Tuesday!
A little political humor for Senator Tom Cotton…
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Even the postal service knows me too well. Any piece of mail marked “First Class Fail” comes directly to my house.
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Culinary tip: I love you all but no one in this universe can both prepare and photograph guacamole elegantly enough to avoid a Pampers flashback.
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It took me 40+ years to identify the voice in my head: it’s a drunk mime, being stung by bees.
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I love it when the birds sing too, except when they are doing bad karaoke.
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Did you know that I-45 in Texas is the shortest primary interstate? Let’s hope it applies to President 45, too.
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While silence may indeed be the best reply to a fool, as a wise person once quipped, it is certainly not the most satisfying of all available options. – X
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“To get the best most honest experience when meeting new people: smile, make eye contact, extend your arm and hand slightly – and then slap yourself. Now you are ready to delve into the frightening world of other people.” From my new book, “Yes, Seriously.”
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Ideas…
Pictures To Ponder
One of my favorite insults, ever.
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A little political levity.
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A Few Words About Tom Cotton and Immigration
As you read these words, please remember that I’m a liberal, the kind that Tom Cotton would like to invite to Guantanamo Bay for an unplanned vacation.
Several days ago, I wrote about progressives failing to understand the fight about the Department of Education. Northwest Arkansas residents heard first-hand from Senator Tom Cotton last night that he still strongly desires to break the Dept. of Education. I’m certain that this will happen, absent a huge change in government in the next year.(Although, as one of my friends told Tom Cotton in the Town Hall last night, it’s difficult to trust the State of Arkansas to do the right thing, given we had to have the federal government come in with troops simply to integrate our schools.)
Today, I’d like to offer a few words about immigration, ones which will be music to conservative ears.
Tom Cotton has positioned himself to take over the work of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Tom is staunchly conservative and will continue to carry the torch for conservatism in the senate. He has already sponsored immigration legislation under the Trump administration. I’m certain he will insist on strong immigration action in the next few years. He has connections in the military, congress, the intelligence community, and the new administration. He’s been clear about his views on almost all the immigration arguments. For him, they boil down to security and economy, which are two of the GOP’s most important themes.
Absent a miraculous bolt of lightning from the heavens, those who disagree with the GOP and Senator Cotton have a painful road of incremental losses ahead of them. Cotton wants to reduce legal immigration and to remove all undocumented foreigners, including Dreamers/DACA. He’s got a Harvard education and a head for logistics. He artfully argues away the statistics showing the benefits of a foreign workforce. In his mind, his views are justified and supported by his voters. Senator Cotton does not hold his views on immigration loosely or lightly – they define his worldview. Being reasonable won’t work to change his mind – but then again, neither will shouting at him.
I predict that some of the attempts to implement immigration action will be stymied by cost and the courts. Much of it, however, will pass scrutiny and occur to varying degrees. The courts will step out of the way once the administration sharpens its overly-broad attempts to shape policy.
Given that NWA has a large population of Latinos, I predict that Senator Cotton will use his pull in the administration to orchestrate one of the first waves of ICE sweeps in our corner of the state. It will not only serve his penchant for retribution for the ocean of protest he was handed last night, but it will be a cost-effective publicity-fueled way to kick off the effort.
In short, Senator Tom Cotton will use his considerable intelligence and pull to target the Springdale area first. Having observed him, I see that he knows trying to ease into such an effort will cause a greater resistance effort than simply striking hard and first where much of the resistance has grown.
As satisfying as it was last night to see Senator Cotton be told the harsh realities of those he disagrees with, I can see the coming backlash already forming.
We can’t rely on public sentiment to dissuade such an effort. The truth is that many citizens want absolute control of our borders and of who is allowed to stay here. We have underestimated the sentiment of branding undocumented foreigners as criminals who should suffer the consequences of being here without permission. Most will not join the shouts of protest as people we know are dragged away. It’s a hard thing to say, but I can see it coming.
Tom Cotton is going to be that firebrand who will not be afraid to step into the fight and deliver action. We can angrily thank Donald Trump for liberating people like Senator Cotton.
I can see all these things because although I disagree with much of Tom Cotton’s agenda, he has consistently held firm to his ideals as the country has shifted to meet him in the middle. Just as we looked away for a moment as the country elected Donald John Trump, I am certain that we’ve also looked away just long enough to miss the subtle change in commitment from the GOP to finally take decisive immigration action.
We are going to suffer and it is best if we prepare for it.
Pictures, Not Words
The Day the Dept. of Education Died…
One post of mine many Republicans will love reading:
For those of you who don’t follow other bubbles, it has long been the desire of many conservatives to abolish the Department of Education in entirety. If we continue on the trajectory of a Republican-controlled U.S. Congress and statehouses, the Dept. of Education will cease to exist. The abolition of the Dept. of Education doesn’t necessitate the adoption of a worse system – but it does hasten a total change in structure and attitude from everyone in the United States. It’s already started in earnest, whether we are paying attention in class or not. In Arkansas, most of us voted Republican. We gave them their voice and power. Those votes will continue to pay dividends toward their agenda. (I say ‘we,’ but please note that I’m a dirty, low-down, self-described degenerate liberal.)
I am not writing this because I agree with a state-centered system of education nor with the extinction of the Dept. of Education, as I think it’s the wrong course for our country. Unlike so many other progressives, though, I saw this fight coming from a long way off, and had already heard the bell indicating our defeat, even before the election of Trump.
I’m writing to tell you that it is inevitable.
