by Geoff | Nov 28, 2016 | Politics, Society
So, I saw this posted, and decided it was too good to not fisk a bit. My comments in <<brackets>>. I cannot verify, and do not suggest, that this represents all supporters of Black Lives Matter (I know it does not), but it does claim to speak for the leaders. Make of that what you will…
Lessons from Fidel: Black Lives Matter and the Transition of El Comandante
<<Transition? Thought he was dead, not trans…>> We are feeling many things as we awaken to a world without Fidel Castro. <<Relief that one more Communist dictator is gone?>> There is an overwhelming sense of loss, complicated by fear and anxiety. <<Why? For what possible reason?>> Although no leader is without their flaws, we must push back against the rhetoric of the right and come to the defense of El Comandante. <<Defend forced reeducation of gays! Defend restrictions of speech and art! Defend oppression! Defend totalitarianism!>> And there are lessons that we must revisit and heed as we pick up the mantle in changing our world <<If you assholes are ‘picking up the mantle’ from Castro, you really don’t care about black lives – like I have suspected all along.>>, as we aspire to build a world rooted in a vision of freedom and the peace that only comes with justice <<Therefore the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead. 1>>. It is the lessons that we take from Fidel. <<I know this one! Kill all who oppose you, set up forced labor camps, discriminate against blacks…oops>> (more…)
by Geoff | Nov 9, 2016 | Politics, Society
Well, didn’t see that coming. Like a lot of people, I simply underestimated Trump, and it looks like that was a mistake.
But honestly, people. You’d think you woke up to hell on earth or something. Let me clue you in – this ‘how could this happen’ feeling? Yeah, it is how conservatives felt in 2008. And 2012. And we didn’t riot. Unlike leftists in Oakland. So, well played. Check your post history, and reread any ‘cope and move on’ posts you or others might have directed at us, and apply to yourselves. This not some end of history moment. It is a message. A loud one.
Hillary Clinton ran as the establishment candidate. Honestly, she couldn’t do otherwise, regardless of her desires. She has been in the inner halls of power since 1992. She has been #3 in line for the White House. She was the first overtly consulted First Lady. She was presented as the heir to Obama, and the guardian of his legacy.
And that is why she failed. Seriously. How do the Democrats not get this? Did they not see the kinds of focus Sanders received? Did they not need their rigged system to ensure the establishment candidate won the nomination in the face of the most anti-establishment electorate in US history? And yes, the superdelegate system is rigged for the insider candidate – just because Sanders chose to play in that system does not make it less rigged. Trump is the most outsider candidate ever – having never held any elected office before. This was the year of the outsider, which we should have seen in the massive rallies and crowds Trump and Sanders drew. Especially in comparison to the anemic crowds Clinton drew (especially in the primaries).
Despite the usual 20/20 hindsight, I figured that his support would not overcome the leftist fear-mongering about him. I was wrong.
To those who see this as the beginning of the inevitable revocation of whatever civil issue you hold dear, please, for the sake of everyone, take a civics course. That isn’t how this works. Never has been. Look to FDR – insane popularity, and when he tried to ram things through to do what he thought would help the most, he was blocked. Trump? Even his notional party doesn’t like him. Do you honestly think that he will somehow break Democrat resistance, GOP dislike, and popular opinion to magically deport everyone who isn’t white? Revoke every equality law in every state? End abortion?
Grow. Up.
- Most of those are state laws, and the federal authority does not extend to state laws. See literally every state that has legalized marijuana. It is still illegal at the federal level, but holy crap, states can write their own laws! So if your state has passed any kind of equality law, nothing Trump does can change that.
- If the President could handwavium laws away, don’t you think Obama would have done so? He hasn’t. As much as I think he was at best a sub-par President, even at his most arrogant (and he is absurdly arrogant “I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.” -New Yorker, 11/17/08) never managed that. It isn’t how the system works.
