it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. — Charles Darwin The Descent of Man
By Blue Bronc, a Trail Mix Contributor
During these days, as we start week eleven (or is it fifty), we must endure more going on in a day than took place in a year of the Obama administration. Rumour, innuendo, facts, false facts and a septic tank full of Russian spies are just what we have to ingest by lunch. After the White House press briefing all the real reporters need to spend four more hours trying to unwind the spin and present something reasonable a typical American might understand.
This is much faster than what we had to put up with under Nixon. The vote-loser sitting in the White House, when he is not golfing, is out-lying the previous winner of lies. Nixon lasted more than one term. Odds makers are starting to shorten the time for the guy with a dead orange rat on his head.
What can we do? Besides #resist? Other than read up on the Soviet/Russian KGB/SVR/FSB/GRU attacks on the world and America? Instead of lying awake at night in fear of being deported?
Cutting the cable is more survival than saving a hundred dollars a month. Putting timers on the television so the power is off during news hours will save replacing broken televisions. Renewing your Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Sling and whatever else streaming video is very good, and will make them more profitable, plus you can watch almost anything you want, besides the news.
Books can help. DVD’s really are good because you have no chance of watching or listening to the news. Vinyl records present great (or bad) music, plus the challenge of storing and cataloging them. Going for walks and playing with squirrels puts you in touch with nature.
Avoid stress eating. And, especially do not get sucked into drinking games based on stupid rantings of a loon.
There is much to do that will help reduce anxiety and fear. Increase your freedom and happiness. It just takes a little will power.
More Posts by Blue Bronc
or spend the evening laughing at it
https://youtu.be/fyD_n_H6OnQ
Better to appear right than be right I suppose. No, I really don’t.
if all else fails according to john oliver in above vid starting at 25.5 minutes in “just add zebras” to make things more palatable.
and as earlier reported in this ny daily news story: SEE IT: John Oliver encourages viewers to add zebras to Donald Trump news footage
LA TIMES Editorial Part II – Why Trump Lies
So true, BB, i am just watching this spectacle for the Dumbed Down reality show it is. Sad to see our presidency turned into this but might as well laugh instead of cry.
BlueB… I’m with you. I stopped watching cable news a couple years ago and feel better for it. I don’t watch the Sunday morning shows either. It’s easy for me now that Craig no longer appears on any shows. I did watch a bit when we were on vacation in a ski condo last month… they all repeated themselves over and over and over again. I got bored.
However… I am on the last chapters of Orwell’s 1984… reading it for my book club this coming Wednesday. So what else can I say except….
WAR IS PEACE… FREEDOM IS SLAVERY… IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. Ya got that… comrade.
Excellent post BB
saving your own sanity is most important
I tried all those things, BB, but I am concerned that I might miss something having to do with my very existence. All I have to do is let just one thought pop into my head and I am hooked all over again: the Orange Man has the nuclear codes! So, I tune in for several hours to keep up on The Donald Show, not the news, per se, as what used to be considered the news has been pretty much squeezed out. Ah, there is tonight’s Final Four!
This would be why I drown myself in sports. I’m following the spring college seasons more closely than I ever have before…baseball, softball, lacrosse. Of course I always follow college basketball. But I’ve also got pro soccer and bicycle racing. And it’s MLB Opening Day today!
Sports is my refuge. I record Rachel and Lawrence, but that’s about it for TV commentary. I keep up with stuff here – thanks Craig – and at TPM, Daily Kos, and Mother Jones. That’s all I can handle. And when I find that I’m no longer laughing at the buffoonery coming from DC, I turn it all off and find a game.
It’s Spring for sure here and gardening time
we are also avoiding the news although we do watch Joy Reid whenever she is on I find Rachel Maddow unwatchable there is about five minutes worth of news and the rest if all lead-in and paper shuffling. The five minutes in always good just not worth the 25 minutes of lead-in.
Sorry that i did not say hello properly the other day…so Helloooo to all.
E Profesor…..you have to take a little time away from all things……….The reason that i have been gone for a few months now….is that i had so much noise internally that i could hardly shut down, even to sleep.
There is always so much going on in our lives that we forget to take some Silent down time for our selves …..i had a voice talking to me from each one of the 13 parallel universes and they were talking all at once…and to make it worse…i was talking back to them all at once……
I shut down most everything…no tv, no news (i havent watched cable news for about 7 years now) no radio…;nada…just me and my wife…….and i explained to her that i would not be very active for a while…she saw “it coming” she said…….so i kept to myself, read, and mostly tried to recover a silent mind……”to the silent mind the universe surrenders”……….it took a while but im all recharged now….and wont let it get so bad again.
