IT AIN'T “THROWBACK THURSDAY”, BUT IT'S DAMNED APROPOS!

This popped up in my Facebook “Memories” feed this morning. One of the reasons I haven't posted as much is I've been busy with music and my better 2/3s and putting the final touches on getting ready for spending a month in Japan. I've also been working on “Homeless Chronicles in Tampa – The e-Book” and some of the Nebraska Creepers series, which is coming out in dribs and drabs as short stories.

But, I couldn't resist re-posting this, since there's been so much hoopla in the news about fake news and leaks and the Russians subverting the election, and all of this just sounds so damned familiar. We've gotten to the point where we really CAN'T tell reality from fiction, and people just do not know how to think critically, anymore. The ones I know who went through the Critical Thinking classes with me in HIGH SCHOOL for Chrissake, are still as sane as they ever were, but what in the HELL has happened to the rest of the Goddamned world?

And, why aren't the people in power doing anything about this travesty of a President and his bottom-feeders Cabinet – the least experienced, ever and just all standing there like a house by the side of the fucking road? This has really irked the shit out of me since the Legislative Branch told the Executive Branch that it – President Obama, as a lame-duck president, was not to nominate a Supreme Court Justice after the death of Antonin Scalia, because... “tradition” that had never, ever happened before. Fuck the GOP. So, The Legislative Branch essentially told the Executive Branch to take a hike AND hijacked the Judicial Branch of Government. ALL of this occurred BEFORE the election!

THEN, we had the James Comey, FBI farce which went on far too long and not one single jackleg up there in D. C. did a thing about it, except let the cat resign, I guess? No charges or malfeasance? A few decades ago, he'd at least have had to endure a few Watergate-like hearings, but nooo. The dude just resigned and skipped off, to his Skull-and-Bones Secret Society meet-up with the Bushes prolly.

I'm thinkin' that it wouldn't be such a bad idea if we had us a situation like “Designated Survivor” and just cleaned house. Preferably during the Inauguration, where we can get rid of a whole lot of dead wood and I will be out of the country. So there!

Original post: 12/19/2014

SONY, PARAMOUNT PICTURES, NORTH KOREA, “THE INTERVIEW” AND “TEAM AMERICA”

So, here it is December 19, 2014, the middle of the second decade of the 21^st Century. Cool stuff is supposed to be happening, like we all ride around in personal-pan helio-copters that repel themselves away from the earth and (one hopes) each other, as we flit around and do Important Things, wearing our onesies that are made out of a combination of tin-foil and Queen Latifah's weave and that also self-repel dirt. We all wear Johnny Quest's friend's Race Bannon's style of sunglasses indoors and out, because, well, we're cool. This is all of the cool stuff I remember from about 1960, and what I thought the world would become. How'd I do?

I don't remember my vision of the future being this blah, or sepia-toned, but heck, I can't draw this well, so it'll have to do.

Apparently, not very well in the prognosticating department, since we still have jacklegs like Kim Il Jung running rogue Dictatorships AND sticking their noses in OUR cultural bidness, which is even worse in the whole “America is a place where you can say what you want, and depict what you wish in the movies, as satire, with the complete understanding that IT IS SATIRE!” Nope, can't even do that any more and no one, who ACTUALLY matters, (I'm looking at you Mr. Obama*, and you, people who run Sony and Paramount Pictures) are willing to take a stand and say “look here, you little worm! We are going to make fun of you, whether you like it or not! So what if we take your head off with a chainsaw? It's all in good, clean fun, and besides we're showing it in OUR country to OUR people. Take a hike, Kim!”

*As of 2:30 A.M. EDT on 12/20/2014, Huffpo published an article stating that Mr. Obama condemns Sony Pictures' Heads decision to bow down to the request of the Dictator of North Korea. All nice I guess, but shouldn't Mr. Obama have been out AHEAD of this and taking up for the "Freedom of Expression" crowd before now? Just a thought.

No doubt I'm on someone's shit list now; but, when am I not? I'll just hunt me up a chorus of "Team America, F*ck, Yeah!" and march bravely off to. . . whatever.

(note: That is also a team name of one of our better SETI@home teams and with whom we fight with on a regular basis for 64th or 72nd position; I forget which one, along with the “Get Off My Lawn” team.)

1^st Lt. Glenn Wallace, U. S. Air Force

Granted, the man LOVED to fly, but he also served in WW II in Okinawa, as did both of my mom's brothers, my uncles, Stan and Nile. They were in the Navy in the South Pacific.

But, that didn't happen. I realize I've just jumped right here in the middle, with no explanation, not mention aforethought and no context, but this is really just unbelievable to me. I can just hear my father, who lived through all the shit of the Joseph P. McCarthy era, - with Stalin laughing, saying, “I don't have to do anything to weaken America, she does it to herself!" - in the early 50s, after he left the Air Force and I can remember him talking in hushed tones about professors of his who did lose their positions because people were afraid, and people talked, and cast aspersions, even if they weren't true. 

