The Trump Files

"But the Select Committee says its review of the evidence directly contradicts that denial."

"He has my complete and total endorsement!"

"And today, new tapes surfaced showing Rep Loudermilk escorting a large group of adults, some wearing MAGA hats, others carrying Confederate flags, through the Capitol building, pointing out various offices and showing shortcuts to preferred locations..."

"He has my complete and...what was that you said?"

"New surveillance footage apparently shows Rep Loudermilk doing exactly what he had denied doing—giving one or more large groups of adults a tour of the Capitol building on January 5, the day before the building was attacked."

"And that was congressman...what did you say his name was?"

"Loudermilk. Barry Loudermilk. From Georgia."

"The name does sound vaguely familiar...And you say he's from Georgia?"

"Yes. Georgia."

"Oh!...NOW I know what happened...I must have gotten his name mixed up with David Perdue! They do sound almost exactly alike!"

"David Perdue?"

"Yes, he's running for governor in Georgia—and he has my complete and total endorsement! At least, he did until I saw the latest polls...Would anyone care to talk about Herschel Walker?"

May 27, 2022

Every once in a while it seems appropriate to use The Trump Files not as a platform from which to take a satirical swipe at ex-president Goofus but rather as a loudspeaker through which to address other issues of more than passing importance. So please step aside for a moment, orange menace, while we revisit some sobering events from the recent past and pose some reasonable questions:

February-October 2002: Two snipers kill seventeen people and injure ten others in the Washington-Baltimore area before they are apprehended.

When does it end?

July 8, 2003: An employee opens fire at a Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian, MS, killing six people and wounding eight others before taking his own life.

How many more?

March 12, 2004: In Fresno, CA, a man shoots and kills nine members of his family during a custody dispute.

When does it end?

March 12, 2005: Exactly one year later, in Brookfield, WI, a man shoots and kills seven of his fellow church members and wounds four others before committing suicide.

How many more?

March 21, 2005: A sixteen-year-old student in Red Lake, MN, kills nine people and injures five others before turning the gun on himself.

When does it end?

January 30, 2006: In Goleta, CA, a woman kills a neighbor, then drives to her workplace where she shoots and kills six more people before committing suicide.

How many more?

June 1, 2006: Two gunmen kill seven members of one family at a home in Indianapolis.

When does it end?

April 16, 2007: In Blacksburg, VA, a twenty-three-year-old student shoots and kills thirty-two students and teachers and wounds seventeen others before killing himself.

How many more?

December 5, 2007: In Omaha, NE, a nineteen-year-old man kills eight people and injures four others at a shopping mall before taking his own life.

When does it end?

February 7, 2008: A man opens fire during a city council meeting in Kirkwood, MO, killing six people and wounding another before he is shot and killed by police.

How many more?

February 14, 2008: One week later, a former graduate student at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb opens fire in a lecture hall, killing five and wounding twenty-one before committing suicide.

When does it end?

December 24, 2008: On Christmas eve in Covina, CA, a man armed with four handguns and a homemade flame thrower kills nine people and injures three at his former in-laws' home, then commits suicide.

How many more?

March 10, 2009: In Geneva County, AL, a man kills ten people and wounds six others before taking his own life.

When does it end?

April 3, 2009: A man shoots and kills thirteen people at a civic center in Binghamton, NY, before killing himself.

How many more?

November 5, 2009: A US Army psychiatrist kills thirteen and injures thirty-three others at Ft Hood, TX.

When does it end?

August 3, 2010: In Manchester, CT, a recently fired worker at a beer distribution plant returns with a gun, killing eight and wounding two others before killing himself.

How many more?

January 8, 2011: In Tucson, AZ, an attempt to assassinate US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords fails, but the gunman kills six others and injures fifteen before he is taken into custody.

When does it end?

October 12, 2011: A man in Seal Beach, CA, enters his ex-wife's workplace, shoots and kills eight people and injures two others before he is arrested.

How many more?

April, 2, 2012: At Oikos University in Oakland, CA, a former student opens fire in a classroom, killing seven and wounding three others.

When does it end?

July 20, 2012: An armed man enters a movie theatre in Aurora, CO, shoots and kills a dozen people and wounds seventy others. He is sentenced to life in prison.

