The Myth of Normal

 “...positioned there to make me and others aware of our country’s tragic history -- a reminder that we must never regress to a traumatic past.” Ariel Dorfman

I have a one inch tear in the rotator cuff muscle in my left shoulder. It bothers me when I sleep, but otherwise I can work and do my training. I see an orthopedist next week. Looks like surgery. 

So, it’s essentially over, Covid and its variants, known and unknown, as a society we have decided to live with it. Wear a mask or not, get vaccinated or not, it’s entirely up to you. At the market where I work part-time, customers have the option as of two days ago; if they enter the store unmasked it’s assumed they have been vaccinated. I’d say the majority of people are still wearing masks, but as the days pass the number will decrease. I continue to wear a mask, even though it’s hot and uncomfortable. At this point it feels weird not to be masked, but it’s also weird to see the faces of people I’ve been working with for almost 6 months. Ah, so that’s what you really look like!

My wife and I have been watching Inventing Anna on Netflix and with every episode I am reminded of Donald J. Trump, who must be ranked with the greatest grifters of all time. More about Donald in a moment as it has been a bad week for the Moron of Mar-A-Lago. Before I saw the first episode of Inventing Anna, I had never heard of Anna Delvey or Anna Sorokina or the bodacious fraud she pulled off. What astonishes me is that people swallowed her obviously concocted story of being a German heiress, victim of a miserly and vindictive father who demands that she earn her own fortune. He gives her a taste now and again, but it’s up to her to make her way in the cold, hard world. This preposterous young woman convinced otherwise reasonable, intelligent people that not only was she worth millions, but that she was worthy of being loaned millions, for a business idea that struck me as absurd. Grifters need the gullible. 

Trump’s long time accounting firm gave him the sack in what may turn out to be the proverbial straw so many, myself included, have waited for. Trump’s financial statements can’t be trusted and the accounting firm is washing its hands before the hammer falls. Trump searches feverishly in his toolbox for a solution, but all he can come up with is Hillary Clinton, the Bogeywoman for all seasons -- veteran Trump watchers will recognize the usual diversionary tactic; don’t look at me, look at her, she’s the real criminal. Forget logic or commonsense. Forget the fact that Hillary has been off the public stage for nearly 5 years. Along with Hillary, attack the African-American DA, accuse her of racism. Again, put logic and commonsense aside, they don’t apply in the Trump Playbook. Claim that being dumped by the firm is an exoneration and a clean bill of health. Claim that there is a gold-plated Trump Hotel on the moon. The judge saw through the blizzard of BS and castigated Trump’s lawyers for presenting a ridiculous argument. Basically laughed them out of the courtroom. It must be plain hell to be a lawyer for a belligerent moron like Trump. Watch Trump become more unhinged as the walls close in. Not fast enough for my liking, but it’s happening. With a decade of financial statements now deemed worthless, Trump’s creditors could call in their loans. Surely Trump’s dreams are disturbed by the sound of clanking iron chains and screeching metal doors banging closed as the lights dim.  

The caregivers of our society are leaving their professions in droves, and why not? This profit-obsessed country has neglected them for decades, underfunding public education and public health so that millionaires and billionaires are not inconvenienced by tax bills. But when the Covid crisis came, who did we turn to? Teachers, nurses, medical technicians, and others who provide care. They’re exhausted and sick of being ignored, vilified, and neglected so the CEO-class can live large and be spared the minor inconveniences of life. Blame American-style capitalism. Blame a generation of politicians for sucking at the corporate trough. Blame lobbyists and lawyers, bankers, and hedge fund managers. Blame university presidents and overpaid NCAA football coaches. Blame Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tech. Blame monopolies in almost every damn industry. And don’t neglect to point an accusing finger at the political operatives in black robes who sit on the US Supreme Court. But don’t blame working Americans, we didn’t light this fire as the Billy Joel song goes. The “system” fucked us, lied to us, made us interchangeable and disposable. We’re on the wrong side of 50 years of class warfare. In case you missed it, we lost. We went down with barely a whimper.

Yes, grifters need the gullible. 

