Note to Trump Supporters

All true. Facts.

But wait. There's more. Much more.

Mexico just closed their border with us, the US, in a case of deep, deep irony and the EU is opening its borders to many nations but THE US ISN'T ONE OF THEM. Also, we, the US, have the largest number of coronavirus cases--and deaths--in the entire world, China and India included. Etc.

Thanks, Republicans.

It's bad enough you were and are suckers. You didn't have to bring us, the nation, along with you all.

Quote of the Day -- Donald J Trump, In a Nutshell

Someone on Quora asked “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response: 

A,few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created? If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.

Again, Importantly, What the World Is Saying of Donald Trump

Have you seen this writing of a man from the UK on this President Donald Trump?

British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read

(Some bolding added for emphasis).

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.

Once again. Thanks, Republicans.

If This President Never Concerned You...

If this President and Presidency hasn't, to date, concerned you, he and it should now.

Donald Trump 'considered invading Venezuela'

US president briefed not to mention the topic at dinner with leaders from four Latin American allies – but he did so anyway

Why on Earth would we, the United States, invade and attack Venezuela?

Because they're Socialists?

And then, when you get there, what do you do? Whom do you attack? What, precisely, would you be trying to do and/or undo?

What the heck?

Entertainment Overnight -- Royal Cellist Edition

You have to admit. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, whatever they're otherwise called now, have magnificent taste in cellists. This is what he was already capable of at just 13 years.

On That King James Version of the Bible

Food for thought on a Sunday morning.

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

A Story Ken Burns and PBS Should Tell

I was at a friend's home for dinner last evening and I once again brought up the subject and idea that, as our Grandfather pointed out years ago, before he died, his generation saw more change in their one lifetime, their generation, than any other, very likely.

Sure, there was the generation that witnessed the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and that was, admittedly, a ton of change, sure. Going from purely agrarian to big cities like London with all their brand new factories and machines was huge but this generation, those born at the end of the 1800s to the early 1900s saw humankind and the planet go from horse and mule drawn wagons and dirt roads to, literally, the moon, by 1969.

It think it could be an incredible story.

Before everyone had electricity. Before indoor plumbing and so, toilets, were common. Before cars. Before highways, the telephone, all of it. Lots of us can't imagine a world before all this.

Interview people all over the US, England and the world, before we've lost them all. Have them describe their lives and living conditions, their homes, transportation, all of it. Then go to, really, what we developed in the meantime. I think it could be riveting but it would also be quite an education for a lot of people, too, like so much of what, again, Ken Burns and PBS do and have done.

Here's hoping.

Link:  Ken Burns America - PBS

Way to go, America

Check out the latest ranking of all the nations of the world and who does--and who doesn't--come in at the top. This is precisely what Republican and Right Wing policies and legislators and government and governments get us.

In a global ranking of 'best countries,' the United States drops to No. 7

The top 6 nations? 

Socialist. 

 All Socialist. 

This is what working together gets them. 

A little from the article.

A new ranking of the world's “best countries” is out — and the results don’t look good for America.

Switzerland takes top nation honors, according to the second annual “Best Countries” ranking from U.S. News & World Report, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and global brand consultants BAV Consulting. Just behind the Swiss are Canada and Britain, second and third, respectively.

The United States ends up in the seventh spot, just edging out Australia but also lagging Germany, Japan and Sweden.

Get that. Our neighbors to the North, the Canadians, are number two in the world. I expect most Americans would no way expect that.

Not only are we ranked in the 7th spot but we dropped 3 spots from the previous list. We are only seen as the “most powerful.” Given the absolutely foolish and fiscally irresponsible amount we spend on military and what we call defense, we ought to be most powerful.

Bet better, America. You're falling behind. And it's not because you're not spending boodles of money. It's just that you're foolishly spending far too much of it on what we consider "defense" and health care.

Link:

US Falls in US News Best Countries Rankings

How Actually Bad This Trump Presidency Is

The again, unprecedented Presidency of this Donald J. Trump. A foreign nation and actually close ally is, right at this moment--has to--debate whether you should even be allowed to visit.

UK Parliament debates Trump visit

Shame on you, America. This is where you are now. This is what he's done to you. This is what he's doing. This is how bad it is just now, all due to this one short-sighted, ugly, ignorant, racist, sexist, misogynist.

