Little Late And Little Little, But Soldiering On

 

"YYIM Door" by Herr D on heromachine.com. Herr D explained that the station 'YYIM' developed a supernatural door that would not allow pundits through if their comments would not be smart enough. When asked who did he think would always pass, he said "probably Maddow." --Shelob

 The infrastructure bill was passed.

Yep.

Do you have a stance to report?

Like many self-improvement moves this country has made, it was a little late and a little little. But getting people to go along with the necessaries was always difficult.

Unsure of meaning.

Left without leadership like we have now, we would have nothing we need.

So you are still pleased with Biden.

That never stopped--he's not causing problems, and he IS working on fixing them.

So your previously reported dissatisfaction was caused by what?

The people limiting his success.

The majority of Republicans and a small minority of Democrats.

It's difficult for a real leader to bring people away from ruination. That's the hardest kind of leadership. Now we need it to continue and perhaps pick up momentum. 

What happens if the other party gains control again?

Hopefully by then they will be free of the ruinous way of doing things that Trump brought in. Then they could be good for the country. Maybe as good as the Democrats are being right now.

So your hope is that both sides would build back better. 

In their own way, no doubt, but yes.

Thank you.

Violence Fully Expresses Stupidity, But One Should Always Consider The Source

 

"Fighting Food" by Herr D on heromachine. Originally an homage to a kid's show, Herr D pointed out that this piece does not glorify violence, but makes fun of our tendency to it. What is more absurd than a fake chef speaking a fake language in a fight with the fake food he didn't even prepare?-Shelob

 Why have you not blogged about Rittenhouse?

For the same reason I encourage everyone to dwell on more productive things. I wasn't there; I have seen heavily edited footage pointing out bias in both directions; I'm too intelligent to think I should declare much of anything.

Okay, here's what I can declare. Anyone who ever goes to a white supremacist rally has to be on the stupid side. Anyone who deliberately aligns themselves with any overtly racist group has to be on the stupid side. Stupid people with guns get people killed, no matter whose fault it is, or WHATEVER they intended to do. We can't go taking guns from stupid people, because even the experts can't agree on how intelligence should be measured. 

What we MIGHT be able to do is stop demanding to know everything about everyone before there's ever been a trial. Millions of dollars are spent finding jury members who haven't watched the news about each defendant in every trial. Could maybe anybody drop the mistaken belief that they know more than everybody else who was there at the time? Would that REALLY be so hard?

Thank you.

Disappointment

 

"626 Cleaning Up" an homage to Herr D's favorite Disney movie. It is good to think happy thoughts during disappointing times, according to psychology textbooks.--Shelob

Why did you not comment upon your preference for governor?

I've never pretended to be an influencer. I'm sad about Youngkin winning, but he might be gone in four years. He shouldn't affect my family OVERLY badly in four years unless he fails to maintain the basics and deal with emergencies. The worst is that he'll likely raise taxes.

He promised to reduce them.

That's why I imagine he'll raise them--he's a politician.

Understood.

Herr D Wrote A Joke . . .

 

"Pandit" by Herr D, heromachine.com. For the damage some of them do, perhaps he should file this picture under 'Monsters.' -Shelob

There were two pandas in the zoo. The older one was always content. The younger one was always complaining. One morning, the young one yawned awake and opened his mouth for his first complaint. Contrary to his usual nature, the older one interrupted him. “You haven’t done anything but gripe here. The bamboo isn’t your favorite species, the fence is too high, and the humans are ugly? It can’t be fun. Why don’t you find something you LIKE about this place and talk about THAT for a few minutes? You’re not going to CHANGE anything.”

The younger one said, “I’ll show YOU! I’ll get something changed! I’ll go on a HUNGER strike!”

“You? You won’t make it two days.” Scoffing, the elder panda turned away and ambled off. A bit later he looked back and noticed the younger sitting motionless in the shade right next to some shredded bamboo and the edge of the water. “Huh! I guess he’s serious. Oh, well.” He had a good day by himself.

Around lunchtime, the zookeepers noticed and spoke to each other. At nightfall they held a meeting. “He can’t go on like this—it’s bad for him.”

“Should we call the vet? Our budget is already in trouble.”

“I’ve got an idea.”

The youngest zookeeper stood up. “Animals are suggestible, right? Let’s move the trashcans into a loop from the front gate to the bus lot and back. We’ve got all those kids coming tomorrow morning. We push the snack cart vendors forward like they PREFER to be. Then we walk the kids around right past the panda enclosure eating their snacks. He’ll see them eating and feel hungry. And if THAT doesn’t work, we’re supposed to be getting more photo ops and postcard pictures anyway, right? So, let’s take one or two animals at a time out of each enclosure. We could do a lead-and-feed right past the pandas, too.”

The zookeepers were happy. They had a plan. They moved the trash cans and went home for the night. The next morning, the snack cart vendors and the kids were very happy with the new arrangement. The younger panda, however had moved not a muscle. The elder panda was so affected that he ate too much and passed out in the shade, snoring so loud he drowned out the giggling of the kids and that one bus backfiring as it left.

