Post Trump USA

Donald Trump is becoming increasingly unpopular which seems a bit strange after all his successes so how is this possible?
The Orange Fatbergs administrations approval ratings are plumetting and a cynic may point towards voters having had enough of the racism, tantrums, extra judicial killings by ICE, support for the Israeli genocide, the corruption, lying, creepy weirdness, climate denial and refusing the release of the Epstein files he's in and the incoherent babbling and disregard for anyone that refuses to bow down to him.
That is unlikely as his MAGA crowd love all that or rather they did but the problem seems to be runaway inflation, the high cost of petrol and the whole Iran war thing but many people who voted for the Tangerine Toddler are most upset because they thought he was just going to do all the horrible stuff to other folk, not them.
It's got so bad that even some Republicans are even turning against the Grapefruit Gaddafi and as his power continues to wane, Humpty Trumpty will lash out even more, banning more news outlets from the White House, destroying all the Kennedy centres and reflective pools he can get his hands on.
Despite everything, millions will keep voting for Baron von Shitzinpantz anyway as many of his voters are filled with hatred and fear and will pick a sex offending criminal who is almost certainly a pedophile over just about anyone from any other Party but if the Mid Terms go as everyone expects, Americans can start looking at a Post Donald Trump USA but there is a problem with that.
With his penchant of being a utter jerk, he has wounded the USA past the point of return where he somehow managed to make the Iranian regime look sane, with most of the world rooting against America (and enjoying Iran's mocking videos of the orange cheeto) which sucks for the American people and although history will not be kind to him and deservedly so, the rest of us know that if the USA collapsed and had to stop interfering in the rest of the planets business, the world would be a much nicer and better place so win win for the rest of us, oh dear for the US of A.

Special Guest Blogger: Brazilian Goddess Pomba Gira

Sit down, darling. No, not there dolt, you’re sitting on my silk skirt, and this shade of crimson is far too expensive for your fat backside to rumple.
Honestly, the youth of today. You walk into my crossroads with your store-bought roses and menthol cigarettes and you expect the Queen to just drop everything?
My path is paved with the bones of men who thought no was a suggestion, but it has a certain charm because a woman has three choices of being a wife (boring), being a servant (tiring), or being a problem. I chose to be a catastrophic problem. I had hips that swung like a pendulum and a laugh that
could shatter a stained-glass window from three streets away. I lived in the taverns, the cabarets, and the places where the respectable people went when they wanted to feel alive and then spent the next morning praying for forgiveness.
Being a Pomba Gira isn’t just about wearing red and looking fabulous, it’s about the Crossroads. Every time you’re stuck, between a bad job and a worse one or between a boring husband and a thrilling mistake or even between life and death, that’s my office.
I’m the Queen of the Seven Crossroads. I’m the one who stands at the gate of the cemetery, laughing at the people who thought they could take their money with them. You can’t.
When you call on me, you’re not calling a fairy godmother. I’m not going to turn a pumpkin into a carriage, i’m more likely to set the pumpkin on fire and tell you to walk.
You come to me with your little red candles, crying about some boy named Kevin who hasn't liked your photo on the internet. Seriously? You want the Queen of the Night, the Lady of the Labyrinth, the Woman of Seven Marriages, to intervene in a digital spat?
I remember when people asked for real things like protecting your house from the police or making sure your husband’s mistress loses her hair but now, I spend half my time looking at your tweets and blog posts and think I’m not a feckin' delivery service, I’m a spirit. If you want a miracle, go talk to
a saint, they’re much more patient, though their parties are terrible. No smoking, no drinking, and everyone wears white. Dreadful.
People find my laugh, the gargalhada, quite scary as they think it’s the sound of evil. Idiots, It’s the sound of a woman who has seen the beginning and the end and realized that most of what you worry about is utter horseshit.
I'm the perfume you smell in an empty room and the red rose that blooms in the middle of a graveyard, I’ve seen empires fall because someone wanted a kiss they weren't supposed to have and seen men ruin their lives for a glimpse of a red pair of knickers and I sit at my crossroads, sipping my cider, and I laugh.
But don’t get it twisted. I’m not your bestie, I’m a Queen. If you bring me cheap wine, I’ll make sure your next haircut is a disaster. If you lie to me, I’ll make sure you trip every time you try to look cool. I demand respect so take your roses, leave the cigarette pack (the full one, don't be cheap) and remember, life is too short to drink bad wine or smoke those French ciggies which smell like burnt tyres.

