A State Gone Wild!!

 

I supposed I should explain the Nebraska Legislature and what went down in the last 4 days. The 6 week abortion ban went down the tubes a while back never to rear its ugly head again. Well while technically true on Tuesday of this week Senator Ben Hansen, a medical "expert" because he cracks backs for a living, introduced an "amendment" to LB574, an anti-trans bill thats been fucking up this entire session because its being filibustered. We hit Day 81 of the 90 day session and up comes LB574, a bill that prohibits trans gender care for minors, puberty blockers, hormone therapy and that boogie man of all boogie men, trans gender surgeries, you know what the homophobes and transphobes like to call "cuttin off your genitals" , a practice not even done in Nebraska yet such an emergency it must be banned to "protect the children". 

Hansens amendment to an anti trans bill was to add to it a 12 week abortion ban (actually more like 9-10 weeks because of the definition of gestational age). This again was on Tuesday. The Democrats went crazy. You cannot add an amendment totally unrelated to the original bill and expect it to just be allowed to stand. Well this Nebraska's one house legislature and since there are 32 Republicans they can do whatever they want with the help of just one lone Democrat to stifle debate and move on to passing an unconstitutional law. Enter Senator Mike "Rat Bastard" McDonnell . A Democrat from central Omaha, a former fire chief and a DUI enthusiast but most of all one of those creatures I call professional Catholics. His religion is what motivates him, well that and he's running for Mayor of Omaha and he thinks being a homophobic anti woman hack is the path to victory. Catholicism, ah ya cant beat it if youre stuck in the middle ages. McDonnell provided  the 33rd vote to turn that house of wealthy old people, ranchers with nothing to do in the winter, bankers looking out for #1, and retired housewives who get bored and are really bitter over their aging bodies. 

So LB574 came up for final reading yesterday and the attempt to turn Nebraska into just another Mississippi of the North was full speed ahead. Some of us dont take the taking away of rights of women and trans gender kids lightly. We will not go away lightly.

The vote was set for somewhere around 4. The protesters were there at noon. The chanting began immediately just outside the legislative chambers. The glass doors were locked. The State Patrol was locked and loaded. The bigots in the chamber were ready to express their love for children and their even more love for the "pre-born" (the term pre born was IN THE BILL which is not a medical term and is now in Nebraska law making us look like the fools we are). The right wing groups were in a special protected class as they were allowed to look down on the protesters from the rotunda balcony which was allegedly off limits to anyone. A nice catholic woman stuck out her tongue at the gathered protesters as thats what 60 year old women do, right? A GOP operative named Matt Innis wanders around the rotunda snapping pics of people like he's some kind of crazed anti 1st amendment paparazzi. A man packing a gun on his hip stood around probably fantasizing about shootin some queers . 

The chanting continued. You could hear it on the live feed of the Legislature. Senators needed to speak loudly to be heard. When the bills sponsor, a suburbanite white woman appointee totally owned by outside interests, Senator Kathleen Kauth , stood to express her "love" for children and how kids brains dont fully develop till age 25 (but they can be forced to give birth at age 12) and all this transgender stuff is just a phase kids go thru, the people in the gallery (in the chamber) erupted. Yelling and throwing things at her as she carried on about how these people were "outside the state agitators" the gallery was cleared as it had been earlier in the week when the abortion amendment was added. Kauth lives in a white woman bubble of fellow well off GOP haters and cannot believe there are those of us in this state who find her and her bill abhorrent. 

The gallery people came down to be with the rest of us outside the chamber and thats when the State Patrol sprung into action. When a protestor was grabbed and shoved into a corner and held down by numerous officers well that's an instigation for some. One protester ran up and punched an officer which is not a good thing nor very smart. This caused a sudden wave of State Patrolman to pounce. What went on in that scrum was not visible to my eye but the sudden violence was infuriating. Stop the violence chants began. I surged forward because quite frankly I hate bullies and I wasn't thinking straight before reaching the scrum and then thinking better of getting into a fight with cops at my age. Stop the Violence was the best we could do.

