The existential meltdown continues

 I have actually read in some online forums about people who have broken down emotionally and mentally over the Trump victory and have to be counseled.  I kid you not.  Now let's remember Trump also won the popular vote and his victory was big enough you could call it a mandate.  The legacy media is pretty much dead at this point as they're not as influential as they thought they'd be.  People are gravitating more towards alternative independent media like Joe Rogan and not even giving a passing thought to what the New York Times has to say these days.  Ole Gray Lady hubris.

Whither this blog?  Start any post even mildly favorable to Trump and there's threadshitting.   I don't plan on this place becoming a dumping ground or landfill for Trump hatred over the next four years.  Criticism yes but there's a fine line between that and unhinged, valid takes and deranged rhetoric.  I'm also seeing a lack of critical thinking skills like Trump wants every Latino person who voted for him to leave the country.  That's just low-effort shitposting.  Another one people who haven't gone to college don't know how to vote that's just plain intellectual snobbery.  You know some calculus and some Nietzsche that makes you special?  Saw a bumper sticker once that said "Without Truckers America Stops."

Word of advice to the Democrats:  Next time leave Taylor Swift out of it.

Is Pfizer working on a pill for TDS yet?

 You can find people melting down over the Trump victory all over the Internet.  It's entertaining to watch tbh but truthfully if these people keep this up over the next four years their health is going to suffer.

Joe Scarborough and Al Sharpton talking racial smack over at MSNBC saying black men didn't want a woman for president.  Now there's two sober analysts.  Thought - Maybe black men don't like the price of food like the rest of us.

America's mental health crisis continues.

I don't know if everybody's going mental or what's going on

 

Lost Sparky last night.  Had to be at least 16 years old.  Probably old kidneys.  Last couple days not really eating but drinking lots of water.  Mainly sleeping and using the litter box. He hung out on the patio last night.  Nice night.  Clear sky rather balmy with a good moon.  Took an old bath rug from the bathroom and sprinkled a good dose of catnip on it to relax him.  Woke up this morning and he hadn't moved from his sleeping position when I went to bed.  After a few minutes knew he was gone.  Sad but kind of expected it the last couple of weeks.  He didn't seem to suffer much.  Grateful for that.  Family as they say.  Always a part of me.

Called my sister early this morning to see if she had a box for me to put him in to bury him in the backyard by an old rose bush.  As luck would have it have today off.  While sitting in the lounge chair with my first cup of coffee waiting for her to get back to me the home health aide had GMA on.  The very FIRST story, the TOP story was Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly saying he thinks if Trump gets elected to a second term he'll become a Hitler.  First off we don't have the political system for aspiring dictators.  How in hell is that even supposed to happen?  So much for dialing down the political rhetoric in the wake of the two recent attempts on Trump's life.  Has Pfizer or somebody made a pill for TDS yet?

So now I'm down from six cats to five.  Unless Elon Musk gives me some grant money I'm gonna stick with the five for now.  Don't know about the media.  They wouldn't be trying to influence the election would they?

The Democrats and their hurricane-making machines

 Latest conspiracy theory being peddled by Marjorie Taylor Greene.  I'm beginning to think she might be a left-wing plant to make conservatives look bad.  The Democrats can't even make health care affordable for most Americans how are they gonna control the weather?

On to Trump.  The New York Times is taking his latest campaign rambles and rants, lies and misinformation very seriously indeed but they're missing something big time here.  Let me illustrate with an anecdote.  Back in the day we lived close to an older couple.  The elderly husband eventually developed Alzheimer's.  The wife asked my sister for a favor if she could just take him out and walk him around the block.  Nice day and a group of black guys hangin' on the corner.  As my sister and her ward got closer he started using the N-word.  Why this even came out in an Alzheimer's state is itself an interesting question.  I mean why not "look at the pink elephant"?  Anyway he was like "look at the (N-words)" etc. etc. They were naturally getting a little upset, just a tad mind you until my sister explained to them he had Alzheimer's.  They completely understood and let it go.  Last time my sister took him out for a walk btw.  Now my point about the Ole Gray Lady and the mainstream media in general.  IMO Trump has some cognitive issues.  Something is off.  Don't think it's weed.  Might be pre-Alzheimer's, dementia or something else.  DO NOT treat Trump's pronouncements and latest utterances as you would a normal person.  You don't fact-check some old guy in a nursing home say who's rambling on about when are the elves gonna bring in his food.  You let it ride but that's the problem with the msm they're missing the bigger picture.

