Month: June 2017

This has been an interesting week for Trump. Most of the stuff that was developing, while it was related to him, didn’t involve his actions directly but instead stuff resulting from him. Perhaps because he was bored, he then decided to step in and be an áššhølë personally so he could get our attention. Let’s start outward and work in.

Continue Reading “Freak Out Friday – June 30, 2017” →

It’s been a relatively quiet week for Trump. Aside from his usual litany of idiotic tweets and his speeches to crowds as he is apparently already running for a second term, Trump has been rather sedate. But that doesn’t mean stuff hasn’t been going on.

1). Keep it to yourselves. For the first time in my memory–maybe anyone’s–the White House has declared that henceforth press conferences will not be televised. Because that’s what all fascist regimes do: they endeavor to operate behind closed doors whenever possible and keep everything to themselves. The administration has been at war with the free press since before Trump took office, and this is just another attempt to separate themselves from the public learning what they’re doing. Not only that, but they probably figure that they can then deny anything that the press says by claiming No, that didn’t happen, it’s just fake news. And if the press broadcasts excerpts in their news broadcasts, the White House can just claim that they were taken out of context. Very slick maneuver that will undoubtedly play to the Trump supporters.

2). Healthy, Wealthy and Wise. So the Senate finally unveiled its hidden health care bill, the one that they rushed through in secrecy, doing all the things that they falsely accused Obama of doing. Unfortunately the early reports indicate that it is not only no better than the House version but that it is actually worse. Billions gone from Medicaid while the rich get a tax cut. It’s so bad that several GOP senators have already said they won’t vote for it, and considering they don’t have THAT huge a majority, that would seem to kill the chances of it being passed. And the support for it among the American people is non-existent.

Yet the GOP could actually salvage this mess. Here’s how: The GOP pulls itself together and votes it into law.

And then Trump vetoes it.

It’s a win/win situation. The GOP manages to do what they said they were going to do and vote to overturn Obamacare. And then Trump gets to be the hero by declaring, “No, this bill is terrible and I must save the people from it.” The American public would absolutely love it. See! See! Trump is fighting to protect us! His sagging poll numbers would skyrocket. Sure, the Senate would take a hit, but everyone hates them anyway, so the damage is minimal. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see it pan out that way.

Did he do anything right this week? Didn’t do much of anything, which for him is a win.

PAD

You know, I don’t seem to remember every single week of Obama’s presidency being remarkable for something incredibly stupid or opposed to the best interests of the American people. But each week of the Trump presidency has brought new waves of stupidity, either from him or those who serve him. It’s really rather remarkable.

Continue Reading “Freak Out Friday – June 16, 2017” →

If you have not yet signed up for my Patreon account, now would be a good time to start. I have posted the first chapter of my autobiography, “Mr. Sulu is Grabbing My Úš.” Available to $20 participants, the first chapter introduces the circumstances under which that happened, my participation at the Friar’s Club roast for George Takei, not to mention how I wound up getting Sulu’s first name of Hikaru into canon and my attendance of his wedding. So if you want to get on board, go here.. Thanks.

PAD

My house, when I was a ten year old, was a “Stop laughing, Daddy, this is serious!” house. The program in question was “Batman,” and I took it VERY seriously. Every Thursday morning at school we would debate how in the world the dynamic duo was going to get out of the situation they were trapped in the previous night. I remember getting it right exactly one time: when the Joker had Batman and Robin strapped into electric chairs, and I properly guessed that they’d be saved by a blackout, just like the one in New York.

Many, many years later I stumbled over Batman repeats on Nickelodeon. Batman and Robin had just walked into Gotham Library, searching for the Riddler. The startled librarian said, “Batman and Robin! What are you doing here?” Batman said, “We’re wondering if you’ve seen any strange looking people here today.” Rather than provide the obvious response–“You mean besides you?”–the librarian said, “Whatever do you mean?” Robin said, “We’re looking for a man wearing a green leotard with big black question marks.” The librarian thought about this a moment and said, “I don’t recall seeing anyone like that. But you know, so many people come and go here during the day.” And I burst out laughing and realized that, Oh my God, it was a comedy. I immediately felt terrible for all the times I’d shushed my dad.

