Month: January 2023

At times you get embarrassed to be considered part of the same species as some of our elected officials. There have been far too many of these times of late.

Recent trips to some of the cities struggling with the aftermath of police shootings have led the whitest white man in America, Mike Pence, and his benevolent benefactor, the Donald to conclude just one thing. The fires that have resulted from the back and forth of the protesters, police and bugaloo boys are acts of political terrorism. The “terrorism” has been perpetrated of course by the protesters, some of whom include known ne’er do well groups such as the “Wall of Moms”.

Let me just say, I am shocked and appalled. Has anyone ruled out the Saudia Arabian Islamic Fundamentalists who hate us for our way of life? Has anyone ruled out a rogue Boy Scout attempting to get their bonfire badge? Has anyone ruled out the local TKE fraternity? They are a well known bunch of fire starters.

Speaking of Firestarters, where was the little girl from the Stephen King novel? Has she got an alibi? Once you fly through the looking glass with the current Republican administration, anything is possible right? By defining the protests as political terrorism it opens a whole new can of worms for everybody.

If one were to Google “Political terrorism”  one would find a list of criteria that experts feel must be in place to separate political terrorism from, say, a drunk bunch of college kids. I think this definition makes an interesting distinction: “Political terrorism differs from criminal terrorism in that political terrorism usually involves efforts to influence an audience. Generally speaking, the criminal terrorist does not want a big audience.”

So a political terrorist creates an act that gains maximum exposure to his cause. Think bombing the statue of Lord Nelson by the I.R.A, the Paris Bombings or the Centennial Park bombing in Atlanta. These were huge events that were designed to get maximum coverage for the terrorist’s manifesto. Eric Rudolph would not have been satisfied with setting fire to the Pic N Pay in Murphy, N.C.

The use of the term “political terrorism” doesn’t pass the smell test, and probably everyone flaunting the term knows it. It’s been fifty years since anyone on the Left has been motivated enough about a cause to bomb anything. While the thoughts of a second term of this president are completely frightening, it doesn’t rise to the level of targeting the Danish Brotherhood Lodge in Kenosha. The fires in Kenosha are not a rallying cry for the Left, believe me.

It is political fodder for the Right, though. Now the Donald has some actual protester violence set here in America to replace the previous Ukraine footage he used in his ads. The visualization of burning cities will be used to convince his followers that the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party will lead to complete anarchy. The Donald conveniently forgets that the fires, like the Covid, occurred on his watch, and, whatever the problem, “he alone can fix it”.

If you don’t see the similarities between the Donald and the rise of some other famous white supremacist dictators, then you should read more. The Reichstag bombing would be a good place to start.

Let me begin by saying I love Zombies. I will watch or read anything Zombie related. In fact, I love listening to The Zombies, “Tell Her No” is one of my favorites.

“Tell Her No”, might be a kind of, sort of segue into talking about the Donald’s recent polling. Maybe if the Donald had learned to “Tell Her No” when all of those women were throwing themselves at him, forcing him to abuse and violate them, the Donald might be winning in the polls. Instead, he is speaking to less and less people at his rallies. It seems that some of his dedicated followers have become shamed by the effects of his actions. Children in cages is never a good look, even if they are brown. Some of the most ardent Republican party-liners are holding their nose and crossing party divides in search of a better candidate / human being.

But what about the remaining followers, his base? Who are these Zombies that will follow the Donald over the cliff in the blind pursuit of “making America great again, again”? Well, first off, they are people who believe facts will never “trump” their firm convictions. Absolutely no evidence can dissuade the Donald’s supporters that we are not headed to Hell in a hand basket, and that only the Donald can save us. After all, He, the Donald said, “I alone can fix it”.

No evidence can be brought forward that will convince these Zombies that Obama was a good President. Pointing out to Trump supporters that Obama did a great job, in spite of a completely dysfunctional Congress’ lack of support, is like waving a bucket of brains in front of a Zombie. It sends them into a frenzy. The Zombies reaction to a black president is almost as strong as it is to the thought of a woman President. Why? What is this broken portion of the brain that no longer responds to reason or reality?

I’ve come to believe that the Donald has figured out a viable subliminal message system and is using it to disconnect the frontal lobes of his followers. Just like the movie theaters used to do by flashing pictures of popcorn and candy to entice the audience to the concession stand, the Donald is showing imagery of evil immigrants of every color and religious persuasion to cause his Zombies to salivate for their blood.

I don’t think the Donald’s skilled oratory can explain the trance like state of his followers. Even when rousing the rabble with exultations from the podium like, “I will build a great wall–and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me–and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”  I feel like the audience’s reactions are less about the words than some complete loss of cognition, or, susceptibility to the subliminal messaging.

