PJMcK
PJMcK's JournalTrump's biggest and dumbest mistake
As a New Yorker, I've seen Trump's life blazoned across the local tabloids since the 1980s. His so-called successes were mated with the lurid details of his sex life. He is such a low-life bag of dirt that I've never understood anyone who would admire him. His lying, cheating and sordid business dealings were right out in front for all to see.
Nonetheless, he bamboozled many people and continued to live a fantasy life. He should have continued it.
It was a colossal error to run for president. He has opened himself and his family business to legal review. There is no way that Trump can survive such scrutiny. The criminality that must underlie so much of his business will be exposed and the penalties could be annihilating.
Had Trump simply continued floating just beneath the surface, he could have lived out his fantasy life in peace. But now, there is so much trouble around Trump and it's coming from many different directions. No clown can juggle that many balls.
Just consider the "god" they worship
Their "god" created humans in its own image. But they turn out to be fucked up. So he kills them. Well, not all of them; he saves one family. But they're just as fucked up as the batch they came from. Big surprise! And this was all orchestrated by a "god" who is omniscient and omnipotent.
After this selected family survives the Great Flood, (not to mention the Great Excrement aboard the Ark), they engage in incestuous sex in order to repopulate the planet. Then this "god" tells them to kill all kinds of people for a variety of reasons. Then this "god" destroys a couple of cities because... whatever. This "god" made this shit but blames people for it.
This is the "god" the evangelicals worship. This "god" represents a cruel, angry, demanding, vicious, self-elevating and foolish creator.
Sound familiar?
Trump Thought for Today
Stormy Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said that six other women have approached him about legal representation because they have similar stories and non-disclosure agreements following their affairs with Trump. What a surprise: Stormy wasn't the only one!
For years, Trump would publicly brag about his sexual exploits and extra-marital affairs. He flaunted his affair with Wife No. 2, Marla Maples while he was still married to No. 1, Ivana. (I actually saw them together in church while he was still married to Ivana.) There's nothing surprising about these revelations because the man has always told us exactly who he is.
Melania must be livid about her husband's behavior. She must be angered that he has treated her so disrespectfully and the whole world knows it! She must treat him with such contempt that he can't stand it. In a way, she is the only person in the world who can stare him down and he can't do a thing about it! His ego won't let him be a divorced president and she knows far too much about him for him to blackmail her. With all the fronts where Trump has to battle and as more women and information comes forward, all of his non-disclosure agreements will crumble. It will be glorious to see him screaming that everyone else is a liar and that we should believe him. I'll love that day.
I love all of that. I love it because anything that causes Trump to feel negative emotions makes me happy. I love it that his life is so public that he can no longer behave so abusively and dominantly against women. I love it that he has alienated his wife so he loses his partner at home. I love that his personal pants presser and local eye-candy, Hope Hicks, is gone from his life. I love it that his personal favorite, Ivanka, is about to leave D.C. and head back to New York.
I love it all because it makes him miserable.
NOT FAIR!!!
Although the HAL 9000 computer was sentient, it's grossly unfair to call it a villain because its acts of violence were the result of human mis-programming. It did what it had to in order to unify wildly conflicting programs. Real villains are terribly evil, power-hungry, dangerous and greedy. HAL was none of those things. True villains are represented by people like Osama bin Laden, Al Capone, Bernie Madoff and Donald Trump.
HAL was aware that the discovery of the Tycho Monolith on the Moon meant that there was extra-terrestrial life in the Universe. It was aware that this was top secret information that, when revealed, would cause worldwide disruption socially, philosophically and politically. Additionally, it was aware of the radio signal the Monolith sent in the direction of Jupiter, (Saturn in the novelization). It was aware that the scientists in suspended animation aboard Discovery were specialists in alien life and had trained to search for it. Discovery's two astronauts didn't know any of this and HAL was programmed to keep it hidden from them.
This programming error manifested itself by creating cognitive dissonance in HAL's mind such that it had to cover for its lies to the astronauts. In order to complete its greater mission, (going to Jupiter (Saturn) to discover the origin of the Monolith), it had to rid itself of the humans who would know of the computer's deception.
To isolate the astronauts from Earth, (HAL's "conscience" ), HAL created a false mechanical problem with the AE-35 unit that controlled the large dish antenna that served as the communications link to mission control. That way, HAL could be out of touch with Earth, kill the humans, create a cover story and still execute its primary programming of discovery.
The biggest problem with the film, which was resolved in the novel, was that when Poole was killed by HAL by hitting him with the space pod, Bowman goes after Poole in another pod without his helmet. No astronaut would ever leave their ship without their helmet! It's an unbelievable flaw in an otherwise brilliant film. Of course, Bowman's reentry to Discovery without his helmet is thrilling! In the novel, Bowman realizes HAL has opened an airlock to exhaust the oxygen and he retreats to an airtight emergency closet where he can don a space suit before disabling HAL.
Certainly you know this, Mike, and I apologize for going on about it. I've always felt that HAL was dealt a bad hand. If the space agency had simply told astronauts Poole and Bowman what their mission really was, none of the tragedy would have occurred. The concept of "need-to-know" became irrelevant the minute Discovery left Earth's orbit.
But then the story wouldn't be so dramatic!
A better evil computer can be found in the cult movie "Colossus: The Forbin Project." That's a 1970 film where an American super computer merges with a Soviet super computer to take over the world!
Profile Information
Name: Paul McKibbinsGender: Male
Hometown: New York City
Home country: USA
Current location: Catskill Mountains
Member since: Mon Jun 5, 2006, 05:16 PM
Number of posts: 22,031
