Peter David's Blog, page 16

Freak Out Friday – March 30, 2018

I am currently attending the Indianapolis Comic Con, and I’m in a rare good mood. The fans are great, my books are selling. Everything is great, which means I’m in no spirit to do the mental tailspin I have to embrace when talking about Trump.

So I’m going to do something different this week. I’m going to recommend a book to you. It’s called “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.”

Now you must understand that modern psychiatry is bound by something called the Goldwater Rule. The requirement of this rule is that psychiatrists will not write psychological profiles of public figures if they had not had a chance to examine them personally.

Doctor Brandy Lee, the book’s editor, argues rather convincingly that psychiatrists have another duty that takes precedence: to warn the public when there is an individual whose actions and thinking provides–with all respect to Oliver Wendell Holmes–a clear and present danger. The psychiatrists who contributed to this book are convinced that Trump meets that criteria.

I am currently in the process of reading it, and it’s fascinating. When you or I claim that Trump is a dangerous narcissist, those are the opinions of laymen with some fundamental psychological knowledge garnered from reading. When psychiatrists are saying it, that gives the diagnosis far greater weight.

I will be writing a full review of this book by next Friday. I will then throw it open for discussion. If you want to join in, grab a copy and start reading. It will both fascinate and terrify you.

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Rick Santorum is an asshole

Rick Santorum, former presidential candidate and royal dickweed, had this to say during “State of the Nation,” a CNN program, about the kids protesting guns this past Saturday. Do not read this while drinking coffee since you will likely do a spit take:

“How about those kids, instead of looking to someone else to solve their problems, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations where there is a violent shooter and you can actually respond to that. They took action to ask someone to pass a law. They didn’t take action to say, ‘How do I as an individual deal with this problem? How am I gonna do something about stopping bullying in my community. What am I gonna do to actually help respond to a shooter.”

So basically, Rick Santorum, who used to be a senator, is flat out stating that expecting congress to make laws that ban certain weapons, increases the age where one can buy a gun, or demands far more stringent background checks before handing someone a weapon of death, is a waste of time. That the NRA has their nuts in such a collective stranglehold. that demanding something be done will accomplish nothing. Do not expect your representatives to represent you. Do not ask the lawmakers to make laws.

Instead the only thing you can do is accept that violence will be done to you at the will of shooters, and the ONLY thing you can do is learn CPR. Realize that the people in charge of passing laws for your protection are leaving you on your own.

What in God’s name does any of this have to do with bullying? The shooters aren’t bullies; they’re homicidal lunatics. Bullies harass you for your lunch money. If they’re shooting guns at you, then it’s an attempted murderer.

I mean, part of me thinks the kids may really be wasting their time because the NRA will never let anything be done to pull back America’s obsession with guns. But I support their “We’re not gonna take it” attitude. Plus let us not forget that many of them are going to be voting in 2020, and they are not going to forget how Trump and Santorum’s former colleagues left them hung out to dry while accepting donations and instructions from the NRA.

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Freak Out Friday – March 23, 2018

You know, when I first embarked on “Freak Out Friday,” I thought it would be around for far shorter a time than it has been. I personally gave Trump six months, tops. How could I have foreseen that the GOP would be so desperate to hang onto power that they would flush away virtually every policy that they ever claimed to govern by and made everything subservient to Trump and his idiot minions. What’s truly impressive is that for almost every schmuck that Trump put into place when he first began, he has managed to blow through them and replace them with someone indisputably worse. I’m positive that sooner or later he’s going to decide to end the Russian investigation and get rid of Robert Mueller. When (not if) he does, the Republicans are then going to be in a really interesting situation, because a number of highly placed ones have flat out stated that if Trump does that, it’s “the beginning of the end” of his presidency. Of course when I heard that, my reaction was the same as yours: The BEGINNING of the end? Trump has already told so many lies, screwed up so many times, the subject of so many law suits, that if he’d been a Democrat the GOP would have launched impeachment proceedings months ago.

1). Dear John: I have to admit, I am a huge fan of John Bolton. I was first introduced to his work when he did a lovely and unappreciated comic book series called “Marada,” written by Chris Claremont. Readers largely ignored it because it wasn’t X-Men, but I really liked it.