Time for Voters to Kill the Game

 “So it was not without a keen and profoundly morbid sense of curiosity that kept me and Cromwell locked into the TV news all night -- mainly waiting to see who was going to get blamed for an outrage so awful and massive as to snap the mind of Richard Nixon… “

Hunter S. Thompson, Songs of the Doomed

Long days, strange nights, Covid here but not there, Covid rampaging through the White House, rumored to be a ghost town with only a few lights burning. House of shadows and gloom. Trump lumbers through the hallways, sweaty, breathless, confused and angry, like when your grandpa goes off his meds for a week. Where’s Jared? Has Melania left? Is Barr sick? Trump sucks attention like a Dyson vacuum run at full, screaming volume. His stunts become more pathetic and empty, a fat white man on a balcony above a courtyard strewn with trash and broken folding chairs. He may still be contagious, but we don’t know. Trump doesn’t want us to know. Donald is starting to spin toward the drain. This river of shame and failure narrows ahead and the canyon walls rise high and sheer, and with every passing day it feels like the end is nearing. There are no escape routes from this canyon, no gaps in the sheer stone walls. The only way out is through, to where the river widens. The king has the plague, half his court is in hiding, his coffers are depleted, the jesters run through their usual tricks but find them stale and dry. Dip too many times in the Well of Absurdities and this is what happens. 

But, good people, don’t think for a minute that the Orange Menace is done, he’s not. The polls tell a story, and we can take some hope from the fact that this is not 2016, but we cannot let up. Turnout is the key. Trump’s defeat must be overwhelming so it can survive the BS legal challenges Billy “Evil Doughboy” Barr will attempt as all the votes are being tallied. 

Thankfully, it’s not 2016. Hillary Clinton isn’t on the ballot, and Donald J. Trump is no longer an outsider; he’s the Man, with the weight of abject failure and humiliation hanging from his neck. He knew Covid was going to hit hard and he lied, again and again and again. He waited too long to act, and when he did act his effort was feeble and bungled, a disgrace to his office. More than 210,000 Americans have died. More dead than on 9/11. More dead than in all our recent undeclared wars, invasions, and occupations.  

Democrats, people of goodwill who hate politics, Republicans who voted for Trump in 2016, back when it was easier for some people to believe in Trump’s myth of winning, but can no longer avoid the hard truth, is an odd coalition, but I’ll take it. Folks who rolled the dice on Trump in 2016 will not make the same mistake in 2020. They’ve seen enough. Trump’s on TV, on radio, jabbering and frothing to keep his hardcore base from collapsing, but that’s all he can do, keep his base. He isn’t expanding it. Voting is already underway in many states. The number of undecided voters is far less than it was four years ago. That bodes ill for Trump. 

Voters, it’s time for us to kill the game, as soccer commentators like to say. Just because the polls look favorable, we cannot take our foot off the gas. It’s no different from a great football club like Liverpool or Bayern Munich, elite teams who are never satisfied with a 1-nil victory. Liverpool and Bayern are ruthless and unrelenting; when they score one goal they immediately want another, then another. They don’t back off and defend, they press high up the pitch and swarm their opponents to force mistakes. We have to be as hungry to send Trump and his entourage packing as Liverpool and Bayern are to score goals and win titles. That means we play hard and smart until the final whistle shrieks. Vote. Encourage people you know to vote. If you can, donate a few bucks to candidates in close races for senate. America needs a reset, and that cannot happen while Donald Trump and the GOP is in charge. 

The Ball Is At Nancy Pelosi's Feet

“Trump is a habitual criminal.” James Risen

Well, those of us who wanted the Democrats to launch impeach proceedings the minute they took control of the House have finally got our impeachment. We’ve reached Nancy Pelosi’s threshold for serious wrongdoing. Now the question is, how do the Democrats proceed? Stick to the safe middle and base their case on the Ukraine issue alone, or tack on Trump’s multiple other impeachable offenses? Go narrow or wide? Shallow or deep? Slow or fast? This week I’ve read pieces advocating a go-quick approach, and an equal number practically begging the Dems to slow down and be thorough, meticulous. Build a mountain of evidence, so tall that even a modern Republican -- spineless, corrupt, hypocritical as such are now -- has second thoughts about being on the wrong side of history. While not likely, it’s possible that some Republicans will face reality, find their spines, and remember their sworn oath when the evidence against Trump is too overwhelming to ignore. 

