Category Archives: Politics

The Stench of a Gale Force Wind

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I’m not alone in being blocked!

By GORDON GLANTZ

There is a long-running joke in Montgomery County, Pa.

The butt (pun intended) of this joke is County Commissioner Joe Gale.

“Joe Gale, he has it made,” a jokester will say.

“Why?” one will ask.

“He has a job for life,” the jokester responds.

And it is true, Gale does seemingly have a job for life as the lone Republican among the three serving as our county commissioners.

Sure, he had a temporary delusion of grandeur in May, as his hat as thrown into the ring in his party’s gubernatorial primary. He suffered the ignominy of a distant sixth-place finish, coming away with a paltry 2.1 percent of the vote. By contrast, “winner” Doug Mastriano – lunatic that he is — placed first with a 43.8 plurality.

So, the running joke that is Joe Gale continues.

As the song by The Smiths goes: “That joke isn’t funny anymore.”

And the joke is on us.

While rendered insignificant, Gale seems to be on a mission to earn enough brownie points with the far right that he seemingly thinks Donald Trump might even cut him a check or something,

Yes, Gale’s social media posts are that frightening.

And while the rules call for at least one Republican to be consistently out-voted by Chair Val Arkoosh and Vice Chair Ken Lawrence, perhaps the county would be better served by a less extreme dissenting voice.

Believe it or not, there are still plenty of Republicans, especially locally, that I have respect for in these times of Civil War. And I would respect them more if they raised the bar a bit on who speaks in their name at the county level.

Unlike Facebook, I pretty much steer clear of politics on Instagram, instead using it as a Sofia photo album. However, I admittedly chide Gale’s absurdities posted under “Vote Joe Gale,” which seems like a stupid title considering how few Republicans voted for him around the state in the primary and how he pretty much has a free skate in the county.

That has come to an end, it seems, since I am now blocked from posting comments there anymore.

Seems odd, though, He is an elected official. Last time I checked, I was a resident of the county. I’m a constituent, whether he likes it or not.

Should I be blocked at will because he doesn’t like my constructive criticism or polite protestations?

I guess he just wants to hear what he wants to hear from the small band of bible-thumping Karens whole tell him how great he is for being mean-spirited in the name of Jesus.

Or maybe, well, he’s just a snowflake.

It’s always a bit interesting to see a good portions Republicans wrap themselves up in their peculiar interpretations of the Constitution when they are simultaneously violating it themselves by blocking freedom of speech.

Gale’s whole play – as the good Catholic boy – blows a lot of smoke.

But, you know what they say about smoke, right? Eventually, there will be fire – fire and brimstone.

I guess the stuff about separation of church and state eluded him in school.

He can selectively bounce around the county, taking selfies with law enforcement and attractive women at fairs and carnivals – while throwing in a perfunctory shot of himself with black people – but it doesn’t wash away the more troubling posts on both Instagram and Facebook (also called “Vote For Joe Gale”).

The facts are these (according to betterliving.com): 64.3 percent of county residents identify as being religious, meaning that close to 36 percent (myself included) do not actively practice any specific form of organized religion (whether or not we believe in a higher power or not).

Catholics, based on historical immigration of Irish and Italians (and more recently of Mexicans), are the plurality (at 38.5 percent) but not the majority (that would mean more than 50 percent). And I wonder how may say they are Catholic when polled when they are really just perfunctory Easter-Christmas Catholics.

Someone should tell Gale that, as he seems to be a bit confused about the difference. When you add in the various other Christian denominations, as well as the county’s robust Jewish community (mostly in the Eastern part of the county and the Main Line) – along with the 33.7 percent of us “others” who live, work and pay taxes here – he needs to be made to realize, maybe through official censure or something by peers, that he was elected to represent everyone and not just church ladies with rosary beads who give him feedback of daily affirmations.

I personally know church-going Catholics who are flat-out not impressed with Gale. Those jokes about him? They are often the source, these people.

But he has ripped a page out Trump’s playbook, seeing himself as just governing those – the smaller vocal minority — who think like he does.

The only difference, from my view, is that Trump doesn’t even really believe half of what he says (he was for gun control before he was against it, for example) but feeds off the whims of his followers because it boosts his enormous ego.

For Gale, I’m assuming it is some sort of pathetic cry for attention.

Don’t believe me? Think I’m being hyperbolic?

Let’s look at tone of some of these posts, which seem to be increasing as the proverbial noose tightens around Trump’s neck on the national stage:

-After President Joe Biden came to Philadelphia recently to say some of the types of things that wishy-washy Democrats have been afraid to say for way too long, Gale posted: “This fake Catholic, baby killer has some nerve coming to the great state of Pennsylvania and assassinating the character of God-fearing Americans that rightfully resist the Democrat Party’s reckless, left-wing agenda.”

Whoa! Who is he to call someone a “fake Catholic?” Who is he to call someone a “baby killer?” Does he know what Biden feels, spiritually, in his heart– especially after experiencing a lot of personal family tragedy and a near-death experience? Does he have proof he has personally “killed babies?” And, the usual theme of dividing Americans between being heathens and God-fearing, just because they are for a women’s right to choose what to do with her own body, is so unoriginal that it hurts.

-In response to an article from Fox News (his favorite source, despite its history of playing fast and loose with facts) that said more parents are enrolling kids in Catholic schools to avoid “wokeness” (yes, that’s a word), he responded: “Better yet, consider enrolling your children in the Regina Academies who offer a Catholic classical curriculum that forms both the mind and the soul.” That was followed with an actual web link for the private academies that come with tuitions.

Since when does an elected official serve as an official spokesperson for one school over the other?

And what about non-Catholics, Joe?

