Peter David's Blog, page 27

I am in desperate trouble

I was going to post this tomorrow but then realized people might think it’s an April Fool’s joke, so I’m doing it today.

Pretty much everyone has private things that have happened to them that they don’t want to discuss publicly. Well…this is mine.

Many years ago I had a television series on the air called “Space Cases.” And I made a lot of money that year. I mean a lot. And I had a ton of money sitting in my bank account ready to send to the IRS on April 15th. It was all good.

And then the day that I was going to send the check, I swung by the nearest ATM to withdraw some cash and was astounded to see that half the money in my account was gone. Why was it gone? Because my then wife withdrew it in order to pay for a divorce lawyer, which was how I found out my marriage was dissolving. So the money never went to the IRS because I had to use the remainder to hire my own attorney.

Over the years, I never managed to land another project that would pay me that much. I had lots of people make promises–I even did the work for some of them–and none ever came up with the money. Meanwhile I tried to make payment arrangements with the IRS but they didn’t last, because throughout the year I’d send in the payments but then on April 15 I had no money to pay the income tax because I’d already sent them all my spare money.

Then they seemed to just forget about it. Which was great.

Except recently they now seem to have remembered. And they want all the money, plus penalty and interest, or they are going to financially destroy me.

How much? $88,000.

So I’m asking you guys.

I’d love to say that we want the money because we want to repair the house, which is in desperate need, but that’s not the case. Every cent is going straight to the government.

Is it possible? Well, I have 5000 Facebook followers. If they each sent $10, that would get me halfway. I have over 13,000 Twitter followers. If they each sent $10, I’d be in the clear with money to pay any taxes due on the new income.

My Paypal account is padguy@aol.com. Don’t use the donate button on this site; that will send the money to the Heroes Initiative.

Do you want to get something for the money? Fine: Send a check to my PO Box, PO Box 951, Bayport, NY 11705 along with books of mine and a SASE and I’ll sign them and send them back. That’s something, I guess.

I’m sure that there are people out there who will be overjoyed that I’m having financial difficulties, but I’m hoping the rest of you will not judge me too harshly and help me out.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – March 31, 2017

I’m really relieved that April 1 is tomorrow so that people won’t read this and think that I’m just making stuff up.

1) Call Me Doctor Science–Have you ever heard of the White House Chief Technology officer? He had a staff of twenty-four people. Currently it’s down to one. Trump has not bothered to hire anyone yet for the posts, which is consistent with his total disregard for science. There’s no telling when or even if they’re going to be filling the posts. More likely they will simply shut down the office entirely. Then again, it may not matter in the long run because…

2) We’re all going to die–You remember China, right? The ones who ostensibly fabricated global warming for their own benefit? Well, Trump is tossing them the opportunity to take the lead in climate change because on Tuesday he threw out protections that had been established by his predecessor. Since he was unable to destroy Obamacare, thus causing people to live, he has instead declared war on the planet in the hopes of killing off pretty much everyone. “Trump Risks the Planet” declared the New York Times, and various environmentalists are declaring they will be launching countermeasures including law suits. Whether he’s going to actually be able to accomplish his goal is debatable: many of Obama’s clean air polices are covered by laws that can’t simply be countermanded by a pen stroke. Nevertheless, it is clear that he is happily ceding all responsibility for our survival on this world to pretty much anyone else who is willing to take the reins. Between this, his gutting of the EPA, turning directorship of it over to a man who repeatedly sued it, and his dedication to non-existent “clean coal” technology, it’s as if he has declared war on the world. Or at least the world’s inhabitants. Thousands of years from now when mankind is long extinguished, the planet will regenerate and be fine.

Speaking of coal…

3) Coal black–Trump keeps insisting that he’s going to be bringing back jobs to coal miners. No, he won’t. The jobs are not there. They are gone, for two reasons: first of all, coal has been diminishing in popularity, mostly thanks to natural gas. And second, the men have had their jobs replaced by machines, big haul trucks that do the mining, completely automated. Understand, I feel badly for the coal miners, but I feel just as badly that Trump is holding them up as props of achievements he’s going to make which aren’t going to happen. These poor guys supported him and helped him grab the presidency, partly because Hillary Clinton was honest enough to say that they and their industry were going to be out of work while Trump told them what they wanted to hear. I can’t believe they like what they’re hearing now.

