Dog Wet Heave Blues and the Irony of Gunpowder

This morning Zuzu told me to look at the cross on our door. I was like, "What???" On the back room for door was a cross they had two things written on it:

"Eh God is not real."

and,

"In God we don't trust."

In cases like this I don't give her a high five or anything, I ask her why she doesn't believe in god. She always has a good answer. This time she said, "Because if God exists, who created him?" Pretty good reason. She added, "If he created everything then there was nothing before him and he couldn't have come from anywhere." Impressive!

January 10, 2023

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So Trump's own former lawyer is saying he's a threat to democracy... because Trump is arguing in court that "presidential immunity" protects him from prosecution, even if he were to carry out political assassinations. 

Reminds me of when Trump absurdly claimed he could pardon himself. Biden can't strangle Trump on the debate stage, pardon himself, and go about his business. That's obvious, right? Or is that somehow what the Founding Fathers intended???

Presumably Trump doesn't believe this immunity would apply to any presidents other than himself, because he doesn't believe in anything on principle. He only believes in whatever is beneficial to himself in the moment.

Kings and dictators have immunity, not presidents. Trump is clearly striving to rule like Xi and Putin. If he gets in, he's not intending to go anywhere, which I'm sure sounds great to a lot of people who have no idea what country they live in.

January 10, 2024

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4399222-ty-cobb-former-president-trump-poses-gravest-threat-to-democracy/

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The Biden campaign's response to Trump saying he thinks the economy will crash and that he hopes it does soon so that he doesn't become a Herbert Hoover:

“President Biden three days ago: ‘Donald Trump’s campaign is about him. Not America. Not you."”

Man, they certainly nailed that one.

Remember the days when hoping the economy would crash would be the end of a presidential candidate??? I wonder how that position would go over in a debate against his rivals. There's no debate over why he won't join them- his inadequacies would be laid bare.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4396467-trump-says-he-hopes-economy-crashes-in-next-12-months-i-dont-want-to-be-herbert-hoover/

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In the 50's Joseph McCarthy rose to political prominence through demagoguery, eventually overstepped, was censured, and faded from the political spotlight. His key aide, Roy Cohn, was later Trump's mentor in 70s. He said that Trump "pissed ice water." It would be a nice bookend to Cohn's influence if Trump would meet the same end. Too good for Trump, but a nice bookend for Cohn.

January 10, 2021

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This might sound ridiculous, but Trump has one last Hail Mary, and I'm betting he's going to go for it- a military takeover. To think he wouldn't do it is to foolishly believe that he has limits. A few things that make me think he'll do it: 

- He fired his defense secretary in the days after the election, and installed an even toadier toady. When the former defense secretary left he said something along the lines of, "If he does what he wants to do, God help us." 

- As the president's violent mob overtook the capital, and members of Congress called to bring in the National Guard, the defense secretary was unreachable. (The fact that you can even parse that sentence is an example of how far we've sunk.) We all saw the images in real-time but he was unreachable. Don Trump Jr posted a video of everyone watching the insurrection cheerfully. 

- A few weeks ago the president's top advisers were saying that he's accepted the results of the election and needed to work out a way to make the transition. That's changed and now they are saying he's has apparently re-convinced himself of his own delusion. It's not like there's been new evidence during that time, he's just decided to go all-in with his belief. If they truly believe that their "landslide" election was stolen, insurrection follows. 

- The people who are still in with him, have made the decision that they're in no matter what. He has no limit so they have no limit. He proclaims what is true and demands that those close to him remain loyal to his delusions. 

- This is minor, but I see it as significant bellwether... a Capitol police officer was killed defending the Capitol, yet the White House flag is at full mast while the Capitol flag is at half mast. That tells me that the White House believes the Capitol (Congress) is the enemy. Accepting that the White House flag is not an oversight, the possible answers expose nefariousness. 

- It is said that Trump has one fear- jail time. I don't think he's capable of weighing what is more likely to keep him out of jail- a military takeover, or his ridiculous self pardon scheme that doesn't even apply to state charges. Maybe he figures a military takeover of the US government is most likely to keep him out of jail. 

