Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments Run Rudolph (Giuliani) Run – PlanetPOV’s 2021 Christmas Parody I love the fact that you said you couldn’t wait for this “era of Know-Nothings and Fascists to wane,” AdLib, because clearly that statement contains within it the assumption that it indeed will end. You know how it is — sometimes in the middle of a cold dark winter’s night, you get that unpleasantly spine-tingling notion that… “maybe…it…won’t…end?” [Insert wryly laughing emoji here.] I’m hoping that 2022 brings with it a renewed commitment to truth. Including a commitment to the notion that truth itself actually does exist. I hope we see a resurgence of an acknowledgment of the power of love — minus the false sentimentality that tries to pass itself off as love (because fake love is such a “winner” when it comes to selling things and pushing propaganda). Bannonite cynicism/nihilism doesn’t have to win. Bannonism (and Trumpism and Steve Millerism) isn’t an ultra-hip post-modern version of How The Future Looks. In fact — I believe that ultimately it can’t win. Because it contains the seeds of its own destruction within it. It’s just a matter of refusing to be sucked into that slimy bog. Of choosing instead to laugh at their fear-mongering. Let’s all do a happy Archbishop Tutu dance of hope into the year 2022. If nothing else, it will annoy the hell out of them. » Posted By kesmarn On December 27, 2021 @ 8:38 pm I don’t know how you do it, AdLib! You never fail to brighten the holidays for us. Thanks so much and hoping your holidays are brilliant. The writer of “Don’t Look Up” said that it was getting harder to do satire because reality was catching up way too fast. I think you’ve noticed the same thing. But you’re doing a fabulous job of staying ahead of the madness in the most creative possible way. Kudos! » Posted By kesmarn On December 26, 2021 @ 5:36 pm Weekend Music Thread – I Want Candy “Veni, Veni…” with a Southern twist.
» Posted By kesmarn On December 19, 2021 @ 2:05 pm It doesn’t get much sweeter than Alison Krauss’s voice and Yo-yo Ma’s cello:
» Posted By kesmarn On December 19, 2021 @ 2:02 pm A Tale of Two Vancouvers But Mostly Mine, the Best One It turned out more than okay! Text and photography are terrific. » Posted By kesmarn On January 3, 2022 @ 5:00 pm What a beauty! You made a wonderful couple, PPO. Thank you so much for sharing the great photos! » Posted By kesmarn On October 20, 2021 @ 6:37 am Deepest condolences to PPO on the loss of his dear Fergie. What a lively, bright presence she has been here on the Planet. She will be greatly missed. And we’re blessed to cherish PPO’s continued friendship as we remember her. » Posted By kesmarn On October 13, 2021 @ 7:11 am A Farewell to Trump: Oh the Bad Places You’ll Go These days it seems I’m always late to the party, Ad Lib. Craziness on the home front, of course, as always. But I just had to take a minute to thank you for this hilarious re-write of “Don T’s Inferno”! » Posted By kesmarn On February 3, 2021 @ 4:53 pm PlanetPOV 2020: The Year in Graphics Well, clearly this optimistic post was written before today happened. However — Georgia’s election results were more than encouraging. We readers/writers are indeed still alive to fight another day. Democracy will continue to struggle through this crisis and will continue to breathe. And we owe a bigger debt than ever to Black voters. Thank you. » Posted By kesmarn On January 6, 2021 @ 2:07 pm If a picture is worth a thousand words, this collection speaks volumes and volumes, Ad Lib. What a year. (Both personally and historically for the nation.) Cause for hope? 1.) I’m reading and seeing encouraging news in Georgia this morning. 2.) Those of us who are reading this are still alive to fight another day. (With condolences to all who have lost loved ones to COVID.) 3.) Democracy struggled through a tremendous crisis and seems to be still breathing, thanks to so many people in the lower levels of the elections process (right down to precinct presiding officers) to the court system who took that oath to uphold the Constitution seriously and to the foresight and wisdom of the founders. 4. Black voters are at last coming into their own. “It’s been a long time comin’…” » Posted By kesmarn On January 6, 2021 @ 7:58 am Twas the Nuts Before Christmas At the end of a year during which laughs have been in pretty short supply, this is just what the doctor (Fauci?) ordered, AdLib. Thank you so much! And wishing all the best to you and yours this holiday season! » Posted By kesmarn On December 26, 2020 @ 9:19 am How Dems Should Respond to Mitch McConnell’s SCOTUS Hypocrisy Vic has made a living from playing the straight-talking East Coast “Eye-Talian” character. Being politically incorrect is his shtick. But I think he nailed it here, AdLib. In short — on this one he’s completely politically correct! » Posted By kesmarn On September 24, 2020 @ 1:50 pm Thanks for the clarification, Ad Lib, and kudos to Murph for sizing up this frustrating situation and for having the country’s best interest at heart in advocating the expansion of the SCOTUS. The usually (hilariously) irritated Vic Dibitetto sobered up and posted this commentary on the situation on YouTube:
