Donald Trump and His Neo Nazi Supporter: Two of a Kind

March 17th, 2016: Shaun King, writing in the New York Daily
News, has exposed an even more alarming reality of the Donald's
drive to the White House. A certain Grace Tilly, shown on a
PBS screengrab, sports multiple tattoos known to be part
and parcel of  the largest white supremacist group website
on Earth, Stormfront.  Dr. Pitcavage, an expert on radical
extremism with the Anti Defamation League, described the
"88" on her one hand as code for Heil Hitler (H is the eighth
letter in the alphabet) and Odin's Cross, the Stormfront's
logo. --Just one more item for North Carolina's Wall of
Shame...oh. The state does not possess one, but it should.

Whether he knows it or not, Trump is a fascist. Recent
perusal of WWII documentary footage shocked me
with the utterly identical facial expressions between
Hitler and Trump, the hate-filled shouting, the leering
contempt stamped all over both of their less than
handsome faces. Then there are the always reliable
identity indicators of demagoguery, appeal to a ruthless,
unthinking chauvinism, exhortations encouraging violence,
overweening "patriotic" pride, ad libidinem, ad nauseam,
et al.

Trump is an embarrassing, error-riven menace.
A failure in many ways, always ambitious to the
point  of projects toppled by their own heedless
shortcuts, he would drag us back to the national
madness of Germany in 1940--if we don't offer
a spirited, determined resistance.

Donald Trump and Grace Tilly, just two of a
kind nobody needs, and relatively few of
us want.

I Now Know Why People Prefer Cars to Mass Transit

--Whew! I JUST might take up driving...at 70, look out,
world! After supporting walking and transit taking all my adult
life, I have reluctantly arrived at an unhappy observation:
too many train and bus users are thoughtless, selfish, heedless.
It has become so annoying and upsetting, I'm in a perpetual
snit most of the time I'm out.

Just today:

--a woman ate a full course meal, complete with chicken
and potatoes. Don't people know that Chicago's transit regs
forbid eating on their trains? A $300 fine was  enacted by
the Chicago City Council years ago.
--men left their feet and backpacks in the aisles. I
brought my cane down sharply to the floor, which wakes them
to polite reality. Females are also guilty of this, but less
frequently.
--a young man blocked the "L" stairway, seating himself on
the steps to swap out his ROLLERBLADES for walking
shoes. He was accompanied by a talkative, useless friend.
These two could have easily found a corner OUTSIDE
the station to perform the footgear changeup.
--a woman balanced her full takeout coffee on a train
platform's railing high above the sidewalk, an always busy
one. That railing is 1 1/2" inches wide.

Last week:

--a woman, a stranger, grabbed my arm to detain me,
as she was dissatisfied  with me not knowing the answer
to her questions...really!

Keep your eyes open in public to study the many foibles
of the human race. My kingdom for a car!

An Anguished Anniversary: The Triple Tragedy in Japan, Five Years and Counting

March 11, 2011 has gone down into recorded history as the worst
natural AND man-made disasters Japan has so far experienced.
"Venerable" scientists had never deemed a "9" magnitude on the
earthquake rating scale was possible--why? For the inexplicably
irrational, utterly untenable reason that one so massive had never
been previously recorded. (--What??) The Tohoku Earthquake
inevitably fueled the tsunami, barreling swiftly toward the east
coast of Honshu...

So some 20,000 souls were killed outright; these are the natural
disasters creating  catastrophes with longer-lasting effects, the
man-made nuclear meltdown and irradiated countryside,
forcing mass evacuations and permanent population dislocations.
Vast areas have become permanently uninhabitable; Tepco,
the utility responsible for their nuclear industrial park,
Fukushima-Daiichi, admitted, finally, it would take about
FORTY YEARS to cleanup the massive meltdowns. That
equates to two twenty-year standard operating required
licenses for such said electrical plants.

