Don't Get Me Started with Linda Sharp

#LiarLiarVanceOnFire

Watching that hashtag quickly begin to trend last night on Twitter was satisfying.  Its quick proliferation has made it hard to track down exactly who started it, but Mark Hamill certainly made it reach warp speed.  If you are not following him on some form of social media, get on that.  His virtual light saber is out and cutting down Trump, Vance, and all their sycophants at every turn.

I said Monday that Vance was actually more dangerous than Trump.  And make no mistake, Trump IS dangerous.  But what we all saw in last night's lie rebuttal - I cannot call it a debate, as all one candidate did was lie, spin, and equivocate, while another practically had a mop on hand to refute and clean it all back up - was why Peter Thiel's puppet is so much worse.  

Trump lies like a hippo shits.  It's sloppy, haphazard, spewed all about.  And the hippo comparison is apt.  Male hippos, when fighting, literally spray their poo as far as they can in order mark territory and assert their dominance over their opposition. 

We're his opposition.  I'll give you a few moments to shower now that you can practically feel it on your skin.

Ready?  Good.  Trump also has tells like his accordion hands and his trademark "believe me".  Either signals that a shit shower is imminent.  His lies are so many and so easily disprovable that the media long ago gave up, going from a mindset of Trump is just Trumping to now being bought out by rich Republicans bent on protecting him at all costs.

Vance is a practiced and inveterate liar.  As deft with deceit as he is with an eyeliner pencil.  Educated, well versed, a shape shifter, and now wholly bought out by Peter Thiel and the Heritage Foundation.  Think not?  Ask yourself how he made his way onto the ticket of a man he once referred to as "America's Hitler"?  This is a man who was solidly anti-Trump, Ivy league educated, married to an Indian American woman.  Everything Trump and MAGAland rails against.  Yet somehow he was cleaned up, said the right things, ingratiated himself through the right wedge issues, and last night found himself standing opposite Governor Tim Walz.

It was a JD Vance shitshow.  No random spewing for him.  Rather he serves his shit up with a benign expression and a fork and  knife on patterned china.  This cartoon is a perfect summation.

In the run up to the 'debate' CBS made it clear they would not be having their moderators do any fact checking - a clear response to the reaction by the Trump campaign as he was fact checked up the saggy ass in his last debate.  Public criticism was fast and furious and they then said they would fact check online during the 'debate'.  Suuuuuure.  We all know how many people have their TVs on with their laptops at the ready to watch simultaneously.  Puh-leez.  More backlash and then they said ok, ok, the moderators may fact check here and there.

This is such a clear indicator of where journalism now stands.  Actually, it doesn't stand.  It is flat on the ground, prostrate at the feet of a dementia addled, carrot colored candidate.  So evident is their bias, their fear of MAGA backlash, that they have simply become bullhorns for the Trump machine.

He and Vance can rattle off anything, a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. and they simply amplify it, sanewash it, report on it with gentle wording.  Vance is on the record saying they "create stories" to get attention.  Lives and safety be damned, he will continue saying Haitians in Ohio are eating people's pets and that they are illegal.  

Both are not true.

But he's a smoooooth operator, Sade, so he'll keep saying it.  He repeated the illegal lie during the debate and the moderators actually did fact check him about their completely legal status.  His response?  Put this on the GOP headstone:

"the rules were you guys weren't going to factcheck."

Because that is all they have.  Lie after lie after lie.  And with Vance, wrapped up in prettier language, but still LIES.

His stance on abortion was couched (see what I did there?) in flowery language like "pro family" and that he is sympathetic - even "knows a woman" who  had an abortion.   (Hint: We all do whether we are aware or not.)  But from his own campaign website (scrubbed, but the internet is forever, JD), he is firmly ready to see abortion completely stopped:

Make no mistake, that push continues across this country.  Not just surgical abortions.  Louisiana has now reclassified the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as schedule IV controlled substances, which will now come with prison terms of up to five years for those caught in possession without a prescription. Daily, women's choices are being ripped from their hands by MAGAty, Christofascist men like Vance.  Women being forced to travel to find abortion medical care.  Women dying from being denied medical care when complications arise.  Children and women being raped - something Vance has called "an inconvenience" - and coming up pregnant and having no recourse.

I have stated very clearly many times - I may be 58, which as my gynecologist reaffirmed at my appointment yesterday is late to still be on the front side of menopause and having intermittent periods, but if I came up pregnant?  There would be no question in my mind.  I would have to get the hell out of this state and travel to have an abortion.  Because there is no way I would realize it within the six week ban here.  I can afford to buy a plane ticket, put the gas in the car.  But what about the myriad women who cannot?  Medical care, and yes, abortion is medical care - whether purely a choice or stemming from an acute crisis - should not be some luxury item like a vacation to Barbados.  It is a woman's choice.  We are not incubators as the GOP would have us classified.

Trump's been going around saying he saved the ACA - he did not.  John McCain did.  Trump tried everything to kill it.  Vance stood at that podium last night reiterating that Trump kept it from "collapsing."  HE. DID. NOT.  He and Republicants have tried repeatedly to repeal it.

On and on it went.  In her article in The Guardian, Moira Donagan wrote, Trump’s running mate had the greasy self-assurance of someone used to lying to people he thinks are stupid.

And there's the rub.  He knows he's lying.  He knows who he is lying to.  He knows they are intellectually incurious.  He knows they are bigots and racists and Nazis and white nationalists, and religious zealots.  They (some) may even know he's lying,  but all that matters to them is that he is reaffirming what they want to believe, what they are too lazy to research, what keeps their bigotries warm and cozy.  This is why it is a waste of time to try to reason with them.  You cannot speak truth to willfully, belligerently ignorant.

Lying like this was once campaign ending stuff.  Hell, candidates like Trump and Vance would never have made it off the launching pad.  Once upon a time, there was integrity on the right.  Disagreements and views on policy?  Absolutely.  But not this type of shit.  You never had a MTG on the floor of Congress showing a blown up photo of the President's son naked.  But then you also never had a losing President refuse to accept the results.

Vance has been slimy and cagey in interviews when asked how he would have handled the situation over how Mike Pence handled it.  Would he have certified the election results?  Like an eel covered in Vaseline he always evades the words yes or no.  He says he would have kicked it back to the states to offer up alternative slates of electors.  Translation:  He would do whatever his overlords requested he do.  That is why Pence is not the current VP candidate.  That and the fact that Trump's minions who erected a gallows and spread shit on the walls in the Capitol were recorded shouting, "Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!"

Last night, when it came up, when Walz asked Vance if, in fact, Trump had lost the 2020 election, Vance refused to answer.  He rambled and said he is "focused on the future".

I'm with Tim Walz: "That was a damning non-answer."

That should be run over and over and over in every ad by the Harris/Walz campaign.  And THAT should be beyond disqualifying.  But it was a non-answer designed to keep the MAGAt horde's torches and pitchforks at bay.  To keep Peter Thiel's money happy.  To keep Trump from throwing more ketchup on the Mar-a-Lago walls.  Truth has no home in that party.

An hour ago my husband and I dropped our ballots off here in Florida.  Sorry, DeJoy, I see you and am not taking a chance on your mailbox dickishness.  We have done what we can in this new state of ours.  And we have cast our votes for Harris and Walz, for women's rights, for transgender protections, for the environment, for our granddaughter, for democracy, for the world at large.

Believe their lies at your, and our, peril.  Vance is polished, but a polished turd is still a turd. 

I'm with Mark - #LiarLiarVanceOnFire

How Is This Even Close?

I don't understand.  Seriously, someone explain it to me like I'm five.

Given all the givens, all the coarse political discourse, all the ramblings, all the threats, all the misogyny, all the hate, all the promises of retribution, all the ALLS - how is this race even close?  

Daily we see him, we hear him - my God, the man babbles more than any fast running brook - yet here we are, just over a month from election day, and the possibility still exists that this heinous nightmare could find his way back into office, with his new pet JD at his side.

In 2016, it was so obvious that his was a siren call to the baser instincts, the lizard brains of the most wretched among us.  He spoke out loud what they kept carefully hidden.  He opened the floodgates and let them feel free to strike out - verbally, physically - against anyone they blamed for their lot in life.  Mexicans, black people, the LGBTQIA.  He, with the constant help of his coven at FOX, created stories of M16 being in every neighborhood; of marauding caravans that conveniently (still) appear and disappear when the fires of fear need stoked.

Nazis were emboldened, Proud Boys filled the streets, white nationalists crawled out of their hidey holes, and church pulpits echoed his rants.

He made fun of the disabled.  He mocked a war hero and lion of the Senate.  He talked shit about Gold Star families.  He said women who get abortions should be punished.  He was heard on tape bragging about literally grabbing women by the pussies just because he could.  

And yet, excuse after excuse was made for him.  It was like watching his followers turn themselves into human pretzels to justify that what he said wasn't what he said or meant or would do.  Or that he would surround himself with strong leaders and it would all be good.

FUCK.  For four years this nation lived a waking nightmare.  At times it felt like sleep paralysis - so stunned were we by the things he said, the actions he took, that we could not move.  Snuggling up to this world's dictators.  Tearing children from parents at the border - so many lost forever in a "system" still.  Changing the entire face of the Supreme Court so it is now slanted right with Christofascists, bold faced liars and grifters who openly accept bribes.  Roe v Wade was overturned and kicked back to the states.  And that began a long national nightmare that is now seeing woman after woman pushed to the brink of death by being denied care across the country.  Lives have been lost because of the brutal laws enacted across this country in so many states.

And he is terribly proud of his hand in it all.  Doesn't care that his tiny hands are covered in the blood of women who could not find care in an ER.

And then COVID came along.  Facts be damned.  This nation be damned.  All he saw was the opportunity to line his pockets, his childrens' pockets, to withhold desperately needed PPE.  He laughed it off publicly saying it would be gone by Easter.  It was only getting started by Easter.  As it roared to life death, his hubris caused a spread that could not be contained, much less slowed down.  Hospitals overflowed, semi trucks with freezer units were hauled into parking lots across this nation to contain the dead.  His followers laughed at mask wearing, staying apart, thinking beyond the tips of their noses.

