It's Like That Curse: We Live In Interesting Times

I am not a cat lady. I am a dog lady. But that does not mean I cannot root for all the cat-lady memes flooding the interweb, some of which are seriously funny. But as funny as they are, they come as a way to combat mean, degrading, sexist misogyny coupled with troglodytic thinking. The memes reflect Feckless Felon's pussy-grabbing predilection for pussy-grabbing spousal cheating and JD Bedbug's fierce desire to send all women back to the kitchen pregnant and barefoot. Had those two been on the space tug Nostromo, they would undoubtedly be dead....because they certainly would not have listened to a cat lady.

The reality is that these two buttworms are terrified of women. Any woman with smarts leaves them quaking in their boxer briefs and their only defense is to attempt to marginalize her. Complete banning of abortion is only a first, rather obvious step. Birth control pills are already on some agendas because some prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. And some states are already attempting to prevent access to IVF. It's this macho think about spreading their seed, as if that's gonna make them smarter. 

I mean, Bedbug believes people with children should get more votes that people without children. At an event in 2021, JD Vance told his audience

Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children. When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power — you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic — than people who don’t have kids. Let’s face the consequences and the reality: If you don’t have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn’t get nearly the same voice. 

Y'know, when you think about that, it is an incredibly cruel statement. Thousands of women conceive and bear children though the miracle of IVF. This Bedbug wants to prevent women from having children at the same time he humiliates them for not having children. That is beyond cruel. That is evil incarnate. 

(Image credit: Mike Luckovich |Copyright 2023 Creators Syndicate)

One might think that as they rail about the importance of the family unit they would be talking about caring for family units...like taking care of grandma or increasing access to health care, early education, and nutrition for kids. But no. These programs are all on the platform chopping block. Anything that shows any promise of bettering life for We, the People is slated for removal in Project 2025. Defunding NOAA? Yup, that's useful. Appointing political employees to run agencies instead of experienced field professionals? Sure; let's see how many people can die from e-coli outbreaks. Shut down Head Start and give out vouchers for religious and charter schools? What happens to those kids in areas where those schools don't exist and the public schools are barely surviving? Basically, they don't give a damn. Besides, they need an underclass to serve and service them. Right?

 

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Feckless Felon and JD Bedbug are gonna be taking endless potshots at Kamala Harris. I love the ones crediting her as the mastermind behind all of President Biden's programs. At a rally in Charlotte, NC, on July 24th, oddly enough at Bojangles Coliseum,  Feckless Felon said:

It's been 3 1/2 years. Lying Kamala Harris has been the ultraliberal driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe. She is a radical-left lunatic who will destroy our country if she ever gets the chance to get into office. We're not going to let that happen.

Really? Is Harris calling for the end of democracy? No, that would be you, Feckless Felon.  At a Turning Point Action event in West Palm Beach, Florida last Friday night,  you're the one who shared your vision for a new GOP post-election dystopia:

Christians get out and vote. Just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians and I'm a Christian. I love you, you got to get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again. We'll have it fixed so good, you're not going to have to vote.

See, here's the thing: between Project 2025 and Platform 47, he's been pretty clear about where he sees this country heading...with himself as something akin to President-For-Life. This is NOT news. 

Or maybe you don't remember January 6th, 2021. I do.  I still lie awake at night thinking about it. And eleven months ago, I wrote about that nagging fear:

But wanna know what I'm really scared of?

What happens if Feckless gets the nomination and loses? Mull that over for a while. January 6th will look like a dress rehearsal. 

If you're not thinking ahead to January 2025, you should be.  

Meanwhile, back at the White House:

Lame duck that he is, President Biden is also thinking ahead. POTUS wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post outlining his ideas for reforms to the Supreme Court. He begins with newest nightmare:

If a future president incites a violent mob to storm the Capitol 

and stop the peaceful transfer of power — like we saw on Jan. 

6, 2021 — there may be no legal consequences.

And that’s only the beginning.

