Peter David's Blog, page 18

Freak Out Friday – January 26, 2018

If you felt a lessening of the dark side of the Force around you, it’s because President Dumpf left the country. In his wake he left his supporters once again lying to try and cover his actions, and he didn’t get the world’s best reception at the meeting he went to.

1). You’re fired. After months of the White House denying that Trump ever intended to fire Robert Mueller, the New York Times broke the story that Trump had decided to do just that. But the White House counsel, Donald McGhan II, point blank refused to do so and said that he would rather resign then carry out the order. Perhaps realizing that an unfettered McGhan would prove to be a considerable problem, likely by going straight to the press and inform them of Trump’s attempt, Trump backed off. But now the press has broken it open. Naturally Trump dismissed it as “fake news,” but his protests are ringing more and more hollow.

2). Welcome to Switzerland, asshole. In Davos, Trump gave a speech in which he pushed his “Make America First” platitudes and informed everyone that America was a great place to do business. His speech was reasonably received…but after it concluded, he went off on a rant about the Democrats and their friends, the fake news media. And immediately he was greeted with loud boos and derision. That’s right: they booed the President of the United States. Which we do as well, but we’re the idiots who put him in office in the first place.

3). Remember when Mexico was paying for it? Good times.. Trump is holding the Dreamers hostage. He claims that he is willing to bend on the immigration law and permit a path for the Dreamers to become American citizens, but only if he gets $25 billion to pay for his border wall. A wall that sixty percent of Americans polled are in opposition to. And for all we know, the remaining forty percent won’t be so hot on it if they find out we are paying for it.

4). He said/he said. Trump stated that he would have no problem with talking to Robert Mueller under oath. But Trump’s legal counsel shortly thereafter said his client had misspoken and Trump would NOT talk to him under oath. Smart counsel. When Trump contradicts himself on Twitter or during press conferences, there’s no consequence for it. If he did it under oath, it’s perjury, which triggered the impeachment process against Bill Clinton. Counsel sees swearing in the president under oath as a lose/lose proposition.

5). Stormy Weather.. Imagine if Obama or Hillary had been found to have paid off a porn star so word of their affair hadn’t leaked. The GOP would have gone batshit. The religious right would have risen in condemnation. But Trump does it and they defend him. They DEFEND him. Because that is how far Trump has lowered the bar of contempt. One wonders if this country can ever recover from the damage he has done to us as a people.

6). Trump doesn’t shoot his mouth off.. Trump has not, to my knowledge, commented on the fact that we have had eleven school shootings this year, and it’s not even the end of January. But Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to spin the story to reporters that the Administration is seriously concerned “about crime.” When reporters didn’t back away from Trump’s lack of comment, she angrily asserted that they were insinuating Trump was complicit in school shootings. This was a hell of an accusation to make, considering the GOP had released a commercial that flat out stated Democrats who opposed the wall were complicit with any murder performed by an illegal immigrant. Kind of sucks when the people you don’t like use your own tactics against you, huh.

Did he do anything right? Yes. He left.

PAD

Trump is White Jesus

Just read a fascinating article that explains why over eighty percent of white Evangelical Christians support Trump even though he doesn’t remotely measure up to the standards they claim to preach.

The author states, “White Jesus is not a person, but a tool, a tool that has been used by the religious and secular white alike to justify voting for Trump.”

It’s a fascinating read. Go check it out here.

PAD

Freaked out Friday January 19,2018

I can’t even……

Freak Out Friday – January 12, 2018

This could have been such a good week for Trump. Positive things actually happened which he could easily have claimed credit for. He’s good at that, after all. Walmart has announced they are increasing their minimum wages and bonuses. A new poll indicated rising faith in the US economy. He could easily have said, “See! Everything I’m doing is encouraging for our future!” For one damned week he could have had it easy.

Nope.

1) The fans hit the shit. In a White House meeting on the topic of immigration, he not only rejected a proposal that would have solved the problems of the Dreamers, but he demanded to know why we have to let in anyone in “shithole” countries such as Haiti and sections of Africa. Why, he demanded, can’t we get people in from Norway? You know, all those white skinned, blonde people. It was beyond question the most racist thing he’s been quoted as saying since Charlottesville.

