The Delegitimization Of The American Presidency

The spin zone is rotating out of control regarding the "Russian effect" on this year's U.S. Presidential election. It's so bad that leftist Democrats are using anew kind of political spin, the idea that a new president (In this case Trump) of the opposite party is not only wrong, but that he or she actually holds the presidency illegitimately. Yep! The spin is so crazy that a recent poll of voters showed that 51% actually thin that Russia hacked into voting machines and changed votes in Trump's favor.  Never mind that it is physically impossible, Voting machines here are not connected to the internet. They are plugged into the wall like your toaster, and therefore not subject to being hacked.

Americans of both the Republican and Democratic party have always argued that ideologically opposite politicians are wrong, or perhaps unqualified. That's a legitimate perspective and anyone who says that Trump is both should not be challenged on their opinion. But the idea that the presidency was gained through trickery or subterfuge keeps gaining momentum in the U.S. as political parties count on their uneducated backers to accept every charge the party makes, even when it is as absurd as "The Russians elected Trump".

What the Russians may have done by hacking E mails of leading Democrats was to add more information to the public knowledge base about the candidates.  They simply put information out and let the public digest it, which is far less nefarious than the actual hacking of vote machines.  In fact, on Election Day, there were few voters that didn't know Russia was trying to influence the election through the release of the E mails. What they did know is that the Democratic party and their candidate's own words, from their own E mail showed that they were not trustworthy or honest with them.

This idea that the new president is not legitimate has taken hold on the last three elected, Trump, Obama and Bush. It began most notably following the 2000 election, when Democrats convinced themselves that George Bush actually lost  the vote in Florida, and thus the election. It was a fantasy of the Democrats needed to make a case that Bush was "not worthy" to be president. When they litigated and the Supreme Court ordered a recount of the Florida vote, and that result was by many sources in 2001 it confirmed that Bush  won as the first count reported.  Further, he would have won almost any recount. But left wind Democrats and an increasing number of regular ones under the spell of the crazies liberals still hang on to this fantasy today that Bush was not elected fairly.

When Obama was elected in 2008, the right wing Republicans applied the same strategy by claiming that "Obama was not elected according to the rules". Throughout Barrack Obama's presidency, Republicans pushed the idea that Obama was not born in the United States, and thus was ineligible to hold office. This ridiculous charge has never been proven to be true. Ironically, Trump was an advocate of the Obama is not legitimate nonsense. It's a delicious revenge that now the opposite side is claiming he is not legitimate.

The genisis of this deligitimazation process that the two parties use is probably a reflection of the decay in each party and the lack of education of the party members, who think their social media is the font of truth about all things political and not. In short, it's easy to brain wash your party members to believe idiocy when they are both upset with politics and uninformed about the truth of  government. This latest stupidity, that the Russians elected Trump and Clinton was cheated is all illusion that will eventually be dismissed by intelligent and informed voters.

What voters of both parties should focus on is what Trump actually does in the presidency. If they stop creating lies and hysteria about what he "will do" and hold him to what he does, there may be able to find enough ammunition to make a case to elect someone else in 2020.

Italian Food Scandal

I wonder if Michelangelo would like a Big Mac and fries from the Golden arches. Hmmm It may sound like a strange wondering, but I have reason to ponder the idea. According to Italian media, after a Mc Donald's restaurant opened right outside of the Vatican City Walls, the Catholic Church lost its appetite for fast food.  A lawsuit is being filed to block a McDonald’s from continuing to operate there.  Even though there are a number of little trattorias around the Vatican where you can get classic Roman dishes like carbonara or cacio e pepe, the neo classic dish "Big Mac Italia".

So Michelangelo, the guy who helped design the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, if reincarnated would today be able to view the design of the Golden Arches. But the classic Italian eateries that have surrounded the Vatican for generations feel that fast food behemoths like Mc Donald's should be excommunicated from the area. For four generations Manuel Tosti’s family has had a restaurant across the street. “McDonald’s is producing a lot of problems,” Tosti said. “It’s a multinational that has the same food everywhere – whereas we do pasta – that’s famous around the world and typical Roman dishes.”

Wow! What happened to the Catholic concept of diversity and brotherhood? In an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica, Cardinal Elio Sgreccia  agreed with Tosti and called the arrival of the fast food chain a “disgrace.” Pope Francis  rants about the excesses of big business, but when he lived in Bolivia once used a Bolivian Burger King to change into his religious vestments. I suspect Burger King is no less an infidel than Mc Donald's, so what does  Pope Frances think about fast food and the vatican?

Italian media says that the Vatican is a secret supporter of Mc D. It is said to be receiving more than $31,000 a month in rent from the Vatican based McDonald’s because Mc D is it's tenant there. To further muddle the issue of whether a huge fast food chain should be located next to the Vatican, the Hard Rock Café opened a store on the boulevard which leads to St. Peter’s Square.

