Final Thoughts

Some final thoughts before this important election.

To all the election officials falsely claiming that the election is being rigged. Again. You had FOUR YEARS to prepare for this election. Four years to figure out how to run a fair election--and you couldn't do it? Apparently, lying that makes you look like an incompetent fool isn't a problem once you've given yourself up to a cult.

Given Trump's age, a vote for him can easily be seen as a vote for Vance. With a President Vance, how far would American women be from honor killings and stoning?

A conspiracy-crazed anti-vaxxer could be put in charge of the CDC--while Dr. Fauci, with half a century's experience as one of the world's leading immunologists, needs bodyguards to protect himself from MAGA thugs. This is the world we've inherited from Donald Trump and his supporters.

Joe Biden is president and commander in chief until noon, January 20th. VP Harris presides over the recieving and counting of electoral ballots. If there is an attempted insurrection to overturn the 2024 election, it will be handled differently than the last one. This time, the people in charge will not be collaborating with the traitors. They will do their jobs to preserve our present form of government. A government for ALL Americans--"whether they like it or not."

Reality on the Ballot

Donald Trump just declared that we had "crystal clear air and water" when he was president. This is a sample of what to expect in an America with a re-elected Trump--an America where reality is what Donald Trump says it is. A reality where:

--The 2020 election was rigged

--Global warming is a hoax

--Windmills are killing whales and giving us cancer

--Public schools are performing sex changes

--Homicidal immigrants are eating our pets

--Some Nazis are very fine people

--A convicted sex offender is protecting our women

--The Jan. 6 insurrection was a day of love

--Disagreeing with the president is an act of treason

AND where, God help us . . . . the universal anthem of gay men is a dance tune for rhythmically challenged Republicans!

It's not just opposing policies on the ballot this year, it's opposing realities.Trump will claim that being re-elected means that all of his past lies are immediately confirmed as truths--and he'll never let us forget it. Revenge for every injury to his fragile ego will be the sole concern of a second Trump presidency. As in his bestie's North Korea, information will be replaced by the Official Reality coming from our dear leader--a narcissist, pathological liar, and sexual predator.

I hope that this vision scares the hell out of you, because it certainly should. The only way to stop it is with a crushing victory by Kamala Harris. And every vote does count. Biden won some states in 2020 by only a few thousand votes. So, get as many people to vote as you can. Remind them that the price of eggs fluctuates, but a fascist takeover could be forever; that even 4 years of watching Donald Trump's smug, makeup slathered face as he jerks spasmodically to "YMCA" is a fate no one should endure. Offer rides to the polling place, bribe them with flattery, meals, sexual favors--whatever the hell it  takes. REALITY itself is on the line this time, and that's for real!

Method to the Madness?

Trump's going to the bluest city in the bluest of all states in the last days of his campaign may seem like a strange move. Holding an event in the same venue as the infamous 1939 Nazi rally was an obvious call to his fascist supporters--who responded with the expected orgy of racism and misogyny. But this was not only a hate rally. It was also a reject-the-vote rally. There are tight congressional races in New York and the GOP needs wins by its NY Trumpster candidates to keep a majority in the House--a House run by Speaker Mike Johnson who has already made it clear that he will not certify an election won by Harris. Trump's recent calls to Johnson only confirms their strategy for using Congress to over turn the election if he loses.

So there you have it. Hate and denying the democratic process as Trump's exquisitely fascist formula for becoming our first dictator.

We have a rough week coming up. Try to take some comfort in knowing that we are among millions of Americans who understand what the real "enemy within" is and that are standing up to it. I'm a big baseball fan and it's World Series time, so I'll be trying to relax for a couple days with some fellow Marxist vermin friends, watching possibly the only piece of Americana left that Trump hasn't polluted with his grubby little fascist hands . . . Ooops, sorry! After last night's New York rally, let me offer my apologies to the 30% of MLB players with Latino heritage. Hang in there, folks.

The Gilded Groper Takes a Shift at The Golden Arches

Kamala Harris spent the weekend laying out economic policies to help U.S. workers. Trump, still refusing to debate her or engage with any real issues, responded with just another sideshow. A particularly revealing one.

Trump's McDonald's stunt displayed not only his disregard for American workers, but an elitist's flagrant disdain for them. Working for a living is easy--you just put on an apron for an hour and make a joke out of what most of us do every day.

For Trump to stuff his smug, makeup slathered face with his favorite Mickey-D treats, countless farmers, fishermen, food processors, truck drivers, cooks, and servers dealt with a daily grind needed to survive. These are people living lives so alien to Donald Trump that he mocks them without even realizing it. Sadly, the joke will be on American workers if they elect someone who would be a king looking down on them rather than a leader looking after their needs.

American workers have a choice. Choose a candidate who makes fun of your life, or one who will try to improve it.

The U.S. Is No Longer Sleepwalking Toward Fascism--It's Goose-stepping

We've all heard General Milley call Trump "A fascist to the core." I don't think there is enough substance to Trump for him to have a core, but he is a fascist. His dog whistles to white supremacists have become bugle calls. The real danger to our country, however, is not from this narcisist buffoon but from the inner circle of fascists using him to achieve their real goal. Bannon, Miller, Flynn, Vance, and others are dedicated to dismantling our current government in order to replace it with authoritarian rule. And what better president to make into a dictator than a seasoned demagogue who can be flattered into doing whatever they want?