Now it might be that John would be able to do a worthy job of National Security Advisor if Trump had chosen him, but no. He selected John R. Bolton, the dick that George W. Bush selected to be our ambassador to the United Nations back in 2005. You remember the United Nations: that would be the organization that Bolton claimed, if it vanished tomorrow, that would make no difference to the world. Bolton is a half-assed warhawk who believes an unprovoked first strike nuclear assault on North Korea, which would establish the US as a rogue state and would likely trigger World War III, is a perfectly okay idea. He’s also anxious to get rid of the Iran nuclear deal, which most experts say is an extraordinarily bad thing to do. And now this guy is going to be counseling the other guy who has his fingers on the nuclear football. We are in a truly horrific situation, and I’m thinking the only way to stop it is to pray that within a few months, Bolton is shown the door just as so many of his predecessors have done. But I fear that won’t be the case.

2). Oh, sure. That’s the reason.After panicking his staff with his threat to veto the spending bill, he finally signed off on it ostensibly because it did so much for the military. Astoundingly–no, wait, wrong word. Typically–that’s better–he blamed the complete lack of support for the DACA dreamers squarely on the party that was actively advocating for helping them, the Democrats. The Dems eventually wound up being blamed for “abandoning” the Dreamers by not making legislation supporting them part of the spending bill, which is certainly true enough. But it ignores the fact that the only reason for the Dreamers being screwed was because Trump did away with the Obama-era declarations that helped them, and the Republicans are the ones who have studiously avoided discussing or supporting the fates of the 800,000 immigrants that Trump hung out to dry. It’s just remarkable that the Democrats manage to find new ways to be blamed for the horrific, unfeeling actions of Trump and the GOP.

3). Don’t worry, everything is safe. I mention this even though Trump had nothing to do with it because, actually he had everything to do with it. Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels’ suit against Trump, posted on Twitter a photo of what looked like a CD in a safe, saying “If ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ how many words is this worth???” The obvious insinuation is that the CD has proof of Daniels’ claims to have had an affair with Trump. It still remains utterly amazing–no, wait, typical again–that the GOP impeached Clinton for getting a blow job but continues to let Trump, who had an extended affair with God knows how many women, keep sitting in the Oval Office.

Did he do anything right? Well, yes, though I hate to admit it. Calling Putin and congratulating him despite his staff explicitly saying he shouldn’t, was the correct move. At the end of the day, he’s the damned POTUS, and that sometimes involves calling up bastard dictators on the phone and congratulating them on rigging yet another vote. Yes, we know the Russians also helped rig ours. Yes, we know that Trump did collude with them, if for no other reason than he keeps saying “There was no collusion” with the same vehemence that Nixon said he was not a thief, and Clinton said he didn’t have sex with that woman. He’s fooling exactly one person, and that person is himself. The rest of us know how this thing is likely going to end, with Trump trudging off on a helicopter as President Mike Pence waves good-bye and then pardons him.

Jesus, there really is no good end to this, is there.

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The Texas bomber

Here is the simple truth that we can all admit. The Texas bomber was a young white Christian kid. So he’s a bomber.

But if he had had dark skin and been Muslim, he would have been a terrorist. Because let’s face it: that’s what he is. Sending bombs in packages and terrorizing a community. He is a terrorist in every sense of the word, but won’t be recorded as one because only Muslims can be terrorists. And not all the fences or Muslim travel bans in the world would have affected him.

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Freak Out Friday – March 16, 2018

It’s been a relatively quiet week, which is almost a blessing. Nevertheless, there are some things to be addressed.

1). Weathering the Storm. As Stormy Daniels offers to return the $130,000 she was given so she doesn’t have to worry about the gag ordered she signed and Trump skipped, it’s interesting to note that Trump hasn’t said a damned thing about her on Twitter. This makes Daniels unique. Trump actively denied the accusations by previous women, claiming on Twitter that they were lying and also berating them for their claims and even their physicality. But he’s said nothing about Stormy Daniels. I think we can all come to a mutual conclusion about Trump: When he speaks, either aloud or on line, he is lying. And when he says nothing, that is verification that whatever people are saying about him is accurate.

2). We don’t have a trade deficit, eh?. Trump has repeatedly stated that we have a trade deficit with Canada. No, we don’t. We run at an overall surplus with Canada. Here’s the truly amazing thing: It turned out that not only did Trump not know that, but he confessed to not knowing at a GOP fundraiser. He stated that he contradicted Justin Trudeau by claiming that the US did have a trade deficit when Trudeau said we didn’t, but subsequently admitted, “I had no idea.” It is a measure of Trump’s arrogance that he felt the need to contradict another country’s leader even though he had no clue as to what he was saying.

