We're Going Backwards

Late on Friday nights when I’m safely home (admittedly after a few beers) I like to play music videos on the DVD player. Often they're 80s videos, some are hard rock, i.e. AC/DC (which annoys the neighbors because you have to play those loud), or sometimes just a few “chill music” vids because I need to calm down.

However, one of my favorites is Lionel Richie's “All Night Long.” Invariably though this depresses me. It reminds me how we are going backwards nowadays.

The song is about how you can be so strongly moved by something (music) that you just have to keep going. Party all night long. The dancers wear very colorful outfits, surely meant to make a subtle point, and are multi-racial. The dancing includes a wide range of styles with various mixtures of couples.

This was back in the 80s where it was slowly becoming common and acceptable to see a black man dance with a white woman, a white man tango with an Asian female, two males breakdancing together. It made it seem like things were progressing to where we could all live together in harmony.

Then Trump came along and infested the White House. 

Although we knew there were a lot of racists in our country, they at least had become reticent to express it in public. Unlike the old days where Jim Crow was normalized, racism had become a social deviation, something kept quietly amongst a person's cohort or family. Not something you could bring out in public without facing public derision.

Trump enabled racists. Emboldened them. He has tried to make it acceptable in polite society, and criticized those who challenge him as weak-wristed Libtards or overly PC elites.

Thanks to him, we see an increase in right-wing, racist organizations, demonstrators who are unafraid of public shame chanting abusive, racist slogans and public displays of offensive comments to anyone who looks foreign or of a different race than Anglo-Saxon whites. Even the Republican Party seems to have embraced the Trump vitriol and become largely the party of white males.

Although we've had problems with police interactions with civilians, as I noted in my blogs “Tips for Tourists” and “Police reform Part I & II” I don't think we've seen this level of police violence toward minorities since before the 70s. It's as if they are acting as Trump's agents of violence that he often spews at his pep, excuse me, "campaign" rallies.

I long for the days when we could dance the night away regardless of our race, religion, political affiliation or whatever.  

Sure, the video is a make-believe world, but it was a world where people lived together peacefully, where differences were immaterial, where people could dance together in harmony. A world we need to find again.

Ahh, James Thurber

Okay, yes, this is a rerun from August 2019. However, racism, misogyny and hatred of others has gotten worse. It's because the guy in the White House (I don't like to use his name) has made it all acceptable. He's made it so that people who would have been ashamed to express or act in such a manner find it okay to come out of hiding. In the 80s it seemed like we were making so much progress and now it's like we're set back decades. So it is worth sounding the alarm again if it might help slow down this devolution. Make America tolerant again.

 

 

Dementia Don

"If Biden did that, the news media would be screaming 24/7 that he is too old and should be removed from office."

How often do you hear that phrase when someone talks about the antics of Dementia Don? It's daily.

It could be after you hear about him standing up at a meeting with oil CEOs and going to the window to look out and comment about his ballroom.

It could be after he falls asleep during a live press conference, or at a cabinet meeting, or at a large gathering. He does it a lot.

And his speeches sure haven't improved. He's even more scatological and incoherent as usual. One second he'll be talking about how Biden is why the world is upside down and next he'll launch into how mirrors are in the wrong place everywhere.

Because of his huge ankle swelling he can no longer walk in a straight line. At least, that's a forgiving explanation of his ambling walk. If it was Biden the MSM would say it was because he's so old he is one step away from a wheelchair.

He's also been caught on film cussing at protestors or even giving the finger to someone who rubbed him the wrong way. Just like a cranky, dementia addled old man would behave--not a president. 

The only recourse is he should be thrown out of office using the 25th Amendment. A legal way to remove a president who is incapable of leading a country due to physical or mental incapacity. 

Sadly, this won't happen because he's put in his cabinet people who, besides being unqualified, are loyal to him, not to the well being of this country.  They would rather see the country spiral into chaos than do anything to upset Dear Leader. 

So we're stuck with him. Personally, I'm hoping for a stroke.

 

The Nightmare is Just Beginning

I am still depressed about how 1/3 of the U.S. put a failed businessman in office who is determined to destroy our country. 

So I couldn't concentrate to write the blog I planned (maybe about men, women and furniture). To cheer me up I'm instead posting some unflattering memes of the Orange One.

Hope this cheers you up too.

 

Whew. I feel a little better. Hope you do too. Check back next month and if I'm less distressed I'll have a real blog to post.

That's Rebel Scum to you Orange cultists

 

 

 

We're Going Backwards: A trumpian rerun

 

(With the new Orange regime taking power, it seemed appropriate to rerun a blog that showed how his previous reign of terror was taking us backward.)

