A Few Thoughts From The Bouncing Mind

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, education, Election 2022, Election 2024, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I don’t know if it’s the weather, the holidays or what, but I cannot seem to concentrate on any single topic long enough to write a more in-depth post for the past few days.  I need to have a heart-to-heart talk with my brain, I think.  Or would that be a heart-to-brain talk?  Is the brain even available for a chat, or is it out to lunch?  For now, though, I will share with you just a few of the thoughts that bounced around in my brain last night!

Today’s the big day!!!

The runoff election in Georgia will determine whether Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock or Republican challenger Herschel Walker will take their seat in the United States Senate on January 3rd. My fingers are so tightly crossed that they’ve lost all feeling in hopes that the people of Georgia are smarter than the Republican nominee and will vote for a man who has a proven track record in the Senate, a man with integrity and values.  Let Mr. Walker go back to his vampire movies while Senator Warnock helps make the laws that will govern us all.

Will the Court do the right thing?  Don’t hold your breath

Will they rule for or against the LGBTQ community?  It seems to me that if you own a business, you welcome customers … all customers.  What savvy business owner would turn away a paying customer because of the colour of his skin or his religion?  Or his gender identity?  Remember the Masterpiece Cakeshop case in 2018 where a Colorado bakery refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple because the owner of the cakeshop thought same-sex marriage was a sin?  What is it with Colorado, anyway?  The latest case before the Supreme Court is about whether a Colorado web designer, a woman who creates websites for a living, can refuse to create a website for a same-sex couple simply because their life choices go against her narrow-minded religion.  

I have little trust of today’s Supreme Court, which is tragic in itself.  It has been hijacked by rigid right-wing partisans who are more likely to rule in favour of the web designer.  Since the additions of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett, a number of unjust rulings have been issued, not the least of which was the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade and set women’s rights back 50 years or more.  So, I will be shocked … pleasantly so … if the Court tells the web designer that she cannot discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community. 

For what it’s worth, here’s my two cents.  If you own a business that is open to the public, it is open to ALL the public, including LGBTQ+ people.  To decide otherwise would be to throw wide open the doors of discrimination in every venue across the U.S.  Imagine, if you will, a nation where Black people are banned from Kroger or Safeway grocery stores, or where Jews are not welcome in certain clothing stores or restaurants.  If you are in business, you serve one and all.  Remember the days, not all that long ago, when in the South there were signs on doors, “Whites Only”?  Do you want to see signs on doors that read, “Straight White Christians Only”?  If your prejudices are so severe that you cannot open your mind and the doors of your business to people who are different, then you have no business being in business.  Full Stop.

It’s all relative

There was a time when Florida’s Ron DeSantis would have been viewed as terrible material for a presidential candidate.  And now … he seems to be garnering support from some in the GOP, as well as the voting public on the right.  What changed?  Did DeSantis become more ‘acceptable’ through some actions of his own?  No.  He became more ‘acceptable’ as an alternative to the madman who once occupied the Oval Office and who is running once again.  If you have no other points of comparison, and you put Trump and DeSantis side-by-side, then yes, DeSantis looks pretty damn good.  But then, compared to Trump, Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie The Shining looks pretty good!

I firmly believe that Donald Trump’s name will not be on the final ballot in November 2024, but even so, I would also hate to see DeSantis as the GOP nominee.  Like Trump, DeSantis is a bigot in most every way, but unlike Trump, he is relatively intelligent and knows how to obtain what he wants.  And, for some reason that escapes me, he has gained a significant amount of popularity, though none of my Floridian friends have any use at all for him.  Fortunately, 2024 is almost two years away and a lot can happen in two years, so I’m not going into panic mode yet, and neither should you.

The price we pay for declining education

I’ve written many times of late about the efforts, primarily by evangelicals and Republicans to whitewash the history of the United States.  I have argued that we need to keep that history — the good, the bad, and the ugly parts — in the forefront of our children’s education so they can ensure we NEVER return to the days of slavery, of Jim Crow, of the KKK.  I’ve also argued against book bans, yet today school districts are banning more and more books, further narrowing the minds of the next generations!  I think the following chart makes my point perfectly …

Need I say more?

