Monday, May 30, 2016

For the Record: Trump Lies Like a Rug

Submitted with one comment, from the Politifact website tracking Donald Trump's public statements as he campaigns:

When you put Trump's Mostly False, False, and Pants on Fire numbers together, it adds up to 76 percent of his statements being lies. That's the comment I wanna point out: three-fourths of nearly every statement out of Trump's mouth cannot be trusted, cannot be accepted as factual or honest or reliable or good.

And the Politifact people give themselves a ton of wiggle room for politicians and public figures in terms of giving them some benefit of doubt. Trump is so brazen and consistent a liar that for their 2015 Lie of the Year award, they pretty much gave it to Trump for pretty much EVERYthing he said.

I know there's the perception that ALL politicians are liars. But perception doesn't always match the facts. By the same metrics I put Trump: Hillary Clinton lies 28 percent of the time (a little over a quarter), Mitt Romney tracked at 42 percent of the time, Obama at 26 percent of the time, and Bernie Sanders at 30 percent of the time (and the only one avoiding a Pants of Fire).

Trump is by far the biggest, most consistent liar on the political stage.

And yet he keeps getting his fanbase to buy his bullshit. He keeps getting the mainstream media to buy his bullshit: Even with most of them well aware he's a bullshitter.

What the hell does that say about this nation, that we don't hold liars like Trump accountable for the fraud they commit upon the voters? There may be First Amendment restrictions on our government from enforcing such fraud in public statements, but our journalism industry ought to set itself to higher standards and ethics.

The cable channels and newspapers and radio stations are under no obligation to cover Trump, or grant him such privileges as the near-constant - and FREE - coverage he gets for his daily bullshitting. To hell with ratings: where the hell is common sense that Trump is a liar and shouldn't be listened to?

They ought to start charging Trump $50,000 a minute whenever he tries to do a damn phone interview instead of showing up in-person. They ought to set up a bullshit billing system where he has to hand over $100,000 per falsehood to the channel's or paper's lawyers to cover any lawsuits for journalistic malpractice Trump will be costing them.

And why not? It's a business, after all. The channels and papers and radio stations have every right to raise revenues, especially to cover the costs of lies they're forced to shill.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

I Survived MegaCon 2016: It Felt Like I Walked For Two Days

Oh, wait. I DID.

(Hold on, quick update here as of 5/29/2018: Whoa, getting a ton of traffic here but I think it's people looking for the 2018 MegaCon, which I did attend but I don't have those photos or videos uploaded yet. OKAY now I have it up. GO HERE FOR 2018 PICS and VIDS. Danke)

Previous MegaCon trips had been one-day affairs: drive in, walk about, sometimes in cosplay, other times shopping for fan art, then drive back home in bad traffic.

This time, with MegaCon falling on a long Memorial Day weekend - and having vacation time to use up at work - I took both Friday and Saturday to attend the comic-book scifi-fantasy gaming fanfic fanfilm extravaganza.

Still bad traffic both times though. Dear State of Florida: we could have had alternate rail transit DECADES ago and yet we're still dealing with congestion up the damn wazoo. I'd be calling I-4 between 8 am to 8 pm the world's worst parking lot, except I've been to Washington DC's beltway and have endured just as bad. At least DC has a Metro system to provide alternative means to... (Metro line catches fire for the ninth straight day) DAMMIT.

Anyway, documentation of the convention! As threatened, I documented the atrocities:

FREYA'S DAY

In order to get to the Convention center early enough to avoid the parking lot nightmare - not enough entry points, too many attendees - I have to leave before the break of dawn. The good thing is I get to watch the balloons lifting off in the mornings with the sun rising to greet the day... (you gotta zoom in to see: you're not supposed to snapshot and drive...)

VILLAIN-CON! The hotel where the Libertarian National Convention was convening this same weekend. I earlier fretted that we'd get bigger traffic jams and security issues and media attention because of it... but no, nada. Did any Libertarians actually show up? Because neither did the media crews...

Holy sh-t, people! It's Nat!

Back in the early 1990s some communities started up free Internet portal services called FreeNets. South Florida libraries started one called SEFLIN, and they created a local chat group called the SEFLIN Cafe that got quickly taken over by crazies sane rational and well-composed individuals of wisdom and sagacity. For some reason, I was a member. Nat was in the group as well. The FreeNet itself is long dead - it was text-only in a time of Internet Browsers, when graphics and video play dominated the 'Net there was no place for it - and the SEFLIN Cafe krewe scattered to the four corners of the world, but we've kept in touch...

Nat does the smart thing: he came with the missus and friends.

