruction, subjaation, and domination of the United States and other western democracies. The various autocracy do not necessarily share any specific political or philosophical ideology other than their mutual aim of perpetuating their systems of wealth and power, while subverting democracy and all opponents. Against this formidable array of highly coordinated autocratic power traditional means of opposition, such as military alliances and economic sanctions, are icreasingly ineffective. We note that since Russia's war on Ukraine was brought to a stand off by an infusion of military hardware into Ukraine by the U.S. and Europe, Russia has turned to China, North Korea and Iran for even more military hardware of its own. Also notweorthy is that despite the enormous number of supposedly crippling economic sanctions levied against Putin, the Russian oligarchs, and Russia itself, Russia continues its war, unfazed, the supposedly crippling econmic sanctions wholly inedquate to their assigned task of bringing Russia to its knees and ending the aggression agaisnt Ukraine. This presents another question; the future place of the United States in all this. Donald Trump has repeatedly shown an admiration for Putin and other autocrats. He changed from issuing "little rocket man" threats against North Korea to embacing the North Korean dictator. Trump and his MAGA mob of anti-democratic fascist de facto gangsters, numbering in the tens of millions, who have shown admiration of Vladimir Putin, have already attempted, and are attempting now, to install Trump in power in America with autoritarian powers. Thus the question quite logically and inevitably arises: which side is America on, and which side will it be on in future years?

Democracy Dying, And How

LONG BEFORE Trump's big election lie and his consequent violent insurrection attempting to overturn the election of 2020, a pair of Harvard political scientists, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, saw the handwriting on the wall, so to speak. In 2018 they published what is arguably the most seminal, authoratative book on the real threat to American democracy by the political rise of Donald Trump and Trumpism: "How Democracies Die". These two scholars have spent more than twenty years researching and studying the destruction of demoracy in Russia, Hungary, Venezuala, and throughout Europe and Latin America, and their work deals with their analysis, applicable to the present day USA. Usually, the backslide of demoracy into authoritarian government is a gradual process, rather than a sudden, violent upheaval. It begins with a deline in the acceptance fo political norms; a refusal by political parties to acknowledge the legitimacy of opposing points of view., accompanied with accusations that opponents lack patriotism and the willingness to place country before personal ambition. The political culture becomes corrupt by a mutual, enduring animosity; enemies within dehumanizing their political opponents. Refusing to accept the results of a verifiably free and fair election. The employment of those in power of mechanisms within the powers of government to subvert demoracy by such methods as court packing, attacks on the freedom of the press, attempts to suppress voter turn out. Democracies usually die. The authors also cite other demographic factors in the decline of democracy, notably widespread economic inequality and the segregation of society and political parties according to race, religion, gender, and economic status. Reviews for this seminal monograph have been and remain glowing, more so now because of its eerily prophetic nature. However, As Goethe said, one should not cite error without a willingness and ability to offer solutions. That is exactly what this esteemd work does; it cites remedies which can be implemented immediately to rectify our current backslide away from democracy, towards authoritarianism, can take us back towards healthy democratic norms. Voter participation must be greatly expanded. A democracy becomes a narrow oligarchy when people stay away from the ballot box. Civic and political education must be strengthened in our public education system. The current concentrated corporate media must be fragmented into a healthy, varied, large number of independent media and information sources, independent of corporate control. The branches of government must be insulated against attempts to corrupt them and use them to deny politial power to those deemed unworthy of participation. An entrenched, unmovable legislative political class and judiciary must be constantly infused with new blood. The most striking aspect of this book is, again, the fact that almost immediately upon its publication, the train of events it warned against and predicted came to pass in the United States, with the refusal of Trump to accept election defeat, and the support of his violent insurrection by tens of millions of his suporters, Americans who have given up on democracy, and who still support installing Trump as an authoritarian head of state by reelecting him in 2024, despite his massive criminality, inside and outside of the political processs. At this very moment America is facing its Hitler moment. Our salvation is that we still have time to do something about it, and that we have been very adequately forewarned.

