IT’S ALL HAPPENING!

by John Walters
https://mediumhappi.org/?p=7956

by John Walters

Tweet Me Right

Starting Five

An instant classic. One of the great photos of this presidential era.

Nancy Claps Back

Photographer Doug Mills captured the moment at the State Of The Union when President Trump’s words, which some to the left of the aisle might perceive as indicative of the double standard the GOP is foisting upon us now that we don’t have a Kenyan commander-in-chief, earned a clap back from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

What Trump actually said: “We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good.” 


At that moment, as those in the chamber applauded, Pelosi clapped vigorously and at the POTUS and some (including us) interpreted it as, “Yeah, finally.”

2. Et Tu, SOTU

“I’m not gonna tell him, you tell him”

Other notes, observations and memorable moments from SOTU 2019 (an incomplete wrap-up), or as we’ve dubbed it “Unity…Or Else!”:

–Trump’s red tie was seriously leaning to the left at the beginning of his speech, lending itself to an easy “Even his tie is crooked” joke.

–A friend of mine was not the only one who saw all the female congresswomen dressed in various shades of white and wondered if this was a new season of The Handmaid’s Tale. I just thought of a Wimbledon class photo or perhaps the flight attendant lounge at Emirates Airlines.

From the White House to the White Blouse

–Outside of his border wall argument, which if factually challenged was at least vigorous and focused, the president kept to the safest of topics. We learned that he’s against childhood cancer and in favor of remembering World War II heroes and survivors. Hell, Maroon 5’s set list was edgier than that.


–As to the aforementioned “factually challenged,” the sheriff of El Paso his own self fired up the Twitter machine to refute Trump’s claim that a wall had made his city safer. It was very safe long before that, the lawman argued.

–The President insinuated that there cannot be peace if Robert Mueller does not quit investigating him, going full Jackie Chiles with this quote:


–In case you were wondering, the president never mentioned or even alluded to 1) the 35-day shutdown or 2) climate change.

—Kamala Harris with the best “No, no” we’ve seen since the housekeeper in Get Out:


–Trump actually said that had he not been elected, the USA would be in a war with North Korea right now. WUUUUUT!?!

–We kinda did a side eye when the man who inherited millions from his dad and has since  declared bankruptcy half a dozen times talked about America “not squandering its inheritance.”

–Trump mentioned “ridiculous partisan investigations,” but James Comey and Robert Mueller are Republicans. So who was he talking about?

3. The Crocodile Punter

No, this is not an MS-13 member, at least not as far as we know. This is Louis Hedley, a 6’4″ punter from Australia by way of the City College of San Francisco (yes, also O.J.’s alma mater). None of the real publications have identified where from Down Under he’s actually from, other than to say that he’s in his mid-twenties and worked as a scaffolder in the Aussie desert (that’s west) for eight years. You just have to wonder if Manny Diaz will let him out of two-a-days next summer to attend Sturgis, no?

4. Sweet Pea Loses By 42!

We’re just posting this for our (and Susie B.’s) enjoyment. The Indiana Pacers, minus their best player (Victor Oladipo) destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers, who had their best player (besides Kyle Kuzma), by 42 points. The final was 136-94, the worst loss of LeBron James’ career.


(This photo says it all, no?)

Is it fair to say that all that Anthony Davis trade talk has not done wonders for locker room cohesiveness. After the defeat Lakers brass announced that they were walking (limping?) away from trade negotiations with the Pelicans, which makes us just a little sad because we were hoping to use the hed “LeBrow” one of these days.

5. Hawaii 1-0-0

Under the proposed law, Kilauea would still be permitted to smoke. It is, after all, older than 100.

Hawaii legislator Richard Creagan has introduced a bill that would make it illegal to smoke cigarettes before the age of 100. Quietly (or not so quietly), we think this is brilliant. It won’t surprise you to learn that Creagan is a Democrat, but you should also know that he is an E.R. physician who calls cigarettes “the deadliest artifact in human history.”

Let’s go to the audience survey. The number one answer is “GUN!”

Anyway, our sense of less government is better (we think Thomas Jefferson put it more poetically) compels us not to agree with Creagan’s bill, but at least it’s inspired. Besides, it leads us to another point we’d like to discuss: what if, at a certain age that we could all agree upon (say, 85 or 90 years old), the government could top off your Medicare at $1,000 a year? How much money would that save?

