Dedication, Bad and Good…

by MyBaconPress

I’ve got to hand it to them, the Trump base.  Mexico has (stunningly) failed to write a check for his stupid border wall.  Hmm, who could have guessed?  Now, the Democrats won’t pay for it, either, based on nothing more than the fact that it won’t work.  So, some enterprising individual, a guy named Brian Kolfage, set up a GoFundMe account to raise the cash from the rubes who simply WILL NOT accept that ladders defeat walls.  The entire account was only trying to raise one-fifth of the Trump demand and they only raised a fraction of that amount – but still, it was a LOT.

Predictably, the account didn’t reach it’s goal.  Now, the goal has been shifted to an attempt to build the wall privately.  (The original campaign was to give the money to the Trump maladministration.)  But the people who donated to the original campaign have to actively opt-in or they get a refund.  It turns out, though, that Mr. Kolfage may not have cared one way or the other whether the wall campaign ever succeeded.  HE, apparently, just wanted a new, updated database of conservative email addresses he can use to raise funds for other conservative issues and even to sell.

So, essentially, conservatives have actually paid someone to sell their email addresses to other commercial interests so they can be buried in SPAM…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of the many and varied lies Capitalists tell to justify their greed is that they get to keep all of the revenue somebody else generated because THEY (the rich person) “took the risk” when they set up the business.  Did they?  Well, yeah, sure, they did take a risk.  But was it a BIGGER risk than the employee who went to work for a business that might fail?  I don’t think so.  In my experience, it was a much smaller risk.  The people at the top of the economic pyramid usually have financial back-up plans.  They get golden parachutes.  If the company fails, the owners get cashed-out.  The workers just get out, often with little or nothing to show for their efforts…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got a little worked this week watching law enforcement officials in Wisconsin talking about their heroic efforts to bring home a kidnapped 13 year-old girl.  Each department took turns congratulating themselves and other departments for their dedication and determination and how all of that dedication and determination brought the girl home.  But you know what?  They didn’t!

Look, for the most part, I respect cops and the work they do.  I have no doubt they were trying to find her…but they didn’t.  They didn’t know where she was.  They didn’t know who took her.  They didn’t know who killed her parents.  If SHE hadn’t escaped and sought help, they might never have found her OR the perpetrator (a white guy, btw).  Yet, there they were, “Oh, MAN, we did a great job!”

I think they should have cranked up the ‘Humble Pie’ knob a bit and given props to the young lady – who saved herself…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A young cop got murdered on the streets of California this last week.  Police followed a trail that led to the home of the perpetrator who, very graciously, killed himself, saving the state huge money in trials and incarceration.  We started hearing tons about the cop; how she was new, dedicated, and looking forward to following in her father’s footsteps.  From a media standpoint, it didn’t hurt that she was VERY telegenic.  But we heard nothing about the killer.

At some point, that became suspicious, to me.  They had his body.  They knew who he was.  Yet we heard nothing.  I began saying, out loud, “This guy is white or we’d already know everything there is to know about him.”  (I didn’t even need anyone else in the room.  I just said it, out loud…)

Guess what?  White.  Coincidentally, named Limbaugh. (Relationship unknown, though he DID live in Florida for a time…)

So, we’ll get a day, maybe two, telling us about how he was “troubled” and what a tragedy this is.  If he had been some darker shade of brown, though, we would have been treated to at least a week – possibly two – detailing how his inherent violence wrought havoc on “our” peaceful way of life.

Racism is one of the United States’ prime sources of dishonor.  We were born a racist nation and elements among us have worked tirelessly to ensure we never, ever outgrow it.

Thankfully, there are intelligent, empathetic people in America, too…

Inequality…

by MyBaconPress

I, of course, knew that I was going to write about income inequality this morning.  I’m tired of it and I’m tired of seeing (and living) the consequences of unbridled greed by the thieves at the top of the money pile.  I’m tired of pretending that the greatest fortunes of our society (or any society, for that matter) were created by the person who amassed them through pluck, determination, and hard work.  Those stories are fictions presented by the people who want you to believe.

One part is true, of course.  The “hard work” part.  Someone did the “hard work.”  My issue is, it’s almost NEVER the person who keeps the vast majority of the proceeds for themselves.  In short, those fortunes are – more often than not – the result of outright theft.

