December 18, 2019: IMPEACHED!!!!

As the Constitutional Convention concluded its business, Ben Franklin emerged from Independence Hall and encountered a woman on the street.  "What manner of Government have we?", she asked him.  "A republic, if you can keep it," he replied.  If we can keep it.

On the 1,063^rd day of this bastard presidency, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, took to the floor of the House and, citing her oath of office, announced that the People's body would take up bills of impeachment against our Caesar Disgustus. In a tense and solemn voice she first recited the pledge of allegiance reminding the assembled that we pledge allegiance to the Republic and, echoing  Franklin admonished the assembled to keep it.

She then spoke of the oath of office taken at the beginning of each congressional session whereupon

each member of the House swears to defend the constitution from “all enemies, foreign and domestic”, thereby declaring Donald John tRUMP an enemy of the state. This was a point lost on the ReSCUMlickans, for ne'er one of them rose to protest the honor of the swine posturing as president* of the United States. Instead of defending his 'honor' or challenging the facts laid before the assembled, they compared Democrats to Pontius Pilate and Disgustus to Christ and Impeachment to Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, by a 33 vote majority—the largest in any impeachment in the history of this country--Donald John tRUMP became the first elected president* to be impeached before the end of his first term. 

More than 9 million Americans voted for Democrats than Republicans in the 2018 congressional elections, as over 3 million more Americans voted for Hillary than Donald in 2016.  The People's House, the house of congress that is apportioned by population rather than states; that represents people rather than dirt, has spoken; reaffirming the verdict of 2016: Donald tRUMP must GO!  He is a pestilence upon the land, a clear and present danger, an enemy of the state. 

It took 1,063 days to get here, 1,064 days longer than should, by any fair and objective standard, have been necessary.

An' Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Convict and Imprison.

December 16, 2019: Institutional Rot, Fetid Cesspools, Parroting Putin

One expects ReSCUMlickan Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio to sit, with rolled up sleeves sans jacket railing against the nature of the proceedings. One expects the faux rage from a man skilled at ignoring criminality and scandal. It is Jordan, while at Ohio State University who ignored complaints of sexual abuse by students. He is accomplished at seeing no evil.

It is one thing to see, speak and hear no evil. It is one thing to not believe your lying eyes, to discount what you hear, to not speak ill in the cause of unlimited political expediency. But, clearly, the ReSCUMlickans have lost olfactory sensibility, their sense of smell; while the country recoils as the stench fills its lungs, the ReSCUMlickans revel in it. Fetid cesspools are their natural habitat.

It is one thing for the knuckle-dragging remnants of the old “Tea Party” to rail in defense of the indefensible. We have long come to expect this kind of behavior. Political theater in defense of mendacity is their stock-in-trade. So whenever any action is taken, to put forward sound public policy—as in health care or gun control—or to question or call to account the actions of this administration, one can reliably depend upon these troglodytes, as well as the howlers on talk radio and Faux News to emerge into the harsh sunlight and take to the ramparts.

But it is something else entirely when senior members of the administration, the President* of Vice Mike Pence, cabinet members or Disgustus himself dutifully repeat Russian propaganda. It is quite another when senior members of the Senate, fresh from being briefed by intelligence that the Ukrainian nonsense originated in Moscow, spout this disinformation. Nevertheless, here we have the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr of North Carolina, John Kennedy of Louisiana, “Leningrad” Lindsay of South Carolina and “Moscow” Mitch McConnell of Kentucky dutifully parroting Putin.

But here we have it, Disgustus and his minions playing the puppet in the service of Russian national interests. They've not only interfered in our electoral process, they've taken over a major political party.

Boris Johnson wins in Britain ensuring the fragmentation of the postwar order as the ReSCUMlickans rush hell-bent to acquit the scum of his high crimes.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh.

Impeach and Imprison

December 14, 2019: Institutional Failure, Partisanship tRUMPs Statesmanship, All Roads Lead to Russia

Nothing better demonstrates the absolute fraud of modern American Conservatism than it's long war upon the institutions of this country. Waging war upon social institutions was understood, heretofore, to be anathema to the Conservative; indeed, the very definition of Conservatism is to nurture and protect social institutions and norms—that is, to Conserve.

What we have now is a movement, a half century in the making, that calls itself conservative, but finds itself waging war not only to repeal the twentieth century, but the very institutions upon which this country is founded.

It is one thing to oppose liberal political initiatives; to repeal certain pieces of legislation; to modify or reverse public policy. It is quite another to seek to destroy political norms and institutions. As a case in point I give you “Moscow Mitch” McConnell.

McConnell has long abused his office, using his position as Senate Majority Leader to obstruct and transform what had been the World's Greatest Deliberative body into a mere echo-chamber. He has, famously, tabled the nomination of a nominee to the Supreme Court—not even giving Merrick Garland a committee hearing, let alone a vote on the floor of the Senate as he sought partisan political advantage by denying President Obama a final Supreme Court appointment. He is currently sitting on nearly 400 pieces of legislation passed by the house with none currently scheduled for consideration. Senate Committees, under his leadership, have failed to provide adequate oversight of this administration. Real investigations are being left to the House of Representatives.

Contrast this with Watergate when bipartisan and bicameral committees were formed to probe into wrongdoing. But where are the investigations not only of tRUMP, but his children, his cabinet members (most notably Wilbur Ross) as well as White House staff? It has been reported that a company with no previous experience with either building walls or with government contracts was awarded 400 million in public funds to build this damn fool wall on the Southern Border. Where are the investigations?

But now we are confronting a “see no evil” posture of an entirely different order of magnitude. As the House Judiciary Committee voted out two articles of impeachment of the President* of the United States, McConnell—violating the very oath he will take to begin the proceedings—announced that his office will work with the White House Counsel to insure a favorable outcome. In doing so, all pretense to an objective consideration of the facts, and a fair and impartial verdict, have gone swiftly by the boards.

McConnell is, of course, not only an unconscionable slack-jawed chinless political hack, and he has done more damage to the institution of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body than any political figure in our history. The Senate has always had its share of buffoons, Senator Inhofe leaps immediately to mind. But these men, being quaint quacks have, in their buffoonery, been occasionally entertaining minor irritants. But McConnell, a funnel for Russian money into the Republican Senate Campaign Committee, presents a threat to the republic not only because he has welcomed and ushered foreign involvement into our national elections but has elevated partisan vindictiveness and political mendacity to a level that now threatens the very representative institutions of this country.

