Say something great or else...

A few of our athletes have banded together for solace and outrage at our national malaise. So be it. They have the same rights as anyone else especially the asshats in charge of running the country into the ground these days. This nation was founded on dissent so go forth and fucketh thine selves MAGAts! Ye are not making ANYTHING great again but for being asshats wearing red hats. You have that in spades.

As for moving away, I say, oh no you're not! You're not going anywhere before you eat your broccoli. But seriously, Trump's sycophants are hailing from a dark past that this country is still dealing with. Fortunately I have great news. I have a good friend from my recent work history that when asked about his being assaulted by or otherwise privy to any overt prejudice or bigotry, he mused, "I don't really hangout with assholes so no, I don't believe I have." I replied, Hallelujah, this means we've moved the needle off complete assholiness and toward a still brighter light. 

It's just that the present POTUS is bending the needle to prove otherwise. Anything in his eye line will be turned to drivel from the master's mouth. The man can't help himself. He absolutely cannot give an account for anything that doesn't include dislocating his shoulder in order to pat himself on the back.

What I mean is that this young man, a very dark young man with dreds AND confidence hasn't experienced what so many of our gen has. I remember race riots in high school and Jim Crow alive and well and living next door. Times have indeed changed for the better. My friend is aware only vaguely of the bigotry and hatred that still infects too many whites and near-whites all over this amazing country of ours. Again, hallelujah! I also suggested strongly to this young man that he need only consult his grandma to find out what he missed.  

As to the asshats-at-large crowd so pitifully thin-skinned, check my suggested action above. Go forth and fucketh thine own self and slither your dumbass back to whatever backwater hellhole you sprang from in the first place. And don't forget your opinions. We don't need them and they're way below our pay grade to give a shit about. Selah!

A proper tribute

The persistence of MAGAism is profound. They're not just doubling down they're giving up on learning. They're giving up on our institutions. They're giving up on their neighbors. They are to the man/woman convinced that some darker forces are at play and Mr. Trump is the only light in the room. How could anyone in their right mind not want to be on the Trump train? That one is easy, even if it's headed the wrong way it's hard to step off a locomotive that's moving.

Even for thinking people the reasons that might not have been obvious to the casual observer/voter seem certain. A successful b-man, a constant provocateur of the powers-that-be, an outsider to the political realm, a real man of the people. How indeed...

So let's break it down a bit and see...

1.  As for the b-man, it's true that overall he's successful. A man that started off the scion of a self-made developer that specialized in modest housing developments in the Empire state. One who only borrowed ten million from his papa so he could start his own empire. The fact that he inherited another $413 million when the old man took a dirt nap might have something to do with it so... 

2.  As a constant provocateur to powers-that-be, the man has ALWAYS loved the camera and any limelight he could/can muster. With over twenty six acting credits and cameos in eleven movies like Home Alone II and The Little Rascals, the fact that he's ALWAYS been rich and a constant self-promoter might have something to do with it. 

3.  As an outsider to politics, as far back as his best selling book, The Art of the Deal, people have suggested he throw his hat into the ring. In actuality, Trump gave money to both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan's campaigns. He put his money where he hoped to find favor regardless of party. His critics have always known him to be a political gadfly as many of the rich are. They give money to both parties in order to assure themselves a place at whatever table is occupied by whomever. It's called hedging your bets. One might see this as smart but it's also something else, committing to your own agenda regardless of ideology. Many people see this as two-faced. MAGA doesn't see it at all.

 4.  As a man of the people, I understand this one because it's so damn easy to do. Pontificate about the reasons many people "believe" is the problem and remind them mercilessly. If it's illegal immigration, BAM. If it's foreign interests over America's, BAM-BAM! If it's corruption and graft in our system, BAM-BAM-BAM! None of these needs real evidence only the recollection of past sins and a belief someone else is always at fault. Facts be damned.

Immigration is a coil in America's DNA. We're born of it. All of us are immigrants if we count our ancestors. Which many do not. They'd rather believe that they somehow popped up out of the soil of Alabama or Michigan or Idaho and claim how them and theirs have always been here. The smart ones know better but rather tend to the might-makes-right category. Them injuns had it comin. S'what they git for bein dumbasses. Can't even make their own guns. (insert snort and spat sound) Fug'em!