3). Bum bum bum. Another one bites the dust. Bum bum bum. Another one bites the dust. Someone should start a tourniquet concession in the White House because they are hemorrhaging staff. This week another two went. The first was the firing of Trump’s personal assistant, John McEntee, because of online gambling and questionable finances. The second was the firing of Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state.

Now as I recall, when Tillerson was first given the position, there was not a lot of enthusiasm about it. He was considered supremely unqualified. However he wound up accruing a following some months ago when he was quoted as saying in private that Trump was an f—ing moron. Even I was struck by his candor; he must have known that whoever was in the room when he said it would undoubtedly quote him. In this instance, though, the timing of his firing cannot be ignored. A single day after he stated flat out what England was already saying–that the Russians had arranged the assassinations of a spy and his daughter–that was when Trump got rid of him. A coincidence? I very much doubt it.

4). Another contradiction in terms. But never forget, Trump claims there is no collusion, just the way that the Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee (a contradiction in terms that is right up there with Military Intelligence). While the Democrats assert that there is still plenty of witnesses to be grilled and investigations to be made, the GOP claimed there was no evidence to prove that the Russians interfered with the election for the purpose of putting Trump in office.

How they could come up with such an assertion is an exercise in insanity. Of COURSE the Russians interfered. We know about their tweeting robots and their stunts on Facebook. Does anyone believe for a moment that they interfered in order to benefit Hillary Clinton, who Putin hates? Did Trump, who publicly called for the Russians to hack Clinton’s email, know about these plans? It’s still debatable…except not to the GOP who after a year of half-assed research decided they had found the definite truth. Trump naturally broadcast his declaration of innocence on Twitter with a demented, all caps tweet claiming that the year-long investigation had turned up nothing. Curiously, Hillary Clinton has been investigated for something like the last twenty five years and has never been charged with anything. Yet Trump never once hesitated to refer to her as “Crooked Hillary” and encourage chants of “Lock her up!”

I strongly suggest that everyone invade his Twitter feed and just keep shouting #LOCKHIMUP at him.

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Black Panther in Sports

Black athletes have adopted the crossed-arms “Wakanda Forever” salute when they win at something. Serena Williams did it, and indeed athletes have been doing it since the film came out. There’s an article here about it.

I can’t wait for the first time a Mets player does it after hitting a home run.

I guess my only question is: if a white player does it, will he immediately be accused of cultural appropriation? Taking a salute done by a fictional character created by two white Jews?

PAD

Freak Out Friday -March 9, 2018

So let’s start off with the most recent bit of news, which could wind up being a good thing or become a complete and total disaster.

1). What could possibly go wrong?. In a move that is quite literally historically unprecedented, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has offered to meet with Trump and even stand down their nuclear program. Although this has the potential to finally simmer down the previously escalating war of words between the two leaders, it could also send things off in an insane new direction. It has not yet been revealed where the meeting will take place, but if it happens in North Korea, Kim Jong-un would have the president of the United States exactly where he wants him. It doesn’t matter how much secret service protection he has; if a squad of armed soldiers surrounds him, the subsequent gun battle will not end well for the US. Trump could be taken prisoner or killed outright, and suddenly we’re in World War III.

Just as intimidating is the thought of the two of them face to face. This would be one of those instances where we would be praying for Trump’s usual psychology to kick in wherein he hates conflict and does his best to get along with whoever he’s speaking to. Because the absolute last thing we need is for him to offend Kim and suddenly the two countries start lobbing nuclear weapons at each other. We can hope that won’t happen because it’s clear that Kim is seeing all the damage that Trump is doing to US world wide relations and is hoping to use that opportunity to prove that he’s a better leader than Trump.

2). Oh yeah, that’ll take care of the problem.. Despite his big talk about cutting back on guns and raising the age to own them, it is obvious that Trump has knuckled under to the NRA and will do absolutely nothing to make any changes at all. But in order to pretend that he is, he is turning around and blaming violent video games for causing violent bastards to pump bullets into helpless students. Despite the fact that the most recent shooter proudly sported a red Trump “Make America Great” baseball cap, Trump is convinced that video games are translating into real world crimes. A summit was held at the White House to discuss this. Curiously–no, wait, wrong word. Unsurprisingly, the summit featured exactly zero psychologists or scientists in attendance to address the underpinning of the meeting’s existence. This is likely because they would have said exactly what we already know: there is zero evidence to indicate that there is any causal link between playing video games and committing violent acts. Just as decades ago there was zero evidence that comic books inspired kids to become juvenile delinquents. This is a non-issue that Trump and his crew are transforming into a big deal to distract from all the other crap that’s going on. Crap such as…