So I got up this morning and discovered that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC from here on in…) has discussed a top tax rate of 73%.  Awesome.  I see an opinion piece from leading economist Paul Krugman defending AOC’s suggestion.  I’m heartened.  There ARE people out there who understand that allowing the richest to keep all the wealth produced by other people’s labor benefits nobody but the richest, doing incredible harm to everyone else.

I ALSO saw a hit piece written by the insanely crazy CATO Institute suggesting – against every available piece of verifiable information – that FDR’s New Deal actually harmed most Americans.  (I  really couldn’t believe it.  The New Deal was the economic model that made America into the greatest economy the world had ever seen…)  Conservatives will believe it, though, because conservatives have been fed a steady stream of falsehood and lies for so long, the stories seem, to conservatives, like they must be true.  But the CATO position is NOT true.  It doesn’t even take much research to discover the fact but, being honest, here, conservatives aren’t exactly known for their willingness to do their own research.

The information in those preceeding two paragraphs gives me hope.  Americans are starting to wise up and dropping their fear of saying – out loud – Supply Side Economics is bullshit and we want a NEW New Deal.  The thieving ‘Have-mores’ must also be detecting the whiffs of inequality fatigue so they’re sending out marching orders to their think tanks to undermine…well…facts and rational thought.

I expect to be writing about income inequality quite a bit, now, with more detail and specific focus on specific issues.  For now, I think I just want to enjoy feeling hopeful for a change…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Presidumb Trump seems to really believe he can stop paying Federal workers for months and possibly years without consequence.  (Don’t lose sight of the fact that while the Federal workers will eventually be reimbursed, the privatized contract workers will not.  There WILL be economic consequences to his stubborn wrongheadedness…)  He says he thinks those workers are perfectly willing to lose everything they have in life in support of his stupid, misguided wall.  He might be right.  His base is not fact-based.  They’re faith-based and faith-based believers are often…unpredictable.

For me, I’ll be interested to see how long his base holds.  It’s one thing to support philosophical positions when they’re abstract.  It’s an entirely different ball of wax when it’s your own livelihood and well-being.  When they get evicted because they can’t pay the rent, they’re going to KNOW they’ve been evicted because they didn’t get paid.  Will they REALLY continue to support him in his quest to squander billions of dollars on a vanity project that won’t change anything with regards to immigration?  Sections of his barrier already exist.  People are already going over, under, and even through the fences.  Yeah, let’s throw more money at that…

I’ll tell you this: I suspect the Trump Shutdown is going to end with little or no wall money so the only real questions are: how much personal damage is the base going to accept and how much damage is the GOP going to allow Trump to do to the brand before they step up and reign him in?

An Allegory…

by MyBaconPress

The Dangling Man
A man, Amerigo by name, is standing on the edge of a cliff, enjoying the view.  Without warning, the ground under his feet gives way.  As the man falls, he manages to grab a now-exposed root and finds himself dangling high above an abyss.  He tries to pull himself up but, for various reasons, he can’t get a foothold.  He begins to call out for help.

A Republican shows up and eventually understands the situation.
“Use your bootstraps,” the Republican shouts to The Dangling Man…
Then, he leaves.

A Democrat happens on the scene.  He hears the cries for help and investigates, finding The Dangling Man clinging desperately to the root.
“Hang on,” the Democrat says.  “I’ve got a rope.”
The Dangling Man feels a rush of relief, hopeful the Democrat will save him.  “Hurry, please!” replies The Dangling Man.  “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on…”
Using incremental, baby steps, the Democrat goes to his car, carefully selects a rope, and ties it off safely.  Then he begins to unwind the rope, one coil at a time.
“Please…hurry!” The Dangling Man calls.  “My fingers are numb and I’m slipping…”
“I’m moving as quickly as prudence dictates,” replies the Democrat.  “If I don’t do this carefully, incrementally, unforeseen problems might arise.  What if my rope gets a kink in it or something?”
The Dangling Man realizes he won’t be able to survive at this rate.  The Democrat is simply moving too slowly.  The Dangling Man once again calls out for help.

