Trump = Persistence

    Say what you will about the man (and there is PLENTY to say) but Donald Trump is persistent in a way Elizabeth Warren will never be.  After the feminist movement adopted the "Nevertheless, She Persisted" tagline as their rallying cry du jour, over Warren being "honey... hushed" in the Senate back in 2017, the phrase seems more appropriate when applied to Trump.  The man is a lightning rod.  Love him or hate him... he stays on the world stage; drawing and channeling the electric-like current of public discourse to and through him like a Tesla coil.  

    There are many who wish he would be sent to prison or be shamed into retreating into obscurity or, at the very least, quietly fading away.  Not happening.  The man persists.  Those who want him pilloried want it with such vehemence that it is a kind of mania.  The Never-Trumpers, in their minds, see him as the embodiment of evil.  Every crime, every transgression against humanity and morality, every slimy, creepy, pervy scumminess imaginable is attributed to the man.  He is lambasted as the maleficent mastermind of any number of nefarious schemes, plots, and conspiracies yet, in the same breath, he's also labeled a brainless dunce.  Regardless, they can't get shut of him.  

    You can't silence him.  You can take his Twitter account down, block him on Facebook and attach "False Information" labels to his every utterance but his words still circulate unabated.  And those words resonate with many, across multiple demographics.  To those frustrated, fed-up, ignored, strained-to-the-point-of-breaking folks who are asked, "Why do you support Trump?" the answer is often,  "Because FUCK YOU... That's why."  They have finally done what they have been threatening to do for years: They've turned away from cookie-cutter elected officials, drawn from the homogenous do-nothing political class, and elected an outsider.  The ULTIMATE political outsider, in fact.  He may be coopted by the New Jersey mob, for some shady New York real estate deals but he owes nothing to the Washington insiders, the inside-the-beltway power brokers.  They have nothing with which they can threaten him.  And so, they scramble to find something... ANYTHING... that can be used as leverage to get him to put the cork back in the swamp's drain.  Stalking his every post, hounding his past taxes.  Dragging out claim after claim of misogyny and womanizing.  He just grins and keeps on going.

    The man is a Robin Hood.  A member of the 1% aristocracy who, instead of taking riches from the wealthy, steals publicity and media attention from the erudite enlightened.  He photobombs them and draws away the camera lenses.  He doesn't FEEL your pain as Bill Clinton did.  Trump is too well off to ever be in the kind of dire straits we peons struggle through.  But he recognizes it, understands it, and takes steps to deal with it.  Not word-spew.  Not lip-service.  Not bloviating about promised relief programs designed to stoke outrage against capitalism or advocacy for socialism... not to garner votes.  Instead, he lowers taxes.  He lowers fuel prices.  He lowers unemployment.  He opens markets and strips away onerous overregulation.  all while telling the rest of the stuck-up world to back the fuck off or ante-up.  He runs the United States like a business.  A task to which he is supremely suited.

    And boy... do they come after him.  His detractors attack relentlessly, yet ineffectually.  They can't get anything to stick.  Either, because he is too slick and crafty or because there is nothing substantive to the charge being leveled at him (or at least nothing that can be proven).  Or because they don't care.  They don't care that he's a womanizer, a tax dodger, an opportunitic self-agrandizing ham.  In any case, his supporters stand behind him.  They wish they could pull the kind of 3-Card Monty game on the IRS that Trump does.  They see through the fake Russian dossier and the Jan 6th teeth-gnashing histrionics.  It makes his supporters giggle with glee.  They see Trump as he is.  As he's always claimed to be.  A businessman.  They all know not to trust him around their wives.  They know he'll skim a bit off of every deal he makes.  He'll make sure he is always positioned to have the advantage.  Fine.  That's the kind of boss they want.  They don't need a trusted friend.  They don't need a sympathetic ear.  They don't even necessarily want to like him... or want him to like them.  That's not what they look for in a boss.  They look for a boss to keep the company in the black, making a profit and gaining market share against the competition, That way they can keep their job.  Get a pay raise.  Afford a nice place to live and a good medical plan.  All while putting something away for the future.  His supporters felt like his "America First"... his "Make America Great Again" approach was keeping this company that is America on a healthy fiscal footing.  

    Especially compared to the trough-feeding, platitude-spewing, piss-on-your-leg-and-tell-you-it's-warm-summer-rain, ivory tower-dwelling politicians who have been running the show from almost the very beginning of this republic.  The ones that all of us, regardless of political party, have been bitching about endlessly.  Americans keep saying they need a new kind of person to step into the arena and make real change.  Trump did that.  His "Drain the Swamp" approach was lauded by his supporters and cheered on lustily. The swamp dwellers, however... began to thrash.  As the sewage began to spiral down the drain... as the shady deals in the murky depths were brought up toward the disinfecting sunlight, panic set in.  The corrupt began a concerted effort to get him out of the pool.  To plug the drain and keep their dirty deals secret.

