When the truth is found to be lies.

In his own twisted way, Rudy Giuliani was right, the truth is not the truth.  To a select few, truth is perception; whatever is perceived to be the truth, to them, becomes the truth.  By that logic, a lie repeated often enough to gain believers, becomes the perceived truth-ergo, the truth.  It doesn’t mean anything to them that what is true will still be true and what is false will still be false.  They only care about perception and how they can bend perceptions to steer the will of others to their cause, no matter how corrupt that cause may be.

Donald J. Trump has adopted this philosophy with gusto.  He tells his lies and half-truths with the straight face only a sociopath could muster.  Perhaps we haven’t been judged worthy of the truth by Trump.  While I doubt he ever read Mark Twain, it is possible he has heard Twain’s admonishment, “Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.”  After over three years in office, it is only now that social media is being vilified by our liar-in-chief because Twitter, Facebook, et.al., are attempting to bring some semblance of regulation to their heretofore wholly open and unregulated platforms.  Yes, Trump’s beloved Twitter has placed his recent tweet behind a warning label that indicates the hidden tweet violates Twitter’s Rules in that it is “glorifying violence.”

The fact that some social media platforms have been forced to police the content of their users is a sign of the times.  Beneath the Twitter warning was just Trump being his usual bullying self.  Trump’s post was, “....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.  Thank you!”  Trump was apparently quoting the former Miami police chief Walter Headley, who in December 1967 promised violent reprisals to protests over stop and frisk tactics.

From Walter Headley obituary August of 1968

Trump’s earlier tweets about mail-in ballots being rife with fraud were not hidden behind a banner but were tagged with a link to find the actual facts about such voting methods.  So, Trump was permitted to lie about mail-in balloting but the truth was just a click away.  The “get the facts about mail-in ballots," link would take anyone concerned about the truth to real information and not the unsubstantiated false claims made by the president.  Even his own Justice Department had been forced to abandon their investigation into mail-in voter fraud for lack of evidence.

I am not on Twitter beyond an account I set up years ago to see if I had any interest in the platform.  I am, however, on Facebook where I have seen their fact-checkers at work.  A recent post by a Trump supporter on my feed got a Facebook version of the Twitter warning label.  In that post, a family member had posted a meme about Greta Thunberg that was filled with false information.  He had falsely claimed that she had protested the manufacture of chopsticks as it killed trees.  It went on to falsely claim that the Chinese government reminded her that chopsticks were made from bamboo, a grass.  The truth is that 1. Greta never said anything about chopsticks, 2. China never responded to any such claim and 3. China does use real wood in many of its chopsticks as well as bamboo.  When this was pointed out by me the poster’s reply was just that he stood by his opinion.  A copy of the FB warning is provided below for reference.

"When the truth is found
To be lies
And all the joy
Within you dies"

“Somebody to Love” was written by Darby Slick (Grace Slick’s brother-in-law) and was originally performed by The Great Society in 1965 with Grace Slick on vocals.  The song later became a hit when Grace took it with her and the Jefferson Airplane performed it live at Woodstock in 1969.

The real truth here is that, with all the power that the Internet provides, lies a responsibility to seek the truth.  It requires some effort but it is readily available for all who want to find real information and not some justification of preconceived notions.  Trump and his supporters will no doubt continue to post anything they stumble upon that validates their way of thinking while either ignoring the truth or branding it as Fake News without bothering to justify their opinions.  Mahatma Gandhi wrote, “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall.  Think of it--always.” 

Trump, meanwhile, has decided to retaliate against these social media platforms by issuing an executive order that directs the executive branch agencies to ask independent rule-making agencies including the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to study whether they can place new regulations on the companies.  Without an act of Congress, this would appear to be him flailing in the wind.  To quote Macbeth, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  To further paraphrase The Bard of Avon, Trump is but another poor player strutting and fretting his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.  We can all only hope.  Remember in November.


“The truth." Dumbledore sighed. “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should, therefore, be treated with great caution.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Dear America,

Dear America,

As one of your family, I feel this letter is long overdue.  I have been with you for over seven decades and have thoroughly enjoyed my membership in this proud group of individuals.  You started life with but around 2.5 million American souls in 1776, and our family has grown to over 331 million today.  In my time, I have seen thirteen of our forty-five presidents govern the land we lease from Mother Nature and like to call the United States.  I heard you weren’t feeling well and I thought it would be a good time to drop you a line.

You began your existence with great hope and promise.  You have survived many wars including one among your own citizens.  You have seen greatness in leadership and its folly.  Our stewardship of the land beneath our feet, the air that we breathe, the inland waters and surrounding seas, has been irresponsible at best.  You have seen those precious resources scarred, polluted, deforested, overfished, and poisoned.  You have witnessed the ideals upon which you were founded twisted to suit the greedy.  Our once great nation has been plundered for the benefit of a few; those few now govern what was once a country of, for, and by the people.

Is there hope for our future?  Can we right the ship of liberty and restore it to its former glory?  Can “we the people” gain control of the helm and steer a course that is good and true?  Can the divided states of America be once again united?  I feel the answers lie in the one pillar of our democracy that, while greatly weakened by malice, remains to correct the error of our former ways.  To that end, our election process may be our salvation.  Will we remember in November?  Time will tell.  Until then I hope you can enjoy your 244^th birthday this coming July and I wish you a speedy recovery.

