The Puerto Rico Genocide

People, American citizens, are dying in Puerto Rico. Some are dying of dysentery from drinking contaminated water. Others are dying slowly of starvation. Some are dying of untreated wounds while others died trapped for days under the rubble of their homes.

Town mayors are required to travel to FEMA's San Juan headquarters to beg for assistance which they may or may not get depending of the whim of bureaucrats who would rather be in Florida. Outreach is virtually non-existent as FEMA does not want to know the extent of the suffering they are neither able nor willing to address.  

The Trump Administration is engaging in self-congratulatory lethargy. Homeland Security head Elaine Duke has called the feeble hurricane assistance "a good news story." At the same time Trump is banning congressmen from visiting the island to see what FEMA is doing, or not doing, for themselves.

Trump has suggested that Puerto Ricans are to blame for their own suffering because of the commonwealth's debt and that is a charge being trumpeted by Trump's white supremacist base. Wade into the Brietbart swamp and you will find people openly celebrating the torment of Spanish speaking brown skinned people as something they deserve.

This week, FEMA is sending $3 million to Cheyenne, Wyo. to convert a parking lot into a public park because white people have their own, unique emergencies.

DHS's Big Brother Rule

Let us say that in some point in the future the government wants to round up American citizens of foreign ancestry, how would the begin?  Obviously, the first step is to deport aliens legally in this country. The more difficult problem is the collection of  "aliens" who are also American citizens.

The Department of Homeland Security has developed a plan. They have written a rule, no need for Congress to waste its time legislating, requiring foreign visitors, permanent residents and even naturalized citizens to disclose all of their social media information. Also to be collected are any movies they've watched, music listened to, Google searches, and family history.

The Ahnenpass (ancestor passport) was required for citizenship and employment in Nazi Germany. It required proof of Aryan blood through three generations. To become a member of the ruling political party proof of Aryan blood dating back 150 years was required.

This rule will allow the government to build dossiers on the entire population of targeted races and creeds, what they say to each other, and identify those natural born American citizens who commit race treason by befriending the targeted populations.  The perverse irony is that they are using the "Privacy Act" for this invasion of privacy.

It's an ominous step in turning the DHS into the KGB.

Watching Football Is an Act of Patriotism

Football is boring. An NFL game takes 3 1/2 hours during which there are only 11 minutes of actual action. It is so boring I didn't even notice when the season started this year.

Then Trump condemned football players for being uppity n****rs and watching football became a political statement defending the Constitution and the concept of freedom of expression. So I watched.

I enjoyed watching the Chargers-Chiefs game although not because it was an interesting contest.

LA Chargers home opener.

The Chargers left San Diego this year because they didn't want to play in 70,000 seat Qualcomm Stadium and moved to Los Angeles. They now play on a soccer field with seating for 27,000 and they are not coming near selling out that crackerbox.

I loved watching the Chargers lose their third straight game in front of a lackluster home crowd. Not a "crowd" really, more like a sparse gathering. Gotta say, serves the owners right.

The Embarrassment-In-Chief

I've grown used to the daily shame that is Donald Trump. I don't like it, Trump is like having an untreatable anal itch that is fucking annoying but if you don't learn to tolerate it it will drive you insane.

Trump went on the world stage today and bloviated an empty threat that would be unbecoming of a pissant tinhorn dictator as he vowed before the world's collected leaders at the United Nations "to totally destroy North Korea."

The effect of a second Korean War will be the deaths of thousands if not millions of Koreans, both north and south. South Korea has the 12th largest economy in the world, war would have global economic consequences. If Japan is dragged into the devastation then we all can kiss prosperity good-bye.

Teddy Roosevelt had the best advice for a president.

I have always been fond of the West African proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

Trump's motto is "bluster irresponsibly and see what happens."

Adding to this militarism is Trump's desire for a July 4th parade featuring tanks rumbling down Pennsylvania Avenue. You know, exactly like Kim Jung-Un does.

Damn, that asshole is driving me crazy.

The Rapture Is Coming (Again)

Oh, geez! They're at it again. God is supposed to take up his chosen people on Saturday the 23rd of September, 2017. The prediction is based on astrology, bizarre Bible math, and the supposition that a mythical invisible planet will invade the solar system.

The Astrology part
is that there are three planets in the constellation Leo while the Moon and Jupiter are in Virgo. This is interpreted as fulfillment of a prophesy in the book of Revelation. Virgo is pregnant with Jupiter, the Moon is at her feet, and Leo with the addition of three planets form a crown of twelve stars on her head. Actual astrologers don't see anything special in the alignment.

The Bizarre Math part
involves trying to make the date sync up with ancient biblical reference dates. This requires defining a year as 350 days because, reasons, and then not defining a year as 350 days when counting from 1917, the Balfour Declaration, to present. Balfour is significant to them because it starts a set of two 50 year Jubilee Year cycles that involves the nation of Israel. Of course, they have to ignore the much more significant year of 1948 when Israel was actually founded.

The Mythical Planet
is Nibiru. Nibiru is part of the 20th century myth that the gods of ancient civilizations are actually alien astronauts. Somehow, fundamentalist Christians glommed onto the theory that their God was a fish alien named Anunnaki who lived on an invisible planet that orbits beyond Neptune. 

Nibiru is supposed to make a close approach to Earth this weekend causing massive earthquakes, the rapture, and the Second Coming of Christ. So remember to wear clean underwear this Saturday.

Fear Our Coming Ant Overlords

Scientists have created mutant ants. I'm sorry, there is nothing in that sentence that is not terrifying. Ants already rule the world, the biomass of ants exceeds the combined biomass of humanity, and their organizational and survival skills far exceed those of mankind. Fire ants in south Florida survived Hurricane Irma by forming massive living rafts of their own bodies.