Republicans are a strange breed. They’re all about the Constitution and the rule of law when they’re in the minority, but put them in power and the only oath they swear is to the Party, no matter how ridiculous and corrupt it becomes; they throw their weight behind a man like Donald Trump, and then cower before him like little bitches. Terrified of Trump’s tweets, they allow Trump to run roughshod over the Constitution, its separation of powers, checks and balances, and the most elemental norms of decency, like not putting innocent children in cages or denying school lunches to millions of school kids. 

The list of Trump’s high and low crimes, his misdemeanors and felonies, is long. James Risen is correct: Trump is simply a habitual criminal. The man has been like acid on the American republic since the day he placed his hand on the Bible and lied. For the next few months, Trump is going to spin like a top, froth and fulminate against the Democrats at every opportunity, call Adam Schiff names, portray himself as the victim of a Deep State witch hunt, whine, and declare how unfair it all is and how it should be illegal. Get ready. It’s going to be an all-out onslaught of drivel, bullshit, wild claims, boldfaced lies, conspiracy theories and hypocrisy the likes of which Americans have never seen before. 

Before long, Trump will have convinced 40% of Americans that Joe Biden, with assistance from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, shot JFK. 

I doubt that the tone of his chat with the new Ukrainian president was far different from that used by Trump in other instances with other foreign leaders. We have to understand the way Trump perceives the office he holds. In Trump’s criminal mind, a president is like a mafia don, the ultimate authority, the Alpha male, the toughest guy in the neighborhood, and the Man who controls it all because he controls the biggest gang. This may be why Trump cannot fathom how, or why, Congress has any authority over him. In his muddled mind Trump believes he’s back in his tower in New York, his name on top, and every decision his alone to make. Receiving any resistance to his whims freaks Donald out, messes with his sense of himself as a badass with nerves of steel, muscles, a large cock, and real hair. Nobody checks Don Corleone, and Donald Trump thinks nobody can check him. This is why the asshole needs to be impeached.  

All I can say is that the Democrats better not blow this chance. I’d say we keep an eye on Nancy Pelosi to make sure she doesn’t use legislative judo to concede an advantage for no reason. Pelosi only did the right thing when forced, impeachment isn’t the road she chose or wanted because she is a pillar of the Establishment, but now the ball is at her feet and the field is opening before her. When the instant comes, when the goal-scoring chance presents itself, will she make the right decision, pick the correct pass or let the chance go begging?

The other thing I agree with James Risen about is the absurd way the mainstream media covers Trump, as if he’s a serious man rather than the bloviating incompetent that he is. Trump has opinions aplenty but a shocking lack of even basic knowledge. Most of what he says or tweets is unintelligible nonsense. The press should treat Trump as he is: habitual liar, immoral ignoramus, and total grifter. Trump was never in a million years going to grow into the office, and not once in three years has the Orange Menace come close to being Presidential. 

Sleeping With The Fishes

“Men forget themselves too quickly, and a mercy is often the first thing revoked.” Esi Edugyan, Washington Black

Jeffrey Epstein sleeps with the fishes. It’s like something out of a Hollywood movie or an episode of the Blacklist. The accused financier commits suicide in his jail cell, despite being a suicide risk. How? How did he do it? With what? In the coming days and weeks conspiracy theories will sprout like toadstools. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if the far right media machine claims that Hillary Clinton slipped into Epstein’s cell and plunged a hypodermic needle filled with an untraceable neurotoxin (provided to her by Vladimir Putin) into his carotid artery. If Hillary could operate a pedophilia racket out of a pizza parlor, she certainly could off Jeffrey Epstein. 

Nor would it surprise me if some low-level jailer takes the fall for the failure of the “System.” Many pointed questions should be asked of the people who run the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. Maybe Donald J. Trump’s attorney, William Barr, can get on that. I’m sure Barr will do a thorough job and provide a nice whitewash of this sordid affair. Protecting powerful people is Barr’s speciality. 

Doesn’t Epstein’s demise seem awfully convenient? It’s possible that the dirt the pedophile -- treated with such deference and solicitude by Alex Acosta in Florida -- had on powerful people (even Trump), was so incendiary that the last thing these people wanted was for Epstein to testify in court. It’s also possible that Epstein knew his goose was fully cooked this time around, no way his money and connections could buy his freedom, and was determined to do himself in. Sixty-six years old, facing years in prison, with no possibility of ever again molesting or deflowering an underage girl, maybe such a future was too bleak for Epstein to contemplate.

