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Music at 80

Lame Stream Media

The Trump Chronicles

 

Well, I'm starting this blog, however I don't even know what a blog is, so I guess I'll do it my way. I have no idea what's going to show up here but I guess I should explain some of the factors that make up my consciousness. Since I'm a rural introvert I've been more of an observer than a participant. I know I was a participant in some rather spectacular escapades, but I m always trying to figure out the why of life. I study the what also, just to make sure my surmises are within the realm of the possible.

            I see the 'World' whatever that is, or maybe it would be better to say I see now as a dot on a timeline that started with the 'big bang' about 13 billion years ago. Anyway, I see the evolution of everything on and around the planet for all those years. When liquid water appeared with its unique ability to make loose bonds with many other elements, strings began to form and amino acids where born. This is all hearsay of course, I wasn't there.

            So the seas are flooded with these strings of stuff and then in a puff we have a bunch of strings enfolded in the cell wall and TA TA a cell. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So you're telling me that instantaneously cells were formed. Cells performed the function of eating and digestion defecation, propogation, and all the jobs that have to go on to keep that cell alive, with no rules overseeing the process? 

Music at 80

Well, as I approach 80 I thought I would take stock of where my music is at these days. I seem to keep being sucked in by all that silicon stuff. My rig now consists of a Fishman A220 two channel amp which is really amazing. I mix my inputs through a Zoom r-16 recorder with 8 direct in channels. Of course I can also live record off this device. I use an Electro-voice N/D967 and save the M 58's for the Peons. I run my guitar through a Zoom A3 acoustic guitar effects box and run my mic through a TCHelicon Mic Mechanic which seems to make my voice almost acceptable and gives me slap back when I want to get into Rockabilly mode. When I am solo I add my Vocalist Live harmonizer. A lot of stuff to keep track of. The amazing thing is my equipment has easily paid for itself.

            I may as well get this off my chest now, the shameful story of my music.

The next step happened when my spawn of evil daughter gave me a Fire Tablet for Christmas. What the hell am I going to do with this. I have enough worthless gadgets lying around and have always seen technology as tools, not a way of life. Technology  resents the hell out of that. I was at the point of wanting to trade that thing in for a couple of really cool Hawaiian shirts to wear on stage, when I realized that I should be able to play midi backups through this for performing. It was a mixed bag when I tried to use it, because it would play midi but poor quality. Rats.

            I have a large number of backup midi tracks that I had created in Jammer, over a number of years. They haven't been used for anything except 'Becky's album'. My attitude about technology is to never get to a place where there's no workaround. There must be some way to do this. Aha. The Fire will play wav or mp3 files very well. I found a website, http://conversion-tool.com/ that allows me to upload a midi file, convert it to mp3 and download it .. for free. I don't know how this service pays for itself but the quality of the synthesis is probably about 80 percent which is quite adequate for my purposes.

            The next problem is that the tablet lists icons not alphabetically but by the time of day it was transferred to the device. For practical purposes that means the icons will be listed at random and I have a hell of a time finding the one I'm  trying to perform. I chatted with Amazon help and they finally figured out that there was no way to adjust the order on the Fire. But I could buy an app ..... no, I'm not playing that game. Workaround. The files are in alphabetic order on the PC. erase all the current files on the Fire then transfer the files manually starting at the Z and working back to A. The Fire is now in alphabetic order.

            Now when I'm performing I have my harmonizer footswitch, My slapback footswitch, my effects footswitch and my tablet touchscreen, then I try to sing and play guitar. It's wonderful to be retired and be able to spend so much time and energy for essentially bullshit. So that's the rest of my shameful story. So far. At least it keeps me off the street.

Lame Stream Media

'Mainstream media' whoever that is, is constantly being bashed by the Left and the Right. The right wing thinks the MM is way too left and the Left because the slant is too right. I think we need to stop this train.

