Kirk’s killer - Young man nihilism?

 In 1987 I read Alan Bloom’s “The Closing of the American Mind”.  It was a a complex book but what I remember are two points that he made. First, kids were showing up at the University of Chicago with no background at all in thinking deep thoughts, questions about good and evil, what makes a good life, how to live a meaningful life, what’s right and wrong? These kinds of questions used to present themselves to earlier generations through religion, reading good literature, philosophy, etc.  What he saw was kids believing that right and wrong were relative, that there was no right and wrong. But they were wrong. There are things that are right and wrong. Not everything is subjective and arbitrary. 

He then expanded that idea into the Germans and Nietzsche’s Death of God famous quote and his warning that without a God, without actual right and wrong the world could collapse into nihilism, the belief that life is meaningless, truth could not be known, and the world would spiral into ever greater violence and annihilation. And, indeed, with the rise of Nazism that is exactly what the Germans did, and also did the Fascist Mussolini Italians and Fascist Franco Spanish. 

So, the killing of extremist provocateur, Charlie Kirk?  It appears that the killer was a neo-Nazi Groyper, a young man, among millions of young men, whose minds have been warped on social media into believing that life isn’t worth living, it is all just a big joke, and they are dedicated to creating chaos, destruction.  It appears they are lost inside the deranged void of nihilism. He saw Kirk as a fraud. And he killed him as a joke, since all of life is just a big meaningless joke, in order to cause pain just to see the pain, in order to make his nihilistic social media world laugh, and maybe that’s all it was. Just show up a fake, and make his world laugh. 

I am old, liberal, and am not familiar with the despairs and coping strategies of young men lost in nihilism. To me the question was whether he was a right wing nut or a left wing nut. But maybe he’s just a violent nihilistic troll. 

This is a shock to me. Hoping that this isn’t our future. It did not work out well for the Germans, nor the world. 

Although there are determined people wanting more destruction, I choose to believe in the Better Angels of our natures. I choose to believe we will emerge from these terrible mistakes and renew ourselves. 

Charlie Kirk killing - two reactions - MSNBC and Fox News

 MSNBC fired Matthew Dowd for saying that Charlie Kirk, right wing extremist activist, was in part responsible for his own killing - "“Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” Dowd said, adding: “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”  Wrong.  Gone.  Thank you MSNBC.

Fox News has no problem with Jesse Watters calling for violence in response to the Charlie Kirk killing - "“We are sick. We are sad. We are angry. And we are resolute,” he said. “And we are going to avenge Charlie’s death in the way that Charlie wanted to be avenged.”  Fox News allows this, apparently.

See the difference?

By the way, at this time we don't know who the shooter was and whether politics were involved.  Likely a left wing nutcase, but let's wait and discover more.

Update, 9/12/2025. The killer was turned in by a family friend and he is a Mormon 22 year old whose parents are Republicans, and he is registered as independent, and he dressed up in a Trump costume in 2017 - in other words, he is not a hate filled Marxist, regardless of how the Right Wing Media Industry wants him to be. Also, he is not Trans -- 

"A report in the conservative Wall Street Journal yesterday claimed that a law enforcement source had revealed that ammunition with "transgender" ideology carved into it had been recovered at the site of the Kirk shooting.

While it hasn't been officially confirmed, some gun experts have suggested that the bullets may have been produced by Turan Ammo. Such bullets are stamped with the manufacturer's mark "TRN." If such bullets were used by the shooter, it's possible that an overeager bigot saw "TRN" and interpreted it as "trans" instead of "Turan."

Will Fox News, Bannon, Musk and the profiteers of hate apologize and call for calm? I wish they would but that is not how they become rich and powerful.

Oh well...

Update 9/13/2025 - Now it appears that the killer is a Groyper Nazi follower of Nick Fuentes, American Nazi. Cult of violence. It is not unusual for right wing extremists to turn on each other, the obvious precedent is the Night of Long Knives in 1934 Germany where Hitler eliminated his rivals - violent purge ordered by Adolf Hitler from June 30 to July 2, 1934, to consolidate his power within the Nazi Party. "Nazi paramilitary forces, the Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo, murdered the leadership of the Sturmabteilung (SA) (the Brownshirts), including its leader Ernst Röhm, who was a rival to Hitler."