Perhaps the Donald’s participation in politics is all about Beta testing his next world-wide scam, the “Trump Trance”. I can envision the whole program unfurling before an unsuspecting universe. The program would only be found in the gift shops of Trump hotels and taught by certified Trump instructors. The advertising just writes itself:

“Book your next management seminar event at a Trump Hotel and receive one complementary “Trump Trance” program. “Trump Trance”, guaranteed to get your employees thinking just the way you want them to. Professional discounts available to autocratic dictators”.

I’ve been through a lot of presidential campaigns. I am old. I even remember watching the Republican national convention with my family when Eisenhower was nominated. Our TV had a small black and white screen and was subject to weather interruptions affecting our antenna. No, we didn’t have cable back then.

It was before the Internet and not even the most enlightened science fiction writer had conceived of the idea of Tweets. Yes, it was a simple time, but, there was a truth in that simplicity that is sorely lacking in today’s media.

It seems that the major news services, CNN, et.al. are content to allow the general public, or worse, party hacks to formulate the news delivered to the general public. Our news services have fallen so far down the black hole of hyperbole and innuendo that they are allowing anyone with a phone or Skype account to be a credible news source, and therefore have an audience.

In the interest of “fair and balanced”, a phrase coined by the most unfair and unbalanced agency out there, news agencies have abdicated their responsibility to provide their viewership with the thing we crave the most, the truth. The abdication has come over a period of time, but it has risen to levels invoking the gag reflex in this campaign.

Candidates and surrogates are allowed to go before a national audience and spin lies while hiding under a smoke screen of obfuscation. Where are the investigators, the truth tellers? Where are the Edward R. Murrows, the Walter Cronkites of the millennial generation? Why is everything that we see on the news presented in a manner that invokes “he said, she said” scenarios that are never resolved?

Are high ratings the only consideration for today’s news services? Is providing a format for the deranged and delusional the primary interest in presenting a topic? I see the journalistic imperative that requires a rebuttal to a breaking news item, such as a video tape of a candidate taking a bribe or such, but where does it say the anchor has to allow the rebuttal to include not only a response to the news item, but a response that attacks some other issue? Have today’s anchors not learned the term “diverting”, or is ignoring the diversion their way of keeping the viewership of the accused party?

Allow me to oversimplify. Chicken Little goes into the barnyard proclaiming, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”. Stalwart reporter, Bob the Burro, looks out from his shed and determines that there is no immediate evidence at hand that the sky is falling. He then interviews other members of the barnyard in different locales to determine if they have experienced any “sky falling” activity. Next he investigates the personal history of Chicken Little and determines that Chicken Little has been under psychiatric care for some time due to “flights” of fantasy.

At no time would Bob the Burro seek to find a Chicken Little apologist that would attempt to explain what Chicken Little really meant. At no time would Bob the Burro seek to find an “expert” that could give credence to the possibility that the sky could fall. Bob the Burro knows that it’s not in his purview to make a story, it’s to present the facts of the story he’s been given.

If only our current news agencies were as smart as Bob the Burro.

I’m including a picture this go round to illustrate how sometimes the passage of time will cloud our perception of reality. What you see in the picture is the largest antifa protest ever organized. This is the view of an American soldier who is about to land on the beach at Normandy, France on D-Day. This relates to me personally because my dad was on the battleship U.S.S. Texas that day providing artillery support for the invasion.

The D-Day Center relates that the “D-Day protest” included 156,115 U.S., British and Canadian troops, 6,939 ships and landing vessels, and 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders. Of these brave men, 14,000 would die on the beach. This collection of patriots were in that location at that time to register as strong a protest as possible to the takeover of Europe by the Fascist regimes of Germany and Italy.

The White House archives reports that From D-day through August 21, the Allies landed more than two million men in northern France and suffered more than 226,386 casualties: 72,911 killed/missing and 153,475 wounded. Wikipedia states that between 70 to 85 million people died as a result of World War II. Think of it, 70 to 85 million died as a result of the world trying to oppose Fascism. Fast forward 80 years and we live in a world where the President of the United States wants to have an Anti-Fascist group categorized as a terrorist group. ????

In the South we have a saying, “you’re either fer me or agin me” The phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a little too deep for most of us. We have a tendency to just line people up one side or the other of the chalk line and proceed. How we got to the point of the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy is some seriously convoluted thinking. Everyone who loves democracy, freedom and liberty are opposed to Fascism. How can one be opposed to an anti-fascist group?