4) Does anyone understand the meaning of the word “Intelligence?”–What in the hell is going on with Rep. Devin Nunes? This guy, the head of the House Intelligence Committee, claims to have information that backs up Trump’s thoroughly discredited claims that he was being surveilled by Obama, and then goes to the White House to have private meetings with Trump about it? Is this guy out of his mind? Shouldn’t they be investigating the ties of the Trump campaign to the Russians? If the situation were reversed and someone during the endless Hillary Clinton investigations had gone to meet with her privately to bring her up to speed, the GOP would have gone insane. And they would have had a right to. Meanwhile Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner, met last December with people from a Russian bank that has been targeted by US sanctions. But hey, that’s no big deal, right?

5) Internet privacy? Yeah, right–Remember the days when Congress came up with ideas–or at least tried to–that would benefit people? Obama spent his time coming up with medical coverage, and whether you accept the final program or not, you have to admit that at least his thoughts were in the right place. What has the current congress come up with? A bill that rolls back protections of consumer privacy, allowing internet providers to sell your private information to advertisers. Because the thing we all most love about Facebook or Youtube is wading through ads or commercials. And we all just adore the notion of having our browsing history sold to whomever wants it. You might have thought that was your private property, but no, this information is now the property of the people who you are paying, to be used however they want to make money. And of course Trump will sign it into law, because making money is what he’s all about. The only good aspect of this is that the alt-right is freaking out because on-line Nazis and the spewers of online hatred would have their privacy threatened, their identities revealed. They are more than happy to lash out at anyone and everyone who is not them, because they do it from anonymity. If their anonymity is gone, they’re screwed. It’s almost worth it.

6) In like Flynn–Trump tweeted this morning that he thinks Michael Flynn should definitely seek immunity from prosecution regarding the “witch hunt” over his Russian connections. I don’t think Trump quite understands that Flynn’s testimony may well lead to him being impeached. Then again, considering how much Trump seems to enjoy fighting with pretty much everyone, perhaps he welcomes the prospect of impeachment so that he can use Twitter to lash out at more enemies.

Did he do anything right?Well, I doubt his people are thrilled about this, but I love it: Trump is going after the Freedom Caucus, stating that if they don’t back his agenda, then the GOP should declare war on them in 2018. Oh, and war on the Democrats, too, but that’s old hat. Not to mention misplaced: if the GOP came to the Democrats, hats in hand, asking to genuinely work with them to accomplish great things, the Dems would doubtless be happy to work with them. The Freedom Caucus, however, are opposed to working with anyone except themselves, and they really do need to go. Which won’t happen, but anything that helps split the GOP against itself is fine by me.

Freak Out Friday – March 24

My my my, it’s been quite the week for the Trumpster. Started with a great deal of turmoil over healthcare and then went completely off the rails.

1) Time and Again–Remember how everyone seemed to enjoy making fun of Obama because he spoke so slowly and with hesitations? The reason for that was because he was clearly considering every word he spoke before he said it, and mentally edited himself so he wouldn’t say something stupid. Trump doesn’t possess that capability, and his tendency to say remarkably stupid things was on full display in this week’s Time magazine. The quote that is most making the rounds is this: “I’m a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right. Hey, look, in the meantime, I guess I can’t be doing so badly, because I’m President, and you’re not” I think someone should sit him down and tell him a couple of things. First of all, his instincts are typically erroneous. He makes snap judgments in press conferences, in interviews and on Twitter that range from flat out wrong to libelous, and when confronted, his instincts cause him to double down. Second, the fact that he is president has nothing to do with his instincts and everything to do with a two century old institution called the Electoral college that has disenfranchised Democrat majority vote winners twice in this century, and the century is only seventeen years old. And third, yes, he’s doing badly.