Having said that I don't know what the problem with MTG is.

A political ramble through the workplace

 This is going to be counterintuitive.  Democratic bosses and Republican bosses.  The people I'm about to describe were very open about their politics of that there was no doubt.  Now you would expect a Democratic boss to be very pro-the worker but......Many years back I worked under a Democratic head chef very anti-Trump and very pro-Hillary.  We're not talking the restaurant scene here either which can be highly stressful by its very nature but food markets.  This man however despite his politics was universally disliked by the workers under him.  Numerous complaints to HR.  Unfair to the workers.  Made a woman cry once.  FF to now and the current head chef an avowed and hardcore Democrat is similar.  Both taskmasters.  You already have a lot on your plate and here's a few more scoops.  Current chef hard to have a rational discussion with.  Guy at work had cancer since passed away but at the time Chef became impatient because he was out a lot because the doctors were trying to get a handle on it.  On the other hand I've had Republican bosses who were nice and fair-minded.  Few years back when my father passed away the young head chef at the time a pro-Trump Republican said if there's anything we can do and take as much time as you need.  Very family oriented.  Said the same thing to another co-worker whose Dad had passed sometime before mine.  I thought the Trumpublicans were supposed to be horrible people.

All this is highly anecdotal on my part and I'm leaving the broad brush aside.  Studies have been done showing a fairly high percentage of bosses are mentally ill in the first place and this cuts across party lines so there can be many explanations.  What stands out in my own personal life experience though is how counterintuitive political affiliation can be when it comes to bosses in the workplace and what you would expect.  I welcome your anecdotes.

Does Trump really want the job at this point?

 Or is he doing a reappraisal?  Two assassination attempts.  Will this remain some kind of aberration or is it probable there will be more attempts on his life?  Saw recent headlines is Trump suffering from PTSD from the first assassination attempt and has he lost that fighting spirit?  If he does regain the WH will things only get worse?  If he does get assassinated while in office he wouldn't be able to complete the work of MAGA.  Ego versus personal safety is he evaluating that calculus as well?  Maybe his selling $100K watches is really his yearning to go back to the regular business world from which he came and which he's good at and known for.  Under normal circumstances I would not be posting this but we are not living in normal times.  Two attempts on a man's life can seriously interfere with his psyche.  He has the delegates he has the nomination and he has a fighting chance in the polls but the msm seems to be boxing off the two assassination attempts and treating the rest of the campaign with their usual anti-Trump bias putting the two attempts on his life as more of a historical footnote.  This election season is not normal and nothing is normal.  It's not like we can just pause the whole thing but have to go through the wretched motions.

I'm just trying to say something a little off the beaten path.  Let me know in the chat.

Normally a candidate for president isn't the object of frequent assassination attempts

 Something tells me it's not the Deep State.  They're not that incompetent and have an unlimited budget.  Something I have noticed though.  In the wake of two assassination attempts against Trump instead of lowering the temperature of the anti-Trump rhetoric as might be expected people on the Left have actually increased it.  We still have the Hitlerian references.  There is still the deranged talk of Trump if he wins becoming a dictator for life and canceling all future elections.  So WHY do people on the Left continue to talk like this?  One conclusion they want somebody to finish the job.

Mass formation psychosis is now treated as a part of normal rational political discourse.  We're living in surreal times.

