Thirstaz Wandering Political Thoughts

I might come across as pessimistic and resigned in many of my posts when I address this era of politics.

Yep, I do feel it’s another bad time for the United States. We have been through stuff like this before. This period feels like it’s reaching a crises.

Trump, bankrupt of morals, ethics-challenged, ignorant of history, and an unrepentant, pathological liar and narcissist, occupies the Gold Room (formerly known as the Oval Office) in the building formerly known as the White House. Enabled, inspired, and goaded by boot lickers draping their tongues over his shoes and sticking their heads up his ass, Trump is on a Make America Trash campaign. He’s abetted by a covey of almost covert right-wingers who are frequently members of the Heritage Foundation. Those right-wing cretins created the horrendous plan called Project 2025. Basically, they’re trying to re-write history, dismantle the government except for the military and a national police force, and abort We the People’s rights and freedoms.

It does not help that some members of Congress on the right willingly abrogate their responsibilities as defined by the U.S. Constitution to act as a check on the office and activities of the President of the United States. Nor does it help that the Supreme Court is eagerly stepping up to advance a right-wing agenda. But that’s where we’re at.

The right-wing’s history rewrite is all about telling us how great whites are. Especially white men. Particularly white rich men. Especially if they call themselves ‘Christians’. Doesn’t matter to them if these are small ‘c’ christians. They’re okay with Christians who use Christ as their moral compass and then turn 180 degrees from what he preached. Divorce and remarry, lie and cheat on your family, business, and country, turn away from the sick and poor — and even attack them because they’re not white and wealthy — they’re good with all that, so long as you call yourself a Christian and vote for other such Christians.

The rest of us aren’t good with that, though. We, the rest, don’t really categorize ourselves as white, male, or Christian. We do believe in helping one another, basically doing so to alleviate others’ suffering and misfortune. We also like to pay attention to and learn from history so mistakes aren’t repeated. Most of us, I think, believe in the general principle that we’re healthier, stronger, and better people by helping one another. And having healthier, stronger, and better people is accomplished through education and cooperation, along with equal freedom and justice. To that end, if you’re a human, you’re a part of us. We believe we’re all in this together.

That also means we recognize that your culture matters. So does your history and your individual identity and all the traits and differences that make you and me unique as individuals. We’re going to treat you like us and want you to do the same.

The right-wing disparages this as ‘woke’. They label it as DEI.

DEI and woke are horrible, offensive ideas to the right-wing. They prefer wealthy, male, white, and Christian. They tell us by deed and action, “Just keep that ‘woke’ stuff about freedom and equality to yourselves, you damn libruls.”

And that’s one of the problems for the right-wing and grandiose plans to rule the world. They think they’re stronger as individuals than we are as a group. They think that we can be sufficiently distracted that we don’t see what they’re doing. They think that our principles can be bought via bribes, goods, and special rights and privileges.

This is a problem for the right.

These Heritage Foundation people, these Neocons and Teabaggers, these Project 2025 and PNAC folks all know and understand that when We the People reached out to others and they reached out to us, we became friends, admirers, and supporters. We found common problems and worked to find common solutions, things that work for all of us. Yes, compromises were sometimes required, and that can often be a challenge. But we learned that when all of us pull together, when we work together, when we stand together, we can make great things happen.

That was the promise of the ‘left’, which isn’t actually that left in the United States, for the last fifty years plus. We made progress. We advanced. We prospered. More or less.

No, it wasn’t a rising tide for all. It wasn’t without stumbles.

Stumbles are expected. You don’t give up when you stumble and fall. You ask yourself, WTF just happened? You figure out why you fell and then try again without falling. And when we see others falling, we reach out and try to catch them and keep them from falling.

That’s why I’m so disappointed in Trump and MAGA, and the right-wing in general. They’re trying to change all that we’ve learned, not just as United States citizens, but as humans. They’re trying to usurp and bury all the ways in which we advanced.

I really don’t think their approach will work. Humans have experienced thousands of years of warfare and strife. We’ve endured kings, queens, dictators, and autocrats. We’ve seen how all those things undermine our civilization. And we’ve seen what can happen when we work and play together and try to avoid war and keep kings, queens, dictators from taking over.

And guess what? We think it’s a better idea that we’re ruling ourselves and not at war.

That’s why we’ll keep resisting Trump, the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, Neocons, etc. Our vision of rights, freedom, education, prosperity, and good health for all of us regardless of who we and they are is more powerful than their vision of greed and privilege.

