Choosing Sides!

The war in Ukraine has been raging since Russia invaded its peaceful neighbor in 2022 after nearly a decade of unrest. Like so many Americans, I've followed the war with mild interest, considering this struggle just more conflict in a big wide world. I knew perfectly well that the United States was on the side of the Ukrainians, supplying them with arms and weapons enough to stave off the Russian assault. To most folks surprise the Ukrainians have proven to be a tough bunch and Putin has seen his hold on power threatened by their rugged resistance to his schemes. He has been using his resources to pay American influencers to undermine American support for the Ukrainian war effort and our President-Elect is actively hostile to the Ukrainian side of the conflict. 

In anticipation of a change of policy, the current President has lifted certain limits placed on the Ukrainians concerning the use of American armaments and this has resulted in American-supplied missiles striking deep into Russian territory. Weirdly, the Ukrainians also find themselves battling North Korean troops, sent by their insane little leader in exchange for much needed oil in the dark little kingdom he oversees. Many of these troops have taken this chance, so far from their homeland to defect. It's clear from events like these which side of the conflict is on the side of the angels, where in war it's hard to see the clarity. I dread that Americans are going to be fed a bunch of nonsense to allow the U.S. to switch up sides when the next President takes charge, and his Russian sympathetic Director of Intelligence begins to grind the machine. 

The Europeans can pick up the slack of supporting the Ukrainian effort, but what I fear more than anything else is somehow someway the future President delivering U.S. resources to the Russian side. It would have to be after some potent propaganda but that has already begun. People rightly fear a third world war, but what I fear even more is that my country will be on the wrong side. 

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Social Insecurity!

Well, it seems the Republicans can't wait this time to get their mitts on the U.S. Social Security system, and we all know that they ain't raisin' any taxes to help support the single most successful public policy program in U.S. history.  They've always hated it, or rather their rich masters have but for many years it was untouchable. It was a program that helped too many people in too many places, and so no one enemy found it feasible to rise in opposition. That broke down in his century and now they hover over these safety-net programs like vultures. Medicare and the Affordable Care Act are the ones to worry about in the immediate future. America's medical situation is appalling with these programs in place, without them we return to barbaric. People will be hurt, and people will die as a direct result of elimination of these programs without a viable substitute which they themselves admit is only a "concept of plan".  Americans have once again voted against their own better interests in the name of racist paranoia. It's too stupid to fully understand. 

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The Battle Begins!

One of the many reasons that the late great Jack Kirby is a hero of mine is not only his utterly earth-shaking creativity in the relatively small world of comic books, but his dedication to promoting themes of individual freedom and his utter rejection of the mindset which makes dictatorships possible. This is most evident in his "Fourth World" material in which the maguffin that lies at the heart of so much of the action is a dread secret hidden in the brains of some humans which the deadly Darkseid and his minions scheme to get their cold bloody mitts on called the "Anti-Life Equation".

The Anti-Life Equation is an arcane formula which gives its handler the power over the minds and wills of other humans, it is the ability to make slaves of others and bend them to your will for whatever purposes you desire. It is the master scheme to make all of humanity slaves, never allow them to realize it, and instead make them relish their fate. It is the willful sacrifice of personal freedom to enter into a pact with an unholy master, to make of oneself a submissive acolyte.

Kirby explored the concept in the New Gods saga and to lesser extents in Captain Victory and elsewhere. The sundry insect armies he created at Marvel, DC, Pacific and elsewhere point back to this notion that individuals can disappear inside an army of drones dedicated to the welfare of an overwhelming master intellect.

That grim reality, so deftly explored by Kirby so many decades ago and informed by his Jewish heritage and experiences before during and after World War II are of great moment to us in America today when we find ourselves once "again" asked to surrender ourselves to something "great", to something which promises to a select company the chimera of perfect security if only they will hold at bay all those "others" who threaten the modern myth of perfect tranquility.

Our Leader is an exceedingly dangerous fellow, callow, and apparently lacking much if any empathy for those who fall outside his immediate family. He is overwhelmed with a need to constantly punch up his degraded self-worth by constantly lying about those who he imagines should adore him. If you fail to fall at his feet, he imagines you are an enemy and are to be sent away. If he cannot corrupt you with his charm, then you are a threat to the new order. 

He is currently filling his clown car of a cabinet with loyalists, drawn from sundry places. The richest man in the world is tapped to look for ways to cut government spending, conflicts of interest be damned. He entrusts a brain-wormed lunatic with the health of the nation.  He reaches out to television to get his new glib Defense Department leader, and into Congress for his next Attorney General. His pick there a bit shocking in that the individual was only a few days from an investigation into charges of child molestation. He wants only those who will toe the line and not bring up things like ethics and decorum when conducting "the people's business". 

