Munda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

A remarkable shell game has taken over U.S. politics.

Here we have Donald J. Trump, a convicted felon, basking in the glow of the ‘law and order’ party. They support the blue, you know. That’s despite his attempted Jan. 6 coup, where his supporters attacked the police defending Congress.

Here we also have exhibit B, Donald J. Trump, known liar, having his praises sung by people who say ‘he speaks for us.’ They are, then, by the transitive property, liars, too, aren’t they?

As exhibit C, Donald J. Trump, failed business man (the proof is in the bankruptcies) is going to ‘run the government like a business’. Never mind that a business pursuing profit and a government serving its people have two wholly intentions, philsophies, and guiding principles.

To top that off, we have Elon Reeve Musk, unelected to any office, not even a U.S. citizen, accessing and cutting American programs. This is supported by the party that kept screaming about election fraud and stolen elections. Now they’re mostly silent on stolen government. Where citizens are voicing their displeasure to their elected Federal officials in the GOTP, those officials are running away. They don’t want to hear what ‘we the people’ have to say.

Finally, we have the Family Values party, the GOTP, formerly known as the GOP. They want to restore marriage because that will Make America Great Again. *snicker* Despite Donald Trump’s affairs and multiple marriages. To top that, as exhibit D, Elon Reeve Musk, Donald J. Trump’s top advisor and henchman, has had added another child to his growing family. His fourteenth child? With how many women?

The news comes as Musk’s custody issues with another mother of children, St. Clair, play out in the media. St. Clair, who is suing Musk for sole custody, has characterized him as an absent father who has only met their child three times and was not present for the birth last year.

What else can I say and expect? They voted for Trump to ‘Make America Great Again’. He’s responded by turning it into an imperial presidency, the ‘unitary executive’. They voted for Trump to lower prices and improve the economy, and everything he’s done has had the opposite effect. They voted to restore the nation’s standing in the world. He’s instead turned on allies, reducing U.S. influence, isolating us as we grow closer to countries like Russia and North Korea.

Question: if Russia is so trustworthy, will PINO Trusk let Putin put missiles in Cuba?

Follow up: With PINO Trusk bending over and presenting to Putin in Russia, does Russia need missiles in Cuba?

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. Donald J. Trump a con man, idiot, and bully. He’s a user and sociopath. He doesn’t care about people except how they can be used to further his own wealth and power.

Yes, I’ve said it before, but as it’s been proven again and again, the GOTP is a spineless party. Project 2025 is interested in advancing the nation as a white Christian theocracy. And the MAGAts are racist, sexist sheeple. The list of what Trump has said compared to what he’s done in opposition to what he — and the GOTP — promised goes on with many more examples. There is a simple bottom line.

They’ve been conned, but they were willing victims, and we’re being taken for a ride.

March 3, 2025 0

Munda’s Theme Music

Munda, Munda. March 3, 2025, brings Ashlandia clouds, cloudy skies, rain, and sunshine. Temperatures have sunk from the warming late February interlude. We’re now 41 F and expect to see 51 F between bouts of showers.

Here’s a trick for you. If you write the date as 03/03/25, it can be reduced to a magic number. Like, subtract two from five and drop the leading zeroes. Now we have 3/3/3. If you divide 3 by three you have one. Divide 1 by 3 and 1/3 is the result. Or, multiply: 3*3 = 9. 9*3 = 27. 2 + 7 = 9. Oh, the things that occupy me while I’m doing the mornin’ kitchen shuffle. Kaprekar’s constant, it’s not.

PINO Trusk is set to address Congress. Now, the overall arc of the Trusk Regime’s early days is lawlessness. The U.S. Constitution’s systems of checks and balances have been ignored. Trusk has trampled the law and traditions and is subverting the free press’s abilities to report on what’s going on. Claiming to save money and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse, the regime has destabilized the Federal government and disrupted the soft power of foreign aid, forcing the U.S. into isolation.

The question from that setup: should elected Democratic officials even attend that speech? Doing so legitimizes the Trusk Regime. They are holding to traditions even as PINO Trusk mocks and destroys them.

