Month: February 2020

We’ve been through pandemic viruses before.  Most recently it was in 2014 when Fox News relentlessly beat the drums declaring that we were all going to die of the much more lethal Ebola virus.  And Fox & Friends regular guest Donald Trump was one of the loudest leaders of the opposition.  He declared without evidence that Barack Obama was “a psycho,” and one of his reasons for making this proclamation was because Obama designated Ronald Klain to be his Ebola czar to oversee the US endeavors to combat it.

Why Klain?  He wasn’t a doctor, so why make him czar?  Trump loudly proclaimed his lack of medical knowledge as being one of the main proofs of Obama’s psychotic break.  The reason was that Klain was an experienced political operative who Obama felt would have to skill to negotiate strategies with intransigent Republicans who saw the Ebola outbreak as something they could gain for political advantage.  The very same Republicans who are currently falling over each other to voice support for Trump’s incompetence and stupidity (the Coronavirus is going to go away in the spring when the weather warms up?  Seriously?) didn’t hesitate to trash Obama for every decision he made, despite the fact that under Obama’s watch the disease never made it to the United States to any major degree.  Furthermore Obama had Doctor Thomas Frieden heading up the CDC, a top doctor with indisputable credentials.  So Klain used his skills to coordinate everyone working together, and it all turned out fine.

And Trump, who apparently completely forgot about his remonstrating Obama in 2014 for putting a non-scientist in charge, didn’t hesitate to go Obama one better and put not only a non-scientist, but an anti-scientist in charge:  Mike Pence.

Pence certainly has experience with communicable diseases.  His sluggish response to the urge to institute a needle exchange program resulted in an HIV outbreak in Indiana in 2015.  He eventually signed off on it but if he’d acted earlier, far fewer people would have contracted it. It gets better.  Several years earlier when he was in Congress, he stripped funding from Planned Parenthood and consequently the last Planned Parenthood in Scott County, Indiana went out of business…and by interesting coincidence, they also provided free testing for HIV.  So when that went away, it spread the way for HIV.

He also joins Trump in believing that climate change isn’t real.  Furthermore he asserts that cigarette smoking doesn’t lead to cancer, that evolution isn’t real (God created everything, full stop), and that one’s tendency toward gayness can be pounded out of them by—I dunno—beating them repeatedly on a rock by the river.  So when it comes to matters of science, Pence actively flies in the face of people who have dedicated their entire lives to studying these things, not to mention things we know because common sense tells us so.  

Yet this yahoo was put in charge of the endeavors to try and curb a disease that experts say is only a matter of when, not if, it will come to the United States.  Why?  Because according to Trump, Pence has nothing better to do.

Apparently neither does Trump.  He doesn’t care about what the coronavirus is doing to average Americans.  He cares about one thing and one thing only:  what it’s doing to the stock market.  He firmly believes that if the economy tanks, it will jeopardize his chances for reelection.  And considering the only thing keeping him out of jail is the fact that he’s in the Oval Office, that’s certainly a matter of concern for him.  Figuring his only chance is to have the stock market problems reflect on his enemies, he was insane enough to state that the Democratic debate, which happened on Tuesday, was responsible for the first 1000 point drop in the Dow Jones that occurred on Monday.   

The Democrats really have to stop beating up on each other.  If things continue as they are, they could put a pet rock up for the office and it would beat Trump.  

PAD

One has to admit, things are going great for Trump right now.  Granted, he seems unable to do anything right, and yet in his presidency he literally can do no wrong.

The supine GOP, having subsumed their ostensible devotion to the constitution entirely over to supporting Trump instead, actually had the nerve to claim that Trump would have learned something from the impeachment.

The short response to that is that Trump has demonstrably proven that he is incapable of learning anything at all.  He is incapable of admitting when he did anything wrong because, as far as he concerned, he never does.  Consequently he also can’t admit fault because he didn’t do anything wrong, so what is there to admit fault about?  Everyone who stands in opposition to him is sick, twisted, a liar, a never-Trumper, and an enemy to be disposed of and summarily crushed as soon as possible.