Chanting, singing, laying down on the floor, disrupting the polite society continued until the vote. It was 33-15 just enough to pass with the help of Rat Bastard McDonnell. One vote to save our lives!! 

The session adjourned and the cowards snuck out the back with the protection of the State Patrol and the GOP thugs standing there looking all tough. The heroes of the session, State Senators Machaela Cavanaugh and State Senator Megyn Hunt (who has an trans son) who had been called "groomers" for 81 days emerged to loud cheers, hugs and the sadness that they had failed to influence one decent person to just stop. 

Look this bill will be thrown out by any court worth a shit (which is a big if that any exist). The bill has a clause that isnt even germane to the bill itself (that idiotic abortion ban). In the past the Nebraska Supreme Court has thrown out various other petitions about marijuana and gambling because they contained too many different subjects. Will they do it with this bill? We can hope. I'm not holding my breath. 

Democracy is dying all over the world. Its ugly to watch authoritarian schmoes get their way because of gerrymandering and the people voting for Republicans just because they want to "own the libs". It's the strategy of a loser. The strategy of a middle school brain that never developed at age 25. Ya know like Kathleen Kauth.

Fuck this state. Its backwardness has always been frustrating but in a sense charming. The reasonableness in the inability to think forward has always been something one can deal with if youve lived here all your life. But since 2016 and the unleashing of vermin that had normally kept a low profile, this state has changed. Its mean, its profane and its just another Trump loving band of cultists just like the rest of  rural America. Election deniers, conspiracy theorists and undeveloped brains have infiltrated our statehouse. 

Vote them ALL OUT!

Nebraska Legislature!

What a "shame" that the 6 week abortion ban failed to get the 33 votes needed to get it to the next round....The bill is dead for this year because the 6 week freaks would not compromise to a 12 week ban. There are plenty of shitty bills still in play however. Specifically, the hateful anti trans bill LB574, the anti drag queen bill, the bathroom bill, the women's sports bill and the school choice bill not to mention forcing gas stations to have 50% ethanol pumps (because theres lots of corn farmers in the lege conflict of interest?)

But for now I will take this win.

Jagged Little Pill!!

 Look first off there was nobody like Alanis Morissette. She was Taylor Swift before there was a Taylor Swift. But Alanis was an adult and not afraid to lay it all out. Jagged Little Pill was her masterpiece, in fact it was a masterpiece for anyone. Now the fanboy stuff is over and lets get to the musical Jagged Little Pill now playing in Lincoln at the Lied Center.

In the current political atmosphere this is the kind of musical that Ron Desantis and perhaps 33 members of the Nebraska Legislature would try and ban. It covers all the hot button "woke" issues. There's pill addiction, there's rape, there's LGBTQ, there's gender confusion, there's trans gender, there's race, there's male indifference, there's rage and jealousy and there is stale marriages. This "wokeism" that the right hates slugs you right between the eyes from the start and its just great.

The story is about a family on the ropes. The wife is addicted to opiates, the daughter is adopted and black and confused, the son is trying to live up to the parents' high hopes, the husband is a workaholic who's never home, and the daughters friend is a non binary teen with teen issues. There are other characters, the teen rape victim, the daughter's "boyfriend", the rich kid rapist and a dance team that just freakin kills it. I haven't seen this much energy and quite frankly youthful limberness is ages. The dancers are flippin contortionists.

Mom, Mary Jane Healy, played by Broadway veteran Heidi Klingenstaff , is trying to hold everything together by herself and failing miserably. The son, Nick, played by newcomer Dillon Klena, has been accepted to Harvard and is just trying to hold it together for one more semester. The adopted daughter, Frankie ,and played by newcomer Lauren Chanel  is questioning her own identity as a black teen in a white world and her own sexuality, The husband, Steve,  played by Broadway vet Chris Hoch, is working 60 hours a week making money while ignoring the reality of his collapsing family. 

Life goes on, MJ becomes a back alley opiate customer, Nick witnesses a rape and fails to come forward, Frankie destroys her friend Jo by sleeping with a boy (the scene of Phoenix played by Rishi Golani running away thru the audience with his pants around his ankles is hilarious) and Steve comes to understand his wife is fucked up and it's a lot his fault.