The Democrats planning a rebuttal speech. Given the parameters of the nation’s polarization, which PINO Trusk has abetted by using it as a wedge issue, we can project how the coverage will go. Even if it’s a great speech, chances are three fold: one, the holy MAGAts won’t care. May not even see it. Two, words in the Democrat’s rebuttal speech will be twisted out of context. Three, the great uninformed will not pay it much attention. That would interfere with other things in their lives.

I believe the time for observing and honoring traditions and being respectful is gone. PINO Trusk should not be applauded. I believe that as soon as PINO Trusk tells a lie — and you know he will — Democrats should stand in unison and shout, “You lie.” Do this every time he tells a lie. Break that fucking speech. Don’t give PINO Trusk a stage. Do just as the GOTP has been doing since they stood up and interrupted Democratic Presidents’ speeches by false accusations of lying.

Yes, this will further the gap between the ‘two parties’. But one party, the GOTP, has already abrogated almost all of its power in support of the Trusk Regime. The other party must stand strong against it.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

– Dylan Thomas

Today, The Neurons have filled the morning mental music stream with Shaboozey. This isn’t an accident. The Nigerian-American performer’s song, “A Bar Song: Tipsy” Is Now the Longest Hot Country Songs No. 1 by a Single Artist. Congrats to Shaboozey; it’s an impressive achievement.

And why not? The song is about the weariness which work sows, the grind of going to a place where tedium is often the rule, making up the numbers to earn enough money to stay alive while enriching others. Part of the American dream has always been work hard, get educated, and with a little luck, you can move up. That dream seems to have gone past its ‘Best By’ date. So people turn to games…partying…or things like getting tipsy at a bar with other people in the same boat. The water isn’t rising for many in that boat; instead, the boat is slowly going under. Yet, it’s a happy song that encourages many to sing along and dance.

Coffee and I have signed on to work together today to get my ass into gear and out into the world. Hope your day delivers for you in good ways. Let’s rock it.

Cheers

March 3, 2025 3

Sunda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

In Munich, Vance accuses European politicians of censoring free speech February 14, 2025

“The threat I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America,” Vance said.

White House bars Associated Press from spaces like Oval Office and Air Force One February 14, 2025

The decision to limit AP’s access stems from its decision not to recognize the Trump administration’s name change from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America on federal maps, websites and documents.

This administration continues to show a wealth of hypocrisy and a poverty of honesty.

February 16, 2025 0

Saturday’s Wandering Political Thoughts

It begins to appear that democracy will not end with a bang nor a whimper, but a tweet. There are billions of individuals, mostly men, but peppered with women, who will cheer that. No, I take that back. They will not cheer because they will not know that democracy has ended. The trappings will continue long after the government has been re-shaped into some form of authoritarianism that endorses wealth and greed and treats the wealthy has a separate class, with a better set of rights and more lenient judicial tolerance.

Yes, much of it has already taken place. The groundwork is there. The billionaires are lining up to make it happen. And social media is the engine.

This gloomy view comes out of a new Dame magazine article. MPS brought it to my attention via their post, “It’s the Media”, as did Scottie’s Playground. I new some of the information Dame presented, but they delivered with deeper and harder facts.

The Dame article is “America’s Right-Wing Propaganda Problem Might Be Terminal“. The article’s great, overarching declaration is, Millions voted for Trump with a distorted understanding of who he is, what he supports, what his policies will actually accomplish, and how severely his second term will hurt them and those they love.

Yes, many of us were aware of the ignorant, undecided voters out there, wholly uncritical thinkers who were briefly engaged with the election, voted, declared themselves good citizens — I Voted — and helped create a disaster set of circumstances. But their ignorance was firmly aided by the right wing, funded by billionaires like the latest villian, Elon Musk, and gleefully supported by the GOP.

Listen, if the GOP tells you that they love America and support democracy, don’t buy it. They do not. Some Republican voters probably do love America and support democracy, but they’re being conned, and they don’t know it.

Worse, of course, is that this phenomena is not just rooted in the United States. It’s a plague, a virus, that’s spreading around the world, undermining democracy and freedom without any shots being fired. This — a right-wing media composed of angry, hateful males who pose as pseudo intellectual influencers to spread their bullshit — is why we’re seeing right-wing influence increasing. People are being told lies. Immersed in the media speaking to them, they’re unaware of the truth or reality.

