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Demonstrations today

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Just got back from the demonstration in New London. I really got a kick out of the signs people made. Here are some of the best:

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Where to they find these people?

Sunday, March 30, 2025

One of the truly amazing things about the current Republican Party is the number of people who have been elected (or appointed) to powerful positions who are amazingly stupid. I’m not just talking about the individual who currently holds the title of President while someone else is actually calling the shots.

Consider this. Congresswoman Victoria Sparts of Indiana has opined that “You violated the law, you are not entitled to due process”.

Now the stupidity involved here is not the fact that the whole point of due process is to determine whether you in fact violated the law, rather than letting the state simply pronounce you guilty and impose punishment. After all, imposing a regimen where you are guilty if charged with no opportunity to prove otherwise, whether the burden of proof is on you or the state, is exactly what fascists do, and exactly what our fascists are trying to do.

No, the truly stupid part is saying it out loud, because we’re still at a stage in the transition to fascism that Republicans have to at least pretend that there’s nothing to see here and no one is taking away anyone’s rights. Really, Victoria, you need to be a little more subtle about these things. Dress it up a bit differently. Sort of like this, from the guy who represents Stonington in the Connecticut legislature:

See? Just a bit more subtle. But, give him credit, just as stupid.

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A prediction

Monday, March 24, 2025

We read here that Pete Hegseth, the totally unqualified Secretary of Defense, conducted top secret discussions on signal and looped in a reporter from the Atlantic:

At 11:44 a.m., the account labeled “Pete Hegseth” posted in Signal a “TEAM UPDATE.” I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.

The only person to reply to the update from Hegseth was the person identified as the vice president. “I will say a prayer for victory,” Vance wrote. (Two other users subsequently added prayer emoji.)

The reporter to whom these were sent, Jeffrey Goldberg, at first thought it might be some sort of hoax, but it soon became clear that it was not. Goldberg was privy to a lot of classified information, which he has not revealed, but he has revealed the fact that he was included in this exchange.

So, here’s my prediction. This story will get a bit of play in the media. The New York Times may even put it on the front page, but it will then be forgotten, because after all, this is a Republican massively screwing up, and that’s not news. If a Democrat had done it, it would never be forgotten until that Democrat resigned, which he or she should do, just as Hegseth should. Of course, no Republican in Congress will care. Even Susan Collins won’t be concerned.

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Chris Murphy for President

Friday, March 14, 2025

*Before getting to the subject hinted at by the title to this post, let me say that this post will assume something that it is somewhat risky to assume: that the election held in 2028 will not be a Soviet style election in which the outcome is known in advance. The assumption will be that the votes will actually be counted and the person getting the most electoral votes (thanks for the stupid electoral vote system, sainted Founding Fathers!) will win the presidency.

In my humble opinion (okay, maybe not so humble) Chris Murphy would be the best candidate the Democrats could put forward in 2028 to face whatever Republican may run. And believe it or not, I read recently that Trump Jr. is thinking of running, which, again assuming the election is decided by following the law, would be a plus for us. I don’t understand the attraction Donald Sr. has for any voter, but whatever it is, Junior doesn’t have it.

First, an observation about the state of our nation. We are facing a critical period in our history. The odds are good that we will slip into full fascism before 2028, but if we don’t, the Democrats can’t afford to take any chances. They have to recognize and accept some painful realities about this very screwed up country. There is reason to believe that Kamala, surely the superior candidate in 2024, lost simply because she is a woman. There is also ample reason to believe that Obama pulled off a miracle and it’s unlikely that we could win with a person of color at the present time. In any event, we should play it safe, so a white male it should be. Chris Murphy fits that minimal requirement, but that’s hardly the reason I think he should be our candidate.

Ever since Trump was elected Chris has shown that he understands the nature of the threat Trump poses. Too many of our national Democrats seem to think that nothing significant has changed since the days when we had two relatively rational parties. Even given the criminal conduct of the Trump administration since the day he was inaugurated, they continue to adhere to a mental state not justified by the present circumstances. Consider, for instance, Jim Himes decision to vote to censor Al Green for interrupting Trump during the State of the Union address. The expectation for comity only runs one way, but folks like Himes don’t seem to recognize that. Consider also Chuck Schumer’s decision to vote for the Republican’s continuing budget resolution.

Chris, on the other hand, has made it clear that he understands the current situation and has been vocal about it. Once again, such understanding is a minimal requirement for our candidate, but not every Democrat out there measures up.

