Tag: pop culture

I recall after 9/11, that particular Halloween, how ultra-sensitive and weird things were.. I remember the political ramifications of what you wore–the outfit could put you in the wrong category.. Are you with ‘us’ or against us..?

This year may be about the same.
It was strange to watch the Al Smith dinner the other night and see Donald Trump being jeered by the crowd of media elites for his commentary about Hillary–it was not really as much funny as it was biting. Hillary was more routine, more common.. more traditional. But this year the election is not traditional at all.

There are friendships dying and marriages drying, all because the people within relationships are choosing different candidates. Facebook has become a hostile battleground of red vs blue acquaintances..  It is all really too much .. over the top.

And this year, at your door step, the next fight might occur .. . Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are going to be there.. not in the forms of ADs or flyers in the mail, but in plastic form. Halloween masks.

I have been reading my Twitterverse feed as of late about this very topic. There are indications, we are told by prognosticators of all that is political, that the mask sales are indicators of who will WIN the election.  Some put about as much stock in that as people who say they see wooly little insects and that means a record setting year for snowfall was going to occur.

According to various reports from around the Halloween stores across America, people are buying up Trump masks over Hillary likenesses about 2 to 1.. Some locations even report a 3 to 1 advantage for the billionaire..  Clinton fans opine that it is not necessarily because the purchasers like Donald Trump .. but instead because recipients of the mask intend on mocking the Republican candidate for president across the fruited plain..

The HUFFINGTON POST just wrote up an article about very scary looking Trump mask production processes in mainland China.. –Maybe an import Trump would stop if he becomes president?

There are so many versions of his profile. And they are being bought up everywhere.

So … the polls.
Polls that show Hillary pulling ahead of Trump. Polls that indicate she is going to win the election, maybe not by a landslide but instead a razor close margin with the help of some swing states.

But history..
History of mask sales indicating who would win an election.

In 2008, TIME magazine had a story showing a 55-45 advantage of Obama over McCain in sales. It also spoke about How Reagan outsold Carter (despite polls in 80 showing Carter would win) …  And look at the numbers And realize just how close the mask sale figures were to the final popular vote tally.. maybe there is something to this?

But a cautionary tale for Trump fans who think his mask sales indicate a victory on November 8: Richard Nixon. His face is still a top seller. He is one of the most highly disregarded presidents because of his criminal activity and mental illnesses.. But people wear his face–often even during bank robberies.

Either way get ready. Get the candy warmed up.
Donald Trump is about to ask for a hand in a town near you.

 And it is disgusting..
 
 The Internet is suddenly alive with posts and images from people worldwide who are showcasing old McDonald’s food..
 
 

Some have had burgers for 10 years hat didn’t rot.. French fries that didn’t mold.. ‘Chicken’ nuggets that don’t look a day older than normal but they’re six years old..
 
 Creepy food pictures for sure.
 And suddenly the Internet is uniquely disgusted by images of corporate food..
 
 McDonald’s may have s social media problem to combat of images keep getting circulated. The chain has already taken a recent profit hit with a lack of purchases of their food.
 
 Old food.

The media sensations are abundant..
Trump said what!?
Cruz did who!?
And those terrorists? Those unholy hell fighters.. the scourge of the earth. ISIS is bad. But FOX NEWS and the immediate media have got people feeling there’s a terrorist behind every tree. That mainstreet USA is going to be nuked. That you should get that duct tape you put away in 2003 with the Tom Ridge color code heyday and bring it back from the dusty underbelly of your closet.
And if that’s not enough, Lil Kim Jung Un continues to fire .. things .. into the ocean.

All the hell.. all the oddities.. all the experimentation of reality.

But what is really killing you? What is really destroying your family? What is really plaguing the neighborhood playground, school yard, and living room or kitchen table?

Heroin and fentanyl.  Two filthy pieces of reality that the matrix has seemingly constructed to destroy civilization as we know it.

Forget the fentanyl, let’s just focus on the poppy: Before you scoff at such a notion, a few facts are worth factoiding for the public record.. Things like these:

Heroin is an opioid painkiller. Heroin is prescribed as an analgesic, and less commonly as a cough suppressant and as an antidiarrhoeal. It is also used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects..

