Asked and Answered

Via I Should Be Laughing:

AN ANGUISHED QUESTION FROM A Trump SUPPORTER: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’

THE SERIOUS ANSWER: Here’s what the majority of anti-Trump voters honestly feel about Trump supporters en masse:

That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.” USA Today

That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.” The Daily Beast

That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, “No problem.” ABC News

That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.” Washington Post

That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you exclaimed, “He sure knows me.” USA Today

That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, “That’s cool!” GQ

That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. NBC News

That when you heard him brag that he doesn’t read books, you said, “Well, who has time?” The Atlantic

That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.” USA Today

That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!” LA Times

That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man’s coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, “What a great guy!” The Independent

That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!” The Atlantic

That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.” Huffington Post

That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!” Politico

That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!” US News

That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, “That makes sense.” Washington Post

That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!” CNN

That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “Well, OK then.” NBC news

That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. American Progress

What you don’t get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also…hear me…charitable.

Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.

(To all who agree with its content, I ask that you PLEASE SHARE IT on your own post, and ENCOURAGE OTHERS to do the same.)

I Just Can’t Right Now

With the country shattering in front of my eyes, I think it’s time to step back for a while from this here blog thing. Right now I feel that anything I post will never adequately describe the sense of despair I—and people of conscience—are feeling right now, and posting anything silly, salacious, or light-hearted just seems out of place.

I have two more months of Days of UNF auto-posting, but except for those already in the pipeline I’m reasonably certain I’m going to suspend operations until all this madness plays itself out or withdrawal from blogging proves to be an insurmountable task. Whether that’s 24 hours, a few days, a few weeks, is anyone’s guess at this point.

I feel the same way about Instagram, my last remaining link to social media. That may also go silent for a while, because as I was scrolling through the images today I found myself asking more and more, “How can these idiots post photos of themselves at the beach or shoving their stuffed speedos in my face when the country is fucking burning around them?”

Peace.

Ugly Houses

My dad worked as principal designer for Hallcraft (later NuWest) Homes from around 1972 to 1980. During that time, some of the company’s most iconic developments were built in the valley.

Unfortunately, in the decade before he took over, Hallcraft had another designer who—IMHO and I’m admittedly biased—came up with some of the ugliest designs the company ever built.

These were generally homes that fell in the upper price range, which might explain their rarity In the various subdivisions. Of course, the other reason might be because they’re butt-fugly.

One of the worst offenders. The rusted out car seems a perfect companion to this POS.
Same floor plan as the one above. Just as ugly. (Which is too bad, because the plan itself was interesting.)
Another ugly Mansard Roof atrocity. The French doors are not original to the house. At one time it had a proper front door.
Another interesting plan with a dreadful facade. This one had an inner courtyard that in the Phoenix climate was designed to be a cool respite from the heat.
Another interesting plan (this time a tri-level) with a horrible “Spanish” facade.
Same great plan as I spent my high school and college years in (but not with this “Spanish” abomination out front.
This was actually a really nice design when first built. It was a very unique floor plan (another tri-level; it was the 60s/70s after all), but the exterior has been destroyed by subsequent alterations.
I wish I still had the brochure for this house. I was probably 5 or 6 years old when we toured this development, so my memories are cloudy, but I do remember it was a wild tri-level design with a 2-story living room (hence those windows).
And lastly, I think this was some sort of bastard variation of the house above built on two lots, allowing for the once-upon-a-time garage to be moved off to the side and later converted to more living space. But goddamn…BUTT FUGLY.

If you’re in Phoenix and would like to see these for yourself (why?!) they’re in neighborhoods on the southeast and northwest corners of West Bethany Home Road and 43rd Avenue. The area, like most, has gone through ups and downs, and I think it’s all in a very depressed mode at the moment.

#Mood

And it’s not because it’s my birthday. That has very little to do with my current mood. I’m in this headspace because of all the awful going on in this country right now and our seeming inability to remove the cancer that’s metastasizing from from the White House.

