Donald J. Trump is the 45th President of the United States.

Today Americans woke up with one of three attitudes: Outright fear of the future, joy that SOMEONE finally shook up the Washington Establishment, or a guarded wait-and-see feeling.  None of those are wrong.  However we should all be cautious about falling into a pit of despair or exuberant joy, depending on for whom you voted.  This is not The End of the World as we Know It, but neither is it A Bold New Beginning.

Let’s quickly review how Trump ascended to the Presidency.  First, his message resonated with Americans in a way that was horribly underestimated by just about everyone covering the election.  His numerous faux pas, his personal failings, his dangerous and hate-filled speeches; his entire campaign tapped into a deep-seated resentment that I do not believe many American voters really felt or understood until Trump articulated it for them.  It’s important to note where Trump did well.  He won the rural vote hands-down, and CBS indicated his support from non-college-educated whites was at 67%.  What does that mean?  Well, essentially he found votes in places many candidates have never bothered to look before.  He did better than Clinton with white suburban women also, which is a surprise in many ways.

But the POLLS showed Clinton leading!  How could they be so wrong?  It’s simple, really.  A large majority of Trump voters simply did not respond to polling, and based on Trump’s railing against the system as being “rigged,” why would they?  Whether it was how he really felt or just brilliant strategy will forever remain a mystery, but the end result was hundreds of thousands of Trump voters were essentially “hidden” from the media.  The result was mass-confusion and shock on every major news network and a win for Trump.

The question on everyone’s mind is “Ok, what happens now?”  Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to this.  It’s important to note that, while Trump has a Republican majority in both houses of Congress, he does not have the coziest of relationships with the Legislative Branch.  Depending on how he approaches the Office of the Presidency, he could damage the already-tenuous cooperative attitudes his legislative cohorts have toward him.  His cabinet appointments will tell the tale here, especially his choices for Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Secretary of Defense.  If he chooses the wrong person for any or all of these cabinet posts, Congressional cooperation could go out the window.  The right choices could promote a level of cooperation unseen in recent memory.

Why do I think we will be fine in the long run as a nation?  Because despite Trump’s bombastic and bullish personality, he WILL have to learn to work the system in order to get things done.  Executive Orders will only get him so far.  We WILL get a full Supreme Court bench and, while it’s likely he will appoint a conservative to fill Scalia’s seat, recent decisions by SCOTUS show they can go against the grain in the name of upholding the Constitution.

Ah, yes, the Constitution.  That pesky 200+-year-old document that defines our representative democracy is going to be THE biggest factor in keeping Trump in check.  It will not be long before we find out whether Trump is a believer in Explicit Powers or Inherent Powers given by the Constitution.  I would put money on him ascribing to the Inherent Powers interpretation, which means he will be in for some serious fights as Congress and the courts will undoubtedly challenge that belief.

Finally, I think we will be fine because even though Trump won the Electoral College, it remains a fact that Clinton won the popular vote by a slim margin (though it should be noted the vote count is far from complete with absentee ballots yet to be counted), and that means the majority of voting Americans did NOT subscribe to Trump’s heavy-handed rhetoric.  It stands to reason that, despite the Republican Congressional majority, those same Republicans may (and likely will) heed the wishes of their constituency lest they lose their seats in mid-term elections in the same way Democrats did in 2014.  Also, do note that Trump’s current legal woes could cost him the office as Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution provides for impeachment:

“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

My fellow Americans, we stand at a crossroads.  We have choices to make that can and will shape the future of our very nation.  We still have hope though.  That hope resides within each and every one of us.  It is incumbent upon us all to comport ourselves with dignity, respect for others, and a strong desire to make our nation one worth living in, one kindness at a time.  We can still be a Beacon of Light for the world.  We can show the world that we are more than one man in a White House with an Oval Office.  Over the last 18 months, the world has seen some of the worst we have to offer.  It is time to put that aside.  It is time to move forward and demonstrate to the world the very BEST we as Americans can be.  We can do this, in spite of our President or along side him.  The choice is OURS.  It is our DUTY as citizens of the United States of America to make the RIGHT choices.  Every day of our lives we can demonstrate we as Americans are MORE than what our representatives in Washington show us to be.  Let us do that.  Together.

