The Nightmare in Cleveland as the Proud Boys Stand By

 Not that there was much left of civil discourse in this nation anyway, but last night we might have witnessed it's last gasping breath. Actually that isn't true. Civility, decency, and the established rules of debate did not die wheezing away on a hospital bed in Cleveland. They were run over by a mad man at the wheel of a speeding Mack truck.

Yes, it was that gruesome. Donald J. Trump arrived on the stage at Case Western Reserve University, possibly all coked up, raring to prove he is America's alpha male. His main strategy was fairly simple--no matter what rules of engagement his campaign had agreed to he wasn't going to let Joe Biden speak more than two sentences at a time.

Indeed, interrupt the former Vice President as often as possible and if that failed talk over him even if it meant shouting. Never pause, never pay any attention to the efforts of the moderator, Chris Wallace, just bloviate wildly. Even if much of it was out right lies (no, the sheriff in Portland has never endorsed him and never will), or utter gibberish, no matter what don't let the other guy talk--at all.

Mr. Biden, who sometimes smiled when Trump was blasting away did plunge into the melee when things got too much for even him. The most memorable moment was when he said, "Would you just shut up, man." Later Biden told Wallace and Trump, "That was a really productive segment. Keep yappin' man." On other occasions he called Big Don, a "liar," and a, "clown."

All of this chaos led GOP strategist, Michael Steele to tell the NY Times, "I've seen better organized food fights at summer camp." He added, "But Trump needed a clear, 'W,' and he didn't get it."

He certainly didn't. He might have even done himself some real damage with everyone other than his rabid cult when Wallace asked him point blank if  he would repudiate white supremacists. Trump's response was, "I'm willing to do that, but almost every thing I see is from the left wing. Not the right.

After Trump asked Wallace to give him the name of a white nationalist group, Biden jumped in with, "Proud Boys." The President of the United States then answered by saying, "Proud Boys--Stand back and stand by." It didn't take but a few minutes for the Proud Boys to adopt the statement as their new slogan.

In addition The Big Orange Guy doubled down on his threat not to accept the results of the election if he loses. "If I see tens of thousands of ballots, I can't go along with that." He also urged his followers, presumably the Proud Boys among them, to go to the polls and, "watch very carefully."

What they'd be watching went unsaid, but the words disrupt and intimidate were implied. 

There are two more of these nightmares scheduled in the next month. Some Biden supporters are urging him to cancel, the theory being Trump is too belligerent and unwilling to follow civilized rules to believe he will act like anything other than a boorish, two bit, bully. Others are claiming that's exactly the reason Biden should show up--that proving Trump is a monster with no plan for the republic is a good thing.

In the end it probably doesn't matter. The number of voters out there who will be swayed one way, or the other by two old white guys trading insults is bound to be minimal. In addition judging who won last night, or two more just like it depends entirely on who you're supporting in the first place. 

Let's face it we all know by now, without a doubt, Don Trump is counting on the support of people like the Proud Boys. What we won't know until after the 3rd of November is what exactly that support will entail.

9-30-20

 

Don Trump, His Taxes, and the Depths He Will Sink to Starting Tomorrow

 Well now we know why Donald Trump is able to live the lifestyle he has and does. To him everything is a tax write off. From hair cuts to untold and unidentified consultants--from make up to practically the entire Mar-A-Lago resort, he deducts it all.

Besides the deductions the whole line he has spun for years to the public about being incredibly well to do is the exact opposite of what he has been telling the IRS. In fact one year he told them he was so destitute he received a tax refund for $72,9 million. In addition for 10 out of 15 years he didn't pay any federal taxes at all. Not bad for a guy partying with Jeffrey Epstein, living in a Manhattan high rise, while bragging to Howard Stern about all the women he was nailing.

The first two years Brother Don was in the Oval Office he paid $750 per annum in federal taxes. Those same two years the average teacher in the United States paid $7,239 per year. Firefighters and nurses kicked in $5,283 and $10,216 respectively.

