Author: Mark Alexander

…right on cue, the petulant, cheeto-faced man-child set to assume the Presidency in 11 days had a 3 am meltdown on Twitter over Meryl’s speech last night.

In the hours after after Hair Furor disgorged his early-morning missive, the army of his sycophants chimed in, led by the always death-warmed-over Kellyanne Conway, a.k.a. das Backpfeifengesicht, who appeared on Faux News to ask if Meryl was so concerned about the disabled why she didn’t mention the mentally-challenged boy who was tortured on Facebook during her speech.

The lack of self-awareness displayed by Trump supporters complaining that celebrities like Meryl should stay out of politics when they elected a reality TV star with no political background is just fucking deafening.

More than anything, it punctuates the shitgibbon’s lack of self-esteem. And again I have to ask, if this man is so thin-skinned that he will obsess about anyone who doesn’t bow down and kiss his tiny-handed ring by spewing out insults via Twitter, how is he going to react to a real crisis?

I don’t even want to think about it.

I believe what’s at the root of this insecurity is Trump knowing in his heart of hearts that he will never be loved or admired by people in a way that Meryl (or Obama, or any number of others he’s lashed out at) are—and it’s drives him crazy. Hell, he and his administration are actually shaping up to be the most resoundingly hated group of people ever to assume power in this country, and that’s a stink that he won’t ever be able to wash off no matter how many rim jobs he gets from his Nazi followers.

 

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35 years ago I would just be starting my night. Now I’m wondering if it’s too early to go to bed…

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I’m not saying that David Bowie was holding the fabric of the Universe together, but [gestures broadly at everything]…” ~ Katie Loewy

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“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” ~ Sinclair Lewis, 1935

Thanks to a horrifically outdated electoral system based on slave ownership and proven interference by Russian Intelligence led by Vladimir Putin, 25%—TWENTY FIVE FUCKING PERCENT—of eligible voters in the United States just legitimized and put in power what is for all intents and purposes a reborn and rebranded American Nazi Party. And this party is led by a 70-year old, emotionally unstable, sociopathic man-baby whose only concern is is own aggrandizement, communicates to the world via Twitter, and now has access to the country’s nuclear codes. What could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, another 25% (plus about 300 million, give or take) of us who actually voted for the sane candidate, did everything in our power to prevent this—although my faith in our current Democratic leaders has been seriously compromised because a last-ditch effort to merely examine and debate Electoral College irregularities yesterday was thwarted because a Senator was required to make this happen and no Democratic Senator—not a single one, not even Bernie FUCKING Sanders—stood up to join the two brave Representatives who brought it to the house floor prior to Congressional confirmation.

While no one can totally predict the future, those of us who saw this coming have a reasonably good idea of what lies ahead, and it ain’t pretty. Battlestar Galactica’s famous line “All this has happened before and will happen again,” resonates loudly.

I can’t help but wonder what half the country who couldn’t pull themselves away from their 50-inch flat screens, Survivor reruns, porn and fast food drips long enough to get their fat asses to the polls will think once the economy tanks (like it has under every other Republican administration since Reagan) and they start losing their jobs, their healthcare, their social security benefits, the minimum wage disappears, and the air and drinking water start turning brown because 80 years of government oversight and the social safety net that generations have relied upon have been dismantled.

As Ben is constantly telling his students, “Actions have consequences.”

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I’m taking a break from Twitter, maybe permanently.

Since the November election it’s become an absolutely toxic cesspool of disinformation and stupidity, and frankly if the world is going to start collapsing around us, I don’t need constant 140 character reminders of it.

I’m not going to delete my account outright, but I have removed Tweetbot from my phone and the corresponding Mac app from the dock.

I quit Facebook cold turkey in 2012 when it crossed my tolerance for stupidity and I’ve reached the same point with Twitter.  It took years for me to get over the need for a Facebook fix, but the detox was necessary to maintain my sanity. I expect it to be much the same with this other social network.

That leaves me with Instagram. At least that one mostly just pretty pictures with only occasional forays into the morass that is contemporary political discourse.

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The Fisher RS-3050: this is one that flew under my radar all these years. Maybe because back in the day Fisher wasn’t considered as good as Pioneer or Sony or Technics. No matter; this is one gorgeous piece of gear.

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https://twitter.com/voenixrising/status/816151640629596160

From Think Progress:

11 things exposed by the ethics office Republicans just tried to dismantle

On Monday night, on a federal holiday, behind closed doors, House Republicans voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) — the independent body tasked with rooting out corruption and conflicts of interest on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, after a public outcry, they abandoned the plan, though some Congress members suggested they may try again at a later date to gut the ethics panel.

