Month: January 2017

It is fascinating to see how the famous George Santayana quotation, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” is being tossed on its ear since the Trump presidency began. Trump’s actions and choices of advisors has prompted many comparisons to Nazis and Hitler. The coining of “Alternative Facts” drew immediate parallels to “1984” and “Newspeak.” The firing of Sally Yates, who committed the unspeakable crime of saying “No” to a president who was acting in what she believed was an unconstitutional manner–just as she assured Senator Jeff Sessions she would do when she was first being approved for being the assistant AG–caused many to invoke the Saturday Night Massacre of Richard Nixon. So not only is history being attended to, but it is being invoked all over the place.

It is impressive to me how in just ten days Trump has turned this country on its ear. Those who opined that the Trump we saw during the campaign was not an accurate reflection of how he would govern have been proven as wrong as those of us who thought he had no chance of winning the presidency in the first place. His anti-Mexican tirades were supported by his being the first president in thirty years to have no Hispanic or Latino members on his cabinet. His anti-Muslim rants and declaring that he would ban them from entering have been borne out by his actions, although he was considerate enough to ban only Muslims coming from countries where the citizens have killed exactly zero Americans. As opposed to those who brought down the Twin Towers; they’d still have been clear to enter. And by startling coincidence, Trump has business connections to every Muslim country permitted to come to the U.S.

“But it’s necessary!” I’ve been told. “All terrorists are Muslims,” I’m informed, “so we have to ban all of them.” Which I suppose makes sense if you’re willing to admit that since all members of the KKK are white Christian males, we need to ban all White Christian males.

Perhaps the final word on the Muslim ban is reflected in another quotation, this one from Ben Franklin: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” The original quote was actually in a very different context, having less to do with Liberty than it did taxes during war time, but subsequent generations found that it spoke in a broader sense than Franklin originally intended, and I’m pretty much fine with that. Sure makes more sense than listening to a Trump tweet.

PAD

Well, 2017 is off to a great gøddámņëd start.

Miguel Ferrer, the son of Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrer, has passed away of cancer at the age of 61.

Miguel was a friend. I met him through Bill Mumy and although I haven’t seen him in years, he was never far from my thoughts. I named Miguel O’Hara after him and still remember when my editor challenged me on the fact that his nickname was “Miggy,” declaring that it was not a nickname anyone used for Miguel. Which was hilarious since that was what we all called Miguel.

I’ve been following his acting career for years, back to when he died horribly in “Robocop” as Bob Morton He told me about his death scene in great, enthusiastic detail, so when I actually saw the movie, I was the only person in the theater laughing during that intense scene because all I could envision was Miguel’s recitation of his acting. I visited him and his then-wife at their home, held his infant son Lukas in my arms, chuckling over the fact that he had Miggy’s nose. He played drums in the comic writer/artist band “Seduction of the Innocent.” He was a great guy.

And now he’s gone.

My sympathies to his wife and sons, and to all his friends and extended family.

Yeah, fantastic launch of the year.

PAD

It occurs to me that rather than simply criticize Trump for what he says, thereby adding nothing to the discourse and simply infuriating his followers, I should instead make clear the way a future leader should conduct himself.

What Trump should have said in his Twitter feed is: “I regret that John Lewis believes my presidency is illegitimate. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to working with him and his peers to make America great again.”

That is the proper response for the leader of the free world. Not an assault on the city that the man has represented for decades, and about which Trump himself spoke positively a mere 10 years ago.

PAD

John Lewis is a great man.

And you are an ášš.

PAD

Let us conjecture that you are a person who is alive because of the help that you are receiving from the ACA. Let us now further conjecture that the Senate gets rid of the ACA. Without its benefits, you die.

So the question for our lawyer friends out there it is: are the senators who voted to get rid of your health support responsible for your death? Can they be arrested for murder? Can they be prosecuted and jailed? Can they be sued by the survivors?

I figure the answer is no, but it is certainly intriguing to imagine.

PAD

I have a new novelette in the latest issue of “Space and Time” Magazine. It is entitled “Franklinstein,” and features the hitherto untold story of a dark incident during the lifetime of our founding father, Ben Franklin, and how it served to partly inspire Mary Shelley’s subsequent immortal tale.

However the original story was originally a bit longer than the printed version. There was a lengthy intro that helped set up the background, but it made the story too long for “Space and Time,” so we had to trim the introduction.

But I really liked it, and so I am presenting it to you here. If you like it, then go out and get the magazine at your local bookstore or order it online. And since it came out in 2016, well, when it comes to award nominations for the year, kindly keep it in mind if you consider it worthy of recognition.

Ladies and gentlemen: “Franklinstein.”

Continue Reading ““Franklinstein”” →

You stood there in front of a packed audience and you stammered and stuttered and held your hands in a palsied fashion. The “what” of what you said is beside the point. You could have tried to refute his article by simply addressing the facts. Instead you chose to mock, not his words, but his disability.

It was foul. It was evil. It was mean. And it was not remotely presidential.

And your response is to deny it and try to trash Meryl Streep in the process.

How in the name of all that’s holy is anyone supposed to believe anything you say when you deny that you did things WE ALL SAW? When you stand there in less than two weeks and claim that you are going to defend the constitution–a document I would wager you have never read and know nothing of its contents–why are we supposed to think that you mean it?

This goes beyond the fact that you are (at least now) a Republican. This goes to the core of the man you are. A man stands up for what he believes and a man takes responsibility for what he does. You do neither. We do not know what you believe because it changes depending on who you talk to. We do know you refuse to own up to the things you say.

You are seventy years old and remain a cypher, and that makes you possibly the most dangerous individual ever to have high office.

For God’s sake: Grow the hëll up.

PAD