Quick Holiday Edition: Not Exactly Trump Free
September 4, 2017
Lazy without justification
Happy Labor Day
Got no time to think today
Summer’s nearly gone
All I got’s a fantasy
Conviction of the con
Hope springs eternal
It’s been three-hundred days since the hacked election and the republic still stands.
Good job,
osv
Not About Training
September 1, 2017
Wary
This won’t be about the Donald, more about Donald symptoms.
Back in July there was a car wreck in Salt Lake City; a badly hurt driver was taken to the hospital, unconscious. Once the patient arrived in the ER receiving area, a cop approached the attending nurse and asked her to take a blood sample; the nurse, following procedure, asked if the patient was under arrest. He wasn’t, so she asked for a warrant. (By law, she needs consent or a warrant if there’s no arrest. The patient was unconscious, so couldn’t grant permission. Hence, need warrant.)
The cop insisted. So, she called her supervisor – who also told the cop no. So, the cop physically assaulted and arrested the nurse. He claimed to have “implied consent” (there’s no such thing) and said she was obstructing. He roughly seized her, spun her around, cuffed her and took her to the cop shop. The whole thing’s recorded and on the web.
The nurse, of course, was later released without charges. She did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact, she tried to adhere to the law, while the cop wanted to ignore the law because it was inconvenient. (Sound like anyone we know?)
In keeping with Trump’s America, the cop’s still working, though his blood sample duties have been suspended, pending investigation. Apparently, he was trained for special blood gathering duties, but must have missed the part about not assaulting nurses.
So much for training…
A couple days ago we heard a cop assure a frightened woman, who he had pulled over on a traffic violation, not to worry because, “We only shoot black people.” Later, his police department took him off duty and promised to consider better training.
Going back a month or so, we were treated to the story of a cop shooting and killing the woman who called him to report a possible sexual assault. Once again, his police department took him off duty and promised to consider better training.
Yeah, I know. If I look up and take notice, I find that black people get gunned down by police all the time – it’s SOP. And every time it gets noticed some police chief, mayor, or candidate talks “training”.
But the tough guy who pushed around the nurse was trained and certified to collect blood. The trigger-happy patrolman who shot the unarmed woman who called him for help was the result of training. The officer who offered “we only shoot blacks” as assurance, probably requires more than sensitivity training.
Perhaps, before we pay to train anyone to police us it would be prudent to test for psychological suitability – some people should not be allowed to wield power over others. (Just look at the Donald.)
Additionally, perhaps intelligence testing would be good. Let’s face it, some people aren’t smart enough to wield power. (Once again, the Donald is an excellent example.)
Moving forward, we’re going to need a smart well intended police force – not soldiers (and certainly not the Donald).
Over these last two-hundred-ninety-seven post-election days it seems like some war on the population has escalated. Perhaps at one time they only targeted black people, but lately, under Trump, white women have been added to the list. The republic wonders: who next?
First they came for the Socialists,
osv
So Damned Angry
April 22, 2017
I am angry, have been for the last one-hundred-sixty-five days – since the fake election. Angry that the Donald has been forcibly injected into my life by a coalition of American and Russian idiot tribes. Before the 2016 campaign, I conducted a Trump-free life – didn’t read about him, didn’t watch his crappy TV show, didn’t stay in his tacky hotels; it’s was a better time. And it’s gone now, because of a bunch of dumb-asses.
Dumb-asses who couldn’t see enough difference between Clinton and Trump to make it worth voting. If you didn’t vote, please stop reading this and go to your holy man, shrink or whomever you go to for soul maintenance and ask for help. Perhaps, you thought Trump wouldn’t affect you? Well, you’ll think again when he starts charging you to pay his companies to build a huge beautiful wall.
And when he does build his wall, how long until he privatizes it? A good con: first, trick the mark into paying for something they don’t need. Then, complete the con by shifting ownership to owners you own. Watch for it.
Pisses me off.
