Politics Plus

As September is drawing to a close, we can all agree that this has been a terrible month for Twitler – which makes it a pretty damn good month for us.

So let’s review some of Twitler’s lowlights and our highlights.

Let’s start back on Thursday, September 6^th in the unlikely place of Billings, MT at one of Twitler’s tiresome ego-boosting rallies.  It was there we learned that not all hero’s wear capes – some of them wear plaid!

That backdrop gallery Twitler demands to cheer him on, despite being hand-picked by his handlers for their “enthusiasm”, contained a “one-of-these-is-not-like-the-others” person.  Our unlikely hero was a 17 year-old senior from Billings West High School, Tyler Linfesty – who became better known as #PlaidShirtGuy.

Had to share again just because. ? #PlaidShirtGuy pic.twitter.com/sbGrzluJbz

— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) September 9, 2018

And oddly enough, he was just a couple folks away from a Nose-Picking Trumpkin who decided the American flag she was wearing was just the perfect hankie to wipe her nose.

You might think wiping your nose on the flag is patriotic but it’snot

pic.twitter.com/0Eretl8rzY

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) September 8, 2018

After a while, Twitler’s crack-crew realized Linfesty was making an even bigger fool of Twitler than he does by himself – and so kicked him out.  But only after having the Secret Service detain him and run a check on him simply because he was not adoring enough of “Dear Leader”.

It’s like they don’t even realize our First Amendment exists – and just start with the 2^nd.

Here’s a sampling of #PlaidShirtGuy’s great facial expressions, Trumpkin’s nose-picking gal and our hero’s unfortunate forced-exit.  But luckily #PlaidShirtGuy ruled the internets for days!

Even before #PlaidShirtGuy, Trump was already reeling from the Anonymous Op-Ed “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” published in his “favorite” paper, “The New York Times”.

Naturally Twitler went ballistic:

And the sad thing is the list of people “ratting” him out is virtually endless …

Although leaked much earlier, Twitler was hit by another body-blow with the official publication of Bob Woodward’s devastating book, “FEAR: Trump in the White House” on September 11^th.

And while the book is chockablock full of scathing details that we’re all familiar with by now, the truly sad thing is that the gestalt – the tenor – of the book does not surprise us one whit.  We already knew Twitler was an amoral, lying, ruthless, misogynist a$$hole before he even announced his candidacy.

But for the sake of posterity, here are two good sources for a few takeaway highlights (or lowlights, depending on perspective) of Twitler’s deeply-flawed “Crazytown”:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/us/politics/trump-woodward-book-fear.html

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/five-most-shocking-episodes-from-woodward-white-house-memoir

Stormy Daniels did not want to be left out of the bashing fun, so she too revealed a little of her upcoming book:

“He knows he has an unusual penis,” Daniels writes. “It has a huge mushroom head. Like a toadstool …

“I lay there, annoyed that I was getting fucked by a guy with Yeti pubes and a dick like the mushroom character in Mario Kart …

“It may have been the least impressive sex I’d ever had, but clearly, he didn’t share that opinion.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/18/stormy-daniels-tell-all-book-on-trump-salacious-detail-and-claims-of-cheating

I suspect my reaction was very similar to yours …

And of course, we’re all …

Waiting for Trump to have a letter from 65 women saying his penis doesn’t look like the mushroom from Mario Kart.

— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) September 18, 2018

And it looks like this Thursday has the potential to become the cherry on top of a great September when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford appears before the Judiciary Committee with its 11 old, white, male Rethuglicans.

While I’m not holding my breath it’ll stop him, Kavanaugh, for his part, has been furiously prepping for his upcoming grilling (and a brand-new opportunity to lie & perjure himself some more).  But leaks show it’s not been going well for Brett at all:

But Kavanaugh grew frustrated when it came to questions that dug into his private life, particularly his drinking habits and his sexual proclivities, according to three people familiar with the preparations, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. He declined to answer some questions altogether, saying they were too personal, these people said.

“I’m not going to answer that,” Kavanaugh said at one point….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/incredibly-frustrated-inside-the-gop-effort-to-save-kavanaugh-amid-assault-allegation/2018/09/22/6808baf6-bde0-11e8-b7d2-0773aa1e33da_story.html?utm_term=.85cc8dfb1875

Too personal?  TOO PERSONAL?!?

