I bet you money that this won’t do diddly dick for the doubters out there. There’s no vaccine for stupid and they wouldn’t believe that it worked even if there were. Or they would think Bill Gates would benefit from it.
Or some shit.
Month: November 2020
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
GA Sec of State: “Trump threw me under the bus” … and he’s surprised by that?
From his op-ed in USA Today, Brad Raffensperger writes:
“By all accounts, Georgia had a wildly successful and smooth election. We finally defeated voting lines and put behind us Fulton County’s now notorious reputation for disastrous elections. This should be something for Georgians to celebrate, whether their favored presidential candidate won or lost. For those wondering, mine lost — my family voted for him, donated to him and are now being thrown under the bus by him.”
The man in the White House has shown us all, with great dexterity and honesty, that he is a man absent of integrity. It’s the only thing Trump is honest about. He never lied about being honest.
Trump’s deficit of values and morality is nothing less than a black hole. Its energy and gravitational pull is so strong that nothing can escape it. The only people who seem to know human is a devastatingly evil blackhole seem to be educated elitists with a penchant for hysterics and desperate for his reign of vacuuming the USA of decency is removed.
Not only does Raffensperger support him, he donated to him and encouraged his family to do the same.
What did he expect? Great hurrahs? Accolades for his attention to doing what is right in the face of doing wrong?
It’s like punching a rhinoceros in the face and expecting it to give him a back rub with his soft paws. Slapping a cobra and hoping it wraps him in a warm blanket and sings him a lullaby. Kicking a skunk and thinking it would want to take a bath together. It’s like cutting your wrists and walking through shark-infested waters hoping for one of them to bandage up the slits oozing red ink.
During one conversation I had with a conservative, he told me that the best possible option for a leader in this country (or any country) would be a benevolent authoritarian or benevolent dictatorship.
“What? Why?”
The explanation included the admission that the concept is an impossibility. But should it exist in a realm of possibility, that would be the best governmental option for all people. I asked if this was because of his Christianity. You know, his belief that God is reflective somehow of a benevolent all in control being.
He replied, no, it wasn’t that.
I wondered if it was something he heard on Rush Limbaugh. But didn’t ask.
This was in light of a conversation about Donald Trump. So I’m guessing that this man had given it much thought in light of Trumps domineering style of “law and order.” That perhaps if Trump could learn a level of benevolence, it would alter the perception of him as being a dick into being a morally good man rather than one bankrupt of all decent values.
According to wikipedia, linked above, one explanation of Benevolent Dictatorship was this line: “Mancur Olson characterized benevolent dictators as “not like the wolf that preys on the elk, but more like the rancher who makes sure his cattle are protected and are given water.”
This confuses me even more. The way I read that statement is that the rancher treats all his cattle equally. He supplies them with everything that they need. Healthcare. Food. Shelter. Warmth. And in return, they sacrifice themselves for others to the benefit of the rancher, those that they sacrifice themselves to, and ultimately for the herd, because they benefit from the revenue of purchased meat.
You know, socialism bordering on communism. Or being Jesus like. Or something.
What does Benevolent Dictatorships have to do with President Trump throwing Brad Raffensperger? I’m not sure.
I guess I was making the point that Raffensperger brainwashed himself to think Trump possessed a shred of decency. How many Trump supporters were expecting Trump to turn some corner and become benevolent or even empathetic to the American values we think we stand for?
What part of failing to do that for his four years in office did they miss? Shit, what part of his dickish public persona that stretches back how long did they miss?
During the debates, Trump brandished his, “Joe is a career politician! 40 plus years of fucking it up and being part of the problem!”
But Biden failed to point out that Trump has been on the seen since 1971. His public persona and outbursts of trying to control narratives stretches back almost 50 years. His rise to presidential power showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the guy was/is racist, that he failed in business more than we can count on my toes and fingers. That he surrounds himself with obsequious ego boosters. That his bubbled-up narcissism makes the Thanksgiving day parade balloons look like ants.
If a man who quipped that he could grab women whom he first met by the pussy because of his celebrity status stands in front of a church with a raised bible and all one sees is the Bible thumper, then Raffensperger and every one of the men and women who see Bibles and not pussies, deserve the bus that is bobbing a bloody mess over the concrete below them.
I get it. People think liberals are evil.
