My fellow Americans... I have my pick for President of the United States in 2024.

Representative Jeff Jackson of North Carolina's 14th District is everything right now. His TikTok is mind blowing. He’s effectively the anti-politician, and for this he’s respected on both sides of the aisle. He’s a Democrat, but Republicans regularly comment about how he would get their vote. And that's what we need.

Brutal honesty, transparency, and accountability is what EVERY AMERICAN WANTS and the political party is incidental.

This guy does not give a single fuck about party affiliation when it comes to calling out wrongdoing. He made that abundantly clear in his latest (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

Why can't more politicians be like this? We've got Democrats propping up straight-up asshole criminals like Nancy Pelosi whose husband clearly manipulates stocks based on insider knowledge (she denies it, of course, but come on... how many fucking coincidences do you need?). Republicans won't end their adulation of Twice-Impeached Former-President Trump despite the mountains of evidence that he's very clearly a fucking criminal (seriously... have you read his indictments and NINETY-ONE CRIMINAL COUNTS? Jesus! It's all right there! How can anybody think he's innocent?). And that's the way it goes. Asshole criminal politicians everywhere you look. They spend more time covering their asses than they ever do being concerned about the citizens who elect them.

Except my guy.

Who I fully admit I'm suspicious of. Because he's just too good to be true. The more him I research the more I like him (Wikipedia has a nice summary). The guy works hard. He's very smart. He tirelessly crusades for government transparency. He wants people to support him not because of any party affiliation he has, but what he does. He's in the National Guard reserve and was called to duty at the end of his very close Senate race. He didn't defer. He went. Despite the fact that it might cost him the election. He still won.

I wish every American would take the time to go to his TikTok and really listen to what he's saying. At least while you still can. Because of course the fucking piece of shit dark money advocates are trying to silence him.

Of course they are!

He's a threat to absolutely everything these assholes stand for: OWNING THE GOVERNMENT. And they don't want you to know how the government works and what they're doing (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

I mean, don't you think that the American people should know when the government is spending THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS of our money? Well, weapons manufacturers obviously don't want that. And the politicians they pay for definitely doesn't want that. But here's Rep. Jeff, letting you know the score.

And you should definitely understand what's going on with Team Outrage (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

So, yeah... this is my guy. If I were any kind of power in the Democratic Party, I'd encourage Vice President Harris to retire, slide Rep. Jeff Jackson in the spot, then see what happens. Because... HOLY SHIT WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO SEE THIS KIND OF TRANSPARENCY COMING FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL?!? I know I sure would. My God... he's even willing to wade into the whole ARE ALIENS AMONG US? debate (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

"It was kinda great."

As we really maybe actually could be. If only we have more people like this in our government.

Summer is gone. Fall is here. But not everything is getting colder... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Sloth! Maybe the sweetest thing you'll see all day...

Now that's a grateful mom.

   
• Name! Maybe the coolest thing you'll see all day...

   
• Death Cab for Postal Service! The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie are on tour... which I already would love to see. AND THEN...

Depeche Mode's influence is a joyful thing to see. If only old Depeche Mode was more influential on new Depech Mode.

   
• And Cake! I knew that Fiona and Cake was going to be glorious... the bizarre, weird, wonderful world of Adventure Time couldn't HELP but be glorious... but it's so much more than that...

I honestly don't understand how they come up with this stuff. Every detail is sweated to a ridiculous degree. Cake the Cat is more like a cat than a real cat.

   
• YAS, QUEEN! I need to start carrying one around in my pocket! (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

That could never be me. But I find Bee TikTok to be fascinating.

   
• Swim Creative! He looks so happy. But I’d probably look that happy if I were going to be gettin’ some too! (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

Good fishy.

