Change is hard. We tend to revert to the person we are and have always been. Discipline sounds great, in theory. Then you get hungry ...
No shame there. I was lucky this year, in that I didn’t make any personal resolutions. What would that be? I’ve kept off most of the 30 pounds I resolved to lose in 2010, in a diet shared here. I already gave up drinking, back in 2006. One day at a time...
That doesn’t mean I didn’t make a resolution — I did, publicly, on X. (Can we stop calling it “the social media formerly known as Twitter”? Not yet?)
This is what I wrote: “I hope you’ll consider joining me in my New Year’s resolution for 2024: to end the year living in the same free and open democracy that we started in. Like all goals worth achieving, it won’t be easy, requiring continuous hard work and focus. But nothing else is more important.”
Turns out there were other Illinois personalities posting their resolutions, like failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, now running in the GOP primary against incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.). Bailey tweeted a strange photo of himself doing a jigsaw puzzle at a table strewn with high-powered weaponry:
“I’ll be here putting together this puzzle waiting for Pritzker to knock on my door and take my guns,” he tweeted at 7:47 p.m. on Dec. 31. “I will not comply.”
He’s referring to the Illinois assault weapons ban that took effect Monday. Current owners are grandfathered in, but must register, and since Republicans hate anything that suggests collective public good — libraries, schools, vaccines — they are refusing registration as the next step of the jackboot repression of their precious selves they’re constantly conjuring then boo-hooing over. I’m surprised they wear pants in public because, you know, we’re told to.
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Your day starts early this early day.
ReplyDeleteMost days. I just slept in the past couple days. It was a long year.
DeleteThat looks like a scene from a Coen brothers movie.
ReplyDeleteGiven the current cost of farmland in Illinois, Bailey is sitting on over 100 million dollars of wealth in land alone. Another down to earth populist fighting for the working man.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the most disturbing pictures I have ever seen.
In a sane country, Darren Bailey would be locked up in a padded cell in a mental hospital, he's that nuts!
ReplyDeleteThe person who replied to him about no one else there hit it on the nose, they're probably too scared to be with him & his guns, he's a pathetic ammosexual.
Too bad you couldn't say what you really feel about Darren Bailey and his fellow Republicans.
ReplyDeletejohn
As a young Woody said of Joey Nickels, "What an asshole."
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of being redundant, sometimes the first thing I think of when I see or read something is the meme of Lucy from Peanuts saying "Christ, what an asshole." Seeing that photo of Bailey is one of those times.
DeleteWhat a crazy doofus. And so am I. Upon seeing the image, and not recognizing Darren Bailey, this former Illinois resident actually thought it was somebody doing a gun-themed puzzle...and that they'd put their guns on the table as visual aids. I kid you not.
DeleteBut after reading EGD, I too had the previously-mentioned reaction: "What an asshole." When does a buffoon like Bailey become truly alarming, instead of merely ridiculous? Or is it the other way around...the old laughing-to-keep-from-crying routine?
Decades ago, when I was young and stupid, I attended my cousin's Seder at Passover. Beside the plate of every male guest was an unloaded handgun. Supposedly, it was his way of showing symbolic support for the beleaguered Israelis, who were dealing with guerrilla attacks from the Arabs and the Palestinians. You can't make that shit up. And I'm not. Not surprisingly, alcohol had quite a lot to do with it..
His wife was not amused. Eventually, she got fed up, and Cuzz came home from the Ford plant to an empty apartment. Nothing was left but his clothes. And, presumably, the guns.
Read the print edition. Too bad the actual photo of Bailey with his puzzle and guns wasn't used. Some context was lost.
ReplyDeleteOld Man Bailey just grandfathered his property publicly. The rest is irrelevant history.
DeleteThat was unfortunate, though not unforeseen — that's why I tucked the brief description in. The print edition used to be the important part. Now it's a 24-hour pulpy prelude to the eternity of online.
DeleteAnother multimillionaire offended by something insignificant while multitudes have existential problems ignored by Bailey and his political allies. Is he living a lie or living in the past? Did you notice the 48 star flag? Is there a Stars and Bars flag flying somewhere in the house? I was amused when I read my eTimes this morning. I read EGD first and noticed the change of art, but saw it as a silent message for two men in need of a shared Resolution.
ReplyDeleteThe original Illinois constitution had slavery in salt mines.
DeleteI have a 48 star flag in my front window, nothing wrong with that. My dad saved a whole bunch of the small ones, about a foot wide from WWII. I have more in the basement. My sister wanted the ones with the gold fringe, so I gave those to her.
DeleteI own the 49-star flag my old man bought, early in 1959. It was superseded by the current flag in July of 1960. Got it from my sister, in exchange for one of his rings, after he died. I fly it on all the patriotic holidays, from my upper deck.
DeleteSeven rows of seven stars each...as opposed to the current five rows of six and four rows of five. But you can't really tell at first glance. Gotta look twice. The 49-star flags are unique and cool, but not especially rare. Millions were made...and sold...during that one-year period.
Thank goodness that nutjob didn't win the Govenor's race. But what of his crazy followers??? As per your diet, you have more will power than I on giving up sweets.
ReplyDeleteClearly, high powered firearms have once and for all replaced huge, thunderous motorcycles as the "go to" penis alternative.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to make the same resolution to work to preserve our democracy. As you suggested in the article, talking about how awful people are probably won't change any minds. Perhaps we should all resolve to avoid that particular activity in 2024.
ReplyDeletefat chance. I come here seeking out normalcy ... then I read the comments. such similar behavior to thelunatis on the right. name calling , ad hominid attacks. the whole world is a sewer
DeleteWe can only hope that there are some people who would prefer not to live in a sewer, and if we keep trying, we'll find them.
Delete.
If that was one of my relatives posting a photo of himself moping about the house on New Year's Eve at a table strewn with guns and ammunition magazines, I'd be on the phone to the local police to request an urgent well-being check.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, wanted to do that. Unfortunately, my Cuzz now resides in South Carolina, where such behavior is the norm. He just lost his second wife to cancer, on New Year's Eve. He's 74. I should probably be worried about him.
DeleteWhen I see a photo like the one at the top of today's post, I see someone that is trying to get a rise out of others. When I see responses like the ones in today's comments, I see that person succeeding.
ReplyDeleteYou’re giving him too much credit, and mistaking result for intention.
Deleteexactly
DeleteHe's just making a statement...and playing to the penis...um...peanut...gallery.
Delete