Like Alex, I need a new coping strategy for dealing with the news. I’m glad the weather has finally turned, because I need the next few months for a hard reset. More music, fewer headlines, maybe some time limiters for social media, with allowances for the work I need to do. At the same time, I freely admit to getting real pleasure from sneering at Secretary Croaky and the rest of the crew of idiots, but mostly as a way to mask my very real suspicion that all of us aren’t actually standing at a crossroads, but well beyond it, looking at a diminished America where an idiot buffoon like Donald Trump can become its leader. And all that lies ahead is more diminishment.
That’s not healthy. But it is reality.
Lately I’ve been allowing myself five minutes of our local talk station on my way to work at the pool, at an hour that coincides with Mitch Albom’s show. Yes, yes, still picking that scab, but it has shed some light on why his columns are so lame: He long ago ceased to be a newspaper guy and is now fully a talk-radio guy, where every extended bit of chitchat sounds like the worst elevator exchange you ever endured. The other day he and his sidekicks were talking about a matter of some local interest, the lawsuit filed by four former housekeepers for Smokey Robinson, alleging he was sexually abusive to all of them. What a terrible thing, the men agreed, that these women, who never called the police, could gang up on an 85-year-old music icon and ruin what should be the happy, last years of his life. Terrible, terrible. Why did they keep working for him, if he was so awful. Of course we can’t know the truth, no one does, but it’s a shame, just a shame. The man is 85 and has brought so much pleasure to so many. What a shame.
Here we have a talk-radio discussion in its purest form: Cliché, truism, assumption, stupidity, lack of curiosity, etc. And this is, increasingly, the way most public discourse is, and I need to step back. It’s like feeding at a trough of stale potato chips.
Things to consider: What will I write about here? What will we complain about here? Topics for further discussion.
So. What is today’s outrage? The Omaha mayor’s race was interesting, no? A moderate-ish Republican going for her fourth term in a bloody-red state loses…why?
As she campaigned for a fourth term, Ms. Stothert, who is the first woman to lead Omaha, emphasized her record on development and public safety. But she also waded into cultural issues by trying to make bathroom use and sports participation by transgender people a campaign issue. Mr. Ewing’s campaign has told local reporters that Ms. Stothert made baseless claims about his stance on transgender issues.
Ms. Stothert has told local reporters that she voted for Mr. Trump, though she has sometimes tried to distance herself from the president.
:::strokes chin::: Interesting.
Now let’s wait for the Democrats to fuck this up.
OK, I have work to do. Happy Wednesday.
Jeff Borden said on May 14, 2025 at 11:45 am
The Dems still have no message beyond “we’re not tRump.” The deadwood needs to be cleared away –my senator, Dick Durbin, 80, isn’t running for reelection and that’s a good thing. Pols like him, Schumer, etc. aren’t equipped to deal the the challenges of tRumpism. They play by rules no longer in effect. Then, craft a real set of policies aimed at middle and lower class voters. They needn’t ignore advocacy for the marginalized, but it doesn’t have to be THE issue. The transgender bullshit really hurt them in 2024. Paint the QOP as it is: a pack of pseudo christian, woman-hsting lickspittles in service to the wealthy.
623 chars
Deborah said on May 14, 2025 at 12:32 pm
I’m still on my reading project to try to keep myself from doom scrolling. I currently have finished my 18th book during Trump’s current 16th week. Some of the books are quicker reading. I recently finished Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis, which was fantastic, I highly recommend it. It’s part of a five book series, all different topics, I think this one is the fourth and the fifth hasn’t come out yet. Now I want to read them all. Also, finally finished Nickel Boys by Colin Whitehead, boy was that one hard to read because it was depressing, but very good. The reading doesn’t stop me from doom scrolling but it helps.
619 chars
Heather said on May 14, 2025 at 1:30 pm
I’m not feeling good about the Democrats given that the DNC is trying to oust David Hogg, who has been upfront about the need to oust the geriatric leadership in favor of not just younger blood but more progressive perspectives. Centrists reeeeeeealllllly do not want to give up the increasingly small amount of power they are clinging to. Sounds like a great way to continue to lose elections to me.
400 chars
Sherri said on May 14, 2025 at 1:40 pm
This won’t necessarily help improve your mood, but I just finished and can recommend More Everything Forever, by Adam Becker. It is good concise overview of what’s behind the obsessions of our tech overlords, why they are throwing so much money into AI and space, and at the “philosophies” they’re being influenced by.
