Soundtrack for this entry: Attack Ships on Fire
From 1984, by George Orwell. This has been quoted countless times before. It seems particularly apropos now.
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER!
We Get the World We Deserve.”
–Rust Cohle, True Detective, Season 1
Soundtrack for this entry: The Handsome Family
I can’t believe I’m posting this, despite seriously considering going to the next BLM protest in Chicago. But it’s still my most dominant feeling. Paraphrasing, until I get a chance to re-watch the first season of True Detective.
Rust: “I’m a pessimist.”
Marty: “What does that mean?”
Rust: “It means I’m not much good at parties.”
Marty: “You’re not much good outside of parties either.”
Late Update: David Simon’s Work and Today’s World
Soundtrack to this Entry: Way Down in the Hole
I’ve been reading a piece by Jordan Hoffman about how The Wire anticipated, even partly explained the protests. In it, he quoted Wendell Pierce, who played Detective Bunk, who tweeted about the show’s applicability. Please read the article, published in Vanity Fair. You can read, and let’s face it, they are a published author. So please check it out.
Meanwhile, I’d like to build on it. Other David Simon work echos Hoffman and Pierce’s point. In Treme, one sees the way that institutions, such as the police, politicians, corrections, and the law all failed the poor so catastrophically after the Katrina disaster. Plenty of people profited from real and fraudulent repairs to the devastated city. Meanwhile, musicians, store owners, dentists were left to survive. In far worse cases, innocent people were sometimes killed, accused criminals disappeared, and horrible crimes were committed and never investigated. In any event, the people who needed the help, whose general welfare had been destroyed, were practically ignored
In a similar way, The Deuce portrayed how these same NYC institutions failed the many people who depended on the titular Times Square neighborhood for their livings during the 70’s and 80s. Sure, it got turned into an NYC copy of a suburban strip mall, and a bunch of developers became wealthy. But the prostitutes, pornographers, pimps, bartenders, and various criminals who preyed the areas were helped not at all. They were instead moved elsewhere to continue their existence, and received no aid or practical help.
What can we say when it is all spelled out there, and people still ignore it?
UPDATE: Discussion with David Simon about how to improve American policing.
“In twenty years, the word, “trump” will have evolved into a verb that means, “to ruin something beyond repair.” The World War Two generation often used its synonym: SNAFU.”
–Araceli Elizabeth Perez, Winner of two consecutive Phineas Gage Awards for political writing.
Letters to the Editor:
Soundtrack for today’s entry: Listen
Dear Sirs:
When I wrote about the meat packing industry, I didn’t realize how viscerally people would react to runaway disease in a meat packing plant. Instead of emphasizing that people’s Spam contained dissolved person, I should have mentioned that there was also rampant TB, tetanus, and just about every other disease there, since the act of washing ones hands in the pork stockyards was about as extensive as its Kosher menu. The best part is that my contacts in the Meat Cutter Union tell me that the crew working on the special order for the Whitehouse have made it policy to cough on every cut of meat on its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Eat hardy, President Bushwa.
Best to you,
Upton Sinclair
Soundtrack for this Entry: Motown Politics
Dear Madame/Sir:
I think that BA should investigate what Trump’s preoccupation is with “pulling out.” He wants to pull out of the WHO. He wants to pull American troops out of Germany. He pulled out of the Iran Nuclear deal. He pulled out of the Pacific Trade Accord. I suppose if he had “pulled out” a few times earlier, the world would have been spared the antics of Ivanka, Eric, and Don, Jr. I’m trained in science, so I’m willing to lead this investigation myself.
Thank you for your time,
Angela Merkel
Fear and Loathing in America: 2020, the Reign of President Caligula, and Bottomless Pinheadery 101.
New Feature: Soundtrack for today’s entry: RevCo
I’m getting tired of documenting what happens in this world now. Pay for a decent, reputable news source, and get real news. I’m still something of an Anglophile, so I read the U.S. edition of The Manchester Guardian and the BBC. This is what’s on my mind.
