Tag: Trumpism

D. W. Washburn

Saturday morning and we’re looking ahead into a lovely weekend. How lovely! I stayed up later than I should have, and woke up later than I would have like this morning (thank you for getting me up this morning, Sparky). I think it’s going to be another wet day–I woke up to thunder, and it rained all night, too–which will make running my last errand of the weekend today a challenge, but nothing I can’t live with. I did get most of the errands done yesterday, which was wonderful and lovely because I was able to do it all before the rain got too heavy. The rain started when I was leaving the grocery store and I managed to get home before it turned into le dèluge.

I also spent some time watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, which was very diverse and naturally, pissed off MAGA who are now not going to watch the Olympics (watch them demand tickets and do lots of selfies with Olympians in Los Angeles in 2024, though; hypocrisy is their primary value), since nothing says “patriot” quite like not supporting American athletes…until their sexuality or gender identity or race plays into it. Or they dare to have thoughts about anything other than their sport, because that’s all they are there for–but will boost groupthink that aligns with theirs, like Harrison Butker–the piece of shit Serena Williams ended at the ESPY awards. I do love the Olympics, and while I wasn’t completely wild about the boat parade, at least they tried something new.

In fact, the entire broadcast was way too diverse for MAGA. There’s no one quite like the French when it comes to flipping off authoritarianism. It’s also looking like we have finally learned the most important lesson when it comes to this sort of thing, and ironically, we learned it from the French once again; it was France that was able to unite against Fascism and halt it in an election, and now it seems like the American left–Democrats, liberals, moderates, and progressives–are uniting against an existential threat and putting our differences aside to save democracy. We also need to learn the lesson of the Obama administration–don’t let the Fascists even get a toe in again. The Tea Party evolved into Trumpism and MAGA; populist movements on the right inevitably descend into Christofascism. And seriously have you ever seen such a joyless movement as MAGA? It’s all about nastiness and being mean, and leaning into that, and trying to stomp out joy for others so we can all be as miserable and bitter as they are. They stand for nothing except cruelty, and cosplay as Christians (there are few things less Christian than deliberate cruelty and a lack of compassion) to mask their nastiness in some kind of moral pretense that it’s not them, it’s their religion?

I thought the point of religion was joy, which I guess is my bad for taking Sunday school and sermons seriously. Or maybe I was just supposed to take the lessons I was learning and twist them into justifications for non-Christian like behavior? Sorry, Christofascists, my DNA came with the cognitive dissonance gene for my brain, along with rational thought and logic–which is why they hate science and math so much, I guess, because that’s what they teach, logic and reason. Now that we’ve removed Civics and Philosophy from educational requirements, that’s the only place students can learn those skills now, and it should come as no surprise most Americans only take the basic required Math and Science courses and nothing beyond. I will admit when I was taking those advanced classes in high school I thought it was a waste of time; I was going into neither field so why did I need Trigonometry and Chemistry and Physics and so forth? I would never use those skills….but now, all these years later, I realize that those courses taught me how to use logic and rationality to solve problems. And I’ve used those skills quite frequently as an adult.

Mom and Dad were right and not being mean to make me take them.

All right, I am going to get a move on. I need to run my errand, do some picking up around here, and write today. I also would like to read for a little while this weekend, but maybe I’ll do that to take breaks from writing. I used to do this–read for an hour, write for an hour, and switch back and forth like that, and it worked. I need to work on a short story today, too, and maybe I can wake up tomorrow feeling accomplished after getting so much done today. Have a lovely Saturday, Constant Reader, and I’ll probably be back later at some point as I have trouble staying away sometimes.

Something for those who like hairy men. I do, too, but they are much harder to find than the waxed ones.

Alvin’s Harmonica

Here we are on another Wednesday Pay the Bills Day, and are we feeling bright and chipper this morning? No, not really, but we’re getting closer to the weekend and that’s always a good thing.

