Stabbing Lopate in the back

Dec. 21, 2017

Just in time for the holidays, WNYC fired Lenny Lopate and Jonathan Swartz, and is still reviewing others that may face the same fate – a risk manager’s nightmare for a super liberal station.

This comes as a knee-jerk reaction by risk managers and liberal elite in a new purge, not overtly political in that most of the men accused nationwide lean towards the liberal side of the social barometer, yet part of a backfired attempt to bring down a president Liberals tried to paint as misogynistic, who won’t be moved by this misguided mistaken superior morality liberals have adopted.

This latest example of national hysteria is part of a human curse as we continue to follow a lemmings-like path off each new exaggerated cliff, a thoughtless mob mentality that strips of us of the better part of civilized behavior liberalism boasts to protect.

Listeners defending Lopate complained about the closed door hearings that made this whole political circus seem like a Stalin-like political purge, which it largely is, and where we are forced to settle for a statement issued by manage justifying why they fired him.

But like the rest of liberal media, WNYC cannot affords to have a disorderly house as they rant and rave about how foul Trump and GOP are, and so instead of reeducation and sensitivity training that a politically-protected Civil Service employee such as a cop would get, these unprotected broadcasts like Lopate get the boot – demonstrating to the world that the liberal left can be just as fascistic as they claim the right is.

I’ve known Lopate as a listener and a member of the WBAI community long before he worked his way onto WNYC. While he was often arrogant, sometimes on the verge of abusive, he was also the most knowledgeable and insightful broadcaster I have even heard. I will miss him around Christmas and Easter when he put a stunning gospel music show.

Yet Lopate never really completely toe the liberal line, speaking his mind, sometimes in harsh terms to an audience lulled into comfortable sleep by other broadcasters at WNYC.  Unlike these others, Lopate may not have been liberal enough. This is not to imply a conspiracy against him. But it clearly provided WNYC with additional motive for firing him rather than providing him with an opportunity at redemption, the station refusing to rally around someone who did not complexly embrace the propaganda the station broadcasts day in and day out.

Independent thinkers like Lopate are dangerous to both sides of the political spectrum in a civil war that pits one American against another, and it is often easier to stab one of your own in the back then to allow someone like Lopate to be used as a propaganda item by the other side, a sad commentary to these morally questionable times in which we live.

A long day's journey into night

December 20, 2017

Still ill.

This has been several weeks in the making, the run up from being rundown to finally when my chest fills with phlegm and the best I can do it cough it up at night and hope Nightquil can keep me asleep long enough to feel strong enough in the morning to work.

This is not one of those mornings, and yet, I work.

Yesterday, I wandered through lower Jersey City to cover two events, and got a chance to walk down two streets that remind me most of growing up in Paterson, where people struggle among vacant lots and run down stores to find hope.

People shout out to each other in the early morning, perhaps acknowledging that they have managed some how to survive another night.

Since most of my time is spent wandering through the wealthier parts of the city, this is a sad reminder of the real struggle people face, things we do not see in the protest or even in the newscasts which focus on the almost unreal antics of national leaders – few of which really represent the reality of people's lives, the hopes and dreams or lack of that makes even cold mornings like yesterday a relief, part of that long journey into night from which people can wake up alive.

I came to cover events in a part of the town where there is little interest to our readers, except in the sense that people here face the same hardships they did when I was a kid, the same racial profiling that makes cars speed up to get through traffic lights in order not to be near groups of men hovering on street corners – jobless, bored, hopeless souls who would like someplace else to go, but have nothing, and share that nothing with each other.

I walked down MLK Drive from near its top to a place near its foot on the south end, passing through these street corner gatherings, a stranger in their strange land, locked in a time warp from when I was a lone white face in housing projects in Paterson. If people noticed me, I didn't get a sense of hostility, as if we all had some reason for being in the same place at the same time, even if we didn't ask what.

In one place, when I was looking for the entrance of a senior building, some of these men gave me instructions, “You knock on the window, brother, until someone sees you.”

In another part of the street, I saw the new government building still unfinished in which the city has great hopes will help transform that part of the city into a thriving hub. It seemed isolated against the backdrop of buildings where windows are covered with plywood, and doors marked with the X of fire department suggesting danger.