Predictably Mr. Trump says the New York Time report which revealed all this accounting chicanery is, "fake news." Today he tweeted--because he always does, "The fake news media, just like election time 2016, is bringing up my Taxes & all sorts of other nonsense with illegally obtained information."

Ah, all this false information was gathered illegally. Which begs the question, why would Times reporters risk jail time to print false facts when they could have just made up the figures? And, if it is so fake why not release your tax return and prove it so? According to Trump he can't because that damn audit has lasted four years now. This despite the inconvenient testimony of former IRS officials that there is nothing which prevents someone from releasing their tax returns during an audit.

Actually the Times report is saying Mr. Trump has a couple of severe problems besides the pitiful amounts he's paid the feds. First, it seems the IRS wants that $70 plus million refund back along with penalties and interest. That is what they are really auditing, not his yearly income. Second, Trump took out hundreds of millions in loans which come due in the next four years.

What the Times didn't report is who he owes the money to. For all we know it could be Deutsche Bank, or Vladimir, by God, Putin, himself. More realistically it is probably the German bank and a few Russian oligarchs who trade shots of vodka with Vlad on a regular basis.

Which, of course, means if re-elected the 45th President of the United States of America will owe boatloads of money to foreign nationals. The word compromised comes to mind, as does the term, conflict of interest.

Unfortunately this sounds, disturbingly, like old news since everyone with half a brain in this republic knows Don Trump is a walking talking, golf playing conflict of interest and the compromised part has been a running rumor for the past four years.

Trump's real problem is now there is a major publication which has documented some damning evidence he is a runaway tax cheat and has debts which amount to more than the national deficit during Bill Clinton's second term. He can howl fake news all he wants, but it is suddenly ringing hollow to all, but his most dedicated cultists.

Ladies and gentlemen by every standard in American politics Donald John Trump should be a dead duck. Our real problem though is all this shit is going to drive him to depths none of us have ever imagined starting tomorrow during the first presidential debate. Not to mention over the last month of this election and more appallingly perhaps beyond.

And given Trump's known track record, that's saying a lot.

sic vita est

9-28-70

 

Trump Worries Even the Republicans and Flat Out Scares Me

 The online header read, "Trump jeered as he pays his respects to Ginsburg."

While normally the crowd's reaction would be considered not only rude, but overwhelmingly inappropriate it comes only one day after the President of the United States refused to promise a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election in November. The rambling disjointed remarks 24 hours earlier were a direct insult to everything Ruth Bader Ginsburg stood for during her life time and a real threat to American democracy as we know it.

Think not? Name another American President who has said a similar thing. You can't, because not one of them ever has and that includes Richard Milhous Nixon. That's right, as wildly criminal as Nixon was he never dreamed he was entitled to bring down two hundred plus years of tradition and the constitution of the United States in one fell swoop. 

Donald Trump on the other hand, not being encumbered with any sort of awe, or respect for the American system of government, has no problem doing it, especially if it profits him personally. To him the people are sheep to be shorn, the congress is a mild, if nagging, impediment, and the judicial branch is to be bought then used as ruthlessly as possible.

Well why not? No one has ever told Donald Trump no before, not even his father and while he might not particularly want a second term, by God, no one is going to tell him he can't have it. 

Trump's words were so bothersome the usual GOP toadies balked if only slightly. While not mentioning Trump by name, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Steve Stivers, and Mitch McConnell assured constituents there would be a smooth transition of power if Trump loses. Lindsey Graham, allowing a glimpse of what is to come post election day said, if the Supreme Court rules that Biden won republicans will accept the decision.

Thanks a lot Lindsey for telling us our votes might not count, that the entire future of the nation will be left up to a Supreme Court Don Trump and guys like you have packed with unrepentant fascists.

All of which explains the sudden urgency to pick a new justice before November 3rd. You can never have too many votes to steal the White House.

