Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,340

yeah I know you did not ask!

I turned on the TV and watched about 10 minutes of the House “debate” on impeaching Trump for a second time.  This was about 9 more minutes than I could have stomached if I had not been doing other things at the same time.

I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of Republicans that I would like to play poker with.  They have no idea when to fold a losing hand.  I also suspect, given the analytical skills on display, that they would always draw to an inside straight.  Only thing that could be better would be a drunk poker player with lots of cash to bet.

I’m tired of this Irish blessing we are living.

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Me siento avergonzado

Or in English, I feel embarrassed.

Since the events at our national capitol that the Military Joint Chiefs  are calling sedition and insurrection, I have talked to two gentlemen in Central America.  The young Mexican man living in Honduras was just incredulous.  He could not believe such a thing could happen here. For many people in that part of the world, the United States is their dream.

The gentleman I talk to in El Salvador is a little more seasoned.  He asked me if I felt like I was living in the middle of a Mad Max movie, referencing the Viking helmeted man.  I told him I felt a little like I was living in a república bananera, banana republic.  He agreed that it did seem that way right now to a lot of people living in real banana republics.

The new face of America is a 33 year old, wanna-be actor living at home with his mother.  If you do an image search you will find this individual’s picture in a multitude of foreign news outlets.  How very distressing.

Supposedly Trump made a comment about the insurrectionist wishing they looked a little classier.  I immediately wondered, have you not been looking at your rally audiences for the last 5 or 6 years.  He is not that much different from many of the folks I have been seeing at them.

I’ve been saying for years that we have become a lowest common denominator society. I am beginning to feel we are trying to divide by zero.  As every programmer knows, if you do not handle this error it crashes the program.

What a sad, sad time for our country.

And so it goes.

Keep well.

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Cynical Corporate Courage

I cannot begin to tell how glad I am that they are finally banning Trump from all these social media platforms.  However, the cynical part of me is not applauding these corporations.  They waited until it was obvious to even a blind, deaf and dumb Dungeons & Dragons wizard that  Trump was not going to be able to steal the election.  That is not my definition of courage.  It is not my definition of being socially responsible.  And so it goes…

Keep well.

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How They Stormed Congress

If you got 30 minutes or so here is a very well done report and analysis of the mobbing of our Capitol Building from a New York Times podcast, The Daily. Spoiler alert it was not spontaneous.   They warn you and I will too, there is strong language in the podcast.

How They Stormed Congress

The other mind blowing thing I came across today was a poll by YouGov as reported in Newsweek.

45 Percent of Republican Voters Support Storming of Capitol Building: Poll

I have almost never agreed with Republicans, but I used to respect them even with their differing opinions.  That is not so anymore. We need to get back to teaching Civics and History.  Hell we need to get back to teaching manners.

Just as aside,  surely it is just not me? When I look at the Proud Boys and other MAGA mobsters in their paramilitary (and worse) grab with their phallic symbols dangling over their shoulders, I am reminded of a bunch of 12 year old boys playing army in an empty lot.  Time for the Lost Boys to grow up.

And so it goes.

Keep well.

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Presidential Monkey Poop

First, let me confess that sometimes my mind makes strange connections…

Señora has not been feeling well the last few days.  This morning she was staying in bed and passing time with her smart phone.  She had leaned over the precipice and fallen, careening wildly, into the YouTube rabbit hole. She was watching a video of the Jimmy Kimmel Live show from 2017.  This particular segment was Clip of the Year, showing various short videos that went viral . As I came in with fresh coffee, the venturi effect took hold and I was sucked down with Alice.  Unable to fight the maelstrom I just entered,  I watched this one video with her.

My favorite was of a sports star from Europe or Africa that was receiving an award.   He was remarking on how glad he was to receive it and was thanking various folks.  He then went on to thank his wife and girlfriend. Realizing what he had just said, he gave the classic double take. He then worked diligently to backtrack that comment and only thank his wife!

The winner was a clip of a monkey who threw his poop and nailed a zoo goer right in the nose where the poop stuck. Ouch!

There were also a couple clips of Trump.  In one he tried 2 or 3 times to pronounce Puerto Rico correctly, never succeeding. And then… was the much seen clip of him throwing paper towels to people when he visited Puerto Rico after the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria.  For some reason it struck me as much the same as the monkey nailing the tourist with poop.

If you want to see the video here is the link:  Jimmy Kimmel Declares Viral Clip of the Year 2017

Keep well.

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Going, Going, Gone

On Jan. 20, 2017 I put the “Not My President” bumper sticker on my truck.  I also put the American flag in the distress configuration on it.  For the first few months afterwards I was getting flipped off regularly.  Then it more or less stopped.  The flipping off restarted the couple months leading up to the election.  I got where I did not flip them off in return, but held up my thumb and forefinger about one inch apart to represent my estimation of their manhood.  I don’t recall a woman ever giving me the finger.

With Joe Biden set to become the 46th President I feel I can take the bumper stickers off.  I feel like I am waking up from one the worst nightmares of my life.  A nightmare that has gone on for 4 years.  I know we have a couple more months of the Orange Monster, and that he can do much damage in the that time period. But I can see daylight.  I can see a time when I might start feeling some pride for my country again.

I cannot express the relief that I felt with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  And at the same time the disappointment I felt in so many of my fellow citizens. In my life time of presidential elections there has never been a clearer choice between good and evil.  Yet almost half the country chose to vote for Darth Vader over Yoda.  I do not really understand why anyone would have voted for Trump in 2016, but I more or less excused them as buying into to his bull.  This time around it is incomprehensible for me.  They have had 4 years of watching his incompetence and malevolence, and they did it again.  Oh well.

Going, going, and soon to be gone.

Keep well.

 

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Marching to a Theocracy

When the Founding Fathers spoke of Religious Freedom, what they really meant was freedom from religion. They were very adamant about avoiding what was so common in Europe at the time, state sponsored religions. There was a very strong push in the infancy of our country to set up a state church.  Fortunately, we more or less escaped that calamity.

I have always thought of the United States as a religiously diverse country.  This belief arose because there are so many different protestant religions in this country.  The reality is that, according to the Pew Research Center, the United States is around 78% Christian1.  This puts us in the middle of the pack as far as religious diversity is concerned.

Some 223 years after our constitution went into effect; Continue reading “Marching to a Theocracy”