But I don’t hang out with guys who brag about their sexual exploits. I don’t navigate the waters of sexual hedonism. I value marriage over infidelity, monogamy and hard work over frivolous affairs or expecting forgiveness for sins I have yet to commit.
By conservative viewpoints, I associate with murderers. And by that token, I’m guilty. I don’t know anyone who’s had an abortion, but I wouldn’t condemn them if I met one. Just like I wouldn’t condemn anyone who has been, well, human.
I also don’t believe that the murderer who confesses for forgiveness on a cross should enjoy heaven while six million Jews who didn’t accept Jesus as the messiah should be burning in hell.
It’s lack of integrity that I loath. Lack of remorse. A condemnation of all things except for those that pertain to self.
If friends I know who have flagrantly cheated on their spouses weren’t judgy of sexuality and of sexual issues, it’d be much easier to accept their positions of righteousness.
Being surprised that people like Trump throw people of values under the bus is like scratching your head when your wallet and accounts are empty after a night in Vegas. You get what you paid for, bitches. Own it.
Forensic Experts Used Photos and Videos From Social Media to Reconstruct Beirut Explosion
Holy shit. This reconstruction video of the explosion in Beirut, yes that explosion, is incredible.
I remember that day clearly. My mind exploded with conspiracy theories, but when it turned out to be a poorly stored collection of fireworks, I observed in almost out-of-body revel as I crossed from Conspiracy Theory level thinking over to a scientifically sound one.
These are the thoughts that I keep returning to when attempting to digest the Americans who can’t seem to grasp that there was not massive voter fraud in our 2020 election. And they are completely convinced by the President and his talking heads.
But as time wears on, we are seeing his heads concede. Just not him.
The friendliness of hate
If you’re like me, you’ve been seeing some rich posts on the social medias. Politics are divisive in a way right now that I don’t remember. And maybe it’s early onset Alzheimer’s. Or maybe it’s my version of conservative glory days, but I don’t remember things ever being this bad.
I screen capped a thread to share. You can read the thread yourselves.
There’s a couple things that need remarks.
- The number of people who are convinced by Trump’s arguments that the election was rigged is stupefying. This very consideration bothers me. But it’s somehow not the worst thing about this thread. To believe in one man’s lies so much that you’d be swayed by his words is amazing. With the growing chorus of Republican forfeiture of the presidential election, the single source of dissent is from the White House and a few lawyers. The rumor mill takes it from there. Convinced. Gullible. Noteworthy of nothing but a failure to accept the truth.
- The number of “I’m not going to vote any more” responses is like a stereotypical Italian chef kissing his finger tips and exclaiming, “Perfetto!” Good gosh. Don’t vote. Your votes only got the most nightmarish president of all time elected four years ago. He beat the supposed front runner in the electoral college. By all means, fucking stay home and masturbate to your photos of Mr. Trump.
- Those who admit that they ONLY watch Newsmax is terrifying. If people are jumping ship to land in the “safety boats” called Newsmax, because that is a network that finally speaks to one’s political proclivities … when Fox News has become too liberal … holy shit. How does one talk to someone who ONLY watches ONE network. I spent five minutes watching it yesterday listening to a man berate the idea that Gov Cuomo would receive an Emmy for his televised approach to leading his state through the pandemic. Like it or hate it, this guy’s professional persona was about as strong as a preschooler giving a report on why Sesame Street is his favorite show. I’m not saying, “Don’t watch Newsmax.” I’m saying, “Be cautious to have ONE source as your news options.”
- And finally the use of Hate in this thread, and many others I’ve read on Facebook, Twitter and in the comments at Breitbart. These people are saying, declaring and shouting, “I hate democrats.” “I hate people who voted for Biden.” This is dangerous. In a diverse nation, hate for another person does not belong here. I hate a person’s opinion. That’s a stretch, but doable. But to literally hate people. That’s a powder keg of a statement. The United States is a melting pot of diverse ideas. Without it, we’re just a bunch of sheep. The sheep argument is so easy to drop. Like calling your adversaries Nazis. Or Communists.
I spoke on the phone over the weekend to my brother and a good friend of mine in DC. I also had a long talk in our yard with a guy about my age during a playdate for our dogs.
My brother and I talked long about the election and he said that he’s been on the search for a conservative news source that isn’t so damn biased and is somehow fair. You know, searching for the unicorn. My buddy in DC said the same thing about his attempt to understand the current political climate.
