RFK Jr.'s brainworm and The Wrath of Khan

I'd heard plenty about this nuttery when it first broke, per the New York Times story.

Via Orac, I'd heard about Stephen Colbert's jokes.

And, yes, via Orac (setting aside his deep-fried #BlueAnon tribalism) there may be actual health issues that this caused.

Or deep-fried lying issues by Bob Jr. Per the NYT:

“I have cognitive problems, clearly,” he said in the 2012 deposition. “I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”

What that piece doesn't mention, but that Colbert and/or Orac do? That deposition was from Bob Jr.'s second divorce. Which, like his first divorce, was due to Kennedy pants-itis syndrome. That's why I said six weeks ago that current wife Cheryl Hines should watch out for Kennedy and his Veep choice, Nicole Shanahan.

That said? On to the header.

The first thing I thought of, as a good Trekkie, was this classic scene from near the start of "The Wrath of Khan":

Earworm for you, Bob?

To complete the picture, from the same movie? Picture RFK Jr:

"BIIIIIDEEENNNNN!"

Presidential roundup, May 10

Apparently, though I didn't see anything at Independent Political Report, Libertarian National Committee head Angela McArdle invited her Luciferian master, RFK Jr., as well as Donald Duck Trump, to speak at the Libertarian convention. (Here was my take a week ago when this news broke.)

Per the link above, both are scheduled to speak BEFORE the party's presidential nomination. McAwful, obviously fearing an attempt to stampede the convention, claims Trump (and Bob Jr.) cannot be nominated from the floor.

As for Mr. Trump, Angela McArdle, the chairwoman of the Libertarian party, said last week that it was “not possible” under the party’s bylaws to nominate him.

Really? 

Per IPR, chairs of several state parties have officially invited Bob Jr. to seek the nomination.

Beyond that? Rules were made to be broken.

And on Twitter, the site formerly called Twitter, Bobby Boy has challenged Donald Duck to debate him while they're there.

That said, we still don't know if either one will actually get to speak there. (That said, per recent comments at that IPR post, McAwful appears to be trying to stall out this issue.)

THAT that said, since the Trump speaking time is scheduled for a Thursday, assuming his trial is still happening in New York City, we don't know if he'll be there anyway. And, McAwful, so far, has not indicated a possibility of a reschedule.

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What could that debate be about? Maybe a dueling lie-fest over Jan. 6, 2021, per Bob Jr.'s latest campaign hire. 

It appears, via NBC, that Team Bob has hired the firm of Total Virality, run by Zach Henry for "influencer engagement." Who's he? Worked for the Aridzona GOP through late January 2021. Per the story, appeared to shoot J6 video from a restricted area at Capitol grounds. And, appeared to post those videos to the Aridzona GOP official Twitter account. Before that, in late 2020, the account posted "fake electors" bullshit and other things.

Earlier this year, Henry worked on the prez campaign of Revive with Vivek Ramaswamy. Before that? Blake Masters' Aridzona US Senate campaign.

No accident, this hire. And, it seems clear what influencers Bob Jr wants to reach. No wonder Trump has started bitching. 

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Oh, you can insert your Bob Jr. is brain-dead jokes now,too. More on that by me here.

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Nikki Haley may officially be out of the GOP primary race, but she still got 20 percent in Indiana. And, Indiana is winger enough that this should be a red alert for Trump.

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Bob Jr's signature-gatherers for him to get on the New York ballot appear to be gaslighters. (Big oops in trying to pull that off with New York Times staffers!) Earlier today, I said Bob Jr himself seemed to be a big old gaslighter on abortion; guess they learned that from him.

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For BlueAnon bitching about the Georgia appeal's court's ruling in Trump's RICO trial? Bitch at Fani Willis. Clearly unethical. Besides, Georgia's RICO law is far more draconian than the US one, and is being used to prosecute Cop City protestors.

