Hunter’s Blues

Da capo. Again. “Influence Peddling” is a tune which the Swedish rap band realPfft released in November, 2019. Hunter Biden’s never-ending soap opera breathes new life into this chestnut.

I have been keeping the Hunter Biden swamp at arm’s length. It’s a cocktail of egomania, self-centered greed, immaturity, careless foolishness, stupidity and lack of a moral compass.

Not good.

Hunter’s apologists explain that he was battling drug addiction, depression and alcoholism. Mental illness and mental anguish are terrible afflictions to behold, but neither constitutes a Get Out of Jail Free card.  

Where were the adults in the room? Joe Biden limits his knowledge of the events to a claim that he asked his son Hunter if Hunter knew what he was doing and Hunter said yes, he did.

If you are going to be this irresponsible as a parent, you deserve to reap the consequences. America is not known as a stupid country, but there is a streak of mulish stupidity in the Bidens’ behavior that is miles wide.

The “d’oh” dumbness isn’t limited to the Bidens. Just look at the mess America’s 45th president has created for himself. These people need a dog collar and someone to pull on the leash whenever they venture too close to the nearest cliff. What is wrong with these people? Taylor Swift’s drama queen persona resembles Albert Einstein in comparison to this gluttony of ineptitude.

This is another good reason for the Democratic Party to retire Joe and Kamala after four years of White House service and choose a different pair of candidates for president and vice president in 2024.

 

Truly Dense

People who have followed my blog know that I take great civic pride in our Township of Oxburg in the state of Maryland. Incorporated in the 1950’s, we have a rich, west side of town and a poorer east side, separated by the famous 1812 Highway, a sunken road from the War of 1812. Ever since I was born, my family has lived on West 3rd Street. We try not to be snooty, but we are only human. We are proud to live on the right side of the highway, the “right side of the tracks”!

Now after 50 years of relative tranquility, despite America’s endless wars, the threat of climate change, Maryland and DC politics and the cultural war, I am sad to announce that members of the Oxburg Town Council have lost their minds!

In their thirst for more tax revenue, they have opted for greater population density in Oxburg by abolishing the zoning restrictions that have kept Oxburg a community of single-family homes. “Multi-family homes of up to six units are the wave of the future and will be allowed on existing lots,” they have announced. “Portland, Oregon is our role model. If they can do it in Portland and South Carolina and other such places, we should follow their lead and expand affordable housing in Oxburg.”

Portland, Oregon. Homeless people and feces-on-the-sidewalk Portland. When my younger brother Tim, who is an airline pilot, flies into PDX, the airline puts the crew up in a motel over the bridge in Vancouver, Washington, since Portland has become untenable.   

“You are talking about architectural monstrosities springing up on suburban streets,” I have argued. “Twenty years ago, the Town Council insisted on allowing McMansions and we have had to live with that ever since. But to build mini-apartment houses in the middle of suburban neighborhoods is crazy. That is not what Oxburg is all about!”

Up until now, we have had zoning restrictions that prohibited the building of anything beyond a one-family home. You couldn’t even rent out your basement to a live-in tenant. Oxburg has been notoriously suburban that way, block after block of Levittown style homes. Yes, we are a throwback to the 1950’s, but hey, we like it that way!

When I say zoning restrictions, I mean rules that have been as strict as the decorum in a third-grade classroom. Any homeowner wishing to add on a bedroom or porch to their house has gone through purgatory. The Oxburg Zoning Board is notorious for arriving on the scene of a planned addition with tape measure in hand and declaring, “Wait a minute! The overhang of the roofline is going to be three inches too close to the property line and two inches too close to the street. You’ll have to get the contractor to redraw the plans.” Everybody has been through it. We have the gray hairs to show for it!

Why this sudden change? “Diversity!” the libs claim. “Housing prices are so expensive in Oxburg, Blacks cannot afford to live here!” This is their Culture Warrior chant.

To them, I say, “What about Cannon Hill and East 5th Street, two neighborhoods that are predominantly Black? Those families live in single-family homes just like everybody else. They don’t want multi-family architectural monstrosities springing up in their neighborhoods either!”

The white liberals’ argument about fair housing is particularly annoying, as I have friends who live in those Black neighborhoods, while the lily-white proponents of greater population density do not.

“George Floyd was killed, so America needs to re-evaluate our racist past!” chant the liberals. I mean, these are members of the Democratic Party, they are supposed to be the Good Guys! Having drunk the Kool-Aid, they have gone deaf. The only voices they hear are their own.

You know, I was the Yard Sign Guy for the Anna Bola campaign way back in 2011 and through my clever use of yard signs, I dare say I helped swing the electorate. Hey, she won the election! In the past six months, at the hearings held by the Town Council, all these proponents of multi-family housing have marched into the Meeting Room waving the same effing red yard signs. Ugh!

Justice = Fair Housing

Freedom to Choose!

Stop racist housing!

Demand housing reform!

NOW!

it says on the yard signs they wave in our faces, we who like Oxburg the way it is and always has been.

“Old fuddy-duddy,” they call me and stick out their tongues.

I guess I am supposed to be glad that they haven’t doxed me or resorted to telephone terror. Still, it’s frustrating when westsiders have hopped on the greater population density bandwagon and refuse to see our viewpoint or even meet us halfway.

This is what happens in post-Trump America when well-meaning liberals get a bee in their bonnet.

