Jharrin4's Blog

President Small Hands/Big Mouth has nominated Neil Gorsuch to replace Antonin Scalia, the semi-recently deceased SCOTUS ultra-conservative. Gorsuch is clearly conservative, with potentially Scalia-like judicial mindedness. Perhaps he’s not a complete disciple of the, at times, radically pro-corporate, anti-working class Antonin. That’s what Senate hearings on any SCOTUS nominee are for: get some insights into how the potential black robe-wearing, sworn-in for his or her remaining life  jurist may vote on the myriad issues brought before the full nine member Supremes. You know, those decisions that, within the last few decades have affected gun legislation, same-sex marriage, the environment, immigration, healthcare (including women’s reproductive rights) and so much more.

When Scalia was still drawing breath, he was part of what had been, a clearly 5-4 conservative (and at times radically so) Court. Upon his death, suddenly there was a 4-4 split. President Obama, as was his Executive right to do so, named Merrick Garland as the nominee to replace Antonin. Garland wasn’t considered radical left or right. Many Republicans had (prior to his nomination) spoke kindly of him. This was early in 2016. President Obama had 10 months left in his second term. And, as I noted, he had every right, indeed a duty, to act sooner-than -later on filling that vacant Court seat.

Well, right and duty be damned!, declared Mitch McConnell. According to McConnell and his Republican-controlled Senate, Obama should “let the people of the United States decide” who the next nominee should be. His declaration was that no hearing would  be held on Garland, so that the November election would allow we the people to have a say in the matter. In so doing, McConnell was flat-out violating his own oath of office, and blatantly intending to stonewall the Obama nominee. Outrageous as this gambit was, the Democrats, once again, reacting with nothing more than some expressed umbrage, let McConnell’s pissing on the constitutionality of Obama’s right to have his nominee get a hearing stand firm. Obama’s “bully pulpit” went unused, as though he never knew it existed.

Of course the Democratic Party, that (as noted in my previous blog) for decades had become more compliant and accommodating to the Republican ideology (can you say Reagan Democrat?) didn’t make much of a fuss over this subversive maneuver by McConnell. The one-time, “party of the people” having become so weak, so spineless, was just being themselves (with maybe a handful of old-school, FDR types as the exception, members of the “Democratic wing”  of the Democratic Party, as it were).

Now, as we all know, McConnell’s pompous-assed ploy worked to perfection, since (as also previously noted) the Democrats managed to un-inspire tens of millions of voters to yawn about candidate Hillary who, in spite of actually winning the election by popular vote, likely hears the deafening echos of those yawning millions who unwittingly allowed the reality TV wack job to become our Wack Job-in-chief.

But back to the the just announced Supreme Court nominee, and his likelihood of again establishing a 5-4 right-to-far-right Court. No doubt, there’s not going be any stopping the Republican controlled Senate from confirming Gorsuch. The Republicans tend to be in lock-step. And yes, though they are a Party of fear-mongering, union-busting, profits over people, anti-science, anti-environmental protection, anti-regulation, an unctious branch of organized crime, they keep winning elections.   So, bad on those yawning non-voters. Bad on the media and it’s sucking-up to The Apprentice blow-hard. Bad on those who are racist, misogynists, Islamaphobes or xenophobes, one and all who voted for the most disgraceful candidate for President in the history of our country.

Most of all, however, bad, really, really BAD on the National Democratic Party, whose incompetent and collusive political ethos has culminated in all of the fear and loathing from the campaign trail to now infest The White House and Congress. Today, and essentially every day, since January 2oth, 2017 is Groundhog Day. But it’s not the Groundhog Day akin to classic movie of the same name, when a hapless Bill Murray had to live the same day over and over. At least his stuck-in-time character was placed in a largely upbeat, if not silly, observance of a Groundhog either seeing or not seeing his shadow, within a semi-mythical town peppered with fairly pleasant souls. No one meant Murray’s character any harm on any of the endless days of repetition he had to endure. His torment was from within himself, not from the externals of the day. Not so with the current repetition (at least for those of us who did not vote for Small Hands). Our Groundhog Day loop is entirely external in its torments. The particulars of the external sources have some venal variance, but their effects are inexorably burrowing into our psyches with the sameness of Murray’s daily, internal psychic struggle, regardless of the kindheartedness of those co-habiting his existential imprisonment.

Yeah, we’re stuck. But consider this when fretting over the the McConnell malfeasance: The Supreme Court would now be a 5-3 Left-leaning body if not for the confirmation of one Clarence Thomas, confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 1991. Thomas was cynically nominated by George H.W.Bush to replace another African-American Justice, Thurgood Marshall. I say cynically because Marshall was a lifelong advocate for the common good, and a vital voice in fighting against the old Jim Crow era of U.S.history. Marshall is a towering figure who literally placed himself in harm’s way to right wrongs during his lifetime.

Clarence Thomas? No quite such a towering figure of noble actions, back during his hearings or in his years on the Court. For those not familiar, during his Senate hearings, Thomas was accused of being a serial sexual harasser of numerous women under his authority while he was Chairman of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Most notably was the testimony of Anita Hill, though she was not alone in her accusations. With his nomination seemingly destroyed, Thomas then played the race card, famously declaring the hearings “an electronic lynching”. Never mind that, even without the sexual misconduct he was accused of, Thomas had a paltry portfolio for a Supreme Court candidate. A vapid, in some ways grotesque, choice to replace the remarkable Thurgood Marshall. 

Well, like McConnell’s ploy, it worked. But not because the Republicans controlled the Senate. In fact at the time of the hearings, the democrats held a 57-43 advantage! But enough democrats caved in when the race card was played, or others who, being from states with a large African-American constituency, still gave Thomas their vote. The result was a 52-48 thumbs up for Thomas. Arguably unqualified from the start, and a sexual predator to boot, he is the Justice who, to this day, has allowed the Supreme Court to have that 5-4, very conservative advantage. If the democrats had stood their ground, and forced a more moderate replacement for Marshall, the Gorsuch nomination wouldn’t be nearly as troubling. For that matter, had the democrats had a spine in 1991, along with their large advantage in the Senate, there would not have been a 5-4 SCOTUS decision that placed George W. Bush in the White House, there to start a war in Iraq based on lies. There would not have been a Citizens United decision that declared money as free speech. And so much more…

The Democratic Party. We need to replace it. It no longer deserves anyone’s support as a viable alternative to the GOP. The democrats talk the talk, but continually fail to walk the walk. They are simply political dead weight, in my humble opinion.

