The Year That Was: Disease, Madness, and Death

 The foul year of 2020 has stretched out for what seems like forever. The truth is it is hard to remember a time when our primary concerns weren't COVID-19 and the insanity of Donald John Trump. It certainly wasn't during the past 12 months, at least not for a most of us. Think not? Let's take a look.

January: Mr. Trump, who had been impeached by the House earlier, is supported by every republican during his Senate trial. Utah's Mitt Romney did vote for removal on one count, but not on the second. After the President got off the hook the wildly famous law professor, Alan Dershowitz put it this way, "If a President does something that he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.'' In other words, a sitting President can offer a nuclear weapon to Saudi Arabia in exchange for dirt on a political opponent. 

February: Covid was rearing it's ominous head overseas. Chinese manufacturing had been practically shut down in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease. Many Trump supporters dipped their toes into the conspiracy theory pool by stating the media was overplaying the seriousness of it while others began to post on media the virus already had a vaccine, but it was being reserved for the ultra rich. Meanwhile DJT blamed the democrats and media for sowing economic panic in order to hurt his re-election chances. By the end of the month one American had died of COVID-19. The President predicted few others would become infected.

March: The shit hit the fan. Covid began to spread faster than a California wild fire. The nation's governor's began shutting down non-essential businesses. All sporting events were abruptly canceled. People were told to shelter in place. Cities went dark and medical testing kits became more precious than gold. By mid month it was estimated there were only 500 of them available in the entire state of Oklahoma. By the end of March things were so dreadful and weird Trump was having the, "My pillow guy," Mike Lindell speak at COVID briefings and Joe Exotic, "The Tiger King," was a Netflix sensation. In short people had begun to go a tad self isolation buggy.

April: Anti lockdown demonstrations spread across the nation inspired by Trump's rhetoric concerning the effects they were having on the economy. Trump banners, Confederate and Nazi flags were proudly displayed at many of them. So were guns. The prevailing sentiment among the protesters seemed to be  no one could tell a real, by God, American not to drink in bars, or eat out. The COVID death toll for that month was 58,960.

May: George Floyd was murdered by cops in Minneapolis and the match was lit. Demonstrations and draconian police measures followed. In more than a few instances there was video proof it was the authorities who rioted. The President threatened to call out regular U.S. military troops, but instead began to rely on unidentified para police units who were rumored to be federal prison guards and officers from ICE. Far right wing subversives infiltrated some crowds and initiated acts of vandalism and looting. Almost lost in the chaos was the appointment of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General. 

June: Donald Trump reached his limit on the self isolation shit. He announced he'd take his act on the road again. The first stop on his new tour would be Tulsa's 19,000 seat BOK Center on the weekend African Americans celebrate their freedom from slavery--and mere blocks from the site of the city's 1921 race massacre. Governor Kevin Stitt and Trump promised a sell out crowd. So many tickets were doled out on line an overflow stage was set up outside the arena. It was an internet scam pulled by a bunch of clever kids who never intended to go. To Trump's dismay the place wasn't even half full the night of the rally. Among the few there were Stitt and GOP pooh bah, Herman Cain. Within weeks Stitt would have COVID-19 and Cain would be dead of it.

July: Major League Baseball, the NHL, and NBA restarted minus fans in abbreviated fashion. Hockey and Basketball technically finished their interrupted seasons in isolation, while baseball rolled out a 60 game schedule played in empty stadiums.

August: In July 26,164 Americans died of the virus. It was a tiny, but encouraging dip which prompted more people to get out to bars and restaurants which had reopened. By the end of the month the August body count was 30,234. A poll conducted during that time frame found 57% of republicans considered the number of COVID deaths incurred to that point as, "acceptable." 

September: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and reportedly her last wish was not to be replaced until a new president was sworn in. Trump immediately labeled her wish fiction and vowed to fill her seat as quickly as possible. In addition El Donald was ratcheting up his attack on mail in voting, although it seemed to be falling on increasingly deaf ears. His old pal and the very definition of conflict of interest, Louis DeJoy took the hint and began to pull sorting machines out of post offices, primarily in swing states.

October: Early in the month Donald Trump, his wife and a gaggle of GOP bigwigs came down with the virus within days of each other. QAnon wankers began to scream that Trump and the rest had been, "targeted," with a virus they had been claiming didn't exist. The COVID, they said, had been sprayed on one of The Don's microphones. Trump's quick recovery prompted some leftists to claim he faked the whole thing in order to prove it was either no big deal, or that any real man could survive it.

November: As the early returns came in Donald Trump jumped out to a lead. So much so early the next morning he declared victory, as if that would end things. The mail in votes, however were just beginning to be counted. By Friday Joe Biden had taken the lead and The Big Orange Guy was howling a foul, massive, fraud had been perpetrated by his enemies. Nearly two months later he still is.

December: Trump's crack legal team, headed up by Rudy Giuliani hit the courts with increasingly bizarre accusations. According to them everyone from local TV stations to the late Hugo Chavez was in on rigging the election. The Georgia Secretary of State's brother, who doesn't exist, worked with the Chinese to overthrow the government. Millions of mail in ballots should be excluded because, well, they were mailed in. The courts, including that Supreme one, rejected them all.

