March 6, 2024

Smother the Hornet

[Reposting this in the clear as my original was a buried reply in another thread and it sums up my feelings about current politics]
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218749173

The MAGAs want to actually "Make America Racist Again"

So many people want to blame any problem in America and their own personal issues on a scapegoat rather than take responsibility to make a change. It's immigrants "takin our jerbs!" and minorities "sucking up government assistance" that makes things hard for blue-collars, not that they won't support union reform or fixing the problems so there's something for everyone.

Many Americans of past generations and new ones through learned behavior, sadly, have always been closet racists and/or xenophobes. Trump gave them permission to say the quiet part out loud again and they don't want to go back. These are the people who will overlook any wrongdoing by a candidate just because that message aligns with their sad fears. And these chosen scapegoats are groups that bigots already hold disdain for: minorities, immigrants, LGBTQIA2S+, etc. They would be more than happy to just eliminate these groups, though doing so would not improve life, and likely would degrade it. That 33% support for Trump that seems unshakable are those people and nothing is going to change their minds.

I've always held the position that conservativism is the politics of exclusion and liberalism is the politics of inclusion. Democrats want to create change and make sure everyone can subsist and have a decent life. Republicans want to blame someone or something else that is keeping them from making the changes and take resources and rights away from the people they feel unworthy to allegedly reserve them for (white/straight/cis) 'Muricans when the truth is everyone has to give something to get something else in return.

It's easier (both politically and personally) to blame all problems on something that's allegedly preventing beneficial change than to actually buckle down and take responsibility to make the changes that benefit everyone - which is what Joe Biden (who has evolved his philosophies over the years as things change) believes in - compromise for everyone. This was exactly proven when Trump managed to scuttle a border deal that was more than the Democrats wanted and much that the Republicans did want because it would eliminate a scapegoat the rightwing could campaign and complain about.

This is exactly spelled out in Wicked, both the musical, upcoming movie, and the source novel - which is actually a reactionary political parable of the Bush era but still holds true today: "Elphaba – when I first got here, there was discord and discontent. And where I come from, everyone knows: the best way to bring folks together, is to give them a really good enemy." That's the quickest and easiest way, but not the right way - by "othering" a group and saying "all your problems will go away if we eliminate these people." These groups were never a problem before Trump stirred up a hornet's nest of racism and bigotry.

This is the one thing Donald Trump believes in: Keep people mad, and keep telling people he's the only person who can fix it when the truth is we all need to fix it. He's got his devoted 33% and we need to ensure enough people vote that the 33% doesn't statistically become 51%+ at the voting booth via ignorance nor apathy. The electoral college can easily steal the popular vote from a Democrat unless rational people swarm the polls like honeybees to overwhelm an invading hornet, which happened in 2020 and we need to do it again harder this year so even if they twiddle the numbers and scream about election fraud, like 2020 it will never be enough to actually overturn a valid election in their favor.

December 23, 2018

Christmas Outtakes with the Obamas! (Twitter video)

I love Barack's nerdy laugh at the beginning and Michelle's lovingly-thrown shade!
https://twitter.com/The_UnSilent_/status/1076294766550237184

June 27, 2018

That'll do, Turtle.

Mitch McConnell has forever altered the judicial landscape in the evilest bit of political underhand ever - by refusing to allow Congress to consider Obama's SC nomination despite having nearly a year left in his term.

Having cemented his place in history as 45's Iago, with a recent series of 5/4 split decisions in favor of the president, McConnell can now die a happy man,

Except when he gets to the River Styx Ferry crossing:

"All aboard! Oh, no Mitch, that seat is reserved and we have to hold it open. There will be another boat soon."

"All aboard! Aw, gee, sorry Mitch, it happened again! Yeah, I know it's really sweltering on the bank today. Hopefully, there will be an open seat on the next one. What? no, Mr. Ryan, you can't give up your seat, there's a whole squad of demons already greased up waiting for you."

"All abo-- No, Mr, McConnell, that seat is still not available and that guy still hasn't shown up yet. No, I don't know...it says Kelly-Something or Anne-Something, can't quite read-- Can we get you a tall glass of vinegar to sip while you're waiting? Oh, you've already got one--don't hesitate to call for a refill!"

February 22, 2018

I need to get some stuff off my chest. (Guns-n-Laws)

When 45 goes out of his way to extol an entity or person, they usually turn out they have some major malfunction. Yay, NRA, for your "get".

AR-15s. Gun fans are arguing they are "not assault weapons." This is a semantical argument. My question is "why do you need these"? They're not a hunting rifle, they're not used by the military. True hunters fire one or two shots at a time and intend to kill their target with minimal damage hunting for sport or meat. The AR has a high capacity, high rate of fire, and is designed to mangle multiple targets to decrease survivability. The only "hunting" scenario for its use would seem when facing an advancing wildebeest stampede or an attacking herd of moose or bear. It's not a stealth weapon; it is a civilian war weapon the military won't use.

