Blogging
An open post to commenter “Louie”
First, a little education on the workings of WordPress: When you are commenting on this site for the first time, it is held for moderation on the off-chance that you are a spammer, or merely a spanner (that’s UK speak for a Tool) attacking the admins, contributors, or fellow commenters. Seeing as I was occupied during the 20 minute timespan between your comments, and I have comment notifications turned off – I’m not always going to be immediately available to approve comments in real time.
As for the comment itself – and like any comments here that have a beef with a particular post – I require citations backing up all counter-opinions to any referenced content. By merely exclaiming we are “total idiots including the author of this nonsense” (referenced nonsense being Firesmith’s most recent essay on the reflecting pool) and providing zero points of reference as to WHY we are “total Idiots”, you are merely a Spanner, leaning heavily into Wanker territory (Which is UK speak for being a Dick).
However, seeing as you appear to be new here, I will let that fly while encouraging you to research and document citations in a counter-argument essay, and I will gladly post it here on a weekly basis. Since there are no days beginning with “L” for “Louie”, with tongue firmly in cheek I will happily reserve for you “Wanker Wednesdays”
~ Me
friday firesmith – the fool and his pool
A Tragedy on “The Strait of Warm-Ooze”
Trump gave a no bid contract to a donor to redo the Reflecting Pool and turned them loose with no oversight.
Had this all been done in a reasonable manner nothing would have ever been said about it. Had the contract been let through normal channels, had the contractor been reputable, had the work not been “done by my birthday” and had process been held in higher regard than personality, we would not be talking about this.
But no.
It had to be done by the biggest White Trash Event in American history. It had to be done the way that Trump wanted it to be done, and when he wanted, and how he wanted, and that, my friends, is the problem and nothing else.
The problem was caused by one man wanting things his way and he got it. The solution was also his, and because everyone knows he doesn’t like to be told no, staffers were pouring gallons of Hydrogen Peroxide into the pool and clearly, that didn’t work. It actually made things worse, which is also something Trump is famous for.
But things went south in a bigly way. The algae bloom turned the pool a sickly color green usually associated with horror movies and Ghost Busters. That was bad enough. But the “American Flag Blue” paint that the pool was painted on Trump’s demand, began to peel away. Hydrogen Peroxide is a paint stripper, it seems. But it got even uglier. The seal that Trump wanted in the pool began to disintegrate and come loose.
Trump did what Trump does. He at first blamed Obama, who hasn’t been in office in a decade. He then blamed Biden.
Then came the photos of the Trump motorcade riding in the pool before it was filled with water. I’m not sure what sort of sealant or paint they used, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t designed for vehicle traffic.
Having no traction with blaming former presidents, Trump then went deep and declared “Antifa” did it, and arrested people who were doing more than taking giant flakes of paint out of the pool.
Then came the fences and razor wire to protect the green pond from terrorists.
All of this, every moment of this disaster has been paid for by taxpayers. And it’s just beginning. The damage has to be reversed. In a just and true world, the contractor would be on the hook for repairs. But in Trump World, the taxpayers pick up the tab for every whim and every mistake.
Had this not been “on time for my birthday” the process would have worked itself out. And even if issues had arisen, again, the contractor would have to pay.
But Trump will make you pay again, and again, and again, for his mistakes and vanity.
Take Care,
Mike
Admin note: Does anyone else think the pool contractor looks like a movie villain?
friday firesmith – I ran: How Trump lost a war and went TACO
In the end, Venezuela was far too easy. The people around Trump saw in this the opportunity to stroke his ego to the point of dizziness, and so the war on a country barely able to defend itself led to Trump believing if he could murder fishermen in South America, he could get away with it anywhere he went.
Isreal called and said they were about to bomb Iran, so Trump took an already deficient carrier and tired sailors who just really needed a bathroom break, and he headed toward the Gulf of Hormuz.
In 1953 the CIA overthrew the elected government of Iran and inserted the Shah of Iran in the place of the will of the Iranian people. Oil was the reason and keeping the people of Iran subdued meant doing those things the CIA does to people.
In 1979, the Shah was chased out of the country by radical Muslims, and despite some low grade action, peace has more or less held up until the point Trump decided he could bomb Iran into a nation he could use.
Iran responded by flinging missiles at everyone but Liechtenstein.