I coughed as I walked, which made me fit in with a number of other men, struggling to stay warm, and healthy in these blocks, and others, who asked me for change, knowing I had something jingling in my pockets that might provide them with coffee I clutched in my free hand.

The walk was a lesson in humility, and an understanding of just how far we have not come, and how far we have yet to go before this part of town feels the way other parts of town feel, and while there is a survivor's pride here, life has to be more than just survival. This has to be more than a long day's journey into night.

The unforgiven (Nobody expects the women’s inquisition)

December 15, 2017

They’re coming after Dustin Hoffman now in what appears to be a sick frenzy of persona revenge for possibly sexual slights in the past.

Matt Damon, meanwhile, appears to want to make a distinction between some victims of this inquisition and others, a good point, if misguided, since the purpose of the charade is to make lawyers famous and rich, while shaming people.

The fact is the neo-feminists behind this series of attacks want to change the rules of engagement, in a kind of historic revisionism that often plagues misguided reformers, creating a new error of political correctness no man can possibly live up to short of self-castration, with accusations of real or imagined sexual slights spread by a blood-thirsty media which measures true by internet clicks and could care less about the validity of the charge a long as they get the headlines first.

Bill Cosby has become the model for the new Me, Too, shame by accusation women’s movement in what started out as an attempt to bring down President Donald Trump, and stop the expected move to load the Supreme Court with anti-abortion judges.

While Damon desperately tries to rescue some of the prominent liberal people accused, in truth, the movement has already backfired, creating a kind of new inquisition that tries people in the media for crimes they might or might not have committed – many of whom are prominent Democrats.

Al Franken was driven from office by a savage Democratic attack because he stood in the way of the Democrats to use Me, Too, to target the GOP, but the attacks have gone far beyond politics and appears to be taking the shape of unjustified retribution, creating a terror in which guilty are shamed along with possible innocent, even when some of the events occurred back at a time when social rules were different and we were young and foolish, not completely understanding where the line was between appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior – especially because many of us were raised with by fathers who operated under the mandate that a man went as far as he could until the woman stopped him.

Now those who were players then, question if they will be the next target of this new inquisition, for doing something that was considered acceptable then, but not under the new social order that has since taken over the American consciousness. In some ways, the current social order strongly resembles the second half of Charles Dickens’ “Tale of Two Cities,” in which you complied with the new rules or lost your hand for having lived under the old rules before the new rules applied.

We struggle to make sense of something that does not make sense, find reason in the unreasonable, and remake former heroes into villains in an unrelenting and unreasonable surge of attacks, creating a whole new class of unforgiven in a movement destined to unravel the social fabric without any clear idea of what will replace it, and with no mercy for people who might be different today from who they were back when such behavior was more acceptable or at worst, tolerated.

A mad man president?

November 5, 1980

We have a new president.

And a stillness hovers over our campus like a fog, fear stirred up in the overnight that few can completely explain in any reasonable terms.

All the professors except for the few token Republicans warned us of great danger if Ronald Reagan became president, and now Reagan has, and we stroll the campus walkways waiting for the earthquake to come.

Pauly, of course, always the troublemaker liked the idea from the start, if just for the change.

Some more radical characters on campus wanted it, too, but for different reasons, hoping to get back to their radical pasts when they still had relevance and students were less lethargic.

These radicals envision a new campaign similar to the one they waged when Nixon was president, breaking out their own anti-establishment signs and their long-winded speeches they have not been able to use since Nixon resigned.

Only everything feels different now. We're all older, and public attitudes have shifted, fewer young people to fuel the revolution, more of us with much more to lose if we do.

Professors warn us of the potential for war, claiming this will be Reagan's solution for everything, including population control when young men (no women yet) start coming back in body bags.

I don't believe half of what they say, but I'm ten years older than most of the kids here, and they embrace what the professors say, when I'm still skeptical.

I didn't vote for Reagan; I voted for Carter, even though I know Carter is a wimp, and has done as much to build up the military with new tanks, neutron bombs and cruise missiles as ever Reagan could.