    They have tried everything.  His business dealing and taxes are under audit scrutiny.  Nothing actionable.  Women come forward with claims of sexual harassment and assault.  No proof.  Nothing actionable.  He is a Russian asset.  Dossier fake.  Election interference is unfounded.  Nothing actionable.  Ukrainian phone call impropriety.  Baseless.  Nothing actionable.  Impeached in the Democrat-controlled House.  Not convicted in the, calmer and more reasoned Senate because... nothing actionable.  Lawsuit after lawsuit are brought before courts only to be dismissed for lack of evidence.  DANG that pesky proof.

    You see, in the kangaroo court of Congress, you don't have to have proof of wrongdoing.  The severity of the claim is often all that is needed to convict.  Make a claim or level a charge that is outrageous... egregious enough and you can be impeached.  Congress does not have to act in any legally constrained way (as a court must).  Every time Trump's haters take a matter before a grand jury or a judge, it is tossed for lack of evidence.  Screaming about how mean he is and how terrible the charges are, makes no difference.  The scales of justice measure only evidence... proof.  

    As to whether Trump is a scumbag?  I think he is.  I think he is an amoral, self-promoter.  A womanizer.  A maker of many shady deals.  He is a fat-cat capitalist of the highest order.  

    So what?

    So is every other politician in Washington.  He is no worse than ANY of them.  The only difference is that Trump owns it.  He did a good job managing the country like a business, in spite of his skeeziness.  And for that... many gave him a pass on his personal failings.  Is Biden any better?  Absolutely not!  

    Joe is just lying to us like a boyfriend promising he won't cum in his girlfriend's mouth, knowing all the while that he will.  Knowing also that he's going to empty her checking account, max her credit cards, bang her friends and wreck her car.  And America is like that girlfriend that knows it too.  But she keeps sucking away despite the inevitable outcome, blindly hopeful that this one will be different.  He says he cares about us and is here to help us and, all the while, he's doing all the same "Trumpy" things as the big mean orange man.  Worse things even.  Decades of corruption and embezzlement mark Biden's passage through politics.  Plus he's now a mumbling, senile, doddering fool.  Nothing more than a puppet for some shadowy liberal controllers behind the curtains.  But he puts on his cool shades, eats an ice cream cone, sniffs a teenage girl, or uncomfortably gropes a woman.  Then he rambles on about something incoherent... trailing off as he loses his train of thought; all while his supporters shrug it off as "old Uncle Joe... That's just the way he is." as they scramble to explain what he really meant and excuse his creepiness as being "overly affectionate."

   And, on top of all that... He's not even doing a good job of steering the ship of state.  He's lashed to the tiller as his minions are below deck, hacking away at the hull while shouting up to him to assure those of us on deck that "All is well!"

Been a While

 Haven't posted in a LONG time.  So long, in fact, that web logs have gone the way of the Dodo.  Extinct on the internet.  That is the march of progress.  

 A post-apocalyptic cosplay scheme, based on items I currently have lying around.

The Omicron Variant

 As yet another COVID variant rises under the fabricated hysteria of the world's idiot leaders, it has been noted that the U.S. is not doing enough to ensure the poor countries of the world are getting enough vaccine doses.  I remember back during times of military crisis necessitating American military intervention: the liberals would cry that "The U.S. is not the world's policeman!"  Okay.  Heard ya.  But now we are, apparently, the world's doctor and pharmacist.

 

So there is NO ambiguity about my feelings regarding the outcome of this election...

COVID19. Corona Virus. Wuhan Flu.

Call it what you will, this virus from China has wreaked havoc on the U.S. and the world.  I have not been too adversely affected personally.  Have, in fact, benefitted from its impact.  Kept working and making money.  Had some great personal experiences resulting from being able to work from home and the freedom that offers your time.

I got some much-needed work done on the cabin.

I spent time with the grandkids.  Except the one in Italy :(

 I binge-watched the train wreck that was "Tiger King."

I laid in and consolidated some essential crisis items.

A couple of my family members got sick.  One VERY sick.  One moderately sick.  And this little sprout... just feverish and pukey for a day and a half.  ALL are fully recovered... Thank God.

Must admit some disappointment that the situation did not get zombified.

Although this chaos has potential.

What About Us?

