So, according to my limited survey, when it comes to the impeachment inquiry hearings there are two groups in this once-great nation: people who understand that Donald Trump DID commit the crimes he stands accused of committing – and conservatives.  This is because when it comes to the impeachment inquiry hearings there are two groups: those who watched and/or listened to the testimony –  that is, paid attention to the actual witnesses testifying under oath – and conservatives – who preferred to wait until Fox “News” (or whichever of their surrogates) told them how to feel.

I heard the Armstrong and Getty show the other day.  I’m paraphrasing but one of them was asking, if a person truly believed that Trump and tinkle-down economics was the truth, the light, and the way, why WOULDN’T a person lie to defend it?  They even pondered whether it might be a moral obligation to lie to defend a position, assuming one truly believed Voodoo Economics might someday work and Trump is probably the guy to make it happen.  There was a bit of back and forth on the topic and NONE of those Einsteins could refute the question.  (Yes, I’m clear that defending fraudulent conservative positions is their job…)

There’s an answer.  It’s an honest answer whether conservatives like it or not.  It applies whether conservatives confess it or not.  This is a life rule:

ANY position that relies on falsehood for it’s defense doesn’t deserve to be defended…

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I served in the United States Air Force.  I’m proud of my military service but I’m not a Hoo-Ra, Gung-ho vet.  I only did four years…during peacetime.  (Although Reagan DID invade that tiny island with the rusted guns…)  I’m VERY aware many other military members contributed FAR more.  So, proud, yes, but it doesn’t define me.

From time to time, though, I find myself a bit surprised when the “military man” in me gets riled up by something.  A recent example?  Donnie Dumbass “impulsively” (read: likely on orders from Putin) decided to pull American troops back in Syria.  He CLAIMS he’s getting America out of “forever wars” but actually just redeploys them to a different theater of combat: Saudi Arabia – so Americans can die defending the King instead of Saudis.  The order was so unexpected and implemented SO quickly, American troops grabbed what they could but left the installations intact.

A couple of days pass.  ISIS fighters are escaping from jails and the Turks are killing Kurds and driving them away.  FINALLY, Trump realizes he has left oil supplies undefended in the area (the ultimate sin in this once-great nation) and sends troops back in to protect the oil.  But in the meantime?

Russian troops have captured and occupied American military installations!

I don’t care if you’re left or right.  If you’ve ever worn the uniform are you pissed off?  The Commander-in-Chief of the American military has just handed over American military installations – voluntarily – to the Russians, Syrians, and ISIS fighters we’ve been fighting this whole time.  American soldiers have died over there and Donnie Dumbass just…walks away.

The fact that he might be just a fucking idiot is the very BEST possibility to explain this perfidy.  But I have YET to see Trump defy the wishes of Putin.  Hillary was right: Trump IS Putin’s puppet.

If you think I’m wrong about the bases, I’d like to hear opinions on why but in this case, I’d like you to begin your response with your service dates.  I understand that a lifelong civilian might not “get” what the big deal is.  I do NOT understand how a person who wore the uniform could ever justify such betrayal…

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I keep hearing about which of the Democratic candidates is doing well or not doing well with the African-American community.  I suspect it’s a media-driven “issue.”  It seems like a back-handed “concern,” to me.  Could blacks in this once-great nation ever be more concerned by any of the Democratic candidates than they are by Trump?

Trump is openly racist.  He publicly and proudly calls White Supremacists “very good people.”  (Sidebar: the very BEST evidence against “White Supremacy” is White Supremacists…)  He has a guy working for him, Stephen Miller, who actively promotes white nationalist literature and racist propaganda.

My guess is that the black community knows that white people might empathize but will NEVER be able to fully understand the black experience in this country.  The idea that one of the candidates or the other might not fully “get it” is just an inevitable part of the package but I’d bet there’s no confusion about who represents the truest threat to African American advancement in the United States…

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And, finally…boobies!

It seems a woman and her husband were working in their own garage putting up drywall, which, in this case, included installing fiberglass insulation.  For anyone who has never been around the stuff, fiberglass can be VERY uncomfortable to the skin.  It itches and manages to stay around FAR longer than anyone wants.

So, the couple took off their shirts, ostensibly in an effort to remove the fiberglass from their skin.  From the article: “When her stepchildren, aged 9, 10 and 13, walked in, she “explained she considers herself a feminist and wanted to make a point that everybody should be fine with walking around their house or elsewhere with skin showing,” her lawyers wrote in court documents, The Associated Press reports.”

