PORN AGAIN

Porn Again

After an exasperating 3 years of WTF that culminated in an impeachment and then a pandemic, I didn't think my TDS could get any worse.

Hold my beer.

Thanks to a complimentary weekend pass, I watched a Showtime  "movie" late last night. Typical soft porn fare -  a belabored plot and pantomimed soulless sex - it "starred" Stormy Daniels.  And, so, my mind went there.

I'm not a prude but I'm not a big fan of porno, not because of any moral reasons, it just doesn't interest me. I'm a feminist. Nor am I on any high horse about prostitution, but as I watched an unfolding Keystone Kabuki,  this artifice of lust, I was struck by the metaphorical and depressing Horribleness of Trump.

Here was Stormy Daniels, not the demure and hapless victim of the president and her lawyer, but what she's been advertised as being all along, a porn star. Given the limitations of what soft porn can show, her assets are grossly exaggerated. She's not a petite woman. She is no longer young.

Thankfully, the man in the movie was of normal proportions so I didn't have to add the President's grotesqueness into the calculation, but what came off was the utter tawdriness of the whole thing.

I couldn't imagine a billionaire, a man who is now the president of the United States, schtoping this low. That was bad enough, but, then, the man's perverseness really came to a head; you have this beautiful wife at home, why are you doing this?

I guess the answer it's like the old joke. Why does a dog lick his balls? Because he can.

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A BROKEN COVENANT

A Broken Covenant?

Those of us that have been criticizing Trump for his extemporaneous method of dealing with this pandemic situation, had reason to pause yesterday when Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, seemed to downplay forecasts of the virus' disastrous potentiality.

"Models are models," she said. "When people start talking about 20% of a population getting infected, it's very scary, but we don't have data that matches that based on our experience." (click here)

That was immediately seized upon by some as proof positive that the nation was being run amok by a cadre of Chicken Little scientists. How to argue with that? This wasn't the Cheeto in Chief talking trash but someone with credentials,  a pedigree of commitment to science, and a history of straight talk.

Still, it made no sense to talk about data not supporting a theory and in the same sentence acknowledge that the data was nonexistent, as eventually explained by this Twitter user:

"Saying that 'facts on the ground' are not consistent with 20% of the population getting infected is really quite deceptive. Likely, no population has 20% yet infected (though we can't be completely sure until serologic testing is widespread)" (click here)

Still, who are we to argue with our trusted professionals? Till today, when she said this about Trump:

“He’s been so attentive to the scientific literature and the details and the data....I think his ability to analyze and integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit during these discussions about medical issues.” (click here)

TRUST took another hit today.

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PERFECT STORM

Perfect Storm

This a perfect storm, years in the making. Having convinced ourselves that everyone is corrupt and has an axe to grind; allowing space for all manner of outrageous conspiracies and scandals and supporting a constant grievance machine that is the perfect self-fulfilling prophecy of governmental gridlock and the appearance of decay; decrying standards of journalism and science, attaching ourselves to mechanisms and institutions that support only our belief systems; and refusing to leave room for any growth or meaningful discourse, abandoning norms of civilized behavior and discourse, we're now at this point in a major catastrophy where our normal strong suits - our confidence and vitality - our trust in ourselves and in each other - are as bare as some of those supermarket shelves. We are at war with a cataclysmic pandemic while we're still somewhat PTSD, knowing that not only are there outside forces trying to exacerbate our weaknesses but horrified that internally we may not be up to the task.

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WILLFUL BLINDNESS

Hindsight may be 20/20 but this is willful blindness

My last year of service was spent at the tip of Florida as part of a contingent of jet fighters guarding the Southern border. In addition to alerts, both real and imagined, we would be subjected to surprise IG and Command inspections. We prepared for different war scenarios, nuclear and physical attacks. We counted the "dead" from radiation burns, had access to our facility blocked by "explosions", had to cut through fences, etc. We never thought that would happen, but we were trained and prepared.

I'm not surprised that a doomsday scenario concerning a pandemic was ignored. It's the end product from somebody whose job it is to conjure up something that hopefully will never happen and these folks are dealing with the "real" world. Who knows how many of these scenarios and how many topics our leaders are subjected to.

But while it's easy to understand how that happens, it's not something that's easily forgivable after a crisis. If you're going to ignore them, why do them at all? It's prudent practical politics to at least pay attention and have some sort of contingency plan should it happen.

The reality is that hindsight is 20/20. That's when the finger-pointing begins; witness, the warnings the White House received prior to 9/11. It's easy to single out afterwards, the one that was right. The trick is doing it prospectively.

But if there's any excuse for lack of preparation for something ethereal, what has happened in the last 2 months is criminal. It appears about to be exacerbated by more of the president's inanity. It's one thing to ignore doomsday scenarios but ignoring what medical experts tell you is the height of folly and takes no ESP talent to forecast what will happen if this thing goes in the ditch.

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