It’s the July 4th holiday weekend as I type this. June was a difficult month — not because of any personal trauma (Carol and I celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary on June 7, so all’s good there) — but due to societal trauma: overturning Roe v. Wade and other inane SCOTUS rulings, more mass shootings, the ongoing quagmire in Ukraine, the startling revelations from the January 6th Committee…
But I guess Johnny Depp will look back fondly on the month.
This edition of the newsletter has a rhyming title since 4 of this month’s 5 posts were politically-themed poems. I suppose the only thing to do now is dive right in.
The Trump (and other political) Poems
Blast It All (June 3, 2022)
The 233rd mass shooting of the year occurred at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While the month ended with the signing of a so-called “bipartisan” gun bill, the first such legislation passed in nearly three decades — I’m not particularly optimistic that it will have much of an impact. There were a significant number of “no” votes in both the House and Senate, it does nothing in regards to assault weapons or large-capacity magazines or require universal background checks, and was almost immediately followed by the Supreme Court’s continuing disregard of stare decisis and subsequent dismantling of a long-standing New York State law limiting concealed carry.
Overdue Rant (June 19, 2022)
Your Favorite (Ex-)President made his displeasure with the work of Thompson, Cheney and Associates known, even before the bombshell testimony at month’s end from former Mark Meadows executive assistant Cassidy Hutchinson. Trump demanded “EQUAL TIME!!!” on his floundering and currently-under-subpoena social media platform.
Yes, please — he should appear in front of the committee under oath as Hutchinson and all the other witnesses so far have. THAT would for sure get him the ratings he so desperately craves and bring the end to his sociopathic behavior we so desperately need.
Faults Across Texas (June 21, 2022)
The Texas GOP passed a platform that is just stunning in its rejection of anything that doesn’t align with White Christian Nationalism.
If you haven’t read it yet — be my guest:
Wrong on Rights (June 27, 2022)
… and then there was this.
FactsOptional
Jest the Facts (June 11, 2022)
I did make an attempt, however feeble, at some straight-on “humor” during the month, just for a change of pace. You may judge for yourself.
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A weekend’s worth of celebrating “independence” in the face of the curtailing/removal of so many individual liberties seems contraindicated. I’ll mull that over with a burger in one hand and a beer in the other.