Horror Report

Month: November 2016

  • Trump: Twitter helped me win but I’ll be ‘restrained’ now

    Trump: Twitter helped me win but I’ll be ‘restrained’ now

    Trump: Twitter helped me win but I’ll be ‘restrained’ now :

    While covering and linking up several political stories over the past 15 months, I have primarily been silent as to the candidate of my choice. I will continue to do so, so nothing within this opinion relates to who I actually voted for this year.. Some time honored private matters, to me, are still cherished.

    That said, I do not think the election of Donald Trump should be considered a surprise to anyone watching. Social media, the way we chat and chatter online, created this. We created this. WE made Donald Trump …

    It also reminds me of using a spirit board.. or conjuring up something from another existence. If you really, really REALLY want to talk to a spirit, one may just talk back. Then you got your wish.
    In our world, social media use and the quit hits of Twitter and Facebook have allowed us to dumb down political talk .. we have gone from large 10,000 word articles on the events of the day or week down to 100 character or so tweets. We decide on things after only glancing at headlines.. we do not check sources, but instead eat up anything we see on Facebook. So as long as we agree with it.

    And that is another problem with modern social media. We do not find things to challenge our thoughts or opinions… we don’t want to be challenged. Instead we are given the ability to follow the places we are fans of on the newsfeed……and you miss valuable contrary information by doing so.

    And the news? The news has become a victim, too. There is no ‘news’ anymore.. Today as Itype this there was a 7.8 quake off New Zealand and a tsunami warning. That is news. But it doesn’t sell in America. Instead the airwaves will be filled with indigestable political stories 24/7.

    The protests against Trump are being made worse by a media that glorifies them. But when violence occurs, the media shutters back and quickly showcases brief and not-so-serious calls for calm.

    Today on Twitter a friend asked me why I think Saturday Night Live was a fan of Hillary. She pointed out that Trump guest hosted the program. My answer was twofold. 1) Ratings. Trump equals ratings. 2) It was pre-extreme and pre-Muslim ban and pre-wall.

    Trump used his social media influence in the 2016 election like no other candidate. Elections will not be fought on airwaves anymore.. radio ads don’t matter. TV ads just annoy. YouTube ads? They work… Social media platforms? They work. And sadly, fake clickbait websites work as well as the solid and reliable ones.

    The 2008 election was the first time a candidate was able to harnass social media and Facebook to elicit donations and support among the young. In 2016, eight lightspeed fast years later, a candidate did not even bother raising money but instead used the platforms to gain a mass of people who, many of which never voted before, to vote for him.

    It was the perfect storm in 2016..
    You may not be happy with results. You may be one of those college students in certified ‘weep rooms’ or being told by university staff to form PlayDoh to express emotions (very silly in my thought)… or you are a member of the red state victors now hoping and praying that the president you so hoped for does not become a president you are not proud of.

    We just don’t know.
    We don’t have a clue.
    A social media candidate is the modern day version of Mr Smith goes to Washington. But even Mr. Smith was forced to give more detailed thoughts on plans. And Mr. Smith was fiction!!!

    Fiction is now alive and real in modern day 21st century politics.

    A Congress, a Court, and a populace will now have to work and watch a President Donald Trump.

    We got to know him (*kinda!*) through social media. And now as president, he says, he will tone it down. Backtrack… keep it less brash and unabashed.

    …..perhaps that is the most interesting thing of all. Sure, social media changed everything. It changed how we read politics.. it changed how we vote.
    But as Donald Trump is now realizing, it does NOT change how to govern….
    We will now collectively watch how President Trump governs.

    (Through it all, I still cannot stop to think about the Simpsons in 2000 predicting that a president Trump would happen……… wise beyond years)

  • Some of the stranger ways people are dealing with the election results

    Some of the stranger ways people are dealing with the election results

    Some of the stranger ways people are dealing with the election results:

    The University of Michigan offered its traumatized students coloring books and Play-Doh to calm them.

     The University of Kansas reminded its stressed-out kids that therapy dogs, a regular campus feature, were available.

     Cornell University, an Ivy League school, held a campus-wide “cry-in,” with officials handing out tissues and hot chocolate.

     Tufts University offered its devastated students arts and crafts sessions.

     At campuses from elite Yale to Connecticut to Iowa and beyond, professors canceled classes and/or exams — either because students asked or because instructors were too distraught to teach..

  • Kate McKinnon Opens ‘SNL’ As Hillary Clinton Singing “Hallelujah”

    Kate McKinnon Opens ‘SNL’ As Hillary Clinton Singing “Hallelujah”

    Kate McKinnon Opens ‘SNL’ As Hillary Clinton Singing “Hallelujah” :

    It was somewhat a surreal moment.. when comedy stops and drama begins. It was also very melodramatic…

    This entire week, a certain portion of the nation has felt like the world was ending.. like the end may have already actually happened on November 8 .. The other half is just keeping their heads down and waiting to see how their candidate will govern..

