The stupidest timeline: Nationalist populist America jumps the shark with 'Let's Go Brandon'

NASCAR driver Brandon Brown. AP

#LetsGoBrandonDay is pathetic and a telling sign of our societal decay. Does anybody really need to be recklessly spouting out their feelings on the president – any given president, or any public official or opposing political party – while out in public? This is not normal behavior, and it should not be normalized. How did Brandon nonsense begin in the first place? Where else but a NASCAR race. #Murica - 

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Republican Rep. Bill Posey of Florida ended an Oct. 21 House floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon!” it may have seemed cryptic and weird to many who were listening. But the phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, and now the seemingly upbeat sentiment -- actually a stand-in for swearing at Joe Biden -- is everywhere.

South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan wore a “Let’s Go Brandon” face mask at the Capitol last week. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posed with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign at the World Series. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s press secretary retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia.

The line has become conservative code for something far more vulgar: “F—- Joe Biden.” It’s all the rage among Republicans wanting to prove their conservative credentials, a not-so-secret handshake that signals they’re in sync with the party’s base.

Americans are accustomed to their leaders being publicly jeered, and former President Donald Trump’s often-coarse language seemed to expand the boundaries of what counts as normal political speech.

But how did Republicans settle on the Brandon phrase as a G-rated substitute for its more vulgar three-word cousin?

It started at an Oct. 2 NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Brandon Brown, a 28-year-old driver, had won his first Xfinity Series and was being interviewed by an NBC Sports reporter. The crowd behind him was chanting something at first difficult to make out. The reporter suggested they were chanting “Let’s go, Brandon” to cheer the driver. But it became increasingly clear they were saying: “F—- Joe Biden.”

NASCAR and NBC have since taken steps to limit “ambient crowd noise” during interviews, but it was too late — the phrase already had taken off. (Read more)

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Washington Post opinion writer: ‘The U.S. government is designed for failure. And, a new study shows, it’s getting worse’

Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AP

The epitome of wasteful red tape and shameless corruption. On both sides, the modern U.S. Senate are grandstanding a**hats preventing anyone - including the president - from getting anything done. Frankly, the system just doesn’t work anymore. Fred Hiatt -

When President John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, he needed Senate approval for 779 of his appointments.

That was a highly irrational way to run a government.

Sixty years later, despite efforts at reform and widespread recognition of the irrationality, President Biden needs Senate approval for 1,237 positions — an increase of 59 percent, as a new report from the Partnership for Public Service discloses.

We’ve gone from irrational to just plain crazy.

How crazy? The Post and the Partnership are tracking 799 of those positions (leaving out some advisory boards and less essential jobs). As of this week, only 112 of them have been filled.

More than six months into his presidency, in other words — more than an eighth of the way through his term — Biden hardly has the beginning of an executive team in place.

Recently, a visiting diplomat told me he was struck by the disconnect between Biden’s ambitious rhetoric — about rebuilding alliances, promoting democracy, standing up to China — and his meager agenda. “Where are the policies?” he asked.

This isn’t entirely fair; there are policies. But it’s difficult to put meat on the bones of any agenda without ambassadors, assistant secretaries of state and defense for different regions in the world, and more.

At about this point of every administration, you start to see stories assigning blame for the empty offices. Republicans will ask why Biden has nominated only 323 of the 799. Administration officials would say there’s not much point in stacking up another few hundred nominees for obstructionists such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who has been holding up State Department nominees to grandstand his opposition to the administration’s stance on a Russia-Germany natural gas pipeline.