A Progressive shows up.  It takes only a split-second for the Progressive to summarize the situation.  He runs to the edge of the cliff and, securing himself against a tree, reaches his hand down to The Dangling Man.
“Take my hand,” the Progressive says.  “I’ll get you out of this mess…”
“Thank God you’re here,” The Dangling Man says.  “That guy said he would help but he’s taking so long…I was sure I was going to die…”

The Democrat sees the Progressive reaching down toward the man and knows exactly what he has to do.  In a blur of motion, the Democrat drops the rope and runs to where the Progressive is – and pushes him off the cliff and into the abyss.
“What are you doing?” The Dangling Man demands.  “He was trying to help me!”
“Oh, sure,” the Democrat says, “he said he wanted to help but he didn’t even have a plan.”
“He HAD a plan,” the Dangling Man shouts.  “He was just going to pull me up!”
“That wasn’t a plan, that was just a reaction,” replied the Democrat.  “He could never have pulled it off.”
“He could have with your help!  Why did you push him off the cliff?”
“I’ve already told you,” the Democrat scolds.  “If we don’t do this incrementally, in baby steps, something might go wrong.”
“I can’t wait any longer!” The Dangling Man declares.  “I need help right now!”
“Purist!” the Democrat scoffs, walking back to his rope.  “I told you I was bringing help…”

When, finally, he got his rope to the edge, no one was there.  The Dangling Man was gone.

To this day, the Democrat doesn’t understand what happened…

Killing and Dying…

by MyBaconPress

Generally speaking, I hold that in order for a transaction to be honestly Capitalist, both parties must have a legitimate ability to say no.  CLEARLY, this is not the case with health care.  So, I support universal health care.  Specifically, Bernie’s proposal for Medicare for all.  Why re-invent the wheel, right?

Okay, so this right-wing activist “judge,” Reed O’Connor, rules in his “court” that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.  (As it happens, he’s a shill for right-wing causes and heavily involved with the Federalist Society…)  In my opinion, that’s bad.  But I was never a fan of the ACA.  I know it was originally proffered by the far-right Heritage Foundation as an alternative to universal health care back when Bill asked Hillary to pretend to look into it in the 1990’s.  (Not surprisingly, she failed…)

The ACA became known, popularly, as ‘Obamacare.’  Most people benefit from it.  Conservatives hate Obamacare, though they LOVE the Affordable Care Act.  (Why, yes.  You CAN use that as a gauge regarding their level of understanding of…things…)  This activist judge’s ruling will, of course, cause pain to huge swaths of our country.  As with all things conservative, the vast majority of people will suffer.  Many will die.

But I suspect that by striking down the ACA, this Texican “judge” has inadvertently opened the door to Medicare for all.  Sooner or later, the United States is going to have to join the rest of civilized humanity and provide universal health care as a right, not another obligation to pay…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The National Shame has named Mick Mulvaney to be his next Chief of Staff.  Apparently, Mulvaney is expected to continue in his current role as Director of the Office of Management and Budget as well.

That’s a good insight into how hard these people are working, isn’t it?  Mulvaney can do TWO jobs, each of which normally consume inordinate amounts of time?  My guess is Mulvaney will be COSINO (Chief of Staff In Name Only).  Look for Kushner to do the job until his court dates start piling up and, after his conviction, perhaps Ivanka will take over – you know, until HER conviction…

“Drain the swamp,” indeed.  It sure seems to me that Trump is trying his best to out-do Reagan when it comes to number of administration members who end up in prison.  True, he’s on a pretty solid run at this point but Reagan had eight years to send his 138 people to prison.  I don’t think Trump is going to have the time needed to make it a true competition…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Donald J. Trump is now killing children at the border.  Well, he’s not doing it personally.  He’s a coward.  He would NEVER do it personally.  But his racist policies are getting the job done for him.

US and international law allows for people to seek asylum.  The Orange Foolius declaring them “illegals” and refusing their requests is, itself, a crime.  Now someone – a child named Jakelin Caal – has died as a direct result.  Can we add involuntary manslaughter to his list of crimes?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think the NFL is going to end up paying Colin Kaepernick a HUGE amount of money when they finally have to settle his lawsuit and it’s just arrogant stupidity that’s causing it.  ALL THEY HAD TO DO was sign him to some team – any team.  But when Alex Smith and then his backup went down in Washington, the professional football team there signed two career “also-ran” Quarterbacks.  There can be no question the NFL is colluding against Kaepernick in retaliation for Kaep’s stance on police brutality…

I’ll tell you this: the NFL employs a LOT of people of color.  One would think they would at least put on a show of support for a protest opposing the wanton murders of people of color…

