All posts by Dr. ESP

Hulk Hogan’s Heroes

Culture, Politics

I have no idea who he is. Somebody said there was a comedian that joked about Puerto Rico or something. And I have no idea who it was. Never saw him. Never heard of him, and don’t want to hear of him. But I have no idea.

Donald J. Trump/October 29, 2024

Maybe it’s a stupid, racist joke, as you said; maybe it’s not. I haven’t seen it. I’m not gonna comment on the specificity of the joke … but I think that we have to stop getting offended at every little thing in the United States of America, I’m just so over it.

Senator J.D. Vance/October 28, 2024

If you are going to compare Donald Trump to a Nazi, as his running mate did in 2015, describing him as “America’s Hitler, the least you can do is use the right metaphor.  J.D., if you think others get “offended at every little thing,” let’s see if you are “just so over” this.

For the record, Donald Trump is nothing like Adolf Hitler.  Hitler was responsible for the death of six million Jews and millions of other innocent people.  Trump, based on his incompetent response to the early days of the COVID pandemic, was only responsible for 400,000 preventable deaths, based on an analysis by the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health, of U.S. fatalities compared to other industrialized nations .  There is one other distinction.  Co-anchor Ronny Cheung suggested on last night’s edition of “The Daily Show,” Trump cannot be a Nazi.  Nazis served in their country’s army.

Back to J.D. Vance.  Hitler is the wrong comparison.  When I listen to this dysfunctional duo say things, like the above quotes, I do not think of Adolf Hitler.  The only Nazi that comes to mind is Sgt. Hans Georg Schultz (John Banner) in the CBS sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” (1965-71). Maybe you remember his excuse after every incident when the Allied POWs whom he monitored outwitted him and the stalag commander.  To cover his incompetence, he would tell his superiors, “I hear nothing.  I see nothing.  I know nothing.”

There is one difference between Schultz and the Batty-Man Trump and his boy wonder Vance, when it comes to their response to insult comic Tony Hinchcliffe?  The only people who outwitted this dysfunctional duo were themselves.  Trump admitted what most of us already know.  “I had no idea.”  I guess, in this case, Trump did not even have the concept of an idea.  And he protests that the comic was unvetted even though the media reports Trump staffers watched him workshop the material at The Stand, a New York City comedy club.

However, in MAGA world one lie is only valuable if it is repeated and amplified.  On Monday night, Trump told Sean Hannity:

Now what they’ve done is taken somebody that has nothing to do with the party, has nothing to do with us, said something, and they try and make a big deal. But I don’t know who it is.

Not true, according the The Bulwark.

“He [Hinchcliffe] had a joke calling [Vice President Kamala] Harris a ‘cunt,’” a campaign insider involved in the discussions about the event told The Bulwark. “Let’s say it was a red flag.”  Campaign staffers had asked all speakers to submit drafts of their speeches ahead of time—before they were loaded into the teleprompter—according to the aforementioned sources. Once the objectionable “cunt” joke was spotted, the sources said, a staffer asked Hinchcliffe to strike it. He complied.

Pardon my rambling. It is so easy to get off track, but the brilliance comes from bringing it all together in beautiful “weave.”  Back to J.D. Vance.  What does his response say about his potential performance as vice president.? The joke about Puerto Rico and negative reactions were on the front page of every major U.S. newspaper and the lead story on every broadcast and cable news program.  But he did not see it, so he says.  Just imagine a situation where he is asked his response to the next mass shooting, natural disaster, health crisis or economic downturn. I can hear him “hedging” now.  “I haven’t seen it?  I’m not gonna comment on the specificity of the situation.”  

Let me close by asking, “Messrs. Trump and Vance, when the National Guard shows up at my door, will you be okay when I tell them, ‘I had nothing to do with this blog.  I never saw it.  I don’t know who wrote it.  You have to stop getting offended by every little thing someone writes about you. You need to just get over it.'”