Since the office was created in 2008, it investigated dozens of cases each year, uncovering damning information on Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike. The following cases, which range from insider trading to accepting gifts from foreign governments, reveal the kind of behavior that may now go unchecked without the government watchdog in action.

1. Steering information and favors to a lobbyist’s wife. In July of this year, the OCE reported that Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) allowed his wife, Constance Harriman, to lobby his own staff on behalf of the Humane Society between 2011 and 2015, “dispensed special favors” to her, and helped her set up as many as 100 meetings with other members of Congress. Whitfield also introduced bills supported by the pharmaceutical technology company LaserLock while his wife served on their board and while the couple held stock in the company. The OCE uncovered e-mails showing Harriman using her husband’s congressional office to gather information that would benefit LaserLock. Whitfield announced his resignation shortly after the report’s release.
2. Boosting a junk vehicle inspection side business. In 2010, the OCE found that Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) violated House ethics rules by meeting with Georgia officials about making changes to the state’s vehicle inspection program while co-owning a business that conducted the inspections. “Deal sought to preserve a state vehicle inspection program that had generated significant personal financial benefit for him,” the report found. Deal resigned following the probe.
3. Using a public office to benefit a personal hedge fund. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) may have violated half a dozen House ethics rules by continuing to operate a hedge fund and multiple law firms while serving in Congress, the OCE concluded in 2015. The report found Grayson may also have omitted nearly $1 million in outside income from his financial disclosure statements, directed his congressional staff to do work for his hedge fund, used government resources for his reelection campaign, and indirectly profited from a military jet fuel company that held government contracts. Grayson lost his primary bid for a Senate seat this summer.
4. A luxury trip and gifts on Azerbaijan’s dime. In 2015, 10 members of Congress from both parties and 32 of their staff members attended a conference on the Caspian Sea paid for by Azerbaijan’s state-run oil company. There, they were showered with gifts, including hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of travel expenses, turquoise earrings, silk scarves, crystal tea sets and Azerbaijani rugs worth up to $10,000 dollars. The oil company funneled the money through U.S.-based non-profits to conceal it from ethics watchdogs, and several members of Congress refused to cooperate with the ensuing investigation. At the time of the gifts, Azerbaijan was seeking an exemption from U.S. sanctions against Iran so it could build a massive natural gas pipeline. Five days after the conference, President Obama signed an executive order that included the exemption.
5. Continuing to pay a staff member who was fired for harassing women. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) fired his chief of staff Kenny West in April of 2015, after female staffers complained he was sexually harassing them. Yet the OCE found that Meadows continued to pay West more than $12,000 a month until August of that year. A year later, the office decided to continue investigating the allegations. They interviewed women in Meadow’s office who said West looked down their shirts, touched them without consent, and made inappropriate comments about their “love lives.”
6. Ethical violations and financial malfeasance from Harlem to the Caribbean. In 2010, the OCE dug up a mound of dirt on veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), including evidence that that Rangel “improperly used his congressional staff and official letterhead to raise seven-figure donations from corporate charities and chief executives for a college wing named in his honor; violated New York City rules by housing his political committees in his rent-controlled apartments in Harlem; did not pay taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic; and did not properly disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal financial assets.” A few months earlier, the office found that Rangel had taken corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean. Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which Rangel co-founded, called for the elimination of the ethics office after Rangel was found guilty of 11 different ethical violations. He retired earlier this year.
7. Improperly using federal resources for a campaign. In 2014, the OCE investigated rising Republican star Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) for improperly using federal resources to further her political campaign from 2010–2012. While it’s common for House and Senate staffers to help with their boss’s reelection campaigns, to abide by the law, they must do it in off-hours and outside the congressional buildings. McMorris Rodgers, the OCE alleged, broke these rules and used her House staff and federal financial resources for election campaigns (including staff travel), paid a consultant for work in her House office with campaign funds, and mixed the two resources to campaign for a House leadership office. In 2015, Brett O’Donnell, a Republican debate coach, pleaded guilty to lying to the OCE about how much campaign work he did for lawmakers while being paid from their office accounts — including Rep. McMorris Rodgers.
8. Trying to buy a Senate seat. The OCE uncovered recordings showing that an “emissary” of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) offered money to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in exchange for the governor appointing Jackson to fill the Senate seat vacated by President Obama. Jackson also used resources from his D.C. and Chicago House offices to lobby for the nomination, which he did not ultimately get. Blagojevich remains in prison for attempting to sell the seat. Jackson resigned in 2012 after taking a long medical leave of absence.
9. Flouting campaign finance rules on a book tour. While mounting a failed bid for the White House in 2012, the OCE found, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) paid the same consultant through her campaign and her PAC, violating rules barring coordination between the entities. She may have used funds from her presidential campaign to promote her book, and used her book tour — paid for by the publisher — to campaign for president. The office said there was “ substantial reason to believe” she violating federal campaign finance laws and House ethics rules. Bachmann retired in 2013, effectively ending the investigation.
10. Taking contributions in exchange for a bar mitzvah fireworks permit. In 2013, the OCE found that Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) agreed to assist a constituent in obtaining a permit for setting off fireworks at his son’s bar mitzvah on Long Island. Bishop then requested a donation of $5,000 from the constituent and his wife, and received it shortly after. Bishop lost his bid for reelection in 2014 after his opponent hammered him on the ethics charges in campaign commercials.
11. Paying for family trip to Universal Studios with campaign funds. In 2015, Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) and his family took a five-and-a-half day trip to Los Angeles. Stutzman met with supporters over two of the trip’s days, but billed the entire trip — including his family’s airfare and rental vehicle — to his Senate campaign, according to the OCE. While in California, the Stutzman family visited Universal Studios and toured the Reagan Presidential Library and the Reagan Ranch, where they posed for pictures Stutzman’s wife later posted to Facebook. Stutzman, who denies the charges, lost his bid for the Senate in the Republican primary this year. He was facing a probe from the House Ethics Committee, after the OCE’s report, but his retirement took him out of both groups’ jurisdiction.