Thank you, and God Bless the United States of America.

Titanfall 2 is not going to go down as one of the blockbuster AAA titles in the current console generation.  In fact, given what some have been saying, it may not even be more than a blip on the charts.  Blame the launch date if you want, or the glut of shooters in the market.  It doesn’t really matter in the long run, because if you’re passing up Titanfall 2 to play something else, you’re missing out on something special.

Protocol 1: Link to Pilot

Unlike its predecessor, Titanfall 2 has a genuine single-player component.  You play as Generic Militia Rifleman 8675309…kidding, his name is Jack Cooper, which is actually even more generic.  Cooper is training to be a pilot with his commanding officer, Captain Lastimosa (and THAT’S certainly less generic) when a mission to the planet Typhon goes wrong.  Captain Lastimosa (seriously, say it three times fast) is killed and Cooper then has to link to his Titan, BT-7274.  This is where the game truly gains a lot of the charm and entertainment you will experience throughout the campaign.  BT, as Cooper calls him, and his new pilot have some very interesting interactions as they traipse around Typhon through a simplified dialogue tree that allows you to select Cooper’s tone of his comments to BT.  Generally, you can play it straight or inject some wit and sarcasm into the banter between the two and BT will react accordingly by usually playing Cooper’s straight-man.  It’s actually a bit of fun, if limited, and brings some of levity to the campaign that is both unexpected and welcome.

Protocol 2: Uphold the Mission

The mission structure in the campaign is as varied as it is linear, and if that sounds like a contradiction, then play it some more and you will understand.  Most missions are a variation of go-from-point-A-to-point-B, but it’s less about WHAT you have to do than HOW you accomplish it.  Want to go dashing about, wall-running all over and raining death upon your enemies from multiple vantage points at breakneck speed?  You can do that.  Prefer to play a bit slower, methodically doling out headshots to your foes as you work your way to your objective?  You can do that, too.  Cooper quickly gains all of the kit a pilot needs to take the fight to the enemy in a myriad of ways with an arsenal of weapons that will make even the most ardent shooter fan giggle with delight.  From heavy machine guns to double-shot sniper rifles, from full-auto shotguns to full-auto directed-energy weapons, all of them allow the player to perform the Dance of Death with grace and aplomb.  The only sad part is the Smart Pistol makes one appearance near the end of the game and it’s so outrageously overpowered you truly do feel like a Harbinger of Death.

The basic plot has Cooper trying to complete Captain Lastimosa’s mission on Typhon, which is to gather intelligence on an IMC science facility and the superweapon (sigh) being developed there.  It’s a thin story, but it has moments so I won’t spoil it.  Oh, and there’s time-travel (double-sigh).

Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot

As fun as it is to run around slaughtering foes as Cooper, the game really shines when you jump in the cockpit and take control of BT-7274.  BT stomps about as you expect a Titan to, and easily lays waste to the merc’s foot soldiers (seriously, doesn’t ANYONE give those guys anti-Titan weapons anymore?) while spending a bit more time on the generic Titan enemies that show up fairly often.  It’s also a bit of fun to hear Generic Titan 003 (I made that up, by the way) start trash-talking you and suddenly explode as you hit them with the kill-shot.  “That was a good shot, pilot, but you won’t get anothe…AAAAGGGHHH!”  Realistically, the grunt Titans don’t provide much of a challenge in battle, but they can distract you in some of the boss fights, which is where your piloting skills need to be sharp.  Most of the boss battles provide at least a nominal challenge, especially when a couple of flanking enemy Titans are dropped in along with the boss.  A few of them (I’m looking at YOU, Viper) can get flat-out frustrating as you find yourself taking serious damage and you’re trying to find a green Titan battery pick-up to get some health back.  There were a few cheap deaths while trying to figure out the proper strategy, but overall it wasn’t always a scream-inducing nightmare some other games can be.  BT gains new load-outs as you progress, and the best part is you can change your load-out to suit your gameplay style, so there’s no following the trope of handing the player a new weapon because it’s EXACTLY what’s needed to defeat the next boss or complete the level.