My thanks go to free TV NHK, available across the USA and
here in Chicagoland. We can keep up with the Japanese
perspective  because of them. A few days ago NHK
broadcast programs about the survivors, what they must
do to keep body, soul and family together, having lost
most possessions, homes and employment. The Japanese,
I have observed time and again, are indeed a plucky bunch,
have to be, as all island people have to deal with hurricanes,
floods, the occasional earthquake, etc. Inspiring individuals,
rising above such harrowing, narrow strictures, were showcased,
as well as frequent sharing, cooperating, commiserating with
each other.

Japanese children drew pictures which went viral, an
invigorating, innocent artistry of hope, an ennobling
feature of  survivor grit. Congratulations to them,
and to the people from many other nations who
have gone to the stricken areas in  Japan to help
in any way they can. All of them made/make me cry.

If any reader is interested in more related information,
the BBC and  CNN, televised and online, are a
good source of information too. Please, let us not
forget the good people of Japan who did not
deserve such an overwhelming, off-putting fate.

It's been five years, an anguished anniversary of
multi-layered catastrophe: the earthquake(s), the
tsunami's meters-high floods, the disabled nuclear
electrical plants, their meltdowns causing harmful
radiation to escape the industrial park area, dispersing
widely enough to evacuate towns nearby. There
is an important cautionary tale here, with warnings
and prescriptions for the future:

Phase out nuclear power plants, as Germany is doing; do
not keep issuing more 20 year nuclear plant license extensions;
turn to renewables, solar, wind, geothermal, and other
naturally-engendering energy sources. Stop building so
close to the oceans and seas, as tempting as that has been.

Less anguish, more survival sensibility for families' futures,
all of Earth's, as well.

People and Politics: Always a Case of the Emperor's New Clothes

The old children's folktale got it right: people lie, deny, obfuscate,
procrastinate, etc. ...anything to avoid directly dealing with the
truth, especially regarding the powerful.

Take Trump (-please!) for example. Why are so few Americans
afraid to tell the truth about him AND his followers? Rarely does
a major media maven dare to say "the Donald is ignorant and so
are his supporters, period".  That simple sentence is nothing but a
sad truism--most people just aren't that bright; real perspicacity
is relatively rare. Our Founding Fathers, most of whom WERE
mind-bendingly brilliant, recognized reality, deciding, therefore,
to give us a democratic republic, NOT a direct democracy. The
Electoral College is probably a necessary filter between the
unthinkingly unaware and a disastrous dissolution, AKA
a failed state. Check Syria and The Sudans, currently merely
a few failed states I could name.

Benjamin Franklin's words have come down to us in 2016 from
1787, when he left the Constitutional Convention. He was asked
about the new form of government; tellingly, he replied,
"a republic, madam, if you can keep it".

Keeping it demands intelligence, effort, participation and study
...playing around  with an  Emperor's New Clothes' sort
of denial, defamation, degradation, demagoguery, etc. is
guaranteeing we will lose it.

Another Tale of Two Pities: Chris Harris vs. "Chris" Welch

The Illinois Seventh Legislative District has a paucity of choices
for Illinois House Rep in 2016. First, there are two democrats
vying for the position, but no republican.  This is one of the
biggest problems Illinois has; republicans have mostly hoisted
the white flag in our state, with the exception of certain notorious
extremely rich right wingers, Governor Rauner included. There
ARE moderate republicans serving in Springfield: the media
ignominiously ignores them.

Second, I cannot bring myself to vote for either Chris,
for different reasons: Atty. Welch has a checkered,
expensively scandalous history helming  D209, not that
long ago. His two-term current incumbency is straight
out of Mike Madigan's playbook, his campaign lit is
full of "I feel your pain" picturesque photos. Are these
his true sentiments, or under pressure, would he abandon
the less fortunate?

Former Forest Park Commissioner Chris Harris is
consistently combative, a prominent personality feature
the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board swiftly surmised,
reluctantly backing Mr. Welch. Mr. Harris' experience
is legislatively limited to his one term on the Forest Park
Village Council. He has run for several higher offices,
attaining none of them. He demonstrably plays fast
and loose with the facts; I know so because I've
checked...often. I've had to.

