Bouncing Snark

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, education, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

Today, I have a bouncing mind that is filled with snarky thoughts – never a good combination!

The right choice …

Of course, the big news yesterday was Joe Biden’s announcement that he had chosen Senator Kamala Harris for his running mate.  No surprise, for all along I’ve thought she would be the one, and in truth, she makes the most sense for him.  A) she’s a woman; B) she’s a black woman; C) she is highly qualified; D) she is young enough to be a perfectly viable option in the quite possible event that something would happen to Biden, who will be 78 years of age by the time he takes office next January.  While I loved the idea of a Biden/Warren ticket, I realized that Elizabeth Warren was too white, too socialist, and too old to be a viable option in a year when overthrowing the current regime has to be the #1 goal.

Let’s be clear on one thing:  Trump & Co would have denigrated and slung mud no matter who Biden chose.  They will find Kamala’s Achilles heel (and yes, she has a few) and they will play that record ad nauseam.  But they would have done the same with Stacey Abrams, Tammy Duckworth, Val Demings or Elizabeth Warren.  They already had their little black books filled with whatever they could dig up on any and all of the candidates Biden was considering.  Bottom line, though, is it doesn’t matter.  Yes, you heard me right.  It does not matter.  All it does is it speaks to Trump’s own failings and shortcomings.  If the only way you can look good is to make others look bad, then you’re in trouble before you even get to the starting gate.

In 2016, Trump’s only selling points were “Build the wall and make Mexico pay for it”, and “Lock her up”.  This year, he doesn’t even have those … he quite literally has no selling point other than the economy, which is currently in the tank. So, he will use mud-slinging, lies, and a loud, obnoxious voice with lots of facial contortions and wild hand movements to make his points, whatever those points are.

I urge you, folks, to keep your eye on the ball, to remember that “actions speak louder than words”, and to look back at what he has actually done in his first term … nothing positive, lots of destruction, hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths.  Whatever he and his little loyal lapdogs say about Biden or Harris … it’s laughable.  It’s grasping at straws.  It’s desperation.  Ignore it.  The republicans, or at least Trump’s base, will lap it up like a cat does cream, but they have proven their ignorance, have proven they will not listen to facts or reason, so … don’t waste your time on them.  Concentrate, instead, on convincing everyone to get out and VOTE!!!  Concentrate instead on talking to the people who aren’t wearing rose-coloured glasses and drinking Kool-Aid.  Don’t allow yourself to be dragged into a mudfest by those too ignorant to understand the true significance of this year’s election, to see the parallels between another 4 years of Trump and 1933 Germany.

What are they thinking???

Just yesterday morning, I wrote about a number of QAnon members running for congressional seats, and as I recall (it was, after all, a full day ago!) I predicted that none was likely to win their primary.  Well guess what?  Yep, my predictive skills have once again failed to hit their mark, for the one I highlighted yesterday, Marjorie Taylor Greene, won the Georgia primary runoff!  What the Sam Hell is wrong with people in Georgia???  First, they elect a gun-toting ding-dong, Brian Kemp, for governor, and now a conspiracy theorist, gun-toting member of QAnon to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives!

Greene has spouted numerous conspiracy theories, is a racist, an Islamophobe and anti-Semitic … just what we need in a lawmaking capacity, eh? Even Republican lawmakers Steve Scalise and Kevin McCarthy have publicly condemned her candidacy!  In November, she will face Democratic challenger Kevin Van Ausdal.  To date, Ausdal trails Greene by a margin of 38% to Greene’s 62%.  Let us hope that the good people of Georgia wake up and realize that Ms. Greene is not … I repeat NOT … congressional material!!!

Trump, naturally, congratulated Ms. Greene profusely …

“Congratulations to future Republican Star Marjorie Taylor Greene on a big Congressional primary win in Georgia against a very tough and smart opponent. Marjorie is strong on everything and never gives up — a real WINNER!”

More like a real NUTCASE, but then, he likes conspiracy theories and theorists, remember?

