Well, That Didn't Take Long

 

Here I was, still relaxing after Thanksgiving and thinking - at least in one little corner of my mind - that the days when I would have an easy target to pick on were soon ending.

I started blogging because I thought that some of the stories being covered or talked about in newspapers and on television - and blogs, and pop-up news feeds and facebook and twitter and all the rest - weren’t telling the whole story.

That clearly didn’t last too long. I got Trumped.

So, as the clock ticks down, I thought I could get back to where I started, seeing how all those media platforms cover things like the economy and science, religion and sports. Maybe even culture or agriculture or population demographics. After all, who knows what the future will bring?

Forget it. I think I will have a new target to pick on, a whole new source of troubling actions that will linger over our society like a dark cloud, leaving a trail of wreckage in its path.

Yes. The Supreme Court.

There are three new Trump-appointed judges on that court, which has always said courts don’t make any new laws, they just interpret what people can legally do as defined in the Constitution.

No politics here. Except for that one judge who got mad when President Obama dared criticize him publicly and refused to go to his swearing in for a second term. Forget decades of tradition. Hissy-fit is the new norm.

Now why am I going a little crazy about this, especially when President Biden hasn’t even taken office yet?

Well, it was that recent court decision being celebrated by a lot of Orthodox Jews and leaders of the Catholic Church - the one that said New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, was wrong, wrong, wrong, in imposing really strict limits on how many people could go to houses of worship in areas which had become coronavirus hot zones.

Now if you don’t live in New York, you may not know that some religious groups - particularly some Orthodox Jews - have been proudly and publicly defying limits on public gatherings, and showing as much contempt for wearing masks as motorcycle riders at the Sturgis rally. Some church groups were doing the same thing. For example, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn went to court seeking an injunction against the ban.

Now, right up front I have to admit I though the restriction - limiting church attendance (I just don’t want to have to type church and state every time it comes up, just assume those six little letters - church - stand for church and temple, synagogue and mosque, Christian Science reading room and a whole batch of other things) - was too harsh.

After all, there was no consideration of how big the church was. You could put 20 people in a storefront house of worship and be crowded, 500 in some of the biggest ones had have two out of three seats still empty.

It’s a really complex issue. After all, when you are in church, you pray. Out loud. You normally sit shoulder to shoulder with strangers for an hour or so, all breathing in and out in what is usually an older building which does not have a lot of air exchanges per hour.

But, the ban wasn’t sophisticated. It just set a limit. Of course, coronavirus cases were going up sharply in those hot zones, and people flouting regulations about things like social distancing and mask wearing were leading to things like hospital overcrowding and lord knows what else.

So, the Supreme Court ruled that the Governor’s ban was unconstitutional. The 5-4 decision simply said the Governor had overreached. He was found guilty of ignoring constitutionally protected religious freedoms which clashed with public health concerns.

Why am I upset? After all, a lot of priests and rabbis (and all the other religious leaders) thought it was a good and important thing to do, to curb the ever-growing influence of secular government over religious freedom.

Heck, you have probably seen the plot on television lots of times. A criminal confesses to a priest, and a wrong man is put in jail. What can the priest do? The confessional is sacred.

Now I used to argue stuff like this with Jesuit-schooled friends when I was younger, but we where just having fun. Now, however, the Supreme Court has put the whole issue front and center.

The question is where do you draw the line. Lots of people want to gather in a building and worship as they choose. Free to do it? Good. Lots of people want to gather outdoors for a religious ceremony. Free to do it? Good.

Lots of people want to go to church on Sunday and there is no place to park. Some of them park by a “no parking” sign and get a ticket. Their lawyer says the city or town is keeping them from worshiping. Tear it up? Good.

A church is having a 30-day worship ceremony. Or the mosque is having a 30-day observance, or the temple is having an eight-day service at the end of the year, or someone wants to go to mass all through Lent. Tear up all those parking tickets too?

If you think that’s all too ridiculous to actually happen, I spent a couple of years doing stories about a temple in Westhampton Beach that wanted to erect an Eruv - a symbolic piece of string on telephone polls. It would  - define an area where they could do things otherwise banned by their religion as working on God’s declared day of rest - things like wheeling a baby carriage to services. I also covered arguments in Southampton Village on whether a religious group could worship in a building that did not have adequate parking.

I can hardly wait until the Supreme Court gets to decide what groups can claim to be a recognized religion. After all, what if some anti-Trump demonstrators were to demand next week that police can’t interfere with their right to worship right there in the street. Or on the beach. Or in front of the White House. With their sacred protest signs.