            All commercial media is working on the capitalist model. We are in this business to make money. The way the model works is you select the genre then decide what advertising value is available. Your main job is to keep advertisers happy. They are happy when their product gets lots of exposure. That means you have to have a lot of readers. Aye, there's the rub. When all is said and done we are just money grubbers and we must hold onto our demographic. It's democracy folks, we are getting the media that we want, that we vote for.

            It's a huge trap for many columnists. They are trapped in their own point of view and are forced to follow the party line so as not to offend. These columnists are working folks and their income depends on the value of their by line. So what happens if you get an epiphany and begin to think "God, what a bunch of shit". Kinda like Harry Beal in 'Network' and starts writing articles totally different from the expected point of view and the shit hits the fan and the money dries up. No way. So you keep putting out the same old crap. I understand it but that kinda sucks. I have always believed that Rush Limbaugh was very intelligent. Intelligent enough to give his demographic just what they wanted, trying to at be least semi-literate at the same time. If he is that intelligent it's hard for me to believe that he never had the glimmer of a revelation that he was full of shit. Of course he has. It's just the news business. The same is true on the left. No open forums, party line baby.

            It truly is a democracy. We, the recipients, select the news we want, tailored to our individual desires. Boy what a way to discover the world.  So forget the 'main stream media' garbage. There is none, there's only my news and their news. We have met the enemy, as always, is us. Unlucky Napolitano 3/20/17
Judge Andrew Napolitano just got extremely unlucky. He broke the Fox News story about Obama getting Britain to bug Trump Towers. Just your everyday Fox story. Hey, remember the child sex ring run from the basement of a pizza parlor? The story was pretty mild by comparison. The only problem was that the dumb bastard (Trump) believed the story. Bad luck. I don't really think the Fox folks believe that anyone would be stupid enough to actually believe this crap. Now Fox has to disavow everything about the story and Napolitano is in detention. Sad. This may be the end of his career. Sorry to say I hope so. 

