"...Donald And Mark...And Snakes...Oh My..."

     More than once, over the past year or so, I've offered up, on both the weekly nighttime talk radio show and the various daytime slots where I've guest hosted, that the blame for all the current chaos and catastrophe America is experiencing is, almost always, these days, being badly misplaced.
    The first and most obvious lightening rod is, of course, Trump. And there's plenty of case to be made that a yuuuge chunk of any blame that gets hurled in his direction is some kinda justified and then some. This little nugget that has surfaced from this past week's "new and improved" health care act vote, no vote, vote, no vote fracas is illustrative.

     Republican sources close to the White House, aides inside the Trump administration, and GOP congressional staff involved in the health care process appear to agree on one thing: President Donald Trump has received a stinging lesson on deal-making in Washington. 
 

"He didn't care or particularly know about health care," a key GOP congressional aide said about Trump following the stunning defeat of the Republican health care plan Friday. 

     Yeah, you know, that's the thing about trying to get things done in this impish republic we call 'Murica. You kinda gotta know what you're doing. Or, at least, care enough about that thing you're trying to get done to figure out some way to learn what you don't know, so as to cover the bases.
      Random stream of consciousness moment:
      Charming scene in the movie "A Hard Day's Night" where George Harrison cheekily offers up in what was, in the day, that cheekily charming Liverpudlian accent, "yes...I'd be quite prepared for that eventuality...".
      I grew up watching and listening to George Harrison. I almost feel like I knew George Harrison. Donald Trump, you're no George Harrison.

"If you are going to be a great negotiator", the aide went on to say,  "... you have to know about the subject matter," , adding that overhauling health care is far different from building a golf course. 

     Trump has no interest in knowing about subject matter. He's never shown any indication that he has any interest in even becoming interested in knowing about subject matter.
     One of the more infuriating things about the people who continue to support and/or endorse this guy that continues to infuriate those of us who never did, never could and never would or will support or endorse this guy is what we are forced to assume is some kind of freakish, new strain of blindness afflicting the supporters. At least the supporters who know that "veterinarians"  aren't specialists in veterans affairs and that S.A.T. scores don't measure how long you were able to stay planted in a chair without discomfort.
     Reasonable and reasonably intelligent people who supported and endorsed him, from the git go,  and continue to support and endorse him have seen and heard the same things the rest of us have seen and heard from the git go.
     Trump's interest in this life... is Trump.
     Figuring that out ain't rocket surgery.
     My personal theory has been, also pretty much from the git go, that those who supported him, endorsed him and, eventually, voted for him had no problem figuring that out. They were, after all, not stupid. (Again, discounting the contribution of the veterinarians with the solid SAT scores).
    That, actually, will, when the historic dust settles decades from now, be one of the more poignant, if not perplexing, idiosyncracies of an election year that irrefutably raised the bar on idiosyncrasy in election years so high that it will, likely, more to the point, dear God, hopefully, never be bested again.
     That so many, millions, in fact, of the reasonable and reasonably intelligent among us very clearly saw and heard and understood that this sad, small, frightened poor little rich kid in a 70 year old body and a what the fuck is that exactly hair style was nothing more, or less, than an accomplished and skilled peddler of oil of snake.
     But they bought it...and swallowed it anyway.
     Pretty much from the git go.
     Placing the sole blame, though, on, or taking a lunge at laying, at his feet, the responsibility for any missteps Trump might have already taken, is about to take and/or will take in the here, now, near or far future is not only a waste of time and effort (#neverevertoblameatfaultwrongaboutorresponsibleforanythingever), it's also arguably factually unfair.
     Because while there's a whole lotta finger shakin' goin on in the spirit of shame, shame, shame on you, sad, small, frightened poor little rich kid in a 70 year old body and a what the fuck is that exactly hair style, there's, at least, one other major player in our little production whose culpability in the crisis, while most likely inadvertent, is as real and true as all the news that Donald spends hours per day slapping Fake News stickers on.
     That boy genius I've pointed one of my free fingers at, for over a year now, on the various radio shows as the instigator of all this insanity.
      The kid who has managed to give the word "friend" a bad name.
      Mark Zuckerberg.
      The boy wonder who gifted, or inflicted upon, the world that murky pond of personal interaction, Facebook.