It’s axiomatic that rich white men in America rarely get the punishment they deserve. Money, family connections, pedigree, buys leniency, second and third and fourth chances, and the benefit of the doubt. Just the natural order in a country built on the protection of private property and white privilege, where money talks and Justice takes a long, lonely walk. 

A heavy stench of rot and decay hangs over America, so thick as to be almost visible. Jeffrey Epstein sleeps with the fishes, his evil erased from this world, but not from the bodies and minds of his victims. 

Trump's Prison

It's good to be King and have your own way

Get a feeling of peace at the end of the day

And when your bulldog barks and your canary sings

You're out there with winners, it's good to be King

Tom Petty

I feel a minuscule amount of sympathy for Donald J. Trump, but it must really suck to be him right about now, with everything he nears turning to shit and the legal screw turned by Robert Mueller and others tightening, and Democrats in the House preparing subpoenas left and right, night and day, probing and prying into his tangled affairs and murky revenue streams, and refusing to pony up money for the Great Wall. Trump clearly had no idea, none whatsoever, how hard the job of POTUS would be, particularly when you’re one of the laziest, most ill-prepared presidents in American history. In the still of the White House night, when Trump is all alone (Melania having retreated to her own room and dead bolting the door behind her) and the voices inside his head start talking, there’s one, clearly heard above all the others, that says:

“Obama was so smooth, so cool, and he made it look easy, the way he glided around and handled the job, from meetings with foreign leaders to speaking with school children. No batshit, incoherent Tweets at 3:00 a.m., no torrent of demonstrable lies, and no scandals. You’re in over your head, Donald. You’re like a blind mallard flying in the dead of night. You’re an embarrassment. Feeding fast food to college athletes. Jesus, what the hell were you thinking? Are you insane? You don’t invite the National Champions to the White House and serve them Big Macs and pizza. Stupid, no-class meathead. You’re a rich guy with a truck driver’s mentality, except that you’re so pathetic you couldn’t drive a truck if you’re life depended on it. How you think you’re running this country is beyond me. Honestly, Donald, you couldn’t run a meeting of the local chapter of the KKK without fucking it up.”

Daddy’s voice, always Daddy’s voice. Old Fred Trump, the patriarch who taught Donald to lie, cheat, dodge taxes and stiff contractors. Old Fred who bailed Donny out every time he failed, to whom Donny had to come begging, on his knees, hand outstretched, please Dad, I’ll do better next time. But next time is always like the last time. The casinos, the airline, the university. Failure, failure, failure. Three marriages, God-awful children.  

At night Donald paces his bedroom in the hated White House, pissed that he’s not in Trump Tower in New York where he calls the shots and nobody second guesses him, corrects his grammar or ridicules his intelligence. New York, where Ann Coulter can’t challenge his manhood, and porn stars are only a phone call away. Where damn near everyone he has known hasn’t turned on him, cut a deal with prosecutors. It wasn’t supposed to go this way, the run for the White House was a lark, a way to build the Trump brand. Hillary was supposed to win, but who knew she’d run a tepid, inept, tone-deaf campaign? Who knew the American electorate was so angry with the status quo that they were prepared to roll the dice on a wannabe dictator with a kit bag full of skeletons? Why did the stars align so malevolently?

And gnawing at the remains of Trump’s soul is the legacy of Barack Obama, the accomplished black guy with the silver tongue, who could read from a teleprompter and speak in complete sentences, who read books and understood how government works, who actually knew the difference between an executive order and a bill, who understood the function of the Federal Reserve and all the confusing Cabinet departments. Black people are supposed to be inferior to whites! White people are supposed to rule! The Bible says so, it’s the way it is!

The White House is Trump’s prison. Unable to sleep Trump stares morosely out the window and remembers what Putin said in Helsinki. “It’s much easier for me, Donald. I want to make someone disappear, I say the word and it happens. No one can investigate my little side deals. I am master of my domain in a way you can never be. What a pity. Plus, I don’t have man boobs. Take my advice, invest in Spandex.”

Just as the first hint of light appears over Washington, the voices in Trump’s head drone on, and a single tear slides down his face.

F---Off Senate Majority PAC

I kept receiving these smarmy solicitations in my mailbox, so I decided to do something about it; they paid the postage. What the hell.

