“Books are like seeds. They can lie dormant for centuries and then flower in the most unpromising soil.” (Carl Sagan); “Nothing ever dies on the Internet.” (anon.); “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” (Madison Ave. [m]adman). My posts amalgamate these three philosophical elements into one novel experience; they champion critical thinking, human dignity / equality, levelheaded / even-handed / liberty-based governance and solid environmental stewardship. C’mon in!
When a reporter held Senator Mitch McConnell / his Trumper-Republican Party (GOP) accountable for lynching the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act; asked him what he had to say to the people of color who he/they had just screwed over (AGAIN), get a load of what that sagging, swaggering with white privilege, Klansman Kentuckian had to say…
“Well the concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans.”
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell • January 19, 2022 [View Twitter Clip]
Well, Mister Mitch, what’s actually misplaced, here, is your brain. Hmm, on second thought, seeing how “misplaced” implies that you just might be able to find your mind, someday, let’s amend that to read:
What’s actually LOST, here, is your mind.
Additionally, in response to Mitch’s bogus claims of it being easy to cast ballots, at least for now, that may be true for WHITE voters. However, IF… correction… WHEN his fascist peers eventually get their way (and when do fascists not get their way, huh?) even Caucasians will wind up screwed over!
And, that all duly noted, let’s move on to the multitude of responses to accurately assess that ass, Mister Mitch, for, in essence, having said that African American voters are not Americans.
Let’s have Ol’ McConnell try these three on for size…
The Good Fit:
Mitch’s Freudian Slip Is Showing
The Better Fit:
Tired, has been, Mitch, digging in on his white supremacyst (<–not a typo) roots, riding atop his high white horse, donning his spooky, white robe and white hood costume, has trotted out / Trump-eted / spoken his “mind”.
The Very Best Fit:
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Whenever any elected representative of The People believes he is above the law… arrogantly trots out his malevolent, virulent, malignant brand of totalitarianism… harbors a closed mind, stone heart and inert soul… appears barren of even one scintilla of remorse… he only serves his own interests. More to the point, he no longer serves in the best interests of The People… and deserves a punishment by The People… at a level which is directly proportional to his offensive conduct.
This past evening’s vote within the U.S. House of Representatives, which approved the two Articles of Impeachment of one Donald J. Trump, is only Step #1 of a much needed and long overdue, corrective, Constitutional process.
However… seeing how the Senate Majority Leader… one Mitch McConnell… so arrogantly marches in lockstep with his corrupt Oval Office puppeteer… this means that Step #2… the removal of the fake prez from the office he has sullied… will not be forthcoming.
Seeing how The Impeached appears to be oblivious to the seriousness of his offenses and, consequently, is totally incapable of rehabilitation, this means that, left unchecked, we can expect him to go on a seething with vengeance rampage in the days ahead.
Ergo, this American encourages Freedom’s champions… domestic and worldwide… to savor what little is left of our sweet Liberty. After all, if America deteriorates even further into a Fascist state, that falling “domino” could trigger the tumbling of other dominoes / nations, too.
I hereby echo lyricist Samuel Francis Smith’s “Let Freedom Ring” sentiment… the foundation to his song My Country ‘Tis of Thee… as sung by Aretha Franklin at President Barack Obama’s 2009 Inauguration Day ceremony… and dedicate our Vid of the Day to the United States… to the U.S… to all of us!
Considering how 2019 has been averaging more than one incident of domestic terrorism per day… most recently in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH… it defies belief that the powers-that-be are doing nothing… absolutely nothing to rein in these reigns of terror. To date, their tough talk of restoring and keeping the peace has gone flaccid. Indeed, their promises made / promises broken record remains unbroken… and society remains broken.
Just how can that Oval Office Occupant and U.S. Senate Majority “Leader” Mitch McConnell even claim to represent the will of the people, when they whip their middle digits at…
• 60 percent of Americans, who favor stricter gun laws
• 97 percent of gun owners… gun owners mind you… who support universal background checks
• How is it that the National Rifle Association (NRA) always gets to call all the shots (oft literally)?
• What ever happened to representative government and majority rules?
• How the hell did we ever wind up with such a dysfunctional government?
Such present-day woes can be traced, in part, to two recent betrayals…
• The Electoral College dropouts failed to do their patriotic and Constitutional duty to prevent an amoral, autocratic, corrupt tycoon from getting sworn in on Inauguration Day 2017.
