Alt-Right

Endorsements


POST 1110

From a rally for Tammy Baldwin

Jax Pix

Here are some of my pics.

President

Kamala Harris (queue the forehead slaps), because we want our President to be a person who has neither dementia nor a mania to be der fuhrer. We want her to be focused on We The People.

Senate

Arizona – Reuben Gallego – Good, solid, proven congressman. Plus, he isn’t election denier, pants-on-fire Kari Lake.

California – Adam Schiff – Super smart January 6 Committee member and impeachment prosecutor. His Republican opponent, Steve Garvey, was a terrific baseball player. He should have stuck to that, because if elected he would be another Trump mini-me suck up, MAGA extremist. Plus, he sounded like a doofus in their debate.

Florida – Debbie Mucarsel-Powell – She’s good and she has going for her that she isn’t spineless, elitist, arrogant, dangerous Rick Scott, co-sponsor of a national abortion ban bill and too chicken to face Mucarsel-Powell in a debate.

Maryland – Angela Alsobrooks – Her opponent, Larry Hogan, isn’t awful like most Republicans. But he’s unacceptable because he’s a Republican, which means he would be an obstruction to anything Harris will want to do for We The People.

Michigan – Elissa Slotkin – She’s a seriously smart, solid woman, proven in Congress. She’s a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst (think: Jack Ryan) and Department of Defense official. Unlike Trump, she has a security clearance.

Missouri – Lucas Kunze – Vote for Kunze because he isn’t Josh Hawley. That alone should be enough to vote for him. He isn’t reprehensible –  Hawley is – and he never fist pumped insurrectionists.

Montana – Jon Tester – One of the best. Super solid and sensible guy. We need him and many others to be voices for We The People and to restore sanity in Congress.

Ohio – Sherrod Brown – Super guy. Hard working, sensible and loyal as the sunrise.

Nevada – Jacky Rosen – She’s been tested and has the cred to attract bipartisan support for important legislation. Plus, her opponent, carpetbagger Sam Brown from Texas, is just another MAGA doomer and blamer without a single constructive idea or the spine to stand up to the extremists.

Pennsylvania – Bob Casey – Sensible, non-histrionic patriot. Calm voice of reason. You remember reason, right?

Texas – Colin Allred – First, you should vote even for a potted plant over Ted Cruz, who is the worst, most hated senator not named Josh Hawley. Second, Allred is first rate – smart and loyal. Plus he’ll have the brightest smile and the best teeth in the Senate.

Wisconsin – Tammy Baldwin – She’s really smart, capable and tested. She won’t be stopped when it’s hard to do what needs to be done. Wisconsinites deserve her.

West Virginia – Glenn Elliott – Because the Republican candidate will sell out those poor people – yet again.

Issues Resources

Check with March For Our Lives for recommendations of candidates who will promote gun safety.

Check with any women’s rights organization for who to vote for if you care about girls, women, your sister, your mom, your daughter, the people on your street or the people on any street, and the rights of all of us.

Check for party affiliation, because Republicans will suck up to Trump and the insane radicals, keeping your children at mortal risk just for just going to school. They will curtail the rights of everyone. Vote for Democrats. Not because only Democrats have good ideas, but because they are a legitimate party with actual, thoughtful policies and a clear view to making the lives of We The People (that’s you and me) better. They’re beholden only to us and to the Constitution, not to a cult subservient to a demonic dictator wannabe. Plus, they believe in democracy and the rule of law, unlike the Republicans who want to “terminate the Constitution.”

We’ll deal with House races and some state races in another post.

Same Old Mendacity

You already know that if Trump’s mouth is moving that he’s either eating a Big Mac or lying. No news there. And you already know that idiot boy genius Elon Musk is just as lie-ful. But did you know that in his country of origin, South Africa, that his name in Afrikaans means “idiot boy genius”?

To be clear, I am not Musk’s interpreter so I cannot make sense for you of any of the idiot things he says. I don’t know if he actually believes the idiocy that Democrats are recruiting undocumented people to vote or if he believes that Democrats can control the weather. Okay, that was loony MTG who said that. See my post this coming Wednesday.

Musk promotes the Trumpy lie that we have a massive voter fraud problem. How might he have adopted that idiot notion?

In the 2016 election there were only 30 cases of claimed voter fraud nationally that were referred for prosecution, or just 0.00001 percent of all votes cast. They didn’t all result in guilty verdicts, so the actual incidence of voter fraud was actually lower. O’ those pesky facts. They point menacingly at Republican lies about elections.

Musk is prone to saying lots of idiotic things. I really don’t care about that. I do care that he has a huge platform to spread them and that he “re-posted [a deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris] that racked up a staggering 1.2 billion views.”

So, he isn’t just an idiot boy genius. He is a very dangerous idiot boy genius whom I would be ignoring were he not in a position to influence so many uninformed or low propensity voters with his lies.

Respect yourself: Don’t buy a Tesla.

From The “Ya Gotta Read This” Department

My pal Ed Gurowitz offers his insights periodically and you must read this post. He reports on attending a Tim Walz rally in Reno NV and manages to deliver both the content and the feel of what he experienced. His description vividly captures the stark differences in the versions of our future that we’re being offered by the two very different presidential candidates.

This is a Don’t Miss piece. Indeed, it’s something valuable to pass along to those you know who are otherwise likely to skip this election. And tell them to read the t-shirt to the right.

Vote to keep this delusional out of the Oval Office.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


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    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

A Bucketful of Weird


POST 1109

Heart Wrenching Quote of the Week

Misty is a teacher in Charlotte, NC. She was interviewed on CNN. She spoke of teachers going to the houses of students to make sure they were okay, as they were living in rubble. One of the teachers is missing and they are surrounded by the disaster and the suffering that is everywhere, trying to help the kids have something that feels normal. Misty said that’s critical for the kids, because,

“Normal just washed away  .  .  . “

Their ordinary lives just washed away. Food and drinkable water washed away. Their homes washed away. Their hopes, dreams, security and perhaps friends and family washed away. The death toll stands at 232. No one knows how many are missing and there is no way to calculate the devastation.

The people wading through the muck and rubble are our family, neighbors and community even if at a distance. When disaster hits, we roll up our shirtsleeves and lend a hand. We come together for one another.

