Archives for 2024

Dog help me, I had to go to the local Walmart Super Center today. I can count on one hand the visits I’ve made during the six years we’ve lived here, and under normal circumstances, a team of rhinoceri couldn’t drag me to a Walmart in the run-up to Christmas.

But I discovered my meringue powder had expired, and I need some to make royal icing. No other place had it, so off I went.

I think I saw four older teens/young adults at Walmart dressed kind of like Nazis, so that was disturbing. Three boys and a girl. They weren’t displaying swastikas, but their black trench coats and old-fashioned black military-style clothing had what looked like fake insignia of indeterminate origin.

I hope it’s just some weird non-Nazi-affiliated fashion trend I’m unaware of because I’m old. After seeing the group clomping through the store in their heavy boots earlier, I accidentally bumped into the girl in the baking goods aisle. We had a good-natured exchange about it, which one wouldn’t expect from a Nazi.

Back in the day, I was a teenaged punk in this same county and felt judged for the outlandish clothing and hairstyle I favored at the time. So I want to believe these kids are just expressing something harmless that eludes me. But yeah, it was unsettling.

I’m baking cookies anyway, Nazis be damned. Our annual cookie event doesn’t take place until Friday, but over the years we’ve sensibly taken on more prep work in advance so that actual cookie night is less grueling.

At various points in this hellish year, I’ve thought about saying to hell with, well, everything. But for whatever reason, I keep on keeping on.

Cookies and butter lambs and other bullshit like that, no matter what. It’s arguably a pointless groove, a rearranging of deck chairs, but it’s mine.

What keeps you plugging along?

Open thread!

Wally World WaffenPost + Comments (114)

Here’s the thing about bloggers who started in the mid-2000s, like me.  We started by criticizing Democrats, specifically the Democrats who endorsed the Iraq War.  That war is the biggest mistake made by this country in my adult lifetime.  Despite that criticism, the party survived.  The most politically talented Democratic President of my adult lifetime, Barack Obama, got it right on the war.  In part he was informed by the critique of the war that bubbled up from the Democratic base, in a tiny part because of blogs, which were a lot more visible and influential then.  We “made space,” as the kids say, for a view about the war that was almost completely ruled out of bounds by mainstream media, but was shared by a large number of Democrats.

Today, we’re in a much worse situation.  Trump is an existential threat to the country.  This has spurred me to write about two topics:  the threat Trumpism poses, and how Democrats need to change to meet that threat.  Right now, with the weak sauce coming out of the party elders, I’m thinking the second is a more important job.

In writing about this, there are some positions that I don’t accept:  The view that Democratic positions are minority positions and therefore we’re doomed to be a minority party.  That it was only racism and sexism that caused us to lose this election, though they played an important role.   That messaging doesn’t matter.  That silence is a smart move by our electeds.   That we need to quietly sacrifice trans rights (I think it shows only weakness and fecklessness to do so.)  That campaigns are pointless  (though I do think that dumping hundreds of millions into TV ads is the dumbest way to campaign.)

Here are some things I believe:  The “resistance” was as effective as it could be, and there’s no shame in participating in those protests after Trump’s first election.   Calling your Congresspeople is a worthwhile activity to stiffen their spines.   We need a new media ecosystem, but that’s a long-term project.  The short-term project is getting more eloquent advocates (other than Elizabeth Warren)  criticizing Polio Boy Bob and Trump’s plan to privatize the USPS, among other terrible ideas, now.

With that in mind, here are some bloggers I respect and have respected for a while who I think have similar attitudes.  I don’t agree with these people on everything, but I read them regularly and appreciate their insight.  They’re in the same place as me when it comes to the events of the last few days:

Doc Zoom at Wonkette:  What the Fuck Do Democrats Think They are Doing?

