I’ve got to hand it to them, the Trump base.  Mexico has (stunningly) failed to write a check for his stupid border wall.  Hmm, who could have guessed?  Now, the Democrats won’t pay for it, either, based on nothing more than the fact that it won’t work.  So, some enterprising individual, a guy named Brian Kolfage, set up a GoFundMe account to raise the cash from the rubes who simply WILL NOT accept that ladders defeat walls.  The entire account was only trying to raise one-fifth of the Trump demand and they only raised a fraction of that amount – but still, it was a LOT.

Predictably, the account didn’t reach it’s goal.  Now, the goal has been shifted to an attempt to build the wall privately.  (The original campaign was to give the money to the Trump maladministration.)  But the people who donated to the original campaign have to actively opt-in or they get a refund.  It turns out, though, that Mr. Kolfage may not have cared one way or the other whether the wall campaign ever succeeded.  HE, apparently, just wanted a new, updated database of conservative email addresses he can use to raise funds for other conservative issues and even to sell.

So, essentially, conservatives have actually paid someone to sell their email addresses to other commercial interests so they can be buried in SPAM…

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One of the many and varied lies Capitalists tell to justify their greed is that they get to keep all of the revenue somebody else generated because THEY (the rich person) “took the risk” when they set up the business.  Did they?  Well, yeah, sure, they did take a risk.  But was it a BIGGER risk than the employee who went to work for a business that might fail?  I don’t think so.  In my experience, it was a much smaller risk.  The people at the top of the economic pyramid usually have financial back-up plans.  They get golden parachutes.  If the company fails, the owners get cashed-out.  The workers just get out, often with little or nothing to show for their efforts…

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I got a little worked this week watching law enforcement officials in Wisconsin talking about their heroic efforts to bring home a kidnapped 13 year-old girl.  Each department took turns congratulating themselves and other departments for their dedication and determination and how all of that dedication and determination brought the girl home.  But you know what?  They didn’t!

Look, for the most part, I respect cops and the work they do.  I have no doubt they were trying to find her…but they didn’t.  They didn’t know where she was.  They didn’t know who took her.  They didn’t know who killed her parents.  If SHE hadn’t escaped and sought help, they might never have found her OR the perpetrator (a white guy, btw).  Yet, there they were, “Oh, MAN, we did a great job!”

I think they should have cranked up the ‘Humble Pie’ knob a bit and given props to the young lady – who saved herself…

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A young cop got murdered on the streets of California this last week.  Police followed a trail that led to the home of the perpetrator who, very graciously, killed himself, saving the state huge money in trials and incarceration.  We started hearing tons about the cop; how she was new, dedicated, and looking forward to following in her father’s footsteps.  From a media standpoint, it didn’t hurt that she was VERY telegenic.  But we heard nothing about the killer.

At some point, that became suspicious, to me.  They had his body.  They knew who he was.  Yet we heard nothing.  I began saying, out loud, “This guy is white or we’d already know everything there is to know about him.”  (I didn’t even need anyone else in the room.  I just said it, out loud…)

Guess what?  White.  Coincidentally, named Limbaugh. (Relationship unknown, though he DID live in Florida for a time…)

So, we’ll get a day, maybe two, telling us about how he was “troubled” and what a tragedy this is.  If he had been some darker shade of brown, though, we would have been treated to at least a week – possibly two – detailing how his inherent violence wrought havoc on “our” peaceful way of life.

Racism is one of the United States’ prime sources of dishonor.  We were born a racist nation and elements among us have worked tirelessly to ensure we never, ever outgrow it.

Thankfully, there are intelligent, empathetic people in America, too…