When Woodstock Came to Texas

Poster for the Texas International Pop Festival,
August 30 - September 1, 1969.
(from Wikipedia)

It may surprise some of my truckbuddies to learn that Texas had its own hippie rock concert on Labor Day weekend, 1969, just a couple of weeks after the famous one in New York state.  I'm surprised, too:  I never heard of it, and neither did M.P.  We were both still in high school, far away from Dallas. And I was too square to care; still am. But as matter of social history in my own lifetime, it was interesting to stumble upon these news videos and reminiscences of the event, which some surviving participants say was life-changing.

First, an official video from the City of Lewisville, a little ways north of Dallas proper, where the festival was held in a large open field next to Interstate 35.  The site has been heavily redeveloped since then (see maps).  The promoter who first appears at 1:36 is a son of the founder of the Six Flags theme parks, Angus Wynn, Jr.

It says a lot about small-town Texas that the upright, God-fearing citizenry at the time were outraged, not by the long hair, rock music, and drugs, but by all the nekkid bodies skinny-dipping in the nearby lake in broad daylight!  The locals knew the kids were naked because they were out there in their motorboats, intently scrutinizing all that indecency through binoculars.

Notice what the newsman in the next clip says about "it's hard to know what to call these young people" - most of them were "weekend hippies" whose hair and clothes were still within the limits of respectability. In the next few years, what was strange and different, even shocking, in 1969 became ordinary:  that's how the fashion industry works. 

Just a couple of years after this event, I was sitting in a goverment class when the instructor posed a discussion question:  "What is a hippie?"  We all looked at each other mutely as we realized that "hippie" had become "normal."  Long-ish hair, flares or bell-bottoms, wide belts, long sideburns, mustaches, beards, and hip-hugging blue jeans - most young men dressed that way, at least for slogging around campus, regardless of their socio-political orientation.  The words "hippie" and "groovy" were already obsolete; but blue jeans - workman's clothing - became the default choice for casual wear, and remain so to this day. 

But 1969 was the starry-eyed Age of Aquarius:  harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding.  It's poignant to hear the earnest young folks in these clips spout all those utopian sentiments of peace, love, and joy: "just be yourself, do what you want to do - people will love you for it." A happy thought, a hopeful thought - but mistaken. Human nature just doesn't work that way. But they surely found that out later on. 

This last video opens with a crotch shot that proves more than words ever could that rock and roll is all about sex, and vice versa.

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Today's Sermon: Talarico Condemns Christian Nationalism

Texas state representative James Talarico, running now for a U. S. Senate seat, delivered a powerful and compelling sermon two years ago in his home church of St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Austin.  M.P. and I were most impressed. Talarico has a master's degree in education, as well as a Master of Divinty degree.

I didn't know they still made young men like this. We agree with all his main points - though there are some fine points of history and theology he skates over a bit too quickly, in my opinion. Still, his thesis that the Christofacism engulfing the country today is both un-Christian as well as un-American is indisputably true, and he makes the case splendidly.

We hope to vote for him in the general election. But there is one nagging question in the back of my mind - here is this clean-cut, well-educated, well-spoken young man . . . still single at 36? Why? A cursory online search turns up no mention of wife, girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, or any other relationship. If he were a Catholic priest, that would be understandable, but he's a Presbyterian. As much as I like what he says, there's something not quite right about this picture.

So what gives?  Perhaps some enterprising reporter will dig into this mystery. Meanwhile, he and Buttigieg are the two best hopes we see for the future of America at this point in time. God bless them.

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Like Ships in the Night: Two Christian Leaders

Two men of different races, generations, and backgrounds, one departing, one just arriving, whose faith has informed their politics - not the other way around.  Hope is still alive.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson, 1941-2026; may he rest in peace after his long, weary struggles for civil rights and justice for all:

Texas state representative James Talarico, born 1989, in a censored interview with Stephen Colber:

For 50 years, the religious right, a political movement - that's the perfect description for it - they convinced a lot of our fellow Christians that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage:  two issues that aren't mentioned in the Bible, two issues that Jesus never talked about. Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I and every one of our fellow believers, how we're going to be judged and how we're going to be saved:  by feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It is all about how you treat other people.

