Dispatches from Vilnius

Fake news is now being credited for Trump's victory.  The Washington Post reports that much of it emanated from Russia Today and Sputnik, on-line propaganda arms of the Kremlin, and was furthered along by botnets and paid trolls.  Of course, there is also a veritable rogues' gallery of homegrown reactionaries who love to spread fake stories and conspiracy theories.  Alex Jones is often credited as the source for much of Trump's false claims.  But, is this just another means of deflecting blame, as the major news media outlets often lent credence to many of these false stories by inviting the purveyors of this news smut on their shows? CNN is the chief culprit, having many of Trump's supporters as panelists on their round table discussions, most infamously Corey Lewandowsky .  Over the years, they have also hosted Orly Taitz, principal leader of the Obama birther movement, and Roger Stone, who likewise will use any venue to spread his ludicrous con...

As we move toward an evermore automated society, a little reality check is in order.   Westworld offers a glimpse into a future where robots are so life-like that they assume memories as their own and struggle to reconcile them, in the process crossing the artificial plane into consciousness. This is a theme that has run through science fiction for decades.  Probably the most famous novel along these lines is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep , which served as the basis for the movie Blade Runner .  Jonathon Nolan has taken a lot from Philip K. Dick, but Nolan pushes artificial intelligence to a whole new existential level, turning a popcorn movie from the 70s into a television series that pushes viewers to question the meaning of life. One can argue that there is a lot of pretense here.  After all, it is a western landscape peopled by androids that assume the roles of the Wild West.  Nolan doesn't seem overly interested in the western genre...

If there is one thing our President-elect can't stand it is being challenged.  His spokeswoman said that Donald may not be so forgiving if Hillary Clinton presses ahead with the recount in the Upper Midwest states.  Donald also tweeted that the popular vote is a sham due to illegal votes being cast, reviving his own fraud charges from the campaign.  Seems he also doesn't like the fact that he wasn't popularly elected. I don't imagine Team Hillary would have signed onto the recount if there wasn't something to indicate that irregularities occurred in Wisconsin.  This does open up a potential Pandora's Box, which seems to be what the Obama administration is worried about .   A rigged electronic voting machine would potentially throw all state vote totals into question. This has been a crazy election cycle, so it is a fitting capstone that the results are being challenged.  One can bet if there had been this much uncertainty surrounding the 2012 res...

In the end it seemed the Republicans stole a page from the Castro Guide to Political Resistance by defying Obama the past eight years and getting away with it.  Of course, Fidel had been defying the US for very nearly 60 years, having outlived 10 presidents and very nearly an 11th president despite worst-laid efforts to eliminate him.   It's almost sad to see him go . For decades Castro had served as the poster image for conservative nightmares in the Caribbean rim.  It all stemmed from the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the  Cuban missile crisis, which effectively put Cuba in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.  It didn't have to be that way.  Castro had actively courted American suppor t after his revolution, but it seems Ike didn't like what he saw and went to the golf course instead.  No one could have imagined Fidel would turn out to be the worst thorn in the side that America ever had, surviving numerous assassination attempts and an embargo t...

It seems Jill Stein is feeling a bit of guilt over the election results and has raised enough money to demand a recount in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.  On Friday, she officially filed a petition for a recount in Wisconsin.  She like so many others never thought Trump had a chance, but now that the damage is done would like to see Hillary in the White House. Jill had hoped to siphon Berniecrats away from Hillary during the campaign and managed to win about one per cent of the vote nationwide.  Her 31,000 votes in Wisconsin would have been enough to give Hillary the victory, assuming all her backers would have shifted their allegiance.  The same was true in Michigan, where the difference between Trump and Clinton was even less.  Her votes would not have made up the difference in Pennsylvania. So now here she is demanding a recount be made because some computer geeks in Michigan think that the electronic voting machines may have been tampered w...

While Bruce, Ellen, MJ, DeNiro, Bill and Melinda battled for the limelight, Barack had a Presidential Medal of Freedom for Margaret Hamilton , the brains behind the onboard flight software for the Apollo moon lander.  She probably would have been overlooked if she hadn't become a highly popular meme last year when IBM launched its infamous #hackahairdryer campaign belittling women in science and technology. Margaret was literally writing code long before Gen X'ers were even a gleam in their parents' eyes.  She is one of the many unsung heroes who get little or no attention until someone stumbles across them in response to sexist and other misguided ad campaigns.  It is so good to see her get her due, especially when the men she helped land on the moon have been immortalized in mainstream media.