   
• Still Disgusting! Good job Michigan on banning child marriage! They've done more than Washington State has. If you want to marry a child in this state that's 17, all you have to do is get parental permission. ANY AGE LESS THAN THAT just requires a redneck judge to sign off on it. ANY. AGE. Want to marry a 10 year old? You can in Washington State if you find the right judge! 5 year old? Cool beans if you find the right judge! — This is categorically fucking disgusting. And if you read into this, it goes much deeper than the creep factor of an adult being able to marry a child. Children often cannot get support for domestic violence from a spouse... they get turned away at shelters because they can be "unsafe for children." WAY TO GO WASHINGTON STATE! Any of our legislators want to fucking DO something about this? Nah. They got lobbyist dicks to suck for cash. Fucking assholes. Not only should every last one of these mother fuckers who aren't ACTIVELY WORKING TO CHANGE THIS be removed from office... they should be thrown in fucking jail. I am NOT kidding. This is gross negligence and party to child sexual abuse of a minor.

   
And now I'm off to clean my kitchen.

This morning I checked into Facebook, which is a morning habit I can't seem to break. After scrolling for a minute, a friend posted this...

"I have a trans friend who lives in Chicago who was working as an aide in an after school program. The company she worked for was contracted by the school district and they were based in Indiana. As a result, she just got fired for being trans, because that's the law in Indiana now, even though she works in Chicago. She was legally fired because she is trans, and for no other reason. She has no legal recourse for this. This is the country we live in."

After reading it, I commented thusly:

American Freedom: where you’re free to be who we say you can be, not who you are.

I've written a few times about my friend Margot... who is one of the most funny, generous, kind people I know. She's a good member of her community. She works hard. She pays her taxes. She never had a bad word to say about anybody. And she's donated tons of her times to causes she believes in. By every metric you can throw at her, she's a model American citizen. And proud to be one.

Margot isn't a close friend. But we do keep in touch. We exchange memes. We share life's happenings. We talk about our hopes and dreams. I love her as I love all my friends. She is inordinately special to me because of who she is as a person.

Which happens to be a trans woman.

I'd say that this has absolutely no bearing on our friendship, but how could it not? Her being a trans person has shaped her into the person I care about so much.

She's been physically assulted twice. That I know of. The last time, she had to be taken to the hospital. What made her deserving of the attack? She was walking home after meeting up with friends. She got assaulted for merely existing. All she's doing is playing the cards she was dealt to the best of her ability, and that was enough reason for her to be beaten. And this doesn't even account for the number of times she's been verbally assaulted, which I'm sure is a lot. I know how people are.

Which is to say that I know how society has conditioned them to be.

And it starts from the very top.

Anti-trans legislation is spreading like a plague, and good people just trying to live their lives are suffering because of it. People hate them, and want to write that hate into law, so they do. It's not just Indiana, just look at this map from TrackTransLegislation.com...

So, yeah, our laws are conditioning our citizens to hate Margot for absolutely no reason. They don't care who she is as a person. They don't give a shit what's in her heart or how much she does for others. And yet they elect people who do heinous shit (like passing laws against her) just because they can. She's done nothing to anybody, and yet here we are.

God bless America. This is the country we live in.

And of course the excuse is always about "protecting women" or "protecting children" or some such bullshit. If "protecting women" were true, they'd be passing laws guaranteeing women's right to abortion care, but instead women's lives are in mortal danger because if something has gone wrong with their pregnancy it's illegal to help them in places. If "protecting children" were true, they'd be passing laws against churches having access to children, but instead kids are being sexually assaulted in record numbers by churches. Every time I've seen an anti-trans argument comes up, it's easily refuted. There are still people out there who believe that a seven-year-old can walk into a hospital and demand sex-reassignment surgery and get it, which is a lie. And despite the fact that hormone blockers have been used since the 1980's... for forty years... for all kinds of reasons (and are reversible) there are people who believe that they are dangerous instead of saving the lives of trans kids.

So miss me with your anti-trans bullshit.

Because all of it is just people being suckered into a huge misdirect. They don't want to persecute the untouchable politicians, pastors, and priests who have actually been sexually assaulting kids, so they blame it on trans persons and drag queens so people have a place to focus their faux outrage.

