Three Years Into Trump's Administration

I haven't posted to this blog in years. Literally. The last post dates back to 2017 or thereabout. Periodically people will retweet a post on my Twitter about this blog. Occasionally someone will ask if I have any plans to continue. I don't think I do. It's just too difficult to summon up the energy. It's too painful to try to dive into the sea of modern politics. I thought I would be able to keep this going. I thought I would be able to be an educated voice during a period of crisis. I was unable. Now all I am is tired. For the foreseeable future, this blog will be on hiatus. I'll keep fighting the good fight at home, but I don't think I can resurrect the writing until things settle down a little.

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Life After Trump

  I'm going with a really radical change of pace in this post. It's going to be a first person thing, almost like a journal. I want to write down exactly how it feels to be in Trump's America. And with that in mind, let's begin.

  Today is January 15, 2017. In five days, Donald Trump will be sworn into office as the 45th president of the United States. The Republicans in the house and senate have been busy trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Trump isn't even the president yet, bear that in mind, and they're already working to undo what his predecessor accomplished. And to tell you the truth? I'm fucking terrified.

  I am a person with a disability. I am a person who relies on protections set forth by the ACA in order to maintain my insured status and my access to healthcare. If the ACA is repealed, that's all gone. Poof. In the blink of an eye, my safety net goes up in smoke. And I'm not the only one.

  My mum relies on the ACA for her healthcare. Prior to the passage of Obamacare, my mother was paying upwards of 400 dollars a month for insurance. And that was just the baseline fee. If she needed any kind of preventive care or screening, that was an extra fee piled on top. She had to go without a mammogram, despite her physician suspecting breast cancer, because it was just too fucking expensive.

  I've never known what it is to look to the future and be truly terrified. I've never known the fear of having my home taken or being denied life-saving care simply because I couldn't afford it. Which seems like a load of bullshit to me. Why in God's name are we being expected to fucking pay for healthcare? That's like saying, "If you're rich enough you can live. Otherwise, go fuck yourself."

And I feel like there's fuck all that I can do about it. I call my elected officials. I talk to them until my throat is dry and my voice is hoarse. And then they turn around and vote for some cockamamy plan to pile more cash onto the 1% at the cost of the common man. God I sound like a Republican with that common man shit.

I don't really know what there is to expect right now. I just know that I'm more worried for my country than I ever have been before.

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#TrumpLeaks and Me

  I have avoided the Dworkin Report until this point. My opinion on the matter has been as such: I avoided the Wikileaks information because I saw it as being overly partisan and I will deal with Trump Leaks in the same manner. I think in retrospect that I might have been overlooking a valuable source of information because of an unnecessary precaution. In light of that, I have decided to write a series of blog posts in which I first provide in-depth coverage of the Dworkin report and then provide in-depth coverage of Wikileaks. I'll leave the final decision as to which source is more trustworthy, up to the reader.

Lies! It's all lies!

Still applicable unfortunately

  Who here has heard the Green Day song "American Idiot"? I'm assuming a fair number of you have. It was incredibly popular around 2005 and was damn near impossible to escape for a few years there. If you haven't heard the song before, the gist of it is that the singer feels America is becoming a slave to propaganda and a hidden agenda, and he doesn't want to be any include here because of true they are.

One nation controlled by the media.
Information age of hysteria.
It's calling out to idiot America.
-Green Day, American Idiot (2004)

   I can share the feeling. I've been thinking lately that the far right has become so swayed by their talking heads that there really is no longer a way to change their opinions. Anything that a liberal says will be deflected as "posturing and lies put forth by the liberal media to further their evil objectives". What can we do?

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory

Graphic material below the break (Photo of dead men at the Battle of Gettysburg)

  In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the first Republican candidate to run for president on a platform pledging to limit the spread of slavery. As a response, seven slave states in the deep south seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Lincoln and the majority of the citizens in Northern states, refused to recognize this secession for fear that it would fracture the United States in multiple squabbling countries.

Jabba the Trump

This is just something I threw together because I think it's a perfect representation of Donald Trump. Look at him in all his blobby glory. Isn't he beautiful? If anyone wants to use this one themselves, feel free.

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Crawl Out Through The Fallout Baby

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Crawl out through the fallout, baby
When they drop that bomb
Crawl out through the fallout
With the greatest of aplomb
When your white count's getting higher
Hurry, don't delay
I'll hold you close and kiss those
Radiation burns away--

Crawl Out Through The Fallout: Sheldon Allman

  I've been thinking lately about songs that were written during other presidencies, but that have become relevant again under the Trump administration. Now, granted, the first songs I thought of were things like American Idiot by Green Day and  BYOB by System of a Down, but I think that Crawl Out Through The Fallout works quite nicely as well. I'll begin with some background about the song.

  Sheldon Allman, born June 8, 1924 - passed away January 22, 2002, was an actor, singer, and songwriter whose career lasted from1958 to 1995. His singing career began during his service with the Royal Canadian Airforce in World War 2. He later moved to Los Angeles where he would go on to star in 12 movies. Some of his works include the theme song for George of the Jungle and "The Pretty Little Filly with the Ponytail" from TV's Mister Ed. In 1960, Sheldon Allman released his album Folk Songs for the 21st Century. This was a novelty album and included songs like "Crawl Out Through The Fallout" and "Radioactive Mama". 

  Now the lyrics tell a rather simple story. The singer is reassuring his girlfriend, in a rather tongue in cheek manner, that they'll be fine even after the bombs have been dropped. The whole song is practically dripping with satire and sarcasm. I love it. And I think it works rather well in today's political climate. Of course, this song was written during the cold war. The nukes would have been coming from Russia. Now the nukes are likely to come from North Korea or Iran. Either way, we end up crawling out through the fallout to paraphrase Allman.

  I wonder how many other songs from past generations are going to become frighteningly relevant once again? Are the babyboomer's children going to have to live through a second Cuban missile crisis? It reminds me of that famous quote "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." Although I'm afraid Kurt Vonnegut had it more correct when he said "...we're doomed to repeat the past no matter what. That's what it is to be alive."