Musings:
•The Sins of Donald J. Trump (chapter 19). He has:
Laid the foundation of putting his name on the 250th anniversary of the United States of America, complete with imaging and a slogan;
Appointed Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, to the board of the Air Force Academy, which advises the Department of Defense about Air Force standards;
Floated the possibility of naming Venezuela as the “51st state” of the United States;
Signed an executive order blocking college football games on the same days as the Army-Navy games;
Sought to put his name on the currency of the United States;
Signed an executive order limiting voting rules, e.g. mail-in ballots;
Signed an executive order creating a national eligible-voter list;
Floated a 50% increase in the Department of Defense’s budget in order to gain the military’s acceptance of a possible military coup close to the mid-term election;
Dismantled the U.S. Forest Service and ceded it to the state of Utah for the purpose of selling off public lands; and
Been accused of extortion and coercive tactics by critics, foreign leaders, and human rights organizations, primarily concerning use of tariffs and financial aid cuts to extract concessions on immigration and trade; and
•As children, we’ve all been entertained by the Walt Disney animated film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” We laughed, sang along with them, and cheered them on as they fought the Wicked Queen.
That was then, and this is now. A new set of “seven dwarves” inhabit our world, and they are not a jolly lot. Rather, they are a grim set of money-grubbers who act counter-productively to a well-ordered and rational society. We could easily do without them and look forward to the day when they disappear off the face of the Earth. Their names distinguish them from the Disney characters. To wit:
- “Dork” (“Doc”) – the politician. He trades in shiftiness and double-dealing and never speaks the truth if he can get away with it.
- “Dumpy” (“Grumpy”) – the realtor. He fosters land speculation and contributes to inflated housing prices and urban sprawl.
- “Crappy” (“Happy”) – the insurance agent. He encourages us to gamble on our future (a wager nobody ever wins) and changes the rules whenever it suits him.
- “Sleazy” (“Sneezy”) – the stock broker. He deals in expectations (mostly false), promises riches (mostly for himself), and creates an economy mostly sham.
- “Creepy” (“Sleepy”) – the telemarketer. He invades our privacy with robotic persistence and prattles on and on and on in an attempt to sell us a variety of useless and over-priced junk.
- “Shameful” (“Bashful”) – the TV preacher. He trades in ignorance and superstition (in a loud voice!) and promotes the eternal welfare of his audience, all the while picking their pockets.
- “Hokey” (“Dopey”) – the talk-show host. He manufactures our opinions (mostly from his own) and promotes (in a loud voice!) conspiracy theories no one has ever heard of.
•The man who would be king had a plan. He would attack Iran – which had been bombing American military bases in Southwest Asia – with deadly force, pause to initiate a cease fire, and demand that Tehran surrender and accept a ten-point “peace deal.” He did not realize, however, that the government of Iran consisted of religious fanatics and would not surrender because they believed that “God” was on their side. Instead, the Irani stepped up their raids on the military bases and, for good measure, strategically blockaded the Strait of Hormuz. The latter action served to halt the shipment of oil to frequent buyers; the price of oil skyrocketed and touched off a world-wide panic.
As a result, the man who would be king saw his plan fall to ruin and left him with the one thing he had always had – an open mouth from which issued a hurricane of hot air.
I will remind the reader that the man who would be king has only himself to blame for this state of affairs, but don’t hold your breath waiting for him to accept any blame. It’s not in his genetic make-up. During his first term in office, he casually and callously broke the treaty Iran had signed concerning its nuclear capability, thereby allowing Tehran to resume stockpiling fissional material. Roosting roosters, indeed!
Just a thought.