The looming danger to immigrants and marginal communities is taking shape. These folks seem eager to tear apart families in grim and costly show trials before supposedly returning those interlopers to their homeland (which likely won't receive them). We are promised tariffs which are already playing havoc with the economy. It's predicted that if Sweet Potato Hitler's plans are implemented in full, it will trigger not only a recession in this country, but across the globe. 

Democrats are at the moment are strident but weak and will offer only a token resistance to the whims of his new autocrat who chafes at the limits of constitutional authority. It is once again up to Republicans (Argh!) to tame the monster they have uncaged and unleashed upon us. But at the moment they are too distracted by the avaricious desire for yet more tax cuts and a forlorn hope that they someday will be in charge, to pay attention to anything else. Once they have secured the fortunes of the rich and mighty then maybe they might deign to pay attention to the problems of the people. It's going to be yet another hair-raising ride, I fear. With even more dangerous consequences. 

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Mad Dogs And Congressmen!

His name was "Tim Johnson". He was a favorite character of mine when it came to teaching To Kill a Mockingbird. (Will they still be able to read and teach that in the Sweet Potato Hitler era?)  The reason is he's not a person but a dog, and not just any dog, a mad dog. And he's significant because it falls to Atticus Finch to put him down when he's roaming dangerously in the road. It's a necessary job and Atticus does it. Just as he defends a black man falsely accused of rape. I loved that dog because his name was an ideal reading-check question and only those who read the book got it -- ever. But these days, Tim Johnson is so much in my memory that I'm constantly calling Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House by the mad dog's name. And you know, I'm trying to do better...really I am. 

The current Speaker is one of those Christians who knows what's best for everyone else. He perfectly okay with telling men to stay off porn and women to stay out of abortion clinics. He's not so good at telling the Orange One much of anything at all, though you can often see he really, really wants to. It probably galls him in his quiet moments when he's at prayers that his soon-to-be-boss is a philandering asshole. But then I'm sure Tom has met a lot of Baptist preachers, and they are not a particularly reliable lot either in this regard. Every few years one or more of them has a scandal and prays for forgiveness, gets it and moves ahead with his life. (Notice I said "he" as far as I know there are women in the pulpit in Baptist churches and when they fall from grace, they generally have to leave town in shame.)

Anyway, back to my main point. Tim...er...Mike Johnson (Sorry.) has a hang up about pornography. He doesn't like it, he doesn't like so much he has his son keep tabs on him. That seems reasonable...not! And because Tim...er...Mike (Sorry again.) doesn't like porn so much, he doesn't want anyone to have it either. I don't think he proposes his son keep tabs on all of us, but I don't rule it out. Let me quote from the Project 2025 document itself, the anticipated framework for the incoming administration. 

        "Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.

         Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And 

         telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered."

That seems a little screwy to me (no pun intended) that Tim...er...Mike (Goshdarnit! I did it again.) and his ilk are that into what I do in the privacy of my home (not that I use porn mind you).  Since this same section on pornography is critical of "the misogynistic exploiters of women", I do hope to see his strident and loud denunciation of the rank harassment women are suffering since the election of a certain longtime friend of Jeffrey Epstein and former boyfriend of Stormy Daniels. 

But as it turns out I guess, Tim (I give up.) will be downright doggedly determined to wander down the public street roughshod and getting into everyone's private business. I wonder what Atticus might do in situation. I bet I can guess and so can you. * 

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* No animals were harmed in the making of his essay, even human ones. 

Meanwhile On Earth-Deux - The Nation Stands!

And just like that I'm back. I had an impulse yesterday to close in and build a fortress of books to protect me and mine as best I could from the predations to come. But as the shock wore off that my America is even more racist than I imagined, and that a scary number of women are down with being second-class citizens, I once again found the need to speak my mind. This is the first in what I imagine to be a series of posts from Earth-Deux, a planet not that much unlike a similar one we DC fans know and adore where heroism lived on. But on this Earth -Deux "Sweet Potato Hitler" did not rise from the grave. He was defeated and the people were happy. Oh, if only it were so. But we can imagine. Join with me as we visit Earth-Deux. 

With the election of Kamala Harris to the Presidency of the United States of America, the world order remains. The cruel vision of Christian Nationalism is pushed back for a time, and now it's time to see to it that such ugly ideas are once again relegated to the back alleys of American thought. It's time to bring back shame to the country and hold those accountable for this push toward a dictatorship. They must be voted from office and sent scurrying into early retirement. If they were in any way responsible for the shameful uprising on January 6, 2021, they should be brought to justice. And that includes the former President who has now lost two bids for the highest office in the land. It is critical that his trials go forward and that no talk of a pardon be considered. That would not be justice. 