“I take this very personally,” I told the Town Council when it was my turn to speak for two and a half minutes. “Just down the street from us, a developer has purchased a single-story yellow brick house over a year ago and let it just sit. ‘Why doesn’t he tear down and build?’ my neighbors and I wondered. Now we get it! He’s waiting for you to pass this legislation, so he can build a six-family architectural monstrosity 200 feet from my front door. My property value is going to plummet, since prospective home buyers won’t want to live down the street from an architectural monstrosity.”

“That’s the purpose of the program,” explained the Town Council Chairman. “To lower housing prices so middle-income families can afford to live here.”

So much for using my home collateral as my nest egg when I retire. Cripes!

“You should be glad that we are honest enough to admit our intentions,” the Chairman lectured me, sitting up there on the podium together with the four other members of the Town Council. “When the FBI relocates to Landover, we want to get a piece of that. New workers will come streaming into the area. Why should Oxburg get shut out of a housing boom just because you don’t happen to like it?”

Money talks.

“You’ll still get top dollar for the house and the land,” my brother Tim has counseled me. “All you need to do is sell to a crooked developer who wants to build Aesop’s Pyramid on our lot.” Since ours is the biggest lot in the neighborhood, Tim has a point. Morally repugnant, but a point none-the-less.          

My Mom Is Gone

Hello.

I live in Oxburg, Maryland in the USA. The town is named after Calvinist John Ox who settled in Catholic Maryland during Colonial times and owned vast tracts of land in this part of the state.

“Why doesn’t he write?” You may well ask. “Värför skriver han inte?” in Swedish. “Pourquoi est-ce qu’il n’écrit pas?” in French.

My mama Rosa Feingold, 81 years old, has passed on to a better place. She had been losing weight, got a staph infection, ended up in the hospital and died. When my phone rang at 10:10 pm on a rainy Thursday night, an orderly told me in hushed tones that Rosa was gone. I grabbed a Hebrew prayer book and drove to the hospital, where the nurses had laid mom out in a respectful position and turned down the lights. They left me alone with her. I said the prayers for the dead right there at bedside and spoke to her in English, Yiddish, French and Swedish. All her known languages.

The burial got a little complicated because the family plot is north of New York City and, unlike with my dad 25 years ago, I didn’t have the energy to jump in the car and drive four and a half hours to attend to mom’s funeral. Instead, I buried her long-distance.

The local funeral home was terrific. They knew and followed the Jewish burial rites, wrapping the body in a white shroud and placing it in a plain wood coffin with a Star of David on the lid. They got a little flummoxed when the Jewish cemetery in New York was closed for both Shabbat and the following Monday for a Jewish holiday. Jim, the local funeral director, wanted to know how much the cemetery charges to receive the body, open the grave, inter the coffin and close the grave. He had visions— based on bad experiences, no doubt— of the driver arriving in New York with the coffin, being told “We gotta be paid, otherwise, no burial” and driving the coffin back to Maryland. Not fun.

That meant postponing the burial still another day, which was super stressful for me, since we are supposed to get the body into the ground as soon as possible. It was a relief when interment took place six days after she died. Like, hooray! Bye, momsaleh! Rest in peace.

A wreck, I sat shiva five days. The neighbors brought me food, also a Jewish tradition. Jag sörjde, I mourned.

That’s where I’ve been.          

Taking care of my mom these last few months took up virtually all my time, a fact which only becomes apparent in hindsight. I loved her. The dutiful son, I lived with her and took care of her.

My younger brother Tim— the loving son— parachuted in whenever his schedule allowed, but he’s in training for a promotion and, as the crisis arose, he couldn’t provide the 24-7 backup which he and I had originally envisioned. Instead, we conferenced every night by phone. Tremendously helpful, this was not the same as a physical presence. He felt terrible about it, but hey, I want him to get the promotion. Mom wanted him to get the promotion!

Reality rarely fulfills the dream.

The midterm elections are soon upon us (November 8th, a Tuesday) and whatever I say, it can and will be held against me. As Google tells us, “all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested.” You gotta laugh! As if the country doesn’t have enough problems. The economy is tanking. We have a clueless old fogey as president who means well but can’t deliver. Trump’s supporters are toting guns. The Republicans have a handful of crazies running for office and the Democratic slate ain’t exactly any damn good, including stutterers, gun-shy officials up for re-election and blacks running in lily white states.

Not too cool.

I’m writing to let you know that I am still around. As new days dawn, you will be hearing more from me. Coming attractions: Mutte Fjutt in Uppsala, Sweden and Clive have composed a song entitled “Morsan,” mother in Swedish, but I haven’t had the juice to involve myself in releasing it. I’m still knee-deep in paperwork and recuperating.

Something to look forward to.

Take care, be well and keep your mask on, there’s a new variant out there and it’s a baddie.

Yours, Kev      

Still struggling + El Trumpo

Hi! This is a notification that, yes, I am alive and continue to struggle, if not thrive.

As you know, I wallow in political satire. It would be cruel and mucho unfair to make fun of the war in Ukraine while people are dying and the country is being raped. That’s what my long silence and personal depression are about.

I have plenty to say, but I haven’t spoken publicly, since whatever I say will get taken wrong.

On the upside, I can share some gen on our former president.

