Friday, April 30, 2021

Thought For The Day

Justice Denied Is Attorney General Okayed

Meet the new boss, totally different than the old blob

April 30, 2021

First we need to offer an apology for something in yesterday’s post. We posted the following picture and caption:

Rick Santorum enjoying a day in the park

We sincerely apologize to horse manure, which unlike Santorum can provide a noble and valuable service as excellent fertilizer. Please forgive this error in judgment. It seemed funny at the time.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled stuff…

Words from Garland that Mitch Fucking McConnell and his Ratpublicans must surely dread: “The Department of Justice will be unwavering in its pursuit of equal justice for all.” And Garland is not kidding. He is already investigating two major police departments for excessive use of force, and reviving the effort to enforce civil rights that was withering on life support under the anti-justice league after being poisoned almost to death by the absolutely abhorrent Jeff Sessions and then the infinitely worse Bill Barr.

Oh, and Garland’s Justice Department just raided Rudy Giuliani’s home and office, seizing his phone and other electronic devices. Rudy may soon be begging for a long-term lease on a room at Four Seasons Landscaping.

Now that Merrick Garland is Attorney General of the United States, Fucking McConnell may well rue the day he stole Garland’s Supreme Court seat.

This has been your Paying Attention Thought For The Day.

You're welcome.

What is your thought for the day?

Thursday, April 29, 2021

So, Is Racism A Choice Or A Disease?

“Eff”ervescence

April 29, 2021

Fuck "Frothy" Rick Santorum. The weeny, one-term senator from Pennsylvania, continues to be allowed to pontificate on CNN. Why anyone cares what this out-of-touch, out-of-date weasel thinks is beyond me. He was a big nothing when he was briefly in the Senate and his stature has done nothing but diminish since. 

Santorum recently shared some of his special brand of fake, white history, in front of the radical right wing Young America's Foundation, “We came here, and created (sic) a blank slate. We birthed a nation. From nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans, but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.” 

Rick Santorum enjoying a day in the park

I guess the ultra-white, consistently racist, religious fanatic Santorum done forgot all about that nasty slavery business – which built so much of this nation, including the White House. And apparently, the whole genocide, and unending, purposeful cultural destruction perpetrated against our native peoples conveniently slipped his entitled, twisted little mind. Oopsie. 

Remember when little Ricky was on the campaign trail in 2012 and said, "I don't want to make bla... people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families." Did he though? Did he want to give the bla people the opportunity? I don't fucking think so. 

Let's be fair to Ricky – at least he’s consistent. He is and always has been an unrepentant, perhaps blissfully unaware (I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume that he knows what he is doing.), racist douchebag. Other than that, he is a wonderful person. Just kidding about that last thing. And the being fair part. Fuck him. 

And fuck Lindsey Graham. Cracker. Racist. Fuck.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Lindsey Graham (or perhaps a melted blob of vanilla ice cream on a blank page)

And fuck the 46% of racist Ratpublicans who, after watching actual video of D’rek Chauvin’s brutal, premeditated murder of George Floyd and hearing an abundance of irrefutable evidence from experts, insist the Chauvin verdict was wrong. I suppose these folks believe the Civil War was some sort of accidental misunderstanding. 

Oh, and fuck Joe Manchin. For a totally different reason (on the surface at least). The self-appointed arbiter of bipartisanship; his style of which generally means that Democrats must concede ground (ground that most Americans prefer) to Ratpublicans who have no interest in anything other than obstruction, which as always is premeditated to result in pain and suffering for many people of color.

Manchin, a leading corporate, anti-environment boot-licker, would rather claim to know what is good and fair for all Americans, while he represents the fourth whitest state in the Union. He seems to have no problem feigning grandiosity while Ratpublicans shamelessly decimate the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble, after learning all the wrong lessons from the Turmp-led insurrection on January 6th. Manchin appears unperturbed as Ratpublicans eradicate voting rights across the country in order to wrest power from the electorate – in particular, people of color, who make up just five percent of Manchin’s home state. He would rather whine about his own party trying to change the focus of the Senate from protecting corporations and the wealthy to serving the American public than modify the racist filibuster. Did I mention fuck Joe Manchin.

I. Mangrey, giving a few fucks for the cause. Pardon my French.
                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                    

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Finally, There’s A Pill For That

April 27, 2021

LIAGRA

Arizona Ratpublicans have hired Cyber Ninjas – a hyper-partisan, pro-Turmp, conspiracy-theory-obsessed company to carry out, in complete secrecy, what Arizona Ratpublicans are calling a fourth audit of the votes in Maricopa Country. The first three, legitimate audits found precisely zero fraudulent activity. No one knows for sure what these secret cyber Ninja nutjobs are doing with these millions of ballots, but we have a very useful suggestion of what they can do with them and where they can put them. And, we can surely find volunteers to help them find the right spot if they have trouble locating it on their own.

