Short Takes – The Ugly Americans

I could start out I suppose with some screed about the disappearing Al Franken(stein) but he’s done so much damage to himself and his party that little more need be said. Just keep it in mind that Al Franken is a really creepy fellow. My lasting image of him was his role in the movie Trading Places mocking a caged gorilla. I can’t get that image out of my mind and listening to big Al, now a humorless US Senator from Minnesota, interrogate Trump appointees as a member of the Senate Judiciary committee, I’m not convinced at all that the real gorilla truly didn’t get released back into the African wild. Enough on Al.

President Trump has just returned from his first presidential tour in the Far East. His reception by the Chinese was triumphal yet marred in the eyes of Trumps Chinese hosts by the ugly American incident that embarrassed President Trump, and should have embarrassed all American’s.

It seems that the UCLA Basketball team was on a tour playing against teams in the Chinese People’s Republic, when three of UCLA’s sterling members, Americans of African descent as it turns out, brought shame and embarrassment to President Trump and disgrace to themselves, and our nation, by assuming they were in their neighborhood corner convenience store where they could freely help themselves to pairs of sunglasses without paying for them. It’s called shoplifting or petty theft but, it’s still a crime. Could get you killed in Ferguson, Mo.

While the ‘brothers’ may look upon such actions here in America as their rightful due because their ancestors were once slaves, the Chinese look upon such social trivialities with different eyes. Ten years in a Chinese prison can be no picnic and, except for the incidental presence of an embarrassed President Trump, that’s exactly where they would have been, for a long, long time and nobody would be crying racism because nobody would care.

To their good fortune, President Trump sprung them from their worst possible nightmare of actually being enslaved as prisoners of the Chinese State. He got them home safe into the embrace of their communities where such behavior is apparently expected and alas, accepted. The three, their eyes cast down to the printed words provided to them mumbled, without contrition, their appreciation to President Trump for their salvation yet, not one word of apology was expressed to the American people for shaming our country by their feckless behavior.

People like these three are not really Americans because they have no pride and no shame. And, except for the fact they were born here, they are really just US citizens in name only, of no value to American prosperity or advancement and should be considered as such.

The three miscreants have passports and therefore, as individuals, should be allowed to come and go to foreign countries as they wish, but never, never, ever should they be allowed to go abroad again as members of any organized sports team, debate society, or anthropological research team, representing America. We have enough problems with our own government perverts stalking storm ravaged Caribbean Islands looking for poor children to molest and groping women in corporate work places to add these guys to our burden.

One big problem for America is that we have lost our morality on an individual basis. We truly believe that all (Americans) are equal yet we send forth goodwill ambassadors, passionate exponents for their sports, mostly, and they become the ugly Americans. What’s to be done?

Remember, freedom is the goal, the Constitution is the way. Now, go get ‘em! (18Nov17).