Losing My Perspicacity January 22, 2025

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday. Thanks for being here.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been running on adrenaline since Monday morning, which means the outrage fatigue and physical fatigue are starting to hit me now. This, of course, is why Trump’s team is moving so quickly, to keep all of us in a state of shock and paralyzation that renders us less effective.

None of us can fight back on everything, but we can each push back on some things. I recommend focusing your rage on a few select topics (birthright citizenship, trans rights, cabinet nominations, withdrawal from the WHO, etc) and focus your activism on those. Remember, there are more of us than there are of them.

Speaking of activism, I activated my last tweet tonight, pinned it to the top of my profile, and peaced out forever. I’ve been waiting until I had a real zinger to lob at Musk, but this was the best I could come up with, and I didn’t want to delay leaving any longer.

And … scene.

BTW, I’m making this newsletter free for everyone this entire week. If you like it, I hope you’ll consider becoming a premium subscriber. Even if you don’t, I’d really appreciate it if you told a friend, shared a post, and helped me spread the word to the masses.

Today, Another family member speaks out against Pete Hegseth; Trump dismantles federal inclusivity programs; The Daily Show aired a poignant interview on the broligarchy; Ichiro heads to Cooperstown, and The High Note.

Let’s do it.

Pete Hegseth’s former sister-in-law sticks it to him

Yesterday, Senators were given an affidavit containing a whole bunch of as-of-yet-unheard allegations against Trump's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. If you’ve not been paying attention up until now, Hegseth was credibly accused of sexually assaulting a woman (at a Republican women’s conference, no less) and paying her for her silence, and has been accused of being ….. a real good time by many a former co-worker. Oh, and his mom also called him a man who “belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego.” Okay!

The new allegations come from Hegeth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, who responded to a letter from Sen. Jack Reed (D- R.I.), who asked her about her experiences with her former brother-in-law. And boy, did Reed go to the right person for that question.

Samantha Hegseth, for her part, refused to comment on Danielle Hegseth’s claims, saying:

She did not, however, specify precisely what information was inaccurate.

According to Wikipedia, Hegseth has seven children, three with Samantha Hegseth. This is, in my opinion, a fairly typical response from a woman who has to deal with the alleged abusive ex until her children are 18, at the very least. No reason to poke the bear. Also, I imagine having allegations that your ex was abusive aired to the entire population of the United States is probably not a great feeling.

Having done many, many divorces and safety plans for women in abusive relationships, I can tell you that having an “escape plan,” as well as a safety word, are all things advocates teach women to have in place before they leave their abusive partners. The most dangerous time for an abused woman is when she leaves a relationship.

To me, this all sounds very plausible, and when people put allegations down under penalty of perjury, I tend to believe them. Especially because coming forward against powerful men never ends well for the women doing so, even if they technically “win” in the court of public opinion.

The most interesting thing about this entire story is that Danielle Hegseth told this story to the FBI the Saturday before Hegseth testified in his confirmation hearing, but it never made it into the Trump transition team’s FBI briefing to Senators.

As of the time I’m putting this newsletter to bed, Samantha Hegseth has publicly said, “There was no physical abuse in my marriage.” It’s telling, though, that she didn’t say, “There was no abuse in my marriage,” Physical abuse is only one form of intimate partner violence. Verbal abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, and sexual abuse (even if non-violent) are also types of abuse. I can’t tell you how many times I had a woman sitting in front of me down-playing and minimizing what had happened to her at the hands of her partner. The lucky ones had someone with them — a family member, a close friend, a pastor, or an advocate — to keep them on track, remind them how bad things actually were, and relate facts about the relationship that the victim either omitted or completely forgot about. Trauma does a lot of crazy things to our memories.

Of course, no one knows what went on in that marriage besides Pete and Samantha Hegseth. But, based on my own experiences, the story checks a lot of boxes for me in the “this sounds correct” column.

Did you watch The Handmaid’s Tale?

I hesitate even bringing this up, because when feminists first started pointing out the parallels between the men of the far right and the iconic feminist tome, many men, including some of the biggest in media, scolded us all for being hysterical. And then Margaret Atwood did this, and I got into a beef with her on Twitter. No, I’m not over it. I haven’t forgotten, Margaret!

Nevertheless.

There’s a scene in Season 1 when Offred is musing about how liberal New England turned into oppressive Gilead, and she remembers the day all the women were sent home from work. For being women. Women were no longed needed in the workforce, you see. It wasn’t a big moment; it was a thousand little moments.

That’s what I thought of when I saw this today:

The reason we have things like the 14th Amendment, Title VII, and Title IX, is because the states couldn’t be relied upon not to pass laws that were either discriminatory on their face (Black citizens can’t vote) or discriminatory in effect (everyone has to pass a test before they can vote, pay a poll tax, have a valid ID, etc.). Thanks to the Warren Court, which boasted such legal icons as Thurgood Marshall, John Paul Stevens, and William Brennan, the federal government became the safety net for marginalized groups. States can give their citizens all the additional rights they want, but they can not enact laws that infringe upon certain inalienable rights. One man, with the help of some Supreme Court lackeys, has destroyed all of that.

For the first time in my lifetime, the federal government is now the one seeking to take away established rights from American citizens.

Thankfully, nearly half the union is pushing back on some things.

There’s a separate lawsuit that Illinois, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon are part of. And another suit entirely from the ACLU. I have a lot of faith that the courts will strongly reject Trump’s executive order as unconstitutional somewhere along the line. It’s a step too far, even for the most bigoted and racist judges in this country. Every person involved in drafting that executive order should be disbarred.

Famous last words, eh?

On the broligarchy

Professor and author Brooke Harrington was on The Daily Show last night. She had a lot of great stuff to say about how we wound up with four white dudebros controlling most of the news we consume, and the entire interview is worth watching. But what really jumped out at me was her point that the last time we threw down the princes of industry in this country, it was because consumers pushed back. Hopefully, the video is marked correctly. Watch to the end!

Vote with your wallets. Vote with your business. Vote your morals. Signal your virtues.

Everyone’s favorite player on another team, Ichiro Suzuki, is a Hall of Famer

Consider this a newsletter cleanse, because who doesn’t love Ichiro?

Ichiro missed being inducted unanimously by one vote, because a lot of the people who vote for the HOF are insufferable. You know some douche is sitting out there whining, “He never faced Nolan Ryan!” or something else equally ridiculous.

Anyway, Ichiro is the best.

CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner were also inducted. Congrats to all.

The High Note

Each day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face and a song in your heart. This will do neither, but it’s worth remembering that there are, still, good people in this world, not to mention people of immense courage. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is one of them.

Saying I’m not into organized religion would be a vast understatement, but I’m here for this kind of rebellion all day long.

“There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” (Are you guys sick of my Lord of the Rings references yet? Too bad! It’s the only thing keeping me sane right now.)

Survive and advance today. Don’t let the bastards get you down.