So, it came to my attention that a web page has been created for the ImPOTUS that, ostensibly, “teaches” conservatives how to win arguments with liberals.  It goes on to list one talking point after another, all of which are basic conservative catechism, none of which are too tied down by “facts” or “truth.”

My question: what makes Donnie Dumbass think he needs a special web page to teach the conservatives how to regurgitate what Fox “News” tells them?  They already KNOW all of this stuff.  If they’d come out of their hidey-holes, we could be “discussing” them.  (That means I could explain why the talking points are wrong and conservatives could ignore me and continue to repeat them anyway…)

So…here’s an idea I’ve had to beat your conservative uncle in these conversations: bet him.  Make him part with money  – say, $10 bucks – for each fact he fails to follow.  Now, this isn’t perfect.  There are some things that are too complex to settle quickly.  But when some conservative says, for example, there were no first person witnesses who testified at the House Impeachment hearings (as they’ve been conditioned to say),  there doesn’t have to be any shouting or energy.  A quick search of the web will prove them wrong – and it’s not debatable.  It’s a yes or no proposition.  Were there any first person witnesses?  Yes, three: Lt Col Vindman, Jennifer Williams, and Tim Morrison.  $10 bucks.  Were Republicans left out of the loop in the basement?  No, there are 17 Republicans on the intelligence committee and they were all allowed to be there AND asking questions.  $10 bucks.  See?  Easy!

Not perfect, though.  For example, they’re going to believe this is “Trump’s economy” no matter what and economics is too complex to settle in simple yes or no questions.  Showing them trend lines going back to 2014 won’t convince them.  But when you can boil a question down to a simple yes or no, you should – then take Uncle Conservative’s money…

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I’ve noticed the conservative community that normally engages in social media is keeping their collective heads down.  I’ve also noticed that Senate Republicans are playing the whole Impeachment thing down.  “Hey, if they send the Articles, great.  If not, that’s great, too…”  But the ImPOTUS is NOT playing it cool.  I guess he didn’t get the “pretend we don’t care” memo.  He just keeps tweeting and tweeting.  It makes him look as though the pressure is getting to him…

It’s weird, though.  His tweets claim he’s innocent.  If he’s so innocent, he could put the whole thing to bed, not by tweeting but by testifying – or at least letting his minions testify.  Instead, he keeps himself in a pressure cooker of his own making.  I wonder why a guy who could so easily prove his innocence refuses to do so?

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Truth?  I’m not sure why I keep hearing that the impeachment process will energize Trump’s base.  Trump’s base doesn’t NEED “energizing.”  They’re going to come out in force no matter what.  They’ve worked very hard over the course of his maladministration to ignore everything they once held dear so they can continue to support this…human-type being.  The base isn’t going to change.  Likewise, Trump’s liberal opposition isn’t likely to jump to Trump – for any reason.  So it’s just the middle that remains in play.  But here’s the thing; in order to BE in the middle, you have to accept facts – even if they’re contrary to your preferences.  (It’s really the correct attitude…)

You might think the impeachment was a bit over the line.  Are you REALLY going to go out and vote Trump because of it?  If you accept facts, do you REALLY ignore all of the damage Trump has done to make some statement?  I don’t think so.  I don’t think one CAN energize Trump’s base any more than they already are and I don’t think anybody who’s not ALREADY on board with Trump will shift for – well, any reason, really.

Ultimately, I don’t think the impeachment will make any difference in the upcoming “election.”  We already know the outcome of the trial since the Senate has already announced the outcome – always a sign of a nice, fair, honest event, yes?

Here’s my question: the Constitution says the President (or in this case, Trump) has the power to pardon except in cases of impeachment.  Donnie stands impeached but the corrupt Republicans in the Senate are going to nullify the action.  Can Trump then pardon those who participated in his crimes or is his pardon ability in this case still revoked regarding this matter?  Rudy Giuliani really needs to know…

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So, this is the last post of 2019 (probably) and I’d like to thank my loyal reader for hanging in there with me.  It’s been an…interesting year.  2020 looks like it’s going to be even weirder.  So…Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and the Happiest of New Year’s from MyBaconPress.  Here’s hoping the new year brings glad tidings to you and yours…

So…the cheatinest team in the history of the NFL, the New England Patriots, have been caught cheating yet again!  Worse, they got caught filming an opponent’s sideline!  Again!  No rational case can be made that the cheatin’ New England team doesn’t understand the rules of filming opponents.  That’s the very crux of their FIRST cheating scandal, ‘Spygate.’  They filmed opponents from 2000 until 2007 when the NFL finally got around to asking them to, if they wouldn’t mind, please stop cheating.  Apparently, the answer was, “We’ll hold off for awhile, until this blows over, but we’re not going to stop.”