But the better question is, why do things this way in the first place? (Read more)

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 05/15 - 05/21

Photo: Boston Globe

Leading the nation in vaccinations, all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in Massachusetts will be lifted on May 29

‘Now is not the time to relax protective measures.’ Nurses union condemns CDC decision to relax mask protocols for vaccinated people

COVID-19 variant first discovered in India now has been found in the United States, with cases reported in Nebraska, Iowa, Nevada, and Tennessee

‘The highest vaccination rates are concentrated in the Northeast, while the lowest ones are mostly in the South.’ Big gaps in vaccine rates across the U.S. worry health experts

‘(P)eople should prepare for Covid restrictions to be revisited in the fall, especially given uncertainties around how emerging variants will impact vaccines’ effectiveness in preventing disease spread.’ Mask mandates might be going away, but don’t ditch yours just yet, scientists caution

Some major retailers dropping mask requirements, ‘largely moving to an honor system in which they trust that only vaccinated people will bare their faces.’ How can an ‘honor system’ be in place in a country without honor? Anyway, the mob rules: The anti-mask zealots have complained so loudly and for so long that they finally got their way. Widespread harassment and even oppression of those who still choose to mask is coming, and probably another major wave of new COVID infections. We haven’t gotten nearly enough people vaccinated yet, but everyone is just giving up and giving in before the battle is won, because that’s just the caliber of people we are now - a people without any honor or integrity to speak of

Fact-check time: No, HIPPA federal privacy law does not prohibit businesses from asking customers about their vaccination status

Fewer children spreading germs is always a good thing. The CDC says 600,000 kids aged 12-15 have been vaccinated in the past week

CDC study suggests schools are jumping the gun by removing mask mandates for students and teachers

‘Cabin fever’ is running high and human beings are very antsy right now. Kind of pathetic, actually, especially considering the pandemic hasn’t yet ended: Walmart reports stronger sales than expected, CEO says customers ‘clearly want to get out and shop’

Having spent years in service industries, I know the low pay, the mental abuse, and the complete lack of any appreciation for one’s efforts takes a toll: Changed by the pandemic, many workers are refusing to return to their old jobs

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

‘The New York state attorney general’s office said on Tuesday it has told the Trump Organization its investigation of the company run by former President Donald Trump is now a criminal probe, not purely civil’

‘If Trump has a political philosophy, one of its main tenets is toxic masculinity — the use of menace and swagger to cover his mental and moral impotence. And the mini-Trumps have taken their master’s lead.’ Michael Gerson: The threat of violence now infuses GOP politics, and we should all be afraid

Gutless sack of excrement: House Minority Leader McCarthy announces opposition to bipartisan committee to investigate the events of January 6

Veterans call out Sen. Ted Cruz after he says U.S. Army ad shows ‘woke, emasculated military’

Shouldn’t even give this twit the attention she so craves, but this is a particularly egregious and alarming analogy to make: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene compares House mask mandate to the Holocaust

‘They see themselves as heroic. And how can you be heroic in today's world? Well, you protect the children — you protect the children against this cabal that is out to turn them into sex slaves.’ America’s ‘Satanic Panic’ returns, via QAnon

Panic buying prolongs shortages and further drives up the price of gasoline. Watch, probably every single person who engaged in said panic buying are blaming President Biden for the higher prices

‘(T)hose advocating a nation of vegetarians aren’t helping. Like snatching a rattle from an infant, it only provokes an even more extreme response. And it’s just not a plausible solution: Most people like meat.’ Brent Cunningham: Beef isn’t being banned, but it’s always a staple of the culture war diet

Boston radio host returns to air day after controversial comments on pop music star’s ‘non-binary’ announcement. The real question here is, why is a 71-year-old man hosting programming on a radio station that plays music for teenage girls?

