Peter David's Blog, page 20

Freaked Out Friday: Guest Commentator

Jerry Chandler here doing a Freak Out Friday fill-in to cover for Peter’s rather hectic schedule this weekend. Let’s go ahead and dive in.

1) “You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

I think many of us wanted to ask that of Trump this week. Sadly, we already know the answer. If Trump did nothing else in the last week, he definitively answered that question by making it clear that he has none.

Services were held for Sgt. La David Johnson Saturday. Trump took to Twitter first thing in the morning not to comment on the Sgt.’s service to his country or his sacrifice, but rather to launch more attacks on Rep. Frederica Wilson and by extension the family. He continued to insult Wilson and the family throughout the week, repeatedly claiming their version of the call and their stating that they found it offensive at the time were lies despite multiple witnesses to their end of the call as well as John Kelly’s comments last week basically confirming Wilson’s description of the call with regards to Trump’s wording.

I have made no secret over the years of my disdain for Trump, but I would have been more than happy to have given him all the credit in the world for doing the right thing this week. All he would have had to do was apologize. All he would have had to do was say that he spoke in an inartful manner during the call, meant no offense by it, but realized after the initial criticism of his call that his choice of words could indeed have inadvertently caused greater pain to a widow so soon after the loss of her husband and then let the issue go.

It would not only have been the decent thing to do, but it would have been the politically intelligent thing to do. Had Donald Trump come out early in the week and made such a statement, you can’t attack him over the matter after that without looking like a partisan hack. But he didn’t, and he’s gone well past the point where any such apology would be effective. He didn’t do it because to do this, to show this simple act of decency, intelligence, and class, would require Donald Trump to make the admission that he made a mistake or got something wrong in this even if only by sincerely but poorly chosen wording. That’s not something his ego will allow. So what we got was another week of watching the man who sits in the single most powerful elected office in our country attacking a Gold Star family and their longtime family friend in their time of grief.

We know the answer. You have no sense of decency, sir.

2) He knew him before he didn’t know him.

Tuesday saw the Senator from Arizona, Jeff Flake, give a blistering speech on the chamber floor, pointedly attacking what the Republican party and politics have become in the age of Trump. In many ways it was reminiscent of another speech given by Sen. Margaret Chase Smith on June 1, 1950. Her “Declaration of Conscience” address, given in the same chamber, was a powerful denouncement and indictment of what her Republican party was seemingly becoming and the man behind the change, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.

Trump’s response was to claim the first time he saw Flake on TV he thought he was a Democrat and to claim that Flake was against him and had come out with his book, Conscious of a Conservative, long before Flake got to know him; even before the campaign. Mind you, this was in the same press scrum where Trump had claimed to have one of the great memories of all time to support attacking a Gold Star family.

That claim becomes particularly hilarious when you look at two facts. Flake’s book was published in August of 2017, and Jeff Flake very publicly questioned and criticized Trump in front of other Republicans when the two met in July of 2016. This was covered by the media back when it happened. Additionally, Trump’s documented comments at that time also showed that he knew who Jeff Flake was even back then.

On some level, it seems a small thing, but it becomes yet another example that Donald Trump will lie about anything no matter how foolish it makes him look. Whatever comes into his mind in the moment, Donald Trump will say it regardless of whether or not he and everyone else listening knows it to be untrue. In the guy down the street, it’s an annoying if perhaps comical character flaw. In the President of the United States, it is a character trait that more and more undercuts the ability of anyone, from the average man or woman on the street to other world leaders, to be able trust anything Donald Trump says.

Did he do anything right? Yes, to a degree.

Thursday, Trump attempted to put the opioid abuse crisis in this country in the spotlight. He came out and declared a nationwide public health emergency to combat the opioid crisis at a White House event.