      And here's the easy to climb aboard, two car version of my much longer, long considered train of thought on the matter.
      There have always been fools in our midst. Losers. Morons. Dummies. The not so bright.
      And lack of intellect obviously isn't the only malady meandering through the march of mankind.
      There's yer rude and crude, yer loud and obnoxious, the good, the bad, the ugly. It's all part of the yin and yang of our humanness. Truth be told, (real truth, thank you, I do a 100% alternative fact free show here), we're all all of those things. To one degree or another.
     Ideally, the worst case scenario is that we manage a balance between the shine and the shit. Our shortcomings hopefully countered by our kindnesses, our selfishness paid back with our compassion. Our primal instinct to think only of our selves and our own survival kept in check, at least, so that we can contribute something, anything, to the greater good and not just slash and burn and plunder and profit.
      But ideally is not a word in common usage. And spin it any way you want it for as long as you want it, the unavoidable, inevitable, undeniable fact is that there are simply those living in our time on this Earth who live for the self. Who not only couldn't care less about you or yours or anything related to, or associated with, you or yours, but who actually don't care at all. Ever.
      If there is a silver lining in that cloud of gloom and doom, it's that the kind of sociopathic narcissism I'm describing here is usually found only in your more egregious serial killers.
      And, turns out, every 45th president, give or take.
     In the pre-social media days, though, the dirty little secret, such as it was, was of the limited edition variety. The lack of technology allowing for the widespread spreading of information and incident and occurrence didn't necessarily prevent damaged psyches from existing in each and every neighborhood in each and every town but it did prevent our neighborhood from ever hearing about those in your neighborhood.
     And more importantly, and more critically, as it's played out, preventing them from hearing about one another. Thus, keeping one of life's more dangerous two edged swords safely in its sheath.
     Strength in numbers.
     All of that changed and that sword was drawn with a vengeance when Zuckerberg clicked the mouse connecting house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, town to town, manic melody to looney tune.
     And what had been peculiar, and unique, grains of sand scattered all over the massive beach that stretched from sea to shining sea, very quickly, and toxically, mutated into a single, savage and dangerous entity.
     A demographic.
     Now, emboldened by the knowledge that they weren't, in fact, the only loose screw in the mechanism and energized by the discovery of those whose own deficiencies were now a commonality, they not only felt freed to come out of the shadows to express their individual cracks, flaws and furies, they metastasized from a mole into a mass, a virus in the American mainstream that made Ebola look like a gentle ragweed sniffle on an autumn day.
    Hmm, they pondered, if only subconsciously,  what I'm thinkin' here is really some kind of fuck all stupid, but, it must be right, because they's so many others who be thinkin' exactly what I'm thinkin.
     Then, the mass found a champion.
     Somebody who understood them. Commiserated with them. Validated them.
     And never mind that this champion of theirs had no real interest in them, beyond what their use to him they might be as he continued taking care of number one.
     This champion who promised them terrific, complete incomparable health care insurance for a fraction of what they were paying now, a fraction of what they had ever paid.
      This champion who doesn't care or particularly know about health care.
      Yeah, you know, that's the thing about trying to get things done in this impish republic we call 'Murica. You kinda gotta know what you're doing.Or, at least, care enough about that thing you're trying to get done to figure out some way to learn what you don't know, so as to cover the bases.
     And that's the thing about snake oil.
     Causes blindness.

     
    

    

"...The Trump Bashing Will Stop....We Promise....January 20, 2021, Latest...."

Things that occurred to me while I was researching other things....
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The FBI has joined every other organization in the U.S. of A. in affirming that there is no credible evidence, whatsoever, of any wiretapping done in Trump Tower by the Obama Administration during the election campaign last year. For those of you who have maybe been on the planet Neptune for the

last six months or so, let me translate that into a simple sentence, more easily understood: Trump is either a liar or a looney tune. You might want to cut and paste that sentence, there, because it will come in handy pretty much every day that remains in this farce of a presidency.....
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Speaking of the FBI, the director, James Comey, has confirmed that the agency is investigating any interference by the Russian government in the election last year, including any possible collusion between the Russians and members of Trump's campaign staff. Comey has already testified as to the belief that Russia wanted to undermine Hillary and aid in Trump's election. Trump's tweeting response was that the whole Russia story was made up by the Democrats because they ran a "terrible

campaign and lost". Yeah, Donald, that's why. Oh. Here's one of those places where you can use that sentence I told you to cut and paste just a minute or two ago......
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Conservativadiva Tomi Lahren has been suspended from her weekly Blaze TV show because she said on The View that she is pro-choice. Frankly, Tomi Lahren has always come off to me as a smug brat/princess 99% of the time....that said, her suspension only underscores that, whether you are

liberal or conservative or vegetarian or Rotarian, there is no room at the inn in this country anymore for individuality....there is only the company line...and a simple(ton) matter of which company....
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Regarding the budget cuts that will cut off Federal funding for the Meals On Wheels program, here's some reassuring news for a certain cluster of  our Florida fans and listeners....Mar-A-Lago will continue to offer a fine, complete and comprehensive dessert selection.

All others be aware that funding for "cake" will be ended as that particular baked good "shows no particular benefit":.