The Trump Chronicles 

Trump and the zero-sum game 2/18/18

In my ignorant hillbilly speak the zero sum game (ZSG) is sort of a winner takes all game. Sum for the winner and negative sum to the loser. Non-zero interactions are such that both sides can benefit. Governments as well as well societies generally have mutually beneficial arrangements. There are many factions in the government, or any social grouping for that matter, and the ones who are able to play the Non Zero Sum game (NZS) the best will be the winners. That's the way it's been for a long time. Enter Trump. Every interaction he has with anyone or anything is a win or lose situation. Everything. "And I don't lose." There is no common ground. We are a herd animal after all. There is some mysterious force that brings us together even though we don't ordinarily like each other that much. I think it's this force they call hypnotism. It directly affects some people more than others, but none of us it totally immune. We (as a species) need a leader who can utilize this power to unite the people. This is a hereditary power evolved in times when grouping is necessity for survival. This is all unconscious right-brain stuff but we look for leadership in the spirit. The leader must almost have evangelical power. The democrats had that quality in Kennedy, Clinton and Obama.  
            All intelligent men but their personal power was the real deal. This all describes the NZS game over the years. The democrats, partially because they don't have as much personally at stake in running the government. They don't see the objective of serving to be to overly fill their pockets and are not particularly aggressive. The Republicans have a huge stake in governance so they would naturally be more aggressive in getting what they want. Fortunately most Republican administrations in the past have stuck to the NZS with their own dissidents as well as the opposition. Reagan was the strongest breaker of tradition, fortunately he was too old to do as much damage during his administration. They all, both parties, respected the office of President.
            So we're bopping along when this guy comes out from behind the curtain and begins demolishing his enemies. Everyone on the face of the earth is his enemy. Someone can be a provisional friend if he can do him a great favor, but it is only provisional. The thing you have to understand is that to be a successful con you have to believe as a religious truth that everyone is as corrupt as you, and you're successful only because you are smarter than everyone else.  He cannot ever admit he's as much of a shithead as you or I. His whole life is a zero-sum game. Many people, not only democrats, have always hated him. Perfect. But the man has power. We were so starved for a strong man that we ended up voting for this schmuck. It was kind of by default because the democrats spent their time espousing ideas and abhor the kind of leader who could excite the masses. The only democrat who might appeal to the working class, Michael Moore, had to be invited to the convention by Jimmy Carter. 
            It's kinda funny because back in the day the working class and the intellectuals made up the majority of the democratic party. The democrats don't need ideas they've got all of those than they can use (stolen from 'Carwash Blues'). They need guts. They need excitement and fun. Being totally humorless for long periods of time can take its toll. At this point the democrats are having to deal with a constant barrage of zero sum gamesmanship. Logical thinkers are not very good at that. Make no mistake, he looks at all of us with contempt. That should be obvious. So the democrats are not much of a problem, he can play them like a drum, but the congressional republicans are a problem. He needs to be totally in control of them, even if he has to have some of them replaced. They know they should be defending the power and authority of the legislature but they don't want to upset Donnie. It'll be fun to see who wins. So far it's Trump.
            So all these republicans are dizzy trying to figure out how to counter this assault on their power. Remember we are all herd animals, looking for a leader. It's kinda fun watching all these republicans falling in line with the Big Man. He plays them the same way. All the tweets are just barbs he sets out for the democrats to spend a lot of energy on. You just wonder how many fingers the democrats can poke into how many holes in the dikes. He doesn't care about the content. Just keep them running.
            One of things this shows you is that he understands his enemies. All of them. So far he has been right. There has to be some egghead strategist somewhere who can discover his weaknesses. He has a number of them maybe the foremost being that he cannot lose. Ever. The opposition has to be prepared to attack this guy and try to find his vulnerabilities. Will the democrats do this? Nah. they'll talk and ring their hands and make clever comebacks. He strips his enemies as well as lackeys of any sense of personal dignity. Look at John (Kellyann) Kelly. Unfortunately Trump was denied the privilege of serving in the military because of bone spurs. But even so he can make a Marine General grovel. He must find that infinitely satisfying.
            But it's important to remember that he is trapped in his own game. There is no end for him to attain except ruling the world and probably the galaxy. He's probably smart enough to realize that unfortunately because of his age he might rule it all, maybe just  North and South America . But he has made a good start. He's pretty much stacked the courts to kneel to him and the congress is up for grabs, the democrats squabble among themselves. But there is no end to the game. He has publicly criticized the Constitution. He isn't criticizing our Constitution. He hates any constitution. Just a piece of paper that gets in the way of what he wants to do. That's the scary part. He has brought to our attention the fact that any social compact, including the Constitution is just a piece of paper. It's like Alice said, "You're nothing but a deck of cards." There is no cosmic good and evil, they are only social conventions that are valid while agreed upon by a large majority of participants. We now have alternate facts. It is now accepted that a fact is whatever I want it to be, which is a sign of social disintegration that he has neatly manipulated. Still in all he has great power and in some ways I admire his tenacity.

Don The Con 5/8/17

To a con (confidence man) people fall into two categories, suckers (prey) and predators (good fellas). They do not believe there is such as thing as a righteous person. If there is such a person he's got have a con in there somewhere. There are no good guys. Ever see two good cons trying to make a deal? Hilarious because they both know that the other guy is a crook. So communication with a con can be difficult. They don't lie. In order to lie there has to be intent to deceive. Trump believes everything he says. This is not a political rant, just an interpretation.

I was struck by watching Sean Spicer (God please tell him to stop trying to smile, makes me feel like he's coming after my Juggler with his incisors), telling us that Obama only disclosed the data on Flynn and advised Trump to stay away from him out of spite because he (Flynn) had opposed the administration's policies. Possible, but that was not the question. The question was that for whatever reason Obama had given him a heads up about Flynn and they hadn't taken advantage of the information. I'm sure Barry carries grudges; I hope so anyway. But he gets his revenge in subtle and sudden ways In all my limited knowledge of the man he was never showed vindictiveness. He was always measured in his responses. Trump would never believe that anyone could act out of principle. I think Trump will spend the rest of his life trying to figure out Barry's con. Good luck.