There are reasons “Moscow Mitch” refuses to address Russian interference in the 2016 election and why he will not address the ongoing—right before our very eyes—interference in the upcoming election, and why he and his cohorts are repeating the very propaganda, the very talking points of the Kremlin in its attempt to divert attention from themselves and blame Ukraine. The reasons are quite simple. Mitch and his cohorts—Lenningrad Lindsay, the RNC and several members of Congress are in the back pocket of Putin and his henchmen. Kevin McCarthy, now House Minority Leader said as much during a caucus of House Republicans in 2016 when he fingered Dana Raurbacher and Donald Trump as two who were clearly on Putin's Payroll. Then Speaker Ryan admonished him, advising the group to not let that become public.

The war on the “Deep State”, as Steve Bannon calls it, did not originate with Bannon or tRUMP. Republicans have been waging this war for nearly half century. It began, as all roads to hell, with Richard Shithouse Nixon and his war upon the Press and, by extension, objective reporting—that is, truth. But Nixon bowed to the dictates of institutional prerogative and political norms. But, over the years the war has extended first to cultural issues and then, by extension, to the destruction of institutional memory, political and cultural norms of decency, and now the very institutions of this republic.

What is new is that with Bannon came the war upon institutional memory; a force as noted in previous essays in these columns that serve as a bulwark against instability and chaos. But with the hollowing out of career public servants by failing to fill hundreds of major administrative positions—especially within the State Department, appointing political hacks to the judiciary, clearly unqualified individuals to important administrative positions, Disgustus and his henchmen have done their utmost to impose ignorance and incompetence upon the system.

Moreover, the war upon senior members of the administration, many of them appointed by Disgustus himself, especially senior administrators at the FBI, the Department of Justice and the intelligence agencies, have compromised their political independence and their effectiveness.

McConnell has been more than a passive witness to all of this. He has not simply stood by and done nothing to protect the institutions of this country from this all out assault by the scum in the White House, but has done his level best to enable it and, on occasion, lead it.

What we have here before us is the impeachment of this president* upon evidence that remains uncontested; upon evidence that any objective reading would conclude compelling. To dismiss this evidence—especially the second article involving obstruction of Congress—is an insult to and damages the very institution and the constituents that McConnell presumably represents.

The failure of this administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas to appear before committees and testify, the failure of this administration to provide a single document not only to the committees concerned with impeachment but with the oversight committees, and the failure of this administration to provide tax returns as required by law is a clear affront to the people's representatives as they seek to perform the very important work of congressional oversight. These egregious acts should have been met with determined outrage by every member of Congress if, for no other reason, than to maintain the balance of power within the government and to protect the prerogatives of the institution that represent the state and the people within that state as well as the institution in which they serve.

But NO! Mitch and his cohorts have put party over their state and their nation; partisanship tRUMPs statesmanship. As as a consequence the ReSCUMlickans, by making a mockery of what should be a deliberative and solemn process are further destroying the integrity of what has been, until recently, a great institution.

This is a serious violation of the constitution. I'm not speaking here of singular violations of constitutional articles and provisions. I'm speaking here of material damage to the institutions of this country. The constitution is nothing but the establishment of institutions. The Legislative, Executive and Judicial as well as—in its preamble—the purposes for with these institutions were created. The defense of these institutions is, it seems to this observer, the very definition of conservative. And, it seems to this observer, that our Conservatives have betrayed not only their ideology but, in the process, their country.

All of this in defense of a foreign adversary. As Speaker Pelosi has observed: “All roads lead to Russia”

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

December 10, 2019: Won't Take Long, Over By Christmas, Unconscionable and Uncontested.

“And it won't take long to forget ya

You know I'm never wrong
It'll all be over by Christmas
No. It won't take long” ----The Rolling Stones

This week the Democrats are about the business of purchasing the greatest Christmas gift this country has ever received: the impeachment of our Caesar Disgustus.

Today Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has handed over a report to the Committee on the Judiciary two articles of impeachment: for abuse of power and for obstruction Congress. Many more charges can be brought, as these columns have suggested, but the Democrats have chosen to narrow the focus on Ukraine because the facts have been clearly unconscionable and uncontested.

The debate will begin on Thurday, the 13^th in the Judiciary Committee with a vote soon to follow. The full House will no doubt vote on the measures before Christmas. I suggest Christmas Eve, a fitting gift to the nation.

One can receive this gift in two ways, joyously as an act of resolution and redemption or, conversely, solemnly as one of punishment for the sin that has wrought this national humiliation and disgrace. Either way it is cathartic, it is a welcome release.

Of course the Senate will not vote to convict. The cancer that is the modern conservative movement, manifesting itself as the modern ReSCUMlickan Party, has by now worked it's way into the very marrow of the republic as the votes to acquit this criminal cabal will swiftly demonstrate.

Still, our Caesar—ever disgusting—will now have two marks upon his record: the first is the illegitimacy of his ascendancy and, therefore, his bastard presidency; the second is his impeachment by the people's House.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

November 30, 2019: The Dastardly Ukraine, Foreign to Reason, The Very Marrow

The ReSCUMlickans have themselves tied up in knots as they try to explain away the criminality playing out before the nation. A theory has arisen, reportedly from the bowels of the Kremlin and coursing through Russian Oligarchs into the ears of Paul Manafort and several evangelical 'religious' leaders. From there it has made its way into talk radio, Fox News, Rudy Giuliani, and our ever malignant Caesar Disgustus. And that theory is: The Russians weren't behind the election tampering in 2016, it was Ukraine. Yes Ukraine! It was the dastardly Ukrainians that worked hand in glove with Hillary Clinton and the DNC to sabotage the creepy crusader of tRUMP tower.  The very computer servers holding god knows what damaging information being, as we speak, hidden away in some dark cellar in the outskirts of Sevastopol. Actually, if 'truth' be known, the scheming subversives have squirreled the hard evidence in the bowels of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl to insure that no one will be able to retrieve the evidence.  Further evidence, no doubt, implicating Democrats.  

This is their story and, by god, they are sticking to it .It is ridiculous on its face.