Even if they call themselves Christian.

Sundaz Wandering Political Thoughts

I’m not reposting it or linking to it. Trump released an AI video of himself as a king and a fighter pilot.

Trump weaseled out of serving his nation five times when he was young.

Whined about having bone spurs.

Now he pretends to be a fighter pilot, a specimen of individual who is highly trained and extremely fight, 180 from what he is. There it is again, the alternate Trump reality, where facts, truth, history, and logic are completely disengaged. Not a good place for someone in his position. He needs to be removed. If this isn’t 25th Amendment material, what is?

The other part…where he projects himself as king. Well, that’s exactly what we’re protesting in the No Kings rallies. As a POTUS pretending to be a king, acting like he’s a king, above We the People, and not serving us, he should be impeached.

Worse, though, he fantasizes about bombing American citizens. Dropping sewage on them. How horrible is that for anyone who occupies the Oval Office?

And those deep, deep, double standards are fully in play here. Listen to the crickets as the GOP say nothing. Recall their fervent outrage against President Joe Biden. How they bleated about him being unfit. He, who never released a video fantasy about being a king, being a fighter pilot, and bombing our people.

Imagine the uproar if this had been President Obama. My, oh, my, the shockwaves would have felt like major earthquakes across the continent.

But here we have it, signs of a demented, detached individual fantasizing about being a fighter pilot and king, bombing his citizens.

And they say nothing.

Their silence speaks as loudly as Trump’s video fantasy. They are as corrupt and complicit as him.

And this is why we march and protest.

No kings. Not in 1776. Not in 2025.

Not. Ever.

Twozdaz Wandering Political Thoughts

It’s a tale of two worlds. It’s the best of times, it’s the craziest of times. It’s a world defined by facts and reason where people come to share discourse about serious problems based on the evidence presented, and it’s a world where a powerful elected official shows serious problems with reality.

This makes it all hard to write. I want to rage about Trump’s insanity. But that’s the problem: he is sick. He should not be in a position of power. He should be retired to somewhere safe, where he can rest with medical care. Trump constantly trolled President Joe Biden as sleepy Joe, always claiming that President Biden was too old and feeble to be POTUS. Well, here we have an expanding body of empirical evidence that Trump’s grasp on reality is as thin and untenable as a cobweb.

Between his psychobabble Tylenol announcement, antifa EO, and his UN speech rife with falsehoods, Trump has blown out any perceptions that he shares the same reality as the great majority. Acting on some fabricated form of history and facts, he makes speeches, boasting about ending wars without naming them, claiming to save thousands of lives, chides others for being ignorant, oblivious to the ignorance which he displays. Whereas before, he was laughed at in his UN speech, this outing found a silent audience; they heard and saw how sick he is. Unless you’re Trump or a MAGAt, you don’t laugh at the sick. Yet, Trump probably saw and heard awe for how great he was. In his mind, they were silent with respect for how brilliant he is. That’s how disconnected he has become.

Tragically for U.S. citizens and the rest of the world, the GOP and Trump’s enablers gleefully go along with his madness. It serves their purpose for him to push his alternate reality unto everyone else and upend science, medicine, logic, truth, and history.

MAGAts seem too mired in their own hatred or alternate reality to raise their voices. This shows again and again through FAFO stories about how shocked they are to be victimized by the person and policies they support. They pretend Trump is religious, despite his history of conning, lying, cheating. They pretend he is fit and strong and muscular, even though pictures show an unhealthy, obese individual. They pretend to hear brilliant insights when he speaks, even when he incoherently rambles. They pretend that he’s religious, sent by God, although he’s committed adultery, paid for sex, has been indicted and convicted of crimes, and shuns the poor and sick while hoarding money.

Most of the wealthiest 1% seem addicted to greed and just keep grabbing whatever they can, regardless of what happens to the other 99% of the population. They’re just looking out for number one; number one is them.

Useful tools like former Fox News are broken individuals who like having attention, power, and position. They’re in over their heads and know it, but that’s okay, because Trump supports them. They’re all going for an ugly spin around the toilet bowl.

Project 2025 participants in Trump’s administration want to break the world. They’re the most dangerous, because they’re organized and serious. They want to create a crucible for cheap slave labor where the wealthy and powerful will flourish with little moral challenge to their ways. Where they can claim their one true god guides their cruelty, hatred, and bigotry. Where white men rule with a few exceptions as salve to prove to themselves they’re not racist, not sexist. They won’t be happy, nor satisfied. But they will be in power. In control.

