Category Archives: Politics

The Counterproductive Political Nickname

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Apparently because Tim Walz during her term as governor signed a bill into law that provided menstrual products free of change to high schoolers in school the right has attempted to make the nickname and hashtag TamponTim stick the man.

This is an astoundingly stupid political stunt that in my opinion does nothing for the GOP and helps Walz.

Let’s not worry about anyone who was already a dedicated and devote voter for either party. By their very nature there is little that is aimed at them or will sway their vote. The best you can hope for in this case is trying to demoralize your opponent so that they stay home and don’t vote. This nickname doesn’t do that at all.

Okay so maybe there some women out there who do not follow politics closely, are less inclined to vote for a Democratic ticket and may stay home or possibly punch the card for the GOP out of some form of social inertia. Now these people, these women hear that Walz got free period products into high schools for the girls. Two weeks ago, they had never heard this name and you think this, this act of decency, is going to turn them off? What idiocy! The number of women form whom they were undecided and not solid Red Voters that this would be an effective derogatory nickname is fewer than the number of people who purchased my novel.

Any man form whom this nickname is the height of hilarity was already on the Trump Train and this moved them not a centimeter. Men who were torn between Trump and Harris are unlikely to be motivated by name calling or they would already be on the GOP’s side.

Logically I can’t see how ‘TamponTim’ is anything but be a help to the Democratic efforts, but given the modern GOP beyond Cruelty idiocy should always be expected.

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Why the Joke Sticks

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The conservative side of the political divide is upset because the ‘JD Vance is Weird’ line sticks to their vice-presidential candidate like napalm to an innocent civilian.

The ‘weird’ descriptor gained a lot of traction when it was deployed by a Democratic governor and then amplified by a political group that governor headed. From there is has taken off with other surrogates and just plain people on Twitter. Vance’s people have yet to find an effective counter and I think it is unlikely that they will, but it is also unlikely to the dispositive in the election. It sticks because it fits like a key in a lock to many people’s perception of Vance.

One of the minor fake controversies surrounding Vance and that surface before he was picked for the number two slot was that he used eye liner make-up. I have no idea if the man utilizes that particular form of facial make-up, but his eyes are striking in a manner consistent with that use. It adds to his appearance feeling ‘off’ in a way that doesn’t quite rise to intuitively obvious but noticeable.

Vance also exhibits a lack of stage presence or charisma. This is not a new phenomenon. in the 2022 election cycle that elevated Vance to the Senate the Republican Governor in a red state beat his Democratic rival by 25 points but Vance in the same environment could only manage a 7-point victory over Democrat Tim Ryan. Even among Republicans affection for Vance is lukewarm.

These observations made Vance particularly vulnerable to the label ‘weird.’ Bill Clinton gave the impression of someone willing to tell you whatever you wanted to hear, to a smarminess that made the description ‘slick’ stick. During the Regan administration there was a skit where Regan showed his old friend Jimmy Stewart about the white house with Regan kindly but slightly befuddled. Once Stewart left Regan turned into a cold, brilliant calculating man commanding ever officer with sharp orders. That skit is forgotten because it found no cultural fire because that image of Regan, the brilliant mastermind, was at odds with the popular perception. Narratives stick with they line-up with preexisting perceptions.

After McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008 the Alaskan governor came under national scrutiny that she was ill-prepared for. When asked what sort of foreign policy experience she brought to the ticket she answered that as governor of a state that was close to Russia this gave her foreign affairs experience. Just as Rick never said, ‘Play it again, Sam’ in Casablanca Palin never said, ‘I Can see Russia from my house.’ That was a satirical performance on Saturday Night Live. But because that performance fitted perfectly with the impression because of Palin poor performance under intense press scrutiny that image of her stuck.

When a single Twitter user posted a joke tweet reporting that in his memoir Hillbilly ElegyVance confessed to having sex with a couch the visual raced to the top of the political environment. The joke about the couch stuck to Vance for a few reasons, firstly because he already had a poor charismatic image, his already well-known and extremist views on sexual matters lends itself to sexual perversions, and finally because anyone slapped with the label ‘hillbilly’ is suspect in American Culture.

