The stupidity of projection

The letters to the editor section of my local newspaper were full of hopeful projections from local readers the last few days.  I wish I could be more respectful of these purblind idiots, but it's an impossible task.   To think that a willful, emotionally stunted NY billionaire would have the least concern for middle class citizen struggling against a system rigged in his favor is beyond belief.  The staggering corruption and incompetence on display by the nascent administration has put the lie to any hope of an America progressing for at least the next 4 years. The really scary scenario has us falling into an armed conflict with China over trade or that nation's pursuit of the "one China policy" which has been acknowledged by American diplomacy since Nixon's presidency.  Probably the least of our worries will be a trade war with the Chinese.  That will only destabilize the economy which so many Trump supporters have denigrated for not supplying jobs which pay well with no particular skills or education necessary.  Those jobs have forever been relocated to countries where people are willing to work for a fraction of what reader's of the Press Republican consider a livable wage.  The really disheartening takeaway is these people will continue to project their own hopes and fears on the billionaire "populist" who a credulous minority of eligible voters have installed in the oval office until at least 2020.  I wish I could believe a higher power could save us from the imminent disaster, but last month's elections have pretty well proven if there is a god, she has a warped sense of humor.

One more day

In approximately 24 hours, the most powerful nation on earth will turn from the administration of "no drama Obama"  to the tangerine tweet machine.  We have had eight years of a reasonable, competent, classy government.  Based on the 3 ring circus of confirmation hearings for a range of pernicious, maladroit and downright unqualified cabinet candidates you would think the imminent dissolution of Ringling Brothers was taking place on Capitol Hill.  It seems the Trumpsters' idea of a department head is the person most antithetical to the mission of that particular government function.  Why else nominate a serial litigator against the EPA to guide it.  Why not an advocate of school vouchers to supervise the Education portfolio.  Let's nominate someone who doesn't even know the department of energy is in charge of the nations' nuclear stockpile.  To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, the people have at last reached their heart's desire and the White House is occupied by a downright moron.  After doing everything but offer a free set of steak knives to get people to come to the inauguration, Cheeto Jesus will be confronted the day after his enthronement with what looks like a 200,000 strong women's march on Washington.  I can only imagine the tweetstorm as this latest demonstration takes place.  If your idea of entertainment is making our country the laughingstock of the planet, it's going to be a very interesting 4 years.  If good government is your thing this is going to be a proctologist's dream!

Climate and the NCR

I'm taking a day off from thinking about the accession of Cheeto Jesus before my moral and ethical circuits overload.  Instead, as I was slip sliding away to work this morning my thoughts turned to climate change.  It was slushy and raining today on the NCR, which could be attributed to a traditional "January thaw".  However, there was no snow on the ground when this latest weather system arrived and according to the long range forecast, it will be off and on rain and snow showers for the next 10 days with temperatures ranging from 30 to 45 degrees.  This following a moderately cold and nearly snowless December has me thinking in terms of getting my garden seed orders in as quickly as possible.  Without appearing to be one of those old fogies who relentlessly relive the past, I have to say in just the 16 years I have lived in the North Country the overall change has been more than transient.   In the early 2000's, there were winters where the temperature stayed below freezing for weeks at a time with interludes where it stayed below 0 for days.  This simply does not happen any more.   My biggest fear is a repeat of the ice storm of  1998 when the temperature hovered near freezing for a week and rain froze on everything in several inch deep layers of ice which created havoc for months afterward.  The more I think about it though, the less likely the conditions would repeat, as the highs would likely be in the 40s which would melt the ice before significant damage could occur.  Without the continuation of government efforts to mitigate climate change, I believe snow and ice will increasingly become rarities in this area.  Unfortunately, there are other changes such as summer droughts and increasing year round warmth which will impact all of us in ways we can't imagine yet.    Which brings us back to the current political regime....may the Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on us all!