2) Healthy, Wealthy, and if you’re not both, screw you–“After seven horrible years of ObamaCare (skyrocketing premiums & deductibles, bad healthcare), this is finally your chance for a great plan!” That is what Trump declared recently on Twitter. Except not so much as recent studies of the new plan indicate that more than 24 million people will lose their health care, and meanwhile everything from maternity leave to hospital stays is targeted for cut backs or elimination. Meanwhile a recent poll indicates that only 17% of those surveyed approve of it. We can assume that one hundred percent of Democrats hate it, but 17% would have to indicate that even some of the die-hard Trumpers are realizing just how thoroughly screwed they are if this goes through. But Trump has taken the ideal stand to deal with it: He insists the GOP, who postponed yesterday’s vote because they knew they couldn’t get it through, get it done immediately or else he’s going to abandon the entire plan. Of course he is: He has come to the realization that Obamacare may not be perfect, but it’s far better than nothing and also miles better than what the GOP has been coming up with. It’s kind of astounding. The guys who criticized Obamacare for it being “rushed through” over a period of months with discussions held behind closed doors are now endeavoring to do the exact same thing only in weeks. Not to mention that they’ve had seven years to come up with something, yet they haven’t. All the GOP has done is establish for once and for all that their party has no worthwhile ideas to put forward for governance, but instead exist only to try and stop the Democrats from accomplishing anything. This is the party of Lincoln? What, Lincoln, Nebraska?

Did he do anything right? Uh…not so much.

PAD

Iron Fist

So I did not go into Iron Fist, the newest Marvel Netflix series, with high hopes. Early reviews were vicious. They criticized the writing, the directing, the acting. I was worried I was going to be wasting thirteen hours of my life with a total snorefest, borefest of a series.

So far I am four episodes into it.

What the hell is everyone bitching about?

It’s a perfectly fine series. It isn’t remotely slow, it doesn’t drag, the writing is fine, the acting is fine, the directing is fine. Is it up there with my favorite, “Jessica Jones?” No, but on its own as a series, it’s entertaining and engaging. Now for all I know, it falls apart by the end, but this far, it’s good. So again, why are so many people slamming it.

I hate to say this, but I’m forced to conclude that their own prejudgements are warping their insights. I think their mindset is that this damned well better be the best program that was ever created in the history of television. I don’t think that any TV series, no matter how good it is, could stand up to the standards that fans have for it, consciously or otherwise.

As everyone knows, Iron Fist has been the subject of endless internet assaults because Danny Rand, who is a blonde Caucasian male in the comics, is being portrayed by a blonde Caucasian male in the TV series. Fans are angry because Marvel didn’t toss out the history of the character and cast an Asian actor to portray him. Why should he be Asian? Because he knows Kung Fu, and apparently if his thing is Kung Fu, then he should be Asian. Because…well, I guess because Kung Fu is only something that Asians are allowed to practice.

Which would be news to my Kung Fu instructor, who is Greek.

And only Asians can be martial arts heroes, I guess.

Which should come as news to Chuck Norris. And Jason Statham. And Jean Claude Van Damme. And Dolph Lundgren (he has a black belt). And Steven Seagal. And Jeff Speakman. And Cynthia Rothrock. And Ray Park (well, he’s a villain, but still.) And, hell, Keanu Reeves.

I’m not going to comment on the grand literary tradition that gave us Tarzan and Danny Rand and every powerful Caucasian who comes into a situation where he’s an outsider and masters his environment because he’s the best around, other than to say this: It is, to my mind, absurd to hold the creations of decades ago to the standards of modern day. Because if we are, then we should all boycott Casablanca because at one point Ilsa refers to Sam as “that boy playing the piano.”

PAD

Just saw the dumbest thing on “Wheel of Fortune.”

The contestant had whittled the puzzle down to this:

A STREETCAR NA_ED DESIRE

He decided to spin again in order to try and up his total. It landed on $600. And what letter did he call out?

“K!”

Yes, apparently he had never heard of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Or maybe there’s a porn version that I’m unaware of, but I suspect not.

I almost feel sorry for him. He’s going to be ribbed by his friends forever for this. Even if he goes on to win.

Christ, he just did it again. In the subject of “Sticky,” three of the words were spelled out: FINGERS, NOTE and RICE. The remaining word was _ICKET. He guessed “Picket.” When it was, of course, “Wicket.” Holy crap, how did he get on in the first place?