Better and Worse…

by MyBaconPress

I’m kind of over the whole Kevin Hart kerfuffle.  Yeah, I know.  He posted some stupid jokes years ago that were anti-LGBTQ.  So, how many times does he have to apologize before the apology is accepted?  Maya Angelou said that when you know better, you do better.  His comments back then represented a certain ignorance but he seems to have learned.  Now he knows better and he’s doing better.  Human growth.  We don’t all start out in the perfect position on every issue every time…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

According to the Guardian, Tucker Carlson of all people may be turning on Trump.  Carlson has been quoted as saying he doesn’t think Trump is capable of getting legislation through Congress because he doesn’t know how and cites what he calls failures of the current “President.”

If Trump is losing Fox “News”, he’s in a world of hurt…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I see that the driver of the car in Charlottesville has been convicted of murder.  It’s the right call.  This case has become my “go-to” when I describe the difference in the news media between what people see inside the conservative bubble and what people see outside of the conservative bubble.  We all saw the same video but inside the conservative bubble, they saw an edited version.  It left out the part about the guy sitting still; alone in his car with no one around him.  All the cons saw was a guy running from the “crazy” libs who were shouting and throwing things at him and hitting his car so, obviously, he was scared and running for safety.  They had seen it with their own eyes!  We argued about it for quite some time…

But what they had seen was a falsehood packaged just for them.  Now that the courts have considered the entire video his guilt was clear.  I will continue to use the case to highlight the fact that left and right are NOT receiving the same information.  The enemy of the people is not left or right.  The enemy is the corporate media going to so much trouble to sow discontent.  Reagan started the process of the destruction of our independent media but Clinton finished it so it’s not a partisan problem.  It’s an American problem…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s starting to look a bit like the swamp is going to be drained despite Trump’s best efforts to fill it with swamp monsters.  The tide of evidence is rising against him and I think HE’S going to be…well…swamped.  No, he won’t be going to jail.  America doesn’t jail her ex-presidents regardless of their crimes.  (Just ask international war criminal Bush 43.)  But it’s looking more and more like the House is going to have to draw up Articles of Impeachment.  So how long can the corrupt Republican Senate refuse to act on them and hope to retain their own phony-baloney jobs? I’m anticipating an announcement that he needs to spend more time running his businesses and step down.

With Nancy Pelosi set to take over as Speaker of the House, if the investigation snares Pence and HE has to step down, we could end up with a Democratic President before 2020.  Yeah, it’s a pipe-dream but, for some reason, I find it comforting…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These days, when a President leaves office, he gets to become FABULOUSLY wealthy.  Trump might break THAT precedent as well.  He might be the first President of the modern era who actually loses money for having been the President.  There are several legal battles he’s going to need to fight.  Tax agencies are coming after back taxes he owes (according to the NY Times).  Worse, the false image he’s worked so hard to cultivate through the years has been shattered.  Everybody outside of the conservative bubble understands the guy is nothing more than a flimflam man and I think his patrons will leave him behind once he becomes useless to them…

Passing and Impeachment…

by MyBaconPress

I guess one can’t write about politics without mentioning the passing of George H. W. Bush, aka Bush 41 so…

One down, one to go…

The truth is, I suspect Bush 41 was the last President of the United States from the old order.  Reagan began the coup but 41 failed to follow through.  Reagan initiated the government-strangling tax cuts for the wealthy.  41 used the policy to get elected but when he saw the damage that was already starting, he raised taxes again.  BAM!  One term President.

But Clinton returned to the plan, finalizing the destruction of independent media, and each “President” since has moved forward with the Oligarch-supporting arrangement.  (Republicans do it nakedly, aggressively.  Democrats have to pretend to “lose the fight” but the result is always the same: comfort the comfortable, afflict the afflicted…)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SO…Paul Manafort is playing both sides of the fence, is he?  It will be interesting to see if the so-called “President” (or, in this case, Trump) will try to give him a pardon.  If he does, it will certainly set up a Constitutional crisis.  See, Article II, Section 2, subsection 1 of the Constitution of the United States grants the President the power of pardons “…except in Cases of Impeachment.”

