Category Archives: Politics

Killing Baby Hitler

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Jews enter this place at their own risk! - Image from the US Holocaust Museum

Jews enter this place at their own risk! – Image from the US Holocaust Museum

Dear Reader: Could You Kill a Baby Hitler? – NYT Mag, Oct 23, 2015

Last month, the New York Times decided to troll the Internet with its question about going back in time to kill a baby Hitler. They got their desired result, with this manufactured controversy, plus a plurality saying yes and the majority pretty evenly split between no and I don’t know. Most death penalty cases require a bit more in the way of unanimity from the jury for a guilty verdict, but this is the Internet, so who cares about any of that?

Like I said, this meme was pretty much last month’s news, until this week when Jeb Bush stepped in it. When asked if he would kill a baby Hitler in the crib, his answer was, “Hell yeah, I would!” Please note that this does not violate his pro-life pledge. Twitter erupted, with my favorite being: “Jeb Bush kills baby Hitler. WW II averted. Barbara and George HW Bush never meet. Jeb Bush not born. Hitler lives!” It’s the classic time paradox that also foreshadows Jeb’s campaign.

I’ve gone into this post with an attitude of disapproval at this levity directed at Hitler, perpetrator of the Holocaust, as in it’s too soon, but we’ve been ridiculing him since he came to power. So why not now? I’m most ambivalent, because I’ve just watched a cheesy movie that involves going back in time to kill Hitler, albeit not as a baby It’s on Netflix. It’s “Kung Fury”.

The movie is a spoof, but about short of everything I could not say exactly what. It was made in 2015, but had the look and feel of a 1985 film. The movie was so authentically convincing with its Back to the Future Past vibe that I had to look it up on imDb, just to be sure. Its 1985 production values were so cheap and cheesy that they must have cost a fortune. It is a short, at only 31 minutes and is the Swedish creation of David Sandberg (writer, director and star) and it was a Kickstarter. Here is Sandberg’s synopsis:

During an unfortunate series of events a friend of Kung Fury is assassinated by the most dangerous kung fu master criminal of all time; Adolf Hitler, aka Kung Führer. Kung Fury decides to travel back in time, to Nazi Germany, in order to kill Hitler and end the Nazi empire once and for all.

It was a fun and silly little flick, but I can’t get over the idea that laughing at the greatest monster of all time is somehow wrong and is disrespectful of all of the innocents that he murdered. Maybe, I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth and sound like I’m crying crocodile tears too, but that’s how I feel and that is why I chose the above rather hateful image for this post that I did, to tamp down all the recent the merriment about killing Hitler. What’s done is done and cannot be undone. We just have to find a way to live with it.

Big Men on Campus

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Saint Louis Surrounded by Fall Colors

Saint Louis Surrounded by Fall Colors

The Mizzou football team stood-up and stood together and the University of Missouri president was forced to resign. They didn’t do this alone, they didn’t do this in a vacuum. They succeeded in concert with other collegiate activists. They are the successor sons of the Black Lives Matter movement that has gone nationwide and closer to home, sprang from our own Ferguson. They stand upon broad shoulders stretching back to before I was born, but this week they must have made all their parents proud. They certainly made me feel so. Such clear-cut victories for civil rights are rare enough and this one should be celebrated!

Our Unguarded Moment

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State of Deception

State of Deception

Yesterday was Election Day and so I voted. I almost always vote and I even got the “I Voted” sticker this time. There wasn’t much on the ballot, just two city tax propositions. I was lucky voter number thirteen. When I voted, I was the only voter there, even though one of the election officials joked, “Look, we’ve got a line!” She was counting one of the other election officials, who was standing beside me, which I don’t think should really count. Interestingly, the election official who setup the touch screen machine for me was named Mohammed. I noticed his name and thought that it was a nice touch for democracy. I just learned that Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is Jewish. I did not know that. He had relatives that were murdered in the Holocaust, which is a source for his motivation to pursue a career in politics. Adolf Hitler was democratically elected chancellor of Germany and through this unguarded moment the Nazis came to power and the Second World War and the Holocaust resulted. Because of this history, Sanders believes that politics really matters and I do too.