» Posted By kesmarn On September 22, 2020 @ 5:12 pm Absolutely right, Ad Lib. GOP football rules: If you’re a Democrat, when you carry the football into the end zone, you have to keep going up into the stands and you have to run the top tier of the spectator area around the entire circumference of the field in 30 seconds or less in order to score one point. If you’re a Republican, and you happen to stray within 30 yards of the goal post carrying the ball, it’s an automatic touchdown worth 40 points. Point after is worth 30 more points. GOP baseball rules: Since justice is blind, all Democratic batters must be wear masks over their eyes while at bat. (COVID, you know…) If they accidentally make contact with the ball, they shall run the bases blindfolded, while the bases are moved at will by the opposing team. The GOP team shall be allowed to field 40 team members in the infield/outfield at all times. GOP batters are allowed to stand within 15 feet of the pitcher’s mound. The 20″ diameter Nerf ball shall be placed on a little tee stand for them to swing at. They’re allow 78 strikes before they’re out. They need not worry about running the bases, as there will be designated minority runners to spare them the exertion. No matter what the score, innings will be added to the game until the GOP is ahead, at which point it will be “Game Over.” And it really will be game over if we let them get away with this. » Posted By kesmarn On September 20, 2020 @ 10:53 am Trump To Replace VP Pence With Diamond And Silk As the expression of about 10 years ago went: “Oh no you didn’t!!” LOL! Yes, AdLib, you did! SOOO funny. It’s a bit later in the evening here, and it’s been a long day. (I’ll use those excuses.) But just for about 60 seconds, I was actually having trouble recalling Pence’s first name! That’s how much of an impression “Silent Mike, Holy Mike” seems to have made over the last four years! So — yep — I do believe we’re about ready for Diamond and Silk. Just not in any actual governmental role. And the same goes with their wannabe boss Donald. Strictly entertainment purposes only. » Posted By kesmarn On August 25, 2020 @ 7:17 pm Trump Orders Hospitals to Use ICU Beds For Confederate Statues Many thanks, NMIAI! Hoping all is well with you! » Posted By kesmarn On July 7, 2020 @ 6:19 pm jj, I’m so sorry to read that you have more going on than most people during this pandemic! Sending good wishes that you’re employed again in the very near future, that the car is repaired (at minimal expense) and that you can get back into circulation soon! » Posted By kesmarn On July 4, 2020 @ 5:50 pm This is the best 4th of July gift ever. SO funny — at a time when laughter is so badly needed. I had an instant mental picture of The Trumpster balancing on one pudgy leg while using the other foot and both hands to pour water into that tiny, tiny mouth. And then Pence — more motionless than any statue ever produced by human hands. Too perfect. Knowing Trump, I would imagine his ADD mind would produce yet another “genius” idea with this proposal too. While the Confederate soldier statues would occupy the ICU beds (requiring surprisingly little monitoring), perhaps their horse statues could be melted down. Then lead IV’s could be given as yet another in the growing list of Trump experimental treatments. After all — molten lead must be at least as toxic to viruses as bleach! And he was all about Clorox IV’s. With any luck, he’ll be selected as “Patient Zero” and be the first to try Molten Excess Lead Therapy. Otherwise known as “MELT.” » Posted By kesmarn On July 4, 2020 @ 5:46 pm Ray, I have to say that you really got an early and accurate grip on the COVID-19 situation. » Posted By kesmarn On June 30, 2020 @ 6:29 pm Part II of My ADD Journey Through Life Khirad, my keyboard decided to give up the ghost last week, so I’m late to respond. (Had the on-screen keyboard option, but it was so awkward it was taking me four times longer to type even simple statements.) Anyhoo… I’m wondering whether you’ve ever read anything — or watched YouTube videos — by Gabor Mate’. He’s a medical doctor who practices in Western Canada and he also deals with ADD. He said that the first time he took Adderall he had the same experience you had. Something like: “Ah… so this is how neurotypicals feel!” He specializes in addiction — which he feels is almost always rooted in early childhood trauma. He has a really accessible writing style and a very non-judgmental take on how people (including himself) sometimes go off the rails multiple times before getting things sorted out. His stuff really resonated with me. Unrelated but interesting: His son is journalist Aaron Mate’. » Posted By kesmarn On June 29, 2020 @ 4:36 pm It’s so good to see you here, Michael. I hope you never stop writing — no matter how tempting it may be in some dark moments to give it up. I haven’t been able to spend as much time as I would have liked here on the Planet myself, since I’ve been tied up for over two and a half years in a court battle to get guardianship of my nearly 98 year old father. Although this sounds like a totally off topic digression, I have to admit that the whole experience has been an eye opening one when it comes to human rights. There was one family member who (for reasons