Category: Political

March March

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

It’s March, so it was time to march today in our town’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. I was supposed to ride in the back of a snowplow with other St. Charles Township elected officials, but with snow in the forecast, the township canceled so that all snowplows would be ready for snow removal. That’s actually very responsible but no fun. Instead, I marched with fellow Kane County and St. Charles Township Democrats.

The group of Democrats marching has grown quite a bit over the years. This year we had 2 US House representatives, an Illinois House representative, various Kane County elected officials and board membes, and me as the sole elected township official. In addition, we had Democrat candidates for our upcoming municipal election in April and many other local Dems. We’re kind of a big deal now.

Can you see me in the back holding the “Be The Change! Vote Democrat” sign? Barely, right? Why did I get stuck in the back? Well, I am tall, and I also looked ridiculous. See for yourself …

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Ball of Confusion

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I’m confused.

Editor’s Note: Duh! As if we didn’t know that.

Anyway, I’m gearing up for our local municipal elections in April in which our gaggle of St. Charles Township Democrats are supporting the campaigns of local moderate to progressive candidates for school board, library board, park board, etc. There is a hard right wing extremist group calling themselves Awake Illinois that also has candidates vying for seats. They are well known for their anti-mask, anti-vaxx platform and for crashing school board meetings and the public library without masks when masks were required.

They have other wacky ideas and are in general opposed to what they call “woke” culture. That’s where my confusion comes in. Can’t we consider them woke if they are part of Awake Illinois? Should they perhaps have chosen Asleep Illinois as their group name rather than a name suggesting they have been woke?

Editor’s Note: Why not sleep on it? Your readers are already.

Don’t Read This Post – It’s Classified!

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

This is getting ridiculous. Classified documents have now been found in the home of former VP and current milquetoast Mike Pence. I’m shocked, especially after this …

I wonder exactly where they were discovered. Reports say in an unprotected area, so certainly not in Mother’s knickers. I find it interesting to see how Fox News is presenting visuals about the story of the Pence classified docs.

Wow, Pence has not aged well. Anyway, we all know what’s coming next – another Special Counsel named to investigate. I have a final question. How many Special Counsels being named does it take before they are no longer considered special?

Time to (Th)ink?

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

Because of a family emergency this past week, I haven’t blogged for days. Now don’t go hoping for more family emergencies for me to keep me from blogging this week. During this family emergency, I’ve had a lot of time to think. It’s kind of a new experience for me. I’m not sure I like it so much.

Anyway, as I dealt with the family emergency, I tried to keep a focus on self-care. I planned to swim today as a way to care for myself. It didn’t happen, but that got me thinking about getting a tattoo. My two best buddies have tattoos, but I have none. Many years ago, when I was participating in triathlons, I considered getting a triathlon tattoo like this one.

I never did. Some of you may say, “Well, it’s never too late.” Unfortunately, there is one huge reason I can’t.

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Republicans Are Occupying My Mind

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

After the 12th vote, it’s becoming apparent that Kevin McCarthy will eventually become Speaker of the House. It may take one more vote. It may take twenty more votes. I have no idea, but I’m pretty confident that Republicans will eventually legitimately control the US House and the Speaker’s position, just like they tried to do violently and illegitimately two years ago. In the meantime, Republicans have occupied my mind. They have put a song in my head, and it controls my thoughts every time I see them roll out McCarthy to nominate him for another vote. This one …

It’s a lesser-known REM song, and the lyrics are quite political. But it’s not the lyrics or melody that the Republicans have stuck in my head. It’s the title. After each vote, I imagine Kevin McCarthy being dragged out of the House dead and then buried. When the new round of nominations start, I envision Republicans exhuming McCarthy and propping him up in the House for yet another vote.

It’s not my favorite REM song, probably because I don’t understand all the political lyrics. But I do understand the prescient lyrics at the end of the song that may be a glimpse into life in a Republican-controlled House the next two years.

“Exhuming McCarthy (Meet me at the book burning)
Exhuming McCarthy (Meet me at the book burning)”

A Political Edition of … Random Thoughts

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I’ve read that Trump is considering a third party presidential run in 2024 if Republicans refuse to nominate him. He is drawing comparisons to Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party back in 1912. I think that is a perfect analogy for Trump’s campaign today, including the name with just a small modification. Rather than the Bull Moose Party, Trump should more accurately call it the Bull Shit Party.

I have watched gas prices continue to drop to under $3 per gallon, and conservatives are very quiet now concerning how high gas prices are President Joe Biden’s fault. If they were smart (Spoiler Alert: They’re not), they would note that gas prices have been dropping since Trump entered the 2024 presidential race. There must be a correlation.

I saw Trump on his Truth Social network suggesting that the cold weather and winter storm we had a week ago proves that there is no climate change and global warming. So, if climate change and global warming have been resolved, did Joe Biden fix them?

I hate the thought of the Republican clown show running the House of Representatives in 2023. However, considering the Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and White House from 2021 through 2022 and accomplished absolutely nothing except another tax cut for the rich, I think the next 2 years may be unproductive but impossible not to watch in a car crash sort of way. Buckle up. I am sure House hearings on the search for Hillary Clinton’s emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop that may be located in Benghazi will start soon.

