Author: BC

A good friend of mine, who matriculated with me in college on the subject of foreign affairs, became a reporter at Congressional Quarterly 20-odd years ago and has kept to it since. He is a reserved guy, not at all given to hyperbole. Often, one has to yank his opinions out like an impacted molar. That’s why I remember our conversation in late afternoon of 9/11 so well. We talked awhile about what to expect in the coming days and so forth, how long preparations would take for some sort of military campaign, which just hours after the attack was already not an if but when. Near the end of our talk I said something like “nothing is going to be the same…” To which he emphatically agreed, and added “this is going to change everything” Indeed it did.

Since 9/11, war without end has cost us much blood and treasure, while ruthlessly baring the limits of US power. But even more damaging, it has facilitated a steady slide toward militarism at home, now fully embraced and accentuated by an emergent nihilist political class, led by a champion who never met a uniform he didn’t want to exploit for his own greater glory.

How societies define patriotism speaks volumes of their political and cultural health. Militarism is apparent when the armed forces, as well as police, are unabashedly used as measuring sticks to divide the population based on who is and isn’t supportive enough of their “mission”, which is heralded in ever more grandiose terms.

The NFL was the first and most ardent practioner of linking the US response to 9/11 with over-the-top displays of reverence for the military. Flyovers, field-sized flag rollouts, reunions, etc. turned pre-game activities into garish homage to our military, the oft declared ensurer of “the freedoms we enjoy.” Is it little wonder that NFL games became a flashpoint for conflict when some players had the treacherous audacity to disturb what had become viewed by so many as a sacred rite of American civics.

Unquestioned allegiance to the military flows seemlessly throughout America now. Increases in the military budget are a bipartisan given, and woe to the candidate, who has to go on the stump and explain voting against such appropriations. Media across the board herald the narrative of US military activity as an exclusive adjunct of freedom and liberty. Judy Woodruff and Chuck Todd are just as likely to parrot the notion as Brett Beir and Sean Hannity. Reports of collateral damage from US air and drone strikes seldom see the light of day, and the idea that enlisting immediately makes one a hero is another sacred cow of our national mentality. Moreover, military service has never before bestowed such exclusivity. Back in high school it was a thing to wear natty old army jackets; now the unfortunate stoner who adopted such garb would be set upon for “Stolen Valor”. From A to Z America places it’s military on a pedestal that grows higher and higher.

Much of what has defined the post 9/11 narrative of how we should view the military springs from assumptions enshrined by the past. The common wisdom that Vietnam veterans were disdained by an ungrateful nation has guided us since 9/11. An unspoken determination not to repeat past mistakes with an all volunteer force has created a cultural landscape, fully exploited by Madison Avenue, where effusive praise is mandatory. “Thank you for your service” now is deemed a minimum courtesy when meeting a veteran. And the synergy between the church and military service has never been more prominent. Evangelicals, in particular, now seem to place US soldiers just under the lord himself as objects worthy of the flock’s rapturous entreaties.

None of this is to imply we shouldn’t be a grateful nation. Veterans, like my nephew, who made a beeline for Afghanistan, have earned our deep respect. Should serving boost a resume? Without a doubt. Should we assume integrity and honor from a veteran? Of course. And should we always be cognizant that service brings a unique perspective to the table that one would disqualify his own views by ignoring? No question. But it is to say that America’s uniqueness rests largely on what is supposed to be a more balanced set of priorities. National well being is not supposed to rely too much on the prospects of our armies. And our military serves us, not vice versa. Nothing is compulsory; the day it becomes so is the day our enemies outside no longer matter.

On Memorial Day weekend, when we honor the fallen, our duty is the same as theirs was, to defend the country. Not just its borders or foreign interests, but its character, which enables our freedoms far more than tanks in Mosul. To abide seditious idolatry, fomented to further the ambitions of nihilists, at the expense of groups they always seek to marginalize in a quest for relevance, dishonors the memories of heroes. Surely, they would take offense that they passed to serve such a purpose. To assume otherwise insults them.

Trump and all the other chicken hawks we know so well cheapen past sacrifice by their willingness to ignore it as they recklessly rattle sabres. He vomits about US military prowess, relegating those who may die to mere abstractions in excursions he sees as sport, corollaries to his bluster. He neither honors the institution or its people; like everything else, he uses them to shine his brand. He deploys our jingoism for self-aggrandizement to a base that makes no distinction between patriotism and militarism, national well being and foreign adventures. That so many now can’t see duty to your nation as anything other than carrying a gun and wearing a uniform imperils our future and diminishes our dead.

The best thing America can do for its fallen soldiers is everything possible to ensure the rightness and nobility of the mission they perished for. Make certain they never die like a German fighter on Normandy…in service to a nation gone mad. Right now we are ceding ground in that battle. BC

Anybody who has been to a race track more than a few times has relied on the “get out”. That’s the final race on the card following a losing day. The get out is when conservative betting strategies, and any sort of discipline you may have sworn to in the morning go bye bye. Whatever you have left in your pocket is either going on a long shot or gimmick bet or both. The goal is to “get better”, which $25 to win on a 2-1 favorite is not going to make happen.More appropriate to take that favorite, key him over a few 10-1s, and hit the superfecta for a real score, one that wipes out the bitter memories of a day full of lost photos and choices trapped on the rail. A winner that warrants a celebration.

