Oh Da Snark … Try Watching Grass Grow!

Posted on August 12, 2021 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, education, Environmental Issues, Political commentary, Social commentary

It seems I keep finding things to snark about. I have tried to clear my mind of the detritus, tried lying in the yard watching the grass grow to find some peace of mind, but some of the blades of grass began looking like politicians after a while. I threw myself into housework … for all of ten minutes … and then I was tired, so I went back to reading the news. So, letting loose the snark here on ye olde blog seems to be the only way to evict it from my head!

Punished for doing the right thing

Okay, my friends … I’m going there again … ‘there’ being the place I try very hard to stay away from: religion. Well, not religion per se, but rather certain religious ‘leaders’ who have flown repeatedly onto my radar, almost as if they are begging me to swat them down. Sigh. I really don’t like delving into the realm, for I understand that in this area, I am a minority and my views have little or no value to the majority. However …

Greg Locke, pastor of the Global Vision Bible Church in Nashville, Tennessee, is not a nice man. He has floated across my radar numerous times, but until recently I swished him away, pooh-poohed him as just another foolish evangelical. Until recently, that is, when he actually had the unmitigated gall to tell his congregation that if they wore a mask, they would be thrown out of church!

“If you start showing up [with] all these masks and all this nonsense, I will ask you to leave. I am not playing these Democrat games up in this church.”

‘Democrat games???’ Who’s playing games now, Greg? What’s next for Mr. Locke? Will he throw out parishioners who have been vaccinated? What about those who eat healthy and exercise regularly … are they to be given the boot? Folks, this is not about whether one chooses to believe in a higher being or not … this is about life and death, about personal choices, about our health. Mr. Locke has just mandated that his congregation must engage in dangerous, life-threatening behaviour in order to have the dubious ‘privilege’ of hearing him opine on that of which he is proven ignorant.

This isn’t Locke’s first foray into the unconscionable. Previously he insisted President Joe Biden was not legitimately elected and claimed only “crack-smoking” leftists would think he beat Donald Trump to the White House. He has falsely accused the State of Tennessee of building ‘quarantine camps’ to house the unvaccinated, and last September he published a book titled, This Means War: We Will Not Surrender Through Silence (Pastor Greg Locke: Spiritual Warfare Series).

What a joke he is … I wonder how many people will die because they listened to him?

And on the subject of masks …

Do you ever look around, read the news, and just wonder if the whole damn world has lost its collective marbles???

On Tuesday night, a meeting of the school board was held in Williamson County, Tennessee, the wealthiest in the state and one of the 20 wealthiest counties in the country. The purpose of the meeting was to decided whether or not there would be a mask mandate in place when children return to school next week. Unlike some other states, there is no ban on mask mandates in Tennessee and the decision is left up to each school district.

The meeting was so chaotic that it ended up taking four hours to decide that yes, they would mandate masks for teachers and students at the elementary school level. Masks will be optional at the junior high and high school levels where most students are over 12 years of age and thus eligible for vaccination. Angry parents showed up, almost none wearing a mask, and frequently disrupted the meeting, expressing their fury that their child might be ordered to wear a mask. One person became so violent that he had to be escorted out by county deputies.

But it was what came afterward that makes me think our nation is devolving into something cruel and inhumane. As the meeting broke up, hundreds of protestors were waiting outside. The meeting had included health care professionals who attested to the value of wearing a mask during this time when the Delta variant of the coronavirus is running rampant. Upon leaving the building, the health care professionals were surrounded by protestors chanting and issuing threats such as “We know who you are,” and “We will find you.”

If this is what it means to be an American, then I want no part of it! These people are loons! Doctors and nurses, trying to keep the children of these loons safe and alive, are threatened for doing so. PEOPLE! WAKE UP! This is not how rational human beings behave!!! Or is it? Are people completely losing the ability to disagree in a civilized manner?

Something to ponder

Our friend Jerry, aka Grumpy1180, left a comment on my post about Andrew Cuomo’s resignation that I found very astute …

I’ve had several epiphanies since leaving the Republican Party. Here’s one of them: When a Republican “leader” gets caught with his or her hand in the cookie jar–or his or her pants down, or choose your cliche–Republican followers turn on the accusers, the law enforcers, the court system, the media, and anyone else who would dare to question the integrity of their hero. They side with the person over the principle. When a Democrat leader gets caught violating a law or an important social norm, Democrat voters say, essentially, “Sorry, _____. I liked you, but principles come first. Time for you to move on and be replaced by someone who understands the importance of upholding crucial, society-sustaining principles.”

