Tag Archives: Donald Trump

May 29, 2026 · 10:32 PM

Lazarus Orwell

Lazarus – Hebrew, “God will help.”

“Name Your Baby”, Lareina Rule

“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”

Winston Smith in “1984”, George Orwell

In the 1994 midterm elections, the Republican Party achieved something they hadn’t in nearly four decades: they won the majority of seats in both houses of congress.  And they won big; a “Super Majority” that clearly showed an early rebuke of President Bill Clinton’s agenda.  Newt Gingrich, a veteran politician from Georgia, was elected House leader.  At the start of 1995, Connie Chung, then co-anchor of the CBS Evening News, interviewed Gingrich’s parents at their home.  Puffing on cigarettes and speaking barely above a stage whisper, Gingrich’s mother, Kathleen, noted her son didn’t particularly like Clinton or First Lady Hillary Clinton.  In fact, she said, he had an extreme disdain for Hillary and said he’d called her a “bitch”.

The national reaction was explosive.  Gingrich himself never confirmed whether or not he’d actually said that, but condemned for taking advantage of two people who weren’t “media savvy”.  How media savvy does someone need to be, replied Chung, to know they’re speaking with a nationally renowned journalist and have three cameras set up around them?

But Chung had unknowingly orchestrated her own demise.  CBS almost immediately terminated her.

In 2004, as then-President George W. Bush was in the midst of his reelection campaign, Dan Rather, another veteran journalist and anchor of the CBS Evening News (Chung’s former colleague), dived into Bush’s so-called military record.  After graduating from Harvard in 1968, Bush immediately joined the Texas National Guard.  The Vietnam War was raging, and young men were being drafted into military service.  Getting a position in a National Guard unit was highly coveted and difficult to obtain.  According to…well, himself…Bush completed his first stint in the Guard in 1972 and reenlisted, before moving to Alabama to assist in the presidential campaign of George Wallace.  He then joined the Alabama National Guard and supposedly got suspended for missing an annual physical exam.  But what happened after that is largely unknown.  Bush’s records mysteriously disappeared.

Dan Rather had gained fame in 1961, as he delivered live coverage of Hurricane Carla’s landfall in Texas.  He began anchoring the CBS Evening News in 1981.  The outrage over his questions into Bush’s military service was palpable.  The same political and social conservatives who screamed over Bill Clinton’s lack of military service were suddenly offended with Rather’s report.

At the start of 2005, CBS dismissed Rather.  For the second time in a decade, the news conglomerate had allowed themselves to be intimidated by a key political figure.

All of that nonsense came to light recently, as controversy fell atop Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show” on CBS.  A few months ago Colbert interviewed Texas politician James Talarico who is running for U.S. Senate.  However CBS didn’t broadcast the interview.  Apparently CBS hadn’t heard of this thing called the internet and something else called YouTube.  Its legal advisors claimed the interview was in violation of the Federal Communication Commission’s Fairness Doctrine – a creed that mandates broadcast networks devote equal time to views on national issues.  Generally the rule applied only to news programs; talk shows were exempt because they were considered entertainment venues.

Until now.

If either previous presidents Bill Clinton or Barack Obama got upset every time a public media figure mocked or even criticized them, they’d be incarcerated for life in mental health hospitals.  In contrast the administration of current President Donald Trump is obviously of fragile spirit.  Colbert has been a vocal critic of the president.

CBS canceled “The Late Show”, which had been broadcasting since 1993.  Last week was the final telecast.  They claimed low ratings, but I don’t believe that.  My followers know what a strong free speech advocate I am.  It’s not just the writer in me – it’s the human being in my soul; someone born and raised in a country that values the right to speak freely.

Politicians utilizing their power to coerce a media into compliance or silence is the essence of totalitarianism.  Other countries allow this to happen.  China or Russia sound familiar?

I’ve never been a fan of Colbert, but I’m still angry over his show’s cancellation.  It’s obvious what happened.  But what should we, as free people, do about it?  How much of this madness are we supposed to tolerate?

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May 16, 2026 · 3:41 PM

Draft Well

Recently President Trump signed an Executive Order that will impact military readiness in the U.S.  Beginning in December 2026 all able-bodied males in the country will be automatically registered for Selective Service (the military draft) upon turning 18.  The late former President Jimmy Carter reinstituted the Selective Service system in 1980, requiring all males born in the U.S. since 1960 to register for the draft within 30 days of their 18th birthday.  A number of lawsuits against the system in the following decades have failed to reverse the policy.