There was acknowledgement of some Catholic holidays that seemed innocent enough until you read between the lines.

-For example, there was this: “Happy Feast Day of Saint Raymond Nonnatus, the patron saint of unborn babies, expectant mothers and Christian families. Experience has shown his intercession to be powerful for fertility.”

-And another: “Today is the Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist. Be fearless in preaching the Good News of the Gospel, no matter the earthly consequences.”

-In response to news that actor Shia LeBeuof converting to Catholicism, he said: “Proof that miracles are real! Saint Padre Pio, pray for us and the conversion of more souls on earth and in purgatory.”

So now we get down to the nitty gritty here. To Gale, all of the rest of us are ticketed for purgatory.

He is allowed to think and say what he wants behind closed doors – or wherever he goes to hide from the hard harsh world he sees (parents’ basement, perhaps) – but not on an official page called “Vote For Joe Gale.”

Before he blocked me on Instagram, I playfully asked if he was going to wish his Jewish constituents a Happy New Year. Certainly no violation of any Internet rules about violence or language, especially at a threshold for an elected leader, but I know the answer.

Crickets.

After all, his page also included a cartoon evoking old anti-Semitic tropes and the following comment: “Like many big city District Attorneys, Philly DA Larry Krasner is bankrolled by globalist billionaire George Soros. The chaos and destruction that’s ensued is no coincidence.”

In case you didn’t know, Krasner and Soros are both Jewish. I guess our pious commissioner couldn’t resist.

Henry Ford would be so proud.

If Gale can’t get an audience with the pope, maybe he can go hang out with Mel Gibson and Van Morrison.

While he doesn’t mention Trump by name much, which is probably by design, Gale is running a lot of the same fullback dives from Page 1 of the playbook.

-On Anthony Fauci stepping down: “Good riddance to this swamp creature who contributed to the needless suffering of many families, students and small-businesses across Pennsylvania and the country.”

Mature, huh? Not sounding real, uh, religious to me. The immaturity, though, does wreak of Trump.

Abortion is Gales repeated theme. While I admit that “pro-abortion” is a stupid and destructive term, as no one is really “pro-abortion” as much as they are “pro-choice,” he cherry-picked a post that Arkoosh “liked” as being “sick.”

He said funding for Planned Parent was “Blood money.” No word on the NRA, in terms of blood money, although he did provide some skewed stats about where guns are sold and where crimes happen, which was following by more conveniently religious psychobabble: “Statistics prove the problem is not law abiding gun ownership, but hearts without God.”

And – unfortunately — there is more:

-He also had another post of a Rosary in a hand, and added that he was “feeling kind of ‘extremist’ today, think I’ll pray my Rosary.” Yes, not a misprint, that’s an elected official openly referring to himself as an “extremist.”

-While Philadelphia is just a tad bit out of his jurisdiction, Gale couldn’t help but pounce on a School District of Philadelphia mask mandate for the returning to school: “Pre-Kindergarteners will suffer another year of indignity and fear-mongering at the hands of the radical leftists who run the Philadelphia School District. Families and children across the city deserve better.”

So does Montgomery County.

When it comes to Joe Gale, we deserve a lot better.

Memo From A Windmill

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By GORDON GLANTZ

GORDONVILLE — Forget the name you see above.

I’m not Gordon Glantz.

Call me Don Quixote.

When it comes to the issue of gun control, that’s who I am. Driven to the point of heroic madness.

I’ve gone at the subject of gun control 1,000 times, so get set for No. 1,001.

We have so many inherent problems in this country.

We are literally torn apart by a covert Civil War, which was initiated by your former president (not mine).

Education? Environment? Bullying?

Gun Control still tops the list for me.

I’m not advocating going door to door and taking all your guns, either. If I would, I could, but I can’t.

But there are measures that can be taken to save lives. Why not move forward?

Let’s start with this bitter pill: More American have died from gunfire since 1970 than in all wars combined. And the death toll continues to rise.

Take a minute to swallow it without choking.

Now, to put it into more immediate terms, try this: There were more than 500 shootings this weekend that resulted in 233 fatalities.

Some like to parse it out between mass shootings and street shootings, but a gun death is a gun death. No matter the victim’s race or social standing, the blood of a victim runs in rivers of red.

What gets me is that the common response I get, even from those who are frustratingly neutral, is that there is nothing we can do about it.

Throwing up your hands and surrendering to the madness? Is that the American way?

Actually, I’ll tell you what it really is: It’s the Yemen way.

Yemen? Yeah, Yemen.

That’s the only other country with an attitude toward guns like we have.

Let me update you on Yemen, so that we have some context of who are partners in gun crime happen to be.

Yemen is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. An estimated 12 million children are hungry, thirsty and lacking basic medical care.

Considered one of the most unsafe places on the planet, travel advisories are generally issued due to terrorism and kidnapping and overall violence.

Yemen is second – I repeat, second – to one other country in the gun ownership.

Take a wild guess?

United States? Bingo!

Maybe Yemen can’t help it.

We can.

We have this fantasy, perhaps a fetish, about playing John Wayne. The reality is that ever getting to do that in your own home, as compared to a tragic accident or heat-of-the-moment domestic disputes or suicide (two-thirds of gun deaths), are much great.

And I have news for you. John Wayne, while also a racist in the real life, was also wimp. He served as many days – zilch — in combat as the former president (not mine).

Let it go.

Let me tell you a story. Once or twice a year, we have a garage sale. Without fail, some “customer” will show up looking for guns and ammunition. We will politely tell him we don’t, and it’s not uncommon for this “customer” to refuse to take “no” for an answer.

“Youse, don’t got nuttin’ at all,” he’ll say, while rattling off different types of guns and bullets, and smirking as if we’re losers when we say no.

