Frail White Dotard Stuggles to Disrobe

Wow. Just wow. In case you need a reminder that "there is no bottom" with these MAGAt-types, you can check out the coverage of the unbelievably racist "comedian" at El Drumpfo's rally last night at NYC's Madison Square Garden. Previously I had never heard of this so-called "comedian," who is obviously a complete chode, and whose name does not merit mention. Now I wish I never had. These people are . . . I mean you know it's bad when even GOP Senators are Tweeting out "this does not reflect GOP values." Except yes it does. Yes it does a lot.

El Drumpfo very likely "October surprised himself," with this Nazi-palooza, so I guess theoretically there could be an upside-?! Still, no doubt, to all of these knuckle-dragging magat neanderthals, "Liberals are mad, so it was a great rally."

I found some levity in well-past his sell-by-date Hulk Hogan trying so very hard to do the "rip the shirt off" shtick he has been doing since the '80's, which is about the last decade in which he was relevant. If there's a better metaphor for El Drumpfo's 2024 campaign than an older white guy trying and failing to do something he used to be able to accomplish, please send it my way.

These are stressful times. But I suspect there will be some laughs along the way, as the election concludes. Remember Giuliani's glory-soaked appearance at "the Four Seasons" in the aftermath of Election 2020? Golden.

I guess no one told El Drumpfo there are about half-a-million Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. These jagbags always clap the loudest, when their team scores an own-goal. I'm serious. The thing that got me the most about Giuliani's appearance at the "Four Seasons . . . . . . Landscaping Company" in Philadelphia back in 2020, was that when I went to a conservative website - there was a huge front page article about how SUCCESSFUL it was, how forceful and full of piss-and-vinegar Giuliani was that day, even as the media (finally) called the election for Biden, and he was live on camera reacting. Yes, their heads really are that far up their own asses.

This Great Article About the Hidden Privileges of Trumpism Nails It

Trump's 'respectable' voters lie about his plans (and crimes) to dodge accountability for supporting those things

How fascism rises: Trump voters who claim he won't act on his violent promises aren't gullible. They're just lying to deflect from their support for those things.

Hunter Lazzaro at my new favorite website, UnchartedBlue.com

October 15, 2024 . 9:37 AM 10 min read

. . . What is more likely? That Trump's better-heeled supporters think he is just blowing smoke when he calls, over and over, for retributions and violence against his political opponents, against protesters, and against migrants? Or is it that they know full well he means all those things, and they like those things, and they want him to do those things—but also know that there would be serious social repercussions for saying that out loud?

The fabulously wealthy people who support Trump know what they're getting; they're not confused over it. From Silicon Valley cryptolords to the stalwart far-right backers of the Heritage Foundation and other think tanks, they want deregulation and they don't want to pay taxes—and they don't give a flying damn what happens to the rest of the country, so long as they get it.

And the not necessarily wealthy but still well-heeled Trump supporters that brush off Trump's promised and actual inflicted violence are not all innocent gullibles either; these were the sort of people who participated in Trump's Jan. 6, 2021 coup attempt, standing just behind the militia members who attacked police officers in order to allow the rest of the crowd to walk through the barricades and into the closed Capitol.

The whole article reminds me of the bizarre, surreal, unforgettable video I saw within a day or two of the insurrection on 1/6/21. The video was taken during the evening of 1.6, as things had quieted down, BEFORE Pelosi, Schumer and Pence decided to get on with the proceeding and finalize the election that night - the most consequential and critical decision of the whole debacle in my opinion, and one which I will forever credit Pelosi, Schumer, and even Pence for landing on. In the video, were hundreds of magats thronging the atrium, bar and lounge of a posh DC hotel, sharing drinks, having meals, and all a-hubbub about their big day in the Capitol. It was a sea of red hats and El Drumpfo merch, with a great many of them glued to their cell phones. SEVERAL times since then, I have tried to find the video, but it's gone down the e-hole. I really wish I could show it to you here.

