Month: December 2016

"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

"He's gonna make 'murika great again!"

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has taken an important—although admittedly symbolic—step against the incoming Trump administration by unanimously passing a resolution reaffirming The City's commitment to LGBTQ rights, religious freedoms, and racial, social, and economic justice—values completely at risk under the incoming Trump administration.

Here's the full text:

WHEREAS, On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected to become the 45th President of the United States; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That no matter the threats made by President-elect Trump, San Francisco will remain a Sanctuary City. We will not turn our back on the men and women from other countries who help make this city great, and who represent over one third of our population. This is the Golden Gate-we build bridges, not walls; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That we will never back down on women's rights, whether in healthcare, the workplace, or any other area threatened by a man who treats women as obstacles to be demeaned or objects to be assaulted. And just as important, we will ensure our young girls grow up with role models who show them they can be or do anything; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That there will be no conversion therapy, no withdrawal of rights in San Francisco. We began hosting gay weddings twelve years ago, and we are not stopping now. And to all the LGBTQ people all over the country who feel scared, bullied, or alone: You matter. You are seen; you are loved; and San Francisco will never stop fighting for you; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That we still believe in this nation's founding principle of religious freedom. We do not ban people for their faith. And the only lists we keep are on invitations to come pray together; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That Black Lives Matter in San Francisco, even if they may not in the White House. And guided by President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, we will continue reforming our police department and rebuilding trust between police and communities of color so all citizens feel safe in their neighborhoods; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That climate change is not a hoax, or a plot by the Chinese. In this city, surrounded by water on three sides, science matters. And we will continue our work on CleanPower, Zero Waste, and everything else we are doing to protect future generations; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That we have been providing universal health care in this city for nearly a decade, and if the new administration follows through on its callous promise to revoke health insurance from 20 million people, San Franciscans will be protected; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That we are the birthplace of the United Nations, a city made stronger by the thousands of international visitors we welcome every day. We will remain committed to internationalism and to our friends and allies around the world-whether the administration in Washington is or not; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That San Francisco will remain a Transit First city and will continue building Muni and BART systems we can all rely upon, whether this administration follows through on its platform to eliminate federal transit funding or not; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That California is the sixth largest economy in the world. The Bay Area is the innovation capital of the country. We will not be bullied by threats to revoke our federal funding, nor will we sacrifice our values or members of our community for your dollar; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That we condemn all hate crimes and hate speech perpetrated in this election's wake. That although the United States will soon have a President who has demonstrated a lack of respect for the values we hold in the highest regard in San Francisco, it cannot change who we are, and it will never change our values. We argue, we campaign, we debate vigorously within San Francisco, but on these points we are 100 percent united. We will fight discrimination and recklessness in all its forms. We are one City. And we will move forward together.

Resist…be like San Francisco.

Via

---

That quote, in case you're not familiar with it, comes from Douglas Adams' seminal Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was attributed to the dolphins as they were teleporting themselves off the Earth in advance of the Vogon's demolition armada and seems especially fitting considering today's tweet from the Unstable Orange Shitgibbon:

The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2016

Never in my life have I been so gripped with fear for the future as I am now—and not just for me and my loved ones, but for this entire fucking planet. While I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, I was born only a couple years before it happened so I have no conscious memory of the events, but in the years that followed I did grow up learning the laughable Duck-and-Cover routine and living under the specter of Russian nukes raining down from the skies at any moment.

It wasn't until the fall of the Berlin wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union that I—and no doubt the rest of humanity—was able to breathe a collective sigh of relief. The Cold War was over and a general understanding grew that because of mutually assured destruction, nuclear weapons would never be used in another war.

But then, sometime over the last twenty or so years, humanity started going collectively batshit insane and now, thanks to the cheeto-faced fuckmuppet and the powder keg that all of civilization seems to have become over the last several years, that's no longer a given. As I half-jokingly said during the primaries, "If Trump is elected and has the nuclear launch codes, all it's going to take is one foreign leader to diss him on Twitter and it's GAME OVER."

It's no longer a joke.

Never mind the loss of civil liberties and societal progress we've made over the past 50 years that a Trump "presidency" brings to this country. I'm starting to worry about the annihilation of all life on earth because that unqualified, mangled apricot hellbeast with a hair-trigger temper has the intellect, emotional maturity and self-restraint of a toddler. I mean he is still whining about not winning the popular vote! I have never seen a more sore group of winners than that fucktrumpet and his vulgar, ignorant minions in my entire life.

I only pray that when the bombs start falling, I—and my loved ones—are at or near ground zero. I want it to be over in a flash; to be incinerated before the pain signals even reach my brain. The alternative—to die a slow, painful death over the days or weeks that follow is something I don't even want to contemplate. And the absolute last thing I want to do is to "survive" a nuclear war and witness the downfall of civilization.

I'm seriously starting to wonder if this is the reason the Universe is not teeming with interplanetary explorers knocking at our door. Perhaps 99.99999% of all sentient life that arises in this universe cyclically destroys itself each and every time it's on the verge of becoming a spacefaring species and there are only a handful that survive their perpetual childhood and mature, wandering the blackness of space encountering nothing but the burnt-out cinders of millions of civilizations that weren't as lucky as they.

Alternately, perhaps it will take a near-civilization-ending event to force humanity to finally grow up, put aside our infantile beliefs in invisible sky fairies and finally come to realize we're all in this together and no one's going to save us but ourselves. As Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones," and it seems more true now than ever.

Looking to the Star Trek universe, it must be remembered that their society arose only from the ashes of a nuclear war—although to be honest I doubt humanity will recover as quickly as it did in the Trek timeline unless the next war is a very limited one—something I find extremely unlikely in today's climate of supercharged hate and intolerance.

The sense of dread so many of us are feeling is not hyperbole. It's not sour grapes because our guy girl lost. Hell, I've been voting all my adult life and there have been only a handful of elections when the candidate I voted for actually won. I've had to suffer through bad president after bad president—Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II—doing what they could do to fight progress and set the clock back to some mythic "Ozzie and Harriet" time in America that never even existed. But Trump's treasonous ascendancy to the presidency and the fact that he is now surrounding himself with people who are without exception the absolute antithesis of the posts they are filling is NOT business as usual. This is not normal! It is not just a case of "good presidents come and go." For the first time in our history, we are about to have someone at the helm of this country who has the capability of causing an extinction level planetary event and no one seems to care or understand except a few of us acting as modern day Cassandras screaming into the darkness. Unless his own party—or the opposition finally grows a spine—and stands up, says No Donnie, you can't nuke [insert country of your choice]! and takes away his goddamned Twitter, I'm not holding out hope the United States will not be recognizable—much less have another presidential election when he can be removed from office—in four years.