Journal of the Plague Years

October 19, 2017

 

Trump’s disgraceful cruelty to the widow of Sgt. LaDavid Johnson has exposed the hypocritical anti-blackness behind his objection to the anthem protests of the Black NFL players.  Those that played along with Trump’s charade are now forced to confront how little regard our current Commander in Chief actually has for those who serve under him.  Trump started the week by attempting to excuse his failure to reach out to the families of the soldiers killed in Niger by uttering the hateful calumny that Presidents Obama and Bush had failed to contact military families whose loved ones were killed in action.  The lie was so vicious it prompted former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Alyssa Mastromonaco to call Trump a “deranged animal.”  That statement was manifestly unfair to animals, who typically lash out when cornered, out of a survival instinct.  Trump, on the other hand, displays toxic petulance at any suggestion that he accept responsibility for his actions and seems to relish inflicting pain on those with the temerity to question him. Continue reading “American Taliban”

October 17, 2017

 

Over the past week, we have been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the mounting evidence of Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long abuse of women.   Many ask how this could have gone on “undetected” for so long, asking why women didn’t come forward and take on a wealthy, powerful person with powerful allies in media and politics.  We have been treated to sappy, faux sympathy from men, or wrong-headed assertions that only pretty girls get harassed, by those obtusely refusing to recognize that rape and sexual abuse is about POWER– about chasing women out of spaces where men decide that we don’t belong– whether that is an executive suite in Hollywood, Silicon Valley or Wall Street, or a fire department or construction site.  As the cascade of “#MeToos” filled our timeline, we all realized, with sickening dread, the terrible price women are forced to pay for trying to make a living or even make a life. Continue reading “American Illusion”

October 14, 2017

The entire policy agenda of the Trump administration can be summed up as one of malevolent destruction. Every day, Trump reveals himself to be both vile and incompetent, animated primarily by a malignant zeal to reverse every decision that President Barack Obama made. His only other aim appears to be privatizing every government function previously devoted to the public good, in order to enable profiteering by his bumbling coterie of idiotic kleptocrats. Continue reading “Genocide in slow motion”

October 12, 2017

     Although every day that Trump occupies the Oval Office brings fresh degradation of American values and principles, yesterday brought alarming evidence of Trump’s violent and autocratic nature.  During a July meeting with his National Security advisors to discuss his desire to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, Trump was shown a chart showing how our nuclear arsenal decreased over time.  Although any casual consumer of the news in the last two decades would know that our reduced arsenal was the result of numerous nuclear non-proliferation treaties, the information apparently took Trump by surprise.  He reacted by requesting a tenfold increase in our nuclear arsenal, prompting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to call Trump a “f__king moron.”  (Source:  Trump Wanted a Tenfold Increase in Nuclear Arsenal, Surprising Military,” by Courtney Kube, Kristen Welker, Carol E. Lee and Savannah Guthrie, NBCNews.com, 10/11/17).  If anything, Tillerson was being too kind.  Trump is a bloodthirsty imbecile who has no business with access to the nuclear launch codes.  As Gabriel Sherman frighteningly detailed, White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly and Defense Secretary, James Mattis, have openly discussed what to do if Trump orders a nuclear first strike (Source:  “I Hate Everyone in The White House!”:  Trump Seethes As Advisors Fear the President is Unraveling,” by Gabriel Sherman, Vanity Fair, 10/11/17).  Clearly, Bob Corker’s remarks to The New York Times were the tip of the iceberg. Continue reading “Deus ex machina?”

October 10, 2017

 

Sunday morning, two term Tennessee Senator Bob Corker gave a scathingly candid interview to The New York Times, excoriating Trump as unfit for office. Corker said that Trump was treating the office of the Presidency like a “reality show” and setting us on a path towards “World War III,” (Source:  “Bob Corker says Trump’s Recklessness Threatens ‘World War III,’” by Jonathan Martin and Mark Landler, The New York Times, 10/8/17).  Corker was merely verbalizing what any Trump observer already knows – Trump is a dangerously unserious, thin-skinned, bellicose man-child with an utter disregard of the consequences of his impulsive actions.  Corker was lauded by the pundit class for finally stating on the record what every Republican Senator apparently says off the record with regularity.  Commentators pondered whether Corker would thwart Trump’s plan to pull out of the Iran Nuclear deal, rather than ask the key question:  If Trump is so dangerously unfit for office, why aren’t Republican Senators considering his removal through the 25^th Amendment, or at minimum, fulfilling their Constitutional duty to serve as a check on Trump’s exercise of power?  Corker and his cronies need to be asked whether tax cuts for their wealthy donors are worth playing chicken with American lives.  Are they so fearful of Mercer backed primary challenges from the right orchestrated by sentient carbuncle, Steve Bannon, that they have been stunned into silence?  We cannot permit these questions to go unanswered.  At least nominally, these people represent us, so we need to flood their phone lines demanding answers. Continue reading “Three ring circus”

October 7, 2017

In a one-two punch to the uterus this past week, the House passed a bill that would criminalize abortions after twenty weeks and Trump rolled back the Obamacare mandate that employers pay the cost of birth control, allowing employers to opt out if they had a “religious or moral objection.” This policy, which is effective immediately, eliminates a benefit that saved women $1.4 billion in 2013 alone (Source: “Trump rolls back Obamacare birth control mandate,” by Brianna Ehley, Politico, 10/6/17). Continue reading “The War on women”