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#GenocideJoe leaves himself a Mack truck sized loophole: He will cut back arms for Israel if Bibi launches a "major invasion" of Rafah. And, guess who will define "major"? And "cut back," since I Heart Zion Biden didn't say "none"; cut back what? Two percent? After all, "some sort of" invasion of Rafah was happening at the time #GenocideJoe was blathering. And, earlier today, Bibi's cabinet voted to expand the operation. Will Biden claim this still isn't "major"?

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Oh, despite 700 Jewish professors asking him not to, (and Congressman Jerry Nadler) Biden's going to sign the Antisemitism Awareness Act, if he hasn't already.

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Revive with Vivek Ramaswamy will join Trump and Bob Jr. in speaking to the Libertariantards.

RFK Jr: apparent gaslighter on abortion

I had blogged last fall about Kennedy visiting Auntie Angie's House, an abortion alternatives site for Black women that apparently believes the "abortion is Black genocide" BS.

So, imagine my surprise last night when ... I heard something else.

Bob Jr. now seems to be a BIG OLD GASLIGHTER on abortion! He and Veep nominee Nicole Shanahan were both on Sage Steele's podcast, him some time back, her a bit later. Bob said that abortions should be allowed the full nine months; the podcast was pre-recorded. Steele then asked Shanahan about that when interviewing her. Here's what Bob said, when Sage pushed:

“Even if it’s full-term,” Kennedy said in response to a follow-up question. “I don’t think it’s ever OK,” he added. When Steele said that would allow late-term abortions, Kennedy said, “I think we have to leave it to the women rather than the state.”

And, here's Nicole:

“My understanding with Bobby’s position is that, you know, every abortion is a tragedy, is a loss of life,” Shanahan said. “My understanding is that he absolutely believes in limits on abortion, and we’ve talked about this. I do not think, I don’t know where that came from.”

Oops.

But wait, it gets better!

Despite being on YouTube AT Angie's House:

 

Bobby Boy has deleted his campaign Facebook post and at least one other site with him talking about that visit and video. (The actual video ain't his.)

In case Bobby Boy pressures someone to delete that video?

No worries:

 

That's a screengrab from it. Lighting was pretty low, so I did some levels and contrast editing on it. 

Per the NBC story, Bob Jr. has at other times said he supported first-trimester abortion only, then claimed he misunderstood the question.

As for Shanahan, she didn't get her ideas about what RFK Jr. thinks out of nowhere. They came from somewhere, including the Angie's House visit, and probably comments made elsewhere, like the one he disavowed.

Now, Bob Jr. may pivot to the claim that he was simply talking about government control. But, isn't that what a lot of Liberal Cafeteria Catholics say on the issue? (There are also Conservative Cafeteria Catholics; ask anti-abortion Catholics if they're really pro-life to the point of following official Vatican teaching and doctrine against the death penalty.)

Anyway, Bob Jr. has gaslighted a lot more people than Nicole Shanahan.

Cleaning up after oil and gas

Capital and Main talks about Schuyler Wight leaving his West Texas home once a month, every month, to try to get the Railroad Commission to do something — ANYTHING — about orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells, injection wells and more. So far, it seems Wayno Not A Christian and the rest of the gang are falling further behind.

Part of the problem is the issue of "orphaned and abandoned." The RRC has an official definition of "orphaned." It doesn't even know how many abandoned wells exist. And, even on the officially orphaned wells, Wayno, Ms. Tom Craddick Jr. and Dude No. 3 on the RRC are falling ever more behind on the cleanup. And, none of them want to take Wight up on his offer of visiting the most questionable sites, even though Craddick lives out there.

And, let's not even get on the issue of flaring natural gas.

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Speaking of, at least with one former scofflaw, New Mexico IS doing something about flaring gas. A $24.5 million fine, if followed with similar amounts as needed, might be more than just a drop or two in the bucket.

Top blogging of April

These are the most-read posts of the month of April. As is normal, if any of them are not from April, which I know is the case for the past month, they'll be so indicated.

