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There is a condition known as Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), coined and fully researched by an Orthopedic Doctor named John Sarno. In a nutshell it explains and cures chronic back pain by understanding that, while the pain indeed does exist, its origins are emotional. It is a physical manifestation of subconscious thoughts your brain does not want to consciously consider. Celebrities who have benefitted from the diagnosis include Howard Stern and Rosie O’Donnell.

As a quick example of TMS let’s say Jim has an elderly mother facing increasing challenges on her own. Jim won’t consider her living anywhere but with him, he loves her so. After converting a wing of his house she moves in to the entire family’s approval. A month into the arrangement it snows 8 inches and Jim, as he has always done, shovels the driveway. Bending down to haul up a particularly large clump of the white stuff, Jim feels a pop and his lower back locks up in spasm. For the next week he is fully bed ridden and even when he finally is up and around the pain never fully subsides. When it snows again a few weeks later he doesn’t even consider shoveling, but a couple weeks after that he is unloading groceries and another episode occurs.

This time he sees an orthopedist, who runs an MRI and let’s him know a small herniation can be seen at a lower disc site. The doctor recommends a conservative rehab approach but asserts surgery is an option. Jim chooses a laminectomy, which scrapes the cartilage presumably pressing the nerve. Doctor says all went well and assumes after rehab Jim will be back to “near” 100%. Yet and still, perhaps he should accept some limits that come with age.

Jim is happy with the results, religiously follows the rehab schedule, and within several months has forgotten his back issue. Then one morning he wakes up in serious pain. By noon he can barely walk and is fully debilitated. This time there is no activity or incident he can blame so he assumes he slept in a bad position, or maybe the disc has somehow herniated again. Another week of convalescence but the pain really hasn’t subsided and now fully obsesses him. Back to the orthopedist, another MRI, a diagnosis that there “could” be some impingement but nothing conclusive. Could be stenosis. Fusion surgery may solve the problem. Thus, Jim is now fully imprisoned within the chronic pain cycle, which will rob him of his active lifestyle, threaten his ability to make a living, and even imperil what was a very happy marriage.

A TMS perspective examines a parallel time line dating back to when the symptoms began. Anything in Jim’s life change significantly around then? His mom moved in. How has that gone? It’s wonderful. We all love her. The kids couldn’t be happier. Sure she needs some help doing things, and keeping up with her medications and the sale of her house has been a bit of a hassle, not to mention the added worry of seeing her diminished mental acuity day to day, but on balance we love having her. It is what a grateful child does for his mother.

What TMS asserts is that deep in Jim’s subconscious there is a part of his emotional landscape that fully rebels against this selfless mentality. It is me me me oriented… like a child. It is enraged that what was a free and easy routine of enjoying dinners out and self-sufficient kids, now has to suffer at the service of a failing senior. Why do I have to do this? What about my sister? Everything always falls to me? And mom is only getting worse. What about when she is fully incapacitated? It’s not fair!!

Of course, Jim’s conscious mind would never entertain such thoughts. He loves helping his mom. Whatever needs to be done he’ll do. She’s wonderful and brings everybody together. She’s his mother for God’s sake! It is the conflict between the conscious mind’s selfless love for his mom and the shameful, childish narcissism of the unconscious that a TMS diagnosis blames for his chronic back pain. Jim’s back is perfectly fine, but to protect itself from unacceptable, shameful thoughts of the unconscious, his brain has provided a distraction through the autonomic nervous system (that which regulates all of the things we do not think about… like breathing or reflexes).

By depriving his lower torso of just enough oxygen to cause a cramp or spasm, Jim’s consciousness has provided something else to think about, thus protecting itself from an invasion of ugly unacceptable thoughts about his mother’s care. The prescription? Simply recognize the unconscious thoughts and reassure the conscious mind they exist. Above all understand the back is structurally fine, the pain benign. All of the activities you gave up can be pursued again. Voila. TMS explained.

Who knew an orthopedic surgeon, thinking outside the box to cure chronic pain, would also diagnose what now ails our Republic? What Sarno isolates in the human emotional landscape has surfaced to bedevil our political life. A slice of our body politic, once silent in the subconscious of our national discussion, now incessessently chattering toxic narcissism and causing spasms within our national identity. Selfish whiners, ceaselessly complaining about the responsibilities and deference to diversity our civic platform has adopted over the decades. A relentless chorus of “it’s not fair” and “why do I have to pay for that?!

Just like with Jim, surrendering to a distraction is not an option. Understanding that striving toward our better nature is necessary for the survival of the system we revere means our darkest feelings, while clearly evident in our national psyche, belong in the recesses of our identity. The fact our POTUS is their creation must be understood as an aberration, a vile distraction in our experiment’s continuum. We love our nation and understand what constitutes its greatness. To accept anything else will ruin us, and chronic back aches will become the least of our concerns. Me me me is not us us us! BC

In 1934 one could argue the most powerful man in America operated out of a dilapidated building in a run down area of Kansas City, Missouri. Tom Pendergast (TJ) headed a political machine so widespread and powerful that virtually every elected official and government employee in Missouri was touched to some degree by his patronage. Rare was the candidate who could win election swimming against Pendergast waters. Harry Truman, himself was created and wholly supported by TJ’s operation. Known as the “Senator from Pendergast” when he arrived in DC, Truman was in fact as honest a politician as one could find. That TJ allowed Truman the autonomy to carry out his duties in a completely transparent manner, often times at odds with the overt graft the organization required from others, speaks to the total confidence and control Pendergast exerted.