As Robbie Williams sings, Party like a Russian , or in Trump's case like an oligarch replete with gold plated penthouse flat and full size Simba for little Barron to ride.  It is very hard to wrap our American thoughts around a first family like this, since we have never seen one like it before. However, some computer geeks in Michigan are saying not so fast .  There are irregularities popping up in the Midwest vote count.  J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, is telling the Clinton camp to demand a recount of the Midwest ballots because he feels electronic voting machines could be off by as much as 7 per cent.  Is it one last desperate gesture to derail a Trump White House, or could these guys have found a ghost in the machine? So far the Clinton camp is not responding publicly, but one imagines they are looking into it.  One can see Trump swinging Ohio, but Michigan, Pennsylvania and W...

Mike Pence had come to New York to enjoy a few moments with his commander-in-chief and maybe catch a play.  A ticket Trump no doubt arranged for him because it is pretty hard to get a seat for Hamilton on such short notice.   Poor Mike had no idea the reception he would receive at play's end.  Trump immediately turned to Twitter to voice his indignation with the cast of Hamilton. The incident has been blown out of proportion like everything else surrounding this crazy election year.  It is hard not to suspect  it might have been staged by Trump, hoping to draw attention away from the firestorm his settlement regarding Trump U. and initial cabinet member selections have set off.  Our man Donald is great at creating distractions, as well as igniting cultural wars, which only serve to endear him to his own audience which sees urban Americans as arrogant bastards, much like the diverse cast of Hamilton. Trump is demanding an apology from Lin-Ma...

The loss of Leonard Cohen and Leon Russell over the last week adds to the somber mood that has gripped a large segment of this country.  Kate McKinnon, who has been impersonating Hillary Clinton on SNL Cold Open, somehow found a way to bring it all together in her haunting solo of Hallelujah.   This truly seems like the end of an era, one we won't fully realize until the reality of Donald Trump's presidency sets in next year. Cohen's music always carried with it a sense of tragedy.   The songs have often been romanticized by other singers who covered them, but in their original form they evoke a feeling of despair, which we struggle to fight our way through.   Songs like So Long, Marianne grew even more haunting with his recent live appearance, even though he had a sardonic grin at the end of each performance, as if to say it will be OK.  Leon Russell had his own way to evoke a sense of loss, rooted in blues and early minstrel traditions. ...

What worked most effectively for the Republicans over the last eight years was their determination not to work with the President on any piece of legislation that went against their interests.  They also filibustered key judicial and cabinet appointments, giving Harry Reid no option other than to go "nuclear" to get key positions filled before the 2014 Midterms, after which the Republicans regained the Senate. The Democrats have to adopt the same policy.  They have to be an opposition party.  There is no reason to work with Trump, much less Congressional Republicans over the next two years.  Their sole aim should be to regain the Senate in 2018 and make Trump a one-term president, assuming he survives that long with all the lawsuits hanging over his head.  If they can, filibuster Trump's pick for the Supreme Court throughout these next two years.  Democrats also have to make damn sure Trump and the Republicans own their mistakes, not try to pass...

I was expecting to do an autopsy on the Republicans, but now I find myself looking at the corpse of the Democratic party.  How could things go so wrong when all the major polls pointed their way in the final days? Probably Hillary's biggest mistake was drawing on celebrity endorsements to carry her to victory.  She had Jay Z and Beyonce lighting up the stage for her in Cleveland.  She had the Boss in Philadelphia.  Lady Gaga introduced her in Charlotte.  Madonna staged a last-minute rally for her in New York.  It seemed like all the stars were aligning for her.  Even the President and First Lady were on hand to give her their seal of approval Monday night in Philly. Much of this was gauged to bring the black vote out in inner cities, but it seemed to do the reverse with rural and suburban white voters standing in long lines on election day to cast their ballots.  It was painful to watch John King scroll up a bigger picture of Milwaukee lo...

