Inflation Report: HANG ON TO YOUR RAGS

I'm a shopaholic; it's my only vice. What's more; shopping is good for my soul. There's nothing like the excitement of waiting to get my hands on something I've ordered online. If it disappoints upon receipt, that's okay. I'll get over it. On to the next package. I don't shop online because I'm lazy but because I'm large, and because I have specific preferences in fashion according to my age and body type. I like flowing garments that smooth over my middle, not the skimpy, revealing clothes that most stores offer nowadays. Brick and mortar shops consider the sizes and styles I wear as somewhat of a "specialty", and so they usually don't carry them. The large-size garments they do have are HORRENDOUS and positively geriatric-looking. Retailers

seem to have forgotten that the millions of Americans who got older and fatter still need clothes that fit and don't make them look like museum pieces or teenybopper wannabes. So, many of us have deserted brick and mortar for the web, a place of infinite choices where you just might find what you need. Of course, there are pitfalls. You'd better watch what you click on or you might end up with something you didn't order or want. When shopping online, you have to assume that everyone's out to rip you off because, to some extent, they all are. Give your personal information only to major websites and reputable merchants and you'll diminish the chances of identity theft. In particular, sidestep Chinese websites that carry shoddy goods and too-tiny Asian sizes. Or Chinese websites that are nonexistent and out to steal your information so they can empty your bank account. You can pick out these impostors because they'll advertise fancy designer goods for sale at improbably low prices, their writing reads like translated Chinese, their graphics are weird, their links dont work and their background information is nebulous or absent. Where are they based? How can you reach them? What are their policies? If you can't tell these things from a website, don't shop there; stick with the known sellers and you'll be (mostly) okay. As for me, I have so much of everything that I can go shopping in my own closets. I don't ever have to buy anything else again, unless I'm moved to reach for my wallet by some extraordinary piece of goods. I really don't need any more clothes, jewelry or shoes. And I'm grateful for that surplus; inflation threatens to turn online shopping into one of its many casualties. The price of everything has skyrocketed. These days, before I buy anything, I ask myself: Do I really WANT it? Do I really NEED it? But more importantly, do I already have two more like it in the closet? That's my new policy of austerity, motivated by the current economic situation. I can't tell you how often I see a pair of boots, jeans, or a dress, listed online or in a catalog at $30-$100 more than I paid last year for the very same item. Womens' sweaters made of cheap synthetics --NOT cotton or wool-- are going for $70-$90 a pop. Shoes and bags made of plastic are going for what used to be leather prices. Faux fur prices have been jacked up as though fake fur is the real thing,while authentic leather and fur are now unaffordable. Worse,sellers are making it increasingly difficult to return things, hoping that you'll give up and take the loss and let them keep your money. So I'm hanging on to my rags, and I recommend you do the same.And if I ever feel the overwhelming urge to shop, I'll just find some teeny-tiny item at a discount, buy it, and hope that it holds off my shopping addiction, at least for a while.

Like Choking on Cotton Balls

I used to work for a senior editor whose appearance reminded me of a rabbit: whitish hair, pale skin, lashless eyes, thin lips, blank stare. Her managing style was equally bland, but very precise, and in her sweet, muted way, she admitted no deviation from her editorial mandates--no flash, no passion, no fancy flights of style in the magazine pages we produced. I did learn many useful writing and editing techniques from her, but keeping in lockstep with such creative absolutism exacted a spiritual price.

It was, a coworker once grumbled, like "choking on cotton balls". That is sort of how I would describe what's happening today, as far as the propaganda being cranked out by the Old Guard press and politicians in the mainstream Democratic apparatus and aimed at what they hope is an otherwise uninformed public. They want the rest of us to choke on

cotton balls. The faked sweetness of their message conceals barbs of treason. They're saying: Let's all, Republicans and Democrats, unite for the good of our country. Let's turn our backs on the Left Wing "extremism" and "identity politics" that only exacerbate divisions. Let's, maybe, shift politically more to the center and accommodate conservatives a little more. And above all, let's donate to the Democratic Party. Give us your money and we'll achieve great things for you, we promise. And we will all be happier.

. These are all deliberate lies. What they're really hoping is to consolidate their own grip, trying to head off any shifts to the Left

caused by discontent in their constituencies. It's not only that they don't want to get off their asses and work honestly for the liberal values they are supposed to represent. It's worse. It's more like, they don't want us to push for our rights because our rights are in direct opposition to the objectives of mainstream Democrats and their Big Donors-- staying rich and in charge. So these Democrats will not admit they're putting up a veritable wall of cloying bullshit misinformation, like a dense barrier of cotton balls, to blind and seduce the public. That's why Old Guard Democrats won't admit there can be no partnering with Republicans intent on cannibalizing the whole system, that edging out Left Wing "extremism" equals trying to eliminate free expression and alternative viewpoints within the Democratic Party, that there's no sense in donating to a Party who ignores the electorate and won't give it a voice in return for its funds, that any references to "identity politics" as the Party's possible downfall are really a dog whistle against Democrats who are not white or straight, and that "shifting politically to the center" really means shifting politically to the RIGHT (which they've been doing in increments, starting with Bill Clinton, followed by Obama, now with Biden as the latest installment. Kamala Harris? Sorry, from here she smells like more of the same: a corporate Democrat masquerading as a progressive to gain votes.) Yes, times have changed since presidents like FDR and LBJ championed a more liberal social climate in the United States. But times haven't changed that much as far as our ongoing need for justice in civil rights, in the economy and in preservation of the environment. My suggestion? If you want an honest appraisal of the current situation, don't listen to Old Guard Democrats and their media cronies; start tuning in to any of the kickass leftie podcasters on YouTube. Oh, and join the Working Families Party.

