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grumpyduck

grumpyduck's Journal
grumpyduck's Journal
November 8, 2020

Anybody remember (or know about) the Keystone Kops?

Or the Marx Brothers?

Our new reality.

November 8, 2020

So how did the Four Seasons fiasco happen?

I'm wild-ass guessing that some aide was told to book the Four Seasons and wasn't thinking. In which case he or she is out of a job.

Or maybe the aide did it on purpose. Wishful thinking.

I'd really really really like to find out how this happened. Just out of simple curiosity, y'unnerstand...

November 8, 2020

If he concedes, what about the Electoral College?

Do they still vote?

November 8, 2020

Anybody up for pranking Rudy?

After his comment (real, not SNL) about votes from Mars, I think it'd be great to have someone with graphic design skills come up with a fake ballot that can be filled in, right on the PDF, with the voter's name and address, and mail it to Rudy's office.

The name could be anything that sounds like a sci-fi character, and the address could be a place name on Mars (lots available online). There are many free "sci-fi" fonts online that could be used, and the PDF could be distributed to "willing conspirators" via something like Dropbox.

Can you imagine him getting hundreds of these? The MSM would probably pick up on it.

November 6, 2020

Okay, I missed it -- what did he say?

I just came back here after an hour and saw a whole string of threads about his presser. I'm guessing he was whining about the election results and cheating. But what else did he say?

Thanks.

November 5, 2020

Dear China: you're wrong.

There was an item online this morning about China showing a lot of schadenfreude about the mess in the U.S. right now, given the attitudes donnie's regime has shown.

Well, to China's leaders, I say: Schadenfreude works for me, but aim it where it belongs -- at the PoS in the Oval Office and his minions in the GOP. Don't insult our nation by equating the two. They are totally at odds with each other.

November 4, 2020

I can't believe how many assholes there are in this country.

I can't believe they voted for that thing given what it has done, is doing, and will continue doing to this country.

Maybe they just like seeing someone like them in office: it legitimizes them.

It and its GOP goons are destroying what took 244 years to build.

It's very sad.

November 1, 2020

A parallel with history: Trump's "base" and Europe in the Middle Ages.

I've been noticing a pattern from reading the news for the past few months, and I'm not sure if it's sad or tragic.

Part of his base, as we have seen, is made up of corporate entities, rich executives, and others who are more about making money and having power than anything else. Energy companies, banks, pharma companies, big businesses who are slowly decimating small businesses and the middle class.

The other part -- and this is really hard to swallow -- seems to be made up of what we usually refer to as "blue collar" workers: the people who are doing the real day-to-day work that helps big businesses and already-rich executives make money. These are the people who are being encouraged into staying where they are and not making any effort to go farther and rise higher in their jobs.

I was raised Catholic, and I see a parallel here with what the Church did during the Middle Ages: they maintained power and wealth by convincing the working class that that was their lot in life and that they would go to heaven if they did what the Church told them to do and supported it. Part of the message was induced ignorance: learning to read was discouraged so the Church could always be in a position to to tell the working class what to do and what to think. Meanwhile, the Church and the landowners were making money and acquiring power like crazy.

Sure there universities later on in the Middle Ages, but they originated from cathedral schools for educating the clergy. Again, the Church led the message and determined who could be educated and how. And, at the same time, they were delivering fire-and-brimstone warnings about the devil and the threat of burning in hell forever. So the message was simple: praise God (and support the Church) and fear and hate the devil.

Nowadays, with Fox and similar outlets, you have to wonder if the system has resurfaced. Is Fox delivering the message that its viewers can get everything they need to know from its own reporting and don't need to go anywhere else -- IOW, that they don't need to be educated beyond what Fox says? The network is certainly delivering the message that Democrats are evil and should be feared. So it seems that, yeah, Fox and company are the new medieval Church: praise and support donnie (and watch the commercials) and fear and hate the Democrats. Meanwhile, they and their messengers are making money hand over fist.

Sad and tragic, but hey, it worked back in the Middle Ages.

October 31, 2020

"I can do it but you can't."

I'd like to keep politics out of this one.

I've known a fair number of people over the years who seem to have the attitude that "I can do it but you can't." Mostly simple everyday things, but, like for instance, "I can have a separate email account but you can't." Mostly, they haven't been overt about it, but they have become upset when others do something they themselves do.

I've never understood this. Any thoughts?

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