Peter David's Blog, page 23

Freak Out Friday – August 4, 2017

I could do my usual thing of itemizing Trump’s insanities/inanities. But you probably have heard them discussed on CNN or supported on Fox or destroyed by comedians.

Instead for this week I’d like to take a broader view.

It’s just that I’m looking at the state of the world. The Russians obviously tampered with the election because they hated/feared Hillary that much. The Senate’s strike back at them was signed into law by Trump because he had no choice; they could have overridden his veto. This obviously infuriated Putin who retaliated diplomatically, which means we are teetering on another Cold War. Meanwhile North Korea continues to test missiles which can reach as far as California, DC, and New York, and I don’t think anyone remotely believes that Trump is capable of handling NK’s dictator if the hammer comes down.

And what I keep coming back to is this:

Let’s say five years ago, someone wanted to tell an end-of-the-world story. Governments have broken down, diplomacy has gone out the window, and lunatic nutbags are running things. If the storyteller wanted to provide a shorthand to establish how things could have possibly gone so wrong, all he would have to do is have a newscaster talking about “President Trump.” Because five years ago, the audience would have snorted and said, “Well, sure, I totally believe that if this country was stupid enough to put Trump into office, then it makes sense that the entire world is falling apart. Hell, we probably deserve to be nuked out of existence if things have gotten that bad.”

Writers do that all the time. Alan Moore made sure that Richard Nixon was still president in the time of “Watchmen” because you could totally buy into the notion of Nixon overseeing a steady but inevitable crawl toward atomic destruction. In the episode of “Supernatural,” The End, Dean Winchester of 2009 is transported forward into 2014, where mention is made of President Sarah Palin while the world falls apart. It’s a nice writing shorthand to establish a reality on the edge of total destruction.

Except that’s fiction.

And this is fact.

The fact being that we have a man in office whose mere mention in a work published or shown five years ago would have viewers buying into the notion that we are all effectively screwed.

Am I the only person to whom this has occurred?

PAD

You meet the most interesting people at conventions

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Freak Out Friday – July 28, 2017

I’m still on the road and was inclined to give Trump one more week off, but I can’t. I just can’t.

1. Always prepared. So Trump spoke at the Boy Scout Jamboree, pointing out that Obama had never done so. Which wasn’t true: Obama had recorded a video message addressing the 2010 Jamboree. Obama was also a Boy Scout in his youth, as were George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. But not Trump, of course. Trump made his speech quite memorable, violating eighty years of presidential tradition by presenting a highly partisan speech in which he slammed his predecessor and Hillary Clinton, and told them a long, rambling story about a multi-millionaire who wound up buying a yacht and presumably having sexual activities on it. The Scouts ate it up while the organization quickly released a statement emphasizing that the organization is non partisan. Apparently inviting the president to speak at the jamboree is tradition, but I will be very surprised if they maintain that tradition and invite him ever again. Hell, let them invite Obama next year. I bet he’ll come.

2) Anyone else getting sick of Health Care? Once again, for something like the sixty second time in the past seven years, the GOP endeavored to get rid of health care and failed. Naturally all the Democrats voted against it, but of greater interest was that enough GOPers voted against it as well. Granted, some of them believed that it was gutted too much while others thought it wasn’t gutted enough. Fortunately even the notion of just scrapping Obamacare while replacing it with nothing didn’t go over. Yet the GOP still won’t let it go, now actively discussing a brand new plan that is a “slimmed down” version of the ACA. One wonders how many rejections they are going to have to endure before they give up. Even Trump is now advocating that they just wait for Obamacare to crash and burn, which–to my understanding–it’s showing no sign of doing, although it is saving countless lives. It’s impressive how something can last when the process is done correctly, over a period of months with public hearings, as opposed to the way the GOP has been attempting to do it.

3) We’ll have a gay old time. People are declaring that the LGBTQ community has been “betrayed” by Trump’s recent declarations that transgender individuals would not be permitted into the army, effectively firing something like 15,000 people. And then the White House built upon that as the Justice Department filed court papers stating that the 1964 Civil Rights Act doesn’t protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. But this is not remotely a betrayal because, I’m sorry, any LGBTQ individual who believed Trump was on their side is quite simply too stupid to have his or her feelings seriously considered.

Of COURSE Trump went back on his word. Trump ALWAYS goes back on his word. Trump ALWAYS betrays you. Just ask his old pal, Jeff Sessions, the first senator to support him who Trump is now relentlessly assaulting on Twitter.

And the truth is of no relevance to him. He declared he spoke with his Generals. The Pentagon said no, he didn’t. He said that he didn’t want to deal with the “tremendous medical costs.” Interesting. The Rand corporation did a study. According to AOL, they “found that the costs of allowing transgender people to serve in the military would have a ‘minimal impact’ on the budget, amounting to $2.4 million to $8.4 million each year, or 0.04 percent to 0.13 percent of the military health care budget. That’s little more than a rounding error when compared to the total U.S. military budget of roughly $700 billion.”

