Category: Trump Era

American Shield

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “American Shield, The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy” by Aquilino Gonell and Susan Shapiro, published in 2023.

Born around 1980, Gonell spent his early childhood in the Dominican Republic. When he was twelve, he moved to Brooklyn in New York State. In the late 1990’s, the author’s “green card” allowed him to join the U.S. Army Reserve while also attending college at Long Island University. He had a choice to join the military full-time. But part-time, he could eventually afford a higher education.

That just shows how desperate the U.S government is to get people to join its military, absent a draft. It is taking non-citizens! People who are so grateful to be living in America are more willing to risk their lives, and are willing to work harder and longer than people born here. And, in the event of war, American leadership wouldn’t be as aggrieved at losing fighters whom they don’t actually consider their own, anyway.

Through centuries of wars in the world, other countries have practiced variations on military recruitment methods. They’ve hired mercenaries, but those soldiers are fighting for the money and ego satisfaction. It’s a challenge for them to survive. They feel no obligation to anyone. In past wars, Britain has conscripted soldiers from its colonies in Africa, and India– forget the compensation.

Anyway, the author served in Iraq, and was a Capitol police officer on January 6, 2021, by which time he was a U.S. citizen. He didn’t know he’d be risking his life during what should have been a peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next. Yet 140 officers sustained serious injuries to their heads, limbs, backs, internal organs (from bear and pepper spray)– as though they were wounded in a war.

Gonell described in detail: “…fellow officers brazenly beaten with pipes, sticks, and rocks by rioters chanting ‘Fight for Trump’ and ‘USA! USA!’ Trump banners outnumbered American flags, and for a second I froze in fear. I’d seen this kind of unbridled rage in Iraq when the base was under attack, and I knew this was bad.” Gonell himself sustained serious injuries that would plague him the rest of his life.

Americans like to think they don’t live under a dictatorship, but their thinking has changed. Before, during and after the insurrection, Fox News was spouting smears and lies, such as– Antifa plotted the agitation at the Capitol. Very few GOP leaders at that time had the courage to actually condemn the violence. There are still too many people who owe their jobs to the major influencer of the violence to kick him out of office, even though he’s now senile!

AND, theoretically, the American president, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has ultimate authority to decide on military deployment. However, if the president has sole control over the military and it obeys only him, is loyal only to him, including in connection with all top-secret foreign policy matters– THE PRESIDENT IS A DICTATOR.

Be that as it may, Gonell bravely appeared on talk shows to reveal the truth about the Capitol riot, even though he and his family feared doxing and death threats. He felt that a firearm would help him defend his family in his private home, and “The paperwork and background check only took fifteen minutes, and I walked out with a new Glock in its black case.” He mentioned that he had PTSD while he was in Iraq, but apparently, in the United States, traumatized ex-military members can acquire firearms in no time, with no pertinent questions asked.

Read the book to learn much more about Gonell’s life and times. A major change in the American regime will be announced during a slow-news week, so that its messaging will have maximum impact, and the media can make maximum money. Meanwhile, here’s a ditty on the current state of affairs.

STUCK WITH AI

sung to the tune of “Stayin’ Alive” with apologies to the Bee Gees, their estates, and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Well, it’s the same old DRECK on the idiot box.

Old clips and deepfakes fill airtime on Fox.

Smearing loud, inciting a storm,

Musk and Trump tooting his horn.

It’s far Right, it’s a sad day.

It’s his way or THE highway.

It’s hard for some to understand,

how the brainWASHing got out of hand.

Whether you’re innocent or guilty as sin,

We’re stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

See criminals walking and Big Tech stalking.

We’re stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

new-normal police-state, stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

new-normal police-state, stuck with A-I-I-I-I.

Oh, criminals walk…

Well, the GOP’s low, and on power they’re high,

and democracy’s crumbling before our eyes.

Job security at an all-time low.

A lying senile leader causing more woe.

It’s far Right. It’s their way.

Fourth Amendment is in shreds today.

It’s hard for some to understand,

how the brainWASHing got out of hand.

Whether you’re innocent or guilty as sin,

We’re stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

See criminals walking and Big Tech stalking.

We’re stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

new-normal police-state, stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

new-normal police-state, stuck with A-I-I-I-I.

