Tag: Donald Trump

Red alert! We have a government shutdown!

The U.S. Senate could not come to one of its 60-40 agreements late last night so that means our government has shut it down. The House passed a four-week spending bill. The Senate could not/would not do something similar. The Democrats wanted something in the spending bill, any spending bill, that would protect Dreamers, the people brought to this country illegally as children and who under the Obama Administration were protected by DACA.

People are now looking at who to blame, Democrats or Republicans. I blame the Republicans. They control the White House. They control both houses of Congress. I think this is the first government shutdown in my life where one political party controlled both houses of Congress and the White House and yet the government was shut down.

Congratulations Republicans.

The onus is on Republicans to get an agreement worked out. Like it says in the Bible or the pages of Spider-Man, with great power, there must also come great responsibility.

Red alert! We have a government shutdown! - Bent Corner

I agree with the Democrats that the Dreamers need to be protected. These people did nothing wrong. Their parents or the people who brought them here illegally did something wrong, but they didn’t. Something needs to be worked out that will stop Dreamers from being sent back to countries many of them don’t even remember ever living in.

DACA needs to be fixed. It’s not a Democratic issue, it’s not a Republican issue, it’s an American issue. DACA need to be extended and the people protected need a pathway to citizenship.

These government shutdowns are always a joke. The mail still gets delivered. Social Security checks still go out. The military still gets paid.

National Parks are usually closed, but who really cares about that? These shutdowns are always telegraphed well ahead of time. When it’s about to happen, how about you keep your family out of Yosemite? Chances are everyone would have come down with Lyme disease or someone would have been eaten by a bear. That’s the kind of stuff that happens all the time at National Parks.

Government workers are furloughed, but when the shut down ends, they get paid retroactively for work they did not do. They still will get paid.

Money for nothin’ and chicks for free. I think that’s from the Bible too. Or Spider-Man.

How Trump apologists are spinning what he said

Just when I thought Donald Trump finally dug himself into a racist hole with his golden racist shovel that even he cannot get out of, his supporters have begun trying to give the man a hand by obfuscating and conflating what he said.

For the record this is what Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States said when discussing immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries:

Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?

He was not referring to the countries. He was referring to the people, or as Trump said, these people.

Last night I was perusing Twitter as I often do on a Friday night and I read this Tweet written by the proprietor of Diversity & Comics, one of my favorite comic-related YouTube channels.

Richard, the man who produces Diversity & Comics, is a Republican. That’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with being a Republican. Close to half my fellow Americans are Republicans.

I guess I can understand why Richard would want to provide cover for his guy, Donald J. Trump. I just think he’s wrong. Dead wrong. He’s conflating what Trump said. Trump was speaking about “these people” not the countries they are immigrating from.

It doesn’t even make sense. Why would we even want people from non-shithole countries to immigrate here? Would they appreciate our country, its values, and the opportunities it affords if it was not as good as the country they came from?

Remember, Trump, suggested the United States should instead bring more people from countries like Norway here than from any of the so-called shithole countries. How would that even work? Can you imagine how unhappy someone from Norway would be to come here only to find out they would be required to pay for their own healthcare and education?

A robust public transportation system? A higher per capita income? These lily-white Norweigan immigrants can forget all about that.

I’m done with President Donald Trump

The proof is in. Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States is a racist lunatic.

From the Washington Post:

President Trump grew frustrated with lawmakers Thursday in the Oval Office when they discussed protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, according to several people briefed on the meeting.

“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to these people, referring to countries mentioned by the lawmakers.

Trump then suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries such as Norway, whose prime minister he met with Wednesday.

When you complain too many people from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries are immigrating here and not enough people from Norway are, you’re racist. When you refer to the countries Haitians, El Salvadorans, and Africans immigrate from as “shitholes” you’re racist.

I recently spent nearly ten days in the Meritus Medical Center, most of that time in intensive care. I was treated for a lower G.I. blockage and diabetic ketoacidosis. I could have died.

The care I received from the nursing staff at Meritus Medical Center was the greatest in the world. I exaggerate not. The nurses who treated me were the best in the world. They treated me like I was the best in the world.

