A Slight Delay

The post for this week will be postponed. Visiting family takes precedence.

--- Diogenes, 18 February 2025

Day of Action

On Monday, Feb. 17, Presidents Day, the 50501 group has called for another nationwide protest against Donny John and his intended ruination of the government. Although 50501 has partnered with the Political Revolution group, they remain decentralized and apparently without regional leadership. There is some information on Reddit, but it is difficult to separate the factual from the dubious.

More to the point for those of us in the hinterlands who are rather up a stump when it comes to joining an actual protest, 50501 has suggested making Presidents Day a day of action. If you cannot get to a march, rally, or other form of protest, or if weather threatens to make travel inadvisable, work from home. Grab your phone or sit down at your computer and call and/or email your congressional representatives as many times as possible. Flood their system, letting them know we are here and we mean business. 

I am cynical about contacting government, too, but even though your call or mail will likely be handled by AI, a tally is kept, and they do pay attention to which interests are getting the most attention. So fire up that autodialer or copy a few letters and turn on autofill and go to work.

We applaud 50501 for their initiative, and only wish they would provide some representatives here in the outback.

Contacts: U.S. House of Representatives phone: 202-224-3121 TTY: 202-225-1904. https://www.house.gov/representatives  or search on your representative's name.

Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121. https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm. Or search your senators by name.

Enjoy your day helping to preserve democracy.

--- Diogenes, 16 February 2025

On Anger (And yes, we've gone back to our original name.)

I dislike being angry. It's a wasteful emotion, putting mental energy into the land of what-ifs and useless imaginings, generating visions of violence and mayhem, and making me dyspeptic. It is a frustrating state of mind that feeds on itself and that is most difficult to evade. Yes, evade. Anger chases us, seeming to be always just behind us with whispers of betrayals, slights, insults, and other hurts that may be individually small, but when taken together can cause us to believe that everyone we know is against us and out to get us, and that we have to strike first.

Welcome to the world of Donald John Trump.

Trump's public face radiates anger. Indeed, it could be an embodiment of anger. It could have been the source of the idiom "face full of thunder." His perpetual scowl, which he surely practiced for hours in front of a mirror, is meant to frighten and intimidate. It works on some people.

What I have to wonder is why? Who or what has damaged this man so badly that he is unable to interact normally in society and the world? That he feels he has to crush or frighten everyone he encounters? 

Anger so fierce has to have deep roots. Was he shamed by a bully as a youngster? Perhaps, but Mary L. Trump, Donny John's aunt, suggests Trump's character weaknesses are family traits. She notes that Donny John's father, Fred Trump, had his own need for recognition "that propelled him to encourage Donald's reckless hyperbole and unearned confidence that hid Donald's pathological weaknesses and insecurities,"¹ suggesting that Fred applied a kind of inverse Munchausen syndrome by proxy, by which rather that imposing symptoms of illness on DJ he could pull some sense of recognition or importance back onto himself from his son.

I realize that the last sentence is a bit dense. There seems to be no actual name for this kind of disorder, although it has been documented. I envision Fred standing in DJ's shadow, pulling reflected attention into himself like a kind of psychic vampire.

It occurs to me that the title of Mary Trump's book, Too Much And Never Enough, reflects, perhaps unconsciously, the idea of that strange co-dependency. Could it be that Donny John still feels his father's need to feed on his importance? That he feels compelled to garner ever increasing fame so he has enough to share with his deceased father? And is that need the source of his anger? We all know that Donny does not like to share.

It is asked why people who already have a shameful amount of wealth aren't satisfied, but seem always to want more, although they need nothing. I don't get it, but psychologist Roy Eidelson seems to have a handle on it. In his essay "Psychology's 'Dark Triad' and the Billionaire Class,"² Eidelson proposes that an intertwining of three psychoses, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, affects the hyper rich, isolating them from the rest of society, and creating in them the belief that they are due more than anyone else. A link to his article is below. If you're interested in this topic it's a good read.