As someone who has been to the oval exponentially more than a few times, and has hit my share of get outs, I know it to offer opportunity if approached right. Since the day has already gone to crap, the get out affords the liberation from caution required for bold decisions. Yet and still, there is enough desperation imposed by the possibility of walking out the doors a penniless loser – the very portrait of a bum – to motivate focused analysis imbibed with creativity. And lord there is nothing like hitting the get out to make the world right again. A late trifecta will do that.

America needs a get out score this November. Since last January it’s been one loser after the other. Any hopes Trump would rise to his office were dashed minutes after he took the oath. Then there was a confirmation process that ran like a broken record: nominee demonstrates complete lack of qualifications for appointed position but McConnell goes to the whip and the moron gets confirmed anyway. Next came the frontal assault on responsible government and a nihilist agenda more concerned with trampling progress than setting policy. And all the while the overt corruption and vile indignity of Trump, himself. Yes, it hasn’t been merely a bad day at the races…we’re losing the mortgage here.

But we can all get better in November if Democrats make the right wagers. Trouble is, their leadership seems intent on $2 show bets, which wont get this done! Given our current state of affairs, a focus on “rebuilding the middle class” messaging that has wildly underperformed the last few cycles is like arriving at your neighbor’s house as it’s engulfed in flames and asking “how can I help?” Trumpism isn’t the elephant in the room, it’s the rabid hyena in the elevator.

Nancy Pelosi is not a horrible person, and to put her on a par with Trump defines false equivalence; but as a party leader, placed by history at a crossroads for American democracy’s survival, she is fully wanting. Listening to her the other night on CNN one could be forgiven if they thought it a clip from 2004. Her response to questions about what role Presidential ineptitude and corruption should play in the upcoming campaign sounded like the subject was W instead of Trump. Lecturing about party and national unity as her (and the founders!) top priority, and impeachment’s unfortunate deleterious effects on national kubaya potential was disheartening, particularly as a GOP cabal on the other side of the aisle makes clear the abyss is not deep enough when it comes to abetting Trump’s overt recklessness. Pelosi wants to focus on ideas. How about this for an idea: take back the House and give Steve King the office in the Longworth basement next to the auto-signing machines!

Barbara Comstock of Northern VA now passes for a moderate Republican in the House. To qualify for that designation these days requires one only to refrain from unabashed rhetorical, if not legislative, support of this White House. A gander at Comstock’s office home page and social media participation finds not a mention of Trump by name or otherwise. Six Democrats are going to bloody each other up trying to win the nomination to unseat her. So the advice is to emerge from a primary rumble and talk “kitchen table issues”?

GOP incumbents should be forced to either support Trump or denounce him, nothing in the middle satisfies. What have you done to help check Trump’s outrageous attacks on our institutions? Why haven’t you publicly taken a stand against divisive rhetoric? You seem ok with his tweet stream, are you? Yes or no? Those are the questions to be asked in debates. The idea that focusing too much on Trump may be perceived as lacking ideas is ludicrous; if you present just one proposal, that’s one more than the GOP has put forward since 2007. As for impeachment, one doesn’t have to foam at the mouth to assert it should be on the table. To declare it out of bounds is to imply Trump has stayed in bounds. That’s nuts. Worse, it normalizes nihilism in the White House.

It’s not really a stretch to call Decision 18’ pivotal to whether Trump will ruin us. If the GOP keeps both chambers by even the slimmest of margins we get another 2 years of Trump unleashed; he will herald such a result as a decisive referendum on his prowess. Getting a piece of our grub stake back for some bets tomorrow will not suffice, by then racing may be canceled. We need a win that forces the teller to go to another drawer for more cash; then, as they say on the rail, as a horse prances past with his ears pricked, we can again like our chances. BC

A good argument can be made that my son, Luke, is the greatest person in the world. He is a tall, lanky, handsome 18 year old with nothing but beautiful vulnerability about him. He always aims to please and is incapable of organized intrigue. He doesn’t know what a lie is and couldn’t try to hurt another person on his worst day. While his frailties can frustrate the most patient, he always tries his best; any shortness with him is not something whoever exhibits it will be proud of. Yes, on balance, my boy is as good as it gets in the son department…my hero. He also happens to be pretty darn autistic. In the parlance of the epidemic, he is moderate to high functioning, verbal but not conversational. And though he’s now 6,5” and likes to shoot baskets, there will be no inspirational videos of him getting playing time on his high school’s varsity squad.

Several years ago a neighbor from down the street showed up at my door. Our cul-de-sac is nice, permeated with a level of comfortable cordiality, but there is enough transience to prevent anything more intimate. So when Beth rang my doorbell it was the first time either of us had visited the other.