Your friend and fellow citizen,

Jack

Homestead Air Show 2010 by Jack Dallas

Unfit For Office

It should be clear to all now; Donald John Trump is unfit to be the president of the United States.  He may have been amusing to some in the continuation of his role on The Apprentice when he told those on his appointed staff, “You’re fired!”  For those who believe that it was the fault of brown, black, and yellow people for taking the jobs of white Americans and not the fat-cat corporate CEOs who sent those jobs overseas where labor was cheaper, his antics on our southern border perhaps scratched some xenophobic itch. 

Perhaps some among us felt that this self-proclaimed billionaire born with a $300 million platinum spoon in his mouth was some sort of business wonder who would restore US manufacturing and lost coal and steel jobs to their previous glory.  Some may have enjoyed the fact that he could stand in front of a rally crowd and use a vocabulary befitting a high-school dropout to promise them the undeliverable.  Many Americans questioned their own sanity when he told little lies followed by bigger lies and then doubled down on those statements even after proof arose that showed them to be what they were.  Reality TV had come to the White House and it was entertaining, to some.

Now, at a time of his first true national emergency, he has shown that strong leadership and an ability to wisely govern are not among his strengths.  He first tried to deny the existence of any threat to America and then he tried to minimize the risk.  He then stated that he had everything under control.  When things quickly got out of control, he appointed Mike Pence to be his scapegoat.  He needed someone to take the fall for his own incompetence.  He claimed to be in control but denied any responsibility for anything.

Now, after meeting with fellow Republicans, they have decided they need to get Americans focused on the Chinese as being wholly responsible for our nation’s dilemma.  They have to divert attention away from the obvious mismanagement of the COVID-19 epidemic.  They feel that people will be willing to blame China for the fact that our country is suffering far greater losses than any other country in the world.  While it is painfully obvious that, even IF you could find evidence that this virus is a devious plan developed by some Chinese bio-lab or by the mysterious “bat-lady” of Wuhan, the management or mismanagement of the crisis in this country falls squarely on the shoulders of our elected leaders.  More specifically the blame lies with Donald John Trump.  He is where the buck should stop.  The federal government should be managing this crisis and it should not be abdicated to local governors and officials.

This president and his administration, despite vocal claims of “no responsibility for anything,” have shown nothing if not the ineptitude of a failed leader.  Some have compared his management with chess and checkers in that the rest of the world leaders are playing chess and he is playing checkers.  I challenge that analogy because, even in checkers, you have to plan a few moves ahead.  I think the rest of the world is playing chess and he is playing tiddlywinks.

Donald John Trump may have been an amusing diversion for some who shared a belief that our country was run by a group of corrupt politicians and that we needed a businessman to come in and clean up the mess.  The old “drain the swamp” attitude prevailed.  We now see that the swamp is still just as corrupt as it ever was and is now possibly even more unscrupulous.  As of the last count, he had eight staffers and associates convicted of crimes from just the Mueller investigation.  Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Richard Pinedo, Alex van der Zwaan, Roger Stone, Rick Gates and Michael Flynn have all been convicted and countless others are under investigation.

Our president took a rising economy left him by the Obama administration, borrowed against our future to pay for the largest ever tax cut for corporate America and its wealthy ruling class, and saw that economy continue to rise.  He didn’t plan for the future.  He didn’t use our strong economy to build our reserves and pay down our national debt.  He did as he had done in business; he borrowed heavily and gambled with our economic future.  Just as in many of his business deals, his gamble was a failure when it faced a crisis.  Trump’s business failures are legendary and now it looks like the legend lives on.

Trump will say that nobody could have foreseen this economic threat and we now know that he was repeatedly warned.  He was even warned by the outgoing Obama administration of the threat of a pandemic being a serious threat to this nation, but Donald John Trump decided he would take that gamble.  As a businessman, he is simply a gambler.  He just uses that wise business adage that says; if you gamble just make sure you are gambling with other people’s money.  In this case, it was both our money and our lives that were being risked.  That gamble has this nation facing economic meltdown with the greatest losses since the great depression.  Worse yet, that gamble has already cost tens of thousands of American lives.

Donald John Trump may go down in our nation's history, as its most inept leader.  He has been a divisive leader when we needed unity.  He has been a science denier at a time when we need someone who understands the benefits of science.  He has been a reckless spender of our nation’s wealth when we needed a more conservative approach.  He has been an alienator of past allies and a friend to current enemies when we are in desperate need of our friends in the spirit of international cooperation.  He has been a threat to our environment at a time when we desperately need to challenge climate change.  He has shown his sociopathic lack of empathy at a time when our nation is mourning the deaths of tens of thousands of its citizens.

Donald John Trump was unfit to serve this country in his twenties when he invented bone spurs to avoid military service; he is certainly unfit to serve this country now.  Ask not how Donald John Trump can serve his country, ask how his country can serve him.  He regularly tests the limits of tradition and established laws and procedures when he finds them inconvenient.  He sees his presidency as an opportunity to reap financial rewards while he pulls the strings of our economy in ways to benefit his business ventures.  He sees this pandemic as a way to further feather his financial nest while the nation's purse strings are being relaxed to print money to bail out businesses.  He has failed to divest himself from his business dealings as demanded by law.  He sees himself as being above the law and an autocrat beyond reproach.

"Ask not how Donald John Trump can serve his country, ask how his country can serve him."

Now more than ever, this nation needs a leader with a mind and heart not given to heartless pursuits.  We need someone who can lead and manage us out of this hole dug ever so much deeper than was necessary by a man known as much by his business failures as his few successes.  Until November, I’ll be Biden my time.