Republicans Are Evil Overlords

I'm sick of their shit, and all the latest excuses.

"You know you may be bumped for any reason at any time"

"You sign your agreement to their bumping practices when you buy the ticket"

"When law enforcement tells you to do something, you hop to it"

Fuck all that.  So tired of corporate white male America, via Republican overlords, having all the rights in this country.  Human dignity, practices which don't result in public humiliation, are not incompatible with making a profit or keeping our country safe and secure. For example, there are many ways to handle needed bumping which do not result in having to forcibly extract a person from a flight.  One would be to always to all the bumping pre-boarding.  The other, to have the last four tickets sold for any flight be designated as "optional" and those holders don't board until it's certain there is going to be room.  But once a paying customer boards, they should be assured of their seat unless they create a safety or security problem and must be removed.    

But we allow airlines to do these humiliating things to us and we blame the victim rather than the business.  Just as we blame the victim in a law enforcement-caused death.  There are so many real-life incidents where the ordinary, non-authoritarian-minded individuals are losing life, limb, and dignity due to the heavy-handedness of others wielding power.  And we let it happen.  Oh, we raise a stink, and lots of outrage is expressed...but then...crickets.  Nothing changes, nothing is fixed.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Republicans across the country are trying to make businesses the higher power in all situations.  They are rolling back all the protections placed by previous Democratic administrations for things such as equal pay, gender equality, overtime pay, etc.  They are stomping all over the little guy, because they can.

They have introduced legislation to require women to seek permission from their employers prior to getting pregnant.  They have attempted to allow employers the right to determine what kind of health care is appropriate for women.  They are attempting to nullify all same-gender marriages in North Carolina.

They have all the power and the legislative might and I'm just waiting for the tipping point when, after being told by the courts they can't do the things they are trying to do...they ignore the court orders and do them anyway.  And as they control the military and the law enforcement answers to them...what will that look like, in real time?  We are so fucked.  

Tunesday #3

OH MY GOOD HELL.  I have outdone all of my previous choices.

This is absolutely tasty.  You MUST watch and listen.  NOW.

Boycott United

Now I was going to give them a pass on that brouhaha last month where they would not allow 3 young women wearing leggings to board their flights.  The idea was, the women were traveling using "buddy passes" and one of the conditions of using that type of pass to fly, was adhering to the United employee dress code, which apparently forbids leggings.  So due to their special status, I think they needed to follow the rules in order to get the free rides...

So I didn't jump on board the boycott United bandwagon that began rolling through the social media.

But oh, my stars.  Jumping aboard now, buying fuel for the journey, and offering to navigate, I am!  BOYCOTT UNITED #BoycottUnited

The recent video going viral involves the bodily dragging off the plane in Chicago of a man (I don't care that he is a doctor, which has been widely publicized) whose name came up on a random computerized list of the names of two passengers whom the local staff decided were going to be forcibly evicted from that flight.

The backstory is that they booked the flight completely, then decided at the last minute that they needed to shuttle 4 pilots/staff members to the destination city (Louisville, KY?) in order for them to perform their duties as United employees.  So they offered $400 incentives for 4 passengers to voluntarily debark.

No dice.  They doubled it to $800.  Still no one volunteered.  Finally the passengers were told that 4 names were going to be picked at random...and so a couple decided to take the bait.  That left two names, and this man's name came up first.  He apparently refused, as he had to be at his destination for work-related purposes the next day, too.

But then it gets nasty.  Cell videos going, this passenger's humiliation and trauma are out there for everyone to gawk at.  You can google it, I'm not going to link at this time.  You may have seen it on the news, anyway.

How disgusting.  I do not care what kind of spin they use, I don't care how much damage control they try, what personnel actions they take, I hope that man and others on that flight sue United into the poorhouse.

And I'ma add once again, just in case you don't realize my position on this issue:  #BoycottUnited

Polls Can Be Rigged Easily

Yesterday, I got a call out of our capital city, with a set of poll questions about my local city school district.  The bond they have in place expires this year, and a renewal is on the ballot, along with a second request for additional funding.  I am a proponent of public education and detest charter schools as mere capitalistic corporate leeches off the government teat, and huge drains on the public school funding and quality.  This poll appeared to be run by pro-public school advocate types.  But even so, this poll gave me grave concerns because it wasn't very professionally designed.