Exhibit One that caught my eye this morning was this piece of Buffoonery American: Again with the Stupid Bleach! So, rather than do something stupid and actually swallow bleach, a number of Americans are using ‘common sense’ and gargling with it instead. If bleach keeps away Covid-19, maybe roach spray will prevent cancer, and maybe Drano prevents heart attacks. The truth is, they ARE all good at curing diseases, since the patient taking them soon dies, and thus does not have to preoccupy themselves with diseases at all. Lest I get sued for the few dimes I earn selling my plasma,
DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TREAT YOURSELF WITH ANY HOUSEHOLD CLEANING PRODUCT AT ANY TIME IN PERPETUITY THROUGHOUT THE BLOODY UNIVERSE!
That said, Exhibit Two is this: Former Trump Chief of Staff General Kelly: ‘Voters should look harder at who (you) elect.’ With all due respect, General, complementary advice would be that perhaps you should look harder at your perspective bosses. Waiting until we’re five months from his possible reelection is cutting it awfully close if you’re just trying to do the right thing. I’m relieved that finally some common sense is leaking out from a few of his former staff members. Another is former defense secretary General James Mattis. I am relieved that somebody finally is discussing the importance of the separation of powers. Why did it take 3 1/2 years for people in positions of power to finally say something that all 7th grade civics students know (even if they studied only a little)?
My main point is that so much of what is going on now IS important because it is has nothing to do with what President Caligula cares about This is what must be driving him bat-guano: he is not driving the news cycle now. Angry, real people are doing so. Go to your Google news and look at the Top Stories headlines. One about Buffalo police pleading not guilty, the next is about large crowds of protesters going to D.C. to mourn George Floyd, one is on Biden, and one on the 13th Amendment may end racist policing. The next is about activists working to sue the LAPD for their anti protest tactics. The last large-font story was on WH reporters being forced to sit close together for pointlessly aesthetic reasons. Five of the first six stories on my google news were driven by the actions of average people. The best part: Trump was not the point of any of those stories.
Instead we should consider the issue of my June 2nd entry regarding the nearly 1,300 unarmed black people who have been killed by police since 2015. Or, we can read about the many attacks on Native women: Native Women neglected, abused, murdered, disappeared….
Or, We can read about migrant children STILL being locked up in camps, vulnerable to the pandemic, and often without their parents. Migrants Families and the Virus.
All right, I need a spot of breakfast. More later, Bubba.
Okay, back for more. Ate a bit and then mowed the grass. Franklin Foer wrote an interesting piece detailing how the Trump Administration seems to be falling apart like an old sweater. It was published in The Atlantic and it was intriguing the way he documented just how badly things went this week for The Man Who Would Be Autocrat.
Still more evidence of high level resistance to Trump: Printed in Newsweek.
Let me finish my original thought. I started out reporting on a story describing the knuckle draggers we have in this country who are gargling with Clorox to ward off germs, along with most signs of life. Then I summarized a few stories of terrible things happening to citizens and guests of the United States. If these turkeys are teasing their tonsils with Total Home and cannot muster a supportive word for all these people who are being victimized by our government’s benign and malign neglect as well as its immoral direct actions……then pal, you just drink all the Total Home Cleaner you want.
Check Baby,
Check Baby,
Check Baby.
This really is an awful virus
Soundtrack for this entry: When, when, when….
Back when the pandemic first began to spread, Wifey had to accompany her sister to fetch her son from NYU. It was at that time already a hot spot. She came back a few days later, and even though we were cautious I still picked it up. I was already vulnerable because of a serious infection for which I literally had to be infused twice a day with liter after liter of antibiotics.
Anyway, I had to report twice a day to the local Board of Health, monitor my fever, etc. I felt pretty lucky, because I thought it was gone after about two weeks. I got the okay to return to work on a limited basis, and that’s what I did. About two weeks ago, I awoke in terrible pain on the right side of my chest, and my abdomen, and had serious difficulty breathing. To the ER I went. Six hours and about a dozen tests later, it turned out that I had pneumonia. There isn’t much to do except rest, and so that’s what I did. Recovery is about 6-8 weeks.