Thank goodness we are a long way from Hitler's Germany but extremists purging others in their movement for lack of purity is just how it goes, it appears.

Look at Nancy Mace's face

Look at Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace's face.  It says all we need to know about the depraved abuse that Epstein, and his elite compadres (Donald Donald Donald J J J Trump Trump Trump - best buddies with Epstein, "party" buddy with Epstein) did to these women when they were children - children - children.

Nancy Mace is a hard core MAGA South Carolina "Republican".  Her famous quote was "I am Trump in high heels".  Well, this may be where the political opportunist worm turns.  I want ANGER by Mace, by Republicans, by Democrats, by all of America.  This is the Pedo ring that Qanon was trying to expose for years.  And I refuse to allow the MAGAs to ignore the central debauched predator, Trump.  He has long bragged about his celebrity allowing him sexual assault, how his money buys everybody off.  I want him at the top of the list.  If Clinton and Gates and Prince Andrew go to prison, fine.  Prison for all of them.

Why is this so important?  Because the only real hope for America and the world is the removal of Trump from office, and slammed into prison for life, with no ability to terrorize and bully the Republican Party to continue to destroy America and the world from afar.  Impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate are the cleanest way for that to happen, and only MAGA can do that.  Only the Republicans can impeach and convict Trump.  He has them terrified. Expose, beyond any denials by the Sexual Predator in Chief, his debauchery and cruelty.  Turn the stomachs of MAGA.  

The only other two options are the 25th Amendment (he is coo coo coco puffs - or a debilitating stroke) - both possible.  But it would be best if his sins are what ended his reign of terror.

Look at Nancy Mace's face...horror

Trump says "This is a Democrat hoax..."  Oops, time for a Very Very Big Thing to capture the headlines for a long time - troops into Chicago? Nuclear war? This maniac is cornered and dangerous

55 MILLION people!

 The tyrannical Trump MAGA regime is “reviewing” the “records” of 55 million foreign Visa holders. What records?  All of their social media posts, is part of it. Post something on Facebook critical of the Orange Magnificence?  And the “Tech Bros” have developed internet surveillance tools that can’t be escaped, like Palantir.  

“ The US is reviewing the records of more than 55 million US visa holders to assess if they have broken conditions for entry or stay in the country. 

People with US visas will be under "continuous vetting"

Continuous vetting…. Pounce!

This is likely the practice run, just against foreigners so we aren’t supposed to worry… Next up is critics of the regime. American citizens guaranteed by the Constitution to criticize the elected officials… 

Constitution? They don’t need no stinking’ constitution. 

World War IV

Gary Kasparov, on his "Autocracy in America" podcast, made an important observation when talking with a Lithuanian member of Parliament about the Russian invasion of Ukraine - Putin is fighting WWIV, he is clear that what we called the Cold War was actually WWIII, and Russia lost it.  

Putin intends to win WWIV.  By disinformation to undermine democracies in Europe and the U.S., by invading and conquering Ukraine, by invading the Baltic Nations after Ukraine, by destroying the European Union and NATO, by turning all of the world into another version of Russia - corrupt, greedy, cruel, authoritarian police states. So that he, and the Russian police state, can safely plunder and dominate at will.

And Trump and MAGA are on his side.  

 

Crime, the economy, and immigration - two views

Trump focuses on these three issues to appeal to his MAGA base - crime, inflation, and immigration. 

Crime. Trump unconstitutionally sends military into Los Angeles and Washington D.C. on the phony pretense of subduing a violent crisis. How is this seen?

MAGA red - thank goodness that we have a decisive manly manly man who gets things done without worrying about niceties or hurting the feelings of goody two shoes weak minded goo goos. 

Liberal blue - this is a phony pretense to get us all used to military brutality in our country in preparation for a soon to come declaration of Martial Law, the suspension of elections, and the end of democracy in America. 

Result?  Trump’s message is that he and MAGA are on the side of law enforcement and liberals and Democrats are on the side of violent criminals and drug addicted garbage.  Liberal’s message is more conceptual, warning of a coming police state and the end of our democratically elected Republic. 

How about the economy?  The Biden administration economic recovery from the pandemic was quite a success, steadily lowering inflation and growing the economy far better than other developed nations in the world. 