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But also a bit of an optical illusion.

Messier Object M45, or as is commonly known, the Pleiades, aka “The Seven Sisters,” one of the most famous star clusters visible to the unaided eye in the night sky and now prominently visible after dark, presents itself as a compact grouping of stars surrounded by the wisps of gas and dust leftover from the stars’ creation. From all the earth-bound photos, one would assume that the cluster is physically compact and these stars are very close together.

But that assumption would be wrong. Thanks to the wonders of Celestia, an entirely new view of the cluster can be seen, exposing the true relationship of the stars in the group.

Not only are the seven main stars in the cluster further apart from each other than the Earth is to its nearest neighbor Proxima Centauri, on average, adjacent stars are as far apart as the Sun is from Sirius, and the distance from the star closest to earth and the one farthest away is nearly 40 light years.

While a night sky on a planet orbiting any of the stars in the cluster would still be wondrous compared to a night sky on Earth because the stars of the Pleiades are young, hot, and burn with a blue-white intensity, it wouldn’t be as bright and filled with glittering jewels as you would think. The other main stars in the group would appear anywhere from the brightness of Sirius to about twice the intensity of Venus in Earth’s sky. Bright, yes, but perhaps not as awe-inspiring as you’d expect based on the photos from Earth.

That being said, I certainly wouldn’t turn down an invite to visit…

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…that the people who voted for him “because Hillary’s emails,” or as a protest vote “I didn’t think he’d actually win!” or the rabid Bernie Bros who did it out of spite, or simply sat at home and didn’t vote at all because “both parties are the same” are going to be in for a very rude awakening in the next few months.

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Wish me luck.

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Never have I approached a new year with such trepidation.

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Death has soaked this year to the bone,
leaving me wide-eyed,
shivering, wet.

Enough. Enough,
I beg with my palms,

but this year was a hyena,
killing for joy rather than
need.

It took my starman, it took my space princess,
it took my American dream

and just when I was beginning to feel
there was nothing left in me to take

Carrie Fisher took my heart
out to the stars somewhere
far, far away

leaving the rest of my body on Earth,
wide-eyed, shivering,
wet.

(Source)

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Dear Mom and Dad,

It’s been years since you both left this mortal plane, and while I am not suffering the ongoing level of distress that my sister still is, it’s rare that more than a day or two passes that I do not think of one or the other of you. What I miss most is just being able to call you up and tell you about some silly, inconsequential thing that happened during the day—or bitch about work, or ask for a recipe, or any of the dozens of other things that had become second nature for all of us when you were alive that are now gone forever. I also miss being able to share the big things with you and miss receiving your wisdom and reassurances in the face of uncertain futures.

And yes, I even miss those occasional “What were you thinking?” and the subsequent reprimands as you tried to steer me away from making some very poor decisions.

I’m sorry that you missed my wedding, although I’m reasonably certain Mom knew and approved of where things were heading; it was shortly after she met Ben and sensed that I’d finally met “the one,” that she was able to finally let go and move on to whatever it is that comes after this life. And Dad…you missed it by only a few months, but ironically it was spurred in no small part by your own passing. “After all the horrible things that have happened this year,” Ben said, “we need something positive to happen.”

