The Republican Party and Suicide

Seems like the Republicans should apply this same thinking to Donald Trump.

A Better World -- Not Perfect, Just Better

 Pre- and During Trump:

Post Trump:

Again, not perfect, just better!

More Useless Kitsch

So, here we are 7 months after the Insurrection on the Capitol in Washington, D.C.  Trump, yes, is still lying about how the election was "stolen" from him through massive voter fraud.

NO.  None of that.  

He IS facing multiple lawsuits, the Trump Organization (and its many subsidiaries) are slowing starting to bleed money, advertisers and lending institutions are running away from anyone named Trump and so, what's Donald Jessica's go-to-move?

Merchandising, of course.  The latest entry:

Gaudy?  Yes.  Tacky?  Absolutely.  Of any real value?  No. Not in the least.

Unless you consider being a faithful follower of the fat, orange, blob of a human something of value.  Oh, and notice how he continues to describe himself -- President Donald J. Trump. 

Again... NO.  That would mean he's still in office, which he's just not.

The official read should be: "Former President Donald J. Trump."  Former meaning he lost the 2020 election, making him a "LOSER". 

So, what's the point of selling this useless crap?  Money, which our little Donnie Jessica desperately needs.  She DEMANDS attention. Daily. Hourly.

Go figure. LOL

Stop Saying This And Fix YOUR Problem(s)

YES, Georgia, this IS WHO. YOU. ARE.

You’ve decided, as poor losers, in the 2020 elections going to Joseph R. Biden and not Donald J. Trump, that NOW after the elections, insurrection on the Capitol and Inauguration, NOW, you’re going to prohibit, inhibit and exclude Black voters from ease-of-access to ballots in one form or another.

“But, that’s not who we are in Georgia.”  

I’m calling bullshit, Georgia.  It’s ABSOLUTELY who you are.  Otherwise, why is that your go-to-move after an election that went to a Democratic President over the incumbent Republican President?  An election in which YOUR Secretary of State said publicly there was NO VOTER FRAUD after 3 separate recounts.

Think about that.  Georgia State Rep. Park Cannon, a Black elected state official, was handcuffed and taken into custody while trying to gain access to Republican Governor Brian Kemp's office during the Governor’s signing ceremony.  Rep. Cannon wasn’t even allowed to enter the room where that bill was being signed. 

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThlIX1-M5BE

But, Georgia, you’re not alone.  Most of the other 50 states are following your lead.

I see in your future, with the passage of these bills, the same fate as the “transgender bathroom ban”, as it became known in primarily southern states.  You remember that ban, right, and how it cost those states involved billions of dollars in potential revenue?  As a result of that ban, companies were fleeing on droves to get away from that horrendous, despicable behavior from local governments.  Some of those same states, along with these new, restrictive voters’ rights laws, are also renewing transgender-restrictions.  

In fact, it's not only who Georgia is in 2021, it's who the Republican party is as a group:  Exclusive, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, White supremacists... you get the idea.  Basically, NOT nice people and ones you really want to avoid.

I hope that companies and corporations make the same withdrawal moves they did in 2017 do the same thing now in 2021.  Don’t talk. Don’t bitch and moan. Take action and make laws that are inclusive, NOT exclusive.  Basically, think before you speak, because we all know, actions speak louder than words.

THIS is who you are, just like 23 years ago in Laramie, Wyoming, THAT’S who they were after the senseless killing of college student Matthew Shepard at the young age of 21 years old.  Maybe you remember him since he was a white boy.  A gay white boy.

It has become obvious over the past few years that white people have no shame in regards to their racism and care little about the 4 centuries of racist behaviors and racism against Blacks.   They just don’t care.  Which, sadly, means they aren’t going to buy into any attempts at repairing that damage.

Bottom line, again, Georgia, YES.

THIS. IS. WHO. YOU. ARE.

"Cancel Culture", Or, Accountability?

"Cancel Culture" when something, for various reasons is disapproved of, or cancelled, is NOT a real thing.  It's also about public shaming, specifically on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  And we really shouldn't be breathing life into it as though it were on life support.

The more appropriate term is accountability, holding their feet to the fire, keeping them in check, holding truth-to-power. 

And listen, it only gets cancelled because it never should have happened or been said to begin with.  If we've been taught anything over the past five years of "fake news", or "alternative facts", it's that those are lies.  Plain and simple.

Those are lies, alternative facts and fake news because the slimy, orange fat-one (Yes, Trump, in case there was any question) didn't like what she heard.  

So, Marjorie et. al., if you don't want to feel like a victim, cancelled or otherwise, think about the b.s. you are spewing because truth be told, NO ONE is forcing you to pay attention to "Q-Anon", whomever he/she is.  Likewise, MTG, you don't get to say stupid things like, "I was allowed to believe _____________."  (Fill in the blank with some weird conspiracy.) 

