What’s It Gonna Be?

The Supreme Court ain’t so supreme, of late.

Maybe it has always benefited from a certain undeserved mystique- its members aren’t gods, after all, just human beings tasked with important work. Justices over the years have produced many landmark decisions seemingly based on a sincere and fair treatment of testimony and applicable law, even charting new ground from time to time, especially when it comes to human rights and bodily autonomy.

Lately, though, there seems to be some backsliding. More suspicion, more doubt, more finger pointing in the direction of a hand-picked conservative majority on a mission to, oh, I don’t know, tighten things up, bring us back to a “better” place that pleases straight, white Christians everywhere.

In the midst of the Trump mess, the court seems to not want to stick its neck out and abide by the 14th Amendment provision of forbidding insurrectionists from running for office. Though he hasn’t been accused yet, many know what Trump did and who and what he really is, and how dangerous he has become.

So maybe it comes down to how closely the court adheres to the letter of the law, along with its efforts to reel in the temptation to react to certain public sentiment, and to what many are seeing with their own eyes: Trump running roughshod over, and even making a mockery of certain norms that have long served as guardrails.

Sometimes it looks like nothing can be done to make him go away.

Does a wild bear…?

Of course it’s unconstitutional!  Pretty much everything Trump has tried or succeeded at is either unconstitutional, bordering on unconstitutional, or just plain infantile and foolish. Anything he tries from here until November 3 should be viewed with suspicion.

Of course he’s up to something, and of course it’s likely to be some nefarious plan to screw somebody.

If it was anyone else trying this shit, they most likely wouldn’t get away with it or get this far, but Trump is banking on the power of his office and some apparently slick lawyering and people he assumes are in his pocket to make it further than most others would. Clamping down on mail-in ballots is of course intended to suppress Democrats’ votes. What else could it be?

The fact that he himself uses mail-in voting is not at issue—he’s Donald Trump and POTUS, unfortunately. He turns a blind eye to hypocrisy, so he has nothing to worry about on that front. But he and the rest of the posse of lowlife ass-kissers are seeing the writing on the wall and what may await them on the other side of November 3, so it’s no holds barred the rest of the way until Election Day.

Of course it’s unconstitutional or at least reeking with shady intent.

Take your pick of any multi-syllable word in that previous sentence, or string ‘em all together. It’s not a complete sentence, but you get the idea.

Brief Encounter

Daily writing prompt
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done when no one was watching?

Something that came to mind happened a long time ago, maybe during high school or a bit after. I was shoveling our driveway after a heavy snow and noticed two or three kids acting like typical wise guys– throwing snowballs at passing cars, kicking snow I had shoveled back into our driveway, maybe some other stuff– some details are lost to the passage of time.

In any event, I happened to appear as these shenanigans were unfolding and either said something or gave them a look, though I am by no means an intimidating figure. Two of the kids ran off, but one kid stopped and actually helped repair the minor damage they had done. I told him, “Nice friends you have there,” or some such thing, and he eventually walked off.

I don’t know how brave it was, or if it was all that risky to get involved, but I felt good about the outcome.

Insidious

“Hey old man, how can you stand to think that way?”

It’s an old Bruce Hornsby lyric with staying power, written back in the mid-80s. It has stood the test of time and has come around again, since it currently applies to Donald Trump and the Heritage Foundation and their To Do List (i.e. Project 2025) that includes discounting the value of science and scientific theory and research, along with reading, and education in general.

Paula Poundstone, who is to be commended for being a thorn in this administration’s side since at least January of 2025 and probably long before, reminded her viewers in a recent post that the whole antisemitic excuse Trump rolled out in his threats against Harvard and Columbia and other universities is really just a means to dumbing us down.

The method to the madness is that if the means of learning and critical thinking are curtailed or removed, what will develop is a population of brainless sheep who can be told anything—that war is good, that vaccines are horrible, that any person of color is a lazy, criminal lowlife, or that old crock of shit about Donald being the only one who can fix things.

The idea is that if the means of maturing one’s thought processes are taken away, then people will be reduced to uniformity and ignorance, looking to their fearless leader for everything– guidance, answers, even sustenance. How messed up is that?!

That’s just the way it is? Better not be. Ever.

Reality Bytes

Such a person is like a good mechanic, or a good doctor—they don’t exactly grow on trees and one hopes they’ll be around for a while.

I’m talking about someone who tells the truth, who’s capable and reasonable and trustworthy.

One minute, for example, AI is amazing and the wave of the future. But now it’s the villain, frightening, apparently out of control already. And the brains behind it are portrayed as self-interested ogres willing to sell their souls for a hook, line, and sinker buy-in and silk glove treatment from Congress.

