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

For the Love of the College Game

I honestly can't remember a time when I wasn't a fan of college football. I got the bug from my father who had loved the sport early in his life, then became a fanatic about it after attending the University of Oklahoma. In my early years I listened to almost all the games on the radio because in those days television broadcast only one a Saturday and OU was lucky to be featured once a year.

Of course it helped that during the early 1950's Oklahoma didn't ever lose. I mean that literally. OU lost a game in 1953 and didn't lose again until 1957. In other words from the age of three until I was seven my favorite team never came up on the short end of a score. For a little boy that isn't a winning streak, it is a life time.

And that life time isn't over yet.

Now we come to the cursed year of 2020, my 70th on this overheating blue ball. Among other disasters a plague has burned its way across the planet and there is, at this time, no known cure. As these words are being written 772,066 human beings world wide have been killed by COVID-19--163,416 of them are Americans. In this country alone a little over 1,000 persons per day are dying.

Which is another way of saying we're dropping like fucking flies.

Against this background of rampant disease and death there are some--actually many--who want to see the college football season begin in less than three weeks. That's right baby, let's get back to the grand old traditions, marching bands, and young men smashing into each other with wild abandon. Bring us some bloody mary's, beer, and brats as we jam into stadiums by the tens of thousands while we cheer, boo, and sing fight songs.

Does anyone else think this might not be the brightest of ideas right now?

A few do. The University of Connecticut has cancelled its football season. Earlier this year the Ivy League did too. Today the Mid America Conference followed suit. Out on the west coast Pac-12 players are attempting to organize a union of sorts, demanding that their schools provide health guarantees. Some players, on an individual basis, are opting out of the season.

Other schools are saying they will limit the number of fans attending games to ensure proper social distancing, although they are still a little fuzzy on how they're going to accomplish it. The big boy conferences, the ACC, Big-10, SEC, Pac-12 and Big -12 have announced truncated schedules. Most of them have limited play to conference foes only, meaning if you want to take your chances on catching the COVID you'll be limited to places like, Ames, Iowa and Stillwater, Oklahoma to roll the dice.

Other options are still being pursued. There is one which says games will be played without fans at all. Another, the sanest of the bunch, proposes a delay of the season until late February, when a vaccine might be available.

The University of Oklahoma has given me three options for my season tickets. First, take them and do what I will. Second, tell OU I want to apply the cost to next year's tickets. Third, donate the money to the school's athletic department. I'm going with number two, because, as much as I love the Sooners and the game, it isn't worth drowning in my own mucus to see them play Baylor.

Indeed, for me, this season is a wash. I just hope everyone else will wise up in the next few days and see it the same way.



8-8-20

The Most Disastrous Year Imaginable and It Might Get Worse

I wasn't around for the great depression, or WWII so the ever shrinking, "Greatest Generation," will have to forgive me if I consider 2020 the worst year in the last century, or so. There were other bad ones in my life time. 1968 comes to mind, but even with assassinations, race riots, and the conflagration in Southeast Asia, we didn't seem to be teetering on the edge like we are now.

Maybe it's the COVID that has pushed us to the edge of the abyss. The plague has played out like some dreadful slow motion Irwin Allen disaster movie. It has eaten away at our morale, patience, and sanity. In the face of it we have, or at least should have learned some degree of humility, not to mention awe at the mindless, yet sometimes ravenous whims of nature.

In H.G. Wells novel, "War of the Worlds," the Martians were undone by the unseen microbes found on this planet. This year has made it easy to understand how they felt when their triumphant armies began to collapse for no discernable reason. Yet many among us continue to ignore the growing body count.

Of course it doesn't help that in this suddenly shaky republic we have exactly the wrong man in the White House to address, both the virus and the racial crisis which has gripped us.

Let's face it, Donald J. Trump, who at best is a carnival midway barker turned cult leader, doesn't have a clue when it comes to controlling a pandemic. To complicate matters he has, some would say with malice of forethought, done nothing, but exacerbate the anger so many thousands have expressed in the streets.

In fact, looking back at the last seven plus months, it is painfully obvious our man in the White House hasn't made a single correct decision since the shit hit the fan. Not one.

Indeed, many promises about the disease have been made, but none have been fulfilled. Then his administration, so corrupt, it makes Dick Nixon's look like a bunch of cheap men's room graffiti vandals, went out and intentionally increased the level of civil violence for apparent political reasons.

And there is the problem. Donald Trump doesn't consider any natural disaster, or civil crisis in terms other Presidents would. For all his braggadocio about not being a professional politician he views every single thing thing as a political issue. All humanity and sense of national good are removed from the issues and replaced with the cold blooded thought, how can this benefit me.

No other Chief Executive in the history of the United States could survive a year like Donald Trump has had in the Oval Office. However that doesn't mean we will be rid of him in November. His cult--and it is a cult--numbers in the millions and ranges from outer limits conspiracy theorists to the most vile racists imaginable.

His disregard for any and all laws and regulations is well known. By now every man, woman, and child, knows he not only has a taste for cheating, but hell, he likes it. To him it is just another part of politics and life to be used like salt on an order of fries.

Trump and his party, now culled of doubters and principled conservatives, are working as busy as rabid beavers to make voting not only more difficult for minorities and the other usual suspects, but down right life threatening.

His shrill protests about voting by mail, which he routinely does himself, are laying the groundwork for future judicial challenges to the election outcome if he should lose. Then there are his old friends the Russians who have thoroughly infiltrated the nation's social networks and possibly some voting machines.

Normally I would say Donald Trump is done, a dead duck, but given what has happened and what might we can't be too sure.

Yes, 2020 has so far been the most disastrous year imaginable, but that doesn't mean it won't get worse.


8-4-20