Absurdity in the midst of tragedy: It’s an election year

While having my morning Diet Coke this morning (left over from the night before) and a cocktail of prescription medications, I checked Twitter to see the latest. As you may or may not know, last week former Illinois Representative Joe Walsh tweeted he wanted to kill President Obama and people in the Black Lives Matter movement. He called them “punks.”

So Twitter can be a source of news, information and … I don’t know, humor? So what did I see blaring out from all the ads for Social Media marketing experts, boner pills and webcam girls? A quote from Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin — who is not being considered for Donald Trump’s running mate — stating — and I kid you not — “I think he’s trying to campaign as a racial healer.” The “he” being Donald Trump.

You know what Diet Coke, or any carbonated beverage, feels like coming out your nose? It stings.

Right now I’m thinking Mary Fallin is the perfect running mate for Trump. She seems to be as goofy as Sarah Palin and she complements Trump’s absurdity perfectly with her equally absurd notions of his campaign.

Fallin was doing an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN.

You know, CNN gets a bad rap, but they do have some great moments in journalism, as they always have in their 36 years of existence. Okay, they get a little goofy, maybe a lot goofy, but sometimes they are the best at bringing out the … truth … of their subjects. Like Governor Mary Fallin.

Why would you even challenge Fallin on that point? The most you could really say is, “That is ridiculously not true.”

On the other hand, while speaking of the terrible tragedy in Dallas last week, Fallin told Tapper she saw “great people” marching and “expressing their concerns” and that politicians “need to listen to those voices.”

So that sort of takes the edge off of her other comments.

My original intent for this blog, before the horrendous shootings in Baton Rouge, LA, St. Paul, MN, and Dallas, TX, was to talk about the FBI’s investigation of the Hillary Clinton email scandal. FBI director Comey said Clinton did not break the law, but she and her staff acted recklessly with State Department information, especially sensitive and classified documents.

He also said the culture at the State Department has been questionable for a long time, long before Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State — which really doesn’t absolve Clinton from having acted stupidly. She should have sucked it up and used the antiquated, unreliable State Department IT system and suffered along like the rest of the federal government … oh wait, Trey Gowdy uses a private server for his official communications as well. And so does Jason Chaffetz, Republican Congressman from Utah. Although to be fair to Chaffetz: he uses Gmail. Who doesn’t use Gmail these days? Easy to use, very intuitive — if you contact the Baltimore Post-Examiner it comes to a Gmail account.

But apparently using private servers — or even Gmail — is forbidden as a means of official government communication. I’m just sayin’ though: Google probably has better cyber security than the State Department or Congress. Who needs whistleblowers when your technology is so easily hacked?

So, FBI Director James Comey comes out and says Hillary Clinton committed no crimes and he doesn’t recommend any charges be filed against the Democratic presumptive nominee.

“WHAT!”

It was like the reaction to the OJ verdict deja vued all over again. You could hear the outrage reverberate across the nation, from right and left — mostly right — that the FBI, the foremost law enforcement organization in the land, said Hillary Clinton did not break any laws!

The reaction was swift and dramatic. Social media was ablaze with pronouncements bordering on hysteria. Donald Trump said he predicted it months ago! The fix is in! Even worser are the number of people that fall for Trump’s line of B.S., which helps explain how Trump University and Trump Academy duped so many people. But that’s an entirely different story.

Trump also went into a nonsensical rant about the president using Air Force One … that’s what presidents do, they use AF1 to get where they’re going. It allows them to bring the Oval Office with them, you know, like when George W. Bush went to Texas to cut twigs on his ranch, or when he flew to San Diego for a fundraiser a couple days before Hurricane Katrina hit, devastating New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast. He was in AF1 when he flew low over the area on his way back to Washington, DC, to assess the damage.

Jeanine Pirro, former judge and scion of irrationality at Fox News tweeted: “It’s a dark day in American history when the FBI makes a case against ‪@HillaryClinton & then recommends no charges.”

It is indeed, except that Comey said, “To be clear, this is not to suggest that in similar circumstances, a person who gauged this activity would gauge no consequences. To the contrary, those individuals are often subject to security or administrative sanctions, but that is not what we are deciding now.”

