I don’t oppose the filibuster. I just oppose the bastardized version our Congress is using these days. The difference? The filibuster USED to be an exercise in stamina. If a person (or group) wanted to filibuster some bill or another, they had to physically control the floor of Congress for as long as possible. No, not like the conservative morons of January 6th. You had to talk and refuse to yield the floor. It was a Hail-Mary kind of play. IF you could pull it off, you MIGHT win your point. But somewhere along the way, the filibuster rules changed. Now, any Congress critter can simply declare an issue “filibustered” and it’s TREATED as though the process was carried out successfully. It’s not the same and it has created a situation in which the tyranny of the minority rules the day. There are many pieces of legislation out there awaiting disposition but under the right conditions any of them – all of them – can be blocked by ONE person declaring “filibuster” – and it’s what they do. I would prefer to see a person have to go through the process rather than simply declaring they might…

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I watched Bill Maher and his panel from the February 26 episode of ‘Real Time’ discuss the power supply failures in California and Texas. This particular show’s panel was made up of two Democrats, Senator Jon Tester (D – Montana) and Ezra Klein. They focused mightily on how government regulation has interfered and caused problems. Not one mention – not one – of the fact that in both states, the power companies are privately owned and operated under the supposedly watchful eyes of corrupted “oversight” boards. In California, the corrupted oversight board is the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and in Texas it’s the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

Every time private corporation PG&E sets California on fire with some neglected piece of equipment or some cost-saving maintenance failure, the resulting damage is NOT because of too much government regulation. It’s because there’s not enough. Texans who suffered, perhaps died, in this most recent cold snap did so specifically BECAUSE Texas didn’t want regulations. “Leave it to the free market,” they said. Compliance with regulations would have required them to winterize their equipment. Sure, that would have saved lives and prevented all of that suffering but it would have cost the power companies some small portion of their precious lucre. Can’t have that.

It’s disappointing to me that even on a panel comprised only of left-leaning people, they STILL couldn’t manage to point the finger of responsibility where the responsibility belongs: corporate boardrooms. The only failure of government I can see was the failure to seize the power companies and run them in accordance with regulations and without consideration of what the stock price is doing. I’m old enough to remember when the wind could blow in California and not even affect PG&E equipment. Of course, that was before “deregulation…”

Maher is currently irritated that he’s been trying to get solar panels installed on his house for something like 1,200 days and can’t seem to find a route through governmental rules and regulations and so can’t get the panels installed. To borrow a bit from Bill, I can’t prove this, I just know it’s true. I’d bet the governmental regulatory morass interfering with his transition to solar is no accident. My guess is, if you followed the history of those particular restrictions, you’d find vested parties behind every one of them. In this case “vested parties” refers to the fossil fuel industry.

Imagine if you ran a horse-drawn wagon building company in the late 19th century, understood what this newfangled “automobile” was going to do to your industry, and had the ability to block the arrival of cars for 50 years. The numbers vary but the first successful car was built in around 1885. They were not great. The first successful cross-country trip in a car happened in 1903, eighteen years later. Using the same scale, had our hypothetical wagon builder been able to forestall the introduction of the automobile for 50 years, the first cross-country trip wouldn’t have happened until 1953! But it would have happened. Once invented, cars were inevitable – because they’re better.

The same is true of renewables. They’re coming. They’re inevitable because they’re better. Decentralized power will eliminate many of the problems we just accept from the centralized grids of today and I’d rather suffer a solar “spill” than an oil spill any day. But a very small portion of our society will lose their golden goose. Without the ability to manipulate a market people can’t refuse, some of these business “jeniuses,” as they like to present themselves, might have to get real jobs. So, they stall. It’s what they do.