Yes, the year has been full of disease, madness, and death. As of today, 344,877 Americans, just about one in every thousand of us, have died from a virus, Donald Trump promised would, first, be easily contained, then, second, would disappear by April. Beyond that horror, Mr. Trump has still not publicly accepted his loss in November and in truth, probably never will. 

2020 ends in a scant few hours now. Speaking for tens of millions of Americans, I say, good riddance and for all our sakes, let's not do this again. 

12-31-20  

Donald Trump Rages While Uncle Mitch Rules

The U.S. Supreme Court has been totally incompetent and weak on the massive Election Fraud that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election. We have absolute PROOF, but they don't want to see it.--No "standing" , they say. If we have corrupt elections, we have no country!

Donald John Trump, 45th President of the United States of America writing on Twitter, at 7:51 AM, Saturday, Dec. 26th, 2020.

At least the President didn't whine about what he must consider the shocking disloyalty displayed by the third of the court which he appointed. You know it has to gall him though because Donald Trump's entire life has been one never ending series of quid pro quos. It has been a career straight out of "The Godfather." Only now in Trump's eyes the baker has refused to deliver the cake to Connie's wedding and the funeral director won't touch Sonny's bullet riddled body. And it's just because of some outdated document he has never read called the Constitution.

Even Mitch McConnell recently betrayed El Donald, at least in his mind, by congratulating President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris on their November win and coming inauguration. It was a trip into reality that set Trump off on another Twitter rampage in which he took credit for McConnell's latest re-election and that of seven other GOP senators. He promised he would, "NEVER FORGET," them abandoning him in his hour of need.

Within a week he proved it when he suddenly and unexpectedly went all Bernie Saunders on McConnell's painfully constructed COVID relief bill by demanding $2,000 in relief per person as opposed to McConnell's proposed $600. At the same time Trump put the federal government in jeopardy of shutting down because of a lack of funding. This after he had sat around for all these months as the Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin hammered out the details with McConnell and the House leadership--presumably with the President's explicit approval. 

Hey, let's face it, it's highly doubtful Donald Trump cares if the average citizen gets $600, or two grand. However, he does care about fucking with McConnell, especially after Mitch jumped the ship he was never truly on. 

Yes, upon further review, as they say, it is highly probable that Senator McConnell has reached a place in his career where he doesn't really give a shit who is President. As long as he is the majority leader in the upper chamber he calls the legislative shots. It is a rare pinnacle of power reached by only a select few, J. Edgar Hoover being one. Chief Executives come and go, but like Hoover, McConnell stays on, deciding who will get a seat on the federal bench, determining who will serve in the cabinet, and even who will be the ambassador to Mother Russia, not to mention exotic places like Paraguay. 

Indeed, it is easy now to think the senior Senator from Kentucky ultimately considered Trump a crude clod from the beginning, to be used for a greater purpose--his. That's right, humor Trump and every now and then when he gets too crazy, like right now, step back a bit, talk sanity for a few minutes, then move ahead with the grand McConnell plan. Hell, that plan might even sound half way reasonable after everyone hears the ravings of The Mad Orange King. 

The terrible fact of life here in the U.S. of A. is ever since Mitch McConnell took over as Senate Majority Leader he, not Obama, or Trump has been the most powerful politician in the land. Trump might have nominated those Supreme Court Justices, but the Gentleman from Kentucky is the one who made sure they were seated.

And now, barring a miracle in Georgia, he will wield the same brute power even after Joseph R. Biden becomes President.

Uncle Mitch knows it too--don't think for a moment he isn't reveling in it.

12-26-20 

The Great Trumpista Banzai Charge: Deep State Justices, the Kraken Fails, and a Time to Secede

 The great Trumpista banzai charge flung itself headlong into the Supreme Court yesterday. Texas AG Ken Paxton initially filed the petition and it quickly gained support and emotional momentum over the week when 17 other states and 126 sitting members of the House joined in. Donald Trump tweeted out, "this is the big one," while promising to, "intervene." The enthusiasm reached such a fever pitch right wing politicians began to hallucinate as evidenced when two previously unknown states--New California and New Nevada--signed on. 

The faithful had reason to be confident. Thanks to Trump's perceived ownership of three justices and the arch conservative nature of at least three others the unprecedented coup looked to be within reach. So much so the Reverend Pat Roberson declared the Texas suit a miracle from God, which would save the Trump Presidency and the nation. In addition that astute political analyst and classical actor Kevin Sorbo boldly predicted on social media there was no question Texas would win.

Oops.

It took seven of the nine justices only 126 words to call the suit so utterly misguided and useless the court wouldn't even listen to Paxton's argument, much less consider it. The blow was sudden and devastating, made worse by the knowledge all of Trump's three hand picked judges voted with the majority.

