As Herr Trump raves on about crowd sizes, immigrants, and who is going to pay for his wall, it felt like we should pause for a moment to take a look at what is going on locally.
The search was a quick one. Thanks to the local paper's barely post sunset deadline, we had to wait until this morning to read about a friendly little get together gone bad Saturday night in Midwest City, OK.
According to a witness four pals were hanging out in the living room of small rental property on Babb Drive in the east side burb. They were Terrence Jackson, Donielle Gregory, Derrel Barksdale Jr, and Roman Rocha Pugh who sometimes goes by the street name, "Psycho."
They were a high strung bunch. Gregory had been released from prison in 2015 after serving 18 parts of a 27 year stretch for second degree murder. "The Oklahoman's," Matt Dinger wrote that by Saturday evening he was out on bail while waiting for another trial--this one on drug charges. Barksdale had previous convictions for accessory to murder after the fact, firearms possession, and possession of cocaine. Our man, "Psycho," Pugh had done time for shooting with intent to kill, possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, and possession of coke.
Dinger writes, the witness, a woman who rents the place, told police the guys were all seemingly having a good time while she was in a back bedroom with her 10 year old daughter.
Then, as happens so often in this age of the American gun, someone, for some reason, opened fire. At the moment police can only speculate about what prompted the shooting. Perhaps the group ran low on salsa, or worse, out of chips. Hey, it doesn't take much these days.
What we do know is, during the outbreak of gunfire, the witness grabbed her daughter and bailed out a window. She jumped into her car, then was approached by Pugh as she was trying to get it started. Psycho, who routinely visited the house, told her, "I'm gone." After the terse goodbye he fled on foot. In doing so he abandoned his own vehicle at the scene, but the woman assured the cops he kept the gun he was carrying. Well of course he did. What true American wouldn't?
Inside, investigators found Gregory, Barksdale, and Jackson dead. Chief of the Midwest City Police, Brandon Clabes told Dinger it was the first triple homicide in the history of Midwest City. In addition he said the suspect is still on the loose.
The chief also issued a warning, saying authorities consider Pugh, "...extremely armed and dangerous," and that, "...he is a threat to society."
You think?
It is right about now the usual, "Ghost Shirt Papers," rant about guns and their availability begins. But, let's face it, why should anyone give a shit at this point? It's obvious the firearms aren't going away. In fact guys like, Psycho Pugh and crimes such as this just drive ever growing herds of terrified sheep into gun stores.
So, after countless futile attacks on the gun culture, firearm manufacturers, and the demented fucks running the NRA, I give up. Indeed--have at it America. Go ahead and blow each others heads off at a rate unprecedented outside of third world hell holes and war zones. It's what you've relentlessly lobbied for and, in the end, just like Donald J. Trump, it is what you deserve.
sic vita est
1-30-17
Monday, January 30, 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
The Twenty-first Century Newspeak: Alternative Facts
The first few days of the new administration have been a tad surreal and for a moment, or two amusing in a twisted sort of way.
First we had press secretary Sean Spicer telling the nation, Trump's, "...inauguration drew the largest audience to witness an inauguration. Period." It was later learned Spicer was sent out to make the statement by his boss because El Don was enraged about news stories describing the crowd at his inauguration as smaller than the one at Obama's initial swearing in.
The problem was, thanks to a couple of photographs taken from the same vantage point eight years apart, everyone in the world could clearly see attendance was significantly higher at Obama's first inauguration. Spicer later grumbled about the exact timing of the photos during the ceremonies and pointed out some differences in landscaping which might have made the 2009 crowd look larger than it actually was.
It was classic Trump mumbo jumbo. Lie, lie, lie, no matter how obvious the evidence is that you are doing just that. After watching Spicer's nonsense the Orwellian term, "newspeak," came to mind for the first time. However, it was so crudely applied by the press secretary that there was nothing to do but laugh at the poor little shill.
For those of you unfamiliar with newspeak, it was practiced by the government of Oceania in George Orwell's novel, "1984." Its purpose was to keep the average citizen misinformed, confused, and enthusiastically supportive of what was going on.
Sunday, on Meet the Press, the poor person's Ann Coulter, Kellyanne Conway, confirmed a hybrid of newspeak would be an official tool of Trump policy. In doing so she coined a new and frightening term.
During a rat-a-tat-tat exchange she told an incredulous Chuck Todd, Sean Spicer had been using, "alternative facts," when he described the size of the inaugural audience.
The same day, in response to the vast numbers of women protesting against Trump's presence in the oval office, Vice President Mike Pence went all in with, alternative facts.
He posted on his Facebook page, "Despite misleading liberal media's claim. We, clearly saw that well over half of the participants in yesterday's march were Trump supporters."
It was a lie so grotesque and transparent not even Joseph Goebbels would have tried to pull it off.
At that very moment the amusement ended and sales of, "1984," sky rocketed on Amazon. According to, "The Hill," the novel, written in 1949, is now number six on their best seller list. There is a difference though. While the purpose of newspeak was to indoctrinate and oppress the people, alternative facts as employed by Ms. Conway and the vice president, is being used to demean and ultimately destroy the veracity of the American mainstream media.
