PT Barnum bested by Trump: Uses vets for a prop

Here is a mark of honor: Donald Trump has surpassed P.T. Barnum as the all-time American huckster. His sleight of hand was masterful in capturing major media attention Thursday evening after declaring he would not participate in a Fox News debate for Republican presidential candidates.

To his dishonor, Trump used his Iowa sideshow to his political advantage by cooking up a telethon for veterans causes, although there are vets who say the event was a con. Trump said he raised almost $7 million which will be distributed among a number of veterans organizations. Several of these groups I recognize but others I don’t — not to say anything is amiss with these organizations.

Thumbs up for, perhaps, the greatest American huckster.

As a veteran, I have and still do champion veterans and legitimate vet organizations. But I am not alone in feeling that his stunt did little more than use veterans as a prop.

While there are only early ratings numbers — and the first primary vote has yet to be cast for the November General Election — Trump is a shoo-in to surpass the long-gone Barnum as the All-Time World Champion con man.

Phineas Taylor (P.T.) Barnum was a celebrated 19th century showman who founded the Barnum and Bailey Circus. He was likewise known for sideshows with “freaks” and coining the phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Like Trump, Barnum also dabbled in politics as a Connecticut legislator and mayor of Bridgeport, Conn.

P.T. Barnum, king of the hucksters until now. The King is Trumped. Wikipedia Commons photo.
P.T. Barnum, king of the hucksters until now. The King is Trumped. Wikipedia Commons photo.

Also like Trump, Barnum was a human contradiction. PT vigorously denounced slavery although he was the founding father of the black-face minstrel show. And although he used that form of entertainment for financial gain, the shows were often satire of the white men who felt superior to blacks.

Barnum also sponsored legislation that had a long-lasting effect, with that law’s judicial abolition leading to the “Sexual Revolution.”

The Connecticut General Assembly passed the law Barnum sponsored in 1879 which led to the ban on means of preventing conception. That state’s laws were among the most severe anti-birth control measures. It was only in 1965 in Griswold v. Connecticut that the law was overturned. Even beyond a change in the nature of American sexuality, the case also concluded that certain articles of the Constitutional Amendments established the right to privacy.

Trump might have been an equal, or perhaps better, than Barnum had The Donald lived in the 19th century. Of course, Trump came up in a time — aided by his financial gain by birth — when media is faster and more (world)widespread. Were Trump just another of Sam Walton’s rich offspring his effect on society might be barely noticed. That might be true to a lesser degree even if Trump was a Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.

But Donald J. Trump is The Donald. He’s had his ups and downs but at least says he is the one on top. He created big worlds and married world-class beauties. And to top it off, he became a TV star in his “reality” series, “The Apprentice.”

Will Trump become president is the multi-billion-dollar question. Early on after his initial announcement, I thought “no way.” I still feel that way but the older I get the more the “way” outweighs the “no way.”

I think if people who support Trump realizes how he would walk over his mother to get his way — though he might shed a tear doing it– perhaps they would understand how similar PT and The Donald were.

Donald Trump isn’t the first presidential candidate, nor if elected, president, to use the military and veterans as props. It is certainly beyond distasteful to me as well as other veterans. But hey, it’s “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

Trump, doofi everywhere, but Bob Seger is still there, like a rock

The only thing I’ve heard that I agree with today awash in the Trump story du jour — his boycott of tomorrow’s Fox debate — is his tweet:

 “The statement put out yesterday by @FoxNews was a disgrace to good broadcasting and journalism. Who would ever say something so nasty & dumb.” — Donald J. Trump.

I think Fox News is pretty much always a disgrace to journalism and broadcasting. But then again, at least in this hissy-fit saga, The Donald can be blamed for some of those failures.

The chaos in this weird chapter in U.S. politics was enjoined with the missive purportedly sent out by Fox News el jefe Roger Ailes:

 “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”

Jeez, what a carnival side show. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to demean carnival side shows.

Unless you were hiking in the Himalayans during the past 24 hours, this very bad political theater is supposedly over Donald Trump pulling out of Thursday night’s Republican debate on Fox News Channel. Trump wants Fox’s debate moderator Megyn Kelly off the panel which will query the Republican presidential candidates. Kelly tossed Trump a hard ball question during an earlier debate. Since then Trump has had a running feud with Kelly in which the feuding has been mostly Trump’s than that from the blonde newscaster.

This is the kind of crap on which the media is falling all over. It’s all simple why. It is because Trump has made himself uber-available to the media, especially the cable and broadcast media. He seemingly calls Wolf Blitzer on CNN at least once a day and, of course, The Wolf takes The Donald’s calls.

Of course there is always the probability Trump will show up on the debate stage. I wouldn’t be surprised if he walked on unannounced. Oh my.

I really say to all this: Stop. We need issues, not showmanship. I guess a lot of people liked Trump from his TV show “The Apprentice,” where his catch phrase was “You’re Fired.”