I still believe Trump’s administration will implode and he will personally crash. He was a convenience to advance their cause. He will be tossed aside. I’m convinced that many Americans will never realize that happened. I remain certain that the economy will worsen under Trump, but again, right-wing influencers will tell them that its great, and they will believe it so.

And so, the United States of America will become a shell of what it was, an empty vessel that once offered the kind of hope for equality and justice which is theoretically possible, and the right-wing media will tell them that’s great again, no matter what their life is like.

And they will believe.

January 4, 2025 0

Friday’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Billionaire Musk has launched a new era of misinformation under cover of the Trump administration. Barrelling through the truth with loads of misinformation and lies, Musk has already overtaken PINO Trump as the liar in chief.

MPS offers the deets on Musk’s lies as he torpedoed the federal spending bill, forcing the Federal government to the edge of shutdown. Yes, that’s the growing power of this unelected billionare over the GOP, who worship money and greed over everything else in heaven and hell. MPS acknowledges they’re sharing their information from Axios. One big warning that should be heeded:

“The problem Congress faces,” a Trump transition source says, “is that Elon now has an army of people reviewing every word of every bill — and he’s gonna amplify the crazy sh*t in there.“

Yes, that’s Musk, amplifying the crazy. Let’s all build him a rocket and shoot him off this rock before he destroys it.

December 20, 2024 0

Tuesday’s Theme Music

Mood: Weathicipation (when you’re awaiting a weather event)

Got my “Death Before Decaf” filled with hot black java, ready to fight off the forces of sloth, lethargy, and fascism.

It’s Tuesday, November 19, 2024. Cloudy and 39 F. Light rain and a high of 43 F is expected. Also expected is a bomb cyclone. (I’d just call it a bomclone. But that’s me.) It’s expected to bring high winds and heavy rain to our area. Thing is, our location in the pinched end of a valley sometimes protects us from these things. Fingers crossed.

Have to pause to just say that Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Bullshit, is maintaining the MAGAt tradition of lies and hypocrisy. This devout Christian is earnestly protecting ex-rep Matt Gaetz, R-Gag. MiJo claims that MaGag is a private citizen. Therefore, the ethics report on him should not be released. Apparently, to MiJo, it’s not important what an ethics investigation paid for by WTP discovered about MaGag’s behavior and ethics. No matter your politics, WTP should be outraged. We have a right to know. We paid for it and MaGag was supposed to be working on our behalf, representing our nation and our values. But that’s classic MAGAt BAU. Lie, cheat, obsfucate. Point of order brought out by others, plenty o’precedence exists for releasing the MiGag ethics report. As a final f’instance, Hunter Biden‘s status as a private citizen meant nothing to MiJo. It’s the ol’ GOP double standard, and it’s putting off an unholy reek on Capitol Hill these days.

With thoughts of a bomclone bearing down, The Neurons threw songs with ‘bomb’ in the title into the morning mental music stream (Trademark flooding) mix. While the Gap Band was representing, the Runaways overpowered it with “Cherry Bomb”. The all-female rock group released the song in 1976. It did okay, nothing great, but its driving beat and inherent attitude has gotten it a place in movies and television shows. So you might not have heard it when it was riding the airwaves but you may have caught it in other media.

Get up, let’s go, time for another day. Cheers

November 19, 2024 0

Tuesday’s Wandering Thoughts

Confession.

I sometimes pretend to remember things that I don’t readily recall.

Like, a friend will ask me something like, “Do you remember when Magursky hit that home run in 1968 in the Dodger game?”

Honestly, I can reply, I was twelve, I don’t remember, I wasn’t much into baseball then, and the baseball I followed was basically limited to the Pirates.

But I know my buddy will insist on trying to help me remember. “Oh, come on, don’t you remember? It was the longest home run ever! Completely out of the park. You must remember it. Wait, was it 68? Or was in ’69? Oh, come to think of it, it might have bee ’67.”

I’ve been down this path. I know how the convo will go. Meanwhile, my brain has wandered off, singing the theme song to the “Milton the Monster” cartoon.

So I fib, and I say, “Yes! Of course I remember it,” matching his enthusiasm. “Oh, I’m pretty sure it was ’68 because in ’69 is when the Mets won the World Series, wasn’t it? Remember Tom Seaver and the Miracle Mets? And that was the same year Andretti won the Indy 500, remember?”

