Black Friday starts on Thursday now

Black Friday....

Rampant, unrestrained, consumerism.  The world watches the darkest side of capitalism run amok.  No wonder they hate us.

Why do people still camp in front of stores for days just to get last year's TV marked down 50% from the 80% markup 2 months earlier?

Have you not heard of Amazon?

By the Way, In case you weren't aware the "Black" in Black Friday has nothing to do with how dark it is outside when the store opens. 

Nor does it have anything to do with the darker side of human nature although you'd be excused if you've ever made the mistake of participating in the madness.

There was a time, supposedly, that retailers counted on the holiday shopping season to bring their books into positive numbers aka "being in the black."

Which assumes the rest of the year they're operating at a loss. 

Which may be true but gross sales have less to do with it than the perverse trickle down economics of corporate structures that reward CEO's with multi-million dollar bonuses.  

Shed no tears for a corporate empire built on the standard of indentured servitude and slave wages.  

I find nothing more distasteful than the want ads for a "seasonal" worker with the lure of  some meager discount off merchandise they can't afford.

No wait..

I find something even more distasteful than that...

Stores open on THANKSGIVING!

What the living hell is wrong with you?  I'm not just talking about the stores either.  Why they hell does anyone think it's OK to force people to leave their families just so you can buy some more crap?

Black Friday is bad enough but now we can't even let the pumpkin pie settle before it's off to the races!  

What's the point of a holiday if everybody has to go to work?  

OK, not "everybody"  just those poor unfortunate souls forced into indentured servitude by the likes of Kohls and Best Buy.

Here's a list of the worst offenders. 

• JCPenny stores open at 3 p.m.
• Old Navy is scheduled to open at 4 p.m.
• Best Buy, Macy's, Toys'R'Us and Bonton will open their doors at 5 p.m. 
• Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Dick's, Modell's and Sears will all open at 6 p.m. 

They blame everything from Amazon.com to Obama for it but the real reason is bald-faced greed.  

They'll claim in an age of online stores that they must do this to survive.  By extension they'll claim to support the economy by providing jobs to all those "seasonal" workers to meet the "demand."  

You probably saw this coming but here it is anyway....

Boycott them.  All of them without exception and anyone else that thinks it's OK to perpetuate this outrage.  Oh and before you get on the high horse about all those jobs they're providing.  Know that most of those "seasonal jobs" don't contribute to the economy when people  have to supplement their wages with food banks and government assistance.

It's even worse for the "regular" employees many of which are working 39 hour "part time" schedules.  They're on Food Stamps too.

Talk about corporate welfare.  

Wanna get all biblical about it?  

Fine.  Since the Thanksgiving tradition usually involves somebody spouting bible verses before gorging themselves try this one out...

Matthew 25:46

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

You say you live in a "Christian Nation?"  

Then start acting like it.

Crybabies? Time to change the diaper and move on

Look I get it....

Your guy won our gal lost.  I'm OK with that mostly because there isn't anything anyone can do about it now.  Unless you're literally an advocate of the very anarchy that was suggested by the Trump camp if he lost, we really need to move on from this.  

For the most part nobody's voting rights were denied, nobody is even suggesting it.  At least nobody anyone is listening to.  By the way, around 121 million votes were cast for Trump and Clinton combined.  Allowing for around 5 million "protest" votes for the third parties that leaves us about 160 million short.  

Dead serious here.  So, if you didn't even bother then shut the hell up.  You're entitled to your boycott, abstention or whatever you rationalized it as but now you get to live with the trappings of that choice which means I don't care about your opinion as far as this election goes.

That said...

We've got to give the guy a chance even if it means choking down some bile.  Still, I know why they're in the streets.  The reality now is that we're going to have to live through a rubber stamp across 3 branches of government. for at least the next 2 years.  

On the bright side.  Republicans are just as eager to appear relevant as Democrats.  Trump's election was only a mandate for the elimination of the electoral college.  An institution that in the last 20 years  has managed to subvert the popular vote twice.  

Oh, and to those of you out there jubilant in your "victory" I'll say this.  The will of the people has as much relevance in New York as it does in New Albany Mississippi buddy.  

The electoral college was a concession to another group of "crybabies" in the southern states back in 1787.  Those "crybabies" went on to comprise membership in the Confederate States of America by the way.  You know, the guys in the gray uniforms.

Making the Electoral College as outdated and clumsy as the three-fifth's rule.  Google that to see where this abomination of democracy came from.  

So today we have the popular vote functioning as little more than an "also ran" for no other reason than making 200 year old slave owners happy.   The result is that barring Satan himself on the ballot there will always be the same few states that determine who wins the presidency making everybody else sloppy seconds.

That's an argument for another time, however.  Suffice it to say the only other mandate in this election was for whomever occupies the Oval Office to close the chasm of division brought about by 35 years of ideological civil war.

To that end I offer hope...

There was actual support for many of the social and infrastructure programs offered up by Democrats over the past 6 years from a Republican dominated congress.  It was just that one nagging thing that wouldn't let them move forward.  

The guy in the oval office.

They didn't like him because...Who cares, we all suspect what it was and the barbs and birthers all lead back to the realization that the last 50 years may not have been as socially progressive as we'd hoped.  Maybe that three-fifth's rule is still fresh in their minds too...

If the election showed us anything it was that regardless of whom you voted, that shit just had to stop.
Look no further than the images of Trump's face this week.  It's been blank, contemplative and just a bit fearful.  There was no evidence of the fiery threats or xenophobic tirades.

The demonstrations in the streets of America may have been largely viewed as the tantrum of a petulant child but they were something else as well.  An indication that any move toward the fascist dream of the far right would not go unanswered.

Trump does not want to be the president that goes down in history as starting another civil war.

So take heart "crybabies"  It's not as bad as you think.

Despite the rhetoric, nobody is going to allow the US to descend into a 21st century version of Nazi Germany.  For one thing, there's no money in it.  For another, it literally doesn't have "popular" support.

 How long do you think this country would put up with anything that curbed its access to the McRib or 65 inch TV's anyway?

What I'd also suggest is instead of boiling in your own rage that you find a way to make lemonade out of lemons.

One thing I know for sure, especially living in a RED state, is this; The purse strings get a whole lot looser when the Republicans have the White House.  The other is that political rhetoric is just that.  Valueless, baseless diatribe.

Republicans don't want to live in a police state any more than Democrats do so don't expect armies of "Jack booted Thugs" anytime soon.

From my own experience I can tell you that while I supported Obama, My personal fortunes only suffered under his administration.  Still, I had to think of someone other than myself when I voted.

Trump would be wise to do the same... and so would you.

If it's at all true that "Joe Six Pack" made his voice heard you have to address that.  There are far too many living on the fringes to spend any amount of time waiting for the payoff of a "higher purpose."

That's a condemnation of both sides.  Yes, one more than the other but both are to blame.  If the possibility of bipartisanship is dead so is this country.

...and news flash...Canada doesn't want you...

Think about that the next time you fire off an angry tweet.