The president makes mistakes in handling the language that would have gotten me poked fun at. That's politics: someone with a wave of popularity behind him gets every benefit of the doubt. Simple enough to grasp, but in Trump's case it extends to extremes that becomes downright disturbing.
You might say I'm part of the cottage industry but I am no longer compensated. I left the commercial media with some traits of PTSD although not at a level that required professional attention. The vise closed on me in ways you might expect, a combination of new factors and some old. The "new" had to do with the nature of the trendy and impersonal corporate ownership. That company gave up on Morris and allowed a more sensible and feeling business to move in. Not sure I care much about the local paper anymore - the pandemic has separated me from it. I'd normally see it in public places.
The "cottage industry" thought emerged in my head this morning because of op-eds by Max Boot and George Conway. Writers like these can make a name for themselves in the age of Trump. These are writers who simply use their rapier-like minds to deconstruct Trump. And, they do so in such an obvious manner. There is no sensible rebuttal to what they argue.
The obvious conclusion is that our crisis with Trump should be in the process of remediation or correction. In the absence of that, the cottage industry of writers/critics continues and swells. A quiet and competent presidency would leave so many of the pundit-writers grasping to keep their place. Grasp to get noticed. So the pregnant irony here is that even though their writing is like a firebell in the night, the writers have this symbiotic relationship with the status quo.
A while back I read an op-ed by Conway in which he wrote "stock and trade." Caught my attention, because in my writing background, I have had to clarify if it's "in" or "and," and it's "in." I point it out because I'm certain I'd be poked fun at, if I got something wrong like this in my writing in the extremely micro world of Morris MN.
I picked up pretty severe political baggage in my newspaper career due to troubled waters with the Morris school district, particularly its teachers. Or, maybe the problem was with the leaders higher up because they became timid or got intimidated by school staff. The teachers union could be a vicious political influence. The waters seem calm today by comparison.
I'm the proverbial guy who "knows where all the bodies are buried."
We had school administrators who all seemed to be walking on eggshells in the early '90s. It's amazing the situation was so delicate. Administrators got shifted around. There was one, initials R.H., who in my opinion became the consummate bureaucratic type who might spend most of his time standing next to a copy machine. And, the state of Minnesota tried "flattering" us by suggesting he was on some high-level committee doing important state work.
Hah! The work might have been important, maybe. But, as the late counselor Don Fellows told me once in a candid way: "There are highly-paid people in St. Paul who are supposed to be doing that."
The aberrant Beltway
So, if I were to type "stock in trade" it had better be with "in" instead of "and." But big-name guy George Conway in the Washington D.C. Beltway gets slack, just like Rudy Giuliani gets slack for acting in a way that wouldn't even be countenanced in our Morris MN legal community. Just as, we wouldn't want someone with Donald Trump's deportment to be our mayor. But the guy can blather on as president, feeding this cottage industry of punditry endlessly.
Heaven help all those people if our government in D.C. just quietly deliberated on matters pertaining to the public interest. Incidentally, this is the purpose of government. It is not to be some ridiculous circus for us to gawk at. Giuliani behaves sometimes like he belongs in a straitjacket.
Me, Brian Williams, if I'm writing in the commercial media here in Flyoverland, I'd better write "stock in trade" and not "and."
My church is acting conflicted on how much indoor activity, if any, is going to be permitted. Our local restaurants are certainly not on the same page. I went to Don's this morning where there is an effort, at least, to adhere to the mask thing. Signs are up. There is another restaurant that acts as if the mask rule doesn't exist, really. I visited that restaurant yesterday and there were even a couple cops in there. No attention paid to non-mask wearers as they entered/exited. I guess this isn't to point fingers - I don't want my next order to be burned there - but the objectionable thing right now is the confusion.
Joe Lembcke, RIP
I haven't even gotten to my best example. I was shocked to see the video of the Joe Lembcke funeral. It was sad for us to lose Joe who graduated from Morris High School in 1971. Friends/family would insist that a full-fledged funeral was necessary for such a wonderful person. Which isn't the point of course. The rules exist to protect everyone including the innocent bystanders including kids and the very elderly.
Herman Cain thought he could ignore the rules. He died. He literally gave his life for Donald Trump, so Trump could blather and behave like Hitler at a Tulsa OK rally. America, what has become of you? There is no point even arguing with Trump's supporters. I walked past a Trump bumper sticker as I entered DeToy's Saturday morning. The sentiment is so prevailing. What does this say about our education system?
There was mendacity when I was young too, the way the government tried defending the Vietnam war. Too wrongs do not make a right, knaves.
Kamala Harris, thumbs-up
News this afternoon: Kamala Harris of California as VP nominee. I'm proud to remind that I endorsed Kamala for president way back on September 6 of 2017. This post was on my "Morris of Course" site. The permalink:
https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2017/09/kamala-harris-of-califorina-for.html
Invitation to my podcast
Audio is not my raison d'etre but I'm learning. My August 11 entry is entitled "Our 'old' problems: not so big?" So I look at the little issues on our minds pre-pandemic, and now they don't seem so critical, do they. I have the license to go off on tangents! Here is the permalink:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Our-old-problems-not-so-big-ei0l0n
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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