by Kyle K Mann
Gonzo Today Publisher and Contributing Editor
As we stagger on towards the fiasco that is going to be the U.S. Election of 2024, the ghastly madness seems to be escalating.
As if seeing RFK Jr. hugging Trump onstage wasn’t enough, yesterday, August 26, 2024 it was the former U.S. Congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard doing the same. Another “just wow” moment.
Who’s next?
Gabbard became an instant hero of mine in the presidential debates of 2020 when she single-handedly took out Kamala Harris on the debate stage by pointing to the ugly fact that Harris, as a D.A. in San Francisco, was responsible for putting a lot of people involved with pot behind bars, and that then Harris had laughed, Gabbard noted, when sometime later after the debate Harris was asked if she ever smoked pot.
We all have our red lines, and mine is jailing traffickers or even users of a substance a lot less harmful than, say, booze is. Here’s the Gabbard knockout punch from the 2020 debate, in a quote from the New York Times:
“I’m concerned about this record of Senator Harris. She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
I just watched the debate clip on YouTube. Harris fails to address Gabbard’s point in Harris’ response. There’s more Gabbard said about Harris blocking evidence that would have freed a person or persons on California’s death row, which is heavy if true, and prisoners allegedly held after their release date, also serious if true, but the pot stuff is enough.
Well, here we are four years later. I’m in Oregon, one of the first states to legalize recreational use of cannabis, and I’m delighted to recall my first legal purchase of the plant, here in Portland. It was stunning.
I’m still stunned. A lifetime of paranoia, negated… somewhat.
So, Harris for President? Yuck! Double yuck!
No I’m not voting for Trump. Among numerous other issues like abortion rights, I’m not over Trump’s extrajudicial killing of Qasim Soleimani, which whatever you think of Soleimani, is murder. So Trump is as scary as any other murderer, including Hillary Clinton (Gaddafi) and Obama (the father and son al-Awlaki’s,) not to mention George W. Bush and Dick Cheney (around a million Iraqis.)
UGH! Dubya and Dick Cheney walk free after committing mass murder. The Dems did nothing to prosecute them. What a monstrous commentary of life in the USA that is. Not prosecuting murder is a moral crime! Right?
Thou shalt not kill.
*****
Tuesday night at the Clinton Street Pub in SE Portland. I’m on my second Kettle One Bloody Mary. Seems to be the only way I can get started writing these days. Drinking top-shelf vodka.
I’m gonna try not to get lugubrious this time. Let’s not get personal, at least not yet.
No, let’s move on to Mark Zuckerberg’s curious admission that he and Facebook allowed themselves to be pressured by the Biden/Harris administration into censoring content regarding a number of anti-vaxer statements, now proven (in my opinion) to be largely true, and Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Oh man. What does that say about America in 2024? To me it says Zuck is deeply afraid that Trump is going to pull out a win over Harris. And Zuck doesn’t want to be on Trump’s hit list.
Trump got hosed pretty good on FakeBook, a phenomenon I myself have experienced personally as Publisher of Gonzo Today. Our GT FB posts are suppressed and throttled back, in my view.
I stare numbly at the screen. No, I decide, I wont go into it now. Or will I? Deep breath.
Zuckerberg as quoted on the Fox Business website: “I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”
No shit. I shake my head. You cowardly scumbag, you messed my life up with that crap.
Now Zuck says Meta/Facebook “has provided a dozen employees to be available for transcribed interviews…” OK, great. I believe ya.
No I never took the clot shot. No no no.
And I never got COVID, and all the people I know who took the mRNA “vax” (it ain’t no vaccine) did get sick, some multiple times. And some died.
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas
“Do your thing, you’ll be king.” – Bob Dylan
So I write on into the night.
*****
Nursing my second Bloody Mary. Still well over half of it left. 11:30 PM at the Pub, “a lovely pub” as one of the Beatles say in the movie “Help.” That movie has not aged well, I’m afraid. I’ll skip that discussion, thanks.
Suddenly I realize I’m in a good mood for the first time all day.
It’s the booze. This damn stuff makes us feel better, unless you drink too much. Then you become mawkish, or hostile. Or both.
But I’m suddenly feeling no pain.
I’ll tell you what helps, is not hearing music from decades past. The oldies playlist was triggering me wildly, last time I was here. Remembering old girlfriends, or worse, unrequited loves. Earlier today I defriended her dad and brother. On FaceBook, of course. Goddamn FaceBook.
I grin. This modern music, as hideous as I find it, is at least neutral as far as forcing me into past trauma. I mean, oh waaa. Waaa! Waaaaahhh!
Get over it.
Back to Tulsi Gabbard. I like her. Looking at her cheers me up. Listening to her is a pleasure. Harris is an ordeal. Argh, that ugly face. Ugleeee! And that nauseating voice. It sums up what I hate about power mongers. And the Demo Party.
I heave a sigh. I remember my first vote for president, for George McGovern back in 1972. Now that was a vote! I’m So proud to be able to write that in an article for publication in Gonzo Today.
For reference, read or reread ‘Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72 by Hunter S. Thompson.
Nixon stomped McGovern in that election, winning every state’s Electoral College vote except Massachusetts. Two years later Nixon was out on his ass, facing certain impeachment over the Watergate spying scandal.
These days, all that spying is normalized. Obama, via James Clapper saw to that. Arg, too depressing.
I’ll go play some pinball machine.
*****
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Pretty good pinball machine, and I’m always amused by Elvira’s voice. It’s the opposite of Kamala Harris. Harris the Punisher of evil cannabis users and dealers. Harris the Warmonger. Harris the Foul.
Getting hammered, but what’s this I see on Google? “Cannabis key to reversing brain ageing: Study” says the Times of India. Cool article! Cheers me up. So pot in moderation is probably good for geezers. Wow!
Kamala Harris woulda put me in jail. So fie, say I.
Tulsi. Do I trust her? She went to Iraq, something obviously wrong. Now she’s a Lt. Colonel in the National Guard. I don’t trust that either.
Sick of people telling me what’s right.
“Band of Horses” playing. Hmm. Interesting lyrics that go with what I’m writing. Something about “evil people will say things.”
I’ll walk home. I live two blocks away, how convenient. There’s chocolate there, and a six foot claw foot bathtub.
Life could be worse. I’ll thank Megan the Bartender and go. And when I get home I’ll have some pot.
After all, it’s good for me. I don’t care what Prosecutor Harris says.
Kyle K. Mann
Portland, OR
August 28, 2024