TODAY I felt awful, and was not entirely sure why, but I went into the bathroom and surrendered the contents of my stomach. I honestly didn’t think it would ever stop. A half hour later, I had to vomit again. By the time I was done, I felt like a toothpaste tube with all of its contents squeezed out.
They tested me two weeks ago for the virus, and said that at that time, I did not have it. I’m skeptical now. Not that I think that they’re lying to me, but I am convinced that there is a great deal about the virus that we simply don’t know. Yes, I know these can all just be cases of lousy luck and poor, poor me. I rarely took sick days from work ever, and with the exception of that severe illness in 2017, I have not been seriously sick…..ever. Regarding this, I must percolate.
UPDATE: I’m sorry, I forgot that I talked about much of this subject already in a past entry. So it goes. A friend showed me this article from The Atlantic. It is about several people who have pointed out what this entry says…..so I am NOT crazy! Covid-19 Can Last for Several months, by Ed Yong.
Black Box
I never pay attention to my instagram. I cannot believe that 401 years after black people first entered this country as slaves that I still have to do this. This means that black people first arrived here 124 years before Sally Hemings’ owner was born.
So, here is my black box. I don’t think this country will ever NOT be at war with itself. White hegemony in this country is its most defining element. It is deeply imbedded in the characters of at least 76% of its population, and the overwhelming majority of this 76% doesn’t even realize it. So be it. May the perpetrators of this unholy hatred die a thousand agonizing deaths for a thousand years. My undying love to all decent people. We seem to be an endangered species.
Things will (hopefully) get better.
“…Only in America…”
–Asinine American Adage
Only in America (or perhaps Syria, Yemen, or Afghanistan) or any other war torn country, would it be necessary for me to dust off my firearms, clean them, and watch the news with trepidation. If you haven’t been paying attention, the Right Wing wants this war more than anything.
Oh, and one other question: Where are all those brave, selfless militia men with their big, “Penis Envy” Kalashnikovs and Ar-15’s? Where is Ben Hedges, and Pride, Ignorance, and Guns? There is violent chaos in the streets. Rise to the occasion. I doubt you will. The fact is, you’re a bunch of cowards, who are terrified of black people and anyone else who is not permanently dyed, “Straight, white, Christian, and pleasingly ignorant.” F. You. ALL.
Surprising support:
From the business magazine Forbes
white supremacists posing as Antifa, reported by CNN
As a perfect negative reflection, the DJIA is up 130 points at 11:09 Tuesday, June 9th, 2020, showing just how out of touch this country’s ruling class is from absolutely everybody else.
Similarly, today, Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020, the DJIA closed up more than 500 points. Have they not read that unemployment is at nearly 20%, and that Pier 1, Neiman Marcus, J. Crew and other companies have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy?
I’m not sure how this is going to turn out…
–Mister Thrope, 2020
This entry will have little to no sarcasm, and it is about something I’ve never had the need to talk much about, given the choices I’ve made in life. In my experience, black people, out of necessity, know more about white people than white people know about black people. Between explicit and de facto segregation, and the media’s tendency to summarize black people using conveniently facile generalizations, most white people just don’t know that much about black people. I’m no expert on the latter, but I am an expert on what white people say and do when no black people are around.
I grew up in an affluent suburb of Chicago. From the time I was little, black people have always been a group to fear and to direct suspicion toward. “The City” was always a place to fear, and if you got caught alone in a black neighborhood, one should expect to be lucky to escape alive.
In high school, we were rivals with another school which had a substantial black population. Once we were on our way a track meet and we were driving next to one of their busses. Everybody freaked out and cautioned each other not to throw any gang signs (as if anybody present knew any). It felt both silly and thrilling.