Vance needs to step up. Somebody help him. Somebody help him, yeah.

Vance needs to step up. Somebody help him, yeah. Stuck with AI.

Well, it’ the same old DRECK on the idiot box.

Old clips and deepfakes fill airtime on Fox.

Smearing loud, inciting a storm,

Musk and Trump tooting his horn.

It’s far Right, it’s a sad day.

It’s his way or THE highway.

It’s hard for some to understand,

how the brainWASHing got out of hand.

Whether you’re innocent or guilty as sin,

We’re stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

See criminals walking and Big Tech stalking.

We’re stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

new-normal police-state, stuck with AI, stuck with AI.

new-normal police-state, stuck with A-I-I-I-I. Argh.

Vance needs to step up. Somebody help him. Somebody help him, yeah.

Vance needs to step up. Somebody help him, yeah. We’re stuck with AI…

Evil Geniuses

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “Evil Geniuses, The Unmaking of America, A Recent History” by Kurt Andersen, published in 2020. In this large, redundant volume, the author described how wealth inequality in the United States has been increasing at an alarming rate in the last forty years, as evil geniuses– economic royalists and self-made empire-builders (who take advantage of existing resources and infrastructure)– have rigged the system to compound their spoils and re-distribute it among themselves in a self-serving cycle.

Lots of research has shown that financial inequality in society actually hinders economic growth in developed nations. In connection therewith, in 2014, the OECD conducted a United States study that showed a 20% slowdown in economic growth since the 1980’s.

The author argued that the year 1980 was the turning point at which America’s hegemony started to decline. Both the Republic and Democratic parties’ elitists (other evil geniuses in addition to the above-mentioned) actually hurt America’s ability to remain economically dominant in the world. They brainwashed a significant number of ordinary Americans into:

  • believing that government is the enemy;
  • agreeing to tax cuts for the rich (also called “trickle down” economics);
  • favoring excessive deregulation; and
  • bashing unions

because such actions would make everyone wealthy!

The author cited ample evidence that the above actions do NOT make everyone wealthy.

The author contended that conservative Republican 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater paved the way for Ronald Reagan’s wrong-headed economic agenda (described above).

Politics cannot be divorced from economics. This is a simple idea that has been hardly ever EXPLICITLY SAID in historical, political and economic literature read by ordinary Americans, through centuries. The author calls this the “political economy” and former president Bill Clinton had the line, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Politics involves the making, monitoring, changing, and enforcing of society’s laws. The evil geniuses in the legal field who helped perpetrate the insidious brainwashing of the American masses, actually conveyed the following attitude in writing and speaking:

“So if you happen to think it’s a good idea for judicial decisions to also consider fairness or moral justice, or other values or versions of social happiness that can’t be reduced to simple metrics of efficiency,

Law and Economics [a body of legal theory from Robert Bork and his fellow Chicago School libertarians] says you’re a fool.”

That is how the 1980’s saw the American legal system start to focus on efficiency– favoring profiteers. The author argued that old men who are resistant to change are the conspirators of the current state of affairs. Well, SOMEone’s got to be oppressed.

Another indication that Americans’ attitude was becoming even more inclined toward rule-breaking greed and showing off wealth, could be heard in a 1980’s SUV TV commercial, which featured a visual of a white, 40ish male driving. The voice-over says, “It doesn’t just say you’ve arrived; it says you got there any way you darn well pleased.”

The author cited evidence that taxing the rich would be the largest factor in more evenly distributing wealth. The first Trump administration passed a tax cut for the rich that gave rise to the “…largest percentage reduction in tax revenues of any developed country on earth.” This was BEFORE COVID. And “…the federal debt increased by $1.5 trillion more than it had in Obama’s final three years.”

Nonetheless, the most hurtful president ever was George W. Bush, whose unconscionable greed and unmitigated hubris led to the crashing of the American economy and the commencement of two wars that enriched him and his cronies.

LBJ and Nixon were two other war-criminal presidents. Their war policies, too, wasted an excessive amount of taxpayer dollars on needless deaths and ruined lives. At the same time, they tried not to foul their own nest. They attempted to maintain this country’s economic dominance in the world, and salve their own consciences by funding domestic social programs. LBJ did some profiteering, but not nearly as much as Trump.

