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JON ZAL

Your front-row seat to my nervous breakdown

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Why this veteran is taking a knee

October 8, 2017 23 Comments

Recently, I tweeted this:

I was a Military Police K-9 handler. I reject police brutality & support peaceful protest.#TakeTheKnee #VeteransForKaepernick pic.twitter.com/ILB3YRkGi0

— Jon Zal (@OfficialJonZal) September 25, 2017

I have more to say about it than a tweet will allow. Here goes.

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Filed Under: Politics, Uncategorized

Remembering 9/11

September 11, 2017 Leave a Comment

I took that photo back in August of 1995 from the bow of the Staten Island Ferry during my first-ever visit to Manhattan. Despite having grown up just a couple hundred miles away, I somehow managed to not go there until I was 25. I guess I just assumed that it couldn’t be much different than Boston, so why bother?

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Filed Under: Personal

I was wrong; Trump’s going to do this the hard way

August 8, 2017 8 Comments

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One of Donald Trump’s biggest problems — and, granted, they are legion — is his utter inability to say “I was wrong.” I, on the other hand, never pass up an opportunity to publicly flog myself … and so, without further ado:

I was wrong.

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Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Trump

Trump’s presidency is almost over

May 17, 2017 6 Comments

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Remember when I wrote the following words back in February?

Donald Trump’s presidency is going to end badly. In just three short weeks, he has made Nixon, the most disgraced president of the modern age, look like an Eagle Scout. Do not doubt for a second that there is a long and ugly fall in Mr. Trump’s future.

Now, I am not the type of person to say “I told you so,” but … oh, who am I kidding?

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Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Trump

Good news, everybody! Things are looking up … for CEOs.

March 14, 2017 Leave a Comment

Embed from Getty Images

Earlier today, Donald Trump tweeted this:

The average #MAGA voter, I’m sure, welcomed this latest missive from Dear Leader with a hearty “Hell yeah!” … but, according to the article included in the “so-called” president’s tweet, the people who are feeling particularly optimistic about Trump’s America are not your average #MAGA voters:

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Filed Under: Politics

The argument against universal healthcare is bullshit. Here’s why.

March 10, 2017 1 Comment

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Let’s be clear: The American Health Care Act — the legislative turd that Paul Ryan desperately wants you to believe is a thoughtful and compassionate fix for America’s healthcare system — is actually an all-out assault on the most vulnerable among us, and its primary purpose is the same as almost all legislation championed by the Republican party: To make rich people richer.

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Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Congress, Healthcare, Paul Ryan

Dear Trump voters: This is your chance for redemption

February 10, 2017 7 Comments

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Look, I get it: You got caught up in all of that “No more politics-as-usual!” mania, right? You wanted to “Drain the swamp!” You bought into the Right Wing’s vilification of “Crooked Hillary,” and for some (probably sexist) reason, you couldn’t stomach the thought of her being your president, so you cast a vote for Donald Trump in the hopes that he really would “Make America White Great Again.” I get it. I mean, I’m not giving you a pass for it — you’re still a shortsighted fool at best and a greedy, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic racist at worst — but I get it.

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Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Trump

Beyond the #WomensMarch: Now the real work begins

January 21, 2017 3 Comments

Thank you. Thank you to everyone around the country and around the world who poured into the streets today and sent a clear message that we will not go quietly.

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Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: #TheResistance, Hope

An Open Letter of Apology to President Barack Obama

January 16, 2017 81 Comments

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Dear Mr. President,

Let me begin by saying the two words you deserve to hear cross the lips of every American citizen, whether they know it or not:

Thank you.

Thank you for the tireless work you have done and the many sacrifices you have made on behalf of our country.

Thank you for the dignity, grace, class and gravitas with which you have held our nation’s highest office.

Thank you for not eschewing facts, science, logic, reason, and your own superior intellect in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

Thank you for your willingness and ability to endure the disgusting hatred and racism that throughout your presidency have been directed at you, at our amazing First Lady, and at your beautiful family as a whole. The most naive among us — myself included — were hopeful your historic election was a sign that the racial divides in our country had become less pervasive than is actually the case. Your presidency has been, and forever shall remain, a major step toward that goal, but many of us underestimated just how loud, ugly, desperate and energized the filth among us would become when faced with the reality of the more equitable, more inclusive, more compassionate society that your presidency has represented.

The pride and patriotism I felt when you were elected, and again on the day you took office, remain unmatched. Other than my time in uniform, I have never been more proud to be an American than I was when you became my president.

