Cruelty is the point

       Slashing the already frayed social safety net has always been a priority for Republicans ever since the halcyon days of the Reagan administration and its "welfare queens" and "strapping young bucks" racist rhetoric.   As always, a large minority of the electorate responds to this type of dog whistling.

     The sad part is that most of the cuts being discussed in the debt ceiling negotiations will fall on lower middle class GOP voters.   But most of the Republican caucus doesn't care who their spending cuts hurt.  The cruelty is the point and even the victims will applaud their hostage takers.   

They really want the wool

        In a recent post on his Jabberwocking blog, Kevin Drum shows a series of charts which point to Republicans love of misinformation as long as it confirms their predisposition  to believe it.

        It starts with a google search.   Most Democrats seem to accept the results of the search even if it contradicts their beliefs.   Republicans on the other hand tend to reject the search results if they don't confirm their prejudices.   They then go on to seek out news sources which conform or reinforce whatever conspiracy they were trying to confirm.

     In practice this means a pretty good chunk of the population is inclined to believe whatever nonsense they pick up  in the right wing media bubble.   That's a problem in a democracy which depends on a shared sense of facts.s

We did this to ourselves

       It looks like the chaos monkey caucus in the House is determined to test the full faith and credit of the United States by failing to lift the "debt ceiling" and allow the government to keep paying its bills.   It appears that the Biden administration doesn't have a plan in place to mitigate the damage and seems willing to play chicken with the nihilists.   All this drama takes place as we prepare to celebrate Memorial Day.

      I don't see how this stupidity helps either party politically.   As Social Security and Veterans checks fail to go out next week both parties will be blamed and shamed, despite the fact that Republicans are the hostage takers.  Nonetheless, Democrats will be seen as the feckless grownups who couldn't control the children.  

    Meanwhile, the rest of the world will tire of dealing with the fallout resulting from default and move on.  Dog help us all.

Time passing

       There is nothing like an anniversary or birthday to kickstart musings of mortality.  On the one hand, a 48th commemoration of a decision to live our lives together is something to celebrate. On the other hand, we also know that we won't be celebrating 48 more years unless we discover the fountain of youth.  Which is not to say we won't be buying green bananas anymore.   It's time to slow down and appreciate time passing instead of pushing toward one milestone or another.  

Time to start worrying about the debt ceiling

      I have avoided mentioning the debt ceiling crisis because it doesn't lend itself to a few hundred word essay.   Just covering the positions of both sides is mind numbing.   The consensus is defaulting on the debt is almost unspeakably bad and we should do nearly anything to avoid it.   However, negotiating with Republican hostage takers is almost as bad.  

     My own sentiment is the president should declare the debt sacrosanct per the 14th amendment and dare Republicans to challenge that position in court.   End of the entire debt ceiling controversy.  Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best.

Too Much, Too Soon?

      I am an aging baby boomer who has sympathized with the progressive movement since my college days in the early 70's.  I have supported anti-war movements,  civil rights up to and including Black Lives Matter and the rights of people to marry whomever they love.   Now comes transgender rights and while I again support the idea of transgender people to live their own lives as they see fit, I am wondering if society is suffering from LGBTQ overload.  

     The reaction by many state legislatures to restrict transgender rights is symptomatic of  a society which is reeling from a civil rights whiplash.   It's unfashionable in progressive circles to ease off when it comes to the demands of folks to refer to transgender people by pronouns that have to be guessed sometimes.  I guess being brought up in a binary society it is difficult for many of us to adjust to gender fluidity.  Time will tell if we are ready as a society to accept a man, woman, transgender social alignment.

Glibertarians

        The Republican party is supposedly the party of personal freedom, small government and tolerance.   It turns out they are for freedom to carry guns, small government only when it comes to business regulation and tolerance when it suits them.

        Consider state governments controlled by the GOP.  They are busy passing legislation allowing more guns in more places, laws doing away with reproductive freedom as well as shield laws protecting gun manufacturers.   The other thing obsessing Republicans is education.  They want to control what the youth of America can learn in school, particularly in the area of history.   Of course, voter suppression is also on the GOP agenda.  So much for "the laboratories of democracy".

Feckless Invertebrates

        Joe Biden has cut off much of a far east trip in order to negotiate with Republicans to raise the debt ceiling.   How he can do this after telling the American public he would refuse to parlay with hostage takers is beyond me.   Now that he has set a precedent, the House MAGA caucus will do this whenever they are in a majority.   Biden will get the worst of both worlds.  He will be perceived as weak by both supporters and opponents and no matter what compromise is reached he will be blamed by both sides.   Not a good look heading into an election year. 

Perception is everything

        According to Paul Krugman in today's NYT, the economy is doing better than almost everyone is giving it credit for, but meanwhile, if you ask how they are doing, most people say they are happy with their own situation.   It's some other guy who must be feeling the pain of economic dislocation.  

      In another article on AGI or artificial general intelligence, some people are quoted as saying true AGI is here, while others claim it is a chimera and will probably never be attained.   Attitude and perception, filtered through a welter of human prejudices define how we look at and try to make sense of the world.

      Our views on the economy are in large part influenced by our political leanings instead of the actual data.   Similarly, the AGI researchers are influenced by their prejudices regarding the superiority of our monkey brains as opposed to machine intelligence.   As my old mentor, Jerry Shulman said regarding a customer, " He's mad at a nickel because it's not a dime".

It's the weather, stupid

         Or perhaps, it's the stupid weather.   After a couple of teasingly warm days, the weekend was cool and dry with a brisk north wind.  I'm pretty sure the snap bean seed i planted on Thursday is getting ready to start rotting in the ground as the soil temperatures took a dive.   Around the north country fields are being plowed and seeds sowed but good growing conditions will be necessary fairly soon.  A wet spring is rapidly giving way to drier conditions.   The apple orchards are about a week ahead of schedule and it looks like we may dodge the late frost which weather like this sets us up for.  

