Go ahead, berate me about the nonsensical mash-up of a title I’ve chosen, but I’m convinced there’s a point to be made here…

Reflect on the outright rancor being demonstrated by virtually every Republican ‘droid out there clamoring for airtime to [defend/rationalize/deflect criticism away from] the since-frozen Trump-sponsored immigration ban. Then take a look at the definition of anti-social behaviour. See any similarities? I do.

…actions that harm or lack consideration for the well-being of others.

Yeah, I definitely see similarities. Now reflect on our collective situation here in the United States for a moment. OK, OK, for the slow ones in the room, I’ll do some “mansplainin'” here – basically we’ve got lots and lots of folks feeling bad about either real, or perceived, socioeconomic injustices being inflicted on their undeserving, (and gosh-darned incredibly righteous), souls these days. Apparently these injustices are being inflicted by the immigrant population entering the United States from seven predominantly Muslim nations. …well, that’s if you believe the nonsense captured in the document Trump signed back in January…

Heaven forbid! Lock the gates!

C’mon people, you and I both know these bombastic claims being made by those in support of such an ill-conceived immigration ban are totally absurd. Unfortunately, the online behavior demonstrated by said supporters is often just as absurd. Some might say ‘antisocial’, even…

These people want ‘justice’. These people want ‘fairness’. …and they want it now, er, um, ah, rather they want it yesterday!

Hold on, I need to pause for a moment and catch my breath…

Hmmm… You know what? I think these people are actually looking for some good ole’ fashioned mediation to restore balance in their lives. Yeah, mediation.

…where a neutral third party assists disputing parties in resolving conflict…

Sure, we’ve got conflicting viewpoints to contend with on this very important issue, but angry peasants armed with pitchforks and torches aren’t the answer. Neither are razor wire-topped barricades stretching from coast to coast along the border(s). Yup, plural.

Against this rancorous backdrop being played out on various and sundry social media platforms, (pick one, they’re legion), our elected officials are expected to try to seek so-called “common ground” upon which they’re supposed to – heavy emphasis on supposed to – begin building consensus around an implementable solution. Do I think they’ll succeed? Doubtful. Nope, not going to happen, at least not anytime soon…

Simply stated, it’s time for LESS ‘anti-social’ and MORE ‘mediation’. Those seeking to legally enter the United States of America deserve nothing less than that.

Yup, seems White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, a.k.a. ‘Spicey’, (thank you Melissa McCarthy), was a little confused in late January…

Apparently, ‘Spicey’ meant Orlando when he kept saying Atlanta, (three times over the course of two days), in reference to so-called “radical Islamist attacks”, while he attempted to rationalize Trump’s poorly-conceived immigration ban. I guess it’s now a ‘thing’ among White House appointees to invent so-called “radical Islamist attacks” because Kellyanne Conway did it a few days later, (on February 2nd).

As far as I can tell, the only similarity between Atlanta and Orlando are the three letters buried in the middle of both city’s names, (“lan”). Sure, both are urban centers located below the Mason-Dixon line, but beyond that, there’s little – comparatively speaking, of course – to prompt anybody with an IQ above 80 to confuse one city for the other, and to do it several times!

No, this “lan” is not my “lan”. Not my “lan” at all… …and certainly not my president*

Bonus Link – hey, check out this fantastic video put together by the folks at GQ.com highlighting Spicey’s unparalleled ability to misprounce words during daily White House press briefings – hilarious! Well, er, uh, no, it’s sad. Really. Sad.

It’s time to get this hideous hag off the air…

Image Credit: CNN/The Lead with Jake Tapper

…beyond being just plain painful to look at, she’s completely, utterly, incoherent.

Turn off the oxygen, er, uh, I mean, the airwaves, no? CNN, please mute the mike!

Tell me, does this look like someone who’s either:

a) [really] intoxicated,
b) [completely] inebriated,
c) [definitely] medicated, or
d) [simply] brainwashed

You decide. If you need further proof, consider the following:

I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.

This falsehood was blithely tossed out during a February 2nd interview on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. Apparently, it’s now a ‘thing’ among White House appointees to invent so-called “radical Islamist attacks” because Sean Spicer has taken it up as well, sigh… :-(

News Flash! …and now Conway is hawking Ivanka Trump’s miserable wares on television – yikes!

I’m going to give it a free commercial here. Go buy it today.

Yup, a clear ethics breach. Time for a ‘hag gag’…

Hey, I haven’t doled out any awards for a while – how about two in one day!

Sure, the peroxide blonde earns a :‑& :‑& :‑& rating for perpetually promulgating bullsh*t, and Spicer warrants a well-deserved >: >: >: rating for his endless, vacuous pontificating.

P.S. Did you just love the SNL skits this past weekend, or what?! I know I sure did! :-)

OK, time to offer a little unsolicited advice to journalists, bloggers, investigative reporters and your average, lazy, twenty/thirty/forty-something Twitter junkie…

Let’s start with a list of terms to be stricken from newspaper/magazine articles, online news sites, (and I’m referring to legitimate news sites here), blogs of every shape and size, and yes, even those increasingly inane 140-character-long Twitter musings showing up everywhere:

post-truth
“alternative facts”
dog whistle
echo chamber
“alt-right” (…is oh so wrong!)
silent majority
“birther” movement
“American carnage”
“flyover zone”
Make America Great Again™

To use any of these rather ridiculous phrases, while cloaking them as jargon, (or, God forbid, as being legitimately descriptive), is to normalize them, as well as the band of reprobates they stand for and/or relate to. …and so-called ‘normalization’ is precisely what needs to be guarded against right now. There is nothing – absolutely nothing – normal about the idiot brigade governing our nation after the inauguration, so let’s not treat any of them as normal, OK?

While I’m offering unsolicited advice, hey, Millennials, stop trying to be trendy – when I see these terms used by what are supposed to be today’s crop of college-educated, professionally-trained journalists, I cringe, and everyone else with an IQ above 100 should too. No, Hudson, (or Heidi), you don’t score points with digerati by mindlessly regurgitating “code”, (or what you think is “code”), after spending maybe twenty frantic seconds with whatever your search engine of choice is. You don’t gain credibility, you lose it. Nope, rather, that cleverly-obfuscated “code” is just some bit of random mental flotsam surfacing during a Tea Party supporter’s fever dream, trust me. That’s all it is, nothing more. Disregard. Purge. Resist the urge to use. Got it?

It’s time to revert to poly-syllabic terms that are, in fact, truly descriptive; it’s also time to stop cutting/pasting Twitter screen captures into your screeds, all the while thinking you’ve dutifully quoted “…the source…” and, finally, it’s time for some honest-to-goodness long-form reporting based on honest-to-goodness legwork.

Brevity is not [always] an indication of brilliance – sometimes it’s indicative of a lack of effort. …or ability. You decide.

P.S., my ever-growing list of stricken [ridiculous] terms not included in my original post:

dumpster fire
“sh*t show”
red meat
snowflake
“bigly”, “majorly”, “hugely”, etc., etc., (he’s simply illiterate, OK?)
“deep state”
white nationalist – nah, let’s stick with ‘racist puke’, ‘disgusting bigot’ or, in a pinch, ‘raging xenophobe’, shall we?