The penalties for failing to register are severe:

  • Fines up to $250,000 and/or 5 years in prison.
  • Ineligible for federal jobs and many state, local, and municipal positions.
  • Ineligible for federal student financial aid (FAFSA), including Pell Grants and federal student loans.
  • Non-citizens can be denied citizenship (naturalization).
  • Roughly 40 states and Washington, D.C., deny driver’s licenses or renewal for non-registration.
  • Ineligible for training under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Yes…a $250,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison…for failing to register to serve (unwillingly) in the military of a nation that still maintains an incredibly unequal justice system and wealth structure.  (Understand that Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman each murdered someone and got away with it.)

Again, this system only applies to men. 

Now Trump wants to make it more difficult to evade compulsory military service.  Well…he should know.  Like his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, he did just about everything he could to avoid compulsory military service more than a half century ago.

One of my best friends, Preston*, has two 20-something sons and voted for Trump during all three of his presidential runs.  As the 2024 elections approached, he expressed concern that a Kamala Harris presidency would result in military action in Ukraine; meaning Harris would enact the military draft, and his sons could be impacted.  I was concerned about that, too, but I was more concerned that Trump would get back into office and take military action against Iran; the same way Bush invaded Iraq under the false pretense of protecting the world from an Iraqi-based nuclear war.

I was right.

Trump got into office and – under the guise of safeguarding the globe against an Iranian-inspired nuclear Armageddon, as well as defending Israel – attacked the Middle Eastern county.  Now, Preston is even more worried.

So am I.

In August of 1990, Iraq unexpectedly invaded Kuwait.  Fearful they were the next targets, the Saudi royal family fled their palaces and asked the U.S. for help.  As that year came to an end, then-President George H.W. Bush sent troops into the Saudi desert.  Ultimately Iraqi forces surrendered without much of a fight, but about 300 U.S. service personnel died in battle.  Shortly before the conflict erupted, Saudi leadership – still safely ensconced abroad – demanded that our people in uniform remove emblems of the U.S. flag from their attire.  They somehow found it offensive.  Bush bowed to the Saudi sheiks and ordered the removals.

Pull our boys out, was the first response from most U.S. citizens, including me.  It was an outrage.  If it hadn’t been for American demand for oil, the Saudis would still be living in ornate tents in the desert, picking sand fleas out of their ass.  The Bush family’s loyalty to the Saudi regime became apparent in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when the Bush Administration allowed several Saudi nationals to leave the U.S., while other travelers remained trapped at airports and hotels.

Shortly before the Persian Gulf War began, I visited my local gym and heard one young man ask another, “Ready to go?” in reference to the conflict.

I was 27 then and thought it was a real possibility knowing our political leaders’ penchant for war.  My father – who had been drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Korea nearly four decades earlier – was also concerned.  He became especially incensed when the Saudi royal family demanded U.S. military personnel remove the American flag emblems from their uniforms; cursing the clan in both English and Spanish.

Throughout Bill Clinton’s presidency, his right-wing adversaries condemned his lack of military experience; labeling him with that dreaded “draft-dodger” moniker.  From 1968 to 1970, he was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford where he openly protested the Vietnam War.  But a large number of American expatriates did.  When he returned to his native Arkansas, he placed his name back into the draft lottery (to maintain his “political viability”) and drew a high enough number not to be sent into the conflict.

As the 2000 presidential election arose, conservatives were eager to prop up only one man: then-Texas Governor George W. Bush.  The eldest son of the nation’s 41st President, George H.W. Bush, the younger Bush graduated from Harvard in 1968 – and found himself eligible for military conscription.  He immediately managed to secure a position in the Texas Air National Guard (at a time when such spots were sparse and difficult to obtain).  After his initial four year stint was over, he reenlisted and then somehow was able to switch to the Alabama National Guard; in part, he later said, to work on the presidential campaign of George Wallace.  That second hitch should have been completed in 1976.  But no real record exists of Bush completing his service.  And then – as things tend to occur – misfortune arrived and Bush’s military records mysteriously disintegrated in a warehouse fire.

Bush’s Vice President, Dick Cheney, also came under scrutiny for his lack of military service.  During the 2000 campaign, Cheney declared he had “other priorities” during the Vietnam fiasco; receiving a number of draft deferments – mostly educational and one because he was a new father.

The same band of right-wingers who excoriated Clinton for his lack of military service weren’t so quick to demand a full accounting from either Bush or Cheney.  Also, in 2000, then Sen. John McCain sought the GOP nomination.  Coming from a long line of U.S. Navy officers, McCain served in Vietnam and was a pilot shot down over Hanoi in 1968, captured by enemy forces and held hostage for five years.  But the Bush political machine had the audacity to question not only McCain’s military service (which was there for all to see) but also his patriotism.  The same flag and country crowd who had demonized Clinton suddenly had no qualms belittling a real American military hero.

Now we come to Trump.  Donald “bone spurs” Trump.

