Voting Booth

There were some wins and some losses after yesterday's voting. The Dems did not capture Senate and House of Representatives, just the Senate. Dems now have a majority in the Senate, but did not win the full majority as the Republicans did after 4 years of Obama.  Sorry, Dems. Sorry, Obama.

Trump remains in the White House and the Dems are still pissed about it. They hoped that Trump's ill advised tweeting and his lies would do him in. They are still hoping for impeachment.

Still?  Not happening.

I hoped for impeachment when Obama was in office and I hoped for it the entirety of his tenure as POTUS. I'm not ashamed. I am all for the truth -- and Obama had no truth in him. Trump is a businessman and he doesn't have a lot of truth in him, but we accept that. We call him on it when he's way off base, but that is the way with politicians. Like it or not, Trump is a businessman (a used car kind of businessman), but now he is a politician. In short, he lies. He lies a lot, but not to the extent that Obama lied from the get-go.

Obama lied about his experience as a black man in the past. He is not completely or wholly black. He is a bi-racial man. That is a fact. His reported father was a student from Kenya, an alcoholic, and a serial womanizer as evidenced by the number of progeny he seeded in the women he married who gave birth to his progeny.

He lied about where he was born, but it wasn't in Hawaii as he claims, nor do I think he was born in Kenya. He may claim Kenya because his alleged father was from Kenya and there is a lot of controversy and hearsay evidence that goes that way, but I don't believe it. Nor do I think it matters where he was born, but it certainly was not Hawaii as he claimed. He had a woman forge his Hawaiian birth certificate and he posted it in plain sight in public. It has been proven to be forged and it has been shown to be forged. One Hawaiian state official died because of it because she knew for a fact that there was no Hawaiian birth certificate (long or short form) registered in Hawaii.

Because he wasn't born there. It may be because he is a year older than he claims because he was born in Washington state and not the progeny of his mother and Barack Obama, Sr. That is in line with the lies that Obama and his family had told from day 1. It may be true that Stanley Ann Dunham, his biological mother, had in fact been impregnated by Malcolm X and she gave birth in Washington state a year earlier, but we will never know because Barack Obama, Jr. will not tell the truth about his birth, even if it proves he is a natural born American citizen because telling the truth is not Obama's hallmark. He lies. He lies a lot, but telling the truth now would open up a whole can of worms that he would have to chase to the end of his days.

Like where he came from. Like how deep do his ties go into Russia. Like how did he enter the United States without leaving a single trace of a footprint or evidence, evidence that even he could not account for and why he left no trace of his existence until now that he ever existed.

I'm not claiming that he did not make the Law Review or that he didn't attend college, but that he went to college/university as a foreign student and that his ties to Russia go very deep. He is a mole for Russia and trained in Russia because of his alleged father, Barack, Sr., following in HIS footsteps. He is also not Christian. He is a Muslim, but he cannot be a Muslim openly or by Muslim law because he is a homosexual. That is not allowed in Islam. If he admitted the truth he would have to be killed by Muslims -- if not by the whole Islamic nation in a fatwa, but I don't think Obama's fatwa would be as easy to live with as Salman Rushdie's was. I think the Muslims would kill Obama faster than you could blink.

Obama would also have to admit that his "daughters" are not his biological progeny because he probably doesn't sleep with Michelle. He is a homosexual. Homosexuals have slept with women for time out of mind (look at the UK history for proof), but not all homosexuals sleep with woman as easily as they do with men. It is OK to be openly gay in today's world. Look at Colorado. The voters elected an openly gay Republican governor in the voting booth. I never thought I would see that at all, and definitely not from the Republican party. Then again, if the voters can elect Trump president and a bi-racial president, anything is possible at last.

Electing an openly gay Republican governor is easier than Obama and Michelle admitting that they were never pregnant and aren't the biological parents of their often photographed daughters. I doubt their daughters even know or have been told that their Mom's obstetrician and her husband are the biological parents. Good luck getting the paternity test on Maury Povich or Steve Wilkos's programs.

Like I said earlier, Trumps lies are not more heinous than Obama's, and I'm not even going to include "You can keep your insurance" to the list.

Trump is a businessman and he was elected in the country-wide disaffection with the Obama presidency. We swung the other way and elected Trump.

It is a scientific fact -- not like the scientific fudged facts of climate change -- that a reaction will follow, especially a seriously huge reaction, an equal and opposite reaction. Democrats gave us Obama and Republicans responded with Trump instead of Hillary Clinton. Talk about a huge opposite reaction. It's like we got Clinton in the White House and the opposite reaction was George W. Bush. WE got a pig in a poke, but we had Bush for two terms, which gave us Obama for two terms. We didn't want Hillary for even one term, so we got Trump. Whether he will be a lame duck will be determined how bad he does and how badly out of step Democrats really are. We will see when we go to the voting booth in 2020.

That is all. Disperse.

Fake You All!

It's everywhere you look. You wanted to change your life so you decided to become vegan. No problem. You don't have to give up eggs, meat, or cheese because there are smart people out there willing to give you eggs, meat, and cheese that will not conflict with your becoming vegan. Add some chemicals, take some vegan food, tart it up a bit, and voila! eggs, meat, and cheese -- as much as you want without cheating or giving up being vegan. You've been faked. The world has been faked and lines up to play the vegan game with faked eggs, meat, and cheese.

The same goes for the gluten free crowd. A little almond meal, ground up flax seeds, and a touch of gluten-free flour made from grains that do not contain gluten stirred together and mashed up with chemicals and substitutions that do not contain gluten and you have bread. The bread is mealy and gritty and doesn't taste all that good since you left out all the spices and chemicals or other substitutes and dyes made of foods that also do not contain gluten to maintain your gluten free status, and you will get used to the off flavor or the hint of chemicals that comes through when all the ingredients are baked up together at sufficient heat. After all, you don't want to look like you've gone back on your pledge to go gluten free or pretend that changing your whole lifestyle isn't worth the struggle to appear to being going along. What does it matter that you look like you're still going along with the majority of the pack while giving up gluten for your health and to prolong your life?

It's popular to go along with the rest of the world who have decided it is best to fake it until you make it. Food is just one area where faking it is acceptable. Nothing is worth the struggle to give up whatever you grew up with and nothing is worth giving up the appearance of going with the crowd. You are strong. You are ingenious. You are adaptable. You can fake it until you make it.

There is no part of life that is immune to the philosophy that faking it is acceptable until what you look like you're doing will finally catch up with doing what you were faking all along. After all, the ends justify the means.

Doesn't it?

We lie on our resumes, padding the facts with half truths and outright lies to fake it until we make it. Who's going to know? You're new at the job, fresh out of training or school, and it takes time to get up to speed. You are willing to fake it until you make it, or at least until your manic study habits catch up with the person you're replacing has clued you in on what to watch out for and whom you need to avoid until you're up to speed. You pray every morning, noon, and night that you will be able to cram years of study into reading the stack of books that educate you on what you need to do. The universe owes you a favor -- or at least the person who hired you for the position owe you for that gift or favor you did for them to get hired in the first place. The same goes for promotions and newly created positions that you maneuvered yourself into because you need the money, need the prestige, or simply need to get away from the hole you dug for yourself with your attitudes and/or lip. You faked it until you made it this far, so why not fake it until you make it wherever you go or whatever you do?

