Long Night's Journey into the Day

"To those that can hear me I say, Do not despair. The misery that is upon us is but the passing of greed; the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress."

Charlie Chaplin, from The Great Dictator.

Yesterday, at a retirement community in Florida - the largest of its kind in the entire United States - the unhinged psychopath and common pervert currently masquerading as our 45th president held one of the largest rallies thus far in this campaign. At the present moment, the death and infection rates in that state are through the roof. The most vulnerable are the elderly. Most of the crowd attending the festivities yesterday were elderly. The overwhelming majority of the people in that crowd were over sixty-five and not wearing face masks. He currently has planned at least eight more of these kind of rallies between today and the election. Ain't that something?

It is my belief that he is purposely trying to spread the virus so that, when the catastrophic wave of death and disease possibly  hits the nation in less than ten days, he will use the chaos as an excuse to shut down the elections and proclaim, 

"NATIONAL EMERGENCY!!!"

 Donald Trump is guilty of mass murder and mass criminally negligent homicide. If he is not tried for his crimes against the human race when this era of stupidity is mercifully behind us, then there is something seriously wrong with the United States of America.

Idiot Nation

We're not as far away as you might imagine from the worst that can possibly come to the American Experiment. With nine days left until the election of 2020, and with COVID cases skyrocketing across the country (in spite of the pleas from public health officials for people to wear masks and practice social distancing) we find ourselves teetering at the very cliff's-edge of our existence. For those of you who mistakenly find yourselves thinking that the hideous old freak has done as much damage to this republic as is possible for one man to do, and that he cannot possibly do any more, you might want to reassess your position on that point. The disturbing fact is that, in the two months, three weeks and five days left until Inauguration Day, Donald Trump is perfectly capable (and quite willing, I'm sure) of doing a lot more damage to this already thoroughly damaged nation. Does that sound like a stretch? Perhaps it is. I'll tell you what: let's all vote for the silly bastard on November 3 and see what happens.

The fact that, in spite of everything, he still holds a positive approval rating among forty percent of the country is a statistic that is too depressing for rational analyzing. To tell you the truth, I'm no longer even remotely comfortable living in a nation where that many people are so thoroughly brainwashed and undeniably mean-spirited. 

This is the same country that organized scrap metal drives nearly eighty years ago to save the world from the menace of Hitler and the axis powers; it's the same country that rationed petro, butter and coffee for the purpose of having more of these things supplied to the troops doing the fighting and dying on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific. Today, we are unable to persuade so huge a number of the grandchildren of those Americans who sacrificed so much eight decades ago to even wear a goddamned face mask to protect their fellow citizens - and themselves - from sickness and death. 

"Disgusting" and "pathetic" are words too polite. If we were living through "The Greatest Generation" and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were the president, the COVID-19 pandemic would barely have made a dent on our national health. 

That was then. This is now.

My hope was that, after the disaster of the Bush 43 White House, the American people would finally wake up and realize what a detrimental thing right wing governance is to their precious lives. Wishful thinking, I know. The first piece I ever wrote on this site fourteen years ago was called "George W. Bush: The Last Republican President". I'm a bit wiser in 2020 than I was in 2006. I'm not naïve enough to believe that the inmates of this doomed nation are bound to change anytime soon - or at least not in my lifetime. These generational periods of extremist lunacy we will have to come to expect as a matter of inevitability every eight or twelve years or so. Not even the disastrous, figurative earthquakes and tsunamis that are routine in the age of Donald Trump are going to change what is an unexplainable quirk in the dark recesses of the American psyche. It's something that we're all going to have to learn to live with, I suppose.

Hi ho, everybody, hi ho.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

 

ESSENTIAL VIEWING:

 

Keith Olbermann is back doing daily commentary on YouTube, and I couldn't be happier about it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4xY3E6_dq0&fbclid=IwAR3mD5uFoj8BmN6gJbgLl4LTjK-7O6VVZ09ZeiPzQ0vaMfc-DDaAjpuGdKc

 

His absence from the public forum during this unprecedented age of Donald Trump has been deeply felt. Better late than never, ay? Welcome back to the arena, Keith. You were missed.

 

AFTERTHOUGHT, 11:30 AM:

 

Is stealing ever justified?

If your child is hungry and you need to steal a loaf of bread and a pint of milk in order to feed that child, then, yes, stealing is more than justified. Blessed are the meek - even though they be forced to resort to theft. Even if they be sent to prison for their offense. That is why our prisons are filled with people for whom poverty is almost like an old and dysfunctional friend. Rich people don't go to prison - unless they steal from other rich people.

Breathe in the crisp, Autumn air.