Thrills And Chills!

The election this year is one of those thrill rides that can really tear your guts up, if you let it. I have chosen to ignore it as much as possible, which is I do have to consider it at least once a day when I clear off my many pleas from the Harris and Walz campaign for more of my dollars. I've adopted a policy of donating once a week, usually small sum but once a larger one in the name of my departed wife, something she'd have approved heartily. 

I live in Kentucky, a state in which no real electioneering goes on since it's a foregone conclusion that Trump will carry the state. This is a sad commentary on the Commonwealth, a state which was Democratic largely when I was a youth, but sadly turned red in those dark Reagan years. I do see cracks in that hegemony this time around, and we have been graced with a Democratic governor who kept us from the brink during the Covid years and was even considered for the VP pick this year. 

So, from this vantage point, money is the way in which I can do the most good for the campaign. I have every confidence that Kamela Harris will be the next president of the United States and that we will finally at long last turn away from the foul smell of racism and misogyny which has marked the remains of the Republican Party over the last decade. I have to believe that, because to do otherwise is to give into despair. I choose hope. 

But hang on to your hat! 

Rip Off 

Gone To The Dogs!

I've had it with Sweet Potato Hitler's rampage against the Ohio town of Springfield. He and his toady Vance have left their dog whistles behind and are now repeating and embellishing the most absurd notions in order to demean an entire population, one they almost certainly know nothing about. Trump has long hated black people, and it bubbles to the surface as he struggles desperately to gain the White House and avoid the "Big House". The "Satanic Panic" which this is becoming, is a repeated trope in  America's history, and here we go again. Demonize a population based on nonsensical rumors and make yourself the dragon slayer come to save us all. That's the play, and it's working all too well so far thanks once again to our lackluster media who feel the obsequious need to repeat every idiotic word that comes out of the mouths of these detestable men. Vance has even admitted it's a hoax, and that would've been enough to demolish any campaign other than one topped by Tangerine Tojo. Lying is not a bug, it's a feature of this outfit. We are weeks away from a vote which will rid us of this noxious fiend. He won't go away instantly I know, but when all participants see the end has come at last, the energy will fade quickly I believe. These monsters will go back into hiding to some extent waiting for the next chance to screw up our lives with their stupidity. And the folks in Springfield can get on with their lives, as can we all. 

Rip Off 

And That's How You Do That!

The first (and likely last) Presidential debate went down last night, and Kamela Harris mopped up the floor with the Tangerine Tojo. She was calm, collected and drove home the points that anyone with any savvy already knows -- Donald Trump is yesterday's news, a washed-up TV celebrity who needs to head back home and prepare for his prison stays. (Or his transition to life in Venezuela.) It was a masterful presentation. If she and her running mate Tim Walz don't win the election after this performance and the campaign they've run, then we no longer need to be even the shell of a functioning democracy. Trump is a tired old racist and his running mate is fucking Nazi. Such types cannot be allowed to run this country, and in a very few weeks they will lose their last chance to do so for many years to come. The United States will move forward and not look back. The future looks bright. But we have to win. And we will.  

Rip Off

An Attack Of Stupid!

From time to time, I shake my head and muse how my country can be so busted, that a loathsome figure like the "Tangerine Tojo" can still command so much support in the upcoming election? Maybe when those outlandish claims years ago about fluoride in the water supply weren't so crazy after all. Maybe decades of diminished capacity have now reached a critical mass moment and stupidity has become the greatest domestic product of these United States of America. 

And now the stupidest Ex-President ever has joined forces with the son of a political martyr from the one of the most famous families in these here United States, a man who claims worms ate his brain and who while returning from a bout of falconing,  just so happened to drop off a dead bear in Central Park creating a mild sensation and only copping to the prank this year. RFK Jr. is an eccentric attention-seeking crank regardless of your opinion about vaccinations. (The vaccination scare is the fluoride of the modern day.) Together with the hapless Vance who is floundering as the VP pick, the trio have become a sinkhole of stupidity which threatens to drag us down into an ancient past of dumb. 