To bring some sense to this Italian political correctness a Vatican priest has told Italian media, “I think there are more serious problem in the world. “There are greater scandals”

I wonder if he is referring to all those Vatican sex scandals involving its priests and little boys?

King's Day, 2017

In New Orleans and quite a few places around the world January 6th was a special day. It was Twelfth Night, Epiphany, or King's Day. Take your pick of names, but making January 6th special is a Catholic and to some degree, a Protestant religious thing . In some places, the day is known as “Three Kings Day” after the wise men, or Magi, who, the Bible says, brought the infant Jesus gifts and proclaimed him the Son of God. In other places, the day is known as the Epiphany, a day is for giving gifts, for extremely cold baths and for biting into "King cakes", which is a New Orleans obsession.

Celebrating the baptism of a baby, even if the baby is named Jesus, is not the most exciting thing to do. That's why some Catholics in Europe, Mexico, New Orleans and other Catholic centered places make "King's Day" the first day to eat King Cake.  As a life-long resident of New Orleans until 2011, and King Cake fan, I am having pangs of hunger for a King cake. But alas! Portland, Oregon, my current home, is like most of the rest of the world. It has no idea that King Cake should be eaten from January 6th until Mardi Gras Day, this year.

Therefore, bakeries and people at home make King Cake, a pastry with a tiny figurine of a baby (usually it is a plastic baby or a bean to represent the baby Jesus) baked into the dough. the King cakes some in many flavors and styles. I like the French Almond cream filled pastry form almost as much as the danish like dough filled ones so popular in New Orleans. The idea of stashing a baby inside is not to promote cannibalism, it is that the baby will be revealed in a slice or a bite of bread, just as Jesus was revealed as the Son of God to the kings.

Catholics in New Orleans have taken the king cake to a new level. Bakeries all over the city offer elaborate, frosted, fruit or creme filled confections, all baked with a plastic baby on the inside. Customers eat them throughout the season of Epiphany, indulging right up to Ash Wednesday, which is the end of Mardi Gras (carnival).  On January 6th one can stand in line at his or her favorite bakery and purchase a King cake for family, friends or co workers to  dive into. Whomever gets the slice with the baby has to buy the next King cake. This goes on until Ash Wednesday, which falls each year 47 days before Easter Day. People do get fatter during this time, but they have more fun.

Besides eating King Cake, some places hold their first Mardi Gras parades on January 6th, a way of kicking off the carnival season. The streets are now subject to the first masking and carnival costume of Carnival season.  I like this tradition, but then, I am born and bred of many traditions, given I am from the city of New Orleans that is among the most traditional in the United States. How tradition crazy am I (I know I am just plain crazy, but I am talking tradition crazy here)? This year, January 6th, 2017, I carried on the King Cake ritual by reaching into my home freezer and pulling out a piece of King Cake that I saved for this year from my trip to New Orleans at Mardi Gras, 2016. It was tasty and my "holy day of obligation" to King's Day was fulfilled.

Now....if I just had more King Cake in my freezer.....

Parading For Nazism

The Taiwanese kiddies must love Hitler. Maybe they admire the former Pol Pot genocidal massacres in nearby Cambodia as a work of admirable efficiency. Well, I hope not. But to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of a school in northern Taiwan, students were invited to choose historical figures and "cosplay" them at a parade Friday. Liu Hsi-cheng, a history teacher at Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School, suggested to his homeroom class that they go with famous people from Arabic culture, he told the Taipei Times. But Liu's students had another idea.... a parade theme based on Adolph Hitler.

The teacher told his students, in an understatement that having a parade for Adolph would be "very controversial", but he said that he would let the kids decide without vetoing their choice. So on went the parade and the students showed up in their finest Nazi regalia. They wore Nazi uniforms and held Nazi signs, arm bands and long red banners with swastikas on them. In one photo that the school has oddly since provided to the media, one student can be seen sitting atop a tank made from cardboard boxes, his arm raised in a Nazi salute.

What's next at Kuang Fu High? Perhaps they might consider a concert honoring Benito Mussolini or Joseph Stalin. Once word got out about education gone wild on social media, people in Taiwan condemned the students' decision as "ignorant" and "a disgusting display of disrespect." The state of Israel issued a statement Saturday that called the parade "deplorable and shocking" and noted that, less than a year ago, Taiwan had marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day for the first time with the participation of then president Ma Ying-jeou. "It is deplorable and shocking that seven decades only after the world had witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust, a high school in Taiwan is supporting such an outrageous action as we witnessed yesterday at Hsinchu Kuang-Fu Senior High School," the statement read in part.

