Blackface, White Frocks and Dems seeing Red

Virginia's leadership shows itself wanting: Governor Northam gets exposed for featuring racist imagery on his medical yearbook page, the Lieutenant Governor has been accused of sexual assault, and the Attorney General admits to wearing blackface getup at parties in his youth.

On the other end of the color spectrum... many of the newly elected women of Congress featured white garb at President Trump's State of the Union speech. Trump's most lighthearted moment occurred when he acknowledged the number of women elected to office and the white suits came alive with laughter and happiness. White is the color of spiritual purity.

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and many of her white-suited colleagues hope to change the world through visionary thinking and spiritual vigor. Just to add another color, she has proposed a Green New Deal, working to save the environment with a powerful plan like FDR's New Deal of the 1930s. The Congresswomen in white brought a nice change of pace to the the red/blue binary in the color wars.

Trump seemed to address AOC directly midway through the State of the Union. He addressed Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, progenitors of the new progressive wing of the Democratic Party,  stating "America will never be a socialist country." Trump compared the USA would have a similar outcome to tottering Venezuela should we go that route.

The color thing-- Republicans are the reds and Democrats the blue-- has a strange parallel to the the Bloods and Crips, famous street gangs of LA. Politics is a street fight, fought by rich and powerful in business suits but the partisanship of today has Democratic politicians in blue tie and Donald Trump and company more likely to go for the red cravat. Not much difference between a politician's tie and a street gang bandana in certain situations. Our reptilian brain kicks into action when our survival is at stake, no matter our social class or education.

Also in the area of political fashion statements. What's with Donald Trump and the long coats? Methinks he's feeling kingly and wants a robe like James Brown halfway through his act.

The Democratic representatives saw red when Interim Attorney General Matthew Whitaker took the congressional stand looking like Benito Mussolini's healthiest son. They attacked him unmercifully. They don't want him messing with the. Robert Mueller investigation. Whitaker proved dogged in refusing to answer questions about his conversations with Donald Trump. Whitaker was a piñata for the Democrats in his role as proxy for Trump. Maybe he got loyalty points from the president for absorbing the abuse though Jeff Sessions proved Trump has a short span for the loyalty of friends and/or allies. Michael Cohen never got a chance to take a bullet for President Trump-- but Matthew Whitaker did.

Maybe Roger Stone fancies himself the finest dresser of them all.

Paul Manafort... he's unpredictable and almost always shows bad judgment. Manafort is known for paying top dollar to achieve sartorial splendor and achieves nothing more than a Men's Warehouse look. Money cannot buy taste.

Different colors for different folks.

A Picture worth thousands of words... can end a career pronto

Ralph Northam, governor of Virginia, has insurmountable odds to overcome. An embarrassing photo can kill a career, electrocute the victim in a matter of hours. Just ask Al Franken.

Franken's career ending on a silly photo seems extreme-- and may be a case of new Puritanism causing harm unnecessarily. He acted like he was going to grasp the breasts of a sleeping colleague, a fellow performer, on a USO tour flight.

Northam has a weaker case. He complains that the photos of medical students in black face and Ku Klux Klan outfit is not him. Funny how he didn't think that when first accused. You cannot undo a picture once it has entered the psyche of the citizens. Voters rise from their couches when encountering a horrible visual image.

Somehow Donald Trump has escaped the impact of the new awareness. Call him Teflon Don just like we called John Gotti, the Mafia Don. John Gotti escaped the courtroom conviction every time until he didn't. Sammy the Bull's testimony proved too much. Hard to say if Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen of Roger Stone will ever bring such a result to the President....?

3 Photos That Changed the World

Three other photos since the late Sixties jump to mind. These consciousness-altering photos, non-sexual in nature, have influenced human awareness and political developments and hopefully do so.
Two are from the Vietnam War era and may have influenced our withdrawal from the war. The third is an image none of us can escape...;

1)The photo of a crying Vietnamese child,  Phan Thị Kim Phúc, now called the Napalm girl, as she runs stripped of clothes amid other fleeing villagers, to escape from an air attack. This is one of the most haunting images of the Vietnam War. 

2) The summary execution of a handcuffed Vietnamese prisoner by General Ngoc Loan during Tet Offensive in 1968. Another frightening photo

3) The Blue Marble, the first photo of earth taken from space. The photo has changed consciousness, made us aware that national boundaries are of miniscule importance compared to our mutual dependence.