- Pence may have religious objections to gay rights (ok, flat out does as far as I can tell). Trump has been accused of that, but a search of WikiQuote doesn’t show a single quote indicating any animosity. Not one. No use of the common slurs. A few about defending the LGBT community from Islamic terrorists / Islamists (where being gay is a death sentence – and that sentence is enforced in the modern world). But no slurs. So, again, relax. Your rights won’t be stripped away by a Trump administration. Also, see above on state laws.
- No one is coming for your daughters, for Muslims, for illegal immigrants. Maybe we will finally join the rest of the world in enforcing our own border laws. But even that is doubtful – again, states like California simply don’t have the will to do so, and will continue to ignore border laws. But don’t expect any changes there.
- And if you are upset about Trump’s comments about women (and wow, even a hostile media dropped those assault claims like they were made against Bill Clinton or something), remember who you supported as VP for eight years…‘Gropin’ Joe Biden.
Basically, it will be a challenge for four years, yes. So this is the left’s chance to show that they actually believe all the stuff they keep saying – I don’t think they do for a second. Leftists in my experience are more bigoted, hateful, spiteful, racist, and generally nasty than anyone else. So prove me, and millions of other conservatives, wrong. Act like you believe all that shit you keep saying. Work together, work across the party lines, be kind, be helpful, don’t hate.
I honestly don’t see it happening. The political left1 is founded on hate, built with spite, and rife with unrestrained bigotry. But the rules changed last night. So anything might happen…
- [sta_anchor id=”Note”]As a whole – I know may liberals who are not like this, but the movement writ large…very much so.
by Geoff | Nov 7, 2016 | Politics, Society
VOTE!
And now, some content.
In this election, I have seen a lot of things I never expected to – and I think we all need to remember one core fact.
We are all Americans.
Let that sink in. Regardless of who wins tomorrow, regardless of the bluster, remember we are all Americans.
I have seen people I respected devolve into raw assholes, I have seen what it looks like when someone is being mocked and attacked for simply disagreeing. I have seen people be their worst. All over the election.
All of you, and I suspect none of you actually read this stuff, need to grow the ever-loving fuck up. You have lost much of my respect, which may or may not have value to you. And that will be hard to regain. I have seen people I thought of as friends be petty, cruel, vicious, and hateful. I can’t unsee that. You can’t un-say it. Can’t undo the hurt you’ve caused. All over what? An election.
In a way, I hope you follow through on the threats to leave if your side loses. I know you won’t, that threat is infantile, and considering the side that makes it, as honest as the rest of their lies. But this time, go. Leave. If you have to act like this, we will not miss you. At. All.
I have friends on all sides of the spectrum, and have managed to have civil conversations about politics with them, without devolving into insult and bullying. I know it is possible. But it isn’t happening. Not this time. Really, not since sewers like Facebook and Twitter took over our interactions. In those echo chambers, the more hate and bile one spews, the more attention you get. And it feeds on itself like a demented ouroboros. I suggest that if you feel you need that kind of validation, you do need therapy. And to be urged to remove yourself from the platforms.
Politicians are, by the very job they seek, malignant narcissists, and among the worst of humanity. In no other avocation, vocation, or profession do we see the sole defining factor being a child-like need for approval from total strangers. Even actors don’t seek approval this desperately. Our enabling of this is why we are where we are – shit floats to the top, and as we have enabled these individuals over the centuries, well, shit floated.
So, I urge you to vote. For someone. For a ballot initiative only. For the least worst. But vote.
And then, once it is done, apologise to the people you have hurt. It won’t undo it, but they deserve it, and you damn sure need to.
![Blind Lemur Conservative Endorsements]()
by Geoff | Nov 6, 2016 | Politics
Ok, I want to make this one official. As the head of the Blind Lemur Conservative Party (motto: Vel Caeci Facere Maius Lemur [Even a Blind Lemur Could Do A Better Job]), here are the party endorsements for 2016. Since I, and thus the Inner Party, are in Crook Cook County, that’s what you get. While some snark is present, the points are sincere.
