Every time you donate to a candidate you’re feeding the corporate media beast.
It’s such a game. And it’s rigged. Sadly it’s a necessary game. But it’s rigged.
I’m talking about political fundraising. Certainly there have been cases where candidates who trailed in the fundaising game have won elections, but they are few and far between. That doesn’t really happen on the national stage any longer. Candidates need that money for staffing, polling, phone-banking, etc…. Most importantly they need it for advertising buys.
Complaints about political fundraising appeals are as legion as the appeals themselves. Side by side, and increasingly complaints are growing about corporate media.
The next time you complain about coroporate media remember this. A large portion of any donation you make goes right into the pockets of the media conglomerates. So, you’re feeding the beast every time you donate to the candidate of your choosing. It’s also one of the reasons campaigning never stops. If campaign advertising disappeared tomorrow, so too would most of the manna corporate media feeds on. They have a vested interest in seeing political races stay heated.
Again, it’s a necessary game. It’s one we’ve allowed to evolve and Citizens United opened the floodgates. I’m not suggesting that you stop donating. I’m just suggesting that you understand who profits off of your largesse.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Weird. Maybe it’s the word. Maybe it’s the truth. Maybe it’s just “weird.”
The political world in its ever unquenchable thirst for a meme, a talking point, a gaffe, or just a good time, has latched on to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s description of the Trump/Vance ticket as “weird.” Of course the implication means those who worship them are weird as well. For the most part, I can’t disagree with that.
I guess that means that we’ve moved past “deplorable.” Because, you know, “weird” can be lovable and it’s hard to deplore something that’s lovable. But hey, weird can also be bad. But we’ve long since moved beyond the bounds of being “bad” as a disqualifier in the world of politics. “Bad” seems to be what far too many want as long as they can use their version of “bad” to punish what they think is “bad.”
Labels cut both ways, depending on who’s wielding the label maker.
I’m not suggesting that we stop calling the MAGAts “weird.” It is indeed a fun attack that more than seems to fit and goodness knows if it works then keep using it.
If for some reason you’re weird enough to have avoided all of this and you’re looking for a laundry list of the MAGAt ticket’s “weirdness” check out David Todd McCarty’s article The Maga Movement Has a Weirdness Problem. Fun article. Not weird at all. Also check out Anna O’Malley’s article from 2012 on The True Meaning of Weird.
As glad that as I am that label seems to be sticking I am also just a bit sad that it has. I’m just “weird” in the way i see both sides of a coin and also its edge. I used to pride myself on being a bit “weird.” After all, I’m a theatre geek so I’ve always been looked at as weird by most of my non-theatre friends and my family (we can’t blame the mailman because my dad was the postmaster.). In fact, I’ve spent a good deal of my life celebrating weirdness. So, it’s weird that I see this label sticking in what passes as political discourse. But then that entire game has always been weird.
That said and worth repeating, if it keeps the MAGAt ticket from winning the election I’m all for it. Just keep in mind that the election will just be another battle in this weird war that won’t end with on election night. These folks might be “weird” but they are also pure evil.
I’d rather tattoo that on their foreheads.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
This is just too good not to share. Using Abba’s Dancing Queen as the tune, The Marsh Family does a terrific parody song that hits all the notes we know so far about the MAGAt candidate for Vice President J.D. Vance.
The lyrics are just too damn clever. Bravo! Well done. Share this around, watch from your couch and enjoy the laughs.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
There’s saying the quiet part out loud and then there’s shouting it from the rooftops.
Maybe this time it will stick. It’s not schtick. It’s more than a tell. It’s the plan.
Trump once again ranted about getting rid of the fundamentals of American democracy screaming and begging for Christians to vote for him, capping off his comments with “You gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.”
In the past, voters and the media have seemingly chalked up previous dictator wishes from the decaying orange turd to just the rantings of a lunatic. I hope not this time around. Sadly the headlines this morning seem to continue to take the convicted felon, child rapist and dictator wanna be for granted and ignore the threat.
Pay attention folks. Because this is the plan if he’s elected or otherwise assumes office.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Stories have surfaced that Rupert Murdoch and his children are in a fight over who gets to control the empire after the seemingly ageless Murdoch shuffles off his mortal coil.
Given that everything is viewed through a political spectrum these days, the narrative is that Rupert wants to preserve it as a conservative political force. That may well be, but it seems to me the best way to preserve that and keep the money flowing would be to see Democratic victories across the board in this fall’s election. Murdoch properties do better as the raving, rabid opposition than they do when they have to support the party in power.
Regardless, the family squabbles feel like they watched too many episodes of Succession and have become too enamored of their own reflections in that mirror.
They may be filthy rich, but these are not serious people.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Some things we know, yet somehow pretend we discover anew now and then. It’s not rocket science.
Donald Trump is a convicted felon.
Donald Trump is a racist.
Donald Trump is a child rapist.
Donald Trump is a dangerous psychopathic narcissist.
Donald Trump’s agenda is in writing. It’s called Project 2025 sometimes masked as Agenda 47. It’s evil.
J.D. Vance is a self-serving opportunist and a useful idiot.
Both Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are bought and paid for looking to cash in further on you.
The party that used to be the GOP embraces and coddles criminals of all stripes instead of wanting to see them in stripes.
Those that support Trump/Vance/GOP will not be content until they can turn back the clock on the things that they irrationally fear.
If you think there’s a choice in this November’s election, or if you feel like debating what the choices are, you support all of the above. If you wonder why someone may vote for Trump, stop wondering. They support all of the above and either don’t care or think this is who we are or should be.
