Very Fine People

 “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I expected violence on the streets of DC today, but never did I think I would watch a mob of Americans storm and overtake the United States capitol, on the very day the votes of the Electoral College were to be certified by Congress, the people’s representatives. 

My first question is: how did that mob manage to overwhelm the capitol building so easily? Did the security people from all the agencies -- FBI, ATF, Capitol Police, Park Police, National Guard, Metropolitan Police -- not know Trump’s MAGA army was coming? Did they forget that Trump invited them to DC for a “wild” day. Did they not know in advance that Trump was making a speech this morning in the city, at which he was one-hundred percent certain to incite his audience with rambling madness about fraud, stolen elections, victimhood and grievance? Didn’t get the email? Clueless? Just assumed it would be another day in DC? 

Why was the DC security apparatus -- all those federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies so quick to mobilize -- and with such overwhelming force and numbers -- against the Black Lives Matter protesters last June, and so absent today? What accounts for the disparity? 

We must ask many more questions about that, and maybe take a good long look at the racial composition of the security forces. Something tells me we will find many people sympathetic to, and supportive of, white supremacy and white nationalism. Yes, we better look at the people with badges as well as the people in the red hats. 

Mitt Romney can usually be relied on to say the right thing, and he did so again this evening.  

I didn’t expect that January 6, 2021 would go down as a day of infamy in American history.

Around 1:30 eastern time, I checked CNN to see what was happening and saw the bold headline. I was at work, but couldn’t tear myself away, knowing that this was a seminal moment in American history unfolding in real time. The bedrock idea of democratic elections and the peaceful transfer of political and military power was under direct assault, incited by Donald J. Trump. 

Do not call those people protesters. That was a mob of domestic terrorists, of insurrectionists. Do not compare them to peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters. That mob was from the same tribe that stormed the Michigan statehouse and plotted to kidnap the governor. A pack of people who feel aggrieved, almost all of them white. Michigan was a dry run. 

Let’s ask more questions. First, how much of a punk is Josh Hawley from Missouri? Call him Blow-Dried Ted Cruz. What a sniveling, gutless punk. Waste of a fine education at Stanford and Yale. Who is Josh Hawley to question Pennsylvania’s election process? Nobody. How dare he condemn the violence on the one hand, so pious and squeaky clean, and on the other say he’s just innocently bringing questions to the floor of Congress for debate. He’s just a patriotic guy looking out for average Americans, not a shamelessly ambitious politician trying to hitch himself to Trump’s base. Hawley, rot in hell. 

How’s Ted Cruz feeling at this hour? Ron Johnson? Does Kevin McCarthy think his hands are free of blood? What about Jim Jordan? Mark Meadows? Are you fuckers proud of yourselves? All of you, and many more, supported Trump’s election fraud fantasies, fed the beast that escaped its tether today, and now you express shock that the beast went berserk.

Oh, the hypocrisy on display in America’s capitol today. 

If that had been a mob of black people, many would have been shot dead on sight by the authorities. No doubt in my mind. Just like those good old days Trump and his followers so deeply long for, those days and nights in parts of Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas. The good old days when black people could be murdered with even more impunity than they can be today. 

Didn’t Trump call himself the Law & Order president? 

Has Lindsey Graham seen the light? After kneeling before Trump with his mouth wide open for four years? After four years of running interference for Trump? After four years of making excuses for Trump’s idiocy, incompetence, and ignorance? Now, Graham has seen the light? Another punk with blood on his hands. 

I’m sorry for being all over the place, and angry, but I am pissed off tonight. I’ve got CNN on in the background. I’m following the voting and listening to people being interviewed. 

Several weeks ago in this blog I warned of this danger: Trump has the nuclear codes. That’s why, four years too late, there is talk of invoking the 25th amendment. Trump’s ego is melting down and nobody can predict what he’ll do. 

And what will Trump’s MAGA army do next? What’s their next gambit? They had a big day today, off the leash and full of vigor, running amok under Trump’s banner. They were treated gingerly by the authorities, few were arrested, and the majority were allowed to walk away without penalty. White immunity works. 

How many resignations will we see in the next few days? How many will jump the disgraced Trump ship before it crashes? Who will be on the bridge with Trump when it all comes to an end on January 20? Jared and Ivanka? Don Jr. and Eric? Lara and Melania? Rudy Guliani and Kayleigh McEnany?