Most Taiwanese want the government to counter the Nazi sentiment with state mandated anti Holocaust programs in Taiwanese schools. But is the student choice a symbol of anti Semites and cruelty among Taiwanese youth, or is it a f reflection of the ignorance of both kids and adults about the reality of history. As kids play with their electronic devices more they seem to be reading and learning less about the real world and its past. Unfortunately, it is clear that those students  and probably many more in every nation are not aware that the Nazi symbol means oppression and contempt for human rights. Life for our kids is more about fantasy and escapism through electronics than it is about reality.

Taiwan's Presidential Office ordered an investigation into the incident and the country's education minister  formally apologized and urged all schools in Taiwan to learn from the mistake. In the Asian tradition of the leader falling on his sword when the organization errs,  the school's principal said he took responsibility for the incident and would resign from his position.  Teacher Liu, said that his students deeply regretted their actions  and that he regretted allowing them to proceed with their theme.  And teachers' groups in Taiwan lamented the incident as a failure of the nation's education system.

Let's hope the students didn't give a Nazi salute when they heard about the rejection of Hitler and Nazism.

2017, The Year Of The Politically Incorrect

It's time for my 'It happened in 2017' review. I know the year has yet to happen. But I have the power of observation that enables me to tell you what will happen before it does. Stop laughing and read what will occur in the first three months of 2017!  It will be a year dominated by politically correct imbeciles, the Year of the PC

January- On the 15th, left wing liberals demand that Donald Trump be impeached from office. When told that he has yet to be sworn in and that Obama is the one messing up, they cry and chant "No fair, No fair' again- At a Chinese New Year celebration in San Francisco, protesters chant and smash restaurant windows in opposition to the fortune cookies being served to diners.  A new politically correct action group forms to stop "racism" against Asian culture but is laughed at after praising Kung Fu movies as the height of Asian purity.- National Nothing Day, January 16th, is not noticed or celebrated because the world's cell phones forget it and because users are already essentially brain dead  and in a state of nothingness anyway.- When President Trump remarks that more than 75% of the babies born in Detroit are born to unmarried women, it is considered to be “politically correct” to suggest that there is anything wrong with that. An impeachment of Trump movement is formed- All over the U.S., the term “manhole” is being replaced with the terms “utility hole” or “maintenance hole”. But Trump riles the PC action by calling all of them "Assholes"- After pressure from the LGBT lobby, President Trump appoints an LGBT rest room Czar and is placed in impeachment proceedings by his own party- Liberal Democrats blame Trump for the end of January and declare he wants to destroy the calendar

February- On Valentine's Day the world is stunned by news that a man in England is murdered after giving his girl friend a VD gift of a subscription to Environmentalist Monthly instead of the species endangering mink Coat she asked for.- Mardi Gras is canceled by organizers when a huge feminist PC  protest demands the end of "Mardi Gras Kings" and replacement of them with Transgender Monarchs.- When one Non Binary customer at Wal mart sets himself on fire in protest of not being able to pee because of the absence of any Non Binary rest room Wal mart declares the end of sex. Patrons note that people have been confused about sex so much during the Obama PC era that it actually only exists on the porno cable channels.- California follows its policy of issuing illegal immigrants drivers licenses with a mandate that all residents with a net worth of $100,000 or more must  give their homes to illegal immigrants because "it would be racist" to not do so.- Non Hispanic Californians start a mass illegal immigration to Mexico.- The Barbie Doll is banned by the Supreme Court because "It hurts the feelings of little boys who want to be little girls"

March- President Trump (they haven't yet impeached him) cancels the Obama administration order that the military that forced a policy in which U.S. soldiers are instructed to avoid “any criticism of pedophilia” and to avoid criticizing “anything related to Islam”. Huge numbers of the military defect to Islam and the Man/Boy Club.- Leftists in the Democratic Party organize an impeachment of Trump for not supporting pedophile rights and the right of Muslim terrorists to practice their religion through bombings.- The Obama  instituted Equal Employment Opportunity Commission policy that says it is illegal for employers to discriminate against criminals because it has a disproportionate effect on minority groups  and forces a criminal rights movement in the U.S. Congress. But  Hillary Clinton and a host of other crooks announce they are insulted because criminals already control the U.S. Congress.-  Those 'privacy screens' PC advocates successfully implemented on San Francisco library computers so that perverts can continue to exercise their “right” to watch pornography at the library without children being exposed to it, are seen in Congress, the Supreme Court and at every Catholic Church in America.- One local chapter of the Girl Scouts celebrates National Girl Scout Day by engaging in Sumo Wrestling, fart contests and other traditional male role play. Not to be outdone, the Hollywood chapter of the Boy Scouts wear dresses at their Scout meetings.

That's the first three months of 2017 in this PC world. I'll let you be surprised about April through December. Remember to always fight against those white, male Christians because they are "racist" and hate "diversity".