Multiplayer: We Didn’t Change the Formula (ok, we kinda did…)

With the original Titanfall being a multiplayer-only game, it should come as no surprise the sequel would attempt to build on that.  In some ways, Titanfall 2 succeeds, but in others it just doesn’t quite get there.  There’s a pretty low player population right now, which doesn’t help matters, but overall the core experience remains.  Pick a gametype, select your loadout and your Titan, and drop.  Already there’s a bit of a problem.  Titanfall 2 doesn’t have the same ability to customize your Titan loadout as the first game did.  You’re limited by the type of Titan you are using, be it Ion, Scorch, Ronin, Northstar, Tone, or Legion.  They have type-specific loadouts that do not change (which is vastly different from the campaign), presumably to allow players to go into a match and see exactly what they’re facing.  Pilot loadouts are still pretty much fully customizable, and thankfully they took out the weird android with the blade legs.  Still, if you played the first game, the second won’t throw you any surprises.  The maps really help the multiplayer shine, with designs that capitalize on close-quarters battles along with wide-open arenas for all-out Titan warfare.

Overall, Titanfall 2 is largely what it was expected to be (which is NOT a bad thing at all) but throws in a few surprises and some unique moments that make it better than the first by a wide margin.  While a game like this will always have some issues (the number of times I screwed up a wall-run and fell to my death…) they are largely linked to player skill and ability, not wonky controls.

Oh, and one final note: The environments are GORGEOUS.  The character models are much less so.

Score: 9.0/10

When J.J. Abrams rebooted the Star Trek universe, the new Star Trek created something that was both familiar and vastly different than what Star Trek fans knew.  The follow-up, Star Trek: Into Darkness, felt a little too familiar, and some of the story beats became a little off-putting (Spock screaming KHAAAAAN!!!, and the “magic blood” cure for Kirk to name two).  Now with Fast & Furious alum Justin Lin in the director’s chair, expectations for Star Trek: Beyond were tempered, to say the least.  Ultimately, the movie doesn’t just work, it far exceeds any expectations fans will have for the picture.

The story itself is structured almost identically to a two-part episode of a show.  In fact, it is so classically Star Trek that many fans will be able to figure out most of the plot twists easily.  This, however, does not detract at all from anyone’s enjoyment of the film.  The MacGuffin of the film, an uber-deadly biological weapon called the Abronath (a name Slate’s Dana Stevens suggests we use to replace the term MacGuffin for science fiction movies), literally destroys the flesh of anyone with whom it comes in contact, and the villain of the film, Krall, wants to use it to attack the Federation and destroy the incredibly Inception-like space station called Yorktown.  Krall has a fleet of tiny ships called “bees” and he uses them to destroy the Enterprise.  Taking nearly all the crew hostage (seriously, there are so few deaths it’s almost as if the Man of Steel paradigm factored into the script here), it is up to Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Chekov (rest in peace, Anton Yelchin, you were a PERFECT Chekov), and a newcomer, Jaylah, to rescue the crew and save the Federation from Krall’s insidious plan.  Stuck in the background of this is Kirk’s desire to leave the captain’s chair for a posting in the Admiralty and Spock’s drive to leave for New Vulcan.

