Politics

That poor child. At least the parents chose freedom.

When my wife was pregnant with our first child, we went interviewing pediatricians. I am aware writing “interviewing pediatricians” makes it seem like I’m from some elitist society, but that’s what it was (is?) called.

Anyway, we knew the first doctor we met with, and that we stayed with, was the right one when he said, “We are a practice that uses vaccines, and if that isn’t something you agree to, we shouldn’t continue.”

I remember thinking how odd the statement was. It didn’t even occur to me that folks were shunning vaccines. Religious reasons? What does that even mean? That’s not how science works. And it’s most definitely not how viruses work. I’m not even a doctor.

I want to shout, “More of this!” in response to DOGE staffers resigning, but it’s not like many folks can quit their jobs and still survive. So I guess I just say, “I like this.”

I guess I will go to my grave not understanding why old, rich people don’t simply enjoy their remaining days. Heck, I don’t understand why really, really rich people, regardless of age, just don’t enjoy themselves. Make room for others to do the (whatever)!

I really don’t want to think about the idea that causing problems is what the rich do to enjoy themselves. And, yes, this has to do with Musk. And with Ellerson. And with Trump. And with…

I’m less interested in voters who might be regretting their vote for Trump (because, no duh) and more interested in the folks who see this all as “Hell, yeah! This is working out great.” What’s that brain situation like?

I was going to link to the positive effects of NYC’s Congestion Pricing.

But then King Cheeto got involved. I don’t even know why since he doesn’t even live here. Perhaps it’s purely because he hates NYC for hating him and that translates to making it worse for folks living here. So much for States’ Rights, I guess.

And, man, I don’t understand my governor Kathy Hochul. She delayed this and even lowered the fee (forget the part where she totally made up the part where diner owners in NYC were worried folks from NJ weren’t going to go from NJ to NYC to go to a diner). But now that John Barron is getting all pushy Hochul is now in favor of it? Yeah, I know it’s working as intended and that’s why she is in favor of it, but not for lack of trying to make it not work.

I am seriously wondering how long before Trump dissolves the Congress, seeing as he and the US AG now decide what laws mean.

The media will be our downfall, normalization edition: Stop Analyzing Trump’s Unhinged Ideas Like They’re Normal Policy Proposals.

Think of how many folks you know who use The New York Times as a reference point to form their opinions. That’s why we will never, ever move forward (by that I mean, to the left) as a country.

My library has a small exhibit about James Baldwin. One quote from Baldwin stood out to me:

The greatest danger is “when the loveless come to power.”

That is the perfect description of what is happening now in the United States of America.

Since everyone is up in arms about it, I would like to go on the record that I did not donate to Trump’s inauguration. And I find it ever more distasteful to learn of those that did.

For a long time one of the activities we’ve done during supper (as a family and now as just a couple, since the kiddos are off at college) is to watch the “news” with Late Night with Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue.

Since the election, however, we’ve bascally stopped. It’s simply too depressing.

My suggesion to Mr. Meyers is to have a weekly bit where Bernie Sanders won the election and do a fake news segment about that. Each week I’d like to hear some funny quips about what upset President Sanders and how the right (and, frankly, most of the Dems) are fighting his administration’s good ideas. Soup!

I have never been so wrong about anything than the way I told my family and all my friends to not be so anxious about the election, Harris was going to win. Both of my children were eligible to vote in this election and I was (and am) proud they both did vote, but wow was I wrong.

I was wrong about:

I’m going to be doing a lot of reflecting on what I didn’t see.

The LA Times and The Washington Post have both chosen to decline to endorse a candidate for president. At this time of the election cycle? In this political climate? At this time of need? Localized entirely around billionaires? Our media will be our downfall, indeed.

Thanks to early voting in NYC, we just voted. Please, please don’t let this be the last election.

Adams indicted today. Giuliani disbarred in D.C. today. When is the last time NYC has had a good mayor?