I’m the type of person who sometimes finds it easy to see even the slightest amount of fault in things. This is not true when it comes to my nursing staff at Meritus Medical Center.

With that said, I’m pretty sure none of them immigrated here from Norway. I’m also pretty sure not all of them came from descendants who set foot on Plymouth Rock. Could some of them have come here from some of President Trump’s “shithole” countries? Maybe. To me, they will never be people from shithole countries.

They will always be my heroes.

I like to say that I never allow myself to become offended by the words of others. That was not true yesterday. When President Trump said offended me to my core.

I hate Donald Trump. Even though I didn’t vote for him, I was more than ready to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he did a good job for the sake of our country. I have now reached my limit with this mental baboon. I will now do whatever I need to do to make this man a one-term president. I will register as a Democrat. I will register as a Republican. I will do whatever is within my power to get rid of this racist man from the Oval Office.

I now have a quest and that quest is to get Donald Trump replaced.

If Dan Slott were a plumber

Dan Slott posted something on Twitter I thought was interesting. He said his Twitter account is his personal account, that’s why he uses it to post about politics and other divisive issues.

Dan Slott blocked me on Twitter for following Diversity & Comics. At least that’s what I assume.  A lot of people who follow D&C can’t follow Dan Slott or even read is tweets. We’ve all been blocked. If I want to read a Dan Slott tweet, I have to fire up Firefox, not log into Twitter, and go to his Twitter feed. Since I normally use Google Chrome, it automatically logs me into Twitter.

Dan Slott is wrong

If Dan Slott were a plumber and not one of Marvel Comics’ top writers, he wouldn’t be able to tweet from a verified account. You see the fancy blue check mark next to his name? That means he’s been verified by Twitter. The Twitter blue check mark is a badge of privilege and honor. You only get a Twitter verified account check mark if you’re famous and deemed worthy by the folks who run Twitter.

If Dan Slott were a plumber - Bent Corner
If Dan Slott were a plumber

Milo Yiannopoulos, the obnoxious conservative writer formerly from Breitbart, had a Twitter account. Twitter shut it down because he posted mean things about Saturday Night Live actress Leslie Jones. Before Twitter gave him the boot, he had a verified account and then he didn’t. Twitter removed the verified account check mark from Milo Yiannopoulos’ account to punish him. I think he was mean to someone else before being mean to Leslie Jones. I don’t remember what it was or who it was against. I’m feeling too lazy right now to look it up on Ask Jeeves.

If the Twitter blue check mark was, in fact, a tool for verification, why then would Twitter punish Milo Yiannopoulos by taking it away?

If Dan Slott were a plumber, he wouldn’t have a blue check mark next to his name. His Twitter account would have just as much clout and privilege as every other Twitter account. In other words, it would have no clout and no privilege. If he wanted a large follower count, he’d have to build it the old-fashioned way, by posting interesting content.

If Dan Slott were a plumber - Bent Corner

Because he’s a top writer for Marvel Comics, he automatically garners followers. People follow Dan Slott because they’re interested in the books he writes.

How does Dan Slott use this privilege given to him because of who he works for? By posting stuff you’d expect to see in the comment section over at Daily Kos. What’s even worse is all the retweeting he does. It’s bad enough to read his political opinions, it’s even worse to read the opinions of others.

Did you know Dan Slott doesn’t like Donald Trump?

We get it. Dan Slott doesn’t like Donald Trump. If we all agree to this as a stipulation of fact, can he then move on and use his verified Twitter account to talk about the comics he writes? The verified Twitter account with a Spider-Man logo as the avatar?

If you’re a comic book professional and you’re doing things correctly, I should have no idea what political ideals you hold. Comic books, when done right, are a form of escapism. Comic books allow the people to take a break from the real world and enjoy a few minutes of entertainment.

If Dan Slott wants a personal Twitter account, he should create one. He could use it to post his political opinions. People who are interested in his fresh takes on Trump could then follow that personal Twitter account. He then could use his verified Twitter account to post about his books and the books of other comic book professionals. He should also stop blocking people from his verified Twitter account.

