Say what you mean and mean what you say or "What are you? 4?"

So anyone who has actually read all of these blogs (You know who you are and seriously, get professional help. Reading this sort of thing is not good for you.) knows that I don't like Trump. Of course, they also know I didn't like Obama, Bush Jr. and Clinton. Now I did have a soft spot in my heart (head) for Bush Sr. and I was particularly fond of Reagan. Sure he kind of sucked but at least he had the excuse of Alzheimer which made him our first verifiable mentally ill POTUS. So, yeah, me and politicians are like oil and a match,

During Obama's reign, I was disgusted by the hatred and vitriol spewed forth by Conservatives. No matter how much I disapproved of his actions and policies, the images of him being hung and burned in effigy really chaffed my garters. I railed against it over and over again as Racists compared his wife to an ape and his children to chimps. Liberals proudly proclaimed that they would never do such things no matter how bad a Republican POTUS might be. Well Sherman, set the not so way forward machine to the current day and lets see how that worked out.

Let me preface the rest of this rant with this. I despise Donald Trump. I feel his hatred and bullying has made America the laughingstock of the world. I feel his policies have done more damge to America than the Great Recession. After running on the usual platform of “fiscal responsibility” and ranting against Obama adding trillions to the debt, he has added three trillion dollars to the debt and doubled the deficit in less than three years. So yeah, I don't like Hair Furrer all that much. Okay, now that we have that out of the way, onward and downward!

My Daddy always said that respect is given, not earned. Of course he also said that possum boiled in moonshine tasted good so we prolly shouldn't put too much faith in what he said. But “respect” means more to me than treating others with respect. Having respect means not lowering yourself to the same level as all of the idiots around you. Sure, Trump is an idiot. Yes, he is a bully and God knows he's incompetent, but acting like a 5 year old on the playground makes you look just as bad.

Fer example, Trump and the 3^rd Lady went to a baseball game the other night and the crowds immediately launched into Donnie's favorite chant and yelled, “LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!” (Side type note here, why did the Trumps go to a ball game and not take their kid? I mean...baseball....kids...? Not a dig against Trump, just curious.) See whereas I do view the whole scene as sort of karmic payback for all the times he has inflamed his drones with similar chants and seeing it happen on national TV on front of millions of viewers was mildly amusing, it still boils down to stooping to his level.

I guess what it boils down to is this. If you can't argue against a person without resorting to grade school insults and playground antics, then you are no better than the people you rail against. Conservatives did it during Obama and now Liberals are doing the same thing under Trump. When I ranted against Obama, I commented on his extending of Bush era wire tapping and his nearly doubling of the drone and missile strikes Bush started that led to 1000s of civilians murdered in the ME. Now I rant against Trump's raiding of military funds to “build” a useless border wall and the fact that he is well on his way to beating Obama's debt increases. (Okay okay, I do occasionally tate on his really bad wig and his love of greasy fast food, but only on days ending in Y.) To make a long story short (TOO LATE!) I try to make my jibes and rants based off actual things he has done wrong.

When you criticize someone, always try and view how your words and critique will be seen by those who don't necessarily agree with your POV. Playing to your normal audience is easy, but trying to speak to everyone is hard. But hey, that is just my NSHO.

End of Rant

TeamTrees Milestone! or Moving on up...

Just a quick update for my readers (All 3 of you.  Hey Chris!) from the Teamtrees.org.  As of this morning, we have reached FIVE MILLION trees to be planted.  Think about it!  In the short time, this social media event has been running, TeamTrees is already one-quarter of the way to its goal of 20 million trees planted by 2020 and we still have two months to go.  If we can keep this up, we'll exceed the goal by....well a lot.  So come on, people.  Donate, share and promote this idea.  I mean whatever your beliefs about climate change/global warming, there is nothing negative about more trees.

Social Media Saves the World or Youtubers UNITE!

TeamTrees 20 Million Trees by 2020

     Okay, I know this isn't my usual brand of tating, but this is a movement that I fully support and think that can do an amazing thing.  Not too long ago, the extremely popular Youtuber, Mr. Beast reached the amazing goal of 20 million subscribers.  In response to a massive post barrage suggesting that he celebrate by planting 20 million trees by 2020 to help with Climate Change, Beast did a video where he and his team plus hundreds of volunteers spent two days planting as many trees as they could.  Then Beast reached out to other Youtube content creators to help with his goal.  The response was astounding with a multitude of creators from all walks coming together for this goal.  The result was Teamtrees.org where they partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation Arbor Day to plant the 20 Million trees.  As of this writing, the massive movement has reached almost 4 million trees planted.

