Trickle-down Freakanomics

Trump is so rich he has Golden Showers!

There's plenty more where that came from! But, you probably have Facebook and know that.

The PEEOTUS is a freak. What- a surprise? No, not at all. I read a book years ago titled, "What Cops Know". It was written by a former Chicago cop, a female officer from a cop family as I recall. She had access to a ton of inside stories about crime and the people who commit them. One aspect that has long stood out to me was how freaky rich people get. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It seems to be worse with guys like Trump who arrive at success and wealth with so little effort, usually starting with an inherited fortune. In the back of their minds they seem to know that they didn't earn their wealth but, dammit, they deserve it and they also deserve special attention.

This could manifest in many ways. People- men usually- might start getting a little bored with regular sex and seek a bit more excitement. In the book, the cops investigated the sudden death of a successful executive. Turned out there was no foul play at all but, he happened to be found wearing women's silk panties. It happens. Nothing really wrong with that. Less successful men might have the same fetish. He might have been into other things as well. I think a successful man tends to reward himself in ways that others might not have time to consider. I once worked for a man who was arguably the best estimator in town and built a very strong paint company based on his skill. He liked sex with women and, after a time, banging a succession of secretaries just didn't do it for him. He found satisfaction in prostitutes who charged $10,000 for a night. I never heard the details so it might have been merely a case of Viagra (not literally a case...) and several goes at women who he swore were "10 times prettier than a TV anchor" or, for the money, he might have been doing unspeakable acts that would even shame a Trump. But, he spent $10 grand for an evening of pleasure.

Speaking of Trump..."golden showers", "water sports" are fairly mainstream (tee hee) perversions that anyone with a lot of time on their hands might conjure up as a fantasy. Why- I don't know. But, they do. You probably just thought of it as "Eeeewwww!" and crossed it off your list of fantasies. Evidently he didn't. And mind you, there isn't concrete evidence of all this yet. It could be bullshit but it also could be the tip of the iceberg.

Trump's already boasted about going backstage at a teen beauty pageant that he owned and seeing the young women in various states of dressed. Evidently you can do things like that when you are rich and/or famous. That's what we've heard from Trump himself. At the pageant in Moscow some 5 years back where it is rumored that the Russians began cultivating him,  there may well be film of him having sex with an underage girl. The Russians may very well have something like that on him. And we will soon have a president who thinks grabbing an attractive woman's pussy is an acceptable way of saying "hello". How can anything they say or may say not jibe with that?

Trump is his own worst enemy. As his list of enemies grows longer each day, we the people can't help but believe that we are on that list as well. And I know we didn't sign on for that freak show. We cannot afford this guy.

They'll stone you, just like they said they would

If we are to remain free, shouldn't ALL citizens be armed at all times, always ready to shoot it out?

With the recent shooting at the Ft. Lauderdale airport we learned that the Florida legislature was entertaining a bill that would have allowed concealed carry in airports.

Sheesh. The carnage was bad enough with five dead and several wounded but it sure would have been worse with many more armed civilians responding to the gunfire, fearing for their lives, not knowing who was shooting and why.

America does seem to becoming more of a free-fire zone every day. The same people who decry the gang-shootings in Chicago (blaming that violence on libs and Obama) desire that all Americans be free to protect themselves as the gangs in Chicago do. They just don't exactly own up to that. They might be a little jealous of their darker counterparts in arms. There is a certain freedom to being a gangster.

The US is the largest supplier of arms in the world. If there's a war going on, we're supplying it. Often, we're supplying both sides. Business is great but, it could always be greater. Yesterday's millionaires are losers if they are not today's billionaires. There are more guns in this country than there are people and that is still not good enough for some. Those some are the gun makers and sellers themselves and the people who love guns. It's not like every man, woman and child in the US actually has a gun in their possession but, that appears to be the sales goal. On that capitalist surface, can you blame them?

Conservatives and republicans love to tout that the USA is the only country in the world that has the Second Amendment to its Constitution, guaranteeing it's citizens the right to bear arms. Whatever you believe to be the founders intent regarding the 2A, realize now that it's little more than a sales tool. Imagine if any product, say- marijuana- had an amendment to the Constitution making it an unalienable right. Even conservatives would be touting a fully-stoned nation.

That's where the money would be. And that's where the ALEC law makers would be. Well, I would not feel alone- EVERYBODY must get stoned...

But, it's guns, not weed. It's pushing death upon American life rather than mellowness. The need for protection rather than recreation. And just as you shouldn't be high all the time, you shouldn't be armed and ready to kill all the time. There's no need for either now, is there?

