Assorted Politics – Sure, Why Not?

Where Are You Getting Your Information?

December 28, 2024

See there? Floating facedown in the swimming pool?

Yup. That’s my country.

You’re probably wondering how we got to this point.

So am I.

Let’s back up a bit.

In early 2020, I started writing a post that never got finished or published about the Democratic primary going on at the time. There were many decent candidates with ambitious and popular ideas. But we were lowkey shamed for supporting any of that, that in order to oust the Orange Thing we had to play it safe and go boring and steady, and that was Joe Biden and not Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

It seemed to me a losing strategy, so typical of the party. After all, the Orange Thing had an excited base that got him elected. So did Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton did not have one as much, and that plus a lot of baggage she has led to her upset loss in 2016. And Joe Biden? Not very interesting or exciting at all. Plus, with Covid showing up by this point, couldn’t host big rallies anyway.

So because he was so deemed “electable”, Biden got the nomination, so that was the choice.

Lo and behold, after lots of counting the following November, Biden narrowly won Pennsylvania the Saturday after Election Day and was declared the winner, freeing us from the Orange Thing at long last, prompting dancing in the streets in cities around the nation. He was boring as can be, but it was an unusual time and situation where that was the winning trait against the shitshow that was his tangerine-hued opponent.

Perhaps then 2016 was just a mistake, a miscalculation, an anomaly. The Orange Thing was so actively repulsive there was no way he could win, and Clinton seemed so clearly more qualified, that she was a lock. Then, well, you know…

When he was out after the 2020 election, as we know, the Orange Thing denied the loss, declared fraud, and sent his rabid followers to attack the Capitol, leading to his second impeachment just a little over a year after the first. This failed, so he wasn’t blocked from running for president again.

Which he did. He sailed through the primaries, well on his way to pulling a Grover Cleveland given Biden’s abysmal approval ratings, with little opposition from Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley who promptly turned around and kissed his ass and thanked him for his disparaging nicknames for them.

Biden was seeming, well, old, but still doing his job. Then the June debate happened, and he was seeming really old. Nancy Pelosi, who’s even older but in Congress so it doesn’t matter, ran some behind the scenes maneuvering urging him out of reelection. And in July, the switch happened, and now the candidate was the younger, sharper, popular Kamala Harris. A campaign that felt irredeemably dead on its feet sprang to life, as hope came through that we had a capable, exciting candidate, to move past the Biden shortcomings and bring us something new. The Orange Thing didn’t stand a chance.

She walloped him in the debate. The convention was vibrant. Her campaign tore through the battleground states, making her case, knocking on doors, running shit tons of ads about how she’ll improve the economy and take on greed. She was likable. Her rallies packed arenas. She appeared on SNL.

Unlike Clinton’s and Biden’s runs, she hit all the right notes. A candidate the voters were enthusiastic about, who could energize the base and swing voters alike. She was a break from the mold, from the old guard. A breath of fresh air.

The Orange Thing, meanwhile, was rambling incoherently about pet-eating Haitians and Arnold Palmer’s penis at his poorly-attended rallies, with his get-out-the-vote efforts amounting to Elon Musk’s legally-questionable scheme of offering large sums of money to people who claim to support (his own interpretations of) the first and second amendments. And he is, after all, only three years younger than the too-old-to-be-president Joe Biden.

The polls inexplicably showed them tied, with her having a slight but statistically insignificant lead. And one renowned-for-accuracy one even had her winning Iowa? Incredible!

So it seems all the pieces are more or less together for this one to go well…

And then it didn’t. At all.
Continue reading “Where Are You Getting Your Information?”

Joe the President

July 21, 2024

What’s this? A little Sunday afternoon tweet from the White House occupant. Let’s see…

My Fellow Americans,

Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation.

Yeah, it is nice the virus is mostly under control and we don’t have to wear masks as much anymore. That’s what you’re talking about, right?

Today, America has the strongest economy in the world.

Contrary to very popular belief, per basically every poll.

We’ve made historic investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans.

Is this message just to lay out admin accomplishments to get votes? Hopefully people will see that not drowning in medical debt is more important than the spurious concerns about “illegal” immigrants the other side won’t shut up about.

