Thanksgiving is upon us! My favorite holiday of the year when all you have to do is eat, drink, and be merry, and in some case make sure Uncle Fred is just napping and hasn’t actually left this mortal coil. It’s a great all-dayer, from the inevitably of Hummingbird’s Detroit Lions losing in the morning as you enjoy a medicinal Bloody Mary, through the scramble for the turkey leg in the early-afternoon (a scramble I rarely come up short on obviously), on through the hot turkey sandwich and pinot noir binge around 8pm, to the concluding chocolate chip ice cream and cookies blow-out with a little medicinal brandy at night. This is the most civilized day of activities that this country has yet come up with!
“This Trump Thing,” aka The US Presidency. As we take stock of Donald Trump's election a little over a year ago, in my mind, the most basic threat of Trumpism is the “War on Truth.” “The Dictators Club” of autocratic world leaders want to abolish the line between fact and fiction and truth and lie. The Putins and Erdogans come to mind. They figure if you don't know what's true, and you don't think you can ever know, pretty soon everybody will accept that democracy is no longer possible.
It's hard not to immediately think of Kellyanne Conway's “alternative facts,” or what Dan Rather and others call the “post-truth” politics of the present.
The president, certainly, has little regard for whether or not something is true. It is largely irrelevant, in his view, what actually happened, so long as enough people believe his version of events. His blow-up with a Gold Star family over a condolence call last month actually began when he made the wild claim out of thin air that previous presidents did not make condolence calls. That was completely untrue, but this is routine at this point. Fact-checking services like Politifact have scored as much as 69% of what the president says as some degree of false. An incredibly high percentage. Furthermore, his forays into history are frequently disastrous, because he knows nothing of what actually happened and, rather than learn before speaking, simply makes something up. He described Frederick Douglass, an African-American icon who died in 1895, as “someone who is doing a terrific job that is being recognized by more and more people.” It would be laughable if he was a comedian or annoying blowhard in the bar, but he is the President of the USA.
However, the rhetoric can also be more sinister. Trump has laid the groundwork for an argument that the FBI director should report to him directly, at a time when the FBI is integral to a Justice Department investigation into whether members of his campaign colluded with Russia. Making up history to justify exerting more control over the federal law enforcement apparatus, contrary to the rule of law? Yes, Trump is getting close to becoming the next member of that “Dictator's Club.” Every citizen should be concerned. “Evening Dining in the Valley’. This week: outside of Boonville: Stone and Embers in The Madrones south of Philo is open from Noon to 8pm five days in succession, Thursday to Monday. In the Deep End, The Bewildered Pig has the Sunday brunch from 11am-2.30pm and dinner from 5-8.30pm Thursday-Sunday.(Obviously there are a number of fine daytime eating options here in the Valley, but most folks ask me about the evening dining choices due to irregular hours. Public Service Announcements: #544. The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital have one visit scheduled next month on Thursday, December 14. #545. The County Dump is open from 9am-4pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. #546. The Boonville Farmers Market is outside at Seabass Winery in Boonville every Saturday morning, 9.30am-Noon. Cindy, 895-2949. #547 - The Mendocino Bookmobile returns to the Valley next Tuesday, November 28: Alternate Tuesdays (45 min) at: Navarro Store 9am (30 min); the Floodgate 12.30pm; Philo 1.30pm; Boonville (Apple Hall) 2.30pm.
Community lunches and dinners next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans Building in Boonville. $6 donation from seniors for both lunches and dinners and $7 for Non-seniors for lunches and $8 for the dinners. (Closed for Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23rd.) Next Tuesday, November 28th, the evening meal at 6pm will be Lasagna with Tiramisu for dessert. Includes vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. What a deal! I’m outta here. So, “Let us prey.” Humbly yours, Turkey Vulture. Contact me through the Letters Page or at turkeyvulture9@gmail.com. PS. Skylark – read any good books lately? Hi, Silver Swan, behaving yourself? Hopefully not! Everything cool with you, O.J.? Of course it is.
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