And our help, already critically needed, is going to become far more desperately needed, as Hurricane Milton slams across Florida.

CNN put together this list of organizations providing relief. Just click the link and pick one to help our people, because we step up for our community. It’s just what we do, so it would be weird not to.

Weird Black Nazi Wish List

North Carolina Republican candidate for governor and self-labeled Black Nazi, Mark Robinson, has said many offensive things. Among them,

“Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it back. I would certainly buy a few.”

Maybe I’ll buy some slaves, too. Robinson will be my first purchase. The first thing I’ll do as his master is to end all of his freedom and work him to exhaustion every day. Just wondering if he would still think “slavery is not bad.”

Weird.

The Weird Candidate

From an article in The Atlantic Daily on October 2 entitled “Beyond Handshakes,” focused on the Vice Presidential debate:

.  .  .  Vance slyly executed a strategy to make himself, and Trumpism, appear “normal.” He eschewed talk of “childless cat ladies” and ran from his own lies about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. That such a sentence needs to be written tells you all you need to know about the ugly tenor of this race.

Actually, it tells you all you need to know about the ugly dishonesty and cruelty of Republican politicians.

Weird.

Springfield Geese

Turns out that Trump and Vance are sort of right – someone did kill geese in Springfield, OH. But it wasn’t one of the legally resident Haitians.

Springfield idiot and non-Haitian, Brian Comer, was having fine sport killing golf course pond geese on September 10. Got busted for it. There are no reports of him killing neighbors’ dogs or cats and eating them or whether he’s a Trump supporter – you do the guessing on that. Regardless, he’s seriously weird.

FEMA Funds Never Fed Our Undocumented

Following Hurricane Helene, Donald Trump blasted out damning crapnews that FEMA is running out of money for relief because they’re funneling millions to undocumented immigrants. Trump SS officer Steven Miller and idiot genius Elon Musk are helping to spread that lie. The details of this Trump-stupid FEMA accusation are too long to include here, so read Heather Cox Richardson’s explainer.

Worse, at a time when tens of thousands of Americans are desperate and counting on the heroic rescue teams working hard to save them, feed them, to bring them to safety and to give them hope, Trump is crushing their hopes and their belief in their country. Trump is weird and he’s cruel beyond words. But, you knew that.

BTW – When he was president he did exactly what he’s falsely accusing Biden of doing. He diverted FEMA money from relief for victims of Hurricane Maria to use it to punish “others.” While those devastated by the hurricane were Americans, he didn’t care because, hey, they’re just Puerto Ricans. To refresh your memory, this is the paper towel tossing incident. See this capture of his reprehensible and weird nature.

“That Was a Damning Non-Answer”

Walz: Did [Trump] lose the 2020 election?

Vance: Tim, I’m focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans in the wake of the 2020 Covid situation? (As though that fantasy was in the future – and the answer is no.)

Walz: That was a damning non-answer.

Vance’s slimy-squirmy avoidance of Walz’s question lit up the debate and Walz nailed him on it. Good for all of us.

Actually, Walz let pass nearly all of Vance’s non-answers (about 22 of them) and his lies (uncountable), much to the frustration of fact-based viewers. No clue why Walz did that.

Trump’s nearly successful efforts to thwart the will of the people of the United States in 2021 and Vance’s support for that felony is ugly. But We The People believe our eyes and ears and we know what happened. The Vance-Dance wasn’t just damning. It was criminally damning.

And weird.

Reality Roundup

You already know that some of us have a flimsy relationship with truth, facts, science and other parts of reality. Lies, misdirection, fantasies, fatuous rumors and conspiracies have achieved great popularity with many of our less sharp-eyed fellow citizens. Their opinions, based on nothing more than personal bias and cartoon-ish flights of insanity, have supplanted facts in their minds. That’s an impressive achievement and actually quite a problem.

A fine essay was offered in the New York Times a couple of weeks ago – Facts Matter, and They Don’t Care How You Feel, by Francis S. Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health. His piece is a clearheaded approach to telling us that reality is what it is and that our confirmation bias, bad attitudes and our need to find a boogeyman behind every tree don’t change reality.

So no, the Earth is not flat. The 1969 moon landing did happen. So did the Holocaust. There were no sex trafficked young girls in the basement of that pizza shop in DC (actually, there is no basement in that building). There are no Jewish space lasers and vaccines don’t kill, neuter or blind people. They saved hundreds of thousands of lives just in America, despite Trump’s efforts to get Americans to instead inject bleach, Lysol and little ultraviolet lights and to take a drug approved solely to treat malaria. We know all this because there is massive evidence that declares the realities, even as conspiracy wingnuts and wacko political candidates display their very serious mental limitations by rejecting reality and imperiling all of us.

Weird.

Just get this:

Shifting back to reality will take powerful, consistently muscular, banner-waving, truth telling, lie smashing, propaganda pummeling communication and a personal touch. Anything less than that will cause us to descend into a freedom killing wasteland. There are only 26 days left and this will take all of us. It’s time to step up. Now.
.

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say, do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!

– Les Miserables R Us

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registerilled-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.“
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

The Jax Politix Trump Rally Speech


POST 1106

Late Addition: The Debate Opening We Wish Had Happened

“Senator, you don’t know me. We just met, so we’re not close friends. I will address you as Senator. You may address me as Governor or Governor Walz. Not Tim. I’m quite sure I’ve earned that respect.

“Three years ago you confidently announced that you want to tear down our Constitution and our democracy and replace it with an autocracy – a dictatorship. What is significant is that before that you were a United States Marine. You swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic and then you argued for tearing it all down. You’ve repeated some version of that loathsome statement since then. and you’re partnered with a criminal who wants to “terminate the Constitution.”

“You took that same sacred oath upon becoming a United States Senator. That means that your first official act as a senator was to swear that sacred oath, knowing you were lying. You did it with your hand on your Bible. That was unacceptable dishonesty. Were you to win this election, it would be treasonous dishonesty. Senator, you’re the worst kind of fraud and you aren’t fit to be Vice President of the United States.”

View From a Half-Empty Arena With Attendees Leaving

Donald Trump advances to the podium, then shifts to the side and claps his hands not quite in time with the music. Then he begins to speak.

