Rick Kinnaird

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Three incidents:

1. “They’re eating the dogs.”

2. Nicky Jam “She’s hot.” (Nicky is a man. He’s a Latin singer. He has a dark 4 o’clock shadow.)

3. Mistakes Bagram Airforce Base for Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge ANWR

So what can one say about these incidents?

#1 Is bat-shit crazy right wing stuff. This is just an udate to the “no dogs at Chinese restaurants” bit.

#2 Obviously, he had no idea who this person was and tried to fake it.

#3 Brain fart? I don’t know.

The question is, “Do you really want someone who spouts crazy stuff, doesn’t know the people he’s working with, and can’t keep straight places in Alaska and Afganistan straight running the country?”

Not only that, let’s talk about judgement. He said he hated the biggest pop star in the world. Hated. Yeah, she endorsed the other candidate, but hated? I saw a comment that said a parent has forbidden the playing of Taylor Swift songs in their house. I bet that’s going to work out well.

In the debate Trump quoted Victor Orban. He’s a dictator. That’s the kind of person Trump admires. Do you want an admirer of dictators running our country? He also likes Putin, Xi, and Un. How many friendship photos of him with them do you need? Or lap dog behavior?

Then there’s the not facing reality. Just because you say something is so, doesn’t make it true.

Our economy has recovered quite well from the effects of Covid, better than any ohter country. That in no small part to the work of Biden and Harris. Saying otherwise isn’t facing the truth. Yes, people would like prices to be lower. But what would Trump do? Well, nothing. He’d hold a press conference, and then he’d say, “we have plans” or concepts and that would be the end of it. How do I know this? Because that’s what he always does. 100% of the time.

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Three incidents:

1. “They’re eating the dogs.”

2. Nicky Jam “She’s hot.” (Nicky is a man. He’s a Latin singer. He has a dark 4 o’clock shadow.)

3. Mistakes Bagram Airforce Base for Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge ANWR

So what can one say about these incidents?

#1 Is bat-shit crazy right wing stuff. This is just an udate to the “no dogs at Chinese restaurants” bit.

#2 Obviously, he had no idea who this person was and tried to fake it.

#3 Brain fart? I don’t know.

The question is, “Do you really want someone who spouts crazy stuff, doesn’t know the people he’s working with, and can’t keep straight places in Alaska and Afganistan straight running the country?”

Not only that, let’s talk about judgement. He said he hated the biggest pop star in the world. Hated. Yeah, she endorsed the other candidate, but hated? I saw a comment that said parent has forbidden the playing of Taylor Swift songs in their house. I bet that’s going to work out well.

In the debate Trump quoted Victor Orban. He’s a dictator. That’s the kind of person Trump admires. Do you want an admirer of dictators running our country? He also likes Putin, Xi, and Un. How many friendship photos of him with them do you need? Or lap dog behavior?

Then there’s the not facing reality. Just because you say something is so, doesn’t make it true.

Our economy has recovered quite well from the effects of Covid, better than any ohter country. That in no small part to the work of Biden and Harris. Saying otherwise isn’t facing the truth. Yes, people would like prices to be lower. But what would Trump do? Well, nothing. He’d hold a press conference, and then he’d say, “we have plans” or concepts and that would be the end of it. How do I know this? Because that’s what he always does. 100% of the time.

Monday, September 16, 2024

A right wing buddy of mine posted a picture of Joe Biden standing in front of a banner that read “BIDENOMICS.” There was a smart ass quote about it, Biden’s economy, not being all that great, and to prove the point there was a list of prices of groceries comparing the price now to about the time Biden took office.

Okay. Un-shockingly, prices have gone up. One of the reasons for that is that under Biden he injected a lot of cash into the economy because of the stagnation due to Covid. By Biden doing this he avoided our country going into a recession. Many other countries did not fare so well, and they did not take the economic steps that Biden and the Dems took. Most of which were vehmently opposed by Republicans.

When Biden came into office the economy was in a bad state due to Covid. Trump had done nothing to help. When no one is buying, such as during Covid, prices stay the same or even go down. So to compare the price of orange juice then to now will show a huge difference. But is that the decision criteria to elect a President? The price of orange juice? Or eggs, or bread, whatever?

The snarky implication of my friend’s post is that Biden and Harris are to blame for inflation.  Okay. And lemme ask this, “Who you got that would do a better job?”

Trump? Please. The guy says he’ll fix things (oftentimes on Day 1). But he never tells you how. When he was in office he’d hold press conferences and promise something. We’d never see it materialize.

The Wall? – Never built. Okay, a few parts for photo op purposes.

Health Care – Nothing,

Infrastructure – Multiple promises then nothing.

The Debt – Rather than eliminating it as promised, he greatly increased it.

If he’s asked about something and he’s got nothing the standard line is, “We’re looking at it. I think you’ll be very surprised (pleased?) by what you’ll find.”

That’s the end of it.

Harris has not only been part of the Biden administration and overseen much of the machinations to get the economy going. She also has repeatedly told people her plans for the future.