He took criticism from some quarters for not issuing a national disaster declaration, an act that would allow a greater scope of funding to address the issue. A declaration of a nationwide public health emergency will not automatically be followed by the additional federal funding for the crisis that some see as needed. While his action will not allow the federal government to immediately tap into funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund to combat the opioid crisis, his order will still expand needed access to telemedicine in rural areas, instruct agencies to curb unnecessary bureaucratic delays for dispensing grant money, and allow agencies to shift some federal grants towards fighting the crisis.

There will always be- sometimes quite valid -complaints that actions like this are not enough. But the fact is that this is at least a good start. In taking this step, Trump did the right thing this week. Hopefully, it will be the right first step of many by the administration to help the country combat this problem.

I agree with every word of this

A column by Peggy Noonan about Trump that ran back in July and has only become more accurate. Read the entirety of it here.

Here’s a preview:

“It’s so easy to act presidential but that’s not gonna get it done,” Mr. Trump said the other night at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio. That is the opposite of the truth. The truth, six months in, is that he is not presidential and is not getting it done. His mad, blubbery petulance isn’t working for him but against him. If he were presidential he’d be getting it done—building momentum, gaining support. He’d be over 50%, not under 40%. He’d have health care, and more.

PAD

A post from…somebody

UPDATE: So upon further investigation, I have been unable to find this post genuinely originating from Dan Rather. Furthermore, the guy on Facebook who originally posted it took it down after I wrote him and asked him where he had gotten it from. He too, it turned out, had gotten it from Facebook, so at this point I have zero idea who wrote it (although Dan Rather seems unlikely.)

However enough of this has been verified as being true that, screw it, I’m going to leave it up and you can judge for yourselves. The only thing we don’t have absolutely nailed down is whether they abandoned Johnson or not. The military says they didn’t. But they also told the widow she couldn’t have an open casket ceremony, which seems to insinuate some stuff. As I said, judge for yourselves:

“While everyone is so busy talking about Trump’s handling of his call to the widow of the soldier killed in Niger, you’re all missing the important part of that story — the part about what happened that night in Niger.

Here’s what we know so far:

These soldiers went to a meeting in an area near the border with Mali. This is a well known hot spot for ISIS activity.

Our soldiers were not backed up by US Military air support. No, they were backed up by the French, who were not authorized to intervene or even fire a shot.

Our soldiers did not have armored vehicles. They traveled in pickup trucks.

Our soldiers were given faulty intel that said “it was unlikely that they would meet any hostile forces.” Of course, they walked into an ISIS ambush. It was chaotic and they took three casualties.

It took the French 30 minutes to arrive. When they did, they were not authorized to help. So, a dozen of our Green Berets fought a battle with more than 50 ISIS fighters, without help, for 30 minutes.

Finally, a rescue helicopter arrived, but it was not a US military helicopter. No, we apparently outsourced that job to “private contractors.” So, these contractors landed and loaded the remaining troops, the injured and the dead.

Here’s where this gets really bad ….

Because they were not military, they never did a head count. That is how Sgt. La David Johnson was left behind.

That’s right …. they left him behind.

According to the Pentagon, his locator beacon was activated on the battlefield, which indicates that he was alive when they left him there.

They recovered his body 48 hours later, but are refusing to say where. According to his widow, she was told that she could not have an open casket funeral. This indicates that he was mutilated after being left behind on the battlefield.

This is what led to the nonsense we’re obsessing over. This is the real story. As usual, you’re allowing it to be about Trump’s distraction.

The Trump Pentagon gave these men bad intel, no support, outsourced rescue people and then tried for more than a week to pretend it never happened.

In that time, Trump spoke on many occasions and never mentioned it. He tweeted attacks on many but never mentioned these men.

Only after pressure from the media has he bothered to even acknowledge these men and their service.”

Since I was one of the ones who fell for the distraction, I felt I should share this.

PAD

A post from Dan Rather

Consider this a follow-up to Freak Out Friday:

“While everyone is so busy talking about Trump’s handling of his call to the widow of the soldier killed in Niger, you’re all missing the important part of that story — the part about what happened that night in Niger.

