January 4, 2023

George Santos, the Legislator Lion of Liars, impresses with a fancy website

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George Santos, the Legislator Lion of Liars, impresses with a fancy website

I bet you didn't look at it

By Hal Brown
Archives and comments on bottom of page

I clicked on the George Santos official dot.gov website (here or above) and noticed that it opened with a pretty damn good looking page even before scrolling down to find the press release which contained yet another lie. This was a press release saying he was sworn in yesterday.

George Santos posts release incorrectly saying he's been sworn into House

Rep.-elect George Santos (R-NY) posted a press release saying he was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives by the speaker of the House. The only problem is, there currently is no speaker of the House and thus no one was sworn in on Tuesday.
Santos's release, which has since been deleted, on the House website, additionally read, "Representative George Santos was added to the rolls of the House upon executing the oath of office."
NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur provided more context into the misstep, saying it wasn't just Santos, but "the same language appeared for numerous other freshman members on their new websites," including on Robert Garcia’s (D-CA) site.
Politico reporter Olivia Beavers tweeted that she was told the release was done by the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer for all freshman offices and "that it was published without some offices knowing about it." However, given the fact that Santos is entrenched in controversy surrounding his lies on the campaign trail, people were not quick to believe Santos was just the victim of a mistake.

Because of the Kevin McCarthy brouhaha nobody was sworn in. The House can't proceed to any other business unless it has a Speaker.

At first glance it is easy to miss that the main photo is a leisurely animation. with two views of the US Capitol slowly moving in the background. The picture of Santos appears to move. This is what is called the Ken Burns Effect.

When you first click Santos's image appears in a split second out of nowhere. It happened so quickly I couldn't take a screen shot of it. I had to take an actual picture of it with my iPhone.

Make of this what you will. My interpretation is that Santos, much to the chagrin of Republicans and delight of Democrats, seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

Another freshman member of the House has a less fancy website. Her face disappears and the background photos have a Ken Burns Effect.

I am not going to look at more of the websites of members of Congress. I just thought it might be interesting to share what the Legislator Lion of Liars'* website looks like since I doubt any of my readers would check it out on their own.

*With recognition that the Lion of Congress is really the late John Lewis.

My latest McCarthy and Trump illustrations here, updated today - in all modesty I think they are worth having a gander at..

CLICK above for Poor Kevin

aka The Kevin Kroniciles

January 3, 2023

Poor Kevin aka The Kevin Kroniciles

Poor Kevin
aka The Kevin Kroniciles
By Hal Brown
Updated after Kevin lost the 10th time, Jan. 5, 2023
Images created by Hal Brown using various sources and InPixio and BeFunky.

Most recent illustrations on bottom of page

Above: Slide left for full image
Below: Click images to enlarge

Just frittering away time. I couldn't decide what Dali painting to use as a background. Trump/McCarthy modified by BeFunky.

Even if he doesn't I think he eventually will after he cuts fascistic deals with the extremists. I don't know what kind of sandwiches are served in the House dining room, but this is what Kevin may be eating:

As for as the Republican Party goes what has happened to them can't be undone. This is an historic humiliation for both the party and McCarthy. He will have to kowtow to the likes most lunatic extremists who decided to vote for him.

The Republican led house with the newly empowered crazies out for revenge and notoriety will turn their two years into a grotesque freak show.

Breaking news: A backroom deal was finally struck among House Republicans with a compromise candidate to be the Speaker of the House. It is Ginni Thomas. While she is politically the polar opposite of Nancy Pelosi one thing the two have in common is they like to wear colorful scarves.

Democrat political fashion guru Lisa Bungalow told The Bunion in an exclusive interview "while I loathe her politics and when I see her on TV it already makes me nauseous, at least she will keep bringing a splash of color to the podium."

Addendum:

I would be surprised if Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is supporting him, hasn't already been promised some choice committee assignments. While she might not be offered the chair of a high profile committee she could be made chair of Science, Space, and Technology. Once there she could make waves by opening an investigation into Jewish space lasers and how they started the California wild fires.

This is how Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telaines depicts what the GOP is doing in an animated cartoon:

January 2, 2023

A shirtless guy on a Honda bike with pink sneakers and a tattooed man with a "What Part of Fuck Off Is Confusing to You?" t-shirt.

By Hal Brown

To my loyal daily readers: Thank you for checking in today. I haven't posted a new blog because I've been diagnosed with pneumonia and am being treat with two antibiotics. I had it in late October and it may not have been treated aggressively enough so this may be a relapse.

