Now, despite my views of Mr. Trump, I have been keeping relatively silent about the going-ons in the White House for the last 6 months. One, because there is already too much coverage on it in the media and on the internet and two, out of respect for those who still support the man. I may disagree with your views but I felt it would be wrong to deride or ridicule them.
And then, I came across this wonderful gem below on the internet which touched on the recent short 10 day term of Anthony Scaramucci as Trump’s Communications Director and other current news. It has been reposted so I don’t even know its original source but I thought it was really creative and funny. So forgive the squirrel for this lapse in said principles above. But this deserves to be celebrated. Mago, I think you would particularly enjoy this.
Try singing it to the tune of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and have fun.
“Aaaarrggghhhh! The sky is falling…..the sky is falling……..”
After I run helter skelter until I am exhausted, I calm down and I reasoned……. maybe it won’t be so bad. Yeah, we can’t change the fact that he will be the next American President and leader of the free world.
Yeah, we just gotta give him the benefit of the doubt………
Do you know what’s scary? Answer:- the way I procrastinate. If you look back over the years, readers will find that I will be making New Year Resolutions and wishing every one a Happy New Year sometime towards the end of January. Likewise, I tend to leave my Christmas decorations up and try to disguise them to make it look like I put them up specially for Chinese New Year a few months later. So just yesterday, I finally got to watch the movie that I had set aside for Halloween.
It’s a Korean movie titled, “Train to Busan”. As if train journeys are often not horrific enough, they throw in large numbers of evil, undead zombies. It is a big hit in Korea and you know what? In my humble squirrel opinion, it deserves every good review it has received. As with any zombie movie, it is not so much a spine chilling horror experience but more of an adrenaline racing, heart pounding action movie. But the human element is well crafted into the story and the acting surprisingly good; especially the young girl in the story. I recommend it.
You know what else is scary? The real world! Starting with Korea where the Korean President is alleged to have been unduly influenced by the daughter of a cult leader (BBC story); to Indonesia where thousands took part in violent and fatal protests in the capital Jakarta because they do not want a popular (and generally held to be an effective) non-Muslim governor overseeing a majority Muslim city; and finally the insane circus of the current U.S. Presidential elections. Hilary or Trump? The squirrel shakes his head at both but trembles in fear at the thought of President Trump.
And so, we squirrels have decided to intervene for the sake of the world.
Remembering Orlando, Paris, Brussels, Syria, Kenya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Boston, Oslo, Sandy Hill, Virginia Tech, Turkey, Oklahoma City, New York ……………….. so many.
Why so much hate? Where is the love for brother man? If we cannot at least respect each other, how can we hope for a better world for our children?
My tribute to those whose lives have been snatched away or shattered……. and my plea to the world……
Poem by F.R. Scott; song by Leonard Cohen.
May we rise, from bitter searching of the heart, to play a greater part that men may know commonwealth again.
Squirrels are well trained to look for and spot a bad nut and we also know what to do with bad nuts…….
….squirrels make sure that the BAD NUTS don’t get away and cause any harm!!!
So, if squirrels were in charge there would be none of these nonsense……..
If squirrels were in charge, ……. THERE WOULD BE NO PROFITEERING FROM TRAGEDY!
If squirrels were in charge, …….NO ONE WOULD BE ALLOWED TO MAKE A WEAPON THAT CAUSED SUCH TRAGEDY TO BE MADE INTO AN ICONIC COMMODITY!
And, if squirrels were in charge, …….. MOTHERS WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BUY SUCH ITEMS AS A GIFT FOR THEIR SONS!
Excerpts from BBC report:-
The handgun used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012 has been sold for $250,000 (£172,000), US media say.
The gun was put up for auction by George Zimmerman, who fired the shot but was acquitted of Trayvon’s murder.
The sale of the gun drew criticism from those saying Mr Zimmerman, 32, was seeking to profit from the killing. Gun rights advocates say he was exercising his legal rights under US law.
Denny Honeycutt, a Florida bar owner who said he had agreed a price of $150,000, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that Mr Zimmerman had reneged on the deal.