I Could Be President 3/25/17

  First off I would like to thank Trump for finally solidifying in mind the meaning of the term Clusterfuck. I was intrigued by his Time interview in which he said he is an intuitive person OK, that's reasonable, so am I, and that his intuition is never wrong. Oops. As much as I really dislike this pos I realize it is not his fault. He was wired wrong. He doesn't need to be impeached, he needs to be recalled to the factory for a major overhaul.  I can sympathize in a way because I am also an intuitive person. I think the basic difference is that I have to use facts to test my intuition. Facts don't fit? OK my intuition is wrong. He is not wired to deal with external 'facts'. I see I have a leg-up here, being an intuitive person, now if I can just erase those pesky self doubts I might qualify for president. How does that sound, next election. I'll be 84 (maybe) and crazy as hell. Think about it.

Unlucky Napolitano 3/20/17

Judge Andrew Napolitano just got extremely unlucky. He broke the Fox News story about Obama getting Britain to bug Trump Towers. Just your everyday Fox story. Hey, remember the child sex ring run from the basement of a pizza parlor? The story was pretty mild by comparison. The only problem was that the dumb bastard (Trump) believed the story. Bad luck. I don't really think the Fox folks believe that anyone would be stupid enough to actually believe this crap. Now Fox has to disavow everything about the story and Napolitano is in detention. Sad. This may be the end of his career. Sorry to say I hope so. 

Waterboarding Anyone? 3/2/17

There seems to be a lot of questioning of the veracity of deeds and substance of conversations in the Trump administration. How can we know the truth of anything when they will not talk to the press or congress? Amazingly, His Dizziness has come up with the perfect solution. The Prez says that torture works 100 percent of the time and will be re-established during his administration. Good. He can start with AG Sessions. We can give him the option of polygraph or waterboarding. Cut out all that shit. I suppose we couldn't use it on Trump, executive privilege or something. Wouldn't work on him anyway because I haven't been able to confirm that he has any acquaintance with the concept of truth. Boy would I like to decipher a lie detector printout of a session with him. OK, enough of that. The real recipient of the benefit from the current president is George W. Bush. He is in his glory. Trump makes that little simp look like a combination of Albert Einstein and Jesus Christ. That's all I've got to say.

Taming of the Shrew 2/17/17

I don't know about you but I get this feeling that I am in the cast of Taming of the Shrew with Trump as Petruchio and me (the rest of us) as Katherina. For the strumpets who took a wrong turn and ended up here, Taming of the Shrew is a play by Shakespeare. Petruchio tames Katherina by reversing everything she says to mean the opposite. Alas, the analogy is not complete in that our Petruschio does not see criticism as being praise or praise being criticism. Oh well, models and analogies are never perfect and we are all the poorer for it.

ADD Anyone? 2/16/17

Watching a video clip of the press conference with Trudeau and Trump discussing refugees I found it interesting watching Trump's behavior while listening(?) to Justin. I had thought during the presidential debates that his impatient fidgeting and scowling was a debate tactic to disrupt his opponent. As usual I overestimated his intellectual capabilities. It seems that he just cannot listen to anyone else talk while he is in the room. I would love to be that fly on the wall at his staff meetings. The reporter who asked the refugee question asked Trudeau to give a French as well as an English response. When our leader heard him speaking frog (French) he was just seething. It has to have been a conspiracy by Justin and the reporter to make Trump look like....Trump. I'm sure he doesn't speak or understand French and that obviously made it worse. Neither can I and I lived in Canada for 10 years so that must be OK. Justin obviously loves toying with the schmuck but he'd better be careful or Trump may bomb Canada . The unedited clip can be seen here.  https://www.c-span.org/video/?423957-1/president-trump-canadian-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-hold-news-conference.