Trolling Biden Harris, Desperately

NOW THAT PRESIDENT BIDEN has announced the impending end to his political career, Republican politicians, like true reprobates, instead of congratualing him like civilized people, are piling on, attacking him in ways even more reprehensible and ludicrous than usual. The Speaker of the House, who claims to have read the bible and makes it clear that he gets knowledge and widsom from no other book, called on Biden to resign the presidency, immediately. The govern-ass of Arknansas, who like most Republicans is a traitorous insurrectionist Trump supporter, did likewise. "If he isn't fit to run again, he isn't fit to serve", bleated she, as if retiring is a deadly disease, rather than a well earned respite from the hard work of a long and productive life. Reduced to desperation by being tied to a convicted criminal presidential candidate, confronted with the daunting prospect of trying to defeat a younger, intelligent, ready to rumble Kamala Harris, Republicans have signaled their strategy going forward; attack Biden's record, falsely, mercilessly, with lies and dstortions, and try to convince the Amercan people that a Kamala Harris administration would be more of the same. More of the same, in fact is exactly what we the American people need; the Biden administration was and remains a brilliant littany of successes, and reversals of failed, disastrous Trump era policies. Future historians, who will ably place both Biden and Trump in proper context, will eventually conclude that Donald Trump was by far the worst president in American history, and that Joe Biden was among the best. Obviously whoever the nest president is, and it will probably be Kamala harris,he or she will be different from Biden, not more of the same. But Harris or anyone would be well advised to emulate as closely as possible the Biden agenda and poliies, both foreign and domestic, and to use the Trump debacle as the perfect example of what not to do. Trump, by denying the severity of and by his mismagagement of the Covid epidemic, brought about the needless deaths of more than a million Americans. No masks, no social distancing, no vaccines. Hydroxychloraquine. Remember? It is no exaggeration to say that Donald Trump and his MAGA minions, by doing th exact oposite of what was needed to contain the Covid virus, facilitated its spread, causing the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. Dr. Anthonoy Fauci, without political bias of any sort, would attest to this, and has. For that alone there is or should be a special place in hell awaiting them. Economically, these disastrous policies crippled the economy and resulted in the historically high levels of inflation, by crashing the supply system while demand remained steady. Otherwise, The Trump administration turned its back on long standing American alliances, ruined relationships with key global partners, and encouraged climate change by denying its very existence. Climate change is the single greatest threat to American national security, acccording to the Department of Defense. Trump encouraged climate change. Donald Trump, and his MAGA Republican enablers and supporters, are the single greatest threat to America's future, not only because they tried to steal the presidency from Biden and to overthrow the American government by a violent insurrections, and would gladly do the same again, but becauseevery policy they espouse in their party platfrom is inimicle to the best interests for the American people. The best remedy to the party of traitors and criminals is to elect a Democrat to replace Joe Biden. The best, most obvious choice is Kamala Harris.

Interesting Facts

AND NOW FOR SOME INTERESTING FACTS: The universe is a fact,a seeminly infinte collection of facts, units of matter and energy constantly in flux, forming and reforming in an amazing array of infinite designs, almsot as if by deliberate intelligent design, or random chance, or both. The result is an endlessly wondrous, miraculous assembly of facts for humans and other species of life to wonder at, revere, and adore. AS Emerson said: "If the stars should appear but one in a thousand years, how would man believe, and adore, and preservie for many generations the remembrance of the city of God"? Thank heavens our little planet Earth orbits but a single star, corrrect? Well said, Ralph Waldo. Another interesting fact: Minute particles of matter can and do communicate with similar particles of matter on the other side of the universe, a fact confirmed of modern physics. Einstein called this amazing fact "spooky action at a distance",with his usual flair for creative scientific terminology. Matter and energy are neither created nor destroyed, at least since the original creation of the universe, it merely changes shape and form. Our human bodies consist of trillions of atoms of matter, and trillions of units of energy. There is a reel real chance, a very high degree of probability, that at this very moment your body contains at least one atom, one particle of matter, that also existed in the body of Julius Caesar, or Jesus, Or Napoleon, or Alexander the Great..and so on. Every atom comprising your body will, after your death, be recirculated in the Earth, and will one day end up in the body of someone else, perhaps another Julius Caesar, although we might hope not. Every molecule of water in your body was quite likely drunk, processed, and passed in dinosaur urine. As Carl Sagan famously said, we are star stuff", because all the matter which makes up the sun, the planets, the entire solar system, and all life on Earth, was forged in the center of stars, billions of years ago. Indeed, we are star stuff. We are also dinosaur piss. Another interesting fact, a bit less profound and slightly more troubling, is that no matter where you are, no matter where you are located on land, you are within ten feet of a rat, probably the famous, ubiquitous Norwegian rat. Whetehr this is an average, or a stark literal fact, remains uncertain. Quite likely it is in most cases a hard, literal fact, and in some cases, an average. This fact may also exclude the oceans, and other large bodies of water, although it may not. When one is aboard a large ocean going vessel, rats undoubtedly lurk below deck, especially on our huge modern cruise ships, loaded with food and hot human bodies. Rats follow humans and human food, and live, laregly unseen, in complete concert with homo sapien sapiens, especially in cities,both large and small. When one is kayaking down a roaring Rocky Mountain river, it is hard to imagine any rats being within ten feet of us, altough, as they say, you never know, anything is possible. Perhpas beneath the Rocky Mountain River bed, lurk dens of underground Norwegian rats, deeply dug in, as rats tend to be, beneath the surface of the Earth. Fascinating, interesting facts indeed. Lettuce snot be alarmed by them, but rather, inspired, inspired by our connection to everything else, of everything to everything else, and the complete impossibility of our ever being truly alone, even for a cosmic moment. After all, within minutes afer you emerge from the most assiduously cleansing refreshing shower, your gorgeous hot body is covered, inside and out, by billions of microorganisms, teeming, reproducing, crawling all over your lovely, glistening naked body, inside and out. Be comforted, you are never alone.

