Archives for May 2023

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

My brother followed up on the story of Sam. Sam lingered for six months before passing. The man he saved had a pregnant wife. He declared, “I don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy, but I’m naming it Sam.” I wonder where that Sam is now?

The Sam I knew had a son, named Sam, who looks a lot like his old man. Apple – tree.

I see that the debt ceiling thing is in the House Rules Committee and it’s not clear what deal McCarthy made with the far right extremists in his party called the freedom caucus. Whether some of those folks are making stuff up, lying, or just misunderstood.  What is clear is that whatever was decided was done in secret and they don’t want to tell anyone. I suspect that it was done verbally and those in the deal all took from it what they wanted to, which makes it hard to know what is going on, but that is the modern Republican Party. They are by and large a bunch of know-nothings being led by the nose by their media and the most belligerent and ignorant of the bunch. To say they are hypocritical would be kind. How do you have an informal meeting with someone where you are seen talking, laughing, and joking with said person and the next day report that you felt threatened? 

The weirdest thing is they keep committing stupid acts and then blame someone else and decide to investigate it. If they had an ounce of sense they’d complain and stop there. But when you set up a voter vigilance committee and said committee reports the only infractions were caused by your side then what?

Or you set up a committee to get to the bottom of a non-existent problem with a President’s son and instead discover that another President has been found to have committed crimes and he’s the guy who wanted you to get the goods, what do you do then? (Easy. Amnesia.) Or you set up a committee to investigate the investigators and you find out that the improprieties committed are by your team then what? (You keep making a fool of yourself.) Or weaponizing of voting? (See previous answer.)

When you disrupt a Presidential speech to yell, “Liar” did you really expect your opponents to sit idly by when you were put in charge of a meeting?

Let’s be clear Republicans run up the deficit, propose no reasonable solutions for anything, and do all they can to gum up the works when not in power. If you want your rights taken away, your cost of living to skyrocket, your health to be put in danger, and your children uneducated and shot by guns then elect Republicans.

I remember the days when I didn’t like some of their proposals and solutions, but at least they had some. Now? They got nothing.

Well, wait a second, you got a football coach now Senator who is singlehandedly crippling our military. That’s something. Remember when Republicans were for law and order and a strong military? Now? Nah.

In other news, we watched the Amazon movie “Air,” about Nike signing Michael Jordan to their company to wear their shoe. It’s a heck of a show.  Matt Damon has been in a number of great movies: Stillwater (didn’t get much play, but really good), Good Will Hunting were two of my favorites. (I always thought GWH was based on the janitor at the University of Chicago who solved the math problems the professors left on the board, turns out no. Matt had a friend who was an artist who liked the beauty of equations he saw at MIT.)

Ben Affleck as Phil Knight brought the two buds back together again. I liked Ben in The Accountant. A movie that came out about the same time as Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher. The Accountant was a much better movie, It had a real story, you know, like a plot. Weird huh? Reacher? not so much.

Monday saw a great championship lacrosse game. Lots of great play, unbelievable missed goals and some really weird ones to boot.

Monday, May 30, 2023

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. As I get older I think about that. When I was a kid it was about seeing or marching in the Memorial Day parade down main street. Some kids would ride their bikes at the back of the parade with playing cards clipped on their bike frames so they’d making a clicking sound as the spokes turned. The parade ended at the community center, the old Governor’s mansion. Someone would give a speech on the steps out front. We were all gathered in the back around a flat bed truck piled high with sodas. As soon as the speech was over they’d hand out the cold drinks and it was bedlam. Some kids would chase each other around squirting soda by putting their thumb over the top of the bottle, shaking it and releasing some of its contents by partially lifting their thumb. That was Memorial Day when I was growing up.

One day when I was in the center of town at the only crosswalk that had walk signs I ran into Sam. He was older than me and had married one of the most beautiful women in town. He mentioned that he was going over to Vietnam. I don’t know what else he said. I remember the bright sunlight. Where he stood. Where I was. That was the last time I saw him.

A report came back that his helicopter had crashed and he went back in to rescue others. His lungs got burned. He lingered a few days.

His name is on the Wall. They are listed in the order they died. One time two fellows were standing there one with his hand on the granite. “Yeah, remember him, he was the short stout guy…”

I’ve taken others to the Wall. I drop them off on Constitution Avenue, point to where they need to walk to enter the incline. I’d tell them I’d pick them up by The Lincoln Memorial. When they emerge I don’t say anything. They are quiet. Sometimes they sit on one of the flat cornices of the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. After awhile they look at me and nod.

We leave. there is nothing left to say.

