Sunday, March 3, 2019

Last Refuge


Number one, I'm in love, and you're in love. We're all in love together.
-- Donald Trump, CPAC speech.

I call it love, Gracchus. The people are my children, I am their father. I shall hold them to my bosom and embrace them
-- Commodus, Gladiator, 2000


Ah, CPAC.

The Conservative Political Action Conference.

It’s like Burning Man for Republicans, only instead of inclusion, self-expression, and cheerful nudity, there was conservative rage, xenophobia, and howling conspiracy.

Also, Donald Trump fucked a flag live on stage like some strange textile variation of a Tijuana donkey show.

No word yet on if Trump made the flag sign a nondisclosure agreement or if his lawyer had to pay the flag $140,000 to keep quiet.


But, I digress.


Trump spoke for more than two hours at CPAC.

I watched it live.

I tried to take notes.

Calling it a speech suggests there was structure and content and some sort of narrative theme.

There wasn’t any of that.

Instead it was a frenetic mash of unscripted, unhinged rambling lunacy, sometimes changing topics two or three times in the same sentence. Frankly, the aforementioned donkey hopped up on knockoff Mexican Viagra and cheap tequila probably would have had more coherency.

Eventually, I just gave up and poured a couple fingers of William Wolf into my dirty coffee mug and watched in increasing disbelief as Trump careening from a disjointed recap of his election to tariffs to something about when the wind stops blowing you’re out of “electric” then back to tariffs jumping to collusion with Russian witch hunts to Andy Jackson and Red Hats to Robert Mueller back to a comparison of inauguration crowd size to something about how R. Lee Ermey should have gotten the Academy Award for Full Metal Jacket but Hollywood is made up of liberals apparently to something about the color of his hair to “thirty-two big fat rallies” (don’t ask, heehaw heehaaaw!) to how he invented the 4th of July to … I don’t know, a partridge in a pear tree.

It’s taken me three days to work my way through the video and transcripts.

And the rest of that bottle.

Trump said a lot of things, most of which sounded like a plea for involuntary commitment to a mental health facility, but it was the expected plug for his wall that really caught my attention.

See, as justification for declaring a national emergency, something conservatives like those in attendance at CPAC would have called “Government Overreach” and “abuse of Executive Power” back when the black guy was in the office, Trump again invoked the plight of immigrant women:

"Mothers, who love their daughters, give them massive amounts of birth control pills because they know their daughters are going to be raped on the way up to our southern border."

No mention, naturally, of the hundreds of immigrant children who have been sexually assaulted while in Trump's own detention camps.

That's the message.

We must build a wall because immigrant woman are being raped on the way to America.

Women, from Central American countries, are being raped as they migrate north.

Thus, Trump’s reasoning goes, we should build a giant wall to keep them out.

Because if immigrant woman can’t get into America they won’t get raped because they’ll just stay in their own countries where there’s no rape or, you know, other forms of oppression and crime which is why they were seeking a better life in America in the first place or … something. Trump wasn’t exactly clear on the details.

If you build it, there will be less rape, I guess.

Maybe Costner will play Trump in the movie, he’s got the hair for it anyway. But I digress, again.

There’s a certain strange irony in that Trump is attempting to rally support for his wall from the xenophobic right-wing fanatics of CPAC who not only hate immigrants but illegal immigrants in particular by playing on their supposed sympathy for the plight of illegal immigrant women. Moreover, irony wise, these people – supposedly horrified at the idea of rape visited upon young women and female children – are the very same conservatives who unequivocally and loudly denounced a woman who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by their choice for Supreme Court Justice.

And here I am digressing for a third time in as many paragraphs.


Maybe it’s just me.


Let's say this was true.

This bit, where Trump says,

One in three women is sexually assaulted in the dangerous journey north. When I ran for my first speech, mentioned the word “rape”... If you look at that speech, that was so innocent compared what's actually happening. Mothers who love their daughters give them massive amounts of birth control pills, because they know their daughters are going to be raped on the way up to our southern border. Think of that. True story told to me by the Border Patrol. Think of how evil that is.

Let’s say this was true. It's likely not, because that's not how birth control pills work, but let's say it was.

Trump says, "think of how evil that is."

Think on how evil that is.

Think on how evil it is that mothers must give their daughters "massive amounts of birth control pills" because they will be raped on the way to our border.