And the great comedian who led it all was Adam West. Developing a pitch-perfect deadpan years before Leslie Neilsen perfected it in Airplane!, West was my generation’s Batman. He didn’t speak in a gravelly, threatening voice, and every cop loved him. He wasn’t “The Batman.” He was just Batman. More serious comics fans may have despised him since he effectively kiddified the character, but I was a kiddie, so I loved it. West effectively disappeared from the scene and fans did their best to forget him, but in more recent years nostalgia (and a handful of bad Batman films) spurred retrospective adoration for the original series, which finally spawned DVD releases, memorial books and TV movies, and even a recent animated special.

I had the honor to speak with West at various conventions and always found him to be quite patient and charming. I’d loved to have been able to spend more time with him, to tell him how much his TV series meant to me. But I doubt I needed to because he probably heard it a million times.

Rest well, Caped Crusader.

PAD

It just never stops. Then again, I have no idea why the Trump family would care what we say. After all, according to son Eric, anyone who is in opposition to his father is not considered to be a person. Well, let’s see what concerns the non-people this week.

1). Blaming Democrats taken to a new level.. So Trump used his favorite means of communication, Twitter, to accuse Democrats of making it impossible to post people to offices. “Dems are taking forever to approve my people, including Ambassadors. They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS! Want approvals.”

Except here’s the problem: Trump has presented only a handful of nominations to the Senate after ordering that all politically appointed Ambassadors resign as of January 20. He did nominate ambassadors for China, Israel and the United Nations: all approved. The New Zealand ambassador is expected to be approved shortly by the full Senate. Nominees for the Bahamas, Japan and the Vatican are in various stages of the approvals process, and that’s it. In point of fact, including Ambassadors, there are 442 appointments waiting for names to be announced. That is somewhat insane, and the fact that Trump is blaming the Democrats (who are in the minority) for his inability and unwillingness to do his dámņëd job is just…

Well, actually, it’s typical.

2). Hope Springs Eternal.. Yesterday was James Comey Day, which became something of a national drinking game as bars put out challenges where free drinks would be served every time Trump posted: which, in a fit of sanity or self-restraint or good governing by his staff, he didn’t do. Comey, the guy who helped sink Hillary, sat in front of the Senate and–depending on who you were–either vindicated Trump (so said Trump, his attorney, and a handful of senators) or instead lay the groundwork for impeachment (everyone else, except for John McCain, who wound up spouting such an array of word salad that we just wanted to check him into Bellvue for 72 hours of observation.).

Not since Bill Clinton wanted to define the word “is” has a president’s language been so thoroughly parsed. It all comes down to Trump’s assertion that he “hoped” the Michael Flynn investigation would be halted. Was that an order or was it not? Obviously, it all comes down to context. If he says it as an offhand remark to four other guys while having drinks, yes, it’s a wish. When he says it one on one to the guy conducting the investigation, yes, it’s an order. Of course it is. When your father says to you, “I hope you understand what I’m telling you,” this isn’t a vague wish that you grasp the general principles. It’s an order. And if you don’t understand it, you’ll get punished. Which is exactly what happened to Comey. He did’t obey Trump’s wishes and he was fired. End of story. I’m sorry, but if you can impeach Clinton for lying about getting a bløw jøb, you MUST impeach Trump for trying to stop an investigation and firing the guy who was conducting it. It’s no more complicated than that.

Did he do anything right?. He didn’t tweet. Best thing he could have done.

PAD

So out of nowhere, I received the following email from an email I was unfamiliar with:

I can write better than you. Show me how I am wrong. I am here to HELP YOU but it’s between you and me and that’s it.

I thought that was odd and wrote back, asking who he was since he hadn’t identified himself. He told me. His name rang no bells. Apparently he’s a convention organizer. I wrote back and said:

Okay, well, I’m unaware of your writing credits, and I’m pretty satisfied with the quality of my skills, but thanks anyway.

Seemed reasonably polite. Except I guess not because he wrote back again and said:

OK.

I feel bad for your situation and all and was trying to help, but I guess “listening to me” is too far out there a concept for you to reach me…

I mean, I was sitting around, minding my own business, a non-writer writes to me and tells me he’s a better writer than I am, and when I pass on his offer to help me, he gets snarky.

There are days sometimes I think publicizing my email was a mistake.

PAD