Gay pride in Orlando and petty bullshit in Washington

Nothing is too petty for the MAGA supporters.  Orlando was the site of the largest mass shooting up to that time.  A gay nightclub, Pulse, saw 49 people killed and 53 wounded in 2016.  In their honor a cross walk was painted with gay pride colors outside the Pulse nightclub.  

A state crew came in and painted out the colors set 11 p.m. on Wednesday last week.The mayor of Orlando issued a statement:

     “This callous action of hastily removing part of a memorial to what was at the time our nation’s largest mass shooting, without any supporting safety data or discussion, is a cruel political act.”

All of the states had previously received a memo from Department of Transportation Sean Duffy.  Duffy said in a social media post “Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks.  Political banners have no place on public roads.”

Since then, I understand that citizens of Orlando repainted the crosswalk using colored chalk.

I certainly hope my gay pride sticker on the back of my pickup doesn’t distract other drivers.  Let’s hope nobody reports it to Secretary of Transportation Duffy.  He might come and try to rip it off.

Information for this post was taken in part from Aishvarya Kavi, “State Paints Over Tribute To Club Massacre Victims,” New York Times, (Aug. 26, 2025), p. A14.  The opinion that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is a sniveling toady for Trump and a petty bigot is all mine. 

Youngstown Sheet and Tube v. Sawyer (1952)

During the Korean War union workers struck a number of steel mills.  Steel is, of course, needed for all kinds of war materials.  Truman, Commander-in-Chief, worried that the troops would run out of those materials, and he ordered the strike to end and seized the steel mills.

Did he have that right?  The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that he did not.  Some justices recognized that the President had some emergency powers, but he did not have the power to seize private property.  Within hours of the Court’s decision, Truman told Sawyer, his Secretary of Commerce, to vacate the mills.

Now we are getting one “Executive Order” after another.  Phony emergencies.  Silly shit.  Today, for example, Trump issued an executive order that you can’t burn the flag.  Of course you can.  The Supreme Court already ruled that flag burning as a political protest was a protected act under the freedom of speech clause.  Evidently Trump set a penalty of one year.  

I heard this on the radio, so I don’t know the details, but you can’t punish someone without a trial.  It’s called a bill of attainder.  It’s forbidden in Article 1 of the Constitution.

Trump is not only the worst president in our history (he surpassed Buchanan in his first term), but he is the dumbest.  

Zohran Mamdani's campaign staff

Of course I’d vote for him.  Heck I’d vote for him just knowing his mom is Mira Nair.  His opponents are also unworthy.  There is Andrew Cuomo, a.k.a. “the Groper.”  There is Eric Adams, a.k.a., “the crooked Trump suck-up.”

But what a staff.  Mamdani’s top advisors, Elle Bisgaard-Church and Morris Katz, are 34 and 26.  His creative director (not sure what that even is) is Andrew Epstein, 38.  His speech writer, Julian Gerson, is 28.  His senior advisor Zara Rahim and his Field Director Tasha Van Auken, did not give their ages, but they certainly look young in their photos.  AOC endorsed him.  His supporters and advisors look like the Democratic Party should look.

I know some of his positions have been heavily criticized.  I would remind you of what Roosevelt said, and I am paraphrasing, but this is close–We’ll try something, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.  

I’m all in.

Words Democrats should not use

Third Way, a liberal “think tank” says that Democrats speak words that voters simply don’t use.  When is the last time you had a conversation at the supermarket or on the bus and you heard the word “patriarchy” or “incarcerated people” or “cisgender”?  According to the report by Third Way entitled “Was It Something I Said?” when these words do come up in focus groups, the context is to make fun of the way Democrats talk.

Nobody says “cisgender” in normal conversation.  Nobody says “Latinx.”  “Microaggression” is not a word used in normal conversation.  Real people take about the homeless, not the “unhoused.”  They say people are jailed, not “incarcerated.”  BIPOC?  What does that even mean?  And then there is LGBTZIA+.

