Apparently, Donnie hates this picture.

I can see why.  It not only exposes his fake, spray-on “tan,” it kind of highlights his tiny little hands.  He says it’s Photoshopped.  In fairness, there are apparently other copies of this photo where he’s less…colorful.  My guess is the toned down version is the Photoshopped version because, of course, he lies about everything, every day.  But I don’t think it’s fair to attack the guy over being ugly and having little hands.  We should attack him for his Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Wrath, and Sloth, instead…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I recently had a rather stunning observation.  As you might know, I interact with conservatives on a regular basis.  I don’t mean doing a business transaction with someone who leans right without ever discovering the person leans right.  I mean the occasional political discussion with dyed-in-the-wool conservatives.  You will not be surprised to find we often disagree but I like to engage in the talks because of the times I find where we DO agree.  My basic position is, well, was, that our goals are the same, cons and mine.

I noticed when the impeachment inquiry began, my conservative friends online disappeared – as a group.  My conservative friends in real life were clearly uninterested in discussing politics.  Conservative input was just…gone.  Then came the nullification and my cons were back.  Amazing.

So, I got into a political discussion with one of them and the very moment the conversation touched on the subject of the impeachment, the individual in question went nuts.  The “conversation” was over.  My friend just launched into a loud, non-stop diatribe as he walked away, finishing his rant as he retreated through a door.

I thought it was weird.  We’ve had many discussions.  We mostly disagree but we do so respectfully.  There was nothing respectful about this fulmination – and then he was gone.  Okay, so maybe he’s having a bad day or something, you know?  Maybe the over-the-top response was just an in-the-moment thing.  But then I ran into another of my conservative friends.

He, too, had “left the field,” as it were, during the inquiry and show-trial.  He, too, was now back, ready to talk politics.  And when the topic moved to impeachment?  He, too, went OFF!  Loudly!  It’s a little startling when the shouting starts.  It’s a little impressive that these older guys can hold enough air to supply such an aggressive, loud, and non-stop, rant.  Of course, their information is wrong but they don’t know it and they REALLY don’t WANT to know it.

I realized two things:  1) the response was intended to ensure that the conservative never risked hearing anything about the process Fox “News” hadn’t pre-approved and 2) the power of propaganda is nearly insurmountable.  I’m AMAZED that nearly 40% of this once-great nation is so completely manipulated by propaganda.

It leaves me in a weird place.  I continue to be fact- and evidence-based.  But in this post-truth world, facts and evidence are merely inconveniences to be overcome.  I don’t really know how to interpret a world that thinks it can insist on a preferred reality instead of living in actual reality.

I used to wonder how entire nations could be led around by disinformation and propaganda.  Now I know…and it sucks…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I need to clarify something.  When it comes to the ImPOTUS and the process used during his trial, I reject the word “acquitted” in favor of the more accurate “nullified.”  This can be confusing because the corporate media only uses “acquitted” as though that’s what happened.  In order to be acquitted, the jury has to hear and consider the evidence and make a judgement based on that evidence.  The Republicans in the Senate rejected and blocked evidence because allowing it made it more difficult to pretend Trump was not guilty.  That’s a nullification, not an acquittal.  Here, see?  I lifted this definition of nullification from Wikipedia.”

“Jury nullification, or a perverse verdict, generally occurs when members of a criminal trial jury believe that a defendant is guilty, but choose to acquit the defendant anyway because the jurors also believe that the law itself is unjust, that the prosecutor has misapplied the law in the defendant’s case, or that the potential punishment for breaking the law is too harsh.”  (Emphasis added…)

See?  The conservatives know Trump is guilty.  They just don’t care.  They didn’t “acquit” Trump.  They nullified the charge.  But in so doing, they tacitly acknowledge their belief that Trump is guilty.  So we all agree…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah, the Dem wars are heating up!  Thanks, Iowa.  Well, thanks to the DNC for what they did in Iowa.  I was concerned this was going to happen.  I tried to tell anyone who would listen NOT to get too attached to any one candidate.  (“Vote blue to block!”)  We KNEW the DNC was going to cheat and foist some useless no one on us – but we also know that the country is in desperate trouble.  If Americans can’t replace Trump, we’ll never recover.  We needed to unite.

It looks to all the world as though Bernie won the Iowa caucus but the DNC CANNOT, WILL NOT allow Bernie to win anything.  So they go into closed-door session and dribble out information as they can create it.  They HAVE  to acknowledge Sanders’ success – to a degree – so he gets second place with – surprise, surprise – Pete Buttigieg as the unexpected front runner – a “hat tip” to the fact that Joe Biden – the first choice of the DNC – came in a distant fourth.  This means that…

RATS!

This is going to take some getting used to.  I keep thinking about this upcoming “election” as though it’s as honest as it should be and things will work out according to the will of the people.  It’s going to take me some time to re-align my thinking to the new paradigm where Putin’s Petulant Puppet “wins” every “election” going forward with 94% of the vote…