Anyway. I find it interesting that probably our greatest American battlefield general, as opposed to desk bound generals, Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson's greatest admonition was, "Do not make a counsel of your fears." George Patton was also quoted this phrase many times. Obviously Patton was a devotee of Jackson , and studied his battlefield tactics. A large part of American personae is predicated on this fearless ideal. It is ironic to me that very often Republicans, and especially the current Republican, seem to espouse "Always make a counsel of your fears" and still consider themselves courageous. To some extent the Repubs understand human nature and use this concept to keep the sheep in line. You can look it up as Casey Stengel used to say. More later probably unless Trump has me assassinated. .    

Trump as God, or whatever. 2/6/17

I wish this stuff didn't keep running through my head. Nah, I enjoy it. I'm a masochist. Taking the pulse of the nation it seems that Trump is the new Godhead. This group includes many back-sliding Christians who seem to see him as a Christ like figure.. I wonder if he considers the old God over-rated. I wonder if he resents the fact (or the probability) that he will die and the old God won't. Maybe God is not dead, though I seem to remember in the 1960's he was rumored to be dead since no one except George W. Bush had heard from him in a while. Maybe Donnie sees himself as God's son? If so he  would be God's second son. Maybe third son if you count Satan. Of course he saw what happened to brother Jesus who claimed too close a relationship to God the Father -stay with me here- maybe he decided to come back as a real estate con, as far from Jesus as you could get. Not too much for the Pharisees to worry about here.  Don't fret, I'll die soon and be out of your hair.

Tourette 2/2/17

We seem to be fortunate to have a president who has Narcissistic Personality Disorder as well as Tourette syndrome. Sort of a grand slam. He has achieved his immediate goal of having the whole world be about him. You can't get bigger (huger) than that. This has obviously left the rest of the NPD's in the world green with envy.

Damage control 1/19/17

Before the election I saw the job of the next president would be damage control. I was half right. We got the damage anyway. Black armband time.

It's fun watching Trump and the Strumpets gearing up for the presidency. Trump reminds me of the child who is given an electric train for Christmas but daddy won't let him play with it until, say, New Years. Obama just won't give up the job until he is mandated to do so and trump is throwing an expected tantrum. It appears that even before he has the legal right to do so he is setting up America's new alliance, sort of a new millennium Axis of Power. Putin Netanyahu and Trump reminds me a lot of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. Good luck world.

Trump and the Strumpets 12/28/16

It's fun watching Trump and the Strumpets gearing up for the presidency. Trump reminds me of the child who is given an electric train for Christmas but daddy won't let him play with it until, say, New Years. Obama just won't give up the job until he is mandated to do so and trump is throwing an expected tantrum. It appears that even before he has the legal right to do so he is setting up America's new alliance, sort of a new millennium Axis of Power. Putin, Netanyahu and Trump reminds me a lot of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. Good luck world.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder 12/20/17

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington , DC 20500

November 29, 2016

Dear President Obama,

We are writing to express our grave concern regarding the mental stability of our President-Elect. Professional standards do not permit us to venture a diagnosis for a public figure whom we have not evaluated personally. Nevertheless, his widely reported symptoms of mental instability — including grandiosity, impulsivity, hypersensitivity to slights or criticism, and an apparent inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality — lead us to question his fitness for the immense responsibilities of the office. We strongly recommend that, in preparation for assuming these responsibilities, he receive a full medical and neuropsychiatric evaluation by an impartial team of investigators.

Sincerely,

Judith Herman, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School

Nanette Gartrell, M.D.
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
University of California, San Francisco (1988-2011)
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School (1983-87)

Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Community Health Systems
University of California, San Francisco (2005-2013)

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM - 5, Cluster B) for “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” by The American Psychiatric Association (APA)

Here, according to The APA, are the 9 criteria for “Narcissistic Personality Disorder”. If an individual has 5 out of the 9 they have a confirmed diagnosis of this illness. Many individuals have “traits” of narcissism but only about 1% of the population has clinical NPD.