Who ever thought that the two songs Trump used throughout his campaign, REM's End of the World and Rolling Stone's You Can't Always Get What You Want would prove so prophetic.  Both actually fit with his message.  The first in that he obviously was referring to the breakdown of conservative society in America, and the second in direct response to the liberalization of America taking place. Allegations of  voter suppression may have set the stage for his upset victory but what sealed the deal was all the liberal reform taking place in a country that is historically slow to accept change.  Just when it seemed most Americans had come to accept our first Black President, giving him an approval rating well in excess of 50 per cent, along comes Black Lives Matter, the Transgender movement and a Supreme Court decision that sanctions gay marriage across the country.  All worthy causes, but we had to expect a " whitelash ," as Van Jones put it.  A major se...

I certainly didn't see that coming.  I woke up around 6:30 am hoping to see the election had been called early.  There is a seven hour difference between New York and Vilnius.  I was stunned to see Trump leading in key blue states that I thought safe, with close to 90 per cent of the precincts reporting.  The last gasp came around 8 am when CNN called Pennsylvania for Trump , giving him the victory. My first reaction was that there was something seriously wrong with the polling if Trump could not only take Pennsylvania but Wisconsin and Michigan too.  The "blue firewall" had been crushed.  How could this be?  Michael Moore called it months ago , making him the top election guru of the day.  Nate Silver, like many others, had missed it badly, although he was more bullish in only giving Hillary a 70 per cent chance of winning on election day. Moore had done some number crunching and felt that Michigan voters were with Trump based on the pri...

The big day has finally arrived.  The folks at Dixville Notch got the jump on the election, casting 8 ballots in the remote New Hampshire town with Hillary coming out on top.  Several other small towns followed suit, including Millsfield which tried to steal some of the thunder by casting most of its votes for Trump. Worries over a low voter turnout have been dashed.  Long lines for early voting last week in Florida, North Carolina and Nevada all point to a major turnout.   Florida early ballots exceed all votes cast in 2000, the year Bush edged out Gore in the Sunshine state and secured an electoral victory thanks to his brother Jeb.  There are a lot of recent Puerto Rican citizens voting as Independents that could easily tip FFlorida toward Hillary despite Trump's ties to the state. Nevada has also seen big increases in voting across the board, largely thanks to Hispanics.  The same is happening in Arizona.   Trump has awakened the Latino ...

Whatever momentum Trump had last week evaporated over the weekend.   Running for cover in Nevada didn't help matters any.  He looked visibly frightened by a man who had worked his way to the front of the crowd, holding his placard in a way that appeared to indicate he might be hiding something.  Turned out all he was hiding was what the placard stated, Republicans Against Trump. It gives you a pretty good idea how deep the paranoia runs through the Trump campaign these final few days.  He'd already railed against Nevada election officials for allowing polls to stay open long after eight in hotly contested Clark County to accommodate all those waiting in line to vote.   Early voting in Nevada appears to heavily favor Democrats, which means it is going to take a very strong showing Tuesday to pull out a victory in the state. However, the coup de grace came when James Comey retracted his probe into the latest batch of e-mails concerning Hillary, saying...

Just when you thought the Trump campaign was dead, here he comes again.   All though, one has to wonder about all this volatility in the polls in the final week given that so many persons had purportedly made up their minds after the debates.  Polls show him gaining in many states, and Nate Silver has reflected those changes in 538 .  He currently has Hillary with a 71.2% probability of winning the election, but that's off 16% from her high of 88.1% on October 16. Trump appears to have taken back Ohio, Iowa and Arizona, all states that had been leaning toward Hillary in mid-October.  Florida and North Carolina are now virtually 50-50, although Nate still projects them for Hillary.  She has also slipped in Nevada.  Real Clear Politics currently has Trump up ever so slightly in Florida , and down ever so slightly in North Carolina .  If Trump were to turn both Florida and North Carolina, it could be enough for him to win the election. It is hard ...

The theme of our office Halloween Party was Trump.  It wasn't my choice, but rather the others find him both amusing and scary like a schlock horror movie.  My wife asked me to play a clip from SNL's Cold Open on the debates to warm up the evening, so to speak, but it fell flat.  As funny as Baldwin is, he doesn't project the same menacing glare of Trump, which was what the others wanted to see. One of my colleagues actually likes Trump.  Early in the campaign, he thought Trump would be good for Lithuania.  I had told him that Trump has no plans on backing NATO's long-standing agreement to come to the aid of its fellow members and that he expects countries to pull their own weight.  For most Lithuanians this is a real concern, as the country shares a border with Russia's nuclear naval base, Kaliningrad.  No matter, my colleague just kept quiet after that. Trump projects a strange sort of magnetism abroad, not just at home.  Love him or h...