Catching up with Juneteenth, Litha, Centrist Women, and Jane

Apologies, scolding, and what the goddies want for wimmins. Plus SOLSTICE!

1.) Happy Belated Juneteenth. I didn’t mean to deliberately not celebrate, like *some* people we know. I actually thought about it a lot yesterday. Like why did it take Texas so long to recognize emancipation? The emancipation proclamation was already a couple of years old by 1865, Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865, but it took until June 19, 1865 when Texas was forced to free its slaves. And why is it always Texas? Is there something wrong with the water down there?

How did that feel to the freed men, women and children who were forced to work for centuries, for no wages, forcibly separated from their families, housed in shacks on plantations? My dad used to take me on tours of plantations and slave markets when we lived in South Carolina. I have a pretty good idea of the history and conditions but how did that feel to the people who had to live through it? And how does that feeling carry from generation to generation? I think about that all the time. And I make it my responsibility to do what I can to recognize the humanity and highlight the talents of black and brown people wherever I meet them. And deaf people. And gay people. And immigrants. And just people. I like people. I don’t think anyone should feel oppressed and friendless.

So happy belated Juneteenth.

2.) I’ve seen an article in WaPo about how centrist women are the shining hope for the Democrats. I haven’t read it yet but I suspect this is the effect of the never Trumper Republicans who are currently in exile. They don’t have anywhere to go right now so they will move in and shape our party in their image. That’s not to say that Mikie Sherril and Abigail Spanberger aren’t great candidates. But the center isn’t the center anymore. Back when I voted for Bill Clinton, *i* was a centrist. I think I understood pretty well what the Clintons were trying to do with proposing universal healthcare, reforming welfare with a strong safety net. Both policy initiatives were tanked by Newt Gingrich and the movement conservatives. Funny how in the last couple of weeks I’ve seen a lot of commentary about what a great President Clinton was. Yes, yes he was. And he taxed rich people too. He had to promise his first born to the congresswoman who cast the deciding vote.

But what I suspect I see here is an attempt to rebrand these women candidates as centrists in the Clinton strain. That would be wrong. I think what the Clintons were up to was moving our country in the direction of the rest of the world with healthcare, job training, childcare and all those things we envy in Europe and Canada. They were reading the tea leaves. They did thought experiments. Did I mention that we ended up with a surplus and government had been streamlined by 2000? Yep those were the days.

But the Republican Party that has lied, cheated and stolen and dominated over the last 33 years has pulled the country soooo far to the right that centrists are actually country club Republicans, which is why never Trump Republicans in Exile like them so much. And that’s fine, I guess, if you want more economic distress for the two income families that are in debt and younger generations indentured for life. I mean, if all you want is for the MAGA crazies to be voted out, it’s a start to put good government types in. But it won’t solve the systemic problems that the Clintons recognized back in the 90s.

If you don’t break the cycle of allowing the wealthy and powerful to strip mine the rest of us like coal, there will just be a MAGA revival down the road or decades more swinging from centrism to crazy town and back again, or a destabilizing “end of the Bronze Age” type scenario when the number of angry oppressed people topple the cities, set them on fire, retreat to the hills and stop civilizing altogether.

I’m a capitalist. But I’m a Private Benjamin kind of capitalist. I want all inclusive capitalism. You know, with the rules and regulations to keep average people from being ripped off and where we all contribute to good government to improve our lives? And until I hear centrist women talk about universal healthcare with cost controls, green energy initiatives, paid maternity leave, low cost childcare, social security, and training and college that doesn’t leave people with crippling debt, then I advise the Democrats to take me off their text lists. Do not saddle me with another country club, Wall Street loving, don’t make the rich people mad centrist. I don’t want to hear it.

And I don’t GAF about white men’s fee fees. Most of them get more assistance in life than anyone else. If they choose to bask in their mediocrity while women struggle mightily to get anywhere and end up lapping them, then that’s something they have to work on. Get used to the competition and step up your game. It’s not on us to let the babies have their way so they’ll stop acting like a-holes.

(Not you, Robb. You’re divine. 😉)

3.) Dr. Octavia Cox is a professor of literature somewhere in the Uk who does videos on 19th century literature, especially Jane Austen novels. What I have learned from Cox is just how talented and deep Austen was. Like many great writers, her novels have many layers. You can read them for the light hearted romance or you can observe how she exposes the precariousness of lives of her female characters. She lived it. It’s wasn’t all bonnets and ribbons.

In this video, Cox describes the legal status of women in the 19th century. If you’ve been following the Christian nationalists’ grand plan for families, covenant marriages, eliminating no-fault divorce, and flirting with the idea of revoking suffrage for women in America, then you should watch this video and Cox’s explanation of the legal concept of coverture. You’ll never look at Pride and Prejudice in the same way again. There was a good reason why she made such a big deal about how you choose your spouse.

