ATTN: Pearl-Clutchers

 

Okay, there seems to be a lot of pearl-clutching angst amongst some in response to Senator Kyrsten Sinema, being cornered in the wash-room by her own constituents whom she does not deign to meet in a more formal setting.

Please note that Ms Sinema is a sitting US Senator. She is not your child’s kindergarten teacher. She is not the chair of the clothing drive at your church. She is not the smiling cashier at CVS or the helpful teller at your local bank branch. She is not attending a tea social. She is not a member of your bridge club.

Kyrsten Sinema is an elected official. She was sent to the Senate after she promised to make her constituents’ lives better. Her supporters campaigned to elect her in Arizona. They gave of their own time and energy to put Ms Sinema in a position of power and influence.

However, Ms. Sinema is holding up vital legislation that will change people's lives for the better all over the USA. Sinema is obstructing that effort for no good reason at all. She is acting more like a pawn of Mitch McConnell than a member of Chuck Schumer’s team. She has thrown her campaign workers – her own constituents – under the proverbial bus. She has done this without comment or rationale.

So, get in her face and demand some answers. Confront her whenever and wherever she is. On a plane? Yes! Confront her. At dinner? Yes, Confront her. Walking down the street? Yes. Confront her. At her next Iron-man event? Yes! In the rest-room? Yes! Confront her.

Demand answers. Demand some action that shows that indicates she is a member of the Democratic Party. Demand that she respect the wishes of her own constituents.

 

 

 

Video has revealed that the January 6^th attackers bee-lined to the four exceptionally weak points of the Capitol Building.

(Nota bene – After 9-11, the Capitol Building was fortified and reinforced; first the windows and glass doors were laminated with a translucent coating of Kevlar. Later, most of the same windows and doors were more solidly, structurally fortified to hold up to truck bombs and the like. However, two windows and two glass doors were not strengthened in this way because they were deemed to be ‘tucked away’ and probably not subject to the force of the blast from a truck bomb.)

As it turns out, it was to these vulnerable windows that the seditious militia members made a bee-line.  After three tries, (with fist, then pole, then stolen police shield) the rioters smashed the first window and slithered through it to wreak havoc. All of this was captured on video; much of it – the smashing of the windows   and the unlawful entry – has been seen hundreds of times on MSM. 

Moreover, it has generally been known that the leaders of the assault obviously had detailed maps of the Capitol by which to plan and execute their assault.  Conjecture of complicit Congressmembers such as Lauren Boebert is rampant but as yet unverified; feasible and likely but, as yet, uncorroborated. The Select Committee has issued subpoenas in that regard.

Thus far, sentences for the Jan. 6^th insurrectionists have been perceived as pathetic slaps on the wrist. However, when the Select Committee hears testimony that these mutherfeckers were primed with the information about which windows they could smash, penalties for their treasonous behavior should drastically increase. Right now, it seems the courts and the prosecutors are accepting the tall tale that rioters were 'swept up' in the emotions of the day. 

This is utter Trumpian twaddle.

It is evident to most on the Left that the January 6th attack was planned and the Capitol Building scouted and reconnoitered beforehand. 

The most important questions that the Committee must ask are; ‘Who planned the attack?’ and ‘Who facilitated the attack?’.

 

 

Folie à Millions

 

 

They can’t be this stupid.

Think about it.

Anti-maskers, Anti-vaxxers, COVID-iots, etc.

They can’t all be so stupid.
Some? Sure.
All? Can't be.

What is being asked of us all is prescribed by experts from pertinent disciplines; immunology, virology, infectious disease and the like. That prescription is meant to prevent disease and death by that disease. What’s being asked of us is that we take very simple precautions; wear a mask, wash your hands, keep your distance, get your jabs. What’s being asked of us is that we preserve our own life and the lives of our own.

Refusing to comply with the recommendations of medical experts is not a just an ignorant choice. It is something more than ignorance. It is something that over-rides the inherent compunction to save one’s own life. That’s not just stupidity or a horrific failure of sound judgment. 

That’s insanity.

