Archives for August 2020

Saturday August 29, 2020

64 Days until the election on November 3^rd

144 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

I got so into my writing yesterday I forgot to mention the reason I most recently saw of Mike Pence’s hypocrisy, Or is it stupidity? It’s hard to know with Pence. He is certainly cold and calculating. Yet he has that beguiling look of a moron when he stands behind and to one side of Trump. Worshipful is the best way to describe the look. Oh well. The point I wanted to make about Mike yesterday was his closing arguments for the Trump/Pence/(Putin) team. That argument was that a miracle was going to save us. 

Yeah, that was it. Period. Full stop. Other than his “make America great again … again.”

The miracle cure like the “ya gotta believe” argument is akin to the “I got nuthin’ “ reply. And so the crowd cheered. I hope we have most of the people at the event identified so we’ll know how many got and spread the virus. Also, it will be helpful to nail them on Hatch Act violations. I’m not sure what the penalty is for violating the Hatch Act but I’m pretty sure it’s crucifixion, pretty sure. Ya gotta believe.

Okay, on to today’s topic. One of the things that history teaches us is that there is often a precursor to the next act. I like the case of the 400 Greek mercenaries who had to fight their way out of Persia after their usurper leader died. This was a generation before Alexander. What it showed Alexander was that the Persians could be beat. That you could march into the belly of the beast and survive. He wanted to kill it, and he did.

If we look at the transformation of the Republican Party it’s a march from what they call conservatism to authoritarianism. It started with Reagan, and every Republican president since then has added to it. Now we have Trump, but is that the end, or is Trump the John the Baptist? Will we get someone even more unhinged and bat-shit crazy? More authoritarian? It’s hard to imagine, but it’s something worth keeping in mind. 

The building of The Great Pyramid didn’t just happen. It was the result of not only years and years of experimentation and developing of building techniques but also the creation of a series of systems to get the people, material, and tools to the job site. Likewise the transformation of the Republicans into what it is today took time and they were being directed by a concerted group of very rich and scheming people, who have no regard for the traditions and ways that our Founding Fathers developed. In fact, they are working directly against many of those ideas and principles. 

For those people, working with a dictator is easier. Easier to do business, easier to control, easier to get what they want.

What do they want?

Ah, that is the question isn’t it?

Basically, they want to make as much money as possible and pay no taxes. To achieve these goals they need power. 

How do I know this is true? Look at history. 

Much of this in modern times is outline in “Democracy in Chains” by Nancy MacLean.

In the book “Lost to The West” Lars Brownworth details how the city of Constantinople was besieged over the centuries, both from within and without. When the large landowners aided typically by the religious elite got control the first thing they did was to pass tax reforms that said the church and the large landowners didn’t have to pay taxes. What happened? The middle class was left with the burden. Not being able to pay the taxes, they and the poor left the city. They literally “took to the hills.” The political structure collapsed and a new authority emerged which taxed at least the wealthy and the city flourished once again. This didn’t happen once, but many times.

If you look at Hitler’s rise to power he used the levers of power he acquired to rise higher and then he abolished those systems and institutions. He had his own squad of hired thugs, called “The Brown Shirts.” I can’t help but think of that when I see those unmarked Federal law enforcement people supposedly protecting government buildings from protestors.

During the Spanish Civil War the people who were fighting Franco and his military thugs were also having to deal with a stealth enemy – Texaco. The head of Texaco not only diverted the ships of fuel destine for the rebels to give those supplies to Franco, but he also used his extensive contacts throughout that area of the world to provide Franco with intelligence. Once Franco came to power he let Hitler try out his air force blitzkrieg tactics by attacking the city of Guernica. For three days the German airforce bombed and strafed the city. Shooting unarmed women and fleeing children in the back with 50 caliber bullets. The town had no military significance, but it was a symbol of Catalonian resistance to Franco and Spanish rule. This atrocity was denied by Franco for his reign. Picasso painted his masterpiece “Guernica” and gave it to the Spanish people, not to return to Spain until Frano was dead. It hung in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for years where I saw it.