• The U.S. Senate remains loaded with right-wing extremists who shamelessly prioritize partisanship, political expediency and their NRA “A+” report cards over public safety. Compromised and co-opted, they, too, flat out refuse do their patriotic and Constitutional duty to remove the fake prez.
Ergo, here we stand by, helplessly, as we watch the unchecked, brown-shirted, white robed and white hooded ersatz prez galloping off on his high horse… going off an his rampaging racist crusade… sowing the seeds that can only sprout into a crop of unfit for human consumption hatred… i.e., the KKK and Nazi magnitude hatred that can only breed domestic terrorism.
So there he stoops… the soft on domestic terrorism “prez” who muddies the collective American conscience… who rips the heart and soul out of a once-upon-a-time great nation.
Election Day 2020 does seem to be America’s last chance to restore respectability and accountability to the Oval Office and U.S. Senate… but… seeing how an unregistered, un-American, “voter”… one Vladimir Putin… remains unchecked, too…
OH GAWD… CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE WAKE ME UP FROM THIS RECURRING NIGHTMARE?
WARNING: Today’s content may be upsetting to some readers.
Of all the brainwashed Evangelicals and other fools who still support U.S. Senate candidate, Alabama Republican Roy Moore, it’s pretty safe to speculate that some of them are parents of female minors. What’s been so astounding is that, in spite of five women now accusing Moore of sexually assaulting and/or harassing them in the distant past (when they were in their early and mid teens) the support from Moore’s voter base remains unwavering… in some cases has even been intensifying!
The insanely defiant and inappropriately indignant Moore has been trying his damnedest to bogusly portray his accusers as liars… misrepresent himself as the victim of some unfounded, political, ideological and theological, media driven witch hunt. He’s been hemming and hawing during media interviews and ranting and raving from the campaign trail stump… as if what? High decibel leveled rampaging and roaring could ever transform anyone’s lies into truths?
Of course, it’d not be going out on a limb to call out Moore as a liar. Even U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan no longer believe him.
Much worse than Moore’s ruthless, political ambition is his intimation that he has always been sweet and considerate prior to sexually assaulting his underage victims. Check out this creepy, far from reassuring example of that pig’s hogwash…
“I don’t remember dating any girl without the permission of her mother.”
Good gawd almighty! Are we to believe that Moore has actually ding-donged the doorbell, tipped his cowboy hat and in his thick southern accent, interlaced with his lecherous laughing, drawled out to countless moms…
Roy: G’day, li’l lady! Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Roy Moore and I’m running to be the next U.S. Senator to represent the great state of Alabama. I can already tell by your purdy li’l smile that you’ve heard of me! Well, to get right down to it… I could not help but admire your underage daughter when I ogled and whistled at her… tailed her ever so closely last Saturday night at the Gadsden Mall. However, since I am so gentlemanly, I’m approaching you first to let you in on all the salacious plans I have for her. You see, I plan to molest your little girl… deny her all the carefree days of her youth… traumatize and flat out ruin her entire life. And then, as soon as I tire of her, I’ll promptly dump her. Now, I do hope you’ve raised your little missy to be submissive to whatever demands I will make of her… as in… no questions asked. Indeed, I do fully expect your young’un to worship me… OR ELSE!
Mom: Uh… I dunno… maybe you had better talk to her Pa, too… he’s the man of the house and always makes the major decisions.
Roy: I thought you might hesitate. You cannot possibly view giving me permission to uh… date… your minor daughter to be a major decision. Ma’am, you’ve offended me! And I do find myself growing a bit peeved, too. So, let’s just cut to the chase! I could make life very difficult for your entire family. That’s because a high and mighty man, such as I, has many deeply rooted connections. Yes indeed, I do own dozens of good ol’ boy lawmen and… uh… well… let’s just say that since they’d be all too happy to take the law into their own hands to do my bidding, you’d be a damn fool not to fully cooperate with me here and now. To that end, I fully expect you to sign this legal waiver, which not only makes your daughter mine… all mine… but also absolves me of all legal and financial responsibility should she ever wind up… uh… well uh… let’s just say… in a family way. After all, any baby making would be all her fault… not mine. So, li’l lady, what’ll it be?”