Your grandpa’s reaction as you show him this item.

Now, this would be our proposal and as soon as we proposed it, Fox News, understanding its base, would report that I had declared a “War On Grandpa.” So what? I’m not in favor of anyone dying, but how many people in the the primes of their lives might have better access to health care if we weren’t spending so much on extending the lives of people who are often a quarter-century past their most recent day of employment. We’re all for golden years, but platinum years?

What say you?

Music 101

Break On Through

Between the ages of 22 and 27 lots of young men work on getting a PhD. Jim Morrison worked on going from being nobody to one of the world’s most famous frontmen as leader of The Doors to having it all flame out with his death by heart failure (official cause unknown as he died in Paris, where an autopsy is not required by law) at the age of 27 in 1971. In between the band released eight albums that sold 4 million copies and a slew of singles that sold 8 million units and remain FM radio staples to this day.

You may already know this, but in case you don’t: While Morrison was one of the signature counterculture rebels, his father was a highly decorated Navy admiral who served with distinction in Vietnam.

Remote Patrol

The Longest Day

8 p.m. TCM

Mitchum, with stogie…

When it comes to telling the story of D-Day, there’s Ken Burns’ WW2 documentary, Band Of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan and this, from 1962, which came first. Not only do you have arguably the greatest alpha-male cast in the history of film (John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford and Robert Wagner, among others), but you also see the day from the German perspective, with actual German actors playing those roles.

Some of those actors worked for almost nothing simply because they wanted a cameo in what they knew was going to be an epic picture. It is.

 

6 thoughts on “IT’S ALL HAPPENING!”

  1. Ok – point of clarification before people start to slam me. I checked the tapes and Grace Ennis, young brain cancer survivor was not treated at the Shriners hospital. She started raising money for St. Jude at 4 and then, according to the President, was treated there where “Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food—because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.”

    Yeah Grace! Seriously – the kid gave up birthday presents for years to donate to St. Jude and she battled brain cancer and is in remission.

    So big, well- deserved celebration and applause for Grace last night.

    But what if you don’t get treated at St. Jude? Big trouble even with insurance. The deductible and co-pays are going to kill you and your insurance company gets to dictate her care. So if there is a new cutting edge treatment, insurance will find a way to not cover it because it’s still “experimental” or “unproven.”

    You spend every penny you have and luckily Grace goes into remission (just a side note but brain cancer has a very high rate of making an encore performances.) Now Grace has a pre-existing condition.

    So now Grace is 26 and has to pay for her own insurance. Yes, I hear it all the time – any health care reform has to include no denying coverage for pre-existing coverage. That does not mean they won’t jack your premium. I know this because I lived it. I survived cancer at 18. Past 5 years it’s unlikely to reoccur, past 20 years 99% of docs would say you are totally in the clear. I was working in the US (legally!) at 40 & very healthy, my health care premium was $700 (me alone) which was 3 times what most of my friends of the same age and general health were paying. That’s insanity! At 27 it would have been higher because I would not have had as many years in remission.

    So just sayin’ you can love Grace but the President should get a big huge fail for that part of the speech because cancer sucks but having to pay huge sums of money each month to have a corporation dictate your medical care REALLY SUCKS!

    So just one other thought on the speech last night – I mean I have many but after 2 years I’m just exhausted by this circus so keeping it down to 2 points.

    The President stands up there and says “Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” Huge cheer!!

    I was desperately hoping that this would be the moment of the surprise pop quiz! I wanted people to start handing out piece of paper and say you 4 minutes to write out the meaning of “socialist.” No googling!! Do all those who were cheering last night know what “socialist” means? Is there an agreed upon definition? Can you define “socialism” for me? I mean the way people were cheering it sounds like hell on earth!! I would have given anything to collect everyone’s definitions. Honestly! I was desperate to know how this evil “socialism” was being defined in the heads of everyone in the room last night.

    But since this didn’t happen, (still disappointed,) I looked up “socialism” on dictionary.com. Ready? Socialism is defined as “a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.”

    So had I looked up this definition in advance I would have been cheering the loudest! I’m not interested in socialism or living in a socialist country! No way! I’d be out of there fast. It sounds like a cult where you have give everything you have to the leaders for equal distribution. Forget that!!