We’ve provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances.

Sit your asses down, Marjorie and Lauren.

Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years.

Not sure whether to be more shocked at it being 30 years or that one passed at all.

Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court.

She gets to join Elena and Sonia in concurring dissents that amount to glaring incredulously at the other six.

And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world.

If we want the world to have even more history, better keep it coming.

America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.

“I think there’s still room for improvement.” -Gaza

I know none of this could have been done without you, the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve protected and preserved Democracy.

And a depressingly large chunk of these American people intend to vote for a guy promising to undo all this in a few months.

And we’ve revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world.

“Hello?” -Gaza

It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President.

Sure?

And while it has been my intention to seek reelection,

Ummm….

I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.

Hoooooooly shit!

I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision.

A disturbing degree of ageism and ableism from all corners? I know.

For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected.

Namely the flimsy attempts to hypnotize us all into forgetting about that debate.

I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work.

“All yours now, coconut tree lady.”

And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me.

American people: *exchange glances*

I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together.

“Except maybe you can’t quit giving them bombs?” -Gaza

We just have to remember we are the United States of America.

That’s what our Dustin Hoffman-voiced substitute teacher wrote for us!

Well. Here goes…

These Truths the Self-Evident

July 4, 2024

On this night, our country sparkles.

On this day, 248 years ago…

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Typical. Can’t just quit and be done with it. Got to write out a whole long thing first.

We hold these truths to be self-evident

“We hold these truths to be self-evident…” -Bart Simpson, tapping his head

that all men are created equal

#NotAllMen

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights

Even the “creator” who kicked them out of a garden and drowned them in a flood? Or… a different one? Do the modern day so-called “originalists” know that?

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

“This is totally a thing we believe in.” -the slaveowners who wrote and signed this thing

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men

Well, there’s your problem right there.

deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

Were you saying something? I was just thinking about that debate the other night and about how our “consent” amounts to choosing between them this November.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

PSA: Your favorite orange racist loudmouth fairly losing his reelection bid does not amount to “destructive of these ends”. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

The devil you know…

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

You go girl!

Continue reading “These Truths the Self-Evident”

When White Supremacy Feels Like Home

June 19, 2022

I hereby decree…

White supremacist families create white supremacists.

When a young person is racist, and especially when they act on that racism with a gun that no one should legally be able to have, you get all this reaching for what to blame for it, like “oh noes, social media is radicalizing them!” or it’s whatever show they watch or music they listen to, yadda yadda yadda.

It’s none of that. It’s their families.

You say “maybe he watched too many racist YouTube videos!” while ignoring that he grew up with a father who used the N-word fifty times a day and a mother who always grumbled when someone spoke Spanish at the grocery store.

Was it that white supremacist reddit that got him into “replacement theory”? Or was it listening to his grandma wax nostalgic about how nice the neighborhood was before *those* people moved in?

Did he get interested in white supremacy because of a Twitter thread? Or was it because he’d been listening to his grandpa rant about how the Civil War was a noble cause about states’ rights since before he could walk?

Did these families ever explicitly say “here, go commit some horrible racist atrocity”? Of course not. As such, they’d swear up and down they never taught him to be racist.

But they did. They planted the seed early and often.

They made white supremacy feel like home.

This doesn’t absolve him of anything. It’s still his responsibility to recognize and unlearn the racism. It’s a hard process. Many give up or don’t bother. And right wing media certainly doesn’t help.

But the process is needed in the first place because of the family.

In fact, right wing media thrives on families making white supremacy feel like home. It dissuades you from unlearning the racism and shields you from confronting white privilege by inviting you to lean into it.

Thanksgiving is easier when you agree with your racist uncle.

When white supremacy feels like home because family instilled it in you at a young age, then leaning into it means continued familial connection. Whereas unlearning it, and recognizing the toxicity and harm of all these messages you’ve been hearing your whole life, means familial disconnection and tension. Yet another reason many don’t bother to unlearn.