Donald, and I speak for who knows how many, we’ve had enough: You’re fired.

—————-

I hope there isn’t some kind of bloodbath — or more bloodshed — at the Oregon standoff with the militia doofi.  CBS News reported this evening that standoff leader Ammon Bundy, who was arrested in the incident in which his group’s spokesman was shot and killed by police, spoke through his attorney that those remaining at the wildlife refuge headquarters should leave peaceably.

 “To those remaining at the refuge, I love you. Let us take this fight from here,” Bundy wrote. “Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is ours for now in the courts. Please go home.”

There is some sound advice.

—————-

I wondered when, or if, this day would come. Driving back from downtown Beaumont this afternoon I caught on the radio what was most of the entire exquisite ballad, “Like A Rock,” by long-time rocker Bob Seger.

It’s a beautiful, pensive song of looking up all of a sudden and realizing how quickly time passes in one’s life. Seger told The New York Times that he wrote the song after having ended an 11-year relationship.

 “You wonder where all that time went. But beyond that, it expresses my feeling that the best years of your life are in your late teens when you have no special commitments and no career. It’s your last blast of fun before heading into the cruel world, Seger said.”

I wouldn’t particularly pick my teens as the best part of my life. They weren’t the worst. I remember when that song was released. I had a short relationship at the time, but man, was it passionate! Oh, I  was 30, and she was 31. But advertising execs eventually hijacked the song and made it an anthem for Chevy Trucks. The campaign lasted from 1991-2004, one of the longest such runs. I remember just trying to tune the song out during those Chevy commercial years. I got sick of it. And I wondered if someday I would ever hear and love he song again.

Well, today was the day. Oh, and I am 60.

 “My hands were steady/My eyes were clear and bright
  My walk had purpose/My steps were quick and light
  And I held firmly/To what I felt was right
  Like a rock … “

Thar’ she blows

I have no idea what happened to the complete draft of my post. I went through it all, editing here and there, making sure the links linked. And all of a sudden, all but the first four paragraphs were gone. Maybe Donald Trump’s folks did it. He was the one who was my subject of wrath today. No, I think it is a combination of my carelessness and my computer that did me in this time.

So, sorry.  I will try again. Maybe tomorrow.

Glenn Frey checks out. So do the Eagles.

What can you say about the death of Glenn Frey?

A founder, guitarist and singer in the Eagles, Frey died Monday at age 67. I didn’t know until after Frey died, from complications of rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and pneumonia, that so many people hated the Eagles. It seems as if most people in my world, at least most that matter, loved or at least, liked, the band’s music. At the very least, the songs Frey and the Eagles produced was background music for most of the 1970s and 80s.

It is very difficult talking about Frey — no matter that he did better than okay as a solo musician — without talking about the Eagles. Often times the band seemed more like a modern version of a soap opera. Something like a reality show, even though I imagine during their more drug-fueled days their lives  were more of an “unreality” show.

"Glenn Frey" by Steve Alexander - originally posted to Flickr as Glenn Frey. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons . Thanks
“Glenn Frey” photo by Steve Alexander – Courtesy Creative Commons

I rediscovered the Eagles last year after seeing some You Tube videos from a concert the Eagles did in 1977, promoting their “Hotel California” album.

I don’t know how many people see music concerts today. I certainly don’t but then I am 60-freakin’ years old.

I’d say from high school up until I got out of the Navy, I went to as many concerts as I could. While stationed on the Mississippi Coast there were several prime venues nearby. I saw concerts at the Superdome, City Park and at Loyola University in New Orleans. I went to several concerts in Mobile. I saw three separate shows which were excellent at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg that were excellent: Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Review during which he was joined by Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, Mick Ronson and Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. Later, I watched Jimmy Buffett, fresh from “Margaritaville” come back to the college he attended, USM. Buffet was, he told the audience, a hippie who’d hang out in the Commons with his guitar playing songs such as “Why Don’t We Get Drunk And Screw” as all the school teachers from the outback of Mississippi walked by on their way to continuing education classes.

Yes, concerts, I’ve seen a few.

I’m sure those who have seen many performances of any kind have seen musicians or bands, “phone-in” what is just another gig. These videos that I found that includes “Hotel California,” “Take It To The Limit,” and “New Kid In Town{” are incredible. That is not so much the songs are exceptional — well, “Hotel California” is — but the performances were nothing one heard on the radio, much less the AM radio I mostly had to hear during this time, nor is there much one can tell about quality listening to these songs on a bar room jukebox.

I have a couple Eagles albums on my computer and phone including “Hotel California” from the album. They are good but great Graham Crackers these videos are outstanding.