Effective immediately, the go-to response of the administration to confection matters will be:
"let them eat s*** "
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Norway is the happiest place on Earth, according to a new survey called the World Happiness Report. The U.S. dropped a slot to 14th place in this year’s report on happiness levels in 147 countries. The report’s authors tried to explain why Americans are growing increasingly unhappy despite their relative wealth. They concluded that American are disenchanted with rising inequality, corruption, isolation and distrust.

• If you're thinking of relocating to a happier place, bundle up. The top five, in addition to Norway, include Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Finland.
• The unhappiest citizens, meanwhile, are found in Rwanda, Syria, Tanzania, Burundi, Central African Republic and, of course, any voting precinct that didn't give their Electoral College votes to Hillary.

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And today's one more thing...it's not always about Trump. Sometimes it's about the beauty of the arrival of the first day of spring....and, then it's about Trump...."the first day of spring...that day when millions of Americans look at their bodies and ask, can we get, like, two more months of winter?...I have to say, though, it's nice waking up to the birds tweeting instead of the President tweeting...."

"...And Not Every Rectangle Is A Moron..."

     Math was never my strong suit.
     And, given my choice of a life path, neither the algebra nor the geometry that were deemed essential to our primary education back in the day loom all that large in my day to day these days. In fact, it was only just recently that I found myself employing geometric principles for the first time in a very long time.
     In that particular case, I was trying to educate my wife into the rudimentary angle/leverage/swing ratio necessary to maximize the effectiveness, and minimize the potential danger, of getting around on crutches.
     Archimedes confidently assured us that were we to provide him the proper lever, he could move the world. Not just a continent or two, mind you.
     The whole world. In his hands. The lever. Not the world.
     I mean, he may have been a cocky Greek math geek, but he was no bloviating blowhard.
     Only slightly subtle, snarky reference to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania oh so more than intended.
     Meanwhile, it turned out that teaching math isn't all that high on my skill set list, either.
     Of course, fair being fair, getting a frightened and wobbly wife confident enough to angle/leverage/swing down the hallway would probably have stymied ol' Archimedes, too.
     So, thank heaven for friends who just happen to have a wheelchair in the attic.
     Much to what I suspect would be the delight of my high school algebra teacher, Mr. Formosa, though, I have also turned to my dusty, moldy math methodologies lately as I research and write both essays like this one, and a book that I may or may not finish before I grow tired of even hearing the name Trump, having to do with,. well, Trump. And, more as a consequence than an intention, providing an answer of some kind to the millions of folks who, via social media or just good old fashioned chit-chat, ask, repeatedly, and increasingly more often, why? Why did this nation elect a man like Trump?

     The challenge to answering that question, of course, is trying to avoid the automatic fallback to the hip and happening top ten that, much like Margaritaville on your favorite oldies station, we've heard over and over and over...and over.
     Hillary was untrustworthy. Bernie was a socialist. Obama divided the nation. Hillary and Benghazi. Bernie got sabotaged by the DNC. Hillary and her emails.  Anger and frustration. Forgotten voters. Hillary and her emails. And, of course, number one for the 75th week in a row.....
     "...he tells it like it is..."
     Anti-Trump regular listeners and callers of my radio shows got just as tired of hearing that hall of fame worthy political insight as pro-Tump regular listeners of my radio shows got tired of hearing my go-to response.
     "...yeah, well, I had an Uncle who used to get shit faced at pretty much every family function and would 'tell it like it is'.....trust me when I tell you that ain't always a virtue..."
     So, discarding and/or disqualifying those tired old "yeah, yeah, whatever" excuses for the Electoral eye-opener, I've lately come up with what I think might be a more erudite, enlightened, dare I say, educated elucidation.
     And it all begins with an oldie but goodie from the first year Geometry book.
     All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.

     (WARNING/SPOILER ALERT)  The remainder of this piece is going to bring you to a conclusion that will, bet the farm, or disgustingly decadent gold encrusted golf resort in Florida, depending on your political persuasion, very likely offend a significant number of people. Again, depending on your political posture and who you chose to lead the nation last November, you may be insulted, even angered, by what you perceive to be an insinuation that you aren't all that bright. I assure you that, at no time, is it my intention to insinuate any such thing. My intention is to follow the example set by the victor in the 2016 election and 'tell it like it is'. In other words, if you are insulted, offended or even angered, then, please accept my congratulations on having, at least, the intelligence to realize that I am, in fact, absolutely referring to you when I reference people who just aren't all that bright.
    