PAD

Freak Out Friday – March 17

When I first started working on this week’s Freak Out Friday, I thought the week was going fairly well for Trump. But it rapidly deteriorated and by the end it has been a crap storm of trouble. Started out okay, though.

1) He Should Send Rachel Maddow a Nice Fruit Basket—Having created a Twitter storm over her statement that she had Trump’s tax returns, it turned out that she had exactly one, from 2005, in which he really did pay a reasonable amount of taxes. This of course was a major kneecap to his foes and a huge “Glory, Hallelujah” to his supporters. Apparently having forgotten Trump’s own assertions during the debate that he didn’t pay taxes, putting yet another lie at his doorstep, the Trumpies declared triumph in the ongoing debate over his refusal to release his tax returns. Of course, the fact that a single return was released proves nothing, and the fact that returns of more recent vintage, including those that might well prove various connections to foreign powers remains hidden away, likewise goes past them. But hey, on train Trump, you seize hold of whatever triumphs you can get.

2) Paul Ryan’s Express—Remember when Trump promised health care for everyone at lower prices? I do. The news media does. But apparently Trump doesn’t, instead expressing his surprise that “who knew” the matter of health care would be so complicated? Well, Hillary did when her efforts to push it through twenty years ago earned her nothing but GOP enmity. And Obama knew it when he got Obamacare passed despite the GOP’s efforts to thwart him at every turn. And, oh yes, so did everyone in the world except Trump. Now, though, after seven years of the GOP declaring they wanted to get rid of Obamacare and Trump’s assertions of the great plan he had, it turns out that—according to the Congressional Budget Office—the current Medicareless act will cause a total of 24 million less people to be covered by the plan by 2026. When Captain America, in Age of Ultron, instructed the Avengers that, if they get killed, “walk it off,” everyone in the audience understood that was a joke. Yet apparently Trump’s GOP believes that that’s genuine medical advice and should be followed by those whose health care will vanish. It appears the entire purpose of this act is the same as the reason for the production of the most recent Fantastic Four movie: to make you appreciate how much better its predecessor was. (Which is true. After the recent Sony fiasco, Rise of the Silver Surfer is looking a damn sight better, isn’t it.) Yet astoundingly Trump, after clearly having spewed more and more lies during his campaign, is not bearing the brunt of the blowback. Instead it’s Paul Ryan who is left trying to sell this thing as he stands there extolling the virtues of a plan that will effectively kill people because they won’t be able to afford health care. Well, not the one percent, of course: they will get a massive tax break. So that’s panning out great for Trump, a man who put his name on lousy steak and a lousy university, but doesn’t want his name anywhere near this sucker which he spent months swearing was going to be the go-to medical plan.

Then it all started to go downhill.

3) This sounds awfully familiar—Several judges have stepped forward and shut down his latest travel bans because it is geared at the Muslim religion. Where did they get that idea, despite claims from the Trumpettes that that’s not so? Probably from Trump himself who, at a Nashville rally (why is he already running again?!) declared that we really need to keep Muslims out and maybe we should just return to the previous draft of the law that was already tossed out by that damned legislative branch. It is a wonder that Trump is able to walk at all considering the number of times he shoots himself in the foot. Between accusing Obama of releasing over a hundred recidivist terrorists that were actually released by W. and this latest reincarnation of his DOA you-can’t-come-in-because-you’re-Muslim ban, Trump continues to do for Muslim hostility what the Boston Strangler did for the gun buying market.

4) Seriously? SERIOUSLY?—And Trump capped off the week with the release of his proposed budget that was astoundingly (well, no, characteristically) targeted at the very people who supported him. While he upped our already massive defense budget so that we could annihilate every other country in the world fifteen times over instead of ten, he targeted for budget cuts pretty much everything you would expect and more besides. The Environmental Protection Agency is being slashed, a possible precursor to it being eliminated next year altogether. The National Endowment for the Arts, PBS, and regional programs aimed at helping the sick and poor, including, astoundingly, even Meals on Wheels. How detached does he have to be from the very people who voted for him to target Meals on Wheels? The Center for American Progress, a left-wing think tank, stated, “The administration’s proposed cuts to nondefense discretionary spending would touch on programs and services that many Americans turn to every day. Everything would be under threat, from Head Start for young kids, Meals on Wheels for seniors, and legal services for low-income families to post offices and funding for victims of domestic violence.” Yet the director of OMB Mike Mulvaney actually had the nerve to describe the cuts as “compassionate” because they wanted to make sure the money was being used in a “proper function.” Apparently it didn’t occur to anyone that if that was a concern, then order a review of the program rather than just cut it to shreds.