- He doesn't even calculate though. He acts. And you might have noticed that he acts erratically without fear of consequences. We know from Mary Trump's book that he's never had any consequences. He literally doesn't understand consequences- from his parents, to business, to politics. 

The Sunday Morning news Trump apologists have all turned on him, so that's good. And institutions have held, so that's good. Mitch McConnell said that his vote confirming Biden's presidency was the most important vote of his career, so that's good. Will the military hold? I believe it will. Am I 100% sure? No. The guy has to go immediately. 

We're currently in our generation's version of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Trump is both Castro and Khrushchev. We have ten more days for someone to rise up and be our Vasily Arkhapov. Google him. 

It has been said that we have to unite and heal, and we will. We will unite and heal against the people who perpetrated it, aided it, and incited it. There's no compromise between democracy and insurrection. Perhaps the best piece of news in all of this is that 92 senators are on the side of democracy. 

Get a plan though, be prepared and figure out what you would do if Trump attempts a military takeover. Don't rely on the institution. My suggestion at a minimum- be vocal. 

I subscribe to Christopher Hitchens' believe that the grave will provide plenty of time for silence. Maybe you aren't a person who has been vocal, but consider drawing a line in the sand, even at this late hour, and speaking out if it's crossed. 

I think my record of Trump criticism and prediction holds up well, but I'd be very happy to be wrong about this. I know one thing with absolute certainty- Inauguration Day has the potential to make January 6th look like nothing.

January 10, 2021

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For the sake of argument, let's say that Russia DOES have incriminating personal and financial info on Trump and that they WERE blackmailing him to gain a puppet as president. Doesn't that make it literally HONORABLE what he did- he tried to sabotage his own candidacy at every turn!

January 10, 2017

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Minorities have nothing to fear under Trump. Trump loves minorites. His own voters are a minority. (Actually I don't think he likes his own voters, imagine him hanging out with one for a few hours.)

January 10, 2017

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Looking forward to Obama's Farewell Address tonight, but I'm much more eager for Trump's Good Riddance Address that will take place sometime in the next ten days to twenty-five years.

January 10, 2017

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"Science and reason matter." Read that as, "If we unlearn the lessons of the Enlightenment we could enter a new Dark Age." Odd that in 2017 someone would need to mention that science and reason matter.

January 10, 2017

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Emma got a chuckle when I told her that the dog puked on the front seat of the car, but she wasn't so cheery when she remembered that I was driving her car.

January 10, 2015

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From Emma, a David Attenborough AMA that went askew:

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I procrastinate at everything. Take today for interest, I paid my mortgage bill in plenty of time. See? I even procrastinate at procrastinating! I'll wait until next month to pay at the last minute.

January 10, 2013

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NPR described Santorum as a man of deep faith. How is deep faith different than regular faith? You would either have faith or not, right? Maybe when he had regular faith he still doubted, so he had to switch to deep faith. Now what if he doubts? Manson-eyed-double-dog-nuclear-Evel-Knievel faith?

sidenote- Facebook tried to correct Santorum as sanitorium. The only thing separating Santorum from sanitorium is two I's. Two Mason-eyes? There's a joke buried in their somewhere.

January 10, 2010

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On this day in 1776, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense.

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Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis was released in Germany on this day in 1926.

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The Sopranos was released on this day in 1999.

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Sal Mineo joined us on this day in 1939.

Plato- "No one is a friend to his friend who does not love in return."

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Other notable birthdays- 1938 – Willie McCovey (1938), George Foreman (1949), Pat Benatar (1953)

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Sinclair Lewis left us on this day in 1951. This bit from It Can't Happen Here sounds vaguely familiar:

"The Senator was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his "ideas" almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture, and his yet more celebrated humor the sly cynicism of a country store. Certainly there was nothing exhilarating in the actual words of his speeches, nor anything convincing in his philosophy. His political platforms were only wings of a windmill."

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Vampira, Maila Nurmi, left us on this day in 2008. She was friends with James Dean, I wish I would have met her.

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David Bowie left us in this day in 2016.

"You would think that being a famous a rock star married to a supermodel would be one of the greatest things in the world. It is." 

