Last night, as I was grilling, and then eating my grass fed, hormone free rib eye with wild chanterelles (found at COSTCO for a reasonable price) I tried to watch the 3rd, and final US Presidential "debate". I found myself growing increasingly upset by the lies and denials that the orange reality TV show host kept spewing, so I turned to baseball and enjoyed watching my favorite, the under-dog Cubs trounce the LA Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Then the DVR reminded me that South Park was about to record, and the channel needed to automatically change (I have a 2-at-a-time DVR, not one of the new fancy 8-at-a-time recorders). Matt & Trey once again beautifully captured the essence of current events in America with their portrayal of Candidate Garrison doing his darnedest to lose and get out of the US Presidential race. The "meltdown" that Garrison had, complete with orange toner running off him in the rain, was much funnier than the meltdown Drumpf (his real name... own it, don't try to hide it Donald) had on national television last night.
When Fox "News" anchor Chris Wallace tried to get Drumpf to back down on his statement that he would not accept a loss on November 8th and that he would continue to stoke the seditious flames of violent insurrection, with Chris's "But sir..." soft ball question reiterated in the most basic way possible that everyone in America could understand, Drumpf, Putin's puppet, doubled down on his "we'll see, I'll keep you in suspense."
While Drumpf kept talking about how he believes Hillary Clinton should go to federal prison "for 5 years", what he doesn't realize is that inciting Sedition is a violation of federal law, punishable by 20 years in prison; link here: 18 US Code Chapter 115, sections 2381 - 2385 (Thanks Cornell Law School!) And the more he keeps encouraging the worst of Umerika to intimidate polling places in inner cities (also a federal crime), and reject the free and fair election results in all 50 states, the more he's paving a straight path towards federal prison for himself and his surrogates who repeat his dangerous and violent call to arms.
The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail is often very funny. Drumpf's meltdown is really sad and pathetic. The United States needs a viable 2 party (or three... someday...?) system to function correctly. Drumpf's nilhilistic attempt at destroying everything shows just what a sad little boy he really is.
The scared, self-hating, confused little boy who used to be named Omar Mateen was NOT a terrorist.
He was
- a former physical abuser of his ex-wife, before their marriage failed and ended in divorce
- an openly angry and expressive of disgust when with his father in Miami when he and his father saw two men kissing and the son became outraged that men would do that
- a Grindr profile user, where several users blocked him because he was 'creepy' (as I just heard on All In with Chris Hayes)
- a Jack'd profile user (yet Another Gay Men's chat and dating website)
- a frequent visitor to The Pulse night club in Orlando before he went on a killing spree in the early morning of June 12th, right after 'last call' at 2am, armed with a legally purchased AR-15
- completely ignorant of the dichotomy, animus, and outright armed hostilities between Hezbollah (fundamentalist Shiites in Lebanon) and ISIS / ISIL (fundamentalist Sunnis in Iraq & Syria) when this confused & stupid little boy called Orlando 911 and 'pledged his loyalty to ISIS', AND Hezbollah, AND the AL Qaeda inspired Tsarnaev brothers of the Boston Bombing. When you DO NOT understand the centuries long hatred and conflict between the diametrically opposed groups such as Hezbollah and ISIS, and you claim allegiance with BOTH of them, you're ignorant, a fool, and incredibly desperate for someone, ANYONE, to like you, claim you, want to support you.
- A natural born US citizen (Queens NY), not an immigrant
- formerly on the TSA No Fly list & investigated by the FBI after he bragged at work (as a security guard) that he knew the Boston Marathon bombers, that he knew people in ISIS, and that he was a big deal among terrorist organizations [the FBI investigated this little punk Mateen for 10 months, interviewed him with an under-cover agent, and then had 2 formal interviews with him, before finally finding he was 'all talk' and had no actual affiliations to any organizations]
Granted, much of what comes out as "News Coverage" immediately following such horrific and despicable acts is frequently inaccurate. But it has been 36 hours, and Actual Journalists like Chris Hayes are on the scene, interviewing people who had friends killed, who had been at the night club before the shooting, who had talked to this turd Mateen on gay men's hook-up aps, and the stories are being reported in the LA Times, Washington Post, and other reputable, researched, long-standing journalistic sources. Even the shooter's own father has told reporters that his son was not stable and angrily blew up when he saw openly expressive gay people with public displays of affection. Nobody ever loved nor will ever love dead Omar.
