Kamala in Houston

I was glad to hear that Kamala would be holding a rally in Houston. Word was that Beyoncé might make an appearance, which certainly brought out the crowds. Before the rally, I also heard that Willie Nelson would be making an appearance, along with several women who had experienced the mindless brutality of Texas' anti-abortion laws. Some call Texas "ground zero" in the abortion battle, and the Texas laws are certainly draconian. 

Written mostly by men with no medical training, the Texas laws threaten to jail doctors FOR LIFE if they assist a patient in getting an abortion. What kind of fucked-up....words begin to fail when the bile starts rising. There are allegedly some exceptions to the NO abortions law, but the law is so badly worded that doctors are unsure what is allowed and what is not, and many are choosing to not assist. The Texas law even allows for any Texas citizen to collect a BOUNTY if they turn in someone who is trying to obtain an abortion. Turning Texas citizens against themselves? That's Republicans for you!

As a result of these laws, the infant mortality rate in Texas is up over 50%! Way to go, assholes!

Texas has been ruled by Republicans for decades now. There has not been a Democrat elected to a statewide office in Texas since 1994, and both houses of the state legislature are continually dominated by Republicans. Extreme gerrymandering engineered by Republicans have cemented Republican rule. The Texas Constitution prohibits citizen referendums, and so the only constitutional amendments allowed to reach the ballot (like adding abortion to the constitution as many other states are doing, or legalizing cannabis, for instance) are crafted by the state legislature. 

I found the Friday rally in Houston on C-SPAN and joined as an army of doctors were on-stage talking about how OB-GYN's in this state were now afraid to practice their specialty for fear of being tossed in jail. Many are choosing to leave the state entirely, reducing Texas women's options even further. Medical schools are reporting reduced numbers of new students choosing to go into Obstetrics, dimming the future in Texas even further.

Republicans used to talk about the dangers of "Big Brother" government telling you what to do and how to run your life, and now they are doing exactly that when it comes to women's reproductive freedom. Many Republicans want to abolish CONTRACEPTIVES entirely and IVF!! It won't work, but I am afraid it's going to get even uglier for women in Texas. Republicans are so zealous (and stupid) they cannot see that they are overstepping their boundaries. They cannot see the resentment building up in Texas women, and men. The callous insensitivity of their abortion laws is epic and ridiculous.

We will prevail. We shall not forever remain under the boot heel of the regressive Republicans. Change is coming. California used to be deep red until the Republicans tried to pass Prop 187, which angered the large Latino population so much, the state turned blue rather quickly. Did you know that Latinos now make up the largest segment of the Texas population? Over 40% of Texas is now Hispanic or Latino. White folks now represent 39% of the Texas population. So you go ahead and clamp down HARD on immigration bullshit, GOP. See where it gets you.

Anyway, Kamala Harris' campaign was brilliant, IMHO, in coming to Houston and talking almost exclusively about women's reproductive freedom. It doesn't get much worse than in Texas. Doctors, women who have been victimized and damaged by the stupid laws, Jessica Alba, Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé, and Kamala all gave eloquent speeches about the insanity of these laws and the need to elect Kamala. 

Here is Kelly and Beyoncé's speeches.

And here is Kamala's speech in Houston. It gives me a special thrill to see Houston come out in big numbers for Kamala and to feel the energy and excitement in the crowd. I know there are many, many great people living in Houston, and this might be the year we finally overcome the Republicans and turn Texas blue. It's coming.

turn the page

Take a walk with The Rude Pundit.  The election is getting close. This is a very stressful time, and I'm sure MAGA snickers at that. Trump, MAGA, and Russia, maybe China too, are flooding the zone with bullshit meant to depress and confuse "our" side. Don't let the bastards get you down. If I could get really simplistic, I'd say the forces of goodness and light (us) will win, beating back the forces of evil and darkness (them). But, just in case, I have my firearms clean and ready for the barbarians.

