I don’t have much to say today but this made me laugh.

I’m Anderson Cooper created Covid because everyone’s a secret Muslim. Admittedly, they don’t have my favorite color, which is shiny.

That’s gonna be hard to beat but please feel free to try.

I hate to bring up old news. However, in this case it was unavoidable. My family and I were on vacation last week and we were on a strict no politics policy. Even with that policy a little slips in here and there and even the most magical place on Earth can’t keep everything out. We watched with glee as hundreds of people left the latest Trump rally early.

As one can imagine, there are hundreds of things that run through your head in moments like these. Most of these things are of the fantasy variety. All of us has that fantasy where a friend, colleague, or family member abandons their delusions and admits that we were right all along. Who knows, maybe this was the case for some of these folks. Sadly, I don’t think that’s the case for most.

As a kid, I remember watching a rerun of a “Wild West” episode. A deformed man inserted himself as the power behind the throne. He propped up another man to be the governor of Arizona, so he could wreak his havoc on an unsuspecting public. When his front man faltered he tried to pick up the mantle. No one was buying. The message was the same, but they just couldn’t accept the messenger.

The secret behind Trump was always that he was an empty vessel. He simply said the things that everyone was thinking and said it out loud so they didn’t have to. Those that walked away said all the right things. They were bored. They had bad seats and couldn’t hear or see well. They had heard it all before. The reality is that they suddenly saw a deformed man. He had become the loser that he had accused John McCain and Mitt Romney of being. If you search the interwebs for videos you can actually hear Trump’s voice as they were walking away. It was very reminiscent of that Wild West episode.

This is both good news and bad news. The good news is that no one is really afraid of Trump. They are afraid of Trump’s base. If his base is leaving then everyone will eventually abandon him as well. The bad news is that they are bored of the messenger and not the message itself. They see him as a loser. They don’t see the message as a loser. So, they lay waiting for the next charismatic jackass to make his or her way to the stage. Who knows who it could be this time.

Moments like these come with windows of opportunity. The window is often very slim and short. It involves finding a way to convince those that walked away that it is the message that is stale and not the messenger. The silver lining is that we don’t need most of them. A simple five percent shift in politics is huge in a national or statewide election. That’s really all we need. Many of these people are in a vulnerable place and if we alienate them now they will just search for the next shining star. Many of them will anyway. Some just need an excuse to champion the next buffoon so they don’t have to say these things themselves.

Because everybody loves a parade, it is shocking that one of our favorite guys couldn’t draw a crowd big enough to move a couch much less a political campaign.

Remember this charming couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who pulled weapons on a Black Lives Matter parade down their street?

Well, he kicked off his campaign for Senate this week on his one year anniversary of keeping the neighborhood safe for privileged white lawyers wearing dirty, tacky clothes.  The newspaper says that tens of people showed up, even with free food and big names draws.

Initially, fellow criminal and proponent of armed coups Michael Flynn was scheduled to speak, but he was subbed out for North Carolina Congressman and notably dumb guy Madison Cawthorn, who also did not show up.

Pillow magnate and unhinged lunatic Mike Lindell piped in a prerecorded message of support, as did war criminal Oliver North, probably as a consolation prize since Flynn was presumably too busy plotting out his own future crimes to make an appearance.

They roasted a whole pig, which was kinda appropriate, but even that would only draw a couple dozen people and a few umbrellas —

McCloskey is joining a crowded race to replace two-term Republican Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). His competitors in the Republican field include scandal-scarred former Gov. Eric Greitens and state Attorney General Eric Schmitt.

Kinda makes me want to move to Missouri and vote in the Republican primary.

It started innocently enough. I was perusing social media when I saw a “friend” use an analogy. He said the current administration was like a Chick Fa La being run by someone from McDonald’s. Of course, the implication was that the previous administration was Chick Fa La. Like I said, it begins innocently enough.

It starts with the disbelief. It is hard to have lived through the last five years and somehow come out thinking that it was all a well oiled machine like Chick Fa La. Chick Fa La has become the gold standard in fast food efficiency since the pandemic. No one is allowed inside, lines loop around the block, and yet people are able to get in and out and minutes.

This is the image you think of when you think of the Trump administration? Somehow, when you think of the current administration you think of a lesser form of organization? This would have been knee slapping hilarious if it weren’t so tragic.

Then, a second wave hits me. It’s the realization that these folks are reality impaired. When you watch a steady stream of Fox News, OANN, and live on a steady diet of conservative social media bubbles it can certainly seem like your Chick Fa La has been taken over by the McDonald’s manager. Maybe they just don’t know what good government is.

Finally, I reach the last conclusion one can reach. They know exactly the kind of government they want. It’s the kind of government that works for people like them. It’s the kind of government that doesn’t work for anyone else. When they see government working for others they get angry. That’s not what government is supposed to do.