Biden, Withdrawing, Nobly, Trump, Facing Doom

PRESIDENT BIDEN'S DECISION to withdraw from the prsidential race was surprising, and yet, not surprising. Most people are taking the latter appraoch, that, hell, they knoew it all along, knoew that he would drop out. Of course, most people are, as we say, full of it. I was and am quite surprised simply because he was so adamant for so long that he would indeed not drop out, despite all the admonitions that he should. Surprised, but glad. It will be regarded as a supreme act of selfless nobility and generosity. Few indeed are the instances when a person in a position of great political power willingly,voluntarily relenquishes that power. Over time,in historical retrospectve, As the years proceed, and historians gain perspective, Biden's political career will come to be regarded as among the most amazing and distinguished in American history. Six terms in the United States Senate, promulgating important legislation. Two terms as Vice President. One term as president. A career of epoch proportions. His presumed replacement is Vice President Kamala Harris. She is also the perfect candidate. Youthful, vigorous, unafraid,intelligent, unintimidated. Attractive, physically, mentally, her personality. Her background as a prosecuting attorney, state Attorney General, United States Senator, and Vice President is the perfect combination of experience, the perfect balance,of job expperience on her resume. Tough on crime, within the system of justice, utilizing her respected law degree to incarcerate criminals. Executive leadership on the state level,the biggest state in the union. Legislatve experience in the U.S, Senate. Executive leadershp on a national level as Vice President. Female, Asian American, African American. Kamala Harris has it all, ethnicity wise, experience wise, personal characteristic wise. Her political ideology, her policy positions are a perfect reflection of the preferences of a majority of Americans. Pro women's reproductive autonomy. Progressive economic positions, not radical, not far left, but well within the acceptable range of American preferences. Overall, her political ideology must be described as left center, exactly where a substantial part of the American electorate resides. Her ability to argue logically, persuaviely in front of a discerning audience render hers a formidable debate opponent against Donald Trump, who, with his blathering overbearing style, will not stand a chance against her on the debate stage. Let's see how we the American people react when Trump tries to bully her in front of the entire nation. Not only wil she stand up to it, and end up using words to beat Trump to an intellectual pulp, the audience will react with horor and revulsion when Trump, with uncontrollable anger and desperation, hurls insults at her, what a nasty women, and so forth. Hillary clinton did not evoke much wympathy when Trump browbeat her with loudness, lies and insulting nonsense; Kamala Harris will not only reposte with lightening quick jabs and retorts, whe will have the audience behind her, since she has none of the baggage, none of the negatives, attached, unfairly, falsely, to Hillary Clinton. Unlike the compromised, impaired biden, Kamala will have a headful of ready facts at her disposal, and will ably remind the nation of Donald Trump's long history of criminality and gross immorality. President Biden has just now brought to an end of Donald Trump's political career, which will flame out in ingnominious defeat. Kamala Harris will attract millions of womenan and people of color to the ballot box, and bring along with her victories in both houses of Congress. The Maga movement is on its last legs, and will soon expire with the whimpering death rattle appropriate to a fascist movement in the land of liberty. May it forever rot.

Whining and Ranting, Falsely, For Democracy, As Only Trump Can

"WHAT THE HELL did I do to democracy? I took a bullet for democracy". Back, once again perched high above his adoring cult, in full facist red cap rally mode, Donald Trump rhetorically whined and ranted in as little as two dishonest sentences, as only Donald Trump can, or would want to. Give him credit for addressing perhpas the msot relevant and serious complaint regularly made against him, that he is not only a danger to democracy, but that he is an attempted destroyer of it. Of the multidudinous legitimate, verifiable complaints that can be convincingly made against the most prolific prevaricator in all American history, if one chooses the most egregious, it is surely that. That he tried to bring democray in America to a permanent end, that he nearly succeeded in doing so, and that he stands well positioned to make another attempt, and, in what can only be described as a potential catastrophe, to succeed. Recall that less than four years ago Trump lost the election to be reelected president, by nearly seven million votes, and that this result was certified at every precinct in America, by Republican poll workers, by Congress, and by the federal court system. The votes were counted three times, under Republican supervision, in every state in which the results were even remotely close, and, according to Republican Trump supporting election workers at the local and state level, he did indeed lose,fair and square, to Joe Biden. He,Trump, and his seventy five million fellow traitors who support him, ignored this reality, as they continued, and continue to this day, to engage in democracy destruction by denying the election results. Each day, Trump and his fellow anti-democracy fascist MAGA gangsters attempt to destroy democracy, and to deny that they are doing it.Trump began his democracy destroying project on election night, by articulating his big election lie, long before the votes were counted. He conceived and orchestrated his plan to destory democracy and overthrow the American government weeks in advance of the election. The post election campaign rally on Jaunuare sixth, 2021, in which Mr. Ear Shot, who has not yet takin off his white sqaare gauze ear banage, which he wears for dramatic effect, encouraged members of the audience to come to the rally well armed because nobody wanted to hurt him. His consequent incitement of the assembled mob to attack the Captiol and violently overthrow the American government was also pre planned, weeks in advance. The plan nearly succeded. If there is justice in the universe and moral and intellectual character in the American people, and Trump loses the election this Novemeber, there can be little or no doubt that he will, with the enthusiastic assistance of his criminal gang of political supporters, largely evangelical Christians, try somethng similar again. If America chooses fascism, and turns its back on democracy by electing Trump, he will damage or completely destroy democracy more directly, with the assistance of the Supreme Court, a Republican Congress, and the tens of millions of democracy hatng fascists who will have enabled it. One way or another, Donald Trump is not done damaging and destroying democracy. Win or lose, he will continue his daily effort to destroy the foundtaion of American freedom. And seventy five million accessories to crime will continue to help him. The good news is, true patriotic Americans know exactly how to stop him and them.

