Archives for 2024

I’ve been super busy with end of the semester stuff, so I fortunately have not had the time to pay too much attention to politics. What I have seen, though, is rather grim.

The wingnuts on the Supreme Court were on especially bad behavior this week, confirming that EVERYTHING we ever said about them was exactly true. On one hand, it’s terrifying that they think these things and have the power they do, but on the other hand, it’s nice having them be unable to pretend they are principled jurists who just have a “textual” or “originalist” approach. They’re just political hacks and opportunistic scumbags, every one of them.

The other big news is all the protests occurring all over the country regarding the War in Gaza. I’ve been saying this for years, but I’ll say it again. There is fundamentally NO DIFFERENCE between the majority of college and university administrations and every corporate hack out there. None. That’s one of the dirty secrets about colleges that Republicans, in their 60 year war on the academy, don’t want anyone to know. There may be faculty and students with liberal sensibilities, and a smattering of actual radicals, but the majority of administrators could just as easily be lying to congress about whether tobacco is addictive or that climate change is a hoax. The only real difference is that university admins are versed in the language of liberalism, but only enough so that they can brandish it at as a weapon against their enemies, which is usually faculty and staff and students.

So am I surprised that the gut instinct of all of these assholes is to immediately call the cops on students? Not even remotely. All they care about is that the donor cash keeps coming in and their record is not blemished with the people who matter- their corporate donors, fellow administrators, and Republican politicians. Are there some bad actors who have said inexcusable things and peddled anti-Semitic tropes? Of course. Are they the majority? No. Not even close. I’ll just leave it to you to parse why the most ardent critics of trigger warnings and safe spaces are now cheering on… the arrest and violence inflicted on them in the process of those with whom they disagree.

Today is Breyana’s 15th birthday, and her parents are both at work, so we went out for a late lunch/early dinner at a Mexican place in Wheeling:

We both had delicious cokes and burritos. It was good and fun, and she’s just always a delight to be around.

On the way there and back, I kept looking at all the signs for local elections, and realized just how disengaged I am from WV politics. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to go enthusiastically vote for the Democrats I like, but I’m not devoting any time and energy to any candidacies. I know that sounds awful, but none of them have a snowball’s chance in hell. It’s MAGA maniacs as far as the eye can see running around here- a confirmed christofascist, a certified lunatic, and all the rest of them are just as bad. WV is going to be deep red and stupid for the rest of my life, and there’s just no point trying to fight it.

If there was a chance we cold even go a light shade of purple here, I would feel differently. But we won’t- in fact I would be surprised if the current makeup of the house of delegates becomes even more Republican and crazy- currently there are 89 Republicans and 11 Democrats. The Senate is the same, with 31 Republicans and 3 (THREE) Democrats. We’re a failed state and will be for quite some time, and if the Biden campaign spends a fucking dollar here they are insane.

In some good news, it finally broke seventy today, and man is it pretty. At multiple points on the drive the fragrance from the flowers and honeysuckle was so strong as to be almost cloying. This really is a magical time of the year, with everything coming to life. I love having my windows open and hearing all the birds and just watching as things get greener and greener.

So there is that. Joelle is well and sends her regards, as well as this picture of Thurston, whose diet is going well:

He’s still an irritating barky asshole, but now he is thinner and will live longer. So yay, I guess. Regardless, I would still never take him to the gravel pit and shoot him, because I’m not a fucking sociopath.

Hope you all are well. I just gotta make it through the next week at work without losing my mind, and will be back more regularly.

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