It Only Happens to Other People

Maybe you don't care that donald speaks as if his sentences were produced by a random number generator. After all, not everyone can be a great public speaker, and there is no requirement that presidential candidates demonstrate English fluency.

And maybe you don't care that donald calls for the execution of people who disagree with him. After all, it's just a fantasy, and we have laws to prevent it from actually happening. At least, we do right now.

Maybe you don't care that donald has encouraged his supporters to shoot reporters. After all, it's unlikely they'll take him seriously, right? And if a few reporters are killed, so what? They probably deserved it for revealing how donald speaks, and for showing photos of his makeup. Anyway, we don't actually need to know about current events when we have social media and podcasts to inform us.

And maybe you don't care that donald has called for rounding up millions of immigrants and putting them in detention camps on the way to deporting them. If several thousand citizens get rounded up by mistake, it's a small price to pay for removing all those non-human vermin people from the country. So what if it requires sending the National Guard into neighborhoods to pound on doors and conduct warrantless searches of homes? You've got nothing to hide, right?

It probably hasn't occurred to you that the time will come when you, or people you like, are targeted for imprisonment, deportation, or execution. As time goes on, it could easily happen that your heritage (German, Italian, Armenian, Greek, Spanish, or whatever) could be labeled as a problem, especially if we have a political dispute or war with your ancestors' home country.

Or your church might fall out of favor. Or certain professions, not just reporters, but maybe doctors, architects, teachers, or farmers, could be denounced for not following the party line. Or maybe a spiteful neighbor could report you as a communist, even though all you did was laugh at a joke about donald. Not that you're likely to encounter many of those jokes, once all the comedians are in prison.

 

Hold Still While I "Help" You

Random Thoughts


I want a President who loves this country, not one who thinks America is a garbage can.

People are so angry now, they will curse you for agreeing with them.

One of the ways Pol Pot undermined his country's economy was to deliberately assign people to work in jobs they weren't qualified for.

When we get our voter pamphlet in the mail, I go through it, research the candidates and issues, and then circle my recommendations. Hubby is, of course, free to take my advice or not.

I'm old enough to remember when people expected Presidents to be role models for their children, and every candidate behaved accordingly.

Can you imagine George H. Bush making a series of speeches and repeatedly calling his technical crew stupid? Can you imagine Gerald Ford in an interview suggesting his political opponents should be shot in the face? Can you imagine Ronald Reagan having microphone problems and then threatening to beat up the tech crew?

Stop putting bacon on everything.


 

Politicians and Other Sadists

A few weeks ago, there were a lot of news stories about the CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA), Douglas Hamlin. When Hamlin was in college, he and some of his fraternity brothers tortured a cat to death. At the time, the story received quite a bit of coverage in the local news, with outraged citizens calling for harsh punishments.

The young men did not receive harsh punishments. They had to move out of the fraternity house, but were not expelled from school. Apparently, they paid small fines and were sentenced to community service.

Every article I have seen about this, whether from the time of the crime, or current, has included a description of what these monsters did to that cat. I'm sorry to have that knowledge. I will not repeat it here. Anyone who wants the disgusting details can look it up.

Some people say that this guy shouldn't be penalized for one thing he did over 40 years ago. I say that it probably wasn't an isolated incident. Animal abusers tend to start small and get worse over time. This was such an over-the-top act, it is impossible to imagine that it was the first - or only - time for the participants. Further, sadism is typically just one part of a psychopathology or a personality disorder that rarely improves.

People with antisicial personality disorder display a long-term pattern of disdain for others and violations of others' rights. It is probably no coincidence that a sadistic personality rose to a high position in an organization that habitually minimizes the suffering and deaths of thousands of human beings, and that asserts a "right" that it champions over the right to life.

Links:

NRA faces pressure to suspend CEO Warning: this article includes gruesome details near the end.

The Republican Pet Killing Brigade Note: Contains minor details about violent acts.

Animal Cruelty Facts