the non inauguration

Despite the decision by the national media to cover the inauguration of Cheeto Jesus like it was a normal Presidential oath taking as opposed to the attempted legitimization of an historically unqualified and unpopular pretender, many Americans are expressing their discontent in various ways.  Virtually no A list celebrities or show business acts will be appearing/performing at the inaugural "festivities".  Even those that are committed, such as the Rockettes and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir have had dissention among their members.  For the rest, it will be state and county fair headliners doing the bulk of the entertainment.  Even a Bruce Springsteen cover band was convinced to pull out of a commitment to perform for  a New Jersey inaugural ball.  Maybe Chris Christie can sub for them.  He certainly knows all the lyrics!  More than 30 representatives and senators will be boycotting the event.  That number is likely to grow as more liberal reps are overwhelmed by constituents demanding they stand with John Lewis.  I refuse to watch Putin's Poodle take the oath of office and then proceed to amuse his fellow countrymen with a pack of lies.  Believe it or not, NPR is offering a live fact check of the inaugural address!  I will watch the coverage of the demonstrations taking place on January 21 in D.C and around the country.  We cannot afford to offer any cover for what will be the most corrupt administration of modern times.  Vive la resistance.

Delegitimizing Trump

Civil Rights icon John Lewis took the first step to delegitimize the president elect.  When the man who put his body on the line in Selma during the march to Birmingham to protest Jim Crow says the election of Donald Trump was an illegal act, many people sat up and took notice.  Of course, Trump took to twitter to denounce Lewis and suggested he work for his district instead of criticizing his betters.  As I have said before, if the election had turned the other way and Trump had won the popular vote, there would be battalions of pitchfork wielding lawyers on the steps of the capitol demanding the congress overturn the results.  The fact that so far only Mr. Lewis has made the case this is a fundamentally flawed election which will lead to a rollback of much progressive legislation is a sad critique of the Democratic party.

Uneducated and proud of it

A recent study showed that 45% of Democrats and 59% of Republicans don't know that Obamacare has given access to health insurance to at least 20 million of their fellow citizens.  Where have these people been living for the past seven years?  I realize that many of my fellow Americans are either apolitical or live in the fantasy bubble of Faux News, but this level of policy ignorance strains credulity.  Certainly the major media networks and newspapers have published the progress of the ACA, showing the reduction in the rate of health care spending and the increase access to health care.  Unfortunately, the "Tea Party" deflected much of the good news with their transparently racist appeal to working class whites to protest against "Those people" getting better health care than hard working 'Murcans.  Ironically, many whites who got coverage through the Obamacare exchanges in states like Kentucky don't realize the ACA made this possible and the immediate effect of repeal will result in their loss of care.  This is one of the reasons I think the wonks who feel Republicans will pay a price for repeal of the health care law are wrong.  Many if not most of the real people on the losing end of this folly will either blame Democrats or celebrate their fellow Americans loss on the basis of their skin color.  Either Black or White, these millions of people have virtually no political power and can safely be ignored by the GOP.  The only hope is for Cheeto Jesus to live up to his promise to replace the health care law with something better.  I'm buying lottery tickets this weekend.

De-Pressing

As Michael Moore pointed out last night, the president elect's news conference featured a bravura performance by the speaker and a challenge to the media.  Either accept that they will be played unceasingly by the new administration, or roll up their journalistic sleeves and begin some hard reporting on the facts.  A case in point is the now infamous dossier published by Buzzfeed which purports to document the compromising information and pictures of Trump while he was in St. Petersburg and Moscow at various times during the past few years.  Many argue that they should not have published unverified information.   But it turns out virtually everyone in DC has known of these rumors for months.  The public was left out in the cold.  Now, realistically, there is no way to verify much of the allegations contained in the document.  Maybe if we ask politely the Russian intelligence agency will share with us!  However, the sources of the information we now know about were considered reliable enough by our intelligence agencies that they briefed both Obama and Trump regarding their contents.  Since Buzzfeed published, other sources have come forward, so it is possible that by risking their journalistic reputation, Buzzfeed may well have done all of us a service.  We are about to inaugurate a president who will in all likelihood make us the laughingstock of the world and susceptible to blackmail by a long time adversary.  We deserve to know how and why this is so and to put pressure on our elected representatives to remedy this situation.  This is the challenge facing journalism.  It is also a challenge to all US citizens.  As president Obama put it the other night, it is our most sacred duty.