With Trump as the CEO of America, the sales pitch of a democrat taking your guns away is off the table. What we will see in its place is new laws concerning open and concealed carry. State's rights might get a wee bit infringed when cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco  and New York object to 50 state, Federally ruled gun laws where those and other major cities are forced to follow the same rules as Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia. Not every city thinks like the fine denizens of rural America do. There are millions of reasons why they shouldn't, and they all have lives to live that don't involve taking the lives of others for fun and profit in some dystopian American nightmare.

Social Injustice Warriors

http://www.mediaite.com/online/cbs-radio-deceptively-implies-chicago-torturers-were-white-trump-supporters-victim-was-black/

IRONY ALERT!

Is there anyone more addicted to outrage than today's white, male republicans? Are these people familiar with radio and the fact that it's not a visual media?

One of the usual suspects on Topix, Sublime1, expressed his outrage over the clip above as "liberal spin". He seemed upset that the perpetrators were not designated as black, thus confusing the audience into thinking they might have been white because they repeatedly said "nigger" and "Trump" while they abused their victim. I don't know how one would deduce white or black from that very brief report. Nor am I sure why that's so important.

We've long since been heading towards separate realities in media. This began with Fox news giving a conservative slant to everything since its debut and now includes fake news disseminated by Trump's Russian comrades as well as Breitbart's Steve Bannon, who is Trump's Senior Adviser. Fake news is like religion in that you can believe it if you choose without any proof at all. You just gotta believe. To many, you have a God-given right to believe in God. With republicans claiming to be the party of God, it's an easy reach to grab and embrace fake news as one's own reality. Add in a distrust of big gubmint in general and the media in particular and you have a very unhealthy stew of beefs.
Worse, Trump and his ilk are big gubmint now. That's not very palatable but it appears to be the new menu.

I seriously doubt Dean Reynolds had any intent to portray the perpetrators as white and the victim black but, Mediaite sure thought so and Sublime1 and his fellow Social Injustice Warriors readily chose to believe it. CBS Radio is not the only game in town and they know full well that visual media- newspapers, TV and the internet- would certainly be posting the pictures of all participants. If the public was to be fooled, they wouldn't be fooled for long.

Some people choose to be offended. They are addicted to outrage because they choose to be. Outrage is their safe place. Aren't we all entitled to our safe places? There must be safety in the numbers of stupidity for our conservative friends. And soon they will have a stupid leader in the most powerful position on earth. Bless their hearts...they're just not ever going to figure this out.

Lost In The Oversight

Well, they tried.

The first order of business for the new republican congress was to eliminate the Independent Office Of Congressional Ethics. They succeeded- for awhile- until we the people lit up the phones of various congress-persons condemning the outrageous action. Our Electorally appointed CEO-to-be took credit for the rescinding of the move because he (of course) tweeted about the timing of the move, rather than the move itself. He simply thought there were other nefarious actions they could have taken first. CNN and other sites have willingly given Trump credit for the change in direction. Trump seems to have really grabbed them.

The republicans have long screamed about "job-killing regulations" but that has usually been directed at the EPA. They believe that no one should tell a company where to drill for oil or what mountain top can be blown off to get at some coal because those activities create jobs for people. Deregulation makes a lot of sense to people who don't give a lot of thought to things.

I'm not sure if many ordinary citizens were upset that congress was caught with America's pants down around its ankles. Even the dumbest reichtards must have been aghast at the intent. I looked for comments on the threads and none of the usual suspects were upset about the thwarting at all. They aren't the most astute bunch. Though addicted to outrage, they save most of it for manufactured drama like Hillary's server or black folks getting all uppity (again) about their special civil rights. No complaints so far about damn liberals hog-tying congressional business with job-killing ethics...

I'm not so certain that the usual suspects suddenly recognized right from wrong. They spot trends all the time, things that turn out to be one-in-a-row actions usually committed by blacks or libs that pose a dangerous precedent in the Land Of The Free. Things like "safe places" on college campuses. You'd think they'd want their congressmen to have safe places too. Safe places like congress itself where they could enact legislation without the watchful eye of the press, the media, the nosy liberals or any ethics watchdogs. Isn't that what they voted for?

This congress isn't going to allow any live-streaming of it's business either and will tolerate no protesting by democrats or we the people. The abrupt, interrupted dismantling of the ethics office was an extension of those other actions. Kind of an exclamation point. It'll happen eventually in some fashion. They can just defund it, I'd imagine. "Too expensive", they might decide, "we've got homeless veterans, ya know". That's a common refrain these days.

We'll see if there isn't some gnashing of teeth about this. You have to figure there will be if some *independent* outlets like CNN were so quick to praise Trump for not actually doing anything. Even outside of the congressional gangsters and the warlords they toil for, there has to be idiots that believe a republican congress should be free and clear to operate as they see fit. You know the drill. Some paid poster is always on-line noting that "...the democrats could have done (this) too when they had the majority of congress but, they didn't- but they could have..." So, that makes it OK for the republicans to do it- the precedent of not doing something, essentially.

