Dear News Reporters: Stop interviewing people on the Street.

Please.  Stop.

We get it.  People who walk on the streets are one or more of the following:

  1. Stupider than a ball of dryer lint.
  2. Have souls that resemble a slimy dishcloth left under three days of dirty dishes.
  3. Have a worldview that is eclipsed by earthworms.

Except No.   That is about the same as saying Reality Shows are REAL.  They aren’t.  We know that.

And neither are these on-the-street interviews representative of anything but a reporter finding the right person (ie stupid, bigoted or representing the viewpoint of reporter’s bias), properly editing that interview and putting  it on TV.

Had they found someone with a thoughtful well considered viewpoint, it would NOT be aired.  Because that is not the purpose of the on-the-street interview.

The purpose is to make the viewer feel better about themselves by comparison.

These interviews are NOT News.  They are providing self indulgent porn for our egos.  They provide no additional information about the events of the days, which is what News is supposed to be.  It’s not supposed to be entertainment or ego porn.  Its supposed to be providing information about current events.

But dissemination of facts about current events now represents about 20% of the News as it is shown to us today.  And the on-the-street interviews, which make such good comedy on Late Night Talk Shows, are just one of the pointless pieces of noise that fill up the other 80% of the News Show.

Get some Perspective!

Seriously.  We are a bunch of idiots raging about a silly forgettable speech using utterly common phrases that she lifted from another speech that were probably lifted from other works.  WHO THE FUCK CARES?

Now the meme going around is the obviously UNINTENTIONAL Nazi salute by Laura Ingraham. Stop focusing on the unimportant things and attack at the devastating policies, the clear hate mongering, the  obvious character failure of Trump.

During the RNC they brought the officers who beat Freddie Gray to death in a police van onto the stage and cheered them.  THINK ABOUT THAT!!!   The GOP needs to be called on that.  It needs to be the thing we are outraged about.  That is so much more important than a couple of innocous lines in a speech.

They had three people whose children were killed by immigrants on stage to discuss the problem of immigration.  As though immigration policy kills children.   That obvious manipulation of reality needs to be called out and not allowed to lay there.

What matters is being ignored.  Really scary bad things are going unnoticed so you can rage about really UNIMPORTANT stuff.

If this man gets elected, it’s going to be a disaster, and not because Melania googled “first lady speeches” when she wrote hers.

Your damn memes about unimportant stuff are only directed to people who agree with you.

If you want to help, point out the stuff that matters so that people on the fence will vote for Clinton.

We need to work on the important stuff, not the stuff that feels easy.

The Reality vs the Reality Show.

This is the Women for Trump Event at the RNC.  The few chairs filled are journalists and interns.Cnp7lh_WcAAtR86[1]

Trump is losing his grip on the Reality Show he’s running for his Presidential campaign.  In a Reality Show, outrageous behavior gets views.  And so the circus that is Trump is getting lots of attention.

But it’s important to remember, that there is a large and important difference between Reality Shows and actual reality.  And the behavior that garners so much attention is indicative of some very disturbing realities.

Donald Trump has continually shown his disdain for women.

As Megyn Kelly pointed out to him during the debate, “You have called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs’, ‘dogs’, ‘slobs’, and ‘disgusting animals.”

Those are things that are publically recorded.  Think about that.  Trump, as much as we see of him, is living 90% of  his life outside the public record.

I don’t suppose that his off record behavior is actually better than what we see in public.

And while his open contempt for women is disturbing, his attitude toward sexual assault is disgusting.

Actual Tweet by Donald Trump:

26,000 unreported sexual assults [sic] in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?

The belief that sexual assault is inevitable is one that comes from a belief that women are merely objects for penetration by a man’s penis.

The belief that sexual assault is inevitable comes from the personal experience of not governing your own desires and thinking that is normal and acceptable behavior.

Those beliefs are leftovers from the past.  A past we should have left behind.

Then we must consider his disgust at the IDEA of a woman’s breast being used to feed a baby.

During a court proceeding, one the lawyers requested a break in the session because it was time for her to pump milk.  Many men might find that mildly uncomfortable.  But Trump found it so uncomfortable that he stood up and said “You’re disgusting” to the lawyer before leaving the room.  His lawyer doesn’t deny it.

He made a scene about it, in a circumstance where it was incumbent to his best interest to be polite and act appropriately because he was so disgusted that a woman would use her breast to feed her infant.

That illustrates his belief that women are merely sexual beings and his inability to capture any other part of a woman’s existence in his brain.

It also illustrates his inability to control his behavior in situations where good social behavior in not only expected but is in his best interest.  Whether or not he even recognizes that his behavior is inappropriate is in question as well.

I think it’s possible that Trump is afraid of women.  And that is why he acts this way.

He wrote the following in “The Art of the Comeback”

“Women have one of the great acts of all time. The smart ones act very feminine and needy, but inside they are real killers. The person who came up with the expression ‘the weaker sex’ was either very naive or had to be kidding. I have seen women manipulate men with just a twitch of their eye — or perhaps another body part.”