As ignorant as their leader, they refused to take precautions, the vaccine, and I still have no sympathy for the ones who found themselves on the wrong end of a ventilator begging for the vaccine when it was way too late.  Fuck around, find out.  As it raged on, my sister was in the depths of the horrors of chemo - her entire immune system shot - and her state was replete with pandemic terrorists whose only contribution was to whine about bars and restaurants being closed and to exhale their fetid air wherever they could.

Through it all, it mattered not that their ivermectin-touting-stick-light-in-your-body-inject-bleach-eat-aquarium-cleaner hero got COVID and ended up in bad shape at Walter Reed.  The disconnect with them is something to be studied for generations to come.  He had at his disposal what they never would - an entire hospital devoted to his recovery; the most advanced and available drugs.  Even so, anyone with eyes saw the toll it took.  Had it taken the biggest toll, I would have not cared in the slightest.  Good riddance to bad garbage.

Over one million of our fellow citizens perished.  All he had to do was support masking - hell, sell a Trump logo mask and make millions.  That would have been fine.  But no, he encouraged dissent and ignorance at every turn and the result is that COVID still kills in this country.  Our chance to build herd immunity died like so many of his followers.  That ship sailed right down the river Styx.

Voting him out was a celebration, and it was much too close to make any sense.  Legions of wetbrained, hardcore racists coupled with the electoral college came so very close.  Nightmarishly close.  Even so, what ensued still lives on - his constant whine about it being stolen and their belief in anything he says.

Just an FYI - several times in the last two weeks he has actually admitted that, "They beat us by a whisker."  I'm sure that goes over well with the insurrectionists who terrorized the halls of Congress on his behalf and now find themselves in jail cells.  

And now here we are watching this trumpducken of lies packed in racism, wrapped inside bullshit, and stuffed inside a carcass of ignorance and hate - daily ratcheting up his rhetoric; daily endangering lives in this country; daily spouting insanity that gets sanewashed by the media.  

He has no policy plans to help this country.  Concept of a plan?  Sure.  He has no idea how anything works.  All he has are rapidly-dwindling-in-size-rallies, taunts, threats, and boldfaced, easily disprovable lies.  He also has a political chameleon as a VP candidate who raises awkward to an art form, and embraces anything that gets him closer to power.  Quite frankly, Vance is more dangerous than Trump.  God help the couches in the Oval.

And yet it's still close.

His latest rally ramble included this:

Trump on theft: If you had one really violent day.. .. … One rough hour. And I mean real rough. The word will get out and it will end immediately. pic.twitter.com/DkOdULcV32

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 29, 2024

He is literally promising something akin to the movie The Purge.  Just sweep up a bunch of people he deems the target AND KILL THEM.  Let's not kid ourselves about who the targets are - he has made it clear.  Immigrants, journalists who don't lick his saggy ballsac, transgender people, anyone who doesn't support him.  This is the rhetoric of dictators - this is Pol Pot level shit.  His was Cambodian genocide, Trump's would be Democrat/liberal/anyone who opposes him genocide.

That is not hyperbole.  This horror of a human being has been openly stating what he will do for years now.  He doesn't care that women are dying because of abortion bans; he does not lose sleep over parents desperate to support and treat their transgender children; he hates black people, brown people, immigrant people, poor people, sick people.  IT'S. ALL.THERE.  Every time he speaks, rambles, babbles.

And he has one angle - just one - one concern - HIMSELF.

That's it.  That's all.  The greater good of DonOLD J Trump is all that has ever mattered.  Lining his pockets from grifting the base through sneakers and trading cards and suit pieces and now selling a $100,000 watch, payable with Bitcoin.  Who, I ask you, WHO is buying that?  It is the most under-the-table effort yet to funnel money straight into his wallet from bad actors outside this country.  Are his minions who live paycheck to paycheck buying a 100K watch?  No.  This is an elaborate, impossible to trace, as much a tunnel as El Chapo had built to escape, but for cash scheme.

Yes, scheme.  His schemes, throughout his life, have cost people their businesses, their jobs, their freedom, their homes, their very lives.  Because if ever a person personified the term "failing up" - it is Trump.  And it is as disgusting as it is heartbreaking to see him this close to being back in the White House again.

When there is a powerful, smart, measured, seasoned, rational, educated candidate on the other side who understands governance, how the world works, and what is at stake.  Oh, right, wait, that candidate is a woman, a black woman, no less.  And that triggers his snowflake base as much it is does Trump himself.  So much so that he has now taken to called her mentally disabled.

Kamala Harris.  Mentally disabled.

Kamala Harris, who has been a prosecutor, an Attorney General, a Senator, and now a Vice President.  Up against a man who had people take tests for him in school, was called "the dumbest goddamned student I ever had" by a college professor, whose companies have filed bankruptcy six times, whose "university" was sued for damages (he lost), who has five children by three wives, who admits to being a serial adulterer, who paid a porn star to keep quiet, who is a 32 felony convict awaiting sentencing, and who cannot form a complete sentence to save his orange ass.

Yet Kamala Harris is mentally disabled and he is somehow the candidate of choice for so many in this country?

GMAFB.

Kamala Harris means protections for women's rights - yes, yours, too, MAGA ladies.  It means LGBTQIA people will be seen and protected and their marriages won't be torn apart.  It means you will have healthcare, dimwit.  Kind of important when your diabetes gets the upperhand or your child is diagnosed with a brain tumor.  It means protection of your social security, your Medicaid, your  Medicare, your SNAP and WIC benefits - I swear, you people act like we don't know red states absorb the biggest amount of assistance from the government.  It means the Department of Education won't be erased.  Police your own child's book choices, choose to homeschool yours, deny them college, but stay the fuck away from mine.  It means baby formula will remain monitored and safe.  It means FEMA will be there when another Helene ravages through state after state - Project 2025 wipes FEMA off the map.  It means NOAA will be there to tell you when another hurricane is coming.  It means literal life for so very many - many of them YOU.

All Trump sells you is fear.  Think about it for a moment.  He constantly tells you the country is a shithole.  It's not.  He lies about gas prices (they're down), the stock market (it's at record highs), crime (it's down), border crossings (they're down), animals being eaten (they're not).  It's a never ending stream of lies and fear to keep you afraid and what is his answer to everything?  HIM.  He is the only thing that can save you, your family, this country.  Trump couldn't even save his own casino - a CASINO, people. 

Yet you buy everything he tells you.  And look what it's cost you.  Business, friends, family members, jobs.  Religious?  This walking affront to every single commandment has cost you your salvation.  You have turned your back on family and the true teachings of Jesus (I know, I know, dirty liberal.) to exalt a golden calf with hair like cotton candy, more make-up than Ru Paul, and the express intent to hurt other people.  You are lost.  And once he has your vote he is done with you, too.  You are a means to an end, nothing more.  The only area in which Trump is not stupid?  He knows how stupid you are.

Trump, Vance, and Project 2025 will destroy this country.  There is a legion of supporters already in place in the political and business realm poised to make that happen.  There is a reason he has repeatedly told you that after this election, if he wins, you won't have to vote anymore.  Is that really what you want?  To completely tear asunder the very document you claim to worship - the Constitution?  To have the government infest every breath you take, deny you healthcare, ignore your hungry children, your raped daughter/wife, your flooded town?  (Seriously, do you think Trump with his Sharpie and paper towel throwing would be better for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina right now?  The dullard is currently sucking resources in Georgia and lying about Kemp not being able to reach Biden when Kemp held a press conference yesterday in which he spoke of his call with Biden, the help being deployed, and that Biden told him to call him directly for anything else they need.  Jesus...)  

Because that is what you MAGAts are running towards.  That is what your racism, your bigotry, your willful ignorance are blinding you to.  Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are not out to annihilate this country.  The sad fact is YOU ARE.

It's a simple choice.  Freedom or fascism.  How is this even close?

(Get registered.  Check your registration often.  And vote as early as you can.)

Randy Rainbow FTW

Start your week with a much needed laugh ... at Batshit von Clownshoe's expense.

 

Blank Space (Donald’s Version) 🎶🗳️🤍 #NewVideo #TaylorSwift #BlankSpace #DonaldsVersion #Parody pic.twitter.com/H6koHm2xWS

— Randy Rainbow (@RandyRainbow) September 30, 2024

Just Flush The MAGA Toilet And Start Over

Well, Thursday was quite a doozy in the world of MAGA news. 

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I am honestly stuck between asking you to do better and keep up more or congratulating you on not having to gore out your own eyeballs and pour bleach in the holes.

Seriously, A THURSDAY.  Not known for huge breaking news, just a day between Hump Day and Friday when news dumps typically happen in the hopes that the story will fade by Monday.  But there she was, Madame Thursday, in all her glory, telling every other day to GTFO of her way.  She had shit to share.  And all of it was courtesy of the MAGA toilet.

It makes me shudder to imagine Friday sitting there saying "Hold my beer" today...

Where to start?

How about with the revelation that Lindsey Graham is involved once again in election interference shit.  This time, traveling to Nebraska to push Republicans to change the allocation of their electoral votes to 'winner takes all'.  Why is that important?  Well, as long as we are beholden to a system that is antiquated at best, and seriously corrupt at worst, it matters on the path to 270 votes needed to secure the White House.  48 states are currently winner-take-all. Nebraska and Maine currently allocate their electoral votes based on congressional districts.  So while a candidate may win the lion's share of the popular vote in most districts, their opponent may take another thus allocating them a single electoral vote - for Harris that would likely come from Omaha.

Let's be frank here, we continue to be saddled with a system created over 200 years ago to address the fact that the south was largely populated with slaves who could not vote and/or insure smaller states still received love from the candidates. Outdated, outmoded, and always the topic of overhaul or eradication.  

But here we are, with a MAGAt infested party again trying anything and everything to warp the results of the election and obliterate the will of the people.  And Lindsey Graham, a man so completely shredded by a lust for power and whatever blackmail has hung over his head for years now, again stepping into the system in some 11th hour bid to change the game to benefit his orange overlord.

Paging Merrick Garland.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  Who am I kidding...

So with that turd floating around the toilet bowl one would think that's pretty big news for a Thursday.  But because of the continual onslaught yesterday, chances are you missed that one and instead heard this one...

Mark Robinson, Lt Governor of North Carolina now running for Governor, calls himself a "Black Nazi."  (I know, I know, make it make sense...)  It was only a few weeks back when revelations about his porn appetites were coming to light.  Whatever.  When you have a candidate for President who literally slept with a porn star while his wife was at home with their newborn child, merely liking porn does not even come close to being a dealbreaker.

