And the corruption of the most corrupt ages in living human memory continues, apace:
Manu Raju / CNN:
First on CNN: Trump’s cabinet pick invested in company, then introduced a bill to help it — Tom Price in 60 seconds Story highlights — Washington (CNN)Rep. Tom Price last year purchased shares in a medical device manufacturer days before introducing legislation that would have directly benefited …
Let’s face it, kids, there have now been more scandals in the prospective Trump (Mal)Administration with slightly less than a week to go BEFORE taking office than there have been in the ENTIRE Obama Administration, perhaps even eclipsing the number of FAKE scandals as well.
There is an old superstition amongst farmers and astrologers that the day of the New Moon or the New Year have a special significance, by the ancient assumption (neither provable nor deniable) that the seed contains the whole in a sense. That which begins overnight will end overnight; that which begins in enmity and division will end in enmity and division; that which begins in scandal will end in scandal.
Trump has not yet placed a Cheeto-tinted paw on the Bible and we are already inured to a culture of corruption, mendacity and pilfering — if not outright pillage.
I had been struggling for a nail to hang my words on: it has not been due to a paucity of excess that I have remained silent; rather, it is due to an excess of excess that I have been stunned and stultified into extended silence. The old saw applies: When they ain’t anythin’ worth addin’, likely it’s best to shut up. And I did.
Here’s the nail: on NPR, today, they interviewed an archaeologist whose title has been augmented with the term “zoology” — a specialist who studies the interaction of humans and the animal world, in this case, domesticated animals, and in this case, chickens.
Chickens, the interview asserted, are native to southeast Asia and traveled the world with humans, who did not eat them, but, rather, thought them sacred and special animals. Alas, familiarity bred contempt, even as familiarity bred a LOT of chickens. And, cutting to the chase, it turns out that once people actually started eating their “special” chickens they found them to be TASTY (many maintained that they tasted like rattlesnake) and chicken meat is now the Number One animal protein consumed by the naked killer apes inhabiting the Earth to the tune of 7,477,919,943 as I write this.
Democracy is like that. Once a rare and precious item, found only in Athens, Hellas, it spread like wildfire after 4 July 1776 and became so popular that even dictators and despots make a SHOW of elections as a means of legitimizing their misrule. We have turned democracy into a chicken sandwich.
Mr. Trump has managed to pick a fight with a noted civil rights leader on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, even as he opts for the Ronald Reagan Moving Postcard™ of having Martin Luther King III visit his golden tower of Mordor in Manhattan. A “foreign policy advisor” is stepping down from her appointment as it is revealed that she plagiarized large portions of her DOCTORAL dissertation (?!?? as they say in chess) subsequent to Rupert Murdoch’s HarperCollins pulling her book off the shelves for multiple instances of accused plagiarism in IT.
Ooopsies.
Add that Trump has renewed his attacks on NATO. That China has basically called him incompetent, that Russia is (predictably) backpedaling from America’s oldest Enfant Terrible* and his twitter tantrums.
[* From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, emphasis added:
For the African mythological tale, see enfant terrible (folklore).
Enfant terrible (English: “unruly child”) is a French expression, traditionally referring to a child who is terrifyingly candid by saying embarrassing things to parents or others. …
The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, gives the definition: “A child who embarrasses his elders by untimely remarks; transf. a person who compromises his associates or his party by unorthodox or ill-considered speech or behaviour; loosely, one who acts unconventionally.“
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfant terrible ]
Add to that a trial balloon for tossing the White House Press Corps out of the White House. (After all, he’s got his Twitzkreig. Why should he need a press corpse? [sic] )
And the casual acceptance of the War Against Women™? And so many angry, pissy little dust-ups from He Who Can Never Be Wrong that I am forgetting the outrages as they flit by, like brown stuff that’s hit the rotating blades — the significant and memorable factor is not so much visual as olfactory: the smell. The odorous, poisonous, rancorous stench, I mean. He’s not in the White House with his sulphurous aura yet and the Venerable Residence ALREADY needs fumigating. Bush and Trump within nine years? John Adams’ prayer surely needs recharging — perhaps by those selfsame self-righteous “Christians” that VOTED for the future Resident.
President John Adams, the first occupant of the White House
The prayer?
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it.
May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.
Whatever your metaphysics, we can surely admire the sentiment of John Adams’ prayer.
I doubt next week’s inhabitant will.
The evidence, thus far, points to it.
A proto-chicken-sandwich, or, perhaps
the Great Seal of the Trump White House
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Courage.
Cross posted from his vorpal sword
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.