The Isolation Diaries No. 6

“Nobody can know the full consequences of their actions, and history is full of small acts that changed the world in surprising ways.” Rebecca Solnit

I think fourteen days have passed since the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus a pandemic. The death toll in the United States passed 1,000 yesterday. A month ago, Donald J. Trump said the number of cases was going down.

According to the Santa Barbara Independent, there are 26 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Santa Barbara County. 

My thoughts ricochet around like a .45 caliber bullet in a metal drum, from personal concerns like our TP supply, to thoughts about my job, money, staying healthy ourselves and hoping our friends and relatives remain healthy, to larger concerns about the long-term effects of this pandemic, and, because I can’t restrain myself, obsessively tracking the dismal response by the ruling class in general and the Trump Gang in particular. 

I’m watching too many segments of MSNBC on YouTube, reading too many news sources, checking Facebook too often. I feel it taking a psychic toll. In the midst of a pandemic the President of the United States doesn’t divert from his tried and true playbook: boast, brag, blame, and whine. 

Where are the Democrats? Day after day the people hear from Trump at his propaganda briefings, and naturally the word from the Malignant One is rosy, on the upswing, America is rising like the proverbial phoenix. “Nobody’s done the job we’ve done,” Trump says. Have you noticed how many times Trump describes his telephone conversations with governors and corporate CEO’s as “great“? The conversations are great if the governor or CEO first praises Trump, kisses his flabby white ass. “As we near the end of our battle,” Trump said yesterday, as if we’re at the end of the pandemic rather than the early stages of what may very well become a long siege. CEO-types and CNBC and Fox News yakkers pound the drums for a return to business-as-usual. Our fuedal lords are eager to send the serfs back to work. I fear that Trump -- by virtue of the Big Lie technique, the constant repitition of false or misleading statements -- is winning the narrative war. 

Lacking a Democratic response from Reality, many citizens -- if polling is reliable -- believe Trump is doing a fine job. In times of crisis, a sitting American president typically sees a bump in his approval rating, as George W. Bush did after 9/11. Prior to 9/11, if you remember, W was a little boy lost, wandering in circles with his pants down and snot hanging from his nose. It’s a normal response to support the president, who many people view as the embodiment of the government and nation, but how any one can watch Trump sputter, spew and lie, and believe the man gives a shit about the public welfare, is beyond my ability to comprehend. Trump is concerned about Trump, his re-election bid, his company, his resort properties, the stock market. Trump has enough functioning gray matter left (or maybe it’s feral survival instinct) to know that he will not win re-election if the country is mired in a depression, and unemployment is 25 or 30 percent. 

Trump found time to ridicule Senator Mitt Romney on Twitter, calling Romney a RINO (Republican in Name Only), after Trump learned that Romney tested negative for the Coronavirus. Even in this dire situation, Trump can’t muster an ounce of class. 

Trump lied yesterday about the extent of Coronavirus testing. While testing in the US is increasing, as it absolutely must, when viewed in proportional terms, we still lag behind the rest of the world. As the BBC reported, South Korea with a population of around 50 million has tested 1 in 150 people; the US, with a population of 330 million or so, has tested 1 in 1000.

No, Trump, we’re not winning. You’re calling the race over while the country looks for the starting line. You’re hawking the dangerous idea that the worst is behind us. The morgues are filling up in NYC, and healthcare workers there are wearing garbage bags as protective gowns.  

As I write this, unemployment claims in the US have surged to 3.3 million. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones has gained 1,158 points. Let this sink in. What does it tell you about what -- and who -- matters in America? 

Here’s a question: are you willing to risk your health, and possibly your life, not to mention the health of your family, friends and co-workers, for Donald J. Trump’s re-election? Because Trump is clearly willing to gamble our lives for his political advantage. 

Let that sink in, too. 

The Rule of Law is DOA

“The buck certainly doesn’t stop at his desk. Major League Baseball coaches face more retribution from the league’s commissioner for decoding their opponent’s signs than Trump will most likely face from the US Senate. It becomes clearer with each passing day that Trump has no problem with living in a swamp, as long as it’s his swamp.” Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch

The odds of witnesses being allowed to testify in Trump’s impeachment “trial” -- and who has ever seen a trial without witnesses or without the accused presenting one iota of exonerating evidence? -- are slim. True to his word, Mitch McConnell has twisted arms and growled threats to keep his caucus firmly in line behind Donald J. Trump. If no witnesses are allowed, we might as well pronounce the Rule of Law in America DOA. Thereafter, the batshit reasoning of Alan Dershowitz will become reality. 