It’s another reason the right wing touts itself as being about family. They want to further dissuade you from unlearning the racism and thus causing this familial disconnect and tension. They profit when you don’t realize that Grandma was full of shit.

All that said, there’s no easy solution to this. But let’s at least recognize it. Don’t let these families act all shocked like “We never taught him this. Must be the video games!” and proceed to blame video games. It was them. It’s always them.

Yeah, these racist families never explicitly said “yeah, go commit some horrible racist atrocity!” but they low key taught him all his life their whiteness is under attack, that there was this problem they’d be pleased to see solved. And then act all shocked when he goes out and does so.

Originally tweeted here.

Alito the Egregiously Wrong

May 29, 2022

It got leaked that the Supreme Court is about to overrule Roe v Wade. Not that surprising given the Court’s current makeup: three liberals plus moderate Bush appointee, less moderate Bush appointee, Not Merrick Garland, sexual abuser who likes beer, sexual abuser who votes against youth at every possible opportunity, and woman who probably asks her husband’s permission before every ruling.

Anyway, the leaked opinion by Less Moderate Bush Appointee contains some choice passages worthy of an “is this dude serious?” glare, so let’s have a look…

We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision….

Okay, but does the constitution say anything about a dog playing basketball?

Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.

I know, right?! It allowed people with uteruses to *gasp!* make decisions about their own bodies and lives!

And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.

Translation: “We refuse to accept the issue is settled, so we’re enflaming and dividing. LOOK WHAT YOU MADE US DO!”

It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.

Or, you know, to the people considering having abortions. Not sure anyone else has a stake.

In the years prior to [Roe v. Wade], about a third of the States had liberalized their laws, but Roe abruptly ended that political process.

Ended that political process by… settling it? Like the Court is supposed to?

It imposed the same highly restrictive regime on the entire Nation, and it effectively struck down the abortion laws of every single State.

Imposed a highly restrictive regime by… lifting restrictions? Seriously, does this guy speak English?

It represented the ‘exercise of raw judicial power’… and it sparked a national controversy that has embittered our political culture for a half-century.

Did this guy just suggest repealing Roe would end controversy and bitter political culture? Dude… look out the window!

The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.

Sure it is. It’s been settled law for half a century.

An unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.

Yeah, well, up until certain dates, no one other than land-owning white males could vote- Oh, wait, nevermind. You’re opposed to that change, too.

Voters may believe that the abortion right should be more even more [sic] extensive… Voters in other States may wish to impose tight restrictions based on their belief that abortion destroys an ‘unborn human being.’

Oh, were you saying something? I was just thinking about that time you ruled to gut the Voting Rights Act.

Our nation’s historical understanding of ordered liberty does not prevent the people’s elected representatives from deciding how abortion should be regulated.

How about, and hear me out, those who are pregnant deciding whether or not to get an abortion!

On many other occasions, this Court has overruled important constitutional decisions. … Without these decisions, American constitutional law as we know it would be unrecognizable, and this would be a different country.

Want to get started on overruling Citizens United then?

Casey described itself as calling both sides of the national controversy to resolve their debate, but in doing so, Casey necessarily declared a winning side.

Do you think your rulings don’t declare “winning sides”?

The Court short-circuited the democratic process by closing it to the large number of Americans who dissented in any respect from Roe. … Roe and Casey cannot be allowed to stand.

Most Americans want them to stand. Or does that “large number of Americans” not count?

Roe certainly did not succeed in ending division on the issue of abortion.

It wasn’t meant to. It was to allow people to get abortions if they want.

Roe ‘inflamed’ a national issue that has remained bitterly divisive for the past half-century.

No, more like the Court made a decision, and ever since the GOP, Catholics, and midwest pastors alike have been stirring their bases into a frenzy about it to get more votes, more asses in pews, and more born children to molest.

This Court cannot bring about the permanent resolution of a rancorous national controversy simply by dictating a settlement and telling the people to move on.

Could be describing literally any Supreme Court decision here.

Whatever influence the Court may have on public attitudes must stem from the strength of our opinions, not an attempt to exercise ‘raw judicial power.’

LOL

Just… LOL

We do not pretend to know how our political system or society will respond to today’s decision overruling Roe and Casey.

