I sure hope nobody put too much faith in Lying Lisa Murkowski’s claims that she wasn’t sure she would go along with her hypocritical conservative team in confirming Barrett. This is just her game. She, along with Susan Collins, regularly announces she’s considering not standing with the Republicans on some issue or another. Of course, (spoiler alert) she ALWAYS does.

My own suspicion is that it’s a negotiating ploy. She publicly claims she may not go along, she gets some special consideration from the party, and at the last minute, she does as she’s expected to do. She’s a VERY dependable conservative vote. Of COURSE she’s going to vote to confirm. There was really never any question…

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I don’t want to be the one to defend Rudy Giuliani so could I PLEASE ask my liberal counterparts to NOT make hay of something that isn’t anything? Giuliani isn’t married. If he wants to go back to a woman’s room for a drink, there’s no reason he shouldn’t. Disclaimer: I haven’t seen the movie. If Rudy had reason to believe she was 15 before they went upstairs, I disavow my own position. But from what I’ve gathered, he went up to her room for a drink. It would certainly be reasonable to assume she was of drinking age. In fact, the actress who played the 15 year old daughter is 24.

Rudy Giuliani is a shit-stain. Nobody has to make up things to make this guy look bad…

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For example, shit-stain Rudy is the source of the so-called “laptop from hell” that turned out to be little more than a “laptop from aw, heck.” I know, conservatives are all over it, all of them convinced without question Hunter Biden has been incriminated by evidence of wrongdoing from his own laptop. Of course, conservatives are lost in an alternative world of alternative facts and, at this point, can be made to believe anything. Or, at least, pretend to believe anything.

But for the rational people still among us…first, I haven’t seen ANY incriminating evidence. So far, it’s all innuendo – a whispered smear campaign even the cons can’t agree upon. The cons need to make the charges BAD. The story starts with simple emails “proving” Hunter Biden tried to get Joe Biden involved in something nefarious (they don’t). Not enough, they added that there are pictures of Hunter with a crack pipe. (Yeah, Hunter had a drug problem. Not news.) So, I briefly heard there was child porn on the computer. I think they had to drop that one because if there’s child porn on a computer people are making copies of and passing around, every person who handles the laptop (outside of law enforcement, of course) is guilty of trafficking in child porn! So that one went away.

More importantly, though? The evidence in question – a copy of a hard drive that may or may not have once belonged to Hunter Biden – sure has some problems with chain of custody. Apparently, they can’t even prove that the laptop in question ever really belonged to Hunter and by now it’s been handled by so many different people there’s no way to prove who did what nor when they did…whatever. Sorry, cons. No sale…

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The Trumpery keeps touting the notion that 2.2 million people haven’t died as a result of his feckless failure on Covid-19 so he guesses it’s a win. Hell, why not make up a bigger number, since you’re just rambling? 38.6 billion people not dying makes his body count look MUCH better.

As of this writing? 223,393 dead US citizens.

During the last “debate” Trumpery, himself, said Biden had mishandled a flu outbreak. Trumpery, himself, admitted the flu wasn’t nearly as virulent as Covid but then insisted that if it had been Biden would have done a bad job handling it. What an…unsupportable assertion…

We all know, now, that Trumpery DID know how bad it was going to be and chose not to do anything about it. Sidebar: has it crossed anybody else’s mind that any vaccine that gets developed will be made available in this once-great nation for the low, low price of…whatever they think they can force you to pay? A vaccine developed in another country and offered up for free will be refused by the US as “unsafe” and the American people will have to wait until an American company comes up with something that can be monetized.

These days? It’s the American way…

It has begun. The voting, I mean. I think we’re all holding our collective breaths, watching. We have no more time for trumpery. ALL of his antics will be disregarded until further notice. But there’s a LOT riding on this “election.” The Republicans, predictably, are out there cheating every way they can, every chance they get, as aggressively as possible – all the while whining about how the Democrats cheat.