We Need to Be Done With Donald Trump

by The Rude Pundit

Oct 25, 2024

One of the most stunning things about the last near-decade now is how much the country has been contorted by one man. We're in this fucked beyond fucked moment, teetering on the brink of totally and irrevocably fucked, because of Donald Trump. Yes, it's also everyone who voted for him, everyone who elevated him, everyone who kowtowed to him, and everyone who wipes his ass so that he keeps going. But, in the end, it comes down to one goddamned man. It's perfect example of what happens when your nice little democracy relies too much on basic human decency and when the decent ignore or elide the acts of the indecent.

The seeds for Donald Trump's ascendancy were planted over 40 years ago, with the rise of the Moral Majority and Reagan's openness to a portion of the craziest motherfuckers on the right, allowing the evangelicals and the John Birch Society leftovers a place at the political table. It continued, with the odious Pat Buchanan's nativist campaign, openly saying shit that Republicans had been implying for years. I'm not going to summarize the entire history of the ascension of the modern bugfuck insane conservative movement (besides, Geoffrey Kabaservice has done it far better than I could), but it's a straight line from the 2000 election fuckery to the enforced patriotism of the post-9/11 era to the Imperial Presidency idea of Dick fuckin' Cheney to the Tea Party to Trump, with lots of other events and ideas in-between. 

Trump is the vessel this evolving right-wing oligarchical threat was waiting for. Imperfect, for sure, but a populist who ran for office with a built-in audience that would sustain any efforts he made? That just makes the whole effort that much easier. If you get a skilled carnival barker to get the rubes to drop their hard-earned cash so they can enter the tent, that's half the battle. The other half is convincing them to suspend all reason and logic so that they'll believe it when a woman is sawed in half or rabbit appears out of a hat. They won't believe it's a trick at all, no matter how much someone tries to convince them it was sleight of hand or forced perspective. A skillful barker will get the rubes to not only believe in magic, but to insist that anyone who tells them it isn't magic is a fool: "Goddamnit, that woman levitated, and you can't tell me she didn't."

Metaphors aside, we find ourselves in this extraordinarily dangerous moment, yes, because of that entire history, but primarily because of Donald Trump. Without him, this effort to completely undermine the electoral process of the United States wouldn't have gotten any momentum. How do I know that? Because it didn't get any momentum after 2000, when George W. Bush actually lost but no one did a goddamn thing, and after 2004, when there were allegations of shenanigans involving voting machines in Ohio. No one exploited that to discredit voting all around the country. Hell, John Kerry didn't even challenge the results. 

But Trump challenged results even when he won in 2016 because his fragile little ego couldn't handle that he lost the popular vote. He insisted that he lost California only because of non-citizens voting, which was absolute hogshit. It didn't happen. It's never happened that more than a statistically insignificant number of non-citizens has voted and virtually all of those were mistakes, not malice. Instead of accepting victory with some measure of decency and perhaps humility because of the popular vote loss, Trump barreled ahead with the brazen assertion that he really won the popular vote and anyone who said otherwise was lying. 

And it fucking worked. It became an article of faith among his MAGA idiot hordes that Trump was robbed of full victory. It's magic, and the reality of the trick didn't matter. That set the stage for the 2020 election and all the violence and violent rhetoric that came from one man's refusal to accept the outcome. You might have forgotten or suppressed it, but between Election Day 2020 and January 6, 2021, it was one long howl of false outrage and lies, including unnecessary recounts, dozens of failed court cases, and, finally, attacks on the people who take on the job of making sure our democracy functions like a democracy when it comes to voting. Trump called any election officials or state officials who dared to say he lost "enemies of the people" and he and his goons ruined the lives of ordinary Americans earning a paycheck. (Although some have gotten gratifying revenge on these abject cockmites.) The kick in the nuts of the whole pathetic exercise is how many millions of people believed and still believe him. It's like mass fucking hypnosis. 