“I thought he was a man of his word,” Mr Honeycutt told the paper.
He said the buyer was a woman who had wanted the gun as a birthday present for her son.
Honestly, humans! What the heck is going on in that”superior” Homo sapien nut of yours? Better let us squirrels take charge before you make things even worse.
Dear Reader, I have always thought that I had special prophetic powers. You know, like Nostradamus. You don’t believe me?
I recently came across an old post that I made right here in the Realm of the Lone Grey Squirrel. The post entitled “Have an Ox-picious Year” was written in 2009 and in it, the Lone Grey Squirrel gave predictions for the next 12 years according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar.
You can click on the link above to read the whole post but I just want to draw your attention to the prediction that I made for 2016.
2016 (Year of the Monkey) – After two terms under President Obama, the political mood swings and unfortunately a monkey is returned as President. In world news, U.N. observers will declare that there was wide-spread monkey business during elections in a South American banana republic.
Hmmmm……….. looking at the current Republican nominations race in the USA and the crazy televised debates amongst the candidates, one just has to think that we might be eerily close to seeing that prediction come true. What do you think?
I know politics can be a very volatile and contentious topic and it is not my intention to offend anyone. However, I have to be true to my own beliefs and apparently after taking another one of those quizzes that float about on the internet and Facebook, I have been told by the Internet Gods that my beliefs are most closely aligned to Bernie Sanders.
So now that you know, allow me to share the following meme which would clearly appeal to anyone who thinks like Bernie Sanders. Anyway, I think it is funny and possibly prophetic as well. Hope you agree…..
As an bonus feature (cause the squirrel is feeling generous), here is a tribute to the “Monkey Man” by the great Amy Winehouse.
I first listened to Gordon Lightfoot when I was about 17 and I liked what I heard. It was the song, “Sundown“. It had been released some 5 years earlier but in them pre-internet, pre-YouTube and pre-iTunes days, the latest music took some time to filter its way to Malaysia. When I was growing up, for many years, there was only one music store in my home city of Kuala Lumpur.
But I liked the laid back folksy, ballad-y, hippie vibe of Gordon Lightfoot. From young I had always had an affinity to the groovy people of the Flower Power movement. I was a bit late to the party but if I had been born earlier, I would most likely have lived in a hippie commune.
I also like songs that have a story to tell and have social or historical relevance and there were plenty of those during the Vietnam War era. Songs like “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?“, “Blowing in the Wind” and “Give Peace a Chance“. Gordon Lightfoot has been called Canada’s greatest songwriter and probably for songs of this ilk.
I recently discovered another Gordon Lightfoot song and it was an eye-opener. It is entitled, “Black Day in July”. I had not previously known about the riots in Detroit in July 1967 that led to 43 dead, 1,189 injured, over 7,200 arrests, and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed. About that time, I remember being taught in my school in Malaysia about how Detroit was the world capitol of the automobile industry and a model for the wonders of industrialisation and modernisation – that everything was chrome plated and shiny. Obviously it wasn’t.
However, things were not better in Malaysia. Two tears later, on May 13th 1969, racial riots broke out in Malaysia resulting in several hundred deaths. The underlying reason for the riot was probably political and economical but the fighting and killing was along racial lines with the Chinese community suffering the brunt of the attacks.
But in this case, there is no song written or video done to lament the tragedy. Much too often, it is deemed too sensitive to even mention in public. However, without truthful and open discourse, it is like a wound that has not healed but is hidden under a bandage and festering. Without open and truthful discourse, lies and rumors favor the extremists who would even seek to blame the victims.
I wish for no more black days for both Detroit and Malaysia. For that to happen, the festering disease of hatred and inequity must be exposed to the cleansing light of truth so that real healing can begin.
A few years ago, I was in Washington D.C. and I took the opportunity to visit the museums but because I am a taphophile, I was also very keen to visit the Arlington National Cemetery and the war memorials.
