At The End Of Bummernacht

On this, the first full day of Zappadan, let's give a close listen to Joe's Garage.

Headphones on, everybody - here we go. 

(that oughta keep ya busy for a few days trying to figure that shit out)

Happy Zappadan

BlueGal

"Some people say" that the Miracles of Zappadan stuff is a buncha hooey, but I disagree. During the first Zappadan in 2006, John Bolton resigned. Then the year after that, Sandy Underpants went to the registry of motor vehicles during Zappadan and got a new license plate with no lines, no waiting, and free donuts. All I can say is, it's Zappadan - Expect Miracles.

Hot Rats --Frank Zappa

He Tries So Hard

I'm not wondering where Trump gets his ideas.  It seems obvious these "position statements" are the products of Policy Formulation By Lynch Mob.  You do a quick little poll or (more likely) a focus group of "regular people", and you get ideas that reflect the shallowest thinking, fueled by the darkest fears of the biggest paranoiac in the room at the time.  Whoever imagines the worst of all possible worsts holds sway, and drives the discussion.

I'm only wondering why it seems like Lil Donny of the Mega-Brain just runs with it every time.  In this latest instance, I have great difficulty believing he truly thinks Killing Your Way To Lasting Peace And Security is the way to go.  Maybe, but no - prob'ly not.

So I am not moved off of my position that he's looking for his exit.  If he can find that one thing that's just too fuckin' much - say the thing that makes enough of us turn away - then he can claim we don't deserve him and blah blah blah, and he can go back to being just another leech on the national nutsack.

In light of the San Bernardino Blood Fest, I can't help but wonder if the Trumpkins will hook anything up between that and the crap Trump always throws into the pile about "beautiful Kate - murdered by an immigrant."  It'll be interesting to watch; to see if they fold that into the mix, or if they Etch-A-Sketch it away.

Today's Toon

The NRA pays better, silly.  We do what the guys with the money tell us to do here in USAmerica Inc.

hat tip = Facebook pal DR

Chill A Little

Try not to get too silly worrying about shit that's not gonna happen (prob'ly). I'm referring to Donald Trump and how way too many people are getting way too nutty - I'm not saying there's absolutely no chance for anybody but Hillary, but c'mon.

Pretty much top to bottom, side to side, and front to back, we're looking at President Hillary Clinton.

But hey - Go, Bernie Go - just in case.

Today's Wonderment

That's Mort Zuckerman saying Wayne LaPierre is a terrorist.  I don't really know what all it could mean, but it can't be shrugged off when the paper with the 4th biggest readership in USAmerica Inc makes that kinda commitment to something.

It's a wonderment.

Some Tweets

The Gun Policy Debate in Four Sentences pic.twitter.com/zRcsq31Enx

— The Nation (@thenation) December 3, 2015

Luckovich - Mass Shootings, Enough is Enough - Democratic Underground https://t.co/Tk2TfhcI2i via @demunderground

— Mike Roberts (@EvilleMike) December 3, 2015

Top 10 recipients of money from pro-gun groups in 2016: pic.twitter.com/OMHxjG9API

— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) December 3, 2015

Now we're cookin'. This whole joint is one big lawless frontier town straight out of a low-end Hollywood Western. https://t.co/FiEUYgbN1O

— Mike Roberts (@EvilleMike) December 3, 2015

Today's Five

Today's Coming Out

I got out from under the god thing a long time ago - or more accurately, I started pushing back against it as a teenager in the late 60s. It still took me a very long time to come to the realization that I am actually atheistic - I guess I just got an earlier start than most.  

Anyway, it's always seemed to me that it should be relatively simple for anybody else to break away as well, but when I put aside my own ego and I stop and listen to the stories people tell of what it's taken for them to get free, I have to count myself lucky to have been afforded the space to make my own decisions.

From John Pavlovitz, here's the story of a guy who's starting to get it.  At the very least, he understands that way too often, religion is just another political straightjacket. 

I’ve outgrown the furrowed-browed warnings of a sky that is perpetually falling.

I’ve outgrown the snarling brimstone preaching that brokers in damnation.

I’ve outgrown the vile war rhetoric that continually demands an encroaching enemy.

I’ve outgrown the expectation that my faith is the sole property of a political party.

I’ve outgrown violent bigotry and xenophobia disguised as Biblical obedience.

I’ve outgrown God wrapped in a flag and soaked in rabid nationalism.

I’ve outgrown the incessant attacks on the Gay, Muslim, and Atheist communities.

I’ve outgrown theology as a hammer always looking for a nail.

I’ve outgrown the cramped, creaky, rusting box that God never belonged in anyway.

Most of all though, I’ve outgrown something that simply no longer feels like love, something I no longer see much of Jesus in.

If religion it is to be worth holding on to, it should be the place were the marginalized feel the most visible, where the hurting receive the most tender care, where the outsiders find the safest refuge.

It should be the place where diversity is fiercely pursued and equality loudly championed; where all of humanity finds a permanent home and where justice runs the show.

That is not what this thing is. This is FoxNews and red cup protests and persecution complexes. It’s opulent, big box megachurches and coddled, untouchable celebrity pastors. It’s pop culture boycotts and manufactured outrage. It’s just wars and justified shootings. It’s all manner of bullying and intolerance in the name of Jesus.

Feeling estrangement from these things is a good thing.

Today's Winner

Ripped from the blogosphere, the rawness of daily reality comes to life in the guise of Mock Paper Scissors:

The Death Of The Media, Bret Baier Edition

THE OTHER DUMB ONE has a mind like a steel trap… let’s be honest here: if video of dancing NJ Muslims existed, Fox would be playing it 24×7. The fact that they are NOT playing it 24×7 is pretty much proof that there is no documentary evidence that NJ Muslims ever danced in the streets.

But that’s not really the Death of the Media news. Let’s go to BRET BAIER’S response:

“The original statement is thousands and thousands of people in Jersey City celebrating. If you’re just going to get technical, that’s – I don’t know if that has been backed up. Yes, people were celebrating, in some number.”

If you’re going to get technical… that’s weasel speak for “I got nothing, but the boss doesn’t want us to concede.” A network news anchor just defended some BS with, if you’re going to get technical. Your job, Bret, is to get technical with everything, and that’s why YOU are today’s Death of the Media.

Tengrain nails it with: "If video of dancing Muslims existed, Fox would be playing it 24x7."

There were people in this country who celebrated JFK's assassination.  I'm not dismissing the probability that there was something shittily celebratory going on somewhere in USAmerica Inc, and I'm not condoning the shittiness, but politics makes for some pretty shitty behavior - let's try to remember at least that much if not much else in terms of details. 

And let's also try to remember that we all have the right to be asshole-ish enough to say "Yay"  at exactly the wrong time in response to exactly the wrong occurrence.

And one more little thing: We have video of the first plane crashing into the WTC, and while Jersey City ain't Manhattan, if there was any truth to the statement about thousands and thousands - or hundreds, or dozens, or handfuls - if any of that was anything more than Munchausen level bullshit, we'd have the fuckin' video.

And one more one more thing: There's a weird aspect about that piece that makes me think DumFux News is trying to give me the impression that they're trying to be all introspective and self-examining; that maybe they're trying to walk back some of the crazier shit.  What clues might that provide us as to the thinking of the apparatchiks there at the GOP Ministry of Misinformation?