To put it simply, Donald Trump had no problem completely undermining one of the foundations of this country, and he had no issues with making a significant number of Americans lose faith in how their states and the nation run elections. It didn't matter that the 2020 election was a goddamn miracle because it took place in the middle of a fucking pandemic and should have been one of the great moments of communal triumph in our history. No, we couldn't have that because Trump, who was expected to lose, lost. And now just 28% of Republicans are confident that the votes in the 2024 election will be accurately counted. It's fucking madness, and one man is responsible for that plunge from 55% in 2016. 

It's not that big a leap to say that if Trump can so easily throw aside the integrity of our elections which, 2000 aside, has been pretty fucking decent for a couple of generations, for his own ends, then he can just as easily throw out even more norms and foundational aspects and, well, fuck, laws. He'll keep plodding along, with a Supreme Court decision that lets him basically do whatever the fuck he wants, until none of us recognize the country anymore. It's already fading away in the MAGA haze that can't be penetrated, in a fog of racism and hatred and a desire for the blood of perceived enemies to be spilled. It's not that it can't happen here. It's that it is very much already happening. 

If you feel like I do, like we're existing in a panic attack wrapped in a fever dream covered in a secret sauce of anxiety, then understand this: the only way it ends is to be done with Donald Trump. We need it to fucking stop, so he needs to lose and then we need to go through whatever avalanche of bullshit Trump is going to subject us to as he flails about in his last gasps of electoral relevance, aided by Elon Musk's billions and supported by the MAGA drones who would lay down their lives for their right to continue to be racist and dunk on the libs and beat up trans kids and tear apart migrant families. We need to go through it and come out the other side and see what's left and build it back to some kind of normal again. 

I don't think all of this (gestures at everything) continues as it is once we're done with Trump. There is no one who scratches the celebrity itch and gets the stupidest people to vote. All those wannabe successors are worthless, and even the famous MAGA suck-ups don't have Trump's P.T. Barnum-like ability to corral the rubes and get them to give their money and their freedom to protect him. Unless Trump himself anoints a successor, which he would only do if he won this election. Otherwise, he'll try to insist that he can run again in 2028, and that'll just be sad. 

We can be done. Really. This can be over. Think about how that would feel, how we wouldn't have to hear his slurring, sloppy voice or read his idiot brain droppings and pretend that they matter. Think of the feeling of liberation and the sense that maybe there is a future where we make things better. We need this. 

It's one fucking guy. For fuck's sake, we should be able to step over his ass and move ahead.

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GOP fractured

Lots of Republicans seem to be seeing the light: Trump is a danger to this country. The rubes out there are still acting like sheep, however, swallowing every word Agent Orange utters as gospel. Considering that so many Republicans will still vote for party over country, it suggests that we have a large mental health crisis. I can understand loyalty to your party, but with Trump?! Grow the fuck up, people. Try to locate your brains before you totally embarrass yourselves.

13 Ex-Trump Aides Back Kelly's 'Dictator' Warning, Saying Trump Seeks 'Absolute, Unchecked Power'

In a letter, the former aides wrote, “For the good of our country, our democracy, and our Constitution, we are asking you to listen closely and carefully to General Kelly’s warning.”

by Tim Balk, New York Times

Oct 24, 2024

Thirteen former Trump administration officials released an open letter on Friday amplifying warnings from John F. Kelly, Donald J. Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, that the former president would rule like a dictator if he returned to office.

The former officials wrote that they were shocked but “not surprised” after Mr. Kelly, a former Marine general, told The New York Times that Mr. Trump had said more than once that “Hitler did some good things” and had complained that U.S. generals were not sufficiently loyal to him.

“This is who Donald Trump is,” wrote the 13, all “lifelong Republicans,” according to the letter. “Donald Trump’s disdain for the American military and admiration for dictators like Hitler is rooted in his desire for absolute, unchecked power.”