A Curmudgeon's Take

 

Seems the only way to approach this is as a curmudgeon. There have been two stories which have dominated international cable news; Gabby Petito’s disappearance & Britney’s legal plight. While the first is certainly tragic, how can it be that this story – this one story - is international news? The second - a ‘poor-little-rich-girl’ story - is only deserving of the National Inquirer, yet it, too, is international news.

Additionally, Facebook and Instagram are in deep doo-doo for bringing low the self-esteem of young girls. How the social-media giant(s) were able to accomplish this mean-girl feat is bogglesome, at least to this curmudgeon. 

Apparently, young girls following other young girls on Instagram are dismayed by the presentation of good times, prosperity and blooming love-lives by ‘influencers’ who are rewarded for presenting idyllic fables for their subscribers to drool over. According to reports, the on-line display of enviable lives devastates the confidence of some young women; purportedly. 

If the curmudgeonly attitude towards the real-life stories of young women seems cold and unfeeling, it’s because the incessant coverage of them makes so little sense.

First, are these troubled teens troubled by the fact that there is inequity in life? Can they be forlorn due to the Tik-Tok narratives they view? Slice-of-life narratives showing others at exotic vacation sites, dressed in cutting-edge fashions, replete with fairy-tale romances and high-ticket accoutrement apparently ushers in crushing depression amongst those viewers for which the aforementioned glimpses of life among the Rich and Famous are well-beyond reach.

Why the media attention? Do people fear that Gabby’s estranged fiancée might be a serial killer and so, warrants a multi-state manhunt? The inclusion of Dog, Bounty-hunter of reality-TV fame makes for a real media circus. Is the despotic junta in Myanmar not an issue anymore?

Do people fear that they, like Britney, will fall under the court-ordered control of a demonic conservator? Are these stories to be taken as emblematic of all women? Is ‘#FreeBritney’ on a par with ‘#BLM’?

Perhaps those poor, unfortunate Instagram followers might take solace or at least, glean cautionary tales from the tragedy of Gabby Petito and, in Britney’s case, the horror of parental conservatorship with this simple observation: “Gee, they looked so happy.”

But, that just might be the curmudgeon talking.

 

COVID and Group Psychosis

 

 

There are crazy people everywhere. It’s a fact of life. Each one of us has had to deal with crazy people. Sometimes, they’ll be seen on the street railing against unseen entities, scolding a wall or shaking their fist at the sky. Sometimes, the relationship is much closer; on the job, where a co-worker will share inner-most thoughts which should only be heard by a psychiatric counselor.

Full disclosure: I am not a mental health-care professional. I used to be, though; a Psychiatric Aide in a state mental hospital. That experience was revelatory and educational. The crazies I observed were not only the patients on the ward but the people I worked with; the supervisors and administrators I worked under. 

We all encounter crazy people as a matter of course. They may work at the local shops or deliver your Amazon packages, flip your burgers or collect your trash. These are functioning members of society; even if they go home to an inflatable doll dressed as their mother. Even if they beat their children, their spouse and their dog for inconsequential violations of their private and psychotic code of behavior, they may function fairly well in their job.  They may hold positions of responsibility such as teachers or lawyers or Congress members. Gym Jordan, MTG, Mo Brooks and a host of others may spring to mind. 

Clearly, these folks ‘aint wrapped tight’. Their cheese has slid off the cracker. Their oars don’t reach the water. They have two wheels in the sand. Their elevator doesn’t go to the top floors. The lights are on, but nobody’s home. They’re a few bricks shy a load.

See how easy that is? The euphemisms regarding those of, shall we say, an ‘occluded’ view of reality are legion. It’s a fact of life that we encounter crazy people all the time.

That leads us to anti-maskers, anti-Vaxxers, COVID deniers, COVIDiots, QAnon-ninnies and MAGA-mutts. These people have dipped into a pool of group psychosis that is filled, stirred and replenished by Fox News (sic), NewsMax, the Sinclair Network, Breitbart and too many other sources of misinformation that cloud the mind and tip the scales toward insanity for far too many.