The Trump people know he has a hard core base who is steadfastly convinced network television news and outlets such as the New York Times and The Washington Post have been lying to them for years. That's because sometimes those organizations report things they don't agree with, or want to hear. They also know America has entered an age of boutique news outlets.
Everyone with a computer and a hankering is now a journalist. These, "reporters," and their sites strive not to be objective, but to disseminate information which confirms and strengthens the firmly held beliefs of not just themselves, but their target audiences.
Vile rumors and abject denials of verifiable truths are the results of this new journalism. Months ago it became obvious Trump and his people decided this sort of shit is highly advantageous to their political well being. How else do you explain the hiring of Stephen Bannon, a guy who ran an ultra right wing, "alternative news," site, to the position of White House chief political strategist?
Yes, we all know what is coming. Right now Spicer and the rest of the cranks are inflating the size and altering the composition of crowds with alternative facts simply to massage Donald Trump's hyper fragile ego. However, it isn't much of a leap from there to seeing these beasts begin to hammer immigrants, Muslims, dissenters and their aspirations with the same type of monstrous falsehoods. And, as they do, they'll continue to savagely disparage the mainstream media while knowing full well a part of the white American volk will buy every word of what they're selling.
Hey, that's the nature of fascism.
The ghost of Herr Hitler is, no doubt, proud.
1-24-17
First we had press secretary Sean Spicer telling the nation, Trump's, "...inauguration drew the largest audience to witness an inauguration. Period." It was later learned Spicer was sent out to make the statement by his boss because El Don was enraged about news stories describing the crowd at his inauguration as smaller than the one at Obama's initial swearing in.
The problem was, thanks to a couple of photographs taken from the same vantage point eight years apart, everyone in the world could clearly see attendance was significantly higher at Obama's first inauguration. Spicer later grumbled about the exact timing of the photos during the ceremonies and pointed out some differences in landscaping which might have made the 2009 crowd look larger than it actually was.
It was classic Trump mumbo jumbo. Lie, lie, lie, no matter how obvious the evidence is that you are doing just that. After watching Spicer's nonsense the Orwellian term, "newspeak," came to mind for the first time. However, it was so crudely applied by the press secretary that there was nothing to do but laugh at the poor little shill.
For those of you unfamiliar with newspeak, it was practiced by the government of Oceania in George Orwell's novel, "1984." Its purpose was to keep the average citizen misinformed, confused, and enthusiastically supportive of what was going on.
Sunday, on Meet the Press, the poor person's Ann Coulter, Kellyanne Conway, confirmed a hybrid of newspeak would be an official tool of Trump policy. In doing so she coined a new and frightening term.
During a rat-a-tat-tat exchange she told an incredulous Chuck Todd, Sean Spicer had been using, "alternative facts," when he described the size of the inaugural audience.
The same day, in response to the vast numbers of women protesting against Trump's presence in the oval office, Vice President Mike Pence went all in with, alternative facts.
He posted on his Facebook page, "Despite misleading liberal media's claim. We, clearly saw that well over half of the participants in yesterday's march were Trump supporters."
It was a lie so grotesque and transparent not even Joseph Goebbels would have tried to pull it off.
At that very moment the amusement ended and sales of, "1984," sky rocketed on Amazon. According to, "The Hill," the novel, written in 1949, is now number six on their best seller list. There is a difference though. While the purpose of newspeak was to indoctrinate and oppress the people, alternative facts as employed by Ms. Conway and the vice president, is being used to demean and ultimately destroy the veracity of the American mainstream media.
The Trump people know he has a hard core base who is steadfastly convinced network television news and outlets such as the New York Times and The Washington Post have been lying to them for years. That's because sometimes those organizations report things they don't agree with, or want to hear. They also know America has entered an age of boutique news outlets.
Everyone with a computer and a hankering is now a journalist. These, "reporters," and their sites strive not to be objective, but to disseminate information which confirms and strengthens the firmly held beliefs of not just themselves, but their target audiences.
Vile rumors and abject denials of verifiable truths are the results of this new journalism. Months ago it became obvious Trump and his people decided this sort of shit is highly advantageous to their political well being. How else do you explain the hiring of Stephen Bannon, a guy who ran an ultra right wing, "alternative news," site, to the position of White House chief political strategist?
Yes, we all know what is coming. Right now Spicer and the rest of the cranks are inflating the size and altering the composition of crowds with alternative facts simply to massage Donald Trump's hyper fragile ego. However, it isn't much of a leap from there to seeing these beasts begin to hammer immigrants, Muslims, dissenters and their aspirations with the same type of monstrous falsehoods. And, as they do, they'll continue to savagely disparage the mainstream media while knowing full well a part of the white American volk will buy every word of what they're selling.
Hey, that's the nature of fascism.
The ghost of Herr Hitler is, no doubt, proud.
1-24-17
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Gotterdammerung
Gotterdammerung
From German mythology. The twilight of the Gods--their ultimate destruction in a battle with the forces of evil.
That's what it seemed like yesterday. The destruction of all that is good, noble, decent, and caring. In addition, there was the distinct feeling a new dark age had arrived, a time in which science once again would be considered heresy unless it conformed to the ruling political and social paradigm.
