Three cartoons

This first one is blunt and all-too accurate.

The second one is cynical and will reinforce my disappointment in humanity.

The third one is horrible and supports the disappointment I have…and also needs some explanation.

That’s by Michael Ramirez, far-right flaming nutjob and actually talented cartoonist, who is cheering the Supreme Court in the Chevron v. NRDC case, in a decision called Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. He thinks it was a good thing, because he’s insane. Loper Bright chopped off the whole idea of an informed government that listened to the evidence and paid attention to experts.

The Supreme Court fundamentally altered the way that our federal government functions on Friday, transferring an almost unimaginable amount of power from the executive branch to the federal judiciary. By a 6–3 vote, the conservative supermajority overruled Chevron v. NRDC, wiping out four decades of precedent that required unelected judges to defer to the expert judgment of federal agencies. The ruling is extraordinary in every way—a massive aggrandizement of judicial power based solely on the majority’s own irritation with existing limits on its authority. After Friday, virtually every decision an agency makes will be subject to a free-floating veto by federal judges with zero expertise or accountability to the people. All at once, SCOTUS has undermined Congress’ ability to enact effective legislation capable of addressing evolving problems and sabotaged the executive branch’s ability to apply those laws to the facts on the ground. It is one of the most far-reaching and disruptive rulings in the history of the court.

This corrupt court is just that bad. I always thought that the Roger Taney court was the gold standard for a bad court that led the USA into self-destruction, thanks to the Dred Scott decision, but the Roberts court is giving ol’ Roger a run for the money…although at least John Roberts hasn’t denied the humanity of a large chunk of the citizenry, yet. You know he’d love to.

As if to illustrate the point that government should pay heed to scientific input, the Court also ruled against the EPA last week, and their opinion made multiple errors of scientific fact.

Justice Gorsuch’s opinion refers five times to “nitrous oxide” (aka laughing gas) rather than the entirely different chemical compound — smog-causing “nitrogen oxides” — actually at issue in the case.

But OK, the Supreme Court will never again be troubled by basic chemistry. Some people think this is a good thing, and they’re the same people who think it’s great that Donald Trump is above the law (who is already trying to use the Supreme Court decision to overturn his 34-count conviction in New York).

Are you ready for the 4th of July?

To celebrate our independence from kings, the Supreme Court has declared the president to be a king. At least, that is, when he’s a Republican.

Sotomayor dissents. She’s one of the 3 patriots left on the court.

We’re going to have to tear this court down someday soon. It is absurd that the supreme arbiter of the law in this land is run by people who are appointed for life, with no ethics regulation at all.

Rural American values

Believe me, they suck. A corporation, Tractor Supply Co., has announced some revisions to their policy.

Going forward, we will ensure our activities and giving tie directly to our business. For instance, this means we will:

  1. No longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign
  2. Refocus our Team Member Engagement Groups on mentoring, networking and supporting the business
  3. Further focus on rural America priorities including ag education, animal welfare, veteran causes and being a good neighbor and stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities like pride festivals and voting campaigns
  4. Eliminate DEI roles and retire our current DEI goals while still ensuring a respectful environment
  5. Withdraw our carbon emission goals and focus on our land and water conservation efforts

Human rights? Unamerican. Fuck pride, we gotta support our veterans (who are all heterosexual, of course). Why support diversity, there are plenty of straight white men we can hire. Global climate change, we’re not worried that that will affect local land and water.

Short-sighted and stupid and selfish, those are core rural values.

Joe must go

It used to be that the big political conventions were NOT PR sessions in which the Chosen One was anointed — the convention was where it was decided who would represent the party. There was back-room wheeling and dealing, the party leaders would negotiate and make promises, it was an ugly opportunity for corruption, and it might completely disregard the will of the people settled in primaries and caucuses.

I think we need to bring that kind of convention back.

In the debate last night, Joe Biden demonstrated that he’s not fit to run the country. Trump is worse, but pitting a doddering old man against a lying sleaze monster is no way to decide how to run a country. Both sides of that “debate” were disgracefully bad and an embarrassment to the USA. In August, the Democratic National Convention will meet in August, and it’s expected to be a rubber stamp event. “Democrats will rally around Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ nomination for President and Vice President of the United States,” says the DNC…but what if they don’t? What if all the representatives from around the country get together with their mandate to present policies favored by the people and then choose the best person to stand for office? That’s not an unusual way for political systems to work.

