Author: BC

On May 1, 1989 Donald Trump paid $85 K and took out a full page advertisement in the New York Times.  It followed the vicious attack and rape of Trisha Meili in Central Park two weeks earlier, during an evening of multiple muggings in the park by “rampaging gangs of youths,” which left her in a coma for 12 days and resulted in the arrest of five minority teenagers, who quickly became known as the Central Park 5.

Projecting the near identical white grievance that would characterize his campaign for the Presidency almost three decades later, Trump bemoaned a city lost to animals who preyed daily on decent folk. Literally calling for visceral hatred, the brash developer declared “I want to punish them…BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY.” And while the missive did not specifically signal out the young suspects, all minors, who would confess after marathon interrogation sessions without any lawyers or parents  present, there was no mistaking its target. Trump finished with a fond childhood memory of watching two of New York’s finest rough up a couple of “bullies” in a diner he was at with his father back in the day. “Unshackle” our police, he demanded, criminals do not deserve civil liberties.

In fact, the DNA found at the scene of the brutal attack matched none of the arrested suspects, ages 14-16 years old. All were convicted solely on their confessions, four sentenced as juveniles to 5-10 years, and one as an adult, given a similar prison term. Detectives testified to suspects anxious to implicate others while insisting they played but a minor role in the attacks, but also admitted under oath there were likely other perpetrators that evening.

In 2002 Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, confessed to the attack of Trisha Meili. DNA evidence, in addition to details he provided that could only be known by the assailant, confirmed his guilt. The Central Park  5, who had all served between 7 and 13 years of jail time had their convictions vacated. Years later, New York City settled a civil suit filed by the plaintiffs for $41 million.

Trump, who had called for the group’s execution when none were older than 16, was not happy with the 2014 settlement. Refusing to accept they were innocent in one breath, Trump declared so what anyway, “they were no angels” with another. His twitter feed kept busy declaring their guilt a long established fact, despite whatever corrupt city officials and the media were claiming.  He made clear, if he had his way, the exonerated men would rot in jail. Call it Trump Justice.

Flash forward to Monday’s White House ceremony for Brett Kavanaugh, presumably intended to turn the page on one of modern history’s ugliest confirmation fights. Perhaps, with the entire Supreme Court membership in attendance, some gracious platitudes could be spoken and everyone could move forward. After all, at the end of the day, the institution’s well being outweighs politics… right? Yea, sure thing.

His attempts to sound reverent hobbled by his soullessness, the President personally apologized to the newly minted Associate Justice for “the pain and suffering you and your family have been forced to endure.” “What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency and due process, “ rued American history’s most indecent Chief Executive. So much for fresh starts and new leafs.

The tripe du jour of Trump’s wretched core, fully amplified by the shrill Fox/AM megaphone, as well as various Trumpies on the Hill, is America’s preppies face the crucible of false accusation from harlets with axes to grind, urged on by Soros-funded racketeers with socialist political agendas. Like black teens rampaging through Central Park pre-Rudy, this mob is out for blood. Better vote in your local Trumpie or all is lost!

This Presidency sails through uncharted waters every hour of its repulsive tenure. The new low of yesterday will surely be but a bad memory in the wake of a deeper dive tomorrow. Yet and still, the surreality of this latest kabuki stuns the senses and produces ringing in the ears. If hypocricy is an art form in this town, Trump is surely a Renoir for the age his disgrace will define. Nothing can be more preposterous… it just can’t.

Almost 30 years ago our President wanted five accused teenagers sent to the gallows before anybody knew whether they were guilty or not. After they served hard time  for a crime it was conclusively proven they did not commit, Trump refused to accept their innocence and continued to injure their public standing unabated.

Now, after actively obstructing an investigation into accusations from an accuser even he tacitly admitted was credible when unsure of the wind’s direction, he falsely declares his tarnished champion is innocent of all charges. Moreover, just as he doubled down with boys falsely accused years ago, our fake fro Pinocchio has deemed the whole affair a political winner, red meat that will get the base off of their asses. God help us if he’s right.

As the all wise Yogi Berra once enlightened… “It’s like deja vu all over again.” That’s true, but whether he’s crying crocodile tears  for Kavanaugh or tripling down on past calls to lynch black kids  proven innocent, when it comes to people, boys or girls, being victimized by charlatans  without any concern for right or wrong, fact or fiction, this President is guilty as charged! BC

 

 

 

There is no sugar coating it, my son is unable to make friends. His autism debilitated his language skills to the point any entreaty he makes is fully stilted and uncomfortable, and most often requires a prompt. He has no ability to modulate his tone, and no appreciation of other people’s space. Any spontaneous greeting to a stranger usually means they resemble somebody from his past and is met with awkwardness, and as he has grown into a 6’ 5” man, some trepidation. Safe to say, if you want to be a part of Luke’s life, the effort is going to have to come near completely from you.

Best Buddies is a life line for kids like Luke, who desperately want to be part of the community’s social fabric, but have a limited ability to join in. At Luke’s school, the organization has been vibrant for all of the time he has attended, but two years ago really upped its game.