Trump, Migrating

TRUMP'S remarks about national unity didn't take long. Then, he moved on to ninety three minutes of rambling, off subject telepompoter-free fantastical promises, gratuitoous attacks, and blatant falsehoods. If elected, he, and he alone, will eliminate all inflation. The value of the American dollar shall never decline again. Inflation at zero percent, for the first time in all recorded history, the first time in any country, anywhere. Trump, doing this, alone. The election of 2020 was rigged, stolen. That lie he will not let go. Biden and the economoy are a disaster. This, of course, is the exact opposite of the truth. The truth matters no more to Trump than it ever has, and his cult supporters are no more concerned about their inonic leader's pathological prevarication than they ever have been, which is not at all. If there was any single topic that Trump spent more than a minute on, focused on, it was the topic which launched his political career nine years ago; illegal, undocumented immigration across the southern border of the United States. This problem is of the utmost importance, and concerns us all. It merits much attention. It is estimated that ten to eleven million Latin Americans are living in the United States illegally. Most are from Mexico, many are from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Trump has claimed that the number is as high as thirty million, maybe a billion, depending on how delusional he happens to be on any given day. He promised in his Republican National Convention speech the promise he has repeatedly made; that in his new administration, there will be the most comprehensive mass deportation of illegal imigrants in U.S. history.The invasion of the United States, ongoing, will be stopped, reversed. All of the rapists, murderers and insane asylum escapees deliberately sent to America by the governments of Latin America will be sent back where they ame from... Now, for some facts. Trump's immigration claims and rantings are all lies, unsurprisingly. There is no invasion of America. An invasion is an organized, deliberate project. Nobody is being sent here. The illegals are coming here of their own volition, as individuals and families, for their own desperate reasons, and are being sent by nobody. They are not rapists, murderers, and lunatics. They are young, energetic famlilies, willing and able to work hard. The crime rate among illegal aliens is far lower than that among legal American citizens. Their work ethic is stronger too. In America, illegal aliens get jobs, because Amerian employers hire them. Trump himself has hired many of them, and has taken advantage of their illegal status by refusing to pay them. This is illegal, and adds to Trump's many other crimes committed. Deporting ten million people would be a logistical undertaking of insurmountable proportions, nearly impossible. If ten million people, legal or otherwise, suddenly vanished from the United States, it would leave a huge hole in the American economy and social fabric, would seriously damage the economy. Illegal aliens pay taxes, and contribute billions of dollars in value added through productive work to the American economy. That would vanish. The drastic reduction of workers could not be replaced. Millions of jobs would simply vanish, businesses would shrink or vanish. Inflation would increase, signifincantly. Like it or not, the American economy is, has become heavily dependant on immigrants, legal and illegal. Trump's race based deportation dream, if actually implemented, would be an unmitigated disaster for the United States. The same is true of Trump himself, past, present,and future.