She said we may have a problem, and I asked her why? She told me a dead squirrel had been left on their front porch and her teen age son had ID’d Luke. I told her the last thing Luke would ever do is touch a dead animal of any kind; he would just as soon pick up a burning log. One of Luke’s therapists, who happened to be in my living room working with him at the time, laughed at the notion. Beth turned a bit defensive and assured me her son wasn’t a liar. I said I’m sure he wasn’t but there was no chance Luke was responsible. She suggested we ask him, so I did.

“Luke, were you down at Beth’s house yesterday?”

“No… I wasn’t,” he replied, his voice tailing off, as it usually did when he was confused.

“Did you see a squirrel yesterday, buddy?”

“Yes, I did see a squirrel.” He answered, telling the truth. Beth gave me an I-told-you-so look.

“Did you see a dead squirrel?”

“No, I did not.” Again, his voice tailing off warily.

Beth, now emboldened, and wanting to close the deal, asserted: “Luke, did you put a squirrel on our porch?”

“Yes. I did.” He looked at me seeking approval.

I told her he was simply trying to please her and wasn’t following the sequence of the conversation anymore. But Beth was now certain she had her man. Shaina, the therapist, was getting angry, telling Beth the answer meant nothing and she should go talk to her son. Things were starting to deteriorate, so I reiterated to Beth that I was quite certain Luke was not guilty, but even if so, he meant no harm and I was sorry it had happened. Satisfied, Beth departed, certain the issue was settled. Aside from having to calm Shaina, who wanted to go 10 rounds with Beth, I figured that was the end of it.

A couple days later a very chastened Beth showed up again at my door, this time with her son. She declared he had something to say to me, to which he mumbled how sorry he was for lying, and it wouldn’t happen again. Apparently, some kids were bullying him and thought it funny to leave a dead squirrel on his porch. He was too scared and embarrassed to do anything other than pin the blame on the weird kid up the street. As he slinked away Beth, riddled with guilt, offered to apologize to Luke for the accusation. I responded he would neither know or care what she was apologizing for, to which she seemed to suffer yet another pang of shame. And with that an injustice was righted.

Down in Shreveport, Louisiana, Corey Dewayne Williams was not so lucky. By all accounts lower functioning than my son, Williams was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a pizza deliverer was shot and murdered in January of 98’. Detectives swept the Queensborough neighborhood, picking up Williams for questioning after somebody, never further corroborated, fingered him as the shooter. One can only imagine how that interrogation went, a 16-year old, intellectually disabled black boy, alone for hours with teams of angry white cops. Not surprisingly, he confessed before declaring he was tired and “l’m ready to go home and lay down.” He never did get to do that.

Based solely on his confession, with zero physical evidence, and despite finding some of the victim’s money and pizza boxes near another suspect’s home, Williams was convicted and sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison. This, a boy who “still sucked his thumb and urinated on himself regularly.”

Twenty years and the constant entreaties of dozens of former federal prosecutors, including a former Attorney General, later Louisiana has grudgingly admitted that the boy’s “constitutional rights were potentially violated at his original trial.” And in a fit of magnanimity, the state has allowed Williams to plead down to manslaughter with time served, so long as he agrees to forego his right to civil liability or any other redress. In other words, he’s still a penniless felon, but he’s free. Case closed…. Makes me want to take a knee. BC

In April of 1964, President Lyndon Johnson, enjoying the opulence of White House living that a depression era son of rural Texas never could have dreamed of, went skinny dipping in the presidential pool. With aides Dick Goodwin and Bill Moyers, who he had ordered to get buck naked and join him, the man who would reshape American policy toward its poor, and harness his office to usher in historic civil rights laws at great political expense to himself and his party, held forth on power and the presidency:

“Now, some men want power so they can strut around to “Hail to the Chief”; some want it to make money; I wanted power to use it. And I’m going to use it. And use it right if you boys’ll help me.”

Of course, there’s little mystery where LBJ would sort our current POTUS within his observation. And the irony that the same man who deployed his clout for such constructive reordering of US economic and civic priorities would also oversee the disastrous slippery slope of Vietnam is a cautionary tale of the fine line between ambition and hubris. Moreover, the second irony that most of Trump’s core shrilly advocate hobbling Johnson’s signature accomplishments clarifies the dangers of American populism allowed to guide either corrupt or hapless politicians. The point is US Presidential power is like an AR-15; it means everything who’s hands it is in and why it’s there, and should certainly be regulated.

Trump has laid bare how vulnerable our system is to authoritarian challenge. But equally troubling, this administration highlights our vulnerability to sheer incompetence at a time in history we can least afford it. The vaunted checks and balances we idolized in government classes and election night commentaries are fully wanting when enfeebled by a majority party of cowards and co-conspirators. I suppose it is understandable that our founders, brave enough to risk life and fortune for democratic principle, visionary enough to map out blueprints for political pluralism, and idealistic enough to make protecting minority viewpoints a cornerstone of a new nation, would assume wretched indifference to ethics and courage an aberration instead of the rule for future generations of legislators. But here we are, trapped by a system that may be unable to protect itself. We get the governance we deserve and the GOP proclivity for nihilist opportunism has us by the short hairs. We now know how low they can go!