There are, of course, several answers with which to respond. The first is that we have a three hundred and five foot statue in New York harbor that declares, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” As a matter of fact, I’m going to take the opportunity here to quote the entire poem, “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The statue has a goddamned name: Mother of Exiles. That is what this country stands for. That is why we help people escaping war, poverty, famine and death. Because it’s what we are supposed to do in this damned country.

Why aren’t we getting people from Norway? Well, according to CNN, “Norway has a rich economy, generous social welfare programs, a highly-rated (and free) education system, and exemplary gender parity practices, to name a few of the benefits.” Last year the United Nations said Norway was the happiest country in the world. Where was the US? Fourteenth. And I very much suspect it’s plummeted since then.

Now Trump could have backtracked. Issued apologies, try to swing focus back to the good news. Nope. He did exactly what you knew he’d do: he claimed he didn’t say it. His assertion was that Democrats made it up. Because above all else–above his ego, above his narcissism–Trump must always be the victim. He never does anything wrong; everyone is out to get him and will lie constantly in order to do so.

The really hilarious thing is that Fox News is actually trying to defend him. This is just locker room talk (again.). It’s what the “forgotten man” says.

He’s not a forgotten man, you assholes. He’s the president of the United Freaking States. He’s supposed to represent in action what the Statue of Liberty represents in standing.

Is it enough to make you sick? If so, let’s hope that you’re not poor and on Medicaid because…

2). Medicaid shit. For the first time since Medicaid was established fifty years ago, Trump permitted states to start instituting programs which add a condition that you must be working in order to have Medicaid. So basically if you’re poor and unemployed, you would effectively be screwed. Not that that would bother the Dumbass in Chief in the slightest.

3). Wait, which side am I on?. Trump wound up boning his own advisors when, while watching Fox News, they urged him to block the renewal of a security and surveillance bill. Trump immediately tweeted out that the bill should be stopped, without realizing that his own people have been actively lobbying for it to be renewed. Hours later he put up a new tweet that basically reversed the previous one. These days he changes his mind so often that you can get whiplash watching it.

4). The Wall Shit Journal. . To top it off, he gave an extended interview to the Wall Street Journal He not only once again talked about pulling out of NAFTA, but also implied that he’s friends with Kim Jong un. The only possible explanation for this is that there’s another guy named Kim Jong un that Trump was referring to, because I feel reasonably confident in saying that the one we’re all thinking about does NOT consider Trump his pal.

So, to summarize: Trump is a racist. We’ve all known that. This is just further confirmation.

Did he do anything right? No.

PAD

Finally pain free

The pinched nerve that has made my life a living hell is gone. The neurologists who were treating it shot some Lidocaine and some steroids into the nerve and presto. No pain and I can walk again. Huzzah.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – January 5, 2018

I think we can safely assume that Trump did not, as a New Year’s resolution, resolve to cut back on tweeting. From the moment he returned to the actual White House, he has been on a twitter binge that is filled with his usual ranting and insults, and continues to make every thinking person worry about World War III. It is nuts that we have to count on Kim Jong-un to have more common sense than the ostensible leader of the free world.

1). Whose is bigger? Kim Jong un has come to realize just how easily Trump can be baited. Most recently, he declared that he had a nuclear button on his desk and wasn’t afraid to use it. Did Trump realize that Kim did that specifically to get him to respond and consequently look like an idiot? Of course not. Trump declared that he also has a nuclear button on HIS desk was bigger and more powerful “and worked!”