The thing is, Robert Kraft, cheating owner of the cheating Patriots, is one of the most powerful people in the NFL.  Apparently, he’s more powerful than Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL.  So, I understand Goodell has no real authority to stop the Patriots from cheating.  Last time, all the NFL could muster was a fine of pennies on the dollar from some of the people involved.  Likely, that will be along the lines of what Cheatin’ New England will face THIS time, too.

Personally?  I think the Cheatin’ Pats should be barred from post-season play.  Whatever they “accomplish” on the field during the regular season will just be set aside (since the safest bet is that they cheated to accomplish anything anyway) and the next team in line should take their place.

If the cheating didn’t pay off so handsomely, they wouldn’t need to cheat…

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So, this woman intentionally crashed her car into a child – a 14 year old child – because “she looks Mexican.”  Fortunately, the child was not seriously hurt.  The article I read in the ‘Independent’ indicated that the driver is an alcoholic racist.  The article did NOT indicate the driver’s political affiliation.  But if I had to bet, I’d put my money on “conservative.”  This is the reason inflammatory rhetoric (rapists, killers, drug dealers) from the ImPOTUS is dangerous.  This is the second time some conservative acolyte has used a car to attack people with whom they disagree.  On the up side, it looks as though there will be one less conservative voter out there this November as she’ll be sitting in jail, instead…

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I have to admit, I was impressed by the absolute control the conservative bubble demonstrated over it’s adherents during the impeachment hearings.  I know many conservatives.  I don’t know one who paid direct attention to the hearings.  (I DO know several who CLAIM they watched or listened but, of course, those of us who actually did can tell by the claims of the conservatives that, no, you got your information later, from Hannity or Carlson or whichever Fox blowhard you like best…)

Now, on the one hand, I really was impressed.  On the other, it’s kind of DEpressing that so many people would – could – just close their eyes, ears, and minds and insist pretend is real and real is fake.  I honestly don’t know how Fox and it’s downstream subsidiaries got so many people to go along.  I imagine they didn’t just come out and say “don’t watch” but I don’t know that for sure.  I once heard Rush tell his audience that they didn’t need to think.  He’d tell them what to think.  So they don’t and he does.  His listeners don’t even know he’s lying – because they won’t check…

Conservatives like to think of themselves as the true Americans, holding the line against the evil hoards of Democrats and liberals.  Patriots.  Sure, “patriotic” like Benedict Arnold, another whiner willing to betray his country during a temper tantrum…

It might be thought that the one good thing about the current ImPOTUS  is that he has exposed everything true and corrupt about the modern Republican party.  Their pretended concern about fiscal responsibility went out the window.  The party of strong defense?  Yeah, except the ImPOTUS literally GAVE AWAY a hardened military installation – to the RUSSIANS!  Love and respect for the US Constitution?  Not when you’ll work so relentlessly to pretend actions that directly contradict the Constitution don’t really mean anything.  Conservatives are anything BUT patriots…

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There’s one thing all Americans can take to the bank: when conservatives start throwing around accusations, one can bet the rent that the conservatives are projecting.  Conservatives actually believe (because the bubble tells them so) that Democrats cheat in the “elections” by busing in hoards of illegal aliens to cast ballots – then drive the bus to the next polling place.

Sure, that seems likely.  There’s NO WAY anybody would notice buses full of people driving up and unloading, sneaking in the back door, then loading back up and driving away.  As it happens, it’s just so much easier to have your friend and handler Vlad dial into voting machines and simply flip votes – something conservatives have been convinced couldn’t possibly happen ever anytime, anywhere – because that’s the actual way it’s done.