Don't tell me what you believe; show me how you treat other people, and I'll tell you what you believe.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Bonus:  Talarico speaks at a town hall in Laredo last week:

This man speaks my language.  He's young enough to be my grandson, but he talks with mature wisdom and confidence.  Wow.  

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Nineteen Seventy-Five

I've been meaning to write something about 1975 for months now, but the year is nearly over.  So I'll just post a few thoughts today, and may post some personal reflections another time.

Bernie asks a question that can only be answered by those who are old enough to remember the time: Was life better fifty years ago?

Regardless of Bernie's remarks, the truth is that the question has no factual answer. Whether life was better then depends entirely on one's point of view. And indeed, no matter what year you want to talk about, in human life it is always the best of times or the worst of times - for somebody.  Your answer hinges on whether you feel loved or unloved, content or unsatisfied, hopeful or despairing.

I am annoyed by some people's comments on YouTube and in other places, people who were children or young teens then -- Oh, what a glorious time it was to be alive, a golden age! The music, the clothes, the cars - and everybody was so kind and courteous and loving. Well, no, that's not the way it was -- it was far from a golden age, as this CBS news summary makes clear, for anyone who cares to look back at the reality of 1975:

After long, dreary years of conflict and protests, defeat and deceit, Vietnam and Watergate were finally behind us.  Tricky Dick Nixon was gone, and steady Jerry Ford was in the White House; he survived two assassination attempts by wild-eyed leftist radicals (seriously) in this year.  Other wild-eyed leftist radicals blew up the State Department, and the Patty Hearst kidnapping ended horrifically.  The Middle East was still in turmoil, as it always is, and the Cold War was still on, with the spectre of nuclear war always in the background. The crime rate was rising, and there was a growing sense of decline in American power, politics, money, and manners, from the bold optimism of the Kennedy years to the stagnant malaise of the post-Nixon era.  Many felt the country was going to pot.

The change was felt most acutely in the pocketbook.  Inflation was out of control:  the Oil Crisis of '73 had made the prices of everything go up sharply.  I remember that the price of sugar zoomed from, say, a dollar a bag to five bucks.  (That equals $30 today.)  The same with coffee.  And for the first time in my life, there were empty shelves in the supermarket.  The recession of 1974 was still going strong, and jobs were hard to find.  Your Head Trucker was finding out the hard way that it was just not possible to live well on minimum wage - $1.60 an hour, so take-home pay was about $240 a month.  Rent on my first little cottage was $80 a month, plus phone and utilities.  For comparison, an apartment in a nice complex with swimming pool cost about $120 a month, or more.

My first home after high school was very similar to this one - but the front door was on the side, under a porch roof, and there were no basement stairs, so the kitchen was wide enough for a table and chairs.  It wasn't new, but it was decent, and it was MY place, where I could do as I pleased.  I felt very grown-up,

The placid "happy days" of the 1950s and early 1960s were long gone by this time, as I remember discussing with my friends.  However, I will say that compared to the state of the world today and the polarized society we now live in, it was easier to live without constant fear and dread back then. The world was already quite complex in those days, but it all seemed more understandable somehow - and it was easier to hope that tomorrow would be better.  

In the Deep South, far from the tumults and convulsions in the big cities up north and out west, everyday life was mostly calm and pleasant as long as you could pay your rent and feed yourself:  books, magazines, records, radio, television, movies, church doings, and simple outings with friends were enough to keep a young man occupied.  Nobody had a home computer; cable TV was non-existent, as were VCR's and DVD's.  Phones still had dials, and they were hard-wired into the wall.  You didn't buy one, you rented it from the phone company for a nominal fee, with a choice of four styles and half a dozen colors.

All that would soon begin to change, but as yet, no one felt a need to be "linked in" every single waking moment, and broadcast to the world pictures of their cat, or their butt, or what they were eating at the burger joint.  People would have fallen down on the floor laughing at the very thought of such nonsense.  

