A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS…
I find it appalling that Mike Johnson, a traitor to the Constitution and the architect of the plan to get congressmen to vote against the will of the people by refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the electoral college on January 6, 2021, is now two heartbeats away from the presidency. This man should NOT be Speaker of the House. He shouldn’t even be in Congress. He and all of the other GOP congressmen (I’m looking at you, Jim Jordan) who worked to overturn a free and fair election and destroy American democracy belong in federal prison.
The mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine that left 18 dead and 13 injured is the direct result of lawmakers who are bought and paid for by the NRA and the gun lobby. We live in a nation where the overwhelming majority of people want common sense gun laws, yet in slaughter after slaughter, the U.S. Congress has members who are content to send “hopes and prayers” instead of actually doing something. We have people in positions of national leadership telling us with a straight face that AR-15s are necessary for hunting and home protection as opposed to on the battlefield where they belong. We will continue to see an average of more than one mass shooting per day (defined as a shooting with four or more victims) until we vote those carrying water for the NRA out for good.
Shoplifting is rampant across the country right now and it’s ridiculous that punishments for the crime aren’t more severe. There are people going into grocery stores, filling their carts, and walking out the door without paying. Drug stores have to lock up deodorant behind alarmed plexiglass because thieves are coming in and clearing the shelves. The stolen items are reportedly being sold on eBay and Amazon. Thieves are emboldened because in many jurisdictions, they know that if they are caught, there will be few legal consequences for their actions. Tougher penalties mean more effective deterrence. If we don’t act, we’ll continue to see prices rise for honest, paying customers as the losses are passed on to them.
I’m glad to see Trump being slapped with gag orders by the judges in his federal criminal case and his New York state fraud trial. Make no mistake about it, he is deliberately trying to stoke violence by his most unstable and brainwashed followers against those he targets as enemies. Political violence by right-wing lone wolves is more than a real possibility. With 41% of Trump supporters telling the Brookings Institute in a recent survey that they believe it may be “necessary” for “patriots” to commit acts of political violence to “save America,” it’s a probability. This view is also shared by 33% of those identifying themselves as Republicans. We are in for a troubling year in 2024 between the elections and Trump’s trials.
Speaking of Trump’s trials, how can it be “Biden political interference” that Trump has been indicted four times and is facing prison time for his crimes when ALL of the witnesses against him are Republicans he appointed or hired himself?
The Lubbock, Texas city government (all male) recently voted to make it a crime to use any of Lubbock’s streets, roads, or highways for purposes of leaving the state to get an abortion. Their rationale is that since the roads in town are paid for by the taxpayers of that city, they can dictate where you can use them to go. Texans who want reproductive choice are going to states that still believe that the government has no place in a woman’s body, like New Mexico. For decades the anti-choice crowd has lied that the reason they wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade was so that the issue could be left up to the states to decide. Now we’re seeing several anti-choice states pass laws to criminalize their citizens for practicing reproductive choice outside of their borders. They claim that they are protecting babies. If only they cared as much about them after they’re born.
These are the things I think about when no one’s looking. Actually, that’s not true. They are the things I think about out loud when everyone is looking.