These American fascists are far from the pathetic, army-surplus-store Rambo wannabes that emerge from their mothers' basements to march and chant. They are committed fascist idealogues. Bannon has declared that he wants to "destroy the state" and "The real opposition is the media. The way to deal with it is to flood the zone with shit." Stephen Miller has called for the removal of all non-European immigrant families "regardless of their citizenship." Retired general, Michael Flynn, an outspoken white supremacist, wants to be reinstated in order to set up military tribunals that will "unleash the gates of hell" on all enemies of the new order. And that serious student of authoritarianism, JD Vance--yes that JD Vance--thinks that we must "get over our dictator phobia."

General John Kelly, who has been using his experience as President Trump's former chief of staff to call out our homespun Nazis, warns that "There is nothing more to say. God help us."

But God will not help us. No god helped the victims of the last Nazi uprising, no god will help this time. We'll need to help ourselves, and if a re-elected Trump tries using the military to round up immigrants and his domestic enemies, we won't have a Milley or Kelly to stop him. Vance has said that his cohorts must do things that "will make even conservatives uncomfortable." Stopping Trump's fascists might require the same of progressives: being outspoken, standing up to MAGA bullies, getting involved with whatever it takes to resist the fascist menace inside our country.

Still think "It can't happen here?" It's happening--unless we stop it. Our democracy is facing the biggest fight of its life. And to any of you reading this who think that I'm being an alarmist, I can only suggest that you GFY-- Go Fact Yourself!

Most of the major sports in the U.S. have been shut down, but the Iditarod is still in progress. The "Last Great Race" has me thinking about dogs. Here's a story, from one of my short-story collections, inspired by an experience I had while living in the Alaska interior.

                                                    DOG STORY

Boomer walked through the snow thinking about Suzy. He had been thinking about Suzy all day: those blue eyes with the long, soft lashes and, of course, the tail. Mostly it was the tail--fat and fluffy, just the way Boomer liked them. Suzy had come into heat two days ago and broken the chain that kept her in the dog yard with the other sled dogs. Now she was alone and free up in the hills above the frozen river. She was a wily old bitch and her owner had failed in all his attempts to lure her back. Boomer would have no trouble finding her--just follow the furrow left in the snow by the trailing length of chain and inhale that delicious scent.
    Boomer headed up the hill with his nose down in the furrow. So intent was Boomer in following the trail up to Suzy that he didn't notice the two wolves approaching across the side of the hill. Suddenly there was a new but familiar scent--Boomer looked up at the wolves standing in front of him. One was a large animal and the other young or stunted. They were mangy, sneaky-looking brutes with grinning fangs and tails that arched down between their legs.
    Shit! thought Boomer, just my luck. Boomer was a good-sized, healthy Labrador, and he knew that he had a chance against one wolf in the middle of winter when they were weak from lack of food. These guys looked pretty bad off, but with two, even that small one, there wasn't much hope.
    "Hey, wimp, where you think you're  going?" said the bigger wolf.
    "Wimp," said the smaller one.
    "If you're thinking of visiting that sweet little husky up there you can just forget it--we'll be handling that."
    "Yeah, we'll handle it," repeated the small wolf. He was drooling terribly.
    What a disgusting runt, thought Boomer. If his big friend gives him a turn at all, that fool will probably lock up inside Suzy, and they'll both freeze to death before I can get a little myself.
    "Besides," continued the big wolf, "she's not your type. She's a working girl--from the other side of the tracks, just like us guys." The wolves looked at each other and snickered.
    Boomer hated that old line of crap. He flushed grouse for his master in the fall, he barked when strangers came around. That was work. Boomer growled.
    "Ooh, tough guy! Listen, you better just trot your little housebroken ass home and be thankful we're in a hurry. If you're still around when we finish with the bitch, we're going to kick your butt good. Dipshit!"
    "Dipshit!" said the runt.
    Boomer growled again and took a step toward the little wolf who jumped back. That felt good. But the bigger wolf started coming at him, and there was nothing to do but retreat down the hill. It was humiliating. Boomer gave a last half-hearted growl over his shoulder and headed home.
    Working his way down the hill, Boomer listened to the taunts of the wolves as they swaggered off. "Maybe if you sit up and beg like a good little doggie, your master will give you a biscuit."  "Curl up by your smelly stove and lick yourself!" "Yeah, lick yourself!" "Go fetch a stick, sucker!"
    It was hard to take, but soon Boomer would be back at the cabin, and his rug by the stove was starting to sound pretty good. The boss had shot a moose a few days ago, and if he didn't fuck up for a while, maybe there'd be a bone in it for him.

Waiting For The Master Race To Master Something

There is one thing that most of the clowns marching around with swastikas and playing big bad Nazi have in common--it's about all they know how to do. These are among the most useless people in the country. Learning to do something and excelling at it is difficult. Chanting slogans and hating people is easy.

Considering the disproportionate number of contributions that immigrants and minorities have made to our society, it's easy to see why these losers need a false sense of superiority to feel any self-esteem whatsoever. It's all they've got. When was the last time you saw a play or read a good book by a white supremacist? When was the last time a neo-Nazi painted a masterpiece or cured a disease?

I wonder how many Louis Armstrongs and Langston Hughes' might have been lost to race riots or lynchings, how many budding Gershwins, Einsteins, and Salks perished in Hitlers gas chambers. There will probably always be racists and xenophobes in this country eager to blame anyone different than themselves for their own shortcomings. Me? I'm thankful that we didn't have to wait for the Klan to develop jazz, or for members of the Aryan Nation to discover a polio vaccine and the Theory of Relativity.