Think about that for a minute … he’s right! Did you hear a single Republican call for Trump’s resignation in light of his many proven sexual harassment accusations, his lies, his corruption? He even admitted to some of them, yet not a whisper was heard from Republicans in or out of Congress. When confirmation hearings were being held for Brett Kavanaugh to occupy a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, and a highly credible woman accused him of sexual assault, who did Republicans turn on? The woman, not Kavanaugh. And more recently … have you heard a single Republican call for Representative Matt Gaetz, who is being investigated on sex trafficking charges, to step down?

Think about it … which party has shown integrity? Jerry is right … it damn sure ain’t the Republican Party!

When Conservative became Noservative

Posted on July 24, 2021 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, Election 2020, Election 2022, Environmental Issues, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Our friend Brosephus shares his thoughts on today’s Republican conservatives, or ‘noservatives’ as he so aptly dubs them. What, he asks, has happened to the Republican Party in the past decade or two? Where is the party that actually DID something instead of simply trying to put roadblocks up for the other party? Brosephus’ post is one well worth reading and pondering. Thank you, Brosephus!

The Mind of Brosephus

Cover of Time Magazine from March 21, 2016

There’s been several topics that have popped up that I haven’t had the time to write about. Most times, these topics usually get discussed in the comment section. I appreciate that because I don’t always have the time to post a new topic to address recent events to allow “on topic” commenting.

That said, I happened to come across the above Time Magazine cover, and I think it asks a very important question that we don’t discuss enough. What happened to the Republican Party? I’m talking beyond the personality cult it’s become with the sole intent on pissing off liberals. What happened to the ideas and guiding principles of conservatism?

For example, let’s discuss immigration for a minute. Conservatives will whine and bitch to no end about how immigration is a problem and there’s a border crisis going on. We’ve been hearing…

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Was 2020 Just A Dress Rehearsal?

Posted on June 2, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Election 2024, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, voting rights

If you thought the chaos and violence that surrounded last year’s presidential election was bad, many speculate that what will happen in 2024 will make 2020 look like a walk in the park. Take a look at what Washington Post editor Fred Hiatt has to say … a view that is shared by many political analysts today.

Voter suppression is bad. But this tactic is even worse.

Opinion by

Fred Hiatt

Editorial page editor

President Donald Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 presidential election fell short. Now Republicans across the country are promoting changes to laws and personnel that could allow him — or someone like him — to succeed in 2024.

I’m not referring to the hundreds of GOP proposals in statehouses across the country that will make it harder for many people, in particular Black Democrats, to vote. Those measures are egregious and offensive. They are the strategy of a party that has given up on winning by putting forward more appealing policies and candidates and so hopes to win by keeping as many of its opponents away from the ballot box as possible.

What I’m talking about is in some ways even more insidious: an insurance policy to potentially steal the election if the vote-suppression strategy fails.

Recall Trump’s post-election campaign last fall. Having lost decisively, he thought he could pressure local and state officials to nullify the results.

He implored the Republican majority in the Pennsylvania legislature to defy their people’s will and appoint a slate of electors who would vote for him in Washington.

He urged the Georgia secretary of state to claim that Joe Biden’s victory there was fraudulent.

He pressured the Michigan Board of State Canvassers not to certify Biden’s clear victory in their state.

He failed because enough local officials had more integrity and courage than a majority of the Republican caucus in the U.S. House has mustered. The leaders of the Pennsylvania legislature said they didn’t have the authority to do what Trump was demanding. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger simply refused to go along. One of two Republicans on the Michigan board caved to the pressure, but the other, Aaron Van Langevelde, listened to his conscience, and his vote alongside the board’s two Democrats was enough to turn aside Trump’s attempted theft.

All of this was inspiring to many of us. To the anti-democracy forces ascendant in the Republican Party, it provided a challenge and a road map.

Michigan Republicans chose not to nominate Van Langevelde to another term. Raffensperger will face a primary challenge from an amplifier of Trump’s lies about election fraud, Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), who already has Trump’s endorsement.