While Tom Pendergast ultimately met with ruin and prison, the result of an ill-timed trip abroad, colon cancer, and a serious horse betting addiction, at the zenith of his influence no political organization was ever more impressive.

He even inspired Jeff Smith’s arch-nemesis Jim Taylor in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, such was the noteriety of his machine. Yet and still, the Pendergast network was, like its boss, complex. It was corrupt and criminal to be sure, but it also delivered benefits to at least thousands, whose gratitude could always be counted on come Election Day.

It’s doubtful Donald Trump has sat through many movies, particularly productions with much of a plot and multiple characters. And it is more certain he has never read any book of history, or a biography, cover to cover. Getting through the preface and several pages of the first chapter would likely have him crowing with pride to anyone in the unfortunate spot of having to listen. Yet and still, were Trump to have a role model from our past, it would surely be Tom Pendergast.

More than anything else, Trump acts the part of a machine boss, granting patronage over, not just the US, but the entire world. He believes the goodies are his to dole out – pardons and tariffs, executive orders and regulatory relief, trade deals and endorsements – all his to bestow. His ignorance of government is genuine, his belief he hovers above accountability unshakable. “Negotiation” is simply what circumstances he imagines he can induce to reward or punish his counterpart.

Trump conflates his election with the omnipotence of one soley in charge of the fortunes of millions loyal to him. As the depression worsened in the early 30’s, the daily line to see old Tom Pendergast would extend blocks from his Kansas City office, all hoping for a job or benefit he alone had the ability to provide. When Trump sees the lines of his wretched core forming for one of his rallies, he, and I suppose they, fantasize about the same kind of power; but his acolytes will be forced to make do with a touch of heatstroke and 90 torturously boring minutes of their lives they will never get back.

When Trump meets with our allies and trading partners it is in the character of a Don ready to discuss territory. The zero-sum paradigm he relies on for context could be put forth by Sonny Corleone… “What’s mine is mine. What’s yours we can discuss…” Of course, all of the subtleties and careful intrigues men like Pendergast innately understood after years of developing their operation from the ground up are absent in Trump as he lurches from one tweet storm to the next. His real frailties await meetings with foes, who are treated to docile servility from Mr. Tough Guy. Indeed, the “Big Boss” persona is merely a fantasy our lawmakers seem intent on indulging. Where it leads is anybody’s guess; uncharted territory provides nothing more than uncertainty.

But make no mistake, these “instincts” analysts default to when coming up short in finding a way to describe utter cluelessness are merely the delusions of a faker, an imposter of no intellect, discernment or measurable educational base, careening from one self-made predicament to the next.

I can imagine myself with the baller skills of LeBron, but that doesn’t make it so. And my delusion is really only pertinent if some GM were stupid enough to put faith in my guff and feature me in his starting five. We’ve done that. TJ had a line for turning down those he felt were undeserving of his patronage… “we’ve got somebody else in mind.” While it’s more tactful than our naked emperor requires or deserves, its essentials need to be displayed yesterday, while we remain a going concern. BC

Anyone interested in a portrait of consummate public service need only look at Maine’s Secretary of State, Matthew Dunlap. Born and raised in Bar Harbor, Dunlap was first elected to the state’s legislature representing the 121st district in 1996.

An avid sportsman and environmentalist, Dunlap distinguished himself as the Chairman of the House Committee on Fish and Game, as well as the Joint Committee of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Maine isn’t called the Vacation State for nothing; and right up there with tourism on the state’s economic ladder is fish and crustaceans. Assuring the vibrancy of both industries is a purely bipartisan mission, and that’s exactly the way Dunlap approached things during his tenure.

In 2004 the Legislature elected Dunlap Secretary of State, and with the exception of two years, when the GOP briefly gained control of the chamber in 2010, Dunlap has occupied the position with distinction, and a pronounced lack of controversy, quietly bringing Maine election infrastructure into the digital age. Perhaps his most notable achievement is the state’s Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE), an initiative designed to expand access and participation of deployed military personnel in state and federal elections.

If there is a breathing opposite to Dunlap’s dramaless competency, it would be Kris Kobach, current Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial candidate in Kansas. Although Kansas is near 85% white, it’s immigrant population has grown over the last decade to near 10% of the workforce, more than enough to cause unease among those given to obsess on such matters… Kobach’s primary constituency.

Not satisfied with beating up on Hispanic immigrants primarily working jobs white citizens have no interest performing, Kobach also traffics in anti-Muslim bigotry, promoting registries, lest they steal your first born or blow up your grain silo. Obama as Kenyan has also been a major Kobach preoccupation. But if general bigotry is the seed of Kobach’s politics, voter disenfranchisement is the tree in his yard. Baseless voter fraud claims and ever more restrictive voter ID initiatives are how he has earned his salary in Kansas. Tall and handsome, he never met a camera he didn’t want to be in front of, becoming a Fox/AM darling.

Indeed, Kobach spent thousands of Kansas taxpayers’ hard earned money on investigations into allegations he made up, and used to justify flying near 5000 miles in a private jet. Nine examples of double voting were eventually discovered, most by addled GOP seniors. But that was enough for Kobach to trumpet “the fraud in my state” when making the Fox/AM rounds heralding his state’s myriad of voter restrictions.

All of which brings us to the election of Donald Trump, despite his three million vote deficit in the national tally. Facts being a near constant nemesis of the President, he was determined from the outset to make sure they did nothing to undermine the legitimacy of “one of the biggest landslides ever.”

Illegal immigrants were the culprit, shrieked the President-elect, we’ll get to the bottom of this! Time for a commission. Get me that voter ID guy who agrees with me! You know, the one I’ve seen on Hannity! Thus, the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity was born in May of last year with Vice President Pence as its symbolic chairman and Kobach its Vice Chair, effectively it’s operational director.