Here’s what we know so far:

These soldiers went to a meeting in an area near the border with Mali. This is a well known hot spot for ISIS activity.

Our soldiers were not backed up by US Military air support. No, they were backed up by the French, who were not authorized to intervene or even fire a shot.

Our soldiers did not have armored vehicles. They traveled in pickup trucks.

Our soldiers were given faulty intel that said “it was unlikely that they would meet any hostile forces.” Of course, they walked into an ISIS ambush. It was chaotic and they took three casualties.

It took the French 30 minutes to arrive. When they did, they were not authorized to help. So, a dozen of our Green Berets fought a battle with more than 50 ISIS fighters, without help, for 30 minutes.

Finally, a rescue helicopter arrived, but it was not a US military helicopter. No, we apparently outsourced that job to “private contractors.” So, these contractors landed and loaded the remaining troops, the injured and the dead.

Here’s where this gets really bad ….

Because they were not military, they never did a head count. That is how Sgt. La David Johnson was left behind.

That’s right …. they left him behind.

According to the Pentagon, his locator beacon was activated on the battlefield, which indicates that he was alive when they left him there.

They recovered his body 48 hours later, but are refusing to say where. According to his widow, she was told that she could not have an open casket funeral. This indicates that he was mutilated after being left behind on the battlefield.

This is what led to the nonsense we’re obsessing over. This is the real story. As usual, you’re allowing it to be about Trump’s distraction.

The Trump Pentagon gave these men bad intel, no support, outsourced rescue people and then tried for more than a week to pretend it never happened.

In that time, Trump spoke on many occasions and never mentioned it. He tweeted attacks on many but never mentioned these men.

Only after pressure from the media has he bothered to even acknowledge these men and their service.”

Since I was one of the ones who fell for the distraction, I felt I should share this.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – October 20, 2017

Where to start, where to start. Let’s begin small and work up to the obvious:

1). London’s Calling: Well at least he didn’t take to Twitter to piss off people who don’t like us. Instead he outraged our allies by declaring, Just out report: “United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.” Not good, we must keep America safe!. Now yes, crime rates in England have gone up, thanks to rises in knife use, sexual assaults and murder. But to conflate it with radical Islam and use it to imply his idiotic travel bans aimed at Muslims is okay is, frankly, just the kind of idiocy we’ve come to expect. Nor is the UK thrilled with his declarations. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas declared it “inflammatory.” Tom Wilson, the labor deputy leader, said, “Officer, I’d like to report a hate crime.” I very much doubt that England will declare war on us, but Trump is doing nothing to endear himself to them.

2). Bring in Thomas Crown to check: Donald Trump has a painting on his airplane which he insisted is an original Renoir. It’s called “Two Sisters on the Terrace.” Would you like to see it? You can. Do you have to go on Trump’s plane? Heck no: All you have to do is head to Chicago and go to the art institute. It’s hanging right in the same place that it’s been since 1933. This was pointed out to him back in 2005 when he brought his biographer, Tim O’Brien, onto his plane and mentioned that the picture he had hanging there was the original. O’Brien insisted it wasn’t. The next day when they were back on the plane, Trump pointed out his original Renoir as if the previous day’s conversation hadn’t happened. This is what O’Brien recounted on a recent podcast. So it’s clear that Trump’s senility is not a recent development; it’s been going on for over ten years.

3) Flippity floppity flip. So Trump announced that he wanted to end subsidies to insurance companies. Then he was asked about the proposal by senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray–a Republican and Democrat respectively–that would wind up overturning his decision. His response? He endorsed it. That lasted about 24 hours because the next day he tweeted out that he wasn’t supporting it. Why did he do that? Well, either he literally forgot about endorsing it the previous day, or else when he endorsed it he didn’t actually know anything about it. And rather than admitting that he was ignorant and waiting to comment on it, he naturally had to have a comment that stemmed from his non-existent awareness.

