Tag: Donald J. Trump
The relevancy of Ben Stein’s boring teachings in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
Tariffs are on the scene in many ways and that is being discussed in many places — factual reports and opinion pieces and such. The world is affected, United States product costs are affected. Farming is affected. The Trump administration continues the plan, with the remedy being everything will be internally produced… or so it seems.
All of this made me think of the pop culture classic comedy film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. One scene, one class, it shows how society reacts to learning about tariff effects on society and states clearly the historical relevance of tariffs on the United States economy. Read More
A pretentious request for a dark title for the President
A little request aimed toward the media and: Can we show the Dotard in Covfefe a little respect and instead of using James Comey’s “mob boss” description, call the man a “would-be Mafia Don” instead? I mean, he — Donald Trump — is the president. I guess being a bit pretentious would be beneficial if not contradictive… Ethical in the wake of an unethical administration, sure, but fitting for a sitting President.
The idea of politics and the NHL cross paths
Russia. Collusion. Obstruction of justice. “Act of War”. You can’t dismiss this stuff and it’s still coming to fruition through Special Counsel Robert Mueller as well as House Intelligence committee hearings and such. Perhaps you look past this or perhaps you turn away from politics in general; there are other things in this world worth attention that aren’t the complication of politics and the riff-raff of the them-vs.-us partisan fray.
Sports are a relief. In one case, though, a sport is in unstated “what-if?” territory. Read More
Political motivation by way of Miister Ferris Bueller?
There’s one movie from the 1980’s that I still find as an asset, the whole perspective is told in such a way that it builds the protagonist in a comical and entertaining way. It’s a movie that stood as a benchmark to be met or exceeded for teen comedies, not just in the 80’s but in cinema, in general, moving forward from that point forward.
“Ferris Bueller, you’re my heer-oh.”
Yet what leads me to this write up is a negative. One line of dialog from Mister Ferris Bueller jumped into my head this morning, a line which I have long known from a scene I’ve long known… And the current world of politics and the grand motivator for the Dotard in Covfefe, Donald J. Trump, popped into my mind.
Is it fitting I link Ferris, Cameron and Sloan’s altercation at Chez Quis restaurant to Trump? Or is it a contradiction: Some kids who are members of the general masses try to get lunch at a high class restaurant in the Chicagoland area? I’m comparing something for this scene to a sitting President of the United States who is high class and thinks he knows populism while he is totally disconnected to the general populous.
Just to cut to the chase, Ferris’ entire concept of getting lunch at Chez Quis starts with him pretending to be Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago. The idea sets off Cameron and Sloan as the maitre’d is not going along with Ferris’ con attempt.
It’s Ferris’ first-person, direct-to-the-camera reaction response to Cameron and Sloan that just seems to explain Trump’s inspiration for continued carelessness…
“A: You can never go too far. B: If I’m going to get busted, it is not going to be by a guy like that.”
A: Donald Trump is going too far. Regularly. The welfare of America is not what’s driving him as-so-much self-gain. B: The question must be asked if Special Counsel Robert Mueller is the “guy-like-that” or someone else. There’s too much evidence in the Trump-Russia probe to expect Mueller not to end up busting Trump. If it’s not him that does it, it will be Congress in one way or another.
I digress; comparing Trump to Bueller is an insult to Ferris Bueller and the ageless piece of cinema from director John Hughes.
`The Land of Opportunity’ stands against itself and the world
I don’t know what’s more disgusting: The Dotard in Covfefe, Donald J. Trump’s “shithole country” triad in the Oval Office of the White House in front of and with a multitude of others (…or we wouldn’t know about this), or those defending the statement in an ignorant response:
“If it wasn’t a shithole nation, then why are people leaving it?”
Someone didn’t pay attention in History class through their schooling. They also likely haven’t put weight on what has been repeated time and time again in film and other pop-culture sources; and by way of it they bless a racist wretch.
America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. It’s been that way for centuries. This nation is founded by immigrants and society is built upon the immigrant population from around the world (some of which was forced immigration in the years of slavery which can’t be denied or looked past). They came here for a chance in so many ways and America itself clung to the notion:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
That does not translate into “their source country was a shithole.” If you’re an American and read that statement and think it does support sullying other countries around the world because they are shitholes – congratulations, you are living in a shithole right now governed by a tyrant who would rather bestow wealth upon himself and the upper-class than those looking for survival or a chance to accomplish a life.