At any rate, the main thing is that these people thought they were going to start a revolution, then go out for appetizers and a few drinks at the hotel afterward. As bizarre as that footage is, in a way it was reassuring. These aren't desperate rebels with nothing to lose. THEY'RE COS-PLAYING, and because they're predominantly white and privileged, many of them will get away with it. The moment anti-fascist forces, whether government-aligned or more homegrown, start really shooting back, let's just say uhhh . . . engagement in the MAGA movement is going to drop.

Remembrance of a Year Ago

This time a year ago was the worst of times, with no "best of times" to go with it. COVID cases were at an all-time high here in Illinois, the vaccine was still more or less a rumor on the winds of some day, El Drumpfo and his army of orc-people cult-devotees were going ape-shit all over social media with paranoid delusions of stolen votes, even while none of the "evidence" that was ever presented was of the "will stand up in court" variety, as they lost case after case after case; the insurrection of 1-6-21 was already being presaged by its organizers and the Regime as they called for a protest that would be quote "wild" unquote . . . things were decidedly very Not Good here in the USofA during the agonizingly long Election process, through the Holidays and thereafter. I have been remembering sleepless nights, doomscrolling, etc. At least it got me feeling creativish.

November 29th, 2020

You can have your own home. You can have your own business. You can have your own friends, and lovers, and interests. But you may not have your own reality. Sorry. Nope. Reality has to be shared with others.

So, on a day, when the whole world says: "The sky is blue today," you DON'T get to just get to come back with: "Nyuh uh - it's orange. And what is blue? And what is orange anyway? Can ANYONE really tell the difference between blue and orange nowadays anymore? Who's to say what is blue, and what is orange?" You can *try* to play little games with people's heads, and *try* to sow doubt as to the blueness and orangeness of things. You may even really believe that that blue-appearing sky over your head is somehow in fact orange. But at the end of the day, blue is blue. And orange is orange, and they don't much care either way about human head games you might play.

Whew.

IT'S A GIANT PLOT INVOLVING DEAD HUGO CHAVEZ AND MILLIONS OF FRAUDULENT VOTES BEING CAST. THEY ARE JUST SO CLEVER AND INTELLIGENT AND INGENIUS THAT EVEN THOUGH MILLIONS OF FRAUDLENT VOTES ARE INVOLVED IN AN INTERNATIONAL GLOBALIST CONSPIRACY WITH THOUSANDS OF PLAYERS, THERE JUST HAPPENS TO BE ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER THAT WILL ACTUALLY STAND UP IN A COURT OF LAW! ahem . . .

**

For some strange reason, *shrugs,* the above did not work on the American people . . . this time. (Though it definitely worked with an alarming number of Republicans). With Michigan certified in glorious anticlimax, Pennsylvania essentially a done deal, and that insane person at the GSA finally convinced . . . outrageously, and despicably two weeks late . . . to do the *only* part of her job that matters . . . Election 2020 is finally over.** This has been true since the Tulsa Rally, but from here on out it's all fizzles, and no bangs.

We are stuck with right wing terrorism regardless. That was always going to be the case. I worry that some of it may have metastasized into something a little more "organized." A lot of disparate far-right connections have been made over the last few years. They are mostly dumb, but there are always one or two who may have some smarts, and savvy. If they find a communicator who can half-way seem "reasonable" to more suburban or even urban voters, and less like a guy who's on meth, we'll be right back where we started, and the lower brush has been cleared for a more successful coup or autogolpe.

But THIS roller coaster is sliding in to the station, for now, folks. The Transition of power will begin in earnest, the Trumpies will slowly dissolve out of the White House, and an imperfect, but earnest, and competent administration will take over, with the biggest mess any President has inherited at LEAST since the Depression. If nothing else, Biden has experience and contacts. Maybe he IS that guy for the Moment.

At the very least, we can rest assured that . . hey! (checks date) in less than two months, we will not be worried about what the sitting President of the United States is tweeting.

**98% confidence

Election 2020: Who gets my money?