Some people took their lives. Were my dad alive today, he would say what I thought when I was reading the article; a quote by Joseph Welch that was televised, when Senator McCarthy began to insinuate a witness was a long, long-ago member of the American Communist Party, “Have you no shame? Have you no decency?” Where is that genuine outrage and righteousness now? When did we become so cowed by the liars in this world and let them just take over all that is right and decent and good?

B-29 Wing, over Korea, circa 1951

Have we no shame nor decency, that we can let the freedoms that were won so hard for us over the centuries and the decades go so easily? Are we really that willing to just brush it off? Or, are we that knavish and craven that we believe the North Koreans and the anonymous hackers are capable of 9/11-era attacks BECAUSE OF the showing of something like the previews for “The Interview” or a midnight showing of “Team America: World Police”, a movie that has been out for TEN years?

At least George Clooney had the gumption to stand up and attempt to do the right thing. He tried to get other actors and people of note to sign a petition backing the Sony Pictures, but was unsuccessful in his attempt. The media did little as per usual; their modus operandi of late has been to run around with their hair on fire making everything seem far worse than it is, and they do little to bring calm, reason, parity and a fair perspective to anything I've watched in many a year.

As far as I am concerned, we should NEVER bow down to dictators, never negotiate with terrorists. Once we start down that road, it is simply too easy to get us to give in on bigger things. It is the “slippery slope” that lawyers and lawmakers and diplomats worry about. Were it up to me? I'd be showing that bastard “Team America: World Police” for free in EVERY THEATER in the country! It's just a movie for crying out loud! (You can watch the damn thing on NETFLIX, which I intend on doing for the next week!)

#ROW80 1ST QTR 2016 – A COUNTRY ON THE BRINK

Well, so much for goals. I started a little serial novel, and then damn! If it didn't become part of my own little “Nebraska Creepers” serial. But seriously? It's a good thing I have that kind of psychopathic moxie, because it seems to me, we're headed down a road that is going to produce a singularity, and I may need my ability to let go of every human inhibition to survive. I do believe I posess the flip side of a serial murderer and I can conjure that up easily, if need be. With the country's situation quickly unraveling that may be necessary. Lemme explain, or at least try to clarify.

courtesy:fox8.com

The last time the USA had a Presidential slate like this was with the Dems in 1984, and no one could put up a candidate to beat Ronald Reagan. Every jackleg on this podium is not qualified to be President, and most are incompetent in whatever it is they do. God help us all.

On the one hand we have the GOP. I may as well start with them first, since they're the most obvious. Ted Cruz is running for President and so far, NOT ONE jackhole in power has done ANYTHING about the fact that he is not a native-born American! I personally believe the FEC (Federal Election Committee) is run by no one, or Keebler Elves, or Christ knows who, because back last summer they let a guy named “Deez Nuts” in Iowa register to run for Prez and it turned out to be a 15-year old kid in Iowa who polled 3^rd behind Donald Trump in North Carolina, when “Deez Nuts” asked to be polled, because dems da rules. “Deez Nuts” got the idea when some 17 year old in Kentucky recruited his friend's cat “Limberbutt McCubbins” to run for President and that created some kind of press interest. How fucked up is that?

courtesy:nytimes.com

Okay, so with these two in the Executive Branch, something might get done. Gridlock, back-biting and I suspect, greed, corruption and out-of-itness as regards the American people are at an all-time high. Not that we didn't help, by not checking out the jackanapes who were running for office and that we elected.

So, we have like 70 jillion people running for President on the GOP side, and that's a huge mess, because everyone seems to be waiting for the other guy to denounce Donald Trump, but this guy is not going away. The reality of a Trump Presidency is very real and it's scary, but no one is calling out Ted Cruz on his non-American birth, which should have been done, the minute he filed for his candidacy. When did we get so sloppy?

courtesy:www.bizpacreview.com

Gah! What a pair of feckless gorms! I'm not sure which looks phonier. Don, with that god-awful hair and flappy lips, or Ted and his Bob's Big Boy countenance. What's up with those thumbs? Are they getting ready to ram them up each other's asses?

Over on the Dems' side, it ain't lookin' much prettier. The smaller the margin, or the farther behind Hillary falls, the shriller she sounds and the more she flails around. She also is carrying some pretty hefty baggage that MUST be addressed when she takes office. Bernie was right at the beginning of the Debate Season (why must there be debates like, every other minute?) when he said “forget about the emails” at THAT juncture, he was right, but as more and more information comes out, it looks like Hillary did some pretty shady stuff. Also, I do not believe that she really and truly has the people's interests at heart. It boils down to trust and I no longer believe her. I do believe Sanders and I'm with him now.

courtesy:npr.com

Not to turn into a catty bitch, but ME-OW. That coat Hillary has on is eye-scorching and she apparently got it from Dolce-Gabana and wore it everywhere. It's hideous! One other thing, Sanders got 60% of the Primary Vote in New Hampshire, and Hillary only got 33%, yet she won more delegates, due to the stupid system they have with the Super delegates, whatever in the hell those are. No wonder the system is broken. It allowed George W. Bush to "steal" two elections and that whole system needs revamping.