Pink performs a song titled "What About Us?"  In the song, she laments the things promised that were never fulfilled.  When I first heard the song I was struggling through some relationship troubles of my own and the song resonated with its message of anguish over broken promises and betrayal.  It was only later that I learned it was a song about how the Trump presidency doesn't care about people.  I was gobsmacked by this revelation.  Really Pink?  You, the poster child for rebellion against authority?  You, the icon of kickin ass against The Man?  You are lamenting the fact that there are billions of beautiful souls that need to be loved?  That there are promises of being taken care of by a loving government that were unrealized?  The G-O-V-E-R-N-M-E-N-T doesn't love you?  We are sad because the government lied to us?  They made promises and then they didn't keep them?

What the actual fuck?  At what point did you (and presumably large numbers of those like you) come to the conclusion that it is the government's job to care about you, love you, support you?  At best, the government should guard your interests and protect you from illegal predation or foreign invasion.  They are not now, nor ever were, intended to be your caregiver, provider, parent or monitor.

If they lie... prosecute them.  Either by filing charges or by voting them out.  If they are unfair, protest the unfairness and demand change.  In a more practical sense, accept the fact that government, by its nature is exploitive.  They always have and always will screw you.  The trick is to keep the government reigned in, keep it small.  Ensure that it has the least opportunity and ability to screw you. 

A Female 007 Film as the Latest Plank in the Female Empowerment Platform

For decades, women's publications and societal norms have filled females heads with unrealistic notions of what women are, can do, should be and what to strive for.  This is part of a PC trend of girl-power media products designed to take that unrealistic ideal in a whole new direction.  I first noticed it as a trend with films like "Thelma and Louise""Sucker Punch" and "Girl Fight."  It's progressed through films like "Captain Marvel" and now this Jane Bond 007 project.  I'm not claiming it's any more wrong than the ideals of thin-ness, having-it-all career AND motherhood, or great hair.  I just think it sends an equally unrealistic message that girls are going to have limitless lives.  Some will... but most will live what Henry David Thoreau called "lives of quiet desperation."  All this kind of messaging does is put a magical land of wonder on the far shore of an impassable sea so that it taunts and beckons but is beyond reach.  For every girl who manages to swim that sea, thousands more drown.  Millions more never wade in.  Is it right to make them into Diane Quixotes?  Is it right to deceive them into believing they can dream the impossible dream?  Is it noble and romantic even though it's dangerously unrealistic?

The Litigation Nation

The Left has inadvertently created the blocking tactic of ALL blocking tactics.  They have been challenging the legality and claiming criminal illegality of every single action Trump attempts to take in an effort to prevent him from enacting any of his policies and, ultimately, to compile enough actionable material to have him removed from office.  The tactic will never achieve his removal but they do tie up his efforts with stays and holds through injunctions by liberal judges.

Here's the twist though.  Once a Liberal returns to office, the precedent set by this prolonged temper tantrum lays the groundwork for Conservatives to do the exact same thing in retaliation. 

And the bar for impeachment level offenses has been set pretty low.  Republicans could initiate impeachment proceedings for "lying to the American people for failing to act on campaign promises.

For example:  Any assurances that Dems won't come after your guns is a lie.  We know that already but, after the Dem gets in office and starts the gun ban train rolling, Republicans can immediately start Congressional hearings and issue subpoenas for any official who was recorded by the media saying there would be no such confiscation and use that to show that they told a lie.  Lying is bad, you see.  Lying is a high crime/misdemeanor for which a President can be impeached.

Apply this system to any act not strictly legal or any action that could be perceived as immoral.  Any action that could be said to harm the American people or America itself, such as banning coal mining, or reducing the defense budget or forcing a citizen to pay into a healthcare system that murders unborn children can be said to be treasonous... to be harmful to Americans... ANOTHER ground for impeachment. 

This is a Pandora's box of litigation strangulation that will eat its creators.

Sacred Cows as Messengers

The Dems have rolled out the sacred classes to level their accusations. Society holds sacred and inviolate Victimized Women, Frightened Children and now Noble Whistleblowers. The intent is that their accusations won't come under scrutiny or criticism because we are supposed to believe them automatically and without hesitation. Clever trick but Conservatives see through it and go after these "crisis actors."

The Race Card

Instead of lamenting the incorrect, knee-jerk use of the race card and wanting people to stop doing it... perhaps we should refuse to acknowledge when it's played? 

When it's thrown on the table just ignore it.  That's what Trump is doing.

I'm afraid to watch the new "Catch 22" series.  I was disappointed by the Alan Arkin film and worry I will be disappointed by the George Clooney film as well.  I love the book so much... I had "The Dark Tower" and don't want to see a repeat.