Robinson, a firebrand and frankly a vile creature in the MAGA movement, was unapologetic and kept up his campaign in which he is on the record as calling LGBTQIA people "filth" and that women should not be allowed to vote.  As far as his stance on abortion, he made his feelings well known in a Facebook post placing all blame on the woman for “killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but one's skirt is usually lifted in the company of someone with a dick who has something to do with the ability to get pregnant.  But hey, loose wimmin.

What came to light yesterday was a vetted CNN report that delved into the various accounts Robinson maintains on porn sites and the stories, comments, and preferences of his contained within. 

Again, I stress, I DO NOT CARE if you love porn, what your particular kinks happen to be, or if you fuck your couch into oblivion, JD.  You do you.  We are all creatures with varying levels of sex drives.  What I do care about is the stunning and repeated level of hypocrisy in the party that loves to tout its 'family values' bonafides.  (Which, let's be frank, are nonexistent at this point.)  How many times do we have to see the stats that the overwhelming number of porn viewers come from red states?  How many preachers and youth pastors have to be arrested for raping children?  How many police officers have to kill their abused spouses or extort sex from arrested women?  

Mark Robinson - who calls himself a Black Nazi who would own slaves if he could - is just another standout in the rancid toilet of MAGAtry.  Reading the excerpts of his sexual writings from those forums?  Oy.  Again, get your freak on, whatever, dude, but <insert vomiting emoji>.  His sexual prose about his escapades with his wife's sister and their affinity for showering one another with all manner of bodily fluids?  Oof.  My mind went immediately to "I hope they have rubber sheets.  And floors.  And walls."

The biggest revelation is Robinson's personal favorite in the search category:  transgender sex videos.  This from a man who reviles transgender people at every opportunity.  Who has called LGBTQIA people "maggots" and "flies".  Who has stated that transgender people should "find a corner outside" to use as a bathroom.  None of which is really shocking from an avowed anti-Semite who wishes slavery would come back (he of course would own them not be them), and advocated that conservatives should kill their opposition. 

Trans porn exists.  Just as there are videos for every other kink and preference under the sun.  And as long as the videos contain consenting adults, have at it.  Perform in it.  Watch it.  WHATEVER.  Again, not the point.

This vile bag of hubris and hormones can flog his genital flab anyway he wishes.  But the rest of it?  He is not fit to be in the position in which he currently sits let alone be elevated to the Governorship.  Last night saw the push for him to withdraw, and the expected pushback from him that he would not.  Even with the clock ticking to midnight to get him off the ballot lest he get removed or drop out when it would be too late to erase him - he was defiant.

For his part, Trump videos are everywhere of him waxing crapsodic over this rancid rauchfest of a human being.  "We have to cherish Mark Robinson. You have to cherish him. He’s like a fine wine. He's an outstanding person. I've gotten to know him so well."

The best?  Comparing him to Martin Luther King.  I'm not kidding. 

Trump: Mark Robinson is Martin Luther King on steroids. He is better than Martin Luther King pic.twitter.com/GFPWV0zhXx

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 19, 2024

I'll pause while you imitate the vomit emoji.

Not shocking, I suppose, that pervs of a feather fuck together birds of a feather flock together, but I digress.

Midnight came and went.  Robinson is still on the ticket.  And the GOP is left knowing they must carry him to term the path to winning North Carolina just shrank more than Robinson's penis in the political Siberia in which he now finds himself.  It is worth noting that this oppo did not come from the Dems.  It came from inside the GOP.  But none of it was news to them about who and how he is.  He is Lt Governor.  He had been vetted already, they just did not see anything wrong with his statements and peccadillos.  He does, in fact, fit right in.

So, while Robinson's political meat was taking a beating last night, one could be forgiven for thinking, "Whoa, thank goodness this night is almost over."  Yet there was Trump in all his anti-Semitic glory addressing a group of Jewish people and telling them they should "have their heads examined" for not voting for him.  Doomsdaying full speed ahead that Israel will be "eradicated" without him.  Pardon the pun, but OY.

Just as we were wishing nightfall and the end of the newsday - visions of Robinson swimming in his own juices in our tormented heads - along came the breaking news of new court filings with sealed affidavits showing that Congressman Matt Gaetz attended a sex and drug fueled party in 2017 with the 17 year old girl who has been at the center of his years long sex trafficking scandal.  The girl in question was a junior in high school at the time, and Gaetz was 35.  There are sworn depositions, phone records, and more.

Just another turd in the MAGAtoilet...

But wait!  It wasn't midnight yet!  

New York Magazine was forced to release a statement after another outlet, Status, reported it out, that one of their high profile reporters in this presidential race, Olivia Nuzzi, carried on an affair with RFK Jr.   (I shall again pause while you swallow your bile.)  Ms Nuzzi is notable for hit pieces on President Biden, fluff pieces on Trump, posting memes to her Twitter account about President Obama, and now, concealing an inappropriate relationship with a man whose cheating was so prolific during his first marriage that his then wife turned to alcohol, drugs and ultimately suicide; who is famed for dragging his children to the ocean to see a dead beached whale and then cutting its head off, tying it to the roof of his car, and drenching his kids in the subsequent juices that ran into the car as they careened down the highway; a man who made up a story about a dead bear cub he dumped in Central Park because he could not get it anywhere to eat it fast enough; a man who begged for attention from the Harris campaign, was told to fuck off, and then turned his attention to Trump who embraced him for the ignorant, anti-vaxxing, worm brained nightmare he is.

So, first to Olivia - really, girl?  WTF?  You sold your career for that man who looks like an old leather bag from your granny's attic?  Who has no intelligence or merit.  Whose only calling card is his family's name?  JFC.  Do you have a brainworm, too?

So Thursday finally hit midnight and closed out what was a ridiculously full news day on the disgustingly full MAGAtoilet.  

46 more days.  46 more days of deception, subterfuge, vile stories coming out, Trump further unspooling, his minions continually being outed as the fecal matter with legs that they are, and a MAGA base that is the equivalent of shit worshipping the outhouse.

America, we flushed him once before.  But as we all know, sometimes the toilet is so full it needs flushed twice.  Just keep the plunger at the ready and watch your shoes.  These turds will not go down without a fight.

 

 

The World Is Waiting

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Europe, complete with a cruise that afforded us access to some incredible destinations.  While I had intended to sit down and start writing yesterday, jet lag had other plans.  From exiting the hotel bed in Barcelona Monday morning to entering my own bed Monday night, it was over 24 hours of travel time, including setting a land speed record for traversing Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. (IYKYK)  Given those givens, my thoughts were fuzzier than a well licked lollipop dropped on an angora sweater.

But today's a new day and with 13 hours of sleep under my belt (yes, we went to bed before 5pm yesterday), I am ready to type.  I believe I will start with the question:

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK, AMERICA?

Yes, I realize that covers a multitude of topics, people, incidents.  And while I did keep up with things while away, it is still stunning to me to come back to this country and see just how many people are still totally cool with the absolute shit the MAGAverse and its villains are getting up to.

Let's start with the debate, in which there is no debate about who won.  VP Kamala Harris dogwalked that festering, staggeringly stupid hot dog carcass for 90 minutes straight.  She was coherent, he was a ramblin' man.  He made shit up, she cleaned shit up.  She was prepared, he was a nightmare come to life - you know the one - you show up to school only to find out there's a pivotal test you did no studying for.  Alternates include not being able to remember your locker combination to get the big project out, being the understudy to the lead in the school play, they get sick and you must go on, but you did not memorize any of the lines.  Add public nudity to any of the above.

That was Trump.  No plans or policies, only the "concept of a plan."  Yes, Donold, I am certain we will look forward to all being revealed "in two weeks."  Incoherence, ignorant rants, and the spreading of the latest in racist bullshit - that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio are scooping up pet cats and dogs and eating them.  No matter that he was immediately fact checked by a moderator who informed him that was patently false, "he saw it on television."

Fact checking be damned, the damage was done.  His base only needs to hear something from his earthwormy lips to take it as gospel and begin spreading it like rancid mayo on moldy bread.  The bigoted, harmful, slanderous story was echoed as Guyliner McCouchfucker reposted more heinous and untrue versions online and then repeated the garbage to Dana Bash in an interview in which he admitted they "create stories".

Again, damage done.  It will not matter how many times the created stories are proven false, how many spokespeople from the actual town take to the media to refute the stories and ask that the politicians STOP spreading them - it is all about demonizing a group of immigrants WHO ARE HERE LEGALLY.  The fallout has been a spate of bomb threats to Springfield - 33 and counting - shutting down 2 hospitals, 2 elementary schools, The Bureau of Motor Vehicles, The Ohio License Bureau Culture Fest, Springfield’s annual celebration of diversity, arts, and culture, and local colleges that are now meeting virtually out of safety concerns.

All because Trump and Vance and their equally power hungry, power racist minions refuse to stop pushing a false narrative about an innocent group of people who moved to Springfield legally to help bolster the manufacturing sector of that town - and they have.  

No matter.  Between intellectually deficient MAGAts in this country and bad actors in bot farms around the world, the stories are not going away, nor are the dangers of people being harmed or killed by them.  It is notable that SC Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who has two adopted Haitian children, is completely silent in the face of this abject racism and endangerment of children like her own.  Oh hell, who am I kidding?  Her children are different.  Just as Vance's brown skinned children are different.  Just as his wife and immigrant in-laws are different.  No mass deportations for them, right, JD?  Asshole.

For the record, cultures around the world eat a variety of things we bland Americans may be unfamiliar with.  Horses, dogs, rats, monkeys, cobras, ants, scorpions, snails, cats, bats, kangaroos, guinea pigs, spiders, elephants, gorillas, and on and on.  Not every culture has access to a Popeye's on every corner or a drive thru McDonald's when they nosh.  But this story about Haitians in Springfield?  Absolute bullshit.  Which appears to be a delicacy MAGAts eat by the trough.

Two offerings from the butthole buffet from which they sup, the continued repeated lies about after birth abortions and about transgender children.  The stupidity that is one of the true hallmarks of a MAGAt means they believe babies are being born and then the mother goes "Meh, you know what, me no wanty anymore.  Snuff it."  IT. DOES. NOT. HAPPEN.  That is called murder, dimwits.  

