I think every rational American knows that evidence and testimony supported the idea that Donnie the Dumbass did what he was accused of doing in Ukraine and should have been found guilty in his first impeachment. But…Republicans are corrupt. They don’t CARE about evidence. They care about protecting rich people. Period. So, guilty or not, Republicans engaged in a bit of jury nullification and let the Dumbass off. I don’t think most people were surprised at the Republican’s feckless response but it was – and is – a major pain in the ass having to listen to know-nothing conservatives crow about trump being innocent when thinking Americans know he’s guilty.

I’ve come to believe that Donnie the Dumbass is going to beat THIS impeachment, too. Satan REALLY loves that guy and takes very good care of him. Every rational American knows the Dumbass (and his fellows) incited the insurrection. We’ve seen the video. You know, evidence. But the corrupt Republicans are dutifully taking up their defensive positions. They’re not preparing to defend America or the Constitution, mind you. They’re lining up to defend the insurrection. They’re lining up to defend the coup attempt. They’re lining up to support autocracy. Rational people can see it coming – conservatives protecting the traitor – and I fully believe Republicans will defend the Dumbass and nullify the process again. It sucks, knowing the guy is guilty but having to listen to the know-nothing crowd crow about trump being innocent again…

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I hate to keep bringing up the dumbass but it looks as though his legal team for the impeachment has dumped him. Apparently, there was disagreement regarding strategy. In the story I read from the Guardian, one of his supporters is quoted as saying, ‘“The Democrats’ efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country,” said Jason Miller, a Trump adviser. “In fact, 45 senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional…”’

I can still do math! Turns out, if 45 (partisan) Senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional, well, um, that means, let’s see 100 minus 45 equals…oh, yeah, 55 Senators have voted that it IS constitutional. WHY, I wonder, have the cons suddenly decided that FEWER votes should always be the winner? The dumbass received something like seven MILLION fewer votes than Biden so of course he thinks he won. 45 Senators said the impeachment is unconstitutional so WHY won’t the majority listen to them?

I don’t know just how stupid a person has to be to keep consuming this radicalizing conservative bullshit but I DO know we’re going to get the chance to find out just how stupid many of our family and friends turned out to be…

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Speaking of stupid, Marjorie Taylor-Greene. She’s the “representative” from Georgia who has been scrubbing her social media in an attempt to cover-up her dedication to conspiracy theories. Fortunately for the rest of us, it hasn’t worked. It turns out, the internet is forever. One of the stupidest conspiracy theories held by the right is the idea that climate change is a hoax. In the face of year-after-year record breaking temperature increases, these dedicated deniers need excuses – or rather, “explanations” – for why more and more of the planet is literally catching fire and burning uncontrollably and old MTG has a doozy: Jewish laser beams.

It’s an awesome story because it simultaneously denies the reality of climate change AND tosses in a solid amount of racism, two staples of the radicalized right. Now, I presume she means Jewish-owned laser beams and not that the beams themselves are keeping Kosher. I’m no expert but I’m going to go out on a limb, here, and suggest that killing people with space-based, fire-starting laser beams is somewhat outside of the teachings of the Torah.

But right now, in the United States House of Representatives, we have a member who honestly believes in Jewish laser beams. This does not instill confidence for the future of this once-great nation…

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A couple more of the so-called “Proud Boys” got arrested over the assault on the Capitol. One of them, Dominic Pezzola, had bomb-making information and materials when they searched his home after arresting him. At one point during the January 6th insurrection police discovered that some America-hating “patriot” demonstrated his love of country by trying to blow up the Democratic and Republican national headquarters offices with pipe bombs. Now all they have to do is tie Pezzola to the bombs and, voila! – one less boy to be proud…

In other, potentially unrelated news, the leader of the fascist “Proud Boys” Enrique Tarrio has been outed by Reuters as an FBI informant. Naturally, he has denied the claim. I don’t know if it’s true or if the government is trying to undermine his credibility with his radicalized group but he WAS conveniently arrested and held before he could participate in the Capitol assault – thereby giving him an excuse for not being there and protecting his cover. (FBI: “Thanks, Reuters!”) It’s likely the FBI would have found these yahoos without any insider assistance but it seems equally likely that the FBI is getting an assist from the undercover “leader.”