Feminine Hygiene Training

I was talking to a guy the other day and he relayed this to me, which I found very insightful:

When a baby is born, its mother bonds with it.  She often will remark that she fell in love with him/her the moment she held him/her.  The smell, the warmth, the trembling fragility of a new baby generates a deep maternal resonance in mothers.  For fathers it's different.  When he first holds his child.....  When he first sees his wife cradling his son/daughter.... He bonds too.  But it manifests itself differently.  He feels a powerful upwelling of protectiveness.  He thinks (often subconsciously), "I will KILL anyone who gets too close.  I will murder anyone who tries to harm them."  Men often remark that they feel "on-guard" in the room with their new mother and baby.

Men and women are both parents.  Both feel love and protectiveness.  But for each, the reactions to a new baby can be quite different.  I'm a step-parent myself so I can't speak from experience.  Maybe it's different for different parents.  But this guy's insight into parental bonding was very interesting.... anthropologically speaking.

Books I've Read

Many years ago I acquired an old green canvas covered military ledger book in which I began to compile data and lists.  A list of vehicles I've owned.  A list of my favorite movie stars.  Another of my favorite adult film stars.  A list of my firearms and amounts of ammunition for each.  A running wish list of things I'd like to own someday with items like "40 foot houseboat" and "12 gauge Weatherby over/under shotgun" on it.

By far the largest list was the one cataloging all the books I've read since about high school.  The first pages were done from memory and in, no doubt, incomplete.  But then I listed all the books I have in my possession that I've read.

Now, as I complete a book, I go to the list and update it.  It's grown to over 400 titles and gets about one new addition each month.  Not a voracious reader but a consistent one.

I have no idea why this info might be worth recording but, if I ever save the world from destruction, this will be the kind of stuff historians will write about.  It will be in my museum library and bookstore.

The Wonders

There should be a reunion film of "The Wonders."  It takes place 20 years later and showcases a reunion appearance put together by Lenny in an attempt to bolster his failing casino.

The film was released in 1996 and is 22 years old.  The actors have all aged 22 years since and should play as the same age they are... 22 years later.  If the film was set in 1963 or 64 then the sequel should take place in 1986 or 87.  It would highlight and lampoon the Yuppie era of the 80's.  Brick phones and bag phones.  VCRs.  MTV.  New Wave.  All visualized with the same attention to detail as the early 60s was depicted in the original film.  Chrysler station wagons.

That would make Jimmy a member of "Jimmy and the Heardsmen" or perhaps he has begun his career as a producer.  T.B. Player would take a break from his construction business to appear but have some problems with alcohol and be a "crazy Vet" from his tours in Viet Nam.  Guy and Faye could come from the Music School they founded and there could be friction between her and Jimmy as a subplot.  Lenny, of course, will be the central plot pivot character and build the sequel around his attempts to put together a Wonder reunion concert at his hotel and casino while his marriage to Kitty humorously unravels.

Tom Hanks could make a cameo as a now openly gay senior semi retired power mogul who has regular contact with Jimmy in Jimmy's capacity as a record producer.

Phil Horace could surface as a down on his luck type looking to manage them again if they would consider a reunion tour.

Tina and her 3rd husband could appear in a cameo.  Scott Wolfman Pell might appear as a struggling session player looking to cash in and unseat T.B. as the bass player. 

Chad and Darlene (Guy's sister) could be married and running Patterson's Appliances with Mr. and Mrs. Patterson retired to Florida.

The possibilities are endless.

The Never Discovered

There should be a band in Nashville made up of singers and musicians who have never made it.  They can sing and play but they just can't seem to get discovered.  They should form a group or groups and pump out their music on the internet for free.

They should call themselves "The Never Discovered" and they should only allow members to be in the group on condition of not being able to get a deal with a label.  If they do, they are immediately booted from the group.  Sort of like "Menudo" except it's for talent not age.

Marriage... None of My Business

I'm occasionally asked whether or not I support gay marriage.  If I say "Yes I do." I'm going against God and nature.  If I say "No I don't."  I'm a bigot and a homophobe and tough shit anyway because the Supreme Court says it's legal so... up yours hater.  I usually say what I really think which is, it's of no importance whether or not I support gay marriage.  It is more important to ask if a gay couple's church, synagogue, temple, shrine or other religious institution supports it.  Why?  Because marriage is a construct of religion, not anthropology, sociology or government.

