#Ferguson

There's this weird belief among black Americans that if you win the fight--with the cop, or another citizen--you won't go to jail. No, black people of America, if you win the fight, you'll go to jail longer. When the cops molest you like Thandie Newton in "Crash," you should sue. (Hope you win, by the way.) When they try to arrest you, you let them arrest you and you sort it out later. When a cop pulls you over, it is not a good time to discuss race relations in America or offer the cop a critique of his job performance--you keep your hands on the wheel. If the cop is particularly bigotted, he would've shot you several minutes ago. He's probably just an average white guy trying to do his job, and he will be offended by your suggestion that he's what's wrong with America today. (And, hey, he just pulled YOU over for committing crimes--so fuck you!) When a cop pulls you over, Al Sharpton isn't going to help you because he isn't there. The ACLU isn't going to help you. The NAACP isn't going to help you. When a cop pulls you over on a deserted road late at night, it's you and a white guy and the white guy has a gun. So be cool. You know you're a great human being, but the cop doesn't know you--and that's the point of being strangers. You both believe that you're "good," but the difference between you kids is there's a 100% chance that the cop has a gun.

The anti-authoritarian streak amongst American blacks gets in the way of common sense, regrettably. The looters, and the protestors offering the looters cover, are at times living in their own reality. They are clinging to the original narrative where Brown is another Trayvon Martin, caught Walking While Black--and any evidence that contradicts this notion is part of a larger racist scheme to undermine blacks. They cling to the original story that Brown was about to be abducted by a white cop, and was only trying to defend himself against the cop. Brown, a gentle giant, tried to flee, then was shot. Then Brown was left begging for his life as the cop shot him some more. "They executed him!" is the popular refrain, and going by the original witness statements, this seems to have been the case.

However Brown was more than a hundred pounds heavier than Martin. Brown was actively committing several crimes while a real cop (not a loon pretending to be a cop) pulled him over, for committing an actual crime. Most importantly, Brown was caught on tape LITERALLY assaulting a man in the minutes he allegedly assaulted the man who claims he shot the black man in self-defense.

 

Now Brown's family supporters are claiming the police have released this tape in order to advance the conspiracy against Brown and blacks in general. This tape, in their minds, proves nothing, since Wilson didn't stop him for the shoplifting that he'd just committed. This is where I get off. This is getting stupid--stupid on several levels. It's possible that the police department didn't want to be seen as slandering a dead kid, and it's possible that the police just recently connected the dead giant black guy with a bunch of cigars on him with the report of the giant black guy who recently robbed a store of a box of cigars. (Not all blacks guys walk around with a box of cigars, just so everyone knows. That's not a thing.) The suggestion that the tape was released as part of a master plan to make Brown look bad is stupid--partly because the police force is not smart enough to have master plans--and neither was Brown, apparently, who sacrificed his life for $50 worth of tobacco.

 

Far from innocent, Brown was a bully. (I am not using the word "thug.") Like Rodney King, he is becoming an unwarranted martyr of police brutality. His family might've loved him dearly and he could've had a bright future ahead of him, but the reality of the situation is that Brown was not a gentle giant, as his family's lawyers are now spinning him in anticipation of their lawsuit, but he was an occasionally violent petty thief. He made at least one bad decision that day, which was a strong arm robbery. Whatever else happened next, his bullying behavior undoubtably contributed to his death.

 

 It now appears that the Ferguson Police Department was trying to cover-up a legitimate shooting, which is actually the weirdest of possible scenarios. This is also the best proof of their corruption: Not that they murder black men, but because they are so tone deaf to the public and the very laws that they are supposed to enforce--they fail the spin. They still have not released photos of Wilson's injuries. I imagine Wilson was pretty bruised-up, and we will see that when the photos are released in the next few days or possibly several years. However the polce department hasn't relased the photos yet because...they're idiots. This tape and Wilson's record are the reasonable doubt. No fair jury in America, after seeing this tape, would convict Wilson of murder or even manslaughter now. 

 

But that leads us to what happened. Here is one scenario, and it's only one possibility: Brown, believing that Wilson was stopping him for the violent robbery THAT HE JUST COMMITTED, tried to attack the cop through the window of his car. (The witnesses, with their own anti-cop bias and their desire to protect a neighborhood guy, thought that Wilson was somehow trying to pull the giant guy into his car--which as well as being physically impossible, would mean that he was trying to abduct an almost 300 pound black guy for reasons still unknown.) Wilson felt that this big guy was trying to grab his gun, so he shot him. Brown retreated, having just been shot. He raised his hands in surrender. However Wilson, not understanding that the fight was over--full of adrenaline and possibly having suffered head trauma--assumed that Brown was about to charge him again, so he began shooting Brown some more; alternately, Brown might have really tried to charge Wilson again. Brown was shot so many times because he was still on his feet; the wound at the top of his head suggests that he was falling downward and forward at the time.

