Hometown Hero

I was born in Montclair, New Jersey, a suburb of Newark, though I have never actually lived in Montclair.  In fact, I live in a town nearby, which feels like a small Midwestern town that was plopped into the Northeast at random.

Montclair's residents, past and present, have included an Oscar-winning actress, a songwriter who wrote Stephanie Mills' biggest hit, an MSNBC political commentator, the current host of CBS's "The Late Show,"  a CNBC anchor, and a Dutch supermodel.  

Montclair's most famous resident was one of the first two men on the moon, who took part in planting the American flag on the lunar surface.  

Who's my hometown's most famous resident?  A fascist hangin' judge who wrote the Dobbs decision on abortion and who has flown the American flag upside down to express his belief that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump! 

Well, G. Gordon Liddy might actually be more famous . . . he came from my hometown too!

I have a lot of paper bags . . . I don't know whether to use them to wear over my head in public or barf in them.

The January 6 Hearings - Part Five

The final hearing of the January 6 House select committee - for this month - looked at efforts to get the Justice Department to handle the accusations of voter fraud to steal the 2020 election for Donald Trump.  And the key cog in this wheel of misfortune was a little-known lawyer named Jeffrey Clark.

Clark is an lawyer whom Trump appointed as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. This was the equivalent of making W.C. Fields president of the Children's Defense Fund. Clark used his position to make it easier for big business to pollute the air and emit more greenhouse gases.  He was Trump's preferred candidate for Acting Attorney General when another Jeffrey, Jeffrey Rosen, failed spectacularly in that job by refusing to help Trump hold onto power. The hearing showed just how eager Clark, who was happy to help Trump, was to do the Dear Leader's bidding.

Oh yeah, Clark's home was raided by the Justice Department, which is now delving more into an inquiry of what happened up to and on January 6. It looks like Merrick Garland is finally getting the message.

If Trump is indicted and convicted as a result of all this, the United States won't be the first country to send a disgraced and corrupt president with a professional-model wife to jail.  But following the example France set for us would put us in good company.

I can't wait to see what's in store for July.  

The Ghost of Hillary Clinton - The Sequel

In the 24 days remaining in the presidential term of Donald J. Trump, we are seeing the last violent convulsions - a raging pandemic, vetoed bills, cult loyalty, total chaos - that stemmed from a decision long ago made by the Democratic National Committee to anoint a 2016 presidential nominee with a charade of a primary process to ratify it.

Yes, we are seeing the grand finale of the effects of one woman's ambition to be President of the United States despite having already been rejected in favor of Barack Obama in 2008.  To think, the Trump Presidency could have been avoided if only the Democrats had had a fair nomination contest in 2016 and ended up with a nominee - any nominee - not named Hillary by the nominee's mother. And now the consequences of that decision - the horrible aftereffects of the decision to satisfy one woman's enormous ego, which led to the rise to power of a man with an exponentially more enormous ego - are playing out like the finale of a Fourth of July fireworks show, most of which were canceled this year because of the pandemic. 

Donald Trump won the White House because the Democrats nominated the only person he could have defeated.  The Democrats won it back because they nominated the only person who could have defeated Trump.

And Hillary Clinton has actually expressed interest in a role in Joe Biden's administration.

Good Lord!