JD Vance no matter the outcome of this election is going to remain stuck with the ‘weird’ couch screwing image until he managed to fully shatter it with a wholly new one but that is a monumental task.

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Biden is Out

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In a surprising and ultimately selfless political move President Biden as renounced his intention to be the Democratic Party’s Nominee this November.

No person rises to with reach of the office of President of the United States without possessing a hefty ego and Biden is no exception. Candidates on a glid path to electoral defeat typically remain in the race hoping and delusionally believing that some fantastic twist of fate will win the prize and that bowing out only ensures defeat.

But that is for normal election against normal opponents.  Despite what every election cycle insists most elections are about government at the margins. Tax rates may rise or fall, regulations may tighten or loosen, now programs may start or old ones end but the nature of the American experiment remains the same.

Not this time.

Trump and his cronies have already demonstrated in deed and word that they have nothing but contempt for our democratic way of life. Trump led an attempt to overthrow a valid, free, and fair election and steal the office of President. His Vice Presidential pick has publicly stated that the President should simply ignore the rulings of the Supreme Court and impose the president’s will as that person desires.

The fate of our democracy is as stake in this election and Biden, in a move that is beyond Trump comprehension, understood this. Biden’s ego may have screamed for him to stay in the contest but his understanding of what was at risk proved the greater motivation. He understood that if he lost the nation lost and stood aside to let another carry on the fight he had won the first bout of in 2020.

That is real patriotism and not the false self-serving corrupt thieving that the GOP offers in their lies.

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No One Knows

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Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3

If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say which grain will grow and which will not,

Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear

Your favors, nor your hate.

We have no untrustworthy witches with which to foretell the destiny of our nation. All we have are untrustworthy polls and badly fitted historical analogies as we confront a crucial presidential election like no other.

The Republican Party is now shorn of all principle, devoting itself to a charlatan, a felon, a misogynist, and an insurrectionist all melded together like some horrid Voltron in the orange hued body of Trump. Never has a major party candidate mused about setting aside the Constitution, suggested that the military fire upon those protesting him, or been so enamored with strong men that murder and repress their own populations. And yet every measurable metric indicates a strong possibility of his electoral victory in November.

The Democratic party meanwhile is led by an aging pol form whom the signs of time’s inevitable decline seeming grow by the hour. It is an unavoidable truth that in appearance Biden’s looks weaker and more frail than he ever has. A terrible truth of elections is that appearance matters far more than reality. Did you know that there are studies that show a population of test subjects, utterly unfamiliar with any election or candidate can predict the outcome of a two-person election based solely on photographs of the candidates? Elections are not about policy and positions but vibes and narratives and the narrative is bad for Biden.

The Trump’s campaign is to attack Biden as ‘weak’ and Trump as ‘strong’ a battle plan that works more and more as Biden appears frailer and more aged.

Does that mean Biden should step aside?

I don’t know. In the modern era no party that has dumped its incumbent has gone on to victory.

A new candidate would throw the Trump’s campaign plans into chaos, but no one know what narrative would emerge.

Trump is the most dangerous candidate to ever try for the office and should he win reelection the nature of our democracy is changed. Even if he leaves at the end of his second term, either by walking out or being carried out, the changes he and his people plan to do lay the groundwork for further changes. Project 2025 envisions sweeping changes to the Federal government amplifying the powers of the presidency. This prospect thrills those on the right but they should quake at the thought that that those newly found powers will not always reside in hand that they control.

Never craft a political power you aren’t willing to hand to your opponents.

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An Idiotic Theory

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I will grant you that Trump has a feral innate cunning when it comes to publicity. A nature endpoint for this celebrity obsessed culture.

However, the assassination attempt on Saturday was not some staged master-plan plot to sway the election. Ford had two assassination attempts and still failed at reelection. Such a thing does not generate sympathy for an already unpopular candidate.

And tell just how does this plot actually work?

There’s no way Trump stood there and let someone shoot withing inches of his head. Even Trump isn’t That stupid. So that would mean the shooter was just a decoy, a distraction.

Did they persuade the shooter to get up on that roof as an act of suicide?

