I’m not so sure

March 27, 2019

Jim Reeves commentary, geek, Humor, Personal , , , , 1 Comment

prediction03272019

Maybe I’m just on the ‘wrong’ weather channel. Ten minutes to go, we’ll see if something sneaks in on a zephyr.

Alt-right confused over Trump/Smollett cases

March 26, 2019

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smollett_trump

The alt-right* in this country is in a terrible pickle.

On one hand, they are cheering the apparent conclusion of the Mueller investigation. From Trump on down, they’re crowing that this proves “NO COLLUSION!!!” and “NO OBSTRUCTION!!!” (even though the Barr summary clearly says the report does NOT exonerate the President from obstruction). They feel so confident now that some of them (the President and spokesperson Sanders) are hinting they want to charge those who said there was evidence of collusion and of reporting those claims with treason, to be punished by death. It’s party time in the alt-right.

Except.

On the other hand, they are in vapor-lock, looking feverishly for their fainting couches, over prosecutors in Cook County, Illinois dropping charges against Empire actor Jussie Smollett’s claims of being attacked. Prosecutors initially charged Smollett for staging the attack.

What to do, what to do? Celebrate “the system” for “clearing” Dear Leader? But then how do they condemn the system for doing the same thing for a black gay actor?

Well, don’t worry. Logic and consistency has never been a prerequisite for anything coming from the alt-right in this country. They’ll quite easily hold two contradictory views of “the system”, since it suits them. They won’t even see the contradiction.

Meanwhile, the nation turns it’s hopes towards SDNY and other district and state courts to finish what Mueller started. Smollett might have skated, but it doesn’t look like Trump et al will, in the long run.

*sometimes also called white supremacists, white nationalists, white separatists, anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, neo-fascists, neo-Confederates, Holocaust deniers, and conspiracy theorists. To name just a few.

White House threatening to kill political opponents.

March 25, 2019

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sarahuckabeesanders03252019 White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders today threatened political opponents of President Trump with the death penalty for treason. In an interview today, Sanders said “They are literally, the media and Democrats have called the president an agent of a foreign government. That is an accusation equal to treason, which is punishable by death in this country,” she said to NBC.

The President said “There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things, some bad things, I would say some treasonous things against our country. And hopefully people that have done such harm to our country — we’ve gone through a period of really bad things happening — those people will certainly be looked at. ”

“I’ve been looking at them for a long time,” he added, “and I’m saying why haven’t they been looked at? They lied to Congress, many of them, you know who they are. They’ve done so many evil things.”

So now you have the Office of the President of the United States saying in so many words that he’s going to take a page from the Russian and North Korean playbooks, and go after those he views as enemies.

He’s been spending some time, apparently, studying the ways of Putin, Kim, and other despots around the world, and deciding their methods will work for him.

Trump sent out an email blast today, complaining about $25 million spent, and the two year “witch hunt” about collusion. Not a peep about the multiple investigations of Hillary Clinton by the Republican Congress, nor the money wasted there.

The GOP better move to clean up it’s act, and do something to reign in this madness, before Trump and party destroy what’s left of the United States.

These people are despicable.

 

That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

March 24, 2019

Jim Reeves commentary, News , , , , , 1 Comment

trump

Mueller has sent his “confidential report” to the Attorney General, William Barr. Barr has sent a letter to Congress, saying the report finds no evidence of collusion between 45, or anyone associated with him, and the Russians in the run-up to the 2016 election.

In the report, Mueller says “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Naturally, 45 immediately claimed on Twitter, “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!”

Sigh.

Donnie, that’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

The Southern District of New York is still in the game. As are numerous state investigations. Not to mention the House of Representatives. You’re a long way from “complete and total exoneration,” Donnie.

I feel a bit like I’m in a crime drama, and the grizzled FBI agent tells me about this Mafia boss and his crime family and all the heinous crimes they’ve committed over the decades. When I ask why they’re not all in jail, the reply is “we’ve never been able to make anything stick.”  In no version of that show does anyone then say, “well, that must mean he’s totally innocent!” Well, the mafia boss might, but he doesn’t count.

Somebody on the Internet said Robert Mueller popped his head up out of the ground, saw his shadow, so now we’ll have two more years of this mess. I hope we can stand it.

We need to see the report, if for no other reason than to figure out how 45 pulled this off. Remember, he never expected, or really wanted, to win the Presidency. We need to see how Putin managed to manipulate the election, and how to protect ourselves from the next attack.

Meanwhile, Hair Furor will continue to scream “NO COLLUSION! TOTAL EXONERATION!” with every Tweet.

 

The Future That Never Was

March 23, 2019

Jim Reeves commentary, geek, Humor, Personal , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

georgejetson I live in the future, and things are not as I was promised.