Which is grounds for actual outrage.

And yet an awful lot of the 99% of people who aren't trans persons don't give a shit. On the contrary, they actively participate in the massive misdirection going on, gleefully and willfully ignorant of the fact that it protects those who are the real danger to others.

It seems to be the new American Way.

And what American Freedom has become.

Love her or hate her... Katie Porter always brings the receipts and always knows the score. And what this doesn't show is that AMERICAN TAXPAYERS fund some of the R&D that goes into these drugs in the first place and get high prices in return. But Big Pharma has a massive lobby that doles out billions to buy off our politicians so they tell us lies.

This isn't just Republicans... a lot of Democrats are sucking Big Pharma dick. Here in Blue Blue Super-Blue Washington State, our Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell voted against cheaper drug re-importation from Canada out of "safety concerns" because of all the massive deaths in Canada from their un-safe drugs that you read about in the news every day. Oh... I misspoke... that doesn't exist. Nope. It's just bullshit to cover the fact that they take money from Big Pharma and are safeguarding their billions in profit...

If they took money out of politics so that politicians would have to service their voters instead of servicing the dicks of corporations for cash, how much better off would this country be?

I don't know.

But I'd sure like to live there.

I don't really give a crap about President Biden... but I was pulling for him to win the election for the side-benefits. Including the fact that Ajit Pai, one of the shittiest fucking assholes on the entire fucking planet (who would gladly kick a puppy in the head for a nickel) would most certainly be demoted as FCC Chair (though with Biden, there were no guarantees).

And don't feel that I'm being particularly abusive towards Pai... I feel the exact same way about anybody who opposes Net Neutrality.

Rather than be demoted, Pai resigned. Which would most certainly make my Best Moments of 2023 List, if I had one. When I heard the news I yelled "THANK YOU! Now take your stupid-ass giant coffee mug and fuck off, you boot-licking piece of shit!"

I really, really wanted Gigi Sohn in the FCC. She would have lead the charge to have a free and open internet for everybody by going after shitty fucking telcos and cable companies who want to impose fees for accessing certain content, blocking content of their competitors, slowing internet speed to squeeze money out of everybody, and generally making the playing field as uneven as possible so what kind of internet you have depends on how much additional income you have to throw at it. But Republicans fucking hated her because they're sucking telco and cable company dick for cash at the expense of the people they represent (and some like-minded Democrats opposed her as well) so there was no way she was going to be confirmed.

Her replacement nominee, Anna Gomez, isn't the attack dog I was hoping for... but her support of net neutrality WHICH EVERY AMERICAN, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN, SHOULD 1000% DEMAND... makes her a good choice, and I'm shocked she managed to get confirmed. Five Republicans who give a fuck about the internet being a tool for everybody did their damn job and crossed party lines to vote in favor.

But of course assholes like Ted Cruz, who never met a corporate dick he refused to suck for cash and never met a person he refused to exploit for fun, is railing against her.

How the fuck these clowns continue to get elected just boggles my mind. They OPENLY AND ACTIVELY WORK AGAINST THEIR CONSTITUENTS IN FAVOR OF THE CORPORATIONS THAT OWN THEIR WORTHLESS ASSES! And Lyin' Ted's sycophants just eat this shit up... believing that net neutrality is a bad thing, because Cruz brands it as "Obamacare for the internet." And Ted knows that they won't research what it ACTUALLY IS because saying "Obama" makes it automatically bad. Even if it's a fucking lie.

Jesus. When is a giant meteor just going to eradicate the earth?

I accept that everybody has their own politics. I pretty much have to because I am to the point where I loathe Republicans and Democrats alike (though the Republicans seem to reach jaw-dropping new lows in hypocrisy with each passing day, so it's no longer an equitable level of loathing). I am, above all, a humanist... and believe that governments should always, always service the betterment of the people it governs. That hasn't been true in a very long time, and I've resolved that voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil.

