Thoughts on the trump-Kim Summit

I’m going to dispense with my usual warmup and verbal mockery of trump for this one, because maybe he’ll get this one right in the end. To be honest, I don’t care how we achieve peace or who gets us there, as long as the job gets done.

So to begin, I am always in favor of changing the math in any equation. We have been trying to isolate North Korea for decades, ever since the Korean War ended (although it technically is just an armistice, not a peace treaty). Since nothing has really changed, except North Korea is getting

We’ve also been conducting military exercises with South Korea, and elsewhere in the world, we’ve been throwing our particularly insane form of soft imperialism all over the place (from Vietnam to the perpetual War on Terror). The result is that we’re known for declaring someone an enemy and then blowing up some of a country to force regime change, especially post-9/11 (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen). (Not surprisingly, there’s a whole Wikipedia post that lists it all.) Post-WWII, our foreign policy has been nothing but dicking with other countries.

Add to that the actions trump has taken so far. He’s been feuding with Mexico over the stupid border wall, is talking about scrapping NAFTA and other trade agreements. He generally insults and berates his allies. He took the Iran nuclear deal and flushed that unilaterally. He’s been verbally punching the Chinese for a while now. Then there’s the tariff debacle. And  up until these negotiations got serious, he was blathering on Twitter about nuking North Korea (or whatever, I actually block his tweets so as to remain less stupid).

If you were Kim Jong-Un, would you really trust the US or trump?

This is not to say I’m taking Kimmy’s side. He’s a despotic tin-horn dictator who, like his father and grandfather before,  tortures, abuses, and kills his people on a daily basis, while trying to prove he can hang with the big dogs by waving a nuclear dick. It’s a tiny nuclear dick, but size doesn’t matter; it’s how you use it. (Seriously, you didn’t think I’d not slip in a dick joke somewhere, did you?)

So for us, the purpose of the summit was to get some ground on denuclearization, and go from there. For Kim, he wants the photo op which equals international recognition, concessions from the US on the military exercises, and a lifting of the sanctions.

So before we go down the scorecard, let me reiterate a point: Any change that advances the cause of peace is something I’d score as a win (even if it’s miniscule).

North Korea got a promise that the US would stop the joint military exercises. Additionally, Kim got treated like the leader of one of the nations of the world and got his photo op.

The United states got a fuzzy promise (similar to others made before) to denuclearize, with no specifics or clear timetable, and dick all else.

The state of North Korea’s people was skipped altogether, so the human rights nightmare is unchanged.

I’ll let the pundits fight it out whether trump was a magnificent and strong leader who made historic peace, or was a weak fool who gave the evil North Korea everything they could hope for in exchange for nothing. I’ve already seen both arguments, and it’s too damned soon to be sure of anything.

I personally will count this as a win, because, as I pointed out above, the equation has changed, in that the two leaders met and talked. And as much as I despise him, trump does know how to read and charm people when he wants to. It’s the skill that got him where he is. And he might be able to at least open the doors of the hermit kingdom a little.

Now this has been compared to other meetings of formerly antagonistic leaders (Nixon and Mao, Reagan and Gorbachev, etc). It’s too soon to say this is one of those. But talking (rather than pointing guns) has had a great effect for achieving peace and opening the way for more relations. I remember a documentary about Reagan’s multiple meetings with Gorbachev, which started sour after Reagan’s early bluster and eventually changed both men for the better.  That’s my hope here. It probably won’t mean freedom for North Korea in the next decade at least. But it’s a step.

And in diplomacy, any step in the right direction is a good thing.

Also, unrelated to everything I’ve said above, I want to see trump succeed here just so he is rightly eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize (AKA the Nobel Attendance Award for when they gave it to Obama for getting elected). As much as I can’t stand him, the nevertrump #resistance is too often as stupid as trump, and I want to watch their heads explode. here’s a visual of what that might look like:

Another Day, Another Bombing (Syria Edition)

So overnight, word came that the air strikes promised (in usual, idiotic form on Twitter by President Assface McDicktits) after the use of poison gas, allegedly by the leadership of Syria, have occurred. This post, however, is not about the specifics in this conflict, or the Mongoloid-in-Chief, or whether this particular strike was justifiable in the context of the current situation. This is because I don’t know all the specifics, and I’m certain that no one is sharing all the facts. And that’s the problem with this bombing, and the perpetual war.

Governments throughout history have used partial, and sometimes misleading, and more-often-than-we’d-like-to-admit false information to gin up support for wars, whether justifiable wars for freedom, or wars of naked aggression. And being libertarian, I’ve heard arguments all the way to the extreme that ALL our wars since our war for independence have been immoral wars.  Some of those arguments have merit, others may not. But what everything from WWII and before had was a clear resolve by the government, and specifically our elected representatives, to commit ourselves to war.

After that, the waters became murkier. We had the stalemate of Korea and the great clusterfuck that was Vietnam. That was followed almost immediately by the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was supposed to check the power of the President to commit us to war without authorization by Congress, specifically through an Authorization for Use of Military Force, known commonly today as an AUMF (more on this in a minute).

After this, we had various little police actions, the occasional lobbing of a bomb here or there for some reason or another, until 1989, and the first Gulf War, which was a lot of buildup with a week of ass kicking. This was the culmination of a pattern of sending in military forces to deal with a local or regional issue, fixing a strategic “problem” for the US government, but planting the seeds for another problem in the future.

