It Is What It Is

"It is what it is"--The mid-twentieth century statement of an absolute that has become a twenty-first-century dismissive, joining "Oh, well" and "Whatever."

"It is what it is." It's one of those phrases that sounds vaguely intellectual or philosophical. It is in fact, a gross oversimplification of Immanuel Kant's concept of "das Ding an sich," a "thing-in-itself" that exists outside human perception and knowing. The similarity is no doubt coincidental.

"It is what it is." People use it as a throwaway phrase to close conversations about something they either don't like or don't want to talk about.

"It is what it is" was the Jerk-in-Chief's throwaway line when he was recently reminded of the COVID-19 death toll by Jonathan Swan on AXIOS news. He first claimed that the pandemic was under control, then said, “They are dying. That’s true. And you – it is what it is.”

"It is what it is." People die, and when they do it is customary to offer condolences and perhaps a bright note about something in their life. We all have an aversion to death, but it is, after all, the price of living. The Denier-in-Chief must have a special hatred of it because he won't deal with it. Perhaps he fears it because he knows it is the one thing that he absolutely cannot control. Or perhaps he thinks if he ignores it, it will go away.

"It is what it is." On May 28, nearly six months into the pandemic and the day the U.S. COVID death toll reached 100,000, the Great Twit tweeted his one and only message acknowledging the great loss of life: “To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you!”

"It is what it is." A mass message is better than nothing, I suppose. But what about some opportunities to join personally in the celebrations of other lives? It is traditional for presidents to attend the funerals of important Americans, but with one exception, the Avoider-in-Chief has chosen not to honor the fallen with his presence (the honor would proceed from the office of POTUS, not the individual holding the office).

"It is what it is." During his time in office, DJTrump has attended exactly one state funeral: that of former President George H. W. Bush--and he was not welcome. He could have but chose not to attend services for former First Lady Barbara Bush, Rep. Elijah Cummings, Rep. John Dingell, Rep. John Lewis, and Sen. John McCain.

“They are dying. That’s true. And you – it is what it is.” The Great Pretender has only disdain for the American people, living or dead. He may be able to relate to 100,000 (now more than 165,000) as a big number but that is all it is to him--a number. He has no sympathy for the actual people or their families. Mostly he wishes they would just go away.

How to visualize that many people? This is a satellite photo of Salinas, California, population approximately 155,000. 

 
Salinas is about five miles square. Imagine it as a ghost town. Imagine walking through streets with thousands of vacant homes, stores, and industrial buildings. No traffic, no sounds, no life, nothing moving that's not blown by the wind. No smells of food, smoke, sewage, or diesel. No sensory input at all.

That's what 155,000 missing souls feels like.

COVID-19 is beginning its second wave, and is starting to have a significant impact on the population of our country. Cities similar in size to Salinas are Springfield, MA, Bellevue, WA, and Alexandria, VA. If you're close to any of them, visit. Take a drive around and imagine it as a ghost town. Think of the economic impact of losing hundreds of thousands of people.

The Denier-in-Chief will not look at this, will not acknowledge it, will not mourn the dead nor comfort the surviving. It has nothing to do with him because he feels nothing outside the bounds of his imaginary world.

Yet COVID-19, hand in hand with Death, marches on.

It is what it is.

---Diogenes, 8/5/2020


Please share as widely as possible.

On Hiding

There are four major reasons people hide things: Fear, Greed, Guilt, and Shame.

Donald John Trump has a lot of stuff hidden.

DJTrump thinks he's smart and says so frequently. "I'm, like, a really smart person." But factual accounts of his student days don't always square with his claim.

Needless to say, his butt never sat at a public school desk. Consider his education:

He attended, in order, the Kew-Forest School, which bills itself as "The oldest independent school in the borough of Queens;" the New York Military Academy, where he was sent in hopes of straightening out his incorrigible bad behavior; Fordham University, a Jesuit school in the Bronx, which his niece alleges he got into by paying someone else to take his SAT; and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with the default degree, a B.S. in Economics (he has occasionally boasted of having the prestigious Wharton MBA--not true).    

During the 2016 campaign, Trump ordered his minions to threaten all those schools but Kew-Forest with criminal charges if they made the Dunce-in-Chief's academic records public.

Why might the Litigant-in-Chief make such threats? Academic records are already protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Threatening a lawsuit would be overkill--the act of a person desperate to keep those records in deep darkness.

This kind of behavior never fails to make us Homo Saps curious. We're naturally nosy. Why hide records? What's the big deal? Come on, Donny, tell!

