North Texas is bracing for a monster icy blast like that Deep Freeze we had five years ago. WFAA in Dallas reports:
Last time, all the state agencies assured us that everything would be fine. Instead, there were massive power failures statewide, and hundreds of people died from exposure. The Governor put all the blame on solar panels and wind turbines. Seriously. Now the same agencies and the same governor are saying once again that all will be well - we've got it covered - don't worry, be happy.
M.P. and I are stocking up on groceries, candles, and brandy, and crossing all our fingers.
P. S. -- That craven skunk Ted Cruz has already jetted off to California - a sure sign that we're gonna get walloped.
Bizarro Land: The American president just threatened to make war on Europe - our own allies - because he didn't get the Nobel Peace Prize. I wish this were the premise of a Saturday Night Live skit - but it's not.
France 24 reports:
Secretary Pete says we don't have to accep this craziness:
Danish comedian Huxi Bach wants to speak to the manager:
Bach says we have always bragged about the checks and balances in our system, and it's true they have worked well for a long time. But what he and all of Europe need to understand is that the USA they knew and admired no longer exists, except on paper. It was the victim of a hostile takeover last year, which is still d/b/a (doing business as) the USA - but in name only. The Congress, which can indeed "fire the president," is populated with a majority of supine sycophants who are only too glad to shirk their duties and let the infantile CEO run wild. They are enablers of all the craziness, and will continue to be unless and until the voters turn them out.
But will they? Can they? I'd be deeply saddened, though not at all surprised, if there were no more elections in my lifetime - real elections, not phony ones. For anyone who's read history, the present state of affairs in America has a familiar ring. The august Senate of Rome, proud guardians of their republican traditions, all acquiesced meekly (with financial advantage) to the supremacy of the Caesars when the imperial government began, and though they continued to meet and debate with all due decorum for several more centuries, they were just a rubber stamp for whoever sat on the imperial throne.
Likewise in Germany when the Nazis came to power. Hitler expelled all the other parties from the Reichstag, and thereafter did as he pleased, with the Nazi members of the legislature gladly doing his bidding as required. It's important to remember that dictators, as a general rule, like to maintain the trappings of law and legitimacy - then they can say, "See? I'm only doing what I was supposed to do." This sort of don't-blame-me charade has occurred many times in many lands, all over the world.
But as Europeans should remember, once Hitler came to power, he kept making incessant, outrageous demands on all his neighbors, blaming them for "provoking" confrontations, and demanding more territory for national security and industrial expansion. And constantly spouting one outrageous lie after another. But the Europeans were afraid of him, and didn't want to get into another catastrophic war, so they kept timidly backing away from the fight, doing all they could to make nice and appease the insatiable dictator - who could never be appeased enough. We all know where that led.
I have no diplomatic expertise, so I can't say what Europe should or could do if push came to shove in Greenland or anywhere else. But what I feel sure of is that if they cave in to this outrageous demand, there will quickly be another one, and another, and another, until Europe is overwhelmed and fragmented and prostrate beneath the heels of the billionaire cronies of the Emperor of the West.
The only thing a bully of any age understands, and grudgingly respects, is a swift punch in the nose! Enuf said.
Bonus: Here is Franklin D. Roosevelt in early 1944, speaking as an American president ought always to speak:
"The doctrine that the strong shall dominate the weak is the doctrine of our enemies, and we reject it."
As a youngster, your Head Trucker was fortunate enough to travel many times on some of the fine old streamliners before passenger service was all given over to Amtrak. Here is a classic film, intended for showing in elementary schools, about the complex operations of the railroads before passenger trains were done in by airlines and Interstates. Notice the colorful paint jobs of the sleek diesels that were rapidly putting steam locomotives out of business. Note also the beauty and the optimism of an America that is now long gone.
But this happy picture was not to last - for the times are always a-changing in human life. Who could have believed that in the next decade, Carol and Jimmy would grow up to despise the neat, tree-lined neighborhood they grew up in, denounce their parents as capitalist pigs, and demand to overthrow the Establishment and smash the system to pieces? Where are they now, I wonder?
Police state? Evil empire? Amerika? Or just a horrible dream?
My heart is heavy with grief at all that is happening in our country and being done by our country in other lands. We have come to the darkest chapter in our national history - and I fear that things will get very much worse before they get better. I am too old and weary to make a difference; all I can do is offer a song of hope and inspiration - a little candle in a deepening night.
David Archuleta sings the well-known hymn to the tune of Finlandia by Sibelius. There are other, secular lyrics which do not come to hand at the moment.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, harmony; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may seek not so much to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
and welcome to the Blue Truck, a blog for mature gay men with news and views on gay rights, history, art, humor, and whatever comes to mind. Plus a few hot men. The truck's all washed and gassed up, so hop in buddy, let's go.
CAUTION: For mature gay men only beyond this point. Some posts and links may not be suitable for children or the unco guid. You have been warned.
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My Story
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Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?
It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race-infected society.
If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God.