It seems COVID-19 and the very reasonable recommendations about staying home, closing non-essential businesses, and wearing masks and practicing social distancing when you do have to go out have brought out the absolute worst in a certain (i.e. racist, Trump rimming, MAGA-hat-wearing) portion of the population.

My heart goes out to my non-white brothers and sisters who are bearing the brunt of this behavior. It’s as if the United States is finally vomiting up 244 years of suppressed hate, and instead of it blocking out the sun as it did in the I Am The Night—Color Me Black episode of The Twilight Zone from 1961, the country—or at least Minneapolis—is going up in flames. I have feared all along it will take just one more incident to touch off a conflagration that will consume this country like none seen in our lifetimes. And George Floyd’s murder seems to be the spark thrown into that dry tinder.

And you know what? I say burn it to the ground. The horseshit treatment of minorities has gone on more than long enough. It needs to be stopped, by any means necessary. Being nice and playing fair only leads to genocide. Racists are bullies just like Trump, and the only way to put them in their place is to smack them back into the 1860s where they belong.

I fear that even if Minneapolis does not spread to the rest of the country, the rage of the minority Reich Wing  when Trump is removed from office will reignite a whole new set of fires because you know that after months of Citrus Calignula’s sowing seeds that the election will be rigged or the results illegitimate when he loses that his followers will not acquiesce to a peaceful transfer of power. He is, after all, their GOD.

And regarding the Orange Russian Wig Stand’s threats to shut down his Twitter account?  Be serious. Trump cut off his only conduit to his brain-dead sheep? Oh PLEASE.

And his promise to muzzle social media? BRING IT, BITCH.

Sure, Jan

As you all well know, I’m no fan of Twitter, but…

It’s a national embarrassment that this imbecile is the President but it is a national shame that he has NO UNDERSTANDING of the Constitution

The First Amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

It is freedom, generally speaking, from the government interfering with you saying anything you want, whenever and wherever you want to say it but there is no First Amendment right to use Twitter or have a Facebook page.

Social media companies are private enterprises and therefore free to adopt policies relating to user content and to remove users who violate such policies without implicating the First Amendment.

The moron in chief keeps declaring that he is directing his administration to “explore all regulatory and legislative solutions to protect free speech and the free speech rights of all Americans” & that they will “strongly regulate or close them down” by which he only means people that agree with him or encourage him.

Any regulatory or legislative action taken by the government, which obviously includes the current corrupt AF administration, would constitute a threat to the free speech rights of all Americans.

It’s upside down world in the Cheetohinchief’s head but it’s a reminder to the rest of us never to give so much power to someone so ill informed on the Constitution.

Source.

Quote of the Day

I am an infectious diseases physician. Let’s be clear about masks. I wear a mask to protect you. You wear a mask to protect me. That’s how it works, and it’s simple. Without your mask, you are telling me and everyone around you that you don’t care about others. And that’s not how we get through a pandemic.” ~ Stan Schwartz, M.D., Tulsa

Preach.

Oh Sah-NAP!

From The Palmer Report:

There is still no one who has any idea what Donald Trump’s “Obamagate” scandal is about – least of all Trump himself. But that hasn’t stopped Trump’s most embarrassing sycophants from trying to prop up the imaginary scandal. That includes Ted Cruz, who never misses an opportunity to humiliate himself.

It all started when Trump incoherently tweeted “OBAMAGATE MAKES WATERGATE LOOK LIKE SMALL POTATOES!” This prompted pundit John Heilemann to ask, “Could you explain again exactly what it is? We’ll wait.” That’s when Ted Cruz decided to get involved, much to his own detriment.

Cruz thought he was being clever when he fired back at Heilemann with “I thought that was a reporter’s job?” At that point Heilemann finished him off: “Sorry, I’m still busy reporting out Trump’s accusation that your father was involved in the killing of JFK.”

Ouch.


And that’s exactly why I won’t be able to wear a red cap for the rest of my life.