The longer answer is that he did indeed learn something from it.  He learned that he can do whatever he wants and the GOP will have him covered.  He has proven conclusively what he said years ago:  that if he gunned down someone on Fifth Avenue, he would not suffer any consequences for it.  Because we live in a world where cheaters, contrary to the old saying, are prospering with no harm resulting from it.  That’s why the Houston Astros effectively got a slap on the wrist for cheating their way to a World Series championship and George Zimmerman is suing Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg because they dared to mention that Trayvon Martin would have been twenty-five if he hadn’t been gunned down.  I would say that if there was any justice, Zimmerman’s suit will be quickly tossed, but honestly I’m wondering if there is any justice anymore.

That was why Trump ejected Alexander Vindman, because Cadet Bonespurs took issue with the decorated service man’s career, and threw out Vindman’s twin brother for no reason other than that he had the same last name.  He’s even getting people who didn’t work for him fired:  E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of raping her years ago, was fired from ELLE Magazine where she had worked for decades.  She says she doesn’t blame ELLE for that; she blames Trump.  Me, I blame ELLE.  But that’s me.

Meanwhile, as does any good dictator in a banana republic, Trump is now busy twisting the right of presidential pardons in manners for which it was never intended.  Rather than reserving it for the poor and helpless who were abused by an unfair judicial process, he is pardoning the rich and powerful who were jailed for everything from tax evasion to lying to the FBI to trying to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat.  Basically he is pardoning wealthy individuals who very likely will be more than happy to reciprocate with sizable donations to his reelection campaign.  

Because really, what else would you expect from a rich, lying tax evader?  Trump knows what he is, sympathizes with people who have committed the same crimes that he has, and so pardons them because he is effectively pardoning himself.  He reasons that if he can do this stuff and get away with it, then his friends should be able to do the same thing.  Keep in mind that he has repeatedly said that he has the right to pardon himself, and if the question goes to the conservative Supreme Court, who’s to say that they won’t agree with him?

Meanwhile Bill Barr is claiming that it’s hard to do his job with Trump tweeting about the justice department.  I’m sorry, but I’m not buying that for a microsecond.  Barr has proven that he is perfectly happy to be Trump’s lapdog; hëll, he auditioned for the role with an essay that basically talked about how the president should have unlimited power that can’t be challenged in court.  So I do not remotely accept that he really believes his complaints about how so darned hard his job is thanks to Trump’s tweets.  Until such times as he actually resigns in protest, I am going to firmly believe that this is all something he arranged in advance with Trump in order to try and have a response to the vitriol rightly being heaped on him over the Roger Stone sentencing.  A sentence that we all know Trump is going to toss out at some point in the near future.  The Justice Department, which is supposed to operate separately from Trump, is now being thoroughly controlled by him.  They’re even being shunted aside for the entire pardoning procedure as Trump ignores all the routes that other presidents have taken and consults Fox News rather than the Justice Department over whom he should pardon.  

And I’m sure that Putin approves of all of this.  The intelligence agencies recently reported that the Russians are endeavoring to rig the 2020 election, just as they did the 2016 one, on behalf of Trump.  How did Trump react to that?  Outrage.  Not at the Russians; at the people reporting what the Russians were up to.  He’s not angry at Putin; he’s angry at Adam Schiff who was in the briefing and whom he was convinced was going to “weaponize” the report.  In what way?  I dunno; maybe be concerned about it?  He certainly can’t get the Senate to do anything because Moscow Mitch is naturally preventing any attempts to protect the election from foreign interference.  

I have to observe that the founding fathers could never have conceived of THIS MANY worst case scenarios to be happening at the exact same time that would turn the government into an utter perversion of what they originally envisioned.

PAD

8:00: Misterrogers? Oookay. I like that they cut first to Tom Hanks for a reaction.

8:04: They’re going to celebrate all the women directors in a year where no women were nominated for directing? Seriously? I can guarantee you I’m not going to be the only person pointing out THAT discrepancy.

8:06: Not a bad opening, although I agree with Caroline: nothing is going to top the Neil Patrick Harris Tony opening from several years ago.

8:12: See, that was the problem with “Beautiful Day.” Misterrogers was a supporting character.

8:15: And we hit the ground running with political commentary. You know what? Screw it. If you have a pulpit, you might as well use it. I’m sick of sticking to the GOP rulers about when and how we can smack talk the government.