But there are things that enrage me about politicians which have absolutely nothing to do with their politics. I would loathe and detest them for their actions regardless of party affiliation. Literally makes no difference to me, because what they say or do has blown so far past their politics as to make them irrelevant.

Which brings us to Vivek Ramaswamey (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

Exploiting dementia sufferers for cash? Seriously?!? Fuck this colossal asshole forever. Fuck him sideways and up-side-down. Fuck him to hell and back. Fuck. Him.

I already knew that Vivek Ramaswamey is a colossal piece of shit... but it turns out I was giving him way too much credit.

This is unforgivable and repugnant on every possible level. And not one of those levels has anything to do with him being a Republican. Except for the Republicans who could possibly support this horrific monster, which goes without saying.

It's strange how you see something that would usually be forgettable... but it sticks with you for one reason or another and you just can't seem to let it go.

Like a meme, for example.

Yesterday this popped on Facebook (I think?) and it's been stuck in my head ever since...

It's shockingly profound.

Some kids have to be abused at home only to end up going to school and getting abused there as well. Their life is unrelenting misery no matter where they are, and the idea that just having a friendly face at school so they have something to look forward to could very well be the difference between life and death.

Especially in a day and age where kids who are "built different" are facing an increase in persecution and hate trickling down from lawmakers.

And it's one of those things where you can't even appeal to people's compassion and empathy. You say "We've got to start creating a kinder world for these kids to exist in... they're literally killing themselves!" and, all too often, the response is "Good!"

Even when the kid in crisis is their own.

But hopefully there's enough kind-hearted parents out there to take this message to heart and do their best to raise children who will at least not make things any worse and (hopefully) makes things better by offsetting the horrific environment that some kids can't seem to escape.

The world will only get more cruel if they don't, and that won't work out well for anybody.

I subscribe to a number of newsfeeds and scroll through the stories each morning. Lately I've been seeing more and more stories like this: How Louisiana's Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws Forced This Gay Heart Transplant Cardiologist to Move. The story's tagline is "The director of the pediatric heart transplant and heart failure program at the state’s only heart transplant center for kids is packing up his husband and two kids and leaving."

And it's as sad as you'd expect...

“When I came back Louisiana almost exactly 5 years ago, I came with the goal of building one of the highest quality pediatric heart transplant, heart failure, and ventricular assist programs in the country. I felt that kids in Louisiana should be able to get the same quality healthcare as any other child in the United States. We have been quite successful and I’m so proud of what we’ve built. My plan had been to stay at my current institution until I retired. However, over the last year, Tom and I have watched state legislatures across the south pass anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Louisiana’s last legislative session was no different. While they failed to override the governor’s veto on two of the three bills, the message is very clear. Tom and I have discussed at length the benefits of continuing to live in the south, as well as the toll that it takes on our family. Because of this, we are leaving Louisiana. Our children come first. We cannot continue to raise them in this environment.”

He and his family are moving to Long Island, New York where they are wanted.

And it's the children of Louisiana who will pay the price for the hateful, disgusting legislation which has forced a much-needed doctor to flee their state. The politicians who create legislation like this don't give a shit. They're wealthy enough that they can take their children out of state for medical care if they need to. And apparently the voters that keep electing these assholes don't give a shit either.

They'd rather see kids suffering and even dying than to see a family with two dads go unpersecuted...

And this is not an isolated incident. Famillies are fleeing Texas, Florida, and other states which are making it unsafe for them to exist there. Which is to say that the people who support this repugnant shit are getting exactly what they want... a Christofascist State which farts in the face of everything this country is supposed to stand for. You can be as free as you want and believe what you want... so long as you live and believe how you're told to. And if you don't want to fall in line with the Christofascist regime that's been put into power, then you can get the fuck out.

And so they do.

And these states are far poorer because of it.

Lives are endangered because of it.

