Happy Rain of July.

7346833044_05a7b22e71_bErr.  4th of July.  If you are in the US anyway. And Happy Rain, if you are in SW Ohio.

The rest of the world – Happy Monday.

I like Mondays so I don’t say that sarcastically. Mondays are a fresh start.  When all the possibilities of goals are still energized.
When the week’s crap has not unfolded and ruined all the plans you had for the week.

Mondays are wonderful days.

Holidays are not.  At least for me.

Training obstacle courseHolidays are a sort of suspension bridge between two points in your life.  They swing about too much with all the expected potential and the disappointing reality.  No I am not a fan of Holidays.

 

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.

 

Why is Trump so embarrassed about his Assets?

There have been a lot of allegations about how rich Trump is not.  Don’t get me wrong.  Trump is rich compared to you and I and 99% of the world.

But Trump claims to be worth $10 Billion.  Which turns out to be as suspect as claiming 10 inches.  He’s just super cagey about showing off the actual meat that makes up his $10 Billion.

He won’t show his tax returns which all modern Candidates do.  If you will recall, Romney was very reluctant too.  He managed to hold out until September, with reporters making huge hay over his reluctance.   I’m not sure how long Trump will hold.

But Trump’s reluctance, unlike Romney’s, is not centered on trying to avoid the perception of being one of the elite super rich.  No.  Trump is ALL ABOUT BEING RICH.  So why is he being shy?

Well, most pundits think it’s because he’s been exaggerating the inches cash and assets.  Most of these people still think he’s a Billionaire.  One source called him a Low Ball Billionaire.  Can you imagine?  Somehow being a billionaire comes with a status indicator.  What the Fuck?

Anyway.  Forbes thinks he’s got 4.5 Billion.  What I find mind boggling is that people seem to think this makes a difference.  $10 Billion vs 4.5 Billion.  Whaaat?  Are they kidding?  Do they have any concept of what a billion is?

But there are others who would lower him down to mere Millionaire Status, saying he’s not even a Billionaire.  In 2006 when Trump was claiming a mere $6 Billion, Timothy O’Brien claimed he was only worth between $150 million and $250 million.  Trump sued him and lost.  Now Trump claims $10 Billion.

Here’s the thing, Trump is selling assets to pay for this campaign.  He’s not particularly liquid in cash.  But that’s doesn’t mean he’s not a Billionaire.  Or just a super rich Millionaire.  He’s rich.  Very Rich.  Liquid Money is money that isn’t earning much or any money.  It would be a foolish Billionaire who was very liquid.

Trump is embarrassed about how rich he is.  Not because he’s too rich, like Romney was.  Because he’s not rich enough.  He’s been bragging about his size and now people want him to drop trou and he’s feeling all kinds of awkward about being found short.

Add into his natural inadequacy all the ways he manipulated those tax returns to minimize his taxable income and gains and he’s going to look VERY short of his boasts.  He thinks no one will understand that he’s really rich.

I bet he isn’t even thinking about how we will be pissed about his tax avoidance.  He’s worried that we will realize he’s not as Rich as He Claims to Be.  He thinks we be will be focused on how short it seems.

Which considering the length and breadth of his lies to date is an interesting insight into his psyche.  He’s an unrepentant and unembarrassed liar.  But he feels inadequate about money.

He wants to be seated near the Head of the Table by Bill Gates, but he’s afraid everyone will find out that maybe he’s not even IN the Billions Club, much less being anywhere close the head of the table.

He feels insecure about how he’s not rich enough.

It’s pathetic.  And disturbing that this is the sort of person people want to run this country. A man who’s house of cards will be brought down by a dick wealth measuring contest.

Donald Trump and the Mob

It sounds like the title to a bad Detective Story.  But there is a substantial connection between Donald Trump and the Mob.  

Trump worked with a guy, Felix Sater, who helped develop the Trump SoHo hotel and condominium in New York City. In 2000, Sater pled guilty to running a major mob funded investment scam.  He served no time because of a deal he made with the FBI.  Sater was also convicted for slashing a guys face with a broken bottle in 1993.  He’s a nice guy.