It doesn’t mean we need to be cruel or insulting.  It doesn’t mean we have to sound stupid, like Trump.  It just means we need to remember we aren’t participating in a political science graduate seminar at Yale University.  We need to connect with real people with real language.  

P.S.  Say “kings,” not oligarchy.  Don’t even say Trump is a “fascist.”  Say he’s an asshole.  Everybody knows what that means.

Decline of the Democrats

In the past year Republicans have out-registered Democrats in every state in the country.  Every state.  Blue states.  Red states.  Didn’t matter.  More people are registering into the party of Donald Trump.

Why is this?  Certainly Biden was a major cause.  His failure to drop out when it was obvious to everyone but his wife and a few staffers that he was not capable of serving a second term created a distrust that is still with us.  

The bigger problem, however, was the Democrats’ inability to admit that the country had problems self-evident to anyone who was willing to be honest.  To say that the economy was healthy didn’t mean much when your items were added up at the grocery store and you couldn’t believe the total.  To say that the border wasn’t really a problem when you could see thousands of people coming across the Rio Grande made you question Democratic attitudes.  To see homeless people defecating in the streets in San Francisco and then told to say “unhoused” instead of homeless as though that would take care of the problem was beyond irritating.  To quote statistics about how the crime rate was dropping when you were afraid to go out at night made you question both the statistics and the people pushing them.  

Democrats also forget how nasty their fellow citizens can be.  Perhaps not all, but many MAGA people are delighted with the cruelty of ICE.  They are happy when foreign college students are deported.  They don’t mind that nonentities are getting awards at the Kennedy Center or that the Rose Garden is torn up or that Trump insults foreign dignitaries.  In fact, they love it.

It may be also that Democrats overestimate the wisdom, the understanding, the empathy, and, yes, the kindness of our fellow citizens.  At least I have.

Leader of the Free World

That is the label people once gave the President of the United States.  Really, they did.  

What should Trump be called?  Surrender Monkey?  Useful Idiot?  Putin’s Bitch?  I don’t think the rest of the world will ever see our President as they once saw Dwight Eisenhower or Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama.

Trump has ruined it for all of us.  He makes our country look small and weak.

I will not be posting for the next two nights.  I am driving to northwest Massachusetts to see an outdoor sculpture exhibition.  If all goes well, I’ll be back on Thursday night.  Don’t worry–I have made arrangements for someone to feed the Rottweiler and the chickens and gather the eggs.

Not all that funny

An article about English-speaking comedians performing in Europe in the Times on Aug. 12 featured Joel Bryant from L.A.  Bryant was performing in Berlin and said he’d come to escape the U.S. for a time.  “It’s weird to run away from a fascist country and come to Germany for peace and solitude,” he said.  “Tables have turned.  You guys can hide me for the summer, right?  You’ve got an attic somewhere?”

In case you are wondering, you can go to jail for harboring a fugitive from ICE.  Remember–they have to catch you first.

The Democratic booth at the Ukrainian Festival

I have been a volunteer at the Carbon County Democratic booth for all kinds of events.  Fairs, festivals, musical events, some large, some tiny.  In all that time I have never worked one where at least one person didn’t come up and say something mean, stupid, or insulting.  Until today. 

Ukrainians, like Vietnamese or Cuban immigrants, had a low opinion of Democrats.  No more.  They have noted Trump’s behavior, read Vance’s insults, saw how Marjorie Taylor Greene backs Russia, saw Trump’s craven actions yesterday in Alaska.  

I have never felt such a warm embrace as today.  And I don’t know if I ever felt such sadness about my country’s policies.  We have become “surrender monkeys.”  We have become Munich Lite.  We have become a country with no principles whatsoever.  

Training for the Summit

Peggy, a friend of mine from Santa Cruz, explained why Trump would get rolled at a summit with Putin.  She said Putin learned his tactics and was extensively trained by the KGB.

Trump, on the other hand, spent his time at KFC.

Tomorrow:  Report on the Ukrainian Festival in Carbon County.

The Putin-Trump meeting and its predecessors

In 1884-85 European powers held a conference in Berlin to settle the issue of which country would get which part of Africa.  The conference was an attempt to avoid a war among the European countries over the colonial territories.  Many of the current boundaries of African countries were drawn at that meeting.  No Africans were invited to the Berlin Conference.  

