It Is OK To Laugh At All This

CPAC crowd enthusiastically waves Russian flags as it waits for Trump to speak

Oh, man. I was going to write a "serious piece" about Confirmation Bias and how we all need to discipline our thinking by subjecting it to opposing arguments, but this is way too fun. Especially today after our Strong Man-in-Chief decided to limit White House briefings to press reps that are friendly to him. (See: people, Enemy of the)

Like the spring weather, April Fool's Day came early today. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meets annually here in DC. It is a congregation of hardcore conservatives, uber-evangelicals and far-right political types. Typically, it has been branded as an outlier of sorts in the American political tradition. But today, it represents the "new normal"; it is very much the center of the new Republican party.  Alt-Right types were dumped beforehand from attending for being "too liberal", so that should give you an idea about this bunch.

Here's another example of the new normal - a CPAC breakout session title: "If Heaven Has a Gate, a Wall, and Extreme Vetting, Why Can't America?" That's a good question!

Anyway, President Bannon spoke there and intimidated everyone. Then the PussGrabber himself showed up to speak with his best 400 word vocabulary. And what a scene! As the crowd waited for his entrance, they fervently waved Trump flags to welcome him. Except, well, these weren't really Trump flags.

Someone had gone through the whole hall and distributed "Trump Flags" to everyone (see picture above). The Trump Flags were really Russian flags with "Trump" written on them. So the entire hall was filled with acolytes waving Russian flags for the President. And here's the guy responsible:

This guy is now my hero.

This brings up a good point: can "the Resistance" to Trump be more effective through the use of humor? Plenty of signs like this at recent marches point suggest so:

The Godfather of the Political Prank was Dick Tuck. Most of his great stunts were against Richard Nixon. In the 50's, Tuck volunteered as a Nixon campaign worker and somehow booked him to speak at a huge auditorium; when Nixon showed up, the hall was empty except for a few homeless people because the event hadn't been advertised. The famous 1962 California gubernatorial campaign that Nixon lost was in some part because of Tuck's Chinatown prank:

Nixon had been under fire for an "unsecured" loan from Howard Hughes to his brother. When Nixon appeared at LA's Chinatown, Tuck had young local children hold up a Chinese-lettered sign behind him that read, "What About The Hughes Loan?" Someone told Nixon, who ripped up the sign whilethe cameras rolled. Later, when Nixon was speaking from the back of a train to a station full of people, Tuck appeared with a conductor's cap and signaled the train to pull away out of the station. It did.

Another great prankster was the Scotsman who supplied Trump with swastika-inscribed golf balls at the debut of his Scotland golf course last summer:

Then there was the wonderful prank when a radio guy called then-VP candidate Sarah Palin, convincing her that he was French President Sarkozy. Comic Gold!

A bit different, and more than a bit way back, were the antics of The Chicago Seven during their anti-war protest trial in 1969. Not a prank on a politician or group, but on the entire establishment judicial system.

Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin entered the court one day during their months-long trial. They were dressed in judicial robes. They created a major stir as they strode up to take their seats, robes billowing behind them. Their judicial nemesis, Judge Julius Hoffman, took their ever-present bait, yet again. He sarcastically complimented them on their sartorial garb. Hoffman and Rubin stood up and tossed off the robes, revealing Chicago police uniforms. Then they cleaned their shoes with the robes. The judge added more contempt citations onto them as it was all written into legend.

So we have to find ways to laugh at what is happening. We need to demean. Thugs and bullies HATE to be laughed at. The more that Trump and Company are ridiculed, the better. I didn't always feel this way... but things continue to arc away from Democracy and our Republic.

From December, 2016 (seems like a long time ago), Press Secretary Designate Sean Spicer tells Politico not to worry, that Trump saying he was going to limit the Press from attending White House briefings was not correct. The White House was not going to ban specific media outlets. To do so would mean we're in a Dictatorship.

But today, the White House banned specific media outlets, including Politico. Joke's on them! The Dictatorship is getting ready for its closeup.

Given this and the imminent hire of thousands of new Homeland Security agents for vaguely worded Gestapo-like purposes, I think we can officially rescind Godwin's Law regarding this administration. There. Dustbin of history. And the following gif isn't a prank, but punching a ridiculous Alt-Right Nazi wannabe like Richard Spencer (twice in one day) provides a small measure of schadenfreude amusement:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Have a fun weekend! And remember, April Fool's Day is not far off!!

"Just another Saab story from a guy who can't keep his hands off a woman's Volvo."

Sweden stood with us after Bowling Green. Today we stand with Sweden!

The world held its breath this weekend when the awful news of Friday night's immigrant-related terrorism incident in Sweden swept the globe. Except, of course, it didn't. And we now know Our Leader was referring to a Fox News program on Sweden that had played that evening. Except, of course, the Fox News program was Fake News, as they say, and full of Doo.

Sweden has had an open door policy for refugees and immigrants for many years. They have taken in plenty from the turmoiled Mideast. As a homogeneous and prosperous white nation harboring brown people in need, Sweden must infuriate folks like Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the brain trust behind Fox News.

