So…they blew up a segment of San Bruno.  They didn’t HAVE to, of course.  They CHOSE to.  They had received a rate increase to fix the problem pipeline but used the money from said increase to run a political campaign in an attempt to create a permanent monopoly for themselves.  San Bruno blows up, people die.  PG&E gets “punished” via fines – AND they get another rate increase.  The fine will come and go.  The rate increase is forever.

Flash forward.  PG&E burns Paradise to the ground.  Sure, they’ll get “punished.”  They’ll have to pay a fine.  The fine will be a big-sounding number, something that will impress the great unwashed who are just trying to get by week to week.  But it will only be a pittance to PG&E.  Oh, and to make sure investors don’t suffer too mightily from PG&E’s negligence, they asked for – and received – yet another rate increase.  The fine will come and go.  The rate increase is forever.

So, corporations being what they are, do you think PG&E is learning not to blow things up and burn things down…or do you think they’ve discovered a new revenue stream?  As long as “regulators” make it profitable for PG&E to destroy California, no one here is safe…

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Speaking of profitability, these new laws against abortion in the various states can only be fought one way: money.  I don’t mean lots of money for lawyers and lawsuits.  I mean the states involved have to suffer financially.  There are NO other solutions.  Unchecked greed is the order of the day in this once-great nation.

The whole abortion question is a tough one.  I know people are passionate about it on both sides.  I think there’s merit in arguments that come from both sides.  Not ALL of the arguments, of course.  People tend to carry arguments to their illogical extremes and warn of apocalyptic outcomes.  I’m solidly on the “safe, legal, and rare” train.  The ONLY solution is readily available contraceptives and teaching comprehensive sex education to children BEFORE they need the information – which, with perverts sneaking into the bedrooms of eight-year-old girls, is YOUNG…

The thing is, Alabama seems to like it’s poverty-stricken status.  Alabamans will fight for their right to stay desperate.  (They think it’s “freedom.”)  Sure, Lynard Skynard wrote a catchy and proud anthem in response but Neil Young was right…

The result is that nobody goes to Alabama intentionally.  There’s no reason.  But THAT means, there’s nothing to cancel in protest.  Nobody there makes almost anything worth having so there’s very little to boycott.  Okay, so apparently, they make a LOT of chemicals there.  It’s a proudly red state, implying the “deregulation” model.

Unregulated chemical manufacturing?  Maybe that explains some things…

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I’ve been pleased more than once in my lifetime that I haven’t yet been suckered into the conservative way of “thinking.”  Right now those guys are arguing that paying a little more in taxes and saving a HUGE amount in personal expense is unacceptable while simultaneously insisting that Trump’s consumer tax increase, or tariff, is awesome because they think it hurts the Chinese.

Apparently, one can sell conservatives ANYTHING, so long as it’s packaged as harming someone…

 

I saw a guy running for President on Real Time with Bill Maher.  His name was Tim Ryan, I think.  I hope he’s not representative of the kind of candidate the Democrats are going to foist on the populace this year.  I hope he’s not delivering the official message.  He was dull.  I know, it should “be about the issues” but he only gave the standard non-answer answers with no “issue information” to discuss.  Sure, it was the safe bet but I was off the guy before his short segment ended.  If he won’t answer questions on Bill Maher’s show – that is, in front of a friendly audience – I’m guessing he doesn’t really have anything to say…

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I once worked for an accounting firm that focused on medical practices.  At the time, because of the tax laws, it was common to advise the clients to take a bonus at the year end – a bonus large enough to cause the business to show a loss.  So, year after year, the business would avoid taxes and the doctor or dentist in question would pay taxes on personal income, instead.  The rate was lower.  When Donnie Dumbass says it was all part of the game, he’s right.  So I don’t care HOW breathless they get over at CNN or MSNBC or the ‘Old Gray Whore’ about a printout of “Trumps taxes”, at this point.  We, the American people, STILL don’t have enough information to come to any solid conclusions.

It’s easy to get confused.  There’s not a single person in this country who wouldn’t – who SHOULDN’T – take advantage of every tax rule that works in their favor.  The thing is, we need to take issue with the crappy tax laws that so greatly comfort the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted, not people who utilize said laws.