So what's left when otherwise well-meaning folks believe the Great Orange One is the second coming? Or they choose to believe the drivel from his mouth is manna and medicine? It's near impossible to wake someone from their own fantasy. A lack of proof has never been an issue for "true believers." When facts are subjugated to beliefs, it won't be long before we ourselves are subjugated. History is piled high with the bodies of those that believed.

My hope is that any MAGA hat wearing persons will do as many Nazis did after hearing their savior had eaten his own gun and follow in his footsteps down into their own bunkers to pay due homage. 

I can think of no better tribute to the man.

 

So now they're arresting 5 year-olds...

Nazi Germany didn't happen in a vacuum. It happened in plain sight. It happened because the little corporal was able to parlay his rhetoric into a national movement by controlling what his countrymen could perceive. Control the narrative. Find or makeup an enemy and hammer them mercilessly until the lie becomes common knowledge. Truth be damned. The truth is what HE said it was. After all, he made Germans feel so good about themselves again. The Master Race in ascension. Such a deal!

Sound familiar? You bet it does. Americans that fall for the America First ballyhoo are lemmings being lead over a cliff. Their concerns are real, their voices echo, and their biases confirmed. It's them, their the ones, them illegal immigrants and their Marxist handlers, the Democrats!

For our sake the Dems better be paying attention before another Night of the Long Knives and Krystalnacht is in the offing. The Minnesotans are onto something. Let us pray for them to have wisdom and do the right thing. Violence is never the answer. Unless there's no other way. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is only right when there's an actual fire. 

Anyone else smell smoke?

I hate it that...

 Donald J. Trump is always at the forefront of this blog. I really do. I knew back in 2016 that this motherfucker would steal EVERYTHING from us. I knew that he would ALWAYS make EVERYTHING about HIM. I knew that he would suck all the sense out of the room. And I also knew that he would succeed. Too many of my countrymen would succumb to his charms. They didn't know any better. But that's not all. 

The Democratic party would become apoplectic. They couldn't see the the forest fire for the burning trees. I and my missus changed sides. We became Democrats after 45 year as staunch Republicans. We didn't hold our noses because the stench from "our side" was so great. We didn't realize that the Dems were just using deodorant. But that's not all.

The Democrats desperately need to regain the high "middle" ground. They need to become the answer to EVERYTHING that's wrong RIGHT NOW in the country. They need another Jack Kennedy instead of the lesser kin in charge of our healthcare system. They need to promise to right the ship and set a new course whereby EVERYONE gets a fair shake. The big tent is empty right now. It is time for them to come to our senses and re-imagine us as the promise granted by our forefathers. Re-establish the Great Society and hammer that message home. 

Don't bother bashing the Trumpster and his bevy of acolytes.  Their future will be the dumpster of history. A dark anomaly along with the genocidal Trail of Tears, the Red baiting of McCarthyism and trickle down economics. The MAGAts will die without their detritus to feast on. Let's starve them out. Let's prove that our system IS the best in the known world.

What else do we have to lose before we come to our senses? 

Just another day in the neighborhood...

Another bright young voice silenced. Another family rent asunder. Another grave. Another's pain absconded and twisted into politics. POTUS will certainly shit a medal if he can. Suggest strongly nay, he cashes in a new shiny bitcoin for the gilt memorial. Soon another brick in the wall. The wall between "his" will and freedom. 

Truth is and always has been that shiny people become targets. I don't give two shits about which side you're on, we have all paid for this kind of insanity masquerading as the price of freedom before. And will continue to do so. Ever since someone conjured a way to send a plug of lead down a tube with a bang we've been turning them on each other.  'Cause it's our RIGHT to do so!

I imagine the first Chinese person that did this either knew what would happen or damn sure meant to when he lit the fuse. Anyone who has ever felt prickled by words or threatened by an idea is susceptible to violence. If freedom demands, freedom gets. And are we talking about real freedom or just some 'muricanized version painted RWB, toting a Bible and baptized in fear of the other?