I would like to propose an amendment that allows Tim Walz, once he’s elected to be vice president, to also be my governor and mayor because Hochul and Adams are both terrible at it.

Now that Harris is going to be the Dem nominee, I think she should pick Gretchen Whitmer. She is the best choice and so that ticket would be a hell of a contrast to the GOP.

I am willing to bet a lot of this “Joe Biden must drop out” nonsense if because of this: IRS reports collecting $1 billion from rich households’ back taxes.

The IRS reported Wednesday that it has collected $1 billion in taxes and penalties owed by hundreds of wealthy households who accumulated past-due tax debts for years while IRS enforcement dwindled.

“The tax bill wasn’t even in dispute — the taxes were clearly owed by these people,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a call with reporters. “But we didn’t have the people or the resources. … It takes time and staffing to work through these cases.” Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.

The tax agency, boosted by $60 billion in additional funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, has hired hundreds of skilled accountants over the past year and a half after years of shrinking staffing.

Is Biden old? Yes. Really old? Yes. But Biden has been far better than I expected and he’s doing the job (gaffes and all). Should we have a younger person in there? Assuming as qualified, 100%. But it’s Joe. Dems need to push the DNC to embrace the younger folks rather than fight them.

The problem, I assume, is the youngs want it all to be better and that costs money which means higher taxes (for the rich). The rich do not want that. At all.

I’d love to see a Harris/AOC ticket. Or Whitmer/AOC ticket. I hope one day to be able to vote for AOC for president. By the way, it’s a damn shame the Dems aren’t not 100% backing her impeachment movement against Thomas and Alito.

Supreme Court essentially killing regulation is bad, NY Times saying Biden should resign because of one bad debate while saying nothing about Trump and his convictions is insane, and Martin Mull was great on VEEP.

Kathy Hochul’s decision to “pause” congestion pricing in NYC is cowardly, disingenuous, and wrong.

It reminds me of the decision Michael Bloomberg (of whom I am no fan) made banning smoking in bars and restaurants. The critics all came out saying it would hurt those businesses. Of course, the opposite happened.

It’s the same with congestion pricing: It won’t harm business, it will ultimately help them. A lot. There are many examples of that kind of article if you look around.

It’s extra frustrating as we see more and more European cities ban cars to simply wonderful results.

I would bet money the people who influenced Hochul don’t even come into the city.

A lot of people (all smarter than me) are very perplexed by the Apple lawsuitt brought forth by the U.S. DOJ. I wonder if this office shutting down is the answer to this and many other confusing statements by members of Congress when it comes to technology.

We do love our children so part 293845. So many of our elected leaders are monsters.

Our media willl be our downfall, part sigh. Nice work by CJR.

Idiocracy is coming on fast.

We are led by the best and the brightest, aren’t we?

How many GOPers are wearing their assault rifle pins still?

If you had asked me at any point in my life up until this week, “Would attempting to illegally invalidate a federal election result in prison time?” I would have said yes.

I would have been wrong. The answer is, mostly, bygones.

People: Can we have a single-payer healthcare system?
Government: Can’t afford it.
People: Fully funded schools?
Government: Can’t afford it.
People: More trains so people don’t have to own cars?
Government: Can’t afford it.
People: What can we afford?
Government: Best we can do is war.

America’s priorities are something else.

Some Houston school libraries will become disciplinary spaces

and

Cost of building a super-size Alabama prison rises to more than $1 billion

The media will be our downfall part infinity.

As little as I have loved Republicans the past few years, coinciding with the rise of our own little autocrat, at least Donald Trump knows how to dress. I can’t imagine that even he would demean his office or his country by dressing down, as is now the “code” for senators. Clothes might not make the man or woman, but they do tell us a great deal about them.

Yeah, fuck those actions. It’s what you are wearing. The fact we* are talking about Fetterman’s dress means we aren’t paying attention (or don’t care) about what is going on. “Call me old fashioned,” says the old white lady. I’ll do you one better. You are a problem.

*We being our media.

We do love our children so.