Smoke Up, Jonny Appleseed!

A record 60 percent of American adults support legalization of marijuana, according to a new Gallup poll released three weeks before voters in nine states decide whether to expand legal access to pot (PBS). That is way up from the mere 12 percent in 1969 who supported Bob Marley and Peter Tosh's call to “legalize it” (though those albums appeared in 1975).

Recreational use of marijuana is currently legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state and the District of Columbia. Depending on the Election Day outcome, they could be joined by Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada. Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota will be deciding whether to allow medical marijuana use as well and Montana is pushing to ease restrictions on existing pot laws.

There is, maybe not surprisingly, a political split among supporters with a full 67 percent of Democrats in support of legalization but only 42 of Republics; and 70 percent of independents. A long battle, by scruffy dudes and dudettes over many years of getting people to sign onto their raggedy petitions has apparently paid off! 

One should expect a marked decrease in productivity and increase in munchies sales over the coming years …

Arsenal Cruise to Seventh Straight Victory (6-0)

While Ludogorets passed the ball around nicely at times and carved up a few quality chances, the Gunners ultimately cruised to a straightforward and comprehensive 6-0 victory today, winning their seventh on the bounce and continuing an unbeaten streak that has now stretched from match day 1 loss to Liverpool on August 14 forward over two months and 11 games.

Sanchez opened the scoring with a truly sublime chip in the 12^th minute, lining up the shot with two defenders around him before sending a perfect sky ball over the goalkeeper and into the far corner. After some nervy moments when the visitors looked set to equalize, Walcott continued his hot streak, scoring a well-taken shot from the edge of the box. Right after halftime, Ox found himself with the ball a few yards out and slotted it home to essentially put the game beyond reach. But the Gunners kept on creating chances and Ozil took three of them, first converting nicely on the break to make it 4-0 in the 56^th minute, before two late goals wrapped up the victory.

Arsenal pressed high for most of the game and it often worked, though Ludogorets were able to get behind the defense a few times. Timely interceptions and clearances kept them out, along with a couple of excellent saves from Ospina. Coquelin was particularly impressive in cutting off a number of Ludogorets attacks, while passing the ball around with command and even some invention. Three thoughts on the game:

1.  Ozil Nets a Hat Trick, but is his Creativity on the Decline? Mesut Ozil’s scoring touch has improved dramatically this season, with six goals already in the books (already three quarters of the way to the 8 he registered in 45 appearances last term). And yet there is a sense his passing game has taken a step backwards, as he too often misses passes around the box, tries to be too intricate with his through balls and looks substantially less dangerous than in the past. He is still completing an impressive 88 percent of his passes for club and country this season and had 18 chances created heading into this game, but has failed to register a single assist in nine starts for Arsenal (six in the league and three in UCL). He had 19 in the league last season, though none in the Champions League, but had a major drop off in productivity over the last 10 or so matches of the season. That trend has continued in the early part of this season and while he is still contributing across the pitch, and with the goals, one does wonder if he needs a little break to rediscover the singular vision that makes him among the most dangerous providers in the league.

2. Walcott’s Run Continues; Ox Makes his Case: Walcott just keeps on scoring this season, putting in his sixth just before halftime. It was a nice finish, though many keepers would have gotten across better to save a shot a little too far from the post. But it is not just his scoring record that has improved; his overall level appears to have gone up, with better control, better passing and more poise on the ball in general.

The same can be said of Ox, who had his second solid performance in a row, following his excellent display last weekend. This time he was rewarded with an early second half goal that fell kindly a few yards out, but that he slotted perfectly into the corner. He had a second effort stopped by an excellent save in the 67^th, and contributed on both sides of the pitch with a few important defensive interceptions.

The renaissance of these two once promising young stars has been instrumental as Arsenal continue their quest to finally win another title and/or move past the Round of 16 in the Champions League. They do not need to keep up this blistering scoring pace, but taking pressure off of Sanchez and Giroud, in his limited game time, can only help the sometimes brittle confidence of the perennial challengers.

3.  Gunners Lose Possession Battle; Win the War: During the calendar year 2015, Arsenal were the best team in the league, earning more points and ending several years of form against their top rivals. They entered 2016 at the top of the league before their habit of late fades again cost them the title. One shift that occurred during the poor stretch that allowed Leicester to complete their miracle season, was the Gunners reverting away from a new approach that included ceding possession more and attacking with pace and power on the break.

