Tag Archives: Thelma and Louise

Point of View Columns

No Need to Watch Thelma and Louise

The 1991 hit movie, “Thelma and Louise”, starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon (and a very young Brad Pitt) has an ending which can only be described as a movie classic. As Thelma and Louise are being chased by the police for multiple crimes they decide to intentionally drive their car off the cliff on the edge of the canyon. An incredibly spectacular and unforgettable Hollywood ending.

While I may have spoiled the ending of that movie for some of the younger GenX readers who were looking forward to downloading “Thelma and Louise”, have no fear. The Republicans in Congress are literally threatening to drive the U.S. government and the global economy off of the cliff of a canyon so unfathomable that it would be too horrible for any sane individual to even contemplate.

In order to placate the Republican nihilist faction in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy granted all their policy and procedure demands with the notable exception of sacrificing his first born son (rumor has it that his second born son might have been a possible McCarthy bargaining chip).

One of those demands was to refuse to raise the federal budget ceiling unless the Democrats in Congress gave in to draconian budget cuts to such essential programs as Medicare and Social Security. Of course if the budget ceiling is not raised the federal government will virtually shut down in a very short period of time.

Further, if the United States defaults on its multitrillion dollar debt, the global markets will react so negatively that irreparable harm may be visited on billions of people – and certainly among the poorest of that number. In the world of the Republican nihilists, Armageddon is actually a plan. And since we know that the gelding Speaker of the House is not about to do the sane thing, much less the right thing, we are staring down at an abyss – a scenario that might be pleasing to Vladimir Putin, but every man, woman and child will suffer, even the billionaire right wing extremists who are financing the political barbarians that now seem to be in control of the Republican Party.

This is one time that cooler heads and saner minds may not necessarily prevail. And this is certainly one time that each and every one of us needs to pay attention and make sure that voices of sanity and reason are raised – constantly.

This is yet another time when silence is not an option.

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Point of View Columns

How Putin Got Something Right and Other Thoughts

The past week, like so many weeks these days, has been so full of news stories that trying to keep track of all of them is like drinking from a fire hose. Here a few of the many items that warrant some attention:

How Putin Got Some Things Right

One need not be a mental health specialist to observe that Vladimir Putin is dealing with some kind of mental health abnormality that has been manifested in his taking Russia on a race to the precipice that resembles the end of the motion picture “Thelma and Louise”.

Last week he announced his imaginary annexation of 15% of Ukraine and magically made all the residents citizens of Russia “forever”. He also threatened nuclear war just to make sure the world is paying attention. But somehow all of the press commentary has made no mention of the facts that were hidden in plain view during his rant.

But Putin did get a few things right:

  1. The United States engaged in widespread genocide and land theft against the indigenous people of North America – there simply cannot be any argument that the brutal attempt to exterminate the indigenous people while taking ownership of virtually all of the land on which they lived is simply a matter of fact.
  2. The United States engaged in the enslavement of Black Americans as a matter of law (and the original version of the Constitution) – the truth is the truth.
  3. European powers engaged in the disruption of virtually all of the lives of all of the people of Africa, looting its wealth and subjugating its residents (those were not enslaved) to colonial rule – again, the truth is the truth.
  4. The United Kingdom engaged in plundering the wealth of China and India, colonizing the people of India in the process – again the truth is the truth.

There is no doubt that Putin is a madman, but it is fascinating that nowhere on any of the Western news channels was there any mention of what Putin got right. Perhaps these uncomfortable truths were just……too uncomfortable.

Did the World Just Forget Pakistan

Less than a month ago Pakistan was hit with cataclysmic flooding that left one third of the country underwater, killed well over one thousand people and left much of the infrastructure in shambles.

What made this flood even more tragic is that this flooding was not due to the weather, it was due primarily to glacial melting. As it turns out, Pakistan is one of eight countries that are most susceptible to glacial melting and that melting is absolutely due to global warming. And, the cruel irony is that while Pakistan contributes to no more than 1% of the world’s carbon emissions, carbon ovens like China and the United States and Europe are most responsible for carbon emissions. Yet Pakistan is paying this awful price for the neglect of this climate abuse.

To make matters worse, after the first outpouring of global concern that concern seems to have evanesced. Ukraine remains the headline story and now the goldfish-like attention span of the United States has been diverted to hurricanes lashing and devastating Puerto Rico and Florida.

Meanwhile most of the flooding in Pakistan has not receded. Meanwhile millions of Pakistani citizens are without proper food and shelter. Meanwhile the rest of the so-called developed world feels no responsibility to provide anything but a relatively perfunctory early expression of concern followed by the so-called developed world moving on.

One can only hope that the Pakistani government, the Pakistani people and the Pakistani diaspora would be more strident in making sure that the story of the suffering of this nation does not simply fade away.

After all, a closed mouth does not get fed.