Science has been warning about Climate Change for a long time. The first climate warnings were sounded in 1938! Push-back in the form of disinformation from the fossil fuel industry has left them in control ever since. 83 years! In fairness, practical alternatives have not existed throughout that entire time. Once they started being pursued more aggressively, they took a bit of time to develop the technology to a useful degree. No new technology springs forth fully developed. But they’re here now. They’re commercially viable, ready for use, and better…

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I hear Donnie Dumbass is giving a speech at CPAC today. CPAC is a conservative convention. I believe the acronym stands for ‘Crappy People Acting Crappily’ but you shouldn’t quote me on that. The dumbass is widely expected to announce that he’s the presumptive front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024. I don’t know. It looks to me like he’s going to spend more time running from the law than running for the White House. (Hope springs eternal, I guess…) I read a bit by Robert Reich in which he points out that the dumbass “only” has a steady 38 percent approval rating. But 38 percent of the registered voters in this once-great nation (roughly 239,000,000) is still 93 million people. That’s quite an army. Especially with the Republicans doing everything in their power to suppress votes.

Conservative Christian’s current golden idol…
Made in Mexico!

I hear still-sane Republicans wondering aloud how they can free the GOP from the clutches of trumpery. I know the answer, if only generally: find an even crappier person! For whatever reason, the deplorables have taken to finding the very worst examples of humanity and throwing in with them. They first latched on to George W. Bush, aka, “43” – an under-developed human being if ever there was one. When they couldn’t have him anymore, they found an even worse person, Donald Trump. I don’t know how the trumpsters are going to find anyone worse than the Donald – but I have faith they will. It’s what they do…

Two stories, side by side. One, “Uber drivers entitled to workers’ rights, the UK Supreme Court rules.” and two, “‘I can’t keep doing this’: Gig workers say pay has fallen after California’s Prop 22.” I’d say the UK got it right and California got it wrong. It was inevitable that corporations would exploit the workers once they were allowed to and the UK is telling them they’re not allowed to.

After Prop 22, Safeway eliminated all of it’s union grocery delivery people and replaced them with “gig” drivers. Uber drivers and food delivery workers are now reporting (try to act surprised) that their pay is falling, just like the ‘No on 22’ people said it would. Why, it’s almost as if ride-share and food delivery companies lied in their advertising. Now we’ll have to go through the process of overturning 22 to protect workers. Sadly, I often find myself wishing my fellow Americans were smarter…

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Have you been following the spat between Australia and Facebook? Australia realized that Facebook was profiting from the work of Australian news outlets without compensating the outlets for the news. So, Australia came up with a plan to have Facebook compensate the news outlets. Predictably, Facebook threw and tantrum and blocked ALL Australian news from it’s pages. And so the standoff begins. Will Facebook pay for the news they post or will Australia back down to keep Facebook online? My guess? Facebook will back down. Australia has only to maintain the course. What is Facebook going to do, really? Leave Australia? It’s a balancing act of greed. Zuckerberg doesn’t want to lose all of that beautiful information he gets – for free – then sells about his users and there are, after all, other social media sites. He’ll end up paying because it’s the cheaper option…

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Texas, as you may know, is in the grips of a winter storm unlike anything they’ve seen for a long time. Because of Republican mismanagement and stupid conservative ideals, people are dying in Texas. A couple of weeks ago, Texas was agitating to secede. NOW, of course, they come, hat in hand, and beg for Federal assistance. Once the emergency has passed, they’ll be right back to complaining about the Federal government and talking secession again.

Yeah, sure, they’re Texicans but, like it or not, they’re Americans, too, so I support the aid. But I might attach some strings. I might require them to connect to the national grid and comply with Federal regulations so they could at least BUY some electricity from elsewhere when their stupid conservatism fails yet again – and it will. Also, and just for fun, I’d request Lyin’ Ted Cruz go public with a statement acknowledging climate change and disavowing deregulation…

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The cons have clearly decided the best way to handle the failures of conservative policies is from the standard playbook. Lie. THEN, of course, they have to lie about lying. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, eh? Lying con Governor Abbott of Texas comes out and lies that the power problem in Texas is because of the failure of renewables. He knew darned good and well the problem was fossil fuels and conservative policies. But as a con, he can’t SAY conservative policies failed miserably and people are dying – including an 11-year-old kid who died of hypothermia in his own bed. So? Lie. Thinking Americans know immediately that he’s lying but cons will embrace the lie – because it’s all they’ve got.