A little over 24 hours ago we were confronted with a horrid display of kitsch in both oratory content and martial display. The fascists, xenophobes, and white supremacists swooned in spiritual and orgasmic ecstasy as their man suddenly found religion and took the oath of office with his hand on a bible. Religion is a practice he hasn't had any use for over the years and the book is one he's proven to have little, if any, knowledge of. As always, none of those who worship him either noticed, or cared. As we've learned, when it comes to Trump, his disciples scrupulously ignore his lack of a firm moral compass and his gleeful self indulgent behavior.
A little over 24 hours ago we were confronted with a horrid display of kitsch in both oratory content and martial display. The fascists, xenophobes, and white supremacists swooned in spiritual and orgasmic ecstasy as their man suddenly found religion and took the oath of office with his hand on a bible. Religion is a practice he hasn't had any use for over the years and the book is one he's proven to have little, if any, knowledge of. As always, none of those who worship him either noticed, or cared. As we've learned, when it comes to Trump, his disciples scrupulously ignore his lack of a firm moral compass and his gleeful self indulgent behavior.
Holding the revealed word of God was his wife, a woman who one supporter, a few weeks ago, described as, "classy," while at the same time calling, Michelle Obama an ape in heels. A verifiable part of the current Mrs. Trump's, "classy," history is she posed nude while performing a lesbian scene with another naked woman during a photo shoot. The finished product of the session was released, with her approval, for public consumption. A second was to plagiarize an entire section of her GOP convention speech from one given previously by the aforementioned, "ape in heels."
Unwittingly describing the extreme irony and vile insanity of yesterday's theater of the absurd was a Trump supporter, Dorothy Huebner. She was quoted as saying, "Praise the Lord. I am excited beyond belief we have a conservative Christian man to run our country. I'm thrilled our country will get back on track with what our founding fathers intended."
It is unclear which hallucinogens Ms. Huebner had ingested before making her statement to the press.
Of course she might be right when it comes to part of what she said. Especially when you realize about half our founding fathers not only believed in slavery, but owned more than a few, while all of them were hell bent on committing genocide when it came to native Americans.
Not to mention that within a scant few decades their political descendants would send out U.S. troops to facilitate the seizure of a massive chunk of Mexican territory. It is the same huge parcel of real estate Donald Trump now wants to seal off from Mexico with a wall.
It is hard to tell when the disillusionment will set in for rubes like Dorothy Huebner. First off, the orange dude spent months on the campaign trail incessantly promising to prosecute Hillary Clinton. During that time there was hardly a single rally where he didn't bathe in the chants of, "lock her up, lock her up," as he would jut out his chin and nod. He didn't even wait to be sworn in to go back on his word. Then yesterday, during a luncheon, he gushed that he was honored, "...very, very honored," Clinton and her husband had attended the ceremonies.
It was as if he'd never said a word about jailing her.
It was an undiluted instance of Orwellian surrealism--rather like the whole birther thing he promoted relentlessly for years, then dropped like a hot rock during the campaign. After months of not so artfully dodging the subject he finally admitted there was no doubt, Barack Obama had been born in the United States.
It would seem once the votes are counted, or if it is, at the moment, politically advantageous all bets are off with Don Trump. He'll deny he said something, even though news agencies have him on tape saying it. In that regard he has proven himself to be what Ted Cruz said he is, "...a congenital liar."
Given what we know about the man we can look for his populist shit to come to an end during the next few months. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. All you have to do is look at his cabinet to realize why. Rex Tillerson is connected at the hip to the largest special interest in the world, the one known as big oil. Steven Mnuchin spent the last few years of his career foreclosing on the homes of people such as Dorothy Huebner. Does anyone really think those two brutes and Wilbur Ross give a rat's ass about the average American working person? Hell, screwing them over is how they made their billions.
Indeed, Ms. Huebner and those like her, along with the rest of us, are fucked. The only difference is we know it and she and the other blue collar Trumpists haven't figured it out yet.
Down in Florida, a pilot named Jim Bizzell realizes what is happening. He voted for an independent in November. Of Trump he said, "You just don't want a used car salesman as president."
Or worse, a Bernie Madoff with fascist tendencies.
Tragically, for we the people, that's exactly who took office on January 20th, 2017.
1-21-17
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Closing in on Another Date Which Will Live in Infamy and the New Business as Usual
So now that we are closing in on another date which will live in infamy--the inauguration of Donald John Trump--perhaps it is time to take a few quick peeks at some of his advisers and cabinet choices.
Going in no particular order, we'll start with, Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's pick for his chief political strategist. Bannon, as we all know, ran the online ultra right wing organization, Breitbart. Years before he turned the news outlet into a labyrinth of conspiracy theories, xenophobia, and white supremacy bullshit he made films. He was so good at it he was once described by a colleague as the, "Leni Riefenstahl of the tea party movement." For those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Riefenstahl's work, she put together the seminal 1935 Nazi propaganda film, "Triumph of the Will."
Rex Tillerson has been tapped by Trump to become Secretary of State. He is the CEO of Exxon-Mobil and his company is heavily invested in business deals with the big orange guy's pal, Vladimir Putin. So much so, Putin awarded him a medal called The Order of Friendship. In addition, he was in charge when Exxon-Mobil played a part in a European consortium named Infineum which did business with Iran, Syria, and Sudan while those countries were under sanctions imposed by the United States.