We are led to believe that the sinister Democrats conspired with corrupt elements in the Crimea to hack their own servers, release the information through WikiLeaks, much of it on the eve of their own convention so as to further divide the Democratic Party, enraging the Sanders supporters and forcing the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Further, they hacked the emails of Clinton Campaign manager Leon Podesta in order to gain information about the strategy of their own campaign and to use that information to undermine their own candidacy.  Additionally, they conspired to release further information about trade proposals and immigration policy; information that was sure to injure the campaign in key “Rust-Belt” battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

That's right. The Democrats hacked their own emails in order to get information on themselves and to release that information in order to help who? Why, of course, Hillary! They surreptitiously sabotaged their own campaign in order to defeat the tRUMP Tower crusader. Oh, those clever Democrats!  It's too bad the hapless Ukrainians were dragged into yet another circular Democratic firing squad.

This twisted, pretzel logic is ridiculous on its face and has gained traction only because we have a population in this country no longer able to think critically and connect the dots; a population of knuckle-dragging ditto-heads, unfamiliar with cause and effect, foreign to logic and hostile to reason. A population that, accordingly, can be led to believe anything.

This line of reasoning is of the same ilk as believing that our Caesar Disgustus is fighting corruption in Ukraine when, at home, he is the very embodiment of it; that he is crusading against corruption in Ukraine as he goes about corrupting the newly elected reform government. This is the same line of reasoning that has led some to believe that the tRUMP Tower meeting was about Russian adoptions.

This is the ultimate in Orwellian newspeak, of political paranoia, of pretzel logic. It is propaganda, pure and simple; a conspiracy theory that stands logic upon its head and turns day into night.

You see, this line of 'reasoning' serves the joint interests of both Putin and tRUMP. Putin because Ukraine gets blamed for what the Kremlin orchestrated.  This gets Putin off the hook and leads to the lifting of sanctions, the further deterioration of the Western Alliances, and the re-admission of Moscow upon the world stage. It serves the interests of our Caesar Disgustus by gaslighting, once again, the Clintons, Obama and the Democrats and perfuming the stench of his political bastardy. Again, as with all things tRUMP, all roads lead to Russia. 

Once again, the interests of the Russian dictator and our very own Caesar Disgustus go hand-in-glove; the Russian hand manipulating the American glove or, in this case, the American sock puppet.

Vladimir Putin has placed his bets on the malignancy of the ReSCUMlickan Party, the ignorance, incompetence and mendacity of Donald tRUMP , the failure of our educational system and the greed and cowardice of the “Generation of Swine”.

These are bets that have paid handsomely as the cancer now consumes the very marrow of the Republic.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison

November 29, 2019: Can Be No Doubt, Serial Abandonment, Modus Operandi

Can there seriously be any remaining doubt that Disgustus did indeed conspire with the Russian to subvert the electoral process? Can there be serious doubt as to his sedition?

The testimony this month before the House Intelligence Committee demonstrates that he did indeed extort and bribe a foreign government to intervene in the upcoming election. Over a dozen witnesses came forth, including Ambassadors Taylor, Yavanavich and Nordland to declare that there was indeed a quid pro quo in which the president* witheld 391 million dollars in aid to Ukraine while pressuring the government to publicly declare that it would begin investigating Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Indeed no real investigation would be needed, Ukraine was made to understand, simply the public declaration sufficient so that Disgustus could parade about the country declaring that the Biden's were being investigated for corruption.

You see this is the modus operandi of Caesar Disgustus, a path by now well tread. Simply announce an investigation, one that will drag on through the months until next November when—once the election is held—it will be quickly forgotten. All this reminiscent of his “tax audit” excuse for not releasing his returns, an audit that has become the longest audit in world history.

Indeed, President Zelenskyy was prepared to do just that, go on CNN in a already scheduled interview and declare such an investigation when the whistleblower's accusations surfaced and the public outcry forced Disgustus to backtrack and release the funding, millions of which have yet to be sent to the Ukraine.

Indeed, it has been reported by Rachel Maddow and elsewhere that the administration has been pressuring Ukraine from its first months in office. Maddow reports that by the summer of 2017 Disgustus and his minions were pressuring Kiev by, you guessed it, withholding military aid, to end Ukrainian cooperation in the investigations of Paul Manafort. As Mueller was ramping up his investigation, Disgustus was about pressuring another foreign government into assisting him—this time to quash an inquiry into his crimes and help keep him out of prison. I

It was against this backdrop that the current government came to power. Campaigning on a platform to end corruption in the country, Zelinskyy reportedly met with advisers as well as American diplomats to find a way to navigate clear attempts by this administration to corrupt Ukrainian officials. And therein is the bitter irony: declaring that he is only interested in investigating corruption, Disgustus is about corrupting the very government whose corruption he protests. Nowhere is this more evident than a brazen attempt to compromise a newly elected head of state who came to power promising to end corruption.

Placing Ukraine in a completely untenable position, for the new government will be quickly delegitimized if word of this became public. Zelinskyy knows that, being compromised, his government will lose domestic support by being perceived as corrupt as what had preceded it. Zelinskyy also knows that, if revealed, he risks the loss of support within the United States. On the other hand, to fail to comply would surely mean—in the absence of the Whistleblower's revelations—the loss of desperately needed military aid.

All of this is cast against the backdrop of serial abandonment by the United States of long standing international commitments: The Iran nuclear deal, the Paris accord on the environment, NAFTA, trade deals with China and Europe, medium range missile bans with the Russians, our Kurdish Allies in Syria, our assurances to the Palestinians, Japan and South Korea ad nauseum. None of this is lost upon the Ukrainians, nor the diplomats advising them. Indeed Ambassador William Taylor, brought out of retirement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeou and himself a tRUMP appointee, told the House Intelligence Committee one of his great fears was that the Ukrainians would comply and Disgustus would refuse to send the military assistance anyway.

As if to underscore his point, Disgustus at a U.N. Meeting in early September instructing Zelenskyy to meet with Putin and work something out, as if to say “You are on you're own”. The commitments made to our allies—for Ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for assurances by the United States and its allies—hang by a thread. Zelenskyy was left dangling over the open fire by the thinnest of threads—the capricious and arbitrary nature of a very unstable and malignant narcissist—much as Jonathan Edward's sinner is dangled over the open pit of hell by a similarly capricious, arbitrary, vengeful and unstable god. And this is precisely how our “Chosen One” (1) perceives himself: a modern Caligula laughing in delight as he dangles a head of state over the grates of hell.