Is this how it’s supposed to go down? And it’s naïve to think these guys only use our garage sales to circumvent the flawed system where approximately 20 percent of the guns on the streets are sold outside the boundaries and countless others are stolen.

The common arguments I get, usually on Facebook, are that it’s a mental health issue.

I’m not going to argue that it’s part of it, but it’s blatantly irresponsible to thrown that blanket over it and walk away.

Statistics show that the vast majority of people with mental health issues are non-violent. What we can agree that it is not enough people who need access to mental healthcare are able get it (typically blocked in budgets by the same right-wing politicians that refuse to budge on gun control). Pretty much unrelated in reality, people seeking easy access to guns are able to get them.

What do the sobering numbers say? It is, in fact, easier to get your hands on a gun than to get psychiatric treatment. This is from that Harvard place, by the way, not FOX News.

The other one, and most laughable, is the car comparison.

How about this, ding-dongs? Let’s compare mind sets and see where we are on it.

Read a car magazine or through an online thread and compare it to those from gun enthusiasts.

One person is enjoying the open road, the other is enjoying pulling the trigger on a weapon with only one reason for its existence.

The reality is that, since 1921, the auto fatality rate per 100 has been reduced by 95 percent.

Gunfire? Not quite, sorry.

There is a conscious effort, from car owners and makers, to make them safer each year, with features like improved breaking systems and traction control. Most cars are equipped with features to assist with going in reverse.

The passage of time has seen seat belts, air bags, speed limits, lights (red, yellow, green, blinking, etc.), the need for an operator’s license, updated insurance (with incentives for safe drivers), high beams for the dark, a focus on distracted driving, etc.

Then, yawn, comes the misinterpreted and misunderstood argument about the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms.

Let’s back up the bus a bit here and talk about the First Amendment, which protects the right of free speech but does not guarantee the right to defame someone’s character.

The Second Amendment, often treated like it came down with Moses from Mount Sinai and cannot be touched without the planet being struck with an asteroid, does not preclude sensible regulation. For example, background checks would not be unconstitutional.

Still, do you own nuclear weapons?  Well, why not? Where is the line drawn? It’s OK to have an AR-15 or AK-47, which rattle off an insane amount of shots, but not antiaircraft missiles in your backyard?

And, speaking of the Constitution, it was written when people owned other people and women were allowed the right to vote.

Not only was it not etched in stone, the founding fathers – visionaries but also products of their time – didn’t want it to be etched in stone (look up the definition of the word “Amendment”).

I have no doubt that they never intended the Second Amendment to be anything more than state militias being prepared for the British Army trying to reclaim lost turf.  Considering we bailed out Britain in both world wars, becoming a power in the process, that is not a concern anymore.

The state militia members of yore have become the National Guardsmen of today.

I think we’re good.

As bad as times are.

Hiding Among The White ‘Right’

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By GORDON GLANTZ

GORDONVILLE — Why do we have Black History Month?

Going all the way back to sixth grade, when my teacher made it part of the curriculum in February (long before it was a “thing”), it was fairly clear why.

It was because the other 11 months were for White History.

And this is the stone ages, the 1970s, so even the likes of Christopher Columbus were painted in a positive light.

Here in Gordonville, we chose to honor Black History Month largely though music appreciation. That meant posting songs on Facebook, with a heavy – but not sole – focus on the Sound of Philadelphia that started in the 1960s and hit its apex in the ensuing decade.

Now, in March (the month of all the cool birthdays), it is Women’s History Month. Press rewind and play again, only with many songs by female artists – in all genres (folk, rock, country, etc.) – that have formed the soundtrack of our lives.

However, in some circles, is not Women’s History Month.

The alternate universe where the likes of QAnon is reality and reality is fantasy has declared this White History Month.

How do I know?

Because I have been dispatched behind enemy lines on a dual spy missions, where I have access to the twisted thoughts of those on the far right.

It was here, behind these enemy lines, that what they call White History Month begins. Interestingly enough, this unnamed Facebook group posted about Albert Einstein. While exalting the genius for being a genius, there is zero mention of his ethnicity and why he escaped from Germany before World War II.

I guess that wouldn’t fit the narrative, would it?

Next post was none other than Elvis Presley. No mention that Elvis, himself, credited the influence of black music on his own or that one of his primary songwriters, Otis Blackwell, wrote major hits — “Don’t Be Cruel” and “All Shook Up” and “Return To Sender” for the “King.”

It’s also ironic they would choose to herald an immigrant, albeit one for who a visa was named for what seems to be white Europeans (including a future First Lady).

But that’s not all of the nonsense I’m seeing and, thus, subsequently filing in my first report from behind enemy lines.

The funny thing here is that they invited me, albeit with the following hollow warning: “We are a family of Proud Americans that want to keep our country as a free country, not a socialist country – We also believe that this election was stolen from President Trump. (IF) you don’t believe in these two items mentioned above then you aren’t welcome in our family of THE PATRIOTS – SO DONT EVEN THINK OF JOINING …”

Oh, I was soooo scared that I altered my appearance, wearing a MAGA hat and overalls and toted a fake AK-47, and made it across their checkpoint with no issues.

My quiver quake barely registered on the Richter Scale.

Here I am, reading posts for “sheeple” such as the billboards from Liberty Arms, the Walmart of firearms, reminding the easily swayed that cult leader Jim Jones killed 919 people with Kool-Aid (I think guns have still killed way more people than Kool-Aid). They also say not to feel stupid because people actually voted for Elizabeth Warren (at least they didn’t call her Pocahantas).

And on it goes.

