SoINeedAName

Friday Fun – Can One Overdose on Schadenfreude?

 Posted by at 1:32 pm  Politics
Mar 032017
 

Have you noticed that after reading the tons of terrible troubles that the Twitler Klan is facing these days there’s an extra bounce to your step?  The corners of your mouth are heading north more often?  Foods taste better?  Your sex life is … well, maybe we should stop here.

At any rate, the depressing funk from the 11/8/16 apocalypse is lifting – at least is some aspects.  And while the RESIST and INDIVISIBLE movements have had a genuine impact on mobilizing us proud Liberals, the downside is that they have also galvanized the Trumpkins.

Twitler pleaded with his Trumpster-Divers to show up in full-force prior to his Joint Session of Congress speech this past Tuesday, and Breitbart predicted the turnout would be “massive”.  And it was!  They turned out in hundreds of millions … tens of thousands … DOZENS! 

So let’s take a look at what we’re up against, since it was Sun Tzu who advised, in “The Art of War”, that we should “Know your enemy”.

[NOTE: You can right-click or scrollwheel-click on most of the photos to open them full-size in a separate window]

       [That one is Atlanta … ATLANTA!]

  

And my favorite:

BREA, CA – FEBRUARY 27: A supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump sits on a bench next to a cardboard cut out of President Trump during a rally in favor of the "America First" on February 27, 2017 in Brea, California. Dozens of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump held a rally outside the office of U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) in support of the "America First" agenda that the Trump administration is pushing forward. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Of course from Twitler's point of view …

So in answer to Twitler’s pleading Tweet …

You already did …

It Wasn't!

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Friday Fun – Yosemite “Lava Flow” Redux

 Posted by at 8:04 am  Politics
Feb 172017
 

Originally I was going to skip this week because I was planning on heading up to Illinois to do Mom’s income taxes.  (She actually pulls everything together, but because of her macular degeneration she can’t fill in the boxes for the accountant.)  She got sick with a bit of a bug and had some vomiting.  She’s fine now, but I’ve postponed my trip up to Monday – so I won’t have a “Friday Fun” next week.

Since it’s that time of year, I’m going to do a reprise of Yosemite’s Firefall from a year ago. 

Given the snow and rain California has gotten this winter, the natural Horsetail Falls Firefall show that only happens once a year in late February should be spectacular.  The opportunity to view it lasts for only about 10 days … and only for 10 minutes each day right at sunset.  But boy, when the illusion of “lava” flowing down Horsetail Falls’ 1,570 feet (480 meters) face happens – it’s breathtakingly gorgeous!

For five of the past six years Mother Nature did not put on her show because of the drought –and this year’s plentiful snow and rainfall should make it extra breathtaking – IF all the other requirements fall in to place.

Not only must there be abundant water flowing, but the sun must also be aligned perfectly at just the right angle to produce the red, orange and gold reflections to create the illusion.  And for that to happen there can be no cloud cover, which can be pretty rare in February.  And then you have to be in the perfect spot in Yosemite Valley to view Horsetail Fall, which is on the east face of El Capitan, to capture it all.

(We should note that while the angle of the sun is also properly aligned in October, there’s no water flowing at that time of year to produce the Firefall.)

The natural Horsetail Firefall should not be confused with Yosemite Firefall that began in the summer of 1872 and continued for almost a century.  The owners of the Glacier Point Hotel had hot embers from dying fires raked over the edge of Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley 3,000 feet below. From a distance, it appeared as a glowing waterfall.

The Yosemite Firefall was a summer time event that began in 1872 and continued for almost a century, in which burning hot embers were spilled from the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park to the valley 3,000 feet below. From a distance it appeared as a glowing waterfall. The owners of the Glacier Point Hotel conducted the firefall. History has it that David Curry, founder of Camp Curry, would stand at the base of the fall, and yell "Let the fire fall," each night as a signal to start pushing the embers over.

The Firefall ended in January 1968, when the National Park Service ordered it to stop because the overwhelming number of visitors that it attracted trampled meadows to see it, and because it was not a natural event. NPS wanted to preserve the Valley, returning it to its natural state. The Glacier Point Hotel was destroyed by fire 18 months later and was not rebuilt.

Glacier Hotel Actual Firefall of Embers

Undoubtedly the Awahneechee Indians, who called Yosemite Valley home for hundreds of years, had observed the natural Horsetail Firefall – but if so, they never shared that information with white settlers who discovered the Valley in 1851.

Galen Rowell is the person who took the first-known photograph of the natural Horsetail Firefall, and that was only in 1973.  Now hundreds of photographers from around the world flock to Yosemite in late February hoping they’ll be one of the lucky few to actually view it – an experience they describe as so deeply moving that it brings tears to their eyes along with actual applause from the crowd of shutterbugs!

The most convenient and crowded viewing area for the “lava” show is at the El Capitan picnic area, just shy of 2 miles past Yosemite Lodge at the Falls on Northside Drive.  It’s only a small pullout area marked only by a small sign – but in late February, if you keep your eyes peeled for a horde of tripods, you’ll have found it. 

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Friday Fun – Ikea Helps Trump “Build That Wall”

 Posted by at 8:51 am  Politics
Feb 102017
 

Being of Scandinavian stock, I take much pride (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) that Ikea is stepping up to help Popular-Vote-Loser Trump to “Build That Wall”.

From someone who has put together my fair-share of Ikea’s flat-pack furniture following their rage-inducing instruction manuals (“child’s play” my foot), this project is promised to be easy-peasy.

Press Secretary, Sean “Alternative Facts – PERIOD!” Spicer, has announced that Twitler is seriously studying the Ikea proposal for the “Börder Wåll”

So let’s take a look at how Ikea envisions its “Börder Wåll”.

Beautiful, isn’t it?  (You gotta love the little guy’s sombrero)  But one of its main pluses is that it’s going to be a LOT cheaper than the estimates of building the wall put forth by Trump ($12 BILLION), Ryan/McConnell ($15 BILLION) and the recently announced estimate of $21.6 BILLION – AND take 3.5 years to complete – by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Ikea is pricing this gem at a mere $9,999,999,999.99.  And it can conveniently be picked up in their iconic flat-pack (well, a rather YUUUGE one – or maybe several) at your nearest Ikea store. 

There is some assembly required, but it comes with their familiar instruction manual.  And it only takes two people to put it together!  (Okay, so that’s NOT going to help with his promised expansion of the labor force.  Oh, well – you can’t have everything.)

And Ikea promises its “12,000-page instruction manual with easy-to-understand pictures makes construction child’s play.”  To illustrate how easy it is to put Ikea products together, a brief video (and I think we’ve found the ideal pair to get “That Wall” built):

As always, first check to be sure that your package contains all the parts necessary for construction.  Inside your “Börder Wåll” box you should find:

• 471,612 wall panels

• 754,579 cotter pins

• 313,329 yards of concertina wire

• 1,886,448 short screws

• 3,772,896 long screws

• 1 two-sided hex key (Just one?  This item sounds troublingly easy to misplace)

But in the end we’ll have our promised beautiful wall of pressboard with birch veneer standing 33ft (10 m) tall and extending 1,954 miles (3,144 km) along our border with Mexico.  (The height and length can be extended as desired with additional units.)  Plus it has the usual Ikea 5-year warranty!

And fortunately Ikea has announced that it’s already working on related, complimentary products that will compatible with the “Börder Wåll” – such as the “Gåwk” watchtower and the “Råtåtåtåtåtå” spring-gun.

How about enjoying a flying overview of that border?  It’s a video from 200,000 Google satellite photos stitched together to give you an idea how absolutely absurd Twitler’s idea actually is.

RESOURCE

Ikea “Börder Wåll”

Tweet of It

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Friday Fun – I Survived the Bowling Green Massacre!

 Posted by at 9:00 am  Politics
Feb 032017
 

Not satisfied with just her stellar rollout of the Orwellian concept of “Alternative Facts” on "Meet the Press", Kellyanne Conway decided to take it up a notch with her vivid – and totally mendacious – detailed history of the “Bowling Green Massacre” by two Iraqis to justify Twitler’s Muslim Ban on Chris Matthews’ "Hardball"

Well, Kellyanne – your biggest problem is IT NEVER HAPPENED!

But that doesn't stop them from trying to claim their Muslim Ban is exactly the same thing that Pres. Obama did.  But WaPo shot that “Alternative Fact” falsehood down with a THREE Pinocchio rating!

But there is one good fallout from Conway’s fantasy: It has led to some entertaining memes.  So let’s enjoy a few …

We Honor Them by Never Forgetting

NBC’s Brian "My-Helicopter-Was-Shot-Down" Williams Proudly Served

And if you missed it, Twitler celebrated Black History Month by talking about the abolitionist slave Frederick Douglass in the present tense:

“Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice.”

And when his Press Secretary was asked to explain why Trump talked about Douglass in  the present tense, Sean “Alternative Facts” Spicer also failed American History 101 by explaining: “I think the contributions of Frederick Douglass will become more and more.”

Which explains this Tweet:

A Nice Memorial

Well, there WAS one Bowling Green massacre … but it involved football – and NO ONE was killed!

So Mark Your Calendars

Anything for a Buck (Must Be a Trumpkin)

Trudat: There Was One casualty – Another Nail in the Conway Credibility Coffin

UPDATED

ETA:

For those who would like to help the countless number who suffered from the "Bowling Green Massacre" – I'm sure Kellyanne Conway would Want You To Donate

So – for a good laugh, just click the "Donate Now" button

(chortle – chortle)

Oh, and regarding Twitler’s Muslim Ban?  Let me just add:

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Friday Fun – Twitler Provides Us an “Alternative”

 Posted by at 9:00 am  Politics
Jan 272017
 

Well, that didn’t take long!  Twitler’s team managed to become a trending Twitter meme in the record-breaking time of less than 24 hours!

The honors go to Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who held a press conference on the Saturday after the inauguration and repeatedly told blatant LIES at the behest of Twitler himself.  Among them was the whopper, and easily disproved fallacy, that his crowd of 1.5 MILLION was the biggest ever. 

Immediately it gave rise to a number of hashtags like #SpicerSays, #SpicerFacts, etc.  So let’s enjoy a few:

But Spicer did manage to get one correct:

So on Sunday they sent out Kellyanne Conway (after wisely ditching her Paddington Bear or New England Patriots logo inaugural outfit …)

 

To try and clean up the outrage Spencer produce with his bald-faced LIES.  So she appeared on Meet the Press, and did a bang-up job … of creating a NEW meme: “Alternative Facts”!

Merriam – Webster Dictionary actually Tweeted out the defintion of "Fact" to try to help – but to no avail:

And so America's descent into the depths at least begins with a few chuckles.  But we all shudder to think of how it will end!

Kyrie Eleison

Lord, Have Mercy

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Saturday & Sunday Smiles & Smirks

 Posted by at 6:14 pm  Politics
Jan 212017
 

Given what we’ve been – and will be – subjected to courtesy of the Tweetler-in-Chief, we’ve earned a little Schadenfreude.  So, let’s enjoy another assault to his fragile ego via his teeny-tiny hands and compare sizes … of Inaugural crowds!

It’s only been eight years, so we can all recall this joyous occasion on the first Inauguration of Pres. Obama:

This was the turnout for Tweetler Trump’s inauguration on Friday:

To defuse all the whiny excuse-fueled temper tantrums from Trumpkins, let me stipulate that BOTH photos were taken from the top of the Washington Monument, and BOTH were taken at noon.

This site proves it, and has a fun scroll bar that has both photos, so you can move back and forth to compare:

http://wtop.com/inauguration/2017/01/trumps-inauguration-crowds-compare-photos/slide/1/

But let’s get to the take-home message:

True to form, the Mango Mussolini today tried to claim he drew a crowd of 1.5 MILLION.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/21/14347298/trump-inauguration-crowd-size

But it’s easy to see how he’s confused.  He thought that all that white from the protective Mall lawn panels were actually KKK Kluckers robed in their white sheets.  Donny's Delusion solved!  (Well, at least in the reality-based world.)

But a little hard data courtesy of the Washington Metro Transit should help him figure things out using actual numbers::

And if you’re confronted with a little Trumpkin trying to Trumpsplain the pitifully paltry populous because “We were all working” – I’ve found it helpful to counter with:

“Oh, you must mean because Pres. Obama, who inherited Dubya’s pitiful and plummeting unemployment rate of 7.9%, worked to turn it around to just the 4.8% that it is now.  You’re right – Thanks, Obama!”

