Monthly Archives: July 2024

yes, but…

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Yes, Joe Biden is old and didn’t do well in a debate. Yes, he’s lost a step (or two) and he needs his sleep. Yes, his cooperation in the genocide in Gaza is monstrous. He wasn’t my first choice in 2020–he wasn’t even in the top five on my list of candidates–but he’s been a much better and more effective president than I hoped he’d be. He’s still far from an ideal candidate.

Has there been too much emphasis on his age? Maybe. Has there been too much fuss about his debate performance? I think so, yes. Yes, but…what about the other guy?

…but this fucking guy?

Let’s not forget what Donald Trump has accomplished. In no particular order, he…

  • tried to block Muslims from entering the country
  • instituted a border policy that separated children from their families, then couldn’t find many of those children because of bureaucratic incompetence
  • evicted reporters who asked tough questions from the White House press briefings
  • hired his daughter and son-in-law, neither of whom were qualified, to work in the White House and ordered they be given security clearances they didn’t merit.
  • fired the FBI director for refusing to halt the investigation of his ties to Russia, then bragged about firing the FBI director to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador
  • unwittingly revealed highly sensitive intelligence to those same Russian diplomats IN THE OVAL OFFICE for fuck’s sake
  • couldn’t be bothered to take part in daily intelligence briefings and wouldn’t read most Intel reports unless they included photos
  • refused to release his tax returns
  • withdrew the US from the Paris accords to combat climate change
  • withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Iranian nuclear deal, designed to check Iran’s fuel enrichment and uranium conversion 
  • withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership between 12 Pacific Rim economies designed to reduce their dependence on Chinese trade 
  • suggested the US should try to buy Greenland
  • reduced environmental regulations protecting the public from mercury and asbestos, and stopping coal companies from dumping toxic waste into rivers
  • opened millions of acres of federal lands to development and drilling
  • diverted US$3.8 billion of military funding to build approximately 177 miles of fencing/wall
  • seriously mismanaged the Covid pandemic, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands
  • promoted the use of an antiparasitic medicine used to treat roundworm infections as a prophylactic against the coronavirus
  • privately told journalist Bob Woodward that Covid was deadly while deliberately downplaying the risks and dangers in public
  • eliminated the White House office of pandemic response
  • tear-gassed hundreds of peacefully gathered protesters on Lafayette Square in order to hold a photo op of him holding a Bible in front of a church
  • refused to condemn Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia after MBS ordered the execution and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based journalist for the Washington Post
  • later bragged about protecting MBS and Saudi royalty after the Khashoggi scandal
  • played a shit ton of golf almost exclusively at his own resorts; spent about two days of every week at one of his properties during his tenure as POTUS
  • tried to convince the G7 to hold a meeting at one of his golf resorts
  • tried to get the PGA to hold the British Open at his golf course
  • charged the Secret Service exorbitant rates for protective agents to stay at his golf resorts
  • repeatedly lied about winning golf tournaments
  • abandoned Kurdish allies after their help in fighting ISIS
  • vetoed a defense funding bill because it included renaming military bases that were named after Confederate soldiers
  • withdrew US troops from Syria, allowing Russian troops to occupy former US bases, which prompted Sec. of Defense James Mattis to resign in protest
  • refused to commit to supporting and defending NATO allies
  • called soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, and refused to attend a D-Day event honoring US war dead because it was raining
  • banned transgender people from serving in the military
  • claimed the US military had no ammunition under Obama
  • praised military dictators and authoritarian regimes while criticizing traditional US allies
  • did nothing after learning Russia paid members of the Taliban a bounty for killing US Marines
  • publicly took Vladimir Putin’s word on Russian election interference over the analysis of the US intelligence community
  • held a private meeting with Putin with only a translator present, ordered translator to destroy the notes, failed to disclose the meeting, which became public through Russian news media
  • passed massive tax cuts for the wealthiest
  • claimed he should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
  • claimed he was offered Time’s Man of the Year but refused it
  • claimed he made it possible for people to say “Merry Christmas”
  • claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War (AJ died before the Civil War began)
  • thought there was an African nation called Nambia
  • maybe shit his pants a few times, I don’t know, I’m just saying is all
  • stole SCOTUS seats with the help of Mitch McConnell
  • called the news media the “enemy of the people”
  • was found liable, along with his two adult sons, for fraud and fined nearly half a billion dollars
  • found liable for sexual assault and defamation, fined US$ five million.
  • found liable for re-defamation and fined another $83 million
  • found liable in Trump University fraud and forced to pay $25 million in restitution to students
  • was required to shut down Trump Foundation after it was found to have committed fraud and misappropriated funds
  • was indicted for a whole lot of felonies relating to the insurrection and fraud and obstruction of justice and illegally hanging on to all manner of confidential and secret documents
  • was convicted of 34 felony counts by State of New York and is awaiting sentencing
  • gave Rush Fucking Limbaugh the Presidential medal of Freedom
  • gave Ed Meese, Reagan’s AG who was involved in the illegal Iran-Contra affair and resigned in disgrace after a corruption scandal, the Medal of Freedom
  • had a 92% staff turnover rate in the most influential positions within the executive office
  • thought the Virgin islands had a President
  • used a Sharpie to ‘correct’ a map in an absurd effort to to justify his claim that Alabama was under a hurricane threat
  • suggested using nuclear weapons to somehow stop a hurricane
  • threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders who criticized him or failed to thank him
  • put Louis DeJoy in charge of the Postal Service even though DeJoy had clear conflicts of interest by being CEO of a company that did business with USPS
  • tried to pressure the president of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on Joe Biden
  • got impeached
  • staged an insurrection
  • got impeached again
  • refused to concede the 2020 election
  • refused to even attend Biden’s inauguration
  • ordered member of his administration NOT to comply with Congressional subpoenas
  • stopped holding press briefings for months at a time
  • suggested that wind turbines cause cancer and drive whales ‘batty’
  • stared directly into an eclipse like a goddamned idiot
  • and did a whole bunch of other awful shit that I’ve forgotten about
  • promises to do sparkly new awful shit in the future, especially now that he’d be free from the fear of criminal prosecution