There is one last consideration in this unwinding scandal and that is what it is doing to our alliances. Disgustus is here declaring our Ukrainian ally to be nothing but a hollow, corruption riddled cesspool notwithstanding that his own State Department had declared earlier in the year that corruption within the country, such as it is, posed no threat to the assistance we had committed. But equally important are the lies spouted by this president* and his minions that the European community is not supporting Kiev and that the U.S. alone is bearing the burden. This posturing further corrodes our alliances making it clear that the only beneficiary of this behavior is Vladimir Putin. Indeed, as the House Speaker reminds us: with tRUMP, all roads lead to Putin.

Soliciting foreign assistance has been the Modus Operandi of our Caesar Disgustus, treading the now well-worn paths of Richard Shithouse Nixon's intrigue with the South Vietnamese concerning the Paris Peace Conference and Ronald Reagan's conspiring with Iran to hold hostages until after the 1980 elections. As White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney tells us, it's how ReSCUMlickans do things.

He is guilty. He has admitted to the fact in the White House summary of a conversation with Zelenskyy over the phone on July 25 of this year. The White House Chief of Staff has admitted it, Rudy Giuliani has admitted it, and over a dozen witnesses have attested to it. Moreover, the White House has blocked several key witnesses from testifying, including the Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser John Bolton, Giuliani himself, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the president* of Vice, Mike Pence. Why, in defiance of Congressional subpoena, are they refusing to testify? And why were the transcripts of the conversation squirreled away into the most restricted classified White House Server, if not out of consciousness of guilt?

"An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh"

Impeach and Imprison

____

1. Reference here is to Disgustus on the White House lawn, looking up at the sky and declaring himself the "chosen one" in response to a question from press reporters.

November 27, 2019: Cut and Run, Insult to Injury, All About Oil.

The actions taken a few weeks ago in Syria betraying our faithful allies is, in a word, disgusting. Within moments of hanging up the phone and ending a conversation with Turkey's president and 'strongman' Erdogan, Disgustus promptly issued an order withdrawing remaining U.S. forces from the northern Kurdish-held regions of the country prompting an invasion by Turkey into the region and the resulting ethnic cleansing. Disgustus did this without consulting the Secretary of State, the State Department, the U.S. military or any of the intelligence agencies. After all, what possible use would expertise serve the 'stable genius'.

The results were all too predictable. The roads filled with refugees fleeing terror, the bombing and shelling by Turkish forces as the U.S. looked on.  And, to add insult to injury, Disgustus--ever the treacherous jackass-- taking to the podium and, parroting talking points gleaned from hate radio, proclaiming that the Kurds are faithless allies, not joining us on the beaches of Normandy.   

The tragedy here is that this capricious and arbitrary decision betrayed a faithful ally, a people who have sacrificed over ten thousand in the struggle against ISIS while we Americans have lost a mere six servicemen as we prefer to conduct hostilities from long range. For this “Generation of Swine” will not bear any burden, nor suffer any hardship in the cause of liberty. This Generation of Swine prefers to fight the wars but keep it's hands clean; prefers the fruits of empire without sacrifice.

But to precipitously cut and run, marks of true cowardice, reveals the complete worthlessness of American commitments under our present Caesar Disgustus underscoring, as in Ukraine, that the word of America means nothing. The Kurd's now find themselves, as they have long found themselves, as the largest ethnic group on the planet without a country. A people alone.

Disgustus, compounding his crimes, announced in the aftermath that U.S. forces have withdrawn to the oil fields, giving lie to the American proclivity of dressing every conflict as a struggle for freedom. Here Disgustus, for once, is being honest. It has always been about the oil.

None of this is lost upon the young in the streets of Damascus, Cairo or anywhere else in the world.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

October 26, 2019: The Impeachment Train, 21st century shakedown, Peace With Putin

The impeachment train has left the station.  The case for impeachment and removal from office have been the focus of these columns for nearly a quarter of a decade and, after nearly a quarter of a decade, the locomotive has finally departed for certain destination.  Our Caesar Disgustus, it has been long observed, must go. 

What finally spurred the Democratic leadership to action was the attempt by our intrepid Caesar to violate all norms of international conduct by conducting what can only be described as the 21^st century shakedown. 

What brought the whole sordid affair to light was the leak by an anonymous whistleblower revealing that Disgustus had withheld 381 million in aid to Ukraine unless and until the government of that country signed on to and publicly announced that it would begin investigations into former Vice President Biden and his son Hunter, as well as the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.  In other words, military support to a nation currently under attack by Russian backed forces were made conditional on Ukrainian endorsement of tin-hat wrong-wing conspiracy theories currently circulating, like a bad case of indigestion, in the bowels of hate radio and crypto-fascist publications. 

Of course, at first the White House denied everything contending, with a straight face, that no such conversations took place.  The president* contending that his phone conversation with Ukrainian President Zelensky was ‘perfect’; “A perfect 10”, according to Disgustus, as if reporting the results of a tits and ass contest.  But then, our ‘stable genius’, uses only the best words, the choicest adjectives to explain himself—or, more correctly, obfuscate, confuse and mislead—that is, lie.

To underscore his version of the ‘truth’, he released a summary of the phone conversation in question in which, in black and white, the President of Ukraine is reminding Disgustus that his government is in desperate need of weapons—called Javelins—with which to ward off Russian built tanks.  “But I need a favor from you, though” replies Disgustus laying bare the “quid pro quo”. 

It is, of course, illegal for the president* to withhold appropriated funds.  A law was passed in 1974—in the wake of Watergate and Richard Nixon’s sequestering of Congressional appropriations—that explicitly forbids any president so to do. 

So here we have Disgustus violating federal law while extorting a foreign government in an effort to fabricate a false narrative not only on his political opponents but upon the origins of the investigations that have called into question the legitimacy of this regime. 

Now I’ll be the first to admit that it is a mistake to name one’s son Hunter.  It is further a colossal lapse in judgement for this son to take a position with a Ukrainian gas company for which he has been paid handsomely.  But the screed coming from the White House and its supporters that somehow Biden is corrupt and has moved to stymie crackdowns on Ukrainian corruption simply don’t pass the smell test. 

Yes, Hunter Biden had no business in Ukraine.  But the efforts by Biden and the Obama administration to remove prosecutors in Ukraine were designed to get people into these positions in order to crack down on corruption in the country and were supported by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, among others. 

But, following the Karl Rove playbook, up becomes down, and white becomes black as the need to smear, in the face of one’s own transgressions, becomes imperative.