So wether it is a public marathon in Boston, an African American church in Charleston, a Californian social worker office, an armored US Army Texas military base (Ft Hood), or an elementary school in Connecticut, each of these delusional, hateful, fearful, unloved, incapable-of-loving, heavily armed, NRA endorsed, socially out-cast, social rejects continue to inflict pain and sorrow upon American citizens who have DONE NOTHING to them. Meanwhile, complete dumbasses like Drumpf try to say they "predicted" this, and thank themselves for their inaccurate self-proclaimed false prescience.
Congratulations to Walmart & Dick's Sporting Goods for no longer selling AR-15s (following Sandy Hook, and the potential of class action law suits and horrible publicity). Shame on every other gun dealer, gun show participant, re-seller, and NRA stalwart who continues to try and defend "the right" for every miscreant, dumbass, and confused little boy in America to buy & own assault weapons. What pathetic hunters and terribly inaccurate marksmen they must be! (I used to be qualified as a 'Sharpshooter" by the NRA, 35 years ago... and can still hold my own at a gun range [indoor or outdoor] with a BOLT Action rifle. A real man doesn't need a semi-auto nor automatic rifle to defend himself, period. Anyone who disagrees is compensating for their lack of marksmanship, or their inadequacies in the bed room or elsewhere.
Love will always over-rule fear and hatred. Fear & hate are effective in the short term, but over the log term love will Always win out.
Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a foreign policy speech yesterday in my own backyard, San Diego. Her audience was full of supporters, many of whom were veterans and their families. I DVR'ed the speech, and watched it over lunch today.
While I've not been a huge Hillary Clinton supporter, I did admire her unwithering and strong response to the Republican held marathon Benghazi hearings, which showed she was not culpable of anything nefarious in regards to the embassy attack there. Hillary Clinton's San Diego speech on June 2nd was factual, poignant, articulate and informative, even though it was somewhat nationalistic.
But what I will do, dear readers & visitors, is to list the factual gems that I took from the speech, the ones that really hit home, had impact, and (as I watched the video) brought the crowd to their feet.
"Smart & Principled Foreign Policy"
"Choice between a fearful America that's less secure and engaged with he world, and a strong, confident America"
"Donald Trump's (Drumpf's) ideas are not just different, they are dangerous incoherent. A series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and out right lies." [I Loved that quote]
"He is not just unprepared, he is temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability, and immense responsibility."
"It's not hard to imagine Donald Trump (Drumpf) getting us into a war just because someone got under his Very Thin Skin."
"He says he doesn't have to listen to generals, admirals, ambassadors or diplomats, because he says, and I quote" 'I have a very good brain.'"
"He praises dictators."
"He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia."
"He says we are, and I quote: 'A third world country'"
[Having Just visited a third world country in April, I can refute that America is a 'third world country']
"We are not a country who cowers behind walls."
"Moscow and Beijing are deeply envious of our alliances around the world. They have nothing to match them."
"If Donald gets his way, they'll be celebrating in the Kremlin."
"We are lucky to have two friendly neighbors on our land borders; why would he want ti make one of them an enemy?"
"He said this about a war between North Korea and Japan, and I quote: 'If they do, they do; Good luck, enjoy yourselves folks.'"
"Our approach must be 'distrust and verify.'"
"There's no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf course deal."
"He brings the following tools to the table: Bragging, mockery, and composing nasty tweets."
"I don't understand Donald Trump's (Drumpf's) fascination with dictators and strongmen who have no love for America. He praises China for the Tiananmen massacre, saying it showed strength."
"He said if he was grading Vladimir Putin as a leader, he'd give him an A."
"I will leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants."
"He said maybe Syria should be a free zone for ISIS?" ... A Trump (Drumpf) presidency would embolden ISIS."