    And the protests rage…
    And now, SNL stops their comedy and treats the election more like 9/11 than 11/9..

    It also shows that SNL’s political stance is solidly blue–we knew that–but that Lorne Micheals isn’t yet sure who will play Donald Trump on the progam. Alec Baldwin was famous for it over the past few weeks. So famous that even then NOT President-Elect Trump tweeted about him not being funny..

    Not sure if the President-Elect will tweet about such mundane things now that he is receiving daily intelligence briefings… time will tell.

  • Slender is his name

    Slender is his name

    We have been all following the intense and violent Slenderman crime in Waukesha, Wisconsin.. 

    On May 31, 2014, two 12-year-old girls from Wisconsin lured their friend to a wooded area and stabbed her 19 times. They did it all to impress Slender Man, a faceless bogeyman whose mythology has proliferated on the Internet. The victim survived and recovered..

    And now HBO is ….cashing in? … on the crime with a documentary. I am always wary of horror movies based on real events, and documentaries which portray real events but for profit. In this matter, even if the movie is a bit too much too soon, it also looks really really good.

    The film is called BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN and it appears January 17 2017.

    Cinema blend writes,

    The most recently feature-length documentary from director Irene Taylor Brodsky, Beware the Slenderman made its debut at South by Southwest earlier this year, with HBO Documentary Films stepping in to distribute over its network platforms, which include HBO Go and HBO Now. Critical response to the doc has been largely positive, with many lauding the way it forces viewers to put a lot more consideration into how often they and their kids are tapped into online and virtual behavior.

    The trailer here:

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p1eVLEbOIw?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=540&h=304]

  • Spreading anti-Trump protests now in a number of cities

    Spreading anti-Trump protests now in a number of cities

    The media is loving it!
    Ratings galore..
    First help Trump beat the odds in the primaries…then turn on him during the general. When he actually assumes the mantle of leadership, promote raging anger against him.

    ratings ratings ratings…
    Can’t anyone see through this?

    Nonetheless, there are some pretty big protests spreading throughout the United States.. three nights in a row. And some of them are getting very violent.

    Thousands took to the streets of cities across the United States late Friday and early Saturday as anti-Donald Trump protests saw highways and interstates blocked, numerous arrests – and a shooting at a march in Portland, Oregon

    Even President-Elect Trump (*read that a few times*) Tweeted (read that a few times) about the issue, saying “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!” On Friday night, it appears the prestige of the presidency made him reconsider just how much more he wants to Tweet out.. he changed a tune, a bit, saying this:

    Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!

    Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis was broadcasting live during a particularly hardcore protest in Portland last night.. what was not known at the time during his broadcast: In Portland Oregon, a man was injured in a shooting on the Morrison Bridge during a protest march early Saturday morning.
    The suspect was believed to be in a vehicle on the bridge when a confrontation unfolded with someone in the crowd, Portland Police said in a news release. The suspect got out of the vehicle and fired multiple shots before fleeing the scene…

    Developing..

  • A big massive oops. No, Mark Zuckerberg is not dead, and neither…

    A big massive oops. No, Mark Zuckerberg is not dead, and neither…

    A big massive oops. No, Mark Zuckerberg is not dead, and neither are you …

    Despite apparent widespread glitches that changed a number of Facebook users pages to ‘remembering’ pages–the kind that happens when someone assumes room temperature..

    I would hope that the company tries stopping the glitch from occurring again. Though many users of Facebook probably feel dead inside anyway, it becomes a false profile on social networks…. and when the founder is presumed fatally wounded, stocks could suffer.

    So here’s to you, Facebook user! Hope you had a good social.

  • BART TO THE FUTURE! America in the present!

    BART TO THE FUTURE! America in the present!

    ​Yesterday was weird. Trump voters couldn’t conceal their smile, Hillary voters didn’t stop shedding tears. It was a tale of two nations.. some extreme went on Twitter to explain that Donald Trump was not their president, they said 11/9 was the new 9/11, and by nightfall several cities had protesters—even violent ones—exuding the idea that the president-elect was not theirs. But he is theirs.. and mine. And everyone’s.

    The reaction to the Trump impending presidency is about what would be expected… even supporters have a touch of shock… a “we did this?!” sort of feeling. Markets, which tanked at first, rebounded by the end of the day with the big winners being industries like big pharma and energy that expect to be less regulated during Trump/Pence.  As Hillary gave her last shout out to supporters, she silently walked off the stage. Perhaps the last time running for public office? Time will tell.. 