1. Donald Trump is definitely running in 2024.
2. Once he grabs a hold of Twitter by the short hairs, Elon Musk will welcome in Donald J. Trump. We’ll see a repeat of 2016, with Trump scorching his opponents on Twitter day in and day out. It will get ugly.
3. Donald Trump will never be found criminally liable, which would disqualify him to run for president. Why? His supporters have guns. Everyone in Washington, DC is scared shirtless of them gun-totin’ Trump supporters. With good reason. Finding Trump guilty of a crime would cause a civil war, and no official wants to be responsible for that.
4. Donald Trump will get the Republican nomination and we’re back in 2016 all over again. He has his pick of running mate among the right-wing firebrands mouthing off and making mischief. You know who you are, dudes and ladies. Enjoy the moment!
5. A study of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Third Reich will help you see more clearly that, yes, Virginia, history does repeat itself.
6. Trump’s second four years will not be the bloodbath some liberals envision, but we will see a constant erosion of democratic principles. We can kiss goodbye to the America we currently have.

Have a great summer!

America at a Crossroad

Dear America,

You choose. You can stymie the Biden administration, defeat the Build Back Better Act and see that the Democrats get nothing passed in the Senate in 2022. But if you do, Donald Trump will get elected president in 2024.

Believe me, it’s going to happen and you heard it here first.

You are so busy thumbing your nose at Biden, you may not realize that the alternative is El Trumpo.

Short of suffering a stroke, Trump is definitely running. His media empire has amassed a $100 million war chest to see that he wins. Being Trump, he’ll pussyfoot around right up until the last minute, but let’s not fool ourselves, the man is running at the head of the Republican ticket. The Republicans love Trump.

His running mate? I predict Josh Hawley. He and The Donald are cut from the same cloth, share the same pragmatic style and they both are very tall. American presidents are very tall, it has become a requirement in order to get elected.

It’s a dichotomy. Either you let the current administration have a bit of success or you re-elect a rule-breaking, authoritarian narcissist three years from now. At which point, you can kiss American democracy, in its current form, goodbye. You choose. There is no longer some magical middle road where you can both beat up the Bidens and avoid the Trumps.

“The Democrats are eunuchs! They get nothing done!” the Republican candidates will shout this November, with justification. And they will get elected, taking over both houses of Congress.

Joseph Biden has backed himself into a corner. An old-style politician, he seems unaware of politics in the age of the Internet. Rather than keep his mouth shut and get Congress to pass hundreds of line items in small bits of legislation, President Biden has unfurled a grandiose $1.4 trillion plan (down from an original $3.5 trillion) with a dumb title that plays on his name: B as in Biden. B as in Build Back Better. Talk about painting a bull’s eye on your back! Well, okay, FDR had his New Deal, Truman had his Marshall Plan, Kennedy had his New Frontier, LBJ had his Great Society.

Biden is competing with ghosts.

The Democrats ran on a lie in 2020, and I don’t mean any mythological conspiracy theories about voter fraud. The Democrats promised the voters that if the Democrats just won the White House and a majority in both houses of Congress, this country would finally get back to the basic business of governing, instead of building walls and spouting happy talk about hydroxychloroquine.

America came through: Joseph Biden was elected president. The House maintained a Democratic majority. The state of Georgia  elected two Democratic Senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, creating a 50-50 Senate with Vice President Harris supplying the tie-breaking vote.

Bravo!

It’s a year later and despite all the big plans during the campaign, the Biden people now blame their abject failure on the filibuster.

The filibuster! Stop the presses, it’s the filibuster!

So what is it, this lumbering monster, this fire-breathing Godzilla of the legislature? Originally, a filibuster was Cicero-style oratory carried out on the floor of the Senate, for hours at a time, to block a bill from ever reaching a vote. Nowadays, they don’t even bother making the speeches. Mitch McConnell merely threatens to filibuster and all non-budgetary legislation stops dead. As minority leader, Mitch McConnell rules the Senate. This is not the way it is supposed to be, but the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, does not lead. Reactive instead of proactive, Schumer gets a sour look on his face and makes pointed remarks. This is not leadership.

How do you beat the filibuster? It turns out all non-budgetary legislation requires a supermajority of 60 senators to get passed. This is called cloture and it shuts down a filibuster. However, when can you get 60 senators to agree on anything? I mean, now they tell us! Why didn’t the Democrats inform the American people about the filibuster and the supermajority during the 2020 campaign? Were they afraid the voters would throw in the towel and stay home?

The Senate filibuster was created in the 1800’s. It is not part of the Constitution. A simple “yea” vote of 50 senators plus Vice President Harris would send the filibuster to the scrap heap of history. Yet, like fretting Hamlets, the Democrats cannot bring themselves to forego their lamentations and actually take action, by dumping the filibuster once and for all.

There are a thousand reasons for maintaining the filibuster. There are only three reasons to dump it: Governance. Passing legislation. Accomplishing something.   

The Republicans, meanwhile, are busy lining up behind their Great Leader and kowtowing to the angriest rightwing elements of the electorate.

It’s not that the Republicans are so strong, it’s that the Democrats are so weak and divided.    

Incredibly, at the moment, Democratic Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are blocking passage of the Build Back Better Act. Way to go, team! Now that’s what I call solidarity. Not.      

You choose, America. According to a Washington Post – University of Maryland poll, a third of the populace believes that violence against the federal government is justifiable. Never mind democracy or majority rule, fair play or good sportsmanship, Christian charity or the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

One out of three Americans don’t care about all that. They want to see their champion return to the White House. Even if it takes a putsch to do it. They are hell-bent on defending their freedom. Their freedom.

You choose, America. You can play politics, give the federal government the bird, spit on the Bidens and elect Trump in 2024. Or you can stake out a path of your own and surprise the world by abandoning fanciful conspiracy theories, acting like adults and voting for the Democrats.

Not because the Democrats are any damn good, but because they are the lesser of two evils.

Be careful and stay well.