Almost every single day of the Trump administration was a tightrope walk, waiting to see what new scandal, what new form of corruption, what inevitable act of incompetence, what unanticipated moment of galactic ignorance, what novel example of naked greed would lead the day’s news cycle. It was fucking exhausting. He’s ready and eager to do it again.

But, yeah, Biden is old and needs a nap. His knees are brittle and he walks stiffly. The White House probably spends a fortune on Ensure.

almost, almost…

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Yesterday, to distract myself from the SCOTUS-induced alternating rage/depression cycle, I sorted through some of the photos I shot at Saturday’s Farmer’s Market. And there was one photograph that…well, wait. I need to back up a bit. Two things.

First thing, a reminder: I recently bought a new camera, a Ricoh GR3x. It’s unlike any camera I’ve ever owned. To begin with, there’s no viewfinder; you compose the photo using the rear LCD screen. I was actually hesitant to buy the camera because of the lack of a viewfinder (yes, you can buy an attachment viewfinder, but that’s more coin and fuck that.) Composing with an LCD screen seems wrong; that’s what you do with your fucking phone. To my film-trained mind, it’s NOT how you use a camera. And yet, with the GR3x it turns out to be surprisingly handy and intuitive. Old dog, new tricks.

Second thing: Alex Webb. He’s a street photographer who’s famous for extremely colorful and complex photos. When I say ‘complex’ I mean many/most of his photos are composed in a way that organically divides and separates the elements within the frame into what could be different, distinct photos. I’m not going to include an example image here because when I publish this and post the link on various social media, there’s a good chance it’ll feature Webb’s photo instead of the photo I’m writing about; I don’t want people to think I’m taking credit for Webb’s work. But seriously, if you’re not familiar with this guy, do a quick image search. He’s amazing.

So, back to the opening paragraph, me sorting through Saturday’s photographs. At the Farmer’s Market I noticed a woman comforting her dog (which looked to be some sort of spaniel/poodle mixed breed) behind a vendor’s booth. The dog had apparently been overexcited by the crowd. There was something very sweet about their interaction and I wanted to photograph it. Having recently re-examined Alex Webb’s work, I thought it would be cool to include the vendor in the shot. But there was a guy who kept moving in front of me (I think he thought I was trying to cut in front of him to get the vendor’s attention). I’d shift to one side hoping to get a shot, and the guy kept shifting with me. With each step, I was losing sight of the woman and her dog. Just as I was about to give up, I saw a mother & child walking by behind the vendor.

I took the photo.

Not a great photo, but the potential is there.

Okay, it’s not a great photo. But I like it because it’s as close as I’ve ever come to shooting something almost almost in Webb’s style. Not in terms of color (my photo is rather drab in terms of color), but because the frame can be visually divided into three distinct image areas. The woman and her dog, the vendor, and the mother and child. Granted, the original idea of the woman and her dog largely gets lost, and the image is badly off balance…but still, there it is.