Now one of Donnie Dumbass’s workers, Justin Clark, has been caught confessing that “Traditionally it’s always been Republicans suppressing votes in places.”  Hey, no shit, huh?  Of course, Mr. Clark pretends he was taken out of context.  He was only referring to the charges that get leveled at Republicans all the time about voter suppression based on nothing more than the countless times the party has engaged in voter suppression.  (Conservatives always seem to get upset about being accused of this or that just because they did it.)  Of COURSE it’s a misquote, taken out of context.

What conservative would EVER participate in such underhanded behavior?  I mean, it’s not like we have video evidence of any conservative leaders named Paul Weyrich making exactly the case that fewer people voting benefits conservatives.  Oh, and I guess I should include the second paragraph from the Guardian article:

“But the report emerged just days after news that a conservative group is forcing Wisconsin to purge upwards of 230,000 people from state voter rolls more than a year earlier than planned, a move that would disproportionately affect Democrats before the 2020 election.”

Just a couple of things:  I’m kind of tired of listening to Republicans repeating stories that aren’t true in place of an actual defense of our impeached so-called “President.”  Since the rank and file have been SO dedicated to their current strategy of sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring reality, they don’t KNOW the stories aren’t true.  This lapse has them repeating bunk over and over, rudely, as though they know things.  So…I’m offering a couple of responses in the hopes that loyal Americans will pick them up and explain them to snowflake conservatives should the opportunity arise…

One of the stories regurgitated by deceptive Republicans is that Democrats have been out to impeach Trump since the day he was inaugurated because lefties hate him so much.  This is only partly correct.  There HAVE been voices calling for his impeachment from the start but those calls aren’t because we hate him (though most Americans do).  The reason for the calls for impeachment is based on the fact that Donald Trump has been so closely associated with so much criminal activity going back to the campaign…

Story two: Democrats are trying to overturn the 2016 election.  No.  The election is over and can’t be undone or overturned.  But winning the Electoral College during an “election” doesn’t allow the “winner” to commit any crime he or she desires from that point forward.  Trump, with the help of the Russians, allegedly “won” the Electoral College.  Election over, Trump wins.  But then he committed crimes – at least, according to sworn testimony.  The “election” can’t be overturned.  But a criminal President can be and should be removed from office…

Senate GOP: “We, the jury, find for the defendant.”
America: “Um…the trial hasn’t even started yet…”
Senate GOP: “What’s your point?”

Both Moscow Mitch and Lindsey Graham have declared they’ll be working closely with the White House during the “trial” in order to bring about the result the White House prefers.  This, from the party who have been crying and whining about the “fairness of the process” from the start.

Mitch and Lindsey should recuse themselves.  Clearly, they lack impartiality…

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Near the beginning of the Judiciary Committee phase of the House Impeachment hearings, a conservative – pretending to be a “true American” (but actually just a conservative) – stood up in the chamber and began shouting that the process was flawed and that Democrats should be impeached.

He was a plant by the GOP.  You know, to make the process more “fair.”  His name is Owen Shroyer.  He’s one of the people who lies for Infowars, the Alex Jones falsehood machine.  Why, it’s almost as if the conservatives KNOW they have no legal leg to stand on so they decided to pound on the table and scream like hell.  I accept their attempted distractions as acknowledgment that they know their “President” is as crooked as Lombard Street in San Francisco…

They just don’t care…

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Somewhere along the way, conservative pseudo-christian men – fearful that someone may someday discover their secret desire to have sex with other conservative pseudo-christian men, created a process they cleverly called Gay Conversion Therapy.  Sure, it sounds like they’re trying to convert people TO the gay lifestyle but, apparently, the opposite is the case.  They’re trying to “ungay” themselves, or, rather, gay people.

Well, that isn’t going to work.  But I’d like to adopt the concepts of the practice and apply it to conservatism, in general.  Most conservatives in this once-great nation seem to be under the thrall of the opinion-based conservative bubble.  It’s a kind of Stockholm Syndrome.  For the most part, they’re NOT going to be able to save themselves.  They’re going to have to be rescued.  We’ll put them through Conservative Conversion Therapy by teaching them to recognize facts and use the scientific method and to disregard opinions and assertions from the bubble.