Not only is this unprecedented, that a close US ally, actually, easily arguably our closest ally, is, at this moment, debating a state visit by an American President is, by itself, new, negative, breaking ground and territory, of course. That it is also being done in the FIRST 5 WEEKS of this presidency, in his first 100 days when he would normally be, in any other administration, at his most popular is just stunning and again, never before experienced.

A sad, sad day for you, America.

Link:

Thousands expected to attend 'Not My Presidents Day' rallies across the country

American "Health Care"

American health care.

It is the most expensive---and by expensive, I mean outrageously so--and least effective health care system in the world. And by a lot. We have the worst medical outcomes of the top 17 industrialized nations.

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and 

Worst Performing

We have the worst, lowest mortality rates of those top 17 industrialized nations meaning we die sooner than the other 16.

It's insane.

And all because we tie health care to profit and profits. 

No other nation in the world does this. Just us. And this is what it's giving us.

I saw the following comparison on Facebook today, posted by a friend. I post it here, in hopes people will open their minds. From Tom Degan.

"As an American who has been living in Europe for most of the last 20 years, one who has visited doctors numerous times in four different countries, whose two children were brought into this world in European hospitals (France and England), who has himself spent a week in a public British hospital, and who underwent an operation in a private British clinic, I think I can say a thing or two about health care in Europe.

"Our out of pocket expenses for the births? Zero. Even though in France my wife spent 5 days in the hospital after the birth of our first daughter, which is standard by the way.

"During the three years we lived in England, we never once paid for medicine for our children. Children get drugs for free in the UK. Visits to the GP are free for everybody.

"My expenses for the week in the NHS hospital? Zero.

"The cost of the operation in the private clinic? Zero, it was covered by my work insurance, as was the post-op physical therapy I needed.

"In Western Europe you would never be forced to sell your home in order to pay for your medical bills, as happens all too often in America when catastrophic illness strikes and the insurance company decides that your condition was 'pre-existing'.

"The quality of the care? Mostly good. French hospitals are excellent, even the food is decent. The food at the NHS hospital was beyond awful, but then again most English food is pretty bad (though they do have great Indian food). At night, they were understaffed, but I am guessing that, apart from that place where Dr. House works, most American hospitals are understaffed at night, too.

"In short, in the US, you pay more, get less, and die younger than we do in Europe. What part of that don't you understand?

"My fellow Americans, you have nothing to fear except those who would use fear to keep you enslaved to the myth of the might of the American health care system."

--Jeff Degan, from Tom Degan's blog, posted 8/19/09

Links:   "The Rant" by Tom Degan

"The Rant" by Tom Degan | Facebook

On This Day, 1795

The birth of one writer/poet John Keats.

Ode To Autumn 

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;

To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;

Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,

Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook

Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;

And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep

Steady thy laden head across a brook;

Or by a cider-press, with patient look,

Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,---

While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,

And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;

Then in a wailful choir, the small gnats mourn

Among the river sallows, borne aloft

Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,

And gathering swallows twitter in the skies. 

--John Keats

Also the birthday of one Chiang Kai-Shek (1887) and Vanilla Ice (1967).

Have a great day, y'all and Happy Hallowe'en.

Trumpery

Defined

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

Ada who, you might ask?

It's one helluva story.

Ada Lovelace Day 2016 -- A Celebration Of Women In Science And Technology

Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace (née Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.

Links:

Ada Lovelace Day 2016: international celebration of women in STEM

On Ada Lovelace Day, let's also celebrate 19th-century renaissance woman Agnes Clerke | Rebekah Higgitt

Ada Lovelace Day 2016: Who was Ada Lovelace and why is she still a role model for women today?

Ada Lovelace Day 2016 | Department of Biology | New York University

Our Ugly, Heartless, Immoral US Health Care System

I was just notified yesterday, by my brother, that a friend from childhood had had a stoke.

That was awful enough but, once again, it shows how wrong, horrible, even, our Capitalist, profit-driven health care system is in our nation.

Not only did he have a stroke, the poor guy, but was life-flighted to a local hospital here in Kansas City, from St. Joseph, an hour away. He then had a long stay in the hospital with numerous surgeries. It was apparently a massive stroke.

He's home now but to make all those matters even worse, he and his wife have no health insurance.

His wife is a middle school school teacher in St. Joseph (Missouri).

She continues to be his primary caregiver, which would be more than enough work and strain and stress as it is but then, she also has to hire help during the day for him, while she teaches.

Can you imagine the expenses?

From the life-flight to the emergency room to the surgeries to the daily expenses while he was there to, now, the medicines he no doubt has to have and the daily care for him? All of it?  It must surely be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, those poor people.