How many more?

August 5, 2012: A man who professes to be a white nationalist and neo-Nazi kills six people at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, WI, before he is shot and killed by police.

When does it end?

December 12, 2012: In Newtown, CT, a twenty-year-old shoots and kills his mother before moving on to Sandy Hook elementary school, where he shoots and kills twenty children and six adults before committing suicide.

How many more?

March 13, 2013: In Herkimer County, NY, a man sets fire to his apartment before killing two people and injuring two others at a barbershop, then killing two more at a car wash. He is later killed by police after he shoots and kills a police dog.

When does it end?

June 7, 2013: In Santa Monica, CA, a man shoots randomly at passersby while trying to carjack an auto. He kills seven people and injures five before being killed by police.

How many more?

September 16, 2013: At the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in Washington, DC, a gunman with a civilian-contractor pass opens fire, killing twelve people and wounding eight before he is shot by police.

When does it end?

April 2, 2014: Back to Ft Hood, TX, where a serviceman, after being denied leave, kills three people and injures fourteen before taking his own life.

How many more?

May 23, 2014: After killing his three roommates, a man drives to nearby UC-Santa Barbara, CA, and opens fire at a sorority, killing two students and injuring a third. He continues to fire at random on the street before killing himself.

When does it end?

October 24, 2014: A fifteen-year-old student at Pilchuck HS in Marysville, CA, opens fire in the school cafeteria, killing four people and injuring one more before taking his own life.

How many more?

February 26, 2015: In Tyrone, MO, a man kills seven people and injures another after going door-to-door and shooting at four separate homes. Four of those killed are his family members. He then turns the gun on himself.

When does it end?

May 17, 2015: Nine people are killed and eighteen others wounded in a shoot-out between motorcycle groups at a Waco, TX, restaurant after members of two of the clubs had a disagreement.

How many more?

June 17, 2015: In Charleston, SC, a self-proclaimed white supremacist kills nine black people and injures one more during a prayer service at the Emanuel AME Church. His motive, he says, is to start a "race war."

When does it end?

August 8, 2015: In Harris County, TX, a man breaks into his ex-girlfriend's home and holds her hostage along with her husband and six children, one of whom is his, eventually killing everyone in the home before being taken into custody.

How many more?

October 1, 2015: A student at Umpqua Community College in Roseville, OR, kills nine students and injures eight others on the campus before killing himself.

When does it end?

December 2, 2015: In San Bernardino, CA, a married couple opens fire on the husband's colleagues, killing fourteen and wounding twenty-two before they are killed in a shoot-out with police.

How many more?

February 25, 2016: In Newton, KS, a gunman kills three people and injures fourteen in an attack at his workplace before he is killed by police.

When does it end?

March 9, 2016: Six people (including an unborn child) are killed and three others injured during an attack at a backyard party in Wilkinsburg, PA. No motive for the attack is given.

How many more?

June 12, 2016: A lone gunman kills forty-nine people and injures fifty-three others at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, FL. He is later killed in a shoot-out with police.

When does it end?

July 7, 2016: In Dallas, TX, a gunman kills five policemen, wounds nine others and two civilians before he is killed by a bomb delivered by a remote-control vehicle.

How many more?

July 17, 2016: Ten days later, a gunman in Baton Rouge, LA, kills four law enforcement officers before he is killed by a member of the SWAT team that responded to the shootings.

When does it end?

September 23, 2016: A man kills five shoppers at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, WA. He later commits suicide.

How many more?

January 6, 2017: A man kills five people and injures six others at the Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood, FL, International Airport before running out of ammunition and being subdued by police.

When does it end?

May 17, 2017: In Lincoln County, MS, an armed man kills eight people, including several family members and a sheriff's deputy, at three separate houses before he is injured and arrested.

How many more?

September 10, 2017: In Plano, TX, a man enters his ex-wife's home while she is hosting a football-watching party and kills her and seven others before he is killed by police.

When does it end?

October 1, 2017: In Las Vegas, NV, a lone gunman opens fire from a hotel room, killing sixty people attending an outdoor country and western concert and injuring 867 others, more than four hundred of whom suffer gunshot wounds, before taking his own life.