Short answer: they want to live forever with their benevolent god-AI to solve all problems, in the utopia of unlimited free energy and growth, which requires space. In other words, heaven. It’s a religion.
539 chars
Deborah said on May 14, 2025 at 2:15 pm
How is it that the right always thinks about the MAGA base and pleasing them, while the left only thinks about the center? I get the horseshoe analogy about the extremes, we don’t need the extremes but there’s a Democratic base too and it’s a little more left of center. We can’t keep giving votes to Jill Stein and thus losing elections.
This makes the second foggy day here by the lake (which I can barely see again today). The laundry we did yesterday afternoon that we don’t put in a dryer but on a rack is taking forever to dry.
I will also mention my next book which I’m dying to start but holding off until I’m on the plane to NM on Sunday, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, it’s the selected book for the book club’s next meet up on June 9th.
771 chars
Dexter Friend said on May 14, 2025 at 2:19 pm
Trump on stage, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia sitting with his lackeys, first row.
Trump, head tilted, says “Oh, what I do for the Crown Prince.”
Yeah, we know. You sell your soul to that murderer.
230 chars
tajalli said on May 14, 2025 at 2:44 pm
Deborah, thanks for sharing once again. I’m well into Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer (2000) and thoroughly enjoying her paean to inter-connectivity.
Our book club has You Dreamed of Empires (in translation) by Alvardo Enrigue, an alternative history of Montezuma, but after it began with one of the junior conquistadors feeling nauseated by the stench of a human skin used as a cape by one of his host’s dinner guests, well, there’s too much stench currently in real life to ask myself to marinate in more.
516 chars
Jeff Borden said on May 14, 2025 at 3:10 pm
Watching tRump tongue bathe the murderous MBS was fucking nauseating. Goddam, the MAGAts are dumb. How can they watch this and not see their preznit selling us out for his towers and golf clubs, which they could never afford to enter?
234 chars
David C said on May 14, 2025 at 3:53 pm
RFK the lesser swam in shit with his grandchildren over the weekend. How far away are we from Kennedy branded lead paint chips for health and vitality? Zero calories so you can eat as much as you want, you know. Just don’t wash them down with fluoridated water.
261 chars
Brandon said on May 14, 2025 at 4:45 pm
“Madonna Limited Series From Shawn Levy in the Works at Netflix.”
(Bold type indicates links in original text.)
The Netflix project is not related to previous efforts to mount a feature film about Madonna. Julia Garner was considered the frontrunner to play Madonna in the film, which was set up at Universal Pictures but was scuttled in early 2023. Madonna hinted last year, via a social media post, that she was again at work on the film.
594 chars
Julie Robinson said on May 14, 2025 at 6:03 pm
A big distraction lately for me has been fighting with insurance companies over whether or not some procedures are medically necessary. Not a good distraction, but a large one.
I just started book #45 for the year and will recommend a few: The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali, Eartha & Kitt: A Daughter’s Love Story by Kitt Shapiro, Frankie by Graham Norton, The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne Limoncelli, In Gad We Trust by Josh Gad, The Tiffany Girls by Shelley Noble, 33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen, The Ten by E. A. Hanks, and Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. Not all were light though that’s what I’m mostly trying for these days.
656 chars
Sherri said on May 14, 2025 at 6:45 pm
Sure, Qatar gave Trump Air Pimp One. But the Saudis made sure there was a “fully operational mobile McDonald’s unit” ready to amaze and delight the Big Toddler.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/05/fully-operational-mobile-mcdonalds-unit/682807/
Maybe he’ll choke on a Big Mac.
310 chars
Jakash said on May 14, 2025 at 7:31 pm
I don’t like to be disagreeable, but “The Dems still have no message beyond ‘we’re not tRump'” kinda bugs me, Jeff B.
The Dems have loads of messages — too many for a majority of voters in this benighted backwater nation to settle on. You’ve got David Hogg saying we need more “progressive perspectives” and Rahm Emanuel saying that being “woke” is what got us where we are.
Supposedly what lost the election was the “She’s for they / them, he’s for you” commercials. Anybody who fell for that is an ignoramus or a cynical bastard who doesn’t care about anything but tax cuts for millionaires and / or criminalizing abortion, but it does seem to have worked. The first part was true: she (and most of us around these friendly confines) ARE for they / them, because we’re for everybody who wants to live life in whatever way they see fit, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else. The lie was that “he’s” for any fricking person at all other than himself (and perhaps, way less, his family, and maybe corporate criminals, January 6 felons, and millionaires — but only if they’re nice to him.)