To be clear: throwing off the basic instinct of self-preservation at the behest of a ‘talking head’ is insane. To risk the lives of your children, your friends, your family at the injunction of a political hack is criminally insane. To detached oneself from a common, shared reality is insanity in a nutshell. COVID is the reality. COVID-insanity is the new shared psychosis.

Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. Get your jabs. To do otherwise is insane.

 

America's Longest War Is OVER!

 

War has always generated euphemism. Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby referred to the withdrawal from Afghanistan this way: “We have begun retrograding…” Even the word ‘withdrawal’ was too loaded for the bruised national ego, so ‘retrograding’ was purloined and twisted to fit. Make no mistake; what we witnessed was a retreat.

GOP criticism of the ‘retrograde’ has been harsh and dutifully ignored the role that the Former Doofus and Pompous Mike Pompeo had in its calamitous execution. The traitorous deal made in Doha was called by Trump's first national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, "… a surrender agreement with the Taliban". 

In a presser on the eve of America’s final day in America’s longest war, John Kirby was asked again why the evacuation – the ‘retrograde’ – hadn’t gone better. Mr Kirby’s answer brings a clarity which has been obfuscated by GOP bluster. 

America had a partner in Afghanistan; it was the Afghani government supported by the Afghan military – the same military that was supplied and trained for decades by America. Unfortunately, TFG and Pompeo hadn’t surrendered to the Afghani government; they had struck their craven deal with the Taliban! 

When the rubber met the road, Biden fleshed out that ill-advised surrender… er… ‘retrograding’ with the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul; the one party who had had no part in the surrender to the Taliban in Doha. That is the worn nub upon which this calamitous carousel wobbled its final revolution.

America had depended on the existence of the Afghan government and the Afghan military to make secure the withdrawal…er… ‘retrograding’ by protecting the airport and facilitating the processing of Afghan civilians whose live were forfeited by assisting the American occupation. 

Then, reality struck; the Taliban were resurgent. The Ghani government was gone with the wind and with the cash. The Afghan military evaporated like dew on a hot rock. That left the US to depend on the trustworthiness of an untrustworthy accomplice to secure the airport and secure Kabul. It left the US dependent on the undependable. Striking a deal by which your generational enemy provides cover for your retreat…er… ‘retrograde’ is ludicrous on its face. 

That more than 122,000 were evacuated from Afghanistan is remarkable considering how TFG and his doltish minion, Pompeo the Paunch, left Mr Biden holding a soggy paper bag of diarrhetic feces.

 

Malapropisms, Mondegreens, Spoonerisms & Eggcorns, Oh My!

 

Okay, now for a bit of fun.
Some malapropisms, mondegreens, Spoonerisms & eggcorns (as well as some simply bone-headed misstatements)  for your enjoyment and edification.

"If you have that, the world is your walrus."

"I've got ears like a hawk."

"He looks like he's three sheep in the wind."

"I am going to let you move around more, just to break up the mahogany."

"We don't want to screw ourselves in the foot."

"I think it's time to get our sleeves dirty."

"You can't see the forest if you're barking up the wrong tree."

"We need to get our ducks in the fire."

"We don't want to go barking up a dead horse." 

"We're going to come out of this smelling like geniuses!"

"The ball is squarely on our shoulders." 

"It's like those who can't, don't have to!"

"Your work is late, but that's neither hide nor there!"

"Sometimes you have to turn a blind ear to these things."

"The best way to learn is from the school of Fort Knox." 

"Don't do anything in public that you wouldn't do in private." 

By e-mail: "... Does anyone have a concern?  Speak now, or hold your piece!"

"The Indians are nervous at Waterloo."

"Throw that monkey back over the fence." 

"Let's not put our dandruff up in the air."

"Those new salesmen are still green behind the ears."

"She really rubs me up the wrong tree."

A former CEO made the following statement. "Some of you think that only half of the Board of Directors do all the work and the rest do nothing, actually the reverse is true."

The receptionist asked me, "Do you still live at your current address?"

"Well, I'm just busier than a one-armed naked man."

"It depends whether you are drinking from the side of the glass that is half-full or half-empty."

 My manager once said, "We triumphed over diversity."