But now we live in a world seemingly controlled in nearly every detail by nosy machines and callous trillionaires. Since this old man's exit will be coming up sooner rather than later, I don't obsess about these things, though I deplore them heartily. But God help the younger generations.

Speaking of whom, someone has come up with a way to assimilate them even faster into the Hive Mind: watch this report on a new school with no human teachers -- and shudder.

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New Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge Nears Completion

It was scheduled to open sometime this month, but there's no word yet on just when that will happen.  The new bridge is not exactly what I would call pretty, but it's an impressive structure:  over half a mile long and more than 500 feet tall.  See what you think.

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Rodney and Jake Roof the Coop

Or, Rodney on a hot tin roof.  Just a simple backyard job, easy-peasy with power tools.

Bonus:  The guys install a new super-duper theft-proof mailbox:

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World Naked Gardening Day

Rodney is such a tease.

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Trans Texas Teacher Resigns

This just happened. 

I will tell my truckbuddies frankly that I am of two minds about this uproar.  And I'll leave it at that.

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Sunday Drive: Snow Days in Texas

Cold enough for you?

We had a big, beautiful snowfall all day Thursday here, about 4 inches, that covered everything and brought the DFW Metroplex to a screeching halt.  The temps got up to 50 on Saturday, but there's still some snow on the ground, though the streets are dry.  

Don't have any pics to show you guys, because M.P.'s teleophone is still on the blink.  So just for fun, I dug up this old video I posted on February 11, 2010 - 15 years ago. Wow, where does the time go?

 

Interesting to see and hear myself after so many years.  Like looking at someone else, almost. 

 

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

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A Sickness in Texas - and the Nation

Morning Joe nails it, laying the blame for the recent Texas massacres squarely at the feet of bobblehead governor Greg Abbott and his minions:

 

CNN has an excellent summary and analysis of recent Texas events here.

Chuck Todd of NBC's Meet the Press summarizes the national deadlock that makes rational change impossible:

 

For the record, I haven't blogged about the horrific recent massacres here in Texas because I simply have nothing to say.  What can anyone say, in a state, in a nation, where mass murders have become routine events?  Where they happen more often than days in the week?  Where no one is safe, from babies to the aged - and no place is safe, neither schools nor churches nor grocery stores nor anywhere else, public or private.

All that can be said has been said many, many times in the last 20 years and more.  And still the red tide flows on, higher and higher.

Nothing will change here in Texas while the fanatical idiots who control the state government absolutely refuse to lift one finger to make a difference.  You'd think the point-blank massacre of a whole classroom of little kids in Uvalde last year - with nearly 400 police officers on the scene, inexplicably doing nothing to stop the killing - would have softened even the stoniest of hearts.

But no.  Nothing moves those stinking jackasses in power, and the voters who keep them there, except fanatical hatred and self-righteousness.  Oh sure, they say they are working on "long-term solutions" - but don't believe a word of it.  They will do nothing.  They don't care who dies or how many.  

The same could be said about the powers that be in many other states, and in Congress.  Until the balance of power shifts away from the fanatical religionists, nothing will change.

But I blame the other end of the political spectrum, too.  For fifty years or more, some people on the leftward side have encouraged a culture of unlimited "free speech" and "do your own thing" that has allowed the glorification of violence and narcissism.  Step by step and bit by bit, our whole culture has become saturated with images and voices of violence and horror - brutalizing the mind and deadening the conscience of young and old alike - to say nothing of the effect on the mentally deficient.  But now good "enlightened" folk are aghast and bewildered at the state of the nation.

Why are you surprised, I would ask them.  Monkey see, monkey do.  Humans are imitative animals.

Last Christmas, M.P.'s four adult children, their spouses, and four kiddos came for dinner, the one day a year that they all pile into "Papaw's" little bungalow.  And for a few hours, I was quietly reassured to see that despite modern clothing and slang and toys, these nice young people and their kids were behaving just as parents and kids did fifty and sixty years ago at Christmas time, with glee and wonder and even good manners.  There are still good people in the world, and the ceremonies of innocence continue still.

