A Recurring Phenomenon

by on Jan.09, 2020, under Culture

The downside of having 10,000 books that you want to read before you die is that, inevitably, some pretty good titles wind up languishing on your shelves for years. That’s why I only recently got around to reading a bestseller from years ago: The Devil in the White House… Sorry, I meant The Devil in the White City. Ha — I’m sure there’s nothing Freudian about that, nope.

Anyway, The Devil in the White City is a nonfiction book about two overlapping narratives.

First, we have the story of Daniel Burnham, the chief planner of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, which was an urban marvel of such grandiosity that its influence is still felt today in the fields of architecture, pop culture, and urban planning. 

Second, we have the tale of H. H. Holmes, notorious for being America’s first serial killer (or at least the first to achieve nationwide infamy).

Both Burnham and Holmes reached the pinnacles of their careers in Chicago at the same time, which is what gives The Devil in the White City its thematic structure. The fact that one designed buildings and the other strangled women is a dissonance that it’s best not to dwell on. 

In any case, one fact about the dual subjects of the book stood out to me.

You see, Burnham’s early life was one of mediocrity, if not outright failure. He sucked at school, bounced around from job to job, and only became successful in architecture after wiping out in other fields.

But he was a white guy who was good looking and charming, and society gave him numerous chances to fulfill his potential.

Holmes was a bald-faced liar who cheated people out of their money and displayed overt sociopathic tendencies.

But he was a white guy who was good looking and charming, and society gave him numerous chances to fulfill his potential.

White City, indeed.

Both architect and murderer benefitted from white privilege, which at that time was so ingrained that it didn’t even have its own name (it was just called “America”). And even though white privilege has been a powerful force in our society for centuries, many people still refuse to believe that it even exists.

Many of these people also refuse to believe that glaciers are melting and that guns are a problem, but I digress.

The point is that Burnham, for all his brilliance, simply never would have had a chance to thrive if he had been black. And he certainly wouldn’t have had the luxury of messing up repeatedly with little consequence. The guy knew that he would be ok, regardless of what he did, and eventually, he created something great.

Holmes was able to con and swindle people all over Chicago, kidnap women and children, and quite literally get away with murder because no one ever considered that this respectable white dude in a suit was anything other than a dignified member of the elite. The guy knew that he would be ok, regardless of what he did, and eventually, he created hell on earth.

Of course, Burnham and Holmes lived in a bygone era, and we have (hopefully) progressed just a little. But we have to wonder how many Latinos and African Americans of towering potential never get even half a chance to make an impact. 

Furthermore, we have to ponder if there are any well-connected white men who drip with incompetence but nevertheless achieve positions of great influence, ultimately doing nothing more than enriching themselves and unleashing misery upon the planet.

No — nobody like that springs to mind…

, Leave a Comment more...

The Best Way to Start a New Year

by on Jan.03, 2020, under Books

Yes, 2020 is an election year. Also, an impeachment year.  And possibly the end of civilization as we know it if we don’t finally get serious about climate change and the surging menace of neo-fascist racism.

But you know the really big development of the year thus far? That’s right — I have a new book out.

My latest novel is a sequel to my first book, and you can grab a copy here.

What’s it about? 

Well, The Bridge to Pandemonium furthers the adventures of Abraxas Hernandez, reluctant detective, and it will inevitably be the greatest Latino-themed murder-mystery black comedy that you will read this year. Here’s summary:

It was supposed to be an easy assignment. But when Abraxas Hernandez gets hired to follow a cheating spouse, somehow the whole situation devolves into a grisly murder. Hey, it happens. So Abraxas and his partner (and ex-girlfriend) Vic start investigating, only to encounter a freaky hodgepodge of suspects — including a band of religious zealots, a Marxist stripper, and a pair of secret government operatives who communicate mostly via veiled threats. Oh, and there’s also that frazzled tech millionaire who just can’t stop kidnapping people. In their quest to solve the murder, Abraxas and Vic shatter alibis, dodge bullets, and slam the occasional tequila shot. But when they discover the secret behind the gruesome crime, they learn the full scope of the terrifying scheme that has ensnared them. Plus, some other people start getting killed, and that is not cool at all.