It is rich, for instance, for Disgustus and his minions to howl about Hunter Biden getting favorable treatment because his father was Vice President of the United States given the chicanery involving Jarvanka and their dealings in China, Saudi Arabia, Israel and elsewhere.  But this is what Disgustus does. 

But, it transpires, this is not a singular incident.  Rachel Maddow reported last week that a year ago the administration was withholding aid to Ukraine unless the government there cooperated and that the President Zelensky held several meetings with his staff about how to deal with the pressure coming from Washington before taking office.  Further, Disgustus, in order to drive home the point, kept Vice President* Pence from attending the inauguration of Zelensky, simply sending the Ambassador and lower level diplomats to the event as a way of underscoring the tenuous nature of administration support in the absence of real zeal in the perpetration of fraud. 

Disgustus did release the aid three weeks before it was due to expire, but only because the whistleblower’s memo had surfaced and the resulting howl it created in Washington sent the rats scurrying as they moved swiftly to backtrack. 

So while Disgustus went in early September to make his annual address to the United Nations, Washington released the military aid to Ukraine but, as Zelensky finally got his meeting in the White House, he was not so subtly instructed by Disgustus—as if once again to remind the Ukrainians, and all of our allies of the capricious and tenuous nature of our commitments—to make his peace with Putin. 

An Br’er Putin, he jus’ laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

_______________

Note: The * is used  here, once again, to underscore the illegitimacy of Disgustus and his regime.

September 5, 2019: Slow Walk, Blackmailing Kiev, Uncertain Partner

A Rachel Maddow report on MSNBC highlighted four areas in which our Caesar Disgustus is dismantling the response by the United States to the Russian seizure of the Crimea.

First, with sanctions, Disgustus has worked to reduce, or eliminate altogether the sanctions imposed on Russian nationals.  Disgustus has tried to unilaterally some sanctions and 'slow walk' the imposition of others.  Discussions about lifting sanctions occurred during the campaign as well as the transition and were foremost on the foreign policy agenda until the Michael Flynn scandal tanked the effort.

Secondly, at the G-7 meeting, Disgustus campaigned to re-admit Russia to the group after the expulsion of the country as a penalty for its actions.

Third, Disgustus has withheld military aid, begun under Obama, to Ukraine undermining the U.S. commitment to the country as it struggles with its threatening neighbor.  Indeed, by some reports, Disgustus is blackmailing the government at Kiev withholding assistance unless the Ukrainian government helps in the tRUMP investigation of Joe Biden's business dealings in the country.  Politico reported that a billion dollars in military aid is being held due to further review.  If the money isn't spent by month's end the money will expire, and the money cannot be spent while under review.
Finally, the European Reassurance or Deterrence Initiative, funds designed to aid our European allies deter Russian actions, has been raided in order to build his 'wall'.  Money for air base upgrades, munitions storage areas, port operations facilities and other assets were instituted by the Obama administration as a means of assuring our European allies that we indeed have their back.

Once again, behaviorally, the tRUMP administration is signaling our European Allies that we are an uncertain partner and to our Russian adversaries that this administration is a Russian asset.

The question is why?  As reported by Lawrence O'Donnell, a source familiar with tRUMP's tax returns indicate that his loans through Deutche Bank were co-signed by Russian oligarchs close to Putin.  O'Donnell has since recanted the story, saying that citing only one source violates the journalistic standards of MSNBC, but it is clear from other reporting, David Kay Johnston among them,  that tRUMP has deep Russian financial ties going back decades.

Caesar Disgustus is indeed a Russian Asset.   Every action of this White House regarding Russia demonstrates it, as does his groveling at the feet of the Russian potentate whenever they are in the same room.  A Russian asset and a useful idiot.

"An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh"

Impeach and Imprison.

September 4, 2019: Pissing in Fireplaces, G7 Minus One, Simple Penis Envy

Our Caesar Disgustus did not disappoint, living down to his usual standards of behavior, as he went to Europe and, doing Putin's bidding, once again pissed in their fireplaces. As noted earlier, he had not left the country before insulting our Danish ally. Denmark, it will be noted, has suffered more casualties per capita than any country fighting in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, here is Disgustus creating yet another crisis by 'offering' to buy Greenland and then, when the overture is dismissed out of hand, insulting our ally by canceling a state visit to the country as well as a state dinner in honor of the Danish ambassador.  Not finished with the preparations for the summit, Disgustus then—on his way to Paris—informs the French that he will impose higher tariffs on French wine in retaliation for some affront real or imagined; and, one imagines more imagined than real. Meanwhile, back in Moscow, as the United States can no longer be depended upon to provide a state dinner,  Putin laughs and laughs.

One would have thought such beginnings would have been more than enough to set the tone but NO! Disgustus, upon setting down in Paris, informed the press that it would be better to have the Rooskies re-admitted into the G-7 group. One will recall that they were expelled after the downing of a commercial airliner and the invasion of the Ukraine. The actions taken by the European community were dismissed by Disgustus as a failure of Obama to stop the seizure of Crimea, telling the press and the diplomats surrounding him that Putin had 'outsmarted' Obama, and that the actions taken by the entire European community were somehow an expression of Obama's pique. 

You see, blacks by the reckoning of our intrepid Caesar--you know, the one who possesses superior genes--are all of limited intelligence.  Obama, being one of them, simply cannot perform at the intellectual level of, say, a wily fox like Putin, not to mention the stable genius of our current president*.  

The truth is that Disgustus suffers from simple penis envy. One is reminded of the scene in “Blazing Saddles” where Madeline Kahn, playing a character inspired by Marlene Dietrich, takes sheriff Bart upstairs and with the lights off murmurs “is what they say about you people true? Oh it's twue! It's twue”. “Easy, Shotsie,” replies the sheriff, “that's my arm you're sucking on”. Disgustus, clearly, suffers from similar stereotypical understandings, and this may go far in explaining his deep hatred for persons of color—along with his penchant for spray-painting his face, like some grotesque drag queen, in an effort to assume the mask of senuality. Disgustus, deep in his subconscious, deeply suspects that every European diplomat and leader, as every woman he's known,  would much prefer Obama; Disgustus simply cannot measure up. Simple penis envy drives the madman insane as he sets about enraged, vandalizing everything Obama accomplished.