He’s not exactly clear, but for the sake of simplicity let's be charitable and assume it’s the rape part he has a problem with and not birth control pills per se or motherhood.

Okay.

Rape is evil.

That’s what he’s saying.

Rape, sexual assault, that’s evil. That’s bad. We don’t want that.

It’s so evil, in point of fact, that it’s still evil even when it happens to people we hate – like illegal immigrants.

THEN SHOULDN'T WE AS A MORAL NATION TAKE THESE PEOPLE IN WITHOUT DELAY AND PROTECT THEM?

Well?

Should we not immediately grant them sanctuary?

Is that not what a moral people would do?

Is that not what Christians would do -- and those cheering Trump when he said this, were they not Christians? Were they not Christians, self declared, righteous, soldiers in the name of their God? Do they not consider this a Christian nation? Why then are they cheering the idea of building a wall to keep these victims out?

I mean, what’s the point of even bringing it up, if we’re not going to do something about it?

If what Trump says is indeed true, why shouldn't we grant these victims immediate sanctuary?

If not, then why not?


Be specific and show your work.


You see the implications. Do you not?

You do all see what Trump is saying, right?

Trump’s statement at CPAC is directly counter to his stance on immigration itself.

Trump has said repeatedly that those crossing our Southern border are murderers, rapists, thieves, drug smugglers. Criminals of all stripes. That is why we must build this wall.

We have to build a wall to keep them out, to keep out crime and drugs and terror. Right? That’s what he tells us.

Yet, here he is literally telling you that many, perhaps even most, of those seeking refuge are not criminals at all but are in point of fact victims of horrible crimes.

Hell, we’ve gone to war in foreign lands for less.

If these were Christian women being raped by Muslim men in the Middle East, a task force of Navy ships and Marines would even now be sailing for that distant shore at flank speed in righteous moral fury.

Donald Trump laments this atrocity, but he isn’t talking about stopping it.

Instead, he tells the raging nationalists of CPAC that we must build a wall and keep these women on the far side it.

He demands sympathy for the plight of these victims solely in order justify victimizing them even more.

He’s not suggesting that we help these women in any fashion. Just the opposite in fact.

And yet, by Donald Trump’s own words, these are the very people we should be granting asylum to instead of turning away.

We Americans should be greeting these women, these victims, with open arms, with security and support and comfort.

For if America can’t protect the weak from the ruthless, then what goddamned good is it?


I've heard that flag later burned itself.
-- T. Alexander, in response to my comment on Twitter.


89 comments:

  1. Only one bottle? I’m impressed by your restraint.

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    1. He never said how big the bottle actually was

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    2. Two drink limit doesn't mean first and last.

      Two drink limit doesn't mean two different *kinds* of drinks.

      Two drink limit doesn't mean the drinks can be as large as I like.

      "No drinking of alcoholic beverages" does not imply that a Jack Daniels IV is acceptable.

      (H/T Skippy List)

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  2. You know, you are right. Trump has actually made a great case against building a wall and a great case for providing rapid and safe transport of refugees into the US. There is one thing that does confuse me though as a non-American. With a population 325 million people, how did you end up with one of the least able people available in charge?

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    1. With gusto, apparently...

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    2. This was possibly the saddest thing you've written, IMO. As always, my gratitude.

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    3. No idea..it was indeed a very dark day..it is very sad

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    4. Thanks, Jim, for taking one for the team. I can't listen to or look at the f-wad anymore.

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    5. How did we wind up with Trump?

      Democracy is that system of government under which the people, having 35,717,342 native-born adult whites to choose from, including thousands who are handsome and many who are wise, pick out a Coolidge to be head of state. It is as if a hungry man, set before a banquet prepared by master cooks and covering a table an acre in area, should turn his back upon the feast and stay his stomach by catching and eating flies."
      H.L. Mencken

      (I'm not suggesting I have a better system than democracy - just that this is not the first example of it going off the rails.)

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  3. As always, right on the money chief!

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  4. As always, spot on. Sad, though, that your reasoning is far too deep and logical for Dimwit Donnie to comprehend. And too many words...the best words!...for him to read.

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  5. You watched the whole damn thing live? That explains the tear stains on the page next to the shot glass rings.