By setting us against each other over dubious religious oppression, invasive migrants, blaming those we don't like for the price of eggs is like joining a second-line sashaying down an avenue of outrage. Couple that with a well-oiled propaganda machine, it's no wonder we're all a little pumped up. Fake news anyone? Stay tuned while we suck the next few minutes of your life into the gaping maw of advertising. Hey, gotta pay the bills...

Shouldn't we extend a hand rather than a knife? Lend a hand instead of swinging a fist? Shouldn't we still be beating our swords into plowshares? Shouldn't we be more like Jesus instead of just lip service? 

We all need to step up.

Soylent Green is people...

I still have faith that our forefathers knew what the heck they were doing in laying out this republic. Oh yes, that's right, we're not a democracy but rather a liberal democratic republic. The problem lies in the having only one party rule at the moment. Many are praying for relief while the homeless are being rounded up and given bus tickets to anywhere as long as it's out of Donald's line of sight.

This POTUS has gone too far, AGAIN! Too much power concentrated in this asshole will only bring us down. He's already cast doubt on the U.S. in the eyes of our allies, competitors and enemies. And all the while banging the drum against anyone who might disagree. There's a reason for his rise. Too many have given up on Jesus and forsaken Him for the shiny orangutan's promise of a meritocratic nirvana where the poor don't exist and the homeless are shuffled out of sight.

Dealing with real issues that effect real people is just so hard, isn't it, Donald? Easier to just buy them a ticket out of town and call it a win FOR THE PEOPLE. Who's people are we talking about, Donald? Maybe you can just do as they did in the movie and call in the front-loaders to scoop them up off the streets and deposit them into a waiting cattle cars to be trucked off to a better place.

We've seen this movie and we know what has to be done. 

College president t-boned by clown car

George Mason University's president, Gregory Washington is being harangued by POTUS and his minions for not being conservative [white] enough. Some of that there DEI stuff got into their system and done corrupted. Says who? Says the POTUS and his kind. So it must be true.

Look, GMU sends me a little primer on all things CONservative and nascent within the neo-con world every month. So how is it that the president of said institution of libertarianism has a target on his back? Curiously, he's black. As in African-American descent. Dark skinned fellow speaks eloquently enough that he sounds quite neo-con but not enough for POTUS and his butt-boys-n-girls. 

So they [sans proof] are mounting a concerted effort to kick the closet lefty to the curb. And by doing so rid the institution of his ilk and I'm thinking, pressing for another sycophant to replace him with? All under the guise of antisemitism. Gimme a friggin break!

But to what end would they be thinking this is a good thing? Turn an already too-white institution more white? What was Mr. Washington thinking taking the job at GMU knowing full well their penchant for butt-boy politics? Denial is a terrible thing. Especially in the time of hit-n-run politics.

Mr. Farley and the Founder...

This world as made by CEOs is not a pretty one for the chronically underpaid. But just now a glimmer of hope. A corner turned maybe. We'll see. It didn't happen right away the first time so we should not be getting anywhere near comfortable. What the hell am I going on about? Glad you asked. 

But first, a little history... we know how ol' Henry Ford learned to make automobiles fast and cheap. He vertically integrated his entire system. Mr. Ford realized that buying raw products in bulk allowed him to control quality and costs. Naturally he kept wages where they were at the time too, at a minimum. 

One day Henry realized that his employees could never hope to enjoy the fruits of their labor due to the wages he wasn't paying. He was making cars for the people and the people in his employ had made him fabulously wealthy. It was time to give back some of what they earned for him. Henry doubled wages company wide overnight. 

You might think that was a bold move after all he had a board of directors to answer to. But remember, ol' Henry maintained absolute control of everything. The board bitched but history tells us who won. And it made them all even richer. That's why Henry was crestfallen when forced into a corner by the new up and comers, the union. Eventually he understood that for other companies to follow his lead it had to be a matter of contract rather than largess.

So just now the CEO of Henry's legacy, a man named Farley, has decided to do something similar. He discovered many of his newer younger workers were having to take side gigs with Amazon in order to make ends meet in this increasingly expensive world. He realized what ol' Henry did, you gotta dance with those that brung ya! Besides, no one ever went broke by being generous to the earners. Good on ya, brother! Ford just earned my next ride.