These songs also provide a soundtrack to our lives, as trite as that line sounds these days. But f**k it if you think it’s trite, or whatever you may think. There is no denying that music forms memories of the portions of our lives we choose to remember. “Johnny come lately, there’s a new kid in town,” “New Kid In Town” hit No. 1 on Billboard in January 1977. It was just one of the singles that were a hit on “Hotel.” Following were “Hotel California” and “Life In The Fast Lane.” The songs became more meaningful for me when I transferred from Gulfport, Miss., to a ship out of San Diego, by way of Long Beach.

I never went to “Hotel California” but I spent the night in some motel in San Clemente, not to see my former commander-in-chief, President Nixon, but to stay near a military town in order to get my whites cleaned. The laundry was outside what is now called Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and the cleaners had no trouble getting my dress whites ready, so I could report on my ship which was in drydock in San Pedro. I did think about “Life In The Fast Lane” as well, both the mundane of  navigating the California freeways and later that life that so many people seemed eager to find.

Regretfully, I never saw the Eagles either. And I guess with Frey gone, the group is officially kaput. I thought the group kind of gradually split up, first with bassist and group founder Randy Meisner and later lead guitarist Don Felder. The band’s inner workings are one of the most written-about for a rock group. Glenn Frey, some would say, was an arrogant bastard. Well, so aren’t a lot of folks, even some of your friends?

We close a chapter in rock history. But a family loses their loved one, and one might say a public both old and young lose a favorite band. And the band was also like a family with all its fighting and drama. Hopefully though, not now for, Glenn Frey. May he rest in peace.

 

Story makes one wonder why we have law enforcement if they can’t protect us?

The Washington Post has a scary story today: “Sheriffs issue a call to arms: Take advantage of your legal right to carry a firearm.”

Sheriffs across the country who the Post quotes sound virtually impotent in their abilities to stop the spate of mass shootings whether by terrorists, or just plain loons. The article notes the call for civilian help from those law enforcement officials such as Sheriff Wayne Ivey of Brevard County, Fla.,

“If a terrorist attack or active-shooter scenario can happen in California, Texas, South Carolina or Paris, it can happen right here in our own backyard,” Ivey said in a Facebook video titled “Enough is Enough.” “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

That last phrase has become an updated cliche meant to appeal to those who have long adhered to the timeless NRA line: “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”

The problem with the line saying only good guys with guns can stop bad guys with guns is that the argument is fundamentally flawed.

A so-called “good guy” with only a minimal amount of training needed to pass their state’s handgun license course may not know the necessary tactics to stop a shooter, especially a gunman who has had even more training such as that from the military, terrorist groups or even those with law enforcement education.

Then there is the “collateral damage” problem. Will a civilian be the only one who is armed to take out a shooter? What if four our five other licensed gun carriers in some crowded restaurant decide they should be the one to dispatch a hostile foe? It looks easy on TV for someone to shoot an armed man in the head who is holding someone hostage. But really, you don’t have much, if any, room for error. I see a tremendous opportunity for innocents, even other armed citizens, being harmed in an active-shooting situation.

Speaking of training, the law in Texas that allows those with current handgun licenses to openly carry their weapon in a belt or shoulder holster requires no extra training. Only those in new training courses will undergo a bit of added education for open carry.

“Training curriculum for new applicants will be updated to reflect the new training requirements related to the use of restraint holsters and methods to ensure the secure carrying of openly carried handguns.  The new curriculum will be required for all classes beginning January 1, 2016” according to an explanation by the Texas Department of Public Safety of new laws.

Well isn’t that great? Folks can go buy their new belt or shoulder holsters and start practicing “quick draw” techniques. I wonder how many folks will be showing up in their local emergency rooms with wounds from those playing “Deadeye Dick?”

I suppose it is either telling or maybe it is that I am just not noticing, but we are into the third week of the new open carry law in Texas and I’ve yet to see anyone who appears to be a civilian carrying around a handgun openly. If or when I decide to buy a handgun and go through licensing, I would likely not carry it in the open. I can’t see buying a handgun in the future, but I will never say never. I have nothing against handguns per se. I own a pump shotgun, if my friend will give it back to me one day. One reason for not buying a handgun is I would imagine my aim could be somewhat hindered by the benign tremors I have had in my hands now for several years. I think in most instances with the exception of close quarters outside of my home, a shotgun is just as good or better as a defensive weapon than is a handgun.

My problem these days aren’t with guns. The problem is that something needs to be done to stem the daily violence resulting in deaths from criminals, the mentally unstable and the occasional terrorist. One of the Democratic candidates for president last night, I think it was Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who said that any hunter worth his salt would not need an AK-47 to kill a deer. Or something to that effect. I don’t think we need more guns. I certainly believe we don’t need more deaths from guns. That is why the statements in the WaPo article so alarm me. It seems as if these sheriffs don’t believe they can protect their citizens unless those citizens are armed.

Such an abdication of responsibility makes me wonder: Just why in the hell do we have sheriffs and law officers in the first place if they can’t do their jobs? I think that is a fair question to ask of those who call for armed civilian help.