“Summary : A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believe that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with other special or high-status people (or institutions)
4. Requires excessive admiration
5. Has a sense of entitlement
6. Is interpersonally exploitative
7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.”

What does it mean if someone does have NPD?

If someone does have “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” they can, indeed, wake up, see a Tweet or a news report from a foreign leader criticizing him, mocking him, calling him “weak” or threatening his ego in any way and order some kind of impulsive, vindictive, punishing, immediate response that could include an unhinged order to attack that foreign leader or foreign country with military force, even including the authorization of nuclear weapons.

It is extremely likely that there would be some kind of impulsive, angry diplomatic response.

Because someone afflicted with this incurable and progressive “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” simply can’t help himself.

Here’s why:

1. People with NPD are extremely sensitive and insecure. They psychologically require constant compliments and acknowledgement because they do not have their own internal self-esteem. They need to get it from others.

2. If someone does criticize them, even in a Tweet or on a television comedy show, it triggers this deep and painful lack of self-esteem and they MUST lash out to relieve the pain of the criticism.

3. They have only two modes: They are either fully your friend and love you or you are their enemy and they will do everything to discredit you or humiliate you. They can’t help it. The pain of having someone in their circle who does not approve of them or acknowledge them, (almost constantly), is too great.  

4. There are only two ways to deal with someone with NPD, and they are both dangerous. There is no healthy way of interacting with someone with this affliction. If you criticize them they will lash out at you and if they have a great deal of power, that can be consequential. If you compliment them it only acts to increase the delusional and grandiose reality the sufferer has created, causing him to be even more reliant on constant and endless compliments and unwavering support.

5. Because they crave the attention and approval of others they develop great capacity to engage and entertain and can be quite charismatic, even to the point of developing a cult-like following.

6. Someone with NPD will NEVER get along with any member of the press, or any media outlet that criticizes him. 

7. Someone with NPD will NEVER hire (and will fire) anyone who criticizes him. Therefore, and because they believe they know better than almost everyone else, they have a very hard time listening and taking any advice.

Concerns Expressed by Mental Health Professionals

The President of The United State and Commander in Chief is the only American who has ANY say over the mobilization of The United States Military, the authorization of a military strike on a perceived or real enemy and the launch of any and all of the weapons possessed by The United States Military, including 7,000 nuclear warheads.

There is no “Fail Safe”. There is no “Team”. There is no thoughtful review.

The National Security Advisor, The Secretary of Defense, The Secretary of State, The Joint Chiefs of State and every General in the military can all emphatically say “NO!” but if The Commander in Chief wants to initiate military and even nuclear action, NO ONE can stop him. American law does not allow a military officer to make those decisions.

Only a civilian, The President, elected by The American People can access the nuclear codes. Only that President can use the nuclear codes.

And if he does, the military is duty bound to follow his order.

A President and Commander in Chief who does have Narcissistic Personality Disorder would be very dangerous to all Americans, and the world. 

Note: A Clinical Psychologist wrote the author to confirm (and expand upon) the dire analysis of Dr. Lynne Meyer and the concerns of the 3 Professors in this article. It is worth including here, especially her very unique perspectives on the role of Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

“Dr. Meyer is spot on in her assessment in the video. It is particularly good to hear her make the distinction between mental illness and personality disorders with their pervasive, inflexible, permanently fixed and incurable patterns of pathological behavior. This is one aspect of Trump’s problem that’s routinely misunderstood, even by some experts.

She also makes an excellent observation, among many, about Trump’s grandiosity being behind his refusal to have daily intelligence briefings. 

Another, and related reason is the fact that he is cognitively so limited that such briefings make no sense to him (and that’s why he wants Ivanka, for example, or Jared with him during similar occasions, to help him understand what’s being said). Additionally, and also relatedly, his profoundly deficient attention makes it impossible for him to focus on any stimuli that do not provide him with adulation. He’s quickly bored by and dismissive of anything that does not have to do with himself.