We’re also in a “severe weather alert” and there’s currently a tornado warning until one pm. That should make driving to work exciting, should it not? Sigh. The weather is supposed to be bad all day–high winds and heavy rains, on top of the tornado warning–which also means an odd day at work. Will people try to come in to keep their appointments in inclement weather like this? You never know, and so the entire day is going to be weird like that. We’re also having a site visit from our chief funders for my program today, so I also need to be on my toes. We’re ready for the visit; I got everything caught up that I needed to for this, and so it’s just a matter of making sure everything today runs as smoothly as possible. Heavy sigh. And after some more checking, I see that City Hall is closed today for the weather, they’re allowing parking on the neutral ground because of potential flooding, and yeah, not looking forward to getting there or driving home later today. But at least if there is a tornado, our office building is probably the safest place for me to be during a tornado anyway.

I was very tired when I got home from work yesterday, and so didn’t get very much done. We watched the new Netflix movie Scoop, about the notorious BBC interview with Prince Andrew after the whole Epstein thing went public that basically ended him as an active royal–his titles and responsibilities taken away and forced to live quietly for the rest of his life out of the spotlight and public eye. It was interesting, and had some terrific performances. After that I got up to do chores before bed, so I got the dishes put away and did several loads of laundry before going to bed. Tonight I will do another load of dishes and then the kitchen will be in relatively good shape.

It’s already started raining, and I can tell it’s going to be one of those “oh the city is definitely going to flood” storms, and it’s not going to let up much all day. Huzzah. The pumps all seem to be working, though, which is always a plus. It’s the kind of day where my preference would be to sit in my chair wrapped up in a blanket while Sparky sleeps in my lap and I read more of The Cypress House–it’s a wonderful day for being snug and warm with a book while you listen to the rain come down and the occasional thunder.

Ah, well, maybe it’ll rain this weekend and I can do that.

A lot has happened in the world and culture over the last week or so, and I’ve unfortunately not really remembered to make commentary on some of it. Congratulations to the South Carolina Gamecocks and Coach Dawn Staley on a fantastic season and a national title! I was also incredibly impressed with Coach Staley’s response to the gotcha question about transwomen in sport before the game–which she also called out and didn’t care about any controversy or backlash to her opinion–and that’s the kind of ally-ship we need and deserve. She is a class act in every way, and what she has built at South Carolina is the kind of dynasty the Tennessee women used to enjoy under Pat Summitt, and that is saying a lot.

And almost every day I almost fly into a rage at the right-wing’s attempts to legislate women’s healthcare and bodily autonomy, with the latest outrage courtesy of the Arizona Supreme Court, overruling a recent fifteen-week ban legislated and putting a draconian law from the OLD WEST DAYS OF 1860 TO GO INTO EFFECT. Those fucks are a disgrace to American jurisprudence, and I love that the Attorney General flat out said “we’re not enforcing it, fuck those pieces of shit.” And don’t think for a minute that the evangelicals won’t come for birth control (they’ve already abolished IVF in Alabama) and same sex marriage. You know, I hate to break it to these blasphemous idolators (Trumpism is idolatry, sorry not sorry, have fun in Hell: thou shalt have no other gods before Me). If you want an idea of the country and culture they want, look no further than Puritan Massachusetts. Remember The Scarlet Letter? That’s the kind of shit they want to bring back. You can never ever give a religious extremist an inch….because when you do, they want everything. (And Catholics, don’t think you aren’t on their list after they outlaw and get rid of everyone else. Right after the Jews, they’ll come for you because they always have to have an enemy. The Right’s entire purpose is scapegoating and blaming minorities for everything. So when things continue to suck after they’ve gotten rid of the “problem minorities,” they’ll have to find another group to blame. Remember how the Soviet Union collapsed and the Right didn’t have another enemy in place? Saddam Hussein stepped into that vacuum happily.)

Okay, I am going to brave the elements and go to work. Have a lovely Wednesday, and I will chat with you again maybe later, Constant Reader.