There’s a new book out on Mitch McConnell. I’m sure it’s informative and fills in certain details of events and decisions in his painfully long career. The author was on Newshour last night and did little to betray the contents of the book, other than to say that McConnell admits to pissing people off with the Merrick Garland stonewalling, along with an unwillingness to pursue impeachment after January 6.

I don’t know if my personal favorite gets a mention: proclaiming that Job 1 for Republicans was to make sure that Barack Obama was a one-term President.

There was no mention of any regrets about Garland or January 6, events with major implications for what’s happening currently. Apparently, he was just playing politics and protecting his brand, whatever that was. He even garnered praise in certain quarters, and most likely feels little remorse. In fact, McConnell is proud of the make-up of the SCOTUS, since he had so much to do with that.

What sticks in my craw about Mitch and others is that there are few rules in politics. It’s more about what you can get to stick, by any means necessary. In McConnell’s case, it’s this seemingly irrational hatred of anything Democratic, or perceived as liberal. It’s the unwillingness to play fair. It’s about power and prevailing and forcing one’s views on people who don’t share those views. It’s about disregarding precedent or protocol or processes put in place, simply ignoring these things, and, in this case, appeasing Donald Trump and the MAGA crowd instead.

McConnell will have his moment, his opportunity to “explain” things. But I can imagine that this book will do little for those who look on McConnell with disdain for his role in perpetuating the monstrous ruse that has been the Trump era. He won’t be missed by many when he finally retires soon.

It’s Donald Trump’s Republican party, sad to say, though there might be a few chinks in that armor.

What seems to have been lost in the maelstrom that has become this election cycle is that Trump is a felon who knowingly instigated an insurrection on January 6, 2021. There are several court cases pending with him as the defendant. And there is the general knowledge that, even though he appears to have dictatorial aspirations, he’s also delusional and incompetent and a highly suspect judge of character.

His ego has long gotten the better of him, yet despite all of this and more, he’s the Republican nominee for the 3^rd straight time. Some will give him credit for somehow pulling this off. Others will commend him for his stamina. Or is it simply motivation born of poor sportsmanship and revenge and a fear of jail time?

Let’s not forget that if he loses this election, he still faces the prospect of all those court proceedings. Maybe we can take solace in the fact that if he loses, we will not only have dodged a bullet, but we may have the satisfaction of watching as he goes off to prison for the rest of his life, or is at least tied up in litigation for that duration (we’re never going to be rid of him…).

He’s wasted everyone’s time and diverted our attention and efforts for nine years, and all because he’s a sore loser, an attention hound, and an immature adolescent. No vision, no real patriotism, no sense of duty and responsibility except to himself, no appreciation for this nation’s history and ideals. No real leadership qualities.

Such people are unworthy of the public’s trust. He should have never gotten this far.

Jon Stewart made an impassioned plea for clarity on Monday night’s Daily Show. He focused on Trump’s latest display of dumbness in Latrobe, PA where he talked for ten minutes about Arnold Palmer’s dick. Stewart then used this as an entre into a discussion about more serious stuff Trump has said recently about “the enemy from within”—you know, people like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi—the real, dangerous crazies on the left.

Stewart tried to convey to viewers that, with Trump, we are always unsure about what we’re supposed to take seriously. He dances for 40 minutes and makes everyone on stage- and everyone at home- uncomfortable, and maybe wondering what the takeaway is supposed to be. He goes on Fox News and spews Hitleresque rhetoric about enemies from within and without, and hints that he isn’t above using the military to silence critics.

What are we supposed to do with this, and why must we put up with it in the first place? How about we take it all seriously and treat it as a warning to be heeded?

LIz Cheney is right– Donald Trump should come nowhere near the Oval Office ever again, in no small part because he’s not a serious person. He’s just a 78-year-old loose cannon with no moral compass who’s trying to stay out of jail.

And Chris Sununu and the rest of the wise-ass shit talkers and gaslighters can walk east ’til their hats float.

Even if it’s hyperbole, even if it’s mostly for votes, even if Donald Trump just says shit because he knows it resonates with his fucking base, why would he say the stuff he says, anyway? He must know he’s sounding more like a dictator every day. His rhetoric is most likely not an accident. Still, he emanates a vibe that says, “I just like talking big. I enjoy the bully shtick. I love that people seem to love me.”

Trouble is, half the country, if polls are accurate, is buying his act. They like the sound of it. So they must be unbothered by the prospect that America the (truly) Beautiful is teetering on the edge of being no more.

I’m not buying that Trump, if elected, would have an easy time of implementing all the dystopian ideas he and others have been spewing. It’s just that to utter them in the first place and seemingly find so much fertile soil, so many receptive ears, is a troubling development.

Fear, lies, deceit, and paranoia. Helluva platform.

Yankees- Dodgers. The two best teams money can buy. Maybe they’ll both find a way to lose.

Who am I kidding? It could be one of the all-time greats. Hard to see how it couldn’t be—Ohtani v Judge? Come on.

Gonna be wild.

It’s been nice taking a break from this.

We were out in Colorado for a while, breathing in the mountain air, enjoying the scenery and the ambience while realizing that the constant influx of people looking to better their lives in the Mile High City and its growing suburbs is all taking a toll on resources and land use and general well-being by turning open space into one big sprawly, suburban hamster wheel.