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Boy, I’m in a quandary. On the one hand, I like the things Joe Biden is doing since he took office. He’s undoing the damage done by his moron predecessor. More, he seems to be moving in a more progressive direction than I had expected. All good. At the same time, I’m very concerned about the ever-increasing use of Executive Orders to get things done.

Radicalized Republicans refused – just…refused – to work with Barack Obama. Eventually, Obama realized he wasn’t going to get any cooperation from Congress – because Republicans hate America – and began using Executive Orders to get things done. But Executive Orders don’t carry the weight of law and the dumbass was able to simply revoke them with Executive Orders of his own. Biden has reversed many of 45’s stupid Executive Orders using his own but one can immediately see that the next time some bat-shit crazy moron is “elected” by the deplorables, Biden’s good works can be revoked with the stroke of a pen.

It’s poor practice because it makes the United States an undependable partner…

It looks like the fights over voting are heating up. There’s been a bill offered in Congress to eliminate Citizen’s United, the foul ruling that allowed the richest of the rich to buy our once-great government and, well, do to it what they’ve done. It’s going to take a Constitutional Amendment, though, and we know the radicalized Republicans will never support the effort. How do we know?

While Democrats in Congress are trying to fix Citizen’s United, Republicans are trying to change voting laws in an effort to give themselves a boost in upcoming “elections.” Can’t win with your policies? Why, simply suppress your opposition by changing voting laws! One of the conservative geniuses in Georgia spelled it out. As reported by Politico, ‘“They don’t have to change all of them, but they’ve got to change the major parts of them so that we at least have a shot at winning,” Alice O’Lenick, a Republican on the Gwinnett County, Ga., board of elections in suburban Atlanta said.’

Meanwhile, cheating Texas Republicans want to reduce the number of days available to vote because – of course they do. Not to be outdone, the cheating Republicans in South Carolina want to implement new voter ID laws. Cheating Republicans in Pennsylvania want to implement voter ID laws AND limit absentee ballots. When one throws in Gerrymandering and other voter suppression techniques used by cheating Republicans it seems like they’ll do ANYTHING to try and “win” an “election.” Well, anything except offering a more palatable platform. THAT idea never seems to enter these cretin’s heads…

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The cons are starting to slither back to Facebook bringing their “alternative facts” (read: lies) and rejection of evidence with them. I’m not surprised. Once the circle-jerk known as “Parler” was shut down, they were bound to find their way back. I HAVE noticed there is not even a modicum of contrition over January 6th, though. It’s like it never happened or, at least, that it’s being hyped by liberal media. Whatever. I’m pretty sure I’ll have less grace for them than I used to.

I saw radicalized conservatives attack and defile the United States Capitol building and try to find and murder the Vice-President of the United States – all the while droning on about their pretended “patriotism” and ALL without a SHRED of evidence. As the saying goes, stupid is as stupid does. It pretty much dropped ALL of the pretense, though, and, for that, I’m grateful. This is not a loyal opposition with honest intentions. These are traitors. I don’t have as much grace for traitors as I do for the merely stupid.

The thing is, the Onan Network, Newsquacks, and Q-anonsense are still out there poisoning minds and radicalizing the gullible. Sure, a lot of the weakest thinkers will be going to prison now. But the One Percent’s radicalizing disinformation machine known as the conservative bubble – will just make more.

The truth is, I was glad when they absconded to Parler. Facebook got quiet and peaceful. Boring, even. But as it happens, leaving them alone and unchallenged in their little echo chamber helped to radicalize them faster and more deeply. At least being on Facebook means they might get challenged more often. I don’t know how to defeat the One Percent’s disinformation machine but I CAN demand evidence or brand them liars and, in my opinion, thinking people the world over should do just that…

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I’m glad President Biden stopped the Keystone XL pipeline. Apparently, Canada isn’t as happy but Biden is doing the right thing in making the move away from fossil fuels. I live in California. California has long been prone to fires but with the increase in global warming California is pretty much on fire somewhere all the time these days. Using the nasty-ass tar sands oil just so we can stay addicted to oil isn’t sustainable anyway so why keep polluting and why keep building infrastructure to support a dying technology?