    So I support you there Trumpy-boy! No socialism for me either!!

    I’m just happy to live in a country that is NOT socialist but does have universal health care. That’s all I’m sayin’.

    Reply

  2. Sigh. I guess I should just stop mentioning that LBJ stopped being “Sweet Pea” the moment he shredded my heart into teensy tiny pieces & flushed them down the toilet? Once a “Sweet Pea” always a Sweet Pea it seems. 🙂 Anyhoo, why was LBJ even playing last night? Wasn’t he still “sore”? Plus, what are the Lakers thinking about allowing the world, including its TEAM MEMBERS know that they are ready & able (more like chomping at the bit) to trade EVERYONE & ANYONE with a pulse to get AD, a guy that seems to be INJURED EVERY YEAR, kinda like the NBA’s version of Sam Bradford? WHO exactly will be left on that team besides LBJ & the coach? Whose job is far from safe it seems, at least according to some TV folks who say LBJ’s “people” want him replaced. Whoo-hoo, must be some good team spirit in THAT locker room! If you remember, I WARNED LeBron about going to LA! He didn’t realize that for 7 years, I was his human-form guardian angel! Look what has happened since my “powers of protection” are no longer in force. Humpfh!

    And finally, you’re really a Republican, aren’t you jdubs? KILLING OFF THE OLD & SICK to SAVE FREAKIN MONEY is the 1st Rule of Republicanism-Fascism! For someone who gets all gooey-eyed at ALL animal life, you seem awfully cavalier with older humans. Yes, the young can “produce” for more years but damn, jdubs, we ALL have value! Most of the best cultures thru history are ones that VALUED the elderly. Did you watch ‘Logans Run’ too many times as a kid & think, “yeah, I’d like to live in THAT society”! IF you are so fortunate to still be living at 85 or 90, I wonder if you’ll be willing to run off a cliff just to “save” the young ungrateful whippersnappers a few bucks.

    BTW, I’m sure you will appreciate the coming Armageddon in elderly care. When the the Baby Boomers (especially the younger half) reach their 80s/90s, less than 1% will have the money to finance long-term care. Who will pay for these MILLIONS in Assisted Living/Nursing Homes? My mother is in AL in a lower-cost area of my state & it cost $6000/MONTH NOW! I can only imagine the cost in 20-30 years. THIS is the TRUE “national emergency” & Congress just keeps on ignoring it. And the idea of CUTTING back Social Security in 10 or so years, LOL, do you know how many retirees DEPEND on that money just to stay alive? I’ll tell them your idea – take the pill, go to sleep & never wake up or step into an incinerator, their time is UP! (um, how does Mama dubs feel about your proposal?)

    I don’t know if taxing the superwealthy (those with incomes over $10 million/year (via work OR investment income) at 50-60% would be enough to pay for lower cost health care for EVERYONE, but it’s a start!

    Reply

      • We agree it’s a CRISIS. Where we vehemently DISAGREE is the solution. Hey, I have an “idea” – instead of killing off all the surviving CONTRIBUTORS to society/country, lets round up all the drug addicts/alcoholics/cellphone users-texters in cars [ahem, my personal hated ‘group’] & other parasites & load them onto big-ass ships, moto said ships FAR out into the ocean & make them JUMP OFF. THINK of all the MONEY the country will save! No need for rehabs & the BILLIONS of dollars spent/wasted on habitual returnees! Plus, we get rid of all those “non-producers” at work so we free up jobs, wha-la, employment numbers go up & stay up!

        Who’s next… those “hordes” of immigrants? The, er , Jews? GET MY POINT? Life, no matter how old, how self-destructive is precious & how dare ANY OF US decide who is “worthy” to keep on living. To think otherwise basically makes you a….

        And if your mother read yesterday’s piece, I wouldn’t be surprised if she decreed “no more lasagna for you!”

        Anyhoo, I do feel a bit bad about comparing Davis to Sam Bradford. The former is a FAR better NBA player than Bradford ever was an NFL QB but the latter is the 1st that came to mind as someone who was injured seemingly EVERY YEAR. Hasn’t Davis missed at least a month every year that he’s been in the NBA? I don’t know all the info as I’ve not really followed his career or even watched him, it’s just I constantly heard about his injuries while watching NBA TV, etc & it seemed he’s been injured a LOT!

        Reply

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