How many more?

November 5, 2017: A gunman enters the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX, after killing two people outside the church, then kills twenty-six worshippers inside (including an unborn child) and wounds twenty-two others. After a high-speed chase, he is found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

When does it end?

November 13, 2017: In Tehama County, CA, a man kills five people including his wife and two neighbors and injures a dozen more before committing suicide.

How many more?

February 14, 2018: A former student at Marjory Douglas Stoneman HS in Parkland, FL, celebrates Valentines Day by killing seventeen people at the school and injuring seventeen others before he is arrested.

When does it end?

May 18, 2018: A student at a Santa Fe, TX, high school shoots and kills ten people and wounds fourteen others before he is taken into custody.

How many more?

June 28, 2018: In Annapolis, MD, a gunman enters the offices of the Capital Gazette newspaper, kills five employees and wounds two others.

When does it end?

October 27, 2018: A man opens fire in Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, killing eleven people and injuring six others including four police officers before being taken into custody.

How many more?

November 7, 2018: In Thousand Oaks, CA, a man enters a bar hosting a student line-dancing event and kills a dozen people including a police officer before killing himself.

When does it end?

February 15, 2019: A former employee opens fire at a Pratt Company plant in Aurora, IL, killing five people and wounding six others before he is killed in a shoot-out with police.

How many more?

May 31, 2019: A gunman kills twelve people and injures four others at a municipal building in Virginia Beach, VA, before he is killed by police.

When does it end?

August 3, 2019: A gunman targeting Hispanics kills twenty-three shoppers and wounds twenty-three more at a Walmart in El Paso, TX, before he is arrested.

How many more?

August 31, 2019: Seven people are killed and twenty-five injured by a gunman on Interstate 20 in Midland-Odessa, TX, before he is killed in a shoot-out with police.

When does it end?

January 17, 2020: In Grantsville, UT, four members of a family are killed and a fifth injured by a teen-age member of the family as they return home.

How many more?

December 26, 2020: One day after Christmas, a man shoots six people at a bowling alley in Rockford, IL, killing three.

When does it end?

February 2, 2021: Five children and an adult are shot and killed at a home in Muskogee, OK, before the gunman is arrested.

How many more?

March 16, 2021: Eight people are killed and one wounded in a series of shootings at massage parlors in the Atlanta, GA, area.

When does it end?

March 22, 2021: In Boulder, CO, ten people including a police officer are killed in a mass shooting at a supermarket.

How many more?

April 7, 2021: In Rock Hill, SC, six people including two children are killed by a former NFL player who then commits suicide.

When does it end?

April 15, 2021: Nine people are killed and seven others wounded at a FedEx building in Indianapolis. The shooter then commits suicide.

How many more?

May 9, 2021: Six people are killed when a gunman opens fire at a birthday party in Colorado Springs, CO. Predictably, the shooter then takes his own life.

When does it end?

May 26, 2021: Nine people are killed at a Transportation Authority control center in San Jose, CA. Yes, the shooter then commits suicide.

How many more?

April 3, 2022: In downtown Sacramento, CA, shooters kill six people and injure twelve others. Three suspects are arrested the following day.

When does it end?

April 17, 2022: In Pittsburgh, PA, a shooting an an early morning party kills two juveniles and injures eight others. No one has yet been charged.

How many more?

May 14, 2022: In Buffalo, NY, a gunman described as a white nationalist who has been checking out a local supermarket decides that the patrons are black enough, opens fire, kills ten and wounds three others before he is taken into custody.

When does it end?

May 24, 2022: In Uvalde, TX, a teen-age gunman who purchased two rifles for his eighteenth birthday shoots his grandmother in the face, then drives to nearby Robb Elementary School where he kills nineteen students ages ten and under and two teachers, wounding several others, before he is shot and killed by a law enforcement officer.

How many more?