A number of politicians have cited this tweet as legitimate reason for removing him via the 25th Amendment. Any reasonable, rational individual knows that pushing a nuclear showdown with an unhinged dictator is just madness. That this is the most crystal clear proof that Trump is not playing with a full deck. I have to say, that makes sense to me, but we all know that the GOP won’t do it. Their concern for holding on to power overwhelms every other aspect. Plus far too many of them are afraid to cross Trump because he holds everyone hostage to his twitter feed. No one wants to be the next person that dumbass attaches a nickname to. After all, this is someone who does not hesitate to go after friends if they criticize or cross him in any way. He tweeted congratulations to Orrin Hatch on his retirement. If next week Hatch said Trump should be forced out, does anyone doubt that he would suddenly be Borin’ Orrin who was never of any use. Case in point:

2). Sloppy Steven. Once upon a time, Bannon was a treasured White House asset. Then he got fired. Now Bannon has declared war on the GOP, putting forward the notion of “Trumpism without Trump.” If Trump were smart, he’d ignore him now. But of course he can’t and he still snipes at Bannon over twitter. It’s so unnecessary because Bannon is happily screwing himself, most recently supporting alleged child molestor Roy Moore who lost because Alabama voters were smarter than we all thought. Bannon certainly didn’t endear Trump to him because he was critically quoted in the new book “Fire and Fury.”

And for the record, I’m not thrilled about the existence of this book. The author stated that there were statements that people made that might or might not have been true. And he included them in the book so that readers could “decide for themselves.” I’m sorry, no. That’s not journalism. In journalism you get two or even better three sources for everything you write. That’s just Journalism 101. Just reporting stuff without verifying it isn’t reporting, it’s rumor mongering. It casts everything into doubt, and it had no place in a book. This is the first time where, when Trump and company accuse someone of lying, I suspect that they might very well be right.

3). The center of the universe.. “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” Ronald Reagan said that. And it is a sentiment that Trump completely ignores because he is ONLY about getting credit. There were zero deaths from airplane crashes this year. Why? Because “I have been very strict on Commercial aviation.” North and South Korea are having peace talks? Wouldn’t be happening “if I wasn’t firm, strong and willing to commit our total “might” against the North. (Uh, Donald, when you put quotes around a word like that, it implies the word actually isn’t accurate. Your tweet implies we really DON’T have the might. You jerk.).

Actually, though, who knows: he might have a point. Kim Jong un is an insane dictator. But to a large degree, so is Trump. It seems to me that Kim is seeing Trump as a means of changing his public persona, to raise him to a level where other countries would interact and treat him with respect. He’s changed his wardrobe and hair style. He accepted the notion of getting into talks with South Korea and even sending a delegation to the Olympics. What was our response? Some are stating that we will not go to the Olympics if North Korea is there, as if we can’t stand the notion that North Korea is starting to shift its policies. It seems to me that Kim Jong un is trying to come across as more of a statesman than Trump.

And let’s face it. That’s not too hard.

Did he do anything right? He restricted his activities to Twitter. So that was appreciated.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – December 29, 2017

First, an update on pain: I am somewhat on the mend. I am now able to walk with a cane as opposed to a walker. Also my neurologist’s office called yesterday and confirmed that I have several pinched nerves on my spine. So now it’s just a matter of finding a way to make it relax. Thanks all of you for your patience as my body, for the third time in five years, selected the holidays as the perfect time to fall apart.

As for Trump:

He has actually been somewhat quiet recently, although the lies keep coming.

1) Give ‘em Hell, Dumbass: Trump, along with his people, has claimed that he signed more legislation into law than Harry Truman. This is, of course, a lie. Trump has actually signed less legislation than any president since Dwight Eisenhower. But in his mind, he has surpassed Truman. And his followers believe him, and Fox News parrots him, and once again the concept of truth takes a beating.

2) Just the facts. Credit Trump with achieving a major accomplishment. The non-Partisan, Pulitzer winning site PolitiFact.com presented their annual award for Lie of the Year. The winner, of course, was Trump, who told Lester Holt of NBC that “This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story.” Along with other whoppers such as “I am not a crook” and “I did not have sex with that woman,” I’m reasonably sure that statement will come back to haunt him.

The thing is, I’ve been pretty depressed about Trump over the past year. Depressed about him, worried about the country falling apart. But recently I saw something that buoyed me somewhat.