Mom: Oh Mr. Moore, I don’t know how or why I could’ve ever doubted such a fine, upstanding big man such as you. Speaking on behalf of my husband, I know we both would be honored to have someone as famous and saintly as you violate our little girl. We’d even love to make a sizable contribution to help with your campaign. Now, where do I sign?
Roy: Right by that little ol’ X. Now you be sure to press hard so it appears clearly on all five copies. And do fetch your checkbook, too!
Mom: I know you two will have lots of fun! (turning to shout up the staircase to her daughter). Honey, a nice man named Roy… who’ll soon be our U.S. Senator… is on his way up to pay you a li’l visit! Now you be sure to do whatever this great man tells you to do… no matter what… ya hear?
I sure as hell do hope that that above conversation is nothing more than a work of fiction. For, if it is not, any mom or pop who’d ever let any sexual predator take indecent liberties with their own daughter should be reported to Child Protective Services… ASAP! Prison sentences for all the guilty parties would be in order, too!
CommonSenseTom
11:25 am on June 20, 2017 Tags: Alan Grayson, American Health Care Act, drop dead, flaw-making, lawmaking, mitch mcconnell, Obamacare ( 6 ), politics ( 1,103 ), repeal and replace, tightfistedness, tightlipped, U.S. Senate ( 5 ), U.S. Senate Republicans
Lately, tightfisted and tightlipped U.S. Senate Republicans have been skulking off in the dark, dank shadows of their dirty little righty world… meeting in private… well out of the earshot of all Democrats and members of the Fourth Estate.
The purpose behind these hush-hush sessions is to allow them time to author their own, unique… no strike that… peculiar version of the American Health Care Act (a.k.a. the righties’ Obamacare “replacement”).
Is their on the sly lawmaking… no strike that… flaw-making, perhaps, to conceal how, when it comes down to helping commoners (such as yours truly), their hearts simply are not in it. Maybe they have no hearts to offer at all?
Indeed, just how can these Senators, who don’t really care, author any legislation where right there, in this proposed law’s very title itself, appears that pesky li’l word, “Care”? Of course, only they consider caring to be pesky.
If we were to ever get a fly on that chamber’s wall to talk, might he tell us that the bulk of their flaw-making time is spent agonizing over just how to put a positive spin on the phrase, “DROP DEAD”? After all… those are the two words, which aptly describe both their contempt for commoners and what will certainly become an overview of AND preamble to their carefree healthcare plan… no strike that… their carefree healthcare plot.
And carefree, in this context, does not mean anxiety free healthcare. This righty flaw-making, in all likelihood, will be mean-spirited and free of any and all caring.
Most of us can fondly recall the very first time we ever heard those magic words, “You’re hired!” In our younger days, when our résumés presented no appreciable work history, landing that first job depended more upon how well we had answered the interviewer’s questions… especially those queries specifically designed to help evaluate the level of each applicant’s work ethic, intellectual curiosity and personal integrity.
Indeed, to harbor such virtues was (hopefully still is) to earn each prospective boss’s trust… allay her/his legitimate concerns that we might be unable to meet the company’s expectations.
Of course, next came our very first day on the job… typically starting with the probationary phase where we’d remain under the constant, watchful gaze of superiors… where it’d be totally up to us to prove and improve our talents… to meet and exceed said expectations… in short… to earn our keep.
Well, nowadays, when it comes down to “hiring” / electing our representatives to government positions… well… long sigh… sad to say… it seems that expectations-wise, the bar has become set really, Really, REALLY low.
For proof, one need not look far. There’s an extraordinarily, inexperienced new hire punching the Oval Office time clock. If he, indeed, actually possesses even a minimally genuine work ethic, even a smattering of intellectual curiosity and one milligram of personal integrity… well… he’s certainly doing his very damnedest to totally deep six any evidence such virtues exist within his psyche. More to the point…
So far… he has taken an inordinate number of (golfing) breaks, which I suppose is not all bad. After all, it’s whenever he IS “on the job” that the real damage begins. His idea of “a job well done” is to mass-produce chaos. More specifically… his battle plan is to unleash economic and ecological devastation… belittle and browbeat society’s young, disabled, aged and ailing… taunt, demean, objectify and assault women… harass and dehumanize the LGBTQ community… ratchet up racial and religious intolerance… exploit and crush the working poor… promote and proliferate corrupt corporations and cronyism… inculcate, abroad, feelings of distrust, disgust and flat-out hatred towards America, which can only trigger more terrorist attacks, conventional warfare and perhaps even thermonuclear exchange / mutual assured destruction (MAD).