8:23: As a Disney employee, I have to be happy for TS4 winning. As a fan, I have to admit I was rooting for Dragon. Ah well.

8:25: I haven’t seen “Hair Love” but Kath and Caroline both saw it and loved it, so they’re happy.

8:31: Holy crap, this rendition of “Into the Unknown” may be the best song performance I’ve ever seen in the Oscars.

8:37: Why is Diane Keaton dressed like she’s waiting for a bus? what am I missing?

8:42: When Shana went to a drama camp called Usdan decades ago, there was this one girl attending that she couldn’t stand. She said, “She acts like she’s going to be a movie star!” That girl is currently standing on the stage at the Oscars.

8:46: I was rooting for Joker, but Jojo really was a terrific film.

8:50: Boy, I’m striking out. I was rooting for 1917. Nothing I’m pulling for is winning. Since I’m actively rooting against The Irishman for best film, it’s probably a lock.

8:52: Kath called it. Period pieces usually have an advantage in this category.

9:02: A song with no intro at all? What the hëll film is this from?

9:12: I’m assuming that poor woman has cancer because her eyebrow are drawn on.

9:16: Come on, Scarlet Johansson.

9:18: Son of a bìŧçh.

9:30: Right. Sure. This song is right up there with “Eye of the Tiger” and “Don’t You Forget About me.” Suuuure it is.

9:32: oooo, Scorsese does NOT look impressed.

9:43: I’m still here. I just didn’t care about any of the categories.

9:43: I honestly don’t remember this song from TS4. Not up there with “Friend Like Me,” certainly.

9:49: This guy is kind of entertaining, I guess, but I’ve no clue why he’s there or what purpose he serves.

9:51: Come on Joker.

9:52: Son of a BÍTÇH.

9:55: Well, it wasn’t the Irishman, so I’m satisfied with that.

10:00: I am Spartacus. Very nice.

10:06: So since I don’t care about this song, I just took the time to watch “Hair Love.” What a charming short animated film. It’s on Youtube. Go see it.

10;07: Hard to believe the very first Academy awards ceremony took fifteen minutes. True story.

10:12: Okay that took nerve. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

10:13: Come on Endgame1

10!:14: Son OF A BÍTÇH.

10:27: Boy it’s a hëll of a night for South Korea.

10:40: I’m wracking my brains and I can’t recall ever seeing a female conductor. Ever.

10:42: FINALLY Joker won something. Huzzah.

10:47: Well, I was rooting for “Into the Unknown” but John’s been trying to get this film made for two decades, so I can’t really begrudge him.

10:52: Jesus, maybe I should go see this film.

11:04: Dare I say it…come on Joker.

11:05: Son of a–oh. Never mind.

11:10: That was a terrific speech.

11:11: You know, I wonder if they should have best male and female director. I mean, they have actor and actress. That would solve the problem, I guess.

11:13: Well, I was rooting for Scarlett, but Rene was really terrific in Judy.

11:25: Okay, that’s it, I’m going to see Parasite.

Remember when it seemed as if Richard Nixon was going to be impeached?  Rather than take his chances, slug it out on the floor of the Senate, risk the country being torn apart, he resigned his office.  I remember being at a party that, by pure coincidence, was thrown the night he announced he was quitting.  God, did we cheer.  

Remember when Bill Clinton was impeached?  Remember when he remained in office but gave a subsequent speech in which he apologized for having put the country through everything, all because he couldn’t keep his genitals zipped up and then lied about it?

Ultimately, both of them were men who put their country’s needs above themselves.  Nixon could have chosen to fight.  Clinton could have sworn revenge on Ken Starr and the GOPers who had made his (and his wife’s) lives a living hëll.  But they saw beyond their own needs and desires.  

Representative Susan Collins of Maine seems to be under the impression that Trump will have learned a valuable lesson after being impeached.  Lamar Alexander shares that belief, certain that Trump would never want to do anything to risk further impeachment actions.

They and other members of the Senate apparently have not been paying the slightest bit of attention, because any observer can say with absolute certainty that Donald Trump is incapable of learning anything.  All they were doing was deluding themselves, attempting to justify their spineless devotion to either holding onto their jobs or not being trashed by Trump, as Mitt Romney currently is.