At least Conservative Conversion Therapy would benefit mankind…

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We have a popular local trail here in my home town called the Joe Rodota Trail.  It has been taken over by an encampment of homeless people and now people WITH homes are complaining they can’t use the trail.  “Why don’t those people just…go home?” they ask.

In the 1930’s, after the conservatives had, once again, destroyed the national economy and caused the Great Republican Depression, people who could no longer afford to function in our society formed little homeless encampments across the country that came to be known as ‘Hoovervilles’ in honor of the dumbass conservative President who presided over the failed economy at the time, Herbert Hoover.

These days, I’m told over and over about the booming economy and how great everything is for everybody but I notice that the homeless encampments keep growing.  It’s almost as if people’s actual day to day lives aren’t paying attention to the good news we’re being fed on a daily basis from the corporate media.

I suspect the homeless encampments are going to continue to grow.  They’re a natural consequence of the so-called “free market.”  I propose, in honor of their forerunners, we name ALL new homeless encampments “TrumpTowns…”

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Okay, you can’t make this up.  The outgoing governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, in an effort to prove to the good people of Kentucky they made the right decision in ousting him, pardoned a bunch of people.  No big deal, really.  It’s common practice.  It’s WHO he pardoned that has raised eyebrows.  I’ll let the Guardian tell you:

“But a number of the pardons were for particularly violent crimes, like a woman who gave birth in a flea market porta-potty and dumped her newborn into the toilet’s septic tank; a man who hired a hitman to murder his business partner in front of his family; a man convicted of beheading a woman and stuffing her body in a 55-gallon drum; a man convicted last year of raping a nine-year-old child; and a man convicted in a home invasion homicide whose brother hosted a fundraiser for the governor last year.”

The last guy on that list pretended to be a law enforcement officer in order to gain entrance to a home where he and two other guys killed the man inside.  The two who DIDN’T have a brother hosting a fundraiser were NOT pardoned…

I’ll tell you this: Blevins could certainly use some Conservative Conversion Therapy…

I hear George Zimmerman, the guy who stalked, provoked, and then murdered Trayvon Martin, is suing the Martin family for $100 million dollars.  Apparently, even though he was acquitted in one of Florida’s Kangaroo Courts, people still have an opinion about what he did – and it isn’t a nice opinion.

Zimmerman says he feels ostracized, like people continue to think he got away with murder.  And all because he got away with murder.  Wow.  The indignity.  Zimmerman’s “lawyer” is a guy named Larry Klayman.  He’s a right-wing nut ball and the founder of Judicial Watch, a web site for right wing nut balls.

It’s classic conservatism.  First, you get away with murder utilizing backward Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law, even though it was Trayvon standing HIS ground against an unknown assailant, THEN you decided that, hey, maybe there’s a way to profit from this, too…

Personally, I hope George Zimmerman feels the burn of societal judgement for the rest of his dark days…

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ALL patriotic Americans are following the impeachment process as it plays out.  Conservatives are hiding from it, waiting for Fox “News” to tell them what happened – whether it happened or not.  It’s rather a stunning act of cowardice, from my point of view.  I suspect they KNOW, on some level, Trump is guilty of trying to bribe a foreign country into meddling in an American “election” so they dare not risk hearing the actual evidence.  It’s hard enough to maintain the pretense of Trump’s “innocence” as it is…

ALL patriotic Americans expect the process to be nullified by the corrupt conservatives in the Senate.

But Senate dishonor cannot bestow honor on the personification of pride, envy, gluttony, lust, avarice, wrath, and sloth that is the criminal Donald (“Donnie Dumbass”) Trump…

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I’m told from time to time that calling conservatives stupid only makes them more determined to vote Trump so we shouldn’t do it.

I know it’s rude, so I won’t.  But if they don’t want me to think of them as stupid, they shouldn’t give me so much evidence to support my supposition…

Okay, spoiler alert!  Donnie Dumbass said he might testify at the House Judiciary Committee hearing on his criminal behavior.  I don’t know about you but I waited on pins and needles wondering if he might actually show up and, if so, what brilliant piece of information he has hiding in his back pocket that would clear his oh-so-sullied name.

