Death Trap

“My point is, with Hillary Clinton, we know what we’re getting — a corrupt war-mongering, duplicitous neoliberal Wall Street shill posing as a progressive. With Trump, we get a narcissistic businessman posing as a fascist. Neither one as president would actually be what they are pretending to be during the campaign.” David Lindorff

The letter from Honda was alarming. IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL  (in red typeface).  “Honda has decided that a defect which relates to motor vehicle safety exists in certain 2007-2011 model year CR-V vehicles.”

And in bold typeface this: “The defect in these vehicles could kill or injure you or other people in your vehicle.”

Wait a minute...Honda has decided? What about Honda has discovered or determined or learned? Decided?

It gets even more macabre: “Specifically, in some vehicles, the driver’s front airbag inflator could produce excessive internal pressure upon deployment. If an affected airbag deploys, the increased internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture (break apart) and deploy abnormally. In the event of an inflator rupture, metal fragments could pass through the airbag cushion material possibly causing serious injury or fatality to you or others in the vehicle. Past ruptures like this have killed and injured vehicle drivers.”

But the best part came next. “The remedy parts needed to conduct driver’s airbag inflator recalls will become available in the Summer of 2016.”

So, if I understand this correctly, my family and I should continue driving our potential death trap until Honda has enough parts available to conduct its recall. Happy motoring from now until Summer 2016, which means what, exactly? July? August? Early September?

Honda is rather blase about the possibility of my or my family’s potential death or dismemberment. Play the odds, take a road trip, avoid rear-ending someone…

Honda’s recall took my attention from the presidential election and the terrorist attack in Belgium. Knowing the American corporate media will draw the wrong conclusions about Brussels, I avoid the news. I still believe that the vast majority of the world’s Muslims are peaceful people who want the same things Americans, English, French, Spanish and Africans want: to exercise some control over their own destinies, to raise their children, to work, play, travel, and worship. All the reasonable human expectations. Extremists, whatever guise they wear, get the attention, and Islamic extremists motivate Western nations to wage war endlessly. Don’t misunderstand -- attacking innocent civilians is barbaric and cowardly -- but so is launching laser-guided missiles at a wedding party from a remote-controlled drone. Both acts terrorize the innocent; both acts stoke the fires of vengeance.

And let’s not forget or ignore root causes. Who mid-wifed the birth of ISIS?

The Dance of the Phonies staggers on. Cruz and Trump and Hillary. Bernie Sanders is still in the race, though you’d hardly draw this conclusion from the mainstream media. Hillary is awful on the stump, wooden and pedantic. Little of her hubby’s magic rubbed off. All Slick Willie had to do to make audiences swoon was start his lower lip quivering. Try as she might, and try she does, Hillary cannot convince the masses to like or trust her.

We trudge toward our Hobson’s choice. Dear voter, how would you like your death, brutal and quick, or less painful but more drawn out?

The Fork In The Road

“Throughout the Western world the financial system has become an exploiter of the people and a deadweight loss on economies.” Paul Craig Roberts

Looks like we owe the Feds money again, but may get a refund from Jerry Brown, which means our tax dance for 2015 might be a wash. Had we owed both Federal and State I might have had a nervous breakdown. Our daughter is flunking Physics -- no surprise -- she hates the subject and doesn’t apply herself, and sooner or later will understand the relationship between effort and results. Mom and dad have to go meet with her teacher. The work we do for the money we need to sustain our life is often a soul-sucking grind, and like many Americans in the low-low middle class, though we claw we never seem to get ahead; one calamity and we’re toast. Maybe our lot will improve when Donald Trump becomes president. He’s a winner, or so he tells us at every opportunity, and when he wins, we win.

Forget I said that, I’m joking, of course. Trump, Clinton, Cruz, Rubio, nothing is going to change, no matter which of these people is elected. The American economy is a scam, a house of cards, operated by an oligarchy for the benefit of the oligarchy. As John Jay said when this nation was founded, “The people who own the country run it.”

The mass of people who work for wages understand this, and, at some level, they realize that it is the “system” that causes their struggles, not some fault of their own; not laziness or lack of will or initiative, but a system designed to make them, or keep them, poor. Trump spews plenty of garbage, but when he talks about how trade deals like NAFTA (thanks, Bill Clinton) have decimated the American working class, he’s right, and I think this is why he sounds like a savior to some people.

What about Bernie Sanders? Yes, if Sanders somehow overcomes the Clinton death grip on the Democratic Party and all its machinery, he might shake a few crumbs from the system, but his ability to do so will entirely depend on the makeup of Congress, and this is fraught with uncertainty because so many Democrats are now Republicans, ideologically speaking; Sanders might have difficulty pushing his agenda with Democrats in control of the House and Senate. Of course if those bodies remain in Republican control, Sanders would be stymied at every turn.

Both parties are corrupt, as is the entire electoral system. Voters are offered two unpalatable choices -- isn’t democracy grand! It’s like going to the dentist and being told that your cracked molar can be pulled with needle nose pliers or vice grips, which do you prefer? Politicians, at least at the national level, no longer trouble themselves representing the interests of the voters who elect them. Instead, they represent the corporations and wealthy donors who own them. This guarantees that the critical issues facing the nation will not be addressed, except at the most superficial level. And when it comes to an issue like climate change, superficial measures are a recipe for disaster and death.