June 21, 2018

Senate Majority Pac

700 13th St NW Suite 600

Washington, DC 20015

Dear Senate Majority PAC:

I received your direct mail solicitation today, and the first thing I wondered is how you obtained my name and address. My second thought was why anyone of sound mind would use Chuck Schumer as their poster boy. Schumer, like the Clintons and Barack Obama, represents the gangrene at the heart of the Democratic Party, and the primary reason it loses elections and cannot create a coherent message after nearly a year and a half of the Trump Junta. I still have no idea what Democrats stand for, except, of course, tax cuts for the wealthy, endless wars and obscene Pentagon spending, corruption, ineptitude and impotence. More than 40 years ago the Democratic Party turned away from its core constituents and never looked back because the money was too good in corporate boardrooms.

What you’re saying is essentially this: Vote for Democrats because they are less bad than Trump. What an inspiring policy platform! You people are really stupid. The country is primed and ready for a progressive vision, and what does the Democratic Party do?  It discourages progressive candidates, throws its weight against them. Don’t count on a blue wave in November because Democrats will find a way to fuck up, and even if they don’t, what is their plan, a return to the policies of the Obama era? And what were those policies? Let’s see, coddling Wall Street banks, extrajudicial killings abroad, drone strikes against civilians, income inequality, corporate medical insurance, and endless wars. Great, sign me up. NO!

The problem with Schumer and Obama and the detestable Clintons is their arrogance and ignorance of the day-to-day struggles of average Americans. When a party is so corrupt that it runs a ticket of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, one might as well throw in the towel.

I am an average American, working-class, with only one difference: I vote and I read. Shitheads like Charles “I-serve-Wall Street” Schumer don’t speak for me and certainly don’t impress me. From me you get neither a dollar or a dime. Fuck you. Remove my name from your mailing list until the day Democrats offer more than lip service to the poor and working class.

Sincerely

Brian Tanguay

Dumb, Numb and Passive

“The only way Democrats can take control and reverse their four decade slide into minority status is to embrace a real progressive and populist agenda that puts people first.” John Atcheson

Americans of goodwill and decent instincts cannot, must not, normalize Donald Trump, even if the corporate media does. Trump isn’t normal, he’s an aberration, a Frankenstein president. His recent trip to the Middle East and then to a meeting with NATO leaders wasn’t a success, it was an embarrassment, the fat, arrogant American Bull barging around in the tight confines of an antique shop. Trump can Tweet all he wants about the great results his trip produced, but all one needed to see was the expression on the faces of the European leaders when Trump badgered them for money.

(For the record: I am not an enthusiastic supporter of NATO, so I don’t mind a spirited discussion about NATO, its purpose and role and limits, but I don’t want Trump leading that discussion.)

During the best of times Americans have short historical memories. We hardly know our own history, let alone the history of other countries and regions. We’ve been the badass with the big stick so long we believe ignorance is our right. I don’t think many Americans comprehend how corrupt our government and financial institutions and universities and labor unions and political parties and elections have become. We still cling to the idea that we, as citizens of this republic, matter, but we don’t, and we haven’t for a very long time. The lust for salvation, fulfillment and happiness through consumption has rendered us impotent and atomized. We are dumb and numb and passive, as likely to strike fear in our country’s rulers as Trinidad is to invade and occupy California.

We know what the Republicans are up to -- cruelty and theft on a massive scale, a kleptocrats wettest dream -- but what of the Democrats? Has the Party seen the error of its ways and faced left, begun to articulate a vision that pays attention to the needs of the poor and middle class, a vision of social and economic justice, single-payer health care and an end to fruitless wars? There’s no indication that such a change of course has happened or will happen. My sense is that Democrats have decided to bide their time, wait for Trump to self-destruct (which looks like a possibility), so they can continue occupying the center-right, supporting corporate-friendly policies, endless war, outrageous military expenditures, and austerity measures. This is a losing strategy.

As Chris Hedges repeatedly points out in his speeches and columns, we have lost the language of rebellion, the language to analyze and critique power structures dominated by big banks and military contractors and insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry. We speak their language now, use their words to keep debate narrowly focused on their agenda, not a people’s agenda. When was the last time you heard a talking head on mainstream corporate television criticize capitalism, or war, or proposals to gut programs that benefit the working poor and the poor? Have you ever heard a corporate talking head speak in terms of morality, justice or equality?