As a side note, the big box company where I worked for a time is union-proofed for that exact reason. All of the assistant managers maintain a side hustle (full-time job) just to make ends meet. To work for that company is nothing more than indentured servitude salved with platitudes, cheap pizza and badges. Their founders own sports teams, stadiums, yachts and jets while 75% of their employees do not make enough to support their families on what they take home. They're currently number one in their industry.

I dare say every company represented on Wall Street treats their employees exactly the same. Abigail Disney pointed that fact out a few years ago with an inquiry into the current spate of CEOs in America. She found that Disney's leadership was just the same as other mega corps. No better and no worse. This has to change if people--if America is to survive.

Unions made the middle class and it was growth in union jobs that made the America everyone remembers. Not some New York real estate developer cum peckerwood politician. Funny, I don't hear anything about bolstering unions or increasing wages for workers from that cocksucker. Though he sure is taking care of him and his kind, isn't he?

So if you want to make America great again, start with strengthening the unions. They're the ones that made it great the first time. They delivered on the American dream. Pay a person enough and they'll buy their own pizza.

A particular kind of madness...

 It takes one to know one, right? Is that why crazy goes unchecked? The crazies looking out for one another. That figures. Now that the Trumpian White House v2 is coming what are we to look for that might tip the rest of us off that the neuroses is reaching critical mass? 

Maybe Trump will start by firing someone and have them marched out to the south lawn and really fired. Maybe he'll try to burnish Jeff Epstein's reputation and claim the whole thing was a witch hunt perpetrated by Nancy Pelosi and George Soros. Or more likely give blanket immunity to the traitors that stormed the capitol and tried to overturn a national election by force.

No, you say. Preposterous you add. Well he's already tried flying Matt Gaetz through as Attorney General. I mean really people? What did you expect? There is no other way. To serve the Trump, you have to bend the knee, kiss the ring and flush any self respect down the drain. Oh and yell, "Murica!" really loud and repeatedly.

Such is the state of our malaise. Heads filled with Trumpian dogma. I use little bags to pick up dogma out of my backyard. I used to flip it over the fence with a shovel till the neighbor complained. Some people have no sense of humor. Anyway, if you had a shovel in D.C. what would you do with it? I know what I'd do but then I'm a little crazy, remember?

Extinction event...

It seems Neanderthals were a hairy bunch. They died out a long time ago. So they said. Now there's DNA evidence that the once thought extinct bunch of hirsute bipeds are still with us. Seems some things never die while others like the Dodo and moderate Republicans just can't catch a break.

In science classes we find out that there have been several extinction events that have steered our existence. It's impossible to understand or even consider the ways we have evolved as a civilization without them. Nature isn't cruel. It just doesn't give a damn. 

We're no better. History is rife with examples of unintended consequences of something that up until it exploded or melted down or took out a town or something good at first--turned sour. We forget that it took an entire factory full of women to burn to death before basic safety protocols were invented. It took a school full of kids getting blown to smithereens before they added the funky odor to natural gas so you can smell a leak. Shall I go on?

Suffice to say that we are a thick-headed species. We'd rather be led down the path with promises of rainbows, clean coal and a life without liberals or murderous immigrants rather than take responsibility and triangulate the truth. Ernest Hemingway said for a writer and especially a reporter that they needed to keep their bullshit meter turned up in order to find the truth. Trump blows the fuse on those every time.

Trump has taken over by the not-wrong-headed notion that people don't really give a damn till their grocery cart eats half their paycheck. Then they'll blame immigrants, transsexuals and their dead mamas for the spike in the price of eggs. Even when it's verifiable bullshit, they still believe. Confirmation bias is real. This is exactly why I left "the church" and now the GOP. Bullshit by any other name is still a path to Hades.

The Grand Old Party is finished. There is only the Donald. Why? My guess is that it's every American's dream to be the bull in the Temu warehouse. To break shit, leave the mess for someone else to clean up and nab a few bargains on the way out the door. The scary part is that it's our democracy and not a Hong Kong knockoff shop gone viral. 

