Counting Chickens

"I am not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

-Will Rogers


There is a new group of young Democrats emerging in this election cycle. It is probably as inevitable as sunrise following sunset.

And this is a good thing. Without an injection of new blood, any organization, be it a sports franchise, a business or yes, even a political party, will wither and die. So those of us commonly called Democrats should embrace young candidates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Conor Lamb and Rashida Thaib.

Youthful exuberance and wizened experience creates a dynamic cherished not only in locker rooms but in board rooms and back rooms. The young energize the old and reboot their passion, while the old impart experience and how best to channel boundless energy into useful action.

But as referenced in the Will Rogers quote, things don't always go so smoothly.

As the young are wont to do, they wish to remake the party in their image. Now. It's a case of revolution, not evolution. If Josef Stalin were at the head of the table such impetuousness would not only be prudent but recommended.

But these young Democrats have no such enemy.

Yet in their eyes, House minority speaker Nancy Pelosi is the leaden plow holding them back from recasting the party in a glorious new form. They proffer wan smiles and shoulder shrugs when asked about their support for Pelosi.

It's almost as if they've been listening to the raft of Republican-sponsored, Pelosi-centric attack ads.

The truth (and I hope these young Democrats are listening) is this: REPUBLICANS ARE SPENDING MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ATTACKING NANCY PELOSI BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAID OF HER!

YOU GET THAT, RIGHT?

THEY FEAR HER BECAUSE SHE'S A WELL-CONNECTED AND EFFECTIVE FUND RAISER. THEY FEAR HER BECAUSE SHE'S A SAVVY CONSENSUS BUILDER. AND THEY FEAR HER BECAUSE IN THIS, THE AGE OF FEMALE EMPOWERMENT, SHE'S A HIGHLY-VISIBLE EXAMPLE THAT RESONATES WITH MILLIONS OF VOTERS.

WHILE THE SQUARE PEG DOESN'T ENDORSE THE OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, THIS MUST BE SAID: NANCY PELOSI IS A WEAPON!

AND SHE PLAYS FOR OUR SIDE!

Whew. OK.

So going forward, maybe we should actually win some seats in the House and Senate before we start the intra-family squabbling.

You think?

There are millions and millions of stupid, angry Republicans who will support the Trump-whore and his putrid collection of sycophants no matter what. The whore himself once said "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters."

Sadly, he wasn't wrong.

Borrowing the victims from the well-known Monty Python sketch 'The Piranha Brothers', Trump supporters would rather have their heads nailed to the floor than admit he wasn't the best possible option for president.

With opposition like this, Democrats need to make a concerted and unified effort to keep their eyes on the prize. As its name implies, the Blue Wave is a singular, overwhelming force.

It is my hope that our fresh infusion of young Democrats understands this before making waves of their own. 

 

The First Summer of the Rest of My Life

In the great ebb and flow of life, I am definitely at high tide. At least if the quantity of water in that condition can be translated into Stuff That Needs To Be Done.

I am navigating the unfamiliar waters of being the primary care-giver for a sick spouse, untangling the multi-layered complexities of wills and trusts and estates and long-term care options that won't leave us penniless, especially since my employability continues to hover just north of zero.

And speaking of employment, there is the painful realization that I am the parent who should quit working because they can't afford the child care. This because through no fault of her own, my spouse requires a care-giver while I am at work. And the more I work, the more expensive it becomes.

In the most odious irony of my life, I am paying to work.

Even better, I'm too young for social security.

Just for the fun of it, I am also attempting to move from a modest condominium purchased under severe time constraints and which is an unmitigated disaster. Then there is the challenge of attempting this without it becoming an out of control, cash-sucking train wreck.

Like the Popeil commercials of yore, I must breathlessly inform you: Wait! There's more!

I have a stalker. A male co-worker who is obsessed with me. Who repeatedly hacks my computer. And who repeatedly appears just as I arrive at the garage after completing my route.

Creepy? You have no idea.

As only a sibling could, a sister inquires of me: “Who'd be interested in stalking you?”

Exactly.

To continue in the vein of vintage advertisements, I will paraphrase a nineteen-seventies TV commercial: Only my stalker knows for sure.

