It was only a matter of time. We have apps for everything now. It was only a matter of time before some enterprising software designer would develop an app for racists and bigots. I had thought it would be an extension onto Google Maps known as the “whitest route” but sadly I was mistaken. As it turns out, The newest app for the bigoted American is called “Woke Alerts“.

Obviously, this story is hilarious on a lot of levels, but increasingly serious on a couple as well. When you read multiple descriptions of this particular service it becomes increasingly obvious what anti-woke really means. The terms racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic have never been palatable in polite society. So, let’s co-opt the term woke to mean something it really doesn’t mean so we can somehow slide in racism, chauvinism, and bigotry of all stripes under the dark of night and couch it as anti-woke and not what it really is.

The second truth is that Consumers’ Research’s business model becomes very apparent when you go to their actual website. It cost no money to get these alerts but obviously no one is doing this out of the kindness of their own heart. They are monetizing this in some way. In this case, they can sell all of these phone numbers and email addresses to conservative candidates, PACs, and fund raising groups because they know they have found their target audience.

As someone on Facebook pointed out, this service would be great if you could specifically put in a brand name and get a wokeness rating. Obviously, it doesn’t work that way. In this case, they send you a message every time a company has “gone woke.” I’m sure, it is only a matter of time before an adjoining message is attached, “and hey, would you like to give five bucks to Gene “Knuckledragger” Smith?” So, we ruin your favorite brand for you and get you good and pissed and then we turn the screws to you. “Budweiser and Coors have gone woke leaving you a choice between the evil imports, frilly microbrews, and Keystone Light. We remind you that Lauren Boebert is fighting against all of the evil urinators in the nation’s capital. Please send her five bucks or that woke homeless guy could pee on you.”

TFG has another 2024 challenger, this time from the Left Coast. Conservative radio commentator Larry Elder has just announced that he intends to challenge “his coupness” for the top spot on the GOP ticket next year.

Here on that coast, we are very familiar with Larry Elder, who is an unknown east of Lake Tahoe.

Elder ran in a field of 42 against California Governor Gavin Newsom when a gubernatorial recall was held in 2021 during Newsom’s first term. Elder came out on top of the vast field of challengers in that election, only to have the win canceled out by another vote that failed to oust Governor Newsom (by 23%).

Elder, a former enthusiastic TFG Republican, follows Asa Hutchison, Nikki Haley (both of whom were a tad more successful in their Governor races), Tulsi Gabbard, and Vivek “Someone’s-Gotta-Be-Last” Ramaswamy in declaring for our country’s highest office.

It was his support for TFG and his anti-choice stance that endeared his 3.5 million voters to him in 2021.

Millions of voters.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme on occasion. You see, this is nearly in reverse of what happened with Nixon in 1960-1962. In 1960, Richard Nixon, although losing to JFK nationally, actually won California’s electoral votes (narrowly, by less than 1%). So in 1962, with victory in the air, Nixon ran for California’s governor against a well-liked Edmund G. “Pat” Brown (you know, Jerry’s dad).

And lost by 5%.

Apparently, California trusted Nixon to run the country in 1960, but went all NIMBY on him 2 years later.

But when you have voters in the millions, maybe you lose your perspective on just how many millions of voters that is.

There’s a little town named Greenville, Texas, just east of Dallas. A guy in that town by the name of Nathan Donald Pelham, was fixing to face 3 misdemeanor charges for his participation in the January 6th insurrection. And then he screwed up.

On April 12, an FBI special agent called Pelham and asked him to surrender “in a few days.” You know, it was a misdemeanor so they didn’t think they were dealing with somebody who should have been sitting in jail for a year awaiting trial. Later that same day, the local police get a request from Pelham’s father to do a welfare check on Pelham, which they do.

The damn fool fired on them when they arrived at his home. One officer was missed by inches.

Get this:

Many the Jan. 6 defendants who have pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor charges against Pelham have been sentenced only to periods of probation.

So, the dude facing probable probation ain’t likely going to be celebrating Christmas at home – for several years.

Now comes the fun part. Right after the January insurrection …

Authorities said that after they obtained a search warrant, they found text messages on Pelham’s phone that suggested he entered the Capitol, according to court documents.

“If you have a video of being inside, don’t post it,” his wife is alleged to have written a day after the riot. “I know I am smart honey,” Pelham replied, according to court documents.

Obviously not all that smart.

It’s like they get up every morning and have to shoot some damn thing.

Take a deep breath.

No, no, it’s real.  Trump’s lawyer says he really wants to come to his trial – it’s a civil case so he’s not required to attend unless he’s subpoenaed – but, you know … it’s a hassle.

Former President Donald J. Trump wants to come to a Manhattan trial over allegations he raped a woman nearly 30 years ago, but he may stay away to spare New Yorkers the traffic jams, blocked streets and high security that would inevitably accompany him, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

To make his point about the hassle, Trump cited the ungodly mess when he was arraigned. But, when you think about it that’s Trump’s current profession – making an ungodly mess. I mean, he’s experienced at it and does it quite well.

Here’s the guy waddling all over the country making messes including his speaking to the NRA, attending the Ultimate Fighting Championship, his rallies, a deposition he gave at the New York attorney general’s office, oh damn, the messes he makes. He adores making messes so who does he think he’s fooling?

It happened innocently enough. I was chaperoning my daughter’s choir trip to Disney World. We were there in the Magic Kingdom and her director had allowed the children to disperse on their own. So, we could also disperse on our own. It was mostly a fantastic day. Waiting times were shorter for one person and I was able to ride almost everything. Unfortunately, shorter wait times did not mean no wait times. I had to wait 40 minutes at the Haunted House and it was the worst 40 minutes of the day.

A little boy and his family walked by. No one knew them. He and his sister were wearing princess dresses. He and his attire dominated the conversation for the next ten to 15 minutes. Was he trans? Was he gay? Was he a bisexual? Was he a metrosexual? Or, was he simply a four year old buy wearing a dress. Moreover, why should I, these people, or anyone else really care all that much? Out of thousands of kids in the park that day, he was one little boy wearing a dress.

Of course, they went on to extoll Ron DeSantis and his culture wars with Disney. One of them was diabetic like me. She was testing her blood sugar using the old-fashioned prick method and complained about it. I thought about telling her about my Freestyle Libre. I decided not to get involved. The Freestyle Libre can be expensive without good insurance. Yet. here was a perfect microcosm of what the outrage machine has wrought. People back a party that explicitly aims to keep them subservient with inferior care and torches them economically at every turn. Yet, they hate the LGTBQ+ community. They hate the trans kids. They hate woke.

Somehow we have succumbed to the politics of scale. The outrage machine draws us in too. They want us to react. They need us to react. So, they can use that reaction to further rile up the base. Listen, do you hear these libtards defending drag queens and transkids? The ultimate answer is that we have to care less. That statement is very intentional. We should continue to care, but we have to focus our energies on things that directly impact us. There are people here that are directly impacted by these things. We have to be an ally for them, but we also cannot forget the politics of scale.

I explain this by drawing three circles. The inside circle is about us and us alone. Does the particular issue at hand have an effect on me personally? If the answer is no then I move to the second circle. Does it impact someone I love and care about (be it family or friends)? In some cases this will literally be true. Obviously, we should continue to fight in that circumstance. What I imagine though is that most people (at least the ones rabidly for or against something) may have someone they know that this particular issue impacts. Worse, some people may not know anyone personally impacted.

We cannot allow the outrage machine to draw us into unnecessary conflict. If I casually know someone impacted or know no one impacted then why I am fighting on this issue? Shouldn’t my time be better spent on issues that directly impact me or my family? It doesn’t mean we stop fighting for the rights of the disenfranchised. It doesn’t mean we give up hope on a more inclusive society. What it does mean that if we focus on meat and potato issues where we have near universal agreement across political spectrums then the so-called bigots and homophobes will lose. Outrage and bigotry is all they have. If you take that away from them by ignoring the incendiary rhetoric then you can get them out of office and ultimately out of our lives.

Dominion has agreed to drop its suit against Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News for a $787.5 million payoff.

Well, what did you expect?

Fox will pay up but it doesn’t have to do anything else. No mea culpae, no rolling heads (yet), no ashes, and not one damned sackcloth.

Did you expect a comeuppance? A courtroom drama?

I’m a Half Empty kind of guy and was not vexed or surprised at today’s news.

Disappointed? Well, yes. Surprised? No. Forget popcorn. The 7- course meal we were all promised by the MSM will never happen.

So, OK. For everyone who was sharpening knives for the feast, here is what you get:

“…the network acknowledged the determination of the judge in the case, Eric M. Davis, that the 20 statements at issue were false. ‘We acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false’, the network said.”

Now, about that Smartmatic suit…