My brother shared a link from the Dispatch (<– link), which I found to be well written and considerate. It was followed by a comments section that wasn’t laden with mindless “You’re not a real conservative/Christian/etc.” arguments.
What a relief.
This site rates the Dispatch as being reputable in its fact checking. So maybe it’s a good resource to add to my daily diet of information gathering.
As opposed to a place like Breitbart where the conspiracy theorist in me wonders if the comments are infiltrated by teams of Trump propagandists. If you’ve read much about the election fraud, there’s that idea being circulated that Trump is using fraud as a fear tactic to raise money. Within the comments on threads about voter fraud, there are many that say, “I don’t care if I’m broke, I’m contributing $100 now to Trump’s legal fund.” These comments are spread throughout and it’s remarkable how many there are coming from seemingly broke individuals. Recent divorcees. All that kind of thing.
My buddy in DC said that he found a podcast called “Left, Right, Center” after his own pursuit of a news source that wasn’t fucking annoyingly left or right. He claims the show is moderated by a right of center Republican who doesn’t support Trump (which by some arguments makes him a fake Republican). And then there are are two representatives from a more right leaning Republican and a more left leaning. You know, the Hannity and Colmes show for the Podcast generation.
My argument right now is not without holes. But it’s a dire plea to decency. To explore the arguments of our neighbors and friends. To be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that this election proves that people LOVE president Trump. It was NOT a referendum on his dictatorial approach, but rather a validation of it.
This guy whose dog was playing with my dog on Saturday was telling me that his dad is a conspiracy theorist who does not accept that Covid19 is much more than a flu. It’s not that bad and there are other reasons why people are getting sick and dying. His mother, that man’s wife, is a nurse who is caring for Covid19 patients in ICU conditions. So she has first person proof and stories of awful suffering from patients of all ages, not just the old, on-their-way-out, compromised health situations. She’s seeing and hearing these poor people with her own senses … and her husband is at home waiting for her when she gets home and doesn’t believe a word she says.
That’s like if a person who believes in Jesus was spending time with him everyday for 12 hours every day and the person’s spouse was like, “I don’t believe you.” And I’m not talking about someone in prayer for 12 hours a day. I talking legit hanging out with the dude. Where she could come home with pictures and stories. But the spouse is so stubbornly and willfully ignorant that no amount of convincing is possible.
This is what we are experiencing. Proof positive of something objectively horrific. And people are so incredibly oppositional, hateful, and gullible that they can’t accept verifiable proof.
How does someone like me, with emotions and empathy, remain friends with those who are so callous to love and honoring humanity? Compassion is my only answer. Approach all with compassion.
I’ll end with this: my DC buddy was telling me about when he was 19 and he knew zilch about politics. One of his best friends, another Christian, explained it to him quite succinctly. “Republicans are the party that make decisions based on conservative values and logic. Democrats make decisions based on emotion and liberal values.”
See that? Republicans are “logical.” The insinuation is that Democrats are not.
Emotionalism is bad.
From my earliest memories, I was taught that. Emotions/crying/expression of vulnerability or of feelings, those are wimpy, unmanly, not proper behaviors.
But you know, expression of vulnerability has made my relationships stronger and deeper. Just because you think men don’t cry, doesn’t make you wrong. It just means you’re a callous superstar who can’t find common ground with humanity.
Bitch.
I hate that I have had to write this post. But I don’t hate you, you, or even you. I’m glad you have your views, as crazy as they seem. I hope you find validation in your circles. Be it flat earth, 5G causing Covid, or vaccines are bad, and Bill Gates is a money grubbing asshole who wants to control your mind with a shot in the arm. If God is your copilot and Joseph from the Bible is your best friend, go get em.
That’s not who I am. But I certainly would love to have you over. I’ve got a new recipe for Curried Sweet Potato soup that I’d like to cook for you. See you around 7 p.m.?
Sweet.
Covid is wreaking havoc! Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving. 😳
Holy shit. The numbers of hospitalizations and deaths from Covid19 is skyrocketing.
The conversations I’ve had with conservative friends keep echoing in my head: Only the sick and old are dying. People who were already going to die anyway. The young and vibrant will mend.
Well, ain’t that some callous bullshit.
Where is the compassion? Where is the empathy? Where is Christ’s love?