You're not a victim.  You're a perpetrator. Period.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Stripped Of Her Congressional Committee Assignments

 

 Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R), Georgia

"The problem with that is though is I was allowed to believe things that weren't true, and I would ask questions about them and talk about them, and that is absolutely what I regret," she said.

Greene also said that she believes "9/11 absolutely happened" and "school shootings are absolutely real and every child that is lost, those families mourn it."

In an attempt to put the controversy behind her, the congresswoman said, "These were words of the past, and these things do not represent me. They do not represent my district, and they do not represent my values." 

Representative Steny Hoyer (D), Maryland

The Georgia lawmaker, who has faced intense bipartisan criticism for her past comments, claimed in a speech on the House floor that she does not believe in a number of the conspiracies she had peddled before taking office. But she offered no specific apology in her latest remarks and spent a significant chunk of her speech decrying the mainstream media and “cancel culture.”

“I’m a very regular American,” Greene said. She later added: “I never said any of these things since I have been elected for Congress.”

She walked back her support of QAnon, the outlandish internet-born conspiracy that former President Donald Trump was engaged in a secret battle to root out a cabal of criminal political elites made up of Democrats, Hollywood insiders and the “deep state.”  

IF "Q" is such a patriot as so many of his followers have stated, repeatedly, then why is he such a coward, hiding behind some weird, nebulous message board.   

WHY NOT JUST SHOW YOURSELF?

Believers in the conspiracy were among those seen at the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol by a swarm of Trump’s supporters.

Greene in 2017 had repeatedly called QAnon “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out.”

But on the House floor Thursday, Greene said that by 2018, “When I started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true in these QAnon posts, I stopped believing it.”

Greene’s speech addressed a litany of her most-criticized past remarks, including her reported suggestion that some school shootings had been staged.

“School shootings are absolutely real,” she said Thursday. “I know the fear that David Hogg had that day,” she said, referring to the survivor of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, whom she had previously mocked.

“I also want to tell you, 9/11 absolutely happened,” said Greene, who in 2018 repeatedly expressed support for the conspiracy theory that a plane did not hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. “I definitely want to tell you, I do not believe that it’s fake.”

She also appeared to address one of her more recent controversies: a CNN report showing her Facebook profile on which she had liked or responded approvingly toward messages advocating executing prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“If it weren’t for the Facebook posts and comments that I liked in 2018, I wouldn’t be standing here today and you couldn’t point a finger and accuse me of anything wrong,” claimed Greene, who has promoted numerous other conspiracies and incendiary messages.

NBC News reported that Greene had disavowed some of her conspiracies during a closed-door meeting of the Republican caucus Wednesday evening. Prior to her floor speech Thursday, however, Greene had remained publicly defiant.

The problems with that statement, no mention of the Parkland High School shooting, 9/11 and the plane flying into The Pentagon, none of that.

She later minimized the lives of LGBTQi people with her statement about how, “God created Man and Woman in his image.”  Unbelievable, but not surprising.

Marj is clearly still deeply embedded with Q-Anon and other conspiracy groups and theories.  She now believes she has lots and lots of “free time” to go about “the real business of being in Congress” as she goes around holding rallies and helping other like-minded potential Republican candidates, Q-Anon followers rather than what she was elected to do – go to work, every day as a paid member of Congress.

“…I was allowed to believe things that weren't true.”  Where exactly is Marj taking personal responsibility for her words or actions?

And this?  Just 'cuz I think it's a funny picture... and so true.

If you listen carefully you can almost hear the kissing sounds.

And this is why we still have systemic racism in the United States

 Exhibit A:

 

State Sen. Stephen Huffman.

This from CNN:

A GOP Ohio lawmaker who asked a racist question last year about whether "the colored population" was contracting Covid-19 at higher rates because of poor hygiene has been tapped to lead the state Senate's health panel.

State Sen. Stephen Huffman was appointed by Senate President Matt Huffman, his cousin, this month to the position on the committee that reviews legislation about health care and human services despite a racist exchange with a Black health expert in June.

 

"I understand African Americans have a higher incidence of chronic conditions and that makes them more susceptible to death from Covid. But why does it not make them more susceptible just to get Covid?" Huffman had asked during the testimony.

 

"Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups? Or wear a mask? Or do not socially distance themselves? Could that be the explanation for why the higher incidence?"

 

The witness at the hearing where Huffman asked the question, Angela Dawson, who serves as the executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, quickly dismissed his assertion, saying emphatically: "That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country."

 

After a firestorm around his comments, Huffman apologized.

 

News of Huffman's appointment to the the Ohio Senate's health panel drew swift rebukes from lawmakers across the state.

