Keeping Up With the Alex Jones

 

One of the hallmarks of Idiot Nation is that an unhinged, bloviating gasbag like Alex Jones could be taken seriously by more than a small room-full of low-IQ hammerheads who are unable to access the outdoors or sharp objects. And yet he has been able to make millions of dollars in recent years exploiting the paranoia of a mass, insane clown posse with lots of money to spend and the right to vote. Since the death of Rush Limbaugh two-and-a-half years ago, Jones has been the king of right wing media.

All of that is about to change forever.

A mountain of acrimony and sweet vengeance is about to come crashing down, burying Alex Jones forever. He has spent the better part of nine years dismissing the tragedy as a hoax and dismissing the twenty little boys and girls who were slaughtered in a Connecticut schoolroom in December of 2012 as "actors". For years, the parents and victims of these families have suffered from verbal harassment and physical danger from the assholes who comprise Alex Jones' "base". The years of lies and accusations

thrust upon these families cost Jones nearly fifty million dollars in a Texas courtroom last week. More lawsuits ar scheduled in Connecticut in the weeks and months to come. 

Alex Jones is finished.

This is really a funny thing to behold. Watching him being

humbled and humiliated by a perfectly reasonable judge in an American courtroom must have been the ultimate got'cha moment for the families of the children and the six women whose job it was to educate and protect them. It's also a got'cha moment for the people of Newtown. After Donald Trump went to the White House in 2017, the Sandy Hook School Board, knowing of the close association between Jones and Trump, sent the president a letter imploring the president to tell Jones to stop slandering their school and town as he was doing real damage to both. The president never replied.

Alex Jones will soon be gone. So will Donald Trump. Bet the farm on it.

Tom Degan, Goshen, NY

SUGGGESTED READING:

Massacre in Newtown, from The Rant, 15 December, 2012:

"The Rant" by Tom Degan: Massacre in Newtown 

I wrote this piece on the morning after the tragedy. I  knew from the first that these kids weren't acting.

AFTERTHOUGHT, 8/18/22, 4:38 PM:

Liz Cheney is a great American.

I can't believe that I just wrote that last sentence.

Two nights ago when she conceded her loss in the Wyoming congressional primary (which she lost to a dim-witted and reactionary House Negro named Hariett Hageman) she made what has to be one of the greatest political speeches of my lifetime (I just turned sixty-four on the 16th).

Over a year ago I said on this site that she should be nominated for the Profile in Courage Award that is given away by the Kennedy Library every year. I was delighted when she received the prize for 2022 (not that Caroline reads The Rant - I'm sure it was merely a coincidence). I have hardly ever agreed with her on anything, and I was sincerely alarmed a number of years ago when she announced that she was making a run for congress. My feeling at the time was that no good could come from any kid of Dick Cherey's. But it is hard not to admire her for the way she stood up to the right wing SCREAM MACHINE at a knowing cost to her political career. She is one of the very few Republican politicians currently holding national office who will stand like a rock in history.

Here is a link to view Liz's concession speech on CNN:

Watch what Cheney told supporters after losing Wyoming GOP primary - YouTube 

Somewhere, Jack Kennedy is smiling.

A Heap of Trouble

 

I imagine that the heirs of Richard Milhaus Nixon will sleep a tad more soundly tonight. No longer will The Trickster be the standard by which presidential corruption is held up as an example. Donald Trump's lifetime of grift, theft and corruption are coming crashing down on his clueless little head. As I write these words, the chickens have come home to roost with a vengeance that he never - in his wildest and weirdest dreams - could have imagined. In the early evening hours of August 11, 2022, there is no doubt in my mind that Trump will be the first former chief-executive to die in the custody of the federal authorities. We can only pray that he is the last. 

The latest drama began two nights ago when the FBI served a search warrant on The Donald's gold-plated shithouse in Florida, Maril-ago. It seems that Trump had skipped town in January 2021 with a boat-load of extremely classified documents. The MAGA-brained extremists who constitute Trump's most devoted supporters have hit the roof. Steve Bannon has proclaimed that the Biden administration will try to have Trump assassinated; the right-wing SCREAM MACHINE has proclaimed the FBI to be the enemy of the people. In Ohio at 9:15 this morning, some demented little twit with not an ounce of common sense, opened fire on a local FBI field office with a nail gun and an AK-15. After leading the feds on a high speed chase, they were able to take him down.

Aren't these interesting times? Seriously!

This all started  forty-one years ago when the American people stupidly sent a feeble-minded, failed B movie actor to the White House whose mantra was "Government isn't the answer to our problem, government is the problem". It's a general rule of thumb that putting people in charge of government who don't believe in government is not a particularly good idea. Just a thought.

Tom Degan, Goshen. NY

AFTERTHOUGHT, 8/12/22

Stephen Colbert had Joe Biden's press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, on his program last night. She was an excellent guest. Here's a link to catch it on YouTube:

How Karine Jean-Pierre Feels When Her Boss Joe Biden Gets Dragged On Late Night TV - YouTube

I am completely in love with Karine Jean=Pierre. That's typical of me. I'm always falling in love with women who are totally inaccessible. They either live on the other side of the planet, they're lesbian - or they're dead.

Reset

 

In case you've noticed, this is the first piece I've written in slightly over a month. I didn't really intentionally abandon the blog, it's just that we're experiencing (as I'm certain you are) the longest heat wave in years - possibly ever. The upstairs office across the hall from the room that I sleep in has been so hot that one could roast a duck in it. I haven't attempted to do this because I'm rather fond of ducks. Another reason for my silence is simply because the January 6 hearings in June and early July left me speechless. The more I learn, the less I want to know.

And the more we learn, it's harder each day to avoid the ugly fact that the United States is teetering on the precipice of authoritarianism. When it was learned late last night that the feds had served a warrant on Trump's place in Florida in order to seize classified documents he removed  from the White House when he skipped town in 2021, the MAGA-brained crazies who claim him as their fearless leader went into a full tilt freakout mode. Many of them are now threatening civil war. 

Idiot Nation.

Although privately proclaiming total devotion to the half-witted sociopath and common pervert who served as the nation's 45th president for four EXTREMELY long years, more-than-a few Republican politicians are beginning to see the very blinding light. They see Trump as an albatross that needs to be removed from their midst between now and the 2024 primary season - the sooner the better. More and more Americans are starting to understand how completely unhinged and out- of-touch Donald Trump is with the sweet concepts of reality. The very fact that he was elected to begin with fills the rest of the world - once so respectful and envious of the United States - with dread, loathing and horror.

Keep your eyes wide open. It is my sincere belief that this deranged moron will start another violent insurrection given the opportunity. 

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

AFTERTHOUGHT. 8/11/22, 5:30 PM:

Olivia Newton-John

To be perfectly honest with you, I never spent too much time listening to the recordings of Olivia Newton-John back in the day. Her style of song was never really my thing. I was (and still am) more of an FM kind of a guy. To the best of my recollection, the only record of her's that I ever purchased was a 45 RPM of Xanadu - which I loved. And yet, for reasons I cannot quite explain, the news of her passing made me quite depressed. Perhaps it was for the way she conducted herself throughout her life; always cheerful, optimistic and upbeat. That's something to be admired, especially in the modern world. Here is the song of her's that I loved the best:

(5) Olivia Newton John Xanadu Original Version Remastered HD (1980) - YouTube 

The common denominator of everyone who has eulogized her has been an emphasis on her kindness and gentleness. God rest her sweet soul.