In a mass-shooter/massacre situation, a standard sidearm would still do damage, but at a much slower fire rate with necessary reloads, and victims have a higher chance of surviving a standard bullet wound than a tumbling round from the AR that rips flesh and maximizes bleeding. The only point of an AR-15 is to cut through hordes of living people, or perhaps dead people in a zombie apocalypse. And it probably gives gun nuts the "cool" factor they want, knowing they're ready when the government invades their compound.

I'm not a gun expert, so usually, the rebuttal I get when expressing this is that since I 'don't know what I'm talking about' I shouldn't have an opinion. I have an opinion whether I, my loved ones and other loved ones are shot. I don't care whether it's an assault weapon or not. Massacres are done at distance and with the intention of killing large groups in spectacular fashion with minimal danger to the shooter (witness: Vegas - the Vegas shooter likely could not have killed and injured so many people from that anonymous distance with a handgun or even a rifle that requires reloading.)

No, cars are not the same thing as guns; cars have a nonlethal purpose. But yes, we can certainly pass laws to register guns exactly as we do cars, which similarly are dangerous in the wrong hands and require training and classes to be licensed to operate. Just because you have a 'right to bear arms' does not mean the government cannot restrict the right to how much firepower a civilian needs to have at one time, and cannot require a registration fee to own. "Driving is not a right but guns are..." yeah, whatever, learn history and learn that technology and advancing culture necessitates modification to laws. There is a Constitutional amendment process because the Founding Fathers likely could foresee exactly this sort of situation.

Keep your handguns and your single-fire rifles and shotguns. Protect your family if you live in the remote area near bears or from a home invader. If you need to fire more than six times, you're doing it wrong.

I am incensed when gun fans interpret the 2nd amendment to mean they should be allowed to own any gun, any number of guns, any military weapon of mass destruction, and that's the first theorem in the geometry of gun-control. "People are allowed to have guns, so there will be school shootings and teachers need to be armed in case." That's not a world we want to live in. They neglect to understand removing guns from both sides balances the equation. Teachers don't need guns if the shooter can't get guns, or at least can't get a gun that optimizes their kill rate.

The NRA needs to shape up and become a society that provides actual safety classes and gun reforms, not a corporation who wants to sell a product. Otherwise, I have no problem passing a specific law banning them from donating to politicians and lobbying on Capitol Hill for their continued disregard of public safety by hindering laws that would keep people safer.

June 19, 2017

Crossing "Bottom of the Ocean" off places to visit...

The bottom of the ocean is full of Lovecraftian HR Giger horror!

I mean SERIOUSLY.

Sea spider???


...uses its perfectly arranged teeth to take “cookie sized” chunks out of its prey which includes bigger fish, whales and sometimes humans WHAT.


"Flesh eating crustacean"


WTabsoluteF ?



Okay, this one is from a Cthulhu art book, but you believed it for a second, didn't you, after seeing all the real ones???

May 22, 2017

With apologies to Tim Rice...

Donald got a royal greet from the Saudis
He trumped off the plane all ready to go
We just really wish he wouldn’t curtsy so low
he taught Islamic folks a lot about Islam
But he couldn’t get a breath in the arid, desert clime!

Salman's rain of cash is why you're in business:
Ivanka got some millions for a bank account
A hundred million should be a sufficient amount
But more important, purpose of that glowing orb is?
You're summoning up Nixon and HITLER? Holy shit!

Let’s hear it for the Rainbow Tour!
It’s been an incredible success.
We weren’t quite sure,
We had a few doubts;
Would the Donald win through?
And the answer is—
--a qualified--

There we go, I told you so!
It makes a difference where we go!
Just turn your cable from fake news
I'll do the same thing with the Jews!
And who could underestimate
The Donald now?
Seriously? CNN? Failing Washington Post? Golf Digest?

No one is underestimating you!
Just do the same thing in Israel please!?...

April 21, 2017

From FB: "How did you suffer?" (good reference list)

My friend forwarded this to me on FB, and I had been looking for a compiled list of responses for when people say Obama "ruined" the country. I thought this explained it very well, and could be referred to when challenged for "reasons" to justify support of the previous administration.