It's not a crime (yet until you've been caught) and it's certainly not going to cost a person their life because you haven't faked it as a nurse until you felt confident you could fake it as a doctor. Okay, the diplomas on your new office wall were created in a computer, but you have at least a decade of working under some egotistic doctor and making the doctor look good while you did all the heavy lifting and closed his operations. No one could leave the patient with a fine scar that disappears with time the way you did. After all, you turned your sewing skills from cloth to people and the results have garnered the doctor kudos and awards for the fine stitchery. He never told anyone he couldn't sew a straight seam if it killed him and you saved him from criticism far too many times for him to fess up now. How would it look if his patients knew a nurse had finished his surgery and left a fine, nearly invisible scar? The doctor couldn't justify his high fee and there is no way the doctor is going to give up the awards and professional kudos you earned, so there is no way the doctor is going to refund the fees or give you a rise in salary. The doctor faked it and you made it happen. It's a win-win situation and no one willing gives that up, certainly not you.

There is no part of life where someone isn't faking it until they have made it. No position, office, restaurant, cafe, or arena is free of the fakes, especially when the faking ended with success. When faking didn't end with making it, there are plenty of other paths to take. Some end in death from too many drugs or tangling with the wrong person that ended with tears and death. After all, faking it until you make it is not without cost. To everything there is a cost -- not only with magic but with every single venture undertaken in the name of faking it until you've made it. With life -- and with faking it -- there is risk. It's a gamble and sometimes gambles pay off. Ever hear of junk bonds? Horse races? The first gender reassignment surgeries? Prospecting? Divorce? Life? Money market trades? Bad reviews? Blind dates? Arranged marriages?

When we get down to it, life is about risk. Life is a gamble. There are people who have power and are willing to exercise that power to fake it until they make it . . . no matter who or what it costs. In the end, when all else fails, fake the data, fudge the truth, cite an anonymous source, set someone else up for the frame so you can get away with whatever you want when the fake is discovered or when it fails. Humanity is wired to look for the brighter side of things, to be positive, to make the best of a bad situation -- or a bad fake -- and to keep going. Sure, there will be suicides and deaths, but who will miss a few people, except for the ones who knew them best. Nothing is guaranteed except for death and taxes; everyone knows that.

If nothing else, faking it until you make it can be chalked up to sacrifice in the name of a greater good or some god or famous person, and wars are good vehicles for sacrifice in the name of the greater good. It doesn't matter which side you chose as long as you died for a cause. Even if you didn't believe in the cause and were drafted, none of it matters because your death will be numbered among the other clueless and numberless dead where someone will be ready to fake a reason until the people believe it. When the people who know the truth are gone, history will remember. So what if history is made up by your enemies as long as there are gullible people who remain and will spew the slogans they read or were taught until the truth is no longer relevant.  It doesn't matter if history is written by the winners because the historian with the best story will be read and repeated drowning out the truth and those who wrote and knew about the truth. The weight of evidence is in the loudness and prevalence of the voices. The voices of truth that remain will either give up or they will be criticized, reviled, and buried when their positions are taken away and their truth called into question by the loudest voices and the strongest bullying or at least by whoever has enough money and power to destroy the evidence of the truth until only the false history remains and has passed into the realm of fairy tales and deluded scholars.

All that remains will be those faking it until they make it -- or at least convince those who have been paid and derailed with some bright new toy. Truth doesn't matter as long as faking it until you make it is the first long step into the abyss of ignorance and popularity. Everyone remembers the famous, especially those who die while faking it. In the end, they faked it until they made it -- posthumously -- and history will write it so.

That is all. Disperse.

The Wolf Never Listens When Sheep Bleat

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

That is what I was taught and what I have learned as I go about the world is that no truer words were ever spoken. Power and corruption go hand in glove, one often inextricable from the other. We see it all around us as the police who are paid to protect us against criminals are often as criminal as the men and women who transgress the bounds of laws. The government that pays the police to protect us are often busy locking arms to prevent the abused from getting justice and the adjudicators paid to serve as advocates for Lady Justice have locked arms with the government and the police to deny the victims access to justice and will wrap their refusal to serve Lady Justice, that blind-folded lady holding the sword and the scales in double-speak and soothing disinformation in order to provide cover for the abusers of our rights and freedoms while proclaiming their innocence. Once again I return to the time will Bill Clinton lied about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky and defended his lie by saying that truth depends on the definition of what IS is. Typical lawyer speak for yet another lawyer who has used his training in the law to deny justice and truth.

In watching The Keepers, a video series available on Netflix about who killed Sister Cathy Cesnik and the priest who went from parish to parish bringing his power and his sexual abuse with him, the story about Sister Cathy Cesnik takes on a whole new meaning -- and a much broader scope. Didn't a pope recently step down because of his involvement in protecting the Roman Catholic Church in cases where priests were sexually abusing children? There is that sexual abuse angle in Sister Cathy Cesnik's murder and the priest, Father Joseph Maskell, who was involved in sexual abuse in the Archbishop Keough (pronounced kee-oh) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Father Maskell, in his position at Keough High School as guidance counselor and priest, used his power and position to systematically female students in his charge. Sister Cathy Cesnik was the English and Drama teacher who became involved in helping her students fight back against this pedophile priest and ended up dead for her efforts, though no one knows who killed her. Father Maskell took one student to where Sister Cathy's body had been dumped to illustrate the lesson that people who talk about who, what, where, and when they are being abused end up dead. Father Maskell blamed the student for confiding in Sister Cathy for killing the 26-year-old nun and, he warned the student, if she continued to talk about what happened to her, he assured the girl she would follow Sister Cathy Cesnik and end up another dead body on a secluded hill.

Sister Cathy Cesnik's life up to the point of the series, The Keepers, is not the focus of the abuse or the power Father Maskell corrupted, but brings me back to the presidential election last year when Hillary Clinton ran and all the secrets and scandals that swirled around the Clintons and the powerful company they kept that ensured that Hillary would never have to face prosecution or even a grand jury as long as she continued to abuse her power as Secretary of State and ex-First Lady when her husband Bill was president. Hillary's crimes would never pass muster with the Justice Department not as long as Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, was in charge (as James Comey clearly demonstrated) or Obama was still present exerting his power behind the scenes while claiming ignorance until he hears about yet another scandal in the news. Loretta Lynch would prove to be just as ineffectual as her predecessor, Eric Holder, had been in dealing with scandals swirling about the powerful center of Obama's administration.

Even with thousands of classified emails turning up on Anthony Weiner's laptop, courtesy of his wife, Huma Abedin, close confidante of Hillary Clinton, and destroyed subpoenaed evidence from her server in the basement bathroom of her home and 14 iphones and similar communication devices with BleachBit and hammers, and even losing a laptop in the mail when it was being sent to the FBI for investigation, the power surrounding Hillary and Bill Clinton locked arms and protected them from Lady Justice. Comey said as much in answering questions before a Senate committee looking into the FBI's investigation of Hillary, though Comey did not go into detail since he could not/would not be specific about investigations ongoing or currently under scrutiny. Comey's comments during his July press conference informing the public of what had been discovered about Hillary's use of a private and unsecured server handling classified material walked the razor's edge between listing Hillary's extremely careless handling of classified material as Secretary of State and her well known destruction of evidence did not, in his opinion, stand up to scrutiny legally as no prosecutor would try a case that could not win beyond a reasonable doubt. Government, how reluctantly, will lock arms with the privileged and powerful to deny Lady Justice the opportunity weigh the case in her scales or deliver justice with her upraised sword. It is probably a very good thing Lady Justice is blind-folded since she cannot criticize what she is never allowed to see.

Hillary continues to quip at commencement speeches and in 6-figure speeches about how she was denied the presidency because the Russians interfered in out democratic elections (no evidence at this point), James Comey's investigation into her handling of classified government material on her 1 device (there were 14 at the last count) using her private server in her home's basement bathroom (no one told her it was illegal, not even the times that the State Department's IT staff told her she must use the government servers and a government-issued device) to access her state department emails and classified material because that way the government could protect the information in-house. Of course WikiLeaks is also one of the excuses Hillary gives for her loss, after Russian interference and James Comey's investigation, and never mentions that she never showed up to campaign hard in most of the states in which Trump won victories after huge rallies. Hillary counted on dogged Democrats doing what Democrats have done since LBJ and vote for Hillary even after Hillary and the DNC colluded to deny Bernie Sanders voters could even cast votes when the election was rigged, even when WikiLeaks published emails from John Podesta, Hillary's campaign manager, surfaced laying out how Bernie Sanders would be brought to heel with Russian hackers leaking the information to WikiLeaks and its Russian hacking cadre were unmasked (yet another Russian conspiracy with no teeth and no evidence).

The fact is that Hillary is ill and cannot handle the crowds (or evidently the rallies since none were scheduled) any more, but Hillary is well served with handlers armed with injectable medications ready at a moment's notice and with access to a get-away car as we saw when Hillary left the 9/11 celebration in September in New York City when she stumbled and was thrown into the van unconscious or at least unable to manage on her own and driven to Chelsea's apartment from where she emerged moments later having fully recovered from her heat stroke.  Hillary even hugged a small girl when she emerged fit as a fiddle from Chelsea's building sans Secret Service or her protection brigade and handler even though she was reported to have a serious lung infection that laid poor put upon Hillary low so she could fabricate a new story about having to run hunched over to safety in Chechnya or possibly some YouTube angered Muslims upset about a cartoon making fun of the prophet Mohammed that ended in 4 dead Americans while she ran guns to the Islamic State fighters or some other spontaneously triggered Muslim rebels in Benghazi or possibly New Jersey.

Power corrupts and, like welfare recipients, the more the power (or food stamps) the more corrupt and corruptible the powerful become.

It seems like Hillary and Sister Cathy Cesnik have nothing in common outside of powerful individuals reaping the benefits of their hard won corruption, but think again. The power that protected Father Joseph Maskell from justice is the same powerful height from which a pope fell to be replaced by a new pope who urges the world to erase the boundaries and embrace the New World Order of togetherness and friendship like the European Union which is crumbling before our very eyes. Britain was the first to flee the EU, but is being rapidly followed by other nations either marginalized by EU policies or strangling under the weight of Syrian refugees, many of whom have come from Africa in the wake of Qaddafy's death, to flood the social welfare that once was a shining light beckoning all in Muslim countries fleeing before the Islamic State's fighters or the devastation of climate change, according to Obama, for the wealth and generosity of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open arms in Germany. Meanwhile, France narrowly escaped being corraled with US President Trump and his refusal to bow to Muslim sheikhs or cover Melania with a hijab in deference to fragile Muslim sensibilities, thus hopefully avoiding the need to apologize for poor Muslim men faced with beauty in a woman who is not advertising her willingness to be bombed or mounted by Muslim men starved of beauty openly and brazenly shared.

I do wonder if Father Maskell was also dazzled by the beauty and wantonness of girls barely pubescent and uncovered with their Catholic school uniforms not buttoned up to the neck and with their bobby sox not completely covering the lower calf. It seems, from testimony, that Father Maskell exercised his power over male and female pre-pubescent and pubescent children equally, more of a 'leave no child behind' attitude while exercising his abuses.

Power corrupts without equal even among Muslims. The Muslim belief is that women are for breeding and men are for pleasure in spite of their anti-homosexual attitudes. Smacks of have fun, but don't get too comfortable -- or familiar -- while having your fun with men when there are so many women around to take advantage of. Women are hidden and not given voices to complain. Then again, who knows what is underneath the head-to-toe covering of a veiled and carefully hidden form? Dress in an old-fashioned nun's habit and even a man sporting a full black mustache can appear to casual glances as a woman.

There is no lack of powerful men and women all too willing to abuse the innocent when there is no one to complain except the sheep. When the wolf is listening a sheep bleating, or a hundred sheep bleating, makes no difference. The wolf wins. Father Maskell was a wolf and so is Hillary Clinton. Anyone else is just another sheep bleating into the wind and the sheep bleating after another Muslim attack that turned children into body parts and blood after a concert in Manchester is more loud bleating in a herd of sheep no one is really listening to except for the usual virtue signaling and publicly praying for the fallen.  Don't worry. Lamb will be served following a concert near you soon.

That is all. Disperse.

Balancing on a Razor's Edge

Whatever you think of FBI director James Comey, it seems he is still a political football. I'm sure he was not surprised when President Trump called him on the Oval Office carpet and fired him. I am surprised Trump didn't fire him sooner. Then again, I am surprised by much of what Trump does. Trump seems unfocused and far too often emotional, acting out rather than acting from a stable emotional base, but then he's Trump and his emotions seem set to a hair trigger attached to his mouth and his tweeting fingers. Neither a good or stable position from which to act. If Trump was a warrior with decades of scars and battle experience to his credit, I'd guess he was a berserker.

I've heard and read comments from Democrat and Republican views that Comey is a nefarious master mind, that he is a dirty cop, that he is an honest dupe, that he was colluding with Hillary, that he is now colluding with Trump or at least has been backed into a corner where he has been forced to dance to Trump's since last spring, and on and on and on. The Democrats and Republicans and yanking on Comey from both sides, blaming him, challenging him, lauding him, applauding and demonizing him. My views are far less quixotic and less changeable.

From the beginning when Comey laid out the results of the investigation into Hillary's server, I believed he was honest and doing his best to stand up in a hurricane clinging to the nearest upright and stable anchor doing what he could. I was outraged that Comey gave Hillary a pass especially after stating that the Secretary of State had been extremely careless with classified documentation but that no prosecutor could prove she had the intent to commit an illegal act.

What?!

Hillary installed a server in her home and ran all of her emails through it. Hillary, when subpoenaed by Congress to answer questions and produce all devices had her server treated with Bleach Bit to erase all traces of her communication from the server, lost devices, and destroyed devices even with a hammer. I guess Hillary had been watching too many movies where junkies tossed their stash in the toilet and flushed it all way. No evidence, no crime.

There remained evidence on Anthony Weiner's laptop in his home for instance and in thousands of emails sent to people all around the world, including emails to Obama who was president at the time, and many of the emails still had evidence of classified markings on them. She was seen in photo and video tap, tap, tapping away at her Blackberry here and abroad and it was public knowledge that her communications were not secret even when sending and receiving secret information and that Hillary had been hacked by operatives from governments, allies and enemies. How does none of that provide enough proof of intent that a prosecutor wouldn't give his pension and eye teeth to prosecute? Such evidence is a game changer, a career maker, a lock. And it wasn't enough to prove intent? Was Comey high on crack? Was he insane or in the early stages of Alzheimer's who no longer recognized friend, foe, or family? How do you state publicly that the Secretary of the State of the United States of America under President Obama, a woman who has served in high office, and who was married to the president of the USA and was First Lady for 8 years, didn't know what a classified document looked like and lied about sending and receiving classified information was extremely careless when handling classified documents is not guilty of a crime? American citizens who were attached to the military services are still serving jail sentences for less and one general at least in recent memory was destroyed by being extremely careless with his pillow talk to his mistress when divulging classified information. How does Hillary get a pass?

Well, Hillary's husband, ex-president Bill Clinton, flew down to Phoenix and entered Loretta Lynch's plane where Mrs. Lynch dismissed her aides, companions, and guards and spent 30 minutes in the plane on the tarmac in Phoenix purportedly discussing grandkids and golf while Hillary was still under investigation. That had to have given Comey pause that the head of the Department of Justice (DOJ), his boss, was carrying on a private conversation with the husband of a woman under investigation by the FBI and the DOJ that none of her entourage were allowed to hear. Loretta Lynch, instead of recusing herself and allowing someone else to take the lead on the investigation, said in a press conference a few days later that she did indeed meet with her old friend, Bill Clinton, wife of Hillary who was under investigation, and that they talked about their grandkids and golf for 30 minutes and that she would accept whatever the FBI and the DOJ teams suggested. I knew then, if I hadn't figured it out before, that the fix was in. Hillary was going to get away with her extremely careless handling of confidential information.

Hillary was also going to get away with her extensive attempts to get rid of the evidence of her carelessness. Obama had covered for her and covered for Hillary still. Lynch was obviously in the bag and Lynch was the only person who could convene a grand jury to indict Hillary so she would stand trial before a jury. James Comey was obviously caught in a no-win situation no matter what he did, which is why he outlined Hillary's actions and summarized his findings by saying that no prosecutor would touch the case given the fact pattern he found because Hillary was not guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt. Huh?!  Isn't that something the prosecutor has to determine? Did Comey talk to a prosecutor, see a prosecutor, hear a prosecutor say there was insufficient evidence or cause to get a clear verdict on Hillary's guilt? Did Comey have a secret meeting with a grand jury and prosecutor to claim Hillary's case had insufficient evidence to prosecute and indict? What was going on? I was back to Comey must be high on crack again because nothing else made sense.

I watched Comey give evidence in congressional hearing after congressional hearing and he seemed lucid and honest, but I've been fooled by pathologic liars before. Was Comey another such sociopath?

No, Comey's background and family were involved and "...being paid millions of dollars that Comey accepted from a Clinton Foundation defense contractor, Comey’s former membership on a Clinton Foundation corporate partner’s board, and his surprising financial relationship with his brother Peter Comey, who works at the law firm that does the Clinton Foundation’s taxes."  Seems Comey isn't so honest after all. 

Stories that follow the money dog Comey and the people that read such stories question Comey's integrity and his honesty.  No one has mentioned whether or not Comey was a Hillary or Trump supporter that I've seen, but how Comey votes isn't supposed to matter; he's a cop, and agent and director of the FBI, he doesn't have a political voice in all of this -- or does he? 

Hillary claims that FBI director James Comey was the reason she lost the election. Hillary also claims the Russians were the reason she lost the election and then further claims that she lost because of . . . well, there's a long list of reasons, including Anthony Weiner’s cellphone, Fox News, WikiLeaks, and the fake news of the alt-right. I'm sure as the days go on and Hillary continues her many $250,000 speeches the reasons will accumulate as fast as the donations to the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments that only want to do good. 

Oh, wait, those foreign government payments ended before Hillary lost the election to Trump and have failed to begin again when the Electoral College certified Trump's win. That must be a big blow to the poor and needy the world over who were being helped by the Clinton Foundation. I'm certain the hurricane victims in Haiti will continue to send their regrets for the loss of their share of the charitable donations from the Clinton Foundation.

I prefer to think of James Comey as a good and honest cop who was caught between Obama and Hillary on one side and Loretta Lynch on the other side and doing the best he could to keep his head above water even though it no longer matters because Comey was fired as director of the FBI this week. Congress has found no evidence so far that Russia hacked the elections or were in any way involved in hacking documents and emails from John Podesta, the DNC, and Hillary and her team. Those documents and emails, none of which Podesta, the DNC, or Hillary and her team have been refuted, were leaked by people within the Hillary camp and/or working for the DNC and John Podesta who wanted the American people to see the real Hillary when the cameras are off and the reporters have gone home. The American people saw and chose Trump over Hillary and James Comey, with all of his double talk, will fade with time or end up covering the bird cages around the country for his trouble. I would imagine Comey will heave a sigh of relief once he is finally out of the crosshairs and off the public's mind.

I do believe Comey was an honest cop caught in an impossible situation and unable to do his job, relying on someone -- anyone -- to figure out what was going on and realize that Hillary would get away with her actions as she has so many times in the past, not because of her lame excuses or her paranoid scapegoating, but because the powers protecting her were more powerful than the truth. James Comey will have to rely on short term memory loss amidst the inundation of persistent data dumps and media howling that shift with the constantly changing mainstream currents. Maybe now Comey can relax since he is no longer balancing on a razor's edge.

That is all. Disperse.

Perspective Matters

Forced perspective is reality turned on its head, such is the case with the Trump presidency.

Trump has been called the biggest liar in presidential history and bold pundits muzzled for the 8 years of the Obama presidency point to Obama as the soul of reason, calm logic, and truth. Forced perspective. What else can people say with Trump firing off tweets in the middle of the night and throwing out comments and off the cuff remarks that seem more like paranoid fantasies than anything resembling the truth. I remember when Trump said he had witnessed Muslims cheering in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and was called out. No Muslims cheered the bombing of the World Trade Center. How dare he? I don't know if you noticed, but a few days later a sheepish Left retracted their bold calls of "Liar, liar, pants on fire" when digital and photographic proof surfaced. Oops.

All throughout Trump's bombastic displays the Left and Democrats and quite a few entrenched Republicans loudly proclaim Trump's lies only to have to retract -- or more often ignore -- opposition quietly or develop a sudden aversion to reminders of their liar, liar outrage as facts emerge that Trump was indeed right. Does that stop Trump's opposition? Less than a hundred days in and the Democrats, Left, and entrenched Republicans keep a microscope poised to parse every Trump utterance, misdemeanor, and divergence from the political holy canon. They obviously have difficulty learning new skills or avoiding the zap as they blunder endlessly into the old and worn routes. Insanity is defined as repeating the same behaviors and expecting a different result and the political crowd cannot figure out where they went wrong. The Democrats continue to shake their heads, play the Hillary game plan over and wonder what went wrong.

No doubt Obama and Michelle are still shaking their calmly logical heads even as Michelle discovers that she will not be allowed under the tenets of the U. S. Constitution to run for President in 2020 because she has not lived long enough in the United States. Michelle Obama will not be eligible to run for President until 2021. She is old enough (over 35) and was born in the United States to US citizens, but her parents decided to make use of the foreign student qualification by using her legal residence in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where her tax returns originated from until Obama became president. Oops. Well, at least Michelle Robinson got to go to university as a foreign student with money paid for by funds reserved for actual foreign students. That's the thing about truth; it is often inconvenient. Michelle will have to wait to run for office in the 2024 cycle with no more experience in the political trenches than Barack had, except she can claim she was First Lady for 8 years just like Hillary and no experience as the wife of a state's governor. Maybe she can find a way to trade her position as the part time hospital liaison shuffling indigent and uninsured poor to other facilities to meet their health care needs. The University of Chicago Medical Center paid Michelle $317,000 a year for her assistance in "...creat[ing] the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder [UCMC's] ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants."  It is too bad schools benefitting from Michelle's lunch program dumped her expertise and hard work planning healthy meals for students. Kids weren't eating the meals and the waste cost schools millions. 

Forced perspective once again. Michelle would have gotten farther with her lunch program if she had partnered with groups like the Edible Schoolyard or one of the local programs criss-crossing the country where teachers and students plan, plant, and harvest produce from community gardens, going back to the old saying of teaching someone to fish rather than handing out a fish being a more intelligent application of skills.  The school funds would be better used and everyone involved learns more about food from the roots up without the need to waste taxpayer dollars. That's the issue when the real reason for getting involved is personal PR and not helping the community, something Obama perfected during his White House tenure. No one could make sure the spotlight fell at precisely the best angle for Obama. No event, no tragedy, no national or international situation was wasted as long as Obama was center stage in the heart of the spotlight.

You can hold the moon in your hands with the optimum perspective just as the photo above demonstrates how to hold the Eiffel Tower between thumb and index finger. It's not magic, it's perspective, forced perspective. The politicians of the world stand aghast at Trump's pronouncements, conflations, and lies. Trump should allow himself to be guided by those practiced in the political arts and not go off on his own as though he is the Commander-in-Chief. How dare he conduct his life in the manner he has always conducted his life -- to suit himself? He is the President now and must act presidential. After nearly 50 years in construction in New York City, why should he act like a political hack instead of the powerful oligarch that he is or trade his distinct bluff and blustery style for the polished Washington Side-step perfected over decades. Is it better to sculpture a memorable sound byte or shoot from the unguarded lip as Obama did when suggesting to Dmitri Medvedev over a live microphone that when he was re-elected he'd "have more flexibility" with regard to missiles. Medvedev promised to relay Obama's comments to Vladimir Putin.

Politicians lie all the time. What doesn't play well in Washington is getting caught lying -- on camera or mic -- because that is more difficult to down play. The truth is a commodity and has little value in the political arena. Ask Bill Clinton or George W. Bush or Barack Obama or even LBJ or Nixon. They all lied, some far more grandly than the others, but lie they did because political expediency outweighs truth. Trump hasn't learned the political expediency of parsing the outside voice because it all comes from Trump's inside voice. Trump says whatever comes into his mind without parsing. Such parsing is necessary as Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand did when he told the people the government did not spy on them. There are NSA data collection centers all over the world, including a major center in New Zealand that shares information with Key and the British where every person in New Zealand and in countries around the world are spied on and their communications collected and stored. Key lied because he wanted the voters to pass a law that would legally allow the government to continue spying on everyone and collecting the data. If Key hadn't crafted his words carefully the voters would have refused to pass the measure to give the government the legal right to continuing to spy on the people and use the data the same way that the USA uses the data on every man, woman, and child in the nation.

If you want a nanny state you have to agree to give Big Brother the tools to violate your privacy and freedoms. This is 1984 in the 21st century digital age. Orwell saw the future, but not how deep Big Brother's control goes.

Trump is the fly in the political ointment and has no interest in falling into the political line. Obama subverted and bypassed the U.S. Constitution with political expedience. Trump violates the U. S. Constitution with the skills he honed navigating the New York construction industry, usually one or two steps beyond the long arm of the law, just within legal bounds. The political Powers That Be do the same thing, except the PTB rig the system by appointing judges ready to run offense and subvert the letter of the law to fulfill the unholy spirit of the law, treading the left-hand path. The ends justify the means in the political arena in the same way a bully rules the schoolyard. It is, to quote Scarlett O'Hara's mammy, "mules in horse harness."

Mutton dressed as lamb some would say, but in reality setting the weasel to guard the hen house. These days it is often impossible to discern the guard from the guarded. Weasels tend to blend in when wearing the guard's uniform until the chickens are all dead and the uniform spattered with blood and feathers.

There are those who prefer to see the weasel coming before he strikes. Trump is not a subtle man and we hear him even before we see him. Politicians are harder to discern even when you watch their lips moving.

Trump has been likened to Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a subtle politician. Trump is not a subtle man and no politician. Obama is a subtle politician.

That is all. Disperse.

Cult of Personality

People think the cult of personality is something new, a relic of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The only difference between the 1780s and 2017 is the speed with which information -- and scandal -- are disseminated.

Victoria Claflin Woodhull was not yet 35 in 1872 when she decided to run for President of the United States. She was not allowed to vote, but she was determined to vote, citing an eloquent argument based on the U. S. Constitution and building on what had already been written by like-minded men and women. Woodhull was the first woman to petition Congress on this matter and present her well reasoned arguments before that august body.

An entrepreneur, the first woman stockbroker in history, and a vocal advocate for women's rights and free love, Woodhull was determined to push women's suffrage forward and gain the vote for women. She also pushed her feminist agenda for free love and an end to government deciding marriage, divorce, and every other aspect of a woman's life, especially with regard to what was permissible in modern society. If men could marry and carry on illicit affairs, then women should be allowed to determine their own fate as well. It was Woodhull's version of quid pro quo and met with mixed acceptance.

One might say that Woodhull's publication of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's adulterous affair with Elizabeth Tilton and subsequent arrest was over the top in regards to punishment and using the U. S. mail to circulate the issue in Woodhull & Claflin Weekly's edition containing the details of the affair an obscenity as petty as it was political. The fact that Woodhull was a presidential candidate and unable to cast her unsanctioned vote because of her incarceration on charges that were specious at best is still notable, as is her choice of Frederick Douglass, a presidential elector from New York in the Electoral College, as her running mate for Vice-President. Douglass never acknowledged his candidacy nor did he attend the nominating convention. Woodhull ran under the Equal Rights Party banner.

Woodhull did garner votes, as one man from Texas claimed, stating he voted for Woodhull as a vote against Ulysses S. Grant, who eventually won the presidency in 1872. She received no electoral votes and all votes for her were not counted. She ran again unsuccessfully in 1884 and 1892. In the meantime, Woodhull was bankrupted by her opposition in the Women's Suffrage Movement by women like Susan B. Anthony who did not like her position or her politics.

As Otto von Bismarck stated, "Politics is the art of the possible," a sentiment echoed famously by Eva Peron in the opera penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Looking at George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as John F. Kennedy, can we really not see how the cult of the personality is the bedrock of politics? The Cult of the Personality did not begin with Barack Obama or Donald Trump and its roots are strong and deep throughout the history of politics in the United States of America as it has been throughout the history of the world, from Julius Caesar all the way back to Agamemnon and beyond. Victoria Claflin Woodhull is in memorable company and not only for her presidential candidacy but for her beliefs in communism, free love, and business and for her business acumen and refusal to bow to pressure, even when she was jailed.

That is all. Disperse.

The Rise of Nationalism

What we have here is a failure to communicate. We are speaking the same language, but the need to keep from falling into the PC pit to get an important point across has resulted in mental and verbal contortions that would try the abilities of the best acrobat -- and politician.

The point is the growing populist movement, a movement that is equated with nationalism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, and fascism. That is where language fails us as it will always fail us after being filtered through the fine mesh of Political Correctness. Every word is suspect. Every motive a leap backward to the bad old days of Hitler, Stalin, Il Duce, and Franco of Spain. The Left points fingers at the Conservative Right who are busily distancing themselves from the painful onus of the Ku Klux Klan and the segregationist and racist policies of the Good Old South. Just a hint of the return to the bloody burning old days and the politically correct neo-progressive left wing riot, burn, loot, and crawl into their safe spaces to hug a puppy and while away the unthinkable hours with Play-Doh and coloring books while Barney videos sing a happy inclusive song in the background.

The National Front and Marine Le Pen of France, Nigel Farage of Britain, and Donald Trump have one thing in common and it isn't xenophobia, religious intolerance, or fascism. What they have in common is their nationalism, their strong feelings for the middle and lower classes and the protection of their national identity. And that is where the conversation ends. The neo-progressive Left, the socialist and communist factions, and the conservative religious Right begin howling for Nationalist Blood, having worked so hard to come this far only to be destroyed, undermined, and sold for a return to a forgotten bloody age.

That is what happens when the ruling classes from all ideologies refuse to listen and do not -- cannot -- understand when large numbers of their constituencies follow these nationalists like rats following the Pied Piper.

There are economic issues to consider, but at the heart of the economic meltdown and defection is the immigrant problem. Pointing to the hordes of Muslim immigrants only brings out the blinders and ear plugs while the entrenched political parties try to drown out the sound of xenophobia and religious intolerance by singing lalalalalalalalalalala at the top of their voices, making it impossible to listen, let alone hear, what these nationalists are saying.

The world equates nationalism with fascism and could not be farther from the truth. Nationalism, and populism, has nothing to do with the expansionist goals of fascism still doing their best to extend their borders and influence. Marine Le Pen, Nigel Farage, and Donald J. Trump don't want more land or more power. They want to keep their borders strong and their sense of identity as French, British, and American intact. The immigration of Muslims is the problem, not because of their religion as such, but because of their refusal to integrate into the host countries.

It was easy to assimilate the Amish and the Mennonites. They were religious separatists who wanted nothing to do with the outside world, the English as the Amish term all those who are not part of the Amish beliefs and practices. The Amish and Mennonites deal with outsiders, but they do so in a peaceful manner. Neither the Amish nor the Mennonites want the rest of the country, or the world, to convert to their beliefs. The Amish and Mennonites want to practice their religious beliefs in peace away from the world.

Secular Jews assimilated into their host countries, going to temple and mingling with host countries where they immigrated, having been driven out or voluntarily leaving one step ahead of the latest Progrom or train ride to a concentration camp to either work until they died or were gassed, robbed, and burned. The workers were piled into mass graves after everything of value was stripped from them, dead and alive. Secular Jews kept a low profile to avoid further depredations.

Orthodox Jews were also hounded out of their homes by Pogroms and gassed with their secular brethren and sisters, worked to death, and fled to wherever they could find space. Orthodox Jews also maintain their religious identities separate from their host countries, refusing to assimilate, gathering together in separate communities. Though Orthodox Jews are also separatists, they have no desire to interfere with the laws and customs of host countries keeping themselves to themselves and doing so peacefully.

Muslims fall into two categories: the ones that assimilate and the separatists gathering in closed communities and refusing to assimilate. Islamic refusal to assimilate is rooted in jihad and the goal, like the New World Order, of a global Caliphate where Shari'a law is the only rule and all apostates and unbelievers either convert or die. And therein lies the problem -- the refusal to assimilate and their demand that they be given all the protections and social perks of the host country. Call it what you will -- religious extremism, jihad, separatism, ghettoism -- these immigrant hordes look more like locusts than migrants looking for a new home, a new country where they will belong. Their only agenda is the same as it has been since the 7th century: expand the global Caliphate and convert or behead all infidels and apostates.

In Spain, secular Muslims, migrated up from the Middle East and Africa and Turkey. There were the inevitable fiery and bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians determined to maintain their way of life and their religious national identity, but secular Muslims did become part of Spain and the Spanish identity, sharing their knowledge and architecture, enriching the indigenous culture. Secular Muslims came together with the Spanish people under the banner of Don Diego de Bivar, El Cid, when marauding Islamic jihadists swarmed into Spain from Africa intent on beheading the peaceful Muslims and the Christians. Neither were acceptable as they cut a bloody swath through Africa and into Spain. The jihadist's one rule was convert or die. The Spanish Muslims and the Spaniard forces under the leadership of El Cid beat back the jihadists together.

It is no different today. Islamic jihadists like a marauding horde of locusts swarm throughout Europe demanding to remain separate in their communities and over burdening social programs with further demands that they be given their share of the social pie while maintaining Shari'a law and terrorizing the people of their host countries. Like week-old fish and guests that stay too long, the Muslim immigrants who refuse to assimilate and become French or Dutch or German, etc., they have outstayed their welcome. The presence is a constant reminder of the danger they pose, not only to the collapse of social programs, but to the lives, well being, and safety of the people of their host countries. Islamic separatists do not want to become a part of the host country, they want what they have always wanted . . . to convert or destroy everything and everyone around them just like locusts. Their expansionist agenda is the danger, not the desire of the people put at risk by their ravenous appetite for more, more, and even more.

Unemployment rates continue to rise. Economies are melting down. The people feel less safe and secure. Social programs are stretched far beyond their capacity. Health care is deteriorating. The global Caliphate must be made a reality and no one, no government, no laws, no national identity, nothing must stand in the way of the sweeping Islamic jihad. But how can we tell the Islamic jihadists, the religious extremists from the peaceful secular Muslims?

We cannot.

Even though the current neo-progressive left agenda is the New World Order, a global government under one leader with one religion and one monetary system of exchange, the Left's agenda is not compatible with the global Caliphate. The agendas are the same, but the end result is diametrically opposed and their methods are vastly different. The NWO has worked in secret, infiltrating countries slowly as the doctrine of One World-One Government-No Borders worms its way into the minds and hearts of the people through their leaders. Socialism was the first step. The European Union was the next step. The NWO's plans for the abolishment of borders and national identities have hit a snag as nationalist/populist leaders push back with the force of an awakened dragon aware of what their sleep has cost them and continues to cost.

Something has to go. The destruction of what it means to be French or American or Italian, Greek, and British will not be taken lying down. The people are pushing back. The people will not go quietly into that oblivion. Le Pen, Farage, Wilders, and Trump rose from the background to stand up and give the people a voice and the people are flocking to them in ever rising numbers, and even against their own distaste for the perceived negative views of nationalism, which is still too close to fascism for them. The people are not xenophobic or intolerant, but the are tired of watching their future go up in smoke or die in a hail of Islamic jihadist bullets while they gasp out their last breath. The people could see the need for affordable and universal health care, the safety net of social programs that grew out of the end of World War II, and the possibility of a better life, a better future for their children, but not at the expense of marauding hordes of Muslims that drive the minimum wage down, take away jobs, demand their share of the social safety net, and destroy the freedom and safety of their towns, cities, and country in their ghettos.

America isn't the only country facing illegal immigration nor is it the only country suffering the wholesale abandonment of wealthy corporations and jobs drip, drip, dripping away. Granted, Muslim immigration, and illegal immigration, have crippled America and many European countries, but they are only a part of the problem. Their determination to take over and eradicate all opposition is a big part of the problem, but the real problem is much more complex and far reaching.

Securing national borders and rebuilding infrastructure and bringing back jobs, stemming the rising tide of unemployment, must begin somewhere, so why not begin with the obvious obvious problem first and end Muslim integration and the violence they bring with them?

If Islamic jihadists refuse to assimilate their host country and be part of the solution, then Islamic jihadists must be stopped and must go. National identities must be preserved and protected first, politically correct neo-progressives be damned. Let them howl at the perceptions of xenophobia, religious intolerance, and fascism. It was the neo-progressives that helped create the problem and they can muck in with the rest of their disenfranchised brothers and sisters and help fix the problem. If they won't help, then they can get out of the way. Nationalists want to protect their national identity. They do not want to expand their borders and take over anywhere but at home. That is what Le Pen, Wilders, Farage, Trump and every other populist leader have been saying and why the people are willing to ignore what they think they know nationalism is and embrace the people willing to listen to their concerns and do something about it.

We have more to worry about with Islamic Nationalism because it is fascism, invasion and expansion of Shari'a Law and the Islamic religion at the cost of everyone, everything, and every country in its wake. That is the fascism the neo-progressives should be paying attention to instead of pandering to.

That is all. Disperse.

Psychology of Fear

The image to the right is called the Plough by the Egyptians and in the original movie, Stargate, and was called Ursa Major by the Greeks and Romans. It is known to every child in every nation as the Big Dipper. This grouping of stars features prominently in a book by Bram Stokes (yes, that Bram Stoker) called The Jewel of Seven Stars. The story revolves around this particular constellation, the Plough/Ursa Major/Big Dipper as seen from Egypt a few thousand years ago and at the dawn of the 20th century in London, England. Many stories, plays, and movies have based their plots on Bram Stoker's book -- and not always to good effect.

The jewel central to Stoker's story, in fact to every story, features these 7 stars. Te-ra, the Egyptian queen who features in the tale was an evil queen -- at least according to the priests of her time and to what little is written about her. She was married to her father in order to keep the pharaonic blood lines pure, although a brother was the usual choice for the pharaoh, and when he died and was entombed after the ritual 70 days, Te-ra killed everyone who had even known or spoken to her father in retribution. I can see where that would likely earn Te-ra the evil title. Remember though that the world 3000 or 4000 years ago was very different that the world in which we live, especially for someone living at that time. Her views and beliefs and practices would have been molded by her time, not the times we live in, and certainly not the 19th century when the story was penned.

Bram Stoker had a vivid and active imagination. He created the ageless vampire, Dracula, and the White Worm, as well as many protagonists from ages past. Te-ra was merely one more of his paper villains. I've read The Jewel of Seven Stars several times and the rest of Stoker's ouevre. While Stoker had a morbid fascination with creatures of the night, Te-ra was not one of his darkly evil villains out to maim, destroy, and suck the marrow (and blood) of life. Te-ra, henceforth Tera, wanted to live again, to live a life free of the rituals, religion, and control of the priests that condemned her (so they thought) to eternal obliteration, which is why they scraped all mentioned of her name from the records and her tomb and destroyed every image depicting her. In ancient Egypt, to be forgotten was to be unmade, to be destroyed utterly. If people did not remember Tera then the gods would forget her as well. Damned in this world and the next.

Stoker's tale of immortality is one of the wish of an ancient Egyptian queen's desire to live again, to be reborn in the corporeal world to live in physical form far in the future. Her mummy was prepared in such a way as to give him power over the elements (earth, fire, water, and, most importantly, air) so she would be powerful, not as a queen or pharaoh is powerful, but as a magician, an adept is powerful in magic, something modern people dabble in and write about but only believe privately and denounce publicly to avoid the risk of being called mentally ill or worse.

Of course, nowadays, believing in magic is fan boy and girl territory and isn't everyone a fan of magic in their heart of hearts?

Margaret's father, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tera, believed that something was amiss when he catalogued the contents of Tera's tomb and read her wishes. Margaret was born at the same moment Tera's tomb was opened, died, and was discovered to be alive as the lid of the sarcophagus was removed. Though he was not present at Margaret's birth, Margaret's father was so thoroughly focused on finding the tomb of the nameless queen, not even his wife's pregnancy and his child's imminent birth would keep him from following the nameless queen's trail to the bitter end. He grieved his wife's death and could not bring himself to live daily in the presence of a child that was touched by the nameless queen's magic -- or her evil. I imagined that the professor believed in magic as he believed in opening forgotten tombs and cataloguing their belongings and the contents of their tombs, even to the point of believing what those ancient pharaohs and queens wrote (or had their scribes write) about themselves.

During the course of the novel, Margaret arrives on her father's doorstep in time to follow Tera's written instructions, in order that her father will wake up. Everything was laid out and Margaret was fascinated by it all. She wanted to be a part of it, not only because of her likeness to Tera but because she believed that if she followed the instructions as laid out, her father would be restored to her and she could at last live with him and get to know him and the world as he saw and knew it. Her father was in a trance (we would call it a coma) and had been attacked and yet Scotland yard was at a loss to discover the culprit or the motive.

The instructions are followed, Margaret's father wakes up, more tools and artifacts are brought back to London from Tera's tomb, and the team that was present when Tera's tomb was opened gathered around as the ritual was enacted. At the end of the ritual, the lights stutter and Tera (her mummy) is gone, the wrappings empty. Stoker leaves the reader with the feeling that Tera has left to explore the world she waited so long to live in and that Margaret is safe and will be allowed to live the life she has dreamed of since she was a child separated from her father and from a world of adventure and knowledge.

Like every one of Stoker's novels, The Jewel of Seven Stars has been rewritten for the horror hungry world anxious for the past to come alive and carry off the unworthy -- and the unwary. Five movies have been based on the plot of the novel (nameless queen, ancient evil, modern man finds and opens tomb, daughter born at the right time, and queen's ritual followed to bring about her rebirth . . . usually awash in the blood of the queen's victims. In a way, it seems adaptations include a bit of the blood lust and blood sacrifice of victims to the ancient dead in order to live on, not unlike Dracula in that way. Only the White Worm has escaped the vampire's curse . . . barely. Blood follows Stoker as surely as it follows Dracula and all vampires. Just as Lucy.

The Awakening, starring Charlton Heston and Stephanie Zimbalist, debuting in 1980 is by far the most star-studded cast and was preceded by Blood from the Mummy's Tomb in 1971 at the height of Hammer films heyday, notable for Valerie Leon, the curvaceous brunette starring as Margaret and Tera and scantily clad through much of the film. Both movies were set in London, though extra points for Heston for sending his daughter all the way to America to keep her safe and for allowing Margaret's mother to live, though she was catatonic early on when Professor Corbeck opened Tera's tomb. Professor Fuchs in the earlier movie died at the end as his home fell down on him when he and his Margaret stabbed Tera, leaving a lot of rubble and one nearly naked female wrapped up in bandages in the hospital at the end of the movie. Could it be Tera? Could it be Margaret? Does it matter? Probably not as it was done for suspense and the element of lingering horror instead of a sequel. Stoker didn't write one.

In 1986, The Tomb followed with the usual bloody mayhem, but with a change of names and plot. Nefratis is the nameless queen whose tomb is plundered and the contents sent to America where the queen follows and exacts revenge on everyone involved. A far cry from a queen condemned in this life and the next who arranges things from beyond to live again, but no less bloody than its previous adaptations and with the addition of statuesque blondes and a very youthful brunette Michelle Bauer as the vengeful Nefratis. John Carradine, a horror movie legend, and Cameron Mitchell of High Chapparral fame do their best to breath a little life into this hodgepodge of mummy curses and fail to do more than maintain the B movie status, and Jade, the buxom, blonde Amazon from Australia did that all by herself when she walked onto the set.

On to the more politically correct 1998 when Bram Stoker's Legend of the Mummy does its best to cash in on Bram Stoker and Bram Stoker's Dracula fame. Not even Louis Gossett, Jr. could save this movie from B movie status, not even with Mark Lindsay Chapman, one time foe of Swamp Thing.  In this incarnation, Margaret and Queen Tera are played by different actresses, Margaret a blonde and Tera a sultry, although substantially watered down version of Tera. At best, this version is barely a B- movie, though this time Tera has all seven of the fingers on her right hand, the same hand that was left unwrapped in The Awakening  and seen at the beginning of the movie when the sarcophagus lid was opened.

The point to all this Egyptian magic and movie adaptations is to point out what modern, or relatively modern, movie goers get and get used to: blood, curses, mummies, and turning an interesting story into a blood-soaked fright fest for the purposes of scaring (or dumbing) the public into a state of fear. Such psychology does not work, but when has Hollywood or any movie studio in the western world cared whether or not scare tactics work? Okay, well, maybe when subliminal messages on the wide screen failed to boost popcorn sales. At least Hammer studios were willing to go the extra mile in their horror films by installing joy buzzers in the seats and adding special effects in the theater to make the horror more real for the patrons, and such gimmicks are far beyond the usual adolescent pranks of the 1960s and 1970s or the focus groups and PR tricks played before the 60s and since, especially since Freddy Kruger turned our world -- and our dreams -- upside down and inside out.