Trump is an angry, vengeful old president who, at the end of his career, is hurting not only his own political party, but also ordinary Americans. His excessive financial criminality has incalculably hurt society as a whole.

In 2018, Trump said NAFTA was the “worst trade deal ever made.” But in 2025, after all his bluster, the trade deals he’s going to make with Mexico and Canada, are going to be largely similar to NAFTA’s, all over again! And through his spokespeople who draft the words spoken by his deepfake image, he will take full credit for “great, great trade deals.”

His threats are causing a panic that certain sectors of the American economy will crash. Even the threat of a soft economy will deter some illegal immigrants from coming to this country. Given financial cycles, it is likely that some people will be hurting financially in the next few years. Trump is using a scorched earth strategy on his way out of office in order to be able to brag that HE reduced the number of illegal immigrants who are coming here. He will brainwash his base into believing that the economic downturn was all Biden’s fault!

Anyway, the author also commented that the internet changed American culture in accelerating the automation of the exchange of information, obsolescing a humungous number of jobs. Machine-learning is also making the job situation even worse. It could be said that the internet is the “new television” for the Millennial and Z Generations. However, there are major differences in the ways television changed American culture, and the ways the internet has changed it.

Television was a passive entertainment / infotainment / education source that, for most Americans, was consumed at home only, in one’s leisure time; perhaps on average, most students and workers (there were many more of those then than now) watched three to four hours a day, at no extra charge (except for electricity)– for the lifespan of the set. Then came recording of shows, but also cable TV– whose costs are many times higher for shows and sports games that used to be free.

The internet is an interactive source, and can be accessed globally, 24/7. So the younger generations are wasting so, so, so much more time obsessing over politics, than did the older generations. People have been bamboozled into paying big bucks to purchase electronic toys on which to subscribe to the internet, for which they have to pay even more!

So the amounts of time and money most Americans are spending on the internet are infinitely higher than that of television (and movies, and reading books, magazines, and newspapers). The early years of the internet (up to the single-digit 2000’s) brought emotional comfort to Americans. They flocked to websites that featured relatable, entertaining user-contributions with few or no ads that interrupted their viewing pleasure.

Once the entrepreneurial dot-commers mastered monetization and propagandizing, users became victims of their mind-control techniques. Arguably, the cultural transition from television to the internet has been economically and psychologically regressive for most Americans.

Anyway, read the book to learn much more about the depressing developments in politics, economics and culture that will eventually lead to the collapse of American civilization.

Trotsky in New York 1917

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “Trotsky in New York 1917, A Radical on the Eve of Revolution” by Kenneth D. Ackerman, published in 2016. This volume had a misleading title, in that it described not only Trotsky’s activities, but those of his contemporaries and their times. There were backstories and flashbacks– insulting the intelligence of a reader who desired to read the book from cover to cover, rather than use it as a reference book. It repeated itself as history does; “When war [WWI] hysteria hit, people began to look for scapegoats, traitors, and spies. And the first accused of disloyalty were always the same: immigrants and socialists.”

Anyway, in January 1917, the man latterly known as Leon Trotsky, his second wife and their two sons arrived in New York City by boat. He and his wife confidently lied to immigration officials who had visited them personally in their cabin. They were able to bypass the Ellis Island third-degree inquisition because they were first-class passengers. The Spanish government paid the extra cost of upgrading them from second class because it was so eager to exile them.

Trotsky worked in the East Village office of Novy Mir (“New World”), a Russian socialist newspaper with a circulation of eight thousand. He had numerous intellectual and political friends in high places. Trotsky was a spellbinding speaker and prolific writer on socialist ideology. He doubted the elitist president Woodrow Wilson could help make peace in Europe because America was capitalist and ruled by its moneyed class. That class wanted to maintain the status quo of the gravy train of great profits derived from weapons contractors. Trotsky thought similiarly of the American Socialist Party leader– Morris Hillquit, who, as a lawyer, charged big bucks to represent labor and radical political activists and wasn’t opposed to using violence to get candidates elected.

In March 1917, after the tsar in Russia was deposed, Trotsky was on the move again, as he was a member of the Russian revolutionary organization. He and his family acquired proper identity papers and booked passage on a boat back to Russia. However, he was detained in a prison west of Halifax by Canadian authorities (ultimately ruled by Britain) for fear his native Russia would ally with Germany to defeat the French and British. He prepared several telegrams to inform various parties of what was happening with him; one of which was actually sent. This spawned letters, demonstrations, telegrams and newspaper articles in America, Canada, Britain and Russia that put pressure on officials to allow him to return to Russia.