Kevin

Goals & Intentions

Today, the written word is a torrent. Seemingly, there’s more being written than ever can be read. Thankfully, my barbs and snide remarks on Twitter, @k_feingold, get a few likes, always one or two, never three. Once, amazingly, one of my comments went viral, garnering 34,000 likes. Once! That was the one where I joked that Dr. Anthony Fauci was secretly Fao Chi and Chinese.

I gotta laugh.

If you have the technical expertise and/or contact network to put my blog out there in a big way, this would be an ideal time for you to forward the link. Right now, we’re a pretty wonderful but exclusive bunch of diehards. There are about 50 of us, you my readers and me your writer. That you stick with me is a wonder to behold.

I have readers in the USA and China. This makes me very proud. Occasionally, someone in France, the UK, Sweden, Switzerland or Italy also reads my blog. I thank you all!

I write about politics to maintain my sanity. Society is going downhill fast. I try to impede this catastrophe by crying “Wolf!” I also feel like I am a canary in a coal mine.

I really put time and effort into my writing. I do not claim to have secret sources salted away in the government, but occasionally I do get a nugget of intel around which I can write a paragraph.

Trump is an idiot. The question for me is why Americans elected him and why his reelection is even under discussion.

Global warming causes extreme weather, pandemics, catastrophic wildfires on every continent but the poles, mass annihilation of animal life, damage to the ocean, damage to the Amazon, melting glaciers, calving ice shelves, rising sea levels, desalination of the oceans and a rapidly deteriorating atmosphere.

Guess if I’m worried.

I am. Deeply!

Do I want to influence the upcoming American presidential election? Damn straight I do!

Stay well. Stay safe!

Yours, Kev

 

Screwing with the Election

A little history. The 2016 election of Donald Trump consisted of multiple train wrecks.

A reality TV star and erstwhile businessman, DJ Trump had been in people’s living rooms for 14 seasons of The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice. These programs were structured and edited by producer Mark Burnett of “Survivor” fame to make Trump appear a boardroom guru. They sold the television-addicted American people the illusion that Trump was a business genius. Trump’s five bankruptcies might say otherwise, but once people became fans, no amount of bitter reality will ever dispel their loyalty: Good season or bad, Yankee fans are Yankee fans. Trump fans love their man. The more outrageous he behaves, the more they love him!

Trump was able to convince rural and suburban white America that he— a New Yawk real estate mogul— cared about them. America’s “forgotten” men and women, smarting from liberal neglect, they flocked to Trump, who promised to be their champion. A genius at branding, he copyrighted the slogan Make America Great Again. His followers are able to read into that whatever they want.

People may not have been sold on The Donald, but they truly hated privileged, money-grubbing Bill and Hillary Clinton who shamelessly pawed home ridiculous speaking fees on the lecture circuit. A vote for Donald Trump was a vote against decadent liberal corruption.

(What a joke! Far from Draining the Swamp, Trump Inc. has turned the federal government into a cash cow. Many government employees, including the Secret Service and Vice President Pence, have stayed overnight at many Trump properties, paying top dollar. In taxpayer money. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business, Class of ’68, Trump is a genius at manipulating financial systems to his advantage.)

The media went gaga over Trump in 2016, broadcasting his rallies day and night, free of charge. Even when Trump belittled them over their fixation on ratings… “I get the best ratings!…” like lapdogs, they came trotting back for more. At one point, in a fit of pique, Trump prohibited journalists from The Washington Post from attending his morning rally. Yet, four hours later, there he was, giving a one-on-one interview to Post journalist Philip Rucker. By running for president, Trump made fools of the media.

Twitter has completely changed the communication landscape, allowing @realDonaldTrump to communicate directly with his followers anytime day or night, unfiltered and uncensored.

Glavset, The Internet Research Agency troll farm in St. Petersburg, Russia, hijacked Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms in 2016, sowing division among Americans. Who knew? Cyber warfare, they used clever memes and fake persona. Stoking Americans’ anger, their disinformation campaigns were incredibly successful.

At the Clinton-Trump debates, Trump bullied, interrupted, lied and wandered the stage. Unprepared for his shenanigans, the moderators sat helplessly by, playing stooge to Trump’s comedian. “You’re the puppet!” shouted Donald Trump and no one called him to order. When he went walk-about on-stage, bodily threatening Hillary, no moderator politely requested that Trump return to his place at the lectern.

A dissembler, Hillary Clinton had great difficulty displaying honesty. Brittle and apprehensive, she wouldn’t even admit having pneumonia on the campaign trail until she collapsed on the sidewalk.

Like a throbbing toothache, WikiLeaks released a daily dribble of Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman John Podesta’s emails all 30 days leading up to the election. A Russian military intelligence cyber espionage group codenamed “Fancy Bear” has been credited with the hack. More cyber warfare, these gmail missives were a total disaster, displaying the Democrats at their worst.

Ten days before the election, FBI Director James Comey announced that the bureau was re-opening the investigation into Hillary’s emails. Just when the campaign thought they had successfully left the issue of Hillary’s private email account behind them… BAM! There it was again.

Trump gamed the Electoral College brilliantly, winning the presidential election even without winning the popular vote. One vote in Wyoming is equal to 3.6 votes in California. Trump made sure to get those red state votes. That gave him the election.

Election night TV coverage completely missed the boat. It sounded like this: “…Hillary… Hillary… Hillary… Trump has won Michigan… Hillary… Hillary… Trump has won Wisconsin… Hillary… Hillary… Trump has taken Ohio… Hillary… Hillary… Hillary… Trump has won Pennsylvania and Florida…. Meanwhile, Hillary… Oh, my God! Donald John Trump is the next President of the United States of America.”

