Border to border and ocean to ocean, I still look for her everyplace.

 I really need to write these when they come. I was full of piss & vinegar about a subject yesterday morning and equally full about an entirely different one last night. Now, I can't remember the former and have gone back to "that's why you ignore them" on the former. I mean, Blogger allows you to schedule posts and keep some in the draft section. Ah, well.

 While everything was of modest length and nothing was too in-depth, the News was pretty good this week, I think. Three days of pretty decent old-school blogging on the news of the time. Monday was a look into how the Mississippi government's ignoring of the COVID issue is biting us in the ass this week and Wednesday was how the federal government continues to bumble along. We gave the final presidential debate a quick look Friday, plus a little on how Trump really, really needs to stop bringing up China. Like I said, nothing special but well done all around.

 I was busy on Tumblr this week, writing a lot of posts for my Jukebox In The Mind series. That's what I'm calling it, by the way. I wrote about AC\DC, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions, Waylon Jennings, Tommy Cash, and finally a little bit on how the Kipsigis people of Kenya thought Jimmie Rodgers sounded like a man-antelope hybrid. I thought it was kind of neat and writing about music is always fun, as is writing about the ties that bind humanity that we may not see. When I can write about both, boy, that is killer diller.

 Anyhow, the thing I got wound up about yesterday that I can remember is this latest round of dumbassery with The New York Times. Long story short, a reporter named Elaina Plott wrote a story about how white suburbanites around Atlanta were still in the Trump congregation despite the rest of Georgia leaning towards Joe Biden. Okay, fair enough, but nothing worth a story in the Times. If anyone's spent any time in some of the suburbs around Atlanta this comes as no shock at all. That's Trump's base, right there.

 The problem, though, was her two sources were supposedly average white folks from the Atlanta suburbs and turned out to be hip-deep in GOP national politics. One was a former state Republican strategist and the other was the son of Trump's ambassador to Luxembourg. Even worse, this wasn't the first time that Plott had used dubious sources for a fluff piece on the Trump Administration nor the first time those two folks were used as sources claimed to be "jes' plain folk." Salena Zito has made a career out of doing just this.

 Anyhow, she gets called out, the Times does a half-ass explanation, she gives a half-ass apology, and so-called "professional journalists" who bring down big money writing dull stories about the story they want American politics to go on a crusade to defend her honor against us filthy plebes who dared criticize of one of theirs. That was last night's political Twitter.

 It's almost comical how predictable this sort of thing is. You can set your watch to something like this every time the consumers criticize the big-time media. And they don't seem to get how bad it makes them look. Even worse, Plott describes herself as a "recovering (Ann) Coulter fangirl" from high school and since she's in her late 20s, that means she was a fan of Coulter after that nasty thing said we need to forcible convert the Muslim world to Christianity. And this was at least a good decade after anyone with a functioning soul acknowledged Ann Coulter's role as a public asshole.

 So, that happened, and once again, the big-time press defended someone who carries water for a guy who calls them "the enemy of the people." He stirs up his faithful to hate them like the press is the devil, and there have already been threats against the media for being mean to Trump. What's worse is how hard the rest of the big-time press gets severely knotted up when they get the least bit of criticism or appropriation. Every time.

 You won't find a bigger defender of journalism than me, but things like this happen and it's understandable why people rail against the "mainstream media." It's a fine example of why local journalism and alternative publications should be supported and the first go-to for your news. Don't follow The Washington Post or CNN for what goes on in Portland when the Rose City has several fine local news sources and The Portland Mercury is a great example of a community-focused alt-weekly.

 As always, all of my journalism experience is with local papers and alt-weeklies, so grain of salt. It's a drag, though, that good sources on Washington, D.C., politics are thin on the ground. Not sources that reporter on the news about American politics, we've got plenty of those. But straight news reporting that doesn't eventually get sucked into the Mainstream Morass.

