Trump Them Monday Blues

April 11, 2017

So, we got contradictory descriptions of the results of bombing Syria. The first, from the Donald, details a perfectly executed military strike that inflicted exactly the expected damage on exactly the intended enemy targets, rendering twenty percent of the Syrian air force destroyed. The other, from Putin, claims the air strike did minimal damage and won’t affect air operations at all. The actual facts? Who knows?

But, we do know both those guys are liars.

Meanwhile, we experienced another school shooting in San Bernardino. Three were lost this time, but the story can’t even hold page one. It’s tough to compete with the Donald bombing for dead children, even with dead children. The shooter had a history of domestic violence and a gun.

It’s amazing and disappointing what we can get used to.

In business news, United Airlines presented the American public with a near perfect example of how corporate power operates by dragging a paying customer (I mean volunteer) off a plane to save the cost of charter flying a United crew to a connecting destination. The United CEO, Oscar Munoz, issued a statement expressing remorse, apologizing for having to re-accommodate customers. He went on to describe the event in words that bore no resemblance to the accounts of the eye witnesses.  Hmm.

On the news they’re discussing the PR nightmare, as if United is, somehow, a victim of the situation.

On a more positive note, New Mexico (and some other states) just disallowed lunch shaming children as a collection technique. Before this moment of enlightenment, kids whose families fell behind in paying school lunch fees had “I Need Lunch Money” stamped on their arms. Apparently, since it was not as dramatic as Hester Prynne’s scarlet letter, the marking didn’t work. So, the state banned it.

I’d like to know, why it’s necessary to specifically outlaw state behavior that was recognized as bullshit back in 1850?

Over these last one-hundred-fifty-four days since Trump’s ascension, America has drifted fictional. The republic senses some Orwell, a little Atwood, but mostly feels the Donald’s story – unsympathetic and illiterate.

In Peace and Justice,
osv