Georgia representative, Tom Price is scheduled to head the Department of Health and Human Services. He is so anti-choice he received zero ratings from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro Choice America. He did, however get a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Center. He has also opposed legislation which would make it illegal to discriminate against a person based on sexual orientation.
Jeff Sessions is Trump's pick for Attorney General. He once said, "I thought the KKK was okay until I found out they smoked pot."
Trump's National Security Advisor will be Michael T. Flynn. He was the guest of honor and paid keynote speaker at a dinner thrown by RT, the Russian government's English language news agency. During the meal he dined with none other than Vlad P. himself. In addition while Flynn was participating in the presidential campaign he promoted various conspiracy theories regarding Hillary Clinton as well as fake news stories about her. His son, Mike Flynn Jr. continues the family tradition by keeping alive, through social media, the hideous accusation that Mrs. Clinton and John Podesta ran a child prostitution/slavery ring out of the back room of a Washington D.C. pizza joint.
The new White House Counsel will be Donald F. McGahn II. A while back he defended then Texas representative Tom Delay. At the time the congressman was running a super-pac that got way too cozy with another organization, the U.S Family Network which was conveniently located in the same office building. The USFN was catching heat because of their practice of accepting large donations from, you guessed it, Russian tycoons.
Steven Mnuchin has been nominated as Secretary of the Treasury. He ran a bank, OneWest, which was described as a, "foreclosure machine." At one point they foreclosed on an elderly Florida woman because she owed them twenty-seven cents.
Wilbur Ross, the choice for Secretary of Commerce, ran a company called W&L Ross &Co. The SEC fined the firm $2.3 million and the corporation was forced to reimburse investors $1.8 million in fee overcharges.
Then there is Secretary of Labor nominee, Andrew Puzder. He is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee's and Carl Jr's burger chains. He is so well thought of by his employees--you know, his labor force--hundreds of them showed up outside the capitol the day of his Senate hearing to protest his nomination.
For the sake of brevity let's end with Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt who is the choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency. He has spent his entire political career doing two things. One has been to deny climate change is happening, although that view was modified rather quickly when he faced the Senate confirmation panel. The second is suing the EPA over regulations he will now be in charge of enforcing.
Yes, it is a corrupt and sordid lot. One which is peppered with run amok neo Nazi propagandists, right wing hacks, slavish tools of Vladimir Putin, and billionaires who padded their pockets by using business practices which are at best questionable if not outright criminal.
Well, what should we expect from a guy who admits he likes to grab women by their, "pussies," and makes up vile and grotesque lies on the fly?
Indeed. What we are now witnessing is the new business as usual.
May God help us all.
1-18-17
Note: There were many sources used to gather the information listed above, however Wikipedia provided the majority of it.
Going in no particular order, we'll start with, Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's pick for his chief political strategist. Bannon, as we all know, ran the online ultra right wing organization, Breitbart. Years before he turned the news outlet into a labyrinth of conspiracy theories, xenophobia, and white supremacy bullshit he made films. He was so good at it he was once described by a colleague as the, "Leni Riefenstahl of the tea party movement." For those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Riefenstahl's work, she put together the seminal 1935 Nazi propaganda film, "Triumph of the Will."
Rex Tillerson has been tapped by Trump to become Secretary of State. He is the CEO of Exxon-Mobil and his company is heavily invested in business deals with the big orange guy's pal, Vladimir Putin. So much so, Putin awarded him a medal called The Order of Friendship. In addition, he was in charge when Exxon-Mobil played a part in a European consortium named Infineum which did business with Iran, Syria, and Sudan while those countries were under sanctions imposed by the United States.
Georgia representative, Tom Price is scheduled to head the Department of Health and Human Services. He is so anti-choice he received zero ratings from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro Choice America. He did, however get a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Center. He has also opposed legislation which would make it illegal to discriminate against a person based on sexual orientation.
Jeff Sessions is Trump's pick for Attorney General. He once said, "I thought the KKK was okay until I found out they smoked pot."
Trump's National Security Advisor will be Michael T. Flynn. He was the guest of honor and paid keynote speaker at a dinner thrown by RT, the Russian government's English language news agency. During the meal he dined with none other than Vlad P. himself. In addition while Flynn was participating in the presidential campaign he promoted various conspiracy theories regarding Hillary Clinton as well as fake news stories about her. His son, Mike Flynn Jr. continues the family tradition by keeping alive, through social media, the hideous accusation that Mrs. Clinton and John Podesta ran a child prostitution/slavery ring out of the back room of a Washington D.C. pizza joint.
The new White House Counsel will be Donald F. McGahn II. A while back he defended then Texas representative Tom Delay. At the time the congressman was running a super-pac that got way too cozy with another organization, the U.S Family Network which was conveniently located in the same office building. The USFN was catching heat because of their practice of accepting large donations from, you guessed it, Russian tycoons.
Steven Mnuchin has been nominated as Secretary of the Treasury. He ran a bank, OneWest, which was described as a, "foreclosure machine." At one point they foreclosed on an elderly Florida woman because she owed them twenty-seven cents.