And the lie being continually repeated by Trump that children are going to school and when they turn up again they have been subjected to gender reassignment surgeries?  How much of a cerebral wasteland has to exist between your ears that you believe this garbage?  Yet, he repeats it and you gobble it up.

Just curious, with that being the dynamic you have established with your diapered Don, why don't you believe him when he says he wants to suspend the Constitution?  That you won't have to vote anymore?  That he'll gut healthcare?  Terminate social security?  What's that?  As a MAGAt you'll be exempt from anything that hurts other people?  Get in the breadline, dullard.  Many of you will be first in line to feel the pain and all the gold sneakers and Trump porn trading cards in the world won't save you.  

The things they want to bring to fruition will hurt everyone.  Trump loves to talk about abortion rights being taken away, that "he did that" - got Roe overturned.  And as state after state enacts laws that range from complete bans to ridiculously short windows in which a woman may have an abortion, the real and devastating results are being seen across the country.  The latest story has been a gutpunch.  As reported by ProPublica, Amber Nicole Thurman, 28, of Georgia, died after suffering complications from abortifacient drugs.  Complications that could have been easily and immediately remedied were it not for Trump and Kemp and the Christofascists in this country.

She was a proud and happy and driven mother of a 6 year old little boy.  Her aspirations were to raise him with all her heart and soul, offer him safety and security, and to become a nurse.  When she found herself pregnant, she decided on an abortion to protect the stability she was carefully constructing for herself and her son.  While she wanted a surgical abortion, the 6 week ban in Georgia made that impossible, so she traveled to North Carolina to a clinic where she was to have it performed.  Traffic snarled those plans and she missed the 15 minute grace window for her appointment.  She was offered the alternative of medication abortion pills - mifepristone and misoprostol - and while very safe, she ended up suffering the rare complication.  Her body did not completely expel the tissue from her uterus - setting up a very dangerous infection that began to take its toll over the next couple days.

From a news source:

Thurman's condition worsened over several days, turning into heavy bleeding and vomiting blood. She was taken to Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge.

Doctors found she had not expelled all the fetal tissue from her body and she was diagnosed with "acute severe sepsis." 

But despite her rapidly deteriorating health, the hospital delayed Thurman's dilation and curettage procedure for 17 hours.

By the time they operated, the situation was so dire it required open abdominal surgery. The doctor performed the operation and found a hysterectomy was also required -- but during the procedure, Thurman's heart stopped.

She died because threading the needle of how bad off a woman has to be before a hospital will scrape out her uterus is almost impossible.  It is guesswork.  It is the intentional infliction of pain, suffering, and trauma on a woman whose life dangles because doctors are afraid of the laws that could land them in jail should they perform a simple D and C. It is a game of medical chicken.

And now Amber has no life.  Her son has no mother.  And the fact that an official state committee blamed the fatal outcome on a "preventable" lag in performing a critical procedure, makes no difference.  Hindsight will not bring her back.  And it will not save the next woman who finds herself in a similar position.

And there will be a next woman - NEXT WOMEN.  

For the life of me I cannot understand the mental gymnastics one must perform to be a woman who supports this misogynistic party.  Casual sex - not just had by Democrats.  Unexpected pregnancies - not just had by Democrats.  Dire complications of the most desired of pregnancies - not just encountered by Democrats.  Ectopic pregnancies - not just found in Democrats.  Rape pregnancies - not just happening to Democrats.

The most righteous of pews and the most vile of Trump rallies in this country are filled with girls and women who have had abortions, who have needed medical intervention to save their lives when a pregnancy has gone so very wrong, who have been victims of rape, incest and found themselves pregnant.  All the purity rings in the Zales won't stop puberty's hormones and young love.  All the desire to be a parent won't insulate a woman from the myriad possible complications pregnancy can bring.  And all the ridiculous laws in this country won't stop women from finding a way to access healthcare and make their own decisions.

Now, above I referenced a 'news source'.  I specifically left out from where.  And while the ProPublica story has been making the rounds in our media, that excerpt was from France 24.  France 24 is an international news channel, broadcasting 24/7 to 521.7 million households around the world in French, Arabic, English and Spanish.  Their online footprint is huge as well.

I used their reporting to illustrate something my husband and I had reinforced to us while traveling abroad.  We do not live in a vacuum.  And by that I mean the United States of America.  It was during a beautiful beachfront lunch last week while visiting Ibiza that he and I were engaged by the restaurant's owner regarding the upcoming election.  We did not hesitate when asked about our thoughts on Trump.  He echoed our concerns and our shared desired outcome, ending with this statement, "The world is waiting."

That simple sentence has echoed in my head ever since.  

The world knows the import of this election.  The world is watching, aghast, at what passes for a top-of-the-ticket candidate.  The world cannot believe HE may well infect not only our White House, but global dynamics again.  The world sees him, hears him, sees and hears Vance and the bastion of bastards that make up their support system - and they shake their heads.  

And before anyone says the predictable, "Well, who gives a shit what they think?" - DON'T.  Again, this country does not live in a vacuum.  We exist in relation to other countries, other world powers, other economies, other conflicts, other human beings.  It matters who we choose to represent us on the world stage - a seasoned, measured, mature, intelligent woman or a complete buffoon who has no idea how anything works, and worse, does not care.  We cannot afford to again allow the world's biggest stooge onto the world stage.  

In yet another example of his unspooled, zero comprehension mind - this was his answer when asked last night what he will do to bring down the price of groceries:

“So we have to start always with energy. Always. I don't want to be boring about it but there's no bigger subject. It covers everything. If you make donuts, if you make cars, whatever you make, energy's a big deal. And we're gonna get that — it's my ambition to get your energy bill within 12 months down 50%. If I can do that we've done a hell of a job. 5-0. Not 15, 50. Interest rates are going to follow. And actually they're going to follow for another reason. The economy is now not good. And interest rates — you'll see, they'll do the rate cut and all the political stuff tomorrow. Will he do half a point, will he do a quarter of a point. But the reason is because the economy's not good. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to do it. But we're gonna get interest rates down. And we gotta work with our farmers. Our farmers are being decimated right now. They're being absolutely, absolutely decimated. And one of the reasons is we allow a lot of farm product into our country. We're gonna have to be a little bit like other countries. We're not gonna allow so much come — we're gonna let our farmers go to work. And I don't know if you remember. I love the farmers. Because I had many meetings as president. I had this gorgeous room with this beautiful table that seats about 35 people. And I was with the farmers. Usually everybody wants something. They all want subsidy. But I was with the farmers. And I think you might've been there actually Sarah. I said look, we're gonna get you such a beautiful subsidy, meaning I'm gonna do things. And one of the people raised his hand, 'Sir, honestly, we don't want a subsidy. That's the first time that's ever happened to me! Everyone wants — they want money, they want to build windmills, we want money for these windmills, ay-yai-yai. Anyway. But you know what? It was amazing. He said, almost tears in his eyes, they were getting decimated. 'We don't want a subsidy. We just want a fair level playing field! And I said nobody's ever said that. And I have many industries, they do all different things. It's probably the most dramatic l've ever seen. He didn't want anything. All he wanted was to be able to compete fairly. And the problem we have is other countries, they treat us very badly in that way, also. They really are. And sometimes the worst countries are our so-called allies. I say so-called because in many ways they're not allies at all. They take advantage of us. They really take advantage. But we're gonna do with the farmers, we're gonna do what we have to do with the farmers, we're gonna put our farmers - and do you remember the expression? When I was negotiating with China, China said well we're not gonna deal with this. Because they never had anybody to negotiate. They did whatever they want. They just took us, like, for a bunch of suckers. But I told the farmers it's gonna be very good negotiators, you're gonna suffer for six months and then they're gonna fold. And that's exactly what happened... So interest rates, energy and common sense.”

THIS. IS. DEMENTIA. LEVEL. RAMBLING.  Seriously, it was run through Chat GPT for analysis.  Result?  

Based on the language patterns in this excerpt, a therapist might reasonably consider diagnosing the patient with logorrhea (excessive or incoherent talkativeness) and tangential speech (frequently veering off-topic without returning to the original subject). These symptoms are consistent with certain types of dementia, such as frontotemporal dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, where patients may struggle with organizing thoughts and staying on track during conversations. Additionally, the speaker shows perseveration (repeatedly returning to themes like energy and farmers), and there are signs of confabulation, as the speaker references detailed, potentially fictional or exaggerated personal memories, such as meeting with farmers as president. These speech patterns are common in dementia patients experiencing cognitive decline and could help a psychotherapist provide a credible diagnosis.

How are we even here?

Trump is an elderly, decompensating, ex-reality TV character.  He is a bankrupt many times over.  He is a failure as a businessman.  He is a criminal found guilty of 32 felony counts, awaiting sentencing.  He is an adjudicated rapist.  He is not smart.  He has no thirst to learn.  His only talent is for grift.  That's it, that's all.  Trading cards, pieces of his stank suit, gaudy gold sneakers, Trump coins.  He had his ear nicked at a rally and within hours was selling t-shirts and begging donations.  A man with a buffet of political contradictions and mental issues is found with a gun outside a golf course - never being within sight of Trump who was golfing - and his campaign has an email out within 30 minutes of it making the news, begging for more money.

That's all this election is about for him.  Being able to once again access an endless supply of government cash and power.  And insulating himself from being held to account for his crimes from the last time around.

There is no reasoning with his supporters.  We know that.  But we also know that we outnumber his supporters.  And our numbers are growing every. single. day.  Make your plan now.  Register if you have not.  Recheck your registration if you have.  Avail yourself of early voting, mail in voting.  Better, get your ballot and hand deliver it to an early voting location.  

Project 2025 must be stopped.  The attack on women's autonomy must be stopped.  The vicious racism and bigotry must be stopped.  The lies must be stopped.  Trump, Vance and all their supporters must be stopped.  

The world is waiting to see what this country will do.  And we are the ones we have been waiting for that must do it.  For Amber, for her orphaned son, for every person targeted by these fascists, for our future.

All gas, no brakes, people.  The clock is ticking on saving democracy.  

The Pervasive Creep Of Their Misogyny

I believe it is pretty safe to say that the majority of us have been left open mouthed on more than one occasion by the staggeringly brazen behaviors and statements made by the GOP ticket and their supporters.  Some even leave us speechless.