Frankly, it’s way too early to embrace the notion that we need to embrace Trump supporters because they have real problems and felt ignored. Really? Everyone has real problems and feels ignored – except for the Donald, who has imaginary problems, but does feels ignored.
Once again dumb-asses; if people think Trump can roll back the clock and bring back all those great manufacturing jobs they be dumb-asses. China has cheap property, cheaper labor and, fucking factories that manufacture factories. They learned capitalism from us; those jobs are staying there for a long time.
If you worship capitalism, don’t be surprised when your consumption becomes a sacrament. It’s just the way it works, dumb-ass. (Not you, gentle reader; was ranting at dumb-ass Trump loyalist. This seems to be getting away from me – like a Navy carrier strike group, if you know what I mean.)
And that’s where the anger stops… and something new begins. Strike groups, missiles, a raving lunatic in charge – no, not new. This feels old, familiar. Something from back during the cold-war, resigned fear. Yeah, hello darkness my old friend.
The republic apologies for dragging you down an angry path only to plagiarize the conclusion from Paul Simon. I suspect I need more music and less Donald in my diet. How about you?
In Peace and Justice
osv
Same Old, Same Old
April 15, 2017
Not much’s been going on this week; just the usual hi-jinks. The Donald made another “counter-intuitive” appointment, naming Stephen Miller as Ivanka’s new playmate on women’s issues. This new guy, of course, has a history of fighting feminist issues and while Stephen is best known as a gender pay gap denier, we should not overlook his anti-maternity-leave position – he’s the whole package. It should be interesting to see how he fares, working for the princess.
Let see, FOX News had to bench O’Reilly. So, now we know how much they are willing to spend to pay-off sexual harassment suits – 13 million and not a penny more. Unfortunately, taking Bill off the air just solves the O’Reilly sexual harassment at Fox problem; it doesn’t solve the O’Reilly the sexual harasser problem. Why isn’t this pompous ass in jail like any other sexual predator? If I didn’t know better, I’d think equal protection under the law is a myth.
What else… Oh yeah, in an act of political gymnastics generally reserved for characters in Russian novels, Trump managed to take credit for, but hand off responsibility for, dropping the biggest non-nuclear bomb ever devised on Afghanistan.
The blast was so loud they heard it in North Korea; In response, Kim Jong-un, has built up troops along South Korean border, waved around a few missiles and said, “The Trump administration’s serious military hysteria had reached a dangerous phase which can no longer be overlooked”. It’s a sure sign we’ve stepped through the looking glass when dictator Kim starts making sense.
Moving on, Trump voters have begun to display some buyer’s remorse, but even when he threatens their health insurance, deports their (he’s one of the good ones) husbands and drags us into wars they continue to support him. I’ve come to suspect Trump isn’t a political movement, he’s a religion.
Oh, and Sean Spicer had to report in to the Navy to fulfill his reserve obligation. Can we expect to see him assigned to the Persian Gulf or maybe the Sea of Japan, off the Korean coastline? Just wondering, since we seem to have so many ships parked in that area.
The Trump-Russian investigations continue, but news from those venues has been largely overwhelmed by bombs and saber rattling.
Nepotism, conflict of interest and long golf weekends prevail.
Resistance continues.
After one-hundred-fifty-eight day of post-election Trump immersion, this is is what passes for normal. The republic still stands, but sports a very different look.
In Peace and Justice,
osv
Leaks Like a Pipeline
February 28, 2017
Tonight, one-hundred-twelve days after proving any fool can be elected president, the Donald will address congress. The press, ever hopeful, expect him to talk about his agenda for America – concentrating on a wartime budget that spends more on the military and less on the State Department. They look forward to traditionally forward looking speech. Silly hey?
I don’t see Trump talking about anything other than himself; it’s gonna be an hour, maybe more, of self-praise and critic-bullying. You know, classic Trump.