MAGA red - don’t listen to those elites snobs and their stupid numbers and charts and disrespectful lecturing about how great the economy is, look at how hard it is for you to make ends meet, buy a house, and survive - the clueless liberal elites don’t see you, don’t care about you, and think you are beneath them, and think that if you can’t make it it’s because you’re inadequate. 

Liberal blue - the economy was growing, inflation was coming down, liberals are fighting to make your life easier and more affordable with child tax credits, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, food banks, elderly care, handicap assistance, etc….policies. 

Result? Trump tells MAGA we see you and the liberals just look down on you. Liberals say we are doing all we can to provide needed support for all of our lives. 

Immigration.  Trump and his insanely racist hit man, Stephen Miller, are sending thousands masked bullies to round up as many brown people as they can, all on the pretense that they are responding to a violent emergency and grabbing lifelong criminals and killer gang members. 

MAGA red - these are filthy, disgusting predators that are bringing crime to our precious white world, and are being brought into America to steal jobs from decent white men.

Liberal blue - Mexicans and all Hispanics are just another of the many immigrants that America has always drawn to our country with the hope of creating prosperous and safe lives. 

Result? Trump and MAGA dumbasses are getting rid of those we identified as Essential Workers during the pandemic - farm workers, hospital workers, nursing home workers, construction workers, household workers, home care workers,  roofers, painters, bus drivers, grocery store warehouse workers, etc etc etc.  So, shelves start to go empty, hospitals and nursing homes can’t do their functions properly, construction doesn’t happen, shortages drive up prices as wages have to escalate to try to find people to do these essential jobs - an economic stupidity. 

The terrible joke is that Trump and his billionaire buddies have betrayed MAGA, lied to them, played them for fools, just steal money from them - transfer trillions to the billionaires the their greedy Big Beautiful Bill, sell them mostly useless Trump branded trinkets and phony “money making opportunities”, and have every intention and plan to remove any and all powers that MAGA, Republicans (and liberals) have to stop their planned tyranny. This is a long planned racist/theocratic/plutocratic/fascist coup.  And, so far, it is working. 

Liberals, Bulwark Republicans, actual Republicans (if there are any left who have not been sucked into the MAGA propaganda bubble) and independents need to be able to say what is actually going on with passion, force, and integrity.   

This shall not stand. Time for the country to wake up. 

Betrayal

Emotion drives votes. Democrats can’t just talk about the horrors of the Big Beautiful Bill and how they harm MAGA people. The truth is that Trump betrayed them. He lied to them. He made promises he never intended to keep.  He played them for suckers.

So, it is not enough to say Trump cut medicare and shut down rural hospitals, etc etc etc.  Start by saying Trump betrayed MAGA and was on the side of his elite billionaire buddies all along. 

There are dozens of harms that Trump is inflicting on MAGA people, and my hope is that Democrats campaign on those accusations and start with saying Trump betrayed you, MAGA, he was always just a rich, elite, swindler who stepped on your neck so he could be important. 

Putin and the Dumbass

 I believe that Putin will convince Trump that he can get the Nobel Peace Prize by ending the war in Ukraine, and the way to do that is to give Putin the territory he has “conquered“, and cut off all military and intelligence support of Ukraine. And thus the war will be over. And dumbass will get the Nobel prize (hahahaha)

And Dumbass will say wow gee what a wonderful idea thank you, Mr. Putin!  And cut off all support to Ukraine. 

Founding Fathers

 The United States 

George Washington, President 

Honorable mention, Thomas Jefferson - Declaration of Independence 

“ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

The Confederate States (failed)

Jefferson Davis, president 

Dishonorable mention

Alexander H Stephens, Vice President 

“ Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”

Edward Alfred Pollard "The Lost Cause" - “The question was no longer slavery, but white supremacy, which Pollard described as the “true cause of the war” and the “true hope of the South.”

MAGA (failing)

Donald Trump, president 

Dishonorable mention, Stephen Miller

“The powers of the President shall not be questioned “

Trump and MAGA are revolutionaries, not politicians. Trump just thinks he should be king, but MAGA are authoritarian dictators hell bent on ending our democratically elected Republic, and overthrowing the Constitution and Rule of Law. 

