Science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. Singer (sorry, no shows) & nudist (in my home). Beer, cat, cheese, coffee, pie and wine friend. Left IBM and Silicon Valley for the southern Oregon life but I miss the ocean. We're too far inland. Gotta move.
Americans Ask Supreme Court for Immunity From Trump
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a lawsuit filed on Monday, millions of Americans asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant them immunity from Donald J. Trump.
The lawsuit argues that the Constitution was intended to protect the people from Trump, unlike the Court’s recent actions, which have protected Trump from the Constitution.
“The Constitution was designed to shield the people from domestic tyranny and foreign threats,” the filing reads. “Trump represents both.”
As a Democrat, I don’t expect relief from the SCOTUS. The damn Republicans are only interested in the Founders’ tenets which support the MAGA apparatus’s ideals of a white, ‘christian’ dictatorship led by the patriarchy. Liars, felons, and rapists accepted. Violence applauded.
Mood: bumgry (bummed out and angry; could be depgry – depressed and angry)
Julying if you say you didn’t realize June was over. Yes, that’s a feeble attempt at levity.
It’s July 1, 2024, and Monday, a day which will go do in infamy, perhaps, with the SCOTUS rulings. It’s 70 F now, sunny under a preternatural blue sky sky, and feels like 82. Today’s high will crank us into the mid 80s. But we’re sailing into the hundreds by mid week and then look at residing in the upper 90s thereafter. Little relief will come at night as temps hang around the neighborhood of high sixties to low 70s. This will be a bake off.
Over to the SCOTUS ruling on Trump’s immunity, it was as bad as Democrats fucking feared. The skewering of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights continues under MAGA Republican influence. Depressing as hell to witness this, to be part, unable to do much except vote and protest. I continue to blame Mitch McConnell for manipulating Senate procedures and blocking Democratic nominees to the Supreme Court. I hope he rots in fucking hell.
I’m just full of bellyaches today. No wonder that I have Talking Heads and “Road to Nowhere” from 1985 in my morning mental music stream (Trademark sent down).
Coffee has been consumed. Here’s the music. Enjoy the “joyful look at doom.” See you later.
This is Sunday, June 30, 2024, and it’s begun as another chilly, comfortable morning. No smoke discolors the sky or assaults the nose. Sheer, lacy clouds sheet some sky aspects, and the temperature is holding in the mid sixties. A high of 86 F has been proposed, all of which fashions June’s final 2024 appearance as a comfortable summer Ashlandia day.
Warning’s are out, though. Gonna get hot next week. 90 on Tuesday, 96 Wednesday, 102 F on Thursday. Get ready. Summer is searing in.
The cats, in a weirdly unanimous decision, moved to the front yard to do their daily napping — I mean, sentry duty. Nothing has changed in the back but they decided that the front is the place to be. Like the back, the front has several traditional floof spots (which, by the way, isn’t related to the g spot). The prime space is just off the porch by the pillar, under a bush. The secondary space, which sees more action when it’s wet or cold, is on the porch’s other side, right of the door, by the cairn.
We like cairns and put one together one year yonks ago and have kept one ever since. Gets knocked over often, especially when the cats are napping by it. The eaves hang over that spot and it’s right against the house, so they’re protected from wind and wuthering there.
Their third place is catty-corner from the porch (see what I did there) about eight feet away from it, under another set of bushes. Tucker has the primary space covered, and Papi is in the teritiary spot.
While I was thinking about my dreams and doing the breakfast routines, train songs began playing in morning mental music stream (Trademark baking). First was Ozzy with “Crazy Train”, then Aerosmith with “Train Kept A-Rollin'”, followed by “Peace Train” by Yusuf. As I politely inquired of The Neurons, “WTF, why are train songs going through my head, I haven’t heard nor seen trains for days,” they began playing Train songs — “Soul Sister”, “Meet Virginia”, “Drops of Jupiter”, and then “If It’s Love”.
That brought a reflective nuance into the proceedings. Admittedly, coffee may have triggered that, for I was dropping the brew into my gullet by the mouthful by that point. I often hear “Soul Sister”, “Meet Virginia”, and “Drops of Jupiter” on the radio, but I don’t hear “If It’s Love”. Of course, I mainly heard that song when I was in the SF Bay area. Released in 2010, I was still travelin’ on business (TOB) in those days. My team was located in Mountain View and I was visiting them for three days every month, a face time bonding thing. Anyway, “If It’s Love” by Train is the theme song du jour. Admittedly, every time I think of its title, I now hear “Is This Love” by Whitesnake. I swear, my brain is all over the place today.
