Because It’s Inauguration Day And I Just Can’t Even

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What song would your main character like to cover? What song would be the least appropriate for that character?

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Because It’s Inauguration Day And I Just Can’t Even

  1. Pete Laberge

    January 21, 2017 at 3:08pm

    @Marian Allen

    So, had your candidate won, would you want the other side to do this? Never mind, because in a few years it WILL Happen. And you will have showed them how. Sad. And not a good idea, in the perpetual tit-for-tat game that is USA politics….

    Same for the 8 years of obfuscation that plagued Obama. Now, that obfuscation was the “Black Fact of the USA”, and I can see, how that will NOW go this term. A 2 Senator majority, is hairline slim. The House gave the Republicans a 40 some seat majority. Comfortable. So they can enact, but maybe not pass legislation. Now, for the last 8 years, you could propose but not enact. Are you looking for a repeat of that?

    As a political scientist, let me tell you: A country cannot survive long under those circumstances. The budget fallouts alone, last time cost millions. And this time, I DO see repeats. And since the POTUS and his party do not always agree…. Veto votes!

    And the denials of the losing side, will not change 1 House Member, nor 1 Senator, not 1 bureaucrat, not one cabinet member, and not the POTUS. They did not last time. They likely will not next time. But each time, the country gets more and more issues, and less and less credibility in the world. Until, unable to support it’s own weight, like Rome, it falls. Actually, like Greece, too, for Greece fell because all the city states were disunited.

    Time to change the game, no?

    On the other hand, working WITH someone, and trying to influence them, sometimes give you part of what you want. You simply have to decide: Want you 1/2 a pie, or no pie? For clearly, you will not get the whole pie.

    The problem with protests and demonstrations, is that they have a bad habit of turning into riots. And riots consume resources and money at an awesome rate. Indeed, such things can destroy a country. (See Europe. Africa…)

    Although, as one of those people that lives outside the USA, I have to ask myself which I prefer…. A big USA, Bully, or a USA that has self destructed. Allow me to tell you, that outside the USA, one of those options is very tempting to wish for, and encourage. Well, I may remain semi-neutral, but I can tell you of many, that will not. You can worry about the Russians yes, but there are many others that will foment. Albeit, to the Russians, it would be mere paypack to the USA. Think about this. More history.

    So…. A reading of past history, might help. Having a number of people one way, yet with an opposite party in charge, is not new. It has happened before. Learn from it.

    The main problem with the USA, is that it only has 2 parties, and a sprinkling of independents. Most other countries have 3 or 4 parties. Some have up to 8, which is too many. But a good, solid 3rd party, would give people a choice. And they would not be forced between 2 equally awful options, as they were this time.

    NO, the election WAS the DNC’s and Hillary’s to lose. And they did an awesome job! In Spades, ALL ACES. Winning roughly 3 million popular votes in a country of 420 million is NOTHING. Do the math. And even if you consider that in “THE Democracy” (HAH!) only roughly 150 million voted… 3 million out of 150 million, is also a smattering. Depending on how you play the numbers you get 2%, maybe up to 3%. In other words: Within a margin of error!

    NO, on G+ a great discussion has been going on, trying to analyse why, what happened, happened. How could they miss 3 key states? How could they fail to know of the existence of the EC? How could they do this, and not do that? In a sense, your country may be very lucky that they failed. Such simple failures, makes one wonder how qualified they were to lead.

    But Hill-Bill did not “fail”. It has alway been about them, one reason Hillary has lost twice. They left with a jackpot of money out of this. All lovely tax free dollars. LOL!

    This was her second run. The first time she self-crowned herself for the party win against some “not bad looking, for a black man, guy”. He cleaned her clock. The second time, she went up against a silly old Jew. Well, here, she allowed others to make sure he would not win the nomination. Then they “guided” a bomb into the other party, to destroy 12 experienced, qualified candidates. They thought the bomb, would destroy the other party. Sadly, it self destructed in their face. A newbie, won not only the nomination, but the election.

    He is a stupid orange haired man, not educated, who wants to date his daughter, is too rich, would not share his tax returns, and tweets too much. (I think those are them main criticisms.)

    But he won. And he knew about the EC. So clearly he had good advisors, and being a newbie, he was not so stupid, as he listened to the advisors. He is 72, a billionaire, and has travelled the world, met all the movers and shakers (A 40 year family friend of the greatest people on Earth, a couple that never fail at anything, The Clintons!), so he has an education in the School of Life.