All of the country’s motorcycle riders could form their own religion, and make gathering in Sturgis once a year as a holy pilgrimage. Hey, what could go wrong?

Well, in Minnesota, they identified 51 people who came down with coronavirus from the Sturgis rally and 35 more who got the disease from them. Four were hospitalized, one died.  It led to a month-long shutdown of bars.

You know, I know some people who use wine as part of a religious service. Some of them think their church is wherever they pray.

Set ‘em up, Joe. First drink is on the Supreme Court.

So, What's Next?

 

Well, things are still a little chaotic in Washington, although some shapes of the new Biden presidency can be seen through the confusion. So can some of the shapes of the final mischief the Trump administration can do.

Thanksgiving came and went. The runoffs to the Super Bowl haven't yet started, and New Year’s Eve is still about a month away.

Which means it’s time for me to make a couple of predictions for 2021.

Why? Well, a lot of them are easy, and if I make them now I can be ahead of the crowd. Besides, I can make more predictions next month.

Some things look easy. 

The Georgia election - the run-off for two Senate seats that could change the political fate of the nation - is on January 5. I predict chaos.

Why? Well, the polls close at 7 p.m., and absentee ballots have to be dropped off at county election offices by Election Day. Now it could be a landslide, but I think the races will be close. Which means no announcement of the result.

Why, again? Military and overseas voters can mail in ballots on Election Day, and they have to arrive within three days after that. And, remember, this is a run-off because no candidate got the needed votes in the last election.

Recount, anyone?

Now, another simple one. There is a Coronavirus vaccine coming down the pike, and it should be ready for use in a few months. Some Trump surrogates are already saying that the incoming Biden administration is interfering with the President’s plans to distribute it.

And, surprisingly, no one seems to be asking exactly what their plan is, or how the Biden people are creating problems. That’s just the boring technical stuff - things like who will be on the priority list to get it, where exactly it will be available, who will be keeping track of vaccinations and setting up appointments for a second shot if it is needed? Operation Warp Speed is supposed to teleport the vaccine out of someplace to someplace else, but who will be there to give it? And, what about the people who won’t take the vaccine?

Nothing like a nice government delay to create problems and the opportunity for finger-pointing. So, again, I predict chaos, although a more orderly form of it.

Doctors and nurses, ambulance crews and other front-line medical workers should clearly be first in line, then at-risk people with serious underlying conditions.

Maybe I missed the part of the Trump plan explaining how to reach those at-risk people who are scattered across 50 states and get them to where vaccines are available. 

Oh, wait, that was a footnote at the  end of the last page of the Trump plan - the one no one has actually seen. I think it says: it’s up to the governors. And, we’re not giving them money to pay for a lot of cab fares and Uber rides.

I figure the Biden people will have four or five months to sort through the mess and come up with some ways of dealing with the problems as enough vaccine becomes available for wider distribution.  As I said, a more orderly form of chaos.

Here’s another prediction - and it will not be a less orderly form of chaos. Instead, I see a real knock-down, drag out fight, starting early next year. Probably sometime after January 20. That’s the day President Biden will be sworn in.

I’ll hedge my bet a little, and say that if the Democrats pick up one or both Senate seats in Georgia it will start very quickly. If the GOP remains a Senate majority, it will take a couple of months longer.

But, by Spring - we could make it by St. Patrick’s Day if you need a definite date - I see a really big split developing for the Republicans. Actually it’s already there. I just see more of them talking about it in public.

Trump wants to run for President again. More important, he wants to blame someone else for his loss at the polls. It couldn’t be his fault. The Democrats were weak and sleepy and uncoordinated, and didn’t hold any big rallies. So, who to blame? Those rotten, lazy, traitorous Republicans who didn’t support him. Or didn’t support him enough.

Fair weather friends who took credit for his tax cuts. Losers who couldn’t get out the vote after he gave them those judges. Mitch McConnell, who sure wasn’t in the vanguard of his supporters.

He told McConnell to drain the swamp, and all he did was let the swamp get bigger. Four years gone, and he couldn’t find the deep state. Maybe he was part of it. Time for new leadership.

Rudy told him that while everyone thinks you have to be a Senator in order to be majority leader, it’s not actually in the Constitution. And, did Mitch help write a bill so that Jared could get the job? Absolutely not.

So, I predict that Donald Trump will start a real battle to gain full control of the Republican Party. After all, the President is the head of the party, even when he is out of office, right?