The interview in question revolved around a right-wing documentary filmmaker and her inaccurate claims of widespread refugee-fueled Rape, Murder, Surging Crime and Islamic "No-Go/Sharia Law" communities in Sweden. Here is a Swedish news agency's take:

http://www.thelocal.se/20170220/sweden-facts-a-closer-look-at-filmmaker-ami-horowitz-claims

OK, yup, #lastnightinsweden was an Islamaphobic filmmaker being interviewed on Fox, which is where the Blowhard-in-Chief gets his news, along with InfoWars with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. And Breitbart News for Paranoid White People.

Which brings us to the question - if Donald Trump wants to make Sweden Great Again, what changes  are in store for the Scandanavian socialist utopia?

They have free health care for everyone. And free education, too. Moms and Dads get extensive paid parental leave when newborns arrive. Five weeks of vacation, by law. Pretty great and extensive national public transportation system. Business-friendly environment with strong environmental safeguards. A narrower income gap. A profound love for nature. Low crime. Much technology. Meatballs. Pastries. Moose and Elk. The list of terrible things that Trump must change goes on and on.

However, all is not perfect in this Land of the Midnight Sun. Darkness cloaks everything for 20+ hours a day in winter. (Of course, that means 20+ hours of sun in the summer.) Taxes are sky high. Standard of living is, too. But you get what you pay for...

And the worst aspect of Sweden is an irrational love for Lutefish and a truly disgusting culinary monstrosity called Surstromming. It's aged fermented herring stored in a bulging metal can. Upon opening, a near-lethal cloud of nauseating and odiferous aromas spews forth, placing any nearby unfortunates into an immediate state of toxic shock. I have witnessed one opened can clear an entire backyard of revelers faster than a methane gas explosion. It is deadly and should be banned by all nations.

So maybe ridding the world of Surstromming would help make Sweden Great Again. The Swedes themselves have a few ideas about their role in our new world, and Donald Trump. Let's watch:

Oh, so funny! What is not so mirth-worthy is the Grabber-in-Chief's declaration on Friday that the news media is "the enemy of the American people." Huh. Not even the Russian thugocracy gets that kind of invective now-a-days. In fact, his constant antagonism towards the press is consistent with the relationship Russian despots have had with their own sources of information. If you manage to de-legitimize any source of objective reporting, your subjects come to depend on You for what is True. That's when a President becomes a Dear Leader.

To dig in a bit on this subject of Truth and Reporting, let's take a few minutes to read the speech delivered last week at UCLA's Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture by Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal (no one's idea of a leftist publication). It's well worth your time:

http://time.com/4675860/donald-trump-fake-news-attacks/

All this serves as a shuddering reminder of how close we've moved to becoming an Autocracy in the last 30 days. To further our shudders, here is a sign on display at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Read it and weep:

I believe we are living in an age where every line above has a check mark.

Well, that is all despairing. But not as much as the great ABBA scare of the 1970s, when Sweden was in the forefront of creating a nihilistic ideology that stressed ear worm melodies, insipid lyrics and Nordic dance styles. Although their influence over the decades has waxed and waned, ABBA is surging again. In fact, they may be the same terrorist group responsible for the Bowling Green Massacre. Here is one of their mid-70s propaganda films:

Mamma Mia! I need to send a signal, SOS! Waterloo, Iowa may be their next target!! It's Sweden's secret weapon and we are helpless to stop it.

Remember Bowling Green!!

What another wild week it's been! And where do we go from here? Muslim Bans? EPA dismantled? No Jews in a Holocaust Remembrance? Invade Mexico? Dishonest financial advisors allowed to fleece their customers? Coal debris into watersheds? Tear down the wall between Church and State? Blunder into a botched military raid where dozens of women and children are killed? Elevate an Alt-Right/Islamaphobe to the National Security Council? Nominate a judge that's to the Right of Scalia? Suggest that Frederick Douglass is still alive? Hang up on the Australian PM? Inspire at National Prayer Breakfast by calling out Arnold Schwarzenegger's lower ratings? Using a bust of MLK at the Black History Month Breakfast to rail about how the media is unfair and crooked? I could really go on, but I'm tired of all this winning.

Instead, I highly recommend you take a moment to check out the humanitarian effort being conducted on behalf of all the victims of the horrible Bowling Green Massacre:

https://www.bowlinggreenmassacrefund.com

There! Don't you feel better? They did not give their lives and limbs in vain. Now, for those who would like to separate the Real from the Fake, and the Facts from their Alternate, may I suggest the wonderful regular service provided by America's premier newspaper (sorry, NYT):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/?utm_term=.5066df81fa6d

Now then... it's easy to get caught up in the insanity of our New World Disorder. We've all fallen down the rabbit hole and there's just no simple way back. And becoming enmeshed in the often hateful rhetoric and malevolent thinking that can frame our problems leads nowhere that's good. We all need to take a few steps back. Breath in and out a few times. Clear our heads and focus on what's True and Beautiful. Towards that end, may I direct your attention to this stunning, jaw-dropping version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", by Eva Cassidy. There's never been a version like this. It will salve your soul, I guarantee it:

The Eva Cassidy story is amazing, sad and beautiful. She recorded this in between gigs as a landscaper/nursery worker. Unknown to her at the time, she was dying of cancer. A few months after this show, she was gone. A copy of her performance made its way to a DJ at the BBC. He played it on a whim. It took Britain by storm. She has three posthumous Number Ones over there, and has sold over 10 million copies. Criminally, few people know about her in the States... Anyway, I hope you like it. I LOVE IT.