Shots were fired and people were injured and killed. So that would have to have two or more shooters. Who are they? Where were they? Why take extra shots and kill people if the whole idea was to injure Trump and promote sympathy? You could do that with one shot.

How are the people remaining silent? The fatal flaw in nearly every ‘vast conspiracy’ is that it requires numerous people to maintain a perfect wall of silence. People just don’t do that.

No.

We have a young male shooter, acting in all likelihood irrationally, and whose exact motivation may never be known.

That’s it.

The world is often chaotic and unreasonable and this is just another example.

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Thoughts of the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump

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Yesterday, July 13th, while delivering his usual lies, threats, and promises of vengeance Presidential candidate Trump was nearly assassinated by a gunman.

I have nothing but contempt and antipathy for Trump, the man who has more to damage our political system than anyone else. Should an artery in his diseased and putrid brain burst tonight causing him to assume room temperature I would not only not lose a moment’s sleep over it I would consider it a stroke of good fortune.

That said, and as I have said before, there is no room in our system of government for political violence. Full stop. What transpired yesterday is terrible for our nation, terrible for our culture, and terrible for our future. Here, in no particular order, are some thoughts on the matter.

1) When you normalize and excuse political violence you get more it and you will not be in control of it. Be it street level violence ‘punching nazis,’ mocking and inventing fantastical conspiracies following a brutal attack on political spouse, or an entire political party proclaiming violence insurrectionist as martyrs and hostages, the result is more violence and the degradation of our political life.

2) Grand conspiracies are fantasies no more real that the armies of Barad-dur. It is a deeply human thing to believe that order and reason move the world but love gunman are the rule and not the exception. Overly complex plots to employ ‘false flag’ are the stuff of bad thrillers not reality.

3) Early reports have a terrible error rate and rushing to judgment on them is an act of foolishness.

4) Today people are dead who were not dead Friday. Have some considerations for those killed and injured before you go

5) No one know how this will move the electorate or if it will at all. This election is so ahistorical we have no comparable past to judge it against by which we can make any reasonable assumptions for the future.

6) The elected officials and parties are revealing who they are. Some are coming out with sentiments of consolations and wishes for speedy recoveries while other are quick to deploy attacks and manipulated the event for their partisan advantage. Take note who is doing which.

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248 Birthdays

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It has been 248 years since the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. That nation born nearly two and a half centuries ago has never been far from perfect. It labor under the Absolute Evil of slavery and that has cast a long and terrible shadow across time. On the other hand, the aspirational ideals presented in that document has not only given fire to the fight against slavery and tyranny here and abroad but has severed as beacon to be our better selves.

Over the centuries we have explanted the notion about who matters and whose voices can be heard in the public square. What was once unthinkable in terms of human liberty are now enjoyed but there are more to unchain.

Recently the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) enacted a new test to determine in something was constitutional or not, the ‘history and tradition’ test. If something did not have an analog in the nation’s history or its tradition, a very slippery concept to applied fairly without biases of the head or heart, then it was in conflict with the supreme law of the land.

This is not only an invitation for personal preference to direct outcomes it is directly and thematically in opposition to our founding. A founding that proclaims that the traditions of the past do not fence in our present or future liberties. That because we have always had a king who should therefore always have a king. This nation is a bold experiment in new thinking not traditional customs.

For citizen of the United States of America this year is vitally important year. This election transcends petty policies and speaks to the very nature of the American system.

We can elect a corrupt, venal, criminal of a man who has no wish beyond his own greedy vices and appetites, throwing away two and half centuries of democratic self-governance, or we can accept that policy is less important that principal and keep him and his ilk out.

Like Klaatu said at the end of The Day the Earth Stood Still “The choice is yours.”

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There Are No Norms

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I have not written on the American Political disaster that unfolds about us recently not because it is unimportant or that I do not care but because in my heart I knew such writing to be futile. There are very very few my words may sway in even the smallest of measures. For the most part people are cemented into their camps and only November thru January will let us know if this ship of democracy founders or survives this tempest.

After yesterday’s SCOUTUS corrupt ruling I have to at least make some attempt, I have to speak the truth as I see it.