Stay positive, be brilliant, remain strong, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee service has ended, so move along. Here’s the music. Cheers
Floofturbance(floofinition) – 1. The act of an animal interrupting an activity or a state of calm. Origins: 13th century, Flemish Floofish
In Use: “The summer’s peaceful evening broke up with a floofturbance out front as two dogs staged a bark-off.”
In Use: “Knowing it would gain attention they could leverage for what they wanted to get, the three house floofs comenced a floofturbance.”
2. Disrupting an animal’s repose or usual procedure or order.
In Use: “A glass bowl slipped out of Becca’s hands and fell to the floor, shattering with an ear-splitting sound and created a floofturbance which sent the cats and dogs sprinting in four different directions — except for Arnold, who leaped up and emphatically barked, “Woof,” just once.”
I saw an article about a man in Florida getting bit by a shark while fishing. I wondered, how did it happen? Was he wading? It made more sense that he was fishing in a boat in that area, but that opened the incident to more questions, like, did the shark jump into the boat? But as I began reading, I thought, if the shark jumped into the boat, that would have been the headline: “SHARK JUMPS INTO BOAT, BITES MAN”.
Satisfying myself about what had happened, I went on to other news. A few minutes pass and then my wife says, “Man fishing in Florida gets bit by shark. How did that happen? Did the shark jump into the boat?”
Chilly morning at 57 F under deep blue skies. It’s Saturday, June 29, 2024. A little smoke comes in through the northern windows, irritating my eyes and forcing sneezes out of me. Several wildfires are burning within a few hours of us; don’t know of any local ones, but smoke on the wind always takes me to the net to get updates. Supposed to reach 87 F today, which is a satisfying temp, continuing a week of mild summery weather.
I asked AI where the smoke we’re experiencing is coming from. AI responded with suggestions about two old fires from several years back. I’m like, WTF, really? AI also suggested that it could be cars, fossil based fuels, or neighbors could be burning wood in their stoves and fireplaces to keep warm. Finally, AI suggested it could be manufacturing. Thanks, AI. Damn fine job.
It’s a Saturday and the news cycle is slow. Supremes are saying that we should have a ruling on Trump’s immunity case on Monday. I’m eager to read and hear how that goes as there are tremendous ramifications associated with it. All the lower courts said as directly and quickly as possible, “No, you don’t have immunity,” but it’s hard to say what to expect with this Supreme Court. A heavily conservative court, they manage to really twist history, logic, and law. Besides that, three appointments on the court owe their positions to Trump, so there are questions about how objective these appointees can be.
Besides that, one, Justice Thomas, has been receiving high-end luxury vacations given to him by wealthy Republicans. He didn’t bother reporting most of these and seems arrogantly indignant that any of this could be tit-for-tat payments. Doesn’t help his image that his wife, Ginni, is a MAGA who insists that the 2020 election was stolen, and actively engaged with others to come up with ways to keep Trump in the White House.
Besides, we have Justice Samuel Alito who gives all kinds of appearances of being partial to right wing ideology and a willingness to aid and advance right wing causes. He and his wife flew the US flag upside down at their house to show their distress about the 2020 election being stolen and lied about how it happened. Sam, being a noble fellow, blamed his wife and said he had nothing to do with it and couldn’t do anything about it. They also flew a MAGA sympathizing flag at their vacation place for a few weeks, but he knows nothing ’bout it. That would be enough for many to wonder about Sam’s objectivity in cases regarding Trump, but to seal concerns, he was caught on tape showing more of his right-wing, religious ideology.
After all these red flags and how this Supreme Court has thrown previous legal precedents out the window, we’re all left wondering what they’ll decide.
The house floofs inspired my morning mental music stream (Trademark riffing) inhabitant. Tucker and Papi teamed up to drag me out of bed. I needed dragging because I wanted more sleep. Nope, wasn’t happening. Papi, per his habit, enters the room and yells a request and then goes down the hall. Tucker gets more personal and proximal about it. After bellowing yowls, he gets on the bed, walks up to my head, and starts tapping me, grumbling as he does. I mollified him with some sleepy scritches. He settled down and purred. I headed back to sleep but Papi revisited, yelling several times that he needed something.
With that background, I was head mumbling about how the cats get what they want, which led to The Neurons playing the part of “Heart and Soul” where Huey Lewis sings, “You see, she what she wants.” As I acknowledged the song’s presence, Huey Lewis and the News began doing their whole 1984 cover of the song. So that’s today’s theme music.
Be strong, lean forward, Vote Blue, and stay positive. Here’s the music; sorry, the coffee is already gone, circulating among the neurons. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 