Weekend Comments and a short story.
March 4, 2023
The Comment section is open.
I had hoped that we would glide into a nice, relaxing weekend. We still can, but Trump managed to induce a national gag reflex by performing a musical mashup of the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem. That’s not the bad part. Trump was accompanied by the “J6 Prison Choir” comprised of felons convicted of assaulting the Capitol on January 6th.
When my wife reported the story to me as we were eating dinner, I told her it was a joke that had duped the media. Sadly, it turns out to be true. See Forbes, Trump And Jan. 6 Prisoners Collaborate On New Song Called ‘Justice For All’.
It is difficult to find the words of disgust and outrage to describe Trump's desecration of the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the rule of law. Trump is rooting for insurrectionists against America—the country he seeks to lead as president for the second time.
Trump's musical abomination will dog him through his 2024 campaign—as it will his GOP competitors. It is beyond the pale, both as an affront to democracy and as a crass insult to the flag that hundreds of thousands have fought and died to defend.
Trump's musical debut also operates as a moral release for those who see the entire Republican Party as irredeemable. I occasionally receive emails from Republicans who say that I should limit my criticisms to Republican leaders. They say that members of the GOP who remain in the party to save it deserve praise for their rearguard action. That may have been true at one time, but not anymore.
The moral and popular leader of the Republican Party is in league with insurrectionists—and he is using the infrastructure of the GOP to advance his second coup attempt. No person of good faith can remain in the Republican Party. The cause is lost, and everyone trying to save the GOP must repudiate it immediately to help hasten its demise. It does not deserve saving.
The “Circle of (Van) Life,” or “A Life Measured in Cupholders.”
With apologies to Elton John and T.S. Eliot, I can’t let a weekend start on such a down note, so I will share a short story about a milestone my Managing Editor and I achieved today. When my wife and I were starting a family forty years ago, we purchased a Dodge Caravan—a relatively recent entry into the US car market for growing families. The Dodge minivan had much to recommend it, but the new-fangled feature of “cupholders” sealed the deal for us. The Dodge Caravan had two. Life was good.
As our daughters grew and moved out, my wife and I moved into luxury sedans, which we drove for two decades. Now retired, we spend much of our time driving our granddaughters to appointments, the park, and weekend excursions. Putting them into and extracting them from “child car seats” has taken a toll on our backs and patience. The obvious solution: a minivan.
Today, we sold our luxury car and purchased a minivan with seven seats, two automatic sliding side doors, a hands-free rear hatch, and an intercom so we can talk to our granddaughters in the back seats without twisting our necks. The salesman said as he tried to soothe our wounded pride, “It’s the Cadillac of minivans.”
We have moved into a new phase of our lives—as grandparents. We are busier than ever, but have no complaints, despite having put our “luxury car days” behind us. Heck, we own a minivan with six cupholders! Life is good.
Talk to you on Monday!
I bought a 1997 Dodge Caravan in October of 1996. I still drive it. It has 4 cup holders. It is now an antique with a new engine and transmission and old enough to vote. My brother put in the new engine and transmission. I thanked him by having a bumper sticker made that said "Thank you, Richard, for the most beautiful car on the road!" And, this beautiful teal car really is the most beautiful car on the road. The greed of capitalism and income disparity shows in today's new cars. Look across any parking lot and all you see is white, black, gray and a few red cars. That is the car manufacturers cutting a nickel or two off the cost of each car to reward their stockholders with more profit and make the richer even richer, obscenely richer. To me it is another indicator of the hollowing out of the middle class and a sign of a depressed society. No wonder mental health is becoming a larger and larger epidemic these days. This is the same greed that caused the train derailment in East Palestine and closed the baby diaper factories because of unsanitary conditions. The corruption of our politicians by Citizens United is evident in all the deregulation and the GOP cries for less and less federal government. In all things there is a balance between too much and too little. To get out of the mess the government is in we must deal with the gross income disparity as a top priority. President Biden sees this clearly with his "bottom up and middle out" economics. We, the People, all of us with beautiful cars and plenty of cup holders this time!
I dread every single thing I have to pay attention to involving TFG (not only "he who shall not be named" but "he who doesn't deserve to ever be named again - may his "brand" burn in purgatory. Just as Benedict Arnold's name came to equate to treason, may T***** take on the meaning of LOSER..) Thank you for taking the first punch for us - I guess I will have to be tortured by his hypocritical mashup.
Palate cleanser: Lin Manuel Miranda's genius HAMILTON selection "ONE LAST TIME" as the "44 Remix" with Chris Jackson, Bebe Winans and former President Barack Obama. #Hamildrop
https://youtu.be/wFEL_0UFgIs
One last quote:
If you RAISE your CHILDREN, you can later Spoil your Grandchildren.
If you SPOIL your CHILDREN, you will later have to Raise your Grandchildren.
*I still assert, the world would have been saved from tremendous hurt if DJT's parents had properly raised him.
It seems to me we are continuously suffering from his toddler tantrums.
Forget "Chinese spy balloons" and continue to display the baby trump in a diaper Macy's-Day-Parade sized protest balloon (so nearly a blimp.)