Trump, Unifying, Exploiting

DONALD TRUMP gave a very long speech, prime time, just what his adoring cult wanted, just what he knew they wanted. He knew that he had stumbled, by the grace graze of a bullet, into a situaton made to order for him. Trump, the heroic survivor, coming home, scathed, but strong. He knew the nation was in the mood for coming together in unity and that the mood would not last. He had to hurry to exploit it. As promised, he provided unity, right from the beginning. Precisely two sentences of it. Twenty seconds of unity, offered up front. "We need to unify this nation. I cannot govern half a nation. It has to be everyone." And that was it. A sweet taste of token unity. Unity on his terms. He stays where he is, the nation comes to him. He needn't compromise or change. The farther from Trump you are, the longer the distance from unity,the longer the journey to achieve it. He and his MAGA cult have planted their feet in concrete; he invites us to join them. He was not meant to survive, said he, but he did, by the grace of God.. Who, in Trump's place, wouldn't want to talk about themselves? Only a select few survive death so narrowly. He will never stop exploiting his gift from a poorly aimed rifle bullet.The MAGA agenda has not changed, nor will it. His choice of a Vice President candidate was a doubling down, a fortification of territory already held, not an expansion into new realms. He chose a young clone of himself, just as you would expect a self addicted narcissist to do. Evangelical Christian conservative America, aka the Republican party, still wants what it has always wanted in the era of Trump. It wants to cut or eliminate Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. It wants to ban all abortions, nation wide. It wants to further cut taxes for the wealthy. It wants to keep the federal minimum wage at seven twemty five an hour. It opposes labor unions, and supports corporate freedom to exploit resources, mineral and human, without government oversight or regulation. The Repubican party is married to trickle down economics: help the wealthy, trust that the wealthy will help everyone else, somehow. America first, America isolated, America alone, free from the messy inconvenient obligations inherent in international agreements and cooperation. A mighty empire,free to roam the planet at will, unconstrained by principles or moral considerations for other countries, its corporate masters free to exploit whatever they can with its bloated military machine to support their economic aggreession and coercion. The Christian religion elevated to official status, as the official and only religion of the American nation-state and the Aemrican people. LGBTQ people turned once again into criminals, ostracised, exterminated, by virtue of their sexual orientation. America made great, once again. Immigrants with non white skin color rounded up and deported, in a great purification of American blood, just as Donald Trump wishes and promised. And of couse, above all else, the total exploitation and use of all fossil fuels for corporate profit. Inconvenient climate change can be ignored, disguised an an evil liberal hoax, as every year becomes hotter than the previous, and the planet becomes unbearable, and our children are given a hellish inferno to live in. By then Trump and his cult of fascist gangsters will be long dead, having already sucked as much life out of America as they can, sharing nothing, leaving nothing behind... His adoring minions sit motionless, gazing upward at the podium in enraptured attentiveness.Their faces are frozen in adoring smiles. Their eyes shine with tears of joy. It matters not what he says, only that he is saying it. All his vague,vacuous words are gospel, the scripture of the Trumpchrist. He gives thenm exactly what they came for, and, exahsuted, their enger and love spent in screaming aproval, they slowly file out, leaving nothing behind.

Fighting Over Mt. Rushmore

SUMMER, 1987. I was thirty two years old, chilling in the back seat, cruising along the highway with three other dudes, through South Dakota, on our way to Yellowstone. All these years later, I can still remember how pumped up I was. Suddenly, a highway sign said "Mt. Rushmore, twenty five miles. Exit,ten miles." We had made no plans to visit Mt.Rushmore, nobody hd said anything about it.It was not on the itinerary. But suddenly, presented with an unexpected opportunity, we three passengers wanted to go, wanted to take the unexpected exit, and go a little bit out of our way, and see the famous Mt. Rushmore and its four iconic presidential heads carved out of the mountain. Who wouldnt? Only the driver, in whose SUV we were riding, who was doing all the driving, who was paying for most of the trip, refused to do it. "This was not part of the plan. Its twenty five miles out of our way. Mt. Rushmore is an abomination, a desecration of nature to honor four white imperialist genocidal conquerors of native American civilization". That was his argument, and he was not going to budge. The other two passengers, big, strong, assertive guys, argued like fury for the ten minutes or so that it took us to pass the exit. It seemed like forever, but it must have lasted about ten minutes. It was loud. Although I was on their side, I could see both sides, and I remained quiet. We will never have this chance again! my fellow passengers screamed, passionately, accurately. Finally, mercifully, the tornadic argument was over. We had passed the exit, and we were not going to turn around, as we got farther away from the stone faced former presidents, and ploughed straight ahead towards Yellowtone National Park. I felt a sense of devastation and relief, as people must have felt at the end of world War Two. Finally, the great Rushmore war was over. I recall at the time understanding and agreeing with the obstinate driver, agreeing with his point of view about the horrible destruction of nature and glorification of genocidal imperialists that Mt. rushmore truly is. I still agree with this point of view. Leave the damned mountain alone,and keep the European-American tyrants off of it. Well, its too late for that, and after all, no matter what my beliefs are, no matter how sanctimoniously I hold my high minded opinions, and no matter how fervantly the driver of the SUV does likewise, the fact remains: Mt. Rushmore is there, will be there, presidential heads and all, for at least a billion years. And, it is a fact, undeniable, that the carvings are indeed truly impressive, well done, and they are iconic, world famous. Today, thirty seven years later, we four have all evolved from young middle aged men to old senior citizen men. My view remains the same. We should have gone to Mt. Rushmore, despite the inconvenience, despite the firm, unshakable conviction of the driver that we would not, should not. The driver should have acquiesced to the deisre of his friends, democratically. When driving hundreds of milse across country, what are twenty five more miies? Do we not live in a democracy? Does taking your vehicle, doing he driving and paying for a trip make you a deserving, justified dictator of a road trip? The absolute obstinacy of the driver was a tribute not to high moral principle or vacation planning, but rather, to his control freak obsession, which he retains to this day. Now I am sixty nine years old. I know for a fact that I will never live to see Mt. Rushmore. My loss.