No. 10 was about the basic income plan and legal showdown in Houston.

No. 9? Counterpunch dropped an antisemitic dime, and remains unapologetic. (And it shall remain pinned as my featured post.)

No. 8? Texas think tank 2036 tries to ignore climate change by silence.

No. 7? South Dallas suburb Wilmer may indeed have problems, but the Dallas Observer story about that has its own framing problems, which I corrected.

No. 6? As I noted about it last month when shopping there for the first time in several years, with Texas grocery H-E-B and its cult, reality trumps nostalgia.

No. 5 was one of the Texas Progressives weekly roundups, this one primarily about Gaza and related issues.

No. 4 was about the issue of dental care as health care, an issue that is a problem in other developed nations, too, and not just the United States.

No. 3, to riff on No. 5, was totally about Gaza and was about Biden's lies of seeing pictures of dying Gazan children.

At No. 2, a 2017 blast from the past continues to trend, in my very thorough takedown piece of Actual Flatticus, aka Alan Smithee, aka IRL Chris Chopin.

No. 1? No, without yet posting a single 8-WAR year, Juan Soto is NOT a $500 million generational talent. Remember, that's Scott Boras talking, followed by his fanbois.

Texas Progressives talk Zionism and indictments

If the FBI weren't run by a Zionist enabler named Christopher Wray, pro-Palestinian protestors at UCLA wouldn't have to engage in potentially inaccurate doxxing to identify their mob attackers. (That said, the LA Times does a disservice by not identifying how many of the ID taggings are accurate, or at least have not been declared inaccurate.) And, if UCLA didn't have a craptacular campus police chief, this might not have happened anyway. And, if Wray took seriously the issue of anti-Palestinian saboteurs or even terrorism, UCLA's chief would be getting backup.

Henry Cuellar, the second Zionist-AIPAC darling member of Congress to be indicted in the past six months, after New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. (I'm sure Kuff will write about the indictment, but ignore the AIPAC ties or even dive much on the Azerbaijan background, which itself has back connections to Israel.) Will his ConservaDem backers, including the skipper of the SS Minnow, I mean, Texas Democrats, Gilberto Hinojosa, rue backing him? (Cuellar looks like Tricky Dick Nixon indeed in the pic at that link.) Will an independent Dem who didn't run in that primary try to get on the general election ballot?

UT is lying about pro-Palestinian protestors. Kuff won't write about that, either.

SocraticGadfly has presidential campaign updates on Trump and his Libertarian Party invite,Stein and an endorsement, and Biden and things Gazan.

Via James Dorsey, when Norman Finkelstein urges protesters to use nuance on exact phrasing of what follow "From the river to the sea," it's a good idea to listen. 

Axios reports that Genocide Joe actually halted one arms shipment to Israel. It's a "scoop," that is a leak, and surely Barak Ravid was deliberately targeted. But why? Not, "why the pause"; that's pretty clear from the full story. Why the leak to Ravid? Will this get picked up on by the average university protestor? The average "unaffiliated" voter in any Dem primaries or caucuses still left? Likely no and no. This is a target audience of inside the Beltway, but exactly whom?

On the student protests, the mainstream media IS the lugenpresse.

Stace, offers his Thoughts on Viernes regarding the politics of the first flood disaster of 2024 and his search for leaders who will defend student protesters.

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Non-Zionism items

I still remember how former Helltown mayor Annette Parker talked up its passing the city of Chicago in population. IF that happens, it will be temporary, until much of the city is washed out to Buffalo Bayou then Galveston Bay, as another mass flood in southeast Texas portends what will likely soon be seen not as once-a-century happenings but once-a-decade ones.

Off the Kuff looks at former Houston Mayor Annise Parker's potential primary challenge in 2026 to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. 

 Gateway Pundit declares bankruptcy in face of mounting election fraud lawsuits. 

