I am captivated by this song by Bob Dylan. Here’s the chorus:

People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

It was released in May of 2000, and Dylan actually got an Oscar for it for “Best Original Song”.

Readers here can well imagine why this song, now almost a quarter century old, rings true today.

There are better examples than my current focus that exemplify what Dylan was saying, like the whole SCOTUS/POTUS thing, but bear with me.

On June 19th, Louisiana Republican governor Jeff Landry signed into law Louisiana House Bill 71, making it mandatory that The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) be displayed in every K-12 classroom in the state.

That was news enough, but tomorrow, July 4th, marks another day in Louisiana state history: Conceal-carry is legal in the State of Louisiana. 

Isn’t that strange? A state that perceives itself as a land of law abiding Christian faithful also needs a law that allows firearms to be carried in concealment?

Never mind that it forbids convicted felons from carrying concealed weapons (so sorry, TFG), and never mind that they’re still trying to keep the law unenforced in The French Quarter, what is up with this?

Can things get any stranger in this country?

Don’t answer that.

When does a Supreme Court decision on the issue of Presidential Immunity for official acts cover paying off a porn star for having absolutely no sex with you at all?

Right now, it seems.

Judge Merchan has decided that since TFG was president when he signed checks, in the Oval Office no less, to compensate Michael Cohen for his services in paying “hush money” to Stormy Daniels, we have to figure out if The Felonious Grifter had immunity to do so.

Never mind all of the other stuff that TFG is immune from, now that SCOTUS has blessed his ability to lie, cheat, and steal his way through life. This one, this checking whether the former President can write Cohen these checks and then report the checks as business expenses (that bought him his Presidency, some would say), really takes “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen”.

September 18 is the next available date that Judge Merchan has to sentence the former President of the United States for his 34 felonies.

Or will it be 33 felonies? Or 3?

Only time will tell. 78 days of it to be exact.

It was December 11th of last year when Special Prosecutor Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to pre-emptorily rule on whether a President has absolute immunity from prosecution.

This old ABC piece reminds us all that “hours after Smith filed his request Monday, the court said it would consider the request on an expedited basis”.

That article was printed 203 days ago.

And now we have the answer. The President is immune for their presidential acts, and is not immune from their non-presidential acts.

Oh, holy cannolli. A thousand lawyer jokes just flashed before my eyes.

The Truman Library lists what things a president can do and what things they can not do. Go look, we’ll wait.

See that?

Any surprises?

I had one. Where does it say that a President is not allowed to mow the carpet? I don’t see it listed anywhere.

So now we have to make a list of things that The Felonious Grifter did on January 6, 2021 and in the days leading up to it, and add two columns of check boxes next to them indicating whether they are “Presidential” or “Not Presidential”.

The Truman Library listed five things that a president can not do. Along with adding “no mowing of carpets, anywhere or anytime,” I hope to see that list expanded upon by thorough court review that should conclude sometime during President Newsom’s 2nd term.

If you’ve been paying attention, there is an America First movement ongoing in the United States.

The America First people claim to be a “501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan research institute” but if you scan their web pages you’ll quickly learn that using the term “non-partisan” in their mission statement is their most comedic moment.

“America First” is probably the most malignant concept ever to spring from the minds of treachery advocates. A good listen to Rachel Maddow’s “Ultra” podcasts will give you the backstory on these people. They are behind the “Peace Movement” that arose in our country before World War 2: a movement inspired by fascists and American Nazis to keep the United States out of World War Two.

They are reborn today in the extremist MAGA Republican agenda to install fascist-friendly candidates into government office.

Theodore Geisel, before he became Dr. Seuss, a beloved children’s book author of the type that “Brave Books” would never consider publishing, was a political cartoonist. His work to oppose America Firsters in the pre-war years is nearly forgotten.

So like Maddow’s effort to show how the MAGA Movement is nowhere near an original thought (America First was first), we present selections from the Seuss collection.

See if you can pick out the uncanny parallels.
Oh, and if you are looking for more free Sunday Doonesbury cartoons here, this is not the place. This, however, is. It’s just not as free as reading this blog.

Please excuse my Gen-Z use of the word “cringe”. It fits. I wish it wasn’t true, but if wishes were gold-painted basketball hightops, then TFG would sink a trey.

We have been seeing reactions from the CNN Debate for a day and a half now. Well, half of them, anyway. The half that we watch on our phones and flat screens.

The other half we don’t see at all except by accident.

The reactions I’ve seen on my side of the aisle are of two types: open convention vs. stay the course. I’m not here to advocate for either side because in my own mind it doesn’t matter.

Many Democrats, including those I know personally, are advocating for an “open convention.” That sounds fine. We can nominate Kamala or Gavin. They can both win against a 34-times over convicted felon, right? But then you have to defend your actions to die-hard Biden voters who do, in fact, exist.

Or we can stay the course, cross our fingers, and elect the 81-year old former stutterer.

It’s a Sophie’s Choice for sure. One option ensures a Democratic schism just as we had after the 1968 Chicago convention. The other gets us an octogenarian President who knows what “having the morals of an alley cat” means, but no one younger than a Gen-Xer does.

Either way, the outcome is, to put it the way JJ puts it, el caca del toro.

But that sure as H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks beats the other ballot option, doesn’t it? I may have been wrong about TFG showing up to the debate at all (I wish I wasn’t), but I don’t think I’m wrong in thinking that The Convicted Felon didn’t win over a single new voter last Thursday.

The lies, the obfuscation, and the refusal to answer moderators’ questions were all there for us to see.

TFG can dig his own grave. He really doesn’t need anyones’ help.

And no one who isn’t a captive of The Former Guy’s demagogery is saying I really want this guy to be president again.