This Presidency offers nothing redeeming. On every front it assaults the public trust and good will. Its supporters are capable of nothing more than basic totalitarian fare of denying damning facts as media lies, while relying fully on a media that lies around the clock. The cynical tribalism of Trump’s Congressional bloc is now such that most won’t grant interviews to anybody but Fox/AM and trot away silent, as if caught red handed, when asked in public near anything about the POTUS. This is a civil war footing. And it is hard to envision such a group abiding the popular will in any way…up to and including an election drubbing.

At some point it will sink in to even the disinterested that the GOP is no longer adherent to democracy’s strictures, and is conspiring in plain sight to refuse to cede power peacefully when rebuffed in November. Moreover, even a cursory review of states dominated by GOP legislatures clarifies overt efforts to undermine electoral laws and procedures, disenfranchising voters without a hint of hesitation. There isn’t one red state immune to this corruption. All are unapologetically working at every level to restrict the vote. Nonexistent past “voter fraud” is expressed as accepted fact across the Fox/AM table when justifying this blatant campaign to suppress, along with established lies about participation by “illegals”, constantly propagated by the White House.

GOP leaders appear ready to fully throw in with a man so incompetent and corrupt that he exhibits no willingness to even accept responsibility for the actions he claims didn’t break any laws. In other words he lies about things he did, but maintains if he did do them, no laws were broken. The Fox isn’t guarding the hen house; it is eating the hens and daring us to try and do something about it because the farmer hates hens to begin with. BC

The founders had competing ideas of how the POTUS would operate. Federalists, of course, foresaw a stronger executive branch, the better to help establish central government’s authority and unite a new nation. Revenue streams for national priorities required coordination, and that wasn’t going to happen without a more vibrant focal point. Southern states, concerned about their slave-based economy, bristled at a more powerful President; many a southern delegate already viewed the North, with emerging wisps of abolition, warily. From the start it was clear that Presidential power would be an enduring bone of contention.

Yet and still, the foundation of US Presidential authority was to lead. More specifically, to ensure that the worst inclinations of its citizens were not allowed to either paralyze the nation’s ability to act, or lash out impulsively in too damaging a manner. History has seldom been kind to Presidents shirking their duty to confront prevailing tides that clearly portended future calamity if not forcibly addressed by White House action.

Historians, at least up until this Presidency, have deemed James Buchanan our worst President due to his catatonia as slavery in the western territories morphed into secession fever. Coolidge and Hoover had no problem coddling isolationists after WWI seemed to teach many in the hustings, who had lost fathers, sons and husbands, that minding our own business was good foreign policy. It was left to FDR to move political heaven and earth in order to aid Europe as blitzkrig threatened to overrun the continent. Since the Soviets fell on the ash heap, the GOP has polished its mantle on Reagan’s refusal to give in to the No Nuke movement of the 80’s, which turned out millions for protests here and abroad.

Good Presidents lead, it’s that simple. Which brings us to Trump, who provides us the worst of all worlds: a refusal to address our gravest national and global challenges such as climate change, gun violence, economic interdependence and nuclear proliferation by creating for his base a “brand” of activist nihilism that merely panders to their ugliest and least informed instincts. Trump’s “keeping his promises” agenda clarifies a determination to subordinate the national interest to creation of a political brand which places image above all else. Trump is Buchanan on steroids. Instead of simply allowing an unacceptable status quo to endure, he’s actively pursuing edicts (they’re too haphazard to qualify as policies) that actually reverse progress that has been made, for no other purpose than to fit an image his base now expects.

Trade protectionism has always appealed to US workers, particularly as the tab for the failure to adjust our workforce in line with the international system we created has come due. But successive Presidents from both parties have understood the economic damage trade wars promise. Moreover, they have reflected a comprehension that subsidizing US industries only promotes bad habits and ultimately makes us less competitive.

So, absent a more informed electorate, better educated on the vagaries of world trade, Presidents have given lip service to populist impulses, while attempting to tilt the debate in line with macroeconomic realities, pursuing “fairer” trade through established institutions and governing accordingly…leadership. Trump has neither the knowledge or ambition to act responsibly on such matters. Knee jerk doesn’t do justice to his reckless approach, proclaimed in tweets and absent any congressional collaboration. Its negative impact is already being felt, by Trump’s wretched core as much as anybody else.

But he didn’t pick trade fights to promote anything but the image he is selling to a base addled by grievance at the expense of facts, whose own economic interests, like the national well being, are subordinate to the delusion they now have a champion.

Even more ominous is North Korea. Nothing is as important to Trump as the myth of his negotiating prowess. Amidst a Presidency crumbling around him, as well as the chaos of an Administration with no coherent decision-making process, Trump has made delivering a deal with Kim a do-or-die proposition. He neither knows nor cares about the regional landscape any agreement will alter. American commitments to South Korea and their critical role in the maintenance of the region’s balance of power are not a Trump concern. Hasty reductions or withdrawal of US forces in South Korea would destabilize all East Asia and benefit China immeasurably, but such a possibility is not on Trump’s radar; he promised the base a deal.