We took a bit of a break from following the news, too. I see nothing has changed on that score, except for the frequency of paid political advertising, which is reaching its mind-numbing fever pitch.

Only a couple more weeks, and then we can all look forward to another protracted, unnecessary slog because Donald Trump is a real-life nightmare. That the election is still close at this point should worry us all– even those who still think he’s got the chops and not just making it all up as he goes.

In an attempt to rival the meteorological beast roaring through the Gulf, it’s sounding like these last weeks before the election are going to be nothing short of a relentless shit storm, where Trump and his side show minions around the world will be throwing everything including the kitchen sink at Kamala and Tim. The important thing to remember is that much of it will be lies and pathetic attempts at distraction.

One thing’s for sure—we’re gonna get the full dose of crazy and unhinged from Donald Trump. It’s already happening, but he’s gonna peg the meter from here on out.

It may very well be difficult to keep one’s head when many others are losing theirs, but here’s hoping Harris and Walz, and the country as a whole, can weather the nonsense and ugliness and desperation that’s sure to be coming.

Hard to say if it’s karma, but Milton’s development into one of the all-time monster hurricanes, heading toward Florida’s mid-section through the Gulf of Mexico on the heels of Helene, maybe has Ron Desantis wondering if he wasn’t a bit premature in pushing for a removal of “climate change” from the lexicon. Then again, maybe it’s gonna make no difference at all. The residents of Florida have a real gem for a chief executive.

Anyway, the build-up ahead of Milton’s arrival has been nothing short of breathless. It’s had at least one meteorologist in tears, it went from a Cat. 1 to a Cat. 5 in twelve hours, causing some to ponder a mythical Cat. 6, lost a bit of steam when it brushed the Yucatan Peninsula, then regained Cat. 5 status and is now over open water heading for Tampa Bay or thereabouts.

Massive evacuations are in progress, some people can’t or still won’t leave. It’s already a mess in places down there, so it’s hard to imagine what this one is going to render. By daybreak Thursday morning, we’ll begin to know.  

Hurricane Milton—kindly, old Uncle Milty—reached Category 5 status in almost record time after it became a hurricane. One meteorologist was brought to tears while reporting that the internal pressure had dropped 50 millibars in a shocking amount of time. If it maintains its forward speed, it’s going to hit the Florida Gulf coast sometime late in the day tomorrow, maybe around Tampa.

Windspeeds have been recorded at around 180 MPH, and some are saying it could be approaching Cat. 6 status, if such a thing existed, though it most likely will weaken before making landfall.

And all this on the heels of Helene.

What’s making matters unnecessarily worse is the swirl of mis- and disinformation finding its way into the mix. Anything to use to Republican advantage, right? Even if it jeopardizes peoples’ ability to get helpful and accurate information that might make their lives just barely, perceptibly better in the post-Helene chaos.

Donald Trump is such a heartless bastard. An absolutely worthless human slug. He and Elon and the rest are nothing but pathetic caricatures of uselessness, playing games, scratching and clawing for any perceived advantage in this ridiculous election Trump shouldn’t even be part of.

It’s difficult to speak in terms of sinking to a new low. By now, we should be fully aware that there is no depth to which Trump is not willing to plummet.  

It’s the one-year anniversary of the ruthless Hamas attack on Israel.

In a way, I don’t feel it’s proper for me to comment—I’m a Lutheran Swede whose life has gone on just fine, relatively speaking. Yet, I watch the news. I’m a citizen of Earth like everyone else. I see what the attack has wrought: pretty much nothing but stoked anger, retribution, stoked anger, death and destruction, stoked anger, more retribution, stoked anger, piles of rubble, stoked anger, and the imminence of wider conflict.

A few hostages have been rescued or released, many others have been killed—either by Hamas or friendly fire. The U.S. has sent Mr. Blinken on a fool’s errand. It’s a difficult position to be in—trying to broker a ceasefire while being the face of a nation that’s supplying Israel with weaponry and half-hearted moral support.

Israel, meanwhile, has shouldered the mantle of wild-eyed ogre, as it appears to have decided that enough is enough, that civilians are indistinguishable from the enemy, as it has bombed hospitals and residential neighborhoods indiscriminately (they’ll say “surgically”) because of the Hamas tactic of sheltering and operating beneath these structures. Civilians are apparently guilty by association, caught in the middle, and with soul-crushing results.

Much of Israel is walking on eggshells, looking over its shoulder. Much of Gaza is no more or has sustained damage that will take years to repair, if at all. And now the focus shifts to the north, as Israel goes after Hezbollah in Lebanon, and maybe Iran.

“Anniversary” feels like the wrong word, as if there is something to celebrate. It’s just more of the same, really— a cycle of attack and revenge, a scriptural imperative, an evolved religious dynamic with players who want to destroy each other, more sophisticated implements of destruction, a mix of evolved and devolved tactics, wrapped up in the same predictable misery and despair.

Not to mention far greater political implications. Between this and the upcoming election, maybe Armageddon isn’t so far-fetched after all.

Way to stay positive, eh?