With
procrastinators like myself, and other late income tax filers, the month of April
is usually consumed with racing to meet the April 15th deadline.
Completing and filing our own income tax returns (cheap bastard that I am) is
like having to retake my SAT exams each and every year (though it’s been forty-three
years, since I did so). The news regarding
this annual bit of bother is that my unfortunate tendency to procrastinate has now
been further enabled by a ninety-day extension, thanks to the very thing that
stands in the way of creating taxable revenue- COVID-19. Thank you, Mr.
President…
…and speaking of the President, now that the President’s “15 Days to Slow the Spread: Coronavirus Guidelines” (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/coronavirus-guidelines-america/ ) have also been extended an additional thirty days, the month of April 2020 will subject the entire nation to its very first behavioral examination- a test that we as contemporary Americans are woefully unprepared to take.
Telling
Americans to stay at home and just sit on their…umm…infernal regions for two
weeks is one thing…but then telling Americans to stay at home for five
more weeks is the closest thing on
earth to finding out that your immortal soul has to spend an extended time in Purgatory
before it can join our eternal Father in Heaven.
That is, except for the parents of school-aged
children whose schools have been closed and are
closed for the foreseeable future. Their predicament is more closely associated
with an eternity in Hell…for both themselves and
for their kids, as well.
Never before has a situation come to pass, where
the entire American nation–
a nation of explorers, of pioneers, of inventors and innovators and entrepreneurs-
has been subjected to a nationwide behavioral
pandemic…cabin fever.
Cabin fever, the manic form of anxiety brought on
by extended isolation and confinement, is a more extreme version of
claustrophobia that has been known to make otherwise sane people, crazy…crazy
enough, for instance, to pull a stunt like Jack Nicholson’s lead character in the Shining…So, while it might be prudent for
parents trapped at home with their children to place their axes and hatchets in
a locked gun safe for the time being, the limits of their collective patience
will be put to test, as never before.
For that matter, all of our collective patience
will be tested, as never before.
Americans are, for the most part, an active and outward and friendly people. We shake hands with complete strangers, commune amongst them in arenas and ballparks and other stadiums, and aren’t exactly averse to striking up conversations with people we have never met, before. Just ask anyone who has ever attended a college or professional level sporting event, or has been to a music festival. Since none of these activities are presently within reach- at the very time when theentire nation ordinarily comes out of its wintry dens of hibernation and renews its romance with the great outdoors- we are left with the same seasonal limitations of internet, television (and moaning and groaning) more indicative of being snowed-in…and without the winter white scenery to behold just outside our windows.
In
other words, there’s a limit to just how much alcohol a grown man or woman can
consume, for cryin’ out loud…
So,
“March Madness,” usually a reference to the sudden and pervasive interest in
all things college basketball, has now taken on an entirely new meaning of
almost universal sequestration, or if you will, being told by our national “parents”
that we’ve been “grounded” for a month…now that having been “grounded” for a
fortnight before didn’t teach us the lesson we all needed so desperately to
learn…
…and who would have ever thought that this rebellious man of sixty-one years, be told that, now, he has been grounded?
Time for all of us to take the national test, as it were…
Drew Nickell was back on the Radio, on Thursday, 26 March 2020 at 1:00 PM, EST
I was back on the radio, sitting in on the Nora Firestone Show, on WKQA-AM Freedom 1110, where I discussed all things corona virus, and a touch of all things politic.
This show also appeared as a
“Facebook live” broadcast, but because I was broadcasting remotely, the
picture quality may be someone diminished. Nevertheless, I hope you will
enjoy the re-broadcast located at the following link:
If silence is the absence of communication, and if censorship is the obfuscation of knowledge, then surely political correctness is the enemy of truth…
…and
now, more than ever, we need to seek the truth in all things.
Today,
we are awash in information. Never in the history of humankind, has there been
more information so readily accessible at our fingertips, than today. Time was, in the not-so-distant past, when we
would have to schlepp off to the library if we wanted to broaden our knowledge
about anything. Nowadays, we merely have to open up our laptops or other smart
devices, and all of the known information about any topic is as far away as the
click of a mouse or the tap of our thumb.