Amongst the republican fan faithful there is an abundance of people who think our police should be free to kill darker people without oversight from liberal do-gooders. These are the folks who signed on to the ALEC-written "Stand Your Ground" laws without pausing to consider that they could be killed and their killer walks free because of such a law. These people don't think things through. They're too busy reading between the lines. The law and life are like jazz. It's the notes they don't play that some people hear.

White, conservative males will sign off on a lot of things if they think they will only affect minorities or women.  For people who always think only about themselves, they never really think about themselves.

A Trumped Up Economy

I found an interesting take on the impending republican tax cuts and how they would likely benefit blue states while punishing the red states that supported Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/04/democrats-can-look-forward-to-the-coming-republican-era-being-a-disaster-for-republican-voters/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.5b951a3dc06c

Trumpublicans have also made a lot of noise about eliminating the Federal minimum wage and (probably) leaving it up to the states as a 10th amendment thing. Stupid people might find a wage cut *honorable* if it freed them from the yoke of gubmint oppression and everyone else was in the same boat of individual wonderfulness. But, smart people in smart states might instead see the opportunity to expand their business by paying more. Even strict (dominatrix-like) constitutionalists might not be able to figure a constitutional remedy to stopping states from paying citizens more money.

Now, if you are one of the denizens of Trumpland, you would scoff at this notion because surely all business would head to Texas for it's cheap labor source of poor-but-proud 'Mericans. Why would a business pay $15 or more for any employee when Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, etc. and etc. offer employees at far lower wages? Well, because that's business.

There's Walmart and there is Costco. Both are very successful. There were plantation owners in the south who had slaves and there were businesses in the north that had paid employees and both business strategies were successful. There is always at least two ways of doing something- anything- right? Which one is "right" depends on how well you do it. You can make money paying damn-near slave wages (do the math) but- amazingly- you can make money paying employees a fair living wage! If you've paid attention over the years you'd see this. It's what made America great in the post WWII years, a greatness title we had undisputed until 1980. There are different approaches to capitalism it seems.

Progressive states such as those on the west coast and in the northeast, would likely keep their higher wages and attract the best employees with those wages and the lifestyle they bring. That would be an interesting juxtaposition to the *right to work* states offering more flexible wages, perhaps in the $2 an hour range. You might see a renewal of the trek out to California by Okies from as far away as Florida.

It's good business to pay people good wages. Happy, contented workers not only perform better, they put those wages back into the economy in the form of purchases and taxes that lead to good roads and gooder schools. It's amazing that even successful, otherwise intelligent people can't seem to grasp that.

But, they do. They just choose to disavow this. The easy way out is government sanctioned oppression as we saw in the south with slavery (and now with right to work) and, yes, Russia with communism. That's right- communism. An oligarchy controlling wages and production is just a bastard relation to communism. What is the different between state-controlled economies if it's 6 or 7 corporations or 6 or 7 members of a politburo?

The problem with capitalism as it is practiced in this country, is that eventually you run out of other people's money. You may have heard a slightly different version of that before. With Trump they seem to be poised to get it all. Then what? I really don't think they know. I don't think they've thought that far ahead.

Holes In Her Stalkings

One of the features of Blogger is that they give you stats so that you can know where your blog traffic comes from. This can be useful information. Sometimes it can be a little disturbing too.

Recently I noticed that one of the traffic sources was a gay porn site. Yikes. I also use a service called Statcounter. This not being a well-traveled blog, I went to stat counter to see what IP matched up with that visitor. Turned out to be Oviedo, Florida. That's CrunchyBacon territory! Regular non-readers know that Crunchy is the stalker also know as "Sam" and the original character of "Angelique770".

We never believed that A770 was an actual woman any more than we believed she was an actual therapist. The internet is a place where you can be all that you can be. You can be a Vietnam veteran, a lawyer or a therapist. And you can be a woman even with male genitalia. As the MTV show "Catfish" has documented a few thousand times, it's quite common for men to masquerade as women and vice versa. Nothing is out of the realm of possibility in these Trumpy times. It's not our president-elect's fault, of course. I simply mean that a billionaire populist was elected by the great unwashed of America to "drain the swamp of DC" and, well, he hasn't come close to doing that. Very Trumpy, indeed.

We also found it hard to believe that A770 as a woman would devote (now) eight years of *her* life to stalking the likes of this Ferrerman. I've been with some crazy women but they all gave up and moved on relatively quickly when things ended. And this one I had had nothing remotely resembling a romance with, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't even think he *thinks* so.

So, why does this guy still obsess over me? Why am I the overwhelming concern in his life?