I guess maybe some of the spouting professors' fears seeped into me about how Reagan might really be a madman, a new Hitler, who will try to conquer the world.

People in Germany elected Hitler once, too, and plunged us into a world changing war from which we still haven't fully recovered. He killed in the name of God and country, and from what the professors claim, Reagan might do the same.

Will he?

My girlfriend and I sat before the TV last night, listening to Walter give us his commentary, by which time there was little doubt that Reagan would win.

They called it a landslide, a political coup, and if you believe our professors, the world will suffer not just our country.

My girlfriend, who is ten years younger than I am and more susceptible to professors' rhetoric, doesn't didn't didn't smile, going off instead to study her French.

Our politics differ in degree, but not so radically that the result failed to scare me a little, too.

I have already seen the instability of the world, and the viciousness of the left and the right, recalling how the resignation of Nixon six years ago wasn't enough for many of my blood thirsty friends who wanted him crucified rather than merely humiliated.

Our world rattles with instability.

I've learned that politics is not about building anything stable, but about making sure the other party doesn't build anything our party didn't like.

So I keep thinking about the old pier in Atlantic City and the music pier in Ocean City, which people claim they want to rebuild, but never do, and so year by year, both slowly decay – the air full of unfulfilled promises, but very successful political sabotage that leaves us all with less.

None the less, there is change in the air, for both me and the government, one that will turn us both in some new direction.

Last night, the GOP started its comeback after being humiliated under Nixon and Ford, bringing changes that promise to sweep across the country like a strong wind, knocking down unstable structures.

The big question is what they will build in their place.

While the wind here subsides and leaves most of us dazed, we embrace sunlight after the terrible storm of the election, though we still hear the rumble of distant thunder even as the misery of rain has passed.

I recall Carter's face when he conceded, a man on the verge of tears, and how grave he looked before that when exit polls told him his reelection did not look promising.

It was a dirty election as all elections are, filled with misinformation each campaign tries to sneak into the press and so to give lies validity of news when they are still lies – Carter and the Democrats desperate to cling to power they've had for only a short four years, while the GOP was hungry to regain it – Carter looking spent now when he had gleamed so brightly in 76 when he beat Ford.

Back then, I was even more confused than I am now, angry at my boss and how even Democratic capitalists are mean-spirited when someone steps between them and their wealth. I was lonely, then, too, with no girlfriend to comfort me or share my bed, and bitter at a world that seemed incapable of living up to its promises.

We have a new president today, who won by a landslide, and I only hope the professors are wrong, and he does not blow down more than he builds up, and that the other party that hates him so much, doesn't destroy any hope for our future.

The Castrating Gillibrands

They hunt us like dogs

Those female wolf packs we call “the Gillibrands” after that sicko senator that once tried to run for president on a man-hating ticket.

Gillibrands don’t want to kill us, they want to cut off our balls.

Any excuse will do.

In my case, my ex-girlfriend Cynthia fingered me in revenge for my dumping her.

To tell you the truth, I don’t really know why Cynthia hates me as much as she does.

But the Gillibrands believe anything any woman tells them about any man.

Now I’m told there are safe places where a man like me can go, but finding them is hard.

So I dress up like a woman until I can.

I make an awfully ugly woman.

But I can’t stomach acting like the ball-less men Cynthia and the Gillibrands tolerate, telling them yes to anything they say, telling them they’re always right about everything, when for the most part they’re not.

These are men who would castrate themselves if asked, and may have already.

Cynthia asked me to act like them, which is one of the reasons I needed to break things off with her.

And why she called the Gillibrands to emasculate me.

Gillibrands can do anything they want to any man for any reason any time a woman points her finger at him.

We all know in this political climate, it doesn’t matter if you did something bad or not, only if some woman said you did.

The longer I go undetected the better chance I have of finding a permanent place of safety.

Still I keep calling Cynthia, hoping she still cares enough to take it back or for me to makeup with her for whatever she believes I did.

When I finally reach Cynthia on the phone, she is still angry, telling me I’ll get what I deserve for dumping, and if she can’t have me the way she wants to have me, then she’ll make sure no woman can.