Either way, no charges will be filed against Wilson. And trying to file civil rights charges against him would be folly due to the lack of racial aminosity from Wilson. Obama is sending Holder to try to calm down the black citizens, not because Obama hates cops. These are Obama's "I feel your pain" moments and are, if anything, condescending towards blacks. Like Obama's "beer summit," It is ultimately an empty gesture, and rightwingers need to shut the fuck up about Obama's attempts to heal the racial divide, however superficially. Rightwingers have no ideas, just criticisms--or claiming that we should stop talking about racism since talking about racism makes people racist, of course.

Assuming that Brown normally led a law-abiding life, I'm not sure what mental situation Brown was having that led him to attack that shopkeeper. What I do suspect is that if Brown had tried to run away, obeying all traffic laws, he would've goen away. Rather Brown vacillated between attacking the cop and making a get away, and this indecision cost him his life.

Who's to blame for ISIS?

BUSH STARTED THE WAR THAT DESTABILIZED IRAQ! This isn't even ancient history! This is RECENT HISTORY! I still have magazines talking about the rush to war--DATING FROM 2003!!! (No, my apartment isn't very clean.) We should make Bush President again, just to impeach him for THE MASSIVE WAR THAT HE STARTED!!! Is this possible? Can we do this, Constitutionally speaking?

The police that Bush trained (after dismissing Iraq's ACTUAL SOLDIERS) promptly surrendered the weapons that Bush gave them when confronted by a heavily armed invasion force. Now ISIS has American arms that we gave to the Iraqis so they can shoot more Iraqis. BRILLIANT!

You know what? Before Bush, there was a guy who kept Iraq sable and (yes) a terrible place to live. There was a guy--whose name escapes me, something to do with a hole--and Bush had him killed. Bush threw a match on a pile of garbage, and the only thing worse than a pile of garbage is a flaming pile of garbage. (Bush also fired the firefighters--the Iraq army--for reasons unknown.) The flaming pile of garbage will destroy everything that its embers come into contact with. And now future Presidents will have to deal with these fires of genocidal freedom, peace and prosperity.

Ebola coming to America. "What can possibly go wrong?" asks every arrogant scientist in every science-fiction movie ever.

So the two Americans infected with Ebola are returning to America for treatment, and who would've thought that would be controversial? I mean, flying Ebola patients all around the world is how the planet of the apes got started. This is not a good precedent.

Shockingly very few people are talking about the late 90s hit "Outbreak," which is worth mentioning. This is one of the few instances where the media are showing restraint. "Outbreak" is an inaccurate depiction of a real Ebola outbreak. You have to be contaminated by bodily fluids; it is not as contagious as the flu, which has actually killed many more people. The fatality rate is 60%, which is less than 100%, so...yay? In Africa, there is a distrust of doctors and poor corpse handling procedures, which contribute to these outbreaks.

Still, I have the creepy suspicion that we're going to end up fighting genetically modified apes about ten years from now.

Extremely white actor hooking up with extremely Latin actress? A Fast and Furious relationship?

Well, Zac Efron and Michelle Rodriguez are now happening. And it just produces a "huh?" in a lot of us. They are both attractive and solidly B-list, eternally flirting with the A-list. There's the racial aspect as to why their pairing seems odd, certainly, but the fact that Rodriguez is a decade older than the Zacster seems odd.

I am intrigued if they are each other's beards. Both actors have long been dodged by rumors of their sexuality. (Rodriguez is bi, which is, of course, the midway point between straight and Homosexualland, which was also a rejected part of the Disney empire.) Both actors have played exactly one character throughout their entire respective careers, and those characters don't seem they would be compatible.

Ultimately this is probably two attractive people temporarily keeping each other company.

Why do I like "Working the Engels"?

I have no idea. I will watch all 12 episodes, even if it gets canceled.

I do love the cast. There's Azura Skye, whom I've loved since the 90s. Although not traditionally beautiful, her presence has permanently imprinted on my conscious. Yes, she's in my blood. Love Kacey Rohl. Watch her Vines; she's so dang weird. She would be delightful in small doses, but to be in a relationship with her might induce me to eat her like Hannibal. She's far too young to be an attorney, but at least the show writers acknowledge it.

At the same time, it is not all that funny. It is Canada funny, not America funny. It's moments of placid talking followed by brief spurts of wackiness--someone falls down, random nudity, etc. There's an occasionally cynical reference to Christianity and spiritualism. Nothing too offensive. Everybody's so dang pleasant, and the ending seems to always be steeped in people's innate goodness and cooperation.

So watch the show on NBC.... Or not, whatever.

Gary Oldman--da fuck?

I wish I could say I wouldn't watch "Planet of the Apes." But I totally will. Because it's a movie about apes who ride horses into battle, firing a machine gun in each hand. Come on! And it's in 3D! I'm part Jewish, and...damnit, I'm still there!