Let me first advise parents of typical kids who feel the tug of charity, and think giving back to the disabled is a good fit for them, you are either in or out; it can’t be half-assed because disappointing these kids is a sin. There is nothing in my life that prepared me for the pain of seeing simple expectations and hopes my son develops when assured of some future activity dashed by last minute cancellations. Sure, he needs to cope with life’s ups and downs, but he demands so little. Picture the look when you had to tell your four year old a trip to the zoo was postponed – freeze that and apply it for the rest of their lives.  You can’t disappoint these kids!

Luke’s buddy three years ago meant well, but I suppose had a busy schedule. Many a plan was scuttled at the last minute; I saw that look way too often. I’m sure he felt he was doing what he could, all things being equal… they’re not.  Anyway, in September of Luke’s Jr. year, at the initial Best Buddy event where the kids are paired off, I took his new match Neel aside and counseled gently but firmly it was better to make no plans at all than those you may have to cancel. He looked me right in the eye, polite yet direct as can be, and declared “I would never do that.”  I chuckled ok, please just don’t promise if you can’t deliver. I doubt anyone in my life has been truer to their word.

For two years Neel was Luke’s loyal and fully proactive friend.  Not only did he never miss a sponsored event, we often received texts asking if it was alright if he picked up Luke to go to some school activity with him, events Luke never would have attended on his own because even he understands the uncoolness of parental chaperones in high school.

Neel would get up early on Sunday to have breakfast with us at Silver Diner following Luke’s hockey practices. It was during those conversations I got a broader glimpse into how special Neel was, his international parents, college and job aspirations, various activities… simply an incredibly packed schedule I never would have dreamed of at his age. Sky high goals and standards he was calmly, humbly yet relentlessly pursuing. But there was always time for Luke.

When they graduated at DAR last spring, Neel found Luke in the dense and chaotic crowds afterwards. He hugged him, and we took pictures, and I thanked God he brought somebody exceptional enough to take the time and make the effort required to understand how wonderful Luke is. Of course, it didn’t surprise me when Neel checked in this summer to spend time with his friend before heading away on various travels. Luke’s eyes lit up when he saw Neel, but so did Neel’s.

An old high school friend I have reconnected with and genuinely respect seems a big fan of the DR. Yet and still, he has suggested I spend a bit more time being positive, the glass half full thing. Those closest to me have expressed concern I’ve turned dark since November, 16’, too distracted by Trumpism’s pestilence to smell anything on a stem. They may have a point, but should never believe me hopeless about our nation’s future; that’s impossible with kids like Neel around, or Luke’s therapist, Philip, who I’d adopt if he weren’t 30 plus and already spoken for, or Carolina, the proud president of Marshall High School’s Best Buddies chapter, and the best sport possible, accepting over and over Luke’s adoring, if inappropriate hugs, or my daughter Issie, sober and  determined to look after her brother when the time comes.

I look at these kids and couldn’t be more stoked about the future they are capable of building for all of us… given the chance. My time is fast passing, and to be candid, next to the restless accomplishment and creativity of so many of today’s brightest, it’s been underwhelming. But I’m certain my peers and I have an important role to play… right now! Make sure these wonderful kids get a chance to clean up the mess we leave and thrive in a way, frankly, many my age seem disinterested in.

Just like Neel kept his word to me, doing far more than was asked and making a world’s worth of difference to my son,  it’s not too much to request I help safeguard his opportunities. As with Luke, for all of our sakes, we simply can’t disappoint these kids! BC

 

 

When I was a hot shot college journalist, my BFF and I sought out all manner of stories in the New Hampshire seacoast area. In that vein, my buddy once interviewed a zealot named Warren Goddard, who carried out a lonely daily vigil at the Seacoast Women’s Health Clinic, where abortions were performed. Day after day, there he was, carrying a crucified doll, doused in ketchup, along with gruesome photos of all kind of atrocities. The abortion “holocaust” clarified his basic perceptions; the gist of his outlook was no punishment was too severe for providers and their patients alike. Why should an innocent baby suffer the consequences of a rape, and isn’t it simply natural a mother would be willing to die for her child? This was 1981, Goddard a lonely extremist. Today he’d be a member of the Freedom Caucus, or have his own Fox show, perhaps a role on the GOP platform committee.

Not long after I was introduced to Goddard’s views, I was interning for a Congressman on Capital Hill. Some other interns had a place just down Pennsylvania Ave. and were throwing a very wild party one night, fully attended by fellow youthful, twenty-something staffers. In walks  a 50ish Republican Congressman from the heartland,  about as far right on the political spectrum as was possible back then, abortion-as-murder his niche. One hand was around a gorgeous blonde, who surely had voted for the first time in the Reagan landslide the previous year, and the other grasped a six-pack of Hamms,  swear to God on a stack of bibles. A buddy and I laughed ourselves silly at the surreal spectacle, and wondered aloud almost in unison how powerful his save-the-unborn inclinations would be should his eye candy show up at the door with a little conservative in the oven. True believers and hypocrites; it has always been thus.

