A Republic--If You Can Keep It

 

This is what the New York Times chose to publish on Independence Day just one week after the Supreme Court ruled that Republican presidents are above the law. pic.twitter.com/URoJg6ohru

— @StephenWolf.bsky.social (@PoliticsWolf) July 4, 2024

The New York Times, which has been going out of their way to promote "Biden is too old and must drop out" editorials this week, decided the way to follow up on that terrible trend was to platform some mook who wants to pretend voting is a bit of hogwash. Well...not just some mook. Matthew Walther is a Catholic conservative (although it's hard to say if he just sort of is a hater in general--he calls the Constitution a "231-year old piece of toilet paper" in this screed against the Tea Party libertarians) --just like Leonard Leo and Steve Bannon and the derpsticks who ruled Trump is kind of/sort of a monarch.

Encouraging people not to vote (especially if one does, in fact, vote--possibly for Tulsi Gabbard which feels like fuckery) is a kind of voter suppression. Which is weirdly in line with Russian active measures to undermine confidence in voting. 

Democracy depends upon an engaged, informed population. The press can be a valuable part of that process of informing and engaging citizens--or it can do whatever this is. The chattering classes who write about politics are, when not encouraging apathy, so stuck on horserace politics that in the discussion of possibly replacing President Biden on the ticket have invented a fantasy horserace to write about. 

Is there nothing else to write about? Maybe how often Trump was mentioned in Epstein court documents? His new Saudi project? What Ivanka and Jared are up to in Albania and with whom? Anything to do about Project 2025--but especially how it would permit foreign nasties to interfere in our elections? (I remember when Trump wanted to cooperate with Russia on "the cyber"--do you?)

Thoughts and Prayers, Our National Pastime

 

Today, at an Independence Day parade about a half hour north of Chicago in Highland Park, Il., a scion of the town's good folk is alleged to have fired into the festivities, killing six and wounding dozens, and causing the shut-down of other holiday celebrations in the vicinity while the manhunt for the shooter was underway. Robert "Bobby" Crimo, III was later taken in "without incident." 

The alleged shooter apparently provided a lot of internet content, which is in the process of being scrubbed and I guess there are reasons not to publicize his little cartoons and lyrics and all. But apparently, red flags existed as to what was on this young man's mind about thinking of doing damage to other people. The above screenshot is from a video he did that depicted himself as a school shooter. The flag symbolism is just something to ruminate over--for now. 

But I want to short-circuit the idea that this kid was antifa because of random dress-up photos or the idea that scrawny little pencil-neck betas are a libtard thing. Waldo over here was signifying badass MAGA wannabe, and that apparently meant embracing the gun--the symbol of dominance and cleansing for an American kid who has gone off the rails and wants to signify his badassery. By shooting innocent folks and causing terror for no clear reason at all. 

So, we can offer up our thoughts and prayers now, our numb-skulled thoughts and broken-hearted prayers, that this kind of monstrosity which happens here more than anywhere else, happened here, on this day we celebrate our nation's uniqueness and history. These offerings are our national pastime after all. 

The Chinese Seeds Conundrum

Stephen King could have written this mess, and we'd be only at like, Chapter Five, right now. Still from Creepshow, You Lunkhead.

Human beings are primates, I remind myself, or find myself reminded, on a regular basis--and the thing about your monkey brain is--it's curious. Well, your monkey brain, my monkey brain, the point is, we are more curious than we are smart, but we are also fucking dumb. Case in point: The Chinese Seeds Conundrum:

In late July, America was briefly enthralled with “Unsolicited Seeds from China,” which started showing up in mailboxes in all 50 states. These mystery seeds prompted warnings from the USDA, which said people should not plant them, and should instead alert their state agricultural authority and mail them to the USDA or their local officials.

Many Americans heeded this advice. Many more decidedly did not.

You guys, this is how the horror novel starts out. "Many more decidedly did not." That right there is just negligent, but what did the folks do? They were told not to plant them of course, because, like, lets say it's just some random GMO licensing legal fuckery that takes over your lawn--it's just raw naivete to assume there's anything good in that.  Or who even knows what:

Audrey 2 from the brilliant movie "Little Shop of Horrors"

Yeah, I'm not saying it could definitely be alien man-eating plants, but no. It could be--okay what if it were alien man-eating plants and then you had that on your conscience in your suburban picket-fence tract home somewhere that's green Mr. Man? Is that what you want?

Somebody Else's Babies

Although I'd like to think I speak fluent "white asshole" having grown up around that dialect my whole life, I spent a long while staring at this comment wondering why Iowa Rep. Steve King (R) thought babies of any particular parentage weren't capable of carrying on with "our civilization". There's nothing about what I think of as American culture that excludes the children of immigrants--on the contrary! Our American way is made up of immigrants who wanted to work hard and achieve a good standard of living, to experience freedom of thought, religion and political access denied to them in their home countries. I, like Steve King, am the descendant of European immigrants. There is nothing about me that privileges me to better understand America as a German/Irish/English, etc. mutt,  than a child of any other heritage because we are a nation on paper, made of laws and words and ideals, but not bloodlines.