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    1. I got to this point and burst out laughing. My almost four-year-old daughter who had just come downstairs to see me, asked me what was so funny to make me laugh so loud. I tried to explain to her about symbols (flags), presidents (especially if incompetent), the importance of humor and laughter (even [especially??] when things are awful), or why working against the present earthly and American insanity is the only salvation for her future and realized I didn't have the words to explain it to her. It was more important to step away from the keyboard and just go hug her. I did. I can get always get back to Indivisible, policy advocacy for transformative energy policy, and anticipating reading The Uninhabitable Earth. Each of us must do what we can. MY hat is off to anyone who's willing to absorb two+ hours of Trump before CPAC in hopes of further enlightening us. Thank you, Jim Wright.

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  6. Given Trump's recent pattern of describing, in loving and nigh-lascivious detail, how trafficked women are tied up with blue tape over their mouths so they can be delivered to their new owners, I tend to suspect the hue and cry in this case is more a protest that these perverts don't want their trafficked foreign women pre-raped.

    They'd prefer to do the job themselves.

    Building a wall, then, is a method to stop women (who may, after all, not be pretty enough to deserve being raped by rich old white men) from making their own choices regarding when and how to cross the border. I'm sure it's easier to decide which women and girls will be made available in those Florida massage parlors if you can pick them up when you want to, rather than trying to catch them at the border and running the risk that the ones you want might be damaged before you can get to them.

    In an ideal world, of course, Trump will be running teen pageants where he can go in and inspect the naked girls first, then use an app to order them bathed and delivered to Mar-A-Lago.

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    1. I think you're absolutely right. These scum aren't mad that innocent people are being brutally violated; they're mad that THEY aren't the ones doing it.

      We are being held hostage by some truly evil people indeed. >:(

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  7. "These are the victims we Americans should be greeting with open arms, with security and support and comfort." Ah, but you see, they'd be more than happy to help these poor victims, if only they were a whiter shade of pale. /s

    The massive fear these knuckle heads have for anything that is not them, precludes them from even following their "religion". They then pretend they are allowed to not follow said "religion" because of that fear. "We gotta protect ourselves first and THEN we can follow the tenets of baby jesus."

    Fearful morons. The lot of them.

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  8. Damn it, Jim. Your kindness, empathy, ability to put yourself in another persons shoes, should make us all ashamed for being slugs. Thank you for your words, and I will try and be better and I know how much this takes out of you as a man who served and loves our country and sees the horrorshow we are becoming.

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  9. I admire your endurance Jim. I am currently not able to imbibe and dare not expose me sensibilities to parsing or describing the insanity of our national leader in any kind of sober state of mind. To me at this stage, satire seems the only thing that satisfies.

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  10. Watching that man is like doing a major penance!!

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  11. Number One: I feel extraordinarily privileged to be able to comment (all of a sudden, it seems). Number Two: This post made me laugh, even while I was crying inside. Number Three: Just reading about this speech makes my brain hurt.

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  12. I was going to go with coked-up hyper caffeinated squirrel in a dumpster full of mixed nuts but he beat me to it. And I only listened to about eight minutes worth before I head to shut it off.
    ::goes back to huffing wood shavings::

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    1. this line from a reporter, talking about a trump speech. had me laughing so hard I dam well went and peed a little
      It’s the kind of speech a Ritalin-soaked ferret might deliver … if he fell into a heap of uncut cocaine.

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  13. To be charitable.
    Maybe Donald was trying to be empathetic.
    But like so many seemingly common human interactions he just has no idea how it works.

    Except for the flag. That was a straight up dry hump.
    But then look how it was dressed.

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    1. The poor thing needed to be steam-cleaned first.

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  14. Still getting the hang of commenting here, and feeling privileged to being able to do so. This post made me laugh, although I was crying a little inside. Even reading about this speech makes my brain hurt. Thanks again, Jim, for taking on such a burden.

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  15. Imagine the horror to befall this fine white christian nation if all those raped women give birth to brown anchor babies if we were to let them in. Build the wall now! /s

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  16. May I ask if it's okay to copy a portion of your essays to lead a forward with? Your POV is so well thought out and written. Many thanks.

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    1. That's usually ok as long as you credit Jim. Sometimes, someone will try to pass off his writing as their own, committing theft of intellectual property. That does not make him happy, to say the least.

