Week of 09/26/2022

 

Stop Writing Off The Villains Before They’re In Prison
– by David Matthews 2

As a longtime comic book fan, not to mention a creator of numerous comic publications, one of the most aggravating parts of a superhero story is when the villain manages to get away with their criminal act.

At the beginning of John Byrne’s “The Man of Steel” #5, we see Superman holding what appears to be Lex Luthor’s infamous battle suit and telling Lex that he’s “getting sloppy”.  Everything in the battle suit says it’s made by LexCorp.  Even the operator is a LexCorp employee, complete with a company ID.  But Lex has an explanation for all of that, stating that the employee was fired “weeks ago” and that the battle suit was reported “stolen”.  Oh, and the supposed “former” employee would not be able to say anything because his mind was scrambled by the battle suit’s interface.  So there would be nothing that could directly tie Lex in with the blatant attack on Superman.  He manages to get away with it, as he would do with so many of his criminal activities.

In the “Challenge of the Super-Friends” cartoon series that aired on Saturday mornings in 1978, the Legion of Doom would commit nefarious criminal activities, only to be stopped by the superheroes.  But just when it appears they will be headed to prison, somehow the Legion always manages to find a way to escape so they can terrorize the world in the next episode.

The escape was always something that was required for the storytellers of both comics and cartoons, because if the bad guys really went to prison, then they wouldn’t be able to go after the hero or heroes the next time.  Unless, of course, they manage to escape from incarceration, which, in the case of Batman villains, happens quite frequently even to this day.

I bring this up because we have a really bad habit of writing off the bad guys before they really are.

Remember John Gotti?  How many times was he facing charges for organized crime?  Prosecutors kept on saying they “got” him, that he was through, only to either have the charges dropped or to be acquitted.  Over and over and over again, he was arrested, charged, and then walked.  Everyone kept on saying he was finished, that the prosecutors had him dead to rights.  They didn’t.  The media dubbed him the “Teflon Don” because nothing would ever stick on him, until he was finally convicted in 1992.

Remember Al Capone?  Prosecutors tried just about every charge they could, including vagrancy, but he somehow kept getting away with his crimes until he was finally convicted for tax evasion.  Again, everyone kept saying he was done.  He was finished.  But he wasn’t until that final charge, the one that nobody really counted on.

Remember Saddam Hussein?  From Operation Desert Storm until his capture in the Iraq War, everyone kept on saying his time was done.  After losing Kuwait, people kept on saying he was done.  He was going to face war crimes charges.  He was going to be removed from power.  He was going to face justice.  He wasn’t.  He managed to stay in power and continue to be belligerent and threatened the world.  Even after Iraq was invaded and overwhelmed in the Iraq War and Hussein was on the run, people kept on saying he was done when he wasn’t.  We captured him by accident.  And we weren’t the ones that finally delivered justice.  His own people did that.

Osama bin Laden, the man that ordered the hit on America on September 11, 2001, was yet another criminal that somehow eluded justice, even though we continually said he was dead, that we were coming to get him, that he was going to face justice.  Six months after the attack, our own president, George W. Bush, arrogantly said that Osama didn’t matter anymore.  He remained in hiding until Bush Junior’s successor found Osama and sent the special forces in to capture and kill him.  But up until that time, we were saying Osama was done.  He was finished.  He was done in.  He was bombed or his own people got him, or he was trapped in one of those many mountain caves.  But he wasn’t.  He was living in comfort and obscurity.

Do you see a pattern here? 

Well now we have a malignant narcissist who previously sat on the highest office of the country.  A man who talks and carries himself like a mob boss.  A man who was impeached not once but twice.  The amount of criminal activity he is accused of is staggering and would make the worst mob boss in history pale in comparison.  With each accusation made, we are told that he is “done”.  As a businessman, as a political leader, as a sociopolitical cult leader, as a basic human being, he’s supposedly “finished”.  Nobody will do business with him.  Nobody will follow him.  He would be run out of office, and then run out of politics.  He’d go to jail.  To prison.

And yet, to this article’s date, the narcissist has yet to face one criminal charge.  He has yet to be indicted, never mind arrested.