Wilbur Ross, the choice for Secretary of Commerce, ran a company called W&L Ross &Co. The SEC fined the firm $2.3 million and the corporation was forced to reimburse investors $1.8 million in fee overcharges.
Then there is Secretary of Labor nominee, Andrew Puzder. He is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the Hardee's and Carl Jr's burger chains. He is so well thought of by his employees--you know, his labor force--hundreds of them showed up outside the capitol the day of his Senate hearing to protest his nomination.
For the sake of brevity let's end with Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt who is the choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency. He has spent his entire political career doing two things. One has been to deny climate change is happening, although that view was modified rather quickly when he faced the Senate confirmation panel. The second is suing the EPA over regulations he will now be in charge of enforcing.
Yes, it is a corrupt and sordid lot. One which is peppered with run amok neo Nazi propagandists, right wing hacks, slavish tools of Vladimir Putin, and billionaires who padded their pockets by using business practices which are at best questionable if not outright criminal.
Well, what should we expect from a guy who admits he likes to grab women by their, "pussies," and makes up vile and grotesque lies on the fly?
Indeed. What we are now witnessing is the new business as usual.
May God help us all.
1-18-17
Note: There were many sources used to gather the information listed above, however Wikipedia provided the majority of it.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Donald Trump: Another Man Who Will Never Let Us Down
Hunter S. Thompson once dedicated a collection of his writing this way: "To Richard Milhous Nixon, who never let me down."
Thompson, of course, hated Nixon and savaged him relentlessly for years. The dedication amounted to a tongue in cheek thank you for all the ripe material the corrupt and ultimately disgraced president provided him with.
Now it would seem we have another man entering the White House who will, never let us down.
Friday, Georgia congressman John Lewis taped a segment for Sunday's edition of NBC's, "Meet the Press." During his interview he told host Chuck Todd he would not be attending the inauguration of Donald Trump next Friday. Lewis, who has spent 30 years in the house, said it would be the first inaugural ceremony he has skipped during his time in office. He also told Todd the reason he'd be absent is because he considers Trump's coming presidency, "illegitimate." He explained he feels that way because of Russian interference in the November election.
This being the 21st century, Lewis' interview hit the internet and reached the president elect almost immediately after he gave it.
In the following few hours Donald J. Trump had three choices. One, he could respond in a measured tone, disagreeing with the congressman's opinion in a firm, yet civilized manner. In other words he could be presidential. Two, he could say nothing at all. Hey, let's face it, Don Trump is going to be sworn in as President of the United States on Friday whether John Lewis is there, or not, so why give the man a second thought. Or, finally, Trump could be--well--his usual petty and brute stupid self.
It didn't take long for us to figure out which of those paths El Don would take. This morning at 6:50am and again at 7:07am he sent out two tweets. When run end to end they read:
"Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about election results. All talk, talk, talk--no action, or results. Sad!"
One of the first push backs to the Trump tweets was a social media post from a wag who included a Chamber of Commerce quality photo of Atlanta's skyline. The text read, "The hell scape of John Lewis' district."
Yeah, it seems Don took it for granted Lewis' home turf is some sort of southern fried monster slum where the natives are running completely amok and the infra structure is collapsing as quickly as, in his own peculiar view, America's primacy is.
What Trump apparently didn't know, or care about, is the Georgia 5th district encompasses three quarters of Atlanta, including downtown, the airport, and a few upscale suburbs including the oh so fashionable Buckhead.
Nine out of ten residents in the district have, at minimum, a high school degree. Four of ten have graduated from college. So we're not talking about an educational wasteland. Unemployment is a little over 8% and one in six people there live under the poverty line. The city ranks 14th in the nation when it comes to violent crime. Those numbers aren't great, but they're certainly not indicative of a devastated war zone which Trump painted the area to be. In short, Lewis represents a typical modern metropolitan congressional district which includes both the poor and the wildly successful.
In addition, Brother Trump chose the weekend of Martin Luther King Day to accuse Congressman Lewis of being all talk--no action, or results. He seems completely unaware Lewis was deeply involved in the civil rights movement, was arrested 45 times for his participation in it, and got his head busted open on a bridge in Selma, AL at the era's height of police violence. All that was during a time when young Donald's father was teaching him how to discriminate against African Americans who were applying for apartments at various Trump properties.
As far as results go, the passage of the voting rights act and John Lewis' very presence in the congress of the United States for the last three decades is testimony to him getting things done.
Meanwhile reports have surfaced Trump's pick for National Security advisor, Michael Flynn was on the phone with the Russian ambassador five different times the day Barack Obama levied sanctions against the Russkies for attempting to interfere with the election. After the fifth and final call, Vladimir Putin announced there wouldn't be Russian reprisals to the penalties.
It doesn't take a YouTube conspiracy theorist, to speculate why. Especially since the word is already out Trump will lift the sanctions right after he takes the oath of office. In some circles such a policy decision could be described as payment for services rendered.