Tina tested positive for Covid and I believe I had it, but never tested positive because at the time I showed symptoms, my doctor didn’t recommend a tests because they weren’t as prevalent.
I haven’t been the same since. Neither has Tina. We’re foggy a lot. Tired a lot. My running game has gone down the toilet. I have diarrhea at least three times a week.
So, no guys. It’s not just a flu. It’s something that is NOT going away completely. It’s affecting our makeup in ways that we may never get back.
I swear. When Tina did test positive, the level of callousness was stupefying. And if you’ve read anything about Rachel Maddow’s partner testing positive and suffering greatly, you would also know how certain people are responding. “Did she wear a mask? See, they don’t work.” Or, “See she got better, so no harm no foul.”
Meanwhile, Rachel and Susan were scared as fuck. They thought she was going to die. And that’s not cool. What if your life partner was knocking on Death’s door? If you don’t care, check your pulse. Maybe you’re already dead.
Andrew Klaven, whoever that is, cries about late night TV comedians
This video from one Andrew Klaven was posted to my Facebook feed and I watched it. The person who posted it is lending credence to the idea that the 2020 election is somehow fraudulent and that the media is bullying everyone in the country to accept it erstwhile heaving heavy criticism on Republicans as complete idiots.
I’m not going to pretend that Klaven doesn’t make a pretty good argument. But the argument is severely flawed.
The clips make fun of Trump and his efforts, and then by proxy, they must be making fun of Republicans. The entirety of the John Oliver bit about calling the interviewed people babies is incomplete. There’s no way to know whether the interviewees are Republican or Democrat. He’s literally making fun of their responses and the creepy interviewer’s way of sowing doubt in his questioning.
And while Seth Meyers is lobbing a few bombs at the Trump Administration for their asinine attempts at positing voter fraud without so much as a shred of evidence, his target is them, not you, you, you or even you.
This is what is wrong with America. If you criticize Christian hypocrisy, the knee-jerk reaction isn’t: “I own up to that person’s failures.” It’s: “that person is hurting my itty bitty fewings, because I’m a Christian.”
The same can be said for Democrats or any other group with hurt feelings, because their team was called a bad name.
Furthermore, you can’t take Seth Meyers or John Oliver seriously. They’re comedians. They don’t claim to be news anchors. They aren’t hiding behind any level of gravity. They rail against ideas they don’t like, because that’s what they do. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.
I don’t watch Fox News for the same reason. They hurt my ears with their awful attempt at kowtowing to their base. They flummox my brain with their insanities. I can’t be offended by it. Because their base of old gullibles love that shit. They thrive on the vitriol and the misinformation.
Only Fox News doesn’t label their idiocy as entertainment or put them on a channel marked, “Not News.” They put them on the same channel as the news programs that cut away from Giuliani’s flabbergast presser yesterday and detailed all the ways the legal team was lying to the American people.
Connecting one’s politics to one’s feelings is an unnatural disease. If entertainers hurt your feelings, it’s because it wasn’t meant for your ears. Or if it were, you should maybe give it some thought.
I gave this Andrew Klaven some thought. I listened to what he had to say. He made me feel uncomfortable at times, but I thought his arguments were flimsy at best. But he’s giving his voice a go. And good on him for trying.
I work as a videographer, a video editor and a photographer. My job is to create, well, propaganda. Commercial level marketing is dressed up as a way to wow and perhaps convince a certain viewership that they should buy, invest, consider that my clients or myself are worthy of their attention. If I want to create a convincing message, I can. I manipulate sound bites. I put pictures next to words that are meant to entice. I make skin on a person appear smoother. I remove blemishes. All to communicate something better than what is truth.
But it’s not the truth. The truth is rarely what we see or hear.
Just like what I do on a daily basis, this Andrew Klaven is lying to you to satiate his need to create an argument bubble.
I would love to figure out a way to heal the divide in this country. And even on this blog, I point out hypocrisies and it somehow connects me to part of the problem. Because if I criticize one, I criticize all.
I believe, with some certainty, a lot of the problem with the American divide is lack of self introspection, a formidable tendency to accept a one-way experience as truth, an inability to process criticism without suffering from insecurities, a whataboutism mentality and arguing without respect.
The next time you get a bug in your bonnet to share an attack on the “other” side, give it some deeper thought. Do you like it when you are the target of another’s ire? Or ill will?
