Tag: Information

Political Winds

Look out! The GOP has gone full Playground Mode.

Donald Trump calls Vice President Harris ‘Kamabla’. The GOP denigrates Gov. Walz as Tampon Tim.

It’s like they don’t have any policies to address. Sure, they scream about the border but it’s well-known outside of the MAGA world that Donald Trump and the GOP torpedoed the GOP-approved border plan. Yes, Trump screams about inflation but economists are pushing back and explaining, no, it’s not historic inflation.

As anyone paying attention realizes, Trump is using recycled ideas. These are the ideas that took him to the White House in 2016 and hasn’t gotten him anywhere else since then. Worse, as he attempts to deliver his insults and besmirch others, he sounds inept, incompetent, and incoherent. He appears befuddled. Old. Out of touch.

In comparison, Kamala Harris is vigorous, alert, sharp, awake. So is her chosen running mate, Tim Walz. Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, comes across as sneering and misogynistic.

The change from Biden to Harris brought a powerful pivot from how the Harris-Walz campaign responds to Trump. Whereas Joe Biden was from a different era and tried to remain above Trump’s insults, Harris and Walz boldly clap back. Trump and the GOP flail to find smart responses that reverberate with anyone. Hence, he calls her Kamabla.

Weak.

The differences between the two parties and their political candidates now are striking. That difference is galvanizing the Democratic Party while the GOP sinks like an old man trying to settle onto a lumpy sofa. There’s anecdotal evidence that Trump signs are disappearing from Trump country. They’re just not out there as much. It’s like Trump supporters realize that he’s a tired act, vaudeville in an era of Marvel movies. He’s peaked, and now he’s falling. My wife even theorizes that Evangelicals are quietly moving away from Trump. They achieved what they wanted from him for now: with Mitch McConnell’s help, Trump delivered a right-wing Supreme Court and they overturned established precedence, Roe v. Wade. She thinks they got what they want from Trump and now recognize him for the filth he is and are washing their hands of him.

What the right-wing SCOTUS delivered was a fundamental change that is disastrous. Conservative states dominated by men are running amok with anti-abortion laws that have fast lost appeal for the majority of the political body. Instead of attracting new voters, the GOP overreach is repelling voters. Further, after Kamala Harris was put forward by Joe Biden as the next POTUS, young voter registration surged.

I don’t have numbers and hard facts for all of this; it’s just a gut feeling. But my sense is that Harris-Walz is moving toward victory, and the GOP is in retreat. I mean, look how they have reacted to Project 2025 criticisms by trying to hide under rocks in parallel to Trump trying to deny he knows anything about it.

The MAGA GOP’s brand has been revealed to be reactionary, racist, and sexist. All their new ideas are old ideas. They offer leadership that wants to do the same things that failed before. Frankly, much of what they’re suggesting now, such as doing away with separation of church and state, or providing immunity to the POTUS, putting them above the rule of law, and curtailing voters’ rights and the opportunities to vote, is un-American. It might have been part of a past America, but we are now a modern America. Or we’re trying to be. Young voters at least are awakening to this, and it will show in November.

At least, this is what I hope.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Freshfree

Thursday has trundled in, soft of foot and full of grace, delivering smoke in our space, and pleasing night air on our face.

It’s Thursday, 8/8/24, or 24/8/8.

Our smoke has risen into the unhealthy zone. Don’t know which fire is our source. We have many to select from. None too close but valleys channel it in. It looks like crap out there. Can’t see the mountains for the smoke, and the blue sky has been squirted into smoggy tones. 65 F outside my house today, we’re expecting a thirty degree rise to the high. No wind is blowing, so a sort of still deadness rules. I expect zombies to start emerging from the smoke at any moment.

We’ve been spoiled by the peaches acquired at the growers market in the last two visits. Both times we returned with the sweetest, tastiest, most perfectly ripe peaches. Sooo juicy. The blackberries were found wanting. Plump and juicy, yes, but only one out of four is sweet. We’re of the school that blacberries should be sweet and not sour, and the sour blackberries aren’t sitting well on my tongue. Besides those fruits, we picked up green onions — my wife is a fiend for ’em — and greens. Good stuff: local and organic. Non-GMO.

I posted something about Gov Walz the other day. A right wing friend commented, “He put tampons in the boys room.” I reacted, oh, no! How terrible! How tragic! Must cost billions of dollars. Such a waste, such a waste.

Well, no, I didn’t write all that. I thought it. I wasn’t going to write it because the issue doesn’t deserve any oxygen. As Joey from Friends said, “It’s something a cow would say. It’s a moo point.”