 Go Green, I say.  As I have asserted, if only Bernie Sanders had run as a Green, he’d be in the Oval Office. 

But still, happy Groundhog Day! Did that critter see its shadow? Six more weeks of winter? Who gives a rat’s ass one way or another? For certain, we’re looking at at least 206 more weeks political winter. Maybe far morw than that…

On October 12, 2014 I posted a blog that took to task the Democratic party for its decades long descent into becoming “enablers” of the what has been an even much longer descent into corrupt and self-serving politics by the Republican Party. At that time, I predicted the 2014 mid-term election would be a disaster for the Democrats, and it was: the Republicans gained six new seats in the Senate, to give it control over that body of government,  and gained their largest majority in the House of Representatives since 1928. 

I don’t have a crystal ball. But I have eyeballs, ears and a functioning brain that made it crystal clear that the Democrats, the once-upon-a-time party of the people, had become virtually another wing of the corporate-controlled Republican national party. Invoking Bill Clinton’s signing off on the job-killing (for American manufacturing, in particular) NAFTA agenda, and his signature approving a Republican (Newt Gingrich inspired) bill that overhauled the welfare system, a program now deemed to have made “reform” of welfare mechanisms more of a monstrous obstacle course for those seeking statutory procedures promoting basic material and physical well-being as evidence of this “enabling” collusion with Republican  ideology.

Pundits and millions of the public at-large have voiced their disapproval of this now quasi-fascist takeover of the United States government. How did Dr.Strangelove win?! How did Hillary Clinton lose?!

Well,  about 90 million eligible voters sat out the election (the lazy and stupid). And, as has been clearly documented, Hillary garnered virtually 3 million more popular votes than her opponent. But that electoral college. The voter suppression laws (compliments  of those Republican-controlled state legislatures). Thus, the runner-up is declared the winner. The Democrats damn well know Strangelove didn’t legitimately win the election. Former President Obama (you know, the hope and change President  who talked that talk but became yet another capitulator: he had the Senate and House at the beginning of his first term in office. What, exactly, did he and the Democrats do with such an advantage?) damn well knows the election was a fraud. The Democrats, the party that even when it has the majority in congress and has a Democrat for President, somehow lets the minority party call the shots. The Democrats, who ran a horribly wrong-person, wrong-time candidate. The Democrats, who had to realize it was that other candidate, the Social Democrat, Senator Bernie Sanders, who was far more likely to defeat Dr.Strangelove, but instead sabotaged his candidacy every chance they got. The Democrats, far removed from being a party of the people, had to see what was likely to happen, then saw it happen, then instead of acting on evidence of the election being tampered with by the FBI Director and Russian Hackers, and an apparent alliance between Vladimir Putin and Dr.Strangelove, and the aforementioned blatant voter suppression by Republicans, simply stepped aside, and let this happen!

Sure, there have a been a few democrats who decried this turn of events, especially Rep John Lewis. However, as a whole, as I have asserted many times, the national Democratic Party apparently sold its soul long ago. How can the republicans, who can’t win elections without voter suppression or gerrymandering, (okay, both parties do it, but the democrats seem so incompetent at such tactics) who are virtually another version  of organized crime, championing legislation that caters to environmental polluters and Wall Street charlatans that have cost Americans their homes, pensions and even their lives in some cases, how can this venal Republican Party keep gaining more power? There has, seemingly forever, been more registered democrats than republicans. Yet, the democrats keep losing political ground, to the point now that but for the lame-brained, racist, hate-mongering white bread Strangelove supporters, a sense of fear and loathing, a visceral concern for our country and our environment has been evidenced in huge protests against this new administration. All 9 days worth of its nauseating existence and counting.

What can be done? Ironically I’m assuming that some of the protesters are among those who did not vote for anyone. Bad on them, but this shock to their systems has awakened a we the people vibe. The protests are against the new administration, but they are also, whether they know it or not, ipso facto, a protest against the Democratic Party as well, the one that seemingly induces political ennui among its potential supporters to the extent that every two years, they are beaten by candidates who are, at best, incompetent and at worst, massively corrupted by an ideology of profit over people.

I suppose those mailings begging for money for Democratic candidates in the 2018 election are in the mail, if not already received. What a joke. One positive outcome of this now waking nightmare is the Democrats can’t sink any further. Maybe they’ll finally again fight tooth and nail for we the people.

However, I’m not sure they remember how that is done. In the meantime, I hope the Green Party can clone Bernie or someone with genuine populist ideas. I am convinced if Sanders had run as a Green, he’d now be President. He obviously couldn’t run as a Democrat, a party that saw the barbarians gathering at the gate, and then simply gave them the keys to the palace.

To the ramparts!

I’ve invoked Plato, George Orwell, Hunter S.Thompson, Ralph Kramden, The Onion, and Thunderclap Newman, among others in my last several pre and post-election 2016 postings in attempting to deconstruct the 2016 campaign for President. Now, in less than 48 hours, Donald Trump will be sworn in as President. Thus I feel it is only appropriate to invoke another “voice” to add to those notables above: Alfred E. Neuman, the fictitious mascot (if you will) and cover boy of the legendary Mad Magazine, a zany comic book, in-your-face satirical publication. All at once, though having been around in American pop culture since the early 1950s, it would seem its raison d’être all along was for this lunatic electoral moment in our country’s existence.

Alfred E.’s motto of “What, me worry?” seems rather ironic, however. The phrase implies that Alfred is oblivious to concerns, be they trivial or tumultuous. Don’t sweat it, Alfred reassures the reader, whatever is going on in the real world, he and his Mad crew will lampoon it and make you laugh it off. Well, Al, with that goofy, gap-toothed grin, misaligned eyes, freckles and outwardly pronounced ears, I know you’ve had Trump teed-up and have taken lots of whacks at him already (as have I and countless other dissident voices) but I DO worry about being able to “not worry” or find much to laugh about right now. I mean, in a matter of just some rapidly fleeting hours, this orange-haired, pompous and disgusting human being is actually, really, really, actually!, going to become President of these United States. You have your work cut out for you at MAD.

