One of the benefits of living in a big city? Grocery stores carry weird and wonderful stuff. This week’s discovery: the stroopwafel, designed to be warmed on top of a steaming mug of tea or coffee. The texture is crumbly rather than crisp. I’m honestly surprised to discover that I prefer breakfast treats, like the stroopwafels, where the sweetness isn’t cloying.
I’m not the only one who sees a pattern emerging in the tweets of the PEOTUS. Faced with damning evidence of his own criminality and bad behavior, he sets off a fake controversy intended to create conflict between liberal elites and the working white class.
Donald Trump is the first PEOTUS in my lifetime to pay $25 Million dollars to settle a fraud case. The first in my life to use the Presidency to advance his own business interests without regard for laws governing conflicts of interest. Donald Trump is the first PEOTUS in my life to have ties to the Russian government, at least according to the Russians themselves.
The SNL and Hamilton “controversies” will not be remembered in ten years. I’m not suggesting people shut up about either. Just the reverse! Mock on, my fellow patriots! Tyrants depend upon fear, and laughter can be a powerful uniter.
FOLKS WHO VOTED 4 TRUMP: “He’ll make America strong!”
TRUMP: “The theater kids are harassing us!”
— Taran Killam (@TaranKillam) November 19, 2016
In my day booing was not the worst thing to happen to a politician at the theater.
— Old Hoss Radbourn (@OldHossRadbourn) November 19, 2016
Your parents in 1996: Don't trust ANYONE on the Internet.
Your parents in 2016: Freedom Eagle dot Facebook says Hillary invented AIDS.
— Daniel Kibblesmith (@kibblesmith) November 19, 2016
But I encourage all those committed to keeping our Constitution safe and resisting the radical right agenda of Steve Bannon and Mike Pence, but somewhat lacking in the funny department (like me), to ask ourselves one question as the controversies swirl.
Is this something most people will care about in two years, when they vote in mid-term elections? Or are we unwittingly complicit in a campaign designed to alienate voters?
In the wake of the 2016 Presidential election, I’m struggling to come to terms with the results. Part of that struggle has been to face up clearly to what is likely to come down the road. Here, I’m advancing seven predictions for the future, along with mitigating factors, counter-propositions and related implications. I hope I’m proven wrong, folks. (But I won’t be.)
PREDICTION ONE: Roe v Wade will be overturned by the Trumpist SCJ.
But hold on: In many red states, access to abortion is already limited. If Roe falls, then state law controls; abortion will remain safe and available in blue state strongholds.
Bottom line: Women and families making low incomes in red states will be disproportionately impacted.
PREDICTION TWO: Federal recognition of gay marriage will be overturned by the Trumpist SCJ.
But hold on: Gay marriage will remain legal and equal in blue strongholds. Red states will limit or reject gay marriage outright.
I’m asking: Millenials overwhelmingly reject anti-gay rhetoric. Will they vote in 2018 and 2020?
PREDICTION THREE: Trumpism won’t bring back jobs lost to globalization and automation.
But hold on: Eventually, people will agree that the real winners of this election were billionaires and corporations, and we’ll have a genuine appetite for reforms in the way we tax and charter our would-be corporate masters.
Yeah, hold on that holding on: The need for decent-paying middle-class jobs is urgent. Taxes don’t create jobs. And automation is encroaching even on the service sector.
Implication: We need a solid safety net, for people just barely hanging on.
Reality check: The party taking power wants to privatize and shrink our existing safety net. The people have chosen to award that party control of all three branches of government.
As ever: The rich will do fine. The poor will be offered minimum wage jobs and told to be grateful they get that.
PREDICTION FOUR: Taxes will go down for the super wealthy, up for everyone else. Single parents will not be allowed to file as heads of household. Struggling people will be disproportionately penalized.
Yeah, but: Fixing tax code just requires passing legislation.
About that: Passing legislation requires winning the House, Presidency, and a supermajority in the Senate.
PREDICTION FIVE: US Healthcare costs, only just now slowing, will surge. Free of oversight, big pharma continues to soak US market.
Related: People with insurance from jobs will receive more lean benefit packages to offset costs and will pay more for meds.
Once again: People with disabilities, chronic ailments, low income families will be disproportionately affected.
PREDICTION SIX: Human impact on environment will continue unmodulated. Rising waters will threaten low-lying communities and in twenty years redraw the map of coastal America.
Yeah, but: Neither major party is serious about taking America green.
PREDICTION SEVEN: Capital will flee to the nation-state with the most stable form of governance. China and Russia will prosper and gain allies and financial muscle.
That’s the future I see. I’m not conceding anything; in two years, I’ll be voting for representatives who stand against Trumpism, and if a majority of Americans joined me, the far right agenda being advanced right now would only do minor harm to our country. If indifference and apathy hold sway, I’m afraid things will only continue to get worse. We have complicated problems to solve; they will require complex solutions.
The HuffPo and AP have the story of the destruction of one of the oldest remaining Mayan structures in all of Belize. Why would anyone do such a thing? The answer is surprising, retroactively predictable, and disheartening.
This documentary series isn’t current, doesn’t boast fancy graphics or cater to a bored audience. Instead, Michael Wood’s Legacy: the Origins of Civilization delivers a nuanced narrative. Agree or disagree with (for example) Wood’s contention that the Mayan conception of time contributed to their success and ultimate failure, at least there’s something of substance here with which to engage.
The Washington Post reports we now have conclusive proof that Jamestown settlers resorted to cannibalism to survive. Dark times force desperate measures:
The first chops, to the forehead, did not go through the bone and are perhaps evidence of hesitancy about the task.
From our perspective in the 21st century, the European colonists’ success in North America is a foregone conclusion. But it wasn’t always so.
io9 shares a new thesis about the origins of the Ancient Mayan civilization:
What Triadan, Inomata and their colleagues’ new discoveries suggest is that great civilizations don’t grow out of previous dominant groups like the Olmec, nor do they arise in isolation. They are the result of hybridization. The Maya came to dominate Mexico, Guatemala and Belize because they were able to incorporate the innovations of the Olmec along with the discoveries and beliefs of many peoples in the area whose lives we are just now beginning to learn about. The ancient Maya were, in other words, a multiculture.
I’d like to propose one of the great strengths of the American people has always been hybrid vigor. If we hope to flower throughout the 21st century, we might be better served worrying less about how to drive people away from this country, and more about how to attract the best and brightest from across the globe.