When I was growing up, the Vietnam War was not far away and people spoke of the “domino theory” which suggested that a communist victory in Vietnam would lead to the fall of other nations in South East Asia to communism in quick succession. The war was never far from our thoughts and from our news. And then the Vietnamese refugees started coming to our shores; we called them the “Boat People”. When I was 14, I spent my school holidays as a volunteer with a U.N. office trying to match names on search requests sent in by relatives against a long list of names of registered refugees in the hope of reuniting separated loved ones. I never did succeed in making even one match.
And so, I was very aware about the Vietnam War and I did visit the Vietnam War Memorial.
But there was another earlier Asian war that I and many, many people are less familiar with …….. the Korean War. It was a little before I was born and I was never taught anything about it in school. Believe it or not, the first I learned about it was from watching the TV series M.A.S.H.
Yet in many ways, although much shorter, it was a bloodier war than the Vietnam War. The percentage of casualties compared to soldiers committed was extremely high. For example, the average U.S. casualties per month was 4,257 for the Korean War as compared to 2,092 for the Vietnam War (source:Korean War Educator). And the suffering of the Korean people was great with as much as 10% of the population killed – a rate of civilian deaths which were higher than that for World War II.
I was deeply moved when I had the opportunity to visit the memorial to what some have called “the Forgotten War”, and remember the sacrifices made and the lives lost.
This commemorative stone was actually in the Arlington National Cemetery but the inscription of the number of casualties suffered attest to the ferocity of the fighting. ( Photo by LGS)
Historians may debate the why’s and the how’s of the war but the sacrifices of the soldiers were real and worthy of our respect. (Photo by LGS)
One of the main elements of the memorial is this collection of statues; a ghostly squad on patrol in eternal vigilance. (Photo by LGS)
As a monument, I prefer this to the Vietnam Memorial as it’s visual impact is more visceral. (Photo by LGS)
The other main element of the Memorial is this dark granite wall with faces of soldiers and civilians from the war. (Photo by LGS)
As I look at the faces, I wonder what were their stories. Were they killed? Did they survive? What has happened to those who came back? (Photo by LGS)
Regular readers will know that the Lone Grey Squirrel is still waiting for his Nobel Prize for Science and Medicine. But have I received that life-changing call from the Nobel Committee? Nope, I got nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nichts. Not a sausage!
And you know, being a Microbiologist, it isn’t easy to get selected……..you gotta find a new disease. So with a bit of hard work, you find a new disease. You hope that you don’t catch it in the process and with a bribe bit of luck you get selected by the Nobel Prize committee. If you are really, really lucky, they don’t name the disease after you.
Anyway, I am very excited. I think my time has come with my discovery of “Poorphoria” ( pôr-fahy-ree-uh).
Scientific breakthroughs are often made on the back of other discoveries and my “eureka’ moment came due to the excellent research into a related illness ……….. “affluenza”.
In the now famous case, a 16 year old from Texas, stole some booze, drove 70 mph in a 40 mph zone with a blood alcohol level three times the legal adult limit and caused a fatal accident that left four people dead and two others severely injured.
At his trial, the defence contended that the teen whose wealth and pampered upbringing prevented him from learning right from wrong and recognising the consequences of his actions. As such he was not responsible for his actions because he suffered from “affluenza”.
Giving recognition to this “disease” the judge sentenced the teen to 10 years probation and rehab at a special centre for which his parents will pay USD450,000 per year.
Poorphoria is a similar disease that strikes the very poor. Because poorphoria sufferers have grown up in abject want and poverty, it is certainly not their fault that they then resort to crime to get what they have been denied in their childhood. Furthermore, it is a disease with a very simple treatment. Just give the patient USD 450,000 and he will be cured!
Poverty equals crime. Give money, then no more poverty and therefore no more crime. No more poorphoria. Q.E.D.
EDITOR’s NOTE: Despite the use of humor and sarcasm here to highlight the tragic farce, the Lone Grey Squirrel is actually very saddened by the incident that have occurred and grieves for those that have been killed and injured. He also grieves for the legal system that has enabled such bizarre decisions to be delivered.