So I ask myself the question, “Is Trump the end of the line or is there someone worse to come?” It’s hard to imagine, but … but we are in the midst of it and we won’t know until we stop the banging of our collective heads against the wall and wake to find the headache gone.

Lots of little prep work yesterday. Hopefully we finish the exterior of the house today.

64 Days until the election on November 3^rd

144 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Barbie!

Friday August 28, 2020

65 Days until the election on November 3^rd

145 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Okay, well what the Republicans are calling their convention is over. I haven’t heard what happened the last night. At the time I turned it off the crowd was gathering on the White House lawn in violation of the Hatch Act and other laws. There were few masks in sight, other than a few on the setup crew. The only thing we could think of was “This is going to be a super spreader event.” Oh well. Broken laws, distain for normalcy, ignoring science and public health – just another day of the Trump administration.

So far what I have gleaned from the Republican speeches is that Joe Biden is going to bring liberals and socialism to America and that’s bad. It’s not clear what is meant by these people of those terms, but it’s bad – real bad. Not as bad as your new next door neighbors – MS13. Apparently, Joe Biden is going to have a side hustle in the real estate business installing gang members next door to you.

So what are the Republicans promising to do and claim to have done? Well, things are bad but not really. They are actually great, but things are going to get worse and that’s good. Or as Mike Pence summed up “Make America Great Again (pregnant pause) Again.”

Speaking of Mike, that woman beside him who looked like a washed out dish rag is apparently his wife. Her name I learned is Karen, not Mommy. Who knew?

I find Mike Pence to be singularity offensive in his smugness and quiet. He tries to reassure, all the while doing something terrible. His ruining Indiana was the start of his storied career. The way that he and his band of zealots cut down abortion clinics and created one of the worst HIV epidemics was a start. Then there was the gas station his family owned. They left the tanks in the ground for someone else to clean up and pay for. Not much tea million or so. When he became VP he got the chance to hollow out Health and Human Services. He and Kasich in Ohio did a lot of political strong arming to ruin the lives of poor woman in their states, all in the name of religion and, as I call it “pro-death.” They like to call it “pro-life,” but that’s a fantasy. If you insist women have babies no matter what; women are going to die. Not to mention that a generation of unwanted and mostly unloved and uncared for children will grow up to create havoc in society. Forget about MS-13. 

In other news Melania had the rose garden planted by Jackie Kennedy ripped out and the trees planted by every First Lady since I think Woodrow Wilson’s wife taken out too. So much for class and decorum. 

Oh yes, a hurricane ripped through Louisiana. I’ve never heard the term related to the storm surge that was used before “unsurvivable.” Turns out it was barely survivable. There’s another storm on the way. It may peter out, not sure. But this is early for hurricane season. We’ll have to wait and see what hits on September 10^th, which it the height of the bad hurricanes.

Ah me. The painting project continues. We are almost done with the outside and have the deck to go, but that’s another project. 

The big yacht sailed out of The Western Bay today along with the helicopter tender ship. Now our view isn’t obstructed. I was thinking that having such a craft must be a huge headache. You need a crew of twenty on one and fourteen on another. Then you are stuck on board. I mean it’s a big boat but not that big. I can walk down the beach and have more room. But then I share the beach with others – socialism! OMG.

65 Days until the election on November 3^rd

145 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS dean performing the paint sprayer’s arabesque, a classic move.

Wednesday August 26, 2020

67 Days until the election on November 3^rd

147 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

The Hero’s Tale was described by Joseph Campbell and used so successfully by George Lucas in “Star Wars.” It is the classic outline of the protagonist who grows up and is forced to leave his village, who wanders in a place of danger where he is challenged and meets new friends that come to his aid. He returns to the village to save it or bring a gift that is either accepted or rejected. Ultimately, he or she overcomes the forces of evil and all is set right.

It is the story told in The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Moses, Joseph, Jesus, Buddha and so many others. 