Anger over Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head, jokes about the fence around D.C. needing a padlock so it can be called a zoo.

Then, there was this nugget of a post, of which I will cut through the poor grammar and paraphrase. The basic claims are they never cared about anyone else’s race, sexual orientation, place of birth or political beliefs until they were thrown into their faces and sought to “erase my history and blame my ancestors.”

That’s kind of a revelation and admission of guilty behavior on so many levels, and we are not even getting into the real horrors of White History, which would take way more than a month.

But, wait, there is more …

I have also found myself on email lists of some right-wing groups, including one for a gubernatorial candidate for governor who is looking to follow in her ‘ol pappy’s footsteps (although he could give her some dieting tips, from the looks of it).

We already from when she was the mouthpiece for your ex-president (not mine), that she puts down the cream puffs long enough to sing the party song with no capacity for original thoughts.

Beyond that, she is not worth much more time.

I have also started getting missives from another female politician, a former governor and ambassador to the U.N., with presidential aspirations. Because she needs to separate herself from your ex-president (not mine), she has tried to distance herself from some of the craziness.

But, judging from these emails, that doesn’t make her sane.

This is how bad it is, when only being half-nuts makes you normal.

The other outlets that thinks I’m one of them? Yikes.

Since I get about 16 right-wing emails per day, I’ll just provide some of the greatest mishits and foul tips (plus, my bosses have declared some information as classified).

While I couldn’t find anyone shed half a teardrop for Rush Limbaugh, he is martyred for “rewriting the playbook on cancel culture (fancy term for political correctness).”

Along the same lines, the CPAC speech of your ex-president (not mine) is lauded for sending a “strong message.”

While they continually question Pres. Joe Biden’s mental vacuity, and paint him as a puppet, they warn against some master plan of his to turn us socialist.

And then we have the case for “so-called” hate crimes – the foundation of White History – being covered by freedom of speech.

Have a good month, and send your “hopes and prayers” that I don’t get my liberal ass busted.

A (First) Name I’d Rather Forget

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By GORDON GLANTZ

What, exactly, do I do these days?

Well, in addition to being Sofia’s chauffeur, I handle a wide array of freelance articles about subjects ranging from hearing loss to anesthesiology to business and sports features.

And, yet somehow, I find myself with so much time on my hands that I’m on Facebook and invariably picking fights with either wrong-wingers who can twist their so-called minds so much that they can justify insurrection or Eagles’ fans who somehow think a position coach from a 4-11-1 team should have been promoted from within to head coach.

What I often find myself doing, in both frustrating realms, is serving as a combination of English teacher and Journalism professor.

Before I can even argue posts with little to no punctuation or capitalization, I find myself correcting what it took me two times to read only to find it wasn’t worth one read because of the stupidity.

One of the major pet peeves, particularly with Eagles fans, is the usage of first names – Carson, Doug, Alshon, Howie, etc. – on first reference.

It’s not just the so-called fans, as I find this occurring with radio hosts on sports talk stations and with the vast array fledgling sites where the “experts” throw their stuff against the wall in hopes that sticks.

Here’s my thing: If you know the individual on a personal level, fine. I know, as a former second-tier sports writer myself, that is rarely – if ever – the case with pro athletes.

Maybe I’m from the old school, and maybe the old school has been burned to the ground in the name of “progress,” but nobody gave me the memo.

It was pretty simple back in Journalism school. First reference, full name (i.e. Zach Ertz). Second reference, last name (Ertz). Only time he can be called “Zach” is if he is referred to as such by a teammate or coach, or even an opposing player or coach, in a quote.

Other than that, it’s unacceptable.

Unless you know the person. Unless you are on a first-name basis.

In my previous lifetime in the newspaper business, I earned that status with some local semi-luminaries.

One of them, I’m now sorry to say, is Bruce Castor.

He was no Bruce Springsteen, but he was an OK “Bruce” that I actually knew fairly well – first professionally and then more casually as members of the Mangioni Society (basically a bunch of guys getting together to eat, drink and be merry.).

I first came into Castor’s orbit as a police beat reporter with The Times Herald when he was the District Attorney.

I have to say, he was awesome to deal with. He was followed in that post by Risa Ferman, who could have been standing astride over a dead body and still wouldn’t say that a murder had been committed.

Bruce? Heck, he could fill up your notebook without really saying anything.

And he could call a mean press conference, laying all the drugs and firearms from a recent bust.

He was a reporter’s dream, but there was a catch. He loved the limelight. His favorite topic was himself, or an extension (i.e classic Corvette).

But I played the game.

It was a quid pro quo.

As I moved up and on to managing editor, Bruce – if I can call him Bruce – eventually became a county commissioner.

Even though he played on the wrong team as a Republican, a fact that squeezed him into the minority of the three-person board, he was among the Republicans for whom I’d vote.

And why not?

I knew him and, while bemused by some of his phony bologna act that comes with the territory, he was a decent person who appeared regularly on my cable access talk show “Behind The Headlines.”

When I lost my gig at The Herald, he was one of the first – if not the first – person to reach out with the claim to let him know if I needed anything.

Now, he is back in the limelight, big-time, as he is representing the entity who recently dared to call himself your president (not mine) the last four years.

To be specific, Castor is defending “it” on impeachment for inciting a riot of Neanderthals who support him if shot someone in Times Square.

In short, he has signed on to defend the indefensible.

In terms of selling off your soul, this is like doing so at a flea market.

I used to say I know many local Republicans, and that I voted for some, like Castor.

There were times when my ticket was split, or even went into the red, and he’d be the reason.

I wouldn’t say we were friends, but we were friendly enough to be on a first-name basis.

And, man, I couldn’t be more ashamed.