WiKipedia offers us a pretty good definition of Fascism, “Fascism is a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.” Hmmmm! So, if I was a person seeking absolute control, wanted to suppress criticism of me by the press, wanted all industry in the hands of my family or loyal supporters, wasn’t inhibited by any moral standards and was willing to stoop to using racism or xenophobia or bigotry to further my goals, I might be a Fascist. Hmmmm!

Occam’s razor works pretty well here. It makes perfect sense why an authoritarian President might want to label an anti-fascist group as a terrorist group. A terrorist group in the U.S. would be under the constant scrutiny of the FBI. Labeling Antifa as a terrorist group would make it simple for the FBI to persecute/prosecute them. I guess in the end it all boils down to the southern solution, “you’re either fer me or agin me”. If we’re picking up sides, put me in the anti-fascist camp.

Sometimes when researching what seems like the obvious, one finds a complete outlier that dispels all of one’s preconceived notions. While looking for a list of the countries that had the highest number of college graduates per capita, I came across a few surprises. In my preconceived notion, I would have put all five of the Scandinavian countries in the top ten. It is clear that I missed that day of schooling.

Turns out, Russia leads the pack of the most college graduates by population. Following along behind Russia are: Canada, Japan, Israel, United States, Korea, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland. Wow, I really proved my lack of knowledge there, not a Scandinavian country in the bunch.

During President Obama’s administration, high school graduation rose in the U.S. to record levels and continued to rise until 2017-18. During this period there continued to be a wide disparity between the white graduation rate and blacks and Latinos, but all groups advanced during the Obama administration. More high school graduates equates to more college candidates, and, regardless of background, all children deserve a shot at college.

My interest in higher education is multi-pronged. First off, it’s just more fun to talk to educated people. There’s a lot more to learn. Next is a concern for where the United States will find itself in the next decade or so if we don’t keep up with the other countries in terms of educating our youth.
It’s very easy to see how multi-national companies would be more interested in placing regional offices in countries where there is an educated populace.

My next big concern is for the long term well being of our country. Generally speaking, the better educated people are more tolerant. They realize that while others may have different life experiences, those life experiences don’t disqualify them from being good citizens, neighbors, friends or even family.

Many on the far side believe that education is the problem, not the solution. They believe that only by keeping their children in the dark regarding disparate views to their own that they are keeping their children pure to the family’s belief systems. I say give them all of the views there are and then let the child prove or disprove the theories as an exercise in academic discipline. If man has only been on the Earth for six thousand years, gather the evidence and present the proof. “I believe” is not a proof. I might believe three plus four equals eight, but I am certainly unable to prove it.

Ensuring our children get the best education possible is one of the most important challenges facing a parent. We can see from the list above that four other countries are guaranteeing that their children are better able to negotiate the future than the United States. The fact that the United States is fifth on the list in spite of the enormous debt placed on the students and parents is remarkable.

For all of those who want to “Make America Great Again”, and are determined to make the U.S. number one in every measurement, can there be a better place than college graduates? Of course we’d have to make education from pre-K through graduate school free to all to attain the number one spot, but isn’t that a small price to pay for world dominance?

Since most of us are not in the one percent, or even the ten percent, we have all experienced the lash of privilege in some way. The privileged can exclude us in oh so many ways, exclusive clubs, schools, neighborhoods, etc. But some times the ways are not as obvious, like children playing baseball.

Growing up we had one “wealthy” family in our neighborhood. The Greens always had the latest and the newest of everything from cars to the first color TV in our neighborhood. What was most important to me though, was that the boy my age had every toy and piece of sports paraphernalia known to man. Whenever pickup games were called, and the group was between baseballs or bats or gloves, we could always ask Mikey to play. The invite always included his equipment.

Now, on the surface it sounds like we children had negotiated a settlement that worked for all. Mikey got to play, which would have not been the case had he not provided the equipment. The rest of us got to play with an endless supply of new equipment. Win, win, right? Not really.

It seems that the privileged learn at a very early age that if they are the providers of capital, in this case balls and bats, then they are due a return on their investment. Foul balls are called fair, strikes are called balls and tag outs always “just missed”. For a while the rules can be bent in the interest of getting to play, but eventually, an event takes place that is so egregious that it cannot be ignored. At that point the privileged go to an arguing position that must be learned in utero.

The argument might proceed in a normal fashion, with a reasonable back and forth, until the ultimatum will be delivered, “if you don’t do thus and so, then I’ll take my bat and ball and go home.” Depending on the lateness of the hour, we might decide to let Mikey take his bat and ball and go home and wish him Godspeed in doing it. It was a lot harder decision in the early innings.

How all of this relates is the trumpeting of one Donald J. Trump that if he loses, the election must be rigged. Having been allowed to bully and coerce everyone around him since birth, he is now thoroughly convinced that the world agrees with his every thought. If the polls say something different, then they are rigged. If the election does not go his way, then it would have been stolen from him.

