At times the weirdness piles up so quickly it is hard to keep track.
Much of it is minor league stuff. You know, like republican Senator Dan Coats showing up at the wrong committee meeting, sitting there for something like an hour, before being told by an aid he'd screwed up.
Other times it is a tad more malevolent. It appears the CIA set up a a Twitter like network in Cuba in order to foment political unrest to the point of revolution. The ultimate aim was to oust the government, which, as we all know, has been an on going project for over half a century. Like so many other attempts this one failed miserably. As bizarre and stupid as the plot sounds someone getting paid good money must have thought it would work. The Prime Minister of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan certainly thinks it could have. He was so enraged by the posts of political opponents on Twitter and YouTube, he banned both social media outlets in his country.
Then there is strange in an unsettling way. Today, George W. Bush recalled a couple of meetings with Vladimir Putin. The first was in Washington where Putin was introduced to Bush's dog, Barney. The second was in Russia where Putin dragged out his mutt and bragged to the president, "Bigger, stronger, and faster than Barney." Bush didn't mention if Vlad wanted to take the next logical step in this macho game of one-upmanship--which would have involved both leaders dropping their pants in order to compare the size of their penises. Odds are just that sort match up with the current U.S. president is in the works.
In Mississippi, incumbent republican Senator Tad Cochran is locked in a tight primary race with state Senator Chris McDaniel. McDaniel is a tea party guy who has been raking in contributions from groups like Club for Growth and Freedom Works. Both are ultra right wing slush funds aiming to buy senate seats from coast to coast.
The other day McDaniel was listed as the keynote speaker at something called, The Combined Firearm Freedom Day/Tea Party Music Festival. Unfortunately for him there was another list--one which let everyone know what vendors would be attending the gala event. One of them was, Pace Confederate Depot. They specialize in not only tea party gear, but white pride merchandise.
Establishment republicans, who are supporting Cochran, were quick to attack. The ensuing hubbub immediately caused McDaniel to go on the defensive. His people issued a statement saying the candidate had never agreed to attend the event and won't.
Well, not now anyway.
The GOP national organization is desperate to keep tea party loons from unseating incumbents like Cochran. That's because third rate Ted Cruz imitators don't do so hot in elections which include people other than republicans. In the last election cycle, the party of Herbert C. Hoover lost four winnable senate seats because rabid tea party types defeated more moderate candidates in the primaries, then got hammered in general elections.
Finally, there was more deadly business at Ft. Hood, TX. On Wednesday, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez became the latest name on the never ending roll call of American mass shooters. He brought an unregistered gun onto the base after an argument and began firing away at no one in particular and everyone in general. The army is still trying to figure out the reason--that would be besides the obvious one--which is their man was bats.
Lopez killed three and wounded 16 before blowing his brains out with a semi automatic hand gun. He had recently purchased the weapon at a Killeen, TX retail outlet named, "Guns Galore."
Those with good memories might recall Guns Galore is the same place which sold Nidal Hasan a FN 5-7 tactical pistol back in 2009. Major Hasan packed up 16 magazines with 460 rounds of ammo, then went a little funny in the head. Before he was shot by military police he killed 13 and wounded 31. He now resides on death row.
Hasan claims to have done it in defense of Islam. Lopez appears to have opened fire because, as his father grimly understated, "he must not have been in his right mind."
You think?
So there we have it--just another week here in the greater Twilight Zone metropolitan area we all call home.
Ladies and gentlemen, the bar is open.
4-4-14
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