Most of the commission’s remaining eleven slots went to fellow travelers of Kobach’s fact free conspiracy realm. Hans von Spakovsky, a George W. Bush recess appointee to the Federal Election Commission in 2006, eventually withdrawn after a bipartisan storm of opposition citing his enduring affection for disenfranchising minority voters, was typical of the commission’s bent. Indeed, von Spakovsky was vehement that Democrats and RINO Republicans should be excluded from the panel. How Dunlap was seated seems an oversight; perhaps it was assumed, since he hailed from Maine, the home of nihilist Trump booster and GOP Governor Paul Le Page, he could be counted on to at least look the other way as the group obediently followed the President’s narrative.

From the outset both red and blue states fully objected to Kobach’s demands for access to their voter rolls. Unwilling to indulge factless allegations which implied incompetence and corruption within their ranks, state secretaries throughout the country pushed back and refused to play along. By January of this year, after only two actual meetings, the group was disbanded, leaving a trail of distrust caused by its pursuit of a premise most, with the exception of the White House and Fox/AM thought absurd – nobody more than Matt Dunlap, who refused to move on, and just this week reigned fire and brimstone on the whole sorry farce.

In a blunt letter to both Pence and Kobach this week, Dunlap accused the White House and Kobach of “troubling bias” in support of Trump’s original lie that millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. After reviewing thousands of pages of commission documents he had to go to court to get publicly released, Dunlap categorically concluded zero voter fraud had been uncovered. Since Kobach refused to allow that conclusion in the commission’s report, Dunlap simply released the entire cache “so Americans can conclude for themselves that evidence…does not exist.”

In other words, after thousands of pages of effort by Kobach to jam the square peg of facts into the circular space of Trump’s baseless charge, not only did Kobach come up empty, but then abjectly refused to acknowledge reality within the panel’s findings. It was a lie from start to finish, costing god-knows how much in taxpayer funds.

That Dunlap’s best efforts will never result in either Trump or Kobach conceding the truth will surprise nobody, such is the despairingly normalized stream of falsehoods this White House and its supporters project. Yet and still, one can find real solace in Matt Dunlap and his ilk, priceless cogs in the machinery of our democracy, resisting with truth the lies determined to ruin us. In the age of Trump, utterly plain dedication to the public trust has never looked so good! BC

It’s doubtful Thurman Blevins knew when he woke up on his last day that it was going to be his last day. Perhaps he was troubled by life and drank to assuage his sadness. Maybe he had a beef with somebody and thought carrying a gun prudent for his safety. Impossible to know. He won’t be clearing things up. He’s dead, another black man shot by a police officer, who deemed it necessary to unload an entire clip into a fleeing suspect.

Jerry Jones owns one of sport’s most valuable franchises. The Dallas Cowboys start every season with more than the eyes of Texas upon them. Over time, and several Super Bowl championships, the Cowboy brand has spread throughout the country, enveloping fans thousands of miles away, with no significant ties to the Lone Star State. Many are African American.

The call from dispatch said a black male appeared drunk and had reportedly fired a gunshot in the air. Nobody could blame a police officer for coming into that scenario on edge and expecting a confrontation. Fortunately, in what has become the norm, we are privy to the entire unvarnished episode caught on body cam. The officers came upon a man walking his dog and speaking calmly with a woman and young child. There is clearly a gun tucked in his hip. One can assume Thurman Blevins saw the squad car approaching, yet he did nothing until the officer, seeing the gun, jumped out of the car screaming profanity and ordering Blevins to the ground. At that point the suspect turns and frantically begins to run away.

The NFL comes into the 2018 season with a gargantuan problem, largely of its own making. The POTUS, as he always does, has incited his followers and fellow travelers, to villianize black NFL players intent on kneeling during the national anthem to protest countless police shootings of unarmed black men, many caught on camera in egregious detail. What Colin Kaepernick started, many players appear willing to continue, despite warnings – the most direct and penal announced by Jones and his son last week – from team owners of possible fines and suspensions for engaging in behavior the NFL has been loath to clearly define. White Trump supporters swear they will find other things to do Sunday afternoon and Monday night if the unpatriotic protesters continue unabated.

Throughout the chase the officer repeatedly screams he will shoot Thurman Blevins if he does not stop. Blevins is heard responding he wants to be left alone, and imploring to know what he did, even though there is little doubt he is in possession of a gun. Blevins is in pretty good shape and appears to be able to control the pace of the chase as the two continue yelling back and forth. Clearly, the officer is getting more winded the further they run. At no time does it appear Blevins plans to shoot at the officer.

Last week Jones defined his reading of NFL anthem policy. “You stand for the anthem, toes on the line,” asserted the man who last year actually knelt with his players before feeling the backlash of Trump, and those his tweets and MAGA rally declarations incited. Since then Jones’ son Stephen, a Cowboys executive, said players would stand “if they want to remain Cowboys”… fairly unambiguous. Meanwhile, starting QB Zach Prescott, uninterested in challenging ownership on the issue, stated NFL games are “not the proper venue” to protest. How his teammates feel on the issue is unclear, but there has certainly been no stampede of support from black Cowboys for Prescott’s take on the matter.

Watching Truman Blevins go down it is unclear how many times he was shot; it was later confirmed fourteen shots were fired, hitting him four times. Apparently, the officer never pondered lesser measures, perhaps one round to debilitate Blevins, as he chased him. At no time is it clear that Blevins aimed a gun at the officer, although in announcing the decision not to prosecute the DA declared it a certainty.