Well, there is some stuff about a party chairman and delegates and things like that, but a good lawsuit can fix it. Besides, when the Republican Party delegates voted to do away with a party platform, they opened the door for the party to do anything President Trump wanted.

Which brings us to the real fight next year. While Trump tries to purge the party, there are a whole bunch of people who think they should be doing something more than being well-paid servants of the Trump family.

Sooner or later, their ambition will reach the point where they have to challenge the Trump status quo. And, it could come over anything, anything at all.

I can hear it now.

“Hey, Senator, I know there’s a deficit, but my wife wants to expand the Rose Garden. We need a couple of million dollars to buy some more land to do it. Maybe you could get that Democrat president to issue an executive order to pay for it. I did that all the time, until the courts stopped me.”

“Oh, wait. I know I sorta changed the balance of power on the Supreme Court, but a lot of court decisions haven’t gone my way lately. Maybe you could do something about that too. I know - put the Attorney General on it. Maybe he could find their decisions have been unconstitutional.”

I’ll do the hard predictions in time for New Year’s Eve.

We're in the Twilight Zone

 

People say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, a saying that first appeared in print in 1820. Oscar Wilde said it better: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. So, respectfully, thank you Rod Serling.

 I feel like I am in an episode of the Twilight Zone. And, you are right along with me, seeing what lies beyond that door in the world of form without substance, darkness without light.

Of course, we can blame Donald Trump. Or, we can blame ourselves, or the half of ourselves who voted for him. No matter, we are all trapped.

What do I mean? Well, just turn on the TV. There it is. Trump lost. Turn it on again. Trump lost. Watch it every day for a week, and what do you see? He lost, he lost again, he lost again.

And, yet, there he is. His lawyer melts under the hot lights of a press conference at Republican headquarters, and yet there he is again. On news shows, on comedy shows, on streaming services, on the web - melting, melting, melting. And, never gone.

Do you begin to feel the cold chill? The fog of vanishing reality getting thicker and thicker each day?

Biden is right. We have to turn the page, and get the country back to normal. Biden is wrong, they must be punished. Perhaps a sacrifice is in order - I know, let’s give them another Supreme Court justice or two. That will surely lead to peace.

Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da. The theme comes out of nowhere. Let me go on line and check the news.

A court threw out a Trump lawsuit. Another court threw out another Trump lawsuit. Wait, what’s that? Another court just threw out another Trump lawsuit.

Will we never get out of this? Put another coin in the Mystic Seer. What does it tell us? “Only time will tell.” Quick, another coin. “You will find out.”

I only have one coin left. What’s that? Trump has lost another lawsuit. Only 26 more to go.

Well, it’s not as if he were doing this alone. There are millions of people out there who insist that he won the election. How do they know? Why, of course, he told them.

How long can this go on? Well, there are schedules. They tell us when states have to report the results of their elections. They tell us when the Electoral College meets. They tell us when the new president takes office. January 20, I think.

Yet I see the dream every night. There are lots of characters in lots of rolls, but they change. One night it’s Donald Trump stealing the election, the next it’s Joe Biden. Over and over again. Wait. Is that Don Junior taking the oath of office? And where’s Eric. There. In the black robe of the Chief Justice.

How long can this go on? Darkness. Neighbors banging on the door of my Bomb Shelter of Sanity. Ah, but then the lights come on all over the neighborhood. People are talking to each other again. Democrat and Republicans alike realize that we are all part of one big country.

Except, over there. In the attic. The noise is getting louder. It’s a giant saw, cutting North Dakota out of the United States. It’s become the Free State of Covid. Ah, but it’s open. And, despite its name, they are selling the latest immunization shots. To anyone who wants them. Free, unchained capitalism has brought it to us. Well, to them at least.

And, how much will they cost? Well, the drug companies are testing the market. They have already vaccinated 200 people at $50,000 a shot, and another 500 at $5,000 a shot. I hear the price will be down to $800 by spring. See, a triumph of the Capitalist system.

Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da.

I know what we need to get out of this. A common enemy. Someone or something we can all rally against, unite against.

We know it can’t be a disease. That hasn’t worked. It can’t be poverty or inequality or racism. We’ve tried that as well.

I know. A giant race of aliens comes to Earth, curing our diseases, giving everyone a high living standard. All they want to do, they say, is to serve man. Who could be against that?

Well, they mean it literally. They want to serve us up as stews and steaks. To them, we are farm animals to be harvested. And, we get the truth out.