Liberals used to believe in truth and the rule of law, now they believe in the fantasy of a just, fair, self-regulating and all-powerful Market; they believe in regime change and “humanitarian” intervention. In Death of the Liberal Class, Chris Hedges writes, “The liberal class has ossified. It has become part of the system it once tried to reform.”

This is one reason why Democrats like Hillary Clinton are so out of touch with the struggles and fears and aspirations of ordinary people. It’s also the reason Barack Obama’s soaring rhetoric seemed at such odds with his actions. Both Clintons, Obama, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Dianne Feinstein sound the right notes from time to time, usually when elections draw near, but when it gets down to action, they always support the corporate agenda over the needs of ordinary people.

Always. Democrats have forgotten how to stand, march or sit for justice. We can’t depend on them to deliver us from Trump’s gang of dangerous ideologues and thieves. Deliverance is a DIY project.

The Long Fall

“The blending of hubris and stupidity on display in the Comey affair is a recipe for political comedy and legal disaster. By concocting a false story for Comey’s expulsion, the Trump team, including the President and the Attorney General, have exposed their consciousness of guilt and laid the groundwork for charges of obstruction of justice against them–if there’s anyone left in the Justice Department or the Congress with the guts to bring it.” Jeffrey St. Clair, Counterpunch

I don’t know what to make of Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. I never cared much for Comey to begin with, and to understand his sacking from the reasons coming from the White House is almost impossible. When Comey was all up in Hillary Clinton’s business Trump liked the guy, but when Comey turned his focus on Trump’s possible ties to Russia, it all went south. Was Comey getting too close? No idea. The Russia-stole-the-election story still seems full of holes to me, I don’t see how hacking the DNC tips the election to Trump...Democrats should grow up and face the truth: Hillary Clinton is a despised figure who ran a dismal election campaign and lost to a complete buffoon. She needs to slink off and disappear. And she can take Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein with her. As long as these figures lead the Democratic Party, the Dems will continue to be a party of fucking wimps and losers.

Do I think that maybe Trump has shady financial connections with Russian oligarchs? Yeah, that’s far more likely. Follow the money, it always tells the story.

Trump is still Prez of the US Empire, right, he hasn’t resigned in disgrace yet or thrown up his tiny hands in total frustration, ran off to one of his golf courses, groped a 10-year-old beauty pageant contestant or claimed that he was the first American to walk on the moon...

Sweet Jesus, it’s hard to imagine how far my country has fallen. It’s been a long time coming, decades of bullshit policies that have reinforced the time-honored American ideal of government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich, a government that hardly makes any bones about who it is working for and why. The elites and their elected servants have dropped all pretense about their intentions and interests. Gutting the Affordable Care Act was about eliminating the tax on wealthy people that paid for subsidies for the serfs, plain and simple.

I heard some heartless GOP congressperson on the radio the other day, blabbing on about how people get sick and develop pre-existing conditions because of their lifestyle choices…This is one reason this country is so fucked up.

I’ve read a fair number of pieces condemning Barack Obama for taking huge speaking fees. Get over it. Obama is going to cash in, big time, and make some serious coin as recompense for how loyally he served the financial elites. Obama was a hyper-articulate failure, and when he decries, as he did recently, the cynicism that many citizens feel for our precious institutions it’s laughable because he played a big role in stoking that cynicism. How many Wall Street executives were prosecuted for the fraud they committed in 2008? Right, none. Cynicism? Because Obama the Nobel Peace Prize winner ordered hundreds of drone strikes that killed thousands of innocent human beings? Maybe our cynicism is justified.

Here’s a question: why do voters in Wisconsin keep re-electing Paul Ryan? Does that evil motherfucker really represent your values? The same question can be asked of voters in Kentucky, who give us Mitch McConnell, another completely failed human being.

Someone remind me why the United States is still conducting military operations in Afghanistan. What’s the point again? To eradicate Al-Qaeda, vanquish the Taliban, protect women and children, plant the seeds of democracy and freedom, prevent the terrorists from invading the US...

I drank a beer or three too many last night, a special night because Chelsea Football Club clinched the Premier League title with a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion. Chelsea are top of the league!

It's Finally Over and We Lost

I watched it.

I shouldn’t have.

When it was mercifully over I felt sick to my stomach.