Concerned only with themselves, bankrupt of morals and empathy, power and control are what they seek. They do not care who they hurt, who is used, or what laws are broken to do it. The ends justify the means in their minds.

This is nothing new. Acting on avarice, greed, and hate, others have peddled lies and misinformation to mislead otherwise good people in order to advance themselves. History shows that’s happened in the United States before. It’s easy to dupe people by drowning them with fake information, especially when it’s what they want to hear, and especially when the wealthiest control most of the media, and the wealthiest are willing to go along with the scheme. The difference now is that a deeply disturbed individual, Donald J. Trump, now commands them.

That is what we must face and overcome.

Mundaz Wandering Political Thoughts

Oblivious to facts —

Well, that’s the beginning of a description for many 21st century Republicans in the MAGA age. Oblivious to facts, tone deaf, weak willed, spineless, and unfaithful to their Constitutional duty. But today’s focus sharpens on Marjorie Taylor Greene. As she has before, Marjorie Taylor Greene is calling for a ‘national divorce’. Take it, Marjorie:

“There is nothing left to talk about with the left. They hate us,” Greene wrote on X, adding:

They assassinated our nice guy who actually talked to them peacefully debating ideas.

Then millions on the left celebrated and made clear they want all of us dead.

To be honest, I want a peaceful national divorce.

Our country is too far gone and too far divided, and it’s no longer safe for any of us.

h/t to Mediate via MSN.

Who is the ‘nice guy’ ‘they’ assassinated? That would be Charlie Kirk. The ‘they’ who assassinated it turned out to be one of MTG’s own tribe. Maybe she should break up with that part of the tribe. I do think that would be difficult; hate and stupidity forge strong bonds for the weak-willed and shallow-minded.

I call her and them weak-willed and shallow-minded for how ‘they’ turned from disparaging Trump to idolizing him. I call her and them that for what they say about immigrants, and how they pretend to be good Bible-toting Christians whenever it serves them while mainly and primarily disregarding the Bible and its tenets. I say that about her specifically because she took an oath to defend the Constitution. Advocating a ‘national split’ is scarcely defending the Constitution. But as she attempts to pretend, her religion is more important than her oath of office. But as we see, too, her claims about being religious is really just cover for her hatemongering of the left.

My opinion of Marjorie Taylor Greene has been low since I’ve first read about her. She’s silly. Shallow, a true broken window thinker. As others will do more deeply and intelligently, I want to point out that a ‘divorce’ among blue and red states is bigly problematic. Red states are basically poor, uneducated, and not among the healthiest of citizens. They need Federal funds more frequently and deeply than blue states do. They often turn out to be hateful and bigoted, too. Under red leadership, red states and cities are often the most violent.

MTG goes on in her post to say, “Government is not answer, God is. Turn your full faith and trust to our Almighty God and our Savior Jesus. Tighten your circle around your family and protect them at all times.”

Well, gosh, Marjorie. What ’bout that Bible verse that says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Even an atheist like me has learned that one.

What about that one in the Bible that says, “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

I do not hate Marjorie Taylor Greene. I pity her. More, I pity her constituents. They deserve better than this self-serving individual. But, I guess they got what they voted for. She finishes, “I will pray for the left, but personally I want nothing to do with them.”

Back at you, MTG. I hope your supporters come to their senses and vote you out. Even if they do, I’m sure you’ll find a home on some right-wing media site where you’ll keep spewing misinformation and hatred until you wither and fade.

Thirstdaz Theme Music

We’re in a weather triangle, a tangle of seasonal changes. Summer is drifting away, taking its warmth and going elsewhere. Today’s high is 75 F, an eleven-degree scramble from our current posture. Thunderstorms threaten again. Looking back, we had few days over 100 F, a relief from previous years when clusters of such days savaged us. Much more rain is visited upon us than usual, allaying drought worries. For the record, this is Thirstda, September 11, 2025.

So, here we sit, looking back at 9/11 while pondering the assassination of Charles Kirk. I’m in a triangulation of despair about the U.S.’s polarization and violence, lamenting, another gun killing, and dismayed reflection on Kirk’s rhetoric, spewed often, about killing others. Some will say that his death by gun seems karmic; he’s reaping what he ordered for others. We’ll see the question, is this a tipping point for the U.S., often played out. We won’t know until we’re further down the road. What we do know is that Kirk, as we often see from the right in the U.S. in this age, cherry-picked Bible verses to foment resentment, hate, and violence. What we also expect is some spillage from the conspiracy machine, trying to use Kirk’s death as a wedge between us, trying to make a bad situation worse. Unfortunately, that’s how some people now think.