The thing is, if I’d been using a camera with a viewfinder, I wouldn’t have seen the mother and child before they entered the frame (and yes yes, if you’re shooting with a rangefinder camera you can keep your left eye open, which allows you to see outside the camera frame, but that only works if you’re right-eye dominant…and I’m not; I compose with my left eye). If I’d been using one of my usual cameras, I’d have missed the shot.

The GR3x allowed me to compose this photograph thoughtfully and almost instantly. It’s not a great photo by any means, but it demonstrates (to me, at least) this particular camera’s potential to catch unique, unexpected moments. I understand why this camera is beloved among many street photographers.

I don’t do much street photography. I’m not particularly good at it, but I enjoy it. But I also believe in practicing in public, in showing work that doesn’t quite meet my standards for what the work could be. So this is why I’ve inflicted this photo and this blog post on you. Thanks for being patient.

fuck everything, especially those guys

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Yeah, I’m talking about those Nazgûl motherfuckers on SCOTUS. Like almost everybody I know, I spent yesterday vacillating between 1) feeling depressed and helpless and 2) wanting to set fire to the entire combustible world. The decision yesterday that POTUS (and Trump in particular) is essentially above the law was appalling and frightening, but the fact that it was delivered in smug terms by the most conspicuously corrupt and openly partisan SCOTUS in history was insulting. It’s like they’re standing there, grinning in their black robes, saying “Fuck yeah, we’re corrupt. And ain’t nothing you plebs can do about it.”

Justice Sotomayor, in her properly raging dissent, wrote, “in every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.” And she’s right. That whole notion that nobody is above the law has gone straight down the porcelain facility. This is an unprecedented fuckwankery. This is deep fuckwankery; fuckwankery down at the cellular level. I mean, the spouses of two of the Justices (Alito and Thomas) openly supported the insurrection/insurrectionists, and yet those two tainted pricks didn’t have the fundamental sense of decency to recuse themselves from the case.

What makes this even more galling is the fact that those arrogant motherfuckers on SCOTUS were put on the bench by partisan politicians who represent a minority of US citizens. A combination of partisan gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the absurdity of the Electoral College means that the US is largely ruled by the minority. And in recent years, that minority cheated, lied, and wriggled around enough to install three partisan hacks onto the SCOTUS bench.

Wipe the smiles off the faces of 6 of these corrupt wankers.

Every single one of the Justices sitting on this SCOTUS testified under oath that they respected stare decisis, the legal concept that courts should follow precedent. At least six of them lied about that. This Court has largely shat all over precedent. For almost half a century, Roe guaranteed a woman’s right to choose. That’s gone. The Bakke decision on race-conscious admissions in higher education was the law of the land for almost as long. Not any more. For 40 years, Chevron — Jesus suffering fuck, people, there have been 70 SCOTUS and some 17,000 or so lower court cases based on Chevron, which states courts need to defer to the experts in various regulatory agencies when deciding how to interpret a law. A judge probably doesn’t know enough to decide what level of exposure to a certain chemical or substance would be harmful to a child. A judge probably doesn’t have a fucking clue about the long term effects of effluent run-off from a hog containment farm into a local river upstream from a small town. Experts need to decide this shit, not judges. But nope, this SCOTUS has turned that power over to elected or appointed judges.

Wait…I forgot bribery. Last week, this SCOTUS (and I am NOT MAKING THIS UP) made the bizarre decision that while it’s illegal for a public official (like, say, a mayor or a member of Congress, or possibly a judge) to accept a bribe, it’s perfectly for fine for them to accept a gratuity. A bribe is the offer of money (or something of value) from a person/entity before the public official makes a decision affecting that person or entity. A gratuity is accepting the same fucking thing after the decision is made. Seriously, the Court says bribes are bad but gratuities are okay. This decision was written by the Justice whose massive credit card debt was mysteriously paid off before he was nominated. You know who I’m talking about–the guy reliably accused of sexual assault. That guy. (Okay, Kavanaugh.)

If you’re reading this hoping that at the end I’ll suggest some way to make you feel better about the situation…sorry. If you’re hoping I’ll cobble together ideas for a way forward, or maybe offer some practical advice on how to minimize the damage…nope. Maybe tomorrow or at some point in the future. For now, all I have to say is let yourself be angry or depressed for a while. Maybe just be numb for a while.

But pretty soon we’ll need to get over it and resist. Resist in any way we can. Resist in every way we can. But today it’s literally raining here in the heartland, and for today that’s fine.