Watching Ron DeSantis as Janus

The Romans had many gods. One of them was Janus – indeed the month of January is named after him as he was the god with two faces, one looking back at the old year and looking forward to the new year. In 2013, after Super Storm Sandy lashed the New York City metropolitan area along with a good portion of the Northeast, then Congressman Ron DeSantis voted against federal aid to New York City. His rationale was that state and local governments should rely on their own resources and not count on federal aid every time and anytime that they need help.

Just last week, nine short years later, Ron DeSantis is the governor of Florida. Of course Florida is suffering from the catastrophic damage from a once in a century Hurricane Ian which has caused billions of dollars of damage to a wide swath of Florida.

And just last week, Governor DeSantis wrote a formal letter to President Joe Biden requesting a massive amount of federal assistance. Joe Biden being Joe Biden did not comment on the irony, but it can be mentioned here.

It appears that Ron DeSantis is channeling his inner Janus. Clearly in politics according to DeSantis, two faces are better than one.

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Point of View Columns

An Excerpt from An American Journal – Awake in a Dream or Asleep in a Nightmare?

November 29, 2020

13,246,771-266,074 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans at the beginning of the day)

Over the weekend the Supreme Court ruled that state public officials could not put restrictions on religious gatherings in temples, churches, mosques, etc. as that would be a violation of the First Amendment rights of worshipers. And so we begin to see that the iron hand of the religious right being revealed as Amy Coney Barrett, no longer restrained by confirmation concerns or bad publicity, made it clear that the most right wing interpretation of the Constitution will be the indelible mark that she will make on any case that comes her way.

Every first year law student knows that none of the rights articulated in the Constitution are unlimited. You cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater or threaten the life of the President of the United States to name two pretty basic examples. The idea that public gatherings of any sort – religious or not – cannot be limited by public health officials in the middle of a vicious and totally agnostic pandemic – is offensive in its lack of concern for the safety and well-being of the entire public.

Obviously the restrictions on religious gathering have nothing to do with limiting anyone’s right to worship. But someone’s right to worship does not include the right to infect and kill anyone and everyone else.

Justice Barrett has shown her hand. And it is made of iron.

Her absolutist positions on issues related to religion – like gender equality, abortion and climate change, for example – will soon be on full display.

November 30, 2020

13,385,495-266,887 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans at the beginning of the day)

Trump continues to rant and rave and rave and rant to whomever will listen, claiming and bellowing that he did not lose the election due to “massive fraud” that literally does not exist. He demanded that Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia, a loyal lap dog if there ever was one, invalidate the recent election results, at least the part where he was concerned.

To his credit, Governor Kemp actually understands the importance of taking an oath to support the Constitution of the State of Georgia and its laws. And its laws state that Governor Kemp cannot do what Trump demands. Again, to his credit, Governor Kemp took the unpleasant but correct choice and told the emperor that he was nude.

There are reports from sources in the White House that Trump alternates between ranting and morose brooding, continuing to say, many time to himself, that he won the election. One staffer likened it to watching the Mad King George. So when, exactly, does the 25th Amendment actually get put to use before Trump does a slovenly sloppy version of “Thelma and Louise” and takes the entire country over the cliff of madness?

December 1, 2020

13,546,787-268,103 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans at the beginning of the day)

So November blends into December and more Americans are in hospitals than ever before and more Americans are dying by the day. Trump is totally ignoring the tsunami of death and destruction as he continues the madness of election denial. The sad fact that lurks behind everything this man is doing is the fact that over 73 million people voted for him knowing exactly who he is. The path to the self-immolation of a nation could not be clearer.

Of course, ever the hustling con man, Trump has raised over $170 million from MAGA Nation since November 3rd. Presumably donations are supposed to support his doomed legal fight to overturn the election results. But……read the fine print and Trump can use the money to pay campaign staffers, travel for himself and initial funding for his 2024 campaign.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to do everything he can to disrupt and destroy by demanding an acceleration of the release of the vaccines that are going through the final review process. Of course if he gets his way, the man who brought you Trump University will immediately destroy the credibility of the entire vaccination process thereby prolonging the pandemic needlessly.

Members of his legal team are issuing death threats against election officials, many of them Republicans, and it would seem that it is only a matter of time before further tragedy occurs. The mere possibility of this imperils the entire democratic process in a manner that typically proceeds authoritarian rule.

That may seem like an exaggeration. But the thought of 73 million votes for Trump seemed like an exaggeration thirty days ago.

December 2, 2020

13,721,304-270,642 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans at t0he beginning of the day)

Yesterday Chief Trump Enabler William Barr, a.k.a. the Attorney General of the United States, stated that the U.S. Department of Justice had found no indications or evidence of any significant fraud in the recent presidential election. This should have put the nail in the coffin of Trump’s fake attacks on the election.