My last blog was, admittedly, a political wet dream of President Obama, in his January 13th speech, announcing that due to the extreme likelihood of Russian tinkering in the election to favor Trump, and the blatant anti-Clinton email breaking news, infowars modus operandi of James Comey, the FBI Director, and maybe even alluding to the obvious anti-democratic voter suppression laws in many “red” states, the November 8th election results have been suspended until further investigation. Of course that didn’t happen. Obama, and every other political or media voice that acts as though the election was the “will of the people” or simply the outcome of the electoral college system, and that is the only reality, gives legitimacy to, as House representative John Lewis (at least!) recently opined, this “illegitimate” President-elect.

Aside from the Russians, and Comey, and the voter suppression factor, I was even, desperately, hoping Obama would announce the pending ARREST of Donald Trump on the charge of sexual assault. Hey, can Trump not be seen and heard on video bragging about committing such criminal acts, with numerous women asserting they were some of his victims? What happened to that loathsome episode of the realty TV show called the Trump campaign? It simply became a non-story. Did he pay off these women. What? Can you say Bill Cosby?!

As with all of Donald Trump’s grotesque offensiveness, his polarizing political rhetoric, the fear-mongering, the insults, the cruel and callous attitudes on display under the intense, high-definition klieg lights of the national mainstream media, this man seemingly defies being held accountable, personally, politically or professionally. I mean, this man is one ugly wart shaped in a surreal humanoid form. At least that’s what millions and millions of Americans think (more or less, as a matter of degrees on the downward sloping scale with which his detractors measure the matter).

Indeed, this is the expurgated Republican candidate for the White House. The expurgated Republican nominee for the White House. The expurgated President-elect. And in such a very short time, barring a sinkhole swallowing Mr.Trump’s eponymously named tower in which he still resides for one more day, the Expurgated Commander-in-chief.

Well, not in my eyes, as noted, or the many protests that have or will be taking place, all motivated by a sense of fear and loathing, mixed with outrage and an obstinate refusal to accept the fraud and the farce that will be a Trump administration. It may be wild and crazy. It may be calamitous. Disastrous. It’s certainly quite dangerous. But it is actually, really, really actually! about to become official.

Alfred E. and the late-night Jimmys or John Oliver, Samantha Bee, Bill Maher, and the rest can try to generate some snickers, maybe even a guffaw or two out of what at best is a black comedy. They can all call it The Tweeter-in Chief. An UN-expurgated realty TV show.

Viewer discretion advised. Not suitable for children not still in the womb. May contain content deemed offensive or disturbing. May cause sever headaches. Irritable bowel syndrome. Shortness of breath. Dementia. Feelings of existential dread. Inability to find a reason to get out of bed each day. Questioning of the existence of a higher power. Constant puzzlement over one’s own existence. Opiod addiction. Rashes. Blurred vision. Gothic nightmares. Feelings of hopelessness. A sudden desire to go over Niagara Falls in an imaginary barrel. See other side affects for more counterindications…

Well, that’s a wrap. I’m through with blogging about it, really. I’ll try to focus on some less serious matters. You know, dogs that get page 2 obituaries. Jenny Hagen. Our WWII veterans, the greatest veterans from the greatest generation. Travel. Music. All the arts, especially the great series, My Mother the Car, Gilligan’s Island, Mr.Ed, The Living Without Intestines Frontline special, Mr.Robot. No, wait. Skip that last one: may not be suitable for those with a functioning brain, which excludes Trump supporters, of course.

The Russian ambassador is gunned down in an art gallery in Ankara. A crazed  truck driver from Tunisia plows into a crowd of Berliners gathered at an outdoor Christmas market. Tis the season! Happy Hollow-daze, people.

Oh, and so many more examples of humankind’s universal brotherhood of peace, love and understanding are out there, captured by CCTV, or smart phone/social media breaking news!

Seen those images of Aleppo? The city’s streets are strewn with the rubble of the buildings that, at this point, partially remain curbside. Ever seen pictures of European cities bombed to ruin during WWII? That’s Aleppo. Hard to imagine there was a time when those buildings contained Syrian families, who now have created a refugee crisis not seen since–well, WWII.

Then there was a story on some news site recently that invoked the “honor killing” of four young women, I believe in Pakistan, after their elders discovered a video of them doing…doing…something so very intolerable…that I can barely bring myself to reveal what it was they were doing. But, what the hell, here it is: these girls were DANCING. And enjoying it! Oh, and if that weren’t horrific enough, the video also contained the image of a young male of the species who, too, ugh!, was DANCING. And also somehow enjoying it. Such contempt for proper comportment and self-control. Not sure how these girls met their demise. Stoning? Beheading? Tossed into some pit of fire?

Closer to home, there was a recent case of road rage that ended with a 3 year-old being shot to death. No, the toddler wasn’t driving but you know, the theme here is shit happens. Constantly. But why?

To quote the late Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?”  Remember Rodney? The  African-American pulled over by L.A.P.D. for some traffic violation (or who knows why?) and in short order was getting the living crap beaten out of him–and all the whacking caught on video. Those cops went on trial. They were acquitted. Riots ensued in the hood.

But police have reigned in such abusive behavior since that early 90s incident. No wait. That was a dream someone might still have. Now, caught on video cop-on-civilian beatings, or worse documenting their pumping the “offender” full of hot lead is about as common as those sweet and silly cat-taking-a-shit-in-master’s-commode YouTube postings.

Yes, it’s just one big love fest all over the world. And it’s Christmas! Except, not everyone is Christian, which pisses off some of those “not of the faith” types, and well, tempers can flare. Just say happy holiday! That’ll repair the rip in the fabric of our worldly religious crazy quilt. No, wait. That’s another dream someone is still having, too.