I suppose those trying to defend this train-wreck of a human being will argue that since Trump hasn’t been impeached he still has full authority to grant pardons to anyone.  Sure, that would be stupid but that doesn’t mean his apologists won’t argue the point, like, forever.  The reason it’s a stupid argument is that it takes time to build a case for impeachment.  If the President (or in this case, Trump) can just pardon people for participating in impeachable crimes as they occur, it would become literally impossible to impeach any President (or even Trump).  Cons would only acknowledge this, though, if the President in question had a ‘D’ after his name…

BUT…if Manafort is being prosecuted for crimes like money laundering and other white collar crimes that have nothing to do with the President (or in this case, Trump), then Trump should, by rights, have the authority to pardon Manafort.

Also, what if it’s an impeachable offense but nobody it planning an impeachment?  I suppose the newly Democratic House can draft Articles of Impeachment even knowing the Senate won’t ever follow through.  That could stop Trump from pardoning his cronies willy-nilly.

Does the United States have a President or a dictator?  The whole world waits with bated breath…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve noticed a fairly new trend: Democratic party members are starting to inhabit faith-based politics in a way previously seen only in conservative circles.  The Dems have been selling a story about what happened in the 2016 “election” and insisting that everybody agree with the tale.  Progressives, who prefer facts and therefore reject the party line, are written off as “purists.”  If you want to be a mainstream Democrat today, you’ve GOT to subscribe to the ‘Russia-did-it’ story.

I’ve even seen loyalist Democrats in social media gleefully declaring “Fuck the WWC!”  (‘WWC’ is ‘White Working Class.’  In context, they actually mean non-college educated white working class because of their beliefs about who voted for Hillary and who didn’t.  It’s part of the faith message and helps them protect themselves from the reality that many (most?) of those with degrees qualify as ‘white working class’ as well.)  The message they seem to be trying to convince themselves of is that college-educated, party-loyal Dems no longer need the support of independent Progressives.

I’ll tell you this: I suspect they’re trying to press the message because they’re planning on running Hillary again.  I guess time will tell how well that works out for them…

Bizzarro-America Today…

by MyBaconPress

This is kind of funky.  The Guardian has a story, ‘Top Democrats Accuse Trump of Lying About CIA’s Jamal Khashoggi Report.’  That’s the way it starts out, too.  “Senior Democrats in Congress have accused Donald Trump of lying about the CIA’s findings on the involvement of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.”  They cite Adam Schiff and Jack Reed, both Democrats.  But then, they cite Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah.  They also cite Ben Sasse and Joni Ernst, both Republicans.  So why “Top Democrats…” in the headline?

Is it possible that even Republicans are starting to question the behavior of our National Shame?  They should get the credit they deserve…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s been about a week since we all found out that Ivanka used private email for government business.  That seem like plenty of time for bubble-dwelling conservatives to have come up with all of the various and sundry reasons why Ivanka’s use of private email is totally different from Hillary’s use of private email – and why Ivanka’s case is a-okay with them.

They trotted out the idea that Ivanka didn’t own the server the emails were routed through but it had to go away quickly because anybody who understands these things knows that LESS control over who has access to the server being used is not “better.”  So, I guess we’re left with the unsupported assertions that she has turned them all over and never sent classified information.  Of course, how can we know without an investigation?

Whatever happens, I’m glad I don’t have to listen to “lock her up” anymore.  You know, since the “her” in question could easily be Ivanka…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole freaking country seems to be getting lost in faith-based bubbles these days.  It’s been some time since I realized far-right conservatives had enclosed themselves in a faith bubble of protection against information they dislike.  Recently, I’ve been noticing the same behavior from loyalist Democrats.  It’s important to note, it seems to be specific to Democratic rank-and-file members and not progressives or lefties in general but the seeds are there and starting to sprout.

To THIS day, if you ask a loyalist Democrat about the 2016 “election” and Russian collusion you’ll hear about how the Russians said mean things in social media, revealed “hacked” emails, and how the “purists” (newspeak for progressives who were pissed off at DNC shenanigans) threw a temper-tantrum.  Not one word about the DNC shenanigans themselves, their candidate bragging in coal country about all the coal workers they were going to put out of business, nor quitting the campaign three days before the campaign ended – among other…problems…

Facts?  They don’t need no stinkin’ facts.  Their story of why Hillary lost has become a canon of faith and WILL NOT be questioned…

 

The PG&E Homicides…

by MyBaconPress

Here’s all the proof you need that corporations are NOT, in fact, people: the “person” known as Pacific Gas & Electric, or PG&E, can legitimately be considered a serial arsonist with a steadily increasing body count.  How do we throw him/her/it/them/they/whatever in prison?