In 1938 a number of European counties, including Germany, England, and France, met in Munich to discuss what to do about Czechoslovakia.  Hitler wanted a piece of that country called the Sudetenland.  The European powers agreed to carve off that portion of the country and give it to Germany.  The Prime Minister of England got off the plane waving a piece of paper and declared that he had brought “peace in our time.”  Czechoslovakia was not invited to the Munich Conference.

Now Trump is meeting with Putin in Alaska.  They will discuss Ukraine.  Ukraine was not invited to the Alaska Conference.

The Texas Hotline for Democratic Lawbreakers?

 Tonight I saw a meme that said you could report the location of Democratic members of the Texas legislature who have left the state.  The number is 1-866-786-5972.  Being the intrepid blog reporter that I am, I called the number.  A guy answered the phone immediately and said something about it being the number to report crimes or law-breaking, and that making false reports would be breaking the law.  

I asked him if you could report missing Democratic legislators on this line, and he repeated the same thing and said that if I did not have a crime to report, the call would be terminated.  He then repeated the first message.  I didn’t record the call.  

I then asked him if he (it?) were a robot.  He began to repeat the message about terminating the call, and I think there may have been a threat of prosecution involved.  At that point I hung up.  

If I do not post tomorrow night, you know the Texas Rangers traced the call and were here to take me away.  In the meantime, the Texas legislator I am  hiding in the attic is demanding a Dr. Pepper and a Frito pie.

Making a request of Pres. Trump

 12 August 2025

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Washington, D.C.20500\

Dear President Trump:

Yesterday you activated a number of soldiers to patrol the streets of Washington, D.C.  You noted that crime there was rampant, necessitating your use of emergency powers.  You showed what a leader you are.

I would respectfully urge you to also send a battalion to a place called Mar-a-Lago in Florida.  I read on the internet that there is a whole nest of pedophiles there, and some people are saying that many were close friends of a convicted sex trafficker named Eppstone or Epstein or something like that.  

Please look into this.  It sounds like something that needs your attention.

Sincerely,

Roy Christman

------------------------

The letter goes in the mail tomorrow.

Obama and Bush portraits moved from public area

Earlier today the portraits of Presidents Obama and George W. Bush were moved from public areas and put in a section of the White House where no one but staff will see them.

The little insecure man now our President can’t stand the idea that people would see portraits of two real Presidents who, whatever their flaws, make him look like the petty ignorant pedophile he is.  Unfortunately for him, he can move their portraits, but people remember how much better they were than this asshole.

I love living in a country where you can still call your president an asshole.  In a blog.  Publicly.  At least for a time.

No tax on tea

 We import tea from India, Sri Lanka, China, and Japan.  I know that every one of those counties has had a tariff slapped on our imports.  Instead of paying the tariffs, why don’t we dress up like Indians and chuck the tea into the Boston Harbor.  

It could lead to something.

Monday is my favorite day of the week

I have an arrangement with Bob, the owner of our local gas station.  Every day his newspaper guy delivers the New York Times, and every day we drive out there to pick up our copy.  Except Mondays.  For some reason the distributor will not deliver the Times on Mondays.  That is the one day I am spared the news.  (I know I can read it online, but I don’t.)

Today, for example, one headline was “Civil Cases Against Major Polluters Plummet Under Trump’s E.P.A.”  That took up page A12.  On page A13 the headline read, “E.P.A. to Stop Updating Noted Climate Database After Creator’s Censure.”  The other headline on that page was “Wind and Solar Projects Slow to a Crawl Under Trump.”  

The paper also had articles about Trump putting pressure on colleges to change the admission rules, that Israel wants to take occupy all of Gaza, that Trump is asking U.C.L.A. for a billion dollars, that the Republicans in the Senate are changing the rules to make confirmations easier, and that Trump is going after Leticia James in N.Y.