Problem
is that there is as much misinformation out there in cyberspace as there is
information, and segregating the truth from the lie on any topic presents its
own challenge.
For
instance, go to the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. There
you’ll see that Johnny Unitas is listed as an Indianapolis Colt. Yet, in truth,
Johnny Unitas was never an Indianapolis Colt. His last year with the
Baltimore Colts came eleven years before the franchise stole away to the
Hoosier State.
More
to the point, look how the President of the United States is routinely called a
racist. Anyone who understands the meaning of “racist” knows that this
is a lie. Whether seeking to secure a porous and insecure border, banning
inbound flights from certain countries to contain the spread of a virus, or
calling that virus by the country of its origin does not and will not ever make
President Donald J. Trump a racist, no matter how hard the mainstream media and
his political opponents try their level best to convince us that he is one.
Oddly
enough, those same meddlesome ministers of misinformation and those same professional
purveyors of propaganda are as much the enemy of America as any foe we have ever
faced in time of war. Worse, the lies spewing forth from such dubious sources
and other such entities are just as assuredly going to resist any effort by our
government to protect its people from a worldwide pandemic.
So,
what are the hallmarks of such a lie?
Denial- Denial of where the virus originated (China) why the
virus was allowed to spread across the globe (communist Chinese government
censorship) and whether or not this is a real pandemic (our friends and social
media contacts who continue to insist that this is just a “hoax”);
Misappropriation of Blame- blaming the coronavirus COVID-19
on any entity (i.e. Trump, the Clintons, the Democrats, the media) other
than the People’s Republic of China, who caused this virus to spread;
Whining and complaining- Seventy-eight years ago, the “greatest
generation” who had already weathered the worst economic calamity ever to hit
this nation was asked to accept frozen wages, commodity rationing on certain
foodstuffs (sugar, coffee, fresh meat) and other goods (tires, stockings), and to
sacrifice personal freedoms (nighttime blackouts, conscription) all to defeat the
axis powers in World War II. Today, how many of us are whining about having to
sit at home while curtailing visits to restaurants and bars and foregoing our leisure
cruises, international travel and spring break vacations?
Hypocrisy- Some of the very same people who vociferously complained
about the President stopping all inbound flights from China in late January,
and labeling such measures as “reactionary,” “xenophobic” and “racist,” now
have the unmitigated gall to tell us that the administration hasn’t been as expeditious
and urgent as necessary to combat the spread of the virus;
Hoarding and speculation- Whether a Senator (Diane Feinstein D-CA, Richard Burr R-NC, Kelly Loeffler R-GA, James Inhofe R-OK) who, with advanced “insider” information, dumps shares of stock at the onset of an impending financial crisis, or whether an ordinary consumer who attempts to hoard commodities such as toilet paper, anti-bacterial hand lotion and disinfecting wipes… especially those who then try to resell these items at exorbitant prices…such societal parasites are beneath contempt and those who fail to call them out are just as culpable.
So, in this the hour of our collective discontent, let us resolve to look within ourselves and seek the truth- the absolute and empirical truth- in all things, lest we allow the lie to overtake and ultimately destroy us…as a people and as a species.
Responding to Coronavirus- Appropriately and Inappropriately
Panic is an ugly sight…primarily because it makes those
who are otherwise sane do something(s) crazy- like rushing out to a Wal-Mart or
a Sam’s Club or a Costco and clearing those stores out of their supplies of
bottled water and toilet paper.
Think about this for a moment…bottled water and toilet paper
as the result of a respiratory virus advisory! Well, considering the fact that the very thinking
which generates such behavior, must come from the specific part of the human
anatomy that toilet paper is designed to “service,” one can only marvel at the
stupidity and gullibility of people who are driven to bedlam at the urging of
the mainstream media.