Those who may be thinking "it's true, a lot of people have died in mass shootings in the last twenty years, but all in all it's not so bad" should bear in mind that what we have recorded here represents only a SMALL FRACTION of the mass shootings that have been carried out since 2002 in the land of the free and home of the brave. The year 2022 is not even half over, and already there have been TWO HUNDRED-FOURTEEN mass shootings (three or more killed) in the US. That's more than one every day, at least twenty-seven of which have been taken place at schools like Robb Elementary in Uvalde. That's a helluva lot of grieving parents, siblings, relatives, friends, acquaintances and others who may not know the victims but are simply horrified by the spectacle of their fellow Americans being routinely gunned down for what only those using the guns believe is a good reason. Apologists will point to the Constitution's Second Amendment, but is this really what the Founding Fathers had in mind? There is a world of difference between a "well-armed Militia" and the sale of military-style assault weapons to teen-agers. But for the moment, at least, that is where we are as a country. Yes, we should know better, and something should be done, but the answers, my friends, are blowing in the wind.



And now to the questions:

"How many more?" That is a question no one can answer. All we can say with assurance is that there will be more. What we don't know is when or where, or how many of our fellow Americans will lose their lives. At our present pace, the next mass shooting may take place today or tomorrow. Should three or maybe four people die, that should cause barely a ripple. Ten or more—well, that's national tragedy and should be the lead story on every network and cable newscast. After it happens, the customary repercussions will begin: grief, anger, confusion, prayers, remembrances, homage, finger-pointing, acceptance, inaction. In due time, the cycle is repeated, with inaction always the ultimate outcome.

"When does it end?" That is the most grievous part of the narrative. It doesn't. At least, there is no end in sight. Michael Moore, director of the award-winning film "Bowling for Columbine," summed it up neatly when asked to comment on the shootings in Uvalde: "The truth is," he said, "we love our guns more than we love our children." Given the present circumstances, can anyone plausibly argue the point? Our governments, national and local, are paralyzed, more beholden to the National Rifle Association than to the people they are elected to serve. Indeed, the NRA was to hold its annual convention—in Houston, TX! (having been run out of NY state)—four days after the massacre in Uvalde, welcoming among its speakers former president Donald Trump, US senator Ted Cruz (of Texas) and the state's governor, Greg Abbott. I doubt that any of them will be speaking in favor of tighter gun controls. No, the theme is far more likely to be "harden our schools," the gun enthusiasts' latest catch-all slogan, which means, when translated into English, "arm them to the teeth." In other words, put a gun in every hand and pocket you can find, especially teachers, who as we know have been specially trained to handle such deadly situations without becoming flustered by gun-wielding psychopaths. That should solve the problem—and even if it doesn't, it's far more politically correct than trying to pry guns from the hands of God-fearing, law-abiding Americans.

There is a third question, one that is more easily answered: "Where do we go from here?" The response to that one, of course, is "precisely where we have already been." No change, you say? No, not even a penny's worth.

June 6, 2022

In the Broadway musical Stop the World—I Want to Get Off, the late Anthony Newley sings, "Just once in a lifetime, a man knows a moment, one wonderful moment when fate takes his hand..."

On January 6, 20201, then-vice president Mike Pence faced such a moment. Yes, that Mike Pence. The same Mike Pence who has been routinely lampooned here as a stone-faced sycophant ever ready to carry out even the slightest wishes of his lord and master, then-president (still hurts to write that) Donald ("loyalty is everything!") Trump. In this case, it's not the moment that counts so much as Pence's response to it.

Hustled into the US Capitol basement by Secret Service agents evading a bloodthirsty mob of Trump loyalists who are shouting "Hang Mike Pence!," the vice president is taken to his armor-plated limousine and advised to get in. It is then that Pence, tasked as vice president with the responsibility of certifying the 2020 electoral vote count, utters the most courageous—and for American democracy, most significant—words spoken on that turbulent day. Looking the agents straight in the eye, Pence says, "I'm not getting in that car."

Pence knows well what is at stake. As vice president, it is his constitutional duty to certify the election. The president has not only turned on him (to Trump, loyalty is a one-way street) but tells the unruly mob at a pre-insurrectionist rally that he hopes Pence "will do the right thing. If he doesn't," Trump says, "I'll be very disappointed in him, I will tell you that right now."