Sophomore year, friends started to get their driver’s licenses and my track buddies and I went to a now extinct restaurant in Evanston called, The Spot. We accidentally missed the turn off and ended up on the North side. Again, everybody in the car tripped because black people may descend upon the car and rob us. I found out later that we couldn’t get mugged in this neighborhood (Andersonville), if we carried around fists full of cash. But the baseless fear felt real enough at the time
Once in high school I was looking at a desk filled with graffiti, which listed all the jobs black people could do: elevator operator, bus boy, criminal, etc. I could kind of understand the baseless fear of blacks, since people tend to be afraid of what they don’t know. But the slobbering hate demonstrated by this graffiti as well as the general dearth of black people around told me that white people had to teach this to other white people.
Once at the Evanston Relays, we compete against a south side school named Dunbar (years later I would apply to be their assistant principal). On the bus ride back, some kids sang a chant, “Big black hands, big black feet, Dunbar, Dunbar can’t be beat!” This wan’t quite filled with the hatred suggested by the desk graffiti, but its dehumanizing tone wouldn’t get the school a national award for diversity either. In a related incident, our field events coach once told us a joke while we were on the bus: What are the first French words a black man learns? Coupe De Ville. This is just a small set of my recollections, just off of the top of my head. I am just one of the 230 million or so white people who live in this country.
I wish I had risen to the occasion back then and stood up for my beliefs. In college I would do so, like at the protest to a slave auction held at the Acacia house at U. of I, and later at a counter demonstration by the Klan over in Wheaton during my first year of teaching. This also was the early 1980s, before there were substantial moves by activists to address white people’s collective bigotry which enables the use of “racial dog whistles” by the ruling class.
If white people really want to understand racism in this country, they need to conduct an inventory of the origins of their own racism. There are about forty million black people in this country. There IS no expert on forty million individuals. We have to break out of our fear and our certainty that we are better than they are. Otherwise, get used to these riots. I leave you with these questions. if you’re Jewish, would you be so complacent if the last names of unarmed victims of police violence were Goodman, Stein, or Horowitz? If you’re Italian, would you be so complacent if their last names were Spinetti, Bianchi, or Russo? I can go on like this all night, but I think you get the idea. This just a partial list, compiled by NPR of the 101 or so black people killed by police over the last few years (these are just the ones I remember off of the top of my head):
Eric Garner
Michael Brown
LaQuan Mcdonald
Latanya Haggerty
Sandra Bland
Tamir Rice
Breonna Taylor
Freddie Gray
George Floyd
A partial list of black Americans killed by police since Jan., 2015. In all, 1,252 black Americans have been shot and killed by police since January 2015. If you’re white, and this doesn’t elicit shame from you, then you are either immoral or do not believe that black people are human, which make you even more immoral.
Out here.
Does my 13 year old realize how morally repugnant these men are?
The Failure of Vlad, Jair, and Donald’s Populism
This is worth a read. I hate to say it, Jair, Don, and Vlad, but you’ll have to do some actual work for once, that is, if you want this dissidence to go away. One can scapegoat until the end of time. But popular support ultimately comes from serving the people.
And while we are looking at what’s wrong, please watch Fareed’s Take, 5-31-2020. He discusses the riots, and the four backdrops on which they are superimposed. I’ve said it before: The Revolution was the first one, in which pro-Tory, English citizens fought pro- revolutionary, American citizens. The second one was the actual U.S. Civil War. The third one was the modern Civil Rights Movement. And we are now in the beginning stages of America’s Fourth Civil War. I leave you with this quotation by the man who would be our 16th President. This was remarkably prescient, despite the fact that it was said 182 years ago. I was reminded of this the other day when I rewatched the first episode of Ken Burns’ The Civil War.
At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? — Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! — All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.
At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. — Abraham Lincoln, 1838
This was insightful and disturbingly accurate, despite Lincoln’s own racist beliefs. The problem is, history’s heroes can also be revolting.
Oh, and in answer to my original query, yes, my 13 year old realizes with keen accuracy how odious are these men, all of whom have the decency, grace, and class of filled roach motels. Sadly, many grown-ass adults do not recognize the same thing.
Bittersweet Abattoir 