Too Much Is Enough For Me
EVERYONE HAS THEIR LIMIT --
(>> Totally unrelated news flash!! -- YOU CAN FLY TO NEW DELHI FOR UNDER $200! -- see below, I‘ll clue you in. <<)
-- I think mine was reached Monday when the fourth day passed without White House press aide Kelly Sadler being fired for her “remark” that Sen. John McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel to head the CIA didn’t matter because -- “he’s dying anyway.” (Of brain cancer.)
Nor have they even issued any statement disavowing the incredibly cruel comment about an American hero who gave more for his country than Cadet Bonespurs can ever imagine. Nor will they. Because tRump never apologizes. For, or to, anybody. For anything.
(For those like me who have gotten unreservedly sick of hearing about his gross, treasonous, dangerous behavior and the complete corruption of our once-storied White House, bear with me, this will be my last shot.)
During the campaign, tRump appeared on the Tonight Show and told host Jimmy Fallon, “apologizing is a great thing but you have to be wrong,” adding “I will apologize sometime in the hopefully distant future if I’m ever wrong.” We thought he was making a joke, but he was dead serious. He has so far been wrong on almost everything, and that doesn’t even count his verifiable more than 3,000 lies and misleading statements since taking office.
APOLOGY?
To be completely accurate, he did make an apology after the Hollywood Access tape surfaced, when he was caught on a hot microphone bragging about forcing himself on women. You remember: “I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the *****. You can do anything.” Your President.
Not to beat a dead horse but this one is still kicking hard, still in the Oval Office, still supported by the dastardly GOP leadership, still doing horrible damage to our nation, and we must not forget, we must not normalize.
He told us earlier that year he felt he could say or do anything -- “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters” -- but I think he feared for a moment that tape might sink his chances for the White House, so he made an apology most considered insincere. Later, in private conversations, it was reported, he said he thought it was a fake tape, that it wasn’t his voice.
But it wasn’t just the “he’s dying anyway” debacle. It was that it ran simultaneously Monday with video of the smiling sycophants from D.C., in the Holy City celebrating with the notorious Netanyahu for having engineered moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, beaming so brightly over their great accomplishment that they could hardly contain themselves. If you don’t know the tangled history and politics, trust me, it was a completely provocative move criticized by almost every world leader.
“DADDY’S LITTLE GHOUL”
Ran the huge headline as the N.Y. Daily News slammed Ivanka on the cover “for smiling as Palestinians die.”
The split TV screen showed Palestinian protesters 50 miles away being gassed, shot and killed, 58 including 6 children and a medic, and 2,771 injured, 1,350 by gunfire. Since the Great March of Return protests began March 30, the tally is 97 protesters killed including 12 children, 12,271 injured. Israel’s Monday used not only infantry with live ammo, but also fighter jets and a tank. There were no reports of Israeli troops coming under gunfire. One was wounded by shrapnel.
Certainly, the Palestinian Problem is as complex as tRump’s brain is simple. The Hamas leaders are every bit as reprehensible as Netanyahu, if not more so. But two wrongs don’t make a right, and the American oligarch has been making so many major policy decisions based on no coherent policy except undoing everything Obama did, and whatever enriches the tRump family, that the world may take decades to recover.
NO SURPRISE
tRump tweeted Sunday that he wanted to bail out Chinese telecom giant ZTE after his own economic sanctions threatened to shut them down. Nevermind that ZTE’s technology, controlled by the Chinese government, has been declared a security risk if allowed into the U.S. 72 hours later a Chinese company offered a half a billion dollar loan to an Indonesia construction project associated with tRump’s company. And that’s why we expect presidents to disclose all their business ties ane divest themselves, so we know if our supreme leader is acting on behalf of the American people or his own fortunes.
The emoluments clause, in the Constitution, bars members of government from receiving gifts, emoluments (“consideration, of value”) or offices from foreign countries without congressional approval. tRump started violating that the day after he was elected. But not a peep from the GOP. He’s their useful fool.
And I just can’t take it anymore. I will still advocate for people to vote, especially new and young voters, and to become informed and even run for office, to change this horrible clique we have now, but not “the new boss same as the old boss.” We need real reform. We need the brave and savvy Parkland students. But my battered soul cries to wait on the sidelines until the American conscience rises up to do the right thing. Carry on, Jack Neworth.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Wouldn’t you fly halfway around the globe to New Delhi if you could do it for under 200 bucks each way? Sure, you have to pay extra for everything on WOW, even a carry-on bag, but in all my years of bargain flying, I have never seen this many miles for this few dollars. (My previous record for the last 20 years was Prague for $150 each way, but I had to drive to San Diego to get it.) I‘ve written about Iceland’s WOW Airlines before, and I have some quibbles but no one beats their prices. The dates from all WOW cities, including LAX, are Jan. 10 - March 31, 2019, but I‘m betting available dates at those best prices will not last long. Don’t say I never done nuthin’ for ya.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK: “[India is] the One land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.” -- Mark Twain
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 32 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