Toning It Down

MUCH ADO has been made of late, in the wake of the attempt on Donald Trump's newly pierced ear, of the level of vituperation, vitriole, and plain old hatred all across America's fruited plain in words, and in deeds. Our heavily divided country is shouting at itself, each other, hurling insults, obscenities, false claims, and nonsense, in abject anger. Poltical violence has been on the rise, although not drastically yet, but, ominously potentially, as of lurking in the shadows, ready to strike. The Capitol insurrection was an good example, a harbinger, a warning. Now, with Trump well bandaged, his ear well adorned and dapper Don, we have spent a few days urging conciliation, love, peace, harmony, and a toning down of the tough talk, a lowering of the heated temmperature. Okay, fine, whatever. Our sudden nobility of soul and moral character will wear thin and wear off all too soon; in these disunited states, it always does. Internicene animosity is as much a part of America, as much a core American value, as violence itself, as racism, as vainty, patriarchy, econonic, and social inequality, and apple pie. Don't merely consider the Civil War. Consider the election of 1800. Adam's people in the newspapers called Jefferson an athiest and an adulterer, which indeed he was both, Jefferson hired a scandal sheet publisher, John Calender, to dig up dirt on Adams, which he did, dutifully. In America, verbal and physical violence, as the Rolling Stones might say "it aint the latest thane". Who's fault is it? Whence, from which side of the political spectrum, deriveth it? Now for some facts. Verbal and political violence in America oft derives from crusades and causes, which are at the root of political disputes and differences. Over the past several decades, the left wing has protested, often violently, against the Viet Nam War, racial inequality, economic and social inequality, and LGBTQ and women's lack of equality, especially women's reproductive and bodily autonomy. The Black Panthers, Students For a Democratic Society, Black Lives Matter, Gay Pride, and on and on. Peaceful protests sometimes come with violent words and deeds. On the right, protests, and violent words and deeds, have centered around opposition to civil rights, opposition to gay rights. White supremacy and Christian nationalism are movements of the right wing. Angry rhetoric has been and remains part and percel thereof. For my money, protesting the Viet Nam War was a good thing. It was virtuous protesting. Its opponents, arguing that patriotism demanded support of American imperialism, have been proven wrong by history. For my money, protesting and talking ugly while advocating racial equality is a good thing, virtuous, minus the ugly talk. The Gay rights movement, tough talk or no tough talk,for my money, is a just and noble cause. Opposition to gay rights, opposition to civil rights, opposition to women's equality and reproductive autonomy, for my money, is wrong headed. White supremacy and Christian nationalism? You can have it, and I will even tell you where to put it. Take a look at the scoreboard. Do the math. Left wing progressive causes win by a landslide, by several touchdowns. We still dont have racial, gay, and women's equality. We still need it. We do have plenty of Christian nationalism, racism, and gender inequality. The right is still ahead, but barely, and the left is gaining, closing the gap, fast. For my money, the left is right, and the right is wrong, dead wrong.

The Party of Trump, Convening Hypocritically

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY is the conservative party, or, more precisely, the white evangelical Christian prty, and the Democratic Party is the progressive party, the rainbow coalition of disparate groups and interests, mainly minorities, women and the working poor. Long gone are the post World War Two days leading up to the nineteen eighties, when each party featured both a liberal and a conservative wing, tweedle dee and tweedle dumb. Back then, both parties met in the blurry middle, and nary a difference could be found. Then came civil rights, and the great realignment, consevatives in one corner, progressives in another. Today's Republicans are confronted with a stark reality; that their right wing constituency, and their right wing agenda, are not popular among a majority of Americans. To counter this, they are, out of desperation, expressing their party platform with words which sound more moderate, more attractve, less hateful, more inclusive, but in fact contain the same old toxic poison. They paraded one African-American after another to the podium, having scoured the country to find a sufficient number of black conservatives to present plausible representation thereof. Wealthy, successful black politicians, preaching and screeching ass kissing odes to God Almighty, equality of opportunity, and condemning the liberal democratic evil of making black dependants on government by using government to, horror of horrors, help them. You eliminate racist policies by making all people fend for themselves, do or die, enhancing their dignity, if not their standard of living, nor attenuating their dark skin. Let them lift themselves out of poverty; they have the same right to apply for jobs as anyone else, if not the same chance of getting hired. Level playing field, for all skin colors. Isn't any attemmt to help African-Americans, such as affirmative action, nothing other than racism? Never mind the inconvenient fact that anti-black racism has long been and remains a core value of far right wing conservatism. White supremacist groups are not progressive Democratic party loyalists. They are, in fact, to a man, far right wing conservatives, members of the Republican party, Trump supporters. Never mind that Donald Trump throughout his life has referred to African-Americans as the "N word", verified...With regard to crime, what better way to prove that Democrats are "soft on crime' than to mantion the evil of rehabilitation and personal redemption through job training and assistance and conseling rather than punishing the criminals, and locking them away for longer, and longer periods of time? What better way of proving that the G.O.P. is the party which is tough on crime than by choosing a convicted criminal felon as their presidential candidate? The Republcians, the champion of the working class? What better way of proving this than by staunchly opposing labor unions, decade after decade, and by opposing the minimum wage, by keeping the federal minimum wage at seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour, since 2009? What better way of championing the working class than to give tax cut after tax cut to the billionaires and millionaires and corporate owners, while giving the middle and working classes tiny, and temporary tax cuts? With this resmue, anyone who truly believes that the ReTrumplican party has anyone's best interets in mind other than white, evangelical Christians and wealthy corporate entities might be equally inclined to believe that Donald Trump is the very incarnation of Jesus christ, that the eleciton of 2020 was stolen from him, that the appropriate remedy was violent insurrection, and that anybody who takes a bullet skimming the right ear is an automatic hero, because he rose to his feet, made sure he still had his shoes on, and pumped his fist in the air in a gesture of heroic, melodramatic defiance. Maybe someday he'll get around to calling the families of those who truly suffered and died, like biden did, or tried to do.

