Give Us Not Our Daily Trump
By Steve Klinger
636 words
The media seem to be impaled on the horns of a dilemma: Cover Donald Trump and, if they do so with a shred of integrity and concern for the truth, their reportage will inevitably be negative. Trump and his minions then say it’s fake news and throw the resulting red meat right to the base, dividing the country ever more deeply. The media refuse to change, and so does Trump. We spiral downward into a rabbit hole whose surprises we dread to encounter. More frightening yet—we may be closer to the beginning than the end.
Here’s a thought: What if the media just stopped covering Trump on a daily basis? Why must they dutifully replay every infuriating word from every canned, rigged, reality-TV campaign rally and faux news conference and then bemoan his total narcissism, his complete lack of empathy, his wedge-driving failure of leadership, his dog whistles for racists, his winks and nods to neo-Nazis, his total and unrelenting lack of human decency?
In a world in which Trump has driven normal out the window, why must journalists play along and keep sliding down the slippery slope of trying to cover Trump like a normal president? For one thing, it isn’t working; in fact it feeds directly into his egomaniacal wet dreams. Just imagine how it would infuriate him if no one covered him in West Virginia and Montana and North Dakota or even on the White House helipad.
Oh, Fox would be there, of course, but there’s nothing much to be done about Fox anyway, at least until Sean Hannity faces his curiously absent me-too moment.
But in the meantime, stop enabling Trump and stonewall him instead. It will make his head explode like an overripe Sunkist navel. He might have to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue just for the attention. And the rest of us will get a respite from our nightly fix of masochism from MSNBC and CNN.
Talk instead about climate change, island nations slowly sinking, the U.S.-fueled drug trade, the fundamental forces driving mass migration, the truth about our unfair, propped-up economy, where American families really can afford the newest X-box if everyone works the three minimum-wage jobs they can now get; the extortionist pharmaceutical industry that keeps so many of us on the edge of bankruptcy while its alter-ego, agribusiness, fills our bodies with addictive sugars that send us to the drugmakers in a cycle of profiteering that rivals war and the armaments industry.
Talk about the new American slavery, a for-profit prison industry that siphons hope from minorities while providing a constant supply of all-but-free labor. Talk about education, where the profit-driven companies and evangelicals scheme tirelessly to bleed the public school system into penury so they can complain about the results of public education.
Talk about a civilized world devolving before our eyes, where our primitive brains are nurtured and fed with paranoia, our amygdalas pampered and cultivated with scapegoating and fearmongering, fanned with horrific prophecies of the globalist Jew-bankrolled caravan that’s coming to steal their stuff and vote for Beto O’Rourke—all of it the fiendish work of that money-dripping Satan, George Soros, and his Semitic soulmates, Janet Yellen and Lloyd Blankfein. Lock. Them. Up.
Talk about the Philippines and Hungary, an increasing portion of Europe, and now Brazil turning hard to the right, making a mockery of humanistic progress while the planet counts down like an oven timer, and we can watch the poorest among us cook first on the shelves just above our own slowly roasting middle-class butts.
Talk about journalists covering each other not covering Trump.
Talk about anything—Kanye West, Mama June, the Red Sox, the Kardashians, Michael Avenatti, Joe Biden, Roseanne Barr.
But at least, dear media mavens, grant us one small wish and give us not our daily Trump.
-end-
Steve Klinger is a veteran journalist, satirist, musician, and college English instructor based in southern New Mexico.
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HOUSEHOLD
Premieres New Video
"Superiority Complex"
via The Noise
Touring This Fall with All Get Out
New Album Everything A River Should Be
Available For Purchase via Equal Vision Records
"You can hear at times on the record where Gilbert is drawing
from a deep, personal, and incredibly vulnerable place.
This can be a daunting task as an artist, but a cathartic one
to experience as a listener." - Substream Magazine
Named One of Alternative Press'
Minneapolis, MN - October 30, 2018 - Minneapolis natives Household are thrilled to share their brand new video, "Superority Complex." A B-Side from the band's latest album Everything A River Should Be, fans can check out "Superiority Complex" now via The Noise.
On the new video, the band shares: "We decided to stretch outside of the typical music video ideas for this one. Nathanael directed and wrote the ideas for it and it honestly came out in a unique way. At this point, we're just happy to be able to create art and explore ideas for others to see. There will be lots more material from us in this vein."
Household will be touring this fall with All Get Out. The run kicks off on November 1st, and includes stops in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, and more. For a full list of dates, including the band's upcoming August headline shows, please see below or visit: www.equalvision.com/tour-dates.