Oh. Well.

We Cubans say that "Más vale caer en gracia que ser gracioso" (It's worth more to be liked than to be likeable). That must certainly be true of Donald Trump, a brazen, dangerous, repulsive "fantoche" (charlatan) who inexplicably enjoys substantial popular support. It just won him a presidential reelection in the United States. And it was no glitch, this heinous creature won comfortably-- the popular AND the electoral vote. But why? How? You could wave it off as

simply the result of a backlash from all the white, uneducated redneck bigots in our middle and southern states. But then, what about all the Latinos who voted for Trump? Gone now is the assumption that US Hispanics are knee-jerk liberal champions for the downtrodden by virtue of being downtrodden ourselves. In truth, we don't see things that way, and I recently began to suspect as much. I had been chatting with cab drivers and other NYC working class Latinos before the elections and listening to their complaints about a bad economy and about Latino newcomers as criminal liabilities who profit unfairly from public largesse (while more established Latino immigrants struggle to survive). When I was a journalist, I learned that if you hear the same opinion from two or three random individuals, then that's what La Calle ("The Street") is generally saying. It's public opinion. Too bad Democrats haven't been listening and so Latino voters--by 54%-- switched to the GOP during this election. Didn't seem to bother us that Trump has stated Latinos are rapists and criminals who are bringing the country down and polluting its bloodstream and cultural heritage. We (mistakenly) believe he is talking about those OTHER latinos, not us, not the ones whose kids were born here, who work and pay taxes. Unfortunately, Trump is a racist who imperils all of our destinies, and we need to face it. Years ago, when I first travelled out West, I met Mexicans who cautioned me to always carry my legal documents and watch out for La Migra (US Immigration) checkpoints along the roads. Otherwise, I might get sent back to Mexico, never mind that I'm Cuban. Being also from New York, I was bewildered; such atrocities were unheard of back East. Now the threat is ubiquitous. I'm already hearing fearful whispers about the possibility of naturalized US citizens being deported to strange countries,right along with the illegals. Alas, we all look the same to our would-be deporters. But we are not all illegals, nor do we want a tsunami of newcomers washing over urban areas and competing for our jobs and educational slots, driving up crime rates and giving the rest of us a bad name, depleting resources with the money WE pay into the public coffers. Why should those misgivings surprise anyone? And why should other minorities criticize us? When it came to choosing a president in 2024, many black males refused to vote for a black female. Machismo is in their DNA. It's in ours, in fact. You can't deny that Latinos of both genders love Trump's macho swagger. It has the feel of protective reassurance, or at least its promise. It's familiar. It conforms to the old caudillo (chieftain) notions of leadership; to Latinos, Trump is the much-needed "strong man" who will restore order to the mess that Democrats left behind, Latinos seem to have forgotten the harm a succession of "strong" men did to their own countries and they don't appear cognizant of the ominous fascist outlines of Trump's intended policies. But we're not the only group who ever favored personality cults over rational politics and Latino political discontent is obviously not the sole catalyst behind the virulent resurrection of Trumpism. The unvarnished truth may be that most Americans are stupid and lazy, that most don't analyze or even pay attention to the news,that most would rather facilitate a takeover of fascism than, say,fork out $1 more for a dozen eggs or a gallon of milk. Or maybe we're just looking at things the wrong way. Perhaps we are voting Republican not out of some newly developed affinity for rightwing ideology, but because we have noplace else to go. The Democratic Party Leadership has been bought out by large money interests. The Democratic Party has been consolidating its power not by fighting conservatives, but by muting progressives. The Democratic Party has been paying lip service to liberal causes while supporting the runaway capitalism status quo. The Democratic Party is now a Caucasian gerontocracy of the affluent who uses younger, colored puppets such as New York Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Richie Torres as fronts to blame the "Far Left" for their woes. This infuriates me; the only thing about it that brings schadenfreude to my soul is how divided the old troupers really are. While Kamala Harris shakes her fist at the fates that brought her electoral ignominy, Joe Biden appears positively joyful that she lost. His tacit message is "See? I could have WON, COCKSUCKERS, but you made me step aside!" (Which is exactly what he said when the party nominated Hilary Clinton over him in 2016. And lost. No wonder Old Joe appears to hate women, too.) Now he's announced "plans" to finish out his incumbency by mulling happily over his achievements. And yes, there WERE some-- largely tentative, watered-down half-measures, overshadowed by all the catastrophes that would accumulate in the end. We should have suspected as much at the beginning, when he fucked up the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, causing chaos and deaths among civilians and troops alike. We couldn't know this was just the start of a stream of failed domestic and foreign initiatives, of weak excuses for not getting things done, of not standing up to enemies and not supporting friends. So WHAT has been Biden's "legacy"? Runaway inflation? A lousy job market? Wholesale genocide in the Middle East? A nonexistent immigration policy? Failure to prosecute criminal insurrectionists? The lies intended to cover up all these disasters? Let's just say that his legacy is all-inclusive; he's become emblematic of everything wrong with the Democrats today. So folks, stick a fork in the Democratic Party; it's done. Let's all of the like-minded band together and create other avenues of thought and action. And let's hope that the rest of the country wakes up after one or two years of Trump.