This is the low point of my life as a citizen of the United States of America. I knew the impeachment trial in the Senate would be a farce. It’s astonishing to think that in a little more than three years, Donald J. Trump has shredded our most cherished institutions, and placed himself above the reach of law. According to Dershowitz’s bizarre logic, Trump can shoot Bernie Sanders dead and claim he acted in the service of his reelection, which is of course in the interests of the American people, meaning he will face no consequence whatsoever. Down in hell, Richard Nixon, who said it’s not against the law when the president does it, is smiling at finally being vindicated.  

The moral courage of the entire GOP would barely fill a thimble. How in the hell has Trump turned the GOP into a cult so quickly? Even Mitt Romney, who is independently wealthy and has nothing to fear from Trump, bows in subservience. Did these people never learn the simple playground lesson about bullies? You don’t retreat before a bully, you get in his face and expose him for the coward that he is. 

Profiles in cowardice, profiles in hypocrisy, profiles in sycophancy. This is every last man and woman in the GOP today. 

Donald J. Trump has dodged, ducked, and avoided accountability his entire life. The privileged little white boy, born with a silver spoon in his ass, always plays the victim, even as he stiffs contractors, cheats on his tax returns, lies about his wealth, and boasts about grabbing women by their private parts. The businessman who couldn’t make money in the casino business. The serial adulterer loved by Christian Nationalists. The racist adored by white supremacists. The ally of tyrants. The con man. 

Once Trump is acquitted there’s no return to the halcyon days of pedestrian political corruption. The system of checks and balances has been gamed. Get ready for full bore kleptocracy because there is nothing that can stop Trump. He may only be king of America’s rotting carcass, but he’s still king. 

The artist Patti Smith put it well in her memoir, Year of the Monkey: “A true darkening of days. All of the resources that could be used to scrape away lead from the walls of crumbling schools, to shelter the homeless, or to clean a foul river. Instead one candidate desperately shovels money down a pit, and the other builds empty edifices in his own name, another kind of immoral waste.” 

Race to Nowhere

Mitt and Barrack. Romney versus Obama. Rich white guy against rich mixed race guy.

There’s your presidential sweepstakes match-up come November and everybody knows it, even the nitwits on Good Morning America. Gingrich and Huntsman and Ron Paul and Santorum will hang around a while longer, but when push comes to shove, Republicans will hold their noses and select Romney. Evangelical Republicans will demand that Romney throw them a bone, so Romney will come out in support of one or more of the Bible thumper’s pet issues. He will say that he has always supported this or that, even if his past statements or actions contradict his assertion.

It’s going to be a long year of political blather, and you can bet the farm that neither Obama nor Romney will say jack shit about the real issues facing our country. Persistent high unemployment. Continuing foreclosures. State budget deficits. Income inequality. Rising poverty. With Romney it will always be morning in America, while Obama will claim that if not for his crack team of ex-Clintonistas, things would be much worse than they are.

My wife watches our local ABC affiliate every morning and by default we are subjected to the GMA team -- George, Robin, Josh and Sam -- not to mention the hacks they habitually turn to for “expert” commentary and analysis. Top flight journalism it’s not, unless you happen to be a believer in corporate media, and extremely gullible to boot. I will give this group credit for being sunny and upbeat, but I can go no further than that. Most mornings they incite my inner crank and make me want to hurl a shoe through the TV.

Don’t expect Obama or Romney to challenge the stranglehold that corporations have on the country, or the fact that “predatory” capitalism doesn’t work worth a damn -- unless the goal is to enrich the few at the expense of the many. For doing that, predatory capitalism is unbeatable, and Republicans – and far too many wimpy Democrats -- have supported this atavistic version of capitalism since Reagan. But if the goal is to create a vibrant middle class, with decent jobs at living wages, with reasonable access to medical care and higher education, with due respect for the fragility of the environment, predatory capitalism isn’t the answer.

