How We Elect Our Senators–This Is Where We Are, Folks
Why isn’t Hershel Walker down 25 points in the polls?
It’s because Republican are showering him with endorsements and huge donations.
That he’s criminally insane doesn’t matter a goddamn thing.
Tagged with: criminally insane
Trump Stoked Violence on January 6th
From this:
The Washington Post reports that it will present new evidence that former President Donald Trump blew off warnings of imminent violence from his supporters.
As the Post puts it, the evidence will show that Trump “was repeatedly alerted to brewing violence that day, and he still sought to stoke the conflict” that culminating in his supporters violently rioting at the Capitol and sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives.
If this can be corroborated, it eliminates any doubt that Trump should be arrested and charged with sedition.
Anyone can understand that indicting a former president, especially on who is still likely to attempt a second term in office, is likely to draw protest to the effect that it is politically motivated and bound to create reprisals. But the evidence here is so clear, and the crime so egregious, that the Justice Department has no other option.
Tagged with: Trump should be arrested and charged with sedition
Who Doesn’t Want the Latest Assault to Sustainability, and Our Intelligence?
Do you ever cut up avocados for use in a salad? Tired of using a knife that takes perhaps 15 seconds? Want a specialized device that takes at least as long, then needs to be washed and stored? If so, this latest utensil for American idiots has your name on it.
Tagged with: sustainability
Is Demanding Justice One Day and Supporting Trump the Next Good Politics?
Americans have reason to be cynical about the honesty of their politicians, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise when an apparently sincere Republican U.S. representative (in this case, Mike Gallagher) switches from being a supporter of justice to a Trump lackey overnight.
I would think, however, that it would be a poor decision from a practical perspective. Doesn’t it make you look like a lying ass**** to voters in both political parties simultaneously?
Tagged with: Supporting Trump
From PoliticalFlare: “Shockingly Angry Pope Francis Berates Western Anti-Immigrant Attitudes, ‘It’s Disgusting, Sinful, Criminal!’”
Many Americans think of their country as a “Christian nation.” Yet the teachings of Jesus are virtually nonexistent in the way we treat other people.
Characteristically, the Pope, a deeply compassionate and humanitarian figure, is unhappy about this. Perhaps unhappy is too mild a word; furious is better.
Yet, based on the way the media coverage of American politics is so profoundly hate-based, dealing with our xenophobia is next to impossible. No hate means no gripping news, no ratings for the incendiary cable channels, and ultimately no votes for the demagogues.
That dog don’t hunt.
Tagged with: Pope Francis
William Shatner Speaks About His Blue Origin Trip to Space
“It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”
It’s not uncommon for space travelers to have profound thoughts as they look back at the Blue Planet. When I was in grade school in the 60s, we watched a movie in which an early astronaut related his feelings of awe that there are “no lines, no borders” on the Earth’s surface. All the force we apply to divide up the planet into (often warring) countries is entirely artificial.
Tagged with: Blue Planet
The Challenge in Closing the Gap Between Rich and Poor
Since my college days almost 50 years ago, I’ve believed that the United States is experiencing the unsustainable end game of unbridled capitalism, i.e., that we were seeing winners win and the losers lose.
I graduated in 1977, just before the base year of the comparison in wages between CEOs and workers, shown at left. As is apparent, things have only gotten worse since then.
Moreover, workers are becoming unnecessary in most industries, as automation replaces human labor. This is why union busting today is like shooting fish in a barrel: workers have no leverage, and nowhere to go.
Tagged with: gap between rich and poor
Voting Against One’s Best Interests
People who don’t vote in their best interests come in two varieties. Ironically, they’re polar opposites:
Altruists. Many people with no kids in school vote for school bond issues because education is important to society. The same can be said about people with health insurance voting for universal healthcare, and the list goes on.
Idiots. Many of the people who voted for Trump, especially in 2020, believe that tax breaks for billionaires create jobs, that environmental responsibility hurts the economy, that the former president is bringing jobs back from overseas, that Jews are replacing them, and, most glaringly, that the U.S. medical industry is conspiring to shut down the American economy and social fabric with pandemic remedies that have no scientific value.
Strange days indeed.
Tagged with: environmental responsibility hurts the economy, Jews are replacing us, tax breaks for billionaires create jobs, the U.S. medical industry is conspiring to shut down the American economy and social fabric with pandemic remedies that have no scientific value, Trump is bringing jobs back from overseas, universal healthcare
Feeling Sorry for the United States
This reminds me of the response a fellow from Sweden gave me, when I asked about his country’s perception of Trump: “We simply feel sorry for you. Not one of us thought this could ever happen in the United States.”
This, as we all know, is quite a dramatic shift. Until 2016, at least since the turn of the 20th Century, the U.S. was the envy of the world, especially in regard to its respect for rule of law. How ironic is that?
What Will Happen When Trump Is Gone?
Interesting comment here from Walter Shaub, former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics.
I hope he’s right, but I see no reason that the divide between Trump’s supporters and his opponents will ever become a cut and dried matter.
Ask yourself what will happen when the former president is charged with seditious conspiracy, theft of classified government documents, election tampering, and whatever else. Those backing him in congress will try to pretend they saw through him from the start, and his supporters in the electorate will simply shut up and move on to the next ultra-right-wing nut job.
Americans have terrible memories. That’s what makes us so susceptible to demagogues in the first place.