He clearly doesn’t see women as people.  He sees them as an antagonist he must overcome.  He’s obsessed with them, certainly, but he doesn’t think of them as complex personalities that he can get to know and be friends with.

His own feelings of inadequacy have mixed into his feelings of fear and disdain for women and we see him lose control repeatedly when women criticize him.

Look at how he insults the women who have either mocked him or reported negatively on him.

He sent a copy of Gail Collin’s article to her with her face circled and the words “The Face of a Dog” written on it.  She had called him a “thousandaire”.

He said Rosie O’Donnell was an animal, a slob, talks like a truck driver, is rude, obnoxious and dumb.  Because O’Donnell has used her comedy to skewer him repeatedly and well.

He called Megyn Kelly a bimbo because she asked him questions that made him look bad.

He called Ariana Huffington unattractive, both inside and out and said her ex husband made a good decision leaving her for a man. Because – well… the Huffington Post.

He said Bette Middler had an ugly face and body because she insulted his hair.

The Reality Show is good at hurling insults.  100s of them come rolling out of his Twitter account.  Literally 100s.  And it makes good theater and is certainly helping his campaign. And to be fair, these example of insults are only a small fraction of the factory of insults that run out of his brain nearly constantly.

But there is something rather too far in certain insults he throws at women who criticize him, isn’t there?  He makes too many of the insults about appearance because he can’t conceive of women as anything more than an object of sexual use.

He’s obviously overly sensitive to any form of criticism.  Which when you consider the venture he’s taken on, is a very bad quality.  If there is a more pernicious and impertent attack on privacy and self than running for and being President of the United States, I’m not aware of it.  It requires the sort of self control and self definition that can withstand constant and petty attacks from all sides and keep at least the appearance of polite indifference.

Trump has proven over and over that he doesn’t have that self control.  The insults that run out of his Reality Show are not just to keep him from being voted off the island.  They are the gut reaction of a man with some serious problems with women and his own self identity.

Do we want that person in control of our ENTIRE country?

You are missing the Point

I keep seeing posts about “just do what they say” – “they don’t hurt you if you do what they say:… :They are people too.”

YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT.

The point is that in the US an overwhelming number of people are dying because the police kill them.

An overwhelming majority of the people who are being killed are black people.

A staggering amount of police brutality happens to black people.

An overwhelming number of the people who are arrested are people of color.

They are arrested in much higher numbers than white people caught in the same circumstances.

They are approached and assumed to be in criminal circumstances based on skin color.

The prison sentences given to black people are longer than sentences given to white people convicted of the same crime.

These are NOT debatable issues.  These are FACTS.

THE UNITED STATES HAS A GOVERNMENT THAT OPENLY DISCRIMINATES AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE.  

The justice system, from police to courts to prisons are all visibly and blatantly discriminating against and KILLING black people.

Stop picking at the edges of the argument, measuring the corners and angles of a particular situation.  It’s not really about any one situation.  It’s about the ENTIRE system.  It’s a very big and very CLEAR picture. Evidence abounds.

The evidence isn’t in the media stories.  Those are the emotional windmills that we tilt at every so often. The evidence has been collected by many studies.  Research has been done. LOTS of it.  And the research reflects a disgusting and chronic problem.  It needs to be fixed.

Get your nose out of  your own experience. If you cannot empathize with someone else’s experience, at least LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE.    Its there.  Clear and factual.  This is happening.  Its real.

Don’t be naive about the future.

I wrote the following tweet last summer.

DONALD TRUMP CARTOON SHOW

I certainly believed that.  It seemed utterly impossible that enough people could take him seriously.  There was a history of him running and dropping out when support was weak.

A lot of people dismiss the idea that he will win the election.  I think it is VERY dangerous to dismiss that idea.

He will win if people do not step up to the plate and vote AGAINST him.

Refusing to vote because you don’t like your options is both naive and irresponsible.  Because one of the options is very much better than the other, whether or not you agree with her policies or think she will make an ideal president.

She will NOT be the disaster area that Trump will be.  She will probably have an entirely forgettable term, with her only notable accomplishment being the first female President.

I imagine Bill will have more press being the First Gentleman.  He will be the show we all watch.  Because you know he’s going to make a clown car wreck of it.  Heck, vote for her just for that show.

But vote.  Because if you don’t vote and Trump wins, it will be your fault.

 

When are we going to change?

I was in the midst of writing a thoughtful piece about how in the US and indeed in all free nations, we have an opportunity to effect change through voting.  I pointed out how we are not oppressed like the people in many countries like North Korea and that means we need to vote and use our voting wisely.

And then I read this on twitter:

According to , this is the sixteenth fatal shooting by American police this month. Or to put it another way, ‘in the last week’.

The last 16 fatal shootings by UK police cover more than 9 years. I know America has nearly 5x our population. But ~470x the deaths by cop?

And I realized – we are not going to change.  Because we have been having this problem in slapped in our face for several years.  We had riots in Ferguson and nothing changed.  We have so much evidence that this is a problem and nothing has changed.  We have demonstrations, and prayer vigils and send messages to our representatives.  And nothing changed.

Voting is absolutely still necessary.  But the people we get to vote for also needs to change.  And that is a harder proposition all together.

