Fuck the Second Amendment

I thought I could not be any more sickened or angry about the massacre  of children at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.

 That was until I heard about the timeline of events on that Tuesday. That was until I learned that the 18-year-old lowlife was able to shoot and kill eight-, nine-, and ten-year old children for about an hour before being confronted by armed police.

 We know there was a police officer stationed at the school and several other law enforcement officials nearby. It appears there were enough armed police outside the school to keep worried and terrified parents from entering the building.

 These Texas cops had guns. They had the gunman outnumbered. You have to ask yourself, why they didn’t go in and stop the killer? If they were afraid to enter, why didn’t they hand their sidearms to some of the parents, who I am sure would have been willing to risk their own lives to save their kids.

 The answer is, of course, that the cops, who had the murderer outnumbered, were outgunned. That’s right, they were outgunned by one psycho.

 Why was this guy allowed to buy and own weapons that surpassed those of the police? Because of weak gun laws which are protected by the Second Amendment.

 Well, fuck the Second Amendment. Say it with me, right now, out loud, “Fuck the second amendment.” You can say it. It is your First Amendment right, isn’t it?

 Maybe you said it. Maybe you didn’t Maybe you just didn’t want to. Maybe you didn’t quite agree with the statement. Maybe you wanted to say it, but you felt you could not because you were with other people. Maybe you are reading this at work or at school or at a family gathering. There are some instances where, even if you do agree with the statement, you know that you might be reprimanded or even fired for uttering the statement at this time.

 So, you are willing to accept some limitations on your First Amendment Rights. Why are many of us unwilling to accept restrictions that most Americans favor on our Second Amendment rights.

 If we can’t repeal or amend the Second Amendment, maybe we reinterpret it.

 “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

 We have police forces. We have armed forces. How much more well-organized do you have to be to qualify? The Second Amendment does not state that you have the right out outgun your local constabulary.

 Go to the drugstore and try to buy 375 pseudoephedrine tablets at one time. You can’t do it, legally. But in Texas, and in many other states, you can buy 375 rounds of ammunition.

 We can’t let this keep happening. We cannot accept a mass shooting every week or two as business as usual.

 Vote the cowards who will not put the lives of your children, grandchildren, and other peoples’ kids ahead of the wishes of the NRA and the gun lobby out of office.

 We will learn more about what happened in Uvalde as the days unfold. Don’t let time take away your righteous anger slip away. Don’t become numb to this event. Do what you can.

 We need to act. 

The Slap Heard (and Seen) Around the World

There is so much going on right now!

Russia has invaded Ukraine, Donald Trump is calling Vladimir Putin a genius, and ultra-right-wing congress buffoons Madison Cawthorn claims that Republican leaders host and attend cocaine-fueled orgies.  

But I am going to focus on the Oscars. 

I have watched the Oscars for decades. I make an effort to see at least some of the nominated films. I was rooting for Dune or Don't Look UP, but I knew they were both longshots. 

This year was a little different. This year, not all of the violence was kept in the movies being honored. As soon as I saw Will Smith slap Chris Rock across the face, the phrase "The Slap Heard Around the World" came immediately to mind. So, when others uses this phrase, well, just remember how obvious that phrase is and how well it applies. No plagiarism, no great minds think alike. Nothing like that, here.  

It so happens that I have long considered Will Smith to be overrated and overpaid. The excerpts I have seen from his autobiography lead me to believe that he thinks he is just wonderful., in spite of the fact that he has not always treated Jada Pinkett Smith as well as he probably should have. 

I have followed Chris Rock's career for decades, and  consider him very funny and edgy at times, which all great comedians tend to be.  I almost always watch the Oscars, and, at first, thought that the slap was a stunt. Well, it wasn't. Chris told a joke about Jada. Will smith considered it an insult to Jada's medical condition. 

Chris may not have even know about Jada's medical condition. She chose to shave her head, a perfectly acceptable, if a bit unusual, thing to do. Chris was not joking about her medical condition, but about her lack of hair. 

Why was that an insult? She knew she would be noticed appearing publicly with no hair. What else could she have done? She cold have stayed home. Well, that's not a good thing for her to do, with her husband nominated for Best Actor . She could have worn a wig. 

What? Are you suggesting artificial hair? This was the Oscars, baby! There was enough artificial hair and padding and silicone and other thing in the Dolby Center that night to keep the My Pillow guy stocked for years. 

But I think she was brave to not wear a wig. But, Jada and Will Smith are both in the business of being noticed. Chris Rock did just that, even if it was done in a way that some might consider crass and insulting. Chris Rock and Will Smith have both apologized, which is what civilized people do. The remark Chris Rock made may have been questionable and over the top, but Will Smith's reaction was totally wrong and out of bounds.  

