The Feckless and the Clueless

I was so happy to check my DVR and find a new episode of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Thank you TBS for not listening to our rotting pumpkinguts for brains president and canceling her show.

I realize that she might have overstepped a line with her comment about Ivanka Trump. She got herself compared to Rosanne and her wee-hours, racist tweet. These two things are not the same. Rosanne's comment was just mean. Samantha's comment was at least accurate, if crudely stated.

If Ivanka really does have the president's ear, they why hasn't she done more to moderate some of his more hateful policies – such as removing children from parents when those parents cross the border, even with done totally legally.

Samantha called Ivanka feckless and then used a word that I have heard emphasized as C-U-Next-Thursday. The second word was inaccurate. Sam Bee's show is on Wednesdays, and if she had used a an acronym for C-U-Next-Wednesday, she would have been accurate on both counts. Samantha has apologized to her viewers, and that is a good thing, lest the news cycle focus totally on her, and not on the injustice that she seeks to change.

Thank you TBS for not giving into our feckless twit of a president.

Yeah, I used the T-word.

An Open Letter to President Donald Trump: Advice for the New Year

Introduction: Hey, everybody, it is a new year. Happy 2018 everyone!

How was your 2017?

I hope it was okay, in spite of the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

Yep, he is going to be president for the coming year and, barring impeachment or accident or too many Big Macs, he will be president for the next three years.

Three years! How much damage can he do?

Well, if 2017 is any example, a hell of a lot.

What are the right-thinking people of the country to do?

My first action of the year will be to offer the president some advice. Totally free advice. What a bargain for him and the Republican Party!

I am as sure as I can be that Trump does not read this blog. But each of us is supposed to be no more than six people away from anyone else. So, maybe some of you know someone who knows someone…who knows him and can get the following letter into his hands.

AN OPEN LETTER OF ADVICE TO PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

Dear President Trump,

Already this has proven more difficult than I thought it would be. In what universe do those three words go together? But, we have taken that first step, so onward…

Dear President Trump,

Wow, Donald, you have made it through your first year. A bit less than a year ago, were elected to the highest office in the country – maybe in the world. And you have had a lot of fun, right? But, let’s face it, being president has had its challenges. Not quite the non-stop reality show that you thought it would be. But you can’t quit now. Oh, my bad. You absolutely could quit right now and that would be just fine. But, I think we all know that is something you will not be doing. Unless you want to, of course.

All right, you are sticking it out as long as you can. In spite of the fact that, at any given time, the majority of your country’s citizens disapprove of you and the job you are doing, and your approval score looks like the forecast for the DC-metro area, you will always be able t draw a crowd of supporters. There will always be those die-hard supporters that make up your base. Even though they are not the brightest tiki torches in the white-supremacy march, they are very loyal. They support you no matter what whacked-out stunt you decide to pull off, as long as you can convince them that you are making America great again.

And that should be very easy. Let’s face it, Donald, you and fact-checking go together like hot dogs and maple syrup.  Like corn flakes and hot sauce. Like a fine steak and catsup. Wait – disregard that last one. You get the idea.

Now, before you start defending yourself, let me say that your alternative facts are okay. That’s right. Everybody has an overriding talent, and yours appears to be...to put it bluntly, Mr. President…lying.

Don’t get angry and don’t deny your one real talent. I am not writing to tell you to stop spreading horseshit with that golden tongue of yours. I’m suggesting that you take it up a notch.

Follow my plan and you will keep your base, give the Failing New York Times and Crooked CNN much less to complain about, and save the country a lot of money.

Here is the plan. Remember all of those promises you made on the campaign trail?  You were going to deport all of these illegal aliens, reduce crime, add thousands of coal-related jobs to the economy, build that wall on the country’s southern border, fix the country’s failing infrastructure, and so many other things.

All of these things are hard. So, I am suggesting that you just don’t have to do them. All you have to do it say that you did them. Tweet it out or call in to Sean Hannity when he is on the air. Tell everyone that the illegals are all gone. All of them. You put them all in boxcars, headed for Mexico. You put all the adults on one train and the children on another, headed for different Mexican cities, so they can all have fun finding their families. I am sure you can get some stock footage of people being loaded into boxcars somewhere. Announce that, with all of the illegals gone, the crime rate has dropped to near-zero.

Announce that a million new coal-mining jobs have been added to the economy. Just say it with a straight face. And say, “Trust me.” That usually works. Do you really thing those folks who are here illegally are going to hold press conferences to call you a liar?

There is no reason to waste twenty billion or more dollars building a wall. Just announce the task finished. Show a picture of the final section of the wall to be erected. Use any old photo of a wall, or draw one yourself. Here, I’ll draw one for you.

I know it is not a very good drawing, but it is good enough. Maybe Eric or Barron can do better. Remember, just tell them that it is an actual photo of your big beautiful wall. Get Sarah Sanders to repeat it over and over and your supporters will believe her and spread the word.

With all of the money you save by saying that the wall is built, you can actually start to keep one of your promises for real – use the money you were going to spend to build the wall and get busy fixing that infrastructure. The reason you should do this one for real is that, well, when the bridges start falling down and planes start crashing, some of the people die might be some of your strongest supporters, and you don’t want that to happen.

Sure the news media will cry foul, and the fact-checkers will work overtime to inform the public that that you have not done these things. They won’t be able to help themselves. Trying to publish the truth is what they do. Don’t let them stop you. You just keep on calling them the fake-news and your base will not listen to them.

