Jar Jar Lamar

The frustrating enraging story of the day concerns the Senate's decision not to call any witnesses for Trump's impeachment trial, effectively stating that, while Trump did something wrong, it doesn't merit further investigation. The shitshow is best summed up by a recent string of tweets by Lamar Alexander:

I worked with other senators to make sure that we have the right to ask for more documents and witnesses, but there is no need for more evidence to prove something that has already been proven and that does not meet the U.S. Constitution’s high bar for an impeachable offense.1/15

— Sen. Lamar Alexander (@SenAlexander) January 31, 2020

Alexander's cowardice is now a trending topic on social media. Personally, I am getting flashbacks to the not-so-great 'Star Wars' prequel movies, with Lamar playing the role of Jar Jar Binks granting Palpatine emergency powers:





Of course, with the signal that Trump is above the law, I'll let Natalie Portman have the final word on the Trump cultists approval of their God-Emperor's asspotheosis:





As if the shitshow weren't bad enough, Adam Schiff just had to rile up the fringiest of the MAGA fringe by referencing a storm, which is enough to get the conspiracy theorists all wee-weed up. I know I've predicted that 2020 will be a stupid year, but I didn't even know the half of it.
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They Call the Wind Antifa

Today, in Tales of the New West, we have to sorry story, via Tengrain, of a not-quite-gale-force-wind blowing down a section of Vulgarmort's Wall. A thirty-seven mph wind was sufficient to huff and puff and blow down the big bad moron's personal monument to racism. Personally, like Barack Hussein Obama, I believe that Trump is probably a fascist, and is at best fashcurious... the fact that winds blew it down suggests that Nature itself is antifascist, so may as well call the wind Antifa, a reference to the signature song from the musical Paint Your Wagon, which has passed into the status of a standard:





Even joking, the Smothers Brothers had a better grasp of windmills than Trump does. My introduction to the song was the Kingston Trio's rendition from the indispensible ...from the "Hungry i" album:





Getting back to the wall, it seems to be a shoddy piece of work, like most of Trump's gaudy death traps. I would love to know how many millions of taxpayer dollars went to which well-connected fly-by-night contractors, and what kind of kickbacks Trump was getting. The guy may be racist, but his greed exceeds even his hate.

Lovely Luncheon

It was a total Power Move by the head of our Grounds Department- tasked with finding a spot for our interdepartmental luncheon (all of the departments that answer to my boss, that is), she picked one of the swankiest restaurants in the area, Irvington, NY's Red Hat on the River. It's a fancy New American place, with cuisine inspired by classic French bistro fare. Our boss, a magnanimous fellow, signed off on this, we had a successful fundraiser year, and we all worked hard to pull it off. One big joke is that we throw our 'Christmas' party in late January, when reservations are easy to come by, and prices tend to be lower than peak holiday prices.

It's a nice opportunity for everyone to get together. One of my subordinates hadn't even met some of the 7AM to 3PM crowd- he's kinda like Bigfoot, his presence is known, he's sometimes glimpsed from afar... he had a nice 'debut' today, having taken a half day off from his Day Job. It's also a nice opportunity to exchange stories- we night guys have the weird ones. I confessed to eating a Canada goose egg (not this one, which I passed up) when the topic of a goose chasing contractor came up. We also talked about the upcoming season, which promises to be an extra busy one- besides the busy tourist and fundraiser seasons, we have major renovation projects going on at two of our sites.

It was a fun lunch, a two hour extravaganza marked by fine dining and exquisite service (I went for the prix fixe 'bistro special'- pork/duck rillettes with cornichons, pickled onions, and greens followed up with boudin blanc with garlic bread, moutarde and greens). We all had a bunch of good laughs and caught up on the local scuttlebutt, both organization and town.

I'm still a bit awed by the choice of venue- our head of Grounds joked that next year she will find a place in Bali to host the luncheon. She's a feisty one, so she just might pull it off... things are usually quiet until May, after all.

