Forget about that bass, where is treble?

You know I sometimes wonder what has happened to us.  All people seem to do anymore is shake their bass.  And that bass is soooo big and difficult to get around.  Sometimes I feel the need to treblize this world into a shrill piece of screaming crazy to get my point across but there you have that bass shaking the chandeliers off the ceiling!

So many things happen in this day and time that seems to rebuke reality.  Especially when the right wingers are doing it.  Deputies Bob Bates and buddies are so sorry and by the way "fuck your breath" dying man?!?  One does not need to breathe here in the U.S. of A?  Riiight.  Everybody knows that.  Especially if you're black.  Yet you must stop breathing one way or the other -- it's in the Constitution, damnit.

From ACLU:

In addition to the catastrophic results of the Buy-a-Badge program, the video that recorded the arrest and shooting of Mr. Harris also exposed the callous and dehumanizing approach of at least one Tulsa County law enforcement officer. That officer responded to Mr. Harris’s inability to catch his breath after being shot in the back by saying, “Fuck your breath.” In response to this officer’s language, the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office should discipline this officer and demonstrate that this barbaric attitude will not be tolerated.

I just have to scream at a high level in order to make sense of right wingers' logic and reason.  And if it is not logic and reason it surely must be mockery and derision then -- it always is.  Get ready for 2016.

Don't Forget the 99%

The Occupy Movement has not died, principally because Wall Street is still conducting shenanigans right before our very eyes: Witness Section 716 of Dodd Frank rendered mute by CRominbus in December.  NEVER FORGET.  And the wolves circle:

New Republic:

Friday, the Federal Reserve delayed by two years compliance with the Volcker rule, the prohibition on banks’ proprietary trading—deals made to profit the bank instead of their clients. The postponement removes a key argument of those people who dismissed Congress’ Christmas gift last week to Wall Street, the elimination of Dodd-Frank Section 716.


Section 716 required commercial banks to push their riskiest swaps into separately capitalized subsidiaries—but Congress nixed it with a rider in its year-end budget bill known as the CRomnibus. Wall Street lobbied intensively for Section 716’s erasure, but even some of the finance industry’s toughest critics, like Paul Krugman, argued that substantively, it wasn’t that big a deal.


And one key reason they gave for this was that the Volcker rule overlapped with the Section 716 rule. The theory went that the Volcker rule already prohibited risky trades, so there was no need to also spin them off into subsidiaries. The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), applauding the CRomnibus maneuver, wrote, “a well-structured and monitored Volcker rule will accomplish the same policy objectives as the Lincoln amendment, making the swaps push out both costly and unnecessary.”

Wolves Whining

The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?  Along with Elizabeth Warren's rhetoric of not backing down with these jerks on Wall Street EVER and the upcoming 2016 political extravaganza, one wonders about how Hillary will dance around this lovely serious subject area -- the economy of the world!  Welcome to global politics, Ms. Secretary of State.  And welcome to the maelstrom and what that portends.

For me?  I will be watching these players with much fascination, for the global financial markets are the only game in town when one is bought and sold then nabbed up and bought all over again.

The Path Appears

So, there was an excellent program on PBS exploring sex trafficking here in the United States.  I see attitudes changing in a lot of people about this subject.  New Wave Feminism aside, I just don't see normalization/legalization of prostitution happening too soon.  Uh, let's try sex robots first.

First we have to break the narcotics/incest sexual abuse linkage first.  This is deplorable, and should be an American priority.  This is just another disgusting spin-off of the utter darkness of pure Capitalism.

Watch this program, A Path Appears, now and learn about why that woman sitting at the bus stop looking overly tired really needs your help.

It's not about Pretty Woman



It's just, once again, another form of slavery here in America.  Welcome to reality, because it is hard, cold and unrelenting -- with this subject matter.  When Ashley Judd said "maelstrom" in this documentary piece she was not kidding around.

