The Salute Is Not The Problem

The Salute Is Not The Problem

If you’ve seen the video of Trump saluting a North Korean military officer, it’s clear he was confused about proper protocol in the greeting. First Trump goes for a handshake. Then the military officer salutes. Trump reflexively salutes back. I have no outrage—fake or real—over this. The issue is not Trump’s salute to an adversary’s military officer. It’s about the Trumpists’ hypocrisy and double-standards. The right wing conspiracy machine would have pounced on this misstep had it been a Democrat. Doesn’t matter which one. In their eyes, all Democrats are evil and hate America. Sean Calamity Shamity’s head would have exploded and oozed like a Hawaiian volcano for months. Yes, the salute was a mistake, especially in preparation. Trump should have known not to salute. But okay. He did. His bad. But I’m not going to pretend to be outraged. I’ll let the wingnuts on the right be the hypocrisy experts.

And, oh, by the way, that Hawaiian volcano was triggered by Trump’s cronies digging up the earth to find Obama’s birth certificate. Of that I am convinced.

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Brandi Carlile: Hold Out Your Hand

Brandi Carlile: Hold Out Your Hand

It’s rare for every song on any given album to be a hit. There is often a miss or clunker among the bunch. Not so with Brandi Carlile’s “By The Way, I Forgive You.” I have been listening to this album over and over since its release. To say that I just can’t get enough would be an understatement. And it has caused me to revisit her entire discography with greater enthusiasm and appreciation. For the past couple of months, it’s been all Brandi Carlile in my ears. So when I saw the video for Hold Out Your Hand, I knew I had to share it, especially because of her support for the March For Our Lives cause and movement.

Here’s the video, and a couple of photos of Danny and me at the NYC March (below).

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Alt Left

Alt Left

The alt left is a made up term by right wing propagandists like Sean Shamity, now picked up by the president, to create a false equivalency to white supremacists, fascists, nazis, racists, anti-semites, and bigots of all stripes. When they use the term alt left, they mean feminists, blacks, non-whites, anti-fascists, gays, interfaith clergy members peacefully singing while they incite violence with torches, or anyone who dares to speak out against discrimination, hatred, and fascism. Since I won’t be silent, I guess that makes me a part of the alt left.

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Freedom and Fake News

Freedom and Fake News

Anyone who knows me or reads this blog knows I’m not a big fan of the television news media. And by news, I mean legit news organizations, not the sly-as-a-fox-make-shit-up-to-brainwash-our-viewers-in-order-to-serve-our-oligarchic-agenda “news.”

CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, BBC, etc., are all legit news. I may not like the way they present the news, um, I mean BREAK the news, since it’s always BREAKING NEWS with fancy graphics, ominous scoring, and dramatic language—for Pete’s sake, I’m watching the news, not a James Cameron movie—but they are legitimate.

I wish they’d stop trying to entertain me and just give me the facts.

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Blow Out the Candles

Blow Out the Candles

Before the phone rings and my parents cackle-sing “Happy Birthday” into my ear then ask me what kind of cake or pastry I want for my birthday dessert, I wish to address our dear leader and make some birthday wishes of my own.

Dear leader,

It is an honor and privilege to turn another year older under your noble reign. May you transfer so much wealth from the poor to the rich that Putin needs to build more Russian banks to hold all the money. May the sick without healthcare not die on the sidewalks in front of your towers. May Mar-a-Lago always rise above sea level. May you detain and deport many Mexican rapists. May facts remain as elusive as your tax returns. May you find the 3 million people who voted illegally. May your faithful followers, especially the Sean Calamity Shamity asslickers, forever defend your cons, lies, vulgarity, indecency, bullying, and cruelty while whining about how victimized they are by liberals. May they always believe fake news and never wake up to the truth. May your every tee shot be a hole-in-one.

And most of all, when your time comes, may God show you more mercy and grace than you did for his children.

The phone’s ringing.

So, dear leader, as you blow out the candles on the planet, let us eat cannoli cake.

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Tone Deaf

Tone Deaf

Guns suck. People suck worse.

There something mentally unstable with people who worship guns. But okay, I suppose everyone’s got a fetish. If guns are your thing, have it at. But don’t act surprised when someone uses your fetish to murder innocent people.

To be clear: the madman who took aim at Republicans on a baseball field was pure evil. Plain and simple. And if he hadn’t been killed, he deserved to die. (I’m not a knee-jerk bleeding heart against the death penalty. That said, any potential death penalty case should be clear cut with irrefutable, iron-clad evidence, such as with this madman in Alexandria. Innocent people have been put to death. See, contrary to radical right-wing popular belief, liberals are not monolithic. Link provided so you can look it up.)

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