GregoryLaxer.com
My creed: Words still have meaning; and Truth, though wounded, soldiers on.
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I have lost track of who gets credit for above image, but the words are my own.
My current writing projects

UPDATE at January 10, 2024: I have closed the books on seeking a Literary Agent to represent my first completed novel. I will return to work on the first novel I undertook to write and again seek representation. If that book doesn't win any of these folks over, I will publish my novels for free online. And that's a promise!
UPDATE at November 1, 2024: I have entered some of my poems in four separate poetry writing contests. Winning entries won't be announced until some time in 2025. And so it goes...
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Battleship Potemkin blog
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Commentary on current events, never lacking in fury and possibly even signifying something.


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[NOTE: Previously published articles can be viewed on the Past articles page but you must click on "Details" on that page to view content.]
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 MY FIRMEST ELECTION PREDICTION
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POSTED October 31, 2024....
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"Government of the People, by the People, for the People..." THE GREAT AMERICAN FAIRY TALE!!

[image credit: Maarten Brakkee via unsplash]

MY FIRMEST ELECTION PREDICTION


The fact that I am posting this commentary on Halloween is largely coincidental. But after all, time is fast evaporating for posting US Presidential election predictions. And mine is simply this: I accept the findings of the major polling organizations that this Trump-Harris race is too damned close to call. So I shall not attempt to call the “winner.” What I firmly predict is chaos in the days, weeks, months (?) following November 5. And if the election outcome is decided by SCOTUS, well, we know how that will work out. I explained in my previous article (HERE) why I positively cannot, will not, vote for the incumbent VP. But let’s examine how we came to this dreadful situation of the “no charred or mangled corpses of Palestinians are enough” Kamala Harris versus the Fascist wannabe-emperor Trump, a severely deranged demagogue. How can such an unqualified creature as Trump still be such a strong contender?

To me, the answer is crystal clear: RACISM and XENOPHOBIA (certainly close cousins) are what fuels Trump’s support. Josef Goebbels, notorious propaganda master of Nazi Germany, would feel totally at home with Trump’s rhetoric. But we must not restrict this criticism to the turd at the top; the GOP establishment has thrown in totally with this approach of demonizing anyone who isn’t a WASP “Evangelical Christian” Heterosexual Male. They (and we who dissent from these views) are “the enemy within” Trump and Vance have been pounding away at lately.

Trump has repeatedly labeled VP Harris “a very low-IQ person.” This is to contrast her with his own self-declared status of “extremely stable genius,” of course.  Now, let us examine what kind of voter would believe that The Donald will bring the USA a great economy. This guy is a serial failure in Business. Trump Steaks? Trump Wine? Trump University? The Trump Bible?? On and on the list goes, and grows. Indeed, Economics is one of the areas Trump is most ignorant about. And who is going to believe that all the nation’s problems will be solved by sending police and military personnel door to door in a coast to coast sweep to ferret out individuals who can’t prove US citizenship? As the stereotypical movie Gestapo agent demands: “Let me see your papers!” And doubtless these idiot Trump adorers even believe that jacking up tariffs on imported goods, as Donald proposes, is not going to jack up the price at retail of virtually everything we buy, given the GOP-led hollowing out of US industry over the decades? So, Mr. Trump, I have news for you: it is your supporters who are very low-IQ people. If this makes me sound like an “elite intellectual snob,” I really don’t give a damn. This is how I see the situation, and I am not shy about sharing my analysis.

