Monthly Archives: January 2016

January 26, 2016

Striped Cuckoo

There is a bit of delicious schadenfreude with regard to the mainstream (“establishment”) Republican party scrambling to correct for The Donald. The GOP spent years training their electorate to respond to noise and nonsense; now they’re stuck behind an interloper cuckoo bird who’s a master at noise, nonsense, and (worst of all) media.

Between the chirping Donnie Boy and the incoherent lipsticked pit bull, it’s quite an entertaining show. Of course, no one will actually vote for the guy, right? Those big crowds just turn out to see the show, right? They’ll never show up at the actual caucus…

Right? Right??

22 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bernie Sanders, cable news, common cuckoo, cuckoo bird, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, illusion, lies, Marco Rubio, Martin O'Malley, Republican Party, rhetoric, social change, social issues, striped cuckoo, Ted Cruz, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Politics, Rant

January 22, 2016

Extreme Weather

By Wyrd Smythe

Washington (D.C.) is the expected epicenter of an approaching patch of extreme weather, an historic storm that is, in large part, due to the damage our modern society has done to the environment. And utterly without irony, there’s going to be a big snow storm there, too.

The crazy weather does seem suited to the craziness going on in politics. As with climate change due to the increase of CO2, the flow of other pollutants into public discourse has changed the social environment.

The Earth’s weather is getting chaotic, and so is its politics.

8 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bernie Sanders, cable news, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, illusion, lies, Marco Rubio, Republican Party, rhetoric, snow, snow storm, social issues, Ted Cruz, winter, winter storm | posted in Politics, Rant

January 15, 2016

POTUS SOTUS

By Wyrd Smythe

My impulse was to here write, “It’s been an interesting week,” but in reality it’s just been a week much like those that came before it. The social weather forecast: continuing craziness with scattered outbursts of outright insanity.

President Obama gave his final State of The Union (SOTU) speech on Tuesday, and so I find myself writing about how proud I was of my president for the second time in as many weeks (and, very possibly, the only two times since he was elected).

Watching that speech, I kept thinking, “Where has this guy been for the last seven years?”

6 Comments | tags: cable news, democratic society, dialectic, Edward R. Murrow, election 2016, illusion, lies, Nikki Haley, President Obama, rhetoric, social change, social issues, social media, social mores, Walter Cronkite | posted in Politics, Rant

January 11, 2016

Major Tom?

By Wyrd Smythe

Ground Control to Major Tom

Take your protein pills

and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom

(Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six)

Commencing countdown, engines on

(Five, Four, Three)

Check ignition

and may God’s love be with you…

(Two, One, Liftoff)

7 Comments | tags: David Bowie, Diamond Dog, Space Oddity | posted in Music

January 9, 2016

Supergirl

By Wyrd Smythe

I really didn’t expect to like it at all, but I have to say that the CBS show Supergirl has really won me over. To be honest, they engaged me with the first episode, and they’ve engaged and charmed me ever since. They’ve found the necessary secret ingredient for telling stories about an invulnerable flying alien who wears red, yellow, and blue underwear: plenty of whimsy, sheer joy, and don’t forget the love.

Full disclosure, when I was in grade school, Supergirl in the comics was my first long-time crush. The kid in me is still head-over-heels. Some of my earliest sexy images involved Supergirl’s landings (which would cause her skirt to flip up). Yeah, I had it bad!

So maybe I’m just smitten, but thumbs up on the show!

11 Comments | tags: Calista Flockhart, Cat Grant, CBS, Chyler Leigh, Helen Slater, J'onn J'onzz, Jimmy Olsen, Laura Benanti, Melissa Benoist, Supergirl, superheroes, Superman | posted in Sci-Fi Saturday, TV

January 8, 2016

Guns Я Us

By Wyrd Smythe

I have a great deal of respect for President Obama’s intelligence, character, and commitment, yet I’m not thrilled by his leadership or public speaking abilities (and I consider the latter an important part of the former). That said, he thoroughly impressed me at last night’s Guns in America town hall event on CNN!

Now already, in Philadelphia, we have news-worthy gun fire. In this case, despite numerous rounds fired, everyone (that is to say, both guys) lived. (Which, ironically, makes it kind of like TV.) To raise the public fervor ante, the shooter did it in the name of the Islamic State.

What was that curse about interesting times?

11 Comments | tags: CNN, gun control, gun debate, gun laws, gun ownership, guns, Guns in America, President Obama, town hall | posted in Opinion, Politics

January 7, 2016

Climbing Sand Dunes

By Wyrd Smythe

Batman TDKR movie The thing about climbing up sand dunes is that you keep sliding downwards. If you slide downward one step for every step you take upwards, you stay in place and get nowhere. Worse, if you slide two steps down for every step up, you go backwards!

To climb a sand dune successfully, you have to take more steps upwards than you slide downwards. I’ve climbed sand dunes; it’s hard; it takes effort (or a dune buggy).

The thing about social progress is that, without real effort towards moving upwards, society tends to slide backwards. Or just stay in place.

7 Comments | tags: gun control, gun debate, gun laws, gun ownership, guns, movie violence, Quentin Tarantino, The Dark Knight Returns, TV violence, violence, violence in movies, violent society | posted in Politics, Rant

January 5, 2016

Unreality Show

By Wyrd Smythe

Well, here we are in 2016, a Presidential election year, and — man, oh man — it’s going to be a weird one! High waters from several rivers seems to be converging to form a flood unlike any we’ve seen in modern politics. And while that’s kind of fascinating from a sociology perspective, as a citizen some of it seems kind of scary.

As I write this, actual rivers are flooding Midwestern cities in the USA, but the rivers I have in mind are reality shows, the interweb, and our social environment (where global unrest and terrorism is a primary topic). The flood here is a lack of sense, nuance, and thoughtfulness.

My question today: When did we so fully embrace lies and illusion?

16 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, Bernie Sanders, cable news, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, dialectic, Donald Trump, election 2016, evil, GOP, Hillary Clinton, illusion, lies, Marco Rubio, politicians, Republican Party, rhetoric, social change, social issues, social media, Ted Cruz, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster, truth | posted in Politics, Rant