I'm old, fat, and poor, but all I ask is to outlast Donald Trump. Please, God who doesn't exist, let me wake one morning, roll over and click the internet, and be greeted with the joyous news of Trump's eternal demise. And let it be soon.
As a general rule I don't dance, but I'll be dancing in the street.
Little thinks go wrong in life, and I cuss and punch the wall, but my problems are usually my own damned fault. It's politics that really honks me off.
The solutions are obvious, but not allowed, not even proposed. Instead, we're supposed to write letters to our CongressCritters, that nobody but AI or an intern will read.
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| #448 [archive] AUG. 28, 2024 |
You and I and every member of Congress already knows: We could 90% solve 90% of the biggest problems, dang near overnight, with funding from a reasonable tax hike for billionaires.
We could have universal health care, climate change under control, shelters for everyone on the street, counseling for addicts, day care for kids, quality public education, and Peace On Earth — and rich bastards could still be unfathomably rich.
But they'd be 11.3% less rich or some such, and OMG we can't have that. That's why nobody with the power to fix things wants anything fixed.
Best we can do is Kamala Harris, fer fuck's sake. She's probably a decent person, but totally status quo. There are no solutions in her. It's just that, unlike the opposition, she won't actively, publicly work at making things worse.
Our hopes for anything better are so shattered, we're so accustomed to hope being impossible, we're actually happy with Harris.
And me, too. I'm frickin' giddy.
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Having been shocked into a perpetual state of shock, it takes something special for Donny Trump or Republicans (same beast) to shock me, but this does it:
Trump campaign staff had altercation with official at Arlington National Cemetery
Excerpt: ... A source with knowledge of the incident said the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried. The source said Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff members would be authorized to take photographs or film in the area, known as Section 60.
When the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staff from entering Section 60, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official aside, according to the source. ...
… "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," according to the statement. "Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants."
Dig it: This enormous ass-hat Trump staged an illegal photo op at Arlington, and when cemetery staffers objected, they were shoved out of the way.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will offer free COVID-19 tests, but of course, vaccines and treatment will remain expensive and out-of-reach for the poor.
There's a difficult-to-navigate 'Bridge Program', which provides free COVID vaccines to the uninsured, but it expires at the end of August, 2024 — Saturday. And I can't get an appointment before September 6, so screw it, I'll be unvaxxed.
America is so stupid, and I'm so American.
Lowe's becomes latest company to dial back DEI efforts aimed at LGBTQ
Trump-appointed judge halts path to citizenship of over half a million immigrants
Plutonium levels near US atomic site in Los Alamos similar to Chornobyl, study finds
Corrupt Texas Attorney General raids Latinos' homes over "election fraud"
A country where Ken Paxton isn't in prison knows nothing of justice.
Human Rights Watch: Palestinian healthcare workers chained, starved, sexually abused
Judge blocks Missouri AG's Elon-inspired censorial vindictive "investigation" into Media Matters
Ignoring the climate emergency:
• Climate change is messing with city sewers — and the solutions are even messier
• Australia's early spring brings budding flowers, chirping birds – and climate alarm
• The world's largest wetland is burning, and rare animals are dying
• "Corn sweat" and climate change bring sweltering weather to the Midwest
• US tourist dies in ice collapse at Icelandic glacier
• 24 Republican-led states urge Supreme Court to pause EPA-mandated methane reductions
• And yesterday, on an August afternoon in Seattle, a huge hailstorm cracked a window on the side of my house. Never seen hail in August before.
... but there's money to be made, so la di da, la di da.
Bad guys wear badges:
• Police spied on Ore. activists as they planned protests, movie nights, ACLU alleges
• Maryland police officer convicted of tossing smoke bomb at police during Capitol riot
• Chicago cop accused of attacking girlfriend during drunken rampage at police station
• Off-duty Wyoming cop accused of threatening five officers; held on $500K cash-only bond
• Rhode Island police officer accused of urinating on woman's $180 cowboy boots at Chesney show
⚡ LINKS FOR THINKS ⚡
• The dentist who became an artist
• This epic monument from 6,000 years ago is a feat of stone age engineering
⚰️ DEAD PEOPLE ⚰️
Kevin Berry
forgotten person
Cohen Craddock
football player
Daniel Edward Freeman
in county jail
Jessica Witzel Hofmann
forgotten person
John Arthur Hoffman
forgotten person
Bruce Johnson
First Amendment lawyer
Sean Johnson
forgotten person
Bailey Lyle
in county jail
Patrick Murdock
in county jail
Caden Tellier
football player
8/28/2024
Logo illustration by Jeff Meyer. All opinions fresh from my ass. Click any image to enlarge. Comments & conversations invited.