Pick up a copy today. And thanks.

, 1 Comment more...

A Bug That’s Going Around

by on Dec.19, 2019, under Culture

As we careen full throttle into the holiday season, it’s important to keep your stress level low, avoid getting sick, and maintain a positive attitude.

Of course, if you’re Latina, you can forget about all that, because it’s impossible for you to do any of those things.

You see, a recent study has revealed that “Latinas’ economic worries and anxiety about health costs are more intense than for other women overall.” In fact, Latinas are far more likely than other American women — especially white women — to worry about affording rent or a mortgage, getting decent health insurance for their families, snagging a job with good benefits, or keeping their family safe from mass shootings. And Hispanic women rank second only to black women when it comes to fear of white nationalism.

Wow, that’s a lengthy list of anxieties. And let’s not forget that almost half of Latinas report that they have experienced discrimination this past year, which is an enormous increase from the Obama era.

Of course, that implies that there is some kind of link between the well-being of Hispanics and the person in the White House. And that’s just crazy, really nuts and…

What’s that?

Oh, it seems that “half of Latino citizens and legal residents, as well as three-quarters of undocumented immigrants, feel unsafe because of comments made by the Trump administration.”

Hmm, it’s almost like having a raging xenophobic president target you specifically for all of the nation’s ills — and putting an overt white supremacist in charge of immigration policy — has a negative effect on people.

Well, researchers point out that “statements coming from the administration and the president really do have significant effects on Latino populations.” Specifically, the rhetoric and policies of this gang of bumbling sociopaths have not only “induced fear in undocumented immigrants, but they have also caused a substantial proportion of Latino citizens to have concerns about their safety.”

This refers to all Latinos — whether they are newly arrived, born and raised here, undocumented, or third-generation citizens — all of us.

For one concrete example of this plague, look to the fact that one-quarter “of undocumented immigrants said they were so frightened they delayed going to the emergency room for days,” which I’m sure is just fine with the contingent of Americans who love stuffing kids into cages and advocate for shooting people at the border.

But Trump’s words and actions “can be dangerous, and they can even kill when they create barriers to healthcare access.”

And what about all those ICE raids, and all the Latinos (many of them citizens) who have been arrested on their way to work or school? Well, studies have shown that “Hispanic Americans may experience worsening mental health when immigration arrests spike.” 

This stands to reason, as it can be just a little bit stressful to be walking down the street, minding your own business, and then be abruptly handcuffed by black-jacketed thugs who cart you away toward a waiting van.

Happy holidays indeed!

Researchers point out, in a totally unnecessary aside, that this “anxiety could have a detrimental impact on mental health, particularly among racial/ethnic groups that have been disproportionately targeted for arrest and deportation.”

And again, this psychological assault is not limited to the undocumented. Because these policies and actions have an impact on all Latinos, who “might also experience more discrimination, which worsens mental health.”

OK, now that we’ve established that every Hispanic has solid reasons to get sick and feel overwhelmed, is there anything we can do about it?

Well, medical professionals are actively trying to recruit more Latinos for clinical trials, so that we can better understand how these maladies affect the Hispanic population specifically. You see, Latinos are severely underrepresented in clinical trials, so doctors don’t always know if there are subtle differences in, for example, reactions to drugs that are caused by genetic differences.

As such, doctors really want Latinos to sign up for medical studies.

So the good news is that if you’re going to be sick and stressed as hell, maybe you can get paid for it.

, , , Leave a Comment more...

Fair Is Fair

by on Dec.13, 2019, under Politics

During the first 186 years of the U.S. Constitution’s existence, only one president was impeached. And yet, within the last 45 years, three different presidents have faced impeachment.