“At the end of the day, there were good people on both sides of the aisle who were determined to protect people’s right to vote,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, said in a meeting with Post reporters and editors this month. “If those people change in 2022, then you have a scenario in 2024 where the good people who protected their states in 2020 aren’t there any more.”

Nor are the anti-democracy forces focused only on top officials. Another Democratic secretary of state, Arizona’s Katie Hobbs, told us that “people around the state are very worried that they’re going to come infiltrate poll workers in the next election.” The law requires a balance of Republicans and Democrats as poll workers — but, Hobbs noted, “it’s very easy to change your affiliation from R to D.”

As they target the people and positions that stood in their way last time, they also are attempting to change the rules, so a pro-Trump legislature could more easily override the will of the people — and the objections of any honest secretary of state who stood in the way.

“In 2021, state legislatures across the country — through at least 148 bills filed in 36 states — are moving to muscle their way into election administration, as they attempt to dislodge or unsettle the executive branch and/or local election officials who, traditionally, have run our voting systems.”

That is the conclusion of a recent report, “A Democracy Crisis in the Making,” by two nonpartisan organizations, States United Democracy Center and Protect Democracy, and a nonprofit law firm in Wisconsin, Law Forward.

“Had these bills been in place in 2020,” the report found, “they would have significantly added to the turmoil that surrounded the election, and they would have raised the alarming prospect that the outcome of the presidential election could have been decided contrary to how the people voted.”

One such measure was included in Georgia’s recent electoral “reform.” While many of us paid attention to the mean-spirited ban on giving water to people waiting in line — and understandably so — the intrusion of the legislature into the counting process could have far more nefarious consequences.

This is why it matters so much that Trump continues to lie about 2020, and that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and most of his party have abjectly surrendered to the lie. It’s not just about history. The lie is being used to give cover for actions that in 2024 could turn the big lie into the big steal.

Remember These Names!

Posted on May 29, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Election 2022, Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants

Yesterday, the following 44 republicans and two democrats flipped us the proverbial bird …

State	Senator	Party Affiliation
Alabama	Richard Shelby	Republican
Alabama	Tommy Tuberville	Republican
Alaska	Daniel S. Sullivan	Republican
Arizona	Kyrsten Sinema	Democrat
Arkansas	John Boozman	Republican
Arkansas	Tom Cotton	Republican
Florida	Marco Rubio	Republican
Florida	Rick Scott	Republican
Idaho	Mike Crapo	Republican
Idaho	Jim Risch	Republican
Indiana	Mike Braun	Republican
Indiana	Todd C. Young	Republican
Iowa	Joni Ernst	Republican
Iowa	Chuck Grassley	Republican
Kansas	Roger Marshall	Republican
Kansas	Jerry Moran	Republican
Kentucky	Mitch McConnell	Republican
Kentucky	Rand Paul	Republican
Louisiana	John Neely Kennedy	Republican
Mississippi	Cindy Hyde-Smith	Republican
Mississippi	Roger Wicker	Republican
Missouri	Roy Blunt	Republican
Missouri	Josh Hawley	Republican
Montana	Steve Daines	Republican
Nebraska	Deb Fischer	Republican
North Carolina	Richard Burr	Republican
North Carolina	Thom Tillis	Republican
North Dakota	Kevin Cramer	Republican
North Dakota	John Hoeven	Republican
Oklahoma	Jim Inhofe	Republican
Oklahoma	James Lankford	Republican
Pennsylvania	Pat Toomey	Republican
South Carolina	Lindsey Graham	Republican
South Carolina	Tim Scott	Republican
South Dakota	Mike Rounds	Republican
South Dakota	John Thune	Republican
Tennessee	Marsha Blackburn	Republican
Tennessee	Bill Hagerty	Republican
Texas	John Cornyn	Republican
Texas	Ted Cruz	Republican
Utah	Mike Lee	Republican
Washington	Patty Murray	Democratic
West Virginia	Shelley Moore Capito	Republican
Wisconsin	Ronald Harold Johnson	Republican
Wyoming	John Barrasso	Republican
Wyoming	Cynthia Lummis	Republican

These are the people who said to the citizens of this nation:

We do not value your lives
We do not honour our oaths to protect and defend the Constitution
We do not care about democratic processes
We care only for our own continuation of power
We are loyal lapdogs to the former ‘president’

It should also be noted that six Republicans did find their conscience and voted in favour of the commission. My thanks go out to …

Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
Senator Susan Collins of Maine
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska

On January 6^th, a mob of thugs, domestic terrorists, white supremacists attacked the U.S. Capitol. Five people died that day, and 140 police officers were injured. They were protesting a fair and honest election, attempting to stop the democratic process of certifying the results of that election. Why? Because they had been told by the former guy and by some number of members of Congress that the election was not fair, that President Biden was not the true winner, and that somehow, they should attempt to stop the process of certifying the election. They were encouraged and instigated by not only the former ‘president’ but also by certain members of Congress who provided them with information about the tunnels under the Capitol, about who would be where, and other vital information. They were instigated by a member of Congress who gave them a fist-bump to show his support for their criminal activities.

Those who attacked the Capitol must be punished to the fullest extent of the law, however those who operated behind the scenes from a position of trust must be punished even more severely. Yesterday, members of the Republican Party in Congress and two members of the Democratic Party voted or showed by their lack of vote that they are arrogant assholes, cowards who are more afraid of the former ‘president’ than they are of the people of this nation. We elected these asses, we pay their salary, and what do we get in return? Not one damn thing. They turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to our pleas, to our needs, to our very lives.

Were it in my power, I would expel each and every one of these asses from Congress tomorrow. Sadly, it isn’t, but what IS in my power is to use my voice, such as it is, to wake up the people of this nation and ensure that these asses are voted OUT of office the very next time they come up for re-election.

The truth will come out … there will be investigations either by a special House committee or by the Department of Justice. It is my fondest hope that before the 2022 mid-term elections, we have direct evidence of the roles in the attack by such as Matt Gaetz, Margie Greene, Josh Hawley, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy and others, not to mention the former ‘president’. These people do NOT deserve their positions, they do NOT represent us, and frankly in my book they are wasting precious resources like air, food, and water by their very existence.

Yesterday was a dark day for the United States, perhaps the darkest in my lifetime, perhaps even darker than 9/11, for yesterday we were told in no uncertain terms that the Constitution is null and void and that our lives do not matter. This country took a huge step backward in terms of democratic principles, of fairness, honesty and integrity. Domestic terrorists have been given a green light for future endeavours. Ultimately, the truth will come out and justice meted out to all guilty parties. Meanwhile, our elected officials care more about their own fortunes than about our lives. Remember that, my friends. Remember the names at the start of this post, for every last one of those senators has something to hide … I’d bet my life on it.

Wait And See

Posted on May 14, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Election 2022, Election 2024, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

An announcement letter in The Washington Post yesterday caught my eye. The letter was written by a number of Republicans, including former members of Congress, cabinet members, and governors, and promises … I’m not sure if they are promising an entirely new party, or simply a more centrist, sensible arm of the Republican Party.

I am, by nature, a skeptic … question everything. Trust nobody. However, I am pleased to see that in the wake of the abhorrent treatment the party has heaped on not only Liz Cheney, but all who had the integrity to stand against the former guy and his Big Lie, I’m pleased to see that at least some notables in the GOP are not simply lying down and waiting for the bulldozer to flatten them. I am, for now, taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude toward the whole thing, but will have more to say as I see the direction this group takes, see if they put their money where their collective mouths are. Meanwhile, read the letter and check out their mission statement and outline with 152 notable signatories of what they hope to achieve.

The GOP has lost its way. Fellow Americans, join our new alliance.

Opinion by Charlie Dent, Mary Peters, Denver Riggleman, Michael Steele and Christine Todd Whitman

May 13, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Charlie Dent represented Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 2005 to 2018. Mary Peters was secretary of transportation during the George W. Bush administration. Denver Riggleman represented Virginia’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 2019 to 2021. Michael Steele is a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Christine Todd Whitman was governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001.

The Republican Party made a grievous error this week in ousting Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) from the House leadership for telling the truth about Donald Trump’s “big lie,” which has wreaked havoc in our democratic republic by casting doubt over the 2020 election.

Cheney rightfully struck back against party leaders and warned about the GOP’s dangerous direction. She is not alone.

Alongside dozens of prominent Republicans, ex-Republicans and independents, we are announcing “A Call for American Renewal,” a nationwide rallying cry against extremist elements within the GOP, and highlighting the urgent need for a new, common-sense coalition.

We urge fellow Americans to join us.

