Just So Sad...

 Mateys, this post will be short. The Captain's got other things to do today.

And in truth, there isn't much to be said about this.

Today, the White House released a short video featuring President Trumpf posing on a balcony of the White House with the prime minister of Israel and ambassadors of the UAE. Superimposed briefly over the photo is an image of a Nobel Prize.

 Trumpf has long made it known on several occasions that he wants a Noble [sic] Peace Prize.

Afterall, they gave one to President Obama. 

It should come as a surprise to no one that Trumpf, in fact, did not receive either the Nobel Peace Prize or the Noble peace prize.

He will leave office in three weeks empty-handed.

Well, except for the millions of dollars he has grifted from the American people these past four years.

In case you missed it, the real Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 was awarded back in October.

And the recipient was the World Food Programme (WFP) 

"...for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict."

In case you missed it, here's a link to the announcement:

Nobel Committee Announcement

Y'know, as much as your Captain has disliked President Trumpf these past four years, now I just pity the man...

 

Be Careful What You Wish For...

So, apparently Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is now accusing “Big Tech” of conspiring to throw the presidential election to Joe Biden. 

 According to Cruz, Facebook and Twitter and others censored and tagged the myriad of lies that Trumpf and his minion were spreading on social media. They refused to air certain Trumpf ads.

Even worse, “Big Tech” donated “Big Dollars” to the Biden campaign. 

 Gosh. It’s almost as though corporations think they are people or something!

Yes, that’s a reference to the landmark 2010 case of Citizens United v Federal Election Commission.

In that case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, a conservative non-profit corporation political action committee successfully argued that corporations (including non-profits, labor unions, and other associations) have the same right to engage in political activities as do individual citizens.

 Essentially, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the sacred First Amendment rights of corporations.

“Corporations are people too!”

An odd interpretation of the Constitution, if you ask the Captain; but then, the Captain is not a constitutional scholar.

And I suspect many on the U.S. Supreme Court aren’t either.

As a result, corporations can pump as much money as they care to spend into campaign coffers and political action committees; they can buy ads, they can instruct their "talking heads" to take a partisan position, and basically do whatever they want to do.

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hailed it as a great decision, a victory for First Amendment rights!

I guess that is true when it benefits you.

But Sen. Cruz has suddenly discovered that the Citizens United ruling can also benefit the other guy.

And he’s indignant!

“That’s not fair!”

Hey, the Captain doesn’t make the rules, Ted.

…unless you’re on my ship.

In a related story today, FOXNews’ Jeanine Pirro was whining because the alternate social media site, Parler, is filling up with imposter ads. 

 

Captain’s Note: The Captain does not watch nor does he endorse FOXNews, Jeanine Pirro or Parler. I read about this from a real news source.

She feels sure Melania Trump is not endorsing CBD oils and VP Mike Pence is not hawking commemorative coins.

Although, they’ll both be out of work come January 21^st…

But what did she expect?

Parler was created specifically for people who don’t want anyone telling them what to do. No censoring their posts, no tagging their lies – as Facebook and Twitter did during the presidential campaign…

… and continues to do as Trumpf continues to dispute the outcome.

‘I just want a safe space so I can post whatever bullshit I want to post without anyone telling me I can’t.’

Well, isn’t that what the CBD salespeople are doing?

Enjoying the same freedom you claim you want?

Hey, CBD salespeople are people too!

As me dear ol’ Dad used to say, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!”

 The Captain was never exactly sure what that meant, but it was usually said with a sense of universality: “If you think you deserve it, then everyone else should get it too!”

Captain’s Note: A quick Google search reveals that the original quote was, “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” The Captain suspects, in that sense, your goose is cooked!

But what did people really expect from Parler?

Did you really think all those numbnuts spouting lies and conspiracies on Facebook during the campaign were suddenly going to become little angels when they jumped ship to Parler?

Have you not yet realized that Utopia doesn’t exist?

…can’t exist?

Especially in social media?

I mean, for Utopia, the perfect community, to exist it would require perfect people to inhabit it...