Oh, and pay no attention to the alleged melting polar ice caps. It’s a hoax. Just ask some of our members of Congress. The American public always puts the right people in office, who care about things that need caring about. If climate change was real, they’d CARE about it. What, you think the voters are stupid or something when it comes to making ballot booth decisions?

Humanity. Humankind.

Keep the faith, whatever that constitutes. Perhaps the tooth fairy is real, like the sandman. Those two are in cahoots, ya know? I really believe that. What? You don’t? How’d you like a knuckle sandwich? Oops. Like I said. Keep that faith. Believing is seeing, after all.

But try not to think about who is to get the nuclear launch codes soon. It’s quite beyond belief.

All the horrors of humanity writ small, medium, large, extra-large and extra, extra large, captured on social media, or popping up on news sites far and wide seem to indicate a troubled world. If love is the answer, what is the question? Is peace, love and understanding avilable on Amazon? eBay?

Maybe not, eh? Seems not to be in vogue. See above…

As Hemingway’s doomed protagonist in his story The Killers is advised as he awaits the hired guns coming to rub him out: try not to think about it.

Or, as the troubled cafe patron in the Hemingway tale A Clean, Well Lighted Place is summed up by one of the cafe’s late-night waiters wanting to close up and go home says of him: It is only insomnia. Many must have it.

Yeah. Troubled sleep. Troubled world. Un-BE-lievable.

But for some of us, we’ll always have game 7 of the World Series, and the impossible dream of a Cubs championship. What else really matters now? Besides that other…stuff. See above…

Whew! I’m finished here. Time to go to the café. And try not to think about any of the conflict and carnage. It is only reality. Many others, too, must feel it. Like an irritating bur at the nape of the neck.

Beam me up. Nothing to see here…

:):):)

Steve Bannon. Scott Pruitt. Rex Tillerson. Jeff Sessions. Wilbur Ross. Rick Perry. Linda McMahon. Steve Munchin. Ben Carson. Betsy DeVos. John Kelly. Andrew Puzder. And others, including a few military Generals.

In case you haven’t heard, all of these people are potential members of D. Trump’s Cabinet or close advisors, and they all are, to various degrees, controversial, or status quo hacks, if not outright disturbing, possibly dangerous to…to…well…we the people, and even Mother Earth itself. The EPA appointee, Pruitt, is a climate denier. Ben Carson, climate denier, and as  head of Housing and Urban Development, opposes the Fair Housing Act;  Ms.DeVos, is an evangelical who is clearly an anti-public education, pro-charter schools and is the nominee for Secretary of Education. Steve Bannon is a racist/white supremacist and Trump’s close advisor, while Jeff Sessions has been heard and rebuffed for making racist comments but is tapped for Attorney General, in spite of opposing the Voting Rights Act; the proposed Labor Secretary opposes raising the minimum wage; the proposed Treasury Secretary is a Wall Street bankster who aided in the recent Great Recession but profited from it. Rex Tillerson is a lifelong Exxon/Mobil operative, currently its CEO. He has built partnerships with a Russian energy company. Trump, you may recall, clearly encouraged Russian hackers to to worm their way into the Democrat’s email servers, and he’s seemingly a Vladimir Putin groupie, so Tillerson’s being close to Vlad have raised some, er, red flags.

Let me make this clear: This isn’t just me opining as a lone wolf of opposition to Trump’s political appointees; the same doubts and concerns have been expressed in many media circles, even some of the big dogs, like the New York Times and the Washington Post, and certainly in the non-corporate sphere of on-line and broadcast investigative outlets such as the Guardian, Truthout, Daily Kos, Democracy Now and Public Citizen. Mostly though, the corporate media isn’t seriously taking issue with Trump’s motley mix of billionaires and blowhards. After all, Trump is the specious spawn of corporate television. He generates those ratings!

Well, Trump’s racist supporters may be happy, but I wonder how many other people who swallowed his “Make America Great Again” gruel are already feeling some political indigestion? Did his supporters (racist at worst, tragically foolish at best) really think their reality TV star, flim-flammer and failed real estate mogul (countless bankruptcy filings) was going to be looking out for them, their children’s education, jobs, and, their healthcare needs, or the planet on which we live; that protective ozone layer above their muddled heads, which may already be depleted beyond repair, is a scientifically documented harbinger for further damage to human health, plant growth, marine ecosystems, biogeochemical cycles. Climate Change? Har har, hardy har har, as Honeymooner Ralph Kramden used to mockingly opine.

So,  the incoming administration doesn’t suggest serving many of us well. Wall Street hustlers, military hawks, climate deniers, evangelicals, union busters, anti-public education operatives, white supremacists. How’d this guy actually get elected?! Has the entire country gone insane?

Well, 61 million or so of the voting public committed an act of insanity, as far as I’m concerned, on November 8th,  while 64 million or so voted for the other candidate, the one whose candidacy came with an actual political portfolio, extensive experience and involvement with the machinery of global governmental affairs. She wasn’t perfect, by a long shot, but she comported herself like a rational, reasonable human being who, when she disagreed with someone, did so respectfully. Trump, as anyone with eyesight and hearing (and a functioning brain) would realize, tossed off insults and/or denouncements of entire racial, ethnic and gender groups, and even let loose with a mocking mimicry of a disabled person. What a statesman!

But he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million, and with the documented (word search Palast, Greg, if you are unaware of what comes next) anti-Democratic voter suppression laws passed in red states (hmm. red!) as well as the notorious “interstate cross-check” gambit (Palast) there is the highly plausible implication that Trump did not legitimately win the electoral college, either. As I asserted in a blog from months back, Hillary Clinton was already 2-3 million votes short way before election day. Without her garnering a large enough margin…well…then it’s Hail to the Thief!

Speaking of that “college,” on Monday, December 19, just 3 days from my writing this, the electors of each state will cast votes that traditionally confirm the Presidential candidate who won each respective state. The conventional wisdom is that Trump will be confirmed by the official electoral college vote. Game. Set. Match.