But what I asked myself if I applied this to Donald Trump? What if I ran The Hero’s Tale through The Trumpolator? What would come out? Fear not, I present to you:

THE DEMON’S TALE

There’s really nothing new here. It’s the tale of Hitler and every tin and crack pot dictator. Abused kid finds someone to blame, develops paranoid fantasies, learns how to use their charm and meanness to get whatever they want via bullying, guile, and deception. But hey, we kind of know the end result, but the final outcome is sixty seven days away … or is it?

Enough!

Without further adieu:

THE DEMON’S TALE

(Don’t you hear a trumpet voluntary for the second time? No? F. U.)

THE DEMON’S TALE – A true life story by Bryce Holliwell

This is the story of a little boy desperate for his father’s attention. His father was too busy to be bothered. Besides, the older brother was the one Fred Trump showered any praise or affection onto. At an early age our protagonist, the young Donald Trump, decided two things: he wasn’t going to drink, and he was going to be more like his dad than his dad was.

Fortunately, for Donald the older brother died early from alcoholism ( See Donald’s decision not to drink.) This meant he was next in line for Dad’s affection. Donald pretended to take an interest in his dad’s business. He liked the trappings of power and business, but had no real understanding or interest in running a business. He liked the openings and the glamor, the flash and the sizzle, but the real work was not for him.

He learned early on that he could intimidate others, and that by lying and cheating he could do most anything he wanted. Ignoring the rules and law became a way of life for the young Donald. He didn’t pay attention in class. Why bother? He told himself he was smart and so he came to believe that he was. In fact, he pretty much stopped going to class. He hired someone to take his college entrance exam and he enjoyed wandering around the campus, but the real work? Forget it. His big sister did what homework needed to be done. Thus Donald learned that you could get others to do what needed to be done. He could strut and puff. He could be the big man.

He learned from his old man many things. How to hide money from the government so it wouldn’t be taxed. The casual racism and anti-jewish sentiments were also impressed on him at an early age. Likewise a distaste for immigrants and people of any shade of skin except white. His father had been in the Klan and so young Donald learned the lessons of the segregationist and the racist at the knee of his father. It wasn’t so much learned as it was accepted as a fact. 

Donald moved the family real estate business from building government backed housing for vets to prime real estate in Manhattan. From the outside all appeared glitzy, but on the inside the business was rotten. Donald bled cash and his father bailed him out year after year. In fact, Donald was the furthest in debt of any person in America for four years running. Quite a feat to lose almost a billion a year for four years.

After his father died or in his father’s last years Donald was desperate for cash. He connived a plan to cheat as many of his cousins out of their father’s inheritance as possible. He planned an audacious casino project in New Jersey, paying way too much and not understanding how business worked things fell apart quickly. He cut corners in the ways he had learned earlier by bullying and not paying people who had done work for him. He sued them if they objected. He learned to use the legal system as a bludgeon. 

Meanwhile, he hobnobbed and promoted himself as a successful real estate developer. This was a gigantic lie that he was running from. During this time the international mobsters became aware of Donald and began funneling money to him via real estate deals. It was a classic money laundering scheme.

The banks in New York had caught onto Donald. They refused to loan him any more money. In fact, he was on the verge of bankruptcy, but the only thing that saved him from the abyss was that he owed so much money that he was in a sense too big to fail. The strategy for the banks was to put Donald on an allowance and use him as the front man to sell what he could in the hopes of reclaiming what money they could.

While this was happening Donald was dealing more and more with the Russian mob and with the Russian government. They were loaning him money via a German bank that was well known for money laundering and through various entities in the Cayman Islands and Cyprus, also known for moving money for mobsters and corrupt politicians.

There were shady deals. For instance why was someone paying many times more than a property was worth? Why were there so many Russians who had bought condos or space in Trump buildings? 

Donald was saved by a television producer who saw an opportunity to promote Donald as a great businessman. It was the perfect show for Trump. He didn’t have to actually do the grubby details of business but rather pretend to be a great business person. The show was successful and the story went nationwide.

