Byrds

I liked this song back in the day. Roger McGuinn looks so young.

Painful to watch

Many of those who watched John Fetterman's debate with Dr. Oz referred to it as "painful to watch". I've just realized that most people would not want to vote for a political candidate who was in any way disabled. As a disabled person (visually impaired), I find that really depressing.

From The New York Times: How People With Disabilities Saw Fetterman’s Debate Performance

Oz

Dr. Oz gives his view on abortion. No, no, no, he's not for a federal ban, he says. Instead he wants your "local political leaders" to be in the room with you and your doctor, so they can tell you what they've decided is going to happen to your pregnancy.

Bad Time

In so many ways, this seems like a bad time.

The drought is getting so extreme that the trres here are dying. I'm watering them, but there are so many to water and it just doesn't seem to be enough. Makes me so depressed.

And I've got to get another operation for skin cancer on my face. Feel like I'm turning into Frankenstein's monster.

And politics. If the Republicans win state races, I think the chances of retaining a democracy where free elections pick the winners are slim to none. If they win the Congress, I'm worried I'll lose Social Security, Medicare, Mediciad, food stamps, etc. And that's not to mention the larger scale destruction they can cause, from defunding aid to Ukraine to a universal no-exceptions abortion ban. The most depressing part is feeling that almost half the country seems either terminally stupid, insane, or evil.

I'm mostly just trying not to think about all of this. Music helps. Bad Time by Grand Funk Railroad ...

Itchycoo Park

Remembering this song by the Small Faces from olden days of yore, when I was in high school.

If they win

Depressing polls about how voters are leaning in the mid-terms ... towards Republicans. This is thought to be because now voters care most of all about the economy, and for some insane reason, they think the Republicans will make that better for them. History has shown us that the only people Republicans help are the rich.

What else, besides helping their wealthy donors and big corporations, will a Republican Congress actually do (oe try to do)? They will cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, cut food stamps, COVID hekp. They will do away with climate change progress. They will enact a nation-wide abortion ban. They will go hunting immigrants. They will make it easier for anyone to get and publicly tote any kind of firearm. They will try to doom women's rights, gay rights, anti-racism policies, and freedom of religion. They will try to impeach everyone, from Biden to Garland. They will end aid to Ukraine. And they will do what they can to promote a Trump theocracy.

But what they won't do is help the average voter with their finances.

Bernie

Bernie was on Meet The Press today. I agreed with all he said, but especially what he had to say about inflation.

He noted that it is caused by a number of factors, including corpprate greed, and that this continuing raising of interest rates is not helping, but hurting. Example: the rising interest rate on credit card bills, just at the same time everything else is costing more. It's those without much money who suffer - do they think rising interest rates will deter Elon Musk from making a purchase?

Jan 6 hearing

I just watched what will probably be the last January 6 committee hearing. It basically gave a recap of all that had gone before, interspersed with some new stuff, like this video showing Nancy Pelosi trying to organize a law enforcement response to the riot so that Congress could go ahead with the vote. I recall when I used to frequent Catholic sites, the conservatives there just hated her more than anyone else ... really demonized her. I believe that's because she is a smart, fearless, and extremely competent woman in power, and we see that in this video ...



The most interesting part of the hearing came at the very end ... they voted to subpoena Trump to testify under oath to the committee ...

Pregnant cows

Walker, backed up by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, tells a story of a bull who has impregnated three cows already, and wants to impregnate three more. You can tell by the tittering of his conservative Christian audience, that they are loving this idea.

Because, if you're a conservative Christian, the highest calling for a man isn't solving world hunger or finding a cure for cancer ... nope, it's getting a woman knocked up. Because God created women for one purpose ... to breed. That's why conservative Christians are against contraception and abortion ... those impede God's magnificent plan to cover our planet with as many himan beings as possible.

And Herschel Walker is a great example of a dutiful conservative Christian (you did see that Newt Gingrich praised Walker for his "deep commitment to Christ", right?).

Gosh, Republicans, you must be so proud.

Snap!

Let it all hang out

On Meet The Press today, Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska was asked if he supported Herschel Walker, given all that's been in the news about him lately. His response ... "I sure do". Why?

1) Because he likes Walker's policies ... I guess he means Walker's policy of banning abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or saving the mother's life. By that ploicy, Walker himself is a defacto murderer, but that's ok, ....

2) And because Walker probably didn't do what's alleged, and if he did, well we all make mistakes and Jesus has forgiven him (can we see that get-out-of-jail-free card?), and because Walker has been honest about all of this (another lie) and we should all be candid and honest!

3) At which point, the Congressman went on to tell a bald-faced lie himself about Walker's opponent, Senator Warnock. He stated (at least twice) that Warnock wants abortion "on demand up until birth of the fetus". This is a commone lie about Democrats by Republicans. Roe and the proposed Women's Health Protection Act both allow/ed abortion up to the point of viability ... the point when a fetus can survive outside the womb with medical care ... which is from week 24 of the pregnancy, not week 40 (birth). If you don't believe me, read Roe, read the WHPA, which can be found online.

At this point in the interview, I had to stop watching because seeing people lie their asses off makes me feel kind of sick.

But meanwhile, Herschel Walker is raking in the political donations as his abortion-themed faux pas gets ever more sticky. The Republican politicians who are running him and the base that wants to vote for him are happy as clams with their choice. He's perfect for them: totally lacking both a moral compass and a brain.

What's interesting is how blasé the pro-life Republicans feel about their hypocrisy being made public. They actually don't give a poop abou eggs/zygotes/fetuses. They actually don't give a poop about their presented version of God. And they don't seem to care that the rest of the country now sees that this is really all about power, especially power over those who want women to have equal opportunities with men.