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  17. I applaud your efforts in trying to make sense of his speeches. Thanks for distilling it down for those of us who have given up. I can no longer believe any thing he says anyway, even if I do manage to understand him.

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  18. Well, it's not *my* work, but the work I've seen shown time and time again by his toadies as to why this stupid wall will solve everyone's problems is as follows...
    Assert (A): border wall is impenetrable
    If A, then (B): no one will bother emigrating from "shithole country."
    If C, then... well, nothing after that point interests them.

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    1. Yes they only have that worldview of "if we keep them out, everything would be resolved", which is something that not even the inventors of walls themselves would agree to.

      Walls only serve to keep other at bay, but it doesn't serve to actually DEAL with them, which is what needs to be done if you really want to get to the heart of the problem and resolve it. As any general throughout history can tell you, simply sitting behind walls and defending passively with no other plans in mind is the road to eventual defeat. The walls can keep the enemy out, but it doesn't do anything else to them besides that, they are still free to scheme, plot, bring in new elements, call in reinforcements and siege weapons, create new tactics...all for the sake of overcoming those defenses.

      And, given enough time and effort, it's almost a guarantee that they will eventually overcome the defenses, no matter how secure they may be.

      A wall doesn't solve a problem any more than a rug will consign to oblivion any dust that gets swept under it. If anything a wall can actually EXACERBATE a problem because what it serves to do is to push it out of sight. Putting a problem out of sight and not bothering with it means that it could fester and grow until eventually no wall can stop it from making an impact.

      As King T'Challa put it, "in times of crisis, the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers". You don't solve problems by shutting them out and trying to ignore them after that, you're more likely to make them become worse merely through neglect. Instead, problems are only able to be solved if we are willing to engage them, to look at them, acknowledge them and then actually doing something about them.

      And bridges allow that to happen far better than walls ever could.

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  19. Thank dog you kept this one short. I may have had to read the entire transcript - and probably would have, since I'm unable to watch Trump, at all - but you were merciful. I've read other excerpts of this deranged man’s speech elsewhere, but I'm proud of you for focusing on this specific issue. What a horrible, detestable person is the President of the United States. And concurrently, his Republican supporters.

    As long as we have borders, they will be used to vilify “the others.” Unless they’re Canadian. Goes without sayin’. Unless they’re brown Canadians. Then there might be a problem. Though, come to think of it, why would anyone living in Canada want to move here?

    Leroy

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    1. From what I have heard,it is illegal immigrants coming in via Canada. Mostly Asian and African. If you are rich,"Jarvanka" were selling green cards at 500k a pop to rich Chinese in British Columbia; and 45's Florida properties openly recruit pregnant Russian women-the wives and mistresses of Russian oligarchs for the same amount to stay in his properties and get an ANCHOR BABY out of it!

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  20. I don't know how you do it! His voice makes me physically ill. So happy for the mute button! My first thought was if mother's are giving their daughters massive doses of birth control, they must be having a lot of od's!

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  21. Thanks as always for the great essay. Thanks again for actually working your way through that horrific mishmash of rage and idiocy to find something actually worth commenting about. One question: how the hell did you keep it down to one bottle? I'd probably STILL be drinking...

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  22. I salute your ability to watch that live. I understand the empty whiskey bottle. Thank you for this cogent assessment of babble.

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  23. I’d like to add a bit of commentary regarding his statement on “rape” of the women and their daughters. If this appears to be a hijack of sorts, rest assured it was not intended as such; the irony in this is just too thick to ignore. Ok, let’s build a wall to keep the rapists on the other side, away from decent folk. But... then what about all the women of *this* country who get raped? By our own God-fearin’ home-grown male specimens? The 1-in-4 or 1-in-5 (depending on which statistics you look at) women who have been or can expect to be assaulted in their lives - don’t they deserve such kind compassion and sympathy from The Power That Thinks He’s All That And A Bag of Chips? Don’t we deserve a wall, too? One that keeps them away from us? Oh, yeah... that’s right. We already have walls like that. They’re called *prisons*. But, ooops, those walls rarely contain rapists, even if they by some miracle get tried for the crime, because home-grown rapists get slaps on the wrist instead of doing hard time. So there’s just another bit of proof that walls *don’t* work. Not to mention the fact that he has *no* business talking about sexual assault in the first damn place!!