Now, I’m really scared, knowing nothing short of castration will satisfy her lust.

When I ask some men about a possible safe place they take me for a drag queen or a spy and tell me to get lost or get dead.

Worse, Gillibrands’ spies find out I’m in disguise and start to pursue me.

I do what you’re never supposed to do in that situation, I run like hell.

I’m all mixed up inside, telling myself maybe I’m better off as a eunuch since most women want their men like that.

I wouldn’t need a safe place to hid, and I would get on with my life without fear.

And there would be nothing worse Cynthia could do to me.

Only I refuse to give up my manhood.

I refuse to let Cynthia win or give hysterical man-hating women like the Gillibrands the satisfaction of castrating yet another real man.

But I’m desperate to find a safe place, because if I don’t, I’m better off dead.

When the Gillibrands come to get me, I do the unexpected. I shed the dress and pretend like I’m one of the ball-less men Cynthia was always insisting I become.

I feel smug and superior when they over look me in their search for a real man in a dress.

Then, dressed as a man, I seek out other men, who help me find the safe place I need.

But we all know the Gillibrands will never give up.

We are safe only until the Gillibrands break some real man who will then give us up

And so we live in fear, and I live with the realization that in the end, Cynthia and the Gillibrands have won.

Are Democrats creating a new fascist state?

December 10, 2017

Former president Obama went on TV this week to warn America about the potential for the United States to slip into a fascist state.

This from a man cool did his best to enable America to strengthen its police state in his love affair with secret agencies such as the CIA who spies on other countries secretly kills people we don't like and actively seeks to overthrow governments we oppose.

While on the other hand we now have Homeland Security, the FBI and NSA to keep tabs on what Americans hear do or not do. Democrats last week went nuts trying to defend the FBI which is a history of political abuse from beating up demonstrators and army deserters to overthrowing Jimmy Carter's government in order to allow Ronald Reagan to become president.

The FBI is so politically notorious that defending it seems ludicrous although Democrats are putting a lot of hope in it to begin the process of overthrowing the current government in order to regain power.

As taught in most good political science classes in college, power isn't merely contained in the governmental structure of executive legislature and courts but also outside government in such institutions as universities and media.

If you control media, government and education, you control the country, or at least, control the population.

Over the last decade or so media has clearly been taken over by the left and become basically a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party. This has long been true of the universities which have become propaganda machines for young people especially emerging artists and journalist who was in bring this perverted view into media.

Obama as President took clear control of intelligence organizations that secretly manipulated many things behind the scenes he apparently continues to have a strong influence over those agencies.

The last election was presumed to have gone to a Democrat, continuing the slow takeover of government and other institutions

The Democrats were supposed to win and so could guarantee the next series of appointments to the Supreme Court despite GOP opposition

The GOP, which took control of Congress marginally in the Senate substantially in the House of Representatives blocked Obama from appointing a liberal to the Supreme Court and thus changing the makeup of the Court over the next decade.

The appointment of a conservative justice would not have happened had Clinton won, since she was supposed to continue the take over.

Trump's victory further frustrated Democrat takeover of the Supreme Court and Promises to create a conservative court if Trump remains as president and continues to control the US Senate as is currently the case.

The need for the Democrats to discredit Trump and regain the Senate is paramount to take over the American government and would allow them complete control of every aspect of power including media universities and the US government along with its spy network.

The Democrats are desperate to regain the senate in order to control the Supreme Court in this attempted overthrow of the democratic process and full fascism that Obama predicts

Since it is likely that Democrats will eventually regain the White House they will need a friendly Supreme Court in order to further their agenda.

They need to destroy Trump in order to prevent him from dismantling the intelligence the Democrats control behind the scenes thus you have Democrats defending the FBI and its credibility when in the past groups like ACLU issued statement after statement showing how corrupt the intelligence agencies are and how unaccountable except to powerful leaders like Obama.

So it is clear that Obama is right in one regard we are headed towards fascism unfortunately it is the Democrats who appeared to be doing it luring well-meaning people into doing and saying stupid things.

email to Al Sullivan