Not from the article: it seems possible, to me, she got caught in an embarrassing moment and put on a brave face with the only explanation she could think of at the time…

But now she faces charges.  (Apparently, the ex-wife saw an opportunity to “get” the current wife…)  The consequence is possible jail time, fines, and having to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years.  HE wasn’t charged with anything…

There’s a LOT here.  On the one hand, women should not be barred from being topless under any circumstances unless men are, too.  (You know, no shoes, no shirt, no service…)  On the other hand, there’s a movement out there called ‘Free the Nipple‘ that advocates a woman’s right to be bare chested and suggests that sexualizing breasts is an inappropriate response.  And there’s the rub…if you will.  I see that as a philosophical position with no practical application.  Women’s breasts ARE sexualized in our culture by both men AND women.  The very best, I think, women can hope for is that men won’t behave like animals.  (But they will ’cause we are…)

Apparently, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals agrees, rightly in my opinion, that women should not be punished for being topless in public.  How could it possibly be worse to be topless in the privacy of one’s own home?  I can’t help but notice, though, that the 13 year old who came out into the garage is a boy.  Like it or not, step-moms breasts are going to fuel 13-year-old-boy’s…um…private imaginings for years into the future.  I feel certain he wasn’t “harmed,” though…

It’s quite the conundrum…

Donnie Dumbass is at it again.  Apparently, he tweeted this morning that he’ll consider testifying in the impeachment probe.

If I were a betting man, I’d bet he won’t.

But he DID just try to give conservatives a new talking point Americans are going to have to push back against.  It won’t slow the process but it WILL slow the public debate.

Of course, Pelosi has whipped him again.  She has agreed to let him.

He’ll back down from the “consideration” by dinner.  The Don of the Trump Crime Family is a coward who, it seems, CAN NOT tell a truth.

“You’re just making people vote for Trump.”  I hear this from time to time.  I guess it’s supposed to be some kind of manipulation.  “Stop saying mean things about me or the Trump crime family or I’ll vote for him again!”

It’s kind of a stupid line.  If the police investigate a bank robbery, are they just forcing you to rob a bank?  Did you steal from your boss because you discovered a grand jury investigation into embezzlement somewhere?  So, how does investigating the crimes Trump has committed FORCE YOU to vote Trump?

No, you’ve made a choice.  It’s a tough choice to enforce, too.  In order to maintain your pretense that there’s something – anything – decent and honest about Donald J. Trump, you have to force your head so far up the conservative bubble you can’t even breathe anymore.  But it’s a price you’re willing to pay, I know.  (In fact, the lack of oxygen to the brain probably makes it even easier to stay safely in the cocoon of the conservative bubble…)

The trumpsters are NOT watching the hearings.  IF they “know” anything about the process, they’ve heard it from some opinion-monger, free to say anything.  My current understanding is that nothing – and I mean nothing – will sway those who have put their faith in stubborn, false pride.

I get it.  You thought you saw something in the guy.  Great.  But when it became clear he was something other than advertised, you stuck with it because you had already pronounced yourself dedicated…

I’ve seen that kind of thing before.  Some people think they can’t ever go back and review a decision they’ve made because it might make them look weak.  You look FAR weaker in being unable to admit error than in staying the erroneous course…

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For the record, I’m pretty sick of the official arm of the Democratic party telling me that people really want somebody who will do nothing – the incremental, baby steps model – and that Americans calling for change are “too far left.”  When did the concept of America doing what’s best for the largest number of Americans become an idea that’s “too far left?”

I know, we’re stuck with whomever the DNC foists upon us.  But don’t lie to us and pretend it’s “what people want.”  If the people had been interested in a do-nothing, incremental, baby steps President, Hillary would be in the Oval Office right now.

The lie gave us Donald Trump…

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Roger Stone – one of Trump’s closest friends and advisors – has been convicted of all 7 counts he was facing.  It only took the jury a few hours to decide.  His conviction throws Trump’s written testimony to Congress into question…because, apparently, Trump lied – in writing!

Here’s a bit of nuance: the Constitution of the United States – the document that once defined this country and still might – says the President enjoys the absolute right of Pardons – except in cases of impeachment.  (Emphasis mine.)  THAT, I think, is why Nancy Pelosi initially called her inquiry an “impeachment inquiry.”  Trump started tossing out the promise of Pardons as an inducement to his cronies to carry out their tasks, legal or not.  Invoking the i word blocks him.

