*Note: This dates from 2015; it seems a commentary on 2019.  I didn't title these pieces then.
                                                                           V. N.



     Dick Cheney emerged from hiding again, accompanied by his Electra Complex daughter, Liz.  This Dick and Liz, however, unlike Burton and Taylor, can't share acting stories, are not artistic spirits giving gripping performances to the world.  When they come into the light together, the Cheneys' self-appointed purpose is to bash Obama and warn of doom.
     Obama, as of this writing, has thirty-four senators agreeing with him about the Iran Nuclear Deal brokered by John Kerry.  It's a safe number, boding well for the deal no matter what hysterics come from the other side.  Lindsay Graham, running for president in case you've forgotten, said that the only thing preventing "the Ayatollahs from dancing in the streets is that dancing is forbidden in Iran."  Cute, but who, outside of a musical, dances in the street?
     Dick Cheney, interviewed on CNN, warned that if Iran acquires nuclear weapons, which of course they will, if you believe him, nukes will then be used against populations "for the first time since Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
     Which country dropped those two bombs, Dick?
     Cheney's role in destabilizing the Middle East is a significant one he will never admit to.  He lied, and still does, about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction capabilities.  He warned of a nuclear strike on American soil coming from Iraq, an absurd notion not possible when Hussein didn't have nuclear weapons, as had already been proven by UN inspection teams by 2002.
     Cheney, though, like many politicians, is a stone cold liar.  He now warns of nuclear Armageddon coming from the Iranians.  The scare tactic worked in 2002, but now it seems flaccid.  He looks like the bent, evil old man he is.  The headline from his CNN interview had nothing to do with Iran; an indication, possibly, of his perceived declining merit as a foreign policy sage.  Asked if he'll endorse Donald Trump if the latter becomes the Republican nominee, Cheney said he'll support the nominee, whoever that will be.
     Today, the frontrunner, Trump, occupied twenty-five minutes of MSNBC's time, speaking from his tower of power in New York, showing a pledge he signed after talking with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.  The pledge has Trump promising to stick with the GOP, to not run as an independent.  Pundit debate afterwards focused on whether or not Trump will obey the pledge.  Since it's not a legal document, why will he do so if he ever thinks it's time to make a move away from the Republicans.  He's a liar who signed a piece of paper, big fucking deal.  By doing so he assuaged the concerns, for a while, of those Republicans who fear an independent Trump run that would probably give the election to the Democratic nominee.
     Jeb Bush tries to fight Trump--Trump fights.  I can't, at this time, picture Bush winning the nomination.  He is lackluster.  Trump has a knack for exposing weak spots in others, acting as a catalyst, making him useful to us, perhaps, because he shows Americans what a lousy politician Jeb Bush is.
     If Trump doesn't start attacking Hillary Clinton more strongly than he has, maybe he really does work on behalf of the Clintons, and acts as a trickster within the Republican Party?  I'm not convinced of that argument, yet.  Trump is such an asshole, has so many long-cultivated multi-media skills, feels himself to be divine, that I can't yet accept he's not in this insane election cycle to take it all the way.  I run into resistance from others when I suggest the title, President Trump.  I'm surprised more people aren't thinking it's increasingly possible.  Conventional wisdom, it seems, states that Hillary Clinton will of course be the next president.  Like Jeb Bush, though, she's as exciting as a washed-up comedian's routines.
     As for other Trump opponents, like Scott Walker, bear in mind the phenomenon of a candidate's mouth proving a denseness hard to ignore.  On Meet the Press last Sunday, Walker proposed the building of a wall separating the U.S. from Canada.  If built, this wall, at approximately 5,500 miles long, would outdo Trump's "beautiful" southern wall by about 3,600 miles.  Canada's Minister of the Interior responded to Walker's idea by saying that illegal immigration is more of a problem coming from America than it is from Canada.  Even apart from that typically even-minded sensible Canadian reaction, Walker's lack of sense, outside of having the political savvy to be controlled by the Koch Brothers, shows, fourteen months from the 2016 election, his unfitness to sit in the Oval Office, unless it be on the floor, playing with Legos.
     From calculated evil (Cheney) to pride swelled with gigantism (Trump) to doltishness (Walker), this time of pseudo-leaders with microphones and camera lenses before them, makes for fine entertainment that will give way to new presidential decisions based on ignorance, and more destruction.

                                                                          Vic Neptune