Now, given that one should always keep abreast of the news, stay informed and remember that bad decisions are made in the midst of a panic, we should always hope and pray for the best, prepare and have a “plan B” for the worst, and in all cases keep calm, even if we have to lower our pants and slide on the ice…
At the beginning of this past week, we published an essay (http://www.drewnickell.com/?p=3056)
about the previously unforeseen effects of coronavirus COVID-19 on our schools
and places of work, both of which could contain the spread of the contagion by
enabling students and employees to attend virtual teacher-led internet-based classrooms
and telecommute to their jobs, respectively.
With greater frequency, since two presidential addresses (http://www.drewnickell.com/?p=3064)
were delivered in the week that followed, both school and workplace closings
have taken place, along with university and certain government services across
the country. Furthermore, MLB, NBA, NHL,
MLS, PGA, NASCAR and NCAA sporting events, including “March Madness,” have
either since been cancelled or indefinitely postponed, while theatrical
productions and church services have seen similar cancellations.
Essentially, any place where large groups gather has become “empty
space,” and with warnings to the elderly- especially those who live with
chronic, immunity-deficient medical conditions- to stay in their homes and
avoid outside contact, has startled all of us into the sudden awareness that
this one is no joke. People really are dying by the hundreds in Italy,
and other continental European countries, in Iran and, with what we are
permitted to know by their own government, which is not much, in China as well.
Here in the United States, just in the
last five days, the cases of coronavirus have spread from half a dozen states,
to every single state, Hawaii and Alaska, included. More than fifty of us, here
in the States, have perished from the virus, twenty of whom lived in a single
nursing home in Kirkland, Washington, just outside Seattle. Small numbers
perhaps, compared to the yearly onslaught of influenza and its tens of
thousands of fatalities, but noteworthy all the same.
The surrounding uncertainty of how virulent this coronavirus
will spread (despite the President’s prescient actions to battle this spread),
and the extent to which coronavirus will affect the availability of hospital
beads and requisite respiratory therapy devices, not to mention how many of the
vulnerable segments of our population will fall to the illness, are presumed to
be the drivers of Wall Street volatility and consumer unease. Greatly improving
the availability of COVID-19 test kits, and broadening the ease of getting tested
with “Drive-Through” testing and other such initiatives as “tele-medicine” will
go far to ameliorate this uncertainty and unease. After all, knowledge is the
enemy of panic, and being informed is the best defense against uncertainty-
especially in troubling times.
So, while being constantly aware of changing circumstances- circumstances which seem to be changing every few hours- doing so only seems prudent that we keep a watchful eye on what’s going on… Such is the mark of an intelligent person…as opposed to clearing the entire consumer supply of toilet paper and getting into fisticuffs over a single package…For those same idiots who today respond to a respiratory illness alert by buying up all the toilet paper, will likely respond to an e-coli advisory tomorrow, by buying up all of the Tylenol…
…and so, the ugly face of panic will rear
its ugly head, yet again…
In the meantime, keep calm and carry on…the
future will take care of itself.
The
Virus that is Social Media: Scrutiny of One’s Source is the Best Defense
On
the evening of March 11, 2020, President Donald Trump addressed the nation from
the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office- a rare occasion for a president who is
accustomed from doing so at a lectern, or out on the South Lawn waiting to
board the Marine One helicopter. The subject of the President’s address was the
coronavirus COVID-19, which the World Health Organization declared to be a “pandemic”
earlier in the day. This pandemic declaration was of no surprise since the
virus, which originated in the Wuhan Province of the communist People’s
Republic of China (China’s government wants the rest of the world to forget
this fact), has spread throughout the world causing widespread contagion in China,
continental Europe and elsewhere. Many deaths are starting to number in Italy,
Iran and in other locales, and despite their respective governments’ best
efforts to contain the spread of this virus, the spread of this virus continues
unabated.
In
very measured and somber tones, the President told people what they can expect,
the precautions that need to be taken, and steps the government is taking to
ameliorate the spread of the virus and minimize its impact- financially as well
as medically.
Noting
that the members of the European Economic Community failed to halt inbound
flights from China, when the President decided to do so back in January-
against a chorus of charges that doing so was somehow deemed to be “racist” by
those who “know better,” like globalists on both sides of the Atlantic- the
President said that the EEC’s decision not to follow his lead enabled the virus
to become entrenched in Europe, most particularly in Italy, where their own
government has now decided to quarantine the entire country.