There are all kinds of programs that Dems support for the benefit of regular people, but they get shouted down by people on Fox News railing about a trans athlete somewhere — either real, or imagined. When singing the praises of the far lefties, though, it’s helpful to keep in mind that the last 2 Democratic presidents who managed to get reelected both governed as centrists and that’s part of why they were able to win.
The thing is, as stupid as we all like to think the Magats are, they have one idea that has given them complete control of the government. They voted for the Republicans, whatever their flaws. If all the Democrats who voted for Biden had the simple sense to vote for Kamala, we wouldn’t be where we are.
1844 chars
Mark P said on May 14, 2025 at 7:59 pm
The Democrats gave us Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. The Republicans gave us tax cuts for billionaires, $400 million bribes for the president, and a $36 trillion national debt.
186 chars
Jeff Borden said on May 14, 2025 at 10:16 pm
I think my statement must’ve been poorly written because this wasn’t the conclusion I’d hoped for. I’ve been a progressive since I started following Eugene McCarthy while a high-school student. I started out hating LBJ and HHH because of the Vietnam War. Now, I see all the good things they did. No question Democrats have great proposals to aid
345 chars
Jeff Borden said on May 14, 2025 at 10:37 pm
a far larger number of average people, but the QOP boils everything down to an emotional few words. They exaggerate. They overpromise. They lie. They create a simple message. Progressives don’t need to lie or misrepresent. But an easily understood message/slogan encapsulating the basic premise would be welcome. My apologies to anyone offended or irritated by this particular post. The gummies have kicked in.
410 chars
Brandon said on May 15, 2025 at 1:22 am
Any thoughts on the Diddy case?
31 chars
Dexter Friend said on May 15, 2025 at 7:48 am
Nazis killed millions of doctors, actors, authors, people from all the arts, business leaders, and everyone they tagged Juden.
The Trump regime have killed off the science and research divisions and have starved children in Africa and support genocide guru Netanyahu as he blocks food trucking into Gaza. In Gaza, people can only eat a small bit once a day while a never-ending line of trucks is blockaded in sight of the starving people. Then later in the day, Israel bombs hospitals claiming Hamas is in the basement, while no evidence is in the wreckage.
Trump pledges allegiance to Israel with huge military gifts but says Iran can never have a nuclear arsenal.
Peaceniks like me say let’s destroy all nuclear warheads , therefore blowing up this perpetual Sword of Damocles. We are considered wackos.
And so, thousands of scientists and researchers are in a state of high anxiety, off the payroll, wondering if they will be called back eventually or abandon their callings and look for work elsewhere.
An old farmer from my childhood days in DeKalb County used to sit around on lunch breaks on hay baling days, lamenting on the youth of the day, wailing “Oh, its a shame, the way it is today.”
Now I am the old man.
O—it’s a shame, that we are caught up in this jackpot.
1285 chars
Jeff Gill said on May 15, 2025 at 7:56 am
Brandon — yes, I do. I think the news is enjoying it far, far too much. Any respite from Trump stuff is certainly welcome, but if I have to hear Wolf or Lester cautiously enunciate “freak-off” one more time . . .
213 chars
Jeff Gill said on May 15, 2025 at 8:29 am
This paragraph from Monica Hesse’s opinion take on it all I thought summed it up as well as need be:
“As I have followed the mind-boggling case of Combs, the word that kept coming to mind was “more.” More sex, more women, more money, more ego, more carelessness, more cruelty. Everything was expensive and everyone was expendable. Ventura testified that the freak-offs happened more and more frequently, weekly, and that she used ecstasy and Molly to get through them, and eventually she used cocaine. Phillip testified that, after Combs had given him the drug Molly, Phillip wandered out of the hotel and start passing out gobs of cash to passersby. But how did the Molly make you feel? the prosecutor asked, and Phillip responded, “It made me feel like a jackass that wanted to go out in the middle of Times Square and hand out $100 bills to every person he saw.”
876 chars
alex said on May 15, 2025 at 9:25 am
I think the Omaha story is kind of a nothingburger. I live in a medium-sized city in a blood-red state and we haven’t had a Republican mayor in decades, and the last time we did, the Republican was indistinguishable from a Democrat and didn’t campaign on right-wing culture war issues.
Anyone who wants to be elected mayor in this town knows that it’s a diverse community and that you have to present yourself as a person of the people. Culture war wedge issues don’t really have a place in municipal elections and will do you more harm than good. Repeatedly we’ve seen perfectly sane and electable moderate Republicans get edged out in the primaries by raving culture war idiots who always lose in landslides in the general election.