Nowhere was this more evident than on climate change. As the G-7 minus one met to discuss the issue the chair occupied by the United States was, appropriately, empty. This, one imagines, mirrors the vacancy between the ears of our erstwhile Caesar who, while claiming to be an authority on the environment, nevertheless brought literally nothing to the table.  

In fact, as he left the conference, Disgustus held a news conference in which he pledged that the wealth that lies beneath the earth in the form of fossil fuels will not go untapped, boldly declaring that we will not make the sacrifice.

As noted before in these columns, the energy industry has mineral rights to five times the carbon which, if burned, will extinguish life on this planet as we know it. Trump, mad with penis envy, has just trumpeted our death warrant.

“An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

August 21, 2019: Greenland, A Laughingstock, Vandalism By Any Means

Now come reports that our intrepid Caesar wants to buy Greenland from Denmark, perhaps trade Puerto Rico for it.  He has made this country into a laughingstock. 

Poor Disgustus, lost in the imperial past, hopelessly our of place and time. 

The Danes demurred saying that they thought the overture a joke.  Greenland has won home rule decades ago and is now related to Denmark in much the same way as Canada or Australia are to Great Britain, a commonwealth of sorts, but not a territory in the way that Disgustus views Guam, Puerto Rico or American Samoa. 

Disgustus, outraged, cancelled a White House dinner in honor of the Danish ambassador to the United States, further straining our relations with a reliable ally.  All this leading up to a major European meeting of heads of state. 

Vandalism by any means.

An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh

Impeach and Imprison.

August 17, 2019: Generation of Swine, Boomer Report Card, The Worst Generation

In handing out an overall grade of B, David Brooks had, by way of summary, this to say about the Generation of Swine.

“As a generation, boomers have excelled at the material things that make life pleasant, convenient, long and fun.  They have struggled in the realms that other civilizations considered more profound: governance, philosophy, art and public morality”.  (1)

This is simply another way of saying that the Generation of Swine have excelled at nothing other than self-indulgence, and they have done it at the expense of everyone and everything else. 

There are many things that one could have included in this essay, but the pig’s breakfast made of governance by this Generation of Swine is far too serious and threatens to be much more permanent that to blithely kiss them off with an underwhelming blessing and a comfortable B. 

As noted in a previous post (2), historian and philosopher Arnold Toynbee pointed out that when a civilization is overwhelmed by the challenges before it, the likelihood of its demise is certain.  And, as the looming environmental catastrophe approaches, the Generation of Swine have responded with gridlock, denial and not-so-beguine neglect. 

As a final consideration Brooks asks the reader to identify who among the listed is the quintessential boomer.  Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Steven Spielberg, Donald Trump.  The answer is at once obvious and revealing: our very own Caesar Disgustus.  In tRUMP one finds all the characteristics of Boomerism on full display: self-indulgent, lacking interpersonal skills, self-invention, promising to change everything and changing nothing.  One could also add: psychotic, incompetent, corrupt, greedy and a willingness to vandalize our institutions, to tear down without any idea of what is lost in the bargain or how to rebuild.  Narcissism in the extreme.  A generation ripe for manipulation.  The worst generation in American history.

Overall Grade: F

“An Br’er Putin, he jus’ laugh an laugh”

 ___________

1.     Brooks, David. Op Cit.

2.     See July 28, 2019: Have You Read Toynbee?

August 16, 2019: Generation Of Swine, Boomer Report Card, Manners and Morals.

David Brooks celebrates the manners of The Swine, homing in on, in his words the replacement of “(E)verything that was refined, stuffy, formal and stiff” with the casual.  “The triumph of the casual”, he insists with a straight face, “is good” (1) 

Brooks is here decrying the ‘formalism’ of all previous age.  The idea that one would assume a ‘public’ face is derided in this celebration of the casual.  It used to be that to go into public spaces one would don one’s “Sunday go-to-meeting” attire and assume a public posture.  Now we go to church, indeed, funerals wearing T-shirts emblazoned with messages—some obscene.  This, in the view of the libertine is a step forward.  Brooks, blinded by the lights of his generation, cannot see the direct correlation between the wholesale celebration of the casual and the declining comity of our social interactions.  The common denominator is unbridled individualism, celebrating, enshrining and glorifying it at the expense of the greater society.

Watch any film of, for instance, a baseball game or downtown shopping in the 50’s or even the 60’s and you will see men in suit and tie, women in their Sunday finest.  Now one goes to these games to be greeted by beer belching bores dressed in T-shirts, shouting drunken obscenities.  Indeed, at Fenway the crowd once amused itself floating a blown-up sex doll through the crowd.  The replacement of formality with Disco Demolition writ large is hardly something to celebrate.   

Then there are the morals.  Here Brooks, while awarding the Swine his ‘gentleman’s C’,  gets more honest writing:

“In the realm of morals, things are more complicated.  If the ethos of the silent generation was ‘we are all in this together’ and the code was self-effacement (‘I’m nobody better than anybody else, but nobody’s better than me’), then the ethos of the boomer is ‘Do you see how special I am?” 

“Personal freedom has been the master trend for this generation.  That was a legitimate reaction against conformity.  On the other hand, there is more isolation, bitterness and division.  The ethos of the meritocracy filled the values void left by the retreat of any shared moral vocabulary”. (2)

True enough. But the Greeks were wont to point out that the opposite of citizenship is the idiot, those that put personal interest and gratification ahead of the public good.  The pipe dreams of Ayn Rand and the wet dreams of Paul Ryan leave to many behind and are the groundwork for the revolt of the masses.  It is this celebration of the lizard that is the rot upon the republic.

An Br’er Putin, he jus laugh and laugh

Grade: F.

Impeach and Imprison.

___________

1.     Brooks, David.  Ibid.

2.     Ibid

August 15, 2019: Generation of Swine, Boomer Report Card, Lifestyle.

For some reason David Brooks, evaluating his generation in The New York Times, separates the lifestyle of the Swine from manners and morals.  In his report card on a generation Brooks opines:

“This isn’t even close.  Restaurants are much better now.  Products and buildings are designed in more interesting ways, Coffee, ice cream and all else is far more varied and delicious.” (1) And what grade  gives he his generation? Why an A, of course. 

Rubbish.  Being born in the early sixties and not coming of age until well into the decade, Brooks has no benchmarks from which he can orient himself.   

The food, for instance, is universally appalling.  Ask any visitor to this country.  Everything is full of MSG, polyunsaturated fat, and heart-attack inducing red meat.  The service, in case he hasn’t noticed is awful.  While coffee and ice cream may have improved, the penchant of the Swine for gluttony and self-indulgence is legendary leading to horrific increase in diabetes, heart disease and related illness.