Ha ha "with my active lifestyle" I don't have time to volunteer for campaigns. So I give money. (Plus we can't go out, or go on vacay, what with the COVID and all, so, importantly, I've actually got a little extra money to give. We are very lucky to be doing okay in this terrible time.) This year it's so important, that I've decided I am going to ramp my donating to an amount roughly equal to "all the donations I've ever made ever in my life so far," just for this cycle. I am dividing my beefed-up donations-on-steroids three ways. First, I am giving money to the Wisconsin Democratic Party, as they are ground zero.

The second helping is going to this organization: https://floridarrc.com Can you believe it? Florida voters gave felons the right to vote in an overwhelming referendum a couple/few years ago, by a roughly 2-1 margin.Then, their GOoPer legislature and their shitbag Governor Ron DuhSantis, said: "No nevermind how them folks voted, we're gonna still make it impossible for felons to vote, by making them pay all their court fees and fines first." This is pretty close to a modern-day poll tax, and a majority of its targets are African American. Nevermind the fact that this would (continue to) disenfranchise 775,000 people - some would say that's the point. Nevermind the fact that in many counties and jurisdictions in Florida, record-keeping is terrible, and many Florida ex-cons CANNOT EVEN FIND OUT HOW MUCH THEY SUPPOSEDLY OWE! The 11th circuit just handed down a trash ruling, saying the law can stand as is. So I am giving my second portion to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

The recommendation I am looking for is: what organization gets my third helping? Where can my donation really be impactful? Where is it at least possible that I can actually help a candidate, or organization WIN a critical state? If you've got ideas, I am open to the suggestions.

Does it matter if you're winning Electoral Chess, when your opponent is playing a different game?

I try to feel hopeful. There are overwhelming numbers of polls showing Team Sanity winning the country by big margins, and the swing states as well. Honestly, for someone who voted Bernie, and even sent him money, I have been fairly impressed with Biden's operation thus far, which HAS been moving leftward, IMO. "Lay low, let Trump keep punching himself in the privates, since he's going to suck all the air out of the coverage, anyway." A few weeks of "Where's Joe?" memes notwithstanding, this is actually the smart move. Winning the Senate seems likely now, where once it was a longshot.

But I can't help but feel disquieted, too. Team Trump and the GOP more generally seem to have totally abandoned the field in terms of the whole: "winning an election by having a better argument for the American people" thing. They're speaking only to their most hardcore supporters. While the Trump/GOP tanks with Independents, women, and suburban voters, and that seems like a good thing for sanity in America, it bothers me that they seem to be playing a different game, entirely. Biden and Democratic leadership focus on "winning an election." Trump and the GOP focus on "maintaining power at all possible costs, election or none." What this looks like is desperate maneuvers to to stop non-Republicans from voting - attacks on the USPS, and purposefully-fomented (still low-level) chaos in Democratic cities. Biden and national Democratic leadership may be clearly outplaying the GOP in electoral chess, but that may not matter that much if Team Trump prefers to hone its "whack-a-voter" chops while ignoring the chess game entirely.

I don't know what's going to happen, and anyone who says they do is a liar. But I do believe the next five months may be the most important five months in the USofA since at LEAST World War II. Activate, energize, volunteer, donate, whatever the hell you can. It's all hands on deck time, folks. We need to be in voting booth, in the streets, and in the halls of power too. It's time to drive a stake through the heart of the vampire.

El Drumpfo retreated last night. Thoughts on what I saw at the UIC Pavilion . . .

The Big-Hands Pope was too much for Donald Drumpf.

So I was lucky enough to participate in the protest that shut down El Drumpfo's would-be rally last night at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago's west loop.

The event has officially become "Big News" for some of "skirmishes" and/or small-scale violence that occurred, some of which I witnessed outside the rally. (I couldn't get in, I had arrived too late.)

While I’ve no doubt that Trumpeteers were more responsible for most of the “skirmishes" or whatever, I do have to say that I saw a demonstrator or two behaving badly, which isn’t acceptable, and needs to be reigned in on the side of the good guys. However, the overwhelming majority of the protesters were peaceful. Watching stunned Trump-supporters do a kind of perp-walk out of the pavilion, through a throng of jubilant protesters was absolutely delicious. Those memories will get me through the hard times in the future.