ASK YOUR PSYCHIATRIST IF LIAGRA IS RIGHT FOR YOU…
OR JUST ASK ME, YOU PATHETIC PSYCHOPATH

It’s a very big white pill for very small white people – it can go in either end.
And if it makes you feel better, we can hide it in a piece of meat.

Are you having trouble accepting an election?
Is your brain the size of a pea?

Do you believe that if you back a racist, authoritarian conman who gets crushed at the polls it means the election was stolen? First of all, if this is you, go fuck yourself. Also, if your election conspiracy theory lasts more than four months, please consult your psychiatrist. If you cannot be seen immediately, please lock yourself in your mother's basement and STFU until help arrives. You need some serious help.

Do you have an irrational distrust of science and medicine?
Are you tired of drinking disinfectant
and trying to shine a powerful light up your ass?

Good news, while drinking alcohol along with medications like LIAGRA can have deadly side effects, who you gonna believe? A bunch of stupid doctors or a badly colored conman? You don’t need to listen to anyone. You can feel free to wash down your pills with some “plant-based beer.”* Or if you prefer, go right ahead and guzzle down your favorite meat-based beverage. And if you don’t believe in taking pills orally (that means through your mouth), then you can just go ahead and sit on it and rotate.

*Larry Kudlow was the insanely incompetent Director of the National Economic Council for a twice-impeached, twice-defeated-in-the-popular-vote, disgraced president. He recently went on a tirade based on completely fabricated criticism of Joe Biden’s non-existent ban on meat, which ended with, “So get ready. You can throw back a plant-based beer with your grilled Brussels sprouts and wave your American flag.”

A Public service announcement from Paying Attention.

Monday, April 26, 2021

Fraught For The Day

Johnson & Johnson & Johnson

April 26, 2021

We know about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the decision to be overly cautious over concerns of blot clots. After extensive deliberation the CDC recommended the Johnson & Johnson vaccine resume its place among viable options. It’s probably good to have it back in the loop.

Johnson & Blockhead

Braindead Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Lala Land), who does not understand science, rational thought or vaccines, asked a podcast host, “What is the point? If the science tells us the vaccines are 95 percent effective. So, if you have a vaccine, quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not?  What is it to you? You have got a vaccine, and science is telling you it's very, very effective. So, why is this big push to make sure everybody gets a vaccine?...I’m getting highly suspicious of what’s happening here.” Yeah, me too. The CDC has also recommended that Ron Johnson shut the fuck up.

Ron & Don: Dumber and Dumbest
Who can tell which is which?

What we really need is a Johnson vaccine. To protect against Ron Johnson.


This has been your Paying Attention Fraught For The Day.

You're welcome.

What has you fraught for the day? 

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Thought For The Day

Imagine, A Whole Month Of The Earth

April 24, 2021

Flat                       NOT flat
Two of my favorite things

It is long past time that we show a little respect for our home. Celebrating Earth Day is all well and good, but is it sufficient? Don’t be ridiculous. For some of us, every day is Earth Day, but for most of the hairless apes populating this uniquely positioned and gifted little blue dot among an unfathomably immense celestial array, the Earth is nothing more than a place to hang their hats, throw their trash, pass their gas and generally burn the place down. We need an annual Earth History Month. February is Black History Month. March is Women’s History Month. At the very least, April should be Earth History Month. You heard it here first…well, I did.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band – Give Me The Good Earth

This has been your Paying Attention Thought For The Day.



Friday, April 23, 2021

Still Thinking About Earth Day

Earth Day, Redux

April 23, 2021

As Spacex – inventor of the re-useable rocket that returns to Earth – launches four astronauts toward the International Space Station, let’s take another look at what’s left of the home planet.

Prince Ea for National Geographic

Though this Earth is our home it is not ours. It belongs to all the four-leggeds, two-leggeds, the winged, rooted, rocks, water. All things wild and wonderful, all creatures great and small. Weren’t we taught to share? To clean up after ourselves? That an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? That:

We are here to take care of this miraculous orb, not to take advantage of it.

Prince Ea circa 2015

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Take This Earth And Love It!