And speaking of Georgia …

Cherokee County School District re-opened their schools on August 3rd, against the advice of experts, and by the end of the week, ten of the schools in the district had sent letters home to parents warning that children had tested positive for the coronavirus and that their own children had been exposed.  As of today, some 925 students in that district are under quarantine, and this is only the beginning.

I predict a wave of lawsuits when children start dying, when parents and grandparents contract the disease via their children and start dying.  This rush to open the schools, to play Russian roulette with the lives of children, was ill-advised … in fact was downright stupid … and there will be a price to be paid: human lives.  But I’m sure Trump will shrug his shoulders and say, “It is what it is”.

toon

42 thoughts on “Bouncing Snark”

  1. Pingback: A Damn Shame | Filosofa's Word

  2. OMG..have you seen the latest. Trump says Kamala ineligible to run as even though she was born in the US, her parents were immigrants..one conservative lawyer agrees with him

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  4. There are days when I would love for Fla to drop off into the Gulf or the Caribbean and be just another lovely tropical island…..no ties to the USA. And Mary from FLA speaks truth…the sheriff from neighboring Marion County has banned mask-wearing for his force and for people coming into the sheriff’s office. Why should we be surprised? We have a Primary approaching shortly and guess what? There are no candidates with a big “D” aside their names. Good ole white boy politics are so strong here that nobody wants to waste their time nor money running as a Democrat. Even Independents shun running for office. If I were to run for anything, it would be as a ‘gay dog catcher’….can any of Jill’s readers picture that? A grown man chasing gay dogs ?🤣😁😎Sorry, Jill, I forgot my meds again this morning.

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    • I read about that sheriff this morning and was appalled … what he is doing is illegal … against the law he has sworn an oath to uphold. Lot of that going ’round these days, isn’t there? Oh boy, Larry! I haven’t laughed in days, but your “off-the-meds” comment actually brought a chuckle!!! Now, go take the meds, Larry! Have a bit of ice cream, too … ice cream makes the meds go down easier!!!

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  5. Jill, thanks for the snark. A couple of comments.

    – Kamala Harris is a very good choice. She is smart, engaging and credible. Is she perfect – of course not. No one is.
    – Fox’ Chris Wallace noted Trump will paint her as a progressive, but she is more of a centrist Democrat that makes her additive to the ticket with independents (and maybe some Republicans)
    – Trump cannot be too critical critical of QAnon as he peddles conspiracy theories with some regularity. Nirvana to the Russians and other conspiracy peddlers is hearing or seeing the president echo their creation. Newspapers have been using the phrase, “the president said… but offered no proof.” There is a reason they do that.

    The greatest purveyor of Fake News in America is the incumbent president of the United States. That is one sad statement for an American citizen to make. Some may take issue with that statement, but personally, I do not believe a word the president says. The odds are well in my favor.

    Keith

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    • I must fully agree with your statement that he is the biggest single purveyor of fake news, and also that I do not believe a single word that comes out of his mouth. Yes, that is a very sad statement to have to make, but it is true. We must eradicate this disease in our government, lest it kill this nation. Sigh. Let us hope that Biden/Harris is the right ‘vaccine’ to eradicate it.

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  7. The long awaited announcement came and Kamala Harris was the expected winner, an excellent choice but no surprise. trump and the Goons on Parade will use whatever they can dig up and manufacture whatever they cannot to attack Harris…the Tweeter in Chief flew right in and it will get worse! At times there is absolutely no pleasure to be found in being right…this was one of them! I read about Marjorie Taylor Greene’s win last evening. Rather than appear to be that ‘I told you so’ sort of person, I purposely did not wing it your way via my trusty forwarding skill! I will try not to further denigrate the Georgia voters except to say ” What the Harry are you thinking?” I mean, is this who you hold up to your children as role models…Greene and Kemp? Total aside here, but do you have any followers in Georgia? I cannot comment on the opening of schools anywhere. It boggles my mind that anyone is willing to place the lives of children in danger of contracting Covid-19 by sending them back into the classrooms. This also weighs heavily on my heart. Thank-you!