Did I use the word “wisdom” in a sentence up there? It may be a remote chance, but after what I have noted above, maybe this time the outcome won’t be so “traditional”. As I have asserted (along with many, many others, who have much more credibility than I, D.Trump did not win this past November 8th. Unlike the Tea Bag Party and their racist mantra of “I want my country back!” after the African-American, Barack Obama, CLEARLY won the Presidency by almost 10 million votes, Trump, the carnival barking bullshit artist, and whose proposed appointees present a very real, clear and soon-to-be present danger to this country–and the planet itself (by climate change or his already confrontational babbling about China and Taiwan and a potential nuclear WWIII). So, maybe, wisdom can still  prevail. Those Monday morning electoral quarterbacks could rethink the election score, and correct the outcome to reflect reality, allow substance, sanity, decency, diplomacy and dignity trump the foreboding brood waiting to command the Master Control Panel. Drain the swamp, said Mr.T.

The swamp has a drain alright.  Hang on. We could all be circling it.

call out the instigators because there’s something in the air

we’ve got to get together sooner or later, because the revolution’s here

and you know that it’s right…

Something in the Air

Thunderclap Newman

Election, 2016. Sorting out that stunning development. The Orange-haired, outspoken reality tv creature is now President-elect. I’ve done my personal autopsy on the election, and explain the upset on A) an irresponsible, sensation-seeking, media and B) a low voter turnout. My “proofs” regarding these assertions are easily enough found by looking back at how virtually every corporate news outlet, broadcast and cable, obsessed over Mr.Trump’s  every repulsive pronouncement, from the denigration of women, Muslims, Mexicans, members of the military and even the mocking of a disabled person.  I, like many others, kept waiting for the media to pull the plug on such a disgraceful candidate for President, but silly me (and everyone else who assumed Trump’s ugly, hate-mongering, divisive and self-absorbed modus operandi would be held to account). Then millions of voters who elected Barack Obama twice decided not to do the same for Hillary Clinton. Proof? Obama got over 70 million votes in 2008, and 66 million in 2012.  Ms.Clinton’s vote is estimated at over 64 million, two million-plus more than Trump. Of, course, as we know, Trump took the electoral college, and those are the only numbers that matter.

Thus, the lower Democratic turnout factored heavily in the upset. While I place significant blame on the bumbling Clinton campaign,  as well as the irresponsible media, I am most disappointed and angry about is  with what happened to senator Bernie Sanders. While Trump spat out dubious intentions to kill NAFTA and other seemingly anti-establishment political promises, Bernie, running as a Democratic Socialist, constantly railed at the billionaire class, Wall Street, corporate greed, economic injustice, the absurd expense of a college education, and the need to reform, if not undo, 35 years of failed Reaganomics. Bernie was the only bona-fide, righteous  breath of fresh air as the primary season started. Bernie was not a corporate Democrat. Far from it. In fact, he was elected senator  as an Independent. But he ran as a Democrat, and for that he was undermined at every turn by the national Democratic operatives, especially Debbie Wasserman Schultz. In what quickly became a tag-team against Sanders the upstart, the outsider, the DNC and that same corrupted media conspired to keep Bernie’s voice muted, mocked and written off as nothing more than a potential wasted vote for his followers. All 30,000,000 of the grassroots voters who put him over the top in 22 primaries, donating tens of millions of dollars to his campaign, famously at an average of $27 each.

Bernie Sanders was clearly capable of beating Hillary Clinton but for the same anti-democratic, rigged primary process. Bernie, in every poll matching who could beat who, was much more likely to defeat Donald Trump. He tapped into the unarguable distrust of status quo candidates. What he accomplished, in spite of the DNC and the media-bias for Trump, clearly was remarkable.

Bernie came close, but his “revolution,” short-circuited as noted, is not over. He has a post-election book entitled Our Revolution. His grassroots supporters are still around (I am one of them) and just maybe in the next election cycle, 2018 and 2020, the revolution will be all the more forceful, well-funded and destined to start taking back our now tattered and frayed democracy.

I wish Bernie Sanders had not run as a Democrat. In what now appears to be a missed opportunity to be true to his independent, anti-establishment political proposals, he should have been the Green Party candidate. Nothing against Jill Stein, but the Greens once had a fairly high recognition factor thanks to Ralph Nader, who ran as a Green in 2000 and 2004. Of course Ralph was mocked and ignored by the media, but millions of people knew him, thanks to his decades of successful consumer protection activism. Ralph Nader is still with us, and still speaking truth to power. Since he left the Green Party, its mojo is pretty much a no-show. There’s no reason to think that the Bernie supporters would not have still heard his voice, still sent him all those millions of dollars and helped him get on the ballot in every state, as Nader did in 2000. As a Green, he’d have been free of the DNC assassins, and both the Green Party and Bernie would have made the notion of a third-party candidate impossible to ignore. After all, when he announced his candidacy a year-and-a-half ago, he was polling at about 5%. Could he have been any lower as a Green? That 5% shot up, and up and up, and did so in spite of the aforementioned rigged primary process that shuns “outsiders” even when the outsider is running in one of the two insider national political parties!

Bernie is 75 years old right now. Who knows about him running again in 2020, but the Green Party desperately needs to tap into what he started. Many of the Trump supporters responded to his trashing of the status quo politics that needed trashing. Not that I trust for a second Trump’s sincerity in that regard. That same desire for even more radical change isn’t going anywhere soon when you total the tens of millions of voters that either voted Trump or Sanders. And with the obviously absurd election of a flim-flam man, I’d like to think there’s a fertile field awaiting to be given the seed of a more honest, respectable, dignified, we the people Outsider for that Bernie revolution to again blossom.

Our Revolution. Enough of the red and blue state, either-or, two-party system.

Destination Greenland…

The people have spoken, as that post-election expression goes. Trump wins! A lot of re-thinking of our election process has followed, but only on the part of those who supported, well, anyone but him! Yes, the people have spoken, and they have clearly revealed possessing a few mind-sets, all of them irrational but for those supporters who are extremely wealthy. After all, it should clear by now, after 35 years of Reaganomics (in one form or another) that as the saying goes, “there are two kinds of Republicans; the filthy rich and fools” Fools? At worst, some Trump voters are racists if not part of the white supremacist movement. After all, the Klu Klux Klan endorsed Trump. Enough said there. Others, maybe not inclined to join the Klan, stated implicit with their Trump votes, they are okay with our now President elect’s clearly demonstrated lack of grace as a candidate, as he denigrated women, Mexicans, Muslims, mocking a disabled person, even criticizing as “being weak” John McCain’s prisoner of war experience during the Vietnam conflict. All of Trump’s voters now own their candidate’s regrettable attitudes, beliefs and behaviors, whether they realize that or not. Remember. Either filthy rich or fools.