 But little will be done about it at a level that could actually fix anything and we'll probably play the whole passion play all over again sooner than later. So I wonder if it's worth getting too bent out of shape over. In any event, I finished Jennifer Government last night and I recommend it. I don't want to give anything away, so all I'll say is everyone who thinks they've got what will keep everyone else under their thumb really needs to study up on their chaos theory when setting up "the perfect society."

 You can't predict people. They will always surprise you, sometimes painfully. And that's all I have to say about that.

The more I learn, the less I want to know.

 At some point during the night, someone planted the seed in Trump's empty noggin that Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old man that cracked his skull on the concrete after a Buffalo cop pushed him over, not only faked the whole scenario but he's also an agent of AntiFa. By the time I got up this morning, not even 8 a.m., the hooting morons that make up not just the Base but the bulk of the Republican party is either considering it gospel truth, a reasonable possibility, or that since he was a liberal he deserved it anyway.

 No, really,  I've seen the pictures with circles drawn around what the nuts think is a hidden hose that pumped the fake blood that looked to spill out of his ear. Even dumber, he was apparently using some sort of James Bond doo-dad to drop an EMP on the cops' walkie talkies. No, really. And this is after the Buffalo DA has noted Gugino's serious head injuries and there have been pictures of him in intensive care.

 This is coming off the NYPD police commissioner - who makes $99 grand a year - tried to claim that concrete samples were evidence of AntiFa mixing cement in the ice cream. It's also coming off the Minnesota fuzz admitting they'd been slashing protesters' tires and a cop's wife admitting she blamed a fake home invasion on Black Lives Matter. And all this is being taken seriously by the Powers That Be as well as the Corporate Press.

 Speaking of them, the whole "Defund The Police" has got them in a serious tizzy. Liberals and leftists are arguing back and forth that it's poor branding or some other goofy shit, all the while actually pretending the Republicans will act in good faith on this regardless of what's meant by "defunding the police" or that the CP won't run with an easy, juicy story instead of actually putting some journalism to work and possibly rocking the boat of the Status Quo.

 And it's already been denied by Joe Biden. There's absolutely no reason to be having this discussion in this manner, but here we are. And the real silly "leftists" are losing their absolute shit about Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats kneeling while wearing a Kente cloth. This is two-fold. It gives them the opportunity to pretend to be outraged and shocked that politicians are acting like politicians, but also gives them - generally middle-class white bourgeoisie folks who'll be fine regardless how November 2020 turns out - an excellent opportunity to ignore what is in all actually a fairly decent police reform bill.

 Is it perfect? No. Was that pandering? Yes. That's politics, baby, and the extreme naivete and ignorance from these clowns is driving me up the wall. It's way, way too much stupid for a poor boy with a bad case of XCOM head to wake up to. So, yeah, this is another day in our ongoing experiment on "writing today's nonsense before my nap". So far, so good, more or less.

 That being said, I think I'm either running out of irritation at the laziness and stupidity of humanity or my ratty sleeping schedule is catching up with me. I've made word count, so I think I'll tie this off. Perhaps I'll come back to it after my nap. But if I can leave you with anything, let it be this: listen, think and shut the hell up. Just because you have a megaphone doesn't mean you have to tell everyone you have nothing interesting to say.

Look how far I had to come to get back where I started from.

 Another programming note. I have some more Actual Paying Work due tomorrow. It's going to take a little research and thought, more so than the usual APW takes. So, I might not get past this before the night's out. The sleeping situation's been a booger and I just don't have the energy.

 Not a whole lot to get into anyway, stuff that won't go to the News. If this pace keeps up, I may have to pick a day to take a break. Probably one of the weekend days. In any event, Otis is fussing so we'd better hit the road. If I come back to this, I'll come back to this.

UPDATE: 7 P.M.

 Well, the walk was pleasant, although Otis doesn't appreciate it. He'll take a quick nap and thinks he's ready to go on another one. He'll stand at the door and cry like he's being beat. I appreciate that he enjoys the little constitutionals but it can be very annoying indeed.