Would Kim say or sign most anything to get the Americans off the peninsula? Of course he would. He has the same attitude toward contracts as Trump. Does Trump care if Kim keeps his word? Of course not, he only promised to get a deal. If Kim breaks the deal, that’s on him! Trump, like Kim, will do or say or accept anything to get what he wants. In Kim’s case it’s the removal of 35,000 US soldiers, who have been at his doorstep for more than 60 years to ensure US military involvement if he gets cute.

Trump’s objective is simply a signature on the dotted line, which validates he kept his pledge. How the consequences of “the deal” play out are not important to him. The abrupt cancellation of scheduled B-52 exercises with South Korea in response to Kim’s predictable petulance provides ample warning of Trump’s priorities.

Had Jefferson et al been afforded a glimpse into the future and got an eyeful of Trump perhaps they would have rethought some things. A moronic narcissist enabled by a collection of cowardly and craven pols may have forced some adjustments. That said, whether our adherance to the framework they did provide will doom us to the whims of a mob they envisioned a strong executive branch able to tame, remains uncertain. As for our South Korean and other East Asian allies, now forced to rely on empty assurances from ashen emissaries of a leader unimpressed with anything but his own worthless bluster – well, they may be in for a raw deal….the only kind Trump has ever delivered. BC

Randy Boyd is a successful Knoxville, Tennessee entrepreneur running for the state’s GOP nomination for Governor, but he has a big problem that may tank his prospects. Up until recently his outsider campaign has been going pretty well, as he chips away at opponent Congresswoman Diane Black, who has represented the state’s 6th district since 2011.

Despite Black’s strategy as portraying herself as one of Donald Trump’s key allies on the Hill, Boyd’s attacks on her voting record as not reactionary enough on the issues that matter, notably immigration, have been making headway. Indeed, polls show that, although Black has an advantage in name recognition, her negatives are high, and Boyd’s assertions that she isn’t the total Trump supplicant she claims, have been resonating with the wretched core’s Tennessee contingent. Latest polls have Boyd within 5 points of Black and closing, but that could change for the worse due to a disturbing new revelation.

Conexion Americas puts forward on its web site a mission of helping to build a community “where Latino families can belong, contribute and succeed.” Indeed, the site points to programs aimed at learning English, employment opportunities, mastering finances and paying taxes…even home ownership. In short, Conexion Americas appears to be the worst of the worst as far as Tennessee GOP primary voters are concerned, a generous, caring organization devoted to assimilating Hispanic immigrants.

But how is this a crisis for Boyd? After all, he has been out ahead defining illegal immigration as issue one of this election. Black, despite her obssessive pronouncements for all things Trump, the Wall, Mideast travel ban, MS-13 destruction…you name it, is still too soft, Boyd has declared in debates and on the stump; she can’t be trusted, she’s tainted by the requisites of governance. I am the pure nihilist you can count on to live down to your worst inclinations, your ugliest grievances, Boyd promises.

Not so fast. Turns out there is an unseemly bright side to Boyd that has been uncovered. In September of 2016 he donated $250,000 to Conexion Americas, the single largest check they have received since the organization’s inception in 2002. Founder, Renata Soto, who Tennessee state republican legislators suspect supports illegal immigration, rallying against a resolution recognizing her initiative, praised the donation as instrumental in aiding CA’s expansion.

It gets worse. Apparently, Boyd was also affiliated with the College Promise Campaign, an effort to provide two years of free community college, and headed up by none other than Jill Biden. Boyd served on the bipartisan board, filled with liberals and RHINOs, and actually collaborated to provide assistance to needy students. Worse, as Black was quick to screech, some of the aid may have gone to illegals!

Of course Boyd has been downplaying his philanthropy, telling anyone who will listen there is no place Trump can go on immigration that he won’t follow, and besides, isn’t the GOP all about second chances at awfulness? Rest assured, vows Boyd, put me in the governor’s mansion and I won’t let you down, “illegal is illegal”, build the wall, send em packing!!

Tennessee GOP voters are no fools. They’ll watch closely to see who is truly the nastiest ethno-nationalist, and they’re hardly different from Republicans throughout the nation. This is not your father’s GOP, it’s Trump’s. It’s ok to be a hypocrite, but bleeding hearts need to get the hell out. In Tennessee it’s a race to the bottom, just like in Arizona, or in Georgia, or every other GOP state primary. Being entrusted to clean out The Swamp means never having to say you’re decent… or at least making sure everyone believes you are damned ashamed of when you were. BC

The night Trump was elected an incredulous friend of mine wondered what his base would do when they realized he was full of crap and would not be ushering in any American revivals. I answered simply they would blame whoever Fox/AM told them to. But now we see it’s more ominous than that: his wretched core is actually subsuming their economic well being to the broader resentment he and Rush foment hourly. That is, it’s ok if your promises of economic resurgence were a crock so long as you continue whitening America and keeping us safe.