But it seems to me that the country, and the whole Western world in fact, is simply falling apart like a rotten melon, and both sides are to blame.  The center cannot hold.  Extremism on the right or on the left is equally toxic.  Liberty is not license; and democracy is not anarchy.  

I don't care to argue the point with anyone, that's just how I see it, and from my vantage point a little apart from the crowd, I have been watching it happen all my adult life.  I know what I know.

It is a sick society that acquiesces in the slaughter of innocents.  Extremely sad.  But what can you do when are there no tears left to cry?  

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In Memoriam: The Innocents of Uvalde

I have no words for this unspeakable horror, only tears. And rage at the unspeakable politicians who allow these massacres to go on and on, and do nothing about it.

FYI:  Contrary to what President Biden and Senator Chris Murphy have said today, these mass shootings do not happen "only in America."  They have been happening all over the world in the last quarter-century, even in totalitarian states like Russia.  But other countries have done something about it.  Here are a couple of Wikipedia articles for further reading and reflection:

• Mass shooting (with links to articles on individual countries) 

• Overview of gun laws by nation 

• The Gun Violence Archive has a wealth of verified statistics on mass shootings in the U. S.

Update:  See hotheaded Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke get in the face of bobbleheaded Governor Greg Abbott:

 

And watch the running sore known as Senator Ted Cruz flee from questioning by a British newsman:

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Bluebonnets

The state flower of Texas, in case you didn't know.

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Texas Court Blocks Gender Police - For Now

Note to readers:  

Your Head Trucker is a gay man, happy with his male body (though not particularly with the shape it's in at this late age); transgenderism is a very different thing, and I prefer to leave it to transgender people to speak for themselves out of their own experiences, rather than presuming to speak for them.  The same goes for lesbians and bisexuals, and all the other colors of the rainbow.  For that reason, I do not accept for myself the LGBTQI-XYZ-whatever label, which wrongly confuses several important but separate issues.  I'm just plain gay, and that's good, and that's all there is to it.  Your mileage may vary.

I will also note that according to the best research now available, transgender people are relatively few, only .3% to .6% of the adult American population - that's 3 to 6 people out of a thousand.  (Gays and lesbians are 3% of the population, or about 3 out of a hundred, which means they are about ten times more numerous than trans people.)  By a simple arithmetical operation, then, it would seem that 99.9% of the population are happy with their birth gender.  Or in other words, they are simply human beings - male and female, as it was in the beginning.  It's the exception that proves the rule.

Thus, the fashionable urge to divide the world into "cisgender" and "transgender", or even worse, to hold up "gender-neutral" as a benchmark for everyone, seems to me very much the tail wagging the dog - "cis" is an utterly needless label for me.  Others may disagree, of course.  And certainly transgender people - those who are not merely "me-too" attention-seeking wannabe-cool-kids - like the risible 20% in a recent poll, fake news if ever there was any - deserve to be true to themselves and free to be who they really are.  But not to rewrite the English language, or hold a kind of permanent veto over the 99.9%, which would only cause great resentment.  

The fabric of a liberal democracy can stretch to include many different kinds of people - but stretch it too far, and it will rip.  In some ways, it already has.

It has taken more than 50 years and much struggle for the enlightened part of society to come to terms with the concept of innate - not "chosen" - homosexuality, and it will take more time for us all to truly understand the trans experience.  Enlightenment rarely happens all at once; like a flower, it must grow and develop step by step.

However, this particular case is deeply disturbing to me, not only because it is in Texas, but also because it strikes at the heart of democratic principles and the American ideals of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" -- not to mention the "free and full development of personality" enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

The attack is not even based on a state law, but merely the governor's edict - his whim - a prime example of dictatorial persecution, completely unconstitutional.  The sooner the courts strike down this filthy fascist attack on Texas children and parents, the better.

 

When the gender police come for your kid:  read this chilling interview with the Briggle family highlighted in the above video.  

FYI, Denton is a city in North Central Texas, 

part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

A Texas judge today blocked Texas child-abuse authorities from investigating parents of transgender children or removing those children from their homes pursuant to an order by Republican Governor Greg Abbott and a non-binding opinion issued by Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom I posted about earlier this week.  The judge set a trial date of July 11 to hear the case.  The Texas Tribune reports:

State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum ruled Friday that providing gender-affirming care is not a reason for the state to investigate a family for child abuse, and halted all such investigations. 

The statewide injunction will remain in effect until “this court, and potentially the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of Texas” hear the case, Meachum said.

Meachum said there is a “substantial likelihood” that lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal will prevail in getting Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive for such investigations permanently overturned, calling his actions “beyond the scope of his duty and unconstitutional.”

Vox interviewed a Houston dad earlier this week.  Excerpt:

“It’s just who they are, so we support them,” said Claudio, the father of a trans teen in Houston, who is being referred to by a pseudonym to protect his family’s privacy. “Getting tarred with the label of ‘child abuser’ for doing that is demoralizing and obviously pretty horrible.” . . .

"It’s been pretty scary. It’s been the cause of some internal family division. My wife and my kid are more defiant. 'We should fight this. This is where we live and this is the time to take a stand.' I’m a lot more of a scaredy-cat and just want to move to a different state where my children’s future is not in doubt.

My wife immediately caught on to the fact that this was a non-binding opinion from the AG that basically cascaded through the governor to child protective services. She thought at the beginning that nothing would actually happen and that it was political posturing more than anything that would have consequences, while I was pretty scared. There was a lot of anger and dispute about it. We had our differences there. 

I think to some extent we’ve both been validated. The ACLU and Lambda Legal strongly state that it is in fact a non-binding opinion and has no real weight and they’re contesting it in court. We’re watching the court cases hanging off the edge of our seat, of course. But at the same time, child protective services has started investigations, famously this one of their own employees, which has super ugly overtones. 

There is part of me that is just scared that the gender police is going to come knocking on my door. We’re scared, and we’re frustrated and we’re very sad that this is happening in our home. . . .

But I don’t know how much risk we’re going to be willing to take, so at some point, we might decide to cut our losses and pick up and leave [Texas]. We don’t want to, but my family left Europe after World War II, after they were [targeted] by the Nazis, and that’s a lesson that gets etched in your brain pretty strongly even through generations. Persecution scares you extra.

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Meet Dick and Prick

Welcome to Texas. Allow me to introduce two of the most prominent members of our state government:

     

Governor DICK

Attorney General PRICK

 

These cruel, arrogant bigots with a long history of anti-gay activity are now persecuting transgender kids and their parents in Texas, threatening them with jail and fines for "child abuse" for supporting their child's medically supervised gender reassignment.  Read all about it in this post over at Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters:

ACLU, Lambda Legal steps in with lawsuit for family feeling the brunt of Texas investigation of trans children and their parents

A state district judge placed a temporary hold on the investigation of one family yesterday, which Prick is trying to get overturned.  Read more at the Texas Tribune, a non-profit investigative website:

Attorney General Ken Paxton appeals restraining order that blocked state agency from investigating trans teen’s family

Students at one state unversity held a protest of the anti-trans order today; I hope there will be more protests against this unconscionable and unconstitutional invasion of privacy statewide.  I can't believe any higher-level court, state or federal, will let it stand.  As I understand it, this persecution is not even based on a state law, just Prick's legal opinion, which is not legally binding.  I'd like to tell him where to stuff it.

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I Just Want to Say

Live cam at the Galveston seawall:

 

Land, sea, and sky endure from age to age-- 

but what about the human race?

So much is wrong, terribly wrong, with the nation and the world today, but I can't seem to bring myself to write about it.  Longtime truckbuddies will know that I am quite capable of a good rant when need arises - but what good does my ranting do?  

Beyond that, I sometimes feel I should at least express my thoughts "for the record" - but who cares?  I started this blog on a whim and have continued it on the same principle.  It's not like it will ever be a big Historic Document.  And I have no posterity who will ever wonder, what did old Gramps think about this or that.  

