Spocko's Brain

I was listening to Sam Seder and Digby on the Majority Report talking about the various political sexual harassment cases in the news last week. Sam talked about the fear the GOP will weaponize them. Of course they will, they have in the past.

I expect more allegations of misconduct on the left to pop up. Not because there are numerically more, but because the right will actively seek out cases on the left to balance the elephant grabbing the women in the room.

When I started this piece on Thanksgiving weekend 2017, I anticipated cases of false allegations coming from the right.

On Monday I read the story of woman who manufactured an allegation against Roy Moore, and tried to get the Washington Post to run with it. The woman worked for James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas. (I was right again, but since I didn’t publish Sunday I don’t expect a cookie this time.)

An allegation that is reported on by the liberal media, then revealed to be false, would be great for the right. It lets them defend their own while demonizing women and the media. “See?” they will crow, “Women LIE! You shouldn’t believe them! The liberal media . . . → Read More: How the Right Weaponizes Accusations to Destroy People and Institutions

Don’t have money for Halloween Candy? Hate giving away Halloween treats and love Halloween tricks? Hate the new office tradition of cube to cube trick or treating? h/t Val Rodham Think that people who give things to others, without making a profit or getting a big tax deduction, are suckers?

Think that using desperate people to make money is just smart business? (e.g. Whitefish in Puerto Rico )

If so, follow these simple tips from Evil Spocko channeling today’s Trumpian Halloween Trick and Treat techniques.

Put out a BIG empty bowl with sign over it that says, ‘Help yourself to 3 or 4.” or “These are big, so take only ONE!” h/t David Feldman Next to the empty bowl put a milk carton with a coin slot in the top covered with orange construction paper. Write on the paper “Trick or Treat for UNICEF!” When people see that there is nothing in the bowl, complain about greedy co-workers who must have taken all the treats while you were gone. When asked what candy you had, mention the favorite candy of your office rival. “I’m not saying he took it, but you might want to notice what candy he is . . . → Read More: Candy’s for Closers! Trumpian Halloween Tricks

Trump Threatens ‘Fire and Fury’ Against North Korea if It Endangers U.S.

Ooooh scary. Saber, meet Rattler-in-Chief.

I’ve seen this before, more than once. But don’t worry. There are multiple ways we scientists from the future can fix things if they get really horrible. One is a little machine we developed called the Disaster-Fixer Machine or DFM for short. We starting it with Ronnie Reagan’s bogus Strategic Defense Initiative program and used 250 billion in black ops funding to create it.) But we won’t need it this time because Ivanka will talk him down first. She’s part of the Trump Babysitting Team (TBT) along with McMaster and Kelly. When Trump was elected the DoD hired her. Why do you think she’s around Daddy all the time? Her fashion design skills? She’s our first line of defense.

If North Korea launches its little nuke it will be shot down by the revamped Star Wars Missile Shield, called the Ground-based Mid-course Defense System or GMD for short. This Warthog Defense video explains how it works. It was a boondoggle program at first, but it appears to work great now. My friend Guy sued to get access to the first SDI . . . → Read More: Our Disaster-Fixer Machines Will Save Us!

Congressman Chris Collins (R) New York wrote an opinion piece titled:

I’m a member of Congress and I’m going to start carrying a gun Today U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R) Alabama introduced HR 2940 a bill that would permit congressional lawmakers to carry a concealed weapon anywhere in the country except the U.S. Capitol or in the presence of the president or vice president.

Okay Reps. I hear you, you are scared. I get it, decades of the NRA passing laws making more guns available to more people with less training and fewer restrictions on where they can bring them makes the world a scarier place. Thanks Obama!

Congresspeople could do the logical thing and buy and wear body armor, which could actually protect them. As the old saying goes, “Guns don’t protect you, body armor does.”

But it’s not really about protecting yourself is it? Stopping bullets with a vest doesn’t sound bad ass enough. Too passive. You want people to think, “He’ll shoot anyone who looks at him funny.” Why let actual self-protection get in the way of the image of a gunslinger?

Before our congress members start wearing guns everywhere I have a few questions I think . . . → Read More: Does Rep. Collins Have Insurance For A Gun Accident?

My friend Will Bunch wrote a book about Reagan “Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy ” in which he recounted how profoundly the movie The Day After affected Reagan. It led to him pushing to reducing the nuclear arsenal. Reagan needed to see “the darkest timeline” play out on TV. That is how he absorbed information, via a visual story with characters he could imagine caring about pulling him in and keeping him engaged for two hours and 7 minutes.

As an actor Reagan understood the role appearance has in people’s perceptions. He must have had people telling him the US needed to appear strong to the Russians. He must also had others telling him about the danger of a brinkmanship and a nuclear accident we could not recover from. What was it about that movie that reached him? The images of destruction of the country? Did he relate to the characters who were like his family and friends? Or did he put himself in the picture? Was he thinking about how he personally would be seen before a conflict and then after a nuclear exchange?

DJT takes situations and turns them into personal . . . → Read More: Wanted: Role Model Of Strength & Restraint For Fox TV Appearance