Archives for January 2021

Day 1474 – Thank God

January 20, 2021 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

Wednesday January 20, 2021 ( Electoral College Certification Day -16,

Insurrection Day -16,

Georgia Senate Election -17 )

Election Day -80

Inauguration Day on January 20, 2021

Always classless, petty, and tacky to the end Satan couldn’t even give a goodbye speech without a lie, and there was really only one possible fact in the whole thing.

But he’s gone for now.

Now what?

Fortunately, for you, I know.

(We will hunt them down like dogs … )

No. Sorry, where was I? President Biden called for unity. Okay, I’ll go for that. But let us not be naive. Let us not give and give and to “reach across the aisle” so far that we loss what it is we want. Let us remember what happened to President Obama and his health care bill. How he gave in over and over again to try and get the Republicans to go along and then they voted against it. Not only that but the things they asked for and got they then went to courts to say those exact things they asked for were unconstitutional.

I had not realized until the other day that Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech was not one of patching one house together, but it was a speech that said, “Time to choose.” Either you are with one house or the other. Either you were for slavery or not. There was no middle ground. Time to choose.

We are at an inflection point. People will have to choose. Will they join us, or will they not? Time to choose.

Either the Republicans can join and help us heal the country or they can bitch and whine. Time to choose.

Choose wisely.

And may I say, “Let us never forget.”

Traitors should be hunted down and justice meted out.

Day 1473 – My Double Dark Fantasy

January 19, 2021 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Tuesday January 19, 2021 ( Electoral College Certification Day -15,

Insurrection Day -15,

Georgia Senate Election -16 )

Election Day -79

Last Day until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

The following is a fantasy pieced together from various sources.

Dateline January 21, 2021 Mir-a-Lago

“Hello? Where am I? Oh, my head.”

“You in Mir-a-Lago Florida Mr. Trump.”

“I am? Who are you? Why does my head hurt? And it’s Mr. President, by the way.”

“Not anymore, it ain’t. You Mr. Has Been now.”

“What? What day is it?”

“It’s Thursday.”

“Wait? What? Thursday? That means…”

“Uh huh. That means you no longer president.”

“But I have pardons to sign.”

“You don’t have to worry about them Mr. Has Been. They are all neatly arranged.”

“Oh? I signed them? Good?”

“No, no you didn’t. What I meant is they are all neatly arranged on the President’s desk.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well, after you passed out, the staff put them on the new President’s desk, along with the payment schedule supplied by Mr. Rudy.”

“What? They aren’t signed?”

“Uh. No. But over 100 pardons at two mill each? That’s a nice chunk of change.”

“I passed out? The last thing I remember it was Tuesday. I was just finishing my orange juice when Louis or Charlie or whatever his name is – they all look alike you know – …”

“Oh, I know. Um hum.”

“Well anyway he whispered in my ear.”

“He did, did he?”

“Yeah, he said that every day since I’ve been president he put a little some special in my orange juice and that today was extra special.”

“What did he say he put in your orange juice?”

“A luger.”

“You mean a loogie?”

“Yeah, that’s it. But today he said no loogie. It was something extra special from his native New Orleans.”

“That so?”

“Yeah, then he said ‘Sweet Dreams’ and the next thing I knew I woke up here.”

“How were your dreams?”

“They were horrible.”

“Oh? Not as bad as your reality.”

“Really? Why do you say that? Hey, why am I handcuffed to the bed?”

“Flight risk. Do you want to watch the news? It’s kind of interesting. Maybe CSPAN would be better.”

“CSPAN? Boring.”

“It’s got your impeachment trial on.”

“What? My impeachment trial?”

“Yeah. Folks are saying that they’ve never seen a strategy of no defense before.”

[Clicks on TV]

“Hey, get this handcuff off of me. Tell Melania I want to see her.”

“Melania? She’s long gone. Sorry, no can do the handcuff. The FBI agent outside the door won’t allow it.”

“FBI agent?”

“Yeah, you are under house arrest pending your trial.”

“You mean that fake impeachment?”

“Oh no. I mean the trial that follows.”

“What trial?”

“You mean which trials?”

“Which trials?”

“Oh honey, you got so many it’s hard to keep track. There’s the wire fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, interstate banking fraud and money laundering ones.”

“Ones? You mean there’s more than one?”

“Well, some are state and some are Federal. Then there are the civil ones for rape, fraud, assault, and I don’t know what else.”

“That’s it?”

“Oh no, there’s sedition or is it treason? Hard to know…”

“Tell Louis or Charlie or whatever his name is I want some more of that orange juice.”