And he’ll answer, “Yes, of course I do. Andretti. Indy. Right.”

And we’ll go on happily like that, because that’s a small part of why we’re friends.

October 1, 2024 2

Sunday’s Political Thoughts

Down in North Carolina, we have a Black Republican who disparages Martin Luther King with juvenile insults, mocks school shooting survivors, insists that Michelle Obama is a man, and would’ve joined the Ku Klux Klan if they accepted Blacks.

It gets better.

Mark Robinson, the GOP’s overwhelming choice for nominee for the North Carolina governorship, has been around for several years with these outlandish claims. He and his claims were so out of there ridiculous that Trump eagerly endorsed him.

Now, more is coming out about Robinson. Evidence shows he’s been visiting porn sites and commenting online. He’s for slavery. Would buy a few himself.

The topper? This is an Evangelical.

Let’s pause and wrap our heads around the things Robinson says with what an Evangelical is supposed to be in the world of Christianity.

This is the GOP: a warped amalgam of American values, history, and political positions. Besides Trump and Robinson, there is JD Vance. He’s Trump’s running mate, out there lying about his Ohio constituents by claiming some of them are eating their neighbors’ pets. He agrees it’s a lie, but the lie is too important to their message to drop. Doesn’t matter to him that he’s endangering his constituents with his rhetoric…even as he calls for the rhetoric to be cooled because of threats to Trump.

Is that fucking twisting, or what?

As late night informercial offers used to declare, “Wait, there’s more!”

Elon Musk has become quite enamored with the right wing which Trump and the GOP are. So much that he took up Trump’s defense in the weirdest, most twisted way possible when pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for POTUS.

“Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life”

Weird has become popular to describe Trump. But the reality is, that party is getting more twisted. Sure, these are leaderships I’ve highlighted, but it’s their supporters and the party which keep them in power.

Vote blue. Please.

September 22, 2024 1

Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: Uptempo

August 29, 2024, crept into our world as clocks finished a round of counting.

It’s Thursday, so named for the day of the week when the poor were served free drinks at ale houses and taverns. Don’t look it up, because I made it up.

We’re expected a high of 97 F plus this afternoon. For now, though, the windows are closed because it’s a chilly 58 F in my environs. Air quality is marginally good. Blue sky reigns o’er most of the valley, but some hazy, formless clouds have popped up on the northern and western horizons.

Reviewing news, I see talk of Trump’s ‘campaign’. That agent of chaos is spreading more disinformation, still lying about the 2020 election results, spinning accusations out of air, and trying hard to disrupt intelligent discourse on anything except maybe the askance wondering, WTF is he doing?

Take the Arlington National Cemetery kerfluffle. This was an event planned for the families of thirteen service members killed earlier this year. They wanted it private. Trump, true to his tone-deaf self-centered character jumped at a chance to show that he really does support and respects the military and its members. That’s despite his claims that he’s smarter than generals. Or that military members, especially injured or dead ones, are losers. Or his sniveling that the Congressional Medal of Honor given to military members is less worthy than the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His audacious reasoning was that soldiers and their medal is ‘worth less’ “either in very bad shape, because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead”.

What brilliant logic.

Meanwhile, there is Trump’s photo op. Grinning like an idiot, giving a thumps up.

Such respect.

What was sadder was how his supporters jumped to protect his actions. One wrote in comments that ‘at least he was there to honor them.’ Yeah, idiot. Number one, that’s not why he was there, and that’s obvious to us all outside of the MAGA circle jerk. Two, the families resquested that this not be politicized. They wanted privacy to grieve. Trump turned it into a circus. The MAGA commenter showed that they’re as tone deaf and out of touch as their master. CORRECTION: Two families had invited the Trump show. But that doesn’t change that it’s against policy and practice to desecrate Arlington with politics and campaigning.

Moving on.

My theme for the week still centers on songs with time in the title. Up to the challenge, The Neurons leaped forward with “Time for Me to Fly” by REO Speedwagon. It’s playing in the morning mental music stream (Trademark timed) like it’s playing on the radio in 1978.

Stay positive and be strong. Lean forward and vote blue in 2024. Coffee is wending through my systems with its magic fingers. Here’s the music. Cheers