In the divided United States of 2018 one side has united under an absolute maxim that permeates their entire worldview, and rationalizes any uncomfortable choices they may have to face… abortion is murder. Pro-life extremism is the moral Alamo of Trump’s America, it leeches into any issue, justifies any trade off, and discredits opponents everytime, on all issues. It is there always to fall back to and denounce anyone as morally inferior. So what if I want to execute minors, you’re for killing the unborn. Don’t get preachy with me about families being separated in Laredo, you’re for murdering babies. All I know is Roy Moore will protect the unborn. Nothing and nobody falls outside this umbrella. It’s not simply a litmus test for justices or candidates, it is the root of identity… you are either pro-life or not, and that means conception, buckoo! It is ground zero of the culture war.

The temptation for some time has been to beseech Democrats and women’s organizations to give some ground on the issue. Both Howard Dean and Jimmy Carter have framed this as a necessity to broaden the party’s tent. After all, medical technology is pushing the viability envelope everyday. But what really would be achieved, other than endless crowing from the Fox/AM legions that zealotry prevailed, the killers are surrendering, oh, and alienation of the party’s most ardent following?

Trump’s America needs Pro-Life fanaticism like air to breathe.  It excuses the ever increasing ardor for the morally dispicable, and steady march toward atrocity. In short, they would never take yes for an answer; the goal posts would always be moved.  In Trump’s America, on abortion, compromise means letting masturbators off the hook for cheating so many zygotes out of their destiny.

Of course the wretched core is also white, Christian and fully regressive. US demographics pose an existential threat,  the Obama Presidency a galvanizing experience that validated a conspiracy mindset. The Tea Party gave flesh and bone to that desperation. Patriotism was redefined with a clear set of behaviors and expectations, exclusivity the guiding force. Trump’s candidacy and election was hailed as a defining victory, enabling a broad counterassault on decades of governance that had stacked the deck against “us”. Nothing wrong with reshuffling it to bring the game back to go, come what may.

But all of this can only be done with a conscience that remains clean; there always has to be that end at the exit of the tunnel to justify the means. Saving the unborn provides that moral clarity, that sense of mission required to be able to face the mirror while espousing the full menu of otherwise dreadful things that even Fox/AM’s relentless efforts, can’t completely whitewash.

Trump rallies are his little book reports on how his scorched earth efforts are coming. The toxicity of his venom punctuates his sincerity in the eyes of the wretched core. The more unhinged his attacks, the more genuine his commitment. But he now only rarely mentions abortion in passing, perhaps connected to the Supreme Court. He doesn’t have to. I suppose if there is a judgment day in line with evangelical sensibilities, Trump, like many of his supporters, will have plenty of fast talking to do in order to square personal history with political bona fides on abortion, but right now it’s all good; they are fellow crusaders.

When Brett Kavanaugh takes the oath to the Supreme Court, after the ugliest confirmation fight in memory, he will reflect a divided nation. Pundits have and will continue to spend endless air time debating why this is so. But, really, where is the mystery? It was always going to come to this, seems silly now to have ever hoped it wouldn’t. A middle-aged woman’s PTSD never stood a chance against the decisive blow to Roe v Wade. Trump’s America is about Offreds, not Dr. Fords.

Pope Francis, the otherwise radical leftist Pontiff, said this about abortion:

“Abortion isn’t a lesser evil, it’s a crime. Taking one life to save another, that’s what the Mafia does. It’s a crime. It’s an absolute evil.”

That Trump’s America takes Francis, who they otherwise detest, at his word about abortion clarifies any fellow traveler on the matter is welcome because, at the end of the day, it’s the mission that matters. There is no chasm between religious dogma and governance. Citing friend and foe alike is fine, what counts is that sense of right, the imagery of saving babies… and fighting criminals. A scared teenaged girl as Tony Soprano; if you can rationalize that, you can swallow anything. Can you do that? That’s the choice. BC

 

 

There is no point imagining us above our pay grade; humans need to assign blame. Doing so is the innate structure of our learning system. Without deciding who is wrong, we can’t confirm who is right… what works. Yesterday, two titanic forces met in a struggle rooted, not in just a faded yet disturbing memory, but a referendum on whether guiding tenets that define our basic perceptions of the other gender are flawed, producing needless pain and discord, transforming Rockwellian rights of passage into Faustian ordeals, childhood hijinx into enduring trauma. The answers we accept threaten to indict otherwise decent people with seemingly unfair revisions of their life narratives that are yet and still no less true.

Another shared human inclination is the search for perfection despite the assurance it doesn’t exist. It permeates our quest to better ourselves, setting a guiding standard that makes our incessant failures bearable because we can view them as inevitable to reaching the mountaintop.