The alleged “safety concerns” El Drumpfo used as en excuse to cancel the event are just another bullshit lie. While the media has predictably hyped the so-called “skirmishes,” because that’s what sells, the police presence was professional and had things mostly under control. The greatly overwhelming majority of both protesters, and . . to be fair . . . Trump supporters that I saw were peaceful.

Big Tough Guy El Drumpfo cancelled because he wasn’t tough enough to withstand being INTERRUPTED, which he certainly would have been, by the protesters . . . as he was in St. Louis yesterday morning. Some tough guy indeed — he’s afraid of being interrupted by the mean protesters.

No doubt El Drumpfo figured he could capitalize on playing the victim card with the whole “They were stomping on my free speech,” card, but that is of course horse shit, again, as is everything else that drops from the mouth of that turd-breathed sleaze. Chicagoans’ collective right to ASSEMBLE . . . ahem . . . trumped his free speech last night. At any rate, Trump isn’t wanting for free speech, he wants freedom from CONSEQUENCES of whatever he says. That freedom does not, and should not exist, anywhere. But make no mistake, his non-appearing act last night was definitely a hastily thrown-together RETREAT, that he himself chose, when he decided that he couldn’t take the pressure.

Trump’s probably right that he could mewl up to the RepubliCon electorate in some ways — at least for a 24 hour news cycle — as we all know the GOoPers’ ubiquitous hard-on for playing the victim. But I have to wonder if ultimately his bogus Potemkin-village-like “Alpha Male” Image isn’t going to take a hit in some circles, and after his nationally televised loss-of-nerve last night. It has been pointed out, worrisomely, that such a narrative could cause Trump to double-down on his "get 'em" rhetoric, which could certainly have unpleasant consequences down the line.

At any rate, being a part of the scene at the UIC Pavilion last night was one of my prouder recent moments. Even though I was late, it was a wonderful thing to see.

Stuff This: Let's End Gerrymandering

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

This article from the always-indispensable ThinkProgress.org really got me thinking.

Why Americans Actually Voted For A Democratic House

By Ian Millhiser on Nov 7, 2012 at 4:21 pm

Although a small number of ballots remain to be counted, as of this writing, votes for a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives outweigh votes for Republican candidates. Based on ThinkProgress’ review of all ballots counted so far, 53,952,240 votes were cast for a Democratic candidate for the House and only 53,402,643 were cast for a Republican — meaning that Democratic votes exceed Republican votes by more than half a million. . . . . [Read the full article for the full context here.]

The actual partisan breakdown of the 113th Congress will be very different, however. Currently, Republicans enjoy a 233-192 advantage over Democrats, with 10 seats remaining undecided . . . There is a simple explanation for how this happened: Republicans won several key state legislatures and governors’ mansions in the election cycle before redistricting, and they gerrymandered those states within an inch of their lives. President Obama won Pennsylvania by more than 5 points, but Democrats carried only 5 of the state’s 18 congressional seats. . .

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), however, cannot simply thank Republican state lawmakers for enabling him to keep his job. He can also thank the conservatives on the Supreme Court. Partisan gerrymandering exists for one purpose: to cut off the ability of people who disagree with a state’s ruling party to influence future elections. It is a a clear violation of the First Amendment, which absolutely prohibits viewpoint discrimination. Yet the Supreme Court abdicated its responsibility to end this discrimination in its 5-4 decision in Vieth v. Jubelirer, where the conservative justices tossed out a lawsuit alleging that Pennsylvania’s congressional districts were unconstitutionally drawn to maximize Republican representation in Congress.

Take a look at the map of Pennsylvania above. Then remember that President Obama won Pennsylvania by 5 points; not exactly a nail-biter in overall terms. In fact, Pennsylvania hasn't been won by a Republican Presidental candidate since George H.W. Bush beat Michael Dukakis in 1988. That was over 24 years ago now. Still, only five of Pennsylvania's eighteen seats in the House went for Democrats.