A great movie was on TCM the other day: “The Front.” Starring Woody Allen and Zero Mostel, it’s set during the 1950s when the government was obsessed with Communists (much the same way that Trump is obsessed with Muslims.) Allen’s character is friends with a television writer who has been blacklisted, so Allen puts his name on the scripts and the guy can earn a living while Allen makes ten percent off each sale. It’s a terrific film, and it presents an America that seems to be a completely alien world. People are prosecuted for what they think and say. They are driven into hiding and sometimes even kill themselves because they can’t stand what their lives have become.

When I first saw the film in the theaters decades ago, I felt like I was watching an alien country. But when I watched it a couple days ago, I saw a lot of what’s going on now. Good and decent people being treated like criminals simply because of their beliefs. The First Amendment being readily tossed aside. A bullying politician throwing his weight around and people quivering with fear over what he’ll say or who he’ll next target.

But you know what? It got better.

The evil leader of the movement was brought down. The country remembered what it was supposed to be about. America recaptured its soul.

We’ve done it before. We can do it again.

PAD

Freaked out Friday: No Pain No Gain but Peter has gained a lot

Kath here.

Peter is practically incapacitated by pain so our world is the four walls and the Doctor office visits. We know things are going on but right now we don’t care. We are just so very grateful that we have health insurance and our Patreon supporters have made it possible to not worry about co-pays and pharmacy costs. We have a January appointment for pain management but are on the list if there is a cancellation. So think good thoughts for Peter as he navigates his way back to health.

Yes, we know that that tax cut for Senators, Trumps, and their monied backers passed.

Yes, we know that they cancelled Christmas in Jerusalem (or rather the usual festivities) due to 45 and his bull in the china shop diplomacy.

We know that the stop gap measure passed so that we will have what is left of our government in the new year.

There is the continued destruction of various departments and public lands all in the name of the almighty dollar.

But right now I think we will settle for Peter getting a solid night’s sleep or being able to walk without support or pain.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it.

Hug your loved ones and tell them how you feel about them. Things can change in an instant.

Pain trumps Freaked out Friday

Kath here,

We finally have a diagnosis on what is going on with Peter and it is a series of pinched nerves causing him to be in pretty much excruciating pain 24/7. He does have some medicine to dull the pain but he has not been pain free in over two weeks. We are now trying to find out how we get him back to something resembling normal because between the pain and the drugs, he is not at his best and feels it would be better to stay off the Internet for the most part. Participants in the Patreon program don’t worry y’all will continue to get things promised like Cowboy Peter but it may take a day or so.

Not that we haven’t seen both high and lows this week.

Thank goodness for everyone who voted in Alabama and gave Roy Moore his walking papers which, as of this typing, he has not excepted. The weirder thing I heard is that he believes that if the write-in was for a Republican then it is really a vote for him so he deserves that vote. I have no idea if that is real or fake but considering the other things he thinks is true, then it might be.

We no longer have net neutrality which is going to throttle new start ups and MMORPGs and other things on the Internet even though most of the Internet hardware is government owned.

Then there were all the other things that happened but we were focused on something else trying to get Peter to be able to move without screaming.

So feel free to tell us what freaked you out and what we missed by dealing with life outside the news cycle.

Freak Out Friday – December 8, 2017

Medical issues, to start off: so it appears that I have a pinched nerve in my spine as a result of a fall, which is sending pain screaming through my lower abdomen. The doctor has me on oxycodone which is enabling me to function, but it’s scrambling my ability to process coherent thought. But I don’t want to blow off FOF two weeks in a row, so I’ll be working on keeping it together long enough to discuss the latest idiocy. And yes, I will still be attending the Ace convention this weekend, because there’s no way I’m telling my daughter she can’t meet Gal Gadot. I just may not be at my best.

1. Jerusalem of gold. I am really torn on this. On the one hand, Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel is certain to throw a huge monkey wrench into the peace process. On the other hand, there currently isn’t a peace process because the Palestinians still don’t acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, much less for the Holy City to belong exclusively to them. So part of me is saying, “Yes, fine, stick it to the Palestinians, let them squirm for once.” But let’s put cards on the table: it’s going to end badly. Very badly. If I worked in the diplomatic corps, I’d resign before I set foot in a Jerusalem embassy because it’s going to become target number one for every Arab terrorist in the area. I’m sorry, the area? In the world. Protests are already breaking out not only on the West Bank, but in Turkey, Jordan and Malaysia.