     So how can you help with this incredible movement?  Simple, for every dollar donated to TeamTrees, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant one tree.  If you donate $20.00, then that is 20 trees planted.  $100.00? 100 Trees!  It's as simple as that.  I am not a Youtube content creator, but we all can do our part.  Got a facebook page?  Post the https://teamtrees.org/ link!  Twitter Account?  https://teamtrees.org/  If you have any sort of social life, post the link.  Tell your friends!  Tell your family!  Tell your enemies!  Tell complete strangers!  Just tell people.  This is your chance to make the world a better place.

End of Rant

Fairness is not situational or Sauce for the Goose.

 Do wanna know what is the number one thing that really HONKS ME OFF? Pandas with machine guns! The second thing that really chaffs my bunions is hypocrisy. The world of politics is full of it (Well to be precise, the whole dang world is full of it, but that would be a much longer Tate and I really don't have either the attention span or the energy to pull that one off.) and I really am getting really annoyed by all of it. That and Unsweetened Ice Tea drinkers. Really, what freaking planet are you nutters from?

So big in the news recently is rape/sexual assault/harassment. We had Brett “I LIKE BEER” Kavanaugh making his bid for the Supremes, which to me is stupid. I mean whitest dude ever trying to join a legendary Black group? I mean that is just stup...what? Oh Supreme Court! That makes much more sense. Sorry about that. Before that we had Donald “Stable Genius” Trump being accused of improper sexual conduct. Heck, before that we had Bill “There is a Sax in my pocket” Clinton with the numerous accusations of a dozen or so women. I mean, you can't swing a Mitch McConnell without hitting someone who has been accused of sexual misconduct.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not mocking the victims of sexual assault or making light of their claims. Quite the opposite, I believe that anyone whether they be Male, Female or Eggplant should be heard and taken seriously when they claim to be the victims of a sexual attack. (As a side note, I also believe that those who are accused should be considered innocent until proven guilty and treated as fairly under the law.) What I am mocking is the rampant hypocrisy that is being shown over and over again by...well pretty much everyone.

So, the most current contender for “Most inappropriate advances made in a career” Oscar is Joe “King of the Memes” Biden. He has been accused by (at last count) 3 women for making advances that “made them feel uncomfortable.” Nothing has been proven yet and old Joe deserves the benefit of the doubt until proof is found, BUT (My gawd! What a big but!) that is not what this rant is about. (You know I have spent more time telling you what this rant isn't about than I have actually saying what it is about? And yet you are still reading? Well I assume you are still reading. For all I know, you nodded off after the first paragraph or went and got coffee. If you did, make mine extra strong with heavy cream.) As per usual, both sides are up in arms over all of it and as per usual, the hypocrisy is flying higher than Dumbo after somebody mixed his hay up with marijuana. (Cannot believe I spelled that right first try.)

So, before preceding further lets recap in what I like to call A Brief History of Hypocrisy. (All due respect to Dr. Hawking.) Bill “Getting Ahead in Office” Clinton has been accused by a bakers dozen of women of rape/Sexual Assualt/inappropriate actions. Now, none of the attacks have ever been proven, but many of the accusers stories are telling. So Conservatives have pretty much condemned the man as the most evil, lecherous demon that ever walked the Earth even though there is still no hard evidence to prove he did it. Liberals, on the other hand, have pretty much ignored the accusers and even vilified them while raising Billy Boy up on a pedestal so high the man should be dead from nose bleeds.

Fast forward to Trump's push to become POTUS. Another bakers dozen of women come forward and accuse Hair Furrer of rape/sexual assault/etc. Again, no hard evidence to prove or disprove their stories. Here the hypocrisy teeter totter miraculously flips. Conservatives who believed the Clinton Accusers whole heartedly scream, “THERE'S NO PROOF! WHY DID THEY WAIT SO LONG TO COME FORWARD? THEY ARE JUST AFTER HIS MONEY! ITS ALL A PLOT!” Meanwhile, the Liberals who cried, “(Insert previous screams here)” over Clinton's accusers were now on the “WE BELIEVE THEM/HE'S EVIL!” train.

Ok we can skip over “Beer” Brett since we covered him already and move on to Meme Joe Green. (See what I did there?) So, before continuing, I do want to point out that the accusations I have seen so far (May have missed one or two so don't yell at me) against Biden definitely fall under the “Inappropriate actions” section of this rant. His actions do not sound overtly sexual to me, just the actions of a old dude from an old time doing what old dudes did. I don't say this to excuse his actions, just to point out that he (As far as I know) did not rape anyone or even “Grab them by the posse!” (That is what Trump said, right?) However, the Hypocrisy Hour Glass of Doom has turned once again.

Liberals are saying things like “Well, that is just the way things were back then” and “He didn't mean anything by doing that” and even the tried and true “If this actually happened, why did they wait so long to report it?” Conservatives are predictably going with believing the accusers and doing everything they can to destroy Biden because he may well be one of the few serious threats to the Toupee that walks like a man getting a second term.