 

And, let’s not overlook the recent trend of lounging on the couch and ordering you’re “Big Mac” from McDonald’s to have it delivered, as well as your other groceries over the internet from your local vendor. 

Grade: F.

August 14, 2019: Generation of Swine, Boomer Report Card, Technology and Innovation

“In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you”-----Zager and Evan “In The Year 2525

Unless you are infatuated with the internet, it is difficult to award, as does Brooks, a grade of A- to this generation in the fields of technology and innovation.  With the exception of Robert Jarvik’s implantable heart, the contributions of the Swine have been problematic. 

With all due respect to the Luddites, the contributions of the Swine in the areas of technology and innovation have been a mixed bag.  As previously noted in these columns nearly every technological innovation has produced unintended negative consequences.  The auto brought ever expansive movement, but it also brought urban sprawl, the death of the inner cities, pollution, the increase in illegitimate birth rates (e.g. drive-in theatres) and over 30,000 deaths each year attributable to accident.  So, it is with the landmark inventions of this generation. 

Brooks would have us believe that the dawn of the internet is an unmitigated blessing, as is breaking the genetic code.  He didn’t mention artificial intelligence. 

But are they?  The internet has given voice to millions who would otherwise not find a platform.  This blog is one of them.  But it has also given the platform to hate groups, crypto-fascists, racists and others who would otherwise have remained under a rock well shy of the public forum.  Further, the internet has not only enabled corporate America to spy on all of us, follow our every move, open our very bank accounts to piracy, and revealed to anyone willing to pay a few dollars whatever ‘secrets’ one would otherwise harbor, but—in the spirit of the wild west—refuses to reign in on its abuses. 

Further, the poisoning of the public well by anti-social media is joined by the use of the platform by Amazon and others to drive retailers out of business and further concentrate wealth. 

Then, of course, there is the hacking into emails and the meddling in elections—not to mention the hacking into the power and transportation grids by hostile foreign interests. 

The Ayn Rand inspired idiotlogical imperative preventing swift public response to these threats to freedom betrays the lie that the Boomers excel at technology and innovation.  That they have innovated and introduced new technologies is without question; that they know not how to apply it is another matter altogether. 

Indeed, as observers warn that for the first-time technologies—driven by developments in artificial intelligence—threaten to destroy more jobs than they create, and the social costs of technological innovation will only mount.  Indeed, as the social contract is shredded by innovation our life span is beginning to decline despite our creations.  

The facts are that life was much more peaceful and secure before the arrival of these technologies.  Our news was more trustworthy, our politics less fractious, our discourse more civilized, our bank account and personal lives more secure.  We have created the means of our own destruction. They are not to be celebrated.  They are a scourge upon society and a blight upon the landscape. Life was better without them.

Grade F. 

“An Br’er Putin, he jus laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

________________

*See, Brooks, David.  Baby Boomer Report Card. Ibid.

August 13, 2019: Generation of Swine, Report Card, High Culture.

It is difficult to embrace the union of the Generation of Swine with high culture; it is clearly a contradiction; it is nearly an oxymoron.  But our intrepid essayist, nevertheless, gives it the old Boomer try.  Opining in The New York Times,(1) Brooks’, nevertheless, finds himself here constrained, writing:

“The boomers entered college just as universities were expanding and becoming more specialized and professionalized.  This produced the most educated generation up to that time, but the specialization and ghettoization of intellectual and artistic life took its toll on the nation’s culture.

“It’s not that people aren’t producing good work, but its influence tends to be confined to the academy or specialized subcultures.  Art, classical music and novels have lost cultural influence.  Boomer writers do not play the same roles as Saul Bellow, Phillip Roth, Maya Angelou, Thomas Pynchon, Phillip Larkin, John Updike and Toni Morrison.  Many of the most influential living philosophers are pre-boomer like Amartya Sen, Charles Taylor and Alasdaire MacIntyre. (1)

Brooks is quite right about the specialization of knowledge and the generalization of ignorance, but he forgets that is was the Swine in the first place who, upon being granted entrance to the hallowed halls of academe, demanded that the curricula be transformed from classical into mere vocational education.  Where once was taught history and political economy, we now learn hotel and motel management.  No Latin to be learned here, better yet underwater basket weaving.

Brooks is hard pressed to give the Swine a “Gentleman’s C”—the lowest grade currently granted at our best universities, granting the “Boomers” a mere C-

What he overlooks was the collateral damage done by these swine.  Not only did they proceed to privatize much of our nations education and strip the public schools of much needed funding but they closed the doors behind them when, after having taken advantage of nearly free university education, they cut federal aid forcing their children and grandchildren to gamble that the mountain of debt accrued will somehow pay off in an increasingly hostile economy; making that degree in hotel and motel management as hollow and worthless as their subsequent understanding of how the world is organized.  No, they have traded the family cow for a handful of beans and we are poorer for the bargain, for we now have an orang giant atop the beanstalk threatening to crash down upon the landscape.

An Br’er Putin, he jus’ laugh and laugh.

Grade F.

Impeach and Imprison.

 ___________

1.     Ibid.  See previous posts.  

August 12, Generation of Swine, Boomer Report Card, Popular Culture.

Moving on to popular culture, Brooks once again grants The Generation of Swine a grade of A, citing the likes of Bob Dylan, Steven Spielburg, Meryl Streep, Steven King, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Oprah, Ron Howard, Madonna, and Stevie Wonder. 

First, Bob Dylan was born in 1941 making him ineligible by at least a half a decade from inclusion among the Swine.  Ditto Jimi Hendrix who was born a year later.  Ditto the Beatles and Stones and the British Invasion, most of whom were born well before 1946.  But set against the likes of the great vaudeville actors who populated our television screens during television’s “golden age” and who performed live before a national audience, the offerings of the Boomers pale by comparison.  Yes, there were meaningful popular songs written and performed by the likes of Dylan and Paul Simon, but songs like the Sound of Silence, or Dangling Conversation were soon enough replaced on the airways with the likes of  “The Ohio Express’” Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I got love in my Tummy”, or the “Archies” outselling the Beatles and Stones in 1969 with “Sugar, Sugar.” Mindless tripe that reflected a generation.