I doubt it will work with them.  It should not work for us either.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

Still Say Their Names

Politics

During her recent campaign rallies, Vice President Kamala Harris has told supporters to say the name of Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28-year old mother who died of complications from sepsis because she could not get the reproductive health care she needed in her home state of Georgia.  The scope of this crisis is clear from the growing sisterhood of brave women who have exhibited the courage to share similar stories how Trump’s abortion bans are anything but pro-life.  The tag line is powerful.  “We do not have to imagine the consequences of a second Trump administration.  We are already experiencing them.”  This shift from speculation to observation is compelling.

So let me add four more names I hope you will say.

ALLISON KRAUSE
JEFFREY MILLER
SANDRA SCHEUER
WILLIAM SCHROEDER

You are forgiven if you do not immediately recognize them.  After all it has been 54 years.  Maybe this picture (below) of Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over Jeffrey Miller will jog your memory.

Donald Trump says he will use the National Guard, and if really necessary, the military to handle people he calls “the enemy from within.”  You know, American citizens like Krause, Miller, Scheuer and Schroeder, unarmed protesters who opposed Richard Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam war into Cambodia.  So please, do not tell me calling out Trump for promising to order U.S. soldiers to take up arms against U.S. citizens is hyperbole.  It has happened before.  And can certainly happen again.

And do not assume there will be justice for the dead or wounded.  Though charged with violating the students’ civil rights (not to mention their bodies), the eight National Guardsmen who  fired their weapons were acquitted in a bench trial.  After ordering their release, the trial judge gaslighted those in the courtroom.

It is vital that state and National Guard officials not regard this decision as authorizing or approving the use of force against demonstrators, whatever the occasion of the issue involved.

Bullshit!  Someone authorized deployment of the National Guard to the Kent State campus.  Someone approved their carrying lethal weapons. Yet, no one was held accountable.  I am sure you are getting tired of my saying this, but the U.S. Supreme Court, because the Constitution says the president is also the commander-in-chief, now makes his use of that power “an official act,” completely immune from any legal liability.  The only remedy is impeachment and conviction which we know is less likely than the earth being hit by an asteroid.  Even then, the only punishment is removal from office.

So, when you vote this week, continue to say their names.  These four long-dead Americans are ghosts of our past, imploring us to imagine an all too probable sequel to their “Back to the Future” story.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

T-Minus Nine Days

Politics, Random Thoughts

Some random thoughts in the home stretch.

American BORG

My congressman Aaron Bean attended a naturalization ceremony and posted a picture on his Facebook page.  One of his loyal MAGA supporters posted a comment which included the phrase, “shows you that some people DO ACTUALLY plan on assimilating.”  Who are these people?  THE BORG?  It certainly is an apt metaphor for MAGA.  Especially if you imagine Donald Trump as the Borg queen (to be reprised by Alice Krige in the Jonathan Frakes sequel to his 1996 production “Star Trek: First Contact.”)

The Scariest Halloween Decoration  

This morning I was walking our rescue dog Bucky in an upper-middle class residential community when I came upon a house that was decked out in Halloween paraphernalia (pictured).

Though hard to see due to the shadow, there is a Trump sign in the window on the left (the HOA does not allow yard signs).  The scene reminded me of former “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood, Jr.’s observation about efforts to discourage folks from displaying the Confederate army’s Stars and Bars.

But if we get rid of the confederate flags (pause) how am I going to know who the dangerous white people are? I’m just saying, the flag had a couple of up sides. 

In this case, if you are Muslim, Haitian, transgender or a Jewish Harris voter, you mind want to move on to the next house.

Tarnished Silver

This week, FiveThirtyEight founder and former editor Nate Silver, the man who would run 1,000 simulations of a presidential election to make sure his predictions were as precise as humanly possible, surprised followers with a New York Times op-ed titled, “Here’s what my gut tells me about the election, but don’t trust anyone’s gut, even mine.”  I could spend the rest of this post explaining why one’s gut is the most reliable predictor and, if like Silver, you don’t trust it, it is wrong to call it a gut feeling.  Call it a hunch.  Mere speculation. Or anything else but a gut feeling.

