Category Archives: politics

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November 11, 2016

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You might be a hypocrite…

I’ve been annoyed and pissed at the sanctimonious postings and comments by my friends who are Trump supporters and who voted for him in the election, and who are now making as if they were never the foaming-at-the-mouth troglodytes they were when they were bitching pretty much incessantly about Obama and posting horrible memes on Facebook for the past eight years and, of course, about Hillary during the recent presidential campaign.

Thinking that the Trumpster has a ‘mandate to rule’ while conveniently ignoring the fact that less than 25% of all adults of voting age actually voted for him (barely 50% of the electorate turned out and only half of them voted for ol’ Donny-boy, so do the math) AND that he actually lost the popular vote, the amount of hypocrisy in their posts and comments is staggering to say the least.

I’ve come up with a few examples of that hypocrisy and have posted them below. I’m sure many, many more can be found. But for now, here’s what I’ve come up with, on the spur of the moment and while I’m downing a nice pineapple and coconut margarita.

My thanks (and apologies) to Jeff Foxworthy.

You Might Be a Hypocrite

If you bought into the lie that the Clinton Foundation was a conflict of interests while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, but are perfectly fine with Donald Trump setting up a fake blind trust to manage his businesses while he’s president…you might be a hypocrite.

If you are calling for everyone to just accept the results of the election and quit being divisive and give ol’ Donny-boy a chance, but were hollering back when Obama was elected (both times) about how he was not your president and it would be a cold day in hell before you’d agree with anyone who supported him…you might be a hypocrite.

If you’re complaining about the “whiny crybabies” protesting Trump’s election and how they should ‘shut the fuck up and go home’, when you were saying right before the election that there would be a bloody armed uprising if Trump didn’t win…you might be a hypocrite.

If you’re still calling for Hillary to be arrested and thrown in jail over a bunch of supposedly incriminating emails but are completely overlooking all the shady dealings Trump has done, including a very questionable relationship with Russia, not to mention all the lawsuits filed against him, some of which he may actually have to go to court for…you might be a hypocrite.

If you think Trump will turn the economy around and run things more like a business because, hey! He’s a businessman and he’s ‘good at it’, but are ignoring the multiple bankruptcies and enormous billion+ dollar losses he’s had over the years, not to mention stiffing the people who did work for him by not paying them….ok, you’re not a hypocrite, just an idiot.

If you think you can beat up minorities, yell at them to ‘go back where they came from’, spit on them, take away their rights, even kill them, all because it’s ‘ok’ now that Trump has basically condoned doing these things in his own words…you’re a racist and an asshole. Own it.

Ok, I lost the hypocrite track. Let’s get back to that…

If you think we should be nice and respectful to Trump’s wife and you are getting mad because some are calling her out on the things she’s done in the past, you’re right, that’s not cool. But we remember you making comments about Michelle Obama and comparing her to Bigfoot, among other extremely racist things. That makes you a hypocrite. And an asshole. Oh, and a racist. Let’s not forget that. Very important.

I can’t think of any more right now and I’ve run out of tequila, so I’m leaving it here. If you can think of any more hypocritical things about ol’ Donny-boy and his followers, please add them in the comments.

Much obliged.

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December 10, 2015

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Absolutely black and white

What strikes me the most when I see people talking politics on Facebook and elsewhere is how polarized everyone seems to be. I say seems, because we often put things online that are less nuanced than what we might say directly to our friends in person. We post memes and the like that tend to be fairly black and white in what they express, when the reality is most issues are quite gray.

Take gun control, for instance. The clear answer, in my opinion, is not utter and complete unregulated freedom to purchase and use any kind of weapon at all, nor is it to ban them completely. I support the second amendment of the constitution here in the US, but not without some regulation.

In fact, I support quite a bit of regulation. It should be as difficult to get a license to own a gun (and ownership should be licensed everywhere, no exceptions) as it is to get a license to own a car, which, granted, is not really that difficult, but you should be required to undergo training, background checks, obtain insurance and then re-up, so to speak, every couple of years, in order to keep that license, just like you have to do to keep driving (except for the background checks, of course). Also, if you commit a violent crime with a gun, you can never own one legally again and will be severely punished if caught in possession of one.

It would not be burdensome, at least, no more so than keeping a driver’s license and I don’t hear anyone complaining about that. Nor about having to have insurance in order to register the car. Guns should be exactly the same. It will cut down on ownership overall, which can only be a good thing, because guess where the bad guys get their guns? They’re probably not getting them from Mexico, that’s for sure.

Most stolen guns obtained by criminals were stolen from legal gun owners right here in this country. Which makes you wonder why they have the gun in the first place, since the idea is that owning a gun is supposed to deter crime, right? Having that gun in your house is supposed to make the criminal think twice, right? Except it doesn’t. It’s just one more thing for them to steal.

Then there’s the idea that a “bad guy with a gun can only be stopped by a good guy with a gun” which is technically true, if the good guy is a fully trained police officer. When you think about it, especially about open carry, how do you tell a good guy practicing legal open carry from a bad guy practicing legal open carry? Guess what? You can’t. At least, not until the bad guy opens fire. And then it’s too late. Even if he’s gunned down by a good guy, chances are he’ll have hurt or killed someone before that point, so then the good guy failed. Good guys with guns can’t stop bad guys before they know they’re bad guys, and by the time they do know they’re bad guys, it’s too late.

So all of this I just talked about is just to illustrate that my position is not absolute, although it’s definitely more on the progressive side of things in terms of gun control. But I’m still not advocating a complete ban of all guns. You’d never know that, though, if I posted this on Facebook and watched the response from my more conservative friends. They’d say I was all for completely banning gun ownership, even though clearly I’m not.

It’s the nature of the debate now-a-days, as you can see. Pretty much no matter the issue, it’s framed as absolutely black and white, when it’s really gray. I wish there was a way to get people to see that, and to realize that compromising when it comes to finding solutions to the craziness that seems to happen more and more often is not a bad thing.

But that’s a discussion for a future post.

 

 

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January 22, 2009

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Obama is On the Right Track

I’m not one to post much about politics that aren’t directly related to atheism and anti-science, but seeing as it’s such an overwhelmingly historic time right now with Obama as our new president, I have to at least comment a bit!

I watched on Tuesday, along with my co-workers, as Obama was sworn in as president.  I think the reality of what he’d accomplished hit him right as he started his oath, as he stumbled over the words at first.  He’s been so busy since the election getting organized and preparing his team that he probably hadn’t really thought about what was coming.  I can’t imagine what he was feeling at that moment.

I was disappointed by the seeming disinterest of several students on campus.  I saw them wandering into the offices while we were all watching the inauguration and waved them over to watch.  All but one declined.   One of those great moments in the history of the USA, that will be remembered forever as a very significant first, and these students were not interested.

Well, there’s great hope at least for the future.  His first day in office and Obama seems to be doing exactly what he promised in his campaign.  Many of the things Bush had put in place to limit access to knowledge of government activities have been effectively repealed.  As this New York Times article shows, more transparency and openess in government business will be the rule of the day.  Go Obama!

 

UPDATE: Just caught on the news that the reason Obama stumbled on his oath was because the justice giving it messed up.  Oh, well.  I’d still like to think it was at that moment it all hit home!