Meanwhile, Democrats and progressives seem to be turning out in droves. I can’t make predictions because I can’t measure the effects of the Russians flipping votes in the machines to help the dumbass but at this point Biden seems to be doing well.

In the alternative world of alternative facts, conservatives are told that, secretly, THEY represent the majority. They don’t, of course. That’s an “alternative fact” also known as “bullshit.” They ARE a stronger voting bloc, normally, because they turn out dependably. But from time to time, the one percent – via the Republicans – just push too far and Dems and progressives wake up. That reality brought us Obama and I think it’s going to bring us Biden, too…

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In the meantime, the Barrett confirmation moves forward, unabated. I sort of wish the Dems would just stand down. I mean, there’s nothing they can do to stop this so all the rest is just posing. The left is whining about how she won’t answer questions. Technically, she shouldn’t and, since she’s a shoo-in, it doesn’t matter.

Another pseudo-Christian ascends to the Bench. Pseudo-Christian? How can a woman who insists she has to bend the knee to her man – who, in turn, has to bend HIS knee to his deacon – nevertheless rise to such a powerful position? She won’t be taking care of home, hearth, or family, the traditional role of women in the Christian tradition.

I HAVE noticed that traditionalists and so-called “originalists” have a tendency to “believe” that everything should stay the way it was the day those documents first came into being – except, of course, for the parts that adversely affected them personally.

According to both the original Constitution and the Bible, Barrett is the property and responsibility of her husband – who REALLY needs to get his house in order. She’s okay with those “updates”, though, I’m guessing. She’s more of a traditionalist and originalist, um…starting right at the point where she gets to vote and speak for herself. THAT’S some careful re-interpretation…

The perjurist Clarence Thomas has the same creative interpretation of “originalist.” I’m sure he doesn’t count HIMSELF three-fifths of a human but he’s okay discriminating in marriage – now that HIS inter-racial marriage is all legal and proper and acceptable. For conservatives, it’s all about careful and fluid interpretations…

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I’m not looking forward to living under Christian Sharia so if that’s where the pseudo-Christians want to go I’m going to say this: you first. If the conversation is going to move beyond the academic, I’m going to need you to LIVE the principles you pretend. Please don’t TELL me you’re a Christian. SHOW me. (This, of course, assumes your given name isn’t ‘Christian.’ THAT, I’ll believe…)

You see, I’m very aware that anybody can say anything they want at any time. All you need is to put together a few select words in the proper order and – viola! – a sentence! Is it a TRUE sentence? Who knows. Only verification can tell one way or the other. Here’s an example of what I mean: I’m Tom Brady, Quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

See how easy that was? I just…put those words together. Are they true? Well, if merely saying so is enough proof, I’m guessing the Bucs are going to deposit Tom’s – I mean my – next check into my bank account, yes? Probably not. Really, all they’ve got to do is look at me. “Wow, Tom, you’ve kind of let yourself go, eh?” But if there’s still any confusion, they can clear it up simply by handing me a football. “Here, throw this to that man with world class speed making a cut at a specific point and hit him right in the numbers, okay?” Hell, I’d be lucky to hit the grass…

So, apparently, just saying it isn’t enough. One has to SHOW it. I’m going to start simply enough for you. Let’s start with one book. Hell, one verse. You “Christians” of course already know this one. (Sidebar to the uninitiated: there are some Bibles in which every word attributed to Jesus is written in red ink. I often refer to the “red writing” as the ultimate authority of Christianity…) So, let’s take a look at Matthew 25:35.

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

When your answer is, “They should have come the right way” or, “They don’t have the right paperwork”, you lose. According to YOUR book, you’ll be sorted with the Goats and cast into the pit. Jesus didn’t say, “...and you invited me in – AFTER ensuring I had the right documents and paperwork to prove I had gone through the system the way Fox “News” pretends you should interpret it.“

So, for now, let’s start there. If you’re going to try to impose your religion on me, I’m going to need you to know what you’re espousing. You might want to read that book you’re always on about…

Look, I know the alternative reality crowd is never going to admit this but I’ve noticed that while they’re shouting and making a fuss about the bad behavior of Anitfa, whenever the cops DO go far enough to make arrests of people who break windows or start the fires, the person of interest seems – commonly – to be a conservative trying to undermine the BLM activities.