I have plenty I could say about all sorts of current topics - and my opinions are not always what perhaps my truckbuddies and other readers might expect.  It's not about politics, but about right and wrong, good and bad, true and false.  If I had the will to do it, I would lay about rather freely with a cudgel on the heads of liberals and conservatives alike.  There is no one party or group or faction that has a monopoly on goodness or holiness or even truth.

As St. Paul put it, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."  That means nobody gets it right all the time.  And democracy means nobody gets everything they want when they want it.

With the country so divided and torn, filled with screeching, irrational voices at both ends of the spectrum - not to mention flat-out lies and open calls to murder this or that person or group - what is needed is not a lone blogger's scribblings but a cause or person to unite around.  I don't mean a demagogue or an ideology.  What I do mean, I don't know exactly: something that draws together the best of human nature, willingly, not under compulsion or pretense.  What I am sure of, though, is that without some centripetal force to unify us, this country will fall apart or blow up, and sooner rather than later.  And that would be a bloody horror.

I was hoping against hope that Old Joe might be that unifier - but so far, that doesn't seem to be happening.  The shrill voices are just getting louder and louder, and nastier too.  I'm very afraid for the immediate future.  You have only to read your history books to find out what happens when a country crumbles to pieces - or look around the modern world at all the failed states.  Don't think it can't happen here.  It's already begun.

I am old and infirm, and cannot do much good for anyone outside my home.  All I know to do is pray - for our President, our country, and our world.  And for peace, goodwill among men.  It may not turn the course of events in the big world, but it doesn't hurt any.  And it keeps me sane and centered:  Hope is the anchor of the soul.  That may sound arcane to a secular mind, but my spiritual-minded friends will understand.

I'm not sure why I keep this blog going.  It used to be a daily routine, something to fill the idle hours of retirement with.  But now I struggle to think of something pleasant and non-political to post once a week, if that often.  And perhaps it's dangerous to do more than that in today's world.  At any rate, one day I may just delete the whole thing and be done with it.  

Well, them's my 2 cents on this windy autumn evening in Texas - what are yours?  Maybe tomorrow I'll think differently, but there's no telling what will happen next.  Keep an eye on the weather and take care, fellas.

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Dawn in East Texas

Just a quiet interlude for anyone needing a respite from the clashes and clamors of the modern world:

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Horsefeathers

Just want to say I think this uproar over the mounted Border Patrol in South Texas is a whole lot of hooey - a mindless, kneejerk reaction by a lot of la-de-da city types who wouldn't know which end of a horse to talk to.  I've looked at the video of the alleged "horrific" incident and I don't see anybody being whipped or "run over" or injured.  One guy fell back in the river when a horse bumped him, but the water was only knee deep - he wasn't hurt.  And if anybody was popped - this point is not certain - with the end of a pair of reins, that might sting a little bit, but that's not at all the same as being whipped.  

(To break it down for the horseless:  reins are attached to the horse; there's only a foot or two of loose rein to twirl; you can't get enough swing or leverage to really whip some one that way - it's geometry.)

In other words, this is fake news, in my opinion.  Here's a report from a fact-checking team at WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida, that shows and tells what really happened:

   

Mounted police, by whatever name they may be called, are nothing new - they have been and are regularly used for crowd control not only in the wide-open spaces of Texas, but also in most big cities - like New York and Washington, to name but two. Horses can go, and go quickly, where bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles cannot go, especially on uneven terrain. Seems to me what the Border Patrol was doing was a very reasonable and, yes, humane method of coping with a difficult situation.  It's nothing new, and nothing horrific, people. Grow up. 

Mention should be made that the Border Patrol are federal, not state employees, enforcing the law of the land.  Now whether it is morally right or wrong to expel those particular illegal immigrants, most of them homeless families in desperate need, is a different question, and worthy of humanitarian concern - which should have already been carefully considered by the powers that be in Washington before this crisis arose.  Though really, it's a moot point, now that the encampment has been cleared.