And then there's the mental anguish his wife is unquestionably going through.

It's horrible. It's nearly unthinkable what they've been through and what they're going through.

Horrible as all this is, do you know what they'd owe in the UK, England, if this occurred to a citizen?

Zero.

They would owe nothing.

Sure, they'd have expenses but they all knew better, many decades ago, than to tie health care to profit and for just these very reasons.

I say again, our American health care system is the ugliest, most inhuman, inhumane, abusive, immoral, horrible, over-expensive, over-rated, disgusting health care system in the world, bar none. In no other nation do the people have to have fund raisers to cover family member's health care costs. We, here in the US, are the only nation that does that or has to. I imagine few Americans give any thought to that fact.

This is why we needed, and so badly, the Affordable Care Act, the ACA, "Obamacare." It's why we need to go further and have a single-payer system. We need universal health care. The rest of the civilized, educated, industrial world has it.

We should, too.

Link:

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and Worst Performing - 

The Atlantic

The Brexit Mess

The sky isn't falling, of course, nor do I think it will but with the UK having their rather significant vote a few days ago, it seems a good deal came out of it, both nationally, for them, as well as for the world. Herewith are a few headlines of examples from the weekend so far.

Britain Rattles Postwar Order and Its Place as Pillar of Stability

Pound takes a beating, markets in tailspin 

after British vote to exit E.U.

After 'Brexit,' 3 Centuries of Unity in Britain 

Are in Danger

Moody's cut UK's credit outlook to 'negative'

It would be bad enough if it only hurt the UK but then there are the damages it did on this side of the pond, of course.

Dow closes down 600 after Brexit surprise; financials post worst day since 2011

And then there are the world markets it hit:

Brexit panic wipes $2 trillion off world markets - 
as it happened

World stocks tumble as Britain votes 

for EU exit

World Markets Roiled by Brexit as Stocks, 

Pound Drop; Gold Soars

And not bad enough it hurt the UK--and its allies--quickly, it also gave its enemies cause for celebration:

Despite Russia's Somber Facade, Glimpses of Joy Over EU Referendum

There were some glimmers of hope, fortunately. On this first one, it seems millions of Brits want a "second shot", a second vote on this whole Brexit idea. They have misgivings about the turnout.

UK voters, 3 million of them, want another bite at the Brexit apple

On this one, lots of UK business leaders and investors think the populace will dismiss the idea outright:

Corporates and investors think voters will shun Brexit despite recent polls

So at this point, I and a lot of us are just hoping some good, somehow, comes of this vote they had. We shall see. It would be nice if they rethought it, had yet another election, and voted it down.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

There is an old insult people used to throw around. It went like this--if you didn't like someone, for whatever reason, they would tell them "May you live in interesting times."

Between Donald Trump running for the Presidency and this Brexit vote, someone must have had it in for humanity about now.

On This Day, 1945

People are forgetting.

Victory in Europe - May 08, 1945 - HISTORY.com

On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.

Victory in Europe Day - Wikipedia

Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 (7 May in Commonwealth realms) to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces.

V-E Day 1945: The Celebration Heard 'round the World | HistoryNet

May 8, 2015 - V-E Day was observed on May 8, 1945 in Great Britain, Western Europe, the United States and Australia, and on May 9 in the Soviet Union and New Zealand. V-E Day commemorates the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied forces in 1945, ending World War II in Europe.

The "Downton Abbey" That's Never Told

For watchers of PBS' "Downton Abbey" and for anyone and everyone who might be interested in old British history, specifically the old, historical homes in which the wealthy lived.

I've been looking for a documentary or video on how the staff or "help" of these homes actually lived and worked and were treated.  I believe I found it.



Enough of that horrible, false, romantic, absurdly pretty view of the "help" that "Downton Abbey" shows.

It skewers history and insults intelligence.

Entertainment Overnight -- Fantastic Lines

Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley, born this day, 1934

Congratulations, Kansas City

Yes sir, congratulations, Kansas City. You hit the news. Heck, you even hit international news. Just for all the wrong reasons. This, from the UK:

Black teen in critical condition after store employee 'shoots him for stealing 79-cent pack of cookies'

A teenager, first. And yes, black. And shot and in critical condition for 79 cents of cookies. And in the middle of the day, no less.

Really?

Kansas City?  America? 

Aren't we better than this?

Can't we be?

Entertainment Overnight -- More from the group