All told, it isn’t the action that makes the film work, though there is plenty of it.  It’s the characters, who are developed more fully than in either of the previous two films.  Spock and Bones in particular have a dynamic in the Kelvin timeline that is arguably better than even that which they developed in the Prime universe.  Kirk by himself is underwhelming, but once he is back with his crew he comes alive.  Though I would sometimes prefer the Scotty who wasn’t the least bit afraid to punch a Klingon, Pegg’s Scotty has the perfect foil in Jaylah, and even has a moment similar to Hawkeye’s with Scarlet Witch in Age of Ultron.  In reality, everyone (with the possible exception of Uhura, who is criminally under-used) has their “moment” and each one shines.  As a side note, the moment that “outs” Sulu as gay was exactly that.  It wasn’t blatant, nor was it presented gratuitously as if to say “Look, we have a gay character!”  It was merely a moment, and as quickly as it was shown it was over.

If you are not sure about going to see Star Trek: Beyond, let me allay your fears.  It is worth the price of admission.  In a summer that has been sorely lacking a genuine blockbuster, Star Trek: Beyond delivers in a way that will make casual movie-goers and Star Trek fans alike glad they paid the price of admission.

BANG!

Jake jumped from his desk at the noise, looking around his area to see if he could find the source.  It sounded like someone had thrown open the door to his work area, but it was four in the morning and there shouldn’t be anyone around except for him and his cubicle-mate Kenny.  Jake peeked around the corner of his cubicle wall to see if Kenny heard it, but Kenny wasn’t at his desk.

“Hey, Kenny, you around?” he called.  No answer.  Well crap, he thought, I guess I better see what that was.  Jake headed for the main door to his work area when suddenly the lights went out. “What the hell?” he said out loud, startled.  Great, the lights go out and I’m already jumpy enough to talk out loud to myself.  Fortunately, he knew his area (the whole building, really…overnights can get pretty dull) like the back of his hand, so he had no trouble finding the door.  Just then the emergency lights kicked in, and as Jake opened the door Kenny’s lifeless body fell toward him.  “WHAT THE HELL???” he screamed, not caring that he was once again talking out loud to himself.  He looked desperately around the room, trying to find any evidence of another person in the area but saw nothing.  At this point, talking out loud to an empty room was the least of his worries.  “Ok…ok.  Get it together, Jake.” He went back to his desk to call the police when his extension began ringing.

“Hello, who is this,” he tentatively asked.  A female voice on the other end of the line asked softly “what are you wearing, Jake?”  “Uhh…kha…hey, wait a minute,” he exclaimed, “aren’t you the lady I talked to earlier?”  A throaty laugh came through the receiver as she answered in a menacing tone, “Yes, I am, and I’m very displeased that you were talking with my husband at three in the morning, Jake. Very displeased.”  Jake was nervous now.  He’d never dealt with anything like this before.  Late-night sales did not usually take such a murderous turn.  “What do you want?” he inquired, trying to keep his voice from cracking. Just hold it together, Jake, he told himself (in his own head this time, fortunately).  “Isn’t it obvious, Jake?  I want YOU.”  She laughed again and this time there was no discounting the threat in her amusement.  “I’m going to make sure you never talk to anyone’s husband at three in the morning EVER AGAIN!”

*CLICK*  Jake slammed down the phone and attempted to dial the police.  Are you KIDDING me, he screamed at himself, now the PHONES are out???  Jake made the executive decision at that point to end his shift early and leave the building.  He went back to the door and gingerly stepped over Kenny’s lifeless body.  As he took one last look, he noticed the hilt of a knife sticking out of Kenny’s back.  For a moment he considered taking the knife, then concluded it would only cause him more problems.  I’m in here by myself, he reasoned.  If I get my fingerprints on that knife, the police will think I killed Kenny.  Foregoing the weapon, Jake made his way to the elevator and pressed the “down” button.  Nothing.  He punched the button repeatedly with no luck.  Just then the intercom clicked on and the same voice he heard on the phone floated through the air, “What’s the matter, Jake?  Having a hard time getting out of the building?”  “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT, LADY???” he screamed at the ceiling.  “Isn’t it obvious, Jake?  I’m going to make you wish you Never. Took. That. Call.”