Last July, I attended an exhibit at the Missouri History Museum entitled, “State of Deception – The Power of Nazi Propaganda”. It was a traveling exhibit created by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, a part of the Smithsonian. This show contained many artifacts indicative of everything that the Nazis stood for. They are all bold, powerful graphics, the type of imagery that I usually like to post, but their hateful symbolism is something that I have no wish to propagate. Instead, what I have chosen as the graphic for this post is the exhibit’s own ad, which still contains some of the same hated imagery, but in a more muted form.

This morning I awoke to the latest act of utter stupidity by Donald Trump. Last night he first tweeted and then retracted an image of Jeb Bush along with a Nazi swastika. I can only assume that alcohol was involved, but only to the extent that it freed Trump of any inhibitions and left #TheRealDonaldTrump exposed, but his racist demagoguery is only the tip of the GOP iceberg. The Donald may be out there, but he is not that far out there from many in his party. I have to believe that Abraham Lincoln must be turning in his grave.

Dumpster Fire

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Radioactive "Osxacan Crab", Jolanda Rios Vasquez,2000

Radioactive “Osxacan Crab”, Jolanda Rios Vasquez,2000

Well actually, it’s more of a whole dump fire than just a single dumpster fire. I’m speaking of the West Lake Landfill fire. This landfill and its fire have been burning for years, but last week its notoriety went up a notch. Four neighboring school districts sent a letter home to parents about their emergency plans that would be implemented, in the event that this fire got out of control. Some would say that this fire has been out of control for years. Landfill fires are not that uncommon, their pressure and heat frequently ignite the methane gas given off by decaying garbage. What has everyone all concerned about this fire is that it seems to be spreading towards its neighbor, which is buried radioactive waste leftover from the Manhattan Project.

This is one of Saint Louis’s dirty little secrets. During World War II uranium enrichment was performed here to produce the first atom bombs. A practice that continued in the Cold War. Back then nuclear waste was just dumped anywhere. We have two Superfund sites to show for this practice and dozens of other sites like this one that have been just sitting there. The softball field that I used to play on is one of these other sites. I am so glad now that I refused to slide then.

Except that they haven’t been just sitting there. The buried radioactive waste is seeping into the ground water and is spreading. So too is the West Lake Landfill fire, which touched off the latest round of concern. The fire is apparently heading towards the radioactive waste. We were talking about this at work yesterday. This flaming landfill, located in West County, adjoins I-70 and depending upon the wind’s direction its smell can be smelt by passing motorists. Some try to hold their breath as they drive pass, but this stretch of highway is frequently backed up during rush hour and on those days it is not possible to hold your breath that long.

All The Way

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Jules Feiffer on LBJ

Jules Feiffer on LBJ

I still remember where I was when I heard JFK was shot. It was a Californian Catholic classroom. The nun then asked us to put our heads down on our desks and pray. I can still hear Lawrence weeping next to me. It was almost that same hour that “All the Way” begins. This play by Robert Schenkkan opens onboard the flight of Air Force One from Dallas to DC. Lyndon B. Johnson has been sworn in; Kennedy’s body is in the hold and the plane is about to land. Over the next two hours, the audience is transported through the subsequent tumultuous year in US politics, culminating in Johnson’s 1964 election as President. The play takes its name from his campaign slogan, “All the way with LBJ!”

The play’s first act is dedicated to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill, with an emphasis on the legislative procedures involved and is reminiscent of similar congressional machinations that were portrayed in Spielberg’s “Lincoln”. The first act is the stronger of the two and would have been enough of a story to stand on its own, but then it would have told only half of the story. The second act deals with Johnson’s 1964 campaign, where he strived to transform his “accidental presidency” into something more. Its real story though is of the political consequences of the Civil Rights Bill for the Democratic Party. Before ’64 the South had been solidly Democratic. In ’64 several southern states defected to the Republicans and voted for Goldwater. As LBJ predicted, after ’64 the South became solidly GOP. Almost as an afterthought, Vietnam is left nibbling at the periphery of this American tableau.