PS Crouching Dragon, Rising Dragon (We’re coming for you.)

Day 1471 – Normin’

January 18, 2021 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

Sunday January 17, 2021 ( Electoral College Certification Day -13,

Insurrection Day -13,

Georgia Senate Election -14 )

Election Day -77

2 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

I got busy doing other things and didn’t have time for my usual. I watched the football playoffs. The last game was between Drew Brees and Tom Brady. They first faced off against on another in 1999, in college. Tom for Michigan, Drew for Purdue. They have been at it a long time. And to think they are 27 and 28 years younger than me.

On December 26^th I started NOOM the weight-loss app that is rooted in psychology. It’s working. Everyday they give you a little set of lessons. Things to inform you and to help you create new habits. Today they talked about behaviors that cause you to eat.

One big contributor is environment. Apparently, we humans will imitate others. If someone is eating a lot we will try to match them. It’s call “norm matching.” A typical example would be to say, “I’ll have what he’s having…” We adapt to our environment by matching what others are doing. Are we trying to fit in? I guess so.

This made me wonder if what happened on the 6^th wasn’t in some ways an example of norm matching. A crowd whipped into a frenzy by their leader and being told via the media they listen to that certain conditions are so and that they have to do something about it, led by some people with other agendas “go along with” what is happening. I guess this is what could be called “caught up in the moment.”

We have been operating under the belief that people will make the right choice. But look at the evidence. There are a lot of fat people in our country! In other words, we don’t make the right choices. We are conditioned to do things that are actually harmful to our well being. Well, so what? That’s their fault. They shouldn’t have … blah blah blah.

I think it’s time we go on a diet, a political diet. This would include: elimination of bad things, and being mindful of what we are hearing. It seems we need a truth commission or something like that. I no longer think it is healthy, given our technology, to have some idiot spouting idiocies that millions can listen to. If someone with a large following makes an outrageous claim they should be hauled up in front of a judge and asked to show the evidence.

Satan uses the same sales pitch over and over again. It doesn’t matter if he is selling his fake university or going after Obama’s birthplace or trying to get the Secretary of State in Georgia to cheat. It’s “well, I don’t know … A lot of people are saying … That’s what I hear.”

From now on those people should be required to say what they do know, and which people are saying whatever, and what are your sources for what you are hearing. If what they are saying is absolute BS there should be a price. Let’s say one dollar for every follower. So in the case of Satan he had how many Twitter followers? Thirty five million? So if he repeatedly says the election was rigged and it wasn’t that would be a fine of $35,000,000.00 seems fair to me.

If Alex Jones is spotting some idiocy he could be called in. He’d have to sell a lot of perineum wipes to cover the fine.

It’s a slippery slope. I agree, but what we have been doing isn’t working.

And Mike and Karen Pence did their final official visit, to some military place in New York. Mommy was brought to tears. Over what I don’t know. But I heard her speak for the first time.

Hey, I’m brought to tears too Karen. It pains me to think how your husband carved out the abortion laws in his home state and then went on to do it in HHS. It pains me to think how the Pence family left a mess at their gas station for someone else to clean up.

Yeah. It pains me.

In good news I listened to Joe Biden the other day. He was kind of boring. Thank god. A return to normalcy. And what is really weird is the incoming administration has identified problems and laid out plans and strategies to fix those problems. Imagine that? It was something the outgoing administration never understood or cared about.

PS The kid emerging from a hole in the ground, in Egypt.

(Photo credit to David.)

Day 1469 – Life Imitates – The Great Gatsby

January 18, 2021 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

Saturday January 16, 2021 ( Electoral College Certification Day -11,

Insurrection Day -11,

Georgia Senate Election -12 )

Election Day -75

4 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Okay, it’s actually Sunday, but I wanted to do a screed with yesterday’s date on it so I could save some room for extra bitching.

I saw a Facebook post that quoted The Great Gatsby. It’s the passage near the end that talks about Tom and Daisy’s wealth and casual cruelty. How they break things and leave it to others to clean up. There was a picture of Ivanka and Jared at the top of the post. I always think of Mia Farrow when I think of Daisy. She played the part so well. Fitzgerald described Tom as a powerful yet ignorant man. Jared is different but the same. He’s casually cruel, or perhaps it’s intentional? Actually, it’s neither. Cruelty suggests to me a conscious decision. I don’t think Jared’s is conscious. Not like his father-in-law or Stephen Miller. One goes out of his way to out a cruel twist into whatever he does. The other actually believes in some weird meanness. In all three cases it doesn’t matter to the people who suffer and die because of their actions or lack thereof. When you dead, you dead.