Is this a consequence of increased polarization, where opposing political parties seek the ultimate punishment? Or is it a random historical coincidence, and a vast amount of high crimes and misdemouners just happens to be taking place during a relatively short time span? Or has Congress only now noticed the impeachment clause hiding in the Constitution, and thought, “Hey, as long as it’s there, we might as well use it”?

Well, personally, I think more presidents should have been impeached throughout history, so maybe it’s just that our predecessors overlooked some pretty egregious shit.

In any case, this impeachment process is different from the others, and not just because we are seeking to remove a brittle, easily agitated igmoramus who was never qualified to be president in the first place.

No, it’s because the issue of fairness has never before been such a concern when we’re discussing whether or not we should evict someone from the White House.

You see, Republicans are obsessed with being fair to Donald Trump. Their arguments throughout this entire process have had little to do with the facts (there is little dispute about what happened), or the appropriateness of pressuring a foreign government to interfere in our electoral process.

Instead, when they are not pushing idiotic conspiracy theories or shrieking like lunatics, they are demanding fair treatment for our beleaguered president.

For example, Republicans are very big on identifying the whistleblower. “Who is the whistleblower? Is he the whistleblower? Are you, them, or it the whistleblower? Hey, I think I’ll name someone I think is the whistleblower, even if it’s against the law and opens the door to death threats!”

Now, all but the dimmest of Republicans know that it simply doesn’t matter who the whistleblower is. All that matters is whether what he/she reported is true. And by the way, all the allegations have been verified about six thousand times now.

So even if Hilary Clinton were the whistleblower, it wouldn’t matter when assessing Trump’s innocence (although that would be a hell of a plot twist, and I’m sure someone’s working on the screenplay right now).

When they not insisting that they need to know the whistleblower’s identity (for absolutely no valid reason), Republicans are bemoaning that Robert Mueller, the FBI, and just about everyone who has investigated the president has some deeply held bias against him that corrupts the very act of looking into Trump’s criminal behavior.

Again, even if every single person involved in investigating Trump possessed a seething contempt and loathing for the man (and really, who could blame them?), it would not matter.

Bias is irrelevant as long as the facts are correct. If someone commits a crime, we do not say he can walk solely because the cops and the district attorney don’t like him.

Unless the GOP is willing to argue that this imaginary bias provoked investigators to plant evidence and make up transcripts — which I’m shocked they haven’t done yet — then this too is a pathetic smokescreen.

By the way, I’m old enough to remember Bill Clinton’s impeachment, and I have no recollection of anyone claiming that Kenneth Starr had an obligation to be fair and unbiased. Granted, much of the public debate at that time centered on whether a blowjob counted as “sex,” but the point remains.

Among the other accusations of unfairness is the GOP opinion that this process is being rushed, or that Joe Biden and his entire family committed far greater crimes.

At the risk of indulging absurdity, it should be pointed out that even if Biden shot someone on Fifth Avenue — to make up a totally deranged example — it would have no bearing on whether or not Trump should be kicked out of office. Impeachment is about the president’s behavior, not the possible shenanigans of his political rival’s kids.

Speaking of children, I can’t be the only one who thought it was odd when Republicans lost their minds over an impeachment witness making a pun about the president’s son’s name. These same defenders of the sanctity of childhood have no problem stuffing other, brown-skinned kids into cages. But hey, they’ve got their priorities.

And those priorities include shrieking that the impeachment process is a grotesque travesty of justice.

Um, no — a grotesque travesty of justice would be, for example, what happened to the Central Park Five. 

Oh, that’s right. Trump was one the loudest voices perpetuating that particular injustice.

And that’s what is so interesting about the GOP’s new and sudden interest in fairness.

You see, this is the same party that dismisses wealth inequality and shoddy healthcare as the price of freedom. They care little that well-documented racial imbalances exist in every facet of American life. They do not concern themselves with the fact that the electoral college screws over the will of the people.