 

He goes on to call for a No One Is Above the Law Amendment that would overturn the Courts immunity decision, citing that it's too dangerous to leave in place. He also calls for term limits for the justices, stating a system could be put in place which would allow the president to appoint a justice every two years to serve no longer than 18 years on the bench. If every other federal judge is subject to an enforceable code of conduct, the Justices of the Supreme Court should not be exempt. 

A day late and a few dollars short, I'm afraid. That any of this needs to be codified is sad beyond words, but this is the world we live in now. Clarence Thomas has done a fine job of contributing to that decline all by himself, although I am certain he is only one in a long line of abusers. But this needs to be fixed ASAP. SCOTUS should be standing between We, the People and a dictatorship, but lately, they seem to be inclined in that direction. 

I'm glad he wrote the op-ed. I'm not so sure he'll ever see that amendment ratified, but identifying and putting the issues in print is a first step even if it's too late for him to see it through. SCOTUS doesn't need to change so much as it needs to come back to its original purpose. Our three branches of government were designed with the idea of checks and balances for a government for the people and by the people. The Supreme Court is really at the top of that triangle, charged with keeping our politicians and legislatures in check. Right now, however, it's a mockery of its own purpose. SCOTUS has proven itself unable to adhere to the most modest of ethical standards. It is past the time that We, the People demand they put the good and welfare of this nation before their own pockets.

On a different topic altogether, my friend Amy Olson, Hillel director at the University of Rhode Island, visited Israel this month and wrote of her experiences. With her permission, I am sharing a excerpt:

On the 4th of July we spent the entire day in and around various communities along the Gaza border. We visited the site of the Nova Music Festival–now a heart-wrenching memorial to the 360+ people who were massacred there–where we heard from Hila, one of the survivors. We entered the roadside bomb shelter where over thirty people who fled from the Nova Festival crammed inside as Aner Shapiro, 22, stood at the entrance tossing back seven Hamas-thrown grenades. He was killed when the eighth one exploded. Some two dozen others were then shot dead by Hamas terrorists. It was from that shelter that Israeli/American Hersh Goldberg Polin and 5 or 6 others were taken captive. 

With blasts from Gaza echoing in the background, we were given a tour of Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Chen Kotler, one of only 20 residents who has moved back since October 7, when over 60 people were murdered, 19 taken hostage, and where the dwellings of mostly young people lived were rampaged and set on fire. A life-long resident of the kibbutz, which had endured regular rocket fire from Gaza for many years before October 7, Chen is determined to rebuild her community there.

Memorial at the Nova Festival site/photo by Amy Olson

 One cannot read about October 7th without considering the depravity of the acts committed against the Israelis. First hand accounts of rape...both men and women...living and dead, eye witness accounts of torture and mutilation, and the desecration of those already dead and NOT wonder if the those who did this are even human. 

With blasts from Gaza echoing in the background.....

The blasts echoing in the background are not new. Israelis have lived with that non-stop barrage since 2006. If you thought missiles were a recent incursion, guess again. Ask those who live near the border. Ask those who live along the coast. Ask those to whom Iron Dome explosions taking out missiles aimed at them is so common you sometimes don't notice until the sirens go off. 

No, this is not apologia for what is happening in Gaza, nor is it justification. It's simply recognition of the reality that Israel has been under attack since they PULLED OUT OF GAZA on September 22nd, 2005. No other nation would have tolerated those attacks for 19 years. 

Just so you know.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Some of the cat lady memes are pretty good 

and offer constructive advice 

The Prosecutor versus Feckless Felon

Eric Lee/The NYTimes

That Joe Biden stepped aside should not come as a surprise to anyone familiar with his life in public service. Yes, he wanted to run; yes, I would've voted for him because I believe (and still do) that he could've done another term, and if not, he had a strong veep to take over; yes, his life of service to this country has been more honorable than most (how sad is that?) and devoted to the good of the many. Despite the lies spread like manure by the GOP, Biden has been good for the economy, good for the environment, and good for international diplomacy. I did not always agree with how he handled all things, but at least he did not offer to take any dictators to baseball games. In the end, there was no real way forward for this honorable man, and despite his initial reluctance, he did not dig in his heels; he stepped aside. He put the good and welfare of We, the People, and these here United States ahead of his self-interest. It was the right thing to do.