Something of note, Saddam Hussein had that big military because we were helping him against Iran, who was our enemy since 1979, when they kicked out the Shah, who was effectively the puppet leader for the US Government. And as a result, we had a lot more soldiers in Saudi Arabia, which pissed off a guy named Osama bin Laden, who consequently tried organizing bombing some buildings in New York, before getting it right in 2001, when 18 mostly-Saudi terrorists pulled off the most successful and horrific terrorist attack in our history.

After this, we’ve gotten two of those AUMFs. In 2001, to go after the terrorists in Afghanistan, and in 2003 to go after Saddam Hussein (again) and a whole bunch of WMDs (which magically disappeared, maybe to Syria?).

I look at that last line and thought it sounded jokey. Then I realized it wasn’t.

Because after 9/11, even a limit like the War Powers Resolution really ceased to mean shit, since presidents since have  been using those authorizations to “bomb the shit” (using the current idiot’s vernacular) out of whomever the US government has decided is a terrorist (in the broadest sense possible).

For those who want to blame Bush, it took 7 years of increasing neglect by Congress. Then we had 8 years of 0bama destabilizing shit through bomb slinging (despite talking about peace all through his campaign). And now we have the jackwagon supreme trump keeping up that tradition.

And none of this is meant to excuse people being gassed, most likely by their own government. But our inability to not rush in and blow shit up every time someone looks askance at us, or an ally, or someone we might have sympathy for, has led us, in effect, into a state of perpetual war, often over things that are not at all a vial national interest (despite what any POTUS says).

The problem with an interventionist foreign policy is twofold. First, there will always be assholes murdering their people and doing things we don’t like. To try to police all of this is both ineffective in the long run, and conversely, it tends to breed more problems in the future (ex. ISIS). Second, we often do this with the support of allies. The fact is that we spend massive amounts of money to keep the military going, as much as the next ten or so nations combined. And most of them are allies. As long as we’re willing to pay to police the world, other nations have no reason to police themselves, or each other.

The fact that we’re lobbing bombs yet again, for some country’s civil war, and trying to reawaken some good ol’ cold war standoff with Russia in the process, is a prime example of how ridiculous our foreign policy has become.

So everyone needs to step up to protest this, whether you despise the doofus in the White House, or you some how support him. ESPECIALLY if you support him, get him to stop the war. Because at some point, US foreign policy will ignite a larger war. And if trump wants a legacy for people to point to, ending the perpetual cycle of war is one that we could all embrace, and rightfully hail him for achieving.

Obligatory SOTU Punishment Post

I really don’t want to go through this speech, but I feel a need to.

First, though, let me get my caveat and the obligatory trigger warning for people who whine aboot that shit out of the way:

TRIGGER WARNING: trump sucks ass.

I’m going to try to not insult the blithering dickstool trump during my analysis, as it’s not about the worthless moronic shitbag, but of his administration, accomplishment, and plans, which should be seriously considered. So I will refrain from insulting his manhood, common sense, or his utter lack of human decency.

Now I’ll also be going solely off the transcript, because I’d rather drink bleach while being raped my midgets with razor-spike strapons who are also juggling chainsaws, as well as something about dogs with bees in their mouths, than listen to the asspile POTUS spout his mindless shit. Yeah, I really don’t like the stupid motherfucker.

And I’m going to mostly ignore the empty rhetorical flourishes that are standard fare for a SOTU speechSo now that I’m done with the insults, let’s get on with the serious shit:

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So he starts by talking about actual Americans, and their work in tragedy and chaos, and how this shows the greatness of America, and the things that bring us together. To quote:

So let us begin tonight by recognizing that the state of our Union is strong because our people are strong.

No argument. Yet….

Then he gets into the booming economy. This is not a trump-specific criticism, as every POTUS does it, but the president is generally not responsible or to blame primarily for what is happening with the economy, especially only a year in. That being said, the corporate tax cut and the push to eliminate regulations have certainly not hurt, and will probably be one of the highlights of the trump years (for the love of the FSM, please make it only 4).

Then there’s this line:

And we celebrate our police, our military, and our amazing veterans as heroes who deserve our total and unwavering support.

Okay, again, this is not just trump I’m calling out on this, although I would rate him worse than average in his actions. And what I’m calling out is, in essence, the deification of the professions of law enforcement and the military. To be clear, both have hard jobs, significant risk, and a great deal of power (they wield force at the behest of the government). But in turn, this national need to call them all heroes, even when they generally aren’t performing actual heroic acts, and placing them on a pedestal, has led to truly horrible policing practices at home, and an eternal expansion of the military half of the military-industrial complex. This needs to stop. Respect, yes; “total, unwavering support,” no.

And as for standing for the national anthem, a protest is completely valid when a sporting event is turned into a compulsory patriotic display.

A quick one:

For the last year we have sought to restore the bonds of trust between our citizens and their Government.

Fuck you. I’m a libertarian. Move on.

On appointing judges, if they’re of the caliber of Justice Neil Gorsuch, he’s got this right.

He goes on from there to talk about eliminating regulations. As I said above, this is a positive from his first year, and is having a positive impact on the economy. Of course, when he then talks about unfair trade deals, the word protectionism should just be flashing in giant fucking neon behind him. Because a fair trade deal is something that two companies agree to, with no force or fraud involved. Note that I left out the government completely. The solution is not renegotiating, it’s making trade as free as possible. and “fair” trade is not free trade.

