25 VIII 2024: Kennedy Jr’s endorsement

As if we needed reminding, R. Kennedy’s endorsement of Donald Trump shows us again what a little shit he really is. He is a sun-baked ne’er-do-well whose craving for public notice matches that of his new hero Trump. He, like Trump, is also a magnet for crazies and their conspiracy theories, so I suppose Bobby is Made for MAGA. 

Why is this bum still haunting the fringes of American public life. He too, like Trump, exploits the naivete and cupidity of the media that leads them to give free publicity to any famous name, even if the famous person is a scoundrel.

16 VIII 2024:  Any way that I want to

Rep. Nancy Mace appeared in a panel on CNN. In the course of the discussion she kept mispronouncing Kamala Harris’ name, this despite, or, maybe because of repeated corrections by the other panelists. The final result of their efforts is reported as: “Mace pushed back, saying she would ‘say Kamala’s name any way that I want to.’ She mispronounced Harris’s name again as she spoke.”

Now Rep. Mace’s insistence on “any way that I want to” is as childish as anything we might expect from Mace’s leader, Donald Trump. But there is more than simple childishness here.

“Any way that I want to” could be a slogan or motto for the whole MAGA enterprise and summarizes their ultimate corruption of American “freedom.” Reality does not matter, truth does not matter, decency does not matter, for I’m free to act and think and believe “any way that I want to.”

This reminds me of a woman with whom I served on a jury. The rest of the jury were for finding the obviously guilty man guilty. She held out, and all arguments based on facts and logic could not bring her to re-consider her position because, she said: “That’s how I feel!” That is to say: “I don’t care what the reality of the situation may be, I’ll act as if it were the way I want it to be.”

14 VIII 2004: Blowing away the beast

Chapter 14 of the Book of Daniel in the Septuagint Bible tells how Daniel destroyed the Great Dragon of Babylon. This Dragon was adored by the Babylonians as a genuine living god. But Daniel obtained permission to try to “kill the dragon without sword or club,” and verse 26 reports: “Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and boiled them together: and he made lumps, and put them into the dragon’s mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worshipped.”

I wonder if we are going to see a similar end for America’s reptilian demi-god, Donald Trump. Maybe the current campaign is going to stuff into Trump’s mouth enough lumps of multi-racialism, optimism, respect for all, and generosity that he will be blown away along with those who promote his worship.

2 VIII 2024: Where have all the Boy Scouts gone?

I received today a flyer from a local Republican politician, Adam Schwadron, who is running for Secretary of State of Missouri. It says a variety of things about Mr. Schwadron that are bound to appeal to reactionary voters. Along with his other achievements is listed the following: “Adam made Eagle Scout at age 13 and continued on until age 18.” That is truly impressive. But the blurb continues: “Sadly this once proud organization has been lost to woke culture.”

Well, the Boy Scouts of America has been lost to the rule of law. Its shame was made manifest and it was forced into bankruptcy, like some Catholic dioceses, by law suits arising from a history of child abuse within the organization. It has changed its name to “Scouting America” by way of starting over. It wasn’t any “woke culture” that destroyed the Boy Scouts of America, no, it was the criminal behavior of its adult members.

2 VIII 2024: White or Indian, J.D.?

Headline of an article by Sara Bobitz, “Vance Doubles Down On Defense Of Trump Amid ‘Turn Black’ Controversy” Vance is hastening to follow the lead of The Great Racist whose recent remarks about Kamala Harris’ race he finds “totally reasonable.” (What a kiss-ass!) Trump’s demagoguery is based on an either/or approach to race: you have to be either white OR black, black OR red, Semite OR Chinese, and anyone who is not one or the other is a mixed breed mongrel.

Now Mr. Vance is married to Usha Chililukiri who is the daughter of Indian parents of the Telugu people who are immigrants into the U.S. J.D. and Usha have three wonderful children. Now, if Vance finds Trump’s binary racism totally reasonable, he is eventually going to have to answer the question: “Are your children white or are they Indian?” 

1 VIII 2024: Is Trump white or orange?

I watched part of Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists. Those interviewers were not “nice” to him at all and forced him to motor-mouth faster than usual. But he did manage to make a query about: “What is Kamala Harris, really? An Indian not-like-us, or a Black not-like-us?” This set me to wondering “Is Trump white or orange, really?” Yes, some days he looks a little white, but most days his complexion and hair scream “orange.” But in photos from years ago he looks white. So although over the years his tint has morphed into a definite orange, those photographs make me ask “Is he really orange deep down inside?”

31 VII 2024:  Cannon and Thomas

Clarence Thomas has lost all credibility. He may not technically be “on the take,” but he surely is “on the take.” Can anyone now believe that he is capable of an unbiased decision? Similarly, his apparent protege, Aileen Cannon, may not technically be “on the take,” but she too has lost all credibility. One only has to ask: Is she stupid or crooked? And the answer seems to be that it doesn’t matter, for either would explain her behavior.

I would very much like to see some investigative reporting about the Federalist Society, a reactionary secret society. Yes. It seems to do much of its business in the public eye, but what can be seen is not its real business. No, it does its business with a wink and a nudge and a luxury vacation and the promise of advancement on the bench for those who do what they are told.

31 VII 2024: Josh Jerkoff

I see that Sen. Josh Hawley, winner of the fist-raise contest and the 40 yard sprint in the Republican House, is once again jerking off in public. Josh loves to act out the indignant bully, at least when he is on camera, and, of course, when he does this he is an embarrassment to his party, to his country, to everyone except the state of Missouri. 

Hawley and J.D. Vance are trying to make a career by appearing nuttier-than-the-nuts in their efforts to appeal to retro voters. This probably won’t come back to haunt Hawley, wannabe Führer of the Christian Nationalism party, as long as he runs for office only in Missouri. 

Vance, on the other hand, has not taken into account the potential media permanence of his crazy-right statements and is running into trouble. Vance has been called a chameleon, because his response to “What do you think, J.D.?” seems to be “What do you want me to think?” He has always paraded reactionary imaginings before the retro voters, and now he is learning how rational voters respond to them.

29 VII 2024: Nation of war criminals?

Bernie Sanders called a spade a spade recently when he referred to Netanyahu as a war criminal. To disagree with this you have to be living in as bizarre and make-believe a world as the MAGA crowd. Israel acts-out the helpless, innocent victim. They cry anti-semitism and predict a Holocaust re-run. Why oh why would anyone want to attack Israel?

People attack Israel because Israel attacks them. Israel is a militaristic colonist state that does what other colonist states, the USA, for example, do: they kill off or drive out the inhabitants of the land they want for themselves, all the while shouting “Manifest destiny” or “God gave this land to me” or “The white man’s burden.”

Why the constant unreserved support for Israel? It is based partly upon the perception that Israel is a democracy and an ally, however inconstant of the United States. But this unreserved support for Israel is, I believe, based mostly on the fact that the vast majority of Israelis look like us. If the vast majority of Israelis were brown like their neighbors, Israel would long ago have been told “Good luck. You’re on your own.”

28 VII 2024: A natural firestorm

I read in a report about the wildfire in California that it had turned into a “fire tornado.” It seems that the one in California is a naturally occurring firestorm, in contrast to the firestorms caused during WWII by the allies in cities in Germany and Japan. In those cases, the firestorms were man-made, caused by countless incendiary bombs.