Dark n Stormy Knight

Dark n Stormy Knight's Journal

October 23, 2016

So, when does Trump get his injection?

Serial cheater, in more ways than one.

August 12, 2016

The defenses of Donald Trump’s ‘Second Amendment’ comment don’t make sense.

I had been trying to compose a post about this, but fortunately found a professional had written it out for me.

Trump made the "Second Amendment" remark as he was already talking about a situation in which Clinton was the president. He said, "If [Hillary Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks." There's "nothing you can do" in this situation because Trump is talking about a time in which the 2016 election has already passed and Clinton is president. If he wasn't talking about that situation, why would he say there was "nothing you can do?" During the election, there's something pretty obvious you can do: Prevent her from becoming president in the first place.

Then Trump immediately follows it up by saying, "But I tell you what, that'll be a horrible day." Again, this strongly suggests the time frame he's talking about is when she's already in the White House. Otherwise, both the "horrible day" comment and the "nothing you can do" comment that bookend his Second Amendment remark are total non sequiturs.

Check out the full WaPo article by Aaron Blake here.

In the piece, Blake also discusses the following attempt by Rudy Giuliani to defend of Trump's recent comment.

"We know Donald Trump is not particularly indirect," Giuliani said. "If Donald Trump was going to say something like that, he'd say something like that."

According to Blake,

He (Giuliani) says Trump is "not particularly indirect," but Trump is the king of political innuendo..

Here Blake links to another WaPo article, ‘A lot of people are saying .?.?. ’: How Trump spreads conspiracies and innuendoes. It's a good analysis of how Trump, and, I believe many politicians--RWers in particular--can say so much without ever actually, indisputably saying it.

Trump frequently couches his most controversial comments this way, which allows him to share a controversial idea, piece of tabloid gossip or conspiracy theory without technically embracing it. If the comment turns out to be popular, Trump will often drop the distancing qualifier — “people think” or “some say.” If the opposite happens, Trump can claim that he never said the thing he is accused of saying, equating it to retweeting someone else’s thoughts on Twitter.

Which I think explains why we shouldn't be surprised if someone carries out Trump's "second amendment" suggestion and Trump is not held the slightest bit responsible for it.

A lot of attention was given to this issue when infamous word-salad chef Sarah Palin came to our attention. A lot of virtual ink went to discussing her intensely cringe-worthy speaking style.

A lot of RWers seem to share this inability to clearly express themselves, yet, their supporters don't seem to find this problematic. Intelligence, logic, even specific plans for governing are not necessary in their speeches, as long as they convey their solidarity with the the Right Wing cause.

Here are links to some of the best of the other information I found on the subject:

A Linguistic Analysis Of Donald Trump Shows Why People Like Him So Much (video)

Donald Trump's use of grammar 'typical of children aged 11 and under'

What Language Experts Find So Strange About Donald Trump

Linguists explain why Sarah Palin has such an emotional connection with her audience This may also apply to Trump. For the scholarly, here is a link to a pdf of the academic study on which it seems this last article was based.

August 6, 2016

Pennsylvania Absentee Voting

I've done some research on absentee voting in PA and it seems like the rules are explained differently in various places. Some sites seem to suggest there are only a few instances which qualify voters to do so absentee. But the actual application/request form for absentee ballot allows for a broader range.

On the form, you must choose one of these reason categories:

Section A: Absence from Municipality
Declaration that you are eligible to vote absentee because duties, occupation, or business will require you to be out of the district all of election day for the reason stated below (which you must write in, but which I suspect doesn't need to be any more detailed than a reiterate that one of the three require your absence. For instance, I will be out of town for my job, or duties require me to be absent from the district.)

Section B: Illness of physical disability
Declaration that you are eligible to vote absentee due to the illness or physical disability stated below (which you must write in.)

You can download the application asking for an absentee ballot to be mailed to you here: www.dosimages.pa.gov/pdf/AbsenteeBallotApplication.pdf

This, unfortunately for those of us who like to type in our forms, must be filled in by hand. Montgomery County has provided a version that you can fill on your computer before printing.

It's just slightly different from the other version. I'm using it. I'll send it in well before the deadline and report back whether or not my County (Chester) accepts it. They should. You can download this version from here: http://www.montcopa.org/DocumentCenter/View/2214

The fact that the state doesn't provide a computer-fillable one is so 20th century. (Many of PA's government web sites fall into that category also. Some, for instance, are only accessible during business hours!)

You must mail the application form to your local County Board of Elections. They will then mail you the absentee ballot.

I have to hand it to the Rs who provided a list of all Pennsylvania elections board addresses on the pdf with the (non-computer-fillable) application form, available here.

You can also get the addresses from here.

January 9, 2016

Trump vs. Palin

Maybe I hadn't been paying close enough attention before, but when Palin pushed her way onto the scene and came way too close for my liking to becoming our Vice President, I was genuinely shocked.

Sure, Dubya was alarmingly unenlightened, belligerent, and intellectually deficient. His habitual butchering of the English language was embarrassingly un-presidential. Particularly disturbing was his manner of speaking to the public as if we were learning disabled pre-schoolers, when it was the minds behind the BS his speech was meant to sell which deserved to be talked down to.

And that's just for starters.

But still, the support Palin garnered astonished and mortified me. She had most of Dubya's negatives plus a few. Her blatant, unashamed racism. Her exceptional ignorance of international affairs. I could go on.

Now we have Trump. Whether he even gets the nomination, much less becomes president, I find his popularity as a candidate for the highest office in the land (and probably world) stupefying.

I'm not sure though which is worse, Palin or Trump. What do you think?

(Moved after inadvertent posting in Democratic Primaries on the advice of 99Forever.)

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Hometown: East Coast
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About Dark n Stormy Knight

I stand in solidarity with the world in disgust with and unwavering opposition to the 45th pResident. The misogynistic, racist, vengeful, volatile, lying, cheating, narcissistic bully is unfit to serve.