This has been a longstanding problem with trump, even before he started in politics, with his love of government power through shit like eminent domain, because thugs gonna thug. This should have been a disqualifier among the conservative base of the GOP, but tribalism trumps all.

Speaking of eminent domain, we get to the first truly stupid thing in the speech:

Tonight, I am calling on the Congress to produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment we need.

$1.5 TRILLION. That’s with a T. $1,500,000,000,000. One Trillion, 500 Billion Dollars. To put that number in perspective, we’ve racked up $20 trillion in debt over my lifetime (I’m 44). The budget for the entire government is a little over $4 trillion. And 8 years ago, I seem to remember 0bama talking about shovel-ready jobs, and a less expensive rebuilding of the same infrastructure. He was shoveling shit then, and trump is shoveling $1.5 TRILLION worth of it now.

And now we come to the real bullshit:

For decades, open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities. They have allowed millions of low-wage workers to compete for jobs and wages against the poorest Americans. Most tragically, they have caused the loss of many innocent lives.

And then….

Tonight, I am calling on the Congress to finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13, and other criminals, to break into our country. We have proposed new legislation that will fix our immigration laws, and support our ICE and Border Patrol Agents, so that this cannot ever happen again.

He then goes on to list four pillars of this.

First, there’s the pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers. No argument here.

Then comes the wall. The stupid, wasteful, futile, pointless, counterproductive, immoral fucking wall. A wall is only good if it will work. And it won’t because it’s a fucking wall over thousands of miles, and is being used to restrict the right of migration and fight the immoral and evil war on drugs , in addition to keeping out the “bad hombres” that Trump says it’s designed to do. If there is motivation, then people are going over (or under, or through, or around) the wall. FYI, they tried a wall in Berlin. That didn’t work out too well.

The third and fourth deal with legal immigration. He wants less. And with a nightmare of a system to come here legally (race-based quotas, half a lifetime to become a citizen, etc), that means the wall becomes even less effective.

In short, the idea of limiting immigration, which has its roots in progressive-era racism, is a moral atrocity, and something that the GOP rejected back in the 80s (you know, the venerated Reagan era, the benchmark for conservative Utopia). It’s no wonder people are screaming racist.

And let me address that. As fucking vile as trump is, he is not a racist. At worst, he uses nativist rhetoric to achieve his end. While this is reprehensible, the loonies on the left are only helping the asshat by continuing to equate EVERYTHING that trump says with racism, sexism, misogyny, etc. It’s called feeding the troll, except the fucking troll is also the POTUS, and you’re feeding the paranoia of all these anti-left groups. It’s basically a paranoia-hate-circle-jerk. And fuck me sideways it’s making shit a lot worse, all because a bunch of whackjobs keep obsessing over shit that’s really not that fucking important if you’re just trying to live.

Speaking of trying to live:

Around the world, we face rogue regimes, terrorist groups, and rivals like China and Russia that challenge our interests, our economy, and our values. In confronting these dangers, we know that weakness is the surest path to conflict, and unmatched power is the surest means of our defense.

The Cold War ended in the 90s. Russia is a wreck, and at most capable of regional shit. China’s economy is so tied to exporting to America that they wouldn’t jeopardize that on a stupid war. And since we spend more than the next 7 most powerful countries on our military, I don’t think strength is an issue. The problem is the soft imperialism we’ve been doing since Ike was President: finding an enemy (starting with the Red Menace/Yellow Peril and going down from there, throwing soldiers at it, to “liberate the people (often by bombing the shit out of people we think are the bad guy), and then wondering why terrorism exists.

Again, this is not to say trump is a warmonger (except on Twitter, where he’s a goddam fool). In fact, as far as election rhetoric, he appeared to be better than Hillary in this. Of course, like Obama before him, once he had the big guns, he started using them, continuing the perpetual War on Terror into its 17th year, with “victory” being defined by blowing up the terrorist flavor of the month.

Thankfully, he didn’t start even more shit with North Korea, the one country crazy/stupid enough to pull the nuclear trigger if we push them to far. I wonder if they actually believe their own bullshit, or they’ll fold like a house of cards in a fighter jet exhaust if we really started shit, since we could probably end the suffering of all of North Korea by mass nuclear extermination and still have enough to kill the rest of the world.

In short, we absolutely shouldn’t, and trying to use force to change other countries never works (unless you kill everyone, of course). You don’t beat an enemy’s ideology with bluster and guns and embargoes. You do it with trade and spoken truth. Evil will fall, because people yearn to be freer than they are when they’re not dodging drones.

And that’s it, except for several minutes of bog-standard “America Fuck Yeah!” speechifying.

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So there it is. There were good things and bad things, all spewed out by someone who really needed the taste slapped out his mouth rather than to be elected by a country that keeps lurching toward tyranny (whether leaning left or right). Everything he’s said in this speech we’ve heard before, only related with the intellect of shit on toast. And outside of the dickheads on Team Red and Team Blue, it’s a mixed bag of a few good things, a lot of awful crushing government bullshit, and words meant to evoke emotion if you don’t listen to the meaning.

So on a scale from one to ten, I’d rate this speech fuck trump.  Because fuck trump.