     Throughout both the primary and general election campaigns of 2016, I repeatedly offered on the radio shows that I believed the election was not going to be a referendum on the economy or employment or immigration or even that hot button of all hot buttons, homeland security.
I offered that I believed that the election would be an indicator as to whether or not the 'tipping point' had been reached. Trump's continued success in the primaries, his continued primary victories and, obviously, his election served only to reinforce that belief.
     Right or wrong, such as they are, are subjective value judgements.
     Let's just say, instead, that I'm confident that I was correct about the tipping point.
    And, of course, a quick explanation of the term 'tipping point' would be useful.
    For that, let's talk, for a minute, about California and Hispanics.
    Throughout modern times, the population of California was primarily Caucasian with a notable percentage of ethnics, primary among those, of course, Hispanics.
    Time, circumstance, ebb and flow, life, generally, made it inevitable that as the Hispanic population grew that there was an expectation that, at some point in time, the numbers would reverse, the percentages would change, simply put, Hispanics would out number whites.
     Tipping point.
     Numbers crunchers predicted that the changeover would occur sometime in 2013. Various social conditions caused a delay but, now, demographers and those numbers folk are all in agreement that as of no later than July of 2014, there were, and are now, more Hispanics than whites in California.
    July 2014. Tipping point.
    November 2016 was a tipping point, as well.
    Since the dawn of time, let alone the founding of the nation, there have been morons among us.
    The dictionary doesn't waste any vocabulary in its definition.
   "A stupid person".
    But just so we're clear here, let's turn one more page and see what the dictionary offers by way of defining "stupid".
     "Having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense."
     Two slippery slopes at work here.
     First, "intelligence" is, although quantifiable via testing and assessment, still lurking around on the list of matters of opinion. As opposed to our friend, say, "pregnant", one can, in fact, be just a little bit stupid.
      Second, "common sense". Really? I honestly don't know if I did, in fact, first coin the phrase, but I've used it enough on air to make a pretty good case for parentage.
      "Common sense....is no longer common...nor sensical."
     For the purpose of making, and getting to, my point, though,let's have a go at conceding that there are, in our midst, at any given time...morons.
     Come on, don't be bashful. This isn't bashing just to bash. The tone here isn't mean spirited or hateful, it's just 'telling it like it is', right? Not everyone can be brilliant. Or even intelligent. Or even all that bright.
     Quick fun pop quiz....what's a moron's last words?
     "Hey...watch this..."
      What's a moron's moron buddy's last words?
     "Aw, hell, that ain't nothin'....I can do that...".
     It's not a lie nor a misstatement nor a mistake to simply offer that there are stupid people in this life.
     I spent just five minutes doing the Google and found these warm and fuzzy examples of the morons amongst us.
     The employee fired for stealing someone's lunch out of the fridge, but only eating half. When asked why, replied "I just wasn't really all that hungry."
      The lady photographed at a service station wrestling with the nozzle on a gas can...with a lit cigarette in her hand.
     The vanity license plate reading "BLOND".....upside down in the plate frame.
     The bike rider carefully cable locking his bike to a parking post.....the post no taller than the bike.
     The person posting a picture of a stunning sunrise, captioning it "Morning Sunset".
     The man who posted how sad he was the Michael Jackson had died from "cadillac arrest."
     And, hands down, the most memorable of the moronic...a young man wearing an American flag head bandana holding up a homemade placard defiantly announcing....
     "...GET A BRAIN!  MORANS!"
     It's no coincidence that I included that example because that man and that flag and that sign were offering up that red, white and bubba at a Trump rally.
     Which brings us back to math and tipping points.
     Given all that is known about Trump, his behaviors, his pettiness, his narcissism, his lack of graciousness, class, courtesy, his childish contempt for anyone who dares disagree with him, his misogyny, oh, for God's sake, run the list in your own mind or look it up if you're still for some bizarre reason, unclear on the concept. Given all of that that we actually know, from what we've actually seen and heard ourselves, disregarding rumor or conjecture, why would anyone with no more than a functioning brain vote for a man like that?
     And without a functioning brain, wouldn't one rightly be described as a moron?
     Over a year ago, I said, for the first of what would be many times, in conversation and, slightly veiled for mass consumption, on air that this election was not going to be a referendum on the economy or employment or immigration or even that hot button of all hot buttons, homeland security.
     I believed it was going to be an indicator as to whether or not this nation had finally reached a tipping point.
     Had America finally become a nation where the morons were in the majority?
     America found the answer to that question in November of 2016.
     And because the election was, in many ways, complicated, complex, difficult, a struggle, for some, even a moral dilemma, it's unfair, and incorrect, to suggest that everyone who voted for this man is a moron.
     As it is incorrect to suggest that every rectangle is a square.
    Props to Mr. Formosa for his selfless efforts to educate....
    Every rectangle is not a square...but every square is a rectangle.
    Every Trump voter is not a moron....but every moron is a Trump voter.
    And there's the problem with tipping points.
    They always throw things out of balance.