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Famous burper/murderer, Robert Durst, died on this day in 2022.

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Other notable deathdays- Buffalo Bill (1917), Howlin' Wolf (1976)

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Something you don't hear often- I have a case of the wet heaves.

I refuse to subscribe to the philosophy that heaves have to be dry. 

The next time I throw up, I'm going to say I have a case of the wet heaves.

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IFLScience- Infants Too Young For Vaccines Catch Measles From Unvaccinated Children At Disneyland

We're really quite something, aren't we?

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/disneyland-measles-outbreak-hits-children-too-young-be-vaccinated

January 10, 2015

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Katie Rose Quandt- Just 90 Companies Produced Two-Thirds of All Global Warming Emissions Ever

http://billmoyers.com/2015/01/08/just-90-companies-produced-two-thirds-global-warming-emissions-ever/

We're really, really quite something, aren't we?

January 10, 2015

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I'm rewatching Ken Burns' Country Music.

Do you know the story of the Maddox Family? They were cotton-pickers in the south, stooped over picking cotton all day. They sold all of their possessions for $35 and started walking to California. After 500 miles they got a tip to take the freight trains instead, along with 600,000 other people. One day in the picking fields of California, the mother noticed the oldest brother Fred standing up straight staring off. Their mother asked him what he was doing. He said he was thinking. Mother alerted everyone, "Hey everybody, Fred's a'thinking. Whatcha thinkin' 'bout Fred?"

"I'm thinking we should be playin' music instead of a'doing this."

Fred told Merle Haggard later that it took them almost 48 hours from that point to get on the radio.

https://witf.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/maddox-family-dust-bowl-migration/ken-burns-country-music/

January 10, 2020

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Paraphrasing Casablanca- "I'm shocked, shocked to find that Trump is an authoritarian."

https://youtu.be/SjbPi00k_ME

January 10, 2021

Postscript- Everyone was on the same page until the spineless McCarthy went down to Florida to visit him.

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Gunpowder was invented by accident by Taoist alchemists looking for the elixir of life.

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David Bowie, quoted in the Daily Beast in a 2002 interview with Bob Guccione, Jr.- "I'm a real self-educated kind of guy. I read voraciously. Every book I ever bought, I have. I can't throw it away. It's physically impossible to leave my hand! Some of them are in warehouses. I've got a library that I keep the ones I really really like. I look around my library some nights and I do these terrible things to myself--I count up the books and think, how long I might have to live and think, 'Fuck, I can't read two-thirds of these books.' It overwhelms me with sadness."

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Sid Vicious with a broken nose at the Longhorn Ballroom on this day in 1978.

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Peter Boghossian- "If you can't take someone's word that they're motivated by religion for harm, then you can't take someone's word that they're motivated by religion for good."

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Miyazaki- "The greatness of a mind is determined by the depth of its suffering."

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Hitchens on humor, from Letters to a Young Contrarian:

As for the ironic, I shan't attempt a definition here. It's the gin in the Campari, the x-factor, the knight's move on the chessboard, the cat's purr, the knot in the carpet. Its elusive and allusive nature is what makes it impossible to repress or capture. It has a relationship to the unintended consequence. One of its delights is that it can be deployed literally. Voltaire, for example, solemnly added up all the claimed splinters of the True Cross, as they were displayed in the reliquaries of Christendom, and deduced carefully that the man who had once hung from such an immense artifact must have been a giant. His impiety only "worked" because it took faith at face value."

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Vowell- "That's what I like to call him, "the current president." I find it difficult to say or type his name, George W. Bush. I like to call him "the current president" because it's a hopeful phrase, implying that his administration is only temporary."

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Camus- "An intellectual? Yes. And never deny it. An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I like this, because I am happy to be both halves, the watcher and the watched. "Can they be brought together?" This is a practical question. We must get down to it. "I despise intelligence" really means: "I cannot bear my doubts."

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Asimov- "Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."

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Hawking- "Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."

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There was a young girl named McCall 

Whose cunt was exceedingly small, 

But the size of her anus 

Was something quite heinous-

It could hold seven pricks and one ball.