It seems I've gone off-topic. Well, no surprise there. We started with anger, and here we are in behaviorism. But maybe we're not too far off. As I pulled Mary Trump's book off the shelf I was struck by a niggle. The title, Too Much And Never Enough, pinged a trigger to something I read way back in my memory, and it finally worked its way to the front a couple of paragraphs ago.

The story is a novella written by science fiction Grand Master Frederik Pohl in the mid 1950s, titled The Man Who Ate The World.³ The very hungry man is named Sonny Trumie, and he doesn't actually eat the world. Here is a précis by the author: 

This takes place in a world where the poor must consume to avoid waste. Sonny received no love except from his robotic companions. Being a good consumer was the only validation he ever received. His parents were too busy consuming (as was required by their jobs) to have time to provide love to Sonny personally. We have many billionaires today that remind me of Sonny. As a wise man once said, "I have something a billionaire will never have. Enough."⁴ The only way to achieve love is through consuming.

Sonny hates consuming. He has enough top-end toys for 50 children, but the only thing in the world he actually wants to have is his baby sister's Teddy bear, which the household robots prevent him from getting (yes, I get the Rosebud echoes).

Fast forward to an adult Sonny. Wracked by guilt because he could never consume enough to help his parents, he has created his own small world on an island, and he consumes to near death: "Sonny ate. He ate until eating was pain, and then he sat there sobbing, his arms braced against the tabletop, until he could eat more."⁵

The gist of the story is not Sonny's consuming per se, but the fact that his runaway consumption requires so much energy that he is beginning to threaten the rest of the world with ruinous power shortages.

I urge you to read the story. It's on Goodreads, and may be available in your own library or favorite e-book provider. Or you can follow the link below, with caveats. It's a pleasant little story as cautionary tales go, and an easy read.

But here's the thing: Each time you read Sonny's name, say to yourself "Donny John." 

Because somewhere in that bloated body is a scared little boy crying for his Teddy bear.

---Diogenes, Feb. 11, 2025

 

¹ Trump, Mary L. Too Much And Never Enough; How My Family Created The World's Most Dangerous Man. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020. p. 11.

² Eidelson, Roy J., "Psychology’s 'Dark Triad' and the Billionaire Class," psychologytoday.com, posted Oct.25, 2019; retrieved Feb. 10, 2025: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dangerous-ideas/201910/psychology-s-dark-triad-and-the-billionaire-class 

³ Pohl, Frederik George jr. "The Man Who Ate The World," New York, Galaxy Science Fiction, Nov. 1956.

⁴ The "wise man" was author Joseph Heller.

 

⁵ I no longer have a copy of the book, and this quote is taken from a website that offers the entire novella. Vox Populi has no responsibility for the site, and cannot guarantee you will be able to access it. Here's a link: https://www.kaivala.com/index.php/books/the-midas-plague/the-man-who-ate-the-world

ADDENDUM: A few weeks ago we changed our name from Vox Populi to Vox Veritatis. This was done in the belief that since about half the voters in the general election voted for Donald Trump, we could not rightfully claim to be the voice of the people. That change was made during the confusion and chaos of Trump's first days in office. Having now seen the wreckage Trump is trying to make of the government and the fact that it is affecting everyone including MAGAs, we have decided that we do speak for the people, including those who were deluded by Trump and have now been betrayed by him. So welcome, everybody, as we try to navigate the nonsensical world of Donny John.

"Well, I'm back."

We are back, indeed. 

 

It has taken a great deal of thought, conversation and debate within Vox Veritatis. Opinions regarding the fate of this blog--originally Vox Populi, if you remember that far back--have ranged from taking up arms against the sea of troubles Donny John has brought us to packing up and moving to Malta. Pragmatists that we are, it was decided that we could do the best good by holding to our base while slightly changing our approach.

 

Since we launched this blog in early 2017 the number of blogs, vlogs, and podcasts covering the American political scene has increased exponentially. We have always been, and will probably remain, a small operation with a focused purpose: ridding the country of Donald Trump.