    How you managed merely the one bottle of whiskey is beyond me. I’d need three to parse his blurb. Of tequila.

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    1. Because that is how hypocrisy works. In this case, mukti-level, three-dimensional hypocrisy.

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  24. Like I said, no one has ever justified the wall, not even Trump. And here in his speech he shows us why his wall is unjustified while trying to justify it.

    To Trump, it isn't about actually resolving problems, and problems rooted in aspects of ethics or morality at that, it's about talking about a problem, whether it is one or not doesn't matter, then talking a good game about "resolving" that problem, whether or not what he pushes actually resolves it or not doesn't matter.

    He's a salesman, a showman, always has been, always will be. He pushes the sales and the pitch with the singular objective of making the sale and taking the money. Anything goes with that objective in mind is acceptable. Lying? Cheating? Stealing? Killing? So long as it fulfills the objective, who cares? The sale justifies the means, and the means aren't important at all so long as we have the sale.

    For Trump, the sale here is about being seen as "solving problems and doing stuff" and he pitches whatever ideas, be they the wall, or clean coal, or tariffs, all for the sake of being seen as a "doer" as achieving something. That's what this is all about to him, the exposure and the credit. That's his sale.

    What happens after that once he takes the money, or in this case, the credit and the adoration of his adoring crowds, is meaningless to him. Even if what he sells is poison to his customers, even if it's something that would end up destroying the country and so his customers in the process, it doesn't matter.

    The sale is all that matters.

    He doesn't even consider if it will keep his customers from coming back, he simply assumes they will no matter what (and he's right). Just as long as the sale goes through and he gets his "money" in whatever form from whatever it is, the people he sells to and anything else after that, can all go to hell for all he cares.

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  25. Vamping on fear is his version of sharing his ‘soul’ with ‘his base’. He values the freeform, partly because it feels free and partly because it requires no effort.

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  26. I have a more visceral fear: Nixon had a sane Kissinger to stop him from acting rashly. An unhinged Trump has no such backstop.

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  27. This looks like another Trump vs Trump showdown. One day it’s “build the wall to protect us”, the next it’s “build the wall to protect them”. Never mind that we have a robust law enforcement community that protects us while innocents flee violence in near lawless areas of their own countries. Many of those are fleeing because they have no protection and are trying to lawfully claim asylum in a nation that can and should help them. He is speaking to a self proclaimed right wing conservative organization made up of mostly Christian members. Speaking of compassion to this group to justify his wall in near peak cognitive dissonance Trump.

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  28. Then if he is so against rape, why don't the conservative judges charge him? Why do they let any rapist go on only probation? Yes, save immigrant victims, and American victims too.

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  29. I'm reminded of two Churchill quotes: "We know that he has, more than any other man, the gift of compressing the largest amount of words into the smallest amount of thought." Even more appropriate for the current White House occupant: "He is one of those orators of whom it was well said, ‘Before they get up, they do not know what they are going to say; when they are speaking, they do not know what they are saying; and when they have sat down, they do not know what they have said.’"

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  30. I firmly believe that the birth control was indeed part of the evil. Even if they give it to their own kids.

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    1. So preventing unwanted pregnancy is part of the evil? Care to clarify?

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    2. Conservative Christians are firmly against contraception of any kind because they believe a pregnancy is their God's will.

      They also believe that anything opposed to their God's will is evil.

      Therefore, in their view, contraception is evil.

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    3. I was just wanting Michael to declare his religion up front, Mangaka. I don't need christian delusion explained to me. But thanks for the assist, I guess.

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  31. I can't watch any of his speeches anymore, my insurance doesn't cover self-inflicted aneurysms.

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  32. Well done. You covered 3 of the 4 W's- wit, wisdom and whiskey. Sounds like DT had the wood aspect covered.

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  33. It boggles the mind, with or without a bottle.

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  34. "For if America can’t protect the weak from the ruthless, then what goddamned good is it?"

    Yer missin' 'iz point, Jim.

    America isn't about protecting the weak from the ruthless, from the current GOP perspective. It isn't about protecting the weak at all; this is why we honor the sacrifice of all those concert goers and school children who bravely died to protect our Second Amendment rights.

    America, from that point of view, isn't about protecting the weak. Far from it. No, it's about serving the weak up on platters for the use and exploitation of the wealthy.