If Trump loses he'll have an existential meltdown

 I think it can go either way but I also think that maybe the SOLE reason he's running again is he felt he should have won the last time.  I too had trouble processing this.  Think about it Joe Biden got a historic number of record votes.  More than Ronald Reagan more than Barack Obama.  The charisma of wet cardboard.  Didn't see too many Biden lawn signs either.  Georgia going blue absolutely blew my mind.  Now Hillary lost 2016 and was bitter about it for a long time.  Lots of talk about Russian interference but it all played out and she decided against a rematch.  IMO Trump however looks at things in more poetic and even grandiose terms.  By running again he feels he's trying to right some cosmic injustice.  What's the karmic deal yo?  Might explain his disorganized utterances of late he's not philosophically grounded.  Just my thoughts but I think this goes beyond MAGA.

Trump Derangement Syndrome

Is TDS an example of mass formation psychosis?  Do you believe Trump is an immoral person who tells lies?  So far so good.  People have probably applied this to almost all modern presidents at one time or another.  Do you disagree with the recent SCOTUS decision granting Trump limited immunity and feel he should be prosecuted for varied crimes?  I disagree but you're still within the pale.  Do you believe the former POTUS is an actual threat to democracy if he wins a second term?  Now you're crossing over.  If Trump gets another term in office do you really think he'll install himself dictator for life and cancel all future elections?  Now you need someone to talk to.  Studies show dictators had to have the full weight of the military behind them first and also weren't pushing 80 as a general rule.  Now there was Trump's recent speech to a Christian group saying they'll only have to vote this one time but most of the media clipped out the next few seconds when Trump explained because the problems will be fixed opening up a more prosaic interpretation.  Biden's failed covid vaccine mandate for companies with over 100 employees some might argue that was a threat to democracy or at least a government overreach.  Bush Jr.'s march into Iraq over nonexistent WMDs what was that?  History has the final verdict. We can all come up with examples.  Going back further Nixon had to resign.  Checks and balances.  Very hard for an American leader to become a dictator but somehow Trump is supposed to swoop into a second term with regal powers and act like Caligula.

TDS.  It's why I've turned on comment moderation.

Thoughts on the gun control debate (yet again)

It's amazing how fast time is going. Looking over the posting date of my last post I hadn't realized so much time had elapsed before coming up with a new idea. Sorry to my handful of fans. Liberals act like if they were in charge tragedies like the recent newsroom shooting in Maryland wouldn't have happened. Then I'm reading some hyperventilating political/social commentators extrapolating from one weird individual living in his own self-contained weird mental universe that there's some kind of male rage/war against Women. Well as one conservative blogger here said some time ago back in the day re Newtown sometimes bizarre and tragic things happen and there's almost nothing we could have done about it, nothing that could have prevented it so the whole gun control debate becomes a kind of cosmetic discussion imo. Then there's this thing about some revenge porn law that seems to have gotten stuck in the New York State Legislature that won't pass and folks are blaming Google. I'm no attorney but isn't it already illegal to post say nude pictures of myself without my consent on the Web not that you'd want to see? In our zeal to pass new laws based on the latest tragic social circumstance we should first check what's already on the books that maybe need to be better enforced. If you're having sex maybe don't leave the smartphone out? Here's the problem: reality itself is weird and bizarre and tragic things happen, sometimes rarely and in the case of guns for some reason in cycles. There are bizarre and odd individuals walking amongst us right now. All I can say and offer is don't make eye contact:)

The implosion of the GOP

Having gotten a taste of the right-wing blogs re Trump and his latest controversies the consensus seems to be we really can't stand the guy but Hillary is far worse for the country so let's all do the right thing. Now I wouldn't normally say this as I respect the process but I kinda lean towards those who say the rules should've been changed so as Trump doesn't represent our brand. You can make a strong case Trump should've gotten some psychiatric treatment somewhere along the line. There's his persecution complex, ego, vindictiveness and all the rest and he hasn't behaved in the least presidential or regal/dignified way after securing the nomination so you're basically dealing with a disaster if he even gets one term. I'm thinking the vaunted independents which are the key to any presidential election will easily make the decision for Hillary based on Trump's personality alone. This is one reason I'm not joining the right-wing blogosphere bandwagon on this, I see the future and it ain't good;)