“I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate,” former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said on her radio program, adding that “winning is a virtue.” - The baffling defense of Herschel Walker

This is what the pro-life movement has always been about, from the domestic terrorists of Operation Rescue, to the cynical Republican politicians, to the pope who sees women as brood mares. I'm glad they are finally just letting it all hang out. Maybe Democrats will finally stop feeling guilty about defeating them.

Boston

On the muzak at the grocery store. Customers singing along ;) ...

Elendil

There's an interesting article about The Rings of Power in the Hollywood Reporter: ‘The Rings of Power’ Showrunners Break Silence on Backlash, Sauron and Season 2

[...] The call from the lawyers came in to Amazon on a Friday in 2017: The Tolkien estate was going to entertain proposals for a Lord of the Rings show. Prime Video, along with every other entertainment company, was looking for “the next Game of Thrones.” Amazon’s founder and chairman, Jeff Bezos, was a longtime Tolkien fan. Going after The Lord of the Rings was a no-brainer, and an internal “fellowship” was assembled to figure out how to beat other prospective bidders.

Sources say HBO pitched the estate on retelling Middle-earth’s “Third Age” — essentially remaking Peter Jackson’s beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy, which grossed $3 billion and won 17 Oscars. The estate has its gripes with Jackson’s adaptations (the late Christopher Tolkien, the author’s son, said they “eviscerated” the books) but wasn’t interested in treading the same ground. Netflix pitched doing several shows, such as a Gandalf series and an Aragorn drama. “They took the Marvel approach,” said one insider to the talks, “and that completely freaked out the estate.”

Amazon’s negotiating team (led by Sharon Tal Yguado, Roy Price and Dan Scharf) wooed the estate not with a specific pitch, but with a pledge of a close relationship that would give the estate a creative seat at the table so it could protect Tolkien’s legacy ....

I'm still watching the show, and my favorite character so far is Elendil, an ancestor of Aragorn.

Elendil is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium .... In the Last Alliance of Men and Elves, Elendil and Gil-galad [king of the elves] laid siege to the Dark Lord Sauron's fortress of Barad-dûr, and fought him hand-to-hand for the One Ring. Both Elendil and Gil-galad were killed, and Elendil's son Isildur took the Ring for himself .... In the 2022 television series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Elendil is played by the Welsh actor Lloyd Owen. The show introduces Elendil as a Númenórean nobleman, who serves as a sea captain ...

Murderer?

A Republican candidate who wants to completely ban abortion (no exceptions), has paid a past girlfriend to get an abortion. Oh my - what hypocrisy, what lies.!

The thing is, Republican voters won't give a poop. It's not like they actually care about honesty or integrity. They don't actually care about fetuses either. Abortion is just one of the arrows in their culture war quiver. What matters is beating the Democrats, and if that meant electing a murderer (don't they proclaim abortion is murder?), that is just fine.

Stolen

I learned about all this in art history classes in college, 50 years ago - and almost nothing has changed in the situation since back then. It's not just the British Museum, of course .... the Vatican Museums have a bunch of stolen stuff, including bits of the Parthenon, which they refuse to return. Because nothing says 'doing God's work' like running a for-profit world-class art museum :(.

And it's not just art. One of the American Museum of Natural History's most famous pieces, the Cape York meteorite, is one they paid Robert Perry for after he stole it from the native people of Green;and.

This Wandering Day

Still watching The Rings of Power. Still liking it a lot. Here is a song sung by one of the Harfoots as they migrate (through beautiful New Zealand) ...

Giorgia Meloni

Republican politicians and activists are thrilled about the win by Italian neo-fascist candidate Giorgia Meloni.

This reminds me of Steve Bannon's effort to run a conservative religious/political "academy" in an old Italian monastery, Trisulti Charterhouse (The Last Stand at Steve Bannon’s “Gladiator School”). The Italian government stopped him, but now that his good buddy Meloni has won, maybe she'll fix it for him.

It's not just Bannon - Meloni spoke at CPAC, like Viktor Orbán, and the likes of Ted Cruz, Mike Pompeo, and Marjorie Taylor Greene have been cheering her election win (A Lot of Republicans Are Super Impressed With Italy’s New Far-Right Leader).

The new Republican party - enamored of fascism. What could go wrong?

Ginni Thomas

You can read about her text messages - Virginia Thomas urged White House chief to pursue unrelenting efforts to overturn the 2020 election, texts show

Here are a few she wrote to Meadows ...

In the Nov. 5 message to Meadows, Thomas went on to quote a passage that had circulated on right-wing websites: “Biden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days, & will be living in barges off GITMO to face military tribunals for sedition.”

[...]

“Mark (don’t want to wake you)… ” Thomas wrote. “Sounds like Sidney and her team are getting inundated with evidence of fraud. Make a plan. Release the Kraken and save us from the left taking America down.”

[...]

“We are living through what feels like the end of America,” Thomas wrote to Meadows. “Most of us are disgusted with the VP and are in listening mode to see where to fight with our teams. Those who attacked the Capitol are not representative of our great teams of patriots for DJT!!” “Amazing times,” she added. “The end of Liberty.”

Right, release the Kraken. I wonder if the committee also asked her if she believes that Biden is part of a global cabal of blood-drinking, Satan-worshipping, child-raping lizard people. Just wondering.

So basically, the wife of one of our Supreme Court Justices is crazy (QAnon), and a liar (never spoke about this to her husband), and a seditionist (let's overturn the election). The Trump stain has indeed spread to all three branches of our government.