So far… his cocksure, Mr. Know-It-All bluster all but ensures the permanence of his closed minded, ignorance. Indeed, he exhibits an absolute unwillingness to learn one damned thing and possesses / is possessed by a resolve to fight off, tooth and nail, anyone even attempting to educate him.1
So far… be it his improper upbringing / arrested development or his being a sociopath… he cannot even be trusted to know the difference between right and wrong… that amply proven by his own relentless attempts to quash FBI director James Comey’s investigation of the whole effing mess re Russia… and then firing said director for not knuckling under.
Remembering Our First Job, again, I now ask you, if any of us had ever, similarly, turned our workplaces upside down, don’t you think we’d have been called on the carpet? Maybe even heard the words, “You’re fired!”?
Oh, what a shame that there’s no such probationary period during which an utter failure of a prez could be pink-slipped. Oh, what a pity we cannot utter #45’s favorite “You’re Fired” catchphrase and then promptly show him the door.
Regrettably, impeachment and removal from office is a task left up to the U.S. Senate and House… both legislative bodies, at present, suffering from Republican majorities and inhabited with spineless, pathetic old men. Very few of them could ever be counted on to prioritize patriotism over petty partisanship AND may even share some (if not all) of #45’s deplorable character flaws. Needless to say, left unchecked, the so-called prez will continue hammering away at America and our world until there’s nothing left.
That means, Vladimir Putin permitting, our next opportunity to “drain the swamp” and elect new respectable, responsible legislators and a new, respectable, responsible president won’t arrive (respectively) until 2018 and 2020.
That’s when my blog title, Remembering Our First Job, will take on a far more significant connotation. What this must entail is our NEVER forgetting that, via the ballot box, WE are the bosses of our leaders… NEVER vice versa.
Citizens, not just in America, but also living in every freedom and democracy loving nation, worldwide, must ALWAYS actively participate in each and every new election cycle… view all candidates to be the job applicants they are and then interview and vet them… leaving no stone unturned. To not do so?
Well… as of my blog posting time, in the past, scant six months, we’ve already seen the massive damage done because too many fools had said, “You’re hired” to an entity who, indisputably, is devoid of a genuine work ethic… is sorely lacking an insatiable intellectual curiosity and… when it comes down to possessing a rock solid level of personal integrity… the bogus businessman is morally bankrupt.
Remembering Our First Job is also to fearlessly roar out, “NEVER AGAIN!”
1The former head of the United Negro College Fund, Arthur Fletcher, had summed it up best when he coined the phrase to lament, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste!”
American government and the American pastime (a.k.a. baseball) both have sets of rules to ensure the players don’t run amok. As for the former… well… read on…
Let’s unearth underhanded Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recommended, detailed, step-by-step vetting process… i.e. how he and his archconservative, unscrupulous cronies will ensure that each and every one of the incoming admin’s corrupt, cabinet appointees are as unethical (if not more so) than they are.
Step 1. Procure a little, handheld dentist’s mirror.
Step 2. Position mirror under each applicant’s nose.
Step 3. Count to 10.
McConnell’s miscreants will rubberstamp ALL appointees who can fog up the mirror. BTW, applicants who melt down the mirror will so downright MOVE these renegade righties they’ll lose control of their sphincters and…
What if the 2016 elections involve a crisis reminiscent of Gore vs. Bush? Let’s say lower courts permit Hillary Clinton’s ballot recount and Donald Trump appeals upward to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Due to Antonin Scalia’s death, the remaining eight ideologically deadlocked judges would be unable to decide… meaning Clinton’s lower court victory would stand.
If her recount then made her POTUS, the Republicans, who’ve blocked President Obama’s attempt to appoint Scalia’s successor, would have only themselves to blame!
A clear-cut case decided by Poetic Justice!
Would Obama’s appointee have ruled pro-Hillary, anyway? Well, that’s something we’ll never, ever know.
If there is such a thing as justice, the late SCOTUS judge Antonin Scalia is burning up in HELL… an apt punishment for his participating in the (figurative) gang rape / murder of Lady Liberty.
You see… Scalia deserves that fire and brimstone fate for he had been among the 5-4 archconservative majority of black robed bastards who, in the matter of Bush v. Gore, had corruptly handed over the Oval Office keys to George W. Bush on 12-12-2000… thereby disenfranchising the Florida voters and screwing over Al Gore. As a result, a firestorm of wretched events unfolded.