And now for just a few ‘toons that highlight the news of the day …

 

23 thoughts on “A Few Thoughts From The Bouncing Mind”

  1. Great post Jill. I hope Biden can expand the Unsupreme court before his term is up. There is no justice when criminals are ruling the land. As for Georgia – thank goodness Rev. Warnock won. But I have to say, it sickens me that the race was so damn close. ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you!!! I wouldn’t hold my breath for Biden to expand the Court … I think with the current composition in Congress it would be a losing battle, and he has shown no interest in doing it anyway. I think that Justice Thomas should be impeached based on his wife’s involvement in the attempted coup on January 6th, but that isn’t likely to happen, either. Yes, Warnock’s win last week was a HUGE relief. It went way beyond a matter of Democrat vs Republican, for Walker was simply the most UNqualified person imaginable. Like you, I am appalled that 1.7 million people voted for Walker. Apparently they care more about entertainment than good governance. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  2. what if a gay web designer decided that he or she didn’t want to make an explicitly Christian themed site for a potential customer? Would that also be discriminatory? there are hundreds of web designers out there. if it’s not discriminatory for the gay designer, why is the same deemed so for the Christian?

    Liked by 1 person

    • I would feel the same in either case. Discrimination is discrimination, no matter which way it goes, Scott. People who cannot accept those who are different, have different beliefs and standards, shouldn’t be in a customer service-oriented business.

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      • I totally agree with you my friend. We have plenty of problems on this horrible planet without people being so shallow that they feel they’re better than others who are different from them.

        Liked by 1 person

  4. The Billionaires cartoon was pretty good, the China one pure fiction, propaganda and hate. Shame on the artist!
    He should be more educated, as in reality the Chinese man is holding up a questionaire he can fill in mutiple times each year and cast his vote on a number of political questions, local, country wide and intl. This is called direct democracy in case you didn’t know..

    Liked by 1 person

    • The Chinese protest by holding up a blank piece of paper, since they are not allowed to carry protest signs. THAT was what the artist was conveying. Surely you don’t think that China is a happy, lovey-dovey democracy as you think Russia is? C’mon, Orca, I know you’re smarter than that.

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      • I know what the cartoonist wanted to convey. I don’t kn ow if China is a happy place but they are a modern Communist state with no hunger and everybody has enough money to survive. I know the govt often acts in a rather robust way but c’mon, 1.1 billion people don’t govern themselves. Still every Chinese citizen has an unprecedented way to engage in politics and have their direct say in many questions. Several times each year they got to fill out a questionaire about political decisions: Does your town really need a 2oth supermarket? What you think about covid measures? New train station? Airport? Your local hospital good?
        And, o wonder, the govt reacts to the outcome of those votes!

        Liked by 1 person

          • Because they aren’t!

            Don’t believe anything the media tells us. A massive protest in China would be MASSIVE!!! Everything there is biggerer by a multitude. I can imagine that the gvt doesn’t want people to write anything on their placards, otoh they know better than to anger the masses. Chinese are professional revolutionaries, so if president Ping Pong acts in a way they don’t like he’ll be unemployed the next day. But it needs some amount of wrongdoing before I rebel against the leader who got me out of poverty and hunger. And that is what Ping Pong and his administration did so formidably.

            Same thing with Putin. They both aren’t feared dictators but only in their positions as long as they are acting in the best interest of the peepol. For example just now, as Putin signs a law that forbids LGBTQ+ propaganda, it is coz the Russian peepol hate queers and don’t want to see them out in the open. Putin himself is much too smart, well-educated and tolerant to have anything against gays himself. But, as a good leader, he does was is expected from him.

            Some news from the free world:

            Oliver Stone just said in an interview that he regrets having voted for Biden. He thought the man was old and wise enough not to be such a warmonger. But now he knows he was wrong.

            And repub congressman Paul Gosar said Washingtons’s support for Ukraine is wrong. “Ukraine (in addition to comprising nazi regiments) has become an authoritarian regime not worthy of any support.”

            A total of 47% of US citizens believe that Washington should encourage Ukraine to seek peace with Russia, a survey by the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs shows.

            How quickly the tables turn. 😮

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