So Trump’s reasons are BS, as is everything he says. It has nothing to do with money and everything to do with the fact that he doesn’t like gays, period, close quote, end of story. The hilarious thing is that some critics are declaring that Trump’s reasoning is sound because the army has other medical restrictions. For instance, people with cancer, diabetes, etc., can’t join. Because apparently they are stupid enough to think that being transgender is somehow physically debilitating. Idiots.

Did he do anything right? No. It was a solid week of saying and doing stupid things.

PAD

Harlan Ellison biography

May I highly recommend a new biography, A Lit Fuse, that covers the life of one Harlan Ellison. Harlan gave the writer carte blanche to cover whatever he wanted–the good, the bad, and the ugly. He speaks quite highly of the result, and that is certainly good enough for me. Plus it features commentary by such individuals as Patton Oswalt, Neil Gaiman, and, well, me. So head to Amazon and snatch yourself a copy.

PAD

Fort Lauderdale Supercon

It’s kind of last minute, but I just wanted to let everyone know that Kathleen, Caroline and I will be at the Florida Supercon this weekend. Swing on by and say hi. I’ll be at booth #930.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – July 21, 2017

I can’t. I’m on vacation in Disney World and I’m having much too good a time to think about Donald Trump or his idiot family. So this week, you guys can talk about them. Say whatever you want.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – July 14, 2017

The old saying is “Like father, like son.” And it apparently both applies and does not apply to Donald and Donald Junior.

1) Running off at the mouth. Junior is the opposite in that he seems to be obsessed with telling the truth. That could be a good thing. The bad thing is that he shares his father’s stupidity in that he doesn’t know when to shut the hell up.

Junior released on Tuesday an email chain in which he was offered damaging evidence by a British journalist in relation to Hillary Clinton during the election, and was informed that the material was Russian and confidential. Now: the law clearly states, A foreign national shall not, directly or indirectly, make a contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value, or expressly or impliedly promise to make a contribution or a donation, in connection with any Federal, State, or local election. Did Junior therefore realize that information is a thing of value and therefore turn it down? Of course not. He said, “I love it.” He flat out admitted that he was contacted and embraced the entire concept.

Yet experts are divided on whether this acceptance constitutes a crime, because…well, because he’s GOP, really. If the situation were reversed and the exchange had been with Chelsea Clinton, Trump’s forces would be up in arms, the GOP would be shouting “Lock her up” every time Clinton (any of them) showed their faces, and Trump himself would be condemning her every hour on Twitter, instead of declaring his support for Junior.

One really wonders what, if anything, was going through Junior’s head. One is forced to the conclusion that he really doesn’t understand that what he did was wrong. It’s a foreign government. It’s the Russians. Anyone with a brain in his head would have known to write back, “No thanks,” and be done with it, but he embraced it.

What a freaking moron.

2) One is the loneliest number. I loved that a picture was released of him at the G-20 conference where every other world leader is engaged in discussion and Trump is sitting by himself alone. Could you imagine Obama sitting by himself and everyone else steering clear?

Did he do anything right? Maybe. At a press conference, he stated, in regards to his decision to pull out of the Paris environmental accord, “Something could happen with respect to the Paris accords, let’s see what happens. If it happens, that will be wonderful, and if it doesn’t, that’ll be OK too.” That is maddeningly vague, but some are seeing it as a hint that he might be thinking of reversing his decision to pull out of the agreement. Granted, it’s amusing that the one positive thing he did was hint that he might overturn his own stupid decision, but one gets one’s triumphs where one can.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – July 7, 2017

Well, Trump has been fairly quiet this week, but some things have been occurring around him that are, honestly, pretty damned funny.

1). When in the course of human stupidity…. Some years ago, a reporter sent around the script of “Casablanca” to a bevy of agents and producers to get their opinions without the title attached (I think he used the original title of “Everybody Comes to Ricks.”). While a handful recognized it for what it was, many were disparaging of it, relentlessly criticizing the script for the greatest film ever made and saying it simply wouldn’t be successful. Well, this week we had the chance to see American cluelessness at its most divine. NPR, as it does every year, had famous people assemble on July 4th to read the Declaration of Independence. They also tweeted it, line by line. And ignorant Trump supporters (or as we should more properly call them, Trump supporters) attacked. Without recognizing what they were reading, they declared that NPR was calling Trump a tyrant and demanding revolution. It was a delightful orgy of bone chilling ignorance watching dedicated Americans taking the words of Thomas Jefferson, written two and a half centuries ago, as an assault on Trump. Bad enough that William Shakespeare is being condemned for writing a play five hundred years ago that is being interpreted as a Trump attack, but our own country’s Declaration? Seriously, what the hell?