Lyin’ Ted ‘fled’ Cruz takes off to Cancun rather than suffer the effects of poor conservative policy positions the rest of Texas is stuck with. He left his dog in the freezing house. His office put out a statement declaring the attempted escape a “long-planned” holiday. (A lie.) Lyin’ Ted then blamed his kids. (A lie.) Then, Lyin’ Ted claimed he was only escorting his kids to Cancun and always meant to come right back. (Another lie.) The truth is, Ted just did what ANY Texican might do if they had the resources to avoid the effects of conservative policies – run away. It’s a key component of conservative policies. Rich people NEVER have to suffer the effects of their conservative policies and they really don’t give a rat’s tail about the little people who have to do the actual suffering. “Screw them, cut my taxes. It’ll help everybody.” (Another lie.)

After Donnie Dumbass incited his extremist base to attack Congress and try to kill some of the members – you know…as a show of their “patriotism” – even the cons realized (after they had failed) that might have been a mistake. So? Lie. They immediately started in on how it was secretly liberals and “Antifa” – a non-existent group – pulling a false flag operation. It wasn’t. They were Don’s Cons trying to do his bidding.

Two anti-masker morons (based on yet another lie, of course) in Florida decided they had a clever ploy to avoid protecting their fellow humans: lie. They pretended to be US Marshals and threatened to arrest the employees of the resort they were staying in for asking them to don masks. Just to be on the safe side, one of them also flashed a laminated card declaring his medical exemption. But thinking Americans know those cards are yet ANOTHER conservative lie – so an employee of the resort called actual cops – who showed up with an actual US Marshal. Now the lying cons are sitting in jail, arrested for impersonating federal officers. No word on whether they’re wearing masks now…

The list goes on, of course. This outrageous separation from the truth has gotten SO out of control, I have come to the conclusion that if a conservative says something, the BEST response is to assume it’s a lie. They lie about everything, all the time. Conservative lies used to just be irritating. Now they’re actively killing people. Of course, the cons will just lie about THAT, too…

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There’s an old saying that if you can’t say something good about the dead, don’t say anything. Rush Limbaugh is dead? Good! There’s a piece in the NY Times inquiring if we MUST dance on Rush’s grave. I submit, it’s not a requirement. But certainly it’s an opportunity.

Rush enjoyed tremendous success. Unfortunately, his “success” was in undermining America and misleading millions. His willingness to harm a once-great nation is the single most important thing that will be remembered about him. Count me in as one who happily dances on Rush’s grave…

In 1787, a woman called Mrs Powell asked Benjamin Franklin if the founders had delivered a Republic or a Monarchy. Franklin’s famous reply was “A Republic, if you can keep it.” In truth, I wish I had been more surprised but the whole world knew the Republicans were going to nullify the impeachment LONG before they “swore an oath” to be impartial. They were rather vocal about it. I’m quite used to the notion that the Republican party has no honor and will ALWAYS do what’s worst for America. For THEIR part, I’m also quite used to the notion that the role of the Democrats is to lose – what I call the ‘Colmes Effect.’ (Alan Colmes was a Fox “News” personality who pretended to be a liberal. His job was to “lose” debates with Sean Hannity, thereby making the conservative position LOOK far stronger than it ever has been. Of course, he had to go out of his way to present the dumbest possible arguments but he was good at that and always came through.) Either side could have run the question of constitutionality by the SCOTUS and neither side did – giving the Republicans exactly the out they needed – a move that appears to have served both “teams.” (The Dems pretend to have “fought,” the GOP gets the “win.”)