I could disgustedly drone on, but one thing's sure:

I'm taking a republican ballot and writing in MY
OWN NAME. In this tale of two pities, I'm
virtually certain I could do a better job than
either Chris.

Kids Killing Kids:Grandparents, Guns, and Average Americans' Low Intelligence

Six children this year, fledgeling as 2016 is, have
had access to their grandparents' guns and maimed
or killed another child or themselves. One grandmother
kept the gun under her pillow while she AND the
youngster slept together! What went wrong here??
Let me count the ways:

(1) Few understand the Founding Fathers' intent
with respect to the Second Amendment.
"...a well-regulated militia"...is cavalierly brushed
aside, so anyone, addlepated, careless, paranoid
though they may be, feels he or she should be
armed, often to the teeth.

(2) Since it has never been proven that there are
 geniuses residing in every home, on every block,
the low intelligence/ignorance of average Americans,
married to our current entitlement mania produces
this unholy series of sad, preventable events--
more to follow, an entirely safe bet.

(3) In a civilized society, children SHOULD be
our priority in terms of safety, at the very least.
The carelessness of these grandparents must be
punished with stiff legal penalties, such as willful
negligence, contributing to the harm of minors,
even involuntary manslaughter. But where have
these irresponsible adults been held accountable?
Usually sympathy for the tragedy allows these
idiots-yes, idiots-- to skate off without jail time.

I don't want to hear how wonderful this nation
is. Until children are protected, nurtured and
educated as they deserve, this country, and
any such others, do not get my approval in any
meaningful way.

David Brooks, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders: an Error-Prone Three for Three

Feb. 5, 2016: Tonight, on PBS' News Hour with David Brooks
and Mark Shields,'ol Brooksie did it again: in analyzing last night's
occasionally bitter exchanges between Hillary and Bernie, he
stated that Wall Street was not particularly "the Bogey Man"
even after all we know about the causes of the Great
Recession of 2007-and counting (--we haven't fully recovered,
my observation).  --What?? Why did the University of Chicago
confer its baccalaureate upon this less-than rigorous "thinker"?
Brooks talked about technology and other factors which still exist,
yet we are not quite as bad off as we were, 2007-2010. --Hmmn.

Former First Lady-Senator-Sec'y. of State Clinton
still doesn't seem to possess the gravitas and  personality
one might expect from such a "distinguished" resume'.
She famously faltered when she answered Bernie's
charge re: being paid hundreds of thousands by Wall Street
and other venues for her speeches..."That's what they offered",
with a nonchalant shrug. Was her demeanor demonstrating
an attempt to mimic water rolling off a duck's back? No sale,
"Ducky"!

But Bill's Hill did enlighten us, sadly, with her own
accusation, in my book, a fair one--Bernie Sanders
voted for an act in 2002 which allowed the creation
of Credit Default Swaps, one of several exotic
financial instruments which were part and parcel of
the Great Recession. Bill's Hill neatly side-stepped
recalling the intrinsic role played by President Bill
Clinton, the Southern Good 'Ol Boy (D) who happily
signed into law an act destroying Glass-Steagall,
alongside victoriously, benignly beaming Phil Gramm,
another Good 'Ol  Boy (R) from the South, this in 1999,
the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The next few years ushered
in the hedge fund unregulated irregularities, the CDOs and
the "swaps", which gave us the bubble which had to burst.

--My conclusions?

(1) David Brooks is still the ass I have pegged him as,
when, ignoring Article II, he characterized Ted Cruz
as a "formidable candidate" back in 2014. ( Since Brooks
is also Canadian-born, I understand his supporting Cruz's
right to run.) Why PBS and the New York Times both pay
him to opine utterly escapes  me, however.
(2) I can't in good or rational conscience vote for
Hillary or Bernie in 2016...of course, a resounding  NO
to Carson, Cruz, Rubio and Trump as well.  It's Christie,
Kasich or Bush;  I might just write my own damn name in
the appropriate line on my paper ballot.

David, Hillary and Bernie: three for three, all error-prone
and not in the least deserving of their prominence on the
U.S. stage.