No one has a desire to do something unpleasant – like pay taxes or wait in line at the grocery store.  And certainly nobody wants to go to war.  War is not just ugly; it’s stupid and pointless.

One Saturday evening in the late 1970s, my parents hosted a few friends over for a casual gathering.  Among them was a longtime male friend who brought along a young woman we hadn’t met before.  She seemed pleasant enough.  At some point, during a discussion, the subject of the Vietnam War came up.  The U.S. had just fled Vietnam in an ignominious defeat a few years earlier.  All of the men in the group had served in the U.S. military.  A few of them, including my father, had been drafted.  The aforementioned young woman mentioned that a young man she had been dating about a decade earlier had failed to heed his conscription notice and – apparently feeling intensely patriotic – reported him to some authority.  She said he got drafted anyway.

I remember the brief quiet that settled over our cavernous den.

“Wow,” my father finally muttered.  “How brave of you.”

And the conversation ended.

Don’t ask someone to do something you’re not at least willing to try – which is one reason why men have no business demanding women get pregnant.

I’m genuinely worried about Preston’s sons, as well as for any other young man who may get swept up into this conflict-laden world.  But I’m concerned for the greater population.  Despite all the patriotic bravado, the 2003 Iraq War really was about gaining access to the region’s oil.

I see the same outcome with Iran.

*Name changed

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March 21, 2026 · 5:29 PM

Gladiating

Jacqueline Susann’s 1973 novel “Once Is Not Enough” is filled with enough drama, heartbreak, romance, intrigue and sexual indiscretions to send any family into therapy for decades.  The central character, January Wayne, returns home to New York City after being hospitalized in Switzerland for nearly three years.  That part alone rivals the best (or worst) any Mexican telenovela can deliver.  In many ways the world she left three years earlier hasn’t changed, but in most others, it’s radically different.  As is befitting a Susann story, January encounters a plethora of strange figures: one of the world’s richest women; a vile magazine editor; a hyper-masculine novelist; and a physician with salaciously ulterior motives, among other cretins.  Almost sounds like one of my old family gatherings!

To some extent “Once Is Not Enough” is a commentary on the myriad social upheavals in the U.S. at the time of its publication.  Right now, though, I wonder if many Americans have been suffering from subtle amnesia – or are just innately sadistic.

A generation ago we had a president who launched an unexpected war upon a Middle East nation that – along with a slew of heavy tax breaks for the wealthiest citizens – culminated in the worst economic downturn in almost a century.  George W. Bush used the horrors of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to justify an invasion of Iraq less than two years later.  To date that fiasco has cost the U.S. an estimated USD 6 trillion.  That’s just in hard U.S. dollars.  But the cost in mental and physical health is immeasurable.

Now we’re at it again.  The Trump Administration has attacked Iran – one of the U.S.’s most loathsome enemies.  Until 1979, we had a cordial diplomatic relationship with Iranian leadership, including the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.  He had risen to prominence in the immediate aftermath of World War II and guided Iran into something of a progressive new era.

But Pahlavi had also instituted a repressive dictatorship and exhibited an extravagant lifestyle for him, his family and others in the small elite class.  His ardent efforts to Westernize and secularize Iran, along with depending strongly on the United States, alienated his own people and culminated in a student uprising that forced him and his family into exile.  The same uprising ambushed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in November 1979 that led to holding several Americans hostage for over a year.

It was our first battle with radical Islam and it caught the U.S. completely off-guard.  At the time the “Cold War” was still raging, and the Soviet Union remained the most serious foreign threat.  Iran wasn’t on the radar of diplomatic instability.

Recently the Trump Administration invaded Venezuela to capture its president, Nicolás Maduro, who the world has denounced as an illegitimate leader.  A global coalition of democratic states claims Maduro ascended to the Venezuelan presidency in January 2019 after a rigged election.  Somehow, the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections in the U.S. come to mind whenever I hear the term “rigged election”.

Now Trump has set his sights on two more foes: Cuba and Colombia.  Cuba has been on the American shit-list for over 60 years, and Colombia has a long history of political assassinations and drug trafficking.  Bush had used the excuse of nuclear weaponry to invade Iraq, and even critics later admitted the country was better off without its brutal leader, Saddam Hussein.  The world would be better off without many autocrats – including Trump.

But is it the duty of the U.S. to remove every such character?

We all know the adage that, when old men go to war, young men die.  Right now, though, it seems when the billionaire class goes to war, the middle and lower classes die.

And here we are again.  Once may not be enough in regards to love, sex and a good back rub.  But one war is always one too many.

My first edition copy of “Once Is Not Enough”

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November 8, 2025 · 11:40 AM

Absolutely No One!