Then a new poll comes out. 48 per-cent of us don’t believe it. Donald Trump is back, opening a new chain of restaurants and the menu features wonder meat. Eat it and you are guaranteed to lose weight and lower your Cholesterol.

He’s offering a free trip to planet Dogma II to anyone who buys five meals. There are lines outside every restaurant door all over the world. And, that fog is getting thicker.

Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da.

Well, I'm back. I think.

  

Well. I kept my promise. No more blogging until after the election. Or, did I?

When I made the promise, I foolishly thought the election would end the day after Election Day. You know, like most of the other races for President.

I know that some states take a few days to count absentee ballots and to review provisional ballots - I’ve covered some close ones where every single ballot was important - but I never expected this seemingly endless wait.

I know. Bush v. Gore went on until Dec.12. But, time to end it. Not again.

Before we go on, let me tell you two things that I believe. It’s so you know my bias. First, I think the election is over. Second, I believe Joe Biden won. That will explain the prediction I make a little later, what I think will happen to Donald Trump.

But, first let’s deal with the electors and the Electoral College. You know, that thing we have loved and lived with for a couple of centuries.

Now people who think they are voting for the Presidential candidate whose name is on the ballot are really voting for electors who are pledge to vote for that person when the Electoral College meets.

Who picks them and what they actually do is a little complicated. Let’s just say those strict Constitutionalists don’t want to change things, and certainly don’t want anything radical like using the popular vote to determine who gets elected.

So, keep the system. But, every elector should have to get on a horse or get a horse-drawn carriage and go from their home to Philadelphia to vote. Ride for at least eight hours. Don’t stop at restaurants - there were none back in the 1700’s - and don’t ride on paved roads. We didn’t have those things either.

I’m sure there are enough historic sites on their routes to find the electors a place to sleep. After all, they won’t need electric lights, or even a flush toilet.

I will accept a couple of reasonable changes. After all, I’m not that hard-hearted. None of the electors will have to  bring their slaves. And none of the electors from any of the 13 original colonies will have to pay tolls out of their own pocket.

Too awkward? Well, that’s the reason we have an election in early November and the swearing in of a new President on January 20. It took a long time to get the electors to the historic city where it all began.

OK. Now that I got that out of my system, my prediction about Donald Trump.

He could stay in the White House and fight, but it would create a lot of problems for him. All those states with pending lawsuits against him - for things like non-payment of taxes - would start filing for declaratory judgements against him and his real estate empire. Take a couple of hotels here, a couple of golf courses there…pretty soon he’ll have to go to Deutsche Bank for another loan.

Or, he could just move to Florida and turn Mar-a-Lago into a fort. Secret service protection - all former presidents get it - and no process servers allowed in. But, one of them might buy a ticket and get into one of his parties, or someone in Florida government might leak how much it costs the state for the required security and other services. People in Florida don’t like to pay taxes for things like that.

So, what’s left? Go somewhere else. Someplace without extradition treaties with the United States.

My first thought was Saudi Arabia. He could live like a prince there. Oh, wait, he’s already friends with the prince. He would be treated like family. Oh, wait again. Earlier this year  Mohammed bin Salman, the young crown prince and future king of Saudi Arabia, sent security teams to arrest two of the nation’s senior princes. Scratch that nation off Trump’s list.

How about Russia. He’s pals with Vladimir, but it might not sit well with the Republicans he wants to nominate him in 2024. Besides, there’s not much more he could do for the Russians once he’s out of office.

Don’t even think of his going to China. Trump called that nation America’s biggest enemy. He even threatened to give back the exclusive manufacturing permits that China gave to his daughter, the ones that were estimated to be worth a couple of million dollars.

Sorry, again. I must be thinking of someone else. I’ve gotten a little rusty from not blogging for a while.

That leaves only one place where he could end up. I figured it out. He will too. North Korea. Look, he already has a beautiful letter from Kim. They know that the majority of Americans are their enemy. Hell, he endorsed Trump for President, in his own way.

So, just think of it. Donald Trump secure in North Korea. And what will he do? Declare a government-in-exile of course. All his supporters know that Biden stole the election. So, they can send their tax money directly to him to build up an army to liberate America. I’m sure the North Koreans will help, and Trump allowed them to buildup their nuclear forces.

Which leaves only one batch of losers. All those Republicans in Congress who will have to declare their loyalty to the President and move to North Korea to be with him, or learn to live without their base of Trump voters.

After all, it should be a simple choice. They’ve told us how they feel many times.

Anything else is, after all, just fake news.