Now Americans have another choice to make. Stand and fight or bend the knee. If the Democrats want to be the candle in the dark then they'd damn well better get on with it. Spark it up for chrissake! We need to build a new liberal-conservative Democratic party. An enlightened Left of center movement with education, civil exchange and shared responsibility as their cornerstones. One that seeks substantive compromise rather than innuendo, subterfuge and fearmongering. One that wants to win for people instead of a twisted ideal. One that truly is of, by and for the people. All the people. The ones that were here first as well as all of those that came after. What a wonderful country it could be. 

Meanwhile Elvis has left the building.

We're running out of rope, sir...

I told someone, hell I told everyone that all we had to do was give Trump all the rope he wants because as sure as the sun is a ball of fusion he will eventually figure a way to hang himself. Little did I know that we would have to prevail upon rope making companies worldwide to meet the demand. Which illustrates my point, the rope is but a metaphor for just how far people will double down on the delusions of a madman.

Niccolo Machiavelli said that liars will always exist as long as people are willing to be lied to. Nuff said. If we all had bullshit meters turned up to eleven and had license to deliver one precise blow to the side of the head of any and all who deserve one, the world would be a sore place indeed. Open hand of course. We don't want damage. Rather a good jostle of the cogs, cams and gears of the mind. The brain is but a muscle and prone to atrophy as well.

Proof of this is at every Trump rally and I'm not picking on the boss but rather his minions. Hitler would have been nothing without Himmler, Goebbels and Goering. They were his co-conspirators along with many more unsavory characters. There were no small actors in his troupe of banal evil. No one survived Nazism unscathed. It was the rank and file German, the downtrodden suddenly transformed with purpose and a clear enemy toward which to hurl themselves. Jews were easy targets. The rest of the world didn't stand a chance.

All empires exist to invade, impose and extract by any means necessary for the glory of a king, queen or nation and sometimes all three. They invade and sublimate the inhabitants in order to extract any and all wealth to fill their coffers. Empires are expensive to run even with absconded goods and slave labor.

Ideas both good and bad take time to settle and take hold. The ground has to be fertile and the root stock ready. And we have to know that the bad ones are working just as hard to thrive. So it's up to each of us to caucus with the angels of our better nature and seek the right choice. Our way of life is at stake.

It's Kamala, bitch!

I'm pretty sure I'm preaching to the choir when I say, "Asshats! Every one of them!" Now apply that liberally on any itchy spot you have. Chances are it will offer no relief nor do I claim it will. But it is something to do till the January after the election when we can finally say good riddance to _ _ _ _ _ (insert favorite bowel obstruction here) and say hello to tomorrow. 

Now either you fall one way or t'other but all can freely apply the aforementioned tincture to their aperitif. If you're a Trump minion then you have my condolences. Naaaaaah, fuck you people! You idiots would sell us out to Putin and every tyrant on the planet just because your boy works for gawd and, he is stroooooong. He took a bullet in the ear then told Jesus he had to go 'cause Prezeedint Trump done stole my heart. 

Joe Biden is no perfect man nor president. None of them were. I don't believe we'll ever see one and I pray we do not. The real deal will gain a following that will make a Trump rally look like a sideshow at a county fair in a shit-hole country. Along with cotton candy and the smell of ripe livestock, the real deal politician will know how to drop a deuce, polish it and make you think it's gold. Trump only got half of us with his bullshit. The rest of us called him on it and continue to do so. His minions still thinks he's "the shit." I couldn't agree more. He is THE shit. All other shit just doesn't compare.

The real deal he/she will not stop until the world burns. Here's the rub, I can't blame the leader. I think leaders can be like children from uber rich families. No one has ever told them no and survived. So they surround themselves with sycophants because that's their people. Bow down and all will be fine. Rise up and you're fired! He admits as much by his fawning over Musk's talent for dealing with trade unions.

Make no mistake Trump followers are in a cult. It's hard to get through to folks that have fallen into a cult. Because the rest of us are just wrong, right? Just ask a member of Jehovah's Witness. We can try prayer or interventions but no one gets out of a cult unscathed. It will take a long long time for America to get over Trump. But we have to. He's poison on a stick. He's a taffy monster. You pop him into your mouth and he tastes great. You start to chew and then the taffy monster eats you!

