Category: Politics

What has happened to this country…

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Bob Dylan Say Hello to Paul Krugman

Normally, I do not put out two postings in one day, but today I could not resist. The video of Bob Dylan at the end of this posting was the coda to Paul Krugman‘s newsletter today.

On the off chance you are not familiar with Krugman, he is a Nobel Laureate in Economics, the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and was a columnist with the New York Times for nearly 30 years until the newspaper made a sharp turn to the right and more or less ran him off.  I suppose he is considered a Liberal, I find him to be a little left of center and one of the sanest voices currently in American politics. I used to read him regularly before the newspaper went behind a paywall.  A friend recently gifted me a free subscription to his newsletter on SubStack, which is where he went with his heavily factual opinion pieces after his stint at the New York Times.

Listening to Dylan started me thinking of other times.  I graduated high school in North Kingstown, RI,  in 1970.  For many of us of Continue reading “Bob Dylan Say Hello to Paul Krugman”

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Nicknames for He Who Shall Not Be Named

Trigger warning: This is going to get crude… fast.

Giving nicknames to politicians has long been a popular American pastime, especially for those occupying the White House.  The current occupant stinking up the Oval Office, however, has spawned a whole cottage industry generating euphemisms and nicknames for him.  This quasi-humanoid has an extreme pathological need for attention, which reminds me of a psychology precept from Transactional Analysis, “a soggy potato chip is better than no potato chip.”

One of the ones that I see  most often is tRump, emphasizing the rump part of his name, which to my way of thinking is much too polite. On occasion I have riffed on that one and used tArse.

From the title of this article, He Who Shall Not be Named, obviously a reference to the villainous warlock of the Harry Potter series of books. In Mexico this becomes Innombrable, interesting enough one of the few examples of when it takes fewer Spanish words for a concept than in English. It may be common in other parts of Latin America, but I visit with a few Mexicans on iTalki so I know a little bit more about there. 

Speaking of Spanish, I frequently refer to him as El pendejo, which over time has morphed to El puta pendejo, then El puta pendejo naranja. If you are not up on your Spanish curse words I will let you put these phrases into Google translator yourself. One of the things about Google translator is that it will take the crudest of comments and translate them to something somewhat milder.

I was talking about the current cluster f*** that is the politics in the United States, and I used El puta pendejo with one of my tutors who lives north of Mexico City.  Normally I stay very proper with my tutors except Continue reading “Nicknames for He Who Shall Not Be Named”

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I Am Guilty Too

Just something to think about next time you buy something from Amazon.  I am as guilty as the next person.  I looked and I bought 52 items from Amazon last year.  That averages out to a purchase about every week. In my defense about half of that number were books or CDs. At one point I was buying used books from a company as a way to avoid Amazon only to find out the company was owned by Amazon. I did not look up the stats on Señora.

I have no problem with someone getting rich from a new idea or a better way of doing something, but IMHO there reaches a point where the wealth is unacceptably obscene.  If for no other reason, it seems to twist the mind and attitude of these people.  In a sane society we would have government policies in effect to prevent this mass accumulation of resources. As I have said ad nauseam, I have no problem with someone taking a second helping, if everyone has at least gotten a first.  That simply does not happen in our society.

Amazon has become so big for many different reasons.  I do not believe any of those reasons were illegal, but a few have pushed ethical boundaries.  I initially started buying from Amazon as they avoided collecting sales taxes for many years, thus making their products cheaper than locally.  As much as we all hate taxes, they are a necessary evil.  And now Amazon has seemed to have become a conduit for cheap Chinese junk. Then there are the labor practices of Amazon…

Thanks for all those folks who refrained from pointing out my math error!!!! Now corrected.

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Top 10 Tips for Surviving 2026

This is a satirical website, hopefully that is obvious… This video, however, is less so.  She is advocating some of the strategies I have implemented attempting to ride out the tormenta de mierda that is El puta pendejo naranja.

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Pay Attention to History

Pay attention to history.

I sincerely hope we are a better nation than what tRump and his sycophants are attempting to do to our country currently… I sincerely hope so.

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Why Separation of Church and State IS SO VERY Important

Among all the scary s*** happening in this country and the world right now,  this ranks way up there.  Mike Huckabee is a true believer in the Armageddon / Second Coming of Christ fantasy.   I had not realized until now that El puta pendejo naranja had appointed this whacko as ambassador to Israel.  Truly the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of the State Department. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, current governor of Arkansas, is every bit as crazy as he is.

I would give them their religious delusions if they were not trying to push them on the rest of us…. much to our detriment. IMHO, their world view is delusional and draconian. Maybe it is a little over the top, but given half a chance, these “true believers” would make the Spanish Inquisition look like a cake walk.

God save us from the religious.

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What Would Jesus Say About Donald Trump?

I am not going to comment (much) on this video except to say it echos how I feel about the current state of Christianity in the United States of America.

What I always say about religion is that life is tough, whatever gets you through the day.  Of course, that is close to what I say about gender/sexuality identity.  Life is tough, whatever gets you through the night.  Of course, being religious is a choice.  Gender identity is not.

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No Kings Protest / USS Carr Hat

As I have detailed elsewhere on this blog my mother’s brother,  my Uncle Paul, died heroically in the largest naval battle in history.  You can read about it here: Paul H. Carr inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame. Besides being inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame for his heroic action he had a missile frigate named after him, the USS Paul H. Carr, FFG-52.  There are several books of naval history that include his story.  Obviously, having a Navy ship named after a family member is a huge honor, and all the family is rightly very proud of it.  There is also a movement afoot to have one of the new class of missile frigates named after him.  Hopefully, that comes to past.

I have several USS Carr hats, a couple shirts, etc.  I wore them for years to honor my uncle.  A few years past I stopped wearing them as it had become very fashionable to thank veterans.  I became very tired of people coming up to me and thanking me for my service.  More than a few wanted to shake my hand, something I am not comfortable with in the best of circumstances.  Most importantly, I did not want Continue reading “No Kings Protest / USS Carr Hat”

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Robert Reich: We Don’t Do Kings in America

I had a lighter posting queued up for today, but the world feels like it is spinning even more out of control thanks to the Idiot-in-Chief aka El puta pendejo naranja.

Robert Reich is my type of crusader.

Do your part – PROTEST!

What blows me away is that there are still folks out there happy that they voted for this incompetent,  arguably mentally unhinged monster. This is an America I thought I would never see.

Various sources are estimating that the military parade will cost $45 million.  Street repairs afterwards are estimated to cost $16 million. Whether that last amount is included in the $45 million I do not know.  This at a time when the Republicans are hell bent on cutting services and benefits to the most needy among us, being the good Christians that they are.

As a reminder here is the famous poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

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ELUMP – Some Ramblings


Okay I am once again a Johnny-come-lately. This time it is to the awareness that the bromance of Elon Musk and tRump had been labeled Elump by the popular press.  I became cognizant of the moniker scrolling through YouTube when a video of Bill Maher’s popped up addressing the subject. I am not as big a Bill Maher fan as I used to be as he has become so self-righteous as to be almost unwatchable, but this video grabbed my attention.

A real bromance?

First, it was a bromance? I do not believe that either of them have any real friends.  A real friend being someone you might call if your car broke down on the side of the rode and you needed a ride home. Would  either of them do so without asking for gas money? Or perhaps you can identify friends  ala the popular test, “the two beers and watch my dogs” type of person. Both of them only see other people as something – yes, something in place of somebody – to be used and exploited for their own personal gain or purposes.   A romance… nah.  Their toxic masculinity Continue reading “ELUMP – Some Ramblings”