The letter did not describe any of the former officials hearing Mr. Trump speaking glowingly of Hitler, the Nazi dictator who presided over the systematic slaughter of six million Jews and millions of others.

But the letter said its signers had “witnessed, up close and personal, how Donald Trump operates and what he is capable of.”

“The American people deserve a leader who won’t threaten to turn armed troops against them, won’t put his quest for power above their needs, and doesn’t idealize the likes of Adolf Hitler,” the letter said.

In his comments to The Times, Mr. Kelly described Mr. Trump’s appreciation of history as limited, and he recalled attempting to explain to the president why it was problematic to praise Hitler. Still, Mr. Kelly said, Mr. Trump continued to make positive comments about Hitler.

In this year’s election, Mr. Trump has described Democrats, some by name, as the “enemy from within” and has contemplated deploying the National Guard to address the threat he claims they could pose.

The letter, organized on Wednesday after Mr. Kelly’s comments were published in The Times on Tuesday, was signed by several outspoken Harris supporters, including two who gave speeches at the Democratic National Convention: Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump White House press secretary, and Olivia Troye, who was an adviser to Mr. Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence.

Other signers included Anthony Scaramucci, who had a memorable 10-day run as communications director in the Trump White House; Brooke Vosburgh Alexander, who was a top aide in the Commerce Department; Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as Mr. Pence’s press secretary; Mark Harvey and Peter Jennison, who worked on the National Security Council; Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary; and Robert Riley, who was the U.S. ambassador to Micronesia.

Three former Homeland Security Department officials also signed the letter: Kevin Carroll, Elizabeth Neumann and Sofia Kinzinger, who is married to former Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of the most vocal Republican opponents of Mr. Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“For the good of our country, our democracy, and our Constitution, we are asking you to listen closely and carefully to General Kelly’s warning,” they wrote.

Here is the letter:

October 24, 2024

Yesterday, General John Kelly –-a retired four-star general and Donald Trump's former White House Chiefof Staff- told the American people what those of us who served in the Trump Administration have seen up close: Donald Trump is increasingly unstable, unfit to serve, and his second term would be more dangerous. 

The revelations General Kelly brought forward are disturbing and shocking. But because we know Trump and haveworked for and alongside him, we were sadly not surprised by what General Kelly had to say. This is who Donald Trump is. 

Donald Trump's disdain for the American military and admiration for dictators like Hitler is rooted in his desire for absolute, unchecked power. This is a man who threw his own VicePresident – Mike Pence – at a violent mob in a desperate bid to hold on to power. When Donald Trump says he wants to be a "dictator" on "day one" and deploy the military against American citizens he deems “the enemy from within" - he meansit. 

General Kelly noted he is speaking out because of Trump's recent comments about using the military against our fellow Americans Trump deems the “enemy from within. ” General Kelly highlighted Trump's dreams of being an authoritarian, saying Trump “ certainly prefers the dictator approach to government" and that Trump fits “into the general definition of fascist. ” General Kelly also made sure to emphasize Trump's infatuation with Adolf Hitler, saying that Trump “commented more than once that, 'Youknow, Hitler did some good things, too." 

We applaud General Kelly for highlighting in stark details the danger of a second Trump term. Like General Kelly, we did not take the decision to come forward lightly. We are all lifelong Republicans who served our country. However, there are moments in history where it becomes necessary toputcountry over party. This is one ofthose moments. 

Everyone should heed General Kelly's warning. We have witnessed, up close and personal, how Donald Trump operates and what he is capable of. The American people deserve a leader who won't threaten to turn armed troops against them, won't put his quest for power above their needs, and doesn't idealize the likes ofAdolf Hitler. Donald Trump demonstrates every day he is not capable of being commander in chief of this great nation. 

In a second term, those who once tried to prevent Donald Trump from his worst impulses will no longer be there to rein him in. For the good ofour country, our democracy, and our Constitution, we are asking you to listen closely and carefully to General Kelly's warning. We unfortunately know all too well how serious and dire it is. 