Alas, it was not to be.  After what, for him, is considered careful review, he declined.  He whined that the process is “unfair.”  His “lawyer du jour,” Pat Cipollone, whined that Bill Clinton had a fairer hearing in 1998.  Why, yes, this WOULD be the same Bill Clinton the Republicans impeached with no crime at all!  Totally fair!

Listen, I get it.  I know that if I stood accused of some crime (or in the fair case of Clinton, no crime at all) and held the perfect evidence to prove my innocence, the very first thing I would do is circle the wagons and refuse to participate because I can question the fairness of the process, instead.  Personally, I’ve ALWAYS been astounded that laws can be negated just by saying the process is unfair.  It seems like rather a fixable loophole.  Still, Trump invoking the “Meanie-pants” defense is going to be hard to overcome.

So…feel free to go on about your business.  Donnie isn’t going to testify, after all.  The rest of us will just have to make our decision based on all of the other witnesses who DID testify that Donald Trump, using assets of the United States of America, tried to bribe a foreign national into helping him personally…

So…Gordon Sondland now stands accused of inappropriate behavior with three different women, once in 2003, once in 2008, and again in 2010.  Did he do it?  Who knows.  He said/she said.  If he did, he should pay the appropriate price, whatever that may be.  But…

Doesn’t the timing seem just a bit suspicious to you?  Only after Sondland makes clear he was working Trump’s Quid Pro Quo with Ukraine he get accused of bad behavior?  My first notice was from ProPublica, an ostensibly left-leaning outlet.  But left-leaning outlets can be wrong, too.  More, left-leaning outlets might be a little TOO quick to accept junk during an investigation.  Remember Dan Rather?  He had a solid story that Bush 43 is a deserter but fell for fake documents to back the story up.  Too quick.  Story dead.  (Bush 43 is still a deserter, though, imho…)

Maybe ProPublica has been taken in.  Maybe not.  Maybe Sondland did as charged.  But I’m certain that Gordon Sondland’s misbehavior has zero affect on his testimony under oath: “Was there a Quid Pro Quo?  The answer is yes!”

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I’ve been thinking about  our harsh and brutal society, recently.  One of the messages that plays over and over is that ours is a world of winners and losers.  We focus mightily on the winners.  But what about the losers?

If you’re great at business deals – or just a great con-man – you get to be in the “winner” category.  But what if you’re too honest or just bad at such things?  Do those people deserve to suffer?  Can our society REALLY not do ANYTHING to help people who can’t help themselves?

Many philosophies teach balance in all things.  If that’s a correct position, then for every “winner” there has to be a “loser”, yes?  We’ve all heard about the guy who finds a priceless art work at a garage sale and makes a mint.  What about the schmoe who sold the piece, not realizing what it was?  No, I don’t think he should be cut in.  I’m thinking a guy like that might well have gone through his entire life making choices like that – selling the priceless art work in a garage sale for five or ten bucks.

I think our society is rife with people like that – people with a lifetime of poor choices and mistakes dogging their today.  I know it’s a “wouldn’t it be great” concept but I think our society should pay more attention to the people who LOSE in deals…

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I have a friend who poses a question from time to time.  He asks, since semi-automatic weapons have existed for over 100 years but mass shootings are a relatively new phenomenon, what changed?  I have an answer for him.  He’s conservative in his politics and a gun rights advocate so I don’t think he’ll LIKE my answer but I think I’m correct.  What changed?

The radicalization of the right by corporate media.

The conservative bubble spends massive amounts of time, money, and energy making sure the conservative base stays worked up; angry and afraid.
“They’re coming to take your guns.”
“They’re coming to take your jobs.”
“They think you’re stupid.”
“They want to destroy Christmas.”
“They say you’re a racist.”
“They want to make you a slave.”

It’s no wonder people get angry and set out to “defend” themselves.  None of those things are true, of course, but the consumers of the conservative bubble will not accept any information from outside the bubble and those message just keep repeating – so they don’t KNOW the messages are false and they get angry.

So that’s my answer.  That’s what changed.

The radicalization of the right…