Affixing the mezuzah

Kamala Harris is not the perfect replacement candidate, and lots of people have doubts about her ability to win. She has more than her fair share of detractors. But she does have a number of factors in her favor. Being a woman of color (Indian mother and Jamaican father) is a plus. She grew up a Hindu, joined a Baptist church as an adult, and is married to a Jewish man who put a mezuzah on the doorpost of Blair House, the official vice-presidential residence. That Harris is the product of melting-potism is more reflective of who we are as a nation. Considering the GOP openly advocates for a "Christian" government, I'm more than okay with her multi-cultural background. In her career, she was a prosecutor and California Attorney General before she was a U.S. Senator. She brings depth of much needed legal and constitutional experience to the job. Of all the possible candidates for the Democrats to put forth, Harris has got to be the most terrifying for Feckless Felon. Her knowledge of criminal law alone should make his nuts shrink to the size of raisins at the mere thought of a debate. 

Charlottesville 2017
Evelyn Hockstein/
The Washington Post

Both the Black and the Hispanic voting communities are in play, especially Black women who command a significant voting bloc. You can absolutely count on subtle and not-so-subtle racist attacks lobbed at Harris. I'm sure her Hindu upbringing and Jewish husband will be targets. We, the People, are not as white as we once were. In fact, it's closer to half white, half people of one color or another. Interesting to note that people of Middle Eastern/ North African descent are counted as white but certainly aren't treated as white. Jews are usually counted as white, but we are not treated as white either. We definitely fall into the catch-pool of "OTHER," the ones they're worried about as their replacements. You remember Charlottesville, dontcha? While you may not have really thought about the voting blocs, they are a'changing. Which in its own perverse way, explains this push toward Christo-fascist alignment. 

And as an aside observation, I cannot help but wonder about the GOP fashion of Post-It Notes stuck to ears. [Y'know, if you're not Princess Leia, people are gonna laugh.] Certainly, wearing stuff on your ears highlights your own personal deafness to the needs of the general population, symbolically demonstrating your own unfounded belief in the endless stream of lies flowing from Feckless Felon and JD Bedbug's* mouths. In his speech, JD Bedbug spouted the party line regardless of public vetting or veracity. Feckless Felon's 90-minute acceptance monologue was such a stream of bullshit that The Washington Post's fact checkers went nuts. The 34 points they do mention are just the bigly ones. Basically, not one true statement came outta Feckless Felon's mouth.

This race is gonna be down and dirty, with most of the filth coming from the GOP ticket. I desperately want Harris to truth him down, to keep hammering at the irrefutable facts. It's always much easier to tell the truth than to make up shit. Shit is harder to keep straight. I know a truthful election ain't gonna happen, but I can hope, can't I?

*[NOTE:] In Yiddish, vantz  means bedbug. Basically, Vance and vantz are homophones. I'm sure the Maga devotees think a homophone is a smartphone with a rainbow...but it's not.

 

The Wifely Person's Tip o' the Week

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I got a terrific birthday present 

from "Aunty" Robin who ended up in the blog, 

and may end up in my new novel because I can.

Just a warning, people. 

I am not a conspiracy theorist, nor do I play one on TV. Yet.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, nor do I play one on TV. I tend to look at events as chains, rather than constructs. But as a stage director, playwright, and novelist, I know all about constructing timelines as plot points to make a story work. A chain of events was set into motion with the SCOTUS immunity ruling and I'm beginning to think we are living in a bad John le Carré or Robert Ludlum novel. They may write great novels, but this isn't one of them. This is real life twisting into some grotesquerie that will replace our republic as we know it. Yeah, there are enough dystopian books to keep us all busy for years, but you gotta admit, some are hitting closer to home these days than others. And when you arrange them just right, that space in the middle is Project 2025. These are the books that always scared me the most, even more than Robert Ludlum  and his anti-hero, Jason Bourne. 