The concept of fairness never enters the GOP equation for any of those issues.

To Republicans, being fair means being nice to the president, and shutting up as they plot their right-wing power grab.

That’s all it has ever meant to them.

, Leave a Comment more...

Unity at Last

by on Dec.04, 2019, under Politics

As we all know, Latinos are a vast demographic, consisting of about 18% of the American population, and as such, we have an enormous range of backgrounds, philosophies, and behaviors.

Hey, we can’t even agree on whether we are Latinos, Latinx, or Hispanic. So what possible unifying force could exist to bring us together?

Well, there is something: 

It seems that the vast majority of us hate the president. 

Yes, recent polls find that somewhere between 70% to 80% of Latinos disapprove of Trump. For context, keep in mind that this is a much higher number than the percentage of Americans who believe in democracy. Really, it’s incredibly difficult to get three-quarters of a group to agree on anything, but our illustrious commander in chief has found a way to accomplish it.

Digging even deeper, we find that over half of all Hispanics say the situation for Latinos has worsened since Trump took office, and a significant percentage of us are literally terrified to be living in America right now.

I’m no statistician, but I can say with confidence that those numbers are horrific on multiple levels. And those few Latino conservatives who have stuck by our doddering chief executive have noticed this, with more than half of them admitting that “it is hard to support Republican candidates right now.”

Yes, it is indeed difficult to endorse a political party that exists for no other reason than to demonize ethnic minorities and “own the libs.” 

The fact is that the GOP’s cultish devotion to Trump and open embrace of bigots has galvanized Hispanics to vote for somebody — anybody — else.

So your socially conservative tio — the guy who praised Ronald Reagan and thought Bush Jr. wasn’t such a bad guy? Yeah he ain’t voting for Trump.

Indeed, “while different generations of Latinos can still hold divergent views, these views appear to have become more muted” under the onslaught of Trumpism.

This is because “some conservative, older Latinos may believe in more stringent immigration measures or restrictions, [but] they may draw the line at putting kids in cages.”

Hey, that’s more than you can say for the average GOP senator.

The disdain for Trump among Latinos has brought together different generations and subsets of the Hispanic population, with most of us agreeing that a man who pals around with Nazis and mocks Central American refugees may not have our best interests at heart.

This hasn’t stopped our delusional White House occupant from claiming that he is super, mega popular with Hispanics. However, “while the president claims Latino support is growing, that is not based in reality. In fact, he has brought down the overall likability of the entire party.”

Wow, who could have predicted that the entire GOP would suffer for aligning itself with a xenophobic moron who is unable to go more than eight minutes without insulting a Latino, a woman, and/or a world leader? Well, actually, pretty much everyone said that this would happen, but Republicans are not big on listening to anyone who isn’t a Fox News contributor, so they are honestly surprised at this development.

Yes, it seems that you can’t stuff the racially loaded toothpaste back into the tube.

Still, it will be a great day when Latinos can forge strong bonds over something other than our shared hatred of a bigoted Baby Boomer. 

Maybe we can all agree that pupusas are better than hamburgers, or that Adam Sandler movies suck, or that Carlos Santana should have a statue put up to him on the National Mall.

Clearly, it’s time to start debating the really important stuff.

, Leave a Comment more...

A Brief Respite

by on Nov.27, 2019, under Random

I’m going to take a rare week off from saving the world one blog post at a time in order to enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday with my family.

So there’s no new article this week. Certainly, I’m not going to say anything about the ongoing shit-show that is the impeachment process… nope, almost got me going there, didn’t you?

Anyway, be sure to take some time this week to give thanks that we live in a country with so much prosperity… even though the richest 1% are currently hording so many resources that it boggles the goddamn mind. I mean, seriously, people! What’s it gonna take to… wait… pull back… not gonna rant. Just gonna give thanks.