The whitehouse.gov website says the Donald, “will continue to lay out his agenda to Make America Great Again”, but, offers no detail. Instead, it quickly moves on to listing accomplishments like reviving Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines and eliminating the “Stream Protection Rule.”
Great, but we already knew about the Donald’s undeclared war on the environment. I was hoping for some hint of what’s to come.
But apparently, neither mainstream media nor the government can provide any early insight into tonight’s monologue; I guess we’ll just have to wait for the speech. Unless, of course, something leaks.
After all, there have been lots of interesting leaks. They’ve been like melodies playing counterpoint to the monotonous drone of white noise we hear from the failing White House. Without leaks we wouldn’t know about the Putin, Trump, big oil love triangle. Without leaks we wouldn’t know about Trump’s taste for the exotic in the boudoir or about his crotch entitlement.
Without leaks we wouldn’t know that Sean Spicer, in a gestapo like maneuver, forced White House communication staff to dump their smart phone’s data to allow his goons to examine it for evidence of leaking. This story about leak prevention was leaked before Sean had a chance to leak an alternative story about how the leaks were now under control. (Whee! Like I’ve said before these guys are exhausting.)
I think it reasonable to expect the Donald to complain about leaks tonight. I suppose, like many of us, he struggles with the imperfection inherent in all complex systems – with the engineering principle that “plumbing leaks”. His bureaucracy will leak information, just as certainly as his pipelines will leak poison. It’s only a matter of when.
The republic expects the most dangerous leaks to occur outside of Washington.
In Peace and Justice,
osv
Political Playground Parsing
December 15, 2016
Gee, our national discussion on this thirty-seventh day seems louder and more confounding then ever. What with the Russian election interference, the Trump ethical issues and the blindingly while cabinet, we nearly missed Lyin’ Paul Ryan quietly sneaking up on Medicare and Social Security. Yup, the neo-cons are busy while the country is distracted with the Russians.
Who could have imagined a Republican-Russian alliance of convenience? Well, the Donald for one, Putin for another. The republic stands assaulted on fronts both foreign and domestic; greedy old white dudes lead the incursions, safely from the seats of power.
But, enough trying to speak poetically pretty, let’s move on to playground ugly. Political parsing is used so often by our politicians, pundits and media that we, seemingly, just accept it a part of the common grammar. While real grammar is meant to allow the combination of words into meaningful sentences, political parsing is meant to allow the combinations of words into meaningless sentences.
For instance, while driving my dog to school this morning (Yes, my dog goes to school – though I suspect he attends just to avoid getting a job.), I heard a news story about how the Russian interference in our election was now traceable to Putin. During the protracted (it was NPR) explanation the reporter drew a very fine (highly parsed) distinction of fact. He said, “We know Putin had a vendetta against Clinton and interfered to hurt her. But, we don’t know if Putin intended to help Trump.”
WTF, yes we do! In, what was really, a two-candidate race hurting one would, as a direct consequence, help the other. And there should be no need to point that out to a NPR reporter. That second sentence obfuscates meaning – intentionally.
We have been hearing shit like this for a while now. From the philosophical “depends on what the meaning of is is” to the in-your-face “Make America Great Again” politicians have always excelled at obfuscation. Hence, we filter what they say – assuming self-interest.
Let’s not forget, our media speak with self-interest as well. Fake news is pervasive because people really prefer to hear news they agree with. And it’s really tempting to feed that human desire. Even NPR, in weak moments, leans subtly in that direction.
Think critically, filter everything – including this!
That’s all I got today. Take care of yourselves and each other,
osv
Comrade Donald
December 13, 2016
Who would have thought on election day, a mere thirty-five days ago, the Electoral College would actually have a substantive part to play? Usually, it just rubber-stamps the states’ delegate counts, tallies things up and then tell us what we already knew. This year that constitutional detail promises to be a little more entertaining.