We’re STILL Talking About the Knee Thing?

I had kind of forgotten about the whole NFL #TakeaKnee thing since that was last year or something, and plenty of other horrible political things (mainly, whack jobs from both the right and left) have showed up. But lo and behold, in an effort to make sure that no pointlessly divisive thing ever dies, my favorite politician and person in the whole wide world (if you can’t taste the level of sarcasm…), President Fuckdick McShitcock chimed in calling them “sons of bitches” or something because they’re obviously not patriots but spoiled rich NFL players or some shit.

So, since I haven’t thrown my 2 cents into this, let’s take a look.

The argument is not over whatever is being protested (although protesting police brutality and racial bias in the black community is something worth protesting over). It’s only about whether kneeling in protest makes you unpatriotic, and un-American and shit.  And I’ve heard vets argue on both sides.

Taking a knee falls under the same category of free speech/expression as flag burning. In short, it’s pretty damned protected free speech.

As the son and grandson of veterans, and as someone who understands why the freedom of speech is  in the constitution and the flag code is not (and yes, I’ve read up on my flag code), let me be clear on this. If someone is making what you consider to be a disrespectful display toward our flag, then you should probably address the political point they are trying to make, and not worrying about the fact that they don’t measure up to what you consider patriotic.

Because while the ideals of America are worth striving for, the United States often sucks ass. Even most trump voters should know this, since they voted for the shitbag to come in and blow shit up (figuratively, I hope).

And on that subject, the other part of the problem is the almost compulsory show of patriotism and almost mindless worship of the state that we have had at most sporting events (especially after 9/11). Every event needs a color guard. And the playing of the anthem, which ends with a lot of hooting and hollering from people bedecked in flag-themed cloths (which, by the way, does violate flag code). And if it’s a significant NFL game (or fuckin’ NASCAR), then we gots to have some jets fly over and shit. Because ‘Murica.

Patriotism is not defined by how straight you stand while belting out our national anthem (which, musically, sucks) at a football game, or how many and how large your flags are, or whether you’re (metaphorically, mostly, because Bill Clinton) sucking off the asshole in the oval office sufficiently to prove your loyalty. It’s measured in how you strive to help everyone achieve liberty and justice. And even though some of us have really stupid and fucked up notions of what comprises liberty and justice, (insert your preferred political whackjob here), it’s the pursuit of those goals, and support of the ideals of this country that make it more possible, that really matters.

So if you feel you have to boycott the NFL because the team owners don’t really want to get into a political mess and want to keep their best players, and therefore don’t start firing those who are quietly protesting, despite what a certain dickbag P(OS)OTUS might say, then go ahead. If you want to take a knee, then take a knee. But let’s drop the idea that we need to draw absolutist lines over every fucking thing in the world, make everything an us versus them situation, and make everything political.

Oh, and for the record, I’m, taking a fucking knee for freedom of speech.

Mel Brooks and Cards Against Humanity

So I hopped on Twitter today to see Mel Brooks trending. My first assumption, as he’s 91, is that he’s also dead. Easy assumption to make, since Twitter loves to talk about the dead.

Thankfully the cmedy legend is still very much alive. It turned out wit was just an interview that has people talking. You should check it out and come back. If you don’t have the time, the gist of it is simple:

‘We have become stupidly politically correct, which is the death of comedy,’ Brooks said. ‘It’s not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering in the king’s ear, always telling the truth about human behaviour.’

This is nothing we haven’t heard before. But today, I connected it with one of my favorite games in the world: Cards Against Humanity.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I play a lot of games (I have a dungeon map on my desk and both the 3.5 and 5e version of D&D off to my left), and pretty much enjoy almost any game (Except Candyland. Fuck that shit.). But CAH stands out for two reasons: 1. it’s a party game that has a high amount of randomness, and an incredibly simple ruleset, and 2. it’s the filthiest fucking game you ever had your earholes raped with.

(note: reason #2 above is not nearly as vulgar as the game. If you don’t believe me, and the kids aren’t in the room and you’re not at work, here’s the Tabletop episode where they play it.)

To explain the game, one person picks a black question card, everyone else plays a white answer card, the person who plays the black card picks the best or funniest answer, and the winner gets the card (as a point). There are a couple other rules, but it’s mostly just that. But where it gets entertaining (and utterly brilliant) is that the questions and answers are sickeningly politically incorrect, vulgar, perverse, and offensive (ex. there’s a white card with the answer “Pac-Man uncontrollably guzzling cum.”). That’s the whole point, which is where I’m going in this article.

This game gives us permission to say all the really horrible, fucked-up things we wouldn’t normally say or think. It’s a chance to not worry about offending anyone, because it’s mostly cathartic jokes about incest, racism, sexism, rape, murder, genocide, and all the other things that are entertaining when you’re not worried about what people will think of you (because it’s on the cards).

This is the same point ol’ Mel was making. Comedy works best when you push the line, find some group to offend, and say shit that, if you weren’t joking, would get you in deep shit. And when we arbitrarily decide jokes about something are “not funny” then comedy dies a little.

On a final note, if I’m sober, and I’m playing CAH, I win, because I am the worst human in existence. Except that I’m not. Except in my head.

When You Give a Hack a Gun….