I'm honestly bewildered sometimes how a random comment or insult by these mopes is either forgiven or adapted but ultimately swallowed by their slavish minions. But they seem to want to believe the most insane things, stuff which will help them make sense of a wild and crazy world that often as not kicks you in the balls. They apparently feel forgotten and disregarded, yet they have chosen a leader who is utterly disinterested in their problems. And now he's picked a pair of sidekicks who openly resent them. 

A Republican victory this year will mean a turning back of the clock in America to the "Gilded Age" when a handful of rich oligarchs wandered the planet with impunity and the rest of the folks just had to be happy with their meager lots in life. Women under these savages will only have worth in so much as they are capable of bearing children and continuing the line as the world marches relentlessly to some poorly understood rapture when the sheep are swept from the Earth and us goats are left to fight for scraps. That's what it means to be part of a "Christian Nation", one guided by dopes who have barely read the sacred text they claim as idol as much or more than text. 

Whatever the case, the world will be better off when this triad of terrible ideas is well and truly kicked to the curb and new minds take the stage and build a world for tomorrow for everyone. We need to reignite the "Enlightenment", and place reason and science in the lead once more. At this point, religion is not showing us the way forward, but only holding us back. Fight the stupid!

Rip Off

When Women Rule The Earth!

One can feel it, like the cliched hairs on the back of the neck, there is a palpable desire for change. It is only due to the now archaic nature of the democratic process of the United States that our federal races are so close. Democrats have won the popular vote in all but one Presidential election this century despite only winning the office half the time. There are more Democrats than Republicans in the United States and the expanse between the two parties only grows. The current totals are around forty-eight million Democrats with only thirty-five million Republicans and nearly as many Independents. So, it perhaps should come as no surprise that the energy of the Democratic National Convention is a wonder to behold.

The Democratic Convention is like its counterpart a vehicle from an olden time to pick federal officers. It's not really necessary anymore, but it has found a new purpose and that is to showcase the desire and the capability of the Party to bring about change. People want to move on from the endless bickering which has plagued us. Despite nearly four years of a rock-steady administration under Joe Biden, the current race reminds all of us how it once was only a few years ago, when a blustering and bitter madman had the reins of power in his tiny hands. But the blockbuster show that is the Democratic Convention for all its corniness says that we want and need more. And further that we deserve better. 

Despite this discrepancy in energy the race still appears close, at least in terms of the numbers. But I don't see that staying that way. I want the Harris & Walz team to open up an ever-increasing lead right up to election day, and I want them to win with such a prodigious mandate that the Republicans will fold their tents and ignore the ravings of their crackpot leader who will inevitably cry foul. This victory should be a resounding one. By the numbers that would be already the case, but we live in ancient times still. When a black woman named Kamela leads the most powerful nation on the planet, we will take an important step toward the future, and we all be safer in our beds. 

Rip Off 

For America And Democracy!

America is an idea. Unlike nearly any other nation on this planet, this country was conjured out of the idealism of an enlightened era when it was for the first time imagined that citizens might govern themselves. Admittedly that definition of "citizen" was a narrow one, not including black slaves and women of any kind. Eventually those slaves were freed and in time given a real chance to vote for their own leadership. Women came into the fold later still. Now all adult Americans are gifted with the opportunity to vote for the kind of leadership they desire. 

Sadly, craven men and women have conspired over the decades to makes us all think our destiny is not in our hands. Some are misled by ministers and preachers who direct their flock's attention to the hereafter and make the here and now merely a holding pattern, one without a real future. Other vile folks seek to constantly limit the voting power of men and women with outlandish schemes to arrange maps with absurd boundaries, creating fiefdoms of power within the broader electorate. 

It is still incredible to me that an obvious liar and convicted felon with a long and very public history of racism and misogyny carries any sway with so many after so long. We have the chance to breathe new life into a democracy that sorely needs such an infusion. Joe Biden has gone a long way and has bridged the road from those terrible times to a better future. Now we must look forward and send a new generation to deal with the problems of tomorrow. Harris and Walz can show us the way to the future, but we must trust that they will have the chance to do so. 