This heavily politized courts finds that people have no right to bodily autonomy because the words are not in the document but amazingly finds full and partial immunity to commit crimes for the nation’s highest ranking law enforcement officer. If Trump is returned to the Oval Office this petty, ignorant, vengeful man will turn the full power of the Federal government upon his enemies. He will order the IRS to audit, investigate, and harass the wealthy who spoke out against him. The FBI and the DOJ stripped of independence will be hounds sicked on political and personal enemies. The Office of the President will be for sale to those who enrich Trum personally. Hey, you want that carried interest loophole expanded? Well, he won’t sign the bill, the very definition of an ‘official act’ until you make the requisite deposit to his bank account. This vile greedy and hateful man has no loyalty, no patriotism and this country’s enemies around the globe know this fact.

Make no mistake in reading the decision neutrally. This partisan court which has already decided that stare decisis is for sucker and that have twisted and invented new interpretations to achieve their desired outcome will in no manner apply such reasoning for any democratic politician. This immunity is for one Republican at that solely.

We have but one path forward to save our Republic. We must vote Democratic at every level. We must give the majorities in both houses to the Democratic Party and ensure that a Democratic person holds the Oval Office. The ‘norms’ are gone and with that power the Democrats must jettison the filibuster and reform the court. If that is not done this election this cycle we may very well be doomed.

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Guilty on Every Count

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Yesterday after just 11 hours of deliberation on 34 felony county a New York City Jury found former president Donald Trump guilty of every charge. Not one count did they find him acquitted nor did they hang on any of the charges. They looked at the evidence presented by document and testimony and found that there was no room for reasonable doubt as to his guilt.

Of course, conservative partisans rushed to prostrate themselves before their Orange God-King protesting the trail, the verdict, the jurors, and every political opponent that could muster to mind. It has been decades since the GOP or the conservative movement possessed any fragment of principle or integrity. Terrified at the potential political fallout they huddle together and mutter their threats and plans of vengeance. Deep in their souls they know that this is a trap entirely of their own making.

The GOP has several opportunities to avoid this fate. They could have refused Trump entry to the party’s debates in 2016. They could have mustered the conventions against him. They could have impeached him when he corruptly used the office against a friendly nation for his person political benefit. They could have impeached him when he attempted to overthrow a fair and free election. They could have stood with due process as the justice system brought him to task for his crimes.

They did none of these things.

From their own selfish wants for lower taxes, more liberty to pollute, the puritanical need to impose their sexual mores on everyone else, and the need to have utterly unrestricted access to any firearm of that their little hearts desire, they have sold their souls, and betrayed the core concept of this great nation: No Person is Above the Law.

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It Wasn’t a Riot It Wasn’t a Protest; It Was an Assault

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There are those who partisanship exceeds their patriotism and insist that the assault on the Capitol Jan 6, 2021, was really a protest or a riot. They are wrong and nothing they say in the matter of the nation’s governance should be given any weight.

A protest is a collective action to bring attention to a cause or event. Protests can and often do involve illegal actions, blocking freeways and the like. Illegality in protests should be dealt with in the courts, not overly harshly nor overly leniently but the illegal actions do not transform or alter the intent of the protest, to draw attention to a subject.

A riot is an emotional outburst that is shared by multiple individuals and is often contagious. Riots have no direct goals. While an event such as an unjustified death at the hands of authorities can ignite a riot the riot itself burns like an uncontrolled fire. They often spread beyond the inciting cause, causing property damage and too often person injury and death to individuals unassociated with the perceived injustice.

An assault is violence with a goal, a purpose, something to be achieved. An assault can be highly coordinated and planned such as the invasion of fortress Europe on D-Day or as disorganized and spontaneous as impulse mugging for cash. What is central is that there is a goal to be achieved and not a message to be conveyed or uncontrolled emotional burst.

The attack on the U.S. Capital Jan 6, 2021, was an assault with the purpose, the goal, of preventing the certification of the Presidential election and thereby preventing the peaceful transfer of power from the Former President to President-elect Biden. Placing quotations around insurrection is a lie.

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