They will fail. I believe America is better than this repeated rise of white supremacists trying to crush all human progress in America. They were slavers, then Jim Crow terrorists, then McCarthy red baiters, and now MAGA bullies. They always lose. And will again. I deeply hope and believe. 

The Sovietization of America

 One of the defining traits of the old Soviet Union was that all the economic numbers were total bullshit, and always showed good economic numbers when the whole world knew they were actually disastrous (except for a few gullible and True Believers). Well, here we are in Trump/MAGA America where the country's dumbest person happens to be the president of the country and he just fired the head of Bureau of Labor Statistics for publishing true economic numbers that he didn't like.  So...

Welcome to the Sovietization of America.  False economic info is just the tip of the iceberg, and The United States is sailing full speed ahead into the Sovietized U.S. police state iceberg, and is on its way to sinking to the bottom.  

Thanx, MAGA.  You voted for this disaster three times.  You don't get to say you didn't know what was coming. We all suffer because he hates the same people you hate, people like me, what the hell?  

Why can’t the Pedophile in Chief get rid of the Epstein accusations?

 Betrayal… shattered delusions… rage at having been suckered….

If I understand correctly, the evangelical theocratic Republicans, and other MAGA extremists, have believed for decades that Satan has taken over the United States government and the elite liberal institutions. Has taken over liberals and Democrats, doing such sinful things as allowing gay sex, gay marriage, allowing transgender surgeries, empowering races other than white, allowing women to get out of the bedroom, kitchen, and nursery, learning science, thinking non-Christian theocratic thoughts, terrible sins all.

And they believe that the Satan controlled liberal and Democrat elites have been raping young teen schoolgirls for years. So to them, revealing all of the pedophilia available in the Epstein records is the number one passion of their movement. They see themselves as heroes rescuing children from abomination. 

And now their heroic champion chosen by them to expose and seek retribution against such unimaginable filth and debauchery is doing all he can to cover up and distract everybody from what is actually in the thousands of pieces of evidence in the Epstein records. Because…because…he is in the Epstein records himself? being a filthy rapist of young schoolgirls himself? otherwise why is he distracting and panicking so wildly?

So I think they are dealing with one of the most difficult things for any human being to deal with, a shattered delusion. They are starting to realize that their champion is not one who will expose the filth, but that he himself is the filth. And I agree that he is indeed a sexual predator, a pedophile, a cruel sociopath who has raped school children. And it is traumatic to have a deeply held faith shattered. 

This is betrayal, delusion, rage. Some in MAGA are dealing with the shock of betrayal. At some point. I believe that they’ll come to terms and see that this disgusting excuse of a “man” is a sociopath. 

And they will turn on him.

I believe the writing is on the wall and he is toast.

Some of MAGA will try to cover for him, try to rescue him, to lie for him because they have successfully used him to implement Project 2025, to pass the “Big Beautiful Bill”, to try to end democracy and enforce their Christian Theocracy.  Besides, their entire lives and careers are hooked to his power. 

But, I am hopeful that the fierce blowback against the Pedophile in Chief of enough of the MAGA, along with the everyday disgust of just plain Republicans, will be enough to push the orange Humpty Dumpty off the wall, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men won’t be able to put the Orange Humpty Dumpty back together again.

I can dream. 

Trump “tells”

 Donald Trump has easy to see “tells” (in poker a “tell” is something a player does that “tells” his hand). 

“Hoax” - as in “The Epstein story is a hoax” means it’s the truth that his cult is supposed to pretend is false. 

“Sir” - means nobody said this, as in “The General said “Sir, you are the greatest genius of all time!”

“Nasty” - means someone just said something true or asked a question about something true.

“Numbers” - every number that he cites is an admission of a lie with the truth being the exact opposite, such as “the cost of eggs has come down like 93, 94% since we took office.”

“Didn’t “ - as in “I didn’t say…”or “I didn’t do…” - means “I did…”

“Fake News” - and of course the ultimate confession is when he calls something “Fake News”, it means it is true but my cult will not believe it because I tell the not to believe it, so hahahaha you can’t tell them the truth because THEY CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH.

His lies are not hard to see, but maybe with his betrayal of his cult by covering up the Epstein evidence sure to accuse him of debauchery, maybe even his cult can start to see his lies.

I am beginning to think his time is running out, with the Epstein coverup opening eyes, to be followed by the devastation that his Big Beautiful Bill will have on rural red America, this could be the end of him. 