My friend Hannibal Lector – he’s the greatest – he came up from my Mar-a-Lago basement yesterday where he’s been staying as my guest at no charge. It’s a beautiful basement – the best – like nothing you’ve ever seen – there’s even a gold toilet and cases of ketchup – and he explained it all to me. It’s so bad, he told me.

Nobody can believe it. You’re lucky to have me here to protect you from the horrible people in this failing nation and to deliver the revenge and retribution against these horrible people, these Democrats, who dribble corn flakes in your bed.

And the election – you won’t even have to vote because we’ve set up traps – they’re called rabbit snares – and we can stop the fake voters with these traps. We can stop the illegal people who ka-MA-la-la is letting into our country. They are trying to vote and steal our great nation. So are the people who aren’t White but who try to vote anyway, and even the fake FBI. They’re so fake that it’s their first name. The Fake Bureau of Investigation. Nobody can believe it, but I’m telling you this is true. I wrote it in ketchup on the wall.

The foiber and gonzelets are fonzled in abstentia, but we real Amerikanzis stand toothgetter. We have to be strong and flight, flight, flight! Nobloody has ever seen this kind of strengther before. Nobloody.

I’ll protect our women. That’s what strong men do. I do that. I’m strong. “I WILL PROTECT WOMEN AT A LEVEL NEVER SEEN BEFORE.” But ka-MA-la-la is horrible. She’s actually mentally disabled and should be impeached and persecuted. She’s weak and can’t protect our women or our country. Trump is the only protector. The only one.

But the women, they love me, even the women who love their cats but not their dogs. They love me. Especially the ones who are my type. I really like my type. Ivanka is my type. I’d date her if she weren’t my daughter. Melania used to be my type, but not so much anymore. I’m sorry I brought her here from Lower Slobovia. What’s that kid’s name?

We can’t let our country become a shithole country, which is where we are headed unless I’m president. Hannibal Lechter told me that and he knows. He’s strong and he speaks to me. He told me that electrocution by batteries in the ocean is better than getting eaten by a shark and he should know, because he was electrocuted. He’s a very strong man. Very strong. Like me.

I could be sun bathing my beautiful body,* but instead I’m here protecting you. I stand here taking the blows for you and that’s okay. Don’t worry about me. I worry about you, which is why you have to fight like hell. So, stand back and stand by. We’ll make the Democrats and the corn flake crumbs go away forever. That I will tell you. FLIGHT, FLIGHT, FLIGHT!

It will be like nothing anyone has ever seen. People are saying  .  .  .  something. I can’t remember what.

Exit to the playing of copyrighted material used without permission.

View From The Brits
From the FaceBook post of Dwight Homer of September 21,
.
“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” in London Daily Sept 16 2023 (excerpt)
.
“Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
.
“Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
.
“Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
.
“There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface……
.

“And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling [sic} sidekick instead. …”

Many thanks to DS for pointing me to this piece.

View From the Hypocrisy and Mendacity Corner

Of course you know they lie, but they’ve really set a new low mark using the devastation of hurricane Helene to spew their hate, just when our people are desperate for help. Here’s a bit from Heather Cox Richardson’s post of October 1:

.  .  .  the hurricane has become the latest topic of disinformation for MAGA Republicans. Social media today is full of accounts claiming that the federal government is not responding to the crisis in western North Carolina because it prefers to spend money in Ukraine and on undocumented immigrants. Newsmax host Todd Starnes claimed that FEMA’s “top priority is not disaster relief” but to push diversity, equity and inclusion. “So, unless you’ve got your preferred pronouns spray painted on the side of your submerged house—you won’t get a penny from Uncle Sam. Western North Carolina is just too Conservative and too Caucasian for FEMA to care.” The House Judiciary Committee posted that “Joe Biden was at the beach.”

These posts echo Russian disinformation, and Trump was on board with it.

It’s possible that the Republican Party can be revitalized into something that is based in truth and reality. It’s possible that they could stop being cruel, stupid and anti-American. But we’ll have to wait a long time for that.

Read Richardson’s full post to revitalize your understanding of why we must get Democrats elected.

Quote of the Week

From Steve Sheffey’s post of September 29,

“Why are some of us eager to believe anything bad about Biden and Harris but willing to dismiss the truth about Trump?”

Voting and getting out the vote reduce the risk of unwanted presidencies!

______________________________________________________

* View From the Tennis Court
.

 

 

 

 

.

 

Many thanks to SA for the Obi-Wan gif.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Reconsidering


POST 1104

A Little Founding Father Direction

From Benjamin Franklin, 1787:

“I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them. For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”

When you’re “obliged by better information, or fuller consideration,” do you “change opinions even on important subjects, which [you] once thought right, but found to be otherwise”?

It’s happening now.

We’re seeing lots of Republicans, former Republicans and Independents who are showing us the strength to change opinions, as Franklin himself did.

And we’re seeing lots of fellow citizens, formerly disengaged and loath to make the effort to vote, registering to vote.

There is something solid about “better information, or fuller consideration” that emboldens us to do what we know to be right, what we must do. It is what has motivated hundreds of former Reagan officials, Trump officials, Republican Party chairs, judges and thousands of traditional Republicans to declare that they not only will not vote for Trump, but that they will vote for Harris.

From Jamelle Bouie

“For nearly a decade Trump has fomented an atmosphere of political violence. Much of his appeal rests on the promise that he will dominate his enemies – who, through him, become the people’s enemies – and remove them from the body politic.”

“Last Monday, Trump blamed Democrats for political violence. ‘Because of this Communist Left Rhetoric, the bullets are flying and it will only get worse,’ he wrote on social media.

“But there is only one politician who has placed violence at the center of his movement. Only one politician who is running for president on a promise of “retribution.” Only one politician who has promised that if he is elected again, he will unleash the state against a wide array of disfavored groups.”

When Trump Loses

Over the years Trump has declared a stunning list of imagined enemies, icky people, all somehow oppressors of himself. He has announced that he is an innocent victim and brays his hatred and coming retribution for all the suffering he has imagined from his enemies, like:

The Justice Department, weaponized, which is what he promises to do himself

Muslims

Blacks (except for “my Negro”)

Hillary Clinton

Antifa

Hispanics

Everyone from “shit-hole countries”

Non-White immigrants from non-European countries, especially Hispanics seeking asylum, including the babies he ripped from their mothers’ arms

Everyone who investigated or prosecuted the January 6 insurrectionists

Joe Biden

Kamala Harris

Democrats

Haitians

Now “The Jews” – they’re just 2.4% of the total population but he says that his upcoming election loss will be their fault somehow.

It’s funny how Trump is never responsible for anything bad that happens to him. It’s always the fault of someone else. Blaming and hating “others” takes the focus off his countless failures, lies, cheats, stupidities, cruelties and ineptitude by telling us not to pay attention to those, but rather to hate the bright, shiny object du jour he’s flashing in our faces, like Haitians eating cats. Plus, it makes for a common enemy to hate. It’s just what savage, hateful dictators do.

The Trump “Blame It On The Jews” Tour

Trump is repugnant in every way. There’s no need to go through that extensive list here, but one of the most virulent and dangerous is his demonizing of his many out-groups, like those in the list above. After smearing Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, he started blatantly attacking Jews  – no dog whistles any more – by declaring, “If I don’t win this election, the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss.” That matters.

We saw on January 6 the violence he can induce. He stopped just short of instructing his mob to kill cops, smash windows and doors and defecate in the hallways of the Capitol Building, but the mob got the message and did all of that and worse. He and his weird and hateful running mate continue to accuse Haitians of eating the pets of the residents of Springfield, OH. They have induced their rabid thug followers to make dozens of bomb threats there. Now he’s blatantly blaming “The Jews” in advance of his election failure. Can violence to synagogues and congregants be far away?

This is a Congressional Republican hero – Source: Pixabay

Not even one Congressional Republican has repudiated his statements.
.

Apparently, they aren’t familiar with Benjamin Franklin’s wisdom about reconsideration when better information comes along. Or maybe they’re just chicken.

Listen to Keith Olbermann’s commentary – start at 24.30 for more on Trump’s Blame It On The Jews tour. For a more thorough look, read the first section of Steve Sheffey’s post that begins,”Hi Steve.” Plus, you might want to reconsider actions you’ll take in these last critical weeks before the election. There’s lots more that you can do.

Election Wisdom From Master Yoda

“A great and terrible disturbance there is in The Force. Happened this has many times before and evil is once again coming to destroy the Republic and enslave the people.

“If free people you are to remain, The Way of The Vote you must learn. A luminous path it is to what is right and what is good. To refuse The Vote is a path to the dark side.

“Not enough is it for you to do this noble task. Influence others to Vote, you must. You will do this with the The Force that is within you. Feel it connecting you to others and between you and the stacks of prepared ballots awaiting voters. Then guide others, you must, and follow you to the polls they will on the wave of The Force. Then will you feel the crushing of the disturbance in The Force and triumphant will be democracy.

“Go now. Much work there is to do. If your job you do well, The Vote will be with you, always.”

Do we still have the right stuff for the continuing battle against the Dark Side?
.
.

And always remember:

Voting and getting out the vote reduce the risk of unwanted presidencies!

.

It’s not the vibes and it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these websites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Her Own Best Interests


POST 1103.

Brutal Truth

Amber Thurman and her son. Say her name.

The awful day will come. There will be no avoiding it and the now 6-year-old son of Amber Nicole Thurman will hear the brutal truth.

He will be told that his mother was cut down by Donald Trump, Gov. Brian Kemp and all the self-righteous bigots who are sure they know best how Amber Thurman should have lived her life. They call themselves “pro-life” but they killed Amber Thurman with their cruel laws, just as surely as if they had used a gun to shoot her.

That little boy will hear the grisly story of how the people who could have helped his mom, who could have saved her life so that that little boy would have had his mom as he grew up, instead sat on their hands and let her die. He will hear how the Trump judges, Justices and state legislators threatened the doctors, nurses and hospital administrators with prison terms, should they help her. So, they sat idle because the self-important politicians and judges cared far more for thumping their Bibles than they did for saving the the life of the mom of that little boy, or the life of anyone else. They were certain that they should impose their opinions on her and every other woman and girl.

By the time that little boy learns the truth, an uncountable number of other women will have died from that same repugnant arrogance and self-righteousness, that putrid, primitive stench that hangs in the air in our domed state legislatures and the in vaulted halls of justice and in Congress.

Those in charge were told that many women would die and still more would be permanently damaged by their cruel certainties, but they charged ahead as though causing suffering and death were a virtue. Those Bible thumpers will have their way with these women and girls, like gods sanctimoniously holding the lightning bolt of death in their hands. How glorious and triumphant they must feel.

I want every one of them to face one raped 10-year-old girl they abandoned. I want them to attend the funeral of just one woman they condemned to death. I want them to tell their own daughters that they will turn their backs on them in their hour of need, just like they did to Amber Thurman.

Perhaps one of Amber Thurman’s sisters or her own mother will care for that little boy. We can hope, but it won’t be the same for him.

We’ll remember Amber Nicole Thurman every bit as powerfully as we remember George Floyd. We will keep their spirits alive because we will say their names. The cruel ones won’t. They will just forget her.

Here’s the Pro Publica story about this, as well as Lawrence O’Donnell’s report. It’s a hard video to watch, so have a box of tissues at hand. This story is heartbreaking, because Amber Thurman’s death was tragically and entirely unnecessary.

Amber Nicole Thurman lived. She was a real person and she knew what was in her best interests. She tried to get it, but Donald Trump, Brian Kemp, the Republican Georgia legislature and six black-robed, black-hearted Supreme Court Justices declared they knew better. They did violence to that woman. Now she’s dead and her little boy has lost his mom.

The self-certain bigots waged a 50-year war on freedom and rights. They won and brought this triumph of cruelty to all of us. How proud they must be.

Special Note to Pro-Life Zealots

You have your strongly held beliefs. Perhaps they are buttressed by your religion and your certainties about what God wants. You know what’s right. There is no balance for you to maintain and there are no complexities for you to consider. Got it. Here’s the thing.

It’s your right to believe as you do. You get to have the values you hold and to live as you choose. I will forever stand in defense of that. And I will forever stand in opposition to you imposing your beliefs, your values and your absolutism on me or anyone else.

Believe as you do. If you oppose and perhaps hate abortion, then don’t have one. Stay true to yourself. Maintain your integrity. But keep your integrity and your certainties the hell away from me and mine. Or, as our soon-to-be new Vice President instructs, “Mind your own damn business.” And I amend that with, “Keep the hell out of my business.”

Because when you meddle in the business of others, freedom disappears and people die.

And that isn’t in our own best interests.

It’s not the vibes, it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out on any of these sites:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Eventually, Trump Will Go Away – But


POST 1102

Congratulations To The Crazies

Donald Trump said at the presidential debate,

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in [Haitian immigrants], they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

Rolling Stone reported on Thursday,

“’City of Springfield received a bomb threat that has prompted an immediate response from local and regional law enforcement,’ the city wrote on its Facebook page. “

Authorities found no bomb. What they did find was a verbal trigger from Trump and Vance, both jolting a shot from Trump’s extremist supporters.

Consider this bomb threat following Trump’s vile statement, in the context of what follows.

There Is Far Worse Than Trump To Fear

Trump will go away, either by death at the polls, imprisonment or death from Big Macs and fries. But what will not go away are the millions who follow him, some of whom worship him, many of whom respond as reliably as Pavlov’s dog, only violently.

Trump has little power that is his own. His power comes from the consent of his MAGA hordes and he wields it with stunning cruelty, capriciousness, selfishness, ignorance and a lot of other words you yourself can append to this sentence.

Traditional legislators who caved to Trump didn’t do it because of his power. They caved because of the power of the voters, who gave Trump their consent and he primaried those who wouldn’t bow down to him. The power lies with the 30 million who follow Trump.

Trump will go away. He will find a new calling as a full time criminal defendant and then change professions and relocate from Mar-a-Lago to a prison cell. But those angry, aggrieved, temper tantrum MAGAs will not go away. Someone will take Trump’s place to prey upon their willingness to be manipulated.

So, the question is not how to get past Trump. We’ll do that on November 5. It’s how to deal with 25% of the 30 million angry MAGAs who think their threats of assault and their violence are good and appropriate acts of patriotism. They are people who want to tear it all down, like a kid who lost a game of Monopoly and is throwing tokens, money, Chance cards and the game board.

For nine years the focus has been on keeping power from Trump. Books have been written, podcasts have been podded, political blabbers have blabbed, but I have not heard much about how to deal with the angry people who still will be here after Trump is gone.

They get cattle prodded regularly by right wing hate mongers, know nothings and liars, so the fire of their anger gets replenished constantly. They wave the flag and believe that they are true patriots – maybe the true patriots, which means that they believe that you aren’t. They will not go gently into a Trump-less night.

The radicals’ obsession with controlling women’s bodies, their plan to impose a 13th century patriarchal tyranny upon us and the sometimes entertaining but most often infuriating weirdness of Trump and Vance are huge turnoffs for millions of non-extremist righty Americans. Perhaps good sense is slowly bleeding into our political reality.

Keep in mind that Project 2025 extreme tyranny isn’t repulsive to the MAGA far right. With or without the White House or Congress, they will still want to impose that domination on all of us. Even after Trump is just a horrid chapter in the history books we will be left with that long term challenge. It is a citizen-made fire stoked by long held resentments over both real and imagined wrongs and insults, disrespect and broken promises. That has to be dealt with in an effective manner or the consequences may be terrible.

Meanwhile, the first step is to do what is necessary on November 5, because

Trump Must Never Get His Hands On Any Power Greater Than The Flush Handle Of A Prison Toilet.
.

Eventually, Trump will go away, either by death at the polls, imprisonment or death from Big Macs and fries – but.

We’ll still have big work to do, because while the dogs and cats in Springfield, OH are safe, we are not.

From the “What Trump Hath Wrought” Department

1. From STAT:

ONE BIG NUMBER
1,104

This is the number of U.S. counties in which there is not a single birthing facility or obstetric clinician, according to the annual March of Dimes report on maternity care deserts, released yesterday.

Think: Anti-women, crazed politicians. Votes to criminalize doctors, nurses, hospital executives and drive them away, leaving vast maternity care deserts.

They claim to be pro-life, but that’s a lie. They’re for capital punishment and weapons of war in the hands of anyone. They’re against programs to benefit our vets and IVF, against programs to help poor children and pregnant women at risk of disease and death, and they’re for programs that limit and warp children’s education.

2. Here’s reproductive life to come, if Mississippi, Louisiana and Idaho are our models – from the Lincoln Project:

Click me

3. And just in case you still think there isn’t grave risk:

Click me

Sane-Washing

It’s what our print and electronic media do when they treat Trump’s bumbling rambles and nonsensical idiocies seriously or when they attempt to translate the babble.

Read David Corn’s explainer. Sane-washing is a journalistic lunacy, like whataboutism and both-sidesism. It is a voluntary surrender to insanity, an effort to translate gibberish into something meaningful. It’s like man-splaining misogyny or explaining racism by contorting the words of Jesus.

Helpful Quotes For Our Undecideds

An idiocy metaphor.

To put [undecideds] in perspective, I think​ of being​ on an airplane.​ The flight attendant comes​ down the aisle​ with her food cart and, eventually,​ parks​ it beside my seat.​ “Can I inter​est you in the chick​en?​” she asks.​ “Or would​ you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broke​n glass​ in it?”

To be undecided in this elect​ion is to pause​ for a moment and then ask how the chick​en is cooked. [emphasis mine]

― David Sedaris, author, humorist

Speaking to traditional Republicans who refused to stand up to Trump:

I have a simple message to all those Republicans I helped elect. When your careers are studied, this is what you will be remembered for. You failed a test as Americans. Shame.

― Stuart Stevens,  political consultant and former Republican

Actions

With early voting now underway, join Focus for Democracy’s next event as they reveal the most effective programs to reach swing state voters. Connect this Sunday, 9/22, and find out how directing your support to these programs can have an outsized impact on  the election.

  • Sunday, September 22nd

5:00pm PT / 8:00pm ET

Registration link: https://bit.ly/F4D22Sep
It’s not the vibes, it’s not the polls: it’s the votes. 
Are you registered to vote? Check it out here:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Potpourri v23.0


POST 1101

The Debate

In the spin room following the Trumpocalypse he claimed victory. He was asked again if would he would veto a national abortion bill should he be re-elected. He replied, “It was a perfect answer on abortion, and I’ve done a great job on that, and I’ve brought our country together.”

All but the extreme MAGAs now see clearly that he is uninformed, unglued and unfit. So he’s right that he’s brought us together – in recognizing his mental decline.

Here’s a CNN fact check on the debate.

Trump said that Harris had four years to fix our southern border immigration problem and didn’t get the job done. That’s worth mentioning because of a peculiar Constitutional limitation.

The vice-president has only two Constitutionally named jobs: 1. preside over the Senate; 2. wait for the president to die and then take over that job. Harris doesn’t set policy. Biden does. Trump seems to think he’s still running against Biden. For Trump, fantasy or reality – it’s all the same.

Steve Schmidt Quote of the Week

“What Donald Trump is running as is fuhrer of a fascist movement promising protection for White America against imaginary Haitians coming to eat their pets. The presidential campaign has become a clinic of mental illness – not on both sides. On one side.

“And that is the story of this race and the story that should be leading the news – all the news, every night, is that a man who wants access to the nuclear weapons that he singularly can launch, cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is fantasy.”

Meanwhile, George W. Bush’s Attorney General, Alberto “Torture Memo” Gonzales has endorsed Kamala Harris for President. Is that a good thing?

The Crime That Keeps On Stealing

At his State of the Union address in 2010, shortly after the Supreme Court invented a case that allows for massive, corruption-inviting loads of money to influence and at last buy our elections, Obama spoke directly about the Citizens United decision.

“With all due deference to separation of powers, the decision will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.”

Chief Justice Roberts, seated before Obama, shook his head and said, “Not true.”

But it was and it still is.

Foreign money has made it into our elections, but we only know about those bribes that have been caught. Beyond that, we know full well of many of the billions that warp every election. Here’s a link to a report that identifies the top 50 MegaDonor contributors, reported through August 20, with a breakdown of where their money went:

                 TO

Republicans                         $893.7 Million

Democrats                           $452 Million

Both                                     $203.6 Million

Third Party                           $29.6 Million

MegaDonor Total       $1.578.9 Billion

And there’s lots more mega-cash still rolling in.

Before the legalization of criminality that the Citizens United decision delivered, such contributions would have been considered bribes – felonies – and they would have been subject to criminal prosecution. But then John Roberts decided to create a law.

After deciding the actual CU case that was brought to the Court, Roberts called the litigants back and ordered them to argue the rights of inanimate objects – specifically, corporations. The Court then decided that corporations have all the rights that you have. That’s what allowed all those huge bribes to become legal and that’s why Citizens United is the crime that keeps on stealing.

A Second Flunked Taste Test

I did a taste test last month of a piece by Marc Thiessen of The Washington Post, headlining my comments, This Is Juicy. Mine was a most reasonable dissection of his idiotic claims, ending with, “So, nice try, Mr. Thiessen. You are entitled to your opinions, but the facts say you’re wrong.”

Thiessen came up with an intriguing headline more recently, Trump Can Knock Harris Out Of The Race In One Debate. Here’s how. I was sufficiently tweaked by his claim to give him one more taste test. Then I read his first paragraph.

If we have learned anything in recent months, it is that a single bad debate can end a presidential campaign — which is why Vice President Kamala Harris is apparently afraid to do more than one 90-minute, teleprompter-free exchange with former president Donald Trump.

Okay, it wasn’t just one debate that ended Biden’s campaign. There was also that massive in-party pressure.  But it’s the rest of the sentence that flies over the cuckoo’s nest.

Does Thiessen have inside information that says Harris is afraid to do more than one debate against Trump? Or that she is afraid to do more than one if they don’t include teleprompters? What is his source for what’s unstated but is in her head?

Of course, he has no source. He’s pretending that he knows. Ross Douthat of the Times and lots of other pundits do this often. It screams, “I really don’t know anything, so I’ll make up denigrating stuff.”

Mr. Thiessen, you have flunked my second taste test of your work. There won’t be another.

And fie on those who think their ignorance causes them to know what is in someone else’s head.

Despot Suck Up

The President of the United States has three primary jobs explicitly named in the oath of office and in Article II of The Constitution:

  1. Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States
  2. Be Commander in Chief of our armed forces
  3. See that our laws are faithfully executed

The are more duties, of course, but nowhere does the job description include cozying up to cruel dictators, condoning invasion of sovereign nations or abdicating the defense of our democracy. Here’s a quote from Ambassador Michael McFaul’s September 5 post:

In this column, I explained why “Putin has rational motives for wanting Trump to win,” including Trump’s pledge “to ‘look into’ recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia,” Trump’s “disdain for the United States’ alliances around the world [and] his “isolationist policies,” and indifference to “promoting democracy and human rights.”

Of course, Trump also encouraged Russia and Putin to, “do whatever the hell they want.”

Did I already mention “unhinged?” Add to that “faithless.”

Mental Health Warning

We see Trump’s obvious cognitive decline, his inability to complete a thought, his dissembling about fictional character Hannibal Lechter, sharks and batteries, his stringing together of words that don’t belong together and his fantastic claims, like that immigrants are eating pet dogs and others are taking over whole communities. Even as that stuff pulls the rug from under Trump’s election chances, it may provide an insanity defense in court. We need that guy nailed before he can get away with that.

It’s not the vibes, it’s not the polls: it’s the votes.
Are you registered to vote? Check it out here:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Mental Health Wake Up


POST 1099

CAUTION! THIS IS NOT SNARK

.
Ugly Truth

We all know it’s a mental health thing, right? I mean, who but a mentally sick person would kill two kids and two teachers and wound 9 others? Who but a wacko dad would give an assault rifle to his mentally messed up 14-year-old kid?

“You don’t have to have been physically injured in this to be a victim,” District Attorney Brad Smith said outside the Barrow County [Georgia] courthouse. “Everyone in this community is a victim. Every child in that school was a victim.”

Who but someone deranged would blast away 20 first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School? Or get bump stocks for his combat weapons, so he could fire over 1,000 bullets into concert attendees in just 10 minutes? He murdered 59 people and wounded at least 700 more at the Music Festival in Las Vegas.

They would be incoming freshmen right now. Thanks go to JN for this banner.

How crazy would someone have to be to massacre 17 kids at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland), or murder sabbath service attendees at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh or kill grannies shopping at Topps Supermarket in Buffalo or murder the bible study people at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston or the County Environmental Health and Public Health employees in San Bernardino? Something must be mentally wrong with a person who would do such things.