Normally what Trump said could be written off as nothing but more hyperbole from the king of hyperbole. However, as everyone knows, nothing is normal these days. Trump has ham handedly hinted at a life time presidency on more than one occasion. Plus there is all that howling about voter fraud through the mail which even he knows is utter nonsense. Hey just ask him about voting through the mail in Florida. He says it is fine there.

I haven't ever voted for a republican, but I've never been worried about one of them seizing power and destroying the institutions of American democracy. I have always known, no matter how rotten their terms in office, the republic would survive. I cannot say the same thing about Donald John Trump.

And that scares the shit out of me.

9-24-20 

Ignoring the Last Wish of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Unfortunately Justice Ginsburg's last wish is being utterly ignored by nearly every republican residing in the greater Washington D.C. metro area. In fact, Donald J. Trump, proving himself once again to be the conspiracy theorist in chief, has claimed Ms. Ginsburg might not have even uttered those words. According to El Don they were, "probably," concocted by either Chuck Schumer, or Nancy Pelosi. 

Well you can say a lot of things about Mr. Trump, but you'll never be able to accuse him of being at a loss for words, or fantastic fables that satisfy the faithful's lust for dark phantasms. 

If Trump and Mitch McConnell do push through a replacement for Ginsburg it will mean the current President will have named a third of the Supreme Court during his first term. That's in addition to 53 judges of the U.S. courts of appeals, 151 federal district judges, and two judges to the United States Court of International Trade.

No wonder the man loves to sue everybody who sneezes his way. There are a huge number of jurists out there who owe their jobs to him. And don't think he is, or will ever be shy about pointing it out to them before their courts convene.

Trump's need for speed is to be expected. Let's face it, after four years of dealing with the Putin wannabe anything less than a brute power grab would be surprising. Even less shocking is McConnell's 180 degree turn from four years ago when he blocked Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland.

The excuse McConnell used then was it isn't proper for a President to nominate a Supreme Court Justice during an election year--you know--like 2020. He later bragged the proudest moment of his political career was when he told Obama, Garland's nomination would never make it to the floor of the Senate while he was in charge.

All that bullshit is gone now. The GOP's urgency to get someone in that seat, even before Ginsburg is in the ground, is palpable. Mitch and his crew can read polls along with the rest of us. He knows a Trump defeat isn't a sure thing, although right now the odds aren't promising for The Big Orange Guy. Indeed, do it now, because if Trump becomes a lame duck president and--even worse--McConnell loses control of the Senate getting a nominee approved is going to be a nightmare.

Assuming there aren't any democrats who vote to confirm, four additional Senators will be needed to block the impending nominee, whoever it is. Susan Collins, R-ME who promises much, but delivers very little has pledged not to vote for anyone until after the election. So has Alaska's Lisa Murkowski. Mitt Romney, who is the only republican to vote yea on an article of impeachment has denied reports he has made the same decision.

If democrats can stave off a pre election Senate confirmation democrat Mark Kelly has republican Martha McSally in trouble out in Arizona. Since it is a, "special election," if Kelly wins he will be sworn in immediately after November third which will reduce the magic number to three.

There is a kicker in all this though. Collins is in a tight race this year. That means she will probably keep her word about not voting before the election. However, if she loses she might just decide, screw it, then vote for anything, or anyone Trump wants before January third when she is shown the door.

Hey, why not? She is probably too wishy washy to land a job at FOX and she's lied too many times to catch on at either MSNBC, or CNN.

Whatever the case, Donald Trump's ego demands he remake the Supreme Court in his own image. The same image he wants carved onto Mt. Rushmore. The same image that has become a cult icon to millions of Americans.

sic vita est

9-21-20

The New Normal vs The Old

In Oklahoma there was 869 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. That means since January a total of 70,223 Oklahomans have come down with the disease. Of that number 59,007 have recovered and 905 people have died. According to the state health department, as of Friday there have been 5,466 Oklahomans hospitalized because of the virus. Right now 499 people statewide are currently in medical facilities with it.