Now we can move forward once again and continue the work begun in the Biden administration to improve the lives of all Americans, including immigrants from other lands who wish to become Americans.  With the beautiful face of a bi-racial woman now in the highest office in the land, we can again shed the limitations which have weirdly distorted our political lives for centuries. The United States has always been a land of institutional racism, but we must take steps to see to it that it's never that in the future. 

We can begin to bring justice back to the land and see to it that women are returned to full rights under the Constitution. We can do that by seeing to it that corrupt judges are impeached and replaced. Expanding the Supreme Court seems like an idea whose time has come. And with that, a modernization of the American voting scheme so that no longer will a bitter minority hold the whole nation hostage to their shameful beliefs. 

Russia should now see that invading Ukraine is a fool's errand and will withdraw. Israel can now see that its extermination of the Palestinians must cease, or support will disappear. Forces held hostage by the rigors of an all-important election are now free to wield the powers necessary to bring these shameful spectacles to an end. 

With the election of President-Elect Kamela Harris and Tim Walz, we are once again on track toward the future and not the past. The future where my kids will live looks brighter indeed. 

To reference my late wife's favorite Beatles' song -- Let it Be! 

Sadly, I now return to our Earth. 

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U.S.A. R.I.P. ?

I really, really hope I'm wrong. 

But is it over for the nigh two hundred-and-fifty-year-old experiment in democracy dubbed the United States of America?  The Republicans long ago sold their withered souls in worship of their criminal cult leader. But that seems just fine with a majority of Americans, or at least a sufficient number to win the Electoral College and now possibly the popular vote as well. The Supreme Court seems to have been bought off by jokers with cavernous pockets. We now stand on the precipice of a theocracy with its help. 

The ugly truth is the ultra-rich have purchased their pet politicians who only pretend to pay lip service to the citizens, who are likely sooner than later to be robbed of even the illusion of a proper democracy in order that even more wealth can be transferred from a future serf class into the pockets of preening neo-nobility. We will be allowed enough pocket money to fulfill our roles as consumers, but little else beyond that. I really hope those saps who bought the Republican lies like being peasants. 

As the planet Earth is puking up humanity in general, we seem to not want to even go out with some dignity. We shall live a world thoroughly fracked but without enough potable water. The rising temps and the rising oceans will slowly but surely change the world in the centuries to come. Will man survive? Earth doesn't care. The Solar System cares even less. And the Universe doesn't even know of our existence. 

I am an old man and while sad and more than a wee bit bitter to see this day arrive, I know that my children will really be the ones to suffer. All of this so a handful of fat old white men can cling to their power a few hours longer. The very order of the world, one fought for generations ago by regular men and women who sacrificed it all, will be transformed for the worse. Ironically, my daughter who teaches history is scheduled to teach about "The Shot Heard Around the World" today. The irony drips she said, as he teaches about the beginning of the nation on possibly the very day it began to end. 

The United States of America 1776-2024?

I really, really hope I'm wrong.  

(Just a note to say that it might be quite some time before I update this blog again. I'm taking a break from public affairs for a bit. Look for my usual nonsense at the Dojo. Thanks to those who have visited, read my sentiments and commented.)

(Just another note to say ignore the note above.)

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Avengers Assemble!

While voting has been going on in various states around the union for days if not weeks now, today is actually "Election Day", the day it's decided who the next President of the United States of America will be. There are many other important, even crucial elections, especially those regarding the Senate, but we all have our eye on the biggest prize. That will determine whether the country I was born in continues, or if it changes in all sorts of dark ways. Women in particular are on tenterhooks as to what the decisions will be. It is indeed time for all "Avengers" to "Assemble" and save the day from the villains abroad in the land. 

More later when we have concrete news. 

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At Last! Bold New Super-Heroines!

I am enjoying the out-sized irritations of certain talking heads among Conservatives concerning a fairly simple action enjoyed by women for over a century -- the right to vote. The very idea that a woman might enter the voting booth, a venerated place where anonymity is sacrosanct, and while there choosing differently than her husband is driving them mad. I cannot actually believe they are surprised. When women were stripped of the absolute control of their bodies, controls which were meted to mostly men in state legislatures who immediately installed laws which have already killed more than a few women seeking simple healthcare, this day of reckoning was almost assured. Do they really think women are as stupid as they imagine them to be? It seems so. 

Our election is far from over, but early numbers about who is voting suggest women have a ten percent advantage so far. Just on the basis of that number alone, it seems we can reason out how things are going to go. All that's left is to parse the peculiarities of the Electoral College which as we know hasn't put forth a truly winning Republican President in over thirty years. 

Women seem to want those rights back that the sniveling Supreme Court wrenched away from them several years ago. And the only way that's going to happen is if Republicans are stripped of power and Democrats installed, both in the state and federal legislatures. The dwindling demographic called "white men" cannot stand up to a wave of women of all races coming for their heads. If I were them, I'd change my tune or turn tail and run. 

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