Strange Days, Strange Dreams

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By GORDON GLANTZ

GORDONVILLE — Had a bizarre dream the night after last.

I was face to face with an aged — and frighteningly lifelike — Charles Manson, who was seemingly representing himself as a jailhouse lawyer preparing a plea for release at age 80 (he died at 83).

It was mostly gibberish, his logic, but I humored him long enough to get a brotherly handshake and advice to “take it slow.”

“I’ll take it anyway I can get it, man,” I said, turning to walk away.

And as soon as I turned my back, he came up from behind and put the pen — the same pen he was repeatedly using to light his Chesterfield cigarette (It’s a dream, what can I say?) — and told me I should have not made the mistake of turning my back on a madman.

Prison guards quickly intervened, saving me from death, but they prison doctor told me my jugular vein was almost slit and broke the news that I had a permanent scar.

Just as I went to look at it in the mirror, I woke up.

To take my mind off the crazy dream, I flipped on the TV — “Morning Joe” on MSNBC is the morning show in our house — and this post-election craziness made me realize that my dream made more sense than it seemed,

Just swap out the current entity that calls itself your president — a diabolical nut not man enough to concede an election clearly lost — with Charles Manson.

Both are lunatics, plain and simple.

If Manson never had any followers, he just would have been an ex-con bum on a San Francisco street corner collecting spare change for below-average original songs that he thought were better than they were.

If the entity that wants to still calls himself your president didn’t have a base of largely uneducated voters feeding his massive sociopathic ego, he’d just be a below-average businessman who keeps himself afloat by screwing people over and declaring bankruptcies.

By not conceding the election, and insisting on recounts and voter fraud in only the states that went blue, “it” (one has to act like a man to be called “he”) is pretty much holding us within an inch of our jugular vein out of nothing more than selfish vanity.

I’m being overly dramatic? No, not really.

-Consider the permanent scars that will be left by holding off on COVID-19 vaccine until the administration of the president-elect, Joe Biden, tries to roll it out on a playing field that gets more tilted every day that information is withheld from the task force the next administration has assembled.

-Consider the haphazard and sudden withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, which will leave the Biden administration in an international crisis that the Orange Beast can then readily criticize.

-Consider the Civil War the entity who will call himself your ex-president will urge from his followers with Twitter nonsense, interviews and rallies reminiscent of Nazi Germany. And in this Civil War, you do realize that the entity who refuses to admit he lost the election will be playing the role of Jefferson Davis (and don’t give me this Abraham Lincoln was a Republican BS, as you only reveal your own ignorance on how the two parties changed over time).

Despite many strained and severed personal relationships over the past four years, I have maintained some with those out there with more conservative — or independent — viewpoints.

While I can respect their overall way of seeing the world, I want to know how they can — on any level — justify any of what is going on right now in their name as Republicans.

I mean, have you ever been to a restaurant and ordered something from the menu that sounded appealing, only to find it didn’t taste so good after all?

It probably happens all the time, and you freely admit you made the wrong choice, right? Why in the world is it so hard to do that here?

True, some flipped sides this time around, but the results show that too many simply doubled down on the nonsensical nonsense. The only difference was that voter turnout, particularly from people of color, was stronger.

If that is what galls you, maybe I’m giving some of you too much credit.

Because, if you can — or even try — to justify any of it, you are part of the problem at a time when we couldn’t be more desperate for solutions.

I have heard all the explanations, especially in private from people who think I somehow agree with them on some level.

None hold up.

“Not a politician.”

Uh, yeah, “it” is.

The second one declares itself a candidate for anything, even dog catcher, they are then a politician.

“Some of the Tweets are a problem, but …”

But what? You’re the POTUS. The supposed leader of the free world.

Words matter.

And I heard this one, verbatim, a few times: “Well, he doesn’t speak as well as Obama, but Obama was still an asshole.”

Doesn’t speak as well? Really?

Why not?

Both were educated in the Ivy League. The only difference is one was raised middle class and the other with a silver spoon up his ass, which translated to going to military school.

An asshole? Obama?

You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts, and I rarely — if ever — get any cogent ones to back this one up.

The best I get are a generic “well, his policies.”

Which ones?

“All of them.”

All of them?

Sorry, even a broken clock is right twice a day (an example: the entity who calls itself your president has been right in getting back to basics and backing Israel, first and foremost, in the Middle East and working from there).

When the entity who called himself your president was first “elected” into office — despite not receiving the popular vote for the first of two times — I was criticized for making such an extreme comparison between him and Hitler.

Over the last four years, and despite seeing kids in cages and white supremacists called “fine people,” I walked it back a bit.

After watching a lot of World War II documentaries on Netflix lately (yes, I’m officially an old man now), I realize I was being too lenient.

The way Hitler was pussyfooted around by his underlings (a crucial battle that turned the tide of the war on the eastern front was pretty much lost because everyone was afraid to wake him up) and blindly worshiped by his followers (leading to needless civilian deaths when the war was lost) in the public reminds me of the likes of Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and all the angry white males we will be seeing soon enough in the streets with their machine guns.

Which begs the question, and the comparison to Manson and Hitler: If you blindly follow someone who leads you through the gates of hell, what does it say about you?

Think about it twice and call me in the morning (and may your dreams not be filled with Charles Manson trying to slit your throat).

Factoring In The ‘Clint’ Factor

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By GORDON GLANTZ

GORDONVILLE — In the movie “Dazed And Confused,” there was a character named Clint who pronounced, at a party in the woods, that he was only there to drink some beer and kick some ass.

“And I’m almost out of beer,” he added.

The screen version of Clint kind of reminded me of some people who bring that persona to life in the real world.

