The Night King Cometh

    Sunday night's episode of the Game of Thrones series was among the most and least satisfying of recent memory.  The Night King, an existential threat on a par with a second term for tRump, defied all of the heroes' best efforts, including a bath of dragonfire and seemed on the verge of triumph over the most potent adversaries he was likely to face when a teenager with a Valerian steel dagger dispatched him and by extension his entire zombie army.

     How does this television event relate to the real life threat of the Donald and his seemingly unstoppable zombie horde of MAGAots?   As has been shown time and again, revelations which would have ended the presidency or at least the popularity of the man in question bounce off tRump like so many ping pong balls.  As he famously opined he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not loose supporters!  But, perhaps our president* has a secret vulnerability as spectacular as the Night King's susceptibility to Valerian steel.  Perhaps his tax returns are that vulnerability.

    The quality most tRumpians' cite as proof of their hero's fitness is his business success.  Despite his multiple bankruptcies and many business failures and the revelation he was a trust fund baby continually propped up by his father's fortune, his fans' continue to think of him in terms of his success at marketing himself.  Think of the long term effects of his appearance as the business tycoon in charge of aspiring tyros in The Apprentice.  This is the foundation of the tRump mystique.  However, if his tax returns were laid bare, could he sustain the same aura of invincibility?

    Instead of Arya Stark, we will have to depend on Richard Neal and his House Ways and Means Committee to reveal the Emperor has no Clothes moment when tRump is revealed for the lying petty billionaire wannabe he has always been.  Then we will see if the zombie army of tRumpists dissolves like the Night King's minions.

Real life intrudes

With temperatures in the low 30s and bright sunshine it feels like a nice day in late February rather than late April.  I know I am overly pessimistic about weather trends here in the North Country, but despite having lived here for 18 years it is hard to be on the doorstep of May and still fearing a killing frost.  The garlic has finally pushed out of my straw mulch and is defining the rows like so many little green soldiers.  The onions which have so far survive depredations by birds mistaking the red shafts as worms seem to be doing well and the second planting of spinach is starting to break through.
    Meanwhile, in the political world, there was another shooting at a synagogue on the west coast.  The shooter, a white supremacist, seemed to be following in the footsteps of Dylan Root by admitting he was trying to ignite a race war, this time against Jews.  In Wisconsin, the Pinocchio of the Potomac was spewing more lies at a rally, accusing women and doctors of "executing" babies at or near birth.  This type of egregious behavior is one of the reasons mass shootings occur at a record breaking pace.  It's no wonder so many of retreat to fantasy worlds like the Game of Thrones universe or the promise of heroism promised by The Avengers.  

Real life GOT

    It occurs to me the coming battle between democrats in Congress and the tRump administration has eerie parallels to the HBO epic Game of Thrones!   This is especially true in the 2nd episode of the eighth season, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms".  For those of you who either don't have access to HBO or are uninterested in the series, GOT is all about a struggle for power in a fictional world which much resembles the European Middle Ages and the era of chivalry.  The inhabitants are also facing the existential threat of the White Walkers who simultaneously want to bring eternal winter to the world and wipe out all human life (think republicans and their repudiation of scientific evidence of global warming).
    In the aforementioned episode, the last best hope of humanity (congressional democrats) girds for battle with the Night King and his horde (tRump and his merry band of  nihilists).  They arm for battle with dragonglass weapons which can slay the undead (subpoenas) and plan a vigorous defense of Winterfell (democracy).   Many expect to be slain (defeated for re-election), but they hope to bring down the King (tRump?) in the process.  Episode 3 depicts the battle between the opposing forces.  Unfortunately for democrats, but not for viewers of the series there are three more episodes before the series ends, so regardless of the outcome this week (anytime before the 2020 elections), the folk of Winterfell and democrats will have to keep the battles going long after the appetite for conflict is sated.   I have grave forebodings in both cases, but I will keep watching (participating).