I understand that most of what I was taught to believe about the United States is myth. When the fables of American exceptionalism are stripped away, what remains reveals that this is a nation built on racism and genocide, imperial conquest, double-dealing and hypocrisy. This is harsh but inescapable. Recognizing the truth about one’s country doesn’t imply or prove hatred of one’s country.

Not a single direct question in any of the “debates” about climate change, the most urgent issue facing the world. This is inexcusably irresponsible.

Deemed more important is a false question about the national debt and entitlement programs. First of all, Americans pay into Social Security and Medicare paycheck by paycheck, with the promise that when the time arrives, as it will for all of us, these programs will be there to insure that no person that has worked his or her entire life is forced to live in poverty. Conservatives have railed against Social Security and Medicare for decades, and now they are routinely joined by corporate Democrats like Hillary Clinton, all shouting in unison for austerity measures.

It’s total bullshit, of course. If this country stopped pouring trillions of dollars into the Pentagon, we would have more than enough to fund Medicare for all and to insure that Social Security lives up to its implicit promise. Year after year polls show that the majority of Americans want to expand these programs, and year after year the political class ignores the will of the majority.

Was I surprised that Donald Trump is completely ignorant about abortion?

No more than to hear Hillary Clinton blame Russia for trying to tip the election in favor of Trump. Hillary declared that Russia -- the highest levels of the Kremlin, mind you, harkening back to the Cold War -- is behind the cyber attacks that led to the latest WikiLeaks disclosures. Clinton stated that all 17 of America’s intelligence agencies have confirmed that Russia is behind the leaks. My first question is: do we really need 17 intelligence agencies? And these are, I suppose, the same crack agencies that spent more than a decade searching the globe for Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man? Couldn’t find him anywhere...

And speaking of that great bogeyman bin Laden, Clinton twice said that bin Laden had been brought to justice. Strange, I don’t remember bin Laden being charged and tried in an American court or any court for that matter. Didn’t America’s brave operatives assassinate bin Laden and dump his body into the sea? In an age when the American president decides who shall live and who shall die by remote controlled drone, I suppose you can say that bin Laden was brought to justice.  

If Russia is behind the cyber attacks and attempting to subvert our election all I can ask my country is: how does it feel to have the tables turned, to be on the receiving end for a change?

Some of the exchanges were merely amusing, ample proof, as if any were needed, of the utter debasement of our democratic process, like when Trump insisted that nobody respects women more than he does. Or when Clinton defended the money laundering operation that is the Clinton Foundation.

It was a sad night for America. I shouldn’t have watched, but I did.

Tone Deaf

“The prevailing quality of life in America -- by any accepted methods of measuring -- was inarguably freer and more politically open under Nixon than it is today…” Hunter S. Thompson, 2002.

Where to begin? Like the scene in Chicago, the area around the site of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia is awash in temporary fencing, barricades, and police, all dedicated to keeping thousands of protesters from injecting a dose of reality into this week of political fantasy. How Orwellian when peaceful protesters are penned in blocks away from the convention hall in what are called “ free speech zones.” Free speech that the powerful do not have to hear or see or respond to.

Looks like Bernie Sanders was right all along -- the Democratic National Committee was actively sabotaging his upstart campaign from the get-go, using the sort of tricks that are normally reserved for the opposition party. The revelations (thank you Wikileaks) show a few things. First, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a hack who would do anything for her pal Hillary Clinton. Second, the big-shots in the DNC obviously knew that Hillary would not win a contest played on a level field; cheating and foul play were necessary to push Hillary over the top, because her campaign sure as hell failed to generate much organic enthusiasm.

But even with all the DNC’s shenanigans on Clinton’s behalf, the Sanders campaign made Clinton work. What does this tell us? That there is a reason Donald Trump is today leading in the polls. Now, Clinton will get the usual jump coming out of the Convention, but even so, voters east, west, north and south will still view her unfavorably, as a prevaricator and liar, and one who, like the fictional Mafioso Don Corleone, rewards loyalty. Instead of kicking Wasserman Schultz to the curb, Clinton makes Wasserman Schultz the honorary chair of her campaign.  

Talk about tone deaf and oblivious to voter perceptions. But we knew that when Clinton tapped Tim Kaine to be her sidekick; that was like flipping the bird to Bernie supporters with one of those oversized foam fingers. Clinton chose a nice, safe corporate clone who believes in the fairy tale of “free” trade and “clean” coal. Talk about one step up and two back. Clinton is so insulated in her DC/NYC bubble among the political and financial elites that she really has no clue what her actions look like to those of us out here in the real world.