During my tenure as a professor of entrepreneurship, students would bring me their “great” idea for a new enterprise.  Even if I believed the concept had potential, I would point out some flaw, even one I knew could easily be addressed in the business plan.  If a student then said, “I guess it’s not that great after all,” the discussion was over.  If they gave up that easily, that was the best indication what they believed in their gut.  However, if they pushed back, “You don’t get it,” my response was, “then make me get it.”  Or if they said, “I guess I have to find a way to address that flaw,” I would offer any assistance I could.

Richard Haas, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, offered a more apt description of the state of the election.  “This race is not even.  It is opaque.”  In other words, this election is so different from any other and there are so many variables, polls tell us nothing about the outcome.

The Red Flag Law We Need

A red flag law (named after the idiom red flag meaning “warning sign“) is a gun law that permits a state court to order the temporary seizure of firearms (and other items regarded as dangerous weapons, in some states) from a person who they believe may present a danger.

~Wikipedia Definition

Imagine a member of your household told you that your next door neighbor was eating cats and dogs.  Or that neighbor represented a greater threat than the dictators of Russia, China and North Korea.  He considered Adolf Hitler a role model.  Thought the U.S. military should shoot peaceful protesters.  Whether there was a red flag law in your state or not, you would check to see if that individual had been purchasing and stockpiling firearms.

Now imagine that person is the president of the United States.  And has a stockpile of nuclear weapons purchased with your tax dollars.  You would think someone might seek a court order to restrict the president’s access to them.  To the contrary, the U.S. Supreme Court said that person, as commander-in-chief, can do whatever he wants with his cache of weapons of mass destruction with complete immunity.

On November 5, 2024, the only available court of jurisdiction is the upcoming election.  Do you really want to wait to see if that person, who has demonstrated such anger and vitriol,  wakes up one morning,  and decides as he suggested in 2017, that he could “use a nuclear weapon against North Korea and suggested he could blame a U.S. strike against the communist regime on another country”?  Or, if offended by something Emmanuel Macron of Gavin Newsom said, even decimate France or California?

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

The Silent, Scared Majority

Culture, Politics

So tonight, to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support.

~President Richard Nixon/November 3, 1969

In this excerpt from a televised address to the nation outlining his plan to end the war in Vietnam, Richard Nixon coined the phrase “silent majority.”  His target audience was Americans who rarely if ever spoke about politics, citizens he was convinced had voted for him the year before and would assure his re-election in 1972.   With the help of a divided Democratic Party and a weak nominee, Nixon made his re-election landslide an “I told you so” moment.

Every time I hear pollsters talk about the undercounted support for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, I wonder if a “silent majority” will carry him to a second term in November.  Though my first thought always is, “Trump supporters are anything but silent.”  Which begged the question, “This time, could there be a pro-Harris silent majority not measured by the boisterous enthusiasm at every one of her rallies?”  But maybe, just maybe, it is more complicated than that.  What if, the polls are undercounting Harris’ support because, when it comes to being contacted by polling organizations they are not just silent.  They are also downright scared.

Consider the following evidence starting with the way protesters are treated differently at Trump and Harris rallies. There is a reason why you do not see pro-choice or pro-Palestinian advocates at a Trump rally. From the stage, Trump encourages his faithful fans “to knock the crap out of hecklers.”  He has even offered to cover their legal expenses if they are arrested and charged with physical assault. 

In contrast, Harris merely brushes them off as she did when two students began shouting “Christ is King” as she was telling a University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse audience how reversing Roe v. Wade endangered women’s health and lives.  She calmly told the protesters, “I think you’re at the wrong rally.  You must be looking for the smaller one down the street.”  The students surely anticipated the crowd’s disapproval.  However, they also knew their safety was not in danger.

Which brings me to the difference between polling and voting.  When you vote in Florida, an election official hands you a folder containing your ballot.  The folder is numbered, but the ballot is not.  When you separate the two and insert your ballot in the scanning device, the folder is laid aside.  At that point, your name is no longer associated with the scanned ballot and the privacy of your vote is protected.

