A quarter of a century later

 A quarter of a century, and yet the vicious, vivid, overwhelming sights and sounds resonate in my mind as if it were yesterday. Nine-Eleven, the fear, the frantic fumbles, the paranoia, the worry, the unknown smothering most of the time, frustrating all the time, demonstrating just how fragile life in this nation really could be. 

Enemies were created, scapegoats imagined, and trust was pushed far behind distrust, with confusion over who was friend and who was foe. Conspiracy theories flourished; the news seemed like propaganda; no honest appraisal of our current situation seemed to find fruition. We seemed lost and oh so much wanted to be found.

 That was the year 2001. It is now 2026, and from my point of view, so many of the feelings and emotions I felt way back then have reformed, re-emerged, been re-invented. Conspiracy theories regarding who the Other is (Immigrants, The Trans Community, Muslims). Distrust of anyone who is not white, Christian, or male. Propaganda flowing freely from the Trump Media machines, never focusing on the crimes and grift of members of the Trump Reich, but on anyone who is not them. Fear of what might come next: which nation will be bombed, what tariffs will be expanded, who really should be able to vote, and who should be denied.

Planes were flown into skyscrapers; then, buildings imploded; lives were almost immediately ended, and now lives are being ruined; crumbling foundations of democracy are everywhere, but this time, this year, 25 years later, the terror is not coming from across the oceans but emanating from Trump and a cadre of billionaire terrorists.

Was there a lesson we were supposed to learn? No, seriously- no snark on my part- was there a lesson to be learned to help us heal? I wonder. To those who became heroes, to those who still mourn the loss of those they loved, I remember you. 

 

Third time ain't no charm

 President Donald Trump promised a $5,000 check for U.S. voters if Republicans win both the House and the Senate in the looming midterm election.

Such a payout could cost more than $1 trillion and break federal law.

The promise follows Trump's proposed "DOGE dividend" and "tariff rebates." (CNBC)

Promises, or are they bribes? He lies, and so far, he has gotten away with it. He breaks the law, and so far, he has gotten away with it. He is a con, a criminal, a charlatan, a convict, and yet he remains in office and is primarily the most powerful man in the political world.

I suppose the old adage of “the third time is a charm” is exactly what his sycophantic Fascists have told him. They must have added that your base has no memory of being kicked in the balls; they are full of amnesia, forgetting each promise and snake oil recipe you have provided them, and as long as you continue to list a bunch of scapegoats, your masses will overlook being had, due to the fact that as long as you hate the folks they hate, you remain a hero!

And yet… no one within the Republican Party or the Billionaire Class has the conscience, the spine, the moral fortitude to say Donald Trump, enough is fucking enough already! Sad!

 

Making "suckers" great again

 The top 10 problems with the Republicans’ pointless and futile midterm convention. If Trump and his party are feeling optimistic about the gathering in Texas, they probably ought to start lowering their expectations. (Maddow Blog)

It is lovingly (ha, ha) referred to as Trumpapalooza!)

So, the Republicans who have supported the Trump-Iran War, which is still going on for exactly 193 days, won’t be talking about that issue at their HUGE Midterm spectacle. Nor will the Republicans be discussing the fact that it has been 266 days since, by law, all of the names in the Epstein Files were to be released to the public.

One must wonder if the issue of affordability, or, in the case of Trump and the lackluster action on behalf of the Republicans in Congress, the lack of affordability, will be a topic of discussion. Oh yeah, and now the burden of paying for the newly minted tariffs on Canada, with their price increase for Americans- you bet that won’t be mentioned.

Will the Republicans talk about the exact cost to the taxpayer for things like the ballroom, the MMA ring built on the White House grounds, and the actual price of tearing it down and redoing the lawn, or the Trump Arch, and the plans he has for making the public golf courses in DC look like his private clubs?

Perhaps FOX will cover this sham and say that Trump and the Republican Party have made America great again, and provide details about how the Trump Reich has made measles great again, or civil rights great again, or voting rights great again, or American allies great again? As P.T. Barnum once believed, “there is a sucker born every minute,” and tonight and tomorrow night Trump and his billionaire donors will try their darndest to make “suckers” out of most of America, once again!

 

 

 

Tuesday after Labor Day

 This is Tuesday, immediately after Memorial Day; it should be a moment when a variety of emotions rise up. This unofficial but significant day marks the end of summer. Jokingly, for some, wearing white is Tres taboo. Summer loves most likely have been left for pages in a diary. Too soon for Christmas music, but not soon enough for College Football. Perhaps the romanticizing of autumn and its coziness, its let’s take out our sweaters motif, seems like a well-needed break. 

But as I write this blog, two sentences seem to be gnawing at my gut and running rampant in my brain. “The value of things that do not contain profit” is the first. As I look around, read, watch, and witness the arrogance of the billionaire class, under the guidance of Trump and the vast majority of Republican politicians, who prioritize anything but health care and the climate, and the impoverished, placing profits over people, I become angry. This demographic goes on and on, getting wealthier, planting more roadside bombs to deter almost everyone else from doing more than survive.

The other sentence that burns my brain is, “manufactured fear!” Once again, Trump and his willing accomplices seem to freely decide who will be the newest demographic to hate, to judge with the indulgence of great hypocrisy. Knowing that most of their cultists are drowning in insecurity, breathing in a lack of introspection, and always looking to point their fingers at the so-called others, it is without any pushback that Trump and the Republicans can invent the newest villains with the snap of their fingers. 

The coming of the Fall season, full of change and mysteries ahead, has for me become just another moment in this current moment in the life of this nation, as scary, not romantic, but a bit ravenous. And once again I worry.

Dumb hires dumber

 Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy on Tuesday said President Trump tapped her husband, Sean Duffy, to be Transportation secretary “because that was all that’s left.” “He said he wanted to serve the president in any way,” Campos-Duffy said. “He ended up in Transportation because that was all that’s left.” Duffy is a former Fox News host. (The Hill)

There are a plethora of really inadequate people serving in King Trump’s Cabinet, and if you have read the headlines, almost each and every one of his dumb a dirt selections have tried to out dumb one another. Some of the Cabinet picks were people who gave Trump and his PACS tons of millions of dollars; a very few were provided to Trump by the Heritage Foundation to promote their plans to Christianize the American government; and then we have the selection of the clowns who served as the dupes on the FOX Network.

Sean Duffy makes Pete Hegseth, another former FOX entertainer, seem smart, savvy, and sure-footed. Sean has spent our taxpayer money to film a reality show of him and his family traveling the United States because, of course, he is the Transportation Secretary, and for him it makes more sense to transport himself, once again using our money, rather than using our taxpayer dollars for things like improving infrastructure and rebuilding roads and highways damaged by Mother Nature.

Now, remember this: people like Sean Duffy could not have been given the power to fuck things up for the rest of us if the Republican Majority in the Senate actually gave a fuck about what is better for the people of this nation rather than what was in their best personal interests in doing the bidding of another dumb as shit person, Trump!

He hates poor kids

 Trump is waging a war on America's children — and he's winning. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act made massive cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, leaving millions of children in low-income families without access to health insurance, adequate and healthy food and, in some cases, learning and developmental services in public schools. (The Hill)

And where is the outrage from those within the Republican Party who claim and clamor that THEY and only THEY are the true party for being Pro-Life and Pro-Family? 

President Trump’s administration is waging war against children, especially those in our nation’s poorest families.  (The Hill)

I often wonder and am aghast at the inability of the people living in poverty who proudly claim that they are MAGA. They purchase the Red Hats, buy into the hate, and somehow think that if you are not a person of color, then somehow your own poverty is not the same as those you consider the other! Statistics have proven that a high percentage of Caucasians suffer the same ills as those who are not Caucasian and somehow lack the ability to introspect. It is as if being a racist or bigot will provide some kind of protective shield against the rust and ruin of poverty.

Trump and his Reich pretended to be Populists, advertising him as a man of the people. And if the people who voted for him, find him a cult leader or a golden calf, had the ability to look beyond their own insecurities, they would discover that this billionaire, is only out to be popular for his friends and family!

Bone Spurs at it again

 Veterans make emergency request to block construction of Trump’s arch. The administration is seeking to render the project a “fait accompli” by moving quickly, the veterans’ lawyers argued Friday. (The Washington Post)

The Arch, one more Trump action making America great- oops, I mean making his ego feel great. This monstrosity will block the view to Arlington Cemetery and be one more outrageous eyesore developed and supported by Trump. Oh yeah, and we, the taxpayers, still don’t know the final cost of this, and who, actually, in the end will pay to stroke Trump’s ego.

But Trump’s distaste and hate for the military should come as no surprise, because just recently he said: Trump Makes Jaw-Dropping Insult to the Dead of His Own War. President Donald Trump has dismissed his war in Iran, in which 18 U.S. service members have been killed, as “small potatoes for us.” The president, 80, was taking questions in the Oval Office on Friday when he was asked how he would describe the conflict with Iran. (Daily Beast).

And remember this: Donald Trump reportedly made disparaging remarks about dead soldiers and those who were captured during his presidency, including calling fallen soldiers "losers" and "suckers" in 2018. (PBS)

Bone Spurs Donnie, the rich coward, has made it very clear that the Military is beneath him, that they are nothing but a bunch of lower forms of life. He, I believe, considers them to be like a box of plastic soldiers that he can play the game of “war” with. He is the Commander-In-Chief, and as the Commander, Emperor, and King, I believe he believes that the lives of His soldiers are meaningless. Talk about red, white, and blue!