that still aren’t clear) decided she did not want me to be my father’s guardian — even though he had said in writing back in 2016 (and also verbally) that he wanted me to have that job should the need arise. The method she chose to block my guardianship application was to weaponize laws and law enforcement against me. She contacted the county Adult Protective Services with completely fabricated stories of abuse and neglect. She also contacted the police department with false stories of theft by me from my dad’s apartment. As an RN and a person with no criminal record all this was new to me. I was called in, interviewed, investigated (including bank accounts) — not once, but three times. For the first time I knew (in a very toned down way) what it felt like to have the sense that a whole network of systems that were supposed to be there to protect innocent people had seemingly swung around and turned itself against me. The question of charging her with having made false reports was never even considered, to my amazement. It felt so futile to keep saying: “But… but… I didn’t DO any of these things!” Doesn’t every guilty person say the same thing? Frustration, anger, confusion… yes, all of the above. I saw in a whole new way — and even then, in a much less threatening way — what some of my brothers and sisters experience on a daily basis. I was fortunate. I was able to get an attorney and was eventually cleared of all those false charges. I eventually even got guardianship. But to have that hanging over my head for over two years took a real toll — on both my physical and emotional health. What must it be to cope with that kind of unfairness for a lifetime? Is it any wonder that people of color suffer from hypertension and have higher death rates from COVID-19? Enlightening was hardly the word for the whole experience. And my level of consciousness was further raised by the birth of the first Black male child in our family just about a year ago. I — perhaps smugly — had thought that I was a pretty “woke” individual before that, but I have since been educated. When I hold this little guy in my arms — watching his bright, happy eyes and sweet smile — I have such mixed feelings of love — combined with near panic when I think of his future. I’ve cried more than once when I consider that in just a little over a decade, he will be an adolescent Black male. With all that that entails. Can we change this country fast enough to make his future brighter, safer? I don’t know. And that scares me so much. It’s hard to put it into words. Enough. We have to do better. » Posted By kesmarn On June 3, 2020 @ 4:32 pm Thanks so much for the link, TOCB, and for your thoughts. I’m going to check it out now. » Posted By kesmarn On May 26, 2020 @ 5:18 pm Random Sunday morning thoughts here, Khirad. For me, sorting out the difference between religion and faith is a starting point. I don’t doubt that there were Inquisitors who were dripping with religion. Slaveholders in the old South who were marinated in it. Indiana Klansmen in the 1920s who lynched their fellow citizens on Saturday night and filled the “Amen Corner” during Sunday morning services. But it takes faith to be a Luther — to take on corruption, knowing that you might be barbecued in the town square as an object lesson to others who dared to question a profit-based indulgence-peddling bureaucracy. Or to be a Martin Luther King, Jr. — calling out injustice, knowing that it was more than likely that one day you might step out onto a hotel balcony and never step back inside. Faith. Not in a bearded, nightgown-clad old white man in the sky, but in a cosmic force for love, creativity, peace, even mirth. Personally, I happen to feel that Christ tapped into that force more effectively than most prophetic figures, so I pay a lot of attention to him. But I notice that my Muslim and Hindu and Sikh brothers and sisters are bearing a lot of “fruit” in this part of America — so they must be on to something too. I guess it boils down to the fact that very few of us manage to get through life on this bizarre planet without arriving at a moment/moments when we hit the wall. We reach the end of our own strength. Can’t do it; can’t go on another day. That’s when it’s not unusual to have an encounter with something outside of ourselves — indefinable and transcendent. And life is changed. » Posted By kesmarn On May 17, 2020 @ 7:45 am Coronavirus Panic is Real, Happening Now and Creepy Apparently they are learning that when it comes to being able to wipe one’s derriere, hoaxes just won’t do the job, TOCB. » Posted By kesmarn On March 16, 2020 @ 6:13 pm I visited an Aldi today. It felt somewhat more sane than Kroger did last week. But — still no toilet paper. I still have some, but when that runs out I can always resort to what there was plenty of at Aldi. Baby wipes. Apparently I was the only person willing to go with that option. Manly Ram truck driving, gun-totin’ Trumpistas couldn’t bring themselves to hoard cucumber-mint fluffy soft baby wipes, it seems. Their loss. » Posted By kesmarn On March 16, 2020 @ 6:11 pm Yay! Auntie Christ is in the house! Stay healthy! » Posted By kesmarn On March 16, 2020 @ 6:05 pm AdLib, it’s a few days later now (I’m writing on March 14) and this