PG&E has blown up San Bruno (“only” 8 dead but they were just getting started), burned much of Santa Rosa (at least 41 dead), now destroyed Paradise.  Think about that; PG&E destroyed Paradise.  Um…allegedly…

All of it can be traced to PG&E trying to maximize profit.  They refuse to bury their wires.  Too expensive, they say.  (Please don’t notice, they hope, that they manage to bury their gas lines…)  In one sense, it’s true.  See, PG&E might have to incur the cost of burying the lines and that could impact dividends.  But it’s already definite the rate payers will be forced to cover the costs of the deaths and damages resulting from PG&E corporate choices.

As of this writing, the death toll in Paradise is up to 76 with nearly 1,300 still missing.  Still, some politician (on the take) will stand up to defend and then protect the corporation.  I know the rule in “free market” America: privatized profit and socialized risk.  But how many people have to die in support of PG&E corporate profits before someone intervenes…you know…on PG&E’s victims behalf?

I’ll tell you this: I think it’s past time to hold the officers of PG&E criminally responsible for their destructive, now homicidal choices…

Crapitalism – Video Games

by MyBaconPress

Crapitalism is the tendency of the so-called free market to provide ever-decreasing substance at ever-increasing cost…

I’ve enjoyed video games going all the back to Pong.  I’ve owned several game consoles and dropped many quarters in the arcades.  In the early days, you couldn’t really “beat” a game.  The games were far too simple, very repetitive.  All they did was speed up or add more attackers (or both) until the player finally failed.  All the player could really hope for was high score.  Over time, consoles got more powerful and the games got better.  The graphics were better and the content became more sophisticated.  The idea of a video game became a complete home entertainment experience.

Sadly, as with all things corporate, the games began to be monetized at every opportunity.  Games came with less and less content and FAR more junk.  Many games include things called “cut-scenes.”  Basically, a cut-scene is an animated segment of the game the player(s) just sit and watch.  The player doesn’t get to DO anything during those scenes – just sit and watch.  It should go without saying that I don’t sit down to play a video game just to sit and watch.  If I just want to sit and watch, I’ve got, like, a billion viewing options.  (The cut-scenes are used to sell the games.  In the commercials, when the games look so cool or so realistic – those are cut-scenes.)

As one example, I’ve played a game called ‘John Madden Football’ for nearly as long as I’ve played video games, certainly as long as ‘Madden’ has been made.  I first played it on an IBM 386 on a 5.25″ floppy disk.  Originally, it was just football and playbooks.  I could create my own plays and playbooks and use mine instead of the computer’s.  But as ‘Madden’ ported out to consoles, control over the playbook was reduced, then, effectively rendered useless.  It took awhile to understand why.

It was Crapitalism…

Game company Electronic Arts locked up the rights to exclusive use of the NFL properties.  That pretty much locked out any competition.  Some clever sod in the corporation realized they could monetize more of the game.  They started selling ad space in the game.  In exchange for using the likenesses of the players, EA had to include cut-scenes intended to placate the egos of the players.  Now there are so many of those, the game play is bogged down and just not fun anymore.  The problem has become so pronounced, if you watch televised football, you’ve probably noticed an increase in the number of cute, animated graphics showing up during the game on TV.  They’re product tie-ins to John Madden Football and you can expect to suffer through them in the game soon…

That’s just one example but these days, it’s very difficult to buy any decent video game one can sit at home and play at all, let alone with another friend in the same room.  You can play across the internet with your friends but the option to play while sitting in the same room has been largely eliminated.  The big game companies are moving to online games known Massive Multiplayer Online games or MMO’s.  Why?  The slang colloquialism for MMO’s is “pay-to-win” games.

See in many games, the player has to complete missions in order to increase skills and equipment until they’re ready to confront some big “boss.”  In pay-to-win games, one has to shell out extra money to get the tool or weapon they need.  Technically, it’s possible for a player to acquire the needed object in some other way.  Apparently, that took a lawsuit.  But the free versions of these games are pretty much basic, stripped-down versions and all the cool features are behind pay walls.  Maximum monetizing, right?  Pay to buy the game, pay to subscribe, pay to obtain needed objects.  Pay and pay and pay…

Right now, I own a PlayStation 3 and a PlayStation 4.  PS3 offers better, more complete games but my controllers aren’t quite as dependable as they once were and the good ones are hard to come by – and expensive.  The PS4 controllers work fine but I’m having trouble finding games to play because of all of the above.  So after several decades of playing video games, I can see the end in sight and, to me, it’s a shame.