 

We operate largely on hope and faith. We are not naive, nor do we consider what we do a fool's errand. Every word that speaks truth to power, no matter the voice that utters it, helps to break the hold that Donny John and his minions have over far too many Americans. We know our audience is small. We haven't the wherewithal to advertise, but if each of you reading our work could share it as widely as possible we will be most appreciative.

 

Among our conversations was some consideration about continuing to use the nom de plume Diogenes. Even a cursory online search on the name will reveal dozens, if not hundreds, of site using the name. All of them are not blogs, but a great many are. We knew, when our domain search made us the eighth of the name, that we were far from original. But we like Diogenes; we like his ethos and his habitat. He is a personage to whom all of us here can relate. And we felt that since we've been pretty irregular with our posts recently that continuity would be a good thing.

Our plan at this juncture is to publish a weekly post. This one has been done on Tuesday, which we may stay with. We do not expect our content strategy to change, but we may sharpen our edges and bring more forces into the attack.

Tolkien fans will note that the title of this post is the last sentence in The Lord of the Rings, spoken by Sam Gamgee. We chose it because we think Sam's laconic closing statement holds the elements of new beginnings. In any event we are back, and we'll see where we go.

 

--- Diogenes, 2/3/2025

 

P. S. For anyone who might have been wondering, the final average Clown Score of Trump's original Cabinet picks was 71.3. Remember that this isn't like an academic scoring system, but is rather like golf, in which lower scores are better. So taken as a whole, this group's CQ score can be taken as about 75% of the worst they could be. 

 

 

Kyrie eleison

If Trump can attend the Mass of consecration of the altar of Notre-Dame de Paris without the flesh melting from his bones, perhaps there really is no hope.

Vox Veritatis is on extended leave.

 

-- Diogenes, 12/10/24

Bring in the Clowns, Part 2b

My friends, I thank you for your good wishes and for your forbearance concerning the lapse of days between posts. Life just will intrude on the important stuff.

Now onward to the second half of the Clown Cabinet. We left off with Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the Clown-in-Chief's pick for secretary of Labor. Next:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services. I have found it very difficult to retain even a semblance of objectivity regarding this nomination. Part of the days-long delay of this part has been due to my waffling on it, and particularly trying to decide to go long or go short.

This is short:

Kennedy has a solid record as an environmental attorney who has won several cases against large corporations for polluting, endangering marine life, and for using destructive mining practices. He opposes coal-fired power plants, but conversely is also opposed to alternative forms of energy generation, having successfully fought against hydroelectric dams and wind farms, and brought about the closure of a nuclear power generation station in New York. One might wonder why he wasn't tapped for Interior or Agriculture.

The reason is because he's a wing nut when it comes to human health. He did all the environmental stuff as a Democrat.

During the COVID crisis Kennedy promoted the use of the quack drug Ivermectin and published a number of articles containing disinformation about vaccine safety.

And he has besmirched his family's legacy by cuddling up to Trump. CQ 95%

Scott Turner, HUD: Turner is a former NFL player turned politician. He worked in Trump's first term as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. HUD is no stranger to massive budget cuts, and it is a target in Trump's spending-reduction drive. At a time when the cost of even modest homes is beyond the reach of nearly half of Americans,¹ HUD's role of helping Americans get into and stay in their homes is exceptionally important.

Turner is an associate pastor in his church, and religion plays a large role in his life. Caught between American homeowners' need for support and his boss' desire to slash and burn departmental budgets Turner may need to lean hard into his faith. CQ 25%

Sean Duffy, Transportation: Former Fox News presenter. Automatic CQ 100%.

Chris Wright, Energy: Now here's a change. Wright has degrees from MIT and some study at UC Berkeley. He is CEO of Liberty Energy, a large fracking company. He has been labeled a climate change denier, but an article in Forbes² notes that he has publicly stated his belief that carbon dioxide, which scientists consider to be the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, is in fact a greenhouse gas. (The Trump camp maintains that humans bear no responsibility for climate change.)