A quoted passage from my 03-03-2016 blog will rundown the particulars… list all the crap that went down during W’s admin. We the People wound up with an…
“…Orwellian NSA and MSM, banana republic elections, corporate citizenship, too big to fail coddled big biz failures, an upward redistribution of wealth, a “no child left behind” spiritless “teach to the test”, backward public school system, misogyny, theocracy, homophobia, xenophobia, environmental rape, foreign oil dependence, clucking / crowing chickenhawks, warmongering / war profiteering, needless, endless no-win wars, terrorist attacks, zero gun controls and warzone municipalities where even elementary school kids get shot to death.”
You see… Scalia ALSO deserves that fire and brimstone fate because he had, once again, been among the 5-4 archconservative majority of black robed bastards who, in the matter of Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, had granted citizenship to soulless corporate entities on 01-21-2010… thereby opening the floodgates of corrupt money to bribe the candidates we see (by and large) listed on the GOP side of our ballots… thereby killing off free elections in America.
To summarize all the above… these are but two of the decisions where Scalia had “burned down” the America, which our Founding Fathers had intended for posterity… DOWN TO THE GROUND! That leaves me feeling P.O.’d… BIG TIME… and I’d certainly hope you are feeling that way, too.
These two Supreme Court decisions have far deeper ramifications, too. They’ve served to embolden present-day Righties who are now adamantly refusing to permit President Barack Obama to fulfill his Constitutional duty… to select none other than the late Antonin Scalia’s successor.
Our sitting President, in choosing Merrick Garland, a 63 year old political moderate, has demonstrated a level of compromise which one would think would appease Senate Republicans. Of course there can be no appeasement when dealing with tyrants, not even the facts that Garland is far past midlife and won’t likely see eye to eye with true blue liberals.
Call archconservative obstinacy and obstructionism a political conflagration or call it a political firestorm… but… we must… by name… call out the key, flagrantly partisan, posturing culprits. That’d be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell R-KY and Sen. Chuck Grassley R-IA.
Those swaggering senators are giddy with their absolute power / gridlock over the Obama White House… indeed, the chokehold they exert over our entire nation. I’ll let both McConnell and Grassley dig their own political graves with their own words.
Be sure to hold your nose while McConnell takes this… his verbal bowel movement:
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.”
In the stall adjacent to McConnell’s, here’s what Grassley left in the bowl:
“A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms and change the direction of the court for at least a generation is too important to get bogged down in politics. The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.”
Here’s how 2016’s Democratic presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton responded… and believe me… she flushed that entire disgusting load of Republican verbal dung down into the figurative sewer… right where it belongs.
“We chose a president. We chose him twice. And now Republicans in the Senate are acting like our votes didn’t count and that President Obama is not, still, our nation’s leader.”
“He (Grassley) says we should wait for a new president because, and I quote, ‘The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.’ Well, as one of the more than 65 million Americans who voted to re-elect President Obama, I’d say my voice is being ignored right now.”
Folks, in parting let me just state the obvious. Had Mitt Romney defeated Obama in 2012, by now, McConnell, Grassley and all the rest of their GOP senatorial brethren would’ve confirmed whatever monster the Mittster had handpicked to be Scalia’s black robed, bastard successor… and to borrow, modify and build upon a few of Grassley’s own words… that lifetime appointment would’ve negatively impacted individual freedoms and changed the direction of the court for at least a generation.
One final thing before I let you go…
Republicans are playing a dangerous game by flipping off the 65 million Americans who re-elected President Obama … that’s 65 Million with a capital M! Citizens may not vent their outrage this year… maybe not even in the lifetime of all who are alive today… but someday, when folks finally realize that they cannot effect change in an orderly manner… that’s when they’ll act in disorderly ways… and if necessary… that’ll rise up to and, perhaps, even be inclusive of a Second American Revolution.
True, our visionary Founding Fathers had thought they had covered all the bases necessary to permit a smooth transition of leadership within our representative form of government… but… then again… how could they have ever foreseen the likes of a Mitch McConnell and a Chuck Grassley?
Revisions posted 04/01/16 @ 12:34
VIDEO ADDENDUM… while the lyrics don’t enhance my message re Scalia… the imagery/instrumentation sure as Hell does. Enjoy:
CommonSenseTom 