2). No room at the inn.. Donald Trump can’t get a hotel room at the G20 summit. Let me repeat that: the President of the United States can’t get a room. For some reason–either deliberate or incompetence–his staff failed to get him a reservation at his preferred hotel, and by the time they realized it, every other hotel was booked. Put aside that he’s the president; a guy whose business is running hotels couldn’t find a place to stay. How freaking hilarious is that?

Did he do anything right?. Any week where he does nothing is a good week.

PAD

Celebrated the 4th the way I usually do

I watched “1776” with my signed Broadway Bear of William Daniels’ John Adams next to me.

You know, I’ve done two community theater productions of that show. I’ve played Colonel McKean and Richard Henry Lee, which is the best role in the show. But I’m thinking now I’d love to play the representative from New York, because I’d do it with a New York attitude and accent.

Morris of New York: “Newyawk abstains…coiteously.”

Secretary Thomson: New York abstains.

Morris: (shouting) Coiteously!

PAD

Freak Out Friday – June 30, 2017

This has been an interesting week for Trump. Most of the stuff that was developing, while it was related to him, didn’t involve his actions directly but instead stuff resulting from him. Perhaps because he was bored, he then decided to step in and be an asshole personally so he could get our attention. Let’s start outward and work in.

1). Anyone feeling sick yet?. The vote on Health care, which Mitch McConnell was determined to ram through before the 4th of July break, isn’t happening. Apparently both public pressure and politicians’ own concerns about, I dunno, dealing with furious town hall meetings, has caused them to balk at depriving 22 million Americans of their health care, which means we are in a holding pattern. I still think if Trump is smart, he vetoes whatever they come up with and gets positive public image points for himself since he really needs to ingratiate himself with the voters right now much more than he needs to worry about the Senate. After all, senators might go away every few years, but the public is going to be staying right where it is.

2). Give us your poor, your tired, your closely related.. A win for Trump is certainly a loss for anyone who just wanted to go on vacation from one of the countries Trump banned, thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling. Or did your adult child die a year ago and you wanted to come visit your grandchild? Forget it: you can’t come in. Not for three to four months until the Supreme Court finishes listening to arguments for the entire ban. If they wind up upholding this nonsense, it’s going to be a huge blow for a country that people have been dreaming of coming to, or fleeing to, for generations.

3). Irish eyes aren’t smiling. While Trump was on the phone with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadka, he noticed a female Irish reporter named Caitriona Perry and said that she had a nice smile. Now if that’s all he had said, I might well have shrugged it off. I know, I know, everything a president says is subject to micro-scrutiny. But in the interest of fair play, if he had just confined it to that, I would have considered it an offhand remark, an attempt to be pleasant and sociable, and I would have ignored it. I think if a grandfather just makes a casual flattering comment about a woman’s smile, screw it. But no: he then had to say to Varadka, “I bet she treats you well.” What the HELL was THAT about? She treats Varadka well…why? Because Varadka’s a man and so she’s probably subtly hitting on him? Right, because when you’re a female reporter, you want to socially ingratiate yourself with the gay prime minister. That’s going to work out well for everyone. Then again, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at his attitude since Trump’s attitudes toward women are legendary. Case in point:

4). Hey, Joe, what do you know?. I have to admit that I knew absolutely nothing about the TV series, Morning Joe, which features Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezezinski, the daughter of late national security advisor Zbigniew Brezezinski. My entire exposure to it previously was through a bit they did about it on John Oliver. But Trump apparently watches it and he did another rant on Twitter, including a twisted complaint in which he claimed they both wanted to hang out with him on a New Year’s Eve (they didn’t), that he refused them (he didn’t) and that Mika had had a face lift (she hadn’t) and was bleeding from it (she wasn’t as photographs taken at the time have firmly established.). I think we are reaching the point where Trump’s syphilis is completely out of control. Let us put aside the fact that Trump has far too thin a skin to be president, a job where the ability to shrug off or ignore your attacks is part of the responsibilities. One of the simplest aspects of the way to conduct yourself is to ignore people you don’t like. If they rant about you solely to their viewers, shrug it off because their audience is confined. But the moment you shine a light on them, you get their word out to millions of additional people like, well, me, and elevate them on the national stage. This is just simple common sense, something that Trump has no claim to. He has no concept of strategy; instead he reacts entirely from his gut, an organ that has yet to do anything other than provoke him into reacting to his critics in the most showy and insulting ways possible. How in the hell are we supposed to trust this nut job with American security when he goes off on insane diatribes without a second’s hesitation. When he fails to understand that on an international scale, his words can launch wars? I swear, I think about Mike Pence who many people claim is worse, and I’m thinking, He can’t be. He can’t be worse. Aside from maybe Steve Bannon, nobody could be worse.

Did he do anything right? No.

PAD