The mystery of depression

Whenever I've suffered from depression I can almost always trace it to some major life event that triggers it and it can run the gamut from romantic rejection or breakup, lost loves or betrayal, guilt/remorse/regret to an illness or problem in the family to prolonged joblessness and even job rejection itself can at times get it going. It could be the job itself is depressing, I've had those and they say a major side issue of cancer patients is depression caused by having the cancer. There are those however and there are millions out there who are depressed and don't know why, who can't get out of bed in the morning but can't trace it to any life-situational thing. This is the common everyday depression we hear about in the news and a whole pharmaceutical industry has burgeoned up around it. I don't deny this reality but I've never fully understood it either. It's not spiritual depression or angst or a midlife crisis or a state of mind caused by your overall life situation it's just, well depression. It's all about the chemistry of the brain, neurons and gray matter and stuff. In other words people who should be happy but are dragging all day. It'd be like being in the Garden of Eden before the original sin and not being happy and God scratching His head. It's over my head so feel free to elucidate and clarify.

Tragedy in the French Alps

The horrible news today, that Germanwings Airbus that crashed into a remote region of the French Alps was brought down deliberately by a kamikaze co-pilot killing all 150 passengers on board. He locked the other pilot out of the cockpit so that he couldn't even use the code to get back in and then pressed a button for a swift descent into the Alps. Of course the vast majority of suicides are just that, suicides and he could've simply downed some sleep aids with a bottle of Scotch so why this mad exit? Was he a lone wolf or part of a larger ISIS plot? Was he none of this but simply wanted to take others with him? The news gets stranger by the day.

The latest celebrity tragedy

While not an epidemic exactly more and more Hollywood stars have gone off the deep end of late as in over the cliff - Heath Ledger, Philip Seymour Hoffman and now Robin Williams (1951-2014 RIP). Of course the truism holds "money can't buy you happiness" but there are deeper forces at work as there always are - drugs and/or alcohol abuse, depression etc. I kinda think the Bieber and Charlie Sheen antics are all for show, they're actually the least likely to off themselves in some fashion. There was a period of time when almost every movie I watched it seemed had Robin Williams in some kind of starring role. With him what comes to mind is not just a great actor but versatile. To go from comedy to high drama ain't easy, can't imagine Will Ferrell doing that. The last one I watched I think was Insomnia with him and Al Pacino. Suicide imo is the most undignified way to go but ok so we have something to talk about besides Ebola and those immigrant kids. Thoughts? You can even blame Obama if you like:)

Other thoughts on the Santa Barbara shootings

I was watching the PBS Newshour last night and Judy Woodruff was interviewing reporter Adam Nagourney of The New York Times. I didn't know this but Mr. Nagourney stated quite clearly that the guns 22-yr. old shooter Elliot Rodger used in the seaside massacre in Isla Vista were all legally purchased and CA has some of the nation's strictest gun control laws on the books. I've long felt while I'm fairly in support of gun control in many cases and welcome some legislation to that effect I'm also realistic enough to know it's not the magic bullet if you'll pardon the pun. It was truly a bizarre manifesto Rodger left behind and my first thought was angel dust or bath salts but you know what's scary? if you're this Nutz and you're NOT on drugs, I mean at least ex-rapper Big Lurch can fall back on that. My other thought was let's say Rodger in his YouTube videos and other postings steered clear of the more violent and weirder elements it would have come across as angry and whiny but truth be told many men would have agreed with him. So instead of discussing maybe a valid social issue or two once the person behind the "cause" resorts to violence that invalidates the cause right off the bat so then the trending topic turns to potential armies of psycho virgins training in the caves somewhere instead of maybe what alot of men can relate to. I honestly think if he was this far gone take away ALL his guns he would have easily found another way to commit mayhem perhaps with a samurai sword say. This is one of the very rare times when I actually agree with the Scientologists as I don't put much stock in psychiatry as a whole as the guy had his therapists and counselors and look what happened. The debate needs to go beyond gun control and the latest theories of the shrinks but that's where it seems to be stuck:)

Have YouTube and Twitter gotten out of control?