Seriously?

And even if we could foresee what will happen, we would have no authority to let that knowledge influence our decision.

Despite all the ink you spilled bemoaning Roe and Casey “enflaming debate” and “deepening division”. Funny how that suddenly doesn’t matter anymore.

We can only do our job, which is to interpret the law, apply longstanding principles of stare decisis, and decide this case accordingly.

Applying stare decisis would mean leaving Roe alone because it’s already correctly settled.

We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.

Translation: “Because I’ve already got Clarence, Amy, Brett, and Neil on board, so I can do what I want. Hell, I could have just recited The Cat In The Hat here for all that it matters.”

Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives.

Yes, to the people. The people who are actually pregnant. Kind of need to leave Roe and Casey in place for that.

Originally tweeted here on May 4, 2022.

Still With This 2021

December 31, 2021

*looks at recent posts* Ugh.

Well, at least I’m still doing this, for whatever that’s worth. So what happened this year? Well…

January: A Capitol Sixth

– Georgia senatorial runoff election
– Did both Democrats actually win?! Sweet!
– Oh, look, angry Orange Thing fans at the Capitol.
– And breaking into the Capitol.
– Oh dear.
– Look who’s getting impeached again!
– Though he’s done anyway, but it’s the principle of the thing.
– Here comes President Biden and Vice President Harris!

February: The F Word

– Impeachment managers make case, citing event all senators saw first hand.
– Defense yelled a lot and complained Democrats said the word “fight” at any point.
– “Good enough,” said 43 Republican senators
– Second impeachment fails

March: Ever Given

– There’s a big boat wedged in the Suez Canal. LOL
– I want a Covid vaccine. I’m eligible. Give me.

April: Phase 1C

– Damn it, get me a vaccine appointment I don’t have to drive two hours for!
– Covid Easter number two
– Finally!
– First dose!

May: Stolen Base

– I just keep getting older, I guess.
– Second dose!
– LOL Davey Martinez
– What do you mean lifting mask requirements?!
– I’m fully vaxxed now but seems too soon.

June: The Noisiest Tree

– Where are the cicadas?
– Ah, there they are!
– Hello, little golden wings!
– And… they’re gone again.

July: The Twisties

– Time for 2020 Olympics in 2021
– Needs more robots.
– Good for you, Simone Biles. Good for you.
– Where did all the Nats go?

August: Millhaven

– What do you mean Canada beat us at soccer?!
– Damn it, Canada, leave your bullshit in the winter games.
– Bronze it is, then.
– Still managed to overtake China in medal count on the last day. Yay!
– Oh, that poor condo. Goddamn lightning.
– Awesome Con!

September: Tax the Rich

– Twenty years since the bad thing happened.
– Baking show

October: Bounce It

– What do you mean 99% story completion?! What did I miss?
– Fine, I’ll do New Game Plus.
– Somewhat normal Halloween again. Despite… things.

November: Focaccia

– Oh FFS Virginia
– Not doing turkey in a bag again
– Oh, Jurgen and Crystelle!
– Covid booster!

December: Quiet Room

– Where to record this video?
– Cookies. Lots of cookies.
– Virtual festivities again.
– Christmas Eve mini pies
– No Christmas Day roast beast due to shit going on.
– So doing roast beast right now for New Year’s Eve!
– Delicious.
– And watching Encanto.

I guess I should post more. Inspiration and motivation comes and goes. I’ve still been tweeting, though. Anyway, there’s 2022 waiting up there in Times Square. While this damn virus is still not gone. Why won’t it be gone? Well, all that’s gone now is 2021. Here comes the next.

2020 in Hindsight

December 31, 2020

…

(Sorry.)

…

Anyway, let’s get on with this shitshow.

January: Imminent Threat

-Oh, awesome, we might be about to go to war with Iran.
-Meanwhile, year-old conversation between Sanders and Warren for some reason.
-Victoria, good. William Shatner, bad.
-Hmm. Keep seeing mention of some virus in China. Yikes, hope they get that contained.