The desire to keep wimmin barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen is their wet dream.  Relieving us of our right to vote?  Ability to obtain contraception?  Have any control over our bodies?  They practically salivate at the thoughts.  One can easily imagine that Project 2025 is as much a masturbatory aid for Simple Jack Vance as is a dogeared copy of Playboy and a couch cushion. 

It is no shock to any of us that knew with the advent of Kamala Harris as the top of the ticket, things were going to get ugly.  Ugly, rude, raw, racist, and that the misogyny was going to flood forth.  We were not wrong.

With every utterance, JD Vance makes it clear he has no use for women who don't do their duty and procreate.  "Childless cat ladies."  That was mild.  He then took it to the level that women without children should not be able to vote, not being invested in the country's future and all.  He was then heard to have said that teachers without children "disturb" him.  

But then JD asked himself to "Hold my beer" as yet another tape has come out where he completely derides women who choose to not have children as on “a path to misery” because "they have no skin in the game."

Unearthed video: JD Vance said childless elites make the U.S. “dangerous.” It was too much for a Newsmax interviewer. https://t.co/6GmXLpudot pic.twitter.com/T32IBHl5VX

— Media Matters (@mmfa) September 3, 2024

Any adult in this country who lives and breathes has skin in the game.  The very act of staying alive, pursuing a career, going to school, even being homeless and trying to find a safe place to sleep - means SKIN IN THE GAME.  This whole obsession he has is with women, not men.  Men are never derided in his world for being childless, being absent from the lives of children they create, or being lawmakers who are neither married or have children (waving at you, Lindsey Graham).

In his view, our worth stems directly from the productivity of our ovaries and our willingness to spit out some progeny.  God help those women who struggle to conceive - no skin in the game, ladies.  May as well hang it up.  It is the extension of the long running double standard where women are accused of being bad mothers or wanting to have it all should we dare to want to continue pursuing a life outside our children.  It is never a thought process weaponized against men.  Men can spread their seed, be absentee fathers, climb the corporate ladder, never bake a single cupcake for a class party, and are praised for their accomplishments.  Women are neglectful shrews.  And now they are barren shrews who hold no meaningful place in their own country.

Trump has always been a festering pile of fecal matter in the misogyny stakes.  Women are fodder, they are to be ogled, grabbed without consent, used, raped, cheated on, and laughed about.  They are to be paid for their silence, forgotten, pushed aside.  In the past week, he has ratcheted up the misogyny in his posts on Truth Social.  Reposting things that should be campaign ending, but sadly only endear him further to his rabid base of "real men" and "trad wives".

Last week he reposted a meme of a photo of Hillary and Kamala together.  The caption?  “Funny how blowjobs impacted both their careers differently…”   And earlier in August he reshared a video by the Dilley Meme Team (rightwing content creators) backed by a soundtrack of a parody of the Alanis Morrisette song Ironic that contained the lines, “She spent her whole damn life down on her knees”, as an image of former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown appeared behind a picture of the Kamala and her husband, Doug Emhoff.

It's vile.  And while it's predictable, it does not make it forgivable or something that should be given a pass.  Misogyny, by definition, is the dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.  We make up a full 51+% of the US population, yet here we are, still faced with sexist attacks on our characters, ugly sexual innuendo, and a political party openly touting an adjudicated rapist as their ideal candidate.

Blatant misogyny from the top is seen as a permission slip by those below.  Men, it is why you literally do not know one woman in your orbit who has not been in fear of a man at some point in her life; who has not crossed a street to avoid one; who has not held her keys between her fingers as a weapon; who has not faked a phone call in the back of an Uber or made sure to provide her location to a friend;  who has not been told to smile, baby; or who has not been raped.  It is why we choose the bear.  No one will blame us or ask what we were wearing if we are attacked by a bear.

As I said at the top of this piece, we have found ourselves metaphorically speechless repeatedly because of the MAGA party.  Because they do not view us as equals, just as broodmares.  As property.  But today I ran across a story out of France that literally left my mouth hanging open and me staring into space for a very long period before finding my way to the keyboard.

This is Gisèle Pelicot, 72 years old.   On Monday, her husband of forty years began trial for his unimaginable exploitation of her.  For a decade, he drugged Gisèle and allowed men to rape her while she lay unconscious.  Reports suggest 92 rapes were committed by 83 men, and 51 have been tracked down and are heading to trial as well.  So far.

According to police investigators, her husband, Dominique, has admitted to putting ground sleeping pills into Gisèle's food and drink, before inviting the men to rape her after looking for them online.  Dominique would sometimes film the assaults - police found more than 20,000 videos and photographs amid their investigation, with the timeline dating back to 2011.

Even while I type this, I am nauseous.

Per the UK publication, The Times: Prior to realizing the abuse had taken place, Gisèle had been suffering from memory loss and physical symptoms, but she only became aware of the assaults once police told her, the outlet reported. Officers had raided the family's Mazan home amid accusations that Dominique had been filming up three women's skirts in a supermarket.

Firefighters, masons, gardeners, prison guards, soldiers and journalists, now between the ages of 26 and 73 years old - all raped this woman at the invitation and behest of her husband who she once called "caring and considerate."

I am deeply sad for this woman.  I am flabbergasted at the vileness of the acts.  Not just the rapes.  And every single one of these "men" should have their dicks removed with a rusty blade.  But the abuse of trust, the violation of love, the complete and relentless use of his wife as some sort of sex toy.  What should be done to him - I am afraid to type out loud.  But it would not be over quickly.  And he would not be given the benefit of being drugged and unconscious.

THIS.  This is what misogyny is.  It is brutal.  It disregards the humanity of a woman.  It ignores our right to choose, to feel safe, to be safe.  It reduces us to property, something to be used, shared, discarded, destroyed if that is what the man desires.  It devours our self esteem.  It digests our free will.  It enslaves.  It endangers.  And it ruins life after life after life after life after life.  

Yes, I feel this deeply because I have been raped.  Once.  And once is enough to know that someone viewed me as theirs for the taking, as a thing, a toy.  Not a human being with feelings who deserved respect, not violation.  And now I will never escape that day.  It is chained to me.  So no, I cannot fathom finding out I had been violated nearly 100 times.

For her part, Gisèle is simply astonishing in her bravery, her fortitude.  She is not hiding.  According to one of her lawyers, "She wants to raise awareness, as widely as possible, of what happened to her so that events like these never happen again."

Men - think about this. Look at your wife or daughter or sister or mother or friend and think about this.  Think about even ONE rape.  Now let your mind wander up to 92.  Can you stomach the thought of your daughter being so brutally violated FOR A DECADE?  For your mother to be repeatedly drugged by your father and passed around like a blowup doll?  No?  Well, this is where the slippery slope comes in.

Every time you participate in resharing a meme that demeans a woman - you are part of the problem.  Every time you sit at a bar with friends and laugh as one of your buddies makes vile and crass remarks as women walk past - you are part of the problem.  Every time you catcall, wolf whistle, tell us to smile more, or get angry when we refuse your advances - you are part of the problem. Everytime you give any attention to Andrew Tate or Tim Poole or Elon Musk or <insert any heinous misogynist prick with a platform>  - you are part of the problem.  And every time you laugh off the rhetoric of Trump and Vance and the entire MAGA party - you are part of the problem.

The problem of making it acceptable, not so bad to do.  The problem of your sons seeing what you and your friends do and thinking "this is the way."  The problem of making your wife, your girlfriend, your sister, your mother, your female friends feel small, in danger, lesser than. The problem of normalizing it. 

And do not do the "But, Linda, not all men..." crap.  If it's not YOU, I guarantee you know or have known someone through the years that you have covered for, laughed off, or not taken seriously in their treatment and view of women.  My own husband has, and while he has cut off contact with the guy, it was not until I shared with him something his longtime friend had done to me, despite knowing for years he was a philandering, misogynistic piece of shit.

The creep of misogyny is pervasive.  And it only ratchets up each time it is not called out, struck down.  Like the frog in the pot of water, women are slowly being boiled to death in a brew of disdain, flat out hatred, and odious chauvinism.  And those who support that repugnant party?  You are helping turn up the heat.  They are saying the quiet parts out loud.  And you are laughing along with them.  While your daughters are listening.  While your wives are watching.  While your mothers and sisters are recoiling at what you support.

You all owe women so much better.  The MAGA party owes women so much better.  The world owes women so much better.  Decency.  Respect.  Safety.  Women should be able to walk down a street with you keeping your thoughts firmly behind your teeth.  We should be able to go out, refuse your advances and not angrily be called "a c*nt".  We should not be subject to your unwillingness to police yourself and your pals.  And we should never have to entertain a scenario like Gisele's in which you view us as a commodity to be used as you wish.

Too much to ask?  Well, try this.  Turn it around in your mind and see how you feel.  How about we drug you for a decade and sit back while we invite a string of strangers to assrape you into oblivion.  Not so funny, huh?

No.  No it's not.  And it never was.

Watch Where You Step - There's Spaghetti All Over The Floor

With each passing day, hell, each passing utterance from the festering fascist, it has become more than obvious our once venerable institutions in the Fourth Estate have given up being nonpartisan.  Frankly, they have given up reporting the news, straight, no chaser or twist.

We watched as one less-than-stellar debate performance by President Biden begat a relentless torrent of articles, opinion pieces, doomsdaying, and naysaying from every side of the news gathering/disseminating industry.  Everything from his age to his pallor was dissected and used against him.  The onslaught was so complete that party leaders had no choice but to respond and force the contrived issue with the President.  In the end, he chose to pass the top of the ticket to his VP, country over party.

The "news" machine won.  Or so they thought.  The overlords at the top purveyors - Washington Post, New York Times, etc - owned and slanted by GOP donors and billionaires - stand to make far more with the Trump shitshow reinstated to the Oval.  Not just in the personal of tax breaks for their wallets, but in profits for their holdings and shareholders.  With Joe Biden out of the way, they thought the path to endle$$ riches was guaranteed.

But then along came a wave they did not see coming.  A level of enthusiasm, true patriotism, and deep gra$$root pockets to fund Kamala Harris.  The joyful uprising on the left has left the press scrambling as she and her VP running mate have all but told legacy media to get stuffed.  What they have been left with is running severe and obvious interference for a decrepit felon, adjudicated rapist, and staggeringly stupid conman with rapidly diminishing mental capacity.