Yes, those people have spoken. Unfortunately, not enough people showed up at the polls to reject Trump’s horrifying lack of respect for those he maligned. I kept waiting for the media to finally, finally, back off on their Trump fetish, for the press to demand actual substance rather than essentially just giving amplification to his undeniable vile style.

I’ve previously blogged about how our elections, for a long time, have resulted in “leadership” that turns out not to be not much at all interested in doing the work of, by and for the people. And not just who becomes President. Congress, as well. Yeah, money has corrupted the process, but the process has been granted permission to be corrupt by those who vote for its occupants. And not just congress, but also state legislatures. We have been living in an increasing age of legislation clearly designed to suppress voter turnout among Democrat-leaning minorities, the elderly, disabled and college students. The people also “spoke” during all the elections that enabled this cynical form of governing to carry out their not-so-hidden agendas.

Now, with the election of the Empty Suit, perhaps we have reached the nadir of this kind of political free speech. What should have been a simple choice for logic and reason, tolerance and empathy over hate and fear mongering was, apparently, not so simple after all. In spite of the electoral college math being the only reason Trump won–after all he lost the popular vote by two million votes–I can’t blame the electoral college for his victory. Indeed, Trump was a candidate rejected by many current office holders of both major parties, and by most newspapers, including some that had not endorsed a Democrat for President in many generations (ironic, given the aforementioned “fetish” the mainstream media showed for Trump’s repulsive antics).

So, who to blame?

Let’s point a disapproving finger at the millions of voices that failed to “speak” on election day. Whom are these accused? Presumably, they are among the several million voters who supported Barack Obama in both of his electoral victories, but inexplicably did not do the same for Hillary Clinton. She may have been less than the ideal choice for the Democratic party (obviously!) but if she was objectionable, Donald Trump should have been easily seen as a catastrophe-in-waiting, a profound lowering of the bar for measuring a candidate’s experience, disposition, platforms and proposals, all imbued with a respectable degree of accessible, thoughtful, detail open for serious analysis . Trump, rather , offered ugly rhetoric, cynicism, self-absorption.

There really is no precedent for this grotesque outcome. I used to think Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush were disturbing for a variety of reasons. Any ex-President can be criticized. Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton and our current President were/are certainly not without faults. We all have faults…

…however…

…in contrasting Trump to any of those former occupants, each and every one of them are towering figures of principled intents, people who, regardless of Republican or Democrat, at least demonstrated some measure of decency, of acceptability that conforms to even the most lowest common denominator aspect of political image-projecting. Now that the people have spoken, albeit in political gibberish, I contend that now there essentially are no prerequisite character qualifications to be President. In fact, I now believe that even your neighbor, perhaps a blue-collar worker, especially a white, male working class neighbor, one who has laughable if not frightening personal opinions, attitudes, beliefs and even obnoxious, toxic behavior still can easily become President, too. It’s now revealed to be a simple formula: announce candidacy; somehow entice the media to put a mic and camera in front of face, and let the bile flow, however disgusting, disrespectful it may sound; but the sensation-seeking media provides near around-the-clock coverage to every uttering, continuing to do so for so long that the inanity becomes a clarion call to other Joe Blows. Millions of Joe Blows. And in spite of the laughter and can you believe this?! reactions of people far and wide, their laughter is dismissed, rather than dismissing the crude manifestation of their laughter. In short, Joe Blowhard, with his outrageous babblings out in the open, is provided with a twisted legitimacy. Then enough people, no longer laughing, simply assume this bozo could NEVER get elected, there’s just no fucking way he could be elected. C’mon! Really? Just wait until election day and this blowhard hater will be history. Except not enough of these self-asssured critics bother to make the simple effort to let actions speak louder than foregone conclusions. They decline to speak where it counts the most: the ballot booth!

Joe Blow is President!

And again, we all get the government we deserve.

Last Tuesday, November 8th, 2016, there was an election. A seeming impossibility when our now President-elect first announced his candidacy last year, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton. What at first seemed to be an absurd entry into the Republican line-up of presidential wannabees, the former “boss” of a reality television program, Mr.Trump’s tossing of his metaphorical hat into the metaphorical ring of a very literal election-to-be was initially met with guffaws, snickers, the rolling-of-eyes and immediate late-night TV comic fodder. But that was soooo long ago…

By the time the Republican debates were underway, and with each passing debate, it was obvious that if Trump was a joke–maybe indeed he’s only joking around–he wasn’t going away. His debate opponents all went away. Now, no one who was laughing before was any longer laughing. And rather astoundingly he became the candidate! For President! Of the United States! This in spite of looking and sounding as un-presidential as anyone who ever became one of the two major party choices for the Oval Office: he denigrated women, Mexicans, Muslims, mocked a disabled person at one of his rallies, and even impugned some of our military, while tossing off assertions of his “making America great again” without any policy specifics as support. While he was obsessively covered by the mainstream media, he was virtually never held to account or challenged about his increasingly disturbing opinions and accusations. Then came the election, and almost 60,000,000 voters gave him the thumbs up. Though he lost the popular vote by over a million votes, the electoral college provision of the election gave him the only meaningful numbers he needed. Trump 290. Ms.Clinton 228.

Reality TV?  For many, a waking nightmare. That is, for the 61,000,000 who voted against Trump. A joyous occasion, however, for those who apparently found nothing about his language and lack of comportment, lack of tolerance for minorities or even a hint of magnanimity. But it did happen. The blame? A poorly run  Clinton campaign. An irresponsible media, and the lack of sense on the part of at least 10,000,000 additional possible voters who backed Barack Obama in 2008 but who apparently passed on the ballot booth this time around, thus allowing a handful of “battleground” states to tip the electoral tide to Mr.Trump’s side.