Noise pollution is a very real crime against nature. It is crucial we start recognizing it. All of this ‘freedumb’ is killing us (Note that I did not say ‘freedom,’ I mean free-DUMB - like being loud just for the sake of being loud, or putting others in danger during a pandemic because it’s one’s ‘right’ to not have to cover their mouths, and so forth.) ‘Noise from loud parties and dirt bikes is not only disturbing residents around Boston’s Franklin Park, it is also impacting the zoo animals’

‘(A) type of digital motion they once tolerated without realizing it was actually a strain on their systems.’ Endless scrolling through social media can literally make one sick

Supreme Court unanimously rules warrant-less home gun confiscation is unconstitutional

Disgusting: ‘A 6-year-old boy was shot and killed during an apparent road rage incident on the 55 Freeway in Orange on Friday morning, and the gunman remains at large, California Highway Patrol officials said’

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Following President Biden’s call to end hostilities, Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire after eleven days of fighting

Antisemitic incidents, as well as anti-Muslim hate crimes, sharply increase across the U.S. during latest flare-up between Israel and Hamas

The U.S. and Russia hold parallel military drills in neighboring Balkan countries

China protests the latest passage of a U.S. Navy ship through the Taiwan Strait

Radical Muslim advocacy group CAIR to boycott the White House Eid celebration after President Biden refuses to cave to their demands that he condemn America’s ally Israel for the crime of protecting itself against a violent terrorist organization

Photo: AP

Was pulling for Midnight Bourbon, and he does finish second ahead of the infamous Medina Spirit, but it's 11-1 Rombauer that takes the Preakness

Trainer Bob Baffert is temporarily suspended by the NYRA from entering horses at Belmont, Saratoga, and Aqueduct

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 03/27 - 04/02

‘Too many Americans are acting as if this fight is over. It is not.’ Biden warns that progress in the fight against COVID can still be reversed if people do not do their part. People would be wise to take heed

‘Following nearly three months of declines, U.S. coronavirus cases are beginning to rebound once again. The country is reporting a weekly average of 61,821 new Covid-19 cases per day, a 12% increase compared with a week ago’

Millions of Americans return to air travel as vaccines and spring break fever kick in. No wonder we are seeing COVID on the rise again. Every time there’s been a lull in new infections and hospitalizations, these restless herd animals just have to get back out there - no masks on, breathing all over one another, and spreading the virus anew.  And of course, once the numbers start surging again, these same people then turn around and blame the president or some other convenient scapegoat. Or just deny reality altogether. The pandemic may eventually end - once there are enough people vaccinated, and if the vaccines prove to offer more than temporary immunity - but willful stupidity, selfishness, and malevolence will always be with us

CDC: Fully vaccinated individuals at lower risk of transmission while traveling, but travel is still not recommended as COVID cases surge once again

We’ll be stuck in this cycle for years: CDC director expresses concern about the latest COVID surge

‘The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported an additional 2,160 confirmed COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the statewide total to 602,792 since the start of the pandemic’

COVID-19 cases increase for the third straight week in Massachusetts schools

The truth is strange enough, no need for any conspiracy theories: WHO study finds that COVID was likely transmitted from bats to humans via another animal

COVID-19 infections once again surging in India, prompting the country of 1.4 billion to severely curtail the number of vaccines it had been exporting to dozens of other nations

‘More than 40% of adults in the United States experienced symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders at some point between August 2020 and the end of January’

Neurological issues plaguing those who had mild COVID-19 symptoms, months after being infected

At one time, charges such as these against the GOP would be considered gross hyperbole at best, and outright defamatory at worst. But, Republicans in recent years have decided to become every single stereotype the other side has about them, so we’ll call this for what it is - 21st century Jim Crow: Georgia’s repulsive new election law is Exhibit A in the GOP’s war on voting rights

No way is this legislation going to survive. If the courts don’t overturn it, corporate pressure will: Coca-Cola and other companies based in Georgia facing boycotts after the state passes law restricting voting rights

‘President Joe Biden called a sweeping elections law signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp this week an "atrocity," and said the Justice Department is "taking a look" at the measure’

Mona Charen: Sidney Powell admits it was all a lie; former Trump attorney pleads it was his First Amendment right to engage in made-up claims of election fraud

The grievances of (mostly old) white people are all that the GOP is about now. Persecution complex is their modus operandi, and extremely effective with the target audience. Paul Waldman: Republicans want you to call their policies ‘racist,’ as it’s part of their plan