Then, once sure Trump had been protected, Moscow Mitch gives this speech in which he insists the Dumbass is guilty of inciting insurrection, calling him “practically and morally responsible,” but then claiming Congress couldn’t act because Trump is out so there is no point in trying to remove him. Obviously, there’s no point in trying to remove someone who’s already out but the Republicans held on to that moot point for all they were worth and completely, dutifully ignored the reason for impeachment in that case: being barred from ever running again. I guess we’re all just supposed to forget that the only reason the impeachment occurred AFTER Trump left office is because his loyal sycophant, old Moscow Mitch himself, refused to reconvene the Senate while Trump still infested the Oval Office.

Trump could still face criminal charges, of course, but my guess is he won’t. I suspect he COULD face civil charges, too, if someone – perhaps Officer Sicknick’s family or maybe the “Q-anon Shaman” – was of a mind to try to go after him that way. Listening to naive Republicans in Congress pretend that Trump’s era is “over” now because of all of this is just saddening. So far, every time someone has said, ‘This far and no further,’ Trump just blows past the line and keeps pushing further and further.

I keep thinking back to ancient Rome, when Rome transitioned from Republic to Empire. THAT transition was done very much like THIS transition. All of the institutions of Rome the Republic remained. Caesar even left dissidents in the Roman Senate to speak out against him. Not enough of them to effect real change, of course, and certainly not enough to protect the Republic. But the move maintained the illusion that everything was “normal” in Rome. Ancient Rome used to keep it’s citizenry informed of the news using newsreaders who would literally stand out on a corner and read out the day’s events. Even THAT practice continued, for a time, after the fall of the Republic but the quality of the information the people received was…diminished. (Can you say Fox “News”?) The work-a-day Romans never knew what was hitting them. It all LOOKED the same. It just didn’t ACT the same.

Many people know that Hitler once tried, unsuccessfully, to take over Germany. He faced legal consequences but the state ended up showing leniency. A few years later, THAT bumbling idiot was Germany’s new “Fuehrer” and millions of people died. So now our own bumbling idiot, Trump, has tried to seize control over the United States and failed. But the state has shown leniency. History is not promising when it comes to the “let’s just close our eyes and hope he goes away” strategy. Mostly, I suspect this once-great nation will have it’s very own strongman/dictator in the next few years. The cons have been working for that end going on forty years, now, and their finish line is in sight, if not already behind us…

Yes, I’m quite well aware all of this sounds like hyperbolic, sky-is-falling stuff. I’m also quite clear that the process MAY not have played out, yet. As mentioned, it’s still possible someone could prefer criminal charges against the criminal. Recent history suggests that will NOT happen, though. A sign of the collapse of our society can be found in the transition from “a nation of laws” to “a nation of laws for the little guy.” It will be a sad day when Biden gives the inevitable, upcoming “It’s time to look forward, not backward” speech. But I’ll be no more surprised (nor disappointed) by THAT betrayal than I am with the Republicans who know – to a person and without question – that Trump is guilty as charged but still refuse to defend America…

Okay, so I had the opportunity to watch some of the dog-and-pony show from Washington, D.C and I have a few thoughts. Before I get to the trial, though, I want to mention my deep and abiding respect for Officer Eugene Goodman of the Capitol Police. As I watched the riot unfold, it seemed to me that some of the Capitol police were…not entirely opposed to what was happening – perhaps even “on-board.” Just an impression. But Officer Goodman? That dude was everywhere, helping all the victims, and just…doing the right thing. Props to you, Officer Goodman. I wish we had more people like you.