Nowadays we are all giving the short shaft to each other. We'd rather demonize and insult each other than try to understand. Understanding takes time and effort. I find both ends of the political spectrum devoid of will in this regard. Adherents to either side would rather warn each other about the guns they keep loaded and at the ready. In every room in the house! You know, just in case some murdering drug muddled gender fluid illegal from Guadalupe wants to read something funny to our kids!

On becoming a 21st century schizoid man...

The only thing that an autocrat needs to flourish is people willing to be lied to. It's as old as mankind. Our forefathers created a nation founded on universal principles. Their words favored neither color nor creed.  They understood the dangers. They understood the possibilities too. They also understood that the only real defense against tyranny is a well informed and armed populace.

The right thinking among us have learned to better pray. Our country has always been peril. If not from without than most certainly from within. The fringe will always be at the ragged edge of sanity. They sing a siren's song. Go right or go left, it does not matter which, both end in abyss. 

Our nation was designed to be pliant so that it would not break. The Right sees this as anathema to their agenda. They crave the solid distinctions of white against everything else. To them all else is taint and tincture. They want their memories renewed and recast in the light of their own image. Simply put, they want what never was. They crave the familiar distinctions. The ones they grew up with. The ones handed down from one generation to the next bereft of facts but packed with anecdotes and flags. Lots of flags.

The Left sees it differently and therein lies the rhubarb. It is true their fringe is dancing with some sort of Nirvana-esque notion of mankind in harmony with nature and itself. Yes and I have a business in supplying unicorns for such folk. In looking at both sides, it's my take that their adherents operate under the notion that they should reap benefits for their taxes. Not exactly a novel notion but it seems to be lost in the form presented to us. I mean, we SHOULD get a lot more for our money than street signs and promises by politicians, right?

The Left sees the Right as a bastion of bigotry, intolerance and patriarchy. The Right sees them as commies and fags. The Left sees the Right pressing an autocratic xenophobic agenda. The Right calls them commies and fags. The Left sees the Right's party of record diminishing in full retrograde toward a fiery end with an orange-haired idiot holding the reins. The Right calls the Left commies and fags. The Left points out that the Right's emperor is buck-ass naked. The Right flips the Left off and yells, "Prove it!"

If you sense a pattern then you're probably right. If you sense that I might be disaffected by the whole shebang, then you're more than right. You're right on.

God is a skeptic...

Otherwise why would "it" have thrown us a bone? He/she doesn't believe in us. It created us, right? The simple question for me that I proffered time and again in Sunday school was, "Why?" Why are we special? And for what? A pass to an eternity that any sane person would consider an absolute bore three days in? Oh look, it's manna for breakfast, lunch and FOREVER! Wait a minute, where's the pulled pork, Jesus? C'mon, that was so five centuries before you, man. Demon possession does not spoil the meat. Lemme at the grill, I'll show you. 

(Quick aside, I got spanked when I was ten and claimed I had no interest in a place without peanut butter. I felt Paradise was sorely out of touch with my needs even back then.)

Wait a minute, whadya mean we don't have to eat? What else is there? Rolling along 24K sidewalks on Segways singing "His" praises for ETERNITY? No friggin' way. There's gotta be more to the mystery than advertised. Otherwise this party is going nowhere and I'm not interested. Take your hymnal and your finely tuned deafness elsewhere. Have a nice eternity. I'm going where there's bacon. You can trust bacon way more than a priest. Just ask a choir boy.

That's how I think of religion. We're raised in it. Steeped in it. Redeemed by it. Absolved of our wickedness weekly when faithfully attendant and paying your 10%. Even the Good Book says you have to maintain in order to enjoy the fruits. And that was the source of my first rub in Sunday school. Salvation is supposed to be free but then there's the actual transaction between the stick of damnation and the dangled carrot of paradise. Wait, you said what? Oh that's gonna cost ya. Then the stick comes down and beats you and the carrot to a pulp. Like Job, just for shits and giggles.

That's just not me anymore. I've lived too long. Seen too much inside and out of the church walls to believe in a "just" God anymore. Like Mr. Palahniuk conjured so succinctly in his book about the existential threat of self awareness, Fight Club where the lead character clarifies, "God's a kid with an ant farm." Spot friggin on, that one. 