One district attorney chickened out and fired the prosecutors that were ready to indict him.  One Attorney General has been slow-walking any idea of charging said narcissist saying only that “no one is above the law”.  Another prosecutor has turned a supposed sure-fire grand jury into a long and drawn-out expanded inquiry.  One attorney general in New York has finally brought charges... but those are only for a civil case, not a criminal one.  Civil, like so many other charges that get settled after a long and drawn-out series of legal maneuvers that the narcissist is a master at doing. 

Despite the promises from pretty much everyone that the narcissist is “done”, he is far from being so.

Let’s get brutally honest here... we need to stop thinking that the narcissist, like any other unscrupulous person, is somehow “done” until he actually is.  Rich and powerful people are not treated the same as you or I.  If any of us did even a fraction of what he’s been accused of doing, we would already be in prison.  Not held up in pre-trial inquiries and court orders barring evidence, never mind getting a “special master” to oversee the evidence against us.  We would already be tried, already found guilty, and already in prison.  Ask a young woman named Reality Winner if you don’t believe me.

Someone like the narcissist has no problem doing business even after being caught screwing people over.  He has no problem getting stupid people to give him money, to pay his bills, and to support him with all the adoration of a cult.  Do you think someone like him would follow court orders?  Barring him from doing business in New York – as the civil case requests – means nothing for someone who has no problem working through proxies and doing business around the world. 

The only thing that would stop someone like him would be incarceration.  Prison.  Shut away from fawning sycophants and adoring cult followers, unable to manipulate the political system, unable to screw people over.

Al Capone and John Gotti didn’t stop doing what they did until they were actually convicted and sent to prison.  Saddam Hussein was defiant despite global condemnation until his own people executed him.  Osama bin Laden survived and continued to run global terrorism for years until he was finally captured and killed.  So too would someone like the narcissist never stop, despite all the predictions of him being “done”, until he is actually arrested and convicted and sent to prison for the things he did.  Just like any other villain, never treat their fate as being set until it actually is.

Week of 09/19/2022

 

Quiet Quitting?  Quiet Firing?  
Just Be Quiet!
– by David Matthews 2

It was two years ago that a supposed “new trend” was being reported by the air-fluffed ego-driven media as “The Great Resignation”.  It was when people originally considered “essential workers” during the global pandemic had enough of their mistreatment and poor wages and just up and walked out, often to other jobs that paid far better, but also for a lot of older workers just getting out completely and joining the ranks of the retired.

So not long after this started trending and more and more underappreciated workers started leaving the workforce – either to those better-paying jobs or to retirement – the media, at the behest of Big Business and their so-called business experts, began talking about “The Great Regret”.  It was all about how supposedly this “huge wave” of workers that had previously left their underpaid and unappreciated jobs for those better jobs were going to be begging – begging, I say – to their previous employers to come back.

It was a crock of crap.  The “Great Regret” was nothing more than a Big Business fever dream.  Were there some that regretted leaving their poorly-paid jobs for better ones?  Some.  But not in the “great” numbers that the so-called “business experts” deluded themselves would be.  And for those at home who still need a clue... twenty percent of those who previously resigned does not fit any definition of “great”.

So now we have the next BS “trend” being reported by the media.  It’s called “Quiet Quitting”.

“Quiet Quitting” is supposedly a “trend” whereby workers just do what they were originally hired to do, nothing more.  They show up on time, they clock out on time, but they also don’t volunteer for extra work.  No overtime.  No weekend work.  No accepting extra assignments or added responsibilities.  “Quitting” but not really quitting.  If they get hired to flip burgers, and they just get paid to flip burgers, then that’s all that they do.  They don’t do janitorial work.  They don’t fill in for the drive-thru cashier.  They don’t work the breakfast shift making scrambled eggs and sausage.  They’re flipping burgers and nothing more.

This has led to the retaliatory declaration by the same media of this thing called “Quiet Firing”.

“Quiet Firing” is supposedly “firing” an employee without really terminating their employment.  They still get paid for clocking in on time and clocking out on time and for doing just what they have been paid to do, but they don’t get anything else.  They don’t get raises, or, if they do, it is not as big as previous raises were.  There’s no talk about promotions or advancement.  No special projects for them.  But it also means giving them mediocre tasks and low expectations.  You’re flipping burgers and we now expect you to use a spatula.  You already do?  Great.  It can also mean no time off.  You’re here to flip burgers, not leave to attend a family funeral.  You’re not feeling well?  Too bad.  Suck it up, because you’re not leaving early to see a doctor.  See them on your own time.