The only reason I think this still matters, is that there are people out there to will consider what Will Smith did to Chris Rock as a permission slip to react violently to others who say things disagree with or that make them angry.

So, the Oscars organization is embarrassed. But I think there is one thing that they might be even more embarrassed about, if they take time to think about it. 

During the telecast, there was little mention of the Putin invasion of Ukraine. You might ask, Well, why should there be? Over the years the Oscars and the presentation of the awards has been at least partly political. Many have criticized this so-called progressive bias, but the commentary has always been there, and generated at least some of the Nation's discussion in the days that followed the event. A few people mentioned the war, and several others wore Ukraine flags on their jackets, and there was a silent screen shot of a slide showing how money could be donated to help the millions of Ukraine citizens hurt by the vicious attack's. If more of the presenters and recipients had mentioned the war, there would have been little controversy; most Americans, and most international viewers would have been in agreement with any comment condemning Putin and his criminal actions. 

But there is something even more shameful, in my opinion. It has been reported that Volodymyr Zelensky had asked for mention of the plight of his people during the Oscars, and that he had even offered to appear on the program, remotely, of course. 

Why did the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences not include him? Time is not a good excuse. These awards shows are famous for running long. And there was at lease one lame sketch that could have been eliminated. 

Zelensky has his roots in show business. And his approval rating around the world is higher than that most presidents and world leaders. 

The show business industry has dissed one of its own. 

That is the real slap that has resonated all over the globe. 

                                                                                —Dan J. Hicks

 

R .I .P (Reside in Prison) Donald Trump.

We finally made it.

Donald Trump is out and Joe Biden is in.

No longer will we have to wake up and realize, Donald Trump — that greedy conman who has never held a public office or a military position in his life — is our president!

The bar showing what a president should and can do has been placed so low that Biden won't even have to worry about tripping over it. And, we should never forget what a terrible president Trump was.

Trump was the first president in history to be impeached twice. Of all the impeachments that have taken place in this country’s history, half of them were for Donald Trump. He has been banned from all the major social media platforms. His Campaign Chairmen, Deputy Campaign Chairman, and longest  standing political advisor are all convicted felons. He can look forward to possible criminal investigations in the states of New York and Georgia. The city he used to call home, New York City, has cancelled all of its contracts with the Trump organization. His new home, Palm Beach, Florida does not seem to want him either. Those who own property near Mar-a-Lago are asking that zooming rules be enforced, to keep Trump from moving their as his full-time home. And, the PGA will no longer host events at his golf courses.

There are so many other things I could mention, but, enough of that.

Time to be cautiously joyful and hopeful. We will remember the past, but look forward to a better future.

It is time to inaugurate and celebrate a new president.

Goodbye 2020

Tomorrow will be the eleventh birthday of this blog.

 Sorry, no cake, no candles, and if you come by to drop of presents, make sure you wear a mask.

 The topic of the first blog entry was “Goodbye to the ‘Aughts’” and it was just that. A farewell to the years that began “200X” with a numeral from 0 to 9 taking the place of the X.

 Such an innocent topic it was. Well, you have to start with something. Obama was president, and if someone had said COVID, I would have thought they were going to talk about a family of birds (Corvidae) with an accent. Oh, never mind.  

 And Donald Trump was still known as a third-rate television show, a not-so-great business man, and a laughing stock to anyone who knew much about him.

 But, with all of the terrible things that have happened in the past ten years, there have been some bright spots. More people have broadband Internet than ever before. There are uncounted great films and books and albums that did not exist in 2010. Really.

 There have been some great scientific discoveries, some wondrous technological advances in the past decade. I suppose the amazingly-quickly-developed vaccines for the Coronavirus qualify as both.

 So, we have a whole new year, and, depending on how you compute it, a whole new decade to hope for and to experience and to try to make the best of.

 So many things that have taken place in the past eleven years have been beyond our control. But how we have reacted to those things and the decisions we have each made – those things are control over.

 So let it be with 2021! Happy New Year, everyone!

 

If the event an election last longer than four days, get immediate medical attention

Who, alas, has delusions of adequacy? Who's rap name could be "Lil IQ'? Is there a village that needs its idiot back? Who thinks Fauci is a type of pasta and Quentin Tarantino is an entrée at Olive Garden? Who is afraid to read Wired magazine because he might get tangled up in the cord? Who thinks Iron Man is a movie about a dry cleaner? Donald Trump, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!

Today is the Day, or One Last Shot

Can you believe it? Election Day is here!

