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Just posting to admit, I'm deliberately not watching the State of the Union tonight. I can't bring myself to do it despite reasoning it is still a form of Civic duty. But I am so tired of BS and can't imagine anything will be said that can't wait until morning to read about in the news.

I guess someone somewhere succeeded in something by making something as simple as paying attention too burdensome to be worth a Tuesday night...

So you are not watching Trump's Lies of the Union Address? Trump is on a huge roll.

This was me right when the Impeachment trial began. I thought I would watch the entire trial day by day, immediately tossed the idea and only caught headlines and a bit of articles all this time. Otherwise I'm tuned out paying only intermittent attention.

Same with tonight's State of the Union Address.

I'm tired of listening to BS and lies. Tired of watching people we pay to represent us bend the truth for their own good instead of ours and the good of thi country. Tired of them not doing their damn jobs. Watching them twist what should have been integrity, honor, and a search for truth into a FUBAR of denial and excuses.

Sick of it all.

The State of the Union has been ridiculous for as long as I've been aware it existed. It should've reverted to Jefferson's tradition of submitting it in writing many years ago.

Are you damned kidding me? Trump yet again is making a mockery of the Presidency. The Presidential Medal of Freedom seeks to recognize those people who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors". The President just awarded notorious bigot and epic moron, Rush Limbaugh the award simply because he is part of the Right Wing propaganda machine and Trump wants to give back to those who helped put him in office.

Babbling racist, sexist, homophobic nonsense over radio waves for 30+ years isn't anything to merit the award.

This is the same guy who said Sandra Fluke must be a slut for having so much sex that she needs taxpayers to pay for her birth control. He was too stupid to understand that most people take birth control for reasons that have nothing to do with preventing pregnancy. This is the same guy who mocked Michael J. Fox over his Parkinson's disease.

Rush Limbaugh is genuinely one of the monsters of American history and his death should be celebrated in so far as you are the type to be happy about the deaths of evil people. His influence on American society has been substantial and profoundly toxic. Aside from Rupert Murdoch and a couple of other people, he's been one of the worst human beings alive in terms of reach of harm over the past couple of generations.

If you look at how the Medal of Freedom has been historically handled, it's generally responsible. It's mostly a list of people who you'd expect to be deserving from the vantage point of the time they were awarded or political rewards that fall within the bounds of plausible recognition, if a bit sketchy. There are some eyebrow raising ones on the list, but it seems occasional rather than a pattern.

Trump's awards have been off the rails nonsense, with Limbaugh being a cherry on top. It really stands out.

This is the same guy who said Sandra Fluke must be a slut for having so much sex that she needs taxpayers to pay for her birth control. He was too stupid to understand that most people take birth control for reasons that have nothing to do with preventing pregnancy.

If I recall correctly, he sarcastically argued that women should be forced to record and share sex tapes if we are to pay for their birth control after comparing them to prostitutes. Classy.

Anyway, it's easy to focus on terrible things he has said in this or that situation, but that misses the forest for the trees. The harm he has caused is more insidious than that.

I didn't watch tonight either. My best friend, who usually watches the SOTU with me, also did not watch. We went out to dinner instead.

Here's where I am: I really don't care if the Democrats nominate Bernie, Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar or Warren. My message to all of them is: Having the Democratic nominee win is FAR more important than your political peccadilloes. Don't tear each other down in the primaries. Eyes on the prize: remove Donald Trump from office. Hillary and Rashida: shut up. Leave your personal crap at the door. This is the most important election in your lifetime. Redressing personal grievances is not what you do in the middle of a war.

And that includes not doing things to give the other side something for the locker room bulletin board. I'm talking to you, Nancy Pelosi, for ceremoniously tearing up the President's speech. (Alright, so I saw the end of the speech.) This is like Hillary's "basket of deplorables" statement. Yes, it felt good in the moment, but not worth the long-term fallout. The object is to win the next election, not show your anger.

Some cool quotes from Rush:


“Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.”

“The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”

“They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”

[To an African American female caller]: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”

“We need segregated buses… This is Obama’s America.”

“Obama’s entire economic program is reparations.”

“Obama is “more African in his roots than he is American” and is “behaving like an African colonial despot”

“Obama is an angry Black guy”

“Let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do — let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work.”

“You’re a foreigner. You shut your mouth or you get out.”

“A Chavez is a Chavez. We’ve Always Had Problems with Them”

I don't watch his idiotic rallies either.