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Sure, it’s only been four days but as it stands, I think Biden is doing a good job so far. I was VERY interested in voting for him in the 1988 election but he never made it that far. He was brought down by a plagiarism scandal. Can you imagine? THESE days, NOTHING qualifies as a deal killer. Bush 43 started not one but TWO illegal wars. He got re-elected anyway. Donnie Dumbass watched while nearly 400,000 (and counting) Americans died as a direct result of is failure and millions still voted for him. Biden had to step down because of misattribution. Good times…

Apparently, some of the rioters are upset. They are complaining that they now face prison and they just do not seem to understand why. They are asking the dumbass for pardons and, not surprisingly, the dumbass is not responding. I am no lawyer but I do not think he CAN pardon them at this point. The Constitution says specifically that he can pardon “except in Cases of Impeachment.” Having been impeached for the second time – an impeachment directly associated with his incitement to insurrection – I think his ability to pardon the attackers has been removed. (Constitutional lawyers, am I right?)

On the one hand, it’s kind of fun to watch these sad, betrayed suckers gaze in wide-eyed wonder as they try to grasp why so many are so angry with them – and why they’re likely going to prison. They’re only now beginning to understand that the dumbass was only too willing to sacrifice THEIR lives trying to benefit his own – and some of them STILL don’t seem to get it. Some do, of course. I’ve read where many in the trump camp are revolting. Yes, I know, they’re ALL “revolting” but I mean ‘reacting to being betrayed…’

I honestly believe the radicalized insurgents would readily strap on bomb vests and blow themselves up if the right person told them to do so – just like the Islamic terrorists they are always on about. Apparently, I’m not alone in this belief. The families and friends of the domestic terrorists aren’t helping to hide them. Largely, family and friends are working to identify and expose the radicalized insurrectionists and the FBI has more leads than they can follow up quickly. I expect they will all be followed up. It will just take a bit more time. I even heard, anecdotally, about a woman who changed her profile on some dating site to reflect her “conservative” values and when the conservative “incels” try to impress her with their presence in the Capitol, she just forwards the “proof” to the FBI. Nice.

I just hope the dumbass doesn’t slither his way out of this one, too. I know that traditionally, American presidents never go to jail. But trump has spent his life trampling traditions so, in this case, he should meet his devoted followers in prison. Perhaps they can all have a nice conversation about loyalty…

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I think Lauren Boebert isn’t going to last long in Congress and she MAY face criminal charges that put her in one of those cells with other radicalized traitors. She’s the Q-anon follower who tweeted out the location and movements of various persons of interest to the attackers. Talk about in on it. Directing insurgent traffic from inside the Capitol and on her own phone wasn’t the most brilliant move I’ve ever heard of.

But I wonder how many of the 147 Republican House members or if traitorous Senators Hawley and Cruz will be expelled for their part in the attack. See, the Republicans are FAR more loyal to the party than the country. As a party, they KNOW if Congress does as it should and expels the traitorous members, their strength as a party will be weakened. I feel certain Republicans will opt to retain as many members – even disloyal traitors – as they can. You know – for the good of the party…

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I know that Moscow Mitch said he was glad the Democrats were pursuing impeachment a second time. People speculated that he was using the opportunity to be rid of the dumbass once and for all. I suspect McConnell is happy about it because he sees it as Democratic overreach he can use to take back the Congress in the mid-terms…

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The DOW seems to doing just great, thank you very much. It’s important to remember that ALL of this started because rich people were afraid they were losing too much power in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It was intentional. It was planned. When you look for the guilty, look to the one percent. (Specifically, Charles Koch.)

The monster that is the radicalized right didn’t happen by chance and it didn’t happen over night. Nor was it the result of one party. Sure, Ronald Reagan introduced the ridiculously stupid concept of “Supply Side” economics but it was Bill Clinton who signed the law that opened the floodgates to the world of disinformation we all suffer from today.

I can’t really speculate on the details of how this all plays out but history shows, over and over, that accurate information is the lifeblood of democracy and the disinformation machine that was built, nurtured, and maintained by the one percent is destroying ours.