Revelers at Trump’s “Gatsby” gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate

“Wait…why are over 40 million people on SNAP? It’s not the 1930s.  We’re not in a depression.  I have a hard time believing that many people actually need food assistance in America.”

Glenn Beck, commenting about food benefits amid the government shutdown

Nothing says classy like helping a disabled person navigating a grocery store aisle.  Nothing says trashy like one of the wealthiest people in the country throwing a lavish party while others are struggling to pay for food.

That’s the message inherent in Donald Trump’s recent Halloween bash at his Mar-a-Lago estate.  In the richest nation on Earth, the president of the United States is wallowing in his own ego and greed, as literally millions of average citizens wonder how they’re going to pay their bills and provide for their families.

As of this writing, the ongoing government shutdown has become the longest in U.S. history.  The chaos hasn’t affected me personally yet, but I remain leery and concerned.  The last shutdown in 2018 did impact the government agency for which my company does a great deal of contract work.  The present mess, though, is already upset the livelihoods of millions of people who have been furloughed from their jobs and others – such as air traffic controllers – who have been forced to work without pay. 

The latter is an obscene contradiction in that members of Congress are still getting paid.  Yes, the political elite are receiving their salaries, while doing no work.  Some federal employees are working, but not receiving their pay.  Please tell me I’m not the only one realizes how screwed up this is.

Trump’s “Gatsby” festival is not just a true indication of the President’s own arrogance and disrespect for humanity, but the growing economic disparities in the U.S.  This is a nation that boasts that someone like Jeff Bezos can grow a business from a garage operation into multi-billion dollar conglomerate; yet allows a foreign-born oligarch like Elon Musk to dictate how the U.S. government should function.

Glenn Beck’s comment regarding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food benefits, is yet another hallmark of how disconnected the self-appointed elite – left or right – is with reality.  Conservative extremists like Beck are quick to condemn those who reach out for public assistance, but ignore the systems that create those needs.  Meanwhile radical liberals denounce corporations and business leaders, but don’t seem to understand personal responsibility is more than a Republican catchphrase.

I had to go on food and energy assistance a few years ago.  The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out what money I’d earned over nearly a decade of freelance and contract work.  I’d been on unemployment insurance before, but I knew I’d paid into that.  Help to buy food and pay my energy bills was a different creature.  I’m gainfully employed now, with full health benefits and a retirement plan.  I’m making a good living and satisfied with how my life is going.

But I understand completely how upset millions of Americans are with none of those things.  As the current morass continues, I wonder how this is happening.  How is the wealthiest country on Earth mired in such a serious financial crisis?  How is it that so many people – literally millions – are struggling just to live?  While Trump and his family and their minions party like the world is theirs and only theirs.

If this is such an affluent nation, absolutely no one should have to rely upon food, housing and energy assistance!  Not everyone needs to earn a six- or seven-figure salary or live in a multi-room mansion in a gated community.  Indeed, able-bodied and able-minded people should be accountable for their own actions.  But why do some people have to decide whether to pay the light bill or buy food?

Shortly after the turn of the century I joined a Dallas-area Toastmasters group.  I had met one of the co-founders, and he convinced me at least to visit.  I did and instantly felt a connection to this group of intellectuals who, like me, had something important to say.  Sadly, I became disillusioned with the group and left in the spring of 2004.  But, before I found a position with an engineering company in November 2002, that cofounder and I engaged in a rather tense discussion about economics and self-reliance.  Even though I definitely don’t consider myself conservative, that man insisted I belonged on the Republican side of things.  He was a devoted acolyte of Ronald Reagan and strongly supported then-President George W. Bush.  He was a small business owner, Jewish and openly queer.  He shocked me one time, however, when he said he didn’t really care what his fellow conservatives thought about either his ethnicity or his sexuality.  He was more concerned about the overall welfare of society.

A few months before I found that full-time job, he remarked that I “only represent a small percentage” of people across the country – in a sense mocking my lack of full employment.  Later he had commented that business owners should be allowed to discriminate against people strictly on the basis of race or gender; that anyone on the wrong end of that bigotry can just find another place to give their business. 

“Yeah,” I responded, “just like Hitler did.”

Ever see someone’s face overwhelmed with that proverbial deer-in-the-headlights expression?  His consternation was obvious enough for the blind to see.

But that, in essence, is the problem with our political leaders.  Remember they’re still earning their salaries – while doing no work.  When does the madness end?  And where’s the justice?

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October 11, 2025 · 9:04 PM

And the Madness Begins – Again!

Once more, political divisions have caused the U.S. Congress to shut down the government.  Sigh…again?!  Ever wonder if a long-running TV show will ever have its final season?

I’m not a federal worker, but my current role relies on the U.S. government functioning at full capacity.  Or at least at a rational level.  Then again, that may be too much to ask in the current environment.