These days, it's getting harder to tell the villains from the anti-heroes and the martyrs from the actors without some kind of scorecard. And what's really fascinating is how our elected officials and government appointees manipulate the performers and performances. Insanity is when you do the same thing over and over and over....but expect different results. I would posit Feckless is NOT insane, because he keep spouting the same bullshit (I won this election or that January 6th rioters are wrongly imprisoned) expecting the lies to be true. 

SCOTUS basically set up the mechanism for all of Feckless Loser's court cases to be dismissed. Every legal action taken since January 6th, 2021 is now under scrutiny. Already, convictions of the seditionists are being reviewed. CNN explained that succinctly:

The ruling rejects a decision from a federal appeals court in February that found Trump enjoyed no immunity for alleged crimes he committed during his presidency to reverse the 2020 election results. The decision says presidents have immunity for official acts but not all acts are official, and lower courts must decide which acts qualify for each.

Feckless Loser viewed this as a major win for him....which it was. But as we all know, shit rolls downhill.

This image shows the location of the shooting site, about 400 feet.GOOGLE EARTH/CBS NEWS

Meanwhile, back in Pennsylvania, a 20-year old took a potshot at Feckless Loser. Thomas Matthew Crooks used his father's AR-15 weapon to kill one rally attendee, injure two others, and graze the former president's ear. The shooter was on a roof about 410 feet from the stage. Bystanders saw him and yelled to the police that he was up there. The Butler County sheriff said a police officer confronted the gunman on the roof, but fell before Crooks turned the gun on the former president.  

The Washington Post reported:

Crooks began firing two minutes and two seconds after the starting point of the newly published video, which begins with a man’s voice saying that people were pointing toward the roof, according to a Washington Post analysis of footage from the event. The shots began 86 seconds after the first audible attempts to alert police, according to the analysis, which synchronized several clips based on the sound of Trump’s voice over the public address system as he addressed supporters at a farm show grounds in Butler County, PA

[Follow the Washington Post link to see a video showing the gunman pointed out by spectators] 

By now, Feckless Leader's triumphant fist wave has been seen around the world.

Now, comes the fun part. Feckless as martyr. He thinks that God saved him. Sure. He said, 

By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here.

You know that within days, he'll be saying the bullet grazed his brain and his recovery is a miracle. He will be modest and humble as accepts the attributes of a would-be martyr. 

From J.D. Vance ( who is now vice presidential nominee):

Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination.

From Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.): “

Let’s be clear: This was an assassination attempt aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media incessantly calling Trump a threat to democracy, fascists, or worse.

From Chris LaCivita, adviser to Trump’s campaign:

Well of course they tried to keep him off the ballot, they tried to put him in jail and now you see this …

Donald Trump Jr.:  

[It’s] not the time to be conspiratorial...there’s definitely questions...that need to be answered. We’ll let other people do all of that. I fear for him anyway, because you know, these attacks have been going on for quite some time. And that’s not just physical attacks, but it’s the verbiage that’s been going on about him — when we were ‘traitors’ and ‘criminals’ and ‘the greatest threat to democracy ever.’ 

All over the world, conspiracy theories abound. I myself suggested President Biden reinstate Seal Team Six since nothing he could do as president is actionable, as Feckless had previously pointed out and SCOTUS confirmed. This is to be expected when the GOP prides itself on cockamamie theories and QAnon buddies. Did you really expect something different?

Aileen Cannon

Meanwhile, back in Florida, this morning, Aileen Cannon, well-known purveyor of outlandish and unsupported judicial decisions, threw out the documents indictment in Florida based on a rather odd reading of the standard methodology used to appoint a Special Prosecutor. While shocking, horrifying, and completely from outer space, it should not be a surprise that she always rules in Feckless Loser's favor no matter what the case. 

Let's look at this morning's zany offering: 

Even if Judge Cannon is going after Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's appointment as unconstitutional, she has the added impetus to dismiss the case as the files were moved during the dunce's presidency. Despite almost decades of special prosecutorial appointments done exactly as Smith's was done, she is going after him. 

According Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute:

A special prosecutor is a prosecutor who is independent of an office that would normally exercise jurisdiction in a criminal investigation—to avoid potential conflicts of interest or to facilitate subject matter area expertise. At the federal level, under 28 CFR § 600.1, a special prosecutor is referred to as a “special counsel,” and may be appointed by the attorney general to criminally investigate an individual or matter in cases where a Justice Department investigation would present a conflict of interest, or in other “extraordinary circumstances.” Under Supreme Court precedent in Morrison v. Olson, Congress may also appoint a special counsel through the passage of legislation. Notable special counsels in U.S. history include Ken Starr of the Clinton Whitewater investigation and Lawrence Walsh of the Iran-Contra Affair.  

[I've left their links in because they are interesting enough to follow.]

Cannon used a decision by Clarence Thomas to justify her ruling. From The Intercept:

To rule as she did, Cannon had to sidestep longstanding Supreme Court precedent about independent prosecutors, which she decided was not precedent at all but instead mere “dictum” that need not be followed. This was precisely the path outlined by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas earlier this month in a decision regarding Trump’s prosecution for his role in the January 6 insurrection, where the constitutionality of the special counsel’s appointment was not even at issue.

 

None of the other Supreme Court justices signed onto Thomas’s concurring opinion, but Cannon cited it three times....

 

In United States v. Nixon, a 1973 decision, the Supreme Court rejected former President Richard Nixon’s attempts to stonewall a grand jury investigation into the Watergate break-in. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Nixon had to comply with the subpoena of a special prosecutor, who had been appointed in compliance with the Constitution, federal law, and regulation.

 

For decades, the Nixon ruling has been understood to affirm the constitutionality of independent prosecutors and special counsel who are appointed by the attorney general to handle certain politically sensitive cases. In 2019, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed this understanding when it shot down a challenge to Robert Mueller’s appointment to investigate Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

 

The D.C. Circuit specifically rejected arguments that a key section in the Nixon decision was “dictum.”

After all, SCOTUS already granted presidents superpowers never before exercised in America. Even if Cannon, a Feckless appointee, had not ignored the accepted practice of assigning a Special Counsel and declared open warfare on the Department of Justice, she had in her back pocket that the files were moved when Feckless was president, and therefore, it was within his executive power to store classified material in an unsecured bathroom. Ergo, the indictment could still be thrown out. 

Now, let's look at the chain of events:

But take a moment to time 86 seconds. That's a long time for inaction. Take a moment to review the raised fist Feckless gave the crowd after he rose from the platform. Take a moment to think like John le Carré. Or David Balducci. Or Tom Clancy. This could be one of their plots. The nefarious gang wants to make sure the candidate is quasi-deified. He can only do that if he escapes certain death. They find someone squeaky clean who needs a whole bunch of money. They hire him, knowing they're gonna kill him. Maybe he knows they're gonna take him out, and instructs them to pay his family. Or maybe he doesn't know. But the guy already has access to the assault weapon, goes off to buy 50 rounds of ammo (not very much, really) and positions himself as instructed. A cop gets up on the roof, but conveniently falls before the shooter can fire at him. He turns, fires, then deliberately misses the president, but manages to hit bystanders, killing one. Okay, plausible. The plot continues to unfold, the shooter is dead, the target is victorious in his miraculous escape, and no one ever knows about the deal. The convention takes place where he's hailed as blessed by God himself, and a saved martyr to their cause. Two days later, all the charges against him evaporate because a judge hands down a totally wacko decision which will probably be overturned, but NOT before the election. The Democrats are vociferously blamed, the general population is totally turned off, and it's the lowest voting turnout ever, thereby ensuring the miracle candidate's election. 

Like I said up top, I don't do political thrillers. This chain jumps off the page at me. All I could see was the shooting (no pun intended) script and the scene breakdown. It's positively delicious. It's plausible. doable, and for those KoolAid drinking Maganuts, perfect in every way. It's tidy. It's simple. There's lots of blame to go around....from the sitting president, to the county sheriff's department, to the secret service...no one from the opposition remains unscathed. But...

It's too staged. It's too pat. It's not messy enough.