Yes, thanks to Donald Trump the next four years could well be a national and global disaster. But, given what we know about him, all of us will have to admit we'll never be at a loss for words when it comes to talking about the evil fuck's lack of moral character and his policies. Indeed, in that regard, as he proved today and Thompson once said, he'll never let us down.
sic vita est
1-14-17
Thompson, of course, hated Nixon and savaged him relentlessly for years. The dedication amounted to a tongue in cheek thank you for all the ripe material the corrupt and ultimately disgraced president provided him with.
Now it would seem we have another man entering the White House who will, never let us down.
Friday, Georgia congressman John Lewis taped a segment for Sunday's edition of NBC's, "Meet the Press." During his interview he told host Chuck Todd he would not be attending the inauguration of Donald Trump next Friday. Lewis, who has spent 30 years in the house, said it would be the first inaugural ceremony he has skipped during his time in office. He also told Todd the reason he'd be absent is because he considers Trump's coming presidency, "illegitimate." He explained he feels that way because of Russian interference in the November election.
This being the 21st century, Lewis' interview hit the internet and reached the president elect almost immediately after he gave it.
In the following few hours Donald J. Trump had three choices. One, he could respond in a measured tone, disagreeing with the congressman's opinion in a firm, yet civilized manner. In other words he could be presidential. Two, he could say nothing at all. Hey, let's face it, Don Trump is going to be sworn in as President of the United States on Friday whether John Lewis is there, or not, so why give the man a second thought. Or, finally, Trump could be--well--his usual petty and brute stupid self.
It didn't take long for us to figure out which of those paths El Don would take. This morning at 6:50am and again at 7:07am he sent out two tweets. When run end to end they read:
"Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about election results. All talk, talk, talk--no action, or results. Sad!"
One of the first push backs to the Trump tweets was a social media post from a wag who included a Chamber of Commerce quality photo of Atlanta's skyline. The text read, "The hell scape of John Lewis' district."
Yeah, it seems Don took it for granted Lewis' home turf is some sort of southern fried monster slum where the natives are running completely amok and the infra structure is collapsing as quickly as, in his own peculiar view, America's primacy is.
What Trump apparently didn't know, or care about, is the Georgia 5th district encompasses three quarters of Atlanta, including downtown, the airport, and a few upscale suburbs including the oh so fashionable Buckhead.
Nine out of ten residents in the district have, at minimum, a high school degree. Four of ten have graduated from college. So we're not talking about an educational wasteland. Unemployment is a little over 8% and one in six people there live under the poverty line. The city ranks 14th in the nation when it comes to violent crime. Those numbers aren't great, but they're certainly not indicative of a devastated war zone which Trump painted the area to be. In short, Lewis represents a typical modern metropolitan congressional district which includes both the poor and the wildly successful.
In addition, Brother Trump chose the weekend of Martin Luther King Day to accuse Congressman Lewis of being all talk--no action, or results. He seems completely unaware Lewis was deeply involved in the civil rights movement, was arrested 45 times for his participation in it, and got his head busted open on a bridge in Selma, AL at the era's height of police violence. All that was during a time when young Donald's father was teaching him how to discriminate against African Americans who were applying for apartments at various Trump properties.
As far as results go, the passage of the voting rights act and John Lewis' very presence in the congress of the United States for the last three decades is testimony to him getting things done.
Meanwhile reports have surfaced Trump's pick for National Security advisor, Michael Flynn was on the phone with the Russian ambassador five different times the day Barack Obama levied sanctions against the Russkies for attempting to interfere with the election. After the fifth and final call, Vladimir Putin announced there wouldn't be Russian reprisals to the penalties.
It doesn't take a YouTube conspiracy theorist, to speculate why. Especially since the word is already out Trump will lift the sanctions right after he takes the oath of office. In some circles such a policy decision could be described as payment for services rendered.
Yes, thanks to Donald Trump the next four years could well be a national and global disaster. But, given what we know about him, all of us will have to admit we'll never be at a loss for words when it comes to talking about the evil fuck's lack of moral character and his policies. Indeed, in that regard, as he proved today and Thompson once said, he'll never let us down.
sic vita est
1-14-17
Monday, January 9, 2017
Mary Louise Stirs Up a Little Trouble and the Availabilty of Evening Gowns in Washington
Mary Louise Streep stirred up a little trouble last night. When she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes ceremony, Ms. Streep said she was, "heart broken," a boor she refused to name--but everyone recognized as Donald Trump--had savagely mocked a disabled reporter back in the early days of the presidential campaign.
She went on to say, "Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose."
Despite claiming he hadn't watched the show the president-elect was offended enough to put the brakes on the whole transition of power thing in order to respond through Twitter. As always, Trump's push back included a personal insult which ranked around the level of something you'd expect from the average sixth grader. The three connected tweets began at 5:27am and ended at 5:43am. When strung together end to end they read:
"Meryl Streep one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood doesn't know me, but attacked me last night at the Golden Globes.
She is a Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time I never, 'mocked' a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him 'groveling' when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media."
Actually, given what we know of his cruel vindictiveness, mocking a disabled person, whether a reporter, or not, sounds exactly like something Don Trump would do. And for those of us who heard that speech and saw his gyrations at the podium on the night in question there is nothing the man can say which will convince us he wasn't doing just that.