The RepubliCons have done a very good job at capturing state houses and legislatures over the last few years. (If anyone needed a reminder of just how critical state and local elections are, by the way, here's your comeuppance.) But it's not just 'Cons who do it. In my own state of Illinois, where the Dems control everything, these politicians are doing the same damn thing. After the disastrous 2010 midterms, the Democrats wanted to salvage SOMETHING in terms of their chances of regaining the House of Representatives, so our vaunted Democratic Legislature undertook what's been called a radical gerrymander. This article from the Christian Science Monitor notes that:

Even a cursory glance at the new map . . . seems to indicate that state Democrats are eager to exercise that control [over redistricting] to maximum benefit. While each member of the Democratic delegation was protected, nearly every Republican district was cut apart or shuffled around, inviting scores of intraparty primaries, or forcing GOP incumbents to run in Democratic strongholds or retire.

The plan worked, and RepubliCons lost four seats in the House and a fifth when Illinois lost representation due to low population growth.

Just look at my my district, Illinois' Fourth, which has been described as one of the most bizarrely drawn districts in the country.

Now I'm generally for ANYTHING that puts fewer RepubliCons in office. And to be fair, my home district was drawn to make sure that a Latino representative from the Chicago-area was sent to D.C., a worthy idea that is pretty different in principle from the naked power grabs we've seen in Springfield; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio, and beyond. (My district was drawn well before the 2011 gerrymander.) To be clear, I support the general notion that our nation's House of Representatives should be ethnically diverse, reflective of the American melting pot. But just as an indicator, don't the maps above show, in a general way, that SOMETHING is off about this whole process?

In his comments, and particularly speaking of the raw vote totals, Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress.org makes a great point:

Americans voted for a Democratic president, a Democratic Senate, and, barring significant shifts in the vote tally, a Democratic House. Instead, they will get a House majority similar to the one that held the entire nation hostage during last year’s debt ceiling hostage crisis. If the American people wanted this to happen, they would have said so at the polls on Tuesday. Instead, Republican state lawmakers took away their right to democratically legitimate leadership — with a big assist from the conservatives on the Supreme Court.

So what is to be done about this? Well, in some states, a divided government can be a good thing. This brief post from David Weigel at Slate notes that: "in states that weren't very gerrymandered, like Iowa and Colorado and New Hampshire, you didn't see a huge divergence between the presidential vote and the House votes." Each of these states has a divided government, in one way or another. Colorado and Iowa have divided legislatures, while New Hampshire's Democratic governor may have put a check on its GOP statehouse's impulses.

But praying for a divided government isn't really much of a solution, and obviously, the Supreme Court isn't going to be much help. There IS a better way, and we don't need the Supreme Court to jump in and save the day. Though no system is perfect, Iowa, Arizona, and California are three states that have setup independent, non-partisan redistricting committees. Now, NONE of these processes are have been perfect. California's new process, has been accused of crossing the line from independent/non-partisan to basically "clueless." Arizona's committee was famously sucked into a would-be partisan pogrom at the hands of that state's governor, Jan "Shriekingly Insane Bimbo" Brewer. And even Iowa's process, which is ostensibly non-partisan, must be approved by the Governor and General Assembly.

The way I see it, you will never totally get the politics out of decisions like this, but in a general way, I have to agree with Colby Hamilton at The Empire: "the less connected to the legislature the better." There has been some talk of moving towards the model being used in Iowa, California, and Arizona in other states; particularly New York is looking at it. I'm going to be bugging my own representatives here in Illinois about this issue real soon, and probably buggin' my local representatives in Indiana, my workplace too.

The fiasco around our undemocratic redistricting process needs serious attention. Arizona, California, and Iowa might not be perfect, but an independent, less-partisan committee is at least a great step in the right direction. The next step forward is to start talking to your state legislators and representatives. Hey! They're a lot easier to get a meeting with, or get on the phone with, than your Federal elected officials anyway!

FORWARD!