In
an effort to further protect Americans in this country to the extent that he
can, President Trump announced in his address that effective midnight, Friday
March 13, all inbound flights from continental Europe would be cancelled
for the next thirty days and, subject to conditions on the ground, further
cancellations may take place. Last night’s announcement excluded flights from
the United Kingdom, as well as cargo flights throughout the world.
So,
what gets posted on Facebook and other social media?
“Trump
Stops All Planes for Thirty Days”
It’s bad enough that television networks, cable news channels and newspapers regularly pump out fake news and present it as unvarnished truth. Coverage of the President’s address was no exception, as these so-called “journalists” focused in on the President’s “apparent unease” with the subject matter based on, get this, his “breathing patterns” (so now, everyone is a licensed rhinologist/behavioral psychologist). Nevertheless, anyone who watched the President’s address knew that he clearly said, “all flights from Europe…” not to Europe…not all flights…just all fights from Europe.
But
never mind that. The social media providers, so anxiously concerned about
misinformation and fake news being generated by individuals and campaigns alike,
presumably because it affects the way people vote, continue to turn the other
direction and ignore the ignorance being routinely churned out by those who don’t
know a coronavirus from a computer virus.
So while we are washing our hands and wiping down our countertops with disinfecting wipes, can we all just step back and ask ourselves what level of stupidity does it take for a populace who, on an advisory concerning the spread of a respiratory illness, decides to clear the entire consumer market of toilet paper?
Well,
perhaps, it is because of thinking that originates from the exact part of the
human anatomy that toilet paper is designed to specifically service.
So the next time we decide to go and believe all we see on Facebook, and all we hear from our friends and colleagues and associates, about the coronavirus and, for that matter, the President, perhaps we would all do well to consider the source, first, before we pull out of our holster, and wantonly point, the finger of blame…
“The
fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are
underlings…”
Act I, Scene 2 of “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare
Coronavirus-
the Unforeseen (?) Consequences on Work and Education
A
little over two years ago, I wrote an essay where I predicted the demise of the
school room as we understand the meaning of the term, in the wake of the
Parkland, Florida school shooting ( http://www.drewnickell.com/?p=1814
). In citing the issues surrounding
challenges to providing safety and security in our school buildings, and the
enormous costs to federal, state and local government in the construction,
upkeep, maintenance and modernization of these facilities, I proffered the
alternative, out-of-the-box and seemingly inevitable solution to these problems.
Largely as the result of having telecommuted for almost two decades, where subject matter training, team meetings and even corporate conferences were all held in virtual classrooms, on-line meeting rooms and auditoriums broadcast on virtual private networks (VPNs), respectively, I argued that issues of child safety and school security would be eliminated by children attending virtual, teacher-led classrooms from home. Since the technology to do so has been in place, as well as in use, for some time, it seemed inevitable that this is where childhood education is heading. The essay fell short in that it didn’t even consider the issues of pandemic and the spread of new and deadly viruses as a justification for heading in the direction of remote access education. Even the most draconian efforts to rid school buildings of communicable germs is, when all is said and done, impossible to achieve and fruitless to attempt.
Now in the wake of a global pandemic, likely created in and released from labs located in the Wuhan province of Communist China (the Chinese government denies this, is anyone surprised?), the latest strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) is rapidly spreading on six continents, as well as here in these United States, and the death toll from this virus is beginning to mount. Most susceptible to surviving the virus appears to be the elderly and others who are compromised due to unrelated illness, but whole regions of entire countries are now being quarantined as they never have, before. With efforts to prevent the widespread onset of the disease here in the U.S., including President Trump’s decision to cancel inbound flights from China early on- and in the wake of recommendation by most all of the experts to the contrary– the disease was stymied in its approach to the U.S. mainland, but only for a time… Regardless, it gave the CDC and supporting pharmaceutical companies the requisite time to isolate the virus, study it, develop test kits for it and formulate possible and promising vaccines to prevent it. While the vaccines won’t be fully tested in a controlled environment, and then released for widespread use, for at least another year, at least virologists and other related healthcare experts in the United States were given a head start by this delay.