Okay, so back to the trial. First, I don’t think there’s any rational argument against the idea that trump incited the insurrection. (I mean, sure, people can form sentences but are they rational sentences?) It will be interesting to see how the defense responds. Here’s my guess: the defense is going to argue that, sure, a bunch of hyped up nut-balls attacked Congress and tried to kill it’s members and the Vice-President. We all saw the video, there can be no denying. But they didn’t do it because of trump. Simple. Yes, they did it, not trump’s doing. They’ll simply ignore the question of why trump didn’t do anything but praise the attackers along with any other inconvenient features of the House Manager’s arguments. Then will come the vote and the same people who voted against the process being Constitutional will vote against conviction, pretending they do so because they think the process is unconstitutional.

Now, I know Mr. Raskin tried to short-circuit that particular cowardly end-run by pointing out that the Senate debated and voted on the issue and determined, by vote, that the process IS constitutional. That won’t stop people who refuse to do the right thing from seeking ANY cover they can – and that’s all they’ve got. (Now seems like an EXCELLENT time to point out that the trial only took place AFTER the dumbass left office in the first place because the soon-to-be complicit Senate refused to re-convene to address the question before trump left office.) But I have a question.

Why did neither side actually take the question to the Sour Creme Court? Corrupt as they are, the so-called High Court is sitting right now. If EVER there was an issue for that court, this is it, right? It’s a direct question of what is and is not Constitutional. The Republicans could have let themselves and their dear mis-leader off the hook by asking for a SCOTUS ruling. Unless, of course, they suspected the court would not rule in their favor. Likewise, the Democrats could have cut off the cowardly retreat by asking for a ruling. Unless, of course, they suspected the court would not rule in their favor.

As a citizen of the United States of America, first and foremost, I would like to know how the court stands on the issue. If neither side can say with confidence they would win – and I mean enough confidence to actually pose the question to the people with the answer – we really CAN’T know if the process was constitutional. I’m not sanguine about people just…voting for what’s “constitutional,” you know? (Don’t be pedantic. I understand about Amendments…)

I have long understood that, rightly or wrongly, American Presidents don’t go to jail. Ever. Bush 43 started not one but TWO illegal wars in violation of the Geneva Conventions and is guilty of war crimes. He gets to live out his days down in Texas – painting. That’s more than his victims will ever get. But his position has what Reagan called “plausible deniability.” He said someone said they saw Bin Laden in Afghanistan so…off to Afghanistan. Turned out to be a Curve ball. Swing and a miss… Iraq was less…plausible… but people were scared. It’s VERY easy to scare some people…

I thought it would ever be thus, no American President ever going to jail. But there’s nothing debatable – no “plausible deniability” to trump’s actions. Because he couldn’t accept his loss, he tried to foment a rebellion. He tried to overthrow the American government and seize power for himself. I understand the actions in Congress are viewed as a foregone conclusion. Republicans will nullify the proper verdict. But I’m hoping the House Managers have laid out such a compelling case, criminal charges will follow these political charges. Trump delighted in shaking up precedent and tradition. Here’s hoping he topples one more by becoming the first President in the history of this once-great nation to face criminal prosecution of his actions. If the President of the United States can foment rebellion against the United States without consequence, the future of this country is…bleak…

I’ve noticed that as the cons come slithering back to Facebook they’re trying to re-establish themselves as defenders of the cops, the so-called ‘Blue Lives Matter’ crowd. Personally, I think that ship has sailed. Your team, confronted by a cop doing his job, trying to keep you from attacking the Capitol and murdering members of congress and murdering the Vice-President of the United States – you know…as a display of your “patriotism” – murdered the cop. You didn’t “just comply” as you so often insist is the problem with people of color. You didn’t “follow orders.” You murdered the man.

