The Trump game

We don't need to recount Trump's insane behavior here. I'm sure you're familiar with his lunacy by now. But here's the thing: if Trump bows out just before the election, whoever the GOP puts in his place will beat Hilary easily.

Trump will get what he wants: continuing attention and quite probably a flagship show on Fox (plus the ability to sell useless items to stupid Fox viewers and other imbeciles on his mailing list), and the GOP will score a most unlikely win.

People just don't like Hillary. Given any seemingly sensible alternative, they will vote against her and thereby elect the GOP apparatchik.

The second amendment threat that Trump issued yesterday may provide the perfect means to drive him off the ticket. And he won't care at all.

This is frightening. But our country has been terrifying for many years now. Remember, one of the major parties had no problem putting Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency. In a country this ignorant, anything can happen. That is the ultimate scary fact of our times.

Black Friday

Yesterday, in the throes of Black Friday insanity, I visited every web site in the world and bought everything I saw.  Every single thing!

Nah, just kidding. But I did get all my Xmas gifts. How about you? Did you succumb to the mania? C'mon, spit it out. Tell us what you bought.

(I can't  specify the gifts I bought because my giftees read this blog. But as a rank stranger to me, you can spill your guts and no one will ever know.)

The fate of guns in America

Politicians and media outlets are saying that the US can't ban guns, that they must remain in people's hands. After all, it's our god-given cowboy right!

Ha. As soon as the police have drones prowling our skies, good old Americans will begin to shoot them down. And suddenly the government will find the will to ban guns. Until then, nothing much will happen.

Kill people? No problem. Interfere with government? You're going down, buddy!

The robocall insanity

Have you gotten more robocalls in the last few weeks than you've ever gotten in your life? I'll bet your answer is yes. This is certainly true at my house.

It's obviously time for a "Do Not Robocall" list. I'll sign it immediately and I bet most other people would, too. But of course, this will never happen because it's the legislators and their minions who are robocalling us. Oy.

Catch-22

Moscow police on Saturday briefly detained several opposition leaders as well as a dozen other activists while they were protesting against the intensifying crackdown on Russian opposition.

The world is so strange lately. Authoritarians are rearing up their ugly heads, worldwide. It's like a plague.

I wish the opposition well. I also wish Appleby well.

Nudity? In a text-only book?

In a list of the top banned books of 2011, put out by the American Library Association, "nudity" is stated to be one of the reasons why books were banned.

In a non-graphic, text-only book, nudity is a concern?! So if a character takes a shower, it's all over and no sensitive soul can read the book? This seems like craziness writ large.

I only hope one of my books is banned some day. What a joy that would be!

The pendulum effect

Everything in life is cyclical. Trends go one way and then the other, and this is true of society itself. I've seen this happen before.

Just before a major shift, the old regime becomes a cartoon of itself, and literally pushes itself over a cliff. We see that happening now as the GOP threatens to bring down the world economy because in a fit of petulance. This exaggerated version of the GOP is a pre-shock. Their whole movement is about to collapse. I think this sad chapter of American life, where god-obsessed know-nothings have run the country into ruin, is about to end. The level of their craziness tells me so. They're overripe; they stink. But rejoice, because this means the end is nigh.

When society gets so out of whack that you think it will surely blow up from logical contradictions, it means a change is coming. In this case, I think the crazy will literally bring on the normal. It's time for an opposite reaction.

Look at the 1950s. You want to talk boring? You know nothing about boredom if you weren't alive back then. It was stultifying throughout the United States. It was repressed and authoritarian and a million other deadly adjectives, but mostly it was boring. So what happened? The Sixties, that's what! Yay! Sex and fun!

The insanity that has our country by the throat is on the way out. I can tell by the smell. There will be a swing toward sanity, and probably quite soon. When these swings occur, they can be huge. Let's hope it's big enough to sweep out the stupid so sane ideas can return to the political arena.

Everything is a pendulum. Hang on. A clear-eyed view of reality may be one, short swing away.