High standards are good, but sometimes, on some questions, the perfection concept sabotages our piece of mind with unrealistic expectations. The notion held by women that there should exist a significant portion of the male population distracted enough from their libidinous predispositions to appreciate and respect the non sensual aspects of women, while fully reasonable and just, runs into a wall of cognitive dissonance. Demanding it is of course reasonable, but will lead to disappointment if not disallusionment as a guiding light. The awfulness immersed in the Kavanaugh affair is the vitriolic resentment of the GOP – now merely a large toxic eddy of the Fox/AM shit river – that the idea itself is cultural and societal sedition, merely the weaponized means to destroy good men.

How different our world would be if boys were raised by fathers who make just one simple yet paramount truth known to their sons when advising them about the fairer sex. A point as simple as it is essential, as willfully ignored as it is obvious. A basic rule that, if absorbed and allowed to determine teenage and young adult conduct would spare all mountains of hardship, and society a laundry list of ills. One simple piece of counsel, so important it could change the world:

“Son, never forget this…they are not required to be into sex as much as you are. Assume they are not and never grant yourself the prerogative to change that inclination. Only a woman can seduce, for men it is a delusion too often used to coerce. You have nothing to prove. Always allow them to determine the pace of intimacy. They should never ever have to say no twice.”

Alas, this has not been the rule, and while it’s hopeful many men listening to Dr. Ford’s testimony re-examined fundamental premises about how they approach the issue, Kavanaugh’s statement and the repulsive indignation by his GOP patrons that followed, cast doubt on just how many attitudes will be recast. The judge’s presentation was compelling, his wounded entreaties very genuine. It is not a bridge too far to feel a reputation built by an adult lifetime as a lawyer, judge, coach, father and husband should not be indelibly tainted by actions fully walled off as youthful inanity. But while there is no cause to question how genuine Kavanaugh’s outrage is, he’s a big boy interviewing to be on the Supreme Court and his past is relevant. If he is  the watershed where our society decides the birds and bees lessons his generation received were inadequate and contributed to unacceptable behavior, which now haunts him and denies him the job he seeks, then so be it.

The idiotic histrionics  put forward by Graham, et al clarified their soulless indifference to anything less than their agenda. Their wounded tropes nullified the disingenuous lip service they allowed Dr. Ford, declaring loud and clear: “we don’t really care if you’re telling the truth; you all were kids. Besides, what really happened? Toughen up, you’re hysterical!”

The electoral consequences in November will say all anyone needs to hear about whether America means to demand its men up their game and offer women better than they have received in the past. Listening to GOP Neanderthals flirt with mysoginy and rationalize not giving any procedural credence to the growing number of accusations against Kavanaugh leaves zero to the imagination about who they believe butters their bread. Women in even blood red states have the power to teach them a lesson and place the blame exactly where it belongs. There is nothing wrong with motivating men to be better by punishing them for being worse. Pray they do. BC

 

 

The Kavanaugh saga should force 40 and 50 something men to reassess how we were raised and what lessons about the treatment of women we took to heart. I openly confess to views and behavior that relegated women to goals of my personal narrative at some expense to their unique identities, and fully believe those attitudes weren’t just wrong and intensely unfair, but cheated me out of countless opportunities at rewarding long-term friendships.

That so many jerks like me exist, so many needlessly burned bridges, speaks to a deeply flawed culture, a Mad Menesque ingratitude toward the better half of our species, and an unacceptable failure to appreciate opportunities our lives offer.  MeToo is altering that landscape, forcing men to assess their pasts free of locker room insecurities and male bonding idiocy. Women are better than men, it’s really that simple. To demean them or take their affections for granted, or much worse attack and abuse them, strikes me as not only a grievous sin, but self-destructive behavior as well.

The male propensity to categorize and wall off into segments life chapters provides perhaps the largest chasm between the sexes. The ability to completely shed the skin, and responsibility, of who one was as a full blown narcissist, before marriage and kids, before they quit partying and “got serious” about life, spares many a man the reckoning his mistakes should offer.

Women neither excuse themselves from such emotional chores, nor are allowed by our society the luxury of on-demand reinvention. It’s why doting mothers of teenage girls see them and theirs in an attack on another’s child. Meanwhile, men, in the throes of political tribalism and partitioned experiences,  actually empathize with a 17-year old boy getting  “a bit carried away” after 12 beers and “roughhousing” with a girl at a rowdy party, even as they innately understand it would all be very different had their little girl come home traumatized and sobbing from such an experience.

Regarding Kavanaugh, it becomes “irrelevant” to a 50 year old’s resume and character how he acted in high school or even college… now he’s a stand up husband and dad… with daughters of his own!! That women seem less ready to extend such a pass speaks to higher standards of personal responsibility, and cognizance of the necessary vagueries of life’s continuity. A far healthier perspective to my eyes.

I freely admit going to bars and parties with groups of buddies was how I spent way too much of my time as a youth, but the goal was to meet a girl and get away from those morons, certainly not to foist them on somebody I was lucky enough to impress! Isolating drunk women to exploit was inconceivable to us, the hallmark of a creep. Evidence of such a predilection, at any age, in the past of a candidate for the highest court should be thoroughly investigated, and if confirmed, disqualifying.  Kavanaugh’s formative years appear punctuated by the notion of sex as a group pursuit for cliques of white males, with women more as prey than companions. Who could give out a pass for that?! Moreover, his absolute declarations of innocence and determination to make it his word against hers speaks to a temperament more interested in removing obstacles than pursuing justice. Besides, I don’t believe him.