And then, I failed you.

I was an outspoken supporter during both of your presidential runs, and I contributed what little cash I could here and there throughout your campaigns. Once you were in office, however, my position could best be summed up as: “He’s got this.”

“He’s got this” was a cop out. “He’s got this” was my epic failure to be the citizen you deserved. “He’s got this” earned us the predicament in which we now find ourselves.

I have, in recent years, heard some of my fellow progressives complain that much of the change you so sincerely and hopefully promised during your first presidential campaign has not been realized, and that this failure is yours. It is not. It is mine. It is ours … the millions of us who voted for you, who placed upon you the expectation that you would fight for us … and who then failed to fight alongside you.

When then-Speaker of the House John Boehner (whose name you so kindly pretended should be pronounced “Bay-ner”) said of your political agenda, “We’re going to do everything — and I mean everything — we can do to kill it, stop it, slow it down, whatever we can” … I was furious. When then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that “the single most important thing” he and his shamefully selfish Republican party wanted to achieve was not to help the American people, but to instead make sure you were “a one-term president,” I was disgusted.

But also? I was busy. I had a job and a wife and two little kids and, hey, “He’s got this.” Besides, what could I do, really?

For seven of the eight years during which you have been our president, I have lived in Pennsylvania. Not until this month have I known the names of both of my U.S. senators, nor that of my House Rep. Not once during your presidency did I contact their offices. Not once did I do much more than simply cast a vote for you and then say “He’s got this.”

Mr. President, please accept my apology for not doing more to support you during your time in office. You gave me an opportunity to make the most of your presidency, and I wasted it.

As I watched you speak in Chicago the other night, I was filled with emotion. I, of course, was reminded of that November night when you strode onto a similar stage after winning the presidency in what can legitimately be described as a landslide. The emotions that flooded me then were pride and hope and happiness. The emotions that flooded me this time were gratitude and regret and sorrow. Gratitude for all you’ve done for us. Regret for not doing more in my role as a citizen when you needed me most, and for not better appreciating just how lucky we were to have you. Sorrow for how horribly wrong things have gone.

And yet, despite the fact that I and so many others have failed to be the citizens you deserved, you still spoke to us with the same fire and conviction and hopeful optimism that define you. You still inspired me. You still, at the end of eight often-frustrating years in the White House, believe that we who fell so woefully short of our commitment to you are capable of making right that which we’ve allowed to go so wrong.

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Thank you for everything. My last ask is the same as my first. I’m asking you to believe—not in my ability to create change, but in yours.

— President Obama (@POTUS) January 11, 2017

Mr. President, thank you for not losing faith in me, despite my having given you every reason to do so. Thank you for continuing to believe that I can be the citizen you deserved while in office.

This is a picture of a letter I received last week from my Republican congressional representative. It is his response to my inquiry regarding the Republicans’ secret vote for a planned amendment to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (which, I was pleasantly surprised to learn, he voted against). In the wake of that secret vote, and on the heels of last November’s disastrous election outcome, I and others like me finally found our voices. We flooded our representatives’ phone lines and inboxes with our fury and discontent … and the Republicans were forced to back down.

That small victory has given me and others a taste of what we can accomplish when we organize and engage in the political process. That small victory is an example of what you had hoped we’d do while you were our president. I apologize for not doing it sooner.

You deserved to go out on a much higher note than the one now playing, and I believe it is more our fault than yours. And for that, I am sorry.

Mr. President, thank you again for all you’ve done. Now it’s our turn.

We’ve got this.

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Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: obama

It’s gonna be a loooooooong four years

December 1, 2016 6 Comments

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Way to go, Red States! You sure showed us, huh? Wow. Rarely has such an epic act of unbridled stupidity, ignorance, selfishness, fear and hatred been carried out on such a massive scale. Well played!

Why, I haven’t seen anything like this since … well, ever, really … but the prize for second place goes to:

Hey, look! Another awful Republican candidate who once lost the popular vote but still won the presidency thanks to you backward-assed Red States! (In related news, I’m pretty sure it’s time for that whole “electoral college” thing to fuck right off, m’kay?)

Now, if, back in those days, I had just taken a big sip of something but had not yet swallowed, and you had chosen at that very moment to tell me that I one day would say “The incoming president almost makes me miss George W. Bush,” I’d have done a spit take that would have left you soaked from head to toe in whatever it was I was drinking, plus my saliva, all of which I would have firmly believed you deserved to be covered in for saying something so patently offensive and ludicrous.