The latest attempt by the GOP to “repeal” Obamacare, the Graham-Cassidy bill (whatever the hell it’s called) is a piece of shit. At least that’s what a few (probably all, but I ain’t got the time) left-leaning sites are saying. Of course, one of the big hangups is that absolutist softball known as abortion. The GOP is going to use the power of the purse to cut off more funding for abortion.

No fucking shit. That’s what the GOP does. This is not a surprise, or a shock, or anything anyone with a brain and an IQ above that of the average voter could have predicted.

Needless to say, I don’t really care if it passes because it really only means one group gets screwed at the expense of another, just like the last time. Last time, of course, was that piece of shit called Obamacare, which royally screwed anyone not on medicare or medicaid or with a nice insurance package with a large company. And Obamacare only replaced the shit buffet that was the utterly horrible clusterfuck of inbred quasi-government-controlled plans that were around before, which du to government fuckery had become so divorced from the free market that anyone who says it was the free market deserves the taste slapped right out of their mouth.

And no matter what else happens, I know my sister’s insurance rates (she’s self-employed and makes good money) will still keep going further through the roof (of a skyscraper), because she can afford to be milked like a cow (in the eyes of the government).

But it reminds me of something that everyone seems to forget when they start screaming (in this case, the left screaming about how the GOP wants to destroy health care). And that is that when you give power to the party in power, inevitably, the other party will inherit that power and do the opposite (except just repeal the bill and eliminate the power).

The perpetual war on terror is another example. The left bitched incessantly about abuse of war powers when it was Bush murdering people with drones. The right was unhappy when it was Obama and his kill list murdering people (including American citizens in foreign countries). And all the power that the Republican Congress abdicated to Bush, and the Democrat Congress left in place for Obama, is now in the hands of President Dickface McAssballs, who will now use drones to bomb the shit out of more people.

This is a central tendency of government: Unless it is forced by statute or by popular uprising to abdicate a power, then it is going to keep that power forever. And add more.

So there’s a simple lesson to learn here. Any time you give any power to government, you need to make sure it’s not a power that you don’t want the other assholes to have. Because in 4-8 years, they will.

On Memorial Day

As the son and grandson of veterans, Memorial day growing up was a ritual of taking in a solemn parade, then spending time in the graveyard at ceremonies. Those conducting the ceremonies were often ill-suited to the purpose, their speeches clumsy, and readings a stuttering mess. But there was always sincerity in their hearts despite the awfulness, and by the time we reached the playing of taps, and the volleys were fired, the weight of the moment was clearly present.

Within the cemetery where we stood, and in the Catholic one across the street, were the many graves of veterans who had served honorably. Most had been laid to rest after their time in war, and some came from the battlefield to this place. The decoration of those graves by an increasingly elderly (at least in my mind) cadre of ladies from the American Legion, is a tradition from the original Decoration Day, dating back to the post-Civil War era.

Now, with years and knowledge under my belt, I have to pause and consider if all the pomp and ceremony in celebrating and honoring the fallen warriors is part of the problem that has led us into our suicidal foreign policy.

To clarify, I don’t believe for a moment that those who served, and especially those who died, were not deserving of great honor for their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the ideals of this country, whether because they were drafted, or because they volunteered. The debt to them for their service can never be paid in full.

But one way we can honor those willing to lay down their lives for this country is to not put them in the situation where it is asked of them in the first place, when other options are available to us. Since the founding of this country, and against the advice of the founding fathers, the United States has repeatedly sought foreign entanglements, both diplomatic, and military. From the War of 1812, which was the first unnecessary war; to the the Civil war, a mix of honorable crusade against the worst of human rights abuses mixed with the aggression of an imperial North; to military adventurism all around our borders, best personified by the crazy uncle of progressives everywhere, the thug Teddy Roosevelt; onward through World War 1, which then spawned World War 2, which led to America as the “leader of the free world” and entangling alliances that have tied us to the unholy amount the government spends on “defense” compared to every other country out there in fighting the Cold War and beyond, it’s a pattern of America pushing itself into conflicts that could be resolved without sacrificing brave soldiers who believe in the cause but don’t know why we fight, except for the incessant propaganda we are fed, while simultaneously sowing the seeds of the next war.

In the ongoing perpetual and futile War on Terror, this has reached a fever pitch, with no one too prominent as voices for reason and peace, and the only strong popular antiwar sentiment present when Team Blue is using it to score points on Team Red (ie, Iraq during the Bush years). We’ll hear that in the next few years again, as the idiot manchild trump (who, during the campaign, was less pro-war than Hillary Clinton, despite his desire to “bomb the shit” out of some of the government’s enemies) starts up the next batch of limited conflicts that we’ll be told are necessary to protect this country from the current boogeyman (ISIS, or the generic raghead terrorist that doesn’t like Ariana Grande [insert joke in extremely poor taste here, because that’s just some cold shit]).

This reminds me of one of the GOP debates from 2008, specifically the exchange between Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani, concerning terrorism and blowback. I was still on Team Red Kool-aid at the time, so OF COURSE I cheered Giuliani for blowing that senile libertarian’s argument out of the water with his brilliant response of: “TERRORISM IS BAD, KILL ALL THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS UNTIL THEY’RE DEAD AS A DICK IN A CHEESE GRATER! U!S!A! U!S!A!”

(Note, I may have paraphrased a little on that quote, but that’s basically what I heard.)