Saturday, May 27, 2023

It’s been another of those weeks. Maybe, it’s been a month. Another set of damning stuff done by the ex-President or his close associates, or the far right, or the Republicans in Congress, or those who want to hold higher office and what happens? We can only hope the wheels of justice still turn. That’s all we’ve got. The problem for us there is The Supreme Court is now in the hands of radical bought and paid for “justices.” That didn’t start with the orange one. It started with Papa Bush, continued with W, and then DJT.

But we now have the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for President espousing forgiveness for the people who committed sedition. A man who went to Yale has been convicted for sedition and sentenced to eighteen years in prison. A light sentence indeed. We have at least two senators who went to Yale: Cotton and Hawley, who both espouse dangerous views about a range of topics. Hawley is famous for raising his fist in support of the insurrectionists, and Cotton for being an ass.

Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress are doing whatever they can do to gum up the works. Ask yourself this, “What have the Republicans in Congress done to help the country? To help you? To help your children? To help anybody?”

They are working hard to figure out a way to deny help to the students straddled with loan debt. A situation their Republican colleagues before them created. Remember when you could work hard at a minimum wage job, go to college, and graduate with a degree debt free? Yeah, those days are gone – for now.

Republican legislators are busy in Congress and state capitals trying to make life for women as difficult as possible. They are busy mucking around in people’s medicine closets, their doctor’s offices, schools, and libraries. Who thinks any of that is a good idea?

When they aren’t doing that they are busy redrawing voting districts to their advantage and passing laws that target people who don’t vote for them. Take Texas, in the 1990s it was the 14th easiest state to get access to vote; now it’s number 50. That’s intentional. There’s no mistake. Or how about Wisconsin? It’s basically a 50-50 Democrat/Republican state by voter rolls, but the way the Republicans have gerrymandered it, the house is overwhelmingly Republican.

Now we have a Supreme court judge who is bought and paid for by a guy who collects Nazi paraphernalia.

The U.S.house of Representatives is full of election deniers, white supremacists, and people who think letting the government default would be a good idea. They are for demolishing our government. Put them in the same bucket as those who want to bring on the destruction of the world so Jesus will come and raise them up. 

It doesn’t end there. There are Republican senators who want to demolish Social Security, and take away benefits for the poor. What happened to our humanity?

Health care? Remember what John Boehner said about Republicans and health care? In all his years in the House he never saw a health care bill from them, and he was the House for twenty four years and served as Speaker of the House!

Meanwhile, we hear more and more stuff about the various investigations into the former President. We hear stuff. People pontificate. He gets charged. He gets indicted. And his life goes on. What the hell? He’s now sponsoring golf events with the people who butchered a U.S. citizen. His son-in-law was given two billion by them. And some are worried about Biden’s son’s laptop? Excuse me, who had their son-in-law and daughter in their administration supposedly running things? I say supposedly because if you remember the transition, there was none, because Jared and Ivanka and the rest of the staff were so incompetent that they had nothing to transition. Remember Covid? Remember how Donald liked to hold press conferences about that? How they mucked up the reporting by the various health agencies? And when the Biden staff finally got in there they found that there was no roll-out plan? Biden and his team ended the crisis of Covid. Don’t forget that. (We are now down to one person dying from Covid every four minutes. Too bad we can’t muzzle the vaccine deniers and get everyone vaccinated.) Hey, remember when people accepted science and believed in doctors? It wasn’t that long ago. Remember when newspapers and TV news programs reported real stuff?

it wasn’t that long ago. Can we get that back? Is it too late?

I don’t know. It doesn’t look good. We are in hell and as Churchill said when you are in hell, keep walking.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

• also known as a hypostle hall (ie a thick pillared room whose roof rests directly on the pillars, typically stone)

“The Way” is the title of a 2010 movie that has now been re-released into theaters. We saw it last night. It was written, produced, and directed by Emilio Estevez, and it stars his father, Martin Sheen. (I always forget why he’s Estevez and his dad is Sheen. Wikipedia says Martin Sheen’s real name is Ramon Estevez – ah ha!)

It’s a great movie and I’m still trying to figure out why. But before I get into that let me mention that in the re-release they have some intro stuff that explains “The Way,” and afterwards there is a discussion between Estevez, Rick Steves (the travel guy), and Sheen. This was very helpful because they talked about the meaning of the movie and the metaphors and symbolism of it and life. Something I really appreciate because I’m so bad at those kind of things. I took a two semester course on Dante’s Inferno got all the character IDs correct, the grader even commented, and had no idea on the essay questions. (One time in a group therapy discussion someone told their dream. Everyone said, “Wow” as in so obvious. Me? I’m like, “What?”) So, I appreciate someone explaining in very plain terms what it all means. (Thanks Mr. Natural)

Part of that discussion talks about the benefits of travel as a way to educate yourself and to expand your understanding of the world.