The Donald has gone so far with his lunacy to suggest that his minions should monitor the voting booths. Nothing says a fair and impartial election like a group of armed skinheads at every polling place.

Being held hostage by the fear of a revolution if the Donald doesn’t win is not a situation that any American, Republican or Democrat, should stand for. Even Trump’s Libertarian supporters should rebel at the extortion being employed.

Fortunately there are a few adults left in charge. Even some of the most staunch Republicans are calling for the Donald to quit his whining and just run his race. Let’s all give democracy a chance

As far as I am concerned, I am more than happy for the Donald to take his bat and ball and go home. “Good riddance to bad rubbish” as we used to say when we were kids.

Saw the headline the other day where Congress was going to change the retirement rules. Silly me, I thought they meant them and not us. The other certainty in life besides death and taxes is that at some point you’re going to have to retire unless you’re a member of Congress. A classic example of “I make the rules for thee, not me.”

If you’re a member of Congress you get to stay on as long as your campaign machinery can convince your constituency that you’re still bringing home the bacon. Consider the case of the oldest person to ever serve in Congress, Strom Thurmond. Strom made it to one hundred and formally retired from Congress in 2003. He didn’t make Robert Byrd’s record of longest serving member of Congress, 51 years, but did wear the crown of being the oldest body to answer the roll call. When the people that they serve are routinely starting to look for soft places to land at about age 55, and even face mandatory retirement, why do Congress critters get to continue on well past their prime?

The current Senate includes these octo and septuagenarians:

State	First Name	Last Name	Party	Age	Birthdate
California	Dianne	Feinstein	Democratic	87	6/22/33
Iowa	Chuck	Grassley	Republican	87	9/17/33
Alabama	Richard	Shelby	Republican	86	5/6/34
Oklahoma	Jim	Inhofe	Republican	86	11/17/34
Vermont	Patrick	Leahy	Democratic	80	3/31/40
Vermont	Bernie	Sanders	Independent – Dem Caucus	79	9/8/41
Kentucky	Mitch	McConnell	Republican	78	2/20/42
Idaho	Jim	Risch	Republican	77	5/3/43
Maryland	Ben	Cardin	Democratic	77	10/5/43
Maine	Angus	King	Independent – Dem Caucus	76	3/31/44

There’s some important names there, as there is in the list from the House:

ST-DIST	First Name	Last Name	Party	Age	Birthdate
AK-AL	Don	Young	Republican	87	6/9/1933
TX-30	Eddie Bernice	Johnson	Democratic	85	12/3/1935
FL-20	Alcee	Hastings	Democratic	84	9/5/1936
CA-32	Grace	Napolitano	Democratic	84	12/4/1936
NJ-09	Bill	Pascrell	Democratic	84	1/25/1937
KY-05	Hal	Rogers	Republican	83	12/31/1937
CA-43	Maxine	Waters	Democratic	82	8/15/1938
MD-05	Steny	Hoyer	Democratic	81	6/14/1939
CA-12	Nancy	Pelosi	Democratic	80	3/26/1940
SC-06	Jim	Clyburn	Democratic	80	7/21/1940
NC-04	David	Price	Democratic	80	8/17/1940

A lot of Democrats, and I know they mean well, but are there not some people out there that don’t think that the internet is a series of tubes like Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska did? Of course he was eighty-three at the time and maybe the fast pace that the world was spinning was just beyond his grasp, like his Metamucil.

I realize I’m risking throwing out “years of invaluable experience” by proposing that we put a federal age limit on government workers, but why should our representatives not have to deal with the same environment they place us in? What decisions would they make if they knew they were going to be turned out to pasture at age 65? What changes would occur to Social Security, Medicare, et al if the Congress critters knew that they were going to be constantly threatened by the loss of benefits from a group of untouchables?

It’s hard to enforce empathy, I know, but by putting Congress in the same boat with us, at least we know they’ll take care of themselves even if they don’t feel empathy for the less fortunate. Empathy aside, let’s discuss decision making.

Decision making ability tends to peak around age 50 with younger people making decisions based on how they see the future or would like for the future to turn out as opposed to the elder population using prior experience to flavor their decisions. We all have hundreds of examples of “we’ve always done it this way,” I share in the guilt. What’s hard to do for older persons is to keep up with advances in technology and social mores that the younger generations have already adapted to.

We’ve determined that twenty-five for the House and thirty for the Senate is the minimum age for which one can have the maturity to be a Congress member. Rather than the age-old question of term limits never getting resolved, maybe we should resolve to turn all Congress people out at age 65, regardless of the length of their term.