So…’Blue Lives Matter’…unless the ‘Blue Life’ in question is in your way. Then? Yeah, kill that guy! You don’t get to have it both ways and actions speak louder than words. When the equation is ‘Blue Lives Matter’ vs ‘you killed a cop without justification,’ I believe the murder MORE than I believe the slogan…

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I know the cons deny it, but rational people are all pretty clear that Donald Trump incited the insurrection in DC on January 6, 2021 because he’s a big, whiny-ass baby who simply could not accept his loss. (I suspect he had been guaranteed by his buddy, Putin, he was going to win and REALLY didn’t understand that the paper ballots changed things…) Liz Cheney (R, WY), among the last of what might be called “old school” Republicans voted to hold Donnie Dumbass responsible for his behavior. NOW, in an effort to prove that rational thought WILL NOT BE TOLERATED among the Republican Party, Wyoming has voted to censure Cheney. Basically, the Wyoming Republican party has voted not to support her anymore. They want her to return all financial contributions from the party AND they want her to resign.

I’d say the coup in the party is complete and all that’s left are some mop-up operations. The Libertarians decided to take over the Republican Party in an effort to gain some respectability. It worked for awhile. Now, though? The Libertarians HAVE successfully claimed the GOP but Libertarian “thinking” has destroyed the respectability it was trying to steal from the Republican Party. NOW, both the Libertarian Party AND the Republican Party are known to be bat-shit crazy and there’s no place left for common-sense, mainstream conservatives…

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I’ve been pretty stunned watching the cons simply pretend they have never even HEARD of this, what’s it called? Quirk anon? Q abscond? Kevin McCarthy (Traitor, CA) – the House Minority “Leader” – said, “I don’t know if I say it right. I don’t even know what it is.” Liar. In truth, I don’t think he’s a fan of the farcical ‘Q’ but he’s been on television talking about Q-anon…and saying it right…

Still, that works in today’s Republican party – simply pretending you don’t recall what you said…yesterday. The cons do it all the time. I’ve long said cons don’t have principles, they have positions of the moment…

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Count me OUT when it comes to recalling Gavin Newsom. Look, I think the guy did SERIOUS – maybe permanent – damage to his political future with one meal at the French Laundry. I don’t know ANYONE, left or right, who isn’t angry about that oh-so-stupid, oh-so-arrogant move. Even if we cut Newsom some slack for the vaccine rollout or the perplexing rule changes regarding who’s open and when and why, that one meal is going to dog that guy forever. But a recall? Now? No.

The end of a career?

Gavin stands for re-election in 2022. Check your calendar. That’s next year. Elections in California are EXPENSIVE. California has…other financial challenges right now and we don’t need to bleed off millions of dollars that could be used elsewhere to remove a governor one year early. It’s just stupid. Besides, the new guy won’t have any time to address any of these problems, either, so it’s really just a waste of money we don’t have and a further disruption to an already confused process. I won’t sign any petitions and I’ll vote against the recall, should it make the ballot.

But Gavin should take note. My objection to the recall isn’t based in my firm belief in the fabulous job he’s doing. It’s a simple, pragmatic calculation – a cost/benefit analysis that says the cost is too high and the benefit too low. When 2022 comes around? Sorry, Gavin. I’ll be checking my options.

Word is the French Laundry is one of the most expensive restaurants in California but my guess is Gavin didn’t expect it to cost him his entire political career. I hope that was one great meal…

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It’s hard to predict, on this Super Bowl Sunday, which narrative is preferred by the NFL. Is this Tom Brady showing the world that he didn’t NEED the Patriots to cheat to win? Is this the old generation (um…that would be Brady at 43 years old) passing the torch to the new generation (Patrick Mahomes at 25)?

To MY mind, Brady will always be saddled with four asterisks. The first three Super Bowls – those the Patriots are KNOWN to have cheated to win – and “Deflate-gate” in which not enough evidence could be accrued to prove one way or another (especially by the NFL who “searched” for evidence with their collective eyes closed and in the dark). To MY mind, Brady displayed consciousness of guilt when he smashed his cell phone with a hammer rather than let the NFL see it.

I don’t get to pick who wins today’s game – that’s the NFL’s job – but if I DID get to pick, I would choose the Chiefs. Let’s just pass the torch and get those asterisks out of the game once and for all…