Forgive me for being the cynic in the room (NOT) but something isn't right here. Maybe in a few days, I'll have a better sense of what's wrong, but right now I cannot put my directorial finger on it. That said, every instinct I have says this stinks like bad fish. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

This week marks 14 years since 

I wrote the first episode of this blog.

This one is Episode 730.

Am I done yet?

Let's Call It What It Is: The Cult of Project 2025

The term PROJECT 2025 has been much bandied about in the news these days. It was being hailed as the roadmap to messianic political redemption by some, or the precursor to the complete suspension of the Constitution. Either way you wanna view it, it's a radical manifesto. If you don't know what Project 2025, is, you should educate yourself. It's an arm of the Heritage Foundation, a very conservative, right wing kinda group. 

It is not enough for conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on Day One of the next conservative Administration. 

This is the goal of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. The project will build on four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative Administration. 

 

These are the four pillars:

Policy Agenda

Building on the legacy of Mandate for Leadership, this comprehensive policy guide for the incoming presidential Administration will offer specific proposals for every major issue facing the country, pulling from the expertise of the entire conservative movement. 

 

Personnel Database 

The most comprehensive policy agenda will have only limited impact without the right people in place to implement it. The project will cast a net across the country to identify conservatives from all walks of life to serve in the next conservative Administration 

 

Training

To turn this talent pool into effective conservative administrators, the project will bring together experts who have served in prior Administrations and can share their knowledge through workshops, seminars, online videos, and mentorship. 

 

180-Day Playbook

The time is short, and conservatives need a plan. The project will create a playbook of actions to be taken in the first 180 days of the new Administration to bring quick relief to Americans suffering from the Left’s devastating policies.

They also have have deep pockets, considerable support. Read the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise the180-Day Transition Playbook: There's some pretty scary stuff in there. 

In a nutshell, the playbooks is a roadmap for repealing damn near everything Presidents Obama and Biden accomplished. It claims to favor civil rights, rights of the individual, rights of parents, etc, but read between the lines: it's promoting a nanny state where those who disagree are at risk....especially women, Indigenous Peoples, the LGBTQ, non-church supporters, and the environment. By removing protections at various levels, all those areas are subject to no protection whatsoever. 

I read the Education sections of both documents from end to end. Sure, there are some things that sound sane in there, but only if you don't look too closely. Their big push is to remove anything to do with sexual orientation and identification, race history in America, and basic critical thinking skills. The repeal of statutes puts education into the hands of the vocal minority, drains funds from public education with huge vouchers, and will, in the end, leave our kids at a distinct disadvantage in all aspects of education and global competitiveness. It is the intentional dumbing down of America.

The following are quotes taken from the Mandate for Leadership:

“Families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society… These policies should be repealed and replaced by policies that support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.” (Project 2025, pages 482-483). 

 

“Working fathers are essential to the well-being and development of their children… HHS should prioritize married father engagement in its messaging, health, and welfare policies.” (Project 2025, page 483). 

 

Criticism of Non-traditional Family Structures:

“Outcomes for children raised in homes aside from a heterosexual, intact marriage are clear: All other family forms involve higher levels of instability… For the sake of child well-being, programs should affirm that children require and deserve both the love and nurturing of a mother and the play and protection of a father.” (Project 2025, page 513) 

 

Policy Recommendations Favoring Hetero-conformity:

“HMRE program grants should be available to faith-based recipients who affirm that marriage is between not just any two adults, but one man and one unrelated woman.” (Project 2025, page 513).  

 

Clearly spelled out, these are their versions of normal family. I know a few....but I also know a lot of two-mom and two-dad households that have managed somehow to raise incredible kids. 

Folks, even the Talmud recognized there were more than two genders: 

In the Mishnah, there are a number of different genders and sexes that are discussed. In addition to zachar [male] and nekevah [female] there are four other genders/sexes that the Rabbis recognize: 

An androgynos is "a person who has both male and female sexual characteristics" 
A tumtum is "a person whose sexual characteristics are indeterminate or obscured." 
An ay'lonit is "a person who is identified as "female" at birth but develops "male" characteristics at puberty and is infertile." 
A saris is "a person who is identified as "male" at birth but develops "female" characteristics as puberty and/or is lacking male genitalia."

