An "Ape"?

An “Ape” ?

An “Ape” ?    

 Jos. R Walsh  5/29/18

We pretty much knew that Donald J. Trump was a Racist.

We had a pretty good idea that Roseanne Barr was Racist.

Yet Trump became president, and abc gave Roseanne a show. Then Trump raved about Roseanne’s ratings, (one TV Star congratulating another), claiming her show was about, what he told the crowd was, ‘Us’. Except for perhaps Racism, Trump and that crowd had very little in common.

The average income of those attending the Trump rally was very steep valleys below Mr. Trump’s. Their youth and lifestyles were worlds apart. But, they celebrated their ‘Us’ vs. ‘Them’ paranoia together and cheered on one of their folk heroes, the racist Roseanne Barr.

Trump won election to the presidency by the supposedly evening- mechanism of the Electoral College; despite Hillary Clinton having won the popular vote by over 3 Million Votes. abc Television decided to cash-in on Trump’s popularity by dusting off the old Roseanne show and trotting her out in an updated version. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, what went wrong is that Roseanne Barr called Valerie Jarret an ape. This outrageous, blatant Racism surprised almost no one who is familiar with Roseanne Barr. And, gauging abc’s rapid response, they too, were none-too-surprised by Barr’s repugnant behavior.

Jarrett graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon in 1974, and subsequently earned a B.A. in psychology from Stanford University in 1978 and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago Medical Center from 1996 to 2009, becoming vice chairwoman in 2002 and chairwoman in 2006. Jarett was a member of the board of Chicago Stock Exchange (2000–2007, as chairman, 2004–2007). She also served as vice chairwoman of the board of trustees of the University of Chicago and a trustee of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

On November 14, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama selected Jarrett to serve as White House senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison. Jarrett was one of three senior advisors to President Obama. She held the  position of assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement, managed the White House Office of Public Engagement, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Office of Urban Affairs; she also chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls and the White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic, and Youth Sport. She was part of the U.S. State Visit to the UK in May 2011. Today, Roseanne Barr called her an “Ape”.

abc/Disney rolled the dice with a popular racist and was rewarded with a savagely racist twitter rant. abc tossed Barr into the trash heap as if she were last week’s garbage.

 abc said "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement. Well then, if she was repugnant and inconsistent with abc’s values, why did she have a show on the network to begin with? Barr’s previous use of social media to provoke, attack, and spread conspiracy theories is well known. Where, oh where, was abc/Disney’s outrage when it came time to give her a show?  Too little, Too late.

$ 4.00 per Gallon?

$ 4.00 per Gallon? We Can Only Hope!

Joseph R. Walsh     5/15/18

If we’re all very lucky here in the Good Ole USA, Gasoline won’t go too much beyond $4.00 a Gallon this summer. Pardon my simplistic, how does this all affect Me attitude, (a pervasive problem of mine), but after watching the morning news today, that’s the basic conclusion I reached.

So enjoy your tax cut America; it’s going in your gas tank this summer. Here it is mid-May, and Gasoline already hovers precariously at $3.00 per Gallon. I hope everyone feels real good about our grand new U.S. Jerusalem Embassy, we’ll pay for it this summer, so keep all those happy, feel-good thoughts about That Move.

Again, I beg pardon, but after considering all the most current daily world news, I went outside for a smoke (!), and musing the most recent Mid-East Developments, 60 Dead Palestinians in Gaza, I peered over at the Ole Versa and thought: We’ll be lucky if Gas stays at $4.00 this Summer. As shameful and self-centered that all is; I suspect I’m not alone in my musings. I know there are plenty of folks here who don’t worry too much about $4.00 Gasoline, unfortunately, I am not one of them – I’m a poor, struggling Artist. I have plenty to be grateful for; America is probably The Best Place in The World to be Poor, (Thanks be to God), and the Versa gets real good Mileage, (Thanks be to Nissan).

However, most folks I know, while able to suffer through $4.00 per with room to spare, won’t be real happy about it. I urge all to remain mindful of how often you pump 10 Gallons into your tank. $40 a pop. How are ya’ feeling about That? MAGA!

Great Tax Cuts; going in the tank this summer. Establishing a U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has been a long-standing unfulfilled goal of previous U.S. Administrations. In recent years that has been a Bargaining Chip held as a prize for concessions in the complicated and Long-term Mid-East Peace process. There’s an oxymoron for you; Mid-East/Peace.

So in putting aside, for the moment, all the fascinating developments in the Bob Mueller/ DOJ, M.Cohen/M.Avanati/Stormy, Gen. Kelley/P.Manafort,  Trump/Kushner, Comey/Rosenstein ‘Witch-Hunt’ Drama,   (Whew!), giving away the Jerusalem Embassy Chip for no return, is just a bad idea that’s going to cost me $4.00 a Gallon. And no one asked about my opinion of the idea.

And where is The White House on all this? That dreary twerp married to Ivanka, and one of Trump’s Official Liars in The White House Press Room say – ‘It’s All on Hamas’. Well, certainly a lot of it is. But, not All of it. Some of it falls on those who decided now is the time to establish the U.S. Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. Books have been written and Thesis’s published about the complexities and complications of the Mid-East Peace (?) Policy, so I won’t go into all the gory details here.

  Hamas has demonstrated repeatedly, its propensity for Thievery when it comes to managing Public Funds, and its innate failure to govern, as well as endorsement of Radical Violence. But whenever they’re ‘on the ropes’ and on the verge of getting canned by the Palestinian People, someone somewhere tosses some fuel onto their fire. This time it was the lamebrains who presently occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. There is no viable, meaningful Up-side for the U.S. for this already tragic blunder.

And, back to Me, out of all this nonsense, I get stuck with $4.00 a Gallon, if we’re lucky. Unless someone somewhere, agrees to publish My Novel (11/11 – Retribution, Joseph R. Walsh), Real Soon, my travels will be severely restricted this summer. And I didn’t agree to open any Embassies anywhere.