Peter Thiel sounds like that dude from Big Bang Theory
#makeamericasuckit
This Peter Thiel dude just called the transgender bathroom "culture wars" a "distraction," which I actually respect.
"We Got This" song #makeamericasuckit
The song being played by G.E. Smith and the RNC band (fronted by a big bearded guy) just contained the lyrics, "We got cable, beer, and Jesus."
Jesus.
Trump Acceptance Speech Live Blog
My fellow humans,
I have decided I am going to live-blog the Donald Trump acceptance speech because I feel like I am witnessing history - not in a "wow, look at that" way, but in a "these are the end times" way. This may be an exercise in masochism.
Who am I kidding? It definitely is.
To make things orderly and make it easy to find all of my posts, I will use the hashtag #makeamericasuckit, which I think is the slogan that communicates Trump's tone every time he speaks.
Enjoy! And of course, I welcome your comments.
According to C-SPAN, the Trump acceptance speech is slated to begin about 10:15.
Right now, there's someone called Marsha Blackburn, a representative from Tennessee, speaking. "He can help our people achieve greatness. He believes in the American Dream because he has lived the American Dream."
Where the Bushes at, though?
WHERE THE BUSHES AT???
#wherethebushesat
#makeamericasuckit
Santorum - That's Latin for...
My friends,
Permit me a brief political digression in this snow-starved winter season. My elemental, to-my-core, stone-cold, visceral loathing of former senator and current Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum came flooding back to me when I saw this picture:
Stephen Crowley of The New York Times snapped it as the candidate spoke at a black church in Florida about a week ago. It eloquently captures its moment: the crushing ennui of the berobed African American choirmembers, the blithering bloviation inherent in each of Santorum's speeches, the miserable failure of a staged photo opportunity--the churchgoers flanking the candidate, separated by race but united by their shared hatred of the devil, the unlikely supporters urging him on to speak the truth. It is a frozen moment into which perhaps too much meaning can be read, but it is also one from which a deeply satisfying amusement can be derived.
In case you haven't been following along, Santorum scared the ever-loving shit out of reasonable people all over this land when he won the Iowa caucus, suggesting that he might actually have a chance to win the Republican nomination (and thereafter--*shudder*--the presidency). He has faded in the primaries since, but his viability as a vice-presidential candidate remains strong.
Former Democratic senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska pegged Santorum best early in Rick's career. He said, "Santorum - that's Latin for 'asshole.'"
If you're still unconvinced that Bob Kerrey was right - and you haven't been following with glee Dan Savage's nearly decade-long public vendetta against Santorum - here are some words directly from his own mouth:
“If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn’t exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing.”
“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. [Sex] is supposed to be within marriage. It’s supposed to be for purposes that are yes, conjugal…but also procreative. That’s the perfect way that a sexual union should happen…This is special and it needs to be seen as special.”
“Let’s look at what’s going to be taught in our schools because now we have same sex couples being the same and their sexual activity being seen as equal and being affirmed by society as heterosexual couples and their activity. So what is going to be taught to our people in health class in our schools? What is going to be taught to our children about who in our stories, even to little children — what are married couples? What families look like in America? So, you are going to have in our curriculum spread throughout our curriculum worldview that is fundamentally different than what is taught in schools today? Is that not a consequence of gay marriage?”
“I don’t want to make black people's live better by giving them other people’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn their money and provide for themselves and their families. The best way to do that is to get the manufacturing sector of the economy rolling.”
“The American Left hates Christendom. They hate Western civilization.”
“It’s amazing that so many kids turn out to be fairly normal, considering the weird socialization they get in public schools.”
“All the people that live in the West Bank are Israelis. They are not Palestinians. There is no Palestinian. This is Israeli land.”
So: he's a virulent homophobe, a supporter of abstinence-only education, a homeschooling zealot who would love nothing more than to dismantle the public education system, a bloody racist, an unapologetic booster of Israeli Zionism, and a pro-business capitalist who favors privatization and eschews regulation.
In short: he's a nightmare for anyone with a brain or a heart.
