fiction and musings from a gay black dude with delusions above his station
Donald Trump has lived his entire life wrapped in illusion. And because of his extreme narcissism, he has expended a great deal of energy over the years to convince others of his illusions, usually to their detriment. As the New York Times series on his taxes has made clear, Trump is not a billionaire. In…
We’re not testing enough for the coronavirus, COVID-19. We’ve made this mistake before and it led to dire consequences. It gives me eerie flashbacks. AIDS had already taken over 10,000 lives before a test for HIV became available in 1985. Prejudice and bigotry slowed the development of tests, treatments, or even a clear explanation of…
We have to follow the old Civil Rights Movement slogan and keep our eyes on the prize. Donald Trump and the filth he has visited upon the nation and the world has us beside ourselves with anger, fear, and despair. But we can’t let him, his tweets, or his parasitic sycophants distract us. Our purpose…
The one-two punch. The first punch came when Mitch McConnell refused to consider President Obama’s final Supreme Court choice, Judge Merrick Garland. In spite of everything, McConnell held his ground and won. Judge Garland did not receive so much as a hearing. The second punch came on November 8, 2016, a day that will live…
One does not have to look far beyond the headlines to discern the current state of the union. GLAAD reports that Americans are becoming less comfortable with LGBTQ people. 49 percent of the non-LGBTQ respondents identified themselves as LGBTQ “allies” in 2017, down from 53 percent in 2016. At the same time, 55 percent of the LGBTQ…
A year ago, my country failed. The failure started quite early. Rather than reject a man who began his campaign with these fateful words: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” The media went out of its way to cover every belch and every fart this man uttered for a year and a half….
Signs of resistance. I began noticing them on my trips for take-out Cambodian food, just here and there. I thought vaguely that I should photograph them, but then wouldn’t, too distracted. But on each viewing, each time I passed, they kept calling to me. Finally, the Oakland Museum of California opened an excellent exhibit of…
Only now as our democracy unravels do we see its vulnerabilities. It functions only so long as participants obey long held protocols and precedences. Once abandoned, chaos rules. Think of driving. You don’t run a red light. You don’t cross the double yellow line. Break these rules and an accident can occur. Last winter, after the…
Berkeley’s 30 year-old Farmer’s Market has apparently been cancelled this weekend. It’s only been cancelled once before due to a gale storm. This time, it faces a different type of storm. Some might call them stormtroopers. For the second time in as many months, Trump supporters plan to hold a rally in Berkeley. Their objective is…
President Trump, where are your tax returns? I’m not falling for this late round of obfuscation, distraction, or deflection. He can tweet-storm until the cows come home. That will not deter me. I will continue to ask the same question. Where are his tax returns? So now we have spurious allegations that former President Obama ordered Trump…