Today's Time Waster

It's been a lazy day off for me, the sort of day on which I didn't have to accomplish anything, so I didn't accomplish anything. One of the time wastes I frittered time away on is an 'Add a Word, Ruin a Book' Twitter feed. There's some comedy gold in there, such as the obligatory Lord of the Cock Rings and A Game of Porcelain Thrones.

So far, I haven't seen The Right Butt Stuff. While Gus Grissom might not approve, this girl certainly would:

There are a lot of hilarious entries in the thread, so be careful before you click, if you have anything important to attend to. I had to put it aside because I had to post a blog entry before heading out to bar trivia. You've been warned... the Moby Dick entries are particularly funny.

The Overton Window's Not THAT Far Right!

The Overton Window is the range of policies which are considered respectable in mainstream political discourse... anything outside the 'window' is considered radical. Over the course of the past forty decades, with aid from the media (particularly right-wing talk radio), the Overton Window has been shifted rightward. Once unthinkable policies, such as the gutting of Social Security and Medicare, are now considered right-of-center-though-not-unreasonable postions.

Generally speaking, the Democratic Party shifted to the right, with Bill Clinton implementing 'welfare reform' in the 90s. The Republican Party, however, has shifted so far to the right that it has veered off into fascism. Still, the push continues, as Fox personalities try to paint John Bolton, of all people, as a liberal. Yeah, THAT Bolton, the war hawk of the oughts. Bolton is a far-right figure, but he's a neocon, so his brand of far-right lunacy is not in vogue right now. The real reason why Bolton is persona non grata among the Trump Cult dead-enders is because he possesses information that undermines Trump's impeachment defense and he's enough of a loose cannon that he might actually spill the beans, if only to spite his erstwhile boss.

The MAGA supporters cannot recognize nuance... they cannot see that Bolton is a righty because he's no longer playing for their team. If he bucks Trump, he must be a lefty. We don't want Bolton. He's not even a principled conservative. I don't think there are any principled conservatives anymore. Just because some roided-out blockhead on Fox claims that he's a liberal, that doesn't mean that we need to claim him. Hell, I'm not ready to forgive that Rick Wilson guy, and he's been anti-Trump from the jump.

Current Earworm: A Perfect Accompaniment to my Commute

I listen to a lot of college radio, the non-commercial stations play a better range of music than commercial stations, and the exposure to new artists is unexcelled. My current earworm is by The Gonks, a San Francisco band I'd never heard of. I'm a Lonely Night Driver is a lo-fi marvel, the spare indie instrumentation highlighting the sweetness of the lead vocal:





I'm a Lonely Night Driver comes across to me as a plaintive indie rock counterpoint to the hard rock swagger of that other 'lonely night driver' anthem, Radar Love. As someone who will be heading out on the road in about half an hour to work the graveyard shift, I have to say that I prefer lonely night drives to daytime drives in traffic, no matter how swaggering the soundtrack is.

Year of the Rat, Contemplating the Neighbors

Here's wishing a happy Year of the Rat to my readers. As a resident of the New York metropolitan area, I have a familiarity with rats, which form a sizable portion of the population of the City of York, much like they form a sizable portion of the population of Lankhmar. I even have a coworker whose primary function is to deal with a potential rat menace.

I... uhhhh... I'm not really bothered by rats. There, I said it. While I certainly don't want a rat in mi kitchen, I don't get freaked out seeing them in the subway stations. Rats are a lot like humans, they are smart, gregarious, and have a knack for adaptability. Maybe that's why a lot of people hate them so much... well, that and the fact that they carry a lot of pathogens (just like humans). I can't be alone in having an indulgent streak towards these furry opportunists, some of which have attained local celebrity status:





At least that rat knows how to eat pizza in a civilized fashion, unlike this guy:





Again, rats are a lot like us, they even thrive because of our bad habits. When we waste excessive food, and produce excessive garbage, they gain by these peccadillos. According to the Chinese zodiac, rats are frugal, and they benefit from human prodigality. Sure, even I sometimes slip and use the term rat pejoratively, but the rat does have some admirable qualities, just like we humans do.