If it was up to me, I would correct the First Amendment to include; “any agency that identifies itself as a news agency may not knowingly present false nor misleading information.” We can’t really stop people from lying by pretending to be expressing their opinions but we CAN provide dependable news outlets…

He’s a tricky bastard…
He tricked a group of people into believing he was probably a pretty good business man, though nearly every business he ever started failed…
He tricked a smaller group of people into believing that he might make a competent president even though he lacked the experience or skills for the job…
He tricked a still smaller group of people into believing he was doing the job well – but spent the vast majority of his time watching television, playing golf, and sowing division and discontent…
He tricked a still smaller group of people into believing that people marching for justice were the bad guys and the people marching against justice were the good guys – then heaped praise on the true bad guys…
He tricked a still smaller group of people into believing he hadn’t done what he did in Ukraine – then convinced them someone else had done that very thing…
He tricked and even smaller group of people into believing a worldwide pandemic was a non-event, then that nothing could be done about it – and then played golf while (so far) 367,652 Americans died…
He tricked an even smaller group of people into believing the 2020 election would be, had been, and then was “rigged” and encouraged his loyalists to fight back and “stop the steal” – despite lacking evidence…
He tricked an even smaller group of people into sending their hard-earned money to the self-described master negotiator billionaire to fund lawsuits – then filed only frivolous suits and pocketed most of the money…
He tricked an even smaller group of people to come to Washington DC on January 6th to attend one last rally – that will certainly prove to have been a “super-spreader” event…
He tricked a smaller group of people to march on the US Capitol building, telling them he’d be with them – then he went home, in typical cowardly-trump fashion, and watched the whole thing play out on television…
He tricked an even smaller group of people into insurrection and committing felonies that carry at least a 10 year sentence – then insulted, denounced, and renounced those who did as he asked…
Now, finally, he sits, isolated, in his metaphorical bunker with only the last of his loyalist sycophants to pander to him – leaving nothing but wreckage, carnage, and death in his wake…

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Tantrums…
I’ve heard more than once since the attempted coup (mostly from the right) that impeaching the dumbass again would only inflame the radicalized right. What, you mean as opposed to any other time? The radicalized right is already inflamed and they’re going to remain inflamed as long as the conservative media bubble is allowed to continue infuriating and radicalizing conservatives.

Here’s what I know; no parent surrenders to the tantrums of a brat without creating a huge, ugly monster. The adults in the room need to do the right thing even if tantrums ensue. Donald Trump fomented insurgency and instigated an insurrection. Five people died as a direct result of his actions and bidding. If that’s not a high crime and misdemeanor, none exist. He MUST be impeached. He MUST be held to account.

If more of the radicalized right wants to learn about prison from the inside, I’m sure they can be accommodated…

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Oh, the Constitution…
Here’s a little bit from that Constitution cons are always pretending they love so much. This is from the 14th Amendment, Section 3:
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial office of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

I mention it because there are a LOT of Republicans – sworn members of Congress – who supported this action. Sure they’re trying to run away from their support now but they did what they did and they should be censured, then removed. In fact, if I got to choose (I don’t) I would manage the order of operations this way: First thing Monday morning the House votes to remove every member who supported the coup attempt, then introduce the Article of Impeachment.

Sure, the radicalized right would whine and scream that their voices are being removed. Yep. They are. You want to argue politics? Fine. You want to advance ludicrous positions? Great. You want to foment violent insurrection against the Congress of the United States of America? You’re out. Period. It really IS that simple…

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Proudly Not Responsible…
I’ve noticed many on the right are SO proud of their actions – they’re blaming other people. The party of personal responsibility won’t take responsibility for what they did. Frankly, I don’t think they’re worth arguing with beyond pointing out that I support the arrest and conviction of EVERY person shown to have participated in the insurrection, politics and party affiliation notwithstanding. If Antifa was there they should go to jail right along with the moron cons who shot video and took photos of themselves trashing the US Capitol.