So yeah. Life is sucking pretty hard at the moment. And in between the medical appointments in far-flung municipalities and the estate-planning and the house-hunting and repairing the stove and the dishwasher and the plumbing and dealing with a stalker, something has to give.

And that would be the raft of sparkling and informative posts you're accustomed to seeing at The Square Peg.

• A friend with an interest in astrology reminds me that my birthsign is the goat. And while we're rarely the first one across the finish line, we cross it with unerring regularity.

I will deal.

Baaaah.

The Misanthrope in Chief

In the Trump Administration's ongoing efforts to ensure it is one day regarded as the least-intelligent and most-vile political entity in the history of mankind, it has dismissed a suit filed by Cody Wilson.

Granted, this doesn't appear unduly hostile. Or particularly dim. Until you learn that Cody Wilson is a gun rights advocate, and in his suit he alleged that the Obama Administration's refusal to grant him the right to post blueprints for printable guns—guns that can be created on 3D printers—on the Internet amounted to a refusal of his right to free expression.

So the Trump Administration awarded Cody his freedom of expression. Even taking into account Trump's puerile obsession with undoing any and every action of the Obama White House, this amounts to incalculable stupidity.

Predictably, the incalculable stupidity doesn't end there. 

Another gun rights activist, David Kopel, weighed in as to why we needn't be concerned that every garden-variety thug in the nation is doing cartwheels at the news they will soon have government-sanctioned access to an unlimited number of untraceable weapons.

In Kopel's words, this won't happen not because crooks are clumsy gymnasts, but because they have a thriving black market from which to acquire their weapons. On planet Kopel, felons, terrorists and drug cartels have little interest in obtaining untraceable, easy-to-conceal (and presumably cheaper) plastic guns.

Yep. He said that.

(Now might be a good time to mention that opioid abuse cuts across all economic, racial and class divides.)

In the war that Donald Trump is waging against his predecessor, it's okay that the nation's citizenry be reduced to collateral damage in the hopes that the Trump-whore is able to sate his insatiable ego.

Going way out on a limb, what do you suppose would happen if someone posted blueprints of Mar-a-Lago and exposed its vulnerabilities? Or if the weaknesses of the Secret Service detail guarding the Trump-whore were chronicled and shared with the World Wide Web?

Think that person would enjoy the same consideration as the brain-damaged, can't-get-laid hater named Cody Wilson? 

Or would that person be perceived as a threat (freedom of expression nonwithstanding)?

The mind reels.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Fuck Trump. And fuck the people who voted for him.  

Scarlett Johansson and 'Rub & Tug'

As someone who occasionally suffers from LGBT fatigue, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the LGBT community could be as narrow-minded and prejudiced as the people they purport to abhor.

Which is, apparently, anyone who isn't LGBT.

I speak of the forced removal of Scarlett Johansson from the upcoming movie Rub & Tug, in which she was to play a transgendered man.

The outrage directed at her ignores the fact that she didn't create this role, cast herself and build the movie from there. No. She was hired. Hired by the people who finance movies. But the LGBT trolls ignored that. They went after Johansson as if she were Mike Pence. 

It is my fervent hope that one day they can devote some of their screen time to learning the difference. 

By all accounts, Scarlett Johansson is an okay person. Lost in the overheated and reactionary social media outrage was that she wanted to tell this story. Face it, people. Rub & Tug stands little chance of ever being a Hollywood blockbuster. But you are aware that Johansson signed on anyway, right?

As I understand them, the tenets of the LGBT community are centered around the belief that no one should be prejudged and constrained by preconceptions and gender and sexual orientation as to what they are capable of and the opportunities that should be available to them.

Unless they're a heterosexual female.

Did I get that correct?

Scarlett Johansson, you have exhibited grace in graceless circumstances. And to the hypocrites within the LGBT community who demanded your ouster, live by the sword, die by the sword.

Hopefully, this will be your life-changing, teachable moment.

Putin's Bitch

I am amazed. Astonished. And speechless.

