Year: 2018

I’m a big fan of “Designated Survivor.” In this season, President Kirkman has pretty much been going through hëll. The accidental death of his wife shattered him, and at the insistence of his staff, he wound up sitting down with a therapist and trying to piece his life back together. But it turns out that someone has obtained recordings of the sessions (it’s always recordings that screw presidents, isn’t it) and released them to the nation. Kirkman’s self-admitted mental difficulties have prompted the VP and his cabinet to implement the 25th amendment in order to relieve him of duty.

And I couldn’t help but think what a stark line has been driven between fact and fiction. Kirkman is victimized by some áššhølë who releases private moments and doubts, and his cabinet wants to push him out. Yet Trump’s private recordings get released, and he’s still elected president. While in office, he displays the clear attitudes and actions of someone who is not mentally fit to be president, and yet the VP and his own cabinet do nothing to challenge him. They look away or they look up their own áššëš and ignore him, giving him license to do whatever the hëll he wants even though it lowers the bar for what is considered acceptable behavior.

Continue Reading “Freak Out Friday – April 20, 2018” →

What the HÊLL is everybody bìŧçhìņg about?!?

I expected to go into the first episode and see a recreation of the horrific film from back in 1998, which I saw at a special screening with freaking Bill Mumy seated there. That was what I thought I would be getting based on a stream of lousy on-line reviews.

Jesus Christ, are they all nuts?

I’m one episode into it and I loved it.

I’m going to be binge watching this over the next few days and will do a Cowboy Pete over on my Patreon account. But my first impression was extremely positive.

More soon.

PAD

It’s Friday the 13th, so what could possibly go wrong?

For Trump, the answer is simple: Everything. In the past week, every single thing that could possibly have gone wrong for Trump has done so. It’s like he’s lived through a week of Murphy’s law, Word from insiders is that Trump is figuratively falling apart: lashing out at everyone, fuming incessantly, shouting, having fits. Remember that this is someone who is haunted by two things: the investigation into Russia, and his utter inability to handle criticism. This week has been a banner seven days for both.

Continue Reading “Freak Out Friday – April 13, 2018” →

As I said last week, I have been reading “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump,” in which 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts sound off on the case of the President.

Continue Reading “Freak Out Friday – April 6, 2018” →

I have produced a new novel which is an adventure of the classic hero, Zorro. Published later this year by Bold Venture Press (the current publishers of the many Zorro novels and short stories written by his creator, Johnston McCulley) the title of book will be “Zorro and the Little Devil.”

I will be writing more about this over on my Patreon account tomorrow.

PAD

I am currently attending the Indianapolis Comic Con, and I’m in a rare good mood. The fans are great, my books are selling. Everything is great, which means I’m in no spirit to do the mental tailspin I have to embrace when talking about Trump.

So I’m going to do something different this week. I’m going to recommend a book to you. It’s called “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.”

Now you must understand that modern psychiatry is bound by something called the Goldwater Rule. The requirement of this rule is that psychiatrists will not write psychological profiles of public figures if they had not had a chance to examine them personally.

Doctor Brandy Lee, the book’s editor, argues rather convincingly that psychiatrists have another duty that takes precedence: to warn the public when there is an individual whose actions and thinking provides–with all respect to Oliver Wendell Holmes–a clear and present danger. The psychiatrists who contributed to this book are convinced that Trump meets that criteria.

I am currently in the process of reading it, and it’s fascinating. When you or I claim that Trump is a dangerous narcissist, those are the opinions of laymen with some fundamental psychological knowledge garnered from reading. When psychiatrists are saying it, that gives the diagnosis far greater weight.

I will be writing a full review of this book by next Friday. I will then throw it open for discussion. If you want to join in, grab a copy and start reading. It will both fascinate and terrify you.

PAD

Rick Santorum, former presidential candidate and royal dickweed, had this to say during “State of the Nation,” a CNN program, about the kids protesting guns this past Saturday. Do not read this while drinking coffee since you will likely do a spit take:

“How about those kids, instead of looking to someone else to solve their problems, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations where there is a violent shooter and you can actually respond to that. They took action to ask someone to pass a law. They didn’t take action to say, ‘How do I as an individual deal with this problem? How am I gonna do something about stopping bullying in my community. What am I gonna do to actually help respond to a shooter.”

So basically, Rick Santorum, who used to be a senator, is flat out stating that expecting congress to make laws that ban certain weapons, increases the age where one can buy a gun, or demands far more stringent background checks before handing someone a weapon of death, is a waste of time. That the NRA has their nuts in such a collective stranglehold. that demanding something be done will accomplish nothing. Do not expect your representatives to represent you. Do not ask the lawmakers to make laws.

Instead the only thing you can do is accept that violence will be done to you at the will of shooters, and the ONLY thing you can do is learn CPR. Realize that the people in charge of passing laws for your protection are leaving you on your own.

What in God’s name does any of this have to do with bullying? The shooters aren’t bullies; they’re homicidal lunatics. Bullies harass you for your lunch money. If they’re shooting guns at you, then it’s an attempted murderer.

I mean, part of me thinks the kids may really be wasting their time because the NRA will never let anything be done to pull back America’s obsession with guns. But I support their “We’re not gonna take it” attitude. Plus let us not forget that many of them are going to be voting in 2020, and they are not going to forget how Trump and Santorum’s former colleagues left them hung out to dry while accepting donations and instructions from the NRA.

PAD