level of hysteria hit Ohio on Wednesday (March 12). We’re a bit behind our coastal friends, but we always eventually get there! Like you, I just needed to pick up a few items for the almost 98 year old Dad (the famous Warlord) at the local Kroger. And also like you, I knew when I pulled into the parking lot that I was in trouble. Nearly every parking space was full. And the store was mobbed. People seemed to translate their sense of urgency into a “need for speed.” They were using their shopping carts as high velocity battering rams — and God help the geezer or small child who got in their way. It was as though they believed that if they got through the store in 13 minutes rather than 15, those extra two minutes would delay the onset of the virus attack in their bodies by the same amount. Instead of a sort of British, blitz spirit sense of “keep calm and carry on,” the mood seemed to be: “I’ve got mine. Too bad about you.” In short, the atmosphere was distinctly Trumpian. There’s an expert on narcissism who makes YouTube videos. His name is Sam Vaknin. And he’s dubbed this “The narcissistic virus for a narcissistic civilization.” Isn’t it ironic? Trump came into power with the support — in part — of people who view themselves as highly religious. People who will get really irritable when they hear the words: “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” But now when there’s a perfect opportunity for them to demonstrate their “christianity,” it turns out that their motto (and the motto that we really should have on our currency) is: “IN COSTCO WE TRUST.” » Posted By kesmarn On March 14, 2020 @ 7:09 pm Democratic Primaries and The Art of Pearl Clutching AdLib, as you know, life on the home front here is almost as chaotic as this primary season — and that’s saying something. So today — March 2 — was my first opportunity to read this article. It’s also the day that Buttigieg and Klobuchar both dropped out of the primary. (And Steyer did recently as well.) Wow… I hope you’re giving yourself props for being so prescient. You pretty much nailed it. Tonight I watched the PBS NewsHour (don’t always get the chance these days), and I was amazed at how totally they’ve given up on even a pretense of neutrality. They’re solidly behind Biden. They’ve “disappeared” Warren (whom I personally like quite a bit) and they’re actively and aggressively gunning for Bernie. So disheartening. I don’t know whether all this pundit-pressure will actually sway voters in one direction or another. But what I do know is that I wish they’d stop it. I expect endless spin from FOX. And MSNBC is not trying to bill itself as an objective news source any more as far as I can tell. (Still don’t have cable here though, so I don’t watch.) But PBS used to be better than this. One thing I do feel (and this is hardly original with me), is that if Bernie goes into the convention with a convincing number of delegates lined up behind him, and it turns out that the selection of a candidate happens to be someone else because the super-delegates have YET AGAIN stepped in and anointed their choice instead of paying attention to the way real people voted, I think I will have to say that I’m done with the Democratic Party. Not so much because Bernie will have been cheated yet again, but because I don’t want to affiliate myself with a party that doesn’t even embrace the most fundamental concept of a democracy: that voting signifies. As so many others have said: what’s the point of even bothering with primaries, campaigning and caucuses, and town halls, if a handful of people at the top are the king-makers at the end of the day? If I wanted to get comfortable with a system like that, I’d move to Moscow. » Posted By kesmarn On March 2, 2020 @ 6:51 pm Trump Defense Rests After Saying O.J. Simpson’s Glove Doesn’t Fit Him AdLib, this is just brilliant! But — as so often happens — your magnificent satire is so close to the TRUTH that it almost loses its satire factor. Well done! » Posted By kesmarn On January 31, 2020 @ 6:44 pm PlanetPOV 2019 – The Year in Graphics Each one is truly worth a thousand words, AdLib. And then some. Happy New Year to you and to everyone on The Planet! » Posted By kesmarn On January 1, 2020 @ 8:48 amComments Posted By kesmarn
That’s the creepiness that we really, really don’t want to succumb to.
(Having been dealing with a few health issues myself, I haven’t been able to participate as much as usual here, but have been reading and following as much as possible regardless, Hoping to be more active as treatment allows in the future, dear friends.)
Meanwhile, my thoughts will be with PPO and the rest of the Planetary community here as we honor the memory of the amazing Fergie. Peace.
Kudos for “keeping your head when all about you were losing theirs.”
You probably heard Tony Fauci’s comments of today (June 30), and I would imagine that you’d completely concur with them. “Disturbing” was the word he used; and he anticipated that 100,000 new cases daily was not out of the question. Where the “irrational exuberance” of the US stock market comes from I really have no idea. Like many other institutions, I’m beginning to think that it’s completely unplugged from reality.
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