And yet … here we are! Sorry for spitting all over you! I just had no idea it could actually get worse.

You see, the thing about Dubya was that he simply … well, let’s just say it: Dubya was a bit dim … and massively under qualified for the gig … and easily manipulated by the Cheneys and Rumsfelds and Wolfowitzs around him. And, yes, that Iraq War thing? That’s still the biggest fuck-up of my lifetime. Can’t really let him off the hook for that one. But at least he wasn’t a vengeful, spiteful, hot-headed, bad-tempered, narcissistic, ego-maniacal lunatic and pathological liar whose entire skill set consisted of self-promotion and self-enrichment at the expense of everything and everyone around him … which, thanks to the combined efforts of a gullible and/or hateful electorate, now means “planet earth.” Nice going, assholes.

And so, on behalf of all us “elitists” — you know, the reasonable, rational, fact-loving, semi-well-informed, relatively clearheaded grownups who overwhelmingly voted for the other candidate — I’d just like to thank you Trump voters for choosing to express your frustration with The Way Things Are by playing Russian Roulette with our collective future. That was a magnificent display of the critical-thinking skills you so clearly lack.

Unfortunately, instead of the immediate “click” or “boom” feedback of a traditional round of Russian Roulette, we’ll have to wait days, weeks, months, and, Satan willing, quite probably years to find out just how badly you’ve fucked us all … but, based on the behavior thus far of our perpetually tantrumming President-elect, I’d say the smart money is on “Oh-so badly.”

All of which is just my way of saying: “Hi! Welcome to my new website!”

I decided to launch ScratchPolitics.com and its accompanying Twitter account as a place to house the politically charged 140-character outbursts and long-winded rants that, since election night, seem to have become my raison d’être. This is where I will be venting my outrage, frustration and incredulity for the duration of Donald Trump’s sure-to-be-horrifying presidency, which I am hopeful will not actually last four years … a sentiment with which I’m sure even Trump himself would agree … because, let’s face it: not even he thought he had an actual chance of getting enough morons to vote for him. Yes, one minute, he’s just trying to up his Q-rating in order to cut a better post-election TV deal, and the next minute, he’s all, “I what? I won? I’m the president?? Oh, shit.” Just imagine his surprise!

I’m not here to change minds; I’m here for catharsis. If I don’t write about this horror show, my head will explode. (Probably, my head will explode anyway, but, hey, at least I’ll get to do some writing first.) But if, in the process, I can add my voice to the collective efforts of those who refuse to normalize this very abnormal situation, then I am more than happy to do so.

Buckle up, everyone. Things are getting really, really weird … and really, really scary.

Good luck to us all.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Bush, Dubya, Trump

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Jon Zal 🇺🇦 Follow 23,851 55,132

Husband, father, writer, podcaster, drummer, Army vet (M.P. K-9), ex-music journalist. #BlackLivesMatter

jon_zal
jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506728347652567053

Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have used almost all of their time during this confirmation hearing to pander to Q-Anon lunatics. This should terrify everyone. Stop it with the “both sides” nonsense; one of the two major parties in this country is literally a cult.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506727640782225410

Just wondering if Josh Hawley regrets inciting a violent insurrection against the United States Government that resulted in the death and maiming of police officers.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506668483316260868

I am so far removed from the utter insanity of the far right that I keep feeling surprised when someone reminds me that Graham, Hawley, et al, are harping on the child-pornography thing in order to appeal to the Q-Anon conspiracy nuts whose votes are propping up the decrepit GOP.

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506643627950456837

Wild that Ketanji Brown Jackson has to teach the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee how the Judiciary Branch works.

Reply on Twitter 1506643627950456837 Retweet on Twitter 1506643627950456837 31 Like on Twitter 1506643627950456837 194
jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506628980320911360

ProTip™: If you twice acquitted Donald Trump & helped him incite a violent insurrection that resulted in dead & maimed police officers, you’re not actually…

(•_•)/
<) ) TOUGH!
/ \

\(•_•)
( (> ON!
/ \

(•_•)
<) )> CRIME!
/ \

Reply on Twitter 1506628980320911360 Retweet on Twitter 1506628980320911360 14 Like on Twitter 1506628980320911360 59
jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506597758555377670

PARENTING UPDATE: Waiting to find out if your first-born child will get into the college of his choice is a special kind of torture.