The point about him getting worse in the future also cannot be overstated. An increasing paranoia combined with growing sadistic vindictiveness is pretty much a given. We have seen it consistently in other leaders, past and present, with this character defect. 

And being so impulsive and without a conscience, he won’t stop for a moment before putting his primitive impulses into action. Those who believe that they can somehow “control” him, or that our democratic “checks and balances” can withstand the collusion between his personal pathology and that of his willing sycophants, are deluded, I’m afraid. 

The man is unfit to run a lemonade stand, much less a country. That so many have decided to ignore his profound character defect, or turn it into an asset in their eyes, is horrific, but, sadly, not surprising”

Energy Secretary 12/18/16

The beat goes on. I see where his new Energy secretary is the same guy who during his presidential campaign was forced to wear glasses so that he would look smarter than he sounded. You can't make this shit up.

Me Genius 12/17/16

By yimminy I think I are a mathematician, maybe win Nobel (me,me,me)+(greed is good) --> Donald Trump

Bolton 12/12/16

Here I go again. Sorry. I'm delighted that Trump has increased the inclusiveness of his government by the addition of John Bolton to number 2 in the state department. The architects of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars are now represented. I do admire John however. It's amazing that one man can be perpetually pissed for seemingly a whole lifetime. That takes an incredible amount of energy and fortitude.

IQ 12/9/16

Oh me, another rant. It seems rather strange to me that the most important factor in what is happening socially and politically has been ignored by almost everyone, no matter how intelligent they are. That factor is that not all people have the same intellectual capability. IQ is based primarily upon the ability for abstract reasoning. This is the basis of Western civilization since the age of enlightenment. IQ testing over the years has indicated that the distribution if IQ follows the Bell Curve, which means that in any large population the average IQ is 100. Success in our technological and abstract society demands an above 100 IQ. When I was young I believed that everyone was capable of the same levels of success provided they were given the proper education and motivation. When I realized that this was not true my whole 'liberal philosophy' came crashing down. Time to re-tool. It is difficult to understand the anguish of those who know that they are excluded but do not have the capability of understanding why. Of course 'liberals' have intensified the angst by calling they knuckle-draggers, deplorables, etc. because they are guilty of demolishing our vision of the perfect world. I have been as guilty as most other 'intelligent' people in this regard. I am certainly not proud of the fact. When the cards were handed out many, perhaps most, were left out of the game. Of course good liberals do not denounce the mentally deficient, or give them any thought whatsoever, except maybe at election time. On the physical plane of course we have given them welfare, and attempted to give them health care, but in a spiritual sense we have not given them any sense of dignity, of being a part of the human race. Of course Hitlers and Trumps don't give a damn about these people but at least they don't disregard them. So really, how smart are we?

Berlin Diary 12/8/16

Forty or fifty years ago I read the book "Nuremberg Diary" by G.M. Gilbert who was psychologist and counselor to the Nazi defendants. I have been fascinated by the third Reich since I saw the Movietone News filming of the opening of a concentration camp in 1945 when I was eight years old. According to Gilbert several defendants were discussing Hitler and one (I believe it Was Hans Frank) asked the others if they picked up on the way Hitler referring to the people as Die Volk, the feminine rather than Das Volk, the masculine gender. Hmmm. Hitler kicked them around like they were his women and many of them loved it. Treating men as well as women as if they were a flock of sheep is a typical totalitarian trick. I had thought (hoped) that Trumps lies and tweets would be over, he had won so now he'd get on with governing. Silly me. He keeps on tweeting and the lies are getting really weird. Why? Then it struck me like a lightening bolt. He is marshaling his troops. He has now acquired his Volk. (die volk) and he has to keep them busy. The strumpets. I hope that term will proliferate. If you are on his bus you must swallow his entire act. Every bit. The increasing lies. If the strumpets accept they are on the bus they must believe everything he says; if you're off the bus you are nothing a betrayer of the cause at best. For those of you who support Trump he now owns you. You are his bitches. He is not trying to make converts. He hopes we'll all succumb sooner or later, by force if necessary. I'll bet this is exactly how Hitler mobilized the Brown Shirts. On the bus or off the bus. We do succumb to a dictator.