Yet, the virus will inexorably become widespread and will kill many more Americans, before it has run its natural course, just as influenza claims tens of thousands of Americans each and every year in the same manner. Primarily due to the fact that this particular strain of coronavirus can be present, and also easily communicable, in people for up to two weeks before symptoms start to present, that this will reach widespread infestation is nothing short of certainty. Add to this the fact that many millions who contract this disease- the young and strong, in particular- but who are able to deal with its symptoms and recover from it having never seen medical professionals, will guarantee almost universal exposure and infection. Worse, COVID-19 will eventually mutate into yet another deadly strain, just as new and deadly strains of influenza and other illnesses ravage their humans and animal hosts, alike.
The
coming weeks will see the closure of more and more school systems and specific
industries, ranging from cruise ship tourism and international air travel to convention
hosting and spectator events, will no doubt be adversely affected and
financially impacted due to the spread of this illness. Nursing homes and other
assisted living facilities who house the elderly will be particularly hit with
the ramifications of this illness, while corporate headquarters with office
cubicles in close proximity to one another will start to see those cubicles
emptied, as more and more employees are encouraged to stay home and telecommute
to work, instead.
In
a televised Fox News town hall with President Donald Trump last week, the
question was asked about the custom of shaking hands with one another. The
president said, “If ever there was a time when all of us would stop shaking
hands, you’d think it would be now…” Ever the germaphobe, Trump admitted that
he had to get past his reluctance to shake hands in order to pursue political
office, but nevertheless the President might be onto something with what he
said.
After
all, how can a science community which advises all of us to constantly wash our
hands and avoid touching our faces, ultimately coexist in a culture so steeped
in the exchange of handclasps and bodily embrace? It’s as simple as I cough or
sneeze, then later shake hands with you, then later still, you rub your eyes or
nose, and “presto” you’ve got what I have, long before either one of us knows
we’re sick. In such a scenario, prevention amounts to good intentions at best,
and we all know where any road paved with good intentions, leads…
Eventually, coronavirus COVID-19 will run its inevitable course, and the rest of us will move on to bigger and better things to worry ourselves about- like elections, retirement, the costs of living, paying our taxes and maintaining our precious lifestyles…not to mention keeping up with the Kardashians and rooting our favorite sports teams onto victory. No, this coronavirus won’t be the pestilence (and other ills) that are brought to the world by the apocalyptic “fourth horseman astride the pale horse,” as described in Revelations 6: 7-8 of the New Testament. That said, we are foolish to ignore the very real implications that the spread of this virus, and future viruses, portend for humanity.
So,
the issues surrounding communicability of lethal disease will remain in place, once
memory of the 2020 coronavirus COVID-19 fades into the forgotten past, just as
other viruses from the past few decades have slipped from our collective consciousness.
Yet, the societal and socio-economic repercussions of providing for safety and
security, and then also having to prevent the spread of infectious disease, will
spell the ultimate demise of school buildings, corporate offices and perhaps any
place where people assemble in large groups. Retail establishments built of
brick and mortar, already so hit with Amazon and the availability of other
on-line shopping sites, will have one more threat to their own viability and
the rationale for keeping them open will become all the more reason to close stores.
Taken together, the potential impact of all these variables on a global economy
cannot be over-stated.
In the end, then, people will have to ask themselves what’s so special about keeping the school buildings opened when, in the final analysis, they have become little more than large petrie dishes swimming with threats we can’t even see- be they microscopic or criminal in nature…?
“Johnny,
it’s time to log on, sweetheart…I’m already late to work, and school starts in
just a few minutes…”
Think about it, folks…it’s closer than you might otherwise imagine…
“Super Tuesday?” No, it was more like “Mysterious Monday”…
Presidential
campaigns in these United States require a lot of planning, a lot of strategy
and yes, a lot of money. Essentially, all such undertakings are not “on the fly,”
as it were. If otherwise, then a whole lot more Americans would be running for
President every four years…
Take
Donald Trump, for example.
