Something Funny!
Chris Hedges had an interesting July 4th. He spent the day with, as he says, 'some of the few sane people left in the United States: drag queens'. When I read that sub-title I went, 'Huh???' but that, and the cartoon by Mr. Fish, made me eagerly read on. It was a completely different take on maga politics, Trump, and history (fascism...). I never thought of these things before, but there are aspects of the article which really struck me, and some parts made me laugh out loud and read them to my hubby, who also laughed out loud. So, here's the article: Independence Day Drag.

And the awesome cartoon by Mr. Fish, called 'Diva Don':

And more about the article below the break!

A Few Snippets and Some Music

It’s just a few days past the first year anniversary of my father’s death. So I’m kinda sad and out of it. And then there’s all the crap Trump and his gang of a&&holes are doing towards WWIII. Good distraction from the Epstein stuff, right?

Ron Placone wrote a bit about this:

So, not only is WWIII a possibility, but now would probably be the easiest time, at least in all of the moments I’ve occupied this earth, for them to get away with such a thing. I just don’t see the country that can’t even have unanimous agreement that pedophilia is bad, and as of the writing of this has made zero arrests via the Epstein Files, somehow unite to stop a war.

Speaking of the Epstein Files, keep speaking of the Epstein Files, because that’s what they’re trying to distract you from.

Stuff is still happening with respect to the Epstein files, it’s just that so many have turned away from learning, reporting, thinking about them. But still… Really American notes that ‘Republicans Joined Democrats to Subpeona Pam Bondi in the Epstein Case’ . So there’s that, at least.

Hmmmm, Knew It...

Sometimes, things are just like I figured, even if I don't really want them to be.

A couple of weeks ago I happened across a news story on Common Dreams about Trump and his case against former FBI directory James Comey. Now, I'm not a fan or supporter of Comey's in any way, and yea, he probably did make some false statements. Who in government doesn't do that? But, I saw the title and the main picture of this story and suddenly understood exactly how this attorney got appointed.

Here's the pic:

This Autism Thing is Really Getting to Me

I'm probably a little too close to this, but Trump and RFK, Jr blaming mothers taking Tylenol sent me a bit over the edge.

An appropriate meme from a quora thread

Recent Gallup Poll
So recent poll numbers are interesting. The Trumpster's favorable rating has declined. His net favorable rating is around negative 16 points, which is lower than former President Biden's is. Biden's net favorable rating is negative 11 points. The new pope, the American one, had the highest favorable net rating. And after him came Zelensky!?? at 18 positive points and then Sanders at 11 positive points. What the heck, Zelensky???? And btw, what's with the headline of the article (Trump trails Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders in favorable polling: Gallup), listing AOC before Sanders as coming higher than Trump. Yea, she did, but she's at negative 4 points net favorable rating, and Sanders is way above that and in the positive range!

From the NY Times. Doesn't that chair/head combo in the back between Trump and what's his name (Vance) look like a black skeleton? That's what I thought it was a first... I though the picture had been modified into a kind of joke! (Sorry, the link to the pic is in Spanish, I got it while working on my Spanish language learning)

First They Come for the Poor, and Then...?

As we all know, the Trump administration has been going after universities in the USA with respect to immigrant students, supposed antisemitism, trans-athletes* and wev. One of the tactics the admin is using is cutting funding for all kinds of things that most Americans can benefit from, like cancer research. Some of those universities have been fighting back, with various results.

(from the Times of San Diego article linked below)

WWE for all of us!

I have never been a fan of the WWE or whatever it is called now. Never watched it, never paid attention to it. But, despite that, I knew that Trump used to 'run' it, in a way, and I inadvertently caught some of the things he would do, all the grandstanding, the fake conflicts, the stupid outrage, the, what seemed to me, lies. Couldn't not hear them or read those things even if just skirting by the magazine in the checkout line, or listening to the radio on the way home from distributing CSA shares and so on.

So, in politics and the world today, we have the strikes on the nuke sites in Iran, and then Iran's retaliatory strike on our base in Qatar. At least the Iranian strikes included the 'enemy' giving the US forewarning, and I think (if I remember rightly) the US strikes on Iran did the same, so both were basically orchestrated... very WWE, isn't it?

In another example we have the BBC calling Trump the disruptor - very WWE, isn't it?

Happy Juneteenth!

Slavery ended in this country, officially, on June 19th, 1865, the day when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas at the end of the American Civil War. So now we celebrate the day as Juneteenth, which became a federal holiday in 2021. Yay! And now...

I gotta admit, I loved seeing the No Kings! protest marches in the cities and towns in the US on Saturday. There was even one in my little town! Seattle's march was huge, I was so proud. Yes, these were all just marches, but at least it says something about what a lot of the people of the USA think about Trump's possible dictatorship.

No Kings Marches Were Everywhere! Image from Newsbreak.com

Placone's Right

Ron Placone recently wrote a piece on his substack entitled 'The Disdain Towards Culture Should Bother You'. I think he's making the right point here, and his article is worth a read.

Placone acknowledges that the US has always had a disdain for art, creativity and culture but that disdain has grown recently. He says,

The US is arguably the only industrialized nation that sees art as a luxury instead of part of what it means to be human. We spend about 1/10th the amount that other industrialized countries do on arts funding and even that figure is misleading because most of that 1/10th goes to the military.

We value creativity about as much as a gas station does. People of the United States have made incredible cultural contributions to the world and have done so in spite of its societal outlook, not because of it.

A Picture I took last June. Red Roses! Just 'Cause!