U.S. President/U.S. Vice President
Hillary Clinton & Tim Kaine – Democratic Party ; Donald J. Trump & Michael R. Pence – Republican Party; Gary Johnson & Bill Weld – Libertarian Party; Jill Stein & Ajamu Baraka – Green Party
Nope. None of them. Not. A. One. Even the Great Corporate Hope, Evan McMullen is a nope. And he isn’t even on the ballot in IL. Seriously, this is the worst field since…well, any in North Korea. We have a dishonest career politician and lawbreaker running against a small-handed vulgarian. With a side of clown show and hippies. Yeah, this is bad. This is one of those points, I hope, that is described in future history books as ‘the moment the people began taking back their government, and replaced the inept and corrupt system with one that was not only truly answerable to the voters, but required to be so’. BLC Endorses None Of The Above / Sweet Meteor of Death.
U.S. Senator (Illinois)
Tammy Duckworth – Democratic Party; Mark Steven Kirk – Republican Party; Kenton McMillen – Libertarian Party; Scott Summers – Green Party
While I wish I could endorse Cyclops, the Green Party is something I cannot ever support. This is another nightmare, since Kirk has to run as a Democrat to win, Duckworth is one, and that leaves McMillen. Who I, honestly, never heard of. But he is the only sane choice. BLC Endorses McMillen.
U.S. Representative (Illinois’s 1st congressional district)
August (O’Neill) Deuser – Republican Party; Bobby L. Rush – Democratic Party
Another ‘vote against’ race. Rush needs to go. He has been in office far too long, but, like most leftist, can trust the minority voters to know their place, and will be reelected. It doesn’t matter, Cook County is owned and run by the Democrats, as the multitude of failures here shows. Plus, I know someone named August. BLC Endorses Deuser.
State and Local below the fold… (more…)
by Geoff | Oct 14, 2016 | Politics
I know, you hate your candidate almost a much as you hate theirs. I know, your candidate was robbed in the primaries, colluded against, maligned, whatever. I know, you really want to support that third-party candidate, but it feels like a wasted vote, and you worry about the other party winning because your party fractured.
I get it.
But you have to get out there and vote anyway.
Look, it doesn’t matter if you can’t stomach the Presidential candidates, vote down-ballot. Vote for your representative at the state or local level. Vote for a Congressional representative or senator. Vote on ballot measures. Vote on whatever there is on the ballot past the Presidential race.
Just vote. It does matter.
by Geoff | Oct 11, 2016 | Politics
When I started blogging, back in 2003, it was about politics. Mostly about John Kerry being unfit to be President due to his self-confessed war crimes. Yes, really.
But that was a long time ago, and now we are faced with the reality that the next President will be, regardless of who wins, manifestly unfit for the office. I am more fit, by far, than any of those appearing on the ballot. Mostly because I am not actually seeking the office. I think we lost a lot when we moved from the original style – the candidate didn’t campaign, their friends and supporters did. This allowed the winner to claim, even if no one quite bought it, that they served at the behest of the people, and not for any self-aggrandizing motives. Modern campaigns, by way of comparison, are nothing but rampant self-aggrandizement, at the expense of clarity, honesty, integrity, and any other positive traits.
The other reason I am over it is that the rise of social media has turned so many people into raging assholes. People attacking their friends over who they support, mocking people for not being qualified to have X opinion, then continuing to offer their equally unqualified Y opinion. Frankly, this is as good a reason to boycott social media as any I have ever seen. We all have opinions, and I have had long, friendly, productive discussion with people holding political views a full 180 from mine. But I see Facebook…and people just need to stop. Stop virtue signaling, stop lowering yourself to the level of the brain damaged on the far ends of the spectrum, stop intentionally misconstruing metaphors (and similes, and analogy, and simple phrases you know you understand perfectly well), stop encouraging the false dichotomy that says your candidate embodies pure virtue while the opponent is pure vice. Stop encouraging and reinforcing the echo chamber. Just stop.
Stop. Acting. Like. Fucking. Children.
Start remembering that you are supposed to be friends with these people, and insulting their beliefs is a great way to lose them. Start remembering that no one, even you, is perfect, and that we all err. Start remembering that you need to forgive to be forgiven. Start acting like adults.
And so, here we are. With no good choice for the office. Obviously, this is my opinion, but let me lay this out a bit… (more…)
