As I worked on this piece this afternoon, I was watching the Capitol Rotunda memorial service for Jimmy Carter and was struck by how his passing is really the end of a long chapter of US global leadership and the beginning of what I fear will be a long chapter of darkness, cruelty and corruption.  Case in point, here’s what happened during the trip of Carter’s remains from Georgia to DC:

1. Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) announced that Trump’s ass smells really good and that he is converting these social media platforms to open sewers of Nazis, nuts, and weirdos to be more like Xwitter.  Zuckerberg said he’s fired all of the company’s fact checkers hired after January 6, and converted to a user based comment program to monitor posts for facts.  One only need spend two minutes on Xwitter to see how well that works (Hint: It doesn’t).

2.  As if that wasn’t enough, Zuckerberg also announced that he’s added Dana White, Trump butt buddy and CEO of UFC, which specializes in pay per view broadcasts of dumbasses beating the shit out of one another in a cage.

3. Judge Eileen Cannon (yes, THAT Eileen Cannon) stepped in today to again protect Trump from any legal consequences for his charged crimes by stopping the DOJ from releasing Jack Smith’s final report on his investigation of Trump’s federal crimes.  The order is effective until the Eleventh Circuit rules on Smith’s appeal of the cases which means the reports will likely never see the light of day.

4. In a rambling press conference diatribe today at Mar a Lago, Trump blathered on for over an hour about a number of pet issues including pardoning the criminals who conspired against the US government and attacked the US Capitol at his direction, invading Greenland and Panama with the US military, annexing Canada by force, and renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.  These, along with spending trillions of dollars in mass deportations, are his primary policy positions for taking office in a few weeks.

And that was just today.  So, like Susan, this old man has made the decision to ride off into the sunset.  In a way, it’s difficult to do so, but I think it’s time and I’m hopeful that younger, stronger souls can pick up the flag and continue marching forward.  I don’t have the drive I had even a few years ago though the fire still burns, and I just can’t face another 4 years of fighting the darkness, lies, and cruelty that come with Trump.  I am very grateful to Susan for inviting me to join her some years ago after we shared the same politics for years prior to me joining her in The Salon.  I’ll still be baking bread and brewing beer (yeast is your friend), but will be doing it for my own edification when it suits.  I appreciate all of you, our customers, even those who don’t necessarily share my views on certain subjects, and I wish all of you well.

Adios.