Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 14
October 14, 2020
Diary 209
Tuesday, October 13th
Some polls show that Biden has a 17 point lead over the ‘president’. Others show a dead heat. Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination for the Supreme Court is being rushed along, to the disgust of many. Doubtless the Republican Senate will close ranks and vote along party lines. Meanwhile the Republican party in California has organized non-sanctioned boxes for drop-off votes, and voters in Georgia have had to wait for 10 hours in some cases.
I don’t think we’ve ever seen an election quite like this, although when Bush jr. stole Florida and ballot boxes were ‘lost’ we came close.
October 13, 2020
Diary 208
Monday, October 12th (Columbus Day)
Some people choose to argue about the name of the day. After all, Columbus was a well known slaver and perpetrator of genocide.
Unaware of any of this the grandkids gathered their pinwheels and waved them out of the car windows. The shrieks and giggles of delight as wheels spun rapidly was enough to make anyone’s heart glad. Columbus was a villain, but the descendants of Spaniards and Native Americans and Europeans and Africans and all the mix of nations that make up who we are today can still feel joy. I wish someone had been at hand, following the car, to take a picture. Since it was also Canada’s Thanksgiving Day I feel doubly grateful.
October 12, 2020
Diary 207
Diary 207
Sunday, October 11th
A sunny Fall Sunday – the sort of day when one meets friends for brunch at the local diner. How strange that sounds now. Yes, you can still go to your local diner for take out, or you can sit at a pavement table. And yet — one goes to a restaurant for the atmosphere. In the diner it’s the busy, jovial and social aspect – that one now cannot have. At a table outside, if you’re in pre-covid Paris, it’s about seeing who’s passing by, chatting with neighbors whose elbows touch yours from the next table, greeting friends who stroll by. And so on. A different atmosphere, but certainly something very enjoyable.
Plenty of things have changed. And we miss many of them. But let’s not forget we have a planet to save.
October 11, 2020
Diary 206
Saturday, October 10th
A couple of people have asked why I put the ‘president’ in speech marks. This is because a true president is someone who fulfills a certain role effectively, with dignity and intelligence. The present incumbent does not do this. The title does not match the actions, any more than being born a nobleman makes one inherently noble.
It’s worth remembering that the domestic terror groups (like the so-called weapon-toting Proud Boys) are actually frightened. So are the Bible-thumping militants. If they really thought they were the majority then there’d be no need to try and intimidate the rest of us, or attempt to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, or suppress voting, or any other silliness. They know they’re outnumbered.
October 10, 2020
Diary 205
Diary 205
Friday, October 9th
Today I placed my ballot in the special box provided by the town. The ‘president’ may oppose mail-in ballots, but this was hand delivered. Unlike some of his henchmen I believe in democracy. I’m thinking of Utah senator Mike Lee (R), who declared that “democracy isn’t the objective’ in the US system. He was, I suppose, democratically elected. If he opposes that, then it would be logical to suggest he step down forthwith.
Lee also stated “we’re not a democracy”. He clearly hasn’t read a certain famous document that begins, “We the people…” Most of know it as the preamble to the Constitution. He also has tested positive for Covid, which may have some bearing on the matter as he’s probably been taking one of the ‘president’s’ touted cures, and is therefore likely to be as daft as a brush. And yet….strangely enough Lee seems to have described the present state of the US accurately.
October 9, 2020
Diary 204
Thursday, October 8th
Nancy Pelosi has introduced a bill to consider removing the ‘president’ over ‘health concerns’. Specifically, his sanity’s in question. I would suggest that anyone saying he isn’t crazy puts their own sanity in question, too.
Of course, some of his supporters are not far behind. The plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan is one of the whackier ideas. Six people have been charged.
The Pence jokes continue to multiply. One wag suggested Pence had brought his ‘one black friend’ with him. Another said that ‘the man is decomposing on live tv’. Still others noted that flies are drawn to decay, death and shit. If we didn’t laugh we’d probably cry.
The ‘president’, meanwhile, was treated with cells from fetal tissue. But wait! Isn’t that something his party (and he) vehemently opposes? Ah, hypocrisy is still alive in him, at least, — even if decency and honesty aren’t.
October 8, 2020
Diary 203
Wednesday, October 8th
Kamala Harris debated a robotic Pence today, a man who can now never claim ‘there are no flies on me’ as an insect managed to upstage him in his lackluster performance. Harris comported herself as a woman who knows that soon she’ll be vice-president and have to deal with more Pence-like people, so she refrained from savaging him. But we could all see she was capable of that. Pence behaved like a man who knows he’ll soon be out of a job.
October 7, 2020
Diary 202
Tuesday, October 6th
A news item you may have missed is that Greece has concluded its lawsuit against Golden Dawn, a right wing group that carried out murderous attacks while being called a ‘political party’. 68 defendants have been found guilty, including a number of former Members of Parliament. The trial took 5 years.
The verdict was greeted with jubilation by the huge crowds who had amassed at the courthouse.
Ours is not the only country where fascism is disguised as legitimate political activity. But we know now that we can and will push back.
It’s in today’s Guardian, in an article by Helena Smith.
October 6, 2020
Diary 201
Monday, October 5th
I learned a new word today: doomscrolling. It’s a pretty good description of what quite a few people are feeling, that sense that they can’t stop looking at a disaster as it unfolds, even as they have no idea what to do to avoid it or change the situation. So here’s a thought. No matter what happens in November there’s plenty of work to do trying to get this country to wake up and stop self-destructing. There are plenty of injustices that need to be addressed. There’s also a planet that needs saving.
The ‘president’, terrified he won’t be at the center of the news, has returned to the White House to breathe covid virus over everyone around him.
October 5, 2020
Diary 200
Sunday, October 4th
200. I’m not sure any celebration is in order for this.
On a day when the ‘president’ decides to get out of his covid bed and do a ‘victory lap’ around the hospital (thus endangering the lives of, and enforcing quarantines on his staff, driver, and so on) it would seem there’s not much more to add.
Today, as I received my change for a loaf of bread, I felt the coins were somewhat light. I looked closely at these quarters, usually so shiny and substantial. These new coins looked shabby, and felt cheap. They were legal currency, but for the first time ever they felt like toy money. They reminded me of those French coins one could find in the sixties that were made of such debased metal it was possible to float them on still puddles. Truly. I saw it done and I did it myself. This was the coinage of a feeble government.
This it got me thinking about how much else has been debased in the last four years. White House press conferences that have become platforms for propaganda; ‘presidential’ statements that are incoherent rants; White House spokeswomen who have become a by-word for shameless lying; the American flag, once a proud symbol, now co-opted by the far right militias.
And voting, which is now a system that the Republicans seem to think needs to be suppressed.
There’s work to be done to clean up this mess.