Everywhere now the damaging effects of Trump “keeping his promises” are beginning to dawn on his supporters. Landscapers are getting hit hard because H2-B guest workers are no longer available from south of the border and drug-free whites appear uninterested in $12/hour opportunities to work outdoors. Soybean farmers, fully dependent on Chinese markets, are waiting for the other shoe to drop as China ponders retaliating to Trump trade provocations. Auto workers in Ohio are worried about layoffs because sales of the compacts they build are depressed, a direct result of Trump Administration attacks on air quality regulations. Home builders are behind schedule because, in an economy with 3.9% unemployment, they can’t find young red blooded Americans interested in $17/hour jobs. The list goes on and on… restaurants without kitchen help; hotels without maid service; crops without harvesters, crabs without crab pickers!

Interdependence is kicking ass and confirming just how vapid and self-destructive the Trump campaign talking points were. But his base doesn’t seem to care. Many don’t appear cognizant of the hardship coming their way, believing “fake news” tweets instead of the overdraft notices in the mail. But many who do comprehend the policy-result link appear prepared to subordinate prosperity to the piece of mind they get knowing their grievance empath is at the helm. Resentment, it appears, provides a salve to losing the family farm.

There is absolutely nothing to suggest Trumpenomics, a hybrid of the worst of the GOP (supply-side/trickle-down)and the Democrats (protectionism) will lead to anything but recession or worse. Already, the “signature” accomplishment has ballooned the deficit over a $trillion and promised mountainous debt service payments, even as moronic destruction of established pacts and provoking trade wars ensures inflation and high interest rates. And who will suffer worst, aside from the poor and destitute, who always bear the brunt of tanked economies? Trump’s base, collegeless whites.

How they react to calamity brought to them solely by their champion will provide a glimpse of the fight we may be in for. Aside from the fantasy of Mueller slaying Trump with indictments and money trails, dissidents have banked on his base taking him to task once they realized the joke was on them. That is looking less and less likely, as Tucker solemnly warns about human caravans heading to the border, and Hannity rallies his zombies to be prepared for civil war if Trump is impeached.

Trump will spend the run up to election 18’ holding forth for his nihilists several times a week. Anybody familiar with the shtick knows that white grievance and MS-13, as well as labeling vital institutions as traitorous because they, well… exist, take a lion’s share of the recital. It’s not hard to imagine, as the economy begins to buckle, that Trump will add more ethno-nationalist red meat and redefine how they are all MAGAing together.

The degree it works will mirror the broader threat Trump and the Fox/AM beast responsible for his ascent represent. If flyover farmers look past needless destruction of foreign markets as long as they feel the culture war is being won, then rhyme or reason, already in very short supply, has been fully replaced by collective visceral grievance by 40% of the electorate. That guarantees a burgeoning political class of Trumpies, which in turn hastens the GOP’s demise and makes reviving our system that much more difficult. “It’s the economy stupid” may very well be giving way to “speak English in my country!” And that sucks in any language. BC

UN Resolutions 242 and 338 have been the basis for negotiations in the Arab-Israeli conflict since they were passed unanimously decades ago, the first after the 1967 conflict, and the second after the Yom Kippur War in October of 73’. They are monuments to legalese, with hours of arguments devoted to a comma, or a “the”. I suppose this is because negotiators figured haggling over a word, signified hope accord could be reached on broader issues as well.

At their core, the resolutions translate simply to land for peace, peace pertaining to recognition of Israel’s right to exist. The land in question is territory taken by Israel after routing Arab forces in both 67’ and 73’. Specifically, at issue is the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The Sinai bordering Egypt and the Golan Heights bordering Syria were also part of the mix, but the Sinai was ceded back as part of the Camp David Accords in 1978 and Israel, refusing to give up the strategic advantage of the Golan Heights, formerly annexed the area in 81’ even though no country approved the action. But the crux of the issue has always been the West Bank, or as Israeli hard liners, most prominantly represented by the Likud Party and current Prime Minister Bibi Netenyahu, refer to it… Judea and Samaria.

The dispute between the Palestinian leadership, fragmented by the refusal of the radical Hamas wing to accept much of anything less than open hostilities, and Israel is as intractable as any issue in human history. Every layer one pulls back reveals more obstacles. But make no mistake, without at least the idea of a pathway to agreement, regardless how distant, the region would explode, with moderates and democrats becoming endangered species.

Likud is an extreme party, whose vision of the West Bank has never waivered from its status as a rightful Jewish homeland, come what may. Whatever generosity of spirit a Likud government exihibited at the negotiating table on other questions, like Gaza or the Sinai, they have never seriously considered concessions on the West Bank. Likud strategy since Begin in the late 70s has been the same: get enough settlements in place to make it politically untenable for any Israeli government to reverse course as part of a deal. This ambition has been at odds with every US Administration since Johnson. Even W gave lip service to unconstrained settlement as an obstacle to peace. Obama recognized it for what it was and took Netenyahu to task, drawing fire up to and past the line of being dubbed an anti-semite. Yet and still, there can be no argument that, if no Israeli government can negotiate away settled land on the West Bank as part of a peace deal, then there is no deal left to make.

