Another mass shooting? Oh, well...

This latest "record' of a mass killing that happened in Las Vegas is just as appalling as the previous "records" of mass killings. I've vented so many times in the past my frustration, anger, helplessness, anger, dismay, anger, outrage, anger...that I won't say anything more.

What I will do is share three thoughts:

1. The Onion satirical web site posts the same headline with the text slightly altered every time one of these mass shootings occurs: "No Way To Prevent This," Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

2. Dan Hodges wrote a tweet that says, "In retrospect, Sandy Hook marked the end of the U.S. gun-control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over."

3. Journalist Igor Volsky cross-referenced tweets by congressional officials with the amount of money they each received for the NRA. About as hypocritical as one can get.

There you go. Never mind that Australia had a mass shooting in 1996, imposed strict gun laws and haven't had a mass shooting since.

If asked (in a poll or whatever), I will definitely say I'm for gun control. If put before me, I will vote for sensible gun control laws. I won't hold my breath.

I'm done.

Congressional Republicans: Party before country (Update)

UPDATE (09/22/17): I think I've discovered why the horrible Graham/Cassidy bill is being pushed so hard. It appears the Koch Brothers will give the GOP over $400 million ONLY if they repeal Obamacare and pass a tax reform. As usual, it's all about the money! Pretty monstrous to want to hurt millions of souls for millions of dollars...

It absolutely boggles my mind that the Republicans in Congress are so hell-bent on repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite the horrible end results of vastly increased insurance payments and the loss of millions having coverage. This in turn will lead to God knows how many deaths. All to put more money in the pockets of the 1%. And they don't need it!

WTF?!? Who are these miscreants that have no heart? As one person put it, they consider health care a commodity, not a right. I'm sorry, but every single human being on this planet has the right to live and to get what they need to prolong that life. Period. Even the cretins pushing this repeal.

What's even more amazing than the cold-hearted bastards trying to implement this is that their constituents keep voting them in office. Who are those people? I can't believe they are thinking that their Senator voted to have people die just to give more money to the wealthy is good cause to re-elect them. Are these people ignorant? Stupid? Uncaring? I just don't get it.

Suffice it to say, I truly believe that the only way to get some sensibility in all this is to have Congress go so overboard enacting and repealing laws that their constituents are directly and very adversely affected. Maybe, just maybe, they will then see the light.

Until the populace "gets it," we will continue to go downhill as a country. And we are very down the hill already. It may soon be too late to climb back up. Some people believe that to be true now.

One last thing: A pox on the 46% of the electorate who chose not to exercise their right to vote last year. Apathy will be the death of us.

MSNBC and CNN getting their rocks off on "weather porn"

I gotta say it. This wall-to-all coverage of the impending Hurricane Irma hit on Florida by cable news is atrocious. As Stephen King's wife put it: "Weather porn." Come on!

There are too many serious issues going on that TV news should be addressing. Let the locals handle the brunt of the impending disaster. I'm perfectly fine with coverage by cable news on this event. Just not wall-to-wall.

I realize ratings has to be the driving force. But once again, as they have for decades now, upper management doesn't give a goddamn about serving the public interest, just how much money can be made over the misery of others.

The other thing I've noticed is how the networks are virtually ignoring the Climate Change angle on this. I've been dipping in on MSNBC and CNN since the constant hurricane coverage began, and it was not until last night that I heard ANYTHING on how Climate Change is impacting this hurricane, as well as last week's Harvey, or the fact that there are an unprecedented three hurricanes churning the waters at the same time.

I would like to give kudos to Ali Velshi of MSNBC for bringing up Climate Change last night during his special broadcast. Since I don't watch the weather porn 24/7, I have no idea if Climate Change has been brought up or how much time has been devoted to it. All I know is that with the exception of Mr. Velshi, I haven't heard one word whenever I was watching. One would think it would be an important part of the discussion.

I love how the EPA head said that now was not the time to discuss Climate Change. Of course, for him there will be no "time" to discuss it. It reminds me when there is a horrific shooting it's always "now is not the time to discuss gun control" by the horrible people advocating the proliferation of weapons.

I've severely limited my MSNBC and CNN viewing time and will continue to for at least a week. I mean we will need to go wall-to-wall right after the hurricane is gone, right? We need to observe and interview the suffering of the Residents, too. I'll get the other important news affecting the whole nation's lives elsewhere.

Once again, I know this is an important story and I feel for the residents about to be hammered by Irma. I truly hope that everyone will be all right. But let's just tone down the coverage a bit and focus on other important issues. OK, networks?

"Live tweeting" World War II

A while back, I got fed up with the cable news networks. Here is a good explanation of why:



So I've been getting most of my news through Twitter. I follow various accounts that cover all my interests. I find it much more engaging, and the comments are an absolute riot!