I have had some of my conservative friends talk about "suffering" under Obama and I have heard them take the position that those of us who did not support Trump should be prepared to "suffer" like they did. Notwithstanding that you can in no way compare Trump's behavior to anyone else, I find this to be a most excellent response:
When a Facebook friend said to him, "We suffered for 8 years. Now it’s your turn.” Here's the cogent reply from one Scott Mednick:
*****
I am surprised you would wish suffering upon me. That of course is your right, I suppose. I do not wish harm on anyone. Your statement seems to continue an ‘US v THEM’ mentality. The election is over. It is important to get past campaigning and campaign rhetoric and get down to what is uniting not dividing and what is best for ALL Americans.
There will never be a President who does everything to everyone’s liking. There are things President Obama (and President Clinton) did that I do not like and conversely there are things I can point to that the Presidents Bush did that I agree with. So I am not 100% in lock step with the outgoing President but have supported him and the overall job he did.
And, if you recall, during the Presidential Campaign back in 2008 the campaign was halted because of the "historic crisis in our financial system." Wall Street bailout negotiations intervened in the election process. The very sobering reality was that there likely could be a Depression and the world financial markets could collapse.
The United States was losing 800,000 jobs a month and was poised to lose at least 10 million jobs the first year once the new President took office. We were in an economic freefall. So let us recall that ALL of America was suffering terribly at the beginning of Obama’s Presidency.
But I wanted to look back over the last 8 years and ask you a few questions. Since much of the rhetoric before Obama was elected was that he would impose Sharia Law, Take Away Your Guns, Create Death Panels, Destroy the Economy, Impose Socialism and, since you will agree that NONE of this came to pass,
I was wondering:
Why have you suffered so?
So let me ask:
Gays and Lesbians can now marry and enjoy the benefits they had been deprived of. Has this caused your suffering?
When Obama took office, the Dow was 6,626. Now it is 19,875. Has this caused your suffering?
We had 82 straight months of private sector job growth - the longest streak in the history of the United States. Has this caused your suffering?
Especially considering where the economy was when he took over, an amazing 11.3 million new jobs were created under President Obama (far more than President Bush). Has this caused your suffering?
Obama has taken Unemployment from 10% down to 4.7%. Has this caused your suffering?
Homelessness among US Veterans has dropped by half. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama shut down the US secret overseas prisons. Has this caused your suffering?
President Obama has created a policy for the families of fallen soldiers to have their travel paid for to be there when remains are flown home. Has this caused your suffering?
We landed a rover on Mars. Has this caused your suffering?
He passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Has this caused your suffering?
Uninsured adults has decreased to below 10%: 90% of adults are insured - an increase of 20 million adults. Has this caused your suffering?
People are now covered for pre-existing conditions. Has this caused your suffering?
Insurance Premiums increased an average of $4,677 from 2002-2008, an increase of 58% under Bush. The growth of these insurance premiums has gone up $4,145 – a slower rate of increase. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama added billions of dollars to mental health care for our Veterans. Has this caused your suffering?
Consumer confidence has gone from 37.7 to 98.1 during Obama’s tenure. Has this caused your suffering?
He passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Has this caused your suffering?
His bi-annual Nuclear Summit convinced 16 countries to give up and destroy all their loose nuclear material so it could not be stolen. Has this caused your suffering?
He saved the US Auto industry. American cars sold at the beginning of his term were 10.4M and upon his exit 17.5M. Has this caused your suffering?
The deficit as a percentage of the GDP has gone from 9.8% to 3.2%. Has this caused your suffering?
The deficit itself was cut by $800 billion dollars. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama preserved the middle class tax cuts. Has this caused your suffering?
Obama banned solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons. Has this caused your suffering?
He signed credit card reform so that rates could not be raised without you being notified. Has this caused your suffering?
He outlawed Government contractors from discriminating against LGBT persons. Has this caused your suffering?
He doubled Pell Grants. Has this caused your suffering?
Abortion is down. Has this caused your suffering?
Violent crime is down. Has this caused your suffering?
He overturned the scientific ban on stem cell research. Has this caused your suffering?
He protected Net Neutrality. Has this caused your suffering?
Obamacare has extended the life of the Medicare insurance trust fund (will be solvent until 2030). Has this caused your suffering?
President Obama repealed "Don't Ask Don't Tell." Has this caused your suffering?
He banned torture. Has this caused your suffering?
He negotiated with Syria to give up its chemical weapons and they were destroyed. Has this caused your suffering?
Solar and Wind Power are at an all time high. Has this caused your suffering?
High School Graduation rates hit 83% - an all-time high. Has this caused your suffering?
Corporate profits are up by 144%. Has this caused your suffering?
He normalized relations with Cuba. Has this caused your suffering?
Reliance on foreign oil is at a 40-year low. Has this caused your suffering?
US Exports are up 28%. Has this caused your suffering?
He appointed the most diverse cabinet ever. Has this caused your suffering?
He reduced the number of troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Has this caused your suffering?
Yes, he killed Osama Bin Laden and retrieved all the documents in his possession for analysis. Perhaps THIS caused your suffering?
From an objective standpoint it would appear that the last 8 years have seen some great progress and we were saved from a financial collapse. Things are not perfect. Things can always be better. We are on much better footing now than we were in 2008.
I look forward to understanding what caused you to suffer so much under Obama these last eight years.