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    • Indeed, Senator Harris was probably the best possible choice. Is she perfect? No, but then none are. I believe she will do her best for the people of this country … ALL the people, not just the evangelicals, as Pence has done. Yes, Trump and his peons will continue to slam her and I hope we can all tune it out and ignore it, for it is naught but a distraction.

      Thank you, my friend, for not rubbing in my obvious miscalculation with an “I told you so”! I likely would have crumpled, as I am near to doing tonight anyway. As I told somebody else … I think perhaps it was Jeff … some days I wish I had a very long chainsaw and could simply cut Georgia and Florida away from the rest of the continental U.S., let them float out to sea. But then, I remember the good friends I do have in those states, so … sigh.

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    • This is not really in line with your comments, Ellen, but I haven’t found a proper place for my comments to exist up-to-here, and I don’t want to forget them. Apparently Greene is now a shoo-in for her district in Georgia, what must be must be. But how are her supporters going to look when she brings her AK-47 to work and goes postal in Congress. If she is willing to display it she must be prepared to use it (Or is she just following Kemp’s lead because he proved to her itbworks.). Let’s at least hope Governor Kemp is addressing Congress (does a Governor ever address Congress? Is she just another QAnon coward in reality?) and maybe she can be his demise at the same time as she is her own.
      About Ms Harris, she had an excellent education in Montreal, so she has a Canadian flavour to her. That education is in her favour, but I guess Trump will play that against her, but I suggest he watch how he does that. He might piss us off, again.

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      • Governor’s rarely address Congress unless there is a specific purpose for them to do so. I think that guns are forbidden within the Capitol, so Ms. Greene will have to leave her AK-47 behind, but sadly she doesn’t have to leave her racism, Islamophobia and homophobia behind and can bring it right into chambers with her. Why don’t we just turn Congress into a three-ring circus as Trump has done with the White House? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

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        • Three ring circus? We have long lost count of how many fingers he has in how many pies. Maybe compiling such a list would be compelling to at least one repuglycan. Jeff, if you read this, seems to me you have some elven fingers in your field of influence. Maybe you could set them to work and see how long that list really is. That could go a long way to one of your group’s Friday Funtimes in the Oval Office. NOT!

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    • I think, my friend, that even if Trump goes down by a landslide, this nightmare will not be over any time soon … likely not in my lifetime. I’ve about given up hope that people will find their common sense ever again. 😥

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      • I totally agree…the 40% loons will still be around frothing at the mouth about the danger of Mexicans, blacks, gays, feminism or strong women, school prayer, creationism, the hoax of Covid-19, socialism (SS if they really understand that) and their dislike of poor people. And much more…
        I think it will take generations and a better education and the lessening of religion and I don’t see that happening.

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  9. but when the democrats dug up dirt on supreme court nominations, that was okay because the past of a bad republican matters more than the troubling past of a good democrat. Harris is a horrible choice because under her watch, incarseration of blacks rose exponentially, in the past she said ice should exist and those things matter, no matter how much progressive hipocrits continue to sweep the past of their darlings under the proverbial rug while excoriating those with whom they disagree by bringing up their prior records from years ago. Again, more hipocrasy at play and this will be the way forever.

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    • Scott … WHAT the Sam Hell are you even talking about??? No, my friend, for the LAST TIME, there is no hypocrisy here! No comparison between Kavanaugh, a proven woman-abuser, and Harris, a lawmaker in good standing for more than 20 years! Question for you: why do you choose to antagonize? If my posts disturb you so much, why not just stick to the Jolly Monday and ‘good people’ posts and save getting both our blood pressures up?