"This isn't reality television, this is actual reality."
"We cannot put the lives of our troops in Donald Trump's (Drumpf's) hands."
"During the raid to kill Bin Laden, our Seals took the time to move the women and children to safety. Donald Trump (Drumpf) may not get it, but that's what honor looks like."
"It matters when he
- makes fun of people with disabilities
- calls women pigs
- proposes banning an entire religion from our country
- or plays coy with white supremacists"
"America stands up to countries who treat women like animals, or different races, religions, or ethnicities as less human."
"Plenty of Muslims and immigrants serve and fight in our armed forces."
"Making the right call takes a cool head and respect FOR THE FACTS. It takes a willingness to listen to other peoples' points of view with a truly open mind. It also takes humility, knowing you don't know everything because if you are convinced you're always right, you'll never ask yourself the hard questions."
"Imagine Donald Trump (Drumpf) sending you spouses and children into battle."
"Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account, but America's entire arsenal. Do we want someone thin skinned and quick to anger who lashes out at the smallest criticism?"
"Every lesson from our history teaches us that we are stronger together. We remember that every Memorial Day."
"Two very different visions; angry, afraid, and based on the idea that America is fundamentally weak and in decline. The other is hopeful, generous, and confident in the knowledge that America is great just as we always have been!"
I thought the speech was fact-filled, and addressed the FUNDAMENTAL difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Drumpf. One is an experience, rational thinker, and experienced diplomat - maybe I don't agree with everything she's done and stood for, but at least I know what those things are. The other, is a thin skinned, egomaniacal failed business man who inherited his fortune from his rich daddy, and who has no filter on anything he says aloud or on Twitter.
I am somewhat sad that Bernie Sanders will probably not be the nominee for the Democrats, but it will probably help me more on my taxes that he's not the candidate, and, Hillary Clinton will likely get more done facing a Republican congress than Bernie Sanders would have been able to do.
If Donald J Drumpf wins, then this blog will stop in 2017 or 2018, once a post apocalyptic nuclear Winter descends on the northern hemisphere of the planet. Australia and New Zealand would becomeisolated quarantine zones where sheep and mankind live out the rest of their days breathing air through filters to avoid the heavier alpha particles that the jet streams will carry across the equator to rain down a slow radioactive death Down Under, while the Northern Hemisphere plays a day-to-day game of kill-or-be-killed in the smoldering ruins of what is left of North America, Europe, and most of Asia.
The preferred explosive of the failed ideology that calls itself "ISIS" is TATP, triacetate triperoxide. They've leveraged the extensive Palestinian bomber experience use in the explosive, and re-purposed it for attacking soft civilian targets in Europe by returning EU citizens who failed on the Syrian and Iraqi battlefields to have any impact, and now want to attack unsuspecting Europeans. The dead Paris attackers used it in their suicide vests, and the dead Belgian attackers used it in Brussels. The civilized Western World will continue to see this relatively easy-to-make explosive used by the cowardly disaffected radicalized Muslims who feel they have no future in a civilized world.
Many "experts" have said that there's no way to "harden" airports and other public places to such attacks, but I disagree. Bomb sniffing dogs are IDEAL for this task, and would be able to easily detect plastique, TATP, TNT, or any of a dozen other explosives. They could (and should) be applied curb-side, as people disembark from their cars, taxis, buses, and shuttles, at airports and train stations. They could also be applied at turn styles for subway stations.
Working dogs, like bomb sniffers, love to be worked hard by their handlers. They see the hunt for what they've been trained to sniff as "a game" and they live to make their handlers delighted. The more bags they can sniff, the happier the dog can be. Let them work. Re-purpose ALL the dogs used in Iraq previously looking for IEDs to now look for suicidal, cowardly, stone faced radical fundamentalists. 30 lbs to 100 lbs suit case bombs would be easily found by a well trained work dog.