It’s that simple.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
The world just changed. I’ve said that a few times in my life when major events occur. Joe Biden stepping down as a presidential candidate is one of those events. History can hit hard whether expected or not. It can be both a blessing and a curse that when we feel the earth shift under our feet we have no idea of what will be once it stops shaking and we assess the changes.
I’m relieved for Joe Biden and relieved that the energy his endorsement of Kamala Harris has generated. Even more so by the follow on cascade of other endorsements. I feel like there’s a shot at winning the actual fight it’s been all along: toppling the convicted felon, child rapist Donald Trump and his cult this fall.
If, as expected, Harris is the nominee one of the many beneifts of her candidcacy is that it should further draw out into the open the bad blood in our country that festers in racism and misogny. I like to clearly see where the bad guys are.
There’s no guarantees. It’s going to be an alley fight. And even after the votes are counted I don’t think it’s going to be over for awhile. So there’s still anxiety. But it’s a different kind of anxiety. We may not know where this is all headed, but in a few days there should be clarity for the fight ahead.
Time to get busy.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
Pick your metaphor. Pick your favorite song lyric from Hamilton. Pick your poison. The U.S. political and media world is nothing short of a mess as the GOP Coronation, excuse me, Convention, continues in Milwaukee.
I’m not watching the event, but have seen enough highlights (lowlights?) to know that bending the knee has leapt beyond typical humiliating political expediency into something that absurdist playwrights, much less contemporary fiction authors, couldn’t possibly imagine. Public ass kissing may not be an Olympic sport, but if it was, America could field one helluva team based on the competition in Milwaukee.
It’s really not fair to blame the media for coverage of the event. They seem to know no better than a child sticking their hand in a fire and there’s nothing normal or predictable about this election cycle. There used to be journalists who would call things as they saw them. There also used to be dinosaurs.
Watching the watchers cover what looks like the closest thing we’ve seen to a Nazi rally in this country for several generations and not calling it what it is pisses me off. The media’s problem is that this is a playbook that’s been plagiarized from the 1930’s in ways that large language models must envy. But the media capitulated then and so here we are. Again. It may not be new, but it’s damn dangerous and they are trying to shoehorn that into an old world model that failed then and will fail again. Things may not be normal but they are too damn predictable. Guess what? That’s the damn story.
Set aside the clichés about not presenting both sides when one side says it’s raining and the other doesn’t. We’re witnessing a complete capitulation to something that’s beyond my understanding. If the red hat brigade takes power, most of those currently sucking up will be in line for internment camps once they’ve reported on how many migrant families have been separated. At least they will be credentialed.
Granted the media isn’t getting much help from the Democrats. That helpless bunch wants to play fair. Again. Thinking the high road will get them there, while the other side is tunneling out the ground underneath them is simply shrinking from the real challenge while grasping at straw men. The only fight they can seem to muster is one against themselves. Hell, they don’t even have the guts to really have that fight, much less finish it. But go ahead. Play nice.
So. Today is my birthday. Given family history I never thought I’d make it this far. But I have. I have two birthday wishes. Here’s the first: I’d love to see some Democratic politician when confronted with some MAGAt gish galloping their well rehearsed rhetoric say directly “take your white supremacist, fascist, misogynistic bullshit and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.” Hell. Don’t even wait to do it to their face, just do it in front of a camera. Often. Call them on their bullshit hourly. Make them defend against the comment.
For the uninitiated, that’s called politics.
The second wish is that I’d love to see a headline somewhere that says, “The GOP has nominated a convicted felon to run for president.” The lede should read: “The party once proud to wrap itself in the mantle of law and order has now disrobed and re-draped itself as the party that welcomes and supports criminality.” Tell me, what’s not factual about that?
I won’t get either of those wishes. I’m pissed about that. And I’m pissed that it looks like I’m going to be around to watch what this country stood for during the six plus decades of my life rapidly decline and disintegrate during what’s left of it.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
High stakes gambling going on. But there’s a hedge.
The tech bros are going all in, pushing all of their chips onto the table in favor of convicted felon, child rapist, and national security threat, Donald Trump. Well, not really. They’ve got a hedge.
The cynic in me (it’s a very large cynic that overwhelms sometimes) thinks that the big tech bros donating to Trump are gambling that he gets elected, expires or is removed from office somehow, making Trump’s new VP pick, J.D. Vance, their penny ante puppet. They’ve already paid plenty of pretty pennies to pull Vance’s strings.
The hedge is that even if Trump continues to hang in there he’ll create enough chaos to let them run rampant without any real adult (read government) supervision. It’s the same gamble Putin, Xi, other world leaders and CEOs are making.
Either way, they’re priming the pump gambling they won’t have to dump it.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
A terrific video primer on Project 2025. Don’t say we weren’t warned.
Given the dire political situation we’re living through this summer with anxiety increasing in the countdown to this fall’s election, I hope you’ve taken the time to read the MAGAt roadmap called Project 2025. If you haven’t you need to. It’s not an easy or short read, there’s a lot of info there and it’s a bit terrifying.
But if you’re not into long reading, or you just prefer video then you might want to check out this video primer from Molly Jong-Fast and historian Thomas Zimmer. It’s well worth your time.
As Zimmer says Project 2025 is best understood as the “American Right’s Declaration of War on the idea of a multi-racial, pluralistic, diverse society.”
I urge you to check it out and share it. Molly says she thinks it’s the most important thing she’s ever done. I concur.
Don’t say we weren’t warned.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