Age?  That factor so hugely important when Joe Biden was in the running?  Poof.  Mental sharpness?  So important in the President that his every utterance was given an autopsy?  Gone.  Physical steadiness and health?  President Biden's every step was subjected to rumor - Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and on and on.  Trump and his magically regenerating ear?  Pfft.

So on we have gone.  Daily more people are turning away from legacy media, dropping subscriptions, and turning towards independent sources for news.  There is a reason Harris/Walz gave credentials to over 200 digital content creators for the DNC.  Aside from connecting to the youth vote, more news came forth that was not scripted by a corporate billionaire.  I personally did not give MSNBC my eyeballs during the DNC, choosing instead to tune into MeidasTouch on their Youtube channel.  (Sorry, but save Rachel, Lawrence and Nicole, MSNBC has lost me.  And DGMS on Ari.  I cannot with his constant cringefest of trying to be cool by cramming rap references into his every sentence.)

It has been comical and somewhat satisfying to watch Trump and his clown car of advisors scramble to figure out how to combat what they are seeing on the left. 

They see Harris and Walz have both stopped speaking at rallies to point out someone in the crowd who needs aid, so Trump attempted to show concern and tried it.  Once.  It was like watching Vance attempt to converse with the donut shop employees, which was like watching a robot attempt to follow a program labeled "human interaction and connection."  There was nothing sincere in either effort, and it only served to highlight how poor both men are at relating, even on a minimal level, to regular people.

"Press conferences."  Couched in quotes because what Trump does is ramble, not thoughtfully and articulately, answer questions.  The first one held at Mar-a-Lago was Festivus held in dumpster fire.  Just an airing of his grievances, his fever dreams, and his mania.  The "press" - again couched in quotes - because let's be real...  All were handpicked and invited the day before.  Chosen specifically because they would not ask anything hard hitting much less follow up. 

He railed and rambled and talked out his ass for an hour.  Creating "facts" out of thin air.  Making sweeping generalizations, lying outright, knowing no one would press him on any of it.  

And they didn't.  

His rallies are hilarious.  Any transcript of his meandering mental choo choo constantly jumping the tracks reveals there is no there there.  How anyone can sit and listen to him and follow along is beyond me.  Try this one on for size.  Pop a few aspirin first.

“The fake news will say, ‘Oh, he goes from subject to subject.’ No, you have to be very smart to do that. You got to be very smart. You know what it is? It’s called spot-checking. You’re thinking about something when you’re talking about something else, and then you get back to the original. And they go, ‘Holy shit. Did you see what he did?’ It’s called intelligence.”

No, it's called the batshit incoherence of an ageing bigot with the intelligence of a fifth grader.

Yet the mainstream media let it slide.  His interviews are prerecorded and shaped to cut out the worst of his stupidity and inability to address any topic.  He calls into friendly outlets like FOX and Newsmax where anchors steer the conversations in the hope they can lasso his free flowing verbal largesse before he goes completely off the rails.

And now, with the PR stunt and literal law breaking at Arlington, which is not disappearing despite his and his campaign's deepest wishes it would, he is now desperately spouting anything, ANYTHING to appeal to voters.  As my husband put it, there's spaghetti all over the floor as he flings it against the wall in the hopes something, anything will stick.

In the space of 24 hours last week he addressed the proposed amendment in his home state of Florida that would expand access to abortion from the current 6 weeks up to 24 weeks.  He said in an NBC interview, “So I think six weeks, you need more time than six weeks. I’ve disagreed with that right from the early primaries when I heard about it, I disagreed with it.”

“I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”

That sound you heard was the entire GOP, evangelicals, and MAGA one-issue cultists gasping.  Wait, what?!?!?! Like Trump's bullshit pretend religion and his sudden conversion to conservative politics, his stance on abortion has been one of political convenience, not belief.  The hew and cry went up across the internet and within a day, he was changing his tune.  Again.

"All of that stuff is unacceptable so I will be voting no for that reason."

Spaghetti meet floor.

He talked about IVF - which all but two Senate Republicans voted against when the Right To IVF Act came up in June - now he is saying the government will pay for it or make insurance companies pay for it, whichever, whatever.  Fling that pasta!

And then there was this:

Not a single member of the media will make him address this further. It’s insane. But they’ll likely just let it slide. https://t.co/VVI7k2PD0L

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) September 2, 2024

Nowhere has this ever happened.  Nowhere is this ever happening.  Yet there he is pulling the most farfetched, ridiculous, easily disproved bullshit from his facial rectum and it goes unchallenged.  Parents, your children are not going to school, disappearing for days, being subjected to gender reassignment surgeries, and then showing up at home.  It's just more of his tactic to say the most outlandish shit possible, knowing his cultists will believe anything.  Look, stay stupid if that's your choice.  But do not weaponize your stupidity against subjects and people you do not understand and that do not, in any way, affect your life.  Like the bullshit talking point of abortions after birth, this one is also pure fantasy.

The reality is this.  His position is he has no true positions.  On anything.  Except him being Supreme Leader and staying out of prison.  And with Labor Day now upon us and the election coming into the homestretch, he is the John Cusack of candidates - he will say anything he thinks will sway a few votes more his direction.  

Social Security?  Medicare?  Safe and safe!  Even though Project 2025 clearly spells out their eradication. 

You know, once upon a time, campaign verbiage like "A chicken in every pot!" was headline making.  But it was also basically benign.  Nowadays, the things being campaigned on have much more dire consequences for the electorate.  And words matter.  Or they should.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Trump, the media has zero desire to even point out the floor covered in spaghetti, let alone make him own his mess.  He is flailing and falling apart in front of our eyes and the media simply will no longer do their job.  It's up to us to pay attention, stay the course, and adhere to the biggest assignment we have:  All gas, no brakes.  

And no spaghetti.

Mind Your Own Damn Business

I have three children from my heterosexual marriage.  I shall now pause to allow JD Vance to applaud my achievements, hand me additional ballots for my efforts, and offer me a teaching position.

One of my children is transgender.  I shall now pause while JD Vance rips all of those things right back out of my hands and passes judgement on my parenting, my patriotism, and my child.

For those who have followed this blog and my sharing of my family's life for any period of time, you are aware that our youngest came out to me when he was 18.  I have detailed much of our journey on the sister blog to DGMS, Transparent Trans Parent (link on left).

I shared his/our story with his full permission as we all hoped to bring the subject into better focus, put a much needed human angle on the word 'transgender', and to let other parents/children know they are not alone. 

He is now 28 years old.  So a decade since he found the courage to share his deepest truth with me, our family, and a year later, the world.  In that time we have watched as more and more adults and children have come forward with their own truth to their parents, their friends, their coworkers.  We have also watched as the GOP has waged a systematic attack on the transgender community, their access to medical care, their very right to exist.

State after state have seen bills cruelly written and signed into law that target, restrict, and demonize anyone who is transgender or who may be parenting someone who is.  Bathroom bills prohibiting transgender people from using the bathroom of their gender.  Sports related bills introduced to prohibit transgender kids from playing on teams of their gender.  Access to care bills that force government into the most personal of parenting challenges and decision making.

That last one should not be a surprise, after all the GOP loves inserting themselves everywhere they should not be - bedrooms, contraception, abortion, marriage.

I currently live in Florida.  Last year, a bill was advanced that would severely restrict the ability to receive gender affirming care in this state - for both minors and adults.  Not surprisingly, America's most pathetic governor - Ron DeSantis - signed it into law.  In June of 2023, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle blocked certain sections citing concerns over its constitutionality and potential discrimination.  

Monday saw the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit lift those blocks.  The results will be catastrophic.  

That is not hyperbole.  I'm the parent of a transgender human being.  I know what I am talking about.  While family and community support is so crucial to the well being of someone who steps into the light and fully claims their identity, access to care is just as paramount.  This law (and so many like it across the country) jeopardizes the very lives of those in this state who are transgender.

In terms of minors, this law prohibits any form of gender affirming care, with only two exceptions:

~ Patients with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sexual development.

~ Patients who were already receiving such treatment before May 17, 2023.

For the uneducated, puberty blockers provide a desperately needed stop gap for children who are transgender.  Being able to suppress the hormones that will begin to make their body betray who they know themselves to be is huge in the care of their mental health.  I say stop gap because, as opposed to the lies routinely told by the GOP, minors are not having body parts cut off or reconstructed.  That assertion is just as egregious as their other favorite lie, that abortions are performed after birth.

We were lucky.  Our son was an adult when he came out.  Yet even with his age not being an issue, it was a full year of therapy before he was referred for HRT.  Because the journey is not a capricious one.  GOPers would have the public believe that parents just willy nilly walk their kid into CVS and buy some hormone treatments off the shelf and begin injecting.  IT. DOES. NOT. WORK. THAT. WAY.

As a parent with a transgender child, the revelation, the search for care, the journey is deeply personal, deeply profound, deeply private.  There is no place in this area of parenting for government to step in and deign to know the child better than the parent.  I can tell you that when our son came out to me, in an instant everything crystallized.  Every puzzle piece of my child slammed into place and it all made sense.

BECAUSE HE IS MY CHILD AND I KNOW HIM.

He is not a bill.  He is not a law.  He is not some scary talking point in what the GOP considers a juicy wedge issue in election years.  He is a human being, and like every human being, he is complex, multifaceted, and knows who he is.  

That last part is huge.  Just as you wake up each day knowing who you are, so does he. 

So, you are cis het.  Sorry, big words - straight macho male - better?  You wear jeans and boots and a flannel shirt and like looking at naked women.  Fine.  I'm just supposed to accept that?  Based on what?  Because you said so?  No, sorry, Zeke.  I think you are actually a woman.  So excuse me while I chloroform your bigoted ass and while you are out have some implants shoved into your chest and your penis surgically turned inside out to form a vagina.  Don't worry, we'll make sure you have a nice, flowy wig, and we'll get Bobbi Brown to personally do your make-up.

Hi Zelda!  Nice to see you waking up.  Don't panic, you look great.  Here, let me help you over to the mirror.  Oh, come on now, don't be like that.  You look amazing.  No, Zelda, I believe you are a woman and that is what matters here.  

