We won’t stay in 2024 in terms of technology and science. We have lost and are losing the experts and the institutional structures. It is all crumbling.
Love the two of you together. You bring out the best in each other. Thank you for the conversation today. Though it be dark sometimes it is always truthful.
I have mixed feelings about Ken's wife divorcing him. First, let me say, I don't care at all about Mrs. Paxton and her "Biblican grounds for divorce." She married this horrible human being and stayed with him despite all of the decidely less than Biblical things he has done for many years. Is her God, her Jesus, really supportive of someone like Ken Paxton? Although I personally believe that there is zero credible evidence supporting the existence of any kind of personal god, whether that is the Christian, the Muslim, the Hindu, or any other version of a creator. However, people should be free to believe in whatever deity or deities they want to believe in for whatever reasons they choose. But, for a woman like Mrs. Paxton to wait 38 years to discover what a monstrous POS she marrieds and finally decide for "Biblical reasons" to divorc him, it is hard for me to take her seriously.
Paxton is a monster. How good a person could Mrs. Paxton be if she stayed with him, not despite his infidelities, but despite all the criminal and viciously cruel things he has done? How many second chances has she had to give ol' Ken over the years?
So, here is why I have such mixed feelings about the divorce. If the divorce hurts his chances to run for the Senate, that could conceivably be bad for Democrats. I don't know that for sure, it's too early to know, but the Democrats in recent years have won some unexpected victories because the Republicans nominated not their run-of-the-mill horrible human being and incompetent dolt, but rather because the party nominated someone so unbelievably stupid, weird, depraved, etc. that a sure or probable loss becaome a win. For example, Democrats have benefited from that in Georgia and in North Carolina, where the GOP dug down to the bottom of the barrel and kept digging until the found Mark Robinson, who was easily identifiable as one of the worst political candidates in the history of the world. If Paxton were to get the nomination, would that give the Democratic candidate a chance?
If anyone objects because of how phenominally horrible Paxton is, let me say, that doesn't matter. No Republican candidate in Texas is going to remotely good and since it is a Senate seat, all that will matter is that a Republican, any Republican, fills it. They all vote the same way, so whether it is someone who might rarely cast a vote against Trump, which will undoubtedly not have enough other support to allow the Democrats to win on that issue, or someone who is among the very worst Republicans, the outcome is almost certain to be the same. (See the Senate budget bill, where just few enough Republicans, three, voted against it to allow Vance to cast the deciding vote. That is how it works. Even, McCain's vote saving the ACA isn't a real exception. McCain didn't vote to kill the ACA because he was a fine senator with the good of the people at heart. His vote had nothing to do with the ACA, it was simply a huge "Fuck You" to Donald Trump. McCain hated the ACA. If someone else had been president, I feel strongly that he would have gladly voted to kill the ACA and screw millions of Americans. Full disclosure: I was never a fan of McCain and I've always felt that his hypocriscy was far more important that was his supposed "Maverickiness." I think a look at his voting record confirms that.
There is no doubt that Trump is killing people, but he is just getting started. There are already hundreds of thousands of people, including many children, who have been killed by the Trump-Musk-DOGE destruction of the USAID. Kennedy is hard at work at HHS doing more things than can be easily counted that will result in future deaths and a reduction in life expectancy, not in only in other countries, but in the United States.
Anyone trying to identify the single most relevant characteristic of Trump and his gang of mindless toadies has an extremely difficult job. Criminality, racism, misogyny, ignorance, greed, childishness and many other thoroughly negative attributes are in play. However, it may be reasonable to identify stupidity as the number one key characteristic of Trump and MAGA.
Why stupidity? Simple, because it is actually stupid to be a criminal, it is stupid to be a racist, it is stupid to be a misogynist, it is stupid for an adult to be childish, and it is stupid to allow greed to direct one's actions.
Danielle is right, it is stupid to appoint idiots with no competence or experience to hold critically important jobs in a presidential administration. The stupidity of Trump and the GOP is so profound and their inability to identify reality is so all-encompassing that if Trump succeeds in installing a one-party fascist government, it will preside over a failed state where the standard of living and life expectancy of Americans craters.
Recently, Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist, and someone who is a far better than average "traditional" Democrat, pointed out that when Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury, was nominated, the general feeling was that his was a good nomination. He was widely regarded as competent and there was a feeling that he would rein in some of Trump's worst instincts. As Krugman observed, Bessent has, quite to the contrary, shown that he is just one more disgusting, spineless sycophant who routinely spews absolute economic nonsense. Even though the overwhelming number of professional economists recognize that a) Trump has no idea what he's doing concerning tariffs and that b) tariffs are a tax paid by consumers and they will push inflation up significantly, Bessent offers moronic defenses of Trump's tariff insanity.
Great team together! The best-looking duo for miles around also! Thanks for your terrific work!
We won’t stay in 2024 in terms of technology and science. We have lost and are losing the experts and the institutional structures. It is all crumbling.
Where can a 66 yo possible go? Middle class, I'd leave tomorrow but I do not have the funds to do so.