Al-Shabab the Somali offshoot of al-Qaeda has or had an actual, authentic and official Twitter feed and boasted online of the horrific massacre they pulled off at the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Now one of the most viral videos out there is the one on YouTube involving the hordes of psycho motorcyclists on the West Side Highway in NYC and the only way it got on YouTube was one of the moto-psychos was wearing a helmet cam at the time and recorded the whole thing from before up to and including the motorist who ran over one of his fellow bikers and then the biker gang chasing him down for miles and beating him up in front of his wife and young daughter. Facebook isn't much better with gangbangers having profiles and regularly boasting of their day-to-day and I got to thinking these three major and popular sites have TOS sections that you have to agree to when you first sign up right? A key section usually involves not breaking the laws and not inciting to violence and threatening and harassing people and similar caveats no? From terrorists to common thugs and garden-variety criminals it seems everyone has a site or linkup or feed these days and they're so teched up to the gills that even during the commission of their diverse crimes and atrocities and general social mayhem one of the things foremost on their minds seems to be going online later. Is the omnipresence of Technology doing something to the Brain? or to put it another way does the mixture of criminals and technology make things worse? call it Techno-Porn:)

Chris Christie, gay politics and 016

I've heard of gay conversion therapy and feel folks should be legally able to freely choose it as their therapy of choice.  In NJ Gov. Chris Christie just signed a law banning the practice and the focus seemed to be parents choosing it for their children.  By my math Christie doesn't go very far in the Republican primaries in 016.  We already know he's not appealing to the more socially conservative base but he's also gonna turn off the more libertarian element in the party who'll see his actions as increasing the power of the State to direct parents re the moral and social upbringing of their children.  As usual Saty and BB will completely miss the point on this one and my smartphone should be burning up later.  Oh btw I had to abort Publius last night.

Anthony Weiner aka "Carlos Danger"

It's a real Weiner roast here in NYC with three of the current candidates for Mayor telling him to as the Daily News put it BEAT IT (that's so clever).  Then there's former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer running for Comptroller and if I had to choose between the lesser of two pervs I'd go with Weiner since with Weiner it's just the compulsive addictive sexting but with Spitz in addition to the 'hos you also got steamrolling over political enemies, overinflating charges against Wall Street etc. or maybe that was just his way of celebrating.  I'm actually not joining the swelling Chorus telling Weiner to drop out of the Mayor's race and the way I see it he actually didn't have sex with anyone.  It'd be like going to Hell over masturbation, looking at dirty pictures, subscribing to Penthouse.  Clinton had actual sex in the Oval Office while President and Dems pretty much backed him to the hilt whereas more and more Dems are telling Weiner to drop off the radar so what gives?  I mean the guy never even got a handjob.  It is shocking though that these latest sexting revelations are about new sexts after Weiner's resignation from Congress in 2011 even a year later, maybe he was depressed or as Devo has said "when a problem comes along you must whip it."  His most recent sexting partner though, this 20-something woman/progressive activist seemed pretty willing at first at least from what I've read, what'd she re-envirginate herself? so aside from being a problem for his marriage it doesn't seem to be a crime.  Huma Abedin, I kinda liked it that she spoke at that press conference the other day, broke the mold and speaking as a conservative don't we have too many divorces in this country anyway?  Aren't they being more faithful to their marriage vows than, oh I don't know Rush Limbaugh?  According to the most recent polling data half of NYC voters seem willing to give Weiner a pass and he is leading or at the top of all the polls and I think this has to do with they do similar stuff too, it's a different age after all.  I mean how do you get on Weiner's case when you're downloading porn yourself?  You know I was reading the other day about Blogger's Content Policy and this really surprised me but Blogger allows you to use sexually explicit content in your blog if you so wish but they'd appreciate it if you'd label it Adult.  I just hope Weiner doesn't take up blogging.  