3). A porn star. Seriously. If I had come up with an idea for a novel about a president being sued by a porn star, it would be rejected as being way too out there as a concept. But now we’re finding out that not only is that happening, it’s happening because Trump never bothered to get around to signing the contract with her. THIS is a master businessman? It’s bad enough that he never pays people for the jobs that they do, but now he’s not even signing agreements with people that he’s making deals with in the first place. Let us keep in mind that Congress relentlessly went after Bill Clinton’s sex life for years, but they are standing behind someone who was banging a porn star while his wife was pregnant with their son. We’re reaching the point where telling someone you are a Republican is becoming embarrassing because of the party’s non-stop hypocrisy.

4). Down the Hatch. Have you ever heard of the Hatch Act? I had not. Then again, I’m not someone who has to worry about it. Enacted in 1939, it stipulates that save for the President and Vice-President, employees of the Executive branch in engaging in political activity…such as, say, endorsing people in elections. It is a law that Kellyanne Conway cheerfully ignored and so was in violation of it. Now you may ask, what sort of penalty will she have to pay? The answer is: nothing. All that will happen is that the information is being passed on to the president who will then take whatever steps he deems worthy to punish her. Which of course means that Trump will do absolutely nothing. While it’s possible that Conway might watch her mouth in the future, I wouldn’t bet on it all that much.

5). And another one bites the dust.. Trump’s brand spanking new tariff war has already claimed its first victim: Chief economic advisor Gary Cohn. How much greater damage this dumb-ass move by Trump will accomplish is yet to be seen as other countries are swearing they will likewise implement tariffs on American goods. What kind of a world are we living in where the entire concept of peace is hinging on Kim Jong-un rather than the American president who absolutely thrives on pissing people off and continues to insist that everything is fine in a White House that is rapidly falling apart? Trump insists that it’s no big deal because people come and go from the White House all the time. That’s true, but this is the sixth resignation of a high-profile member of his administration in the last year alone? That’s not normal; that’s insane.

6). California Dreaming. Jeff Sessions is actually launching a suit against California because it has set itself up as a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants. That makes sense since San Diego is bordered with Mexico. Sessions is claiming that California’s laws make it impossible for Federal agents to do their job. Governor Jerry Brown has basically challenged Sessions to bring it on, and California Senate President Kevin de Leon flat out stated, “Bottom line: California will NOT help President Trump, Jeff Sessions or Thomas Homan rip children from the arms of their mothers and fathers. Here in CA, we embrace our historic diversity, and we will do everything in our legal power to protect it.” Now of course we know Trump doesn’t worry about offending states that he will never in a million years carry in an election, but this is a new level of low, to sue politicians who just want to govern in their own way.

Sad.

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Max Anderson and Stan Lee

As some other pros have already said, something is going on with Stan Lee. His personal assistant, Max Anderson, has been fired and is being kept away from having any contact with Stan, who recently was in poor health fighting a bout with pneumonia.

All of the reportage seems to be coming from Stan’s “camp,” although the identity of those in the camp is a bit debatable.

But I can speak about Max, that’s for damned sure. Because I’ve been a friend of Stan’s for decades, and have had plenty of opportunities to watch Max with Stan at various conventions. And I can tell you right now that whatever bad things you may hear people saying about Max concerning Stan: Don’t believe it.

I’ve watched Max manage Stan at conventions for the last fourteen years. In addition to being a tireless supporter of Stan, including organizing and selling all manner of Stan Lee merchandise that has pumped tons of money into Stan’s pocket, I have watched Max treat Stan the way a good son treats his beloved father. Max doesn’t hesitate to put himself between Stan and overeager fans, creating a bubble of space so Stan doesn’t get crushed by well wishers. I’ve seen Max arrange at conventions for a comfortable couch/rest area to be set up so that Stan has somewhere to go in order to take a nap between panels and autograph fests.

Some years ago, at Dragon*Con, I presented the Julie award (name for Julie Schwartz) to Stan. Now there’s no stairway directly from the ground to the stage; you have to come around and use a side entrance. Disdaining that, Stan–who was in his eighties–vaulted from the floor up onto the stage. I saw a hilarious photograph of Stan leaping onto the stage while the people from his table ran up behind him to spot him in case he pitched backwards. Max was the first one out of his chair.

