Category: Current Events

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Teh St00pid, It Burns

From Second Nexus:

GOP Senator Proves She Has No Idea What the Constitution Says With Mind-Numbing 'Abortions' Tweet

Throughout the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearings this week to consider Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's historic nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States, far-right Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee has interrogated Jackson with some of the hearings' most incendiary questions.

On the first day of hearings, Blackburn suggested Blackburn's "personal hidden agenda" was to embed critical race theory into the American legal system. On the second day, Blackburn demanded Jackson define the word "woman" and suggested she was soft on child pornographers. All the while, the Senator heaped praise on Jackson's family and composure.

On Twitter, Blackburn's opposition to Jackson's appointment was even less restrained. The Senator's timeline has offered a steady stream of quips decrying Jackson's near-inevitable appointment to the Supreme Court.

One such criticism attempted to discredit the idea that Americans have a right to an abortion, or rather, a right not to bear children.

Blackburn erroneously cited the Constitution.

Blackburn insisted to her followers that "The Constitution grants us rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — not abortions."

There's just one problem: the famous phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" isn't in the Constitution—the document that forms the basis of government in the United States and the document that created Blackburn's very position. Those words are from the Declaration of Independence, the letter wherein the 13 original colonies unanimously asserted their rationale for breaking from Britain, citing its disregard for "self-evident" truths that governments must recognize to warrant the consent of the governed.

For many Americans, it's been a long time since a civics or American history class. But for a Senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee tasked with considering the nomination of a historic Supreme Court appointment?

Social media users thought Blackburn should've known better, and they were quick to point out the error.

But it wasn't just the conflation of documents that sparked reactions, it was the entire premise of Blackburn's argument.

Today marks the final day of Judge Jackson's confirmation hearings, after which the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to advance her nomination to the Senate floor.

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Gas Prices

I haven't been inconvenienced by the latest gas price hikes. At least not yet. I'm not driving that much and I'm willing to pay whatever it takes at the pump if it helps to ensure that Putin is removed from power. Unfortunately, I know a lot of people don't have that luxury, and I fear the price increases we're seeing are more from corporate greed (Really? In America? Say it ain't so!) than an actual shortage of crude oil on the world market.

(I don't have any proof of that; I'm just talking out of my ass like everyone else on the Internet.)

I haven't had to fill up in over a week so I haven't felt the pain directly yet. The last time I filled the tank, Premium (which Rabbit drinks) was at $4.499 a gallon. As I was driving past my usual QT this morning, however, I noticed that the price had shot up to $5.099 a gallon, which seems to be the new norm in Phoenix according to GasBuddy. That was a bit of a shock, but not unreasonable, considering my level of consumption, but I can certainly understand how that would easily bankrupt people with lower incomes who have to drive every single day. Ben—who has a 90 mile round trip commute every day—is feeling the pain much more than me, but at least his car sips only regular grade petrol.

Right now, the worst case scenario for me (at current prices) is that if I run the tank dry (which I never do), it will cost around $64 to fill it every two weeks at this current price. Even at these higher prices, that's $32 a week, which was about what I was paying pre-pandemic when I was driving to work every day. (How that math actually works out I don't know; it gives me a stabbing pain when I try to wrap my head around it.)

What's going to be interesting is the week after next. We have a little road trip planned through New Mexico: 1400 miles total (more or less). With the mostly highway/street MPG I get from Rabbit and worst case scenario of $6.00/gallon (or more) gas, it's gonna be rather pricey, but both of us need this trip and we don't want to cancel at the last minute. I'll cover the cost of the gas since Ben got the hotel rooms. We'll come out about even.

It will be an interesting trip, that's for sure!

And Fuck Putin.

 

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Notable Quotes

For people who love to boast about Trump's cognitive tests, these people are having trouble remembering how much they loved Putin just a week ago. – Dan Rather

People are just blindly buying houses for hundreds of thousands over asking and that's fine everything is normal and fine. – Jesse McLaren

Say "war" in Russia and face 15 years in prison. Say "gay" in Florida and see what happens. Take your trans teen across state lines from Idaho and face arrest. See a pattern? – Barbara Malmet

What the hell kinda billionaire goes around begging people money to buy a private jet??? – Covie tweet

MAGA: "Hang Mike Pence!"
Mike Pence: "I'm sure they had their reasons." – John Collins
For Lent, I'm giving up Fundamentalist Right-Wing Christians 
who talk all about Jesus while ignoring all Jesus talked about. – John Fugelsang
We don't have enough psychiatrists to treat all these "patriots." – John Collins
If Russia didn't want us involved with Ukraine they shouldn't have involved themselves in our elections. – Tim Hannan
The Obama and Clinton foundations are fundraising to help Ukraine.
Trump is fundraising to buy himself a new plane.
American compassion vs. American greed. -7Veritas4 tweet
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And On A Much More Somber Note

These photos must be spread far and wide.

Putin must be removed…by any means necessary.

And as I posted earlier, don't whine to me about gas prices. Be grateful that you aren't sitting on a concrete floor in a subway station, holding your pets or your children, wondering where your next meal is coming from and if your home and everyone you love has been blown to bits.