If the earth is to survive we must go back to this third photo--- as our point of reference. We only survive if we share. Share with other people, share with polar bears, share with trees, birds, bees and flowers.

Pollution may happen over here goes over there. Global climate change is exactly that-- global!

A picture of photograph-- may be worth a thousand word, or multi-thousands-- and these words change the world.

Trump Goes to the Mattresses

Donald Trump came into office just like a Mafia Don. Don Donald. Michael Flynn, the guy who led chants of “Lock her up,” and Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, began selling favors before the inauguration. Flynn could be seen making deals on his cellphone from the White House lawn. Cohen sought out multi-national companies and advertised his strong access to the President of the United States as a strong selling point.

No hesitation in these gangster types. They get a foot in the door and you have to pay them protection…. Or else. 

Trump took the same approach as his associates. Emoluments clause? Hell with it. I can run a business and the USA at the same time. He did not want to divest his business holdings and never did.

Trump has “played” politics just the way the recently risen Mafia Don works his crew, the streets and the civilians. Everything’s for me. Everybody sends a cut of their earnings  to the top. 

Donald Trump will steal your lunch money until you fight back. America has not fought back and he keeps gouging until the final dollar is pressed into his personal coffers. Don’t like it and you can try your best to get him out of office.

Office never mattered to much to Donald Trump. He loves the theater and confrontation of electoral politics and loves watching television. But a certain movie captures the Trump phenomenon, even better than Celebrity Apprentice.

In Casino, the 1995 Martin Scorsese film starring Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro, we get an insight into Donald Trump. 

Robert De Niro as Ace Rothstein is quietly running a casino in Vegas. The De Niro character translates to Barack Obama, a capable man doing an honest day’s work. Joe Pesci is Donald Trump—the guy who shows up like a tornado, kills the game for everybody else. 

The Joe Pesci character, based on Anthony Spilotro, a real life mob enforcer and hit man, arrives and things spiral downward and end with a thud. Joe’s character lacks self-control. He is programmed to hurt others. He lives only for himself. The Joe Pesci  character adds insult to injury by stealing and banging De Niro’s wife—Sharon Stone as Ginger McKenna.

Okay, so Donald Trump never made a play for Michelle Obama. I’m sure she’s not his type. He likes tall women but prefers Eastern European and Russian woman. That’s how you end up with a daughter named Ivanka.

Trump’s daughter’s name does not imply he’s colluded or conspired with Russians. Trump’s most obvious trait—acquisitiveness—includes the element of bringing everybody else down. It’s not enough for him to win. The others, (i.e. the American citizenry) can fend for themselves. 

We must protect ourselves from Donald Trump’s habit of playing the game so hard, working the casino till every nickel has dropped out of the slot machine and then declaring bankruptcy. 

After 5 bankruptcies, including Atlantic City casinos, Trump moved to the next hustle. Bankers lost confidence in his Midas touch and Donald Trump went east to Moscow to find new bankers. 

Russia, as the banker of last resort, may prove to be the end of Trump. Putin is a better gangster, probably more cruel and efficient than the garrulous Donald Trump. Putin is more the Carlo Gambino style mob boss. He keeps quiet and motivates associates—called Russian oligarchs—to do his bidding. Putin is said to be the richest man in the world.

The Mueller probe gets closer to President Trump and Don Donald hires an army of lawyers. I heard 40 lawyers hired—but maybe 17, the more conservative number is accurate? In either case, that’s a lot of lawyers. 

Trump hiring an army of lawyers is a presidential version of the old Mafia term “going to the mattresses.” Mob wars required the Mafia soldiers to move into apartments and sleep on mattresses on the floor—until matters were settled. 

Trump’s two greatest assets are:

1)   His base of loyal voters

2)  His mastery of media communication

Like a good gangster movie, the two sides are lined against each other and ready to do battle. Carlo Gambino survived by following the traditional Mafia rule of omerta—silence when questioned by police and total loyalty to the mob family. But that is more Putin. Trump plays more like John Gotti—very fond of the spotlight and his notoriety.

Gotti flamed out quickly as “boss of all bosses” precisely because he was too loud, too flamboyant and overly narcissistic. 

Sound familiar?

-->