Later today the big orange guy had a little chat with the very dishonest media in the form of The New York Times. During the conversation he said a few things about Streep, "the Hillary lover," and attacks by, "liberal movie people," however the big news was about the inauguration.
According to Donald J. Trump, "We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps record setting turn out for the inauguration and there will be plenty of movie and entertainment stars."
Then came the real bombshell. Trump assured the Times, "All the dress shops are sold out in Washington. It's hard to find a great dress for this inauguration."
Why does the man continue to make up shit like this on the spur of the moment? Why, at this late date, does his ego remain so fragile that he must continue to oversell everything connected to him? Hasn't he realized people are going to call him on his crazed hyperbole?
Well that's what the Washington Post immediately did. What they found was no one is sold out of dresses in the District and surrounding suburbs.
The Post reported, Martha Slagle, the general manager of a local Neiman-Marcus, said if a customer were to enter her store today she would have over 1,000 evening gowns to choose from. In fact the Post couldn't find even a small women's fashion boutique who didn't have plenty of stock available for the big evening.
Unfortunately, as we understand far too well, many of the rubes who voted for him are going to believe Don Trump no matter what he says. To them, when The Washington Post says D.C. has plenty of formal dresses, it is simply further proof of the main stream media's campaign of anti-Trump, anti-American, pro-Hillary lies and propaganda.
Let's face it, that's the world they live in. There is no disputing it. The only question is how they all got there without abusing heavy drugs.
Unfortunately it is doubtful we and Meryl Streep will ever know the answer to that particular query. Hey, in the end, some things in this universe are simply unknowable.
sic vita est
1-9-17
She went on to say, "Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose."
Despite claiming he hadn't watched the show the president-elect was offended enough to put the brakes on the whole transition of power thing in order to respond through Twitter. As always, Trump's push back included a personal insult which ranked around the level of something you'd expect from the average sixth grader. The three connected tweets began at 5:27am and ended at 5:43am. When strung together end to end they read:
"Meryl Streep one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood doesn't know me, but attacked me last night at the Golden Globes.
She is a Hillary flunky who lost big. For the 100th time I never, 'mocked' a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him 'groveling' when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media."
Actually, given what we know of his cruel vindictiveness, mocking a disabled person, whether a reporter, or not, sounds exactly like something Don Trump would do. And for those of us who heard that speech and saw his gyrations at the podium on the night in question there is nothing the man can say which will convince us he wasn't doing just that.
Later today the big orange guy had a little chat with the very dishonest media in the form of The New York Times. During the conversation he said a few things about Streep, "the Hillary lover," and attacks by, "liberal movie people," however the big news was about the inauguration.
According to Donald J. Trump, "We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps record setting turn out for the inauguration and there will be plenty of movie and entertainment stars."
Then came the real bombshell. Trump assured the Times, "All the dress shops are sold out in Washington. It's hard to find a great dress for this inauguration."
Why does the man continue to make up shit like this on the spur of the moment? Why, at this late date, does his ego remain so fragile that he must continue to oversell everything connected to him? Hasn't he realized people are going to call him on his crazed hyperbole?
Well that's what the Washington Post immediately did. What they found was no one is sold out of dresses in the District and surrounding suburbs.
The Post reported, Martha Slagle, the general manager of a local Neiman-Marcus, said if a customer were to enter her store today she would have over 1,000 evening gowns to choose from. In fact the Post couldn't find even a small women's fashion boutique who didn't have plenty of stock available for the big evening.
Unfortunately, as we understand far too well, many of the rubes who voted for him are going to believe Don Trump no matter what he says. To them, when The Washington Post says D.C. has plenty of formal dresses, it is simply further proof of the main stream media's campaign of anti-Trump, anti-American, pro-Hillary lies and propaganda.
Let's face it, that's the world they live in. There is no disputing it. The only question is how they all got there without abusing heavy drugs.
Unfortunately it is doubtful we and Meryl Streep will ever know the answer to that particular query. Hey, in the end, some things in this universe are simply unknowable.
sic vita est
1-9-17
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Another Rotten and Deadly Year Begins
Every time New Years Day rolls around a little glimmer of optimism flickers deep inside for a few moments. Call me a closeted idealist, but even though an Orwellian class liar--a man who happens to be breathtakingly petty and cruelly vindictive is taking over the White House that wavering light still shined the other day.
As always though, it didn't take long for any sort of hope to be snuffed out. By this afternoon the evidence has become overwhelming that the year of our Lord, 2017 will be just as rotten and deadly, if not more so, than 2016.
Earlier today, Vox.com reported that on January 1, 2017, 210 Americans were shot, not in acts of terror, or war, but just because they could. 64 of them were killed and 146 wounded. 24 shootings occurred in both Chicago and Jacksonville, FL. There were seven acts of gun violence in New York City, six each in Baltimore and Buffalo, and five in Cleveland and Indianapolis.
That's right, nothing says happy new year in a free country quite like a never ending maelstrom of blazing guns.
As of this morning Vox reports there have more than 500 shootings nationwide. The number of dead has risen to 113, while 288 people have been wounded. Six of those killed were aged 11 and under and 28 were in their teens.