Earth v. $$

April 22, 2021

As you probably know if you are in the habit of tuning in to Paying Attention, everyone here is a big fan of Old Mother Earth and every day is Earth Day around here. For better or worse, mostly worse, the United States has long been a major player in what happens to our favorite life-sustaining planet. This nation has been propping up the fossil fuel industry for 100 years, while simultaneously showing nothing but disdain for the only planet we have.

In 1980 Ronald Reagan named James Watt (not the steam engine guy, whose invention was one of the early insults to the environment, if not social structure) as Secretary of the Interior. Watt was hostile to environmentalism, and endorsed development of federal lands by foresting and ranching, and for other commercial interests. Watt worked tirelessly to carry out his Earth-killing mission. He was once described as  “intensely controversial and blatantly anti-environmental political appointees” in American history.

In 2021 Joe Biden appointed Watt’s polar opposite Deb Haaland, as the first Native American to manage America’s interior in out nation’s history. Haaland is the first Interior secretary to have no agenda other than no compromise in the defense of Mother Earth!

Deb Haaland – America’s first legitimate Interior Secretary

On the eve of Biden’s virtual climate summit with other world leaders, 101 Nobel laureates in peace, literature, medicine, physics, chemistry and economic sciences led by the Dalai Lama, have signed onto a letter weighing in on the scourge of fossil fuels. “The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for almost 80% of carbon dioxide emissions since the industrial revolution…Allowing the continued expansion of this industry is unconscionable.”

Capitalism Kills

If for no other reason than this, capitalism, conservative socio-economic theory and its companion theory on the function of federal government are utter frauds. Corporations (even the ones that do not get obscene and completely antithetical to anything fair or moral, welfare in the form of tax exemptions, subsidies, etc.) are privy to relatively unfettered ability to make unlimited profit. Bully for them. But somehow, they are for the most part completely absolved of cleaning up after themselves. That of course, is left up to tax payers by way of our friendly neighborhood Congress people. The government is left (voluntarily)holding the bag…and not just the one full of cash. They – us – must clean up all the pollution, in no small part because corporate henchmen known as lobbyists literally write the laws.

Ratpublicans yell and scream about the dreaded socialism. All socialists want to do is use taxpayer money to assure that people – you know, taxpayers – have the bare minimum required to live with dignity; and yes, maybe even a little more if possible. Sounds sinister, I know.

Ratpublicans believe that using taxpayer money to benefit taxpayers is simply lunacy, taking badly needed pennies out of the pockets of the people Ratpublicans cherish above all others – corporationpeople. Needless to say, Ratpublicans will never admit to their shameless, decades-long, relentless duplicity, as they somehow manage to convince their mentally malfunctioning minions that they are the ones protecting them and their “freedoms.” Yes, protecting them from being healthy, safe, middle class, or living in a democracy.

No, Ratpublicans would rather use that money, the money we gave them to ostensibly use wisely, and instead fritter it away not on protecting our environment from unnecessary depredations by corporate polluters, but instead on cleaning up after the world’s worst environmental assaulters after the fact. This achieves two things, 1) it allows unfettered destruction of the environment, and 2) it allows the tax-sheltered/offshore bank accounts of the world’s wealthiest to balloon at our expense. Makes sense, no? NO.

Go Fund Yourself

And just for the record, unlike the trillions of dollars of tax cuts for corporations and the very rich, which we are constantly being told, despite decades of objective proof to the contrary, would pay for themselves, however many trillions of dollars are put into infrastructure, renewable energy and keeping people out of poverty, will undoubtedly pay for themselves.

Meanwhile Mitch Fucking McConnell is threatening to wreak death and destruction if Democrats dare raise corporate taxes to repair and upgrade infrastructure – the infrastructure that corporations happen to use relentlessly. As a wise man once said regarding the corporate mindset that they owe the nation that coddles them nothing: they didn’t build that. We built that with the meager tax dollars we were able to wrest away from corporate welfare and military spending.

At the same time, Fucking McConnell is chastising his corporate benefactors for daring to enter politics on the side of everyday Americans…for a change, as CEOs are forced to speak out against Ratpublican voter suppression laws across the country. McConnell whines when corporations are finally shamed into taking a break from writing our laws to serve their greed and disdain for us and our planet. For one, probably brief, moment corporations that are perpetually stealing from us, were forced by the times to stand up for democracy and the people whose hard-earned money feeds their insatiable bellies.

Even Jeff Bezos, the personification of greed, has come out in favor of raising taxes on corporations. Cold comfort given the breadth of his financial excesses and his anti-labor practices, but we are forced to take what we can get. For now.

For now, celebrate Earth Day. Every day. In every way. Call your member of Congress. Hound your Senator. To paraphrase and old saying: The Earth will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no Earth. 