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Plan Your Sedition in Private…
Speaking of whining, NOW the cons are out whining that their favorite meeting place in social media – the site knows as “Parler” – is being taken off-line. Google has already removed the app from it’s play store. Apple said they’re going to do the same Monday if Parler doesn’t get it’s oversight act together. And Amazon, who hosts the site, has declared that the site violates it’s terms of service and have said they won’t host the site anymore. Why, it’s getting to the point where hardworking, honest, America-hating conservative traitors have no social media outlets available to plan their various coups, rebellions, and/or attempted assassinations…

So…did you hear about the insurrectionists who intend to question the outcome of the “election” in the Senate on Wednesday? As of now, 11 Republican Senators and Senators-elect intend to insist the votes were wrong…somehow. No, they don’t have any evidence – any more than any previous “effort” of Team Trumpery. Their story is that they’re doing it because so many of their constituents have chosen to believe stupid things. I don’t buy the story. The trumpsters act on faith alone. They believe what they’ve chosen to believe and there’s no amount of evidence that’s going to change their predetermined minds – which means there’s no reason for the dog and pony show.

Except Georgia. The dumbass started sabotaging the Republican turn-out effort in Georgia by telling the dwellers of the alternate reality that the vote is illegal and invalid and encouraged his acolytes not to participate. Then, “Lyin’ Ted Cruz” (the dumbass’s nickname for him) pulled together his coalition of 11 cowardly toadies and said they’d challenge the vote. Then, the dumbass came out on Saturday and encouraged his oh-so-gullible automatons to get out and vote. Think about that. On Friday, the dumbass tells them NOT to participate and on Friday night, they all knew they would not participate. Then, on Saturday, he tells them to participate and on Saturday night they all knew they would participate. My guess is that they didn’t even remember their determination to boycott the process from…you know…the day before.

Yeah, yeah, the so-called “Senators” are within their legal right – but they’re just wasting time and even THEY know it. This is just a stunt to try to quell the dumbass tantrum. It would be great if there were consequences. How about this: if their “challenge” fails to demonstrate any irregularities – in the same way none of the recounts, audits, or even 60 lawsuits have demonstrated irregularities, each of the assholes who voted to support the anti-American waste of time gets removed from Congress.

Devoutly to be wished…

How about this. I hereby (and you know it’s official since I used ‘hereby’) declare that I don’t trust the vote outcome in, say, Florida so there must be an investigation, review, audit, recount, and decertification of all trump votes in that state – because that’s apparently how it works now…

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Cons think the dumbass is the greatest thing since Jesus. They pretend he’s done a perfect – dare I say – divine job regarding Covid-19 right from the start. But the evidence says he mishandled the outbreak, he mishandled the spread, and now his administration is mishandling the vaccine roll out as well.

As of this morning? Over 350,000 dead Americans…

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Basically, I’m opposed to the personal income tax. This is going to become important because I think it’s time for Americans to push back against the one percent and the tax system is a very good, non-violent way to do that. BUT…I’m also conflicted because I’ve long doubted the personal income tax system currently in place is constitutional.

In simplest terms, I hold the position that our government cannot violate one section of the Constitution in an effort to enact another section of the Constitution. So, here’s what happened. The original Constitution of the United States, the main body, was written in 1787. That document gives Congress the power to lay and collect taxes. I’m under that impression because of Article I, Section 8 where it says, and I quote: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes…” Pretty clear. BUT…

Several of the colonies would not ratify the Constitution as written without a specific list of protections for the citizenry of the nascent nation. These are known as the Bill of Rights. James Madison wrote them – in 1789. Two years later. So, here’s the thing. The Fourth Amendment says “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…” Sure, we can debate the word “unreasonable” but it seems logical to me that if the government is free to peek into your panty drawer anytime they want to just by declaring such a search “reasonable” the Fourth Amendment basically means nothing. And if the Fourth Amendment DOES mean something, the government can’t force people to turn over their papers in violation of the Fourth Amendment in an effort to enforce Article 1, Section 8.

To make matters worse, the FIFTH Amendment includes this little gem. “…nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself…” Granted, that part only comes into play if one makes a mistake or intentionally makes a false statement but I count it two against one. The government can’t force me to turn over my papers and can’t force me to provide information that may incriminate me just to enforce Article 1, Section 8.

For clarity, I pay my taxes as demanded and suggest you do the same. The slogan of our once-great nation is that we’re a nation of laws, not justice. Governments have implemented unjust laws since the beginning of time. I’m sure the government has already looked at this glaring conflict and declared their own position to be correct (no conflict of interest there) and they WILL send you to jail if they decide to…