As I was saying, we can all be grateful that our country’s leaders are calm, rational people who value facts and expertise over conspiratorial nonsense and never engage in cult-like behavior that…

OK, skip that. It’s a damn lie.

Deep breath.

Let’s settle on this: Happy Thanksgiving.

Yes.

See you next week.

, , Leave a Comment more...

Empathy Is for Suckers

by on Nov.20, 2019, under Culture

Recently, CNN profiled a former neo-Nazi who now rejects white supremacy. Years ago, the woman (identified only as “Samantha”) inexplicably found something appealing “in the white power activists who presented themselves as intellectuals,” and she soon “became a dues-paying member of a white power fraternity called Identity Evropa.” 

This is a common route to extremism, which is why progressives get just a little annoyed when racist ideology is presented as edgy intellectualism or a valid point of view. 

In any case, Samantha worked for Identity Evropa to test new applicants — of which there were many — to see if the newbies were sufficiently “fluent in white power ideology.” And she focused especially on women, who were told the fascist movement was “a great way to be family-oriented.”

So what eventually drove Samantha out of Identity Evropa? Was it the deranged hatred toward Jews and racial minorities? Was it the violence that often culminates in the actual loss of life?

No, she left because — to absolutely no one’s surprise — angry men who despise blacks and Latinos usually loathe women as well. Apparently, a guy who is willing to attack total strangers based upon the color of their skin may not be the most respectful toward the ladies. Hey, who knew?

Samantha’s male peers in Identity Evropa tried to persuade her to stay, telling her that her body “could hold a lot of Nazi semen and make many Nazi babies.” Despite such smooth talk, she left, and today she receives death threats from her former pals. According to CNN, there are “other women who, like Samantha, spent about a year in the alt-right before quitting, unable to take the abuse anymore and fearing for their safety.”

Indeed, “the alt-right is far more hostile to women than previous iterations of the white supremacy movement,” with many experts insisting that its “not even possible to have an alt-right movement without the underlying misogyny.”

Now, we can all be happy that Samantha is no longer a Nazi. But in reading her story, there is one crucial element missing.

You see, Samantha only left the alt-right because she was being oppressed. In other words, she was fine with dehumanizing ethnic minorities. Hell, she enthusiastically promoted hatred toward non-white people. Only when women became the object of scorn and derision did she say, “Whoa, not cool.”

Samantha, and many right-wingers like her, possess an almost total lack of empathy for anyone who doesn’t share their background. Such individuals will alter their repugnant views only when — or if — it affects them personally.

Science backs this up. Researchers have found that liberals and conservatives display equal levels of empathy. However, liberals are far more likely to have empathy for all people. But conservatives tend to have empathy primarily for their own group. 

In one study, researchers found that Americans who felt more connected to “people like themselves” tended to support Trump’s ban on travelers from Muslim countries. They also displayed “less empathy toward immigrants.” The opposite was true for those Americans who placed less importance on their own group.

One could also look at how the conservative movement still largely views gay people as deviants, sinners, or debauched weirdoes who deserve second-class citizenship at best, and capital punishment at worst. Yes, a few libertarians and younger Republicans aren’t down with the whole virulent homophobia thing. But for the most part, the GOP is just fine with gay Americans having fewer rights than straight citizens.

The exceptions, as you can guess, tend to be those Republicans who have gay family members. Oddly, they often change their minds when it affects their loved ones.

The most infamous example is that loveable war criminal, Dick Cheney, who was “a leading Republican at a time when his party was campaigning on forbidding gay marriage.” During this time, Cheney “voiced support” for his daughter Mary, a lesbian.

How about that? He voiced support for his daughter.

Should we applaud now? 

It is highly unlikely that Cheney would give half a damn about gay Americans if his daughter weren’t a lesbian. And the man clearly didn’t care about, say, Iraqis to the same extent.

An indifference to the rights of others — or in extreme cases, to the very humanity of others — continues to vex the conservative movement. What can one say about people who justify jamming kids into cages, in large part because those kids speak a different language? And why should we celebrate people like Cheney or Samantha, who will definitely, absolutely do the right thing… provided that they have some kind of personal stake in the outcome?