Stone seemed, to me, to be a little too relaxed when found guilty.  My guess (it’s not clever. It’s everyone’s guess.) is that he’s counting on one of those awesome Presidential Pardons to make this all go away.

I’d like to see Nancy bring it back into the impeachment inquiry, now that we know Trump lied in his statements, so that Trump can’t pardon Stone…

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Prince Andrew went on television in England to “explain” about his relationship with convicted child molester Jeffery Epstein.  You just KNOW the royal house had meeting after meeting trying to decide how best to spin the story.  They went with “I don’t recall.”  I wonder how much money was spent working up THAT brilliant defense.  Here, I can help:

Andrew DID allow that it was likely poor optics (my words) to continue the relationship with Epstein after his initial conviction as a pedophile.  You think?  But let’s get real, here.  Who ELSE was going to fix the pervert Andrew up with all those underage girls?  I mean really, what choice did Andrew have?  Well, yeah.  He COULD have tried relationships with women his own age but, apparently, he wasn’t up to that challenge…

As a sidebar, EVERY story I’ve seen about Epstein has included a reference to a woman named Ghislaine Maxwell.  (Jizz lane?  Really?)  I want to know why she isn’t in jail.  By all accounts, she’s the one who groomed the girls Epstein and Andrew raped but never met and don’t recall.  Why hasn’t she even been charged with anything?

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In an unexpected development, Trump went to the hospital for an unexpected and unannounced check-up yesterday.  Of course, the White House “spin” is that this is just his regular check up, no big deal.  Maybe it is.  Trump has always announced his other checkups in his schedule, though.  Oh, and the claim is that Trump just took advantage of “a free weekend” to get started on his annual physical.

Two things: One, I didn’t know the US President HAD “free weekends.”  (Hell, the work schedule is the ONE reason I’ve never sought the job!  It might interfere with my golf…)  Two, really?!?  This is a “free weekend” for Trump?  This weekend during the impeachment hearings when all of the testimony under oath says Trump did the crimes he’s accused of committing?

Okay, maybe it’s a free weekend and an unannounced, unscheduled start to a physical.  But maybe it’s all those “hamberders” catching up to a fat, old man under serious stress…

Donald J. Trump, ostensible President of the United States, broke the law and keeps breaking the law.  He’s a criminal, a lawbreaker, an offender, a villain, a malefactor.  He’s a culprit, a wrongdoer, a sinner; a fraudster, a swindler, a conman, a miscreant.  It’s not a secret.  He did it on national television, fercrissakes…  But, I still get challenged by my conservative brethren from time to time, “WHAT LAW?!?!?!”  (You have to read it like that…)  So, as a public service, here you go:

United States Code, Title 52 section 30121, paragraph a.1.A and a.2.

“§ 30121. Contributions and donations by foreign nationals (a) Prohibition It shall be unlawful for—(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make—(A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election; (B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or (C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or (2) a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national.”

That’s the law, right there, although I’ve emphasized the relevant points.  It’s important to remember, I’m no lawyer.  This is certainly NOT an exhaustive “list.”  This would only be ONE count.  (Perhaps his request to China constitutes a second count.)  But violating this law gave Congress every right to investigate, at least as far as the Constitution of the United States is concerned – meaning it’s NOT a “witch hunt.”  Every time Trump tells one of his minions not to respond to Congressional subpoenas, he’s committing Obstruction.  (That’s one count, two counts, three counts, etc.)

I’m very aware that the opinions inside the conservative bubble ALL say something else.  But…opinions being what they are (um…useless) it’s more important to note that people are NOT free to pretend anything they want when they’re under oath.  So the opinion-mongers of the conservative bubble (people free to lie) all say Donnie Dumbass is being unfairly maligned but the witnesses testifying under oath (facing possible penalties for perjury) have pretty much agreed Trump did what he’s accused of doing.