I’ve seen them chanting “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville and fomenting more tension in some cities on the edge by countering Black Lives Matter protests.

And I’ve seen them at rallies for your president (not mine).

But that’s not all. It has long since hit closer to home for me.

It includes, as the years have gone by, the average Eagles’ fan at Lincoln Financial Field.

A brief history: The Glantz Family season tickets in my name predate my 1965 birth and date back to Franklin Field. That’s when my father split an account with a group of dentists.

I went to my first game in 1970, and I was in love at the first sight of whatever of the field I was able to see.

We then enjoyed some good, bad and ugly at Veterans Stadium. Those were the Glory Years for us.

There was talk of the antics of those in the 700 level (we were in the 300 level), but I generally recollect a cerebral fan base who understood the games that maybe they enjoyed with one beer (OK, maybe two).

Next came Lincoln Financial Field. Nicer stadium, but not nicer fans.

There were a lot more “Clints.”

As time passed, an increasingly high “Clint” quotient followed.

They were there to drink a lot of beer, and then when they were almost out of beer – especially when a policy was put in place to cut them off after the third quarter – it was time to either kick some ass or watch ass be kicked elsewhere in the stands or on the field.

I wasn’t there to get drunk, and my days of kicking ass – or getting it kicked – were long behind me.

The way the stadium was constructed, the rows of seats squeezed those of us not in luxury suites in like sardines. It became especially uncomfortable in the colder weather when wearing more layers.

And, adding insult to the injury of it all, I spent half the time at the games passing beer down and the money back to the beer guy from my aisle seat. For my toil, I often got treated to a view of the crack of the beer guy’s instead of the action on the field.

My father stopped going well before his 2008 passing. At first, I had a long waiting list of friends wanting to go with me to the new stadium. As guys got older, the novelty of a new stadium wore off for them.

And me.

A year ago, the 2019-20 season, I went to a grand total of zero Eagles’ home games.

I sold some, gave away some others to good causes, and I couldn’t have been happier.

There are a lot of reasons for this, including the time commitment. It’s like a full 10-6 work day to battle traffic and go to and from the stadium on a Sunday.

As the years passed – and for many of the reasons mentioned — it became increasingly more comfortable to sit on my butt in my recliner, going to and from the bathroom at will and not having to take out a second mortgage to wait in long lines for subpar snacks.

But the largest reason was to be away from the “Clints” – the guys who give the rest of us a bad name as “the worst fans in the league” from national pundits.

This year, one small plus of COVID-19, was the option to opt out and either get a full refund or roll it over to next year.

I took the refund. I didn’t even have to think twice about it.

The thing about the Clint character on screen and the real one is that hick/hillbilly/motorhead persona that supersedes actually being a hick or a hillbilly or motorhead from “real America.”

It’s a safe bet that the guys who are at the Eagles games to get drunk, act tough and then puke in the bathroom and miss the end are also among the same misguided “patriots” who are now saying they are going to boycott the NFL season – beginning now – this year.

The “thought” process is that the players are not allowed to peacefully and respectfully protest what they see as injustices in this country – maybe by kneeling during the national anthem and/or raising a black power fist – because they “make a lot of money to play.”

Even though most of these players come from abject poverty and have dared not to forget their roots, the fact that some are making six- or seven-figure salaries for what will be careers of 3-5 years on average – only to be often left with brain damage from concussions and bum hips, knees, shoulders, etc. – is not factored into the equation that is too complex for the Clint Patrol.

The “thinking,” if you can try to follow it is: They can protest the protest, because they believe freedom of speech only belongs to them.

They get mad at the term white privilege, all because they have to work for a living like everyone else, and don’t see the irony that only they have the privilege to protest the protest that they don’t think the “spoiled brats” should have.

It gets pretty convoluted, I know, but you have to spend time among these people to understand.

I have.

Trust me, they won’t be missed. At all.

My IQ has dropped – albeit temporarily – a good 10-20 points just being in their presence at games where they act like football experts (while unable to name more than a few key players on the field and understand some simple basics).

They’d rather see an opposing player catch a touchdown pass, and then be decapitated by a late hit, than maybe have him drop the ball instead.

A Clint, by any other name, would not want it any other way.

Right Meets Wrong

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Idiots

By PHILIP HERON

This isn’t about policy, or even partisan politics. This is about right and wrong, and it’s personal. Consider what we have endured for the past six months, our lives turned upside down by the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Businesses and schools have been shuttered; millions have lost their jobs. The rest of us are working remotely, or from home. We no longer move about freely. Shopping is now an ordeal. We don’t go out to a restaurant, no movie theaters, no sports, no concerts, no museums. We have nixed family gatherings, canceled summer vacations. Couples have put off weddings; funeral services have been held in private or canceled altogether.

Heron

Millions have been sickened; more than 180,000 have been killed. In our fight against COVID-19, the unwavering mantra has remained the same: avoid large gatherings; don a mask; practice social distance; wash your hands.

On the final night of the Republican Convention, President Trump threw a party for 1,500 people on the White House lawn, an act most saw as a blatant violation of the spirit, if not the actual letter, of the Hatch Act.

He used the People’s House as a political prop, replete with large banners bearing his name, as if it were just one more of his gaudy hotels. There was little in the way of social distancing, and even fewer masks. People sat packed in shoulder-to-shoulder for hours.

And why?

Because that is what Donald Trump wanted.

It’s clear Donald Trump’s life has not been affected one iota by the coronavirus. And he cares about as much for what the rest of us have endured.

Philip Heron is the recently retired editor in chief of the Delaware County (Pa.) Times in suburban Philadelphia

No Getting Around The Facts

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Geri 3

By GERI A. SAWICKI

In America and around the world, we are more urban dwellers than rural, the highest percent ever: 85% of the world’s population lives in cities and megalopolises including suburbs today.