Gosh, I hate to interrupt someone during their nap!

While literally thousands of people across the nation have found themselves on a reluctant furlough, members of Congress, along with the president and vice-president, are still getting paid.  Of course, they rarely suffer whenever such indignities befall the average peon.  Having lived in a gilded cage most of his life, Donald Trump can’t feel that kind of pain – certainly not with the support of his blind faithful.

The shutdown has entered its first full week, and – as usual – the finger-pointing has been rampant.  I’m almost afraid some of those fools will put their hands in traction!

I don’t care if any of them get hurt, though.  They’re not worth the trouble.  But Congress is as politically divided as the nation.  Trump bears a great deal of responsibility for that chaos.  He made it cool for some people to be hateful and bigoted.  Yes, he’s taking America back – back to a time when only people who looked like him held the bulk of the country’s power and money.

But the nation has been growing divided for decades now.  Technically I believe it started with the Watergate fiasco, but worsened the moment Bill Clinton first announced his run for the presidency.  It only intensified after the turn of the century.

Thousands of federal workers are now not getting paid.  That includes active duty military personnel; even those stationed overseas.  But Trump has done the right thing in that case and ordered that they continue getting paid.  Air traffic controllers also aren’t getting paid, but are being forced to work, as they are considered essential employees.  Many, however, are calling in sick.  They learned their lesson more than four decades ago.  In 1980 the Air Traffic Controllers Union was the only labor group in the U.S. to support Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign.  The following year they went through on their threats to strike – demanding better pay, updated equipment and more controllers.  And then Reagan fired 11,000 of them.  Needless to say that was the last time any work union in the U.S. supported a Republican for the presidency.

Even though things look okay for me now, I’m still concerned.  The government agency my company contracts with has been the target of many public officials, especially Republicans.  Trump, however, has issued another threat.  He’s promised to terminate a number of federal associates and says that, when the government reopens, he’ll make sure they don’t get any back pay – which has always happened in the past.

Personally I think it would be great if every essential employee doesn’t show up for their job.  I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!  That’s not likely, however, but I’d love to see how these sanctimonious Republicans would respond.

In the meantime, average taxpaying, law-abiding citizen will continue to feel the adverse effects of this morass.  It’s a never-ending cycle of incompetence in the highest levels of the political universe.

Image: Gary Larson

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September 20, 2025 · 6:13 PM

Watchittocracy

Around 1990 I met a woman who once worked for the now-defunct Braniff Airlines.  She was the aunt of a close friend, and somehow we got to discussing business practices and how things function in the corporate world.  I was already working for a major bank in Dallas.  She noted how the former president of Braniff refused to accept the reality of bad news.  Anyone who dared to step into his office and present him with less-than-stellar information about the company’s dire finances was promptly terminated.  On the day in 1982 the company filed for bankruptcy, she mentioned that employees didn’t get paid and, in some clerical settings, they literally went ballistic and destroyed many pieces of equipment and office furnishings as retribution.  I was shocked, but said I didn’t blame them.

In the summer of 2011 I landed a contract technical writing position with an IT firm in Dallas.  One of the senior technical writers had worked for Braniff as a flight attendant until they went bankrupt.  She confirmed what that other woman had told me two decades earlier.  Braniff employees didn’t receive their last paycheck and lost their patience.

You don’t have to be a business owner to understand that bad news is an inevitable burr in daily operations.  It comes with territory, but some people handle it better than others.  The same goes for comedy.  Cultural shifts can make individuals more or even less sensitive to certain aspects of their surrounding environments.

The U.S. currently has a president, however, who has no problem calling people names and making fun of them, but suddenly draws the line at people mocking him.  “You’re a horrible person” is how he often prefaces a response to someone who asks him a question he finds intolerable.  But, as I wrote in a previous essay, it appears the demonic world of American politics has become riddled with the emotionally fragile.

Last week conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed by a young man while holding an outdoor question-and-answer session at Utah Valley University.  The 31-year-old Kirk left behind a wife and two young children.  Right-wingers immediately jumped into the chaos and started pointing fingers at liberals and the entire Democratic Party. 

“Democrats own what happened today,” South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace groused to reporters the day after Kirk’s death.  “I am devastated.  My kids have called, panicking.  All the kids of conservatives are panicking.”

President Trump ordered flags flown at half-mast in honor of Kirk; something he didn’t do in the bloody aftermath of the January 6, 2021 riots on Capitol Hill.

It’s ironic, though, because Kirk once said that gun-related deaths were merely a price to pay for Americans’ right to own firearms.  “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment,” he stated matter-of-factly in 2023.  Now he’s being lionized as a martyr to conservative ideology.

