I’m in the midst of my annual holiday funk. I’m sad, not depressed. Sadness over losses suffered over the course of one’s life doesn’t make one feel festive. Getting my annual Thanksgiving post ready has reminded me of the loss of my mother-in-law Louise in 2021. Dr A and I spent most Thanksgivings with her and she’s not here to make her annual pre-holiday gumbo. I’m not feeling the holiday this year, which, in turn, irks me. How was that for a segue?

It’s time for some vexatious venting about irksome things.

I’m irked that the MSM is spending so much time on Sam Altman’s ouster from Open AI. The reporting makes him look like the good guy. He is not. He’s out to make as much money off Artificial Intelligence as quickly as possible, implications be damned. Altman seems to have been ousted by board members who want to tap the brakes on AI development. Altman is off to Microsoft, which is all about the money so it’s a perfect for him.

Speaking of out of control technology:

I’m irked that Ohio GOPers won’t take YES for an answer after the abortion rights referendum. It won overwhelmingly but the Ohio lege is prepared to dick around with the law because they don’t believe in democracy. There’s a lot of that going around right now.

Right-wing dicks gotta dick around:

I’m irked that the Louisiana Democratic party is in a state of collapse. Part of the blame goes to Governor Edwards for not leveraging his popularity to help his party.

The Gret Stet party is obsessed with the false god of moderation and gun shy on Democratic issues such as gun safety and abortion rights.

I would have loved to see a full-throated, well-financed pro-choice candidacy in the late Gret Stet election. Louisiana is a red state BUT so are Ohio and Kansas. These are not times for the timid.

The whole mess has me Louisiana lowdown and blue:

I’m irked that some are angry at the courts that have declined to remove Trump’s name from the ballot based on the Disqualification Clause. The issue isn’t ripe until the Kaiser of Chaos is renominated by the Republican party for a third time. Keeping his name off a few primary ballots is meaningless: the general election is the main event. Besides, I’m on the record as being queasy about defending democracy with anti-democratic means.

Lest you think I’m going soft on the Indicted Impeached Insult Comedian, here’s an anti-Trump song:

I’m irked that the coverage of David Cameron’s comeback focuses on his so-called moderation. He was okay on social issues, but he was the austerity prime minister who hollowed out the National Health Service. He also called the Brexit referendum thinking the remain side would win easily. He was wrong. It just goes to show that if you’re a well-connected posh boy, you can fail upward.

Finally, I’m irked that I feel alienated from Krewe du Vieux because of this float depicting from last year’s parade: Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson.

I see a racist and sexist image that would be more at home in the all-male right-wing  krewes of Chaos and d’Etat. The float doesn’t even make satirical sense: it’s not only racist, it’s not funny. Calling the first black woman sheriff in New Orleans history a “ho” is a cheap shot that I refused to defend on social media or in the post I wrote about the 2022 parade.

Krewe du Vieux is decentralized so it isn’t directly responsible for the float, BUT as far as I know krewe leaders have remained silent about it. So much for KdV’s vaunted progressive bona fides. All the anti-Trump floats in the world can’t wash away the stain of this repugnant image. I’m likely to skip the annual top secret party next month because I don’t want to see this thing in person again before it’s torn down. At least it’s ephemeral but ugh, just ugh.

That concludes this edition of Irksome Things.

I don’t want to close on such an extra gloomy note, so the last word goes to the legendary WKRP turkey drop: