In nineteen seventy-four, I reached three milestones in my life. In March of that year, I turned eighteen; ten days later, I registered with selective service—conscription ended in 1973, and naively I registered as an independent voter. I remember the sense of power I felt. I could join the military...
Reality
The straight news or punditry often starts with the premise of scaring the American people away with a price tag. From the Biden Build Back Better plan reporting, one would think that its’ only attribute—or detriment, depending on your point of view, is the 3.5 trillion dollar price tag. Even...
Tim Burchett is an actual U.S. representative from the state of Tennessee, and he apparently has no idea how unemployment insurance (UI) works. As in, we don’t (very rarely, anyway) pay people who quit their jobs. The people who are quitting are frequently applying early for Social Security and/or living off...
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin just cooked the planet. I don't mean that in a metaphorical sense. I mean that literally. Unless Manchin changes his negotiating position dramatically soon, he will be remembered as the man who, when the moment of decision came, chose to condemn virtually every living creature on Earth...
The tens of tens who showed up in Washington, DC Saturday had a face, former Trump staffer Matt Braynard. Braynard, who presents himself as one of the many “voter fraud experts,” investigating the presidential election, was front and center Saturday afternoon in the Justice for J6 huddle. Braynard, who once...
Civilized societies dictate that every opinion counts: but is that true? Put another way, yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion but the real question is; should every opinion count? Oh sure, there is value in hearing everyone out, but what happens once that opinion is given is what separates...
Democrats, since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, have fought the accusation of wanting a Nanny State; equal access to housing, healthcare, fair wages, and education have been guiding tenets of the Democrats since the New Deal, the War on Poverty through the Covid Recovery Act—not always successful—but good principles, nonetheless....
The latest rabbit punch thrown by the Republican party in the culture bout was to deny Texas children the truth about women’s suffrage and that white supremacy is a bad thing. Besides the obvious moral failure of Texas Republicans, who voted in favor of this measure in the absence of...
I was born in the 1950s when it was not illegal for black people in the south to vote—it was suicide. Pseudo-laws, tests, intimidation, hoods, ropes, and guns were the anti-democracy tactics of the day. Southern state officials could not legitimately ban black people from voting, so the strategy was...
I don’t know about you, but I used to feel pretty on edge whenever Donald Trump left the country. As bad as it was having him here, seeing him take overseas trips felt a bit like that scene in The Silence of the Lambs where Lecter escapes from his cage...
Rube Goldberg was an inventor and cartoonist who satirically depicted complicated machines to perform simple tasks used to show the absurdity of over-thinking. In March of 2016, with eight months to go in former President Obama’s first term, the then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell refused to consider the current Attorney...
This is not a joke. This is what Texans must live through. A governor and his party that has Texas in a state of disarray. Texas Governor needs electricity, not a wall See full episodes here. It was just a few months ago when Texas suffered one of its worst...
Florida bans its schools from teaching critical race theory On Thursday, Florida’s State Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of an amendment banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools throughout the state. The theory, according to PolitiFact, is a collection of ideas about systemic bias and privilege...
Previous guy whines with some strange riffs from Mueller Report, likely because of the latest Rudy tape as well as the McGahn testimony. Apparently he still wants that Moscow hotel. BTW, #Russia's state TV continues to describe Trump as "their president." Tongue-in-cheek or factual? Both.https://t.co/NQIPkMFFei — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) June...
Former President Trump ordered the Pentagon to release all of its information on “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) within 18 days in his last coronavirus relief bill in December 2020. More inexplicable sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) will be released for public scrutiny in June — including a UFO that broke...
I never thought a fascist takeover of the galaxy could ever be less entertaining than the one depicted in The Phantom Menace, but here we are. One major American political party remains tethered to reality, whereas the other is a barmy cult of personality that worships at the clay feet...
Let’s face it, nothing gets through the Senate if Moscow Mitch McConnell doesn’t want it to pass. (Almost nothing: we did get the Covid-19 relief package through, and a few other things, using reconciliation.) And it’s been clear to everyone (even Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema!) that there aren’t 10...
The simplest explanation for lawyer Michael Godwin’s law is that the longer a debate or disagreement extends, it will eventually devolve into an unfounded comparison to Hitler and the Nazis. Godwin’s Law is a current topic because of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Marjorie Taylor Greene may have decisively proved...
A few years ago, I wrote the piece titled “Boomers Must Take Some Blame And Help Fix Generation Y Unhappy Problem” without any malintent. I was raked over the coals by my boomer friends who accused me of agism and much more. Some said I was pitting generations against each...
Meandering nonsense highlighted by searches for bamboo fibers, and official lies issued from Mar-a Lago, are exactly what Donald Trump expected to be doing in 2016. The 2020 election with Joe Biden as his opponent was what he expected the first time around with Hillary Clinton; a loss. I am...
Throughout the one-term presidency of Donald Trump, he has been implicated in numerous criminal activities. They include making hush money payments to porn porn stars, collusion with Russians seeking to interfere with an election, obstruction of justice, financial and tax fraud connected to his real estate business, swindling his charitable...
Some historical terms should not be used lightly. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used the term Apartheid to describe the Israel/Palestine reality, this shocked some people. I hate the word Apartheid as it brings back to too many precise historical racial connotations with respect to South Africa. The term segregation holds similar memories...
Look, this is popcorn time. Orange man thinks he is so big and bad with a mouth that runs 90 miles a minute and filled with conspiracy and lies. Personally, I was always a bit leary of a quiet, soft spoken person. You never know what they are thinking and...
Here’s the big news today out of California: The campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom has failed to gain momentum in recent months as significantly more California voters favor keeping him in office, and only anemic support has surfaced for reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner while other Republican candidates hoping...
Shedding Facebook becomes more necessary as awareness of disinformation and propaganda effects forces editorial action by Facebook. The problem is that ad revenue can and has come from malign forces beyond the usual influence operations of capitalism. This comes as its Oversight Board asks more questions about Facebook’s role in...
The Boom is underway The global energy watchdog revealed that the delivery of renewable energy projects, including windfarms and solar power projects, grew by 45% last year in a step change for the global industry. Wind power capacity doubled over the last year, while solar power grew by almost 50%...
Who could believe that Republicans would actually use a provable voter fraud fallacy to distract from institutional interventions that suppress votes. Why would they divert attention to voter suppression efforts and conspiracy theories as absurd as ballots shipped from abroad. And there’s no shortage of cynical extremists in the GOP. But...
Not prosecuting Trump for what seems to be incontrovertible evidence of his Stormy Daniels payoff seems to be small potatoes only if the big enchiladas are left on the plate. Yet the GQP thinks that they still need him, likely because there are no alternatives, what with Ted Cruz having dinner with...
Can’t say that I’m surprised by this: Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympic champion and reality TV personality now running for governor in California, said she opposes transgender girls competing in girls' sports at school. Jenner, a 1976 decathlon gold medalist who came out as a transgender woman in 2015, told...
In a lengthy discussion on the brewing internecine war between Republicans, Jake Tapper stood firmly on the side of truth. Appearing on Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s New Day, Tapper noted that Republicans, for the most part, simply aren’t good-faith actors anymore. Of course, while the truth is fairly easy to...
I used to occasionally argue with MAGAs before I realized I’d have better luck trying to convince Wile E. Coyote not to jump off the cliff in his Acme Batman Suit. He always jumps, and it always ends in disaster. I’ve never understood how you can spend more than a minute...
Received this e-mail from Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley’s (D. OH) gubernatorial campaign: x We don't need some hedge fund millionaire like @JDVance1 claiming to speak for working families who are struggling to get by. In Dayton, we passed universal pre-k and the results have been incredible both for kids and...