It's sad, so sad ...

... there ain't no easy way 'round*

I don’t know where to start.

Manchin & Sinema? Why not?

These two knuckleheads are really pushing their shitty viewpoint “the poors are too visible.” Watching the news this morning, and the President is on Capitol Hill, hat in hand, having to beg progressives to vote for a feckless, toothless bill because these two boneheads, for vastly different reasons, have made less than good, less helpful for, you know, people.

Manchin … well, who knows what the fuck is up in his head? He’s quite well to do, he got his, so fuck everyone else. There are even news reports coming out of West Virginia of his constituents begging for the help this bill could hold, and he’s just insulting and demeaning them as deadbeats and beggars … because they need help. Quite Libertarian, really.

Sinema, it appears, just got bought by monied special interests. Truly pathetic, obvious, and banal. What makes it pathetic, instead of just sad, is how fast it happened and how obvious it is. Just a couple of years ago she railed against the Trump tax cuts for the damaging boondoggles they are. Now she’s all worried that billionaires who would remain billionaires if they paid taxes, would be sad billionaires because they might have to pay taxes. Quite Republican, really.

Sad. This shit used to make me angry, and now it just saps my enthusiasm to argue and rail against the shitheads.

Remember Jim Matheson? He was one of the House Democrats that voted against the Affordable Care Act, with a certain laser focus on denying people with pre-existing conditions the right to health care. That guy used to get me charged up, pontificating on Left of the Dial (my old radio show) or my old blog, day after day. The guy would take extreme right-wing positions against normal people and jerk them farther to the right. To be honest, I could never pick what used to piss me off more: how big an asshole he was or how the Utah Democrats would fawn all over him just because he was an elected official.

Those were the days that I could work up a truly righteous rage, had a huge audience to hear them (even though most of them disagreed with me, as I was on a right-wing radio station as the token lefty), and the energy to maintain my level of anger for months at a time.

Now? Post Covid? My rage is still present, but it’s cold, and it’s quiet, and frankly that does nobody any good at all. Quiet rage is a total cop-out, and it seems it’s the most I can manage for extended periods. It’s got to be a symptom of the Long Covid (right there with not being able to take deep breaths anymore.)

So, while I don’t miss Jim Matheson and never, ever will, I DO miss my ability to protest, rail, rage, and yell. I’m no less angry - in fact, I’m more upset now than I was then - but there is so, so much more bullshit now than there was ten years ago that I feel like I’m short circuiting, spinning in circles, unsure where to yell first. It’s exhausting.

It’s one of the reasons I’m so impressed with most of the members of the younger generations. These kids, for the most part, are impressive as hell. I mean, there’s always going to be Young Republicans, even if I’ll never understand WTF that’s all about (they’re almost as bad as Log Cabin Republicans … cheerleading your willing executioner will NEVER make any sense at all to me).

So, yeah, I’m sad. It’s all bumming me out; harshing my mellow, as it were. So, you might be asking, WTF are you going to do about it? Glad you asked.

Next week, The LEFT Show is dusting off an older fund raising tool: the Annoy-A-GOP-A-Thon. For a small donation, we’ll annoy a GOPper. A larger donation, and we’ll annoy even more. Like that, see? Except this year we’re going to include right leaning Democrats in the target list. Sinema and Manchin, especially, but certainly conservative Dems and centrist dickheads, too! There’s stretch goals and sketchy prizes, as well. Oh, and, copies of our annoyance letters make great holiday gifts, too, as you can donate FOR your friends and families!

Have a family member that voted Trump? Donate to a show with over a decade of liberal, progressive pulpit pounding IN THEIR NAME! We’ll even send them a copy of the letter. Imagine how infuriating that could be! Good times, eh?

We’re waiting for next week to make sure that JC hits his very important goal for Shaolin Nun #3 - if you haven’t backed it yet, you’ve only got a couple days left, so, get thee to the internet and do the right thing - Back The Shaolin Nun.

Okay, that’s it for this one. Feel free to share this thing around your social medias, you know, if you want. I’m narcissistic enough to want to grow the audience for this … thing**.

— JMB

---

-* I know Clapton is an anti-vax, racist shit weasel, but it’s the song my brain was singing when I was trying to think of a title for this thing.

** It’s a blog. I know it says newsletter, but … it’s a blog.