Unless, of course his failing mental and physical health don’t get him first. 

Betrayal - Epstein

 Why is MAGA going nuts? Haven’t they been betrayed?  Isn’t the whole passion of deep Evangelical MAGA to purge the country of Satan? Of super rich elite pedophiles? Of unspeakable sin?  

And wasn’t the flawed but Chosen by God Trump the One who would purify America? 

And and and and, gulp  ….. Is HE one of THEM?

Hasn’t the deeply, passionately, fanatically held dream been shattered?

It’s not about policy. It’s a shattered dream. It’s a deep betrayal. Does he survive?

Pizzagate - MAGA - Epstein - Trump

 Is it actually possible that MAGA thinks that the Epstein scandals are all about Democrats and not about Trump? Isn’t the most obvious sexual predator in the Epstein world Trump? Weren’t Trump and Epstein very close friends for over a decade?  Didn’t Trump have Miss Teenage Beauty contests, and walk in on these children when they were undressed?  Didn’t Trump brag about his multiple sexual parties and encounters on the Howard Stern Show? Does MAGA not understand this? Apparently not.

MAGA has long been obsessed with pedophilia.  Raping children is unthinkably horrifying, and there have been multiple testimonies of the raped children. 

I think MAGA got its start with “Pizzagate”, the charge that the "satanic" Hilary Clinton was running a pedophilia ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor. Indeed some poor MAGA guy eventually showed up with an assault rifle to “free” the children in the Pizza parlor’s basement. I think he actually fired some shots. Of course there were no children being held for sex trafficking, indeed there wasn’t even a basement. 

You would think that would have put an end to it, but in MAGA Land the idea of wealthy elitists raping children only grew and became a deeply and emotionally article of MAGA faith.  I think we all are repulsed by the idea of pedophilia, but I also think that any man or woman who was sexually abused as a minor is deeply traumatized, and for them to believe that rich elites are guilty of, and successfully covering up, their horrendous sins is beyond repulsive, it can become an obsessive rage. 

Now, why MAGA thought that the elite pedophiles were/are democrats is beyond me. Especially when the most obvious offender is the man who was a close friend and fellow partier with Epstein who was a New York sybarite who later became a Republican President, Donald J Trump.  

Is there proof that Trump was a child rapist?  Maybe not. Where would that proof be? Why, in the multitudinous Epstein files, photos, videos, lists, etc. who knows what all is there?

So, if you were Donald J Trump and knew that there were no lists, photos, videos, proof of your gilt, what would you do?  Would you rush to show everything?  To prove your innocence?  

But if you were Donald J Trump and knew there were lists, photos, videos, proof of your depravity, what would you do?  Maybe refuse to reveal the evidence? Say that “your” Attorney General would review the files and release all the “credible” evidence?

This, of course, screams “Nothing to see here! Look away! See my distractions! I’m guilty but you are supposed to not care! Because you’re supposed to worship me, and believe anything I say, and accept and actually admire my sins! Get back in line!”

But, pedophilia is definitely a bridge too far for some of MAGA, especially the MAGAs who were victims themselves, the MAGA that got started convinced that the elites were child rapists, and the rapists were… democrats.  Not Republicans. But but but… Trump is not just A Republican, Trump is THE Republican. 

Golly, if he’s lying about this, what else has all been just lies?  

Makes you wonder, eh?

Big Beautiful Bill/Project 2025 - ICE, the MAGA Gestapo

 So, what horrors have been passed by Trump/MAGA/project 2025?   Here’s a bad one: “$29.9 billion toward ICE’s enforcement and deportation operations, increasing ICE’s annual budget three-fold“ per the American Immigration Council.

Tyranny expert Anne Applebaum: “We have never before had a federal police force built on that scale, and around the thuggish culture that appears to be emerging at ICE….ICE has already begun behaving very differently. Its members wear masks, carry military grade weapons in public streets and seem to have a mandate to arrest people without asking questions, on the suspicion that they might be Hispanic. They also seem to feel empowered to break the law first, answer questions afterwards, the opposite of what American police, in a democracy, are supposed to do.”