Tesla continues to implode; if its "crown jewels" Supercharger is in trouble, the whole company is.

Mark Meadows is now an unindicted co-conspirator on 2020 election fraud in Minnesota.

Neil at the Houston Democracy Project said Mayor Whitmire should use his often-cited connections with State of Texas officials to get the money to restore HISD wraparound services. 

The Eyewall has a look at the new ways that hurricane data will be collected and presented this season. 

Law Dork explains that of course Texas and Louisiana took their anti-LGBTQ+ Title IX challenges to their friendliest judges.

 Steve Vladeck dives into the Trump immunity argument before SCOTUS. 

In the Pink Texas shows us a real deepfake. 

The Observer stands up for Texas history.

Twenty-plus years on, Texas Rethugs still blame Democraps

That's nowhere more true than with educational issues in general and the State Board of Education in particular, per a forum in the runoff for Republican nominees for SBOE District 12.

Challenger Jamie Kohlmann is apparently addicted to the word "woke." She of course is not alone in the modern MAGA-verse, but it's laughable.

Kohlmann went with the woke trilogy of DEI, and other items.

She again ignores that the state of Texas has controlled the SBOE for I am guessing at least 20 years. They've controlled the Texas Senate for 20 years and the House for 26. 

If schools have gotten worse, than who is there to blame but themselves? Ditto on crappy state instructional materials and everything else. Incumbent Pam Little wouldn't back down on American exceptionalism. Assume that includes the exceptionalism of warmongering and genocide. 

Other nuttery, including items that have nothing to do with the SBOE's remit? Yes, your housing insurance went up. See those wildfires in West Texas. See the National Weather Service predicting another bad hurricane season.

Part of the problem? Per the Chronic, blame Texans for Educational Freedom.

Counterpunch engaging in "gotcha" leftism

I'm not a duopoly voter, of course.

BUT?

As I say in my header here, and on my Twitter profile, I am a SKEPTICAL leftist. And I mean that in both the modern "show me your work" so-called "scientific skepticism" way, and the ancient Greek philosophical way.

I loathe more and more the "gotcha leftists" on Twitter, who do some Jesuitical triangulation off some anti-Democrat mote while not removing the non-skeptical 2x4 from their own eyeballs.

It's bad enough in a Tweet.

It's worse as part of a regular piece.

But, as with antisemitism at Counterpunch from a longtime regular contributor a week ago, here we go again.

Eve Ottenberg, in a piece bitching about inflation? Says, with quote in middle:

As one woman tweeted on X: “I got a tuna salad and turkey sub from Subway and it cost me $30.” Given that that’s “cheap” fast food, the logical response is, don’t eat at restaurants.

I was immediately skeptical.

And rightly so, on multiple counts.

First, I decided to track down where it came from.

Took me less than two minutes, Ottenberg, and the answer is a TikTok "influencer." The whole barf me video filmed in the front seat of your car and all.

And, the key? Said TikToker is from CANADA. Toronto, to be precise.

So, before we do monetary math?

First of all, since said person is Canadian, that blows Ottenberg out of the water right there.

Second, the math? As of Tuesday, $30CN is $22US. Still pricey, but given Toronto is at least expensive as NYC or the Bay Area, not THAT pricey.

Third, is even that correct?

Per various websites, with this a good one, a 6-inch sub plus a tuna salad is more like $20CN. A footlong, dependent on type of sub, might hit $25. That said, especially for a petite young woman, you ain't eating a footlong and a salad at one meal. And, no, that's not in the boonies, that's in York, Ontario, a former independent city, now a district inside .... TORONTO!

Said influencer did not say whether or not she bought a drink or not. Probably did.

Next? Between the federal VAT and provincial sales tax? The combined tax rate in Ontario is 13 percent.

MATH.

Even though I've dicked around with my blog layout to counteract various fuckery by Blogger, I think I can still delete Counterpunch if it keeps being stupid.