But as I embraced a libertarian mode to thought, I finally, truly began to understand the idea of blowback, the concept that when our country is sitting in a shitload of countries with a standing army and blowing shit up in other countries, and making deals with some thug bastards to fight other thug bastards (ex. the Iraqi army the USA blew up in the first Gulf War was one we funded partially in the 80s so Saddam could fuck up Iran), someone’s bound to get pissed and find  way to fight back. Osama bin Laden said as much. And we’re in a perpetual blowback loop with the War on Terror here, as every “win” is a recruitment tool, and every loss justification to not only perpetuate the war but strip away erode civil rights like a sexy undress game with 90-year-old sex parts underneath: We think we’re going to like it, but damn that shit is scary when the wrinkles get down there (been there, seen that).

Consider what we would do if another country attacked us for some reason, and although they had every justification in their minds, it was our people that ended up as corpses on an air field or buried in a ship beneath a harbor, or crushed in a building as it fell on them. Yeah, I’m talking Pearl Harbor and 9/11. We reacted loudly and violently to both of those attacks, although our government had been giving those enemies plenty of reasons to hit us. As long as we meet violence with overwhelming violence, far beyond that which is necessary to defend ourselves (come on, we’re still in Afghanistan for some fucking reason), this spiral of escalation will never end.

So as we honor the fallen heroes, we owe it to them, and to all veterans, to stop repeating the mistakes of the last two centuries, to stop letting our government kill with impunity and give the aforementioned terrorists more reasons to want to kill us, and to break a cycle where our government finds an enemy and we all “do our part” to perpetuate what is essentially military porn to the godawful sound of Lee Greenwood belting out the shit tune “God Bless the USA” while jets fly overhead, which then gets recut with kickass war footage and set to the Team America: World Police theme.

America, FUCK YEAH!

Why Libertarians Aren’t Winning Forever

In looking through my twitter feed, I see the usual stuff. Most people don’t like the GOP. Or Democrats. Or the president. Or congress. Or the _________ (insert shitty government agency). Or the government.

So it continually amazes me that most people (especially the majority that don’t belong to either of the major parties) haven’t uprooted and come running to the libertarian philosophy, looking to get as much of the bullshit that comes with an imperial government right the hell out of their way.

Then I remember all my libertarian brethren. To be specific, it was a tweet in my timeline:

This should be fun.. #LibertarianIN pic.twitter.com/BmUBxv4lUb

— Libertarians of IN (@LPIN) April 15, 2017

Now for those of you who are not that familiar with libertarian policy, Statism is essentially the polar opposite of a pure libertarian “state.” and I have to put that in quotes, because the end of the libertarian philosophy is a stateless world, or more likely a minimal state whose only function is the protection of life, liberty and property (sorry to all you anarcho-capitalists, but you might be a little Utopian in your thinking).

But philosophical infighting aside (PLEASE!?!?!?), the above tweet, of course, devolved into what I’d expect, with all the humor and gusto of people shooting down easy targets. But among the responses I realized something. We are libertarians because we have come to an understanding that the governing philosophies we were taught growing up were comprised mostly of bullshit that most everyone accepts.

The “Who will build the roads?” question is a perfect example. Until I really began looking at it, I, like almost everyone, assumed it would be the government at various levels. Like the most justifiable parts of a minarchist government (police, judiciary, roads), people treat almost everything in government as a bare necessity. They may have a pet program or two they’d like to see die in a fire, but people are comfortable with the level of government we have. When the government says we need to fight a war, the majority cheer for war. When a president says we need to go to the moon, we go to the moon. We, as a country have accepted the idea of a big government, even most people who rail against it.

I have ho clue how the hell you overcome a century of what is effectively brainwashing that we are a democracy (FUCK DEMOCRACY!!!), that government is here to help, and there are things only government can do/solve. But do it we must.

This is the task for Libertarians to achieve though. And it doesn’t start by calling the person who repeats “patriotic” mantras that have been shoved in their eyeholes and earholes (and a few other holes) a statist. Education has always been the means of bringing about a libertarian reality.

So while playing Statist Bingo (found that in the tweetstorm that followed) is always fun, the statists win when we make our position sound like it’s held by a bunch of assholes (even if, as libertarians, we tend to be assholes). After all, the shithead president trump was elected largely on people being pissed about being talked down to by the establishment, among other things. That trump was actually the establishment in the guise of a snake oil salesman doesn’t matter. It came down to perception. And that’s where we need to change who we are.  Not the substance (oh HELL no!), but in the perception of what we believe and more importantly, why.

It’s really up to us, those who see the lie that is statism, to help others see what they’ve been taught all their lives is really the greatest lie ever told.

Thoughts on trump’s Joint Address

First of all, I think I’d have liked it more if it had been a JOINT address. As in if I’d smoked a joint before watching.  Because I don’t remember any of these speeches that didn’t piss me off. At least in the last decade, since I got my libertarian on. But I figured I’d give Cheeto Hitler (I love that name!) a chance to make the case for what he wants to do without the political rhetoric of the campaign.

Overall, fuck the asshole. At least I had fun live tweeting it. Can you imagine what trump’s Twitter feed will look like tomorrow? BAD!

And now, let’s look at what’s good and mostly bad in the speech. I’ll leave out the usual pomp and bullshit and meaningless platitudes, because every president feels the need to jerk off the whole ‘Murica thing. Or they all believe the shit.