Crapitalism is destroying the home gaming industry.  Okay, in my opinion, Crapitalism is destroying the home gaming industry.  The corporations are focusing on online play where they can squeeze every last cent out of the players.  Sooner or later, the players will catch on and stop playing (and paying).  As the “popularity” wanes, the industry will blame anything, everything other than the fact that they killed their own golden geese because of their pure, naked greed.

I’ll tell you this:  The Crapitalist tendency to monetize every aspect of every experience is, in reality, a race to the bottom…

 

Paradise Burned…

by MyBaconPress

Not JUST the town, mind you, although that appears to have burned entirely.  California has now suffered through THREE of the worst fires in it’s history.  Tubbs (2017), Mendocino Complex (2018), and Camp (2018).  It’s good that the deniers have assured me Global Warming is all a conspiracy or I might be getting worried.  I DO feel, however, like the Chinese are going to an awful lot of extra trouble to convince people their hoax is real.  Couldn’t they just doctor a video or something?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of fires, I see in the news that “President” Dumpster has fired Jeff Sessions and replaced him with a delusional loyalist dedicated to doing the so-called “President’s” bidding.  Nixon tried it but found that men of integrity stood up for the nation.  Sadly, “men of integrity” is an oxymoron in today’s GOP.

The upshot is, partisan AG Matthew Whitaker will likely try to squelch the Mueller investigation into the National Shame’s interactions with Russia in service to his master.  I suspect he’ll succeed, too.  He’ll take the report and refuse to release it.  Simple.  This is going to come down to the Democrats and their control of the House of Representatives.  I wonder if they’ll follow up…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m glad Stacey Abrams is holding strong against Cheatin’ Brian Kemp.  I hope she’s able to force a run-off.  To me, there is currently no greater exemplar of the depths to which Republicans will stoop to cheat than the Georgia Governor’s race.  Kemp did every underhanded, dishonorable, dishonest dirty trick he could think of – and he STILL might not win.  The people of Georgia seem to know what a scumbag Kemp is.  The people of Georgia seem to have preferred Abrams.  They might get stuck with Kemp, anyway.  It’s a flaw in our country’s set-up that a person can cheat so nakedly, so completely, and “win” anyway.

Someone I know said to me, “That should be illegal.”
“It is”, I said. “Lawsuits will be filed and Kemp will lose…but he’ll still get to be Governor.  We don’t punish politicians who cheat so we can pretend we’re ‘protecting the integrity of the vote’.  But there’s no ‘integrity’ in a stolen election…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I believe the ‘integrity of the vote’ went out the window with the introduction of voting machines that don’t create a paper trail.  I note that EVERYONE in both parties was paying lip-service to the idea that the Russians might hack into the voting machines and affect the outcome.  I ALSO note that neither party suggested not using the suspect machines until they can be secured and PROVE the ‘integrity’ of their vote counts…

On the up side, we the people likely never “elected” the National Shame at all…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Democrats turned out in FAR higher numbers than Republicans – which make sense.  There are FAR more lefties than righties out there.  Still, they didn’t win what the numbers would have dictated had the GOP not been cheating so effectively for so long.  In California, we did away with gerrymandering and the obstructionist Republicans went away with it.  I hope to see a concerted effort on the part of Democrats to eliminate gerrymandering everywhere they can.  I doubt I will, though.  The Dems will be loathe to eliminate a “tool” they might benefit from in the future, even if it does undermine democracy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fun fact: the term ‘gerrymander’ was first coined by the ‘Boston Gazette’ in 1812 after a guy named Elbridge Gerry formed a district that was completely partisan and looked roughly like a salamander.  Because of the way he spelled his name, we pronounce the term with a soft ‘g’ – like a ‘j’ sound.  But Elbridge pronounced his name with a hard ‘g’ – like Gary.

Gerry was a conservative, of course, which means the conservatives have been cheating – fearful of leaving their unpopular positions in the hands of the people – since at least 1812…

206 year later?  Paradise burns…