On
Election Night 2012, “the Donald” watched television as Barack Obama sailed
easily to re-election, over the inept and impotent Mitt Romney…a textbook example
why selecting the most “electable” candidate is a surefire way to lose an
election, in either party. Remember the (twice, was it?) “unstoppable”
Hillary Clinton? That night in 2012, as Donald Trump sat alone watching the
proceedings, he decided that he would run for the presidential nomination in
2016, in what he saw as a broken Republican party, and even thought up his
future campaign slogan “Make America Great.” He called his attorney to see if
he could have it trademarked. The next morning, in thinking it over, he decided
that the phrase sounded like it was a criticism of his country, so he called
his attorney again, and had him revise the slogan to what would appear on
millions of baseball caps four years later- “Make America Great Again.”
For
the next thirty months, the once and future president carefully and skillfully
promoted himself to media outlets, speaking about political issues- most
notably trade imbalances, and teasing them with the prospect that he might
decide to launch a campaign for the nation’s highest office. As 2014 turned
into 2015, the suspense about his possible run was the very talk of television,
despite the fact that the coverage of him was largely skeptical. After all,
here was a man who for thirty years mastered the media for all its worth. So,
when he descended with his wife, Melania, down the escalator of Trump Tower and
announced he was running, few could have foreseen the history that was made
from that very moment, on. Strategically campaigning in blue collar, rustbelt
states and holding countless rallies in stadiums and arenas, Trump outworked
his heavily favored opponents, in both the Republican nominating contests and
in the general election, to become the nation’s forty-fifth President.
Compare
Trump’s quest for the White House to the Democrats who have run, or are running,
in this 2020 election.
Many,
like Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Julian Castro,
Corey Booker, Pete Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard, began their campaigns by
launching exploratory committees, building organizations and raising money
throughout the country. Experienced politicians, after all, know that campaigns
are built from the ground up, and are continued to be built until they either
succeed or fail.
An
early favorite to win the nomination was Obama’s former Vice President, Joe
Biden. Yet, as his campaign appearances mounted, it became obvious that Biden’s
well-known and oft-excused propensity to misstate and stumble over his own
words took on new and impactful concerns by party insiders who felt that maybe,
just maybe, the former Vice President was starting to show what many believe to
be age-related dementia, This was certainly not out of the question for any man
knocking on the door of his ninth decade, but it seemed that Joe’s gaffes went
from laughable to pitiful during the past few months.
So, into the fray waltzes billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose diminutive size belies his lofty ego. Thinking that he could charm a country with his intelligence and well-produced TV spots, Bloomberg miscalculated the American people. Erroneously falling into the same lurid and presidential trap as his fellow and current New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio, he thought that the entire country would see in himself, what their own populous but geographically small constituencies presumably see in them. Bloomberg spent in excess of $700 million to launch his quest and the only thing he managed to accomplish was gaining the lion’s share of available television time slots.
Skipping
the early caucuses in Iowa and Nevada, along with skipping the early primaries
in New Hampshire and South Carolina, Bloomberg figured that Democrat voters-
wary of the apparent decay in Biden’s faculties- would give him a delegate
sweep on Super Tuesday…only he figured wrong. Curiously, it was reported the week before,
that he purchased no ad spots following Super Tuesday- an indication that he
saw the writing on the wall, prior to the balloting.
On the very night before Super Tuesday, fellow candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar suddenly suspended their campaigns and joined former candidate Robert “Beto” O’Rourke in his home state of Texas, to announce they were suddenly “all in” for Biden. With their dropping out, Bloomberg lost any chance of gaining any ground and Democratic voters across the country, fearing that a Bernie Sanders nomination would automatically mean Trump’s reelection, coalesced behind Biden and gave him primary victories in states from Maine to Texas, and most all of them in between. That Klobuchar and Buttigieg would throw their support behind Biden, aside from their timing, came as no surprise to watchers. O’Rourke, assuming he still had any followers, joined in the jubilation in Texas, largely because it afforded him what he wants most- attention. Biden, ever the one to screw up an otherwise opportune moment, embraced the flashy skateboarder, saying O’Rourke would be put in charge of his gun policy- “Beto,” notoriously not a defender of the Second Amendment. Think about this for a moment…Biden actually said this, in Texas.