On the other hand, I’m glad you’re not still here to see what is happening in this country today. You taught me me tolerance and acceptance of everyone as I was growing up (proving that when you wholeheartedly accepted me when the time came) and I think you would be appalled at the level of intolerance rising in our communities. Having lived through—and fought during—the last World War and witnessing the rise and fall of the Third Reich, I’m sure klaxons would be ringing for you every time that Cheeto-faced baboon took to the podium. Perhaps if more of your generation were still alive to remind us of the horrors of fascism, we might not be facing its possible resurgence now.

 

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In case you’ve forgotten…

• Natalie Cole, R&B singer and daughter of music legend Nat “King” Cole, died New Year’s Eve at age 65 from heart failure caused by lung disease.
• Craig Strickland, rising country singer and frontman for Backroad Anthem, was found dead at 29 years old on Jan. 4 after going missing during a duck hunting trip in extreme weather.
• Angus Scrimm, best known for playing the Tall Man villain in Phantasm and its horror sequels, died Jan. 9 at 89.
• David Bowie died Jan. 10, two days after his 69th birthday, after an 18-month secret battle with cancer. The music legend was well-known for his fashion, movie roles, Ziggy Stardust and hit songs like “Space Oddity,” “Fame” and “Let’s Dance.”
• Alan Rickman, Harry Potter actor and Die Hard villain, died of cancer at 69 on Jan. 14.
• Dan Haggerty, Grizzly Adams actor and ’70s star best-known for his beard and rugged looks, died of cancer at 74 on Jan. 15.
• Glenn Frey, The Eagles guitarist and co-founder, died at 67 on Jan. 18. Frey co-wrote hits like “Hotel California” with Don Henley.
• Jimmy Bain, former Dio and Rainbow bassist, died at 68 over the weekend of Jan. 22-24.
• Abe Vigoda, character actor in The Godfather and Barney Miller, died at 94 on Jan. 26.
• Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane co-founder and guitarist, died at 74 on Jan. 28.
• Maurice White, a founding member of disco-funk group Earth, Wind & Fire, died Feb. 3 at 74.
• Vanity, an ’80s singer-actress and Prince protege also known as Denise Katrina Matthews, died Feb. 15 at 57.
• Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird, died Feb. 19 at age 89.
• Sonny James, country singer behind hits like “Young Love,” died Feb. 22 at age 87.
• George Kennedy, tough-guy character actor best known for Cool Hand Luke and the Naked Gun movies, died Feb. 28 at 91.
• Keith Emerson, co-founder and keyboardist of the progressive-rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, died March 11 at 71.
• Frank Sinatra Jr., singer and son of Ol’ Blue Eyes, died March 16 of cardiac arrest at 72.
• Steve Young, outlaw country singer best known for “Seven Bridges Road,” died March 17 at 73.
• Joe Garagiola, former baseball broadcaster and Today show host, died March 23 at 90.
• Garry Shandling, comedian and The Larry Sanders Show star, died March 24 at 66.
• Earl Hamner Jr., The Waltons creator and Twilight Zone writer, died March 24 at 92.
• Patty Duke, Oscar and Emmy-winning actress, former child star and mother of Lord of the Rings actor Sean Astin, died March 29 of sepsis from a ruptured intestine at 69.
• Gato Barbieri, Grammy-winning Latin jazz musician and “Last Tango in Paris” composer, died April 2 at 83.
• Leon Haywood, ’70s soul singer best known for “I Want’a Do Something Freaky to You” (sampled by Dr. Dre for “Nothin’ But a G Thang”), died April 5 at 74.
• Merle Haggard, country music legend who had more than 30 No. 1 hits, died April 6 on his 79th birthday.
• David Gest, a producer, Michael Jackson collaborator, reality TV star and ex-husband of Liza Minelli, died April 12 at 62.
• Doris Roberts, Emmy-winning actress on Everybody Loves Raymond, died April 18 at 90.
• Prince, music legend behind hits “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry,” “Batdance,” “1999,” “Kiss” and others, died April 21 at 57.
• William Schallert, Patty Duke’s TV dad and actors’ union leader died May 8 at 93.
• Morley Safer, CBS News correspondent, died at 84 on May 19, days after retiring from “60 Minutes.”
• Muhammad Ali, the boxing legend born Cassius Clay, died June 3 at 74 after a long battle with Parksinson’s disease.
• Janet Waldo, who voiced Judy Jetson on The Jetsons and Josie on Josie and the Pussycats, died June 12 at 96.
• Ann Morgan Guilbert, The Nanny and The Dick Van Dyke Show actress who also appeared on Seinfeld and Life in Pieces, died June 14 at 87.