Love the two of you together. You bring out the best in each other. Thank you for the conversation today. Though it be dark sometimes it is always truthful.
Your mother steered you correctly. 😉
Love listening to both of you.
If alligators don’t get you in Alligator Alcatraz the mosquitoes will.
Ken Paxton.
I have mixed feelings about Ken's wife divorcing him. First, let me say, I don't care at all about Mrs. Paxton and her "Biblican grounds for divorce." She married this horrible human being and stayed with him despite all of the decidely less than Biblical things he has done for many years. Is her God, her Jesus, really supportive of someone like Ken Paxton? Although I personally believe that there is zero credible evidence supporting the existence of any kind of personal god, whether that is the Christian, the Muslim, the Hindu, or any other version of a creator. However, people should be free to believe in whatever deity or deities they want to believe in for whatever reasons they choose. But, for a woman like Mrs. Paxton to wait 38 years to discover what a monstrous POS she marrieds and finally decide for "Biblical reasons" to divorc him, it is hard for me to take her seriously.
Paxton is a monster. How good a person could Mrs. Paxton be if she stayed with him, not despite his infidelities, but despite all the criminal and viciously cruel things he has done? How many second chances has she had to give ol' Ken over the years?
So, here is why I have such mixed feelings about the divorce. If the divorce hurts his chances to run for the Senate, that could conceivably be bad for Democrats. I don't know that for sure, it's too early to know, but the Democrats in recent years have won some unexpected victories because the Republicans nominated not their run-of-the-mill horrible human being and incompetent dolt, but rather because the party nominated someone so unbelievably stupid, weird, depraved, etc. that a sure or probable loss becaome a win. For example, Democrats have benefited from that in Georgia and in North Carolina, where the GOP dug down to the bottom of the barrel and kept digging until the found Mark Robinson, who was easily identifiable as one of the worst political candidates in the history of the world. If Paxton were to get the nomination, would that give the Democratic candidate a chance?
If anyone objects because of how phenominally horrible Paxton is, let me say, that doesn't matter. No Republican candidate in Texas is going to remotely good and since it is a Senate seat, all that will matter is that a Republican, any Republican, fills it. They all vote the same way, so whether it is someone who might rarely cast a vote against Trump, which will undoubtedly not have enough other support to allow the Democrats to win on that issue, or someone who is among the very worst Republicans, the outcome is almost certain to be the same. (See the Senate budget bill, where just few enough Republicans, three, voted against it to allow Vance to cast the deciding vote. That is how it works. Even, McCain's vote saving the ACA isn't a real exception. McCain didn't vote to kill the ACA because he was a fine senator with the good of the people at heart. His vote had nothing to do with the ACA, it was simply a huge "Fuck You" to Donald Trump. McCain hated the ACA. If someone else had been president, I feel strongly that he would have gladly voted to kill the ACA and screw millions of Americans. Full disclosure: I was never a fan of McCain and I've always felt that his hypocriscy was far more important that was his supposed "Maverickiness." I think a look at his voting record confirms that.
There is no doubt that Trump is killing people, but he is just getting started. There are already hundreds of thousands of people, including many children, who have been killed by the Trump-Musk-DOGE destruction of the USAID. Kennedy is hard at work at HHS doing more things than can be easily counted that will result in future deaths and a reduction in life expectancy, not in only in other countries, but in the United States.
Anyone trying to identify the single most relevant characteristic of Trump and his gang of mindless toadies has an extremely difficult job. Criminality, racism, misogyny, ignorance, greed, childishness and many other thoroughly negative attributes are in play. However, it may be reasonable to identify stupidity as the number one key characteristic of Trump and MAGA.
Why stupidity? Simple, because it is actually stupid to be a criminal, it is stupid to be a racist, it is stupid to be a misogynist, it is stupid for an adult to be childish, and it is stupid to allow greed to direct one's actions.
Danielle is right, it is stupid to appoint idiots with no competence or experience to hold critically important jobs in a presidential administration. The stupidity of Trump and the GOP is so profound and their inability to identify reality is so all-encompassing that if Trump succeeds in installing a one-party fascist government, it will preside over a failed state where the standard of living and life expectancy of Americans craters.
Recently, Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist, and someone who is a far better than average "traditional" Democrat, pointed out that when Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury, was nominated, the general feeling was that his was a good nomination. He was widely regarded as competent and there was a feeling that he would rein in some of Trump's worst instincts. As Krugman observed, Bessent has, quite to the contrary, shown that he is just one more disgusting, spineless sycophant who routinely spews absolute economic nonsense. Even though the overwhelming number of professional economists recognize that a) Trump has no idea what he's doing concerning tariffs and that b) tariffs are a tax paid by consumers and they will push inflation up significantly, Bessent offers moronic defenses of Trump's tariff insanity.
Danielle is turning red with all the horn stuff talk 😂
https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/why-trump-republican-budget-bill-elixir-democrats-imagined-optimism-fading?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=10o57p
Some people I know like to spend the ENTIRE weekend in bed with their honey practicing kama sutra. Yes I'm envious. 3 days....😉