How can you promote your work to someone you’ve blocked?

The Social Justice Comics Code of Approval

One of the problems with buying comic books these days is figuring out if the book is upholding the ideas and virtues of social justice. Does the book feature any characters from a marginalized group? Are any of the book’s creators from a marginalized group?

I realized the comic book industry needs a way of notifying the customer of a book’s social justice credentials when I noticed a stack of America comics at a local comic book shop.

At first glance, I assumed America was about a Donald Trump supporter.

I thought the book’s title was a nod to the Make America Great Again hat Donald Trump supporters love to wear.  I thought there were three other books, Make, Great, and Again. Lay all four books next together and they would spell out Donald Trump’s moto.

The book’s title was one-fourth of a Donald Trump hat.

It turned out I could not have been wrong.

America is about America Chavez, a very awesome college student raised by two mothers from an alternate universe. She’s Latina and gay, quite a spicy combination!

Even though America Chavez is oozing legitimate social justice cred, it’s hard to get this point across to comic readers. It could be the reason sales of the book have been so low. Not only do comic readers today want social justice in their funny books, they want lots of it.

The Social Justice Comics Code of Approval

I’m proposing the Social Justice Comics Code of Approval. It would appear on comic books that meet the criteria of social justice. A comic would either feature characters in line with social justice principles or the creators of the book would need to represent social justice in the real world. Books that meet either one of these tests will get the seal.

This is what the Social Justice Comics Code of Approval seal would look like:

 

America would earn the right to display the seal of the Social Justice Comics Code of Approval. Not only does the book’s main character check off many social justice checkboxes, so does the book’s writer, Gabby Rivera. She is lesbian and a Puerto Rican from the Bronx.

First-time comics writer Gabby Rivera.

Not only is the book’s writer a queer Puerto Rican, I think I read on Reddit one of the assistant inkers is bisexual. At least she was in college. Evidently, she and some friends got hammered on Jägermeister. Her friends dared her to open-mouth kiss another girl for ten seconds. She accepted the challenge. At least she thinks she did. That night is still a little fuzzy for her. This just goes to show you that it’s better to drink milkshakes, not Jägermeister. Not because of the girl-on-girl kissing, but because she can’t remember that night very well.

If America featured the Social Justice Comics Code of Approval, I’m almost certain it would not be hovering at the cancellation level of sales.

America monthly sales to comics shops

America #1 – 43,592
America #2 – 23,987
America #3 – 16,262
America #4 – 12,624
America #5 – 11,354
America #6 – 9,548
America #7 – 9,137

If Marvel doesn’t do something, by this time next year, sales of America will be lower than Cocktails & Mixology by Bill Cosby. Adding the Social Justice Comics Code of Approval to the America‘s cover will go a long way to increase sales.

What good is making a comic book steeped in social justice awesomeness if comic readers don’t know about it.

I wish Donald Trump played more golf

Chris Evans, the actor who played caucasian Johnny Storm in the first two Fantastic Four movies and Captain America in all the Marvel Studios movies, seems to have a problem with Donald Trump playing so much golf during his presidency.

From Twitter:


I guess Chris Evans wishes Donald Trump was hard at work in the White House, implementing the ideas that got him elected.

I think Donald Trump is the worst president we’ve ever had. When it comes to golf, I wish he was playing more of it, not less. I wish Donald Trump was playing 36 holes a day, seven days a week, four weeks a month, and 12 months a year. The more time Donald Trump spends playing gold, the less time he’ll have to implement his terrible ideas. If he spent more time whacking golf balls, he’d have less time to call Gold Star widows and making them cry.

The more time Donald Trump plays golf, the better

For the sake of our country, the more time Donald Trump plays golf, the better.

If I had the money, I’d buy gift certificates to various golf courses and send them to Trump. If I had that Captain America money pouring in, I’d do just that. I’d shower Trump with golf course gift certificates and encourage him to go out and enjoy himself.

I hate Donald Trump. The less time he spends in the Oval Office, the better.