For a party that touts itself as pro-life, between destroying voters’ health care and starving them, they’re finding new and interesting means of killing people.

Did he do anything right? Well, they loved him in Nashville. Of course, they may feel differently six months from now when they have no food and no medical care.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – March 10th

Remember the whole “He’s so presidential” thing that anyone with a memory said would dissipate in less than a week? Yeah, pretty much.

1) Obama? Seriously? Jesus.–As I’m sure you’ve all heard, without a shred of proof, Trump accused Obama of cavalierly breaking the law and ordering wire taps on Trump tower. Apparently because he heard some rantings on Breitbart and took them to be true. Even most of his own people are basically admitting that there’s nothing to back this up, but that doesn’t deter Trump from demanding congressional inquiries into the non-story.

You know what? I want to do this, too.

Trump has syphillis.

It makes huge degrees of sense. He stated that back in the 1980s he was quite the horndog, and the latter stages of syphillis typically occur thirty years after first coming into contact with it. It would explain the strange discoloration of his skin. It would explain his mood swings, his insomnia (he tweets at all hours of the morning), and the brain damage that has clearly occurred that causes him to lie incessantly. It could easily have gone undetected because syphillis is often undiagnosed since its symptoms mimic many other diseases. I think that a Congressional inquiry should be made and Trump subjected to blood tests to determine whether the most powerful man in the world is in the throes of an STD that can screw up your brain and eventually kill you.

If you agree, repeat this everywhere. Put it up on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, everywhere. Contact your representatives and insist they put forward a full investigation of Trump’s health. The only testimony we have to that effect is from his brainless numb nut doctor who couldn’t handle a round of “Operation” without killing the patient. Make #TrumpHasSyphillis the new trending topic everywhere. If he can say whatever he wants and expect results, so can we.

2) Here we go again–Apparently not intimidated by the sheer chaos of his first travel ban, Trump on Monday signed a new one into effect. He is also seemingly unintimidated by the fact that the United States is losing billions of dollars in tourist trade. It seems that foreign tourists simply don’t want to be bothered going into a country that might reject them for whatever reason flits through the mind of the syphillitic president, and merchants from hotels to restaurants to airlines are seeing a spiralling downturn in tourist money. Which you might think would concern a guy whose entire claim to fame is being a businessman. And now we start to see just how he wound up driving business after business into bankruptcy.

3) There are no words for this–Ben Carson, in addressing the no-doubt stunned employees of HUD, stated, ““There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships who worked even longer, even harder for less. But they too had a dream, that one day their sons, daughters, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters might pursue prosperity and happiness.” Uh…no. They were not immigrants. They were slaves and they were victims of kidnapping. They only had two dreams: to be free, and to go back home to the friends and family from whom they were stolen. If the man who said this was white, he would be decried as a racist. Carson is black, so I guess it’s not racist; just idiotic. And of course conservatives are allgegedly digging up video of Obama doing the same thing, because as always, the way to excuse one of their people doing something dumb is to prove that the man they despise did it too, so that makes it okay.

Did he do anything right? : Well, no, but his staffers did. They are stating that they do not want the health care act referred to as Trumpcare. He doesn’t want to attach his brand to it. Smart move. This thing is being pilloried by Democrats, Republicans and even the Tea Party. Granted, he did say he supported it, but if he wants to distance his name from it, that would be a really bright thing to do. Especially if Bernie Sanders gets his way, the government stops providing health care for its elected officials, and he ends up needing help for his syphillis.