Brooke Vosburgh Alexander Former Executive Assistant to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross

Kevin Carroll Former Senior Counselor to Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly 

Alyssa Farah Griffin Former Press Secretary for the Vice President and Special Assistant to the President 

Stephanie Grisham Former White House Press Secretary 

Mark Harvey Former Special Assistant to the President 

Peter Jennison Former Director for Preparedness, National Security Council 

Sofia Kinzinger Former Deputy Assistant Secretary, Dept. of Homeland Security 

Sarah Matthews Former Deputy White House Press Secretary 

Elizabeth Neumann Former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security 

Robert Riley Former Ambassador to Micronesia 

Anthony Scaramucci Former White House Director of Communications 

Miles Taylor Former Chief of Staff, Dept. of Homeland Security 

Olivia Troye Former National Security Advisor to the Vice President

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He's a fascist

Mary Trump, Donald's niece, knows Donald pretty well. She knows he's a fascist. While Republicans recoil and scoff at Democrats calling Trump a fascist, they have no problem with Donald calling Democrats "socialists, communists, and fascists." They don't seem to realize that the three terms are not compatible. A person simply cannot be all three, but they don't complain about Trump when he uses those terms to describe Democrats. The Trump-enablers keep saying that Trump doesn't really mean a lot of what he says, while MAGA believes everything that comes out of his rancid pie-hole.

We owe Mary Trump a debt of gratitude for speaking truth, despite her family being a nest of grifters, liars, and cheaters.

We Can't Pull Punches - He's a Fascist

by Mary L. Trump

Oct 24, 2024

Becoming a diverse, truly democratic society has always been America's most desired goal – and its greatest challenge. Over the centuries, people have fought and died to expand voting rights and protect civil liberties in order to ensure equal justice— because most of us believe in the American experiment. Donald Trump’s goal is to destroy every bit of the progress we’ve made solely for the purpose of benefiting himself.

People come to this country for many reasons. Sometimes they’re seeking better job opportunities or political asylum; sometimes they’re escaping horrific conditions in their countries of origin. Once they get here, immigrants overwhelmingly become vital members of their communities.

Since its founding, we have been a country of immigrants. My great-grandparents on my father’s side were immigrants; so was my grandmother, my dad’s mom. Donald obviously knows this piece of family history, just as he knows that it is easy to divide us over the issue of immigration if he focuses his vitriol on and weaponizes his hatred against immigrants of color. It’s obvious that Donald doesn’t always know what he’s doing, but he knows this.

Since 2022, according to NPR, Donald has made 100 specific threats to prosecute, imprison, or punish Americans whom he sees as his enemies. He explicitly calls Americans "the enemy from within" and threatens to use military force against perceived political enemies and those who belong to groups he reviles. When asked about these statements, Donald’s running mate, JD Vance defended them. Donald was just "speaking from the heart,” he said, which, I guess, is the Nazi version of “he tells it like it is.”

Yesterday, The New York Times published a series of remarkable interviews with John Kelly, Donald's longest-serving Chief of Staff. Kelly had more access to Donald on a daily basis than almost anyone else in his inner circle, and his revelations confirm the worst of what many of us have known and been warning about for years.

"He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government," Kelly said. "He never accepted the fact that he wasn't the most powerful man in the world — and by power, I mean an ability to do anything he wanted, anytime he wanted."

In private conversations in the White House, Donald declared his desire that American generals be "more like Hitler's generals." Kelly has now confirmed that this wasn’t just empty rhetoric—Donald repeatedly praised Hitler, saying "Hitler did some good things too." When confronted with these comments, he tried to deflect by saying, "I've never read Mein Kampf" as if that his ignorance justified his admiration of the man who committed genocide against six million Jews and who murdered millions of others. 