A brief note on Donald’s big Madison Square Garden rally. The pro-Nazi rally held at the old Garden in 1939 was presented in the guise of an “America First” rally, the interior of the building festooned with a myriad of US flags. The swastikas and portraits of Hitler were minimal. The likes of George Washington were praised to the skies, before the speakers got to the real agenda: urging that the US not intervene in any war breaking out on the European continent generated by German aggression. Candidate Walz might not be the brightest lightbulb in the carton, but he hit the nail on the head when he likened Donald’s event to the 1939 predecessor. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”—philosopher George Santayana


MEMO TO PRESIDENT BIDEN

Joe, if I were in your shoes—I know, a risible idea, but allow me to indulge in a hypothetical scenario—I would not be sitting on my ass or going to the Delaware shore for R&R. I would mobilize every resource necessary, including the US Attorney General’s office, Federal Marshals and active duty military personnel, to ensure that this election is fair. It has been open knowledge for many months now that the GOP, on state and local levels, has been barring as many potential voters as possible who they think will vote Democratic from the rolls of registered voters. The excuse is usually that someone is “suspected” of not actually being a US citizen, but other tricks are being used, such as digging into court records for people with criminal records (hey, kind of like Trump, huh? If the Republican Party emerges triumphant in this election, you will have to bear a very large burden of the blame.


THE RATTLESNAKE—WAS IT AN OMEN?

I am a very fond admirer of snakes, defending them against the foolish superstition-generated bias against them in this plug-ignorant society of ours. The vast majority of snakes not only are harmless toward humans, but play a benign role in the ecosystem (what’s left of it!), reducing populations of “pests.” But just the other day, I dreamt that a rattlesnake had somehow been introduced into my bed!! I did not wake with a start or in a cold sweat, but in the dream I certainly evacuated that bed promptly. Technically, I don’t believe in omens, though sometimes I sense a taste of events to come. If Trump in fact is ultimately declared POTUS once again, will this dream have constituted an omen?? I cannot say at this time. What do you think?  


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Why "Battleship Potemkin"? Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 movie about the mutiny in the Tsar's Black Sea fleet during the failed 1905 Russian revolution is acknowledged as a masterpiece of cinema. The author of this website endorses the film's message: To rise against cruel oppression is not only justified, it is essential for the preservation of human dignity. ​
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Previous two blog articles, available on Past articles page:


  • A Potpourri of Short Subjects
  • Obituary: R.I.P. IRONY; You are sorely missed
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This blog site addresses and comments on these topics (among others!): peace, war, US politics, American politics, political analysis, climate crisis, climate change, climate change deniers, Donald J. Trump, social commentary, social criticism, social satire, current events, racism, anti-war movement, anti-racism, religion, religious extremism, religious fundamentalism, atheism, Buddhism, fascism, anti-fascism, socialism, communism, American war in Vietnam, the Vietnam War, Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, "The Vietnam War" PBS TV series, GIs, GI resistance to war, US Army, US military, militarism, anti-militarism, 'Bowe' Bergdahl, national debt, Pentagon budget, literature, books, authors, writers, cinema, music, movies, environment, ecology, anthropology, evolution, human race, humankind, misogyny, homophobia, philosophy, resistance, "Star Trek," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," United States Constitution, The Federalist Papers, James Madison, "The Simpsons," Bob Dylan, "Tombstone Blues," Commander-in-Chief, al-Baghdadi, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, endless wars, Major Danny Sjursen, Fritz Lang, Peter Bogdanovich, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, M, The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, Josef Goebbels, Hollywood, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Carl Sagan, Joe Biden, "With God on Our Side," TAKE THIS WAR AND SHOVE IT! A Most Unwilling Soldier 1967-1971, Albert Einstein, Nuremberg Trials, sexual identity, non-binary sexual identity, sexual orientation, suppression of right to vote, human rights, civil rights, Erik Edstrom, UN-AMERICAN--A Soldier's Reckoning of Our Longest War, Chelsea Manning

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​INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS NOTICE: Unless otherwise indicated, owner of this site is the sole author and owner of all material posted (with exception of public domain graphics). Permission is granted to share contents of this site elsewhere on the Internet or by other means of reproduction provided original author (Gregory Laxer) is credited. Please include a link to this website as a courtesy. If only excerpts are shared, original context must be accurately conveyed and, again, credited to original author. Please include a link to this website. EXCEPTION: Selections from my as yet unpublished memoir (see Memoir Page of this site) may not be reproduced elsewhere without express permission of the author.
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