President said 'transgender'

Yea!!!  And he said, "lesbian".   But that wasn't the first time.  Thank you Mr. President.  I am not transgender, but I've fought for the rights of transgender youth and adults. Hello. Laverne Cox, Janet Mock.  :D  I do sometimes find myself gender challenged.  I am lesbian who identifies as woman, yet I love to cross gender lines in the way I dress rather queerly, simply because the clothes are more colorful or well-made.  Hello Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Allergic to Lace, Inc., etc.   :)  :D

I loved the President's SOTU last night.  The dude indeed still possesses swagger.  I love him even more today than I did yesterday!  Go Obama!  You ain't seen nothin' yet!

And what do Republicans have to offer?  Joni Ernst and bread basket shoes and John Boehner's liquor set.  Whatever that is.

 

Full Text 



 

God, I feel another deadly chill again . . .

Murder, terror, horror . . . what else is news.  Ugly attacks on free press again today in Paris, France.  Terror-horror. This time it is a massacre of a satirical magazine's finest talent.  One would say someone (?) has no sense of humor, nor do they have any tolerance for the non-religious among us. 

To me, religious fanaticism is in need of some medication.  Seriously.  Either throw them in a rubber room or shut them up for good.  This is insane.  From The Guardian:

A huge manhunt is under way in Paris for three masked and hooded men armed with a Kalashnikov and a shotgun who stormed the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people – including two policemen – before escaping in a car.

Visiting the scene of the country’s worst atrocity in decades, the French president, François Hollande, described it as “a terrorist attack, without a doubt”. Hollande said the assault, which happened at about 11.30am on Wednesday after the magazine’s staff had gathered for their weekly editorial meeting, was “an act of exceptional barbarism”.

Warning that several other attacks had been foiled in recent weeks, the president called for national unity and convened an emergency cabinet meeting. The French government raised the terror alert level in the greater Paris region to the highest level possible.

Five of the victims have been named, including four Charlie Hebdo journalists: editor Stéphane Charbonnier and cartoonists Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac. AFP reported that Bernard Maris, an economist and writer who contributed to the magazine, was also killed.

Needless to say, in solidarity with all freedom of speech around the world and back again. #JeSuisCharlie

Watch out for murder . . .

Seriously. Buh, bye 2014.

Abuse of Power . . .

A common human foible, trip-up, or mistake is that little thing called abuse of power. We've all met up with it at some time or the other in our lives.  What is it? 

Abuse of power can be monumentally destructive if left unchecked.  Most of the time when we encounter it for the first time, our friends and family tend to rein us in, letting us know we are getting "the big head" and to come back down to reality and maintain the former character we were before -- the decent, caring loving human being they once knew. 

You see, my few dust-ups with abuse of power meant I got to banish (or worse) every right wing troll who came across my radar on a message board I moderated.  I had told everyone I did not like the moderation set-up, that it was a hierarchical system I couldn't approve of (ripe for abuse of power), but they said no, you would be a great moderator.  Well I just ended up hurting a lot of feelings with my new found power.  I didn't mince words.  In fact, I thought my words were going to change the world.  I just ruined lives and feelings.  I had the power to do so.  It felt horrible.

I returned from that experience a bit changed but not really surprised by it.  Remember, I had warned them.  And I vowed to never fall into the power trap again.  Our structural systems (patriarchal, capitalist, etc.) foundations are fucked up, but that is no excuse for human beings to keep going along willy-nilly abusing their power. 

That means you Mr. Ferguson Police!!  Serve & protect, dude. There is a reason we don't see you executing blue-eyed blonde girls in the middle of the street for no good reason . . .

In the hands of most or some men in our society, abuse of power can manifest as subtle to extremely violent, and it is perpetrated upon those who are the most exploitable.  Taken to extremes it is so darned ugly and vomit worthy.  And we call those who have taken it THAT FAR, monsters.  This is the court of public opinion.  And we have spoken. And we have ruled!

Dear Predators:   The Jerry Sanduskys, The Bill Cosbys, The Richard Nixons, The KOCh Brothers, The John Boehners, The Dick Cheneys, The George W. Bushs, or Your Daddy.  We will not take it anymore!

As Michael Che of SNL said last night, PULL UP YOUR PANTS Bill Cosbys of the world!