4). Thank you for your service. Who are you again? Remember when Trump picked on the Gold Star parents during the election. That was nothing compared to what happened this week. Either he didn’t contact people (four out of eleven that the Washington Post contacted) or he did contact them and created unnecessary problems.

One gentleman he called, Chris Baldridge, whose son had died in Afghanistan, stated that Trump promised he’d send him a personal check for $25,000 to help with his dead son’s family. The check never came…until the Post reported on it and then suddenly the check was in the mail. Even worse was when he spoke to the widowed Myeshia Johnson and said her husband “knew what he signed up for.” Now believe it or not, I’m almost willing to write that one off, because he immediately said that it was still a tragedy when it happens. So I tend to think he was genuinely trying to offer comforting words, even if he was being a bit clunky about it. I think it sounds worse when it’s printed than spoken. If it was a cop’s funeral and they said, “Johnny knew the risks going in, but he didn’t care because he just wanted to help others,” people would nod and agree. Trump’s bigger mistake, though, was that he didn’t bother to learn the name of the person he was talking about. He kept referring to him as “your guy,” leaving the bereaved widow to say that the Commander in Chief didn’t even know her husband’s name. And even worse, when Rep. Frederica Wilson recounted the disastrous phone call, Trump denied saying it.. Of course he did. He could have clarified it. He could have apologized for the clunkiness of what he did, or for upsetting Johnson. But no, Trump can never make a mistake (“That’s a real Renoir!”) Naturally Johnson’s mother was there and she verified everything Wilson said.

As for the people he didn’t call? Naturally he can’t admit a mistake, so instead he claimed that Obama hadn’t called soldiers. Because when there’s someone in the world you hate, naturally you want to use everything they do as an excuse for yourself. Except of course that was another lie, because Obama did indeed call them.

The most incredible thing this week.. George W. Bush, who should be grateful to Trump because he’s bumped W. off the top of the “Worst President Ever” list, gave a speech this week where he trashed Trump’s America. Although he didn’t mention Trump by name, he spoke about the rise of White Supremacy, how the country is effectively falling apart and that we need real leaders and people for voters to aspire to, which clearly we do not have now. Let’s face it: even Jeb would have been better than this. The fact is, we’ve gone beyond asking how could Trump be president. Instead we’re asking how Trump could even be considered a sentient human being.

PAD

Super Trumpy

Inspired by the President’s recent heartless conversation with a mother who lost her son, a soldier, by basically telling her that, hey, he knew it was a dangerous job going in:

When you find yourself not voting

When you’ve got some guns for toting

When your life is really kind of dumpy.

Do not scream or cry or curse

There’s one guy who can make it worse

Just callll for Super Trumpy

If your soldier dies you’ll have to overlook it

Because he knew the job was dangerous when he took it.

He will cry and find excuses

Tie lawmakers up in nooses

He will make the road to laws all bumpy

When you think it can’t get worse

Well then it will and you will curse

The naaaame of Super Trumpy

Insaaaane Super Trumpy.

Begaaaak!

Freak Out Friday – October 13, 2017

Friday the 13th; what could possibly go wrong?

Got a lot to cover since I wasn’t able to do Freak Out Friday last week, so buckle up.

1). Did I say that? I didn’t say that.. In light of the Senate’s thankful inability to get rid of health care, Trump has stated that he’s going to do it himself. He tweeted that he is going to use “the power of the pen to give great healthcare to many people FAST!” The fact that many people already have great healthcare eludes him. Plus so does the irony of the fact that executive orders were something that he relentlessly criticized Obama for, condemning them as “major grabs for authority.” He even shut down DACA precisely because Obama created it and he said that Obama lacked the executive authority to do that.

Now you know what? If he really believes that executive orders shouldn’t be used to bypass Congress, I can totally respect that. Except he obviously doesn’t believe it because he’s not hesitating to use them when they benefit him. This is hypocrisy at an executive level and someone, somewhere has to sit this idiot down and convince him that he cannot have it both ways. I mean, when your own secretary of state says you’re a f’ing moron, you should really take seriously the reasons he’s saying that.