State Pension Age Conundrum

The state pension age is currently set at 67 and there are plans to rise it to 68 and even 69 but the Government are pondering aloud on at some point maybe thinking about possibly lowering it instead.
Very much a kite flying exercise where they mention something in passing and see how it lands with the public and if it gets a bad reaction, they can just say it wasn't actually a thing and forget about it but the idea of putting your feet up a few years earlier than thought seems to be quite popular so they may ponder on it a bit harder.
I have never been able to sort out in my head if the pension age should go up or down, up means less pensions to pay out because in all honestly there are fewer 67 year olds than there are 65 year olds and being dead is a handicap when it comes to claiming your old age pension which saves the Government money but by people staying in employment longer it creates a bottleneck with less jobs for the new generation as the oldies roll on.
Of course by retiring people earlier opening up more jobs, the Government will save on Unemployment Benefit so i guess it comes down to will it cost them more to pay out Pensions earlier than they will save by not paying out Unemployment Benefit and if not, would seem a bit of a economically backwards move. 
There are some ways that I can think of which might work as you presently need 35 qualifying years of National Insurance (NI) contributions or credits to get the full UK State Pension so one option could be you are entitled to retire once you have reached the threshold because working beyond that isn't going to earn you anymore and I can see how that would be popular, even putting it up to 45 years would mean if you began work at 16 you would be clear and eating Wurthers Originals by 61.
As it is only at the 'Hmm....maybe we could' stage there are no plans for what they are thinking or the age they want to lower it to but i'm still unsure if it is a good thing or not, but by making it you can take it earlier if you have the qualifying years if you want to, it seems a happy halfway between what we have now and what most people seem to want.

Eurovision Withdrawals

Canada is joining Australia as being temporarily European for a week in May 2027 when they both compete at the Eurovision Song Contest but Ireland and the Netherlands won't be there in Bulgaria because they have confirmed that they won't share a stage with Israel again due to their continued Genocide in Palestine.
Ireland was one of five countries, along with Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia, that refused to take part in the competition this year in protest against Israel’s participation.
Eurovision's director, Martin Green, said he regretted the withdrawals but: 'They remain a valued part of our family and will be missed' although he won't miss them enough to keep them in and kick out the murdering Israelis instead like they did with Russia.
The European Broadcasting Union has tried to address broadcasters concerns over the participation of Israel by announcing that nations involved in armed conflict or sensitive geopolitical situations will no longer be eligible to host the Eurovision song contest but stopping Israel from hosting it if they win was not enough and off they popped in protest.
I imagine as we get closer more nations will withdraw and I hope they do and would fully support the United Kingdom withdrawing in protest and allow our children, Australia and Canada, to represent us instead because Israel need to be ostracised and to be fair, they would have a better chance of not finishing towards the bottom of the leader board as we tend to do recently.

Cheating Football Teams

 Much joy from Football fans at seeing Manchester City finally getting their cumuppance for their decade of cheating but while many fans of other clubs are reveling in the Citizens demise, a few need reminding that their own teams have had points docked or fines for their own cheating.
With 43 teams on the list for reasons ranging from breaking Financial Fair Play rules to administration, it would almost be quicker to name the League teams which haven't been caught out trying to gain an unfair advantage but where's the fun in that so here is an alphabetical  list of every team that has been docked points over the last 30 years.   

AFC Bournemouth        −10 and another of -17
AFC Wimbledon            −3     
Aldershot Town             −10     
Birmingham City           −9     
Bolton Wanderers         −12     
Boston United             −4 and another of -10    
Brentford                     −3     
Bury                            −12     
Cambridge United      −10     
Chesterfield                 −9     
Coventry City             −10 and another of -10    
Crystal Palace             −10     
Darlington                  −10     
Derby County             −21     
Everton                       −8       
Hereford United         −3     
Hartlepool United     −3     
Leeds United             -15 and another of -10 and another of -10
Leicester City             −6
Leyton Orient             −3
Luton Town                −30 and another of -10  
Manchester City         - pending
Macclesfield Town     −17     
Middlesbrough             −3     
Morecambe                 −3     
Nottingham Forest     −4     
Portsmouth                 −10  and another -9
Plymouth Argyle         −10
Port Vale                      −10     
Rotherham United       -17 then others of -10, -10 and -3
Reading                      −6 and then -6 and another -6    
Sheffield Wednesday  −18 and another of -6
Sheffield United         -10  
Southampton              −4 and then another of -10
Stockport County         −10
Torquay United             −1
West Bromwich Albion −2     
Wigan Athletic             −8 then another of -3 and then -12    
Wrexham                      −10     

That sure is a lot of teams which ended the season with an asterisk next to their name.