Romney claims that his experience running a venture capital firm makes him uniquely qualified to create jobs. This is one of those Republican tropes that sounds good on the morning news but means absolutely nothing in the real world. At the heart of the claim is the belief that the private sector can do no wrong, and that government is always wasteful, inefficient, and inept. The answer, of course, is to kneel before the all-powerful, infallible Market God.

There’s nothing left in the Republican economic playbook. The pages are torn and yellowed, stained with bourbon and blood. In a nutshell here’s what they’ve got: tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, privatization of public assets, massive military spending, further deregulation, and a never-ending assault on “entitlement” programs. These ideas have failed. If you don’t believe me, look around.

Obama is vulnerable on the economy, but Republicans conveniently forget that Obama inherited an economic calamity from George W. Bush. This doesn’t excuse Obama – he’s governed far too timidly – but it does place his four years in the proper context.

Romney’s focus group tested attempts to pass himself off as a regular Joe are risible. He can roll up the sleeves on his plaid shirt all he wants, trot his wife and kids out for the obligatory photo, and eat corn on the cob with the yokels, but it cannot erase the fact that Romney is a man of privilege with a limited sense of what life is like for average folks.

The race is on, but it’s less a race to Pennsylvania Avenue than it is a race to nowhere.

Black Friday and Other Tales

New York City cops in full riot gear drive peaceful protesters from Zuccotti Park. Much the same thing happens in Portland, Oregon and on the campus at UC Berkeley. The powers that be in other places follow suit, citing concerns for safety and sanitation. Motionless, peaceful students at UC Davis are doused with pepper spray. Many protesters are arrested. Real democracy is messy and at times uncontrollable. The Occupy movement vows to continue.

Herman Cain, former pizza magnate, can’t keep his mitts off women. Sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger all over again, and we know what happened to Arnold. Herman’s candidacy was doomed to begin with, so it will be no surprise when he drops out of the race for the GOP nomination. Cain’s name recognition is higher than it was when he began his quixotic quest for the White House, and this will help him sell books and keynote speeches on the rubber chicken circuit in the near future.

Have you noticed that the media never mentions Cain’s race or demands that he answer questions about race? None of the “Is he too black?” or “Is he black enough?” questions about Herman. In the corporate media, race disappears as an issue once a man passes the conservative litmus test.

In the meantime, that bloated toad Newt Gingrich is rising in some polls, though nobody understands why. Gingrich was a blowhard when he was Speaker of the House and has done nothing in the intervening years except suck up to corporate donors. As a self-styled “historian,” Gingrich should know that a blind, three-legged dog has a better chance of being elected president than he does. The American electorate can be dumb, but not that dumb.

All Mitt Romney has to do to secure the GOP nomination is avoid a total mental breakdown, like what happened to Rick Perry recently – or be sideswiped by some long forgotten scandal. Everybody has a skeleton or two in the closet. Hard to say what that might be in Mitt’s case, but candidates who piously preach family values and the sanctity of marriage (only between a man and a woman of course), are generally tripped up by a skeleton of the sexual variety. Who knows, maybe Mitt had a homosexual dalliance as a curious undergraduate or dabbled in cross-dressing.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama wanders around the White House late at night wondering what became of the magic. Liberals can’t stand him. Environmentalists want his balls on a platter. Labor leaders feel betrayed by him. Young people who worked their butts off to get out the vote for Obama in 2008 now fully understand how it feels when a politician fools them into thinking he is something that he is not. Those voters are likely to stay home in droves come 2012, a possibility that contributes to Obama’s late night strolls through a silent White House. Every now and then Obama is convinced that he hears the ghost of Richard Nixon whispering in the corridors. Though for different reasons, Nixon often felt hated and trapped.

But to hell with all that political garbage. What really matters in America at this moment – beside the fact that legendary football coach Joe Paterno has been dislodged from his pedestal and Demi and Ashton are calling it quits -- is that Black Friday is drawing nigh. All over the land shop-a-holics are polishing their credit cards and planning for that magic moment when the glass doors finally swing open at Wal-Mart or Target or Best Buy, and they surge forward with the rest of the herd, trampling security guards, unattended small children, elderly ladies, and sales clerks. There will be casualties on Black Friday, brawling in the aisles, fistfights in the parking lot, and many hospital emergency rooms will be forced to turn patients away. Serious Black Friday shoppers accept the risks of bodily injury in the same way a mountain climber on Everest does.