All the issues are right here. The rape, the addiction, the racial problem, the gender issue, the trans gender issue, the wealthy getting away with anything, the teen idealism and rage. The rage of Alanis Morissette.

Don't get the idea that this is a bummer of a musical. Its really not. Issues get resolved . There's a lot of humor and current slaps at the anti woke crowd and Fox News (which drew a LOUD cheer). It really is not for everyone but it WAS for us.

Heidi Klingenstaff who plays MJ, is not only a fantastic singer with great range, she's a damn good actress pulling off this role. The rest of the cast, mostly newcomers, is also phenomenal. But lets get to the character Jo, played by newcomer Jade McLeod. She plays Frankies best bud and potential girlfriend until it becomes apparent Frankie isn't exclusively gay. She gets the You Oughta Know moment, She belts that song out with such rage and energy it's impossible not to think that this singer/actress isn't going places . My God it was a powerful moment and made admission worth it.  

Go see this if you get a chance. Not only great Alanis songs, but great acting and a great modern day story. I expected good, I got great.

Les Miz!

 

Years ago, my Mom asked me to accompany her to the local community theater to see a musical called Les Miserables. Not really my thing at the time, I was a devotee of JC Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (yes, I was and am a Webber fanboy) and this new stuff maybe wasn't for me. But, I was blown away by it's grandeur. 

The latest touring show of Les Miz came into town last night for a weeklong stay. And as usual, it was spectacular.

I mean this thing has it all. Love, crime, bad cops. revolution, unrequited love, comedy, tragedy, cute kids, redemption, a fascinating story, and great great songs. Yeah, it can be a downer, but it's also inspiring. I dare you to not want to rush the Nebraska Unicameral and wave a red flag as they take away your rights, give away the store to the wealthy, arm every yahoo, and say the stupidest crap ever.

The story involves a criminal named Jean Valjean, prisoner 24601, released from slavery, who turns his life around, becomes a true Christian , becomes a rich man, cares for a young mothers child after she  dies, yet is still pursued by a bad cop named Javert. Meanwhile the young people are fed up with the wealthy, the government that enriches them at the expense of the people and plot a revolution. The daughter of Valjean falls for a student named Marius, all at the expense of the tragic Epinine, who loves Marius. The revolt occurs, it fails, all are dead except Marius and the rest is history.

This touring company is top notch. Every single major character in this grand musical has a moment to shine with a classic solo. They ALL knock it out of the park.

Fantine gets I Dreamed a Dream, the song that got Anne Hathaway an Oscar. Haley Dortch as Fantine got huge applause. The first of many.

The innkeeper Thenadier and his wife provided comic relief with Master of the House and also brought down the house.

Javert gets to shine with Stars. Preston Boyd as Javert was probably the most talented singer on the stage and blew everyone away with his baritone. Chills.

The ensemble killed with the classic Do You Hear the People Sing. It's still going in my head.

Epinine played by Christine Hwang ran away with On My Own. She was a delight and received huge applause. More chills.

There's so much more. One More Day. Look Down. It's so great.

Look I understand this huge loud long musical may be a chore to a lot of people. There's a shitload going on and subjects come at you really fast and at times it could become too much to handle. 

I mean you go from laughter to tears to sympathy to cheers to sadness to joy to tears again to joy again back to cheers to grief. It's a lot to process. 

But if you love grand spectacle on a stage, special effects, great stories and fantastic singers who all come to play, by all means go see it. I'd go back tonight if I could. It's that damn good!

Thanks Mom. 

A Hero In Nebraska!