In comparison, during America's involvement in Vietnam, which historians say ran for 20 years, 988 Oklahomans were killed.

But hey, we are plowing on--straining mightily to recover some semblance of the normalcy we had before the virus caused enough people to become ill, if they all lived in one place it would be the 7th largest town in the state.

The problem being some think the normal of September, 2020, should be like the normal during September of, let's say 2010. In other words they take the current administration's stance--just ignore the bug as if it doesn't exist and pray it will disappear someday.

Indeed, screw caution completely, or like some go another way. As one person told me, "Oh I believe there is a real virus, but it isn't nearly as bad as they make it to be." Pointing out nearly 200,000 Americans have died didn't phase him. His response was. "I don't believe that. Where are all the bodies? No one has seen them and we would have if that many really died."

Not even Mr. Spock could argue with logic like that, so why should we mere humans even try?

Yes, in many quarters COVID-19 has become just another government plot in order to scarf up constitutional rights and destroy The American Way. The media lies they say. They know that because for years this liberal cabal has shown and told them things they don't want to see, or hear. Their guy in the White House knows it too and he is on top of things. Just ask them.

So off these patriots go, barging into establishments without masks, even though the city they're in, or the store they want to patronize requires one to be worn. Some even get a tad sneaky like many at the grocery store we frequent. They'll wear a mask to get through the door, then once inside pull it down past their noses and mouths, or remove it entirely.

That's right, no government in the world is going to require them to wear a mask and if they catch the COVID, to borrow a phrase, "It is what it is." Or, if they spread it unknowingly, hey no skin off them. Herd immunity baby, the fittest will survive.

Besides, if any of them knew the figures, they'd probably point out during the 1918-1919 flu pandemic 7,350 Oklahomans died, so the number of current deaths, as 57% of republicans said in late August, are acceptable. The fact that 1918 and 1919 was over a century ago and the miracle drug of the day was aspirin which had been introduced only 19 years earlier wouldn't phase them.

If anything, Americans including too many Oklahomans have proven themselves creatures of comfort and habit during this year of the new plague. They have tired of the new normal. They desperately want the old one.

And, in the end, that is the real calamity. We have met a potentially apocalyptic disease and despite the widespread sickness and death, for too many, the most profound reaction mustered is COVID-19 has just made things too fucking inconvenient.



9-14-20

Labor Day 2020

So here we are. It is Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer and the weekend we are supposed to celebrate the accomplishments of organized labor and workers nationwide. Unfortunately organized labor is only a pale shadow of its former self and American workers, outside of the fast food and retail industries, are becoming an endangered species.

That doesn't mean organized labor hasn't accomplished anything over the past 150 years, or so. In fact the eight hour day, overtime pay, sick leave, paid vacations and holidays, not to mention restrictions on child labor are just a few of the accomplishments achieved by unions. Unfortunately, since this is America, to reach most of those goals blood had to be shed on far too many occasions.

Even the date of Labor Day was contentious thanks to violence. Oregon was the first state to recognize a day of celebration in 1887. By 1894, 30 states were also doing so. That same year President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making the first Monday in September a federal holiday, although the act only covered federal employees.

The September date was chosen because May 1st, which had come to be known as International Workers Day had links to socialist and anarchist organizations, not to mention a nation wide strike for an eight hour work day in 1886. In addition, on May 4th of that year there was a deadly riot in Chicago's Haymarket Square over the same issue.

Given all that May Day stuff, President Cleveland, the head of a decidedly conservative democratic party, wanted no part of a holiday which could even remotely be connected to a bunch of international socialists/communists/anarchists. After all, he was the guy who authorized the return of all captured Confederate battle flags back to the southern states.

Originally Labor Day featured union members holding parades in cities and towns followed by huge picnics the organizers used as fund raisers. They needed the money too.

It wasn't until 1938 Franklin Roosevelt signed into effect a federal minimum wage. It was 25 cents an hour. Actually it was originally 40 cents an hour, but congressional delegates from those same former Confederate states had thrown a fit, threatening to kill the bill entirely because of the exorbitant amount of wages their business owner constituents would have to fork over.