Of course we did just elect as our POTUS a man whose behavior in his 50s and 60s was as ugly as anything he could have conjured at 17. A man who betrayed our now First Lady  with an adult film star, almost immediately after Melania had given birth to his son…. oh, and also with a former Playboy bunny, whose feelings he hurt  by offering to pay afterward. A man captured on tape boasting about being a pig, more suited to a sex offender registry than the White House. So perhaps seeking collective emotional growth from the current controversy is a bridge too far.

Yet and still, as we watch this Thursday a victim recount an act of idiocy by a drunken preppie that scarred her youth and impacted her adulthood, it’s fair to ask ourselves how much of the backwash she is sure to receive from inquisitors more concerned with ruining her credibility than discovering the truth defined our upbringing on such matters. It will surprise no one that the GOP, led by their mysoginist champion, will roll over whoever necessary to ram Kavanaugh through. Fox/AM has made it a defining act of purity, and pledged not to forget apostasy. Consciences are for snowflakes; a durable high court majority is at hand.  No matter how ugly it gets, the ends justify the means. A nomination that, in most any other time and with any other group in our history would be DOA, might just seep out of the Judiciary Committee and prevail… like every other stain the last 19 months has spilled upon us.

Perhaps this nadir can offer some degree of silver lining and further encourage rigorous examination of why much in our culture and national life still tempts our sons to degrade our daughters.  Finally gaining clarity on what creates victims both affords them some closure and protects others. Who knows, it may even help restore some of the dignity Kavanaugh will exact from the institution he revised his history to join. BC

 

Texas is enigmatic, a love/hate thing. The greatest American novel, Lonesome Dove, is quintessential Texas and Texans. Woodrow Call and Gus McCray are the greatest characters ever put to a page. Ditto Giant, the Edna Ferber masterpiece and  Hollywood classic. Yet for every Bick Benedict there is a Jet Renk, for every Molly Ivins a Louie Gohmert. When I worked on the mountain in Breckinridge, CO renting skis back in 1984, oil prices were sky high and Texans were easy to spot by the full length fur coats worn on the slopes… honest to God! Yet I also worked with John Miller, born and bred in Arlington, Texas, and as folksy and wise as anybody I’ve known. Mixed bag.

Nothing would salve our wounded republic like the election of Beto O’Rourke to the US Senate. And nothing will clarify our ruin more than his quixotic quest coming to naught. That’s how high the stakes are in Texas; it’s all or nothing. Either glorious redemption of the promise we possess, or sad confirmation of the morass we have become. A referendum on the future, not only of America, but the world we once led, and are now becoming irrelevant to at astonishing speed.

Anyone watching the first O’Rourke-Cruz debate without a jaundiced eye was impressed by the contrast between candidates, straight out of Hollywood casting really. At one lectern was this ball of enlightenment. Handsome, intense, thoughtful and well spoken. Each answer he gave went to a frustrating extreme trying to avoid partisan tropes. Two obsessions emerged consistently in his responses: the overarching need for more empathy regarding fellow citizens suffering at the whims of an indifferent, sometimes even malevolent,  political and economic system; and the related theme of unifying as one country, one nation. Thoughtful as they were precise, O’Rourke’s answers evaded nothing, electoral consequences be damned.

On the other side of the stage was a carnival barker, disingenuous as his opponent was sincere. If O’Rourke hobbled his performance by refusing to gorge on partisan red meat opportunities, Cruz compensated; in fact, stripped of worn out campaign falsehoods, the Senator has little to say. Nobody orates more but actually conveys less. If O’Rourke is a disciple for substance in our national discussion, Cruz is an oily televangelist passing the plate to his faithful, offering less while taking more.

Two issues best spoke to the chasm between the candidates and the views they represent… immigration and police-African American relations.

On immigration, perhaps the most important question to Texans,  O’Rourke made clear the preeminent fact politicians from both parties avoid like the plague… the “border has never been safer.” Meanwhile, speaking for those with property lines at stake, most misguided enough to have supported Trump and now rueful of that decision, the Congressman pointed out how eminent domain will seize and partition their land to fulfill the President’s outlandish scheme. O’Rourke also unapologetically stated what we all know to be true: Hispanic immigrants perform our economy’s most thankless jobs without complaint, grateful to have a small foothold on the American dream we are supposed to offer.

Cruz never met an issue he didn’t want to glean for white resentment;  immigration is no exception. Without challenging O’Rourke’s guiding tenet that no emergency exists,  Cruz simply barreled ahead as if it was a given. The wall is the answer, and not deporting 11 million people is unfair to his father, who came and waited in line. Family separation as basic fairness, that’s the ticket. O’Rourke cares more about illegals than he does about us – i.e fearful caucasions, bent on nastiness. To hear the grievance flow effortlessly out of Cruz’s mouth is to understand the fundamental pitfalls of pluralism.

