The Night It Seemed All Was Right With the Country

 What we witnessed last night during a COVID diminished joint session of Congress was a President delivering a Presidential address. The change in style, form, and content was jarringly different from what we have suffered through the last four years.

The bombast, the accusations, the ego driven nonsense, and the see through lies were all gone. When Joe Biden stood at the podium, backed for the first time in American history by a female speaker and Vice President, all seemed right with the country once again. 

Biden isn't a natural orator like Obama and certainly not on a par speaking wise with Jack Kennedy, but let's face it, Don Trump is a fairly easy act to follow. The stutter caught up with him two, or three times, but it never threw him off track. You could see him pause after those brief moments, gather himself, then carry on calmly with the tone of an elder statesman, rather than that of a carnival barker whipped up in a meth induced frenzy.

He explained what his administration had accomplished in its first 100 days without excessive hyperbole and outlined what he wanted to do sans apocalyptic bluster and grotesque oversell. In short, Mr. Biden spoke to us individually and the nation as a whole with dignity and humility. 

The reaction on the right bordered on stunned confusion. Ted Cruz, late of Cancun, seemed at times to be nodding off to sleep. At others, usually during the numerous rounds of applause, he glanced to his left, apparently shocked by the level of enthusiasm the President was generating. 

Mitch McConnell, the deposed king of the Senate. sat defensively. He steadfastly refused to applaud, even when Biden spoke about lowering child poverty by 50% and reducing the prices of prescription drugs for all Americans, including his own hard pressed constituents. He seemed made of stone, or salt, depending on your theological viewpoint.

Lauren Boebert, the mad Congresswoman from Colorado was much the same, although she managed to shake her head in disagreement when Biden touched on the epidemic of gun violence in America. In her defense she may have been depressed by the recently released video of the NRA's Wayne LaPierre's botched elephant hunt in Botswana. Not by the killing, of course, but by how it showed LaPierre is such a poor marksman that after three close range shots it was the guide who finally had to dispatch the poor beast.

This morning former Trump aide, Stephen Miller called Joe Biden's address, "lifeless." If by lifeless he meant the President didn't personally degrade political opponents by calling them derisive names, or otherwise make any statements the GOP could latch onto as outrageous, he was correct. Biden, among other things, didn't comment on the past election at all, or the insanity continuing in Arizona concerning the outcome in November. He even refused to tilt his head back, while thrusting out his chin like Miller's old boss had. It is a pose Donald Trump stole from the late, unlamented, Benito Mussolini. 

Trump himself made a call to Fox News, apparently because no one else will talk to him, whining about Biden not acknowledging his accomplishments. Yes, you can say many things about the former guy, but you'll never be able to deny he considers himself the most victimized man on the face of the planet.

A post speech national poll taken by CBS showed that 85% of the people who watched it approved of what Joe Biden said. That is a staggering number although in the past it has been proven most people watching a Presidential address are from his party. Still, a Reuters/IPSOS poll reveals Biden's approval rating 100 days in is at 55%, while 38% disapprove of the job he is doing. 

Finally, the really good news is there is a distinct feeling the Trump tsunami is ebbing, rolling back onto itself. Indeed, what republicans haven't seemed to grasp is the nation as a whole is tired of management by chaos and whim--that improv government doesn't work nearly as well as improv comedy.

Whatever the case, last night, Joe Biden proved he is the man America needs and, at least for the moment, the one it wants.

sic vita est

4-29-21

A Perfect Spring Day in Oklahoma City

 April 19th, 1995 fell on a Wednesday. On that day 26 years ago it was much like today in Oklahoma City. The sky was clear and so brilliantly blue it was if you could see all the way to God. The temperature, also like today, was mild enough for short sleeves. In other words it was shaping up to be a perfect spring day.

At around nine am however, all the perfection was shattered.