Improving the World, With, Or Without Trump

AT THE SENIOR CENTER, the old farmer, who used to hate me and love Trump, approached me, and said "We almost got the sunofabitch." I agreed, then went on to explain what I explain to everybody. "His survival prevented the Republicans from selecting as their candidate a sane, intelligent person who is not criminally insane and pure evil, and who does not babble incoherently, while spewing threats and an endless avalanche of outrageous lies". True enough, but, in point of fact, the world would be a better place had the bullet entered Trump's head, would be a better place had he not entered politics, would have been a better place had he not been born. The same is true of Hitler. Much has been speculated as to how the world would have been a better place had Hitler not been born, or been murdered when young, long before Stauffenberg's failed attempt in 1944. Its hard to look at in any other way, unless you embrace the thought that there would have been another Hitler, or another Trump, no matter what. Anyone who thinks the world was better bacause of Hitler supports the holocaust, and likes World War Two. Anyone who thinks that Trump has improved the world embraces Trump's big election lie, and thinks the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a postive event in American history. Fine. Feel free. Go for it. Knock yourself out. I prefer that Trump survived, and exists, instead of improving the world by getting rid of him. We now have the opportunity of ridding ourselves of him, and his malignant agenda and cult following, honorably. Then too, there are a trillion ways of improving the world, Trump, or no Trump. Hitler was a far right wing extremist populist. So is Trump. Hitler was elected in 1933, Trump was elected in 2016. In the nineteen thirties, throughout Europe, right wing populism spread. In recent years, right wing extremist authoritarian populism has spread throughout the world. Putin, Netanyahu. Modi in India. In Bulgaria. In Argentina. But there is resistance. Just the other day it was rejected and defeated in Britain and France. We seem to have learned our lessons from history. Now, the word "fascism" is a dirty word, and comparisons of anybody to Hitler is an egregious insult. But we have apparently not learned our lessons quite well enough, or have begun to forget them. The recent upsurge in right wing populism is remdindful of the Hitler era, despite the new resistance to it. In America, Trump, once defeated, is back on the rise. Comparisons between Hitler and Trump are not unfair, not fabricated, are in fact quite reasonable, quite accurate, quite appropriate. Right wing authoritarian populism occurs when a large segment of the population gives up on democracy, because its malignant right wing agenda is not supported by a majority. Desperate, they turn to an authoritarian strongman. Trump is that Strongman. The agenda of the Republican (Retrumplican) party is xenophobic, anti-immigrant, racist, anti women's rights, pro neo-liberal economics sanctioned by state power and corporate power. Hitlerian, to the bone. Even now the current version of the fascist party in America is convening, chanting, screaming, venerating its iconic Hitlerian authoritarian figure, Donald Trump, to whom they would willingly give almost unlimited power if elected to the presidency. America is on the verge of electing its version of Hitler. If elected,Trump will never have to run for election again to remain in power.

Trump, Fighting, As Are We

THE SCENE HAS GONE VIRAL, as it should. Donald Trump, right ear oozing blood, exiting stage left, shaking his fist at either the whole world or his failed, distant roof top murderer, shouting the word "fight! Fight! fight!". A brief helicopter ride to the limo, and off to the Retrumplican party coronation rally, insurrection central. We'll never know nor hear the speech the hate spewer-in-chief would have delivered. He tore it to shreds, and nobody saw fit to pick up the pieces,and piece it back together, for inclusion on the hatemonger hall of shame. It would doubtles have been a doozy, filled with invective and vitriole, accusations of left wing conspiracies to make America a multi colored morass of liberal decadence. We'll never know, probably to our benefit and reief. Instead, enter the momentarily subdued, chastised Trump, cooing national unity, love, peace,and toned down rhetoric. The awarneness of how close he came to buying it freshly imprinted on his pathology of a mental state. The new and improved peace loving conciliatory Trump will last about, what, ten minutes? Just long enough to annoint the hate-spweing Senator Vance his VP spearthrowing bulldog. Vance, who has already, along with such ReTrumplican luminariou as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Bobert, fellow pathologies, accused President Biden of ordering Trump the orange Christ to be knocked off. Now that we've all shaken hands and vowed to strive endlessly for national unity and virtue, we are on our way back to our corners, ready to resume the eternal great American fight. Democracy versus fascism, as always. We who value Benjamin Frnaklin's if you can keep it Republic had damned well be ready to resume the war, because Trump, immediately after the fascist gathering together in Milwaukee, will. His ear will have healed sufficiently to take off the gauze and the kid gloves, and once again, as per his immutable nature, the usual lies, whines, threats, and malarky will come spewing out of the puckered orange embedded mouth of Don the Con. Trump is aligned with formidable forces. Seventy five million American traitors willing to trade honor and reality for their cherished delusion of a persecution complex, a fantasy world in which Trump got reelected, lost the presidency to grand theft Democrats, and fought to the death for justice and righteousness on the steps and in the corridors of the United States Capitol building. Trump has rigged the judicial system, having appointed an incompetant criminal who looks like a cheerleader coach to a seat in the federal circuit court system, who dutifully, as instructed, ruled that it was unconstitutional for anyone to have the audacity to accuse Trump of stealing thousands of highly classifed documents and hoarding them at home in dining halls and restrooms, where, for he record, said documents were found, potographed, and removed by that enemy of Trump and all other American perfidy, the FBI. We the moral and political opponents of the orange furher have only the facts with which to fight. Election assitance from Russia. Blackmailing Ukraine. Election tampering. Financial fraud, thirty four counts, convicted on all. Violent insurrection, to name but a few. We who prefer democracy over fascism have a daunting task ahead, but to whatever extent the war to end all things Trump will be fought with facts, we come, demonstrably, quite well armed.

