The sun finally sets on this quake year
Disruptions left fissures as yet unclear
Nation shaken by Heartland’s frustration
Rally-rocked stadiums in rural towns
While shuttered Main Streets heaved up in despair
As tone deaf hunkered under safe bunkers
Beneath cloistered thought-gated college lawns
In cocktail cult kissass-disguised newsrooms
Consulting class glass shattered on both coasts
Hit by a political tsunami
From Brexit to Nexit the EU cracked
Populists tilted globalist axis
Expect tectonic economic shifts
And frequent volcanic Trump eruptions
Roger Over and Out
The biggest story of this election season. Trump as the Republican nominee? Nope. It’s Ailes’ ouster as CEO of FoxBot Nation. The deacon of cleavage and legs finally got his parting shot. Media’s Most Obvious Dirty Old Man. Conservative icon gone. Karl Rove will now have to ditch the dress. Good riddance Roger.
Media-crisy
Moral outrage. Righteous indignation. All of a sudden cable news is shocked at Trump’s racist comments. Calling for Republican leadership to denounce him and pull their endorsements. Hypocrisy on steroids. These are the same people who looked the other way when he called for a Muslim ban. Dodged David Duke. While covering every Donald rally 24/7. Trotting over to Trump Tower to kiss his ring. Giving him free time when he called in to every show on a daily basis. Most specious offenders. Mika & Joe. Ratings trumped racism. They still will.
Safe Spaces
It’s that time of year again. Commencement disses. Free speech is dead on college campuses. Liberal arts have been replaced by narrow minds. Micro-aggressions prohibited. Safe places. Good luck finding happy spots out there in the real world. Oh. Right. You’ll be protected in your parents’ basements. Not thinking about much. Vacuous brains don’t hurt. Opposing points of view will never come through that flat screen.
Anywhere on the Island Green.
Journalistas
Young women reporters following the campaign on MSNBC. Call themselves Road Warriors. Hallie Jackson. Kristen Welker. Kasie Hunt. Katy Tur. Tireless. Professional. Attractive. Yet. No false eyelashes. Nor pancake makeup. Modern garb vs. cocktail dresses. Foxbots they are not. Relentless questioning. Know their stuff. Historically. Currently. Refreshingly. Journalistic.
NYTimes Picks 2015
It’s no secret. I have a lot to say. Back Roads Thoughts on water, guns, Wall Street, politics, ISIS, gender. Sometimes the New York Times likes my comments on its articles and columns. Here are the ones they picked this year:
Michael Buckley. Damming Tibet’s Rivers. 3/30/15
David Brooks. Rubio-Fiorina Option. 9/18/15
Frank Bruni. Hillary Clinton’s Debate Magic. 10/13/15
Frank Bruni. Scary Ted Cruz. 10/21/15
Roger Cohen. To Save Paris, Defeat ISIS. 11/14/21
Frank Bruni. War on ISIS. 11/21/15
News Story. 14 Dead in Mass Shooting. San Bernardino. 12/3/15
Op-Ed by Hillary Clinton. Reining in Wall Street. 12/7/15
Politics. Moms & Daughters Debate Gender Issue. 12/13/15
New American Divide
Peggy Noonan‘s piece in the Wall Street Journal analyzes the new voting “base”. From her New York neighborhood to the Trump-nomenon. Elites vs. non-elites with no particular party loyalty. Confounding pundits and reporters alike.
And then there’s the arcane paradigm pitting men against women. It’s beyond insulting to think that women vote in a mindless monolithic block. Hillary’s history-making inevitability. Really? Wondering why H-Rod and bff aide Huma Abedin stayed married to bimbo-eruptor Bill and sleaze dog Weiner. How does that recommend them to repudiate acts against. Wait for it. Women. Or girls.
Je Suis Candide
Charlie Hebdo Magazine killings in Paris. Lamenting those who carried the enlightened torch of Voltaire. Satire. Free speech. Pens drawn against guns of disaffected disillusioned men disguised in the guise of religion. Boredom begets indoctrination in absurdities as a rationale to commit atrocities. Another BrothersTsarnaev scenario. As Pope Francis says, jobs will obliterate these faux jihads. Economics drives our new Gang World.
On a more mundane note. 20 years since Starbucks served its first Frappuccino.
Worst 2014
Rape of the leaves. Construction next door.
Sochi Olympics. Return of Putin.
Crying Wolfowitz. Right-wing and media fear-mongering.
ISIS. GangWorld.
Ebola. E-bowling.
Malaysia missing airplane obsession.
Ferguson media hype.
Commencement Speech bigots.
Football violence on and off the field.
TV’s Newsroom. Veep.
“Cute cat” videos.
Construction next door.
Post Stuffington 2014
Scattered family this year. KrankyKristmas will reunite all factions.
It is complicated to be a young American man anything other than white. Unless you’ve lived it, you can’t understand it. Charles Blow makes it clearer. But, still. We never will. Author Harlen Coben’s familiar experience at a Barnes & Noble in Holyoke 2005 . Take our blessings as they come.
Unusually interesting football games on Thanksgiving. Too bad they were all lopsided. Mark Sanchez had a resurrection. More like Easter. Kaepernick is stu…not smart. Harbaugh lousy time manager. Seahawks sleazy. Go Green Bay.
Winter Header Photo: G. Levine. Shelburne, Massachusetts
Snow: WordPress
Side Trek . NYC 