We are bombarded with videos of Hispanic farm workers, street vendors, shop workers, people who are our neighbors and local workforce being physically dragged away by masked men in military protection and weapons. Video of swarms of ICE, some on horseback, sweeping through a park in LA.  Why? They want us to get used to government thugs grabbing people as the natural way of the new MAGA America.  And because the sociopaths Stephen Miller and Donald Trump demand a daily quota, irregardless of any evidence of criminality. 

They aren’t only going for Hispanic criminals and gang members.  They’re rounding up brown people just to show that they can.  And when innocents are rounded up, they say who cares? They’re brown. 

And, of course, it doesn’t end there. Once the country gets used to these cruel injustices they go after…judges? Lawyers? Journalists? Protestors? Labor Organizers? Doctors? Politicians? Me? You?  

They have a playbook.  What did the Nazis do?  What did the Communists do?  Do you think Trump and Miller and Bondi and Noem and Patel are different?

I don’t. 

But the United States of America has been a democracy for nearly a quarter of a millennium, and we are not likely to have a tyranny established as easily as Tsarist Russia or Depression wracked Germany. They are going to fail. 

Even dumber

 OK, so now it seems even more horrifyingly dumb.  Apparently, Kerr County MAGA Republicans actually turned down flood warning things like sirens, because….because… they were being given by Obama, and then by Biden, Democrats (DemonCrats, you know…)… and apparently surrounding counties accepted these things because… they weren’t driven to insane levels of dumbness by Fox News and the right wing paranoia propaganda machine. 

So much damage being caused by these apocalyptic prophets pounding fear and hatred into their cult like devotees. I weep. 

Two really dumb MAGA ideas

 There are two really dumb MAGA ideas: shrink government, and the “great replacement theory”.

1.  As James Carville just pointed out, the deaths in rural Texas from the flood was mostly because the locals refused to use (pay for) local government to put up sirens and local government warning systems in what apparently has long been a flood area. Good grief. Government is NOT the enemy, I don’t care what Steve Bannon and Elon Musk say. Government is there to protect and help. 

Screw Ronald Reagan. The Fierce Independence philosophy is useless in the face of floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, fire hurricanes, blizzards, etc - all of nature’s storms accelerated to unimaginable degrees by fossil fuel and industrial agriculture dumping pollution, CO2, methane, stink into the air which is warming the planet and creating unprecedented Climate Change. 

RAISE TAXES - let the government protect and help human beings. 

2.  And there is no liberal plot to replace white Christian men with brown and black and red and yellow men and women. It’s called CAPITALISM - COMPETITION.  You want jobs? Up your game.  Go get jobs. 

White Christians have been whining and blaming everyone coming into our welcoming nation for as long as there has been a nation - Chinese “Chinks”, German “Krauts”, Irish “Papists”, Italian “Wops”, Black “Nxxxers”, Mexican “Spics”, Arab “Ragheads”… nothing is ever fair to the poor little aggrieved white nationalist Christians. 

And, of course, MAGA’s dear leader is the lead dumbass. His ignorance about almost everything is astonishing. (Except corruption, greed, swindling, lying, Branding, bigotry, inciting, threatening, hurting…)

America is waking up, is going to wake up, and it is not going to put up with this racism, cruelty, stupidity, and idiocy forever. 

Hire them back!

 The moronic Musk/DOGE/MAGA/Trump fired the top meteorologists from the Department of Energy because the fossil fuel industry told them to get rid of scientists who said Global Warming and Climate Change were caused by CO2 and methane, which are dumped into our air, by the fossil fuel industry. Which, of course is true.  

So, in central Texas the forecast was for about 3 - 4 inches of rain, but 10 inches fell and the river rose 27 feet in the dark and the latest count is 43 dead including children!  

My guess is that the gutting of the top meteorologists is why the forecast was inadequate. 

For goodness sake, hire them back!  Hurricane season is coming, tornadoes, floods, wind storm fires, blizzards, etc.  Only the corrupt and the stupid get rid of weather scientists and weather science.  

Sue Musk, sue DOGE, sue Trump, sue the fossil fuel industry. This level of murderous corruption is unfathomable.  I am horrified.

Damn!

Schizophrenic America

 America is Slave Owner, genocidal expansionist, KKK, Jim Crow, America First Nazis, McCarthyism, MAGA authoritarian, Trump, Miller…

But America is also…

    

                   

NO KINGS 

Today we celebrate America overthrowing the rule of a king. And some of us take this moment to dedicate ourselves to overthrowing the cruel rule of this wanna be king. This shall not stand.