February: A Matter of Right and Wrong

-I missed the groundhog’s prediction. What was it, Chiefs or 49ers?
-Senate votes to acquit… surprise, surprise.
-Iowa caucus at long last. And it goes to… Sanders or Buttigieg, probably?
-Though looks like Biden didn’t really perform at all?
-Bernie gets New Hampshire and Nevada!
-And there’s Biden snatching South Carolina.
-Parasite. Good for them.
-Meanwhile, that virus hasn’t gone away…

March: Flatten the Curve

-Super Tuesday!
-Oof, Biden is back in this race and running away with it.
-Sigh, so much for Bernie.
-The virus is here.
-Better wash hands a lot and disinfect groceries.
-Everything is closing.
-Sports are postponed indefinitely.
-For how long?

April: Various Corn

-Looks like Easter is coming up. Need people to stay home.
-My Easter tradition is mostly unaffected by virus. That’s good.
-Okay, time to mask up!
-What do you mean some governors want to open their states back up? Cases are rising!
-Oh, they’re doing it to please the Orange Thing? Okay then…
-100,000 miles!
-My primary got postponed to June. Though Bernie dropped out so it’s just Biden.
-And I thought grocery shopping was hell before…
-Blueberry muffins!

May: Hydroxychloroquine

-Must bake.
-Birthday. Meh.
-Must bake.
-So tired of parents trashing their kids totally unprompted just to make small talk in conference calls.
-Must bake.
-Brownies!
-And with the senseless murder of George Floyd, we have another explosion of protests for racial justice.
-Complete with cops beating up and arresting journalists. -_-

June: I Can’t Breathe

-Time for primary. To drop off ballot that had only just arrived four days ago.
-Keep your TERF mouth shut, Rowling.
-Must bake.
-Racial justice protests still going strong!

July: Person Woman Man Camera TV

-Chili and berry cake!
-No ‘splosions though. Because of virus.
-Holy crap, the football team is regenerating…
-Mmm… delicious blondies!
-John Lewis 🙁
-First pitch from Fauci!

August: Ammonium Nitrate

-Yikes, poor Beirut!
-Tarp trouble.
-And it’s Kamala Harris for VP.
-The postal service is being fucked with.
-I baked something that didn’t taste good. Now I’m annoyed.
-Now I baked something very tasty. Yay!

September: Phosphine

-Life on Venus? Sure, throw it on this year’s pile…
-Don’t yell at me.
-Must bake.
-NOOOOOOOOO
-Was that… was that the debate?

October: Someone’s Crazy Uncle

-Virtual NYRA conference!
-LOL Orange Thing got the virus
-Fly on Pence’s head at the debate
-Savannah Guthrie saying what needs to be said
-Dropped off ballot!
-Dallas sucks
-Not very many trick or treaters because virus 🙁

November: Red Mirage

-Here goes…
-Polls are closed.
-Results trickling in.
-Trickling…
-Just keep counting… just keep counting…
-States looking good for Biden swing to Orange Thing.
-States looking good for Orange Thing swing to Biden.
-Just keep counting… just keep counting…
-Ignore the armed right wing “poll watchers”
-Just staying up all night and all day at work with CNN…
-And on Saturday morning…
-YAAAAAASSSSSSS
-Dancing in the streets.
-Orange Thing is OUT
-Total Landscaping
-Car maintenance is expensive
-Macy’s Parade without spectators!
-Again, Dallas sucks
-Solo Thanksgiving… for everyone who’s smart

December: They’re Goats

-Or not smart. Cases went up.
-Oh, fucking shit, I’ve got mice in my damn house again.
-Cookies!
-Snow!
-Winter Festival!
-Er… virtual Zoom poetry reading Winter Festival because virus.
-Cookies!
-Look at that, you fucked with the postal service, and now all the Christmas packages are late.
-Certified Electoral College results. It’s Joe Biden!
-Christmas crisp
-Christmas Eve service… via YouTube live… earlier in the evening.
-Solo Christmas
-IT’S SNOWING ON CHRISTMAS MORNING! IT’S SNOWING ON CHRISTMAS MORNING!
-ROAST BEAST
-Soul as New Year’s Eve movie (on Disney+, theaters are kind of not a thing at the moment)

