Allow me to correct myself. In a recent post I spoke of “agitators public and private who live for homophobia.” On reflection, I believe I should have written “who live BY homophobia.” You see, many who are made frantic by Fr. Martin are afraid of gays (“homophobia,” strictly speaking) and, consequently, they hate gays. They have been manipulated into this by the centuries-old tradition of anti-gay rhetoric. Now this rhetoric is the work of people who live by homophobia. Politicians seek the votes of the simple and frightened (“Lions tigers and gay marriage, O my! Lions and tigers and gay marriage, O my!”). Moreover, backroom webmasters, TV reverends, and reactionaries of all kinds unite in exploiting this homophobia to conjure up political and financial support for their latest whims, crusades, and scams. Pity those who live in homophobia; shame on those who live by homophobia.
21 IX 2017: Who left the door open at the White House?
Someone left a door open at the White House and Trumpy got out. I saw a headline that said: “No other U.S. president has talked to the UN like this before.” There are good reasons for that! This embarrassment lately inflicted on our now notorious country is bad enough, but far worse is the peril that comes when a thoughtless big-mouth lets his emotions run riot on the internantional stage. Putin & Co. have achieved through this one election what decades of cold-war effort sought for in vain. The U.S. is now disabled, maybe even crippled.
19 IX 2017: Church Militant
So the Theological College across the road from Catholic University has withdrawn its invitation to Fr. James Martin to speak to its alumni. It seems this was done not in response to pressure from the bishops, but at the behest of agitators public and private who live for homophobia. Theological College has never been known for critical or independent thinking, but their caving in to losers (to use President Trump’s word) with homegrown websites and maniacs that shriek over the telephone suggests that T.C. has just about hit bottom. I looked up the “Church Militant” website and found it packed with 1950s re-runs of various kinds. Like Car Talk, they have a Shameless Commerce Division called STORE, and you can buy yourself a cool tee shirt there or a Church Militant coffee mug.
14 VIII 2017: Platitudes can’t prove he’s not a Nazi
Trump will have to come up with more than the placebos and platitudes of his two statements about Charlottesville to show he is not a Nazi. The first statement was worse than none, and the second statement was just boiler plate. I believe that he made his declaration with tongue in cheek. He was reciting formulae and platitudes so banal as to cause no problem for the alt-right, leaving them to believe that “Trumpy had to say something out of Sunday school so as to calm the squeamish, but we know he’s still on our side.”
What could Trump do to make his denunciation of racism and violence credible? He could clear his own house of crypto-Nazis. He could get rid of Steve Bannon, his Ernst Roehm, and Bannon’s minion, Sebastian Gorka, and get rid of Stephen Miller, the Joseph Goebbels of the Trump Whitehouse.
If Trump would rid himself of these and other deplorables his declaration might become credible.
9 VIII 2017: “Fire and fury …”
People seem unable to find a model for Trumpy’s new slogan, “Fire and fury,” and conclude he came up with it on his own. My take may be far-fetched, but I am reminded of “sound and fury, signifying nothing,” and Shakespeare used this phrase to describe “a tale told by an idiot.” But what if the President of the U.S. is an idiot?
25 VII 2017: Harangue from Der Führer at BSA Jamboree
Trump recently provided another glimpse of his ignorance of/disregard for American democratic institutions when he tried to turn the Boy Scouts’ Jamboree into a Hitler Youth rally.
24 VII 2017: Sons of the Old South
Two sons of the Old South clearly regard the pistol/penis as the solver of problems and key to success. It’s reported that Rep. Blake (“The Fatted Calf”) Farenthold of Texas blames female senators from the Northeast for the repeal/replace fiasco. He is so frustrated because “If it was a guy from south Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.”
Then Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama is using bits from the footage of the shooting at the Congressional Baseball practice to parade his enthusiasm for the Second Amendment,” the lead-in on the campaign ad reading: “A Bernie Sanders supporter fires on Republican Congressmen.”
What do you suppose is the IQ of these boneheads and what do they think is the IQ of their constituents??
17 VII 2017: Ann Coulter, that vamp can vent!
I read that Ann Coulter, the dominatrix of the far-right vaudeville circuit, has been waging a twitter war with Delta Airlines. I suppose she figures that if it works for Trumpy, it can work for her. She denounces what she calls Delta’s fascist behavior, and we can be sure she knows what she is talking about. I was struck by Ms Coulter’s repeated use of the vulgarism “to suck” and impressed by her daring neologism “suckingest.” She laments her loss not only of the $30 fee she paid for her seat, but of $10,000 worth of her time. Well, she can get $30 back from Delta, and she is getting her $10,000 back in the notoriety that this silliness generates.
30 VI 2017: Is it really “Independence Day”
Just what independence is it that we are celebrating on the 4th of July? I fear we are misled and enslaved by sentimental and self-congratulatory patriotism.
17 VI 2017: Gypsy Rose Trump
It occurs to me that Mr. Trump’s game is really striptease. He doesn’t come clean about anything, but holds everyone’s attention by coy hints and partial disclosures, stripping off now his gloves, now his nylons and throwing his tweets to the audience, to feed vain hopes of some complete and truthful disclosure to come. It is a waste of time waiting for him to behave honestly, for that is contrary to his beliefs.
Mouth-of-Newt is back in the news today, claiming that “the King can do no wrong.” Why won’t the mainstream media ignore Newt also, and leave it to Fox Schmooze to transmit his wisdom to his intended audience?