The movie is a father son redemption tale. It’s a father’s coming of age tale. I know, that doesn’t make sense but I don’t know how else to say it. 

The Way is a pilgrimage walk across Northern Spain, known as Camino de Santiago. It terminates at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela de Galicia in northern Spain where the remains of St James are said to be.

It’s a story of redemption and of finding oneself.

I’ll say no more. I hope you get to see it in the theater.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Yesterday was a day of extraordinary headlines. Most of them sad and despicable, but here we are.

One thing the far right, the “conservatives”, The Republican Party, the super wealthy be they businesses or individuals who secretly give money to PACs and – lest I forget – DJT and his MAGA supporters, his toadies, and his imitators have taught me is more about the law, The Constitution, and how our government works and doesn’t function than I ever wanted to know – but thank-you.

One mystery that I eluded to recently was that the judge in the defamation and sexual abuse case against the orange one was that the judge would not let another case of similar complaint be combined with this one. Well, now I have learned something, and while I don’t know the judge’s reasoning I have learned that you can sue someone multiple times for roughly the same offense if they keep doing it, albeit at different times.

DJT got sued for defaming a woman before he was President. That cost him five million dollars.

He continued to defame her with roughly the same words while President. That case is still working its way through the judicial system and is asking for a lot more money than five mil.

And now at a CNN sponsored town hall, held on TV to a national office, he has repeated his defamatory statements and the lawyer for Ms Carroll is considering suing him again.

Wow. I guess Donald will have to be sued for defamation continually on the same kind of comments until he learns that you can’t keep saying nasty things about people just because you lost a case for saying those nasty things before. I guess he thought he bought immunity.

Speaking of nasty, he called the moderator of the CNN town hall nasty for pointing out the facts. I guess she could sue, but you’d have to show loss of income, status, something. So, I don’t know if she has a case. I think she has a case against her employer for being so stupid as to put her in that position. But they got the ratings! Whoopie. Maybe, we should have live town halls with what is essentially like a video review, but in this case it’s a fact check.

We’d need refs.

Donald says something stupid (five seconds into the thing.)

Ref blows a whistle and says, “The previous statement is under review.”

A team of fact checkers are sitting on a three tier stand that looks like a phone bank at a telethon.

One of them says, “The previous statement is false.”

And as they go on to explain the evidence a giant red stamp in a cartouche is slammed across the face of Trump. Then we proceed.

Donald says something else.

Ref blows a whistle and says, “The previous statement is under review.”

A team of fact checkers are sitting in a three tier stand.

One of them says, “The previous statement is false.”

And as they go on to explain the evidence a giant red stamp in a cartouche is slammed across the face of Trump. Then we proceed.

Rinse and repeat.

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Okay, that’s one. Here’s two.

A woman is suing Rudy, Mr. Mayor. Aside from the fact that he insisted she work in the nude, give him blow jobs (so he could feel like Bill Clinton), and that she quoted language he spoke so foul it can’t be repeated on TV, he also said he and Donald were selling pardons for two million and that they’d split the money. This is apparently on tape. If so, and if found guilty, there are four Federal crimes alleged in that plot. This is without the tawdry sex stuff.

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Number 3 – a constituent with a baseball bat entered a field office of a Congressman and hit two people with it and destroyed computers and furniture. One of the people hit was an intern on her first day on the job.

Hey, young people become an intern! Learn on to perform sex acts on old men and take physical abuse from crazed people stirred up by lies. Sounds like fun to me.

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Number 4 – The Durham Final Report is out! Hoorah. Truth! This will lay the woke mob low (or something like that.) After four years, millions of dollars, lots of effort, we have 306 pages of … wait for it … NOTHING.

Wait? What? At year three an initial report was released and it had nothing, but we were told wait for the final, and like the initial we got nothing.

So what were the results:

1. Dunham brought two case to court and lost both by unanimous jury vote.

2. He and Attorney Barr went to Italy to further investigate. Most legal folks have said that an AG hanging out with a special prosecutor is not only extremely unusual but never heard of before this time. 

3. What were they doing over there? We don’t know. We do know that they hung out together over here too. Also, never heard of. 

