A Nation in Decline!

 It's official, from Ministry of Truth Social:  "So the lowlifes Rigged and Stole a Presidential Election, and I'm the one who is on trial.  We are truly a Nation in Decline!"

Feel the passion!  Savor the semi-literacy!  Hope he's right about the trial!  The loser will never give up his big lie, and now he has a new woman to blame, Cassidy Hutchinson.  Smell the fear!

Lots of people are having a lousy Independence Day.  In Ohio a ten-year-old girl was found by her doctor to be six weeks and three days pregnant.  It was easy to determine when "life began" as it resulted from rape.  She traveled to Indiana for an abortion, prompting a special session of the Indiana legislature to make even that impossible as of July 25.  Did I mention that she is ten, a little too young to appreciate the wonderful opportunity for growth that her rapist gave her?  And won't somebody think of his parental rights?

Americans have learned to distinguish fireworks from gunfire, even at a July 4 parade.  In Highland Park, Illinois, six people were killed and several wounded as others fled the scene to the sound of patriotism.

"Why do police continuously target us like domestic terrorists?  We are just trying to live our lives, and we are tired of being hunted like prey."  NAACP president Derrick Johnson was referring to the slaughter -- there is no other word -- of Jayland Walker as he fled a traffic stop in Akron, Ohio.  Eight police shot the unarmed man at least sixty times.  Anyone who hunted deer like that would lose his license.

Still in America's heartland, Kristina Karamo is running for Michigan secretary of state.  She has called abortion "human sacrifice" and warns that demonic possession can be sexually transmitted like the clap.  Speaking of clap, she has Trump's blessing and he probably has hers.  Also in Michigan, some Boy Scouts on a visit to the Farmington Hills police department last April snapped pictures of the images of Black men the police use for target shooting.  Three months later the state promises an investigation.

Florida can still surprise us.  A man drove to the St. Petersburg headquarters of the Uhuru Movement just to burn their Pan-African flag with a flamethrower.  Well, you could hardly expect him to climb the thirty-foot flagpole.  

"I'm a Republican recorder living in a Republican county where the candidate that they wanted to win won by two-to-one and I'm still getting grief -- and so is my staff," said Leslie Hoffman of Yavapai County, Arizona.  Hoffman and other election officials are quitting because of "nasty" accusations and threats.  Ken Matta, who was the state head of election security until he resigned in May, wrote that he had "the responsibility of triaging threatening messages sent to our office by unstable citizens" in response to "misinformation spread by a political party."  Or by one of its unstable members (see above).  But you didn't do your job!  Joe Biden won Arizona.  You were supposed to prevent that.  I hope the threats and accusations end one day.  Shaye Moss and her mother send thoughts and prayers. 

Not satisfied with forcing eighth graders to bear their rapists' babies, anti-abortion zealots continue to threaten the lives of abortion providers in the remaining civilized states.  And unlike the Trumpanzees who rage at election workers, these people have a record of actual murder (David Gunn, Barnett Slepian, George Tiller et al.) and violent attacks on clinics.  Melissa Fowler of the National Abortion Federation noted, "A lot of our providers recognized people...who have been outside their clinics" at the January 6 coup attempt.  Hatred of women, of Black people, of LGBTQ people, of democracy itself are all fruit of the same blood-nourished tree.

"We are in a heightened threat environment," DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told Margaret Brennan yesterday.  He was talking about the Supreme Court justices who thought they could lay waste to human rights and environmental regulation without experiencing any consequences, like people making noise outside their houses while they're trying to watch Tucker Carlson.  But Brennan reminded him of the masked white supremacists who marched through downtown Boston Saturday.  Patriot Front, the "very fine people" from Charlottesville, carried fascist symbols and upside-down American flags.  Mayor Michelle Wu called them disgusting and hateful but took no action to deny their First Amendment rights.  What's special about Brett Kavanaugh?

The Gallup Poll say 38 percent of Americans are "extremely proud" of their country.  They call it a record low.  I'm impressed that it isn't lower.