4.) Today is the first day of Summer. The NWS says Pittsburgh’s 2 month ordeal of continuous rainy, cool weather is going to break at about the same time the sun hits the Tropic of Cancer. Thank goddess. The rivers in Pittsburgh are exceptionally high and muddy looking. Yesterday, I was on my way to a hair cut and thought the road I was on along the Allegheny was about to be closed. The flood gate lights were flashing. Looks like it was just a test. But I’ve been getting flash flood warnings on my phone for weeks now. Last week, a troop of Girl Scouts had to be rescued from rising waters at a local county park. It’s been ridiculous. Any afternoon of sunshine that’s long enough to cut the grass has been followed by a week of punishing rain.

It’s been a very, VERY long stretch of energy sapping low pressure systems rotating in a counterclockwise direction over the North Atlantic and shoved up our nostrils in the northeast and Canada. Ok I could go on but you get the point.

But today is the first day of summer and the sun is supposed to come out some time this morning.

Happy Litha! Get your pagan on.

At some point you have to ask if it’s intentional

A Space X rocket suffered a “major anomaly” yesterday before it even got off the launchpad. So, where does a “major anomaly” fit on the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” scale?

Says Space X:

In a posting on X, Mr. Musk said initial analysis indicated a storage container containing pressurized nitrogen failed. “If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design,” he wrote.

That’s what, 2 or 3 failures since Inauguration Day? It’s like someone is leaving a wrench in a gear or forgetting to reattach a hose or something. Or freezing soap bubbles with liquid nitrogen (so fun but not on top of a rocket – probably).

Sort of like the malicious compliance of the marching troops and squeaky tanks on June 14 except with rockets.

Which looks really lame.

Just sayin’.

Hmm… looks like we may have to name a new protest

Probably have to do it before the senate votes on the reconciliation bill to prevent Republicans from selling off up to 250 MILLION acres of public lands including maybe national monuments.

See this video by Heather Cox Richardson. This one is really evil.

Living with Donald’s narcissistic injury

His birthday parade was a bust.

The No Kings protests were not.

His Big “Beautiful” Bill is widely unpopular.

He’s been forced to back down on tariffs by the bond market.

He’s been forced to walk back his decision to spare farmers and hotels that employ immigrants.

His poll numbers are dropping like a rock.

AND I’m pretty sure Mark Carney cut him off at the G7, politely but firmly told his entourage that Donald is “unwell”, and suggested that he be escorted back to Air Force One to the US to be seen by specialists.

The guy’s image is in the toilet.

And it’s all OUR fault.

And Iran’s.

There is no possible way he could be this unpopular. It’s like the last week has shown him a video of himself at his own personal screening and it’s making his makeup look unprofessional, his body looks old, and the words he was supposed to say on Putin’s behalf sound bad.

If it weren’t for those damn Democrats not cooperating, this wouldn’t be happening. They probably messed up his parade too. Those losers can’t even march right.

He knows the power he has to make people bend to his will and there’s no one who is going to stop him and his homegrown gestapo. If he wanted to, he could activate millions of killers who will dress up like cops to knock on the doors of those dumb Democrats. He could settle this fight between Israel and Iran. Yeah, what are nukes for if you can never use them?

Don’t make him angry. You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

Oo, too late.

It’s going to get worse before it gets better. After all, the rest of us aren’t really important until we bend the knee, learn obedience and submit to his iron fist. It’s iron fist time.

No one gets away with the humiliation and mockery. We don’t really need LA. Or Chicago. Or Boston.

We’re all a bunch of losers.

Don’t make him do stuff.

Dracaerys!

***********************

Just to be clear here. This is a very angry vindictive man. The guardrails are off. There is no one who will protect him from himself. He wants to hurt people and he’s going to take it out on the people he thinks are too weak to fight back. There is absolutely nothing normal or measured or strategic about what he does from this point forward. It doesn’t matter who he hurts, what political leader he threatens, people he impoverishes, sends to a foreign prison, or sends his gestapo after.

This is what Hillary was referring to when she said he didn’t have the temperament to be president. Everything we have ever said about what Trump can and will do is coming true.

We are all at risk until someone takes the god-mode controls away from him.

Pittsburgh vs LA. Thank gawd for the AP

I woke up with a headache this morning and the ibuprofen didn’t kick in for awhile so I got to the protest in Pittsburgh late. Everybody seemed to be having a good time including the Palestinian genocide contingent and the pride cohort. I call it, One Protest to Rule Them All.

The sun came out, the crowd started chanting our favorite Yinzer term of endearment for Trump, Jagoff, and like all good parties, it ended too soon.

I noticed a lot of police vehicles of all types and genders as we were coming off the busway into the golden triangle. But there didn’t seem to be an excess number of actual police on the street. All cool and groovy.

