Medical issues, to start off: so it appears that I have a pinched nerve in my spine as a result of a fall, which is sending pain screaming through my lower abdomen. The doctor has me on oxycodone which is enabling me to function, but it’s scrambling my ability to process coherent thought. But I don’t want to blow off FOF two weeks in a row, so I’ll be working on keeping it together long enough to discuss the latest idiocy. And yes, I will still be attending the Ace convention this weekend, because there’s no way I’m telling my daughter she can’t meet Gal Gadot. I just may not be at my best.
1. Jerusalem of gold. I am really torn on this. On the one hand, Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel is certain to throw a huge monkey wrench into the peace process. On the other hand, there currently isn’t a peace process because the Palestinians still don’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, much less for the Holy City to belong exclusively to them. So part of me is saying, “Yes, fine, stick it to the Palestinians, let them squirm for once.” But let’s put cards on the table: it’s going to end badly. Very badly. If I worked in the diplomatic corps, I’d resign before I set foot in a Jerusalem embassy because it’s going to become target number one for every Arab terrorist in the area. I’m sorry, the area? In the world. Protests are already breaking out not only on the West Bank, but in Turkey, Jordan and Malaysia.
Lots and lots of people are going to die because of this decision. We all know it’s going to happen, and everyone cares about that except for the man who made the decision in the first place. And we all know that it has nothing to do with Jerusalem and everything to do with his ego. He basically pointed out that no one else who preceded him in the office has ever done this. The fact that they all have good reasons for it doesn’t even begin to register. He has to get up there and stroke his ego by saying, “I did this first! Look at me!” So the Jew in me is pleased but the common sense American is horrified.
2. Taking it in the teeth.. So it is obvious that Trump wears dentures because they begin to evacuate his mouth when he said “United States.” Aside from admiring the dentures’ comedy timing, I honestly couldn’t care less. He’s a senior citizen with false teeth. Big deal. If he were honest about it, he might actually get props from millions of other seniors who deal with the same issue. What’s hilarious is that he absolutely cannot admit to weakness of any kind. His people are claiming he had a dry throat. No. He didn’t. A dry throat affects volume. It doesn’t impact on articulation. Unless you’re coughing, but he wasn’t coughing. He was displaying a dental slip. For God’s sake, just admit it. Admit to human frailty. For once.
3. Faking it.. As Trump’s opinion polls continue to slide and he pìššëš øff our allies, there is one group of individuals who are flocking to him and following his example: despots. They have embraced his constant chants of “fake news” by brushing off all criticism using the same phrasing. Syrian President Bashar Assad declared that Amnesty International’s report of 13,000 people dying in his military prisons was an example of the “fake news era.” Others have joined in dismissing any criticisms of their travesties, sometimes while standing right next to Trump as he laughs in appreciation. When your closest allies are murderers and despots, well…like seeks out like.
4. Moore or Less.. Remember Roy Moore, the guy that, weeks ago, the GOP was urging to pull out of the race? Well, Trump just soundly endorsed him while simultaneously lying about Moore’s opposition, Doug Jones. And the GOP sent $107,000 in funding to the man who allegedly sexually assaulted underage girls, which last I checked is statutory rape. Why is Trump endorsing him? Because Moore said he didn’t do it. You know: like Nixon said he wasn’t a crook. And Clinton said he hadn’t had sex with that woman. And Jeremy Piven said he hadn’t sexually assaulted anyone and even was cleared by two lie detector tests, but CBS canceled his program. And Al Franken said that some accusations were out and out lies, but he just resigned anyway.
I honestly don’t know what to make of Franken anymore. I found that article that I linked to some days back pretty convincing, depicting his accuser not as a victim at all, but someone involved in the GOP’s desire to distract from Moore and do their usual tactics of, “What about us? Well, what about you!” It is their favorite response to any accusation: accuse the Democrats of doing the same thing as loudly as possible, thus undercutting any moral high ground. Thus they never have to answer for their crimes because in the GOP world, everyone is guilty and thus no one can be found guilty. What does the law matter if everyone ignores it? Deny and accuse, deny and accuse. Trump is now denying that it was his voice on the tape boasting about grabbing women’s genitals, even though he admitted to it months ago. Meanwhile right wing religious nuts are lining up behind Moore and ignoring all the accusations lined up against him. Remember the days when we all thought women would turn against Trump because of his comments because what sane woman would tolerate it? Now we’re finding out.
Yet it’s also become clear that Franken did indeed slap women’s buttocks on several occasions. This news, which wouldn’t even register on the GOP hot line of assaults, has forced him to resign. The reason is obvious: the Democrats cannot go after Roy Moore if/when he gets elected if they have Franken hanging around their neck. The fact is that he ultimately brought these problems on himself, and now he has to pay for it, even though if he were a Republican, he’d still be serving and having the entire party lining up behind him. But the Democrats don’t line up behind anyone because they attempt to hold their members to a standard that the GOP has long ago tossed aside. The GOP cares about power and power only. Not serving the people. Not adhering to a standard of truth. Not the ethics of their people. Just power, period.
This country used to stand for something. Now it stands for anything.
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