David Dayen at Prospect.org:  What We Have Here is a Rudderless Ship

Oliver Willis:  Democrats:  The Surrender Party

Brian Beutler:  More on Ethical Populism (how to resist Bobby Polio Jr)

If what I wrote gets you mad, please target your anger towards your Democratic Member of Congress and/or Senators, if you have them, by calling or emailing.  If you think that Democrats need a kick in the ass, well, here’s me making space for that.

A Little Programming NotePost + Comments (206)

Looks like the House Ethics Committee report on Matt Gaetz will be released.  Let’s hear from America’s biggest man baby, the subject of said report:

[some whining redacted] House Ethics will reportedly post a report online that I have no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.

In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court.

My 30’s were an era of working very hard – and playing hard too. [some bullshit redacted]

I was expecting “she sure didn’t look 17” but I guess the tactic of never admitting anything is the hill he’s going to die on.

Since we’re on the subject of alleged and convicted molesters who don’t live in the basement of a pizza restaurant, let’s check in with the Diocese of New Orleans, where a 93-year-old priest was sentenced to life in prison for raping a 16 year-old boy in 1975.  The priest decided not to apologize to his victims after his guilty plea.  His attorney explained that “his client had expressed remorse for his actions through his guilty plea.”  I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, the Catholic Church is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party.

Moving to Texas, here’s a long Washington Post story about a small-town police chief who worked at 8 Texas police departments in 11 years and was repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct.

A Post investigation identified 47 heads of law enforcement agencies who were charged with crimes involving child sexual abuse from 2005 through 2022. Three-quarters of them worked in departments with less than 10 cops.

I would also wager a fair amount that every cop in these little Texas towns voted for Trump and every other Republican on the ballot.

None of them drag queens, not a single one.

Checking in With the Party of MolestationPost + Comments (61)

Seems like this has worked in the past, let’s keep it going! Democrats’ playbook to beat Republicans in 2 years: work with them now:

Democrats, who are already planning their comeback after being swept out of power in Washington last month, have said they’ll oppose President-elect Donald Trump and his allies when their values collide but are open to cooperation on a range of issues, including immigration, federal spending and entitlements. […]

“This is how these battleground Democrats are anyway, but I think it will manifest itself in, ‘Take me up on this offer, let’s go.’ And if you don’t, then, ‘OK, I can work with that, too,'” said one Democratic strategist working on House races. “I think for a battleground Democrat, it’s a win-win approach. You have the possibility of working on a bill and a law which you can say, ‘I delivered,’ or you create receipts to bring back to voters to say, ‘I kept on trying.'” […]

“The opportunity to work in a bipartisan way, to increase your own bipartisan credentials becomes very important,” said Dan Sena, the executive director of House Democrats’ campaign arm in 2018. “I just think it’s important at large for the caucus to pay attention to the fact that ultimately, in two years from now, the Republican trifecta is going to get a thumb up or a thumb down from the country, and that’s ultimately going to dictate who has control of House.”

“If I were the Democrats at large,” Sena added, “I would be pretty aggressive in holding the Republicans and then the Trump administration accountable.”

How can you expect voters to interpret the whipsaw from claims that Republicans want fascist government, to “we’re going to aggressively work with these guys”? How do you hold them accountable when the bills you’re going to pass on a bipartisan basis are almost certain to have poison in them for the people that we’ve said we want to protect? I don’t get it. This is especially true in the face of news like Trump planning to go after progressive non-profits, ICE already feeling its oats by deporting a woman with newborn twins (born in the US), and Bobby Polio Jr ready to ban all vaccines.

Ro Khanna is again quoted in the piece, and the reason why he’s quoted is because there’s a lot of silence on the Democratic side and he’s ready to fill the media vacuum. For example, the only example of pushback on Bobby Polio that I’ve found is Elizabeth Warren. Good for her.

The great Aimee Mann again has some wisdom for Democrats mentioned in this piece: it’s not going to stop until you wise up.

You’re Sure, There’s a Cure, And You Have Finally Found ItPost + Comments (228)