2). Oh please. Please take him up on it. . Speaking of Rex Tillerson, Trump declared that he wanted to challenge Tillerson to an IQ test. Here’s what I think: I think Tillerson should not only take him up on it, but I think he should attach some stakes to the wager. What stakes? Simple: the loser resigns. If Tillerson resigns, he’d probably be happy to do it. If Trump is gone, that could solve a LOT of problems.

3). Really? Is that all? According to the Washington Post, Trump has been lying, on average, five times a day since taking office. Most recent ones include saying that he was against invading Iraq (he was for it), that the hurricane wind speeds in Puerto Rico were 200 MPH (topped out at 155), and claiming that the USA is the most highly taxed country in the world (it actually averages between 17th and 30th.). He’s currently up to 1318 lies, which will doubtless be higher by the time you read this.

4). How many fronts can we fight a war on?. Trump is making noise that he is going to fail to renew the Iran deal, declaring falsely that they have refused to keep to it. Except that’s not true (of course). Do they still support terrorism? Yes. But that’s outside the scope of the deal. A former senior diplomat stated that it will prove to the world that “American cannot take ‘yes’ for an answer.”

5). The what before the what? During a White House dinner Trump sponsored for the military brass, he said, “You guys know what this represents? Maybe the calm before the storm.” It was like a teaser moment during a trailer for a TV show where they want you to tune in next week. What did Dean Winchester mean when he said that? Except that’s fiction. When the President of the United States says something like that, and then refuses to elaborate on it, it immediately terrifies any thinking person into going, “Oh my God, now what?!” Considering that Trump still hasn’t figured out that you can’t treat the nuclear-loaded Kim Jong un like he’s a contestant on “The Apprentice,” it really doesn’t bode well.

6). Towels? Seriously? WTF?. So after excoriating a Puerto Rican mayor who had the audacity to say they needed help, Trump bought his reality show presidency on the road to the hurricane devastated country. How did it go? As bizarrely as you might expect. He claimed Puerto Rico had ruined the US budget (a charge he did not bother to level at either Texas or Florida, states that, y’know, can vote for him), praised the number of people we sent over there to help (Texas got 30,000, Florida 40,000, Puerto Rico 10,000) threw paper towels into a crowd as if he were walking the baseline in Citi Field firing t-shirts to the fans out of a gun, and pronounced the country’s name “Pwerrrto Rico,” a pronunciation you can only get away with if you Rita are Moreno about to launch into a rendition of “I Like to Be in America.” So basically it was a screw up on every possible level.

But it gets better. He recently started making noise about abandoning Puerto Rico entirely. Claiming that the country’s infrastructure was already in trouble before the hurricane, he’s now acting as if a country where the citizens have no potable water and the hospitals are failing basically brought it on themselves and are now looking for the US to fix their problems. He still hasn’t quite grasped that Puerto Rico is part of the United States and cannot be abandoned…except that is exactly what he is intending to do.

7). On the other hand, maybe Pence wouldn’t be better. Mike Pence stormed out of a Colts/49ers game when, to his shock, several players kneeled during the anthem. It was a completely spontaneous, unpremeditated action.

Kidding. It was planned from the get go. We know this because Pence’s staff told the pool reporter traveling with him not to bother going in because there was “a chance” that there would be an early exit. And how many tax dollars were spent so that Pence could plan a cheap political demonstration that Trump subsequently tweeted about in enthusiastic support? The flight from Las Vegas to Indianapolis and then to Los Angeles was estimated by CNN to run around $242,000. A quarter of a million dollars in taxpayer money so Trump could attack the NFL again. Unfortunately since Pence was his accomplice and has yet to offer a word of criticism, it seems unlikely that he’s going to invoke the 25th Amendment to get this nut out.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is already using the stunt for fundraising for Trump’s reelection.” Yes, that’s right, they spent nearly a quarter of a million in tax money so they could send around emails telling people to stand with them and their respect for the flag by sending them money to get a bumper sticker.