MLK Day / forecast
Today is Martin Luther King Day. Less well-known than his civil rights work is Dr. King’s anti-war stance, which emerged strongly in the final year of his life. This pacifist epiphany occurred when "I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government." On April 4, 1967, Dr. King delivered an address entitled “A Time to Break Silence.” It included the following words:
"Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land."
Exactly one year later, he was assassinated in Memphis. James Earl Ray confessed to the murder, but theories persist that Dr. King’s nascent anti-war agitation made him a target of those who were waging that unpopular war.
Anywho. No way to smoothly transition from MLK to the weather.
So here’s what to expect overnight:
Monday will be mostly sunny and breezy today with a high only in the mid 30s.
Rain begins overnight – by 11 or 12. Sleet and freezing rain mix in throughout the early overnight hours, then changes to all rain by 4 or 5am. We could see a small accumulation of ice on the roads and sidewalks overnight—so use caution when driving—but this will be washed away by morning. Rain then tapers by late Tuesday afternoon. (The temperatures will actually rise overnight, from 32 at 11pm to 38 by 9am. Problem is, there’s no classic “trough” to trap to cold air into our area.) Still, we could see a bit of the slipperiness hang around into the morning commute, so I’ll call it:
40% chance of school delays.
15% chance of school cancellation.
The high temperature will actually reach a (comparatively) balmy 46.
Wednesday looks partly sunny, quite windy, and colder, with a high of 36 and an overnight low in the upper teens.
Thursday and Friday look like more of the same, albeit with diminishing winds. (Slight chance of snow showers Thursday night into Friday. No big whoop.)
The weekend looks milder with highs in the low 50s, but also the chance of some (rain) showers.
Snow? Ice? Wintry weather? I see nothing terribly promising through to the end of January.
Of course, all that can change rapidly, so stay tuned…
Sarah Palin Book Signing Interviews
Check out this video of Sarah Palin fans waiting outside a Columbus, Ohio Borders for her book signing last week.
It makes one wonder how this country ever elected someone like Barack Obama.
Favorite quotes from her supporters:
"Um, fairness? Realness?" - on what specific policies Sarah Palin stands for
"The way the country's goin', I wonder if we're gonna have an election in 2012."
"I don't even think he's an American citizen." - from a "birther"
"When you're right, you don't have a compromise. Compromise is for people that are wrong."
"We do need to have profiling. I mean, the politically correctness has got to get out now. I mean, we're Americans, and she sticks up for the American people. Not for other people. We're first, other people last."
"To be honest witchu, I don't know anything about her foreign policy."
"Limit spending and ... cap and trade, and all that."
"Well, his Marxism, Leninism, socialism..." - on what Barack Obama intends to institute in America, according to his books
"The state that she did govern was right across the street from Russia."
Chilling. Breathtaking. Depressing.
Comments? I welcome any and all.
Monsoon's Forecast Update / Shoe-Flinging Analysis
Since I heard about this on Sunday and saw the video today, it has still not gotten old, and will never get old. Surely by now you’ve heard that our outgoing President, George W. Bush, had to bob and weave like Floyd Mayweather to avoid two shoes being chucked at him—with impressive aim and velocity—by an Iraqi reporter at a news conference in the Prime Minister’s office during Dubya’s surprise visit on Sunday. It was unquestionably the most eloquent use of footwear to make a political statement since Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe on the table at the UN in 1960. (And surely you’ve also heard by now that one of the most vehement shows of disrespect in the Muslim world is to show the bottom of one’s shoe to another—or, more directly, throw it at him or her—because it’s akin to saying, “You scum-sucking pig! You son of a motherless goat!”*)
Here is the video, taken from Brazilian television (I cannot explain why, but the Portuguese somehow makes it that much funnier). FYI: search YouTube for clips that include slow motion and alternate angles, if you care to analyze the footage—pun intended—like it’s the Zapruder film and search for a second shoe-lobber. I’m quite content to watch this clip, though.
Anywho, I have a forecast update for you—potential for some hazardous driving conditions and winter weather over the coming days. Stay tuned, as always, for updates, as things can change quickly with a storm like this.