And it wasn’t just the pitiful crowd numbers on the Mall.  Take a look at this video from Katy Tur of NBC News, filmed while traveling along the parade route: Empty bleachers!

Everyone is trying to figure out what was in the Tiffany-wrapped box that Melania gave to Michelle.  Well, given the transcript of the exchange, I think I’ve got it solved.  Here is what was said between the two First Ladies when the Trumps arrived :

Michelle: Welcome to the White House.

Melania: Welcome to the White House.

Michelle: It’s very nice to see you again.

Melania: It’s very nice to see you again.

Michelle: Thanks for the beautiful gift.

Melania: Thanks for the beautiful gift.

(Michelle, under her breath: Oh brother, not THAT again!)

So, I’m pretty sure the gift is a leather-bound copy of Melania’s plagiarized Convention speech! 

(No matter what it is, it was a very nice gesture.)

Sadly, the speech isn’t the only thing the Trumps plagiarized.  Nope, they copied the official Inaugural cake that the Ace of Cakes chef, Duff Goldman, designed for the Obamas in 2009 2013:

And here’s some background from 2009 2013 how GOLDMAN designed the cake himself.  (Some Trumpkins are trying to claim that it’s the same because they’re ALL the same – and was directed from the White House staff.  WRONG!)

http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/article/the-presidential-inauguration-cake

But I believe we all hope that the Trumps will continue to plagiarize the ideas, ideals and policies of the Obamas.  (Too much to hope he’d plagiarize their dignity and grace.)
And I did deeply enjoy this banner that a plane pulled over NYC the day of Treump's inauguration:

 

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And Now It’s Mourning in America …

 Posted by at 9:22 am  Politics
Jan 202017
 

I find nothing "Fun" about this particular Friday, so I'll put up just a couple of graphics.  I'm hopeful to put something together more joyful next week.

This is how our journey began eight years ago:

And now we’ve come to the end of a presidency the like of which not only us, but few Americans have ever witnessed.  Not sure where I saw this drawing, but I think it captures how most of us feel.  It was actually drawn by someone in Amsterdam, Netherlands – so it’s a universal sense of thankfulness for those eight years, and now a sense of great loss:

This is a sketched drawing (you can see the pad) I saw on Twitter, and it prompted me to dig a little deeper.  This site has a little background informat.

https://nsikanessien.blogspot.com/2017/01/farewell-obama-statue-of-liberty-begs.html

Now that we’re burdened with #45, we can at least be thankful we had #44.  So with all sincerity I hope you'll join me in saying, "Thank you, President Obama!"

Rest assured that we will continue to …

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Monday Mirth: Trump Is Getting Desperate

 Posted by at 5:47 pm  Politics
Jan 162017
 

We’re all aware of the growing inaugural boycott by Democrats following Traitorous Trump’s denigrations of Civil Rights icon, Rep. John Lewis.  Apparently skipping Trump’s “bigly day” is a common sentiment among true Americans, because there have only been 200 requests for bus parking permits for his inauguration on January 20th.  That’s one-thousand FEWER than the 1,200 that have been requested for the Women’s March on Washington the following day.

So what if he had an inauguration, and nobody showed up?  Apparently Donald is so worried about that possibility that he’s now gone on Facebook to offer FREE TICKETS to his inaugural!  (Personally, I’d hold out for some really good swag to sweeten the pot, if I were a right-winger.)

And, of course, we’ve been reading about the endless refusals of A-list celebrities to show up and perform for Trump.  It’s gotten to the point that it has Donald so desperate that he’s now going to take matters into his own hands (teeny, tiny though they may be), and has decided to play his accordion for the crowd! 

That'll be sure to pack 'em in!  A preview:

Background Note: I posted this GIF over at DailyKos, and it seemed to tickle folks’ funny bones – so I decided to share it here.  Especially since there’ll be no “Friday Fun” on the 20th because I don't find anything really “fun” about that date. 

But I do hope to put something together on a more serious note.

My best friend from medical school sent me a YouTube “Life Accordion to Trump” that prompted my search for the accordion GIF.  So here’s the video:

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