Clinton’s arrogance is breathtaking, and it’s that total disdain for ordinary citizens that is giving Trump buoyancy. As filmmaker Michael Moore recently wrote, a lot of people in this country are fed up with politicians of both parties, fed up with the influence of bankers and hedge fund managers and resource extractors, fed up with the way the middle class is being ground to dust. Now, rich, white, demagogic Donald Trump is a strange champion for the downtrodden middle class -- but when Trump hammers bankers and free traders and pols, he’s speaking a language struggling people relate to; all the promises of the Bush’s, the Obama’s and the Clinton’s haven’t amounted to shit, so why not take a ride on the Trump express and lob a Molotov cocktail at the elites?

Hillary Clinton is damn lucky the election isn’t tomorrow. You can bet she will not receive the same reception on Thursday night that Bernie got on Monday. When the camera panned to where Bill Clinton was sitting you could see that he understood this, too. Hillary doesn’t engender the love that Bernie does -- she wants it, terribly, but it’s not who she is.

Vote Mickey

“The votes that matter are the votes on the street. Either Trump or Clinton will provoke mass upheaval. The key contribution of the Sanders campaign has been to lay bare for idealistic youth the magnitude of the rot in the system itself…”  Gary Leupp

I wrote on this blog a few months ago that Bernie Sanders would cave and urge his supporters to get behind Hillary Clinton. As predicted, it has happened, and Sanders was as craven as I feared. So much for the “revolution.” I don’t feel terrific about being right: any rookie political handicapper could have predicted that Sanders’ quest to reform the Democratic Party from within was doomed.

As Gary Leupp noted in an article for Counterpunch, Sanders did succeed in one respect: his campaign demonstrated, particularly for younger Americans, how utterly corrupt the American political system has become. No matter how often the mainstream media tells us our voices and votes matter, millions now understand that they matter not at all. The corrupt system has puked up Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, two people despised by wide swaths of potential voters. This is a curse, not a choice.

I will give the Clintons credit for their unparalleled skill at fixing the game, using their government positions to enrich themselves, and the nimble way they skirt the law. Bill and Hillary dance in the gray and never get caught; that they are crooked is not in doubt, but catching them out is another story. How many scandals has this detestable duo dodged over the past three decades? It tells me they know exactly what they are doing, that everything they do is calculated, thought out in advance. The Clintons are masters of corruption.

When I’m not completely pissed off about this dismal state of affairs, or frightened about what it portends, I marvel at how completely the Clintons manage media perceptions. Again and again Hillary is described as capable and experienced and exceptionally qualified to hold the highest office in the land, but peel back the gilded cover and you find a record of mediocrity or outright failure. What did she accomplish as a senator? Squat. What harm did she cause as Secretary of State? Plenty. Honduras and Libya come to mind. Trump scares me because he’s a buffoon; but Clinton scares me many times more because she has the potential to plunge the country into another undeclared war, exacerbate an already staggering level of wealth inequality, and to render our government even more subservient to financial elites.

If partisan politics hampered the Obama government, imagine what the gridlock will be like when Hillary moves into the Oval Office. Even though she’s practically a Republican, the GOP leaders are unlikely to give her much leeway, meaning that the critical problems facing this country will not be addressed.

What did Sanders get for his capitulation? I’ve read in various places that Sanders forced Clinton to move in a more progressive direction, and that the party platform reflects this, but honestly, who cares about the platform? It’s not binding on Clinton, and after the convention will largely be forgotten. And anyway, who’s going to hold Clinton accountable? Remember, she was for the TPP corporate trade giveaway before she was against it, or was she against it before she was for it?

Writing on the Truthout website, William Rivers Pitt summed it up: “Hillary Clinton is a fully owned corporate entity with a faux-populist message drafted on the back of a cocktail napkin at a Goldman Sachs convention. Donald Trump is a punchline who speaks in befuddled half-sentences and who wouldn't know a policy position if it squatted on his face and farted up his nose. These are our alleged options now, a choice between Wall Street and reality TV.”

There is no way I will vote for Hillary Clinton come November. I’ll write in Mickey Mouse before I tick the bubble next to Hillary’s name.