Complicating all of this even more is the status of Jerusalem, which both Jews and Muslims hold as a sacred city. When Israel took control of East Jerusalem in 1967, its soldiers sobbed at the Wailing Wall, and General Moshe Dayan exclaimed that Jewish prophecy had been fulfilled. The status of the city has become as significant as any symbol in the Arab-Israeli conflict, with Muslims just as entrenched about their religious bonds and obligation to secure them. While Israelis declare Jerusalem to be their capital, foreign governments have wisely kept their embassies in Tel Aviv, fully understanding how volatile the issue is and cognizant that to locate in Jerusalem would abandon any pretense as an honest broker…. until today.

That Trump knows precious little about the conflict is obvious; the gibberish he spews on the subject is near unintelligible. When he declared his ambition to “get a deal” and sent his son-in-law – who had zero experience or qualification for anything more than visiting as a tourist – things went surreal. Appointing his bankruptcy lawyer Ambassador was another sign that this Administration had a credibility problem. But when Trump declared that the US would locate its embassy in East Jerusalem, he ended the US days as lead mediator in the region.

It’s hard to think of an issue his wretched core cared less about. Even Netenyahu, who had Trump pegged as a useful tool from the outset, mentioned it only in passing, focusing instead on abrogation of the Iran nuclear deal. But Trump has decided his political brand will be checking off the boxes on declarations he vomited at campaign rallies. He couldn’t wait to make the announcement. Of course, if he had any advisors worth a White House parking pass, they would have blasted the move as idiotic and unnecessary. But the chances these days of any competent counsel at 1600 Pennsylvania is slim and none, and slim never did get an office.

So today our POTUS is proudly tweeting how he “accomplished” what others couldn’t. And he has dispatched a genuine anti-semite to the scene of the crime as our country’s theological emissary to bless the event. Meanwhile, Palestinian kids by the dozens will die today lashing out at another perceived outrage. Just in case any moderate Palestinian holds out hope the US can still be an honest broker, the White House made clear it is unreasonable to ask Israel for restraint in addressing the protests because Hamas is solely responsibe. The Trump approach to Mideast peace vis a vis the Palestinians is just say thank you or else.

For its part, Israel has no carrots left to offer, but Netenyahu and Likud much preferred the stick in the first place. Like Trump, who he already knows how to play like a favorite woodwind, Bibi never met a wall he didn’t like. And also like Trump, he views democracy as the problem, a good way to end up in jail. To Bibi’s eyes a security state has a very nice ring to it. Meanwhile, the Trump faithful are also all for it; they’ll take a Jew over an A-Rab any day…at least for now. BC

Last year geneticists discovered that most people have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA. Turns out that at least two distinct hominid species, Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals, dwelt in European forests together and interbred.

But of course you remember this story, it dominated news cycles due to the enormity of the findings and their compelling implications, right? C’mon! You remember, right?

Not so much.

Why so little fanfare? This is among the most fascinating scientific discoveries of our lifetime, with implications from cellular biology to anthropology. It’s astonishing to discover that we Homo Sapiens interbred with another completely different hominid species.

It also adds a new element to an age old drama, the child who falls in love outside of the tribe; “Guess Who’s Come Coming to Dinner” or “Romeo and Juliet” Paleolithic style.

Coming to a theatre near you:
“Forbidden Love: The Passion of Grall and Gogg.”

“Grall, you cannot marry that Neanderthal boy. I forbid it! Can’t you see that he’s not good enough for you? Sure, you love him now but what will the Sapiens say?! Think of your children -1/2 Sapien, ½ Neanderthal? – what kind of future will they have? And honey I’m sorry, but Gogg? Really? That protruding occipital ridge…I don’t know how you can even look at him, let alone…you know…”

“Father, I love Gogg. If you can’t accept that, we will run off to the Homo Habilus, where we’ll be accepted for who we are.”

So why hasn’t this Neanderthal/Sapien comingling enrapt us? Turns out white people have the most Neanderthal DNA and the only people without a trace of Neanderthal DNA are of African descent. That’s right. African’s represent “Sapien purity” while Europeans aren’t even all “human.” Yet another jagged little pill of irony for the Eurocentric mind to swallow.

So what happened? It appears that those Sapiens who left their Mother Africa for the “new world” of Europe encountered Neanderthals and made babies; then, somehow the Neanderthals died out (which begs the question: Is the Neanderthal story the first, and perhaps most profound genocide in all of hominid history?) Whatever the answer to that one, we know that despite their disappearance for roughly 30,000 years, Neanderthals are still 1-4% of us white people!

Let’s try this thought experiment: Imagine the findings were reversed and black people had 1-4% Neanderthal DNA, while white people were “Sapien pure.” Wouldn’t the story dominate cable news every night for a while? Might we see panel discussions between right wing pundits blowing the “blacks have Neanderthal DNA and we don’t? Makes sense to me…” dog whistles, while white liberal and black pundits push back that 1-4% of Neanderthal DNA in black people is of no consequence? Would the “The Bell Curve 2.0” have exploded on the NY Times bestseller list? Would the “black Neanderthal DNA” issue have become yet another nasty right wing rallying cry? Maybe “BNDNA” could have seeped into the 2016 Presidential campaign?

