Friday, August 30, 2024

Lord, don't they help themselves

You can count me among the tens of millions of people—Americans and others—who are revolted and disgusted by the Kleptocrat’s antics at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. In what was solely a campaign stunt supposedly marking the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 US service members at Kabul Airport, he sashayed up at the Tomb of the Unknown to lay wreaths, as though he’s a fucking dignitary, and then hied himself over to Section 60 to really piss on people he believes are “suckers” and “losers” because they served in the military.

(If you’re at all in doubt about the sole purpose, tell me why he didn’t show up last year or the year before to commemorate the anniversaries. I’ll wait.)

All military cemeteries have policies prohibiting the use of hallowed ground for commercial or political purposes—for reasons that are obvious for those who are not malignant sociopaths. Section 60, which is where the most recently fallen are buried, absolutely prohibits photos and videos not taken by authorized personnel. In a vast land of the dead, Section 60 is still an open wound and the military takes this seriously. ANC staff reached out to the Kleptocrat’s team well before his visit explaining this—probably in words of one syllable and possibly using sock puppets. But they, of course, ignored the regulations.

Cadet Bonespurs—the scion of parvenu NYC real estate developers, who received four student draft deferments while he was registered in various colleges and then got a fifth deferment on medical grounds when a doctor who rented office space from Daddy Klepto swore that junior had the foot impairment—dropped a gas station bouquet of flowers on the grave of one of the 13 killed at Abbey Gate and then posed for photos with some family members, in his campaign rictus grin and right thumb up. (His left hand was not visible; my money’s on him copping a feel on the woman posing next to him.)

An ANC employee tried to stop the desecration; Bonespurs’ staff got aggressive; MPs were called and a report filed. But the staffer is unwilling to press charges, because if her name gets out she’ll start getting death threats, like every single other person who tries to impose limits of decent behavior on this asshole. His spokesthug, Steven Cheung, declared that the ANC employee was “suffering from a mental health episode” and threatened to unleash “footage” if anyone filed “defamatory” stories about the incident. Big campaign adviser Chris LaCivita weighed in: “For a despicable individual to physically prevent [the Kleptocrat’s] team from accompanying him to this solemn event is a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hollowed [sic] grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.”

So—they agree that the cemetery is sacred. But they get to do whatever they want there, just like they do anywhere else.

They claim that some family members invited them to visit the graves. That’s possible, although I’m betting it was more along the lines of someone on the campaign reaching out to anyone related to any of the 13 until they got one or more willing to be part of a photo op, which is precisely what this was. Also, families—no matter how bereaved—do not have the power to override the restrictions at any military cemetery or to authorize filming or photography that violates the law.

Oh—and as a chef’s kiss on this: on Wednesday a reporter asked couch afficionado, doughnut orderer extraordinaire and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance about the ANC incident. Here’s what he said: “You’re acting like [Cadet Bonespurs] filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite. He was there providing emotional support to brave Americans who lost loved ones and there happened to be a camera there.”

First of all: “happened” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Second: “film[ing] a TV commercial at a gravesite” is exactly what was going on; the campaign video they shot out onto TikTok on Thursday. And third: the Kleptocrat couldn’t provide emotional support to anyone in any situation. The man is devoid of all emotions except greed, fear and hate. The families would have got more emotional support out of a moss-covered rock.

Vance followed that by falsely claiming that Kamala Harris slammed his boss for his antics (she hasn’t mentioned it at all) and then finished by exclaiming, “She can go to hell!”

I think he might have stamped his little foot, too, but the video I’ve seen only shows his upper body.

(The story may actually be infinitely worse. There’s a report that the Kleptocrat’s campaign intended to frame the stunt as a Memorial Day-like holiday commemorating the 13 deaths; he would release video of him “solemnly” placing three wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown like he’s a sitting president. They would claim the video as “proof” that he showed up to honor the “holiday” while Harris wasn't there: she declined because she hates the military. How they intended to pull that one off I do not know, but—like the story of Vance and the couch—this does seem to lie within the radius of their capacity for delusion. And, who knows—their followers might well believe it, right down to affirming that they got the holiday off from work, so QED.)