And that tyrant has lived so much of his life only miles from the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, the monument that welcomes immigrants to these shores as accepted brothers and sisters. He’s lived close to it, he’s been exposed to it, and his words and actions as president show he doesn’t know it, doesn’t grasp it, and doesn’t care.
For the people of the world – those outside America – as a citizen of these United States, I apologize for what has been uttered by the president. The nations and people of the world have their own unique flavor and identities. For a person of such stature as the sitting president of a nation to utter slurs against them is ignorant, closed minded and disgusting. For those to defend actions like that is unfathomable and an acceptance of a social world war declared by the small minded.
We’re all unique in this world, we’re all different, and we should not be attacked and bullied because of these differences. We should be more willing to accept each other than denounce because of differences in race, creed and color.
National security violated, and that’s not a partisan issue
Can we stop playing games here and address an ultra serious situation in the United States of America at the moment? The national security of the nation has been compromised. Investigation and action are necessary to deal with the issue and that breach involves the acting President of the United States. That’s a factoid, period. There is no debate other than twisting the story to try to feed those in denial or those paranoid.
Denial and the prospect of collusion acceptance is furthering the nation into political mire that teeters just above third world status. It’s funny how it contradicts the rallying cries of “make America great again” and “drain the swamp.”
Do you disagree with that? How things didn’t really happen or that they’re allowed because it would have been fine if a candidate from the other party had partaken in the issue? See, this is where you can be critical toward the media – the one that you watch and listen to, your hard right/alt-right element of the press – because bending the truth for loyalty toward a member of the US government whose political campaign encouraged the compromising of the United States Electoral System is wrong. And for me to call it wrong sure as shit isn’t a partisan inspired factor.
Let me further stress that: The Trump-Russia scandal is not a politically partisan issue. As I’ve already said, it is an issue of the national security of the United States. Read More
The alternative to “Russiagate”
A couple of months ago, I had written a post here complaining about how “-gate” was an overused scandal term. “Russiagate” just ties Donald Trump to Richard Nixon, while the two presidencies were mired by dissimilar corruption.
Here’s the alternative to -gate that is appropriate here: сговор. It’s the Russian word for “collusion”. Trump сговор would be the appropriate title. There are other appropriate terms best used in Russian to label the situation, but сговор seems like the one most visually appealing (and easiest to type — though I’m using copy+paste). Treason (измена), scandal (скандал) and corruption (коррупция) are fitting but difficult to re-create in English typsets. Then again, I didn’t try the gesture… That’s fun and games for another time. Right now, or focus should be on the disaster that is Trump сговор.
EDIT: To change character sets changes the words vastly –
sgovor. – collusion
izmena – treason
skandal – scandal
korrupcija – corruption
I’ve drawn a political conclusion by way of the Piano Man
I’ve come to a conclusion: The waitress practicing politics while the businessmen slowly get stoned would be a more politically affluent and effective President of the United States than Donald J. Trump. Your move, Billy Joel.
Sounding protest of under-exposure of a high-level protest song
If you haven’t heard, Bruce Springsteen has partnered with an old chum and his group to protest President Donald J. Trump by way of a song. If you haven’t noticed, protests are becoming a mainstay and for the entertainment industry to show issue with Trump was to be expected.
There’s a failure here though. Not in the second day it’s public, at least.And no, this isn’t a partisan position, it’s simply something you have to do with music to really accomplish anything.
A message might be conveyed in “That’s What Makes Us Great” (the name of the song in question), but hearing that message in any way, shape or form only seems to be available via purchasing the song. Not from Google Play, the Apple Store, Amazon or another avenue, but from Joe Grushecky (Springsteen’s partner in this). No preview of the song is available to listen to either.
In essence, this has caused buzz, it’s aused interest, it’s caused talking, you can find a ton of that through a simple Google search. What it’s also caused is musical silence unless you pay the piper first. It’s a 99 cent song, but a way to truly compel people to want to buy the thing is to let them hear some of it first.