February 15, 2017

Russian influence is like the Zombie Virus

Back in the day, the rightwingers all had hard-ons for the 24 scenario: a common dramatic situation on the Kiefer Sutherland drama. If you're holding a terrorist who knows about a ticking bomb that will undoubtedly kill scores of people, is it a valid strategy to torture the suspect to reveal the information to stop the bomb and save people?

This scenario is a movie plot; a straw-man sort of thing that probably would never happen in reality the way it does on a fictional TV show. However, many of them liked to float this situation to convince people that routine torture of suspected terrorists was justified.

In my opinion, this Russian influence thing parallels another TV show: The Walking Dead. On that show, it's a routine practice to terminate individuals infected with the zombie virus who will invariably turn into a zombie themselves. It's done before the infection peaks as a "mercy kill" so the victim won't experience the terror of becoming a zombie, and for safety; putting the victim down before they turn and become a dangerous threat is a cold reality in the fiction of the show. Many characters accept that with no cure, this is the smartest move for healthy survivors, and accept it bravely.

Just like 24, Russian influence was an almost unbelievable scenario, but the reality has become clear: Flynn was "infected", and yet the Administration wants to perceive his resignation as the solution and resolution to the entire crisis, dust their hands "problem solved!" and go on like no big deal. This is akin to cutting off a zombie-bitten arm in hopes the virus doesn't continue to spread throughout the body. In zombie shows, this almost never works as the tragic characters expect, and often leads to a future catastrophe that plays out in the worst possible way. The type of "infection" that the potential Russian influence apparently posed to our election (and now our government) does not exist in a vacuum. It's a virus that spreads and offers no benefit to its perpetraitors unless there is collusion.

More of our elected civil servants are infected, and may be unwittingly more dangerous than they realize; they "don't remember" speaking to Russian personnel who neglected to wear their "Hello! I am a counterintelligence Spy!" badge or interacted with foreign entities in an unassuming manner where they themselves don't realize exactly how they've been compromised. The only sure thing for the safety of our government is to make sure every single person who risks continuing the taint of Russia's meddling with our political body from the inside is to purge absolutely everyone who could possibly be affected. It's a rough idea, and a hard one to swallow, but it's the only way to keep our democracy and our government healthy and not just existing as dead meat.

January 3, 2017

"But...don't you want to support the President for the good of the country?"

What example do I have to follow? The Republicans didn’t want Obama to be a great President; they succeeded in obstructing a good deal of his agenda, then when he managed to take a giant (if not perfect) step forward in providing healthcare for Americans who didn’t have it, they spent $87 million dollars petulantly trying to vote to repeal it over fifty times.

They stole a Supreme Court nomination from him by not even voting on his completely reasonable nominee. During his term. For a year.

Republicans gleefully frame the Obama years as a complete failure; an outright string of lies that serves to set the bar low as possible for the inevitable next Republican President.

And then they give us Donald Trump, who won the election despite being the most inappropriate candidate qualification-wise, and a reprehensibly spoiled, narcissistic, antipathic human being in general, who bullied his way into the nomination. For doing so, they win both houses and complete control of the government.

Cooperation with the opposing party is apparently not how you win elections. “Let’s come together in our desire to destroy all the progress we’ve made in the 20th century” is not an acceptable olive branch.

No. I don’t want to support Trump and his policies, and by proxy the Republican agenda in any way. The Republicans have shown us that you don’t support a President who isn’t from your party even when they desire to move humanity forward. If they state the sky is blue, you engage in 24-hour news-channel propaganda to flood the concept that their truth is a lie. You sabotage them via obstruction, outright lies, and throwing broken glass in the path of every piece of legislation that benefits their agenda. Their agenda is screwing America for the benefit of the rich and privileged. My preferred agenda is improving the quality of life for all.

I’d be sullenly relieved to be proven wrong if America thrives in the next four years in some strange reverse-psychology ploy, but I’m not going to give Trump or his ilk any help or support with their blatantly inhumanitarian goals and methods that I disagree with "for the good of the country".

The Republicans have taught me that's how you win.

December 10, 2016

Regarding Trump's disaffection for security briefings:

From Politico:

The expectation is that Trump will prefer bullet points to paragraphs, and headlines to details. Said Priess: "I would ask the president-elect directly: In what format would you like it? We can brief it to you. We can write it for you. We can do interpretive dance if you want. Just tell us."

I had to laugh forehead-down on my desk at the scenario of Trump in the Oval like Jabba the Hutt commanding SEND IN THE DANCERS and a line of business suited men and women and percussionists running in and assuming Martha Graham poses as they wait for the music to start.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-intelligence-community-232463