4. But…but they did find evidence of a crime while in Italy. They reported it to the public. Big news. Ah ha.

5. Ah. Now, we are getting somewhere, yes? No. After reporting they had evidence of a crime they failed to disclose what the crime or crimes were that they found. They also failed to disclose that it was handed to them on a silver platter by Italian authorities. And, oh yes, it wasn’t what they were seeking. It was evidence some guy named Donald J Trump had committed crimes. What did they do with that evidence. I dunno. Put it in a drawer?

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Number 5 – Some Republican Congressman who is leading some investigation has so far come up with nothing, but … but he has a witness. An informant who will reveal all and we will tell the truth! Right on! (Man, haven’t heard that phrase in a long time.)

There’s a problem. He can’t find the informant. He lost him. Not sure how that happened. Maybe, he’s in the drawer with the Dunham/Barr papers on Trump? I don’t know. Sounds like the kind of excuse a corrupt politician makes when caught with their hands in the pussy jar, “I was doing my own investigation.”

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Number 6 – The Deficit and the Debt Limit. During Joe Biden’s term he has reduced the Deficit 1.7 trillion dollars. One time he might have said “Debt Limit.” OMG! go crazy on the right wing! And they did. 

Deficit is how much in the hole the government is. Debt Limit is how much we can borrow to cover our debt.

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Number 7 – The Supreme Court is using The Shadow Docket to make rulings and instructing lower courts to abide by these rulings as precedent. 

Until last night I never heard of The Shadow Docket. It’s a procedure that is supposed to be used for rush cases. For example, someone is about to be executed. The court can say, “don’t do that.” No reason has to be given. No one on the court has to sign the order. It is supposed to be used only for that particular case and not as precedent, (because there may be no reason given for it, so how can another court follow the logic if no reason is given?)

But now, big consequential cases are being done in this manner. I guess the justices don’t want to take responsibility for their actions? 

Enough for now. OMG, we’re all gonna die.

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One last thing – Kevin McCarthy ain’t that bright, but he’s not the dumbest person in Congress. I hold that desalted position (as opposed to “exalted” ha ha, get it?) for Virginia Foxx. The only time I see her is in group photos when she is backing some really stupid outlandish thing someone in Congress is doing.

I can’t forget the last time olde Kevin tried to be speaker he lost to Paul Ryan, I have to credit the loss to a statement he made about something or other “XXXstan” where the XXX stands for some made up phrase that he thought was a country. (“Rorastan, Topekastan, DontGiveaDamnastan” etc.)

Two last things – Ron DeSantis. It has been pointed out that he has little personality and he really doesn’t like to be around people. This, one observer, doesn’t mean he can’t become President – look at Nixon! 

So old Ronnie tries to make up for it by using his governmental powers to silence and suppress people and things he doesn’t like. He wrote a book and the word “Freedom” in the title. Maybe, it was the title. But he, like a lot of the Republican politicians, claim they are for freedom and equality, and transparency and all this kind of stuff when what they do is to try and suppress and intimidate via government action. Doesn’t sound like freedom to me.

The other annoying thing about DeSantis (and Hawley, and Cruz, and Cotton) is that while they try to play the shucks down home, good old boy, cards let’s not forget that they went to Harvard and Yale. Not quite down home places. Like Kid Rock trying to pretend he’s red neck when he grew up in a mansion in Michigan. (5,660 square foot, five bedroom, seven bathroom. 5.5 acre estate selling for $1.3 million. sound like white trash to you?)

Three – this is the last one, I promise (fingers crossed) – Roy Cooper, Governor of North Carolina vetoed a heinous abortion ban bill. But he didn’t do it at his desk. He did it at a rally. The bill was dressed up to make it seem like they were giving women more access, all the while making it harder to get access. (Btw this is the typical Republican dodge, like “right to work” really means the company can fire you for any reason without cause.)

Four – Oh no I broke my promise – sorry. A bunch of white supremacists marched on the Mall. Looking at the video it seemed they had more protection than the Capital had on Jan 6th. They stopped for a speech. A fellow on a red bike came to comment. He sat astride his bike just outside the park police line surrounding the rally. As the speaker would pause the fellow would comment:

“Your pants don’t match.”

“Nobody likes you.”

“Cargo pants are out.”

“Reclaim your virginity.”

“You can’t even memorize your speech.” (This btw was the reason for the speakers pauses. He had to pull the paper out of his pocket to see what the next thing was he was going to say.

As to the 150 or so on the mall. They were a brave bunch with their faces hidden behind goiters pulled up to their noses and wearing sunglasses and caps. What were they afraid of? Oh, maybe the truth? I don’t know. I think at a minimum they should be arrested, photographed as part of the booking process and their names released to the public so everyone can know who these fake patriots are. Trump would like that – book now, apologize later.

Okay, I’m done.