When the massive explosion ripped a huge chunk out of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building I was in Edmond, pulling out of a parking lot. I was driving a cab at the time while fielding a never ending stream of rejections for a novel I had written. The Yellow Cab dispatcher, who was located about 10 blocks north and one block west of the building, came on the radio. His exact words were, "What was that?" A split second later the sound of the blast rolled through. You felt it as much as heard it. The concussion set off car alarms throughout the parking lot. At that point I was about 11 miles north of downtown Oklahoma City.

I turned south onto what is still called the Broadway Extension. It's the highway which leads straight into downtown OKC from Edmond. A huge plume of smoke was rising over the skyline. My initial thought was that a plane had crashed in the middle the city. 

For reasons I'm not sure of I drove south to the 23rd St exit. By then every time the dispatcher came on the air his voice was nearly drowned out by sirens, what sounded like dozens and dozens of sirens. The state capitol complex, just east of 23rd and Broadway, had just ordered an emergency evacuation of all its workers. At the end of the off ramp I ran into what can best be described as traffic gridlock. 

The dispatcher said something about a gas line explosion. I wasn't convinced. Turning on the car's radio I found most of the rock and roll stations had hooked into TV feeds. The talking heads were babbling out of control. Confusion was rampant. No one knew what was going on, or what had actually happened. The word bomb would not be mentioned for another two, or so hours.

When it became obvious to everyone it was indeed a bomb rumors suddenly ran wild of a yet another device found in the remains of the Murrah building. A second panic ensued. Rescue workers were ordered off of the site, sometimes leaving survivors still half buried in the rubble. Local TV recorded scenes of people running through the streets like extras in a Godzilla movie. To this day no one knows who sounded the alert to a second bomb, which didn't exist.

Rescue squads returned later--some had refused to leave despite the threat of a second explosion--and continued to pull people from the building. That night a surgeon had to perform an emergency amputation of a woman's leg which was hopelessly trapped and mangled beneath a concrete slab. 

In all 168 people were officially listed as dead, including 19 babies and toddlers in a second floor daycare center. The body count might be off since there was a spare leg found on the street which didn't match any of the other victims, but no one wanted to pursue the matter.

The beast who drove the Ryder rental truck loaded with 50 gallon drums packed with Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel, then parked it directly in front of the building, was arrested the afternoon of the explosion. He was fleeing north on I-35 and was stopped by a Highway Patrol Trooper. The arrest charges had nothing to do with the bombing. His getaway vehicle didn't have a license plate and he was carrying a concealed weapon. 26 years later, thanks to the Oklahoma legislature the second charge would have been moot, because its now legal in Oklahoma for anyone to conceal and carry a weapon without any sort of license, or training.

Tim McVeigh was arrested by the FBI the next morning mere minutes before he walked out of the Noble County jail on bail. His bondsman was quoted that day as saying, "That boy needs a lawyer worse than anyone I've ever seen."

McVeigh got one, but it didn't do him any good. He was executed in June 2001. Less than three months after his death radical Islamic terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center Towers and another into the Pentagon. A fourth would plow into a field in Pennsylvania. Timothy McVeigh's act of terrorism paled in comparison both in its scope and number of casualties. Since then, outside of Oklahoma City, most American don't even remember him, or the horror of that day.

The shock felt on the 19th turned into a profound sense of violation for most residents of OKC by the next morning. It soon morphed to anger, then a desperate hunger for revenge. McVeigh's accomplice, Terry Nichols escaped the needle and is spending life in federal prison. When he was sentenced Oklahoma City howled for his blood.

All this happened a generation ago. But, as we've seen the Tim McVeighs are still with us. In fact, some of them are currently sitting in Congress.

As the green lady once said, "What a world, what a world."

4-19-21

The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time Syndrome

 So what is a 19 year old American kid to do when his Mom calls the authorities and tells them he has gone a little funny in the head? In March of last year that is exactly what Brandon Hole's mother did. She had become so concerned over her child's mental stability she believed he might pick up his pump action shotgun then in some way provoke the police into killing him. It's an act known as, "suicide by cop."