    The only PROTECTION going on is the protection of the large and in charge from accountability... and perhaps the protection of the wealthy and corporate from the somewhat less than weak.

    From a certain perspective, that is.


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  35. You have a much stronger stomach for his BS than I do. I bow in absolute awe to your fortitude, Sir.

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  36. I don’t know how you manage to wade through this shitstorm of crap he puts out, day after day, without collapsing into a weeping lump. Whiskey is not enough of a cushion. Maybe the puppies can help lift your spirits too. I for one appreciate your dedication because on my own I could never sort out this mess.

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    1. He probably sees it as a way to keep his military intelligence skills sharp.

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  37. There is a significant fraction of the CPAC crowd who think that using birth control at all is on par with committing rape. Hard to believe, I know but there it is. The mothers that Trump was talking about? He wasn't saying they were doing a good thing by trying to protect their daughters from being impregnated due to a rape. They were abusing their daughters just as much as any rapist might be in that misogynist, 'pro-life', women as walking, talking fetal incubators world-view. And the women in the US who get raped by good, strong, red-blooded male 'Mericans were just asking for it. Or lying. They got what they deserved as well.

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  38. I prefer drunk over murderous. So there I remain . Which proves I'm a coward.

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  39. Excellent response to an insane rant. You're so right about the Christians being okay with us doing nothing about it. That's not what I was taught about being a Christian so I call bullshit on those so called "Christians".

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  40. Stormtrumpers emote, they don't think. Consequently, the following emotional connections are made. They know they don't like outsiders, and they know they have to keep them out or they aren't outsiders anymore.

    Telling them that keeping them out permanently will stop these outsiders from being raped AND it will stop them from the further degradation of utilizing birth control, he's telling them that what they want to do is the right thing to do. He's reaffirming what they believe.

    They won't think, no matter how much you tell them to think. To reason. To contemplate. Scary outsiders must be kept out! Not become same as brown people I must treat as equal! I will never be safe thar way!

    ...You may well think I'm joking, but sadly I'm not. This is what is meant when experts talk about appealing to their emotions. What is said never rises to the level of thought. Not when they are in groups of thousands. It's obon later, when they try to explain the argument, that they realize how dumb it sounds.

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    1. *It's only later

      I was fighting with the text editor in Chrome the entire time I was writing that. The Chrome browser on my phone. It's like trying to compose a novel through a keyhole. How does anyone write on a mobile platform?

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  41. The syphilitic hallucinations of this piece of white trash are obvious to almost everyone now, even his team of fluffers over at Fox News... what's the record for how long a piece of shit can circle a drain before it's flushed away?

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    1. Depends on how strong the Coriolis effect is.

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  42. Thank you for taking the hit for the rest of us who could not bring themselves to watch

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  43. Notice the Chief didn't use the words very very unlike fearless leader uses in three or four word speech fragments.

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  44. Jim - Once again, tRump is getting his idea of reality from a movie, I believe.

    It might have been Relentless (2018).

    In the movie I am thinking of, the mother is trying to get her sex-trafficked daughter back, who is on the Train of Death, and someone helping the mother hands her the Morning After pill, mentioning that sex is the main currency on the train after cash.

    Now, that said, Relentless (2018) is a "based on" movie, and there is at least one documentary about the train, so it has a grain of truth *in this very narrow, specific instance*. But tRump being tRump, if he saw it, he probably assumed that it applies to any migrant.

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  45. In my fantasies, it's comments like these I wish could be projected behind the president at these rallies in real-time! Or, you know, get asked by more than a couple journalists! Or, that Fox News hired journalists! What can I say? I'm a dreamer.

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  46. This nation's nativist streak is long and historic. Only a short hundred years ago we rounded up the socialists and alleged anarchists in the so-called Red Scare.

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  47. I don’t even know where to go with these assholes. If President Obama had done or said even one thing like 45 does, they’d be continually foaming at the mouth and screaming while waving their bibles. They’d bullshit verse after verse to prove he was the anti-Christ and call for his murder. 45 does 1,000 times worse and they all swoon at how “he’s president because it’s God’s will”.

    As for that flag, it’s desperately trying tweet with the hashtag “Me too”. It feels incredibly dirty, but if it reports the assault, it will be grilled with questions demanding to why it was dressed that way and told that “it was asking for it”.