Spectre Haunting Donald Trump

A spectre is haunting Donald Trump—the spectre of impeachment and going to Prison for being a pedophile and that is what is facing the orange moron because he knows he's onto a hiding come the midterms unless he can rig the elections and that's exactly what he's trying to do.   
Not the brightest knife in the drawer, Trump could not even spell Communism let alone explain what it is but it hasn't stopped him from describing his Democrat opponents as a Communist Menace which is meant as an insult, yet he has as much idea of what constitutes communism as he does about what is a red card offence in football.
Without even mentioning the Trumpstien Files where he is exposed as almost certainly being a pedophile, he can't focus on the US economy where his tariffs have been a disaster or his awful foreign policy and the war in Iran going so poorly, he’s scrambling around and has taken the usual slur of radical leftists have taken a step up to calling them Communists.
Trying to scare Americans about Democrats who advocate Medicare for All, Universal childcare, free public higher education and higher taxes on the super-wealthy to pay for them has not worked as as these initiatives are supported by most Americans so he is now trying to paint them with the scary label of Communist.
The last time this was tried is in the history books under Joe McCarthy which provoked witch-hunts so of course Trump would reach for the Communist scare card when he has almost no other cards left to play and could end his career in prison for all manner of corruption charges as well as being exposed as the pedophile he almost certainly is.
According to one poll i wrote about previously, an Axios-Generation Lab poll of young Americans, 67% say they have a positive or neutral association with the word 'Socialism' compared with 40% who are positive or neutral toward 'Capitalism' and it is easy to understand younger generations growing disillusionment with Capitalism so it is unlikely Trump’s new red-baiting is going to help.
Obviously then the sex offending President is trying to distract Americans from his corruption and the Trumpstein files but if they won't be fooled that easily then his next step is probably going to be to something much more menacing at the polling booths or afterwards at the count.

Special Guest Blogger: Savannah

Existing for as long as i did in a world that thrives on chewing up and spitting out girls like me was impressive although i'm not sure if i will be remembered for my art, my temper or my impressive list of rockstar exes.
The AVN, bless their little cotton socks, once ranked me at #19 on their list of the top 50 porn stars of all time. #19! Not bad for a girl who mostly winged it, showed up late, and probably caused more headaches than actual cinematic masterpieces. I should’ve been #1, obviously, but modesty always did become me, just not very often.
My career was never just about the skin flicks, I had range and artistic depth or, at least, I had a great agent who told me I did. I dipped my toes into the shimmering, slightly sticky waters of B-movies. And let me tell you, if you think porn sets were wild, you haven't seen anything until you've been on a low-budget sci-fi horror comedy set at 3 AM with a prop severed head that looks suspiciously like last night's dinner. I played everything from a possessed cheerleader to an alien seductress to a zombie's love interest. The roles were diverse but I gave them my all or as much all as I could muster after a long night at the Sunset Strip hot spots.
Billy Idol, Vince Neil, David Lee Roth, Billy Sheehan, Pauly Shore, Slash, Mark Wahlberg, It was like a who's who of every poster I ever had on my teenage wall, except they were actually in my bed. It was exhausting, thrilling, and frankly, a lot of fun.
My reputation, much like my hair, was big, bold, and sometimes a little untamed. It was said that I always arrived late and was a temperamental Diva and not inaccurate I'll admit.
My financial acumen, or lack thereof, also became legendary. Substantial income they said and it was for a fleeting moment. But where does all that money go when you're living large, loving harder and buying every ridiculous thing that sparkles? Apparently, it goes. Quickly.
I was a girl who broke barriers, hearts and a few studio couches and lived full-throttle, consequences be damned and while i I survived the 90s, dated everyone you had a poster of in 1988 and the adult industry, what took me down was a car crash. A simple, stupid crash that broke my nose.
Now, to an average person, a broken nose is a bummer where you wear a bandage, you get some flowers and move on. But for me? In my world?
I looked in the mirror and didn't see Number 19. I saw a girl who couldn't take a close-up. And in my line of work, the close-up is the pension plan so I panicked and I didn't just get a little sad, I went out with a bang, literally, self inflicted gun shot to the head.
So what did i leave behind? A few dozen porn tapes, a collection of very expensive leather jackets, and a Rolodex that looks like the guest list for a 1991 MTV Video Music Awards after-party.