There’s one clear bennie for Trump from this, in that Kirk’s death will be a distraction and take some pressure off Trump about his relationship with Epstein and lessen the drumbeat to release the files.

Meanwhile, from down south in northern California, emerged a story about vanishing rural hospitals. SF Gate reports, “The closure of Glenn Medical Center, located north of Sacramento in remote Glenn County, is expected to happen as soon as next month. It’s one of at least 28 anticipated hospital closures in rural California, which is confronting financial hardship under the Trump administration’s punitive health care policies that include cracking down on access to coverage for patients who are in the country without permission.” The county housing Glenn Medical Center went for Trump 2:1. FAFO.

The problem with writing this off as FAFO and moving on is that thinking people know the reciprocal and collateral effects of rural hospitals shutting down. Beyond the simple impact that those citizens will now need to travel further for healthcare, their healthcare will decline. It’s inevitable. To travel further, they’ll need to take more time off from work. Most will resist doing that, resist making those trips. That’s often how the human mind works. They’ll hold off for whatever rationalizations they fed themselves and then it will be too late for some. Unemployment will climb as these hospitals and medical centers close. The lack of such facilities will make these communities less attractive for living and business opportunities. What company will want to move a factory there, when basics like medical treatment is limited? The ironic center of all this is that they’re Trump voters and brought it on themselves by supporting Trump and his agenda. There’s no joy in seeing and knowing that. Just weariness.

Today’s song is by the Rolling Stones. This is a 1968 beat. “Sympathy for the Devil” focuses on human violence through Satan’s viewpoint. “Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name. But what’s puzzlin’ you is the nature of my game.”

I watched with glee while your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades for the gods they made

I shouted out, “Who killed the Kennedys?”
When, after all, it was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste

And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reach Bombay

h/t to Genius.com

So now we shout out, who killed Charles Kirk? When after all, it’s you and me, and our polarized, paralyzed government. Pleased to meet you.

On to a ‘new day’. Coffee has blessed my taste buds. May grace and peace find us all. Cheers

Thirstdaz Theme Music

Another sunny summer day has been born in Ashlandia. We shall name this day Thirstda, July 24, 2025. Temps right now are moderate at 83 F but if you stand in that sunshine and let it beam down on you, the sweat comes fast. Today’s high will peak at about 92, 93 F, I think. Clouds, dust, or smoke hazes some of the sky’s blue, but I don’t smell smoke. The ol’ schnoz seems unafflicted by particulates today. Yea for me, I guess.

Hulk Hogan has passed away. I greet that with a shrug. Ozzy Osbourne passed a couple days ago. I mourn him more, but it’s remote mourning. I’ve been expecting him to pass. Thanks for the music and entertainment, Oz.

A net friend, Annette, posted a reflective post about family, wealth, and change. It melded well with my mood and thoughts after long exchanges with my sister about my mother, Mom’s health, and her living situation. Life, mortality, and death seem to be draping themselves all over me as I observe others’ situations and reflect upon my own. Make hay while the sun shines, right? Because storms can crash in and change everything in an eyeblink.

Over on the political spectrum of my existence, I grimace to more news about the enshittification of things. Yes, it makes me unhappy. Reading opposing opinions about things like cuts to NPR and public broadcasting, the celebration of their potential demise depresses me. Others are scornful and dismissive of any positive impact they may have on people, communities, and civilization. Some things seem to be strictly defined through a narrow scope of costs, profits, and losses, as if this is what life is about. The debt, the debt, some scream, we must do something about the debt! More tariffs! More tax cuts for the wealthy! More tax write-offs for the ultra wealthy. Less help for the states! Less help for the poor! And so it will go until they need help from other states, need help from the poor, say, in a war, for example, or to work. Yes, I’m disgusting by the right-wing tilt going on. I think it counterproductive to common goals and needs. The tilt benefits a few at the expense of the nation.

Today’s theme music is both homage to Ozzy’s memory, my own life, and how I view the current world situation. Yes, it’s “Crazy Train” from 1980. I told others while commenting on Ozzy last night that I’ve been on the crazy train. I’ve seen my family on the crazy train, and friends. A friend replied, “I think we’ve all spent some time on the crazy train.” Now I think the world is climbing on the crazy train.