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  48. great one Jim.there's also the bit about birth control. that thing that women can't get through company health insurance if they work for a 'christian' company or institution. birth control. no-one called that creature out on that! but keep it up Jim!

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  49. "For if America can’t protect the weak from the ruthless, then what goddamned good is it?"

    None.
    Sorry.
    None.

    Don't get me wrong. There are millions upon millions of good people in the U.S. Those people aren't in CHARGE of anything, though. The ones who are don't seem to care in the slightest how destructively and callously we behave as a nation, as long as they get their rent checks on time.

    I was jaded and depressed before--disgusted by the greed and the lies. THEN Trump was elected. Now every day seems more hopeless.

    Sorry. Despite the best intentions of millions, the 8 guys at the top are the only ones privileged to speak for us all, and every word is an obscenity.

    So, no.
    America isn't any goddamn good at all. And it's sinking.

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  50. Because 30% of the US are exactly like Trump. Like kind. They don't know who Trump is unlike myself who has grown old watching Trumps antics in the news. We old folk know he's a lying conman and if the truth comes out in either of the investigations now being done, his base will no doubt call it deep state conspiracies. The truth won't set them free because they don't believe the truth about Trump. If Millennials, who refused to back the liberal candidate, Hillary Clinton, because they either didn't know how to vote or were pissed off that Sanders legitimately lost the Primary,continue on with their refusal to back anyone but Sanders and if Sanders again loses the Primary, chances are very good Trump will get 4 more years as POTUS. So that is the conundrum now, how to convince the largest sector of the voting public to get on board with the Primary Candidate, whoever that person is.

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    1. I agree... and am also worried about this. Some of my friends have more hope than I that the Bernie supporters will have learned their lesson after the fiasco of 2016. I doubt that will be the case. I believe - based on having read MANY comments online - that Bernie Bros (& gals) aren't going to support ANYONE but him. They are as fanatical about Bernie as Trump's supporters are about him. They will be as responsible for Trump's being RE-ELECTED as they were for his being elected the first time. And Bernie himself will, too.

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  51. I'm afraid I can't be nearly as charitable as you. I would totally assume that the "evil" he's talking about is the birth control.

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  52. I'm glad I missed the show. And although I had shared the memes going around, I had not realized he had actually HUMPED the flag. I had thought it was a cheap shot at Cohen's testimony about how difficult it will be to get him out of the White House should he still be there in 2020 when he (GAWD, I HOPE) looses the election. And, maybe it was that. Maybe his humping the flag WAS a cheap shot at Cohen? But you never mentioned Cohen in this piece, so I deduce it was a cheap shot at America in general. Thankfully, the flag is but a symbol and we don't all now need to go get checked for STDs. (GAG)


    I thank you for your posts.
    R.K.

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    1. Sadly, I've seen the pics/video. His going of the flag was highly disturbing. The strange smirk on his face will be a sight burned into your brain. Once seen, it can't be unseen. Sadly, I do not exaggerate.

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  53. Jim,I'm going to ask the most important question. Which William Wolf?

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  54. I was giving a radio interview and got hit with an off topic low baller. I ummed and erred, squirmed a little and did an Elastoplast job of getting back on topic. Listening to it back my face reddened. Then you write this and put it in perspective - I'm a goddamned genius compared to POTUS.

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  55. "For if America can’t protect the weak from the ruthless, then what goddamned good is it?"

    That has to be one of the best sentences I have read in a long time.

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  56. your error is to attempt to apply logic. The base doesn’t care that he contradicts himself. the word salad is just a way to continuously repeat words that play on his supporters emotions. he is busy activating reptile brains and instinctual responses

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  57. According to the CDC 1 in 5 women in the US are raped. Are we going to build a wall around every woman in the US? You are right on -- rape is awful, wherever it occurs. But the notion of 1 in 3 asylum seekers being raped and us doing nothing about it is horrific, unChristian, and appalling. And, if the Border Patrol knows about this, what are they doing to stop it? This just breaks my heart, as a rape survivor, a woman, and an American.

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  58. I believe the US Flag Code says that the flag should never touch anything beneath it.

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  59. Thank you for the summary & analysis. I'm amazed it only took you 1 bottle. It would have taken me a tun.

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