There were more, but why go on?  My country is disappearing before my eyes, aided by sycophants in Congress, by state legislatures, by local party hacks, by tough guy bros, by creeps like Stephen Miller, by thugs in ICE, by craven cabinet appointees, by big oil, by billionaires, but why go on?  

Just when I think it can’t get worse, it gets worse.  You can see why I like Mondays.

A life-sized Trump cut-out

At the Carbon County Fair at the Republican Party booth you can have your picture taken with a life-sized cut-out of Trump.  I didn’t go by their booth, but it occurred to me to go down there, stand next to the cut-out, and  hold up a sign that says “I’m not the pedophile here.”  I thought they’d have me thrown out of the fairgrounds or have me arrested for disturbing the peace.

Then I had another bright idea.  I could buy a Trump myself, stand next to it with any number of signs, and post the pictures on Facebook.  Except I’m not on Facebook, which presents a problem.  I could post them on this blog, but my readership is somewhat limited.  

You can get Trump for different prices.  If you are rich you can get the actual one for an airplane or a million dollar campaign contribution, but the cheapest cardboard one sells for about $10 on ETSY.  That one comes with cardboard Trump himself holding a blank sign which you fill in.  

Any ideas?

Mailman

A recent book by Stephen Grant entitled Mailman:  My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home has been getting good reviews.  It is an antidote for all the nastiness being thrown at federal workers by Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

Mr. Grant lost his job during Covid and joined what is perhaps our oldest federal bureaucracy, the United States Postal Service.  His book details the difficulties faced by carriers–the injury rate for postal workers is higher than for coal miners.  Incidentally, every year a number of carriers are killed by dogs.

Grant notes that delivering the mail every day is more than a job.  Mail carriers provide:  “...Continuity.  Safety.  Normalcy.  Companionship.  Civilization.  You know, the stuff the government is supposed to do for its people.”

The fact that the Post Office receives no federal funding and is expected to pay for itself has led to a strange business plan.  Raise the price of postage and provide less service.  None of this is the fault of postal employees.  It is the fault of politicians and a mindset that everything government does (the space program, education, prisons, weather forecasting, etc., etc.) should be privatized, and nothing government does is as important as privatization.  What a messed up system.

Up on the Roof

When this old world starts getting me down

And people are just too much for me to face

I climb way up to the top of the stairs

And all my cares just drift right into space

On the roof, it's peaceful as can be

And there the world below can't bother me.

The Drifters, 1964

Trump was up on the White House roof today, he said to view the new parking lot, formerly the Rose Garden.  He didn’t stay up there too long, however.   Evidently a large crowd had gathered and was yelling,”Jump, Jump.”

While we are deporting let's not forget Ted Cruz

The governor of New York attended the funeral for the Bangladeshi cop who was shot to death last week.  He was also Muslim.  Out of respect she wore a black headscarf to the service.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas made fun of her and questioned her motives.  Would somebody please report this asshole to ICE?  He has to be here illegally.  I believe he’s from El Salvador, but if not, close enough.

Fixing the Democratic Party

 Here is a random collection of headlines:

Andrew Cockburn, “Playing Dead:  Do the Democrats really want reform,”, Harper’s, Aug. 2025.

“Stop Whining and Take On Trump, Obama Scolds Democrats at a Fund-Raiser,” NYT (July 16, 2025), p. A22.

“Why Is Democratic Favorability at a 35-Year Low?”  The Liberal Patriot, July 30, 2025.  (On-line newsletter.)

Josh Dawsey, et.al.  2024:  How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.  Penguin Press, 2025.

Michelle Cottle, “Kansas Shows a Path Forward for Democrats,” NYT,

(July 20, 2025), p. A9.

“Slotkin Pushes Democrats To Show ‘Alpha Energy,’” NYT, (July 20, 2025), p. 19.

Dash Lewis, “Opportunity Knocked:  Lily Geismer on the Democratic Party’s Failed Vision for the Working Class,” The Sun, (Aug. 2025).

“New Crop of Democrats Is Sick of the Status Quo,” NYT, (July 13, 2025), p. 24.

I have more, but I think we get the picture.  No one has THE answer.  Maybe there is no answer.