And now it’s conservatives who tried to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. So maybe – just maybe – liberals aren’t the problem after all…

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It’s voting season. I find that several of the heavily promoted ballot measures in my states are being financed and lied about by some very wealthy and powerful special interests.

Proposition 22
Uber, originlly founded as “Uber Cab,” is pretending they’re NOT a cab company. They don’t want to take responsibility for their employees so they’re pretending they’ll just go away if they’re forced to. Frankly, I’m okay with that. Capitalism teaches that if you can’t run a business in a profitable way, you shouldn’t be in business. If paying one’s employees an honest and fair wage is a problem, close your doors.

They’re complaining that drivers should be allowed to remain “independent contractors” because of the flexibility it offers. There’s no reason they can’t be flexible in their schedules if they’re employees. To me, “independent contractors” in this context stinks of “right to work.” “Right to work” is a euphemism created by predatory Capitalists. It’s always important to remember that the slaves had a “right to work” as well. I’m more of an ‘honest-day’s-pay-for-an-honest-day’s-work’ kind of guy…

Proposition 23
Dialysis centers are bitching because someone thinks they should have a doctor on site when patients are receiving dialysis. Why, that will cut into profits, yes? So they’re running ads saying dialysis patients won’t be able to get dialysis if doctors are required to be on hand. I’d bet that’s not true. Those greed-heads are not going to walk away from a profitable market just because it might be slightly LESS profitable…

Proposition 15
California Proposition 15 this year attempts to correct the deception of Proposition 13 from 1978. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association (“Deceiving Californians since 1978”) is trying to defend their tax-shifting, corporate-benefiting tribute proposition by telling everyone the property tax on small businesses will go up. They won’t. Or, more accurately, they already have. Here’s the deal:

Properties that get sold – even commercial properties – get reassessed at the time of sale. There are other triggers for reassessment as well. Most SMALL commercial properties have been sold and reassessed through the years. But the largest corporations in the state? They don’t sell property. They sell companies and transfer the property – avoiding the reassessment trigger. This means while YOUR property taxes have gone up over the years, large corporations are still paying property taxes at the 1976 rates. (Prop 13 included a rollback of rates to their 1976 values…)

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Okay, so it’s been a couple of days and the dumbass has yet to backtrack on his declaration that he won’t participate in a debate he can’t disrupt. At this point, it seems he might really stay away. I wonder if he realizes he gave away the game. I mean, everybody OUTSIDE of the conservative bubble knew that if the moderator had a mic cut-off button Mr. Trumpery would run away. After all, can you imagine him trying to present a cohesive plan – or even a coherent thought? No, me neither.

I have this theory that suggests that the people who rise to the top of any existing hierarchy is the person most willing to do whatever it takes to rise to the top. THEY present that as ‘hard-working’ and ‘dogged determination’ but mostly, it’s devious backstabbing and immoral and/or unethical actions. In Mr. Trumpery’s case the behavior is audacious rudeness. People – Republicans nor Democrats – weren’t ready for his bombastic, bullying approach. His inability to function in polite society caught everybody off guard.

But he’s a one-trick pony and everyone is on to him now. (Okay, everyone NOT caught in the alternate reality…) So it’s no surprise he won’t participate in a process he can’t disrupt. If he can’t disrupt, he’s got nothin’…

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Pence and Harris, on the other hand, know what a debate is supposed to be and handled it better. Pence tried to be a bombastic asshole to Harris but that’s not his authentic self and he didn’t pull it off too well. What I DID notice was this: when Pence tried to describe the vision of the Trump/Pence team, he spoke of what’s best for the American corporations. When Harris was describing the vision of the Biden/Harris team, she spoke of what’s best for the American PEOPLE.