We’ve abdicated our ability to continue with a progressive system we all know and handed that responsibility to the Republicans across the nation who had their eye on the goal longer and with greater zeal. The Republicans mobilized and by whatever means at their disposal, changed the games and the rules to achieve their goal, one of them being the eradication of the Dept. of Education. With control of most of the state legislatures, too, they are going to control the narrative of education for the foreseeable future. Because they control the House, they have a bigger say in funding. We’ll have vouchers and many of the things which educational experts howl into the night about.
We can fight and squabble, but the educational system to which we’ve become accustomed is going to morph into something else. What ‘that’ might be is dependent on a huge cascade of politics, money, and interests. Whatever emerges is going to be much more scaled. Those we elect to our state offices will have most of the say in what used to be a federally-supervised issue. That either elates or frightens you.
Betsy DeVos qualifications or lack thereof are almost a negligible concern for conservatives. Her appointment solidifies their cry toward a decentralized educational system. I’ve seen it coming, listening to the echoes of what once was the Tea Party. They’ve been consistent, whereas the progressives have not.
The Republicans did a better job at capitalizing on the system. Voting Republican yielded the intended result for Republicans. A decentralized educational system is just one of those important cornerstones, with Betsy Devos being a skirmish, rather than the actual fight.
A Passing Eulogy For the Day
A eulogy written in passing for the day: I dreamed of a time when snowfall carried no possible menace and the idea of depthless anger seemed like nothing more than a childhood fantasy. And now that I’m older, I see too often that it is me who contains both the menace and the ire and I wonder by what fundamental and incremental shift the world changed me. Few of us willingly opened the door to these visitors and yet many of us still sit by the fire with these uninvited guests, our faces false and without indication of our betrayal.
Insert Badly-Titled Title Here…
It’s easy to see who values the internal mechanisms of one’s life. On social media, I write many introspective or narrative pieces. They glide past the superficial and lay bare parts of me. The people who know me best and appreciate me for who I am invariably read or participate in those discussions. Yes, I know that some of my posts are lengthy – but so are conversations and shared experiences. I don’t expect people to clamor to show up at my house each Friday evening; likewise, I don’t anticipate each friend deliberately using his or her limited time to come find my posts and inhale them, either.
If I were to construct a Venn diagram of introspective narratives versus superficial posts, there is almost no overlap for several of my social media friends. It’s not a question of time involvement, either, as demonstrated by participation on other equally engaging timelines or interests. I’m obviously not including those without social media or those who never participate in time-intensive engagement.
This is a sign that I’m being monitored by some friends instead of appreciated.
This isn’t a call for “look at me;” rather, it is a reminder that social media provides a multitude of windows into our friend’s lives. Like our lives, the totality of interaction and value leaves a wake behind it. An observant person can’t help but to draw inferences from those signs. It’s true that some inferences are wrong, mainly because we jump to conclusions without direct connections based on the evidence. But we have our personal instincts which usually serve to point us in the right direction.
A sociologist who loves these trends and studies them tells me that this a trend which affects the frequency of people’s posts, as well as the depth of what they share of their personal life. It’s like the son who is gay who calls his mom and she chooses to discuss the banal stories about work instead of the son’s intense desire to adopt a child in opposition to social forces. Or if someone personally writes about his or her dislike of social policy and only those motivated by the desire to tell him how wrong he is opt to comment. If people are arguing with you about social policy, it tends to indicate they don’t agree with a lot you are doing or saying about your personal life, either, as obvious a statement as that might be. It’s a tough sell to get people to see this nuance about sharing and interacting.
If friends comment on your superficial posts but mostly ignore what you have to say when you’re sharing parts of yourself, they aren’t really interested or invested in you as a person. It is more likely that are self-validating, which is a very human reaction. It’s just each of us must decide to what degree we are comfortable with this. Even with this point, I have to make an exception for those who have larger followings of those interested in them solely for a specific topic.
It would never occur to me to comment or interact on superficial or political posts if I consistently ignore the personal ones. I’m doing a poor job explaining exactly why this seems indecorous to me, though.
My experience tells me that if you aren’t unilaterally participating with the range of my posts, you aren’t really that interested in me or my life.
There are exceptions to the above, of course, and always, I haven’t expertly fleshed out my argument.
Random Things
“Kiss My Rebuttal” was the initial design theme of this picture. Feverish inclinations sent me on a detour.
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Groundhog Day reminder!
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I made this picture for a friend, who discovered that a Facebook friend had passed away unbeknownst to anyone. People are important to us for a variety of reasons – and ideas often transcend the concrete and earth which separate us.
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I just did 6 blocks of cardio, too. The police officer picked a bad day to wear dress shoes. Edit: so the stereo was technically free.
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Moments of perplexity: entering a women’s health center/delivery center to see that “Deliverance” is the movie someone chose to play on the fiendishly large LCD tv directly inside the main entrance. I’m not sure what message they are sending but I prefer to avoid the role of Ned Beatty this morning.
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Trying to keep up with all the new memes is tough on an older person. The version I made, above, is for someone I know.
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Sometimes the best trips are imaginary – and result in the best memories.
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Posting for a friend: I’m going to market a car that comes off the assembly line with fake scratches and cracks on it. Hopefully, this will guarantee the absence of any further first-world-problem “My new car got a scratch!” posts. Because, really? We LOVE seeing pictures after your new vehicle rolled down the gulley into an a pit full of sharp iron spikes.
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Advisory: political humor…PBS announced a new program to combat the new administration’s assault on the funded arts. I sent this in as an example of the kind of programming content that I could contribute for the Math / Geometry department. Free of charge.
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I was one of the first to make a slew of images of Trump holding his executive orders up for the camera. But I’m the first the admit that the internet made hundreds that were more sublime than mine.
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P.S. Parenthetically Speaking 