Who decides?

At 60%, White Americans are the majority.

Hispanic and Latino Americans, the largest ethnic minority, comprise 18% of the population.

African Americans comprise 13.4% of the population.

Asian Americans are 5.6% of the population.

If the election of 2020 is a last gasp of white dominance over American life, these numbers show that the minority vote alone cannot carry a national election.

On any given day, Trump has the support of 35% of the electorate. Unshakable, they are his fan base. Whether traditional Republicans, Confederate flag-waving patriots, supporters of the Second Amendment, adherents to The Lost Cause of the War Between the States, QAnon true believers or “I Got Mine” blacks and Latinos, come Hell or high water, they will vote for Trump.

Trump supporters will believe anything he says. With their short attention span, they even allow him to change his story from one press conference to the next.

As Chico of the Marx Brothers said, “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”

Like a good soap opera, every day Trump presents a new episode, dominating the news cycle.

California and the western states are getting burnt to a cinder, but El Trumpo considers global warming to be a hoax… invented by China!

No, Mr. President, the military doesn’t wish to fight endless wars in order to please the armaments industry. Read my lips: The Pentagon is not manned by war profiteers. Slurs against the military— like your slights against the United States Postal Service— force Americans to choose between loyalty to you, sir, or to the country’s most cherished traditions. Being asked to choose between a Johnny-come-lately like Donald J. Trump and the Pony Express, most people choose the mail carriers of 1860. Americans are proud of their heritage, despite Republican gaslighting to the contrary.

Just as he did in 2016, Trump claims the election is rigged against him, questioning the entire process. Apparently, democratic elections don’t suit him. Afraid that he cannot win fair and square, he’s busy farting around.

Russia is up to its old tricks, attacking the Democrats and trying to tilt the election in Trump’s favor, but Donald J. Trump insists on willfully ignoring foreign meddling.   

Trump even prevaricates over whether he will peacefully leave office, should he fail to win.

Now that’s entertainment! That’s Trump.

You decide!

Desperate to win re-election, Trump hems and haws about a vaccine for the coronavirus, faux predicting a roll-out as soon as… October!!!

An October Surprise, as they call it in presidential elections.

Yeah. Right.

Since the pandemic will lead to record levels of mail-in voting, Trump insists— without proof— that mail-in voting leads to voter fraud. Meanwhile, Melania and he— claiming the Mar-a-Lago Country Club in Florida as their official place of residence— are mailing in their ballots. Talk about cognitive dissonance, even Trump appears confused.

Trump’s newly installed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy seems intent on mucking up the election. He has overseen the removal of mailboxes and the dismantling of sorting machines, even while governors all across the country warn that they may not be able to handle the expected volume of mail-in voting. Is this man purposely crippling the postal system and, if so, on whose order, Mr. President?

Everywhere, Americans fueled by white grievance continue to vent over Obama and the Democrats.

Those white Americans will not vote for Kamala Harris who is part Indian and part black. Interestingly, now that the Republican Party is led by a wild card, the Dems have gone white bread in Joe Biden. We shall see if “Drain the Swamp!” Trumpers are in sufficient pain to cross over and vote for Biden, an Establishment figure.

According to the Trump family members who spoke at the four-day Republican Convention— dutiful sons Don Jr. and Eric, Melania dressed in military garb, daughters Ivanka and Tiffany, plus daughter-in-law Lara Trump— Joe Biden is a socialist Prince of Darkness, a pawn of the radical left who will destroy America’s lily white suburbs by flooding them with low-cost apartment houses!

I shudder at the thought.

But it’s a funny thing, people are tired of the anger and acrimony. The more strident Trump becomes nearing Election Day, the more people tune him out.

The presidency of Donald John Trump is a white American problem. No amount of marching in the streets, protests by Black Lives Matter protesters, night-time demonstrations, riots, looting, vandals or bullsheit news coverage both online and off will decide this election.

White America will decide this election.

Multi-cultural America is suffering growing pains. The entire world is watching as America struggles to decide what kind of country it wants to be.

 

RNC 2020 Convention in Tweets

I grew up adjacent to The 1812 Hwy, a classic sunken road in Oxburg, Maryland left over from the Civil War. At football games, our high school cheerleaders would lead us in a chant: “Push ‘em back, push ‘em back, way-y-y-y-y back!” At the Republican National Convention of 2020, I hear a lot of cheerleading.

Personally, I think Donald J. Trump is a dud. He’s like a faulty Chinese firecracker, fuse sputtering, releasing white smoke and sparks, but zero bang. What he does do, signing Executive Orders, invariably turns into an unmitigated disaster. This reality is a given, just ask the people of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The man is a failed businessman who survived six bankruptcies. “That shows I’m smart,” brays Donald J. Trump.

No, sir. That shows U R an a-hole.

Trump’s tweet storms have ignited the country.

So I wasn’t under any illusions going into the Republican Convention.

I sat watching the Democratic Convention on TV with a feeling of dread, hoping against hope that they would just squeak through without blowing up the candy store. Eureka! They did it. The streets are filled with Black Lives Matter protesters, but the Democrats maintained message discipline. Which was a good thing. It meant fewer gaffes, less cannon fodder for the Republican attack dogs to gnaw on.