LA’s No King protests? I’d been watching them off and on all day and thought they were having the same kind of fun we were having. Nice weather, a good crowd, nobody touching anyone inappropriately. So imagine my surprise when I found an AP live feed where the police on horses are riding up behind people who are just walking, pushing them to the ground and walloping them with batons. Those Americans could have been in Pittsburgh just exercising their constitutional rights to freely assemble and call Trump a brutal animal or a jagoff (feel free to culturally appropriate if necessary. Yinzers are all about sharing. We’re the home of Mr Rogers).

Right now, the police are flash banging and throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets.

But you know, it’s just harder to gaslight people when the news services are showing it live.

So here’s the AP live feed. https://www.youtube.com/live/rMt5EAMgMy8?si=8SC6mxstdKqgjsSL

You can pick up in real time or scroll backwards and see for yourself.

Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.

A US Historian explains it all

Listen up, MAGA voters, now is the time to do a thought experiment. Historian Heather tells you what’s coming this summer:

To you MAGA voters out there, it sounds like bliss making all those snooty libtards cry. But you will not be in charge. You are just being used for a real coup and sacking of your country to take place without any opposition from anyone, including you.

It’s not uncommon for those of us who have aligned with enthusiasm for a purpose, religion or politician, to put our doubts or uncomfortable truths on a mental shelf and ignore them for as long as possible. It’s sort of like the thought of death. It’s a truth none of us can escape, but we have to push that fear and inevitability to the back of our minds on a day to day basis or we won’t be able to get any work done.

If you find that you’ve been doing that a lot lately since the 2024 election, now’s the time to take those things off the shelf and do some spring cleaning.

Don’t like tariffs? Have you finally realized that it’s a national sales tax on you on top of all the other taxes you pay? Suspect that Donald Trump wants to use tariff tax money in order to reduce taxes on the rich?

Don’t like the idea of cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP in order to pay for billionaires getting a tax cut?

Thought only criminals and freeloaders were going to get deported, not the nice family down the street that owns your favorite Mexican restaurant?

Think there’s something unusual about federalizing the national guard in California without the governor’s request while Greg Abbott in Texas is consulted first? They are the same protests after all.

Troubled that NO ONE, not even your over-educated neighbor, may be getting a flu shot this fall even if they want one? Even if it turns out your doctor says you’re at risk of a serious complication or death if you get the flu? It’s nice to have choices right?

Concerned that DOGE got access to your IRS, Social Security, bank accounts and health information? You trust your bank and your doctors to keep that information confidential. There are federal laws, steep penalties and people get prosecuted every year for unlawful disclosure. And you’re going to give all that information to an administration who you KNOW wants to punish its perceived enemies?

What if in a couple of months, you find yourself on the enemy list because this administration finally crossed a line for YOU?

If you don’t stand with us now, you may not have a chance to do it later.

When it comes right down to it, all the culture war stuff they have used to divide us won’t be important if your vote doesn’t count.

Imagine this. In 2026, when you’re finally upset enough to do something about stopping the strong armed tactics of your own side because it’s making life bad for you and your family, what if you don’t have a choice anymore. What if you can’t vote them out?

That’s always been your backout plan, right? He can’t get re-elected. If Congress takes things too far, you can always vote them out.

What Heather is saying is this is the way things go historically. If you don’t put the guardrails back up now, they will not let you vote them out of office later.

Don’t like California? Don’t live there. My guess is that a lot of Pennsylvania MAGA people don’t really want to live in Mississippi either. But what if Mississippi is what this administration wants for you and in 2026, your vote for living in the United States of Mississippi is all you get?

Think about that. There are a lot of poor white people in the Deep South. And that’s just fine for the people who want to own everything that used to belong to all of us.

Governing is hard work. Changing people’s lives for the better is hard work. It’s harder than just slogans about making America great. But the people who sold you those red hats didn’t mean it was going to be great for everyone as long as it was great for them.

The time for magical thinking is ending.

Mundus Sine Caesaribus.

Dear MAGA: Trump is testing YOU, not us.

This will be short.

If you are not alarmed by what Trump is doing in California, if you think it’s funny that a US Senator was manhandled, thrown to the floor and cuffed when he asked Kristi Noem a question while she was misrepresenting and fabricating (that’s a polite way to say lying) during her press conference, then he’s going to come after your stuff next.

Yep, he’s testing you, gauging how much support he still has among his voters. Today, he’ll cook up some stupid reason you guys will swallow about immigration. If you are ok with that, he’ll move on to stuff YOU care about.

Social security will be more difficult to collect because of “waste, fraud and abuse”. You may have thought he meant those other people who are doing that. But to a guy like Trump and his billionaire boys club, none of you work hard enough to deserve the money you earned. You’re all slackers. You know how I know this? It’s because you are not billionaires and if you hadn’t been such a loser all your life, you would have saved more. It’s your own fault.