And there’s plenty more insanity.

The political slaves to campaign contributions from the big bucks firearms industry will only admit that our daily slaughters can be blamed on mental health. Surely, they say, there’s no connection to our insane interpretation of the Second Amendment that allows combat weapons to be in the hands of anyone with the strength to lift one. But that excuse is insane. It’s a lie and they know it. We know it.

We are by far the world’s leader in firearms homicides and it isn’t because our kids watch more violent video games or because we are more mentally deranged than people in other countries or because we make and watch more violent movies. There’s just one reason:

We have more firearms per capita than any other nation on Earth – 120 of them per 100 Americans, including babies. That’s double the rate of the next most gun crazy country.
.

It’s murderously easy to get a gun and ammunition. And that’s why we’re Number 1 in murders.

Are we massively mentally deranged, suffering from various violent behavioral anomalies, disorders, psychoses and apathy, too? Of course we are.

We’d have to be mentally ill to continue to elect people who will not do what 80% of us send them to office to do, like pass tough, common sense gun safety legislation. But we keep sending murder weapon enablers to Congress. It’s the very definition of insanity.

Of course we’re crazy, as we gasp at the atrocities and see the faces of the shell shocked survivors who will forever suffer from their trauma. But then we do nothing to stop the next shooting. That’s insane.

We ignore the paralyzing, knee collapsing shock that assaults our first responders who are first to the bloody crime scenes and have to face the horrid truth of the massacres and pick up what is left of those slaughtered. Then we move on and let those heroes fend for themselves. That’s insane.

And we ignore that our flag waving politicians have voted to further de-fund our mental health facilities. That’s insane.

Yeah, we have a mental health problem. It’s us.

Solutions

The Second Amendment is:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The reason for the amendment is spelled out in the first 13 words. It was included in the Constitution to placate southern enslavers who feared a slave uprising. That got Southern states to vote to adopt the Constitution. But the need for protection against a slave uprising no longer exists and it hasn’t since the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865.

Those 13 words call for not just any militia, but a well regulated militia. That means a force of trained troops under the command of a regulating authority. We have that. It’s our National Guard and every state has one. We have no need for vigilante militias or vengeance seeking wackos. So, second Amendment enthusiasts and the gun industry conveniently ignore all 13 words, focusing only on the last 14.

Those 14 words tell us that We The People may keep and bear arms, meaning firearms. In the Founders’ time there were only flintlock pistols and muskets. They didn’t have semi-automatic pistols or AR-15s or bump stocks or large capacity magazines. The right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment applied to muskets.

So, let’s be strict originalists, just as our extremist right wing Supreme Court justices think of themselves. Let’s change our understanding of the Second Amendment to mean exactly what the Founders meant.

American citizens may keep and bear all the musket ball firing flintlock pistols and long guns they want. And those are the only firearms that we originalists should allow.

Muskets have a repeat firing rate of possibly one ball fired every 30 seconds. If the Las Vegas shooter had used a musket instead of his bump stock-modified AR-15 he could have harmed only about 20 people in his 10 minutes of carnage, instead of over 750.

For our gun myopians:

  1. The Second Amendment wasn’t about showing what a tough guy you are, taking your AR-15 to Starbucks or to a bar or to polling places to intimidate voters, so don’t do that insane thing.
  2. Put trigger locks on your firearms and lock them up unloaded so that your aggrieved kid can’t grab them and kill other kids at his school, like that deranged 14-year-old kid at Apalachee High School in Georgia did last week. Same for the shooters at Sandy Hook, Parkland and Uvalde.
  3. Try being a good dad instead of a pretend soldier with a warped notion of patriotism. And get into therapy that focuses on anger management.
Wake Up

This is a wake up call to all of us to elect representatives who will do what We The People want them to do. Doing anything less is insane.

Wake up.

Are you registered to vote? Check it out here:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore, even if that makes them a few bucks more expensive. That will help to keep them your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

Here’s The Thing


POST 1098

Tyranny and Freedom

We are continually faced with self-serving declarations from over-lord wannabees about some thug patriotism and manipulative, fantabulous claims of victimhood designed to move us to support their un-freedom hell. (Insert here your personal nightmare image here.) Saying this less delicately, there’s a lot of crap being spewed by people hoping to enrich themselves in various ways, none of which are good for you. What’s a thinking American to do?

I gave advice on that very thing as recently as March 20 of this year, writing,

See Note #5 below

Prof. Timothy Snyder teaches history at Yale and is the author of On Tyranny and other books. If you have not read this brilliant, pamphlet-sized book (rather like The American Crisis by Thomas Paine), do so immediately.

As far back as February 7, 2021, less than a month after the Trump storm troopers killed cops and vandalized the Capitol Building in search of politicians to murder, I wrote about this in a slightly different way:

This is how democracies die. A cult leader exhorts fanatics, the thugs terrorize all opposition and incrementally people surrender to death threats and violence. And that’s advanced when 199 of our legislators give a standing ovation to the conspiracy nut case spewing fascist hatred. Yes, fascism can happen here in America.

I’ve exhorted readers to see what Vice President Wallace had to say about fascism in America. If you believe in democracy and have not yet read his essay, please read it now.

These violent, angry thugs won’t simply melt away if Trump disappears or if this current insurrection fails – and no, it isn’t over yet. You can expect acts of terrorism, including mass shootings and bombings and perhaps political assassinations over the coming years, as highly armed, angry, hateful, bigoted, self-righteous thugs continue their war against America.

See Note #5 below

We face an existential crisis – as in: threatening our existence. Stopping the political and street thugs isn’t a sprint. This is a marathon which will wax and wane but will never be ended because there will always be people who want to dominate others, who want to steal from others.

Which is why it’s time to return to Timothy Snyder. His new book is On Freedom. It will be released on September 17, so obviously I have not read it yet. Nevertheless, I’m recommending it to you because I believe in, I support and I demand freedom for all of us. Professor Snyder is a fine teacher and I have complete confidence he has valuable marching orders for all of us who believe in freedom. That belief started with the Founders. Lack of freedom, after all, was the trigger that started this whole thing.