On September 6, Botham Jean, an African American 26-year old, had the deadly misfortune of occupying the wrong apartment. Despite being farsighted enough to place a bright red welcome mat in front of his door, Jean unfortunately left it ajar, allowing an apparently drunk Dallas police officer to consummate her inability to locate home. Jean, understandably reluctant to follow orders from a stranger in his own apartment, was promptly shot and killed in an “unfortunate misunderstanding,” so said the initial department press release on the matter.

Cruz, given first stab at the event and its ramifications, proceeded apace with a Tucker Carlson script, immediately slandering O’Rourke by falsely declaring he equated police with Jim Crow. The accident was sad BUT, insert long list of fallen police officers and the assumption that pursuing justice for Jean is tantamount to spitting on their graves. As on immigration, O’Rourke favors “them” more than us, I go to police funerals, he doesn’t. And did I mention that cops are killed in the line of duty and are brave? Indulging the basic civil rights of a class of our citizens necessarily insults and undermines police who, did I make clear get slain in the line of duty?

O’Rourke was having none of it. Unlike so many of his congressional colleagues, wasting debate time to mindlessly establish pro-law enforcement bona fides is not Beto’s thing. Whether or not Texans recognize the failure of departments across the country to discipline their own as a crisis, he does and will lead on the matter. Even in a vacuum this tragedy would be outrageous. On the heels of countless other fully documented, mostly unprosecuted, nationwide police shootings of unarmed black men, it’s nothing less than a defining travesty. O’Rourke cited the damning numbers of African-American per capita misery related to being legally shot, as well as incarcerated for non-violent offenses. Above all, he implored voters not to view the issue through a partisan lens; basic justice and fairness should not be political.

It’s a function of the true awfulness of Trump that he has so completely eclipsed Cruz as the embodiment of hateful opportunism. Before The Donald, nobody was more overt in their disdain for the intelligence of the GOP faithful than Cruz, his shamelessness seeming to reach new lows every other news cycle. Yet and still, even with our President firmly establishing no human being  approaches his wretchedness, Beto O’Rourke’s tireless campaign reamplifies how ugly and insincere Cruz’s guiding ambitions are.

Some have said O’Rourke’s efforts have already produced a victory, forcing Texans to question themselves and at least consider the pros of empathy and the cons of blind tribalism. Even if he fails in November, he’ll surely break through eventually, the optimists maintain. But after the other night’s debate, such thinking seems nonsensical. If an all important state, supposedly comprised of genuine articles, can’t reward so unique a campaign with a chance to reform our addled legislative branch, choosing instead its most acute malady, the country’s second worst person, then maybe things are hopeless. The battle for America runs through the Lone Star this year…. failure can’t be an option. BC

 

 

Political recklessness is usually the product of either hubris or its opposite, desperation. Many an incumbent has said or done the worst thing merely because he/she convinced themselves big polling numbers equaled invulnerability, risk an unpleasantry of the past. Conversely, when a campaign’s chips are down, and polls are not friendly, hail Marys become more enticing as a bold way back into the game. Neither mindset works out very often, and frequently collateral damage, like legal troubles or impugned reputations ensue.

GOP candidates now exhibit both sides of the coin as November nears, many up against it as a Trump referendum tide rolls in, others blowharding MAGA tropes to ensure their nihilist bona fides in flyover districts that provide general election safety, but also lurking primary threats ready to accuse them of impurities, not to mention the hourly indignity of Trump as their daddy.

When you are a party at war with demographics, pounding a narrative that revises history, everything is sketchy. One minute you’re at a fundraiser waxing nostalgic for donors looking to yesterday as the future, and the next morning you’re  swearing to reporters there isn’t a racist bone in your body. One morning you’re puckering up to smooch The Donald’s burgeoning backside, that afternoon you’re all in for covering pre-existing conditions and Medicaid expansion.

If robust debate defines a healthy political party, the GOP is dying day by day. It’s membership now consists of two camps: Trump sycophants, busy fighting over who agrees more; and the rest, busy trying to show they aren’t in the first group without being labeled RINOs and attacked for apostasy.

It’s certain many in the second group will be unemployed soon, perhaps the death knell of the party. After all, it’s hard to envision a bunch of Trumpies in the House, clamoring for a Fox/AM mic, doing everything to get in the way of real governance, and once the Freedom Caucus is all that’s left, there won’t be enough of them to even do that. As for the Senate, Marsha Blackburn is running to replace Bob Corker in Tennessee, nuff said. With no serious partners in the lower chamber, they will become a permanent minority, representing only parts of the south and western flyover states, simply bigger mouthpieces of resentment.