Sanders is a populist in the truest, most old-fashioned sense of the word. He understand what this country is going through and while I do not believe this can be fixed in two Presidential terms, we can start the correction. I believe Obama, being a realist knew this when he took office and knew he was going to take heat for it in his second term. This mess took 40 years to take hold; it will not be fixed in six years. A new approach is needed and Sanders knows this.

courtesy:en.wikipedia.org

The Right Honorable Judge Scalia was very conservative and he spoke plainly and sometimes roughly, but all who knew him said he was a kind man and took his responsibilities very seriously. Who wouldn't being a judge on the highest bench in the country. Liberals had nothing good to say about him. Although I may seem to have a liberal cant, I am an Independent and NEVER vote platforms. He wrote opinions that I often agreed with, and I'm sorry he's gone. Most Supreme Court Judges live to be eleventy-billion years old. President Obama is correct in trying to name a replacement as soon as possible. It is one of his Constitutional duties, and the ninnies in Congress need to shut their pie-holes and read the Constitution. The House Whip needs to send them to bed without their Scotch.

And now, we have the sudden, unexpected death of Antonin Scalia and the whole of the Republican Congress goes batshit insane and tells Obama he CANNOT install a replacement. What horseshit. This is the LEGISLATIVE branch of our government telling the EXECUTIVE branch of our government what it can or cannot do with the JUDICIAL branch of the government.

courtesy:co.telegraph.uk

Geeze, President Obama has gotten gray since taking office. No wonder, dealing with all the shit he's had to take. He still has like 300+ more days. He's probably counting the minutes.

I do not believe any of these pinheads who are hollering that Obama CANNOT appoint a replacement have read the Constitution and it's time they did so. The 3 branches of government were created separately to keep any one branch of government from holding too much power or garnering it. If Obama backs down and gives in, this is tantamount to saying, “Okay, Legislature, I guess you rule here.” What nonsense.

This is the kind of stuff that brings on civil unrest and we're not all that far from that scenario. We have para-military groups within the police that act with impunity. Not all police are bad. My Aunt and Uncle's family are rife with people in law enforcement and they know their responsibilities are to the citizens they protect. You will find no more such honorable and extraordinary men and women who put their lives in harm's way.

courtesy:funnyjunk.com

A cute picture; we actually have parties with our District 3 Tampa Police, about four times a year. The fact that I live in a highly dangerous area is one of the reasons, but these guys know our names, know who lives where and they do check up on us. After the thwarted home invasion here, they've been by to check up on me. Tampa is NOT a small town, but this 'hood has a small town mentality.

However, in Ferguson, Baltimore and elsewhere, there are horrible problems with the police and they are more apt to kill a citizen and concoct some story later. There are “dark” places in Chicago, where people are held against there will, with no formal charges, thus abrogating our last true civil right that defined the difference between us and either a fascistic or tyrannical state. This may not be occurring on a National level, but we need to unshroud these mysteries and pull all of it into the light. Does Rahm Emanuel know of this? Being Obama's friend and confidante, how far up does the rot go? I'm not insinuating anything; merely trying to connect dots.

courtesy:www.slate.com

No one wants to see a military state, but with the passage of the Patriot Act, oodles and oodles of money went to local and state law enforcement and certain of the agencies ramped up their equipment, armor and weapons, beyond anything that would be needed against the local citizenry. Either through oversight, or planned, we have the mechanisms in place to become a police state, over a "terrorist act"; it won't take much

I have mentioned in the past that we've pretty much just given away our III, IV, V, IX and XIV Amendment rights, with the passage and the extension of the Patriot Act. Most of us are all too familiar with the “slippery slope” theory, or as we cross one line, it becomes easier to cross others. They're not easy to retreat from and if we are serious about “making corrections” we have to really look at where we are and be bluntly honest with ourselves. We didn't get here by being proactive and caring about what our country means to us.

courtesy.usmagazine.com

There was a time when I felt proud to be an American; that time has long gone. In a way, I'm glad my parents are deceased. They set great store on being Americans, as many immigrants do, but they would not be proud of this country. They could not look around and say, "yes, I recognize this; this is MY America!" They would just hang their heads in shame.

We can stand up and thrill to Lady GaGa singing the “Star Spangled Banner” as jets fly overhead and Super Bowl L commences. We can tell ourselves that America is still great, but it's a hollow lie and if anything, we have become the enemy. We do all of the nefarious shit that we hold against our villains and we delude ourselves, when we talk about our “generosity as Americans”. We may be so in the specifics, but in general? We are monsters; we have no compunction about bombing other countries, taking out civilians and in some cases, killing our own people in the name of “national security” or as “collateral damage”. None of it is worth it, but we, The People ceased caring long ago. We have turned ourselves over to The State, and the only reason the State exists is to ensure the existence of the State.