Max has cared for Stan, watched over his business and health concerns for over a decade. He does not deserve to be kept away from Stan, and he certainly doesn’t deserve to be savaged by fans for any reason. Max is a great guy.

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Happy Birthday, Glenn

All blessings to Glenn on today, his birthday, and my thanks for keeping this place up and running.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – March 2, 2018

So Trump managed to get himself some positive points this week by theoretically standing up to the NRA. But we must emphasize the “theoretical” part because it wasn’t all that long ago that Trump was endeavoring to make nice to the Democrats and making positive noises about immigration…until he threw all of that under the bus, screwed over DACA, and started talking about shithole countries. His talk is fine, but all the NRA has to do is apply pressure and Trump will back down. Meanwhile he’s been busy in other ways.

1) Steel Crazy After All These Years.. Trump announced that he was going to implement a tariff of 25 percent on imported steel and ten percent on aluminum. Naturally this caused the stock market to plummet once again as investors feared retaliation from China which is almost certainly guaranteed. Republicans, including Paul Ryan, are asking Trump to reconsider because of the likely consequences of his actions, but at this point it seems unlikely that he will. Which means we can wind up in a trade war (his words) with other countries, but without the resources to win it. Everyone from farmers to our own manufacturers could be crippled as a result of subsequent fall out, but Trump is perfectly happy to allow a massive tariff war because he thinks it’s good for business.

2). Shouldn’t they be on the same side? . Trump once again launched an attack on his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, declaring that Sessions had no business asking the Inspector General to investigate potential FISA violations over surveillance. It of course makes sense that Trump would try to change the subject: Robert Mueller’s investigation is drawing closer, his beloved Hope Hicks has joined the endless number of people who have resigned, and son in law Jared Kushner had his level of security clearance dropped to the same level as people who work in the kitchen and below that of the White House calligrapher. So it’s natural that Trump wants to draw attention from a monumentally chaotic week by bitching about Sessions, to whom he referred as Mr. Magoo. This was of course an idiotic comparison. Most people below the age of forty haven’t the slightest idea who Mr. Magoo was. And anyone over the age of forty knows that Magoo, with his tendency to blindly (literally) walk into the middle of dangerous situations, make things far worse with his participation, and then pat himself on the back and declare, “Oh Magoo, you’ve done it again!” far more closely resembles Trump than Sessions. If Jim Backus, the brilliant actor who provided Magoo’s voice (not to mention Thurston Howell on “Gilligan’s Island”) were still alive, I’m sure he’d be fast tracked into providing some manner of animated response.

3). Dead from D.C., it’s Saturday Night!. Trump once again was stupid enough to try waging a Twitter war with Alec Baldwin, the man who is so convincing as Trump that newspapers have inadvertently run pictures of Baldwin’s impersonation of Trump rather than Trump himself. It was actually pretty hilarious because he cited Baldwin’s stating that the impersonation was painful, to which Baldwin responded that he was willing to endure the pain so that he could keep doing it during Trump’s inevitable impeachment and departure from the office. If SNL were smart, they would have Baldwin on SNL complaining about Alec Baldwin’s impersonation of him. And he could be voicing his frustration to an assortment of actual former Trump staffers who were fired or quit. Cap it with Hillary Clinton walking in and sharing her sympathy. It just couldn’t get more meta than that.

4). Shooting off his mouth again. . Trump shocked the GOP with a meeting on Wednesday, broadcast live, in which he basically transformed into what the GOP and Trump just a year ago claimed was Hillary Clinton’s attitude. Trump advocated passing stricter gun laws, upping the age at which you could buy them, and even taking them away from people who are suspected of being nuts and then subsequently going after them in court. Dianne Feinstein, who was seated next to him and has been advocating just those things for quite some time, was grinning like a loon. But forty eight hours later: NRA representatives came out of a meeting with him assuring their patrons that they shouldn’t worry about it; Trump has suddenly been silent about gun control; and Mitch McConnell declared that there would be NO debate about guns in the Senate because they were too busy gutting banking laws so that consumers will be roundly screwed over.

Did he do anything right?. He tried, with guns. The problem is this: Trump hates conflict. He hates having people yelling at him or being angry with him. This is why he will always reflect the opinion of whoever he just met with. Indeed, it’s why he seemed much happier running for president than actually BEING president. He’s already planning his 2020 run even though it’s only 2018. I’ve never heard of anyone planning that far ahead. But he’s doing it because that’s the only time he is really pleased. He’s surrounded by thousands of people cheering him and accepting blindly everything he says.

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