Getting back to Trump and his traveling circus for a minute. What is his economic policy? Just win, baby? Knock the Chinese over the head with a two-by-four? Invade Mexico? Any voter -- white, black, brown, or rainbow colored -- who believes that Trump will improve their lot economically is flat nuts.  “I will make great deals,” is not a policy. Running an empire, even one bordering on collapse, is not the same as starring in a make-believe TV show. Blithely declaring that one will “strengthen” America’s military, when 54% of the discretionary budget is already being spent on America’s sprawling military apparatus is not only stupid, it’s suicidal. But that’s Trump. Buffoon, blowhard, egomaniac.

And as of today, the GOP frontrunner.

I’m too tired to think about a Hillary Clinton presidency. I despise the woman; she is mendacious and mediocre and malignant. In my mind, Hillary’s almost as frightening as Trump. Most of her experience is covered with a thick coat of failure, and she has blood beneath her fingernails.

How did America come to this pathetic fork in the road?

Supreme Leader: An imaginary (or is it?) interview with Donald Trump

Editor’s Note: The interminable election coverage is causing me to have wicked nightmares. I wake up in a cold sweat with visions of Donald Trump’s bloated orange face in my head, or I shoot straight out of bed screaming that Hillary Clinton has moved back into the White House. Terrible times. We are trapped in a death spiral.

WOLF BLITZER

Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP

The pleasure is all yours, Wolf. Let me ask you something, why do you call your show the ‘Situation Room?’ What situation is going on in your ‘Situation Room?’ Just kidding. I’m  messing with you, Wolf. Good show, I watch it whenever I can, which isn’t often, but hey, I’m a busy guy.

WOLF BLITZER

I’d like to ask you about Marco Rubio

DONALD TRUMP

Rubio’s a lightweight. He sweats when he’s nervous and the man is nervous all the time. Look, Wolf, here’s the thing. The Republican Party big shots are scared out of their minds because I’m about to lap the field. Bush is out, Christie’s history, nobody can stop me from the nomination. They never thought I’d be sitting in the catbird seat at this point in time, but here I am. I’m too smart, too rich, too charismatic. Unstoppable, that’s what it comes down to.

WOLF BLITZER

Rubio recently criticized the size of your hands, the implication being that…

TRUMP

Don’t be stupid, Wolf. My schlong is huuuge. Do you think I could have accomplished everything I’ve done with a tiny dick?

WOLF BLITZER

Do you think the campaign has become too negative and petty? What I mean is that instead of talking about the economy or ISIS or climate change, the candidates are insulting one another about the size of their dongs.

TRUMP

My opponents are pussies.

WOLF BLITZER

If you win the nomination...

TRUMP

If? There’s no if, Wolf. I will be the nominee. The Trump juggernaut can’t be stopped. The GOP establishment may not like it, but that’s tough. I’ve got the smart people, I’ve got the dumb people, I’ve got people, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER

Let’s change gears and talk about policy.

TRUMP

Are you kidding me? I don’t get lost in the weeds. What you have to understand about me is this: I’m the ultimate big picture guy. I’ve got people to do the policy stuff. You get down in the weeds and all you do is get your clothes dirty. I don’t like to get my clothes dirty. What I do is make the hard choices, the tough calls, the big decisions. We’re going to make America great again, and that’s all you need to know. Trust me. Everything Donald Trump touches turns to gold. I’m Midas.

WOLF BLITZER

How do you feel about the possibility of going head-to-head with Hillary Clinton in November?

TRUMP

I’ll destroy her. She’s got no chance. Clinton is part of the establishment, she’s out of step, not to mention the fact that she’s bitchy. I’m the only candidate who knows how to make America great again. Do you think I will allow Americans to be pushed around by Mexicans, Chinese or Muslims? No chance. A snowball in hell has a better chance. The deals I’m going to make with these people will make you dizzy, you’ll swear you have vertigo. Hillary’s going down.

And let me just say this right here right now to the people of Mexico. Get ready, wetbacks, because the wall is coming.

WOLF BLITZER

You’ve been embroiled in controversy the last few days about David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the KKK who recently endorsed you. What is your relationship to the KKK?

TRUMP

I don’t know David Duke. Did he endorse me? Look, I’m being endorsed by a tremendous number of people -- a tremendous number. My campaign is so exciting that it’s bringing in Democrats, Republicans, Independents -- bringing people in from all sides. There’s no way I can keep track of all the people who support my candidacy. Are there KKK people who like me? Of course, because I’m very likeable. People are drawn to winners, even KKK types.

WOLF BLITZER

Are you saying you appreciate the support of the KKK?

TRUMP

C’mon, Wolf, did I say that? Listen, anyone who knows me knows that I like the black people, always have. Now, when it comes to Mexicans and Muslims, I think we build a massive wall and drop huuuge cluster bombs.

WOLF BLITZER

Thank you, Mr. Trump. That’s all the time we have today. I’m Wolf Blitzer, and you’ve been watching the Situation Room on CNN, the only network that brings you Donald Trump, 24-hours a day. Every bizarre statement, every racist tweet, every fact-free claim, CNN is there.