“All the Way” sports a large cast, featuring most of the political luminaries of the day, including such headliners as Humphrey, Wallace and Hoover. Special attention is paid to Martin Luther King, where his relationship with LBJ is portrayed differently than in the recent “Selma”, which covered events in 1965. Notable absences include Goldwater and Bobby Kennedy. In this sympathetic biography, we see LBJ acting as ringmaster of the nation’s political circus laid bare before us. What carries “All the Way” are the many, some profane, but mostly funny stories and mannerisms this characterization of our 36th President gives us. Throughout both acts, we see Johnson threaten, cajole and flatter his intended opponents, exhibiting whatever facet of the “Johnson Treatment” best suits his purposes and sways his intended subject to his will and sway they do.

Last night’s show was the end of the run at the Saint Louis Repertory Theater. Writing about a show that is over is typically of little interest, but after this production, the show will go on. Later this year, HBO will be broadcasting their version of “All the Way”, which will feature Bryan Cranston reprising his 2014 Tony Award winning roll as LBJ. Since, it is too late now to see the Rep’s production, I’ll recommend sight unseen, HBO’s. It is just that good a story.

Another Round of Prickly Politics

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Golden Ball Cactus

Golden Ball Cactus

Good evening folks, if you are joining us here late at CNN’s Political Sports Center, tonight’s big game of political football is already underway. The Republican presidential field just took the field here in Simi Valley Stadium, promising to, “Win one for the Gipper.” In early action, the Washington Hopefuls won the coin toss and elected to receive. On the kickoff, receiver John Kasich was injured and taken off the field when after signaling for a fair catch, he was hit from behind by his own teammate, Ted Cruz. Afterwards, Cruz was heard to yell, “How do you like them apples, Johnny? That was for Lehmann Brothers.” Cruz was flagged with a personnel foul for un-sportsmanlike conduct and ejected from the game. As he was leaving, Cruz was heard to complain, “I do not like green eggs and ham.” Let’s take a break here for change of possession and show you nice people some delicious political commercials.

Trump, Trump, Trump, Trumpeting Trump!
Trump, Trump, Trump, Trumpeting Trump!
Trump, Trump, Trump, Trumpeting Trump!

Welcome back folks to our live broadcast, we’re ready for the first snap of the game. The Hopefuls have the ball and it is first-and-ten on their one-yard line. They have a long way to go to get it over the goal line. Chris Christie snaps the ball to the Donald. Trump steps back into the pocket and drills Carly Fiorina right in the face. She’s down on the field now. Kindly old Doctor Ben Carson trots in from the sidelines, followed by chief water boy, Marco Rubio. I hope that we are not looking at another one of Rubio’s aquatic fiascos here. While Fiorina is down on the field, let’s take another break.

Give me the D. D! Give me the O. O! Give me the N. N! Give me the A. A! Give me the L. L! Give me the other D. D! What’s that spell? THE DONALD!

They’ve just carted Carly off the field and play is ready to resume. Christie finally snaps and explodes in a fiery nuclear inferno. Which is sort of what he promised. Trump hands the ball off to Jeb! Bush slowly saunters towards the line of scrimmage. He really is a low-energy person. Rand Paul can’t stand it any longer and rushes Bush, stripping him of the ball. Paul then proceeds to run back and forth across the field, attempting to filibuster the game and run the clock out. But it is all just an act to influence the Patriots or maybe just Tom Brady. He ends up tripping on his shoelaces, falling at the second yard line and poking his eye out with the pointy part of the ball. It is third-and-nine. Mike Huckabee calls time and beseeches the crowd for a moment of silent prayer for Kim Davis. Ignoring him, Trump takes a knee for third down and the other knee for fourth down, prays to himself and declares himself winner of the debate. I mean game. He is the last man left on the field. Well folks, that’s all we have time for here tonight. See you all next time, next month. As the crowd files out of Simi Valley Stadium, Scott Walker is almost heard to ask, “What about me?”