Kirk also believed firmly in free speech, declaring that saying even “contrarian things” is acceptable.  I have to agree with that statement.  But, as the adage goes, be careful what you wish for…

The general concept of free speech is now under attack, as it always has been with Trump and his MAGA mafia.  Recently the Federal Communications Commission ordered the ABC network to cancel or at least suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s nightly talk show, after he commented on Kirk’s murder.  Kimmel didn’t gloat over the assassination; he simply pointed out that Trump supporters are using it to enhance their own anger.

For some folks, free speech only seems to have consequences or responsibilities when someone says something they don’t like.  How free should someone be with their own words?  You can’t threaten to kill someone or you can’t call them a rapist without tangible proof.  Slander and threats of violence aren’t covered by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Banned Books Week 2025 is coming up soon, and I recollect a news piece I saw back around 1986 – the centennial anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.  Several foreign-born and newly-minted American citizens discussed the oppression they escaped.  One woman, a Russian, noted that she was a reading a book at an outdoor café, when said she suddenly got the feeling someone was watching her.  But she remembered she was now in the United States – and she could read just about anything she wanted, even in public, without fear that someone would report her to authorities for being a traitor or disruptive; merely because of what she was reading.

Is that where we’re headed?  People need to watch what they read, as well as what they say?  Or is the First Amendment now subject to political interpretation?

Do any of us want someone else to determine what we say and read?  I’m not willing to give up that type of freedom.  No one should.

Image: Dave Whamond

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August 1, 2025 · 11:02 PM

CB Saps

The CBS television network is one of the most storied media outlets here in the U.S.  It officially launched in September of 1927 as a radio network – a major news source at the time – before transitioning in 1941 into the new medium of TV.  The assassination of President John Kennedy in 1963 led CBS to expand their weekly evening news broadcasts from 15 to 30 minutes, which remains a staple of mainstream news outlets.

In 1960 a young journalist named Dan Rather joined CBS, and in 1981, he took over the helm of the network’s nightly evening news broadcast from another legend, Walter Cronkite.  Rather had already established himself as a premier journalist.  From his live coverage of Hurricane Carla in 1961 to the chaotic 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the horrors of 9/11, Rather had few equals.  But, in the fall of 2004, he encountered his final nemesis – and perhaps one of the most unlikely: a conservative Republican political figure with a fragile ego, incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush.  After five lackluster years as Texas governor, Bush ran for president in 2000 – and won in a controversial decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court.  He became only the second U.S. president to follow his father into that esteemed role.  One issue that arose early in Bush’s presidential campaign was his decision to join the Texas National Guard upon graduating from Harvard in 1968.  He reenlisted four years later and then – allegedly – transferred to Alabama to work on the presidential campaign of George C. Wallace, a renowned segregationist.  Whether or not Bush completed his second stint in the National Guard has never been resolved.  He served at a time when the Vietnam War was raging and positions in any state’s national guard were highly valued for draft-age men.

The same conundrum befell Bill Clinton when he announced his candidacy for the presidency in 1991.  Conservatives were quick to denounce Clinton as a “draft dodger”, but held off criticism of Bush years later.  But when Dan Rather began his quest to determine the exact nature of Bush’s so-called military service, right-wing hound dogs quickly pounced.  How dare Rather question the integrity of their contemporary savior!  After Bush won the 2004 election (in contrast to 2000, when it was strictly an electoral college victory), the pseudo-Texan’s anger manifested quietly and nondescriptly in Rather’s termination from CBS.

The move pleased conservatives, but outraged liberals.  It mirrored a similar move by CBS against Rather’s colleagues, Connie Chung, a decade earlier.  Chung began her journalism career with CBS as a Washington, D.C., correspondent in the 1970s.  In 1993, she became only the second woman and the first Asian-American to headline a major network news broadcast, when she became Rather’s co-anchor on the CBS Evening News.  Two years later, however, her stint with the network crashed after interview with the parents of another conservative Republican with a fragile ego.

In November 1994, Republicans gained control of both Houses of the U.S. Congress for the first time since 1954.  And they didn’t just win – they won a super-majority in each chamber.  There were at least 3 factors: Clinton’s attempt at a national healthcare program, a ten-year ban on assault-style weapons and queers in the military.  All three were anathemic to American conservatives, and the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, stood at the helm of their angst.  A Pennsylvania native and Ronald Reagan acolyte, Gingrich first arrived in the U.S. Congress in 1979.  When Bill Clinton became president, Gingrich led the loud, yet unofficial call, to slaughter the former Arkansas governor’s reputation.