Back in the 1960’s, when I was Space Cadet Jimmie Joe, there were certain things that we simply knew would exist, off in the far distant future of the 21st Century. The big one, of course, was the flying car. The Jetsons‘ of 1962 got that wrong. Back To The Future of 1985 got it wrong, too. Space Cadet Jimmie Joe has never quite forgiven any of them for that.

The Jetsons‘ had big screen televisions and video phones, which we’ve pretty well matched. We get our dinners from a magic box we call a microwave oven, which is a pretty good substitute for dinner sliding out of the wall on a conveyor belt. And, of course, the Internet. Of all the future tech people wrote about in my childhood, nobody really thought of that one. So much for prognostication.

The future I live in has interesting quirks, some rather depressing. We have 400 channels of television, and nothing much worth watching. We have satellite radio, also with hundreds of channels.  The FM and AM radio bands are filled with screaming DJs, or drivel-filled talk shows that cater to conspiracy theories and “fake news”.

While the future is not quite Blade Runner, neither is it Star Trek.

I ran into one quirk this morning. It turns out that in the 21st century, if the computer goes down the fast food joint can’t serve anything. Nobody knows how to do anything without the computer adjudicating it first.

The grill was still hot. The french fryer still bubbling. The soda machine could still dispense a Coke. But without the computer, nothing happens.

Nobody knows how to take an order, write it down, add up the price, figure out the sales tax, and make a sale. Business comes to a screeching halt, all because the computer crashed.

I suppose that’s all so very futuristic of them, but it sure seems like we missed the boat (flying car) somewhere.

Oh. And my Congressman is suing a cow. A fake cow. For being mean to him.

Welcome to the 21st Century, Space Cadet Jimmie Joe.

 

Devin Nunes is suing a cow.

March 21, 2019

Jim Reeves commentary, Humor, News , , , , 3 Comments

devincow  So a fake cow said mean things about Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), and he’s suing.

Twitter parody account @DevinCow had about 1,000 followers Saturday night. Monday morning the news hit that Nunes, former head of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and now ranking member, was suing Twitter, the person behind an account called “DevinsMom” (since removed because Nunes’ real mother complained to Twitter), and the cow*.

Twitter users immediately dumped a skip-loader’s worth of cow-pie scorn on him. Parody accounts flourished, all taking him to task for attacking an account that had only about a thousand followers before Monday. Twitter users flocked to follow the herd, and cow jokes have been thicker than flies around a sump pond. Steven Colbert even set up a one-Tweet parody page, Devin’s Skin. It’s message? “Still Thin”.

By Wednesday, @DevinCow had surpassed the 398,000 followers on Nunes‘ personal account, and as of this writing has 608,000. Nunes’ official Congressional Twitter account has only 32,000 followers, and is rarely used by the California Republican.

You’d think a dairyman would know how NOT to step in a pile of cow shit, but since it’s been a long time since Devin has actually worked on, or owned any interest in, a dairy, perhaps he’s forgotten. Maybe he became used to the muck in Washington, D.C., and this all just seems very normal to him.

So… he’s suing Twitter. Devin says he’s due $250,000,000 for all the pain, suffering, mental anguish, and damage to his reputation (because, see, he *almost* lost the last election. Too many of his constituents must be too easily swayed by that low-down, no-good, scurrilous cow and her mean Tweets!).

This is the same Devin Nunes that told C-SPAN in 2010 that he had no problem with people saying demeaning, rude, or hostile things to government officials.

This is the same Devin Nunes that is a co-sponsor on a bill to prevent frivolous lawsuits.

My, how times have changed!

*ok, he’s not suing a real cow. He’s going after whoever runs that account. Legal observers say it’s udder-ly crazy for him to expect to win. 1st Amendment, you know.

Oh, and I’m still blocked from his personal account. I’m assuming it’s something I said.

Eye candy is good for the eyes. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

March 16, 2019

Jim Reeves Gay, Personal, Pictures , , , 1 Comment

eyecandy03162019

It’s been a while since I posted any eye candy.

You’re welcome.

90 days? Ha! How about 15 years!

March 1, 2019

Jim Reeves commentary, geek , , , Leave a comment

opportunity_goodbye

NASA and JPL have closed the books on the Mars Opportunity rover. Designed for a 90 day mission, the little explorer-that-could made it almost 15 years. The last transmission from the rover has been translated into something a bit anthropomorphic and pensive, and variations on the above image have become Internet memes.  Someday someone will find it sitting forlornly in a pile of Martian dust, and at that point we’ll have to decide whether to bring it back to be displayed in the Smithsonian, or to create a permanent historical park on Mars.

Good job, Opportunity (you, too, Spirit and Sojourner). Rest easy, we’ll find you someday.