Not so with polling operations.  When a worker for a polling organization calls you, their source is most often state or local voter registration lists.  And if they have your phone number, they also have your name and address.  More importantly, they seldom identify who they are working for.  And if they do, it is not an easily recognizable polling company such as Gallup.

Which begs a new question, “What are the potential consequences of providing information to a stranger who can then link your candidate preference to personal information?”  Any answer I might suggest pales in comparison to the range of options Donald Trump repeated multiple times this past week he might employ.  Anyone who challenges his authority or even simply disagrees with him is referred to as “the enemy within.” And Trump has said he might employ the National Guard, or if necessary, the U.S. Army to take care of his opponents.  Or drag them before a military tribunal as he threatened to do with Liz Cheney.  Or execute a general like Mark Milley for daring to converse with his Chinese counterpart to alleviate any possible miscalculation by either side during the chaos on January 6, 2021.

Bottom line.  Whenever I receive a call that begins, “Do you have a minute to give your opinion,” I simply hang up the phone.  Do I expect an armed militia will show up at my front door?  No.  But like former FBI director James Comey or his deputy Andrew McCabe, I do wonder if a Trump “Schedule F” (see page 80 of Project 2025) loyalist in the bowels of the IRS building will order my tax returns be audited.  Or whether a toady in the State Department invalidates my passport.  Or a mini-Trump in local government has my house re-assessed.

So, if you are wondering how can the polls possibly be so close, there are three possible answers.  One, there really is a majority of voters who think America would be a better place under authoritarian rule.  Two, changes in demographics and the absence of new pro-Harris voter registrants in the polling samples have skewed the results.  Or three, there is a silent, scared majority who decided it was prudent to just keep their powder dry and speak with their ballots rather than their voices.

For the nation’s sake and future, I am betting it is a combination of the second and third.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

Ready on Day 90?

Comic Relief, Politics

In a Thursday post on his Truth Social platform, former President Donald Trump argued that Vice President Kamala Harris “should be investigated and forced off the Campaign,” thereby allowing President Joe Biden “to take back his rightful place” at the top of the Democratic ticket. Trump did not specify what he believes Harris — who became the Republican’s rival in the White House race after Biden dropped his reelection bid this summer — should be investigated for.

~HUFFPOST.COM/October 17, 2024

Life is easy when everything goes exactly as planned.  The alarm goes off on time.  There is still enough hot water for your morning shower.  There is another box of your favorite breakfast cereal.  Traffic is lighter than normal.  The boss thanks you for getting him the information she needed for the board meeting.  The Dow hits another new high.  You celebrate by taking your spouse out for dinner.  And Netflix finally dropped Season 4 of “Stranger Things.”

Most of us know there is no such thing as a perfect day.  That is where planning comes in.  If you live in hurricane alley, you have a standing evacuation plan, bought a generator and stocked the pantry with non-perishable items.  If the Wall Street Journal reports your company is struggling and planning layoffs, you do not wait until you get your pink slip to start looking for alternative employment.  If your doctor recommends a life-style change to prevent a second heart attack, you start Googling tasty, salt-free meals and explore memberships at an area health club.

Donald J. Trump is not “most of us.”  As a right-brained thinker who traffics in metaphors, I wondered, “What is the best way to make people understand the consequences?”  As is always the case, the answer emerges in the most unexpected ways.  This time it was dinner at the Fish Market in Boca Raton with my wife, my mother and two close friends.  I do not remember how we got there, but the conservation turned to, “What is your favorite version of Dicken’s Christmas Carol?”  For the record, my favorite is “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.”

Therefore, I am proud to present a Dr. ESP production of “Mr. Trump’s Christmas Carol.”  My goal?  No different than Charles Dickens’ as he wrote in the preface of the original:

I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Stave 1: The First of the Three Spirits

Trump pulls back the curtains of his poster bed and comes face to face with an old man viewed through some supernatural medium.  “Who are you?” he asks.  “I am the Ghost of administrations past.  Let’s take a walk.”

