Left Jabs

I am not the first to notice that, just in the past week, there’s been a crescendo of disgust at the nakedly disingenuous behavior of the mainstream press. Some of my more politically-astute sources have been throwing up their hands at the apparent unwillingness of the press — purportedly a pillar of democracy — to protect us from the slow-motion insurrection being mounted, in real time, by right-wing vandals. There’s plenty to be disgusted with: There’s the endless both-siderism, most obviously the obsessive weighing of Joe Biden’s age against Trump’s four criminal indictments, as if to ask which is worse. There’s the accumulation of Democrats-in-disarray stories that appear almost daily, in which “insiders” express panic at the Democratic party’s stubborn unwillingness to give credence to open seditionists and nihilistic buffoons. There are the stories about the economy, where any good news — of which there’s been plenty — must be tempered by dire warnings from “experts” ab...

Nobody wears the words “useful idiot” quite like Tommy Tuberville, freshman senator from the benighted state of Alabama. He’s been especially useful to Trump. Among all the MAGA loons Trump endorsed for high office in the 2020 election, Tuberville was one of the few successes. While that’s probably down more to Alabama’s brainwashed electorate than to any political skill on Trump’s part, Trump has owned him ever since. He is known to have been on the other end of several suspicious Trump phone calls during the Jan 6 riot, and while there’s no indication that he’s on Jack Smith’s radar, there’s no sign that he isn’t, either. Now Tuberville — a mediocre football coach turned white supremacy hero — has seized the world stage with his audacious hold on Senate approval of military appointments. It isn’t often you hear bipartisan outrage these days, but there’s plenty for even Republicans to hate in this foolhardy stunt, this parliamentary sleight-of-hand   that carries such omi...

A shadow government is being recruited, right now, by right-wing radicals with ugly ideas. If they manage to take back the White House — Trump or no Trump — their action items are already drawn up and ready to be implemented on the day they take power. We know where this is going. There’s enough precedent — both historical and current — to show how dangerous this moment is, and what lies on the other side of the tipping point. It would be checkmate for democracy, perhaps permanently. I don't think this will happen, at least not this time around. But the blueprint for seizing the reins of power has been in plain sight for some time. Then last week, an article in the Associated Press (AP) put it on the front burner. It’s called Project 2025. It’s bought and paid for by the Heritage Foundation, which is itself bought and paid for by very rich nutjobs who put huge sums of money into political subterfuge. I’ve written before about Heritage , the so-called think tank of conservat...

Riding my bike in my Michigan neighborhood, I came upon a lawn sign. Well-designed, immaculately produced, it was an incongruous sight this early in the election season. Actually, it was an incongruous sight, period. It read "Kennedy 2024!" Referring, of course, to the purported candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, ostensibly for the Democratic nomination, but more likely for a third-party run at the presidency. Either would be quixotic, but there are plenty of fools out there who’ll be happy to give him money. Which — Kennedy wealth notwithstanding — he reputedly needs. This seemed a good starting point for a rant I’ve had in mind for some time. Once again, third-party candidates are rearing their ugly heads. And once again, we have to worry that too many of our fellow citizens will get hornswoggled, to the detriment of the rest of us. Under our warped presidential election process, with its deeply undemocratic electoral college system, the most a third party can do ...