It would appear the whole, "If only more law abiding people have guns there will be less gun violence," line laid on us by the cranks at the NRA really isn't working out. Of course that isn't going to stop them from using it. We could lose a million fellow citizens a year to gun violence and those evil wankers would still claim more people need to carry guns.
It is a philosophy that flies in the face of not just science and statistics, but history. Let's see, just how did Wyatt Earp and other hard nosed lawmen of the old west curb gun play in places like Dodge City? Why, believe it, or not they enacted draconian gun control measures by making it illegal to carry firearms inside the city limits of their burgs. They enforced the restrictions with zeal and on occasion, a touch of police brutality. The trail hands and pistoleros might not have liked it, but they complied without whining to some federal court about constitutional rights. In the end, as a result of measures the modern NRA would howl to the moon about, murder rates plummeted.
Listen, if it was good enough for 'ol Wyatt it should be good enough for us.
Meanwhile, proving you don't necessarily need to have a gun in order to perpetrate savagery, Chicago police announced they will charge four teenagers in connection with the kidnapping and torture of a suburban man. The unidentified victim was reported missing late Monday night. He was found wandering around, dazed and bleeding on Tuesday.
This being the 21st century, one of the little beasts streamed 30 minutes of the unabashed sadistic brutality their captive was subjected to live on Facebook. The video was then--you guessed it--immediately uploaded to YouTube.
During the gruesome attack, which has been described as "barbaric behavior," by Black Lives Matter, the African American suspects called their victim, who was white, things like, "a goof ass white man," and added such bon mots as, "Fuck Donald Trump," and, "Fuck white people."
Police arrested the four on an unrelated assault hours after they had let the kidnapped man go. The cops were able to connect them to the initial crime because--hey--when you post images of your pals committing a felony on social media using your online account, it doesn't take a CSI lab to figure out who did it.
The accused are all 18 years old and presumably will be tried as adults. The victim has been described as having, "mental health challenges." The police are still trying to decide whether to classify the horror as a hate crime.
Yes, the prospects for a better year lasted slightly less than a day. Considering what has happened since and what is going to transpire soon, perhaps we should be thankful for even those scant few hours.
Indeed, these days it is best to take what we can get, no matter how fleeting.
sic vita est
1-5-17
LXVII
As always though, it didn't take long for any sort of hope to be snuffed out. By this afternoon the evidence has become overwhelming that the year of our Lord, 2017 will be just as rotten and deadly, if not more so, than 2016.
Earlier today, Vox.com reported that on January 1, 2017, 210 Americans were shot, not in acts of terror, or war, but just because they could. 64 of them were killed and 146 wounded. 24 shootings occurred in both Chicago and Jacksonville, FL. There were seven acts of gun violence in New York City, six each in Baltimore and Buffalo, and five in Cleveland and Indianapolis.
That's right, nothing says happy new year in a free country quite like a never ending maelstrom of blazing guns.
As of this morning Vox reports there have more than 500 shootings nationwide. The number of dead has risen to 113, while 288 people have been wounded. Six of those killed were aged 11 and under and 28 were in their teens.
It would appear the whole, "If only more law abiding people have guns there will be less gun violence," line laid on us by the cranks at the NRA really isn't working out. Of course that isn't going to stop them from using it. We could lose a million fellow citizens a year to gun violence and those evil wankers would still claim more people need to carry guns.
It is a philosophy that flies in the face of not just science and statistics, but history. Let's see, just how did Wyatt Earp and other hard nosed lawmen of the old west curb gun play in places like Dodge City? Why, believe it, or not they enacted draconian gun control measures by making it illegal to carry firearms inside the city limits of their burgs. They enforced the restrictions with zeal and on occasion, a touch of police brutality. The trail hands and pistoleros might not have liked it, but they complied without whining to some federal court about constitutional rights. In the end, as a result of measures the modern NRA would howl to the moon about, murder rates plummeted.
Listen, if it was good enough for 'ol Wyatt it should be good enough for us.
Meanwhile, proving you don't necessarily need to have a gun in order to perpetrate savagery, Chicago police announced they will charge four teenagers in connection with the kidnapping and torture of a suburban man. The unidentified victim was reported missing late Monday night. He was found wandering around, dazed and bleeding on Tuesday.
This being the 21st century, one of the little beasts streamed 30 minutes of the unabashed sadistic brutality their captive was subjected to live on Facebook. The video was then--you guessed it--immediately uploaded to YouTube.
During the gruesome attack, which has been described as "barbaric behavior," by Black Lives Matter, the African American suspects called their victim, who was white, things like, "a goof ass white man," and added such bon mots as, "Fuck Donald Trump," and, "Fuck white people."
Police arrested the four on an unrelated assault hours after they had let the kidnapped man go. The cops were able to connect them to the initial crime because--hey--when you post images of your pals committing a felony on social media using your online account, it doesn't take a CSI lab to figure out who did it.
The accused are all 18 years old and presumably will be tried as adults. The victim has been described as having, "mental health challenges." The police are still trying to decide whether to classify the horror as a hate crime.
Yes, the prospects for a better year lasted slightly less than a day. Considering what has happened since and what is going to transpire soon, perhaps we should be thankful for even those scant few hours.
Indeed, these days it is best to take what we can get, no matter how fleeting.
sic vita est
1-5-17
LXVII
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