There’s nothing enviable about the task confronting the five Republican hopefuls running against Trump, especially when you consider the chorus of boos they receive if they’re bold and honest enough to point out that Trump lost a free and fair election in 2020, and God bless them, if they want to point out that the former president faces 91 felony charges stemming from four indictments.
Polite society lives in a world of euphemisms. If you have a low IQ, it may be more tactful to refer to you as “intellectually challenged” than “stupid.”
This phenomenon is even taken to the point of jokes; if you’re short of stature, you may be said to be “vertically challenged.”
Let’s hope there is something similar at work in the meme here. Normally, those in public office who take bribes, especially those at the highest levels of government, are not regarded as “ethically challenged,” but simply as “criminals.”
Before the advent of Donald Trump, the term “narcissism” was used very seldom in America; it normally came up only in the context of the Greek myth in which a young man was so taken by his own image, reflecting in a pond, that he eventually fell into the water and drowned.
Now it’s important for us all to have some understanding of this psychopathological condition, insofar as it explains and predicts the behavior of a man who represents great danger to our nation, and, by extension, the world.
In the politics of conservative Americans, the term “The Great Reset” refers to their desire to take government and social norms back to some point in the past. Though it’s unclear exactly how far into the past would satisfy those folks, it seems that a good estimate would be the 1950s, before Roe, the Civil Rights Act, gay rights, and certainly anything remotely resembling “woke.”
As we’re starting to see, however, Americans are rejecting The Great Reset by huge margins in the polls. This appears to be a reaction to the Republican party’s having squirted to the far right over the past few years, especially on issues like a federal law banning abortion, and the alliance with Donald Trump and his attempt to overthrow the U.S. government.
Voters have more affinity for cancer than they do for this level of right-wing extremism.
As suggested in the meme here, another reason the Republicans are getting killed at the polls is their effort to throw sand in the gears of the U.S. military. I’m referring of course to Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville’s ploy to raise awareness for the need to ban abortion, by blocking thousands of promotions with in our armed forces, thus gumming up our entire defense apparatus.
Again, here’s something so obvious that I can’t believe I’m typing out these words: Most Americans respect our military, and want to see it function with the greatest possible efficiency, unimpeded by political grandstanding.
As suggested by the Arabic proverb here, we face a real threat from Donald Trump who says that, if re-elected, he will use the federal government to punish his enemies.
If America gets this wrong in 2024, it will be one hell of a long time before it gets another chance.
Donna Kay Smedley writes:
I’m sorry, but I find the case of Steve Bannon perplexing. This man has openly scammed Americans, had a part in some capacity of engaging in the 1/6 insurrection, but a judge has allowed him to walk freely by defying a Congressional subpoena. Any other person would have been in jail already and serving his sentence. Everyone should be treated equally not differently when committing crimes or just blowing off subpoenas.
I’m with you 100%. The two-tiered system of justice here is a clear violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. If I were the judge in this case, I’d feel deeply ashamed of myself for ignoring the oath of office I took and participating in this travesty of fairness and equality.
This quote from Hippocrates reminds me of something astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said to an interviewer who asked him, “Well, if there is all this stuff in the universe that we don’t understand, why can’t that be God?”
He replied, “If that’s the way you want to play it, that’s fine. Just keep in mind that you’re standing on an island that’s getting smaller every year.”
It’s so gratifying to see these victories for organized labor.
A strong middle class gives back so many gifts to U.S. society, in the form of a stronger democracy, lower crimes rates, and better educational standards.
On top of that, we have quality of life; it’s nice to know that millions of Americans are benefiting from greater affluence and lower levels of poverty.
One further point: notice that this happened under a Democratic administration. This truly is the party that cares about working people. I know this is often lost in our political conversations, but it really is the truth.
From the American Energy Society: US supermajor Chevron acquired Hess for $53 billion two weeks after Exxon Mobil purchased Pioneer Natural Resources for $60 billion and while BP doubled its YOY profits ($27B). Note: Many SMEs believe the sector’s historic performance is far from over and that the Permian Basin in Texas will likely remain the centerpiece of all activity in the foreseeable future.
I’m reminded of a boss/senior partner I had as a young man who liked to say, on occasions such as these, “Well at least now it’s getting real.”
Yes, the gloves are off, and Big Oil no longer seems to care that its standing in the world of PR is really no better than that of Hamas. They are baking the planet for profit, and there is not a goddamned thing we can do about it, at least in the short-term.
In the long-term, of course, we can electrify everything and then hope there is a path back to methane and CO2 levels that stabilize the climate here on the only planet we call home.