People in cities tend to be more tolerant because they live in a diverse society up close, every day.

We ARE the majority of Americans.

To hear the right take up Nixon’s claim of a “silent majority” is not anywhere near true.

Trump has emboldened the hate speech by his own words and actions, encouraged violence in his name, and started acting like the lowlife thug that he is. Unfortunately, there are a lot of poorly educated white people out there who think he is one of them, because he sounds like them, who think they’ve been cheated out of their share of riches by scapegoating anyone and everyone.

This is nonsense, because he’s making their lives worse, with his pandering to the oligarchs while whipping up his followers to fight a battle for him and his cronies in which they have no skin.

He may be stupid, but he is also desperate, and he is going all out as a crazy despot right now. The outright insane accusations he hurls at Biden are so far out that I’m pretty sure anyone with a brain is going to realize he has gone over the edge.

I hope it happens before he can drag out his civilian white-boy private army on the streets to start a civil war.

I think he is unraveling right now, in public, if you listened to his last interview with Fox where he said Biden has unknown people on the streets running his campaign!

We burst out laughing when we heard him double down on that one, along with Biden wasn’t really born where he was born, because his family moved when he was a kid. He’s recycling birther theories too wacky for reality.

Geri A. Sawicki is a professor of Sociology at Modesto (Cal.) Junior College

COVID-19: Red Meat in the Red Zone

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Red Zone

By GORDON GLANTZ

GORDONVILLE — If I had a job writing fortune cookies, I may say something like this:

Confucius Says: When endeavoring to dig, dig deep.

If you’d like an example, I’d be glad to provide one: the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a lot of raw data and numbers, but little peeling away of the layers for enhanced discovery.

An outlet called WalletHub – and you can roll your eyes all you want, but it is independent and nonpartisan – recently released ranking of the states with the highest and lowest health improvements.

In order to determine where Americans’ health is recovering or worsening the most from the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus where reopening efforts can accelerate, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 13 key metrics. Those include the COVID-19 death rate, hospitalization rate and the rate at which people test positive. This report focuses on the latest developments in each state rather than which states have been hit the hardest throughout the pandemic.

The results:

Highest ranked (in order): New York, Wyoming, Maine, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Michigan and Vermont.

Lowest ranked (starting from the bottom): Mississippi, Florida, Idaho, Alabama, Nevada, Texas, South Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia and Louisiana.

Now go to your figurative garages, basements or sheds. Get out your shovels. Let’s dig deeper.

There is a consistent pattern here.

Of the higher-ranked states, only Wyoming and Michigan were in the win column for your president (not mine) in 2016, and it is highly unlikely the swing state of Michigan will land there again come November. On the other side, we have Nevada as a state that went blue in 2016. The rest? Not only were they red, blood they were deep red. They were blood red.

So what?

Well, the blue stats tended to listen to the doctors and the scientists, practicing social distancing and wearing masks. The density of New York City caused initial problems there, but forward thinking overcame them.

Misleading by example, and with an orange head in the sand, the entity that calls itself your president (not mine) disregarded the science and the doctors, often even chiding his own handpicked experts, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, carried more sway with his people.

There was less wearing of masks and social distancing, and the consequences are evident.

“One of the main factors that contributed to some states flattening the COVID-19 curve while others failed is the presence of mandatory social distancing and mask wearing restrictions. States that don’t require all residents to wear masks, such as Florida and Arizona, have had some of the highest death rates recently,” said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst. “States that waited longer before easing up on their COVID-19 restrictions, such as Connecticut, tend to be doing better than those that reopened quickly or never had large-scale closures in the first place.”

Back From The Front Lines

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Trench Warfare

By GORDON GLANTZ

GORDONVILLE – Are we embroiled in a civil war? Not only is the answer to that question an affirmative, a full-throated “Hell, yeah,” but I have been on the front lines since the earliest days.

I’m talking about before we knew this war was even a war.

I’m talking about when Tea Party and militia memberships exploded before Barack Obama could even put two feet into the Oval Office.

Their thinly veiled battle cry: We want our country back.

Our response: What does that mean, exactly?

We knew darn well what it meant, but it was worth asking the rhetorical question to see them do to their little chicken dances around the topic — although I did get straight answers at enough backyard barbecues and backroom meetings that it was clear what it was all about.

Enough of us realized the power of the moment, not only when Obama was elected for his first term but reaffirmed a second.

Not bad when a third of the country thinks you are a Muslim born in Kenya.

And it was about race — about race when people on the other side of the fence talked about how their descendants would have been rolling over in their grades.

Hit fast-forward and they had their champ in a chump that calls himself the current president.

Too old and feeble to take it to the streets, I do what I do best and try to right wrongs by writing about it.

That’s in columns, songs, attempts at coherent give and take on social media and with blogs such as this.

The other day, I found myself sparring with followers of the so-called president, people who like to make their point by writing in ALL CAPS or ending a rambling (usually punctuated with hideous grammar) with an LOL or “ha ha.”

I have gone through stretches of just ignoring it, or laying low, like on my spy mission on a Facebook page that sent me an invite that I accept and now monitor for its hate speech.

Other times, though, it’s either enduring the pain of banging my head against the wall or engaging them.

So I engaged.

And I did so well that I decided to blogify it — i.e. turn it into a blog.

Here are some highlights, as I believe letting out my pent-up stress and frustration of a flooded basement and Sofia’s travel softball tryouts led to me landing some serious 1-2 combinations.

It all started with a post about how their president (not mine) could not and should be blamed for COVID-19.

