I Believe I Can...Puke

Looks like the jig might finally be up for two of the biggest super predators. I'm speaking of serial child rapists R Kelly and Jeffrey Epstein. Both were sexually exploiting and abusing girls in plain sight with only feeble attempts at bringing them to justice and holding them to account for their horrible, vile acts. Both have been protected by their wealth and connections to powerful allies. And, as a result, both have exposed the sheer hypocrisy of these allies, many of whom would otherwise have us all believe what great champions they are on this and other hot button social issues.

Well, not exactly all of them. There is of course, the crotch grabber-in-chief, Donald J. Trump, who has spent most of his adult (child)hood sexually bullying, assaulting and raping women. He has then used his daddy's money to hire a whole pack of shysters do the very same thing to these women again, this time using the legal system instead of his own underperforming member to "schlong" them.

Maybe that's why he decided to nominate Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. attorney, to be Secretary of Labor and ostensibly policy lead of the U.S. Government's anti-(sex) trafficking efforts. It makes perfect sense that Trump would put Acosta in charge after Acosta gave Jeffrey Epstein the sweetheart deal of the century to avoid federal charges of sex trafficking and rape, among others. After a mealy-mouthed defense of his spineless cave to this wealthy scion of the Manhattan "Masters of the Universe," Acosta finally did the right thing and resigned.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were Trump who told him to hit the road, if only because the Donald went on record saying he did the exact opposite. Trump is nothing if not consistent, because he always telegraphs when he's lying. In this case, when he said, "It was him not me," implying that the resignation was entirely Acosta's decision, my antennae immediately went up. Poor Donald. He was probably getting nervous that all this focus on Epstein and his sordid acts might flush out some more of Trump's own heinous history of criminal misogyny. Not that it would matter, since he's gotten away with it pretty much every single time.

Still, one can only hope the this time will be different. With both R Kelly and Jeffrey Epstein potentially being sent up the river to do some quality time behind bars, it would be nice to believe that the public might focus just enough of its attention on these two men's cases. If it does, Americans will realize just how endemic sex trafficking is, right here in the U.S., right in their own neighborhoods in many cases. And maybe, just maybe, they'll also begin to appreciate how these two sociopaths' impunity is only the tip of the iceberg for a justice system characterized by gross, systemic inequities.

I can always believe, anyway. I believe I can...puke.

It's No Joke

There was once a time, not so long ago, when a Supreme Court ruling meant something, when it actually carried some weight. The recent ruling by the Roberts Court against the Trump administration's efforts to include a question on citizenship in the 2020 census was the right one. Among other things, it called the administration's rationale for including the question "contrived."

What a perfect description of the Trump administration for nearly the past 3 years - contrived:

• the faux populism used to cover up the massive giveaways to the wealthiest 1 percent; 
• the righteous claims to drain the swamp in Washington, only to carry out some of the most brazen, systematic corruption we've seen since the Teapot Dome scandal a century ago; 
• the effort to bring back the coal industry as a justification for rolling back the U.S.'s incremental baby steps towards addressing global climate change; and 
• the fact-free claims of protecting national security to impose a Muslim ban.

So when the Trump administration claimed that it was adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census to better enforce the Voting Rights Act, you just knew something stinky just had to be there, festering not too far below the surface. Sure enough, first an estranged daughter turned over her deceased father's hard drives with troves of evidence of the GOP strategy to undercount people of color in the 2020 census. Soon thereafter, the Trump administration's Cracker Jack communications team began losing message discipline with different administration officials backing different rationales. And finally, once the Supreme Court ruling was issued, there was the President himself, babbling about the need to have the question to better demarcate Congressional districts and allocate appropriations. Oopsy!

One might have reasonably thought that this palm-smacking display of incompetence and dishonesty combined with the Supreme Court ruling would have deep-sixed this poorly planned and even more poorly executed ploy. With normal presidencies, yes, but as we all know by now, the only thing normal about the Trump presidency is the setting on the White House washing machine.

Nope. The deranged day-glo orange crotch-grabber at 1600 Penn Avenue wasn't about to let the rule of law get in his way. What Donny wants, Donny gets, all the while making a public spectacle to rile up his de-based basket of deplorables. It's his census survey, by golly, and he'll put whatever dad gum question in there he wants. Why he'll even be happy to to door-to-door himself, knocking on doors while his jack-booted ICE agents go knocking a few heads in the much anticipated round up and separation of immigrant families. It all has a familiar, frightening ring to it. So if you hear a knock at your door, be careful answering it. You never know who might be on the other side...and whatever you do, DON'T ask any questions.