...a theme the "Star Trek" franchise visited regularly.

Most often, those "Utopias" would denigrate into "Dystopias".

You see where the Captain is headed, mates?

Utopia would require a common sense of purpose.

A common sense of morality.

It would require a respect and care for the needs of the other.

It would require rules…

…yes, even more rules than Facebook and Twitter so weakly enforce.

But you said you didn’t want that in Parler!

No rules! No censorship! A virtual free-for-all!

So this is what you get at Parler: more lies, more deception, more violence, more grift.

Lean in here, mates, and let the ol’ Captain pose a thought:

Instead of continuing to demand what we want for ourselves, perhaps it is time to consider what is best for everyone.

Not just rules that benefit me above others, but rules that would benefit us all, give everyone a chance to prosper, flourish, blossom.

An ol’ sailor once said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”

Perhaps we could make that our goal?

 

Exponential Growth

Mates, yer Captain sincerely apologizes fer the long delay since the last post.

We’ve been busy here on the Banana Winds printing up fake ballots to smuggle into the counting houses in Pennsylvania and Georgia and Wisconsin.

And cashing our checks from George Soros.

And we’ve been watching the numbers related to the COVID-19 virus that is sweeping the land.

Early in the pandemic, the epidemiologists understood it enough to know how it would progress if nothing was done. Thus, the Governor ordered everyone in the Commonwealth to shut down – “to flatten the curve”. This would only to delay the spread until the virus was better understood and protective gear could be procured. But exponential growth was the expectation.

Not being schooled in “exponents”, many in our part of the land did not understand what was coming our way.

While the number of positive cases rose around us, those of us in our community held out until about August. It was then folks apparently decided that the daily one or two positive cases were acceptable. Up until then, only about four people had died related to the virus.

Some insisted those died from other causes.

As one mate asked me, “How many died due to old age?”

Captain’s Note: Mates, people don’t die from old age. They die from age-related illnesses, but not simply from old age. That said, the number of older adults dying from the usual causes is pretty much on average.

So many returned to their previous habits, and in September school children went back to the classrooms…

From there the number of positive cases jumped quickly from 60 in August to 100 in September to 200 in October to over 500 in November.

That, dear mateys, is what is meant by “exponential growth”.

There were more COVID-19 related deaths in November than in the previous eight months.

Our hospitals are filling up; hospital visitation has once again been halted – meaning if you are sick or dying, you’ll be alone while you do it; and elective surgeries have been postponed.

And yet, people still say it is “a hoax”.

“No big deal.”

“The flu is worse.”

Lean in here, mateys, so you can clear hear what the Captain is about to tell you.

The Captain personally knows several who have had the virus: one died after three long weeks of suffering, one is on a ventilator going on his fourth month, one is in the last stages of life in a nursing home. Several other friends and associates have tested positive and recovered, but not without serious disruptions to their lives.

The Commonwealth is now seeing a surge of infections, so the Governor recently asked certain categories of businesses – known contributors to the spread of the virus – to close again through December 13^th – to see what impact careless Thanksgiving gatherings will have.

These closures – and more – may continue into the New Year if the numbers continue to grow.

Merry Christmas!

Mates, you may not care that others are getting sick and dying. But here’s one way it likely affects you: In yesterday’s NFL game – the Saints vs. the Broncos – all four of the Broncos’ quarterbacks were quarantined; the league said it was because someone stepped “outside the team bubble” at Thanksgiving. The Broncos asked to be able to use an offensive team coach but the league wouldn’t allow it. So, while the Saints played with a second-string quarterback (Drew Brees is on the injured list again), the Broncos had a wide receiver from their practice squad behind the center. The final score was 31-3.

Many find it unacceptable that the Captain has put into place the recommended precautions from the CDC, the Governor, and our Bishop. I put a stop to in-person worship three Sundays ago. But as Christmas approaches, the pressure will only grow to re-open the churches.

“It’s not Christmas unless we can sing the entire catalogue of Christmas carols in the hymnal!”

