Year: 2024

Before Politics Turned Into Entertainment

Buck Banks

“Creating a false reality to trick voters is central to undermining democracy, and it is no secret that autocratic states like Russia, Iran, and China are spreading disinformation in the U.S. But I have always wondered what would happen when the American people finally pushed back against suggestions and innuendo and instead demanded actual evidence and policies designed to address problems, as they did before American politics turned into entertainment.”

— Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

DeSantistan: ‘A Refuge of Freedom and Sanity’

Buck Banks


Except it’s not. Gov. Ron DeSantis gave his State of the State address yesterday to open the Florida Legislature’s 2024 60-day session. It was a tissue of lies, exaggerations, misrepresentations and coverups of the reality on the ground in the Sunshine State. Lil’ D did not bother to paint a vision for the state’s future because his focus is on his losing bid for presidency.

“It was a speech written for Iowa and New Hampshire voters, House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, said afterward,” reported the Tampa Bay Times. “I was surprised that there was no real vision for Florida,” Driskell said. “I came away feeling, OK, so where do you want to take us next?”

DeSantis’s “small government” is more intrusive in citizens’ lives, his robust state budget relies on federal handouts and his anti-woke agenda is based on curtailing individual constitutional freedoms of assembly, speech and privacy.

So much for the “free state of Florida.”

U.S. Covid Cases Spiking

Buck Banks

2 million/day

Semafor: “The wave of Covid-19 currently sweeping the U.S. is being led by JN.1, a new variant that is highly transmissible and showing up even in people who are vaccinated or have been infected before. Wastewater detection levels indicate that this could be the U.S.’ largest wave of infections since the 2021 omicron variant, with about 2 million Americans infected every day. … Despite the spike in cases, Covid-related hospitalizations and deaths are down from last year.”

Another Good Guy Sells Out

Buck Banks

“This morning my wife informed me about a tweet from Nick Ayers, former good guy staffer of Mike Pence, making some typical alt right-pedophile-dem-and-the Republicans-were-peaceful-on-Jan-6 garbage message. Yet another one bites the dust. Nick Ayers was one of the good guys. But in the world of politics, campaign staff need money, and only the Trumpers are paying right now.”

— Adam Kinzinger