Rejection does not inspire a path to any faith; it turns people away which makes no sense to me. Two sides talking. But that's really the biggest clue: they only want their own "kind." That the Christian right does not acknowledge more than male or female genders exist demonstrates their refusal to address reality and lack of compassion for large chunks of humanity. If that is their position, and indeed it is, there is no reason to believe they will treat anyone other than their disciples and followers with any sort of respect for their lives. If one falls outside their norm, what is to be their fate? Expulsion? Execution? Imprisonment? "Re-education?" It smacks of Nazi era eugenics.

Coupled with their position papers, there is wisdom in believing that those who do not agree are not worthy of life in their newly revised nation. If you drink their KoolAid and follow their rules, you can be in. Otherwise, you are out...whatever that means.

Let's call it what it is: cultism. 

These are the ideologues that will push Feckless back to power....not because he can lead, but because they can manipulate him out of the way. He will be their puppet. They'll let him spout his idiocies, misdirecting the scrutiny away from them, while they dismantle whatever is left of the republic. 

And they will get their way. 

Wanna know why? Because the Dems just handed them the election. 

Wanna know what I wanna know? I wanna know what was in the water President Biden was drinking before and during the debate.  Yeah, yeah...conspiracy theory. But as a stage director, I've seen Biden on stage a lot. I think he was mildly drugged. Did they give him Benadryl for his cold? Nyquil instead of Dayquil? Considering his performance the next day at a rally, it's hard to believe he wasn't chemically impaired. Was it an accident? Or was it intentional? Conspiracy theory? Sure; why not? My weird-shit-o-meter was totally off the scales with that one. 

Yeah, he's old. Frankly, they're both too old to be president, but replacing Biden at this point is absurd. There is not enough time to vet, prep, and display a candidate before the convention. Had the congressclowns asking him to step aside done this three months ago? Sure. I would've supported that. Had they done this and held up their ideal replacement? Maybe. But this is political seppuku. 

The issue isn't more people voting for Feckless....it's that more people, disgusted with the choices, will sit out this election. 

I want to be wrong. I want there to be some kind of August miracle for this country. I'm not convinced it will happen, but hoping is okay, too. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day:

Hey, Joe! 

Now that the courts have granted presidents all that immunity....

Mebbe you should reactivate Seal Team-Six 

to protect the country and constitution

from imminent harm. 

You know Feckless would do exactly that. 

A King Above the Law

Well, hasn't this been a busy news week! So many topics to choose from. Let's begin with the biggest elephant in the room: the debate.

Everyone has an opinion; everyone thinks he/she/they knows/know what to do, should be done, must be done for the party of preference to win. Neither party has, IMHO, a truly viable candidate. If I ruled the world, both candidates would be tossed out to be replaced with candidates who can have a growed-ass discussion about this country. One where both candidates actually answered the questions as asked. Is that asking too much? Apparently.

Feckless Loser and Biden both strayed from the path of truth when speaking, Biden's faults were pretty much exaggeration and hyperbole. Feckless, on the other hand, went far beyond that. Not only did Feckless Pinocchio not answer any of the questions asked, there was some serious lying going on. The man spouted so much bullshit I was able to smell it in my kitchen where I was sitting at my laptop fact-checking as fast as I could. There were moments of magnitudes of lying that even the most dedicated MAGA drone had to know he wasn't telling the truth. PolitiFact, run by editors and reporters from the Tampa Bay Times, an Independent paper and FactCheck, operated by The Annenberg Public Policy Center both provide concise and reliable fact-checking services. I highly suggest you check out both sources. I think you'll find one candidate LIED more than the other. Would you actually trust a guy who has no grasp of facts with "the football?

Meanwhile, in the middle of the country, Oklahoma has fired a shot across the bow of the Constitution just like Louisiana and the ten suggestions, only bigger.