OK, fine - crass and hyperbolic to make a point (and the image is clearly AI - see manglewopped hand), but the point is valid.  I don't get to tell you who you are.  I don't know you.  I don't know your history, your life, your struggles.  I don't know your essential truth.  Only you do.  Which is my point to every politician - you don't know my son, not even remotely.  But that has not stopped you from creating some scary, monstrous, perverted image of him for your constituents.  

I have some questions.  What I would ask the politicians and the people who have no real clue yet choose to believe the garbage:

~ How has your life been affected since my son came out to our family?

~ How has your life been changed since he began HRT?

~ How has your sleep been altered since he had top surgery?

~ How does his existence make your life a struggle from day to day?

The answers are simple.  HIs existence, his journey, his life has had zero impact on yours.  None.  Zilch.  Nada.  But you?  You have an impact on him every single fucking day.

In every bill you script that targets his ability to use a bathroom in a public space.  In every glance you give him as he walks past while shopping.  In every interaction he has with you as he simply tries to live his life from sun up to sundown without incident.  I have said this for a decade now - he is not a danger to you, at all, not remotely.  But YOU?  You are a danger to him.  Because society is fucked, and he has no idea who is an ally and who is an asshole.

You know that question from last month that made the rounds - Man or Bear?  Who would a woman rather come upon in the woods?  Poor insecure menfolk everywhere were outraged that the majority of women said bear.  Well, using the same logic, who would I rather encounter in the bathroom?  You - man or woman, no matter, or a transgender woman.  I will take a transgender woman 8 days a week.  Because they are in there under duress.  I promise you they held off having to enter the bathroom as long as they could and all they want is to get in, use the toilet, wash their hands, and get out without danger.

Trans men and trans women are not lying in wait in the Target bathrooms to get you. 

But back to the Florida law.  The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth, reports that 54% of transgender and nonbinary youth in Florida have seriously considered suicide in the past year.  54%.  Let that sink in.  If you are a parent - look at your child, and imagine that percentage touching your life.  And here's the kicker:  Kasey Suffredini, the organization’s vice president of advocacy, emphasized that although these young people do not have a predisposition to suicide risk, the stigma and mistreatment they experience in society are what drive them to such despair.

That is what keeps me up at night a decade into our journey with our son.  He is great.  He is forward facing.  He has friends, family that loves him to the point of irritation (sorry, T), a job, talent, pets.  But society is fucked to the point that all of that could be wiped away.  And you do not have the right to endanger my child.

This Florida law extends to adults as well, inserting hurdles that make accessing care so much more difficult.  From Transvitae:

The restrictions extend beyond minors to affect transgender adults as well. Under the new law, only licensed physicians are permitted to prescribe, administer, or perform gender-affirming care, effectively banning telehealth services and reducing the availability of care providers. Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) and other healthcare providers are no longer allowed to offer these services, leading to increased barriers to access and higher potential costs for patients.

The penalties for healthcare providers who violate this law are severe. Providing gender-affirming care to minors is now classified as a third-degree felony, while non-compliance with the new regulations for adult care is considered a first-degree misdemeanor. Furthermore, the law allows anyone who received gender-affirming care as a minor to sue their healthcare provider for up to 20 years after the treatment, with no limitations on punitive damages.

I miss my kids everyday, but I am so glad our son does not live in a backass state like this.  As of July, half of the states in our country have enacted laws regarding care for trans youth and adults.  Based on what, I ask you?  Gender affirming care is backed by major organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization.  It is widely acknowledged that puberty blockers and hormone therapies are imperative treatments for easing the distress associated with gender dysphoria.

And again, IT DOES NOT AFFECT YOUR LIFE.  My son receiving testosterone injections does not make your cornflakes taste different.  Him having scars from top surgery does not impact your enjoyment of the big game.  A parent being able to access puberty blockers for the child they know inside and out does not imperil your child's gender.

I am always stymied at the mental gymnastics done to justify what is acceptable medical practice and what violates some personal or religious strictures.  I am long past pretending to tolerate the "God's will" bullshit so many hide behind.  Where is God's will when your dick stops working and you beg a doctor for a prescription for Cialis?  Where is God's will when you and your spouse cannot procreate yet run around God to beg a doctor to use IVF?  Where is God's will when you are found to have breast cancer and you beat a path to the surgeon's door?  Where is God's will when your child is diagnosed with a brain tumor yet you cannot get to specialist for removal fast enough?  Hell, where is God's will when your hair begins to thin and you reach for Rogaine?

You have no problem usurping God's will when it serves your selfish purposes, when it gets you what you want, when you know better than your "god".  

If there is a god - and let's be clear - there are currently over 6,000 of them out there floating around - if any of them have a problem with my parenting?  I will take the afterlife bullet.  Bring on the divine consequences.  My job here on Earth, in this life, is to love and protect and care for my people to the very best of my ability.  And that means knowing who they are, believing them when they talk to me, and helping them be the best, truest versions of themselves.

It also seems to be dealing with your bullshit all day, every day.  I get it.  Not every life will be touched by this particular place on the spectrum.  But that does not mean you can't educate yourself and get a bigger, better understanding - including grasping that you do not have any right to hurt other people who just don't happen to be exactly like you.

These laws are abhorrent.  And they are making their way up to the highest court - The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a similar ban in Tennessee, which could have far-reaching implications for the legal status of gender-affirming care nationwide. The outcome of that case, expected to be argued in the upcoming term, will likely influence the future of transgender healthcare laws across the country.

If you are an ally, I beg that you help and make your voices heard.  And if you are not?  I ask that if you won't help, then don't go out of your way to hurt.  From the deepest part of my heart, the heart that beats because my son's beats, I echo Tim Walz - Mind your own damn business.

Take It To The Grave

Arlington National Cemetery is a gathering place.  Foremost for those who have served and offered their country the highest of sacrifice.  It is a gathering place for their families and friends to mourn them, to remember them, to walk among the fallen as they find the strength to continue standing.  For most of us, we are lucky to only know of Arlington through the media, most notably each year on Memorial Day as there is an official ceremony, and a speech and laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, typically done by the current President.    

It is done with the utmost honor, seriousness, and thanks on behalf of a grateful nation.

What Arlington is not, is a photo op for desperate politicians.

Until yesterday.

Cue one D (for desperate) J (for massive jerk) Trump.  As his campaign continues to flail and fling all manner of political poo at their opponents, the brain trust that makes up his staff decided to use Arlington National Cemetery for a photo op.  I again highlight the word DESPERATE here as they are desperate to drown out the book tour interviews of Trump's former national security advisor, General H.R. McMaster, in which he offers blistering accounts of his time in the center of Trump's sycophancy.

McMaster's comments and book excerpts have also brought back into focus the myriad derisive comments draft dodger Trump has made about our military members.  "Losers" and "suckers"  - those slurs were uttered during a trip to France in which Cinderfella refused to go to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery to honor American dead for fear the rain would undo his 'do.  According to four people on that trip he said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”  And as reported in the Atlantic, In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

His comments deriding John McCain for having been a POW - "I like people who weren’t captured.”

And of course, showing up at Arlington will surely obscure the memory of his five draft deferments - once for imaginary bone spurs, four others because of college.  And while it was certainly not uncommon for the sons of wealthy families to find ways to avoid the draft back in the day, you would think someone like Trump would keep his trap shut and simply honor those who have served.

But hey, Trump is Trump.  A blowhard, self aggrandizing narcissist who cannot help himself.  That is how we have heard him spout gems like comparing his sexual escapades to Vietnam during an interview with Howard Stern.  And stating that attending a military school  afforded him “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military.”

Again, STFU.

Yesterday's stunt took his mocking of our troops to a new low.  While Memorial Day is obviously the one we are all familiar with in terms of laying the wreath, it can be done throughout the year, daily even.

A group may honor U.S. veterans and members of the armed forces by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Public wreath ceremonies are limited to one per group per day, with a maximum of four participants in the ceremony. The wreath for the ceremony is provided by the participants.  

What happened beyond the wreath - supposedly to honor the 13 soldiers whose lives were lost during the Afghanistan withdrawal (and politicize their deaths against the Biden/Harris administration) - is where things took a serious turn for the worst in Trump's behavior towards our fallen and the hallowed ground of Arlington.  (Not “hollowed” as Trump lackey and mouthpiece Chris LaCivita wrote. Idiot.)

In a news piece from NPR yesterday afternoon, it was revealed that campaign staffers had actually gotten physical with Arlington staff as they tried to make the Trump people adhere to the rules of the Cemetery regarding Area 60 - one of the most solemn of places, where the most recent of fallen soldiers are buried, and referred to as "the saddest acre in America."

“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the statement said, adding that “a report was filed” over the incident.

“Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants,” the statement said.

His staff were verbally abusive and shoved their way past the staffer who tried in vain to do their job.  But let's be honest.  What do you expect from the likes of Corey Lewandowski and the boys?  

Photos then poured forth from Trump's campaign of him standing AT graves with families, giving his ridiculous and offensive thumbs up.  A thumbs up, at a grave site.  I just can't...

What is the translation here?  "Hey, way to go to this sucker and loser we are standing over!"

By evening the photos and video had been made into a Tik Tok by his campaign staff.  I'm not kidding.

The degree to which this campaign is tone deaf and so not self aware is staggering.  And that their equally dim cult lap it up?  I'm sorry, but if you shit in a bowl and then cover it with whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry, IT'S NOT A SUNDAE.  It's still a bowl of shit.

Speaking of which...

In addition to Trump's disrespect yesterday, his running mate with the Simple Jack haircut was heard on yet another tape speaking ill about those with no children.  This time teachers.

In it he states that teachers without biological children, "disorient and really disturb" him.

 

Unearthed audio: JD Vance says teachers who do not have biological children “disorient and really disturb” him: “She should have some of her own [children]” pic.twitter.com/Rqx2PLfjT5

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 27, 2024

I'm sorry, WHAT?  This fixation on anyone without children, especially biological, is just creepy.  He was, not surprisingly, speaking at a Christian conference.  “So many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids trying to brainwash the minds of our children. And that really disorients me, and it really disturbs me,” the then-Ohio Senate candidate lamented. “Randi Weingarten, who’s the head of the most powerful teachers’ union in the country, she doesn’t have a single child. If she wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.”