Why would any organization willingly accept its own destruction? They have no choice. Any efforts to broaden the base simply invites its ire, and threatens those reaching out. The GOP wretched core is extreme, with a reckless philosophy, developed by television bottom feeders unconcerned with political or governing viability, even as they currently control both. The purity they demand is lethal to national electoral prospects and fully seditious to government responsibility. And make no mistake, you’re either for or against them…there is no middle ground; that is RINO territory.

Of course this scenario comes with a big caveat… that we survive the GOP’s best efforts to subvert the democratic process and follow what most surely is on its way: Trump’s refusal to cede power back and allow America to clean up its mistake. Republicans have spent more than a decade corrupting the US elections process, resisting the no brainer that more voters is a good thing. Trump, of course, is fully prepared to lead them into no man’s land on that score.

I suppose it’s fair to wonder whether Democrats would seek to ignore Russian meddling if they stood to gain by it. Even so, it’s a preposterous question because the GOP would make life so miserable for all in such a scenario, they’d buckle simply to get a moment’s peace. Yet and still, Fox/AM already has a response for the meek objections of the loyal opposition to the scandalous indifference coming from both the White House and Capital Hill; you’ve been doing it for years, look at all the illegals signed up to vote! Any historian will tell you, truth is the first casualty on the road to dictatorship.

Does anybody really believe the wretched core has a problem with Putin picking our lawmakers, so long as it’s their people ?! I’ll confess to being as clueless as the next guy on just how vulnerable our voting booths are to tampering. Who really knows? It’s like sitting in an hour-long traffic jam only to finally learn they took out two lanes for construction, but nobody’s there doing anything! Who is the person who ordered the cones?! Punching a Chris Christie cut out doesn’t satisfy! You want answers! McConnell won’t even allow the questions.

So, to summarize… if our election systems don’t yield rigged results, and if our civic vibrancy and institutions can face down the coming authoritarian spasms Trumpism will wreck on its way out of power, one of our major parties is heading into the dirt, slain by its own hand. Where will that leave us? A hell of a lot better than the alternative. And that will have to do. BC

 

 

 

 

The idea Trump got elected based on economic dislocation by white voters previously enamored with Barack Obama was never convincing. His current overwhelming approval by the GOP faithful now imagining an economy, that for all intents and purposes existed in October 2016, is the result of deregulation and tax cuts for millionaires is more an alibi for ignoring unhinged incompetence, and a diversion from what really gets their juices flowing… a renaissance of long buried racist tropes.

Such smoke and mirrors to justify supporting the exhumation of Jim Crow sensibilities  will be laid bare once trade war economic chickens come home to roost, and the “historic economy” Trump tweets about hourly begins to crash and burn. Then there will be nothing left for wretched core proponents to lean on but the ugly nexus of what warmed them to 45’s nihilism in the first place. At that point it will be official, at least 35% of America votes, not with their pocketbooks in mind, but their disdain for what in our lifetime will become the majority of their fellow citizens. Diversity is the demon, the go to boogie man responsible for stealing the country away from its rightful owners; this has always been Trumpism’s foundational narrative.

When the essence of a bloc as large as Trump’s idea of patriotism is the entitlement to disqualify any notions others may have for exhibiting their own civic mindedness, that’s a big problem. When such idiocy actually originates and is constantly, methodically fanned by the White House, that’s a crisis. Either way there isn’t much doubt Trump’s own brand of dog whistles and identity warfare is what really gins up his base, rendering other factors like breathtaking incompetence, pathological insecurity and overt corruption mere background noise, discarded as opposition tactics delivered on demand by a corrupt media. There is no fine line between racial animosity and la la land; they are synonymous. Suffering through even part of a Trump rally validates this contention.

There is a good reason why Fox/AM personalities store a particularly strong measure of toxin for those accusing them of racism; that truth is dangerous to their existence. Were they to be fully unmasked as the bigots they are, any intellectual heft their circular explanations enjoy would evaporate. Moreover, they  hate being on the defensive, which requires quick feet they don’t have,  and are ever mindful not to cross lines that land them in hot water, even as they constantly gnaw away at those boundries, like rats on a cord.

The worst day of Rush Limbaugh’s life was back in the early 90’s, when as host of a short-lived, early AM clone of Phil Donahue and Oprah’s talk TV format, he fully lost control of a hostile audience shouting him down for the bigotry he spewed. It was a pivotal event he swore to himself would never be repeated. Since then Limbaugh has not appeared in any setting with variables he can’t fully control; a non-negotiable rule of the road most all Fox/AM “personalities” have followed suit to observe.

Whether MAGAites actually believe having Diamond and Silk into the Oval Office is enough to establish Trump’s fair minded bona fides is irrelevant; he thinks it is, and we are now all painfully aware that the bias he brought to the party has been given a makeover  by Fox and Friends et al., the application of rouge necessary to dull its stigma.

The Democratic leadership seems intent on making sure everyone knows that a bigot in the White House doesn’t obsess them; unlike him and his, they really are concerned about middle class bank accounts. Fair enough. Yet and still, diluting the noxious bias of Trumpism’s brew ignores the emergencies its success will create.