Moving on a few days later, to November 11, 2016, we observed Veterans Day, honoring all who have served in our armed forces, long-since dead or  now on active duty.  Your humble blogger host served during the Vietnam conflict. Fortunately, I was not among the 59,000-plus who died in that war. Vietnam, in fact, is a war that the U.S. technically lost when, after about ten years of fighting, we bailed out entirely, leaving the North Vietnam Communist government to take over the non-Communist South.  As a veteran who served during that time, I have always wondered how one country can lose a war to another country, but not suffer any consequences, as in to the victor go the spoils. Did a single aspect of the American way of life change? 

If going to war means anything, it should mean there’s a great deal on the line. Hmmm. When was the last time the U.S.miltary fought that type of “win, or else…” war? My answer is: World War Two. If the Allied forces lost to the Axis forces, there would have been dire consequences, given Adolph Hitler’s and Emperor Hirohito’s clear desires to dominate the world stage, and do so with savage intent. WWII was fought by what has come to be known as the United States’ “Greatest Generation”. My Boomer generation? Well, we have had our moments (the 60s and protesting the Vietnam war and demanding civil rights for all, etc). The last couple of generations have had the first Gulf War in 1990 (a very quick victory…for Kuwait?), and the seemingly never-ending Iraq and Afghanistan invasions resulting from the 9-11-2001 terror attacks in New York City. The U.S. may have lost some military prestige since our defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, but our way of life (other than the apparent invasions of our privacy in the name of anti-terror security) is essentially still in keeping with the land of the brave and home of the free. Mostly, that is, but for this creepy era of private citizen surveillance, though we have not quite reached a Orwellian state of Big Brother. We’re still some distance from that dystopian novel’s concerns.

So, hats off to all veterans, but most especially for those who helped literally save our country from tyrannical enemies attempting to conquer us.

Next up is 11-24-2016. Thanksgiving Day. I’m still thankful I live in this country, made safe by that Greatest Generation, although now I’m more concerned with what disturbing changes may be in store with a xenophobic, racist, misogynistic, Islam-a-phobic, flim-flam man being giving the keys to the White House. He’s still about 67 days from being sworn in, and large protests have already been taking place, but overall I’m trying to think of how to “give thanks” this thanksgiving as someone who has wanted to see my fellow citizens learn how to THINK and not condone recent history’s documentation of their being out-of-touch, and rather lazy when it comes to preserving what the Greatest Generation fought to save. There may not be many WWII veterans still moving around at this point, but I’d like to think that those who are, to one degree or another, feel dismayed at what we the people have allowed this country to devolve into in the last 71 years, culminating with what occurred on November 8th, when what happened would appear to gratify only the hateful, the fear-mongering, the misogynists, xenophobes and the racists.

Hard to give thanks to that.

Hunter S. Thompson. You might recall the man, especially if you are of the Boomer generation. He was a journalist. Of sorts. A reporter. Kind of. A chronicler of American culture, filtered through a self-proclaimed haze of drugs and alcohol. His most notable piece of reporting came in the form of a book entitled Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. His journalistic style came to be known as “gonzo journalism”. He’d go places and observe, through that aforementioned “haze”. He was funny, irreverent, far, far out and definitely able to distill reality down to its essential outrages and absurdities. Las Vegas, a place of profound excess, self-importance and unrelenting self-indulgent superficiality was a natural target.  The book remains a cult classic from the early 70’s.

He also wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72. This bit of gonzo reporting took aim at the Democratic primary contest between Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern. Hunter had a zany good time reducing that event to its most inane elements. 

Unfortunately, Hunter Thompson committed suicide in 2005. If alive, he’d be 79. Well, if he took all the drugs and boozed it up as he portrayed his lifestyle in his writings, he’d likely not be a very robust 79 year-old man. Still, if only he could be alive , and perhaps with an infusion from several cans of Monster energy drink and maybe a molly or an 8-ball, he’d be out there taking on the most absurd, surreal, ugly, divisive, destructive and dangerous “race for the White House” in our country’s history. The mind reels at what Hunter Thompson would make of Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed sexual-assaulting misogynist, the vilifier of Mexicans, Muslims and even some of our military members. Trump, the hate-mongering, xenophobic, self-absorbed hideous spawn of reality television, who has been coddled by the mainstream media and, apparently has a faction of the FBI carrying water for him.  He’s natural-born fodder for the gonzo cannons, a flesh and blood cartoon character who, rather alarmingly, has given rise to a form of neo-facism represented by his virtually all white, all male, bottom feeders.

Hunter!. You are sorely missed, now more than ever. There is barely any actual, responsible journalism being practiced today, and not a glimmer of gonzo mojo outside of the The Onion, a clever pseudo-journalistic take on, as its editors put it, Our Dumb World.

Fear and loathing?  Ironically, as horrific a candidate as Trump has shown himself to most sincerely be, his opponent, one Hillary Clinton is not exactly a basket of delights, but for completely different reasons than Mr.Trump. I would assume Thompson would also exploit her warts with  laser beamed gonzo-ism. Hillary, the corporatist, the hawk, the secretive, the slick and slimy embodiment of the fraudulent “party of the people” national Democratic organization. Status quo. Quid pro quo. Pay to play. Business as usual. A candidate so (blatantly) weak and flawed that a 74-year-old self-proclaimed SOCIALIST,  U.S. senator pushed her to the brink in the primary process, one that was tilted in her favor by the Clinton-backing powers that be, and aided and abetted by that same corrupted media that tried staging a blackout on senator Sanders until he could no longer be ignored.

Between these two cringe-worthy candidates for President, each in their special way able to be disliked by most Americans, the never-to-be-written Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 2016, nonetheless exists in what seems to be an election, 2016, induced national paroxysm of existential dread and nausea. The Trump supporters have it thinking about her and her supporters have it thinking about him. Even many “dump Trump” types, now being forced to vote for her in order to save the U.S. from the fascists, will do so with their noses pinched. Can’t you smell that smell? Open a window! 