Allegations have been made that Trump worked with mob related operations in various building sites.  Its been said Trump Tower is a a monument to the Mob by Wayne Barrett .

But you don’t hear about it much.  No one is harping on it.  Perhaps because he has such a great clown show going on in front of the reporters, there is no need to dig to deep for something worth reporting.

You may consider it inevitable that he’s connected to the Mob because he’s a builder.  But put it in perspective – the man who claims to be right for the White House job is connected to organized crime.  We should try to avoid putting that sort of connection into the white house when we can see it ahead of time.

Baffling. Just Baffling.

I don’t get UK Politics.

I mean when Cameron resigned I was sort of shocked.  In a vague way I get that he was doing some kind of “noble thing” because he fucked up in large and terrible way.  I guess?  But I don’t REALLY get it.  But the UK people I follow on twitter seemed to just nod knowingly.  Maybe they think he’s idiot, but they don’t seem baffled by the act of resignation.

Then the resignations of the MP and Cabinet Members just came flooding in.  Now I’m befuddled.  Why are they all quitting just when they are most needed?

When your country is in crisis, you don’t do the honorable suicide thing.  You buckle on your adult panties and you get to work putting the place back in order.  You have large fights about the best way to do it, but you keep going, you negotiate and compromise and hammer out some solutions that neither side really likes but both sides find at least acceptable.

But you don’t politely bow out because you don’t agree with how things have gone so far.  What the ever living fuck is that about?  Grow the fuck up.  This isn’t the damn PTA.  You were elected to a position of government.  Do the damn job and stop prancing around writing noble and slightly martyred resignation letters.

Utterly ridiculous way to run a damn country.  Or in this case, not run a country.

I mean, these are the people KNOWN for being stubborn and sticking out the damn blitz.  One of their heroes, the Duke of Wellington is oft quoted for saying

“I made my campaigns using rope, and if a piece broke I tied a knot”

Tie a knot, Idiots.  Stop faffing about resigning and just get the place back in order, one way or another.

Churchill was famous for not giving up.  For facing down utter disaster and pulling his country through.  Churchill would have told them all –

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Continue, damn you!

From my vantage and at this distance all I see are a bunch of children in a crisis running home crying for Mummy to get them some tea because its been rough at the playground this week.

It seems to me that someone needs to have a Come to Jesus Meeting with these halfwits.  I wonder if the Queen is available? Maybe that could be her real role in the UK.  Scolding the Parliament into doing their damn jobs.

I am not always thrilled with my country, the US.  But I will say this, we aren’t plagued by the hypocrisy of Virtuous Quitters that seems to have decimated the UK Parliament.  I cannot imagine any of our Congress, many of whom have few if any redeeming qualities, quitting just when the country needed them most.  Much less the President.

Calling a General Election at such a time is just adding  Chaos to Crisis.  Ridiculous.

Neutrality is not enlightenment. It is a position only accessible to those for whom the stakes are very low, who want to feel superior to those who have no choice but to care.
~araxoolie

This is so very true.  There is a tendency among people who have very little to lose to say “Shush, You are being rude.  Just Shush. Be accepting and polite.”. But there are times when being polite is UTTERLY POINTLESS.

When people’s lives have been stripped mined they don’t have any need to be polite.  It will not save them.  Their best solution is to be LOUD AND ANGRY.  To be effectively calling out what is wrong.

Do not Shush the disenfranchised because it feels awkward and rude to you.  Ask yourself, why are they screaming?  Why are they making a fuss and being so rude and angry?  Why aren’t you angry?

Do you see the problem, but are just giving precedence over your current comfort and the need to fit into the social dynamic that is Polite Society?  Because that is a certainly a strategy that works well in at dinner party for the boss, but it’s not one that will change the course of history.  Think about it hard – Are you unconsciously prioritizing the need to smooth out the immediate discomfort of shoutiness over the absolute problem that caused it?

Or is their problem not a problem for you and so you just don’t want to know that anyone else is suffering?  Well, guess what.  They have no need to make you more comfortable in your easy life.  Their life isn’t going so well.  Too bad if you have to see it, hear it and face it.