What’s an Omarosa?

Remember back to 1985 and the film “Back to the Future,” where the “Marty McFly” character informs the 1955 version of “Doc Brown” that Ronald Reagan was the president, which inspired the response, “Who’s the vice president? Jerry Lewis!”

The punch line being that one entertainer (remember “Bedtime for Bonzo”) would turn government into a whole crew of entertainers. How ridiculous!

OF COURSE, IT would seem that the ludicrousness of three decades ago is all-too much our modern-day reality. Things we never would have thought credible are the norm of now.

That’s how I’m regarding this whole ongoing situation regarding President Donald Trump and one-time staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman. The one who these days supposedly says tape recordings exist of Trump using racial slurs, which causes The Donald to now openly refer to her as “that dog.”

The connection between the two goes back to the days when Trump was host of reality television shows, and Manigault was one of the contestants. From what I can tell, her character was the sort-of nasty personality on the program – which I suppose fits some role in the overall show.

I write “from what I can tell” because I have to admit, I never actually watched the show. I never heard of Manigault in those days, and even after I learned that the Trump presidency gave a job to someone who had been a character on his show, I didn’t care enough to really find out who she was.

MEANING I HAD to do some instant research on Tuesday to try to figure out what the big deal was with this instance where Manigault felt compelled to tell of secret tape recordings of Trump and also took the non-disclosure documents she was asked to sign in order to get a job working for Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign and provided copies of them to the Washington Post.

I went all this time without bothering to find out who she was because I really didn’t care. I would have presumed that the idea of anyone affiliated with the Trump presidency back in the days when he played television show host would not have been considered a credible persona to be working in the White House.

Shows you how little I know.

Although to tell you the truth, it shouldn’t be surprising that someone as much a political amateur as Donald Trump would put a whole crew of amateurs into positions of power and authority.

SUCH AS MANIGAULT, who may have been a government staffer back in the days of Al Gore as Vice President (personnel people from back then now say she was “the worst hire we ever made”). But her real credentials are the fact she was on The Apprentice and The Ultimate Merger television programs.

So is she really now as incompetent as Trump is trying to make her out to be? She may be. He may be telling the truth, for once!

But why should he have any reason to be shocked? Who did he think he was hiring when he picked her for a spot in the White House Office of Public Liaison (which basically means she was responsible for presenting Trump’s image to the public)? He certainly had no reason to think she had any real credentials for a public service job.

I’d take this whole controversy (yes, I think it sleazy for someone to go about secretly tape-recording their boss to slip him up) as further evidence of how grossly unqualified Trump is to be this nation’s chief executive and how the 2020 election cycle can’t come soon enough to give the electorate the chance to replace him.

ALTHOUGH THERE HAVE been so many more incidents during this Age of Trump to show us how unfit he is to hold public office – and how delusional that segment of our society is that still, to this day, thinks his election in 2016 was a good thing for the country.

Meaning now that I have bothered to look into this, I wish I could undo it. For I fear that bothering to learn who Manigault is has managed to squeeze some more essential (or interesting) knowledge from my memory.

And as for that old “Back to the Future” joke, it doesn’t seem quite so funny anymore.

Because compared to all the level of nonsense that has occurred in this Age of Trump, the idea of Jerry Lewis as Vice President doesn’t seem anywhere near as absurd.

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Missing out on the eclipse yet again; yet I think I’ll survive the moment

Maybe I’m just not adventurous enough, but I’m not amongst the many thousands of people whom the greater Carbondale metropolitan area is counting on to provide an economic jolt on Monday.
 

Theoretically, this is the ideal image people will see

All those out-of-towners who are showing up in Southern Illinois in hopes of finding a spot where when the solar eclipse occurs, they’ll be able to see the scarce site of the Sun being totally blocked out by the Moon.

ADMITTEDLY, THAT EVENT will only last for a few moments. The darkened sky will disappear within minutes, and daylight will return to all of us on Monday.

If it doesn’t, then of course we will have experienced a catastrophic event that likely will wipe out all life in existence on this planet. We’ll have far bigger concerns than whether the dark will go away.

Anyway, I didn’t try to make the trip to the land known to the locals as Egypt – largely because I think that trip is ridiculously long. Illinois is a much larger state than people usually credit it for; some 500 miles north to south and 350 miles east to west.

Consider all the Chicago-area people who chose to attend college at the University of Illinois and who think the trip to Urbana is one deep into the Land of Lincoln. Then consider that drive isn’t even the half-way point to places like Carbondale and Murphysboro.

IT’S A DAY-long trip to get there, and a day-long event to drive back. And if you think that flight somehow saves you time, a plane to St. Louis puts you about a three-hour drive away from the optimum sites to see the darkened skies.

Did you buy? Or find a freebie pair?

So I’ll pass, although for what it’s worth, my father and step-mother are amongst those people making the sojourn to Southern Illinois. They even managed to get free pairs of the special dark-lensed glasses that you’re supposed to use to protect your eyes when you look directly into the sun.

Yes, it seems the Adler Planetarium made glasses available without charge – which probably burns the toast, so to speak of those individuals who turned to Amazon.com and shelled out as much as 12 bucks for a pair of cardboard shades that make them look like Biff’s sidekick in the “Back to the Future” film.

Or those people who turned to Wal-mart, which advertised on their website that the normal price was $19.99, but that they were discounting them to $9.99 – and as of Saturday were completely sold out.

Biff and his buddies

MAYBE PART OF the reason I’m not up for this excuse for a road trip is that I have to confess to having been around for the last time that the moon blocked the view of the sun back in 1979.

Yet I honestly have only the vaguest recollections of that event having occurred. I certainly don’t remember the sky suddenly darkening as though the Sun ceased to exist!

I honestly believe that many people who make the trip are going to be seriously disappointed by what they see. I only hope they build in some time to their extended weekend so they can check out some of the uniqueness of Southern Illinois so as to make their drive there and back home worthwhile.

Personally, I’m more inclined to think the unique sight could come from right here in Chicago, where we’re not going to see a total eclipse – we’re at the wrong angle so all we’re going to see is a partial one.

I’M STILL TRYING to figure out if it’s worth my trying to take some image – since I’ll be the first to admit to not being worth much as a photographer and that the “camera” I’d be using is a cheap one that usually comes up with passable images on occasions where there are optimal natural lighting conditions.

Watching the eclipse near where I-57 and 70 intersect?

Yet by its very definition, a total eclipse is going to block out all the light.

Which is why I’m sure there will be many millions of people who will be sticking their cell phones in the sky hoping to capture an image that will wind up being blurred and unidentifiable.

Kind of like all those “selfies” that get taken of people supposedly with a celebrity – only the thumb conveniently covers up the prime spot that would have been interesting.

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