Oh my god, this lady is completely unhinged.  Jake knew at that moment he HAD to get out of there.  He streaked for the stairs and had just made it to the door when he heard someone scream “JAAAKE!!!  HELP ME!!!”  That was Kenny!  Jake spun around and headed back to where Kenny lay, only to find that his body was gone and a trail of blood led down the hallway to the other emergency door.  No way…no way he was still alive, Jake thought, but with his heart hammering in his chest he followed the trail to the stairs.  There was a bloody hand print on the door, and when he opened it the trail suddenly stopped.  Ok, this is just turning into a bad horror flick at this point.  He made his way down the stairs to the next floor, where he saw the door was still partially open.  It’s a TRAP! Admiral Ackbar’s voice screamed in his head.  Yeah, heard it before, he thought, but I gotta find Kenny.  Jake pulled the door open, and nearly soiled his khakis as a bullet whizzed by his head and struck the wall.  He ducked away, then darted across the hall to the break room, as someone with really bad aim fired shot after shot down the corridor.  He burst into the break room, skidded to a halt and went back to the doorway, peeking around the door jamb to see if anyone was coming.  Suddenly, he felt a hand grip his shoulder, and as he was about to turn around and see who it was, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain just under his left shoulder blade.  He immediately felt short of breath and as he slumped to the floor a pair of khaki-clad legs came into view.  “What the hell???” he said again.  Man, I have really been saying that a lot tonight.  “Kenny???”

“Oh, Jake…you really are something.  You didn’t even think to check for a pulse before you left my laying in the doorway, did you?”

“Kenny, what the hell (seriously, I need a better catchphrase) is going on?” Jake asked, face contorted with pain and confusion.

“Pretty simple, really.  Like a lot of villainous personalities, I feel threatened by you and your success.  No one should have the sales numbers you do, Jake.  Not at three in the morning.  Besides, you sound hideous.  Anyway, we don’t reeeeally need two people on the overnight shift, and there was no way you were going to quit, so…”  Kenny made a slashing gesture across his throat.  “You don’t have a lot of time left, Jake.  I didn’t want you to die quickly, so I didn’t stab you through the heart.  But your lung is going to fill up with blood pretty quickly, and even though you should get enough air with the other one, well, internal bleeding is a hell of a way to go.”

“Who’s your friend?  You know…the one shooting at me?” Jake gasped out.  “Oh, her?  That’s Cathy.  No, it’s not the lady you spoke to on the phone earlier, she lives in New Jersey.  Cathy’s just a friend who shares my love of mayhem and pumpkin-spiced lattes.”

“No wonder you’re so demented, if you actually like those things.”

“Now Jake, is that really how you want to spend your final moments?  Surely there are other things you want to say.”

Jake looked up at Kenny.  “No, I think you’ve done enough talking for both of us.”  He then pulled his phone out of his pocket.  “Right before I went downstairs I actually got a signal for once.  Piece of advice: never go with Sprint.  Anyway, I called the police before I came down here and the dispatcher has been on the line the whole time.”  Jake then asked the dispatcher, “Did you manage to get all of that?”  “Yes I did, sir,” came the voice through the speaker phone.  “The ambulance is waiting for you and police are already headed up to your floor.”

Just then the break room door opened with a loud BANG and several heavily-armed officers screamed at Kenny to get on the floor.  Jake was a little disappointed that Kenny didn’t put up a fight.  You didn’t let them kill you, Kenny he thought, you bastard.  Behind them, EMT’s entered and after a cursory examination laid him on the gurney to wheel him out.

As Jake lay as comfortably as one can with a knife sticking out of one’s back, he had a thought: I wonder what happened to the other one?  Cathy?  

One of the EMT’s leaned in close.  “Sir?  Can you hear me?  Is the pain medication kicking in yet?”  Jake, feeling the effects of the blissfully powerful painkiller, nodded.  “Ok great.”  She leaned in closer.  “Don’t worry, sir.  We’ll get you to the hospital and get you all patched up good as new.”  Jake nodded again, and just before drifting out of consciousness, his brain registered on thought:  Her breath smells a lot like a pumpkin-spiced latte….