At times like this I harken back to the words of the great Adam West's Bruce Wayne, "It's sometimes difficult to think clearly when you're strapped to a printing press."
Quite.
Unlike on TV, I"m not literally strapped to a printing press. Robin got himself tied to a comic book printing press once by the Joker, of course. Squashing someone in a printing press is a very Joker method of murder. Alfred the Butler saved the day in that caper, by the way.
Folks aren't so clever anymore I'm afraid.
But figuratively, I hear him loud and clear. Sometimes it is hard to think clearly when that hard deadline approaches and there are six different things happening you want to be yammering about.
At least two of those things could change completely before the run comes off the press. Guessing which turn they'll take is not for the squeamish. If you guess wrong, you get to look as foolish as you surely are.
It doesn't seem to bother the highly paid talking heads on TV, I don't know why it bugs me so much. But I digress.
As I hammer away tonight, early reports suggest the Liar in Chief is under investigation for obstruction of justice. It's entirely possible by the time you read this that special counsel Mueller could refute that information. Or he could be fired by now.
The now being when you're reading this, not the now when I'm writing this. As the man said, it can be hard to keep straight.
It's too early to speculate where any Trump investigation is going to go but I'll do it anyway. Moscow.
Other things on the list don't require so much guessing.
There were two sets of testimony in front of the Senate in the last week. One guy provided answers, the other couldn't recall much. One thing that requires no speculation is why the guy with the answers doesn't have a job and the guy with no memory does.
Not that anybody is counting, but including the attack on Congressman Scalise and others on a baseball diamond Wednesday, there were at least 4 incidents of mass shootings in our country in the last seven days.
A democracy won't work when violence is encouraged in our politics. That's the outcome of an environment where facts and reason are no longer valued. We have to find our way back to reason.
There is nothing in any way right about a society where people are damaged enough to show up in a public place and start shooting. We are caught in a media fueled spiral of hysteria.
Political hysteria, cultural hysteria, existential hysteria--all dished out by the minute on cable, on the airwaves, and online. Too many of us can't tell virtual from reality. One is packaged. One really can't be scripted.
For those of you who let go of your smartphone long enough to pick up the paper and read this, keep on keeping on. If you read this on your smartphone, there's still hope!
I'll leave you with one more Adam West Batman quote that seems especially pertinent in this moment.
People who stay in glass hotels shouldn't throw parties.