Needless to say, it did not, another Tweet storm ensued and now we have one more day in which 2,000 Americans died from the pandemic while Trump does literally nothing about it.

December 3, 2020

13,925,350-273,847 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans at the beginning of the day)

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a slow motion nightmare from which we cannot awake. The news in one day would be the horror story of the year in what used to be called normal times. Consider:

  • Over 3000 American COVID-19 deaths in one day
  • Former National Security Advisor and recent recipient of a Trump payoff pardon (and author of the “lock her up” chant) Michael Flynn calls for an immediate declaration of martial law and an order for a new election which must warm the hearts of dictators and autocrats all over the world.  
  • Meanwhile Trump ponders whether to fire Barr for finally telling the truth at least one time. One would think that Trump would give him some kind of credit for all the lies that Barr has told on his behalf.
  • What we are seeing is far worse than the scenarios that were imagined just a few months ago – millions of Americans are literally starving – more than 50 million voters believe that the election is a fraud – 73 million Americans voting for Trump in spite of……well, in spite of him being Trump for the past four years – millions of businesses evaporating, taking millions of jobs (and hopes and dreams) with them – clearly too many of us suffered from a failure of imagination

It is worse than it looks and it looks pretty bad

December 4, 2020

14,147,754-276,401 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans at the beginning of the day)

In the midst of an epic pandemic with spiraling death tolls and collapsing economic indicators, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris remind us of what sane used to look like during an interview with Jake Tapper of CNN.

Coming on the heels of what was even for Trump an epic 46-minute video rant on Facebook reminds us that Trump was prepared to wreak even further havoc on this country if he was reelected. Further proof can be found in the fact that even as a (soundly) defeated soon to be ex-president, he is looking to bring down the columns of the temple on all of us if given just a little more time.

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Point of View Columns

Thelma and Louise Continued

The definition of insanity has been said to be illustrated by someone doing the same thing over and over again, getting the same negative result, and still doing it over and over again. The best current illustration of insanity is the Democratic Party presidential primary process which seems to be premised on the notion that whoever is the actual nominee will defeat Donald Trump because there is no way that the American electorate will give him a second term.

And it is that “no way” line of thinking that is the perfect illustration of political insanity. The idea that the virtually atomic dispersal of the Democratic core constituency among 18 candidates could be a recipe for disaster on November 3, 2020, has simply not crossed the minds of the candidates or the leadership of the Democratic National Committee.

And it would seem, that they are clinging to the clearly fallacious assumption that was held by the Democratic cognoscenti in 2016 that there was “no way” that the American people would elect a lying, misogynistic, ignorant, bullying, racist, ignorant, fact challenged, ignorant, xenophobe event if Hillary Clinton was a (more than) slightly flawed candidate. And we see how that turned out.

It is now December, in less than sixty days the primary campaign process will begin in earnest with the Iowa caucus event and then it is on to New Hampshire, South Carolina and everywhere else. At every step along the way, as possibility/probability of defeat/victory becomes clearer, these 18 candidates will begin attacking each other with vigor and venom that will be noted by the Republican National Committee.

The campaigns of Sanders, Harris, Bloomberg, Warren, Buttigieg ET. Al. will be writing the scripts for the Trump Reelection Campaign so that with some basic editing, the Republicans will begin attacking the eventual Democratic candidate as soon as he/she leaves Milwaukee in April. And there is also the very real probability that the 17 constituencies of the 17 losing candidates will be less than fully motivated to battle The Behemoth That is Trump having seen their favorite crushed into the dust.

And for those who would point out that there are always losers in the primary process and that this will be just the normal political process at work – it should be pointed out that these are not normal times, Donald Trump is not a normal president and that as these words are being read there is a very real chance that Donald Trump will be reelected unless the Democrats stop putting on a show and instead demonstrate an understanding that we are on the precipice of desperate times for the people of this country and for this country itself if this man is somehow reelected.

How these 18 candidates and their enablers within the DNC do not see the real and present danger facing this country will be the subject for historians to ponder no matter the results in 2020. If Trump wins the story of the Democratic primary process 2019-2020 will be the preface to the story of the true decline of the United States. If the Democrats win historians will wonder why on earth the DNC would play with the fire that came close to burning down the institutions of this country.

The disarray surrounding the DNC primary process might entertainment for political junkies during normal times. But, to reiterate, these are not normal times and the stakes are too high to presume normalcy when the possibility of a potentially disastrous Trump second term is in plain view.

The 18 men and women who are running for president as Democrats presume themselves and pronounce themselves to be leaders. It is time for at least one of them to show true leadership and convene the other 17 and determine a consensus candidate who will be champion of the only cause that counts right now – the defeat of Donald Trump.

If none of the 18 can do this, then perhaps none of them really deserve to be president and we should begin right now to prepare for the desolation that will be the hallmark of an eight year Trump presidency.

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