 

IUPAC ID: (5α,6α)-7,8-didehydro-4,5-epoxy-17-methylmorphinan-3,6-diol diacetate

 

Formula: C21H23NO5

 

Molar mass: 369.411 g/mol

 

Melting point: 343.4°F (173°C)

 

And there you have it. Some of those sterile facts.

This has quickly become an epidemic .. of massive proportions. It’s quickly eclipsing the normal cause of death in the USA: Auto accidents. It’s quickly ruining families, causing children to be forced into foster homes, destroying friendships and faces, and killing family members.. killing .. you?

The whole idea of the epidemic is how many lives it has touched… the ripple effects are horrid and far reaching. There are chances that you, YOU, right now reading this, are nodding your head in dour and glum agreement. This drug addiction has hit you .. and hard.

It may start with pain killers.. it could even be some childhood prescription from a narcotic dealing doctor for ADHD.. Eventually other harder substances come.

In the 80s, we had crack to ruin cities.. in the 21st century we have a heartland torn apart by heroin..

The WASHINGTON POST REPORTED THIS IN 2015:

Heroin — now cheap, plentiful and more potent than ever — is killing people at record rates. Across the nation, deaths from heroin overdoses nearly quadrupled in the decade ending in 2013, according to a new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Actually from 2013 to 2014:  overdose deaths increased from 13.8 per 100,000 people to 14.7 per 100,000. 47,055 people died from drug overdose in 2014, more than any other year on record and surpassing the number of automobile-related deaths. ..

Hundreds of opioid deaths are also occurring from the use of fentanyl..

Cartels and drug dealers have gone deep into the suburban areas of the United States.. deep into the heartland.. deep into small town USA.  Given the fact this is the HORROR REPORT, there is an old movie poster that this whole scourge reminds me of.. the poster for the 1970s flick based on true crimes in Texas THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN. Just replace the masked killer with a needle … an arm.. a brain immersed in the pain and death path of the drug..

The entire thing is madness..
While I will not take any position on whether drugs should be or should not be legalized or decriminalized (I have  my personal opinions that I will keep personal) the entire notion of how we get heroin is quite insane .. Picture it: Afghan farmers grow poppy seeds.. shipped to Iran to refine and create.. shipped to Europe to go on boats.. arriving in Central America for cartels to sort.. traveling through armed checkpoints.. ending up in dealers’ hands.. getting to cities… making a trip to small town USA.. ending up in people’s arms and brains.. killing young children and innocent people.. ruining families. Money to be made. Millions per day per dealer. Other money going back into the hands of terrorists who will most likely use it to bomb innocent men, women, and children in places that they think are safe. A day in the life of the planet earth.  I said I’d keep my feelings on drug decriminalization a secret. But maybe you can infer something from the simplistic description I pronounced..

And speaking of Afghanistan: In 2014 the Afghan opium cultivation has once again hit a record high, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s 2014 Afghan Opium Survey. 

The spoils of war indeed.

What a strange connection… A Bush declared war in 2001.. a thriving poppy plant. A hard hitting heroin epidemic a few years later..

There are persistent rumors — RUMORS — that the CIA has been involved.  Those rumors harken back to the 1980s/90s rumors that the CIA was also involved in the thriving crack epidemic that ruined the lives of African Americans in inner cities.  Back in 1996, then CIA director John Deutch stepped into the lion’s den about that very subject..

Modern age: 90-95% of illegal opiates originate in Afghanistan and have fairly consistently since the 2001 invasion. Who put Karsai in anyway? Oh.. we did.

The war on drugs..
Just say no.
“DARE” to tell a kid how to do drugs and then educate them not to…
What a mess…
What a travesty..

On a personal note, I would not be writing about this in such detail if the scourge did not effect my circle of friends and family..

It’s not at all something to be shamed because of.. but instead something to force one to educate others, get involved, and try to find a solution instead of harboring old stupid grudges and hatred..

Drug addicts? They are not always criminals.
And more often than not, they are you sons.. your daughters.. your moms.. and dads.

Perhaps it’s high time — pun intended — for the search for terrorists under shrubs to be called off. And replaced with a very honest and straightforward national conversation about heroin and all the side effects of the plague that come with it.