Once again, I have no single topic in mind, but a number of things are bouncing about in my head … have you noticed this seems to be happening a lot lately? Hmmmm … I wonder if I’m trying to cram too much into my head and bits of this and pieces of that just keep getting embedded.
Fuel prices – no, Republicans can’t ‘fix’ the problem
Republicans point to specific targets they know are personal for many voters, such as fuel prices, and say, “Look how much you’re paying for a gallon of gasoline! Elect Republicans and we’ll fix the problem.” Well, sorry, folks, but Republicans cannot ‘fix’ the ‘problem’. Gas prices are not set by the president nor by Congress, as they would have you believe. To a large extent, fuel prices are driven by us, the consumers. You’ve all studied the “law of supply and demand” in school, and as long as demand exceeds supply, the oil producers have the upper hand. Supply is driven by a number of things but is often manipulated by OPEC to ensure that the bottom doesn’t fall out of the market, that the oil companies will continue to rake in profits. Anyone, including Kevin McCarthy, who tells you otherwise is lying to you. If you really want to do your part to help bring down oil prices, drive less, turn your thermostat down and don a sweater, skip the vacation this year and have a ‘staycation’, turn some lights out (candlelight is more romantic anyway, though admittedly it makes it hard to read). Lower your demand, and the market will respond. Yes, this is a simplification and there are other factors as well, but We the People don’t have much control over the war in Ukraine, the impending rail strike, or other global issues affecting fuel supplies, while we do have a degree of control in how much fuel we use. Once again, we have met the enemy and he is us.
Angry at 18???
I’m thinking back to when I was 18 years old … I didn’t hate anybody. I loved hanging out with friends when I wasn’t either studying or working, was saving up for a newer car (at the time, circa 1969, I drove a ’56 Chevrolet Bel Air that I had paid $50 for), had a boyfriend, learned to hot wire a car and occasionally ‘borrowed’ my dad’s car when my parents were out of town, but I didn’t have an abundance of raw anger, didn’t hate anyone.
On May 14th, an 18-year-old man (boy?) bought a gun, traveled 200 miles from his home in Conklin, New York, to Buffalo, entered a supermarket and killed 10 people in cold blood simply because they were Black. 18 years old!!! WHY does a kid that age hate Black people? Both of his parents are civil engineers, and he was studying engineering science, hoping to follow in their footsteps. This wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment thing … he had traveled to Buffalo in March and visited the store, and again the day before he went on his killing spree. He graduated from high school in June 2021, and when a teacher asked him about his plans for the future, he replied, “I want to murder and commit suicide.” Was that not a red flag??? Why wasn’t it reported and followed up on?
Yesterday, the gunman pleaded guilty to 15 charges, including 10 charges of murder and one charge of domestic terrorism. While I am thankful that he will likely never walk free again to murder even more, I think this entire situation shows a pathetic negligence to recognize and identify a serious mental health issue. It also furthers my position that guns are too damned easy to obtain in this country! Next thing you know, they’ll be packaging derringers (very small, but lethal guns) as the prize in packages of Cracker Jacks!
Some honest Republicans? Be still my heart …
Maricopa Country in Arizona is home to over half the population of the entire state! So, what happens there matters … a lot. I was encouraged last night to read that the Republican-controlled election board voted unanimously to certify the November 8th election, whereby Democrat Katie Hobbs won the governorship. Hobbs’ Republican opponent, the conspiracy-theorist, Trump-backed Republican Kari Lake, insists that Republican voters were denied the opportunity to vote, that there was some irregularity with voting machines, and … ho hum … same ol’ same ol’ … we’ve heard it before and no doubt we’ll hear it again. Other counties have put their certification on hold based on Lake’s claims, but I find it very encouraging that the largest county by far has certified the election.
And just a handful of ‘toons to add to the fun!
Now, in my book, despite his pardon, he is still a convicted felon, and some news outlets such as Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, and CNN felt the same, for they continued to refer to Arpaio as a ‘convicted felon’. Arpaio, rather like somebody else we know of who cannot stand to be criticized or mocked, took umbrage and filed a lawsuit against the three … a lawsuit seeking compensatory damages of $300 million! Sheesh … he sued claiming defamation, but frankly ain’t nobody’s character worth that kind of money! And, as I said, he was convicted of a felony. The pardon kept him from paying a fine and going to jail, but it didn’t, in my book, erase his guilt.
In 2016, Arpaio lost his bid for re-election to Paul Penzone by a 13% margin. Arpaio, by the way, is now 87 years old. But, guess what? Arpaio is planning to run again for Sheriff of Maricopa Country in 2020! I cannot imagine that he stands a snowball’s chance, but the mere fact that he plans to run after having been exposed as a cruel, unjust racist, boggles the mind. This, folks, is the mind of a megalomaniac, similar to the one sitting in the Oval Office. Hopefully the people of Maricopa Country laugh him all the way out of the state!
On Hallowe’en night, five people were shot dead at a party in Orinda, California, east of San Francisco. Also on Hallowe’en night, a seven-year-old girl who was out trick-or-treating in a bumblebee costume was shot in the neck by a fifteen-year-old boy and critically injured. Last Sunday, October 27th, two people were shot and killed at an off-campus homecoming party near Greenville, Texas.
It is a damn shame that the people we elect to office, the people whose salaries we pay, are more committed to selling their votes to the gun lobby than they are to making this a safer nation. Yes, I’m speaking to you, Mitch McConnell, and to you Donald Trump, and to every other member of Congress who has taken money from the National Rifle Association in exchange for refusing to vote for a ban on assault weapons, or enhanced background checks, or a gun registry. Damn each and every one of you. The eight deaths listed above are on your shoulders, along with other 32,858 so far this year.
The trial wrapped up on Thursday, with closing arguments for both sides scheduled for 06 July. The first thought I had was I wondered how diligently this case would be prosecuted by the Department of Justice, now that it is led by none other than racist and anti-immigration Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Based on news reports, I may have been right to have concerns. The trial was apparently rather lackluster. Prosecutors successfully blocked a motion by the defense that would have prevented them from calling to the stand victims of illegal detention, but they failed to call on a single victim. Arpaio, though present in the courtroom all four days, did not testify on his own behalf.
Filosofa's Word 