First, they would like to hear more from the CIA about comrade Trump’s special relationship with Vladimir Putin. The Electoral College is kind of old-school and insists that Presidents limit their bromances to American citizens. They are especially inflexible about presidential intimacy with foreign dictators. This inflexible is codified in the constitution. So, they need a better description of the Trump- Putin relation than “It’s Complicated”.
The College would also like to hear about why the FBI had their hand in the elective cookie jar. While this inquiry does not involve a foreign despot (rather a domestic despot) and has less constitution weight, it does seem a question worth asking.
Who would have guessed the republic would be standing on an “outdated” constitutional construct? Perhaps, the founders were smarter than we give them credit for; I sure hope so.
The Donald, of course, is having a Twitter fit. Beyond the usual broad-stroke attacks on the press, the CIA and the Clintons, he has thrown up a cyber-smokescreen of vicious attacks on whatever comes to mind. He’s attacking defense contractors, union heads and private citizen – we can expect him to continue the random bombardment, hoping something sticks.
Very much like dealing with a pre-adolescent throwing a tantrum, we need to learn to ignore him – while keeping a watchful eye. Don’t let him control the conversation; instead keep focused on how to rid our culture of the parasite. When he yells out, “They might be human, we just don’t know!” about any population group, we need to take note, then move back to working on dumping him.
“Dump Trump!” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Let’s focus on that.
Besides, if we spend our time listening to one another rather than listening to the Donald, just think how much healthier we’ll become.
That’s all I got today. Take care of yourselves and each other,
osv
Manchurian Candidate
December 12, 2016
In the first thirty-four days since the election we’ve seen many historical firsts. The first winner to have lost by over two million votes, first victor to complain about election fraud, first president-elect to publicly contradict the CIA, first president-elect too smart to be bothered with daily security briefings. The list goes on…
Since the Donald was hired for his capricious style, we should expect the unexpected. There is no question that outrageous declarations, selecting wolfs to guard henhouses and ignoring diplomatic protocols are all typical Trump behavior. Perhaps, a more interesting question is: hired by whom?
Our security agencies are screaming foul, the FBI loyalties remain in question, the integrity of the election is in serious doubt, but the republic stands – because, for now, we have a real president.
At first, I wondered why the Donald-elect wasn’t attending the daily security briefings. He didn’t want the real dirt? About real people, in real places? With that kind of info a guy could make a few bucks. Seemed like the kind of thing he would be interested in.
Then the Donald-elect announced that his generals and the VP would be taking the daily briefings for him. (Hearing Trump say, “My Generals” sent a chill up my spine, but reminded me add ammo to my shopping list.) So I get it, Trump has a famously short attention span – so stuff like security detail is best left to those with more rigorous cognitive skills. In sort, Trump finds it boring; so, handle it Pence!
Yeah, but that information has got to be gold! Got to be worth some real cash! Why would he ignore the very best information the United States intelligence had to offer? Then it occurred to me, and the reason was as obvious as a Russian tank in downtown DC.
Trump is taking security briefing, just not ours.
Hell, those CIA and NSA reports have got to be really difficult reading – packed with jargon, unpronounceable names and hundreds, maybe thousands, of plot threads. How could they expect a “Big Picture” guy the Donald to hook up with such trivia? Not fair!
Ah, but the Russian, who have been working with him since the beginning of his campaign, know just how to communicate with Trump. They know he likes short simple declarative sentences. They know to avoid interrogatives, because questions make his head hurt. Statements like, “Crimea good, Ukraine bad!” or “Syria good, Israel bad” work best with the comrad Donald. And his Russians friend are good at keeping it simple.
Hmm, seem to have gone down a dark rabbit-hole again. I feel an angry little poem coming on:
nonbeliever prayer
if there is a god
may she keep us
safe from
this traitor
That’s all I got today. Take care of yourselves and each other,
osv
PSA
the following blog
contains decidedly inartful
imagery
while intended to
provoke could
offend
the sensitive
victim autocrat
i hope
Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain
December 11, 2016
For thirty-three days we’ve endured –Trump bully tweets, Trump Russian collusion, Trump handing off to Wall Street, Trump inspired white nationalists, Trump trolls yelling at us for not liking them. Trump, Trump, everywhere Trump. Like a consequence to a bad national one night stand, he has spread across our culture like a case of pre-penicillin syphilis. No longer limited to the private sectors, he now presents publicly orange and unsightly – yelling, “Look at me!”