 The legislature here in Nebraska is composed of 49 individuals. That's it. No House just a so-called Senate. Why this happened is because way back in depression era Nebraska, while the voters were building the gigantic capitol building known as The Penis of the Plains funded brick by brick dollar by dollar, legalizing horse race betting, making public power the only option, they also cut the size of the legislature down to one house system called the Unicameral. They also paid these people about $1200 per year right up until the late 1980s when they raised the salary to $12000 a year. Wow, how generous. Thus the state senators tended to be rich ranchers and farmers from the rural areas and rich Republicans from the affluent parts of Omaha and Lincoln. This is basically the norm even now. And the results are as predictable as can be. Rural, and their right wing agenda, run this state mostly because the wealthy Omahans and Lincolnites are right on board.

However, I will say unlike many states with a band of ogres gerrymandered into veto proof majorities, the trolls and rudeness that permeates politics in many states has been avoided here as Nebraska Nice has generally prevailed. Until now.

The 2020 election in Nebraska reflected the times. The Republicans elected for the first time are loud, mean and perfectly willing to blow up an entire system to get what the lobbyists, the PACS, and a billionaire ex Governor and his puppet new Governor have paid them to do. That is outlaw abortion, take away the rights of trans kids, outlaw drag shows, allow any yahoo to carry a gun without a permit and funnel tax money meant for public schools straight into the pockets of Charlie Kirk, Betsy DeVos , the Catholic Church and the religious kooks who want to start a "private school" under the lie of "school choice" for the poor. That's about it. That's all the dark money wants. 

Now originally, after the election the filibuster proof 33 vote threshold was thought to have been avoided. You get 33 genetic Republicans into office out of 49 and you can do what you wish. This was avoided. Or so we believed. Unfortunately there are Democrats who have a price and that price was met. Democratic turncoats came to the surface and the 33 votes have been achieved to stop filibusters. 

Step up to the plate Senator Machaela Cavanaugh. A Democratic (though "officially" non partisan) Senator from Omaha (she literally would be my Senator if I lived across the street) decided hey fuck you bullies, you may win in the end, but I am going to take you down on your "vanilla" bills that actually benefit your constituents like rural broadband, property tax relief and allocation of state funds. You want to limit women's health care rights, let any goober carry a gun, drive trans kids to suicide, destroy the public schools and ban drag shows you are paying a price.

So Senator Cavanaugh began to filibuster EVERY fucking bill that came up. She's been talking for over a week about a bill that changes a simple process regarding property taxes that nobody in their right mind would oppose. She's been talking about trans children killing themselves, women dying of complications during pregnancy after being denied abortions, and anything that she can think of. Fish fries, girl scout cookies, and her new colleagues being bullies and assholes. 

This is YOUR government Nebraska. You voted for these Republican shitheels thinking well everybody pivots and all is polite and casual. Well they aren't any longer. The people taking legislative seats are election deniers, conspiracy theorists , white nationalists, and gutless Democrats who think they have to vote with the crazies because they seek further office, like Mayor of Omaha . It's pathetic. It really is.

But some have courage. Machaela Cavanaugh is going to exact a price for these radical bills introduced by these nuts and GOP puppets. You get a drag queen ban, you get a abortion ban, you get a trans ban, you get a gun bill but ya know what you aren't getting ? Property tax relief, rural broadband and other things that actually affect your voters. But on the other hand fuck em, they voted for these nuts.

You're a hero Senator. Keep on talkin!

McCarthy The Spineless Invertebrate!

 When the gutless spineless invertebrate Kevin McCarthy turned over 41K hours of Jan 6 tapes to a carnival barker named Tucker Carlson the other day make no mistake this is a concession to the Caucus of Dumb Fascists who eventually got out of his way to achieve power. The Republican establishment, who voted for McCarthy the entire 14 times they kept trying, is of no concern to McCarthy. His ass kissing of Marjorie the Loud, Matt the Pedo, Lauren the Dumb and others is his utmost concern to fight off death threats from the trash and challenges from the floor of fools.