First, he took credit for a bunch of companies investing in America. Um, no. Some may have done so because they think business under Trump will be better than it would have been under Hillary Clinton. Although two of the companies, GM and Chrysler, are bailout companies, and Lockheed is a military contract whore. More on the military coming up.

As for his idea of deregulation at a 2-1 rate? Good, although not adding regulations at all would be better.

Like immigration. The freedom to travel should be upheld, with the government power to turn away actual criminals (no quotas and profiling bullshit). While he did mention the idea that people who can offer something should come to America, I suspect that his idiotic “Hire American, Buy American” chant doesn’t really allow for hiring them Mexican drug dealers and rapists he was talking about when he started the GOP’s descent into madness.

And of course, that leads us to the refrain of RADICAL ISLAM!!!!!!!!!11!! ! This, of course is the justification for perpetual war. And while it started (with some justification in 2001-2002 under Bush), it has become the excuse to restrict liberty at home and bomb the fuck out of a good portion of the rest of the world, as well as continue to give the terrorists their best recruiting tool EVER!

He then went on to talk about his SCOTUS pick, Neil Gorsuch. To be honest, this is a pick I look forward to seeing on the court, as he’s an originalist in the mold of Scalia, whom he’s replacing. I doubt we’re going to get a better choice if the left hissy fits this nominee down. This was the high point in the speech for me.

Then he moved on to the shitty economic conditions which are still a little shitty. But it wasn’t because of NAFTA and China, it was because of the thug actions of government. Now he is right that taxes are too high and that’s one reason we’re suffering overall. And his solution (because other countries tax the shit out of Harleys)? TARIFFS! A note to the economically uneducated (like trump): Taxing stuff coming into this country won’t bring jobs back. It’ll only make shit cost more. And by that, I mean tariffs are taxes on us. Also, HE IS GOING TO BRING BACK THE JOBS. No president can do this.All they can do is get the government the fuck out of the way. That’s not tariffs, a fucking wall, and threatening businesses. There’s also the non-0bamacare 0bamacare, the paid family leave, and more debt (because more military spending and infrastructure waste). Also, only good immigrants (no solution here of course).

He then went on to all our spending in the Middle East (bad) while we’re not wasting that on infrastructure (remember 0bama’s “shovel ready” bullshit?). Also, he’s going to spend more money on the military and bomb ISIS more (which is how we spent trillions over there). Fuck, he talks out both sides of his pie hole.

And then he called on Congress to replace 0bamacare with Not0bamacare. That’s nnot a solution. Maybe a few people who are getting fucked by ridiculous premiums will benefit. But it still doesn’t solve the overarching problem of government fucking the free market in every orifice at the same time. Not a real solution to be found here.

Also, anytime the pOTUS says anything about Democrats and Republicans joining together, I shudder. The last two times were the godawful Patriot Act and that bullshit bailout back in 2008. Seriously, fuck that shit.

Then we got to the personal stories section of the address. This really started with Bill Clinton, using sob stories and inspiring shit to make political points. There was the girl saved by new drugs that the FDA was dragging its feet on. Then came the education girl, which was all about school choice. Lots of good here, except for wanting to throw federal money to get poor kids into non-government schools.

Then we got to the perennial jerking off of law enforcement (from the GOP’s Greatest shit). By that I mean the call to support them no matter what. Including when they’re enforcing immoral laws, or continuing biased enforcement. Because they’re heroes or something.

(This is not an attack individuals who put themselves into danger to help others, but a recognition that slavish hero-ing of an entire group does nothing but give them license to kill (literally), as police are, domestically, the  most blunt expression of state violence by nature. Internationally, it’s the military.)

And then came the four victims of violence by immigrants. Probably the Mexican rapists did it. This is low. The fact that they broke an immoral law to enter this country is not a reason to condemn everyone who does. If the system was moral, and worked, the ones that come in that are criminals wouldn’t get back in, because the cost would be too high.

And now, we come to where trump hits the lowest point of all. After promising to throw more money into the military, the fucking shitbag trump shines the spotlight on Carryn Owens, the widow U.S. Navy Special Operator, Senior Chief William “Ryan” Owens. The soldier who was killed in the raid in Yemen. The man whose father wouldn’t even meet with the son of a bitch that sent his son off to die in the futile and perpetual War on Terror. This was the raid where the shitbag-in-chief didn’t even go to the situation room (even 0bama knew to do that when he sent people to die). Of course, the Generals told him it was a success. Doesn’t change the fact that it took trump less than a month to issue orders that made someone a widow.

This was the point where I seriously wanted to punch him in the face. The rest I can overlook as “thugs gonna thug,” but I do take sacrificing our armed forces in pointless actions seriously. And I’m increasingly tired of politicians dragging the dead and wounded and widowed from the perpetual wars out so they can beat their chests and say how brave and honorable the fallen are, and thus sound all fucking patriotic, when the cost is human lives in a never-ending grinder of death and war. And anything he said in the campaign about getting out of these pointless occupations just went out the window with this fucking bullshit display. Damn him.

Okay, let’s get back to the light anger, because I just realized I got more pissed than I usually do.

So after the bullshit above, he dropped this line: “We must learn from the mistakes of the past — we have seen the war and destruction that have raged across our world.” Nothing he’s said in his speech leads me to believe he’s learned a damn thing, and that he’s poised to keep the insanity going.