In my professional life as an educator I've noticed that most students react to grades in one of two ways: with joy and pride, or with disappointment and chagrin. Those who are proud of their grades as an accomplishment boast of them to anyone who will listen. The others go off and sulk.

Trump is a sulker. He has said he was first in his class (without designating a school), but those records that are public are clear: he never achieved honors and was never on a dean's list.

So here's my take on a non-mystery that's as plain as day: Donald John Trump was a terrible, uninterested, and unmotivated student. He spent his time in school playing and doing just enough to avoid flunking. He may have cheated on his SAT, and there is evidence that family connections got him into the Wharton School.

I doubt he cares overmuch about the grades themselves. He managed to get a degree so he could fit into a certain type of society. With the records sealed he could boast and lie about his academic prowess and never be challenged.

What exactly motivated him to bury his records? Unlikely as it sounds, I think it might have been shame, or the fear of being shamed. If the records were revealed somehow he would no doubt dismiss them as forgeries or an attempt to discredit him. But somewhere deep down, maybe the Liar-in-Chief knows that most Americans still have faith in the integrity of America's universities.

Just not in its chief executive.


---Diogenes, 8/4/2020

On Kneeling

We kneel before gods, monarchs, and executioners.

For the first two we take the posture to swear our fealty and allegiance. In the third, so our bodies will not have so far to fall to the ground.

Kneeling is an ancient gesture of respect and submission. It says, "I humble myself before you and I pledge my allegiance to you." It is a reasonable and legitimate way to express one's patriotism.

It is also a protest.

The prescribed manner for saluting the flag and the national anthem is: "During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart."¹

I am not a fan of professional sports, but I admire and respect those players who "take a knee" when the national anthem is played. The action was initially taken by Black players, who have been joined in solidarity by many of their teammates of other races.

In 1787 the British ceramic artist Josiah Wedgwood created a design to be an emblem for abolitionist groups in Great Britain and America. The emblem, featuring a fettered Black slave kneeling, with the caption "Am I not a man and a brother" was a powerful boost to antislavery movements on both continents:

In the context of Black history this image has great power. The slave in the image is a supplicant. Not so those who kneel today. Their intended message is that they will not stand in recognition of a country that enslaved their ancestors and has practiced systemic racism throughout its history up to the present day.

Therein, I think, is an interesting conundrum. Is there a difference in the way one kneels when swearing allegiance and when protesting? Is there some subtle difference in the placement of the knee or the angle at which the head is held? Or is the only difference in the mind of the kneeler? And if that is the case, who's to know for sure the intent of the action?

Regardless of intent, it maddens DJTrump and his ilk. Why? Mightn't it be possible that some of those kneeling are in fact offering allegiance to the United States in their hearts while physically supporting their colleagues?

Doesn't matter. They don't like it because it's not the way they want it to be. They're Conservatives, and they don't like change. They learned to put their hands over their hearts when that song played, and by God that's the only salute that should be allowed. Anything else is rocking the boat, crossing a line, going a step too far--all anathema to Conservatives.

It's one more reminder for the Whiner-in-Chief that things in this nation are moving in ways he can't control. In his mind the only good changes are those he makes, and lately he's been unable to make many, while some have been forced on him. His world is unraveling like that obscene hair he wears.

He despises everyone who is different from him, and that's damned near everyone else on the planet. He fears change, he fears anyone who might be better than him, and he fears patriotism because he's never felt it.

Patriotism lives in the heart, not in actions. 


--- Diogenes, 8/3/2020

¹ USC Title 36, Chapter 10, §171. The flag rules are meant as guidelines. They are virtually unenforceable and violation of them carries no penalty.

36 compelling reasons . . .

. . . to drag the misbegotten DJTrump out of the White House and dump him in the street:

• He is in active and treasonous collusion with Vladimir Putin.
• He has sent armed thugs into American cities to attack the American people.
• His disregard and disrespect for the Constitution.
• His disregard and disrespect for the American people.
• His blatant sexism, racism, and xenophobia.
• His stupidity.
• His refusal to deal with COVID-19 as a national emergency.
• His self-righteousness.
• His belief that he is intelligent.
• His lack of allegiance to anything but himself.
• His continually empty words.
• His lack of empathy.
• His sociopathic Narcissism.
• His apathy toward COVID-19 victims.
• His non-response to the deaths of genuinely great Americans (John Lewis, most recently).
• His foolishness.
• He is seeking to profit from a major government building contract in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clauses.
• His lack of concern for the legislative and democratic processes.
• His refusal to cooperate with Congress.
• His lack of knowledge of American history.
• His hatefulness.
• His untruthfulness and untrustworthiness.
• His infantile behavior.
• He has openly stated he lusts for his daughter Ivanka (called her a "piece of ass" in a Howard Stern interview).
• His mental instability.
• His refusal to deal forcefully with potential adversaries.
• His belief in his own infallibility
• His need to insult everybody, all the time.
• His ridiculous Tweets.
• His withdrawal of the U.S. from WHO.
• The Wall.
• His pulling out of the Paris Agreement.
• His inability to control his emotions.
• His ignorance.
• His rudeness, crudeness, and general lack of class.
• His overwhelming lack of leadership and any presidential quality whatsoever.