It’s like that Top 100 list I published the other day: Plenty of music, plenty of music underexposed to the masses. The big difference here is tha a music titan is who is a key performer in the song. That alone will drive some sales while wait-to-see/hear stops others.
I’d guess it’s only a matter of time before this goes further in where it’s sold, or if one streaming site or another gets to air it. Until then, it’s just chatter for the masses.
EDIT April 25, 2017: posted late last week but lost in a mire of video/news coverage of the song — the song itself:
Right-versus-wrong and the ongoing gaffe of the Presidency of Donald Trump
I was not a fan of the last Republican president, George Walker Bush. There are plenty of posts in the history of this web site that show it. Partisanship and ideology were the key areas that divided me from the president known as Dubya. Partisanship seems to be the basis for defense of the current Commander in Chief of these United States, Donald J. Trump.
Partisanship, the political divide between Republicans and Democrats, has nothing to do with much of what is setting off alarm bells and upsetting citizens. Read More
Regarding “Fake News”
When you’re president of the United States of America, you’re exposed to loads of data. Most presidents are exposed to private data that the public never knows (intelligence briefings, security stuff). And the world roasts and laughs at stuff known as “fake news” – satire, humor – that comes out that traditionally mocks the administration, other political or public figures, or simply plays with stories of the world.
Now, if you’re reading that and thinking you’re missing out because you’re not compelled to laugh at CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, CBS News, ABC News, the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc, etc, etc… I hate to break it to you but these are longtime, distinguished news organizations that report facts (though partisan accusations are also tied to them). Their tenures are all multitudes longer than Donald J. Trump’s involvement in politics.
And when an administration builds up the concept of “alternate facts” which are outright lies, which is the epitome of “fake news”. It becomes laughable that someone of political stature pulls this act. It’s not that political people telling lies and pushing them on the public is foreign, it’s just when they are such broad lies and it’s a repeated folly that it starts to draw the ire of those who share information with the public (aka news organizations).
Right now as many sit on the side of Trump because he is a Republican and shares ideologies with them, it seems like partisanship is what carries the “fake news” label: “Because Donald Trump is on my side of the fray and the media keeps speaking down about him, they’re the enemy as that’s how Donald Trump has marked them.” Never mind the fact they’re showing and repeating his own actions which leads to the ire from Trump himself.
Real “fake news” can be outright dismissed because it holds no sway or bearings; they’re dismissive, unimportant lies that get brushed over or ignored. That happens every day of the week in this world at the public level and in the media (via comedy).
This brings me to intelligence leaks and Trump both going nuts and downplaying the data (or attempting to) as “fake news”. If it truly was fake, irrelevant news, why did it lead to the resignation of a high profile member of the administration? Why is the leak now sought by Trump and put down by him?
This isn’t attempting to be a partisan attack, people. If you are on the political right and see truth in “fake news” labeling from Trump, what you’re seeing is Donald Trump upset that he isn’t getting played up while his actions as president have been divisive (the immigration executive order) and non-secure (Mar-A-Lago last week), let alone in conflict with allies around the globe along with more security issues nationally (U.S. / Russia ties on the sly). That’s not something to side with, not with how he’s done it. It’s also not a reason to consider news “fake”.
For those of us who want attention and to be in the spotlight, it hurts to have a negative be what the attention happens to be. That’s Donald Trump’s reaction to news coverage. His chaotic path (immigration, the Yemen attack, the anti-environmental scree, his dislike of due process, etc and how he handles them) draws the negative reaction. That’s not a partisan reaction; it’s a reaction to a president forcing his hand (with little involvement in the process) during his first 30 days in power.
“Fake news”? Y’know, for all the anti-Saturday Night Live messages that Trump has tweeted, he’s co-opting a label from two decades ago when Norm Macdonald hosted “Weekend Update” on the show. Macdonald would spew the line before he started his dignified-yet-comedic act. It was done for humor sake.
Trump’s bellowing of “fake news”? He doesn’t like how he’s framed and it paints him in a negative light – because the story and facts (not “alternate facts”) frame the picture as just that: negative.
