The Similarities Are Different

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"The parties are the same!" "They're ALL a bunch a crooks!" You hear both statements all the time from folks who don't do politics. Well, they're not wrong. US v. THEM has been the theme of life since the beginning of life. It is burned into religion, gender, motorcycle gangs, baseball teams and ALL aspects of politics for forever. It is the way it is and always will be. It's one of those things we just have to deal with.

I saw a similar sentiment from Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, on Bluesky the other day. She was laying out quite bluntly, as Don Leonard did above, how it is a foregone conclusion that Hakeem Jefferies will lead the new Congress in January, and Chuck Schumer will lead the Senate. AOC as much as said there was nothing she or we could do about it. It sucks, but it's the way things are done in both parties. To go against it is to be bullied into submission by the more senior members of the party. If you can't fathom this, you've never seen "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" or had anything resembling a job in your life. This, is life. It is the way things are done. It's also why we need term limits. 

I have no respect for either Hakeem or Chuck. There isn't a Jefferson Smith bone in either one of their bodies. They are the status quo and supermodels of complicity and deceit. Both, though American politicians, are steadfast in their love and support of Israel. Why is this? Very simply: because Israel pays them to put Israel first in their hearts and government wallets. Israel butters their bagels.Yes, Virginia, it's all about the money. Politics is Hollywood for ugly people. It's about power because power leads to money. 

Within minutes of the Democrat victory in the midterms, Hakeem was promising that there would be NO vengeance-seeking by Democrats when he was foregonely concludedly sworn in as House majority leader. It was time to move on and get things done- not punish the losers! Interestingly though, Trump and the losers still in power openly plot to punish every Democrat they can, while they can. They will (further) weaponize the Department of Justice to protect themselves from democratic efforts to seek accountability for Trump regime criminality. Isn't that crazy? The losers are going to persecute the winners, but the winners are going to set a good example by taking the high road and ignoring their slings and arrows, armed with good intentions. That's fucking insane. Hakeem has since come off of that a bit, but clearly that is a result of the backlash he received for being such a pussy in the first place. For some reason, house Democrats thought it'd be a good idea to jump right in to impeaching the truly awful War Secretary, Pete Hegseth before they get the big numbers in January. This seemed like it almost mightcoulda worked, but 11 house Dems didn't show up to vote. (They learned nothing from the midterms about volume) Now, there is a lot of talk about those 11 being ordered, or bullied into, not showing for the vote under the orders of Hakeem. Is that the case? Maybe. Probably. The words of AOC and Don Leonard seem to bear that out. Sure as fuck seems like it. But why, I'm not sure. While it seems like waiting until after January 3rd makes numerical sense, you can literally argue that bouncing Hegseth now would save innocent lives. He's that bad. Many republicans want him gone too. In fact, Thomas Massie spearheaded the move against him and he's republican. Massie has the Xmas photos of his family posing with guns to prove it. So, your guess is as good as mine as to whether it was too much/too soon or just dumb. It was shady all the way around. 

I understand that impeaching Trump is a bad idea. They tried and failed twice in his first term and the spin said it made him stronger and a martyr. That jagoff is the biggest crybaby victim who thought he was the toughest guy ever- to ever stalk the earth. Spinning politics is embarrassingly disingenuous and frivolous, but we expect it and we're used to it. Look at me- I'm spinning now! What the Hell do I know about anything? I'm just a retired commercial painter and bottom spanker! In what world does that make me qualified to have an opinion about anything?? Well, this one, where Donald J. Trump is a two-time elected president. It's kind of a free for all, folks. Anything goes.

While I recognize that it is this way, and it has to be this way; it doesn't fucking have to be this way! Historically, the weakest men among us gather together to become the strongest. They endeavor to get the numbers. You would think that the strong would be the ones running every show, but it rarely works out that way. The good and strong among us are generally the ones out there getting things done. Leadership is often left to the weasels because no one in their correct mind wants to be bothered with the never ending bullshit details of life, except those talkers who knows the right thing to say. When it all comes down to it, we do suffer fools gladly. Worse, we elevate them. Somebody has got to do it and our best and brightest don't want to be that somebody. That is why we get the Hakeem's, Chucks and Mike Johnson's of the world. We default to them because we don't want to be them. I totally get that.

We will fumble through the near future, like a Ferrerman fumbles through internet troubles and, well, other aspects of life, to be honest. All I know is I usually always eventually figure shit out. Don't try these stunts at home though. These stunts are performed by a professional (retired) and I mostly just get lucky anyway. Just remember the words of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus og "Hill Street Blues", who advised: "And hey, hey, hey- let's be careful out there". And the words of Bob Dylan who advised: "Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters." Good advice, indeed.