But you know what?  These are still nothing more than crocks of crap.

Let’s get brutally honest here... “Quiet Quitting” and “Quiet Firing” are nothing more than bad management at work.  Oh, you *expect* all your employees to work above and beyond what they’re paid to do, sacrifice any kind of life outside of the workplace, forgo any kind of responsibility to family, and to work twenty-four-seven if necessary?  Oh, and to do so without additional compensation?  Gotcha.

There are several TikTok skits out there that best shows the mindset of these bad managers that all go something like this...

The bad manager tells the employee that he/she expects the employee to do the work of three other people.  When asked about how much more they’re get paid for doing the work of four people, the bad manager says they don’t “have it in the budget” for the additional pay.  The employee is just expected to work longer hours and do the work of four people but for that person’s current pay.  They, however, will be rewarded with experience and gratitude from the company.  The employee then calls up the bank and says they’d like to pay their mortgage with “experience”.  The bank laughs.  Then the employee asks if they can pay with gratitude instead.  Again they got laughed at.

Do you get the picture?  People can’t pay bills with “experience”.  They can’t buy groceries with “gratitude”.  But you expect them to work additional responsibilities and sacrifice their lives for nothing more than their original pay.  Yeah, I’d be looking for something better too.

And the passive-aggressive tactics to try to force someone to actually quit?  Yeah, that’s also on you as a bad manager.  You might even end up hearing from Human Resources.

So, you play these games and you get the person you don’t want there to actually quit.  Now you need someone else to do that person’s work.  It’s not like HR will have “another you in a minute” like Beyonce sings.  So what do you do?  You fob it off to the rest of the employees.  But you’re not going to pay them extra for the job, will you?  Of course not.  So now you have other employees who are miserable because they’re having to do the work of the person you just forced out.  And maybe they’ll be tempted to find other job that will treat them better and pay them more, so now you’ve got other people ready to leave.  Happy?

And this really isn’t anything new.  The mindset, the “hustle culture”, this has been going on since the Industrial Revolution if not earlier.  Having people work long hours for low pay?  Hell, Charles Dickens wrote stories about it!

Oh, and you know what else has been happening with some of these places?  A new surge in efforts to unionize in places unheard of before.  Places like Amazon and Starbucks.  And while unions are poor substitutes for good management, they also show the effort for people to get better pay and better working conditions without having to quit and find those better jobs.

So, really, shut the hell up with these bogus phrases like “Quiet Quitting” and “Quiet Firing”.  The media certainly have no business creating and hyping these nonsensical concepts.  Instead, the media should focus on what these things really are, which are the actions and reactions of bad management.

Week of 09/12/2022

Dey Commin' Fer Yer Pickups!
– by David Matthews 2

Once upon a time in a medieval kingdom, a young king is faced with a hostile crowd.  Half of them are carrying pitchforks.  The other half are carrying torches.  They all hate what’s been going on in the kingdom, and they all blame the young king for it.

The young king is scared.  He doesn’t know what to do.  He wanted to make everyone happy, but nothing he’s done has worked.  He seriously ponders stepping down and letting someone else rule the kingdom.  He turns to his advisors and asks for their guidance on how to satisfy the mob.

His senior advisor smiles.  “My King, I proudly served your father when he was king, and his father before him.  Believe me when I say that this gathering is nothing new.  Your father and your grandfather both dealt with this kind of unrest before.”

The young king was astonished.  “How did they deal with it?”

Before he could finish asking the question, though, the crowd got louder and louder, but they weren’t advancing towards the castle.  Instead, they broke up into two groups and went their separate ways.

The advisor said, “The same way we dealt with it just now.  We sent someone to the people holding the pitchforks to tell them that the ones holding the torches want to take away their pitchforks.”

“Divide and Conquer” is an old political tactic played by pretty much every group since the dawn of civilization.  You tell one group that another group is coming to take their things away.  Even if it isn’t true, you now have one group fearful and defensive about that other group.

Conservatives have pretty much perfected the art of division by making a good portion of the populace fearful of any kind of law or regulation or requirement.  Except, of course, for the laws, regulations, and/or requirements that they impose.