While in this……….retreat…sorta….i even went (cpl of times) 5 days of total silence….ive done it before…but i was not so easy this time….i was a mess……..even my ti chi and meditation did not do me all that well……but it along with my other exercises…..little change of diet…and after drinking some outstanding teas……..im as good as old now…………so Hi Ya ………..
……did catch up on some of the news in the last cpl of days…….Amazing……this potus…..i dont know what to think….cept that this potus…..does not know that his scam worked…and that he can wake up now……cheney bush bled us dry…….this nut job will also……but i cant figure out if his hatred of others ….are his own……or his religion…..or if he is part of some organization (kkk) that has infiltrated the white house….or ??? one thinkkkk i know for sure…..hes one stupid f….k…….
cpl of thoughts …….has the dnc, the clintons. taken responsibility yet….they were the ones in charge….when i had my construction corp…..all mistakes where laid out on my table…i ran the show…and no one else….
About this special committee to investigate the Russia connection……..some one broke the rules….why did not the Democrats just replace the one braking the rules……..just install announce that he was kick out….and was replaced by another dem………..Pelosi i weak…time to let her go….
Last one………Obama had the nsa, fbi, cia, home land sec……he had to know what was going on wtih Russia…..he just let it happen…….once again proven that he was just a nothing but a “present” potus…..what he did accomplish….well he had to accomplish somethings……he had 8 years to do great things….a majority in both houses……and he and pelosi lost it all……….so i will be looking to see if any one takes responsibility………if not…..just blame us folks that were not swayed by the clintons once again…….us indies dont count anyway…until we do……Us indies feel like:
Forgot who said something like this:
Once a year she remembers that she insignificant. Then she forgets again, b/c more than she is insignificant….she is forgetful………..later out for my daily ti chi
Well, I watch so you won’t have to. 🙂 🙁
Solar, while you may believe it’s time for Pelosi to go – and it may be – neither she nor the dems can do anything about the twerp Nunes – So long as the speaker has an R after his name when he’s on tv, dems can’t do anything that I’m aware of to change a committee chair.
BTW, glad to see you back kimo sabe.
Pogo…..i know….but the ds need to grow some hair down there……..just make a big fuss about it…..name some one that drives them, the rs nuts to replace none, yeah i would call him none…and have some fun with it……matter of fact……that would be a great way to communitcate things with the votes…..make some snl sits right from the halls of our government building……as long as were are in for a wild ride….lets get the roller coasters up high on the rails……and let er rip…….ok out the door…..later
Pussy Grabber’s Foreign Policy “We don’t need no stinkin’ human rights.”
I think he means that for domestic policy too.
BB: Great post! I do all of the above. Actually haven’t had cable for years but I still have access to more news than I could ever need (or want) to see. Since I went into the graphic design biz I now also have hours every day to devote to designing and I literally can get lost in it and not think about politics at all! Also, worth repeating, thank God for baseball, starting in less than an hour I’ll have 162 glorious days (plus post season of course) of viewing pleasure. My concerns currently are that ‘donnie and the lowlifes’ now includes security clearances for his daughter & son in law and they are in charge of high level stuff including meeting with foreign leaders! How do I ignore that totally inappropriate people are in charge of my future? And since this week we’re looking at the leader of the band meeting with the President of China and currently still making threats to N Korea, I’m not very hopeful about that future. #1 son and I were joking about enjoying our last week before WWIII but it’s not really funny 🙁
See you all after the game :):D:)
Solar, Schiff’s doing a pretty good job of making Nunes look like a putz.
It’s good to see that nunes and Schiff co-operating on making nunes look like a putz.
Mr eProf2,
Please don’t worry about the deadbeat witch and the (thermo)nuclear codes. H-bombs destroy valuable real estate and kill potential buyers and golfers, and he knows that. The real problem is that bannonov might learn the codes. That guy has stated in interviews that he wants to destroy everything. Of course, the orange groper knows that too.
A wonderful way to start the week: Mr. Solar is in the building.
A day without Solar (and cilantro) is like a day without sunshine.
“I find Rachel Maddow unwatchable.”
Truer words never spoken, Ms. Graham Cracker. I am totally flummoxed how anyone can tolerate her, especially considering how she has treated Mr. Olbermann after all he did for her career. Heck, she would be just another msnbc failure without his kindness & generosity.