Our alliance includes former governors, members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, state officials, seasoned political strategists and grass-roots leaders dedicated to offering a hopeful, principles-based vision for the country — and ensuring that our votes have decisive impact in key elections across the United States.

We want to give voice to the millions of Americans who feel politically homeless and mobilize them to help chart a new path forward for our country.

It is time for a rebirth of the American cause, which we will pursue in partnership and loyal competition with others committed to the preservation of our Union.

Tragically, the Republican Party has lost its way, perverted by fear, lies and self-interest. What’s more, GOP attacks on the integrity of our elections and our institutions pose a continuing and material threat to the nation.

The Jan. 6 insurrection was a wake-up call for many who had remained loyal to the party, even while harboring concerns about its direction.

Many have since left. The GOP has effectively become a privileged third party, ranking behind independents and Democrats in voter registration.

Meanwhile, Republican legislators are trying to impede voting rights across the country as a last-ditch effort to retain power.

We will not wait forever for the GOP to clean up its act. If we cannot save the Republican Party from itself, we will help save America from extremist elements in the Republican Party.

That means hastening the creation of an alternative: a political movement dedicated to our founding principles and divorced from the GOP’s obsessive cult of personality around a deeply flawed (and twice-impeached) man, whose favorability ratings are reportedly tanking in key swing districts around the country.

We will fight for honorable Republicans who stand up for truth and decency, such as Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney, to name a few.

But we will not rely on the old partisan playbook. We intend to work across party lines with other Americans to oppose extremists and defend the republic wherever we can.

Together with our patriotic allies in other parties, our movement will stand against fearmongers, conspiracy theorists and the opportunists who seek unbridled power.

We plan to invest in a deeper bench of effective leaders in cities and states across the country while recruiting a new generation of principled, pragmatic citizens to the cause.

Some no doubt will urge us to join the Democratic Party. We believe that inching toward a single-party system would be dangerous and would fail to represent the diverse viewpoints in our nation.

America cannot have just one party committed to preservation of its democratic institutions. There must be at least two, if not more.

With Cheney’s dismissal from House leadership, the battle for the soul of the Republican Party — and our country — is not over. It is just beginning, which is why we are forming a “resistance of the rational” against the radicals.

We still hope for a healthy, thriving Republican Party, but we are no longer holding our breath.

Next month, we will convene a nationwide town hall open to all Americans and featuring current and former U.S. leaders who will lay out where we must go from here, how we can ensure a freer America and how all citizens can join the fight.

Extremists may have fired the first shot in this moral struggle for America’s future, but with truth as our lodestar, those laboring to renew America will fire the last.

Being a Jerk now a Prerequisite for Republican Presidential Nomination

Posted on March 22, 2021 by jilldennison under Election 2020, Election 2022, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs, Social commentary

Our friend Jeff has written the post I’ve been pondering, and done it far better than I could have. The Republican Party, the GOP who prides themselves on being “The Party of Lincoln” are failing to live up to that grandeur … not only failing, but they have become the Party of Losers and Liars … and whiners. They no longer have a platform or an ideology, just negativity toward anything the Democrats try to accomplish, and toward the people of this country. Good post … thanks Jeff!

On The Fence Voters

Apparently, being a first-class jerk is a prerequisite for being the front-runner in Republican presidential politics. According to many in the media, current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sits atop the leaderboard. The real question, though, is why would that be?

Why would a guy who constantly criticizes the media, whines about anti-conservative bias, and flaunts a no mask policy in the middle of a pandemic, be a Republican voter’s first choice to run for the most powerful office in the world?

We’re left to conclude that it’s because most Republican voters kind of like their candidate to be an asshole. They want him or her to be mean to the media. They love it when someone talks tough and owns the libs daily. Oh, and if you have spoken openly about the fallacy of wearing a mask or shutting down economies to slow down the spread of the worst pandemic…

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The Week’s Best Cartoons 10/24

Posted on October 25, 2020 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Humour, Law and justice, Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

I thought it was time to lighten it up a bit, and while the political cartoons these days often aren’t exactly funny, they are brilliant in the way they can sum up a situation with few or no words. How I wish I had artistic talent! So, instead of the post I had planned for this afternoon, I am sharing instead TokyoSand’s weekly collection featuring the ‘best of the best’ cartoons from the past week. Thank you, TS, for this excellent collection!