Patriotism is a weird thing. Like, to be proud or whatever of a country you just happened to randomly, through no action of yourself, be borne into. But it does differ from nationalism; that is to say, it’s not being proud because the people are all the same as you and different from everybody else. No, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution created a people apart from a mere nation—that is to say, the classical notion thereof of a people related and united by blood—a more a body republic of people from all parts of the world...
Continue reading...United States
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is too early this year. From what I can tell, it’s actually the earliest it can be. Fascinating, I guess, to some. It just seems odd for it to fall earlier than the birthday of one of our fellow bloggers (which one, I won’t tell you). But, since it is fast upon us, I guess a meditation of sorts is in order. We have a lot of military-centered holidays. Too many for a supposed peaceful nation. I used to wonder how the Klingons of Star Trek, notably a warlike people, found their way to being...
Continue reading...Inflation blues
Man, people really hate the economy. It’s not a new story. In fact, the only thing interesting about it how not new it is. People hate the Clinton economy. People hated the W. economy. People really hated the Great Recession economy (go figure). People hate the Obama economy, even as it came roaring back better than before the Great Recession. People hated the Trump economy (less so, but that’s another story that’s the same story). People really hated the pandemic economy. People continued to really hate the Biden economy, even as it came back roaring better than before, well, anything...
Continue reading...On war and oil
There’s a war on. Gas prices are rising. The means the war is bad, you see. The fact that the common sense wisdom of how wise or useful or necessary wars are is contingent on the price of crude oil is embarrassing and insulting. Instead of judging on if the costs of the war itself, the lives lost, the territory damaged, the global leadership lost, we judge it based on one metric: the world’s everlasting thirst for one natural resource. Wars should have aims. I almost never think a war’s aims (even if they are in fact...
Continue reading...Worst past the post
So the Bluesky candidate narrowly lost their primary election yesterday to a normal candidate and honestly I seriously don’t give a fuck. Let the local populace choose their party’s nominee and leave me out of it. I don’t give a shit about congressional primaries. There’s still a ton of attention online because they were the super online candidate, so good luck avoiding it. That said, I have to note something, because this is a blog and noting something is what we do. With 35,642 out of 121,354 votes in as this blog post publishes, the eventual nominee...
Continue reading...The Postal Service (not the band)
I went to the post office today. No, this isn’t the beginning of some Bukowski book, it’s just a thing I did. I had the day off, so I could actually get to the post office to send out some things that needed to be sent when one isn’t actually at work during the Postal Service business hours. I love the Postal Service, but as much as I hate to say it, damn is the post office a goddamned depressing place. Like, what if you took the classic stereotypical 1980s DMV and made it worse. It’s counterfactual:...
Continue reading...Texas Republican House Representative Wesley Hunt’s chief of staff James Kyrkanides loves to spend taxpayer money on hotels
Earlier this week, we covered how Republican House Representative Wesley Hunt likes to stay home and not do his job. Yet, despite all that, his chief of staff, James Kyrkanides, has apparently been racking up quite the hotel tab: James Kyrkanides, the campaign manager for Senate candidate Wesley Hunt, charged taxpayers more than $44,000 in hotel expenses over three years as Hunt’s congressional chief of staff. The charges average $457 per night, four times the national standard rate set by General Services Administration rate for many federal employees, according to a POLITICO analysis of House expense records. That...
Continue reading...Texas Republican House Representative Wesley Hunt barely ever goes to work, wants a promotion
Nobody wants to work anymore. Hidden in this funnier story is this little tidbit: Clinging to a razor-thin majority, Johnson needed just one more Republican vote to defeat the measure. He kept the vote open for 22 awkward minutes while Democrats jeered and Capitol Police rushed Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) from the airport to the Capitol to cast the deciding vote. Hunt, who recently launched a primary challenge to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), has missed 95 percent of roll-call votes since mid-December, showing up for just three of 58 votes. Now, I’m sure you’re not going to...
Continue reading...I can’t really write a good MLK post
I don’t really have the blogger credibility or the correct writing faculty to write a good post about Martin Luther King, Jr. Especially in light of the current climate: a bigoted idiotic wannabe dictator as president, the invasion of American cities by his fascist racist goons, everything that is going on. To be perfectly clear, King is as relevant now as he ever was, maybe even more so given events. But I understand my limits as a writer: that when I broach certain topics I veer wildly towards the way too overwrought. I cover a lack of...
Continue reading...January 6
Five years ago, the President of the United States instigated a violent insurrection with the aim of retaining power despite losing the presidential election. Somehow, no action was taken about this, and he is once again the President of the United States. January 6, 2021, is a date that should live in infamy, but sadly probably will not. Because everybody just moved on, forgot about it, and lived like it had never happened. Nearly an entire political party, deeply and unhealthily under the thumb of that president, pretended as if it was just a minor incident, no...
Continue reading...
Recent Comments