PAD

Elite Con

So there’s a smallish convention called Elite Con in Tampa, FL this weekend. They are a one-day collectible convention and they have stated that they are not permitting cosplayers. No exceptions. They’re reasonably polite about it, stating that as far as they’re concerned, this show is entirely about collectibles (including comics) and they don’t want cosplayers. And naturally fans are decrying the decision, being nasty and rude and declaring that they won’t attend.

Is there something wrong with me in that my response to the con’s decision is: So?

It’s their con. If they don’t want to have to deal with aisles being made more narrow by winged attendants or sword scabbards sticking out or everyone stopping in their tracks to take pictures, that’s honestly no big deal. There are hundreds of conventions that allow cosplaying. So one doesn’t. Big deal. Go or don’t go, but for God’s sake, stop yelling at them because they don’t want to produce a particular type of fan gathering. If I lived in Tampa, I’d likely go. Okay, I actually wouldn’t, I’m going to Kentucky this weekend. But you get the idea.

PAD

Logan Gets it Backwards

Everyone knows the third film of a trilogy is always the weakest. They even made a meta-observation about it in “X-Men: Apocalypse” after the characters emerged from seeing “Return of the Jedi.”

Trust Wolverine, the trouble maker, to get it exactly reversed.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is generally acknowledged as one of the weakest X-films ever made; certainly the weakest featuring Wolverine. Overlong, confusing, boring, plus they completely screwed up Deadpool, because when you have the Merc with a Mouth, naturally you want to sew his mouth shut so he can’t speak. The Wolverine was considered something of an improvement. Featuring a post-Jean Gray’s death, bummed out Logan, the story was much more solid and the characters were involving.

And then came Logan.

Holy crap, what a movie. This is quite simply the best cinema use of Logan as a character, ever, even managing to surpass his breakout performance in Days of Future Past. Drawing inspiration from the Old Man Logan comic books, Logan presents us a future with Logan, a Caliban who seems to have learned personal pronouns, and a genuine human WMD: Charles Xavier with a mind that’s breaking down (and who has hair for some reason.)

Many years ago I introduced a character in the pages of What Th–? named Wolverina. A female clone of Wolverine, she was supposed to represent the notion of a Marvel Comics that had fallen to the absolute nadir of creativity. Some years later, X-23, Wolverine’s female clone showed up and I just shook my head. But holy cow, kids. Jackman and Stewart give the kind of performances that you would expect from actors with their experience, but Dafne Keen makes her big screen debut as X-23, a.k.a. Laura, and she’s just amazing to watch. This kid was something like eleven when she shot this film, and she easily switches between sullen and psychotic. Her killer rages are a wonder to behold, and without giving too much away, if they decide to continue her story then I’m at the ticket counter with money in hand.

James Mangold, who directed The Wolverine, is back at work and also wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay. To some degree it’s a road trip, but one of the guys is homicidal, another has Alzheimer’s, and the third is silent for more than two thirds of the film (and then starts talking for pretty much no reason except plot, which is a weakness, but one of the few.) As a bunch of ultimately forgettable bad guys pursue them, we explore Logan’s and Chuck’s characters in a way that is wholly alien to superhero films in general and X-films in particular. This doesn’t feel remotely like a comic book film. It’s a straight up drama with cursing and tons of blood shed, for which I suppose we can thank Deadpool (who also has a three minute intro film, which you can see here.

It is also the first X-related movie where I’ve actually gotten choked up by the end. If this film is Jackman’s exit as Wolverine–and we have every reason to think it is–then he went out on a hell of a high note.

PAD

Freak Out Friday – March 3, 2017

So it was a busy week for the future ex-President. Let’s see what he was up to:

1) He finally made a correct decision: Trump decided to pass on the White House correspondents dinner. Thank freaking God. I don’t know which would have been worse: watching him sitting there trying to take jokes made about him in stride, or attempting to make jokes himself. First of all, all the best joke writers are Jewish, gays, Democrats or all three, and I very much doubt any of them would take the gig. And second, Donald Trump has the comedy timing of the Interrupting Cow. Indeed, considering the incessant anti-press attitude of pretty much his entire administration, one almost wonders if they should even bother having it over the next four years. Zach Braff, as it turns out, has put forward the ideal compromise: have Alec Baldwin host AS Trump. With the SNL staff as part of this, it could be the best press dinner in ages. Certainly it would be up there with Luther, Obama’s anger translator.