But then Brooks, born in 1961, was a late Boomer arriving late in the generation.  He missed the mindlessness of Howdy Doody, the crooning of Pat Boone, the milquetoast rhythm and blues of Elvis.  Oh yes, Elvis—old swivel hips whose best work was done before the camera in thoroughly forgettable film.    It took a foreign cultural invasion to shake us loose from this pap, the Boomers had little to do with it and, by the time most of them were reaching the age of majority they were hopelessly lost in the deserts of disco.  From Elvis to Disco, the bookends of a generation.

An Br’er Putin, he jus’ laugh and laugh.

Grade F.

August 11, 2019: Generation of Swine, Boomer Report Card, Social Movements.

In his essay appearing in The New York Times (1), David Brooks next considers the record of the Baby Boomers as it pertains to social movements, writing that although “Boomers are bad at politics because they distrust institutions”, they nevertheless have been “good at leading decentralized social movements: environmental, feminist, civil rights, LGBTQ rights.”

I’ll give the Boomers credit for the last of these movements, but Brooks otherwise stood history on its head.  Let’s begin with the environmental movement.  This began with the publishing of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” a full half a decade before the Generation of Swine began to exert any political influence and a full decade before the Boomers could vote in any large numbers. In any case, it was Nixon and his generation that gave us the Environmental Protection agency as the Swine contented itself with celebrating a newly established “Earth Day” and then proceeded to consume mass quantities.  And let’s not even mention the current resistance by the Swine to addressing in any meaningful way the environmental catastrophe looming on the near horizon.

 This is also true of the feminist movement and especially true of the Civil Rights movement, both of which were led by men and women of an older generation.  And both of which began to wane at precisely the time the Swine had come to exert its stranglehold upon the body politic.  It is no mere coincidence that the Equal Rights Amendment died an ignominious death precisely when the majority of Boomers could exercise the franchise.  And, it is worth noting, they have done nothing to resurrect the cause.  Likewise, the Civil Rights movement. 

Brooks, for some unfathomable reason, award the Swine a grade of A.  This is laughable.  The Swine fail miserably.  Grade: F.

This is what distrust of institutions produces: Occupy Wall Street, the 99 Per Cent, the Women’s March.  Brooks cites the Tea Party Movement, Gun Rights and the pro-life movement as notable examples of effective decentralized political action.  He is wrong.  All of them are the products of well-heeled political organization funded by major contributors to achieve narrow and self-serving interests, and all of them have severely damaged the social fabric of this country.  Brooks is peering through a narrow ideological lens, clouding his judgment, not understanding that the populism on the political wrong is a faux populism designed to erode governance; a cancer upon the political body. 

Indeed, the Swine, in their headlong effort to repeal the New Deal--if not the entire twentieth century--have done more damage to the institutions of this country than any other.

"An Br'er Putin, he jus laugh and laugh"

Impeach and Imprison

Again, Grade F.

_______________

1.     Ibid.  See previous post

August 10, 2019: Generation of Swine, Boomer Report Card, Politics.

“You wanna change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You ask me 'bout the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead.” ---The Beatles “Revolution”

David Brooks, writing yesterday in The New York Times (1), posed the question: “What grade has a generation earned?”  It is an interesting, although deeply flawed, analysis.  Using several criteria, Brooks concludes that the generation following the “greatest” of them all deserves an overall B.  Let’s examine the record once again.

First, on the question of politics, Brooks generously gives the Generation of Swine a C-, reasoning as follows:

“The baby boomer political era began in 1992, with the election of Bill Clinton” Brooks blithely assures us. “In the five years before that, these leaders dominated world politics: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, John Paul II, Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterrand”

“Baby Boomers have been unable to match that level of talent.” (2) Brooks concludes with breathtaking understatement. 

But let’s stop right here.  First, the Boomers didn’t emerge in 1992, but rather in 1968 in the streets of Chicago as they drove Lyndon Johnson from the White House and helped usher in Richard Shithouse Nixon.  Coming into majority and voting in large numbers for the first time, they voted overwhelmingly for Nixon in 1972, despite the efforts of Hunter S. Thompson and “Rolling Stone” magazine to affect a generational ‘revolution’.  In 1980 they disproportionately embraced Reagan and his reactionary politics, setting the tone for the next three decades.  Brooks has it quite wrong, exhibiting a peculiarly narrow reading of the historical record.

Secondly, the Boomers can hardly lay claim to the likes of Mandela, Kohl or Mitterand; and Reagan was, from the standpoint of economics and the damage he did to the underlying safety net and the social fabric of the country, an unmitigated disaster.  Let’s not even mention the dealing with Iran over the hostages, nor the Iran-Contra mess either of which should have had him impeached and removed from office.  No, the Boomers have hardly been the judge of good character, well predating Clinton, the Bushes and tRUMP.  In fact, with the single exception of Obama, every one of them should have been impeached and several imprisoned.

Brooks notes that under the terror of the “Boomers” nurtured as they were on the frauds of Ayn Rand and Henry David Thoreau, “American political institutions have become dysfunctional, civic debate has crumbled, debt has soared, and few major pieces of legislation have passed”(3).  After this damning conclusion, Brooks betrays his Ivy League credentials by nevertheless generously awarding the Swine a ‘gentleman’s’ C-.

“You wanna change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You ask me 'bout the institution
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead.” ---The Beatles “Revolution”

The facts are that where once stood Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, the Boomers, after having helped impose Nixon, voted to elevate the likes of Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton and now our Caesar Disgustus into the national pantheon, forever soiling the American political tradition.  Where once stood Sam Rayburn and John McCormick,  the Swine inserted Newt Gingrich, John Boner, and Paul Ryan.  Where once sat Louis Brandies, Arthur Goldberg, Thurgood Marshall and William Douglas, the Swine have gagged up the likes of Clarence Thomas, William Rhenquist, and Brett Kavanaugh.  And, as Brooks rightly points out, the generation—having no idea how we got here—have for nearly half a century waged war upon the institutions of this country.  Our Caesar Disgustus, it has been repeatedly observed in these columns, is not an aberration but instead a consummation of a half century of mischief. A vandalism directed at the institutions of this country by the Generation of Swine, whose performance ranks narrowly above the generation that led the nation to civil war and properly deserves a D-.

“An Br’er Putin, he jus’ laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison

________________

1.     Brooks, David “Baby Boomer Report Card” The New York Times, Friday, August 9, 2019. Page A23.

2.     Ibid