    He is rich. A lot of people in the USA are. They this control the political processus. Hill Bill are not exactly poor either. He started with 88 million, and turned it into billions, while wasting a billion or 2 along the way, on silly luxuries. Well, do the math: 88 million vs 3.5 billion (Forbes) that’s 002.5142%. So until you and I have than much money, calling him a failure, is not an option. And telling him he should have invested it in a mutual fund is silly. He tried to DO things with it. And it is HIS money, not yours. Besides: Google Robert Vesco, and Bernie Madeoff, and Prudential, who come to mind. George Lucas invested with Bernie M. He lost a mere 300 million dollars. NOT significant to him. Calling Trump LUCKY, however, IS appropriate. He has the luck of the Irish, the Scots, the Yankees, and the Devvil combined.

    His daughter? A date and a sex are not the same. Besides, do you know the family dynamics? Likely not. we do not know their private jokes, and such. Now, my dad and my sister dated all the time. With mother’s permission. My sister said the hour or 2 each Sat or Sun, are her fav memories. She would trade MUCH for one more hour. It affects her each time she eats a simple hot dog. I know a man who calls his son a certain name. But they love each other, work HARD and well together as a team, and run a huge farm. But they made it clear: The name is THEIRS. We are not to use it. And we respect that.

    As for his tax returns? They are under audit. I have worked in taxes. If he asked my advice, it would be not to release at all, and certainly NOT while under audit. But that is a separate essay. Let us just say, that if, for some salacious reason, the USAnians want to see the tax returns of their betters, and rulers, they will need to pass a law detailing the exact doing of that. Odd, that the then POTUS, was not able to hurry the audit along…. And neither the IRS, or the FBI, or the other bureaucracies that meddled in the election, have any idea when this audit may be complete. And apparently neither does he. Because the way he tweets, he would have told us all! Besides, what would you learn? Nothing. All you would see, are information slips, and summary statements from private corporations. And there is where the meat is. And you will never see their financial statements.

    No, looking at things, I wonder, if a fail, a loss, for the DNC was not engineered. NOT by Trump. (Recall he is too stupid, ignorant, and incompetent.) But, maybe this was engineered by others! Think about that one very carefully.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      January 21, 2017 at 3:26pm

      Your essays always give me a lot to think about, but they’re usually a mix of good points, odd points, and accusations of my thinking/doing/claiming things I don’t think/do/claim. But I’ll pick this one over, as I do all your essays, and think about all your points. And I absolutely agree with a great deal of what you say here.

      One thing I must cut from the herd and address, though: Yes, absolutely the people who disagreed with Obama’s policies were entitled and obligated by their patriotism to protest them. All Americans are obligated to be as informed as possible (as possible!) and to try to influence legislation in a way they honestly believe to be most beneficial to their country.

      Oh, I tell a lie, there’s one other thing: Mr. Trump is not my better nor my ruler. He is my fellow citizen and an elected official.

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      • Pete Laberge

        January 21, 2017 at 4:11pm

        Oh, I do NOT accuse YOU, Yourself, and Thee, per se. I accuse one side or the other. Hence I warn you to be choosy who you cast your lots with. But then, I am a paranoid….

        Pick it over. I guarantee you will find errors, being human, I always toss one or 2 in! If I were a cat, like my former Sweedie, or current Buddy, I COULD claim perfection. And you will likely find points of agreement or contention. That is not always by plan, but I try, sometimes. I was taught to write that way, but sometimes I fail. I have PLENTY of experience there!

        Now, having the right to protest, does not mean you must. There are those who will protest everything,and anything, just to protest. Sometimes if you protest action “A”, you should say “We would prefer option B, but would compromise with C.

        But the odds that ANY POTUS will be looking at this, are slim. So you need a plan B, and maybe a C and D.

        B: Letters to the editors (newspapers, magazines, so on.) , petitions, letters to the POTUS, letters and petitions to various representatives. Etc. A letter should alway include a pro point: I like what you did here, a con point: WHY did you do this, and a favour or suggestion: Don’t you think this would be a good idea.

        The trouble with protests is that they can attract the wrong kind of attention. And as I noted, they have a bad habit of turning into riots, where people burn down their cities. A peaceful, well organized thing, that chants a slogan that requests something, is more successful.

        I saw a number of protests during the last 8 years. What got to me was that they were rarely Whites protesting a Black POTUS. They were often Blacks, protesting the system. And there were always agitators, there to MAKE trouble. One must beware of these people. Burning down your city, brings you nothing but ashes.

        RE: “Oh, I tell a lie, there’s one other thing: Mr. Trump is not my better nor my ruler. He is my fellow citizen and an elected official.”