The real reason this action occurred was not for "transparency" or "freedom" or that selective adoration of the "First Amendment" but to begin the two year long revision of history about what happened on January 6, 2021. What we all saw was an insurrection begun by a narcissistic law breaker who had the power to unleash a gang of white supremacists and criminals on the Congress, who just happened to be located in the Capitol. The launching of a  lynch mob of armed and dangerous scum onto real people like Nancy Pelosi, Mike Pence, Chuck Schumer and any other person following the rules to certify an election in which one man beat the other by 7 million votes. Gallows, sing songy Naaaancy, taking dumps in waste baskets, attacking undermanned police forces, tazing people, hitting people with lead pipes, attacking cops with flagpoles, carrying traitorous flags , smearing shit on the walls, attempting to climb into the House chambers to kill people 22 feet away, we ALL saw it. We all saw the mob. We all say the cult leader tell the mob to go to the Capitol and stop the certification to keep his filthy criminal ass in power.

But Tucker Carlson, an admitted liar, an admitted entertainer, a man so devoid of principles that even AFTER he's exposed as calling guests of his lunatics and liars, continues to push those lies about Jan 6. He did it this week. And there are millions who are so empty of curiosity and brain power that they just swallow his poison. 

Carlson is going to edit those tapes to further his cult into believing a coup is righteous . Believing that a violent insurrection was nothing more than a tourist visit into a public place by a group of white people exercising their right to visit a "sacred" place. The history of Jan 6th isn't a criminal act to the McCarthys of the world, it was a homage to a treasonous cult leader with a violent mob of morons. The fear of these pipe wielding miscreants is overwhelming the so-called "normal" Republicans who must pretend to back the former Thug in Chief. See Nikki Haley. 

It was just some touristy old lady in a Trump hat being escorted down the stairs by a "beleaguered" police officer. That's what Carlson will try and sell to a captive audience that already believes it. His real point is to sell it to the ignorant with no opinion about anything. 

But what we CANNOT forget is Kevin McCarthy on the phone with Trump the Twat on Jan 6, 2021

T****---"Well Kevin , I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are"

McCarthy-- "MORE UPSET? THEY'RE TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME!!!"

And

McCarthy--"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO?"

And

McCarthy-- " I'M DONE WITH THIS GUY!!!"

Apparently he's not. 

I Know Something You Don't Know!

 Hey Emily Kohrs! Thanks for your service but shut the fuck up, pretty please!

Emily has shown up all over the media, twitching and saying things like she doesn't even vote and how much she is awed by drunkard Rudy Giuliani. Her brain seems stuck in 2002. 

She thinks she's being clever by giggling and saying things like the recommended indictments are "not a short list" and "not rocket science" to figure out who she means hee hee hee. 

Meanwhile the former guy is over on his pseudo twitter taking back his praise of the grand jury for their "total exoneration" and now screeching about "racism" against him and back to the "perfect phone calls" bullshit. You know, the "perfect" phone call where he threatened the Georgia Secretary of State with legal consequences if he didn't come up with 11,000 votes fellas. This isn't good because he riles up his violent thugs who are probably sending death threats to Emily Kohrs and DA Fani Willis. Perhaps Emily doesn't care as ignorance is bliss but I know Fani Willis does. Why give this Florida retiree a heads up that he's close to indictment?

I've heard former prosecutors state that blabbermouths like her are a prosecution nightmare and she's arming Trumps crooked lawyers with ammunition to ask for jury impropriety and shit like that to muck up the legal gears.  

Look I dont know who the grand jury recommended to Willis to indict. Kohrs was at least smart enough not to let that fly out of her trap. But the sly little "its not rocket science" to figure out who the list includes really aint helping. If I was one of those conspiracy whackos I'd start hollering that she's TRYING to fuck this up. But since I know better and my tin foil hat is in the wash, I'd just say she's loving the attention. 

So please , Emily, could you please stop acting like a giddy teenager who knows a secret and is just dying to tell you without telling you (wink wink) and just shut the hell up!

My own instincts say a whole lot of fake Georgia electors, Rudy Giuliani , Lindsey Graham and perhaps Mark Meadows and if all is just, Fat Donald will be very sad very soon . Damn I hope so.

But lets leave this to Fani Willis now and forget about Emily Kohrs.

One of the lingering questions I have is how in the name of Jimmy Carter did this yapping Yorkie become foreperson??? Did they vote her foreperson to get her to stop talking? That I would understand.