Cultist's lament

      The headline of an article in today's NYT says tRump's rivals for the GOP presidential nomination have "failed to gain traction".   Talk about understatement!

       Since the twice impeached, failed former president was inaugurated in Jan. 2017, the Republican party has become a full fledged cult of personality.  To criticize the dear leader is tantamount to sacrilege.  Therefore no one can challenge the leader for fear of excommunication.

        On Wednesday, CNN hosted a glorified campaign rally for the front runner.   Only true believers were allowed in the audience.  The ground rules for participation included no booing.  The result was horrific as the cultists applauded the misogynistic ranting of a thoroughly un-American candidate and implicated themselves in the devolution of our democracy into authoritarianism.   

       Despite misgivings, many reasonable Republicans will vote for this charlatan because of political tribalism.   This is America in 2023.

Collision of truth and fiction

       tRump's "town hall" and George Santos' indictment offer an interesting look at the modern Republican party's identity crisis.   Both tRump's and Santos have been lying to the American public nonstop; in tRump's case for decades and in Santos' since his initial run for congress in 2020.   What they have in common is contempt for the average voter and an abiding sense of entitlement.

       Both demagogues are easily fact checked and the falsehoods  exposed.   The difference is there are few voters and GOP officials willing to go to the mat for Santos, while tRump still seems to have the overwhelming support of the party.   I believe much of tRump's support is now baked into the electorate.  They have intertwined  their identity around the notion of tRump's lies being true.  To admit he is a mountebank and a carnival barker would call their entire worldview into question.   In this case it is easier to support and believe a liar than admit being conned.   Very few people are invested in George Santos in that way.   

Rule of Law, 1, tRump, 0..

        In a somewhat unexpected verdict, a jury of 6 men and 3 women found Donald Trump guilty of sexual abuse and defamation of E. Jean Carroll.  The jury awarded  Ms. Carroll $5  million in compensatory and punitive damages in a civil court trial. 

       This is the first of many shoes that will be dropping on the twice impeached, disgraced former president as the calendar slips toward 2024.   Next up, probable felony indictments in the Mar a Lago federal documents case, the Geogia election law case and another federal indictment for seditious conspiracy in the January 6 insurrection.

      It is entirely possible tRump could be convicted of one or more of these charges before the 2024 election in which case the GOP could be running a felon for president.   Ugh.

Alt white and anti-woke

      The latest mass shooting in America, occurring in Dallas this past weekend, was perpetrated by a white supremacist by the name of Mauricio Garcia.   According to newspaper reports, Garcia is a hispanic bigot in the mold of Ted Cruz or proud boys leader, Enrique Tarrio.  They can pass as white men, but they will never be accepted by the white establishment in this country.   However, this won't stop men like Garcia from venting their hate via mass shootings.  

     

The hits keep coming

       Courtesy of another Pro Publica article, we now know Clarence Thomas' sugar daddy, Harlan Crow, paid the tuition of the Supreme Court justice's ward at a boarding school to the tune of $6,000/month for at least a year and probably more.   It has been estimated the total of Crow's largesse to Thomas is close to a million dollars.  Now comes a story that shows Thomas' wife, Ginni was in  on the grift also.   She was paid nearly $100,000 to act as a pollster gauging public opinion in the runup to the 2020 election.  It is unclear if she performed any actual work for the money.

     This is minority rule on steroids.   Republicans in general and Thomas in particular have thumbed their noses at any rules or norms meant to curb the appearance of corruption.  By doing so they have made the argument for firm ethics rules for the Supreme Court and for the abolition of lifetime appointments.

Is this our future?

        A mentally ill homeless person was killed by a fellow subway rider the other day and when New York's governor, Kathy Hochul was asked about the murder she replied, '' behavior has consequences", thereby condoning vigilante justice.   

      The entire episode brings to mind the dystopian future imagined by one of the favorite writers of my youth, Robert Heinlein.  He proposed a world not unlike today's America where most people are armed and willing to use deadly force at the drop of the proverbial hat.  Those who prefer not to go armed are treated as second class citizens with no right to challenge their betters.   

      Meanwhile, the subway rider who literally killed Jordan Neely was released from police custody without charges.  I guess it is only a matter of time before an armed person kills someone for the crime of yelling in a subway car.  Welcome to the future.

Black is White, Chapter 45

       Listening to the chaos monkeys in the Republican caucus in the House and Senate is perversely funny.   MTG on the one side and John Kennedy on the other can be seen as competing to see who can throw the most poo at the political process and can be seen as the most ridiculous while doing so.

      Forget about reality.   These Republicans exist in a Bizzaro world where up is down, freedom is slavery and white is black.   Cutting 20% of the already fragile safety net which prevents many of their constituents from falling into poverty is seen by them as an heroic attempt to reduce the deficit they cared nothing about while a Republican was president.

     This is just a small sample of the rampant projection the entire caucus suffers from.    Darwin would be proud of evident proof of the theory of devolution.

He could read my mind

        Gordon Lightfoot died on Monday evening in Toronto.  He was 84.   A part of my youth died with him.   I remember spinning some of his early albums on my stereo until they were reduced to a series of pops and clicks.

       Of course he is best remembered for "The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", a ballad about the sinking of an ore carrier on Lake Superior in the  1970's.  I preferred his more contemplative songs, like "If you could read my mind" and "Early Morning Rain".   As he and other folk singers from the early 60s die, it puts a melancholy coda to my own youth and that of so many other baby boomers who made singers like Lightfoot stars.   RIP Gordon.