Trump responded by bombing a girl’s school and killing 165 people.
Whoever doing the targeting for Trump, and we can only hope and pray it wasn’t Pilsner Pete Kegsbreath, either did it on purpose or was just popping targets for the hell of it.
But Iran was a lot more precise. They destroyed or rendered unusable nearly every military installation in the Middle East owned and operated by the United States. Meanwhile, the carrier Gerald R Ford had to take a bathroom break when their washer and dryer set caught on fire.
A raid to kidnap the Iranian nuke material caused two cargo planes and a helicopter to be destroyed.
Iran, who Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” closed the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices and gasoline prices went through the roof overnight. In the meanwhile, Isreal, who started all this, is bombing everyone they can reach and blaming terrorists.
China starts helping Iran, and Trump forgives Putin and drops all sanctions on Russia.
Trump begins to panic. His base is cracking. This looks like an endless war from the beginning and shows no signs of improving.
Trump offers Iran everything they wanted just to open the Strait of Hormuz and stop the war. Iran gets billions of dollars, the right to set up a toll booth on the Strait, and reparations.
Trump gets nothing, except the ire of the American people.
Let’s step back a moment. Remember the murdered children? To a lot of ethnic Persians, which most Iranians claim to be, those dead children represent a Blood Feud.
Iran now controls most of the world’s oil transportation, have money to burn, and the United States cannot seem to fix the toilets on their largest carrier.
Donald Trump didn’t merely lose a war he went in alone and tried to cowboy his way through, oh no. He pissed off an entire country, gave them money, and a toll booth worth billions more. Iran is rising from the ashes of this war as the preeminent military power in the Middle East.
Trump lost the war, ran away, and after he leaves office, this will be our problem.
Take Care,
Mike
Admin statement on pride month
One website I harvest memes from is a heavily conservative second amendment believing meme site peppered with the occasional barely clothed hottie (most are current with an occasional vintage pin-up that I research further and display here), and its participants are very vociferous when it comes to gays and gay rights (or as I call them – BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS).
Many choose to think that religion will “cure” homosexuality, others wallow in the PROVEN myth that Democrats want to transition kids, Pedophilia is the + in LGBTQ+, and that a general “cleansing” of our population is on order for a better America.
BULLSHIT. America is a diverse nation, always has been, and THAT is what makes us great.
Full stop.
friday firesmith – the zombie
“I want to be a cocaine dealer,” Greg said. It’s not that I asked Greg what he wanted to be when he grew up, but we were both in our twenties, and we were both working as kitchen help at Shoney’s. I had my doubts about Greg’s ideas towards career change, but I didn’t say anything to him.
The next day he didn’t show up for work. I did not attribute his disappearance to his new life as a wealthy drug dealer who was living on the beach with supermodels.
Greg did buy some cocaine, and he sold cocaine, so yeah, somehow he got his toe in the door, but he started doing more cocaine than he sold, and then he started doing crack.
He was behind on rent, bills, and he started stealing from his roommates so they kicked him out. Greg set his bed up in the yard and slept there for a few days. It was surreal to see a man in a bed in a yard but that was how it happened. Then it rained hard one day, and Greg started living under the overpass at Exit 16.
Greg would haunt the people he once knew, but he would steal anything he could. And ex-girlfriend named Susan let him stay in her parents garage, and it wasn’t a bad set up. He had a cot and access to hot and cold water, and a bathroom. Someone called Susan’s mother the next day and asked her if she was having a yard sale, and Greg had taken Susan’s mom’s belongings and was selling them in the front yard. They got there before any of the good jewelry was sold but they lost a toaster over and some smaller stuff.
So Greg was officially not living anywhere after that. None of us had anything to do with him, and he drifted away. He would come back to Valdosta, and I would see him at one of the Exits, but until I saw Susan at the Y one day, and told her I had seen him, I didn’t think twice about it. Susan sent me with her husband, Jim, who hated me and Greg both to look for Greg. We didn’t find him, but a man who will go out looking for his wife’s ex boyfriend to help him get off drugs is a damn hero in my book. That was ten years ago.
So yesterday I thought I saw Greg. No. I am sure it was him. He was at Exit 16, just like he always was.
But a few years ago his bones were found in a wooded area near I-75 and returned to his parents. Id-ed via dental.
I’m not sure what to do with this one.
Take Care,
Mike