Everything A River Should Be, the latest album from Household, was released on February 23rd via Equal Vision Records. The record has previously been featured on Substream Magazine, Alternative Press, New Noise Magazine, and more. To purchase, please visit: household.merchnow.com.
Household's latest release is a record that redefines who and what - and even why - the Minneapolis trio are. Anybody familiar with the music the band - vocalist and bassist Joshua Gilbert, drummer Matthew Anthony, and guitarist Nathanael Olsen - made before will immediately hear the shift in sound of these 11 songs. While the urgency and sincerity of the raw and visceral post-hardcore they began life making remains, Everything A River Should Be is a collection of dense, dark and brooding songs full of a tense, glowering atmosphere.
Lyrically, too, the album - which was recorded over the course of a month by Nate Washburn at Atlanta's Glow In The Dark studios - marks a change in approach. Not only is this the first time the band have really had any production on a recording, but Gilbert says he has never written from the heart so much or presented so much of himself - and his emotions and fears and insecurities - within his songs.
"The songs touch on some close-to-home feelings for me," he says. "It's much more of a personal expression of my own emotions - it's not so much a declarative thing, as some of our music has been in the past. It's more personal and vulnerable in a lot of ways."
Everything A River Should Be is out now, and available via Equal Vision Records at household.merchnow.com.
For More Information, please visit:
Website: www.householdband.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Householdmusic
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Householdmpls
Instagram: www.instagram.com/householdmpls
Upcoming Tour Dates:
10/29 - Burnsville, MN @ Garage *
11/1 - Atlanta, GA @ Purgatory
11/2 - Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
11/3 - Raleigh, NC @ Kings Barcade
11/4 - Washington, DC @ DC9
11/6 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby's All Right
10/7 - Boston, MA @ Middle East
11/8 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
11/9 - Pittsburgh, PA @ The Funhouse
11/10 - Cleveland, OH @ Mahall's
11/11 - Detroit, MI @ Pike Room
11/13 - Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge
11/14 - St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room
11/15 - Kansas City, MO @ The Rino
11/16 - Dallas, TX @ Three Links
* - Indicates show with Citizen
====================
Contact:
Jay Fletcher (202) 690-0498
Weldon Freeman (202) 690-1384
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2018 – White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Deputy Director Jim Carroll and U.S. Department of Agriculture Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett today unveiled a listing of Federal programs that can be used to build resilient communities and address opioid misuse in rural communities. The Rural Resource Guide to Help Communities Address Substance Use Disorder and Opioid Misuse (PDF, 1.7 MB) is a first-of-its-kind, one-stop-shop for rural leaders looking for Federal funding and partnership opportunities.
“Many rural communities in America have been especially hard hit by the opioid crisis,” said Deputy Director Carroll. “ONDCP and USDA partnered to create this guide to help them find the Federal resources that can help them respond.”
“Strong and healthy communities are a cornerstone for prosperity in rural America,” Hazlett said. “Under the leadership of President Trump, USDA is committed to empowering rural leaders with tools to better leverage state, local and private resources with federal investment.”
More than 300,000 Americans have died from overdoses involving opioids since 2000. President Donald J. Trump has mobilized his entire Administration to address opioid abuse by directing the declaration of a nationwide Public Health Emergency. For a rural community or county already struggling to attract new – or maintain existing – businesses, the impact of opioid misuse on the quality of life and economic prosperity can be enormous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in October 2017 that death rates from drug overdoses in rural areas have now surpassed drug overdose death rates in urban areas.
The Rural Resource Guide to Help Communities Address Substance Use Disorder and Opioid Misuse was developed by the Rural Opioid Federal Interagency Working Group. In May 2018, the ONDCP stood up the Rural Opioid Federal Interagency Working Group to help address the opioid crisis by improving coordination and reducing potential overlap among federal agencies responding to the crisis in the Nation’s rural communities.
The Working Group is co-chaired by ONDCP and USDA. The departments and agencies represented on the Rural Opioid Federal Interagency Working Group include the Departments of Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing, Justice, Labor, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs; the Corporation for National and Community Service; and the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The Rural Resource Guide to Help Address Substance Use Disorder and Opioid Misuse is the second tool announced this month in USDA’s Community Opioid Misuse Toolbox – a suite of essential tools supporting grassroots strategies to address the opioid epidemic. Earlier this month, USDA launched the Community Assessment Tool, an interactive database to help community leaders assess how and why the opioid epidemic is impacting their regions. USDA’s Community Opioid Misuse Toolbox is free and available to the public. It can be accessed on USDA’s Rural Opioid Misuse Webpage.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.
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