Once all of those Crooked-Hillary supporters see that you really aren’t a threat to the country and the world, they will get on with other things, such a putting solar panels on their houses. They won’t approve of you, but they won’t be quite so vocal. And your supporters will be thrilled that you have kept so many of your promises.

So you have it. It’s a win-win situation.

Like I said, Mr. President, it is a whole new year and a great time to start doing things a little differently.

The Great America First Eclipse

On Monday, August 21, 2017 (two days from now) the Sun will go dark. Only in the USA, and only across a certain west-to-east linear portion of the USA. Oh, and it will only last for a couple of minutes or so.

Of course, I am talking about the upcoming total solar eclipse of the sun. On Monday, August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible in totality within a band across the continental United States, touching fourteen states, staring with Oregon, and ending with South Carolina. A partial eclipse will be visible in many more states, and will still be worth checking out. People in other countries will only see a partial eclipse. Sorry other countries – this one is ours and you can’t watch it.

I’m kidding – of course you can . News outlets will do their part to broadcast pictures and video of the eclipse to everyone who has an interest.

On Monday, you can go to www.nasa.gov/eclipselive, where you will be directed by default to the NASA TV broadcast. You will see views of the eclipse from several locations, including from the International Space Station.

This really is a big deal. The last time a total solar eclipse was visible across the entire contiguous United States was June 8, 1918.

The next time a total eclipse sweeps across the country will be August 12, 2045, and it promises to be, not only the best of this century, but the best ever, with a different, much wider path of totality, sweeping across a different lineup of states, and totality lasting more than twice as long. The very best place in the continental US to view this eclipse is said to be a residential street in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.

And the future promises still more total eclipses, visible from at least some states, and partial eclipses visible from even more. There are so many great eclipses coming this century that some have coined the term “Generation Eclipse” to refer to babies born recently and in the near future. See more information about this and the lineup of future eclipse at: http://americaneclipseusa.com/future-usa-eclipses/ .

Remember to follow safety guidelines. Don’t look at an eclipse for any longer than you would glance at the noonday sun without proper eye protection. Make sure your solar glasses are the approved type.

I find it amazing that our local part of the universe is so predictable. I also think we also need applaud the generations of astronomers and mathematicians who have worked out the solar and lunar cycles so exactly that we can predict to the second when the eclipse will be in certain parts of the planet. This is amazing.

And there are still those who don't trust the vast majority of scientists who are warning us about the increased amounts of greenhouse gasses we are putting into our atmosphere. We need to listen to them and head their pleadings for us to do something about humanity-induced climate change.

If we don’t, then you, or your children, may need to anchor a boat to view that eclipse in Port Saint Lucie, in 2045.

Bill Maher Drops the N-Bomb

Last Friday, June 2, Bill Mahar used the N-word on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. Tomorrow night, we will see what he has to say to follow-up on his use of the word and his subsequent apology.

I will not defend Bill Maher's use of the N-word on his show, except to say that it was a joke -- a bad joke . A quick, one-liner that might have been funny if he had phrased it a bit differently. Or not. Anyway, Sasse gave him the perfect straight line and Bill Maher, who is a comedian first, went with it.

When I heard it I thought, Uh OH, there is going to be some blowback from this, and I was not wrong.

Most of the attacks I have heard and read have been from liberals. That is the problem with liberals -- they attack their own. They demand them to be perfect, lock-step, progressive and PC all the time or they crap on them. Bill should have apologized right away. He did apologize later, and I understand that HBO is deleting the offensive remark from subsequent broadcasts of the show. (I don't know if it even made it into the so-called "live" airing that goes to the West Coast, which is delayed by three hours.)

This kind of censorship by HBO is unheard-of. Maybe Maher asked for the edit.

Not only did he apologize, but he has been a voice for sanity in an increasingly screwed-up world. Maher has shown time and again that he is not a racist person, and they know that. One ill-conceived joke, which was apologized for, does not make him a racist.

If HBO did retaliate and cancel his show, I would seriously consider cancelling my subscription. Even Game of Thrones could not keep me if I decided to do that. It would be my version of: "Shame...Shame...Shame."I do not condone use of the N-word, but I do strongly believe that "freedom of speech" means exactly that. A network can police what it puts out over the cable-waves, and it needs to have some control over it. But HBO has shown countless black comedians and rappers throwing out the N-word like Hansel and Gretel dropping bread crumbs in the forest. If we truly believe in racial equality, then we don't give one race an unchecked license to use a word and crucify a member of a different race, who uses it once and then apologizes.

Nobody should drop the N-bomb in this day and age. But, we need to not give any one word that much power over us. We need to ask ourselves, why do we -- especially we liberals and progressives -- hold our comedians and writers to a higher standard than the country as a whole holds its president.

I know, all distasteful subjects lead to Trump, but Trump has made so many absolutely outrageous statements and told so many out-right lies -- and never apologizes for anything! And don't get me started on Kathy Griffin. Not my favorite comic, and I never thought I would feel sorry for her, but this is another case of liberals, the media, and others tearing her apart for something that might be considered bad taste, but that's all. And she is getting death threats as well as investigated by the Secret Service.

Strange how Ted Nugent actually did threaten to kill Obama, and he was not investigated. No, he became a guest on Fox News.