Lots and lots of people are going to die because of this decision. We all know it’s going to happen, and everyone cares about that except for the man who made the decision in the first place. And we all know that it has nothing to do with Jerusalem and everything to do with his ego. He basically pointed out that no one else who preceded him in the office has ever done this. The fact that they all have good reasons for it doesn’t even begin to register. He has to get up there and stroke his ego by saying, “I did this first! Look at me!” So the Jew in me is pleased but the common sense American is horrified.

2. Taking it in the teeth.. So it is obvious that Trump wears dentures because they begin to evacuate his mouth when he said “United States.” Aside from admiring the dentures’ comedy timing, I honestly couldn’t care less. He’s a senior citizen with false teeth. Big deal. If he were honest about it, he might actually get props from millions of other seniors who deal with the same issue. What’s hilarious is that he absolutely cannot admit to weakness of any kind. His people are claiming he had a dry throat. No. He didn’t. A dry throat affects volume. It doesn’t impact on articulation. Unless you’re coughing, but he wasn’t coughing. He was displaying a dental slip. For God’s sake, just admit it. Admit to human frailty. For once.

3. Faking it.. As Trump’s opinion polls continue to slide and he pisses off our allies, there is one group of individuals who are flocking to him and following his example: despots. They have embraced his constant chants of “fake news” by brushing off all criticism using the same phrasing. Syrian President Bashar Assad declared that Amnesty International’s report of 13,000 people dying in his military prisons was an example of the “fake news era.” Others have joined in dismissing any criticisms of their travesties, sometimes while standing right next to Trump as he laughs in appreciation. When your closest allies are murderers and despots, well…like seeks out like.

4. Moore or Less.. Remember Roy Moore, the guy that, weeks ago, the GOP was urging to pull out of the race? Well, Trump just soundly endorsed him while simultaneously lying about Moore’s opposition, Doug Jones. And the GOP sent $107,000 in funding to the man who allegedly sexually assaulted underage girls, which last I checked is statutory rape. Why is Trump endorsing him? Because Moore said he didn’t do it. You know: like Nixon said he wasn’t a crook. And Clinton said he hadn’t had sex with that woman. And Jeremy Piven said he hadn’t sexually assaulted anyone and even was cleared by two lie detector tests, but CBS canceled his program. And Al Franken said that some accusations were out and out lies, but he just resigned anyway.

I honestly don’t know what to make of Franken anymore. I found that article that I linked to some days back pretty convincing, depicting his accuser not as a victim at all, but someone involved in the GOP’s desire to distract from Moore and do their usual tactics of, “What about us? Well, what about you!” It is their favorite response to any accusation: accuse the Democrats of doing the same thing as loudly as possible, thus undercutting any moral high ground. Thus they never have to answer for their crimes because in the GOP world, everyone is guilty and thus no one can be found guilty. What does the law matter if everyone ignores it? Deny and accuse, deny and accuse. Trump is now denying that it was his voice on the tape boasting about grabbing women’s genitals, even though he admitted to it months ago. Meanwhile right wing religious nuts are lining up behind Moore and ignoring all the accusations lined up against him. Remember the days when we all thought women would turn against Trump because of his comments because what sane woman would tolerate it? Now we’re finding out.

Yet it’s also become clear that Franken did indeed slap women’s buttocks on several occasions. This news, which wouldn’t even register on the GOP hot line of assaults, has forced him to resign. The reason is obvious: the Democrats cannot go after Roy Moore if/when he gets elected if they have Franken hanging around their neck. The fact is that he ultimately brought these problems on himself, and now he has to pay for it, even though if he were a Republican, he’d still be serving and having the entire party lining up behind him. But the Democrats don’t line up behind anyone because they attempt to hold their members to a standard that the GOP has long ago tossed aside. The GOP cares about power and power only. Not serving the people. Not adhering to a standard of truth. Not the ethics of their people. Just power, period.

This country used to stand for something. Now it stands for anything.

PAD