We need candidates who are not influenced by big lobbies but by their constituents.  We need to get enough of them in there so that they make wise evidence based decisions about making radical changes in turning this country into an actual place of peace and justice  instead of just in rhetoric.

That doesn’t mean just changing how we police.  The police are the obvious symptom of an underlying disease that is plaguing this country.  Change means addressing the issues that lead to poverty and lack of decent education and therefore lack decent opportunities.  That means fixing the problem of our justice system that is so HEAVILY biased against people of color, is bloated with minor offenders who learn in a harsh environment that their only future is crime and poverty.

But where are those candidates who will address these problems with radical changes?  How do we get them to congress in enough numbers to make a difference.  It seems overwhelming.  It seems impossible.

And so probably nothing is going to change.

Trying to Understand.

I make an effort to understand the things that I don’t.  Things that seem wrong to me but other people believe or support.

In that category is Donald Trump.  Most of what I know about Trump I have learned through articles written about him.  But I hadn’t actually read or heard a speech.  So I pulled the transcripts from his speeches.

I want to know where he’s coming from.  I want to know if I am misunderstanding him because of my own bias.  I want to know what his supporters see in him.  So I’m reading his speeches.

And it’s hard.  At first it was easy.  It was the standard sort of things that politicians say that will get you to nod your head because we can ALL AGREE ABOUT THAT.

We will never be able to fix a rigged system by counting on the same people who rigged it in the first place.The insiders wrote the rules of the game to keep themselves in power and in the money.

Of course it’s also got the lies and/or delusions for which he is so very famous.

But that is just the warm up.  Then he gets started on the things that creep into the scary.

We will spend what we need to rebuild our military. It is the cheapest, single investment we can make. We will develop, build and purchase the best equipment known to mankind. Our military dominance must be unquestioned, and I mean unquestioned, by anybody and everybody.

I haven’t finished all the speeches I’ve pulled up to read.  It’s becoming harder.  I’m not a fan of any political speech because I find the standard political simplistic generalities to be insulting, as they assume I’m an idiot.  Rarely do you hear specific details of a plan or strategy.

Trump at least offers me more opportunities to fact check him.  And those ventures have the pleasantness of finding them false.  Its like always winning the scratch off.

But then he says the scary stuff my stomach gets churny.

 

 

 

The Cat Factor of Difficulty

Until you have a cat, you don’t understand the added level of difficulty and effort that they add to all your everyday tasks.

Right now, I’m lounging in bed with my laptop, but Lily is leaning on the laptop with her head blocking part of the screen.lily computer  In order to see, I keep inching the laptop over on my lap until it’s sort of floating in midair and barely being supported by part of one leg. I don’t even know I’m doing it until the balance becomes untenable and then we have to reset with me moving both Lily and the laptop.

That is one example in a continuing daily struggle with a cat making your life more… Interesting.

They don’t let you do anything the simplest way.  mti4otkzmdq1mjm5njm4nju5
tumblr_nlts2roqfv1u6jismo2_1280You will always have to step over or around.  You will always have to factor in their ability to deliberately knock something over or rip it up.  You will always have to adjust yourself to their intentions.  19f1b8a123b8f1ded1bd0116abb7167c

 

 

 

 

 

And what is utterly amazing, is that we do this so unconsciously most of the time.  We don’t give it a second thought.  866534453510dd26868352923f9ed337

Grumpy Sara’s Opinion of Amatuer Fireworks…

If I were Empress of the World, Fireworks would only be allowed in the hands of professionals.  Not to protect the idiots.  That’s just a random benefit.  This is because they IRRITATE me.

I just don’t get them.  They are noisy and entirely anticlimactic in backyards all over America.  One gets set off, and may indeed be momentarily sparkly, but now you have to wait 10 minutes while a group of boozy people huddle about and organize another one.  And let’s face it, that sparkle, that one rocket of sparkles, it wasn’t that great compared to the professional show of artistry that the City puts on.

And then there’s the noise.  Now I recognize that the noise is why a huge number of people like the damn things, but the noise is what I hate.  It’s actually not the noise, it’s the UNEXPECTED noise.  I will spend this entire weekend jumping because of the bangs and pops that will go off all around me.

Because of my Anxiety, I startle embarrassingly easily.  So when it’s a noise that would startle anyone, I move toward the precipice of Panic.

So, in my role as your Empress, I would probably just ban them from everyday citizens.  However, I would compromise by making it illegal to set them off except on pre-designated nights.

AND you would have to have a signed note from your lover that you don’t have issues with premature… firing.

If you shoot off any night prior to the night of the designated Holiday, you will be fined.  Money will be given to the local GAD society.

If you shoot off anytime on any day when it is still light out, you will be publically humiliated for being unable to control your premature firing of rockets.  And fined. Naturally.

Damn, I’m so crotchety.  It’s just a silly thing that people love to do and I’m the person telling everyone to shut up and get off my lawn.

But, really, STOP with the damn fireworks.  One just went off while I was typing this.  2pm on July 2nd.  They’ve been going off for a week.  They will go off for 2 weeks after.

grrrrrrr.