In the spring of 1995, Connie Chung traveled to Georgia to interview Gingrich’s parents.  His mother, Kathleen, sitting in her kitchen, chain-smoking and speaking barely above a stage whisper, noted her son’s disdain for the Clintons – not just the President, but also First Lady Hillary.  When pressed by Chung, Kathleen Gingrich said Newt had called Hillary Clinton a “bitch”.  Chung chuckled and seemingly expressed surprise.

The interview rocketed across the news spectrum like a lightning bolt.  Newt Gingrich openly announced his rage (and refused to acknowledge whether or not he’d described Hillary Clinton as a “bitch”).  Nonetheless, he accused Chung of taking advantage of people who weren’t “media savvy”.  In response, Chung asked how “media savvy” does someone need to be when they’ve welcomed a national news figure into their home and have three cameras and several studio lights set up around them.  CBS severed Chung’s contract.

Now, some two decades later, CBS has bowed to the ego of yet another conservative Republican: President Donald Trump.  They recently announced the cancelation of the long-running “The Late Show”, which will officially end in May 2026.  Comedian Stephen Colbert has hosted the show since 2015 and has been one of Trump’s most prominent critics.  This announcement comes as a surprise, but in reality, shouldn’t be.  Previous host David Letterman frequently mocked President George W. Bush – and never shied away from his barbs.  Every political figure in the U.S. has been the subject of disdain and caricature.  Anyone who enters American politics with a thin skin normally fries in the broth of farcical verbiage.  But it sort of comes with the territory.

Yet I can’t help but notice that attacks on journalism and popular culture have come from the conservative wing.  The right-wing fringe that once openly-mocked diversity and inclusion now seems to bristle at the sound of tawdry jokes and comical jibes.  And liberals are the wimps?

Spare me the anxiety!

Personally I was the subject of extensive bullying throughout my school years and even into young adulthood.  But I survived the maelstrom and I’m still here.  In a nation that values free speech and a free press, it’s frustrating to know that journalists and comedians are ostracized for criticizing or questioning anyone – least of all political figures.  In fact it pisses me off and makes me wonder what’s next.  The U.S. currently has a president who insulted a large number of people and deliberately fomented a physical assault on our government.  Threatening physical violence and slandering someone’s reputation are actually illegal.  But, in the current, political climate, personal fragility is obviously subjective.

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June 20, 2025 · 6:34 PM

The Magna Carta at 810

Around this time in 1215 C.E., England’s King John placed his royal seal on the “Great Charter”, more commonly known as the Magna Carta.  The signing came after a revolt by English nobility against John’s rule.  The document guaranteed the king would respect the rights of individuals and uphold the freedom of the Church – among other things.

The charter was a key element in the establishment of democracy in England and ultimately across Europe.  It also became critical in the creation of the United States more than 500 years later.  The framers of the U.S. Constitution highlighted the essence of the Magna Carta in their discussions.

The anniversary of King John’s signing is notable here in the U.S. since last weekend the indefatigable Donald Trump staged a parade in Washington, D.C., to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the U.S. Army and his 79th birthday.  The festivities were more for him and his overbearing ego than to celebrate the Army.  But it was also important in that thousands of “No Kings” protests occurred across the nation – a direct response to Trump’s totalitarian attitude.

Fortunately, the Magna Carta – and the U.S. Constitution – will outlast any political ideology.

Here’s a PDF version of the translated document.

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June 14, 2025 · 4:38 PM

Reject

Karine Jean-Pierre, former White House Press Secretary under President Joe Biden, has shocked her peers and the political world by announcing recently that she’s abandoning the Democratic Party and declaring herself an independent.  And I’m happy to say, “Welcome!”

Born in Martinique, Jean-Pierre attended – among other colleges – the New York Institute of Technology (from where I earned my B.A. in English) and had been a registered Democrat her entire adult life – well, until now.  Like most people in the maelstrom of the American political arena, she had to conform to certain party ideology and maintain a specific persona.  After her brief stint as Biden’s Press Secretary, however, she apparently couldn’t tolerate the deception any longer.

I have to admire her candor.  She’s one of the few people in recent years to step forward and be so blatantly honest with her sentiments.  The truth always hurts, and Jean-Pierre has taken a sledgehammer to a migraine.

I didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 because I didn’t feel she was the right leader for the nation.  I only voted for Biden in 2020 to keep Trump from winning another term, but I reverted back to the Green Party last year and voted for Jill Stein.  Trump still won, since the U.S. is not quite ready for a president with vaginal attributes – unlike many other nations in the Western Hemisphere, including our two bordering neighbors.

Jean-Pierre has notably critical of Biden’s mental and physical health – something his opponents had frequently cited from the moment he declared his candidacy.  American politics is such an ugly venture.  It’s always been nasty, but I feel it became especially toxic after the Watergate scandal.  I’ve said for years that the worst thing the Democratic Party could have done in the run-up to the 2020 elections was to stand by as Biden and Bernie Sanders announced they were seeking the U.S. presidency.