Rip Off

Court Of Fouls!

The United States hasn't gotten screwed quickly. The Supreme Court has been chipping away at liberty for a few decades now, pretty much about the same time when John Robert became Chief Justice. The scheme seems to be to use the Constitution against itself, corrupting its clear intent and make the world safe for corporations and Caucasians. 

Let's just start in this century (Roberts was not yet the head of the court) with Bush V. Gore, when the Supreme Court awarded the 2000 Presidential election to George Bush despite the fact that history has shown than Al Gore actually won. The bizarre interplay between the branches of United States government took a turn that day. It led to a year of a President who lacked authenticity, and if not for the tragic intervention of 9-11, it's a tension that would've continued. But that attack on the nation melded the populace but sadly allowed the creation of the Patriot Act which increased the state's ability to scrutinize the people. It also led to the war in Iraq which was perpetrated by the Bush administration under an umbrella of lies. 

The next body blow to the union came in 2010 with Citizens United V FEC which decided bizarrely that corporations were people and deserving of First Amendment rights of free speech and that money equaled speech and as such no limit could be realistically maintained. For all practical purposes legitimized bribery and our Congress has been largely corrupted since. One can obviously argue the corruption was already in place, but this just made it easier and put campaign spending on steroids. It made it even more difficult for folks of even moderate means to run for office without personal wealth for a sugar daddy of some sort. That's why we have a congress full of millionaires. 

Dobbs V Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022 stripped women of full citizenship as it reduced them to second class citizens in many states in the nation when the court decided to say a woman did not have a Constitutional right to control her body and full control of her reproduction rights. This decision was made by Justices who perjured themselves to get a seat on the Court. This decision was made by Justices who got those seats by Congressional thievery and failure of basic civic fairness. 

The Court decided that racism was over and rescinded the limitations on certain states instituted decades before by the sweeping Civil Rights Act of 1964 because of rampant racist practices limiting the right to vote for people of color. Those practices returned within hours of the decision. It seems racism wasn't quite as dead as they thought. There is even talk of rescinding Brown Vs. Board of Education which ended segregation in American schools. And just this past month we have had a barrage of bad decisions. 

But it's Relentless V. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises V.  Raimondo in which the court reversed its forty-year precedent called the Chevron Deference which allowed for federal agencies to use expertise to best operate in a wide range of areas such as education particularly in education for special-needs education, food and water safety, labor safety and work rules, and environmental protection among a gigantic range of others. We will be subject to the kindness of the overlords to make sure our food and water are not poisonous and that we might get a break at work now again, forgetting completely that a raise might be coming. But on the other hand, I've heard that this might be an opportunity for more liberal approaches to break through using the courts. The battle is on. 

This court also reversed upheld some city ordinances and boldly announced it was illegal to sleep outside, making homelessness a crime. Cities and towns can now arrest the homeless and fine them for not having a roof over their head. These authorities are no longer required even to supply an alternative, save jail. They have decided that homelessness and poverty are a sin and crime, and jail is the way to punish such slackers. Never mind that supplying shelters is much, much cheaper than putting everyone in jail. As Jesus said the poor will always be among us, but in America now you can arrest their ass. Christian values win again. 

And on the last day of the session this summer, mere days before the celebration of the Fourth of July, the Supreme Court manufactured a loathsome edict in the aptly named Trump V. United States, one which gave nigh full immunity to the President of the United States, elevating the office holder above his fellow citizens, making him a de facto king. It's early days yet, but worst-case scenario is that they have possibly dissolved the union, creating a dictator who will over the course of time strip-mine the government, corrupt international alliances, and imprison and assault its former citizens. The best case-scenario is that the evil will be seen for what it is, creating a tidal wave of votes which will forestall for a time the attackers and give the union more time to defend itself and root out the traitors. An expansion of court would return balance and sanity to the institution and let new cases rise and reverse these hideous attempts to co-opt the nation and brutalize the citizenry. Joe Biden has put forth reforms, now we need just win the election to begin to roll this travesty back. 