Trump, Pence knew, would be far more than disappointed, as the vice president was the only obstacle standing in the way of a successful coup, one that Trump in his egomaniacal narcissism yearned for. With Pence safely in his car and whisked away from the Capitol, one of Trump's loyalists in congress, heedless of constitutional restraints, would have stepped in to "certify" the electoral results, which almost surely would have meant a victory, however tainted, for Trump—and at least four more years of his inept and out-of-control administration.

Pence actually wanted to do what Trump had demanded but simply couldn't find a way—that is, he couldn't find a way that was constitutionally sanctioned. And so, when faced with the most difficult decision he'd ever had to make—and with a rabid mob looking for ways to get their blood-thirsty hands on him—Pence, to his everlasting credit, placed the Constitution above politics, and simply said, "I'm not getting in that car." And with that one sentence he probably saved democracy as we know it, at least for now.

As Newley sang: "For once in my lifetime, I feel like a giant, I soar like an eagle, as though I had wings...for this is my moment; my destiny calls me—and though it may be just once in my lifetime, I'm gonna do great things!"

Although it wasn't what Trump wanted, Mike Pence did "do the right thing," and every patriotic American, regardless of his or her party, should be grateful for that. Mike Pence, with all his faults, and knowing full well what it could cost him, deserves a medal for summoning his courage, defying his imperious boss and simply saying, "I'm not getting in that car." As the saying goes, give credit where credit is due. Never thought I'd be writing this, but on behalf of all Americans, I say, "Thanks, Mike! Full credit to you. For once in your lifetime, you did a great thing—and right when it counted most!"

Meanwhile, in Uvalde, Texas...

It turns out that the city's chief of police, Pete Arredondo, who ordered his subordinates to wait for more than an hour, in spite of 911 calls from children begging for help, before they stormed Robb elementary school and killed an eighteen-year-old gunman who had murdered nineteen children and two teachers, wasn't even wearing his police telephone during the siege. Arredondo, it is reported, hasn't been cooperating in the follow-up investigation (wonder why?). On hearing the news, Uvalde officials acted quickly, agreeing to swear him in as a city council member "before some other lucky city snatches him away from us!"

June 15, 2022

In The Caine Mutiny, a 1954 film based on Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of that name, Humphrey Bogart delivers a bravura performance as the cowardly, bat-shit crazy Lt Commander Philip Queeg who is sure he has caught his mutinous subordinates in a lie owing to strawberries that he says went unaccountably missing from the officers' mess. On the witness stand, Queeg's testimony gradually crumbles into falsehood and fantasy until, as noted in a Time Magazine article about the film, "after [lending Queeg] the mannerisms and appearance of an officer of sternness and decision," Bogart "gradually discloses him as a man who is bottling up a scream, a man who never meets another's eyes. In the courtroom scene, Bogart's Queeg seems oblivious to his own mounting hysteria. Then, suddenly, he knows he is undone; he stops and stares stricken at the court, during second after ticking second of dramatic and damning silence."

By now, a disquieting thought may have arisen: suppose the American people were to elect someone with Commander Queeg's—shall we say—mental infirmity to run the entire country. There is of course no need for supposition, as they already have. Donald J Trump was sworn in as our country's 45th president in January 2017, and if we are to believe what he says (no easy task), was in charge of the government's executive branch for the next four years. Actually, the next four years and beyond, as Trump claims it was he, and not Joseph R Biden, who won the presidential election in 2020 only to have it stolen from him by a massive fraud of which there is apparently no visible evidence.

From election day and thereafter, Trump ignored the counsel of friends, advisors, family members and others that he had lost the election. He preferred to remain, in the words of former attorney general Bill Barr, "detached... from reality," secure in his own mind that he had won an election that he lost by about seven million votes. Trump's hallucinations led to an attempted overthrow of the lawfully elected president and his administration when, on January 6, 2021, a throng of his deluded supporters lay siege to the US Capitol building in an attempt to stop the constitutionally authorized certification of electoral votes by then-vice president Mike Pence.

Even though the attempted coup failed, Trump has continued to proclaim to anyone who will listen that he really won the election, and that Pence, Barr and others are responsible for his failure to reclaim the White House. Those closest to the former president were apparently well aware of his delusional state of mind even before election day 2020 (he had floated the idea of a "rigged" election prior to his shocking victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016)—they simply forgot to share their special secret with anyone who could have used that knowledge.