Shkreli 12/1/16

Their has to be a spot in Trumps cabinet for Martin Shkreli.

Civics 11/17/16

One good outcome of the election, seems schools are considering returning civics to their curriculum. Talk about barn doors.

Election 11/9/16

I kissed my ass goodbye this morning. I'm good with the election results.

Requiem 11/4/16

Requiem

I was born in 1937 during the depression. I grew up with the depression self-sufficiency ethic which was a necessity for survival during that time. I obviously don't remember the depression but its remnants still remain with me. I grew to the age of understanding during and shortly after WWII. I grew up in the rural west, so I can't speak for other areas and cities. We were taught to revere the war heroes and especially the correspondent Ernie Pyle who brought the reality of the war in Europe into every home.

Morale was incredibly high after the war. We had defeated the depression and the Axis, we emerged basically unscathed with an incredible manufacturing base intact and no competitors in the economic or military sphere. At least for a while. We had fed and assisted the entire (non-communist) world after the war and we had been the greatest proponent of the United Nations with the mandate to help maintain a world of freedom, democracy and limited warfare. Everything was coming up spades. We had many honorable men like Truman and Eisenhower as role models. We clung to the concepts of honor and dignity. This was all the ideal of course, the pole star.

As boys we were subjected to the teaching of the Boy Scouts and the Indian lore and wilderness skills of Ernest Thompson Seton. We read the 'Weekly Reader' for information about the wide world. We (at least I) were taught the lessons in manhood evinced the Rudyard Kipling's poem 'IF'.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
but make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise,

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master,
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same,
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

This model of manhood is now just a memory. And the world is better, right? Where are the male role models today?

I still try to adhere to this as an ideal, and throughout my life I have tried to pursue its precepts. This was all fantasy of course. Reality eventually seeped in and modified my outlook somewhat, although IF is still my lodestar, It was the ideal of many young men, a bit disgusting for a man in his eightieth year but oh well. If there were really a time when America was great, I think this was the time. Of course we didn't realize that the good times we were buying were at the expense of the future, total environmental destruction.

This all has no relevance today. It seems to me that if half the population of the U.S. actually look to Trump, who is the antithesis of everything stated by Kipling, every single point, as the current male ideal then the ethos of Great America is dead and this is its requiem. Trump is a very average man at best. He has no excellence in him unless it is that he is a very accomplished con man. The body of the nation lives but the soul is gone. I know, boo hoo, sob, oh poor me. Oh well, easy come, easy go. It is a bit disconcerting to realize that I am totally irrelevant. My life's work is done. This is the requiem for a life and a time.

Rambo 10/21/16

From what I gather Trump is encouraging his militia Rambos to go to the inner cities to monitor voting. That should be fun.

Heredity 10/20/17

I can't figure out Donald Jr.'s problem. Is it heredity or environment?

Hunter 10/17/16

Where is Hunter Thompson when we need him?

Whine 10/14/17

Someone should tell Mr. Trump that real men don't whine. That's all I got to say.

Christ-like Donald Trump 10/9/17

I understand why the evangelicals like Trump so much. He is so Christlike it is uncanny.

Crazy 9/30/17

I love Donald Trump. It is quite satisfying to discover that there are people out there who are significantly crazier than me.

Mafia 90/10/17

It seems to me that Organized Crime lost a rare talent when Donald Trump decided to go solo. Well, he never did play well with others.

Wolfman 8/27/17

I just read that Trump has managed to gross out Paul Wolfowitz. Talk about gagging a maggot. The Wolfman even said publically that he might vote for Hillary. Ya can't make this stuff up.