I read a story recently about how prosecutions for violent crime are now at an abysmal pace in the newly expanded reservation, because only tribal or federal courts now have jurisdiction in the area over natives. Gorsuch really put that ruling in noble terms though.

Republicans will hit rock bottom one day. I have stopped predicting when that dat will arrive, because I thought that 2006 when the Iraq war went totally off the rails was that moment (then I thought it was 2008-9, then I thought it was 2016, so my predictive powers are nigh on worthless).

One thing that separates us from Chile or 1920s Italy is that we're fucking rich, sedentary, prima donnas. Anything that messes with our lifestyle is going to get politicians punished. The women's march happened in the beginning of Trump's terms, but most of the protesting was low stakes, because, after all, for all Trump's bluster and mendacity, people's lives, on balance, were still improving relative to the Great Recession. The fruits of Trump's labor are only beginning to be felt, since it takes a minute for landmark cases to meander through the courts.

But now that rubber is meeting the road, and all the Little Mitt Romneys of the suburbs may not be able to get an abortion for their 16 yr old daughter, their behavior is going to change, and fast. The trouble is that even most republicans don't believe this bullshit. The republicans I know, and I know a lot of them, for the most part talk a lot of shit, but in the end care simply and solely about what their tax bill looks like relative to their total compensation. Taxes lower = Good. The equation is that simple. Everything else is window dressing to help justify their complete and total lack of philosophy and empathy. I know some religious ones, too, but they aren't the ones who are going to decide where we go from here.

While I won't be surprised if we see an uptick in political violence, it will be limited in scope. No one is going to risk the financial collapse of the nation over social issues. The rhetoric is out of control, though. I just saw that the consumer sentiment index is at an all time low...lower by several points than the depths of covid or the Great Recession when unemployment in Michigan where I live was 17%. SEVENTEEN. It's 4.3% now, pretty much in line with the nation, which it at 3.6%, and people feel they're in a worse situation economically than at the worst economy since pre WWII. That can only be explained by political rhetoric, and the social media echo chambers that amplify and further distort it.

Gerrymandering only works insofar as the margins are thin. You can take a 50/50 state like NC and turn it into 9-1 GOP Congressional seats. But you can't do that to a 55-45 state, and that will happen at some point when the mendacious nature of the GOP starts hurting people lives. It's up to Democrats to be the adults. Don't get bogged down in rhetorical fights. Come up with modest, workable, appealing policy proposals and stick to them. Stop calling literally everyone a bigot. There are a lot of bigots in America, but politics is the art of compromise and like it or not, you need some bigots on your side, so shut the fuck up with the antagonism, and simply work to ensure that bigotry is contained rather than eradicated.

If all this requires making an unholy alliance with Mitt Romney or Susan Collins or even Satan's Spawn herself Liz Cheney, then so be it. Offer one of them a cabinet position prospectively before the election to show you're serious about expanding the appeal. And shut the fuck up about a civil war. As the Dalai Lama once said, the lesser of two evils means LESS EVIL. Let's aim for less evil and appreciate that we don't live in 1970s Chile or 1920s Italy which were by and large poor countries with ruined economies.

Sorry for the rant. This was going to be a very short reply, but then I started venting.