By late 1917, Trotsky and the gang were well on their way to forming a dictatorship in Russia– breaking their previous campaign promises. Via violence, they eliminated free speech and all political activity except their own. Trotsky made the excuse that such measures were necessary to head off a French-Revolution-style peasant-uprising. However, in order to stay in power as the top leader, Vladimir Lenin scaled back the brutality by instituting the New Economic Policy. Because the common people were starving, he actually allowed them to engage in capitalist initiatives in agriculture. Of course there was corruption. Hilarity did NOT ensue.

As is well known, hilarity is associated with the American sitcom, a bygone era. Trotsky’s scene was more like a modern-day reality show– whose viewers vicariously release their rage along with the overpaid noisemakers on the idiot box. Here are the sentiments of some other Americans.

TRIPE

sung to the tune of “Escape” with apologies to Rupert Holmes and whomever else the rights may concern.

I’m tired of the president.
He’s been in office too long.
He’s a worn out recording of a boatload of wrongs.
So while he’s hiding and golfing, he’s trying to clear his head.
And his personal consultants, keep the media fed.

I don’t like this queen’s drama.
He’s GOT mush for brains.
All the negative emotions, and the race to defame.
I don’t like his fluff night AFTER night, the views, and the hype.
It’s not fluff I voted for.
I TUNE out the tripe.

I don’t think about the president.
He’s always so mean.
He and his media slaves,
require a staged and scripted routine.
It should be in all the papers– his mind is going bad.
GOP doesn’t want to SHOW it. GOP is power-mad.

I don’t like this queen’s drama.
He’s GOT mush for brains.
I don’t like the xenophobia, the greed campaign.
I hope Vance steps up soon,
and cuts through all this red tape, via the 25th Amendment,
and changes the leadership landscape.

The prez can’t TALK off the cuff.
He’s in an embarrassing place.
It’s another Reagan instance.
Billionaire boys set the pace.

Vance MUST be less shady.
He’s a Millennial coup.
You can laugh for a moment.
But he’s dangerous, too.

I don’t like this queen’s drama.
He’s GOT mush for brains.
All the negative emotions, and the race to defame.
I don’t like his fluff night AFTER night, the views, and the hype.
It’s not fluff I voted for.
I TUNE out the tripe.

I don’t like this queen’s drama.
He’s GOT mush for brains.
I’m into sane healthcare, NOT the greed campaign.
I don’t like his fluff night AFTER night, the views, and the hype.
It’s not fluff I voted for.
I TUNE out the tripe.

I don’t like this queen’s drama.
He’s GOT mush for brains…

==================

Anyway, read the book to learn much more about Trotsky’s life and political career.

Ivan’s War

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “Ivan’s War, Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945” by Catherine Merridale, published in 2006.

As is well known, by the mid-1920’s, Stalin had taken over Russia, in which there had been a revolution to turn the country Communist. Beginning in 1929, Stalin forced peasant-farmers to merge their land into collectives and adopt wrong-headed agricultural methods, resulting in millions and millions of deaths from famine. Elite schools in the cities were training the upper class (and a few poor boys) for leadership.

In spring 1937, Stalin ordered many top leaders in his government and military to be fired or tortured or killed, or a combination thereof. The younger soldiers had been brainwashed from birth to be anti-Fascist and therefore to hate the Germans, so they were confused when Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in August 1939. Nevertheless, when WWII came, the Russian military incited the educated young men to lead the fight to protect mother Russia. Back home, their families were still starving.

In June 1940, the Soviet military was unpleasantly surprised by an attack on their Slavic lands by the German Luftwaffe. The now-enemy had knocked out a lot of military resources and Soviet troops had been disorganized and poorly equipped previously. Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin’s right-hand man, used the occasion to inspire patriotism and incite additional hatred against the Germans.

Propaganda literally flew back and forth hot and heavy. German planes flying over Ukraine dropped leaflets that said Moscow had fallen and Stalin was dead. Turnover in the Red Army was extremely high due to: desertions, deaths from NKVD executions for desertions, and deaths from disease and enemy fire and bombardments.

