"Nothing to See Here, Folks!" President's Empty and Poorly Executed Speech


  DT's 9 PM speech on 1/8/2019 really conveyed nothing worthy of note, except that he relented a teeny-tiny bit on his demand for a wall, suggesting that he would settle for something like a steel-slatted fence instead. Big Deal! There was really nothing new expressed, just a reiteration of some of the shopworn fabricated facts and scare tactics about immigrants that he's been using since he declared his presidential candidacy.  Whoever wrote the speech for 45 slyly peppered the text with a few out-of-character words like "heart," "soul," "humanitarian,"...and what was that other one? Oh, yes! "Sacred." Of course, this was calculated to create the illusion that this man is capable of normal, instinctual altruistic feelings for others, including those more vulnerable than himself. But somehow I don't think anyone was fooled by it!

Toward the end of the performance, the speaker seemed to be building up an inner font of rage at being subject to the obvious constraints inhibiting his usual wish to "tell it like it is."  That stress and hostility expressed itself in pursing of lips and added angry emphasis placed upon certain words. While children are dying at the border, government employees are longing for a paycheck, and our nation's poor are starving and suffering as always, this was a waste of a great deal of time and money. Let's see if he runs off now to some big, hateful rally to recover his self-regard by re-connecting with his adoring"base" and letting off the pressure that resulted from having to spend nine minutes pretending to be a sane and competent person.

The Island's Condition: Critical!

More and more health experts are expressing concern about the dire situation facing medically vulnerable residents of Puerto Rico, especially those who live in remote areas.  As I read of many preventable deaths and yet see the official death toll stuck at the number where it's been for the past week I have to wonder if some kind of statistical cover-up is going on.  What counts as a "death" caused by Hurricane Maria?  Only that of someone who has drowned or been hit by a falling tree?  Or the many others that are taking place as the "ripple effect" of the natural disaster spreads throughout the island and morphs into other forms for man-made reasons?

This is beginning to look like something that I would venture to call genocidal.  It's time to call 45 out for what he is--a hater of Latinos!  And now in this new bad hombre Miller, he's apparently adding another anti-Latin racist to his circle of toadies.  And mocking a Spanish accent--how low can you get?

 I'm curious to watch how Big Brother reacts to the exodus of Puerto Rican islanders to the mainland, which is already taking place.  I think that to a moronic mind this may look a lot like the stream of "illegal" Mexicans and Central Americans "pouring across" "our" southern US border.  The only problem with that perception is that these arrivals are American citizens who are free to travel wherever they like within their nation!  But I'm sure that won't stop the forces of evil from trying to come up with some form of deterrence to stem the migration.  Especially when it starts to dawn on them that the former island-dwellers CAN vote in national elections as soon as they establish residency in one of the mainland states!

Another interesting situation that's emerging is that since Puerto Rico is the site of large scale manufacture of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, mainland hospitals are beginning to feel the impact of that industry being largely shut down in the territory.  When "real" Americans see THEIR OWN health care status threatened, maybe there will be more interest in sending effective help to Borinquen!


Please go to this link to read about the background and context of the current crisis in Puerto Rico.


                                                    https://shar.es/1VMkEZ

                                                                       

November 21st

Ya Basta With This Incorrect Use of "Politically Correct!"

Today I'll take on one of the minor things that annoys me about the political shift that's recently taken place in our country--the persistent misuse of the term "politically correct." (Accusing my family and ancestors of being rapists and drug dealers, not gonna go there--at least not today!)

"Politically correct" seems to have become a buzz word for the alt right, or more specifically, a buzz phrase, since it consists of two words. I don't know the origins of the original expression and don't care to research it (anybody?) but I think it's a phenomenon that began in the academic world when the lives and experiences of people other than white hetero males came to be considered legitimate fields of study, as they are and should be.  New, non-offensive expressions were developed  to describe and talk about Blacks, Mexicans, immigrants, homosexuals, etc. True, this new terminology occasionally had a sanitized, neologistic quality that was sometimes annoying to language geeks like this blogger, but the upshot of it all was that there were new ways to talk and write about Other people that would not be insensitive or hurtful; or that might even be based on those people's own cultural preferences or sense of self-determination! And who can argue with that?  (Apparently, now, lots of people!)

Well, the folks who didn't like this new PC language were so oppressed by it, so victimized and even discriminated against  that they reached the point where they just couldn't take it anymore and were inspired by their profoundly wise Fearless Leader to liberate themselves,  to declare their independence from it!

 Like most buzz jargon the new "politically correct" is like a rock that conceals beneath it a myriad of creepy and slimy things that would perish if they were ever exposed to the light of day. These include things like ignorance, hatefulness, and the wish to change, control, or even exterminate the groups of people once referred to by the now outdated PC terminology.  Now at last people are free to be "honest;" to "tell it like it is" or " say what's on their minds!" (Minds?) The small-minded and entitled can finally reclaim their place of privilege in the renewed "greatness" of American society--to the extent, of course, that we still have one.

Yes, language is powerful, but let's call a spade a spade.  "Political Correctness"  has become nothing more than a code term for the civility, compassion, and concern for human dignity that once operated as a deterrent to hate speech, and the vile hatred it expresses.

Emily Peña Murphey