In a series of televised public hearings, the House January 6 investigation committee has been disclosing in meticulous detail Trump's plot—and make no mistake, it was a plot—to abort the peaceful transfer of power that has served as a linchpin of our democracy since its founding well over two centuries ago. Two hearings have been held thus far, with several more to follow, and if those to come are anything like the first two, the case against Trump (and some of his enablers) should soon be rock-solid and dynamite-proof. The problem is, the January 6 committee is a legislative body and can do no more than advance criminal referrals. Any further action must be left to the discretion of the Department of Justice. In other words, to attorney general Merrick Garland whose rightful seat on the US Supreme Court really was "stolen" from him by Mitch McConnell and his Republican lackeys following Garland's nomination to the Court by president Barack Obama in March 2016.

That complicates Garland's path, as any move to indict Trump would surely be painted by the GOP as "revenge" for his exclusion from the Court. Nevertheless, if Garland lives up to his promise to "follow the facts" wherever they may lead, he will have no choice. The former president has knowingly committed crimes against the US, crimes so brazen that they cannot or should not be overlooked or swept under the nearest rug. If there is any meaning to the words "Department of Justice," Trump must be indicted for those crimes. Convicted? That's another matter, as it could be difficult if not impossible to empanel an impartial jury. Be that as it may, Trump should at least be tried for his crimes; as we are so eager to point out, in this country "no one is above the law." A splendid precept in theory; let's see how it works in practice.

Meanwhile, in Texas...

"Good morning, NRA headquarters. Who is...oh, it's you, senator Blowhard! I assume you'd like to speak to Wayne...One moment, please..."

"Hello, senator. Wayne here. To what do I owe the pleasure? Oh, the new gun control package. You say you're being pressured to vote 'yes' but wanted to run that past me first? Well, I can't say I blame you, given the amount of 'hush money' you'd stand to lose. But I can assure you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about..."

"But I've never voted 'yes' on gun legislation before..."

"Not a problem, senator. Look, Mitch says he supports the bill, and we both know what that means. It looks great on paper but won't really DO much to limit our Second Amendment rights. Banning AR15s and other assault weapons is off the table, as is raising the age limit for buying them, so the sale of guns and ammunition won't suffer. You know we wouldn't sign off on anything that affected the bottom line.

"Yes, I know, there is a package of 'reforms' there but they're mostly cosmetic. Nothing to which the NRA can't give its blessing. Red flag laws, mental health support, tighter school security, tougher background checks... the usual. Believe me, we've been there before—more than once—and there's nothing that we—and by that I mean law-abiding gun owners—can't work our way around and get right back to business as usual.

"So you go right ahead and cast that 'yes' vote with a smile, senator. It'll look great on your record, and you can count on our usual support in the next election. Have a nice day!"

June 27, 2022

Spring has given way to summer, and the House select committee investigating the Donald Trump-inspired insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, continues its public hearings, each one more damning than the last in pointing a finger at the former president as having played a pivotal and crucial role in a widespread and highly coordinated effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and stamp out any pretense of democracy.

Grim and sobering as these hearings have been—five so far, with more to come—in which an endless parade of public officials and others has testified that the former president knew he had lost the election but ignored that truth in favor of a malicious but unsuccessful scheme to remain in power, there is at least one person with no ties to the former president's scam, someone who won't be taking part in the hearings or offering a deposition, who deserves our sympathy.

That person is the man or woman who will someday be charged with writing former president Barnum's obituary. How can one express in mere words how deceitful, dishonest, demented and disgraceful that man was? On the face of it, an almost insurmountable task. As the saying goes, "It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it." Of course the opening sentence would almost write itself:

"Donald J Trump, the worst president and greatest con man in American history, died today..."

After that, it's all downhill. No matter if he should run again in 2024 and simple-minded Americans were dumb enough to elect him, Trump would still be the poorest excuse for a president ever to call the White House home. And his re-election would be a direct result of Trump's one undisputed talent—the ability to use his carefully molded public persona to mislead and bamboozle vast numbers of otherwise sane and intelligent people unable to withstand his incessant lies and hyperbole. Pathetic as he was—and may be again—as president, one has to concede that the former president knows how to work a crowd. Everything he says—at least to his empty-headed partisans—is perceived as the gospel truth, even though Trump wouldn't know the truth it if bit him in the ass. This double-dealing, egomaniacal narcissist has even convinced large numbers of people that he actually cares more about them than he does his ambition for power and acclaim.



