.....Mass shootings again? The NRA is citing the second amendment along with the Confederate flag. Now why doesn't (or isn't) there a mass cry for the victims of these killers. You may be certain that there will be deranged "hunters" out there--anywhere, more copycats. These will happen where people congregate: schools, churches, synagogues, (Please! not the Mets or the Cubs, or the World Serious.) Why not a mass American Memorial Day throughout the country? A day in which the NRA will lose their powers over politicians? Why not? A day in which people will tear themselves away from watching CNN and especially FOX News? And why not. When the bullets start to fly from the nut job who is going to stop in their spot and have time enough to pull out a gun stashed on their hip, and not run like everyone else? Just how many idiots do we have in our government?
.....I've been thinking--what else is there to do when you're 92? Trump is ahead of everyone in the polls, as we know, and some lament that reality. Is it because of his public speaking skills that are louder than anyone running for President? Or is it owing to a personality which could be a leading role in a play? Falstaff perhaps? And just why are so many people gravitating toward him? Is he not so different in speaking his mind as Khrushchev was when he banged his shoe on his desk at the U.N.? He didn't give a tinker's damn (who or what is a "tinker"?) what anyone thought about him or about Russia's warped political ideologies.
It took me a long, long time to write these things, and I have no idea if they are worth keeping! So be it. What is, is, et cetera.
ReplyDeleteYes they are, dear Baron, and many thanks for your labours.
ReplyDeleteUncontrolled guns, Donald Trump, government swayed by vested interests....your country looks weird and horrible from here. But when I'm over there, I just ADORE it!
Might even spend my last days there, perhaps near the Mexican border. Nice 'n' warm, and easy to access cheaper medical care. The UK is now too full of Muslims to be comfortable for a Jewish person. And our Labour Party has just elected a pro-Palestinian leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who hobnobs with Islamic anti-Semites. He says he's not anti-Semitic: it's obvious that the expression "noscitur a sociis" (Lat.: "we are known by reference to our companions") is unknown to him. I've sent in my resignation from the Party.
A tinker is a mender of pots and pans. Tinkers were mostly itinerant and often associated with Irish Travellers (formerly known as gipsies.) The expression "tinker's damn," although in wide usage, is inaccurate: there's no reason why the imprecations of a tinker should be worth less than anybody else's. In fact it's a "tinker's dam," being a piece of base metal used by a tinker to fill in a hole in a saucepan to stop it leaking, hence "dam." And worth nothing. We also have the metaphor "to tinker with," which you will know. Same origin.
Happy to help! And much love, Cuz Ruth
We need thorough background checks and a ban on automatic weapons but these insane incidents reflect a society in turmoil and some very disturbed people. And Trump, he’s a megalomaniac but his popularity simply is a proxy for mass discontent with both parties and all politicians.
ReplyDeleteThoroughly agree!
Deleteleave it to cuzzin Ruth to educate us "savage" American LOL. as to Bob Fox's comment, we already have laws banning automatic weapons. I agree with thorough background checks, however i wonder how we would define denying gun sales for "mental health" problems, what or who would decide the "cutoff line".
Deleteas for Trump, he is leading the Republicans, simply because the Republican party as a whole, does not know how to cultivate statesmen anymore.
Mm, I've now looked up the derivation of "tinker's damn/dam." Opinion is divided on the subject. Arrr! There be some as do say that the "dam" explanation is a piece of false etymologizing perpetrated by the Victorians, anxious to excise an impious word. It seems possible that a tinker's imprecations were indeed worth less than anyone else's (except possibly those of another tinker) because of the low status of the gipsies. That status persists to this day, on a par with your "trailer park trash."
ReplyDeleteSo - you pays yer money, an' you takes yer choice! Cuz R
What should I wear to work experience?
ReplyDeletework dresses for women