My wife has an ongoing thing with spiders in the bath. I use the shower stall, so this doesn’t involve me, but whenever she heads to the tub, she must clear out several spiders. We don’t kill spiders and these are all of the daddy longlegs variations. She plugs up the drain with a cloth to keep them from climbing up through there and removes them by means of a rolled, stiff piece of paper. She calls this her spider catcher. It’s actually an old invoice for blinds. We pulled it out a month ago to see when we purchased our blinds. It hasn’t been refiled because it’s now my wife’s spider catcher. She gives me a summary — “There were three spiders in there. I don’t know they’re coming from. They seem to get stuck. Stupid spiders. I move them and they go right back in there.”

With freedom still my theme this week, The Neurons are channeling Bread’s 1971 song, “Mother Freedom” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark discounted). My older sister had this album so I knew the song. I met my wife later that year. Her sister had the album on 8-track and regularly played it. It’s tres fam. God song for freedom week, though.

Freedom, keep walkin’
Keep on your toesand don’t stop talkin’ ’bout
Freedom, get goin’
Lots to be learned and lots to be known ’bout
People gotta reach ’em
Sit ’em right down and then you gotta teach ’em ’bout
Freedom, gotta win it
Gotta put yourself smack dab in it

Hey tomorrow
Now don’t you go away
‘Cause freedom
Just might come your way

Freedom, keep tryin’
People stay alive and people keep dyin’ for
Freedom, so don’t lose it
Ya gotta understand ya just can’t abuse it
Freedom, get movin’
Never gonna stop till everybody’s groovin’ on
Love for – one another
Callin’ some friend and callin’ some brother

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Just 89 days until the elections. Stay fresh, be strong, and remain postive. Vote Blue. Coffee has found its way into a cup and on into my systems, so all systems are go. Here’s the music video. Cheers

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Asking For A Friend

OK, Trump in Fox interview.  “This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist immediately, if not sooner.”  Can anyone tell me what is “sooner” than immediately?

Yep, that MAGAt is a deeep thinker.

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Tidbits

The Next Summer Games

My wife and her friends were talking about the Olympics and the new events that were added. She said, “We’ll probably see pickle ball at the Olympics in four years.”

Laughter rang out. Then one wag added, “And all athletes will be over sixty.”

The Squirrel

My wife and I are driving down the road, a little over the 25 MPH limit. My wife yells, “Watch out for the squirrel.”

“I see it.” The squirrel, like most of them that I see, has darted halfway across the road. After a pause, they took a few more hops toward the road’s other side. Now they’re paused in our lane. It’s still far down the road. There’s plenty of time for the squirrel to get out of the way. I’m reading to toot the horn and brake. “Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.”

“No, it’s a crazy squirrel or it has a death wish. It doubles back.” My wife is intensely leaning forward. “I see it all the time.”

I’d never seen it before, that I know. “How do you know it’s the same squirrel? It cou — “

“It’s the same squirrel, I know it.” She hammers the windshield. “Get out of the road, you crazy squirrel. Move faster. Don’t come back.”

The squirrel clears the road and disappears into bushes on the other side of the sidewalk. “There, they’re gone,” I say.

“You never know.” My wife sits back. “It’s a crazy squirrel. Sometimes I think it wants to get run over. Well, it’s not going to be me.”

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Tuesday’s Wandering Thoughts

I dreamed that I was discussing the mathematical order of operations with several other people. Of all of the subjects, events, and worries I can remember dreaming about, this seems like one of the strangest. Sitting, I kept saying that it’s a matter of precedence and you start with things in parentheses or brackets first, as if that was in dispute.

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Floofmenco

Floofmenco (floofinition) – A dance favored by many animals to show their joy or exhilaration. Origins:

In Use: “Whenever Carolyn got the box out of treats out of the cupboard, her pups began dancing the floofmenco as they waited for her to deliver.”

In Use: “Sprinting outside, Sir Judge headed for the sprinkler waiting the lawn, and then did the floofmenco as the water sprayed him.”

In Use: “After a serving of catnip, Candylad did a brief but spirited floofmenco began collapsing into a deep, restful sleep.”

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Sympcoffeeco

Tuesday, August 6, 2024, greets you. It’s a cool 70 F in Ashlandia, where the sidewalks are cracked and irregular. We expect a low 90s F high, something like 93. The air has grown mostly, partially clear; nostrils only sometimes smart, eyes only sporadically sting, the throat is but moderately dry and sore, and the sinuses are just mildly congested. So, we good.

