Let’s just cut the shit for once and actually talk about what’s going on without blustering and pretending we’re actually doing a good job at adulting as a country right now. We’re not.
weekly vent
The Weekly Vent: F**k You, Donald Trump
There, I said it. Actually, someone else said it, much more clearly and comprehensively than I: Fuck You, Donald Trump.
Donald Trump mocking disabled reporter
The Weekly Vent: Miss Congeniality
What can possibly be said about the past week and the GOP nominee? I think The New Yorker magazine has summed it all up quite nicely: Cover Story: Donald Trump is Barry Blitt’s “Miss Congeniality”.
And any satire they left out was ably exploited by the Saturday Night Live cast: Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton Debate Cold Open. Seriously, if you haven’t watched it yet — treat yourself. But honestly, these shenanigans are no weirder than Trump’s real-life rants.
Saturday Night Live joins the 2016 Presidential debates.
Sad and Mad Again
I simply cannot believe that there are more than a handful of voters on the lunatic fringe who can actually bring themselves to vote for Trump, even after his disgusting, disgraceful attacks on the Khan family, whose appearance at the Democratic National Convention was one of the most powerful, moving presentations I have ever seen on television. I feel so sad for them, while I can also see their justified pride in their lost son.
However, I am well aware that there are many of my fellow Americans who, as one put it, plan to “vote with their middle fingers” in November by voting for the GOP nominee. What they do not acknowledge is that by doubling down on their support for him after his insane attacks on the Khan family, they are also giving the middle finger to a Gold Star family that deserves nothing but all Americans’ sympathy, respect and gratitude.
What evil miasma has taken over so many of my fellow citizens? I didn’t think it could get much worse than the lunatics who have repeatedly claimed that the bereaved parents of little children murdered in Sandy Hook Elementary School are actors promulgating a government fraud, and that no one was killed. This may be even worse.
I have never voted a straight party ticket in all my decades as a voter, but I will do so this fall, for the Democratic Party, to send a message to the GOP that their embrace of this wicked charlatan at the top of their ticket is beyond the pale. I hope others do that too.
“Only I Can Protect You…”
Paraphrase of GOP nominee Donald Trump’s acceptance speech last week? Well, his exact words were “I alone can fix it”, after conjuring up a dark vision of America as the beleaguered, corrupt, twilight Gotham City of “Batman Returns.”
BATMAN RETURNS – Penguin’s speech from DAVE STONE on Vimeo; film by Warner Bros.
But a different movie immediately came to my mind: this year’s remake of Disney’s “The Jungle Book”. The orange hair, the Queens accent … ammiright?
The GOP nominee wants you to believe that only HE can protect you, and he will — for a price. Think about it. I don’t live in Gotham City, do you?
Donald Trump, the GOP nominee.
King Louie; image from Disney Pictures.
The Weekly Vent: Boris Goyle
Brexit, the gift that keeps on giving. So today, Boris Johnson, a politician whose success I have never, ever understood (that hair!), who led the campaign for the UK to leave the EU in a clear attempt to wrest the job of Prime Minister away from his arch-rival David Cameron, announced that sorry, no, he won’t be seeking that job after all. In other words, having unleashed the destructive forces of political and economic chaos, Boris is opting out of the hard work of restoring any kind of order.
And all I could think of was the scene from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” when Goyle starts the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement, thinking he will destroy Harry, Ron and Hermione, and stands there shaking his wand while the fire rages out of control around him, consuming everything in its path. Boris thinks that he and his ambitions will make a clean getaway while everyone else is reduced to ashes, but I wouldn’t be so sure if I were he. Look what happened to Goyle.
Fiendfyre. Image: Warner Bros.
The Weekly Vent: Brexit and Next Steps
The Weekly Vent: A Middle-Aged Sit-In
One of my heroes, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, has had enough with the obfuscation and obstructionism in Congress after so many mass shootings. He is leading a sit-in of fellow members of the House of Representatives. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who led the recent filibuster on the same issues in the Senate, has stopped by to offer support. I’m glad elected officials are finally forcing a public conversation, because we just can’t go on like this. You can watch some of the sit-in on CNN.
Image: cnn.com
If Martin Niemoller Were Here Today …
If Martin Niemoller were here today …
They shot the high school students. And I didn’t speak out, because I wasn’t a high school student.
Then they shot the college students. And I didn’t speak out, because I didn’t go to college.
They shot the immigrants. And I didn’t speak out, because I’m not an immigrant.
They shot the midnight movie-goers, and the public employees. And I didn’t speak out, because I don’t go to movies at midnight and I’m not a public employee.
They shot the customers at Luby’s and MacDonald’s, and I didn’t speak out because I don’t eat at Luby’s or MacDonald’s.
They shot Parisians and Texans, and I didn’t speak out because I’ve never been to Paris or Texas.
They shot Tunisians and Egyptians and tourists, and I didn’t speak out because I don’t know any Tunisians or Egyptians and I’m not a tourist.
They shot Sikhs and Jews and the Amish, and I didn’t speak out because I’m not a Sikh or Jewish or Amish.
They shot black Christians in church, and I didn’t speak out because I’m not black or Christian and I don’t go to church.
THEY SHOT FIRST-GRADERS AND THEIR TEACHERS, and I didn’t speak out because I’m not a parent or a teacher.
Now they’ve shot Latino/a and LGBT club-goers and I’m not Latinx, or LGBT, and I don’t go to nightclubs. Who is left to speak? Will I speak out now? Will you?
#NoBillNoBreak #DisarmHate #HateWontWin
So why ARE we so angry?
As anyone who knows me is well aware, I get confused very easily. So the other afternoon when I was using the drive-up ATM near my favorite grocery store, I somehow managed to make a wrong turn, thereby exiting the parking lot through an entrance lane. Before I could drive off, a woman in a […]
Middle Aged Rage 
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