Bent, but standing, like an infirmed patient, the republic does just that – looks at the Donald. We just can’t help it; medical drama is fascinating.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Republican microbes have been eating away everything they don’t believe in. And they don’t believe in much. Medicare, slash it; Social Security, cut it; Veteran benefits, fuck it – but, thanks for your service.
Remember all those pre-election Republicans who, for reasons of principle, just couldn’t support the Donald? Well, it turns out they can support him now. Yup, our Republican friends, currently out of the spotlight, are seizing the moment. While we stare at the Donald, they work to cut all those messy social programs and agencies. After all, they’re just living up to their conservative small government, less regulation, free market principles. Making America great again for all of us – right?
Wrong! Their principles lack any nuance beyond “Me first!” They didn’t support Trump before because they didn’t think he would win. Period! There were no other layers – no other reasoned thought. Now that, surprisingly, the they find themselves in power they’ll support whoever got them there.
Hell, they’re going to get to cut spending on social stuff, spend more on bombs and jails and, with the Donald leading the way, spend more on themselves. With conflict of interest a historical artifact and corruption institutionalized they’ll be free at last. Free at last.
While Trump promises moral and ethical damage to our national soul, the material damage will be affected by the soulless sycophants the follow power wherever it leads – like our the 115th congress majority.
That’s all I got today. Take care of yourselves and each other,
osv
safety pins
December 9, 2016
Hey, we’ve made it to the first day of the second month since the last American election. As we step through the Trump looking glass, reality continues to shift – certainly to the right, but mostly to the bizarre.
The new real world unfolds as scrolling cyber sentence fragments and photoshopped effigies offer only absurdity. Human thought, now reduced to meme, seems to accept fake news as the interesting narrative.
And why not? The fake news on my Facebook feed just offered both proof that Hillary is the leader of an alien invasion and suggested that hot chicks, in my neighborhood, were eager to talk with me.
Why, in my advanced years, I would want to talk with a bunch of anonymous hot chicks is beyond me. But, that Hillary alien invader story seems oddly compelling. I suspect the Trump effect has turned my brain to mush.
While the republic still stands, it babbles incoherently.
But, enough about our mental health, let’s talk about safety pins…
One positive response to that event last month is the “You are safe with me” safety pin meme. (Like I said, we now think in meme. Sigh.) The meme has grown into something of a movement with people conspicuously wearing pins to symbolize everything from protest to the Trump take over to actual real world support for the marginalized. Like most progressive movements, the Safety Pin thing is a loosely defined sign of solidarity.
To quote a #SafetyPin tweet, “My #SafetyPin shows I will protect those who feel in danger bc of gender, sexuality, race, disability, religion, etc. You are safe with me”
This movement, of course, has created reactions from both sides of the political playpen. The mainstream media have (disingenuously) asked, “Isn’t this just white guilt – an empty gesture?” The Trump trolls, of course, label it as scandalous disrespect for the Donald.
We need to recognize that both the media and the Trump assholes react the same to change. They both fear change and will act defensively when they encounter it. Both these group can’t stand it when shit happen without their permission. The media criticize because they want the attention themselves. The Trump asses attack because, well, they are asses.
Publicly labeling oneself as the “other” is risky and hardly empty. (Writing criticism of stuff you don’t understand is empty.) And we all have the right to peacefully protest any way we choose – respect is earned not assumed.
But be very careful out there. The Donald has given the trolls permission to come out and play. They will read the safety pin as a target. If something happens, chances are the press won’t notice – they’ll be too busy talking about themselves.
That’s all I got today. Take care of yourselves and each other,
osv
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