 We have waited so long for this day. We know what it is like to anticipate a holiday or a birthday, but this is different. We have been looking forward to this chance to take our country back from the big orange sociopath-in-chief for four long years. And, yes, I know that we probably won’t have definitive results by the end of the day, and I know that some dark elements of the Republican Party have plans in place to keep Trump in office, no matter what the vote, but the more people who vote for Joe and Kamala and the senate Democrats (not to mention all of those very important downballot races) the harder it will be for any dirty tricks to keep democracy from happening.

 So, this is for the people who

    (a)   Have not yet voted and aren’t sure they should vote today, 

(b)   Are leaning towards voting for Donald Trump, or 

(c)    Are undecided – if there are any of you left out there.

Voting is expressing an opinion and some people seem to think that this is a tomato / tom-ah-to thing. You see it your way and I see it mine.

With some issues – even political issues – that approach might make sense. But in the case of this election – today’s election – the stakes are just too high.

Trump is an incompetent conman who was elevated way above his meager level of talent and ability.

Trump seems to score some points on the right for his confidence and patriotism, and his willingness to fight.

But Trumps arrogance goes beyond confidence to the level where it endangers the safety and health of the country. Trump's nationalism is not patriotic, it is xenophobic. He has hurt our relationship with other countries we used to have as allies. I hope they will be our allies again, after he is gone. A dictator, who breaks rules and goes back on his word to increase his power is now a leader, he is a cheat and a coward.

He is not a fighter, he is a bully. He mocks the disabled and promotes violence on those who disagree with him. He is a coward who mocks the military. Trump is childish, because he throws tantrums when he does not get his own way. He has the vocabulary of a fourth-grader, and a dull fourth-grader at that.

He has told more lies and spread more disinformation than any other US president, ever. Those people with much more patience than I, whose who count those things, say the count is up to 25,000 more than lies and misstatements. Even if it were half that number, it would be a very impressive, but not in a good way.

So, maybe you dislike Trump. He know he is bad for the country, but you aren’t sure about Joe Biden. Maybe you (like a lot of us) started out supporting another Democrat for nomination, but saw Biden take the lead with emotions somewhere on a spectrum from dread to acceptance, or maybe even indifference.

But, please consider these positive attributes of the Biden/Harris team:

(1) Biden actually has plans to provide healthcare to everyone who does not have            traditional insurance. Obamacare is imperfect,  we all know that. Please keep in mind that most of those imperfections were the result of having to compromise with Republican lawmakers when the plan were being written.

(2) Biden will do away with the Trump tax cuts for those making more than $400,000 per year. It is not true that it will raise taxes on everyone.

(3) Biden actually believes in science and logic. He understands that much of climate change is due to human activity. He has not endorsed the more radical tenets of the Green New Deal (I actually think he should go farther, but you gotta take what you can get), but he does understand that we need to produce more energy from renewable sources. Rather than going on some stupid rampage to save dangerous and obsolete coal jobs, Trump is working on plans to lessen atmospheric carbon-dioxide and methane, and to create good jobs in the process. 

(4) Biden wants to be the president of all Americans, not just those who go to his superspreader rallies and chant stupid things like "Lock her up!" and “Fire Fauci!”  

(5)   Biden realizes that the US is part of the world economy. He understands that he will be president of the US, but he also knows that the US needs to be a world leader and not shut itself up in some isolationist's silo. 

(6)   Biden has served in public office before. Every single president this country has ever had, from Washing thru Obama, has either served in the Military or has served in elected public office, or both. Trump is the first never to have done either, which is just one of the reasons he is so absolutely unqualified to be President. So, there are lots of reasons to vote for Biden besides the fact that he is not Donald Trump, but I tend to think that most people are good, and I think you could just draw a random adult out of the US population and you could make would have a very good chance of choosing a better president than the one we have now.

That's right, Trump is a worse president than an average American just picked off the sidewalk on a Tuesday afternoon. Most Americans do not have the legacy of greed and selfishness that the Trump family has exhibited for the past several decades. 

Some praise Trump for being unpolished. I would not mind seeing an unpolished politician. Both Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson were less than stately and  dignified in certain situations, and I am sure you can name many more presidents of which this is true. But Trump’s lack of decorum goes to an extreme we have not seen in modern times. His manner, which his supporters have labeled a “breath of fresh air” is in actuality am ill-wind of worse things to come if he is should be re-elected.

We have seen crooks and con men before, but we haven't elected one quite as openly crooked as Trump

The Office of the President deserves respect, but Trump does not. The best way to restore respect to the presidency is to get Donald Trump out of it and make sure that we never, ever, ever, even elect someone who even comes close to being as selfish or unqualified or incompetent or criminal as Donald Trump again.

So, if you are registered to vote and you have not, please do so today. Do it early, do it safely, and vote for Joe Biden to other Dems to start the healing process that we so badly need.