And then there were 20

     Another old white guy will be joining the race for the democratic presidential election today.  Joe Biden, whose main qualification for running, besides being old and white, is that he hung out with Barack Obama for eight years.   Biden is the personification of a certain breed of democratic pol.  He takes big donations from corporations whose interests he has championed while appealing to the average voter as someone who is looking out for the culture war issues many of them prize in a candidate.
      I received a fund raising e-mail from his campaign and promptly wrote back requesting that he not run.  In hindsight, that is probably a mistake.   Come on in Joe, the water is fine.  If you really believe you can appeal to today's democratic voter with a Clinton era message of social liberalism and conservative economics, then have at it.  Let's see how long you can hang with Bernie, Buttigieg and the rest.  Your 76 year old body is going to get the workout of a lifetime in the next 12 months.  I hope you are up to it.

The question

    To impeach or not to impeach is the question many democrats are struggling with these days.   It would seem like a no brainer after the Mueller report detailed many of the flagrant obstructions of justice perpetrated by Cheetolini and his followers.   However, the right wing spin machine has been in overdrive ever since William Barr's four page whitewash of tRump's many crimes was released before the redacted but still powerful report of election meddling by the Russians was made public.
    All of us have friends on the right who can 't conceive there is any wrongdoing by the president*, no matter what Mueller's report says.   They will fall back on Barr's and Faux New's assurances there was nothing to see and we need to move on.  The 35-40% of tRump's diehard fans will presumably go to the barricades for their hero, although most of their elderly white bodies would fail miserably in that endeavor.
    Democrats are left with a Hobson's choice;  do the right thing in the face of opposition by nearly 40% of Americans, or punt and hope their fellow Americans will see the light in 2020.  Of course there is a third way.  Do the diligence and investigate the clues Mueller left for them and let the chips fall where they may.  The Donald's intransigence and rage tweets may force the Judiciary committee to commence impeachment hearings in order to enforce subpoenas for information and witnesses in any case.  It is time to show their fellow countrymen that at least one political party puts America's best interests above its own.

Thinking ahead

    Kevin Drum writing at Mother Jones published a new chart from the Social Security Trustees showing the SS trust fund will be depleted in 2035.   That is a year later than the prediction last year, thanks to the continuing Obama recovery from the Great Recession.  There will also be a great number of dumb stories telling the younger generation all their contributions to Social Security will have been in vain and there will be nothing left for them as the greedy geezers sack the vault.  Of course that is arrant nonsense.  The day after the fund is exhausted, everyone's benefits would be cut by 25-35% and the system would continue.
    However, whoever is serving in Congress in 2035 will quickly pass a fix to increase taxes as the aforementioned geezers assemble with pitchforks and AR 15s.   The quick fix could be passed at any time.  Merely raise the salary cap which limits taxpayer's and business contributions to the trust fund.  Instead of the current cap of $130,000, make it unlimited.  Yes, the millionaires would be granted social security benefits commensurate with their contribution, but the immediate benefit to the system would outweigh this minor disadvantage.  The wealthy would likely keep working as they are normally in much better health than the general population.
    A minor increase in the tax for the rest of the workers who make less than the current maximum would put the entire system on a sound footing at least until the climate change apocalypse makes the entire question of retirement moot.

Renewal

    Judging by the facebook posts from friends and relatives it would seem a good Easter and Passover were had by all and sundry.  The weather in the North Country and the northeast generally was good to excellent and conducive to outdoor activities, despite wetness from the Friday night deluge.  I was able to clean off the asparagus bed in the Secret Garden and apply a much needed dose of compost.
    The variability of the weather so far this spring has been depressing to this erstwhile farmer.  Instead of a gradual warm up we have cycled from cold to freezing and back several times this month.  April in this area is on its way to one of the coldest in recent memory.  Here's hoping May will make up for it and set growers and gardeners alike on a more normal path.