Some more post-Newtown thoughts,

since it's still percolating out there and the state of CT has just passed some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.  I only thought I'd do another Newtown thread if I have any fresh insights and so let's begin with the mathematics of Newtown.  Now all these massacres of late within the last several years are being lumped together somehow but in the vast majority of shooting massacres grown adults are the victims.  That's tragic enough but what happened at Sandy Hook is on another level totally IMO, a kind of existential quirk.  In fact it's bizarre and I don't think there's a snapshot anywhere of Adam Lanza where he's not a bug-eyed bastard, such a joyless individual.  Now the math angle, if you gun-controllers want to prevent another gun massacre ok but if your goal here is to prevent another Sandy Hook you're trying to prevent something that may not happen in another 150 years or ever for that matter.  Another point - how did the post-Newtown debate/discussion somehow evolve into ONLY talking about guns and gun control with a healthy side of mental health and no mention of DRUGS whatsoever?  meds, PCP, bath salts, prescription abuse, airplane glue, whatever but it's high past time authorities lay it all on the table so maybe we can have that other discussion.  One senses just another generic post-gun massacre political debate with an angle or two being deliberately suppressed and I've been wondering why.  Lastly since I'm trying to be fresh in this blog, to look at these things from another angle when you post comments I'd like some fresh and original thoughts too, maybe give yourself an aerial view of the issues instead of same-old same-old, left/right-wing talking points.  NRA Bad, ok we get that but how can you legislate exactly against or to prevent the tragically bizarre which is what Newtown was?  Conclusion: I'm not disagreeing with you about gun control per se but could Sandy Hook have been prevented?  I'm gonna go with a no:)  

Obama Priorities - the Rich but what about the prevalence of guns in society?

It was one of those nonissues during the campaign and Romney didn't have much to say on the matter either.  I'm talking of course about guns and not the well-to-do on which there were plenty of thoughts.  I'm kinda more concerned lately with the threat posed by guns in society and not so much on those individuals/families/entities making more than $250,000/yr. not paying their fair share.  There was lately a shootup in some mall in Portland, OR.  Before that there was of course the Batman/Movie Theater Massacre in Aurora CO.  There was most recently some weird guy who shot and killed three Brooklyn shopkeepers and he said the CIA put him up to it and then just the other day the brazen Midtown Hitman attack in broad daylight in NYC this in probably one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the world today.  Just today at about 9:30 in the morning a 20-yr. old gunman opened fire on a couple of first-grade classrooms in an elementary school in bucolic Newtown CT killing 26 people including 20 children.  The gunman is now deceased but he was armed with three firearms and wore a bulletproof vest.  Historically it ranks as the second deadliest massacre after VA Tech and Newtown is quite close to the Danbury Mall so there are alot of open questions about the gunman's motivations/psychology here and why he chose a helpless group of first-graders instead of the usual throng of Christmas shoppers. 

My position on guns and gun control is rather complex and I've enough to say on the matter to piss off both sides.  I'm not against all gun control measures, would probably support many of them but also recognize their limited effectiveness.  Liberals talk as if this is the magical solution, would that this were so.  Put simply only honest law-abiding people obey laws, criminals don't that's why they're known as criminals in the first place.  Pass all the gun control measures you want and criminals will still get ahold of guns and continue to maim and kill, that's basic existential reality.  I could fill a whole blogpage with my thoughts on the subject and they ramble in all political directions at times but bottom line is Obama seems to care more about the wealthy these days and the apparent threat they pose to the country.  I wish he were just as concerned about the prevalence of guns in our society but we can't have that discussion right now because of the Fiscal Cliff.  Obama if he were a more mature and reasoned leader, not still running a campaign could have helped put all that behind us and on to more pressing matters like, say Guns in Our Society and I'd like to hear President Obama's response on the tragedy in Newtown CT and also what his mouthpiece Jay Carney has to say I mean if they have the time since the wealthy are taking up so much of their attention lately.  There will be the usual obligatory pro-forma statements of course but you would think they would at least question some of their own political obsessions/fixations of late, sober up.  The poor will always be with us and so will the wealthy and there will always be time for those discussions but the dead remain the dead.

Your thoughts? (and don't be surprised if I might agree with you at times).