This is us goofing off as I get the Wristband of Power to grant me access to most convention places. He got Premium, which upgraded to Nametag status and better access.
One of the disadvantages of getting to the 'Con early is that you get there and then stand around in lines waiting for the official opening. Seriously, MegaCon people, you should be able to set up a waiting area with some activity to keep people occupied as you set up for the day. Like, maybe, a large monitor playing movie previews or a movie short or three that would thrill the crowd.


Cosplay! Ruby Rose!

"I say, old chap, any Death Star battle plans I might be able to smuggle for you this day?"

There is seriously a huge Steampunk fan base in the Orlando area, so I'm not too surprised the R2-D2 building community created a Victorian-esque droid.



Autograph lines.


From my experience with the Tampa Bay Comic Con, I know that every Con will have a plethora of Deadpools. It's one of the easier costumes to buy and then customize, because Deadpool is a character that can't be taken seriously and so... uh... you can make Deadpool into a housewife or a Steampunk or... uh...
You can make him into Donald Trump.

Oh no. GOD NO. Not Trump. #NEVERTRUMP

 Artists Alley!
Look kids! Gail Simone! (applause)


Female Kylo Ren (yes, gender flips are allowed in Cosplay)! Okay, now can we get a smile out of you, Ren? Ren...?


Whoa. 3D printing is a thing now, and they can set up a camera system to scan human bodies to make your own figurine! It's costly though - out of the budget scale of this poor librarian - but if you want to, this company is Zero Point 3D and they got a Facebook page and email and you can find out which conventions they'll be at next.

There is a Vaunt 3D company providing a similar service.


This is how packed it got on Friday. Saturday is the busier day...

The NaNoWriMo discussion panel! That's Bill Hatfield in the middle, NaNo organizers Berti Walker and Elyse Reyes to the left... and the guys on the right I didn't get business cards from, okay so someone's gotta tell me their names.


They set up the discussion in a classroom setup this time, nice.


First rule of NaNo Club: YOU WRITE 50,000 Words! Second rule: No Fight Club jokes...!

Rey Cosplay! I will only take pictures of the ones who fulfill their destiny and take the lightsaber that calls to them...


Speaking of which, Ultra Sabers set up shop this year selling a whole bunch of the glowy ones! Very pricey, but they have customized handles! (I was told there was a second vendor over in the Anime area, but I couldn't find them)


Selfie as I wait in line for the Kevin Conroy Q&A (One clue on my shirt explaining who HE is)

"I... AM... BATMAN!" Kevin Conroy just will not sit down for a Q&A. He bounces around the stage...

Friday ended for me around 5 PM, I went to a Don Pablo's restaurant for dinner and then got stuck in I-4 Traffic hell to where I didn't get back home until 9 PM. /headdesk

SATURN'S DAY

I know this day is busier, and so I headed out super-early for this one as well. Still get there too early and I get stuck waiting in lines again, but at least this time I look geeky doing it...

 As noted, Saturday gets to be a bigger Cosplay day.

Daft Punk! I know that's more music genre, but they are major figures in the anime and scifi communities so they are allowed!

I'm not the only Jedi who prefers BLUE as a robe color. All those other Jedi get so DRAB in browns and grays...

Watch out, lady! That's a Blogon!
Look, kids! It's a Mickey Mouse Sorcerer's Apprentice Deadpool! He'll stop the Dalek!

Unfortunately, the Mickey Mouse Sorcerer's Apprentice Deadpool got distracted by Francis, so he left the job to me...


From here, I went to the OTHER END of the convention hall (West concourse is a very long place) to wait for the Hayley Atwell Q&A.

While waiting in line, as noted, you get bored, and the occasional saber fight will break out...

Watch out kid, you'll poke somebody's eye out with that thing...


Hayley Atwell - Agent Carter, AKA the Next Doctor Who if the producers had any inkling how the fan base would thrill to it - is an absolute delight to listen to as she raps about her work.

Oh, right, the Jedi robe has a hoodie to it...

COSPLAY!

COSPLAY! With Deadpool photobomb! Damn you, my old nemesis...!

More R2 fun! This one is a Boba Fett inspired droid!



MORE COSPLAY!

MORE GLOWY LIGHTSABERS! We have the technology now...

MORE BOUNTY HUNTERS! I mean Cosplay!

MORE GAMERS! So this is where half the conventioneers go while everyone else walks and walks and walks some more... Oh, my feets...

I gots video clips as well, which I will upload in due time for sharing.

MegaCon is going on until Monday, I believe. But I'm done. Two days of intense walking is good enough for me... ow ow ow ow ow...

By the way, anyone hear who won the Libertarian convention...?