Vice President Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate. I’ll say now, not my choice, but I support her and him. Ultimately, like many of my friends and relatives, I would have loved Pete Buttigieg. But I know the American political psyche would have fractured with a Black woman of mixed descent and a gay guy, no matter his skin color, driving the ship known as the United States. My second choice was Andy Beshear out of Kentucky. But I get it: Vice President Harris met with the candidates and made the choice based on her needs. Governor Walz has many fine attributes and has done nothing that I’ve read or heard about that caused a gag reflex. Admittedly, I haven’t read a whole lot about him. He does have the cachet of being the first politician who dubbed Don Old Trump as weird. Many of us outside of politics have been calling Don Old Trump weird since at least his ‘reality’ show. But Walz did it aloud on television and has made it stick. I hope that Mr. Walz simple midwestern approach will draw more voters toward trusting in and voting for the 2024 Democratic ticket.

I’m continuing the freedom theme with my theme music. Today’s choice is a sop to The Neurons. As soon as I began thinking of freedom songs, they began plying the morning mental music stream (Trademark free) with it. The group is Cream, the year is 1966, and the song is “I Feel Free”. As a ten year old hearing that song my rock senses went off and I was all giddy with the song’s generally relaxed and positive approach. The song never ascended the charts in the U.S. Nor did the several covers by others which followed later, but it’s a me sort of melody. Yes, I know, technically this is ‘free’ and not ‘freedom’. Close enough.

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, I feel free. [x8]

Feel when I dance with you,
We move like the sea.
You, you’re all I want to know.
I feel free, I feel free, I feel free.

h/t to AZLyrics.com

Stay positive, be strong, and Vote Blue for Harris-Walz in 2024. Coffee and I are sympatico once again. Here’s the video, and away we go. Cheers

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Robofloof

Robofloof (floofinition) – 1. One of a number of inventions to help tend animals, especially orphaned kittens, puppies, kits, etc., by providing a realistic machine-based environment to keep them warm and safe while nursing and grooming them. Origins: 2022, Internet article, “The Coming of the Robofloofs”.

In Use: “Feeling its electronic heartbeat and nestled in against its warmth as they nursed, the puppies were quickly accepting the robofloof as a replacement mother.”

2. An animal which acts in a mechanical manner.

In Use: “Stunted at birth, the tabby kitten walked stiffly, like she was a little robofloof, earning her the name R. Daneel Oliclaw, a spin on the name of the robot detective in the Isaac Asimov novel, Caves of Steel.”

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Monday’s Theme Music

Mood: Mondayitis

Here we go, another week begins. It’s Monday, August 5, 2024. Cool in Ashlandia at 68 F, we expect a high of 96 F. Our air quality is moderate today, with the winds favoring us enough to keep major smoke from barreling into our existence. Knock wood, the fires we experienced this year locally have been small and contained fast, thanks to our diligent fire-fighting crews in multiple communities.

Yesterday, the weather treated us to a sunny rain shower. Big silver streaks of water bolted down. A little petrichor rose up. Sunshine lorded over it all. It was over within a minute. Reminded me of a book which should be written, The One-Minute Shower. It’s all about efficiency.

Just what I needed to wake up to, a stock market sell-off based on fears that the U.S. economy is cooling. Economic news traditionally has a butterfly effect in U.S. politics. That’ll be an interesting new sidebar to August.

I’m continuing the theme of freedom in music. I rejected “Philadelphia Freedom” by Elton John. It’s about a tennis team, and I know that, so I can’t use it. Kris Kristofferson’s song, “Me and Bobby McKee” came up but that line, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,” is too cynical for me right now. I think I’m going something upbeat in the form of George Michael and the 1990 song, “Freedom! 90”.

And yes, I know the song is about fame and his relationship to fame and music as a superstar but the lyrics fit well enough for me to take it in a political direction. Please, I like that piano.

All we have to see
Is that I don’t belong to you
And you don’t belong to me (Yeah, Yeah!)
Freedom!
I won’t let you down (Freedom!)
I will not give you up (Freedom!)
Gotta have some faith in the sound
(You got to give what you take)
It’s the one good thing that I’ve got, (Freedom!)
I won’t let you down (Freedom!)
So please don’t give me up (Freedom!)
Cause I would really, really love to stick around (You got to give what you take)

h/t to Genius.com

The political aspect becomes really flimy if you listen to all the words and think about them too much, so just sing out the vibrant freedom parts, if you will.

Be strong, remain positive, and lean forward. Let’s Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has made its entrance. Here’s the music video. Let’s go. Cheers

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