That last one... the government... is especially true.  The government should have NO business deciding who should or should not marry.  They wormed their way into it during the days of the industrial growth of the U.S. and its corresponding population boom.  The government wanted to ensure "morons, idiots, defective or retarded persons" along with other vaguely defined "low grade persons" did not marry and breed because, remember, in those days the vast majority of breeding was done shortly after marriage.  It was the societal stigma of sex/childbirth out of wedlock that sent folks running to the preacher to get hitched and sanctify sex.  All you needed back then was a preacher, priest, rabbi, imam... what have you, and you were set.  

Problem was, there was no check on who was fit to marry and breed.  Congenital birth defects could be passed down.  Relations as close as first cousins could interbreed, causing increased birth defects and genetic weakening.  Diseased persons where marrying and passing the diseases to their offspring.  These children were then perceived to weaken the broad health of the American public and burden the social infrastructure, primitive as it was.

So the government saw fit to step in an apply rules to who could get hitched.  Tests had to be run.  Medical exams administered.  Intelligence tests established.  This led to the issuance of marriage applications turned (hopefully) into marriage licenses which could be taken to a religious leader empowered to perform marriage rites or to a Justice of the Peace for the secular.  This was how government wormed its way into a practice that is not theirs to administer.

That didn't matter.  Once you turn on a government function, you can never seem to turn it off.  More insidiously, once the government set the precedent of being the decider of who gets married and who doesn't, they also became the place to go to appeal unfavorable marriage bans.  Long held societal bans on same sex marriage or polygamy began to be questioned and the government became the authority on permissible marriage arrangements.  It also began to codify preferences for married people.  Ostensibly to bolster the institution of marriage and a corresponding uptick in the population of native born Americans.  This manifests itself in legal protections, tax benefits, child subsidies for families... on and on.  Others that were banned from legally marrying but who lived as married, wanted some of those cookies and treats as well.  Most of my experience watching the debate for legalizing same sex marriage appeared less about validating love and devotion through a societally sanctified bond as much as it was about tax breaks and incentives.  

Stay Off Social Media... The "Fame" is Not Worth the Peril

Roseanne Barr went down in flames yesterday after tweeting a racially charged post about Valerie Jarrett.  The event was so minor and its consequences so major; not just to her but to the cast that was forming plans to make a living from the work her new show provided.  It's all so tragic because it was SOOOO avoidable.  Stay off social media (says the guy putting this out for the world to see on his weblog).

We are ALL guilty of the most ill-advised, stupid, thoughtless remarks but they usually go out from our mouths to the ears of just those few who were standing with us when we said it.  Tweets and Instagram, and Facebook posts of those same dumb things go out for the whole world to hear.  

There are some photos in an album in my den.  They are from my days as a young soldier and some are gross.  Some are obscene.  Some are in very poor taste.  But they are private and not out on the web for the world to see.

Our pathological need to have the world hear us has driven us to post automatically.  Like a Pavlovian reflex.  It's caused criminals to post videos of their crimes.  It’s made people boast of their bad behavior, not realizing it only makes the bad behavior look worse because you seem so proud of it at the time you sent out a video of your account of the incident.  

It’s different from the things others record us doing.  Road rage recorded and broadcast that becomes admissible in court.  Domestic disputes filmed by neighbors.  Quarrels between neighbors.  Dad picking his nose at a ball game.  These are bad but they are the risk we must take when we go out into the world where everyone can record everyone else.  I’m talking about the self-inflicted wounds like Roseanne's.  Or Anthony Weiner. Or any of another hundred that happen monthly.

Just stop and think.  Not EVERYTHING we do is share-worthy.  Not everything you have to say is anything others would want to hear.  Stop falling on your own sword.  Because the PC monster is now roaming the street looking to bring you down.  We grew it in a lab of teaching our kids to be unforgiving of others shortcomings.  It grew large and ravenous in it's cage as they grew into adults filled with a sense of self righteous indignation at the ills of every institution or person around them.  It broke out of the lab and began roaming the streets devouring any and all that carried the faintest trace of flaw in character as these people became rigid and unforgiving in their assessment that we should all be judged and hounded for the worst aspects of our character.  No matter how many poor people we feed or how many orphans we clothe.  Not matter how many good deeds we do... if we ever said the word ni**er when angry or upset (especially if it’s recorded) we are DONE.  Just ask Paula Deen or Michael Richard (aka Kramer from Seinfeld). 

20 years ago, Carl was responsible for genetically engineering a girl with narcotic blood. Now he's brought her home - and the boundaries between love and addiction are becoming increasingly blurred.

Director:

 Charly Cantor

Writer:

 Charly Cantor

Stars:

 Adrian Rawlins, Lee Blakemore, Phil Cornwell |See full cast & crew »