Thursday, March 2, 2017

Further Stray Thoughts on the Current Political Climate

1. Holy break-dancing fuck, what a bunch of cowards we have running the government these days.  They’re afraid of immigrants.  They’re afraid of Muslims.  They’re afraid of their own constituents.  They’re afraid of the law.  They’re afraid of the press.  They’re afraid of education.  They’re afraid of beer commercials and Broadway plays.  They’re afraid of anyone who doesn’t look exactly like them, think exactly like them, worship exactly like them, or vote exactly like them.  They’re afraid of their own shadows.  And they want me to be afraid too.  To hell with that.  Man up, grow a pair, and learn how to be goddamned Americans, you morons.  These colors do not run.

2. So apparently “not actively drooling” is the new standard for “presidential” these days?  That was a thoroughly embarrassing performance by der Sturmtrumper standing before his captive Congress this week, and listening to his punch-drunk minions proclaiming how presidential he is these days has been an exercise in lowered expectations worthy of a junior high prom.  Seriously – 320 million Americans and this is the only president we’ve got?  The problem with democracy is that everyone is stuck with the government that the winners deserve.

3. The Russian noose continues to tighten, as it now seems the Confederate Attorney General lied under oath about meeting with their agents during the campaign.  This is the same guy who proclaimed that lying under oath was such a serious offense that any public official caught doing so should be removed from office.  One wonders if he’s changed his mind on that.

4. Apparently der Sturmtrumper’s PR Barbie will not be punished for her violations of law and ethics for plugging the family business on government time, because reasons.  I’m not at all surprised to hear this.  It’s pretty much the standard GOP position, as I’ve learned from years under Governor Teabagger (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries) here in Wisconsin – rules are for other people, not Republicans.

5. Although in her defense, the fact that she had her feet up on the Oval Office couch hardly strikes me as anything to get the vapors over.  Eyes on the prize, people – remember Bowling Green!

6. We seem to be rapidly descending into a “papers, please” kind of society.  How this squares with the rabid calls of “freedom” from der Sturmtrumper’s supporters I don’t know.  I suppose it’s just ironic that all of the things they accuse the left of doing in their paranoid fantasies are now being enacted by their heroes without word one of complaint.

7. They’ve already introduced a bill to abolish public education as we know it.  Because education just makes the peasants uppity, after all.  Nate Silver published some interesting data back in November which outlined the clear relationship between education levels and voting patterns – the more educated you are, the less likely you are to vote Republican.  I suppose getting rid of education seems easier than adjusting their policies to reality.

8. None of this is normal.  None of this is acceptable.  And anyone who pretends otherwise is kidding themselves and bullshitting you.

9. After seven years and more than five dozen attempts to repeal the ACA under the previous Administration and over a month after der Sturmtrumper declared that repealing the ACA would happen on day one of his regime, nothing has yet happened.  They don’t actually have anything to replace it with, have never had anything to replace it with, and someone may have finally gotten it across to them that the vast majority of Americans (70% last time I checked, which means a whole bunch of Republicans are on that side too) don’t want it repealed.  They may do it anyway, because if there is anything that sums up the modern GOP it is the willingness to blindly follow extremist ideology at the expense of actual human beings.  Remember folks, “access to healthcare” is not the same thing as “having healthcare.”  In theory I have access to a lot of things I will never be able to afford or use.

10. Is there anyone surprised that under a president whose campaign was publicly endorsed by every major neo-Nazi organization in the US and the KKK, whose main puppet-master and first major hire after being elected is the guy behind the white supremacists of the alt-right, and who lives in a fantasy land where false-flag operations occur whenever they are politically convenient for him, we are now seeing a phenomenal rise in hate crimes in this country?  If there are any such surprised people, should they be allowed to walk the streets unmedicated?  Discuss.

5 comments:

LucyInDisguise said...

1. "Holy break-dancing fuck" ... wow. Thought this was a family ... never mind. NAILED IT! And, These colors do not run. refers to a world that contains a little more blue, and even some red mixed with the white (the operative noun being 'colors' (plural)). The paragraph currently under dissection refers to a bunch of imbeciles who only know one color. White. They don't know about the big yeller streak running down their backs 'cause --- colorblind. Also, Cowardice.

5. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Ms. PR Barbie had just never seen so many 'colored people' together in one place and wanted to get some pictures for the kin back home ... just got so excited she forgot she wasn't in her living room.

9. I have access to a rational, functional, and non-partisan federal government. Don't mean I actually get to have one.

Other notes:

You have good reason to be proud of your daughters. They are blossoming into extraordinary, talented young women. They have been brought up well.

You and Janice used up all the good stuff - but let us try this: I can prove I scored higher than two bits on an IQ test.

If appropriate, best wishes for the chicken (no, not trump, silly man, the one with the upside down head. Really? A full 180 degrees?)

Lucy

David said...

Really, 180 degrees. It's kind of fascinating, in a Mel Allen kind of way ("Oooh, that's gotta hurt!"). She's doing better now - she seems to be eating on her own a bit, though she hasn't fully got her head back upright yet.

Thanks for the kind words about the girls! :)

The problem with the imbeciles under discussion is that they are only one color at a time, none of which seems to be blue. Definitely the white flag of surrender for themselves. And the red of the old Soviet peasantry, conforming to the dictates of authority without question. Not my country, thanks.

Remember having rational and functional government? Good times, man. It is astonishing when George W. Bush becomes the voice of reason.

LucyInDisguise said...

Uhhh, pardon me, please. Getting on in years. They say, whosoever "they" are, that memory is the first thing to go as we age. (I have some serious arguments and actual evidence to the contrary, but ...)

So, if the young whippersnapper of a historian would please excuse this aging neophyte:

Just when in the hell of the last 241 years or so Give or take a decade or two ...) have we actually HAD a rational and function government????????

Oh, and not just kind words - facts. The difference is becoming important.

Lucy

David said...

Well, we had a rational and functional federal government in ... uh, give me a minute here...

1997? Pre-Monica, post-financial agreement to get rid of deficits? Oh, but still in the Contract On America period, and ramping up the Culture War, so perhaps not.

1975? Everyone agreed that it was time to get rid of Nixon, even the GOP. Oh, but then the same old battles were just fought with new people, so perhaps not.

1937? New Deal firmly in place, Democrats controlled everything? Oh, but then comes Court Packing and the revolt of the Southern Democrats, so perhaps not.

1864? Lincoln seemed to have things mostly under control except for that whole Civil war and Copperheads thing, so perhaps not.

1791? George Washington, no parties to muck things up? Except for Alexander Hamilton's financial plan and its fallout.

Huh - I'm going to need more time on this...

LucyInDisguise said...

I do not believe that much time remains ...

I could be wrong.

However, the last time I thought I was wrong, I was only mistaken.

Lucy