God, it feels so good to be right. And I bet you are. Based on the argument you’re presenting, you’re more right than you’ll ever know. We all want to win the gold. We all want to be on the winning team. Our argument is the best. Why else wouldn’t the “other side” consider it? By the way, please like my argument friends. It invigorates the needy part of my brain that loves praise.
But when you’re on the winning team, the other team lost. And in sports, there’s that moment when each team goes and congratulates the other on a job well done. But we don’t do that in life. Despite the fact that there’s a constant sports-level play of politics and religion.
And in the other team’s bubble, they have won. Their echo chamber validated their feelings. And they think your argument isn’t convincing enough.
But you know what we don’t have to convince each other of? A hearty meal and a glass of the beverage of your choice is one of the best ways to love one another. To heal division. I know there’s that monster in the room who might drop a political bomb comment, but serve them another scoop of mashed potatoes with bacon in it, and agree to another glass of Chardonnay. Pleasing the tastebuds and the olfactory nerves in a group setting with those we disagree with, that is the bees knees.
Marketing doesn’t sell unless it strikes the right nerves. And if you fall for any voice as truth, you’re fooling yourself that somehow you’re superior to propaganda.
Goddamn this pandemic and the recommendations to not gather for Thanksgiving. I believe strongly that the healing we need is a gathering around a table, an American table, of forgiveness, acceptance, belief and hope. So if you gather, gather safely and in small numbers.
Perhaps a phone call is in order. A direct line to your “adversary.” FaceTime that loved one whom you disagree with. Agree to pour a can or bottle of your favorite beverage, kombucha, beer, wine, water, whatever, and talk. Talk from a position of love and admiration for that person, that needy person who wants to be adored and right just as much as you do.
Fake news is fake news when we don’t like what we hear. And the real news is the stuff that tittles our bits and makes us feel good … for what? A few short seconds? And then you’re off to nibble a piece of chocolate, or in search of another meme, or need another news bite, or any number of brain-pleasing trickery.
Let’s all slap fives. Congratulate the others on their wins and be sportsmanlike in loss.
We lick our wounds in loss and we celebrate victories. But we’ve lost our ability to be human and decent. And I miss that about wins and losses. I hope you might consider it, too.
Actor Edward Norton shares his thoughts on the election and Mr. Trump.
Click the tweet to read the whole thread.
There’s an uptick in nurses in Covid-19 wards sharing stories on the social medias. It’s scary.
“Wake. Up. Dems.”
A Facebook friend posted this Bill Maher clip recently to her wall and wrote:
“I certainly don’t agree with everything here, but so much of what Bill says is echoed by millions of Americans. Wake. Up. Dems.(Not to be confused with, “stay woke.”)“
I watched the clip. I’ll post it below. There’s certainly part of me that agrees with the post and what Maher is trying to say. Yeah, Dems didn’t get the blue wave they were hoping for. And the support for Trump is should scare the shit out of them.
The thing about Bill Maher is he doesn’t appeal to democrats. He’s like the Ann Coulter of democrats only democrats don’t like him either.
His appeal, for about a couple years if not longer, is to people like the one who posted this; republicans who want to feel like they’re owning their democrat friends by posting something from a democrat in a weird costume.
If you don’t believe me, you can read any number of liberal reviews of Maher’s nutbag thoughts and ruminations that render him more of a grifter megachurch pastor than a legit liberal think tank. Here is a good example.
He doesn’t blow my mind with his whimsy riffs on politics. His approach is hohum and boring.
If anything, this video shows why he’s an idiot. Cancel culture is just as much Republican as it is Liberal.
Political Correctness is, in a relative sense, a good thing. Striving to improve the all around atmosphere of the world by being a kinder, gentler populace is anything but bad.
Trying NOT to be racist or xenophobic is not only a good thing, it’s biblical and good practice for value-led people.
Maher’s modus operandi is targeting the very people who think they don’t like him. The draw to him is that he’s some dirty secret, and the magnetism toward him is that people feel dirty for liking him, because he’s keying them into a mystical level of the “other side.”
The other side who thinks he’s a big piece of shit.
Maher is free to be the dick he always wanted to be. And we have the freedom to keep on ignoring him while republicans think they’re citing a phenomenal libtard for his tired opinions.
Or we just throw him under the bus to save face. I mean, he made a movie about religion being idiotic, so he must be a card carrying liberal.
Whatever.
Le Café Wittypoots 