This from the guy who, in a Memo 20 years ago, directed his boss, Ken Starr, to ask Pres. Clinton during the impeachment procedures the following questions:

WARNING: NSFW – POSSIBLE TRIGGER

If Monica Lewinsky says you inserted a cigar into her vagina while you were in the Oval Office area, would she be lying?

If Monica Lewinsky says that you had phone sex with her on approximately 15 occasions, would she be lying?

If Monica Lewinsky says that on several occasions in the Oval Office area, you used your fingers to stimulate her vagina and bring her to orgasm, would she be lying?

If Monica Lewinsky says that she gave you oral sex on nine occasions in the Oval Office area, would she by lying?

If Monica Lewinsky says that you ejaculated into her mouth on two occasions in the Oval Office area, would she be lying?

If Monica Lewinsky says that on several occasions you had her give oral sex, made her stop, and then ejaculated into the sink in the bathroom off the Oval Office, would she be lying?

If Monica Lewinsky says that you masturbated into a trashcan in your secretary’s office, would she be lying?

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/178-kavanaugh-clinton-monica-lewin/9b9a46ab055ee2458fd5/optimized/full.pdf#page=1

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/20/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-clinton-starr.html

No wonder the a$$hole looks scared to death …

Yep, all-in-all September has been a very good month.  And it’s not over with yet!

Well, unfortunately my carpet cleaning guy texted me late Wednesday evening that he had to go to the ER & is now in the hospital for observation.  Told him I hope it was nothing major and wished him well – but I haven’t heard anything more from him.  But I’m NOT getting my carpets cleaned today.

I will say the cat is very befuddled because in getting ready I moved all the easily moveable furniture into the family room (it has a wood floor) and the guest bedroom (really didn’t need cleaning).  He misses a lot of his favorite napping spots.  Plus it’s a real obstacle course for me to maneuver around now.

So I’m throwing together a quick, mini “Friday Fun” – because next Friday I’ll be in absentia while visiting with friends from Wisconsin.

In an effort to encourage STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) studies, I’m featuring some fun, nerdy science t-shirts:

This one is dedicated to Twitler:

And a “Bonus Rebus Question” graphic.  You can put your answer in Comments:

Today we begin on a somber note in tribute to Aretha Franklin.  For now (and hopefully for the rest of my life) I can still remember her voice from back when I had hearing.  And what a voice!

The internet is rightfully ablaze with tributes to Aretha, but I will only focus on two: one very unique how New Yorkers paid tribute using their subway stations, and the other is a reminder of what we had for eight years and what we sadly have to put up with now.

Compare Twitler’s totally self-absorbed and tone-deaf “tribute” to Aretha Franklin …

TWITLER:

“I want to begin today by expressing my condolences to the family of a person I knew well.  She worked for me on numerous occasions….  So just want to pass on my warmest best wishes….”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6067997/Trump-tweets-death-Aretha-Franklin-Clintons-release-long-tribute.html

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/8/16/1788735/-The-difference-between-Barack-Obama-s-tribute-to-Aretha-Franklin-and-a-f-king-a-hole-s-tribute

To that of Pres. Obama’s …

PRES. OBAMA:

Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace. pic.twitter.com/bfASqKlLc5

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 16, 2018

(Lord … how our nation misses that man!)

Moving on to brighter moments.  Leave it to the Dutch to create a one-off promotion by the Rijksmuseum for their brand new, just opened addition Rijksmuseum Schiphol.  It’s a 240-foot long (73 meters) luggage belt in the baggage claim area featuring master works of art!

“The luggage carousel gives an overview of Dutch art history, from the Middle Ages to the present with artworks from artists including Rembrandt and Vincent van Gogh.”

It’s open 24/7 – and it’s FREE!  You can learn more about it here:

https://www.museumnext.com/2017/09/rijksmuseum-covers-schiphol-airport-luggage-belt-dutch-works-art/

And how could we pass up another in an endless series of monumental goofs that proves (yet again) Fox news (sic) leads the way in misinformation and outright lying!

Ainsley Earhardt on “Fox & Friends” in rebuttal to Gov. Cuomo wanted to prove that America IS great by reminding us of how we defeated “Communist Japan”!