Apparently, Satan has told his aides not to pay Rudy. Who couldn’t see that coming? Roll in the mud, humiliate yourself, commit crimes for the boss and on last roll of humiliation? No Judas shekels for you!

There are a few days left and what cruelties can he still inflict? What little meanness? What pettiness? What humiliations? Stay tuned.

There is speculation that he has started a movement. One that will live on after he has departed the stage. I think that is correct. Authoritarians like to appropriate the symbols of patriotism for their own ends. The folks that wave the Trump flags have made their choice.

What to do? Well, I would like to see a mass incarceration of all those who stormed the Capital – ten years minimum. Twenty if you carried out violent acts. However, I’d be amenable to giving anyone who came forward and turned themselves in five and ten respectively. I’m not a forgiving guy, but I am practical.

As Joe Biden’s administration gets ramped up, I and many others are thankfully not surprised but relieved. Imagine – taking responsibility. Imagine – properly identifying problems. Imagine – proposing solutions. Imagine – picking competent people.

And in the final days of the great flame out Alex Azar quits. Why? He says because of the storming of the capital. Clueless to the end. It’s not because you gave the order to release the remaining stocks of vaccine only to discover there were none? (Imagine, Liam Neeson yelling, “Release the Kraken!” and some little puke (picture Stephen Miller) saying quietly to him, “You know that’s all Bull, don’t you?” Then I picture Charlton Heston as Moses arms outstretched in front of the Red Sea attempting to part the waters and nothing happens. ( “Aw sh*t.” ) He turns with that wonderful Heston glare and looks back on the band of extras assembled for the shot, long white beard flowing, and turns once again to the sea. Nothing. Then the Egyptians ride in with their chariots and slaughter them. Bummer.

Unfortunately, we have seen the president for who he is over and over again. The question is will he wiggle out once again, or will he get what he deserves?

Day 1466 – The Answers, The Hunt

January 15, 2021 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

Wednesday January 14, 2021 ( Electoral College Certification Day -8,

Insurrection Day -8,

Georgia Senate Election -9 )

Election Day -72

6 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

If you go down to the tip of Hatteras Island, where Hatteras Village is located, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon on any day you can see the boats come in. These are the sport fishing boats that have been out in the Gulf Stream fishing. They will be flying flags to let you know if they caught anything and what they caught. For example, an upside-down marlin flag means they caught a marlin and let it go.

The boats back into their slips. The crew throw slivered ice onto the sidewalk behind their slip. Then they open their coolers and throw the fish they caught onto the ice. The fish get arranged side by side in neat rows. Pictures are taken. Congratulations given. Then the person with the trash barrel on a dolly moves in. The barrel is half full of ice. The fish are placed in the barrel and trundled over to the weigh station. The number of the boat and the weight of the catch is recorded on a white board.

The fish are then moved to the cleaning station. A large white cutting board table with a six or eight stations. Each station has a spike sticking up. The fish are plopped onto the spike and cleaned. It takes about ten seconds to clean a fish. I’ve seen the crew go through eighty pounds of catch in about five minutes. On the wall behind them is a sign entitled, “10 Most Asked Questions”

Dolphin

Yellow Fin Tuna

King Mackral

Wahoo

Very Sharp

…

I forget the rest of them (or couldn’t read them off the photo), but you quickly realize these are the answers to the questions people standing around watching the fish cleaning ask these people every day.

In that spirit I will now address the Congressional Republican comments and questions about the impeachment:

– It does matter. If he is convicted then you can vote that he can never hold public office again.

– It would be better to remove him now, but even after the Inauguration he can be impeached. There is precedent for that.

– He would lose his benefits: his pension, his million dollar a year travel budget, his Secret Service protection.

– Obviously, Mitch could do it if he wanted to. Look how fast he shoved through that last Supreme Court nominee. Once Kamala is sworn in the majority in the Senate goes to the Democrats. He wants the weight on them.

– No, this wasn’t a fiery speech to his base. This was a speech of insurrection. He told the people gathered to go to the Capital and stop the counting of ballots of the Electoral College. He had called them to Washington DC with the promise that it would be “wild.”

– Five people died. One was beaten to death. They brought zip ties and handcuffs. They were armed. This was not a peaceful portest. It was never intended to be.

– Go through the normal process? You mean endless committee meetings and investigations? Why? The evidence is on TV and in the public record for all to see. Besides, this is normal process. You don’t need to have all the investigations and stuff if the evidence is already there. You should know all about that. You’ve been shoving unqualified people through for judgeships for four years and ignoring process.