        Well, tell THAT, to him and Hillary! And a host of other movers and shakers. Sorry, but that is the way of things. World wide.

        But hang in there. Try to act SAFELY, and WISELY. Try to be effective.

        And note that the ballot box, in 2 years will be a major opportunity. You only need 4 senators. Albeit, that only gums up the works, and makes little progress. The problem last time, was that a POTUS, never initiates legislation. He has to have someone do that for him. And last time, anything that was initiated, whether good or bad, was tossed out, refused, etc. So one must be willing to broker deals and compromises. In the last Congress, no one seemed to be able to do that. And the POTUS was not an arm twister. WATCH OUT: The current guy, he knows how to twist arms — just give him 1/2 a chance….. Take notes from the past, when people like LBJ (for all his faults) were able to broker things. And so on. This essay is not a history course!

        The House will be harder. The elections are not for 4 years. And 40 some members will be needed. say 55 to be safe. Of course, in between now and then, Senators and House members have the Bad(?) / Good(?) habit of dying, resigning, moving on to other jobs, going down in a scandal, and so forth…. Such opportunities will be rare. But they will be there. And they will send a message to Washington as a whole.

        Electing people from your party (likely the democrats), would send a message. But if you could (as a nation) send a few independents, THAT would also send a message. The problem is finding, and running the candidates. Another tough task. Far harder than demonstrations. Organization, long term, and careful, will be needed. I wish you the best of luck. Tho, as I pointed out, I often wonder if, as an outsider, I should do that. I ponder.

        But for YOU, Yourself, and Thee…. (As opposed to ME, Myself, and I!) Take care, and LLAP!

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  2. Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

    January 21, 2017 at 12:02am

    Watched the video – the guys version. Didn’t realize until lower that it was a Lady Gaga cover. I don’t listen to much popular music because I need quiet to write, but the boys were hilarious. And cute. In a puppy kind of way. You have to admire young men willing to do stuff like that in public!

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    • Pete Laberge

      January 21, 2017 at 12:40am

      @Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

      Not only that, but they are doing a VERY good job of it.
      I think they just defined the word “Guts’!!!

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      January 21, 2017 at 11:44am

      I loved their lack of costume. Choreography in flip-flops is just funnier, somehow.

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  3. Pete Laberge

    January 20, 2017 at 7:24pm

    Wonderful Video! THANKS!
    So! What an awesome rendition, including incredible gesture mimicking. Awesome, Choreography!
    Almost as good as GAGA. But then, WHO could beat Gaga?

    However, your rather peculiar system had an election, and produced a leader. In civilized countries the rule/custom is: You accept the results of the election (a temporary thing) and you move on. Next time, you will win. (And if you look at history, this is quite possible.)

    I am reminded of Prof Dave Consiglio on Quora: In Nov or Dec, he wrote: “The Assignment is due in 2 years.” I added: “The Final Exam is in 4 years.”

    There is another version to this awesome song. (One of the greatest tunes ever. Albeit some of the lyrics are a bit off, and if you ever saw Gaga’s video, it is disgusting.)

    This version is an educational music video:
    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXsZbkt0yqo?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent&w=1200&h=675]

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      January 21, 2017 at 11:43am

      “In civilized countries the rule/custom is: You accept the results of the election (a temporary thing) and you move on.” When the person elected doesn’t represent the policies or values you feel are best for your country, moving on consists of protesting the policies and values you think are wrong. That’s how democracy works. That said, I’m not one of the Not My President, Resist Trump folks, like Democratic Mitch McConnells. It’s embarrassing to have America represented by such a flamboyantly flawed and (to me) repellent human being, but I’m going to resist and protest policy on a case-by-case basis.

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  4. Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

    January 20, 2017 at 5:14pm

    Actually the first day in forever my brain has been on, even for a bit, so working on a cover for my short story Too Late.

    So many things I don’t know about manipulating graphics!

    And my new assistant, who knows all these things, is out for months – gastritis – and I don’t know if I’ll get her back.

    At least I’m mostly not coughing, and the steroids are on their way out (though I think they may still be messing with my mind).

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      January 20, 2017 at 6:46pm

      Glad you’re feeling better! Best wishes for your assistant’s quick recovery, too. 🙂

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  5. Jane

    January 20, 2017 at 10:14am

    Best recommend evah!

    These guys are my new heroes!

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  6. Joey

    January 20, 2017 at 9:27am

    That was an interesting cover…
    I can’t even, either. Wearing black today, watching no tv, avoiding FB, goin to work — and then date night. If the world ends tomorrow, at least I will have had date night.

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