Old Guy Rant #697

I’m confused and troubled – of course.

Can you imagine Dwight Eisenhower or Barack Obama abusing underlings for following the facts and the law regarding damage to the reflecting pools? (Of course, neither would have interfered to choose a contractor himself. ) The facts show that shoddy work, maybe because of the rush or the low budget, caused damage, as often happens. Mr. Trump was mortified, because anything that reflects badly on our Grand Poobah must be denied or destroyed. His obedient appointee, D.C.’s chief prosecutor, duly charged folks criminally for doing damage there’s no evidence they did. Recently that office concluded that, yeah, shoddy work was the problem, and dismissed the criminal cases. GP is angry, insulting his pal and may fire her. (If I held that job, and he accused me of “folding like an umbrella” because I reluctantly did what the facts and law warranted, I’d have resigned. Clearly, GP’s appointed minion has no self-respect, which, I suppose, is not the greatest surprise we’ve seen this week.

I’ve got personal reasons to loathe our GP this week. Someone we love, who devotes his life these days to taking care of his helpless, unwell daughter, had to evacuate their home because of wildfires. Even his daughter would likely see that uncontrollable storms and wildfires around the world, which folks warned could happen if we didn’t combat global climate craziness, might have something to do with global climate craziness. But GP, holding great power, says all that is a hoax. People I love could have died this week because of what he’s calling a hoax, because oil companies pay him well to say it.

I also don’t like James Carville, who usually says perspicacious things in funny ways. He’s joined the rush to warn us against “democratic socialists” getting nominated for office. He’s afraid enemies will shout “Reds!" Or “Commies” as if it were the 1950s. Or 1920. And people will obediently grow fearful. I see things different. Both our huge political parties, which often seem to exist solely to gather or retain as much power as possible, rather than to do anything much for you or me, are way too beholden to the huge corporations and the very wealthy. They both talk some great stuff. But in the past 70 years we’ve stopped equalizing our society and let economic inequality grow like Topsy, failed to institute a national health system like every other serious nation, and failed to recognize that health and education are human rights that benefit a society. We’ve made decisions that are just plain stupid if you’re thinking about the welfare of human citizens, but brilliant for maximizing short-term corporate profits. And although Republicans have publicly pushed those decisions more fervently than Democrats, both parties have held power.

It is so bad, that large numbers elected GP [DJT] as a monkey wrench to toss into the works, ‘cause they felt the works weren’t working for them.

Meanwhile, I thank Manny Sanchez for spending a tough hour with us on radio; but I’m troubled. Not that Project Jupiter folks keep lying to us. A corporation’s job is maximizing shareholder profits. Lies are just another tool. But our commission sometimes seems to listen to Oracle with as little critical thinking as Trumpists listening to GP. I’d urge not messing with public comment. It’s time-consuming, if you’ve made that many people that angry, maybe you owe ‘em. 

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[The above column appeared on the 9th of August, 2026, in the Las Cruces Sun-News and on the newspaper's website, and will be up soon on KRWG’s website. A shortened and sharpened radio commentary version of this Sunday column will air during the week on KRWG (90.1 FM) and on KTAL-LP (101.5 FM / ]

[I was pleased that I will be able to vote, after all. Mr. Trump and I agree on perhaps just one thing: that the Republicans best chance to avoid electoral disaster three months from now is the Save the Republicans Act. Theoretically aimed at the almost non-existent problem of non-citizens voting, it would prevent people from voting without a federally blessed picture ID. That would eliminate more folks who see the Trump horror pretty clearly than folks who think he’s just fine. It would eliminate a lot of poor and minority folks: getting your passport renewed or a copy of your birth certificate, easy for folks with time and resources, can be harder if you don’t have a passport, aren’t sure which hospital you were born in, or are just too damned busy. The law would disenfranchise more women than men (because many gave up their birth last names in marriage), and, perhaps not coincidentally, Trump is loathed by fewer men than women. Folks with less leisure and less cash are less likely to pursue the hassle of getting the right credentials simply so they can vote.

We opposed “Communism” because it was the professed ideology of nations determined to obliterate us. Pure socialism has rarely, if eveer, worked well for any nation. (The USSR and most all its allies never tried it.) Many of the states that now have longer average life spans, and better “happiness” ratings, are Social Democratic states, including several in Scandanavia. One tried socialism a while back, but it didn’t work. “Democratric Socialist” sounds a lot like “Social Democrat,” not just in the titles but in the advocated programs.

Just watched a video of Mr. El-Sayed explaining that to oppose genocide by Israel is not anti-Semitism. He further says, as I have written, that to confuse anti-Semitism with opposition to bad actions of a nation is dangerous, and undermines the importance of rooting out anti-Semitism. He notes that while he opposes Israeli abuse of our assistance, he also opposes Egyptian abuse of our assistance. Also that as an Egyptian-American he should not be punished for Egypt’s actions. He also related an incident in which a man said he didn’t like the candidate, but would vote for him because the candidate sought healtgh care for all. The man didn’t like him because the candidate is Muslim.

I look forward to hearing from Democrats opposing “Democratic socialists” the specific policies or proposed programs that offend them. Opposing genocide and advocating universal health care won’t persuade me. ]