    I said before I was not going to announce my choice .. I still will not. Voting is a time-honored and cherished private moment that a voter has with their own mind.. without noise.. in a booth alone. That is when the truth comes out the most. But I will say this: I almost to the tee accurately predicted the state breakdown of who would win the election and how the vote would end up. So much so that my friend even owes me dinner at a nice restaurant.. The only two states I did not get right: Michigan and Nevada.  New Hampshire is still  out there so …maybe I will have gotten three wrong? For NH, I picked Trump.. 

    There is a big deal being placed on something else today. The SIMPSONS. Yes, they did a show featuring a post-Trump presidency joke in the year 2000. In the episode BART TO THE FUTURE, Lisa inherits a big budget deficit from Trump.  There are viral memes associated with the program showing Trump going down an escalator .. but that was from 2015. And there is another that just popped up saying that the Simpsons show accurately predicted an electoral map of Trump’s victory. But that was from 2012 where Mr. Burns endorses Mitt Romney.

    And herein is the trouble of the internet. No research.. quick memes and GIFs… no context. And clickbait.

    I stayed off of Facebook for the most part yesterday.. I was really ‘politicalled’ out, especially with a late night of 3am and then waking up again at 5am for work…. 

    Last night my wife and I joined up with some friends for wine to discuss the finality of the election… The group of up acknowledged that I was the only one in the group that actually envisioned the path to victory Trump would take .. They poured another glass of wine for themselves.. and another. They weren’t fond of my prediction then and weren’t happy now that it came true.

    But at the end of the conversation, the clash of titans of different political backgrounds agreed: Donald Trump is the president elect. He will address the nation from the Oval Office. He will deliver a State of the Union Speech. He will sign bills. And his photo will be present in all federal buildings. 

    The protesters last night hurling insults and lamenting him as the president will not stop the course of history. What is done is done. For better or worse, the system once again proved to work and deliver a leader. 

    But leadership starts from within. From within you. Me. Us. We lead our own lives. 

    There are two schools of thought concerning Trump. Those in favor like his brash style. They see him as honest. A few even believe him to a new Teddy Roosevelt.

    Those who hate him? The see him as a egotistical racist bigoted tyrant. And they stop at that point and don’t accept him.

    If the latter is true and he is a horrible man, it’s nothing new. Lyndon Johnson, when he wasn’t busy having extra-marital affairs or picking his dog up by the ears for fun, was also a bigoted human without class.. the Richard Nixon tapes portray a paranoid and delusional man who drops F bombs and racist comments throughout his day. 

    America has survived through it all. Including civil wars and worse.

    America will survive now.

    And…..surprises may come. 


    America may be great again…
    Or wait………………weren’t we great already?

  • The moment Trump got rushed off stage in Nevada ..

    The moment Trump got rushed off stage in Nevada ..

    grasslooter:

    The moment Trump got rushed off stage in Nevada ..

  • CONNIE WILLIS TONIGHT ON COAST TO COAST AM

    CONNIE WILLIS TONIGHT ON COAST TO COAST AM

    CONNIE WILLIS TONIGHT ON COAST TO COAST AM

    Connie Willis has fast become one of my favorite radio hosts over the past few months.. While sometimes she goes a little too hardcore into the Bigfoot topic, she actually holds my interest. What I love about her hosting Coast is that she seems to have an endless amount of fun being on national radio ..

    Her topics tonight, my likely given to her by the Premiere Radio network:

    Founder and Director of the Trends Research Institute, Gerald Celente, joins Connie Willis to talk about what he sees on the horizon for the United States. He’ll address the looming presidential election, as well as major trends right now including baby boomers re-defining aging in a good way, moving from the digital age to the robotic age, and how everything from fashion to politics is undergoing major upheaval

    It would appear that Celente is the only guest this evening.. Four hours of his voice may be difficult to endure..

     

  • A Mysterious ‘Ping’ Is Coming from Deep in the Arctic

    A Mysterious ‘Ping’ Is Coming from Deep in the Arctic

    A Mysterious ‘Ping’ Is Coming from Deep in the Arctic:

    A very strange noise is pinging deep in the Arctic.. it’s actually a cross between a ping and hum.
    But get this: It is actually believed that the noise is scaring animals away.. In a place where people rely on those animals for food supply..

    The sound has been heard throughout Fury and Hecla strait, a channel of water in the Nunavut region, and has proven to be a mystery for the local community

    From the CBC report on this weird noise:

    Speculation over the source of the noise has included Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation’s mining activity to the conservation work of Greenpeace. Both organisations have denied any involvement, according to CBC News. The Canadian Department of National Defence is also investigating, as detailed by a spokesperson in a statement to CBC who said that the “Canadian Armed Forces are taking the appropriate steps to actively investigate the situation.”