There was a Supreme Court case a month ago where a shitty fucking website designer invented a gay couple so she could fight her way to highest court in the land and be told that she could refuse service to gay people (not that any gay couple would ever hire the talentless piece of shit to design a website for their wedding, mind you). And of course she won. Which means absolutely nothing for random extraneous services like website design... but it means a fuck-ton when it comes to potentially lifesaving services like a hospital. And then there's those things that aren't life-threatening, but could be seen as adjacent. What if the only grocery store in your small town won't sell you food because you're gay? What if the only gas station for 100 miles won't sell you gas because you're trans? Short-sighted hatred has long-term consequences.

Given the Supreme Court ruling and the hate-legislation being put into State law, those who have the means and opportunity to escape the hostility are doing exactly that. And godspeed to them. Hopefully one day, not so soon from now, people will start to realize what a terrible mistake it's been to ruthlessly persecute entire segments of our society who add value to our lives. Maybe then they will start to dismantle the shocking level of hate forced into law and welcome back those who wanted nothing more than to exist in peace and do what they can to help their community.

I have no idea what LGBTQ+ people who don't have the means to flee states passing hate into law are going to do.

Probably try to live the best life they can under unimaginable cruelty.

Such a legacy for The Land of the Free.

I am really torn on this whole "link tax" bullshit that's getting signed into law by certain countries.

Essentially this boils down to governments forcing major media companies like Google to strike agreements with news organizations. That way, when you search for something on Google (or Facebook or any company that monetizes results based on another company's content) and a result from a news organization pops up, Google has to pay them money because their content has been monetized by Google.

On one hand, it's like... okay... Google is making money by serving ads in their search results or news feeds, so why shouldn't the news organizations showing up in those results get paid for making Google rich with their hard work?

On the other hand... why the fuck should Google be held responsible for other companies not monitizing their own content? If you don't want Google to make money off of you, then no problem. Add code to your website's HTML instructing Google bots to not crawl your content. Problem solved. Why in the hell are governments getting involved in this? And if you're going to pass laws for news organizations to get paid for making Google money... why not everybody? Why not bloggers? Blogography is heavily indexed by Google, and I have a lot of content that gets looked at by Google search referrals. So where is my money??

I have to say... I am kinda on Google's side this time.

Which is something I haven't said very often.

Google is merely refering people to your content. It should be up to you to monetize everything once somebody clicks through to visit your site and read your stories. Run ads. Offer subscriptions. Whatever. Just be grateful that Google is sending you the business. How else will people even find you if you're not getting Google search referrals?

With the recently-passed "link tax" law in Canada, Google is telling the Canadian government to fuck off. They will just remove all Canadian news sources from appearing to Canadians who are now legally required to be paid. Sure Google will have less content in their search results to monetize... but they won't have to pay anything out either. I'd argue that this doesn't benefit Canadians at all, but what do I know? Google said the same thing to Australia and France, but eventually capitulated. It will probably be the same for Canada.

And the USA is likely going to be adding a "link tax" soon.

If I were Google, I'd do some things...

• Stick to their guns and not capitulate to governments requiring them to pay money to news organizations. Let the news organizations monetize their own shit. See how long it takes for news organization to come begging for Google to add them back to their services and tell the government to abandon the law.
• Put a badge saying "PAID CONTENT" on all news sources that charge people to read their news articles. That way, when a search result includes a story by The Washington Post, for example, people will know that if they click through they'll have to pay money to read the full story. Because, hey, why isn't The Washington Post having to pay Google for sending them new subscribers? Fair is fair, after all.
• Extend an olive branch to all official news organizations by offering them free ads on Google services, especially on their news page, based on how much of their content ends up in search results. This is kinda a no-brainer compromise.
• Extend another olive branch by offering revenue sharing to companies or individuals who agree to NOT have paid content, with the amount received based on actual clicks. That way sites without the deep pockets of The Washington Post to set up a subscription service can have a mutually-beneficial relationship with Google. If they are making content which is interesting enough for people to consistently click through, then they are helping to make Google successful and can be rewarded. Set a threshold of how many clicks you need to get payment, then extend it to everybody. If sites like Blogography are getting a million clicks a month (HA!) then why can't they be considered along with "official" news outlets? I work just as hard on my content as they do, and consider my hot takes on things just as valid as "editorial" content, so why the fuck not? Hopefully this will allow cream to rise to the top and auto-generated, inflated, and artificial crap fall off of Google's radar. Ain't nobody wanting to read that shit anyway.