If this kid doesn't get into this school, I'm going to cry.

(That's him in the George Washington costume he asked for as a 7th-birthday gift.)

Image for the Tweet beginning: PARENTING UPDATE: Waiting to find Twitter feed image.
Image for the Tweet beginning: PARENTING UPDATE: Waiting to find Twitter feed image.
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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
23 Mar 1506422895030976516

Juxtapose Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s composure during hours of pointless, racist, pandering attacks from white men not worthy of carrying her laundry hamper to that of this black-out drunk, credibly accused rapist appointed by a credibly accused rapist:

Image for twitter card

Hell hath no fury like white-male privilege threatened

For a brief moment last Thursday, as Brett Kavanaugh began his opening remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee...

jonzal.com

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jon_zal avatar; Jon Zal 🇺🇦 @jon_zal ·
22 Mar 1506418152816660480

I love @SenBooker actually making his questioning of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson all about, you know, *Ketanji Brown Jackson*.

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ABOUT ME

Jon Zal @ The Capitol

I was born in 1970, raised just outside of Boston, and now live near Philadelphia. As a child, I thought I was going to be…
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Photographic evidence that I occasionally leave th Photographic evidence that I occasionally leave the house. Rare … but it happens.
Go @RedSox! #OpeningDay Go @RedSox!
#OpeningDay
New profile pic. Previous one was six years old. S New profile pic. Previous one was six years old. Started to feel like a lie.

Longest my hair's been in 18 years. Planning to let it keep growing for a bit. Not gonna let it get as long as it was Back In The Day (read: down to my chest), but ... I need a change.

Anyway ... that's me now. 👋🏻
Just gutted by this loss. Van Halen, Rolling Sto Just gutted by this loss. 

Van Halen, Rolling Stones & Foo Fighters. That’s my Big Three … and of those three, there’s only one I was banking on as a go-to active interest for the next couple of decades. 

As with Van Halen, I fell in love with Foo Fighters not only because of the music, but because of the fun those guys had with, and love they had for, each other.

Had plans in place to go see Foos play in Oregon this October for the final stop on their now-canceled tour. Can’t believe I won’t get to see Dave & Taylor play together again. 

Dave was the first interview I ever did with someone who wasn’t a member of Van Halen. He let me call him at home one weekend, 22 years ago. Two East Coast guys, same age, drummers, music lovers, shooting the shit on a Saturday afternoon. It remains one of my favorite memories. 

I briefly met Taylor in Austin, TX, back in 2006 when he and his solo band somehow got put up at the same shitty Holiday Inn as me. He was very kind, gracious and cool to this awkward, socially anxious fanboy. Saw him play live that night, his drum kit positioned at the front lip of the stage so he could sing lead and play drums at the same time. Great set. 

I am absolutely gutted thinking about what Dave is going through right now. 

Hadn’t been playing much in recent months. Been sweating it right the fuck out every day since Taylor passed, though. Nonstop Foo Fighters & Nirvana play-along sessions. Only way I’ve been able to channel the grief. Glad I have that outlet. (Thanks for getting my ass behind the kit again, Taylor.)

Really hoping Dave finds a way to make peace with this tragic loss and keep being the joyful soul & inspiration he’s been to so many of us for so long now. 

#RIPTaylorHawkins 🥁💔
#FooFighters
My weekend? Awesome, thanks. How 'bout yours? Ret My weekend? Awesome, thanks. How 'bout yours?

Returned home Sunday and all is well now, but ... man, for a guy who not once in 52 years spent a night at the hospital or experienced a serious medical emergency, I made up for it in spades last week.

Celebrated Valentine's Day with my first colonoscopy. Couple small polyps removed. No cancer found, and no other problems. "Return in five years." Yay! 🥳

Fast forward to last Thursday (2/24), at which time large quantities of nothing but blood began exiting my body via an orifice from which large quantities of blood should not pass. So that was disconcerting.

Pro-Tip™: A good way to skip the wait at the ER is to show them a picture of a toilet bowl filled with nothing but your own blood and then pass out.

Three mostly sleepless beep-filled nights, one CT scan, a couple IV bags, several bazillion blood draws & some bad hospital food later, I was home without any further issues, and, thankfully, no surgery or other medical intervention required.

But, yeah ... hoping to never do that again. 🥴

So, uh, anyway ... how you doin'?
Happy #nationalmargaritaday. 🍹 Happy #nationalmargaritaday. 🍹
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