But I will say I am very, very disappointed in President Biden's ranting response to a misleading line of uproar in the press. "They will pay for this!" he says - who will pay?  For what, exactly?  How?  Sounds a lot like the mindless, emotional stuff we used to hear from his predecessor. Seems to me Old Joe doesn't quite have a grip on the facts of the matter, which are perfectly obvious to me and probably to most other Texans, and to most everybody who's ever ridden a horse, for that matter.  

But now the President has taken away the Border Patrol's horses.  That is just a damn dumb thing to do.  They need those horses down there for all sorts of reasons.  I wouldn't be surprised if all the BP agents quit.

Don't let me down, Joe. I voted for a smart President, or at least smarter than the last. Be one, please. 

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Trump: Don't Blame Me! Fear the Dangerous Dems!

Trump flew down to Alamo, Texas, today to have another look at his magnificent border wall - the first public appearance he has made since last week's attack on the Capitol by the mob he incited.  

Senator Lindsey Graham went with him on Air Force One - yes, that same Lindsey Graham, Trumpmeister's most faithful pup, who last week had to hide from the murderous throng, and later said on the floor of the Senate, "Count me out.  Enough's enough."

 

 Now he's trotting along behind his master again - as a dog returneth to his vomit. 

It's also reported that last night Trump had a "good conversation" with Vice President Mike Pence - whom Trump never called to check on while enraged fanatics were running through the halls of Congress shouting, "Hang Mike Pence" - and erected a gallows complete with noose on the grounds outside.  Last week, it was reported that Pence was "very angry" with Trump - but bygones are bygones, it seems. I guess they kissed and made up. What they talked about has not yet been reported, but you can bet it wasn't a Sunday school lesson. 

By the way, Trump isn't visiting the Alamo, which is in downtown San Antone, but the pee-mite town of Alamo, a mere suburb of the much larger city of McAllen, a farming center in the Rio Grande Valley. Still, the name of the Alamo is highly symbolic of a last stand, a fight to the death against tyranny, etc. - and you can believe that that, in and of itself, is a dog whistle to Trump's fanatical followers. 

Here are various clips of Trump's remarks today, in which he typically absolves himself of all responsibility for last week's insurrection and warns that impeachment is "very dangerous to America" - another dog whistle - trying to paint the Democrats and everyone else who doesn't kneel before him as the real threat to the country. 

Of course everything he says, including a, an, and the, is a total fucking LIE. He is so eaten up with conceit, he can't breathe without lying, just to glorify himself.  He has no remorse and no conscience.  He sicced a mob of killer dogs on the members of Congress - Republicans and Democrats alike - including the next three persons in the line of presidential succession.  And instead of lifting a finger to stop the attack, he sat in front of the television, gleefully watching the chaos he caused.

OF COURSE THIS MONSTER SHOULD BE REMOVED, IMPEACHED, ARRESTED, PROSECUTED AND JAILED FOR HIS CRIMES.  THERE IS NOTHING TO DEBATE OR ARGUE ABOUT.  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH IS FUCKING ENOUGH.

 

And then there's this:  Don't expect many Republicans to vote for impeachment or any other anti-Trump motion - even if they know that Trump is a huge fraud, they are terrified of being murdered by the frenzied MAGA mob, as freshman Republican Congressman Peter Meijer of Michigan explains:

 

As it was written:  Sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind.

Update, 7:55 p.m.--Pence Declines to Invoke 25th Amendment.

Well, there it is.  The Senate is in recess and will not even receive the impeachment papers until January 19th at the earliest - a day before Biden's inauguration.  So we just have to wait it out now, and pray God the monster doesn't go "wild" again.  God help us all!

But I have to believe the monster will not live happily ever after.  Sooner or later, somewhere or other, he will meet his nemesis, as tyrants always do.  What goes around, comes around.

 

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Lying Brownnoser Ted Cruz Tells The Big One

Please forgive my lapse into intemperate language, fellas, but I feel it is my journalistic duty to report plainly to you about thus stinking scumbag who, though he has a seat in Congress, does not represent me or my fellow Texans in any moral sense.