Mr. Olbermann never forgets & acknowledges those who helped him along the way. And Maddow … never forgets who signs her paycheck. He could exist nicely without ever having her in his career timeline. She owes her present position to him: he brought her back after msnbc gave her the boot. Interesting insight into character, integrity between the two.
solar: Agree on the time off. We are planning some rv trips with the grand kids to Utah and the National Parks. That automatically shuts down a lot of the noise. Kids use the broadband for games and we go without.
xRep: I think I included Bannon in the Orange Man’s possible use of nuclear weapons. Just how insane is this that we now trust the Generals more than the civilians in almost all matters. Dr. Strangelove is must repeat along with 1984.
Now, let’s get back on to Traitor Gate.
Mr eProf2, Yes, agreed. I just doubt that the deadbeat groper or the Colonel with the Football would allow bannon to gain access to nukes. Also, I just saw Dr Strangelove again for the umpteenth time. Having seen the behaviors of general patraeus, sanchez, and flynn, and remembering the behaviors of generals macarthur, westmoreland, abrams, and walker in my youth, I can’t see any reason to trust generals more than pols and academics.
However, I also remember The Best and the Brightest.
Back to Traitor Gate.
eprof & xr, one could also term it traitor “gait” considering the speed the stumblebum is slouching toward bedlam.
Will the Senate Majority leadership convince the R’s to follow the r’s and destroy the sixty vote limit for SCoUS candidates? I tend to think ‘yes’, but there is the possibility McCain will take over and prevent the r’s from nuking the Senate.
Opening day for the Nat’s and the O’s. Opening day means a lot. Looking back to my wonderfully geeky youth, before geek was even a word, I did like baseball as a sport. That was before free agency and multi-million dollar contracts. The players were middle class, and many held jobs off season. In my neighborhood were NFL and MLB players. The world has changed so much.
BB, never thought I’d see the day when I hoped McCain would save the Senate.
Brother of Sec of Ed, Betsy DeVos is a real piece of work and now another thread in the Russian weaving.
y
Blackwater founder held secret Seychelles meeting to establish Trump-Putin back channel
Jamie, and the drip goes on….
don’t see how this from that story can be ignored (being that it’s thought to be part of the fbi package) by the investigating committees:
The meeting took place around Jan. 11 — nine days before Trump’s inauguration — in the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean, officials said. Though the full agenda remains unclear, the UAE agreed to broker the meeting in part to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, including in Syria, a Trump administration objective that would likely require major concessions to Moscow on U.S. sanctions.
It would be nice if there were more people who realized that the Twumpists were fully capable of vandalizing their own golf courses for the desired effect.
a new age, ladies and Germans…….
Xrep – I wonder if Trump does know that BananaNazi is using him as a “blunt instrument,” or not? That is how BananaNazi stated his use of Trump & sounded doubtful that Cheeto understood; his ego obscures a lot.
One can only hope that those things growing on BananaNazi’s head take him off the job. (He really should get those things checked out.)
patD – Gator-gate?
Yes, Ms Dallas !
And, it would be extremely useful to define their relationship. Is it commensal, symbiotic, or parasitic ? I’m figuring door #3, as was it was with morris & bill Clinton. If it’s the middle door, as it was with the tsarina and rasputin, someone will have to be incapacitated to cure the disease. Federal prison may not be radical enough to do the job. My Q is whether or not jared is up to stuffing steve under the ice. I figure, steve is carrying exotic weaponry hidden beneath his jowls, love handles, and paunch. What has jared to match ? Use of ivanka as a human shield ?
With this dynasty, one has to think like a russhin dictator in order to make sense of it all. I confess, even in my most imaginatively bloodthirsty moments I still can’t absorb the great russian ‘soul’.
Great Gate, Grate Gate
Book Titles
Noisily Flows Our don
War and Price
putin and Prejudice
Putiny on Our Bounty
The Confidence Men
Of Moles and Men
Toker, Toiler, Doctor, Swine
Ha! That reminds me of something my poli-sci prof said. Something-or-other flowing as slowly as a pice of sh|+ down the River Don. Wish I could remember the context. I should’ve paid attention.
War & War
I get the feeling BananaNazi would like to employ the cult-leader tactic of removing Ivanka from Trump’s life, but she probably comes in useful at times.
Could jerr-ed be deep undercover on the rusky side or is he just a well-connected 1%-er?
I hate waiting through all the pre-game. Finally they are about to tip off. Go Zags!
I cannot describe the depth of my dislike of Roy Williams and North Carolina.
Great season for Gonzaga. Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in coming up short in the title game.
What an embarrassing victory for North Carolina. They were awful. This game was a battle of the least worst until the clock ran out and somebody had to win, hardly championship basketball.