It needs to be emphasized at every opportunity that the Republican currently running to be president of the United States is on the side of the Nazis whom we sacrificed so much blood and treasure to defeat in World War II. It’s devastating that this tragic truth is not enough to render Donald unacceptable to every single American—or, indeed, no elected Republcans.

None of this is new, of course, but Donald’s fascistic rhetoric is worsening in terms of both its intensity and extremism. This, I would argue, is in large part because Donald keeps getting away with it.  We’ve gone from 2015, when his campaign sent out materials featuring SS soldiers; and 2017 when he instituted the Muslim ban and called the Nazis who marched on Charlottesville “very fine people;” to 2024 when Donald, again without any significant pushback, has called immigrants “vermin” while also claiming they’re “not even human” and are “poisoning the blood” of white America. Let’s not forget that Donald is also touting plans to round up millions of immigrants, either to deport them or to place them in internment camps.

---

Kamala Harris just addressed John Kelly’s comments and said “Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable. And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions.”

Kelly has described a visit to Arlington National Cemetery during which he and Donald stood among the graves of fallen soldiers – including Kelly's own son. Donald asked this question: "What was in it for them?"

That tells us everything we need to know about who Donald is. He has never understood the meaning of sacrifice, or the impulse to serve one's country. My father, after participating in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) in college, became a 2nd Lieutenant in the National Guard. Donald and my grandfather had nothing but contempt for his service.

We saw this same pattern after Donald met with the family after Army Private Vanessa Guillén's murder. On camera, Donald, after praising Private Guillén's service, promised her grieving mother that he would help pay for her funeral. But when he saw the $60,000 funeral bill, he pitched a fit. According to his staff who witnessed his outburst, Donald said "It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican! Don't pay it!" This is who Donald really is when the cameras are off. But this is increasingly the man people now see when the cameras are on.

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When Kelly had to explain to Donald that military officers swear loyalty to the Constitution, not to him personally, Donald was genuinely shocked. Considering that he’s never read the Constitution that shouldn’t surprise us, but it should disqualify him.

Here's what Kelly said in response to whether or not Donald Trump is a fascist: "A far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy. So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America.

“Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

This isn't speculation or hyperbole anymore. This is the assessment of Donald's own Chief of Staff, which has been echoed by General Milley, chairman of the joint-chiefs during the Trump administration, who said Donald is "fascist to the core" and "the most dangerous person to this country." To this country, not inthis country.

When Donald talks about using the military against his domestic opponents, when he praises dictators, when he explicitly states his plans to be a dictator "on day one,” he's telling us exactly what he intends to do with his power if we are reckless enough to bestow it upon him.

And it's why Milley has installed bulletproof glass in his home—he knows exactly what Donald plans to do to anyone who stands, or has stood, in his way.

The Republican candidate for the presidency cannot comprehend doing anything—whether for his country, or for his family, or for the American people—that doesn't directly benefit him. It’s actually worse than that. Donald has no interest in democracy, or equality, or justice (except as it applies to him) at all.

We know what happens when authoritarian leaders broadcast their intentions and we pretend they don’t really mean what they say, or dismiss their very real threats as hyperbole. For the last eight years we’ve deluded ourselves into believing that our institutions would hold, and time after time—from the DoJ to the Supreme Court—our institutions have failed us.

The question isn't whether we know who Donald Trump really is, or what he plans to do. We know this—we have always known this. He’s telling us every single day. The question is whether we're ready to do whatever it takes to stop him.

Democracy isn't a goal, it’s a process, and we have to fight for it every single day. And I have to tell you that I don’t think that anything in our lives has ever been more important, or as important, as the fight we’re in right now.

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Man O' War

Life goes on. There are other things besides the election, and few as serious, but if this thing stings you, you won't give a fuck about who is president. At least, that's what I've heard. Never been stung by one and probably won't be, but we have had many of these wash up on the shores of South Padre Island.