Rush Limbaugh Is Dead, Good.

 

Rush Limbaugh died this week and I had no intention of posting about it. My good friend BOB posted a rant about people trolling and celebrating his death online, a pointed out one of our flaws as humans, especially in this digital age where it's so easy to shit on people. I agreed with his post. I hated Limbaugh, I still hate him. People will always tell you hate is wrong, but how can you know love, if you don't know hate and vice-versa. But I thought, why pile on. I know the pain his loved ones are feeling, they don't deserve that.

Or do they? As I saw Republican politicians and "conservative"/"right wing" media praising this man and celebrating his "accomplishments" and showing my sympathy and respect to him than they have for the 500,000 Americans who have died from COVID, or for the Capitol Police Officers who lost their lives from the attack on January 6th, I started thinking about what he actually did. What he said. Who he really was. He was an awful fucking person.

Why shouldn't people celebrate Rush's death. In the 90's, this fucking scumbag had segment on his show, where he read off names of gay people who died from AIDS, while playing bells, whistles and horns, celebrating their deaths. Hate and division were his art and he made millions off of it. 

"You're a foreigner. You shut your mouth or you get out."

"Blacks are 12% of the population, who the hell cares!?!"

"Let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."

"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals look like Jesse Jackson?"

"Holocaust 90 million Indians? Only 4 million left? They all have casinos, what's to complain about?"

"We need segregated buses."

"The NAACP should get liquor stores and practice robberies."

"Women still live longer than men because their lives are easier."

"Take that bone out of your nose and call back" (said to a black female caller)

"If ant race of people should not have guilt about slavery, it's Caucasians."

"Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."

Those are just a very small number of examples of Rush Limbaugh's sexism, racism and hate.   

Limbaugh lead the charge when it came to bashing "The Elites." Wait, what? Yeah, Millionaire, cigar smoking, on the best golf courses, pill popping junkie, five days a week rallied his ignorant listeners to hate "the elites," ignoring that he was one of them.

Republicans and Christian Conservatives gave Limbaugh great praise when he came out swinging and telling people Trump "wasn't a Republican." That was quickly followed by Rush, Christian Conservatives and the vast majority of the Republican Party laying down for Trump like a $10 Russian whore. Limbaugh carried Trump's "Birtherism" lie. He was a vocal COVID denier. And yes, he was one of the many loud voices pushing Trump's "Big Lie" about the election as well and a full throated supporter of the terrorists who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Maybe somewhere in his personal life, Rush Limbaugh was decent, but we never saw it and I find it hard to believe it was there to be seen. I don't want him to rest in peace. He can burn in hell. This bastard brought nothing good to the world and I don't think we should all place nicey-nice now that he's dead. He was a horrible person, fuck him!

Maybe I shouldn't have written this and stayed on the high ground. Does he win by his hate drawing out my anger? No! I've spent the last year using this blog and socially media (mostly) to call out lies, bullshit and hate and speaking truth. Sometimes that means getting in the mud, and I'm fine getting dirty.

Monday Moaning: "Is This America?"

 

A group of Capitol officers sat, defeated, crying, talking about what had just happened, one saying, "What the fuck was that? What the fuck? Is this America?"

That was January 6, 2021 after domestic terrorists attacked the United States Capitol. A black officer mentioned about the insane number of times he had been called a "nigger" that day. Police were beaten. One will lose an eye, one lost 3 fingers, one had a heart attack as the crowd dragged him down the stairs, beating him, trying to take his gun, and tasered him multiple times. 140 officers were injured. 1 was killed. 2 killed themselves after that day. All of this done by the hands of the people who screamed "Blue Lives Matter!" every time someone says "Black Lives Matter."  Every time a cop unjustly kills a black person, these people say "Back the Blue! Blue Lives Matter!" 

But then January 6, 2021 they attacked the Blue. Everything so many of us thought, was put on full display to prove our thoughts were right. To these Trump-loving, white supremacists, it was never about supporting Blue Lives, it was always about hating Black Lives. Blue Lives only Matter when they're killing Black Lives! 

There is video of a police officer being beaten with a flag pole, that has the idiot, "Thin Blue Line" Flag on it. Yes, I have great issues with that flag, and not only because it's been co-opted by White Supremacists.

What baffles me about these Trump-Cultists is they are the ones who claim to be the most Patriotic of all Americans. All Johnny Red-White-Blue...But their actions are the furthest thing from it. They wrap themselves in clothing with man's name all over it. They fly flags of a man's name instead of their country. Yeah, some fly both...Christ, some also fly the ignorant Confederate flag and the Nazi flag too. But I will never forget the moment on January 6, 2021 when attackers climbed scaffolding and cut down a United States Flag and hung a TRUMP flag in it's place. They have accepted to throw out Democracy and wish to have an Authoritarian ruler. 

These people aren't "Patriots" as they claim to be, or as Ivanka and Donald Trump praised them to be. They are Traitors. 

They committed treason. Treason is defined as: "the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government."

January 6, 2021 These people's intent was to overturn our election results, as well as killing Vice President, Mike Pence and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, the next two people that were in the line of succession of power. That shit is treason and the punishment for treason is: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death."

You know, last week I wrote about the "Super Bowl" and commented on how odd it was that it had been so long since I wrote about sports, considering I, not too long ago, co-owned, operated and for a sports blogging site. A friend of mine, who I met through blogging at "The Sporting News" commented how he liked it when I write about sports. 

I appreciate that. 

I know I have turned a lot of people off by mostly blogging and posting on social media about politics. There are moments when I get frustrated by it...Where I wish I could just write about the latest horrible trade the Cleveland (still) Indians made, or why the fuck the New York Rangers can's score AT ALL on the Power Play. The thing is, as much as I love the Rangers, it's just not that damn important. Not when you consider we have a large portion of our country that is willing to accept Authoritarian rule. When you have sitting members of Congress who are willing to accept that. Members of Congress who have sided with a would be dictator over their country and the citizens/taxpayers they represent. 