Tip 'o the hat to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Atomic Raunch, Bleepity-Bleep, Breakfast at Ralf's, Dopplegänger Rental, Ensalada de lengua de pajaritos, A Sudden Violent Jerk, Mr Souza's Happy Place, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I've stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Wynn Bruce, Joey Jo Jo emeritus, Jeff Meyer, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn't always shitty.
I saw the other day that they removed opposition to the death penalty from the platform at the same DNC where they hosted the Central Park 5. So the message is clearly that we need to free the unjustly accused, but if it takes too long then we just have to kill them.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for a *single word* about whether or not Harris will keep Biden's pro-labor and anti-trust regulators, the two things I think are just insanely consequential to the working class. The Blue Billionaires went on CNN right after she took over the ticket and said the money will flow and it will all be so easy if she just gets rid of these "anti-business" people. She has both political and family ties to people who want to end that, but we're deep into the "say nothing and hope they think you stand for everything" strategy.
This is easily the dumbest election of my lifetime.
You're refusing to get into the festive spirit of the proceedings? Ha ha.
DeleteHarris has two things going for her -- she's not Trump, and she's not Biden. She also has some measurable charisma, which I'm immune to but might help with voter turnout.
Optimistically, she's the finest Democratic candidate in at least 12 years, if only because she's largely a blank slate -- doesn't have a long trail of stupid votes in Congress. But I'm 99% certain she's just another nothing-much Democrat, and I expect nothing much, so she can't disappoint me.
If you have Medicare you should be able to get the latest Covid vaccine at Safeway and other places, at no cost. At least, that's the case in CA, and I'm sure it's the same in Washington state.
ReplyDeleteI don't have Medicare.
DeleteIt's always a surprise, so it shouldn't be a surprise at all, how little I know. I didn't know this was titled "The New Colossus," which seems a strange title. Is the new colossus the statue itself? What was the old colossus?
ReplyDeleteGuess I always thought it was longer, too, and that the part I'd heard was just a fragment. More poems should be short like this.
'Tis a beautiful poem, of course — a lovely satire of America.
Shakespeare failed to anticipate the tank, so the horsemen in Henry V had to wear heavy armor and drown in the muck of damp battle while their horses rode away free. He didn't intend it as a satire on the deadliness of armor. The world changed and battle changed.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young man, the top marginal tax rate was 91%, and there were loopholes but WAY fewer than there are now. Now the top marginal tax rate is 37% and there are WAY more loopholes than there used to be.
Now I could write a satire on how the wealthy pay less tax than I do. But I couldn't do it when I was a lad because time travel hadn't been invented yet.
The new colossus is the Statue of Liberty. The old colossus was the Colossus of Rhodes, which stood tall in the harbor of the Greek city of Rhodes. Ms Lazarus was contrasting the "old world" view of the value of hard working poor people with America's view, which was only slightly more progressive, but the United States was beginning to build medical and housing facilities for the poor in her time. Also, America didn't make the Jewish people live in separate enclaves as some European countries did (Ms Lazarus was Jewish).
As in many great poems, the words are few but every one has a purpose.
John
Oooh, there's a movie by Sergio Leone, starring Rory Calhoun, and I've of course added it to the list.
ReplyDeleteThe new one's a fine statue, but of course everything about it has been rendered bogus, and it's only getting bogusser.
In order to get the tax rate for billionaires where it should be, we need a socialist revolt, with a well-oiled guillotine. Cuz if they still have their heads they'll never allow a substantial tax hike.
I suppose the poet's point is that we are a nation of immigrants and the more we see ourselves that way, the closer we come to seeing ourselves accurately. Or maybe her point is that it's too hard to change things and we should just give up.
ReplyDeleteJohn
She's one of my top five Emmas, and probably in my top ten poets by default, since there aren't many more than ten poets I could even name, unless rock lyrics count.
ReplyDeleteEmma Lazarus bought the American PR, same as most of us, same as me. I've moved along, and she had more reason to believe it, being as in her time it wasn't such obvious bullshit. Might have arguably had some truth to it, even. Now she's part of the American PR, and like all the other parts, it's wondrous PR and what a wondrous place would be this place, if only we lived up to it.