See, here is my thing (OMIGAWD, put that away!). You can't let your moral compass be guided by your politics. If you think that the accusers in sexual assault cases should be believed no matter what, that is okay. It is not precisely fair, but it is okay. If you believe that the accused should be believed no matter what, that is also okay. Again, not fair, but okay. At least you're consistent. However if your morals flip flops with your politics, then you are a hypocritical piece of crap and that is not okay.

Because of the “why did they wait so long/just in it for money and publicity/etc” groups on both sides, actual victims of sexual assault are often too afraid or too ashamed to come forward after an attack. When no one believes them and they are mocked and ridiculed, they feel safer just keeping quiet and living with the horror and shame some animal forced upon them. It is time we started treating possible victims fairly while still protecting the possibly innocent accused. I made a lot of wise cracks and jokes in this blog, but the actual subject is not funny or a joke. It is high time we started to give the victims the help they deserve and punish the monsters so severely that it shows we care. It is also high time, we remember the truth of “Innocent until proven guilty” and protect the accused until such time as it has been proven they are monsters. I actually let the vast majority of hypocrisy go because it would be just too exhausting to cover it all, but this hypocrisy should not be ignored because either way, some innocent person is going to be hurt.

End of Rant

Yay it's over...wait..3 weeks...WTF or Can we just move to Apocalypse Now please?

 Okie Dokie, so our Brilliant.Ultimate.Lavish.Leaders.Serving.Honorably.In.Teamwork (Most people won't get it) have reached an agreement at over a month of the impasse to reopen the Federal Government...for THREE WEEKS! Pause for a second before reading more and ponder that. 30ish days later with over 800,000 people suffering from lack of pay and the Coast Guard not being paid, the mentally challenged monkeys that supposedly run this country reached an agreement that lasts a shorter time than the freaking shut down!

No matter who you blame for the shutdown, this should honk you off. Can you grasp how ridiculous and useless our elected officials have to be to not even be able to compromise and work together enough just to keep the government running? I mean forget working together to fix our failing infrastructure, lack of decent medical care and education. Forget passing laws that might possibly benefit everyone or getting our troops home from places they should have never been. All that is (possibly) complicated and contentious which might be more than the Reboobicans and Damnocrats can handle. No, how about just working together ever how briefly to give the nation they are supposed to be running enough cash to keep going?

I dunno, maybe I am asking too much. Maybe my expectations are unreasonably high. I mean, maybe there are nuances that I just can't see. I mean it's not like there are dozens of other nations that actually manage to operate despite their political differences on the most basic level of actually keeping their governments open. I mean it's not like the US is one of, if not the only nation that regularly shuts itself down at least once a year. It's not like...wait it is like that? Huh, who knew?
Now it is easy to blame Trump for this (Mainly because a lion's share of the fault is his, but moving on.) or “those people.” It's even easier to blame individuals like Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi because they are the visible and vocal faces you see on TV. It is easy to blame the nutters on both sides for being “hardline” and “Obstructionists,” but a handful of individuals would not be enough to derail everything and let this insanity keep happening. No, the blame must lie solely on the group as a whole.

The number of actual hardliners in each party is relatively small. The majority (IMNSHO) is reasonable (Word used very loosely) individuals that could prolly find some common ground to work together at least on the simple stuff. The problem lies in that these reasonable people are too afraid to buck the others or anger their constituents out of fear of not being reelected. So they refuse to be seen “Colluding with the enemy” and generally keep their mouths shut. The few that do speak out are ridiculed or ignored.

Over the 38 years I have been voting (and yes I have voted in every election), I have seen my expectations diminish about what I expect from our “Government.” The innocent dreams of my halcyon youth of a strong, decent government working together to make everyone's lives better has pretty much eroded down to “At least keep the damned thing open and running.” Despite my cynical, snarky and abusive appearance (The scientific term is CSA syndrome), I really do believe that most people are decent, moderately intelligent and caring individuals (For the record, I also believe in Santa, the Easter Beagle and the Tooth Fairy who still owes me $5.00 for that last tooth.) and that we could all work together for the common good. However, how can we even begin to hope to work together when our most visible representatives spend more time flinging (metaphorical usually) feces at each other than actually doing their jobs?

As stated many times in the past, I don't like Republicans or Democrats and I am leery of Libertarians simply because Rand Paul's hair is just too perfect. (I suspect he is an android or maybe a Space Lizard in a human suit.) I think “Liberals” and “Conservatives are too blinded by their own political dogma to actually agree on anything. I think, in its current condition, our government is destined to collapse completely unless all of our “leaders” can stop being morons and get their crap together. Hopefully, this will happen or things are only going to get worse.

End of Rant

GIANT METEORITE IN 2020!