 I've yet to start on the APW apart from doing a bit of research, saving some links and outlining in my head where I'm going with this. Long story short, I'm doing a COVID-19 update blog for a law firm in another state, which is about as interesting as this gets. Still, I enjoy it and it's a challenge to do it straight. That is, no smart-ass remarks, just uncut journalism. I keep telling the Bossman that it helps to have someone else's thumb on things.

 I've been waiting on supper to get done, which is why I haven't actually started the work. I hate to be interrupted when I'm working on a piece. It just completely throws me out of whack. I never developed good outlining habits, though, so even the smallest disruption could ruin the whole thing. The other problem is I've smoked my memory to hell, so unless I write it down it is gone. I'm getting better at it, though it's always been an issue. It's like never learning how to properly type, which I never did. I can hunt-and-peck like a beast, but that has its downsides.

 Okay, supper's done. Again, maybe I'll come back to this and maybe I won't.

UPDATE: 10:20 P.M.

 Well, that's that. Done with the update and when my brain cools down, I'll give it the going-over. I'm just under 400 words with this, so let's see if we can't finish it off.

 I'm sure we've all seen the daily Trump Dump where he asked if maybe using disinfectant or UV lights could get rid of COVID-19, all the while claiming super-genius status. Amusingly, the base didn't wait 30 minutes before claiming "that's not what he meant" before moving onto "he was just asking questions," apparently not realizing there's a time and a place for that which isn't in front of a national audience. It's merely latest in a long line of rock-stupid shit said by a rock-stupid man who's never been told he's rock stupid or had to suffer for it. And if anyone's surprised the Base is defending this and insisting that he is indeed a super genius, well, you haven't been paying attention the past three years.

 There is nothing that will shake them loose. Nothing. Give up. They're a lost cause. All the Trump voters who're going to peel off by November are long gone and even there most of them will vote for the dingbat because Joe Biden is a socialist or some dumb shit.

 I will defend the media, though. A bit, anyway. "Why do the networks keep showing this?" Because he's the president and that's their job. That's what "reporting" is, repeating what important people say. Is it a drag that they don't do more fact checking? Yeah, it is, but at the same time that's really not the job, not at that level.

 Some people should be fact checking the dopey bastard and people are. Daniel Dale, for example, has been doing a superlative job reporting on Trump's dopiness and why it's all horseshit. Another thing to keep in mind is the media at that level - the networks, New York Times, Washington Post, etc. - are owned by either extremely rich individuals or business concerns that are made up of extremely rich individuals. They have a vested interest in keeping the Status Quo and for all his dopiness, Trump does not threaten that. He might be a danger to its stability, but he's making the same money they are.

 It's the height of naivety to believe the ownership doesn't have influence on the in-the-trenches reporting. That's just a fact no matter how much we try to pretend it isn't. The Deadspin business last year when they canned all those writers for, and let's be honest, their political opinions not meshing with the bosses' should be the final word on that. I never was a reader but all reports say the rejuvenated Deadspin is less than zippy. But they're not going to buck the bosses, I bet you.

 That's just life and it is a booger. It's also one of the reasons I'll never go back to straight journalism. I've dealt with that shit more than once in almost every publication I've worked for, and it's not always been my fault. As I've said, I do consider what I do at the WordPress site anyway as "journalism". And as much as I'm soured working for them, the ongoing slow death of newspapers isn't something I enjoy seeing. I don't care about networks, for what it's worth, because I've never had much truck with them.

 Anyhow, we're pushing midnight and this is plenty. XCOM: Chimera Squad is released tomorrow and I'll probably pick it up before the weekend's out. I've read a few reviews which have, for the most part, been okay. It's a different beast than the first two games, but that's fine. I'm also thinking of picking up The Long Journey Home, which looks to have a neat premise. Need to do some more research first.

Friday, December 27, 2019

 As we head towards what will be the very last weekend of this decade... wait, is that right? Does a new decade start on the '00 or the '01, I never can keep that straight. Anyhow, this time next week it'll be 2020 & may the Lord have mercy on all our souls.

Sunday, November 25, 2019

 Another quick one, as I still have company. Plus, this sticky space bar is getting on my nerves. I'm going to have to rectify that soon.