Ryan Walters

Ryan Walters, the Superintendent of Education in Oklahoma was on PBS NewsHour tonight explaining why he was mandating that the bible must be taught as American foundational history. I'm not sure what he means by that.  I mention this because, in light of SCOTUS's recent rulings, he said something really important...other than prefacing his response to almost every one of Stephanie Sy's questions with, "Yes, that's an absurd assumption." This quote occurs at minute 3:26, but do watch the whole thing. It's scary:

Just making a political point, you know, the left they can be offended, they can be mad, they can be upset, but what they can’t do is they can’t rewrite history. We are going to show the countless citations. The Bible was cited more than any other document in the 1600 1700s political writing; it is clearly a momentous historical source. We will bring it back to our schools. You know, we will continue to battle. We feel very confident in President Trump‘s nominees to the US Supreme Court that if we can -, if we get sued and we get challenged, we will be victorious because the Supreme Court justices he appointed actually are originalists that look at the Constitution and not what some left-wing professor said about the Constitution. So we feel very confident in moving forward and winning every legal case.

In continuing their slash and burn attack on the same Constitution they are sworn to uphold, they provided Feckless Loser with a path out of his legal morass. Thus spaketh the High Court:

Held: Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.

In a 6-3 decision, the conservative wing of SCOTUS created, in essence, a royal presidency, meaning that ANYTHING a president does while serving in office can be declared within the scope of presidential authority. In case you've never seen what a decision looks like, this is the start of the dissent section. If you follow the above link, that gives you the whole decision; just keep scrolling until you find the dissent portion.

In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor wrote: (highlights are mine)

 JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN and JUSTICE JACKSON join, dissenting. 

Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law. Relying on little more than its own misguided wisdom about the need for “bold and unhesitating action” by the President, ante, at 3, 13, the Court gives former President Trump all the immunity he asked for and more. Because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent. 

There's a whole lotta legalese after that, but later in the dissent, Sotomayor write:

Not content simply to invent an expansive criminal immunity for former Presidents, the majority goes a dramatic and unprecedented step further. It says that acts for which the President is immune must be redacted from the narrative of even wholly private crimes committed while in office. They must play no role in proceedings regarding private criminal acts. See ante, at 30–32.

Even though the majority’s immunity analysis purports to leave unofficial acts open to prosecution, its draconian approach to official-acts evidence deprives these prosecutions of any teeth. If the former President cannot be held criminally liable for his official acts, those acts should still be admissible to prove knowledge or intent in criminal prosecutions of unofficial acts. For instance, the majority struggles with classifying whether a President’s speech is in his capacity as President (official act) or as a candidate (unofficial act). Imagine a President states in an official speech that he intends to stop a political rival from passing legislation that he opposes, no matter what it takes to do so (official act). He then hires a private hitman to murder that political rival (unofficial act). Under the majority’s rule, the murder indictment could include no allegation of the President’s public admission of premeditated intent to support the mens rea of murder. That is a strange result, to say the least.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Justice Sotomayor explained the dissent:

Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done,The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.

This means, apparently, that Feckless Loser's call to Brad Raffensperger demanding Georgia come up with 11,780 votes to give him the win was within his presidential powers and is okay. It means he can call for an insurrection to remain in power, because he is immune from prosecution for that act of sedition. And he really could walk into the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone without fear of arrest, much less losing any votes. As he said on January 23, 2016:

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" Trump remarked at a campaign stop at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. "It's, like, incredible."

According to SCOTUS, if he were president, that would be correct. And we pretty much know he wouldn't lose any votes. 

I have long maintained that January 6th was nothing more than a test run, a trial balloon, to determine how Feckless could go in overturning an election, suspending the Constitution, and declaring himself king/emperor/president-for life/ maybe even a god. We now know, according to SCOTUS, he can do precisely that. 

President Biden spoke out on the ruling tonight:

Today's decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do. The power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States. The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone. 

Be that as it may, unless he has a cataclysmic health event, Biden will be the nominee. His re-election is doubtful. Large swaths of the electorate are completely turned off  by the choices and will sit this one out. That almost guarantees a GOP victory. And once he's in office.... America will become a very different place. Count on that. 

And here you thought I was an alarmist. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Enjoy Fourth of July.

There may not be another one.

Mendakota 2023/photo by sjschwaidelson