In the end the pursuing officer made good on his repeated promises to shoot Blevins, who is now dead. He was no angel, with a host of priors, and he had a gun and was reported to be intoxicated. He was also shot multiple times in the back as he fled a police officer, who never presented himself in any way other than a profanity-screaming aggressor, threatening from the beginning to shoot Blevins dead.

As happens in more than 95% of police shootings of black men, armed or unarmed, the officer(s) will not be prosecuted and will likely keep their jobs and be patrolling the streets of Minneapolis again soon. The police union let fly ridiculous rhetoric, sadly common in these situations, that the officers deserved “the highest” medals for their actions. Commendations are the last thing that jumps to mind reviewing the footage. If Blevin’s shooting is complicated, it comes on the heels of Philando Castile’s killing, also caught on camera, an execution by any measure. In fact ten unarmed men have been killed by Minneapolis’ finest since 2000. When a well is poisoned, all of the watered becomes toxic.

That Jerry Jones may be losing sleep is his own doing. He has cornered himself with a position, that while earning props from the divider in chief, robs him of options and leaves him at the mercy of his players. If Zeke Elliot, Allen Hurns, Tavon Austin, etc. decide to show solidarity with Kaepernick, so obviously blacklisted for taking a stand, and take a knee opening day, Jones will have a decision to make, a prospect it’s a sure bet he dreads. One thing is certain, at the end of the day he is powerless in the matter. That’s a feeling many fans of the team he owns can empathize with.

People of Color, Deliver us from Evil

Jon Schwartz

If America consisted only of white people, there would be no democratic party and virtually every voting district in America would be Red. This all-white scenario has traveled some distance in my lifetime, from a fringe notion amongst the extreme, quiet racist voices to an increasingly popular utopian “make America great again” dream for many of our countrymen.

Indeed, if only white people lived in America, Donald Trump would’ve won in a landslide, likely not losing a single electoral college vote. Most every Senator, Congressman, Governor, and statehouse would be red. The Supreme Court would be on call to aid and abet every money grab that the White-only private sector might request. The country would sing a unified chorus of political homogeneity.

But it would no longer be America.

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, foodstamps, housing assistance, Pell grants, the Veterans Administration, the US post office, and virtually every government funded institution would be privatized. We’d have no EPA, FEC, FCC, IRA, or any other government entity to check the inevitable by-products of purely profit driven systems.

There would be no Centers for Disease Control or National Institutes of Health, just big pharma research labs in search of the next ED remedy or weight loss panacea. Gone would be free public education for our children; rich kids might attend “the Apple school” or “Tesla Academy;” “Jiffy Lube U” or “McDonalds A&M” for the middle class; a donated church basement and chalkboard for the poor. Our military would be mercenary, the tool of emperors and oligarchs, tailored for conquest and occupation. Gun laws would not exist, open carry the norm.

Does this MAGA paradise sound familiar?

Welcome to Russia, America.

Fortunately we are not all white. People of color live in America, which is excellent news if you’re a fan of the US Constitution. They are the levee protecting us from a red tidal wave.

Are you glad Roy Moore isn’t a US Senator? Thank black Alabama voters, 96% of whom voted for Doug Jones as opposed to 70% of white voters who cast their ballots for Moore, troubled more by a Democrat than a child molester.

The myth created by media repetition that white women deliver us from the right wing was repudiated in the last election. While women of color overwhelmingly rejected Trump, more white women voted for him than not, deciding a first ever female POTUS was less desirable than a self-described p***y grabber.

The divide is not gender. It’s not economic. It’s not rural vs. urban. What divides us most is race.

As a result, people of color are the only voting bloc in America that presents any hope of preserving the Constitution of our nation. Their vote continues to preserve the institutions and programs that have elevated our country from an audacious idea to history’s greatest, most benevolent (believe it or not) empire. They alone now hold back the morally gangrenous rot that has infiltrated the US from the Caucasian red tide currently addling responsible governance.

This may seem a harsh over-simplification. Race issues which highlight the non-white American voting bloc’s opposition to totalitarian impulses of this Caucasian red administration can be uncomfortable, but they are no less true. Consider the following anti-American facts from the Trump administration:

*More than half of Republicans favor suspending the 2020 election (let that one sink in!).

*The US under Trump is the only country out of the Paris Climate Treaty.

*The US under Trump took the unprecedented step of breaking our multinational non-nuclear treaty with Iran.

*The US under Trump seeks to dismantle NATO, a multinational democratic partnership that has preserved relative peace and prosperity in this world for the past 70 years during the nuclear era.

The last 18 months can’t be analyzed within a left vs right paradigm because the creation and support of the earth Trump is scorching was fully bipartisan. No previous administration would have survived such recklessness because it would have cast itself adrift from any bloc of support. But the times they are a changin’. Trump’s MAGA bloc is the only reason his presidency still exists. Trump’s GOP is now The Caucasian Red Party. They’d elect Putin in a heartbeat over any Democratic or old guard Republican candidate.

Without those who make us racially heterogeneous, the coalition comprised of the “Christian” right, NRA and the full spectrum of formerly extreme/currently mainstream elements of the “politically incorrect” universe would steamroll national US elections and render us unrecognizable.

How ironic that people of color, whose “blessings of liberty” promise has been historically shortchanged, are most responsible for preserving the US Constitution’s viability! Despite being denied the promise and protection of our founders’ vision, it is people of color whose voting record suggests a patriotism and constitutional ardor not found among the Caucasian red, who cuts with matricidal zeal at the tree of liberty that they planted and has blessed them with sumptuous shade and fruitful abundance for two and one half centuries.