2) The Blame Game: Well, thank God Trump has taken a break from blaming Hillary Clinton for everything that’s been going wrong with his “presidency.” Instead he’s now pointing the finger at Barack Obama. Yes, that’s right, while Obama has been off swimming with his family, he has also—according to Trump on “Fox and Friends”—been behind the many leaks in his administration and also has his people helping to organize protests at various Town Halls. Because after being insanely courteous to Trump upon his arrival (even taking the time to welcome Trump’s wife after he sprinted ahead of her, abandoning her) and urging the American people to accept the transition of power, the former president is now causing leaks and setting up protests. Since the American people cannot, on their own, decide to protest without Obama being behind it. Oh, and he was also blaming Obama and the military for the military mission he launched a week into his term that resulted in the death of a Navy seal, various children, the escape of who they were going after, and no usable intel. His claim was that the mission concept had been around before he came on board and therefore it’s Obama’s fault for going badly. Of course, if the mission had gone great, who thinks that he’d be saying, “Obama should really get the credit.” I mean, I get that Trump is all about blaming everyone other than himself. He also palmed off blame on the military, stating “They lost Ryan.” This prompted one newspaper to cover the blame fest with the following first line: “In the Trump administration, the buck apparently stops anywhere but the Oval Office,” and went on to point out Obama asserting, “”I’m the president. And I’m always responsible,” in referencing Benghazi. The newspaper that did so? The New York Post. First Fox News, now the ultra right Post. But really, when Sean Spicer organizes a meeting about stopping leaks, strictly instructs that no one leaks news of the meeting, and then it gets leaked, it’s obviously time to think outside the box of blaming and finger the guy whose behavior is totally contrary to that of a rabble rouser. George W. Bush has been far more critical than Obama; I wonder if Trump will blame him next.

3) He seems so presidential! : That was the constant refrain from the news media after Trump addressed Congress. Because apparently they seem to have developed amnesia over all the other times in the past year that they’ve declared he seemed more presidential, right before he then turned around and acted like an asshole. The reason is simple: Trump has set the bar so low with all his other behavior that when he just stands there and reads off a teleprompter without going off topic or insulting people, that is all that the news requires to declare that he’s presidential. Which they do time and again while ignoring what he’s actually saying. His recent speech to Congress was no exception. From taking credit for things that happened before he assumed office to flat out falsehoods and contradictions, his speech was vintage Trump. According to the Center for American Progress Action, he spoke fifty-one lies in sixty-one minutes. Review it for yourself: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/.... Yet Trump continues to be graded on a curve, simply standing there and reading off a teleprompter. But he slammed Hillary repeatedly for using a teleprompter, and even said, “You know the problem is, it’s too easy. We have a president who uses teleprompters, it’s too easy. We should have non-teleprompter speeches only when you’re running for president, you find out about people. The other way you don’t find out about anybody.” So he doesn’t hesitate to condemn others for using that device which allows people to declare him presidential. You know what? Here’s the definition of Presidential: Acting like the damned president 24/7, not just when it’s on television.

4) There’s no “I” in “ethics”…oh, wait…: So it turns out that there may well be a reason that the Trump transition team has walked into so many ethical blunders over the past few months. It seems that the previous two administrations took an ethics course that was offered, but the Trump team couldn’t be bothered. Which is why Kellyanne Conway didn’t realize she was breaking the law in suggesting people buy Trump’s daughter’s goods, and various other ethical goofs that they’ve committed. You have to love the notion that Trump and his people are doing whatever they can to make sure that George W. will not go down in history as the worst American president of all time.

Did he do anything right? Well, his supporters adored his congressional address. While they would have had no hesitation to whiff on Hillary if she’d read it off a teleprompter, they declared that their guy was unquestionably presidential, apparently because he finally proved that he was capable of reading. So for his supporters, the fact that he didn’t stop and say “What’s that word?” or drool or try to grab Nancy Pelosi’s vagina made it a flat out win. For those of us who actually listened to what he said and demand something more than a performance that a capable fifth grader could have turned in, it was more of the same.

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