Your Head Trucker well recalls that during the presidential campaign of 2016, Texas Senator Ted Cruz - after Trump had insulted Cruz's wife and accused Cruz's father of conspiring to assassinate John F. Kennedy - was the very last big Republican politician to oppose Trump.  Cruz swore and be damned that he would never, ever support Trump, and held out all the way to October, I think.  And then, just a few weeks before Election Day - inexplicably - Cruz suddenly went crawling on his hands and knees to kiss Trump's ass.  He even recorded some videos or robocalls for him, I believe.

And all this long time, obedient sub boy Cruz has kept his nose right there, supporting everything Trump said or did, and never a breath of criticism.  And on Wednesday, minutes before Trump's mob attacked Congress, Cruz was on the floor of the House, front and center, leading the legislative attack on the electoral vote, the legitimate will of the People, as Cruz's dungeonmaster bid him do.

All that was bad enough.  But yesterday, Cruz had the brazen gall to go on television and tell the Big Fucking Lie that he has "disagreed with the President's rhetoric and language for the last four years."  Proving beyond all doubt that even after his filthy coup attempt failed miserably, Trump still has Cruz's balls in his back pocket.

CNN's Erin Burnett gives all the evidence, past and present, that anyone could need to condemn Cruz as the desperate, conniving monumental liar that he is:

No admission of wrongdoing, no remorse, only a glaring untruth.  Lying bootlicker Cruz has enabled a would-be dictator at every step of the way, tried to overthrow the election, perverted his oath to support the Constitution, and made himself a laughingstock.  He should leave D. C. as soon as Trump does, and in like shame.

Update, 8 a.m.--I'm not the only Texan who's steamed.  The Houston Post castigates Cruz, calls on him to resign:

"U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz lied to Americans about widespread voter fraud that never existed," the Editorial Board writes. "He should resign and deliver Texans from the shame of calling him our senator." https://t.co/WzHyZ8xolH

— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) January 9, 2021

Editorial: Texans backed Trump over democracy https://t.co/6Y6MHiZ3id

— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) January 9, 2021

Update, 1/10/21, 12:15 a.m.--On Friday, President-Elect Joe Biden went there: he called out Cruz (and his partner in crime Hawley) by name as being partners in the Big Lie, which he compared to Goebbel's propaganda in Nazi Germany. 

See also:  Never Forget What Ted Cruz Did - New York Times, 1/11/21

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The Pot and the Kettle

I don't feel like posting much today, but I will say this:  over on Joe.My.God., commenters are gleeful about the Republican infighting over the Empower Texans audio clip that trashes Gov. Greg Abbott and mocks his disability.  Well, that's fine - a couple of potty-mouthed Republicans inadvertently blowing up their own party is a fit subject for scorn and ridicule.

I have no personal feelings about Abbott one way or the other - he is an elected official at the head of the Republican hegemony in this state, and that's all I need to know.  But I notice that about half the commenters are ALSO mocking Abbott's disability themselves.  This is filthy.  It doesn't matter which end of the political spectrum you are on.  If you do that, you are no better than the creeps on the audio clip - at the bottom of the moral cesspool.  Despicable.

In the past, commenters on JMG have frequently said much worse things about other people, as well as relished the thought of another civil war in this country - "Yeah, bring it on, we'll kick their racist butts," and such as that, as if it would be like a teenage street-corner rumble - not giving a single thought to what immense harm and ghastly suffering it would cause many millions of people who, unlike their prissy, petty little selves, are not young and agile and fleet of foot.  For this reason I have tried to train myself in these last few years not to look at the comments on JMG and other websites - in fact, I wish comments would disappear from news sites altogether.

You cannot claim the moral high ground - the "right side"of any argument - if you are just as nasty and hateful as your opponents.  God forbid any of these neanderthal, rock-throwing creeps on either side gets the upper hand in our society - I can't support any of them.  The political spectrum is not flat - it is a ring, and at either end, extremism and egotism end in government-by-thug; there is very little difference between a thugocracy, a dictatorship, of the right or of the left.  Both are abominable.

Hatred is not an American value, and neither is contempt for the disabled.  This is not about freedom of speech at all - it's about simple decency, without which there can be no society worth living in.