The first stop is the Oval Office on January 28, 2020.  A younger Trump is sitting behind the Resolute Desk.  Advisors bring him news the coronavirus has arrived in America, it is air borne, and could rival the pandemic of 1918.  They suggest, “Maybe we need to re-establish the NSC pandemic unit you disbanded in 2018.”  His response?  “Bah, humbug.”

The second stop is the admissions desk at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City on May 7, 2020.  The line extends outside the door and around the block.  A reporter asks the hospital administrator, “What is the problem?  Why is the line so long?”  “Because we do not have enough testing devices.  We’ve requested more from CDC but they tell us they have exhausted their supply,” she replies.

The specter turns and asks, “Donald, do you remember where you were that day?”  An image appears of the then-president on the phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.  You can only hear Trump’s side of the conversation.  “Yes, Vlad.  I know it’s bad.  I’m just as scared as you are of catching the virus.  Let me send you some testing devices…You’re welcome, I owed you one anyway.”

“Bah, humbug.  I’ve seen enough,” Trump says.  “Those people didn’t vote for me.  And then they expected me to come to their rescue.”  He falls back to sleep.

Stave 2:  The Second of the Three Spirits

Trump is awakened by a second visitor, a younger spirit who again invites the former president to go with him.  Trump asks, “Who are you?”  “The Ghost of elections present.”

This time the first stop is the Baird Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 18, 2024, the last night of the Republican National Convention.  A confident Trump, having recently survived an assassination attempt and leading his presumed opponent in the polls, is jubilant.  Aware of the increasing pressure on incumbent Joe Biden to drop out of the race, Trump’s campaign staff urge him to have a contingency plan just in case.  “Bah, humbug,” he again replies.

The second stop is Trump’s bedroom on the night of October 17. 2024.  He is posting on Truth Social.  “Why are you showing me this?”  Trump asks.  “Because you did not listen to your advisors.  Biden withdrew from the race 90 days ago.  And you still can’t deal with it.  Here’s what you posted.”

60 MINUTES SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY TAKEN OFF THE AIR – ELECTION INTERFERENCE. CBS SHOULD LOSE ITS LICENSE. THIS IS THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN BROADCAST HISTORY. Kamala should be investigated and forced off the Campaign, and Joe Biden allowed to take back his rightful place (He got 14 Million Primary Votes, she got none!). THIS WHOLE SORDID AND FRAUDULENT EVENT IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!

The spirit continues, “Don’t you understand how small and petty you sound?  And it only confirms everything Harris said about you last night on Fox News.”

“It doesn’t matter.  The base loves this stuff,”  Trump pushes back.  “Ghost, you’re wrong.  I’m done with you.”

Stave 3:  The Last of the Spirits

Trump had barely dozed off again, when he was awakened by a third spirit who uncannily resembled Liz Cheney.  “And who are you?”  Trump asked.  “I am the Ghost of inaugurations future,”  she replies. 

Trump watches as Kamala Harris takes the oath of office as the first female president of the United States.  “How could this happen?  How did they steal the election?” he asks.  “No one stole anything, Donald.  No one to blame but yourself.  You expected everything to simply fall into place.  But that’s not how life works.  Americans understood if a candidate cannot adapt to an unanticipated challenge during the campaign, it was clear to them you learned nothing from the mistakes you made during the pandemic or following your loss to Joe Biden.”

“So where am I on January 20, 2025?” he asks.  The third Ghost conjures up an image of Trump at the omelet bar at Mar-a-Lago.  “I guess it could be worse,” he surmises.  “Oh, it is,” she informs him.  “See those guys on the perimeter.  They used to be your Secret Service detail.  Now they are federal prison guards.  You were sentenced to five years house arrest after being convicted of interfering with the 2020 transfer of power and mishandling classified documents.”

“Bah, f***ing humbug”

Stave 4: The End of It

No, not everyone lived happily ever after, but democracy was saved and Americans continue the quest to form a more perfect union, just as those oldest of ghosts, the Founding Fathers, planned.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP