July 14, 2020

Florida is the butt of many jokes and satirical websites. Look up “Florida Man” on Google. If it wasn’t for the weather six months of the year, it would have no reason to exist. It has no income tax so it relies on the largesse of tourists to pay its bills. It woefully underfunds schools and infrastructure. It plans only for the short-term because no one buys green bananas in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis bragged, with Trump looking on, that he had beaten the coronavirus unlike New York. If you are from the Northeast, come on down he essentially said. However, it didn’t exactly work out as the Governor had planned as Florida now leads the league in new coronavirus cases. Who could have seen that coming? Those of us in the Northeast saw it coming, and we pity Florida for its ignorant leadership.

Florida is to the United States as the United States is to the world. We have a President bragging about how well we are doing, and how great our testing is despite the fact we are first worldwide in cases and deaths. Our healthcare system and lack of insurance is the laughingstock of the industrialized world. Our lack of an infrastructure plan mirrors that of Florida’s. We are more interested in buying cars than driving them on roads free of congestion. We are an international outlier when it comes to climate change. Like Florida, we need to import talent because we no longer have the ability to grow our own. Florida hangs off the U.S. like an atrophied appendage. The U.S. is gradually becoming the world’s appendix. It has no use, and could be lethal. It’s a pity.

July 13, 2020

“It Can’t Happen Here” is a 1935 political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis. The novel was published during the heyday of fascism in Europe. The novel describes the rise a demagogue who is elected President of the United States after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and “traditional” values. After his election, the President takes complete control of the government and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of European fascists like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The novel’s plot centers on a journalist’s opposition and his struggle as part of a liberal rebellion.

However, eighty years later, it did happen here. And the next iteration of this concept is that the coronavirus could not happen here because we are America. We are exceptional and exempt from the laws of nature. Donald Trump decided that the coronavirus was unAmerican, was not consistent with his narrative, and decided to ignore it. His millions of minions followed him blindly, blinded by his showmanship and alternate reality.

We lost the ability a long time ago to sacrifice for the common good. We can’t even agree that their is a climate crisis, never mind do anything about it, which might include some sacrifice and changes in behavior. We are consumers locked in a consumer society. We must consume or die. However today, if we consume mindlessly, we will die. People have said it happened in New York City, but it can’t happen here. People are pointing to other counties, and saying it can’t happen here. Soon, we will be pointing at our sick, next door neighbors, and saying it can’t happen here. Like the pandemic, Donald Trump is a disease, and it did happen here.

July 8, 2020

My mother would say that it was her right to criticize her children, but god help anyone else who tried to do the same. I am sure most parents feel this way. Parents are extremely protective of their children. We are now engaged in a spirited discussion about whether we should open schools in the fall, and, if we do, the best ways to do it. Communities and colleges all over the country are wrestling with these issues. There are serious public health concerns and economic issues to be considered before children are sent back to school.

Inserting himself in this dialogue is Donald Trump with his threat to withhold federal funds from schools that do not reopen in a manner approved by him. Parents are willing to weigh the risks and rewards as it relates to their children’s health, but, in the words of my mother, god help anyone else, who threatens them. We are still setting records everyday with new infections. Rates are going up in Tulsa. Phoenix is in crisis mode. And, the death rate has just moved up for the first time since early June.

The country and its schools need national leadership and guidance. The CDC is willing to give guidance. Trump has abdicated his leadership role in favor of threats. He never met my mother, and millions of other mothers like her from all over the country. Trump just sealed his fate, and lost the election.

July 6, 2020

Donald Trump says that he is not a fascist, you are a fascist. Donald Trump says that he doesn’t kowtow to Communists, you are a Communist. Donald Trump says that people marching in the streets with AK-47’s and brandishing swastikas are not terrorists and Nazis, you are a terrorist and a Nazi. Donald Trump’s campaign slogan should be “I am rubber, you are glue.” Nothing seems to stick to the Teflon Don.

This is all happening while Rome burns. President Nero says we have to learn to live with it. More accurately, he is saying is that we have to learn how to die with it. In the middle of a pandemic out of control, he wants to build a National Garden with statues of famous people. My suggestion would be to use the courtyard of the Trump Library for this purpose. It should be located in a state that enthusiastically supports him, in a wing of Mar-a-Lago, or at one of his golf courses. Tens of people are guaranteed to visit it every year.

Hilary Clinton famously accused Trump of being Putin’s puppet in a presidential debate, and Trump’s response was, “I’m not a puppet, you’re a puppet.” Hopefully, if we keep throwing enough crap against Trump’s wall, some of it will stick.

July 3, 2020

It is time for Donald Trump to stop going negative on Joe Biden, and start talking about his own accomplishments. He needs to come out of the shadows of the Obama recovery, the Ryan tax cuts, and the McConnell Supreme Court Justice picks.

He should talk about the three miles of Wall he has built on the Mexican border using billions of dollars diverted from defense appropriations. He could talk about the fact that we are number one in the world in coronavirus infections and death. He could talk about his ability to energize millions of people from all over the world to march for racial justice. He could brag about his Space Force, making America safe again from aliens. He could crow about how he has made America warmer again as we experience some of the hottest summers on record. He could talk about his embrace of the fast food culture, and its place in the obesity epidemic. He could talk about draining the swamp by not letting people like Jeffrey Epstein and Michael Cohen into his administration. He could talk about improved international relations with Russia, China, North Korea, and Turkey, and putting NATO in its place. He could talk about bringing back the Silent Majority, and white power.

It’s time to go on the offensive, and talk about all of these accomplishments.

July 2, 2020

Sung to the tune of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”

Let me out of my home, please

Let me out in a crowd

Buy me some zinc and some H-C-Q’s

I don’t care if it’s just a big ruse

Root, root, root for the vaccine

If it’s not found, it’s a shame

For its one, two, three months in doubt

It’s a long pre-game

July 2, 2020

Like many people my age, I grew up watching The Lone Ranger on TV. I am not old enough to have listened to the radio version. Along with his sidekick, Tonto, and his white stallion, Silver, he thrilled us every Saturday morning. Tonto would probably not be politically acceptable today. Speaking of political correctness, Donald Trump. Donald Trump finally tried on a face mask, assured us that he looked drop dead gorgeous. In fact, he said he looked like the Lone Ranger. Maybe Elizabeth Warren could be his sidekick?

Clearly, Donald Trump knows nothing about how to wear a mask. A mask covers your mouth and nose, not your eyes. The way things are going for him, maybe he does need a mask. Trump is the Lone Ranger when it comes to the pandemic and politics. The Republican establishment is quickly socially distancing itself from him. He is fighting fictitious enemies on the left. He is fighting for confederate statues, white power, faux religiosity, and the right not to wear a mask. And a hearty “Hi Ho Silver.”