The Bubble Wars

Here's the current landscape of personal relations between the left-wing and right-wing in the United States. We now live in a super polarized world. On one side is the ultra conservative group, housed in a bubble that wants no change from the idealized days of the past. In a separate bubble, about the same size, is the ultra liberal crowd (AKA the PC Police) that wants much of what has been the norm to be the abnormal. Oh, and anyone in the middle outside of those two giant bubbles is just ignored rather than shunned. They have a little voice.

It's odd how far humans here have separated from each other. Everything today seems political. People don't "dare not talk about politics" when at a social engagement anymore. They talk because only those in the same bubble are invited to the social engagement. People who challenge anything in the bubble are unwelcome. To utter a dissenting word in  the bubble is equivalent to middle age heresy. We want comfort in our bubbles, they say, not reason and alternative perspectives. That's why liberals live in "liberal states" (like California and New York) and conservatives live in "conservative states" (like Utah and Texas).

And now, instead of disagreeing with someone from the other side who happens to live in the other bubble, the bubble demonizes that outsider.  The right bubble will call the dissenter "evil", while the left labels their dissenters "racists". It's always easy to invent labels to characterize one from outside the bubble. Otherwise, one would be required to use his or her intellect and reason in a discussion. Each bubble wants orthodoxy rather than truth.

In today's polarized world self expression now becomes the primary way that people engage in politics. They don't vote much, probably because each bubble is so uninformed about the reality of the election they defer to the default bubble explanation. Instead of being an informed voting constituency, the bubbles produce plenty of residents who, because of so much distrust with politics and other world views, prefer protest and boycotts. They protest anything not in alignment with the bubble agenda. No matter that the protests more often than not defy reason. They even use those inane computer and phone "apps" to organize their protest and boycotts, turning them into social events that peter out into nothing but a sustained ignorance of reality. That's because the act of protest or boycott is what is important to the bubblers, not the cause they claim to support. Just look at Face book and some of the other time wasting platforms to verify this. You'll find protests and boycotts of much unworthy of a protest or boycott.

The two bubbles even divide companies and consumer products into them and us bodies. The left bubble, for example, adores Hollywood and hates Chick Fil A. The right thinks Wal mart is sacred and same sex marriage an abomination.  In America, we do not live among people with diverse political opinions anymore. The middle is just shunned. We don't read the same news.  Sometimes, we don't even deal with the same set of facts. We cannot bond over television or entertainers because for the most part we are not watching the same shows or entertainers.  We cannot bond over shared interests because we don't share any. When we come across someone who disagrees with us, we un friend them on dopey Face book or whatever insulated social media platform fits our bubble.

Sadly, the bubbles are moving further and further away from each other in the United States. When humans spend time with an ideologically opposing person or just someone with a different take on life, they  discover that they have other things in common, and those other things reduce the distance that the bubble ideology creates. But now the bubbles have now locked themselves in and don't share anymore. And that is making life more stressful and less pleasant for everyone.

And The Children Shall Lead......I hope Not

Some support for my long held theory that for many of us, the internet isn't necessarily broadening our scope and educating us. No, it's more like confusing us in deciphering what is news and what is pretend news. You know, like that garbage that appears all over social welfare sites like Face book.  Stanford researchers evaluated students' ability to assess information sources and described the results as "dismaying," "bleak" and "a threat to democracy." The nonsense and propaganda many believe often has its origin on line.

According to the Stanford Study, children and young adults have a difficult time discerning between fake news and real news circulating on the internet. 7,800  middle school, high school and some college students across 12 U.S. states were examined in the study   "Many assume that because young people are fluent in social media they are equally savvy about what they find there," the researchers wrote. "Our work shows the opposite." I see that with adults too.

Many adults, on line and off, can not differentiate between truth and deliberate deceit, things like "Trump is a racist".  Not only do people have trouble discriminating among the stories they read, but even after they are shown clear evidence of the truthfulness or falsity of  information they read on line, they refuse to accept the facts presented to them.

As for the kiddies out there. The Stanford study concluded that:

Middle school students have a hard time distinguishing between native advertising, which looks like news articles, and actual news stories.
Many high school students couldn't distinguish between a fake news source and a real news source on Face book.
Only a quarter of those surveyed knew what the "blue check mark" (which is supposed to indicate a real news source) meant.
More than 80% of middle school students believed that advertiser content was a real news story.
High school students accepted photographs as presented, without verifying them as real.
Many high schoolers could not tell the difference between a real news story and a fake Face book posting.
A professional appearance could easily persuade students that a site was neutral and authoritative.
Young people tended to accept information as presented even without supporting evidence or citations.
Most college students failed to detect bias from tweets by activist groups.
Many college students could not tell the difference between a mainstream source and a fringe source.

Wow! These are the future voters and decision makers in society. They have had their brains addled by the technology they worship. Where do we go from here to save the minds of the youth? I'm not sure, but pulling the plug on some of those electronic devices might be a good start.