I’ll tell you this: I care more for the American people than for American corporations…

So…just a friendly reminder: Donald Trump thinks military members are “suckers” and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, “losers.” Those are HIS words, not mine…

Trump’s tax information is leaking. What we know NOW is that Trump is among the worst businessmen in the world or he’s the biggest tax cheat in history. (It’s likely both…)

Trump’s man-baby tantrum in the “debates” seems to have backfired. Cult-45 saw him as strong, of course. (That’s what they were told to see.) But everybody else started supporting the notion of having mics that could be cut when the tantrum starts. Trump unable to distract? Enter Covid-19. Could be a coincidence…

Trump has had a pre-existing condition for quite some time, being a fat man. Now he’s added to it if, in fact, he DOES have Covid. Still, his administration is before the courts trying to strip pre-existing condition protections from the Affordable Care Act. He knows HE can afford to pay for health care out of pocket and doesn’t CARE about you…

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After Trump was sent to Walter Reed, his team of doctors gave a presser. They said they were “just 72 hours into the diagnosis.” This (likely) truth accidentally exposed the fact that Trump knew he had Covid-19 at least 36 hours sooner than anyone else and kept attending campaign events anyway. (Remember: he cares about himself, not you…)

It was a very rosy rendition. It was SO rosy, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows called the press corps together immediately afterward and told them off the record that the situation was worse than the doctors had indicated. This, of course, angered the man-baby.

So, the White House, caught once again not giving a rats ass about the American people, pulled out their always available go-to card: they lied. The White House issued a statement that said the doctor was mistaken when he said 72 hours. He SHOULD have said three days. Also, he was mistaken when he said 48 hours. He SHOULD have said two days.

I guess we’re left to decipher the difference between 72 hours and three days. Then, Meadows was trotted out to explain that, no, trump’s situation isn’t that bad and in an effort to demonstrate that the dumbass was still doing the Presidentin’, Meadows included the comment that Trump was asking for “documents to review.”

You gotta hand it to the dumbass. He knows his base and his base is VERY impressed by the term ‘documents.’ He’s never looking at papers, briefings, information, or folders. It’s ALWAYS ‘documents.’ That seems to be all it takes to impress his base…

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Speaking of Trump’s base, I’ve heard that the Proud Boys, the White “Supremacist” group that Trump told to “stand back and stand by” doesn’t admit women into their group. I don’t know why that surprised me. After all, I know women can be small-minded bigots, too. I guess I could have known by the name, ‘Proud Boys‘, eh? I find myself wondering if they can’t allow women because every time they get near girls they can’t talk anymore…

It continues to be true – every hour of every day – I’ve never seen a better argument AGAINST white “supremacy” than white supremacists…

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I read an article that suggested that trump wants food aid boxes to include a letter from him. I don’t know if that’s such a good idea reminding people they need food aid boxes because of trump policies…

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One of the bits of information that was included in the claim that trump has Covid-19 was that he was given an antibiotic cocktail. It’s a special, experimental treatment. It has no FDA approval. In fact, the doctors had to get special permission to use it.

I’m no doctor but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t use experimental treatments on the so-called President of the United States unless I had no other choice. It seems…irresponsible.

So maybe trump DOES have it – badly enough that doctors had to pull out all the stops and take any chance. Then again, maybe it’s just another hydroxychloroquine lie…

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Racists and other conservatives don’t like it that thinking people are questioning the veracity of trump’s Covid claims. They pretend we’re out of line wondering if this is just some new ruse intended to distract from the avalanche of bad news coming out about him on a near-daily basis.

It would be hard to be a conservative these days. NOW they have to pretend they never heard – or at least didn’t understand – the story of ‘Peter and the Wolf.’ Just to help out with our less-capable fellow Americans, one cannot lie every hour, every day, every week, every month for years and years and years and NOT have the world suspect even the possibility of further mendacity. I mean…hey, maybe the wolf DID show up this time. But THAT’S why we don’t lie…