8). It’s official. He’s a fascist.. Trump tweeted this on Wednesday: With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!

He’s basically sending out a preliminary message that says he will not hesitate to try and shut down news agencies that don’t give him positive coverage, which means that everyone except Fox News is at risk to be put out of business. Can he do it? No, thank God. His tweets indicate that once again he’s talking about things he doesn’t understand, including who owns licenses and what the government can do about it. On the other hand, part of me almost hopes he targets ABC because then it’s Disney versus Trump and that would be freaking awesome. But effectively, this is how dictatorships start. When the dictator takes over the dissemination of news and only distributes to the country what he wants it to hear.

9). Heiling in der Fuhrer’s Face. Remember how he declared that there were problems “on both sides” in Charlottesville? Well, at least we have a name to go with one of the people who seems to have Nazi leanings that Trump thinks is a good guy. Jeffrey Lord, a dick who got himself fired from CNN for posting “Sieg Heil!” at a critic on Twitter, got a shout out from Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, describing him as “a good man” and “one of my few sources of truth.” Lord is a right wing extremist who doesn’t hesitate to throw around Nazi slogans and that puts him on Trump’s A-list.

10). Hope you’re healthy. With a stroke of his pen–once again, the kind of executive order that he used to condemn Obama for–Trump dealt a lethal blow to Obamacare. His new order makes it easier for employers to join up and obtain lower cost insurance, even purchasing insurance across state lines. Now on the surface, you may say, “What’s wrong with that? Lower insurance? That’s great!” Except you’ve forgotten the old saying that you get what you pay for. Why would the insurance be lower? Well, it will lower insurance for younger, healthier customers while jacking the insurance costs up for the older patients who really need insurance. Not to mention that these cheaper plans may not contain coverage for such things as newborn care, maternity care, prescription drugs, addiction treatment, and mental health care. Because when your whole approach to gun control is that the shooters require mental treatment, that’s certainly an aspect of health care you want to get rid of.

Did he do anything right? No.

PAD

Seriously, Twitter? Seriously?

Donald Trump continues to make insane statements in which he a) shows his lack of understanding of his job, b) shows his lack of understanding of the Constitution, and c) lobs personal insults at dictators with nuclear weapons. And whose account do you shut down?

Rose McGowan.

Let us remember that McGowan accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual shenanigans TWENTY YEARS ago and was roundly condemned for it, even after winning a settlement for it. So now she disses Ben Affleck, claiming that he was aware of it, and Twitter suspends her account? Jeffrey Lord, who tweeted “Sieg Heil” and got himself fired from CNN, he gets to keep his account. Donald Trump, who is heading us toward World War III, he keeps on tweeting. But Rose McGowan, who makes an accusation that is probably accurate, SHE gets suspended.

Seriously, what the hell?

PAD

What’s frightening is, I’d totally see this film

This is from today’s Onion:

BURBANK, CA—Hinting that the gritty new animated feature would close the book on a “beloved friend,” a new Disney trailer on Monday teased the exit of a major character in the upcoming film Death At Pooh Corner. “Fans of the franchise should brace themselves, because Death At Pooh Corner might just be the last time they ever see one of their favorite characters in the Hundred Acre Wood,” said Disney spokesperson Sarah Freeborn, alluding to the preview’s opening shot showing Pooh jerking his head up after hearing a gunshot off in the distance and saying “Oh, bother.”

You can read the rest of it on the Onion’s website.

God, let it be Piglet.

PAD

New York Comic Con

So it turns out I will indeed be attending NYCC. Marvel Comics found room for me at their section of Artists Alley. I will be at table M2 and will have plenty of stuff to sell. Come on by.

PAD