House Speaker Mike "Moses" Johnson is apparently involved; he tried to pull strings at ANC to smooth the way for Team Bonespurs to piss on the dead. Excuse me for a moment while I projectile vomit.

Well, anyhow. Today is earworm day, so we’re getting Creedance Clearwater Revival’s take on John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son”, which is all about the difference between those who end up in the front lines and those who get deferments and joke that their personal Vietnam was avoiding STDs in the Manhattan dating scene.

God give me fucking strength. They need to burn sage over the entire 400,000 graves to cleanse the air of his foulness.


©2024 Bas Bleu

Thursday, August 29, 2024

Pspsps

Coming out of Trader Joe’s on Tuesday, I spotted a logo on the front of a car in the parking lot that was new to me. I didn’t take a photo; it looked like this, but I didn't see the text:

At first I thought it might be a Penn State alum who’d slapped a Nittany Lion over the vehicle marque.

Then I looked at the side:

Well, blow me—Jaguar has a crossover SUV?

But to top it off, this was the vanity plate:

Sweet.

 

 

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

When it absolutely, positively

<sigh>

FedEx notified me on Monday that a package that requires an adult signature would be delivered on Tuesday.

Yesterday morning I received this email in my queue at 0609:

So I darted out to Trader Joe before 0900 because I needed feta, and then squirreled around the house listening to my neighbors’ kitchen contractors drilling through steel-plated dinosaur teeth and wondering if I should take the pictures down from my wall. I needed to get to the library to pick up a book on hold, but you know that the instant I pulled out of the cluster the FedEx van would show up.

At 1150 I clicked on the package tracking link to discover this:

What I don’t understand is: why do they lie to you if they know you’re going to catch them at it?

 UPDATE: Okay, at around quarter after noon, I heard a thonk at the front door. Looked out to see my package on the stoop and the FedEx guy’s back as he got in his truck.

This has actually happened before. FedEx drivers tend to take the “Adult Signature Required” thing as more of a guideline than a mandate. UPS are total sticklers about it.

Anyway—book acquired, package safely inside, all is well.

 

©2024 Bas Bleu

  


Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Bloomin' heck!

Look, I know I post about hibiscus a lot. But they make me happy. Especially the ones as big as pie plates.

And on my morning walk on Saturday, look what I found: a quadruple bloom.

I mean—four of them, all together!

And also these gorgeous babies.



 

©2024 Bas Bleu

 

Monday, August 26, 2024

Gratitude Monday: coming together

Big gratitude today—after watching the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, I have hope for the upcoming elections.

It’s not just that in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz we have candidates for president and vice president who are competent, compassionate and courageous. It’s that the entire four days displayed the best that we as Americans have to offer. Energy, focus, a clearly articulated message. And joy.

Both inside and outside the aptly-named United Center, the Democratic party understood the assignment and came to get things done. (For once, MSM had to put away their “Dems in disarray” boilerplate.) And for someone who can remember the police riot that dominated the 1968 Chicago convention, I was absolutely gobsmacked and filled with delight to watch thousands of many-hued people come together to dance this platform into existence.

(It didn’t hurt that Republicans all the way up to the spongy orange top were seething throughout the DNC. Whole lotta sniffing about crowd size and some really vile remarks about Tim Walz’s 17-year-old son Gus from the righteous “don’t go after the children” set when the child in question was Republican. Also, the Kleptocrat could not get over being called “weird”; he proclaimed, “I try to be nice,” which should have set the entire world aroar with laughter, but he’s now going to engage in name calling because “I’m entitled.” Well—we knew that already, didn’t we?)

Anyhow—there’s a lot of work to do before 5 November. Republicans are already suiting up to suppress votes and set the stage for non-certification of votes when they don’t turn out to be for Ticket Weird. We are not out of the woods and we won’t be until 6 January.

But today I’m grabbing the joy and grace and gratitude that last week brought to the entire country.

 

 

©2024 Bas Bleu