Monday, November 4, 2024

Trump's Quest for Power

It is foolish to believe that people's views can be changed by a post on social media; certainly not late in a contentious election cycle.   Persuasion or not, though, sometimes we just need to scream into the abyss at the ludicrous place in which we find ourselves.  

The margins of conceivable victory in the presidential race are razor thin.  But whichever candidate prevails, substantial damage has been done to our national reputation.  Our nation will have to live with the infamy that Donald Trump is even taken seriously.  

Donald Trump is utterly unqualified to be president; he lacks the intellect, temperament, experience, and judgment, evidencing not a trace of the self-awareness of his shortcomings.  Eight years ago, all he had was name recognition, from a lifetime of high-visibility marriages, and divorces, and high-visibility real estate projects, many of which ended in bankruptcy - and finally, a stupid game-show.  But people were somehow ready to at least imagine that he could function as president, and develop the skills and bearing befitting that station.  

But that was not to be.  Instead of growing into the office, he shrunk the presidency to match himself. Once he attained the power he sought, he wielded it ruthlessly ... dictatorially.  Then, at the end of his term, when he was voted out of office, he took the dictator's approach of denial, lying, and suborning a violent insurrection, in order to remain in place.  For the first time in US history, we had a sitting president subverting the peaceful transfer of power.  

His dictatorial leadership alienated the best of the people he could attract into his administration--people who had experience, and knowledge of how our system is supposed to work--many of whom are appalled at the prospect of him regaining power.  These outspoken opponents include secretaries of state, national security advisers, military branch chiefs of staff, and even his vice president.  

Never before in our history has such a collection of alumni stood in opposition to their former commander-in-chief.

His bullying was as outlandish internationally as it was domestically.  While in office, he disparaged and alienated our partners in international alliances that have helped maintain peace and stability--and resolve crises--in Europe and east Asia for decades.  Instead, he cultivated personal alliances with many of the most dangerous dictators in the world, most prominently Vladamir Putin - who stands to benefit most from the collapse of the NATO alliance.  Trump extorted the beleaguered Ukrainian president; threatening to cut off military aid, unless Ukraine fabricated and released damaging information against Trump's presumed opponent.  

As he cultivates his alliances with these dictators, he has repeatedly spoken enviously of the unitary power they exercise in their countries - expanding that admiration to include the worst dictators from recent history, including Adolf Hitler.  

Four years after losing his bid for re-election, he still maintains, and his knuckle-dragging cult still believes, the totally debunked fantasy that he won the 2000 election, and was robbed of his second term.  

He is prepared to repeat, and expand upon the worst abuses of his first term, if given another chance.  His abuse of the most vulnerable members of our society; racial, religious, and other ethnic minorities, our LGBTQ+ neighbors, immigrants ... anybody who he can single out and 'other' in the narrow minds of his core constituency.  He makes no pretense of decency when mocking them; fabricating and amplifying toxic slanders - such as the claim that refugees are stealing and eating the dogs in neighborhoods where they live, or that 'woke' schools are surgically changing the sex of children without their knowledge.  These stories would be horrific enough, if shared as jokes.  But, because he insists that his cult listen only to his 'truth', and ignore all other sources of information, the most credulous among them believe that these are true.  

The world waits anxiously to know whether, for the next four years, the United States will be a force for stability and peace, or whether they will face a world in which both a dictatorial United States, and Putin's expanding, dictatorial Russia will use their combined strength and corruption to dominate the rest of the world.  Whichever it is, nobody can escape the sad fact that it is this close.  



Sunday, September 8, 2024

Paxton and Fugitive Exercise of Rights

In a move that smacks of nothing so much as the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking to extend his power of repression, and violation of personal freedom and privacy beyond his state's lines.  

Paxton HIPAA Interstate Violation

Paxton is utterly shameless in his constant search for distractions from his own prodigiously corrupt record.  

Sunday, August 11, 2024

Answering Hate with Love

I flipped on the TeeVee a couple minutes ago, and the Olympics closing ceremonies were on.  As the athletes marched out, one of the first images I saw was Imane Khelif, the gold-medal winning Algerian  boxer.  As she passed the camera, she kissed her gold medal, and smiled sweetly at the camera.  

That's beautiful!  This talented young woman, who had become the target of the most hateful expressions of misogyny, from the foulest sectors of American society, responded with gentle love and humor.   

You go girl!  Knock 'em down for the count!   

Sunday, August 4, 2024

A Study in Contrasts

Last week, President Biden pulled off a diplomatic feat, orchestrating the largest prisoner exchange with Russia since the Cold War days and the Soviet Union.  

Consistent with his character, Biden played down his role in this historic event, deflecting credit to our allies in Europe, particularly Germany and Slovenia - who released prisoners while gaining nothing in return.  

Meanwhile, up in the peanut gallery, a heckler—who played no part in this exchange whatsoever—tried to claim credit for it, even as he belittled the accomplishment; claiming it as a win for his mentor in Moscow.  This claim was parroted by his running mate, as well as his always-reliable lick-spittle, Lindsey Graham.  

What an incredible character study in contrasting leadership styles – hard work, humility, and shared credit, versus narcissistic vapor-ware puffery. 

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Biden Withdraws


I'm as conflicted today as one would be witnessing a beloved father surrendering his car keys.  

As things now lie, President Biden can retire on an exceptional record of accomplishment in his presidency, vice-presidency, and throughout a lifetime in the Senate.  

And, as things now lie--whether the Democratic candidate is Kamala Harris, or somebody else--we are offered a clear choice; maturity and civility, or ...

rather than finish that sentence, I encourage you to read the 'grace and dignity' with which the opponent responded to President Biden's withdrawal from the race; so absolutely typical. and indicative of his well-established mental illness:

https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/07/21/joe-biden-drops-out-election/trump-pounces-00170008



I would have had no fear with President Biden leading us on the world stage, if we still had the kind of country that backs the president in international affairs.  

But his most dangerous enemies--our nation's most dangerous enemies--are no longer foreign.  They are Americans, under the domination of an adversarial foreign power.  

Friday, June 14, 2024

Mind Your Own Damn Business!

We're approaching the midway point of Pride Month, when we celebrate our LGBTQ brothers and sisters (etc., it is hard to keep up, I'll admit).  

Earlier this week, was National Loving Day, which commemorates the Supreme Court Loving v. Virginia decision in 1967, disallowing state laws that had banned interracial marriages.  

Then yesterday, the current Supreme Court unanimously tossed out a proposed nationwide ban on Mifepristone, a drug used by women to privately terminate pregnancy.  

I propose we institute a 'Mind Your Own Damn Business' week, combining the best attributes of these - and encourages the Gladys Kravitz's cross our land to stop peeking through the curtains of other people's lives ... and maybe get one of their own. 

If this week is well received, maybe we can stretch it out to ... I don't know ... forever?

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

M.T. Greene, The Steroid Queen

Do you suppose that if Georgia's Congressional CrossFit Queen backed off a little (or maybe a lot) on her steroid dosages, it could help prevent these manic outrage episodes?  

I doubt that there is any way for her to un-grow that  paleo brow, or the other cosmetic side effects, but at least she might be able to begin practicing some more civilized homo-sapiens behaviors.  

MT Greene's Attack on Fauci