 

  Late on Friday nights when I’m safely home (admittedly after a few beers) I like to play music videos on the DVD player. Often they're 80s videos, some are hard rock, i.e. AC/DC (which annoys the neighbors because you have to play those loud), or sometimes just a few “chill music” vids because I need to calm down.

However, one of my favorites is Lionel Richie's “All Night Long.” Invariably though this depresses me. It reminds me how we are going backwards nowadays.

The song is about how you can be so strongly moved by something (music) that you just have to keep going. Party all night long. The dancers wear very colorful outfits, surely meant to make a subtle point, and are multi-racial. The dancing includes a wide range of styles with various mixtures of couples.

This was back in the 80s where it was slowly becoming common and acceptable to see a black man dance with a white woman, a white man tango with an Asian female, two males breakdancing together. It made it seem like things were progressing to where we could all live together in harmony.

Then Trump came along and infested the White House. 

Although we knew there were a lot of racists in our country, they at least had become reticent to express it in public. Unlike the old days where Jim Crow was normalized, racism had become a social deviation, something kept quietly amongst a person's cohort or family. Not something you could bring out in public without facing public derision.

Trump enabled racists. Emboldened them. He has tried to make it acceptable in polite society, and criticized those who challenge him as weak-wristed Libtards or overly PC elites.

Thanks to him, we see an increase in right-wing, racist organizations, demonstrators who are unafraid of public shame chanting abusive, racist slogans and public displays of offensive comments to anyone who looks foreign or of a different race than Anglo-Saxon whites. Even the Republican Party seems to have embraced the Trump vitriol and become largely the party of white males.

Although we've had problems with police interactions with civilians, as I noted in my blogs “Tips for Tourists” and “Police reform Part I & II” I don't think we've seen this level of police violence toward minorities since before the 70s. It's as if they are acting as Trump's agents of violence that he often spews at his pep, excuse me, "campaign" rallies.

I long for the days when we could dance the night away regardless of our race, religion, political affiliation or whatever.  

Sure, the video is a make-believe world, but it was a world where people lived together peacefully, where differences were immaterial, where people could dance together in harmony. A world we need to find again.

 Ahhh, James Thurber.

During the Orange One's (I hate using his name) first reign of terror, racism and hatred became more common. However, it was subtle. People still worried that if they openly expressed racist views/ideas, they'd be ostracized. As his time in office continued, it slowly became more overt, largely because people looked at him as a role model. Now, there is no restraint at all. Racism and hatred toward those who might be different is all out in the open. Because he got reelected despite his obvious flaws, people believe there will be no personal harm to them. As he dismantles any vestiges of diversity and inclusion, it will become worse. That's why it's important for those of us who see racism as evil, to not remain quiet. We need to push it back into the closet where it belongs (I think it's impossible to get rid of it completely). So this is one of my ways to try to claw society back to morality. I will continue to use my blogs and social media posts to sound the alarm. Join me.

The Radical (a rerun of sorts)

It looks like we're stuck with another four years of, well, I don't want to say his name so I'll just stick to calling him The Orange Blob.  Some Progressives swear they're going to leave the country. However, a large number of us plan to stay and fight. I've been what right-wingers call a Radical for some time (I actually consider myself a moderate). Although I've been on picket lines and various protest rallies through the years, nowadays I mainly just write letters to editors or blog. So with the next fight about to begin, I thought I'd rerun a blog from seven years ago about how I became "Radical." Sort of a statement to let the MAGAts know that "we Radicals ain't going nowhere."

Although today it seems rather odd given that I consider myself a Progressive, as a youth one of my heroes was John Wayne.  Everyone knows his politics leaned to the right.  However, looking at some of his movies from a political aspect, he starred in numerous ones that espoused Liberal issues.

For example, one of my favorites is “The Sons of Katie Elder.”  Oh sure, on the surface it may seem to be the story of wayward boys returning home to pay respects to their departed mother, but if you look a little deeper, you'll find progressive themes.  Basically, these rough boys stand up against an unjust system and fight a ruthless corporation who is backed by local law enforcement. In other words, the little guy against a plutocracy.

I know, you missed that too.  I didn't really grasp this message until I aged a bit (hey, don’t say grew old). As a kid, I just saw it as standing up to injustice no matter the odds.

So the seeds of my radicalization (the view of my conservative friends on anyone who doesn't hold their views) had begun.  Yes, standing up for the little guy against injustice, instead of just concerning yourself with what benefits you, is radical here in the U.S. You are a bleeding heart Liberal.

Well, those seeds that had been planted began to blossom while in college.  Nope, not over the Vietnam War.  It began with tennis.  Women's tennis.  Yes, true to The Thurber Brigade theme, it turns out women made me that raging, radical Liberal.