With all deference to those referring to the election lie as the “Big Lie” I will have to respectfully disagree. The Big Lie has always been that government doesn’t work. The image of the incompetent bureaucrat has been around as long as I can remember and it probably goes back further than that.

This image serves two purposes. Competent conservatives use it to convince us that government is bloated and that it is incapable of making our lives better. They use this image to justify cutting social programs to the bone to justify their tax cuts for the rich. No one wants the image of taking food out of the mouths of the starving so Richie Rich can afford another yacht. So, instead we have the image of welfare queens in Cadillacs sitting around and eating bon bons.

Incompetent conservatives use the image for a different purpose. They use the image to distract you because they themselves have no idea of how run a government. They run the roughshod lemonade stand by the side of the road that squeezes lemons into cups of water and calls it lemonade. You can become convinced that it is Chick Fa La. You can be convinced if that stand has been there for a number of years. You can be convinced because they have conditioned you to believe that Chick Fa La just isn’t possible.

It isn’t that Chick Fa La isn’t possible. It’s that they really don’t want Chick Fa La. They’ve become accustomed to the lemonade stand by the side of the road. Sure, the overdressed water sucks, but they’ve become used to it. More importantly, they are convinced that no one else deserves more either. That’s the real tragedy here. In order to prevent others from getting more they are convinced they are getting the government they deserve. It’s Stockholm Syndrome pure and simple.

The American Council of Bishops is strongly considering denying the Eucharist to Joe Biden. To understand the gravity of this, one needs to understand exactly what the Eucharist is. For centuries, the Catholic church have been the only group to believe in something called transubstantiation. Put simply, this is the belief that the host one receives actually becomes Jesus Christ.

Again, that’s pretty heavy stuff. However, it is also the thing which separates us from all of the other Christian churches. Sure, we have rules and regulations. All of them do. Sure, we have traditions. All of them do. We have idiosyncrasies that people believe about us that aren’t true. As a Catholic I get these questions all the time. They can become tiresome, but most people are asking innocently enough.

The Eucharist is the very center of our faith. It is the very reason why we go to mass. It is the thing I miss the most when I don’t go and it is the thing that has been a hole during the pandemic. The church offers a spiritual alternative for those that are unable to go, but that hardly measures up. So in short, it’s the whole ballgame.

Catholics are taught from a very early age that they are not supposed to receive the host if they have a mortal sin on their conscience. I’m certain this is where the bishops are getting their mojo to deny Biden. However, I have never witnessed any priest deny anyone the host that comes up to receive it. It is supposed to be a personal decision that is governed by the individual and their conscience.

While this rule has been in place as long as I’ve been a Catholic, the mechanics of it really have never made much sense. We are receiving God. We are receiving God’s grace. God’s grace is given freely to anyone that chooses to accept it. How are we as mere mortals supposed to decide who is worthy of that grace?

How do we decide that Joe is not worthy, but Sally over here is? We are all sinners. We all need God’s grace. Forget heaven for now. Sometimes, that grace is something I have needed to get through the week or even through the day when I attended daily mass. The president of the United States certainly can use God’s grace. He attends mass regularly. By most accounts he is a good and decent person. I’m still not sure what the problem is here.

Except we all know what the problem is here. Biden is politically Pro-Choice. Privately I’m not sure what he is exactly. That describes millions of Catholics across the country. It describes me. I believe in the sanctity of life. The funny thing is that this extends to the death penalty and wars of choice as well. Yet, those same bishops have no problem supporting politicians that support the death penalty and tend to be hawkish. Yet, they are somehow free to receive God.

I don’t know if being Pro-choice is a sin. It’s a complex situation that has any number of perspectives and theologians will certainly disagree. I do know that we can support people’s rights to choose what is right for them without necessarily agreeing with the choices they make. That extends to a whole lot more than just abortion. We can accept them. We can love them. I certainly believe my God does and I don’t think any human should say otherwise.

Mike Crapo is a US Senator from Idaho.  An actual US Senator.  And he tweeted THIS today:

Clearly, after the Twitterverse erupted, he deleted the tweet and issued a second one.  It’s still factually incorrect since Bradley’s body was actually recovered in 1943, but not identified until recently.

Today, Navy Fireman 2nd Class Carl Bradley returned to rest in Shelley. 80 years ago, he left to serve his country. He was killed in action aboard the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, & his remains found earlier this year. May we remember his eternal sacrifice. pic.twitter.com/5Un8g8JpQV

— Senator Mike Crapo (@MikeCrapo) June 27, 2021

I’ve enjoyed this immensely on a Sunday afternoon.  LOL.