While I Was Out

I spent three of my last five posts on the rather selfish subject of my sudden retirement, so there’s been some news released that I’ve neglected to address. As someone who still reads a physical newspaper (the Baltimore Sun), it’s my habit to take a snapshot of any story with which I think I can add something, so it’s waiting for my on Posting Day. Given the delay on some of the stories, I apologize for the untimeliness. I’ll start with the most recent.

This was from Saturday and is so on-brand. It doesn’t have mortal implications, but it’s one more piece of evidence that the current administration doesn’t care a whit about average citizens, like those this original rule was supposed to help. The Administration basically said, “We can’t have airlines actually paying people back when they can’t deliver them to another destination safely and on time! Think of the poor stockholders… haven’t they enough? Let’s kill the refund policy! After all, it’s just another Biden handout. Huzzah!”

And people wonder why Republicans feel the need to rig elections.

I think this is the Big Story of the Week. We have our government blowing an unarmed boat out of the water because they say it was full of drug runners (and drugs, presumably.) This was the announcement from TFG along with a logical response:

First of all, there’s a zero percent chance that TFG wrote that message. He wouldn’t know “kinetic” from Connect Four. Also, it’s free of his usual self-aggrandizement.

Given their history, I have no reason to believe this was a boat full of drug smugglers. There is zero proof or evidence left of any kind, and these guys have a reputation for turning bold-faced lies into an art form. Hell, they probably set this all up on Signal. They say it was a drug thing, knowing most people are like, “Hell yeah, why not blow up some drug dealers?” It sounds good to the MAGAs at the bar. They love that kind of big-dick posturing.

But here’s what bothers me: I think they’re setting the stage for continued “drug-dealer” bombings. Once we’re used to such occurrences, every perceived sea-going adversary of TFG can be a target. Every Democratic donor, journalist, opponent, or rabble-rouser can be erased under the flimsiest of excuses. Sink them in the middle of the ocean or blow them out of the air on a trans-oceanic flight, and there would be no evidence left to the contrary. (OK, there may be evidence for a short time, but it could be scooped up by the Coast Guard or Navy, whose leaders, now having sworn fealty to the Orange Menace rather than the Constitution, can dispose of it right alongside bin Laden.)

So, keep an eye peeled for more of these “drug busts.” If I were Gavin Newsom, I wouldn’t get on a boat again until this guy self-aborts via coronary.

In another 100% on-brand moment, the Administration just killed a local wind-power project. These guys don’t want to hear the first thing about solar or wind energy, because the fossil fuel industries have them bought and paid for to the extent that they won’t even fly a kite without a gas-powered outboard motor on it. They’re still pushing fallacies like not functioning in the dark or when it’s not windy. (News flash: It’s ALWAYS windy over the water. In my 60-some years, I’ve never been to a beach that wasn’t breezy. We need to harness that.) It’s a tremendous opportunity that we’re intentionally squandering, probably right up until Exxon –Mobile and BP acquire enough solar and wind-power equipment to corner the market. Other countries are leaving us in the dust because of our unwillingness to adapt to a new truth: that oil is finite and it’s harming the planet. The only thing standing in the way is the companies that make billions the way things are now. They’ll never give that up until it’s forcibly taken from them, which will be difficult because once energy-conscious Democrats outnumber Republicans, they can just start buying off Democrats. (I’m sure they’ve started already.)

I’ve been saving this since July, so I know it’s old, but I just loved this. The Fed Chair totally called out TFG on his bullshit right in front of the press corps. The Stain on Humanity was complaining about a cost overrun on a new construction site (and trying to place the blame on the Fed, since nothing is ever his own fault.) Embattled Fed Chair Jerome Powell asked to look at the data (which TFG inexplicably had with him) and then pointed out that the cost to which he was referring included a building that was finished five years ago, thus making the original assertions laughably false.

I just can’t believe that his team sent him out there with actual data. I’m sure they learned from that to only give him bold-font bulleted points showing nothing but conclusions. It’s not like he cares about how the proverbial sausage is being made anyway; he just wants the sound bites with which to attack people he doesn’t like. No need for the details. Like always, if he needs data, he’ll just make it up. No paper trail that way. Bullshit politics made easy!