Wright has been clear in his promotion of nuclear energy, and he is invested in plants that build reactors. He is an intelligent candidate with well founded positions. But we have to wonder what will happen to his ideas once he moves into government. His opinions have changed in the past, but he does not seem to be tied slavishly to Trump ideas. CQ 45%.

Linda McMahon, Education: Given the Clown-in-Chief's antipathy to the Department of Education, it's surprising he even bothered to nominate anyone--and that anyone would accept the nomination. But such is the lust for power in Clown City.

In his announcement of McMahon's nomination, Trump shouted out his all-caps education mantra, "bring education back to the states." Just to soothe my fellow grammarians, I know the verb in that sentence should be "send" rather than "bring," but it's moot anyway. Public education is already administered by the states. 

McMahon's work history barely touches directly on education. She spent a year on the Connecticut State Board of Education and is a major donor to Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. She also supports a number of charitable organizations.

The largest chunk of McMahon's history and ongoing work belongs to her position as co-founder (with her husband Vince) and CEO of Titan Sports Inc., the parent of the World Wrestling Foundation and World Wrestling Entertainment. She is likely a DEI hire to entertain all those Manly MAGA Men.

It has been suggested that Trump and McMahon will focus on bringing about changed to American higher education.  That's hardly surprising, given the C-i-C's dislike of higher ed. It's an open question whether Trump actually owns a post-secondary degree, and there are all those people out there who have something he doesn't and can't get. But I digress . . .

McMahon is an unknown at this point, as is her plan for education. CQ 50%.

Doug Collins, Veterans' Affairs: Collins is genuinely a mixed bag: lawyer, minister, politician, business owner, hazardous materials safety products salesman, Air Force Reserve chaplain. 

As a Republican member of the Georgia House from 2007 to 2013 and the U. S. House from 2013 to 2021 he has hardly followed a Christian path. He is against abortion but for capital punishment; received high marks from the NRA and a failing grade from NORML; he is against all aspects of LGBTQ; is opposed to the Affordable Care Act; is a climate change denier; signed the Republican amicus brief supporting a case brought by Texas trying to get the Supreme Court to set aside the 2020 election.

Isn't that enough? CQ 95%.

Kristi Noem, Homeland Security: Really? She is the governor of South Dakota and the bozo who approved having hundreds of thousands of anti-masking bikers invade Sturgeon in the midst of the COVID plague, ultimately leading to hundreds of cases and an unknown number of deaths.³ And she's going to lead a department that numbers about a quarter the population of her entire state? That includes armed services?

Noem's action so alarmed the indigenous nations of South Dakota that several of them banned her from their lands during the rally and blocked roads that rally-goers might use to cross their lands. As of this date all South Dakota's indigenous nations have declared Noem persona non grata.

South Dakota's original inhabitants don't want her, and neither do we. CQ 95%.

Rather than extend this after so long a delay in getting it out, I'm going to stop here and do all the follow-up in the next part.

--Diogenes, 12/4/24

 

¹ National Association of Home Builders: "Nearly Half of U.S. Households Can’t Afford a $250,000 Home," 5/17/24. https://www.nahb.org/blog/2024/05/housing-affordability-pyramid

² "Fracker Chris Wright, Trump’s Energy Pick, Isn’t A Climate Denier–He’s A Pragmatist," Forbes, 11/19/24.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2024/11/19/fracker-chris-wright-trumps-energy-pick-isnt-a-climate-denierhes-a-pragmatist/

³ "South Dakota Covid cases quintuple after Sturgis motorcycle rally," NBC, 8/25/2021. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-dakota-covid-cases-quintuple-after-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-n1277567

 

  

 

Bring In The Clowns, Part 2a

In our former post we presented a roster of individuals who Donald Trump has presented as candidates for the Cabinet and other high offices.