They want the deficit

 Republicans have always pretended to passionately care about the debt and the deficit. I don’t think so. I think they have always wanted bigger and bigger and bigger deficits. For two reasons. 

First, they want to pay less taxes. They pretend the reason is that the wealthy will create jobs, lower taxes on the wealthy grows the economy. Not really. Lower taxes on the wealthy grows their portfolio, buys multiple mansions home and abroad, buys yachts and private planes and trophy wives. 

But I believe the real reason they want bigger deficits is to strip the working classes of money, benefits, protections, savings, and most of all - power. They crave a weakened and desperate work force. Who will accept anything the wealthy “give” them.

Step one - CREATE HUGE DEFICITS.

Step two - CUT GOVERNMENT SENDING.

It’s all a con.

This is not hard to figure out. 

So, the BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL has passed the Senate and goes back to the House. It is an abomination. Millions lose Medicaid, rural hospitals will close, education, science, weather forecasting, green energy growth, blue states projects - all crippled. It’s a horror. 

But, THEY GET THEIR TAX CUTS!

And, most important THEY CUT SPENDING and the working and the poor lose more and more power. “Please Mr Billionaire, can I have just a little more?”  Hahahahahahahahaha….More?……hahahhahahahahahahaha

And the Conman in Chief smirks and grins and dances…and threatens and punishes and hurts and hurts and hurts. Endless, bottomless. 

Sickening to me. 

What’s in it for Donald J Trump?

 Was it a good idea to bomb Iran? I don’t think I supported that in any case. But…

It might have been acceptable. If the United States had a president, if the United States had a State Dept, if the United States had a Defense Department, if the United States had an intelligence service.

But the United States does not have a president, the United States has a TV star playing president on TV who thinks he was elected king. The TV star is just doing that which dominates the day on TV.

The pretend president has destroyed much of the defense department, the state department, the intelligence services, and as much of the federal government as he possibly could. Why? Because the pretend president knows nothing and cannot allow people who know things to work for him. So he gets rid of them and puts in place other people who are good on TV and know nothing and will do whatever he tells them to do.

But the real question is what is in it for Donald Trump? I would bet that Trump and many of his billionaire collaborators made fortunes on buying defense and oil stocks just prior to the bombings. Did Donald Trump make money by bombing Iran? Duh.

But what does Donald Trump really need? Donald Trump really needs to avoid prison. Donald Trump really needs to avoid the election in 2026 where he is very likely to lose both the House and the Senate. Donald Trump really needs to avoid impeachment conviction and removal from office.

What Donald Trump really needs is to declare martial law so as to stop the 2026 elections and arrest all political opponents, and destroy all opposition media, and arrest and imprison all protesters. And stop the 2028 elections too. 

Donald Trump needed his Reichstag Fire moment. So he created it. With bombs.  Any opposition to Donald Trump from this moment forward will be deemed  treason and dealt with imprisonment.

The only question to ever ask about anything that Donald Trump did or will do is what’s in it for Donald Trump?

He got his stupid headline

 So the mentally ill megalomaniac bombed Iran.  Start a war with Iran?  The way Netanyahu wanted him to? Maybe the way Putin told him to? 

So he goes on TV…such a tough guy!  See how important he is?  See how he can kill?  Aren’t you impressed?

So we have the war criminal, Netanyahu, and the 86 year old mentally impaired fanatical Ayatollah, and the mentally declining Dumbass.  

Afghanistan…Iraq…Iran…

Boom. 

Why MAGA needs to destroy beauty

 Why is MAGA gutting the National Parks and destroying environmental protections?  Oh, you say, money… save money by not “wasting” it on National Park personnel, and let the billionaire oligarchs make more and more and more and more money and who cares about preserving parks or increasing pollution or accelerating Climate Change or spurring Global Warming?  

OK, sure. But…

I think it is deeper than that. I think that tyranny needs to destroy beauty. I remember an interview of a man who had served time in a Federal Prison. What I remember from that interview was how important it was for the prison to block as much beauty from the lives of prisoners as they could. The movie “Shawshank Rebellion” has a memorable scene where a prisoner managed to play a transcendently beautiful aria over the loudspeaker and was punished as a consequence. 