In the current run, they have returned to this strategy in a number of games, combined strong possession with the ability to again score on the break while not exposing their defense to too much undue pressure. Today they took that approach to the extreme, allowing a visiting team from a lower league to have a full 56 percent of possession. To be fair to Ludogorets, they passed impressively and had a number of openings they failed to finish, but it was Arsenal’s ability to turn defense into attack that ultimately won them the game.

It is this more defensive oriented approach that saw them earn their first second place finish in a decade and almost won them the title last season. They do not really need to cede so much possession against lesser sides, but their resiliency at the back, timely interceptions, high press and blistering counter are all indicative of a team that could make a sustained run for the title this season; particularly if employed against the more dangerous sides. The one game they failed to play in this style cost them all three points, when Liverpool took them to task and then held off a late charge. Discipline through the middle and strong finishing could be the difference for the Gunners this season, but only if they remain tight and compact across the back and continue to receive defensive contributions from players like Chamberlain, Walcott and Ozil, well-known for their defensive shortcomings in the past.   

Trump’s Trumped Up Charges of Voter Fraud

Donald Trump’s chances of winning the election have fallen to 12.6 percent, based on FiveThirtyEight’s advanced polling model (538). Not only is he losing in most of the swing states, but Utah, Texas and Georgia are in play. It appears Virginia and North Carolina have swung blue and, at present, Trump is only leading in the South by one point, after Obama lost it by 7 percentage points in 2012. All indicators point to a rather comprehensive victory for Hillary Clinton next month.

And yet the insular Trump camp is ramping up their rhetoric of the election being rigged, ignoring all the data and claiming the liberal media and iniquitous Democratic party are planning to somehow “steal” an election that he is badly losing (Fox News). It is not a new strategy, of course, as Republicans have long sought to use the conspiracy theory of stolen elections as a red herring to further suppress the vote of minorities (The Nation). Anyone who pays attention knows that the suppression of black and Latino/a voters in Florida in 2000 paved the way for Bush to actually steal a Presidential election (with the assistance of the conservative Supreme Court, of course), but that is just the tip of the iceberg for a party that knows the only way they can win is by altering the demographics of voters away from the changing demographics of the country itself. Mike Pence, who has distanced himself from Trump’s trumped up charges of a rigged election, is himself involved in suppressing the vote in his own state (Salon) as part of a national campaign to ensure that as few non-white voters take to the polls as possible.

It is the act of a desperate man and a desperate campaign, backed by the crackpots still given a platform to spread their lies. This includes Newt Gingrich, who has chimed in by claiming that we are seeing a media “coup d’état” in which “20 TV executives have decided to destroy [Trump].” Not surprisingly, the strategy is working among many of his supporters, with 73 percent of Republicans, and 41 percent of respondents in total, claiming they think the election could be stolen from Trump, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll (Politico). Will that be enough to swing the election to Trump? It seems unlikely, as only 17 percent of Democrats believed that to be true, and most will probably still vote against him.

What the rhetoric and poll results do tell us, however, is the depths this campaign has sunk to and the susceptibility of too many Americans to the rhetoric of powerful white men and their conspiracy theories. It certainly relates to the bunker mentality of so many conservatives today, who are distrustful of government, the media, all liberals, their neighbors, any movement for social change and, really, anyone who disagrees with them. They are victims of a “plot” to destroy their lives and freedom, which conveniently precludes the very people who benefit the most from their continued economic malaise, or the corporate sponsors at the heart of the conservative movement, growing inequality and the declining quality of life of their own supporters.

It also seems to speak to an electorate that has become too cynical, ill-informed and malleable to make rational choices at the polls. It is certainly not for me to say who or what people should vote for, but when we look at the sorts of lies and misinformation that so easily sways the American electorate – from the reason for the Iraq War, the presence of weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy theories about Obama’s birthplace to global warming doubters, reptilian illuminati and now massive election fraud – one does have to question the sanity of the average American and their ability to make sound, informed decisions on our collective future.

The fact that Trump won the Republican nomination speaks as much to this problem as the slim possibility that he could actually win this election. A disease of skepticism and cynicism has spread across the land, affecting voters on both sides of the aisle and maligning our ability to address the issues that really matter, including our collective future and that fading dream of the “common good.” In yet another example of the depths the candidate is willing to go to win, the campaign has essentially stolen the identity of a Sikh, using his image to claim “Muslim support,” even as he is neither Muslim or a Trump supporter (TPM). In the new postmodern, hyperreal world politics inhabits today, I suppose the most obvious response might be, why not?