It was the first two months that feel like a century ago, with their own worries and issues, and then March hit and everything changed and ever since it’s been waiting and seeing and trying to maintain our mental and physical health all the while. We blame the year, though COVID-19 is called that because it began in 2019, its own little parting gift that 2020 had to deal with. Mercifully, we have a new president next month, one who takes all this and the job itself seriously, even if not without his own many flaws. There are vaccines being administered and more coming out. So there’s a little bit to be hopeful about, even if going in 2021 just under an hour from now won’t magically change anything right away. For a little while still, we need to adapt to the situation where we can.

And wear a fucking mask!

There’s 2021, up there in Times Square as usual, above absolutely no crowds very unusually. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens…

Midterminated

November 30, 2018

So at long last the 2018 Midterms came after what felt like a century. And feels like it’s been another century since. Really not quite a month. But they just kind of kept going. Let’s see…

Let’s start with Texas.

For the past six years, Texas has had as a Senator a semi-sentient slime mold that answers to “Ted Cruz”. He’s also been known to, well, not necessarily answer to “Lyin’ Ted” per se but will fall in line behind whoever calls him that because he has no spine or even much integrity or sense.

Oh, and in his 2016 campaign, he actually said voters should “spank” Hillary Clinton for lying just like he does to his daughter.

Let me just take out my checklist… Okay, invoking corporal punishment to a crowd that sees it as traditional family values that’s under attack? Check. Violence against women and girls? Check. Implied sexual assault of a female political opponent? Check.

Yikes. This guy so needs to be gone.

But look! A challenger, by the name of Beto O’Rourke, running around to every Texas county and riling up the crowds. And, wow, the polls are close. Maybe there’s a chance here…

Ugh.

Oh.

Damn it

Well, if it’s any consolation, Beto O’Rourke is so fucking proud of you guys.

Now let’s hop over to Florida.
Continue reading “Midterminated”

Brett the Impartial

October 7, 2018

Last week, Christine Blasey Ford testified about how Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her back in 1982. Then it was his turn to say words. The Senate was ready to go on it, with the Republican majority ready to vote yes, but then Jeff Flake was cornered in an elevator, so Republicans grudgingly agreed to let the FBI investigate the claims for like five minutes. So nothing seems all that different as at the end of this week the full Senate voted on confirmation. Thursday evening right before, Brett Kavanaugh said some more words, this time in written form in the Wall Street Journal. Let’s see…

I was deeply honored to stand at the White House July 9 with my wife, Ashley, and my daughters, Margaret and Liza, to accept President Trump’s nomination to succeed my former boss and mentor, Justice Anthony Kennedy, on the Supreme Court.

Name dropping.

My mom, Martha—one of the first women to serve as a Maryland prosecutor and trial judge, and my inspiration to become a lawyer—sat in the audience with my dad, Ed.

Good for her.

That night, I told the American people who I am and what I believe.

Still more comprehensive than this FBI investigation.

I talked about my 28-year career as a lawyer, almost all of which has been in public service. I talked about my 12 years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often called the second most important court in the country, and my five years of service in the White House for President George W. Bush.

Well, yeah, this process is a job interview after all.

I talked about my long record of advancing and promoting women, including as a judge—a majority of my 48 law clerks have been women

Um, yeah, about that…

—and as a longtime coach of girls’ basketball teams.

I think I know the real reason you want this gig.
Continue reading “Brett the Impartial”

Anonymous the Anonymous

September 15, 2018

So last week the New York Times published an Op-Ed by… no one knows! But they claim to be resisting the Orange Thing from the inside. Let’s have a look…

The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.

Intriguing. Do go on.

President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader.

In other news, the word “leader” wants to sue you for defamation.

It’s not just that the special counsel looms large. Or that the country is bitterly divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership. Or even that his party might well lose the House to an opposition hellbent on his downfall.

Awww, poor Orange Thing with all the shit he and his party brought on themselves.

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I mean, he might know now. But then again, how would you know?

I would know. I am one of them.

Ah.
Continue reading “Anonymous the Anonymous”