Just under a month ago, I posted about the proposed gun control legislation being proposed in the USA (Shoot) and how support for it has dwindled from a peak after the Newtown massacre. Many were predicting that it would not be passed by the Congress and indeed a bill to expand background checks to gun shows and online sales has failed to even pass through the Senate. President Obama was furious with the Senate for not following the wishes of 90% of Americans who supported such minimal and common sense measures. Yet the latest poll released yesterday indicated that only 47% of respondents indicated that they were angry or disappointed with the Senate.
And so I repeat what I asked in my former post;
“Am I naive? Will it hurt so much to give up assault rifles, magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition or armour piercing rounds? Armour piercing rounds? Why do you need that in a civilized society? To hunt well equipped rabbits? Would it really be too much to give those up? For me, the sound of children laughing and playing without fear is worth any price.”
At that time, I received a comment from Mark, The Walking Man. He lives pretty much on the frontlines of the debate in the gun infested streets of Detroit and is therefore in a good position to answer my confusion. This is his reply;
“The reason is easy enough to figure out LGS. The gun manufacturers and arms producers via the NRA (which spent 32 million in 2012) use fear to foment the wide proliferation of guns. They are the strongest lobbying group in DC and spend voraciously buying votes in both chambers. Americans will go to war now after Iraq’s invasion without even a clear reason or sense of aggression towards the nation because we fear the world is out to destroy us externally and we fear that there are so many criminals and thugs who are just waiting in the night to come in and rape, rob and murder us that we need a gun in every corner of every room as well as the one under the pillow.
Fear is a great tool for moving masses and numbers, reality has nothing to do with it. Over 1500 people have died by gun violence since Sandy Hook elementary and what that incident sis was to spur arms sales even beyond the point they were at because we have a Black president”who is coming for our guns” even though the reality is he loosened gun control laws by making it legal to bring your handgun and open carry in national parks—but the fear is that he has secretly declared open season on White people.
(6% of guns are held in the hands of white suburban dwellers who are afraid that the urban vermin are out for them. Why? Because Colt, Remington and the rest need to sell more weapons of mass destruction. You do know that america supplies 93% of the world with weapons right? Multi billion dollar business at home and abroad.
Background checks? 97% want thorough background checks but the NRA who pays the bills does not so, ever in need of campaign money most legislators will vote against their constituents because the constituents en masse can not equal one NRA contribution.
Listen to our National anthem Calvin, it is the only one in the word that I know of that glorifies war. Look at the rulings over decades of the Supreme Court on the 2nd amendment to the constitution, though they can not change the wording they have, through decisions gutted the intent of it.
And so we have come to the age where we have more legally owned guns than we do have population, normal people get brave with a gun in their hand and just in general do stupid things with them. show them, caress them love the feel of them and know they can deliver death at their whim. It is an emboldening thing except they ignore the statistics that more handgun owners are shot by their own weapons in a robbery. They practice and practice until they can kill a paper target but when the danger comes they freeze or go insane.
Last week a 74 year old grandmother in MI was convicted of murdering her grandson. He and she had an argument over a failed drug test, she shot him once, he went to the washroom to check the wound and when he came out, instead of running to a neighbor or calling 911 she capped him 5 more times. They are trying to convince ME that a more armed society is a safer society but statistically speaking the more weapons available in any culture the more death that culture experiences.
I won’t bullshit you, I own two shotguns, a 16 and a 12. I will kill with them if I can not subdue or intimidate an intruder. But then I have taken every precaution to not allow an intruder in. A 70 pound Rottweiler/Pit Bull being the first line of defense. But I do not cling to my guns, I do not play with them or clean and oil them to shiny godhood. I have lived in the on aggregate the most violent American city my entire life, I have faced guns and walked away, unrobbd and intact, every time but there has been a sea change in American youth that is a direct result of our lack of gun control.
Teenagers today will pull the trigger because to them they are not just looking to rob but to get peer respect and odd as it is, most guns used in street crimes are legally owned by a family member who did not control it.
There is no answer until we get saturation overload and what cost $700 to purchase only brings $50 on the resale market. Until then we will continue to be free of everything but debt and fear.”
Viewing the World Through the Observation of Squirrels
Realm of the Lone Grey Squirrel 