A baby learns language. A baby learns religion. A baby learns what their parents or guardians and the world around them teach it.  But one thing a baby shouldn't be expected to do is "restore a civilization". Steve King supposes a civilization already in peril. It is for adults to lead and teach--not to count on children, who can only learn what is around them, regardless of who their mothers and fathers are. If our civilization is so fucked it is down to diaper-wearers to rescue it, maybe it was already fatally flawed?

But this is just more racist nonsense from a tiresome racist--an Iowan who for some reason sports a Confederate flag on his desk:

and has a history of saying appallingly white nativist things. But he has been representing his district in Iowa since 2003. As a US Representative. While being pretty openly racist.

I guess what I'm getting at is, this whole thing where liberals say things like "Some conservatives are racist" (not, by the way, all conservatives are, because fuck no, and fuck that, and "Strawman, much?") this guy is what we're talking about. The guy who doesn't realize nonwhite civilization is also a thing. (It has actually been most of the civilized things.) The guy who gets kudos from David Duke and Richard Spencer:

Rep @SteveKingIA is praised by two of the biggest #WhiteSupremacist names in the country. Take note, #GOP, this is the company you keep. pic.twitter.com/be57Y4EpGe

— Avi Bueno (@JasperAvi) March 13, 2017

Which reminds us of?

I'll take our chances of continuing civilization with "somebody else's babies" over reinforcing Steve King's hateful bullshit, any time.

Let's Not Make the Super Bowl Weird, OK?

I don't follow sports because for the most part, nothing is actually ever going to be as good IMHO as WWE/WCW/ECW through the mid-to-late 1990's. That was just an incredible era for wrestling, and the fact is, I never bothered to learn all the plays or teams or could follow who was part of what team anyway. I really did super great at fantasy baseball for a couple of years because even if I suck as a sports fan, I am really great at understanding how statistics work and managed to get players like Wade Boggs and Lenny Dykstra in my batting rota to maximize hitting for on-base which routinely led to higher scoring, while keeping stiffs like Canseco off because who needs the errors? He totally gave up more bases than he hit for (homers are a misleading stat).

Anyhow, I don't know much about football even if I once wore one of the world's homeliest Eagles starter jackets back in the day (I think it was like this) when I was dating a total sportshead. (I looked so boss, though, with my mall-bangs, door knocker earrings, and skintight acid wash jeans. I am so glad pictures do not still exist of this late '80's/early 90's incarnation of yours truly, even if I was quite the Generation X East Coast artifact.)

But anyhow, the Super Bowl is like some kind of weird national holiday even for people who don't really follow sports. Even if you don't like football, there's something just right about the everybody eating snacks and judging commercials that feels so uniquely American. We're watching millionaires give each other brain damage, but we're also coming together as a nation to absorb something to say to our co-workers the next day in the break room.

Then along comes this weird post-2016 election season where people are still all politicized and being weird. Tom Brady and Bill Belichik are Trump supporters, apparently. Anyhow, the graphic above represents some alt-right guy making it weird.

Um. I don't really think it's cool to make the fandom of people in the US northeast about white supremacy without their signing off on it, and from what I gather--not all of them really would based on things like the electoral scoreboard. I'm not sure it's really a great thing for Trump that some of his followers automatically assume his support is also an endorsement of white supremacy, but I am damn sure it is not a great reflection on the New England Patriots organization that the alt-right wants to co-opt their talent and sports prowess to try and make some bullshit point--but I don't think the team invited this at all. And I know of so many NE sports fans who manage to be gung-ho about their sports teams while not being actual RW assholes at all! They are cool people who are homers! They just represent with the jerseys and the ticket buys. They aren't like, goose stepping and what not.

I'm just saying--let's not make the Super Bowl weird, where odd political signifying nonsense takes up our bandwidth, instead of factual sportshead stuff like whether the Atlanta defense collapsed and Brady et als capitalized. Let's just enjoy nachos and rewatch commercials like they were shorts put up for Sundance. C'mon. This should be entertainment. Not another "But I want to punch Nazis" day.

FWIW--I kind of always want to punch Nazis. But that has nothing to do with football. And also doesn't always mean "with a fist".

If We Have Forgotten

If there was a thing I thought growing up, it was that the US was great. The great melting pot. The leader of the free world.  A nation of laws, not men. A free country. One nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. And I continued to believe it as an adult, for old time's sake, even when the sins of a nation were uncovered through greater study--mostly good. Aspiring to be great. Freer than most.

Our unique position, historically, has been called "American Exceptionalism". The American cradle story we ought to know is that our country exists on paper--it is not any particular religion or ethnicity that informs our uniqueness,  but the documents that inform our law and our values. We have made sacred texts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution because they represent the formation of the American viewpoint. The expansion of the US meant that over time, our borders changed, and the influx of immigrants over the years meant our ethnic and religious composition also changed, but what was not called into doubt was that we made Americans of our immigrants and they became ours. This happened imperfectly. But it's been going on for years.