Donald then decided to run for president, more out of getting revenge on Obama who made fun of him at a dinner than for any other discernible reason. Trump found an audience in a pent up frustration with the current situation. He promised everything. He lied and lied and his followers didn’t care. This continues to this day. He fostered conspiracy theories and anything else as long as people pledged fealty to him. If they spoke against him or his policies they were fired and if possible in the most humiliating way conceivable.

Then a real tragedy struck. Donald was elected president. That wasn’t the tragedy. The tragedy was that the world faced a virus. Rather than helping to contain it at it’s source, he did nothing. 

When it arrived in the U.S. He did nothing. He continues to do nothing. 

The economy cratered. People died because he did nothing. His poll numbers for re-election sank. Realizing he couldn’t win fairly he began to game the system. With his stooges he started to cut voting rolls and polling times. Realizing that wasn’t enough he worked on destroying the post office so that mail in balloting would be a mess. His newly appointed post master general took hundreds of high speed sorting machines out of service. He even had them sabotaged so that a key part was broken. Just in case someone wanted to start them up again.

The Demon Tale is not over. Will it be on Election Day? Will it be on Inauguration Day?

We will have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, in other news:

First a correction, it was Don Jr. Who was high as F*ck, not his brother Eric. The author regrets that mistake. Bad sources.

The president used the White House for political purposes last night – a big no-no.

The Secretary of State in contradiction to law, specifically the Hatch Act, gave a speech at a political convention. Not only a no-no, but a violation of law. Look for William Barr to say, Well, he wasn’t really at the convention.

And then the president had a pardoning and naturalization ceremony in the middle of the convention. A big no-no, and deeply offensive to those who worked and sweated and waited to become citizens.

I’d say Trump figured out as many ways to commit crimes, insult people, destroy our institutions as he could for a day.

67 Days until the election on November 3^rd

147 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Rain. Painting delayed.

Monday August 24, 2020

69 Days until the election on November 3^rd

149 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

As we are getting closer and closer to Election Day, others have picked up the count down idea. I hope my math is right, but I’l look to make corrections if necessary, once we get closer.

The other day a financial guy I follow made comments about Biden. He said Biden was hiding out in his basement and could barely string three sentences together. My buddy didn’t say anything about Trump, who has demonstrated an ability to barely be able to read three sentences. Biden had been a stutterer and had to work very hard to overcome that condition. What’s Trump’s excuse? 

I’ve heard the “He’s not my first choice,” and the “You know he did some things I really didn’t like” comments. Okay, Biden has been in politics his whole adult life and you can find things he did that you don’t like is not really surprising is it? He’s been lucky in that by and large people like him and find him to be genuine and compassionate. People seem to not be willing to make the same mistake they did with Hillary. They don’t seem to be willing to make those dreamy vague comments that they did with her “I don’t know I just feel like you know …” or the “I’m voting for Jill Stien.” Stuff. Hillary had three things working against her: she had been bad mouthed by rumor, lie, and innuendo for four decades by as she put it aptly “a vast right wing conspiracy.” She’s really smart and doesn’t suffer fools well; this works against you as a politician, because there are a lot of fools. She was up against an opponent who had no morals or compunction to use foreign adversaries to help him win and she had the head of the FBI lay a bombshell days before the election that sank her chances. There were other things too. Her polling said the swing states that narrowly went against her were seemingly safe. She would have won Wisconsin if Scott Walker hadn’t kicked thousands of student voters off the rolls, etc. Etc. Etc.

So now the choice is Trump or Biden. Some might say it’s between two bad choices. And to those folks I say take Mae West’s advice: “When faced with two bad choices I take the one I haven’t tried yet.”

In other news Kellyanne Conway is leaving the White House at the end of the month, to “focus on family.” Yeah, right. She’s a pollster isn’t she? Maybe she’s seen the polls? I dunno. Either that, or she’s got some new nefarious assignment. We’ll see. Stay tuned. 

69 Days until the election on November 3^rd

149 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Okay? No. Okay Plus!