In spring 1944, Soviet soldiers invaded Romania. They began to see peasants there and in Germany, Poland, France, Holland, Belgium and other capitalist places, who were living way better than they themselves had been, in their civilian lives. The young Soviet military men began to question how Communism was so great if they had been so economically poor.

Instead of setting fire to Romanian villages as they and the Germans had done to so many other battlegrounds as they were leaving, they looted corpses and appropriated farm animals, alcohol and material possessions for themselves. Black markets flourished.

When they finally marched into East Prussia and Budapest, the Soviets’ frenzy of hatred involved raping females, too. Peer pressure caused otherwise ethical men to become barbarians, and drunkenness made it easier to misbehave the way they did.

The Russian propaganda outlet “Pravda” portrayed the Soviets as victims of the Nazis, and called for revenge and reparations. It conveniently neglected to mention the atrocities they committed.

Stalin deflected blame from himself for millions and millions of Soviet deaths through the decades of his rule, by claiming he was suffering along with his people. He believed that Western capitalist cultures were a bad influence, so he demobilized the Russian Army from Germany in 1945– making them sign nondisclosure agreements. He also appeased them with a monetary bonus and (low quality) consumer goods. However, they were spied on by his intelligence service 24/7.

Stalin cast aspersions on the Jews during and after the war. One of numerous myths spread was that during the war, Jews held office jobs instead of fighting on the front lines. In 1945, Ukrainians in Kiev launched a pogrom.

The ravages of the war gave rise to adrenaline junkies with PTSD. After the war, they didn’t know what to do with themselves, and they continued to lead violent, empty lives. “Instead of aspiring to freedom, patriots would henceforth– wittingly or not– become complicit in the repression of the minorities, large-scale arrests, and a bleak and deadly dogma that had almost nothing in common with the libertarian promises that had drawn such crowds to Palace Square in the revolutionary months of 1917.”

After official histories of the war were published, Soviet censors prohibited the publishing of any additional war-related information. No one was allowed to see the archives. They were classified. Top secret.

Read the book to learn much more on the history of the Soviets’ experiences before, during and after WWII.

ENDNOTE: Speaking of non-disclosure and keeping up appearances, here’s a little ditty that describes Trump’s latest marital status.

FIRST LADY MELANIA

sung to the tune of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” with apologies to The Beatles, their estates and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Donald had a victory in the political race.

Melania is, standing by her man.

Donald said to Melania,

“You’ll help me save face. We’ll sign an agreement to maintain the Trump brand.”

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

Donald has a radical agenda in store.

Melania, must obey her king.

She’s stiff and aloof and doesn’t care anymore.

She knows she’s not allowed to say a thing.

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

For all of their years, their marriage is a BUS-iness act.

With previous kids, their family’re reality show stars…

of Donald’s and Melania’s contracts.

Donald’s the big winner in the transactional race.

Donald lets the children lend a hand.

Melania stays at home and does her pretty face,

and at events she’s loyally standing by her man.

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

For all of their years, their marriage is a BUS-iness act.

With previous kids, their family’re reality show stars…

of Donald’s and Melania’s contracts.

Donald’s the big winner in the transactional race.

Donald lets the children lend a hand.

Melania stays at home and does her pretty face,

and at events she’s loyally standing by her man.

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

First laDY, MelAN-ia, fashion icON,

la la la la fashion icon.

For Donald it’s FUN.

But for Melania, it’s NOT!

Crossing Lines – BONUS POST

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

Here’s a little ditty on the current situation in the American government.

CROSSING LINES

sung to the tune of “Borderline” with apologies to Madonna and to whomever else the rights may concern.

Backroom deals are SHOWing criminality.
Trump didn’t want to be a prisoner so his sycophants set him free.
It’s his usual history.
It’s no mystery.
Both parties let us down.
Election year is done.
The bad guys have won.
THEY’RE back to fooling around.

They’re, just undermining our land.
They get away with all they can.
Trump’s sycophants set him free.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines. Crossing lines.

Backroom deals are SHOWing criminality.
When someone’s power is so great,
they defy reality.
Both parties let us down.
THEY’RE fooling around.
The truth just can’t be found.