Hey, my Progressive and Democratic brethren: you know how you’re able to recognize that the conservative media has tossed a so-called “red meat” issue into the conservative bubble by the subsequent frenzy?  Well, you’d better take a step back and consider your own position because the corporate-owned, don’t-give-a-crap-WHICH-side-you’re-on media machine is doing the exact same thing to you…

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I STILL say actions speak louder than words.  By now, everyone outside of the conservative bubble knows Trump obstructed justice and is FAR too cozy with Russian agents.  (INSIDE the conservative bubble, they don’t…well, they don’t care, really…)  For MY part, I’ve come to the conclusion that Trump did NOT, in fact, knowingly collude with the Russians.  Truthfully, I think the Russians identified a useful idiot and said idiot became an “asset.”  But not “knowingly.”  Trump’s not the kind of guy any intelligent person would trust as a spy.  But just because you don’t KNOW you’re being manipulated by Vladimir Putin doesn’t mean you’re not being manipulated by Vladimir Putin.

Still, the Mueller Report has laid out enough damning information that the Democrats in Congress should do…something.  Sitting around issuing contempt citations isn’t doing anything.  NOT doing anything qualifies as an “action”, too.

I’ll tell you this: at this point, I don’t really care, anymore, about what the Democrats say.  I care about what they DO…

 

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I get into conversations with my conservative brethren from time to time.  It can be…challenging.  They often have “information” no one else in the world knows.  They’ve been convinced by Conservative Catechism that this means they’re special.  “Special” in a good way…

But because they’re the only people with said “information”, it often causes non-conservatives to think of conservatives as “stupid”.  I confess, I’m guilty of it, myself.  It’s hard not to when they spout silliness and expect the rest of the world to just accept it as easily as they did – despite the obvious flaws in the logic, methodology, or reality.  The thing is, I know many intelligent people who identify as conservative.  So if my personal experience is that conservatives are reasonably intelligent, it’s not honest to dismiss them as stupid, right?

Somewhere along the way, I realized the problem is faith.  Conservatism, today, is a faith-based proposition.  Faith has no use for facts.  Still, I don’t think of faith-based people as ‘stupid’.  Gullible?  Possibly.  Deceived?  Sure.  But not stupid…

Ever since Bernie Sanders ran in 2016, the term ‘Democratic Socialism’ has become part of the day-to-day lexicon.  If you don’t know, Democratic Socialism is a poorly named economic system of regulated Capitalism.  The tenets of Democratic Socialism are VERY popular among the vast majority of Americans.  But if you say ‘Democratic Socialism’ to a conservative, they respond with “Communism.”  Sometimes it’s “Venezuela”, occasionally, references to Marx, Engels, or Lenin – the “fathers” of Communism.

Okay, so anybody can be forgiven for not understanding the details between two very different economic systems – one that works brilliantly and one that doesn’t work at all – the first time they come across the “new” term.  But it’s been YEARS since Bernie started talking about Democratic Socialism and I STILL get the same response from conservatives, “Commie!”

I want to be clear.  I’m quite aware that ‘conservatives’ as a group, are often wrong.  But that’s the group.  A movie came out in 1997 called ‘Men in Black.’  One of the main characters, K, has a quote I like, “A person is smart. People are dumb…”  So, sure…the group might be dumb but I’m never in these conversations with the group.  The exchanges are with individuals so K’s admonition doesn’t apply.

So, applying Sir Doyle’s theory, above, if the conservative position is wrong – and it is – and the person is not stupid, there’s only one possible answer: it’s a kind of surrender.  Clearly, the Conservative Catechism teaches the flock to avoid the subject of Democratic Socialism – deflect, instead, to Communism.  When one considers the “why” of such behavior, there’s only one answer that make any sense: the thought-shapers of conservatism KNOW they have no leg to stand on in an attack on Democratic Socialism, so they attack Communism, instead.

So, what you can KNOW when you hear conservatives faithfully repeating their catechism is that the richest of the rich – the people who own our national media – hate, hate, HATE Democratic Socialism – which should tell you it’s the only proper course…