So then we descended into the speech-ending platitudes. Mostly pointless, except there was a mention of Thomas Edison, the noted inventor idea promoter and government power whore. I suspect those two would get along swimmingly, because they love them some legalized force over the competition.

And when it was over, I dropped a final tweet to share my feelings: Ok, now I can go piss and puke. Get of my screen, Cheeto Hitler.

And now, here’s what I found about the words that my libertarian heart and mind looks for in political speeches. He used freedom three times: once in a string of meaningless platitudes, once when using a dead soldier as a political pawn (because he’s a bastard), and only once about actual policy (health care). Liberty only got used once, in the speech-ending platitude crap. And the only time he mentioned the constitution was in relation to his SCOTUS pick. So it’s easy to see why I’d be  unthrilled with this speech.

So perhaps the GOP will reign in the spend-happiness. Of course, looking at the Bush years, probably not. Perhaps he’ll grow in the role as president. I’m not optimistic, but the presidency does change (and age the fuck out of) someone. So while I’m not very optimistic, I’m reminded of an article I was reading (I think it was from the Foundation for Economic Education, but it’s bedtime, so I’m not looking it up),  about hitting a button to eliminate the state. The gist of it is that we work around the state all the time to eliminate it from our lives. From paying cash under the table for work, to the black market, to illegal downloads and 3D printed guns, it’s possible to live a life with the state reduced, even as they get their thug on.

So we’ll survive the next 4-8 years of this shit, and maybe, if we’re committed to freedom and liberty,  Washington will start to get forgotten a little more every day.

The Battle For the Soul of America, the Super Bowl, and trump

Having said goodbye to the -11 shackles of partisan blindness that I wore as recently as 2008 (thanks to Bush, McCain, and 0bama for giving me a reason to despise both parties), I’ve been both amused and disgusted at pretty much every news story since the election (and probably before, but I was mostly just watching which stupid pair of fucking clown shoes would be trying to ruin the country). And it hasn’t all been directed at president Shitdick McFuckskull (I had no respect for the bastard before the snake oil salesman weaseled his way into the White House; I’m not starting now), mainly because the left has embraced the the whole #resist thing at a brainless pace only equalleed by the apparent attempts at the trumptards to claim a mandate because their fearless leader claims that he actually won the election big time (as in he won the popular vote too…).

Some examples: On the left, besides the usual protest antics (no one sane can respect a woman who dresses up like a giant vagina), they’ve taken to rioting and looting and attempting to shut down the alt-right scum that are just giving speeches, which of course gives credence to trumps claim that the left is just a bunch of PC nuts who want to control speech and shut down people with whom they disagree.

Not that the lying cocksucker-in-chief has any respect for free speech. But so far he hasn’t done anything to stop that. Yet. So far, it’s just been talk.

But after he signed his probably unconstitutional anti-religious Muslim immigrant ban (which he said he was going to do), and a judge rightly blocked it until it could be contested in court, and the 9th circuit upheld that, the Twittertard of the United States went into attacking the judge rather than arguing the rightness of his ban (as a bullying thug with small hands and dick would do).

This is not surprising. Surprising is his choice for the supreme court, who looks to be a sober judge he in the mold of Scalia, rather than a rubber stamp for the orange dictator leader of the (less) free world.

But the best part was the slew of commercials during the Super Bowl. Lots of shots at a protectionist president, from the Coke ad singing America the Beautiful in multiple languages to the Budweiser commercial showing the history of company founder and immigrant Adolphus Busch. But the big one was from 84 Lumber, which was edited to get it on TV. Of course, that just meant you had to go online and watch it.

Go and watch the whole thing now, then come back. I’ll wait.

Yeah.

I doubt anyone entrenched in a position is going to change that position because of a commercial. But if they spark conversations on why most people come to this country (hint: it’s for opportunity, not welfare and terrorism), they they were good commercials. As for me, I’d hit up 84 Lumber if I had one anywhere near me base solely on the moment in the censored portion where that little girl, who’s been collecting scraps of fabric throughout the commercial, pulls out a homemade American flag. Saw it coming, still choked me up a bit. Was more patriotic than the usual pregame America/Military self-spank that occurs around the singing of the national anthem.

Disclaimer: that last sentence is not meant to disparage the men and women serving overseas in the armed forces, or the idea pof patriotism, but the ritualistic, almost religious ceremony we go through to prove we’re from ‘Murica, which is about as genuine as trumps Christianity.

Also, anyone who says trump is a good Christian president, Jesus says fuck you.

So this post is a little meandering. Well, that’s bound to happen when I’m still bloated with wings and poutine from last night’s game. Also, when every day brings somebody saying something batshit crazy, trying to address the insane with sanity just doesn’t work.

So as a final thought to this, there are some good ideas and arguments on both “sides” of the political spectrum (although most people now are not married to either of these “sides”), and most of the people who are adherents to Team Red(ish) or Team Blueare too consumed with dick measuring to look at anything with rationality.

So judge each person as they are, by objective assessments of their specific ideas,and their individual character, and every idea on its merits, and not by the retard that spat them out into the world. And maybe people in both camps will learn that when you give your party a bigger gun, the other party is going to inevitably get that gun and point it at you.

Okay, they probably won’t. I’m thinking one-way tickets to New Zealand might be in my future….