Archive on bottom of page

Click any image to enlarge

I took this photo from my car when I pulled up behind this motorcyclist in Milwaukie, Oregon. It wasn't until I got home and looked closely at it that I found it more interesting than just merely a man riding a motorcycle shirtless with his white t-shirt wrapped around his arm on a warm day.

He's not riding a Harley lowrider, but his jeans are riding low. They are Calvin Klein's. Taking a closer look I see something I can't identify:

What is this white band that appears to be plastic which is wrapped tightly around the jeans? It seems to be holding something in the front. It isn't the back of a jockstrap. The many I looked at all have wide elastic bands in the back. So what the hell is it?

Not only are the jeans maroon but his footwear stands out.

They are old fashioned high-top basketball sneakers but in pink. They seem to be Adidas Matchcourt sneakers.

By coincidence or not pink sneakers and maroon underpants kind of go together. Maybe he was trying to make a fashion statement.

You can also see on his elbow that it looks like he has a skin condition like psoriasis or a healed wound which could have been from a motorcycle accident. If the latter it means he might have suffered from not wearing a leather jacket, though you rarely see anyone who isn't a Harley biker wearing them around Portland.

Another unknown is what this is on his back:

It could be a healed wound. I'm not a doctor but it could be the exit wound caused by being shot by a hollow point bullet.

We have a lot of shootings in Portland. Most of them are gang related. I wonder if there is a pink sneaker gang.

I hazard a guess that the motorcyclist is about as far removed from being a MAGA cultist as anyone would be.

And then there this man:

I have no idea what the politics of this Portland area denizen might be. He clearly doesn't want anyone to inquire about it. He was at the very crowded Milwaukie Farmers Market. He was making a very public statement. I wish I had had the courage to interview him. That would have made an interesting story.

Never let it be said that I don't dig deeply into the backstory of what I write about. I tried to find out the model and year of the Honda motorcycle but couldn't based on the photo of the rear. I did find out what the hat the Fuck Off man is wearing was.

It is a clothing brand which was started in the city of Bridgewater which abuts the city of Middleboro where I lived before moving to Portland. Below from Wikipedia.

Formed in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Metal Mulisha T-shirts were fashionable among youth in the 2000s. The shirts often feature existential slogans or quotes that tout the virtues of extreme sports.
In 2010, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District banned Metal Mulisha clothing at its schools, due to graphics resembling Nazi symbols and iconography. Some graphics appearing on Metal Mulisha's clothing line include a skull wearing a helmet resembling one worn by German soldiers in World War II, while on the company's logo, the "S" in "Mulisha" is represented graphically by a lightning bolt that resembles the double lightning bolts insignia of the Nazi major paramilitary organization Schutzstaffel, LAB or SS.
Rabbi Barry Ulrych, of the B'nai Chaim of Murrieta synagogue, regarding the images appearing on Metal Mulisha products, stated "People say it's just a fashion—it's more than that—it's an identity ... These symbols are not as neutral as one might think. Symbols can hurt, and some symbols are intimidating ... With this symbolism, they are glorifying the Nazi past. You can't go through life being ignorant of symbols."
In a letter, the company countered with the statement "Metal Mulisha founders and riders are devout Christians, espousing those values prized in the religious community."

He appears to be wearing not inexpensive Dolce & Gabbana glasses:

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January 1, 2023

The science of our idiocracy

The science of our idiocracy
By Hal Brown

Idiocracy, aside from being the title of a movie, has two dictionary definitions:

: a society governed or populated by idiots (see IDIOT sense 1)

Our nation is turning into an idiocracy.—Neil deGrasse Tyson

: government by idiots (see IDIOT sense 1)

As we lurch toward idiocracy—the real thing, not the movie—we must change course.—John Kass

This blog is about research into the cognitive ability of those constituting the part of our society which is populated by those who one could call idiots which in modern use means stupid or foolish people.

I read this in RawStory and got the idea for this blog

Scanning some of the comments I came across the link shown below:

Clicking it led to this 2018 Scientific American article by a Michigan State University psychology professor and an undergraduate student. (Coincidentally I got my BA in psychology there long before he joined the faculty.)