I fully ascribe to whatever complaints were leveled at the Democratic National Convention. We are who we are, warts and all. AOC, bless her heart, never got the memo, seconding the nomination of Bernie Sanders at a convention celebrating the selection of Joe Biden to lead the party in November. Yes, there’s a left wing to the Democratic Party, waving copies of Das Kapital by Karl Marx, but I experience that as a good thing. They add leaven to the bread.

We Democrats never said we were perfect.

The Republicans, on the other hand, consider themselves perfect. Donnie only speaks in superlatives: His is the greatest economy in history, he has the largest crowds and best TV ratings, only the very best people work in his administration. Mo’ better. But as Obama explained in his excellent critique leveled at Trump during the DNC Convention, The Donald has never fully engaged in the work. Clueless, he never gets the job done. Instead, El Trumpo spends an inordinate amount of time watching Fox News, tweeting, and speaking at press conferences and rallies, bragging about his accomplishments. If Obama the professor drove us to distraction during his presidency by constantly mansplaining, El Trumpo drives us crazy with his endless bragging. Childish behavior by any other name is still a pain in the butt.

My Tweets

Is that an elephant I hear TRUMPeting in the distance? Welcome to the March of the Dodo Birds.

Donald John Trump tells us climate change is a hoax invented by China, Mexicans are murderers & rapists and there was no Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump puts children in cages, yet this GOP Convention calls him a hero.

THIS JUST IN: Unconfirmed report that President Trump will address convention on Day Four. In Russian!

Blond, blue-eyed Natalie Harp from California, pretty & compelling, tells us that if not for President Trump, we would all be living in Pottersville. “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a good metaphor, Natalie, but slightly misplaced: No one more closely resembles Mr. Potter than real estate mogul Donald John Trump!

 

NOTE: Listening to Ms. Harp, one is bowled over. As sweet as a Spring morning, she claims she owes her very life to President Trump. His Right-To-Try legislation gave her access to the medicine that defeated her bone cancer. Wow! What can you say to that??? It feels a little suspicious that she is part of Trump’s reelection campaign, but after all, maybe they like each other. Then I read a thread by a medical professional who points out that her treatments took place before RTT was even passed, that the meds Natalie used were already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, that she and The Donald participated together in a previous forum, and that only about 10 people in the whole wide world have in fact been treated under Right-To-Try. Apparently the drug companies want no part of unclinical trials that would leave them open to litigation.

 

These people are salesmen and saleswomen, selling us the Trump brand. Ms. Harp’s ready smile, widening of the eyes and unbridled sincerity is a performance. Ugh! Another snake oil salesperson in the long list of disappointments in the Trump universe.

[ Re the McCloskeys ] What is wrong with this picture? It’ll be a miracle if he doesn’t accidentally shoot his wife. Textbook example of how NOT to handle a firearm.

Don Jr gave an incredible performance: he preached like a televangelist, lectured us about freedom and quoted Thomas Jefferson. Don Jr’s worldview, however, leads to Jim Crow segregation, gun massacres and lynchings. Nostalgia for a bloodstained past. FREEDOM! For white people.

When Don Jr begins quoting Thomas Jefferson at me, I have had enough.

What branch of the military has Melania joined, since she was dressed in olive drab? Smart, the media knew her costume was a provocation and ignored it. But seeing her dressed like that felt like a throwback to Germany in the 1930’s.

(I’m not the only one on Twitter who finds Melania’s garb inappropriate. One tweet declares that her brownshirt uniform was the message. Nicely put.)

If we were curious about what the Trump children are really like, they have done us the favor of introducing themselves. Trust fund babies lecturing the middle class about the omnipotence of their father.

Bring on the clowns!

Where do they get this SOCIALISM straw man? Apparently das Trumf volk really believe they are in a time warp battle against sozialismus. Bernie Sanders & the Gang of Four are radicals but they don’t rule the Democrats. Political opponents are not enemies. It’s called democracy.

Mike Pence, I cannot hear what you are saying because what you are speaks so loudly.

[ Day Three, Pence speech at Ft McHenry, Maryland ] Good speech. Enough with the riots. But why are these young Americans rioting? Perhaps they are fed up with police brutality, racism and President Trump’s abusive taunts. Stop the violence, Mr. Vice President, but offer an alternative. What’s the plan, Mike?

Daughter-in-law Lara Trump describes a wonderful, helpful, kind and generous man, who only wants the best for every American. That’s great! I would be delighted to meet such a person. Unfortunately, that’s not the meanness & venom this country has experienced in the last three and a half years.

You give love a bad name.

If I hear one more person describe Trump as a successful businessman, I am going to hurl. Six bankruptcies, Trump is NOT a successful businessman. He is a con artist salesman posing as a businessman.

The Revenge of the Blondes, after years of being the butt of “dumb blonde” jokes, blond women have been chosen almost exclusively by the Trump Reelection Committee to speak on the president’s behalf. Beware the red dress!

If DJT had any cajones, he would stand up and shout “YES! I am a barroom brawler & proud of it!” Instead, we get his children’s putrid portrait of a lovey-dovey father figure, all sweetness & light. Yuk!

So I ask you: When is Trump finally going to show us his birth certificate?

A vaccine by the New Year? Don’t try to buy milk with that phony $3 bill.

What jungle does that Tarzan reside in?

Dems give “free reign to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens” says DJ Trump. Moi? A violent anarchist?

Was this speech transcribed from the original Russian?