I’m with Jon Stewart on the debate. I watched it with an increasingly appalled feeling, and was angry by the end of it. Neither of those men should have any power. Trump needs to be in prison, while Biden needs to retire to a rocking chair on his porch.

I’m also pissed off by the incompetence Biden demonstrated after the debate.

Asked by a reporter how he thought he did during Thursday’s night debate during a post-game stop at a Waffle House in Atlanta, President Joe Biden said, “I thought we did well.”

No, Joe. You did very, very poorly.

I agree with Mehdi Hasan: Joe Biden has to go. We need a brokered convention in August.

You know, another bonus to doing that is that it would kill these long drawn-out ridiculous horse races that start a few years before the election. Make the final selection in August, and the campaign season begins then and ends in November.

I shouldn’t be watching the debate

But here I am. For sure, no one jacked up Biden on drugs before this thing started. He’s coming off as slow, old, and fumbling.

Meanwhile, Trump just lies and exaggerates, while Biden looks on like he’s stunned. Debates don’t get fact-checked apparently.

Not looking good.

Trump couldn’t answer any question, except with lies, and he was constantly turning every response into claims about immigration. The only problem we have is millions of people pouring over the border, apparently. It was most glaring when he was asked about climate change and he had nothing to say except immigration, immigration, immigration.

Fucking Christ. Trump brought up his “cognitive test” again — those things only assess a minimal level of function. He did not “ace” them. You can’t ace that kind of test.

Biden was competent in his policy answers, but dear god, he is reinforcing the idea that he’s old.

Final impression is that in Trump’s world, America is failing and is on the brink of WWIII, while Biden is planning to be a caretaker president, a bureaucrat coasting to the retirement. The whole affair was uninspiring, and there was not one spark of charisma anywhere.

Speaking of caretakers coasting to the end, Bash and Tapper were pointless and ineffectual — there was no moderation to speak of.

I hate debates.

Do I need to buy a gun?

I’ve never owned a gun. I’ve never wanted one, and am actively repelled by the idea of having one in the house. I think my wife is even more opposed to the idea.

But we have this presidential debate coming up this week, and I’m not optimistic about the outcome. I’m not concerned that Trump might triumph, but that it won’t matter. We know that Trump and his campaign are making pre-emptive excuses, against a backdrop of fanatical Trump cultists who will announce him either the winner (no matter what) or if he’s beaten, that the game was rigged or Biden cheated or that Satan fooled everyone. There will be no resolution. It’s going to be a trial run for the big event in November, a mere 5 months from now.

Various right-wingers have been gleefully predicting civil war for years now. The mob still claims that Trump actually won. We had a practice insurrection on January 6th a few years ago. Imagine if Trump loses a second time — the fury of aggrieved MAGA assholes will flare up all across the country. I live in the middle of red rural America, part of a liberal university that will focus their hate, I can picture the seething rage that will rise up.

Even worse is if Trump somehow wins. He is already announcing the suspension of the rule of law and purges…and we know that education and teaching will be targeted. He loves the uneducated! I don’t want to even think about his attitude towards atheists, and how we’d be such an easy sacrifice for him to make.

So I’ve been thinking about defending myself. I might nail a few doors shut in October to make the house a little less vulnerable. I’ve got a great big picture window in the living room, will I need to board it up like a hurricane is on the way? Should I get a handgun? Or would it be more likely to be turned against us? I could probably fortify the basement fairly easily, since it has only one entrance…but that could turn it into a trap.

You can tell I’m not optimistic about the coming Fall. Maybe what I should do is pack everything up and move to Norway…or maybe Canada.

Tradwives rising, rising, rising…falling, falling, falling

I’m hoping that the right-wing troll economy is bottoming out. We’re living with the dregs of a few decades of far-right hyperbole generating wealth from rage clicks, but Alex Jones is being taken to the cleaners at last, Tucker Carlson has been banished from Fox News, Steve Bannon is going to jail — maybe people will start realizing that outrageous hate is only going to tap the wallets of a minority of bigots, and that has some downsides. Still, that’s a fruitful line of grift, since the subjects are all gullible and delusional.