And of course Trump didn’t learn.  Of course.  On Thursday he attended the annual prayer breakfast, which is typically a non-partisan event.  He instead used it as an opportunity to trash Democrats in general and Nancy Pelosi and anyone else on his enemies list. 

You remember Nancy Pelosi.  After she was forced to endure seventy-five minutes of his Apprentice-esuqe State of the Union which was filled with everything from at least thirty lies and the abominable sight of Rush Limbaugh receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom—which is one step from hanging it around the neck of a KKK Grand Wizard—she calmly tore up her copy of the speech.  She displayed far more restraint than I would have.  Had it been me, I would have sat there with a paper shredder and loudly destroyed each page as he finished.  This perfectly legitimate commentary on Trump’s lengthy histrionics was immediately criticized by the right wing, claiming that she had broken the law by destroying the document.  Of course she hadn’t actually broken anything; at its purest form, it was commentary covered by the First Amendment.  But paltry matters such as free expression or legal accuracy don’t matter to the right wing who insisted on trying to find Pelosi in violation of the law.  Because they’re so sensitive to insults, you see.  Except when it’s Trump doing the insulting, which he does whenever he tweets or indeed opens his mouth.  Calling your opponents “traitors” and “evil?”  That’s an insult, jáçkáššëš.  How dare a strong woman stand up to Trump.  How dare anyone does.

But hey, Trump’s going to learn from his mistakes.

No, he won’t.  Because Trump never admits he makes mistakes.  His “perfect” phone call to Ukraine was made the day after he dodged a bullet from the Robert Mueller report.  The ink was scarcely dry on one decision and he turned around and did something even worse which forced Pelosi into impeaching him, even though she knew how it would turn out.  Because Mitch McConnell doesn’t give the slightest of dámņš about doing his job.  He cares about one thing and one thing only:  Winning.  Doesn’t care if he’s a hypocrite.  Doesn’t care who knows.  If he wins, that’s all that matters.  Can’t appoint a Supreme Court judge in an election year…unless Trump is president, in which case if Ruth Bader Ginsburg passes, it’ll happen in a heartbeat.  

In “1776,” when South Carolina insists the clause in the Declaration that would do away with slavery be dropped, John Adams tells Ben Franklin that if they give in, history will never forgive them.  To which Franklin agrees that it’s likely, but “we won’t hear it.  We’ll be long gone.”  That’s the attitude of McConnell and his array of spineless lackeys who in private despise Trump, but in public twist themselves into oratorical pretzels to avoid holding him to account.  Their attitude has nothing to do with anything as wise as doing away with slavery.  It has to do with holding onto their power.

In the meantime the Democrats were shot down yet again this week as a civil suit about Trump’s uncaring attitude toward the emoluments clause was tossed by the Court of Appeals.  It’s easy to say that it’s because Trump has been stacking the courts with conservative judges, but the three judges who ruled unanimously that the Democrats had no standing to sue were appointed by Bush the first, W., and Clinton, so so much for that.  I’m no lawyer, but from a purely civilian standpoint, it makes no sense to me.  If the courts won’t uphold the constitution and the President won’t uphold the Constitution and the Senate won’t uphold the constitution, who the hëll is left?

Us, the voters, I guess.  On election day.  

It’s becoming evident that Trump’s plan to get Biden has worked.  His fourth place finish in Iowa is likely attributable to Biden fatigue:  whenever you hear his name now, your mind associates it with corruption even though there is no basis for it.  There’s just an instinct that says he should be avoided because he’s tainted.  Plus you just know the Senate is now going to go after him and his son, freed of Democratic control and knowing that it’s what Trump wants.  It seems unlikely that he’ll be able to triumph in November if he’s spending the next months fighting battles with investigators.  Between that and polls indicating Bernie Bros are unlikely to vote for anyone who isn’t their man on election day, and the Democrats may well be handing Trump another four years.  Which he of course will try and turn into eight years because he’s still insisting the Democrats took away his first term, and who knows what a Trump-appointed Supreme Court may decide?  Especially when one considers that the Democrat could win by as much as five million votes and still end up losing.

I wonder if a Democratic president could issue an executive order abolishing the Electoral College?  Why not?  The current Senate has basically said the President can do anything he wants with no concern over recriminations.  Hail to the chief.  Or maybe, in the current case, Sieg Heil to the chief.