Later on, American Exceptionalism meant something about our strength as a nation and our military power--post-WW2 and through the Cold War and beyond. This in part can be viewed as a product of the denouement of WW2--the fall of the Nazis and the liberation of the camps, and the shock and awe of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Divorced from the aspirational view of an arc of history bending towards justice, there was always the more pessimistic view of our collective trajectory--voiced by H.L. Mencken and Sinclair Lewis, that fascism could happen here--and I, steeped in liberal altruism, concurred.  It could happen here, wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross. Popular sentiment, that accepted slavery, segregation, know-nothings, bigotry against Catholics and Jews, Jim Crow, lynching, and so on, would betray our American ideals, because we aren't just aspirational about our exceptionalism, but are also always fucking it up.

I Swear Barack Obama Gave one of His Best Speeches

All I know is that in this second term, a lot of what President Obama has been saying plays on the themes of Stonewall, Selma and Seneca Falls. He returns to the essential idea that freedom and justice alike are woven into the multicolored tapestry of our history as a nation, forged in the steely ink of our founding documents, tested again and again whenever Americans have faced trials and struggles. He weaves once again this great notion of a strong nation, made more perfect by the work of many hands, in offering support to someone who can take up the banner and go forward with it.

It was an encouragement that the successes (which are very real) of his administration have a chance to continue under great, Democratic leadership. It's an exhortation to participate in our democracy to keep it strong. It was a paean to our diversity and the many ways it gives us strength, and should not be feared. It was uplifting, and a rebuke to people who don't grasp what the essential greatness of our country is--its potential, and the portability and timeless nature of our values and dreams, that are transmissible and easily the greatest export, the finest product we can ever peddle and which are free to any man, woman, being that wants to become a part.

It was about patriotism, and more--it transcended ideas about "left" and "right" labeling, explicitly revealing how individual freedom and progress was up to everyone as a part of our civic heritage.

I know I am going to miss the hell out of President Obama--although I am looking forward to seeing what a still-young man might do in his post-presidency. But he also made me look forward to what Hillary Clinton might accomplish in office. It was the highlight of the evening. A jewel.

(I know I skipped over mentioning VP Joe Biden and VP-to-be Tim Kaine's speeches--and it's a shame, because I think these are actually two of the most compassionate, sincerely nice and decent people in politics today and they both did excellent--it's just, seriously? Barack Obama's speech took my damn breath away.)

Juno is in Jupiter's Orbit

This actually beats fireworks for stuff the US has done in the sky in the vicinity of July the fourth.

We are sciencing like a boss.

Selma's America is America for Barack Obama, and Me

The great poet Langston Hughes wrote "America was never America to me" in a poem about what America could be. The promise of America was a dream deferred or delayed or outright denied, but which laid before the pioneer, the slave, the rebel, the migrant, all, as a possible better world a-borning, a place where the love of that dream overcomes the adversity of every present moment to be remade new--a "more perfect union".

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

Langston Hughes' America--newly-made, is what John Lewis and Martin Luther King and so many more marched for.  That "more perfect" and always infinitely perfectable union, is what President Obama has been talking about since he ever talked. This ability to get better, do better, be more and expect more, has been the very nature of our American exceptionalism. The revolutionaries that separated from their King, the fight that separated slave from master, and made them equals, that lifted woman from helpmeet to citizen--has been the best of America. We face adversity--and still we rise.

Could Ebola Teach US Americans Geography?

The late journalist Ambrose Bierce commented that "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." Yeah. As if Americans ever learn geography. Truth of the matter is, that picture to the left probably is where a disturbing number of Americans (well, nortemericanos, anyway) stand with respects to understanding our planet and how she is laid out. (More knucklehead geography is on view at Buzzfeed. [No, but I love Buzzfeed, news and nostalgia and cat videos forevah. It is my #1 time-sink site and I can not lie.])

Basically, even our most elite Americans are totally having Caitlin Upton moments--but particularly about the whole Africa and ebola thing.

No, really:

For instance, at a school in New Burlington, New Jersey, two Rwandan students are staying at home due to other parents’ fear that they will infect other children with Ebola. Rwanda is as close to the Ebola outbreak as New York City is to Seattle.

In Hazlehurst, Mississippi, a school principal’s recent visit to Zambia has led to a lot of parents choosing to keep their kids at home. But Zambia is in Southern Africa, over 3,000 miles away from the Ebola outbreak — the same distance between New Hampshire and Los Angeles.  

A school bus driver in Poplarville, Mississippi who recently visited Ghana is being prevented from returning to work. Meanwhile, in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, some parents kept their kids home when their school hosted two visitors from Uganda.

Seriously? People aren't even Google-mapping where people are from? Can't even do the most basic Wiki research into where folks are and how ebola works and then front that they are concerned? They have the maps--because they have the cell phones. Maps are even on cell phones, now. They have the gateway to non-stupid in their pockets.

So I am thinking the answer is "Nope." Americans will learn geography when the stupid is pried from their cold, dead hands. Or possibly in the case of zombie apocalypse.