So in Omaha, a moderate tacks right and gets her ass kicked. Should be no surprise. Transgender people in bathrooms is a phantom problem invented for the enjoyment of bigots.
911 chars
Deborah said on May 15, 2025 at 2:10 pm
Nebraska has a different electoral college situation, the state winner gets X number of votes and then each district gets to have a vote for the winner in that district. There are only 3 districts because the population is low. One of those districts is mostly Omaha, another district is an area encompassing the far east of the state surrounding Omaha that includes Lincoln etc. The vast rest of the state is the third district. Currently the US rep for each of those districts is Republican. I’ve probably got this all wrong but I pay a little bit of attention to politics in Nebraska because I went to a small Lutheran college there a million years ago.
657 chars
Peter said on May 15, 2025 at 2:21 pm
Alex, I kind of disagree with only your first sentence.
I need to do a little more reading about the election, but I think something’s going on. She’s been mayor for some time, and this wasn’t her first re-election. I find it strange that she’s been elected, has a track record to run on, people were generally satisfied, and what does she do? Go after woke and transgender toilet rooms – and loses.
What gets me is their reaction: “Oh, we would have won if we had decent turnout, but our voters stayed home.” That’s a red flag – those Fox TV voters would come out and vote in person the day after a nuclear attack. If they’re staying away, that’s a canary in the coal mine.
685 chars
diane said on May 15, 2025 at 3:32 pm
I hope Peter is right but I am more inclined to agree with Alex that the Omaha election is not as significant as people are making it seem. I think it was indeed that the MAGA voters stayed home. But it was a municipal election in May in an off year, they just couldn’t be bothered (if they even knew when the election was). Those same voters will come out and vote MAGA in a Senate or Presidential election.
412 chars
alex said on May 15, 2025 at 3:39 pm
Maybe her supporters were complacent and assumed she was a shoo-in. I’m getting the impression that national Dems are reading more into this than is warranted. I don’t think it’s the harbinger that they do. I think it illustrates exactly why you don’t drag cultural wedge issues into municipal elections. It will activate your opposition more than your base.
358 chars
Deborah said on May 15, 2025 at 4:19 pm
I heard today on a podcast that Gov Reynolds of Iowa, who is not running for re-election has the lowest approval numbers of any Governor in the country right now. I think something might be happening in the midwest? Maybe not horribly dramatic but something?
258 chars
Jeff Borden said on May 15, 2025 at 6:10 pm
Do I have this correct?
Hundreds of immigrants –some here illegally, some legally, most non-criminal– are being rounded up and sent to detention centers, often far from where they live. The most unfortunate wind up in an El Salvador hellhole. We are told by DHS, ICE, etc. these are dangerous characters and their removal makes our nation safer.
Yet the tRump administration has allowed family members of the murderous Sinaloa drug cartel to enter the U.S. This follows American intervention with Romania that brought Andrew and Tristan Tate, notorious misogynists charged with rape and human trafficking, to the States.
WTF? I no longer understand this country. In fact, I barely recognize it any more.
715 chars
Deborah said on May 15, 2025 at 8:53 pm
I’m so disgusted with the corruption, it’s out there for all to see for the obvious reason that Trump thinks it shows his power, like a mob boss wants to have some of his criminal behavior seen so he can hold it over the heads of his underlings. He can do it and get away with it so everybody else needs to watch out. The corruption by him going on in the middle east is staggering. The royals over there are delighted that all they have to do is bribe him, something they know well how to do.
493 chars
Sherri said on May 15, 2025 at 9:13 pm
Not only were the Afrikaner “refugees” greeted by a Deputy Secretary of State, which is never done, said Deputy wore a tie in the colors of the the apartheid South Africa flag: orange, white, and blue. Doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
https://puck.news/the-reinvention-of-christopher-landau/?sharer=9910&token=999fd531a4ba7a8bff52b6cd8db8608c
355 chars
Jeff Borden said on May 15, 2025 at 10:38 pm
All this bullshit needs to be chronicled and archived. History must know the names of those who sought to murder this country.
126 chars
alex said on May 15, 2025 at 11:31 pm
If I’m understanding things correctly, Trump is in bed with the Russian mafia, and has been for decades, and Republican pols know this and are afraid of getting shoved out of windows or worse. And the mainstream media are afraid to report this because it doesn’t pass the traditional smell tests of American journalism ethics to just publish rumors without facts to substantiate them.
384 chars
Suzanne said on May 16, 2025 at 11:10 am
I would say you have assessed the information correctly, Alex.
62 chars