Tuesday 12/16: It’s difficult to believe given today’s very mild temperatures in the mid 60s, but by Tuesday morning’s commute, the temperature will only be in the upper 30s; it will drop to freezing by the time school lets out Tuesday. What this means for us is that it will be cold enough—both in terms of surface temperatures and the air aloft—to precipitate in a wintry fashion and create travel troubles.
Rain in the morning, mixing with freezing rain by late morning; changing over to snow by 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Snow continues intermittently, making travel a bit dicey; snow intensifies later and overnight into Wednesday morning, bringing a total accumulation of snow and ice to 2 to 4 inches. (Philly suburbs get less accumulation but more icing; Lehigh Valley and northern Berks could see as much as six inches of snow, depending on when the changeover takes place.)
Cancellations / delays: The snow and ice in particular make Tuesday evening’s commute potentially dodgy, so be careful. Tuesday AM delay 15%; cancellation 10%; early dismissal 35%.
Wednesday 12/17: Snow ends mid-morning, possibly mixing with sleet. High 38, low 29.
Cancellations / delays: Wednesday AM is the most treacherous; depending on snow totals, we could see some cancellations. Wednesday AM delay 85%; cancellation 45%.
(Remember that the cancellation and delay potentials are evaluated separately, as distinct events, and you should not look for percentages to add up in any particular way. For example, when I say there is an 85% chance of delay on Wednesday, there is no converse percentage implied. Can a statistics teacher out there help me explain this more clearly? I’m not even sure what the hell I mean.)
Thursday 12/18: Cloudy and milder with rain possible on and off. High 42, low 34.
Friday 12/19: Overcast and windy with a shower or two; snow may develop later on. High 44, low 31.
Saturday 12/20: Partly cloudy and colder. High 38, low 27.
Sunday 12/21: Overcast with a few breaks of sunshine; some snow showers are possible. High 35, low 21.
Monday 12/22: Sunny, clear, windy and cold. High 33, low 18.
Tuesday 12/23: Sunny, clear, breezy and colder. High 28, low 16.
Wednesday 12/24: Partly to mostly cloudy with snow possible late. High 34, low 22.
Thursday 12/25: Cloudy and cold with no precipitation around today (though given the cold temperatures, some snowfall from the preceding week or so could still be on the ground, technically making it a “white Christmas”). High 33, low 21.
Friday 12/26: Overcast with snow developing; could accumulate. High 34, low 26.
Next weekend: Very cold and snowy with highs struggling to get out of the 30s.
Beyond: A bit milder the last few days of 2008 and into 2009, it appears.
*Be the first to email me with the source of this reference (and another accurate quotation from the same source) and you will win a priceless gift: prominent mention in this vaunted space in my next posting, along with my deepest admiration.
Monsoon Martin's Election Night 2008 Comment
Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States tonight.
At 11pm, when the cable-news talking heads could finally retire their touch-screen floating maps and tentative conjectures, the projection was made.And I cried.
I, hard-hearted cynic, longtime sufferer of political malaise, was swept up in the moment.
It wasn’t just the euphoria that accompanies the triumph of a candidate one has supported, argued for, defended strongly, written about, donated to.This felt different.
The term “historic” is maddeningly overused by those who seek to endow the mundane present with the swelling significance of the past.It’s only as these events recede into history that we can take true measure of their impact, their place.
And yet, the election of a Black man as President feels like a watershed, a defining moment.A break with the sordid inequalities that predated our country’s birth and persisted long thereafter; an evolution into the best of what we always imagined this country could be.
Barack Obama’s election tonight and his inauguration will not solve all of our problems.Far from it.He faces a maelstrom of challenges—political, economic, foreign and domestic.
But he does so with the support of (it now appears) more than 50% of the voting electorate, and a groundswell of grass-roots engagement nearly unprecedented in modern politics.And even though I don’t agree with his every stance, his every utterance, I have the feeling he will do the extraordinary as President: he’ll listen.
Bradley Effect, Schmadley Effect: tens of millions of people of all backgrounds cast their ballots for an African American candidate today because they believed he was the best person for the job.That says a lot about us, to us—and to the rest of the world.
Congratulations, Senators Obama and Biden.
January 20th, 2009 is no longer only Bush’s last day—it’s also now Obama’s first.