The United States of America, through our Constitution, has acted as the Earth’s crust, imposing a hard layer of discipline and overarching values to keep the chaotic magma from exploding forth. But that crust is as thin and vulnerable as it’s ever been. The melting pot theory’s success requires the dominant white cultures’ embrace. It is startlingly, undeniably clear that MAGA voters have wholeheartedly rejected this concept. As the MAGA magma pressure bubbles and boils beneath, people of color, people of good faith, and the world waits atop a trembling crust in hopes of surviving the molten devastation of the dismal Caucasian red tide.

There were a myriad of grave concerns the morning after Donald Trump was elected. His campaign had been a travesty, defined by bigotry and ingnorance. The candidate refused to release basic tax information, and was immersed in personal scandals, including then unsubstantiated rumors of payoffs to past lovers, as well as fully vetted accounts by multiple women of sexual harassment. The candidate would not cooperate in removing himself from his countless and complex business connections. Moreover, there was already evidence of disturbing outreach by the winner’s campaign team and Russian government officials. And, of course, his unhinged behavior on the stump was unlike anything ever witnessed in American Presidential politics.

But nothing topped the simple fact that for the first time American voters had elected a man, who not only didn’t expect to win, but never wanted to win. Neither the President-elect or his campaign had initiated any preparation for governing. Zero! No transition team. No policy white papers. No lists of possible cabinet appointments. No decision-making flow charts, or any sort of proactive anticipation of White House organization. Nothing!

As the first Tuesday of November arrived, the entire Trump campaign leadership was plotting their next career move after an electoral defeat every last one of them would have bet their 401K on, were anyone dumb enough to offer up such a wager. Forget two months, this group would need two years to get their act together.

In any other administration, Mike Pompeo’s appointment as CIA Director would have been a stunning head scratcher, sure to face a rough confirmation ride. But amidst the incredible group of neophytes, incompetents, and out and out overt enemies of the missions defining the very agencies they were picked to lead, Pompeo did not stand out as particularly grievous. Still, Democrats had no problem reciting from a long list of nutty positions and quotes Pompeo put forth as a Fox/AM prototype.

The 3-term Kansas Congressman, a Koch/Tea Party creation, was most well known for particularly shrill and inane questioning of Hillary Clinton as part of the Benghazi inquisition. And his public statements were littered with tid bits typical of so many Fox/AM regurgitaters the 2010 wave washed into DC.

From his campaign twitter account calling a Democratic Indian opponent for Congress a “turbon topper,” to declaring that diplomacy with Iran wouldn’t replace “2000 US sorties” when it came to halting their nuclear ambitions, Pompeo was target rich in the unhinged department. In 2013 he toured Guantanamo Bay, where a number of inmates were on a hunger strike, Pompeo, ever the Tea Party wit, quipped they “look like they gained weight.”

Still, compared to a Betsy DeVos, Scott Pruitt, or a Ben Carson, Pompeo was relatively tenable and had no serious problem getting confirmed. When Trump used him as window dressing during the disastrous initial visit to the CIA – “where’s Mike? There he is.” – gushing about how smart his guy was in between waxing on the need to abscond with Iraqi oil, Pompeo was shown for exactly the Trump lackey he didn’t seem to mind becoming.

In contrast to Pompeo, Rex Tillerson qualified as a heavyweight within the Trump cabinet. The incoming Secretary of State, while without any diplomatic experience at all, still headed Exxon for 14 years. His extensive experience dealing with Russia, and indeed Putin, was spun as a positive by GOP Senators guiding his confirmation, a fact that time and information have rendered increasingly significant. But Tillerson was never going to fit serving Trump because he was everything the Donald wasn’t, but wished he was. Tillerson was a real CEO, a genuine business titan, craven and souless to be sure, but legitimate nonetheless, not the reality TV phoney he would be working for. When both men predictably found the situation untenable, and the Texan was cut loose, sycophancy moved to the top of the list of requirements for his replacement.

Pompeo, after spending the previous year cheerfully eating the President’s shit sandwiches about the incompetence and dishonesty of US intelligence services, fit that bill perfectly. And so the office once inhabited by the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Dean Acheson and Henry Kissinger was now occupied by a man, who just a few years earlier declared Islam to be part of “the evil” surrounding the US, which only need to turn to Jesus to defend itself until the Rapture. Who said you need optimism to be a diplomat?

Which brings us to Trump’s recent European tour and its fallout. Watching Pompeo testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, one could have mistaken him for an aide or some other staffer, so stiff and rote were his responses to questions geared to establish where the POTUS’ traitorous performance ended and US policy began. Pompeo was of little help on that score. The US Secretary of State was rude and short… and worthless, in other words doing his job exactly as his boss wanted him to do it.

Senators wanted the top US diplomat to brief them on what the President and Putin discussed. Reasonable in the extreme, routine procedure really, a simple debrief for the legislative branch. Only one problem, they were asking the wrong guy; Pompeo knew as much about the subject as they did…nada!

Instead of simply admitting he was not privy to any of Trump and his handler’s conversation, Pompeo curtly recited “current US policy has not changed” when a Senator inquired about whether it had been discussed at the Summit. Syria? Policy hasn’t changed. Crimea? Policy hasn’t changed. When they didn’t let him get away with such nonsense and pushed back, for example did Trump secretly give away the store on Crimea, Pompeo robotically affirmed sanctions remained in place. Rude and inanely partisan, the Secretary of State was blissfully inept at his job; again, exactly how his jefe likes it.