Making ‘the case for why these events are an utter waste of the president’s time.’ Jennifer Rubin: President Biden excels at his first news conference, while the media embarrass themselves

Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota appears to suggest he would either shoot President Biden or sic a dog on him in moronic ‘come and get it’ tweet

What depths will these right-wing populist clowns not sink to? Did Sen. Ted Cruz need an armored patrol boat to prove he cares about migrant kids

Senator Warren vows to ‘fight to break up Big Tech so you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets’ after being fact-checked by Amazon in Twitter back-and-forth

Am beyond disgusted: U.S. Capitol officer killed and another injured in vehicle attack. Culprit fatally shot by police after attempting to lunge at them with a knife. President Biden orders flags at half-staff

Consistency of narrative has never been their strong suit, but has always been beside the point for these people: Some QAnon adherents now want us to believe ‘Q’ was only something the boogeyman media - not they themselves - made up to smear them

Death toll from last month’s winter storm disaster in Texas is revised upward

‘Day of terror’ in the former Burma, as the ruling military junta slaughters dozens of civilians, including children: With the events of the past few years and tensions in this country running hot, it is apparent most Americans of today - left and right - would have no moral qualms seeing people on the other side being shot by a politicized military dedicated only to carrying out their ideological crusades. We’re not as enlightened as we believe ourselves to be, and the only thing stopping us from becoming Myanmar is a noble military that stays out of politics and adheres to the rule of law. If the U.S. Armed Forces didn’t stand in the way of corrupt politicians - especially, at this moment, the nationalist GOP - and a malevolent citizenry, this would be us

‘Across Syria, the pandemic has compounded the worst economic crisis since the conflict began in 2011. The local currency has crashed and food prices have soared — increasing by 222% from last year. Nine out of 10 people live below the poverty line and in northwest Syria, close to three-quarters of the 4.3 million residents are food insecure’

Another doctor at Omsk hospital where Navalny was treated reportedly dies

‘They are deliberately turning him into a cripple.’ Vladimir Kara-Murza: The Kremlin may be slowly killing Alexei Navalny in prison, and the world must not let it happen

‘Increasing threats of poaching and loss of habitat have made Africa’s elephant populations more endangered, according to a report released Thursday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’

Coffee pulp may help revitalize tropical forest growth

NASA determines the asteroid Apophis will not strike Earth for at least 100 years

St. Louis Cardinals great Joe Cunningham - who once battled Hank Aaron for the batting title, and later served as a prominent goodwill ambassador for the organization - dies at 89

Rest in Peace, Howard Schnellenberger: College football coaching great dies at 87

Former Grade 1 winner Unbridled Forever dies after foaling complications

American horse Mystic Guide wins the Dubai World Cup in solid fashion

Known Agenda, son of Curlin, takes charges in the stretch to win the Florida Derby

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 02/17 - 02/23

U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 500,000

‘(O)ut of 163 countries assessed worldwide, the United States, Brazil and Hungary are the only ones in which people are worse off’ than ten years ago: The United States has transitioned from a First World power to a developing nation

‘Life expectancy in the United States fell by a full year during the first half of 2020, a staggering decline that reflects the toll of the covid-19 pandemic as well as a rise in deaths from drug overdoses, heart attacks and diseases that accompanied the outbreak, according to government data released Thursday. The last time life expectancy at birth dropped more dramatically was during World War II. Americans can now expect to live as long as they did in 2006’

Pentagon officials tell Congress that about one-third of troops offered the COVID-19 vaccine have refused

‘Pfizer and BioNTech say the first U.S. participants have been given shots in a large-scale clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of their COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women. The companies are aiming to enroll some 4,000 pregnant women’

Two Florida women, ages 44 and 34, facing charges after posing as elderly women at vaccine distribution site

Finally, some degree of progress is being made: COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. dip to the lowest level since November

UK Foreign Office spokesman says the government cannot guarantee there won’t be another COVID-19 lockdown as there is no way to predict how the virus will evolve