As the 2020 presidential race commenced, the Democratic Party presented the most diverse gallery of candidates of any such contest.  Then, like their Republican counterparts, they ended up with two old White men at the top.  Biden’s only saving moment was selecting Kamala Harris as his running mate.  It was an odd pairing.  Harris became the first female Vice-President in U.S. history, while Biden eventually became the nation’s first octogenarian Commander-in- Chief.

During Donald Trump’s first term, I often told people – both supporters and detractors – that I felt the U.S. was essentially leaderless.  Trump pales in comparison to many of his predecessors.  On the other hand, though, his Democratic counterparts have their own share of failures.  When the Democrat Party elected Ken Martin its new chair this past February, the news arrived with the same bravura as paint drying.  The longtime leader of the Minnesota Democratic Party, Martin hopes to lead his constituents into a future filled with greater accomplishments (wins) across the nation.

“Donald Trump, the Republican Party, this is a new DNC,” Martin told reporters after his election.  “We are not going to sit back and not take you on when you fail the American people.”

And I wish for the blind to see and the lame to walk.

*YAWN*

Wake me when something really important happens.

Like Jean-Pierre, I certainly won’t hold my breath.  The Democratic Party needs a hell of a lot more than a new chairperson.  If they’re prudent, they’ll heed Jean-Pierre’s not-so-subtle warning.

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April 18, 2025 · 10:14 PM

Words

Several years ago actress turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot found herself in legal trouble with French authorities.  The former screen siren openly condemned the Islamic practice of animal slaughter during the Aid al-Kabir holiday. She’d been in such a predicament before – several times.  French law doesn’t actually forbid disparaging religious ideology, but it looks down sharply upon it, as it can be considered slander or worse, a conduit to hate-obsessed violence.

It’s surprising, considering France fought hard against Nazi occupation during World War II.  One tenet of Nazism is that anyone who speaks out against the government is deemed a traitor.  But, short of slander or threats of violence, criticism of governing bodies and religion is free speech.  Imprisoning anyone, or even threatening to levy a monetary penalty for such views, runs counter to that.

All of it strikes hard for me – and other writers and artists – here in the U.S., as we witness ongoing assaults on various forms of free speech.  Book bans remain a primary source of concern.  And with Republicans in charge of the White House and both houses of Congress, the attacks continue.  Social extremists have always been opposed to any viewpoint that doesn’t conform to their standards – whether it’s coming from the left or the right.  The voices of moderates seem to get lost in the chaos.

Recently the U.S. government – under pressure from the Trump administration – compiled and presented a list of words that are forbidden on federal web sites and other documentation.  They include such terms as “biologically male”, “clean energy”, “inequality”, and “woman”.  This is real!  I have a tendency towards creating outrageous stories, but I’m not intoxicated or deranged.  Well…not yet.

Regardless, the list definitely isn’t a manifestation of liberal outrage at the most right-wing president in decades.  It’s a result of years of conservative ideology designed to put people and institutions in categories and re-enshrine bigotry and hatred into the American conscience.  The leftward shift in culture and politics in the U.S. beginning in the late 1950s eventually met the hostility of Reaganesque antipathy towards anything viewed as different or the other.  The Trump era is the culmination of it all.

Those in formerly marginalized groups who also voted for Trump and his ilk shouldn’t be surprised – but they are.  For example, Cuban-Americans voted overwhelmingly for Trump, as they often have for the Republican Party.  As Cuba has been under communist rule since 1959, those fleeing the country have been given special protection from American law.  The same luxury hasn’t been granted to people fleeing war and violence in other Latin American nations, such as El Salvador and Guatemala.  However, the Trump Administration’s efforts to reform immigration law have started to impact thousands of Cuban immigrants.  Now, Cuban-Americans have the audacity to be horrified at the betrayal.  Remember the adage: be careful what you wish for; you might just get it.

We also need to recall the words of Martin Niemöller:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Trump and his cronies appear to be going after anyone who doesn’t fit the narrow definition of who he is.  His hypocrisy is glaring.  He never outwardly espoused any religious fervor until he first ran for president, but now says Christian ideology should be taught in schools.  If he believes in true biblical content, then consider the Christian Bible’s 7th commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14.

There are others.

“I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” Genesis 23:4

“The sinless one among you, go first. Throw the stone.” John 8:6-11

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

I’m sure this would be too much for him to handle.  It’s too much even for some devout Christians to handle!

Whatever words someone wants to use, they shouldn’t be frightened into compliance.  Russia, Iran and North Korea do that.  No truly democratic society wants to echo such autocratic leadership.

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