Anyone with any delusions that adults are present anywhere in Northwest DC to prevent L’Enfant Terrible from doing his worst got a fire hose in the face Wednesday. Pompeo’s performance was no different than when he sat next to Trump in Brussels, with the same vacant look, as the President expressed guttural disdain for the defining Western alliance of the last 70 years. Government by Sean Hannity and the Mar-A-Lago regulars. Believe it! BC

Anybody who web surfed over to The California Republican could be forgiven for believing they were perusing an actual news site. A google search yields the description: “US, California, Central Valley news and sports.” The home page breaks down menu options such as national security and regional sports, along with water issues, a prominent concern in California’s Central Valley, and US news. The enterprise’s Facebook page labels it a “Media/News Company.” Nothing stands out to dissuade the casual browser they are looking at anything other than a regional internet news operation. Until they check who is funding it.

Perhaps nobody other than Trump, himself, rails against the press more than Devin Nunes. Like the man he seems ready to go to jail to protect, Nunes is a constant on Twitter, labeling virtually anything not wholly supportive of him the figment of mainstream media conspiracy. Certainly nobody with as important a committee chairmanship has been as willing to attack the media, parroting Trump’s “enemy of the people” sedition.

In fact, Nunes actually has his own fake news operation…really! …The California Republican. That’s right, if you can’t depend on others to carry your water, build your own well! Like Willy Wonka’s exacting confection standards, Nunes has gone in-house to make sure he gets the propaganda blend juuusst right.

He certainly can’t rely on his area’s real news operation, The Fresno Bee, whose editorial board has aptly tagged Nunes as “Trump’s stooge” for attacking the FBI and DOJ on the President’s behalf. A January editorial was to the point:

“He certainly isn’t representing his Central Valley constituents or Californians, who care much more about health care, jobs and, yes, protecting Dreamers than about the latest conspiracy theory”

Ouch! And it gets worse. The Bee has devoted investigative staff to digging into his financial interest in a winery being sued for sexual harassment, lurid allegations about cocaine use and sex professionals on a yacht owned by the company. This, apparently, was the last straw for Nunes, who has waged war against the Bee, devoting some of the $7 million his fealty to Trump has helped him raise to ads attacking the paper as allied with “radical left wing groups to promote fake news stories about me.”

Of course the Fox/AM universe has made 24/7 support of one of its darlings a top priority. It used to be called Hannity and Colmes before Fox conceded it insulted even the intelligence of its viewers and got rid of the latter. But calling it Hannity and Nunes would certainly be justified, given how often the congressman comes on to spin the latest outrage. On line, both The Daily Caller and Breitbart can’t produce enough Nunes content. Article after article on his quixotic quest against the Deep State Goliath. But that’s still not enough. If you want it done right…

Nobody can say The California Republican is shoddy, or done on the cheap. Its stories are crisply written and efficiently formatted. But the titles betray an agenda. On the national security front, support of ICE is a common theme. “Why did only 18 Dems” support a resolution backing ICE? The “Abolish Ice crowd won’t like the alternative,” avows another faux headline. On the more benign Agriculture and Water front…”Trump administration approves Central Valley water storage project.” “A massive win,” according to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Nunes is featured throughout, there’s even a sports item of him “welcoming” LeBron to California… with its “King Tax.” Public Union control of Sacramento, the lies of socialism, liberal meltdown over Kavanaugh, California’s budget future isn’t as good as it looks, etc. etc. The entire operation paid for out of Nunes campaign funds.

The subscription page actually has a box to check avowing one isn’t a robot, rather rich given the site and content seem tailor made for bot distribution schemes. One thing is clear; a good deal of thought went into the enterprise, and fair and balanced it ain’t. Nunes and his backers defend the site as sadly necessary to counter the plethora of lies the beleaguered crusader must endure. Seven million big ones can staunch a lot of slander!

The Federalist Papers pointed out the Founding Fathers differing views on just how free the US press should be, and what succinct protections should be accorded what even then they understood to be a powerful force for good and bad. Still, I doubt Hamilton could have imagined lawmakers literally creating their own set of facts. A monthly news letter is one thing, The California Republican quite another.

Like the sick joke that is Fox’s “Fair and Balanced” motto, Nunes and company, foremost the POTUS, traffic in disdain for the foundations of the republic. They aren’t simply oblivious to what freedom of the press means to pluralist governance, they are actively disdainful and nefarious toward the entire idea. Democracies respect and are guided by the best efforts to grasp truth. Authoritarians are guided by their best efforts to manufacture lies. Don’t believe me? Click on The California Republican. BC

“I don’t call it protectionism; I call it destructionism.”

Ronald Reagan

“Tariffs are the greatest!”

Donald Trump

Mid-Continent Nail of Poplar Bluff, Missouri doesn’t quite know what hit it. One day there were more orders than it could handle, the next it was laying off 60 workers from a force of 500. By Labor Day it may cease to be a going concern. Welcome to MAGAnomics.

That the POTUS has little idea how tariffs and protectionism affect the economy has been clear since he started down the road toward what may end up being his most damaging legacy, no small feat. The random imposition of duties on both friend and foe, begun with a 25% tax on foreign steel, may drive America’s largest nail producer out of business, and threatens widespread job losses by the end of summer. There is no evidence of any specific plan these unilateral actions support, merely blustering from the President that habitual cheaters, allowed to prosper by all previous administrations, are getting their due and will soon come crawling for relief, ready to fully surrender to the will of our great negotiator.