Here they are again, in order of their departments' seniority:

• State: Marco Rubio
• Treasury: Scott Bessent
• Defense: Pete Hegseth
• Attorney General: Pam Bondi
• Interior: Doug Burgum
• Agriculture: Brooke Rollins
• Commerce: Howard Lutnick
• Labor: Lori Chavez-DeRemer
• Health & Human Services: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Housing & Urban Development: Scott Turner
• Transportation: Sean Duffy
• Energy: Chris Wright
• Education: Linda McMahon
• Veterans' Affairs: Doug Collins
• Homeland Security: Kristi Noem

I'll remind you, loyal readers, that we here at Vox Veritatis are not news reporters. We report and opine on the news post facto. You can find lengthy bios of all these people all over the Internet. We are simply reporting on their Clown Quotient. Were we too severe in calling them clowns? Are they just simple minions? Let's see:

Marco Rubio: First-generation American born in Miami to Cuban immigrants; has been taken to court at least once for not being a natural-born American; the case was dismissed. Since at least 2010 he has waffled on immigration policy; misstated the circumstances of his immigration to the U.S.; and not mentioned that his grandfather worked in the Treasury ministry during Castro's reign. Clown Quotient 60%.

Scott Bessant: Billionaire, hedge fund manager, long-time Trump friend and supporter, openly gay and married. DEI pick? CQ 50%.

Pete Hegseth: Former Fox News personality. Automatic CQ 100%.

Pam Bondi: Former Florida AG who has promised to go after other prosecutors who have brought Trump up on charges. Election denier, deep state believer. CQ 90%.

Doug Burgum: ND governor. Successful as an honest businessman with solid high-tech cred. Supports CO₂ sequestration. Anti-choice, anti-trans, pro-gun, co-creator of American Governors' Border Strike Force--has deployed ND National Guard to Texas to bolster wall "defense." CQ 85%.

Brooke Rollins: A Texas attorney who seems to have her heart in the right place, but who has been associated with questionable enterprises like Trump's United States Domestic Policy Council, a major player in Project 2025.  CQ 75%.

Howard Lutnick: Billionaire who has survived a tough life, being orphaned, losing virtually his entire company in 9/11. Despite being a strong Trump follower he financially supports several good works and institutions. Also believes in cryptocurrency and supports tariffs, which he doesn't seem to understand any better than Trump. CQ 65%.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer: Lives in Happy Valley, OR. (Irrelevant, but I couldn't resist). A U.S. representative from Oregon since 2022, Chavez-DeRemer bills herself as an independent thinker and may actually have some knowledge of her Cabinet post, unlike most of her colleagues. CQ 40%.

I do hope you'll forgive me, but I have to be elsewhere soon, so I'll need to complete the CQ list on Friday. I dislike leaving things half done, but needs must.

-- Diogenes, 11/27/24

 

To anyone who has been receiving these posts via email, I am sorry, but Blogger no longer has a means of sending batched emails. You can find posts on Facebook and X.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring In The Clowns, Part 1

 It may be a generational thing, but I cannot understand anyone being scared of a clown. 

What is it exactly that triggers panic in coulrophobes? Is it the makeup that turns faces into oversize parodies of the human visage? Or the strange costumes, sometimes mimicking everyday clothing, sometimes so strangely organized as to seem otherworldly?

Assuredly one could see far more shocking scenes in any number of motion pictures and television shows. Consider any film or program about zombies: there we have grotesque makeup and ragged clothing, yet no one runs screaming from the theater or dives behind the couch when they come on the screen.

Is it the matter of perceived violence in the slapstick, the pratfall, or the pistol that shoots out a "Bang!" flag? Again, what of the material that has entertained generations? The Three Stooges, perhaps, or the venerable Road Runner,  developed in 1948 and still going strong. The image of Wile E. Coyote meeting disaster never fails to draw a laugh from audiences, even though in reality the gags would result in severe injuries or death.

Or is it simply the matter that real clowns, from their ridiculous wigs right down to their outsize shoes, are in the same space we inhabit? Depending on our seat in the auditorium or tent we might be able to reach out and touch them--or more terrible for the clown-fearing members of the audience, they could reach out and touch us.