In my sophomore year at Texas Tech (eventually got my degree from the University of Texas; another story), my friends and I went out to play tennis at the spanking new student tennis courts.  However, they had been taken over by the women’s tennis team for some match against another school.  I should point out that at this time the men’s team had some really nice courts they used exclusively, while the women’s courts were, well, they were crappier than something you’d find in a public park. 

For some reason, the men’s team was unwilling to share their nice courts. The women’s team, not wishing to irritate them or the athletic department (controlled by men), decided to instead make a move on the common students—who probably had even less power or voice with those in charge.  Historical note: Title IX had only recently kicked in (1972) and women’s sports across the US were very slowly getting their due.  Very, very slowly.

Outraged at this, I did the only thing voiceless and powerless people have done for years: I wrote a letter to the editor of the school newspaper.  Although I’m sure it was an explosive and moving letter, the only part I remember is that I used the phrase “the students get screwed again.”  Probably the only reason I remember that phrase is because I heard some “suits” repeat it as they walked out of the rowdy hearing that resulted from said letter.

That’s right, my first attempt at social justice somehow touched a nerve across campus.  Soon other angry letters flooded the paper, and with some threatening to organize a protest rally the administration decided the way to calm things would be to have an open discussion between students, the women’s team and the administration.

My friends and I joined the packed house and even got to sit at the front table opposite the suits.  Because the student courts were paid for by a special fee assigned to us, we believed we had the upper-hand and we attempted to stress that although we supported the women’s team and thought they were treated unfairly, it wasn’t right to be equally unfair to us.  We also, numerous times, asked why the men and women teams couldn’t share the men’s team courts.

To this day I proudly declare to everyone that we had an impact.  The women’s team only played on the student courts one more time after that, supposedly because they didn’t have enough time to reschedule.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the administration had begun to feel pressure because of Title IX and relented to have the men and women’s teams share until something new could be built for the women.

So my radicalization had begun.  I would fight for justice and the little guy thereafter.  As mentioned in a previous blog, I worked for enlisted people’s rights while in the Army, I took part in several civil rights demonstrations and well, let’s just say I fought for issues in which John Wayne would not show up for the rallies.  You know, radical Liberal ideas like clean air and water, fair pay, feed the poor, etc.

Now before you say it also began my opposition to women, let me point out that half of the crowd supporting my friends and I were women. Plus, I have—and always will—support women’s rights, from equal pay to their right to choose what happens to their bodies.  However, I’m also willing to make fun of them and say sarcastic things about their habits.  Yes, the Brigade marches on. 

James Thurber!  

The Thurber Brigade does not believe that having Progressive ideals makes a person radical.  However, thanks to Fox News relentless war on Liberals many people now believe that standing for clean air and water, equal rights, fair pay, well, anything not approved by the Neocon pundits is just short of being card-carrying Communists.  However, if standing up for the welfare of others throws us into that crowd, then we're proud to be radical.

 

Trump is a Clown

The Thurber Brigade has written numerous blogs about how terrible the Orange One is as a person, a businessman and a politician. They include how he is insane, a bad businessman, is a Republican in name only (RINO), is just bad, is unpopular, well, the list goes on (including a long list of why not to vote for him).

What I take most from these past years of exposure to this guy who wears more makeup than Dolly Parton, is that he’s a clown. He really does some goofy, stupid things. So here are a few memes to laugh at and share that express his clownness.

Yes, he really did look at an eclipse without protection.

He is so insanely jealous of Kamala Harris that she lives in his brain, causing him to do odd stunts like act like he was working at a McDonald's.

The Orange Blob would do a better job as a clown in a circus than a businessman as he's even owned a casino that went bankrupt.

During one rowdy demonstration by protestors, he ran to the presidential bunker to hide. Then, so embarrassed, he tried to prove he was tough by tear gassing other demonstrators to clear them out so he could go to a church and hold up a Bible.

Promising to drain the swamp, he filled it instead with greedy, white men who wanted to make profit of their government jobs. He put family members in important positions in his administration. He even overrode FBI security checks to give many who worked for him positions of power. Basically, he ran an expensive (to taxpayers) circus.

Definitely losing his mind, he rants uncontrollably at his pep rallies, that he uses to feed his ego, but probably don't do much for his reelection. 

He's going to lose the popular vote once again this election. With luck, he will also lose the electoral college (an antiquated and anti-democratic mistake from our past). We can only hope that we will finally see the last of this clown.

 

Ahhh, James Thurber

The Thurber Brigade has been blogging about this clown far more than it wants to. We can't stand by and let him get away with his goofy behavior though, and so felt an obligation to, well, make fun of him. We at The Brigade hope he will shortly disappear from public—or if we're really lucky, he'll end up sitting in jail. We're ready to get back to blogging about important things like women's fashion compared to men's or how to throw a good pickup line. Maybe soon.