Perhaps it is simply asking too much to consider, even fleetingly, how our actions affect people who don’t look, act, or worship the exact same way that we do.

But is it really that difficult?

, , Leave a Comment more...

Riling Up the Bigots

by on Nov.14, 2019, under Race

Back in the day, people said that my hometown of Milwaukee was known for two things: Obesity and serial killers.

That’s unfair, of course, because it also possesses the distinction of having brutally cold winters, and of being the most racially segregated city in America.

OK, maybe those traits aren’t so great.

But I still love the place. And that is why I will rush to its defense even if, for example, its sports teams collapse, or its economy struggles, or it’s the scene of a horrific acid attack.

Wait a minute, let me check my notes on that last one.

Hmm, unfortunately, this is true. Recently, Milwaukee police arrested a 61-year-old white man who called a Latino man an “illegal” and told him to “get out of this country” before throwing acid in his face. The Hispanic man, who happens to be U.S. citizen, suffered second-degree burns.

Now, you might wonder what kind of homicidal lunatic carries acid around with him, just looking for a reason to toss it into somebody’s face.

Well, keep in mind that Wisconsin is a swing state, with plenty of white male Baby Boomers who seethe with revulsion for Latinos and immigrants. 

Further note that studies have shown that hate crimes tend to increase during “times of tense political fights over issues such as immigration or national security.”

I’m pretty sure that we are living in such times.

But to get even more specific about it, “hate crimes targeting people in 2018 surged to their highest levels in 16 years,” and once the data for 2019 is crunched, we can expect to see more of the same.

As we all know, hate crimes have escalated ever since America elected a loud-mouthed xenophobe to the White House (which I’m sure the GOP insists is just a coincidence).

What’s most interesting, however, is that the targets of hate crimes have changed. Back during the Iraq War, thugs routinely went after Muslims. But recently, “the number of crimes targeting Muslims cratered,” which just goes to show that bigots need constant reminders of who they’re supposed to hate the most at any given time. 

And in further good news, anti-Semitic crimes dropped. But — and I’m sure you saw this coming — hate crimes “targeting Latinos increased for the third year.”

Yikes.

So Hispanics are back to being the most loathed group among nativists. As I’ve said before, it’s like we have fucking targets on our backs.

Experts say that none of this is random. For example, “you can look at the year 2016 and see a spike in hate crimes, or look at the increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric in recent years, and see an increase in anti-Latino crimes.”

Still, you don’t have to be a statistician to notice what’s going on. According to many polls, a majority of Americans say Trump is racist. And over half of the country believes “Trump has been bad for Hispanics, Muslims, African Americans, and women.”

Another way of saying this is that the president has been good only for white men and the occasional Asian American.

There is simply no doubt “that Trump’s rhetoric has legitimized expressions of prejudice.” But if you need proof, consider that one study found that racist statements “were considered more acceptable after the election. And a second study showed that reading Trump’s statements targeting ethnic or racial groups made people more likely to write prejudicial things themselves.”

So is there a sliver of positivity in this dire compendium of racism, hate crimes, anti-Latino bias, and acid attacks?

Well, there a theory that “Trump’s election did not make Americans more racist; instead, it may have emboldened those who were already prejudiced.” So what we are seeing is an intensification of racism rather than an upsurge of bigotry overall. 

And looking at this further, there is some evidence that the frequency of racist behavior is actually going down in America. And long-term trends “suggest a decline in both professed racist views and racist acts.”

This means, therefore, that eventually we will not have to worry about angry old men assaulting Hispanics, or be afraid that a fistfight will erupt when we speak Spanish, or witness Nazis happily marching in the streets, or suffer through any of the myriad bigoted, hate-filled actions that we have had to endure over the past few years.

No word, however, on when that day will come.

