I Am Done

Because the separation of church and state is now a quaint little custom we once observed, a recent NYT article, The Rapture and the Real World: Mike Pompeo Blends Beliefs and Policy, points out how "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has linked Christian beliefs with foreign policy, raising questions about the extent to which his evangelism is influencing American diplomacy."

All I can think of when I read something like this is how angered I am by the selfish, holier-than-thou, fucking purists who couldn't vote for HRC for all kinds of bullshit reasons, up to and including some childish nonsense as not liking the sound of her voice. (Yes, a former colleague actually said this to me, in public, on FB.)

Would we have a member of the American Taliban handling our foreign policy? Right-wing, troglodyte judges with lifetime appointments deciding cases? A barrage of ignoramuses heading our institutions? And most importantly, would we not be in this position had this purist bullshit not made it possible for a bigoted, narcissistic, treasonous, con man and thief to become POTUS?

So, what have we learned from all of this? How are we addressing this fiasco of epic proportions and making sure it doesn't happen again? We're comparing Joe Biden's alleged inappropriate behavior with Schlitz Kavanaugh's assault on Dr. Ford.

I'm fucking done.

God help us all.

A Few Thoughts on the Mueller Report from Just a Regular Dude

Right now plenty of folks on our side are feeling despondent or very ambivalent, at best, about this whole situation.

On the one hand, it seems like Robert Mueller did what he was supposed to and left investigations to be taken care of by Congress, the SDNY and others. (There are plenty of sealed indictments and more than 18 open investigations on Trump, his family and associates.) But knowing that AG Barr would likely censor the report and the GOP senate majority would block its publication, we can't help but feel he should’ve taken steps to have it find its way into the public sphere. Of course, those of us not in the know aren't even sure if that could've been done without leaking the report, and if that's even legal.

The other thing is that the GOP is falsely taking a victory lap and the press is playing along. I would never stoop as low as the Orange Turd and call the press the enemy of the people but their dereliction of duty is both breathtaking and maddening in this case. What they should be doing is clearly specifying that WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S IN THE MUELLER REPORT BECAUSE WE HAVEN’T SEEN IT AND THE ONLY ONE WHO’S SEEN IT AND PUBLICLY SPOKEN ABOUT IT, IS A TRUMP-APPOINTED LOYALIST WHO IS NOT ONLY BIASED BUT HAS MADE IT CLEAR HE BELIEVES THE POTUS IS ABLOVE THE LAW.

Let that sink in for a minute. OK.

We all need to calm the fuck down and not get bogged down in bullshit. That’s the GOP plan. Let’s not help them.

This is no joking matter. It’s likely the biggest crisis and moment of truth congressional Democrats have faced in our lifetime. They need to be step up or we will be fucked for decades. We need to hold their feet to the fire and DEMAND they do EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER to make the report public. This is no time for the classic Democrat milquetoast wussiness. It's not a spirited debate, it's a cage match.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the current Republican party, from top to bottom is a corrupt, immoral, unpatriotic cesspool. We can’t let them drown us with them.

Fear of a Brown Planet

Because he fears their programming will give me a heart attack one of these days, an old, dear friend has warned me not to watch the endless parade of demagoguery and propaganda that is Fox “News”. And, frankly, I think his concern is warranted.

Watching a reel of Fox AOC-bashing compiled by MSNBC’s ‘The Beat’, I came across a recent clip I’d missed that really pissed me off because it went beyond attacking the congresswoman and questioned the loyalty of us brown folk to this country. That it came from a supposed learned person aggravated me even more.

Peter Morici, a University of Maryland professor who is a go-to guy for Fox on those rare occasions when they’re not railing against the evils of academia and getting an education, and a hot take from an academic will be acceptable to their viewers, appeared on the Varney & Co. show a few weeks ago to call AOC a demagogue and demonize the Green New Deal. Fine. Par for the course. But then, this asshole went THERE:

“[W]hat you have in Ocasio-Cortez are Latin American values. Instead of us assimilating them, they are assimilating us. And they want to bring the kind of socialism that destroyed Venezuela, and frankly Mexico, here. You know, it isn't that we're going to become Venezuela, but we could easily become Mexico, and you won't be able to go outside your door without getting shot. And if you say, ‘Hey Peter, boy aren't you really going over the top,’ think about what the last eight or ten years have been like in Chicago.” 

Yes, this PoS spewed that kind of bullshit and smeared all of us with a Spanish-derived surname. And to boot, he used someone who is an incredible example OF assimilation: NYC-born, college educated, and more accomplished within our system of politics and government before the age of 30 than the vast majority, if not all, of her colleagues in Congress. Then there’s the ‘Venezuela = Socialism’ fallacy. It’s communism, and this fuckwad knows it but calling it socialism plays better to the low information Fox viewers. And then he ties in with Chumpy the Clown’s ‘Mexicans are criminals’ narrative, which glaringly omits that cartel violence is drug trade fueled and our drug consumption here in the US is what drives it. And, finally, Morici dovestails this with Chicago gun violence, made possible in large part by the flow of illegal guns from surrounding states with laughable gun laws.

Defamation, lies, and misinformation: it’s all part of the ride on the Fox bullshit train. And the brainwashed audience is all too happy to come aboard.