That can’t come fast enough for the now beleaguered employees of Mid-Continent, whose orders plunged 50% when it adjusted for the higher costs of raw materials. In an ugly irony that is sure to be repeated across the country, the once vibrant jobs creator may have to move to Mexico in order to survive, where it can escape the steel tariffs and produce nails to be shipped back to the US market. For now they have joined the long and ever growing line of companies seeking exemptions from Trump madness. Can you say crony capitalism?

Trump swears trade wars are easy to win. If only US Auto Manufacturers, presumably the primary beneficiary of such a conflict, shared his confidence. Under the umbrella title of the Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers, virtually the entire US Auto as well as cottage industries penned a document that urges the President to “consider” other avenues in working to “ensure free trade”. Urging Trump to consider anything is like trying to get rid of sand in your eye after cutting onions; the effort isn’t just futile, it’s surely going to make things worse.

Free trade has been a GOP brand for decades, the one discussion in which they could proudly stick out their chests and be the adults in the room. Now there is a child in the White House throwing protectionist fits and pandering to a base with an infantile understanding of the subject… crickets are chirping. Nobody, it seems, has any appetite for becoming the subject of a 6AM tweet storm or rally anecdote. In June, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn’t throw up his arms fast enough, declaring it would be futile to pass legislation to check the ridiculous loop hole that allows Trump to cite national security concerns for starting a multi-front trade war. “Why waste time,” said the man behind countless resolutions to terminate Obamacare sent to its creator for signature.

Trump has repeatedly declared that any trade deficit means we’ve been hoodwinked. His punitive actions against Canada were launched in the name of dairy farmers, one of America’s most legislatively coddled collectives. Yet and still, as a rule, US farmers will suffer across the board in any trade war. Soybean producers, heavily dependent on buyers in China, are already suffering from reprisals solely the result of Trump inanity.

But fear not! Today Trump announced he is ready to toss $12 billion around to ease pain in the hustings. Subsidize specific losers of unilateral sanctions he bestows trying to produce specific winners. Nice.

The plan has been received with what has become signature GOP subservience. “Mr. President, of course we’ll take the pork, but please reconsider this thing. Far be it for us to do anything to ruffle your free flowing, and fully natural tresses, but we’re getting killed here. When markets are gone, they are gone. Aren’t we maybe shooting ourselves in the foot… sir!”

Perhaps no lesson the 20th century taught US policy makers was more widely accepted on a bipartisan basis than the conclusion Smoot-Hartley protectionism was disastrous to our economic well being. Everything we have done since the Great Depression has been in line with the maxim that free trade is fundamental to prosperity. Now an unhinged nihilist is aggressively destroying what it took 70 years to meticulously craft, having convinced his base of wretched malcontents that he knows more than all who came before him.

How far will this folly go? Remember Mid-Continent Nail? It is both telling and disturbing that laid off workers, Trump voters all, were willing to give their career destroyer more than the benefit of the doubt, expressing faith the President knew best and would ultimately deliver them to a better fate. They better get in line quick, because like every other group who believed in Trump and lost big, that line is going to do nothing but grow. BC

In the early hours of the morning after America’s worst civic failure, an hour or so after I had finally gone to sleep with the help of science, the most awful realization of all snapped me wide awake. Rush Limbaugh had been right all along! My Lord!

Since Obama routed McCain in 2008, Limbaugh, who had no brand other than to go all in with fringe elements, blamed the whupping on whatever declining vestiges of moderation were left in the Party of Lincoln. Until Republicans were ready to go full George Wallace, he screeched every week day for three hours, things would only get worse.

Of course, when Obama was re-elected comfortably in 2012, Limbaugh and Fox/AM doubled down. The establishment was betraying the base promoting these candidates who spoke complete sentences and wouldn’t carry around pictures of aborted fetuses. Honor is vastly overrated, the Fat Ass droned, all-you-can-eat red meat and good conspiracy will get the job done.

Throughout the run up to November in 2016 every time Trump would try to derail his candidacy, Rush would lead the Fox/AM chorus, poo pooing the little things – lying, misogyny, ugly bigotry, complete policy ignorance – and imploring the faithful to keep their eyes on the ball. Trump is the extremist we have been waiting for; governance and decency do not matter to him. He won’t let us down.

Sweating and up for good at 3AM, the full horror that an imbecile was now going to go on-air in a few hours and be fully validated for a decade of nasty gibberish felt like a very sharp knife in the right kidney. And we now see, even though any worst case scenario last January couldn’t come close to describing the last 18 months, the GOP leadership has acceded to Limbaugh’s prescriptions as it heads into mid-terms. Trumpie acolytes are everywhere, running unabashedly as toadies ready to go to the mat with him, come what may. In Virginia we will see whether we need to update our passports and look into foreign residency requirements…Corey Stewart is running against Tim Kaine. If their debate last night is a predicter, there will be nothing left to interpretation, Stewart is a Limbaugh wet dream. And were he to make a contest of what should be decided very early in the evening, it will be hard to argue Trumpism is but an unsightly blip on our screen.

Stewart, the former Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, made his bones scapegoating immigrants. A Trumpie from the beginning, he was actually deemed too toxic by the Donald’s team and unceremoniously replaced as member of the VA Presidential effort. Yet and still, there is little doubt Trump will devote plenty of time to this race, if for no other reason it provides proximate locales for rallies, which we know usually extend hopefuls meant to benefit with but cursory mention amidst his meglomanical monologues.