, , Leave a Comment more...

The Unpatriot

by on Nov.06, 2019, under Politics

We have endured just over 1,000 days of a president whose mind-boggling ignorance, cartoonish incompetence, pandemic corruption, and glaring racism have damaged America for the foreseeable future. 

Really, I can’t enumerate all of the man’s personal disasters, catastrophic decisions and sucker punches to the republic. But here’s a partial list of his insanity, which reads more like “the symptoms of someone who was recently bitten by a rabid raccoon one night after getting lost between Marine One and the Oval Office.”

And yet, over 40% of Americans say, “Yup, I’m down with this.”

I’ve written before about Trump’s base, many of whom would gladly follow him into a bubbling sulfur pit, or slit the throats of their loved ones if he told them to do so. Their reasons for such blind obedience to this maddest of messiahs range from political expedience to human frailty to deeply disturbing psychological issues.

But what of Trump’s motivations? Why is he subjecting himself — and the entire country — to this ceaseless onslaught of nausea-inducing grotesqueries that have catapulted our nation way past laughingstock status and into the realm of the tragically pathetic?

Well, it might be “because he’s two parts crazy, one part stupid, but also because he’s been engaging in corruption his entire life, to the point that it’s second nature.”

Yes, that’s true. But there’s an additional complication.

Consider that even Nixon possessed some smoldering embers of self-respect that prevented him from accepting the humiliation of impeachment. Trump has embarrassed himself so many times on so many world stages that he has gotten used to public disgrace. And his supporters have made it clear that no matter what deranged babble spews from his mouth, they will twist it into a positive.

So appeals to the president’s sense of shame are useless. We might as well plead with a honey badger to be nicer, or for a bear to stop shitting in the woods.

Animal comparisons aside, there is even stronger reason for Trump’s antipathy than his abdication of basic decency.

And it is this:

The man hates America.

I know it is tacky to accuse your political opponents of despising our nation, but it is not hyperbole in the president’s case. Even many conservatives say that the guy clearly loathes the country and offers a vision that “is radically anti-American.”

The president’s GOP enablers are perfectly aware that the chief executive cares only about himself, with particular attention to his image and his bank account. Yes, Trump has some mild concern for his family, feels a slight affinity for his fellow billionaires, and admires crazed dictators who execute their opponents.

But that’s about it. The rest of the world— and the overwhelming majority of America — is dead to him.

He hates the West Coast, and would be thrilled if it burned to the ground. He hates the East Coast, and is only too happy to live somewhere, you know, less cosmopolitan. 

As for the Midwest and the South, well, the idea that he has any interest in the humdrum struggles of his base (i.e., the legendary white working class) is absurd. Even sadder is the one-sided nature of their relationship, in which millions of struggling white people insist that he is fighting for him, and show up at his rallies to hear him drone on about awesome he is. Meanwhile, he ignores the opioid crisis, cuts off their health care, and would no sooner mingle with the hoi polloi than he would gurgle raw sewage.

And it should be perfectly obvious by now that the president has no use for women, ethnic minorities, or immigrants. In fact, “we have never seen an American president make a U.S. representative, a refugee, an American citizen, a woman of color, and a religious minority an object of hate for the political masses, in a deliberate attempt to turn the country against his fellow Americans who share any of those traits.”

Yes, despite all that flag-hugging, there is little proof that Trump displayed even the vaguest sense of patriotism before he ran for president (just as he didn’t display a scintilla of interest in Christianity, but that is another story). And there is no indication that the president has any knowledge of the Constitution, any respect for American ideals of freedom of the press, or any interest in how the nation fares after he is out of office.

In fact, he “appears to care little for the American nation as a whole,” and is actually “more of a self-serving populist, preaching anti-elitism, anti-pluralism and exclusion.”

So let’s be honest.