World Party - Thank You World

I. Mangrey, fuming.


Tuesday, April 20, 2021

It Is The Worst Of Times, It Is The Best Of Moments

America Worst

April 20, 2021

Whack-a-doodle, white nationalist, Qanon aficionado and freshman congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene (who has been banned from committee assignments for incendiary, racist rhetoric during her first few days in Congress) is demanding that 15-term Rep. Maxine Waters be expelled from Congress. The ultra-white, ultra-right Greene recently had a spokesperson release the following regarding a new Ratpublican caucus, “Be on the lookout for the release of the America First Caucus platform when it's announced to the public very soon.”

Psychotic, belligerent, ignorant – triple-threat Greene shows what she knows

It is always important to remind ourselves that the ‘America first’ mantra began with Nazi sympathizers in this country, and more recently was the constant chant of a very orange, very racist, very ignorant very recent, disgraced ex-president. The latest iteration – the America First Caucus – was touted by Greene and other Ratpublican miscreants Paul Gosar (whose six siblings vigorously and brutally campaigned against him) and alleged sex trafficker/child molester Matt Gaetz. Gosar recently spoke at a white nationalist convention and Gaetz has his head so far up Turmp’s ass that he can see the back side of his idol’s dentures.

The America First Caucus policy platform includes this statement: “Anglo-Saxon America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.” Whateverthefuck that means. And: “The America First Caucus will work towards an infrastructure that reflects the architectural, engineering and aesthetic value that befits the progeny of European architecture.” Whateverthefuck that means. The mission statement also promised to “to follow in President Trump’s footsteps.” We know whatthefuck that means.

Soon after the idea of such a caucus was made public, Greene tried to blame her staff for announcing its launch. She sent her spokesmonkey back out to insist that there was no planned launch as Greene attempted to distance herself from this Aryan cabal. Even House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had to publicly wag his finger, seemingly poo-pooing the ultra-racist take-over of his racist party.

In attempting to distract everyone from her latest fascist/racist foray, Greene went after Waters because she dared to tell reporters that people should not take a bad outcome of the Chauvin murder trial lightly and should become more confrontational should the murderous cop not be found guilty on all counts. But mostly because Maxine Waters is black.

GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY

We close with what everyone surely knows – a rare moment of accountability in America, for the brutal murder, at the hands of police, of a Black American. The murderer Chauvin killed George Floyd in cold blood. He also caused great harm to many others who were supporting characters in the horrific events of May 25, 2020. The young man who feels deep guilt for reporting the counterfeit $20. The onlookers who feel the same for not being able to save Floyd’s life, despite doing all they could under the circumstances. And of course, the family and friends of George Floyd who lost a loved one. Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts, and becomes the first white police officer in Minnesota state history to be held accountable for killing a Black man. May his senseless, disgraceful murder transform his memory into something great and powerful, changing the course of our nation for all time.

I. Mangrey reporting.

Monday, April 19, 2021

Thought For The Day

When Thoughts And Prayers Are Not Enough

April 19, 2021

Yesterday I saw an interview with a woman who rescued herself from the radical, racist right. She had bought into all the bullshit and conspiracy theories and did not realize she had fallen down the rabbit hole. She finally decided to get out.

She described her turn-around and how she was now determined to help extricate others who might be willing to take a little taste of reality and rejoin normal society. She said she was trying to “stop hate by using love.” “What better way to stop hate than with love,” she asked rhetorically.

I immediately heard me asking myself, “A good guy with a gun?” Rhetorically, of course.

This has been your Paying Attention Thought For The Day.

You're welcome.

What is your thought for the day?

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Who Couldn’t Have Guessed That?

The Mighty Q

April 17, 2021

Paying Attention is proud to bring you a hot new feature:

Who Couldn’t Have Guessed That?

Today on Who Couldn’t Have Guessed That? we have it on good authority that the societal arsonist formerly known as Q, who has been seeding the cuckoo clouds of crazytown with malicious, malignant malarkey, the lord and master of Qanon, is not a Washington insider with top-level security clearance, charged with saving the world for Donald Turmp after all.

Dim-bulb devotees exercising their First Amendment rights

Somehow, the nutbag plastering insane conspiracy theories across notorious right wing internet sites is as real as the non-existent basement under the Washington, DC pizza parlor where Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and of course George Soros, house their baby-eating/child sex trafficking ring. (As an aside, I can’t imagine the sex trafficking side of the operation could be very successful if these cannibals are eating all the product before it can get to market, but then, I’m no businessman. Or a baby-eater.)