 

State Rep. Catherine Ingram, a Democrat, said Huffman's "racist and problematic remarks" shows he is unfit to chair a committee that impacts Black residents and called for his appointment to immediately be rescinded.

 

"Sen. Huffman has shown he is unable to view the health concerns of Black Ohioans in an unbiased and fact-based manner, therefore leaving him unqualified to serve as committee chair," Ingram wrote in a statement last week. "Serving as chair would give the senator the ability to decide which bills make it to the floor and potentially codify racial prejudice into law."

 

Tony Bishop, executive director of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, said Thursday the group demands a committee leader who "understands and can help enact health policy that addresses inequities in our state without political influence." And if the Senate's leadership will not replace Huffman as chairman, they expect him "to use his position to improve the health of Ohio's African American population" by working with the caucus to pass legislation that address health disparities in the state.

 

"Although the senator's comments were deeply offensive, we hope that he has learned from his mistake and moves to right the systemic wrongs that are being perpetrated in the state of Ohio," Bishop told The Columbus Dispatch.

 

CNN reached out to Huffman for comment Monday.

 

John Fortney, press secretary and senior communications adviser for the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus, told CNN in a statement Monday that Huffman is "a medical doctor and highly qualified" to chair the committee.

 

"He has a long record of providing healthcare to minority neighborhoods and has joined multiple mission trips at his own expense to treat those from disadvantaged countries," Fortney said. "He apologized months ago for asking a clumsy and awkwardly worded question. Sincere apologies deserve sincere forgiveness, and not the perpetual politically weaponized judgement of the cancel culture."

 

Huffman, who is a medical doctor, said in a Facebook post in the wake of his racist comments, "I had absolutely no malicious intent, but I recognize that my choice of words was unacceptable and hurtful."

 

"I apologize, and I make no excuses. Those who know me will tell you that I have nothing but love and respect for all people, and I would never intentionally disrespect or denigrate anyone for any reason."

 

TeamHealth, a hospital management firm that employed Huffman as a part-time physician, confirmed in June that Huffman had been fired from that position.

 

"Dr. Huffman's comments are wholly inconsistent with our values and commitment to creating a tolerant and diverse workplace," a spokesman for TeamHealth said in a statement.

---------------

See, here's just some of the problems with all of this:

1) "Colored" - an antiquated term for sure, but nonetheless, incredibly offensive. African-American is the preferred term, and likewise Black as well.  This isn't the 1950s or 1960s.

2)  As a "medical doctor", he should know better and likely talks to his patients like this.  (People don't tend to do these things in isolation.)

3) The remark about how the "colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups" further perpetuates that stereotype about Blacks being slow and unhygienic. Again, incredibly offensive.

4) That TeamHealth dismissed him in June 2020, that's a start, but as a State Senator in Ohio and that he was later appointed to a committee to review legislation about health care and human services after making those remarks, makes things so much worse.  It shows very blatant complicity, and perpetuates systemic racism.

Oh, for sure, in Ohio, they're okay with this.  Otherwise, why would he be allowed to remain on that committee, or, remain in office as a State Senator?

And to be clear, YES, this IS who Ohioans are.  Plain and simple.

What Are The Titles Of Your Favorite Songs?

What Are The Titles Of Your Favorite Songs?

This might include songs that bring you to tears, songs that make you smile, catchy tunes that run through your head even though you’ve heard them a bazillion times, happy songs, sad songs, thoughtful songs, insightful songs.

Here’s my list:

Smile – written by the late Charlie Chaplin, from his 1936 film, “Modern Times”

 Glory – written by John Legend and Common, from the 2014 Ava Duvernay film, “Selma”

 The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down – Warner Bros. cartoons of the 1950s and 1960s

Flight Of The Bumblebee – From the 1966-67 ABC Television show, “The Green Hornet”

The 59^th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) – Simon & Garfunkel; 1966

The Great White Shark Theme – written by the late John Williams, from the 1975 film, “Jaws”

The Knights of the Round Table from the British Comedy Troupe film, “Monty Python and The Holy Grail”

 

 

This is a partial list my favorite songs from various places and artists. Pretty amazing.  Some old, some new.

 Now, it's your turn.  What are some of your favorite songs, and a brief description of why it's your favorite?  Do you have a favorite version of that song?

Post in the comments below.  Thanks and enjoy!

Happy Birthday, James Earl Jones!

 Look who's 90 years young today!

Mr. James Earl Jones!

Thank you for all of the joy, laughter, and amazing times you've given us during your incredible life!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday!

2 0 2 1... Finally!

 Here's wishing you and your family and friends a wonderful, prosperous, safe and healthy New Year.  

May it bring you all of the happiness in the world, and may all of your dreams come true!