Not long ago in our neck of the woods, several families realized an influx of life-changing cash because they sold their property for data center construction. I imagine it being a case of taking the money and running, but I wonder if they have any regrets or give any thought to the transaction at this point—what they’ve wrought by having a hand in facilitating what once was a godsend but is now more of a boondoggle.

Our Governor here in PA has even changed his tune– since earlier this year!

Who do we believe regarding these data centers? Are they all for AI, or are they also being built to handle existing and future demand for streaming services and YouTube and cloud storage and internet capacity in general?

Who do we believe?! The ones who are warning about Big Brother, the ones who have nothing good to say about the demands of these facilities in terms of water and electricity use and the effect they will have on our own electric bills, opportunities for employment, and quality of life? Or, the ones who tell us to calm down, not to worry, that there’s a lot of misinformation out there?

It’s getting more difficult to tell the difference between good and bad information. And that’s a lousy place to be.

A Couple of Things

Daily writing prompt
What’s something you do completely differently from how you were raised?

Lately, or since I retired, I spend my Sunday mornings differently than I did for the first 67 years of my life. Haven’t been to church more than a handful of times since October 2021. I can’t say I miss it, yet there is a hole, still a yearning, maybe some guilt.

But whenever I get the urge to search for a worshiping community, it’s not long before I think about expectations, and the likelihood of hearing anything that I haven’t heard thousands of times already– familiar talking points, appeals to faith, the assurance that God is always with us… It’s all sounding like empty platitude anymore.

That, and we didn’t have alcohol in the house. We do now, and I partake on Tuesdays when we Zoom, and occasionally when I’m cooking a meal– a glass of white or red, like Julia Child used to do. Quite enjoyable.

Some Multi-tasking

If there is indeed a blue wave in November, I hope Democrats don’t waste their mandate going after people. That would be a disservice to us all. There are way bigger fish to fry—righting the economic, cost-of-living ship, repairing relationships with allies, once again addressing climate and environmental concerns, shutting down the warehouse prisons and developing, somehow, workable immigration policy, among so much else.

Hearings and investigations and even another post-term impeachment trial would be unforgiveable wastes of time and effort. Someone has to put a stop to this endless cycle of tit-for-tat, retributive “justice.” Let it be the Democrats.

Well, except for a pursuit of Trump. He deserves to spend the rest of whatever time he has on this earth tied up in court until he expires, wondering the whole time if it’s all finally gonna catch up with him, and disturbed to his core about why he lived his life the way he did. He deserves no sympathy, no peace. And the same for the Heritage Foundation crew.

Not exactly Christ-like sentiments, but oh well…

The Real Deal?

Rahm Emanuel in 2028? That has a certain ring to it.

He’s pretty intense and comes across as a bit manic, but he’s smart, experienced, he actually loves America, and he’s brutally honest in a good way.

I suspect he’d be Republicans’ worst nightmare, and would probably have his share of detractors in his own party, but what’s new? Some might say he’s old guard, but he’s still young and fiery enough to make a difference. Again, in a good way.

I don’t know if it’s just a rumor, and I didn’t stay up long enough to watch Jen Psaki ask him about it, but I kinda hope it’s true. One could get the feeling that he would be way more than a “glad he isn’t Trump” placeholder.

Enough of the Affective Deficiency

Blatantly un-American. How can Republican members of Congress look around and not come to this conclusion?

Is it simply about riding the Trump train for as long as possible—no matter how detestable the man and the others who populate his inner circle? It regularly precipitates bewilderment and WTF moments of anger, because it makes so little sense.

We’ve all waited long enough for proof that there’s a method to the madness. There is no method, only madness. It’s whatever is self-serving and ego-boosting and somehow satisfying to Trump and the Heritage Foundation. The rest of us don’t matter.

All we get to do is raise our voices, register our disgust, but mostly watch as the country craters a bit every day. The depravity of hypocrites and liars has been left to run its course—slashing programs, firing knowledgeable people and replacing them with imbeciles and sycophants– often one in the same. And on purpose!

The intended decapitation is happening before our eyes, under the auspices of, among other things, fiscal belt-tightening and designer Christianity– a mindlessly skewed rendering of certain Old Testament passages in the Bible. For their purposes, the New Testament doesn’t exist. After all, who needs the specter of Jesus casting his watchful eye over the proceedings? Love doesn’t fit in the Project 2025 equation.

May the November elections go off without a hitch. It’s way past time to awaken and register our discontent, start the process of sending the whole misfit crew packing, in order that the salvage operation can begin.

Unexpected Find

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best thing you’ve ever found randomly on the street?

I was going to say some unit of coinage– maybe a dime or a quarter– but then I remembered the day we were out looking for our younger brother, who had decided to run away over some perceived slight.

It turned out that he hadn’t gone very far, but while we were out scouring the neighborhood, we did find a dog who ended up following us home and staying for a few years. We called him Lucky.