Suella The Racist

Officially, being English is a matter of nationality and residency so anyone born in England or holding legal citizenship is legally and culturally English so that seems clear cut, unless you are Suella Bravermann of the Reform Party who made the bizarre claim on BBC Question Time that she isn't English despite being born here as she has an Asian Heritage.
Credit to the man who then argued with her that he has spent his whole life being told he is not English by racists because he is Black and she is therefore reinforcing the racists arguement for which she  dismissed because that would mean she is being racist towards herself for which he shrugged and said, 'You are'.
She repeatedly refused to answer the presenter’s direct question of does she mean that you only be English if you are white but Suella was always a right wing nut so it is no surprise she stepped across to the even further right Reform Party and is coming out with nonsense such as this.
To my mind she is setting it out to her fellow Reformers that people with brown and black skin can’t be English and she agrees with them, and she is a brown woman herself which is toxic and bizarrely, appealing to the sort of people that would throw her out of the country without a second thought.
To be fair i would throw her out also but not because of the colour of her skin, but because she is vile and always has been.

New Age Spirituality Not The Same As Religion

Back in the dark day's the Church knew everything and the Earth was flat, the Sun revolved around the Earth and that woman with the black cat and the wart was definitely going to end up in the lake because the Church said so but then along came people like Galileo, Copernicus and Issac Newton and the grip on the masses began to slip but for science to really make headway, what it needed was to get rid of that pesky God character so take a step forward Charles Darwin.
Since then the Church has never regained the dizzy heights of its popularity but some on the religious side of the fence keep trying and the Evangelical Alliance (Together we are making Jesus known) has launched a guide for Churches to: 'Take advantage of New Age popularity in the Supernatural'.
I assume, and i know this guide wasn't issued for my eyes, but the idea is to piggy back on the rise of all things New Age and say 'Nice Crystals and Venus being in the House of Pluto means there is no better time to read the Bible and come to the Church'.
Somehow, Christians and their ilk see what the Bible Society called: 'A Quiet Revival' which suggested a huge increase in religion although it is not turning into newly filled pews as it is growing online and its opponents are not necessarily religious.
Religious things may not be my bag but they very much are the bag of my blogging partner and he explained that although New Age spirituality with its astrology, crystals, meditation and impersonal cosmic energy or universal consciousness, is not the same as a traditional religion with God as a distinct creator.
Maybe to the Evangelical Alliance the line between New Age Spirituality and Religion is blurred or it is concerned that its flavour of Faith is being replaced and it wants to bring the New Agers into it's fold to keep its stranglehold on the believers tight by deliberately conflating what they believe with that the New Agers believe although it patently isn't.
My personal view is you can believe what you want if it helps or brings comfort to you in some way but a God or the position of a Planet is too wacky for me to take on board because the latest God is just a copy and paste of many earlier Gods and the Planets do not give a flying one about you and if you had said they had a couple of hundred years ago, you would be looking down from the top of a pyre from the same people now trying to recruit you.   

Special Guest Blogger: Inuit goddess Sedna

Every time someone bites into a succulent piece of blubber or dons a warm sealskin parka, they are, quite literally, enjoying a piece of me.
I was the daughter of Anguta and Isarrataitsoq, which is a lot of divine pressure for one girl to carry but both my parents were always on about me finding a nice hunter to settle down with but my main priority was mainly, eating. I had this Great Hunger, an appetite that could swallow a caribou whole. I occasionally tried to nibble on my parents while they slept but we’ve all made mistakes in our rebellious teens. Some kids dye their hair blue, I tried to consume the architects of the universe but instead of getting me a therapist, dad decided the best course of action was a scenic boat trip and
throwing me overboard into the freezing Arctic Ocean.
There I was, treading water and I did what any sensible person would do, I grabbed the side of the kayak but Dad was having none of it took out his knife and snip, snip, chop, chop and as my finger joints slipped away into the abyss, they didn’t just sink. They transformed with the knuckles becoming the ringed seals, the middle joints Walruses and the tips those magnificent, blubbery whales.
I watched my own digits sprout flippers and swim away which is a strange feeling to see your pinky finger blow a sprout of water and swim off.
My body became the foundation of an entire civilization’s survival and it’s hard to stay mad at your dad for being a homicidal maniac when you realise you’ve just accidentally solved world hunger for the next ten thousand years.
After the finger-chopping fiasco, I sank to the bottom, grew a tail (very mermaid chic)  and founded Adlivun, the underworld which is like a gated community, but for the dead, and the gates are guarded by some very grumpy sharks.
As the Mother of All Marine Animals,  if you want a seal for dinner, you have to stay on my good side and the power trip is immense, when i see a whale swim past my window I feel a strange sense of pride but it’s not all glamour, there’s the hair because the downside of having sea-creature fingers for a legacy is you can’t hold a comb so i summon a Shaman to do it for me.
Having a shaman travel through the spirit world to the bottom of the ocean just to comb your hair is the height of luxury but take it from me, if you are feeling peckish see what's in the fridge, especially if you have a father who owns a kayak and a sharp knife.