To that I replied: “I know you people like to hang your hats on ‘he didn’t invent the virus,’ but that’s silly. And not the point. Leaders, good leaders, are proactive and not reactive. Politics should not enter into the equation when there is an existential threat to everyone.”

And he knew of the threat long before it affected those he was elected – with the help of Putin and the electoral college – to serve and protect.

I continued: “That’s why you have these people called scientists. The smartest person in the room is the one who is smart enough to realize they aren’t the smartest in the room on every topic. He is a barely functional idiot with esteem issues. He was warned of this virus way before it hit our shores, and no real measures were taken. He just thought he could take that thing that passes for a head and bury it in the sand.”

Why? To me, it is simple. Their president has a “brain” that is so wired toward the economy that he sees nothing else. He was too worried about the market, etc. What happens? By delaying a proactive response, and barely being reactive, the economy tanked even worse. The whole country should have shut down for two months in February, with everyone getting stimulus checks like they got anyway 6-8 weeks later anyway.

Facebookfight

COVID-19 would have been contained, less people would have died and the economy would have had a foundation to be built upon. That’s what a real leader would have done. He didn’t ask for the disease, but we ask for leadership in response to it.

“We got a misleader full of shit,” I wrote. “Any questions? LOL?”

But then, right on cue, another mental midget from his parents’ basement chimed in, saying the odds of dying from COVID-19 are the same as getting killed while crossing the street.

Sounded good, and probably does on stools in bars where the Jack Daniels flows into shot glasses and Confederate flags adorn the walls alongside Elk heads.

The problem is there are these things called facts. There are around 6,000 pedestrian deaths per year in the US. There have been 159,000 — and counting — COVID-19 deaths.

I got the predictable concession than Obama is more articulate but was still “an asshole.” When I asked what gave him “asshole” status, the critics turned to crickets.

But even as we drifted away from the topic, I threw a grenade that landed right into that foxhole, going right after the “articulate but” argument.

Obama is articulate because he is well-educated, I explained. Their president (not mine) was born with a silver spoon up his orange ass and went to all the best boarding/military schools (and if his niece is to be believed, it was because his mother rejected him and/or he was as incurably incorrigible as he is now).

He then went to the Wharton School at Penn (allegedly, since no one saw him there). There is zero reason — with that background — to talk like a buffoon, other than that he is mentally deranged and it’s the best he can do.

I think he is mentally deranged, and it’s the best he can do.

If you voted, and still support that, what does it say about you?

I added: “It must be nice to either use a fake news narrative or say he was ‘just kidding’ all the time. The reality, whether ‘yews’ want to admit it or not, is that he was elected because of — not in spite of — the mainstream media giving him free advertising.”

There was one guy in the fray who seemed semi-literate and tolerable, if only because he didn’t go to low blows right away. He went on a long and winding spiel about the Black Lives Matter movement and how the environment now is one filled with reverse racism.

I didn’t want to make that descent into the rabbit hole with him that there really is no such thing as reverse racism, since a majority does not face prejudice in a systemic way, but I didn’t go there.

Instead, since he seemed to have an IQ at least in the average range – 90 to 110 – I decided to engage, knowing I was at least dealing with a Border Collie.

Here is what I said, verbatim: “I’m not going to say you don’t make some valid points, because you do — at least in the abstract. It’s a complete mess right now. How did we descend into this state of madness — a pandemic that should have been contained better with better planning and a civil war, sparked by class warfare, at the same time? Look to the White House. You elect someone unfit for the job, who thrives of division for his own ends, this is bound to happen. I dread to think what’s next if he gets another four years. We should have known better during his campaign, with the hate being spewed to get votes (and openly inviting foreign interference). But don’t forget, by definition, he was never a popular president. He didn’t win the popular vote.”

Still, they remain incredulous as to why we on the left – people of color, in particular – don’t see the light when their version of the light is nothing but darkness.

Think about it. These nitwits still have to understand that black people loved the Clintons. Their president (not mine) was so outright disrespectful to Hillary during the campaign, with the “lock her up” chants, that it was a turnoff right there.

How is someone vowing to undo everything Obama did, good or bad, going to ease racial discord?  How is leading the birther movement going to just go away?

Haters Gonna Hate

And urban communities are torn apart by gun violence, and no one really gives a shit. Leaders from those communities, more than any, have been crying out for gun control legislation for years.

The so-called president is absolutely opposed to even the smallest of gun control measures.

The backdrop was right for #blacklivesmatter. George Floyd was the straw that broke the camel’s back as much as the knee that broke his windpipe. When you think about Colin Kaepernick, he was taking a knee against police brutality years ago — way before the Floyd incident.

I added: “Look at how your president (not mine) spoke about that? If calling it reverse racism helps you sleep better at night, go for it. I just call it the chickens coming home to roost. He asked for it, he got it.”

The reality is that the so-called president’s moment to win over a lot of us — myself included — was early on, in the wake of Charlottesville, and he pussyfooted around it with the likes of hater Steve Bannon whispering in his ear. Then there was the clearly racist mishandling of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.  There was no walking it back from there.

And here we are.

Which is brings us back to the point of the pointless post, about us mean Snowflakes unfairly blaming COVID-19 on their hero. No, he didn’t create the disease, but he mishandled it when he had advance knowledge of it.

An analogy would be that it’s like a small town not taking cover when there is a tornado warning. The town officials didn’t create the tornado, but not bracing for it when it’s in the forecast makes the death and destruction worse.

If you are the mayor of the little town that thinks they can pray away a tornado, your ass should be grass.

Same rules apply with a pandemic.

I’d end this with a LOL, but it’s really not a laughing matter.

It never was, going way to back to when the seed to this civil war were planted, and never will be.

KaepReb