Here’s a link to a transcript of Bill Maher’s interview of Professor Snyder on March 2, 2017, shortly after Trump took office. And here’s a link to talks Professor Snyder is doing on his upcoming book tour. He’s a most informative presenter, notably easy to listen to and learn from. Go and listen.

For clarity about the threats we face and will continue to face, find out How It Works.

“It’s time to end the MAGA era. It reaches peak stupid every five minutes .  .  .”

– Steve Schmidt

Are you registered to vote? Check it out here:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

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https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016


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    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
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Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

What a Load of Bovine Fecal Matter!


POST 1097

Cow Pie #1

Republicans tell us they’re for small government, low taxes, no deficits and no debt. Good thing. Otherwise, we’d have a crazy amount of debt, right? Here’s how the Rs helped us with this, looking at just their tax programs.

The unpaid-for George W. Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 collectively added about $5.6 trillion to our national debt. Dubya solemnly promised that the cuts would “pay for themselves” via increased economic activity, plus more opportunity and better wages for working people. None of happened, but rich people did become much more wealthy every year of his administration.

Dubya was the first president to cut taxes while our country was at war, creating massive debt. His vice president, Dick Cheney, proudly declared that budget deficits don’t matter, so they conducted “off-balance sheet” wars. I still don’t know what that is.

Trump continued the lie, promising tax cuts that would bring greater opportunity and higher wages for working people. He structured his tax policy to give 83% of the benefit of the tax cuts to corporations and extremely wealthy people – about $2 trillion – and we got the debt.

Do you understand $1 trillion? You can do the math, of course, but can you really relate to what it actually is? Consider yourself a genius if that number is anything but an abstract notion of math to you.

The tried and true method of explaining large numbers is to imagine dollar bills laid end-to-end. $1 trillion would stretch around the earth at the equator .  .  .

4,000 bills deep!
.

That’s $1 trillion. But these two presidents piled about $7.6 trillion of debt onto the backs of We The People in order to stuff large denomination bills into the pockets of the already rich. That results in a circle of dollar bills around the earth at the equator

30,400 bills deep!
.

That’s what supply side voodoo economics (that was H.W. Bush’s term) got us. It’s wealth transfer from us to the rich. We still have search crews out looking for the supply side benefits for working people that Republican presidents have promised.

Are you getting this?

If elected president again, Trump has promised another massive tax cut for the rich, and why not? His first tax cut worked out so well for himself and his rich pals.

Republicans are not for small government. They are not debt or deficit hawks. They are strictly for enriching the grossly wealthy at the expense of the rest of us, creating an almost feudal system of wealth inequity. Their tax plans are a load of bovine fecal matter.

Just for fun

Our national debt is currently over $35 trillion. Stack those singles around the equator and the pile would be.

140,000 bills deep!

That’s what we owe, in part thanks to Republicans and their phony opposition to debt and deficits.

Cow Pie #2

A couple of weekends ago vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance complained on CNN that Democrats are bullying him by calling him weird. The nerve of them to correctly identify the pretender to the throne as weird! They are such meanies!

But wait. Didn’t Vance call Democrats “miserable, childless cat ladies?” That’s pretty weird. Didn’t he denigrate the 24 year military service of Tim Walz? That’s weird, too. Doesn’t Trump spend a significant part of his day trying to think up a mean, playground brat name for Kamala Harris?

That’s all pretty weird. And since J.D. is now a spokesperson for all the weird Republican stuff, his whining about being called weird is nothing less than hypocrisy.

Tell you what, J.D.: we’ll stop calling you weird when you stop pretending to be a man of the common folk from Appalachia, you faux-billy. We’ll stop calling you weird when you stop demeaning American women who haven’t given birth to a child. We’ll back off that descriptor “weird” when you stop trying to make America into a 13th century patriarchy ruled by a cruel despot.

Because until then, you’re just a weird cow pie.

Cow Pie #3

Read this from Boston College Professor of History Heather Cox Richardson, reporting a Supreme Court decision on the topic of women’s suffrage:

In a unanimous decision in 1875, the justices decided that women were indeed citizens [by virtue of birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th amendment] but that citizenship did not necessarily convey the right to vote.

It would take another 45 years and a Constitutional amendment the Supreme Court couldn’t mess with to fix that.

That crazy pants decision is from the same body that recently decided that presidential immunity from prosecution for criminal acts – felonies – was a good idea. Apparently, they believe we don’t need accountability or equal justice under law.

What kind intelligence abdication, as well as Constitution defying brain pretzeling does it take to come up with such contorted lunacy? Did these guys sprain muscles and dislocate joints getting to their twisted idiocy? Our nation is severely damaged by their blatant faithlessness.

Cow Pie #4

Trump ridiculing disabled reporter using recreational cruelty sanctioned by his Ministry of Cruelty

You know all you need to know about far right cruelty, dispensed daily by Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter and, most cruelly, by Donald Trump, like when he ridiculed a disabled journalist. Last week they ridiculed Tim Walz’s son Gus because of his tears of pride and joy for his father. That 17-year-old with nonverbal learning disorder just isn’t a real man, according to these savagery dispensers.

I learned a new term for what these awful people do. It’s

recreational cruelty.
.

You’ve seen their joy in hurting others just for the fun of it. What is far worse is that they have a huge audience that cheers their bloodthirsty sadism. They are the drivers of the sick, cruel recreational cruelty. If they mob were to stop cheering, the perps would go down like waste in a sewer.

Final Fecal Heap

Trump visited the graves at Arlington National Cemetery of 13 service people (“suckers” and “losers”) who died in a Taliban bombing as we exited that country, done per the agreement Trump made with the Taliban. He was at Arlington to use those people as props to attack Biden and Harris, this in direct violation of the law and the rules of the cemetery. Read Steve Schmidt’s take on Trump’s reprehensible cow pie.

 

 

 

Quick Comments On the CNN Interview – No Cow Pie Award Given

All participants got what they wanted.

Harris and Walz didn’t answer many questions. They did a standard political two-step around the sticky ones and Dana Bash let them get away with that. That got them:

Reduced media and Republican heat for having done no interviews to that point.

They did no harm to their campaign.

Dana Bash and CNN got:

Ratings

Advertising revenue

We The People didn’t get much.

Are you registered to vote? Check it out here:
.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration

https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
  • – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016.


  • Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

    And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.
    5. Book links to Amazon are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    6. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2025 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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