Trump has based his relentless crusade to overturn the 2020 presidential election—an effort that has been outlined in explicit detail by the January 6 committee—on what many people have labeled, quite correctly, the Big Lie. It is a falsehood the fraudster-in-chief continues to broadcast even though the evidence clearly shows that he has been told repeatedly, by friend and foe alike, that his allegations are patently untrue. Why, then, does he continue to cling to a lie that has not only been disproven but will never achieve the result he desires? Because in his own mind—and in spite of an abundance of proof to the contrary—Trump cannot let himself believe that he actually "lost" an election that wasn't somehow "rigged" in favor of his opponent. That is why he is so easily able to ignore truth in favor of fiction. The fact is, the Big Lie did not begin with the 2020 election; Trump's entire life has been a Big Lie, one he has become so skillful at promoting that using it to his advantage has become second nature.

Former president fabricator's niece, Mary Trump, who knows him pretty well, summed up his duplicity in one priceless sentence: "Donald," she said, "always has to have his own way."

Roe boat torpedoed...

Now that the US Supreme Court has ignored a half-century of precedent and overturned Roe v Wade by a 6-3 margin (the justices who cast the deciding votes had to lie to congress to have the chance), I went to the history books to see if this could be the worst decision in the Court's history. Faced with a large number of choices, my search led me to 1857, when the justices decided 7-2, in the case of Dred Scott v Sandford, that Scott, born a slave, was not entitled to the "rights and privileges" granted to US citizens in the Constitution. As chief justice Roger Taney expressed it:

"We think that [black people] are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States."

And further, "The Constitution of the United States recognises slaves as property, and pledges the Federal Government to protect it. And Congress cannot exercise any more authority over property of that description than it may constitutionally exercise over property of any other kind."

Dred Scott, having lived in a free state and territory, was suing for his freedom from slavery. The Court denied his petition, ruling that Scott should remain the property of his owner, Irene Sandford. Think about that for a moment: we live in a country in which human beings once were bought and sold by others, were considered "property" with no legal rights, and the US Supreme Court ruled that was perfectly fine.

Bearing that in mind, we shouldn't be too surprised by the decision in Roe v Wade. Women, it seems, are also seen by the Court as somewhat less than equal, so depriving them of a constitutional right, even one that has been in place for almost fifty years, was a no-brainer (I am not referring here to justice Samuel Alito's vitriolic, asinine majority opinion, although I may as well be).

There is one ray of hope in this otherwise "dredful" situation: In May 1857, Dred Scott was granted freedom by his new "owner," Tom Blow, a son of his original master. Although Scott lived for less than a year afterward, at least he didn't die a slave. Unfortunately, American women now face unwarranted bondage at the hands of a nine-member Court willing to thumb its collective nose at their long-established constitutional right to make personal decisions about their reproductive rights and health.

Is that likely to change? Given the ages of our present Supreme Court justices, not anytime soon. I am, however, heartened by the fact that there are no longer any slaves in America—at least, no one who is called by that name. Of course, we had to fight a bloody civil war to make that happen. Let's hope the looming battle over women's rights doesn't come to that. Before casting that next vote, however, women should take a close look at where their candidate of choice stands when it comes to their "rights and privileges" under the Constitution and vote accordingly.

July 4, 2022

Today is Independence Day in the US, our 246th such anniversary. And if former president Donald Trump's insidious plan to dismantle our democracy on January 6, 2021, had succeeded, it may well have been our 246th and last. But here we are, at least for now in the land of the free and home of the brave, while the former fraudster-in-chief works feverishly behind the scenes at his Mar-a-Lago encampment to make sure that next time there will be no roadblocks (think: Mike Pence) on his path to victory and investiture as president-for-life.

And in case that scenario weren't enough to unsettle an otherwise glorious occasion, let's see what our Machiavellian Supreme Court has been up to...

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