They’ve long mastered the chant of “They’re coming for your guns!” and “They’re coming for your bibles!” and “They’re coming for your children!”  During the global pandemic, they were chanting “They’re coming for your freedoms!” when it came to any kind of mask or vaccine requirement or to try to enact any kind of shut down to prevent people from getting sick and dying.  Try to suggest any kind of tax reform that would have the wealthy pay taxes, and these people will get the middle class to chant “They’re coming for our wallets!”

Last year, conservatives went so far as to chant “They’re coming for your hamburgers!” in response to a proposed climate agreement to reduce greenhouse emissions.  How they got to that hysterical proclamation required them to take a report from the University of Michigan that had nothing at all to do with anything from the White House and turn that into a scathing proclamation that accused the White House of rationing hamburger meat and forcing people to eat kale.

That’s not to say that other groups don’t play the same game.  It’s just that conservatives have been the masters of divisive hysteria for so long that it’s pretty much their go-to now.  They’re literally the faction that cried “wolf” for so long that they don’t know how to say anything else.  In fact, they were parodied by “South Park” as the group that chanted “They took our jobs,” which morphed into them mumbling “Dey took ur joobs!  Dey took ur joobs! Oot-do-doo!”

So now we have what will likely be the next chant from the faction that cries “wolf” for a living...

“They’re coming for your pickup trucks!”

Or... “Dey commin’ fer yer pickups!”

On August 25^th, 2022, the California Air Resources Board issued a rule that would end the sale of gas-powered vehicles by the year 2035.  It doesn’t prohibit people owning or driving gas-powered vehicles after 2035.  It just prohibits them from being sold in California in 13 years from now.

Now, this is California’s decision to make, and they have every right to do so.  California makes things legal or illegal to be bought or sold all the time.  All the states do that.  Some states allow marijuana to be regulated and sold.  Others don’t.  Some states allow communist paraphernalia to be sold.  Others don’t.

And, yeah, I can see other states doing the same thing.  I can see states like Washington and New York and Massachusetts following California’s lead.  But I can also see many other states with conservative-dominant legislators and conservative governors making proud declarations that they will sell all the gas-powered cars and trucks and scooters and golf carts and boats and lawn mowers and leaf-blowers that people want.  I can see good ol’ boy red-hats turning their pickup trucks into smokestacks like they’re extras from a Mad Max movie.  Hell, some of them have been doing that already.

Now, personally, this commentator applauds California’s decision, but not for the reasons you may think.  I’m not for it to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.  Rather, it’s from a simple understanding about oil that many people really don’t comprehend, and that it is a finite energy source whose ending will be sooner than you expect.

Let’s get brutally honest here... I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again... there is no real future with oil.  It doesn’t matter if it’s diesel or unleaded; at some point, it’s going to run dry.  The wells will dry up.  All those leases that Big Oil holds will mean nothing.  All of that hydrofracking will come up empty.  And, while I don’t think we will devolve into a Mad Max society when that happens, I do know that we need to plan for a time when vehicles run on something other than gasoline.

The automakers know this.  This is whey they’ve been slowly churning out the all-electric vehicles.  Some of them are even powerful enough to power a home in the event of a power outage.  The automakers know that there is no future with oil.  They know that they will need electric vehicles, cars and trucks, and even electric semis.  It’s not just a pet project of Elon Musk.

Of course it’s not enough to have all-electric vehicles.  It doesn’t help to get the gas out of the cars when they’re still charging up from power plants running on coal, which is yet another finite fuel source.  At some point we will need to come up with something to replace coal as well, and nuclear isn’t exactly it at the moment.

Speaking of which, it certainly doesn’t look good for California’s governor to sign off on that 13-year deadline to go gas-free and then tell people to cut back on electricity now to avoid blackouts.  That only shows that California has to do a better job dealing with their electrical grid than they are now, and they have a serious reason why in thirteen years.

Hysteria over gasoline, whether now or in the near future, really does nothing except waste time and show the stubborn ignorance of those who are easily offended.  No, nobody is coming for your gas-chugging pickup truck or SUV or souped-up hot rod.  You want to keep your chugger, you go ahead.  It’s your money to spend on the gas.  Just don’t bitch about the price in about thirteen years from now.