Clinton: “Donald says the presence of Neanderthal DNA in black people proves their inferiority and wants to prohibit African immigration—shame on him!”

Trump: “No one cares more for the blacks than I do, believe me, but BNDNA is a real thing, and people are saying we need to look into it.”

Sadly, we know these scenarios aren’t too far fetched. As it turned out, the story made page 6 in the science and tech section. Apparently, confounding assumptions both sides of the media hold – the right wittingly, the left less so – regarding the evolutionary leg up Caucasian’s are supposed to enjoy doesn’t seem to cut it as lead story material, even on slow news days.

Europeans have traveled and inexorably disrupted all habitable continents for 6 centuries. This is our present day context and legacy. No doubt, this century and centuries to come will see shifting geopolitical and racial tides of power, as they always do and European disruption does not mean European supremacy on anything but a military level. But like it or not, this has been the era of impact, influence, and dominance of the European Continent by any and all means.

It’s a fundamental human drive to explain our own history in the best light possible. Among white people in the US, narratives that cleanse our skins of our sins, and convert those sins to virtues (eg. Columbus Day, Thanksgiving) are just normal expressions of human nature. Indeed, to the victor goes the privilege of writing one’s own history. These histories inevitably and inaccurately affirm not just the victor’s dominance, but their righteousness.

And so I conclude this thought experiment in this way: no matter our political leanings or our moral compass, we are driven by forces we don’t recognize to confirm that which we think we know (aka. confirmation bias). In the case of our poor cousins, the Neanderthals, the task starts with an entirely racist, or “Speciesist” proposal: that Neanderthal DNA is “less than” Sapien DNA. Who’s says Neanderthal DNA isn’t superior to Sapien DNA? We Sapiens say, that’s who, because we wrote our own “glorious” history, but that doesn’t make it so.

By extension, this trial helps explain racism, or any “ism,” as we move Heaven and Earth to validate our “betterness.” We only evolve as we recognize the limits of our perceptions and impulses to fill in the unknown with content that makes us feel good while batting away those inconvenient truths, like Neanderthal DNA. And if you don’t think so, just ask Darwin or Copernicus whose discoveries were not only inconvenient, but deemed heretical. Now? They’re accepted quite freely (well, Copernicus at least). Similarly, the flawed narrative of today’s racism will march on before dissolving in the ever shifting geopolitical tides, and the higher truth that my race isn’t better than yours emerges with Copernican acceptance, no matter my inherited urge to prove otherwise. JS

I have a friend named Daryl. We connected on Facebook. He is the younger cousin and brother of a couple of old high school friends of mine. Daryl served in the Air Force near 25 years ago, and is of course proud of his tenure, cherishing the relationships he made while based in locales that included South Korea. Not too many days pass that he doesn’t relay a story derived from his tour of duty, or mention his beloved, recently departed brother, Brian, who was also an airman. Daryl is deeply religious and a sharp dresser. Often, he will post a picture of himself with his wife in a stylish suit, adorned w a red, white and blue tie, or hankercheif. Yes, safe to say Daryl is not bashful with his patriotism. He also happens to be African-American.

Like most black community leaders, Daryl has been incensed by the steady stream of police brutality, as well as increasing episodal and organized racism. He lives in Georgia, which seems to have more than its share of bias, so he often posts about incidents. Reading his comments is hard because they express a patriot’s disappointment in his country. But it is perhaps the purest commentary one will find on the issue of whether two Americas exist because Daryl has no agenda, and imbibes no narrative. There is nothing gratuitous or political about his observations. He simply calls it like he sees it.

Fox/AM does disgusting things almost on the hour, but at the top of the pantheon of greatest hits is its attacks on Black Lives Matter and other groups responding to outrageous, often fully documented, police brutality against unarmed US citizens. The tide turned against the south on civil rights in the 60s when a nation watched grotesque cruelty and injustice on television. Now, 50 years later, something has changed. Not only do otherwise decent people seem desensitized to the same type of ugly images, but an entire multimedia platform spins what is right before us, while declaring those seeking redress to be extremists, even criminals. Walter Cronkite, where are you when we need you.

Daryl clearly respects the law and the uniform. He simply sees what the rest of us see and responds accordingly. He trusts his eyes and ears, and has no need for Laura Ingraham to explain how they tricked him. Of course, he is deeply offended that our POTUS seems to think bigots have valid points to make, but appears to do a remarkable job compartmentalizing his love for country from egregious examples of bigotry carried out under its banner. To my eyes, he doesn’t abide injustice, but keeps the faith.

The concept of white privilege comes up more frequently these days. It’s present in a wide range of forums, from academia, as an emerging field of study, to the Shit River, where it’s gaslighted as an egregious form of liberal psychosis. For me, it’s like Oliver Wendell Holmes’ definition of pornography… you know it when you see it. And its there in Daryl’s FB threads because white soldiers don’t have to consider the possibility that the country they served and love feels less about them because of their skin color and ancestry. It’s an emotional dilemma that will never cross their mind. Lucky them. BC