This is a summary of relevant research on the subject. There are no surprises in what the researchers found out about people like these:

This is the conclusion of the Scientific American authors:

These studies add to scientific understanding of the fake news problem, which is providing a foundation for an evidenced-based approach to addressing the problem. A recommendation that follows from research on the illusion of truth effect is to serve as your own fact checker. If you are convinced that some claim is true, ask yourself why. Is it because you have credible evidence that the claim is true, or is it just because you’ve encountered the claim over and over? Also ask yourself if you know of any evidence that refutes the claim. (You just might be surprised to find that you do.) This type of recommendation could be promoted through public service announcements, which have been shown to be effective for things like getting people to litter less and recycle more. For its part, research on individual differences in susceptibility to fake news, such as the study by De keersmaecker and Roets, can help to identify people who are particularly important to reach through this type of informational campaign.
At a more general level, this research underscores the threat that fake news poses to democratic society. The aim of using fake news as propaganda is to make people think and behave in ways they wouldn’t otherwise—for example, hold a view that is contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus. When this nefarious aim is achieved, citizens no longer have the ability to act in their own self-interest. In the logic of democracy, this isn’t just bad for that citizen—it’s bad for society.

The idiom "you can't tell a book by its cover" means that when applied to people you shouldn't base your opinion of them by how they look. This is very true to an extent. However I do think that the t-shirts and outfits some of these Trump supports wear tell us a great deal about them. You would be hard pressed to see anyone wearing similar things at a Biden event.

Looking at photos of these people, daring to risk being accused of being judgmental, based on how they look I conclude that most of them wouldn't care that scientific studies have shown that they have a deficit in cognitive ability. "This is fake news by liberal snowflakes" they'd probably think.

Click above to enlarge collage of Trump supporters

Cult expert Steve Hassan has published articles about Trump supporters. Here's a recent one:

This is about how he thinks MAGA's can be deprogrammed. Here's an interview with him.

December 31, 2022

Protecting New York City on New Year's Eve

Protecting New York City on New Year's Eve
By Hal Brown
Click here to see my nonpolitical blog from a year ago🎆
Update: Thankfully there was only one violent incident on New Years Eve in Times Square. Story here.
Pictured: NYC Police flag with DOJ seal added

After reading this article in The New York Daily News ....

...it hit me that had the Capitol been protected the same way Times Square is protected on New Year's Eve I doubt the insurrectionists would have been able to invade the building.

I have no doubt that there are many people out there, some who may have been in the mob on January 6 and some who would have liked to have been there who have thoughts about doing something violent to express their outrage that the coup failed.

We know that two MAGA men planned to attack the Knoxville, TN FBI office but were arrested before they could follow through. One of the men was the fourth rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan . 6, 2021.

There is no certification of an election to try to thwart on New Year's Eve. There is only an opportunity for would-be MAGA terrorists to make a huge statement to show to the nation on a night of celebration their outrage that, as they believe, the election was stolen and that Biden is president rather than Donald Trump.

There is an enormous law enforcement challenge about how to prevent violence during the country's most watched New Year's Eve celebration.

Not only does law enforcement have to protect Times Square but I have no doubt that they are well-aware that would-be terrorists know that with the concentration of law enforcement in a several block area there are violent extremists who might think of buildings to target that they believe would be more vulnerable and have real or symbolic meaning to these people.

I am confident that for months the task force threat assessment team has been closely monitoring the activity of would-be terrorists. I am also confident that they are doing a better job than those who should have known that there would be a violent insurrection on January 6th.

I also don't take as gospel the assurance, or reassurance, coming from NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell because any so-called credible threats, if they exist, might still be under investigation. I believe that this team, as opposed to those assessing the threat of violence preceding January 6th, have a broader and more realistic definition of what constitutes a credible threat.

There may be people who want to try to do something destructive to a building that they think represents the criminal justice system in New York which they may rightfully think is Trump's enemy. Some of them may have hinted at this in ways that could have been picked up by law enforcement and then either given up or tried to "go dark" as they actually worked on a serious plan. We can only hope they didn't elude law enforcement.

The New York City Police Counterterrorism Bureau will doubtlessly be working with the federal law enforcement anti-terror team which was augmented after J6. Here's Attorney General Merrick B. Garland's Domestic Terrorism Policy Address which describes the National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.

Making the New Year's Eve challenge even more difficult, as if it isn't arduous enough, is that routine policing has to go on with the added burden of protecting businesses from opportunistic burglars who may think stores elsewhere in the city won't be as protected as they'd be on a typical night.

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January 4, 2023