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    • Are you getting bored with my direct comments to you, Scott? I have to say you are getting boring to me, and you aren’t even talking directly to me. You tell us you are Libertarian, but you never mention anything about Libertarians, good or bad. They are politicians. They are not perfect. But you don’t sound Libertarian, you sound like one of Trump’s psychophants, and that is boring. You are not saying anything you have not said before. Yeah, you might be changing the names, but everything else is the same. How much is Trump paying you to be his mirror-mouth-man? I don’t care that you are a Conservative, Scott, vote for Trump for all I care, but please please please quit talking the Republican talking points as if they are gospel, they aren’t. There is no merit whatsoever in them. Show us you are using your mind.
      If I am out of line, Scott or Jill, I apologize. But when I talk to Scott, I like to hear Scott, not a Trump puppet. Is that really too much to ask? Dear Sir, I know you are intelligent, but it is a long time since I heard intelligent words come out of your voice-to-print app? Or has that app been programmed to spout Trumpisms, and you just don’t know it? Are you really saying what it is printing? This is not the Scott I had good conversations with in 2018, or thereabouts. I want to talk with that Scott again. Is he still around?

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    • Every potential candidate has strengths and weaknesses. Ms Harris is a logical and safe pick for the party, she’s clearly a corporate democratic favorable to her donor base; offensive only to the progressive wing of dems, who are mostly marginalized. List of pros and cons:
      1. Kamala Harris (Young, woman, POC Background).
      She has a minority background. Born from Indian and Jamaican immigrants, as person of colour, she represents the other side of the democratic party which is much more heterogenous than the predominantly white caucasian GOP. 2. She brings diversity into his administration and on the ticket.
      3. Personal relationship. Biden has always made it clear that he seeks a VP that would be like he was for Obama. A confidante with political overlap and someone who is ready from day 1 should things go wrong. Also someone who can wait a few years.
      She also was friends with his late son Beau Biden (died in 2015, one of the reasons why Biden declined to run in 2016).
      4. Age. Kamala Harris is 56, making her a politician on the younger side in the senate. Given Bidens age, she is the security that someone who is less likely to develop some health problems stands ready to survive 4 years. That has been one of the main points speaking against Elisabeth Warren, she wasn’t young enough to be considered a top 3 contender for the spot. That and POC ancestry.
      5. Politically, Harris isn’t too far left for moderate democrats and republicans to vote third party or abstain or (worst case scenario for the dems) vote for Trump. Obviously she isn’t the dream choice for progressives but they should be able to live with her as VP or potentially President. Given how only 6 states really matter (Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina), one does not need the progressive vote from Massachussetts or New York but the moderates from those aforementioned states.
      A constraint made by design from the American election system.
      6. She is well known, unlike other Afro-American politicians who aren’t nationally known. Susan Rice would be the closest and I had to google her to remind myself of her. In a time during a pandemic with limited candidate exposure and a certainly changed campaign style, this is advantageous.
      7. She is a good orator and would likely wipe the floor with Mike Pence in the VP debate.

      Her weakpoints are there though:

      1. She is not from a swing state. It has been tradition that a candidate selects people from a swing state for VP (obviously not a law as Biden himself was from Delaware in 2008/12; but his nickname as Pennsylvanias third senator isn’t unearned). Another example would be Mike Pence from Indiana. Reliably Republican nowadays. So in all honesty, probably not that problematic.
      2. Her record as prosecutor in a time when police and racial injustice is a major theme again could be problematic and open her to attack.
      3. Some progressives might stay home given her track record as prosecutor isn’t all that easy to stomach for them.
      4. Her campaign for President wasn’t well organised and she dropped out before the first primary.
      Overall her positive attributes outweigh the negatives, which is why the party chose her as VP.

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      • Tell me about it…I live in Fla. A sheriff put out a policy that his officers could NOT wear a mask. We have a trump idolizer for a governor and a populace of conservative bible thumping idiots.

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        • I just read about that this morning … plus, I understand he has also forbidden any who enter the Sheriff’s office from wearing masks. In my book, he is breaking the law … the law which he has sworn an oath to uphold. But then, so are many of our elected and highly paid politicos. Sigh.

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