That's all for now.


--- Diogenes, 8/2/2020

Down The Rabbit Hole

Apologies for my spotty attendance this past week. Life just has a habit of getting in the way of things. By way of recompense I offer a potpourri of weird, silly and sick quotes from the Clown-in-Chief. All but the first and last were uttered during his presidency.

You've likely seen many of these already, but hey, they're still amusing. Think of it as comic relief from the Trumpverse. 

So here we go. Hang on.

"I will build a great wall--and no one builds walls better than me, believe me--and I will build them very inexpensively. I will build a great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words."   CBS News, 6/16/2015

"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"   Twitter, 3/4/2017

"Let me just say, very simply, I will put it very simply -- the president of the United States has the authority to do what the president has the authority to do which is very powerful. The president of the United States calls the shots."   CNN, 4/14/2020

“If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75 percent in value. And they say the noise causes cancer. You tell me that one, okay?”   Washington Post, April 3, 2019

"As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!)."   Twitter, 10/7/2019

"Anybody that needs a test, gets a test. We--they're there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful."   The Hill, 3/6/2020

“Cases are going up in the U.S. because we are testing far more than any other country.”   Frequently in many places

“I loved my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”   Reuters, 8/28/17

“Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!”   Twitter, 11/8/2017

"To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!"   Twitter, 7/22/2018

“There is a cooling and there is a heating, and I mean, look: It used to not be climate change. It used to be global warming…That wasn’t working too well, because it was getting too cold all over the place.”   Interview with Piers Morgan, 1/28/2018

"So we have the biggest economy, the greatest economy we have ever had, the highest employment numbers, the best employment numbers, best unemployment numbers, also, the best of everything."   CNN, 4/14/2020

“Nobody has better respect for intelligence than Donald Trump.”   CNN, 11/11/2017

Speaking of his daughter Ivanka: "Yeah, she's really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren't happily married and, ya know, her father . . ."   Rolling Stone, September 2015

Whew! Are you not entertained?


--- Diogenes, 7/31/2020






 

Who Was That Masked Man?

Well, it damn sure wasn't the Lone Ranger.

Just who are those ruffians in battle dress roaming Portland's streets? They wear no identifying insignia or badges and do not identify themselves. Their kind has been seen before, in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. They are grim automatons following the direction of some unknown presence in the pursuit of some unknown goal, and their only duty is to follow orders.

What might that be? Humiliate the Democratic mayor and governor, perhaps? Well, of course, especially since the governor is a woman who had the effrontery to be born in a foreign country.

Embattled streets? In Portland, Oregon, of all places? It's a beautiful city: great zoo, wonderful parks, acres of roses everywhere, clean downtown, and a nifty light rail system connecting all of it. Vanilla Portland, whose population is 80+% white and the largest minority, at 8%, is Hispanic?¹

But I digress. Back to the original question. Who are these thugs in camouflage body armor? The official word is that they are operatives of the Department of Homeland Security, which could mean anything: footsoldiers from one of a half-dozen or so formerly independent agencies, mercenaries, trainees, off-duty security guards, government contractors--black ops at 97201?

We're told they are there to protect federal buildings and property. Protect from what? A raging horde of bicycle-riding, latte-sipping white pacifists wearing Birkenstocks, who have been goaded into action by a direct threat to their Constitutional rights. And don't forget they are protectively fronted by arm-linked human "walls" of veterans, moms, and dads. Ripe targets for our big, bad DHS.

Portland police claim to have found loaded automatic weapon magazines (but no guns) and possible (unused) Molotov cocktails in a park that has been the scene of a lot of protest action, but the cops are trying to look good under the eye of the fed bullyboys, and at this point I don't believe much of anything coming out of either group.

The faceless invaders claim to be using "nonlethal" means of crowd dispersal: rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, and tear gas. Let's look at this target-friendly ordnance.

• Rubber bullets: An extensive study of the use of these projectiles concluded that they kill about 3% of their targets and cause serious permanent injury to about 15%.² Maybe they should be called "mostly nonlethal."Just collateral damage for the Trumpster, right? But 3% of a thousand is 30 human lives lost. Not so collateral to their families.

• Tear gas: Proscribed for use in warfare by the Geneva Protocol of 1926, along with all "asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids,"³ but not disallowed for riot control. Hm--so it can be used on civilians in street clothes, but not on armed belligerents, presumably with gas masks. Who would have thought the rules of war could be more humane than those of domestic policing?

• Flash-bangs: Not nonlethal, very dangerous, and frequently misused.⁴

Now, lest you think I'm biased, I'll direct you to a piece in support of those jackbooted, faceless troops. It's from the National Review, a rabid rag of the radical right. Beware: it might make you vomit. Go to footnote 5, below.

Sic semper tyrannis! Let the DHS goons get what's coming to them, rubber bullets, flash-bangs, gas and all.


--- Diogenes, 7/27/2020


¹ https://www.movingtoportland.net/portland-information/portland-demographics/
² Haar RJ, Iacopino V, Ranadive N, et al., "Death, injury and disability from kinetic impact projectiles in crowd-control settings: a systematic review." BMJ Open 2017;7:e018154. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018154. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/12/e018154
³ U. N. gas protocol: https://unoda-web.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/assets/WMD/Bio/pdf/Status_Protocol.pdf
⁴ Pro Publica: "Hotter than Lava." https://www.propublica.org/article/flashbangs
⁵ National Review: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/the-portland-dhs-operation-is-legal-and-proportionate/

I Shouldn't Say "I Told You So,"

But I did.

I'm not a prophet, but I watch and listen and pay attention, and if anyone had bet against me a couple of months ago when I said COVID-19 wasn't done with us, they would have lost.

Naturally that would have included the Fool-in-Chief, but he's wrong about everything anyway, so no surprise there.

If the Dolt-in-Chief had even a smidgen of historical knowledge, he would know that plagues have historically lasted for years, and some for centuries. It's been suggested that the last gasp of the Black Death of the 1340s came only in 1955. Pandemics rip through us in waves, sometimes just a ripple, sometimes a tsunami. The first wave had barely passed when Trump and the Booboisie started screaming for everything to open up.

So we opened up. Masks came off, social distancing was forgotten, bars and beaches and other places of frivolity enjoyed some very welcome profitable days, and Americans were finally able to get out and have a good time. July 4 was a blast.

To date, more than 15,000 Americans have paid for that party with their lives.

Following the initial assault by COVID-19, which picked off the low-hanging fruit, the curve of U. S. deaths fell into a slump, which a great many ignoramuses thought was the end. Nope. just warming up for round two.

There were only 273 COVID deaths on July 4 in America, and the dwindling number allowed medical professionals to feel very cautiously optimistic. One week later, on July 11, 729 people died; on July 18, 879; and yesterday, 981. In four weeks the daily death toll quadrupled, and it's still going up.

There is only one possible reason for this increase: lessening preventive measures, including isolation, and the insane rush to dive into traditional holiday activities.

The delusional Megalomaniac-in-Chief is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to get to the status quo ante; or in words he might understand, "the way it's s'posed to be." Or in Trumpspeak, "The way I want it to be."

He cannot and will not accept that it's not going to happen. Ever. That sense of complete and utter change in the world is something he's not wired to understand.

He does know something is going on. In a recent argumentative interview with Chris Wallace, the Great Pretender disputed Wallace's enumeration of cases, then asked, "how many deaths?" Apparently dead Americans mean more to him than sick ones.

Here's your number, you unworthy lout: since July 4, some 15,000 American families have lost a child, a parent, a spouse, a grandparent, or some other kin because you are too blind and too stupid to even try to improve the situation.

Every one of those deaths lies at your feet, and every bereft family blames you.


--- Diogenes, 7/25/2020

Taking Action

My first political job was stuffing and licking envelopes for mass mailings supporting our candidate. I hated it. The glue tasted bad and I wasn't allowed to use a sponge for some obscure reason; the room was too hot and the chair too hard and the music too loud.

But it felt good. I was working to affect the electoral process, to make a difference in society, to help elect a candidate we believed would put America on a sensible course away from war.

When I went to the storefront headquarters to volunteer, I was actually hoping for something more active and interesting. I saw myself carrying a sign in a demonstration, or standing with a like-minded crowd shouting slogans.

When I finally did get to the streetfighting part I discovered I would much rather be back in that stuffy office licking envelopes.

That said, if I were reasonably close to any of the cities the Occupier-in-Chief has mentioned as targets* I would throw caution and sanity to the winds, grab my hardhat and gas mask and head once more unto the breach.

Or not. I detest tear gas, to say nothing of being manhandled by thugs in body armor.

The point is, we can all take some kind of action against the unpresident, his administration, and his campaign.

If you have the wherewithal to join a protest, by all means, go. Such actions are the most visible and compelling means we have to draw attention to the public's disgust with the Great Pretender and his actions. Just be careful.

Alternatively, be a documenter. Stay out of the fray but get into the area of the protest carrying your best weapon: your phone, or camera if you have one, and be sure to take a charger. If you have a clip or a holster find a way to tether it to your body. Stay close to the action but try not to get sucked in, and watch for any activity that looks even vaguely sinister. Make photos, videos, audio recordings, whatever you can manage, but never let go of your device. If you see thugs coming for you, turn slowly and walk away. Do not run.

There is absolutely no shame in not taking direct action. Believe me when I tell you it's not for everybody. Do what you can; no action is wasted.

If you're able to be out, volunteer at your local Democratic headquarters. If you're staying at home, write frequently to your Congressional representatives and your state legislators, regardless of party. Focus on one issue and be very clear about your concerns. Be sure to include Speaker Nancy Pelosi in your correspondence--she's a potent force.

If you feel comfortable with it, go public. Contribute to an anti-Trump Facebook site or start one of your own. Develop a blog. You never know who you might reach if you spread it widely enough. You might change one mind; you might change one vote; that is a victory.

Above all, never think that one person makes no difference. A nuclear chain reaction starts with the fission of a single atom.


--- Diogenes, 7/24/2020


* Albuquerque, Baltimore, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Oakland, and Philadelphia have been mentioned as targets. Chicago, Kansas City, and Portland are already under siege. All these cities are "run by liberal Democrats," according to Trump, which makes all this a political issue.    

Casus Belli

The Great Pretender needs a war.

He knows this because he had a dream.

In this dream a figure of indeterminate gender wearing a white robe showed him pictures of other white men he vaguely recognized. The figure said they were former U. S. presidents who Americans thought were great because they had won a war. Did he want to be thought great, too? The Dreamer-in-Chief had trouble believing his vision. Had there really been that many wars?

Undeterred by doubt, the apparition went on to say the Faker-in-Chief could have his very own war if he wanted it, but there would be no one left to applaud him if he chose that option.   

Alternatively, he could choose to refight a historical war, appointing his own generals, applying his own strategies, and shaping the outcome any way he wished. This option, however, came with a caveat: The chosen war could be fought only in his dream world. Nothing would change in the real world, either past or present.

Hearing that, the Sleeper-in-Chief nearly awoke. "Buh," he half muttered, "who'll say I' great?" His nocturnal interlocuter assured him that if he wanted all the demons of Hell to rise up and cheer him on, he could do so while dreaming. "Uh," he snortled, "Hi'ler 'n' Stal'n too?"

"Just so," affirmed the vision. "Your choice?"

The Civil War of course; the only all-American war.

• He wouldn't have to deal with foreigners;
• He would set things right with the CSA (they'd let him build his wall, by God!);
• He could own slaves who would always call him "Massa;"
• He could talk to everybody because both sides spoke English;
• He could be both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, conflating them into his heroic personality;
• He could rewrite history, claiming the Yankees invaded the South to steal all the slaves and relocate them to Canada;
• Better yet, he could claim there were never any slaves. The Yankees invaded because they were jealous of the Southern aristocratic lifestyle; 
• No. Negroes were happy servants, singing, dancing, and eating watermelon when off duty;
• He could finally have the America he so desperately wants: 100% Americans, 100% white, 100% native English speakers, 100% Protestant, 100% adoring him;
• He could be President for Life, like his mentor Vlad.

Donald Abraham John Jefferson Trump awoke refreshed and inspired. Picking up his private cell phone he made a few calls, then went to the sitting room where he relaxed, sometimes humming "Dixie" to himself.

After about an hour he was informed he had a delivery being sent up. He received it from the agent on duty, locked the door, and carried it into the bedroom. Changing into his best pajamas, he sat on the bed and opened the box from Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, pulling out a month's supply of his favorite sleep aid.

He set the box on the bedside table, swallowed three Lunesta tablets, lay back, carefully cradling his favorite stuffed animal with his left arm, and closed his eyes, smiling.


--- Diogenes, 7/23/2020

Your Comments Are Requested And Welcomed

Please let us all know, anonymously if you wish, how you think the plague on our nation (i.e. DJTrump) should be handled or removed.

The floor is open. Anyone may add a comment.

Thank you.


--- Diogenes, 7/21/2020