“Never forget that under a totalitarian system cruelty and absurdity go hand in hand.” Ai Weiwei
I haven’t been writing much on the blog lately, focusing instead on pieces for my Medium and Substack pages, as well as book reviews for the California Review of Books. I began the Balcony in 2004, during the reign of the faux cowboy, George W. Bush. I’ve decided to hang it up after 20 years or 1,000 posts, whichever comes first. This is post No. 961.
We had a death in our family, my wife’s sister, Nancy, who was 63 when she passed away from complications of heart trouble and diabetes on November 15. Nancy and I were in the San Marcos High class of 1977. That feels like a million years ago to me, and I barely remember it. I knew of Nancy in high school, but had never met her until I began dating Terry. Like most people, Nancy was complicated, a bundle of conflicting impulses and emotions, likes and dislikes. She was a massive fan of Rod Stewart’s music and saw the singer in concert more than 100 times, often traveling long distances; she also loved the Beatles and knew the lyrics of many songs by heart. Her last couple of years were shot through with health issues, the inevitable complications of diabetes. Nearly legally blind, deaf in one ear, survivor of open heart surgery and kidney failure, which made thrice-weekly dialysis sessions mandatory. Still, despite it all, Nancy somehow -- and I honestly don’t know how -- managed to remain hopeful that she might one day regain a measure of independence. When she drew her last breath she was flanked by people who loved her for who she was.
On the American political front…the Democrats beat mid-term expectations by retaining the Senate, but they lost the House by a slender margin, which will make Kevin McCarthy’s speakership a living nightmare as he attempts to temper the flamethrowers and nitwits in his caucus. In the short run, McCarthy will strut around like a peacock, preening and applauding himself for finally grabbing the gavel he has salivated after for years. He’s an empty and immoral man, devoid of soul.
I have never been a Nancy Pelosi fan. I always perceived Pelosi as a prime example of what ails the Democratic Party; too concerned with being solicitous to corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working people, wage earners; unwilling to take concrete action on climate change; and blindly supportive of the money-sucking American War Machine. Having said that, I respect her skill and her effectiveness in the Speaker’s chair, and how she conducted herself on January 6; she remained calm and cool as Trump’s MAGA horde broke windows and beat on the walls. She is a competent and formidable woman and her tenure as Speaker will go down as one of the more effective in American history.
So, nearly two years after the Trump-inspired attack on the Capitol, Merrick Garland has appointed a Special Counsel in the person of Jack Smith, a career DOJ prosecutor said to be smart, experienced, aggressive, able not only to run complex investigations but also bring indictments and prosecute cases. That’s Smith’s reputation, in any case, but we’re talking about Donald Trump, one of the more slippery criminals to come along in a very long time, who has proven time and again that he stands above the law. Part of me wonders why the DOJ doesn’t simply indict Trump directly, without the additional layer of a Special Counsel. My sense is that Garland would rather walk a mile-long trail of broken glass in his bare feet than bring an indictment. My fear is that we’re in for Mueller Redux, a multi-year investigation that snares a few low-level miscreants but spares the true culprits. No matter how skilled Jack Smith is, or how strong a case he might make, when it comes to a charging decision it’s still Garland’s call. The Mueller Report sits on a shelf now, gathering dust, and it wouldn’t surprise me if in a couple of years a voluminous, multi-volume Smith Report joins it. That’s how these things tend to go because the political class is incapable of investigating and holding itself accountable.
Legal accountability is for the poor, the lawyer-less masses.
Our best hope of punishing Trump for his crimes rests with Black women in Georgia and New York. White men can’t be trusted to get the job done. They talk in circles, render the obvious opaque and the simple complex.