I bring this up because I discovered an account that just started "live tweeting" World War II! Yep, whoever is controlling this account is pretending that Twitter existed during the war and is providing tweets in "real time," i.e., on Sept 1 (the date that I'm writing this) there are tweets about exactly what was happening on September 1, 1939. Corresponding pictures and newspaper headlines are included. This will be a six-year project. Fortunately, they've cycled through at least once ending this year, so the account is starting over today. I love it!

This day in 1939, Germany is systematically taking over Poland (and making it look like it's all Poland's fault), and London is in a panic over the possibility of being bombed by Germany..

If you're interested, the account is @realtimewwii. It should be very illuminating.

"Hungry Hungry Hippos" is FvC's top speed

I loved what historian Jon Meacham said this morning on Morning Joe. "Mueller's playing three-dimensional chess and Trump is playing Hungry Hungry Hippos." Good one.

The thinking is that FvC's* pardoning of racist Joe Arpaio was a signal to special counsel Robert Mueller to back off his investigation. Unfortunately for FvC:

Donald Trump, as we noted several times a day, he's a day trader. And he does things like fires James Comey, which actually gets him Bob Mueller. He does things that he thinks is going to get him out of a trap that only makes things more difficult. There is now talk that any pardons of anybody not on -- not only doesn't take care of the problems on the state level for these people, but also that that is an abuse of the pardon power and would almost be prima facie evidence of abuse of power and would lead to impeachment down the road. The question is, is anybody telling Donald Trump this, and if they are, is Donald Trump listening?

Move, counter move. If there is any nastiness surrounding the FvC family or administration, the truth will out. Let's hope there's something to get this poor excuse of a human being out of office and in prison.

*Fuckface von Clownstick, courtesy Jon Stewart

Cowardly FvC avoids the limelight while trashing our country

Well, there are Friday night news dumps, and then there are "Friday Night News Dumps"!

Last night, when nobody was watching (everyone concentrating on Hurricane Harvey hitting landfall in Texas), FvC* pardoned Joe Arpaio, transgenders were banned from the military by FvC order and Sebastian Gorka was ousted from the White House.

Exactly how Gorka exited is subject to debate, but who cares. He was a horrible person that didn't belong there in the first place. Good riddance.

I believe anyone who wants to serve our country deserves to be allowed to. As Senator Tammy Duckworth said in a statement, "When I was bleeding to death in my Black Hawk helicopter after I was shot down, I didn’t care if the American troops risking their lives to help save me were gay, straight, transgender, black, white or brown. All that mattered was they didn't leave me behind. If you are willing to risk your life for our country, and you can do the job you should be able to serve — no matter your gender identity or sexual orientation." Amen.

How cowardly is it for FvC to pull all this shit under cover of darkness? What's amazing is that is appears to be working. I've been watching CNN off and on all morning, and there has been nothing but Hurricane Harvey news. Not one word have I seen what happened to Gorka, transgenders or Arpaio. There might have been some coverage, I've just missed it so far. Stealth works, unfortunately. He knows the transgender memorandum and the pardon will not be well received by most of the country, so throw it out there on a Friday night with a hurricane devastating Texas. Wow!

The pardon really fired up the Twitterverse.  It was expected, though. FvC had forecast this at his Arizona rally last Tuesday. It is, of course, totally egregious and reinforces those who believe that FvC is both racist and has total disregard for the rule of law.

Paul Begala said on Bill Maher's HBO show that he feels this is a signal to those under investigation by Mueller's task force that FvC has their backs.

I can't add anything new to those who are outraged by these horrible, horrible acts and writing about it. I'm just commenting on my hatred for the situation so that I can be added to the millions who abhor FvC and how he's ruining the country.

I wonder what it will take (if anything) to get the Republicans to finally say, "Enough is enough." I've written before that the end result will be how much permanent damage has been inflicted on this country once FvC has gone, whenever that may be. How many years will it take to get back to something called "normal"?

*Fuckface von Clownstick, courtesy Jon Stewart

Another major f*ckup on the high seas

I wrote a couple of days ago about the collision of a U.S. warship with another ship near Singapore and the basics for what it takes for a collision to occur.

Guess what? It happened again today in the same area. This time it was the USS John S. McCain, a destroyer colliding with a merchant ship. Ten sailors from the destroyer are missing as of this writing.

OK, this is ridiculous as well as totally unacceptable. It is rare that a U.S. ship collides with another ship, and now there are two in about two months? This has suddenly become some kind of systemic problem (Unless you want to get into the mindset that bad guys are intentionally trying to collide with the U.S. ships, which is highly unlikely).

Either our training procedures have degraded horrendously, or we as a society have become so dumbed down that we are unable to adequately train personnel. This needs to be addressed ASAP!