Interestingly
enough, Elizabeth Warren who still seeks to find a racial identity and
grievance group with which she feels comfortable, waited until the day after
Super Tuesday to suspend her own campaign. In her narcissistic and wholly
self-aggrandizing way, which seems to be her forte’, “Liz” announced the suspension
of her campaign, but failed to throw her support behind Bernie, her closest ideological
ally. In waiting until after Super Tuesday to quit the race, most of her voters-
who would have thrown their support behind Sanders- threw away their votes on
her, instead. Had she pulled out on the night before, Sanders would have
prevailed in Massachusetts and Maine, and would have come out of Super Tuesday
with a delegate lead over Biden. To a watching world, it appeared once again that
the fix was in- by Democrat party “super delegate” power brokers, operatives
and financiers, to deny the Vermont socialist a chance at the nomination, just
as they had four years ago, when Hillary Clinton’s nomination was rigged from
the get-go.
Putting
all of these machinations together- what with Klobuchar’s and Buttigieg’s
sudden love for Joe Biden, Bloomberg’s financial boondoggle and very sudden
whole-hearted endorsement for Biden, and Elizabeth Warren putting the screws to
her fellow socialist, Bernie Sanders- that something engineered, almost
sinister, is going on in the Democrat party. All of which begs the question, who is behind
the kabuki that is this nomination process? More importantly, who is pulling
the strings attached to the bumbling Biden? A trio of ex-presidents- Bush,
Clinton and Obama- who won two terms, but who also shudder at the thought of
yet another Trump turn, certainly come to mind. That Bush was a
Republican president is irrelevant, for like Clinton and Obama (and his father,
for that matter). George W. Bush is a die-hard globalist who finds common cause
with his Democrat counterparts.
The
latter two, Clinton and Obama, whose wives Biden has said he would consider
possibly naming as his running mate(s), have more power in their own party,
than any Republican, even the Bushes, ever had in their own party. Furthermore,
it has become obvious that Bill Clinton and Barack Obama certainly had much to
do with engineering these maneuvers and putting the requisite pressure on
Klobuchar, Buttigieg and Warren to do what they did to obstruct Sanders, and
pave the way for Biden, who unquestionably lacks the intellect to pull off such
a stunt, on his own.
So,
the possibility of a brokered Democrat National Convention looms large- even
with the party elders rigging it for the former Vice President. In the event
Biden fails to gain a majority of Democrat delegates, a possible yet altogether
plausible scenario is set for a former first lady, whose first names are Michelle
or Hillary, to swoop into Milwaukee and grab the trophy that eludes
their favorite dunce, Biden, and their “commie” nemesis, Bernie.
The
only thing left to determine is who exactly, whether or not the Clintons or the
Obamas- taken together or separately- are pulling the strings on Joe Biden…and given
the inherent lack of transparency and ethos that seems to be their frequent modus
operandi, it’s once again…
One
sunny afternoon, Donald Trump went into a mid-town Manhattan bar, not realizing
that there were all of the contenders for the Democrat nomination, inside-
There
were Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, sitting at the bar, while Michael Bloomberg
and Tulsi Gabbard were sitting at a table- both engaged in deep conversation. Hillary
was alone, off to the side with a stack of unsold books, while Michelle was
just exiting the men’s roo-… er… I mean, the ladies’ room (whew!).