The latest goofy grift is tradwives: women who put on dresses and makeup and go online with videos about how they really love staying at home, taking care of their man, cooking and cleaning and popping out babies (the babies are usually not in the videos — they’re catering to men who don’t want the tedium of dealing with actual children, that’s what women are for.) It seems there is a strong market among conservatives for subservient women who are content to be servile.

There is a contradiction in that, since why are these women, who are supposed to be quietly working in the kitchen and bedroom, using media to become popular with the public? No worries, conservatives have been soaking in that contradiction since the days of Phyllis Schlafly.

Is it possible, though, that they can go too far, breaking the illusion? Maybe not — the segment of the public that was unable to see through Andrew Tate’s bullshit may be impervious to reason — but one tradwife, Lilly Gaddis, recently pushed the limits by being too transparently trollish. Amanda Marcotte explains her breakthrough moment:

In the video, Gaddis is decked out in the standard tradwife gear of a cleavage-baring sundress and a cross necklace to justify the sexualized marketing. She is vaguely arranging food while providing a rant tailor-made to tickle the reactionary male brain. She accuses immigrants and Black women of being “gold-diggers,” while insisting Christian white girls like herself will love you, pathetic male viewer, solely for your masculine might, even if you are “broke.” She is going for maximum shock value, dropping not just the n-word, but other five-dollar curses that are clearly meant to to offer a transgressive thrill, coming from a young woman playing at being a more scantily clad June Cleaver.

Some people are trying to defend her by saying she accidentally dropped some racial slurs, but how do you do that by mistake? This was an intentional ploy, and she later confirmed it by arranging interviews on Alex Jones’ show and by promoting Nick Fuentes. Being one attractive women among many making Christmas cookies is not going to make you stand out; being the attractive woman making cookies while damning immigrants with racial epithets is distinctive. For now. The next Lilly Gaddis is going to have to up her game and do much worse.

This wannabe Christian influencer is so obviously out for attention, so it’s tempting to ignore this story in hopes of not letting her have it. Still, Gaddis is an important illustration of the vicious cycle of greed and far-right radicalism driven by the social media ecosystem. The field of strivers wishing to be America’s next top troll is growing faster than can be maintained by the existing audience of incels, white supremacists and other miscreants radicalized online. Becoming the next big thing means attracting the coin of the authoritarian realm: liberal outrage. Yet as liberals get numb to the constant barrage of fascist provocation, the trolls have no choice but to up the ante. So this is how we get a woman in an apron pretending to cook on TikTok while dropping the most notorious of racial slurs.

I’d like to think it can’t go much further before the whole grift disintegrates as a parody of itself, but there is a real segment of the populace that falls for “influencers” all the time, and by their nature seem to be stupid enough to favor far-right bigotry. It’s promising, though, that Lilly Gaddis was fired from her job and banned from Tik Tok, so maybe she’s going to flame out and fall back into the obscurity she deserves.

Maybe crime is spread through the drinking water?

Royce White is a former professional basketball player who really, really wants to replace our Democratic Senator, Amy Klobuchar. Say what you want about Klobuchar, I don’t think she’s going to be sweating over this race.

White posted a map of the “out-of-control crime” in Minneapolis and said we need to refund the police.

One problem.

White, a 33-year-old retired NBA player who was recently accused of dropping $1,200 of campaign funds at a Miami strip club, appeared to have ripped the graphic from another account on X who had shared it sarcastically. It showed dozens of green dots, which indicated working fountains, and a handful of red and yellow dots, which signified those broken and being repaired across Minneapolis.

Hey, you never know. Maybe he’s like John Snow and the Broad Street Pump — he’s discovered a previously unknown vector for the spread of crime, not cholera, in the city. Unfortunately for that hypothesis, he quickly deleted his tweet, and is now really angry at the people who exposed his foolishness (not to mention his abuse of campaign funds at a strip club.)

You’re a cuck. We’re leaving the plantation, White tweeted at a Minnesota-based reporter, Christopher Ingraham, who pointed out the error. You and your weird liberal buddies read it and weep.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, he’s running for office as a Republican.