And a lot of people, maybe younger people who you think don’t deserve a break on student loans that will keep them indentured for the rest of their lives, will have very little pity for you.

Sure you deserve that money and Medicare. But if you don’t say something about California, if you let this escalate, if people are shot, beaten up and disappeared, if you don’t stand up for their rights to free speech and assembly, then when the social security checks stop coming or get reduced, you’ll chicken out and won’t protest and he’ll just steal all the rest of your stuff.

That’s the plan. That’s always been his plan. Set an example in California and dare you to step out of line when he makes all your money is belong to him.

Well, you voted for this. We knew what was coming because we watched his mouth move and issue noises about how he wanted to be a dictator and rule his country with an iron fist like Kim Jung Un and Vladimir Putin do.

Will he come for your guns? Yeah probably. Call your congressman and senators while they still have the power to do something about it.

Classic apocalyptic cult fear induction.

Take a look at this nuclear war scare video from Tulsi Gabbard:

If it gets deleted, here’s a critique of the video on The Bulwark.

There’s nothing new in this video for anyone over the age of 50. We lived with this all our lives. The Doomsday Clock was much closer to midnight during the Cuban Missile Crisis that many of us don’t remember, and the Reagan years when Ronnie really was pushing the nuclear threat 24/7. There were books and movies about nuclear holocaust and the winter that followed. Sting made a video about Russians loving their children too. It got really tense in 1984-1985. So, Tulsi is exaggerating here.

We also have to consider that Trump and Putin are irrationally afraid of death. Since setting off a nuke would result in mutually assured destruction, it’s not something either of them is likely to do. Never say never. Even Hitler had a breaking point.

Putin has been threatening to nuke Ukraine or NATO for 3 years now. His army hasn’t made any real progress and he’s had to go to North Korea for more troops. At any point in time he could have just gone ahead and done it. Boom. It would be over. He would have won the war in Ukraine, if that was so important to him. But he hasn’t done it yet.

So, what is Tulsi really getting at here? Two things. The first is that studies have shown that people can be persuaded to turn to a “strong man” when they feel their lives are in danger. Authoritarian followers do this because they are “wired” differently in their amygdalas than the rest of us and about 30% of any population are authoritarian followers. You can prove it to yourself with respect to Donald Trump. The polls are stubbornly stuck at 30-34% support for Trump no matter what he does. That’s probably never going to go away and they won’t stop posing a threat to the rest of us until they realize in some tangible, unmistakeable way that they are outnumbered and powerless. Yep. You’ll get there quicker if they get dope slapped with enough polls, get stiffed by FEMA, or lose a war.

The second thing she is doing is inducing a fear in the same way apocalyptic cults do. The cult I was a child hostage to did this when children were very young. I was given a book before I could read that had very violent images in it. There were babies sacrificed to the fires of Baal, children swept away from their parents in a flood, and people of all ages falling into chasms opened up by earthquakes, having buildings topple over on them and fires burning people alive. That was what Armageddon was going to be like. No Peter Pan or Cinderella for us. WE were going to die if we weren’t perfectly obedient.

Shortly after my seventh birthday, I was told that if I didn’t accept the truth completely and did everything I was told, God was going to kill me at Armageddon. My life was going to be nasty, brutal and short. And since I was of the age of reason, knowing right from wrong, my salvation was totally MY problem. No parent or other responsible adult was going to get in God’s way if he wanted to smite me dead.

My second grade teacher wrote on my report card that I seemed to be an unusually nervous student. But as I grew up, only a few years later in my “age of reason”, I reasoned my way out of my fear and the cult lost whatever tiny grip they had on me. I can’t account for the grownups who were still so afraid that they let the cult control everything they thought or did, even if it lead them to make life choices that weren’t good for them.

So, the whole point of an apocalyptic cult is to terrify you into submission. Step out of line, make the wrong decision, disobey even the slightest, and you’re toast.

Tulsi’s video reminds me of that. Back off the Ukraine support. Putin has nukes and he’s not afraid to use them (not true). Submit, be obedient and no one gets hurt. It’s all on you. Don’t expect any responsible adults to save your ass.

Well, it won’t work on most of us who survived the Cold War. We got used to the undercurrent of deadly menace that ran through our young lives. But it might work on people who were freaked out the first time around. I’m going to guess there are still a number of Reagan voters out there. Or young and more impressionable types who didn’t read books on Hiroshima or watch the made for TV movies on nuclear winter. In the end, Sting had the right idea.

Next time: why you’ll never get a straight answer from Trump about when all the greatness is going to kick in for the rest of us. Spoiler alert: it’s never. Religious cults and stringer boyfriends are really good at this.

Circa 1985.

What’s going on where you are?

It’s time.

Yeah, why is that??

From Hawk: