Posted inNational politics

Why the Democrats shouldn’t vote to keep the government open

I was undecided about how the Democrats should handle the looming federal government shutdown at midnight on October 1 until this dawned on me: the Dems shouldn't vote to keep the government open. That's different from voting for a government shutdown. Sure, this is a subtle difference. But it's an important one. Trump and his Republican cronies are all set to scream from the (metaphorical) rooftops, "We wanted a clean continuing resolution to keep the government open for seven weeks, which would allow time to negotiate a budget for the next fiscal year, but Democrats rejected our oh-so-reasonable offer because…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Health tip: Don’t take medical advice from Donald Trump or RFK Jr.

I'll say this as non-gently as possible. Anyone who takes medical advice from Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or anyone else in the Trump administration is a fucking idiot! Okay, not you, if you've done what I said you shouldn't do, because I adore  each and every one of my blog visitors. I'm just talking about everybody else who listened to Trump's incoherent recent remarks about how pregnant women shouldn't take Tylenol (acetaminophen) even if they have a high fever, because Tylenol causes autism. Both of those statements aren't true. But you shouldn't take medical advice from me either.…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump has gone full authoritarian by demanding Bondi prosecute political opponents

I used to wonder why Trump had such fondness for authoritarian leaders of other countries: North Korea, China, Russia, Hungary. Those nations aren't exactly exemplars of freedom and human rights, to put it mildly. But now that Trump is unleashing his own authoritarianism to a much greater degree than he did in his first term as president, it's obvious that Trump adores authoritarians because he's one himself. And if there's one person Trump loves (there may only be one), it's himself. Yesterday Trump posted this on his Truth Social propaganda account. "Pam" is Pam Bondi, Trump's Attorney General. James Comey…
No Comments
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Jimmy Kimmel suspended after pressure from FCC chair shows autocracy of Trump administration

I’ve gotten used to learning about outrageous goings-on in the Clown Show of the Trump administration. But when I heard this afternoon that Jimmy Kimmel Live, his late night show on ABC, had been suspended indefinitely because of a comment he made about how conservatives are using Charlie Kirk’s killing to score political points, that struck me as beyond outrageous. In a story about Kimmel’s suspension by ABC, the New York Times reported what he said. The comments at the center of this week’s firestorm came during Mr. Kimmel’s opening monologue on Monday night. “We hit some new lows over…
2
Posted inNational politics Uncategorized

Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to be killed. But he spewed falsehoods and hate.

I'm sorry Charlie Kirk, a well-known right-wing activist, was killed by an assassin in Utah last Wednesday. No one deserves to die for expressing their political beliefs. However, I'm amazed at how the Trump administration reacted to his death as if he was a former president. The vice-president flew to Utah on Air Force Two and transported his body back to Arizona, where Kirk lived. The FBI director went to Utah to oversee the manhunt for his killer, even though Kash Patel has no experience in this area. Flags were flown at half-staff. Praise of Kirk from Republicans made him…
4
Posted inDonald Trump National politics Uncategorized

Oregon’s Covid vaccine problem shows how destructive Trump is

It's starting to feel a lot like The Handmaid's Tale, that gripping series about how the United States was taken over by religious zealots who forced women into being raped in order to have children at a time when infertility gripped the world. I came to The Handmaid's Tale late, but watched it every day until I was able to write about how the conclusion inspired resistance against Trump's autocracy. In the series, the only states who remained free of the zealotry were Alaska and Hawaii, if I remember correctly. I have the impression that the West Coast states also…
2
Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Wanted: Democrats with the guts to shut down the government on September 30

As painful as it is for me to say this, congressional Democrats bear a lot of resemblance to the pitiful Oregon State football team that lost a game to Fresno State yesterday it should have won. Unorganized. Mistake-prone. Divided. Listless. After recording the game and watching enough of it to realize how bad Oregon State was playing, I fast-forwarded my way through most of the rest of the game, because it was so painful to watch a team I wanted to win perform so poorly. This also is how I feel about the Democrats in the House and Senate. They…
4