I have no fucking idea. How do you rationalize mentally ill people? I don't know what set the asshole off. It might be as simple as my having busted the whole silly therapist scam years ago. Much of obsession is based in revenge. It's curious where some people draw their lines in life. I recall a guy we threw out of a bar once damn near broke his hands pounding on the back door of the bar to get in so he could be thrown out the front door like his buddies. Mind you, they were all outside at the time. That's what he told us. Hard to argue with such logic.

I don't know if CrunchySam770 runs the gay porn site or how he uses it to view the blog. That's above my cyber paygrade! He claims to be a software developer and a professional gamer though.  He uses it, a Youtube proxy, and a variety of other proxies to view this blog and, of course, to troll me and others on Topix. Many of the usual *Sam* locations show up on the Stats as well as Topix. Again, not a well-read blog so, it's pretty easy to match up who is who.

I'm not upset that a gay man is stalking me, posting songs and house pics in the CrunchyBacon voice and frequent references to cocksucking and cum, usually in the *Sam* voice, all over Topix. I wouldn't want a woman doing that either! I'd rather not have anyone stalking me at all. But, you can't pick your stalkers, can you? For whatever insane reason, they pick you. Only they know.

An open mind is a terrible thing to waste

Saw a good tweet via Facebook on Thanksgiving.

"Are racist people like: 'Ugh- my open-minded uncle is going to be at Thanksgiving this year!'"

That's not a holiday dilemma in my family as we are all an open-minded, free-thinking bunch. I've got some cousins that are kinda iffy politically but, that's the way it goes with extended family. And we don't get together with them at holidays as those tend to be more immediate family anyway.

I LOL'ed at the tweet because it reminded me so much of Topix. The internet is the venue these days and Topix and a gazillion other sites are where you definitely will get eyerolled and trolled just because you have an active, open mind.

Recently a sort of democrat on the Chicago Dregs thread asked me why I still post there when clearly I clash with even him and the other three assholes that post there. Ferrer question, I guess. Just odd that it came from the alleged democrat. He was appealing for civility. He had bonded with the other assholes over shared racist views and thought I should do the same- or leave.

Well, he's not wise in the ways of Ferrerman, that's for sure.

That particular thread- as dedicated non-readers will recall- was kinda a home thread to me as it was where I first posted. At that time at least, there were some open minds in attendance. Those and others went away years ago when the fake therapist ruined the thread. *She* is back, BTW, posting as CrunchyBacon, a now male, six-figure earning, software something or other that lives in the exclusive state of Florida and kayaks more than anyone should. Oh- and stalker of Ferrerman- still. Not a very fleshed-out character. Are any of them, I ask rhetorically? The other two posters are "Sublime1" and "race" to go along with the above mentioned, "Go Blue". That's it. However the latter three are actual individual people at least.

These days they get together and post mostly racial shit, stuff that you'd find on Breitbart or World Nut Daily. If I'm a "social justice warrior", these fucks are definitely "social injustice warriors". They were trumpy before trumpy was cool. Not that trumpy is cool. (It's not) And they vehemently condemn Ferrerman for every single liberal thing I say. I am the open-minded uncle they despise. And fear.

Here's the thing about politics. It's essentially about right and wrong. Not just knowing the difference. Acting on it. And that would be acting on the right things in a positive way. These jagoffs probably sorta know right from wrong but, I promise you, they do not care. And, I'm not so sure they appreciate Ferrerman pointing out that they are very wrong about what is right and wrong...

Isn't it odd to see that the voices of tolerance and compassion for all people are met with vitriol and threats on the internet? If Jesus were to return and start posting his gospel on the 'net, the above mentioned Social Injustice Warriors would harass and hound him day in and day out. So would thousands of others. They'd troll the shit outa Jesus!

Now, I'm not portraying myself as Christ-like or even Christian but, the man had some pretty good ideas. So does Ferrerman. So do so many people out there who are so callously met with vulgarities and vitriol, simply for understanding life and the human condition and daring to care about the world... 

One of the best things we as humans can do in life is not hurt anybody. For a lot of people that idea is simply not cost-effective. These people think they are higher up on the food chain than they actually are and thus, insulated from anything Trump might do. Odd but, they were convinced Hillary Clinton would and could hurt them directly just as they imagine Obama did. They believe Trump can't and won't for some reason. It boggles the mind but, these are not deep thinkers. They are cowards, shaking in their shoes that people might be nice and kind and thoughtful about others instead of fearing them, as if the economy and life itself depended upon it. I would imagine that their holiday table is at least one chair shy of the number of guests and, while they walk about the table as the music plays, they want to make sure they have a seat when the music stops. "More for me!" they cry. But, it really isn't more for them. It's just less for someone else. Cold comfort warms them.