Trump, Within Earshot, Bleeding Like We All

JOE BIDEN said all the right things. This is unacceptable. This cannot be allowed to happen. We have got to do better... We all play our parts, do what we can. And none of it matters. Violence remains a core American value, as always. I have spent nine years praying to God that I would find a way to not wish Donald Trump were dead.It worked like a charm. I want to be better than that, and, thank God, I am. I'll settle for his late retirement and quiet disappearance from the world stage. Problem is, it seems to be too late for that. I'll keep praying. Considering the lies and hatred Donald Trump doles out and gins up on a daily basis, its amazing that he hasn't been murdered. My prayers have been answered. Donald Trump is still alive, and I thank God, and am glad. Equally amazing is that Bill and Hillary Clinton are still alive; more amazing still is that Barack Obama is. The Secret Service, which does its very best, would concur. Nothing else changes. Donald Trump remains a criminally insane pathological liar, a damned lucky one, not a figure to be pitied. He victimizes others, with his words and deeds, much more than he is, ever has been, or ever will be victimized. His toxic life is harmful to the world. If he is smart, a highly questionable proposition, he'll refrain from making this a political issue, from making political hay, as we say. Blaming Biden, the Democrats, liberals, the media, is not a good idea. Should he and his huge MAGA cult gang try this, it may backfire, and they may regret it. Representative Vance, a prime vice presidential prospect, has already accused President Biden of ordering the hit. He'll regret his idiocy. He should already. Had Trump died, the Republicans would have been forced to select a more sane, less criminal, less hateful, less despicable presidential candidate, and perhaps would have ridden Trump's martyred coattails all the way to the American presidency against a weakened, vulnerable Biden. Trump avoided death by one inch. We all narrowly escape death every day, with every breath. Will a newly energized and motivated MAGA cult leverage this heinous act to victory? Perhaps, because they have clearly demonstrated their ability to sink to this disgusting low. If they parlay, package, and present their feigned victimhood properly, anything is possible in these United States of Advertising. Probably not, if they overplay their anger, and sanctimoniously call for retribution against their enemies, aka political opponents, the evil array of forces who dare to oppose Trump. If Trump holds to form, he will immediately begin to rant and rave against his political opponents as if they constitute a monolithic entity in pursuit of pure evil. If he overplays that, it may backfire in its obvious appeal to the base and the disgusting. After all, his potential murderer was a registered Republican. This is really nothing new, in the land of the freedom to choose violence. Andrew Jackson laughed at a man who put a bullet in him in a duel, and carried the bullet in his body the rest of his painful life. Abraham Lincoln concluded his habitual horseback ride one fine day during his doomed presidency only to find a bullet hole in his top hat. A harbinger, perhaps. Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the middle of a speech, and finished his speech, while bleeding. Donald Trump defiantly, theatrically shook his fist at somebody, perhaps everybody, three times in his understandable fear and outrage, but didn't even try to finish his speech. Perhaps, deep down, he understands that whatever he had to say simply does not matter, makes no difference. It never does. I hope to destroy him utterly, the right way, at the ballot box. President Biden announces that he intends to initiate an independent investigation of the incident. In Congress, congressional investigations are sprouting up like jonquils in mid March. One can imagine thousands of investigations, corporate, academic, public, private, all reveaing the same thing, what we already know: that an angry, alientated young man got hold of an assault rifle and took out his anger and frustration on Donald Trump. If not Trump, it would have been someone else, perhaps himself. In his seminal novel "In Cold Blood", Truman Capote's message is that everyone in a society is ultimately responsible for everything that happens, since society is a cohesive, organic whole. The Clutter family was, in a very real sense, murdered by all of us. Capote made claer that he did not believe in complete, absolute individual responsibility for the many individual acts of evil we do unto one another daily. No matter how many redundant investigations we decide to convene to cover our collective asses and to repeat ad nauseum what we all already know, no matter how deep we pretend to dig, we will never, ever in a million years get to the bottom of what really ails us all; namely, ourselves.