Trump? Plans? Nothing. Well, he’s got concepts. What are those concepts? Who knows. Well, let’s be honest, he’s got no concepts.

The only plans they have are listed on The Republican Platform, which is a rewording of parts of Project 2025. There is nothing in Project 2025 that is aimed at helping people.

Interestingly, Donald says he knows nothing about Project 2025 and he says he hasn’t read it. I do believe he hasn’t read it. It’s over 900 pages. He doesn’t read. If a presentation is one slide with six bullets on it he can’t make it to the end of the slide. So. No, he hasn’t read it. Doesn’t know anything about it? Hum. Interesting. The plan was written for him. The head of the project has been photographed sitting on a plane next to Trump with a caption saying he had come to tell Donald more about the plan. Then there’s the fact that something like 100 folks in Trump’s circle contributed to it. Including JD Vance who wrote the intro and Rick Scott who wrote the preamble.

I think if Trump folks are honest with themselves they can say that Trump doesn’t seem to be able to do much to help people or the economy. He’s ineffective. 

Oh and he’s a liar, rapist, twice indicted, convicted felon, filed for bankruptcy six times, lost money running a casino, and attemted a coup. Other than that? He incited a riot in an attempt to overthrow the government.

But so what? 

They’re eating the dogs. No, the dogs will be eating you. 

Lara Loomer. She’s kind of cute. I guess that’s why he wraps his arm around her and squeezes her into him. You never see him do that with Melania. Just sayin’

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Before:

Expectations are high; expectations are low. What does she have to do?

Ignore him, brush off the personal attacks, talk her policies, show she’s presidential?

That’s what I’ve heard.

The media? The moderators? Hold him to account! I’ve heard. Drill down! Expose his lies!

Yeah. Right. It turns out that even when the reporters do that their bosses write the headlines and they aren’t trying to expose the truth. The people writing the headlines are trying to get clicks. Truth? Not so much. In fact, not at all. Drill down? Are you kidding me? How would you even do that? Ask about child care and he says childcare is childcare, and he’s got numbers. What’s there to drill? Maybe the response is, “So, you’ve got nothing. Okay. Moving on.” And if they did that after every policy and economic question maybe after fifteen or twenty repeats people would get the idea that Trump has nothing to offer.

Yesterday was North Korea’s birthday and they had big celebrations. Putin and Xi congratulated the third generation dictator. Did Donald send his lover flowers? I don’t know. (Remember, Trump repeatedly said he was in love with Un. Is that gay? Where are the Christians? )

You can’t engage. You have to stick to your agenda. 

Nancy Pelosi’s interview in Rolling Stone was terrific. She pointed out all that she, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris accomplished. Adding two trillion to the economy. Creating more jobs. Making us and the world safer. Standing up to dictators like Un, Putin, the guy in Venezuela, and Xi.

What has Trump got to show? He said he could have gotten the hostages out of Russia. You know, the media barely covered the great success Biden and Harris had on that front. I liked what Joe said about Trump’s boast. “Yeah? Why didn’t he do it? He had four years.”

After:

OMG! “They’re eating the dogs!” “I’ve got concepts.”

Nine years talking about health care and he’s got concepts.

The “you don’t see any dogs or cats around a Chinese restaurant” got a side-grade (not an upgrade) to Haitians. 

The Day After:

I saw a thing on FB slut shaming Kamala. The basic line is “She’s a woman. She’s in a powerful position. She must have slept her way there.” Who’d she sleep with? Joe Biden?

Listen, there’s only one slut in this race and he has a track record to prove it. Remember all those women in 2015 and 2016 who said he grabbed their genitals? And then he told Billie Bush, “They let you do it.” Then he got that law suit for a few million for attacking E. Jean Carroll. Not content he continued to defame her and he got hit for $85 million. This doesn’t count the dozens of women who have come out and told stories of him molesting them. And there’s Stormy Daniels who thought she was going to a business meeting only to be forced into sex with him. (Okay. Maybe some want to argue that last point. But I think he and she should do commercials for Crepe-Erase given what she said about his hide.)

And then there’s Karl Rove’s analysis. Where he said Trump said Kamala was dumb as a rock. She mopped the floor with him, so what does that make him?

And there’s the Taylor endorsement. Talk about smart timing! But Donald likes … uh … (did you see him struggle to try and remember Brittany Mahomes first name? He couldn’t remember it. Gave up and called her Mrs. Mahomes. Brilliant.)

It’s like Alex Baldwin said about playing Trump. You see him searching for the right word. Can’t find it. Gives up and picks another word and then repeats it several times as if that takes care of it.

And Seth Meyers who worked with him when Trump was the host on SNL. He said the guy didn’t laugh at humor. He watched other people and if they laughed Trump concluded it must be funny. Donald’s idea of humor is to talk about putting someone down. Isn’t that funny? (No. No, it is not, but that’s what he thinks funny is, because he really truly doesn’t understand, at a gut level, what humor is. For that, I feel sorry for him.)