I Got Mine

What do all of the speakers have in common? A philosophy of “I got mine!” They are the children of good fortune, but as Maximo Alvarez says, they aren’t going to let anyone take their wealth away from them.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey with their 52-room house (according to Dan Zak in The Washington Post) in St. Louis, Missouri, warn us that if we elect a Democrat as president, there goes the neighborhood! We’ll have anarchy and chaos on our streets, the defunding of police, and the ending of cash bail, so criminals can get out of jail to riot once again.  According to the McCloskeys, the Dems support radicals who want to abolish suburbs altogether! By changing the zoning laws, ending single family home zoning, they’ll bring crime, lawlessness and low-quality apartments into now-thriving suburban neighborhoods. Says Pat McCloskey. Under Democratic rule, they insist, we’ll experience what they did:  An out-of-control mob of radicals roaming the streets of suburbia with bullhorns, screaming “You can’t stop the revolution!”

An apocalyptic vision, to say the least.

The McCloskeys are lawyers. Like Trump, they sue people left, right and center. Mark destroyed beehives adjacent to their property belonging to a religious day school and then threatened the congregation with a restraining order. Scratch the surface and you find a lot of these seemingly attractive people who are giving testimonials turn out to be pretty unpleasant characters. Not kind, not nice, uncivil. Aggressive and egocentric.

Most shocking is that every last speaker at the RNC Convention seems to have drunk the Kool-Aid: Whether black or white, these privileged individuals appear to truly believe that their place in life is at the top of the food chain, that the silver spoon is theirs for the asking, and that hordes of socialist terrorists are preparing to take over this country.

These people are selling us their brand of America, almost a parody, where they are top dog— through hard work, talent, luck, wealth and, in some cases,  family connections— while the rest of us mediocrities slave away in penal servitude to the top 1%, the big capitalists.

It’s true that we political operatives are cynical and view the entire world as performance. During the convention, disturbingly, I keep expecting to see the little red and white box in the lower right hand corner of the screen announcing “As Seen On TV.” Have I stumbled onto a mutant form of campaign coverage as presented by the shopping channel?

WAIT! Trust fund babe Ivanka Trump speaks on behalf of “the people.” She tells us that real estate billionaire Donald J. Trump is “the people’s president.” Are you kiddin’ me? And that hair! Well, at least Ivanka got her dad’s middle initial right. Although it was touch and go there for a second.

Disappointments being what they are, Donald J. Tяump never did address the amerikanskii people in the original Russian. It might have added clarity to his presentation. (Nyet! Yust yoking!)

Vaccine?

You don’t even need to listen to the speech to know that Trump— the endless huckster— will float the idea of a vaccine for Covid-19— AGAIN! This time, maybe, who knows… maybe it’ll even be ready before the New Year. A miraculous vaccine, best in the world. Definitely before the New Year. Maybe.

That is the topic on everyone’s mind, so, of course, that is where he makes the night’s emptiest promises.

Less testing.

Stick our heads in the sand and it’ll disappear. POOF! Like a miracle.

Oh, WAIT! That line didn’t work last time either.

So now the miracle vaccine is somehow linked to reelecting El Trumpo. I mean, the world is working on a cure, we are going to get a vaccine eventually. Meanwhile, we can put Old Donnie the bull artist out to pasture.

Nixon promised that if elected, he had a secret plan to end the Vietnam war.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Trump is going to release his tax statements… real soon!

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Don’t misunderstand me, this is standup comedy of the highest order. Listen closely and you’ll realize that Trump is being ironic. He’s yust yoking! There’s no vaccine, he’s purposely mixing positive thinking with voodoo wish fulfillment. He’s being ironic. It’s the South Lawn of the White House, Day Four of the convention, everybody’s tired. Adding a little levity to a somber occasion, The Donald is joking around. Vaccine up yer ass, bubba!

Upon leaving the White House, once outside the fence enclosure, attendees get harassed by a dozen angry young protesters.  Reap the whirlwind. People shout in their faces. We’re in a very sad state of disunion, witnessing the dismantling of America. It’s 9:30 in the morning in the Kremlin. Putin must be pleased. At least the weather is good.

Tяump

 Donald John Trump is methodically dismantling American government and American society. A full-time Russian agent couldn’t do a more thorough job. Intelligence reports indicate that during the 2016 election campaign, the Trump team had contact at least 140 times with Russian nationals and Wikileaks or their intermediaries. Facts on the ground, this is upsetting stuff.

Then there are those disturbing photos of Trump on May 10, 2017 in the Oval Office yukking it up with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov  and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Once viewed, those images, provided by the Russian news agency TASS, are hard to forget.

At the 2018 Russia – United States Summit on July 16 in Helsinki, Finland, Trump spoke privately with Vladimir Putin for almost two hours with only a single female interpreter present. We still don’t know what they discussed during those 120 minutes. Dachas? Trump Tower Moskva? Later, at their joint press conference, Trump said Putin denied interfering in the 2016 presidential election and that Trump believed Putin’s denial. This caused an uproar worldwide. The next day, Trump “corrected” his previous statement.

Nobody can sue a sitting president, but a sitting president can sue everybody. No one is immune from prosecution except the president. No one is above the law except the president. You can impeach him, but you cannot find him guilty. Nor can he be removed from office. Such is the law in Tяump’s America. Trump is litigious and nobody wants to get sued, so everyone has kept their mouths shut, leaving America’s democratic way of life hanging by a thread. Dousing the fire with gasoline, on September 27, 2020, the Showtime network will begin airing The Comey Rule, a two-part drama that raises the question whether Donald J. Trump is a Russian asset. Five weeks before the election. Unless there’s an injunction.

 

Forget the White Vote!