Fear or Loathing. That’s him and her, respectfully, as I see it.

But that rotten stench emanating from this election is countered, for some of us at least, by a gonzo scent wafting about. It’s out there, and whether you grew up with the Mickey Mouse Club, M.A.S.H, Madonna or Nirvana, whether you vote for fear or loathing or for the fringe or forsake the voting booth altogether, this failed process has to be changed. A lot needs to be changed.

There’s not much to feel good about  right now–if you have any real sense of logical reasoning. It’s not the lesser of two evils, it’s the evil of two lessors.  That may sound pessimistic but, like Hunter Thompson, analyzing his subject matter trough the gonzo prism, I am unable to see anything but the absurdity, the farce, the fraud and facile means by which this moment has come to be. This mess certainly come did not come about overnight. 

Hunter Thompson made his reader’s laugh at his subject matters, with a truthful subtext on the how, where, why, who and when of it all. But the more I think of it, I’m not sure Thompson, or anyone else could induce laughter right now. This election stopped being at all funny a while back. The joke, I’m afraid, is on we, the people.

My personal psychological/emotional/intellectual health, as with my physical health, fluctuates with the passage of time. We all relentlessly grow older, and regardless of efforts to remain mentally and physically “fit,” we all know that ultimately, it’s game over.

Okay, that’s not very inspirational, and sorry about that. We’re all in general denial about our individual end of days, hoping nothing horrendous befalls our physical/mental health any time soon. We eventually get old and creaky, but look around at all the “geezers” hobbling along, frail but still indulging each day as best as possible. Some have great mental stamina, and hang on and fight to the end. Others cave in and check out sooner than later.

In the USA, we have an abundance of substances to ingest, imbibe, shoot up, snort or smoke to ease what troubles ourselves. Not everyone indulges, but many do. Teens, somehow, even from solid middle class (and even upper class!) families become heroin addicts. What troubles them so early on?! Well, there’s that “stamina” factor, I suppose. We are all wired differently, mentally, emotionally and to extend that electronic metaphor just one more step, we all have mental, emotional circuit breakers too. And when the circuit gets overloaded, the lights goes out. And maybe cannot be reset. Mind and body, linked by our wiring, either get juiced up again or…game over.

Keep on truckin’. Keep the faith. When the shit hits the fan, hit the kill switch. Read a good book. See a play. Go to a concert. Watch some TV. Netflix. Hulu. There’s an app for it, whatever IT may be at the moment. Get your shit WIRED!

Hmm. How’s this blog’s theme playing out for you right now? I don’t know about you, but I think too many people’s circuits are shorted, and their brains are fried. Too much TV? Too much cyber time, Miley Cyrus-itis? Surfing along in the slog of on-line pop culture? You may be thinking that’s just for those youngsters. I think not. There’s plenty to fuss with and explore on these ever-more-larger touch screen marvels. There’s an app for whatever our psycho-emotional-intellectual needs may be at any waking moment. Again, just look around. Those geezers trying to make it across the street while the digital clock next to the traffic lights count down the seconds before the light will change, wired in an impartial manner, with zero regard to one’s ambulatory or vision capabilities. Those oldies are being passed by a few younger generations of smart phone gawkers, virtually oblivious to time and space–hell, to reality–but nonetheless getting across that street before that clock runs out on them. Hey, who said life was fair?! Ah, that expression is so goddam annoying, isn’t it?

It isn’t fair. We are wired to understand this, are we not? We must be. Else wise how do we keep either tossing the expression into someone’s face or having it shoved at our own mugs in those moments of…of…of…well…when whatever just occurred  just doesn’t seem fair!!

Circuit breaker time. Let it pass. Reset the switch. Consult scripture. Or. Hit the bottle. Light that joint. That Marlboro. Do that line. Find that vein. Stick the needle in.  Go for the gun. Kick the dog. Throw something, if at least nothing else but a fit.

We’re only human! And wired as such…

Wired to piss one another off? To disappoint? To barely ever feel things are the way we want them to be.

Therapy! Yeah, aren’t psychotherapists kind of psycho-physiological electricians, capable of shoring up the connections, maybe even RIGGING our wiring so we’re easily capable of keepin’ on keepin’ on, truckin’ along, keeping that faith, baby!

That is, if your therapist doesn’t have a few too many loose wires him or herself. If a mental health professional or any medical specialist can prescribe a drug, there’s a good chance (based on the case studies) that they’re chipping away at some of those pharma-wonders themselves. Shit, wouldn’t you, if you had to deal with a stream of patients who just cannot seem to ever get their shit wired?

Wait, this is going in circles! Damn straight it is. We are born. Blissful ignorance for a very short while, then comes the dips and valleys. Some last longer in blissful ignorance than others, but the more things change, the more they appear to never change for the better. Our schools. Our medical care systems. Our jobs, and the pressures they all bring to bear on us. The cost of everything. The increasingly sever weather. The rip-offs. The scams, shams and sticking of knives in the back. The petty. The peacocks. The loudmouthed. The know-it-all. The know nothing. Relationships. Familial dysfunction (is that term a bit redundant?).

There’s no escape? Has our wiring been RIGGED to cause us to feel either under or over amped at all times?

Life is an e-expereince, no? e-newspapers. e-cigarettes. e-banking, e-shopping, e-dating, e-colleges, e-elections, using e-voting booths. And all of it is rigged. And all of it–and we along with the lot of it–can be so easily hacked. It’s the wiring! It’s been tampered with! I can feel it in my…my…wiring! What, you don’t? Well that’s your problem?

In the meantime, I’m just going to wait for the Master Circuit Breaker to pop. Launch codes compromised. Then we can revert back to sticks and stones, and the rubbing of them together to attempt to light a fire, and maybe shed some light on the aftermath. How did we let things get so out of hand? Is there a mirror to look into?

History. The nightmare from which we all must awake? More like current events, which proves history teaches nothing to the electronically misaligned.

In the meantime, I hope your smartphone doesn’t run out of juice, especially as you skip across that four-lane street, app-ing away, nearly knocking over that one with the four-legged walker creeping along, only wanting to make it to the other side and live through yet another day, for some befuddling reason.