So conservatives can no longer honestly argue that Donnie didn’t break the law.  You CAN argue that Presidents can do whatever they want, including breaking the law.  But be forewarned: you’re arguing that ANY President can do whatever he or she wants, including breaking the law – even a DemocRAT President.  Future protestations that some DemocRAT President broke the law will go unheard.  Besides, with the help of the conservative base, the system will have been SO broken by Donnie that no mechanism will exist to intervene.  Thanks for that, conservatives.  (And make no mistake: history will forever record that it was conservatives who brought down the United States…)

For my part?  I don’t want ANY Presidents to be allowed to break the law.  I don’t care which party they pretend to represent…

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One of the ways the conservative bubble is trying to gin up anger amongst it’s consumers is pretending that impeaching trump over his crimes is really just trying to overturn the will of the people.  They keep reminding Trump supporters that they voted for Trump (duh!) without reminding those same supporters that MORE Americans voted against Trump, peculiarities of the Electoral College notwithstanding.

So…technically, even if the true and only goal of the impeachment was about overturning the 2016 “election” – it isn’t – it IS in keeping with the wishes of the majority of Americans…

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I keep posting these pieces to Facebook so people can see them and comment but you don’t have to wait for me to copy and paste!  You could simply come to my site ‘The Bacon Press‘ and sign up to have them delivered directly to your inbox.  (The link at the bottom, on the right, says ‘join’ but you don’t actually have to ‘join’ anything.  It just needs your email address.  Oh, damn…does anybody USE email anymore?)

I have to say, I think it’s funny that Donnie Dumbass has gone – TWICE, now – to public events only to discover what REAL Americans actually think of him.  He went to game 5 of the World Series where he was greeted by boos and calls to “lock him up.”  So, then he goes to a UFC bout where he’s greeted by even more boos.  Okay, so in fairness the UFC crowd DID include some of his supporters, who cheered.  Of course, one cannot ignore the possibility that his supporters came specifically to prop up the fragile ego of our national embarrassment.  I guess he should stick to the safe zones of his little Nuremberg rallies where the crowd is carefully controlled to include only those who will sing his praises…

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Okay, so as I score this, it looks very much like most (all?) of those who participated in the criminal phone call – I mean, those who were actually on the line listening – have agreed that the President broke the law.  Several have now testified under oath that they were so concerned by what they heard they reported the matter to their appropriate supervisors.

On the other hand, opinion-mongers and talking heads are certain that the President didn’t do anything wrong – because he said so.  After all, what criminal ever lies about their crimes?  “Look at the transcript,” they say.  For clarity, there IS no “transcript” at this point.  What the White House provided is called an abstract.  It (supposedly) shows what happened in the call but it is NOT an actual word-for-word record.  THAT document has been withheld.  (Because who DOESN’T withhold proof of innocence when that exists?)

This is the trick of the cons going back to the launch of Fox “News”; opinions in place of facts but pretended to be just as valuable.  Of course, opinions are NOT just as valuable.  Many statements presented as “opinions” are, in fact, bold faced lies.  But one can’t take legal action against an “opinion”, right?

Some of the less…sophisticated consumers of conservative bubble drivel try, from time to time, to prove some assertion or another from the bubble by taking it into court.  It’s ALWAYS a mistake.  I remember when conservatives were having a great time pretending Obama was born outside of America.  Oh, how easy it was to just insist that, no, that’s not what a Hawaiian birth certificate looks like – as though most of them had ever seen a Hawaiian birth certificate themselves.  As long as it’s just agreed-upon conservative blather, the conversation can go on forever.  But if some true believer – say, Orly Taitz – makes the mistake of trying to PROVE something in an actual court of law the case is universally summarily dismissed – usually with prejudice (meaning they can’t bring the case again…)  All it really proved is that Orly Taitz doesn’t understand things…

So the opinion-mongering blatherers are on about how Trump is totally innocent and the greatest thing since…some other great thing.  But Trump’s crimes are undergoing legal processes, now.  The trumpsters can insist anything they like but the court action will prove larger in the process.  It had better, anyway.  If the trumpsters succeed in letting Donnie get away with these high crimes and misdemeanors, they will have “protected their President” but “destroyed their country.”  Lovely…

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Now I see some of the farthest right voices are threatening civil war if Trump is called to answer for his crimes.  Nice.  Here’s the thing: the LAST time conservatives were deceived into betraying their country and took up arms, TRUE Americans kicked their asses.  It was bloody, costly, and destructive – and we’ll do it again, if you force us.

Ironic, isn’t it?  Conservatives pretend to LOVE the Constitution but are willing to trample it under foot because some opinion-monger told them a lie they prefer to believe.

Smart people – TRUE Americans – are eschewing “opinions” in favor of “journalism.”  If you’re going to start actually killing people – you’d better make damn sure your facts are true and not just assertions of the opinion-mongers…