It ain't over. They think it is. They think they've already won perhaps. They are about to learn a very hard lesson. 

Rip Off

Crazy, Man, Crazy!

Is it just me or is "Sweet Potato Hitler" getting crazier? The bastard has been self-absorbed and deluded for most of his life, but it seems these days he's well and truly out of control, so much so that even reporters eager to resurrect his campaign have trouble corralling him long enough to talk about anything other than his own personal problems. I cannot remember a time when a public figure dodged a bullet and elicited so little sympathy. Even his comrades in evil only want him upright and warm so as to spearhead their attack on democracy and civil order. Upright and warm seems to be about all he can deliver to crowds who are increasingly bored by his endless rants. His rhetoric is musty and while effective once upon a time to a select crowd, has lost all of its charms. This particular "Pied Piper" seems to be unable to wrangle the rats any longer. It's a new day. He's old news. 

Rip Off 

A New World Order!

We still have too many days until our next "most important election of our lifetimes". But the time is drawing down and the situation on the ground has changed dramatically. My man Joe Biden as stepped down as a candidate and his chosen successor Kamela Harris has stepped in and to my surprise and great joy, my party has rallied around her candidacy in a way I didn't imagine possible. Is she that fine a candidate? She's proven herself to be pretty good. I applaud her choice of Tim Walz as her VP, because he's a guy who clearly wants to be there for all the right reasons and he brings proven political chops. He wasn't a choice made out of timidity, and that's powerful in itself. But the truth is other factors are at play in this election as well.  

The momentum has so shifted in the past month, that the dread of a second term under "Sweet Potato Hitler" has dimmed to longshot at best. The mavens who predict these things are all seeing the changing of the guard and that what was old is out, and what is new is in. Even the Professor who predicted his first unpredictable upset nearly a decade ago says it's nearly over. We could have had this conversation about changing the guard a year ago, but if this is how it works out, then I'll take that. Anything to protect my daughters from more predation from Fascists who want to turn America into version of Gilead, the dark vision of a lost America portrayed in The Handmaid's Tale. And the scariest thing about that last sentence is that I'm not being hyperbolic. Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Idaho have become testing grounds for human cruelty. 

Seeing a black woman of mixed ethnic background take down the "Minute-Maid Mussolini" is sweet and utterly appropriate. I admit it's fun to watch him broil under questioning from people he can only imagine should be bowing before him, or to be back at one of his country clubs waxing the floors or trimming the hedges. His racism bubbles up inside him like an evil brew, and he can barely contain himself from howling at the world to spare him from the indignity. He has much suffering to do. For the first time, I really think I can see this traitor in lock up. It will take a lot of effort, and there will be no end of wheezing, but I really do think that day will come. 

But we're not there yet. Still work to be done. Still, plenty of fascists to defeat. 

Rip Off

The Stupid News!

Well, the papaw that damn near ate democracy shambled forth yesterday and summoned his lackeys from the news media to attend his every incoherent word. After a few weeks of getting decimated by his opponents in the press, Trump felt it was time to try and get his noggin on TV again and so had a "press conference" which in true dictator fashion rambled on for over an hour. During this time, he said nothing new and only complained again and again about how unfair life was to him. He insulted his opponents on the Democratic side over and over, with slurs that issuing from the mouth of any other public figure would have drawn instant fire. But for him, there was no reproof in real time and little after to be honest. It was yet another shameful exercise for the news in which they were lapdogs and licked up his evil brew rather than create a ruckus they'd not hesitate to lambast other citizens of our fine country with. They prove themselves to be cowards yet again, and it was this cowardice that made him so very powerful before. I can't think they're that stupid, but maybe they are. I think his foes are too powerful this time and his stench too well known for it to succeed, but it won't be for the lack of the media trying to gin up yet another horse race which ends up with the world itself getting trampled. 

Rip Off