I will probably never understand coulrophobia, but there are some clowns I do fear: the despicable band of fools that Trump claims to want in his cabinet and other high offices.

In his own twisted notion of government there may be a weird logic to Trump's selections. As a transactional, lucre-driven being he of course puts great store in the long-discredited spoils system, whereby government offices are awarded on the basis of party--or in this case cult--loyalty, rather than on merit, talent, or experience.

We all know that Trump craves approval and fawning praise, and the individuals he has selected for the highest offices in government are among the most shameless toadies, stooges, and sycophants in his orbit.

The current roster of clowns is: Scott Bessent, Pam Bondi, Doug Burgum, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Doug Collins, Sean Duffy, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth,  Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Howard Lutnick, Linda McMahon, Kristi Noem, John Ratcliffe, Brooke Rollins, Marco Rubio, Scott Turner, Chris Wright, Lee Zeldin.

And who are they?

Stay tuned.

--Diogenes, 11/26/24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome, again

 Because we've been mostly silent for the last four years, it occurred to me that reposting the original welcome message might be helpful:

 "This is the inaugural post of Vox Populi. It's rather a trite name--there are other blogs and sites with the same name. Still, I've chosen the name not because of the classical aphorism "Vox populi vox dei" ("The voice of the people is the voice of God"), but for the two words alone. 

I hope to offer a voice, even if it's one crying in the wilderness, for people who feel the outcome of the 2016 election, while it may have been legal and proper, was wrong. I have an image of the U. S. Constitution here because it is the true voice of the people of this country. No one should ever forget or overlook that point.

My choice of the blog name Diogenes--the legendary seeker of truth--is likewise not particularly original. But I'm not trying to be cute or original here. I believe deeply that the election of Donald Trump as president has brought this country to a dangerous juncture. The old advice to never trust a politician now extends to the highest level; and where and what the truth is and from whom it comes are open questions. Welcome, seekers of truth."

And truth, as it turns out, is where we begin again. In fact we've changed our name, from Vox Popoli to Vox Veritatis because we think the truth needs us more than the people do. 

We learned during Trump's first term that Donald Trump has no use for the truth. So we shall be its voice.

As he has aged and as his mental state has apparently started to decay, Trump's core has begun to show; it is ugly and rotten and putrid and corrupt and putrescent,  feculent, and noisome.

And dangerous.

Dangerous because somewhere in that addled brain he surely knows that he is old and that death is stalking him, and that he can't outrun, outbluff, or flimflam the Grim Reaper. And he hates it.

So welcome then again my friends, to the show that never ends . . . come and see the show . . . see the show . . . see the show.

--Diogenes, 11/22/24

 

Do The Right Thing

 An open letter to American voters:

My grandfather once said that he always voted for the best man for the job, and the best man was always a Republican.

I expect that many of us vote the same way, following the party line just as our ancestors did. For some it is an ingrained habit, and we mark our ballots automatically, without much thought.

If you are a Republican I urge you to break that habit, at least for the upcoming election.

Before you check the box or pull the lever for Donald Trump, ask yourself the following questions:

Do you truly want to appoint a man commander in chief of the armed forces who disrespects members of the services, both dead and alive, calling them “losers” and “suckers,” and who has said he will turn troops against the American people?

The next president may have the opportunity to nominate at least three new Supreme Court justices who could serve for decades. If Trump is that president he will see to it that the court locks in his reactionary policies against women.

Do you really want your daughters and granddaughters to be subject to that persecution? Do you genuinely want as president a man who violated his oath to protect the Constitution numerous times, and has even suggested the Constitution—the cornerstone and anchor of our democracy—should be overturned?

Are you 100 percent certain that you want a man who lusts after power at any price, glorifies tyrants, and who sent a mob to attack Congress, to have access to America’s nuclear arsenal?

If you can answer “no” to just one of these questions follow your conscience and vote for Kamala Harris. America has always been great, and continues to be. Let’s keep it so.

-- Diogenes, 28 October 2024