…and “Here Comes Santa Claus”…

What they don’t seem to understand is that it takes only one asymptomatic person to enter the room to infect everyone else… most of which are over the age of 70.

“Life is risky”, they tell me.

Indeed, it is.

There be times to load the canon and hoist the Black.

And there be times to turn the bow and live to fight a more favorable day.

 

Raise the Black!

The national election is over, although the votes are still being counted.

As of this writing, no winner has been declared yet.

That, in itself, is cause for concern.

This election was a national referendum on the kind of country we want to be.

The incumbent President – a lying, cheating, vulgar narcissist who has fulfilled very few of his 2016 campaign promises:

“We will build a wall across our southern border, a big, beautiful wall, and we will make Mexico pay for it.”

That wall has turned out to be an over-priced bollard fence, and while some 300 miles of previous border fencing has been replaced, Trumpf has only built 9 miles of new fencing.

And that has been shown to be easily scalable and has already been cut through on several occasions with a simple reciprocating saw.

“We will repeal and replace Obamacare with something better.”

Obamacare has been crippled, but not yet repealed.

And there is no evidence that the Trumpf administration has a “better” plan ready to go.

Captain’s Note: And mateys, if you contracted the COVID-19 virus – like 9.5 million of your fellow citizens have – you now have a “pre-existing condition”. Good luck with that.

Trumpf has still not shown us his tax returns, he has not “drained the swamp”, he has not returned manufacturing to the U.S., he has not saved the coal industry, he has not brought “law & order” to our streets, and he has not made America great again.

Frankly, the Captain thought America was pretty great before 2016.

Trumpf has not worked as hard or as constantly as promised; in fact, he has already golfed more than President Obama did in his full eight years in office. He has funneled our tax dollars to his high-priced resorts and has received other graft money from corporations and foreign nations through those same resorts. And his adult children travel around the globe on personal business, but at our expense and with U.S. Secret Service protection.

Trumpf has engaged China in a trade war that is costing U.S. citizens through tariffs, he has emboldened the worst elements of our society, he has curtailed the rights of the LBGTQ community and has tromped on the rights of people of color. He has turned his back on the growing global environmental crisis and has opened public lands to mining and timber interests. He has downplayed a pandemic that to date has killed 230,000 American citizens.

And that vaccine he promised “by election day” – still not here.

Not even close.

He has brought out the worst in us as a nation, intentionally working to widen the divide between Republicans and Democrats.

While calling his Democrat opponents “Socialists”, the word most often used to describe his administration is “Fascist”.

And apparently a large number of voting U.S. citizens are okay with that.  

And most important, the rest of the world no longer respects the leadership of the United States. Trumpf has alienated our most important allies and embraced our long-held enemies.

And has gained nothing for the U.S. in doing so.

The challenger, Vice President Joe Biden: though not perfect, he is everything Trumpf is not. He is a humble man, a family man, a faithful Catholic, a statesman, who cares about people and cares about our nation. His lengthy political record can be reviewed – and it is not without flaws – but his performance as President is still a matter of hope.

Hope that he can bring order and decency back to our nation.

It will be an up-hill battle from day one.

Trumpf’s chief enablers (McConnell & Graham) have been re-elected, although the Senate majority is still a toss-up.

McConnell, who as Senate Majority Leader was the major stumbling block for President Obama’s agenda, has worked diligently the past four years to fill the federal courts with Trump supporters. If Trumpf wins, there will be even less accountability in Washington than there is now. If Biden wins, it is likely that very little will be accomplished.

Furthermore, the racists, white supremacists, and militias have been emboldened by Trumpf’s own racist pronouncements; they will not go quietly if Biden wins.

Some have openly called for a violent response to a Biden win.

Captain’s Note: The cries of “Lock her up!” directed toward Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign have now turned to cries for public executions of Trumpf’s opponents.

That is NOT the American way!

And it will take years to repair the damage done to the U.S. on the international stage.

Honestly, mates, how could this race be so close?

Win or lose, the Captain has lost faith in my fellow citizens.

Yes, most of them are good, decent people. Church members. Even family.

How is it we see our nation so differently today?