For the record, Weingarten is a parent by marriage, as are many in this world.  But think about that.  Poor Simple Jack is disturbed and disoriented by those teaching who don't have progeny.  I thought back over all my years in school and honestly cannot remember any teacher who I knew had children, save one.  A high school sub, and even then I only knew because I briefly dated one of her sons.

Given how we pay and treat teachers in this country, we are lucky young people still come out of college ready to take on the job.  Should they not be allowed into the ranks until they have married (cis het, obviously) and brought forth life?  Just stop.  Having a child come out of your body is not some magical qualifier, although Vance seems to think it should be one to vote, to participate in democracy, and now to teach.

Adding to the shit parfait that is the Trump campaign is the newly acquired leech of Robert Kennedy, Jr.  Having been spurned by the Harris campaign, he turned his attention to the easier target of Trump, suspending his campaign, and throwing his endorsement behind the tangerine twatwaffle.  His aspirations?  To be Secretary of Health and Human Services.  Yes, this antivaxxing, whale head chopping, bear dumping, brain worm addled, saddlebag looking mfer wants to be in charge of our health.  (The worm could not be reached for comment.)

Simple Jack, Trump, and RFK - if ever a picture was more apt...

It's only Wednesday and the cherry is already on top of the mess that is the MAGAsphere.  Trump ended the day yesterday with Jack Smith's superceding indictment against him, obtained from yet another grand jury.  Which was perfect timing for Trump's latest grift:  new NFT trading cards.  I'm not kidding.  Watch and laugh.

The pretend "cards" are $99 a piece - images of an imaginary buff Trump dancing, holding Bitcoin, etc.  But wait!  If you order 15 or more ($1485+) you will receive a physical card with - are you ready? - a piece of the clownsuit he wore to his debate with President Biden.  NOT KIDDING.

“We’ll cut up the knock-out suit, and you’re going to get a piece of it and we’ll be randomly autographing five of them, a true collector’s item, this is something to give your family, your kids, your grandchildren.”

I can just imagine that thing being removed from a safe deposit box after the reading of a will.  The only thing I would want my granddaughter to use it for would be to wipe her ass.

BUT WAIT!

If you buy 75 digital cards, at a cost $7,425, you will get to attend a gala dinner with Trump at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida.

To use one of his favorite words:  SAD.  Sad that his grift of the rubes is so relentless, but then those legal bills won't pay themselves.  Sadder still that his cult will happily pony up that much cash - all the while complaining about the price of eggs - and think they have something special, something to leave the grandkids.

This campaign cannot be over soon enough.  69 days till we send a blue wave so thunderous and sweeping that it washes him and his batshit supporters back into their hidey holes.  69 days until this charlatan, who thought so little of flouting the rules and defiling Arlington while his staffers assaulted a worker, is shown to the dustbin of history.  69 days until JOY kills Trumpism, Project 2025, and the threat of fascism taking over this country.

Take it to the grave, Donold.  Just leave our soldiers out of it.

It's 70 Days, Do You Know Where Your Voter Registration Is?

It's 10pm.  Do you know where your children are?

That line, traced back to a news broadcast in the 60's and carried forward for decades, is familiar to those of us of a certain age.  As you can see in the video below, it was uttered by anchors, guests, celebrities like Carroll O'Connor - all in a PSA attempt to remind parents that not much good could come of their children wandering around after dark.

And that's true, although when you are a kid, having your fun after dark time squashed by your parents is not cool.  Again, those of us of a certain age well remember the universal "get your ass home now" signal of the porch light coming on and having to dip out of a heated cul-de-sac game of Kick The Can.

Then you become a parent and realize the truth.  Fun you may have had, be damned.  Not knowing where something as precious as your child is, for even a millisecond, is simply not tolerable.  It sends a short circuit through the emotional electric system of the body.  Even if you are not a parent, but a decent person, you also understand that the potential for trouble increases sharply after dark when young ones are left to their own devices.

So parents were encouraged each evening to check.  OK, sure, maybe it felt like admonishment if you, in fact, did not know.  But again, precious things need to be monitored for safe keeping.

Which brings this allegory to its point.  Right now, 70 days out from the most important election of our lives, the question must be asked, and asked again about your most precious November belonging and its status:  Do you know where your voter registration is?

It's not a question to be waved away.  It does not matter if you have voted in every election since you turned of age.  It does not matter where you live, the color of your skin, who your state is run by - the march is on throughout this nation to disenfranchise voters, wholesale wipe out millions from existing voter rolls, and do it all under cover of darkness so it is too late when you post up to vote and are found to be missing from the registered voter lists.

Just yesterday it was announced that Texas has purged ONE MILLION people from the rolls.  Now, purging is not unusual and does have its place.  My father, father-in-law, and mother-in-law?  Dead, and obviously should not be listed as eligible.  But purging also sweeps away actual voters who may not have participated in an election in a couple of cycles.  Very much alive, very much citizens, but suddenly wiped out.

And time is of the essence.  In Texas, you only have until October 7 to register to vote in this election.  

In March Indiana passed a law that targets naturalized citizens. The law requires election officials to use DMV records to identify non-citizens – and has no safeguards to protect against removal of people who have since become naturalized citizens.  Texas pulled this shit in 2019 and tens of thousands of naturalized citizens were thrown on the rolls.

In North Carolina, state legislators passed S.B. 747 in 2023, another bill targeting non-citizen voting. Using lists of people excused from jury service because of self-identification as a non-citizen, the new North Carolina law triggers a removal process that lacks adequate matching criteria to ensure the correct person is being removed.

Another important one from the Voting Rights Lab: A 2021 Georgia law opened the door to frivolous mass challenges to voter registrations. Unfounded challenges inundated understaffed election offices in 2022. Out of nearly 100,000 challenges, 89% were submitted by just six individuals. This November will be the first test of this new policy in a presidential election year, where the number of voters – and potential challenges – will be much greater. Given how close voting margins in Georgia tend to be, wrongful removals or inactivations of voter status could have outcome-altering effects. In the 2022 midterms, 1.4% of active voter registrations were challenged – and the last presidential election was determined by a margin of just 0.26%. As of publication, a bill clarifying the scope of this law, but doing nothing to mitigate its impact is currently sitting on the governor’s desk.

Republicans efforts to purge and disenfranchise voters is rampant across the country.  So what happens if you walk in to vote and suddenly you are persona non grata?  First, hope you live in one of the 28 states that allow for same day registration.  Does your state?  Check Here.

If you are registered, do you know for sure all is well?  Daily, people are sharing their stories of checking their registrations only to find out they are inactive or cannot be found.  I am new to Florida and registered when I got my driver license.  I am literally checking every. single. day.

Encouraging you to do the same is not being hyperbolic.  It's being smart.  In every election we hear about swing states over and over.  How Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina will decide it all.  And yes, from an electoral college standpoint they are the pivotal pieces of the puzzle.  But that does not mean your vote is not important.  We must turn out in such large numbers, in a wave of blue so irrefutable, that none of the certification subterfuge can get a foothold.  There are positive indicators out there...

The Harris Effect - in the 13 states that have updated voter files since July 21st, we are seeing incredible surges in voter registration relative to the same time period in 2024, driven by women, voters of color, and young voters. pic.twitter.com/x6AGViJdjm

— Tom Bonier (@tbonier) August 27, 2024

But that subterfuge is out there as well. 

I know all our lives are busy and it is easy to confine ourselves and our information gathering to places we consider safe.  I see it daily in the various Facebook groups that sprang up overnight when Kamala got the nod to lead the ticket.  And safe spaces are great for camaraderie, especially when you live somewhere deep red and isolating.  But I also see that not enough people are staying abreast of news outside their groups.  And that's where bad games of telephone spring up, and there's often as much misinformation and fear being fomented in those groups as in comment boards on Red State.

I would encourage people to add some sources to their daily walk through the internet.  A big one would be Democracy Docket.

Marc Elias, one of this country's top election lawyers, and his team are daily fighting back in court against right wing efforts to subvert this election through voter suppression tactics.  And they are winning.  In fact, it does a body good to keep abreast and see their results playing out each week.  Marc has also been brought on as legal counsel by the Harris-Walz team for the expected fight after the ballot boxes. 

Again, why your vote needs safeguarded and counted.  We simply cannot afford Trump any "Find me 11,780 votes" wiggle room.  

Getting out and learning more can happen even in what feels like a heinous space, namely Twitter (again, fuck Musk and calling it X).  Yes, I am one who set up a place on Threads when it came to be, but I also stayed on Twitter because so many important voices are still fighting the good fight there.  It is possible to curate your list of "following" there and keep up to date with everything from court cases to the latest bullshit conspiracy theories, misinformation and flat out lies you should know about so you can counter them when you encounter them, to independent sources providing facts (add Meidas Touch to your Youtube channels) as opposed to legacy media that has been largely bought out by GOP billionaires.

I think it is great seeing how many people are turning out to volunteer; how many are placing signs in their yards, painting flamingos and fingernails blue, etc; how many young people are burning up Tik Tok virtually stomping for Harris and Walz.  We need all of that.  And the polls coming out look better each day, hell, Florida is coming into the margin of error.  But it is worth remembering how confident we all were about Hillary and her numbers back in 2016.  

And how gutted we were that night when the votes started coming in.

That simply cannot be repeated.  Even if you sit in a demographic where Project 2025 won't rock your boat, you know someone who will be tossed overboard and drowned.  Everything from reproductive rights to bodily autonomy to my son's right to simply exist as a trans person; from gutting Medicare and Social Security and raising taxes; from tracking a miscarriage and denying parents the right to assist their children on their LGBTQIA journeys; from baby formula never being held to standards again and the Department of Education being eradicated; from books being banned and burned and ONE religion being shoved into every classroom. 

It's all there waiting on the other side of voter apathy.  On the other side of protest voting.  On the other side of not being registered to vote.  On the other side of thinking it won't be that bad.

It will.  The biggest mistake they made was showing their asses and Project 2025 coming to light in time for us to read it, vomit, and begin spreading the word.  Trumpism and the MAGA cult must be yanked out by the roots, and the ground salted so it may never take hold again.

So I will again harken back to the 60s when that question began being asked each night and paraphrase it for our times today and the darkness we must vanquish.  

It's 70 days.  Do you know where your voter registration is?