October 5, 2017

As more details emerge from Sunday’s murderous rampage that left 58 people dead and injured hundreds more, we are learning just how meticulously the killer planned his attack to cause the maximum carnage.  We have learned of the hidden cameras Paddock placed in the food service cart in the hallway outside of his suite and in the peephole to warn him of the approach of law enforcement personnel.  We have learned that he somehow brought 23 guns into his hotel room.  We have not learned, however, what drove a wealthy retired accountant to murder hundreds in cold blood.  We have found no manifesto, no social media footprint, and no history of association with white supremacists or ISIS (despite their claims to the contrary). Continue reading “The tyranny of the minority”

October 3, 2017

 

Once again, we enact the ritualistic performance of shock and grief that always follows horrific massacres like the one in Las Vegas; although mass gun violence has clearly lost its capacity to shock us through numbing repetition.  Politicians invoke the talismanic phrase that the slaughtered are in their “thoughts and prayers,” knowing that once the news cycle has moved on, so will they.  Those of us who angrily demand action on common sense gun control while blinking back tears are told that we are “politicizing tragedy,” as if the decision to allow civilians unfettered access to weapons of war is not itself a political act.  We are told that “now is not the right time” to discuss gun control, but given that we now average one mass shooting per day in this country, by that metric it will never be the right time (Source:  “Gun Violence in America, explained in 17 maps and charts,” by German Lopez, Vox, 10/2/17). Continue reading “The right to bear arms?”

    The brutal combination of cruelty, incompetence and greed that characterizes the Trump administration never ceases to amaze us. Puerto Rico continues to suffer from the impact of Hurricane Maria, yet nine days after the storm hit, Puerto Rico still has no power, no water and dwindling supplies of food and medicine. Befitting the shell of a man devoid of empathy that he is, Trump’s response has focused on the financial cost of rebuilding Puerto Rico, rather than the human cost of continued inaction. When San Juan Mayor, Carmen Yulin Cruz, rightly excoriated his administration’s incompetence, Trump responded by insulting her. (Source: “On Twitter, Trump attacks mayor of San Juan for ‘poor leadership’ among deepening crisis,” by David Nakamura, The Washington Post, 9/30/17).      Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary, sneering theocrat Tom Price, was forced to resign after racking up $1,000,000 in taxpayer- funded costs for private jet flights during his brief tenure. As many have noted, Price was incurring these costs while advocating for an 18% cut to his agency’s budget. Yet Price was hardly alone in indulging his champagne tastes on the taxpayer dime. EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt has run up $832,735.40 in costs for a round the clock security team, triple that of previous EPA chiefs (Source: “At EPA, guarding the Chief pulls agents from pursuing environmental crimes,” by Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis, The Washington Post, 9/20/17).

     Against this backdrop of indiscriminate profligacy, Trump and his Congressional collaborators released their “Tax Reform” plan. Even before the non-partisan Tax Policy Center released its analysis, it was clear that the proposal represented a massive tax cut for the ultra wealthy. The Tax Policy Center analysis projected that the plan would result in a $2.6 trillion dollar reduction in federal revenue. They found that taxpayers who earned in excess of $730,000 would receive 50% of the cuts, while middle to upper middle income (those making between $150,000-$300,000) would see their taxes increase over time (Source: “GOP Tax Plan Favors the Richest, Analysis Shows,” by John W. Schoen, CNBC.com, 9/29/17). The “reform” plan which eliminates the deduction for state and local taxes and most itemized deductions, while sharply cutting taxes for corporations,would shift the tax burden from companies to individuals (Source: “Under Trump’s Plan, Tax Cuts Shrink over time for Everyone but the Richest,” by Alicia Parlapiano and Jasmine C. Lee, The New York Times, 9/29/17).

     Viewed together, these actions make it depressingly evident that the people in charge of our government plan to steal from the American people, in large ways and small, to bankroll their selfish appetites. These are public officials that do not serve the public; religious zealots with no sense of humility, charity or compassion; strict constructionists whose every action evinces ignorance or flagrant disregard of every amendment to the Constitution. The truth is, from “healthcare” reform to “tax reform,” from attacks on our voting rights to attacks on our First Amendment rights, we are under siege from within by those who profess to govern us. We will have use every nonviolent means at our disposal to fight back.

#Taxreform

#TomPrice

#PuertoRico

September 28, 2017

 

Tuesday night, the citizens of Alabama elected Roy Moore, a racist, homophobic rodeo clown, as their Republican candidate for the United States Senate.  Moore is a sideshow freak who was twice removed from his position as Alabama Chief Justice for his refusal to abide by the United States Constitution.  Moore erected a granite monument of the Ten Commandments outside of the courthouse.  He believes that homosexuality should be outlawed and that Congressman Keith Ellison was ineligible to serve in Congress because of his Muslim faith (Source:  The Seven Most Inflammatory Things Roy Moore has said,” by Nolan McCaskill, Politico, 9/27/17).  Moore is an islamophobic theocrat with no fealty to the Constitution and utter contempt for the Rule of Law.  He was clearly absent that day in third grade when they taught students WHY the Pilgrims fled England to establish a new nation on this continent.  Moore is unfit to serve as a traffic cop, let alone a United States Senator.   And yet, here we are. Continue reading “Four little girls”