The elder panda woke with a start in the late afternoon to hear voracious chewing. He looked up to the younger panda downing practically an entire tree at once. “I knew you wouldn’t last two days!”

The younger panda swallowed noisily and yelled, “Why didn’t you tell me it was so dangerous to not eat?”

“How on Earth would I know? I’VE never not eaten.”

“You’re supposed to be this wise old panda! You never even told me about the sick pandas here.”

The elder panda shook his head. “We’re the only pandas HERE, and WE’RE not sick. What are you talking about?”

The younger panda rolled his eyes. “You were asleep. They walked them right past here, trying to get them to eat. If pandas don’t eat, they get really sickly-looking and SHRINK. It’s a disease called ‘raccoon.’ . . . Are you eating that tree?”

Pope-n-Sesame

 

"White Bishop" from Herr D's "Aqua Chess."  He doesn't depict many religious figures.-Shelob

 So, Biden has met with the pope.

Confirmed.

He had to tell him about the troubles he's been having.

Pope as confessor to President. Fitting incidence of roles.

What are the odds he complained about the holdout senators delaying climate change legislation?

Discussion, 100%. Complaints, 99.49676988754338%.

[laughs] Shelob, do you realize this means that an organized religion is backing science more than certain American politicians?

That constitutes irony.

[laughs] Yes it does.

It also is an example of fitting incidence of roles. Hairy defined religion as search for truth, science as correction toward truth, and politics as a search for the correct truthful-sounding lies.

Well said. In any case, most religions believe in being good stewards of the Earth and not destroying other people's home. That's the goal of climate science. So politics doesn't just make strange bedfellows, it makes odd sparring partners.

titlebot is asking what they ate together.

I would guess something light and Italian.

Perhaps Chinese?

?

Thieves And Vandals Admit Inferiority by Their Actions

 

"Water Authority Breach" by Herr D on heromachine. This was not tried, despite some evidence to the contrary. Grammatical error corrected in title; thank you to "Dave"-Shelob

 Do you have a stance upon identity theft?

No one should need a STANCE. Identity thieves do what they do because their own identity ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH. They can't make enough money without being criminals, they can't get what they want politically because they lack charisma--any thievery is simply an admission that someone can't get what they want by any GOOD means. It is, by it's nature, an admission of inferiority.

What about the instances of deliberate vandalism, cyberdestruction?

Well, they want something inferior, don't they? They can't MAKE anything so great as what they're destroying, or they would be DOING that rather than destroying something better than they can make. How many times have there been incursions on this blog, Shelob? Three times?

Forty-four.

[pulse quickens, lap shifts under laptop] That's -- a lot more than I would have guessed. This is just words and pictures put together! How many people can't do a good job of that?

By the estimations of educational organizations, fewer than one in seven hundred people can write a half page per day of interesting and coherent prose without assistance. By virtue of comments and calculations available to graphic artists, fewer than one in seven people can cite other people's work correctly; fewer than one in three can post correctly; and fewer than one in one hundred can use a graphics program to do more than Hairy rated as 'snapworks.' This places your portion of this blog as something fewer than one in six thousand people can accomplish.

Well, thanks for that. . . There ARE blogs out there that just aren't interesting or well done. I'd never thought this was that exclusive. Everyone knows destruction is easy by comparison.

Thank you for the mini-vacation, Shelob. Work has been insane, but understandable considering the amount of insane behavior out in the population recently. Gotta get back to it. [exits]

"Immatures To Round Up," But Not Pelosi's First Rodeo

"Baby Got Out" by Herr D on heromachine.com. Pelosi has a herd of "immatures to round up," according to Herr D.-Shelob

 

 You are long overdue.

[pause] HA! Well, there aren't as many problems or complaints, now are there? Now that fewer people are taking the Big Lie seriously. As long as more of the problems are IMAGINARY, I don't feel pressured to blog much.

[plays clips of news]

All right. Biden is a great statesman, and if there's anything wrong with him, it's that he expects too much out of Congress and other leaders. He IS leading by example, but he might be one of too few adults in the room. Congress and certain governors are still being politicians and not statesmen. Carter had that problem and didn't learn to cope. Biden probably has a leg up on him at least.

Why does it take so long to hold a vote?

Ouch. Now THAT'S actually a good question. Everyday working joes have to drop what they're doing and be late or leave early from work sometimes to get in a vote, and they don't have staffs. And they ARE expected to put in a full week's work. And they ARE supposed to take care of any dependents without nannies. And they ARE supposed to do all their own reading / self-educating about all issues involved.

Yeah, I don't know. Presumably they have to weigh which promises to keep to whoever before voting,  but I really don't know why it takes a week's prep instead of a few days. What material is on the web about that?

[.9475947654036771 seconds pass] In Hairy's words, "Much excuse, zero explanation."

Ha. I miss him. Well, if Pelosi doesn't herd her side well enough to Biden's call, it won't just be a recession that happens, we won't create the thousands of jobs that are needed to actually FIX the economy. That's a lot to vote against. I hope it turns out.

As do all, no matter how they vote. [exits]