You could almost hear the outgoing President raging in the Oval Office, saying something along the lines of, "It used to be when you bought a judge the son of a bitch stayed bought." Well these things happen in the 21st century. Everyone has their own agenda and sometimes, surprisingly, it includes following Constitutional law.

The Big Orange Guy's anger was surpassed only by that of his cult. The users of the right wing site, "Parler," went all kinds of apoplectic. So much so, some posts drifted into areas of not only civic ignorance and religious hysteria, but also into the darkness of mayhem and treason.

Below is a sample (All typos and spelling are theirs.)

Clay the Free wrote, "I call upon Urump to fire all yjr Supreme Court mrmbers and replace them."

Asian Patriot posted, "That is a bunch of crap, Supreme Court is playing politics. Also if this isn't a constitutional issue what is? Only other remedy states have now is succession.

Thomas declared, "USA is dead to me. Glad I never joined the military to serve such a pathetic land."

Sailing Breeze said, "Keep the faith Patriots! Trump is NOT A QUITTER!! THE KRAKEN WAS NOT YET RELEASED !! Stay tuned!

Timothy warned, "Now the shit will hit the fan. Patriots will not take a knee. There's going to be a civil war on America. The democrats stealing the election will not be tolerated."

S picked up the theme of secession, "It's time to secede. Let's fucking do this."

KAG wasn't subtle, "#SCOTUS just ignite a civil war. Buy more ammo #MAGA it gets ugly from here."

Finally we have this from Allen West. It reads in part,  "This decision will have far reaching ramifications for the future of our constitutional republic. Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution."

Hey, pretty wild ultra right wing stuff, right? Yeah, except Allen West is the chairperson of the Texas Republican Party and what was quoted was part of the alleged mainstream Texas GOP's official response to Trump's Supreme Court defeat. 

The next four years are going to be critical for the future of American democracy. And quite frankly from here it looks like none of us can count on any help from the republicans to preserve it. Just ask Allen West and the the rubes on Parler.

sic vita est

12-12-20 

Biden Wins, Trump Sues, and the Rest of the Field Wanders the Wilderness

 It has now been a month and a day since the 2020 presidential election. According to Bing News former Vice President Joseph Biden received 81,009,468 votes. Donald J. Trump's campaign netted him 74,111.419 ballots. Both are record numbers.

As we all are painfully aware, even at this late date, The Big Orange Guy is screeching the election was corrupted by massive acts of fraud. His logic seems to be no one can get over 74 million votes and still lose. Well, either that, or there is no way 80 plus million people won't buy into his con. He has sent out an army of lawyers to places such as Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada. So far judges and election officials, many who are republicans, in all those states have pretty much come to the same conclusion--the President's attorneys are full of shit and Mr. Trump is quite possibly insane.

Lost in the fog of Trump's denial and Biden's quiet confidence is the fact they weren't the only people running for the highest office in the land. That's right, Microsoft lists at least 26 other souls who paid their money and took the ride.

Many weren't listed on ballots in every state, but each and every one of them, including Princess Jacob-Fambro and President R19 Boddie received votes. 

Who says America isn't great?

Lesser known than perhaps Kanye West and Jesse, The Body, Ventura who also ran, libertarian standard bearer, Jo Jorgensen came in third place nationally. She pulled in nearly two million votes, worth 1.18% of the total vote, or not quite a third of Joe Biden's margin of victory. 

Speaking of West and Ventura, they received 66,234 and 2,673 votes respectively. West was listed as an independent while Ventura appeared as a green party candidate. The Body's poor showing might have been due to not only a lack of campaigning, but a schism among the greens. A second green candidate, Howie Hawkins was on ballots and he got 397,666 votes which translated into 0.25 of the popular total.

Although listed as an independent. Phil Collins (no, not the musician) represented the oldest continuously active third party in the United States. He ran on the prohibition party ticket. Just as it always has the prohibition party's main goal is to end the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in America. Their mascot is a red, white, and blue camel. Mr. Collins received 4,834 votes. 

Don Blankenship, a former coal company CEO garnered 59,847 votes as he headed up the constitution party, while, "None of these candidates," pulled in 14,079.

There are others. Brock Pierce, who as a child appeared in Disney's, "Mighty Ducks," franchise, received 48,555 votes while Bill Hammons the proud founder of the unity party ran as its candidate and piled up 6,677.

Coming in dead last in all this was the dynamic ticket of Zachary Scalf and running mate, Matthew Lyda. Information on Mr. Scalf is extremely limited, although one source reports a Facebook campaign site features, "lots of big guns." The Scalf team landed 29 votes. Total.

That would be 466 less than Ms. Jacob-Fambro and 1,096 fewer that Mr. President R19 Boddie. Mr. Boddie was inspired to run when God spoke to him as he lounged on his sofa. His foreign policy included merging the United States and Israel, while, "inheriting," other parts of the globe.

Luckily he never caught the ear of Don Trump.

Yes, that's the final wrap up for the 2020 election, unless, of course, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell release the Kraken they've been promising over the last month.

Luckily we're still waiting on that beast.

12-4-20