Have scientists learned nothing from watching ant movies. The last thing we need is super, mutant ants giving us orders. Links are to trailers from the movies referenced.

Them! (1954)
Nuclear testing in the American Southwest created giant ants that fed on humans. James Whitmore is a local cop who discovers the creatures and, joined by the military, follows a queen who sets up a colony in the sewers of Los Angeles where there is a final battle.

Sure, you're thinking, those are huge science fiction ants, but what is so scary about real, little, ants.

The Naked Jungle (1954)

Charlton Heston owns a cocoa plantation in the remote Amazon. Two things are plaguing him, his mail order bride (Eleanor Parker) from New Orleans is not to his liking and a massive, unstoppable swarm of army ants is marching across the jungle devouring every animal and plant in its path.

Now, you're thinking what was it about 1954 that led to the production of two outstanding killer ant movies in that year.

Empire of the Ants (1977)

This schlocky B-movie doesn't do justice to the H. G. Wells short story about a colony of ants that develop intelligence and enslave mankind. Although, if the mutant ants scientists are creating get out, this may be our future.

It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977)

Renamed Ants! for the VHS release, this cheap made for TV movie had even worse acting than the than the one above even though it had a solid collection of minor TV celebrities of the decade. A huge swarm of tiny ants overrun a hotel eating the guests.

Recent propaganda movies like Antz (1998) and A Bug's Life (1998) are proof that our ant overlords are preparing their open takeover of the planet by convincing a generation of children that ants are cute, humorous, and harmless and would make for kindly masters. The longer our politicians refuse to use the phrase "radical ant terrorism" the closer we get to falling under strict formic law.

Florida Hurricane History

I remember a story about about the Labor Day hurricane that struck Florida in 1935. It was a category 5 storm.

The storm surge was twenty feet and obliterated the Keys. The story was about one person who was being washed away by the waves when he was able to grab onto the top of a palm tree and clung to it during a terrifying night.

The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane got its name from what its did to Lake Okeechobee. The winds caused a twenty foot storm surge on the lake, pushing water well inland from the lake. This storm killed over 4000 people in the state.

Hurricane Donna, in 1960, was only a category 3 storm when it hit Florida's west coast. Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Fort Myers had half the population they do today. The storm surge shattered seawalls and swamped the cities.

Brief Prediction

Donald Trump will not offer any aid to the Caribbean islands devastates by Irma, including Puerto Rico.

We Are All Pawns to Them

Dreamers Are Just Toys to Trump
These are real people with real lives who from childhood have as American as any of us. Yet to Republicans their lives are bargaining chips to be traded for tax cuts for the only people who truly matter to them, their millionaire owners.

The Three Steps to Genocide
As taught by Obersturmbannführer-SS Adolph Eichmann.

Step 1: Start with deportations
During the 1930's Nazi Jewish expert Eichmann used any imaginable excuse to deport Jews from Germany and Austria.
Step 2: Force out people through threats and violence
Over 250,000 German Jews and 100,000 Austrian Jews were convinced to leave "voluntarily" because, as Jews, they could no longer find jobs and faced daily threats of beatings and firebombing of the homes and businesses. Unfortunately, this would only force out the people with the financial ability to become refugees. This fact required...
Step 3: Mass murder
Having exhausted the ability to eject Jews and with millions of Jews in Poland and the Soviet Union falling under his control, Eichmann adopted a policy of systematic mass murder.

Trump, at this point, is only in step 1.

Hurricane Irma Is Fake News
Lunatic Rush Limbaugh is telling his listeners that Hurricane Irma is a phony story created by the global warming cabal. According to Rush, by the time the hurricane reaches Florida it will just be a brisk breeze because...reasons. As for the US territory of Puerto Rico that is being ravaged by what is essentially an F3 tornado the size of Ohio, Rush doesn't talk about them because they are brown skinned Americans who speak Spanish.

My First Nigerian Letter

I got a letter today from an English bank saying that I am the long lost son of a Japanese millionaire and they will give me £17 million if I contact them. The letter writer claims to be the CFO of the bank but the letter is not on bank letterhead but cheap plain paper and was printed using an inkjet printer not the laser printer banks use.

As for me, on my father's side I am Sami Finnish and my mother was of Irish-German heritage. It's unlikely there is a speck of Japanese DNA in my chromosomes although I wouldn't reject the possibility that some 12th century Mongolian raider made a contribution to my family tree.

The money is tempting but I think I have a better chance with the lottery.

'Toxicity Is a Relative Thing'

Technically, Arkema spokesasshole Richard Rennard, is correct. Technically, a pint of pure strychnine is more toxic than a jigger of arsenic but both will kill you just as dead.

The result of a leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India in 1984.

The fact that Arkema is refusing to disclose what chemicals are being aerosolized by the fire at their Texas plant because of "terrorist" concerns should be terrifying. If terrorists would consider the chemicals Arkema has sufficiently deadly to make the plant a target then those chemicals are too dangerous to be stored near human habitation. The explosions and fires are mixing the chemicals in unknown ways creating compounds of unknown lethality.

Bhopal
Like Arkema, Union Carbide refused to disclose the chemicals they had released into the environment. Thousands died from the initial exposure and thousands more died in the following weeks. Still more tens of thousands were permanently crippled from the exposure. Even today, hundreds of children are born annually with horrible birth defects due to the lingering contamination of the ground and water supply.

Of course, Bhopal was a large city of nearly one million residents while Crosby, Texas has a population of only 2,000 people. So, from a corporate perspective, the cancers and birth defects in Crosby caused by Arkema are likely to be considered an acceptable financial risk. Also, from a corporate perspective, the lives of a few rural folk are far less important than maintaining a strong stock price.