Drug sniffing dogs - which are far too plentiful and for-the-most-part completely un-necessary in Western society - should be deployed less, and bomb sniffing dogs applied ubiquitously at every airport near a city with more than 1 /2 a million people, with includes just 35 cities in the United States. Thirty Five cities. So 350 bomb sniffing dogs... and a bomber in a vest or pushing a luggage trolley of suit cases full of explosives would have no chance of being successful.
But it's much easier to monger fear... and stir up rhetoric, than to apply a meaningful and straightforward solution.
I am trying to understand, I mean Really Understand, what is meant by the slogan “Make America Great, Again” used by the “billionaire” front runner, Donald Trump (“billionaire” is in quotes, because so far, Trump refuses to release his tax returns… so his claim of being a lavishly wealthy billionaire are unsubstantiated, just as his claims of giving proceeds of events to veterans groups have never been proven to be factual).
How is America not already the greatest, most prosperous, most upwardly mobile, most tolerant, most multi-cultural, wealthiest Western Democracy with the most freedom (of movement, of religion, of speech, etc) in the entire world? How will Donald Trump (thrice divorced, thrice bankrupt, outsourcing both his brides and his Trump brand manufacturing to foreign countries, never held elected office ever in his life) make it “great again”? I am struggling to understand the reasoning behind this nationalist slogan, and I cannot come up with a cogent argument in favor of it.
Some people would say that Trump wants to reform campaign financing, since he is self funded and not “beholden to special interests”, but that’s Bernie Sanders whose been saying that. Trump just lambasts his Republican primary “opponents” as representing special interests, but he has not proposed any plan to roll back or repeal the Citizens United decision
In fact, Trump has been intentionally vague on any details about his plans, be it Citizens United, getting Mexico to finance his fantasy border wall, how he’d round up 12 million undocumented immigrants, or how he’d get the US Armed Forces to intentionally bomb civilians in Syria and Iraq in violation of the Geneva Convention.
If an intelligent person can make a rational argument as to
1) why America is not great now
and
2) how Donald Trump will make it “great again”
… I would be very happy to have a civil dialogue with that intelligent person, so I can understand better what I am missing about this jingoistic, vocal bully, who appears to be America’s version Jean-Marie & Marine Le Pen, combined.
I am really not looking for trolls or rhetoric, or some profanity or obscenity filled emotional rant by a devout Trump supporter who is caught up in the moment, and who just likes Donald Trump because “he’s strong” or because “he doesn’t take crap from anyone.” Those arguments don’t hold up for what qualifications are necessary to be POTUS, or to lead the strongest & wealthiest democracy on the planet. I AM looking for a cohesive, intelligent, logic argument as to why Donald Trump would “Make America Great Again”. And, why is not still great, now? It was great when my father came here in the 50s. It was great when my great grand parents on my mother’s side came here before the Depression. Why is it not great now, and how will Donald Trump & the policies and proposals he’s articulated make it “great again”?
I promise to post any comments that are not profanity or obscenity laced, whether they make a cohesive argument or even if they just reinforce my point that there is no logical argument to be made and voters in primary states are coming out in droves because of an irrational emotional response, voting for a candidate who makes them feel good, but they can’t articulate why he makes them feel good.
I really hope someone can help me understand this. I’ve been troubled with trying to wrap by head around the fervent embrace of Donald Trump by 100s of thousands of US voters for the last month… and cannot comprehend what they see in him, logically and rationally.
On November 8th, I flew from Bangalore to Paris, taking off from Bengaluru airport at 2:45am, after working most of the week in Bangalore and part of it in Dubai. I should have been extremely tired, but due to the fact that a Delta Airlines frequent flyer card Does NOT allow you to pick your seat on an Air France (Flying Blue) flight, even though they are both "Skyteam", I was stuck in an aisle seat, 23G on an Air France 777-200. The aisle seat afforded me frequent bumping by the service cart, crying from the 1 year old sitting one row behind me, and inconsiderate brushes and bumping by any passenger headed to the rest room. Over the Arabian Sea, I took off the futile sleep mask I'd donned, requested a double cognac, and began watching movies on the little screen embedded in the back of the headrest in row 22G, figuring I'd pass out from exhaustion and get at least a few hours of sleep. Slumber never arrived.