Since the 60s this nation has been developing under the bipartisan presumption racial bias is a malady which  has exacted a steep price of blood and treasure, while unnecessarily hobbling our potential. More than three decades of political life and the governance it created acted in full accordance with that conclusion. Obama seemed to ice the cake and unequivocally tie our 21st century fortunes to the death of 20th century idiocy. This Administration endangers all of that. What was shrugged off as the blow back of elements refusing to progress now rules us and everyday attempts to recodify what most thought was dead and buried. Many took the proposition so for granted they imagined the luxury of making a personal statement against a stale Presidential candidacy by staying home, or voting for a 3rd party imbecile. How is that working out?

November is almost here. For those inexplicably unable to tie election prospects of Democrats to US survival, perhaps it would be at least as intriguing to understand that, along with abetting a destructive narcissist, the GOP also stands completely in line with the attempt to return racism, under the threadbare guise of reform, to everyday American life and government. Voting Republican actually jams a stake in a key tenent of US progress, returning us to the land of our grandparents, indulging attitudes almost all of us thought went to the grave with them. Think about it! BC

In Myanmar, also known as Burma, the Rohingya minority faces an existential crisis. The Southeast Asian nation’s military is systematically, village by village, executing people and burying the evidence in mass graves, not particularly concerned about the world’s horrified gasps. “Ethnic cleansing” is the dismayingly tame term to describe what is proceeding apace. Think the worst of human behavior throughout history and you are just about there in Myanmar.

But what emphasizes this particular genocide from others tolerated in the past, and adds surreality and immeasurable disillusionment, is who is sanctioning it’s occurance and cover up. In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi inspired the globe with her Mandelaesque resistance of the same forces she now strains her neck to look away from. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for a dignified and heroic non-violent struggle against generals who repeatedly jailed and threatened her,  Aung San Suu Kyi never blinked…and ultimately prevailed, ascending to govern the country she had become the conscience of. The West collectively celebrated her triumph…. careful what you wish for.

Going from compassion and bravery to countenance of outright evil is often simply a function of circumstance. Denouncing the jack boot comes natural when it’s on your neck, yet becomes far more difficult, and a test of real character, when it’s being applied to those one has never particularly liked, or worse, holds accountable for past grievance. Courage is, of course, courage… but history has illustrated time and again the folly of  viewing it as synonymous with principle and compassion once the dust clears, and the oppressed shift way too easily into the role of oppressor.

Daniel Ortega led a revolution against the long established banana republic injustice of Latin-American militarism in Nicaragua, even as two-bit elements of the Reagan Administration created a criminal enterprise to stack the deck against him. Now, the liberator is as overt and nihilistic a tyrant as one will find, literally ruining his nation to stay in his palace, worse than the Sandinistas allowed Somoza to become. Sadly, Aung San Suu Kyi has joined Ortega’s ranks, shrugging off massacres as situations “that could have been handled better.”

However, even more of a tragedy for us than the metamorphosis of a hero to a scoundrel is the clear understanding the affliction only underscores how empty America’s inventory of moral leadership in the world has become. The crisis is acute, and there is no light at the end of any tunnel; it will surely get worse before it gets better. Our civic catastrophe of almost two years ago has created a strip poker game of decaying US credibility, as the amoral nitwit we empowered rips off one piece of our once suitable ensemble  after another.

How can one possibly criticize Myanmar murderers when North Korea’s maniac is our leader’s bestest new buddy, their relationship characterized by the White House as “a very good and warm one.”?   When our President extols Putin as a role model for “strong leadership?” When a Chinese autocrat, poised as no other since Mao for total control of his country’s billions, is a  “great President?” When the stated position of our nation, shrilly annunciated by its National Security Advisor, is the International Criminal Court, an institution  critical to any collective deterrence of atrocity,  is a threat to sovereignty, and any advocacy for inquiries into crimes by our citizens or actions of the only ally we care about will be met with the “harshest punitive measures?”

Anyone with eyes could see MAGA was the refutation of all but the lowest common denominator for American standards abroad. The American exceptionalism crowd has always used the world’s worst to apologize for US outrages like Abu Gharib and black site torture. And that nasty bunch is the heart of Trump’s wretched core,  its constituency fully represented in the Administration’s emerging foreign policy brain trust, led by the likes of Bolton and Pompeo. But make no mistake, they speak to the world for all of us. There are no asterisks in international diplomacy.

What weight can our opinion carry on the arrest by Myanmar authorities of two journalists who reported on a recent massacre by an unhinged military?  After all, our President spends countless idle hours tweeting his fondest wishes for just such a capability. Jailing political opponents? If only, our petulant fascist wannabe whines to the heavens. US moral superiority used to be condemned by tyrants as propaganda; now it really is.

Trumpism has inflicted in less than two years more ugly scars on our national landscape than can be tallied, but none are more unsightly than the wound we now exhibit when facing the world. Anti-democratic critics used to question how we could presume to lecture others on human rights and respect for decency. Now they don’t even have to; we have nothing to teach any tyrant, only a President who wants to learn their tricks of the trade.  BC