What's important is the person beside me. Be they friend or foe. They're what I'm about when in the world moment to moment. Being with that person or people listening and being present. What else is there? Life is either action or memory. Memories are paltry compared to the actual experiences but they do serve as way points marked along a trek. Memories also come in different denominations. Some are are like the rarest of jewels, sensual and soul stirring.

As for my personal beliefs, I defer to the epic, the big picture in minor detail. My heirs can sift through the detritus for worth and value. I'll be onto the next thing whatever it is. The afterlife must be okay because the dead haven't bothered to come back with pictures or an updated brochure and besides, the living don't really want to know anyway.

Where do they find these people?

I've lived long enough to see one president assassinated, one fall from grace and hold up double peace signs before departing on Marine 1 for obscurity. Then saw his second in-command exonerate him while stumbling through his one term. Then a submariner peanut farmer who built houses for poor people (with his own tools), the great and fallible yet always entertaining Ronnie Reagan and then Clinton getting impeached for getting his brass polished in the oval office while on the clock. Talk about multitasking! Then came Dubya. Okay maybe we should table his tenure for different tirade. 

After that we came up for air, embraced the angels of our better nature and put a mulatto in the big chair. A place where no blackish man had gone before. Except maybe to fix a squeak or a tear in the upholstery. We did ourselves proud. We did good. Those that hate him still hate him for actually being way better than they expected.

Then came Trump. He who parlayed bloviation into political gold. Who knew? C'mon, I'm not always the brightest bulb in the fixture but really? What am I missing? These people make shit up about so much so often that you'd better not stand close for fear of being covered in it yourself. Now that the law has caught up with this asshole, his minions are doubling down with righteous indignation beating their breasts and blaming the very system they created. Go figure.

One ass-hat whose name rhymes with Sebastian Gorka had the temerity (he has a camel-back full of the stuff) to take offense at a direct question about the evidence presented at Trump's arraignment. Rather than answer the question he began berating the journalist even questioning their language skills, "You don't speak English, do you? Obviously you don't because you haven't heard a word I said." 

Which was nothing more than a feckless diversionary tactic. Knowing that, the reporter kept calm and let Gorka blather on about weaponized injustice like a pimple-face kid that memorized a brochure for the John Birch Society. If you can't answer honestly, call the questioner mean and stupid and a homo brain and promise to have them beat up. One thing's for certain he is definitely invited to the Trump Towering Inferno Christmas party this year. Rudi will not be invited. Unless he brings his own liquor!

I have it on Q authority they're trying out some new uniform designs for the future. Gorka's will no doubt invoke a Himmler-esque Darth Vader vibe paired with Goering's jodhpurs and jack boots. Either way, you just know it'll have one of those long zippers up the back so he can make a quick costume change. 

Just in case

and a side of psychometrics too, please...

    My local school district has just dumped north of $106,000 dollars in annual salary for one newly minted expert in psychometrics.   
    Now wait a minute, I know what you’re thinking and that’s a little presumptuous coming from the likes of us. We simply do not know what the going rate is nowadays for good help in the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement.  Maybe we got her on the cheap.
    However, we do know what the going rate is for three newly minted teachers. And, that we could get two doctorate degree seeking teachers with a signing bonus of free parking, weekends off and all the bad coffee they can chug. And, we would know how to measure their performance. 
    The world would know them by the inspired and edified minds they’re able to turn out semester after semester year after year with dwindling support and little hope of advancement unless they join the likes of the new Senior Director of Assessment, Accountability and Evaluation.

How will we know how good the new Senior Director is at her job? How will the new Senior Director elevate the District’s credibility? Most important, how will the teachers and students of the district benefit from her expertise today and tomorrow?  Time will tell.

One thing for sure is the District has just added another layer of deniability in case the current direction of education in our fair county doesn’t markedly improve.  Even if the student's grades don't improve, I am sure that psychometrically they will track on an advancing plane adjusted for shift in the demographic mean.  Right?

Wait a minute, what am I talking about? This isn’t the REAL world where results are what matter most.  This the realm of school boards where our property taxes go to fatten the backsides of only those smart enough to ditch the “I do it for the kids” routine and latch onto the real money in education — administration — where no one ever gets fired, only laterally promoted with a bonus and a parking space upgrade. 

Silly me.