PAD

SING ALONG SUNDAY

So I’ve been reading a lot about how the Republicans have killed the country and our Democracy in the past week. And there’s a fairly famous song about things dying, “American Pie,” that I’ve decided to rewrite. With apologies to Don McLean:

“GOP SWELLS”

Two hundred fifty years ago, give or take a few or more
Some men founded the US of A
And they foresee and they foresaw
Things that stuck into their craw
So they prepared to take some stuff away.

Like men who live in an ivory tower
Should they come in and abuse their power.
They prepared a new thing 
To stop a new would-be king

They made impeachment something which 
Could be done if we’re in a sitch.
In case some stinking S.O. Bìŧçh
Would make our country die
So

Farewell all you GOP swells
Was a pleasure, such a treasure and we wish you all well
The jester king rings his president bell
Send democracy right straight down to hëll
Democracy right straight down to hëll.

Oh you just knew right from the start
The jester king would do his part
To throw us all right off the rails.
He rode an escalator down
Said keep the Mexicans out of town
Took the wind right straight out of your sails.

And you condemned him, oh you did.
You said he was an evil kid.
You all called him a putz
You said that he was nuts.

And you criticized like it wouldn’t end
You bashed your future bestest friend
And now you all try and pretend
Our country didn’t die
And you’re all singing

Farewell all you GOP swells
Was a pleasure, such a treasure and we wish you all well
The jester king rings his president bell
Send democracy right straight down to hëll
Democracy right straight down to hëll.

Oh Russia, if you’re listening here
Oh please oh please come make it clear
The emails, how they must be found.
He begged a foreign power scheme
And made it a recurring theme
And drove it right straight into the ground.

When it came to all his sinning
That was only the beginning.
Love those Russian greetings.
Take those Russian meetings.

And when Bob Mueller was brought in
To see how far the man would sin
He gathered all his kith and kin
To make out country die
And they kept singing

Farewell all you GOP swells
Was a pleasure, such a treasure and we wish you all well
The jester king rings his president bell
Send democracy right straight down to hëll
Democracy right straight down to hëll.

Well, Bob Mueller found ten things he did
To impede justice, so busted
But still it all just turned out fine.
For Mueller in his shirt hirsute
Declined to go and prosecute.
Claiming it would be out of line.

And while the king, he mášŧûrbáŧëd
Barr declared him vindicated.
Said he dropped a dime
And he’d done no crime.

And while Bob Mueller grieved and groused
And Kavanaugh got really soused
Pelosi stayed inside her House
And watched our country die.
And she kept singing

Farewell all you GOP swells
Was a pleasure, such a treasure and we wish you all well
The jester king rings his president bell
Send democracy right straight down to hëll
Democracy right straight down to hëll.

The jester king was living large
He knew he was in total charge
And he could count on Moscow Mitch
To keep things driving right along
So he kept singing the same old song
And drove his car right off into ditch.

And though it truly sounds insane
He called up the prez øf Ùkráìņë
An angle he would savor
He called upon a favor.

To dig up dirt on Sloppy Joe
So he could shout and he could crow
But hear a man with whistle blow
And watch our country die
And we’re all singing

Farewell all you GOP swells
Was a pleasure, such a treasure and we wish you all well
The jester king rings his president bell
Send democracy right straight down to hëll
Democracy right straight down to hëll.

So though success was out of reach
Pelosi decided to impeach.
But Moscow Mitch stood in the way.
And he consulted with the Prez
To do just what his lawyers says
To make sure witnesses don’t have their say.

Then things got much too revoltin’
From a book by Johnny Bolton
He proved the Democrats case
But hear no screams in dead space.

The GOP shut down the trial
They did it with a gleaming smile
It all was fun for quite a while
Until our country died

And we were singing

Farewell all you GOP swells
Was a pleasure, such a treasure and we wish you all well
The jester king rings his president bell
Send democracy right straight down to hëll
Democracy right straight down to hëll.

We were singing
Farewell all you GOP swells
Was a pleasure, such a treasure and we wish you all well
The jester king rings his president bell
Send democracy right straight down to hëll
Democracy right straight down to hëll.