No, the all-powerful Q, who has consistently predicted all manner of shocking events that never materialized in the slightest, is Ron Watkins, just another racist, neo-fascist clown with a psychotic imagination and a computer. Pay no attention to that man behind the keyboard. Most people do not pay him any attention. Unless they are part of the so-called Q army and therefore completely gullible gumballs-for-brains. Immune to facts. Unacquainted with reality. And just who is Watkins? Nobody. Nothing. A pathetic parasite.

Millions of equally pathetic people – not just American idiots as it turns out, but intentionally underinformed, mentally deficient cretins the world over – ready to buy into insane conspiracy theories. Mostly in the name of white supremacy. One after the other of these fabricated delusions came into existence as, and was ultimately exposed for all to see, utter bullshit. God’s factory seconds are ready to believe anything but that which makes actual sense based on available information. And now it turns out – Surprise, surprise! – that Q himself is some douchey dipshit. A fraud. Fake Qs. And probably not even the original Q. Whatthefuckever.

The Mighty Quinn

This has been Who Couldn’t Have Guessed That?

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, April 9, 2021

A Lynching By Any Other Name

April 9, 2021

                                        Poetic? Justice?

White privilege.
   Will it ever be washed away?

White guilt.
   Can there ever be enough?

Is that why I cannot look away
every time they show the scene

How was it anything but
    murder
          in the first degree?

Slow motion
    in real time

Roll the tape
     over and over
          do not look away
                 over and over

D’rek Chauvin made George Floyd
     his soap box,

As he proclaimed for all to see,
     his blatant disregard
          for a human life
     his unapologetic,
          lethal racism

White judge,
     white jury,
          white executioner/murderer

The full weight of the law
     on George Floyd’s neck
          illegally

For more than three minutes
     after Floyd had been killed
          the knee remained in place

Apparently the unnecessary death
     was not good enough
          for the murderous cop

Absence of consciousness,
               versus
   absence of conscience

Chauvin kept killing the dead man.

He used his knee
     in place of a noose
For his horizontal lynching
         of George Floyd.



Friday, April 2, 2021

Trial And Tribulation

The Ballad Of George Floyd

April 2, 2021

I have been watching the trial of D’rek Chauvin, the racist seen round the world, who is allegedly alleged to have creatively lynched George Floyd on May 25, 2020, in front of numerous bystanders, video cameras and one young woman who did more good with her cellphone in 10 minutes than most of us do in a lifetime. Much of what I have seen is incredibly painful.

Over the course of the first three days, one of the most difficult scenes for me was the testimony of Christopher Martin, the 19-year-old store clerk who, when asked what he felt as he stood by helplessly watching Mr. Floyd’s dignity and then his life being brutally stolen from him by a deranged-killer-in-peace-officer’s-clothing, said he felt “disbelief and guilt.” When asked why he felt guilty, he explained it was because he could have just ignored the counterfeit $20 handed him minutes earlier by Floyd and taken the hit out of his own paycheck – a paycheck that he could surely ill afford to diminish by $20.

One of the most sickening parts of this otherwise gut-wrenchingly horrible episode, was the officers repeatedly urging Mr. Floyd to get in the car while three of these thugs-with-badges are kneeling on him, literally crushing him to the pavement, one of them, D'rek Chauvin, as everyone in the world has seen with their own eyes, putting his full weight on Floyd's neck with his knee. It makes me sick to my stomach and pained in my heart every time I see the video.

So, ex-officer D'rek Chauvin has pleaded not guilty to murdering George Floyd. What I want to know then is exactly what the fuck it is that he thinks he did to Mr. Floyd when he was putting all of his weight on Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes while everyone around him was begging Chauvin to stop murdering George Floyd.

Chauvin must have felt very threatened as he kneeled on Floyd’s neck with his hands in his pockets, looking very relaxed, as if he did not have a care in the world. Apparently, even in death, George Floyd was seen as a threat to Chauvin, who remained with his knee on Floyd’s neck for some time after Floyd’s final breath. The EMTs had to persuade Chauvin to remove his knee so that they could remove Floyd’s lifeless body from the street.

Donald Williams, 33, a wrestler and mixed-martial-arts fighter who happened to witness the scene in progress described Chauvin's position with his knee on Floyd's neck as a “blood choke.” Williams later testified, “I called the police on the police. I believed I witnessed a murder.”

George Floyd was initially detained that day for (likely unknowingly) passing a counterfeit $20 bill. But let’s face it, Floyd’s real crime that day, at least as far as D’rek Chauvin – George Floyd’s judge, jury and executioner (literally) – was concerned, was being black.

I. Mangrey as ever.