Caffeinated Politics

01/16/2025

When we hear the lightweight nominees for the Trump administration talk, consider what the world faces and the incompetence that is all that is standing between us and disaster.

01/16/2025

01/16/2025

The annual number of billion-dollar disasters in the US has risen from around 5 in the ‘80s to 27 in 2024. The costs of climate change are too high — we can’t afford to continue this trend.

01/16/2025

I write it as I see it.

The Las Vegas odds-makers surely did not think Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst would do anything other than what was reported Tuesday night. She alerted the press she would indeed be supporting …

01/15/2025

Time for an honest assessment. My Wednesday column.

The Las Vegas odds-makers surely did not think Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst would do anything other than what was reported Tuesday night. She alerted the press she would indeed be supporting Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. Over the weeks it was reported she was concerned that some people on Twitter (X) were saying mean things about her (she must have never spent even an hour in her youth on a playground) while some powerful partisans were even threatening a primary in the Buckeye State if she did not heed their demands. The entire episode was another example of seriously shallow behavior as we witnessed the placing of one’s own political future above the nation’s needs. The very thing people claim they most detest about politics.

How Ernst arrived at a place in her thinking where the needs of the nation, the defense department, and future global situations were less important than how she was being mocked and threatened by partisan bullies is simply breathtaking. She allowed social media clamoring and over-hyped conservative males to be of more importance than ensuring the secretary is a serious-minded, highly informed, and moral person. With her profoundly sad capitulating to the harsh nuts in the Donald Trump orbit, she is saying it is just fine for a defense secretary to have been accused of r**e and sexual misconduct, frequently drunk at work, fragrantly engaged in financial mismanagement at veterans’ organizations which he led, repeatedly making comments and statements that disparaged women, LGBTQ people, Muslims, and others in the military. All that is fine for Joni if she is not picked on anymore!

The squishy lackluster resolve of Ernst is not my opinion, but rather a fact. The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer revealed a dark money group tied to Elon Musk had spent half a million dollars on ads pressuring Ernst to back Hegseth. (The New Yorker can be read for free from the public library via Libby, which is my way of coming across such articles.) In the end, the senator turned out to be nothing more than soft clay molded by others. Meanwhile, only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of Hegseth’s nomination, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs polling. About one-third of Republicans approve of him as a pick, and 16% disapprove. Another 1 in 10 Republicans are neutral and say they neither approve nor disapprove. But Joni signed on to a supporter of incompetence in the role of the defense secretary.

I have found throughout my life, as I view others around me, that the pitfalls one encounters in life often create a stronger resolve and a deeper and more empathic character when interacting with others. A guy who was an orphan became a married man who adopted kids needing a loving and secure home life. Black people who I knew faced the wrath of racism now work to build bridges in society to stem such behavior. I became a Big Brother to help someone much younger find a way forward in life. While we are aware that Ernst is a sexual assault survivor it would seem logical to assume she would stand firm against male sexual perpetrators. But no, she is supporting a man who was accused of r**e to be the defense secretary.

As a combat veteran, it was thought Ernst would stand up for the military and the women who fought for the nation. But, no she supported a nominee who tarnished the image of women who serve and continually undermines their contributions to our national safety by saying women should not serve in combat.

I am reminded of a historical connection to the actions of this scared senator who could be so easily frightened by threats and slurs. The energized and highly motivated men such as Sam Adams and John Hancock were figuratively placing their necks into the British nooses repeatedly as they spoke out and promoted in a determined fashion the ideas of liberty and freedom from British control. They had no way of knowing their actions would bear fruit, it could as easily have turned against the colonists, and many would have been found guilty of treason. We can be proud of the gritty resolve of those in the 18th century who stayed true to the principles they knew were grounded in strong arguments. We can also be glad that (outside of the at times timid and wavering John Dickinson from Pennsylvania), there was not a ‘Joni Ernst’ among the Founders. Where would we be if they all had been so weak as she proved to be this week?

The Las Vegas odds-makers surely did not think Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst would do anything other than what was reported Tuesday night. She alerted the press she would indeed be supporting …

01/15/2025

President Joe Biden said he was “deeply satisfied” with the Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal, hailing months of diplomacy by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.

“My diplomacy never ceased in their efforts to get this done,” he said in a statement. .

01/15/2025

Who says we do not have fun during the cold days of winter in Madison?

01/15/2025

After a second ice quake Wednesday morning I went across the street to see the result on Lake Monona. The lake ice had been flat before the quakes.

01/15/2025

About four minutes ago we had a very loud ice quake from Lake Monona that rumbled and rocked underground, rattled windows and the glassware in the hutch….I ran to basement to check furnace, not sure what was happening….called Linda she had done same and was about to call me. We get these when super cold for a period of time and in past they actually registered on a seismometer at the UW geology department. They happen on both lakes, and it does make for a weird sensation. About two seconds long. After that even caffeinated coffee seems a bit weak! Have a nice day.

01/15/2025

Did you know “The Carol Burnett Show” did a skit in the 1970s parodying anti-gay bigot Anita Bryant? The skit took place at a drag show in a gay club and Carol reworked one of Anita’s songs to make it about inclusivity. This was prime time network television 50 years ago. Carol Burnett has always been an ally.

01/15/2025

Jordan Klepper recaps Pete Hegseth's Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense, which featured Republicans pretending to vet the Fox News anchor a...

01/15/2025

Even though Trump is acting like a child, Mexico and Canada are acting like adults.

“Mexico and Canada know how to be good neighbors, no matter how much Donald Trump trashes them.

Over the weekend, Mexico sent a crew of firefighters to help fight the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles that have killed at least 24 and burned thousands of acres.

Canada is sending firefighters and airtankers to help extinguish the LA fires. It also has specialized technical staff as well additional equipment ready to be mobilized.

“We both know that Canada and the United States are more than just neighbours,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday. “We’re friends — especially when times get tough.””

Mexico and Canada rushed aid to help combat the LA fires because that's what good neighbors do. You listening, MAGA?

01/15/2025

Conservative Republicans at Trump inaugural are going to bring gay men back for a revival, singers and lewd moves long forgotten and perhaps never known to our younger generation. I wonder how many toaster ovens will be given away? Or is it now a Fry Daddy? I bet the Pillow Guy vies for top winner with Eric Trump. There is no way the latter is not light in the loafers.

01/15/2025

I was wondering when this vehicle would start to roll. It will be a massive concert and will raise lots of needed funds.

The record companies aren’t having their parties, but Grammy weekend just got a jolt. Music mogul Irving Azoff is organizing a mega concert called “Fire Aid” on January 30th at LA’s Intuit Dome. This should be along the lines of the “The Concert for New York” that was held after 9/11. .....