Bitchin Dave's newsletter

You may have seen a week or so ago that Jair Bolsonaro (former president of Brazil) was convicted of plotting a coup, and sentenced to prison.  What I find interesting about it is that this is a modern story about a 1st world nation, where the former president plotted a means to regain control of the office. He hadn't actually taken many tangible steps, but there was enough to convict him and prevent him from going at it again.  While in our (supposed) 1st world nation here in the US, we had a former president actually stage a coup.  It started to happen, but got thwarted.  And yes, there was supporting evidence that this was all planned by him and he started it in motion. A coup. In the US. That people shrugged at.  But our government failed to actually do anything about it. He wasn't charged. He wasn't held accountable. And then, he managed to win another election and has now subverted the government, effectively finalizing the coup, after a 4 year gap.  Why in the world ...

Texas had a story that actually cut me deeply. The basic story is that a literature professor at Texas A&M was conducting a lecture about children's authors and in the context of the discussions used pronouns other than the two that the GOP seems to dwell on. A student was incensed and a discussion ensued; essentially the student was saying the law was broken in even discussing such matters.  The instructor politely offered for the student to leave if they (see what I did there?) were uncomfortable.   And how do we know this?  Because "someone" in the class recorded it and posted it online (I don't know if that's actually legal in and of itself).  To me, it feels an awful lot like a setup, but no matter.  There was additional fallout. The student wound up calling the chair of the department and recording that conversation and posting it (not sure if that's a crime in Texas, either, but whatever).  The chair said nothing would happen as a result of this, an...

Flori-duh is doing what it does best: leading the world in stupidity.  A few weeks ago, Florida's surgeon general announced a plan to end any and all vaccine mandates for any public-type things. And that stance is supported by the governor, of course. These "public things" include schools. Who needs to prevent communicable diseases in the classroom?  Make the plague great again!  Adults get sick and die, that's on them. But kids dying as a result of poor decisions by parents, and worse, the government? That's just sad.  Funny how the GOP is all about being pro-life before birth, but afterwards, not so much.  And for what it's worth, the surgeon general of Florida apparently let his medical license lapse, and hasn't been affiliated with any hospital for many years.  Both of which are in violation of the law, given the position he holds.  But why let pesky rules get in the way of an ideological agenda (which I guess is to make everyone sick?) === Workplace h...