Beauty, love, empathy, compassion… these are powers that need to be killed by Nazis and KKK and MAGA and fascists and oligarchs and tyrants. Because they are powerful antidotes to the soul and spirit crushing aims of the tyranny of the “king”.

Indeed, the billionaire MAGA supporter, Musk, famously said that empathy and compassion were weaknesses.

So, the White House “king” takes over the Kennedy Arts Center.  Why? So that the man who thinks gold toilets are beautiful can control the arts. Because the arts, and beauty, are threats to tyrannies. 

We are in the midst of a full out fascist takeover of the U.S. This shall not succeed. 

A call to decency

 June 14, 2025 and the White House megalomaniac insists on a four mile military parade, in front of him, on his birthday. Gag…

But, the Catholic Church has a new pope. And he is having a mass led by him broadcast in his Chicago White Sox stadium.  Excellent counter programming. 

He is an American, and like Pope Francis before him he appears to be a spiritual and decent man focused on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, rather than being a scolding dogmatic theocratic, trying to take the church and the world back into previous centuries.

I am glad they chose an American because, in this current moment in the world, America has turned into a force of domination, cruelty, greed, and repression, because that is who the current American president, Donald J Trump, is. So now we have an American spiritual leader who is opposed to all of that, who is the symbol of empathy and compassion and caring.

Empathy, compassion, and caring. 

Of course, he is Catholic, so I am sure he will not approve of gay marriage, too bad, nor abortion, too bad, but bringing a message of compassion is very welcome. 

I stopped being a Catholic decades ago. And I will not become one now. But I welcome a pope who focuses on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. 

I see this as a call to America, and the to world, to decency.

What’s the ONLY THING that matters to Trump?

 The only thing that matters to Trump is…Trump…the only thing that matters to Trump is that he stays out of prison…the only thing that matters to Trump is that he is not impeached and convicted and thrown out of office…the only thing that matters to Trump is that the Democrats don’t win the House and Senate in 2026…the only thing that matters to Trump is that the 2026 elections are rigged to keep the House and Senate Republican…how?

Oh, maybe declare martial law in response to “foreign invasion”…you know…send in the troops…arrest hundreds…show smoke and fires and violence…on TV…on Fox News TV…SMOKE, FIRE, VIOLENCE, TROOPS…TV TV TV.

Aw shucks, sorry America, we can’t have elections in 2026, you know…MARTIAL LAW…NO ELECTIONS….

Whew, no elections, no Democratic House and Senate, no impeachment, no dying in prison….no problem NO PROBLEM….for Donald J Trump….

Which is the ONLY THING that matters to Donald J Trump.

The direct line from McCarthy to Trump

 I watched a recording of the live broadcast “ Good Night, and Good Luck”, the story of CBS and Edward R Murrow exposing the filthy bullying destructive attacks by Joseph McCarthy against people he falsely slandered as Communist.  The good news is that in 1954 the Senate finally turned on McCarthy, held hearings, and destroyed him. This only happened after concerted efforts by journalists like Drew Pearson and Edward R Murrow, and a growing demonstration of disgust by Americans. So in one way it was a positive story that can give us hope.

The problem is that there is a direct line between Joe McCarthy and Donald Trump. That direct line is the hideous monstrous lawyer Roy Cohn.  Cohn was the vile hate filled opportunistic lawyer who fed and led McCarthy. And who became the vile hate filled opportunistic lawyer who trained Donald J Trump.

Cohn is gone, but his filthy bullying methods to attack and destroy innocent people’s lives was imprinted on in the filthy mind of the heartless President of the United States, Donald J Trump. Trump isn’t very smart, but he has decades of practice of the despicable tactics of the toxic Cohn.

We beat these people once, I hope and expect we can beat them again. But right now, I am pretty depressed.  Why are these terrible people always with us, attacking our freedoms, soiling all that is good and true of America?  

The play is a good one, and there was an earlier movie of the same name.  And the comfort is that it showed good winning over evil.  Can we win again?  

It is up to us.  That is the message of the play.  “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves…”. We Americans allowed and wanted this toxic boil, and his rabid minions, in power.

Thank you, George Clooney for this Production