Her concerns were taken seriously. The FBI dropped by for a little chat with Brandon and shortly thereafter his shotgun was confiscated. At that point the state of Indiana had two weeks to prove in court young Mr. Hole was too bats to possess his weapon, or any other.

That is when things went awry. For one reason, or another the court hearing which would determine Brandon Hole's competency to own a firearm was never held. So even though the police hung onto the shotgun it remained perfectly legal for him to go out and buy another weapon of his choice.

Which exactly what he did--twice. Once was in last July, then he bought another in September. They were, of course, assault style rifles capable of far more efficient carnage than his shotgun.

Hole showed up Thursday at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis carrying them both. In the end he didn't wait for the cops to shoot him. He saved them a few bullets by blowing his own brains out, but only after he had killed eight innocent people simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

In the United States The Wrong Place, at the Wrong Time Syndrome has become an increasingly common cause of death. Currently the cure for it continues to elude us even though it is out there, right in front of us.

Yes, thanks to the legislative prowess of the gun fetish crowd this insane shit isn't going to stop. On Thursday in Indianapolis even their, "good guy with a gun," nonsense was proven just that. According to one survivor someone in the FedEx parking lot attempted an armed response to the attack. That person ended up becoming part of the body count.

There is some minor disagreement on what a mass shooting is, however most sources define it as four, or more victims excluding the perpetrator in the same approximate location around the same time. Through March of this year, according to Wikipedia, there have been 126 mass shootings in the United States. 148 people have been killed and another 485 wounded.

Indeed, the price of freedom , as they say, is high. 

Especially if you end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

4-18-21

Dick's Law

 Reality is just a point of view.

Author, Philip K. Dick

Phil Dick was a bit of a prophet. He keeled over from a stroke in early 1982 long before anyone outside of New York City knew about the ever shifting realities of Donald J. Trump, not to mention those of his avid devotees.

One can only imagine what the author of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" would say if he had to live with the QAnon culture and those who promote it. Let's face it, Big Don might be out of office, but he's not gone and neither are his somewhat mentally fractured followers.

Here are a few of the latest samples  of their realities to dwell on. (All spelling, grammar, and syntax are original from the authors.)

Shelly Leiter posted her take on a popular theme running through the twisted halls of Parler, "It's already been proven that the Democrats paid ANTIFA and BLM to infiltrate the peaceful Trump really"  (sic)

Of course one of the problems the ultra right has is they tend to turn on each other over purity issues. The wit named, Catturd writes, "If you don't know that Mitch McConnell is a scumbag, Deep State, POS - you're not listening."

Another common thread posted was under the heading, "Emergency Alert," because for some it probably is, "Presidential Alert: Just a friendly reminder that Trump is still your President."

Then there are the guns, always the guns. Murphycat 2012 warns, "Its known there are 20% up to 30%  leftist fucks infiltrated in the Military and who will cause FALSE FLAGS to make the dream of gungrab for the left make come true."

Catturd's take on the pandemic: "According to The Left...your immune system is now a conspiracy theory."

Returning to the whole stolen election thing, NeonRevolt says, "Hey Biden, God is giving you one last chance. Come out and admit before the entire world that the election was a fraud, who was involved, and that Trump was the real, legitimate winner. Do this, and history will look upon you more favorably."

As a follow up to that, JJ ofArk writes, "President Trump is popular all over the USA and that's why he won a second term."

And finally one, Albert Curtis gets to the heart of the matter without beating around the bush:"What is most important: The WHITE RACE! The White Race made MADE THE WESTERN WORLD! There is NO 'western world' full of MESTIZO and Black Engineers, Doctors and Philosophers! Equality? SHEEEIT...that is a patent LIE! Races are NOT EQUAL! Race is real! Race Matters! WHITE IS BEST!"

Who says the internet isn't great?

Yes, Phil Dick was right, he just never realized how right he would be.

*Note--These bon mots were originally gleaned from Parler then reposted by the Twitter user Patriot Takes. He keeps track of these horrifying rubes on a regular basis at, no doubt, great risk to both his health and sanity.

4-7-21