• Garry Marshall, legendary writer, director and actor whose credits include Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Pretty Woman, died July 19 at 81.
• Miss Cleo, the famed TV psychic born Youree Harris, died July 26 at age 54 after a cancer battle.
• Jerry Doyle, Babylon 5 actor best known for playing Chief Warrant Officer Michael Garibaldi, died July 27 at 60.
• Kenny Baker, Star Wars actor who played R2-D2, died Aug. 13 at 81.
• John McLaughlin, political commentator and host of The McLaughlin Group, died Aug. 16 at 89.
• Arthur Hiller, director of Love Story, The Out-of-Towners and See No Evil Hear No Evil, died Aug. 17 at 92.
• Gene Wilder, comedy legend who starred in classic movies like Young Frankenstein and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, died Aug. 28 at age 83.
• Alexis Arquette, transgender activist and The Wedding Singer actress, died Sept. 11 at 47.
• Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? playwright, died Sept. 16 at 88.
• Arnold Palmer, golf legend known as “The King,” died Sept. 25 at 87.
• Neville Marriner, British conductor behind Oscar-winning Amadeus soundtrack, died Oct. 2 at 92.
• Pete Burns, Dead Or Alive singer best known for 1985 hit “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” died Oct. 23 after a massive cardiac arrest at 57.
• Bobby Vee, ’60s teen idol who replaced Buddy Holly and helped Bob Dylan get his start, died Oct. 24 after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease at 73.
• Michael Massee, 24 and Se7en actor best known for accidentally killing The Crow co-star Brandon Lee when a prop gun was improperly loaded, died Oct. 26 at 61.
• Janet Reno, first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general, died Nov. 7 at 78 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.
• Leonard Cohen, singer-songwriter behind ‘Hallelujah,’ died Nov. 7 at 82.
• Robert Vaughn, Oscar-nominated actor who starred on TV’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E., died Nov. 11 at 83.
• Leon Russell, influential singer-songwriter and all-star collaborator, died Nov. 13 at 74.
• David Mancuso, DJ and New York nightlife pioneer who popularized breaking new music in clubs via a “record pool,” died Nov. 14 at 72.
• Gwen Ifill, PBS NewsHour anchor and vice presidential debate moderator, died Nov. 14 at 61 after a battle with cancer.
• Sharon Jones, Grammy-nominated soul singer with The Dap-Kings, died Nov. 18 at 60 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
• Florence Henderson, beloved Brady Bunch mom, died Nov. 24 at 82.
• Greg Lake, co-founder of progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and King Crimson, died Dec. 7 at 69.
• John Glenn, last surviving Mercury 7 astronaut, senator, and old-fashioned America hero, died Dec. 8 at 95.
• Alan Thicke, actor best known for his starring role in Growing Pains, died Dec. 13 at 69.
• Bernard Fox, Welsh actor remembered for his portrayal of Doctor Bombay on TV’s Bewitched, died Dec. 14 at 89.
• Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite of many husbands, died Dec. 18 at 99.
• George Michael, singer-songwriter and founding member of the group Wham, died Dec. 25 at 53.
• Richard Adams, author of Watership Down, died Dec. 24 at 96.
• Carrie Fisher, forever known the around the world as Princess Leia from Star Wars, died from cardiac arrest Dec. 27 at 60.
• Debbie Reynolds, actress and mother to Carrie Fisher, died after suffering a third stroke, Dec. 28 at 84.
• William Christopher, actor best known for his portrayal of Father Murphy on MASH, died Dec. 31 at 84.

And lastly…

• American Democracy. Not dead yet, but was removed from life-support on Dec. 19 after having been dealt a life-threatening blow Nov. 8th.

And yet Trump, Pence, his smarmy cacophony of Deplorables, Tony Perkins, Pat Robertson and countless other “christian” douches live on, proving beyond all doubt there is no god.

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“I happen to think that the singular evil of our time is prejudice. It is from this evil that all other evils grow and multiply. In almost everything I’ve written there is a thread of this: a man’s seemingly palpable need to dislike someone other than himself.” ~ Rod Serling

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“He’s gonna make ‘murika great again!”

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…even with as much as I hate snow, the idea of this (i.e. living in the middle of nowhere, away from all the insanity) is looking better and better.

I doubt I’m alone in this…

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