The Alleged Editor

Sat, Nov 21

2016—The Guardian reports that D. Trump’s grandfather was refused re-entry to Germany in 1905 because he had dodged military service. 2004—Donald Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City file for bankruptcy. 1986—Ollie North and Fawn Hall start shredding evidence of criminal arms-for-hostages deals. 1974—Somehow, George W.[MD] Bush is honorably discharged, instead of court martialed for being AWOL. 1974—The Freedom of Information Act passes over Gerry Ford’s veto. 1973—Chief of Staff Al Haig ascribes an 18½ minute gap on an audio tape to “sinister forces.” 1970—Fifty-six Green Berets raid the Son Tay POW camp 23 miles west of Hanoi, which had been evacuated three weeks earlier. 1967—Commies in …

Read more

The Cuckoo Coup

In a sane country it wouldn’t have even been a contest, but we live in Freedomland. A quarter of a million people are dead, killed by a plague the incumbent treated as a political opportunity rather than a threat to national health. The infection rate and the Dow Jones are soaring, even as Main Street is collapsing. Despite all that, the election was so close it took four days to get a clear result. That’s OK, it could have been worse. At least, in the end, the challenger beat the incumbent—never an easy trick for that office—and did it by six million votes. He even …

Read more

The Winter of our Dissolution?

We ought to be inured by now to this recurring political cycle. After all, it’s been going on for nearly a century. Even our legendary level of ironic distance, though, fails to provide an adequate level of psychic insulation. In short, this is too damn much. We cannot put a stop to it, but, by god, we can describe it. One party forces the country to accept some dubious policy choice. This choice is invariably made in service to Moloch, or capitalism, or whatever you want to call the human face of concentrated financial power. By its failure—which was, more likely than not, predicted by …

Read more

A One-Time Aberration

Dear Mr. Fowle, Within this email I have written a mammoth a letter. I hope you will forgive me for any headaches or eye soreness induced if you humor me and read it. I started writing and did not, and frankly could not, stop. Then I edited, and rather than excising content like any good editor would, I added even more. A previous letter in your paper by a self-proclaimed “doctor” about the ineffectiveness of mask-wearing combined with recent reports of conspiracies, fraud, and violence from little boys who call themselves “proud,” triggered a flurry of words and emotions that I, for whatever reason, felt …

Read more

Sick Rulers

Dear Editor: In the 1980s we had a made-for-TV movie, “The Day After,” about nuclear exchange between Russia and the U.S. Now we are at the day after the 2020 election. Out-of-whack President Trump is making up and distorting what happens with a democracy’s election. He wants vote counting stopped in some states but continued in others, depending on whether that would help him stay in our White House for another term. That nuclear exchange movie woke up a lot of people, though we still maintain, with the other nuclear nations, such destructive power that our planet could not survive. “Wake up, America.” This time …

Read more

A Mash Note to the Flag Police

To the Editor: After watching a several minutes long tribute to veterans on WWE’s Monday Night Raw, it occurred to me that yahoos who parade around in camo toting assault weapons are disrespecting military veterans who wear that garb and carry those weapons into combat. One wonders how many flag wavers think that’s all there is to patriotism, and how many who wear the flag are aware that they’re in violation of the Flag Code and thus disrespecting the flag. A tip of my civilian hat, and a curtsy, to the Flag Police for their unremitting vigilance. One wonders if the Flag Police t-shirts might …

Read more