In other words: Clinton didn’t break any laws, but she did violate some procedures required to be working in the State Department and she could be sanctioned by the State Department or the administration for doing so. But stand trial and go to jail? Nope.

Former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said American voters were starting to figure out, “What they are dealing with in this election.” And that Hillary Clinton is, “someone who can look you straight in the eye and lie to you, and not be held accountable.”

I realized long ago this election is bringing out the crazies of the right in droves. It was inevitable. They chose Donald Trump as their nominee to be president. In all fairness to the Dump Trump movement, we don’t hold you completely responsible — but you did let the Teabaggers take control of your party six years ago and you should answer for that. Even if you are leaving the party. George, now you say this isn’t your party, but what was your excuse in 2010?

Sarah Palin got a little rant going, on Facebook of course. At the end of it she said, “Today’s FBI forgiveness of tyrants’ illegal acts illustrate purpose in why I insist Americans rise up and tear down this tyrannical system that is destroying America from within. Truly, you’re either with us or you’re against us.”

Well, if those are my only two choices I have to go with against. Who would side with Sarah Palin on anything, outside of the Teabagger bubble?

TPNN News wanted to know if you thought, “Hillary Clinton got away with it?” Well of course she did, if you are a loyal subscriber to TPNN. They’re in my newsfeed. I don’t subscribe.

And The Donald got whacky, should say whackier. He has the conspiracy all thought out. It’s no accident Hillary Clinton went to the FBI offices to be interviewed in this investigation on a holiday weekend (I thought that’s what the FBI does: question parties who might be involved in possible crimes), it was no accident President Bill Clinton met Attorney General Loretta Lynch in Phoenix, AZ, it was no accident President Obama campaigned with Clinton on the day Comey gave his press conference exonerating Hillary Clinton … see how that conspiracy works?

Right after Comey made his announcement Trump tweeted: “FBI director said Crooked Hillary compromised our national security. No charges. Wow!”

That’s not exactly what he said.

Then Trump tweeted, “The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.”

Actually General David Petraeus did worse. He used a Gmail account to share with his mistress who did not have a security clearance, but was able to read all of the classified documents in his emails. As far as we can tell Clinton didn’t knowingly share any classified documents with anyone that didn’t have the proper clearance. She just used a private server to do so.

Then, when Comey testified before the Republican-lef “investigation” into the FBI’s investigation into the email issue, he shot down all the great talking points the GOP has been using, especially the one about Clinton breaking the law. One thing we can count on: The Repubs will have another investigation … and then another … unless they lose control of the house, in which case the House of Representatives would should get down to the business of taking care of the peoples’s business.

But that’s all old news now. The shootings, the continued institutional racism in our society, most especially law enforcement,has taken our attention away from the presidential campaigns. It was amazing how quickly people started sharing things on social media about how the two victims of police shootings, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were bad people with bad histories — as if that was reason enough to kill them.

And how bad could Philando Castile be if he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon?

Then there was this little bit of information I saw on Sunday: Some anonymous person or group filed a petition on the White House website to declare the Black Lives Matter movement a terrorist organization.

I’m going to the All-Star Game Home Run Derby and then the game on Tuesday. My eyeballs need a rest.

Top photo: FBI Director James Comey (YouTube)

Tim Forkes

Tim Forkes started as a writer on a small alternative college newspaper in Milwaukee called the Crazy Shepherd. Writing about entertainment issues, he had the opportunity to speak with many people in show business, from the very famous to the people struggling to find an audience. In 1992 Tim moved to San Diego, CA and pursued other interests, but remained a freelance writer. Upon arrival in Southern California he was struck by how the business of government and business was so intertwined, far more so than he had witnessed in Wisconsin. His interest in entertainment began to wane and the business of politics took its place. He had always been interested in politics, his mother had been a Democratic Party official in Milwaukee, WI, so he sat down to dinner with many of Wisconsin’s greatest political names of the 20th Century: William Proxmire and Clem Zablocki chief among them. As a Marine Corps veteran, Tim has a great interest in veteran affairs, primarily as they relate to the men and women serving and their families. As far as Tim is concerned, the military-industrial complex has enough support. How the men and women who serve are treated is reprehensible, while in the military and especially once they become veterans. Tim would like to help change that reality.

www.forkesreport.com