There’s one last thing, and this may come as a shock to Trump supporters. Just because he says something doesn’t make it true. Shocking, I know. But:

I’m better looking than Kamala. (On what planet? And what does that have to do with being President?)

No one leaves my rallies early. I have the biggest crowds. She pays people to come to her rallies and buses them in. Said the man who paid people to be at his down escalator announcement. And I guess he hasn’t watched the tapes of people walking out of his rallies while he’s talking? But let’s be fair, the next day he had a rally and like 2,700 people showed up. Yeah, baby. Kamala had a rally and over 17,000 were there. Wait. What? Is that like 15.8% the size of her audience? Hum. Ya know, reality can be a tough place to be, and for that guy? Wow. No wonder  he doesn’t want to debate her again. I mean he couldn’t even look at her because she kept bringing up the truth and that reality is a hard place for a serial liar to exist.

Okay. Gotta go.

Monday, September 9, 2024

I listened to a little snippet of Neil deGrasse Tyson. It involves cat ladies. Probably, childless cat ladies. In the Middle Ages there was a plague called The Black Death. The disease was carried by fleas that were on rats and mice. The people at the time didn’t know this little fact. But there were women who lived alone with their cats. Cats kill mice and rats. As people were dying from the plague these women were not. What explained this wondered the villagers? Obviously, those women were witches. You know the rest.

This is an example of when reality intermeshes with fantasy. We have this today. It’s in religion. It’s in politics. It’s in our media. And it is dangerous.

Okay, let’s take religion first. I, like many people, believe you can pray to whomever you want. That’s your choice. But when you allow that belief to make you act in a way that impinges on others’ freedom or is detrimental to our planet or life, then we have a problem. We’ve all read or heard about cases of children dying because their parents did not believe in medicine and doctors. This has carried into our politics when the Governor of Florida appointed a quack doctor to head up health care for the state, or when Ms Greene accused Dr. Fauci of killing people. (I’d like to ask Ms Greene if she had a mysterious disease who she’d like to have trying to figure it out the witch doctor or Dr. Fauci?) 

The media has become addicted to clicks and likes to stir the pot rather than tell the truth. The New York Times has become mean. The Washington Post a right wingish hack. Why? Many parts of the country only get right wing coverage. What chance do they have of knowing reality?

How many cooked up conspiracy theories have we seen politicians and investigators run down? Some, maybe most, for hopeful political gain. What was Zelensky to do when Trump asked him to find the server that the Democrats had in Ukraine? There was no server, it was a made up lie by some right wing trolls. What about Trump moving our embassy to Jerusalem? Why did he do it? Because a pastor of a mega-church with fundamentalist views wants to cause trouble so that god will come down and cause the big – what’s it called? – where the good souls will fly up to heaven? (And why does he think he’d be among them?)

This stuff is dangerous. It’s more dangerous when people in positions to do something repeat this nonsense, or worse, act on it.

I’ve heard that Ted Cruz is a smart guy. That what he says publicly is for effect, for his base, and that he knows better. Maybe, he does, but so what? He’s dangerous. When he led the charge in the Senate to overturn the 2016 election based on lies; it was dangerous. As far as understanding his job as a senator – running away to Cancun when his state was in peril demonstrates a total lack of understanding, not to mention a lack of courage. When the chips are down and you’re fighting for your life would you want Ted standing by you?

Rolling Stone had an interview with Nancy Pelosi. I recommend everyone read it. She not only is a leader, but she understands reality, and winning. She is compassionate and helpful. She knows how to win and how to get things done.

She pointed out that one of the things Biden did was to add $2T to our economy. 

Let’s compare that to what Trump did. No, wait, let’s compare it to what Trump says he’ll do. He’ll put a 15% sales tax on everything. So let’s look at gas prices. Right now they are $3.38 (they’ve been lower recently, even $2.95) but 15% of $3.38 is 51.9¢ That means gas under Trump will be $3.90. Are you ready to pay four bucks a gallon? That’s reality under a fantasy of The Donald. 

And that’s just the tip of the foolishness.

I’d talk policy, but Trump has none. Wait. He does. It’s based on basic misunderstandings of reality, of science, of economics, of people.

He thinks you should get a flu shot if you catch the flu. He thinks imposing a tariff will punish the country being tariffed. He thinks people want this.

Okay. Gotta stop.

One more thing: J. D. Vance. He said one thing that was true. Way back when he called Trump “American Hitler.” That is true and our country is going through the same contortions that Germany went through in the 1930s. Hopefully, we’ll do better.

Let’s talk pumpkins. Every year I try to grow pumpkins. Every year is a disappointment. This comes from my failure as a child to grow pumpkins. Not a complete failure, at least then I got a little one back then (careful). Now? If I’m lucky I get some vines and some blossoms. Then the bugs eat into the vine and kill the whole thing. A few years ago I went out and bought two little pumpkins and put them near the vine. The next week I bought two huge pumpkins. This year? Well see for yourself.

I’m kind of ashamed because there was a little vine, but it disappeared before I could get the pumpkin out there. Life goes on.