First, I watched Lucy with Scarlett Johansson (link here). It was pretty good, but not awesome. The premise was interesting, the special effects were good, and it's always a pleasure to watch Johansson on-screen. Morgan Freeman was subdued, while Amr Waked played a fine role. Pilou Asbæk - who reminds me of Ewan McGregor's older & creepier brother played an intense and abbreviated role at the beginning of the film (enough said). There were too many meaningless car chases… too much gratuitious violence that could have been better wrapped up / better executed with less strings left hanging… and the ending was a little bit "silly" for my analytical mind. But all-in-all, I'd give Lucy a thumb's up and recommend it if you're bored, or stuck, sleepless on a plane.
Next, before reaching Iranian Airspace, I watched Edge of Tomorrowwith Tom Cruise and the lovely Emily Blunt link here). I can't recommend this film, and I have no idea why it has 4 out of 5 stars on IMDB. Tom Cruise played himself. Emily Blunt plays a jaded, angry, cynical warrior who hacks up aliens… and who comes to understand Tom Cruise's character. What I did not like most about this
Crossing over Iran, still wide away, I watched Grand Budapest Hotel. (link here) Dr Desert Flower had rented this on Netflix some time back in September when we were flying to my little brother's wedding in Chicago, and watched it on her iPad. My beloved 1/2 deaf wife offered to give me one ear phone so I could watch it too, crammed into the middle seat beside her in a SouthWest Airlines coach seat [she always wants the aisle, I detest the aisle, and really just want a window seat that affords a bulkhead upon which I can lean against and sleep (see earlier postings this month here)]. I declined, tucked in my elbows, and read Voltaire's "Treatise on Tolerance". Sleepless over pre-dawn Iran, and still disgusted by the Doug Liman hackery I just endured, I watched Wes Anderson's romp through Eastern Europe Vague-a-stan with multi-cameo appearances by many many many actors - The Society of the Crossed Keys, Ha! It was a somewhat heart warming story, but rather silly, and again, with meaningless chase scenes and needless violence (sleds? shoot outs? beheadings? really… necessary?) Over-all, it was not unenjoyable, and I did snicker a few times. Can't say I loved it, but it was not bad.
Crossing from Iran to Turkey, and avoiding Syrian, Pakistani, Ukrainian, Afghani, and Chechnyan airspace, I still was strangely awake - albeit glad to not be shot down by any surface to air missiles. I saw that Divergent (link here)was on the movie list, so I queued it up, request another double cognac, and settled into 139 minutes of teenage pablum. Maybe if I was a 12 or 13 year old girl I would have liked it much better, but I didn't care about the characters, the hole-filled-plot, or the "filmed on a tiny budget indoors" cinematography. I didn't think anyone was "dreamy" or any of the acting believable. Massive thumbs down. Ew. 2 hours of my life I will never get back.
When Divergent ended, we were transitioning from Hungary to Austria, and then breakfast was served over Germany. Air France "Premier Economy" was not 1/2 as nice as I remembered it being in 2012 when I last flew on AIr France, and instead of "bolting on" Premier Economy to the back side of Business Class and treating it like business class, Air France has changed their model, and now treats Premier Economy like it is "slightly bigger coach", with no seat reclining, no business class food, and much-more-absentee service than I recall from 2 years ago. It was very slightly better than coach in that the arm rest was wider than 2 inches, and there was a tiny metallic foot rest that folded down from the row in front of you… but I would not say it was truly worth a 40% higher air fare than economy / coach (thigh still less than the 4X multiplier difference from coach to business class).
After we landed in Paris, I got a lobster wrap and a 1/2 bottle of wine, and slept well from Paris to Newfoundland, before waking up to do some email, eat lunch, and get ready to land. Atlanta to OC, I got a nice window seat (here).