 White folks will not vote for Kamala Harris. I say this with great regret, but it’s true.

She is an ABW, an Angry Black Woman.

She is from California.

She is super-liberal.

She is another candidate with an Arab-sounding name.

The lady has an uppity attitude.

She does not play well with others.

Her primary campaign fell apart = she can’t get elected dogcatcher. (Not to disparage dogcatchers.)

White folks are still smarting from eight years of Obama.

 

The lesson of Trump is that the hinterlands don’t want far-out liberal candidates. Love her, hate her or feel undecided, Kamala is a liberal fringe candidate. Forget about her ever getting the white vote.

White Americans are going to vote as a bloc and that bloc is not going for the Biden-Harris ticket. Way to go, Dems! Are you going to shoot yourselves in the other foot?

Having relinquished the largest voting bloc, the Democrats’ road to victory consists of rallying and getting registered every single minority vote out there, Latino, black, Asian, liberal, Jewish, Catholic, you name it. Rally the Minorities!

 

Be well, stay safe!

(Although currently inactive, one of my hats is political consultant, often to underdog candidates. My track record is 50% wins and 50% losses.)

 

Not Even A Flag

I need an American flag for the background to a video our rap band is making. Rather than order online, I really want to just jump in my car and drive to a store and buy a flag. For example, I can drive to the Flags of All Nations store and spend $32 for a silk screened Stars and Stripes, but the stars won’t even be embroidered. So I check online and find that the Big Box Store wants $30 for an embroidered flag. The Gardening Appliance store wants $20. Target has a 3′ X 5′ American flag, embroidered, for $10. It’s exactly what I’m looking for at a price even I can afford. According to their website, my local Target store has one in stock in section D1.

It’s December 31st, the New Year, not the Fourth of July. Flags aren’t exactly in season. I drive over there and ask the salespeople where I can find section D1.

“D1?” they reply, aghast. “Over there in the back of the store.”

D1 is in the far right back corner of the store. All that lines the three shelves in D1 is disinfectant. No flags.

Returning to the middle of the store, I flag down a salesperson and ask where, perchance, he might have American flags. “Let me check inventory,” he suggests kindly and pulls out his Target tablet. Scrolling, he explains that there aren’t any in that store, but if I go to Store B, another four miles away, they should have some in stock. “Write down the UPC number and telephone them and they can check their inventory,” he adds helpfully. Gangbusters! I thank the man.

Now it’s true that my local Target never has what I am looking for. I always have to traipse to Store B, so this is neither a hindrance nor a hardship. I don’t have time to zip over there before New Year’s Eve, but I figure one day won’t matter.

Before I go there today, January 1, I go to the Target website and specify Store B as my desired location. Behold! When I click on the 3′ X 5′ embroidered American flag, the site indicates “In stock.” Cool! In order to make my purchase, I need to open a Target account. Yada, yada, yada. I open an account. Then I purchase the 3′ X 5′ American flag for $10 plus tax, using my credit card. I specify Two Hour Store Pickup. I even sign up for a text message on my cellphone indicating when the item is ready for me to come get it.

As I am making the purchase, I receive the notification “Only one left in stock. Order now.” Cripes! Every time I go to make a purchase online, it’s Super Mario Panic Button Time again. Last one in stock, BUY NOW! Alternatively, why can’t Target keep up its inventory? AN AMERICAN FLAG costing $10 should not be such an exotic item that Target only stocks them individually. Nu?

You know where I am going with this.

I wait. I wait to get a text message. Hearing naught, I check my emails. “An item is no longer available for pickup” says the subject line.

“We went to grab the item listed below, but it looks like someone snagged the last one,” claims the text.

Which is pure unadulterated poppycock. Booooo! Get real! You never had it to begin with. Maybe flags go rushing off the shelves on the Fourth of July. On January 1, 2020 in the middle of the afternoon, not a chance. There wasn’t any 3′ X 5′ embroidered American flag at that store location. Nope. Never happen. Target is blowing smoke rings.

I am then given the opportunity to let my purchase lapse, choose a different store or accept having the flag shipped free of charge through the mail. Target lists half a dozen stores in the vicinity, one after another. Forget about having to drive ten miles to pick up the flag, do they really think I’m gonna spend two hours online at each location I choose only to hear, “We went to grab the item listed below, but it looks like someone snagged the last one”?

I choose free shipping. The item will be delivered to my door by Saturday, January 4. Then I get a big white tab: They want my shipping address.

Once I give them my shipping address, nothing happens. Nothing. So I click on the red “ship to me” button again. You’ll notice I still haven’t gotten a receipt for my purchase. Now I can’t even get a confirmation that the flag will be sent through the mail.

Using the “Contact us” function, I get a Customer Service number. Sitting at my laptop, I call that number and speak with a young man in Mumbai. Since I know his accent will defeat me, I do most of the talking. I give him my order number. I explain that there aren’t any flags in the stores. I am choosing the free shipping option. I confirm my delivery address. Since the order had not been changed to home delivery… What?! Shit!… he makes that change. He again confirms my delivery name and address. He also keeps insisting that the flag will arrive by Saturday, January 4th.

Ya think?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! 

My younger brother Tim has explained that online mail order is killing the bricks and mortar retail trade. “The same thing happened with video stores when Netflix came along,” he points out. “Each store had thousands of dollars tied up in inventory. Netflix had all their DVD’s in one big warehouse. Economy of scale.”

Apparently Target is so dirt poor at this point, they can’t even afford to stock a decent number of American flags in each location.

This is a very sad commentary on the state of America.