The binary choice in Virginia will mirror many across the country, competence and reason vs. “politically incorrect” white grievance. Stewart checks off all of those boxes. In addition to bashing immigrants and, forget apologizing, cheerleading for family separation, Stewart never met a confederate monument he didn’t want to use as a dog whistle in service to the “attacks on our heritage” narrative. Indeed, aside from Trump tax cuts and the obligatory pro life extremism, it’s hard to find much else in the Stewart platform. He will spend the campaign not apologizing for, until Trump, was an automatically disqualifying resume.

Tim Kaine should dispatch Stewart with prejudice, which is why anything else will have far larger implications. A popular Governor and Senator, Kaine wasn’t sheepish calling out his opponent’s ugliness, while casting aside Stewart’s efforts to label him a radical left winger. But Stewart is example A of the emerging Trumpie playbook: start with the premise you’ve lost and stay unhinged; the base is all that matters, don’t ever give them reason to doubt you. Truth is not your friend, lie first, you can always gaslight or walk it back. Everything is zero-sum, never agree with your opponent; if he wants to cure cancer, you’re against overpopulation. Finally, you owe it all to Trump; anything you are or will be is due to him, and he is always right.

On paper the Virginia Senate race should be over before dessert. But Kaine is a breathing reminder of the last time we took for granted America’s decency. That night it was when Hillary Clinton actually trailed Trump in Virginia at bedtime that it began to occur the worst was possible. The stakes this time may be even higher. If Stewart is even close election night, things are dire. Trumpism as our future…instead of a wretched mistake we are relegating to our past. BC

Anyone shocked by our President’s performance in Brussels, London and Helsinki hasn’t been paying attention. Trump so much as pledged embarrassment to his wretched core at his rally in Montana, openly questioning why we even participate in NATO. His political brand is now “delivering on promises” with vulgarity only he can deliver to a base of people proud of the shortcomings they conflate with personal identity. The enemy is anyone not enamored with the nihilist destruction their champion pursues – and, like him, they are willing to fight for what they hardly understand.

Band of Brothers, the universally lauded HBO production of Easy Company’s exploits in World War II, produced countless classic scenes, but two always stand out. The first is when Webster, the writer and intellect of the unit, looks down from a bridge at thousands of captured German soldiers and in a fit of rage screams “You servile scum!”, even as they continue to march in lockstep, punctuating his denunciation.

Another memorable image is the title speech Major Winters allows a captured German Colonel to give his men, which transcends their differences and perfectly encapsulates his own feelings, In it, the German officer extols the comraderie war so naturally creates, the honor organized human conflict perpetuates on the battlefield, regardless how misguided it’s objectives are, and the dignity that bravery and sacrifice imbue any campaign, even folly.

I have pondered the dichotomy of these two scenes since Trump’s idiocy abroad, and the desperate attempts since by the GOP to mop up the mess, even as their leader refuses to leave his rabbit hole. That such a feckless poser is the Commander and Chief of history’s most powerful military seems incomprehensible.

In fact, from the beginning of his ascent Trump has relentlessly worked to co-opt anyone wearing a uniform into his grievance platform. Our soldiers are mistreated by the VA, our cops are targeted by those ungrateful enough to expect them to follow laws they enforce, ICE doesn’t have the tools they need and are hamstrung by MS-13 loving liberals, Obama’s never visited the Boy Scouts, and on and on. The success he seems to enjoy with these constituencies naturally begs the question whether they mistake empty flattery for a sense of any responsible mission they would find honor in pursuing.

Hitler convinced millions their destiny was clear and one with his ambitions; Trump hasn’t bothered to cultivate a vision past a nihilist break from the Dystopia he concocted and blames all of his predecessors for helping to create. The evolving definition of America’s enemies appears to be anybody he deems “unfair” to his whim, anybody taking issue with his recklessness. After only eighteen months, anyone with even a loose grasp of history knows what sociopaths like Trump require to feel secure… conflict. None of it makes sense… like war itself.

America First is ugly white nationalism, ready to do most anything to anyone that comes within its cross-hairs; and Trump will point them out. We know this clearly now. It may be within our borders, it may be an external target, but Trump in office is going to produce hostilities.

Whatever conflict we may lurch into, whatever acts our people in uniform may ultimately be expected to commit at the whim of this ugly testament to our civic failure, we know that even history’s worst, most ghastly military crusades still produced strands of the best in human character, even by its servile prosecutors. In the end soldiers also pay the price for the power their leaders seek, or the insecurity they try to fend off, or the paranoia and delusion from which they suffer.

Trump has from the beginning cynically sought to manipulate the unique bonds instilled by the armed services, even as he did everything possible to exempt himself from experiencing them. That he is not unequivocally discredited, even as he repeatedly attacks one of the country’s most recognized military heroes, illustrates the depravity of a political base fully disconnected from the values it claims to worship.

Trump has repeatedly made clear his fealty to tyrants in the name of peace. The disdain he exhibited for the membership of NATO, an alliance that has actually prevented cataclysm in Europe for 70 years, and he is supposed to lead, is sadly part and parcel of his desperation, which fully mirrors manic despots of the past. He equates isolation with the prudence only he can employ. And while most saw his treachery for what it was, millions still look to Sean Hannity for the only explanation they will accept…and then adopt as their will.

This Presidency can’t coexist with peace and prosperity because it is cut from the same cloth as countless regimes past, who all confirmed this point. Where our sons and daughters will be sent and what they will be asked to do in service to anything but the national interest, will impact yet another generation, just as Iraq and Afghanistan continues to weigh on the one before it. And just know that most of America would give at least a little toe to have even that group of chickenhawks back rather than our current pestilence.

Whatever camaraderie, honor and faith is conveyed on the battlefield better be substantial because it’s the only silver lining anything America First conjures up will ever offer. BC