Contemplating Loss & Gain

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

Our family suffered a loss this past week as my wife’s oldest sister passed away at the beginning of the week. I was not much in the mood for posting funny stuff this week, but I did learn just a bit about losses and gains in life.

Of course, our biggest loss was my sister-in-law. She had been in hospice care for months, so her passing was not unexpected. But I gained some perspective as to how much of an impact she had on people’s lives. She had lived in an assisted-living facility for the past 15 years due to numerous health conditions. I didn’t think she could have much of an influence on other’s lives, but I was so wrong. One of the other residents came to visit her while I was there. The resident told me how she much she will miss my sister-in-law and how she was her best friend. Everyone matters and has value. Sometimes we just need to take a closer look.

We also lost the wonderful fall weather we have enjoyed. It’s cold now. Winter is on the way. And if you are a reader of this blog, you know how I feel about winter. If you don’t follow this blog, here’s a link to a poem about winter.

So, what do I gain?

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Halloween Hijinks

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I hope you all had a fun Halloween. We started celebrating the scary holiday by attending Halloweensteen, a Bruce Springsteen tribute concert performed annually by Chicago native singer/songwriter Michael McDermott. It appears to be a beloved Chicago tradition that I had never heard of before with many repeat attendees. Now I know why. The show exceeded our expectations. There’s a big difference between a bunch of local musicians forming a tribute band to mimic an artist’s music and a professional musician like McDermott assembling other professional musicians to interpret and perform another professional’s songs.

Our seats were outstanding. The last time my wife and I were at the excellent and classy Park West concert hall, we stood and swayed through a show by Brit pop-rocker Dave Edmunds. However, my wife has knee issues worse than me, so I called ahead to check and see if we could be guaranteed seats. Well, not only were we provided seats, but they were just off to the side of the stage on a padded bench in a handicappped section. We had a great view.

There was a bit of a problem as drinking progressed at the 2+ hour show. I’ll explain.

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The Liberal Media Invades Football (satire alert!)

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

I think I finally understand the complaints about the liberal media. It all became perfectly clear as I watched my beloved Chicago Bears dismantle the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football last night. Take a look at who Peyton and Eli Manning had as a guest on their Manningcast.

That’s right. A liberal former Democrat President who had nothing to do with football during his career. How about having a qanonservative former Republican President as a guest who actually owned a professional football team? Here’s the story.

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Yesterday Was a Weird Day

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I started yesterday with a Wordle that I swore I had solved in 2 … then 3 … then 4 … then 5 … then 6 … then nope.

Was I becoming cognitively impaired, or was it just bad luck guessing? Any regular reader of this blog will choose the former. I even harbored thoughts of it as I got word that yet another of my cousins who is my age now is showing signs of dementia. But I chalked it up to bad luck guessing and got ready to continue my career in the cinema.

No, I wasn’t hired as an usher at the local Megaplex. I had a paying gig as a film extra playing a funeralgoer at Graceland Cemetery. Not Elvis’s final resting place in Graceland in Tennessee as I had originally thought, but Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

Traffic was light and I made it to the Chicago cemetery faster than Google said I would. I parked and had a distance to walk to the chapel where the filming would take place. That’s when I hitchhiked for the first time in my life.

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On The Campaign Trail & a FREE Book!

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been busy recently supporting local Democrat candidates by hitting the campaign trail while also working at my business and writing this biting humor blog.

Editor’s Note: This idiot once heard someone say that his blog bites, so that’s where he got the idea that this blog contains “biting humor.”

As the elected Democratic Precinct Committee Person for the area, my job is to deliver candidate literature, signs, and general encouragement to vote. That’s all well and good, and I am happy to do so. However, I was less than thrilled to be called this name as I arrived at a house …

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Is a Milton Berle Reference an Insult or Compliment?

~ Jim Flanigan ~ Leave a comment

I got into a Twitter war yesterday over this post from right wing policy pushers @IllinoisPolicy.

Why did I choose to go to war over that? First, I don’t like @IllinoisPolicy. They just make shit up, which appears to be the MAGA Republican strategy these days. Throw lies at the wall and see what sticks or resonates with their base. I don’t have a problem with most of those numbers shown in that graphic, although I rarely use a paid parking garage (nobody outside of Chicago does), and I know I have saved waaaaaay more with grocery taxes suspended. What I have a problem with is that apparently the numbers weren’t adding up for them, so they threw in that mysterious “Permanent increases over 4 years” expense to make it look bad. That’s just utter nonsense. What does that even mean? They may as well have listed “Parmaflankerstein tax” at $2720.99.

So, I sprung into action to defend Illinois and our beloved Governor JB Pritzker, who doesn’t need my love or defense since he’s a billionaire but has been a great governor despite rolling in dough. I engaged. I defended. I went down the rabbit-hole with the crazies. But I kept my cool and tried to use facts. What did I get? So much anger from them. Why are they always so mad? How can someone go through life like that? And I got what might be a compliment or an insult. I’m not sure.

One of the Pritzker-haters came at me with this …

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