On the way TO Dubai and India, I couldn't sleep so well in the aforementioned uncomfortable Premier Economy Air France seat, so I watched Guardians of the Galaxy (link here) upon Jon Stewart's recommendation. It was OK. Not great, not that enjoyable. Very not believable. Very hoaky. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it if I was taking a small child or a grand kid to the movies to see it… I dunno. I had No Idea that both Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper were in it as a walking tree and a raccoon - a stretch for both pretty boys to pull off successfully. I still have no idea why SO Many People LOVE Chris Pratt - he's a goof, and he played himself in Guardians. Sadly predictable that they're going to make a Guardians 2 sequel. Ugh.
Last weekend, Dr Desert Flower agreed to go see Fury with me (link here). She told em she wanted to go. She said she wanted to see it. I took her. She hated it. We were not even home and she was IM-ing people telling them how she hated it. I should have followed my retired neighbor Bob's advice and gone to see it in the afternoon while she was at work. Graphically violent, with a very-unbelievable ending (as in "cannot be believed", not "unbelievably awesome!")… I would have enjoyed the film more had I gone to see it by myself (or seen it on a plane, over Iran). I still think that the older Brad Pitt gets, the more he begins to resemble my younger brother… or at least, in the make-up for Fury, they made him look like my little brother.
The next night, we went to see Rosewater (link here) at the same theater - nice leather seats with arm
I find it not only funny, but a very catchy tune. Listening to it once, it is inside my head, and I am sure I'll be humming "Daesh... Daesh...." all day. [Note: "Daesh", the Arabic acronym for "ISIS" also means "A bigot who imposes their views on others".]
From now on, I am going to try and use "Daesh" and not "ISIS".
“We are bearded, dirty and filthy."
"We are brainless with nothing in our heads.”
"We kill the dove in the sky and bring history to the present"
“We are [Daesh] ISIS. We are [Daesh] ISIS,”
“We milk the goat even if it is male.”
“Our music is without rhythm. And our leader is called Qaqa,”
"Our music is without rhythm, and we hate the smell of mint"
“Our pockets are full of Qatari money. Our language is bullets and cutting.”
“Our pockets are full of Qatari money, and peace poses a danger to us."
"From Chechnya and the Hijaz, we came smelling of garlic and onion"
"From Chechnya and the Hijaz,we came with a flock of geese"
"We strive for Jihad and sex, we are comfortable and happy to see blood"
"We strive for Jihad and sex, we are the sons of Al-Hajjaj and Al-Saffah"
“We are [Daesh] ISIS. We are [Daesh] ISIS,”
“We milk the goat even if it is male.”
"We have no knowledge in our brains, we attacked the town of Sinjar
"We have no knowledge in our brains,we scare women and children"
"Our Caliph is bearded and our brains are upside-down"
"Our hope is to kill, that's why we have no future"
“We are [Daesh] ISIS. We are [Daesh] ISIS,”
“We milk the goat even if it is male.”
Bill Maher made an excellent observation last Friday on "Real Time":
"MAHER: You mean al Qaeda? Because we're basically arming al Qaeda. I don't understand this --
ALTER: There's a peace conference. If they don't go into that peace conference with at least some victories on the rebel side, the rebels won't show up. So the president is trying to bolster them enough so they can get to the peace conference.
MAHER: It's like picking sides in Game of Thrones. "
Transcript link here. Syrian deaths over time, here. BBC's comprehensive map of the violent factions who are often fighting each other, as much as they are fighting Assad, here. CSMonitor's take on the chaos here.
Frankly, I'd go with the Targaryens. It's wise to not bet against those who control dragons. It just sucks that in Syria, the closest Targaryen equivalent are the fundamentalist Sunnis who want to establish an Islamic state... =( They both eat hearts as part of bizarre rituals. =(
Then the DVR reminded me that South Park was about to record, and the channel needed to automatically change (I have a 2-at-a-time DVR, not one of the new fancy 8-at-a-time recorders). Matt & Trey once again beautifully captured the essence of current events in America with their portrayal of Candidate Garrison doing his darnedest to lose and get out of the US Presidential race. The "meltdown" that Garrison had, complete with orange toner running off him in the rain, was much funnier than the meltdown Drumpf (his real name... own it, don't try to hide it Donald) had on national television last night.