Leading questions.  So many leading questions.  The poll will have little value when it is released, unless it's intended to generate a list of likely suckers to tap for additional funding (and call in the future when they need a specific set of likely answers to their new polls).  Certainly no one will think it's unbiased.

Now with my half brain I can't remember specifically how the questions were worded, but they were NO-BRAINERS so that even dim bulbs such as me could shine.  I remember wanting to tell the earnest young man that I also believed that water was wet, just in case that was an upcoming question, just to save him some time.  But I was nice, and polite, and I never once answered with just a "yes" (you know, in case it was a scam to record my verbal assent, hahaha).

I declined one question.  After 'splaining how much I value public education, I didn't feel I could truthfully tell him I was a high school dropout and have my answers given any credence.  Sigh.  Although to be honest, being too poor to attend college is one of the biggest reasons I support the concept of a free public education these days.

Ah, nuts.  Hopefully that bond renewal passes.

Move Along, Nothing to See Here

My other title thought was, "I, sir, am no blogger".

Yeesh.  How does someone, a grown-ass woman with half a brain, not have it in her to write opinions on a regular basis?  Mebbe the entire thing hinges on that "half a brain" part.  Because for various reasons, I believe my mental capacity is diminished greatly since my retirement 5 years ago.

Some of that loss could be because you lose it if you don't use it, and I have such a huge amount of isolation that I rarely get to engage verbally with anyone these days.

It's not as if I couldn't reach out and touch someone.  Hey, I have tons of unused cell minutes every month but I'm not a big phone talker, never have been.  Ugh. I like the face to face interaction, and phone conversations are very awkward for me for some reason.

And some of my diminished capacity could be due to the constant strain (both mental and physical and emotional) of being in pain 24/7.  I have medications which I can take to alleviate the pain so again, some of the blame here is on me.  But pain meds make me sleepy and groggy and out of it...like being drunk...and I have never ever liked feeling out of control (so I hardly ever got drunk back in my drinking days).  So I sit quietly in anguish sometimes.  And other times, the pain is just burning and aching and I can tolerate it, especially if I don't try to do much more than lie in my adjustable bed most of the day.

So any spark of imagination or creativity is slowly leaking out of my very being on a day-to-day basis.  I have good days and bad days the same as anyone else but I'm likely just hanging in here, waiting to shuffle off this mortal coil.  And for an atheist, there's no joy to be found in that prospect.

At any rate, I tell myself every day that I should write something.  It's not as if I don't have opinions to share.  I just don't get it done.

So if you were hoping for a robust set of outbursts from me, I am sorry to disappoint you.  I believe I have morphed into a mostly reactive state of being, with very little proactive initiative left.  And good blogging takes a concerted effort, and energy I no longer seem to have.  It takes focus and intention.

That doesn't mean I'll stop writing here.  Occasionally I have to, I don't have a choice in the matter as I'm a narcissist who desires to spew my sparkling glitterbombs onto a wide audience and hope for accolades and adoration remains in my system.  Think of me as #45, fake bombing Syria and hoping for applause.  That'll be fairly close to explaining why this blog stays active.

Tunesday #2

So I love love love Garfunkel and Oates, and think they are totally awesome.  And this song hit home so much for me, as it totally goes where I went, when I thought I'd be all evolved and open-minded and try it out.

Nope, not for me.  If you like it, how wonderful for you!

Liberal Fantasy

I just don't see the implosion or explosion or whatever my fellow liberals are salivating over with regards to taking down #45.  Dream on.  He's brazenly breaking all the protocols and getting away with it.  As John Prine says in a favorite lyric of mine, "He's got more balls than a big brass monkey".

Now, it's been suggested that the mainstream Republicans are biding their time, trying to craft their versions of the libertarian dream in dismantling their favorite government bugaboos, and they'll tolerate and protect #45 for as long as he suits their needs.

However, should association with him prove to be a toxic element in their 2018 election cycle, they'll attempt to ditch him via impeachment and the distance will be a chasm.

Yesterday, George Takei's announcement that he would be moving into the 22nd Congressional District in CA so he could take on Devin Nunes next year in a bid for Congress struck a few chords in every liberal's victory songs.  It probably is an April Fool's joke and he just jumped the gun on the announcement.  Sigh.

At any rate, no matter how long #45 stays in, we're in for a bumpy ride.