If the Democrats made an offer that Trump could pocket a small fortune from the U.S. Treasury and fly away to a private island with his family, to live out his days in comfort and splendor, and never be brought up on any criminal charges or held accountable for anything he has done, the man would leap at it and say, “Fuck off, America,” faster than they could write the check. 

And he would never look back.

, , Leave a Comment more...

Infield Fly Rule

by on Oct.30, 2019, under Culture

Baseball season is over, which is always a little sad for me.

It’s not just that I love baseball, and now have to endure six months without it. The bigger issue is that my hometown Milwaukee Brewers just concluded their 50th season in existence, which means a sold half-century without a single World Series championship.

Damn.

In any case, baseball may be on hiatus for now, but it is perpetually relevant as a metaphor. And I don’t mean in a Ken Burns kind of way, where the death of Joe DiMaggio is the end of the American Dream, or something strained like that.

I’m talking about more concrete analogies.

For example, I’m sure we all enjoyed the sight of Trump attending Game 5 of the World Series and receiving a thunderous, sustained booing that reached “almost 100 decibels, the type of disapproval typically reserved for undocumented immigrants and freshman congresswomen at his rallies.”

I mean, here was the president, taking in the national pastime, in the nation’s capital city, and hearing from the nation’s citizens that he sucks, in a spontaneous display of First Amendment zeal that has not been outlawed despite the country’s right-wing lurch. And in an irony-heavy addendum of the type that Americans are known for, he was also serenaded with chants of “Lock him up!”

I mean, if that doesn’t make you swell with patriotism, nothing will.

However, not every symbolic event from the world of baseball is so positive.

For example, major league umpire Rob Drake recently tweeted his displeasure with the impeachment process. He did so in the calm, respectful manner that we have come to expect from supporters of the president.

Ha, no — he shrieked a caps-heavy boast that he was buying an AR-15 assault rifle, “because if you impeach my president this way, you will have another civil war!!! #MAGA2020.”

Now, you might think that we have enough violence in this country without random umpires threatening to murder people who disagree with their politics, to say nothing of the recurring promise that a civil war is inevitable and, in fact, eagerly anticipated by GOP white men like Rob Drake who have easy access to firearms and no regard for the Constitution. 

Well, yes — but you’re missing the point.

Because once again, in this case, baseball is here to help.

You see, on one side of America’s political divide we have progressives, who want to move the country toward the democratic socialist model that has found great success in Scandinavian countries, but do it with more of a multiethnic focus. The other side — Trumpian conservatives — want to create a white nationalist state built upon pseudo-Christian values where the populace is enthralled with an autocratic oligarch who siphons off the nation’s resources to the super-rich. 

That’s a bit of a philosophical gap.

Fortunately, we have homicidal umpires who are happy to illustrate the difference for us. So again, baseball enlightens us.

Lastly, allow me to recount a recent email exchange that I had with a disgruntled reader. This individual informed me that I was wrong about everything, and at some point in the conversation, he stated that the Electoral College was, in his words, “brilliant” and “perfect.” He stated that a nationwide popular vote for the presidency was like insisting the winner of the World Series be the team that scores the most runs, not the team that wins the most games.

My rebuttal was that the Electoral College is like declaring the winner of a baseball game is the team that scores in the most innings, not the team that actually scores the most runs.

I thought it was a good point. But he wrote back a stream of obscenities and invectives, so I guess he didn’t agree, and that was the end of our little debate.

Yes, the guy may have been an illogical, thin-skinned reactionary. But hey, at least he liked baseball.

, Leave a Comment more...

  • Calendar

    April 2026
    M T W T F S S
     12345
    6789101112
    13141516171819
    20212223242526
    27282930  

  • Share this Blog

    Bookmark and Share

  • My Books

  • Barrio Imbroglio

  • The Bridge to Pandemonium

  • Zombie President

  • Feed the Monster Alphabet Soup

  • The Hispanic Fanatic

    • Copyright © 1996-2010 Hispanic Fanatic. All rights reserved.
    Theme by ACM | Powered by WordPress