We have people who still say COVID isn't real, ignoring that 485,000 Americans have died from it. 

These aren't minor little things going on in our country right now. These are huge, terrifying problems. I have three kids and I want them to grow up in the America I grew up in, that was full of hope instead of fear. That stood up for what is right. That aspired to greatness instead of playing down to the lowest common denominator.

To answer the officer's question, yes, this is America...But it doesn't have to stay this way.

One last thing. Going back to both sports and treason. I have a great idea for next year's "Super Bowl" Halftime show. Every single one of the these traitors, receives their punishment for treason on live TV. Halftime Executions!  SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY! 

AOC is the Future of the Democratic Party

 

Last night Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had an Instagram Live where she discussed the events of January 6th from her point of view. She shared a great deal of personal information and insights to what was going on in the Capitol. She shared how she feared she was going to die and kind of made an acceptance that she may die. She conveyed her fear she had in a instance with a Capitol Police Officer. How she didn't trust him, was afraid of him, but also acknowledged she could have been projecting because of the intensity and fear of the situation.

Her fears were justified. If you have watched videos from that day, you can hear the domestic terrorists shouting "Hang Mike Pence!" You can hear attackers searching for Nancy Pelosi, calling out her name, talking about killing her. You can hear these criminals searching for AOC. Rep. Ayanna Pressley's another member of the "Squad" and her staff discovered while hiding from the attackers that sometime before the attack or before they got to their office, that all the panic buttons had been torn out. The threats of death to everyone in the Capitol was real.

But all this didn't stop idiots on the right from attacking her. I haven't heard any Republican politicians attack her about this, yet...(UPDATE: a day after posting this, Republican politicians have started attacking her for her comments)... but their supporters were off and running immediately last night. Far too many assholes on Twitter calling her trauma fake and just attention seeking...The same ones that needed time and wanted us all to give Trump time to deal with their trauma of losing the election!

What's even more sad about our state of affairs these day, Democrats knew assholes on the right were going to do this. So much so, that Rep. Katie Porter was on Lawrence O'Donnell's show immediately afterwards, not only confirming/backing up AOC's account, but sharing details from her perspective and conveying how she could see and feel her colleague's fear.  

The Right, from day one has always been on the offensive when it comes to AOC. Politicians, Right-wing/Conservative media, plain old Right leaning assholes and racists are always attacking her, trying to shout her down. They scream their favorite fear-inducing word, SOCIALISM while holding up a picture of her. They mocked her form not only not being a DC insider, but for being a bartender, because in their eyes having real life, real world experiences to go along with your education is a bad thing for politics...Which is hilarious now that one of the two top, QANON following, fresh faced Republicans in Congress is Lauren Boebert, who bartended, ran a restaurant and oh, didn't graduate from high school. But she got her GED while campaigning for Congress. (along with $70,000 from Ted Cruz. Wonder what she did for that)...So go ahead and mock AOC for having bartended! Assholes!

But why has the right gone after AOC so hard? Because they saw it well before most Democrats. They see she is the future of the party. They saw people gravitated to her because she is one of the people. She plays video games and chats with people on Twitch. She has Instagram streams like last night, openly communicating with people. She doesn't act like politician, she acts like person. Jesus Christ, why the hell do you think Ted Cruz is trying to play the Everyman? Dickhead's net worth is $3 million and his wife is a managing director for Goldman Sachs, and now he's trying to act like he's just one of us and cares about blue collar workers. Many Democrats still don't realize this. Many of them don't like her. 

 Listen, I'm a liberal guy. My father is a lifelong Democrat, Union guy and one of the smartest people I know. We agree on most things and if we don't, I hear him out completely because I know how smart he is and the lifetime of wisdom and experiences he has. He has said it to me, that he "Can't stand her" when talking about AOC. Further discussion on the topic, he shows his age and tinge of misogynism/ageism saying "She doesn't know how things work," and "she's too mouthy." So here, we disagree. Her being "mouthy" is part of her appeal to many, myself included. As for not knowing how things work, she does know, and that's why she is bucking the system. She knows how things in DC have worked, aren't working for the vast majority of Americans. 

My father and too many Democrats, feel things will be okay if we just keep the establishment politicians in office, doing the same old dance they have done for ages. What too many don't realize is the rise of Trumpism and the QANON Republicans has already changed the dance. There battle cry of MAGA: Make America Great Again sums it up. AGAIN is the key word. They want to go backwards. They want segregation. They want June Cleaver in the kitchen, in her dress, wearing her pearls, waiting on Ward Cleaver, hand and foot. They want some of the worst parts of America be normal AGAIN. 

AOC and "The Progressive Caucus " are the polar opposite. Progressive. They want us to move forward. Not just on racial issues. On fucking everything. The establishment Democrats move at a snails pace, many are just flat stuck in the mud. 

On Inauguration Day AOC bought supplies for 1400 striking workers of the Hunts Point Produce Market, in her district and then joined them in their strike. The market pulls in $2 billion in yearly revenue. The workers who have been showing up every day throughout COVID to help keep shelves stocked for over half of New York, were asking for a $1 per hour raise. The best offer they got was 32 cents. After AOC walked the line and got some national media coverage on the situation, the market came back to the table offering a $1.85 over the next three years and adding 40 cents per hour to employee healthcare. 

That is leadership. That's moving the needle. That's not just connecting to the people, but working for the people. That's what the country needs. That's the example the Democrats should embrace and follow. That's the future. No more going back to AGAIN!