The more sensible response is why not, indeed! And while we’re on that track, why not elect a candidate like Donald Trump to further amplify the racism, sexism, xenophobia, Muslim-hatred, violence and irrationality that seems to have infected every corner of American life. The obvious answer to the question may just save us from the abyss a Trump presidency would thrust us into, but even a landslide victory for Clinton will not end the threat of Fascism that has risen like a storm across the world yet again.  

By the way ... On the Economy

During the most recent debate, Trump claimed that economic growth is at its lowest level since the Great Depression. While it does stand under two percent at the moment, that is obviously a radically incorrect statement - given that we have had negative growth in a number of years since 1942. Here is a chart of GDP growth by year since 1930: The Balance. On top of this, jobless claims just hit a 42-year low (see chart below). So, as with so much that Trump says, it is important to check those "facts," as they are just as often convenient "lies" he is using to spread fear and try to save his fledgling campaign. 

First as Farce, Then as More Farce ... Let's Avoid the Tragedy

As Trump’s campaign continues to implode from the inside out, his rhetoric has taken on an increasingly vociferous and irrational edge (Salon). Of course, that has been the general tendency of a campaign that has been farcical from the very beginning, but now stands beyond its hateful and fear mongering foundation as a truly tragic moment in American political history. Trump is not only using the his usual xenophobic, sexist, racist and “end of world” proclamations to send his dwindling supporters into a frenzy, but has upped the ante by claiming an international conspiracy, led by the Clintons, to undermine U.S. sovereignty.

This all comes, of course, on the back of more revelations each day of sexual misconduct by the Republican nomination (The Atlantic).One should, of course, be careful in giving credence to all the charges now levied against Trump as inherently true, but following the lead of his own words, one must admit that more than a little truth lies beyond the more than half a dozen women who have now come forward to claim sexual harassment or outright rape (HuffPost).

Trying to confront these charges, Trump has now turned to the most insidious of propaganda techniques. Speaking to supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump opened up his remarks by claiming that a global cabal of shadowy “special interests” had looted the American economy and destroyed local manufacturing. “The Clinton machine is at the center of this power structure,” Trump said.

“We’ve seen this first hand in the WikiLeaks documents, in which Hillary Clinton meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers, her special-interest friends and her donors,” he added.

Rhetoric like that is sometimes described as “New World Order” conspiracy theories, which posit that there is a coordinated, hiding-in-plain-sight effort underway by “them” — bankers, secret societies, Jews, socialists, whoever — to eliminate national boundaries and rule over a totalitarian global state. This sort of nonsense is the meat of much of Alex Jones’ lunatic commentary. Trump, representing the Republican Party and finding himself backed into a corner, is now committed to boxing with these shadows. (qtd from Salon article referenced above)

Beyond this “new world order” conspiracy is a new one being pushed by supporters of Trump, that the release of the “sexual assault bragging” tape was a conspiracy by a turncoat Jewish conservative, Dan Senor, with other GOP elites to undermine the presidential bid of Trump (TPM). There were already hints of anti-Semitism in Trump’s rhetoric on occasion, but now he has decided to add the most sinister element of the old Fascist playbook to a campaign that has already employed the vast majority of those strategies. We have the classic xenophobic charges meant to displace the blame for our economic malaise. There are the tacit and more direct forms of racism that have led to a rejuvenation of the KKK and other white supremacist groups. There is the jingoistic and ultra-nationalistic rhetoric of destruction and “restoring greatness” through force and (fill in the blank) cleansing. And now the turn to scapegoating Jews for his own failure to run a viable campaign.

On top of this, is his increasingly dire warnings that the election will somehow be stolen in a country where voter fraud has been all but eliminated (Vox). He has called on his troops to stand outside voting locations and challenge voters, making sure that mythical voter fraud does not steal an election he now appears to be losing by around 8 or 9 points. In the latest instantiation of where this might lead us, armed Trump supporters “protested” outside a (TPM).

I had been balking at the notion that this is the most important election of our lifetime, particularly given the damage wreaked by Reagan and Bush and the historic victories of Obama in the past two elections, but I am starting to believe that rhetoric. This is probably the most important election of our lifetime, and its sole goal now is to ensure that mounting fascist creep in American politics does not hit full throttle. Vote Clinton to restore some semblance of sanity back to a country in clear disrepair!   

P.S. One interesting aside, not really warranted in the piece above, is that only 12 or so of Trump’s 22,500 employees have given $200 or more to his campaign (Reuters). Wow, what support for their boss!