The point is that scaring the public (to death or as close to it as possible) has become a powerful and lucrative industry since Bram Stoker's day of managing theatres of the more prosaic variety. Stoker hints at the awful consequences of digging up the past instead of shoving it in your face as though front seat at the Grand Guignol, which was revived in 1947 after World War II to entertain the war weary soldiers. The more recent Penny Dreadful is yet another example of the horror craze (and frenzy) that creates and maintains fear among the public by dramatizing and adapting the classic, and much tamer, tales of horror through the ages: Dorian Grey, Frankenstein, Dracula, werewolves, witches, wax museums, Bedlam, Satan, vampires, and such, stealing from every closet and tomb to feed the fears. Once upon a time, religion held people's minds and souls in bondage and served to make man fear GOD in order to live a good and productive life. Those old-fashioned terrors keep the fires of fear stoked for fewer and fewer people as Karl Marx taught that religion is the opium of the masses at a time when real opium enslaves more people with a much stronger hold and yet leave the drugged fit for their daily round on the hamster wheel of keeping up with the Joneses and voting the same greedy and soulless puppets into office to govern us with our consent and approval. Old-fashioned fear has not been enough for a long time and it took movies to ramp up the fear and leave the public shaking in its collective boots -- until the public becomes more sophisticated and unable to be rendered unconscious until the hour of the wolf comes and the night terrors catapult us awake gibbering in fear.

Blood has become porn with the latest in computer generated imaging (CGI) as gouts of arterial blood flood our minds, numbing us even more and requiring the horror industry to step up its game. Horror today is a far cry from the 1930s when my mother gaped open-mouthed at Boris Karloff's portray of Frankenstein's monster on the big screen at their local theater. The horror that sent her scrambling to hide in her mother's arms or crawl under the seat left me smiling and laughing at the hidden jokes and the artful (for the time period) makeup and wooden acting. Boris Karloff did more with his voice to scare several generations out of their skins, like Mae West did to sexualize a reading of the names in the telephone book, but we are now the generation of blood porn and over the top horror that keeps escalating quickly past our endurance for such fears.

The establishment is quickly losing ground, but that is only to be expected when repeated doses of fear tend to numb the senses rather than increase the baseline fear that keeps the average Jane and Joe Doe in line and fearing everything around them. Fear is only part of the equation and not everyone takes drugs, although the 80s and 90s did a stellar job of hooking a healthy percentage of the population on Valium and Adderall.

The biggest problem is that the establishment learns a lot slower than the average citizen/slave. I think that is why the leaders of Islam remain mired in the glorious past where whipping up a jihad was as easy as quoting the Quran for believers. Islam remains in the past and keeps its devout followers mired in the 7th century in order to keep the rest of the world captives of fear and control. The alternative is a good very old-fashioned beheading or bombing, knifing, and shooting in night clubs and public watering holes as well as work places where the faithful have infiltrated and been drugged on the belief of Mohammed's brand of opium: Islam. Another problem blooms in the bloody debris of jihadist terrors: the bombastic display of those willing to follow the thorny path back to the Dark Ages, throw off their politically correct camouflage, and fight blood with bloody rhetoric while the drugged and greedy meat puppets continue sowing fear of such unenlightened tactics and fear mongering to trump the past with a bright future and a New World Order. The end is near -- but not in an unwashed street preacher carrying a sign painted with black letters proclaiming "THE END IS HERE" on street corners everywhere in the civilized world.

I think I'll bow out and take up Bram Stoker's unspoken hope that with magic and watchful waiting a time will come when I will live again in the strength of my own power beyond the reach of small-minded establishment priests who did their best to take away my name, my power, and my soul and failed.

That is all. Disperse.

Bedazzled 2016

Do you remember the movie "Bedazzled" with first Dudley Moore and then Brendan Fraser? The focus of their attention was a girl, a girl probably way out of their league. The Devil offered a deal to grant him wishes that help him get the girl. Of course, the Devil was lying and led the poor guy down a thorny path, changing him so that the girl would want him. The trick was that no matter what the girl really wanted, when she got it turns out it wasn't what -- or who -- she wanted. Not the sensitive guy or the macho guy or the intelligent guy or the wealthy guy or any guy he twisted himself into. The lesson was not to trust the devil, but the real lesson was that people don't usually want what they think they want? Confused?

Last year people watched and heard Ben Carson talk about the Constitution and American values and many, including me, said they would vote for him if he ran for President. Some have stuck by him, but most have not.

Americans want someone they can believe in and follow. Obama gave America glib and a man who said he would do things differently, be the most transparent president ever. He would give control of the country back to the people. As soon as Obama stepped foot into the Oval Office he turned on our allies, first by having the desk built from a war ship, the Constitution, removed and then by throwing out Winston Churchill's bust and countering the pen set, also made from the Constitution's planks, with a gift of an iPod with a music mix on it for Queen Elizabeth. Talk about class.

The years between his tenure have been marked by lies, recriminations, accusations, and an apology tour that has covered the world. Obama bowed low to Muslims and slighted Queen Elizabeth and our allies in Israel. He has lectured and preached to Americans from the pulpit about our lack of tolerance for Muslims and refusal to give up our guns. He has made a mockery of this country and plunged us into the greatest debt ever while blaming Bush and explaining that he was forced into increasing the debt and digging us out of the hole Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, banks, Wall Street, and insurance companies have force us into with their too big to fail shenanigans, fraud, and theft. He has not been the president he promised to be and has only mired this country and our government into a Black Hole of Calcutta proportions. He was not who or what he claimed to be and he has proven it with his lavish world tours, golfing, and kowtowing to Muslims here and around the world, refusing to call their savagery and rampaging across Europe and here in the USA terrorism while demanding more gun laws and people give up their guns because we are the only country in the world holding onto the guns.

Remember Ben Carson? He threw his hat into the ring only to be met with derision and disdain. He lied about what he remembers and everything he says is scrutinized with a body louse comb while holding him and his wife up to ridicule because she is not a trophy wife but a real person. We have treated Ben Carson like Brendan Fraser and Dudley Moore as he tried to play the game of politics and laid his heart and his philosophies to be pawed over, second guessed, and reviled.

Where are the people who would vote for him if he ran?

Ben Carson is not a seasoned politician.  Is that not what Americans claimed they wanted? He has a few gaps in his knowledge of world history and leads with his religion and what he learned at the feet of his teachers of the Bible. He hides nothing, not even his beliefs even though many think he is mistaken and naive in his beliefs.

The thing is, politics has nothing to do with religion and should not because of the separation of church and state, the holy grail of liberal politics that would destroy all mention of religion in the halls of government and on government buildings.

I do agree that religion needs to be taken out of politics and should not be a part of the political process, but what a wo/man believes indicates character. You remember character? That part of a person's makeup that Bill Clinton didn't say mattered as he continued to assault and sexually harass women everywhere, the character he showed when Monica Lewinsky and her cum-stained blue dress came out of the closet, and the character he demonstrated when he said in public and under oath that he did not have sex with Monica?

Character does matter and Ben Carson has demonstrated his character admirably as the political machine does its best to tear him apart, not because he is a Christian (surely not) but because he is unprepared to govern or lead this country.

Remember Obama? What are his credentials? How has he managed as Commander-in-Chief and leader of this nation? Ben Carson doesn't look so bad after all. At least Carson is what he says he is and shows it every time he appears in public, but he is still the guy the pretty girl -- and the voters -- are treating like last month's dog food. 

It's time to decide what we as Americans want and choose which man with character we will follow and support. Time to follow the old guard or the bombastic over the top entertainer or suffer through another President only out to line his pockets and live the life of royalty at the taxpayers' expense until there is nothing left to give. Will Ben Carson's character show he is the kind of man to use his last wish for the country to be happy, at peace, and prosperous or will we end up with Obama laughing while he lights the match and throws it into the oil spill that will destroy the country, the waters, and all US citizens while the Constitution and American freedoms burn?

That is all.  Disperse.