Pete Buttigieg was there with Amy Klobuchar, each with a beer and were busy in a game of darts. Tending the bar were Julian Castro and Cory Booker, who himself was wearing a ‘Spartacus’ t-shirt, while Tom Steyer was checking the cash register and counting the money. Andrew Yang had just ordered a drink, while Elizabeth Warren stood alone by the door, donning a magnificent, floor-length Apache headdress…
So,
as Donald Trump entered and noticed Elizabeth Warren standing still by the
door, numb and speechless (for once) at the thought of Trump entering this bar,
Trump said to his aide, “Go back to the limo, open the trunk and bring me a box
of ‘Trump’s Premium Cigars’…I think Liz might be more useful holding the box
with an open lid, and with a sign that reads ‘Cigars $10.’”
Trump
then exchanges cordial nods with Yang and sits down next to Joe Biden.
Biden
turns to him and says, “Donald, I wanted you to come by so I could thank your
for contributing to my Senate campaign this year… I’m sure the people down in
Delaware love you, man!”
To
that, the President replied, “Sleepy Joe, for cryin’ out loud, that was
thirty-some odd years ago!”
Then, Bernie interrupted, saying, “You see what I’ve been saying? You billionaires- you with all your ill-gotten gains- buy elections away from the working men and women who can’t even set aside enough money to buy a ’Che’ Guevarra t-shirt, or contribute to my campaign.”
Donald
turned to him and said, “Bernie, don’t you have tickets to the Bolshoi ballet
tonight, or are you hopping on a private jet to go see some baseball with your
buddy, Raul Castro?”
At
that point, Booker looks at the president and says, “Whatta’ you have?” with
eyes wide open… In fact, they were opened so wide, that the President became a
little suspicious and said, “uhhh…nothing for right now, thanks.”
Trump
then left Biden and Bernie at the bar and went over towards the table where
Tulsi and “Bloomby” were having a conversation.
Bloomberg
said to Tulsi, “I don’t know how you do it. I spend more than $100 million for
each delegate I received, and I did manage to pick up American Samoa,
where I have never been, and here you have more delegates than I do…what’s your
secret, Tulsi?”
The
Hawaiian Senator said, “Well, Mike, I have been to the American Samoa, and know
many of the 175 people who voted there…the only advice I could give you is that
you need to be likable…do you see that woman sitting over there, trying to sell
her books?… She never learned that lesson and still wonders how she
spent twice as much money, only to lose to Trump.”
Trump
turned to see Hillary, alone at a table stacked high with her books, and said
to her, “You know, Hillary, I once had a bestseller called ‘The Art of the Deal’-
so I know something about…well, you, know…about how to sell a book (and win an
election, by the way)…and this is no place to try to sell books– I mean
how many people…even my people…great, great people…go into a bar to buy a book?”
Mrs.
Clinton just glared at him with steely eyes and said, “I’ll bet you conspired
with Russia to launch an on-line Facebook campaign panning my book sales, you
mean lousy son-of-a-…”
The
President quickly interrupted her, smiled and said, “Hey, there’s no need to
get nasty…that’s just sick…I mean these people are sick…listen, I’ll talk to my
son, Eric, and see if he can’t give you a discount on an ad spot to plug your
book on trump.com…who knows, maybe just maybe, you’ll sell a book or two…?”
Then,
walking over to Buttigieg and Klobuchar, Trump said, “What’s with you two,
pulling out of the race on the night before ‘Super Tuesday’… was there a quid
pro quo with Joe?”
“No,”
said Klobuchar, “of course not…Joe said something to us about us pulling out of
the race three days before ‘Super Thursday,’ so we were happy to oblige…”
Then, Buttigieg said, “Mr. President, how come I never see you wearing any kind of glasses- even reading glasses- don’t you ever read?”
To that, Trump smiled, winked and said, “Pete, I read all the time, and as far as your question is concerned, I’ve already got 2020, thanks…”
Approaching the door, Trump handed a $10 bill to “Liz” Warren, saying to her “No, thanks, I don’t smoke, but by all means give it to your hubby when you go home, you know, when you get yourselves a beer…”
Leaving
the place, Trump once again turned to his aide and said, “It’s a good thing I
don’t drink…I mean these people…these horrible, horrible people…I mean they’re
sick…I mean sick…”
Getting
into his limo, the President was driven away and, turning around for one more
glance, he smiled and said, “So long, losers, see you in the funnies…”