Crazy, but that’s how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe it’s not too late
To learn how to love and forget how to hate

Mental wounds not healing
Life’s a bitter shame

I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
(Let’s go)

I’ve listened to preachers, I’ve listened to fools
I’ve watched all the dropouts, who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role

Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane

I’m going off the rails on a crazy train
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train

I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words, yeah, yeah

Heirs of a cold war, that’s what we’ve become
Inheriting troubles, I’m mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I’m living with something that just isn’t fair

H/t to AZLyrics.com

Coffee has infiltrated me again. Time to rock another day, even if it’s only a gentle rock, just a little more than a nudge. Hope your day fulfills you in ways you need. Cheers

Wendaz Wandering Political Thoughts

From The Lincoln Project via Bluesky.

You know, Rep. Mike Johnson and other GOTPers have been bubbling about Trump having a 90% approval rating. Most of the rest of us, tragically tethered to reality as we are, reacted by basically muttering darkly, “WTF are you talking about?”

Another sharp-thinker, Steve Benen, emerged with what they saw as the answer: Johnson, et al, were talking about Republicans only. The poll they referenced showed 90 percent of Republicans polled approved of Trump. As Benen wrote, “And therein lies the point: The House speaker pitched a seemingly ridiculous figure, not just to deceive the public, but also because from his perspective, Democrats literally don’t count.”

Talk about cherry picking information!

All that matters is their people. Republicans. White, wealthy, and male, if you want to be more exact. Everyone else is secondary, tertiary, or beyond their thinking, except for how they can be used. We’ve seen this demonstrated in Texas, where investment in a warning system for flash floods was rejected with tragic results. It’s been demonstrated again and again in GOTP abortion guidance where they proclaim themselves pro-life until the child is born, then they’re on their own. We’ve seen it in their attitude toward due justice, where they’re trying to carve that down from what the Constitution states. And it’s evident in places like Ohio, where gerrymandered districts give Republicans undeserved power, allowing them to mock democracy with impudence and aggressively work to undermine public education. We’ve seen it as well with the right-wing loaded Roberts Court, where Trump rulings are handed down that counter precdence and prevailing understanding of how the Constitutional system of checks and balances are supposed to work.

Selfishness, ignorance, and narrow-minded are core values of the GOTP, no matter where they’re located.

They get it from their leader: Donald J. Trump. And that’s what’s wrong with the United States.

Wenzda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

I was one to jump on the stage when we asked before the flash flooding in Texas killed so many, “Why weren’t they warned?” Now we have more insight into the answer. And yes, the path to this disaster goes right through DOGE.

As the Texas Floodwaters Rose, One Indispensable Voice Was Silent

When a reporter demanded to know why the summer camps along the Guadalupe River weren’t evacuated before its waters reached their deadly peak on July 4, Rob Kelly, the highest-ranking local official, had a simple answer: “No one knew this kind of flood was coming.”

Why not? Kerr County, Texas, had lots of history to go on — as Kelly went on to explain: “We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States.” The National Weather Service had even brought in extra staff that night. Most important, the service had issued three increasingly dire warnings early that morning — at 1:14 a.m., 4:03 a.m. and 6:06 a.m.

What Kelly didn’t mention, but which has since become well known, is that the Weather Service employee whose job it was to make sure those warnings got traction — Paul Yura, the long-serving meteorologist in charge of “warning coordination” — had recently taken an unplanned early retirement amid cuts pushed by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. He was not replaced.

Read more here…

This is infuriating. This was one of the many warnings we progressives, liberals, and Democrats voiced time and again: Trump and the right wing want to destroy government. They don’t care who is killed or impoverished when they do, as long as it isn’t them. And it wont’ be them; they’re protecting themselves.

We see similiar stories emerging with taxes, education systems and school districts, disaster responses, diseases, trade, employment, deportation, rising crime, and healthcare emerging across the nation. It’s horrible to read these stories. But so many blindly follow Trump and the GOP, they voted for their own ruin. And many still swear, “Yes, but this is better than what the Democrats were offering.”

What is it that they thought the Democrats were offering, they can’t really explain. They just insist that President Biden was destroying the United States. They rallyed around the price of eggs.

The price of eggs are higher now. Do they really think they gained anything by supporting Trump and his treacherous agenda, which is clearly based on Project 2025, which he dismissed over and over again.

When will they learn and reject the Trump Regime’s incompetence and destruction? How many more dead Americans will we count before they finally awaken? Repu

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