The hypocrisy’s so rife.
You can cut it with a knife.
[The original lyrics are so bad. That’s life.]

They’re, just undermining our land.
They get away with all they can.
Trump’s sycophants set him free.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines.

Crossing lines.
The justice system lost its mind.
Just like when Ford pardoned Nixon.
They are crossing lines. Crossing lines.

When Ford pardoned,
when Ford pardoned,
when Ford pardoned Nixon…

CRIMinality.
CRIMinal-government.

No punishments.

duh duh duh duh
duh duh duh duh

The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

The Book of the Week is “The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon, The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady” by Heath Hardage Lee, published in 2024.

The future first lady Pat Nixon was born in March 1912 in Nevada. She was orphaned as a teenager. She faced numerous other hardships, so she was forced to play well with others; making her a skilled diplomat. In the second half of 1959, when her husband Richard (“Dick”) was running for president, she got her own campaign in order to attract female voters. There were buttons, banners, songs, and speaking engagements at social events such as teas and gatherings at women’s clubs.

Pat usually refrained from publicly expressing her opinions on her husband’s political activities, but she felt most strongly about gender equality. When he was finally elected president in 1968, she campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment, and urged Dick to nominate female U.S. Supreme Court justices when two vacancies arose.

However, he hid behind the sexist American Bar Association’s assessment that the whole list of female nominees was unqualified for one reason or another, when he had to finalize his choices.

During Dick’s time as president, both individually and with Dick, Pat traveled extensively internationally to maintain friendly relationships with America’s then-allies. She still kept her personal life as private as possible, but complained she felt underappreciated in her diplomatic role.

People offered to help her write a book about her world-peace making. Yet, in her mind, publicizing her political activities was akin to her usage as a prop to promote her husband. But– isn’t that what politics is– managing the image of the big boss?

Beginning in the summer of 1973, the media covered nothing but the Watergate investigation. The special counsel who prosecuted the bad actors in the Nixon administration judged that the president “had entered a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice.” This, pursuant to the “smoking gun” consisting of a conversation between Dick and his aide Bob Haldeman, recorded on tape in June 1972.

John Dean, the president’s former attorney, participated in the cover-up by urging the labeling of the break-in as a matter of “national security.” Therefore, the FBI and CIA shouldn’t interview two key witnesses in the case. When Dean was charged with crimes, he provided damning testimony saying that Nixon was aware of all the wrongdoing all along.

In May 1976, Woodward and Bernstein, the two investigative journalists who broke the Watergate stories, revealed the whole incident-crowded affair in a book. According to Heath Hardage Lee, some of its contents were tabloidy. The book made the claim that Pat became a drunk loner in the last several months of her husband’s presidency. The TV comedy-sketch show Saturday Night Live (“SNL”) portrayed her thusly, too. But Lee pointed out that Pat’s image had been conflated with that of Betty Ford.

Another reason why Pat was smeared in this way, might be that it was actually the president who had become the drunk loner when his crimes were coming to light. This assertion has been recounted in various primary sources that described the president’s behavior in the presence of Kissinger, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman.

It is likely that the SNL writers were reluctant to mock the former president, as they might still have been subject to lawsuits and political retaliation. Anyway, read the book to learn much more about the public life Pat chose to have, and her struggles in trying to stay private.

ENDNOTE: Speaking of privacy, lawsuits and political retaliation– along with the issues of free speech, exploitation and the public’s right to know about how much of what their government is doing– modern communications technologies have muddied the waters. Even so, Donald Trump’s extreme litigiousness is his legacy.

Trump can dish it but he can’t take it. That’s why he’s suing everyone all the time. It’s a way to trot out the “victim card” to elicit sympathy from his base, and harass anyone who displeases him. Here’s what he’s singing now.

I WANT TO FORCE YOUR HAND

sung to the tune of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” with apologies to members of the Beatles, their estates, and whomever else the rights may concern.

I SUE, to tell you something: You’re under my command.
When I, sue-over everything, I want to force your hand.
I want your criticism ba-anned.
For your excuses, I won’t stand.

You must, cave in to me.
I’m a defamed man.
Oh jeez, you’ve pained me.
I’m in conTROL of this land.
You’re thwarting my best-laid plans.
You’re hurting THE Trump brand.