 

In Oldman's recent Playboy interview, he defended Mel Gibson and bashed any number of things, including Nancy Pelosi and the rest of human society. Normally one of our most respected actors, I can only think he briefly forgot what interviews were.

 

Oldman thinks that every white guy has announced that he hopes his girlfriend gets raped by a bunch of niggers? Oh my God, what goes on at Gary Oldman's house? Oh, does Gary Oldman greet Jews by asking them: "Why are you starting all these wars? What the hell?" Then he waits patiently for a response. Because that's what we all do!

 

When you're famous, people will attack you--sometimes for asinine reasons. This must be incredibly infuriating, as people line up to take shots using their lack of information and intelligence. Whoopi Goldberg recently set the bar higher (or lower) by defending (guess who?) Mel Gibson. She also defended Roman Polanski, explaining that having sex with an intoxicated 13-year-old then telling her not to talk about it isn't really rape. Plus, being a Frenchmen, this was totally normally in his culture.

 

One has to respect Oldman for his commitment to his craft, and for his other comments, like pointing out that society is going to Hell. Kids are twerpish. The Golden Globes are overrated, but he used other words. And he knows some of his movies were crap.

 

Oldman, for all his classy outsiderness, lives in the celebrity bubble. When a celebrity attacks--anywhere in America--they rush to defend him! Hope he doesn't start defending Roman Polanski.

Why Hillary shouldn't win.

Freshman year of college, I had a poli-sci professor, who was generally a leftist. He did not like Gray Davis, but the Republicans would always bring out a rightwing nutjob to challenge the Democrat, and sometimes the rightwing nutjob wins (like Pete Wilson). In his words, he would end up "holding his nose" and voting for Gray Davis. A year after that statement, Arnold Schwarzenegger would run his insurgent campaign, seizing power, and proceed to make California significantly worse.

Hillary has experience, and with that experience, is a long history of dumbass mistakes. During the run-up for the invasion of Iraq, Hillary had her profile in courage moment--but she just went with the political attitudes of so many Americans at the time, believing that she will be rewarded at some later time. Her later heroic defense of the tragedy in Benghazi--chastising Republicans for trying to politicize an Islamic terrorist attack halfway around the world--is a positive, but does not remove the smear of what she actually did: Her early support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

It is hypocritical to criticize Republican congressmen for Iraq and not Democrats who worked with Republicans to give Bush the authority to attack Iraq. Whereas the Republicans were acting on their stupid political principles, the Democratic minority were aiming for national security brownie points and supporting the Republicans' stupid ideas because they wished to protect their political careers. Whether or not the views that you stand are wrong, stand for something. This was John Kerry's mistake in 2004, and Mitt Romney's mistake in 2012. Saying "my bad" does not constitute contrition. When you fuck-up in a job, you don't apply for a better job at the same company! The appropriate thing to do is to place oneself in self-imposed exile as penance. It is hypocritical to excuse a woman's stupidity because she is a woman--you sacrifice your feminist street cred when you lower the bar to accommodate a woman's intellectual capabilities.

There is also a visceral reason for my hesitation to support Hillary: Hillary clearly cried during her 2008 campaign--there is news footage of her sitting alongside daughter Chelsea, crying. She was crying. She whined about the favorable press Obama received throughout the 2008 campaign, while ignoring why Obama wasn't placed under the media microscope that Hillary was: Obama didn't have the scandals that Hillary and her husband had; the Obamas were both new and still perceived as honest. Our opinions of her were formed, for better and worse. Obama couldn't sell himself as experienced, and she couldn't sell herself as exciting.

You cannot cry if another 9/11 happens. There's no crying in the presidency. Crying makes me, personally, uncomfortable. When America is attacked, we do not cry but we kick our enemies in the balls. "These colors don't run," bitch. (For the record, I'm not calling any specific female a bitch; I'm calling whomever might attack America in the future "bitch.")

I will not support Hillary during the California primary in spring 2016. Yes, I will probably vote for a man, but that is only be because most candidates are male; our first female President should not be Hillary Clinton. She opened doors for women, but we cannot ignore that she does not want to be treated any differently because she is a woman.

The Republican candidate will support bringing back workhouses. They will think birthcontrol is turning away when you cum. They will continue to confuse science with superstition. And they will do so while being utterly confused as to what murder has to do with firearms. If 2012 primaries are any indication, the Republicans will trip over themselves to out-crazy each other--and Democrats will do something similar--before centering themselves during the general election.

Hillary Clinton isn't tall. She has a history of lying. She has a cackle like a witch who just ate a bunch of kids. She has gained weight, and it's noticeable. She lacks political integrity. She is an opportunist. I hate your pants suits. However, Hillary Clinton is sane.

So I guess I might have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary in November 2016. She will count this as a victory.