Enrollment at U.S. community colleges plummets amid the pandemic

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about: Russia registers world’s first case of human infection from the new H5N8 bird flu

Unfathomable what happened in the Lone Star State. Also shows us the chaos that would ensue if the national power grid were to collapse: Power outages leave millions of Texans desperate for heat and safety

‘Nearly seven million people in the US state of Texas have been told to boil tap water before consuming it after a deadly winter storm caused power blackouts at treatment facilities’

Fear of parasites in Texas water supply revived after winter storm damage

As Texas deep freeze subsides, some households now face electricity bills as high as $10,000

White House sending emergency generators and other supplies to Texas amid power outages and freezing weather

A disgraceful, pitiful coward that is no longer fit to serve: Sen. Ted Cruz flees to Cancun as millions in Texas freeze without power

Conspiracy theorists allege the U.S. government and Bill Gates manufactured the deadly winter storm in Texas as a ploy to prevent the state from seceding from the union

CPAC cancels a speaker who goes by the name of ‘Young Pharaoh’ after said speaker posted anti-Semitic comments on Twitter, including calling Judaism itself ‘a complete lie’

‘(A) number of these newly enlisted Republicans appear to have come to the GOP not for the ideology or the philosophy, but for the signs, the flags and, the fight.’ Republicans in one Wisconsin county refuse to vote for resolution condemning political violence

U.S. seeks to reclaim leadership role as it rejoins the Paris Agreement and UN climate change talks approach

President Biden and centrist Democrats taking a pragmatic and measured approach to the minimum wage and student loan forgiveness, angering leftists who are seeking more sweeping measures

Good fences make good neighbors: ‘U.S. Capitol Police officials told congressional leaders the razor-wire topped fencing around the Capitol should remain in place for several more months as law enforcement continues to track threats against lawmakers’

‘Six more people linked to the far-right Oath Keepers militia group have been indicted on charges that they planned and coordinated with one another in the attack on the U.S. Capitol’

DOJ and FBI investigating the role high-profile figures on the far-right - including Alex Jones and Roger Stone - played in the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot

Mars landing: Excitement builds over new images from NASA Perseverance rover

‘Two pilots flying a training mission were killed Friday when a military jet crashed near Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama, the U.S. Air Force confirmed’

Rush Limbaugh has died. He revolutionized radio and politics itself. All for the better? Probably not, but he made a huge impact in the world. Rest in peace

Justice denied yet again: Russian court denies appeal of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny

‘The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence that an Emirati princess held against her will for almost three years is still alive’

‘Nearly a third of all freshwater fish species are threatened by extinction, according to a new report released by 16 conservation groups on Tuesday’

Prayers for Tiger Woods following a major car crash. Not a golf fan at all, but Tiger is undoubtedly one of the great athletes of our time

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

A tale of two populists: AOC and Ted Cruz

I am seeing a lot of folks comparing Ted Cruz's escape attempt and Ms. AOC's efforts in Texas. Not a fan of either one (once supported Ted Cruz before he lost his mind to populist idiocy, a/k/a Trumpism), but if this is a battle between the two, AOC wins this round. There, don't say I never said anything positive about the great AOC, but she is a dangerous populist just as Cruz and these phonies on the right are. Maybe a bit smarter - if the nationalist populists were smart, they'd be on the ground helping people as she is doing - but also young and still given to naivety. She may more sincerely believe what comes out of her mouth. Certainly much easier to look at, and don't think for a second that isn't a reason the media gives her so much attention. I don't think her rhetoric and ideology are helpful, but good on her for at least practicing what she preaches in this instance. As for Ted Cruz, I have to believe he and many other Republican lawmakers were caught in some very compromising situations and were forced to give themselves over to this nationalist cabal, likely controlled in part or wholly by Vladimir Putin. I wouldn't want to be in the man's shoes for all the riches on earth.

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.