In America, anyone can
become president. That's the problem.
(George Carlin)
White House home shopping
network
I thought a colleague of
mine was putting me on recently when he told me that the Trump family
had been peddling products and advertising their family businesses
on a dot gov web site. Ivanka herself was marketing her $10,000
bracelet. I discovered it was true. The site came down after a few
days. I guess someone realized it was not a subtle way to begin the
four year scam.
This is a family of rich
grifters … and that's why they're liked by so many Americans. It
doesn't matter if the Donald is a billionaire (thanks to daddy) along
with numerous conflicts of interest, deadbeat morality and totally
unqualified to be town dog catcher let alone the President of the
United States.
America he's ours—certainly
for a large percentage of white people--and we want to believe he's
revenge on the “ruling class,” which ruling class of course
depends on your point of view. Donald is going to make America “great
again.” I may be wrong but did anyone among our corporate
info-entertainers over this past dismal year ask him “when”
America was great? But hell, who cares. Right?
The rational worldview
People I know have told me I
need to be patient. After all, Trump did win the presidency fair and
square. Let's wait and see what he does before we react. We need to
bring the country together in order to move forward. The opposition
needs to accept this fact. Unless you have demonstrable proof that
the election was “stolen” get it line and support America. Forget
the blather about Hillary having more of the popular vote than Trump;
Mr. Trump clearly won within the current system.
I refuse to participate in
this process of organized amnesia, to cooperate in normalizing a man
who stands for everything America should not.
(Leonard Pitts Jr.,
journalist)
The Lord of Mordor
I've been following a
particular social media site very much in opposition to Donald Trump.
I've read with interest a lengthy thread dealing with trolls,
insulting remarks and how best to handle individuals who do this.
What struck me while reading
many of the comments was the naivete of so many, well meaning and
committed individuals who are against Trump. Nasty individuals,
however, mocking liberals is the least of our worries. Steve Bannon,
the Donald's Rasputin in the new White House, has little interest in
what you think about damn near anything. It will likely get so much
worse and we have no time for a lengthy learning curve or being
shocked or upset by troglodytes.
Less we forget, the Cult
controls Congress. The list is long. Characters like Paul Ryan think
their libertarian college boy dream can soon become a reality. You
gonna stop it? In addition to the ACA they're coming after Medicare,
Medicaid, Social Security, the environment, which includes national
parks and wildlife. Women your place is in the kitchen barefoot and
pregnant. Hell, some 53% of white women voted for Donald. What
happened to the last forty years or so? Trickle down economics is
back with a vengeance. Oh yes, tax cuts for the parasite class is the
wave of the future. After all, they're clearly your betters and
struggle is good for you. Serfdom has some good aspects because
you'll know what to do day after day after day. You just do what
you're told. First amendment, well, we may have to cut back a bit in
order to make America great. Now the “other” people, you know who
you are. You've got to understand who runs this country, and realize
who is on top of the dung heap, sort of like the natural order of
things. Best of all we're going to have guns and more guns
everywhere—hospitals, schools, churches and conveniently you'll be
able to buy them in a Quick Trip or maybe a 7Eleven, hell, Hobby
Lobby possibly, who knows and no waiting time. An educated citizenry?
Well, there is too much thinking going on in this country. A well run
country can't really have educated citizens. And there is so much
more. I bet Russia could be our closest ally because we'll have so
much in common. Imagine, we could give a select group of angry white
people brown and black shirts and they could earn merit badges and
move up in the ranks. I know, it's an old idea, but we could reduce
unemployment to zero and have a lot of torchlight parades and be
proud Americans again. Be happy, don't worry citizens, you're not in
a dream....
I'm going to a restaurant
tonight. It's owned by Muslims. Last week white nationalist Orcs
smashed some windows and wrote graffiti on the walls. This
approaching Kristallnacht we better not ignore or worry that we might
upset the Cult. We can apologize profusely and promise to work
together if Trump and company do not turn out to be a collection of
ignorant, undemocratic thugs that want to turn the clock back to some
mythical and exclusive white boy paradise.
This is not going to be a
gentle struggle or a weekend beating of drums, chants and inspiring
folk music. The thread for how we got here goes back to the very
beginning of this country founded on slavery, racism, genocide,
predatory capitalism, Social Darwinism, total disrespect for the
natural world and “I got mine.” Now the monsters have been
unleashed. Be grateful for what you have and realize and understand
what and why you have it and be clear that you're not alone or
powerless. Make this Thanksgiving a time to commit to a much better
country.
And suddenly the mirror
went altogether dark, as dark as if a hole had opened in the world of
sight, and Frodo looked into emptiness....
(Frodo seeing Sauron, in
the Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien)
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