Whoever we run for president will need to frame the issues in a way to which a) Republicans will have a hard time responding, and b) a now Republican subservient media will have a hard time misrepresenting. That’s a tall order, and no one will achieve 100% success, but I think Chris will have the ability to do as good a job as could anyone. Hopefully he, along with other Democrats will learn that it’s time for the Democrats to start attacking the media just as the Republicans did to the “liberal media” in the now seemingly distant past. It was never really so liberal, only more fair minded, but those attacks brought the both siderism that has morphed into the IOKIYAR mentality among almost all of the nation’s media.

I really think Chris has the ability to expose the Republicans for what they are and the ability to properly frame the issues.

Somewhat relevant addendum: I just read that enough Democrats voted for the Republican budget resolution to get it to pass. Neither Chris nor Dick Blumenthal were among them. Yet another example of Democrats not understanding the situation in which we find ourselves.

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A harbinger

Tuesday, March 4, 2025

I think the writer at Lawyers, Guns and Money is right about this case currently at the Supreme Court, where it should not have lasted a minute:

Three weeks ago a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to plaintiffs suing the Trump administration for freezing foreign aid funds that had already been appropriated by Congress. This is about as illegal as illegal can get, so granting a TRO was without doubt the appropriate response. The administration appealed the granting of the TRO to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, even though grants of TROs aren’t generally appealable. The DC Circuit immediately turned down the appeal, because what the Trump administration is doing is totally illegal on its face, plus again you normally can’t block this sort of interlocutory order at this point in litigation.

The administration’s lawyers waited until the literal 11th hour last Wednesday to appeal the DC Circuit’s action to the SCOTUS, which for all the reasons noted above should have routinely refused to consider it. So it wasn’t a good sign when John Roberts, who oversees appeals from the circuit, paused the operation of the already appealed District Court order requiring the Trump administration to release the already appropriated money.

Now what REALLY isn’t a good sign is that here we are six days later, and the SCOTUS as a whole hasn’t already gotten rid of this ridiculous appeal of a wildly illegal act on the part of the government.

There is no legally defensible claim to be made by the fascists currently in the executive to support their action. Congress made a law that was approved by the then President. It requires certain expenditures. There is nothing remotely unconstitutional about those expenditures.

The appeal never should have been accepted.Nor should it have taken the court more than 5 minutes to turn it down. Even if there were a colorable claim to support Elon’s crime procedurally, as the writer points out, an order such as this is normally not something that can be appealed.

There are numerous cases like this making their way through the courts. My guess is that Roberts and his ilk, with Alito leading the way, will find a way to do the legally indefensible. One could argue that their motivation would be a fear that were they to do otherwise, the administration would simply ignore them, thus rendering the courts as powerless as Elon and his co-president intend to make the Congress. That may, in fact, be Roberts’ motivation, but for the rest of the right wingers on the court, it will simply be an opportunity to establish the fascist state for which they have always yearned. In any event, when they do uphold this crime, they will themselves be rendering the courts both meaningless and powerless.

It is also the case that this administration is already more corrupt than any previous administration, including Trump’s first, which was the previous champ. There are numerous examples of Trump and his minions using his position to make money, the latest being his grift of taking bribes from the rich, disguised as donations for his presidential library. The court will bless all that as well. It can only get worse. Look for Aileen Cannon to join the group as soon as there’s an opening.

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Yet another thing you couldn’t make up

Saturday, February 22, 2025

This is getting bizarre:

Federal workers began receiving emails Saturday asking them to explain what work they did last week, as Elon Musk announced that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments,” reads the email, which has no signature. CNN has obtained copies of emails sent to multiple federal employees.

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted Saturday on X, hours after President Donald Trump suggested he be more “aggressive.” “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.

Looking on the bright side, this is affecting a lot of people. They may not lose their jobs as a result of this, but they’re not going to like it, and Fox will have a tough time getting them to think it’s okay. They have family as well. Lots of them voted for the genius, but this can’t help but give them thoughts. I won’t say second thoughts because I won’t give the Trumpers among them credit for thinking in the first place.

As the title to the post says, if you had accused Trump of planning to do something like this during the campaign you would have been ridiculed. Certainly the media, not just Fox, would have dismissed it out of hand.

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Still a genius!

Thursday, February 20, 2025

I realize that documenting the inanities is getting tiresome, but here’s one that really struck me:

REPORTER: Doge and SpaceX employees are now working directly at the Federal Aviation Administration and the Defense Department agencies that have billions of dollars in contracts with Musk’s companies or that directly regulate his companies.

How is that not a conflict of interest?

[TRUMP:}Well, I mean, I’m just hearing about it.

And if there is, and he told me before I told him, but obviously, I will not let there be any conflict of interest.

I won’t say a word about the fact that if Biden, or any Democrat, had said such a thing the press would have been all over it, accusing them of lying and/or incompetence and/or senility. I also won’t say a word about the fact that the press, of course, simply let this pass because, after all, it’s just Trump being Trump. He lies all the time so why is that news?

But let’s pick this one apart.

There are a couple of alternatives. Let’s start with the least likely first. He could be telling the truth. I’m not talking about the statement to the effect that he won’t allow a conflict of interest, because he’s never seen such a conflict that he didn’t join. I’m talking about his assertion that he was “just hearing about it”. If we accept this statement as true, how do we not conclude that the man is either a total incompetent or mentally unfit for the job. Musk’s conflict of interest has been obvious to anyone with a functioning synapse. You don’t need a whole brain to figure it out.

The second alternative is that he is and was totally aware of the conflict, and has absolutely no problem with it. After all, he himself has made an art form out of cashing in on his presidencies. He has been a criminal all his life and he’s got no problem with other criminals so long as they’re white, rich, and willing to share the goods if circumstances require it. So long as Musk cuts him in on some of the take I’m sure he’ll be fine with it.

While I consider the second alternative the more likely, I am not dismissing the fact that he is also not half there, mentally. Consider again this sentence he produced in response to the reporter’s question:

And if there is, and he told me before I told him, but obviously, I will not let there be any conflict of interest.

I confess that despite being rigoursly trained by the nuns at Our Lady of Sorrows (we even had a nun who specialized!) I would be unable to diagram that sentence, or give a definitive explanation of what he is saying. It is total gibberish. Now again, this may not be evidence of a mental defect. He may be counting on the fact that if he issues such gibberish the press will simply go on to the next question and the absurdity of his utterance will go unremarked while the criminality in question goes on unhindered.

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Moscow Mitch having second thoughts?

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Mitch McConnell has now distinguished himself as being, possibly, the Republican Senator who has voted against more of Trump’s nominees than any other Republican. It goes without saying that he deserves no accolades for this accomplishment, given that 1) not one of the nominees was remotely qualified for the position for which he or she was nominated, and 2) if any one person in Congress is more responsible than McConnell for bringing this country to the brink of fascism that person has kept him or herself far under the radar.

One might wonder why McConnell, of all people, has cast so many negative votes. I’m not buying that his vote against RFK, Jr., was simply because of the probability that RFK, Jr., will bring back polio. That was merely a handy rationale.

It was an open secret that McConnell never liked Trump. My guess is that McConnell has faced the fact that he would have been pushed aside had he not stepped aside from his position as Majority Leader. His time in the Senate is drawing to a close so he’s got nothing to lose by casting these negative votes. Who knows, maybe buried deep within him is a conscience that has, after years of trying, finally made itself somewhat felt.

If you want to give him some measure of credit, you must wonder if he has faced the fact that he bears responsibility for the fact that we now have an openly corrupt, openly fascist government whose leaders, among other things, have asked Europeans to make Nazis feel welcomed in their countries. In the olden days had he come to such a conclusion he would have had to wear sackcloth and do public penance. I don’t expect to see that.

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Friday Night Music, a brief return

Friday, February 7, 2025

Haven’t done this for awhile. I played an old Randy Newman album recently and when this song came up my wife observed that it’s a little too close to official policy these days. When Randy wrote it I’m sure he thought he was targeting a small segment of the population, but nowadays it bids fair to become the new national anthem.

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The dictator(s) steps up

Thursday, February 6, 2025

I just read that Trump has signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s and girl’s sports. It goes without saying that there is no legal basis for such an order. It is possible that a state legislature and/or Congress could pass a bill that would pass constitutional muster but any reasonable court would have to rule that the president of the United States does not make the laws, he is supposed to enforce them.

This president, and here I’ll switch to President Musk for this paragraph, but it also applies to President-in-Name Trump, rather than enforcing the laws has apparently determined that his job is to break as many laws as he can as quickly as possible.

It will be interesting to see if even this Supreme Court will bend the knee and uphold this and other executive orders which are nothing more than abrogations of the legislature’s powers by a would be (or should that be “will be”) dictator.

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