And when I crush you, I’m still not, satisfied.
It’s such a feeling that your abuse, I can’t abide.
You hurt my pride.
You all lied.

I SUE, to tell you something: You’re under my command.
When I, sue-over everything, I want to force your hand.
I want your criticism ba-anned.
For your excuses, I won’t stand.

And when I crush you, I’m still not, satisfied.
It’s such a feeling that your abuse, I can’t abide.
You hurt my pride.
You all lied.

I SUE, to tell you something: You’re under my command.
When I, sue-over everything, I want to force your hand.
I want to force your hand.
I want to force your hand.

I want to force your hand.

More Today Than Yesterday – BONUS POST

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

You American voters have actually elected grasping, calculating AI bureaucrats, who bring you Deep Fake News! Here’s a song about the situation.

MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY

sung to the tune of “More Today Than Yesterday” with apologies to The Spiral Staircase and to whomever else the rights may concern.

YOU do remember how in-your-face Trump was.

Ra-ally and press-conference obsessed, he was.

All we know is that he’s NOW-hiding from you.

And all his dreams came true.

He’s no-longer spending time with you.

Daily his PR team conveys, some-fluff to you.

With each day comes a fight for face-time, among his crew.

Every time he moves his lips, his mind starts to wander.

And if his VP’s dreams come true,

Vance’ll be spending time with you.

Oh, Trump’s absent more today than yesterday.

But not as much as tomorrow.

Trump’s absent more today than yesterday.

But darn it, not as much as tomorrow.

In-auguration time’s just a short way’s away.

Amendment 25 is needed now,

come what may.

Thank yourselves for democracy like ours,

that grows ever stronger.

Trump’s absence is a clue

that he can’t directly talk to you.

Oh, Trump’s absent more today than yesterday.

But not as much as tomorrow.

Trump’s absent more today than yesterday.

But darn it, not as much as tomorrow.

Trump’s every aide is power struggling,

egos pushing and shoving.

The end for him is humbling.

A new regime is coming.

Trump’s every aide is power struggling,

egos pushing and shoving.

The end for him is humbling.

A new regime is coming…

He’d Love a Trade Fight – BONUS POST

[Please note: The word “Featured” on the left side above was NOT inserted by this blogger, but apparently was inserted by WordPress, and it cannot be removed. NO post in this blog is sponsored.]

This song is self-explanatory, about you-know-who.

HE’D LOVE A TRADE FIGHT

sung to the tune of “I Love A Rainy Night” with apologies to the Estate of Eddie Rabbitt and whomever else the rights may concern.

Well, he’d love a trade fight.
He’d love a trade fight.
He loves to invite wonder.
Watch the fireworks as the globe swallows his lies.

You know it makes him feel good.

Well, he’d love a trade fight.
He’s showing his might.
He delights in his threats in your face,
tests the power of his words.

In the spotlight HE knows.

The news-cycle, takes all his words away.
His allies aid-and-abet for-gotten days.

‘Cause he’d love a trade fight.
Yeah, he’d love a trade fight.
Well, he’d love a trade fight.
Well, he’d love a trade fight.

ooh, ooh

Well, he’d love a trade fight.
He’d love a trade fight.

He loves to invite wonder.
Watch the fireworks as the globe swallows his lies.

You know it makes him feel good.

Well, he’d love a trade fight.
He’s showing his might.
He delights in his threats in your face,
tests the power of his words.

In the spotlight HE knows.

Puts his name in posterity.
To hell with, historical verity.

‘Cause he’d love a trade fight.
Yeah, he’d love a trade fight.
Well, he’d love a trade fight.
Well, he’d love a trade fight.

ooh, ooh

The news-cycle, takes all his words away.
His allies aid-and-abet for-gotten days.

‘Cause he’d love a trade fight.
Yeah, he’d love a trade fight.
Well, he’d love a trade fight.
He’d love a trade fight.

Well, he’d love a trade fight.
But it might be lies.
He’d love a trade fight.
Well, it MAKES headlines.

Ooh, he’d love a trade fight.
He’s fooling you. Yeah, yeah.
He’d love a trade fight.
Well, he’d love a trade fight.
But it might be lies.
He’d love a trade fight.
Well, it MAKES headlines.

Well, he’d love a trade fight.
Loves himself, too.
Well, he’d love a trade fight…