Ainsley Earhardt proudly remembers the time that the United States "defeated communist Japan," proving we are truly a Great country. pic.twitter.com/xFMHWtuQ8v

— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) August 16, 2018

Maybe like you, this immediately reminded me of one of John Belushi’s famous lines from “Animal House”.

“Over?  Did you say ‘OVER’?!?

“Nothing is over until we decide it is …

“HELL NO!”

A good reminder that our work on retaking the House AND Senate is not done.  Let’s all do what we can to GOTV!

Truthfully, a belated “Happy Birthday!” because Franklin was actually “born” on July 31, 1968.   And what a “birth” it was!

Undoubtedly you are probably asking yourselves, “Who is this Franklin that he’s talking about?  Other than Benjamin, I don’t know any Franklins.”

But I bet dollars to donuts you do – even though Franklin was only a couple inches tall when he first came into the world fifty years ago.

As noted, the story of how Franklin came into being is one worth sharing!

During the Civil Rights struggles of the late 1960s, and only eleven days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Glickman, a retired schoolteacher and mother of three from the Los Angeles suburbs, sat down at her typewriter to craft a letter to Charles Schulz requesting the inclusion of a Negro character in his wildly popular and famous comic strip, “Peanuts”.

But Glickman’s sentiments were not created de novo.  Her upbringing was exemplary as she explained in an interview almost three years ago about what motivated her to draft her letter in the first place.

My parents… were very concerned about others, and the values that they instilled in us about caring for and appreciating everyone of all colors and backgrounds — this is what we knew when we were growing up, that you cared about other people.

And so, during the years, we were very aware of the issues of racism and civil rights in this country. And remember, when I was young, black people had to sit at the back of the bus, black people couldn’t sit in the same seats in the restaurants that you could sit… the period before I wrote the letter was the major period of civil rights activities.  Every day I would see, or read, about black children trying to get into school and seeing crowds of white people standing around spitting at them or yelling at them … and the beatings and the dogs and the hosings and the courage of so many people in that time. 

So it wasn’t as if, one day, I said, oh things are bad and Martin Luther King was shot and I should do something. It was the accumulation of all the years of seeing the discrimination, the segregation, the hatred and all….

Glickman was amazed when she actually got a reply from Schulz.  While he told her he liked the idea, he was worried that it would appear to be patronizing.

Glickman wrote back asking if it would be alright if she shared his letter with several of her Negro friends and then have them share their thoughts about it with him.  He heartily approved, and her friends were very supportive of the idea in their correspondence to Schulz.

A short while later Schulz wrote to Glickman telling her to keep an eye out on his comic strip panels during the last week in July of 1968.  And so the character Franklin was “born” on July 31, 1968.

It was over recovered a beach ball, baseball and crooked sand castles that Franklin and Charlie Brown form a friendship – a first for syndicated comics!

While widely acclaimed, that didn’t mean Franklin’s introduction didn’t meet with some resistance – particularly from editors in the South.  They especially pleaded with Schulz to NOT show any panels with Franklin in the same school with the other characters, because they were dead-set against integration.

It wasn’t long before Schulz soon thereafter put Franklin in the same schoolroom … seated right in front of a little white girl, Peppermint Patty!

Schulz recalled a discussion with Larry Rutman, head of the company that distributed “Peanuts” (King Features Syndicate):

“I remember telling Larry at the time about Franklin—he wanted me to change it, and we talked about it for a long while on the phone, and I finally sighed and said: ‘Well, Larry, let’s put it this way: Either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit. How’s that?’”

[Emphasis added]

In truth, it would be hard to argue against folks who have complained that Franklin is a little too one-dimensional and a little too perfect – always wise, fair and just.

And it’s true he does lack the eccentricities that all of Schulz’s other characters possess.  But at the same time, I think we can agree that Franklin has gently nudged readers toward the notion that, as Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, the content of your character is more important than the color of your skin.

So “Happy 50^th Birthday!” Franklin!  And thanks for all you’ve done!

NOTE:

The “Peanuts” comic strip ran until Mr. Schulz’s death in 2000.  It was published in more than 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and translated to 21 languages, and it has reached more than 300 million people around the world.

BONUS FEATURE:

Interview with Ms. Glickman at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in 2014 on how she wrote to Schulz:

RESOURCES

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