By 2009 the federal minimum had crept up to $7.25 an hour. 11 years later it still sits at that same figure. 28 states, however, have a minimum wage higher than the federal standard. Puerto Rico's minimum wage is $6.55 per hour.

Any mention of raising the minimum wage causes conservatives, no matter what they're financial status to whirl like dervishes and howl like gut shot wolves. Say the word union and they will go apoplectic. It is a truly ugly sight--veins bulge at the temples, faces flush ruby red, fists clinch, and eyes seem ready to explode out of skulls. 

In my home state of Oklahoma the minimum wage mirrors the federal rate. That means if you work a 40 hour work week at $7.25 an hour in Oklahoma City it comes out to $290 per week. Then you have to deduct taxes and if you are lucky enough, there is another deduction for medical insurance. Try living on that, even without kids, in 21st century America.

No wonder there aren't any parades and picnics on Labor Day any more. There is nothing to celebrate and huge numbers of us can't afford to eat out, no matter what the venue.


sic vita est


9-7-20

Trump and the Civil War Option

See there, you go away for a month, all the while trying to ignore everything around you--hoping and praying things will improve. But they don't. In fact they get worse, much worse. No, you can't wake up from this nightmare known as Trump's America. It is, quite simply, inescapable.

Things haven't particularly gone well for our Don lately, but we do know The Big Orange Guy has come up with a new strategy to win re-election. His plan to run on the, "greatest economy in the history of the world," went out the window when he screwed the pooch on the COVID plague. The deep state postal conspiracy has run into tough opposition from many of his own supporters who would rather not risk catching the disease while trying to vote in person. In addition all these people he knows keep writing books which accuse him of multiple crimes and having the morals of Caligula.

This new tactic, no doubt from the scheming mind of Stephen Miller, is called by the inner circle, "The Civil War Option." If might be a tad radical in nature, but when the going gets dicey you have to kick out all the jams.

It counts on a few things. First you must have a lot of white cops out there who are both scared shitless and blood thirsty. You know, like the ones in Kenosha, WI who shot Jacob Blake. Blake is an African American who was involved in some sort of domestic dispute. He may have made threatening remarks to officers and he might, or might not have been going for a knife in the floor board of his car--the one his kids were sitting in. What is absolutely certain is he took seven rounds in the back as he opened the driver's side door of his vehicle.

For the CWO, as it is known, to work what comes next is the outrage felt by the African American population in Kenosha in particular and nationwide needs to be expressed. They must take to the streets to protest what happened. It doesn't matter if they are peaceful, they just have to be out there marching. As has been proven in the previous few months they will be accompanied by scores of mostly young white leftists. Among this latter group there will be a smattering of anarchists and right wing thugs posing as angry socialists.

Now pit those same cops who started all this insanity against the demonstrators, the vast majority of whom, have no intention of doing anything illegal, then watch all hell break loose.

In the mean time the militia type bozos get all worked up over radical left wing rioting, which was actually started by the police. They flood into town, determined to save America's white owned businesses--which is code for shooting a bunch of punk ass liberals. They are armed with military style weapons but unencumbered by any sort of training. And, if Don is lucky like he was the other night in places like Portland and Kenosha gun fire breaks out.

When it does, if you're Donald John Trump, you take to the microphone, blame this multi site disaster on every democrat from the mayors right on up to Joe Biden. This, he says to every middle aged white couple, is the normal you can expect if Biden is president, hoping they'll ignore, it's now the normal while he is president.

Indeed, my fellow Americans, only I can fix the chaos I've created.

Well, that philosophy certainly works when its chief adherent has never taken any responsibility for a single failure in his life. It also works when about two thirds of your rock solid base are fascist zombies who will believe everything you say, no matter how crazed, or obviously wrong.

Ah yes, in 21st century America, as I have found, you can hide for a while, but you can never run away.


sic vita est



9-1-20