A national reckoning will be undertaken
Standing on the edge, the tips of my shoes balance me on the railing — I may have gone too far forward and so pulling myself back seems unlikely. Leaping is the only way forward.
Survival be damned, the consequences of my act are mine and mine alone: the deep, turbulent waters of Lake Assumption await. This article is based on the assumption that Donald Trump loses his bid for re-election.
On the day after the world accepts that Donald Trump has lost, the defaced American flags with his scowl won’t go away but will likely increase. The defaced American flags with the large blue swath in the middle won’t go away but will be even more belligerently displayed — this is probably a good thing, though. …
Why aren’t we discussing the complicity of Fox News?
The dust is settling on the shock. Outrage has cooled permitting Republican hands to sand away the rough edges, smoothing it to a lovely glean. In a matter of days, the events will of January 6th will merely be rallying points for campaign contributions — until the next violent, Republican-backed insurrection. The chatter suggests the next one could as soon as January 17th.
The next time, we can be sure that more will die. …
Honestly, I don’t care if my death makes him look bad or not
Where do I begin? How do I begin?
Yes, I was that guy. The “loud mouth” in the Walmart letting everyone know my thoughts on this Covid-thing; just a Chinese-Democrat hoax — like climate change.
I was that guy. Wearing my MAGA hat and going out of my way to shake hands and get in real close to everyone — to show how brave I was. Proving my freedom I wanted , my support was for our president — the man preserving our freedoms.
I was that guy who accosted the lady who dared to wipe down the keypad on the ATM after I used it — I overexaggerated a cough in her direction, and while it was a windy day and most likely no droplets hit her, it did scare the hell out of her. I laughed as she ran back to her car. The terrified look on her kid’s faces made me laugh then. …
FINDING GRATITUDE IN 2020
Roasted turkey saved us once, it can do it again
The cultural dominance of white people in America is being pressed upon by forces that are readily seen, heard, and felt — the number of people not looking, speaking and thinking just like them encroaches upon their majority.
This is a scary thing to happen to any people whose culture is the dominant one; and the reaction of many white people is similar to the reaction of majority cultures in countries all over the world through many different times. Take Rwanda, Malaysia, Congo, Russia, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, etc.
Eventually the powerful tool that racism becomes for the majority culture is overcome when the oppressed and the oppressors begin to talk and share experiences. …
Why arriving immigrants to America succeeded where Black Americans didn’t
One of the enduring justifications among American racists is that the waves of immigrants arriving to the shores of America in past centuries also had it very difficult fitting in with the dominant “native” culture; but they eventually did and today flourish, not to mention, rule the nation.
My great-grandmother would tell me about signs in the storefront windows saying help wanted, Irish need not apply they say.
The opinion goes that if the “drunken” Irishman or the “WOP” (this actually meant without papers) Italians, popular stereotypes and slurs, succeeded then why couldn’t Black Americans?
Racists then go on to say that Black emigres couldn’t prosper because they were inherently inferior to their white emigrating brethren. The fact that most of the Black men, women and children brought to the American shores were in chains does not prevent these racists from holding onto their shameful generalizations. Slavery gave way to the Jim Crow Era laws making the first 300 years of Black existence in North America one defined by complete and total race oppression. …
It’s so fun to condemn them and name-call (I do it all the time) but let’s address the real problem
74 million Americans considered Trump successful enough that he deserved a second chance. Thousands showed up on January 6th and did what they did — mentally fatigued writing about this event.
Like so many writers all over the world, that spectacle sent fingers tearing across keyboards and for a moment, millions of us were united in a calming cacophony of clicking and clacking punctuated by a thunderous “bam” as we hit send — or publish. …
Time to weed out the Lauren Boebert’s in Congress
Representative Lauren Boebert represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. She is irreparably stupid. While she will tell us it is not her fault, after all, she was born Florida (I apologize to you smart Floridians like my sister, but, you know what I mean). She moved to Colorado when she was 12 and resided in Denver where she obviously lost her mind.
Having dropped out of high school her senior year to have a baby, she later got her GED. There is no mention of any college on her Wikipedia page which means that she most likely didn’t attend. If I had never heard her speak, after reading her biography I would assume she was a strong-willed American in that western sense; you know, the one where people fervently hate the federal government. I would also suspect she was a gun rights person and a Trumpist. …
The false equivocation is like blaming rape on the victim
The parrots are cooing, chirping incessantly and repeating all of the stupid they hear.
I am a middle-aged, white man so trust me when I say that a lot of men are really vile; and if not vile, then just really stupid. They are like parrots. Just hear shit and repeat it without giving much thought to the words.
If I had a dime for every time one of them made a comment like, look at the way she is dressed. Then they wonder why guys rape them.
Yes, this is a vomitous sentiment but it is one that can still be heard when men feel secure, locked behind an invisible testosterone forcefield. Usually, other men in earshot, will try to ignore the comment; or, try to steer away from the violent imagery by saying something like she sure looks good. The more upstanding men, the ones aligned with humanity, do offer protest against such misogynistic thinking but they can only go so far. …
Washington, DC resembles an occupied territory or Crack-Scourged NYC
Some will call it the excesses of freedom.
Others will say it is the march toward communism that forces them to use violence to be heard.
Foreign observers honestly have no idea what’s going on. Our adversaries giggle with delight watching us implode. Our offended allies shake their heads the way family members do watching a drunk uncle streak across the lawn at the annual 4th of July barbecue.
The greatest expression of our democratic process, the peaceful transfer of power, has been supplanted by Trumpist excess. Excess stupidity because the violent are not smart. If you read about the meaning behind their ignorant symbols — a frog, an “okay” sign, a flag with a snake and a letter from the alphabet— you realize that the only thing that unites them is fear, ignorance, and hate. …
Few people can play chess like Russians and Mitch McConnell is no exception
There is simply too much going on for me to be my usual, verbose self.
Nevertheless, the moment demands putting the record straight, or offering insight into the unfolding events when it seems something is not be added to the ether.
Let brevity be my guide and so I say, we shall rue the day when we aligned ourselves with a jackal like Mitch McConnell.
The McConnell Opening
Fortunately the Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit was a big hit so my chess references here will be well received. Unlike any of the more famous openings like The French Defense, The Ruy Lopez or The Sicilian Defense, The McConnell opening is a brilliant, and deceptively concealed, combination of those three more more famous ones. …
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