Ultimately I think it's important that news organizations get paid for their work. But to put that responsibility on Google is outrageous. That should be up to Google. And if people don't like it... then everybody can tell Google bots to not crawl their site until Google agrees to fork over the money and share their success. That's how the market works. If governments wants money to go to news organizations, then have that money come from the government.

Regardless of how this all shakes out, to have governments jumping in the fray is a terrible precedent. Today it's Google... what's tomorrow? Me? Every time I share a news story I'm going to be responsible for paying them money? I call bullshit. They should figure out their own monetization just like I do (which is $0 since I don't charge for anything, but still).

Have a government-mandated monetized weekend, everybody!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there (including mine). It's a good day to celebrate it... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Extracting! The first Extraction movie was pretty good. I enjoyed it quite a lot. But the second one? Extraction 2? Holy cats! They like took everything from the first movie... which was already intense... and just ramped it right up past eleven. So good! In other news... I'm in love with Golshifteh Farahani now. I mean, I already fell for her by the end of the first movie... but now I'm like "I want to have your baby" level of in love. If Chris Hemsworth does, in fact, retire from acting... there is no reason what-so-ever that the franchise couldn't continue with Nik in the lead. Zero. She would be incredible...

I'd watch a Nik-centric movie as a spin-off for dang sure. Please, Netflix, get on that ASAP. Just back up a big dump truck full of cash to Golshifteh Farahani's house and make it happen! A prequel with Ovi would be ever so good!

   
• Misogyny Nation! Why does this country hate women? I mean it... they hate them. The USA despises women, considers them nothing more than breeding stock, and considers them an expendable resource when it comes to making more Americans...

With each passing day I grow more and more disgusted in what we're becoming.

   
• Blork! I love Mexican Street Corn. I order it any time it's on the menu. I'm addicted to Mexican Street Corn dip. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to see that Cheetos Mexican Street Corn dip flavor. But, alas...

When I can't even bring myself to eat them at work... a place that I will eat anything just because it's there... you know they're bad. What a shame.

   
• Fast Car! This is a surprisingly good cover. It takes a lot of balls to take on the original Tracy Chapman classic... but he nails it...

And that's not something I say about a lot of covers out there.

   
• Studio Idiocy! HEADLINE: Avatar 3 Pushed a Year to 2025, Two Star Wars Movies Head for 2026 and Avengers Films Delayed. Lord. If this keeps up, I'll be dead before half of them Marvel stuff I want to see are even released. This is truly making me not give a shit any more. Disney has stalled all momentum in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They no longer build towards anything... they just putter around at random, and will then complain when all of us who have no more fucks to give don't turn up for the movies.

   
• Good Beatings! I am not a violent person. I abhor violence. It's everything that's wrong in our world. That being said, it's a good thing that I'm not in charge of security at this museum...

Even though the painting wasn't damaged, there's the possibility that it could have been. And for that alone these assholes deserve to have the ever-loving shit beat out of them. Who the fuck makes their point by being such fucking shit-heads? Makes me want to go out and do whatever I can to cause more climate change just to spite them.

   
• Mateoooo! And now, because I really like you, I found out that Mateo Lane's new special if available on YouTube. But who knows for how long?

Mateo is darn funny. And he's got a lot of good stuff on his YouTube Channel.

   
Enjoy what remains of your Sunday, party people.