Acting like a beaten and broken victim freshly released from a POW camp, Donald Trump was paraded in front of TV cameras today and meekly surrendered to Vladimir Putin. He did everything but declare “I am Vladimir's bitch.”

Of course, such a confirmation is entirely unnecessary. Those of us not in 'Make America Great Again' hats figured that out long ago.

So what does Vladimir have on our president? And how soon can the charges of treason be filed?

Is it not absolutely astounding that Donald Trump is exactly the man Republicans attempted to convince us Barrack Obama was? A man sworn to and acting in the interests of a country not his own?

I, for one, want to see the Trump-whore's birth certificate.

Dick-Swingin' Donald

After having gotten pantsed by Kim Jong-un in Singapore and smearing excrement all over our allies, our brain-damaged president is now off to Helsinki to meet with his mentor, Vladimir Putin, on how best to further undermine democracy.

Of course, dick-swingin' Donald isn't letting on as such, but the lack of a formal agenda and the exclusion of any media or observers points to only one thing.

Face it, folks. Donald admires Vladimir and considers him a role-model. He adores how Putin dispatches his enemies and—above all else—disobedient journalists. Putin is his business plan.

I am confident that when the definitive history of America is written, the Trump administration will be credited with being the beginning of the end.

Like the bumper sticker says, Fuck Trump. And fuck the people who voted for him.

Hit and Run

So. Daniel Herbert, the defense lawyer for Jason Van Dyke, has filed a motion requesting a change of venue, fearing that public comments by elected officials amount to “the public execution of Jason Van Dyke.”

Funny, but I thought the sixteen shells Van Dyke pumped into Laquan McDonald's back as McDonald was walking away from him was the public execution at issue here.

And with a pro-cop judge (Vincent Gaughan) overseeing the pre-trial preparation who has already set several legal precedents insofar as keeping potentially damaging testimony and evidence from the public record, what's with all the talk about a fair trial?

That's a joke. Right? Do you really believe Jason Van Dyke is going to see the inside of a jail cell? 

Really?

The Republican-dominated Supreme Court just gifted public-sector union members with something for nothing. Thanks to their decision, union members can now enjoy the fruits of union representation free of charge.

Wow. When was the last time Republicans did anything for the working man?

Predictably, there's a big, giant string attached. What looks to be a gift is actually a harakiri sword. Because by opting out of paying dues, what do you think will happen to the union?

That's right. It will bleed to death. Short-sighted union members can now slit their own throats by opting out of union dues. And without union dues, the Democratic party loses a major source of funding. 

Combined with the Citizens United decision, the supposedly impartial Supreme Court will have effectively crippled the Democratic Party, clearing the way for unopposed Republican rule.

Aside from seeing how badly Republicans will cock everything up (remember: they're better at acquiring power than wielding it), what I want to know is this: If public-sector union members can opt-out of paying dues when the organization representing them offends their political sensibilities, can I likewise opt-out of paying federal income taxes when the sitting administration offends my political sensibilities?

I didn't think so.

Ed Schultz was a born-again Democrat. Immersed from birth in Republican hooey, he not only saw the error of his ways but possessed the strength to publicly acknowledge them and moved to serve the greater good by becoming a Democrat in 2000.

As a powerful and passionate speaker, he was able to communicate his new party's ideals, which make Democrats the strongest and best upholders of the convictions that birthed this country. His plain-spoken manner especially resonated with the inhabitants of the Great Plains, traditionally a Republican stronghold.

Sadly, Mr. Schultz died early this morning of natural causes in Washington D.C.

Rest in peace, Sir.

Finally, I have never used this blog to shill for money. I have made no attempt to monetize The Square Peg. Ever.

But there's a temporary change afoot. On June 24^th, I read a powerful article in the Chicago Tribune by Anne Kim about a dentist working in rural West Virginia. A dentist committed to serving instead of inflating her net worth.

In the Age of Trump, that struck me as profound. It left me wanting to help.

In appreciation of her selflessness, I would like to raise a thousand dollars, money that could help sustain her practice and/or herself.

If you're of a mind to, please visit the GoFundMe page I created at http://gofundme.com/helping-a-dentist-with-a-heart. If the mood strikes, please donate what you can.

Thank you.